Obsidian

Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.

It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth. Obsidian is commonly found within the margins of rhyolitic lava flows known as obsidian flows, where the chemical composition (high silica content) induces a high viscosity and polymerization degree of the lava. The inhibition of atomic diffusion through this highly viscous and polymerized lava explains the lack of crystal growth. Obsidian is hard and brittle; it therefore fractures with very sharp edges, which were used in the past in cutting and piercing tools, and it has been used experimentally as surgical scalpel blades.

Origin and properties

The translation into English of Natural History written by the elder Pliny of Rome shows a few sentences on the subject of a volcanic glass called Obsian, so named from its resemblance to a stone (obsiānus lapis) found in Ethiopia by Obsius, a Roman explorer.

List of Beast Wars and Beast Machines characters

This is a list of characters from the animated television series Beast Wars and the follow-up series Beast Machines. The shows are part of the Transformers franchise, based around alien robots transforming into animals and vehicles.

Maximals

McDonald's toy intended as a Transmetal version of Blackarachnia was released, but never appeared in any storyline.

Predacons

Vehicons

Non-aligned characters

Characters from the original series in the 80s

Most of these characters can be seen lying around the Ark in stasis lock.

References

Obsidian (1986 video game)

Obsidian is an action-adventure computer game for the Amstrad CPC personal computer published by Artic Computing in 1986. The game is set on the titular space station located within the centre of an asteroid, which is out of control and drifting towards a black hole. The player must guide an astronaut with a jet pack around the station and re-activate its engine shields to prevent the Obsidian's destruction. This involves collecting items and using them to solve puzzles, while avoiding the Obsidian's reactivated security systems.

Obsidian is the first game that was developed by Revolution Software co-founder Tony Warriner, who was a school pupil at the time. Due to concentrating on Obsidian's development rather than revising he failed all of his exams. The game received a positive response from journalists, it was praised for the quality of its graphics, reviewers held mixed views on the game's ability to maintain player interest. The jet pack was criticized for being too sensitive when responding to the player's movement inputs.

Breach (The Wallflowers album)

(Breach) is the third studio album by The Wallflowers. The album's first single was "Sleepwalker," the video of which poked fun at Dylan's "rock star" status following the success of Bringing Down the Horse. Guests on the album included Elvis Costello, who lent vocals on "Murder 101". Despite good reviews, the album failed to follow the commercial success of Bringing Down the Horse and was seen as somewhat of a commercial failure. "Breach" peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold.

Reception

Despite weak album sales, "Breach" managed to receive strong reviews from critics. Allmusic said of the album: "On the surface, there's not much different between this album and its predecessor, but the songs are stronger, sharper, and the performances are lean, muscular, and immediate." Rolling Stone was also receptive of the album, stating: "The slow stuff might be a bit ponderous, but the first six or seven songs manage a rare trick: They're incandescent enough to jump out at you on the radio, yet are steeped in a type of introspective inquiry that was once integral to rock & roll, and has nearly vanished."

Breach (film)

Breach is a 2007 American historical and political thriller film directed by Billy Ray. The screenplay by Ray, Adam Mazer and William Rotko is based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia for more than two decades, and Eric O'Neill, who worked as his assistant and helped bring about his downfall. O'Neill served as a consultant on the film. The film received generally positive reviews.

Plot

Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) is a young FBI employee assigned to work undercover as a clerk to Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper), a senior agent he is told is suspected of being a sexual deviant. Hanssen has been recalled from a detail post at the State Department to FBI headquarters ostensibly to head up a new division specializing in Information Assurance.

Initially, Hanssen insists on a strict formality between the two men. He frequently rails against the bureaucracy of the FBI and complains that only those who regularly "shoot guns" are considered for senior positions instead of those, like himself, who are involved in vital national security matters. He calls the bureau's information technology systems antiquated and laments the lack of coordination and information exchange with other intelligence agencies.

Cetacean surfacing behaviour

Cetacean surfacing behaviour is a group of unique behaviours demonstrated by the Cetacea order when they come to the water's surface to breathe. Time intervals between surfacing can vary depending on the species, surfacing style or the purpose of the dive, and some species have been known to dive for up to 85 minutes at a time when hunting. In addition to respiration, cetaceans have developed and use surface behaviours for many other functions such as display, feeding and communication. All regularly observed members of the order Cetacea, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, show a range of surfacing behaviours. Cetacea is usually split into two suborders, Odontoceti and Mysticeti, based on the presence of teeth or baleen plates in adults respectively. However, for the purpose of this article Cetacea will be split into whales (large (> 10 m) sized cetaceans such as sperm and most baleen whales) and dolphins and porpoises (all medium and small sized (< 10 m) Odontocetes including orca) as many behaviours are correlated with size. Although some behaviours such as spyhopping, logging and lobtailing occur in both groups, others such as bow riding or peduncle throws are exclusive to one or the other. It is these energetic behaviours that humans observe most frequently and are generally most fascinated with, which has resulted in a large amount of scientific literature on the subject and a popular tourism industry.