RosiRed - Recently Updated Pages

A Showcase of My Fave Singers

rosired — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:01:37 CST

* Psst * ...c'mon into My Art Home
...enjoy the view!

Why don't I start this site on a happy note with, "Hahaha"?

~

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
A tribute to Bruddah IZ - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, a fravorite son of Hawaii whose music brought joy to millions the world over. Featuring a medley of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World." IZ served as a goodwill ambassador for the native people of Hawaii and will remain in our hearts forever. Aloha and Mahalo!

~
visit :: Videocam101Flunky

Great Lady "Crooners"

rosired — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:59:45 CST

A beautiful lady, a powerful voice...
Connie Francis

A tribute to the queen of "Hurtin' Songs"...

Patsy Cline

Hayedeh

Music Icon, Legend, Diva, Music Goddess...

she is still singing in the hearts of her Persian people

My Musician Role-Models

rosired — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:57:48 CST

Eva Cassidy ~ Legendary Songbird

Eva Cassidy died, at the age of 33, in 1996 of melanoma, skin cancer. She was from Maryland, US and died just before she was getting better known. She could not get a recording contract in the US. She is still not well known in US. She is popular in the United Kingdom and much more well known in other European countries and other parts of the world.

Alison Krauss and Union Station

~
Alison Krauss
...performing with Country Music Stars

Where have all the flowers gone?

by Mary Travers & Kingston Trio

Olive Oyl - Popeye's Main Squeeze

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:58:42 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theater. Thimble Theater later became Popeye after the sailor character became the most popular member of the comic strip's cast. Olive Oyl was a character in the strip for 10 years before the first appearance of Popeye in 1929.

Fictional character biography
In the strip as written by Segar, Olive was something of a coy flapper whose extremely thin build lent itself well to the fashions of the time; her long black hair was usually rolled in a neat bun, like her mother's. She was the more or less fiancée of Ham Gravy, a "lounge lizard" or slacker type who did as little work as possible and was always borrowing money. His attraction to other women -- particularly if they were rich -- naturally incensed Olive, and she once succumbed to a fit of "lunaphobia" -- a kind of angry madness -- over one of his amours. (When she recovered, she continued to pretend to have the disorder to win him back.) She was not immune to flattery from other men, but remained committed to Ham until Popeye's appearance. The two did not fall in love at once (her first words to him were "Aw, shut up, you bilge rat!"), but instead fought bitterly (and hilariously) for weeks, before realizing they cared for one another.
The version of Olive Oyl most widely familiar is the version from the theatrical animated cartoons, first created by Fleischer Studios, and then produced by Famous Studios. Unlike most modern damsels in distress, Olive Oyl has short hair, is tall, skinny, with enormous feet and not particularly attractive. In the films and later television cartoons, Olive Oyl is Popeye's girlfriend. She constantly gets kidnapped by Bluto (aka Brutus), who is Popeye's rival for her affections but Popeye always rescues her.
Though Popeye and Bluto both were infatuated with her, Olive wasn't exactly a particularly attractive individual at times, both physically and personality-wise, as she would be extremely fickle depending on who could woo her the best, who had the flashier possessions, and was prone to get angry over the tiniest things. Yet she always ended up with Popeye at the end, showing that his good nature would always get the ladies' attention. In the cartoons, she helps to take care of a baby named Little Swee'Pea; it is not made clear if Swee'Pea is Olive Oyl's own son or an adopted foundling. In the comics, Swee'Pea is a foundling under Popeye's care. Later sources (mostly in the cartoon series) say that Swee'Pea is Olive Oyl's cousin that she has to take care of from time to time.

History
The voice for Olive Oyl was created by character actress Mae Questel (who also voiced Betty Boop and other characters); Questel styled Olive Oyl's voice after that of actress ZaSu Pitts; though the first two Popeye cartoons (Popeye The Sailor and I Yam What I Yam) featured Bonnie Poe as the voice of Olive Oyl. In 1938, Margie Hines took over as the voice of Olive Oyl, starting with the cartoon Bulldozing The Bull. Questel returned as the voice of Olive Oyl in 1944, starting with the cartoon The Anvil Courus Girl; she would remain so until the King Features Syndicate made-for-TV Popeye shorts in 1960.
Olive Oyl is named after olive oil, used commonly in cooking or in salads. Segar's newspaper strips also featured a number of her relatives named after other oils, including her brother Castor Oyl, their mother Nana Oyl (after "banana oil", a mild slang phrase of the time used in the same way as "horsefeathers", i.e. "nonsense"), their father, Cole Oyl, and more recently, Olive's niece, Diesel Oyl (a pun on diesel oil) appears in the cartoons.
Marilyn Schreffler replaced Mae Questel as Olive Oyl when Hanna-Barbera retained rights to produce new made-for-TV Popeye cartoons for The All-New Popeye Hour in 1978.
In the 1980 film version, Olive is played by Shelley Duvall. One reviewer called her performance "eerily perfect".
In July 2007, a live-animation TV commercial starring Olive Oyl aired as part of an advertising campaign for Campbell Soup Company’s Prego Italian sauces. Olive’s ad is one in a series of five different ads for Prego, which features Spice Girl Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Olympic Silver Medalist Lea Ann Parsley, an average American couple named Rosemary and Herb and an Englishman named Basil. In each 15-second commercial, the "flavorful" characters wonder aloud about what spice to add to their simmering pot of sauce.
In 2006, King Features produced both a radio spot and industrial for the United States Power Squadron featuring Robyn Gryphe as Olive and Allen Enlow as Popeye.

Categories:

Fat

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:51:25 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and largely insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are generally triesters of glycerol and fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at normal room temperature, depending on their structure and composition. Although the words "oils", "fats" and "lipids" are all used to refer to fats, "oils" is usually used to refer to fats that are liquids at normal room temperature, while "fats" is usually used to refer to fats that are solids at normal room temperature. "Lipids" is used to refer to both liquid and solid fats. The word "oil" is used for any substance that does not mix with water and has a greasy feel, such as petroleum (or crude oil) and heating oil, regardless of its chemical structure.
Fats form a category of lipid, distinguished from other lipids by their chemical structure and physical properties. This category of molecules is important for many forms of life, serving both structural and metabolic functions. They are an important part of the diet of most heterotrophs (including humans). Fats or lipids are broken down in the body by enzymes called lipase produced in the pancreas.
Examples of edible animal fats are lard (pig fat), butter, ghee, marine fish oils. They are obtained from fats in the milk, meat and under the skin of the animal. Examples of edible plant fats are peanut, soya bean, sunflower, sesame, coconut, olive and vegetable oils. Margarine and vegetable shortening, which can be which derived from the above oils, are used mainly for baking. These examples of fats can be categorized into saturated fats and unsaturated fats.

