Artefact Listing

This page lists all artefacts in the game, of which there are 1080.

Industry / Artefact	Description
Music Pied Piper Owners: 905	Music has been noted to be an instrument of mood manipulation, from the aroused state to the highly agitated, to very calm, to a almost suggestible state. All of these moods have been observed in careful study of participants listening to the Pied Piper.
Politics Senator Owners: 1108	The Senator is a useful government official to have in your pocket. He busies himself passing legislation that favours you and makes sure the law enforcement agencies don't look too deeply into your shady deals.
Film and Television Director Owners: 744	Short, dictatorial, and uncrossable, the Director wields all the power on the set of any film. No star will mess with a Director, lest his performance be left on the cutting-room floor.
Life Tree of Life Owners: 1032	"The affinities of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree... As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications." From Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Humor Gag Master Owners: 917	The clown, the buffoon and stand up have nothing on this great invention from the dephs of corporate research labs. The Gag Master takes all the guesswork out of this vital human condition. Its mood analysis and artificial intelligence unit can prepare the right quip, retort and punchline in nanoseconds. Its ear receiver is unnoticable but a synaptic cord plug upgrade exists for the person serious about getting in the gags all the time without detection. Be the life and soul of the party and disarm your business oponents with wity one liners that will be the envy of the BS100.
Sex Pornstar Owners: 862	Pornstars are always useful to have around. If you're trying to persuade a businessman, offer him a free ride in a limo and dinner on the house. If it is a businesswoman offer her a free couple of hours with a trained masseur. Keep it strictly business though, remember what happens when the press gets wind of this.
News Scoop Owners: 982	An exclusive news story acquired before a competitor sounds like music to every publisher's ears. Better not forget to check and double-check though. Or the so-called scoop might turn into a real nightmare seriously undermining your credibility.
Relationships Counselor Owners: 736	Even a glance at the make/break statistics for relationships reveals that many just don't seem to work out as well as one might hope. It is difficult, if not impossible, to be objective and unbiased when so closely involved with another person -- and the very closeness often leads one to believe that one knows more about the partner's needs than is actually the case. Enter the Counselor, who can mediate between the parties and help them achieve mutual understanding and acceptance. However, there are some relationships that even a skilled Counselor cannot mend... hence the existence of divorce attorneys.
Hobbies Workroom Owners: 744	Every hobbiest, gamer, tinkerer and writer wishes they could have a place that was just their own, where no one could bother them or disturb them. What better than your own Workroom where you can craft, shape, or play? Let your creative side out and enjoy your hobby in the comfort of your own Workroom, after all you deserve it.
Cameras and Photographic Techniques Lens Junky Owners: 818	The Lens Junky is in love with his camera equipment. He buys only the best, and spends almost every dime to do so. He'd sooner go without pizza or sex than his beloved Nikon SLR. He sometimes talks to it, when he thinks he is alone. Be that as it may, he is also a very talented individual, good at acessing restricted photo spots and telling racy stories.
Writing Shakespeare's Quill Owners: 850	Inspiration is at hand if you have something so remarkable as Shakespeare's quill. All you need do is imagine him busily jotting down his next play or poem. Truly the muse will be with you, so use it as only a writer could.
Love Life Love Letter Owners: 638	The love letter is the most romantic form of communication between two lovers, and can be cherished no matter the distance apart. A well penned letter can raise the heart rate, and bring to mind the most beloved memories in a relationship. One site online says "The most ancient love letter was found in Iran, it can be dated to about 4000 years ago. A young man called Gimisa was in love with a young lady called Dasbuai, that was why he wrote a love message to her in which he asked her to meet with him. It took much patience and much force to write and to receive this kind of love letter as its weight was more than 16 kilograms!"
Literature Blustocking Owners: 771	A smart woman who hides behind a spinsterish facade, she knows everything there is to know about any book placed before her, from the year it was written to the author's favorite food to the typographical error that occurs on page nine of the first one hundred printed. She can also quote Dorothy Parker and Ogden Nash in her sleep.
Art Bohemian Owners: 810	Never having quite enough cash, and sometimes forced to the streets, the Bohemian is very resourceful at living. A Bohemian relies on talents, charm, and instincts to insert him or herself amongst those with wealth and power, and therefore eat at another's expense. Because the Bohemian is often a fascinating person, most of his or her victims seem not to mind.
Technology Master Hacker Owners: 992	The Master Hacker is a useful person to have in your employ. He solves problems using a variety of technologies and can be entertained by pizza, porn and lots and lots of hardware.
Internet Network Engineer Owners: 944	Network Engineers are the masters of connectivity, with the pulse of the digital world at their fingertips. Their favour can be the difference between packet loss hell and high speed heaven.
Blog Services Soapbox Owners: 899	More and more people are keeping weblogs - diary-style websites on which they post commentaries and recommend links. Webloggers typically offer pithy, sarcastic commentary about the links, or about news stories they've read, or about happenings in their daily lives. A weblog is, for many webloggers, their chance to stand upon a personal Soapbox and proclaim to the world-at-large what they think. Underestimate the power of the Soapbox artefact at your peril.
Fun Pleasuredome Owners: 795	The purely hedonistic pursuit of an idea or activity that is pleasurable to oneself. The repeated use of the Pleasuredome is noted to produce an uncanny effect of always being in a good mood. Keep smiling and everyone will wonder what you have been up to.
Computers Improbability Drive Owners: 914	The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) was of course well understood - and such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess's undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the Theory of Indeterminacy. Many respectable physicists said that they weren't going to stand for this - partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sort of parties.
Gay Brochure Owners: 753	The Brochure is designed to educate the general public on the true facts of the gay community, as well as to fight both right wing and religious right rhetoric. Brochures are designed to show people why the gay vote is so important, the importance of equality for all, and also covers in great detail such important issues as immigration equality, adoption equality, and marriage equality.
Journal Anne Frank's Diary Owners: 1067	The diary of a young girl surviving the extraordinary tragedy of the Holocaust is an inspiration to all journalists. Her recounting of experiences highlights a great scope of the human condition from terror through faith to hope. The simple, eloquent, personal style is a model for online journals which bring life to their times amidst the passage of history. In the understanding of journals, Anne Frank's Diary is an invaluable asset.
Links HTTP 404 - File Not Found Owners: 910	Hailed as the nightmare of the web, the 404 Error surfaces in even the best web pages. Known to generate earth-shattering white pages with no navigational links, web surfer and web designer alike are warned to stay away from this cold, merciless scourge of the deep.
Geek Glasses Owners: 897	For those that don't have 20/20 vision, their glasses are like their eyes. If you are caught wearing them, you will normally be called 4 eyes. If you are caught without them, you are probably stumbling everywhere trying to find them when they fell off. For some, a curse, for others, the cure, but one thing is for certain: they will always be called by all geeks everywhere "my pair of eyes" or, more lovingly, "eyes 3 and 4."
Religion Spiritual Retreat Owners: 786	Every religious denomination should have a place where one can contemplate, meditate, discuss, search or study. With this artefact one can always look to the tranquility that comes with such places and why they are so important.
Christianity Gospel Owners: 819	The gospel is the centerpiece of the Christian faith. It consist of three primary events: the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, his burial in a closed tomb, and his resurrection three days after his death. The communities of christianity rest upon this foundation in their belief system. for christians, those who embrace the truth of the gospel will be in heaven in the afterlife and be in relationship with God in this life.
Buddhism Bodhi Tree Owners: 529	For three days and nights, Siddhartha meditated beneath the Bodhi Tree. When he arose, he was enlightened, and became Buddha.
Islam Schism Owners: 606	Islam is divided into two main sub-divisions, the Sunni, who form about a 90 percent majority of the Muslim world, and the Shia, who form about 10 percent. The origins of the two schools are steeped in the early history of Islam. The Sunnis hold that the first four caliphs, or rulers, after the Prophet Muhammad were 'rightly guided' whereas Shi'ites are 'the partisans of Ali' who believe that the Prophet's son-in-law should have succeeded him directly. These struggles in the seventh century broadened out into a schism as great as that between the Orthodox, Catholics and the Protestants in Christianity.
Sikhism Guru Granth Sahib Owners: 182	"Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the Living, awake Sri Guru Nanak Sahib who talks," wrote Baba Nand Singh Ji Maharaj. Sikhs revere this Granth, the holy book of the very words spoken by founders of the Sikh religion, as a living Guru. The sacred scripture consists of over 5000 Shabhads, poetic hymns written in Gurmukhi, with a message of perfect universal love.
Hinduism The Trinity Owners: 191	In Hinduism, the Trinity signifies the three most important deities that control the entire creation. Brahma, the creator, makes everything, the Earth, the skies, the Universe. Vishnu, the preserver, ensures that everything is stable and nothing that could threaten the creation continues to happen. Shiva, the destroyer, destroys the creation and the cycle is repeated.
Judaism The Torah Owners: 457	The Torah is the primary document of Judaism, and is the source of all Biblical commandments. Torah, is a Hebrew word meaning the teaching or the law. It refers to the first section of the Tanakh; the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, or the Five Books of Moses. These books of the Torah include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Hebrew names for these 5 books are Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bemidbar, and Devarim. As it is the holiest document in the Jewish religion, theTorah is carefully hand-written using a quill on specially prepared unblemished animal hide which is called Gevil. A sefer ("kosher") Torah contains 304,805 letters, all of which must be duplicated precisely by a trained sofer ("scribe"). The ink is special, the scroll is special, and it is witnessed by Rabbis in the process to insure that it is kept within those standards. When completed, it is dressed in elaborate textile covers, crowned with silver ornaments and kept in the holiest spot within the synagogue called the Ark. The Ark is usually built along the wall that most closely faces Jerusalem, the direction faced by Jews when engaged in prayer. The text of the Torah is also commonly printed as a book, known as the Chumash ("five", for the five books of Moses), and is often accompanied by commentaries or translations.
Paganism Julian The Apostate Owners: 62	Flavius Claudius Julianus, also as Julian the Apostate, was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire. In an effort to save Rome and her values he purged attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the cost of Christianity. His rejection of Christianity in favor of "Neo-Platonic paganism" caused him to be called Julian the Apostate by the church.
Web Design WYSWYG Owners: 884	Commonly mistaken for "What You See, What You Get", WYSWYG is an ancient demonic presence brought to the modern world to fool niave web designers into the believing that their drawings will translate into documents presentable on the Web. These sirens call newbies and crash them on the rocks of bloated mark-up, browser incompatibility and table hell. Used against your (blog) enemies it can disrupt and reduce productivity allowing you and your trusty text editor to steam ahead of the game.
Personal Peeping Tom Owners: 998	Peeping Toms are never praised, like novelists or bird watchers, for their keenness of observation yet they are everywhere. He's there when you write about your glorious moments but he won't close his eyes when it gets embarrassing. Be warned.
Poetry Muse Owners: 769	A beautiful, but often pouting woman, fickle in her times of appearance and her moods. When she shows, however, nothing and no one can be more inspiring, and no one can resist her allure. Many a man has fallen to his death chasing his muse over a cliff.
Friends Friendship Bracelet Owners: 614	"Birds of a feather flock together", so goes the cliche. Man is a social creature, and to connect with people of like minds, keeping the company and sharing the same interests, answers a basic human need for acceptance and affirmation.<br />Friendship bracelets are usually cheap plastic, wooden or plastic beads, or even hemp and stones, but regardless of its contents, the meaning is always clear. Friends often swap friendship bracelets to demonstrate a commitment to each other, and wear them as symbols of their pride in a strong friendship.
Education Dean Owners: 769	The Dean runs the school, and everything must pass his office and receive his stamp of approval. Cross the Dean and you're cooked. Know the daughter of the aunt of the Dean's cousin, and you might get free tuition.
High School Bully Owners: 568	Commute to and from school earlier or later in the day. Take different routes to school. Try not to be alone in the hallways, locker rooms, restrooms, or empty classrooms. And DON'T bring any lunch money.
University Degree Owners: 846	'Bachelor', 'Master' or better yet 'Doctor', a degree is a wonderful thing. If it doesn't get you a decent job, it's still a nice decoration on the wall.
Games Mario Brothers Owners: 759	Timing is everything in the business of games. When it comes to gaming, who could forget Mario and Luigi, two Italian plumber brothers from Brooklyn. If your portfolio is leaky give the Mario's a call, they'll put the wrenches to your opponent's pipes.
Philosophy Philosophers Stone Owners: 711	The Philosopher's Stone, able to bring about bring about a permanent transmutation of base metals into gold. When a solution of the Stone in spirits of wine is consumed, health and youth are restored. The Philosopher's Stone has an immense range of powers, not only possessing the secrets of life and health, but also the purity and sanctity of the highest realm of pure thought and altruistic existence.
Media Bloggers Owners: 840	As the Internet is gaining ground to become the most influential media sector at the expense of the more traditional sectors such as TV, radio, press and publishing, PR & advertising, we witness the rapid emergence of a whole new generation of mini media moguls whom we call �Bloggers�. From a personal diary which probably no one bothers to read to the real time report from the Baghdad Blogger who scooped our news network with over 20,000 readers a day, the blogging community (now over one million members and still growing strong) is fast becoming a genuine alternative for news sources and for PR and advertising. As Guardian, UK puts it, �Underestimate their power at your own peril�.
TV Boob Tube Owners: 689	The Boob Tube has designs on turning your mind to mush. Repeated exposure to mindless sitcoms and reality shows will gradually dull your senses, make you lose your eyesight, and give you a bad case of couch potatoitis. There is a cure for this however it's only recommended for those with thought processes still intact. Turn it off.
Radio Wolfman Jack Owners: 465	For millions, Wolfman Jack--indisputably the world's most famous DJ--was the master of ceremonies for the rock 'n' roll generation of the '60s on radio. In the early 1960s, when much of the airwaves were segregated, Bob Smith created his shadowy wild man alter ego so that he could DJ on the radio the "rhythm and blues" race records he loved so much. As the enigmatic Wolfman Jack, the young white man from Brooklyn, could easily hide behind a voice that masked his true ethnic roots. Wolfman Jack held court over his young audience from XERF-AM, just south of Cuidad Acuna, Mexico, where the 250,000 watt signal (five times more powerful than any U.S. radio station could legally be) blanketed most of North America. Many teens first discovered The Wolfman while scanning the AM radio band as they cruised Main Street U.S.A. Out of the night came a howling, guttural, ethereal voice amid a collection of rock 'n' roll, inner-city ethnic rhythm, and deep-south blues records that wouldn't be found on any "legal" radio station. Without the benefit of traditional advertising, it was word of mouth that spread the news about the provocative Wolfman and his nonconformist style -- the kind of style that horrified parents, making it all the more appealing to a growing legion of young followers.
Newspapers Extra Edition Owners: 577	The newspapers deliver the news to our homes daily or weekly. But when a special event happens, "Hold the presses!" newspapers put out a Extra Edition to let everyone know. Back in the early days of the press, it wasn't uncommon for the newsboys selling the paper to shout "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Which, when you think of it, is the heart and soul of a newspaper... read all about it.
Magazines / Periodicals Time Magazine Owners: 642	This very informative magazine was co-founded by Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce in 1923. Hitting the stands for the first time in March 2, 1923, this weekly magazine had its unique writing style that people seemed to enjoy. One of its most demanded issues is their yearly "Man of the Year" (recently renamed to "Person of the Year") that recognizes not only humans for their contribution to society, but machines and ideas as well .
Cinema / Film / Video Latham Loop Owners: 641	A ingenious solution to an early problem in film projection, the Latham Loop reduced the stress on the long lengths of film used in cameras. By allowing a "loop" of film before entering the projection chamber, the Latham family were able to stop film from breaking under the duress of projection. The technology was the subject of long patent litigation.
Drawing Charcoal Pencil Owners: 544	The charcoal pencil -- some artists swear by it, while others despise it completely. It's messy and smudgy, but it allows for effects unattainable with any other tool. Regardless of opinions, drawing just wouldn't be drawing without the familiar and distinct drag of the charcoal pencil. It allows for drawings to lose their reflective value and still retain shadows and some degree of detail. Artists of the world, grab your charcoal pencils and allow your hands to blacken.
Art History Caves of Lascaux Owners: 270	This is where you can find some of the oldest man-made images on earth. These caves hold the prehistoric paintings that begin every chronologically taught history of art class. The Lascaux Caves, along with those in Altamira and Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, contain the seeds of all human artistic development. The first artists began producing public murals of animals and hunting scenes between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. The images astounded the first modern people who saw them. They could not not believe that such beautiful, elegant, and accurate paintings could have been done by "cave men." But carbon dating has told us they did. Today, the caves at Lascaux are no longer open to the public because of the rapid deterioration of the paint surfaces due to the moisture and carbon dioxide produced by hundreds of tourists every day. But we can still enjoy them in detail in our art history classes and at their websites.
Painting Ultramarine Blue Owners: 363	Painters during the middle ages didn't have half the color choices we have today. All of their pigments were natural, coming mostly from mineral sources. But one pigment was so rare and so fine and so beautiful that it was more expensive than gold: Ultramarine Blue. The pigment came from the lapis-lazuli gem, mined only in present day Afghanistan, so importing it was costly. The deep blue color is lightfast, and is still just as bright today as when it was applied to panels 700 years ago. It was the color of a Duccio Virgin's cloak, and the feathers on the wings of Fra Angelico's angels. When patrons commissioned paintings, they specified how much gold leaf and Ultramarine Blue to use - the more blue and gold, the more spectacular the painting, the more prestigious the donor. Both the cost and the beauty of Ultramarine Blue reflected God's glory. However, the use of this color declined in later centuries. In the 19th century, Cobalt Blue was discovered, and replaced Ultramarine as the most beautiful of blues. In the 20th century, synthetic pigments appeared on the market. Today, most of the pigments painters use are synthetic, whether they be in oils or acrylics or watercolors. Even as a synthetic, Ultramarine Blue is still one of the most popular colors in painting.
Hometown Blogs Main Street Owners: 340	Every town has a Main Street, a path that takes citizens through the heart of a place. It might have a post office next to a gas station, or a small store where the proprietor lives next door, or an arts and crafts shop next to a cafe where the regulars sit and sip their coffee and pass the time of day while the rest of the world walks and drives by. A hometown blog can open up the hearts and minds of readers and introduce them to the characters of the town, the places, values and events that knit the residents together. Think of a Hometown Blog as a character on Main Street, giving us insight into people and places we might otherwise never know.
Science Experiment Owners: 725	In the scientific method, an experiment is a set of actions and observations, performed to verify or falsify a hypothesis or identify a causal relationship between phenomena. The experiment is a cornerstone in empirical approach to knowledge.
Food and Drink Connoisseur Owners: 730	A person with expert knowledge or training, especially in the fine arts. A connoisseur of foods or drink is a person of informed and discriminating taste.
Recipes / Techniques Chef Owners: 672	The Chef can prepare exquisite dishes using superb ingredients and taking great care in preparation and presentation thus arousing intense delight. But are you willing to trust him? What if he put arsenic in your delicacies?
