In logic, the law of identity states that each thing is identical with itself. It is the first of the historical three laws of thought, along with the law of noncontradiction, and the law of excluded middle. However, few systems of logic are built on just these laws. == History == === Ancient philosophy === The earliest recorded use of the law appears to occur in Plato's dialogue Theaetetus (185a), wherein Socrates attempts to establish that what we call "sounds" and "colours" are two different classes of thing: Socrates: With regard to sound and colour, in the first place, do you thin...

Inscape and instress are complementary and enigmatic concepts about individuality and uniqueness derived by the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins from the ideas of the medieval philosopher Duns Scotus. Inscape has been rendered variously as: external design, aesthetic conception, intrinsic beauty, the intrinsic form of a thing, a form perceived in nature, the individual self, the expression of the inner core of individuality, the peculiar inner nature of things and persons, expressed in form and gesture, and an essence or identity embodied in a thing. These twin concepts are what his most famous poems...

Verb: bug out (third-person singular simple present bugs out, present participle bugging out, simple past and past participle bugged out)

1. (slang, intransitive, originally military) To leave (a place) hastily.
2. It's time I bugged out of this town: it ain't safe no more.
3. (slang, intransitive) To abandon someone without warning.
4. I'm not gonna bug out on you, I promise.
5. (slang, intransitive) To miss school, play truant, play hooky.

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The Northern river reversal or Siberian river reversal was an ambitious project to divert the flow of the Northern rivers in the Soviet Union, which "uselessly" drain into the Arctic Ocean, southwards towards the populated agricultural areas of Central Asia, which lack water.Research and planning work on the project started in the 1930s and was carried out on a large scale in the 1960s through the early 1980s. The controversial project was abandoned in 1986, primarily for environmental reasons, without much actual construction work ever done. == Development of the river rerouting projects... ==

Noun: cookie pusher (plural cookie pushers)

1. (slang, derogatory) A diplomat, especially a member of the United States Foreign Service.
2. 2009, Robert Beisner, Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War (page 311)
3. Early in 1951, Lovett told reporters: “He's no cookie pusher. He's a giant.” Francis Russell from public affairs, who chatted with him often, said he never mentioned McCarthy.
4. 2012, Richard Marcinko, John Weisman, Detachment Bravo
5. Our ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, a cookie pusher from Foggy Bottom, was called to Downing Street and read the well-known riot act by the prime minister for allowing such undiplomatic behavior […]

Ceiba speciosa, the floss silk tree (formerly Chorisia speciosa), is a species of deciduous tree native to the tropical and subtropical forests of South America. It has several local common names, such as palo borracho (in Spanish literally "drunken stick") or árbol del puente, samu'ũ (in Guarani) or paineira (in Brazilian Portuguese). In Bolivia, it is called toborochi, meaning "tree of refuge" or "sheltering tree". It belongs to the same family as the baobab and the kapok. Another tree of the same genus, Ceiba chodatii, is often referred to by the same common names. == Description == The natural...

Grace Brewster Hopper (née Murray; December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first linkers. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and the FLOW-MATIC programming language she created using this theory was later extended to create COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today. Prior to joining the Navy, Hopper earned a Ph...