A triglyceride molecule

Contents

1 Chemical structure

2 Importance for living organisms

3 Adipose tissue

4 See also

5 References

6 External links

Chemical structure
There are many different kinds of fats, but each is a variation on the same chemical structure. All fats consist of fatty acids (chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms, with a carboxylic acid group at one end) bonded to a backbone structure, often glycerol (a "backbone" of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen). Chemically, this is a triester of glycerol, an ester being the molecule formed from the reaction of the carboxylic acid and an organic alcohol. As a simple visual illustration, if the kinks and angles of these chains were straightened out, the molecule would have the shape of a capital letter E. The fatty acids would each be a horizontal line; the glycerol "backbone" would be the vertical line that joins the horizontal lines. Fats therefore have "ester" bonds.
The properties of any specific fat molecule depend on the particular fatty acids that constitute it. Different fatty acids are comprised of different numbers of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The carbon atoms, each bonded to two neighboring carbon atoms, form a zigzagging chain; the more carbon atoms there are in any fatty acid, the longer its chain will be. Fatty acids with long chains are more susceptible to intermolecular forces of attraction (in this case, van der Waals forces), raising its melting point. Long chains also yield more energy per molecule when metabolized.
A fat's constituent fatty acids may also differ in the number of hydrogen atoms that are bonded to the chain of carbon atoms. Each carbon atom is typically bonded to two hydrogen atoms. When a fatty acid has this typical arrangement, it is called "saturated", because the carbon atoms are saturated with hydrogen; meaning they are bonded to as many hydrogens as possible. In other fats, a carbon atom may instead bond to only one other hydrogen atom, and have a double bond to a neighboring carbon atom. This results in an "unsaturated" fatty acid. More specifically, it would be a "monounsaturated" fatty acid, whereas, a "polyunsaturated" fatty acid would be a fatty acid with more than one double bond. Saturated and unsaturated fats differ in their energy content and melting point. Since an unsaturated fat contains fewer carbon-hydrogen bonds than a saturated fat with the same number of carbon atoms, unsaturated fats will yield slightly less energy during metabolism than saturated fats with the same number of carbon atoms. Saturated fats can stack themselves in a closely packed arrangement, so they can freeze easily and are typically solid at room temperature. But the rigid double bond in an unsaturated fat fundamentally changes the chemistry of the fat. There are two ways the double bond may be arranged: the isomer with both parts of the chain on the same side of the double bond (the cis-isomer), or the isomer with the parts of the chain on opposite sides of the double bond (the trans-isomer). Most trans-isomer fats (commonly called trans fats) are commercially produced rather than naturally occurring. The cis-isomer introduces a kink into the molecule that prevents the fats from stacking efficiently as in the case of fats with saturated chains. This decreases intermolecular forces between the fat molecules, making it more difficult for unsaturated cis-fats to freeze; they are typically liquid at room temperature. Trans fats may still stack like saturated fats, and are not as susceptible to metabolization as other fats. Trans fats and saturated fats significantly increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

Importance for living organisms
Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, meaning they can only be digested, absorbed, and transported in conjunction with fats. Fats are sources of essential fatty acids, an important dietary requirement.
Fats play a vital role in maintaining healthy skin and hair, insulating body organs against shock, maintaining body temperature, and promoting healthy cell function. They also serve as energy stores for the body. Fats are broken down in the body to release glycerol and free fatty acids. The glycerol can be converted to glucose by the liver and thus used as a source of energy.
The fat content of a food can be analyzed by extraction. The exact method varies on what type of fat to be analyzed - for example, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are tested quite differently.
Fat also serves as a useful buffer towards a host of diseases. When a particular substance, whether chemical or biotic -- reaches unsafe levels in the bloodstream, the body can effectively dilute -- or at least maintain equilibrium of -- the offending substances by storing it in new fat tissue. This helps to protect vital organs, until such time as the offending substances can be metabolized and/or removed from the body by such means as excretion, urination, accidental or intentional bloodletting, sebum excretion, and hair growth.
While it is nearly impossible to remove fat completely from the diet, it would be wrong to do so. Some fatty acids are essential nutrients, meaning that they can't be produced in the body from other compounds and need to be consumed in small amounts. All other fats required by the body are non-essential and can be produced in the body from other compounds.

The obese mouse on the left has large stores of adipose tissue. For comparison, a mouse with a normal amount of adipose tissue is shown on the right.

Adipose tissue

Main article: Adipose tissue

Adipose, or fatty tissue is the human body's means of storing metabolic energy over extended periods of time. Depending on current physiological conditions, adipocytes store fat derived from the diet and liver metabolism or degrades stored fat to supply fatty acids and glycerol to the circulation. These metabolic activities are regulated by several hormones (i.e., insulin, glucagon and epinephrine). The location of the tissue determines its metabolic profile: "Visceral fat" is located within the abdominal wall (i.e., beneath the wall of abdominal muscle) whereas "subcutaneous fat" is located beneath the skin (and includes fat that is located in the abdominal area beneath the skin but above the abdominal muscle wall). It was briefly thought that visceral fat produced a hormone involved in insulin resistance, but this has been disproved by clinical tests (see, resistin, a hormone, ultimately misnamed, which is produced by adipose tissue and does cause insulin resistance in mice but not in humans).

See also

Interesting Link
Euro Fed Lipid – The European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids

Olive Oil

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:40:58 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sunflowerseed oil

Olive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive (Olea europaea), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps. Olive oil is considered a healthy oil because of its high content of monounsaturated fat (mainly oleic acid) and polyphenols.

Olive tree in Portugal

Olive oil production workshop at ancient Klazomenai,Turkey

Ancient oil press
Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, Bodrum, Turkey

Olive oil extraction

The most traditional way of making olive oil is by grinding olives. First the olives are ground into an olive paste using large millstones. The olive paste generally stays under the stones for 30–40 minutes. After grinding, the olive paste is spread on fibre disks, which are stacked on top of each other, then placed into the press. Pressure is then applied onto the disk to further separate the oil from the paste.

Relation to human health
There is evidence from epidemiological studies to suggest that a higher proportion of monounsaturated fats in the diet is linked with a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease. This is significant because olive oil is considerably rich in monounsaturated fats, most notably oleic acid.
In the United States, producers of olive oil may place the following health claim on product labels:Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about two tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil. To achieve this possible benefit, olive oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day. This decision was announced November 1, 2004, by the Food and Drug Administration after application was made to the FDA by producers. Similar labels are permitted for foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as walnuts.
There is a large body of clinical data to show that consumption of olive oil can provide heart health benefits such as favourable effects on cholesterol regulation and LDL cholesterol oxidation, and that it exerts antiinflamatory, antithrombotic, antihypertensive as well as vasodilatory effects both in animals and in humans.
Some clinical evidence, however, suggests that it is olive oil's phenolic content, rather than its fatty acid profile, that is responsible for at least some of its cardioprotective benefits. For example, a clinical trial published in 2005 compared the effects of different types of olive oil on arterial elasticity. Test subjects were given a serving of 60 grams of white bread and 40 milliliters of olive oil each morning for two consecutive days. The study was conducted in two stages. During the first stage, the subjects received polyphenol-rich oil (extra virgin oil contains the highest amount of polyphenol antioxidants). During the second phase, they received oil with only one fifth the phenolic content. The elasticity of the arterial walls of each subject was measured using a pressure sleeve and a Doppler laser. It was discovered that after the subjects had consumed olive oil high in polyphenol antioxidants, they exhibited increased arterial elasticity, while after the consumption of olive oil containing fewer polyphenols, they displayed no significant change in arterial elasticity. It is theorized that, in the long term, increased elasticity of arterial walls reduces vascular stress and consequentially the risk of two common causes of death—heart attacks and stroke. This could, at least in part, explain the lower incidence of both diseases in regions where olive oil and olives are consumed on a daily basis.
In addition to the internal health benefits of olive oil, topical application is quite popular with fans of natural health remedies. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the preferred grade for moisturizing the skin, especially when used in the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM). OCM is a method of cleansing and moisturizing the face with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, castor oil (or another suitable carrier oil) and a select blend of essential oils.
Jeanne Calment, who holds the record for the longest confirmed lifespan, reportedly attributed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance (for her age) to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed into her skin.

History
Besides food, olive oil has been used for religious rituals, medicines, as a fuel in oil lamps, soap-making, and skin care application. The importance and antiquity of olive oil can be seen in the fact that the English word oil derives from c. 1175, olive oil, from Anglo-Fr. and O.N.Fr. olie, from O.Fr. oile (12c., Mod.Fr. huile), from L. oleum "oil, olive oil" (cf. It. olio), from Gk. elaion "olive tree",[13] which may have been borrowed through trade networks from the Semitic Phoenician use of el'yon meaning "superior", probably in recognized comparison to other vegetable or animal fats available at the time.
The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean basin; wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoples as early as the 8th millennium BC[14]. A widespread view exists that the first cultivation of the olive tree took place on the island of Crete. The earliest surviving olive oil amphorae date to 3500 BC (Early Minoan times), though the production of olive is assumed to have started before 4000 BC[15]. An alternative view retains that olives were turned into oil by 4500 BC by canaanites in present-day Israel.
It is not clear when and where the olive tree was first domesticated: in Asia Minor in the 6th millennium[17]; along the Levantine coast stretching from the Sinai Peninsula to modern Turkey in the 4th millennium [18]; or somewhere in the Mesopotamian Fertile Crescent in the 3rd millennium .[19] Recent genetic studies suggest that species used by modern cultivators descend from multiple wild populations, but a detailed history of domestication is not yet understood.[20].
Many ancient presses still exist in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and some dating to the Roman period are still in use today.

