Asio

Asio is a genus of typical owls, or true owls, in the family Strigidae. The genus Asio contains the eared owls, which are characterised by feather tufts on the head which give the appearance of "ears". This group has representatives over most of the planet, and the short-eared owl is one of the most widespread of all bird species, breeding in Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands. Its geographic range extends to all continents except Antarctica and Australia.

These are medium-sized owls, 30–46 centimetres (12–18 in) in length with 80–103 centimetres (31–41 in) wingspans. They are long winged and have the characteristic facial disc.

The two northern species are partially migratory, moving south in winter from the northern parts of their range, or wandering nomadically in poor vole years in search of better food supplies. Tropical Asio owls are largely sedentary.

Asio owls are mainly nocturnal, but short-eared owls are also crepuscular. Most species nest on the ground, but the long-eared owl, Asio otus, nests in the old stick nests of crows, ravens and magpies (family Corvidae) and various hawks.

Asio (disambiguation)

Asio is a genus of owls.

Asio or ASIO may also refer to:

See also

Lunar soil

Lunar soil is the fine fraction of the regolith found on the surface of the Moon. Its properties can differ significantly from those of terrestrial soil. The physical properties of lunar soil are primarily the result of mechanical disintegration of basaltic and anorthositic rock, caused by continuous meteoric impact and bombardment by interstellar charged atomic particles over billions of years. The process is largely one of mechanical weathering in which the particles are ground to finer and finer size over time. This situation contrasts fundamentally to terrestrial soil formation, mediated by the presence of molecular oxygen (O₂), humidity, atmospheric wind, and a robust array of contributing biological processes. Some have argued that the term "soil" is not correct in reference to the Moon because on the Earth, soil is defined as having organic content, whereas the Moon has none. However, standard usage among lunar scientists is to ignore that distinction.

The term lunar soil is often used interchangeably with "lunar regolith" but typically refers to only the finer fraction of regolith, that which is composed of grains one cm in diameter or less.Lunar dust generally connotes even finer materials than lunar soil. There is no official definition of what size fraction constitutes "dust", some place the cutoff at less than 50 micrometres in diameter, others at less than 10.

Moondust (video game)

Moondust is a 1983 generative music video game created for the Commodore 64 by virtual reality pioneer, Jaron Lanier. Moondust was programmed in 6502 assembly in 1982, and is considered the first art video game.Moondust has frequently been used as an art installation piece in museum exhibitions from Corcoran Gallery of Art's 1983 "ARTcade" to the Smithsonian's 2012 "The Art of Video Games". It has also been used by Lanier and others in papers and lectures as an example to demonstrate the unexpected ephemerality of digital data.

Moondust is also considered to be the first interactive music publication, and it sold quite successfully. With the profits from Moondust and additional funding from Marvin Minsky, Lanier formed VPL which would later go on to create the DataGlove and the DataSuit and to become one of the primary innovators of virtual-reality research and development throughout the 1980s.

Gameplay

Moondust's gameplay is characterized by graphical complexity, and the game features an abstract ambient score. The goal of the game is to cover the bullseye at the center of the screen with "moonjuice." To do this, the player controls spaceman Jose Scriabin (named in honor of synaesthetic composer Alexander Scriabin) as he drops a seed square and then moves around the screen in arcing paths to run over the seed, smearing it to cover the bullseye. As Jose travels, flight patterns of he and the bullet-shaped spaceships he must avoid are created and as they pass through the trails that are created, and as the moonjuice spreads and smears, the musical score is modified according to a generative algorithm. In-game scoring system assigns point-values according to an algorithm when the level is completed. Players start with three seeds but may acquire more if they have scored highly enough. The game has been compared to the works of Jeff Minter.

Moondust (album)

MOONDUST is the nineteenth studio album by Japanese alternative rock band The Pillows. It was released on October 22, 2014, and marks the band's 25th anniversary.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by The Pillows. 

References