Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the "Red Planet" because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons. Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and second-highest known mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact feature. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan.

Lambic

Lambic is a type of beer traditionally brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium (southwest of Brussels) and in Brussels itself at the Cantillon Brewery and museum. Lambic is now mainly consumed after refermentation, resulting in derived beers such as Gueuze or Kriek lambic.

Unlike conventional beers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, lambic is produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Zenne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, usually with a sour aftertaste.

Lambic beer is widely consumed in Brussels and environs, and frequently featured as an ingredient in Belgian cuisine.

Etymology

The name "lambic" entered English via French, but comes from the Dutch language. Lambic is probably derived from the name "Lembeek", referring to the municipality of Lembeek near Halle, close to Brussels.

Mars (actor)

Mars (Chinese: 火星), born Cheung Wing Fat (蔣榮發) is a Hong Kong actor, action director, stuntman and martial artist. He is one of Jackie Chan's best friends.

Early life

Cheung Wing Fat was born in Hong Kong in 1954. He got the nickname "Weird Fire Star" after being involved in a car accident leaving him with two scars on his head. While working as a stuntman on a film in Thailand he got promoted to a supporting actor and needed a stage name. He picked "Mars" based on his nickname. He became a student of Madame Fan Fok Wah (粉菊花, aka Fen Juhua) in The Spring and Autumn Drama School. Every day, he practiced from 5am to 9pm.

Film career

Mars started acting in 1966 at the age of 12. He started out as an extra and later in supporting roles. Lackey and the Lady Tiger (1980) is only the film in which he played the leading role.

In 1971, Mars got his nickname "Mars" from a stunt co-ordinator who suggested it to him since his nickname on stage was Martian Monster, and he ended up with the name Mars after filming The Rescue.

Capital ẞ

Capital sharp s (ẞ) is the majuscule of eszett. Sharp s is unique among the letters of the Latin alphabet in that it has no traditional upper case form. This is because it never occurs word-initially in German text, and traditional German printing (which used blackletter) never used all-caps. When using all-caps, traditional spelling rules required the replacement of ß with SS. However, in 2010, the use of the capital ẞ became mandatory in official documentation in Germany when writing geographical names in all-caps.

History

There have been repeated attempts to introduce a majuscule ß. Such letterforms can be found in some old German books dating back to the late 19th century and some later signage and product design. One of the best known examples is the East German 1957 Duden.

Inclusion in Universal Character Set

A proposal by Andreas Stötzner to the Unicode Consortium for the inclusion of capital double s in the Universal Character Set was rejected in 2004, on the basis that capital ß is a typographical issue, and therefore not suitable for character encoding. A reworked version of Stötzner's proposal was submitted on 25 April 2007 by DIN. The proposal suggested the Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER SHARP S. The proposal has been adopted and the character was added as Unicode character "ẞ" U+1E9E LATIN CAPITAL LETTER SHARP S when Unicode 5.1 was released, on 4 April 2008.

Capital (economics)

Capital is a type of good that can be consumed now, but if consumption is deferred, an increased supply of consumable goods is likely to be available later. Adam Smith defines capital as "That part of a man's stock which he expects to afford him revenue is called his capital." Capital is derived from the Latin word "caput" meaning head, as in "head of cattle". The term "stock" is derived from the Old English word for stump or tree trunk, i.e. something that grows over time. It has been used to refer to all the moveable property of a farm since at least 1510. In Middle Ages France contracted leases and loans bearing interest specified payment in heads of cattle.

In economics, capital goods, real capital, or capital assets are already-produced durable goods or any non-financial asset that is used in production of goods or services.

How a capital good is maintained or returned to its pre-production state varies with the type of capital involved. In most cases capital is replaced after a depreciation period as newer forms of capital make continued use of current capital non profitable. It is also possible that advances make an obsolete form of capital practical again.

Capital: Critique of Political Economy

Capital: Critique of Political Economy (1867-1883) (German: Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie; (German pronunciation: [das kapiˈtaːl]) by Karl Marx is a foundational theoretical text in communist philosophy, economics and politics. Marx aimed to reveal the economic patterns underpinning the capitalist mode of production, in contrast to classical political economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill.

Themes

In Capital: Critique of Political Economy (1867), Karl Marx proposes that the motivating force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labour, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value and then profit both of which concepts have a specific meaning for Marx. The employer is able to claim the right to profits because he or she owns the productive capital assets (means of production), which are legally protected by the capitalist state through property rights (the historical section shows how this right was acquired in the first place chiefly through plunder and conquest and the activity of the merchant and 'middle-man'). In producing capital (money) as well as commodities (goods and services), the workers continually reproduce the economic conditions by which they labour. Capital proposes an explanation of the "laws of motion" of the capitalist economic system, from its origins throughout its future, by describing the dynamics of the accumulation of capital, the growth of wage labour, the transformation of the workplace, the concentration of capital, commercial competition, the banking system, the decline of the profit rate, land-rents, et cetera.