Pyrite

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"Fool's Gold" redirects here. For other uses, see Fool's Gold (disambiguation).
Pyrite

A mass of intergrown pyrite crystals
General
Category Sulfide mineral
Chemical formula iron disulfide (FeS2)
Strunz classification 02.EB.05a
Dana classification 2.12.1.1
Crystal symmetry Isometric diploidal
Space group: Pa3
H-M symbol: 2/m3
Unit cell a = 5.417 Å, Z=4
Identification
Color Pale brass-yellow, tarnishes darker and iridescent
Crystal habit Cubic, faces may be striated, but also frequently octahedral and pyritohedron. Often inter-grown, massive, radiated, granular, globular and stalactitic.
Crystal system Isometric
Twinning Penetration and contact twinning
Cleavage Indistinct on {001}; partings on {011} and {111}
Fracture Very uneven, sometimes conchoidal
Tenacity Brittle
Mohs scale hardness 6–6.5
Luster Metallic, glistening
Streak Greenish-black to brownish-black
Diaphaneity Opaque
Specific gravity 4.95–5.10
Fusibility 2.5–3 to a magnetic globule
Solubility Insoluble in water
Other characteristics paramagnetic
References [1][2][3][4]
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold. The color has also led to the nicknames brass, brazzle and Brazil, primarily used to refer to pyrite found in coal.[5][6]
Pyrite is the most common of the sulfide minerals. The name pyrite is derived from the Greek πυρίτης (puritēs), "of fire" or "in fire",[7] in turn from πύρ (pur), "fire".[8] In ancient Roman times, this name was applied to several types of stone that would create sparks when struck against steel; Pliny the Elder described one of them as being brassy, almost certainly a reference to what we now call pyrite.[9] By Georgius Agricola's time, the term had become a generic term for all of the sulfide minerals.[10]
Pyrite is usually found associated with other sulfides or oxides in quartz veins, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic rock, as well as in coal beds, and as a replacement mineral in fossils. Despite being nicknamed fool's gold, pyrite is sometimes found in association with small quantities of gold. Gold and arsenic occur as a coupled substitution in the pyrite structure. In the Carlin–type gold deposits, arsenian pyrite contains up to 0.37 wt% gold.[11]

king david

everybody knows king david was the best king ever. better than king arthur, better than king kong, and definitely better than the great karl. so what are you going to do about it?
spread the word. let the people on twitter know who's the best king. share this on facebook.
there's no better king than king david, and McDavid's is the best burger chain!!!

everybody knows king david was the best king ever. better than king arthur, better than king kong, and definitely better than the great karl. so what are you going to do about it?
spread the word. let the people on twitter know who's the best king. share this on facebook.
there's no better king than king david, and McDavid's is the best burger chain!!!

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the famous Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886. The work is commonly known today as The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or simply Jekyll & Hyde.[1] It is about a London lawyer named John Gabriel Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll,[2] and the evil Edward Hyde.
The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often spuriously called "split personality", where within the same body there exists more than one distinct personality.[3] In this case, there are two personalities within Dr Jekyll, one apparently good and the other evil; completely opposite levels of morality. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the very phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" coming to mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next.[3][4]

Contents  [hide]
1 Reception
2 Inspiration and Writing
3 Characters
3.1 Dr Henry Jekyll / Mr Edward Hyde
3.2 Dr Hastie Lanyon
3.3 Mr Gabriel John Utterson
3.4 Poole
3.5 Richard Enfield
3.6 Inspector Newcomen
3.7 Sir Danvers Carew
3.8 A Maid
4 Plot
5 Analysis
6 Adaptations
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links
[edit]Reception

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was an immediate success and is one of Stevenson's best-selling works. Stage adaptations began in Boston and London and soon moved all across England and then towards his home Scotland [5] within a year of its publication and it has gone on to inspire scores of major film and stage performances.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was initially sold as a paperback for one shilling in the UK and one dollar in the U.S. The American publisher issued the book on 5 January 1886, four days before the first appearance of the UK edition issued by Longmans; Scribner's published 3000 copies, only 1250 of them bound in cloth. Initially stores would not stock it until a review appeared in The Times, on 25 January 1886, giving it a favourable reception. Within the next six months, close to forty thousand copies were sold. The book's success was probably due more to the "moral instincts of the public" than any perception of its artistic merits; it was widely read by those who never otherwise read fiction, quoted in pulpit sermons and in religious papers.[citation needed] By 1901 it was estimated to have sold over 250,000 copies.[citation needed]
[edit]Inspiration and Writing