Cooking Fannie Farmer Cookbook Owners: 438	Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 March 1857 - 15 January 1915) published The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book in 1896. What made the book immensely popular was not so much the 1,849 recipes ranging from milk toast to Zigaras � la Russe, but that she provided scientific explanations of the chemical processes that occur in food during cooking and she helped standardize the system of measurements used in cooking. Prior to the Cookbook's publication, other recipes frequently called for amounts such as "a piece of butter the size of an egg," or "a teacup of milk." Farmer's systematic discussion of measurement -- "A cupful is measured level . . . A tablespoonful is measured level. A teaspoonful is measured level." -- led to her being named "the mother of level measurements." Even a hundred years later, the "Fannie Farmer Cookbook" is still popular.
Programming HexHacker Owners: 790	The HexHacker spends so much time before his computer, hacking hexidecimal code, that he begins to think and speak in it. He hasn't combed his hair in months, but he can access every webcam on the planet in seconds, and break almost any security system remotely. He's secretly building a web-based program which will help him in his schemes to dominate the globe, all from a shiny G5 Mac, or a Unix server.
Web Technologies Router Owners: 819	File transfer, IRC, instant messaging, online purchases and even the humble web page - none of these would be possible without the humble Router. It directs your request for information to the right place and directs it back to you. Without it, online commerce wouldn't exist.
XML Validator Owners: 623	Numerous standards and extensibility can be a confusing mess in the world of XML, so where would you be without your schema and trusty Validator? Human readable machine communication no longer needs to be a grammatical nightmare.<br />The true BlogShares entrepreneur offers his validator, gaining market support and influence. Competition in this space can be neutralized by shifting the ground underneath them to your advantage through interpretive messages from your Validator.<br />But be careful not to cry foul to often, less your Validator be exposed for the monopolising antagonist it truly is.
PHP Rasmus Lerdorf Owners: 346	PHP is primarily an Internet-based programming language that powers many high-profile sites, including BlogShares. PHP was, however, originally designed as a small set of Perl scripts and not a language in its own right. This was quickly followed by a rewritten set of CGI binaries in C by the Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. He originally wrote them to display his r�sum� and to collect certain data, such as how much traffic his page was receiving. "Personal Home Page Tools" was publicly released on 8 June 1995 after Lerdorf combined it with his own Form Interpreter to create PHP/FI.
Artisanal Sales None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Animals and Pets Crock Hunter Owners: 565	Normally found in the zoo at Australia, The Crock Hunter has vast resources to travel all over the globe to bring new light and understanding to various animals, and support or condemn those that deal with them. Be careful when dealing with him, as his brainwashed fans will no doubt support any move he makes.
Cats Laser Exerciser Owners: 643	As all serious ailurophiles know, cats tend to rest often. And objects at rest tend to remain at rest. The Laser Exerciser can be used to raise the energy level of most felines above the rest state for limited periods of time.
Weird Mind Goo Owners: 716	The union of chaos, apathy and banality the Mind Goo keeps the masses occupied with the bizarre. A modern, networked avatar of the circus freak show.
Travel Weary Traveller Owners: 647	Sometimes the best stories come from those who have seen it all. They know the world and they know the people who live in it. Business wise. Shouldn't you know the people too?
Performing Arts Bon Vivant Owners: 720	The Bon Vivant lives a carefree lifestyle, enjoying only the finer things, wiling away his days in dinner jackets at the opera, or attending high society balls, or chasing beautiful girls with even more beautiful inheritances, usually while sipping champagne and humming a phrase from Carmen.
Female Morrighan Owners: 1140	One and three, the Morrighan is a Godess to be reckoned with. Queen of Phantoms and Deamons, Specter Queen, Supreme War Godess, Moon Godess, Patroness of priestesses and witches, Her names are many. She's associated with revenge, prophecy, wisdom and war or peace. She reigns over the battlefield and you certainly would not want to insult her. Watch the Raven or the hooded Crow.
Team Sports The Jersey Owners: 531	The sight of a bunch of people running around on the field, blazing around the rink, or smashing into each other in a bone-crunching tackle can sometimes be confusing. Not knowing whether it was your favourite team or the "bad guys" would always have you at the edge of your seat. That is, of course, if there were no Jerseys to tell the two teams apart. The Jersey is as much a part of the game as the player. The colours and symbols that are worn on Jerseys all over the world help us to distinguish our favourites from the ones we hate. Jerseys are instantly recognizable by true fans of any game, and the numbers on the back help us to spot our favourite players. The Jersey unifies the players, becoming a symbol of who they are and what they are playing for. The Jersey makes the team a team.
Baseball The Perfect Game Owners: 707	The perfect game is the rarest feat in baseball. It has only been achieved sixteen times in the history of the Major Leagues. A pitcher is said to have thrown a perfect game if he retired all twenty-seven hitters over nine innings -- no hits, no walks and no errors. A perfect game does not require that the pitcher get twenty-seven strike-outs. Often, his teammates have to make good defensive plays to get the opposing players out. The last pitcher to throw a perfect game was David Cone of the New York Yankees when, on July 18, 1999, the Montreal Expos lost to New York 6-0.
Soccer / Association Football World Cup Owners: 552	The seeds which marked the beginning of this great event were planted by the President of the World Football Federation, Jules Rimet, in 1926. The positive message infused by Rimet is summarized by his famous words "Soccer could reinforce the ideals of a permanent and real peace", as he pushed to organize an international event which would make no discrimination on the grounds of professional or amateur status of the athletes. As his words were spoken, a world tournament involving all of the national federations was being planned. Rimet and five other officials organized the event for 1930. The first World Cup match was held in Pocitos Stadium on July 13, 1930 where the host, Uruguay, won the first world cup. Today the World Cup remains the most watched soccer event.
Basketball Harlem Globetrotters Owners: 551	The Harlem Globetrotters are one of the most well known basketball teams, and for good reason: The team was established on January 26th, 1926 by Abe Saperstein, in Hinckley, IL. The team was originally named the "Savoy Big Five" after the famous Chicago's Savoy Ballroom. Saperstein would later add his family name to the jersey thereafter, "Saperstein's New York Globetrotters". The Globetrotters became real "globetrotters", travelling the world and entertaining millions. With players such as Geese Ausbie, Goose Tatum, 1998 Hall of Famer Marques Haynes, Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon, the Globetrotters became ambassadors of basketball, bringing their high-flying showmanship to the world. The team has played over 20,000 games in more than 100 countries around the world. 1976- Celebrated their 50th anniversary, the Harlem Globetrotters become history's first professional basketball squad to play in a free democratic South Africa. 1982- They are the first and only sports team to receive the famous star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame". 1985- Signed their first female player, Olympic Gold Medallist, Lynette Woodard from Kansas. 1993- Mannie Jackson becomes the first African-American and former player to own a sports/entertainment organization with his acquisition of the Harlem Globetrotters. 2000- Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first Globetrotter to have his jersey retired at a March ceremony at his Philadelphia alma mater, Overbrook High School.
Cricket Lords Cricket Ground Owners: 86	Known as 'The Home of Cricket', Lord's Cricket Ground holds vast historical significance and enormous sentimental value to cricket players worldwide. Founded by Thomas Lord in 1787, Lord's was relocated twice before it reached its current location in 1814. It was the site of the first Test (international level) match and houses the world's oldest and best cricket museum, with memorabilia dating back to 1864. Portraits of cricketing greats are displayed in The Long Room at Lord�s and it is considered a mighty honour when a portrait of a modern cricketing hero is added to the gallery of past legends. In addition, honour boards in the dressing rooms list the names of any batsmen to score at century (100 runs) or bowler who takes five or more wickets in one innings or 10 wickets in a match. Lord's also watches over the Ashes - a symbol of the Ashes Test cricket series played biennially (and with fierce rivalry) between Australia and England. The Ashes is both a sporting event and an actual, physical object. The trophy for the Ashes Test cricket series is the actual "Ashes"--an urn containing the burnt remains of a piece of cricket gear, the exact nature of which no one knows to this day. Replicas of the urn are sometimes made and used to celebrate a Test victory, but the original Ashes are always kept in the museum at Lord's. Home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and the European Cricket Council (ECC), Lord�s hosts Test matches and one-day internationals, as well as local club and village games and even a cricket school for young players. Rather than just standing as a tribute to the history of cricket, Lord�s is also a vibrant centre of action for the game today.
American Football Quarterback Owners: 538	When the team plays well, he's a hero - when they lose he's the scapegoat. The field general of the offense who touches the ball on every play - the player that every child wants to be.
Golf Green Jacket Owners: 304	Awarded to the winner of the U.S. Masters tournament, this is one of the most coveted prizes among professional golfers. It symbolizes the best of the best.
Tennis Grand Slam Owners: 210	Considered the greatest achievement in Tennis, the Grand Slam is accomplished by winning the four Grand Slam tournaments--Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open in one year. Originally restricted to winning all four events in the same calendar year the Grand Slam now commonly refers to holding all four titles simultaneously. Since first being achieved by Don Budge in 1938 only six other players--Maureen Connolly, Rod Laver, Margaret Smith Court, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Serena Williams have accomplished the feat in singles play.
Netball None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Snow Skiing None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Alcohol Hangover Owners: 394	A common after-effect of ethanol intoxication is the unpleasant sensation known as hangover, which is partly due to the dehydrating effect of ethanol. Hangover symptoms include dry mouth, headache, nausea and light sensitivity. These symptoms are partly due to the toxic acetaldehyde produced from alcohol by alcohol dehydrogenase, and partly due to general dehydration. The dehydration portion of the hangover effect can be mitigated by drinking plenty of water between and after alcoholic drinks. Other components of the hangover are thought to come from the various other chemicals in an alcoholic drink, such as the tannins in red wine, and the results of various metabolic processes of alcohol in the body, but few scientific studies have attempted to verify this. Consuming a large amount of water is the best way to overcome a hangover.
Beer Kegger Owners: 376	A huge keg falls out of a passing delivery truck, complete with a dispenser. The entire business community grinds to a halt as the party commences...the beer industry profits plummet on lost productivity.
Wine Vineyard Owners: 305	A vineyard is a place where grapes are grown, most notably grapes for wine making purposes. Vineyards are often on hillsides and on soil of marginal value to other plants. A common saying is that "the worse the soil, the better the wine." Planting on hilllsides, especially facing south, is most often in an attempt to maximize the amount of sunlight that falls on the vineyard. For this reason some of the best wines come from vineyards planted on quite steep hills.
Fashion / Clothing Catwalk Owners: 546	<i>I'm a model you know what I mean<br /> And I do my little turn on the catwalk<br /> Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah<br /> I shake my little touche on the catwalk</i><br /> - Right Said Fred<br /> <br /><br /> Every season, the stunning models balance their high heels on the catwalk, showing the latest creations by the world's most famous designers. Photographers, journalists and strategically invited guests hold their breath. What do the geniuses of creativity have in store this time? What will be the new colours, patterns and even more important: will the skirts be mini or maxi? It is all shown on the catwalk.
Web Services SOAP Owners: 676	SOAP is a lightweight protocol for exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment. It is an XML-based protocol that consists of three parts: an envelope that defines a framework for describing what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined datatypes, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses. SOAP can potentially be used in combination with a variety of other protocols; however, the only bindings defined in this document describe how to use SOAP in combination with HTTP and HTTP Extension Framework.<br />Get your developers on the marketing hype wagon and your applications internetworked in the latest upgrade to interop.
Networking TCP/IP Model Owners: 197	The Internet Protocol Suite is composed of two separate protocols: The Transmission Control Protocol and the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). These protocols started being developed in the 1970's by the Department of Defense as a way to transfer information over satellite and radio ground packets. By March of 1982, the TCP/IP Protocol was made standard for all military networking. Though the OSI Model was the standard networking protocol, it has been abandoned to internet age's adoption of TCP/IP.
Wi-Fi / Wireless Networks Bluetooth Owners: 453	Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). It provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices like personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and digital cameras via a secure, low-cost, globally available short range radio frequency. Bluetooth lets these devices talk to each other when they come in range, even if they are not in the same room, as long as they are within up to 100 metres (328 feet) of each other, dependent on the power class of the product. The specification was first developed by Ericsson, and was later formalized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The SIG was formally announced on May 20, 1999. It was established by Sony Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba and Nokia, and later joined by many other companies as Associate or Adopter members. The system is named after a Danish king Harald Bl�tand (Harold Bluetooth in English), King of Denmark and Norway from 935 and 936 respectively, to 940 known for his unification of previously warring tribes from Denmark (including Sk�ne, present-day Sweden, where the Bluetooth technology was invented) and Norway. Bluetooth likewise was intended to unify different technologies like computers and mobile phones. The Bluetooth logo merges the Nordic runes analogous to the modern Latin H and B. This is the official story; however, the actual Harald Bl�tand that was referred to in naming Bluetooth was most probably the liberal interpretation given to him in The Long Ships by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson, a Swedish best-selling Viking-inspired novel.
Communications Post Office Owners: 573	Letters and parcels; bill-paying and Valentines; the postal mark that means your college application was in by the due date and the budget-saving Western Union transfer from your folks once you�ve gotten in � the post office facilitates some of our most important communications. Your sister goes off to work in another city? Don�t worry, she�ll send photos, and maybe some souvenirs, too! Meanwhile you�re at home and the post office is taking care of your business dealings. Need a signature on that? Email�s no good � send it through the post. No wonder the post office is at the heart of every local community. But the power of the post office goes far beyond that. Have you ever wondered why the people of our troubled world can�t just make the effort to understand each other and cooperate? While governments still struggle with this concept, the postal system has been the keystone of international cooperation for centuries. Think about it. When you pop that envelope in the post box on the corner, who are you trusting to deliver it at the other end? Post offices across the world work together, reading each other�s languages, understanding each other�s laws. You might not know that you can�t send a package to Australia in a carton once used for fruit, but the Japanese post office does. The average American may not be able to pick out Spain on a map of the world, but their post office can get that same map of the world to Espa�a within a week for a mere $1.70. Locally, nationally, internationally - want to have an impact in Communications? You need a Post Office!
Dutch Max Havelaar Owners: 644	Max Havelaar or The coffee auctions of the Dutch Trading Company was written by Multatuli (Latin: I've suffered a lot), pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker, and when first published in 1860, it ignited a major political and social brouhaha. The novel, written by a former official of the Dutch East Indian Civil Service, exposed the massive corruption and cruelty rife in the Dutch colony of Java. The government even held an official inquiry into the Lebak affair featured in the novel, concentrating on the factual truth. - - However, the book goes far beyond an indictment of Dutch colonial policy of the 1850s. In the course of time, the accent has shifted slowly but steadily away from the controversial historical facts to the undisputed literary value of the book, and nowadays appreciation of it is focused mainly on its style and composition. - - At first glance, the book may appear to be a medley of styles and incongruent composition. For the Dutch reading public it was the very first book in which a everyday colloquial style is presented alongside the more formal literary style, with matter-of-fact passages abutting sentimental poems; dry official documents and letters juxtaposed with emotional outbursts, straight out sarcasm is mingled with irony. Hidden beneath its chaotic appearance there is a coherence, a well-constructed unity. The various styles are used highly functionally and effectively in the characterizations and they link up the various perspectives.
French Asterix the Gaul Owners: 808	The history of the French language begins with the invasion of Gaul by Julius Caesar's armies in 59 B.C. The land was then inhabited by a multitude of different tribes who spoke various related Celtic languages. Subsequent to the conquest of the territory by 51 A.D., however, the language of the Romans was gradually adopted by most Gauls over the next few centuries. The Latin spoken by the invaders was not the careful, cultivated form of Latin used in the Roman Senate and in literature, but rather, a completely oral form of the language, complete with its own grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation patterns. Once established and adopted in Gaul, the language naturally changed rapidly, particularly after the fall of Rome. It is interesting to note that language of the Gauls had practically no influence on the Latin vernacular that subsequently developed. Beginning in the fifth century, the land was subject to numerous invasions--Germanic tribes from the east (the Franks) and the Vikings from the North. Each left only minor influences on the language. The invasions did, however, serve to accelerate a growing division between the language spoken to the south of the Loire--Langue D'Oc--from that spoken in the North, Langue D'O�l (Oc and O�l are the words for 'yes' in their respective dialects). The Southern dialect remained close to its Roman roots, while the Northern dialect showed exterior influences. In 987, Hugues Capet was elected king of the small kingdom of �le de France, centered around Paris. Although France at this time was essentially composed of small, independent kingdoms, this event marked the beginning of political unity, and therefore, of linguistic unity. Capet was the first king in the territory to speak the vernacular, and as his kingdom grew larger and more powerful through his successors, so too did the prestige of its language (called Francien today).
German Faust Owners: 715	German poet, novelist, playwright, courtier, and natural philosopher, one of the greatest figures in Western literature. Throughout his life Goethe was interested in a variety of studies and pursuits. He made important discoveries in connection with plant and animal life, and evolved a non-Newtonian theory of the character of light, which was viewed with suspicion by scientists. In literature he gained fame early with The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), but his most famous work was the poetic drama in two parts, Faust. - - The first part of this masterwork appeared in 1808, and the second part in 1832. Goethe had worked for most of his life on this drama. It was based on Christopher Marlowe's Faust, and depicted a disillusioned scholar, who makes a pact with Satan. The original figure in the Faust legend was Gregorius Faustus (or Gregorius Sabellicus, Faustus Junior, c 1480-1510/1), a seeker of forbidden knowledge. His true identity is not known, but he claimed to be an astrologer, expert in magic, and an alchemist. This legend attracted Christoper Marlowe, who offered in his play a psychological study of the battle between good and evil. Marlowe's play ends with the protagonist's damnation. Goethe's story created a new persona for the Devil - Mephistopheles was a gentleman, who had adopted the manners of a courtier. Faust's lust for knowledge is limitless and he makes a contract with Mephistopheles: he will die at the moment he declares himself satisfied. In the first part Faust loses Margaret, an innocent girl, who is condemned to death for murdering her illegitimate child by Faust. In the philosophical second part Faust marries Helen of Troy and creates a happy community. Faust is finally satisfied, but Mephistopheles loses his victory, when angels take Faust to heaven.
English Oxford Dictionary Owners: 1159	The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past.
Spanish Don Quixote de La Mancha Owners: 805	El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of la Mancha), better known simply as Don Quijote, was written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and is by far the most well-known Spanish literary piece ever written. It has been translated, fully or in parts, into more than 60 languages. This novel was written in two parts: Part I in 1605 and Part II in 1615. It was originally conceived as a comic satire against the chivalric romances then in literary vogue. It narrates the adventures of an elderly knight, Don Quijote, and his horse Rocinante and squire Sancho Panza.
Italian Divina Commedia Owners: 741	The Divina Commedia (Italian for "divine comedy") is Dante�s masterpiece and is the best literal expression of medieval culture. The original title of the work was simply Commedia. Giovanni Boccaccio suggested adding the adjective Divina in order both to explain the kind of content and to celebrate the greatness and beauty of the work. The word Commedia indicates the literary genre of the work: Dante himself explains, in his XIII epistle (addressed to Cangrande della Scala, duke of Verona) that a commedia is a work representing a story with a happy ending (opposite to tragedia, Italian for "tragedy", an episode which ends badly): in fact, Dante�s Commedia ends well, since the protagonist meets God. The commedia genre is also characterized by a varied content and style. Basically, Dante modified Virgil�s pagan vision of after-life, according it to the religious dogmas of the Bible. Moreover, he used Aristotle�s physical vision of Universe and Thomistic philosophy. The result is a typical medieval vision of the cosmos, based mainly on religious ideals, but considering also classical culture. - - Generally speaking, the Commedia is an eschatological adventure. In other words, it�s the description of Dante's travel through the three transmundane kingdoms: Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Heaven (Paradiso). During this imaginary journey, Dante tries to describe the situation of the human souls after their deaths. The unifying elements are the constant presence of some protagonists and the theme of the travel. The whole journey can be also seen as a moral and religious conversion of the protagonist, Dante, symbolizing the conversion of the whole mankind: the result of this conversion is the refuse of sin and a life tensed towards God and eternal bliss. The protagonists of this travel are three, above all. The first is Dante himself, symbol of the whole mankind. The second is Virgil, symbol of human reason. He�s Dante�s guide through Inferno and Purgatorio. The third is Beatrice, a woman loved by Dante during his life. In the Commedia, she�s the symbol of God�s love which can help the man to be saved. She guides Dante through Paradiso.
Farsi Shahnameh Owners: 772	Written by the great poet Ferdowsi, born in Khorasan in a village near Toos in 940AD, this great epic was originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Persian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. The Shahnameh or The Epic of Kings is one of the definite classics of the world. It tells hero tales of ancient Persia. The contents and the poet's style in describing the events takes the readers back to the ancient times and makes he/she sense and feel the events. Ferdowsi worked for thirty years to finish this masterpiece.
Japanese Kanji Owners: 689	(From the Japanese "kan" - the Chinese Han dynasty, and "ji" - glyph or letter of the alphabet. Not capitalised. Plural "kanji") The Japanese word for a Han character used in Japanese. Kanji constitute a part of the writing system used to represent the Japanese language in written, printed and displayed form. The term is also used for the collection of all kanji letters. US-ASCII doesn't include kanji characters, but some character encodings, including Unicode, do.
Arabic Koran Owners: 507	The Koran is the sacred book by which all Islams swear. Inside, you will find tales and stories that tell of the times of the great Allah, the Islam god. This sacred book is much like the Bible for Catholics. If you read it, you will find yourself endowed with new knowledge about this different yet interesting religion.
Portuguese Port wine Owners: 554	Port wine (also porto wine) is sweet, fortified wine from the Douro Valley in the northern part of Portugal; it takes its name from the city of Porto, the centre of port export and trading. Port has been made in Portugal since the mid 15th century. Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, when merchants were permitted to import it at a low duty, while war with France deprived English wine drinkers of French wine. The continued English involvement in the port trade can be seen in the names of many port shippers: Croft, Fonseca, Taylor, Dow, Graham, and Symington. Similar wines, often also called "Port", are now made in several other countries, notably Australia and United States. In some nations, including the European Union and (after a phase-in period) Canada, only the product from Portugal may be labelled as "port."
Theater West End Owners: 237	Along with New York's Broadway Theater, West End theater in London is usually considered to represent the highest level of theater in the English speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity. Many famous star-studded shows and musicals have been played out on the hallowed stage. The longest-running is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, which closed in 2002 after running for 9,000 performances and 21 years, whilst the longest-running current musical is Les Mis�rables with a run of over 8,500 performances and now in its 21st year.
Male Stud Owners: 1132	Every guy wants to be him. He's the guy whom women drool over. He walks in the room with his perfectly groomed hair and clean shaven face. His boyish good looks and his physique can sway almost any woman. And in business, women are whom you need to sway.
Roleplaying Fairy Dust Owners: 359	With Fairy Dust you will never lose heart so the adventure can continue. May your life be long and interesting, very interesting indeed!
Sexually Explicit Content John Holmes Owners: 704	John Holmes aka Johnny Wadd is probably the most notorious male porn star. He made 2000 full length hard core films. Furthermore, he is reported to have bedded more than 10,000 women over the span of twenty years, the length of his professional career.
80s' Music MTV Owners: 270	MTV started in New York City in 1981, and became available in most of the United States in the mid-1980s with the nationwide expansion of cable. Aptly, the first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (with similar tongue-in-cheek humor, the first video shown on MTV Europe was "Money for Nothing", by Dire Straits, which starts with the line "I want my MTV"). The early format of the network was modeled after Top 40 radio. Fresh-faced young men and women were hired to host the show's programming, and to introduce videos that were being played. The term "VJ" (video jockey) was coined, a play on the term "DJ" (disc jockey.) Many VJs eventually became celebrities in their own right. The early music videos that made up the bulk of the network's programming in the '80s were often crude promotional or concert clips from whatever sources could be found; as the popularity of the network rose, and record companies recognized the potential of the medium as a tool to gain recognition and publicity, they began to create increasingly elaborate clips specifically for the network. A large number of rock stars of the 1980s were made into household names by MTV. Bands immediately identifiable with MTV include Ari Liner and Bon Jovi. Michael Jackson launched the second wave of his career as an MTV staple. Madonna rose to fame on MTV in the 1980s, and she is still heavily dependent on the network to promote her music. In 1984 the network produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show. Seen as a fit of self-indulgence by a fledgling network at the time, the "VMAs" developed into an important music-industry showcase, and a hip antidote to the often-stuffy Grammy awards.
Classical Music Concerto Grosso Owners: 331	A baroque style of music in which a small group of solo instruments (the concertino) plays in opposition to a larger ensemble (the ripieno).
Jazz Louis Armstrong Owners: 308	Louis Daniel Armstrong was an African American jazz musician. Probably the most famous jazz musician of the 20th century, Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose musical skills and bright personality transformed jazz from a rough regional dance music into a popular art form. Armstrong first achieved fame as a trumpeter, but was also one of the most influential jazz singers, and towards the end of his career was best known as a vocalist.
Pop Music Casey Kasem Owners: 433	Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amin Kasem in Detroit, Michigan) is an American radio personality and voice actor.� Kasem is best known by name as a music historian and disc jockey, most notably as host of the weekly American Top 40 radio program from 1970 to 1988, and again from March 1998 until January 10, 2004.� He is well known for his catch phrase: "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." He hit the Billboard Singles Charts himself in 1964, coming in at #103 with "A Letter from Elaina". Kasem is also a prominent voice-over actor, most notably for the voice of Shaggy in Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo cartoons from 1969 until 1991.� Being a strict vegetarian, he walked out on his role as Shaggy in 1995 when he was asked to voice Shaggy in a Burger King commercial.� He returned to the character in 2002, after Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers agreed to portray Shaggy as a strict vegetarian. In 1992 he became the youngest member ever to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award from Billboard Magazine in 1997.
Monkeys and Primates Hanuman Owners: 316	Hanuman the monkey god, an ardent devotee of Lord Sri Rama, is worshipped by millions of people in India. Hanuman is the embodiment of devotion, dedication and strength. Devotees pray to Hanuman to remove the sufferings created by Saturn's god for humans and also to fulfill their wishes.
Jokes Punchline Owners: 531	Have you ever told a joke only to have the audience stare silently at you with disbelief? You need never fear getting that reaction again. You will have them in side-splitting laughter at the end of your Joke when you deliver the Punchline. The Punchline is the piece d� resistance, the "rest of the story", if you will. Without the Punchline, your Joke may end up being a mere anecdote instead of comedic genius. While other comics such as Robin Williams and Jim Carey may rely on the physical humor of slapstick, with the Punchline you'll be joining the ranks of the thought provoking comics such as George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld.
Urban Music Rapper's Delight Owners: 330	Urban Music Rapper�s Delight �I said a hip hop, Hippie to the hippie, The hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it To the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie, To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.� In the fall of 1979, Sugarhill�s �Rapper�s Delight� hit the airwaves and later went platinum. Fans, young and old jammed to the beats of a song that help popularize rap music and hip hop, an integral part of what the world knows as urban music. Rhythm & Blues (R&B) is also synonymously used when defining urban music. Commercialized R&B and hip-hop have been around since the 1940s and 1970s respectively, but where does urban music come into play? In the 1980s, the production and performance style of R&B and hip-hop changed dramatically. Traditional R&B and hip-hop artists began to collaborate with each other. Examples of this collaboration include: Mariah Carey and ODB � �Fantasy,� Jon B. and 2Pac � RU Still Down? and Usher, Ludacris and Lil Jon � �Yeah.� The sound of a new era began and was defined as urban music.
Heritage Places None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Novels Jane Austen Owners: 431	Jane Austen, English novelist, was born in 1775 at Steventon, in the county of Hampshire, England. She was the seventh of eight children, and the only daughter besides Cassandra, her lifelong closest friend. Her father was a clergyman, neither rich nor poor. When he retired, the Austens moved to Bath, then to Southampton, and finally to Chawton, where Jane began to write for an audience beyond her family. She wrote what she knew: her own middle-class, provincial society, its everyday events and interactions depicted with keen, accurate wit. Through this then-radical approach, she established the characteristics of the modern novel. Austen wrote six major novels: Sense and Sensibility (published in 1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Persuasion and Northanger Abbey (both 1817, the year of her death). Since their first publication, these books have never been out of print. In addition, each has been dramatized, sometimes repeatedly. For example, two film versions of Emma were released in 1996. Some of Austen's early, minor works reached publication only in the 20th century. Her last, unfinished novel, Sanditon, was completed by "A Lady" and published in 1975. Sanditon reveals how Austen's work differs from the romances of her time and all times since. Where "A Lady" takes up the story, it becomes frothy and charming and unimportant. Austen's part, like all her major work, offers characters and situations so acutely observed that they transcend the fictional setting and become people we know. As Mr. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice says to his daughter, "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"
Comedy Films None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Horror Films None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Action / Adventure Yakima Canutt Owners: 244	Yakima Canutt (November 29, 1896 - May 24, 1986) was an actor and stuntman in Hollywood movies of the 1920s through the 1950s. Born Enos Edward Canutt in the rough ranchlands near Colfax, Washington, "Yak" Canutt moved as a young man to Yakima, Washington (the town from which he borrowed his nickname). There he gained fame as a very successful rodeo rider. He met actor Tom Mix at a rodeo in Los Angeles, and was persuaded to work as a cowboy in films. He met and married Kitty Wilks at the 1916 Pendleton Roundup in Oregon, in which she was the All-Around Champion Cowgirl. They divorced in 1919. He had some success as an actor, primarily playing "heavies," but he was more successful as a stuntman and stunt coordinator. He staged some memorable action scenes in film, including the chariot race segment in the 1959 film Ben-Hur. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Yakima Canutt has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street. In 1967, he was given an Honorary Academy Award for achievements as a stunt man and for developing safety devices to protect stunt men everywhere. His sons Joe Canutt and Tap Canutt also worked as stuntmen. His autobiography "Stuntman" was published in 1979. He has been inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Film Stars Greta Garbo Owners: 391	Born Greta Gustafson in Sweden in 1905, Greta Garbo became the ultimate film star. Beginning her career in silent movies, she successfully made the transition to the talkies, despite her heavily accented English, whilst many of her contemporaries fell by the wayside. Her photogenic looks made her one of Hollywood's top actresses and starred in 34 movies during her career. These included Anna Christie (1934), Grand Hotel (1932), Anna Karenina (1935) and Ninotchka (1939). She quit the film business in 1941 and lived a reclusive life in New York until her death, aged 84, in 1990, refusing all requests for interviews or public appearances and ensuring her mystique remained intact.
Adult Education ProLiteracy Owners: 60	ProLiteracy is a nonprofit international literacy organization formed by the 2002 merger of Laubach Literacy International and Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc. ProLiteracy is the oldest and largest nongovernmental literacy organization in the world. It achieves its mission, championing the life-changing benefits of literacy for adults and their families, by sponsoring educational programs that help adults acquire the literacy practices and skills they need to function more effectively in their daily lives.
Opera The Fat Lady Owners: 265	Operas typically include a highlighted aria sung by a featured soprano. For decades, even centuries, these featured singers were, to put it politely, pleasingly plump. The stereotyped soprano of the cartoon opera is a rubenesque, pig-tailed singer wearing a horned helmet and metal breastplate, straight out of a Wagner opera. Every traditional opera -- from Mozart's Die Zauberfl�te (The Magic Flute) to Puccini's La Boh�me -- includes an aria for the soprano. As a result, the sports saying, "It's no over till the fat lady sings" developed. Most people correlate this saying to the fat lady of the opera. After all, no opera is over till the fat lady sings.
Ballet Swan Lake Owners: 137	Tchaikovsky's 20th opus, Swan Lake, is one of the most famous and critically acclaimed ballets of all time, though it was very poorly received when it premiered in Moscow. The original ballet was first performed at the Bolshoi Theatre on February 20, 1877 and remained in the repertoire until 1883. After Tchaikovsky's death, the ballet was revised by his brother Modest and the conductor Riccardo Drigo. This revised version received its premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1895 and was acclaimed as a masterpiece. Swan Lake features one of the most strenuous of all ballet roles, namely the twin, but entirely contrasting, roles of Odette and Odile, both played by a single dancer.
Pop Culture Rock Star Owners: 775	Having a rock star in your pocket is great because you get a handle on pop culture. Who sets the trends? The rock stars! But be careful. Rock stars tend to get into unsavory business if you leave their leash too long.
Dogs Milk Bone Owners: 372	Since 1908, dog-lovers have been giving their pets Milk-Bone Brand dog biscuits. They have been around so long that Milk-Bone has become synonymous with dog-treats. According to the the Milk-Bone company, they're good for your dog's teeth, made from the finest ingredients, and approved by veterinarians the world over. And they taste great too! Of course, most dogs will eat anything you give them, including old socks from the dirty clothes hamper, but we all feel better when we give them Milk-Bones instead.
Cows Cow Bell Owners: 177	While the bell itself is not specific to the bovine species, the cow bell has its own unique sound, rarely found in use elsewhere. Its dull rattle can be heard for long distances, telling the owner where their supply of milk has wandered off to this time.
Frogs Kermit the Frog Owners: 168	Dr. Kermit The Frog (Long Island University 1996) is a fine example of an amphibian of humble beginnings making good but retaining those values we have come to respect in this champion of "the little guy" and those who are a "little bit different." He began his television career on a local Washington D.C. station and soon became a valued TV guest on renowned national television programs. Kermit was even tapped as a Tonight Show guest host. His cinema credits include "The Muppet Movie", "The Christmas Muppet Caper", "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and "The Muppet Christmas Carol". As well as recording with his Sesame Street fellow cast Muppets, Kermit has been featured on the album, "Kermit Unplugged". Kermit has not limited himself to the visual or vocal media as evidenced by his book "One Frog Can Make a Difference, Kermit's Guide to Life" in the 90's. Kermit has been presented to Queen Elizabeth II of England, served as the 1996 Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses Parade and addressed the students at Oxford University (the first amphibian to do so in their long and illustrious academic history). Kermit is well known for his concern for children's welfare and has long associated his celebrity with UNICEF to promote projects benefiting children of all nations.
TV Shows Fashion None!	Suggest One in the forums.
60s' Music Yesterday Owners: 231	One vocalist, an acoustic guitar, a string quartet ... This is 60s music? This is rock? Paul McCartney without John, George and Ringo ... This is The Beatles? Recorded in the very middle of the 1960s, �Yesterday� was anomalous in several ways, yet it is one of many examples of the innovative use of disparate musical elements from an eclectic spectrum (jazz and classical music, folk and world music, psychedelia) that characterized the decade�s dominant musical genre, rock, and many of its greatest bands, such as Cream, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. A ballad of love lost, "Yesterday" was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone, has the most cover versions of any song ever written, and remains popular today. It was the first official Beatles recording that featured a single member of the band (the string quartet accompaniment was added in the editing phase a few days after the solo track was laid down) and differed so greatly from other works by The Beatles that the other three members of the band vetoed the song's release as a single in the United Kingdom. Although written solely by McCartney, the song was credited to "Lennon/McCartney" as were all Beatles songs written by either of the pair.
70s' Music Glam & Glitter Owners: 216	It wasn't until the 1970�s that glam came to the fore, specifically through the newest music genre glam rock. Overnight the world changed, teenagers worshiped the gender-bending stars that looked good with a guitar. Glitter, make-up and platform boots became the unofficial uniform of 'the children of the revolution' and the three-minute power beat of glam rock was heard on radios everywhere.
Rock Music The Distortion Pedal Owners: 609	Distortion is what has made rock music what it is today. Grunge, Heavy Metal, and Nu Metal, to name a few, wouldn't exist without it. Distortion is created when the signal sent from the guitar is too powerful for the circuit to cope with, resulting in the unique sound that bands like Nirvana, Metallica, and Muse, along with many others, use to their advantage. Without The Distortion Pedal rock music wouldn't have the necessary X-factor that makes it so popular.
Documentary Kino-Pravda Owners: 117	In 1922, Dziga Vertov started a documentary series known as Kino-Pravda (literally meaning 'film truth') in Russia. Vertov's philosophy held that film could capture truth and meaning that the human eye could not, leading him to become a one of the earliest documentarians. Kino-Pravda set out to capture moments, often candid and taken without permission of the subject, of everyday experience. Vertov's style was one of description rather than narration or style, and led his works to be very straightforward, offering facts and observations rather than interpretation and manipulation.
Fast Food Franchise Owners: 320	The restaurant kit in a box. Just add water and a down payment of $100,000. The branding power of your franchise guarantee instant success, as long as you can keep your minimum wage employees in line.
Vegetarianism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Emotions Four Humours Owners: 605	The early Greeks developed the theory of the Four Humours which were believed to be bodily fluids influencing one's emotions and health. If one is courageous, hopeful and amorous one is of sanguine temperament and influenced by the Blood Humour. If one is calm and unemotional, one is of phlegmatic temperament and influenced by the Phlegm Humour. If one is easily angered and bad tempered, one is of choleric temperament and influenced by the Yellow Bile Humour. If one is despondent, sleepless and irritable, one is of melancholic temperament and influenced by the Black Bile Humour.
Miserable None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Happiness Laughing Buddha Owners: 341	Even though nobody can give a universal definition of happiness, it's something we all strive for. Some people wear, carry around or keep good luck charms that will make them happy, or so they believe. Symbols are very diverse and vary from culture to culture. One of the symbols for happiness is the Laughing Buddha with its hands up. It is believed that by rubbing his belly, which is said to contain much wealth, it will bring good luck and prosperity. The Laughing Buddha is also known as the Happy Man.
Night Clubs Cotton Club Owners: 213	The Cotton Club was one of the most famous nightclubs in New York City both before and after Prohibition. Opened by boxing champion Jack Johnson in 1920, it was one of the hottest meeting spots in Harlem. Over the years it featured many of the greatest Black entertainers such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway & Ethel Waters but almost always denied Black people admission. It closed in 1936 after race riots the previous year but reopened at Broadway and 48th street the same year, closing in 1940. The club re-opened in Harlem in 1978 and the current owner John Beatty has made it a policy that previously excluded clientele can now patronize the club.
Pubs / Bars Drunkard Owners: 265	When you go to a bar, who do you get advice from? The town drunk. Now imagine having the town drunk in your pocket! Imagine the persuasion and the power which is grasped through your puppeting his advice. But keep in mind he may not be 100% responsible, he is a drunk.
War Soldier Owners: 744	He's five foot two and he's six feet four He fights with missiles and with spears He's all of thirty-one and he's only seventeen He's been a soldier for a thousand years He's a catholic, a hindu, an atheist, a jain, A buddhist and a baptist and a jew And he knows he shouldn't kill And he knows he always will Killing for you my friend and me for you And he's fighting for Canada, he's fighting for France He's fighting for the U.S.A. He's fighting for the Russians and he's fighting for Japan And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way And he's fighting for democracy, he's fighting for the reds He says it's for the peace of all He's the one who must decide who's to live and who's to die And he never sees the writing on the wall But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau Without him Caesar would have stood alone He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war And without him all this killing can't go on He's the universal soldier and he really is to blame His orders come from far away no more They come from here and there and you and me And brothers can't you see This is not the way we put the end to war
Short Stories Chapbook Owners: 570	These small, inexpensive paper booklets, known as chapbooks, were the main recreational reading for the adult poor and children of all classes in the eighteenth century. Sold by traveling hawkers, or chapmen, the penny books had up to twenty-four pages and often included crudely printed woodcuts. Chapbooks were largely responsible for keeping alive and transmitting traditional fairy tales, folklore, and nursery rhymes, and they served as a welcome alternative to the moralistic and didactic pamphlets of the time. Today chapbooks often contain poetry and short stories. The Chapbook artefact will be useful for finding new blogs containing short stories.
Economics Power Suit Owners: 681	The power suit usually dwells in lofty corporate headquarters for financial institutions, working as an advisor on business investments and such things as reciprocal synergy. They can easily affect the financial world's view of companies in both positive and negative ways, or could just call together a 'power lunch' to get people excited. Always a good person to have in your corner.
Business and Finance Buzzword Bingo Owners: 748	Think outside the box to leverage goal-setting, principle-centered mindshare. Envision appropriate solutioning via result-driven intellectual capital, or forever herd cats. Half the shareholders will be impressed into following along and the rest confused into submission, leaving you in charge!
Education Policy Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA) Owners: 432	Education Policy Analysis Archives is a peer-reviewed, open access scholarly journal created in 1993 by Gene V Glass at Arizona State University. Articles are published in English, Spanish or Portuguese. The journal considers for publication submitted articles dealing with education policy at all levels of the education system in all nations.
Celebrity Bloggers Wil Wheaton Owners: 419	Best known for his role as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: Next Generation, Wil turned to writing later in life and became one of the earliest and most famous celebrity bloggers with his "Wil Wheaton Dot Net" blog. His witty descriptions of his daily life with his wife and step-children, his struggles with writing books, his poker adventures and his tentative steps back into the world of acting have brought him a wide audience of faithful readers - enduring beyond a database error in 1995 that led to his current blog "Wil Wheaton Dot Net: In Exile". With his blog, Wil has become the quintessential geek of his generation.
Fashion Design The Essence of Style Owners: 363	The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour, published by Joan DeJean, was a column in The Free Press. Due to its high popularity, it was produced in other languages and eventually became a worldwide sensation. The Essence of Style is still used in the fashion industry today, and is the basis of most works of art in Fashion Design.
90s' Music None!	Suggest One in the forums.
50's Music None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Software and Software Platforms Killer App Owners: 798	After many sleepless nights the developer finally declares... It's ready, and unleashes a powerful new application to the unsuspecting public. In record numbers the application takes the software world by storm. It also has the nice side effect of making the developer very wealthy.
Law Judge Owners: 824	The judge often sets precedents that impact the legal community as a whole, and is looked at with a certain degree of reverence by his peers. He can greatly affect the outcomes of cases and the values of various firms both directly and indirectly.
Marketing Edward Bernays Owners: 422	Having so spectactularly achieved Woodrow Wilson's objective as an advisor to the Committee on Public Information - created in 1917 with the express aim of generating support for American participation in the war then raging in Europe - Edward Bernays was approached by American Tobacco Company after the war, who saw an untapped market for their Lucky Strike cigarettes among newly enfranchised women. Bernay's campaign convinced women that cigarettes were not just for men, but represented a symbol of emancipation, that cigarettes themselves were "torches of freedom." Lucky Strike's market shares rose by more than 200% on the back of Bernays' campaign. For these and other successes, Bernays has come to be called the father of modern marketing.
Advertising Jingle Owners: 547	Advertising is all about getting customers to buy your product instead of another product. A key factor in advertising is getting the customer to (a) notice your product and (b) remember your product so that when they're in the store facing multiple product choices, they'll feel more familiar with your product and buy it. With the emergence of radio and television mass media in the 20th century, advertisers discovered one of the most effective ways to get customers to remember a product message is to encode it into a catchy song. Musical melodies touch the emotions. Rhyming lyrics are fun and easy to remember. Combine the two and you have a powerful mnemonic device so effective that it may take days to get the silly tune out of your head.
Management Pointy-Haired Boss Owners: 665	The prophet of workplace strife, Scott Adams, has definitively identified the iconic representation of Management: the Pointy-Haired Boss (PHB). The PHB positively affects employee job security by a) ensuring that all workers have more than enough to do, and b) being adamant about lessening job security by hiring more workers. When used properly, PHBs can keep employee morale energy high by causing discontent to manifest in the form of rage directed at the PHB itself -- who will be unaware and unaffected by it.
Horses None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Western Philosophy Academy Owners: 597	Modeled on Plato's Academy, this institution of philosophical discourse still follows his guidelines in only accepting those "intoxicated to learn what was in their souls." The Academy is the foundation of higher learning and a useful aide in the exploration of man and his place in the universe.
Eastern Philosophy Meditation Owners: 416	The human mind has two directions, external and internal. Our thoughts are usually directed outward and, much less frequently, inward. And this is natural: in order to avoid discomfort and seek pleasure, we need to be constantly concerned with the external world. So gradually we develop the habit of taking in and reaching out for the external world and, sooner or later, of constantly and restlessly thinking about it. We run after a piece of bread, worry about those close to us, work hard, seek diversions and entertainment when we're tired, and try to resolve our constantly arising problems. This way we are incessantly drawn into the drama of worldly existence, the main hero of which is the restless, ever-curious "me." This "me" has so little time to examine itself that we have but little idea to what degree we are entangled in this drama. We are so lost in, so confused by, the external that we forget who we are and what we really want! Meditation is a powerful tool, one that not only provides us the opportunity to see this "drama," but also to slow it down, to let it cool off and, finally, to leave it entirely--to finish off our slave-actor career. It helps us to remember and get in touch with what we really long for, to learn about our real needs and to find and connect with our authentic life's calling, which is to follow our inner bliss. (The latter should not be confused with following one's desire.) Through regular and persistent meditation practice we gradually calm down and begin to come alive from within. Sooner or later we begin to see the external world as it is --God's Drama. And having seen this, our imagination, which is fed by the external world, loses its power over us and we gain freedom.
Journalism Journalist Owners: 834	A master of expressing (and occasionally interpreting) opinion, the journalist is a key player in molding public perception of issues. Often a stay-at-home media junkie, sometimes an on-the-spot fact finder, each journalist has a distinct style and viewpoint that attracts a following of readers.
Astronomy Telescope Owners: 510	To help them understand the stars and planets, astronomers use many different kinds of telescopes. Telescopes can make things look bigger and they also help astronomers to see things that are very faint. They do this by using lenses or special mirrors to collect a lot of light. The telescopes that astronomers use are very big. These big telescopes help astronomers to see the faintest and smallest things in the night sky.
Biology Photosynthesis Owners: 473	Sunlight plays a much larger role in our sustenance than we may expect: all the food we eat and all the fossil fuel we use is a product of photosynthesis, which is the process that converts energy in sunlight to chemical forms of energy that can be used by biological systems. Photosynthesis is carried out by many different organisms, ranging from plants to bacteria. The best known form of photosynthesis is the one carried out by higher plants and algae, as well as by cyanobacteria and their relatives, which are responsible for a major part of photosynthesis in oceans. All these organisms convert CO2 (carbon dioxide) to organic material by reducing this gas to carbohydrates in a rather complex set of reactions. Electrons for this reduction reaction ultimately come from water, which is then converted to oxygen and protons. Energy for this process is provided by light, which is absorbed by pigments (primarily chlorophylls and carotenoids). Chlorophylls absorb blue and red light and carotenoids absorb blue-green light, but green and yellow light are not effectively absorbed by photosynthetic pigments in plants; therefore, light of these colors is either reflected by leaves or passes through the leaves. This is why plants are green.
Physics Schroedinger's Cat Owners: 348	This hypothetical experiment in quantum mechanics suggests that while you can predict the probability of an event occuring, nothing happens until you observe it. The same thing happens when you use an artefact. You don't know what has happened until it's too late but there's an even chance that someone will end up with a dead cat.
Soul Music Sam Cooke Owners: 119	The "King of Soul", Sam Cooke left an indelible mark on the music industry in his short lifetime. He garnered 29 Top 40 hits in the U.S. between 1957 and 1965, including the Top 10 hits "You Send Me", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away," and ""Another Saturday Night," as well as the enormously popular "Wonderful World." His tragic, controversial shooting death in 1964 at the age of 33 shortened an immensely influential musical career. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.
Hip Hop / Rap Old School Owners: 242	Old School was born in the poor neighborhoods of the Bronx during the early 70s. Using turntables and mixers to create new compositions, the DJs kept the party going and the people moving. The main themes of this early hip hop style were friends, partying and fun times. Old school rap was known for its music samples, beatboxing, drum machine noises and simple rhythms. Perhaps the most famous recording of this genre is "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang. Take your boom box out of storage, break out the corrugated cardboard and get down to some serious breakdancing.
Personal Finance Dave Ramsey Owners: 46	Syndicated radio host and author Dave Ramsey has gained worldwide recognition for his teachings on the topic of personal finance. Ramsey encourages people to minimize and elimination their personal debt, and he speaks out strongly against the use of credit cards. Ramsey stresses the importance of people saving up money for emergency use and, just as strongly, to not spend above their means. While sometimes criticized as being overly simplistic, his common sense approach to financial advise has helped him build a strong, loyal audience.
National Economics Central Bank Owners: 213	Central banks are generally responsible for setting monetary policy for the country and setting key interest rates. Central banks also attempt to keep inflation rates under control by adjusting interest rates. In the United States the Federal Reserve manages this function. Central banks are generally an arms-length body of the national government. The United Kingdom established one of the oldest and most successful national banks, the Bank of England, in 1694 to "act as the Government's banker and debt-manager," revolutionizing national economics and debt financing.
International Economics IMF Owners: 265	The IMF (International Monetary Fund) is one of the biggest and most controversial influences on the world economy. The IMF gives loans to member countries to stabilize their balance of payments. Usually, countries must have economies that are in deep crisis before the IMF will give a loan. In exchange for such loans, the IMF can impose certain conditions and restrictions on a country's economic policies. These can include currency devaluation, budget balancing cuts and new taxes, privatizing government services and utilities, and increasing exports of goods. Some see the IMF as a stabilizer of mismanaged economies, while others see their often austere conditions as leading to even more social and economic difficulties for the people living in countries receiving IMF loans, and plunging poor countries even deeper into debt. Its rival, the World Bank, is usually seen as a more proactive and positive force, encouraging development, not austerity.
Skateboards The Z-boys Owners: 136	The Z-Boys were a group of skateboarders (the original members were Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and Jay Adams) from Santa Monica in the 1970's who are credited with popularising skateboarding and essentially creating the punk/skater subculture that now exists. The Z-Boys grew up in Dogtown, an extemely run-down low-class area in Santa Monica, California. Surfing adjacent to the dilapidated and dangerous Pacific Ocean Park pier was the initial impetus that brought the Z-Boys together.They later turned to skateboarding when the hours of quality surf in the day could no longer satisfy their desire for surf. Experimenting at first with hand built decks, they quickly created the most revolutionary technique and style in skateboarding history. They adapted new and emerging surfing methods onto the pavement, namely riding low to the ground while touching the pavement and sliding through fast, hard, and sharp turns. They first gained national attention in 1975 at the Bahne-Cadillac Skateboard Championship. Their unique style of riding became an instant hit, and drastically shifted the world of skateboarding from a flatland freestyle, which resembled gymnastics, to the fast and aggressive form that it is today. After the competition they started skating heavily in empty pools, which were plentiful due to the 1970s California drought. Here again they changed skateboarding when Tony Alva hit the first aerial maneuver, which quickly came to dominate the sport. Eventually their own popularity and the promise of more riches started to break them apart. By the end of 1976 they had all gone their own ways to separate teams. Soon after skateboarding started to wane and money started to dry up. The Z-Boys never reunited.
Extreme Sports None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Drama Films Citizen Kane Owners: 180	Citizen Kane is a 1941 film directed by Orson Welles. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won for Best Original Screenplay. Several actors made their film debut in this film, including Joseph Cotton & Agnes Moorehead. It tells the story of Charles Kane, a ruthless newspaper magnate and his fight for power in the publishing world through the viewpoint of a reporter who was trying to find out the meaning of his dying word: "Rosebud". It was rumored to be based on the lives of moguls William Randolph Hearst, Howard Hughes & Samuel Insull but Welles always maintained it was just based on Hearst. William Randolph Hearst was allegedly upset over the portrayal and offered RKO $800,000 to destroy all copies of the film. He also banned all of his newspapers & stations from making any mention of it. Due to this, many in Hollywood never wanted this film to be publicly screened. As a result it was a box-office failure and forgotten for many years. After it was rediscovered in the late 1950's it has been consistently been listed amongst the greatest films ever made and selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry.
Film Reviews Critic Owners: 674	The Critic takes no sides. Whether he likes the film or not, he "grades" it. For some, only two grades exist: "good" and "bad". For others, a very extensive and complicated "grading system" is used. Everything from "actor performance" to "creativity", the critic evaluates. In the end: the critic determines if most of the people will watch that film. If the critic liked it, you can expect a lot of people, otherwise: go home, and cry about it.
Book Reviews Dorothy Parker's Wit Owners: 713	Dorothy Parker was a well-known reviewer in New York during the times of the legendary Algonquin Round Table. Her famous one line review sums up what many poor reviewers think of the books they must read: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."
Modern Art Marcel Duchamp Owners: 420	Arguably the most challenging personality of the Avant-Garde artists participating in the Armory Show in New York in 1913 was Marcel Duchamp. More than any of his contemporaries he positioned himself and his work not only at the cutting edge of the times but also, more importantly, he projected that position well into the future when he freed himself from the accepted conventions and all preconceived notions of what Art is or is not. He declared that painting itself was dead. He pioneered or enriched many of the esoteric art forms which would later find acceptance and talented practioners as the art of the 20th century progressed; various conceptual art forms being chief among them. At the Armory Show it was most especially his Readymades which really mark the final departure of the Modern from the quaint and comfortable art of the past. It was the upended urinal which he titled "Fountain" that finally flushed away the pretense of all previous art. His Nude Descending A Staircase caused quite a stir when it was exhibited at the Armory Show and later in Chicago. So, if Pablo Picasso can serve as the artefact that defines Abstract Art surely, undeniably, the artefact that most broadly applies to what is known as Modern Art is: Marcel Duchamp.
Punk Music CBGB Owners: 239	CBGB, also CBGB's, or CB's, is a legendary club in the Manhattan Bowery district of New York City. The full name is CBGB OMFUG which stands for "Country, Bluegrass, Gospel, and Blues" and "Other Music For Uplifting." The Patti Smith Group began performing at various locations in the early 70's, settling in to CBGB's. It was at this early juncture that critics began to call the music played there "punk" rock, what they called customers who would frequent a Bowery nightclub very late at night. Blondie, The Ramones, Talking Heads, and many other bands followed in quick succession. Malcolm McLaren saw the fashions of Richard Hell (then of Television) and the sound of The Ramones and brought back both ideas for the group he had just begun managing, the Sex Pistols. The club hosted many punk and new wave bands over the years and is regarded as the birthplace and center of punk rock.
Goth Music None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Sarcasm A Modest Proposal Owners: 571	Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is a classic satirical work, featuring the literary element of sarcasm. Written in 1729, the work's full title is "A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public." The sarcasm of the essay is developed in Swift's solution to the problem of hunger: urging Irish parents and citizens to eat their children, thereby filling the food shortage and simultaneously reducing the population. Swift's sarcastic wit shines in this text, which includes statistics on the solution, proposed methods for marketing and preparing children, and additional benefits of the solution.
Comics / Funnies Comic Strip Owners: 428	A comic strip is a short strip or sequence of drawings that tells a story. Drawn by a cartoonist, or an artist, such strips were originally published on a recurring basis (usually daily or weekly) in newspapers or magazines. Their content can be funny, short gags, or serious like serialized soap operas. The funny ones had the most staying power, and were often called "funnies" or "funny pages." Today, many comic strips can be found online as well as in the newspapers. Some are exclusively online, hence the proliferation of comics or funnies blogs.
Computer Game Development None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Spirituality Incense Owners: 487	Incense comes from a centuries old tradition of combining special medicinal and therapeutic substances derived from herbs, flowers and minerals that when burned, deliver an aroma which can help to soothe and calm a restless mind.
Comic Books / Graphic Novels Will Eisner Owners: 500	Will Eisner (1917-2005), creator of 'The Spirit', was a giant in the comic book field. In a career spanning sixty years, he pioneered many artistic and production techniques that are emulated by comic artists to this day. His 1978 book, A Contract With God, is recognized as the first graphic novel and in fact, Eisner is credited with coining the term "graphic novel". The Eisner Awards, the Oscars of the comic book industry, were named in his honor.
Linux Tux Owners: 606	The funny little penguin used in so many things about Linux. Wallpapers, screensavers, notebooks, lunchboxes, photoshop pictures, etc. Linux people love him. Microsoft is plotting to kill him, but Tux cannot die... unless Linux dies, and that will not happen. Not if we Linux lovers are still alive! GO TUX!
Windows Clippy Owners: 590	Clippy, real name: Clippit, derives his heritage from Bob, Microsoft's failed attempt to put an animated graphical interface on the Windows operating system. Annoying, patronizing and generally unhelpful this artefact will take users on a journey leading to a mental asylum. Now with shapeshifting capabilities such as Merlin the Wizard, Bobby the Robot and cartoon Einstein. Danger Will Robinson, Danger.
