Mystery fiction

Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious death or a crime to be solved. Often with a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character oftentimes will be a detective who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Sometimes mystery books are nonfictional. "Mystery fiction" can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.

Mystery fiction may involve a supernatural mystery where the solution does not have to be logical, and even no crime involved. This usage was common in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, where titles such as Dime Mystery, Thrilling Mystery and Spicy Mystery offered what at the time were described as "weird menace" stories—supernatural horror in the vein of Grand Guignol. This contrasted with parallel titles of the same names which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of "mystery" in this sense was by Dime Mystery, which started out as an ordinary crime fiction magazine but switched to "weird menace" during the later part of 1933.

Christmas market

A Christmas market, also known as Christkindlmarkt (literally: Baby Jesus Market), Christkindlesmarkt, Christkindlmarket, Christkindlimarkt, and Weihnachtsmarkt, is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany but are now being held in many other countries. The history of Christmas markets goes back to the Late Middle Ages in the German-speaking part of Europe, and in many parts of the former Holy Roman Empire that includes many eastern regions of France. The Christmas markets of Bautzen were first held in 1384. Dresden's Striezelmarkt was first held in 1434. Frankfurt was first mentioned in 1393, Munich in 1310, and Augsburg in 1498. In Austria, Vienna's "December market" can be considered a forerunner of Christmas markets and dates back to 1298.

Zwetschgenmännle

In many towns in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, Advent is usually ushered in with the opening of the Christmas market or "Weihnachtsmarkt". In southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria, it is called a "Christkind(e)l(s)(i)markt" (German language, literally meaning "Christ child market"). Traditionally held in the town square, the market has food, drink and seasonal items from open-air stalls accompanied by traditional singing and dancing. On opening night at the Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg, and in some other towns, onlookers welcome the "Christkind" (originally boy Jesus, but often depicted as an angel-like girl), acted out by a local child.

Attractions and stalls

Gebrannte Mandeln

Popular attractions at the markets include the Nativity Scene (a crèche or crib), Zwetschgenmännle (figures made of decorated dried plums), Nussknacker (carved Nutcrackers), Gebrannte Mandeln (candied, toasted almonds), traditional Christmas cookies such as Lebkuchen and Magenbrot (both forms of soft gingerbread), Bratwurst, and for many visitors one of the highlights of the market: Glühwein, hot mulled wine (with or without a shot of brandy), or Eierpunsch (an egg-based warm alcoholic drink). Both help stave off the cold winter air which sometimes dips below freezing. More regional food specialties include Christstollen (Stollen), a sort of bread with candied fruit in Saxony, and hot Apfelwein and Frankfurter Bethmännchen in Hesse.

Word Crimes

COMMUNICATION

Communication (from Latin commūnicāre, meaning "to share") is the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs and semiotic rules.

The main steps inherent to all communication are:

1. The formation of communicative motivation or reason.
2. Message composition (further internal or technical elaboration on what exactly to express).
3. Message encoding (for example, into digital data, written text, speech, pictures, gestures and so on).
4. Transmission of the encoded message as a sequence of signals using a specific channel or medium.
5. Noise sources such as natural forces and in some cases human activity (both intentional and accidental) begin influencing the quality of signals propagating from the sender to one or more receivers.
6. Reception of signals and reassembling of the encoded message from a sequence of received signals.
7. Decoding of the reassembled encoded message.
8. Interpretation and making sense of the presumed original message.

The scientific study of communication can be divided into:

• Information theory which studies the quantification, storage, and communication of information in general;
• Communication studies which concerns human communication;
• Biosemiotics which examines communication in and between living organisms in general.

The channel of communication can be visual, auditory, tactile (such as in Braille) and haptic, olfactory, electromagnetic, or biochemical.

Human communication is unique for its extensive use of abstract language. Development of civilization has been closely linked with progress in telecommunication.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paper

Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibres of cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. It is a versatile material with many uses, including writing, printing, packaging, cleaning, and a number of industrial and construction processes.

The pulp papermaking process is said to have been developed in China during the early 2nd century CE, possibly as early as the year 105 CE, by the Han court eunuch Cai Lun, although the earliest archaeological fragments of paper derive from the 2nd century BCE in China. The modern pulp and paper industry is global, with China leading its production and the United States right behind it.

