A mat is a generic term for a piece of fabric material it is used for many things, generally placed on a floor or other flat surface, which serves a range of purposes including:
In domestic settings:
Mató (Catalan pronunciation: [məˈto]) is a fresh cheese of Catalonia made from cows' or goats' milk, with no salt added.
It is usually served with honey, as a traditional and emblematic Catalan dessert known as mel i mató.
Mató is a whey cheese similar to non-industrial variants of the fresh cheeses known as Brull in Maestrat, Ports de Beseit and the Southern Terres de l'Ebre and as Brossat in Andorra, Pallars, Menorca, Mallorca and parts of Occitania, as well as the brocciu in Corsica and other types of curd cheese such as Italian ricotta.
The Mató from the villages near the Montserrat mountain, such as Ullastrell and Marganell, is quite famous.
Mató is mentioned in the Sent Soví, a 14th-century Catalan cookbook, as well as in the El Noi de la Mare local Christmas carol. It was very popular during the Middle Ages, when it was made plain or scented with orange flowers.
Mats are used for safety in gymnastics, and in training new skills. They are usually a piece of foam (covered in leather) ranging from 1.5-28 inches thick, covered in a vinyl or plastic lining. The foam ranges in density from relatively firm to very soft.
Landing mats are usually blue, but can also be almost any other color. Mats come in a range of sizes, from very small mats used on the beam, to very large mats, used in the foam pits.
Typically, in both competition and practice, the use of mats is mandatory. On every event except floor exercise, pommel horse and vault, gymnasts may use an additional landing mat, without deduction, which may be adjusted for distance.
These are thin mats that fasten around the balance beam. They are used only in training to give gymnasts training high-level skills additional protection and a wider landing space while working on the apparatus. Makeshift beam pads can also be constructed from soft mats placed over the beam surface, if necessary.
Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless antitank rocket launcher weapon, widely fielded by the United States Army. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the first generation of rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat. Featuring a solid rocket motor for propulsion, it allowed for high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads to be delivered against armored vehicles, machine gun nests, and fortified bunkers at ranges beyond that of a standard thrown grenade or mine. The bazooka also fired a HESH round, effective against buildings and tank armor. The universally applied nickname arose from the M1 variant's vague resemblance to the musical instrument called a "bazooka" invented and popularized by 1930s U.S. comedian Bob Burns.
During World War II, German armed forces captured several bazookas in early North African and Eastern Front encounters and soon reverse engineered their own version, increasing the warhead diameter to 8.8 cm (among other minor changes) and widely issuing it as the Raketenpanzerbüchse "Panzerschreck" ("Tank terror").
Bazooka is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. He is the G.I. Joe Team's missile specialist and debuted in 1985.
His real name is David L. Katzenbogen, and his rank is that of sergeant E-5. Bazooka was born in Hibbing, Minnesota.
He was operating as an Abrams tank driver in the Third Armored Division, when he came to believe that they were too vulnerable to rocket launcher fire. He put in for a transfer as soon as possible. Bazooka trained at the Advanced Infantry School, Fort Benning, Armor School, Fort Knox, and is a qualified expert with Dragon Anti-Tank Missile, Milan System, LAW rocket system, recoilless rifle, and all Warsaw Pact RPG systems. He is noted for being a swift, strategic thinker.
Bazooka was first released as an action figure in 1985. The figure was repainted and released as part of the Tiger Force line in 1988. A new version of Bazooka was released in 1993 as part of the Battle Corps line.
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Bazooka was a musical band active in the early 1990s, and led by drummer Vince Meghrouni. Their music could be broadly classified as jazz, but also touched on other styles. All their albums were released by SST Records.
The first line-up was Meghrouni, bass guitarist Bill Crawford and saxophonist Tony Atherton. This lineup of Bazooka record three albums: "Perfectly Square", "Blowhole", and "Cigars, Oyster and Booze."
Songwriting was split about evenly between the trio's members, with a healthy dose of jazz standards written by the likes of Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and Lee Morgan. The music was generally in a bebop or hard bop vein, though a few pieces were freely improvised, and there was a strong punk rock or hard rock quality, particularly in Crawford's playing.
In his review of 1994's Blowhole, Richard Foss wrote, "It is difficult to articulate just what makes Bazooka such an interesting band and Blowhole such a fine album. There are other bands that play jazz with rock fervor and wild abandon, but few who do so with anything approaching this level of pure musicianship."