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The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn for balance while standing. The Stratocaster has been used by many leading guitarists, and thus can be heard on many historic recordings. Along with the Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, and the Fender Telecaster, it is one of the most common and enduring models of electric guitar in the world. The design of the Stratocaster has transcended the field of music to rank among the classic industrial designs of all time; examples have been exhibited at major museums around the world.

In its original form, the Stratocaster was offered initially in a 2-color sunburst finish, together with a solid deeply contoured ash body, a one-piece maple neck with 21 frets, black dot inlays and Kluson machine heads until 1957, when Fender started making bodies made from solid alder. There was also a set of available custom colors that wasn't standardized until 1960. These custom colors were mostly automobile lacquer colors made by Dupont and could be had for an extra 5% cost. The single-ply, 8-screw hole white pickguard was a unique concept that allowed all of the guitar's electronic components - except the recessed jack plate - to be mounted on one easy-to-remove surface. Subsequent Stratocaster designs (by both Fender and other imitating companies) have ostensibly improved upon the original in usability and sound, but vintage Fender models are still often worth large amounts of money and some prefer the timbre of older models.

Signature models

The AK-47 (contraction of Russian: Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года; Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1947 goda; "Kalashnikov's automatic rifle model of year 1947") is a 7.62 mm assault rifle developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov in two versions: the fixed stock AK-47 and the AKS-47 (S—Skladnoy priklad) variant equipped with an underfolding metal shoulder stock.

Design work on the AK began in 1944. In 1946 the rifle was presented for official military trials, and a year later the fixed stock version was introduced into service with select units of the Red ArmySoviet Armed Forces in 1949. It is also used by the majority of the member states of the former Warsaw Pact. The AK-47 was also used as a basis for the development of many other types of individual and crew-served firearms. (the folding stock model was developed later). The AK-47 was officially accepted by the

• AK-47 1948–51, 7.62x39mm — The very earliest models, with the Type 1 stamped sheet metal receiver, are now very rare.
• AK-47 1952, 7.62x39mm — Has a milled receiver and wooden buttstock and handguard. Barrel and chamber are chrome plated to resist corrosion. Rifle weight is 4.2 kg (9.3 lb).
• AKS-47 — Featured a downward-folding metal stock similar to that of the German MP40, for use in the restricted space in the BMP infantry combat vehicle, as well as by paratroops.
• RPK, 7.62x39mm — Squad automatic rifle version with longer barrel and bipod.
• AKM, 7.62x39mm — A simplified, lighter version of the AK-47; Type 4 receiver is made from stamped and riveted sheet metal (see schematic above). A slanted muzzle device was added to counter climb in automatic fire. Rifle weight is 3.1 kg (6.8 lb) due to the lighter receiver.
• AKMS, 7.62x39mm — Folding-stock version of the AKM intended for airborne troops. Stock may be either side- or under-folding
• AK-74 series, 5.45x39mm
• AK-101 series
• AK-103/AK-104 series
• AK-107/AK-108 series

Malaysia (pronounced /məˈleɪʒə/ or /məˈleɪziə/) is a country that consists of thirteen states and three federal territories in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,355 sq mi). The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 25 million. The country is separated into two regions — Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo — by the South China Sea. Malaysia borders Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. The country is located near the equator and experiences a tropical climate. Malaysia's head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (conventionally refered to as 'the King' or 'the Agong') and the government is headed by a Prime Minister. The government is closely modeled after the Westminster parliamentary system.

Malaysia as a unified state did not exist until 1963. Previously, a set of colonies were established by the United Kingdom from the late-18th century, and the western half of modern Malaysia was composed of several separate kingdoms. This group of colonies was known as British Malaya until its dissolution in 1946, when it was reorganized as the Malayan Union. Due to widespread opposition, it was reorganized again as the Federation of Malaya in 1948 and later gained independence on 31 August 1957. Singapore, Sarawak, British North Borneo and the Federation of Malaya joined to form Malaysia on 16 September 1963. The early years of the new union were marred by an armed conflict with Indonesia and the expulsion of Singapore. The Southeast Asian nation experienced an economic boom and underwent rapid development during the late-20th century. With a GDP per capita standing at USD14,400, it has, from time to time, been considered a newly industrialised country. Because Malaysia is one of three countries that control the Strait of Malacca, international trade plays a large role in its economy. At one time, it was the largest producer of tin, rubber and palm oil in the world. Manufacturing has a large influence in the country's economy.

