Wikipedia game!

[Nessa 23]

Abkhazian presidential election, 1999

Presidential elections were held in the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia in 1999.

Background

Outgoing President Vladislav Ardzinba stood unopposed in this election.

Results

Summary of the 1999 Abkhaz presidential election results

presidential candidate vice presidential candidate votes %

Vladislav Ardzinba Valery Arshba 190,013 98,87

total 192,175 100

[SteveLaura 0]

Pale Gerbil

The pallid gerbil, Gerbillus perpallidus is distributed mainly in northwestern Egypt. The pallid gerbils, usually shortened to pallid by enthusiasts, is recommended as a good second species for those with experience of keeping mongolian gerbils.

[Nessa 23]

Marc Kirschenbaum

Marc Kirschenbaum is an American origami artist, designer, and board member of OrigamiUSA. He is known for creation of complex origami models, including erotic origami works[1], called pornigami.

Biography

Marc Kirschenbaum was born in New York in 1969. He began folding paper when he was 3 and started designing his own origami models during childhood[2]. Kirschenbaum lives in New York City and works as an IT industry recruiter[1].

Publications

Paper in Harmony; 2000

Origami Bugs; 2007

[SteveLaura 0]

Merovingian art and architecture

Merovingian art and architecture is the art and architecture of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks, which lasted from the 5th century to the 8th century in present day France and Germany.

The advent of the Merovingian dynasty in Gaul in the 5th century led to important changes in the field of arts. Sculpture regressed to be little more than a simple technique for the ornamentation of sarcophagi, altars and ecclesiastical furniture. On the other hand, gold work and the new medium of manuscript illumination integrated "barbarian" animal-style decoration, with Late Antique motifs, and other contributions from as far as Syria or Ireland to constitute Merovingian art.

[almaty 19]

Pale Gerbil

The pallid gerbil, Gerbillus perpallidus is distributed mainly in northwestern Egypt. The pallid gerbils, usually shortened to pallid by enthusiasts, is recommended as a good second species for those with experience of keeping mongolian gerbils.

why does richard gere come to mind?

[Welshcookie 17]

Ronnie Van Zant

Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of .38 Special founder and vocalist Donnie Van Zant and current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant.

ROCK ON!

Edited November 8, 2007 by thanksforthefish

[SteveLaura 0]

He is known for creation of complex origami models, including erotic origami works[1], called pornigami.

Sure this was a random hit, Nessa...?

[almaty 19]

Ronnie Van Zant

Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of .38 Special founder and vocalist Donnie Van Zant and current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant.

ROCK ON!

rip ronnie

[Nessa 23]

He is known for creation of complex origami models, including erotic origami works[1], called pornigami.

Sure this was a random hit, Nessa...?

of course it was

[Nessa 23]

Current Neutral Countries

Current neutral countries include:

Austria - to maintain external independence and inviolability of borders (expressly modeled after the Swiss neutrality).

Costa Rica

Finland - a military doctrine of competent, "credible" independent defence, not depending on any outside support, and the desire to remain outside international conflicts.

Ireland

Liechtenstein

Sweden

Switzerland - self-imposed, permanent, and armed, designed to ensure external security.

Turkmenistan - declared its permanent neutrality and had it formally recognised by the U.N.

Countries claimed to have neutrality but not recognized by international affairs

Cambodia - claimed neutrality since 1993

Moldova - Article 6 of the 1994 Constitution proclaims "permanent neutrality"

Past neutral countries include:

Belgium - neutral stance abolished through the Treaty of Versailles

Laos - the International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos was signed in Geneva on July 23, 1962 by 14 nations, including the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Luxembourg - neutral stance abolished through its constitution in 1948

Netherlands - self imposed between 1839 and 1940.

An explanation of Current Neutral Countries

Other countries may be more active on the international stage, while emphasising an intention to remain neutral in case of war close to the country. By such a declaration of intentions, the country hopes that all belligerents will count on the country's territory as off limits for the enemy, and hence unnecessary to waste resources on.

Many countries made such declarations during World War II. Most, however, became occupied, and in the end only the state of Ireland, San Marino, Sweden and Switzerland (with Liechtenstein) remained neutral of the European countries closest to the war. Their fulfillment to the letter of the rules of neutrality have been questioned: Ireland supplied some important secret information to the Allies; for instance, the date of D-Day was decided on the basis of incoming Atlantic weather information secretly supplied to them by Ireland but kept from Germany. Sweden and Switzerland, as embedded within Nazi Germany and its associates, similarly made some concessions to Nazi requests.

