Tattoo

A tattoo is a form of body modification, made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment.

Etymology

The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Polynesian word tatau, meaning "correct, workmanlike". The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology of tattoo as "In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. From Polynesian (Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, etc.) tatau. In Marquesan, tatu." Before the importation of the Polynesian word, the practice of tattooing had been described in the West as painting, scarring, or staining.

This is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the military drumbeat — see military tattoo. In this case, the English word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe (OED).

The first written reference to the word tattoo (or tatau), appears in the journal of Joseph Banks (24 February 1743 – 19 June 1820), the naturalist aboard Captain Cook's ship the HMS Endeavour: "I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition".

Titanium (band)

Titanium is a New Zealand pop boy band formed in Auckland in 2012 from the winners of The Edge radio station's competition to create New Zealand's second boy band. The Edge radio station hosted auditions across New Zealand and eventually six young men were selected for the group consisting of members, Zac Taylor, Andrew Papas, Jordi Webber, Shaquille Paranihi-Ngauma, Haydn Linsley and T.K Paradza. They signed to Illegal Musik and released their debut single, "Come On Home". The single debuted at number one on the official New Zealand Singles Chart on 17 September 2012. Titanium released their debut studio album, All For You in December 2012. They became the first New Zealand band to have three songs in the Top 40 Singles Chart at one time.

History

2012: Formation

The Edge radio station began a nationwide search to find six young men to form a boy band. Auditions were held across New Zealand. Ten finalists were chosen and sent to "Boyband Camp". At the end of the week public voting for the guys opened and in conjunction with a panel of experts from The Edge, Illegal Musik and Warner Music the final six members were announced and became Titanium. Shortly after releasing their first single "Come On Home" which debuted at number one, the band announced a 15-date Come On Home Tour.

Fantasy Island

Fantasy Island is an American television series that originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company network from 1977 to 1984. A revival of the series originally aired on the same network during the 1998–99 season.The series was created by Gene Levitt.

Original series

Before it became a television series, Fantasy Island was introduced to viewers in 1977 and 1978 through two made-for-television films. Airing from 1978 to 1984, the original series starred Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke, the enigmatic overseer of a mysterious island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, where people from all walks of life could come and live out their fantasies, albeit for a price.

Roarke was known for his white suit and cultured demeanor, and was initially accompanied by an energetic sidekick, Tattoo, played by Hervé Villechaize. Tattoo would run up the main bell tower to ring the bell and shout "The plane! The plane!" to announce the arrival of a new set of guests at the beginning of each episode. This line, shown at the beginning of the show's credits, became an unlikely catchphrase because of Villechaize's spirited delivery and French accent. In later seasons, he would arrive in his personal go-kart, sized for him, and recklessly drive to join Roarke for the visitor reception while the staff scrambled to get out of his way. From 1980 to 1982, Wendy Schaal joined the cast as a beautiful brown-eyed blonde assistant named Julie. The producers dismissed Villechaize from the series before the 1983–1984 season, which ended up being its last, and Tattoo was replaced by a more sedate butler type named Lawrence, played by Christopher Hewett. Lawrence's personality was exactly the opposite of Tattoo's in many ways. For instance, Lawrence was also responsible for the bell ringing, but instead of climbing to the tower he simply pushed a button outside to have the bell ring automatically.

Naming scheme

In computing, naming schemes are often used for objects connected into computer networks.

Naming schemes in computing

Server naming is a common tradition. It makes it more convient to refer to a machine by name than by its IP address.

CIA named their servers after states.

Server names may be named by their role or follow a common theme such as colors, countries, cities, planets, chemical element, scientists, etc. If servers are in multiple different geographical locations they may be named by closest airport code.

Such as web-01, web-02, web-03, mail-01, db-01, db-02.

Airport code example:

City-State-Nation example:

Thus, a production server in Minneapolis, Minnesota would be nnn.ps.min.mn.us.example.com, or a development server in Vancouver, BC, would be nnn.ds.van.bc.ca.example.com.

Large networks often use a systematic naming scheme, such as using a location (e.g. a department) plus a purpose to generate a name for a computer.

For example, a web server in NY may be called "nyc-www-04.xyz.net".

Wang (surname)

Wang (/wɑːŋ/) is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese surnames 王 (Wáng) and 汪 (Wāng).

Wáng (王) was listed 8th on the famous Song Dynasty list of the Hundred Family Surnames; it is the most common surname in mainland China.

Wāng (汪) was 104th of the Hundred Family Surnames; it is the 58th-most-common surname in mainland China.

Romanizations

王 is also romanized as Wong in Hong Kong, Macau, Cantonese and Hakka; Ong or Bong in Hokkien; Heng in Teochew; Uōng in Gan; Vang, Vaj, or Vaaj in Hmong; Vương or Vong in Vietnamese; Wang (왕) in Korean; and Ō or Oh in Japanese.

汪 is typically romanized identically, despite its distinct tone. It is also Wong in Cantonese, Ong or Ang in Hokkien, Wang (왕) in Korean, and Ō or Oh in Japanese. However, in Vietnamese, it is written Uông.

Distribution

Wáng is one of the most common surnames in the world and was listed by the People's Republic of China's National Citizen ID Information System as the most common surname in mainland China in April 2007, with 92.88 million bearers and comprising 7.25% of the general population. It was the 6th most common surname on Taiwan in 2005, comprising 4.12% of the general population.

Vast (novel)

Vast is a science fiction novel by Linda Nagata, part of her loosely connected "Nanotech Succession" sequence.

Background

The main characters of Vast are the crew and passengers of the Null Boundary, who are fleeing from the alien Chenzeme. The Chenzeme, using the "cult virus" and other, more conventional, weapons have destroyed much of human-occupied space, leaving the inhabitants of the Null Boundary to attempt to discover why.

While Vast is a standalone novel, there are links to The Bohr Maker, Tech-Heaven and Deception Well, primarily in the form of two shared technological innovations: advanced nanotechnology and "ghosts", a name given to electronically preserved human memories and personalities.

Literary significance and reception

The SF Site gave the novel a positive review, commenting on the balance between the relatively straightforward plotline and the complex character interaction.

John Clute, in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, described the "Deception Well" sub-sequence (comprising Deception Well and Vast) as "an immensely complex tale," drawing comparisons with the work of Olaf Stapledon and Larry Niven.