Eastern Mediterranean
There is evidence of oil pressing having taken place from 6000 BC in Central Anatolia.
Over 5,000 years ago oil was being extracted from olives in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the centuries that followed, olive presses became a common sight from the Atlantic shore of North Africa to Persia and from the Po Valley to the settlements along the Nile.
Olive trees and oil production in the Eastern Mediterranean can be traced to archives of the ancient city-state Ebla(2600–2240 BC), which were located on the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo., where some dozen documents, dated 2400 BC, describe lands in the property of the king and the queen. These belonged to a library of clay tablets perfectly preserved by having been baked in the fire that destroyed the palace. A later source is the frequent mentions of oil in Tanakh.
Sinuhe [3], the Egyptian exile who lived in northern Canaan about 1960 BC, wrote of abundant olive trees. Actual remains of olive oil have been found in jugs over 4,000 years old in a tomb on the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea. Before 2000 BC the Dynastic Egyptians imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan and was one of the important items of commerce and wealth.
Until 1500 BC, the eastern coastal areas of the Mediterranean were most heavily cultivated. Olive tree growing reached Iberia and Etruscan cities well before the 8th century BC through Phoenician and Carthage trade, then spread into Southern Gaul by the Celtic tribes during the 7th century BC. Olive trees were certainly cultivated by the Late Minoan period (1500 BC) in Crete, and perhaps as early as the Early Minoan period.[21] The cultivation of the olive tree in Crete became particularly intense in the post-palatial period and played an important role in the island's economy. The Minoans used olive oil in religious ceremonies. The oil became a principal product of the Minoan civilization, where it is thought to have represented wealth. The Minoans put the pulp into settling tanks and, when the oil had risen to the top, drained the water from the bottom.[citation needed].
The first recorded oil extraction is known from the Hebrew Bible and took place during the Exodus from Egypt. During this time, the oil was derived through hand-squeezing the berries and stored in special containers under guard of the priests. A commercial mill for non-sacramental use of oil was in use in the tribal Confederation and later the Kingdom of Israel c. 1000 BC. Over 100 olive presses have been found in Tel Mique Akron, where the Biblical Philistines also produced oil. These presses are estimated to have had output of between 1,000 and 3,000 tons of olive oil per season.
Olive trees were planted in the entire Mediterranean basin during evolution of the Roman state and empire. According to the historian Pliny, Italy had "excellent olive oil at reasonable prices" by the first century AD, "the best in the Mediterranean," he maintained, a claim probably disputed by many ancient olive growers. Olive oil was thus very common in Hellene and Latin cuisine. According to legend, the city of Athens obtained its name because Athenians considered olive oil essential, preferring the offering of the goddess Athena (an olive tree) over the offering of Poseidon (a spring of salt water gushing out of a cliff).
The Spartans were the Hellenes who used oil to rub themselves while exercising in the gymnasia. The practice served to eroticise and highlight the beauty of the male body. From its beginnings early in the seventh century BC, the decorative use of olive oil quickly spread to all of Hellenic city states, together with naked appearance of athletes, and lasted close to a thousand years despite its great expense.

Olive oil in ancient and contemporary religious use
In Jewish observance, olive oil is the only fuel allowed to be used in the seven-branched Menorah (not a candelabrum since the use of candles was not allowed) in the Mishkan service during the Exodus of the tribes of Israel from Egypt, and later in the permanent Temple in Jerusalem. It was obtained by using only the first drop from a squeezed olive and was consecrated for use only in the Temple by the priests, which is where the expression pure olive oil originates from, stored in special containers. A copy of the Menorah is now used during the holiday of Hanukkah that celebrates the miracle of the last of such containers being found during the re-dedication of the Temple (163 B.C.E.), when its contents lasted for far longer then they were expected to, allowing more time for more oil to be made. Although candles can be used to light the hanukkiah, oil containers are the preferred method of lighting to imitate the original Menorah. Another use of oil in Jewish religion is for anointing the kings of the Kingdom of Israel, originating from King David. Tzidkiyahu was the last anointed King of Israel. One unusual use of olive oil in the Talmud is for bad breath, by creating a water-oil-salt mouthwash.
Used as a medicinal agent in ancient times and as a cleanser for athletes (athletes in the ancient world were slathered in olive oil, then scraped to remove dirt), it also has religious symbolism related to healing and strength and to "consecration"—God's setting a person or place apart for special work. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches use olive oil for the Oil of Catechumens (used to bless and strengthen those preparing for Baptism) and Oil of the Sick (used to confer the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick), and olive oil mixed with a perfuming agent like balsam is consecrated by bishops as Sacred Chrism, which is used to confer the sacrament of Confirmation (as a symbol of the strengthening of the Holy Spirit), in the rites of Baptism and the ordination of priests and bishops, in the consecration of altars and churches, and, traditionally, in the anointing of monarchs at their coronation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and a number of other religions use olive oil when they need to consecrate an oil for anointings.
To this day, Eastern Orthodox Christians use oil lamps in their churches and home prayer corners. To make a vigil lamp, a votive glass with a half-inch of water on the bottom is filled the rest of the way with olive oil. The votive glass is placed in a metal holder; different kinds of metal holders may hang from a bracket on the wall, or one that sits on a table. A cork float with a wick is placed in the glass and floats on top of the oil. The wick is then lit. When it comes time to douse the flame, the float can be carefully pressed downward into the oil, and the oil douses the flame.
In Islam, olive oil is mentioned in the Quranic verse: "God is the light of heavens and earth. An example of His light is like a lantern inside which there is a tourch, the tourch is in a glass bulb, the glass bulb is like a bright planet lit by a blessed olive tree, neither Eastern nor Western, its oil almost glows, even without fire touching it, light upon light." Olives are also mentioned in the Qur’an as a sacred plant "By the fig and the olive, and the Mount of Sinai, and this secure city."[4] Olive oil is also reported to have been recommended by Muhammad in the following terms: "Consume olive oil and anoint it upon your bodies since it is of the blessed tree." He also stated that it cures seventy diseases.

Constituents
Olive oil is composed mainly of oleic acid and palmitic acid and other fatty acids, along with traces of squalene (up to 0.7%) and sterols (about 0.2% phytosterol and tocosterols).
Olive oil contains a group of related natural products with potent antioxidant properties which give extra-virgin unprocessed olive oil its bitter and pungent taste and which are esters of tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, including oleocanthal and oleuropein.

Medicinal use

Olive oil is unlikely to cause allergic reactions, and as such are used in preparations for lipophilic drug ingredients. It does have demulcent properties, and mild laxative properties, acting as a stool softener. It is also used at room temperature as an ear wax softener.
Oleocanthal from olive oil is a non-selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase (COX) similar to classical NSAIDs like ibuprofen. It has been suggested that long-term consumption of small quantities of this compound from olive oil may be responsible in part for the low incidence of heart disease associated with a Mediterranean diet.

The Manufacture of Oil, drawn and engraved by J. Amman in the Sixteenth Century.

Vegetable Oils

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:29:07 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sunflowerseed oil

Vegetable fats and oils are substances derived from plants that are composed of triglycerides. Nominally, oils are liquid at room temperature, and fats are solid; a dense brittle fat is called a wax. Although many different parts of plants may yield oil, [1] in actual commercial practice oil is extracted primarily from the seeds of oilseed plants.
The temperature-based distinction between oils and fats is imprecise, since definitions of room temperature vary, and typically any one substance has a melting range instead of a single melting point.
Triglyceride vegetable fats and oils include not only edible, but also inedible vegetable fats and oils such as processed linseed oil, tung oil, and castor oil, used in lubricants, paints, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial purposes. Although thought of as esters of glycerin and a varying blend of fatty acids, in fact these oils contain free fatty acids and diglycerides as well.

