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Artefact Listing
This page lists all artefacts in the game, of which there are 928.
| Industry / Artefact | Description |
|---|---|
| Music Pied Piper Owners: 887 | Music has been noted to be an instrument of mood manipulation, from the aroused state to the highly agitated, to very calm, to a almost suggestible state. All of these moods have been observed in careful study of participants listening to the Pied Piper. |
| Politics Senator Owners: 1094 | The Senator is a useful government official to have in your pocket. He busies himself passing legislation that favours you and makes sure the law enforcement agencies don't look too deeply into your shady deals. |
| Film and Television Director Owners: 732 | Short, dictatorial, and uncrossable, the Director wields all the power on the set of any film. No star will mess with a Director, lest his performance be left on the cutting-room floor. |
| Life Tree of Life Owners: 1016 | "The affinities of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree... As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications." From Origin of Species by Charles Darwin |
| Humor Gag Master Owners: 906 | The clown, the buffoon and stand up have nothing on this great invention from the dephs of corporate research labs. The Gag Master takes all the guesswork out of this vital human condition. Its mood analysis and artificial intelligence unit can prepare the right quip, retort and punchline in nanoseconds. Its ear receiver is unnoticable but a synaptic cord plug upgrade exists for the person serious about getting in the gags all the time without detection. Be the life and soul of the party and disarm your business oponents with wity one liners that will be the envy of the BS100. |
| Sex Pornstar Owners: 850 | Pornstars are always useful to have around. If you're trying to persuade a businessman, offer him a free ride in a limo and dinner on the house. If it is a businesswoman offer her a free couple of hours with a trained masseur. Keep it strictly business though, remember what happens when the press gets wind of this. |
| News Scoop Owners: 967 | An exclusive news story acquired before a competitor sounds like music to every publisher's ears. Better not forget to check and double-check though. Or the so-called scoop might turn into a real nightmare seriously undermining your credibility. |
| Relationships Counselor Owners: 722 | Even a glance at the make/break statistics for relationships reveals that many just don't seem to work out as well as one might hope. It is difficult, if not impossible, to be objective and unbiased when so closely involved with another person -- and the very closeness often leads one to believe that one knows more about the partner's needs than is actually the case. Enter the Counselor, who can mediate between the parties and help them achieve mutual understanding and acceptance. However, there are some relationships that even a skilled Counselor cannot mend... hence the existence of divorce attorneys. |
| Hobbies Workroom Owners: 733 | Every hobbiest, gamer, tinkerer and writer wishes they could have a place that was just their own, where no one could bother them or disturb them. What better than your own Workroom where you can craft, shape, or play? Let your creative side out and enjoy your hobby in the comfort of your own Workroom, after all you deserve it. |
| Cameras and Photographic Techniques Lens Junky Owners: 805 | The Lens Junky is in love with his camera equipment. He buys only the best, and spends almost every dime to do so. He'd sooner go without pizza or sex than his beloved Nikon SLR. He sometimes talks to it, when he thinks he is alone. Be that as it may, he is also a very talented individual, good at acessing restricted photo spots and telling racy stories. |
| Writing Shakespeare's Quill Owners: 840 | Inspiration is at hand if you have something so remarkable as Shakespeare's quill. All you need do is imagine him busily jotting down his next play or poem. Truly the muse will be with you, so use it as only a writer could. |
| Love Life Love Letter Owners: 624 | The love letter is the most romantic form of communication between two lovers, and can be cherished no matter the distance apart. A well penned letter can raise the heart rate, and bring to mind the most beloved memories in a relationship. One site online says "The most ancient love letter was found in Iran, it can be dated to about 4000 years ago. A young man called Gimisa was in love with a young lady called Dasbuai, that was why he wrote a love message to her in which he asked her to meet with him. It took much patience and much force to write and to receive this kind of love letter as its weight was more than 16 kilograms!" |
| Literature Blustocking Owners: 761 | A smart woman who hides behind a spinsterish facade, she knows everything there is to know about any book placed before her, from the year it was written to the author's favorite food to the typographical error that occurs on page nine of the first one hundred printed. She can also quote Dorothy Parker and Ogden Nash in her sleep. |
| Art Bohemian Owners: 799 | Never having quite enough cash, and sometimes forced to the streets, the Bohemian is very resourceful at living. A Bohemian relies on talents, charm, and instincts to insert him or herself amongst those with wealth and power, and therefore eat at another's expense. Because the Bohemian is often a fascinating person, most of his or her victims seem not to mind. |
| Technology Master Hacker Owners: 976 | The Master Hacker is a useful person to have in your employ. He solves problems using a variety of technologies and can be entertained by pizza, porn and lots and lots of hardware. |
| Internet Network Engineer Owners: 931 | Network Engineers are the masters of connectivity, with the pulse of the digital world at their fingertips. Their favour can be the difference between packet loss hell and high speed heaven. |
| Blog Services Soapbox Owners: 882 | More and more people are keeping weblogs - diary-style websites on which they post commentaries and recommend links. Webloggers typically offer pithy, sarcastic commentary about the links, or about news stories they've read, or about happenings in their daily lives. A weblog is, for many webloggers, their chance to stand upon a personal Soapbox and proclaim to the world-at-large what they think. Underestimate the power of the Soapbox artefact at your peril. |
| Fun Pleasuredome Owners: 781 | The purely hedonistic pursuit of an idea or activity that is pleasurable to oneself. The repeated use of the Pleasuredome is noted to produce an uncanny effect of always being in a good mood. Keep smiling and everyone will wonder what you have been up to. |
| Computers Improbability Drive Owners: 901 | The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) was of course well understood - and such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess's undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the Theory of Indeterminacy. Many respectable physicists said that they weren't going to stand for this - partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sort of parties. |
| Gay Brochure Owners: 742 | The Brochure is designed to educate the general public on the true facts of the gay community, as well as to fight both right wing and religious right rhetoric. Brochures are designed to show people why the gay vote is so important, the importance of equality for all, and also covers in great detail such important issues as immigration equality, adoption equality, and marriage equality. |
| Journal Anne Frank's Diary Owners: 1054 | The diary of a young girl surviving the extraordinary tragedy of the Holocaust is an inspiration to all journalists. Her recounting of experiences highlights a great scope of the human condition from terror through faith to hope. The simple, eloquent, personal style is a model for online journals which bring life to their times amidst the passage of history. In the understanding of journals, Anne Frank's Diary is an invaluable asset. |
| Links HTTP 404 - File Not Found Owners: 898 | Hailed as the nightmare of the web, the 404 Error surfaces in even the best web pages. Known to generate earth-shattering white pages with no navigational links, web surfer and web designer alike are warned to stay away from this cold, merciless scourge of the deep. |
| Geek Glasses Owners: 882 | For those that don't have 20/20 vision, their glasses are like their eyes. If you are caught wearing them, you will normally be called 4 eyes. If you are caught without them, you are probably stumbling everywhere trying to find them when they fell off. For some, a curse, for others, the cure, but one thing is for certain: they will always be called by all geeks everywhere "my pair of eyes" or, more lovingly, "eyes 3 and 4." |
| Religion Spiritual Retreat Owners: 776 | Every religious denomination should have a place where one can contemplate, meditate, discuss, search or study. With this artefact one can always look to the tranquility that comes with such places and why they are so important. |
| Christianity Gospel Owners: 808 | The gospel is the centerpiece of the Christian faith. It consist of three primary events: the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, his burial in a closed tomb, and his resurrection three days after his death. The communities of christianity rest upon this foundation in their belief system. for christians, those who embrace the truth of the gospel will be in heaven in the afterlife and be in relationship with God in this life. |
| Buddhism Bodhi Tree Owners: 517 | For three days and nights, Siddhartha meditated beneath the Bodhi Tree. When he arose, he was enlightened, and became Buddha. |
| Islam Schism Owners: 591 | Islam is divided into two main sub-divisions, the Sunni, who form about a 90 percent majority of the Muslim world, and the Shia, who form about 10 percent. The origins of the two schools are steeped in the early history of Islam. The Sunnis hold that the first four caliphs, or rulers, after the Prophet Muhammad were 'rightly guided' whereas Shi'ites are 'the partisans of Ali' who believe that the Prophet's son-in-law should have succeeded him directly. These struggles in the seventh century broadened out into a schism as great as that between the Orthodox, Catholics and the Protestants in Christianity. |
