Gaia: One Woman's Journey

Gaia: One Woman's Journey is an album released by Olivia Newton-John in 1994. For the first time in her career; the album was entirely written by Newton-John herself. In addition to songwriting duties; Newton-John also co-produced the album.

Production and reception

The album was the first since Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer on 1992; and as such, many of the songs were influenced by her experiences - especially in the tracks "Why Me" and "Not Gonna Give into It". Newton-John's passion for environmental and conservation issues also served as a major influence.

The album was recorded in Australia during 1993 and 1994 and released via several independent labels internationally; except in Australia where Newton-John was still signed to Festival Records.

One of the most critically acclaimed of Newton-John's career, the album is a firm favourite among fans. Allmusic hails the album as "the most honest and inviting album of her career." One single was lifted from the album; "No Matter What You Do" which was an Australian Top 40 hit

List of Foundation universe planets

This is a list of Foundation universe planets featured or mentioned in the Robot series, Empire series, and Foundation series created by Isaac Asimov.

61 Cygni

The star system 61 Cygni, in the Sirius Sector, is advanced by Lord Dorwin as the potential site for a planet of origin for the human species. Lord Dorwin cites 'Sol' (meaning Earth's Sun) and three other planetary systems in the Sirius Sector, along with Arcturus in the Arcturus Sector, as potential original worlds. (This fact seems to be contradicted by information given in Foundation and Earth). Claims were made as early as 1942 that 61 Cygni had a planetary system, though to date, none has been verified, and Asimov was aware of these claims.

Alpha

Alpha is a fictional planet orbiting the larger of the two stars in the Alpha Centauri system.

In Asimov's Foundation Series, Alpha Centauri is cited by Lord Dorwin as one of the solar systems where humankind potentially originated. The others are Sol, Sirius, 61 Cygni and Arcturus. Beyond mentioning that it is in the Sirius Sector, Dorwin gives no further details.

Gaia philosophy

Gaia philosophy (named after Gaia, Greek goddess of the Earth) is a broadly inclusive term for related concepts that living organisms on a planet will affect the nature of their environment in order to make the environment more suitable for life. This set of theories holds that all organisms on a life-giving planet regulate the biosphere in such a way as to promote its habitability. Gaia concept draws a connection between the survivability of a species (hence its evolutionary course) and its usefulness to the survival of other species.

While there were a number of precursors to Gaia theory, the first scientific form of this idea was proposed as the Gaia hypothesis by James Lovelock, a UK chemist, in 1970. The Gaia hypothesis deals with the concept of Biological homeostasis, and claims the resident life forms of a host planet coupled with their environment have acted and act like a single, self-regulating system. This system includes the near-surface rocks, the soil, and the atmosphere. Today many scientists consider such ideas to be unsupported by, or at odds with, the available evidence (see recent criticism). These theories are however significant in green politics.

Zeus

Zeus (/ˈzjuːs/ ZEWS;Ancient Greek: Ζεύς, Zeús, [zdeǔ̯s]; Modern Greek: Δίας, Días [ˈði.as]) was the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter.

Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, by whom the Iliad states that he fathered Aphrodite. Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses.

He was respected as an allfather who was chief of the gods and assigned the others to their roles: "Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence." He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe "That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men". His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" (Greek: Νεφεληγερέτα, Nephelēgereta) also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.

Zeus of Otricoli

The Zeus of Otricoli is an Ancient Roman bust found in Otricoli in 1175 that is now in the Sala Rotonda of the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum.

It is presumed to be a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original. While some attributed the bust as a copy of the statue of Phidias at Olympia, numismatic reproductions of that famous statue would suggest otherwise. It appears to be more likely from subsequent centuries.

References

Zeus (fungus)

Zeus is a fungal genus within the family Rhytismataceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Zeus olympius, originally discovered in 1987 on Mount Olympus in Greece. Fruit bodies are yellow discs that grow in the decaying wood of Bosnian pine trees.

Taxonomy and classification

Zeus olympius was first described scientifically 1987 by David Minter and Stephanos Diamandis, based on collections made by the latter from Greece's Mount Olympus. The generic and specific epithets refer to the king of the gods in Ancient Greek mythology, who is said to have lived on Mount Olympus.

Based on physical characteristics, Zeus produces fruit bodies that are most similar to Colpoma, Therrya, and Coccomyces, all genera in the order Rhytismatales. The authors also noted some similarities with Cerion and Ocotomyces. None of these genera have species with ellipsoid ascospores; ascospore shape is known to be an important criterion in the Rhytismatales for distinguishing between genera, so the authors felt justified in creating a new genus for their discovery.