The phonautograph is the earliest known device for recording sound. Tracings had been obtained of the sound-producing vibratory motions of tuning forks and other objects by physical contact with them, but not of actual sound waves as they propagated through air or other media. Invented by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, it was patented on March 25, 1857, it transcribed sound waves as undulations or other deviations in a line traced on smoke-blackened paper or glass. Intended as a laboratory instrument for the study of acoustics, it could be used to visually study and measure the amplitude envelopes and waveforms of speech and other sounds, or to determine the frequency of a given musical pitch by comparison with a recorded reference frequency, it did not occur to anyone before the 1870s that the recordings, called phonautograms, contained enough information about the sound that they could, in theory, be used to recreate it. Because the phonautogram tracing was an insubstantial two-dimensional line, direct physical playback was impossible in any case.
Several phonautograms recorded before 1861 were played as sound in 2008 by optically scanning them and using a computer to process the scans into digital audio files. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, a printer and bookseller by trade, was inspired when he happened to read about the anatomy of the human ear in the course of his business. His phonautograph was constructed as an analog of the ear canal and ossicles. Scott created several variations of the device; the functions of the ear canal and eardrum were simulated by a funnel-like horn or a small open-ended barrel with a flexible membrane of parchment or other suitable material stretched over the small end. A pig bristle or other lightweight stylus was connected to the membrane, sometimes by an indirect linkage which simulated the ossicles and served as an amplifying lever; the bristle traced a line through a thin coating of lampblack—finely divided carbon deposited by the flame of an oil or gas lamp—on a moving surface of paper or glass.
The sound collected by the simulated ear and transmitted to the bristle caused the line to be modulated in accordance with the passing variations in air pressure, creating a graphic record of the sound waves. Martinville's first patent described a flat recording surface and a weight-driven clockwork motor, but the and more familiar form of his invention, marketed by Rudolph Koenig in 1859, recorded on a sheet of lampblack-coated paper wrapped around a cylinder, hand-cranked; the cylinder was carried on a coarsely threaded rod so that it progressed along its axis as it rotated, producing a helical tracing. The length of the recording that could be accommodated depended on the speed of rotation, which had to be rapid in order to resolve the individual waveforms of various sounds with good detail. If only longer-term dynamics such as the cadences of speech were being studied, the cylinder could be rotated much more and a longer recording could be made; some phonautographs included a tuning fork or other means of recording a known reference frequency.
Several other inventors subsequently produced modified versions of the phonautograph and recorded the sound-modulated line by the use of various implements and in various formats, either in attempts to improve on Scott's apparatus or to adapt it to specific applications. In at least one instance, a complete return to the device's conceptual origins was made by employing the preserved parts of an actual human ear. By mid-April 1877, Charles Cros had realized that a phonautograph recording could be converted back into sound by photoengraving the tracing into a metal surface to create a playable groove using a stylus and diaphragm similar to those of the phonautograph to reverse the recording process and recreate the sound. Before he was able to put his ideas into practice, the announcement of Thomas Edison's phonograph, which recorded sound waves by indenting them into a sheet of tinfoil from which they could be played back temporarily relegated Cros's less direct method to obscurity. Ten years the early experiments of Emile Berliner, the creator of the disc Gramophone, employed a recording machine, in essence a disc form of the phonautograph.
It traced a clear sound-modulated spiral line through a thin black coating on a glass disc. The photoengraving method first proposed by Cros was used to produce a metal disc with a playable groove. Arguably, these circa 1887 experiments by Berliner were the first known reproductions of sound from phonautograph recordings. However, as far as is known, no attempt was made to use this method to play any of the surviving early phonautograms made by Scott de Martinville; this was because the few images of them available in books and periodicals were of unpromising short bursts of sound, of fragmentary areas of longer recordings, or too crude and indistinct to encourage such an experiment. Nearly 150 years after they had been recorded, promising specimens of Scott de Martinville's phonautograms, stored among his papers in France's patent office and at the Académie des Sciences, were located by American audio historians. High-quality images of them were obtained. In 2008, the team played back the recordings as sound for the first time.