| Sikhism Guru Granth Sahib Owners: 173 | "Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the Living, awake Sri Guru Nanak Sahib who talks," wrote Baba Nand Singh Ji Maharaj. Sikhs revere this Granth, the holy book of the very words spoken by founders of the Sikh religion, as a living Guru. The sacred scripture consists of over 5000 Shabhads, poetic hymns written in Gurmukhi, with a message of perfect universal love. |
| Hinduism The Trinity Owners: 180 | In Hinduism, the Trinity signifies the three most important deities that control the entire creation. Brahma, the creator, makes everything, the Earth, the skies, the Universe. Vishnu, the preserver, ensures that everything is stable and nothing that could threaten the creation continues to happen. Shiva, the destroyer, destroys the creation and the cycle is repeated. |
| Judaism The Torah Owners: 446 | The Torah is the primary document of Judaism, and is the source of all Biblical commandments. Torah, is a Hebrew word meaning the teaching or the law. It refers to the first section of the Tanakh; the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, or the Five Books of Moses. These books of the Torah include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Hebrew names for these 5 books are Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bemidbar, and Devarim. As it is the holiest document in the Jewish religion, theTorah is carefully hand-written using a quill on specially prepared unblemished animal hide which is called Gevil. A sefer ("kosher") Torah contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trained sofer ("scribe"). The ink is special, the scroll is special, and it is witnessed by Rabbis in the process to insure that it is kept within those standards. When completed, it is dressed in elaborate textile covers, crowned with silver ornaments and kept in the holiest spot within the synagogue called the Ark. The Ark is usually built along the wall that most closely faces Jerusalem, the direction faced by Jews when engaged in prayer. The text of the Torah is also commonly printed as a book, known as the Chumash ("five", for the five books of Moses), and is often accompanied by commentaries or translations. |
| Paganism None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Web Design WYSWYG Owners: 872 | Commonly mistaken for "What You See, What You Get", WYSWYG is an ancient demonic presence brought to the modern world to fool niave web designers into the believing that their drawings will translate into documents presentable on the Web. These sirens call newbies and crash them on the rocks of bloated mark-up, browser incompatibility and table hell. Used against your (blog) enemies it can disrupt and reduce productivity allowing you and your trusty text editor to steam ahead of the game. |
| Personal Peeping Tom Owners: 981 | Peeping Toms are never praised, like novelists or bird watchers, for their keenness of observation yet they are everywhere. He's there when you write about your glorious moments but he won't close his eyes when it gets embarrassing. Be warned. |
| Poetry Muse Owners: 759 | A beautiful, but often pouting woman, fickle in her times of appearance and her moods. When she shows, however, nothing and no one can be more inspiring, and no one can resist her allure. Many a man has fallen to his death chasing his muse over a cliff. |
| Friends Friendship Bracelet Owners: 603 | "Birds of a feather flock together", so goes the cliche. Man is a social creature, and to connect with people of like minds, keeping the company and sharing the same interests, answers a basic human need for acceptance and affirmation.<br />Friendship bracelets are usually cheap plastic, wooden or plastic beads, or even hemp and stones, but regardless of its contents, the meaning is always clear. Friends often swap friendship bracelets to demonstrate a commitment to each other, and wear them as symbols of their pride in a strong friendship. |
| Education Dean Owners: 757 | The Dean runs the school, and everything must pass his office and receive his stamp of approval. Cross the Dean and you're cooked. Know the daughter of the aunt of the Dean's cousin, and you might get free tuition. |
| High School Bully Owners: 554 | Commute to and from school earlier or later in the day. Take different routes to school. Try not to be alone in the hallways, locker rooms, restrooms, or empty classrooms. And DON'T bring any lunch money. |
| University Degree Owners: 834 | 'Bachelor', 'Master' or better yet 'Doctor', a degree is a wonderful thing. If it doesn't get you a decent job, it's still a nice decoration on the wall. |
| Games Mario Brothers Owners: 746 | Timing is everything in the business of games. When it comes to gaming, who could forget Mario and Luigi, two Italian plumber brothers from Brooklyn. If your portfolio is leaky give the Mario's a call, they'll put the wrenches to your opponent's pipes. |
| Philosophy Philosophers Stone Owners: 699 | The Philosopher's Stone, able to bring about bring about a permanent transmutation of base metals into gold. When a solution of the Stone in spirits of wine is consumed, health and youth are restored. The Philosopher's Stone has an immense range of powers, not only possessing the secrets of life and health, but also the purity and sanctity of the highest realm of pure thought and altruistic existence. |
| Media Bloggers Owners: 822 | As the Internet is gaining ground to become the most influential media sector at the expense of the more traditional sectors such as TV, radio, press and publishing, PR & advertising, we witness the rapid emergence of a whole new generation of mini media moguls whom we call ‘Bloggers’. From a personal diary which probably no one bothers to read to the real time report from the Baghdad Blogger who scooped our news network with over 20,000 readers a day, the blogging community (now over one million members and still growing strong) is fast becoming a genuine alternative for news sources and for PR and advertising. As Guardian, UK puts it, “Underestimate their power at your own peril”. |
| TV Boob Tube Owners: 678 | The Boob Tube has designs on turning your mind to mush. Repeated exposure to mindless sitcoms and reality shows will gradually dull your senses, make you lose your eyesight, and give you a bad case of couch potatoitis. There is a cure for this however it's only recommended for those with thought processes still intact. Turn it off. |
| Radio Wolfman Jack Owners: 452 | For millions, Wolfman Jack--indisputably the world's most famous DJ--was the master of ceremonies for the rock 'n' roll generation of the '60s on radio. In the early 1960s, when much of the airwaves were segregated, Bob Smith created his shadowy wild man alter ego so that he could DJ on the radio the "rhythm and blues" race records he loved so much. As the enigmatic Wolfman Jack, the young white man from Brooklyn, could easily hide behind a voice that masked his true ethnic roots. Wolfman Jack held court over his young audience from XERF-AM, just south of Cuidad Acuna, Mexico, where the 250,000 watt signal (five times more powerful than any U.S. radio station could legally be) blanketed most of North America. Many teens first discovered The Wolfman while scanning the AM radio band as they cruised Main Street U.S.A. Out of the night came a howling, guttural, ethereal voice amid a collection of rock 'n' roll, inner-city ethnic rhythm, and deep-south blues records that wouldn't be found on any "legal" radio station. Without the benefit of traditional advertising, it was word of mouth that spread the news about the provocative Wolfman and his nonconformist style -- the kind of style that horrified parents, making it all the more appealing to a growing legion of young followers. |
| Newspapers Extra Edition Owners: 563 | The newspapers deliver the news to our homes daily or weekly. But when a special event happens, "Hold the presses!" newspapers put out a Extra Edition to let everyone know. Back in the early days of the press, it wasn't uncommon for the newsboys selling the paper to shout "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Which, when you think of it, is the heart and soul of a newspaper... read all about it. |
| Magazines / Periodicals Time Magazine Owners: 624 | This very informative magazine was co-founded by Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce in 1923. Hitting the stands for the first time in March 2, 1923, this weekly magazine had its unique writing style that people seemed to enjoy. One of its most demanded issues is their yearly "Man of the Year" (recently renamed to "Person of the Year") that recognizes not only humans for their contribution to society, but machines and ideas as well . |
| Cinema / Film / Video Latham Loop Owners: 627 | A ingenious solution to an early problem in film projection, the Latham Loop reduced the stress on the long lengths of film used in cameras. By allowing a "loop" of film before entering the projection chamber, the Latham family were able to stop film from breaking under the duress of projection. The technology was the subject of long patent litigation. |
| Drawing Charcoal Pencil Owners: 531 | The charcoal pencil -- some artists swear by it, while others despise it completely. It's messy and smudgy, but it allows for effects unattainable with any other tool. Regardless of opinions, drawing just wouldn't be drawing without the familiar and distinct drag of the charcoal pencil. It allows for drawings to lose their reflective value and still retain shadows and some degree of detail. Artists of the world, grab your charcoal pencils and allow your hands to blacken. |
