Armour or armor (see spelling differences) is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of 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 such as war horses (the application for the latter called barding). Vehicle armour is used on warships and armoured fighting vehicles.
The word "armor" 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".
Armour has been used throughout recorded history. It has been made from a variety of materials; from rudimentary leather protection, personal armour evolved to Mail and full plated suits of armor. For much of military history the manufacture of metal armour in Europe has dominated the technology and employment of armour. Armour drove the development of many important technologies of the Ancient World, including wood lamination, mining, metal refining, vehicle manufacture, leather processing, and later decorative metal working. Its production was influential in the industrial revolution, and influenced commercial development of metallurgy and engineering. Armour was the single most influential factor in the development of firearms that revolutionised warfare.
Misty Copeland (born September 10, 1982) is an American ballet dancer, described by many accounts as the first African American female soloist for the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States (along with New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet). However, Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball, who were with the ABT in the early and mid 1980s respectively, preceded her. In this role as the third African-American soloist and first in two decades with ABT, she has endured the cultural pressure associated with it.
Copeland is considered a prodigy who rose to stardom despite not starting ballet until the age of 13. By age 15, Copeland's mother and ballet teachers, who were serving as her custodial guardians, fought a custody battle over her. Meanwhile, Copeland, who was already an award-winning dancer, was fielding professional offers. The 1998 legal proceedings involved filings for emancipation by Copeland and restraining orders by her mother. Both sides dropped legal proceedings, and Copeland moved home to begin studying under a new teacher who was a former ABT member.
Donovan Mitchell is a South African born local poet, who was mentored by South African poet and author, Don Mattera.
Mitchell became paralysed as result of South African police brutality during the apartheid era.
His philosophy about his past interactions with apartheid South Africa is: 'Let bygones be bygones'.
His works include:‘when rubber meets the road’,and "an ode to Karabo".
Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988) is an American professional basketball forward with the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A 6'9" small forward, Durant was the consensus 2007 National College Player of the Year and the 2006–2007 Big 12 Player of the Year, amongst other awards. After a standout freshman season at the University of Texas, Durant opted to enter the NBA Draft, where he was selected second overall by the Seattle SuperSonics. There he went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after his debut season. In 2007, Durant signed an endorsement contract with Nike. In the 2009–10 season Durant led the NBA in scoring and became the youngest player ever to win the NBA scoring title. He would later be named to the 2010 All NBA First Team.
Lindsey Caroline Vonn (née Kildow; born October 18, 1984) is an American alpine ski racer with the U.S. Ski Team. She has won four overall World Cup championships – one of only two female skiers to do so, along with Annemarie Moser-Pröll – with three consecutive titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010, plus another in 2012. Vonn won the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first ever in the event for an American woman. She has also won five consecutive World Cup season titles in the downhill discipline, four consecutive titles in Super G, and three consecutive titles in the combined as of 2012.
Vonn is one of five women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing – downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom, and super combined – and has won 53 World Cup races in her career as of March 14, 2012. Only two women have more World Cup victories in their careers, Austrian Annemarie Moser-Pröll with 62 and Swiss Vreni Schneider with 55, both retired from active racing. With her Olympic gold and bronze medals, two World Championship gold medals in 2009 (plus three silver medals in 2007 / 2011), and four overall World Cup titles, Vonn has become the most successful American skier in the history of alpine skiing.
She took everything she owned
threw it out in the rain
walked away from that life she won't go back again
had enough of people's lies enough of their blame
she made a promise to herself she won't get fooled again
Don't know why things come to me and why they disappear
I only know that living changed when she got here
I reached out my hand wiped the rain from her face
the look she gave me stopped me cold held me in my place
When I look into her eyes growing wild
what I see is such a wounded child
No matter what you're hiding
what you want to keep inside you
I am hiding too
and we'll take a step somehow
lay down your armour now
and I'll come to you
I know a fall is coming but it hasn't happened yet
can't believe what I keep inside and what I can't forget
the sun paints the evening sky and then it's gone
I can't say I can save you but I swear I won't leave you alone
Every night I listen to the silence in your heart
I never want to see you that torn apart
No matter what you're hiding
what you want to keep inside you
I've been hiding too
and we'll take a step somehow
lay down your armour now
I'll come to you
come to you
come to you
I'm handing in my guns now
I will stop slipping away like sand between your fingers
For better or for worse,
I yield to you
I will lay my armour down, claim the hunger and the words that were always on my mind
Any triumph breeds defeat
Any blessing holds a curse but for once I won't let go
You laugh at all my twists and turns
The stories I tell find a home in your memory
And by now it is too late to run, so I yield to you
I will lay my armour down, claim the hunger and the words that were always on my mind
Any triumph breeds defeat
Any blessing holds a curse but for once I won't let go
You see me like no other
Here I stand Beside you, still I somehow stand apart
I'm burdened in my spirit, a stone is weighing down my heart
I'm riddled in my depths by this half-heartedness
Sundered from the "now" by self-protectiveness
Look around in your heart
Cut off from the moment
Divested all the way
No music in this silence
No colour in this grey
I'm rarely fully there, I cloak myself from harm's way
An inmate of my own device who's blinded by the light of day
Summon forth from your heart
Cut off from the moment
Divested all the way
No music in this silence
No colour in this grey
This chasm I cannot bridge
This hole I cannot fill with sand
Summon forth, from your heart, the whole man
Half-speed, half-there, thus I'm half-alive
Un-veiled and un-guised then I'm genuine
But why do I die just as I come alive?
So used to this armour, and how it fits
Cut off from the moment
Divested all the way
No music in this silence
No colour in this grey
This chasm I cannot bridge
This hole I cannot fill with sand
Summon forth, from your heart, the whole man