LegendHis hagiography was written probably by a monk of Frankish origin in the eleventh century, after the rediscovery of the saint's relics, which had been conserved in a Roman sarcophagus.
Gallery
Monday, September 24, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Edmund Dulac (born Edmond Dulac 1882-1953) was a French book illustrator prominent during the so called "Golden Age of Illustration" (the first quarter or so of the twentieth century).
Later life
Illustration to The Snow Queen
The Garden of Paradise - The Fairy of the Garden's garment
Illustration to The Nightingale
Illustration to The Princess and the Pea
Illustration to The Garden of Paradise
Illustration to The Garden of Paradise
Illustration to The Little MermaidIllustration to The Emperor's New Clothes
Saturday, September 22, 2007
DiscographyFriday, September 21, 2007
BiographyWeathers was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School and then went to San Diego State University.
Early life
At San Diego State University, Carl was a member of the football team. This led to a brief career as a linebacker with the Oakland Raiders, where he played 7 games in 1970 and one game in 1971. He joined the Canadian Football League (British Columbia Lions) in 1971 and played until 1973, 18 games in total. He retired in 1974 to become an actor.
Football careerWeathers had his first parts in two Arthur Marks directed 1970s blaxploitation films: Bucktown and Friday Foster, both in 1975. Weathers also appeared in an episode on the 70's Sitcom "Good Times".
In 1976, he starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky as Apollo Creed, a role he would reprise in the next three Rocky films in 1979, 1982, and 1985. He also starred in a number of action films, both theatrically and on television, including: Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Predator (1987), Action Jackson (1988), and Hurricane Smith (1992), he also had the role of Chubbs in Happy Gilmore. And he is briefly seen as an Army MP in just one of the three released versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. As a member of the cast of Predator, Weathers worked with future California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura.
He also appeared in Michael Jackson's "Liberian Girl" music video, in a McDonald's commercial around 1976, and in an episode of Good Times as an angry husband who suspected his wife of cheating on him with JJ. Ironically, though his character was presumably supposed to be older, Carl is actually one year younger than Jimmie Walker.
During the final season of In the Heat of the Night, his character of Hampton Forbes replaced Bill Gillespie at the chief of the Sparta, Mississippi police. He continued that role in the television movies based on the series. His noted other TV role was on the cop show Street Justice where he played Sgt. Adam Beaudreaux. He also played as MACV-SOG Colonel Brewster in the CBS series Tour of Duty.
In 2004, Weathers received a significant career revival as a comedic actor. Since he had worked primarily as a dramatic actor in action films throughout the first half of his career, he began appearing in many works that were quite different from his past. Beginning in 2004 with appearances in several episodes of the cult hit comedy series Arrested Development as a cheapskate caricature of himself, Weathers began appearing in largely comedic roles. This series of guest spots led to him getting roles in the comedies The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang and The Comebacks. The Comebacks will be his first major role in a film since 1992's Hurricane Smith.
Sylvester Stallone asked Weathers, Mr. T, and Dolph Lundgren for permission to use footage from their appearances in the earlier Rocky movies for Rocky Balboa. Mr. T and Dolph Lundgren gave him their graces, however Weathers wanted an actual part in the movie, even though his character died in Rocky IV. Stallone refused and Weathers decided not to allow Stallone to use his image for Rocky flashbacks from the previous movies. They instead decided to use new footage of a fighter who looks similar to Weathers.
He is currently acting as "Alex Keith" in advertising for Old Spice's sponsorship of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.
Personal life
Thursday, September 20, 2007
The colloquial term "designer baby" has been used in popular scientific and bioethics literature to specify a child whose hereditary makeup (genotype) would be, using various reproductive and genetic technologies, purposefully selected ("designed") to be the optimal recombination of their parents' genetic material. The term is usually used pejoratively to signal opposition to such use of human biotechnologies.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. Every article of clothing also carries a cultural and social meaning. Human beings are the only creatures known to wear clothing, with the exception of pets clothed by their owners.
People also decorate their bodies with makeup or cosmetics, perfume, and other ornamentation; they also cut, dye, and arrange the hair of their heads, faces, and bodies (see hairstyle), and sometimes also mark their skin (by tattoos, scarifications, and piercings). All these decorations contribute to the overall effect and message of clothing, but do not constitute clothing per se.
Articles carried rather than worn (such as purses, canes, and umbrellas) are normally counted as fashion accessories rather than as clothing. Jewelry and eyeglasses are usually counted as accessories as well, even though in common speech these items are described as being worn rather than carried.
