Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Cricket:

Cricket is a bat and ball game played between two teams, generally of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field (which is usually roughly oval), in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a pitch. At each end of the pitch is a set of three parallel wooden stakes (known as stumps) driven into the ground, with two small crosspieces (known as bails) laid on top of them. This wooden structure is called a wicket. A player from the fielding team (the bowler) bowls a hard, fist-sized cork-centred leather ball from one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching a player from the opposing team (the batsman), who defends the wicket from the ball with a wooden cricket bat. The batsman, if he or she does not get out, may then run between the wickets, exchanging ends with the other batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been positioned in an inactive role near the bowler's wicket, to score runs. The other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Stand-up comedy
A stand-up comedian or stand-up comic is someone that performs comedy in an informal way, i.e.: talking to the audience with the absence of the theatrical "fourth wall". It is regularly done by one comedian and usually with a microphone. It can be done in comedy clubs, colleges, theaters, option venues--almost anywhere an audience is open to comedy. The comic usually recites a fast paced sequence of amusing stories, short jokes and one-liners, usually called a monologue, routine or act. Some stand-up comedians use props, music, or magic tricks in their acts.

Many stand-up routines are similar to one man shows, with the main difference being the expectations of the audience, who, with stand-up; expect a relatively steady stream of "laughs". This in turn affects the aims of the performer, who is under great pressure to deliver those laughs.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Gerbera
Gerbera L., is a genus of ornamental plants from the sunflower family. It was named in honour of the German naturalist Traugott Gerber, a friend of Carolus Linnaeus. It has approximately 30 species in the wild; extend to South America, Africa, Madagascar, and tropical Asia. The first scientific description of a Gerbera was made by J.D. Hooker in Curtis Botanical Magazine in 1889 when he described Gerbera jamesonii, a South African species also known as Transvaal daisy or Barberton Daisy.

Gerbera species bear a large capitulum’s with striking, 2-lipped ray florets in yellow, orange, white, pink or red colors. The capitulum’s, which has the look of a single flower, is actually composed of hundreds of individual flowers. The morphology of the flowers varies depending on their position in the capitula. Gerbera is very popular and widely used as a decorative garden plant or as cut flowers. The domesticated cultivars are mostly a result of a cross between Gerbera jamesonii and another South African species Gerbera viridifolia.