The word "paper" is etymologically derived from papyrus, Ancient Greek for the Cyperus papyrus plant. Papyrus is a thick, paper-like material produced from the pith of the Cyperus papyrus plant which was used in ancient Egypt and other Mediterranean societies for writing long before paper was used in China. Papyrus however are plants pressed and dried, while paper is made from fibers whose properties have been changed by maceration or disintegration.

Paper can be produced with a wide variety of properties, depending on its intended use.

• For representing value: paper money, bank note, cheque, security (see security paper), voucher and ticket
• For storing information: book, notebook, graph paper, magazine, newspaper, art, zine, letter
• For personal use: diary, note to remind oneself, etc.; for temporary personal use: scratch paper
• For communication: between individuals and/or groups of people.
• For packaging: corrugated box, paper bag, envelope, Packing & Wrapping Paper, Paper string, Charta emporetica and wallpaper
• For cleaning: toilet paper, handkerchiefs, paper towels, facial tissue and cat litter
• For construction: papier-mâché, origami, paper planes, quilling, paper honeycomb, used as a core material in composite materials, paper engineering, construction paper and paper clothing
• For other uses: emery paper, sandpaper, blotting paper, litmus paper, universal indicator paper, paper chromatography, electrical insulation paper (see also dielectric and permittivity) and filter paper

It is estimated that paper-based storage solutions captured 0.33% of the total in 1986 and only 0.007% in 2007, even though in absolute terms, the world's capacity to store information on paper increased from 8.7 to 19.4 petabytes. It is estimated that in 1986 paper-based postal letters represented less than 0.05% of the world's telecommunication capacity, with sharply decreasing tendency after the massive introduction of digital technologies.

The Beatles - Paperback Writer

HAT

A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status. In the military, hats may denote nationality, branch of service, rank or regiment. Police typically wear distinctive hats such as peaked caps or brimmed hats, such as those worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Some hats have a protective function. As examples, the hard hat protects construction workers' heads from injury by falling objects and a British police Custodian helmet protects the officer's head, a sun hat shades the face and shoulders from the sun, a cowboy hat protects against sun and rain and a Ushanka fur hat with fold-down earflaps keeps the head and ears warm. Some hats are worn for ceremonial purposes, such as the mortarboard, which is worn (or carried) during university graduation ceremonies. Some hats are worn by members of a certain profession, such as the Toque worn by chefs. Some hats have religious functions, such as the mitres worn by Bishops and the turban worn by Sikhs.

Interesting Facts about Hats

• London black taxies are made tall so that a gentleman can ride in them without taking off a top hat.
• In the middle of 19th century baseball umpires wore top hats during the game.
• White tall chef hats traditionally have 100 pleats to represent hundreds of ways an egg can be prepared. They were invented by cuisine inventors Marie-Antoine Carème and Auguste
• Escoffier as a method of establishing hierarchy in the kitchen.
• Elisabeth I had a law according to which every person older than 7 years had to wear a cap on Sundays and holydays.
•  It is said that when John Hetherington wore one of the first top hats in 1797 in the streets, he was arrested for scaring the people. He ended up in court and paid 50 pounds sterling.
•  Trilby, a variant of fedora, was named after heroine Trilby O'Ferral of a George du Maurier novel.
•  Process of making felt involved use of mercury which is toxic and prolonged exposure use can cause damage in nervous system, tremors and dementia. From that originates phrase “Mad as a hatter”.
•  Fedora was first a women’s hat than men’s. Now it is both.
• In 1920s there was an odd custom in America that it was common that if people wore straw hats after the 15 September they were beaten up.
• First “Dunce” hat was introduced by medieval theologian John Duns Scotus (1265-1308). His idea was that a conical hat funneled knowledge from God into a head of the... dunce.
• Panama hat has never made in Panama. It is made in Equador.
• Those who supply men’s hats are called hatters while those who supply women’s hats are called milliners.
• Vikings never whore horned helmets.
• French Magician Louis Comte was first to pull out a rabbit from a top hat in 1814.
• First record of a hat is in a painting in a cave at Lussac-les-Chateaux in Central France and it dates some 15.000 BC.
• There is a law in Wyoming that prohibits wearing of a hat that obstructs a view in a theatre or some other place of amusement.
• In Fargo, North Dakota, There is a law that forbids dancing while wearing a hat under the penalty of jail.
• There is still a law in Kentucky that forbids a ma to buy a ten gallon hat if his wife is not present to assist in choosing a model.
• The smallest hat worn by men was from 18th century and it was a small tricorn hat with dimensions of two inches by four inches and it was worn on the top of the wig.
• Fedora was named after the Princess Fedora Romanoff from play Fédora by the French author Victorien Sardou.

