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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Mango

The mango is a tropical fruit of the mango tree. Mangoes belong to the genus Mangifera which consists of about 30 species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The exact origins of the mango are unknown, but most believe that it is native to Southern and Southeast Asia including the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh owing to the wide range of genetic diversity in the region and fossil records dating back 25 to 30 million years.
Mangos retain a special significance in the culture of South Asia where they have been cultured for millennia. It has been the national symbol of the Philippines. Reference to mangoes as the "food of the gods" can be found in the Hindu Vedas and the leaves are ritually used for floral decorations at Hindu marriages and religious ceremonies.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Hyphy

Hyphy is a style of music and dance primarily associated with the Bay Area hip hop culture. Although the hyphy movement started in the early '90s, it began to emerge in the early 2000s as a response from Bay Area rappers next to commercial hip hop for not acknowledging the Bay for setting trends in the hip hop industry.Although the "hyphy movement" has just newly seen light in mainstream America, it has been a long standing and evolving culture in the Bay Area. Bay Area rapper Keak Da Sneak takes credit for coining the term when, as a young boy, his mother would often tell him he was hyperactive. He would repeat the word "hyper" as "hyphy".

Hyphy music is illustrious by gritty, pounding rhythms and in this sense can be associated with the Bay Area as crunk music is to the South; however, contrary to popular belief, the musical aspect of the Hyphy movement has very few similarities to crunk music as it is dictated by more up-tempo beats. An individual is said to "get hyphy" when they act or dance in an overstated and ridiculous manner. Those who consider themselves part of the Hyphy movement would describe this behavior as acting "stupid" or "going dumb." In contrast to much of popular American culture where these phrases would be considered negative or even insulting, Hyphy is illustrious by taking this kind of behavior as a form of pride

Monday, May 21, 2007

Chocolate

Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that create from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. It is a common ingredient in many kinds of confections such as chocolate bars, candy, ice cream, cookies, cakes, pies, chocolate mousse, and other desserts. It is one of the most popular flavours in the world.
Chocolate was shaped by the Mesoamerican civilization, from cacao beans, and cultivated by pre-Columbian civilizations such as the Maya and Aztec, who used it as a basic part in a variety of sauces and beverages. The cocoa beans were ground and mixed with water to create a variety of beverages, both sweet and bitter, which were kept for only the highest noblemen and clerics of the Mesoamerican world. Chocolate is made from the fermented, roasted, and ground beans taken from the pod of the tropical cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, which was native to Central America and Mexico, but is now cultivated all through the tropics. The beans have an intensely flavoured bitter taste. The resultant products are known as "chocolate" or, in some parts of the world, cocoa.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Scientific Methods

The scientific method seeks to explain the complexities of nature in a replicable way, and to use these explanations to construct useful predictions. It provides an objective method to find solutions to problems in a number of scientific and technological fields. Often scientists have a predilection for one outcome over another, and scientists are conscientious that it is vital that this preference does not bias their interpretation. A strict following of the scientific method attempts to minimize the pressure of a scientist's bias on the outcome of an experiment. This can be achieved by correct experimental design, and a thorough peer assessment of the experimental results as well as conclusions of a study.

Scientists use models to refer to a explanation or depiction of something, specifically one which can be used to construct predictions that can be tested by experiment or observation. A hypothesis is a disputation that has been neither well supported nor yet ruled out by experiment. A theory, in the context of science, is a logically self-consistent model or framework for recitation the behavior of certain natural phenomena. A theory typically describes the behavior of much broader sets of phenomena than a hypothesis — commonly, a large number of hypotheses may be logically bound together by a single theory. A physical law or law of nature is a scientific generalization based on a adequately large number of empirical observations that it is taken as fully verified.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Solar System

solar system consists of the Sun and the supplementary celestial objects gravitationally bound to it: the eight planets, their 162 known moons,three at present recognized dwarf planets (including Pluto) and their four known moons, and billions of small bodies. This last category includes asteroids, Kuiper belt objects, comets, meteoroids and interplanetary dust.
In broad terms, the charted regions of the Solar System consist of the Sun, four terrestrial inner planets, an asteroid belt composed of small rocky bodies, four gas giant outer planets, and a second belt, called the Kuiper belt, collected of icy objects. Beyond the Kuiper belt lies the dotted disc, the heliopause, and ultimately the hypothetical Oort cloud.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Butter cream

Butter cream or buttercream or mock cream is a type of icing used in cakes, as a coating, and as decoration. In its simplest form, it is made by creaming butter with icing sugar, though other fats can be used, such as margarine or even avocado. Colourings and flavorings are often added, such as cocoa powder or vanilla extract.
A notable use of buttercream is in butterfly cakes, though it is popular as a topping for many other forms of Victoria sponge.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Bonneville Dam

100 Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of a number of dam structures that together whole a span of the Columbia River between the US states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is situated 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon, in what is now the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The main functions of Bonneville Lock and Dam are those of electrical power generation and river navigation. The dam was built and is managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Electrical power generated at Bonneville is spread by the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville Lock and Dam are named for Army Capt. Benjamin Bonneville, an early explorer endorsed with charting much of the Oregon Trail. The name is marked BAH-nee-vill.

History
The unusual structures: a lock and powerhouse constructed on the south side of Bradford Island and a spillway on the north side were built by the Army Corps of Engineers during the New Deal—started in 1933 and finished in 1937. Prior to this damming of the river, a set of locks that were opened in 1896 moved ships around Cascades Rapids, situated several miles upstream of Bonneville. Both the cascades and the old lock structure were submerged by Lake Bonneville, the tank that formed behind the dam. The original navigation lock at Bonneville was opened in 1938 and was, at that time, the biggest single-lift lock in the world.

Dimensions and statistics

Aerial view of spillway flanked by powerhouses, Bonneville Lock and Lake Bonneville beyond First Powerhouse – Constructed in 1933-37; 313 m long; 10 generators with an output capacity of 526,700 kW.
Spillway – Constructed 1933-37; 18 gates over a length of 442 m; maintains the reservoir usually 18 m above the river on the downstream side;
Second Powerhouse – Constructed 1974-81; 300.5 m long; 8 generators with a total generating capacity of 558,200 kW.
Bonneville Lock – Constructed in 1993 at a cost of $341 million; 26 m wide, 206 m long; transit time is approx. 30 minutes.
Lake Bonneville – 77 km long reservoir on the Columbia River created by Bonneville Dam; part of the Columbia-Snake Inland Waterway.