Cologne

Cologne (English pronunciation: /kəˈloʊn/; German Köln [kœln], Colognian: Kölle [ˈkœɫə]), Germany's fourth-largest city (after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich), is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, one of the major European metropolitan regions and the largest in Germany with more than ten million inhabitants.

Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine River, less than eighty kilometres from Belgium. The city's famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. The University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln) is one of Europe's oldest and largest universities.

Cologne was founded and established in Ubii territory in the first century AD as the Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, from which it gets its name. "Cologne", the French version of the city's name, has become standard in English as well. The city functioned as the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior and as the headquarters of the Roman military in the region until occupied by the Franks in 462. During the Middle Ages it flourished on one of the most important major trade routes between east and west in Europe. Cologne was one of the leading members of the Hanseatic League and one of the largest cities north of the Alps in medieval and Renaissance times. Up until World War II the city had undergone several occupations by the French and also by the British (1918-1926). Cologne was one of the most heavily-bombed cities in Germany during World War II, the Royal Air Force (RAF) dropping 34,711 long tons of bombs on the city. The bombing reduced the population by 95%, mainly due to evacuation, and destroyed almost the entire city. With the intention of restoring as many historic buildings as possible, the successful postwar rebuilding has resulted in a very mixed and unique cityscape.

Cologne, Lombardy

Cologne is a town and commune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. Cologne is located in Franciacorta at the foot of Monte Orfano. Neighbouring communes are Coccaglio, Erbusco, Palazzolo sull'Oglio and Chiari.

References

List of Ranma ½ characters

The Ranma ½ manga series features a cast of characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. The story revolves around the Japanese teenage boy Ranma Saotome who has trained in martial arts since early childhood. As a result of an accident during a training journey in China, he is cursed to become a girl when splashed with cold water, while hot water changes him back into a boy. Throughout the series Ranma seeks out a way to rid his curse, while his friends, enemies and many fiancées constantly hinder and interfere.

Many of the characters are similarly cursed to turn into animals or other creatures when splashed and are skilled in different and unusual types of martial arts. The large cast's intricate relationships with one another, unusual characteristics, and eccentric personalities drive most of the stories. Although the characters and their relationships are complicated, they rarely change once they are firmly introduced and settled into the series.

Saotome family

Ranma Saotome

Plastic

Generic term used in the case of polymeric material that may contain other substances
to improve performance and/or reduce costs.

Note 1: The use of this term instead of polymer is a source of confusion and thus is
not recommended.

Note 2: This term is used in polymer engineering for materials often compounded that
can be processed by flow.

Plastic is a material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organics that are malleable and can be molded into solid objects of diverse shapes. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are partially natural.Plasticity is the general property of all materials that are able to irreversibly deform without breaking, but this occurs to such a degree with this class of moldable polymers that their name is an emphasis on this ability.

Due to their relatively low cost, ease of manufacture, versatility, and imperviousness to water, plastics are used in an enormous and expanding range of products, from paper clips to spaceships. They have already displaced many traditional materials, such as wood, stone, horn and bone, leather, paper, metal, glass, and ceramic, in most of their former uses. In developed countries, about a third of plastic is used in packaging and another third in buildings such as piping used in plumbing or vinyl siding. Other uses include automobiles (up to 20% plastic), furniture, and toys. In the developing world, the ratios may be different - for example, reportedly 42% of India's consumption is used in packaging. Plastics have many uses in the medical field as well, to include polymer implants, however the field of plastic surgery is not named for use of plastic material, but rather the more generic meaning of the word plasticity in regards to the reshaping of flesh.

Plastic (Joey Tafolla album)

Plastic is the third studio album by guitarist Joey Tafolla, released on July 16, 2001 through Mascot Records.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Joey Tafolla and Ken Tamplin. 

Personnel

References

Plastic (Mitsuki Aira album)

Plastic, stylised as PLASTIC, is the second album by the Japanese artist Mitsuki Aira. It was released July 22, 2009, and contains the singles "Robot Honey", "Sayonara Technopolis" and "Barbie Barbie". This is her current best-selling album according to Oricon.

Editions

The album was released as a regular album and two special editions, one of which contains a live DVD and the other a remix CD. Both additional discs contain eight tracks.

Track listing

Previous releases

The tracks "Robot Honey", "Sayonara Technopolis" and "Barbie Barbie" were released as singles prior to Plastic, while "Knee-high Girl", "Change My Will", "High Speed Sneaker" and "Distant Stars" appeared as b-sides.