O'Shea Jackson (born June 15, 1969), better known by his stage name, Ice Cube (The Don-Mega) is an American MC, songwriter, actor, screenwriter and film director. Regarded as one of the greatest hip hop artists, he began his career as a founding member of the famously controversial rap group N.W.A, and later launched a successful solo career in music and cinema. In 1992, he married Kimberly Woodruff, with whom he has four children. Later, in 1992, he converted to Islam. From the mid-1990s onwards, Cube focused on acting, and his musical output has slowed down considerably. He remains one of the most visible West Coast rappers, having helped originate gangsta rap. He is particularly well-known for his incendiary raps on political and racial topics, particularly the treatment of blacks in the United States.
Ice cubes are small, roughly cube-shaped pieces of ice, conventionally used to cool beverages. Ice cubes are often preferred over crushed ice because they melt more slowly; they are standard in mixed drinks that call for ice, in which case the drink is said to be "on the rocks."
Ice cubes are produced domestically by filling an ice cube tray with water and placing it in a freezer. Many freezers also come equipped with an icemaker, which produces ice cubes automatically and stores them in a bin from which they can be dispensed directly into a glass. Ice cubes made by automatic icemakers are generally longer and thinner, requiring less force to remove them from the tray and thereby reducing the likelihood of the cube becoming stuck in the dispenser.
There are also dedicated ice-maker machines, for use in producing ice cubes in laboratory and academic settings. Ice cubes are also produced commercially and sold in bulk; these ice cubes, despite their name, are often cylindrical, and may have holes through the center. An interesting characteristic of commercially made ice cubes is that they are completely clear, lacking the clouding found in the center of domestically made ice cubes. This is due to the machine forming the cubes in thin layers, instead of all the water that the ice cube consists of being frozen at once.hj
Cloudy ice cubes result when water is frozen quickly. When water is cooled slowly (or very close to its freezing point), dissolved gases and microscopic bubbles have a chance to exit the water. However, as ice floats in water, a layer of ice forms on the surface, trapping any bubbles within the ice cube. Ice-makers use a flowing source of water to make ice, allowing the bubbles to be washed away as the cube grows.
Melting ice cubes sometimes precipitate white flakes. This is calcium carbonate which is present in many water supplies and is completely harmless.
Traditionally, drinks in the United States are served with ice; in Europe they are served with or without ice. In India and other parts of the world, it has traditionally been viewed as unhealthy to drink something with ice in it; today, many older Indians still refuse to use it.
Ice cubes can also be crushed or sheared into irregularly-shaped flakes, adding an interesting aesthetic effect to some cocktails. Crushed ice is also used when faster cooling is desired as the surface area of the ice increases when ice is crushed with and when there is a need to shape the ice to conform to a particular shape e.g. when it is used in an ice pack to cool injuries.