| Art History Caves of Lascaux Owners: 251 | This is where you can find some of the oldest man-made images on earth. These caves hold the prehistoric paintings that begin every chronologically taught history of art class. The Lascaux Caves, along with those in Altamira and Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, contain the seeds of all human artistic development. The first artists began producing public murals of animals and hunting scenes between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. The images astounded the first modern people who saw them. They could not not believe that such beautiful, elegant, and accurate paintings could have been done by "cave men." But carbon dating has told us they did. Today, the caves at Lascaux are no longer open to the public because of the rapid deterioration of the paint surfaces due to the moisture and carbon dioxide produced by hundreds of tourists every day. But we can still enjoy them in detail in our art history classes and at their websites. |
| Painting Ultramarine Blue Owners: 351 | Painters during the middle ages didn't have half the color choices we have today. All of their pigments were natural, coming mostly from mineral sources. But one pigment was so rare and so fine and so beautiful that it was more expensive than gold: Ultramarine Blue. The pigment came from the lapis-lazuli gem, mined only in present day Afghanistan, so importing it was costly. The deep blue color is lightfast, and is still just as bright today as when it was applied to panels 700 years ago. It was the color of a Duccio Virgin's cloak, and the feathers on the wings of Fra Angelico's angels. When patrons commissioned paintings, they specified how much gold leaf and Ultramarine Blue to use - the more blue and gold, the more spectacular the painting, the more prestigious the donor. Both the cost and the beauty of Ultramarine Blue reflected God's glory. However, the use of this color declined in later centuries. In the 19th century, Cobalt Blue was discovered, and replaced Ultramarine as the most beautiful of blues. In the 20th century, synthetic pigments appeared on the market. Today, most of the pigments painters use are synthetic, whether they be in oils or acrylics or watercolors. Even as a synthetic, Ultramarine Blue is still one of the most popular colors in painting. |
| Hometown Blogs Main Street Owners: 324 | Every town has a Main Street, a path that takes citizens through the heart of a place. It might have a post office next to a gas station, or a small store where the proprietor lives next door, or an arts and crafts shop next to a cafe where the regulars sit and sip their coffee and pass the time of day while the rest of the world walks and drives by. A hometown blog can open up the hearts and minds of readers and introduce them to the characters of the town, the places, values and events that knit the residents together. Think of a Hometown Blog as a character on Main Street, giving us insight into people and places we might otherwise never know. |
| Science Experiment Owners: 713 | In the scientific method, an experiment is a set of actions and observations, performed to verify or falsify a hypothesis or identify a causal relationship between phenomena. The experiment is a cornerstone in empirical approach to knowledge. |
| Food and Drink Connoisseur Owners: 717 | A person with expert knowledge or training, especially in the fine arts. A connoisseur of foods or drink is a person of informed and discriminating taste. |
| Recipes / Techniques Chef Owners: 662 | The Chef can prepare exquisite dishes using superb ingredients and taking great care in preparation and presentation thus arousing intense delight. But are you willing to trust him? What if he put arsenic in your delicacies? |
| Cooking Fannie Farmer Cookbook Owners: 421 | Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 March 1857 - 15 January 1915) published The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book in 1896. What made the book immensely popular was not so much the 1,849 recipes ranging from milk toast to Zigaras à la Russe, but that she provided scientific explanations of the chemical processes that occur in food during cooking and she helped standardize the system of measurements used in cooking. Prior to the Cookbook's publication, other recipes frequently called for amounts such as "a piece of butter the size of an egg," or "a teacup of milk." Farmer's systematic discussion of measurement -- "A cupful is measured level . . . A tablespoonful is measured level. A teaspoonful is measured level." -- led to her being named "the mother of level measurements." Even a hundred years later, the "Fannie Farmer Cookbook" is still popular. |
| Programming HexHacker Owners: 778 | The HexHacker spends so much time before his computer, hacking hexidecimal code, that he begins to think and speak in it. He hasn't combed his hair in months, but he can access every webcam on the planet in seconds, and break almost any security system remotely. He's secretly building a web-based program which will help him in his schemes to dominate the globe, all from a shiny G5 Mac, or a Unix server. |
| Web Technologies Router Owners: 806 | File transfer, IRC, instant messaging, online purchases and even the humble web page - none of these would be possible without the humble Router. It directs your request for information to the right place and directs it back to you. Without it, online commerce wouldn't exist. |
| XML Validator Owners: 607 | Numerous standards and extensibility can be a confusing mess in the world of XML, so where would you be without your schema and trusty Validator? Human readable machine communication no longer needs to be a grammatical nightmare.<br />The true BlogShares entrepreneur offers his validator, gaining market support and influence. Competition in this space can be neutralized by shifting the ground underneath them to your advantage through interpretive messages from your Validator.<br />But be careful not to cry foul to often, less your Validator be exposed for the monopolising antagonist it truly is. |
| PHP Rasmus Lerdorf Owners: 329 | PHP is primarily an Internet-based programming language that powers many high-profile sites, including BlogShares. PHP was, however, originally designed as a small set of Perl scripts and not a language in its own right. This was quickly followed by a rewritten set of CGI binaries in C by the Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. He originally wrote them to display his résumé and to collect certain data, such as how much traffic his page was receiving. "Personal Home Page Tools" was publicly released on 8 June 1995 after Lerdorf combined it with his own Form Interpreter to create PHP/FI. |
| Artisanal Sales None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Animals and Pets Crock Hunter Owners: 552 | Normally found in the zoo at Australia, The Crock Hunter has vast resources to travel all over the globe to bring new light and understanding to various animals, and support or condemn those that deal with them. Be careful when dealing with him, as his brainwashed fans will no doubt support any move he makes. |
| Cats Laser Exerciser Owners: 626 | As all serious ailurophiles know, cats tend to rest often. And objects at rest tend to remain at rest. The Laser Exerciser can be used to raise the energy level of most felines above the rest state for limited periods of time. |
| Weird Mind Goo Owners: 703 | The union of chaos, apathy and banality the Mind Goo keeps the masses occupied with the bizarre. A modern, networked avatar of the circus freak show. |
| Travel Weary Traveller Owners: 636 | Sometimes the best stories come from those who have seen it all. They know the world and they know the people who live in it. Business wise. Shouldn't you know the people too? |
| Performing Arts Bon Vivant Owners: 708 | The Bon Vivant lives a carefree lifestyle, enjoying only the finer things, wiling away his days in dinner jackets at the opera, or attending high society balls, or chasing beautiful girls with even more beautiful inheritances, usually while sipping champagne and humming a phrase from Carmen. |
| Female Morrighan Owners: 1125 | One and three, the Morrighan is a Godess to be reckoned with. Queen of Phantoms and Deamons, Specter Queen, Supreme War Godess, Moon Godess, Patroness of priestesses and witches, Her names are many. She's associated with revenge, prophecy, wisdom and war or peace. She reigns over the battlefield and you certainly would not want to insult her. Watch the Raven or the hooded Crow. |
| Team Sports The Jersey Owners: 519 | The sight of a bunch of people running around on the field, blazing around the rink, or smashing into each other in a bone-crunching tackle can sometimes be confusing. Not knowing whether it was your favourite team or the "bad guys" would always have you at the edge of your seat. That is, of course, if there were no Jerseys to tell the two teams apart. The Jersey is as much a part of the game as the player. The colours and symbols that are worn on Jerseys all over the world help us to distinguish our favourites from the ones we hate. Jerseys are instantly recognizable by true fans of any game, and the numbers on the back help us to spot our favourite players. The Jersey unifies the players, becoming a symbol of who they are and what they are playing for. The Jersey makes the team a team. |
| Baseball The Perfect Game Owners: 692 | The perfect game is the rarest feat in baseball. It has only been achieved sixteen times in the history of the Major Leagues. A pitcher is said to have thrown a perfect game if he retired all twenty-seven hitters over nine innings -- no hits, no walks and no errors. A perfect game does not require that the pitcher get twenty-seven strike-outs. Often, his teammates have to make good defensive plays to get the opposing players out. The last pitcher to throw a perfect game was David Cone of the New York Yankees when, on July 18, 1999, the Montreal Expos lost to New York 6-0. |
