Condor

Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere.

They are:

Taxonomy

Condors are part of the family Cathartidae, whereas the 15 species of Old World vultures are in the family Accipitridae, that also includes ospreys, hawks, and eagles. The New World and Old World vultures evolved from different ancestors. However, they both are carrion-eaters and have distinctive bare heads.

See Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy for an alternative classification.

Description

Both condors are very large broad-winged soaring birds, the Andean condor being 5 cm shorter (beak to tail) on average than the northern species, but larger in wingspan. California condors are the largest flying land birds in North America. The Andean condor is second only to the wandering albatross (up to 3.5 m) in terms of wingspan among all living flying birds.

Par (score)

In golf, par is the pre-determined number of strokes that a scratch (or 0 handicap) golfer should require to complete a hole, a round (the sum of the pars of the played holes), or a tournament (the sum of the pars of each round). Pars are the central component of stroke play, the most common kind of play in professional golf tournaments. The term is also used in golf-like sports such as disc golf with the same meaning.

The length of each hole from the tee placement to the pin determines par values for each hole primarily but not exclusively. Almost invariably, holes are assigned par values between three and five strokes. For a casual player from the middle tees, a par-three hole will be 100–250 yards (90–230 m) from the tee to the pin. Par-four holes are 250–470 yards (230–430 m), although tournament players will often encounter par-four holes 500 yards (460 m) or more, as it is not uncommon for short par-five holes for normal play to be turned into par-four holes in championship play. Par-five holes are typically 470–600 yards (430–550 m), but in the modern game holes of over 600 yards are becoming more common in championship play. Other relevant factors in setting the par for the hole include the terrain and obstacles (such as trees, water hazards, hills, or buildings) that may require a golfer to take more (or fewer) shots. Some golf courses feature par-sixes and, very rarely, par-sevens, although the latter are not recognised by the United States Golf Association.

Condor (yacht)

Condor is a maxi sailing yacht designed for racing and built in 1981 at Penryn Ship Yard, UK. She was registered in Hamilton, Bermuda during her 7-year ocean racing campaign and her sail number is KB-80. She is not to be confused with her predecessor Condor of Bermuda (KB-78) (aka. Heath's Condor-K-707), also owned and campaigned by Bob Bell.

Construction and materials

Condor was revolutionary both for having the largest (tallest) single spar mast in the world (at the time of her launch) and for being the largest of all the IOR Maxi fleet at that time. (Ongoing IOR rule changes allowed each new yacht to be slightly bigger than ones built under previous versions of the rating rules).

She was built from Kevlar and composite structures, with an aluminium space frame inside. She was the second yacht of this type to be built where the hull itself could support the enormous loads generated by the huge mast and rig.

Unlike her predecessor, Condor of Bermuda, which was built of wood yet had (the world's first) carbon fibre rig, Condor's mast was aluminium. It was about 18% taller than her 'sistership's' mast (due to the additional loading permitted by the space frame) despite her hull being only 3 feet longer overall.

Melange (fictional drug)

Melange (/meɪˈlɑːndʒ/ or /meɪˈlɑːnʒ/), often referred to as simply "the spice", is the name of the fictional drug central to the Dune series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert, and derivative works.

In the series, the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe is melange, a drug that gives the user a longer life span, greater vitality, and heightened awareness; it can also unlock prescience in some humans, depending upon the dosage and the consumer's physiology. This prescience-enhancing property makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. Melange comes with a steep price, however: it is addictive, and withdrawal is fatal.

Carol Hart analyzes the concept in the essay "Melange" in The Science of Dune (2008). According to Paul Stamets, Herbert's creation of the drug was related in part to his own personal experiences with psilocybin mushrooms.

Description

Herbert is vague in describing the appearance of the spice. He hints at its color in Dune Messiah (1969) when he notes that Guild Navigator Edric "swam in a container of orange gas ... His tank's vents emitted a pale orange cloud rich with the smell of the geriatric spice, melange." Later in Heretics of Dune (1984), a discovered hoard of melange appears as "mounds of dark reddish brown." Herbert also indicates fluorescence in God Emperor of Dune (1981) when the character Moneo notes, "Great bins of melange lay all around in a gigantic room cut from native rock and illuminated by glowglobes ... The spice had glowed radiant blue in the dim silver light. And the smell—bitter cinnamon, unmistakable." Herbert writes repeatedly, starting in Dune (1965), that melange possesses the odor of cinnamon.

Spice (Perfume song)

"Spice" (スパイス, Supaisu) is the nineteenth single of Japanese girl group Perfume. It was released on November 2, 2011, as the lead single to the group's third studio album, JPN. It was also the group's last single to be released under Tokuma Japan Communications as the group moved to Universal Music Japan (as announced February 28, 2012) for their future releases.

Background

The B-side song, "Glitter", was first used in the commercial for Kirin. Then on September 5, 2011, the group released information on their website about a new single and album, both slated for release for November. The new single will be released on November 2 and will contain two songs including "Glitter" which was featured as a “Kirin Chu-Hi Hyouketsu” CM song. The group also announced that their third studio album will be released on November 30.

The name of the single was finally announced on September 26. It was also chosen as the theme song for the upcoming TBS drama “Sengyo Shufu Tantei ~Watashi wa Shadow“, starring actress Kyoko Fukada making it the group’s first single to tie-in with a drama series. The group's producer Yasutaka Nakata was heavily influenced by the image of the drama when he wrote “Spice”. It’s also the first time that he produced a soundtrack for them.

Spice (Canadian band)

Spice was a Winnipeg band of the 1970s. First known as Sugar 'n' Spice, the group had a hit in 1971 with "Cruel War."

References