Apple Mac Reality Distortion Field Owners: 664	The Reality Distortion Field is used by Apple CEO during keynotes and other presentations to get everyone to believe everything he says. The RDF is a key to increasing Apple's stock prices immediately before and after all presentations.
Parenting Attachment Theory Owners: 528	Attachment theory addresses the psychological concept of attachment � that humans have an innate tendency to seek closeness to another person and to feel secure when that person is present. The theory assumes that humans are social beings and that their relationships are not based solely on using other people to satisfy their drives. Attachment theory, with its origins in observations of and experiments with animals, has led to a new understanding of child development, and from it, a new movement, philosophy and practice known as attachment parenting. The overarching goal of attachment parenting is to foster in children strong emotional bonds with their parents (secure attachment) so that they will be capable of secure, empathic relationships in adulthood. According to Dr. William Sears, the American pediatrician who coined the term �attachment parenting� and who is a leading proponent of the philosophy, attachment parenting is �an uninterrupted, nurturing relationship, specifically attuned to a child�s needs as he passes from one developmental stage to the next.�
Current Affairs Correspondent Owners: 1010	A specialist skilled in information gathering, the Correspondent provides details of events from an on-the-spot perspective. A Correspondent may or may not also provide personal analyses or 'colour commentary,' but its main function is providing its employer with news about local happenings, often in precis form.
Coffee Coffeehouse Owners: 318	A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or caf� shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant. In the United States, it does not emphasize alcoholic beverages; typically, it does not offer alcoholic beverages at all, focusing instead on coffee and perhaps tea and hot chocolate. Other food may range from baked goods to soups and sandwiches, other casual meals, and light desserts that complement their caffeine-centric fare.
Children Life's Longing for Itself Owners: 449	In his best-known book, The Prophet, Lebanese poet and artist Khalil Gibran wrote a famous and often-quoted piece on children. Here is The Prophets� primer on understanding our children, and our relationships with them, from a spiritual perspective: �And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, 'Speak to us of Children.' And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
Family Kinship Owners: 746	Kinship is the most basic principle of organizing individuals into social groups, roles, and categories. Some form of organization based on parentage and marriage is present in every human society. In modern industrial communities family structures have been weakened by the dominance of the market economy and the provision of state organized social services. However, the nuclear family household is still the fundamental institution responsible for rearing children and organizing consumption. In nonindustrial contexts, kinship units normally have a much wider array of functions. They often serve as basic units of production, political representation and even as religious bodies for the worship of spiritual beings, who are themselves considered members of the kingroup.
Weblog Software Nanopublisher Owners: 758	The Dot Com bubble is gone and now the only game in the Internet content domain is the nanopublisher. Small, lean, low-cost but full of hype the nanopublisher brings economies of scale to digital publishing. Given the nature of the attention economy, it is a powerful artefact.
Health and Medicine Placebo Effect Owners: 440	If you'ver ever heard those ads that claim "nothing works better for clearing headaches quicker than Product X" and thought they were stretching the truth, you're wrong. For all too often, nothing really does work quicker. Give the patient a simple sugar pill, tell them it's a newly discovered cure for headaches, and there's a pretty good probability that, simply by believing what you have told them, their headache will be cured. This is known as the Placebo Effect.
Sports and Athletics Electrolytes Owners: 383	Running, jumping, swimming, skiing, lifting, twisting, or anything else that has had you moving and sweating for at least 90 minutes�even less on a hot day�takes its toll on your body chemistry. The loss of salts (electrolytes) through prolonged sweating forces the body�s levels of sodium and potassium out of balance. These salts are necessary for the proper functioning of bioelectrical signals such as nerve impulses and muscle contractions. While many prefer to replenish themselves with their favourite bottled sports drinks, others opt for simple and inexpensive homemade versions. Several variations exist, but the basic recipe consists of water, salt, salt substitute and sugar, all in specific proportions.
Satire Lampoon Owners: 830	A literary tool, often poetical, with which your opponent's every vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit. A keen or severe exposure of what is deserving of rebuke.
Socialism Welfare Bill Owners: 554	Health care to pensions and subsidies for the universal provision of basic services can be a useful tool to keep the workers happy. Yet at times measures must be taken to cut back public spending or get out of tricky situations when supporting an aging population seems a drain on the entrepreneur's pockets. Careful usage of this bill can meet the moderate socialists needs and improve the market conditions in developed and developing nations.
International Politics U.N. Resolution Owners: 833	Founded in 1945 by China, Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR, the United Nations was conceived as an organization of "peace-loving" nations, who were combining to prevent future aggression and for other humanitarian purposes. Close cooperation among members was expected; the Security Council especially was expected to work in relative unanimity. The UN Resolution gives you a cover for waging wars or thwarting the economies of your enemies. However, not even the world's hyperpower can rely on the UN to follow its agenda every time. Use with caution but ignore at your peril.
Liberalism John Rawls Owners: 782	In <i>A Theory of Justice</i>, political philosopher John Rawls asked us to imagine ourselves as the creators of a hypothetical society, which we will enter without knowing our race, gender, socioeconomic status, et cetera. He concluded that a rational person will take care to preserve basic rights and equality of opportunity for even the lowliest citizens. His later work addressed issues of liberty within a pluralistic society, and introduced the idea of <i>overlapping consensus</i> as a basis for government. Rawls is widely acknowledged as one of the most important political philosophers of the late 20th Century and a powerful advocate for modern liberalism.
Moderate / Centrist Politics None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Neoconservatism Hawk Owners: 670	Ever watchful for the machinations of foreign threats, the hawk keeps his feathers preened, his beak sharpened, and his claws ready to strike. Nothing moves that the hawk does not see, and does not know something about. The hawk educates himself on everything, the better to guard against it, and never rests.
Religious Politics Moral Majority Owners: 386	The Moral Majority, founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell, is an American organization comprised of conservative Christian political action committees. These committees concentrated their efforts on campaigns that were indicative of their desire to uphold the Christian concepts of moral law. They were against such loaded social issues as abortion and homosexuality, while supporting their view of family, and censorship. The Moral Majority believed that they represented the masses, as indicated by the name of the organization. Although the organization dissolved in 1989, their work was carried on by groups such as the Christian Coalition, a network founded by Pat Robertson.
Right-Wing Politics Contract With America Owners: 544	Created by a group of conservative members of and candidates for the House of Representatives, lead by Newt Gingrich of Georgia, prior to the 1994 national election, the Contract For America was created as a promise to voters as to what they could expect should these Republicans be elected to the House. The document was primarily written by Dick Armey of Texas, the Contract contained 8 provisions: � FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress; � SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse; � THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third; � FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs; � FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee; � SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public; � SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase; � EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base line budgeting. These provisions were to be implemented via a series of stated Congressional Acts to be undertaken immediately upon the commencement of the 104th Congress. While credited by many for leading to an overwhelming victory for Republicans, the contract was not fully enacted as many provisions either did not pass, were vetoed by President Bill Clinton or were weakened in negotiation with the White House. While criticized by many as being �The Contract on America�, one undeniable impact the Contract had was truly taking local congressional elections and making them a unified national issue.
Libertarianism Property Rights Act Owners: 671	The classic problem in political philosophy of the legitimacy of property is essential to libertarians. Libertarians often justify individual property on the basis of self-ownership: one's right to own one's body; the results of one's own work; what one obtains from the voluntary concession of a former legitimate owner, through trade, gift or inheritance, and so forth. The Property Rights Act is the embodiment of libertarian belief in property rights and the evil of statism. They will use this effectively to evade State interference in their daily basis and against those who would take their wealth.
Communism The Proletariat Owners: 175	Marx said, �Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.� What better Artefact to �empower� the industry of Communism then that of the Proletariat! Without the Proletariat there would be no need for Communism. The proletariat is the name for the members of the working class that came into existence after the Industrial Revolution. Communist theory and doctrine defines the proletariat as the class of people who daily have to �sell� their labor, with nothing to show for it other than the fact that the upper class gets wealthy at their expense. The proletariat class, according to communist theory, exists only to provide labor for the day-to-day changes of the competitive market. The proletariat are expendable, abused, and taken advantage of. Yet they can rise above their place by joining together in cooperative work against the bourgeois upper class and overthrow it. According to communist theory, they are empowered to rise above the competitive marketplace. The proletariat of course never did find freedom from oppression, even under the best communist system. But the ideals of the proletariat as defined by communist thought do live on in the form of improved labor relations, union power, minimum wages, and negotiated improvements to working conditions. Power to the Proletariat and Power to the People!
Environmentalism Frog Song Owners: 361	The night-time symphony of frog song is a resonant and joyful symbol of environmental vitality. Frogs exist across the world in a myriad of natural physical environments. However, because their skin is thin and porous, frogs are highly sensitive to air and water pollution and diminishing frog populations provide an early indicator of environmental damage. How glorious then, to hear the silence of the night punctuated with the delightful burbling rumbling of frog song.
National Politics The Hustings Owners: 578	Hustings are the platform for political electioneering speeches and - often - that place from which elections are won or lost. Perhaps the most famous hustings speech of all time was that made by Abraham Lincoln in 1860 at Henry Ward Beecher's Cooper Union church in Brooklyn, New York. Such was the power of Lincoln's address to the crowd that it has become known as the speech that made him president. Lincoln ended his speech with a call to arms that has rung down the generations and can still be heard today: "Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
Dance Music Electronica Owners: 246	Becoming popular in the late 80�s, the world of Electronica music is a passion to those involved in it and greatly disliked by those who do not understand the sound. The word �Electronica� encompasses many subgenres of its kind like Techno, PsyTrance, Goa, TripHop, and many more. Created from synthesizers, drum machines, sequencers, and now-a-days computers, it often carries a BPM of 130-140 on a 4/4 measure. Producers of this sound typically sample lines from movies as well as other songs and layer them over a repetitive, but ever changing bass line. A record is typically released on vinyl, each side having two or more mixes of each track. Though dance music is still underground in the USA, it is a mainstream sound in major cities across the globe.
Animal Care Can Opener Owners: 227	A powerful talisman in the world of pet aficionados, the can opener infuses energy into many different types of mammalian pets at a range of up to 20 metres.
Internet Games Richard Bartle Owners: 424	In 1978, a group of students at Essex University took their interest in the text adventure game Colossal Cave and turned it into the first multi-player game, MUD1. Richard Bartle was the primary programmer and designer, developing the game for the next ten years as it became widely available via Compunet and the fledgling Internet of the 80s. As the creator of the seed from which all other internet games have grown, Richard has attained legendary status among internet gamers and has published many academic papers on the growth and culture of the industry.
Internet Community Global Village Owners: 865	The social network brings forth the digital community bound by the network protocols to produce a forum of activity where geographical barriers are broken down. The Global Village brings together tribal loyalties and the allegiances of these opinion makers can mean the difference between financial success or psychological torture.
Meme Virus Owners: 649	What if ideas were viruses? An idea can parasitically infect your mind and alter your behavior, causing you to want to tell your friends about the idea, thus exposing them to the idea-virus. In theory at least, the ability to understand and communicate complex memes is a survival trait, and natural selection should favor those who aren't too conservative to understand new memes. Or does it? In practice, some people are going to be all too ready to commit any new meme that comes along, even if it should turn out to be deadly nonsense, like: "Jump off a cliff and the gods will make you fly." Such memes do evolve, generated by crazy people, or through mis-replication. Notice, though, that this meme might have a lot of appeal. The idea of magical flight is so tantalizing -- maybe, if I truly believed, I just might leap off the cliff and...
Mobile Technology Relay Owners: 397	Sending a wireless message to a single receiver located a significant distance away is a daunting task. Simply boosting the transmission power to a high level works for broadcast signals used by radio and television stations, but those signals are intended to reach as wide an audience as possible. The more receivers, the better. This technique would defeat the purpose of private communications such as cell phone calls, pager messages, or similarly, Internet data in a home-based wireless network. Rather than sending out these signals in a single large burst of power, the signals are tagged with descriptive information so they can be sent out at lower power, then captured and rebroadcast by signal repeaters--like a baton in a relay race--ultimately ending up with the intended receivers. The descriptive information directs signals to the appropriate repeaters and ensures that the signal messages which, for digital communications, are sent in chunks called "packets," are reassembled properly at the receiving end.
Abstract Art Pablo Picasso Owners: 214	Pablo Picasso is widely regarded as the Father of the Cubist movement and modern art. He, along with Georges Braque, were the original founders of Cubism. It is important to fully realize the importance of Cubism. It isn't just "Picasso's style," but marks the real beginning of abstract art. Picasso's predecessors, such as the Impressionists, the Fauvists and Cezanne were still principally tied to nature as a model to elaborate on. With Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Picasso reached a level of abstraction that was a radical enough break with the classical dominance of content over form, a hierarchy which is reversed in Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and the style which followed from it: Cubism. Picasso was also the most prolific painter ever, as deemed in the Guiness Book of Records. He produced about 13,500 paintings or designs, 100,000 prints or engravings, 34,000 book illustrations, and 300 sculptures and ceramics plus drawings and tapestries. Several paintings by Picasso rank among the most expensive paintings in the world. On May 4, 2004 Picasso's painting Gar�on � la pipe was sold for $104 million at Sotheby's, thus establishing a new price record. The total value of his work was estimated in 1973 to be about $750 million.
Investment Motley Fool Owners: 337	"The Motley Fool" was established by David and Tom Gardner in 1993 as an investment newsletter. A year later, in 1994, by forming a partnership with America Online (AOL), they were able to launch their investment information service online, which soon became well-known for its early recommendations of stocks. In 1996 "The Motley Fool" was featured in a cover story for Fortune magazine, and since then the Gardner�s have published eight books, received their own nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column and radio show, and appeared frequently on television and at investor conferences around the nation. In 1997 they moved their service onto their permanent World Wide Web home at Fool.com, and in 1998 the website Fool U.K. was born. The company�s main focus is on novice investors who know very little about investing, and its mission is to educate and amuse individual investors around the world.
Venture Capitalism Sand Hill Road Owners: 331	Sand Hill Road is a road in Menlo Park, California, which provides easy access to Stanford University and Silicon Valley. Sand Hill Road became famous in the late 1990s for the incredible concentration of venture capital firms located on the road. Sand Hill Road has been compared to Wall Street when discussing the dot-com boom. At the height of the tech bubble, commercial real estate on Sand Hill Road became some of the most expensive in the world, rivaling prices normally found in Lower Manhattan, or London's West End.
Stock Market Ben Graham Owners: 291	Benjamin Graham (1894 � 1976) was an influential economist and professional investor who is today often called "the father of value investing." His book Security Analysis, with David Dodd, was published in 1934 and has been considered a bible for serious investors since it was written. Benjamin's other best-known book, The Intelligent Investor, has been described by Warren Buffett as the best book ever written about investing. Graham exhorted the stock market participant to first draw a fundamental distinction between investment and speculation. He defined an investment operation as one which on a thorough analysis of the facts promises safety of principal and a satisfactory return; anything else is speculation. Graham wrote that the owner of equity stocks should regard them first and foremost as conferring part ownership of a business. With that perspective in mind, the stock owner should not be too concerned with erratic fluctuations in stock prices, since in the short term, the stock market behaves like a voting machine, but in the long term it acts like a weighing machine (i.e. its true value will in the long run be reflected in its stock price). Graham recommended that investors spend time and effort to analyze the financial state of companies. When one is available on the market at a price which is at a discount to its intrinsic value, a "margin of safety" exists, which makes it suitable for investment. Graham was critical of the corporations of his day for obfuscated and irregular financial reporting that made it difficult for investors to discern the true state of the business's finances. He was an advocate of dividend payments to shareholders rather than businesses keeping all of their profits as retained earnings. He also criticized those who advised that some types of stocks were a good buy at any price, because of the prospect of sustained stock price growth, without a good analysis of the business's actual financial condition. These observations remain extremely relevant today.
Personal Debt American Express Owners: 285	Karl Malden famously said �don�t leave home without it� in the 1970s and 80s, and many people did just that. The American Express credit card was launched on October 1, 1958 to compete with the Diners card. Its annual fee was $1 higher, to be seen by consumers as a premium product. The cards were originally made of paper, but from 1959 they created a world-first by switching to plastic. They were instantly popular, with more than 1 million cards in use at over 85,000 establishments within five years. They began to target different types of consumers, starting with the launch of their gold card in 1966. Today they are one of the leading providers of credit cards worldwide, with their cards accepted in nearly every country.
Business Ethics Ford Pinto Owners: 469	The Ford Pinto's defective fuel system design led to the debate of many issues centered around the usage by Ford of a cost-benefit analysis and the ethics surrounding its decision not to replace the defective fuel systems based on this analysis. Although Ford had a newer design which would have decreased the probability of the Ford Pinto exploding, Ford chose not to use this new design, which would have cost $11 per car, even though Ford has conducted an analysis showing that the new design would cause 180 less deaths. Ford defended itself on the grounds that it used a risk-benefit analysis to determine whether the monetary costs would be greater than the cost to the society itself. With the numbers Ford used, the cost of replacing the defective fuel systems would have been $137 million, against the $49.5 million cost for injuries and damages. Because of the results of the analysis, Ford decided not to replace the defective fuel system.
Industries None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Knitting Madame De Farge Owners: 665	The most infamous knitter of all. Delightfully Dickensian and demonstrative of the bliss of knitting - the ability to ignore one's surroundings while plying the needles. Click, click, click, click! What guillotine?
Crafts Guildmaster Owners: 659	Crafts guilds have been active since 1099 and continue to involve every member of the crafts industry. They include artisans, merchants, and professional workshops. Guilds have, through the centuries, provided education, vocational training, quality control, legislative trade representation and standard setting for artisans.
Computer Art Space Paranoids Owners: 336	Space Paranoids is the fictional game invented and stolen from Kevin Flynn, the hacker character in the film Tron played by Jeff Bridges. As Flynn is transported into the digital world of Tron he must play his game for real. Tron is widely recognized as a revolutionary film in the advancement of computer graphics and the use of computers in art. The Lightcycles, Recognizers and Tanks were at the time the most advanced computer-generated objects seen on the big screen, and indeed the film was revolutionary. Perhaps this is why it did poorly at the box office but is one the most influential works in the field of computer animation. The "game grid" of the Space Paranoids game first used in Tron has since been duplicated countless times. The holodeck of Star Trek TNG and the alternate 3D universe in which Homer gets trapped in the Treehouse of Horror episode of the Simpsons are just two examples of the influence of Space Paranoids in the field of computer graphics and art.
Nationalism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Peace Movement White Dove Owners: 496	White doves are a traditional symbol of love and peace. A dove was supposed to have been the first creature released by Noah after the flood in order to find land; it came back carrying an olive branch, telling Noah that, somewhere, there was land. A dove with an olive branch, then, has come to symbolize peace.
Democracy Elections Owners: 762	Elections are the central institution of democratic representative governments. Why? Because, in a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed. The principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections.