| Soccer / Association Football World Cup Owners: 541 | The seeds which marked the beginning of this great event were planted by the President of the World Football Federation, Jules Rimet, in 1926. The positive message infused by Rimet is summarized by his famous words "Soccer could reinforce the ideals of a permanent and real peace", as he pushed to organize an international event which would make no discrimination on the grounds of professional or amateur status of the athletes. As his words were spoken, a world tournament involving all of the national federations was being planned. Rimet and five other officials organized the event for 1930. The first World Cup match was held in Pocitos Stadium on July 13, 1930 where the host, Uruguay, won the first world cup. Today the World Cup remains the most watched soccer event. |
| Basketball Harlem Globetrotters Owners: 537 | The Harlem Globetrotters are one of the most well known basketball teams, and for good reason: The team was established on January 26th, 1926 by Abe Saperstein, in Hinckley, IL. The team was originally named the "Savoy Big Five" after the famous Chicago's Savoy Ballroom. Saperstein would later add his family name to the jersey thereafter, "Saperstein's New York Globetrotters". The Globetrotters became real "globetrotters", travelling the world and entertaining millions. With players such as Geese Ausbie, Goose Tatum, 1998 Hall of Famer Marques Haynes, Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon, the Globetrotters became ambassadors of basketball, bringing their high-flying showmanship to the world. The team has played over 20,000 games in more than 100 countries around the world. 1976- Celebrated their 50th anniversary, the Harlem Globetrotters become history's first professional basketball squad to play in a free democratic South Africa. 1982- They are the first and only sports team to receive the famous star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame". 1985- Signed their first female player, Olympic Gold Medallist, Lynette Woodard from Kansas. 1993- Mannie Jackson becomes the first African-American and former player to own a sports/entertainment organization with his acquisition of the Harlem Globetrotters. 2000- Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first Globetrotter to have his jersey retired at a March ceremony at his Philadelphia alma mater, Overbrook High School. |
| Cricket Lords Cricket Ground Owners: 38 | Known as 'The Home of Cricket', Lord's Cricket Ground holds vast historical significance and enormous sentimental value to cricket players worldwide. Founded by Thomas Lord in 1787, Lord's was relocated twice before it reached its current location in 1814. It was the site of the first Test (international level) match and houses the world's oldest and best cricket museum, with memorabilia dating back to 1864. Portraits of cricketing greats are displayed in The Long Room at Lord’s and it is considered a mighty honour when a portrait of a modern cricketing hero is added to the gallery of past legends. In addition, honour boards in the dressing rooms list the names of any batsmen to score at century (100 runs) or bowler who takes five or more wickets in one innings or 10 wickets in a match. Lord's also watches over the Ashes - a symbol of the Ashes Test cricket series played biennially (and with fierce rivalry) between Australia and England. The Ashes is both a sporting event and an actual, physical object. The trophy for the Ashes Test cricket series is the actual "Ashes"--an urn containing the burnt remains of a piece of cricket gear, the exact nature of which no one knows to this day. Replicas of the urn are sometimes made and used to celebrate a Test victory, but the original Ashes are always kept in the museum at Lord's. Home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and the European Cricket Council (ECC), Lord’s hosts Test matches and one-day internationals, as well as local club and village games and even a cricket school for young players. Rather than just standing as a tribute to the history of cricket, Lord’s is also a vibrant centre of action for the game today. |
| American Football Quarterback Owners: 526 | When the team plays well, he's a hero - when they lose he's the scapegoat. The field general of the offense who touches the ball on every play - the player that every child wants to be. |
| Golf Green Jacket Owners: 283 | Awarded to the winner of the U.S. Masters tournament, this is one of the most coveted prizes among professional golfers. It symbolizes the best of the best. |
| Tennis Grand Slam Owners: 181 | Considered the greatest achievement in Tennis, the Grand Slam is accomplished by winning the four Grand Slam tournaments--Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open in one year. Originally restricted to winning all four events in the same calendar year the Grand Slam now commonly refers to holding all four titles simultaneously. Since first being achieved by Don Budge in 1938 only six other players--Maureen Connolly, Rod Laver, Margaret Smith Court, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Serena Williams have accomplished the feat in singles play. |
| Netball None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Snow Skiing None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Alcohol Hangover Owners: 373 | A common after-effect of ethanol intoxication is the unpleasant sensation known as hangover, which is partly due to the dehydrating effect of ethanol. Hangover symptoms include dry mouth, headache, nausea and light sensitivity. These symptoms are partly due to the toxic acetaldehyde produced from alcohol by alcohol dehydrogenase, and partly due to general dehydration. The dehydration portion of the hangover effect can be mitigated by drinking plenty of water between and after alcoholic drinks. Other components of the hangover are thought to come from the various other chemicals in an alcoholic drink, such as the tannins in red wine, and the results of various metabolic processes of alcohol in the body, but few scientific studies have attempted to verify this. Consuming a large amount of water is the best way to overcome a hangover. |
| Beer Kegger Owners: 360 | A huge keg falls out of a passing delivery truck, complete with a dispenser. The entire business community grinds to a halt as the party commences...the beer industry profits plummet on lost productivity. |
| Wine Vineyard Owners: 285 | A vineyard is a place where grapes are grown, most notably grapes for wine making purposes. Vineyards are often on hillsides and on soil of marginal value to other plants. A common saying is that "the worse the soil, the better the wine." Planting on hilllsides, especially facing south, is most often in an attempt to maximize the amount of sunlight that falls on the vineyard. For this reason some of the best wines come from vineyards planted on quite steep hills. |
| Fashion / Clothing Catwalk Owners: 533 | <i>I'm a model you know what I mean<br /> And I do my little turn on the catwalk<br /> Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah<br /> I shake my little touche on the catwalk</i><br /> - Right Said Fred<br /> <br /><br /> Every season, the stunning models balance their high heels on the catwalk, showing the latest creations by the world's most famous designers. Photographers, journalists and strategically invited guests hold their breath. What do the geniuses of creativity have in store this time? What will be the new colours, patterns and even more important: will the skirts be mini or maxi? It is all shown on the catwalk. |
| Web Services SOAP Owners: 662 | SOAP is a lightweight protocol for exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment. It is an XML-based protocol that consists of three parts: an envelope that defines a framework for describing what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined datatypes, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses. SOAP can potentially be used in combination with a variety of other protocols; however, the only bindings defined in this document describe how to use SOAP in combination with HTTP and HTTP Extension Framework.<br />Get your developers on the marketing hype wagon and your applications internetworked in the latest upgrade to interop. |
| Networking TCP/IP Model Owners: 157 | The Internet Protocol Suite is composed of two separate protocols: The Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). These protocols started being developed in the 1970's by the Department of Defense as a way to transfer information over satellite and radio ground packets. By March of 1982, the TCP/IP Protocol was made standard for all military networking. Though the OSI Model was the standard networking protocol, it has been abandoned to internet age's adoption of TCP/IP. |
| Wi-Fi / Wireless Networks Bluetooth Owners: 439 | Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). It provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices like personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and digital cameras via a secure, low-cost, globally available short range radio frequency. Bluetooth lets these devices talk to each other when they come in range, even if they are not in the same room, as long as they are within up to 100 metres (328 feet) of each other, dependent on the power class of the product. The specification was first developed by Ericsson, and was later formalized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The SIG was formally announced on May 20, 1999. It was established by Sony Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba and Nokia, and later joined by many other companies as Associate or Adopter members. The system is named after a Danish king Harald Blåtand (Harold Bluetooth in English), King of Denmark and Norway from 935 and 936 respectively, to 940 known for his unification of previously warring tribes from Denmark (including Skåne, present-day Sweden, where the Bluetooth technology was invented) and Norway. Bluetooth likewise was intended to unify different technologies like computers and mobile phones. The Bluetooth logo merges the Nordic runes analogous to the modern Latin H and B. This is the official story; however, the actual Harald Blåtand that was referred to in naming Bluetooth was most probably the liberal interpretation given to him in The Long Ships by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson, a Swedish best-selling Viking-inspired novel. |