Modern computer-based image processing methods were used to accomplish the playback. The first results were obtained by using a specialized system developed for optically playing recordings on more conventional media which were too fragile or damaged to be played by traditional means. Available image-editing and image-to-sound conversion software, requiring only a high-quality scan of the phonautogram and an ordinary personal computer
"Inca Roads" is the opening track of the Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention 1975 album, One Size Fits All. The song features unusual time signatures and vocals; the marimba-playing of Zappa's percussionist Ruth Underwood is featured prominently. The song was played in concert from 1973 to 1976, 1979 and 1988. "Inca Roads" for the most part explores the stereotypes of aliens encountering the Incan civilization. These themes, like the album cover of One Size Fits All seem to parody the spirituality of many progressive rock albums around the same era; the lyrics "Did a vehicle come from somewhere out there, just to land in the Andes? Was it round and did it have a motor or was it something different?" Imply that a UFO is landing in the Andes mountains. As the song progresses, the lyrics seem to mock the beginning of the song. An example of this is "...or did someone build a place or leave a space for Chester's thing to land. Did a booger-bear come from somewhere out there..." The non-serious nature of these lyrics and the music itself seem to be mocking other progressive rock bands and their forced divine depth.
"Inca Roads" uses mixed meter. The time signatures include 24, 34, 44, 54, 64, 38, 78, 316, 516, 716, 1116, others; the song starts with dominant vocals and marimba, but soon features a massive, iconic guitar solo performed by Zappa in late September 1974 at a live performance in Helsinki, Finland. An edited version of this solo recording was "grafted" onto a performance of the song from August 27, 1974 at KCET in Los Angeles; this combination of performances forms the backbone of the album version from One Size Fits All. George Duke plays an complex solo in 716. In the video of the KCET performance, entitled A Token of His Extreme, Zappa is seen smiling gleefully as Duke plays his solo, as he plays the backup chords. After a short marimba solo, "Inca Roads" reprises its snappy intro; the song ends with the lyrics "On Ruth, on Ruth, that's Ruth!", acknowledging Underwood for her leading on the marimba. In an interview vocalist and keyboard player George Duke said that Zappa pushed for him to sing on "Inca Roads" and that beforehand Duke had no intentions of singing professionally and was only there to play keyboards.
He went on to explain how Zappa had bought him a synthesizer and told him he could play around with it if he wanted. This led to Duke playing the synth part on "Inca Roads" as well. Many early LP copies contain a skip during "Inca Roads" at 4:40 into the track; this error was a manufacturing defect not caught during the test pressing stage. The album was recalled after the mistake was caught, but a significant number had been sold; the complex nature of the music made it difficult to recognize the error without comparing it to the correct version. In 2018, Prog magazine named "Inca Roads" at hundredth position in their list "The 100 Greatest Prog Songs Of All Time." Frank Zappa – guitar, backing vocals George Duke – lead vocals, synthesizer Napoleon Murphy Brock – flute, tenor saxophone, backing vocals Tom Fowler – bass Chester Thompson – drums Ruth Underwood – vibes, percussion
John V. Wertheim is an American lawyer and politician who served as Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico from 2004 until 2007. During that time, he served on the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee. In 1996, he was the Democratic nominee for the United States House of Representatives in New Mexico's 1st congressional district against the incumbent Representative Steve Schiff of the Republican Party; the treasurer for his congressional campaign was Arvind A. Raichur. Wertheim is running for New Mexico State Treasurer in 2014. Wertheim is a graduate of Yale University, where the Yale Political Union elected him President and Speaker. Representing the Yale Debate Association, he and partner Matt Wolf won the 1990 World Universities Debating Championship held at the Glasgow University Union in Scotland, becoming the first Americans to do so. In 1990, he and debate partner Austan Goolsbee placed second at the APDA National Debating Championship. At Yale, he was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones.