International Relations The Peace of Westphalia Owners: 364	The Peace of Westphalia is a series of treaties negotiated in 1648 in Europe that ended various wars and created or defined several independent nation-states. The Peace of Westphalia also instituted the notion of sovereignty -- a development beyond the nation-state and city-state models established in ancient Greece and Rome. Sovereignty located that the highest level of government within each independent nation-state, where one person or body would have the exclusive right to exercise political authority over its territory and its people. With this, it eradicated the Holy Roman Empire's secular dominion over parts of the "Christian� world and its vision of establishing secular dominion over the entire (Christian) world. The concept and practice of sovereignty, and the various treaties of the era, created a new political reality that spread through Europe and was eventually exported to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Many historians consider The Peace of Westphalia to be the beginning of the modern era. It institutionalized armies and diplomacy and eventually gave rise to what today is known as International Relations �- an academic and public policy field that is involved in both the study of foreign affairs within the international system and also the formulation of foreign policy.
Regional Politics None!	Suggest One in the forums.
US Economy New Deal Owners: 392	The New Deal is the name given to the series of programs used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt with the goal of stabilizing, reforming and stimulating the United States economy in the Great Depression. Some economists argue that although the New Deal did not end the depression, all in all it helped to prevent the economy from decaying further by increasing the regulatory functions of the federal government in ways that helped stabilize previous trouble areas of the economy: the stock market, the banking system, and others.
Criminal Law Hitman Owners: 506	The Hitman is a useful person, he provides you with a persuasion not often matched by other businessmen. He often can find a way to persuade anyone into seeing your side of the story, or in business, your side of the deal.
British / UK Economy None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Software Industry None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Oil Industries None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Consumer Electronics Sony Walkman Owners: 371	The Sony Walkman TPS-12 first went on sale on 1 July 1979 in Japan and its popularity spread around the world. It enabled people to listen to music anywhere and anytime, without disturbing others around them. Its high quality recording and audio made it popular with hi-fi enthusiasts and journalists alike. In the 1980�s, it led to fierce competition from other companies such as Toshiba and Panasonic, and was one of the factors in pre-recorded cassettes overtaking LP sales. Since the late 1990�s CD & digital music technologies have overtaken cassettes, however Sony has continued to make cassette-based walkmans as part of its overall personal audio range.
Music Industry Hit Song Science Owners: 436	So you think you've written a hit song? Guess again. Perfect hooks, killer beats, and powerhouse singing add up to nothing for many aspiring songwriters -- and for ambitious record executives, who have historically relied on good ears and gut instinct when it comes to finding talent. A new company is trying to take some of the guesswork out of the artwork, with help from science and supercomputers. Hit Song Science already is generating controversy, with some artists and record-label insiders saying it only highlights the desperation of a struggling music industry.
Film Industry None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Technical Writing It Depends Owners: 612	If you ask a technical writer a professional question, you�re liable to get the answer you want the least: �It depends.� These people deal with exacting technical information every day. For some, their documentation can, if written improperly, result in bodily harm from incorrect usage of a product. Why, then, is it so hard to get a straight answer out of them? If you ask a technical question related to a client�s product or service, you�re on solid ground. However, if you ask a question related to technical writing, the answer isn�t so clear cut. The primary goal of technical writing is to communicate in a clear and direct fashion, and sometimes the rules of writing take a back seat to clarity. Split that infinitive and end that sentence in a preposition, if that�s what it takes. Other times, the writer has a fixed amount of real estate in a document and must be pragmatic, so the cherished rule about two spaces after a period goes out the window. Another problem is that there are so many styles and standards to choose from: Do you want rules from Oxford, Chicago, or some other manual of style? Perhaps the documentation needs to do double duty through single sourcing, so the text ends up a bit overdone. Maybe the boss doesn�t want to pay for Adobe Photoshop, so there had better be a way to manipulate those photos with the tools you have on hand. Even aesthetics can play a part: The boss likes a particular shade of orange, the rest of the documentation is in Tahoma font, and that expensive ad simply looks better with exactly 17.5 points between the lines of text. The rules? Get the point across clearly and within the given parameters. Discourage people from hurting themselves. Make the boss happy. The rest is negotiable.
Capital Region (Vnz) El Libertador Sim�n Bolivar Owners: 517	Sim�n Jos� Antonio de la Sant�sima Trinidad Bol�var Palacios y Blanco, more commonly known simply as Sim�n Bol�var, was a South American revolutionary leader and is one of Venezuela's most famous sons. He was born July 24, 1783 in Caracas and died December 17, 1830 in Santa Marta, Colombia. Bol�var played a central role in the fight for independence in what are now the countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia. He is revered as a hero in these countries and throughout much of the rest of Latin America, where he is known as "El Libertador", The Liberator. His name lives on not just in the name of the country Bolivia, but also in countless other place names and geographical features as far afield as Australia, the USA and France. In addition, this South American revolutionary has also lent his name to the official currency of his birthplace, the Venezuelan bol�var.
Maracay (Vnz) None!	Suggest One in the forums.
International Law Treaty Owners: 174	A treaty is an agreement made between two or more nations with a view toward the public welfare. Many existing treaties insure protection from attack, set terms of trade, regulate environmental activity, and define borders. They can be amended in three ways and can be suspended if one of the parties involved does not adhere to the terms. The principle of treaty law is expressed in the "maxim pacta sunt servanda", or "pacts must be respected".
Central Region (Vnz) Henri Pittier National Park Owners: 293	Venezuela�s first national park, the Henri Pittier National Park, covers all of the northern part of the Venezuelan state, Aragua, which is in the country's Central Region. Founded in 1937 as the Rancho Grande National Park, in 1953 it was renamed to honor the Swiss geographer and botanist, Henri Fran�ois Pittier, who first studied plant life in the area in 1919 and who was later instrumental in the founding of the Park.
Wrestling None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Fiction Literature The Protagonist Owners: 362	The Protagonist is the primary character in a work of fiction. He�s the leading man, the main character. The entire story revolves around him and is often told from his point of view. One of the primary characteristics of the Protagonist is his ability to change. It�s this ability that gives a work of fiction its depth and helps create the tension and conflict present in the story. For every protagonist, there is the antagonist or foil. This character presents further challenges or obstacles for the protagonist to overcome. In layman�s terms, the protagonist is usually considered the �good guy� or the hero; the antagonist is the �bad guy� or villain. In ancient Greecian dramas, the protagonist was the leading actor and there could only be one protagonist in a play. However, since at least 1671 the word has been used in the plural to mean 'important actors' or 'principal characters' when John Dryden wrote "Tis charg'd upon me that I make debauch'd persons... my protagonists, or the chief persons of the drama". A protagonist can also be defined as a supporter or champion of a particular cause or effort.
History Clio Owners: 540	One of the nine muses of Greek mythology, Clio inspires all those who write history. Clio often appears with a parchment scroll she uses to record the events of the world; controlling a Clio brings the owner remarkable power over history itself.
European History Battle of Tours-Poitiers Owners: 179	In the eigth century all of the Middle East and North Africa were ruled by the Islamic Caliphate, headed by the Umayyad Dynasty. They expanded aggressively in all directions, and invaded Spain in 711 AD. They were successful in conquering most of the spanish kingdoms, and crossed the Pyrenees in 721. At this time most of present-day France, Germany and the BeNeLux countries were united as the Kingdom of the Franks. In 732 they entered Frankish territory in earnest. Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, met the incursion in battle. After Emir Abd er Rahman was killed, the Muslim forces retreated and were soon after pushed back to southern Spain. They would eventually be removed from there back to Northern Africa, 760 years later. The significance of this battle cannot be overstated. The Islamic Caliphate was very much an expansionary power at the time. With no organized military force in the realm of the Franks, Caliphate forces could in short order have ccupied Bavaria and been on the border of Poland. From there on it is hard to say what would have occured, but given the passion with which conversion was "encouraged" by punitive taxes, restrictions from jobs, preferential treatment for converts etc., in all likelihood some sort of Islamic successor state would have survived and expanded throughout Europe. Europe would have been an Islamic society. Gibbon, in fact, wrote a famous passage of prose on the topic, stating that "A victorious line of march had been prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks of the Loire; the repetition of an equal space would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland; the Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or Euphrates, and the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Muhammed." This battle is perhaps the most historically important several day period to the course of European History.
American (US) History None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Middle Eastern History Bar Kokhba Revolt Owners: 361	Bar Kokhba's Revolt, sometimes simply referred to as the Second Jewish Revolt, ended in the Roman expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem. The revolt was costly for both sides, however, and the Roman Emperor Hadrian acknowledged the fact by refusing a victorious entry into the city. Some Jewish historians have cited the violence and bloody outcome of this revolt as an argument against Zionism, claming that the Jews ought not to take or maintain possession of the Holy Land without the blessing of God, specifically the coming of the Messiah.
Inner Cities Keys to the Cities Owners: 371	BE IT RESOLVED that if the bearer of this "Keys to the Cities" Artefact comes to the Cities Industry, the Mayors of each of the Cities are directed to give them the Ceremony of the Keys to their City, a bottle of French wine, and a suitable welcome. The Ceremony of the Keys is believed to date back to the 1500s with Mary, Queen of Scots. The keys represent those used to open the city gates at a time when it was protected by a wall.
Natural Wonder Mount Everest Owners: 158	Considered by some to be the greatest Natural Wonder of the World, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Roughly 60 million years ago, India -- then a separate continent -- began to move rapidly northward, eventually colliding with Asia. The push crushed the land on the continental shores into what is now the highest mountain range in the world -- the Himalayas, a Sanskrit word meaning "abode of snow." The entire range of magnificent snow-covered peaks is a natural wonder in anyone's book -- but one stands above the others quite literally. Everest -- Chomolungma to the Tibetans, and Sagarmatha to the Nepalese, who live at its base -- the tallest mountain on Earth, reaching to the skies for over 29,000 feet (8,800 meters). Shrouded in mystery due to its height, remote location and Chinese and Nepalese restrictions on access, Everest has been the dream of climbers since the British first glimpsed the peak in the 1850s. New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the pinnacle on May 29, 1953, the first recorded men to march over the frozen ridges and stand on the highest point in the world. Since that day, the mountain's appeal has not wavered. More attempts to reach its top have followed in the years after Hillary and Norgay's success -- using different routes, with or without oxygen, the first woman, first solo climb and on and on. Thousands have made the attempt -- more than 700 have succeeded. And at least 150 others have died trying. Artefact description from: CNN Destinations and Seven Natural Wonders
Diplomacy Ambassador Owners: 564	The ambassador represents your interests in a foreign country. He can be very persuasive. Use him to collect important data about others.
UK Smuggler Owners: 918	A large portion of the inhabitants of the south-west coast of Cornwall were in some way or other connected with the practice of smuggling. The traffic with the opposite coast was carried on principally in boats or undecked vessels. The risks encountered by their crews produced a race of hardy, fearless men. Recently the demand for ardent spirits has so fallen off that there is no longer an inducement to smuggle; still it is sometimes exultingly rumoured that, the "Coast Guard having been cleverly put off the scent, a cargo has been successfully run."
USA Star Spangled Banner Owners: 1027	On Sept. 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key peered through clearing smoke to see an enormous flag flying proudly after a 25-hour British bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry. Key was inspired to write a poem, which was later set to music. Even before "The Star-Spangled Banner" became the national anthem of the USA, it helped transform the garrison flag with the same name into a major national symbol. - - The Star Spangled Banner was made under government contract in the summer of 1813 by a professional Baltimore flagmaker, Mary Pickersgill. Assisted by her 13-year old daughter, Caroline, and by two of her nieces, Eliza and Margaret Young, Mary may also have received help from her mother, Rebecca Young, who was a flagmaker as well. - - Since coming to the Smithsonian museum in 1907, the historic flag has been a visible reminder of both the ideals represented by the American flag and the need to preserve those ideals.
Europe Europa Owners: 635	In Greek legend, the god Zeus went to great lengths to seduce a beauteous Phoenician woman named Europa: He transformed himself into a white bull and carried her away on his back to the isle of Crete. There he showed her his true self and made her queen. Whether this is testament to the beauty of Europa or to the strong urges and perhaps the curiously low self-esteem of Zeus (he thought she'd be more impressed by a bull than a god?) is uncertain, but in time her name defined the Greek mainland and eventually the entire subcontinent of Europe. �The �wide-eyed one,� [she] was originally the mother-goddess of Crete. Europa owned a magic spear that never missed its target and a monstrous brass warrior that protected her island while she rode the night on her servant, the lunar bull. But Europa�s guard failed to repulse the invading Greeks, who brought their own gods to Crete and rewrote Europa�s legend substantially. As they told it, she was merely a Phoenician princess, and the lunar bull was the sky-god Zeus who spied the lovely woman bathing and carried her to Crete to rape her. Abandoned there, she married well and bore three famous kings of Crete: Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus. That the Greek tale has Europa born in Phoenicia suggests to many scholars a Near Eastern origin for Cretan culture and religion.� (Patricia Monaghan, The Book of Goddesses & Heroines)
Americas Amerigo Vespucci Owners: 674	America�s designation is a homage to the Italian merchant and navigator Amerigo Vespucci. He was the first man that realized that the �new world� lands were an entire new continent and not a part of Asia, as it was believed until then. Amerigo Vespucci was born in Firenze in 1454. He studied geography, astronomy and cosmography. In 1491, working for the Medici family, he moved to Seville, where he became partner of Giannoto Barardi, a business manager for the Medicis in that Spanish city. Between 1499 and 1504, he performed various expeditions to the American continent helping to discover several aspects of this new continent. He was the first to announce that the New World is in fact a continent by itself. In 1507, the New World changed its designation into America, thanks to the German cartographer Waldseemuller. Amerigo Vespucio died shortly after, in 1512.
Asia Silkworm Owners: 882	The Silkworm (Bombyx mori) is the caterpillar of a moth whose cocoon is used to make silk; it is not a worm at all. This insect is also called the silkworm-moth and the mulberry silkworm. It is native to northern China. The coveted secret of silkworm cultivation began 5000 years ago in China. Sericulture (the production of raw silk by raising silkworms) spread to Korea and later to Japan and southern Asia; during the eleventh century, European traders stole several eggs and seeds of the mulberry tree and began rearing silkworms in Europe. The adult moth has been bred for silk production and cannot fly. Because of its long history and economic importance, the silkworm genome has been the object of considerable modern study. Use of the Silkworm artefact on Asia industry stocks may help you weave your way to riches.
Africa Lake Victoria Owners: 398	The largest lake in Africa is Lake Victoria, also known as Victoria Nyanza, Ukerewe, and Nalubaale. This lake, at 68,870 sq km, has the second largest surface area of any lake on Earth, and is the seventh largest lake by volume. Additionally, Lake Victoria is the largest tropical lake in the world. The lake is the headwaters of the largest branch of the Nile River, which was crucial to the development of the Egyptian civilization. The lake has several islands, including some large enough to have permanent occupants. The oldest known outside discovery of the lake was by Arab explorers who mapped the area in their search for various trade goods. Europeans did not visit the lake until 1858, when John Hanning Speke reached the southern shore in an expedition to find the headwaters of the Nile. He named the lake after the British monarch, Queen Victoria. His claim to have discovered the headwaters went unconfirmed until American Henry Morton Stanley confirmed this to be the case many years later.
France Champagne Bottle Owners: 817	France has long been best known for its champagne, some bottles of which are valued in the thousands and millions per bottle. French history shows that many invaders in their land made a point to preserve for their own pleasure as much of the best bottles of Champagne as was possible. Paul Claudel, French poet, playwright, and diplomat until he died in 1955, once said : Gentlemen, in the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of Champagne.
Germany Oktoberfest Owners: 703	What started out as a simple celebration of marriage has turned into an international event, bringing millions of people from all over the world to Germany to partake in it's festival of traditional food, crafts, and dance. The tradition begins with a parade in late September, and has every year since 1887. The parade of Proprietors is simply the families, breweries, and bands colorfully presented as they go to set up for the feast. Soon after, is Family Day, where tickets for rides are discounted and more of the events, such as "Wiesn-Hits for Kids", are created for children. The next event is a Traditional Oktoberfest Mass at the Hippodrom tent, where pastors celebrate mass with priests from neighboring countries. Gathering at the feet of Bavaria Pantheon, the bands will gather to play, where over 400 musicians interpret melodies.
Italy Serenade Owners: 745	Musical entertainments given in the open air at night, especially by gentlemen, in a spirit of gallantry, under the windows of ladies. It all depends on the voice of the gentleman and the mood of the lady though.
Netherlands Licorice Owners: 672	It is found from row houses in Amsterdam to cottages in the Dutch countryside. Sometimes it's tucked away in cupboards, though often it's kept in plain sight on the coffee table. It is sold everywhere from pharmacies to corner stores and shipped by mail everywhere else. Most Dutch like to sneak a little after dinner, and when they travel outside the country, they're always sure to bring enough to last the entire trip. Drop, the Dutch licorice candy, is the Netherlands' national addiction. Coming in more than 50 different shapes, tastes and textures, and made by at least 10 different companies, it is the one thing Dutch expatriates seem to miss most from their homeland. An overdose might have some strange effects though.
Spain Duende Owners: 683	Duende like art itself has faces that are both appealing and dangerous. It can be dark and hard to pin down. The great Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca gave a famous lecture on La Teoria y Juego del Duende � The Theory and Function of Duende. Lorca says: - - "All through Andalusia . . . people speak constantly of duende, and recognize it with unfailing instinct when it appears. The wonderful flamenco singer El Lebrijano said: �When I sing with duende, no one can equal me.� . . . Manuel Torres, a man with more culture in his veins than anybody I have known, when listening to Falla play his own �Nocturno del Genaralife,� made his splendid pronouncement: �All that has dark sounds has duende.� And there is no greater truth. - - "These dark sounds are the mystery, the roots thrusting into the fertile loam known to all of us, ignored by all of us, but from which we get what is real in art. . . . - - "Thus duende is a power and not a behavior, it is a struggle and not a concept. I have heard an old master guitarist say: �Duende is not in the throat; duende surges up from the soles of the feet.� Which means it is not a matter of ability, but of real live form; of blood; of ancient culture; of creative action."
Hungary Ak�c M�z Owners: 190	One of the tastier exports from the nation of Hungary is Ak�c M�z, or Hungarian honey. This bee-made treat is a key ingredient in the heart-shaped delicacy M�zeskalacs (Hungarian Honey Cake) as well as in m�zbor (Hungarian honey wine). Beekeeping has been an industry in Hungary for centuries, developing originally to provide the wax that the churches needed for their candles. Today, there are approximately 600,000 hives of bees in Hungary, all busily producing 10,000 to 17,000 tons of honey each year. The nation exports 7000 to 15,000 tons of this honey annually. The Honey industry is so important to the nation that the Hungarian government pledged 1 billion Forints and professional lobby activities to support Hungarian honey producers in 2005. Their goal was to ensure that all honey exported to EU markets is marketed as Hungarian Honey or Carpathian Basin Honey, in appropriate retail packaging and at a more competitive price. Because of this regional focus, 8-10% of all Hungarian honey is sold within the European Union. Hungarian honey is also sold internationally, comprising 1% of all the honey sold in the world.