History of edible vegetable oils in North America
While olive oil and other pressed oils have been around for millennia, Procter & Gamble researchers were innovators when they started selling cottonseed oil as a creamed shortening, in 1911. Ginning mills were happy to have someone haul away the cotton seeds. Procter & Gamble researchers learned how to extract the oil, refine it, partially hydrogenate it (causing it to be solid at room temperature and thus mimic natural lard), and can it under nitrogen gas. Compared to the rendered lard Procter & Gamble was already selling to consumers, Crisco was cheaper, easier to stir into a recipe, and could be stored at room temperature for two years without turning rancid. (Procter & Gamble sold their fats and oils brands - Jif and Crisco - to The J.M. Smucker Co. in 2002.)
Soybeans were an exciting new crop from China in the 1930s. Soy was protein-rich, and the light tasteless oil was extremely high in polyunsaturates. Henry Ford established a soybean research laboratory, developed soybean plastics and a soy-based synthetic wool, and built a car almost entirely out of soybeans. Roger Drackett had a successful new product with Windex, but he invested heavily in soybean research, seeing it as a smart investment. By the 1950s and 1960s, soybean oil had became the most popular vegetable oil in the US.
In the mid-1970s, Canadian researchers developed a low-erucic rapeseed cultivar. Because the word "rape" was not considered optimal for marketing, they coined the name "canola" (from "Canada Oil"). The FDA approved use of the canola name in January 1985, and U.S. farmers started planting large areas that spring. Canola oil is lower in saturated fats, and higher in mono-unsaturates and is a better source of omega-3 fats than other popular oils. Canola is very thin (unlike corn oil) and flavorless (unlike olive oil) so it largely succeeds by displacing soy oil, just as soy oil largely succeeded by displacing cottonseed oil.

Waste oil
As of 2000, the United States were producing in excess of 11 billion liters of waste vegetable oil annually, mainly from industrial deep fryers in potato processing plants, snack food factories and fast food restaurants.
Waste vegetable oil, sold as the commodity yellow grease has a market value of approximately $1.09 per US gallon ($0.29/l or $335 per metric tonne), expected to rise to $1.21 by 2013, enough to make collection economically viable.
Currently, the largest uses of waste vegetable oil in the U.S. are for animal feed, pet food, and cosmetics. Since 2002, an increasing number of European Union countries have prohibited the inclusion of waste vegetable oil from catering in animal feed. Waste cooking oils from food manufacturing, however, as well as fresh or unused cooking oil, continues to be used in animal feed.

See also

External links

Hydro Safe Biodegradable Oil. Hydrosafe.
Edible Oils. Hyfoma. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
Oil yields and characteristics. Journey to forever. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
Vegetable oils as fuel forum. UK Goat Industries. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
Oil Crops. National Non Food Crops Centre. Retrieved on 2006-11-05. Information on the use of vegetable oils in fuel, lubricants, polymers, solvents and surfactants.

Essential Oil

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:25:17 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An essential oil is any concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants, which are called aromatic herbs or aromatic plants. They are also known as volatile or ethereal oils, or simply as the "oil of" the plant material from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove. The term essential indicates that the oil carries distinctive scent (essence) of the plant, not that it is an especially important or fundamental substance. Essential oils do not as a group need to have any specific chemical properties in common, beyond conveying characteristic fragrances. They are not to be confused with essential fatty acids.
Essential oils are generally extracted by distillation. Other processes include expression, or solvent extraction. They are used in perfumes and cosmetics, for flavoring food and drink, and for scenting incense and household cleaning products.
Various essential oils have been used medicinally at different periods in history. Medical applications proposed by those who sell medicinal oils vary from skin treatments to remedies for cancer, and are often based on historical use of these oils for these purposes. Such claims are now subject to regulation in most countries, and have grown correspondingly more vague, to stay within these regulations.
Interest in essential oils has revived in recent decades, with the popularity of aromatherapy, a branch of alternative medicine which claims that the specific aromas carried by essential oils have curative effects. Oils are volatilized or diluted in a carrier oil and used in massage, or burned as incense, for example.

Rose-picking in the Rose Valley near the town of Kazanlak in Bulgaria, 1870ies, engraving by Austro-Hungarian traveller Felix Philipp Kanitz

Essential oil use in aromatherapy

Main article: Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine, in which healing effects are ascribed to the aromatic compounds in essential oils and other plant extracts. Many common essential oils have medicinal properties that have been applied in folk medicine since ancient times and are still widely used today. For example, many essential oils have antiseptic properties, though some are stronger than others. In addition, many are claimed to have an uplifting effect on the mind, though different essential oils have different properties. The claims are supported in some studies and unconfirmed in others.

Raw Materials

Main article: List of essential oils

Essential oils are derived from various sections of plants. Some, like orange oil, are derived from any of several sections of the plant.

Rose oil

Main article: Rose oil

The most well-known essential oil is probably rose oil, produced from the petals of Rosa damascena and Rosa centifolia. Steam-distilled rose oil is known as "rose otto" while the solvent extracted product is known as "rose absolute".

See also

Oil

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:14:48 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An oil is any substance that is in a viscous liquid state ("oily") at ambient temperatures or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic (immiscible with water, literally "water fearing") and lipophilic (miscible with other oils, literally "fat loving"). This general definition includes compound classes with otherwise unrelated chemical structures, properties, and uses, including vegetable oils, petrochemical oils, and volatile essential oils. Oil is a nonpolar substance.

Catskill Mountain House, The Four Elements, 1843

Applications

Food oils
Several edible vegetable and animal oils, and also fats, are used for various purposes in cooking and food preparation. In particular, many foods are fried in oil much hotter than boiling water. Oils are also used for flavouring and for modifying the texture of foods e.g Stir Fry.
Health advantages are claimed for a number of specific oils such as omega 3 oils (fish oil, flaxseed oil, etc) and evening primrose oil.
Trans fats, often produced by hydrogenating vegetable oils, are known to be harmful to health.

Oil as fuel
Most oils burn in air generating heat which can be used directly or converted into other forms of energy in the usual ways. Oils are used as fuels for heating, lighting (e.g. kerosene lamp), powering combustion engines, and other purposes. Oils used for this purpose nowadays are usually derived from petroleum (fuel oil, diesel oil, petrol (gasoline), etc), though biological oils such as biodiesel are also used.

Environmental concerns
Petroleum is a nonrenewable resource, and burning it produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Biological oils are renewable and do not produce net carbon dioxide, but require land to grow. Both also produce pollutants such as NOx.

Lubrication
Due to their non-polarity, oils do not easily adhere to other substances. This makes them useful as lubricants for various engineering purposes. Mineral oils are more suitable than biological oils, which degrade rapidly in most environmental conditions.

Manufacture of petrochemicals
Crude oil can be processed into plastics and other substances. See Petrochemistry.

Heat transport
Many oils have higher boiling points than water and are electrical insulators, making them useful for liquid cooling systems, especially where electricity is used.

Painting
Color pigments can be easily suspended in oil, making it suitable as supporting medium for paints. The slow drying process and miscibility of oil facilitates a realistic style. This method has been used since the 15th century.

Religion
Oils have been used throughout history as a fragrant or religious medium. Oil is often seen as a spiritually purifying agent, for example Chrism.

Massage
Oil allows massage strokes to glide along the skin. The oil is selected based on the viscosity for the type of massage being conducted. A relatively high-viscosity oil such as almond oil may be used for a luxuriant, slow style, while a lighter oil such as grape seed oil may be selected for a more athletic or rapid approach. Scent may be added.

See also

Subsea
Emulsifier, allow oils and water to mix
Wax, compounds with oil-like properties that are solid at common temperature
Oil pollution in the ocean.

