The Road

The Road is a 2006 novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed most of civilization and, in the intervening years, almost all life on Earth. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006.

The book was adapted to a film by the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat.

Plot summary

An unnamed father and his young son journey across a grim post-apocalyptic landscape, some years after an unspecified disaster has caused another extinction event, destroying civilization and most life on Earth. The land is filled with ash and devoid of living animals and vegetation. Many of the remaining human survivors have resorted to cannibalism, scavenging the detritus of city and country alike for flesh. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, gave up hope and committed suicide some time before the story began, despite the father's pleas. Much of the book is written in the third person, with references to "the father" and "the son" or to "the man" and "the boy".

Poetry of the Deed

Poetry of the Deed is the third studio album by London-based singer-songwriter Frank Turner, released on 7 September 2009. The album was released on Xtra Mile Recordings in the UK and Epitaph Records worldwide.

Unlike Turner's previous solo albums, Poetry of the Deed was rehearsed, arranged and recorded with his full band. In the album's liner notes, Turner states: "this album has been more of a collaborative process than on previous efforts, so first and foremost thanks are due to Ben Lloyd, Matt Nasir, Tarrant Anderson and Nigel Powell."

Background

After extensive touring behind the release of Love, Ire & Song in 2008, Turner began writing new material, with a few songs ("Live Fast, Die Old" & "Dan's Song") appearing at gigs in late 2008.

Before recording the album, Turner and his band played four gigs in Oxford in order to road-test 14 new songs. Turner kept fans up to date during the writing and recording of the album via his blog.

The album was produced by Alex Newport. Recording took place at Leeders Farm in Norwich and the producer's own Future Shock Studio in Brooklyn, NYC.

The Road (Anand novel)

The Road is a 1961 English-language novel by Mulk Raj Anand. The main character Bhikhu bears many similarities to the character Bakha in Anand's earlier novel Untouchable.

References

Rare earth element

A rare earth element (REE) or rare earth metal (REM), as defined by IUPAC, is one of a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen lanthanides, as well as scandium and yttrium. Scandium and yttrium are considered rare earth elements because they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties.

Despite their name, rare earth elements are – with the exception of the radioactive promethium – relatively plentiful in Earth's crust, with cerium being the 25th most abundant element at 68 parts per million, or as abundant as copper. They are not especially rare, but they tend to occur together in nature and are difficult to separate from one another. (The word "rare" is an archaic word for "difficult".) However, because of their geochemical properties, rare earth elements are typically dispersed and not often found concentrated as rare earth minerals in economically exploitable ore deposits. It was the very scarcity of these minerals (previously called "earths") that led to the term "rare earth". The first such mineral discovered was gadolinite, a mineral composed of cerium, yttrium, iron, silicon and other elements. This mineral was extracted from a mine in the village of Ytterby in Sweden; four of the rare earth elements bear names derived from this single location.

Rare Earth (book)

Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe is a 2000 popular science book about xenobiology by Peter Ward, a geologist and paleontologist, and Donald E. Brownlee, an astronomer and astrobiologist, both faculty members at the University of Washington. The book is the origin of the term 'Rare Earth Hypothesis' which, like the book, asserts the concept that complex life is rare in the universe.

Synopsis

The book argues that the universe is fundamentally hostile to complex life and that while microbial life may be common in the universe, complex intelligent life (like the evolution of biological complexity from simple life on Earth) required an exceptionally unlikely set of circumstances, and therefore complex life is likely to be extremely rare. The book argues that among the essential criteria for life are a terrestrial planet with plate tectonics and oxygen, a large moon, magnetic field, a gas giant like Jupiter for protection and an orbit in the habitable zone of the right kind of star.

Rare Earth (band)

Rare Earth is an American blues rock band affiliated with Motown's Rare Earth record label (named after the band), which prospered from 1970–1972. Although not the first white band signed to Motown, Rare Earth was the first big hit-making act signed by Motown that consisted only of white members. (None of the previously signed all-white acts The Rustix, The Dalton Boys, or The Underdogs had any hits.)

History

1960s

The group formed in 1960 as The Sunliners and changed its name to Rare Earth in 1968. After recording an unsuccessful debut album, Dream/Answers, on the Verve label in 1968, the group was signed to Motown in 1969. The band was one of the first acts signed to a new Motown imprint that would be dedicated to white rock acts. The record company did not have a name for the new label yet and the band jokingly suggested Motown call the label "Rare Earth." To the band's surprise, Motown decided to do just that.

The main personnel in the group were Gil Bridges, saxophone, flute, vocals; Peter Hoorelbeke (aka Peter Rivera), lead vocals, drums; John Parrish (aka John Persh), bass guitar, trombone, vocals; Rod Richards (born Rod Cox), guitar, vocals; and Kenny James (born Ken Folcik), keyboards). The group's recording style was hard-driving.