In the Know #17

January 21, 2008


Dictionary.com's Word of the Day

callow \KAL-oh\, adjective:
Immature; lacking adult perception, experience, or judgment.


In the news:

- Adolfo Nicolas (pictured) is chosen as the new Superior General of the Society of Jesus, whose members are known as Jesuits.

- George Bush proposes economic growth packages worth up to $150 billion.


Today in History, according to Wikipedia:

1861 - Jefferson Davis (pictured) resigns from the United States Senate.

1915 - Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, Michigan.

1924 - Vladimir Lenin dies.

1954 - The USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine is launched.

1976 - Commercial service of Concorde, a supersonic passenger airliner, begins.


Today's Famous Births:

1813 - John C. Frémont, American army officer, explorer and presidential candidate

1824 - Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, American Confederate general

1918 - Richard D. "Dick" Winters (pictured), American war hero, portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers

1922 - Telly Savalas, American actor, "Kojak" and Birdman of Alcatraz

1924 - Benny Hill, English actor, comedian and singer, "The Benny Hill Show"

1932 - John Chaney, American NCAA basketball coach, 1988 National Coach of the Year

1938 - Robert Weston Smith, American disc jockey and actor, better known as "Wolfman Jack"

1940 - Jack Nicklaus, American golfer

1941 - Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor

1953 - Paul Allen, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft

1956 - Geena Davis, American actress, A League of Their Own

1963 - Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-born basketball player, 12-time All Star

1965 - Jason Mizell, American disc jockey, better known as "Jam Master Jay", founder of Run-D.M.C. (pictured)


Trivia
Today's Category - John Grisham

~ John Grisham (pictured) graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981.

~ He practiced criminal and civil law in Southaven, Mississippi for nearly a decade.

~ In 1983, he was elected as a Democrat to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served until 1990.

~ His first novel was "A Time to Kill", which had an original print of only 5,000 but would be reprinted to become a bestseller.

~ 17 Grisham novels have topped the New York Times bestseller list.

~ 7 of his novels have become full length box office feature films.

~ His novels sold over 60 million copies in the 90's.


I always wondered...
...how surround sound works...

Home theater surround sound has two main components. First is the A/V receiver, which receives, decodes and sends both audio and video signals. Second are the speakers. The speakers are divided onto channels: Left, center, right, surround and subwoofer. The notation of the surround sound is as follows: [Number of surround speakers].[number of subwoofers] (i.e. 5.1 = five surround speakers and one subwoofer).

Surround sound comes to us in two forms: analog and digital. Analog surround is contained in two channels. The left and right channels contain two out of phase signals each. In the left channel, the left front speaker gets one signal and the left rear speaker gets the other, out of phase signal. The same occurs in the right channel. A center channel is constructed out of the two front speaker signals. Unlike analog, digital surround sound is recorded as ones and zeros. As such, it is the only format that can be recorded onto DVD's. Each channel is a separate track of the recording medium.

The center channel acts as the anchor of the system; producing the majority of dialog and effects. The left and right speakers remove the majority of the dialog. Rear surround speakers create sound effects, which help to create the illusion of being in the action. The Low Frequency Effects (LFE) channel sends bass to the subwoofer.

The most common surround sound formats are Dolby Pro Logic (logo pictured) and Digital Theater Systems (DTS, logo pictured).

["How surround sound works" reference: HowStuffWorks.com]
[All references from Wikipedia.org unless otherwise noted]