Rod (Avenue Q)

Rod is a blue Anything Muppet character from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q. He was originally played on Broadway by John Tartaglia and then Barrett Foa, and on the West End of London by Jon Robyns. On Broadway, Foa was replaced in 2006 by Howie Michael Smith. Jonathan Root alternated with Tartaglia in the Las Vegas production of the show, and was the understudy for Smith on Broadway until June 18, 2009, when Seth Rettberg (from the first national U.S. tour) took over. Daniel Boys replaced Robyns on the West End in 2007. On tour in the UK the role has been played Adam Pettigrew (2011) and Sam Lupton (2012). On the first national U.S. tour, he was played by Robert McClure, who was later replaced by Seth Rettberg (McClure's understudy during the tour).

Rod is an extremely well-groomed, obsessively clean, and slightly hysterical closeted homosexual. He is secretly in love with his former college roommate and best friend, Nicky, and is an investment banker (in the show, he reveals that he works on Wall Street). He is also a conservative Republican. He is very uptight (Nicky complains about him "ironing his underwear" in "It Sucks to Be Me"). Rod and Nicky are parodies of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. In one of the musical's most popular songs, "If You Were Gay", Nicky, who is straight, encourages him to come out of the closet.

Avenue (Charlotte)

Avenue is a 425 feet (130 m) tall skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was completed in 2007 and has 36 floors. Its construction began on May 17, 2005. It has 6,700 square feet (620 m²) of retail space at street level. The average unit size of its 386 apartments is 900 sq ft (80 m²). The 0.8 acres (3,237.5 m²) site was originally proposed 201 North Tryon Residential Tower.

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6½ Avenue

Route map: Bing / Google

6½ Avenue is a north-south pedestrian passageway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, running from West 57th to West 51st Streets between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.

The pedestrian-only avenue is a quarter-mile corridor of privately owned public spaces, such as open-access lobbies and canopied space, which are open except at night. There are stop signs and stop ahead signs at six crossings between 51st and 56th Streets. The mid-block crossing at 57th Street is equipped with a traffic light. At the crosswalk areas, there are sidewalk pedestrian ramps with textured surface and flexible delineators to prevent vehicles parking in the areas.

Each intersection along the thoroughfare has a street name sign that reads "6½ AV" and the name of the cross street to officially mark the street name. The mid-block stop signs are unusual for Manhattan, and the fractional avenue name is a new idea for the numbered street system of New York City.

History

In 2011, the Friends of Privately Owned Public Spaces proposed the creation of a six-block pathway from 51st to 57th Streets that would be mid-block between Sixth and Seventh Avenues to ease pedestrian traffic. The proposal called for connecting public spaces in the area, that were not known to most pedestrians, into a pedestrian corridor and naming it Holly Whyte Way. The idea was presented to the Community Board 5 Transportation Committee and the full Community Board 5, then the board sent a formal request to the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) in May 2011.

137 Avenue, Edmonton

137 Avenue is a major arterial road in north Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This road travels through residential, industrial and commercial areas, including shopping and entertainment centres and districts.

The road starts at Ray Gibbon Drive, in southwest St. Albert, Big Lake being west of there. It links south St. Albert with Ray Gibbon Drive (St. Albert's West Bypass Road), by way of Riel Drive and Sir Winston Churchill Avenue. Within St. Albert the road is named LeClair Way. After entering Edmonton, at Sir Winston Churchill Avenue, it passes under Anthony Henday Drive, and continues through north Edmonton.

137 Avenue passes Golden West Golf Course and St. Albert Trail Golf Course between 170 Street, and St. Albert Trail (Mark Messier Trail). Past there is the St. Albert Trail and Pembina commercial areas, and Castle Downs neighbourhood. The avenue between Castle Downs Road and 97 Street forms the southern boundary of the old CFB Griesbach. At 97 Street (Highway 28) the road passes through the northgate commercial area with Northgate Centre and North Town Centre, and at 66 Street it passes Londonderry Mall. 137 Avenue again passes through commercial districts at Manning Drive and 50 Street, the latter being called Clareview Town Centre, and between which the LRT passes over. One final commercial area is located by Victoria Trail before 137 Avenue turns into 20 Street NW at Hermitage Park.

Rod cell

Rod cells, or rods, are photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye that can function in less intense light than the other type of visual photoreceptor, cone cells. Rods are concentrated at the outer edges of the retina and are used in peripheral vision. On average, there are approximately 90 million rod cells in the human retina. More sensitive than cone cells, rod cells are almost entirely responsible for night vision. However, because they have only one type of light-sensitive pigment, rather than the three types that human cone cells have, rods have little, if any, role in color vision (which is why colors are much less apparent in darkness).

Structure

Rods are a little longer and leaner than cones but have the same structural basis. The opsin or pigment is on the outer side, lying on the Retinal pigment epithelium, completing the cell's homeostasis. This epithelium end contains many stacked disks. Rods have a high area for visual pigment and thus substantial efficiency of light absorption.

Perch (unit)

A perch is a unit of measurement used for area in the English system of measurement, and an ancient unit of height and volume in a number of systems of measurement. Its name derives from the Ancient Roman unit, the pertica.

Origin

The word perch is from the French perche, derived from the Latin pertica, meaning "a pole or staff". Originating in Roman antiquity, it spread with the Roman Empire and was likely re-introduced to England with the Norman conquest of 1066. In the Roman Empire, France and England, it also could mean area (square perches), and among operative masons of the Middle Ages, volume.

Area

As a unit of area, a square perch (the perch being standardized to equal 16¹⁄₂ feet, or 5¹⁄₂ yards) is equal to a square rod, 30 ¹⁄₄ square yards (25.29 square metres) or 0.00625 acres, or 1/160 acre. There are 40 square perches to a rood (A rectangular area with edges of one furlong (10 chains i.e. 40 rods) and one rod respectively), and 160 square perches to an acre (an area one furlong by one chain (i.e. 4 rods)). This unit is usually referred to as a perch or pole even though square perch and square pole were the more precise terms. Confusingly, rod was used as a unit of area but it meant a rood.

ROD-188

ROD-188 is a sedative drug that was structurally derived from the GABA_A antagonist bicuculline by a team at Roche. Unlike bicuculline, ROD-188 acts as an agonist at GABA_A receptors, being a positive allosteric modulator acting at a novel binding site distinct from those of benzodiazepines, barbiturates or muscimol, with its strongest effect produced at the α6β2γ2 subtype of the GABA_A receptor. ROD-188 is one of a number of related compounds acting at this novel modulatory site, some of which also act at benzodiazepine receptors.

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