Blind Skateboards

Blind (stylized as bLind) is a skateboard company founded by Mark Gonzales in 1989 under Steve Rocco's World Industries distribution company. Gonzales has since left the company and today the company continues under the ownership of Dwindle Distribution. The company produces decks, wheels, soft goods and accessories. The company's logo for many years was a stylized grim reaper.

History

1989–1993: Formation, Video Days, Gonzales departs

The name "Blind" was devised as an intentional slight to Gonzales' former sponsor, Vision Skateboards. Upon the brand's launch in 1989, Jason Lee moved from World Industries to Blind as its second professional rider (as founder, Gonzales was the team's first). Blind then signed Rudy Johnson and Guy Mariano, both from Powell Peralta, and Jordan Richter as its vert rider. Danny Way rode for the company for a very brief period of time, and a signature skateboard deck, featuring a pink-colored car, was designed and released for Way.

Blind released its first video in 1991, entitled Video Days, which featured full-length parts from Gonzales, Mariano, Richter, Lee, and Johnson. The video was filmed and directed by Spike Jonze and is considered one of the most influential skateboarding videos of its era. While filming a second full-length video, Plan B director, Mike Ternasky reviewed progress footage and came to the conclusion that Tim Gavin and Henry Sanchez, also members of the Blind team, were the only two riders who had produced footage of a high enough quality—the release of Tim and Henry's Pack of Lies followed in 1992.

Blind (Korn song)

"Blind" is a song recorded and performed by American nu metal band Korn for their self-titled debut album. It was released as the album's first single in August 1994.

Concept

As explained by Dennis Shinn, based on the original creation of the song, while in Sexart, before it was re-recorded by Korn;

Jonathan Davis's personal meaning, how he connected with the song would be as said:

Music and structure

"Blind" had been written in Sexart before Jonathan Davis left the band to join Korn. The song was composed entirely by Dennis Shinn - being both music, and vocal melodies / lyrics, in December 1992. Once Shinn had the song ready, he introduced the song to the other guys at band practice. From that point, Ryan Shuck added in one music section (acting as a bridge). Shuck's bridge contribution followed the extremely popular song opening riff composed by Dennis Shinn. Shuck's bridge divided the popular intro riff from the vocal section of the song. His bridge came back around after the vocal section ended as well. Shuck's contribution landed on both Sex Art's recorded demo of "Blind", as well as Korn's recorded demo of "Blind". However, once the 1994 Korn LP was being recorded, the music part written by Shuck was removed. On the Sex Art recorded demo, following Shucks bridge, the song then dropped into an extensive musical (Bridge) that built up before the closing out of the song. The entire section (bridge) was musically composed by Ray Solis. This area of music by Solis was not recorded on the Korn demo, nor album.

Unexploded ordnance

Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes acronymized as UO), Unexploded bomb (UXB), or Explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive weapons (bombs, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munitions, etc.) that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded.

Around the world

Unexploded ordnance from at least as far back as the American Civil War still poses a hazard worldwide, both in current and former combat areas and on military firing ranges. A major problem with unexploded ordnance is that over the years the detonator and main charge deteriorate, frequently making them more sensitive to disturbance, and therefore more dangerous to handle. There are countless examples of people tampering with unexploded ordnance that is many years old – often with fatal results. Believing it to be harmless they handle the device and it explodes, killing or severely injuring them. For this reason it is universally recommended that unexploded ordnance should not be touched or handled by unqualified persons. Instead, the location should be reported to the local police so that bomb disposal or Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) professionals can render it safe.

Bullet (car)

Dreamt up by John Bettini, the first Bullet car prototype was built in 1996 utilising a Mazda MX-5 body. The chassis was designed and fabricated by Barry Pearson; it consisted of a square-tube spaceframe onto which a 13B rotary powerplant from a Mazda RX-7 was fitted.

Two more years of development saw a number of cars built; the first V8 was powered by a TVR crate engine supplied by the customer. Bettini decided a Lexus 4LT Quadcam would be a more desirable choice and the next production run saw four normally aspirated cars built and sold.

Sprintex, a supercharger company owned by Advanced Engine Components Ltd. (AEC) was commissioned to develop a supercharger system for the new "wide-body" model released in late 1999. AEC was so impressed with the supercharged Bullet SS that they purchased the Bullet company and set up a new manufacturing facility at Yatala in Queensland Australia.

AEC decided that the new Bullet Roadster and supercharged SS models should become fully Australian Design Rules (ADRs) compliant, and they invested heavily to achieve that end on 4 December 2002. All cars built from then on were classified as genuine production models and were priced at $98,000 for the Roadster and $118,000 for the SS.

The Circle (Bon Jovi album)

The Circle is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. Produced by John Shanks, the album was released November 10, 2009. The album debuted at #1 in several countries, including the U.S., where it sold 163,000 copies in its first week debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200.

The Circle takes the band back to the rock roots after their prior Nashville country music influenced album Lost Highway. The Circle was inspired by the economic meltdown and political turmoil around the world.

Recording and production

In an interview given to Rolling Stone Magazine, guitarist Richie Sambora says the album is a return to "rock and roll" and said "There’s going to be some big choruses on there. It sounds like Bon Jovi, but it sounds fresh. We experimented with a lot of new sounds and had a really good time working with John Shanks, who is also a really good guitar player, so he and I did a lot of ‘weaseling’ with the guitar sounds. There are a lot of really good guitar sounds and new kind atmospheres on the new Bon Jovi record, that I think makes it really modern. I think people are going to dig it, man. And it rocks hard."

Bullet (interurban)

The Bullet was a high-speed electric multiple-unit passenger car produced by the J. G. Brill Company in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W) in 1931, and then similar, somewhat smaller single-unit, single-end versions were built for the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad in 1932. Few were sold because of the Great Depression and the public transport decline in the 1930s. However, some of the P&W cars ran for nearly 60 years.

The First Railroad car in a Wind Tunnel

The Bullets were a result of a broad research program. This program was led by Philadelphia and Western's vice-chairman W. L. Butler, who had been largely responsible for development of the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad's Red Devil car's design, in collaboration with the J. G. Brill Company. Unlike the Red Devils, the Bullets had all-aluminum bodies. Their design was improved over earlier styles of railcars after a lot of wind tunnel research – the first in the railway industry – the Bullet was streamlined to minimize the air resistance. According to Felix W. Pawlowski of University of Michigan, this would save 40% or more of the energy required by the conventional type of passenger car at speeds in excess of 60 mph (97 km/h). They also developed an improved low-level bogie (truck) design, and the Bullets could run as multiple-unit trains. Like the Red Devils, the Bullets had four 100-horsepower (75 kW) motors. The Bullets as built for the P&W were longer at 55 feet (17 m) and a bit heavier at 26 short tons (24 t), but with only about half the weight as typical railcars of that time.