| Communications Post Office Owners: 551 | Letters and parcels; bill-paying and Valentines; the postal mark that means your college application was in by the due date and the budget-saving Western Union transfer from your folks once you’ve gotten in – the post office facilitates some of our most important communications. Your sister goes off to work in another city? Don’t worry, she’ll send photos, and maybe some souvenirs, too! Meanwhile you’re at home and the post office is taking care of your business dealings. Need a signature on that? Email’s no good – send it through the post. No wonder the post office is at the heart of every local community. But the power of the post office goes far beyond that. Have you ever wondered why the people of our troubled world can’t just make the effort to understand each other and cooperate? While governments still struggle with this concept, the postal system has been the keystone of international cooperation for centuries. Think about it. When you pop that envelope in the post box on the corner, who are you trusting to deliver it at the other end? Post offices across the world work together, reading each other’s languages, understanding each other’s laws. You might not know that you can’t send a package to Australia in a carton once used for fruit, but the Japanese post office does. The average American may not be able to pick out Spain on a map of the world, but their post office can get that same map of the world to España within a week for a mere $1.70. Locally, nationally, internationally - want to have an impact in Communications? You need a Post Office! |
| Dutch Max Havelaar Owners: 633 | Max Havelaar or The coffee auctions of the Dutch Trading Company was written by Multatuli (Latin: I've suffered a lot), pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker, and when first published in 1860, it ignited a major political and social brouhaha. The novel, written by a former official of the Dutch East Indian Civil Service, exposed the massive corruption and cruelty rife in the Dutch colony of Java. The government even held an official inquiry into the Lebak affair featured in the novel, concentrating on the factual truth. - - However, the book goes far beyond an indictment of Dutch colonial policy of the 1850s. In the course of time, the accent has shifted slowly but steadily away from the controversial historical facts to the undisputed literary value of the book, and nowadays appreciation of it is focused mainly on its style and composition. - - At first glance, the book may appear to be a medley of styles and incongruent composition. For the Dutch reading public it was the very first book in which a everyday colloquial style is presented alongside the more formal literary style, with matter-of-fact passages abutting sentimental poems; dry official documents and letters juxtaposed with emotional outbursts, straight out sarcasm is mingled with irony. Hidden beneath its chaotic appearance there is a coherence, a well-constructed unity. The various styles are used highly functionally and effectively in the characterizations and they link up the various perspectives. |
| French Asterix the Gaul Owners: 794 | The history of the French language begins with the invasion of Gaul by Julius Caesar's armies in 59 B.C. The land was then inhabited by a multitude of different tribes who spoke various related Celtic languages. Subsequent to the conquest of the territory by 51 A.D., however, the language of the Romans was gradually adopted by most Gauls over the next few centuries. The Latin spoken by the invaders was not the careful, cultivated form of Latin used in the Roman Senate and in literature, but rather, a completely oral form of the language, complete with its own grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation patterns. Once established and adopted in Gaul, the language naturally changed rapidly, particularly after the fall of Rome. It is interesting to note that language of the Gauls had practically no influence on the Latin vernacular that subsequently developed. Beginning in the fifth century, the land was subject to numerous invasions--Germanic tribes from the east (the Franks) and the Vikings from the North. Each left only minor influences on the language. The invasions did, however, serve to accelerate a growing division between the language spoken to the south of the Loire--Langue D'Oc--from that spoken in the North, Langue D'Oïl (Oc and Oïl are the words for 'yes' in their respective dialects). The Southern dialect remained close to its Roman roots, while the Northern dialect showed exterior influences. In 987, Hugues Capet was elected king of the small kingdom of Île de France, centered around Paris. Although France at this time was essentially composed of small, independent kingdoms, this event marked the beginning of political unity, and therefore, of linguistic unity. Capet was the first king in the territory to speak the vernacular, and as his kingdom grew larger and more powerful through his successors, so too did the prestige of its language (called Francien today). |
| German Faust Owners: 703 | German poet, novelist, playwright, courtier, and natural philosopher, one of the greatest figures in Western literature. Throughout his life Goethe was interested in a variety of studies and pursuits. He made important discoveries in connection with plant and animal life, and evolved a non-Newtonian theory of the character of light, which was viewed with suspicion by scientists. In literature he gained fame early with The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), but his most famous work was the poetic drama in two parts, Faust. - - The first part of this masterwork appeared in 1808, and the second part in 1832. Goethe had worked for most of his life on this drama. It was based on Christopher Marlowe's Faust, and depicted a disillusioned scholar, who makes a pact with Satan. The original figure in the Faust legend was Gregorius Faustus (or Gregorius Sabellicus, Faustus Junior, c 1480-1510/1), a seeker of forbidden knowledge. His true identity is not known, but he claimed to be an astrologer, expert in magic, and an alchemist. This legend attracted Christoper Marlowe, who offered in his play a psychological study of the battle between good and evil. Marlowe's play ends with the protagonist's damnation. Goethe's story created a new persona for the Devil - Mephistopheles was a gentleman, who had adopted the manners of a courtier. Faust's lust for knowledge is limitless and he makes a contract with Mephistopheles: he will die at the moment he declares himself satisfied. In the first part Faust loses Margaret, an innocent girl, who is condemned to death for murdering her illegitimate child by Faust. In the philosophical second part Faust marries Helen of Troy and creates a happy community. Faust is finally satisfied, but Mephistopheles loses his victory, when angels take Faust to heaven. |
| English Oxford Dictionary Owners: 1141 | The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. |
| Spanish Don Quixote de La Mancha Owners: 796 | El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of la Mancha), better known simply as Don Quijote, was written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and is by far the most well-known Spanish literary piece ever written. It has been translated, fully or in parts, into more than 60 languages. This novel was written in two parts: Part I in 1605 and Part II in 1615. It was originally conceived as a comic satire against the chivalric romances then in literary vogue. It narrates the adventures of an elderly knight, Don Quijote, and his horse Rocinante and squire Sancho Panza. |
| Italian Divina Commedia Owners: 727 | The Divina Commedia (Italian for "divine comedy") is Dante’s masterpiece and is the best literal expression of medieval culture. The original title of the work was simply Commedia. Giovanni Boccaccio suggested adding the adjective Divina in order both to explain the kind of content and to celebrate the greatness and beauty of the work. The word Commedia indicates the literary genre of the work: Dante himself explains, in his XIII epistle (addressed to Cangrande della Scala, duke of Verona) that a commedia is a work representing a story with a happy ending (opposite to tragedia, Italian for "tragedy", an episode which ends badly): in fact, Dante’s Commedia ends well, since the protagonist meets God. The commedia genre is also characterized by a varied content and style. Basically, Dante modified Virgil’s pagan vision of after-life, according it to the religious dogmas of the Bible. Moreover, he used Aristotle’s physical vision of Universe and Thomistic philosophy. The result is a typical medieval vision of the cosmos, based mainly on religious ideals, but considering also classical culture. - - Generally speaking, the Commedia is an eschatological adventure. In other words, it’s the description of Dante's travel through the three transmundane kingdoms: Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Heaven (Paradiso). During this imaginary journey, Dante tries to describe the situation of the human souls after their deaths. The unifying elements are the constant presence of some protagonists and the theme of the travel. The whole journey can be also seen as a moral and religious conversion of the protagonist, Dante, symbolizing the conversion of the whole mankind: the result of this conversion is the refuse of sin and a life tensed towards God and eternal bliss. The protagonists of this travel are three, above all. The first is Dante himself, symbol of the whole mankind. The second is Virgil, symbol of human reason. He’s Dante’s guide through Inferno and Purgatorio. The third is Beatrice, a woman loved by Dante during his life. In the Commedia, she’s the symbol of God’s love which can help the man to be saved. She guides Dante through Paradiso. |
