Skywave

In radio communication, skywave or skip refers to the propagation of radio waves reflected or refracted back toward Earth from the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere. Since it is not limited by the curvature of the Earth, skywave propagation can be used to communicate beyond the horizon, at intercontinental distances. It is mostly used in the longwave frequency bands.

As a result of skywave propagation, a signal from a distant AM broadcasting station, a shortwave station, or—during sporadic E propagation conditions (principally during the summer months in both hemispheres)—a low frequency television station can sometimes be received as clearly as local stations. Most long-distance shortwave (high frequency) radio communication—between 3 and 30 MHz—is a result of skywave propagation. Since the early 1920s amateur radio operators (or "hams"), limited to lower transmitter power than broadcast stations, have taken advantage of skywave for long distance (or "DX") communication.

Skip (audio playback)

A skip occurs when a phonograph (gramophone), cassette tape or Compact Disc player malfunctions or is disturbed so as to play incorrectly, causing a break in sound or a jump to another part of the recording.

Vinyl gramophone records

Vinyl records are easily scratched and vinyl readily acquires a static charge, attracting dust that is difficult to remove completely. Dust and scratches cause audio clicks and pops and, in extreme cases, they can cause the needle (stylus) to skip over a series of grooves, or worse yet, cause the needle to skip backwards, creating an unintentional locked groove that repeats the same 1.8 seconds (at 33⅓ RPM) or 1.3 seconds (at 45 RPM) of track over and over again. Locked grooves are not uncommon and are even heard occasionally in broadcasts. The locked groove gave rise to the expression "broken record" referring to someone who continually repeats the same statement with little if any variation.

Compact Discs

A "skip" or "jump" is when the laser of a Compact Disc player cannot read the faulty groove or block of data. Skips are usually caused by marks blocking the path of the beam to the disc, e.g. a finger mark, hair, dirt in general, or a scratch. Since the read mechanism has very little contact with the disc's surface and the data itself is not on the outer layer of the disc, the blockage is not a physical issue as with a record, but rather reflective.

Gait (human)

Human gait refers to locomotion achieved through the movement of human limbs. Human gait is defined as bipedal, biphasic forward propulsion of center of gravity of the human body, in which there are alternate sinuous movements of different segments of the body with least expenditure of energy. Different gait patterns are characterized by differences in limb movement patterns, overall velocity, forces, kinetic and potential energy cycles, and changes in the contact with the surface (ground, floor, etc.). Human gaits are the various ways in which a human can move, either naturally or as a result of specialized training.

Classification

Gaits can be roughly categorized into two groups: the natural gaits that nearly every human will use without special training, and the specialized gaits which people train to use under specific conditions and situations.

Another classification system applicable to humans groups gaits by whether or not the person is continuously in contact with the ground.

List of minor Angel characters

This article features minor fictional characters who appear as guest stars on the cult television program Angel, ordered alphabetically. For the show's main characters, please see the article list of Angel characters.

A

Alonna Gunn

Alonna Gunn (played by Michele Kelly) was the sister of Charles Gunn, and the most important person in his life. The siblings took care of each other while growing up in the "Badlands" (a fictional neighborhood in Los Angeles). Alonna was turned into a vampire in her first appearance ("War Zone"). Gunn eventually found Alonna as a vampire and confronted her, but was ultimately forced to stake her with Angel looking on. Alonna continued to appear in future episodes in Gunn's memory, flashbacks, and dreams. She was also mentioned in many episodes including "That Old Gang of Mine". It was the death of Alonna that made Gunn receptive to Angel's help and also caused him to drift away from his old crew, as he was tired of seeing his friends "picked off one by one".

Low (Flo Rida song)

"Low" is the debut single by American rapper Flo Rida, featured on his debut studio album Mail on Sunday and also featured on the soundtrack to the 2008 film Step Up 2: The Streets. The song features fellow American rapper T-Pain and was co-written with T-Pain. There is also a remix in which the hook is sung by Flo Rida rather than T-Pain. An official remix was made which features Pitbull and T-Pain. With its catchy, up-tempo and club-oriented Southern hip hop rhythms, the song peaked at the summit of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

The song was a massive success worldwide and was the longest running number-one single of 2008 in the United States. With over 6 million digital downloads, it has been certified 7× Platinum by the RIAA, and was the most downloaded single of the 2000s decade, measured by paid digital downloads. The song was named 3rd on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. "Low" spent ten consecutive weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100, the longest-running number-one single of 2008.

Radio (Darius Rucker song)

"Radio" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Darius Rucker. It was released on July 22, 2013 as the third single from his album True Believers. Rucker wrote the song with Luke Laird and Ashley Gorley.

Content

The song is a reflection on the narrator's teenage years: specifically, of borrowing his mother's car to take his girlfriend for a ride, and listening to songs on the radio while doing so.

Critical reception

The song generally received favorable reviews. Bobby Peacock of Roughstock gave the song four and a half stars out of five, saying that "it sounds like the kind of fun song you would want to hear on the radio at a memorable moment." Peacock praised Rucker's "all-smiles delivery" and the song's "incredibly catchy melody and tight production." He also compared its theme to "I Watched It All (On My Radio)" by Lionel Cartwright. Tammy Ragusa of Country Weekly gave the song an A grade, calling it "the perfect marriage of an artist’s effervescent personality with an upbeat song, this one about the love of music." Billy Dukes of Taste of Country gave the song two and a half stars out of five, writing that "the uptempo tribute to young love, open roads and, of course, the radio is familiar and easy to fall for, especially when powered by Rucker’s unequaled exuberance." However, Dukes also called the song "a little fluffy" and "not difficult to forget."

X-Dream

X-Dream are Marcus Christopher Maichel (born May 1968) and Jan Müller (born February 1970); they are also known as Rough and Rush. They are some of the cult hit producers of psychedelic trance music and hail from Hamburg, Germany.

The latest X-Dream album, We Interface, includes vocals from American singer Ariel Electron.

First work

Muller was educated as a sound engineer. Maichel was a musician familiar with techno and reggae, and was already making electronic music in 1986. In 1989 the pair first met when Marcus was having problems with his PC and someone sent Jan to help fix it. That same year they teamed up to work on a session together. Their first work concentrated on a sound similar to techno with some hip hop elements which got some material released on Tunnel Records.

Trance

During the early 1990s they were first introduced to the trance scene in Hamburg and decided to switch their music to this genre. From 1993 they began releasing several singles on the Hamburg label Tunnel Records, as X-Dream and under many aliases, such as The Pollinator. Two albums followed on Tunnel Records, Trip To Trancesylvania and We Created Our Own Happiness, which were much closer to the original formula of psychedelic trance, although featuring the unmistakable "trippy" early X-Dream sound.