OS X

Apple OS X is the equivalent of Windows 3.1 - but with a dock.
by moltovivace August 24, 2005
mugGet the OS Xmug.

Yubaba

Character from the animated feature "Spirited Away", was owner and ran the bath house.

A knockoff of the Russian folklore witch "Baba Yaga".
Yubaba needs some serious Neutrogena.
by moltovivace February 22, 2005
mugGet the Yubabamug.

CERN

CERN is the "Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire", or "European Organization for Nuclear Research".

CERN, located on the France-Swiss border, near Geneva, It is the world's largest research centre for particle physics.

CERN's efforts are now primarily focused on the construction and completion of the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC. The 27 kilometre particle accelerator/collider will become the world's most powerful.

Using the LHC (to be completed in 2007) CERN hopes to set and study conditions very close to those shortly after the Big Bang. They hope to answer questions such as: "What is Mass? Are there extra dimensions? Are there violations between the symmetry of matter and antimatter?"

Numerous CERN physicist have been awarded Nobel Prizes, and CERN is reconized as the creator of the World Wide Web.

20 countries currently contribute to CERN's efforts.
The answers to the universe's biggest questions lie in the universe's tiniest particles.
by moltovivace July 04, 2005
mugGet the CERNmug.

tchaikovsky

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Russian composer who lived 1840–1893.

Noted for his highly original compositions, he wrote numerous ballets as well as symphonies.

His most famous works include

The Swan Lake Ballet
The Nutcracker Ballet
1812 Overture
The Romeo & Juliet Symphony

"The Nutcracker" is possibly the most famous and most-performed ballet of the world, and has come to be a Christmas tradition by many internationally.

Tchaikovsky lies amongst the "Big Four" of the greatest classical composers the world has ever seen, with Bach Beethoven and Mozart
Tchaikovsky is a tricky name to spell.
by moltovivace February 23, 2005
mugGet the tchaikovskymug.

HD DVD

The next-generation data storage media disk, developed primarily by Toshiba. Although voted as the successor to the DVD officially by the International DVD Forum Organization, it is in close competition with the Blu-ray, developed by companies like Sony and Hewlett Packard. (A similar competition took place with the DVD, Toshiba's prototype ultimately chosen over Sony's).

It employs a 405 nm blue laser and has each capacity layer is 15gb. Toshiba has developed a dual-layered 30gb disk and a 45gb triple-layered disk.

Companies supporting the HD DVD include NEC, Sanyo, Microsoft, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros.
Later releases of Microsoft's Xbox 360 feature HD DVD capable drives.
by moltovivace September 06, 2005
mugGet the HD DVDmug.

Antimatter

Antimatter is literally matter which is the inverse or opposite of matter; particles which have charges opposite of regular matter.

Antimatter was first predicted by P.A.M. Dirac in his theory of quantum mechanics in 1928. Antiparticles were found soon after by Carl Anderson. Since then, research centers such as CERN and Fermilab produce antimatter particles on a daily basis. CERN uses a Proton Synchrotron machine to accelerate protons and then they inject them into the Antiproton Decelerator - a gigantic circular machine with a diameter of 18 km. Here the protons are smashed into a copper or iridium block of metal. The abrupt stop from such an incredible speed (about the speed of light) results in an enormous amount of energy released into a small volume, resulting in extreme temperatures greater than 10,000,000,000,000 Celsius. This enormous amount of heat and energy results in the spontaneous creation of matter-antimatter particles.

When antimatter comes in contact with regular matter - earth, air, whatever - it annihilates immediately in a 100% efficient reaction. A popular misconception is that this antimatter-matter reaction will someday allow antimatter for use as a source of fuel, or power source. Unfortunately, this is an impossible reality. Since antimatter is not found anywhere on Earth naturally (obviously), it must be created. With the equation E=mc2, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a net gain of matter: the energy required running the accelerators would ALWAYS be more than the energy antimatter produced.

It's true that a quarter gram of antimatter has as much power as the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. This raises concern as to whether it could eventually be yielded as a terrorist device. Fortunately, it is IMPOSSIBLE to collect and store antimatter at this great of a density, and even if it were possible, with the current technology it would take billions and billions of years to yield that much. In fact, if CERN were to have kept all of the antimatter it ever produced; it would be enough to power a light bulb for about three seconds. Anyways, even with these things aside, it's completely impractical considering how much time, money, and energy is required to create antimatter.

This information is from the CERN official web site.
For more information visit:

www.cern.ch
www.fnal.gov
by moltovivace April 01, 2005
mugGet the Antimattermug.

Ninth Symphony

While many composers have composed a ninth symphony, when someone says they are going to go listen to "the ninth", it refers unanimously to Beethoven's Symphony No.9, Op.125 "Choral".
Dvorak's "From the New World" is a really good symphony.

Bah, The Ninth is better.
by moltovivace June 26, 2005
mugGet the Ninth Symphonymug.