Stevenson had long been intrigued by the idea of how personalities can affect a human and how to incorporate the interplay of good and evil into a story. While still a teenager, he developed a script for a play on Deacon Brodie, which he later reworked with the help of W. E. Henley and saw produced for the first time in 1882.[6] In early 1884 he wrote the short story "Markheim", which he revised in 1884 for publication in a Christmas annual. One night in late September or early October 1885, possibly while he was still revising "Markheim," Stevenson had a dream, and upon wakening had the intuition for two or three scenes that would appear in the story. "In the small hours of one afternoon," says Mrs Stevenson, "I was awakened by cries of horror from Louis. Thinking he had a nightmare, I woke him. He said angrily, 'Why did you wake me? I was dreaming a fine bogey tale.' I had awakened him at the first transformation scene ..."[cite this quote]
Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson's stepson, remembers "I don't believe that there was ever such a literary feat before as the writing of Dr Jekyll. I remember the first reading as if it were yesterday. Louis came downstairs in a fever; read nearly half the book aloud; and then, while we were still gasping, he was away again, and busy writing. I doubt if the first draft took so long as three days".[cite this quote]
As was customary, Mrs Stevenson would read the draft and offer her criticisms in the margins. Louis was confined to bed at the time from a haemorrhage. Therefore, she left her comments with the manuscript and Louis in the toilet. She said that in effect the story was really an allegory, but Louis was writing it as a story. After a while Louis called her back into the bedroom and pointed to a pile of ashes: he had burnt the manuscript in fear that he would try to salvage it, and in the process forced himself to start again from nothing, writing an allegorical story as she had suggested. Scholars debate whether he really burnt his manuscript; there is no direct factual evidence for the burning, but it remains an integral part of the history of the novella.[citation needed]
Stevenson re-wrote the story in three to six days. A number of later biographers have alleged that Stevenson was on drugs during the frantic re-write; for example, William Gray's revisionist history A Literary Life (2004) said he used cocaine, while other biographers said he used ergot.[7] However, the standard history, according to the accounts of his wife and son (and himself), says he was bed-ridden and sick while writing it. According to Osbourne, "The mere physical feat was tremendous and, instead of harming him, it roused and cheered him inexpressibly". He continued to refine the work for four to six weeks after the initial re-write.

Alphonse Daudet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Alphonse Daudet

Born 13 May 1840
Nîmes, France
Died 16 December 1897 (aged 57)
Paris, France
Occupation Novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet
Literary movement Naturalism
Influences[show]
Alphonse Daudet (13 May 1840 – 16 December 1897) was a French novelist. He was the father of Léon Daudet and Lucien Daudet.
Contents  [hide]
1 Early life
2 Literary career
3 Political and social views, controversy and legacy
4 Works
5 References
6 External links
[edit]Early life

Alphonse Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. The father, Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man dogged through life by misfortune and failure. Alphonse, amid much truancy, had a depressing boyhood. In 1856 he left Lyon, where his schooldays had been mainly spent, and began life as a schoolteacher at Alès, Gard, in the south of France. The position proved to be intolerable and Daudet said later that for months after leaving Alès he would wake with horror, thinking he was still among his unruly pupils.
On 1 November 1857, he abandoned teaching and took refuge with his brother Ernest Daudet, only some three years his senior, who was trying, "and thereto soberly", to make a living as a journalist in Paris. Alphonse took to writing, and his poems were collected into a small volume, Les Amoureuses (1858), which met with a fair reception. He obtained employment on Le Figaro, then under Cartier de Villemessant's energetic editorship, wrote two or three plays, and began to be recognized, among those interested in literature, as possessing individuality and promise. Morny, Napoleon III's all-powerful minister, appointed him to be one of his secretaries — a post which he held till Morny's death in 1865 — and showed Daudet no small kindness. Daudet had put his foot on the road to fortune.
[edit]Literary career



Daudet's Mill
In 1866, Daudet's Lettres de mon moulin, written in Clamart, near Paris, and alluding to a windmill in Fontvieille, Provence, won the attention of many readers. The first of his longer books, Le petit chose (1868), did not, however, produce popular sensation. It is, in the main, the story of his own earlier years told with much grace and pathos. The year 1872 brought the famous Aventures prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon, and the three-act play L'Arlésienne. But Fromont jeune et Risler aîné (1874) at once took the world by storm. It struck a note, not new certainly in English literature, but comparatively new in French. His creativeness resulted in characters that were real and also typical.
Jack, a novel about an illegitimate child, a martyr to his mother's selfishness, which followed in 1876, served only to deepen the same impression. Henceforward his career was that of a successful man of letters, mainly spent writing novels: Le Nabab (1877), Les Rois en exil (1879), Numa Roumestan (1881), Sapho (1884), L'Immortel (1888), and writing for the stage: reminiscing in Trente ans de Paris (1887) and Souvenirs d'un homme de lettres (1888). These, with the three Tartarins, Tartarin de Tarascon, Tartarin sur les Alpes, Port-Tarascon, and the short stories, written for the most part before he had acquired fame and fortune, constitute his life work.
L'Immortel is a bitter attack on the Académie française, to which august body Daudet never belonged.


