Novelty detection is the mechanism by which an intelligent organism is able to identify an incoming sensory pattern as being hitherto unknown. If the pattern is sufficiently salient or associated with a high positive or strong negative utility, it will be given computational resources for effective future processing. The principle is long known in neurophysiology, with roots in the orienting response research by E. N. Sokolov in the 1950s. The reverse phenomenon is habituation, i.e., the phenomenon that known patterns yield a less marked response. Early neural modeling attempts were by Yehuda Salu...

Russian chanson (Russian: русский шансон, tr. russkiy shanson; from French "chanson") is a neologism for a musical genre covering a range of Russian songs, including city romance songs, author song performed by singer-songwriters, and blatnaya pesnya or "criminals' songs" that are based on the themes of the urban underclass and the criminal underworld. == History == The Russian chanson originated in the Russian Empire. The songs sung by serfs and political prisoners of the Tsar are very similar in content to the songs sung in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation today. However, during...

Blatnaya pesnya (Russian: блатная песня, IPA: [blɐtˈnajə ˈpʲesʲnʲə], "criminals' song") or blatnyak (Russian: блатняк, IPA: [blɐtʲˈnʲak]) is a genre of Russian song characterized by depictions of criminal subculture and the urban underworld which are often romanticized and have criminally-perverted humor in nature. == Terminology == In the post-Soviet era, blatnaya pesnya are marketed largely under the more generalized name "Russian chanson" (Russian: русский шансон, romanized: russkiy shanson). Coined in the 1990s, "Russian chanson" has become a marketing neologism akin to world music. These songs...

Serpent's Wall (Ukrainian: Змієві вали, romanized: Zmiievi valy) is an ancient system of earthworks (valla) located in the middle Dnieper Ukraine (Naddniprianshchyna) that stretch across primarily Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. They seem to be similar in purpose and character to Trajan's Wall situated to the southwest in Bessarabia. The remaining ancient walls have a total length of 1,000 km and constitute less than 20% of the original wall system. == History == According to legend, the earthworks are the result of ancient events when a mythical hero (bohatyr), Kozmodemian (or Borysohlib), in order to...

Stephen or Stephan Batman or Bateman (died 1584) was an English translator and author. == Life == Batman was born at Bruton, Somerset, and, after a preliminary education in the school of his native town, went to Cambridge, where he had the reputation of being a learned man and an excellent preacher. It is supposed he was the Bateman who in 1534 took the degree of LL.B., being at that time a priest and a student of six years' standing. Afterwards Archbishop Parker selected him as one of his domestic chaplains, and employed him in the collection of the library now deposited in Corpus Christi College...

Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth...