Birdy (bicycle)

The Birdy is a folding bicycle designed by Riese und Müller in Germany and produced by Pacific Cycles in Taiwan. As of 2010 over 100,000 had been sold. Three distinct models have been marketed, the third (Mk3) sold from July 2015.

First released in 1995, it was the first fully suspended folding bike. The ride is regarded by some as more sporty than the Brompton, thanks in part to a stiff single-piece aluminium frame with road bike rider geometry and no hinge. Some prefer its stiff suspended ride and rapid acceleration to that of a full-sized bike.

Specifications

Markus Riese had the basic idea for the Birdy in 1992. The first prototype was quickly welded together from two old bicycles in his parent's garage (photos and German article here). After a year, Markus Riese and Heiko Muller built a prototype out of aluminium and won the “Hessian Innovation Prize”. The prototype was shown at two trade shows, Intercycle in Cologne and Eurobike in Friedrichshafen, and caused a stir. The first Birdy bikes were sold in 1995 as a 'de luxe' folder, the first with full suspension. It had a high price tag, usually over US$1,000.

Par (score)

In golf, par is the pre-determined number of strokes that a scratch (or 0 handicap) golfer should require to complete a hole, a round (the sum of the pars of the played holes), or a tournament (the sum of the pars of each round). Pars are the central component of stroke play, the most common kind of play in professional golf tournaments. The term is also used in golf-like sports such as disc golf with the same meaning.

The length of each hole from the tee placement to the pin determines par values for each hole primarily but not exclusively. Almost invariably, holes are assigned par values between three and five strokes. For a casual player from the middle tees, a par-three hole will be 100–250 yards (90–230 m) from the tee to the pin. Par-four holes are 250–470 yards (230–430 m), although tournament players will often encounter par-four holes 500 yards (460 m) or more, as it is not uncommon for short par-five holes for normal play to be turned into par-four holes in championship play. Par-five holes are typically 470–600 yards (430–550 m), but in the modern game holes of over 600 yards are becoming more common in championship play. Other relevant factors in setting the par for the hole include the terrain and obstacles (such as trees, water hazards, hills, or buildings) that may require a golfer to take more (or fewer) shots. Some golf courses feature par-sixes and, very rarely, par-sevens, although the latter are not recognised by the United States Golf Association.

Kira Yamato

Kira Yamato (キラ・ヤマト) is a fictional character first introduced as the protagonist from the 2002 Japanese anime television series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, which was produced by Sunrise as part of the Gundam franchise. In the series, Kira is a first-generation Coordinator, a genetically enhanced human being born of normal humans (Naturals). At the beginning of Gundam SEED, Kira lives on the neutral space colony Heliopolis to avoid the war between the Coordinators and the Naturals, but the colony becomes involved in the war shortly thereafter. Kira is the only person within the Earth Alliance—the Naturals' military faction—who is able to effectively pilot their mobile suit—a type of a mecha created by them. He is forced to become a mobile suit pilot and to participate in various battles to protect his friends. Kira has also been featured in Gundam SEED's direct sequel, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, in which he fights to stop a new war between the races' military organizations. He is voiced in the Japanese series by Sōichirō Hoshi and in the English adaptation by Matt Hill.

Dreaming (journal)

Dreaming is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. The journal covers research on dreaming, as well as on dreaming from the viewpoint of any of the arts and humanities. The current editor-in-chief is Deirdre Barrett (Harvard Medical School).

Abstracting and indexing

According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2014 impact factor of 0.625, ranking it 89th out of 129 journals in the category "Psychology, Multidisciplinary".

References

External links

Dreaming (Aurora song)

"Dreaming" is a single by Aurora with vocals by Lizzy Pattinson. It reached number 24 on the UK Singles Chart in 2002.

Music video

There were two video versions for the single. One features Lizzy on a charter bus and singing with an acoustic band.

The other version features Lizzy in a room with mahogany flooring and ceiling. She is singing with a band.

Track listing

External links

BT (musician)

Brian Wayne Transeau (born October 4, 1970), better known by his stage name BT, is an American music producer, composer, technologist, audio technician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. An artist in the electronica music genre, he is credited as a pioneer of the trance and intelligent dance music styles that paved the way for EDM, and for "stretching electronic music to its technical breaking point." He also creates music within many other styles, such as classical, film composition and bass music.

BT is also known for pioneering the stutter edit. This production technique consists of taking a small fragment of sound and repeating it rhythmically. BT was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for his song "Somnambulist (Simply Being Loved)", recognized as using the largest number of vocal edits in a song (6,178 edits). BT's work with stutter edit techniques led to the formation of software development company Sonik Architects, developer of the sound-processing software plug-ins Stutter Edit and BreakTweaker, and the live audio and visual remix app called Sonifi.