Hardcourt

A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. They are typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic material to seal the surface and mark the playing lines, while providing some cushioning. Historically, hardwood surfaces were also in use in indoor settings, similar to an indoor basketball court, but these are now rare.

Tennis

Tennis hard courts are made of synthetic/acrylic layers on top of a concrete or asphalt foundation and can vary in color. These courts tend to play medium-fast to fast because there is little energy absorption by the court, like in grass courts. The ball tends to bounce high and players are able to apply many types of spin during play. Flat balls are favored on hard courts because of the extremely quick play style. Speed of rebound after tennis balls bounce on hard courts is determined by how much sand is in the synthetic/acrylic layer placed on top of the asphalt foundation. More sand will result in a slower bounce due to more friction.

T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)

"T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" is a song by American rapper will.i.am, featuring vocals from Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez. The song was released via the iTunes Store on November 20, 2011, just hours after its debut at the American Music Awards. The music video for the song was released on December 12, 2011. The song was originally released as part as the lead single of will.i.am's fourth studio album, #willpower, but was not included on the album.

Background

will.i.am first announced the song via his Twitter account, before announcing it via various online media. Links to a demo version of the song were made available via Dipdive and Google+. On November 18, Will released the cover art for the single, using it as his Twitter avatar and background. The song was premiered live on November 20, 2011, live at the 2011 American Music Awards at the Nokia Theater. The performance included will.i.am and Lopez performing live, and Jagger performing via video link. The song was made available on iTunes immediately following the AMA performance. The song was produced by Audiobot, Dallas Austin and will.i.am, as well as Jimmy Iovine. will.i.am originally presented the track to Iovine without the featured artists, as a finished work, and was caught off guard by his request to add performers to the song. In response, he threw out Jagger's name among possible collaborators because he thought it would never happen. Iovine ended up producing Jagger's vocals - it was the first time he had produced in decades. Immediately after the AMA performance, will.i.am thanked Fighting Gravity via Twitter. will.i.am also performed the song live at the American Giving Awards on December 10. Neither Lopez nor Jagger appeared.

Hard (TV series)

Hard is a French television series created and produced by Cathy Verney, airing since 9 May 2008 on Canal+ in France, and later internationally. The series focuses on the pornographic movie industry. It is part of the "New Trilogy" collection on Canal+.

Synopsis

After the sudden death of her husband, Sophie discovers through her mother-in-law, that her late husband did not run a successful software company, but instead produced pornographic films, with Soph'X being the legacy.

Bewildered and dismayed, at discovering a world she couldn't conceive of in a thousand years, she hesitates between taking over the company or selling everything to resume her job as a lawyer. To pay the mortgage held by her husband before his death, she has to decide to modernize Soph'X, until a meeting with porn star and pillar of the company, Roy Lapoutre, forces her hand.

Cast

Dose (album)

Dose is the second studio album by Gov't Mule. Te album was released on February 24, 1998, by Volcano Entertainment. It was produced, recorded and mixed by Michael Barbiero and is a much darker record than Gov't Mule's self-titled debut album. The songs "Thelonius Beck" and "Birth of the Mule" were tributes to jazz musicians Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis, respectively.

Track listing

All songs by Warren Haynes unless otherwise noted.

Personnel

References

Absorbed dose

Absorbed dose is a physical dose quantity D representing the mean energy imparted to matter per unit mass by ionizing radiation. In the SI system of units, the unit of measure is joules per kilogram, and its special name is gray (Gy). The non-SI CGS unit rad is sometimes also used, predominantly in the USA.

Uses

Absorbed dose is used in the calculation of dose uptake in living tissue in both radiation protection and radiology. It is also used to directly compare the effect of radiation on inanimate matter.

Radiological protection

The quantity absorbed dose is of fundamental importance in radiological protection for calculating radiation dose. However, absorbed dose is a physical quantity and used unmodified is not an adequate indicator of the likely health effects in humans.

It has been found that for stochastic radiation risk (defined as probability of cancer induction and genetic effects) consideration must be given to the type of radiation and the sensitivity of the irradiated tissues, which requires the use of modifying factors. Conventionally therefore, unmodified absorbed dose is not used for comparing stochastic risks but only used to compare against deterministic effects (severity of acute tissue effects that are certain to happen) such as in acute radiation syndrome.

Psych (season 5)

The fifth season of Psych, consisting of 16 episodes, premiered on USA Network in the United States on July 14, 2010 and concluded on December 22, 2010. A DVD of the season was released on May 31, 2011. Production officially started in Vancouver, British Columbia on April 28, 2010. James Roday, Dulé Hill, Timothy Omundson, Maggie Lawson, Corbin Bernsen and Kirsten Nelson all reprised their roles as the main characters.

Production

Steve Franks continued in his role of showrunner. "I Know, You Know", performed by The Friendly Indians, continued to serve as the show's theme song, though the title sequence was changed four times. For the episode "Romeo and Juliet and Juliet", the main titles were translated into Chinese. For "Shawn 2.0", guest star Curt Smith recorded an interpretation of the theme, and Julee Cruise performed a slower extended version for "Dual Spires". The theme song used originally for "Gus's Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy" in the second season was used once again for "The Polarizing Express". Curt Smith also recorded an original song, entitled "This is Christmas", for the episode.

Lethality

Lethality (also called deadliness or perniciousness) is how capable something is of causing death. Most often it is used when referring to chemical weapons, biological weapons, or their toxic chemical components. The use of this term denotes the ability of these weapons to kill, but also the possibility that they may not kill. Reasons for the lethality of a weapon to be inconsistent, or expressed by percentage, can be as varied as minimized exposure to the weapon, previous exposure to the weapon minimizing susceptibility, degradation of the weapon over time and/or distance, and incorrect deployment of a multi-component weapon.

This term can also refer to the after-effects of weapon use, such as Nuclear Fallout, which has highest lethality nearest the deployment site, and in proportion to the subject's size and nature; e.g. a child or small animal.

Lethality can also refer to the after-effects of a chemical explosion. A lethality curve can be developed for process safety reasons to protect people and equipment. The impact is typically greatest closest to the explosion site and lessens to the outskirts of the impact zone. Pressure, toxicity and location affect the lethality.