Edible fats and oils

Fats
•
Butter • Cocoa butter • Ghee • Lard • Margarine • Salo • Schmaltz • Shea butter
• Suet
• Tallow
• Vegetable shortening

Oils
• Almond oil
• Argan oil
• Canola oil
• Coconut oil
• Corn oil
• Cottonseed oil
• Grape seed oil
• Olive oil
• Palm oil
• Peanut oil
• Pumpkin seed oil
• Rapeseed oil
• Safflower oil
• Sesame oil
• Soybean oil
• Sunflower oil
• Walnut oil

Petroleum, Energy and Sustainable Development

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:08:29 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Petroleum (Latin Petroleum derived from Greek πέτρα (Latin petra) - rock + έλαιον (Latin oleum) - oil) or crude oil is a naturally occurring liquid found in formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons (mostly alkanes) of various lengths. The approximate length range is C5H12 to C18H38. Any shorter hydrocarbons are considered natural gas or natural gas liquids, while long-chain hydrocarbons are more viscous, and the longest chains are paraffin wax. In its naturally occurring form, it may contain other nonmetallic elements such as sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish or even greenish) but varies greatly in appearance, depending on its composition. Crude oil may also be found in semi-solid form mixed with sand, as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where it may be referred to as crude bitumen.
Petroleum is used mostly, by volume, for producing fuel oil and gasoline (petrol), both important "primary energy" sources.
84% by volume of the hydrocarbons present in petroleum is converted into energy-rich fuels (petroleum-based fuels), including gasoline, diesel, jet, heating, and other fuel oils, and liquefied petroleum gas.
Due to its high energy density, easy transportability and relative abundance, it has become the world's most important source of energy since the mid-1950s. Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics; the 16% not used for energy production is converted into these other materials.
Petroleum is found in porous rock formations in the upper strata of some areas of the Earth's crust. There is also petroleum in oil sands (tar sands). Known reserves of petroleum are typically estimated at around 1.2 trillion barrels without oil sands, or 3.74 trillion barrels with oil sands. However, oil production from oil sands is currently severely limited. Consumption is currently around 84 million barrels per day, or 3.6 trillion liters per year. Because of reservoir engineering difficulties, recoverable oil reserves are significantly less than total oil-in-place. At current consumption levels, and assuming that oil will be consumed only from reservoirs, known reserves would be gone around 2039, potentially leading to a global energy crisis. However, this ignores any new discoveries, rapidly increasing consumption in China & India, using oil sands, using synthetic petroleum, and other factors which may extend or reduce this estimate.

Contents

1 Formation

2 Classification

3 Means of production

4 History

5 Uses

6 Environmental effects

7 Alternatives to petroleum

7.1 Alternatives to petroleum-based vehicle fuels

8 The future of petroleum production

8.1 Hubbert peak theory

9 Pricing

10 International market

11 Writers covering the petroleum industry

12 See also

13 References

14 External links

Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Lubbock, Texas

Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil.

Octane, a hydrocarbon found in petroleum, lines are single bonds, black spheres are carbon, white spheres are hydrogen

Oil field in California, 1938.

Global fossil carbon emissions, an indicator of consumption, for 1800-2000. Total is black. Oil is in blue

Diesel fuel spill on a road

Volunteers cleaning up the aftermath of the Prestige oil spill

Oil consumption per capita (darker colors represent more consumption).

External links

OTS Heavy Oil Science Centre (includes overview of all phases of the oil industry)
US Energy Information Administration - Part of the informative website of the US Government's Energy Information Administration.
[3] - Environmental effects of oil extraction
Black Gold Beneath the Bayous: Oil Formation - online textbook giving a non-technical of the biogenic theory of the origin of petroleum
Interactive Oil Well Map of Mississippi Mississippi Oil Journal
Oil, petroleum: Development, production, consumption and reserves
Drilling sites in Western South Dakota Drilling sites in South Dakota
Oil and Gas Industry Learning Center Information on the processes, products and people in the oil and gas industry

Analysis

How derivatives drive oil prices up, despite ample supply in physical oil market (9-Jun-06)
The real problems with $50 oil, An analysis by Henry C.K. Liu in Asia Times Online, details the economic impact of high oil prices.
Oil in troubled waters - Economist article on investor approaches to oil markets, supply, and future

Articles

Discovery of oil in South East Asia - History of an oil town.
The End of the Age of Oil - article adapted from a talk by Caltech vice provost and professor of physics David Goodstein
The Politics of Oil - A report on the oil industry's influence of lawmakers and public policy by the Center for Public Integrity.
BBC: Stability fears rise as oil reliance grows
House Votes to Reverse Ban on Offshore Drilling
Lee Raymond of Exxon Mobile believes oil supplies will rise
Known Saudi Arabian Oil Reserves Tripled
Pemex's oil estimates double: Mexican Oil company's estimate of reserves doubled.
Petroleum in a Nutshell - About.com:Geology
Dismissal of the Claims of a Biological Connection for Natural Petroleum [20]
An introduction to the modern petroleum science, and to the Russian-Ukrainian theory of deep, abiotic petroleum origins.
Abiogenic Gas Debate
Anything Into Oil: Technological savvy could turn 600 million tons of turkey guts and other waste into 4 billion barrels of light Texas crude each year [21]
MSN Encarta article on petroleum
Where Does My Gasoline Come From ? Energy Information Administration (DoE).
One Case of an Oil and Gas Field being 'Renewed'

Data

Department of Energy EIA - World supply and consumption
Department of Energy EIA - Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports to USA
US petroleum prices - from US Department of Energy EIA
European Brent prices since 1987
Price data (deflated and non-deflated) since 1861
International Fuel Prices 2007 with diesel and gasoline prices of more than 170 countries
BP Statistical Review of World Energy
World oil consumption World oil consumption

Industry

American Petroleum Institute - the trade association of the US oil industry.
Petroleum directory Industry news service
Oil prices and industry news
Oil Marketer - oil news and market information
Global Oil Watch - Real-time oil and gas news and resources
Petroleum Club Online Community for the Petroleum Industry
Pennwell Petroluem Group Industry information on petroleum/oil and gas

Opinion

Andy Xie, MorganStanley economist for Asia, thinks oil is financial bubble (16-Jun-2005)
The Oil Drum - A Community Discussion about Peak Oil and the Oil Industry.
Oil Rocks
PetroTalk Portal for petro related Articles, Discussion, Links and more

Pricing

Nymex - oil trading center of the US
Explanation of pricing mechanism in oil markets
Bloomberg Energy Prices - current prices on world mercantile exchanges

Peak Oil

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:42:20 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peak oil depletion scenarios graph which depicts cumulative published depletion studies by ASPO and other depletion analysts.

As first expressed in Hubbert peak theory, peak oil is the point or timeframe at which the maximum global petroleum production rate is reached. After this timeframe, the rate of production will enter terminal decline. According to the Hubbert model, the production rate will follow a roughly symmetrical bell-shaped curve. This does not mean oil will suddenly "run out", but the supply of cheap conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically.
Some observers such as Kenneth S. Deffeyes and Matthew Simmons believe that because of the high dependence of most modern industrial transport, agricultural and industrial systems on inexpensive oil, the post-peak production decline and possible severe increases in the price of oil will have negative implications for the global economy. Predictions as to what exactly these negative effects will be vary greatly. More optimistic outlooks, delaying the peak of production to the 2020s or 2030s and assuming major investments in alternatives occur before the crisis, show the price at first escalates and then retreats as other types of fuel sources are used as transport fuels and fuel substitution in general occurs. More pessimistic predictions which operate on the thesis that the peak will occur shortly or has already occurred predict a global depression and even the collapse of industrial global civilization as the various feedback mechanisms of the global market cause a disastrous chain reaction. The shortfall will cause demand destruction which may be mitigated with planned conservation measures and using alternatives if implemented 20 years before the peak.[1]. If political and economic change only occurs in reaction to high prices and shortages, then the degree of economic damage to importing countries will largely depend on how rapidly oil imports decline post-peak. The Export Land Model suggests that the amount of oil available internationally will drop much more quickly than production in exporting countries.

