Personal computer

A personal computer is a general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities and original sale price make it useful for individuals, and is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer time-sharing models that allowed larger, more expensive minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time.

Software applications for most personal computers include, but are not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, web browsers and e-mail clients, digital media playback, games and many personal productivity and special-purpose software applications. Modern personal computers often have connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. Personal computers may be connected to a local area network (LAN), either by a cable or a wireless connection. A personal computer may be a laptop computer or a desktop computer running an operating system such as Windows, Linux (and the various operating systems based on it), or Macintosh OS.

USS PCS-1376

USS PCS-1376 was the lead ship of her class of patrol minesweepers built for the United States Navy during World War II. Later in her career, she was named Winder after Winder, Georgia, becoming the only U.S. Navy ship of that name.

History

PCS-1376 was laid down on 13 October 1942 at the Wheeler Shipbuilding Corporation in Whitestone, New York; launched on 3 April 1943, sponsored by Mrs. J. E. Flipse; and commissioned on 9 July 1943, with Lieutenant (j.g.) John P. Morgan, III, USNR, in command. (Lieutenant Morgan's relationship to American financier J. P. Morgan, Jr. is undetermined.)

Following several days of trials, PCS-1376 departed Long Island for shakedown training in the vicinity of Cuba. At the conclusion of the cruise in August, she reported for duty as a school ship at the Submarine Chaser School located at Miami, Florida. The warship did double duty until the end of 1943 conducting anti-submarine patrols at night and training submarine chaser nucleus crews in the daytime. On New Year's Day 1944, she discontinued her nightly anti-submarine patrols and concentrated on preparing crews to man new submarine chasers. On 1 October 1944, she also gave up training duty but continued to support the schools mission by acting as an escort for larger ships conducting the actual at-sea training. That type of duty lasted until the cessation of hostilities of World War II in August 1945, at which time she resumed actual onboard training.

USS Waxbill (MHC-50)

USS Waxbill (MHC-50/AMCU-50/AMS-39/YMS-479/PCS-1456) was a YMS-1-class minesweeper of the YMS-446 subclass acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of removing mines placed in the water to prevent ships from passing.

History

The second U.S. Navy ship named for the waxbill bird, the ship was originally the wooden-hulled, unnamed motor minesweeper YMS-479. Laid down as PCS-1456 on 28 April 1943 at Tacoma, Washington, by the Mojean and Ericson Shipbuilding Corp., the ship was reclassifled as a motor minesweeper, YMS-479, on 27 September 1943. Launched on 30 September 1943, YMS-479 was commissioned at the Mojean and Ericson yard on 20 July 1944, Lt. Richard A. Woods, USNR, in command.

After fitting out at the Todd Pacific Shipyard, Tacoma, Washington, the new minecraft departed the Seattle, Washington, area on 13 August. Making port at Long Beach, California, on 17 August, she conducted shakedown out of that port until 8 September, when she shifted to San Diego, California, for training in antisubmarine warfare tactics. She departed San Diego on 25 September, when she sailed with YMS-59 as screen for tank landing ships LST-627, LST-1030, and LST-926, bound for the Hawaiian Islands.

Boy

A boy is a young male human, usually a child or adolescent. When he becomes an adult, he is described as a man. The most apparent difference between a typical boy and a typical girl is the genitalia. However, some intersex children with ambiguous genitals, and genetically female transgender children, may also be classified or self-identify as a boy.

The term boy is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both. The latter most commonly applies to adult men, either considered in some way immature or inferior, in a position associated with aspects of boyhood, or even without such boyish connotation as age-indiscriminate synonym. The term can be joined with a variety of other words to form these gender-related labels as compound words.

Etymology

The word "boy" comes from Middle English boi, boye ("boy, servant"), related to other Germanic words for boy, namely East Frisian boi ("boy, young man") and West Frisian boai ("boy"). Although the exact etymology is obscure, the English and Frisian forms probably derive from an earlier Anglo-Frisian *bō-ja ("little brother"), a diminutive of the Germanic root *bō- ("brother, male relation"), from Proto-Indo-European *bhā-, *bhāt- ("father, brother"). The root is also found in Flemish boe ("brother"), Norwegian dialectal boa ("brother"), and, through a reduplicated variant *bō-bō-, in Old Norse bófi, Dutch boef "(criminal) knave, rogue", German Bube ("knave, rogue, boy"). Furthermore, the word may be related to Bōia, an Anglo-Saxon personal name.

Boys (1996 film)

Boys is a 1996 American film starring Winona Ryder and Lukas Haas. The film was originally titled The Girl You Want. The film earned $516,350 in the United States box office. It is based on a short story called "Twenty Minutes" by James Salter.

The film is set in an East Coast boys' boarding school in the United States, and was shot in Baltimore, Maryland and on the campus of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, which represents the school.

Plot

John Baker Jr. (Lukas Haas) is a boy bored with his life at an upper middle class boarding school, and the prospect of his future running the family grocery store chain. He no longer sees the point in school, stating what's the difference if he gets a zero attendance for being three minutes late or skipping the whole class so he might as well skip the class. Now close to graduating from boarding school, his life is turned upside down when he rescues Patty Vare (Winona Ryder), a young woman he finds lying unconscious in a field. Patty regains consciousness that evening in John's dormitory. She stays awake long enough to tell him she will not go to a doctor, and then passes out and does not awaken until the next morning. She seems to recover completely and to be grateful for John's assistance; the two begin a romantic voyage of self-discovery. This is not without its problems, as other boys in the dorm quickly find out she is being hidden in his room, leading up to a dramatic confrontation with Baker's close friends where his 'best friend' becomes enraged and punches a wall, breaking his hand, while the two continue to argue over the reason as to why Baker has hidden her in his room.

Boys (The Shirelles song)

"Boys" is a song by Luther Dixon and Wes Farrell, originally performed by The Shirelles and released as the B-side of their "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" single in November 1960. It was covered by The Beatles and included on their first album released in the United Kingdom, Please Please Me (1963).

The Beatles version

The Beatles' version was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on February 11, 1963, in a single take, and is Ringo Starr's first recorded lead vocals with the Beatles; and, as the fifth track on the Beatles first album, Please Please Me, represents the first time many fans heard Starr singing on a lead vocal. February 11 was a marathon day for the Beatles, as they recorded 10 of the 14 tracks they needed for Please Please Me. The band covered an additional song by the Shirelles on their first album, "Baby It's You".

The Beatles did not concern themselves about possible homosexual undertones that go with singing a song about boys, although they altered the gender pronouns employed on the Shirelles' version (e.g. "My girl says when I kiss her lips..."). In an October 2005 Rolling Stone interview, Paul McCartney stated: "Any one of us could hold the audience. Ringo would do 'Boys', which was a fan favourite with the crowd. And it was great — though if you think about it, here's us doing a song and it was really a girls' song. 'I talk about boys now!' Or it was a gay song. But we never even listened. It's just a great song. I think that's one of the things about youth — you just don't give a shit. I love the innocence of those days." (The lyrics talk specifically about a boy kissing a girl, not another boy.)