Poland Lech Walesa Owners: 223	Born in 1943, Lech Walesa came to fame in 1980 by founding Solidarność (Solidarity) the first indepenant labor union in the Soviet Bloc. His work in adbancing the rights if the citizens of Poland began in 1970 when he was a member of an illegal strike committee at the Gdansk Shipyard. The strike was violently supressed and over 80 strikers were killed for "anti-social behavior". In 1978 he was one of the founders of the Free Trade Union of Pomerania. The government repeatedly arrested him for his "anti-government work", but the courts found him not guilty, and he returned to the shipyards in 1979. In 1980 he scaled the wall during a takeover strike at the shipyards and took conmmand of the strikers. This strike spread and numerous similar strikes occurred across the nation. To settle the strike the government agreed to allow organization, but not true free trade unions. But the strike committe reformed itself in to the organization that became Solidarity. In 1981 the government responded by declaring martial law, and Walesa was arrested and held for 11-months. Although he was released and returned to his job as an electritian at the shipyards, he remained under virtual house arrest until 1987. But the international community took notice of his works, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. In 1987 Walesa returned to his work with Solidarity, and future strikes were planned, including a 1988 strike that resulted in the government finally agreeing to roundtable discussions to liberalise the nation's laws. By 1989 Solidarity was essentially a political party and semi-free elections resulted in Solidarity getting all of the seats not automatically allocated to the Communist Party. Walesa worked with members of the Communist Party to create a coalition government, and the Parliment elected a non-Communist Prime Minister. The path towards Democracy was clear, and in 1990 Walesa was elected the first non-Communist President of Poland. He held this position through 1995. Walesa is credited with being the driving force behind freeing Poland from Communist rule, and with starting the chain reaction of national uprisings that resulted in the fall of the Soviet Bloc and ultimately the USSR.
Belgium Beer Owners: 522	Thirsty? Have a Belgian beer. Some places have over 700 different kinds of beer available so you'd better not try too many at once. A hang-over is a terrible thing.
Japan Yakuza Owners: 837	In a society where conformity is highly valued, and outward signs of individuality can arouse suspicion, the Yakuza, Japan�s native organized crime group, deliberately goes against the grain; or, as they would say in Japan, the Yakuza stubbornly refuses to be �hammered down,� referring to the often quoted national proverb, �The nail that sticks up must be hammered down.�
Canada Beaver Owners: 864	This artefact does wonders for one's nationalist pride, Seeing as Canada is the birthplace of Hockey, Basketball not to mention home of the Beaver what better national symbol? Then along came 1967 and it was decided a Maple Leaf would do much better, Oh wait can't forget to mention real beer... or at least 5%. C'est la vie... eh?
Brazil Carnival Owners: 700	Festivities attract thousands of people from all corners of the world. Carnaval, as spelled in Portuguese, is a 4-day celebration. It starts on Saturday, and ends on Fat Tuesday (Mardi-Gras). Dates change every year, it's 40 days before the Easter. The origin of Brazil's carnival goes back to a Portuguese pre-lent festivity called "entrudo", a chaotic event where participants threw mud, water, and food at each other in a street event that often led to riots. Rio's first masquerade carnival ball (set to polkas and waltzes) was in 1840.
Argentina La Revoluci�n de Mayo Owners: 401	La Revoluci�n de Mayo (the May Revolution) was the first attempt at independence in the Viceroyalty of the R�o de la Plata, which contains present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. On May 13, 1810, the arrival of a British frigate in Montevideo confirmed the rumors circulating in Buenos Aires: Napoleon I of France had invaded Spain, capturing and overthrowing King Ferdinand VII, who was replaced by Napoleon's older brother Joseph Bonaparte. This meant that the power of the Crown was transferred to the Regency Council in C�diz, which was besieged by French troops. The situation was clear: with the authority of the vice regency gone, there was a power vacuum. On May 25, 1810 the First Junta was created in Buenos Aires, removing viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros from power. In 1816 Argentina won its independence from the Spanish Crown. Today, el D�a de la Revoluci�n de Mayo (May Revolution Day) on May 25 is an annual holiday in Argentina to commemorate these significant events in the history of Argentina. This and other events of the week leading up to that day are referred to as la Semana de Mayo (May Week).
Mexico Calendario Azteca Owners: 482	A circular shaped stone with fifty-two squares or years, which were the equivalent of one cycle or century. At the end of the cycle was held a solemn feast, Nexiuhilpiliztli (completion or binding of a perfect circle of years). The round circle reached the end of its cycle and returned to its starting point. The circle was divided into four equal parts, each containing thirteen years. The Aztec Calendar is an elaborately decorated disk representing the sun. At the center appears the face of Tonatiuh (�the shining one,� �the beautiful child,� �the eagle that soars�) with his tongue sticking out. The tongue seems to be a knife used for sacrifices. On the sides are represented his hands, like eagle�s talons, clutching human hearts. Because the Aztecs considered the sun and the eagle as the same, it was said that when the sun rose in the morning sky it was like the �eagle who ascends� so the Aztecs called it Cuauhtlehuanitl. The first part belonged to the East, whose thirteen years were Reeds. This selection has thirteen squares containing a picture of a reed and a number of the year. These years were good, fertile, and abundant. The second part belonged to the West, whose years were Houses. Each square contains a picture of a house, and the number of the year. Unhappy events occurred during these years. They symbolized evil. The third section belonged to the North, which was symbolized by a Flint Knife. Each of these thirteen squares shows a flint knife and the number of the year. Many unhappy events occurred during these years, too. Little rain fell and there was famine. The fourth part of the Aztec Calendar belonged to the South, and was called Rabbit. These thirteen squares contained a picture of a rabbit�s head and the number of the year. These years were not considered favorable by the Aztecs, but they were not as bad as House and Flint Knife, nor as good as Reed. The rabbit became the symbol because it leaps back and forth and does not stay in one place.
China Cheongsam Owners: 762	The cheongsam is a female dress with distinctive Chinese features and enjoys a growing popularity in the international world of high fashion. The name 'cheongsam', meaning simply 'long dress', entered the English vocabulary from the dialect of China's Guangdong Province (Cantonese). In other parts of the country including Beijing, however, it is known as 'qipao', which has a history behind it. When the early Manchu rulers came to China proper, they organized certain people, mainly Manchus, into 'banners' (qi) and called them 'banner people' (qiren), which then became loosely the name of all Manchus. The Manchu women wore normally a one-piece dress which, likewise, came to be called 'qipao' or 'banner dress'. Although the 1911 Revolution toppled the rule of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, the female dress survived the political change and, with later improvements, has become the traditional dress for Chinese women.
Middle East Abrahamic Religion Owners: 532	Abrahamic religion is a term used by some students of comparative religion to describe any religion derived from a Semitic tradition traceable to Abraham -- the patriarch of Judaism, the first prophet in Islam and spiritual father of all its believers, and a model of faithful obedience in Christian belief. The story of Abraham�s life is told in the Book of Genesis and in the Quran, but there is no contemporary mention of his life and he is mentioned in no source earlier than Genesis. For these reasons, it is difficult to know whether Abraham is an historical or a mythical figure. If historical, he probably lived about 4,000 years ago (between 2166 BCE and 1991 BCE). In addition to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, a few other religions in the Semitic tradition are sometimes considered Abrahamic. What constitutes an Abrahamic religion can be controversial, as this is not a standardized classification and the terminology is often used to imply continuity between divergent faiths in a way that is offensive to some adherents. Alternately referred to as �desert monotheisms,� and sometimes as �patriarchal desert cults� by their detractors, these religions comprise about half of the world's religious adherents and share a common birthplace and spiritual center: The Middle East.
Iran Persian Carpet Owners: 766	The history of Persian Carpet-a culmination of artistic magnificence - dates back to 2,500 years ago. The Iranians were among the pioneer carpet weavers of the ancient civilizations, having achieved a superlative degree of perfection through centuries of creativity and ingenuity. The skill of carpet weaving has been handed down by fathers to their sons, who built upon those skills and in turn handed them down to their offspring as a closely guarded family secret. To trace the history of Persian carpet is to follow a path of cultural growth of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known.
Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk Owners: 153	Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk was the founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first President. During a long service as President of the Republic, he established a new nation-state, based on nationalism, populism, and secularism, implementing several pro-Western reforms. Atat�rk�s military training began with his enrollment in a military junior high school; after his graduation from the War Academy, he was assigned a lieutenant in the Ottoman Army. He served with distinction in World War I, particularly at the Battle of Gallipoli. Following his service in WWI, Atat�rk returned to an occupied Istanbul and was instrumental in the War of Independence In 1919, the last Ottoman parliament was dissolved, and in response, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was formed in Ankara, with Kemal, as he was known at the time, as the speaker of the parliament. He persuaded the he Grand National Assembly (GNA) to pass a new constitution in 1921 which transferred sovreignty from the sultan to the nation; this was later grounds for denying the Treaty of Sevres, because that treaty did not recognize the right of the country to rule itself. In 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, annulling the Treaty of Sevres and creating the new Republic of Turkey. Atat�rk�s personal history is closely intertwined with that of Turkey�s history. The Surname Law, passed in June 1934, established the use of fixed, hereditary surnames for Turkish citizens. Concurrently, a special law was passed creating the name Atat�rk, and reserving it specifically for Gazi Mustafa Kemal, or Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk as he became known. Atat�rk can be translated "Father of Turkish People" or "Ancestor of Turkish People." Even his accepted birth date is tied to the history of the country. Given the imprecision of birth certificates at the time, Atat�rk�s exact birth date is not known. 19 May is generally accepted as the start of the Turkish Independence War, and Atat�rk adopted it as his own birth date. At Atat�rk�s funeral in 1938, one admiral was charged with carrying a velvet cushion bearing Atat�rk�s Medal of Independence; it was the only decoration, among many others held, that Atat�rk preferred to wear.
Greece Seeds of Democracy Owners: 124	Greece was origin of democracy and of western political thought. On a mountain in Athens, the first seeds of democracy were sown through council and conclave. In 594 B.C., Solon, an Athenian lawmaker, was asked to mediate the current situation where class divisions and the concentration of power in the hands of a few led to much unrest. He created four classes, and charged each class with specific rights and duties, including serving in the Boule, a body that ran daily affairs and sent issues to the Ecclesia. All citizens could attend the Ecclesia, or Assembly, and vote. The top two classes served in higher posts in the government, and once retired became part of the Areopagus (Council of the Hill of Ares), a group that served as a counter to the Ecclesia. These reforms, coupled with constitutional reforms and a comprehensive code of law, are credited with being the foundation of modern democracy. The Pynx, a hill in central Athens with a speaker�s platform and home to the Ecclesia, later became the regular meeting place for the senate up until the Roman times. The Romans allowed this tradition to continue and flourish, and adopted the practices in their own rulership of the known world. The site is still there today and is visited by tourists throughout the world, still appreciating the seeds of democracy that were planted.
Norway Vikings Owners: 270	Vikings! The word conjures up images of wild, barbaric, sea-faring men intent on setting their mark on their less war-like neighbours with fire and sword. Originating from Scandinavia and particularly Norway, they swept across Europe like a forest-fire raping, pillaging and destroying all in their path. Famed for their navigational ability and long ships, in a few hundred years Vikings colonized the coasts and rivers of Europe and the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. Usage of vikings can help protect your stock from invaders.
Sweden ABBA Owners: 416	ABBA (1972�1983) was the most successful of all Swedish pop music groups. ABBA's total worldwide sales are estimated140-500 million. They were the second most successful band of all time, following the Beatles. ABBA was formed in1972 with Bj�rn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha F�ltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (nicknamed "Frida"). They became a pop music phenomenon after winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with the song, "Waterloo." The group consisted of Bj�rn, Agnetha Benny and Frida. ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of each group member's name. It is usually written ABBA. The first B in the logo version of the name was reversed on the band's promotional material from 1976 onwards. ABBA collectively decided to take a break at the beginning of 1983. They have not yet returned to the studio.
Finland Kalevala Owners: 359	The Kalevala is called the Finnish national epic. The first edition of the Kalevala appeared in 1835, compiled and edited by Elias L�nnrot on the basis of the epic folk poems he had collected in Finland and Karelia. This poetic song tradition, sung in an unusual, archaic trochaic tetrametre, had been part of the oral tradition among speakers of Balto-Finnic languages for over two thousand years. The Kalevala describes Finnish nature very minutely and very beautifully. Grimm says that no poem is to be compared with it in this respect, unless it be some of the epics of India. The Kalevala (the Land of Heroes) relates the ever-varying contests between the Finns and the "darksome Laplanders ", just as the Iliad relates the contests between the Greeks and the Trojans. A deeper and more esoteric meaning of the Kalevala, however, points to a contest between Light and Darkness, Good and Evil; the Finns representing the Light and the Good, and the Lapps, the Darkness and the Evil. Like the Niebelungs, the heroes of the Finns woo for brides the beauteous maidens of the North; and the similarity is rendered still more striking by their frequent inroads into the country of the Lapps, in order to possess themselves of the envied treasure of Lapland, the mysterious Sampo. The whole poem is replete with the most fascinating folk-lore about the mysteries of nature, the origin of things, the enigmas of human tears, and, true to the character of a national epic, it represents not only the poetry, but the entire wisdom and accumulated experience of a nation.
Iraq Fedayeen Owners: 623	The paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam (Saddam's `Men of Sacrifice') was founded by Saddam's son Uday in 1995. The Fedayeen, with a total peak strength reportedly between 18,000 and 40,000 troops, is composed of young soldiers recruited from regions loyal to Saddam. The unit reported directly to the Presidential Palace, rather than through the army command, and was responsible for patrol and anti-smuggling duties. Though at times improperly termed an "elite" unit, the Fedayeen was a politically reliable force that can be counted on to support Saddam against domestic opponents. The Fidayi Saddam included a special unit known as the death squadron, whose masked members perform certain executions, including in victims' homes. The Fidayi operate completely outside the law, above and outside political and legal structures. Their numbers still lurk ready to drive out the infidels and with some persuasion may be converted to your cause as long as you're no Yankee.
Far Eastern History None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Search Engines Web Spiders Owners: 704	Web search engines work by having automated scripts or programs, often called "web spiders" (aka web crawlers, web robots), move out across the World Wide Web, "spidering" it (visiting links in an automated, methodical way). The spiders travel from link to link, making copies of the pages they visit to be downloaded and indexed by Search Engines in such a way that searchers may retrieve relevant data from the search engines through the use of queries (words, phrases, or other search strings that define a search).
Internet Standards Committee Owners: 606	Guardians of open protocols and enforcers of standards, the Committee can bring light and chaos to the network. Their compliance can lock in competitive advantages whilst (l)users suffer the tyranny of overspecification.
Musical Instruments Tuning Fork Owners: 45	The tuning fork is almost a musical instrument in it's own right. Set to the perfect pitch, hitting it against something hard makes it sing it's note. Even the deaf can feel the power of the fork through it's vibration. Tuning forks are made of elastic metal, usually steel. The pitch of the fork is determined by the length of the prongs with the most common being the �A� note. Its main use is as a standard of pitch to tune other musical instruments.
Piano and keyboards None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Guitar Trigger Owners: 296	Willie Nelson and his guitar have been together for more than 30 years, during which time Trigger has developed a hole in the pick guard, a shabby finish, and a warm, sweet sound.
Nigeria None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Egypt The Great Pyramids Owners: 238	You are driving along a wide city boulevard and suddenly, there it is, rising out of the Giza plateau, high above the rows of planted palm trees: the Great Pyramid. There are three of these mighty stone structures, built over 4000 years ago. The largest one is Khufu's pyramid, rising 450 ft, and staking the claim as the tallest structure in the world for 43 centuries. The Great Pyramids are the only surviving Wonders of the ancient World, and the most recognizable man-made structures in the world. The Pyramids are not alone on this enormous plateau; tucked into a valley, sits the Sphinx; behind Khufu's Pyramid is the Sun Boat, reconstructed and placed in it's own modern building; and all around is the City of the Dead. The Great Pyramids are a symbol of the one of the greatest cultures of the ancient world. They are everywhere in modern Egypt: on money, in place names and newspaper names, and in every tourist shop in the country. The Pyramids are Egypt.
South Africa Nelson Mandela Owners: 221	Nelson Mandela (b. 1918) was one of the leading activists in the struggle against apartheid. He came from a small village in Mvezo, destined to inherit his father's position as a councilor to the Thembu King. After working as a lawyer and completing his studies at the University of Witzwatersrand, he became involved in the African National Congress (ANC) which was deemed illegal by the ruling government. After being acquitted of treason in 1961 following a 5 year trial, he became the leader of the ANC's armed wing. In 1962 he was arrested and sentenced to five years in jail for leading workers to strike and illegally leaving the country. In 1964 he was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of sabotage and other crimes equivalent to treason, and spent 18 of the next 27 years on Robben Island. Mandela was released in 1990, when President F W de Klerk ordered this and lifted the ban on the ANC. He was president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 after the ANC won power in South Africa's first fully democratic elections. Now regarded as an elder statesman, he is an advocate for several social and human rights organizations, as well as being the recipient of many foreign honors. His autobiography Long Walk to Freedom (which was mostly written while in prison), was released in 1995.
Computer Science Turing Test Owners: 402	When talking about the Turing Test today what is generally understood as the following: The interrogator is connected to one person and one machine via a terminal, therefore can't see her counterparts. Her task is to find out which of the two candidates is the machine, and which is the human only by asking them questions. If the machine can "fool" the interrogator, it is intelligent. This test has been subject to different kinds of criticism and has been at the heart of many discussions in AI, philosophy and cognitive science for the past 50 years.
Cryptography The Enigma Cipher Owners: 297	A communications coding device invented by the Germans for use during World War II for transmitting secret messages. Daily a series of rotors would be set, enabling a new key for each day to scramble the message. A message would be typed into the machine and a series of wheels scrambled the letters into what the Nazis thought was an unreadable code. Unfortunately for the Nazis, Alan Turing (the father of the computer) figured out how to break the code for the Allies. This allowed the Allies to read many of the Top Secret communications of the German High Command, thereby helping to end the war sooner.
Middle East Politics None!	Suggest One in the forums.
European Politics None!	Suggest One in the forums.
