Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Neon lighting

Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube light is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode at each end, filled with one of a number of gases at low pressure. A high potential of several thousand volts applied to the electrodes ionizes the gas in the tube, causing it to emit colored light. The color of the light depends on the gas in the tube. Neon lights were named for neon, a noble gas which gives off a popular orange light, but other gases and chemicals are used to produce other colors, such as hydrogen (red), helium (yellow), carbon dioxide (white), and mercury (blue). Neon tubes can be fabricated in curving artistic shapes, to form letters or pictures. They are mainly used to make dramatic, multicolored glowing signage for advertising, called neon signs, which were popular from the 1920s to the 1950s.

The term can also refer to the miniature neon glow lamp, developed in 1917, about seven years after neon tube lighting. While neon tube lights are typically meters long, the neon lamps can be less than one centimeter in length and glow much more dimly than the tube lights. They are still in use as small indicator lights. Through the 1970s, neon glow lamps were widely used for numerical displays in electronics, for small decorative lamps, and as signal processing devices in circuity. While these lamps are now antiques, the technology of the neon glow lamp developed into contemporary plasma displays and televisions.

Georges Claude, a French engineer and inventor, presented neon tube lighting in essentially its modern form at the Paris Motor Show from December 3–18, 1910. Claude, sometimes called "the Edison of France", had a near monopoly on the new technology, which became very popular for signage and displays in the period 1920-1940. Neon lighting was an important cultural phenomenon in the United States in that era; by 1940, the downtowns of nearly every city in the US were bright with neon signage, and Times Square in New York City was known worldwide for its neon extravagances. There were 2000 shops nationwide designing and fabricating neon signs. The popularity, intricacy, and scale of neon signage for advertising declined in the U.S. following the Second World War (1939–1945), but development continued vigorously in Japan, Iran, and some other countries. In recent decades’ architects and artists, in addition to sign designers, have again adopted neon tube lighting as a component in their works.

Neon lighting is closely related to fluorescent lighting, which developed about 25 years after neon tube lighting. In fluorescent lights, the light emitted by rarefied gases within a tube is used exclusively to excite fluorescent materials that coat the tube, which then shine with their own colors that become the tube's visible, usually white, glow. Fluorescent coatings and glasses are also an option for neon tube lighting, but are usually selected to obtain bright colors.

Neon

Neon is a chemical element with symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is in group 18 (noble gases) of the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton and xenon) in 1898 as one of the three residual rare inert elements remaining in dry air, after nitrogen, oxygen, argon and carbon dioxide were removed. Neon was the second of these three rare gases to be discovered, and was immediately recognized as a new element from its bright red emission spectrum. The name neon is derived from the Greek word, νέον, neuter singular form of νέος (neos), meaning new. Neon is chemically inert and forms no uncharged chemical compounds. The compounds of neon include ionic molecules, molecules held together by van der Waals forces and clathrates.

History
Neon (Greek νέον (néon), neuter singular form of νέος meaning "new"), was discovered in 1898 by the British chemists Sir William Ramsay (1852–1916) and Morris W. Travers (1872–1961) in London. Neon was discovered when Ramsay chilled a sample of air until it became a liquid, then warmed the liquid and captured the gases as they boiled off. The gases nitrogen, oxygen, and argon had been identified, but the remaining gases were isolated in roughly their order of abundance, in a six-week period beginning at the end of May 1898. First to be identified was krypton. The next, after krypton had been removed, was a gas which gave a brilliant red light under spectroscopic discharge. This gas, identified in June, was named neon, the Greek analogue of "novum", (new), suggested by Ramsay's son. The characteristic brilliant red-orange color emitted by gaseous neon when excited electrically was noted immediately; Travers later wrote, "the blaze of crimson light from the tube told its own story and was a sight to dwell upon and never forget." A second gas was also reported along with neon, having approximately the same density as argon but with a different spectrum – Ramsay and Travers named it metargon.

Applications
Neon is often used in signs and produces an unmistakable bright reddish-orange light. Although tube lights with other colors are often called "neon", they use different noble gases or varied colors of fluorescent lighting.
Neon is used in vacuum tubes, high-voltage indicators, lightning arresters, wave meter tubes, television tubes, and helium–neon lasers. Liquefied neon is commercially used as a cryogenic refrigerant in applications not requiring the lower temperature range attainable with more extreme liquid helium refrigeration.

