annabiotica

Friday, June 29, 2007

RISC (reduced instruction set computer)

In the mid-1980s to early-1990s, a crop of new high-performance RISC microprocessors appeared, which were initially used in special purpose machines and UNIX workstations, but have since become almost universal in all roles except the Intel-standard desktop.

The first commercial design was released by MIPS Technologies, the 32-bit R2000. The R3000 made the design truly practical, and the R4000 introduced the world's first 64-bit design. Opposing projects would result in the IBM POWER and Sun SPARC systems, respectively. Soon every major vendor was releasing a RISC design, including the AT&T CRISP, AMD 29000, Intel i860 and Intel i960, Motorola 88000, DEC Alpha and the HP-PA.

Market forces have "weeded out" many of these designs, leaving the PowerPC as the main desktop RISC processor, with the SPARC being used in Sun designs only. MIPS continue to supply some SGI systems, but are first and foremost used as an embedded design, notably in Cisco routers. The rest of the original crop of designs have either disappeared, or are about to. Other companies have attacked niches in the market, notably ARM, originally intended for home computer use but since focused at the embedded processor market. Today RISC designs based on the MIPS, ARM or PowerPC core are the vast majority of computing devices.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Krill fishery

Krill fishery is the commercial fishery of krill, small shrimp-like marine animals that live in the oceans world-wide. Estimates for how much krill there is vary wildly, depending on the methodology used. They range from 125–725 million tonnes of biomass globally. The total global harvest of krill from all fisheries amounts to 150 – 200,000 tonnes annually, mainly Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and North Pacific krill
Krill are rich in protein (40% or more of dry weight) and lipids (about 20% in E. superba). Their exoskeleton amounts to some 2% of dry weight of chitin. They also contain traces of a wide array of hydrolytic enzymes such as proteases, carbohydrases, nucleases and phospholipases, which are intense in the digestive gland in the cephalothorax of the krill.

Most krill is used as aquaculture feed and fish bait; other uses comprise livestock or pet foods. Only a small percentage is prepared for human consumption. Their enzymes are interesting for medical applications, an expanding sector since the early 1990s.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Topiary

Topiary is the art of creating sculptures using clipped trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs. The word derives from the Latin word for an ornamental landscape gardener, topiarius, creator of topia or "places", a Greek word that Romans applied also to fictive indoor landscapes executed in fresco. No doubt the use of a Greek word betokens the art's origins in the Hellenistic world that was influenced by Persia, for neither Classical Greece nor Republican Rome developed any complicated tradition of artful pleasure grounds.
The plants used in topiary are evergreen, have small leaves or needles, produce dense foliage, and have compact and/or columnar growth habits. Common plants used in topiary comprise cultivars of box, arborvitae, bay laurel, holly, myrtle, yew, and privet. Shaped wire cages are sometimes working in modern topiary to guide untutored shears, but traditional topiary depends on patience and a steady hand; small-leaved ivy can be used to cover a cage and provide the look of topiary in a few months.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Abstract art

Abstract art is now usually understood to mean art that does not depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses colour and form in a non-representational way.In the very early 20th century, the term was more often used to describe art, such as Cubist and Futurist art, that depicts real forms in a simplified or rather reduced way—keeping only an allusion of the original natural subject. Such paintings were often claimed to capture amazing of the depicted objects' immutable intrinsic qualities rather than its external appearance. The more precise terms, "non-figurative art," "non-objective art," and "non-representational art" avoid any possible ambiguity.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

People

People are a group of humans, either with not mentioned traits, or specific characteristics (e.g. the people of Spain or the people of the Plains).The term people is often used in English as the suppletive plural of person. However, the word persons is sometimes used in place of people, particularly when it would be ambiguous with its collective sense (e.g. missing persons instead of missing people). The term people can together refer to all humans or it can be used to identify the citizens of a nation, or members of a tribe, ethnic, or religious group. People of color is a phrase used to describe people with skin color darker than that of white people.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Bag

A bag is the common term for any container that a character uses to hold other items. Bags can be placed in the storage slots at the right-most end of the interface bar. Bags inside bags must be empty. You can purchase extra bag slots for your bank account at gradually increasing rates, starting at 10 for the first slot.

Normal bags can hold any sort of item, unlike special bags that can only hold specific types of items. Special bags give the player more slots to store items, with the exchange of only being able to put certain types of items in them. Specials bags are generally cheaper than normal bags of the same size.