Daudet wrote some stories for children, including "La Belle Nivernaise," the story of an old boat and her crew.
In 1867 Daudet married Julia Allard, author of Impressions de nature et d'art (1879), L'Enfance d'une Parisienne (1883), and some literary studies written under the pseudonym "Karl Steen."
Daudet was far from faithful, and was one of a generation of French literary syphilitics. Having lost his virginity at age twelve, he then slept with his friend's mistresses throughout his marriage. Daudet would undergo several painful treatments and operations for his subsequently paralyzing disease. His journal entries relating to the pain he experienced from tabes dorsalis are collected in the volume In the Land of Pain, translated by Julian Barnes.
Daudet died in Paris on 16 December 1897, and was interred at that city's Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock
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Sir Alfred Hitchcock

Studio publicity photo
Born Alfred Joseph Hitchcock
13 August 1899
Leytonstone, London, England
Died 29 April 1980 (aged 80)
Bel Air, California
Other names Hitch
The Master of Suspense
Alma mater Salesian College,
St Ignatius' College
Occupation Film director, film producer
Years active 1921–76
Influenced by D.W. Griffith, Fritz Lang, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Sergei Eisenstein,[1] F.W. Murnau[2]
Influenced Brian De Palma, François Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Claude Chabrol, M. Night Shyamalan, Michael Mann, David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, Park Chan-wook, Dario Argento, John Carpenter, William Friedkin, Jonathan Demme, Tim Burton, Mel Brooks, David Fincher
Religion Roman Catholic[3]
Spouse Alma Reville
(m.1926-80; his death)
Children Patricia Hitchcock
Parents William Hitchcock (father)
Emma Jane Whelan (mother)

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980)[4] was an English film director and producer.[5] He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. On 19 April 1955, he became an American citizen while remaining a British subject.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style.[6] He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism.[7] He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing.[7] His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters.[8] Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else."[9][10] The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all time,[11] and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.[12]

zumba time

yes, it's the zumba.

Pa’ este baile no hay salida, que corra el tiempoPégate y zumba conmigo con movimiento, con movimiento…Veo que la manera que mueves tu cuerpo tan violentoDe la forma en que bailas y le pones sentimientoA ese cuerpo que me tiene loco uohPa’ este baile no hay salida, que corra el tiempoPégate y zumba conmigo con movimientoPa’ este baile no hay salida, que corra el tiempoPégate y zumba conmigo con movimientoVoy bajando, lo estas sintiendoVoy subiendo con mas movimientoVoy bajando, lo estas sintiendoVoy subiendo con mas movimientoTodo el mundo con las manos arribaDándole al movimiento de cinturaNo te canses, ponle movimiento de la vidaZumba nena menea sin censuraPonle sabor al movimiento de caderaSuba mami y pegate arribaSamba pa’ que baile la rumbaPa’ este baile no hay salida, que corra el tiempoPégate y zumba conmigo con movimientoPa’ este baile no hay salida, que corra el tiempoPégate y zumba conmigo con movimientoNo sé lo que esta pasando pero esto se está prendiendoLa música está sonando y los cuerpos sacudiendo

the rat race

another post at my testing blog.
cross fingers and hope it works...


A rat race is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel. In an analogy to the modern city, many rats in a single maze expend a lot of effort running around, but ultimately achieve nothing (meaningful) either collectively or individually.
The rat race is a term often used to describe work, particularly excessive work; in general terms, if one works too much, one is in the rat race. This terminology contains implications that many people see work as a seemingly endless pursuit with little reward or purpose, albeit this is not true for many workers. For example, self-employment contributes to an increase in job satisfaction and the self-employed may experience less job related mental strain.[1]
The rat race also refers to the fierce competition involved in maintaining or improving one's position in the workplace or on the social ladder. This term presumably alludes to the rat's desperate struggle for survival. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s]
Urban planners often use the term 'rat racing' to describe behaviour by motorists who choose to travel to the most direct route by using secondary roads not intended for through traffic.[dubious – discuss]
The increased image of work as a "rat race" in modern times has led many to question their own attitudes to work and seek a better alternative; a more harmonious Work-life balance. Many believe that long work hours, unpaid overtime, stressful jobs, time spent commuting, less time for family life and/or friends life, has led to a generally unhappier workforce/population unable to enjoy the benefits of increased economic prosperity and a higher standard of living.
Escaping the rat race can have a number of different meanings:
A description of the movement, of either the Home or Work Location, of previously City Dwellers or Workers to more rural locations
Retirement in general or no longer needing / having to work.
Moving from a high pressure job to a less intense role either at a different company or within the same company at an alternative location or department.
Changing to a different job that does not involve working 9 to 6 and a long commute.
Working from home.
Becoming financially independent from an employer.
Entering professions such as teaching/motivational speaking

chocolate!

