9 Metis

9 Metis is one of the larger main-belt asteroids. It is composed of silicates and metallic nickel-iron, and may be the core remnant of a large asteroid that was destroyed by an ancient collision. Metis is estimated to contain just under half a percent of the total mass of the asteroid belt.

Discovery and naming

Metis was discovered by Andrew Graham on 25 April 1848, at Markree Observatory in Ireland; it was his only asteroid discovery. It also has been the only asteroid to have been discovered as a result of observations from Ireland until 7 October 2008, when, 160 years later, Dave McDonald from observatory J65 discovered 2008 TM9. Its name comes from the mythological Metis, a Titaness and Oceanid, daughter of Tethys and Oceanus. The name Thetis was also considered and rejected (it would later devolve to 17 Thetis).

Characteristics

Metis' direction of rotation is unknown at present, due to ambiguous data. Lightcurve analysis indicates that the Metidian pole points towards either ecliptic coordinates (β, λ) = (23°, 181°) or (9°, 359°) with a 10° uncertainty. The equivalent equatorial coordinates are (α, δ) = (12.7 h, 21°) or (23.7 h, 8°). This gives an axial tilt of 72° or 76°, respectively.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse

Werewolf: The Apocalypse is a role-playing game from the Classic World of Darkness line by White Wolf Publishing. Other related products include the Collectible card games named Rage and several novels (including one series). In the game, players take the role of werewolves known as Garou (from the French 'loup garou'). These Garou are usually warriors who are locked in a two-front war against both the spiritual desolation of urban civilization and supernatural forces of corruption that seek to bring about the Apocalypse. Game supplements detail other shapeshifters.

Along with the other titles in the World of Darkness, Werewolf was discontinued in 2004. Its successor title within the New World of Darkness, Werewolf: The Forsaken, was released on March 14, 2005.

In 2011 new publications for the Classic World of Darkness were announced, including a 20th Anniversary Edition of Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The Werewolf Translation Guide is the first new publication, being available in April 2012. Also older Classic World of Darkness books are made gradually available as Print on Demand-Versions, through DriveThruRPG.

Metis (software)

Metis is a family of client and server products for creating, visualizing, changing, sharing and managing visual enterprise models. It was originally created by a Norwegian company named Metis AS, which was bought by Digital Equipment Corporation. Metis was then sold to AT&T. After the AT&T/NCR split in 1996, Metis became a part of NCR. In 2001 the Metis group and product was sold to Computas AS. In 2004 Computas AS was split into two: Computas, and Computas Technology. In 2005 Computas Technology was merged with Troux Technologies, an Austin, Texas-based firm, which now holds the rights to the product.

In addition to providing general modeling mechanisms and primitives, Metis doesn't restrict the modeling to one particular methodology. It provides the opportunity for developing in several modeling languages and comes with built-in templates for UML, BPM, EEML, GEM, I*, MEML-2 and Misuse, together with an option to merge these so that one can benefit from the strongest aspects of each language.

*-algebra

In mathematics, and more specifically in abstract algebra, a *-algebra (or involutive algebra) is a mathematical structure consisting of two involutive rings R and A, where R is commutative and A has the structure of an associative algebra over R. Involutive algebras generalize the idea of a number system equipped with conjugation, for example the complex numbers and complex conjugation, matrices over the complex numbers and conjugate transpose, and linear operators over a Hilbert space and Hermitian adjoints.

Terminology

*-ring

In mathematics, a *-ring is a ring with a map * : A → A that is an antiautomorphism and an involution.

More precisely, * is required to satisfy the following properties:

for all x, y in A.

This is also called an involutive ring, involutory ring, and ring with involution. Note that the third axiom is actually redundant, because the second and fourth axioms imply 1* is also a multiplicative identity, and identities are unique.

Ringtone

A ringtone or ring tone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call or text message. Not literally a tone nor an actual (bell-like) ring any more, the term is most often used today to refer to customizable sounds used on mobile phones.

Background

A phone “rings” when its network indicates an incoming call and the phone thus alerts the recipient. For landline telephones, the call signal can be an electric current generated by the switch or exchange to which the telephone is connected, which originally drove an electric bell. For mobile phones, the network sends the phone a message indicating an incoming call. The sound the caller hears is called the ringback tone, which is not necessarily directly related.

The electromagnetic bell system is still in widespread use. The ringing signal sent to a customer's telephone is 90 volts AC at a frequency of 20 hertz in North America. In Europe it is around 60-90 volts AC at a frequency of 25 hertz. Some non-Bell Company system party lines in the US used multiple frequencies (20/30/40 Hz, 22/33/44 Hz, etc.) to allow "selective" ringing.

Juggling ring

Juggling rings, or simply "rings", are a popular prop used by jugglers, usually in sets of three or more, or in combination with other props such as balls or clubs. The rings used by jugglers are typically about 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter and 3 millimetres (0.12 in) thick.

Juggling rings are easier to juggle than clubs, but harder than balls due to size and throwing mechanics. Because of rings' impressive appearance for their level of difficulty, they remain a popular juggling item.

Use in juggling

When juggled, rings are typically spun about their central axis. The resulting gyroscopic motion of the ring allows it to keep the same orientation after it is thrown. This property is utilized by performers to achieve various visual effects. For example, a performer might intentionally juggle some rings with the broad side to the audience and some others with the edge to the audience.

As with balls and clubs, the most basic patterns of ring juggling are the cascade and fountain. In these patterns, the left and right hands alternate throwing rings at approximately the same height. Some ball and club tricks can also be performed with rings, but their unique shape and spinning abilities result in a different visual effect.