Yard

The yard (abbreviation: yd) is an English unit of length, in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement, that comprises 3 feet or 36 inches. It is by international agreement in 1959 standardized as exactly 0.9144 meters. A metal yardstick originally formed the physical standard from which all other units of length were officially derived in both English systems.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, increasingly powerful microscopes and scientific measurement detected variation in these prototype yards which became significant as technology improved. In 1959, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa agreed to adopt the Canadian compromise value of 0.9144 meters per yard.

The term yard is also sometimes used for translating related lengths in other systems.

Name

The name derives from the Old English gerd, gyrd, &c., which was used for branches, staves, and measuring rods. It is first attested in the late-7th century laws of Ine of Wessex, where the "yard of land" mentioned is the yardland, an old English unit of tax assessment equal to ¹⁄₄ hide. Around the same time, the Lindisfarne Gospel's account of the messengers from John the Baptist in the Book of Matthew used it for a branch swayed by the wind. In addition to the yardland, Old and Middle English both used their forms of "yard" to denote the surveying lengths of 15 or 16 ¹⁄₂ ft used in computing acres, a distance now usually known as the "rod".

Yard (land)

A yard is an area of land immediately adjacent to a building or a group of buildings. It may be either enclosed or open. The word comes from the same linguistic root as the word garden and has many of the same meanings.

A number of derived words exist, usually tied to a particular usage or building type. Some may be archaic or in lesser use now. Examples of such words are: courtyard, barnyard, hopyard, graveyard, churchyard, brickyard, prison yard, railyard, junkyard and stableyard.

Word origin

The word "yard" came from the Anglo-Saxon geard, compare "garden" (German Garten), Old Norse garðr, Russian gorod = "town" (originally as an "enclosed fortified area"), Latin hortus = "garden" (hence horticulture and orchard), from Greek χορτος (hortos) = "farm-yard", "feeding-place", "fodder", (from which "hay" originally as grown in an enclosed field). "Girdle," and "court" are other related words from the same root.

In areas where farming is an important part of life, a yard is also a piece of enclosed land for farm animals or other agricultural purpose, often referred to as a cattleyard, sheepyard, stockyard, etc. In Australia portable or mobile yards are sets of transportable steel panels used to build temporary stockyards.

Rail yard

A rail yard, railway yard or railroad yard is the US term for a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. Railroad cars are moved around by specially designed yard switchers, a type of locomotive. Cars in a railroad yard may be sorted by numerous categories, including railroad company, loaded or unloaded, destination, car type, or whether they need repairs. Railroad yards are normally built where there is a need to store cars while they are not being loaded or unloaded, or are waiting to be assembled into trains. Large yards may have a tower to control operations.

Many railway yards are located at strategic points on a main line. Main line yards are often composed of an Up yard and a Down yard, linked to the associated railroad direction. There are different types of yards, and different parts within a yard, depending on how they are built.

Suikoden (video game)

Suikoden (Japanese: 幻想水滸伝, Hepburn: Gensō Suikoden,  listen ) is a role-playing game published by Konami as the first installment of the Suikoden series. Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, it was released initially in 1995 for the PlayStation in Japan. North American and British releases followed one year later, and a mainland European release came the following March. The game was also released for the Sega Saturn in 1998 only in Japan, and for Microsoft Windows in 1998 in Japan. On December 22, 2008, Suikoden was made available on the PlayStation Store for use on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles.

The game centers on the political struggles of the Scarlet Moon Empire. The player controls the son of a Scarlet Moon Empire general who is destined to seek out 108 warriors (referred to as the 108 Stars of Destiny) in order to revolt against the corrupt sovereign state and bring peace to a war-torn land. The game is loosely based on the Chinese novel Shui Hu Zhuan, and features a vast array of characters both controllable and not, with over ninety characters usable in combat and many more able to help or hinder the hero in a variety of ways.

Windy (album)

Windy is a 1968 studio album by Astrud Gilberto, arranged by Eumir Deodato, Don Sebesky, and Patrick Williams.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Jason Ankney awarded the album three and a half stars and said that the album "proves one of Astrud Gilberto's most consistent and sublime efforts, artfully straddling the division between Brazilian bossa nova and American sunshine pop...the songs possess a lithe, shimmering beauty that perfectly complements Gilberto's feathery vocals". Ankeny reserves criticism for "the cloying sweetness that undermines so many of her mid-period Verve LPs", highlighting the duet with her son Marcelo on "The Bare Necessities".

Track listing

Streets...

Streets... is an album by British folk musician Ralph McTell. It was McTell's most successful album, entering the UK album chart on 15 February, 1975 and remaining there for twelve weeks. It opens with McTell's hit single, "Streets of London".

Track listing

All titles by Ralph McTell except * Trad. arr. Ralph McTell.

Personnel

Streets (ice cream)

Streets (also known as Walls in other countries) is an Australian ice-cream brand owned by the multi-national British-Dutch company Unilever. The company established a long term contract with dairy company Dairy Farmers.

Founding and history

Streets was founded in Corrimal, New South Wales, in the 1930s by Edwin "Ted" Street and his wife Daisy and is now Australia's largest ice-cream manufacturer. He set up a distribution depot at Bexley and then a factory where products were manufactured at in the Sydney suburb of Turrella until 1996, when production moved to a new facility in Minto. Today most cream-based products are produced at Minto, while water-based products are imported from Asia.

Streets introduced the Paddle Pop in 1953, and sold over ninety million units by centuries end. It ls per capita the world's best selling ice cream.

Corporate logo

The logo that it uses is the same Heartbrand logo that HB Ice Cream in Ireland use, Wall's ice cream, Good Humor, GB Glace, Selecta and Kibon use in the United Kingdom, United States, Philippines and Brazil respectively; all brands are owned by Unilever.