LOST

The adjective lost describes anything that can't be found, like your favorite pair of sunglasses that you left on a table at the library and never saw again.

Beloved hand-knit scarves can be lost, and so can wandering pet goats. A person can get lost in the unfamiliar, winding streets of a strange city. You can also describe someone as lost if they're confused or desperately in need of some kind of help. 
The origins of the word lost come from the Proto-Indo-European leu, "to loosen, untie, or separate". The meaning "to be defeated," like when you've lost a game or lost a battle, came later, around 1530.

British Dictionary definitions for lost

1. unable to be found or recovered

2. unable to find one's way or ascertain one's whereabouts

3. confused, bewildered, or helpless: he is lost in discussions of theory

4. (sometimes foll by on) not utilized, noticed, or taken advantage of (by): rational arguments are lost on her

5. no longer possessed or existing because of defeat, misfortune, or the passage of time: a lost art

6. destroyed physically: the lost platoon

7. (foll by to) no longer available or open (to)

8. (foll by to) insensible or impervious (to a sense of shame, justice, etc)

9. (foll by in) engrossed (in): he was lost in his book

10. morally fallen: a lost woman

11. damned: a lost soul

12. (usually imperative) (informal) get lost, go away and stay away

Sister Sledge - Lost in Music 1979

GREY or GRAY?

Which is correct, the "grey" or "gray" spelling?

Have you often wondered "Am I spelling g-r-e-y correctly...or is it g-r-a-y?". How do you spell the color grey or gray? Well, the answer is they are both correct. There are two acceptable spellings. Gray is used primarily in the United States and other areas that use US English. Grey is used in Great Britain and areas that use UK English.

The only exceptions to these rules are:

1. Proper nouns such as a last name; Earl Grey and Zane Grey would not be spelled Gray and L.H. Gray must be always be spelled Gray.
2. Greyhound as in the dog breed.
3. Food irradiation (quantity of radiation energy absorbed by the food as it passes through the radiation field during processing). 1 Gray = 0.001 kGy = 1 joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of food irradiated.

When all else fails..................

grAy is how it's spelled in America

grEy is how it's spelled in England

"Is it grey or gray?" is likely one of the most frequently asked questions in regard to common misspellings, however there are many other commonly misspelled words related to regional differences. In most cases American spellings seem to be a bit more phonetic.

What is the difference between grey and gray?

According to a very comprehensive color charted provided by Clorford.com (a trusted resource on color swatches) grey and gray are actually two different "color swatches".

According to a survey conducted both in the U.S. and England, many people believe grey is an actual color perceived as the hue of "silver", and gray is a sliding scale of values from black to white.

Gray vs. Grey—Where Does the Difference Come From?

Does your vowel choice really make a lot of difference in the case of the color gray? It doesn’t.

The pronunciation remains the same regardless of the spelling you’re using. In fact, both spellings have the exact same origin.
Both gray and grey come from the Old English word grǽg. Over time, many different spellings of the word developed. The Middle English poem “The Owl and the Nightingale,” which was written in the twelfth or thirteenth century, uses the spelling “greie.” The fourteenth-century translation of the French poem “Roman de la Rose” uses the spelling “greye.” “Graye” can be found in the poem “Piers Plowman” written by William Langland in the second half of the fourteenth century. Examples of the spellings we use today can also be found in Middle English literature.
By the eighteenth century, “grey” had become the more common spelling, even though the legendary lexicographer Samuel Johnson thought that “gray” was a better version. In the nineteenth century, English dictionaries followed Johnson’s cue and prescribed “gray” as the correct version, but to no avail. By the twentieth century, “grey” had become the accepted spelling everywhere except in the United States.