Contents

See also

Category:Peak oil

Prediction

Economics

Gross domestic product per barrel
Kuznets curve
Low-carbon economy
Oil crises
Oil Storm, a docudrama about a future oil-shortage crisis.
Oil imperialism theories
OPEC

Technology

Others

Energy security
Limits to Growth
Proposed Oil phase-out in Sweden
Overpopulation
Overconsumption
Green Revolution
Special Period - Events in Cuba in the 1990s following the withdrawal of cheap Soviet oil exports.
Causes of hypothetical future disasters

Sustainable Development

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:36:14 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Credit: United States Federal Government

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem located in a body of water.

...Archive/Nominations

Read more...

Sustainable development has been defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-quoted definition of sustainable development as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
The field of sustainable development can be conceptually divided into four general dimensions: social, economic, environmental and institutional. The first three dimensions address key principles of sustainability, while the final dimension addresses key institutional policy and capacity issues.

More about Sustainable development and Sustainability...

Show new selections

Selected article

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or disposal of waste materials, usually ones produced by human activity, in an effort to reduce their effect on human health or local aesthetics or amenity. A subfocus in recent decades has been to reduce waste materials' effect on the natural world and the environment and to recover resources from them. Waste management can involve solid, liquid or gaseous substances with different methods and fields of expertise for each. Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations, for urban and rural areas, and for residential, industrial, and commercial producers. Waste management for non-hazardous residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas is usually the responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator.
The waste hierarchy refers to the "3 Rs" reduce, reuse and recycle, which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability. It has remained the cornerstone of most waste minimisation strategies.

...Archive/Nominations

Read more...

Selected biography
Gro Harlem Brundtland (born April 20, 1939) is a Norwegian politician, diplomat, and physician, and an international leader in sustainable development and public health. She is a former Prime Minister of Norway, and has served as the Director General of the World Health Organization. She now serves as an Environmental Envoy of the United Nations.
Brundtland was Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), widely referred to as the Brundtland Commission, developing the broad political concept of sustainable development and published its report Our Common Future in April 1987. The Brundtland Commission provided the momentum for the 1992 Earth Summit / UNCED and for Agenda 21.
Brundtland was elected Director-General of the World Health Organization in May 1998. In this capacity, Brundtland adopted a far-reaching approach to public health, establishing a Commission on Macroeconomics and Health - chaired by Jeffrey Sachs - and addressing violence as a major public health issue.

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Selected organization

The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations responsible for providing finance and advice to countries for the purposes of economic development and eliminating poverty. The Bank came into formal existence on 27 December 1945 following international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements, which emerged from the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference (1 July - 22 July 1944). Commencing operations on 25 June 1946, it approved its first loan on 9 May 1947 ($250m to France for postwar reconstruction, in real terms the largest loan issued by the Bank to date). Its five agencies are: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD); International Finance Corporation (IFC); International Development Association (IDA); Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The term "World Bank" generally refers to the IBRD and IDA, whereas the World Bank Group is used to refer to the institutions collectively. The World Bank's (i.e. the IBRD and IDA's) activities are focused on developing countries, in fields such as human development (e.g. education, health), agriculture and rural development (e.g. irrigation, rural services), environmental protection (e.g. pollution reduction, establishing and enforcing regulations), infrastructure (e.g. roads, urban regeneration, electricity), and governance (e.g. anti-corruption, legal institutions development).

...Archive/Nominations

Read more...

Did you know...

...that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the largest source of multilateral development assistance in the world?

...that the three principal by-products of anaerobic digestion are biogas, acidogenic digestate and methanogenic digestate?

...that in 2004, the worldwide energy consumption of the human race was on average 15 TW (= 1012 W) with 86.5% from burning fossil fuels?

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Selected quote

Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvements only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds.

— Thomas Paine

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Energy

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:24:17 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welcome to Wikipedia's energy portal, your gateway to the subject of energy and its influence on the world around us

Energy is most often used in the context of energy resources, their development, consumption, depletion, and conservation. Since economic activities such as manufacturing and transportation can be energy intensive, energy efficiency, energy dependence, energy security and price are key concerns. Increased awareness of the effects of global warming has led to international debate and action over the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions.
In the context of natural science, energy can take several different forms: thermal, chemical, electrical, radiant, nuclear etc. These are often grouped as being either kinetic energy or potential energy. Many of these forms can be readily transformed into another with the help of a device; from chemical energy to electrical energy using a battery, for example. Energy can also be converted into matter and vice-versa, a fact reflected in Einstein's famous equation E=mc2.
The concepts of energy and its transformations are useful in explaining natural processes. Meteorological phenomena like wind, rain, lightning and tornadoes all result from energy transformations brought about by solar energy on the planet. Life itself is critically dependent on biological energy transformations; organic chemical bonds are constantly broken and made to make the exchange and transformation of energy possible. Read more...

Contents:
• Energy news
• Selected article
• Selected picture
• Selected biography
• Did you know?
• Quotations
• Related portals
• Wikiprojects
• Things you can do
• Associated Wikimedia
• Help

James Clerk Maxwell

Selected Biographies
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and theoretical physicist. His most significant achievement was formulating a set of equations – eponymously named Maxwell's equations – that for the first time expressed the basic laws of electricity and magnetism in a unified fashion. Maxwell's contributions to physics are considered by many to be of the same magnitude as those of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.
Maxwell studied natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and mental philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, before graduating in mathematics at the University of Cambridge, where he would conduct much of his career. He built on Michael Faraday's work on magnetic induction, using elements of geometry and algebra Maxwell to demonstrate that electric and magnetic fields travel through space, in the form of waves, and at the constant speed of light. Finally, in 1861, Maxwell proposed that light consisted of undulations in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena. In the same year he was elected to the Royal Society.
In 1864, Maxwell presented what are now known as Maxwell's equations to the Royal Society. These collectively describe the behaviour of both the electric and magnetic fields, as well as their interactions with matter. Read more...

Did you Know?

The development of renewable energy in Iceland means that by 2050 the country should be the world's first zero-carbon economy?

World's two largest oil shale-fired power plants (Narva Power Plants) generate more than 90% of power in Estonia?

NW Natural in Portland, Oregon was the first gas company in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States when it started in 1859?

The Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy is responsible for America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

The first oil shale retort was constructed in the United States in 1855?

4.26 million tonnes of the sun are converted to energy every second by nuclear fusion?

The first gasworks in the United Kingdom was built by the Gas Light and Coke Company, incorporated by Royal Charter in 1812?

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was a central plot point in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough?

Quotations

"How did we arrive at a state in which the balance of world energy supply and demand could be so fragile that weather, not to mention individual acts of sabotage or local insurrection, could have a significant impact on economic growth?" – Alan Greenspan, 2005
"Critical international security goals, including countering nuclear weapons proliferation, supporting new democracies, and promoting sustainable development are at risk because of over-dependence on fossil fuels. This dependence also presents huge risks to the global environment." – Dick Lugar, 2006
"It is extraordinary that a century into the age of oil, with the global economy dependent on $3 trillion worth of this black liquid each year, we don’t even know how much is left." – David Manning, 2006

Future energy development, providing for the world's future energy needs, currently faces great challenges. These include the growth of world population, in living standards, and of industrialization, the peaking of oil production, and the need to cut pollution and carbon emissions. In the absence of sufficient energy the world's entire industrialized infrastructure would collapse, and could lead to a Malthusian catastrophe.
Fossil fuels currently supply most of the world's energy. They have a relatively high energy density, are technically easy to exploit and, if the costs of pollution and subsidies are ignored, are relatively cheap. Their use does, however, cause global warming, acid rain, and other forms of pollution. Natural gas is considered least polluting, coal the most polluting. Non-conventional fossil fuels, such as oil shale could be used, but they may be significantly more polluting and costly to extract. New technologies such as carbon capture may cut fossil fuel pollution, so permitting their continued use, but would also increase their cost.
The use of alternative fuels and reactor designs means that shortages of nuclear power fuels are unlikely in the foreseeable future, although the economics are complex. Their use also raises concerns such as waste disposal and nuclear proliferation. Fusion power has the potential to avoid such problems in the long term. Until then renewable energy sources, from biofuels to wind farms, are likely to gain greater importance; although the technology is improving rapidly they have so far received little investment compared to other energy sources. Read more...