The practical function of clothing is to protect the human body from dangers in the environment: weather (strong sunlight, extreme heat or cold, and precipitation, for example), insects, noxious chemicals, weapons, and contact with abrasive substances, and other hazards. Clothing can protect against many things that might injure the naked human body. In some cases clothing protects the environment from the clothing wearer as well (example: medical scrubs).
Humans have shown extreme inventiveness in devising clothing solutions to practical problems and the distinction between clothing and other protective equipment is not always clear-cut. See, among others: air conditioned clothing, armor, diving suit, swimsuit, bee-keeper's costume, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and protective clothing.
It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. Tagged since August 2007. It may contain an unpublished synthesis of published material that conveys ideas not verifiable with the given sources. Tagged since August 2007. It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by citing reliable sources. Tagged since June 2007.
Social status
See also: undercover.
In many regions of the world, national costumes and styles in clothing and ornament declare membership in a certain village, caste, religion, etc. A Scotsman declares his clan with his tartan. A Muslim woman might wear a hijab to express her religion. A male Sikh may display his religious affiliation by wearing a turban and other traditional clothing. A French peasant woman may identify her village with her cap or coif.
Clothes can also proclaim dissent from cultural norms and mainstream beliefs, as well as personal independence. In 19th-century Europe, artists and writers lived la vie de Bohème and dressed to shock: George Sand in men's clothing, female emancipationists in bloomers, male artists in velvet waistcoats and gaudy neckcloths. Bohemians, beatniks, hippies, goths, punks and skinheads have continued the counter-cultural) tradition in the 20th-century West. Now that haute couture plagiarises street fashion within a year or so, street fashion may have lost some of its power to shock, but it still motivates millions trying to look hip and cool.
Occupation
Hindu women, once married, wear sindoor, a red powder, in the parting of their hair; if widowed, they abandon sindoor and jewelry and wear simple white clothing. Men and women of the Western world may wear wedding rings to indicate their marital status.
See also: Visual markers of marital status
Marital status
Clothing may signal an individual's receptiveness to sexual advances. Some garments signal lack of interest in advances; some garments and accessories indicate openness to flirtation. What constitutes modesty and allurement varies radically from culture to culture, within different contexts in the same culture, and over time as different fashions rise and fall. Often, exposure of skin and hair is an availability signal; covering skin and hair signals unavailability. However, minute adjustments of "modesty" signals can subvert the surface meaning and convey a mixed message ("I'm nice but I like to flirt too").
The vocabulary of women's clothing is usually more developed than the vocabulary of men's clothing in this regard.
Examples of sexual signaling:
In Amish communities, both men and women dress in plain garments that cover the body, without intricate details or patterns. Women also wear a prayer veil. Unmarried women wear black veils, married women wear white ones.
Many Muslim women wear a head or body covering (see hijab, burqa or bourqa, chador and abaya) that proclaims their status as respectable and modest women.
Streetwalking prostitutes in countries such as the United States where prostitution is illegal dress to advertise their status to potential customers, while avoiding anything that might constitute an unambiguous offer of sex for sale (which would increase their chances of being caught and convicted). They tend to wear current fashions in exaggerated form, bare a great deal of skin, and wear heavy makeup. Sexual availability
Religious clothing might be considered a special case of occupational clothing. Sometimes it is worn only during the performance of religious ceremonies. However, it may also be worn everyday as a marker for special religious status.
For example, Jains wear unstitched cloth pieces when performing religious ceremonies. The unstitched cloth signifies unified and complete devotion to the task at hand, with no digression.
The cleanliness of religious dresses in Eastern Religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism is of paramount importance, which indicates purity.
See also: Category:Religious vesture.
Religious habits and special religious clothing
Most sports and physical activities are practised wearing special clothing, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Common sportswear garments include shorts, T-shirts, tennis shirts, tracksuits, and trainers. Specialised garments include wet suits (for swimming, diving or surfing) and salopettes (for skiing).
Sport and activityCommon clothing materials include:
Less-common clothing materials include:
Reinforcing materials such as wood, bone, plastic and metal may be used in fasteners or to stiffen garments.
Cloth, typically made of viscose cotton, flax, wool, hemp, ramie, silk, lyocell, or synthetic fibers such as Polyester and Nylon among many others.
Down for down-filled parkas
Fur
Leather
Denim
Paper
Jute
Rubber
PVC
Recycled PET
Tyvek
Rayon
Hemp
Bamboo
Recycled or Recovered Cotton
Soy
Other Natural Fibers Clothing materials
Clothing, once manufactured, suffers assault both from within and from without. The human body inside sheds skin cells and body oils, and exudes sweat, urine, and feces. From the outside, sun damage, damp, abrasion, dirt, and other indignities afflict the garment. Fleas and lice take up residence in clothing seams. Well-worn clothing, if not cleaned and refurbished, will smell, itch, look scruffy, and lose functionality (as when buttons fall off and zippers fail).
