Video CD

Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc digital video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm (4.7 in) optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia instead of VHS and Betamax systems.

The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a compact disc. VCDs are playable in dedicated VCD players, most DVD and Blu-ray Disc players, personal computers, and some video game consoles.

The Video CD standard was created in 1993 by Sony, Philips, Matsushita, and JVC and is referred to as the White Book standard.

Although they have been superseded by other mediums, VCDs continue to be retailed as a low-cost video format.

Brief history

In 1979, Philips introduced the optical LaserDisc, which was about 30 cm (12 in) in diameter. This disc could hold an hour of analog video along with digital audio on each side. The Laserdisc provided picture quality nearly double that of VHS tape and audio quality far superior to VHS.

Production

Production may be: Film In Economics:

In Ecology:

In Entertainment:

In Abstract systems:

See also

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world.

Origin and use

The word town shares an origin with the German word Stadt, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the original meaning of the word: a fence of any material. An early borrowing from Celtic *dunom (cf. Old Irish dun, Welsh din "fortress, fortified place, camp," dinas "city;"

In English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In England, a town was a small community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications, and built a palisade or stockade instead. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, which had a high fence or a wall around them (like the garden of palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn, which was the example for the privy garden of William and Mary at Hampton Court). In Old Norse tun means a (grassy) place between farmhouses, and is still used in a similar meaning in modern Norwegian.

Rank Hovis McDougall

RHM plc, formerly Rank Hovis McDougall, was a United Kingdom food business. The company owned numerous brands, particularly for flour, where its core business started, and for consumer food products. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Premier Foods in March 2007.

History

Early years

The Company was founded by Joseph Rank in 1875 as flour milling business when he rented a small windmill. He initially lost money and therefore took a co-tenancy at West's Holderness Corn Mill. In 1885 he built a mechanically-driven flour mill in Hull in order to beat competition from abroad. He used steel rollers instead of mill stones thereby producing six sacks of flour an hour instead of one and a half. In 1888 he built another steel-roller plant in Lincolnshire, and soon after, built a more modern plant, producing 20 sacks of flour an hour.

As he strove for greater productivity he installed equipment that produced 30 sacks of flour an hour, and then 40 sacks an hour. He also set up agencies to distribute his flour in parts of England where it previously had not been sold. In May 1899 the business was incorporated as a private company under the name Joseph Rank Limited.

Music

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence. The common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike; "art of the Muses"). In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form include the production of works of music (songs, tunes, symphonies, and so on), the criticism of music, the study of the history of music, and the aesthetic examination of music. Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."