X (Kylie Minogue album)

X is the tenth studio album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was released on 21 November 2007 by Parlophone. It is her first release since the greatest hits compilation Ultimate Kylie (2004), and her first studio album since Body Language (2003). Work on the album began following Minogue's gradual recovery from breast cancer and subsequent radiotherapy treatment. Her cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2005, resulted in the postponement of Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour midway through its run. Minogue resumed the tour in late 2006, in the midst of recording X, and was completed later in the following year. The album introduced new American and European producers including Bloodshy & Avant, Guy Chambers, Calvin Harris and Freemasons.

X has received positive reviews from music commentators. Many critics had commended the production, Minogue's innovative writing and many believed that it was a true welcome back to the pop scene. However, upon release, some critics were divided whether the album was a 'comeback' album and some noted the fillers and theme inconsistency. Commercially, X was a success. In Minogue's native Australia, the album debuted at number one on the Australian Albums Chart, becoming her first number-one album since Body Language (2003) and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). In the United Kingdom, the album peaked at number four, being held off by artists Westlife, Shayne Ward (which was the highest debuting album that week) and Leona Lewis. It gained a higher position than her last record and was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. The album achieved strong charting internationally, peaking inside the top 20 in countries including Austria, Germany, Ireland, Taiwan and France. X became her lowest selling studio album in the United States, peaking at a lowest 139 on the Billboard 200.

National Space Organization

The National Space Organization (NSPO; formerly known as the National Space Program Office) is the national civilian space agency of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the auspices of the Executive Yuan's National Science Council. NSPO is involved in the development of space exploration, satellite construction and development as well as related technologies and infrastructure (including the FORMOSAT series of Earth observation satellites) and related research in aerospace engineering, remote sensing, astrophysics, atmospheric science, information science, space weapons, a future Taiwanese manned space program and the deployment of space-based weapons for the defense of national security in the ROC.

NSPO headquarters and the main ground control station are in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Taiwanese rocket launch program

Indigenously developed suborbital launch vehicle based upon the Sky Bow II surface-to-air missile. Six to seven launches as of 2010.

Satellite launch vehicle program

Log

Log, LOG, or LoG may refer to:

Recordkeeping

Places

Russia

Slovenia

Logarithm

In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse operation to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a number is the exponent to which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. In simple cases the logarithm counts repeated multiplication. For example, the base 10 logarithm of 1000 is 3, as 10 to the power 3 is 1000 (1000 = 10 × 10 × 10 = 10³); the multiplication is repeated three times. More generally, exponentiation allows any positive real number to be raised to any real power, always producing a positive result, so the logarithm can be calculated for any two positive real numbers b and x where b is not equal to 1. The logarithm of x to base b, denoted log_b(x), is the unique real number y such that

For example, as 64 = 2⁶, we have

The logarithm to base 10 (that is b = 10) is called the common logarithm and has many applications in science and engineering. The natural logarithm has the number e (≈ 2.718) as its base; its use is widespread in mathematics and physics, because of its simpler derivative. The binary logarithm uses base 2 (that is b = 2) and is commonly used in computer science.

Chip log

A chip log, also called common log, ship log, or just log, is a navigation tool mariners use to estimate the speed of a vessel through water. The word knot, to mean nautical mile per hour, derives from this measurement method.

History

All nautical instruments that measure the speed of a ship through water are known as logs. This nomenclature dates back to the days of sail, when sailors tossed a log attached to a rope knotted at regular intervals off the stern of a ship. Sailors counted the number of knots that passed through their hands in a given time to determine the ship's speed. They had to know the speed to navigate using dead reckoning, which was usual practice before modern navigation instruments like GPS. Today, sailors and aircraft pilots still use the written term "knot[s]" to express speed, although the modern term is a respelling of "naut[s]," an abbreviation of "nautical mile[s]."

Construction

A chip log consists of a wooden board attached to a line (the log-line). The log-line has a number of knots at uniform intervals. The log-line is wound on a reel so the user can easily pay it out.

Sect (disambiguation)

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system. It may also refer to:

In entertainment

Planescape

Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994. As its name suggests, the setting crosses and comprises the numerous planes of existence, encompassing an entire cosmology called the Great Wheel, as originally developed in the Manual of the Planes by Jeff Grubb. This includes many of the other Dungeons & Dragons worlds, linking them via inter-dimensional magical portals.

Development

Planescape is an expansion of ideas presented in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (First Edition) and the original Manual of the Planes. When Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition was published, a decision was made not to include angelic or demonic creatures, and so the cosmology was largely ignored, being replaced (to a certain degree) by the Spelljammer setting. However, fan demand for a 2nd Edition Manual of the Planes was strong enough to justify its expansion into a full-fledged campaign setting, and so in 1994 Planescape was released.