| Farsi Shahnameh Owners: 759 | Written by the great poet Ferdowsi, born in Khorasan in a village near Toos in 940AD, this great epic was originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Persian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. The Shahnameh or The Epic of Kings is one of the definite classics of the world. It tells hero tales of ancient Persia. The contents and the poet's style in describing the events takes the readers back to the ancient times and makes he/she sense and feel the events. Ferdowsi worked for thirty years to finish this masterpiece. |
| Japanese Kanji Owners: 677 | (From the Japanese "kan" - the Chinese Han dynasty, and "ji" - glyph or letter of the alphabet. Not capitalised. Plural "kanji") The Japanese word for a Han character used in Japanese. Kanji constitute a part of the writing system used to represent the Japanese language in written, printed and displayed form. The term is also used for the collection of all kanji letters. US-ASCII doesn't include kanji characters, but some character encodings, including Unicode, do. |
| Arabic Koran Owners: 495 | The Koran is the sacred book by which all Islams swear. Inside, you will find tales and stories that tell of the times of the great Allah, the Islam god. This sacred book is much like the Bible for Catholics. If you read it, you will find yourself endowed with new knowledge about this different yet interesting religion. |
| Portuguese Port wine Owners: 541 | Port wine (also porto wine) is sweet, fortified wine from the Douro Valley in the northern part of Portugal; it takes its name from the city of Porto, the centre of port export and trading. Port has been made in Portugal since the mid 15th century. Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, when merchants were permitted to import it at a low duty, while war with France deprived English wine drinkers of French wine. The continued English involvement in the port trade can be seen in the names of many port shippers: Croft, Fonseca, Taylor, Dow, Graham, and Symington. Similar wines, often also called "Port", are now made in several other countries, notably Australia and United States. In some nations, including the European Union and (after a phase-in period) Canada, only the product from Portugal may be labelled as "port." |
| Theater West End Owners: 227 | Along with New York's Broadway Theater, West End theater in London is usually considered to represent the highest level of theater in the English speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity. Many famous star-studded shows and musicals have been played out on the hallowed stage. The longest-running is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, which closed in 2002 after running for 9,000 performances and 21 years, whilst the longest-running current musical is Les Misérables with a run of over 8,500 performances and now in its 21st year. |
| Male Stud Owners: 1114 | Every guy wants to be him. He's the guy whom women drool over. He walks in the room with his perfectly groomed hair and clean shaven face. His boyish good looks and his physique can sway almost any woman. And in business, women are whom you need to sway. |
| Roleplaying Fairy Dust Owners: 347 | With Fairy Dust you will never lose heart so the adventure can continue. May your life be long and interesting, very interesting indeed! |
| Sexually Explicit Content John Holmes Owners: 689 | John Holmes aka Johnny Wadd is probably the most notorious male porn star. He made 2000 full length hard core films. Furthermore, he is reported to have bedded more than 10,000 women over the span of twenty years, the length of his professional career. |
| 80s' Music MTV Owners: 249 | MTV started in New York City in 1981, and became available in most of the United States in the mid-1980s with the nationwide expansion of cable. Aptly, the first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (with similar tongue-in-cheek humor, the first video shown on MTV Europe was "Money for Nothing", by Dire Straits, which starts with the line "I want my MTV"). The early format of the network was modeled after Top 40 radio. Fresh-faced young men and women were hired to host the show's programming, and to introduce videos that were being played. The term "VJ" (video jockey) was coined, a play on the term "DJ" (disc jockey.) Many VJs eventually became celebrities in their own right. The early music videos that made up the bulk of the network's programming in the '80s were often crude promotional or concert clips from whatever sources could be found; as the popularity of the network rose, and record companies recognized the potential of the medium as a tool to gain recognition and publicity, they began to create increasingly elaborate clips specifically for the network. A large number of rock stars of the 1980s were made into household names by MTV. Bands immediately identifiable with MTV include Ari Liner and Bon Jovi. Michael Jackson launched the second wave of his career as an MTV staple. Madonna rose to fame on MTV in the 1980s, and she is still heavily dependent on the network to promote her music. In 1984 the network produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show. Seen as a fit of self-indulgence by a fledgling network at the time, the "VMAs" developed into an important music-industry showcase, and a hip antidote to the often-stuffy Grammy awards. |
| Classical Music Concerto Grosso Owners: 311 | A baroque style of music in which a small group of solo instruments (the concertino) plays in opposition to a larger ensemble (the ripieno). |
| Jazz Louis Armstrong Owners: 281 | Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 19011 – July 6, 1971) (also known by the nickname Satchmo) was an African American jazz musician. Probably the most famous jazz musician of the 20th century, Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose musical skills and bright personality transformed jazz from a rough regional dance music into a popular art form. Louis Armstrong's stage personality matched his flashy trumpet as captured in this photo by William P. Gottlieb. Armstrong is also known for his gravelly singing voice. Louis Armstrong's stage personality matched his flashy trumpet as captured in this photo by William P. Gottlieb. Armstrong is also known for his gravelly singing voice. Armstrong first achieved fame as a trumpeter, but was also one of the most influential jazz singers, and towards the end of his career was best known as a vocalist. |
| Pop Music Casey Kasem Owners: 422 | Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amin Kasem in Detroit, Michigan) is an American radio personality and voice actor. Kasem is best known by name as a music historian and disc jockey, most notably as host of the weekly American Top 40 radio program from 1970 to 1988, and again from March 1998 until January 10, 2004. He is well known for his catch phrase: "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." He hit the Billboard Singles Charts himself in 1964, coming in at #103 with "A Letter from Elaina". Kasem is also a prominent voice-over actor, most notably for the voice of Shaggy in Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo cartoons from 1969 until 1991. Being a strict vegetarian, he walked out on his role as Shaggy in 1995 when he was asked to voice Shaggy in a Burger King commercial. He returned to the character in 2002, after Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers agreed to portray Shaggy as a strict vegetarian. In 1992 he became the youngest member ever to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award from Billboard Magazine in 1997. |
| Monkeys and Primates Hanuman Owners: 308 | Hanuman the monkey god, an ardent devotee of Lord Sri Rama, is worshipped by millions of people in India. Hanuman is the embodiment of devotion, dedication and strength. Devotees pray to Hanuman to remove the sufferings created by Saturn's god for humans and also to fulfill their wishes. |
| Jokes Punchline Owners: 520 | Have you ever told a joke only to have the audience stare silently at you with disbelief? You need never fear getting that reaction again. You will have them in side-splitting laughter at the end of your Joke when you deliver the Punchline. The Punchline is the piece dé resistance, the "rest of the story", if you will. Without the Punchline, your Joke may end up being a mere anecdote instead of comedic genius. While other comics such as Robin Williams and Jim Carey may rely on the physical humor of slapstick, with the Punchline you'll be joining the ranks of the thought provoking comics such as George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld. |
| Urban Music Rapper's Delight Owners: 306 | Urban Music Rapper’s Delight “I said a hip hop, Hippie to the hippie, The hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it To the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie, To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.” In the fall of 1979, Sugarhill’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ hit the airwaves and later went platinum. Fans, young and old jammed to the beats of a song that help popularize rap music and hip hop, an integral part of what the world knows as urban music. Rhythm & Blues (R&B) is also synonymously used when defining urban music. Commercialized R&B and hip-hop have been around since the 1940s and 1970s respectively, but where does urban music come into play? In the 1980s, the production and performance style of R&B and hip-hop changed dramatically. Traditional R&B and hip-hop artists began to collaborate with each other. Examples of this collaboration include: Mariah Carey and ODB – ‘Fantasy,’ Jon B. and 2Pac – RU Still Down? and Usher, Ludacris and Lil Jon – ‘Yeah.’ The sound of a new era began and was defined as urban music. |
