Oasis

In geography, an oasis (plural: oases) or cienega (Southwestern United States) is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even humans if the area is big enough. The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames, and Kufra, situated in modern-day Libya, have at various times been vital to both North-South and East-West trade in the Sahara Desert.

Oases are formed from underground rivers or aquifers such as an artesian aquifer, where water can reach the surface naturally by pressure or by man-made wells. Occasional brief thunderstorms provide subterranean water to sustain natural oases, such as the Tuat. Substrata of impermeable rock and stone can trap water and retain it in pockets, or on long faulting subsurface ridges or volcanic dikes water can collect and percolate to the surface. Any incidence of water is then used by migrating birds, which also pass seeds with their droppings which will grow at the water's edge forming an oasis.

Smithers-Oasis

Smithers-Oasis is a company specializing in floristry products headquartered in Kent, Ohio, United States. The company created water-absorbing foam in 1954 and leads manufacturing and marketing of various products in the global florist industry.

History

The company was founded in 1954 by V.L. Smithers in Kent, Ohio after he developed a water absorbent foam to use in floral arrangements. Since then, other products have been developed including floral accessories, cellular growing media, and post-harvest plant products. The company is headquartered in Kent and operates a manufacturing plant there. Corporate offices were returned to Kent in late 2013 from Cuyahoga Falls, where they had been located since 1992.

Products

Wet floral foam

Oasis is a trademarked name for wet floral foam, the spongy phenolic foam used for real flower arranging. It soaks up water like a sponge and acts both as a preservative to prolong the life of the flowers and a support to hold them in place. The foam's structure is similar to that of plants and has capillary action to move water to the surface and up the stem. It is often green, but is also available in many other colours, such as purple, red, yellow, and brown. It usually is supplied in a brick shape, but can be bought in spherical shapes. Oasis can be bought wholesale or in arts and craft and gardening stores, particularly ones that feature large faux flower collections for creating artificial arrangements.

Oasis (TV series)

Oasis was a short lived CITV drama series which was about a group of children who ran an inner city farm. It's best known for featuring John Simm and Dean Gaffney. It was set in a wasteland site in south London.

The drama series ran from 5 January to 9 March 1993 for 10 episodes, made by Zenith North, the team behind Byker Grove for Carlton; their first children's drama series for the ITV network.

Cast

External links

Hyde (EP)

Hyde is the first mini-album by the South Korean boy band VIXX. It was released on May 20, 2013 under the label of Jellyfish Entertainment, and features the single of the same name. The album was re-released as Jekyll on July 31, 2013 with the single "G.R.8.U".

Singles

"Hyde"

VIXX promoted Hyde with the song of the same name. The song's lyrics were written by songwriter Kim Eana, and the rap portion was written by Ravi. The music was composed by Jellyfish Entertainment CEO Hwang Se Jun and Swedish production team D30 (Caesar & Loui and Olof Lindskog). The song's music video was directed by Hong Won Ki of ZanyBros, who also directed their previous music videos, "Super Hero" and "Rock Ur Body".

Promotion began on May 23 on M! Countdown, and wrapped up with a goodbye stage on Inkigayo on June 30. The song peaked at number 35 on Gaon Singles Chart.

"G.R.8.U"

The lead single from Jekyll, "G.R.8.U" (Hangul: 대.다.나.다.너; RR: Dae.da.na.da.neo), was written by Kim Eana and produced by Hyuk Shin, DK, Ross Lara and Todd Wright. The song's music video was directed by Hong Won Ki of ZanyBros. Promotion began on August 1, and wrapped up with a goodbye stage on Inkigayo on September 8. The song peaked at number 14 on Gaon Singles Chart.

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