Media (arts)

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:00:54 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the arts, media (plural of medium) are the materials and techniques used by an artist to produce a work.

First photograph including a person, by Daguerre, 1838 or 1839

Drawing
In drawing, "media" refers to the type of held dry tool used and the base onto which it is transferred. The "held dry tool" normally means to a pencil, or stick medium, referred to as a "crayon". Small particles of broken-off stick medium are transferred to a base or plane of production on which the artwork is produced. A typical base is paper, but canvas and other surfaces can also be used.

Common drawing media

An 1877 color photo by Louis Ducos du Hauron, a French pioneer of color photography. The overlapping, yellow, cyan and red subtractive color elements can clearly be seen.

Painting

In painting, "media" refers to both the type of paint used and the base (or ground) to which it is applied. A paint's medium refers to what carries a paint's pigments, and is also called a "vehicle" or a "base". A painter can mix a medium with solvents, pigments, and other substances in order to make paint and control its consistency.

Common paint media

Common ground media

Application tools and methods

Muralism techniques

Muralists use many of the same media as panel painters, but due to the scale of their works, use different techniques. Some such techniques include:

Sculpture

Materials

Tools

Printmaking

In the art of printmaking, "media" tends to refer to the technique used to create a print. Common media include:

Engraving
Etching
Inkjet printing (sometimes called Giclée printing)
Laser printing
Linocut
Lithography
Moku hanga
Offset printing
Plate printing
Photographic printing
Screen-printing
Woodcut

External links

Media (artists' materials) definition from the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Timeline of Photography Technology

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:57:48 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Timeline of photography technology

First color image, Maxwell, 1861

1826 - Nicéphore Niépce takes the first permanent photograph, a landscape that required an eight hour exposure.
1835 - William Fox Talbot produces early permanent photographs through his own process.
1839 - Louis Daguerre patents the daguerreotype.
1839 - William Fox Talbot invented the positive / negative process widely used in modern photography. He refers to this as photogenic drawing.
1839 - John Herschel demonstrates hyposulfite of soda (also known as hypo, or sodium thiosulfate) as a fixer, and makes the first glass negative.
1851 - Introduction of the collodion process by Frederick Scott Archer
1854 André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri credited with introduction of the carte de visite (French "visiting card"). Disdéri introduced a rotating camera which could reproduce eight individually exposed images on a single negative. After printing on albumen paper, the images were cut apart and glued to calling card-sized mounts. These tiny portraits were left by visiting friends, which inspired the name carte de viste.

1861 - The first color photograph, an additive projected image of a tartan ribbon, is shown by James Clerk Maxwell.
1868 - Louis Ducos du Hauron patents a method of subtractive color photography.
1871 - The gelatin emulsion is invented by Richard Maddox
1876 - F. Hurter & V. C. Driffield begin systematic evaluation of sensitivity characteristics of film - science of sensitometry
1878 - Eadweard Muybridge made a high-speed photographic demonstration of a moving horse, airborne during a trot, using a trip-wire system.
1887 - Celluloid film base introduced.
1888 - Kodak n°1 box camera is mass marketed; first easy-to-use camera.
1887 - Gabriel Lippmann invents a "method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference".
1891 - Thomas Edison patents the "kinetoscopic camera" (motion pictures)
1895 - Auguste and Louis Lumière - Invented the cinématographe
1898 - Kodak introduced their Folding Pocket Kodak
1900 - Kodak introduced their first Brownie.
1901 - Kodak introduced the 120 film.
1902 - Arthur Korn devises practical phototelegraphy technology (reduction of photographic images to signals that can be transmitted by wire to other locations); Wire-Photos in wide use in Europe by 1910, and transmitted intercontinentally by 1922 .
1907 - The Autochrome Lumière is the first color photography process marketed.
1912 - Vest Pocket Kodak using 127 film.
1913 - Kinemacolor, the first commercial "natural color" system for movies is invented.
1914 - Kodak introduced the Autographic system.
1923 - Doc Harold Edgerton invents the xenon flash lamp and strobe photography
1925 - The Leica introduced the 35mm format to still photography.
1932 - The first full-color Technicolor movie, Flowers and Trees, is made by Disney
1934 - The 135 film cartridge was introduced, making 35mm easy to use.
1936 - Development of Kodachrome multi-layered reversal color film.
1937 - Agfacolor-Neu reversal color film.
1939 - Agfacolor negative-positive color material, the first modern "print" film.
1942 - Kodacolor, Kodak's first "print" film.
1947 - Dennis Gabor invents holography.
1948 - The Hasselblad camera was introduced.
1948 - Edwin H. Land introduces the first Polaroid instant image camera.
1957 - First Asahi Pentax SLR introduced.
1959 - Nikon F introduced.
1959 - AGFA introduces the first fully automatic camera, the Optima.
1961 - Eugene F. Lally of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory published the first description of how to produce still photos in a digital domain using a mosaic photosensor.
1963 - Kodak introduces the Instamatic
1964 - First Pentax Spotmatic SLR introduced.
1973 - Fairchild Semiconductor releases the first large image forming CCD chip; 100 rows and 100 columns.
1975 - Bryce Bayer of Kodak develops the Bayer filter mosaic pattern for CCD color image sensors
1986 - Kodak scientists invent the world's first megapixel sensor
2005 - AgfaPhoto files for bankruptcy. Production of Agfa brand consumer films ends.

See also

References

^ Eugene F. Lally, "Mosaic Guidance for Interplanetary Travel," Space Flight Report to the Nation, pp. 2249–61, American Rocket Society, New York, October 9–15, 1961.

External links

More about the earliest photograph
In the eye of the camera — Illustrated historical essay about early photography
Lippmann's and Gabor's Revolutionary Approach to Imaging

Celluloid

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:55:45 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1856 and as Xylonite in 1869 before being registered as Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is easily molded and shaped, and it was first widely used as an ivory replacement. Celluloid is highly flammable and also easily decomposes, and is no longer widely used. Its most common uses today are the table tennis ball and guitar pick

The first photograph, by Niépce, 1826

Nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose-based plastics slightly predate celluloid: collodion, invented in 1848 and used as a wound dressing and emulsion for photographic plates, dried to a celluloid-like film.

Alexander Parkes
The first celluloid as a bulk material for forming objects was made in 1856 in Birmingham, England, by Alexander Parkes, who was never able to see his invention reach full fruition. Parkes patented his discovery after realising that a solid residue remained after evaporation of the solvent from photographic collodion, he described it as a "hard, horny elastic and waterproof substance".
Parkes patented it as a clothing waterproof for woven fabrics in the same year. Later in 1862, Parkes showcased Parkesine at the Great Exhibition in London where he was awarded a bronze medal for his efforts. Cellulose nitrate was dissolved in a small measure of solvent, this was then heated and rolled on a purpose built machine which extracted a proportion of the solvent. Finally, the use of pressure or dyes completed the manufacturing process. In 1866, Parkes tried again with his invention and he created a company to manufacture and market Parkesine but this failed in 1868 after trying to cut costs to enable further manufacture.

Daniel Spill
One year after Parkesine failed, Daniel Spill created the Xylonite Company, to design and market a similar product to Parkesine. This failed and in 1874 Spill went bankrupt. Spill then reorganized and set up the Daniel Spill Company to continue production. He later pursued the Hyatt brothers over their patenting of celluloid.

