Top (comics)

The Top is a fictional character, a supervillain in the DC Universe. One of the earliest members of the Silver Age Flash's "Rogues' Gallery", the character debuted in The Flash #122 (August 1961).

Fictional character biography

Roscoe Dillon is a small-time crook who turns his childhood obsession with tops into a criminal persona. Roscoe taught himself how to spin around fast enough to deflect bullets and produce other semi-useful effects. The Top soon discovers that the spinning somehow increased his intelligence as well, allowing him to create a variety of trick tops. He tried to blackmail the world with an Atomic Top that would destroy half the world when it slowed down and imprisoned the Flash inside it, but the Flash vibrated out of it and sent it into space. His unique gimmick and moderate success in crime soon makes him a respected member of the Flash's rogues gallery. He dates Golden Glider, Captain Cold's sister, while coaching her on ice skating. Eventually, the Top develops immense psionic powers, as years of spinning moves dormant brain cells to the outer areas of his brain, endowing him with mental powers.

The Top (short story)

"The Top" (orig. German Der Kreisel) is a short story by Franz Kafka, written sometime between 1917 and 1923.

Plot summary

A philosopher believes that he could understand everything in the world if he were to understand a single element in it. To this purpose he tries to catch a child's top as it spins, hoping that it would continue spinning in his hand, but it always stops the moment he grabs it.

Interpretation

The top could be seen as a symbol of the spinning earth - the populated world which the philosopher tries to understand. The irony implied herein is that by focusing on the top itself the philosopher ignores the other forces that set it in motion - the children and the string.

Some critics have noted a correspondence between the structure and theme of the story - the spiraling movement of the top is echoed by the spiraling structure of the story, as the sentences are at first of uniform length, then get gradually longer until the last line which is meandering and prolonged, like the top's last staggering spin and final collapse.

Top

A top is a toy designed to be spun rapidly on the ground, the motion of which causes it to remain precisely balanced on its tip because of inertia. Such toys have existed since antiquity. Traditionally tops were constructed of wood, sometimes with an iron tip, and would be set in motion by aid of a string or rope coiled around its axis which, when pulled quickly, caused a rapid unwinding that would set the top in motion. Today they are often built of plastic, and modern materials and manufacturing processes allow tops to be constructed with such precise balance that they can be set in motion by a simple twist of the fingers and twirl of the wrist without need for string or rope.

Characteristics

The motion of a top is produced in the most simple forms by twirling the stem using the fingers. More sophisticated tops are spun by holding the axis firmly while pulling a string or twisting a stick or pushing an auger. In the kinds with an auger, an internal weight rotates, producing an overall circular motion. Some tops can be thrown, while firmly grasping a string that had been tightly wound around the stem, and the centrifugal force generated by the unwinding motion of the string will set them spinning upon touching ground.

Top (clothing)

A top is clothing that covers at least the chest, but which usually covers most of the upper human body between the neck and the waistline. The bottom of tops can be as short as mid-torso, or as long as mid-thigh. Men's tops are generally paired with pants, and women's with pants or skirts. Common types of tops are t-shirts, blouses and shirts.

Design

The neckline is the highest line of the top, and may be as high as a head-covering hood, or as low as the waistline or bottom hem of the top. A top may be worn loose or tight around the bust or waist, and may have sleeves or shoulder straps, spaghetti straps (noodle straps), or may be strapless. The back may be covered or bare. Tops may have straps around the waist or neck, or over the shoulders.

Types

Neck styles

See also

References

External links

Top (tool)

A top (also called a rope wrench, rope separator or rope tool) is a tool used in the manufacture of laid rope.

The top is used to prevent the strands of a rope twisting together prematurely, which would lead to the rope being loose, allowing it to untwist. The amount of pressure applied to the top determines the stiffness of the final product; more pressure forces the strands together more tightly, making a rope that is harder to bend.

Tops come in a variety of forms for use on different types of rope. The simplest is a forked stick, used to create three strand rope, however more elaborate grooved bullet-shaped and cast iron types are available.

Depending on the gauge of rope being made, the top can either be handheld or mounted on a trolley that moves along the ropewalk.

References

Boeing 757

The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner that was designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the manufacturer's largest single-aisle passenger aircraft and was produced from 1981 to 2004. The twinjet has a two-crew member glass cockpit, turbofan engines of sufficient power to allow takeoffs from relatively short runways and higher altitudes, a conventional tail and, for reduced aerodynamic drag, a supercritical wing design. Intended to replace the smaller three-engine 727 on short and medium routes, the 757 can carry 200 to 295 passengers for a maximum of 3,150 to 4,100 nautical miles (5,830 to 7,590 km), depending on variant. The 757 was designed concurrently with a wide-body twinjet, the 767, and owing to shared features pilots can obtain a common type rating that allows them to operate both aircraft.

The 757 was produced in two fuselage lengths. The original 757-200 entered service in 1983; the 757-200PF, a package freighter (PF) variant, and the 757-200M, a passenger-freighter combi model, debuted in the late 1980s. The stretched 757-300, the longest narrow-body twinjet ever produced, began service in 1999. Passenger 757-200s have been modified to special freighter (SF) specification for cargo use, while military derivatives include the C-32 transport, VIP carriers, and other multi-purpose aircraft. Private and government operators have also customized the 757 for research and transport roles. All 757s are powered by Rolls-Royce RB211 or Pratt & Whitney PW2000 series turbofans.

Reach (brand)

Reach is a brand of oral hygiene products, including toothbrushes, dental floss and mouthwash. The brand started from Reach toothbrushes developed by DuPont in 1976.

History

70s

1976 - DuPont enters toothbrush market after 4 years of research conducted by "bio-dental team" from Tufts University, headed by Percy H. Hill Jr., consultant to Applied Ergonomics company. Reach Toothbrush was the first ergonomically designed toothbrush, that proved significantly better in clinical trials and spawned a whole new field of “toothbrush design”.

1976 article at Chicago Tribune highlights the following unique selling propositions of the new toothbrush: "an angled-shaped four-sided handle (for comfortable gripping) with an extended neck (that makes hard-to-reach areas more accessible), and a compact head topped with bilevel bristles".

DuPont started new toothbrush promotion in April 1976 first in Green Bay, Wisconsin, then moved to Chicago, with advertising in newspapers and on TV.

1977 - Johnson & Johnson acquires Reach brand from DuPont, outmaneuvering Procter & Gamble.