However it should be noted that the neutrality of some countries now in the European Union is under dispute, especially as the EU now operates a common foreign policy. This view was supported by the Finnish Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, on 05/07/2006 while speaking to the European Parliament as Council President; "Mr Pflüger described Finland as neutral. I must correct him on that: Finland is a member of the EU. We were at one time a politically neutral country, during the time of the Iron Curtain. Now we are a member of the Union, part of this community of values, which has a common policy and, moreover, a common foreign policy." European Parliament Debate (English Translation)

[SteveLaura 0]

Delta Boötis

Delta Boötis (δ Boo / δ Boötis) is a binary star in the constellation Boötes. It is approximately 117 light years from Earth.

The primary component, δ Boötis A, is a yellow G-type giant with an apparent magnitude of +3.46. Its companion, δ Boötis B, is a yellow G-type main sequence dwarf with an apparent magnitude of +8.7. Distant of about 3800 AU, the two take about 120,000 years to orbit each other.

Despite evidence to the contrary, the person who wrote this is a right raver.

[ya falaha! 0]

Body Riddle

Body Riddle is an album by electronic musician Clark, released on October 2, 2006 on the Warp Records label (see 2006 in music).

[Nessa 23]

Degenerate music

Degenerate music (German: Entartete Musik) was a label applied in the 1930s by the Nazi government in Germany to certain forms of music that it considered to be harmful or decadent. The Nazi government's concern for degenerate music was a part of its larger and more well-known campaign against degenerate art ('Entartete Kunst'). In both cases, the government attempted to isolate, discredit, discourage, or ban the works.

The Nazi government considered several types of music to be degenerate, for several different reasons. Any music that was opposed to the Nazi regime by virtue of its content or the political views of its composers and performers was considered degenerate. This included works by Jewish and Jewish-origin composers (such as Felix Mendelssohn, Arnold Schoenberg, Franz Schreker, Kurt Weill, Gustav Mahler, and Berthold Goldschmidt); works that featured Jewish or African characters (such as those by Ernst Krenek); or works by composers of Marxist persuasion, eg Hanns Eisler. It also applied to artists that had shown sympathy for opponents of the Nazi Regime (such as Anton Webern, who had been a moderate supporter of Adolf Hitler but had maintained a friendship with the Jewish composer Schoenberg during his exile from Germany). Modernist music, such as works by Paul Hindemith, Alban Berg, Schoenberg, and Webern, was also considered degenerate. Modernist music was judged to be inferior to previous classical music, and it therefore offended the Nazis' sense of progress and civilization in general — and in particular their loyalty to Germany's many great classical composers. In addition, one might speculate that Modernist music's abandonment of structure and form presented a threat, albeit immaterial, to the culture of order and control that fascist regimes such as the Nazi party both developed and relied on. Finally, Jazz music was considered degenerate because of its roots in and association with the African-American culture.

From the Nazi seizure of power onward, these composers found it increasingly difficult, and often impossible, to get work or have their music performed. Many went into exile (eg Schoenberg, Weill, Hindemith, Goldschmidt); or retreated into 'internal exile' (eg Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Boris Blacher); or ended up in the concentration camps (eg Viktor Ullmann).

Some works which were later enthusiastically adopted by the Nazi regime, such as the hugely popular Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (1937), were initially described as degenerate by local music critics.

Like degenerate art, examples of degenerate music were displayed in public exhibits in Germany beginning in 1938.

From the mid-1990s the Decca Record Company released a series of recordings under the title 'Entartete Musik: music suppressed by the third reich' covering lesser-known works by several of the above-named composers.

[eau_xplain 2]

Grindon, Sunderland

Grindon is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in the United Kingdom.

Grindon means "girlie hill" (implying a female hill), from Old English garle and dun "hill". The name was recorded as Greneduun in 1156.

The change from Gren- to Grin- may have been influenced by Old English griot or Old Norse griōr "grit, gravel".

Edited November 8, 2007 by eau_xplain

[Nessa 23]

Southern Decadence

Southern Decadence is a week-long, predominantly gay-male event held in New Orleans, Louisiana and its environs by the gay and lesbian community in early September, climaxing with a parade through the French Quarter on the Sunday before Labor Day.

Most events take place in or around the French Quarter neighborhood of New Orleans, centering especially on the intersection of Bourbon and St. Ann streets...