And/oar

and/OAR is an independent record label, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It was founded by Dale Lloyd in 2001, but officially launched in May 2002. The label focuses on raising awareness about field recordings and experimental sound art that somehow utilizes field recording as part of the creative process. From 2001 to 2005, and/OAR released field recording compilations for Phonography.org a website and international discussion forum pertaining to all aspects of the "art of field recording". As of December 2014, it has issued over 70 releases on CD and CD-R formats. From 2008 to 2010, free MP3 releases were made available through the website, but this format has since been discontinued.

In publishing field recording work, and/OAR has sought to present sonic phenomena in the world that have rarely been heard or have rarely, if ever, been documented on CD, such as the turbulent winds of the Patagonia region of South America, various plumbing apparatuses of countries in south east Asia, singing sand in Japan, booming sand in Mongolia, the usually unheard sounds of Christmas tree twinkle lights, the sound of physics labs at Harvard University, and the normally unheard underwater sounds of electric fish.

Oar

An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Oarsmen grasp the oar at the other end. The difference between oars and paddles are that paddles are held by the paddler, and are not connected with the vessel. Oars generally are connected to the vessel by means of rowlocks or tholes which transmit the applied force to the boat. In this system (known as a second class lever) the water is the fulcrum.

Oarsmen generally face the stern of the vessel, reach as far as they can towards the stern, and insert the blade of their oar in the water. As they lean back, towards the vessel's bow, the blade of their oars sweeps the water towards the stern, providing forward thrust – see lever.

For thousands of years vessels were powered either by sails, or the mechanical work of oarsmen, or paddlers. Some ancient vessels were propelled by either oars or sail, depending on the speed and direction of the wind (see galley).

History

Rowing oars have been used since the early Neolithic period. Wooden oars, with canoe-shaped pottery, dating from 5000–4500 BC have been discovered in a Hemudu culture site at Yuyao, Zhejiang, in modern China. In 1999, an oar measuring 63.4 cm (2 ft) in length, dating from 4000 BC, was unearthed at Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

Șoarș

Şoarş (German: Scharosch bei Fogarasch; Saxon dialect: Schursch; Hungarian: Sáros) is a commune in Braşov County, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Bărcuţ, Felmer, Rodbav, Seliştat and Şoarş. Every one of these has a fortified church.

Fortified church of Felmer

Fortified church of Felmer

Fortified church of Bărcuţ

Fortified church of Bărcuţ

Fortified church of Seliştat

Fortified church of Seliştat

References

Oar (sport rowing)

In rowing, oars are used to propel the boat. Oars differ from paddles in that they use a fixed fulcrum to transfer power from the handle to the blade, rather than using the athlete's shoulders or hands as the pivot-point as in canoeing and kayaking.

An oar is often referred to as a "blade" in the case of sweep oar rowing and as a "scull" in the case of sculling. Typical sculling oars are around 284 cm - 290 cm in length, while rowing oars are 370 cm - 376 cm long. The shaft of the oar ends with one flat end about 50 cm long and 25 cm wide, called the blade. A sculling oar is shorter and has a smaller blade area than the equivalent sweep oar.

The part of the oar the oarsman holds while rowing is called the handle. While rowing, the oars are supported by metal frames attached to the side of the boat called riggers.

The parts of an oar are (labelled from outside the boat first): spoon, loom (or shaft), 2/3 of the way up is the sleeve (including a wearplate) and button (or collar), and at the very end the handle and grip.