Rod

Rod, Ród, Rőd, Rød, Röd, ROD, or R.O.D. may refer to:

Devices

Media

Rod (optics)

"Rods" (sometimes known as "skyfish", "air rods", or "solar entities") is a term used in cryptozoology, ufology, and outdoor photography to refer to elongated artifacts in the form of light-rods produced by cameras. Videos of rod-shaped objects moving quickly through the air were claimed by some ufologists and cryptozoologists to be alien life forms, "extradimensional" creatures, or very small UFOs. Subsequent experiments showed that these rods appear in film because of an optical illusion/collusion (especially in interlaced video recording), and are typically traces of a flying insect's wingbeats.

Optical analysis

Various paranormal interpretations appeared in the popular culture, and one of the more outspoken proponents of rods as alien life forms is Jose Escamilla, who claims to have been the first to film them on March 19, 1994 at Roswell, New Mexico, while attempting to film a UFO. Since then, Escamilla has made additional videos and embarked on lecture tours to promote his claims.

Rod cell

Rod cells, or rods, are photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye that can function in less intense light than the other type of visual photoreceptor, cone cells. Rods are concentrated at the outer edges of the retina and are used in peripheral vision. On average, there are approximately 90 million rod cells in the human retina. More sensitive than cone cells, rod cells are almost entirely responsible for night vision. However, because they have only one type of light-sensitive pigment, rather than the three types that human cone cells have, rods have little, if any, role in color vision (which is why colors are much less apparent in darkness).

Structure

Rods are a little longer and leaner than cones but have the same structural basis. The opsin or pigment is on the outer side, lying on the Retinal pigment epithelium, completing the cell's homeostasis. This epithelium end contains many stacked disks. Rods have a high area for visual pigment and thus substantial efficiency of light absorption.

Birch

Birch is a thinleaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus Betula (/ˈbɛtjʊlə/), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams, and is closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The genus Betula contains 30 to 60 known taxa of which 11 are on the IUCN 2011 Green List of Threatened Species. They are a typically rather short-lived pioneer species widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in northern temperate and boreal climates.

Description

Birch species are generally small to medium-sized trees or shrubs, mostly of temperate climates. The simple leaves are alternate, singly or doubly serrate, feather-veined, petiolate and stipulate. They often appear in pairs, but these pairs are really borne on spur-like, two-leaved, lateral branchlets. The fruit is a small samara, although the wings may be obscure in some species. They differ from the alders (Alnus, other genus in the family) in that the female catkins are not woody and disintegrate at maturity, falling apart to release the seeds, unlike the woody, cone-like female alder catkins.

Birch (surname)

Birch is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

William Hamilton Page

William Hamilton Page (1829–1909) was a type designer and owner of William Page & Company, a leading manufacturer of wood type for letterpress printing.

Life and career

Page worked as a printer for several newspapers before learning the trade of wood type manufacturing from John Cooley in South Windham, Connecticut. In 1856 he and James Bassett purchased the assets of the defunct H. &. J. Bill & Company and went into partnership as Page & Bassett. In 1859 he withdrew from this partnership and became partners with Samuel Mowry, forming William Page & Company, near Norwich, Connecticut. This firm quickly became the largest and most efficient manufacturer of wooden type in the United States. It was only in the 1880s that a serious rival, the Hamilton Manufacturing Company owned by J.E. Hamilton, emerged. When Page retired in 1891, he sold out to Hamilton for stock in that company, and Page's equipment and stock were consolidated with that of Hamilton in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.