Kayak

A kayak is a small, narrow boat which is propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic language, where it is the word qajaq (pronounced [qajaq]). In the UK the term canoe is often used when referring to a kayak. The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler. The cockpit is sometimes covered by a spray deck that prevents the entry of water from waves or spray and makes it possible for suitably skilled kayakers to roll the kayak: that is, to capsize and right it without it filling with water or ejecting the paddler.

Some modern boats vary considerably from a traditional design but still claim the title "kayak", for instance in eliminating the cockpit by seating the paddler on top of the boat ("sit-on-top" kayaks); having inflated air chambers surrounding the boat; replacing the single hull by twin hulls ("W" kayak), and replacing paddles with other human-powered propulsion methods, such as foot-powered rotational propellers and "flippers". Kayaks are also being sailed, as well as propelled by means of small electric motors, and even by outboard gas engines, when possible.

Kayak (band)

Kayak are a Dutch progressive rock band formed in 1972 in the city Hilversum by Ton Scherpenzeel and Pim Koopman. In 1973, their debut album "See See The Sun" was released, including three hit singles. Their main popularity was in the Netherlands, with their top hit (Ruthless Queen) reaching No. 6 on the Dutch charts in March 1979. They disbanded in 1982 after releasing nine albums.

In 1999 the band was asked to perform on the TV show De Vrienden van Amstel Live. After this performance, they decided to reform, and released seven further studio albums and three live albums. On 4 January 2008 they released Coming Up For Air. That same day saw the start of their 35th anniversary-tour. On 7 October 2008, they ended the tour at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. The concert was released on CD and DVD as The Anniversary Box in December 2008.

In October 2009 the band embarked on a Dutch tour. According to Ton Scherpenzeel (on the band's website), after that tour Kayak would no longer do the album-tour-album-tour cycle. They would probably keep on making new music though, as Scherpenzeel stated. But the sudden and unexpected death of Pim Koopman in November 2009 (halfway through the tour) made the future of the band very uncertain.

Icarus

In Greek mythology, Icarus (the Latin spelling, conventionally adopted in English; Ancient Greek: Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, Etruscan: Vikare) is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth. Often depicted in art, Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus's father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea's dampness would not clog his wings or the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignored his father's instructions not to fly too close to the sun, whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea. This tragic theme of failure at the hands of hubris contains similarities to that of Phaëthon.

The Legend

Icarus' father Daedalus, a very talented and remarkable Athenian craftsman, built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete near his palace at Knossos to imprison the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster born of his wife and the Cretan bull. Minos imprisoned Daedalus himself in the labyrinth because he gave Minos's daughter, Ariadne, a clew (or ball of string) in order to help Theseus, the enemy of Minos, to survive the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.

Icarus (band)

Icarus are a band from London, England, who specialise in a kind of electronic drum and bass with elements of experimental jazz and rich instrumentation. Formed in 1993 by Ollie Bown and Sam Britton, the band's music has been described by Kieran Hebden as "really beautiful and also quite kind of evil". Hebden included an Icarus track, "Benevolent Incubator", on his Late Night Tales compilation, and Icarus also provided a remix of the Four Tet track "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth".

Icarus founded the independent label Not Applicable in 2002.

Discography

Albums

Roger Squires

Roger Squires, born 22 February 1932, in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, England, is a British crossword compiler, living in Ironbridge, Shropshire, who is best known for being the world's most prolific compiler. He compiles under the pseudonym Rufus in The Guardian, Dante in The Financial Times and is the Monday setter for the Daily Telegraph.

Early days, education, the military, and introduction to crosswords

In the Second World War, as a deck leader in the Sea Scouts, he acted as a messenger, helping to transfer the D-Day wounded and was a member of a Gang Show entertaining war workers in factories, as if they were not suffering enough. Squires was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School where he gained his School Certificate before joining the Royal Navy at age 15 as a Boy Seaman. He trained at the notorious HMS Ganges, where the lash was still in use, winning the award for the best all-round boy of the year, coming first in the Seamanship, Gunnery and School examinations and representing the ship at football and cricket. At 20, as the youngest ever Seaman Petty Officer, he became a Lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm and flew for 10 years from various carriers, visiting over 50 countries. He flew in several Squadrons, 703X test flying the new Gannet anti-submarine aircraft, various Flights of 849 AEW Squadron in Skyraiders and Gannets, and in 831 Radio Warfare Squadron as Senior Observer. His first published puzzle appeared in 1963, the year that he left the Navy, in the Wolverhampton Express & Star. The first national was the Radio Times, and in the same year he became a regular compiler with the Birmingham Post. He then started compiling for syndicates that supplied puzzles for newspapers in the UK and abroad, including Central Press Features, The Press Association, The Syndicate, First Features, Morley Adams, and Gemini Crosswords.