Cuckoo

The cuckoos are a family of birds, Cuculidae, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes. The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae respectively.

The cuckoos are generally medium-sized slender birds. The majority are arboreal, with a sizeable minority that are terrestrial. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority of species being tropical. Some species are migratory. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Many species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species, but the majority of species raise their own young.

In Greek mythology, Zeus transformed himself into a cuckoo so that he could seduce Hera; the bird was sacred to her.

Description

Curve

In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is, generally speaking, an object similar to a line but that need not be straight. Thus, a line is a special case of curve null curvature.

Various disciplines within mathematics have given the term different meanings depending on the area of study, so the precise meaning depends on context. However, many of these meanings are special instances of the definition which follows. A curve is a topological space which is locally homeomorphic to a line. In everyday language, this means that a curve is a set of points which, near each of its points, looks like a line, up to a deformation. A simple example of a curve is the parabola, shown to the right. A large number of other curves have been studied in multiple mathematical fields.

A closed curve is a curve that forms a path whose starting point is also its ending point—that is, a path from any of its points to the same point.

Closely related meanings include the graph of a function (as in Phillips curve) and a two-dimensional graph.

Toni Halliday

Antoinette "Toni" Halliday (born 5 July 1964) is an English musician best known as the lead vocalist, lyricist, and occasional guitarist of the alternative rock band Curve, along with Dean Garcia.

She was also a member of the bands Photofitz, The Uncles, State of Play and Scylla. Halliday released solo work as Toni Halliday and Chatelaine. She collaborated with artists like Robert Plant, Recoil, The Future Sound of London, Leftfield, Paul van Dyk, Freaky Chakra, DJ? Acucrack, Headcase, The Killers, Acid Android, and Orbital.

Halliday has a contralto vocal range.

Early life and career

Halliday was born on 5 July 1964 in Parsons Green, London, and brought up in various locations across Europe, before eventually settling in Washington New Town, Tyne and Wear.

From 1978 to 1980, Halliday was the lead vocalist in a punk rock band named Photofitz (initially called The Incest), after which Toni left to start a solo career.

The first commercially released recording to feature Halliday was the single "The Smile and the Kiss" (1983) by the group Bonk, on which she performed uncredited backing vocals. The following year, Halliday's new band The Uncles released the single "What's the Use of Pretending", whereupon the singer returned to performing backing vocals for other artists, including the Robert Plant albums Shaken 'n' Stirred (1985), and Now and Zen (1988).

Dean Garcia

Dean Garcia (born 3 May 1958 in London) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician, best known as a member of the alternative rock duo Curve from 1990 to 2005. He also released solo work and collaborated with many other artists.

Biography

Garcia, from an Hawaiian, Irish and English background, had played in some small bands when he auditioned for Eurythmics. He had played bass guitar as part of Eurythmics' live band in 1983–84 and on two of their studio albums, Touch and Be Yourself Tonight.

Dean Garcia and Toni Halliday were introduced to each other by David A. Stewart from Eurythmics. The pair formed an ill-fated group named State of Play in the mid-1980s before parting ways, embarking on a no less ill-fated solo career (Halliday) and further stints as a backing musician (Garcia), and then reuniting for a more long-term partnership in Curve. Garcia and Halliday collaborated in Curve between 1990 and 2005. The group's career was interrupted by several periods of inactivity. Garcia played bass, guitar, drums for Curve, while Halliday sang, wrote the lyrics and occasionally played guitar.