Imp

An imp is a mythological being similar to a fairy or goblin, frequently described in folklore and superstition.

Etymology

The Old English noun impa meant a young shoot or scion of a plant or tree, and later came to mean the scion of a noble house, or a child in general. Starting in the 16th century, it was often used in expressions like "imps of serpents", "imp of hell", "imp of the devil", and so on; and by the 17th century, it came to mean a small demon, a familiar of a witch. The Old English noun and associated verb impian appear to come from an unattested Late Latin term *emputa (impotus is attested in the Salic Law), the neuter plural of Greek ἔμϕυτος 'natural, implanted, grafted'.

History

Originating from Germanic folklore, the imp was a small lesser goblin. Imps were often mischievous rather than evil or harmful (goblins in Germanic legend were not necessarily evil), and in some regions, they were portrayed as attendants of the gods.

Imps are often shown as small and not very attractive creatures. Their behavior is described as being wild and uncontrollable, much the same as fairies, and in some cultures, they were considered the same beings, both sharing the same sense of free spirit and enjoyment of all things fun. It was later in history that people began to associate fairies with being good and imps with being malicious and evil. However, both creatures were fond of pranks and misleading people. Most of the time, the pranks were harmless fun, but some could be upsetting and harmful, such as switching babies or leading travellers astray in places with which they were not familiar. Though imps are often thought of as being immortal, many cultures believed that they could be damaged or harmed by certain weapons and enchantments, or be kept out of people's homes by the use of wards.

Imp (horse)

Imp (1894–1909) was a pure black Thoroughbred racing filly with a white, diamond-shaped star between her eyes. She was sired by Wagner (GB) out of Foundling (by Fonso) and was foaled on March 5, 1894. Owned and bred by Daniel R. Harness of Chillicothe, Ohio, and trained by both Charles E. Brossman and Peter Wimmer (when she was seven), Imp's male line of descent was the great Eclipse. Imp, nicknamed "My Coal Black Lady" after a popular song of the day, was a bit of a homely-looking thing, the daughter of parents who each raced only once. Her sire won the Wilton Park Stakes in England but her dam was injured in her only start.

Racing record

Imp, who began racing in Ohio and Kentucky, started out inauspiciously, winning four of eleven starts as a two-year-old. But by her second season she became the talk of the racing world by making fifty starts. She won only 14 of them, but was in the money 33 times. In her fourth season she was shipped to New York to challenge the big-name horses in the Suburban Handicap. She lost that first time, but returned the following year, 1899, and took the race. She was the first mare to ever win the $10,000 Suburban. All in all, Imp started in a grueling 171 races, coming in the money in 126 of them. She won 62 times, placed 35 times, and came in third 29 times. A sprinter as well as a stayer, My Coal Black Lady defeated the best males of her times. She also won the Brighton Handicap while giving nine pounds to champion Ethelbert. At six, she won the Advance Stakes by 30 lengths and set an American record for 1¾ miles.

List of She-Ra: Princess of Power characters

This is a list of She-Ra: Princess of Power characters.

The Great Rebellion

She-Ra

She-Ra is introduced in the animated movie The Secret of the Sword as Force Captain Adora, who was an agent of the Evil Horde that rules the planet Etheria. She discovers that she is the long-lost twin sister of Prince Adam of Eternia, having been stolen by the Horde's leader, Hordak, as a baby. She is granted the Sword of Protection, which parallels He-Man's Sword of Power, gaining the power to transform into She-Ra, her secret identity.

She-Ra and Princess Adora are voiced by Melendy Britt in the 80s series.

Swift Wind

Spirit is the horse of Adora. When she transforms into She-Ra he also transforms into Swift Wind. He has a mate named Starwind and they have a young colt. Unlike Cringer, who turns into Battle Cat (In He-man series), Spirit's size doesn't change, but he gets wings, and has a unicorn like horn.

Spirit/Swift Wind are voiced by Lou Scheimer in the 80s series.

Sigma (couch)

The Ancient Roman furniture, sigma was a semi-circular couch sometimes used at banquets instead of the triclinium. Its name comes from the lunate sigma (upper case C, lower case ϲ) — which resembles, but which is not at all related to, the Latin letter C and was used in Eastern forms of Greek writing and in the Middle Ages.

Notes

Operation Sigma Sigma

The Sigma is an experimental glider developed in Britain from 1966 by a team led by Nicholas Goodhart. After disappointing performance during flight testing the Sigma was passed on to a Canadian group which carried out modifications, making the Sigma more competitive.

Design and development

Designed to compete in the 1970 World Championships, the team aimed to develop a wing that would climb well through a high lift coefficient and a large wing area, but equally had the "maximum possible reduction of area for cruise at low lift coefficients". At the same time for the minimum possible drag they aimed for "extensive" laminar flow. To achieve this they employed flaps that would alter both wing area and wing camber. Based on analysis of the nature of thermals encountered in cross-country flying, they reasoned that by having a slow turning circle, their sailplane could stay close to the central (and strongest) part of the thermal and gain maximum benefit.

Its unusual feature is its ability to vary its wing area using Fowler flaps. It had been tried before by the Hannover Akaflieg in 1938 with their AFH-4, the South African Beatty-Johl BJ-2 Assegai and the SZD Zefir gliders.

Sigma (duo)

Sigma is an English drum and bass duo consisting of Cameron Edwards and Joe Lenzie. They met at Leeds University at drum and bass nights. Their 2010 collaboration with DJ Fresh, "Lassitude", peaked at number 98 on the UK Singles Chart. Their single "Nobody to Love" topped the UK Singles Chart, becoming their first UK number one. Follow-up single "Changing", featuring Paloma Faith, also got to number one.

Career

Formation

Lenzie and Edwards met in 2006 at Leeds University; Cameron was working in local record store Tribe Records and with Echo Location's Obi running local night Event Horizon, while Lenzie was DJing hip-hop and warming up Event Horizon for such acts as Rahzel and Grandmaster Flash. Once they had finished in Leeds, they relocated to London and became a three-piece with Edwards' school friend Ben Mauerhoff, being signed under DJ Fresh's Breakbeat Kaos. After a while, long distances took their toll – Edwards and Mauerhoff were based in Surrey, whereas Lenzie was based in Harpenden, Hertfordshire and they couldn't get three people into the Harpenden studio – and Mauerhoff left. In December 2008 they formed their own record label, Life Recordings (so called because, according to Lenzie, the industry demanded that it be their life). Its inaugural release was a VIP mix of their early Bingo Beats single "El Presidente".