Odyssey (novel)

Odyssey is a science fiction novel by Jack Mcdevitt. It was a Nebula Award nominee for 2007. It's set in the 23rd century and "explores the immorality of big business and the short-sightedness of the American government in minimizing support for space travel."

Literary significance and reception

Carl Hays reviewing in Booklist said "McDevitt's energetic character-driver prose serves double duty by exploring Earth's future political climate and forecasting the potential dangers awaiting humanity among the stars".Kirkus Reviews was slightly more critical calling it "a low-key, reasonably surprising and involving tale, although not among McDevitt's best." Jackie Cassada reviewing for Library Journal said "the author of Chindi and other novels featuring the Academy succeeds in visualizing a believable future of space exploration as well as believable personalities whose lives and loves put a human face on scientific speculation."

Odyssey was nominated for both the Nebula and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards in 2007.

Odyssey (launch platform)

L/P Odyssey is a self-propelled semi-submersible mobile spacecraft launch platform converted from a mobile drilling rig in 1997.

The vessel is currently used by Sea Launch for equatorial Pacific Ocean launches. She works in concert with the assembly and control ship Sea Launch Commander. Her home port is the Port of Long Beach in the United States.

In her current form, Odyssey is 436 feet (133 m) long and about 220 feet (67 m) wide, with an empty draft displacement of 30,000 short tons (27,000 t), and a submerged draft displacement of 50,600 short tons (45,900 t). The vessel has accommodations for 68 crew and launch system personnel, including living, dining, medical and recreation facilities. A large, environmentally-controlled hangar stores the rocket during transit and then rolls it out and erects it prior to fueling and launch.

History

The platform was built in 1982 for Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company (ODECO) by Sumitomo Heavy Industries. It drilled its first exploratory hole about 40 miles (64 km) south of Yakutat for ARCO Alaska, Inc. The rig cost about US$110 million to build during the early eighties oil "boom".

Odyssey (James Blood Ulmer album)

Odyssey is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer, recorded in 1983 and released on the Columbia label. It was Ulmer's final of three albums recorded for a major label. The musicians on this album later re-united as The Odyssey Band and Odyssey The Band.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Steve Huey awarded the album 5 stars and stated "Odyssey stands as James Blood Ulmer's signature masterpiece, the purest and most accessible showcase for his bold, genre-clashing guitar vision... All the pieces come together to produce not only Ulmer's finest album, but a certified classic of the modern jazz avant-garde". The album was listed as part of a suggested "core collection" by the Penguin Guide to Jazz.

Track listing

RIA (Red de Innovación y Aprendizaje)

The RIA (Red de Innovación y Aprendizaje), or Leaning and Innovation Network, is a group of education centers that offer members of underserved communities in Mexico access to computers, the Internet and quality education. The RIA is overseen by Fundación Proacceso, a Mexico-based non-profit organization focused on using technology as a tool for education.

Background

The first RIA center was inaugurated on May 18, 2009, and since then over 68,000 users have registered at its ten centers. Thirty-two new RIA centers will open by the end of January 2011, bringing the network to a total of 42 centers.

The RIA offers courses on basic computer and Internet skills, English, finding work through the Internet, math and science workshops for children, personal finance and more. Students can also obtain their high school, bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the RIA through the Institute of Online education. Courses are taught by qualified facilitators, many of whom are residents of the local communities that the RIA targets.

Aria

An aria ([ˈaːrja]; Italian: air; plural: arie [ˈaːrje], or arias in common usage, diminutive form arietta [aˈrjetta]) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term became used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger work. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, sharing features of the operatic arias of their periods.

Origins of the term

The term, which derives from the Greek and Latin 'aer' (air) first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term 'aria' refers to an instrumental form (cf. Santino Garsi da Parma lute works, 'Aria del Gran Duca' ). By the early 16th century it was in common use as meaning a simple setting of strophic poetry; melodic madrigals, free of complex polyphony, were known as madrigale arioso.