Harnessing Tidal Power

[Malcolm1]

Ocean has huge energy which needs to be harnessed properly for its usage. Tidal power is the most predictable and reliable source, that is based on tried & tested principles of hydrodynamics and electrical engineering. Tides occur reliably and predictably, irrespective of weather changes. Ocean power energy can be created using tides and ocean current.

Tides help in production of tidal energy through tidal dams and tidal turbines. In case of tidal dams, power is created using a barrage at a bay or estuary with large tidal range. Tidal turbines take advantage of fast-flowing ocean currents to create energy. The most prolific tidal turbines are horizontal axis turbines that in many ways are analogous to wind turbines. The main difference is size. Tidal turbines generating 1 MW of power can be up to one-third the size of a wind turbine with a similar generating capacity.

Ocean current also holds a great amount of strength and energy. The total power of waves breaking around the world's coastlines is estimated at 2-3 million megawatts, which can be captured directly from surface waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface.

 

[Dmitri]

Ruth Wakefield invented the Toll House brand of chocolate chip cookies. Ruth Graves Wakefield graduated from the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. She worked as a dietitian and lectured on food, until, together with her husband she bought a tourist lodge named the Toll House Inn.

Ruth Wakefield prepared the recipes for the meals served to the guests at the Inn and gained local notoriety for her deserts. One of her favorite recipes was for Butter Drop Do cookies. The recipe called for the use of baker's chocolate and one day Ruth found herself without the needed ingredient. She substituted a semi-sweet chocolate bar cut up into bits. However, unlike the baker's chocolate the chopped up chocolate bar did not melt completely, the small pieces only softened.

As it so happened the chocolate bar had been a gift from Andrew Nestle of the Nestle Chocolate Company. As the Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe became popular, sales of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate bar increased. Andrew Nestle and Ruth Wakefield struck a deal. Nestle would print the Toll House Cookie recipe on its packaging and Ruth Wakefield would have a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate.

 

[Hawaii Five-O]

The Mojave Desert (pronounced /moʊˈhɑːvi/ or /məˈhɑːvi/), (Hayikwiir Mat'aar[1] in Mojave), locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States. Named after the Mohave tribe of Native Americans, it occupies well over 22,000 square miles (57,000 km2) in a typical Basin and Range topography.
The Mojave Desert's boundaries are generally defined by the presence of Yucca brevifolia (Joshua tree) considered an indicator species for this desert. The topographical boundaries include the Tehachapi together with the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges. The mountain boundaries are quite distinct since they are outlined by the two largest faults in California: the San Andreas and the Garlock. The Great Basin shrub steppe lies to the north; the warmer Sonoran Desert (the Low Desert) lies to the south and east. The desert is believed to support between 1,750 and 2,000 species of plants.

 

[Dmitri]

How to Know if a Girl Likes You

Not sure what those glances, smiles and looks mean? Follow these steps and find out if she really likes you.
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Steps

1. Strike up a small conversation. This will help you learn little things that will come in handy in the future. All girls are different, so be aware of the signs. Listen to the tone of her voice: if she's shy, the tone of her voice might be a little higher and she might start to play with her hair (smoothing it down, twirling, flipping) or adjusting her clothes. Another sign she likes you is if she laughs at a normally boring or stupid joke. (Though, don't be dumb and use bad jokes as a test or you'll just look like a comedic loser.) She may not be able to look you straight in the eye and she might giggle a lot.
2. Watch for signs of flirting. If she's flirting, she may be difficult to read. Flirtatious girls may flirt with guys who they consider to be just friends, and it can be misconstrued as a crush. Because most girls do not want to be obvious, the flirtatious ones might flirt with you a little bit less or they might flirt with you even more. Either way, don't "flirt around". Do not flirt with other girls. If she ever sees you putting your arm around another girl or sees another girl hug you, she may jump to conclusions and assume she doesn't mean anything to you.
3. Notice if she touches you more often than what friends do (she's constantly trying to touch your hand or something). If she finds excuses to do so, then you're probably on the right track. But conversely, don't assume that just because she isn't touching you that she doesn't like you. She may be too nervous of you to touch you yet. Break the touch barrier yourself.
4. Observe how she looks at you. If she likes you, she will either hold it for a long time or pull away immediately. Either of these could mean that she likes you. If she pulls away quickly, it means she is nervous but she still likes you - which means that you should probably make the first move. If she holds the stare, then she is confident and she may make the first move. If you happen to glance at the girl and you see her staring back at you, then this means that she likes you, although she may quickly dart her head in a different direction. Look for her eyes to light up when she sees you or hears your name.
5. Look at her friends. If you see most of her friends glancing back at you and smiling or giggling, this means that she is telling her friends about you. If her friends are loud and immature, you'll hear "(your name), (her name) likes you!" Her friends might be making it up, however, just to tease her. When she is having a conversation with her friends, and you come over, she might stop talking all of a sudden. This likely means you were the subject of the recently ended conversation. If she likes you and she told her friends about you, they might come up to you and start a random conversation about things such as: Who would you rather date?, Who do you like better?, Who is the hottest?, and such. If they name a list of about 3 people and her name is in the list, she probably told her friends about you and they're trying to search for clues to see how you feel about her.
6. Look out for the damsel in distress. If you're outside and the girl you like is nearby and starts loudly saying "I'm cold!", that's a subtle hint that she wants you to give her your sweater. This is a very sweet gesture, especially if you want to show the girl that you like her. If there are other guys and she likes one of those guys, however, she might act disappointed when you offer yours to her first, in which case at least you'll know how she feels and can move on. Sometimes a girl will pretend to be really bad at something, and say that they can't do it. That is your cue to offer some assistance, and she will most likely be doing this on purpose just to see your reaction.
7. Smile at her. Do a natural smile - don't freak her out. If she smiles politely, or frowns and looks away, say goodbye to her. She is obviously freaked out by you. If she returns a soft or big smile and continues to look at you, then she is interested. If she smiles then darts over to the crowd of her friends and hides in the group then she may be nervous and curious if you know that she likes you.

