What on earth is a Theremin?

The theremin, also know as aetherphone / etherophone or termenvox / thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without contact from the player. It was invented by Russian scientist Leon Theremin and was first demonstrated in 1920. It predates the modern synthesizer by about 40 years, but its uniqueness stems from the fact that it is the only instrument that is played without actually being touched. Its electronic circuits are controlled by two antennas, left and right of the instrument, toward which the player moves his or her hands. The closer the right hand to one antenna, the higher the pitch. Similarly the proximity of the left hand to the other antenna controls the volume. The theremin has a range well in excess of eight octaves, and is capable of all kinds of strange effects. These sounds have been put to use in science fiction and other films including Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) and Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). This unique instrument has also been used on The Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations." The late Clara Rockmore was the theremin's greatest virtuoso, and the instrument and its inventor were profiled in the documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994).

Rules of Cricket for Dummies

People sometimes complain that the rules of cricket are difficult to understand. This is of course not true. But still, a bit of simplification has never hurt anybody:

Start: you have 2 teams in the game, one is out in the field and one in.

1. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.

2. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.

p.s. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. This should not worry you too much.

3. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.

4. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.

5. When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

What is Flash Mobbing?

A flash mob (or flashmob) is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via social media or viral emails. The term is generally not applied to events organized by public relations firms or as publicity stunts.

The first flash mob was created in Manhattan in May 2003, by Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine. The origins of the flash mobs were unknown until Wasik published an article about his creation in the March 2006 edition of Harper's. The first attempt was unsuccessful after the targeted retail store was tipped off about the plan for people to gather. Wasik avoided such problems during the second flash mob, which occurred on June 3, 2003 at Macy's department store, by sending participants to preliminary staging areas—in four prearranged Manhattan bars—where they received further instructions about the ultimate event and location just before the event began

Another example of a well known flash mob was the April 2006 silent disco in London. At various London Underground stations, people gathered with their portable music devices, and at a set time began dancing to their music. It was reported that more than 4,000 people participated at London Victoria station. This impacted the regular service of the system enough for the city's police to begin crowd control and slowly clear people. Though no one was arrested, it was reported that the City of London pledged to counter future disruption of the underground system.[citation needed] Since 2006, there have been several flash mobs in the London Underground, including subsequent silent discos comparable in size

Weird Celebrity Names - Part 10

Emma Thompson + Greg Wise / Actress + Actor / Gaia Romilly (daughter)

Isaiah Washington + Jenisa Marie Washington / Actor / Isaiah Akin (son) + Thyme (son) + Iman (daughter)

Robert Van Winkle (Vanilla Ice) + Laura Giarritta / Musician / Dusti Raine (daughter) + Keelee Breeze (daughter)

Bruce Willis + Demi Moore / Actor + Actress / Rumer Glenn (daughter) + Scout Larue (daughter) + Tallulah Belle (daughter)

Frank Zappa + Gail Zappa / Musician / Dweezil (son) + Ahmet Emuukha Rodan (son) + Moon Unit (daughter) + Diva Muffin (daughter)

What is the Pledgebank?

Have you already heard about the Pledgebank? It is an initiative in the same line of thought as Pay It Forward where users take positive action by using the 'snowball effect' principle. In England the Pledgebank has already scored some important successes like reducing the amount of plastic bags that are used in supermarkets, or convince people to vote.

The principle is very simple: somebody takes the initiative to make a promise (or pledge), where they say that they will do something, but only if a certain number of other people do the same. Some call it "positive peer-pressure", other just another way of informing others about a good idea.

I first heard about the initiative when a member of BeWelcome made a pledge to donate a small amount to BeWelcome through the Pledgebank. He will do this (and put up posters) if at least 20 people do the same. So far we have already 10 pledges, only 10 more to go. Maybe you want to help out? Just go to the BeWelcome pledge page.

The organisation behind this initiative is called MySociety and they have started other sustainable projects, like for example making the complicated British voting system clearer, or make the Web more democratic

Weird Celebrity Names - Part 9

Rob Morrow + Debbon Ayer / Actor + Actress / Tu Simone Ayer (daughter)

Jamie Oliver + Jools Oliver / Chef + Model / Poppy Honey (daughter) + Daisy Boo (daughter)

Gwyneth Paltrow + Chris Martin / Actress + Musician / Apple (daughter) + Moses (son)

Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie / Actor + Actress / Zahara Marley (daughter) + Maddox Chivan Thornton (son) + Shiloh Nouvel (daughter) + Pax Thien (son)

David "Puck" Rainey + Betty Rainey / Reality TV Star / Bogart Che Peyote (son) + Rocco Kokopelli (son)

Weird Celebrity Names - Part 8

Shannyn Sossamon + Dallas Clayton / Actress / Audio Science (son)

Sylvester Stallone + Sasha Czack / Actor + Actress / Sage Moonblood (daughter) + Seargeoh (son)

Sylvester Stallone + Jennifer Flavin / Actor / Sophia Rose (daughter) + Sistine Rose + (daughter) Scarlet Rose (daughter)

Roger Taylor + Dominique Beyrand / Musician / Felix Luther (son) + Rory (daughter)

Roger Taylor + Deborah Leng / Musician / Rufus Tiger (son) + Tiger Lily (daughter) + Lola Daisy (daughter)