Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles without closing the way underneath such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. There are many different designs that each serve a particular purpose and apply to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed and anchored, the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it.

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word bridge to an Old English word brycg, of the same meaning. The word can be traced directly back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēw-. The word for the card game of the same name has a different origin.

History

The first bridges made by humans were probably spans of cut wooden logs or planks and eventually stones, using a simple support and crossbeam arrangement. Some early Americans used trees or bamboo poles to cross small caverns or wells to get from one place to another. A common form of lashing sticks, logs, and deciduous branches together involved the use of long reeds or other harvested fibers woven together to form a connective rope capable of binding and holding together the materials used in early bridges.

Hatsune Miku

Hatsune Miku (Japanese: 初音ミク), sometimes referred to as Miku Hatsune, is a humanoid persona voiced by a singing synthesizer application developed by Crypton Future Media. Hatsune Miku is portrayed as a 16-year-old girl with long turquoise twintails. She uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2 and Vocaloid 3 singing synthesizing technologies. She also uses Crypton Future Media's Piapro Studio, a singing synthesizer VSTi Plugin. She was the second Vocaloid sold using the Vocaloid 2 engine, and the first Japanese Vocaloid to use the Japanese version of the Vocaloid 2 engine. Her voice is sampled from Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita. Hatsune Miku has performed at her concerts onstage as an animated projection.

The name of the character comes from merging the Japanese words for first (初, hatsu), sound (音, ne) and future (ミク, miku), thus meaning "the first sound from the future," referring to her position as the first of Crypton's "Character Vocal Series."

Development

Hatsune Miku was the first Vocaloid developed by Crypton Future Media after they handled the release of the Yamaha vocal Meiko and Kaito. She was built using Yamaha's Vocaloid 2 technology, and later updated over time to newer engine versions. She was created by taking vocal samples from voice actress Saki Fujita at a controlled pitch and tone and those different samples all contain a single Japanese or English phonic which, when strung together, create full lyrics and phrases. The pitch of the samples was to be altered by the synthesizer engine itself, and was constructed into a keyboard style instrument within the Vocaloid software.

Kevin Gates

Kevin Jerome Gilyard (born February 5, 1986), known by his stage name Kevin Gates, is an American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Early life

Born Kevin Jerome Gilyard, Gates was born in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Growing up Gates often listened to rappers such as Master P and Hot Boy$. Gates started rapping at 14 years old. Later with Boosie Badazz, and Webbie.

Career

Kevin first began rhyming in 2007, when he began making music with fellow Louisiana natives Webbie and Lil Boosie. Gates first received attention with his 2008 single "Get in the Way" featuring Lil Boosie. Soon after, he and Boosie would be incarcerated in separate cases. Gates would then be released in 2011 and immediately returned to recording music. He would soon earn the attention of Lil Wayne and would start being managed by Young Money Entertainment's management wing. In early 2013, Gates released a mixtape, The Luca Brasi Story which was called "easily the best rap-related thing" in February 2013 by Spin Magazine, who also said he has "been a rapper to watch for a few years now".The Luca Brasi Story has been downloaded from popular mixtape sharing site, DatPiff, over 274,000 times. On February 15, 2013, it was announced that Kevin Gates is in a partnership with Atlantic Records. Gates was also featured on Pusha T's 2013 mixtape Wrath of Caine on the song "Trust You" and was featured on frequent collaborator Gudda Gudda's mixtape Guddaville 3 on the song "Hustle All Day" also featuring Flow.