Gig

Gig or GIG may refer to:

Trident

A trident /ˈtraɪdənt/ is a three-pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the god of the sea in classical mythology. In Hindu mythology it is the weapon of Shiva, known as trishula (Sanskrit for "triple-spear").

Etymology

The word "trident" comes from the French word trident, which in turn comes from the Latin word tridens or tridentis: tri "three" and dentes "teeth". Sanskrit trishula is compound of tri त्रि "three""thorn".

The Greek equivalent is τρίαινα (tríaina), from Proto-Greek trianja (threefold).

Uses

In Greek, Roman, and Hindu mythology, the trident is said to have the power of control over the ocean.

Fishing

Tridents for fishing usually have barbed tines which trap the speared fish firmly. In the Southern and Midwestern United States, gigging is used for harvesting suckers, bullfrogs, flounder, and many species of rough fish.

Combat

The trident, known as dangpa, is featured as a weapon in the 17th- to 18th-century systems of Korean martial arts.

Gig (music)

Gig is slang for a musical engagement hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance. More broadly, the term "gigging" means having paid work, being employed.

A gig is sometimes called a "set", referring to the set list of compositions played.

The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes it as "a term commonly applied to a musical engagement of one night's duration only; to undertake such an engagement," (although the term "regular gig" is common in reference to a repeating engagement). The first documented use of this term in this way appears in 1926: Melody Maker 7 September 1926, with the story byline stating, "One Popular Gig Band Makes Use of a Nicely Printed Booklet."

References

See also

Ballast

Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, submarine, or other floating structure that holds water is called a ballast tank. Water should move in and out from the ballast tank to balance the ship. In a vessel that travels on the water, the ballast will remain below the water level, to counteract the effects of weight above the water level. The ballast may be redistributed in the vessel or disposed of altogether to change its effects on the movement of the vessel.

History

The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in many forms of aquatic life, such as the blowfish or members of the argonaut group of octopus. The concept has been invented and reinvented many times by humans to serve a variety of purposes. In the nineteenth century, cargo boats returning from Europe to North America would carry quarried stone as ballast, contributing to the architectural heritage of some east coast cities (for example Montreal), where this stone was used in building.

Ballast, Coevorden

Ballast is a village in the Netherlands and it is part of the Coevorden municipality in Drenthe. Its elevation is 9 meters (32 feet).

External links

Coordinates: 52°40′N 6°43′E / 52.667°N 6.717°E / 52.667; 6.717

Electrical ballast

An electrical ballast is a device intended to limit the amount of current in an electric circuit. A familiar and widely used example is the inductive ballast used in alternating current fluorescent lamps, to limit the current through the tube, which would otherwise rise to destructive levels due to the negative differential resistance artifact in the tube's voltage-current characteristic.

Ballasts vary in design complexity. They can be as simple as a series resistor or inductor, capacitors, or a combination thereof or as complex as electronic ballasts used with fluorescent lamps and high-intensity discharge lamps.

Current limiting

Ballasts limit the current through an electrical load. These are most often used when a load (such as an arc discharge) has its terminal voltage decline when current through the load increases. If such a device were connected to a constant-voltage power supply, it would draw an increasing amount of current until it was destroyed or caused the power supply to fail. To prevent this, a ballast provides a positive resistance or reactance that limits the current. The ballast provides for the proper operation of the negative-resistance device by limiting current.