The Malays form the majority of the population. Some Malays are of Arab descent and there are sizable Chinese and Indian communities. Islam is the largest as well as the official religion of the federation. The Malay language is the official language. Malay was originally written in Jawi, based on Arabic script, but nowadays, the Roman alphabet (Rumi) is more often used.


Malaysia is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and participates in many international organisations such as the United Nations. As a former British colony, it is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is also a member of the Developing 8 Countries.


Citizenship

Most Malaysians are granted citizenship by lex soli. All Malaysians are Federal citizens with no formal citizenships within the individual states, except for the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan in East Malaysia, where state citizenship is a privilege and distinguishable from the Peninsula. Every citizen is issued a biometric smart chip identity card, known as MyKad, at the age of 12, and must carry the card at all times. A citizen is required to present his or her identity card to the police, or in the case of an emergency, to any military personnel, to be identified. If the card cannot be produced immediately, the person technically has 24 hours under the law to produce it at the nearest police station.

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A Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a genre of computer role-playing games (CRPGs) in which a large number of players interact with one another in a virtual world. The term MMORPG was coined by Richard Garriott, the creator of Ultima Online, the game credited with popularizing the genre in 1997.

As in all RPGs, players assume the role of a fictional character (often in a fantasy world), and take control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player CRPGs by the number of players, and by the game's persistent world, usually hosted by the game's publisher, which continues to exist and evolve while the player is away from the game.

MMORPGs are very popular throughout the world. Worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars in 2005, and Western revenues exceeded US$1 billion in 2006.

Trends as of 2008

The iPhone is an Internet-enabled multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It has a multi-touch screen with virtual keyboard and buttons, but a minimal amount of hardware input. The iPhone's functions include those of a camera phone and portable media player (equivalent to the iPod) in addition to text messaging and visual voicemail. It also offers Internet services including e-mail, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity. The first generation phone hardware was quad-band GSM with EDGE; the second generation also adds UMTS with HSDPA.

Apple announced the iPhone on 9 January 2007. The announcement was preceded by rumors and speculation that circulated for several months. The iPhone was initially introduced in the United States on 29 June 2007 and is in the process of being introduced worldwide. It was named Time magazine's Invention of the Year in 2007. On 11 July 2008, the iPhone 3G was released and supported faster 3G data speeds and Assisted GPS.

Specifications

3G model

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression.

It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard encoding for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players.

MP3 is an audio-specific format that was co-designed by several teams of engineers at Fraunhofer IIS in Erlangen, Germany, AT&T-Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, USA, Thomson-Brandt, and CCETT. It was approved as an ISO/IEC standard in 1991.

MP3's use of a lossy compression algorithm is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording and still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio for most listeners, but is not considered high fidelity audio by audiophiles. An MP3 file that is created using the mid-range bit rate setting of 128 kbit/s will result in a file that is typically about 1/10th the size of the CD file created from the original audio source. An MP3 file can also be constructed at higher or lower bit rates, with higher or lower resulting quality. The compression works by reducing accuracy of certain parts of sound that are deemed beyond the auditory resolution ability of most people. This method is commonly referred to as perceptual coding. It internally provides a representation of sound within a short term time/frequency analysis window, by using psychoacoustic models to discard or reduce precision of components less audible to human hearing, and recording the remaining information in an efficient manner. This is relatively similar to the principles used by JPEG, an image compression format.

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The BMW E90 automobile platform is the fifth generation of the BMW 3 Series range of entry-level luxury/compact executive cars. The car is also available as a station wagon/estate (designated as E91), coupé (E92) and coupé cabriolet (E93). A high performance BMW M3 version of the E90, E92, and E93 is also available. It is the successor to the E46 platform, and was launched in March 2005.