Historical Footnote

According to an interesting and authoritative note in the Oxford English Dictionary, the spelling "gray" was championed by Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer and other English lexicographers; but in the twentieth century "grey" became the established spelling in Britain anyway.

Meanwhile, in the United States, "gray" became standard somewhat earlier. Examining two nineteenth-century U.S. dictionaries--Webster's Academic Dictionary (1867) and Webster's Condensed Dictionary (~1897) --and both include entries for "grey" that refer readers to "gray" for the term's definitions. So, what is the difference between grey and gray? On the one hand, this indicates an early preference in the United States (or at least at Merriam-Webster) for "gray"; but on the other, it suggests an incomplete victory, since British spellings such as "labour" and "labelled" don't appear in those dictionaries at all.

TENNIS

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.

Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis". It had close connections both to various field ("lawn") games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis. During most of the 19th century, in fact, the term "tennis" referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis: for example, in Disraeli's novel Sybil (1845), Lord Eugene De Vere announces that he will "go down to Hampton Court and play tennis."

The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye.

Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. The four Grand Slam tournaments (also referred to as the "Majors") are especially popular: the Australian Open played on hard courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the US Open played also on hard courts.

History

Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France, where a ball was struck with the palm of the hand. Louis X of France was a keen player of jeu de paume ("game of the palm"), which evolved into real tennis, and became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris "around the end of the 13th century". In due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe. In June 1316 at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne and following a particularly exhausting game, Louis drank a large quantity of cooled wine and subsequently died of either pneumonia or pleurisy, although there was also suspicion of poisoning. Because of the contemporary accounts of his death, Louis X is history's first tennis player known by name. Another of the early enthusiasts of the game was King Charles V of France, who had a court set up at the Louvre Palace.

It wasn't until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis", from the French term tenez, which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent. It was popular in England and France, although the game was only played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of England was a big fan of this game, which is now known as real tennis. During the 18th century and early 19th century, as real tennis declined, new racket sports emerged in England.

Further, the patenting of the first lawn mower in 1830, in Britain, is strongly believed to have been the catalyst, worldwide, for the preparation of modern-style grass courts, sporting ovals, playing fields, pitches, greens, etc. This in turn led to the codification of modern rules for many sports, including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls and others.

BIONIC

On August 26, 1994 the BBC had the news that “a man gets 'bionic' heart.”

"A man has been given the world's first battery-operated heart in a pioneering operation in Britain. The patient, an unnamed 62-year-old from the south of England, is now in a stable condition at the world-famous Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire."

 

Arthur Cornhill, 62, became the world's first patient to go home with a mechanical heart - a plastic and metal device in his abdomen. It was fitted at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, in August 1994. The recipient of the heart pump was later named as Arthur Cornhill.

He died from kidney failure nine months after the operation.

At the time of Mr Cornhill's death, the LVAD (left ventricular assist device) had been implanted into two other British men, one of whom died shortly afterwards.

In 2000 progress in LVAD (left ventricular assist device) technology allowed doctors in Oxford, England, to fit the first pump designed to be a permanent fixture inside a patient's failing heart. The patient, Peter Houghton, was on the brink of death before the operation that allowed to him to lead a fit and active life.

Bionics

Bionics is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.

The word bionic was coined by Jack E. Steele in 1958, possibly originating from the technical term bion (pronounced BEE-on; from Ancient Greek: βίος), meaning 'unit of life' and the suffix -ic, meaning 'like' or 'in the manner of', hence 'like life'. Some dictionaries, however, explain the word as being formed as a portmanteau from biology and electronics. It was popularized by the 1970s U.S. television series The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, both based upon the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin, which was itself influenced by Steele's work. All feature humans given superhuman powers by electromagnetically implants.

The transfer of technology between lifeforms and manufactures is, according to proponents of bionic technology, desirable because evolutionary pressure typically forces living organisms, including fauna and flora, to become highly optimized and efficient. A classic example is the development of dirt- and water-repellent paint (coating) from the observation that the surface of the lotus flower plant is practically unstick for anything (the lotus effect).

Examples of bionics in engineering include the hulls of boats imitating the thick skin of dolphins; sonar, radar, and medical ultrasound imaging imitating animal echolocation.

