Vulture

Vulture is the name given to two groups of scavenging birds of prey: the New World vultures, including the Californian and Andean condors; and the Old World vultures, including the birds that are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains. Research has shown that some traditional Old World vultures (including the bearded vulture) are not closely related to the others, which is why the vultures are to be subdivided into three taxa rather than two. New World vultures are found in North and South America; Old World vultures are found in Europe, Africa and Asia, meaning that between the two groups, vultures are found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald head, devoid of normal feathers. Although it has been historically believed to help keep the head clean when feeding, research has shown that the bare skin may play an important role in thermoregulation. Vultures have been observed to hunch their bodies and tuck in their heads in the cold, and open their wings and stretch their necks in the heat.

The Bachelor (album)

The Bachelor is the fourth studio album by English-Irish singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf. The organ parts were recorded using the organ at St. George's church in Brede, East Sussex. The album charted at #49 on the UK album charts. The album was mixed at The Chairworks recording complex in Yorkshire.

Album information

The Bachelor was originally part of a double album entitled Battle, named for the Sussex town where he recorded the new material. On 19 February 2009, Wolf announced that Battle had been split into two releases, The Bachelor and The Conqueror.The Bachelor would be released 1 June 2009 and The Conqueror would see release in 2010. Speaking of the decision to split the release into two albums rather than the double album, Wolf expressed the desire "not to overload people with too much". He has since suggested that while The Bachelor was practically finished, he felt that there were still "a couple of songs or stories to be written for the second part".

A preview of the album as well as 2 tracks presumed to be appearing on The Conqueror were released on the Bandstocks website, and later featured on Wolf's MySpace page, entitled "Battle Megamix".

Vulture (hieroglyph)

The Ancient Egyptian Vulture hieroglyph is Gardiner sign listed no. G1 for the Egyptian vulture.

The vulture hieroglyph is used in the Ancient Egyptian language hieroglyphs for the alphabetic vowel letter a-(3).

The hieroglyph represents the Egyptian vulture, Neophron percnopterus.

The Egyptian hieroglyph alphabetic letters

The following table shows the Egyptian uniliteral signs. (24 letters, but multiple use hieroglyphs)

Relief
(also shows 3rd "m"
vertical Baker's tool (hieroglyph)
(mostly used as preposition))

Relief
(also shows 3rd "m"
vertical Baker's tool (hieroglyph)
(mostly used as preposition))

External wall relief; (foot and leg hieroglyphs)

External wall relief; (foot and leg hieroglyphs)

Column relief

Column relief

See also

References

Hass avocado

The Hass avocado /ˈhæs/, sometimes marketed as the Haas avocado /ˈhɑːs/, is a cultivar of avocado with dark green-colored, bumpy skin. It was first grown and sold by Southern California mail carrier and amateur horticulturist Rudolph Hass, who also gave it his name.

The Hass avocado is a large-sized fruit weighing 200-300 grams. When ripe, the skin becomes a dark purplish-black and yields to gentle pressure. When ready to serve, it becomes white-green in the middle part of the inner fruit.

Owing to its taste, size, shelf-life, high growing yield and in some areas, year-round harvesting, the Hass cultivar is the most commercially popular avocado worldwide. In the United States it accounts for more than 80% of the avocado crop, 95% of the California crop and is the most widely grown avocado in New Zealand.

History

All commercial, fruit-bearing Hass avocado trees have been grown from grafted seedlings propagated from a single tree which was grown from a seed bought by Rudolph Hass in 1926 from A. R. Rideout of Whittier, California. At the time, Rideout was getting seeds from any source he could find, even restaurant food scraps. The cultivar this seed came from is not known and may already have been cross-pollinated when Hass bought it.

Hass, Syria

Hass (Arabic: حاس‎) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Ma'arrat al-Numan District of the Idlib Governorate. The town has an altitude of 630 meters above sea level. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Hass had a population of 9,595 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.

Nearby localities include Kafr Nabl to the west, Hish to the south, Kafr Ruma and Maarrat al-Numan to the east, and al-Bara to the north. Hass is well-known for its olive groves, and is surrounded by historical sites, including some of the most important Dead Cities, such as Serjilla, Shanshrah, and al-Bara and Kafr Nabl.

Archaeology

Hass itself contains a medieval-era mosque and ruins. It is also immediately northwest of the site of a 6th century CE Byzantine tomb. The tomb consists of two levels with a pyramid-shaped roof and is held up by Corinthian columns.

Hass is also near the site of an ancient dead city, known today as Khirbet Hass. The site contains the scattered ruins of six Roman and Byzantine-era churches and a large municipal hall with a rectangular courtyard with borders made of Doric columns. Among the churches, is one that measured 65 ft by 43.5 ft (its nave making up nearly half of the width). The church floor was marked by a mosaic depicting peacocks.

Hassō-no-kamae

Hassō-no-kamae (八相（八双）の構, "all (eight) directions"), frequently shortened simply to hassō and occasionally called hassō-gamae, is one of the five stances in kendo: jōdan, chūdan, gedan, hassō, and waki. It is an offensive stance, named for one's ability to respond to a situation in any direction. Waki and hassō are not commonly used in modern kendo, except in kata.

In hassō-no-kamae, the left foot is forward, and the sword is held pointing upright with the hilt in front of the right shoulder. The blade should slope slightly to the rear. When cutting, the sword is raised above the head, as in jōdan.

Hassō-no-kamae is used by uchidachi in the 4th kendo kata, opposite shidachi's waki-gamae. This posture is also used in Naginata.

It is also used in Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū's kata.

Hassō is called in-no-kamae (陰の構え, shadow stance) in Ittō-ryū and Katori Shintō-ryū, hassō (八相) in Shinkage-ryū, and occasionally moku-no-kamae (木の構え, stance of wood), because of the stance's resemblance to a tree.