Abracadabra is an incantation used as a magic word in stage magic tricks, and historically was believed to have healing powers when inscribed on an amulet.

Etymology

The word may have its origin in the Aramaic language, but numerous conflicting folk etymologies are associated with it.

The word Abracadabra may derive from an Aramaic phrase meaning "I create as I speak." or from the Greek "Αύρα κατ' αύρα" meaning "from Αura to Aura". This etymology is dubious, however, as אברא כדברא in Aramaic is more reasonably translated "I create like the word." In the Hebrew language, אברא translates as "I will create" and כדברא "as spoken". The second lexeme in this supposedly Aramaic phrase might be a noun given the presence of the definite article on the end of the word (it cannot be an infinitive construct, as the infinitive cannot take the definite article). Regardless, this phrase would actually be pronounced ebra kidbara, which is clearly different from abracadabra.

"[A]bracadabra may comprise the abbreviated forms of the Hebrew words Ab (Father), Ben (Son) and Ruach A Cadsch (Holy Spirit), though an alternative derivation relates the word to Abraxas, a god with snakes for feet who was worshipped in Alexandria in pre-Christian times." David Pickering's description of the word as an abbreviation from Hebrew is also a false etymology—as he apparently here means Aramaic (בר is Aramaic for "son", it is בן in Hebrew, although בר is an honorific form), nor does he account for the final five letters (i.e., -dabra) in the lexeme.

Abracadabra is a text adventure game developed by Odisea Software and published by Proein Soft Line only in Spanish for the Amstrad CPC, MSX and ZX Spectrum in 1988.

Plot

In the year 1209, a knight named Clus d'Eledorf was bewitched by the jealous Queen Saligia, enamored with him, to become a ghost haunting the Castle Burgenfels until he would confess his love to her. The game is divided into two parts. In part one, Clus has to find a way to rid of the witch, break the curse and escape his prison. In the second part, Clus needs to seek out and rescue his beloved Princess Violeta from the Greenwald forest.

Reception

The game was well received by Spanish video game press. MicroHobby called it an "excellent game with a high level of graphic quality and more importantly a stunning setting and realization" and a "fantasy adventure game that provides all the elements necessary to satisfy even the most demanding fans of this genre."Micromania gave it a score of 8/10 and CAAD opined that "among the adventures existing on the Spanish market, this one is definitely the best."

Abracadabra is the sixth studio album by the British band ABC, released in August 1991 on EMI. It was the final ABC album to feature founding member Mark White, who departed the band in 1992.

ABC moved to the EMI label, where they recorded the LP Abracadabra, a tightly produced fusion of early 1990s techno sounds and 1970s dance grooves which was met with muted critical approval and appreciation from the band's fan base.

The first single, "Love Conquers All", peaked at No. 47 on the UK Singles Chart and remixes of "Say It" (done by Black Box) were well received on the US dance charts.

Background

In a 1997 interview, Fry summed up the making of the album, saying, "Went round in circles making this. Started in the US in Detroit Chicago and New York. Scrapped a lot of music to get to the finished record. Finished it at the Townhouse Shepherd's Bush. A low."

In a 2006 interview, Fry spoke of the album, relating to the duo returning to dance beats and the club scene since the Up album. Fry said, "Well, actually, Abracadabra...we got a massive deal with EMI, but, by then, the group had really burned out, but we were making Abracadabra. Some of the record worked. "Love Conquers All," and "Spellbound," with Phil Manzanera (from Roxy Music), worked. There's some moments on it. What can I say? I'm very critical, very critical."

Logic (from the Ancient Greek: λογική, logike) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the use and study of valid reasoning. The study of logic also features prominently in mathematics and computer science.

Logic was studied in several ancient civilizations, including Greece, India, and China. In the West, logic was established as a formal discipline by Aristotle, who gave it a fundamental place in philosophy. The study of logic was part of the classical trivium, which also included grammar and rhetoric. Logic was further extended by Al-Farabi who categorized it into two separate groups (idea and proof). Later, Avicenna revived the study of logic and developed relationship between temporalis and the implication. In the East, logic was developed by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.

Logic is often divided into three parts: inductive reasoning, abductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning.

The study of logic

The concept of logical form is central to logic. The validity of an argument is determined by its logical form, not by its content. Traditional Aristotelian syllogistic logic and modern symbolic logic are examples of formal logic.

In set theory, Ω-logic is an infinitary logic and deductive system proposed by W. Hugh Woodin (1999) as part of an attempt to generalize the theory of determinacy of pointclasses to cover the structure . Just as the axiom of projective determinacy yields a canonical theory of , he sought to find axioms that would give a canonical theory for the larger structure. The theory he developed involves a controversial argument that the continuum hypothesis is false.

Woodin's Ω-conjecture asserts that if there is a proper class of Woodin cardinals (for technical reasons, most results in the theory are most easily stated under this assumption), then Ω-logic satisfies an analogue of the completeness theorem. From this conjecture, it can be shown that, if there is any single axiom which is comprehensive over (in Ω-logic), it must imply that the continuum is not . Woodin also isolated a specific axiom, a variation of Martin's maximum, which states that any Ω-consistent (over ) sentence is true; this axiom implies that the continuum is .

"Logic" is a song by Australian band Operator Please. It is the first single released from the band's second album, Gloves. The song's official release was on 16 February 2010.

Release

The song first appeared on the band's official MySpace page on 15 January 2010. Around the same time a download offer was added to the band's official website where you could sign up to a mailing list which would send you a free download link on 8 February. The song went on to be officially released on the iTunes Store eight days later, and was released on 7" vinyl on 12 March. It is notable that new member Chris Holland contributes backing vocals to "Logic".

Music video

In early February, the band filmed the video for "Logic". The video premiered on 13 February on Video Hits. It is predominantly a performance-based video and features effects reminiscent of the artwork for the album.

Track listings