In the field of computer science, the study of bionics has produced artificial neurons, artificial neural networks, and swarm intelligence. Evolutionary computation was also motivated by bionics ideas but it took the idea further by simulating evolution in silicon and producing well-optimized solutions that had never appeared in nature.

Aviation

Aviation is the practical aspect or art of aeronautics, being the design, development, production, operation and use of aircraft, especially heavier than air aircraft. The word aviation was coined by French writer and former naval officer Gabriel La Landelle in 1863, from the verb avier (synonymous flying), itself derived from the Latin word avis ("bird") and the suffix -ation.

ALOHA

Aloha is the Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly 

misused as a simple greeting.

Etymology

Like most words, the origins of the Hawaiian word; aloha are a bit of a mystery. The word goes back to the very origins of Hawaii to Kahiki (the homeland) and even further. The word is found in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of: love, compassion, sympathy and kindness. Its beginnings may be seen in the Maori definition as "love of kin". Mary Kawena Pukui wrote that the "first expression" of aloha was between a parent and child. The word has become a part of the English vocabulary in an awkward misuse. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word as a "greeting" like "welcome" and "farewell" using a number of examples dating back as far as 1798. The term has come to epitomize the appropriation of the Hawaiian Language and the cultural dispossession of Native Hawaiians.

Lorrin Andrews wrote the first Hawaiian Dictionary called; "A dictionary of the Hawaiian language". In it he describes aloha as; "A word expressing different feelings; love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, the modern common salutation at meeting; parting". Mary Kawena Pukui and ‎Samuel H. Elbert's; "Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian" also write a similer definition. Anthropologist, Frances Newton states that; "Aloha is a complex and profound sentiment. Such emotions defy definition". Hawaiians believe the concept to be unique, with no English equivalent.

Construction and Construction worker

Construction

Construction is the process of constructing a building or infrastructure. Construction differs from manufacturing in that manufacturing typically involves mass production of similar items without a designated purchaser, while construction typically takes place on location for a known client. Construction as an industry comprises six to nine percent of the gross domestic product of developed countries. Construction starts with planning, design, and financing; and continues until the project is built and ready for use.

Large-scale construction requires collaboration across multiple disciplines. An architect normally manages the job, and a construction manager, design engineer, construction engineer or project manager supervises it. For the successful execution of a project, effective planning is essential. Those involved with the design and execution of the infrastructure in question must consider zoning requirements, the environmental impact of the job, the successful scheduling, budgeting, construction-site safety, availability and transportation of building materials, logistics, inconvenience to the public caused by construction delays and bidding, etc. The largest construction projects are referred to as megaprojects.

Construction worker

A construction worker is a tradesperson, labourer (by tradition considered an unskilled tradesperson), or professional employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure.

Description

The term construction worker is a generic term and most construction workers are primarily described by the type of work they perform (their trade). Construction workers may also be colloquially being referred to as "hard hat workers" or "hard hats", as they often wear hardhats for safety. Construction workers often work under a construction foreman.

While most construction workers learn on the job as an informal apprentice to an experienced tradesman, formal apprenticeship programs are common, particularly in developed countries with trade unions.

Trades

The division of labor of construction encompasses a diverse range of skilled and manual labor. Among the most common construction trades are those of carpenter, electrician, heavy equipment operator, ironworker, laborer, mason, plasterer, plumber, pipefitter, sheet metal worker, steel fixer (also known as a "rodbuster"), and welder.

Safety

Construction safety is very important to ensure a safe environment for the workers. All construction workers need to be educated on safety at each construction site to minimize injury.

Controversy

In 2008, a Human Rights Watch report described unsafe and unfair working conditions and failure on the part of the Chinese government to enforce labor standards in the construction industry. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that, at the end of 2006, 90% of the 40 million construction workers in China were migrant workers. Many of the migrant workers turned to construction work after their farming communities collapsed into poverty.

In the United States, illegal immigrant labor is prevalent in the construction industry. Because of the questionable legal status of these workers, employers often have the ability to commit crimes such as wage theft and violation of workplace standards without fear of facing consequences. Similar abuse of immigrant labor is also a problem in Qatar during the lead up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup where workers mostly from poor Asian countries are forced to work in desert conditions for as little as €6.20 a day.

Soldier

A soldier is one who fights as part of an organised, land-based armed force. A soldier can be an enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.

