Lens

A lens is a device for either concentrating or diverging light, normally formed from a piece of shaped glass. Analogous devices used with other types of electromagnetic radiation are also called lenses: for instance, a microwave lens can be made from paraffin wax.
The earliest records of lenses date to Ancient Greece, with Aristophanes' play The Clouds (424 BC) mentioning a burning-glass (a convex lens used to focus the sun's rays to produce fire). The writings of Pliny the Elder also show that burning-glasses were recognized to the Roman Empire, and mentions what is possibly the first use of a corrective lens: Nero was known to watch the gladiatorial games throughout a concave-shaped emerald (presumably to correct for myopia). Seneca the Younger (3 BC--65) described the magnifying effect of a glass globe filled with water.Widespread use of lenses did not happen until the invention of spectacles, probably in Italy in the 1280s.

Ship

A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft, sometimes with multiple decks. A ship generally has enough size to carry its own boats, such as lifeboats, dinghies, or runabouts. A rule of thumb saying goes: "a boat can fit on a ship, but a ship can't fit on a boat". Often local law and regulation will define the exact size which a boat requires to become a ship. During the age of sail, ship signified a ship-rigged vessel, that is, one with three or more masts, generally three, all square-rigged. Such a vessel would usually have one fore and aft sail on her aftermost mast which was usually the mizzen. Almost invariably she would also have a bowsprit but this was not part of the definition. The same economic pressures which increased sizes to the point of carrying four or five masts, also introduced the fore and aft rig to larger vessels, so few ship-rigged vessels were built with more than three masts. The five-masted Preussen was the outstanding example but the big German ships and barques were built partly for prestige reasons.
Nautical means connected to sailors, particularly customs and practices at sea. Naval is the adjective pertaining to ships though in common usage, it has come to be more mainly associated with the noun 'navy'.

White flight

White flight is a colloquial term for the demographic tendency of upper and middle class white people moving away from (predominantly non-white) inner cities, finding new homes in nearby suburbs or even moving to new locales completely, e.g. from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. In some of the United States' largest cities, the trend reversed itself in the 1990s
White flight in the United States
White flight has been taking place in many American cities and regions, particularly in the Northeastern, Midwestern, and Western sections of the United States since the 1950s.
The effects of white flight have been important for the cities that have been hit by this phenomenon, in particular Detroit, Michigan and St. Louis, Missouri, which lost more than half of their peak populations mainly due to white flight. In New York City many whites have moved from parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn to Staten Island, suburban Long Island, and suburban New Jersey. Other U.S. cities that have been obviously affected by white flight include Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Ohio, the West and South Sides of Chicago, Illinois, the Greater Los Angeles Area, Baltimore, Maryland, Newark, New Jersey, and numerous smaller cities.

Quinzhee

A quinzhee, or quinzee, is a kind of snow shelter made by making a pile of snow, waiting for it to settle together, then hollowing out the inside. In difference, an igloo is made by carefully stacking cut blocks of snow.
It is not easy to make a quinzhee, although it will be warmer and stronger if certain techniques are carefully followed. For strength, the quinzhee needs to be a dome and the lower walls must not support too much weight. The walls should be very thick at the base and get slightly thinner towards to the top of the dome.
For warmth, the entrance of the quinzhee should be a tunnel with an upward sloping floor such that the floor is somewhat higher than the top of the entrance.
Caution: Care must be taken when camping conditions are marginal, such as at temperatures near freezing, or when it is raining. Under these conditions the ceiling of the quinzhee may collapse gradually because the snow is soft. Moreover, the entrance tunnel may become too narrow to permit escape. Hence, under these conditions it is unsafe to spend too much time inside the structure because you may become trapped.

Graphic design

Graphic design is a type of communicating visually using text and/or images to present information, or promote a message. The art of graphic design embraces a range of cognitive skills and crafts with typography, image development and page layout. Graphic design is applied in communication design and fine art. Like other forms of communication, graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created, and the products (designs) such as creative solutions, imagery and multimedia compositions. Graphic design is usually applied to static media, such as books, magazines and brochures. Additionally, since the arrival of computers, graphic design is utilized in electronic media - often referred to as interactive design, or multimedia design.
There are varying degrees of graphic design. Graphic designer participation may range from verbally communicated ideas, to visual rough drafts, to final production. In commercial art, client edits, technical preparation and mass production are generally required, but regularly not considered to be within the scope of graphic design unless the client is also a graphic designer.

Tourism in New York City

40 million foreign and American tourists visit New York City each year.Major destinations comprise of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Broadway productions, scores of museums from the El Museo del Barrio to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum (closed until 2008 for repairs), Washington Square Park, the Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Garden, luxury shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues, and events such as the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, the Tribeca Film Festival, and free performances in Central Park at Summer stage. Many of the city's ethnic enclaves, such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Brighton Beach are major shopping destinations for first and second generation Americans up and down the East Coast.
New York City has 28,000 acres (113 km²) of parkland and 14 miles (22 km) of public beaches. Manhattan's Central Park, intended by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, is the most visited city park in the United States.Prospect Park in Brooklyn, also planned by Olmsted and Vaux, has a 90 acre (36 Hectare) meadow. Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, the city's third largest, was the setting for the 1939 World's Fair and 1964 World's Fair.
New York's food culture, influenced by the city's immigrants and large number of dining patrons, is diverse. Jewish and Italian immigrants made the city famous for bagels and New York style pizza. Some 4,000 mobile food vendors approved by the city, many immigrant-owned, have made Middle Eastern foods such as falafels and kebabs standbys of contemporary New York street food.The city is also home to many of the finest haute cuisine restaurants in the United States.