Sequoia

Sequoyah (1767–1843), inventor of the Cherokee syllabary.

Sequoia, Sequoya or Sequoyah may also refer to:

Biology

Geography

Sequoia (composition)

Sequoia is an orchestral composition by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra with support from the Jerome Foundation. It was first performed on May 18, 1981 in Alice Tully Hall by the American Composers Orchestra under the conductor Dennis Russell Davies. The piece is dedicated to the concertmistress and first horn player of the orchestra, Jean and Paul Ingraham, respectively.Sequoia was Tower's first major orchestral composition and one of the composer's most performed works.

Composition

Sequoia has a duration of roughly 16 minutes and is composed in three continuous movements. The music is abstractly inspired by the genus of redwood coniferous trees called sequoias of the Northern California coastal forests. Tower described her influences in the score program notes, writing:

In Sequoia, that concept is not only very much present in the score but it actually led to the title (which is meant in an abstract rather than a pictorial sense). What fascinated me about sequoias, those giant California redwood trees, was the balancing act nature had achieved in giving them such great height.

Sequoia (genus)

Sequoia is a genus of redwood coniferous trees in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. The only extant species of the genus is Sequoia sempervirens in the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion of Northern California and Southwestern Oregon in the United States. The two other genera, Sequoiadendron and Metasequoia, in the subfamily Sequoioideae are closely related to Sequoia. It includes the largest trees in the world.

Several extinct species have been named from fossils, including Sequoia affinis, Sequoia chinensis of China, Sequoia langsdorfii, Sequoia dakotensis of South Dakota (Maastrichtian), and Sequoia magnifica.

Etymology

The name Sequoia was first published as a genus name by the Austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher in 1847. However, he left no specific reasons for choosing that name, and there is no record of anyone else speaking to him about its origin.

The most common modern guess is that Endlicher, a published linguist as well as a botanist, named the genus in honor of Sequoyah, the inventor of the first Cherokee writing system. As far back as the 1860s, it has also been suggested that the name is instead an alteration of the Latin word for "sequence", since the species is known to be a follower or remnant of massive ancient, extinct species, and thus the next in a sequence.

Armour

Armour (spelled armor in the United States of America) is a protective covering that is used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual, or vehicle by direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action (e.g., cycling, construction sites, etc.). Personal armour is used to protect soldiers and war animals. Vehicle armour is used on warships and armoured fighting vehicles.

A second use of the term armour describes armoured forces, armoured weapons, and their role in combat. After the evolution of armoured warfare, mechanised infantry and their weapons came to be referred to collectively as "armour".

Etymology

The word "armour" was introduced into use in the Middle Ages as a borrowing from the French. It is dated from 1297, as a "mail, defensive covering worn in combat" from Old French armoire, itself derived from the Latin armatura "arms and/or equipment" with the root arma "arms or gear".

Armored (film)

Armored is a 2009 American crime thriller film directed by Nimród Antal, written by first-time screenwriter James V. Simpson, and starring Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Amaury Nolasco, Milo Ventimiglia, Skeet Ulrich, and Columbus Short. It was released on December 4, 2009.

Plot

Ty Hackett (Columbus Short), a former armed service veteran is a member of Eagle Shield security in one of their many armored transportation teams. He's the legal guardian of younger brother Jimmy (Andre Kinney) after the death of their parents. After receiving constant letters about impending foreclosure on his home and the state considering placing Jimmy in a foster home due to his truancy and lack of proper care from Ty. Ty is approached by Mike Cochrane (Matt Dillon), his godfather and co-worker about his plan to steal money being transferred from the Federal Reserve to the local banks, but Ty turns down the offer.

The following morning, after receiving assurances from Mike that no one will be hurt, Ty reluctantly agrees to participate. The six-person crew offloads the first truck at an abandoned steel mill but their plan is compromised when a homeless man living in the mill is spotted observing them leading to Baines (Laurence Fishburne) shooting him. Upset over this Ty barricades himself inside the truck with the remaining $21 million inside. After an attempt to flee in the truck fails Ty sets off the truck's alarm which catches the attention of a local sheriff's deputy Jake Eckehart (Milo Ventimiglia).