Etymology

The word soldier derives from the Middle English word soudeour, from Old French soudeer or soudeour, meaning mercenary, from soudee, meaning shilling's worth or wage, from sou or soud, shilling. The word is also related to the Medieval Latin soldarius, meaning soldier (literally, "one having pay"). These words ultimately derive from the Late Latin word solidus, referring to an Ancient Roman coin used in the Byzantine Empire.

Occupational designations

In most armed forces use of the word 'soldier' has taken on a more general meaning due to the increasing specialization of military occupations that require different areas of knowledge and skill-sets. As a result, 'soldiers' are referred to by names or ranks which reflect an individual's military occupation specialty arm, service, or branch of military employment, their type of unit, or operational employment or technical use such as: trooper, tanker (a member of tank crew), commando, dragoon, infantryman, artilleryman, marine, paratrooper, grenadier, ranger, sniper, engineer, sapper, craftsman, signaller, medic, or a gunner.

Other terms

In many countries soldiers serving in specific occupations are referred to by terms other than their occupational name. For example, military police personnel in the British Army are known as "red caps" because of the colour of their caps (and berets).

Infantry are sometimes called "grunts" (in the United States Army or United States Marine Corps) or "squaddies" (in the British Army), while US Army artillery crews, or "gunners," are sometimes referred to as "redlegs", from the service branch color for artillery. U.S. soldiers are often called "G.I.s" (short for the term "General Issue"). Members of the Marine Corps are typically referred to as "marines" rather than "soldiers".

In the United States, the term warfighter is often used to refer collectively to all whose job it is to do the actual fighting, although in 2011 the U.S. Army officially started calling its combat personnel soldiers instead of warfighters, in part to avoid confusion among "warfighters" assigned to peace-keeping or other types of duties beyond combat activities. The army has not completely phased out this terminology and still uses "warfighter" in various contexts such as the Project Manager Warfighter Information Network-Tactical.

French Marine Infantry are called marsouins (French: porpoises) because of their amphibious role. Military units in most armies have nicknames of this type, arising either from items of distinctive uniform, some historical connotation or rivalry between branches or regiments.

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world have established the ability to work at virtually identical tasks and obtained considerable respect for their achievements. There are also cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, who perform work similar to the cowboy in their respective nations.

The cowboy has deep historic roots tracing back to Spain and the earliest European settlers of the Americas. Over the centuries, differences in terrain, climate and the influence of cattle-handling traditions from multiple cultures created several distinct styles of equipment, clothing and animal handling. As the ever-practical cowboy adapted to the modern world, the cowboy's equipment and techniques also adapted to some degree, though many classic traditions are still preserved today.

Development of the modern cowboy image

The traditions of the working cowboy were further etched into the minds of the general public with the development of Wild West Shows in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which showcased and romanticized the life of both cowboys and Native Americans. Beginning in the 1920s and continuing to the present day, Western movies popularized the cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent stereotypes, both positive and negative. In some cases, the cowboy and the violent gunslinger are often associated with one another. On the other hand, some actors who portrayed cowboys promoted positive values, such as the "cowboy code" of Gene Autry, that encouraged honorable behavior, respect and patriotism. Historian Robert K. DeArment draws a connection between the popularized Western code and the stereotypical rowdy cowboy image to that of the "subculture of violence" of drovers in Old West Texas, that was influenced itself by the Southern code duello.

Likewise, cowboys in movies were often shown fighting with American Indians. However most armed conflicts occurred between Native people and cavalry units of the U.S. Army. Relations between cowboys and Native people were varied but generally not particularly friendly. Indian people usually allowed cattle herds to pass through for a toll of ten cents a head, but raided cattle drives and ranches in times of active white-Native conflict or food shortages. In the 1860s, for example, the Comanche created problems in Western Texas. Similar attacks also occurred with the Apache, Cheyenne and Ute Indians. Cowboys were armed against both predators and human thieves, and often used their guns to run off people of any race who attempted to steal, or rustle cattle.

In reality, working ranch hands past and present had very little time for anything other than the constant, hard work involved in maintaining a ranch.

Farmer and the Cowman

I thought to write something about this song and the consistency of it in real world.

But the lyrics say enough:

Oh, the farmer and the cowman should be friends.

