Suit of wands

The Suit of Wands or Suit of Batons is used in Latin suited playing cards, such Spanish, Italian and tarot decks. It corresponds to the Suit of Clubs in standard decks.

In tarot, it is part of what is called the "Minor Arcana". Like the other tarot suits, it contains fourteen cards: ace (one), two through ten, page, knight, queen and king.

The suit represents the rural Third Estate (the farmers, laborers, and peasants).

Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play Tarot card games. In English-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, Tarot cards came to be utilized primarily for divinatory purposes.

Divinatory and occult meanings

In divination, the suit of wands represents the element of fire and gives information relating to the traits of the fire element in astrology. Additionally it represents the peasant or farmer class of feudal society (the Latin suit is commonly called Staves or Rods), and relates to simplicity and to nature, as well as to poverty and submission.

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.

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus (/ˈkwɜːrkəs/;Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus. The genus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States. Mexico has 160 species, of which 109 are endemic. The second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species.

Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with lobate margins in many species; some have serrated leaves or entire leaves with smooth margins. Many deciduous species are marcescent, not dropping dead leaves until spring. In spring, a single oak tree produces both male flowers (in the form of catkins) and small female flowers. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one seed (rarely two or three) and takes 6–18 months to mature, depending on species. The live oaks are distinguished for being evergreen, but are not actually a distinct group and instead are dispersed across the genus.

Oak (RTD)

Oak is an RTD light rail station in Lakewood, Colorado, United States. The station is part of the new W Line which was built as part of the FasTracks expansion. It opened in April, 2013 and is operated by the Regional Transportation District.

References

Oak (flavoured milk)

The OAK brand first emerged in 1903 in Newcastle, NSW. It was known as the Hunter Valley milk brand and made its name as a flavoured milk brand in 1967. The brand was launched into Queensland, South Australia and Victoria in 1998 - deleted in Victoria by 2007 and relaunched in 2010. Oak now uses skim milk instead of full cream in products.

Products

OAK flavoured milk comes in the following flavours and volumes:

The OAK brand has also stretched across a range of dairy foods in its time, such as ice cream, cottage cheese, butter, custard, cream and frozen yoghurt.

Nutrition

The nutritional values vary by flavour, however Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana, Vanilla Malt, Iced Coffee are similar. The Oak MAX and Light Chocolate contain approximately 25% fewer calories and approximately half the fat of Chocolate milk. In contrast, Egg Nog has approximately 25% more energy and 50% more fat than Chocolate milk. The values for Chocolate milk are:

Ownership

The OAK brand is now owned by Parmalat - a multinational Italian dairy and food corporation. Parmalat acquired the OAK brand from Dairy Farmers in July 2009 – six months after Dairy Farmers was bought by National Foods.