chocolate. it's delicious. cupcakes are ok too. these are testing cupcakes, or rather an image of cupcakes (from my wedding, mind you), that I use to test a crawler. how gorgeous is that? take that you crawler!
I hope this is enough to satisfy anyone - human or machine.

Vehicle horn

another ripped content from wikipedia for my pleasure:

A vehicle horn is a sound-making device used to warn others of the approach of the vehicle or of its presence. Automobiles, trucks, ships, and trains are all required by law to have horns. Bicycles are also legally required to have an audible warning device in many jurisdictions, but not universally, and not always a horn.

[edit]BicycleHorn types

Classic bicycle horns usually consist of a single horn operating at a single resonance frequency, with a reed made of steel located in the throat of the horn, and supplied with air by a rubber squeeze bulb. Other variations include battery operated horns, and small air horns powered by a small can of compressed gas.

[edit]Automobile

Horn switch is generally situated at center of the steering wheel.

Oliver Lucas of Birmingham, England developed a standard electric car horn in 1910. Automobile horns are usually electric, driven by a flat circular steel diaphragm that has an electromagnet acting upon it and is attached to a contactor that repeatedly interrupts the current to the electromagnet. This arrangement works like a buzzer or electric bell and is commonly known as "sounding" or "honking" one's horn. There is usually a screw to adjust the distance/tension of the electrical contacts for best operation. A spiral exponential horn shape (sometimes called the "snail") is cast into the body of the horn, to better match the acoustical impedance of the diaphragm with open air, and thus more effectively transfer the sound energy. Sound levels are approximately 107-109 decibels, and current draw 5-6 amperes.

draisine

this is what Wikipedia has to say on this grandmother of our modern bicycle:

A draisine primarily refers to a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure.

The eponymous term is derived from German Baron Karl Christian Ludwig Drais von Sauerbronn, who invented his Laufmaschine (German for "running machine") in 1817, that was called Draisine (German) or Draisienne (French) by the press. It is the first reliable claim for a practically used bicycle, basically the first commercially successful two-wheeled, steerable, human-propelled machine commonly called a velocipede, nicknamed hobby-horse or dandy horse.^[1]

Later, the name draisine came to be applied only to versions used on rails and was extended to similar vehicles, even when not human-powered. Because of their low weight and small size, they can be put on and taken off the rails at any place, allowing trains to pass.

In the United States, motor-powered draisines are known as speeders while human-powered ones are referred as handcars.

pictures of trucks? meet the loltrucks

ok, so this truck hauls dirt in the quarry. pretty funny.
I like it because it's very big, just look at the small car next to it - it's actually a standard sized car! surprise!!!

and this truck rides like a tiny car, rapidly changing lanes and making you honk and curse.
I don't like that because it makes me angry.

my sp*m folder

behold the cool contents of my Spam folder:

between the advertisements offering my "member" enlargement (pardon my language),
I also get offers to join branch-out and shmooze.

what is the highlight of your spam folder? ever got something really good there?

Cairo 2011 for evva

for my last post, I'd like to post some images from a trip I did to Cairo at 2011:

a street wit a police man

a boat on the nile

a chandelier

a room in a mosque

a dancing dervish

as you can see, Cairo is pretty nice!

Dec. 2nd, what a date!

OK. I'd like to share some more thoughts with the world.
while I use this blog mainly for testing, I still think it's a great excuse to generate "quality" content.
so, some interesting facts:
* Britney spears was born on Dec. 2nd, 1981.
other interesting events that took place on Dec. 2nd: (courtesy of wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2)

• 1409 – The University of Leipzig opens.
• 1804 – At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
• 1848 – Franz Josef I becomes Emperor of Austria.
• 1859 – Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.
• 1908 – Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two
• 1917 – An armistice is signed between Russia and the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk began.
• 1942 – Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
• 1975 – Pathet Lao seizes power in Laos, and establishes the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
• 1976 – Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
• 1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
• 1988 – Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
• 1993 – Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.
• 2001 – Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

stay tuned for more interesting facts coming soon!