| Heritage Places None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Novels Jane Austen Owners: 418 | Jane Austen, English novelist, was born in 1775 at Steventon, in the county of Hampshire, England. She was the seventh of eight children, and the only daughter besides Cassandra, her lifelong closest friend. Her father was a clergyman, neither rich nor poor. When he retired, the Austens moved to Bath, then to Southampton, and finally to Chawton, where Jane began to write for an audience beyond her family. She wrote what she knew: her own middle-class, provincial society, its everyday events and interactions depicted with keen, accurate wit. Through this then-radical approach, she established the characteristics of the modern novel. Austen wrote six major novels: Sense and Sensibility (published in 1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Persuasion and Northanger Abbey (both 1817, the year of her death). Since their first publication, these books have never been out of print. In addition, each has been dramatized, sometimes repeatedly. For example, two film versions of Emma were released in 1996. Some of Austen's early, minor works reached publication only in the 20th century. Her last, unfinished novel, Sanditon, was completed by "A Lady" and published in 1975. Sanditon reveals how Austen's work differs from the romances of her time and all times since. Where "A Lady" takes up the story, it becomes frothy and charming and unimportant. Austen's part, like all her major work, offers characters and situations so acutely observed that they transcend the fictional setting and become people we know. As Mr. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice says to his daughter, "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?" |
| Comedy Films None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Horror Films None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Action / Adventure Yakima Canutt Owners: 217 | Yakima Canutt (November 29, 1896 - May 24, 1986) was an actor and stuntman in Hollywood movies of the 1920s through the 1950s. Born Enos Edward Canutt in the rough ranchlands near Colfax, Washington, "Yak" Canutt moved as a young man to Yakima, Washington (the town from which he borrowed his nickname). There he gained fame as a very successful rodeo rider. He met actor Tom Mix at a rodeo in Los Angeles, and was persuaded to work as a cowboy in films. He met and married Kitty Wilks at the 1916 Pendleton Roundup in Oregon, in which she was the All-Around Champion Cowgirl. They divorced in 1919. He had some success as an actor, primarily playing "heavies," but he was more successful as a stuntman and stunt coordinator. He staged some memorable action scenes in film, including the chariot race segment in the 1959 film Ben-Hur. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Yakima Canutt has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street. In 1967, he was given an Honorary Academy Award for achievements as a stunt man and for developing safety devices to protect stunt men everywhere. His sons Joe Canutt and Tap Canutt also worked as stuntmen. His autobiography "Stuntman" was published in 1979. He has been inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame. |
| Film Stars Greta Garbo Owners: 378 | Born Greta Gustafson in Sweden in 1905, Greta Garbo became the ultimate film star. Beginning her career in silent movies, she successfully made the transition to the talkies, despite her heavily accented English, whilst many of her contemporaries fell by the wayside. Her photogenic looks made her one of Hollywood's top actresses and starred in 34 movies during her career. These included Anna Christie (1934), Grand Hotel (1932), Anna Karenina (1935) and Ninotchka (1939). She quit the film business in 1941 and lived a reclusive life in New York until her death, aged 84, in 1990, refusing all requests for interviews or public appearances and ensuring her mystique remained intact. |
| Adult Education None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Opera The Fat Lady Owners: 239 | Operas typically include a highlighted aria sung by a featured soprano. For decades, even centuries, these featured singers were, to put it politely, pleasingly plump. The stereotyped soprano of the cartoon opera is a rubenesque, pig-tailed singer wearing a horned helmet and metal breastplate, straight out of a Wagner opera. Every traditional opera -- from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) to Puccini's La Bohème -- includes an aria for the soprano. As a result, the sports saying, "It's no over till the fat lady sings" developed. Most people correlate this saying to the fat lady of the opera. After all, no opera is over till the fat lady sings. |
| Ballet Swan Lake Owners: 122 | Tchaikovsky's 20th opus, Swan Lake, is one of the most famous and critically acclaimed ballets of all time, though it was very poorly received when it premiered in Moscow. The original ballet was first performed at the Bolshoi Theatre on February 20, 1877 and remained in the repertoire until 1883. After Tchaikovsky's death, the ballet was revised by his brother Modest and the conductor Riccardo Drigo. This revised version received its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1895 and was acclaimed as a masterpiece. Swan Lake features one of the most strenuous of all ballet roles, namely the twin, but entirely contrasting, roles of Odette and Odile, both played by a single dancer. |
| Pop Culture Rock Star Owners: 759 | Having a rock star in your pocket is great because you get a handle on pop culture. Who sets the trends? The rock stars! But be careful. Rock stars tend to get into unsavory business if you leave their leash too long. |
| Dogs Milk Bone Owners: 356 | Since 1908, dog-lovers have been giving their pets Milk-Bone Brand dog biscuits. They have been around so long that Milk-Bone has become synonymous with dog-treats. According to the the Milk-Bone company, they're good for your dog's teeth, made from the finest ingredients, and approved by veterinarians the world over. And they taste great too! Of course, most dogs will eat anything you give them, including old socks from the dirty clothes hamper, but we all feel better when we give them Milk-Bones instead. |
| Cows Cow Bell Owners: 165 | While the bell itself is not specific to the bovine species, the cow bell has its own unique sound, rarely found in use elsewhere. Its dull rattle can be heard for long distances, telling the owner where their supply of milk has wandered off to this time. |
| Frogs Kermit the Frog Owners: 162 | Dr. Kermit The Frog (Long Island University 1996) is a fine example of an amphibian of humble beginnings making good but retaining those values we have come to respect in this champion of "the little guy" and those who are a "little bit different." He began his television career on a local Washington D.C. station and soon became a valued TV guest on renowned national television programs. Kermit was even tapped as a Tonight Show guest host. His cinema credits include "The Muppet Movie", "The Christmas Muppet Caper", "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and "The Muppet Christmas Carol". As well as recording with his Sesame Street fellow cast Muppets, Kermit has been featured on the album, "Kermit Unplugged". Kermit has not limited himself to the visual or vocal media as evidenced by his book "One Frog Can Make a Difference, Kermit's Guide to Life" in the 90's. Kermit has been presented to Queen Elizabeth II of England, served as the 1996 Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses Parade and addressed the students at Oxford University (the first amphibian to do so in their long and illustrious academic history). Kermit is well known for his concern for children's welfare and has long associated his celebrity with UNICEF to promote projects benefiting children of all nations. |
| TV Shows Fashion None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| 60s' Music Yesterday Owners: 202 | One vocalist, an acoustic guitar, a string quartet ... This is 60s music? This is rock? Paul McCartney without John, George and Ringo ... This is The Beatles? Recorded in the very middle of the 1960s, “Yesterday” was anomalous in several ways, yet it is one of many examples of the innovative use of disparate musical elements from an eclectic spectrum (jazz and classical music, folk and world music, psychedelia) that characterized the decade’s dominant musical genre, rock, and many of its greatest bands, such as Cream, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. A ballad of love lost, "Yesterday" was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone, has the most cover versions of any song ever written, and remains popular today. It was the first official Beatles recording that featured a single member of the band (the string quartet accompaniment was added in the editing phase a few days after the solo track was laid down) and differed so greatly from other works by The Beatles that the other three members of the band vetoed the song's release as a single in the United Kingdom. Although written solely by McCartney, the song was credited to "Lennon/McCartney" as were all Beatles songs written by either of the pair. |
| 70s' Music Glam & Glitter Owners: 203 | It wasn't until the 1970’s that glam came to the fore, specifically through the newest music genre glam rock. Overnight the world changed, teenagers worshiped the gender-bending stars that looked good with a guitar. Glitter, make-up and platform boots became the unofficial uniform of 'the children of the revolution' and the three-minute power beat of glam rock was heard on radios everywhere. |
| Rock Music The Distortion Pedal Owners: 596 | Distortion is what has made rock music what it is today. Grunge, Heavy Metal, and Nu Metal, to name a few, wouldn't exist without it. Distortion is created when the signal sent from the guitar is too powerful for the circuit to cope with, resulting in the unique sound that bands like Nirvana, Metallica, and Muse, along with many others, use to their advantage. Without The Distortion Pedal rock music wouldn't have the necessary X-factor that makes it so popular. |
| Documentary Kino-Pravda Owners: 87 | In 1922, Dziga Vertov started a documentary series known as Kino-Pravda (literally meaning 'film truth') in Russia. Vertov's philosophy held that film could capture truth and meaning that the human eye could not, leading him to become a one of the earliest documentarians. Kino-Pravda set out to capture moments, often candid and taken without permission of the subject, of everyday experience. Vertov's style was one of description rather than narration or style, and led his works to be very straightforward, offering facts and observations rather than interpretation and manipulation. |
