Foam

A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the regions of gas.

An important division of solid foams is into closed-cell foams and open-cell foams. In a closed-cell foam, the gas forms discrete pockets, each completely surrounded by the solid material. In an open-cell foam, the gas pockets connect with each other. A bath sponge is an example of an open-cell foam: water can easily flow through the entire structure, displacing the air. A camping mat is an example of a closed-cell foam: the gas pockets are sealed from each other so the mat cannot soak up water.

Foams are examples of dispersed media. In general, gas is present in large amount so it will be divided into gas bubbles of many different sizes (the material is polydisperse) separated by liquid regions which may form films, thinner and thinner when the liquid phase is drained out of the system films. When the principal scale is small, i.e. for a very fine foam, this dispersed medium can be considered as a type of colloid.

Mike McClure

Mike McClure (born July 6, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer from Tecumseh, Oklahoma. He is currently the frontman for the Mike McClure Band. McClure is a founding member of The Great Divide, and was a member until he and the band parted ways in 2002. The Mike McClure Band consists of McClure (guitar, vocals), Jesse Holcomb (bass), and Taylor Reed (drums).

McClure got his start in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and would hang out and play music at the notorious "Farm" with other Red Dirt artists such as Bob Childers, Tom Skinner, and Scott Evans. After forming The Great Divide with J.J. Lester, Scotte Lester, and Kelley Green in 1992 and contributing to six studio albums and one live two-part album, McClure set out to do his own thing.

In 2002, while still a member of The Great Divide, he released Twelve Pieces, his first solo album.First there was Les Paul Clanton on bass and Rodney Payett on guitar. Both went to do other projects. After recruiting Tom Skinner (bass) and Eric Hansen (drums), McClure had his band together. In 2004, The Mike McClure Band released their first album Everything Upside Down, a hard-hitting rock album. McClure often uses the quote that his new band is "twice as loud, and half as popular." Since the first album, the band has put out seven more albums, including the 2004 collaboration with the Burtschi Brothers of Norman, Oklahoma. After the death of Tom Skinner in July 2015 and the departure of Hansen, the band took on its current look.

Foam (organization)

FoAM describes itself as "a network of transdisciplinary labs for speculative culture". The networked, Brussels-based collective constitutes a group of designers, scientists, cooks, artists, engineers and gardeners who share an interest in taking knowledge from their respective areas of expertise and applying it in new public contexts. Guided by the motto "Grow your own worlds," the practice of this multidisciplinary research group aims at integrating principles of ethical living, sustainable design and eco-technology. FoAM's overall mission is shaped by its various participating artists and technologists, who have sensed a need for mediation between the artistic and the scientific worlds.

FoAM was founded by Maja Kuzmanovic in 2000 as a cultural research department in Starlab. In 2001, FoAM became an independent, distributed entity with cells in Brussels and Amsterdam. Since that time, the core group of this de facto new-media think tank has included members from Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, Croatia, Lithuania, the UK, and Sweden; its larger network has attracted people from around the world.