In some cases, people simply wear an item of clothing until it falls apart. Cleaning leather presents difficulties; one cannot wash bark cloth (tapa) without dissolving it. Owners may patch tears and rips, and brush off surface dirt, but old leather and bark clothing will always look old.
But most clothing consists of cloth, and most cloth can be laundered and mended (patching, darning, but compare felt).
Clothing maintenance
Humans have developed many specialized methods for laundering, ranging from the earliest "pound clothes against rocks in running stream" to the latest in electronic washing machines and dry cleaning (dissolving dirt in solvents other than water).
Many kinds of clothing are designed to be ironed before they are worn to remove wrinkles. Most modern formal and semi-formal clothing is in this category (for example, dress shirts and suits). Ironed clothes are believed to look clean, fresh, and neat. However, much contemporary casual clothing is made of knit materials that do not readily wrinkle and so do not have to be ironed. Some clothing is permanent press, meaning that it has been treated with a synthetic coating (such as polytetrafluoroethylene) that suppresses wrinkles and creates a smooth appearance without ironing.
Once clothes have been laundered and possibly ironed, they are usually hung up on clothes hangers or folded, to keep them fresh until they are worn. Clothes are folded to allow them to be stored compactly, to prevent creasing, to preserve creases or to present them in a more pleasing manner, for instance when they are put on sale in stores.
Many kinds of clothes are folded before they are put in suitcases as preparation for travel. Other clothes, such as suits, may be hung up in special garment bags, or rolled rather than folded. Many people use their clothing as packing material around fragile items that might otherwise break in transit.
Laundry, ironing, storage
In past times, mending was an art. A meticulous tailor or seamstress could mend rips with thread raveled from hems and seam edges so skillfully that the darn was practically invisible. When the raw material — cloth — was worth more than labor, it made sense to expend labor in saving it. Today clothing is considered a consumable item. Mass-manufactured clothing is less expensive than the time it would take to repair it. Many people prefer to buy a new piece of clothing rather than to spend their time mending old clothes. But the thrifty still replace zippers and buttons and sew up ripped hems.
Mending
Used, no-longer-wearable clothing was once desirable raw material for quilts, rag rugs, bandages, and many other household uses. It could also be recycled into paper. Now it is usually thrown away. Used but still wearable clothing can be sold at consignment shops, flea markets, online auction, or just donated to charity. Charities usually skim the best of the clothing to sell in their own thrift stores and sell the rest to merchants, who bale it up and ship it to poor Third World countries, where vendors bid for the bales and then make what profit they can selling used clothing.
The life cycle of clothing
Western fashion has, to a certain extent, become international fashion, as Western media and styles penetrate all parts of the world. Very few parts of the world remain where people do not wear items of cheap, mass-produced Western clothing. Even people in poor countries can afford used clothing from richer Western countries.
However, people may wear ethnic or national dress on special occasions or if carrying out certain roles or occupations. For example, most Japanese women have adopted Western-style dress for daily wear, but will still wear silk kimonos on special occasions. Items of Western dress may also appear worn or accessorized in distinctive, non-Western ways. A Tongan man may combine a used T-shirt with a Tongan wrapped skirt, or tupenu.
Western fashion, too, does not function monolithically. It comes in many varieties, from expensive haute couture to thrift store grunge.
Early 21st-century clothing styles
For example: "Catalogue" fashion, regional styles such as preppy or Western wear.
These fashions are often associated with fans of various musical styles.
See also: Gothic fashion, Hippie, Grunge, Hip hop music, and Fetish clothing
Clothing of Europe and Russia
Clothing in the Americas
- South American fashion
United States mainstream fashion
- United States alternative fashion
Clothing in Asia
Clothing in Africa
Clothing in Oceania
Islamic clothing Origin and history of clothing
As technologies change, so will clothing. Many people, including futurologists have extrapolated current trends and made the following predictions:
Man-made fibers such as nylon, polyester, terylene, terycot, lycra, and Gore-Tex already account for much of the clothing market. Many more types of fibers will certainly be developed. Clothing industry
Clothing terminology
Nudity
Costume
Clothes valet
Clothes hanger
- United States alternative fashion
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition or Java EE is a widely used platform for server programming in the Java programming language. The Java EE Platform differs from the Standard Edition (SE) of Java in that it adds additional libraries which provide functionality to deploy fault-tolerant, distributed, multi-tier Java software, based largely on modular components running on an application server.
Nomenclature, standards and specifications
General APIs
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