(from How to Know if a Girl Likes You - wikiHow)

 

[Dmitri]

Origin of the word "Tickle"

c.1330 (intrans.) "to be thrilled or tingling," of uncertain origin, possibly a frequentative form of tick (2) in its older sense of "to touch." The OE form was tinclian. Some suggest a metathesis of kittle (M.E. kytyllen), from Du. kietelen, from a common North Sea Gmc. word for "to tickle" (cf. O.N. kitla, O.H.G. kizzilon, Ger. kitzeln). Meaning "to excite agreeably" (c.1386) is a translation of L. titillare. Meaning "to touch lightly so as to cause a peculiar and uneasy sensation" is recorded from 1398; that of "to poke or touch so as to excite laughter" is from 1423; fig. sense of "to excite, amuse" is attested from 1688. The noun is recorded from 1801. Ticklish in the lit. sense of "easily tickled" is recorded from 1598, later than the fig. sense (1581); an earlier word for this was tickly (1530). Tickled "pleased, happy" is from 1586.

Online Etymology Dictionary

 

[Dmitri]

[FONT=verdana,geneva,helvetica][SIZE=-1][FONT=verdana,geneva,helvetica][SIZE=-1]The Peace of Westphalia largely settled German affairs for the next century and a half. It ended religious conflicts between the states and included official recognition of Calvinism. Its signatories altered the boundaries of the empire by recognizing that Switzerland and the Netherlands had become sovereign states outside the empire. Portions of Alsace and Lorraine went to France. Sweden received some territory in northern Germany, which in the long run it could not retain. Brandenburg became stronger, as did Saxony and Bavaria. In addition, states within the empire acquired greater independence with the right to have their own foreign policies and form alliances, even with states outside the empire. As a result of these changes, the Holy Roman Empire lost much of what remained of its power and would never again be a significant actor on the international stage. The Habsburgs would continue to be crowned emperors, but their strength would derive from their own holdings, not from leadership of the empire. Germany was less united in 1648 than in 1618, and German particularism had been strengthened once again.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=verdana,geneva,helvetica][SIZE=-1]The Thirty Years' War had a devastating effect on the German people. Historians have usually estimated that between one-fourth and one-third of the population perished from direct military causes or from illness and starvation related to the war. Some regions were affected much more than others. For example, an estimated three-quarters of Württemberg's population died between 1634 and 1639. Overall losses were serious enough that historians believe that it took a century after the Thirty Years' War for Germany's population to reach the level of 1618.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=verdana,geneva,helvetica][SIZE=-1]Germany's economy was also severely disrupted by the ravages of the Thirty Years' War. The war exacerbated the economic decline that had begun in the second half of the sixteenth century as the European economy shifted westward to the Atlantic states--Spain, France, England, and the Low Countries. The shift in trade meant that Germany was no longer located at the center of European commerce but on its fringes. The thriving economies of many German towns in the late Middle Ages and first half of the sixteenth century gradually dried up, and Germany as a whole entered a long period of economic stagnation that ended only in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Germany - The Thirty Years' War - The Peace of Westphalia

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[Dmitri]

Mixed Martial Arts is all about using any move or technique learned in basically any martial art to defeat an opponent, therefore it can be difficult to place its exact creation or inception in history. Of course, the earliest contact sport or martial art with very few rules (or a no holds barred concept) was called pankration and was started in Greece around the year 648 B.C., taking its place among other sports in the Olympic Games.


It can be safely said that while pankration may have been the parent sport of other full-contact combat styles, it was too early a form to have any direct influence itself. However, it has taken on many techniques from the sports and martial arts that pankration had spawned.


Wrestling is one of its greatest influencers and to the untrained eye, a Mixed Martial Arts competition or match can be mistaken for a modern wrestling match. It was during the late 1800's that wrestling and boxing became popular and participants such as John L. Sullivan and William Muldoon were well known for some of their no holds barred antics.


Because of this, many people held anything goes matches and more often than not, the wrestler won. In Europe, Jiu Jitsu versus boxing matches were held, and sometimes, it was boxing versus other styles as well. There was definitely a demand for both people who wanted to study Mixed Martial Arts and observers who wanted to watch competitions for sport or show.


Not surprisingly, a major catalyst in the creation of Mixed Martial Arts was the one and only Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee formed his own styles by making use of different styles such as Karate, fencing, boxing, Jiu Jitsu, wrestling and more to allow him to use what he felt were the best defenses and the best attacks from each martial art. In addition to Bruce Lee, a prominent figure is a man by the name of Royce Gracie who in 1993 won the very first Ultimate Fighting Championship. It was after this that it gained a heavy cult following and began to spark interest across the globe.


As Mixed Martial Arts became more and more prominent, competitions and matches became commonplace in both the martial arts world and the entertainment industry. Students learned to borrow moves and techniques from each other to help each other discover what the best and most useful defenses and attacks were. Of course, a student must be trained in several different forms before they are ready to compete in a match or competition. The popularity and recognition that it has received thus far shows absolutely no signs of slowing down, in fact, the sport is becoming increasingly attractive to both spectators and students of Mixed Martial Arts.



(from The History of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA))