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Myriad (Ancient Greek: μύριος, μυριάδες (myrios, plural myriades), "numberless countless, infinite", is a classical Greek word for the number 10,000. In modern English, the word refers to an unspecified large quantity.

History and usage[link]

A myriad is primarily a singular cardinal number; just as the "thousand" in "four thousand" is singular (one does not write "four thousands people") the word myriad is used in the same way: "there are four myriad people outside". When used as a noun, meaning "a large number", it follows the same rules as that phrase. However, that is not the case originally in Greek, where there is plural.

In English, the term "myriad" is most commonly used to refer to a large number of an unspecified size. In this way "myriad" can be used as either a noun or an adjective.^[1] Thus both "there are myriad people outside" and "there is a myriad of people outside" are correct.^[2]

Merriam-Webster notes, "Recent criticism of the use of myriad as a noun, both in the plural form myriads and in the phrase a myriad of, seems to reflect a mistaken belief that the word was originally and is still properly only an adjective.... however, the noun is in fact the older form, dating to the 16th century. The noun myriad has appeared in the works of such writers as Milton (plural myriads) and Thoreau (a myriad of), and it continues to occur frequently in reputable English."^[2]

The Western numbering system divides large numbers into groups of three digits, and so the names for such numbers follow this division (10,000 = ten thousand). East Asian numbering divides large numbers into groups of four; so in Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, 30,000 really would be "three myriad" (3,0000 - Chinese sān wàn (三萬/三万)) - Japanese san-man - Korean sahm mahn (삼만). One million is a hundred myriad (100 × 10000 instead of 1000 × 1000); the next uniquely named number after a myriad is 億 (Chinese pinyin yì, Japanese oku, Korean eok (억)), which is myriad myriad (10000 × 10000) or a hundred million.

Modern Greek still uses the word "myriad" by itself, but also to form the word for million. The word for million is ekatommyrio (hundred myriad — εκατομμύριο); one thousand million is disekatommyrio (twice hundred myriad — δισεκατομμύριο).

The largest number named in Ancient Greek was a myriad myriad and Archimedes of Syracuse used this quantity as the basis for a numeration system of large powers of ten, which he needed to count grains of sand, see The Sand Reckoner.

There is only slight indication that "myria" has at all been used as a metric prefix for 10,000, e.g., 10 kilometres = 1 myriametre. It does not have official status as an SI prefix.

In Sweden and Norway, one mile = 10,000 metres = one myriametre. Before they went metric, one Swedish mile was 10,688 metres and a Norwegian mile was 11,295 metres, so only a small change had to be made to the old mile to make them equal to one myriametre. Even today, both Swedes and Norwegians use the 10,000 metre mile ("mil") to refer to travel distances in everyday language.

In Great Britain, the Ordnance Survey use the term myriad to refer to a 100 km × 100 km area in the National Grid.

In other languages[link]

Sinosphere[link]

In the Sinosphere, words equivalent to Greek myriad (10,000) derive from the same Chinese character, "萬", or "万" in the simplified form. The pronunciations of this character vary across linguistic areas. In Mandarin Chinese, it is pronounced as wàn, while various sounds are associated with the same character in various dialects of the Chinese language including the Cantonese, Hakka, and Min Nan dialects. The Japanese pronunciation is man, the Korean, man (written as 만 in hangul), and the Vietnamese, vạn.

The Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages also have words for a myriad squared (100,000,000): yì (億) (or wànwàn [萬萬] in ancient texts), oku (億), and eok (억/億), respectively. A myriad cubed (10,000³ or 10¹²) is a zhào (兆), chō (兆), and jo (조/兆); a myriad to the fourth power (10,000⁴ or 10¹⁶) is a jīng (京), kei (京), and gyeong (경/京), a myriad to the fifth power (10,000⁵ or 10²⁰)is a gai (垓), a myriad to the sixth power (10,000⁶ or 10²⁴)is a shi (秭), a myriad to the seventh power (10,000⁷ or 10²⁸)is a jō (穣), a myriad to the eighth power (10,000⁸ or 10³²)is a kō (溝), a myriad to the ninth power (10,000⁹ or 10³⁶)is a kan (澗), a myriad to the tenth power (10,000¹⁰ or 10⁴⁰)is a sē (正), respectively. Conversely, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean do not have single words for a thousand to the second, third, fifth power, etc., unlike English and many other European languages.

Other languages[link]

• Amharic: ′əlf (እልፍ)
• Hebrew: revava (רבבה)
  • Biblical Hebrew: "ribua" (ריבוא)
• Malayalam: Ayutham (അയുതം)
• Tamil: Mudivili
• Telugu: Challa
• Thai: meun (หมื่น)
• Turkic: tümen

See also[link]

• -yllion
• Chinese numerals
• Indian numbering system
• Japanese numerals
• Myriad (typeface)
• Myriad (unit of area)

References[link]

1. ^ "Myriad". merriam-webster.com. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myriad. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Myriad". webster.com. http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=myriad. 

