Operation Sigma Sigma
The Sigma is an experimental glider developed in Britain from 1966 by a team led by Nicholas Goodhart. After disappointing performance during flight testing the Sigma was passed on to a Canadian group which carried out modifications, making the Sigma more competitive.
Design and development
Designed to compete in the 1970 World Championships, the team aimed to develop a wing that would climb well through a high lift coefficient and a large wing area, but equally had the "maximum possible reduction of area for cruise at low lift coefficients". At the same time for the minimum possible drag they aimed for "extensive" laminar flow. To achieve this they employed flaps that would alter both wing area and wing camber. Based on analysis of the nature of thermals encountered in cross-country flying, they reasoned that by having a slow turning circle, their sailplane could stay close to the central (and strongest) part of the thermal and gain maximum benefit.
Its unusual feature is its ability to vary its wing area using Fowler flaps. It had been tried before by the Hannover Akaflieg in 1938 with their AFH-4, the South African Beatty-Johl BJ-2 Assegai and the SZD Zefir gliders.
Sigma (cosmology)
Sigma in cosmology was a property of galaxies used when trying to work out the mystery of galaxies and their supermassive black holes.
History
In the late 1990s the NUKER experts had made observations with a spectroscope of two galaxies, one of an active galaxy with an active galactic nucleus called NGC10-68 and a dormant galaxy next door to us named Andromeda.
The observations are shown. The light from the centre in Andromeda galaxy was distorted proving the existence of super-massive black holes.
Other observations proved most galaxies had a similar centre whether it be active or dormant.
They then realised that the black holes must have something to do with a galaxy's formation, so they turned to something they thought was useless: the speed of the stars around the edge of the galaxy. This was Sigma, the speed of the stars at the edge of the galaxy supposedly unaffected by the mass of the black hole at the centre.
Usage In Cosmology
The NUKER team calculated the sigma of several stars in different galaxies and the mass of the black hole at the (nucleus) centre. They expected no correlation what so ever. But when plotting their results on a Scatter diagram and drawing a line of best fit they ended up with a positive correlation. It appeared that the heavier the black hole at the centre was the faster the stars within the galaxy travelled.
Sigma (duo)
Sigma is an English drum and bass duo consisting of Cameron Edwards and Joe Lenzie. They met at Leeds University at drum and bass nights. Their 2010 collaboration with DJ Fresh, "Lassitude", peaked at number 98 on the UK Singles Chart. Their single "Nobody to Love" topped the UK Singles Chart, becoming their first UK number one. Follow-up single "Changing", featuring Paloma Faith, also got to number one.
Career
Formation
Lenzie and Edwards met in 2006 at Leeds University; Cameron was working in local record store Tribe Records and with Echo Location's Obi running local night Event Horizon, while Lenzie was DJing hip-hop and warming up Event Horizon for such acts as Rahzel and Grandmaster Flash. Once they had finished in Leeds, they relocated to London and became a three-piece with Edwards' school friend Ben Mauerhoff, being signed under DJ Fresh's Breakbeat Kaos. After a while, long distances took their toll – Edwards and Mauerhoff were based in Surrey, whereas Lenzie was based in Harpenden, Hertfordshire and they couldn't get three people into the Harpenden studio – and Mauerhoff left. In December 2008 they formed their own record label, Life Recordings (so called because, according to Lenzie, the industry demanded that it be their life). Its inaugural release was a VIP mix of their early Bingo Beats single "El Presidente".
Driftwood (1947 film)
Driftwood is a 1947 drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Natalie Wood as a little orphan girl who adopts a collie. The movie also stars Ruth Warrick, Walter Brennan, Dean Jagger and Charlotte Greenwood.
Cast
External links
Driftwood (band)
Driftwood is an Americana/Folk-Rock band from Binghamton, NY that was formed in 2005. The group consists of Dan Forsyth (guitar, vocals), Joe Kollar (banjo, guitar, percussion), Claire Byrne (violin, vocals), and Joey Arcuri (upright bass, vocals). Their music has been described variously as "fusing traditional Americana and with contemporary influences and timeless subject matter".
Formation
Driftwood was formed by High School friends Dan Forsyth and Joe Kollar in 2006. The original lineup consisted of Forsyth, Kollar, Jon Doll (Bass), Chris Duddy (Mandolin) and Mike Torres (Drums). In 2008, as Duddy and Torres were leaving the band, violinist Claire Byrne was introduced to Forsyth and Kollar. Shortly thereafter, she joined. Original bassist Jonathan Doll left the band in late 2011 and Joey Arcuri joined Driftwood shortly after, completing the current and most definitive lineup.
Career
The band has released three studio albums and one live album.
Driftwood's debut album, the self-produced "Rally Day", was independently released in 2009. They released their second studio effort, "A Rock & Roll Heart", under the Old Boy Records label in 2011. In late 2013, they released "Driftwood", a fan-funded, self-produced and independently released album. Recorded with Grammy-winning engineer Robby Hunter, the album earned them spots on national radio shows including NPR's Mountain Stage and Music City Roots. The video for "The Sun's Going Down", a single cut from the album, was featured on CMT.com. In 2014, they released their first live album, "Live at Grassroots 2014". It was recorded at the 2014 Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance.
Driftwood (Travis song)
"Driftwood" is the second single taken from Indie band Travis' second studio album, The Man Who. It became their biggest hit single up to that point, peaking at #13 on the UK Singles Chart.
Background
In an interview for NME, Fran revealed that, "The title reputedly comes from the advice of one of my close friends. He advised me not to leave college to concentrate on the band. The lyrics focus on a character who has abandoned all his connections and is now like driftwood - "breaking into pieces... hollow and of no use, waterfalls will find you, bind you, grind you". Driftwood is a song for the person in your life who has so much potential and, yet, doesn't use it, because they're afraid of falling on their backside, you know, they're afraid of making a fool of themselves. But, yet, if they put their minds to it and just threw their plate out the window, they would actually do a lot with it and make themselves happy and other people happy. The chorus came about while I was watching an episode of Cheers. The episode involved an employee overhearing their boss stating that he was going to get rid of the "driftwood" in the company. I then went to do the washing up, and the first line in the chorus just came to me. Also, our original idea was to include the lyrics "caterpillars turn to butterflies", but it was too long to fit with the tune, so we shaved off syllables, changing it to "pillars turn to butter."
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