Iceberg

An iceberg or ice mountain is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. It may subsequently become frozen into pack ice (one form of sea ice). As it drifts into shallower waters, it may come into contact with the seabed, a process referred to as seabed gouging by ice.

Etymology

The word "iceberg" is a partial loan translation from Dutch ijsberg, literally meaning ice mountain, cognate to Danish isbjerg, German Eisberg, Low Saxon Iesbarg and Swedish isberg.

Overview

Because the density of pure ice is about 920 kg/m³, and that of seawater about 1025 kg/m³, typically only one-tenth of the volume of an iceberg is above water (due to Archimedes's Principle). The shape of the underwater portion can be difficult to judge by looking at the portion above the surface. This has led to the expression "tip of the iceberg", for a problem or difficulty that is only a small manifestation of a larger problem.

Icebergs generally range from 1 to 75 metres (3.3 to 246.1 ft) above sea level and weigh 100,000 to 200,000 metric tons (110,000 to 220,000 short tons). The largest known iceberg in the North Atlantic was 168 metres (551 ft) above sea level, reported by the USCG icebreaker East Wind in 1958, making it the height of a 55-story building. These icebergs originate from the glaciers of western Greenland and may have an interior temperature of −15 to −20 °C (5 to −4 °F).

Iceberg (fashion house)

Iceberg is an Italian luxury fashion design house. Founded in 1974 by Silvano Gerani and Giuliana Marchini, the house produces women’s and men's' 'prêt-a-porter, accessories, fragrances and childrenswear. It is part of the Gilmar Group, founded in 1962. Its headquarters are in San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy, and it has boutiques and outlets in cities across Europe, primarily in Italy but also in London, Paris, Moscow, Kiev, Amsterdam and in Kuwait City and Dubai. The founders' son Paolo Gerani is the creative person and the manager.

Starting as knitwear specialists, Iceberg were an early proponent of the concept of fashionable sportswear, later expanding into leatherwear and jeans. Their products have been worn by Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Lil' Kim and Mischa Barton. In July 2011 the company collection was presented at the catwalk of The Brandery fashion show in Barcelona.

References

Mini-Con

Mini-Cons are a human-sized race and faction of power-enhancing transforming robots first introduced in various Transformers series. Pioneered for the Transformers: Armada toy line, Mini-Cons have since been sold under the Transformers: Energon, Transformers: Universe, Transformers: Cybertron and Transformers: Classic lines. In some cases, the word may also be spelled "Minicon" and they are known as "Microns" in Japan.

Unicron Trilogy

Mini-Cons are a race of small, roughly human-sized Transformers capable of powerlinxing with a larger Transformer to impart extra abilities or greatly increase their strength. Their origins vary depending on the continuity in which they appear. Sometimes, they are creations of Unicron and other times they are creations of the Last Autobot or the descendants of Micronus Prime. However, there are times where their origins are not explained and are portrayed in different characterizations.

Throughout the different incarnations of the Transformers franchise, the Mini-Cons origins, characteristics and personalities vary, depending on continuity. For example, in the original Armada cartoon, Unicron created the Mini-Cons to be mindless tools, sent to Cybertron as an agitating element to the Transformers' civil war. The power-enhancing "smart tools" would be unleashed upon the populace, who would snap them up and bond with them, and the war would only get more destructive, as Unicron drank in the negative psychic energies from the death and destruction. As the Mini-Cons had been designed to form mental bonds with other life forms, when the human Rad touched the Mini-Con who he knew from the future as High Wire, High Wire apparently formed his bond then, with Rad and through the Mini-Cons' shared "soul dimension", the Linkage, sentience and free will spread throughout the Mini-Cons, forming "souls", and crippling Unicron's plans drastically. Most Mini-Cons had limited verbal capabilities, causing much controversy among fandom.