Online and offline

The terms "online" and "offline" have specific meanings in regard to computer technology and telecommunications in which "online" indicates a state of connectivity, while "offline" indicates a disconnected state. Common vernacular extended from their computing and telecommunication meanings and refers specifically to an Internet connection. Lastly, in the area of human interaction and conversation, discussions taking place during a business meeting are "online", while issues that do not concern all participants of the meeting should be "taken offline" — continued outside of the meeting.

Definitions

In computer technology and telecommunication, online and offline are defined by Federal Standard 1037C. They are states or conditions of a "device or equipment" or of a "functional unit". To be considered online, one of the following may apply to a system: it is under the direct control of another device; it is under the direct control of the system with which it is associated; or it is available for immediate use on demand by the system without human intervention.

Samuel Abrahams

Samuel Abrahams is a BAFTA nominated English film director who has written and directed across drama, documentary and commercials.

His 2010 short film Connect starring Tuppence Middleton, described by The Guardian as "a bittersweet, elongated moment of romance on a bus, interspersed with a deliciously dark sense of humour" won the Jury Award at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Short Film at the 64th British Academy Film Awards.

Samuel's 2011 short film Hold On Me, noted for its original use of dance, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival, won Best Short Film at the London Independent Film Festival, and was nominated for Fujifilm Shorts 2012 for its 35mm cinematography by director of photography Urszula Pontikos. Its visuals have been praised as being, "sumptuous yet intimate, textured and brimming with raw emotion."

In 2009, he directed the Channel 4 Comedy Lab, Hung Out which he co-wrote with a group of friends, loosely based on their lives.

New Age

The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the movement differ in their emphasis, largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure. Although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of "spiritual" and rarely use the term "New Age" themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term, believing that it gives a false sense of homogeneity to the phenomenon.

As a form of Western esotericism, the New Age movement drew heavily upon a number of older esoteric traditions, in particular those that emerged from the occultist current that developed in the eighteenth century. Such prominent occult influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Spiritualism, New Thought, and the Theosophical Society. A number of mid-twentieth century influences, such as the UFO cults of the 1950s, the Counterculture of the 1960s, and the Human Potential Movement, also exerted a strong influence on the early development of the New Age movement. Although the exact origins of the movement remain contested, it is agreed that it developed in the 1970s, at which time it was centred largely in the United Kingdom. It expanded and grew largely in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular within the United States.