Atlas

An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a map of Earth or a region of Earth, but there are atlases of the other planets (and their satellites) in the Solar System. Furthermore, atlases of anatomy exist, mapping out the human body or other organisms. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic features and political boundaries, many atlases often feature geopolitical, social, religious and economic statistics. They also have information about the map and places in it.

Etymology

The word atlas dates from 1636, first in reference to the English translation of Atlas, sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi (1585) by Flemish geographer Gerhardus Mercator, who might have been the first to use this word in this way. A picture of the Titan Atlas holding up the world appeared on the frontispiece of this and other early map collections.

History

The first work that contained systematically arranged woodcut maps of uniform size, intended to be published in a book, thus representing the first modern atlas, was De Summa totius Orbis (1524–26) by the 16th-century Italian cartographer Pietro Coppo. Nonetheless, this distinction is conventionally awarded to the Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius who in 1570 published the collection of maps Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Atlas (computer)

The Atlas Computer was a joint development between the University of Manchester, Ferranti, and Plessey. The first Atlas, installed at Manchester University and officially commissioned in 1962, was one of the world's first supercomputers, considered to be the most powerful computer in the world at that time. It was said that whenever Atlas went offline half of the United Kingdom's computer capacity was lost. It was a second-generation machine, using discrete germanium transistors. Two other Atlas machines were built: one for British Petroleum and the University of London, and one for the Atlas Computer Laboratory at Chilton near Oxford.

A derivative system was built by Ferranti for Cambridge University. Called the Titan, or Atlas 2, it had a different memory organisation and ran a time-sharing operating system developed by Cambridge University Computer Laboratory. Two further Atlas 2s were delivered: one to the CAD Centre in Cambridge (later called CADCentre, then AVEVA), and the other to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), Aldermaston.

Atlas (topology)

In mathematics, particularly topology, one describes a manifold using an atlas. An atlas consists of individual charts that, roughly speaking, describe individual regions of the manifold. If the manifold is the surface of the Earth, then an atlas has its more common meaning. In general, the notion of atlas underlies the formal definition of a manifold and related structures such as vector bundles and other fibre bundles.

Charts

The definition of an atlas depends on the notion of a chart. A chart for a topological space M (also called a coordinate chart, coordinate patch, coordinate map, or local frame) is a homeomorphism from an open subset U of M to an open subset of Euclidean space. The chart is traditionally recorded as the ordered pair .

Formal definition of atlas

An atlas for a topological space M is a collection of charts on M such that . If the codomain of each chart is the n-dimensional Euclidean space and the atlas is connected, then M is said to be an n-dimensional manifold.

Natural (The Mekons album)

Natural is an album by The Mekons. It was released on August 21, 2007 by Quarterstick Records.

Track listing

Crystal Kay (album)

Crystal Kay is an album by Japanese R&B singer Crystal Kay. It compiles Crystal Kay's English language songs, and was released across Asia in November 2003. It was re-released in Japan on December 17, 2003, under the name Natural: World Premiere Album.

Contents

The album features six cover songs and six original compositions of Crystal Kay's. All of the songs on the album had been previously released, except for three: "Can't Be Stopped ('Til the Sun Comes Up)", "I'm Not Alone" and the English version of "Boyfriend (Part II)", "Boyfriend (What Makes Me Fall in Love)". The already released songs are mostly composed of B-sides from Crystal Kay's singles between 1999 and 2003, including "Fly Away" from her debut single, "Eternal Memories". The song "Couldn't Care Less" was originally from 637: Always and Forever (2001), and "Love of a Lifetime" originated on Almost Seventeen (2003).

Two songs are exclusive to the Japanese edition of the album, "Liberty", a Masayuki Suzuki cover, and "No More Blue Christmas'", a Natalie Cole cover. "Liberty" was later compiled on Suzuki Mania: Suzuki Masayuki Tribute Album released in February 2004, and "No More Blue Christmas'" on Crystal Kay's 2007 extended play Shining and her 2011 compilation album Love Song Best.

Natural (gambling)

A natural is a term in several gambling games; in each case it refers to one or two specific good outcomes, usually for the player, and often involves achieving a particular score in the shortest and fastest manner possible.

Examples

At blackjack, the best possible hand for the player is to reach a score of 21 with exactly two cards, which necessarily involves an Ace and a ten-valued card (such as a 10, a Jack, a Queen, or a King). This hand, which usually defeats any other hand of 21 and carries a higher payout of winnings, is referred to as a "blackjack" or a "natural".

At craps, a natural is a roll of two dice with a score of 7 or 11 with on the first roll of a shooter's game. This will lead to winnings for the players who wagered money on the "pass line" bet.

At punto banco, a natural is a two-card hand totaling 8 or 9, for either the player or the banker.

References

Chill (radio station)

Chill is a British digital radio station dedicated to chill out, ambient and trip hop music.

The station

Chill Radio broadcasts online and via numerous mobile applications, and on DAB in London, Leicester and Nottingham. The station's aim is to help listeners relax. It is owned by Global Radio.

It broadcasts 24 hours a day and, as of July 2009, features no news bulletins or commercials, although there is some sponsored programming. Chill originally had no presenters, interspersing tracks with pre-recorded links featuring messages voiced by Davinia Palmer that reinforced the laidback atmosphere of the station. One of these memorably described the station as "T'ai chi for your ears".

In August 2006, the station launched its first regular programmes on weekday evenings, "The Garden of Delights", presented by Pete Lawrence and "The Deep End", presented by Paul Noble, two of the organisers of The Big Chill festival. It also introduced a nightly programme made up of listener requests, and inherited the Chiller Cabinet sequence from its sister station Classic FM, which plays "ambient soundscapes, movie soundtracks and classically inspired chillout music".