In 2002, Head of Production Norbert Reithofer and Development Chief Burkhard Goeschel halved the standard BMW time it took to reach full production of the E90 from six months to three. First marketed in March 2005, it had quickly become BMW Group's best selling automobile worldwide by the end of the year with 229,900 vehicles delivered.

Sedan (E90)


The sedan (saloon) model of the 3 series was the first model sold of the 5th generation BMW 3 series. Debuting in 2006, the E90 came in two trims in the US, the 325i and 330i models. Later, the US E90 received an engine boost with the debuts of the 2007 328i/x and 335i/x models.

BMW released an M3 model of the E90 sedan for the 2008 model year. The M3 features a more powerful engine and aggressive M styling. The E90 M3 also separated itself from the standard E90 by utilizing the E92 coupe's front headlights and kidney grill design.

BMW updated the E90 sedan for the 2009 model year with minor changes comprising of new kidney grilles, a new front bumper, new headlamps, new wing mirrors, new tail lamps which return to the classic BMW L-shape, a larger boot lid, and updated iDrive with a web browser. Certain models have their rear track increased by 24mm. The 330d gets the new BMW N57 all-aluminum diesel engine with a variable geometry turbocharger,[4] and will develop 245PS. The E90 M3 only received the new rear design and iDrive system from the E90 2009 model year facelift.

Touring (E91)


The Sports Wagon (Touring) model of the 3-Series is available with both rear-wheel drive and xDrive AWD. BMW updated the E91 touring for the 2009 model year with the same changes as the E90.

Coupé (E92)


The two-door coupé model of the 3-Series became available in August 2006. It is also the first BMW coupé offered with xDrive. The new car's body is now its own design and no longer derived from the sedan minus two doors unlike its predecessors.

All E92s also come standard with Xenon HID headlights and "retractable seatbelt helpers" that extend from the B pillar to hand you the seatbelt when the key fob is in the ignition and the door is closed. The coupé is longer and narrower than its E90 counterpart. The E92 comes with 320i, 325i, 325xi, 328i, 328xi, 330i, 330xi, 335i, 335xi, 320d, 325d, 330d, 335d and 330xd models (availability of certain models depends on region; diesels not available to the US market until 2008). The 335i Coupe will be the first non-M BMW to get the M DCT transmission.
BMW released an M3 model of the E92 coupe for the 2008 model year. Along with the same powerful engine and similar aggressive M styling found in its E90 counterpart, the E92 M3 has a black carbon fiber roof.

Cabriolet (E93)


For the first time for BMW, the popular 3 Series convertible is no longer available with a folding soft top. Instead, the traditional fabric has been replaced with a 3 piece, folding metal hardtop roof. The new Coupé-cabriolet is also the center of many new technological advancements for BMW as well as the recipient of many existing safety and performance technologies that have been improved upon for the new model. The new 3 Series convertible improves upon BMWs "Comfort Access" option, by allowing the user to completely raise and lower the folding roof by simply pressing and holding the respective buttons on the key fob.

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The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event which is being celebrated in Beijing, People's Republic of China, from August 8 (with football starting on August 6) to August 24, 2008 and followed by the 2008 Summer Paralympics from September 6 to September 17. 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports, one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 games. The 2008 Beijing Olympics will also mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees (NOC), with the equestrian events to be held in Hong Kong.

The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a stylised calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), referencing the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new NOCs have also been recognised by the IOC.
The Chinese government has promoted the games to highlight China's emergence on the world stage and has invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems. A total of 37 venues will be used to host the events including 12 newly constructed venues. Earlier in 2007, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had said that he believes that the Beijing games will be "the best in Olympic history," and current president Jacques Rogge asserts that the IOC has "absolutely no regrets" in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 games. The choice of China as a host country has been a subject of criticism by politicians and NGOs concerned about China's human rights record.

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