John Wesley and Isaiah Hyatt
In the 1860s, an American by the name of John Wesley Hyatt began experimenting with cellulose nitrate, with the intention of manufacturing billiard balls, which until that time were made from ivory. He used cloth, ivory dust, and shellac and in 1869 patented a method of covering billiard balls with the important addition of collodion, and formed the Albany Billiard Ball Company in Albany NY to manufacture the product. In 1870 John, and his brother Isaiah, patented a process of making a "horn-like material" with the inclusion of cellulose nitrate and camphor. Alexander Parkes and Spill listed camphor during their earlier experiments, but it was the Hyatt brothers who recognized the value of camphor and its use as a plasticizer for cellulose nitrate. Isaiah coined the commercially viable material “celluloid” in 1872 as a specifically Hyatt product.
English inventor Daniel Spill took exception to the Hyatt's claim and pursued the brothers in a number of court cases between 1877 and 1884. The outcome was that Spill held no claim to the Hyatts' patents and that the true inventor of celluloid was in fact Alexander Parkes, due to his mentioning of camphor in his earlier experiments and patents. The judge ruled that all manufacturing of celluloid could continue, including the Hyatts' Celluloid Manufacturing Company. Celluloid was later used as the base for photographic film.
The name Celluloid actually began as a trademark of the Celluloid Manufacturing Company of Newark, New Jersey, which manufactured the celluloids patented by John Wesley Hyatt. Hyatt used heat and pressure to simplify the manufacture of these compounds. The name was registered in 1870 but after a long court battle between Spill and the Hyatt brothers a judge later ruled that the true inventor of celluloid (by process, not name) was Alexander Parkes.

Photography
English photographer John Carbutt intended to sell gelatin dry plates when, in 1879, he founded the Keystone Dry Plate Works. The Celluloid Manufacturing Company was contracted for this work by means of thinly slicing layers out of celluloid blocks and then removing the slice marks with heated pressure plates. After this, the celluloid strips were coated with a photosensitive gelatin emulsion. It is not certain exactly how long it took for Carbutt to standardize his process, but it occurred no later than 1888. A 15 inch-wide sheet of Carbutt's film was used by William Dickson for the early Edison motion picture experiments on a cylinder drum Kinetograph. However, the celluloid film base produced by this means was still considered too stiff for the needs of motion picture photography.
In the 1889, more flexible celluloids for photographic film were developed. Hannibal Goodwin and the Eastman Company both obtained patents for a film product; but Goodwin, and the interests he later sold his patents to, were eventually successful in a patent infringement suit against the Eastman Kodak Company. Nevertheless, the groundwork in these products was set for a photographic film, as opposed to a photographic plate, with all the implications that has for motion pictures.

Discontinuation
As thermoplastics, celluloids found a wide variety of uses in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Things like knife handles, fountain pen bodies, collars and cuffs, toys, etc were made of this material. However, it burned easily and suffered from spontaneous decomposition, and was largely replaced by cellulose acetate plastics and later polyesters by the middle of the 20th century. The use of celluloid for early film however has caused large problems in film preservation because the nitrate film gradually turns brown then crumbles to powder.
In the 21st century, cured celluloid is used in luxury pens produced by Montegrappa, OMAS, and other high-end pen manufacturers.

Formulation
A typical formulation of celluloid might contain 70 to 80 parts nitrocellulose, nitrated to 11% nitrogen, 30 parts camphor, 0 to 14 parts dye, 1 to 5 parts ethyl alcohol, plus stabilizers and other agents to increase stability and reduce flammability.
Products still made from celluloid include the table tennis ball, and some musical instrument accessories and parts: guitar picks and pickguards.

External links

Medium - Catalyst of the Massage

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:54:23 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

High speed photography, Muybridge, 1878

Media may refer to various aspects:

In communication:

Recording media, devices used to store information
Print media, communications delivered via paper or canvas
Electronic media, communications delivered via electronic or electromechanical energy
- Multimedia, communications that incorporate multiple forms of information content and processing
- Hypermedia, media with hyperlinks
- Digital media, electronic media used to store, transmit, and receive digitized information
Published media, any media made available to the public
- Mass media, all means of mass communication
  - Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass electronic communication networks
  - News media, mass media focused on communicating news
    - News media (United States), the news media of the United States of America
Media meshing, the act of combining multiple independent pieces of communication media to enrich an information consumer's experience
New media, media that can only be created or used with the aid of modern computer processing power
Media for advertising, also media-buying, or the choosing and buying of TV airtime, radio airtime, newspaper etc space, for advertising.

In history:

Media, an empire founded in north western Iran

In art:

Media (arts), materials and techniques used by an artist to produce a work

In biology:

Growth media, objects in which microorganisms or cells can experience growth
Tunica media, the middle layer of the wall of a blood vessel

In astronomy:

Kaus Media, a star system in the constellation Sagittarius

In geography:

In education:

Media studies, the study of media content, institutions, and its role in society
Media ecology, study of media environments

In popular culture:

Media (album), the 1998 album by The Faint

[edit] See also

Film

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:52:00 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.

A frame from Roundhay Garden Scene, the world's earliest film to date, by Louis Le Prince, 1888

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful method for educating -or indoctrinating- citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication; some movies have become popular worldwide attractions, by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue.
Traditional films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision — whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.
The origin of the name "film" comes from the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, photo-play, flick, and most commonly, movie. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the cinema, and the movies.

The Lumière Brothers

External links

All Movie Guide - Information on films: actors, directors, biographies, reviews, cast and production credits, box office sales, and other movie data.

Film Site - Reviews of classic films

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) - Information on current and historical films and cast listings.

Movies at the Open Directory Project

Rottentomatoes.com - Movie reviews, previews, forums, photos, cast info, and more

A shot from Georges Méliès Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902), an early narrative film

Polymer

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:22:33 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A polymer is a substance composed of molecules with large molecular mass composed of repeating structural units, or monomers, connected by covalent chemical bonds. The word is derived from the Greek, πολυ, polu, "many"; and μέρος, meros, "part"). Well known examples of polymers include plastics, DNA and proteins.

While the term polymer in popular usage suggests "plastic", polymers comprise a large class of natural and synthetic materials with a variety of properties and purposes. Natural polymer materials such as shellac and amber have been in use for centuries. Biopolymers such as proteins (for example hair, skin and part of the bone structure) and nucleic acids play crucial roles in biological processes. A variety of other natural polymers exist, such as cellulose, which is the main constituent of wood and paper.

Syndiotactic polypropene

Plastic Surgery

rosired — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:04:39 CDT

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty that uses a number of surgical and nonsurgical techniques to change the appearance and function of a person's body.[1] Plastic surgery procedures include both cosmetic enhancements as well as functionally reconstructive operations. In the former case, where aesthetics are considered more important than functionality, plastic surgery is sometimes referred to as cosmetic surgery. Most procedures involve both aesthetic and functional elements.
The word "plastic" derives from the Greek plastikos meaning to mold or to shape; its use here is not connected with the synthetic polymer material known as plastic. Plastic surgeons typically mold and reshape the following tissues of the body: bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, and skin.

RosiRed - Recently Updated Pages

A Showcase of My Fave Singers

Great Lady "Crooners"

My Musician Role-Models

Where have all the flowers gone?

Olive Oyl - Popeye's Main Squeeze

Fat

Olive Oil

Contents

Medicinal use

See also

International, national, and regional promotion groups

Museums and cultural organizations

Health

Listening

Other

Vegetable Oils

Contents

Essential Oil

Contents

Rose oil

Oil

Petroleum, Energy and Sustainable Development

Analysis

Articles

Data

Industry

Opinion

Pricing

Peak Oil

Sustainable Development

Selected article

Did you know...

Selected quote

Energy

Media (arts)

Common drawing media

An 1877 color photo by Louis Ducos du Hauron, a French pioneer of color photography. The overlapping, yellow, cyan and red subtractive color elements can clearly be seen. Painting

Common paint media

Common ground media

Application tools and methods

Muralism techniques

Sculpture

Materials

Tools

Printmaking

See also

External links

Timeline of Photography Technology

References

External links

Celluloid

Medium - Catalyst of the Massage

[edit] See also

Film

Contents

Polymer

Contents

Plastic Surgery

Contents

See also

External links

An 1877 color photo by Louis Ducos du Hauron, a French pioneer of color photography. The overlapping, yellow, cyan and red subtractive color elements can clearly be seen.

Painting