Peafowl

Peafowl is a species of birds that include two Asiatic species (the blue or Indian peafowl originally of India and Sri Lanka and the green peafowl of Myanmar, Indochina, and Java) and one African species (the Congo peafowl native only to the Congo Basin) of bird in the genera Pavo and Afropavo of the Phasianidae family, the pheasants and their allies, known for the male's piercing call and, among the Asiatic species, his extravagant eye-spotted tail covert feathers which he displays as part of a courtship ritual. The term peacock is properly reserved for the male; the female is known as a peahen, and the immature offspring are sometimes called peachicks.

The functions of the elaborate iridescent coloration and large "train" of peacocks have been the subject of extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested they served to attract females, and the showy features of the males had evolved by sexual selection. More recently, Amotz Zahavi proposed in his handicap theory that these features acted as honest signals of the males' fitness, since less fit males would be disadvantaged by the difficulty of surviving with such large and conspicuous structures.

Peacock (narrowboat)

Peacock is a British narrowboat. She was built as a flyboat for Fellows Morton and Clayton (FMC) at Saltley, Birmingham in 1915, as fleet number 102. FMC had been using a fleet of steam fly boats (including President) since 1889, but in 1912 introduced motor boats such as Peacock into their fleet. 'Fly' boats work day and night non-stop, and with an all male crew the cabins were more spartan than those of long distance family crewed boats.

Peacock worked with FMC's northern fleet until nationalisation in 1948. She was then sold and used as a tug and a houseboat between 1952 and 1993 when she was bought by the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry, part of the Birmingham Museums Trust. Peacock has been described as being in the most original condition of any of the FMC boats: never converted or altered, she still has most of the original fittings. The current engine dates from the 1920s and is a 15 hp Bolinder.

Peacock is on loan to the Black Country Living Museum, where she can be seen dockside at the Black Country Living Museum boat dock, in the Lord Ward’s Canal Arm at Dudley.

Peacock (song)

"Peacock" is a song by American singer Katy Perry, taken from her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010). Because the song was filled with suggestive lyrics pertaining to male genitalia, Capitol Records initially opposed the idea of including it on her record. Similar to what happened with another song of hers – "I Kissed a Girl" (2008) – she refused. "Peacock" was panned by music critics and, musically, was compared to the 1980s hit "Mickey" by Toni Basil, and Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" (2005).

Despite not being released as a single, the song entered several music charts worldwide. Its least successful charting territory was the United Kingdom, while it performed best in the US, topping the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart for a week, and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. Perry has performed "Peacock" on several occasions, including during her 2011 world tour California Dreams Tour. When performing the track, the singer usually wears colorful or glittery clothing.

Direct

Direct may refer to:

Computing

Mathematics

See also

Direct (Tower of Power album)

Direct is a 1981 live in-studio album by Tower of Power. It was their only album for the direct-to-disc record label Sheffield Lab. It also marked the return of original guitarist Willie James Fulton, not heard from since 1972's Bump City, and the last album to feature saxophonist Lenny Pickett. Mark Sanders plays drums on this album. Between this album and their 1987 comeback album Power they would record the sessions that later became the Dinosaur Tracks CD. Besides that, save for the original single release of "Simple As That" (from the same Dinosaur Tracks sessions), this would be their last new release until 1987. It contained mostly songs from their previous albums but included new stuff as well.

Direct would later be released with alternate takes on CD as Direct PLUS in 1997.

Track listing

Side One

Direct (EP)

Direct is the title of The 77s' second EP, released in 2002 on the band's own Fools of the World label.

Track listing

The band

Production notes