Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating materials, generally including kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C (2,200 and 2,600 °F). The toughness, strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainly from vitrification and the formation of the mineral mullite within the body at these high temperatures.
Porcelain derives its present name from the old Italian porcellana (cowrie shell) because of its resemblance to the translucent surface of the shell. Porcelain can informally be referred to as china or fine china in some English-speaking countries, as China was the birthplace of porcelain making.Properties associated with porcelain include low permeability and elasticity; considerable strength, hardness, toughness, whiteness, translucency and resonance; and a high resistance to chemical attack and thermal shock.
Porcelain has been described as being "completely vitrified, hard, impermeable (even before glazing), white or artificially coloured, translucent (except when of considerable thickness), and resonant." However, the term porcelain lacks a universal definition and has "been applied in a very unsystematic fashion to substances of diverse kinds which have only certain surface-qualities in common".
Californication is the seventh studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was released on June 7, 1999, on Warner Bros. Records and was produced by Rick Rubin. Californication marked the return of John Frusciante, who had previously appeared on Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to replace Dave Navarro as the band's guitarist. Frusciante's return was credited with changing the band's sound altogether, producing a notable shift in style from the music recorded with Navarro. The album's subject material incorporated various sexual innuendos commonly associated with the band, but also contained more varied themes than previous outings, including lust, death, contemplations of suicide, California, drugs, globalization, and travel.
Californication is the Chili Peppers' most commercially successful studio release internationally, with over 15 million copies sold worldwide, and more than 5 million in the United States alone. As of 2002, the album had sold over 4 million copies in Europe. The record produced several hits for the band, including "Otherside", "Californication" and the Grammy Award-winning "Scar Tissue". Californication peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200. The record marked a significant change in style for the band: Rolling Stone's Greg Tate noted that "while all previous Chili Peppers projects have been highly spirited, Californication dares to be spiritual and epiphanic".
Porcelain is the third studio album released by English musician Matt Cardle. The album was released on 25 October 2013 in Ireland, and on 28 October in the United Kingdom. Recording locations include London, Los Angeles and New York. It is primarily written by Cardle but, as with his previous albums, he worked with various songwriters, including Connor Reeves and American R&B artist Brian McKnight. Cardle has also produced the album and played the majority of the instruments.
The lead single was a duet with Spice Girl Melanie C, called "Loving You" which was released on 18 August 2013 and reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. A second single, "When You Were My Girl", was released on 13 October 2013. The album was released on digital download and physical CD as well as a very limited number of vinyl copies available through Cardle's official website. Porcelain is Cardle's first album to be released worldwide.
The Porcelain Tour in support of the album took place over the UK and Ireland in April 2014. The album received largely positive reviews. It reached number 11 on the UK Albums Chart, number 3 in the Independent Album Chart and number 22 on the Scottish Album Chart.
Ty, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Oak Brook IL, a suburb of Chicago USA.
Founded by Ty Warner in 1986, Ty is now the largest manufacturer of plush in the world. It designs, develops and sells products exclusively to specialty markets worldwide.
Ty began by producing stuffed toy cats, and has produced many stuffed animals since. The company's logo is a red heart with the lower-case letters "ty." A tag in this shape is found affixed to all Ty stuffed toys, and inside each tag is the name of the toy and a short poem (4 lines in most, but 2 lines in Beanie Boos and early Ballz).
Aware (Somali: Awaare) is one of the woredas in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Degehabur Zone, Aware is bordered on the south by Gunagadow, on the west by Degehabur, on the north by the Jijiga Zone, on the northeast by Somalia, and on the east by Misraq Gashamo. Towns in Aware include Aware, Daroor, Kam Aboker, and Rabaso. Gunagadow woreda was separated from Aware.
As part of the Haud, the lands in Aware are dry pasturage, which traditionally were abandoned by the local nomadic pastoralists for areas with abundant water (like Aynabo, Burco and Odweyne in Somaliland, or outside the Haud in Danot woreda with its wells) with the advent of the dry season. However, the construction of private birkas (underground concrete water tanks), a development which started in the 1950s and later on dramatically increased after the 1970s, offered a solution to the absence of permanent water. While this encouraged birka owners to further diversify traditional animal husbandry beyond camels and small ruminants into water-dependent cattle, this also increased livestock population in an overpopulated region, putting additional pressure on shrinking resource base; the vicinity of almost every settlement in Aware have become overgrazed by cattle belonging to the villagers, thus driving away ideal nomads raising camels and small ruminants in the eternal search for pasture and water.