Barley

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 13,000 years ago. Barley has also been used as animal fodder, as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods. It is used in soups and stews, and in barley bread of various cultures. Barley grains are commonly made into malt in a traditional and ancient method of preparation.

In a 2007 ranking of cereal crops in the world, barley was fourth both in terms of quantity produced (136 million tons) and in area of cultivation (566,000 square kilometres or 219,000 square miles).

Etymology

The Old English word for 'barley' was bære, which traces back to Proto-Indo-European and is cognate to the Latin word farina "flour". The direct ancestor of modern English "barley" in Old English was the derived adjective bærlic, meaning "of barley". The first citation of the form bærlic in the Oxford English Dictionary dates to around 966 CE, in the compound word bærlic-croft. The underived word bære survives in the north of Scotland as bere, and refers to a specific strain of six-row barley grown there. The word barn, which originally meant "barley-house", is also rooted in these words.

Azure (color)

Azure is a variation of blue that is often described as the color of the sky on a clear summer's day.

On the RGB color wheel, "azure" (color #007FFF) is defined as the color at 210 degrees, i.e., the hue halfway between blue and cyan. In the RGB color model, used to create all the colors on a television or computer screen, azure is created by adding a little green light to blue light. The complementary color of azure is orange.

In the X11 color system which became a standard for early web colors, azure is depicted as a pale cyan.

Etymology

The color azure ultimately takes its name from the intense blue mineral lapis lazuli. Lapis is the Latin word for "stone" and lazuli is the genitive form of the Medieval Latin lazulum, which is taken from the Arabic لازورد lāzaward, itself from the Persian لاژورد lāžaward, which is the name of the stone in Persian and also of a place where lapis lazuli was mined.

The name of the stone came to be associated with its color. The French azur, the Italian azzurro, the Polish lazur, Romanian azur and azuriu, and the Portuguese and Spanish azul, Hungarian azúr all come from the name and color of lapis lazuli.

Genesis

Genesis may refer to:

Literature

Genesis (band)

Genesis are an English rock band formed at Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey in 1967. The most commercially successful line-up includes keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford and drummer/singer Phil Collins. Other important members were singer Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett. The band underwent many changes in musical style over its career, from folk music to progressive rock in the 1970s, before moving towards pop at the end of the decade. They have sold 21.5 million RIAA-certified albums in the US and their worldwide sales are estimated to be between 100 million and 130 million.

Formed by five Charterhouse pupils including Banks, Rutherford, Gabriel, and Anthony Phillips, Genesis was named by former pupil Jonathan King who arranged them to record several unsuccessful singles and an album. After splitting with King, the group began touring professionally, signing with Charisma Records. Following the departure of Phillips, Genesis recruited Collins and Hackett and recorded several progressive rock style albums, with live shows centred around Gabriel's theatrical costumes and performances. The group were initially commercially successful in Europe, before entering the UK charts with Foxtrot (1972). They followed this with Selling England by the Pound (1973) and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) before Gabriel decided to leave the group.

Genesis (S.H.E album)

Genesis (Chinese: 美麗新世界) is the third studio album by Taiwanese Mandopop girl group S.H.E. It was released on 5 August 2002 by HIM International Music.

The track "美麗新世界" (Genesis) is listed at number 24 on Hit Fm Taiwan's Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart (Hit-Fm年度百首單曲) for 2002.

Album information

Although the title track was an upbeat and lively number, S.H.E regarded it as their most difficult song at the time. While both Girls Dorm and Youth Society had songs that were sung entirely in English ("H.B.O" and "I've Never Been To Me", respectively), "Woman In Love", a cover of Rebekah Ryan's original in the Genesis album, would be the last English song that S.H.E would sing. In April 2003, eight months after the release of Genesis, actress Chen Mingzhen's "Thinking of Your Moment" (想你的瞬間) covered the same Sweetbox song as "Ocean of Love" (愛情的海洋). According to Chen, she recorded "Thinking of Your Moment" one year before S.H.E had put it on Genesis, but the only reason S.H.E managed to sing "Ocean of Love" first was because Chen was delayed by manufacturing problems.