Neon, as liquid or gas, is relatively expensive – for small quantities, the price of liquid neon can be more than 55 times that of liquid helium. Driving neon's expense is the rarity of neon, which unlike helium, can only be obtained from air.

Monday, November 28, 2016

TINA TURNER PARTY

Yes, it was Tina Turner’s 77th birthday last Saturday. The triumphant survivor and trail blazer, sex symbol, dancer extraordinaire, and singer par excellence let’s hope she did celebrating happily at home in Switzerland.

Me, Tim had real life issues, at T.R.A.C.S had the problem that there was a just small audience at the start of the party. To be honest, that small audience were my best friends. When I shared my worries with them, they send a notice in their group and suddenly more people joined us.
Thank you so much CallMe, Zee, Norbie and JK.
What worried me most that DJ Zee, who did a great a job to make a set in theme, had such a small audience, at the start at the party, and I am thankful for all the help. But, yes there is a but, do I want more than 60 peeps at a gig, do I want all the gestures, the none open chat and al the alts that I see at other clubs?
Or do we keep it small, comfy, family feeling and “gezellig”.
To speak with Meatloaf:
“Let me sleep on it, Baby, Baby, let me sleep on it”
“Let me sleep on it and I'll give you an answer in the morning”

But first the snapshots I made during the party:

Thursday, November 24, 2016

TINA TURNER PARTY at T.R.A.C.S

T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Street on River Island

TINA TURNER - PROUD MARY

Top 10 Tina Turner Songs

Tina Turner

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939), is an American-Swiss recording artist, dancer, actress and author, whose career has spanned more than half a century, earning her widespread recognition and numerous awards. Born and raised in the Southeastern United States, Turner obtained Swiss citizenship in 2013 and relinquished her American citizenship.
She began her musical career in the mid-1950s as a featured singer with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, first recording in 1958 under the name "Little Ann." Her introduction to the public as Tina Turner began in 1960 as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Success followed with a string of notable hits credited to the duo, including "A Fool in Love", "River Deep – Mountain High" (1966), "Proud Mary" (1971) and "Nutbush City Limits" (1973), a song which she herself wrote. In her autobiography, I, Tina, she revealed several instances of severe domestic abuse against her by Ike Turner prior to their 1976 split and subsequent 1978 divorce. Raised as a Baptist, she encountered faith with Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism in 1971, crediting the spiritual chant of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, which Turner claims helped her to endure during difficult times.

After her divorce from Ike Turner, she rebuilt her career through live performances. In the early 1980s, she launched a major comeback with another string of hits, starting in 1983 with the single "Let's Stay Together" followed by the 1984 release of her fifth solo album Private Dancer which became a worldwide success. "What's Love Got to Do with It", the lead single won three Grammy Awards including Record of the Year. Her solo success continued with the multi platinum albums Break Every Rule and Foreign Affair and with singles such as "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)", "The Best" and "GoldenEye" for the James Bond film of the same name. "What's Love Got to Do with It" was later used as the title of a loosely based biographical film adapted from her autobiography. In addition to her musical career, Turner has also experienced success in films, including the role of Acid Queen in the 1975 rock musical Tommy, a starring role alongside Mel Gibson in the 1985 action film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and a cameo role in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.

One of the world's best-selling music artists of all time, she has also been referred to as 
The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll. Turner has been termed the most successful female Rock 'n' Roll artist, receiving eleven Grammy Awards, including eight competitive awards and three Grammy Hall of Fame awards. Turner has also sold more concert tickets than any other solo performer in history. Her combined album and single sales total approximately 100 million copies worldwide, making her one of the biggest selling females in music history. She is noted for her energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, and career longevity. In 2008, Turner returned from semi-retirement to embark on her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. Turner's tour became one of the highest selling ticketed shows of 2008–09. Rolling Stone ranked her no. 63 on their 100 greatest artists of all time. In 1991, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Blue's story

Caasper left the houseboat he rented on River Island because he could not pay the rent anymore. He said it would be unfair to let him stay without paying. I could not persuade him to stay and he took his stuff and left. A few days later Tim and I did have a look to see what should be done there and Blue noticed a cat and some mice.
(snapshot made by Tim.)

KINGS PARTY at T.R.A.C.S