Noun

A noun (from Latin nōmen, literally meaning "name") is a word that functions as the name of some specific thing or set of things, such as living creatures, objects, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Linguistically, a noun is a member of a large, open part of speech whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.

Lexical categories (parts of speech) are defined in terms of the ways in which their members combine with other kinds of expressions. The syntactic rules for nouns differ from language to language. In English, nouns are those words which can occur with articles and attributive adjectives and can function as the head of a noun phrase.

History

Word classes (parts of speech) were described by Sanskrit grammarians from at least the 5th century BC. In Yāska's Nirukta, the noun (nāma) is one of the four main categories of words defined.

The Ancient Greek equivalent was ónoma (ὄνομα), referred to by Plato in the Cratylus dialog, and later listed as one of the eight parts of speech in The Art of Grammar, attributed to Dionysius Thrax (2nd century BC). The term used in Latin grammar was nōmen. All of these terms for "noun" were also words meaning "name". The English word noun is derived from the Latin term, through the Anglo-Norman noun.

Image

An image (from Latin: imago) is an artifact that depicts visual perception, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person, thus providing a depiction of it.

Characteristics

Images may be two-dimensional, such as a photograph, screen display, and as well as a three-dimensional, such as a statue or hologram. They may be captured by optical devices – such as cameras, mirrors, lenses, telescopes, microscopes, etc. and natural objects and phenomena, such as the human eye or water.

The word image is also used in the broader sense of any two-dimensional figure such as a map, a graph, a pie chart, or a painting. In this wider sense, images can also be rendered manually, such as by drawing, the art of painting, carving, rendered automatically by printing or computer graphics technology, or developed by a combination of methods, especially in a pseudo-photograph.

A volatile image is one that exists only for a short period of time. This may be a reflection of an object by a mirror, a projection of a camera obscura, or a scene displayed on a cathode ray tube. A fixed image, also called a hard copy, is one that has been recorded on a material object, such as paper or textile by photography or any other digital process.

Cotton candy

Cotton candy (U.S., India, Canada), candy floss (UK, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Canada), or tooth floss (South Africa), and Fairy Floss (Australia) is a form of spun sugar. According to the New York Times, the confection "is almost 99.999 percent sugar, with dashes of flavoring and food coloring."

Made by heating sugar and spinning the liquified sugar out through tiny holes where it re-solidifies in minutely thin strands of "sugar glass," the final cotton candy contains mostly air; with a typical serving weighing approximately 1 ounce or 30 grams.

Often served at fairs, circuses, carnivals, and Japanese festivals, cotton candy is sold on paper batons, large toothpicks or in plastic bags.Food coloring can be used to change the natural white color, and numerous flavorings are available to change the taste.

Similar confections include the Persian Pashmak, and the Turkish Pişmaniye, although the latter is made with flour and water in addition to sugar.

History

Never Gonna Give You Up

"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a single by Rick Astley, released on July 8, 1987. Written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. The song was released as the first single from his debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody (1987). The song was a worldwide number-one hit, initially in the singer's native United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed atop the chart for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year. It eventually topped the charts in 25 countries, including the United States and West Germany.

The song won Best British Single at the 1988 Brit Awards. In 2004, it was voted no. 28 in 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs... Ever by VH1.

The music video for the song has become the basis for the "Rickrolling" Internet meme. In 2008, Rick Astley won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever with the song, as a result of collective voting from thousands of people on the internet, due to the popular phenomenon of Rickrolling. It was also featured as a downloadable track for the Rock Band series.

Rick Astley

Richard Paul Astley (/ˈrɪk ˈæstli/; born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and radio personality. His 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up" was a No. 1 hit single in 25 countries. By the time of his retirement in 1993, Astley had sold approximately 40 million records worldwide.

Astley made a comeback in 2007, becoming an Internet phenomenon when his video "Never Gonna Give You Up" became integral to the meme known as "rickrolling". Astley was voted "Best Act Ever" by Internet users at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008.

Early life

Richard Paul Astley was born on 6 February 1966 in Newton-le-Willows in Lancashire, the fourth child of his family. His parents divorced when he was five, and Astley was brought up by his father. His musical career started when he was ten, singing in the local church choir. During his schooldays, Astley formed and played the drums in a number of local bands, where he met guitarist David Morris. After leaving school at sixteen, Astley was employed during the day as a driver in his father's market-gardening business and played drums on the Northern club circuit at night in bands such as Give Way – specialising in covering Beatles and Shadows songs – and FBI, which won several local talent competitions.