In his senior year of high school, 1986, Wertheim won dual championships at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, sponsored by the National Forensic League, in both Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Wertheim received his law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1995, he is married to Bianca Ortiz-Wertheim. Martindale-Hubbell Profile
Ostoja is a Polish coat of arms that originated from Sarmatian Tamga and refer to Royal Sarmatians using Draco standard. Following the end of the Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages it was used by Ostoja family in Lesser Poland and also in Kujavia and Greater Poland, it is a coat of arms of noble families that fought in the same military unit using battle cry Hostoja or Ostoja, that applied their ancient heritage on the Coat of Arms, forming a Clan of knights. When the Clan expanded their territory to Pomerania, Slovakia and Romania they adopted a few noble families of Ruthenian origin that in 14-15th century settled down in Lithuania and Ukraine turning into the Clan of Ostoja; as different lines of the clan formed surnames after their properties and adding the adoptions, Ostoja was recognized as CoA of several families, not necessary connected to the original Clan, forming Heraldic clan. Original version: the coat of arms of the medieval version differed from the generalized form in times; the following reconstruction appearance comes from Josef Szymanski: Gules, between an increscent and a decrescent a cross in pale point downwards, all Or.
On a helmet a dragon Sable, exhaling fire Gules, on two crescents pointing up, Or. Mantling Sable, lined Or Modern version from the 17th century replaced a cross between crescents with the sword in pale point downwards. On a crowned helmet, five ostrich feathers; the last image is of the seal of Dobieslaw de Koszyce from 1381, identical to an early sign found on the entry of the church in Wysocice of Nicolaus Ostoja de Sciborzyce from about 1232. Those coat of arms as below are of noble families and linked en masse to Ostoja because the moon or the sword in the shield; the list of imaginary Ostoja coats of arms might be longer than here presented. There are Russian families that where ennobled and given the coat of arms that looked like Ostoja during the partition time and that some call Ostoja, it is possible that coats of arms where painted with error during the nobility verification process in the time of partition. Families that are members of the Clan of Ostoja: Below, CoA from the left: Błyszczanowicz - ancient family noted in 1497, error in 1806 by Russian authorities in Kiev that painted the coat of arms in the wrong way.
Miklaszewski - this family was adopted to the Clan of Ostoja in 1569 when the family received nobility. Supposed to sign original Ostoja coat of arms. Third from the left is Ochocki coat of arms that received nobility in 1683 and was adopted to the Clan of Ostoja and sign modern version of Ostoja with sword instead of a cross. Fourth from the left, Gawłowski family of ancient origin and with a coat of arms, simple error of foreign authorities, supposed to be original version of Ostoja. Strzałkowski family is of ancient origin here the coat of arms is modified during partition of the Commonwealth but here most family helped authorities to change their original coat of arms. Purpose or reason of, not known; the coat of arms of Nagorski family that received nobility in 1590 and was adopted to the Clan of Ostoja. Note that there is another family of Nagorski of Ostoja of ancient origin but it is impossible now to separate those families from each other. Families that are not members of the Clan of Ostoja Second row from the left: Bogorajski, received nobility in 1775 and a rang crown of a baron not being a baron, although in this version crown of the noble by error since there are no other paintings of correct coat of arms yet.
Next coat of arms is of Raczewski family that received nobility in 1775. The coat of arms of Kleczewski family followed by Mokrzewski family that are not members of the clan but show similar coats of arms to Ostoja. Last three coat of arms in this row are of families Orda and Wasilewski - none of them are members of the Clan, coat of arms have been added to Ostoja and are called variant of Ostoja coat of arms. Third row from the left: coat of arms of Fincke von Finkenthal family that received nobility in 1805, followed by the coat of arms of the Ostaszewski family that received nobility in 1785, most the name is wrongly spelled, should be Ostarzewski. Third coat of arms from the left is of Krall family that received nobility in 1768 followed by the coat of arms of the Szyszko family that should be not mixed up with ancient Szyszkowski de Szyszki family; the coat of arms of the Turkuł family that received nobility in 1676, this family is extinct. The last two coats of arms in third row are of Zawadzki families.