One man likes to push a plow,

The other likes to chase a cow,

But that's no reason why they can't be friends.

**Enable subtitles and CC for lyrics**

Master & Servant

Is referring to a relationship where there is a clear distinction of power between the dominant party (master) and submissive party (servant).

In this relationship where one (the master) has complete authority over the other (the servant) in directing the manner, place, and time of his or her services. This is in contrast to employer-employee relationships because an employee has all the least some discretion in performing his or her duties, and to principal-agent relationships because an agent usually has broad discretion in conducting his or her business.

In BDSM, Master/slave or M/s is a relationship in which one individual serves another in an authority-exchange structured relationship. Unlike Dominant/submissive structures found in BDSM in which love is often the core value, service and obedience are often the core values in Master/slave structures. The participants may be of any gender or sexual orientation. The relationship uses the term "slave" because of the association of the term with ownership rights of a master to their slave's body, as property or chattel. While male "masters" will usually be referred to as "Master," whether or not female Masters are referred to as "Master" or "Mistress" may depend upon whether they identify as following the "Leather" or BDSM path.

Outside the BDSM community, the relationship of Master/slave is sometimes regarded as a form of consensual sexual slavery. In BDSM, a slave is a specific type of submissive. The Master/slave relationship refers to the relationship between the individuals involved, and does not necessarily require any specific acts, sexual or otherwise, though sexual activity is usually an aspect of the relationship. The sexual aspect could be conventional, and not necessarily BDSM. A slave could also be a masochist or bottom, but this is not always the case.

Some participants regard the relationship as sexual roleplay, while others enter into the relationship on the basis of a highly committed, long-term, submissive lifestyle.

WINTER

Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates, between autumn and spring. Winter is caused by the axis of the Earth in that hemisphere being oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures define different dates as the start of winter, and some use a definition based on weather.

When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa. In many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing temperatures. The moment of winter solstice is when the sun's elevation with respect to the North or South Pole is at its most negative value (that is, the sun is at its farthest below the horizon as measured from the pole), meaning this day will have the shortest day and the longest night. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates outside the polar regions differ from the date of the winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest sunrise and sunset).
Etymology
The English word "winter" comes from the Proto-Indo-European word "wend," which stands for water.

Kentucky bluegrass

Poa pratensis, commonly known as Kentucky bluegrass, smooth meadow-grass, or common meadow-grass, is a perennial species of grass native to Europe, Asia, North America, and northern Africa. Poa pratensis forms a valuable pasture plant, characteristic of well-drained, fertile soil. It is also used for making lawns in parks and gardens and is common in cool moist climates like the northeastern United States.

Taxonomy

Poa pratensis was one of the many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark work Species Plantarum in 1753. Poa is Greek for fodder and pratensis is Latin for meadow. The name Kentucky bluegrass derives from its flower heads, which are blue when the plant can grow to its natural height of 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 feet).

Poa pratensis is the type species of the grass family Poaceae.

There are two ill-defined subspecies:

• Poa pratensis ssp. pratensis – temperate regions
• Poa pratensis ssp. colpodea – Arctic

Description

Poa pratensis is a herbaceous perennial plant 30–70 centimetres (12–28 in) tall. The leaves have boat-shaped tips, narrowly linear, up to 20 centimetres (8 in) long and 3–5 millimetres (0.12–0.20 in) broad, smooth or slightly roughened, with a rounded to truncate ligule 1–2 millimetres (0.039–0.079 in) long. The conical panicle is 5–20 centimetres (2–8 in) long, with 3 to 5 branches in the basal whorls; the oval spikelets are 3–6 millimetres (0.12–0.24 in) long with 2 to 5 florets, and are purplish-green or grey. They are in flower from May to July, compared to annual meadowgrass (Poa annua) which is in flower for eight months of the year. Poa pratensis has a fairly prominent mid-vein (center of the blade).

The ligule is extremely short and square ended, making a contrast with Annual Meadowgrass (Poa annua) and Rough Meadowgrass (Poa trivialis) in which it is silvery and pointed. The Kentucky bluegrass is a dark green compared to the apple green color of poa annua and poa trivialis.

The rootstock is creeping, with runners (rhizomes). The broad, blunt leaves tend to spread at the base, forming close mats.

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.