The Myriad is a Seattle-based band. They were selected as 2007's MTV2 Dew Circuit Breakout champions. Their newest album, With Arrows, With Poise, was released on May 13, 2008.^[1]

After touring for four years, the band went on hiatus in late 2008 after finding out their drummer Randy Miller had been diagnosed with cancer. In August 2009 the band announced they were heading out on the "All Creatures Tour". The band is currently working on their new album to be released in early 2011.

Drummer Randy Miller died from chondrosarcoma on November 5, 2010.^[2] The family set up a place for people to donate money to his family who lacked insurance.

Members[link]

Current members[link]

Bassist John Roger Schofield

• Jeremy Edwardson – guitar
• Steven Tracy – guitar, piano, keyboards

Past members[link]

• Randy Miller - drums (Deceased)November 5, 2010
• Scott Davis – drums
• John Roger Schofield – bass guitar
• Jonathan Young – guitar

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 2005: You Can't Trust a Ladder (Floodgate Records)
• 2008: With Arrows, With Poise (Koch Records)

Extended Plays

• 2002:Until We Meet Again EP
• 2003:Which of You EP
• 2004:The Myriad EP
• 2007:Prelude to Arrows EP (Koch Records)

Singles[link]

• Their song "A Thousand Winters Melting" hit the Top 15 on the U.S. Contemporary Christian Music chart in April 2008.^[3]
• "A Clean Shot" - Most played video on MTV, May 2008, and also released on Rock Band, June 2008.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• The Myriad on Myspace
• Official artist store
• Official YouTube page
• Official PureVolume Page

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Major Lazer
Major Lazer performing at Sasquatch 2011
Background information
Genres	Dancehall, reggae fusion, reggae, hip hop, electro house, daggering
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Downton, Mad Decent, Interscope
Associated acts	Diplo, Switch
Members
Diplo
Past members
Switch

Major Lazer is a musical project by DJ/Producer Diplo. Formerly a collaboration along with DJ/Producer Switch, they parted ways in late 2011.

Background[link]

Switch (left) and Diplo are the producers behind Major Lazer.

Made up of DJs Diplo and Switch, the two were introduced after working with M.I.A.. The duo's first album Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do was released on June 16, 2009, on Downtown Records. It was recorded in Jamaica at Tuff Gong Studios.^[1] Vocalists such as Santigold, Vybz Kartel, Ward 21, Busy Signal, Nina Sky, Amanda Blank, Mr. Vegas, Turbulence, Mapei, T.O.K, Prince Zimboo, Leftside and others contribute guest vocals to the album, as well as additional production from Afrojack and Crookers.^[2] This is the first release to come out of the label partnership between Downtown Records and Diplo's label Mad Decent.^[3] Major Lazer ended a US tour last summer.^[4] The album's first single was "Hold the Line", the video for which, directed by Ferry Gouw, was nominated for a MTV Video Award in the Breakthrough Video category. "Hold the Line" was also featured in the video game FIFA 10. The track "Zumbie" has a music video that features comedian Andy Milonakis.^[5] Music videos for the songs "Pon de Floor" and "Keep It Going Louder" were both directed by Eric Wareheim. Major Lazer performed at the Falls Music & Arts Festival (Lorne, Victoria, Australia) on the December 30, 2009, the Coachella Music Festival in April 2010^[6] they also performed at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July 2010 and the Sasquatch Music Festival on Monday May 30, 2011. Live visuals were created by Pomp&Clout. Major Lazer performed at the 2011 Outside Lands festival in San Francisco.

A mixtape with La Roux entitled "Lazerproof" was made available for free download on May 26.^[7] Diplo posted cover art on his Twitpic. It is the character Major Lazer in War Machine's silver suit, Elly Jackson of La Roux in the signature Iron Man suit, and Whiplash, the villain in the Iron Man 2 movie.

On June 20, 2010, the group released an EP titled "Lazers Never Die". It contained two new songs and three remixes, by Thom Yorke and others.

Major Lazer's live shows previously included hype man Skerrit Bwoy^[8] although Skerrit Bwoy left the group in 2012 to pursue religion.

Switch provided production for Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)", which sampled "Pon de Floor".

Switch has left the collaborative effort due to "creative differences" as claimed by Diplo. He departed in late 2011. Diplo is now the sole producer behind the project.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do (2009)
• TBA (2012)

EPs[link]

• Lazers Never Die (EP) (2010)
• Original Don (EP) (2011)

Mixtapes[link]

• Major Lazer Essential Mix (available as podcast) (2009)
• Lazerproof (with La Roux) (2010)
• Major Lazer Summer Mix (available as podcast) (2010)

Singles[link]

• "Hold The Line" (2009)
• "Zumbie" (2009)
• "Pon de Floor" ft Vybz Kartel (2009) 125 UK
• "Keep It Goin' Louder" (2009)
• "Jump Up" (2009)
• "Original Don" (2011)
• "Get Free" (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Major Lazer on Myspace
• Major Lazer on Twitter
• Major Lazer's channel on YouTube