Both families have never been considered as members of the Clan of Ostoja but here their coat of arms become recognized as variant of the Ostoja coat of arms. In the case of Wysocki family belong to the Clan of Kolumna with a modified coat of arms called Kolumna ze skrzydlami - Kolumna with wings. Below is the coat of arms of ancient German family von Finkenstein written as Fink von Finkenstein referring to the family of Fink, noted in German records in the 13th century; this family moved at that time to the land occupied by Teutonic Knights. In time this family become prominent, it is not known who decided to call this coat of arms Ostoja Pruska but it is a significant example of breaking every possible heraldic rule in the name of Polish clan tradition where clan members used same coat of arms. It seems that this coat of arms was added to Ostoja by force. There are two families that where part of the Clan of Ostoja in the 14th century according to the records of Teutonic Knights, they lived in Pomerania and that have been given this coat of arms by all publications - the families of Lniski and Sk
The Battersea Railway Bridge is a bridge across the River Thames in London, between Battersea and Fulham. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd it connects to the extreme north-east part of Fulham, known as Chelsea Harbour or Imperial Wharf, a 21st century-rebuilt area on the south side of a Chelsea Creek; the bridge is used by the West London Line of the London Overground from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction. The bridge was designed by William Baker, chief engineer of the London and North Western Railway, was opened on 2 March 1863 at a cost of £87,000, it consists of five 120-foot lattice girder arches set on stone piers. A three-arch brick viaduct carries the line on the north side of the bridge, with one arch having been opened to provide a pedestrian route under the railway, as part of the Thames Path. On the south side are four arches, two of which are used as storage for the residents of a houseboat community moored downstream. Completion of a plaza containing a residential/leisure tower, Lombard Wharf is scheduled for 2017 south-west of the bridge.
The plans for which have entailed re-opening an arch of the viaduct to provide a continuous boardwalk. The bridge was strengthened and refurbished in 1969, again in 1992. During a high tide in late 2003, the structure was struck by a refuse-barge damaging some lower structural elements significantly: repairs were completed in early 2004. In November 2013, planning permission was granted for the Diamond Jubilee Footbridge, extending the two central piers of the bridge upstream. Trains crossing are subject to a 20/30 mph speed limit; the bridge was declared a Grade II* listed structure in 2008, providing protection to preserve its special character from unsympathetic development. Crossings of the River Thames List of bridges in London References Notes Loobet, Patrick. Battersea Past. Historical Publications Ltd. p. 49. ISBN 0-948667-76-1. Battersea Railway Bridge at Structurae Coordinates: 51°28′23″N 0°10′45″W
Killing Zone is a fighting video game developed by Scarab and published by Naxat Soft in March 1996 in Japan and by Acclaim in both July 1996 in North America, September 1996 in Europe and Oceania, for the Sony PlayStation platform. The game was met with a poor critical reception. In this sequel to Sega Saturn's Battle Monsters, there are a total of 14 characters in the game, two modes: Normal Mode, a standard fighting game mode, Auto Mode. In Auto mode the player selects a type of monster, making their own version of one of the seven playable characters. Auto mode comprises three tournaments, during which the player can upgrade their monster by winning battles. Unlike the 2D digitized actors and platforms of its predecessor, the gameplay is more like Virtua Fighter in terms of 3D characters, move sets and ring outs; the development team's more ambitious unrealized plans for the game included allowing characters to dismember their opponents during fights. Killing Zone received negative reviews.
Next Generation panned it, citing animation "among the worst we've seen", counter-intuitive controls, disorienting camera movements, poor enemy AI, overpowered enemies. They remarked that "To call this game frustrating is to give the most unbearably frustrating games a bad name." The game was deemed "awful" by IGN. In October of 2018, the game's rights were acquired by Canadian production company Liquid Media Group along with other titles owned by Acclaim Entertainment. List of fighting games