| Fast Food Franchise Owners: 291 | The restaurant kit in a box. Just add water and a down payment of $100,000. The branding power of your franchise guarantee instant success, as long as you can keep your minimum wage employees in line. |
| Vegetarianism None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Emotions Four Humours Owners: 592 | The early Greeks developed the theory of the Four Humours which were believed to be bodily fluids influencing one's emotions and health. If one is courageous, hopeful and amorous one is of sanguine temperament and influenced by the Blood Humour. If one is calm and unemotional, one is of phlegmatic temperament and influenced by the Phlegm Humour. If one is easily angered and bad tempered, one is of choleric temperament and influenced by the Yellow Bile Humour. If one is despondent, sleepless and irritable, one is of melancholic temperament and influenced by the Black Bile Humour. |
| Miserable None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Happiness Laughing Buddha Owners: 321 | Even though nobody can give a universal definition of happiness, it's something we all strive for. Some people wear, carry around or keep good luck charms that will make them happy, or so they believe. Symbols are very diverse and vary from culture to culture. One of the symbols for happiness is the Laughing Buddha with its hands up. It is believed that by rubbing his belly, which is said to contain much wealth, it will bring good luck and prosperity. The Laughing Buddha is also known as the Happy Man. |
| Night Clubs Cotton Club Owners: 194 | The Cotton Club was one of the most famous nightclubs in New York City both before and after Prohibition. Opened by boxing champion Jack Johnson in 1920, it was one of the hottest meeting spots in Harlem. Over the years it featured many of the greatest Black entertainers such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway & Ethel Waters but almost always denied Black people admission. It closed in 1936 after race riots the previous year but reopened at Broadway and 48th street the same year, closing in 1940. The club re-opened in Harlem in 1978 and the current owner John Beatty has made it a policy that previously excluded clientele can now patronize the club. |
| Pubs / Bars Drunkard Owners: 251 | When you go to a bar, who do you get advice from? The town drunk. Now imagine having the town drunk in your pocket! Imagine the persuasion and the power which is grasped through your puppeting his advice. But keep in mind he may not be 100% responsible, he is a drunk. |
| War Soldier Owners: 731 | He's five foot two and he's six feet four He fights with missiles and with spears He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen He's been a soldier for a thousand years He's a catholic, a hindu, an atheist, a jain, A buddhist and a baptist and a jew And he knows he shouldn't kill And he knows he always will Killing for you my friend and me for you And he's fighting for Canada, he's fighting for France He's fighting for the U.S.A. He's fighting for the Russians and he's fighting for Japan And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way And he's fighting for democracy, he's fighting for the reds He says it's for the peace of all He's the one who must decide who's to live and who's to die And he never sees the writing on the wall But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau Without him Caesar would have stood alone He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war And without him all this killing can't go on He's the universal soldier and he really is to blame His orders come from far away no more They come from here and there and you and me And brothers can't you see This is not the way we put the end to war |
| Short Stories Chapbook Owners: 556 | These small, inexpensive paper booklets, known as chapbooks, were the main recreational reading for the adult poor and children of all classes in the eighteenth century. Sold by traveling hawkers, or chapmen, the penny books had up to twenty-four pages and often included crudely printed woodcuts. Chapbooks were largely responsible for keeping alive and transmitting traditional fairy tales, folklore, and nursery rhymes, and they served as a welcome alternative to the moralistic and didactic pamphlets of the time. Today chapbooks often contain poetry and short stories. The Chapbook artefact will be useful for finding new blogs containing short stories. |
| Economics Power Suit Owners: 665 | The power suit usually dwells in lofty corporate headquarters for financial institutions, working as an advisor on business investments and such things as reciprocal synergy. They can easily affect the financial world's view of companies in both positive and negative ways, or could just call together a 'power lunch' to get people excited. Always a good person to have in your corner. |
| Business and Finance Buzzword Bingo Owners: 731 | Think outside the box to leverage goal-setting, principle-centered mindshare. Envision appropriate solutioning via result-driven intellectual capital, or forever herd cats. Half the shareholders will be impressed into following along and the rest confused into submission, leaving you in charge! |
| Education Policy Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA) Owners: 416 | Education Policy Analysis Archives is a peer-reviewed, open access scholarly journal created in 1993 by Gene V Glass at Arizona State University. Articles are published in English, Spanish or Portuguese. The journal considers for publication submitted articles dealing with education policy at all levels of the education system in all nations. |
| Celebrity Bloggers Wil Wheaton Owners: 402 | Best known for his role as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: Next Generation, Wil turned to writing later in life and became one of the earliest and most famous celebrity bloggers with his "Wil Wheaton Dot Net" blog. His witty descriptions of his daily life with his wife and step-children, his struggles with writing books, his poker adventures and his tentative steps back into the world of acting have brought him a wide audience of faithful readers - enduring beyond a database error in 1995 that led to his current blog "Wil Wheaton Dot Net: In Exile". With his blog, Wil has become the quintessential geek of his generation. |
| Fashion Design The Essence of Style Owners: 347 | The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour, published by Joan DeJean, was a column in The Free Press. Due to its high popularity, it was produced in other languages and eventually became a worldwide sensation. The Essence of Style is still used in the fashion industry today, and is the basis of most works of art in Fashion Design. |
| 90s' Music None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| 50's Music None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Software and Software Platforms Killer App Owners: 785 | After many sleepless nights the developer finally declares... It's ready, and unleashes a powerful new application to the unsuspecting public. In record numbers the application takes the software world by storm. It also has the nice side effect of making the developer very wealthy. |
| Law Judge Owners: 812 | The judge often sets precedents that impact the legal community as a whole, and is looked at with a certain degree of reverence by his peers. He can greatly affect the outcomes of cases and the values of various firms both directly and indirectly. |
| Marketing Edward Bernays Owners: 406 | Having so spectactularly achieved Woodrow Wilson's objective as an advisor to the Committee on Public Information - created in 1917 with the express aim of generating support for American participation in the war then raging in Europe - Edward Bernays was approached by American Tobacco Company after the war, who saw an untapped market for their Lucky Strike cigarettes among newly enfranchised women. Bernay's campaign convinced women that cigarettes were not just for men, but represented a symbol of emancipation, that cigarettes themselves were "torches of freedom." Lucky Strike's market shares rose by more than 200% on the back of Bernays' campaign. For these and other successes, Bernays has come to be called the father of modern marketing. |
| Advertising Jingle Owners: 533 | Advertising is all about getting customers to buy your product instead of another product. A key factor in advertising is getting the customer to (a) notice your product and (b) remember your product so that when they're in the store facing multiple product choices, they'll feel more familiar with your product and buy it. With the emergence of radio and television mass media in the 20th century, advertisers discovered one of the most effective ways to get customers to remember a product message is to encode it into a catchy song. Musical melodies touch the emotions. Rhyming lyrics are fun and easy to remember. Combine the two and you have a powerful mnemonic device so effective that it may take days to get the silly tune out of your head. |
| Management Pointy-Haired Boss Owners: 649 | The prophet of workplace strife, Scott Adams, has definitively identified the iconic representation of Management: the Pointy-Haired Boss (PHB). The PHB positively affects employee job security by a) ensuring that all workers have more than enough to do, and b) being adamant about lessening job security by hiring more workers. When used properly, PHBs can keep employee morale energy high by causing discontent to manifest in the form of rage directed at the PHB itself -- who will be unaware and unaffected by it. |
| Horses None! | Suggest One in the forums. |
| Western Philosophy Academy Owners: 584 | Modeled on Plato's Academy, this institution of philosophical discourse still follows his guidelines in only accepting those "intoxicated to learn what was in their souls." The Academy is the foundation of higher learning and a useful aide in the exploration of man and his place in the universe. |
| Eastern Philosophy Meditation Owners: 397 | The human mind has two directions, external |