Needle
A needle is generally a thin, cylindrical object, often with a sharp point on the end.
Needle may refer to:
Crafting
Botany
Places
Needles (Black Hills)
The Needles of the Black Hills of South Dakota are a region of eroded granite pillars, towers, and spires within Custer State Park. Popular with rock climbers and tourists alike, the Needles are accessed from the Needles Highway, which is a part of Sylvan Lake Road (SD 87/89). The Cathedral Spires and Limber Pine Natural Area, a 637-acre portion of the Needles containing six ridges of pillars as well as a disjunct stand of limber pine, was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1976.
The Needles were the original site proposed for the Mount Rushmore carvings. The location was rejected by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum owing to the poor quality of the granite and the fact that they were too thin to support the sculptures. The Needles attract approximately 300,000 people annually.
Climbing
The area has a rich history of bold climbing by greatest climbers of their era, and has long been known for its purist ethics. In 1936 Fritz Wiessner climbed the Totem Pole and in 1937 Khayyam Spire with Bill House and Lawrence Coveney. In 1947 Jan and Herb Conn moved to the area and in next couple decades put up over 220 first ascents. In 1952 Fred Beckey and John Dudra climbed Rubaiyat Spire and Khayyam Spire. In the 1960s climbers such as Royal Robbins, and Henry Barber put up many bold routes. In 1961 John Gill made free solo ascent of class 5.12a route on The Thimble which is considered one of the first climbs at that grade and still is a formidable challenge. In 1970's and 1980's many climbs were added by local climbers, such as Paul Muehl, John Page, Bob Archbold and Pete Delonney. In 1991 John Sherman also made a free solo ascent of Gill's Route.
Needles station
Needles is an Amtrak train station in Needles, California, United States. The station consists of a platform adjacent to a small waiting area located at a BNSF Railway yard.
El Garces Hotel
The Needles station is near the historic El Garces Hotel, built by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1908 for the Fred Harvey Company. It is located near the original station, which closed in 1958 and underwent extensive restoration. The name El Garces was chosen to honor Father Francisco Garces, a missionary who arrived in the area in 1776.
El Garces reopened in 2014 as an intermodal transportation facility, but without the proposed on-site Needles Chamber of Commerce office, and without the original hotel and restaurant.
Platforms and tracks
References
External links
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. The two surviving species of camel are the dromedary, or one-humped camel (C. dromedarius), which inhabits the Middle East and the Horn of Africa; and the bactrian, or two-humped camel (C. bactrianus), which inhabits Central Asia. Both species have been domesticated; they provide milk, meat, hair for textiles or goods such as felted pouches, and are working animals with tasks ranging from human transport to bearing loads.
The term "camel" is derived via Latin and Greek (camelus and κάμηλος kamēlos respectively) from Hebrew or Phoenician gāmāl.
"Camel" is also used more broadly to describe any of the six camel-like mammals in the family Camelidae: the two true camels and the four New World camelids: the llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña of South America.
Biology
The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years. A full-grown adult camel stands 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the hump. Camels can run at up to 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph). Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000 kg (660 to 2,200 lb) and dromedaries 300 to 600 kg (660 to 1,320 lb).
Camel (chess)
The camel (or long knight) is a fairy chess piece that moves like an elongated knight. When it moves, it can jump to a square that is three squares horizontally and one square vertically, or three squares vertically and one square horizontally, regardless of intervening pieces; thus, it is a (1,3)-leaper. Below, it is given the symbol L from Betza notation.
History and nomenclature
The camel is a very old piece, appearing in some very early chess variants, such as Tamerlane chess. It is still known as such in fairy chess problems.
Value
The camel by itself is worth about two pawns (appreciably less than a knight), because of its colorboundedness and lack of sufficient freedom of movement on an 8×8 board. However a camel and a bishop and a king can force checkmate on a bare king (assuming that the attacking pieces are not on the same color); a camel, a knight and a king can force checkmate on a bare king, but not easily (there are thirteen types of fortress draws); a camel, a wazir and a king can sometimes force checkmate on a bare king, but it can take up to 77 moves. Even if they are on different colours, two camels cannot checkmate a lone king. While the rook versus camel endgame is a draw in general, there are more winning positions than there are in rook versus knight and rook versus bishop: the longest win takes 35 moves. (All endgame statistics mentioned are for the 8×8 board.)
Camel (color)
Camel is a color that resembles the color of the hair of a camel.
The first recorded use of camel as a color name in English was in 1916.
The source of this color is: ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color Sample of Camel (color sample #76).
Camel in human culture
See also
References