New York City The Big Apple Owners: 751	In the early years of the nineteenth century, refugees from war-torn Europe began arriving in New York in great numbers. Many were remnants of the crumbling French aristocracy, forced to seek refuge abroad from the dread Monsieur Guillotine. Arriving here without funds or friends, many of these were forced to survive, as one contemporary put it, by their wits or worse. One of these, arriving in late 1803 or early 1804, was Mlle. Evelyn Claudine de Saint-�vremond. Daughter of a noted courtier, wit, and litt�rateur, and herself a favorite of Marie Antoinette, Evelyn was by all accounts remarkably attractive: beautiful, vivacious, and well-educated, and she was soon a society favorite. For reasons never disclosed, however, a planned marriage the following year to John Hamilton, son of the late Alexander Hamilton, was called off at the last minute. Soon after, with support from several highly placed admirers, she established a salon -- in fact, it appears to have been an elegantly furnished bordello -- in a substantial house that still stands at 142 Bond Street, then one of the city's most exclusive residential districts. Evelyn's establishment quickly won, and for several decades maintained, a formidable reputation as the most entertaining and discreet of the city's many temples of love, a place not only for lovemaking, but also for elegant dinners, high-stakes gambling, and witty conversation. The girls, many of them fresh arrivals from Paris or London, were noted for their beauty and bearing. More than a few of them, apparently, were actually able to secure wealthy husbands from among the establishment's clientele. When New Yorkers insisted on anglicizing her name to Eve, Evelyn apparently found the biblical reference highly amusing, and for her part would refer to the temptresses in her employ as my irresistible apples. The young men-about-town soon got into the habit of referring to their amorous adventures as having a taste of Eves Apples. This knowing phrase established the speaker as one of the in crowd, and at the same time made it clear he had no need to visit one of the coarser establishments that crowded nearby Mercer Street, for instance. The enigmatic reference in Philip Hone's famous diary to Ida, sweet as apple cider (October 4, 1838) has been described as an oblique reference to a visit to what had by then become a notorious but cherished civic institution. The term Big Apple or The Apple had already passed into general use as a sobriquet for New York City by 1907, when one guidebook included the comment, Some may think the Apple is losing some of its sap. Interestingly, the phrase had also become pretty well sanitized in the process, thanks to a vigorous campaign mounted just after the turn of the century by the Apple Marketing Board, a trade group based in upstate Cortland, New York. Alarmed by sharply declining sales, the Association launched what some believe to be the earliest example of what would now be called a product positioning campaign. So basically The Big Apple was originally coined from a brothel.
London (UK) Big Ben Owners: 518	The first radio broadcast of Big Ben was made by the BBC at midnight on the 31st of December 1923 to welcome in the new year. Shortly afterwards, a permanent microphone installation enabled regular broadcasts of the chimes and the bell to function effectively as a time signal. The broadcasting of the bells on the BBC World Service assumed particular importance during the Second World War, when the sounds were a source of comfort and hope to those hoping that Britain would not be overcome. Big Ben is still broadcast today on BBC Radio 4 at certain times.
San Francisco (CA) Painted Ladies Owners: 706	Famous for the Golden Gate bridge, huge Parks, Oceans and Bays, Victorian Mansions, gaudy colored and pastel houses, Chinatown, Gold Rushes, Flower Children, Mission Murals, Gay Castro and Pyramid Shaped Skyscrapers, all making San Francisco a true painted lady.
Amsterdam None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Tokyo Shogun Owners: 479	The Shogun is the feudal military administrator who from the 12th cent. to the 19th cent. was, as the emperor's military deputy, the actual ruler of Japan. Shogun is a contraction of the ancient and highest ranking samurai title Seii Taishogun, meaning "great generalissimo who overcomes the barbarians." Tokugawa shoguns governed for over 250 years, a period called Edo after their capital Edo (now Tokyo). The Shogun artefact may help you in your establishment of a dynastic empire in the Blogshares Stock Market.
Los Angeles (CA) Griffith Observatory Owners: 379	Griffith Observatory is one of the more unique architectural icons of Los Angeles. It rests atop Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park, one of the most extensive urban park areas in the United States. The building is listed on the California Register of Historic Places and is Number 168 on the City of Los Angeles listing of Cultural Landmarks. Griffith Observatory is "the people's observatory" and money for its creation was donated to the city by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith in the 1930s. Griffith was a colorful character who loved astronomy and wanted others to appreciate it, too. Visitors coming to Griffith learn to observe the sky, using free access to telescopes and browsing a series of exhibits. In addition, the Samuel Oschin Planetarium is designed to present live sky shows throughout the day. Griffith Observatory's iconic status is preserved in many movies with scenes shot there over the years, including the famous James Dean flick, "Rebel Without a Cause." The building is also often used as a broadcast backdrop, particularly when astronomy is in the news. The Observatory was first opened in 1935, and served more than 70 million visitors until it closed in 2002 for a major renovation project. With its reopening in 2006, it will continue its mission to bring astronomy to the people and turn visitors into sky observers.
Ancient History Colossus of Rhodes Owners: 273	The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge statue of the god Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos in the 3rd century BC. It was roughly the same size as the Statue of Liberty in New York, although it stood on a lower platform. and is remembered as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Construction, which took 12 years, was completed in 282 BCE. The statue stood for only 56 years until 226 BCE, when Rhodes suffered an earthquake. During the earthquake, the statue snapped at the knees, and fell over onto the land. Ptolemy III offered to pay for the reconstruction of the statue, but an oracle made the people of Rhodes fear that they had offended Helios, so they did not rebuild. Even the broken parts were so impressive that many people made the journey to see them. Pliny the Elder remarked that the statue was so great in size, that few people could wrap their arms around the fallen thumb and that each of its fingers was larger than most statues. The remains of the Colossus lay on the ground for over 800 years.
Modern History None!	Suggest One in the forums.
20th Century Balangiga Bells Owners: 368	On September 28, 1901, tension and hostilities between American troops and local Filipino residents led to a surprise attack on the garrison of Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, in Balangiga, Samar, in an event now more popularly known as the "Balangiga Massacre".� American troops took the bells as war trophies from Balangiga:� the smaller bell, dated 1896, is presently in Korea; the 1863 bell remains in the care of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming; and the 1889 bell shall be returned to the Parish of Balangiga to be placed in a monument to the dead of both sides of the Balangiga conflict. The people of Balangiga and Samar Island have unilaterally expressed forgiveness for the events with the hope, "Let freedom ring once more from those bells, from the Belfry of Balangiga where they originally belong, to punctuate America’s generosity of spirit, and the gallantry of our forebears, and complete the healing."
Australia Koala Owners: 727	The Koala (Phascolarctus cinereus) is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore endemic to Australia, and the only representative of its family, Phascolarctidae. Koalas are unmistakable: they are broadly similar in appearance to a wombat (which is their closest living relative) but have a thicker, softer coat, much larger ears, and longer limbs, which are equipped with large, sharp claws to assist with climbing. Weight varies from about 14 kg for a large, southern male, to about 5 kg for a small northern female. They are generally silent, but male Koalas have a very loud advertising call (a nasal snort that human children delight in imitating) that can be heard from almost a kilometre away during the breeding season. Because of their appealing teddy bear appearance, koalas (like the Big Red and Eastern Grey Kangaroos) have a disproportionate conservation status: they are far more secure than many other Australian bird and mammal species, and commonly coexist with humans so long as their food supplies are ample. Nevertheless, Koalas occupy a more restricted range than formerly, and do require large areas to roam in. They are fairly solitary, nomadic creatures, and travel long distances along tree corridors in search of new territory and mates. The ever-increasing human population of the continent continues to cut these corridors for agricultural and residential development, forestry and road-building, marooning Koala colonies in decreasing areas of bush. The Koala's scientific name comes from the Greek: phaskolos meaning <i>pouch</i> and arktos meaning <i>bear</i>. The cinereus part is Latin and means <i>ash-colored</i>. Some people refer to the Koala as a Koala Bear - this is incorrect, they are unrelated.
Chocolate Cacao Seed Owners: 277	The cacao seed (or bean) grows in a pod from the cacoa tree. Native to Central America, it is now grown in other tropical areas, though only within ten degrees of the equator. Cacoa trees bear only a few pods in a growing season. The average annual yield per tree is about two pounds of dried beans. From this seed comes chocolate (or cocoa), one of the most popular sweets worldwide. To transform cacao seeds to chocolate, the pods are harvested, crushed, and left to ferment for about six days. Next, the seeds are split from the pods and dried. Fine chocolate results from 7 days of drying in the sun, but most of the mass-produced chocolate products are made from cacao that is artificially dried, resulting in an inferior quality chocolate. Historically, cacao played a role in the religions of the Maya and the Aztecs. The Aztecs associated chocolate with Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertility, one of the most important deities in the Aztec culture. They believed that cacao seeds came from the white-bearded god, Quetzalcoatl (ket sal koh AH tul), who stole them from paradise and brought them to Earth. The Maya honored Ek Chuah (ek CHU ah), a special god of cacao growers and merchants, with cacao beans as offerings. They paid homage to their gods by burning cocoa beans. Sometimes blood, considered the most sacred offering, was dripped over cacao pods and placed on altars. Chocolate drinks played an important part in Mayan betrothal and marriage ceremonies. In addition, chocolate was an important luxury good throughout Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and cacao seeds were often used as currency.
Drugs The Dealer Owners: 334	Whether it's Saturday night at 3am or mid-afternoon on a weekday, there is only one phone call you have to make - The Dealer. He's almost always able to come by on the drop of a dime and hopefully sells for a fair price. The bigger the city, the more power The Dealer can have, turning a nickel and dime operation into a multi-million dollar campaign. His team can be your best allies or your worst nightmare and they are quite a force to be reckoned with.
Cannabis 420 Owners: 190	420 (pronounced Four-Twenty), is the international call symbol for marijuana. While the true source of the term is unknown, popular culture claims it came from a group of 12 kids in California who got together every day at 4:20 in the afternoon to smoke. The term quickly spread, and it is now synonymous with the marijuana and cannabis subculture. Every year on April 20th (4/20), users world-wide save up their weed for a celebratory toke. Quite often, users will not smoke until 4:20 PM, adding to the specialness of the day. Quite often, people also use 420 to discreetly signify to other users that they, themselves, smoke marijuana. For example, in classified newspapers, If one wants a roomate who also smokes, they would put 420 Prefered.
Travel Writing Lonely Planet Owners: 291	Found in the backpacks of budget travellers worldwide, the Lonely Planet series of travel guides reputedly accounts for one quarter of all English-language guide book sales (ca. 2004). In addition to offering approximately 650 book titles, the Australia-based company also produces travel shows for television and has established a solid presence on the Web with its comprehensive travel advice and information site. Lonely Planet�s first title, Across Asia on the Cheap, was published in 1973. This book and those that followed it catered to young people travelling to and from Asia on the so-called �hippie trail.� The hallmark of these globe-spanning trips was that they were to be made as cheaply as possible while encountering interesting experiences designed to help �find oneself.� While the tone of the books has become more professional over the years, Lonely Planet has earned a reputation for making travel less expensive and less intimidating, while introducing international travellers to genuine local character.
Travel Guides Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Owners: 292	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the only book you'll ever need no matter where you travel. From Surrey, England to Eroticon 6, the H2G2 has all the information you require. Want to know just what effects a Pangalactic Gargleblaster might have on your particular species? Need to escape from an improbable situation? Or have you've lost your towel ... again (always know where your towel is!). Maybe the Guide can suggest a solution. Then again, you might just be greeted with the ultimate advice ever dispensed: Don't Panic!
Conservationism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Animal Rights PETA Owners: 94	PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is the worlds largest animal rights organization. PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other "pests," and the abuse of backyard dogs. PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns. (information taken from the PETA website - http://www.peta.org)
Society None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Animation Gertie The Dinosaur Owners: 442	Gertie was first shown in February, 1914, at so-called "chalk talks". This was a popular form of entertainment, in which the artist himself would stand in front of an audience and create drawings for their amusement. Seeing a drawing apparently come to life had an electrifying effect on 1914 New Yorkers. At least one viewer, Paul Terry, was so impressed, he embarked on a lifelong career in animation � and that's how Terrytoons came to be. In November of that year, Gertie the Dinosaur was released to theaters, and the whole country had the opportunity to be amazed at McCay's inventiveness and craftsmanship. McCay made a few more animated films, including a 1918 documentary on the sinking of the Lusitania. McCay proved early on that animation was an art. By the time he was done with it in the 1920's, animation had become an industry.
Antiques None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Architecture Vitruvius Owners: 394	The Roman architect Vitruvius wrote De Architectura, a treatise on architecture dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus. Probably written between 27 and 23 BC, it is the only contemporary source on classical architecture to have survived. It covers a wide variety of subjects which Vitruvius saw as touching on architecture. This included many aspects which would not seem obvious to modern eyes, ranging from mathematics and astronomy, to meteorology and medicine. In the Roman conception, architecture needed to take into account everything touching on the physical and intellectual life of man and his surroundings.
Bodyart None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Harley-Davidson None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Comic Art Roy Liechtenstein Owners: 612	Roy Liechtenstein is the Pop Artist from the 1960's famous for his paintings of comic book strip panels. Liechtenstein is considered one of the most well-regarded and earliest postmodernists for his translating into a "high-brow" artform something which is considered "low-brow" in nature. He may have moved on from comics as an artistic subject but his usage of primary colours and clean, uncluttered design remained a constant throughout his artistic career.
Graphic Design Hexadecimal Owners: 603	Coined in the early 1960s to replace earlier "sexadecimal," which was too racy and amusing for IBM, hexadecimal is a numbering system which uses a base of 16 instead of ten. Hexadecimal numbers are used to indicate color on web pages and in the creation of graphics. Hexadecimal is also used in two other ways in computer programming: to print out the value of a byte, and to print out the value of a sequence of bytes. The Hexadecimal artefact will put the "byte" on a blogstock and "hex" it!
Humanities Scholar Owners: 367	The Scholar's goal is knowledge whether useful or merely for the sake of "knowing." The Scholar's usual habitat is a book filled corner, a library, a salon, a hermitage or in a never thought of place. We are surrounded by scholars who all pursue the ultimate truth.
Audio Books Narrator Owners: 176	Besides the ability to "read" a book while driving, traveling, or being otherwise engaged, the greatest benefit of audio books is the ability to hear words aloud. This is particularly true with poetry, where the flow of words is so important. The narrator can make or break the quality of an audio listening experience. Because narrators sometimes do the voices of many characters, they are often trained in the classic theatre. Many narrators can switch between accents with exceptional grace, making the listening experience a true audio performance. When selecting an actor or narrator, producers consider the qualities of the characters in the book, such as the gender and age of the main character. The setting of the book and associated accents are also taken into consideration. The narrator must be able to convey the intent of the author�s words in an audible manner. The primary components of narration are voice, speech, and language. The voice must have strength, stamina, and clarity. The speech must be clear and easily understood. The language must be fluent.
Cultural Studies None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Rhetoric Silver Tongue Owners: 354	When you speak, people listen. You know the language inside out, and when you're not exercizing your powers of persuasion out loud, your blog is speaking for you. If you had to pick a career, it would be speech-writing, or speech-making. Cicero and Quintilian are your teachers, and they would have been proud.
Typography None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Visual Arts Fata Morgana Owners: 600	A complex mirage display that involves multiple images, alternately expanded and compressed vertically, often giving the impression of buildings, cliffs, etc. where no such objects exist. Named after a famous enchantress, known for her ability to shift shape. The images are heavenly but a reality check would be appropriate.
Accounting PricewaterhouseCoopers Owners: 138	PricewaterhouseCoopers is the biggest professional services firm in the world, and is known as one of the Big Four auditors. It was formed in 1998 by the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand (both were established in the nineteenth century), and undertakes human resources & consulting activities in addition to auditing, taxation & accounting services. Like its contemporaries, its business structure is a worldwide collection of member firms which operate autonomously and whose senior partners sit on a global board. It presently employs over 130,000 people in 148 countries and counts companies such as Shell, Ford, Bank of America, Unilever, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (to tabulate votes for the Academy Awards each year).
Aerospace and Defense Lockheed Martin Owners: 326	Lockheed Martin is a name synonymous with United States Defense Department contracts. With approximately 130,000 employees worldwide and 2004 sales of $35.5 billion, Lockheed Martin is the largest defense contractor in the world. Almost all of Lockheed Martin's business (approximately 95%) comes from the United States federal government and other foreign governments and militaries. The United States government alone is responsible for 80% of Lockheed's business. Lockheed Martin is involved with various areas of the aerospace and defense industry including manufacturing of tactical aircraft, airlifts, spacecraft, tanks, missles and fire control and naval systems. Lockheed Martin is also heavily involved with aeronautical research and development. In 2001, Lockheed Martin won the contract to build the Joint Strike Fighter with its X-35 design, beating out the Boeing X-32. This is the most important fighter aircraft procurement project since the F-16 Fighting Falcon, with an initial order of 3,000 worth approximately $244 billion at present. The JSF is a multi-role attack and fighter aircraft designed to replace the aging F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-111 Aardvark, Sea Harrier, Harrier GR7/GR9, and AV-8B Harrier jets. It will complement the USAF's high-end F/A-22 Raptor air superiority fighter and the USN's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as well as Europe's Eurofighter.
Biotech / Pharmaceuticals Industries None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Business Law None!	Suggest One in the forums.
E-Commerce Digital Shopper Owners: 483	The Digital Shopper knows where you live, your credit card details, your purchase history, your demographics, your browsing habits and more. Used for good it will find you tasty bargains and gently prod you on the true path of consumerism. Used for evil it will leak sensitive financial information, allow you to steal the identity of others or acquire large customer databases ready for pumping pornography, sex aids, insurance and knock down prescription drugs on unsuspecting customers.
Electronics / Electrical Industries None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Employment Wage Owners: 318	The word "wage" derives from the Old French word "wagier" or "gagier" meaning to pledge or promise (money) -- the same word from which wager (the money placed in a bet) also derives. Early forms of wages included salt (from which the word salary is derived). Wages are the fulfillment of the promise or pledge made by an employer to an employee in an employment contract. Depending on the structure and traditions of different economies around the world, wage rates are either primarily market-driven (the USA) or influenced by other factors such as tradition, social structure and seniority, as in Japan.
Energy and the Environment Renewable Energy Owners: 45	Renewable Energy is considered by many to be the trend of the future. It is considered a means to protect our economies and the earth we live on. The depleting rising of oil prices and the global warming that oil causes, have been a major source of concern. It has been widely accepted that renewable energy has to be the new face of energy if we are to protect the planet. Some of the prominent sources of renewable energy are solar and wind as well as hydroelectricity (from water) and bio-gas (from decomposition of natural fuels). Renewable energy will change the future of our world!
Banks / Financial Services None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Healthcare Industry None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Information Technology Industry Optimizer Owners: 648	The IT Optimizer uses proven techniques, often conducted in a "think tank" exploration session to encourage creativity and innovative thinking. Be careful not to stay in the brainstorming phase though.
Labor None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Companies Corporation Owners: 576	A corporation is a business established through ownership shares (termed corporate stock). A corporation is considered a distinct legal person, that can be sued, forced to pay taxes, etc., just like a human person. Unlike proprietorship and partnership businesses, a corporation business exists separately from its owners. As such, the owners have what lawyer-types term limited liability. Owners cannot be held personally responsible for corporate debts. The owners can only lose the value of their ownership shares, but no more.
Microsoft Blue Screen of Death Owners: 410	Microsoft's ultimate weapon can strike terror into the hearts of all who defy them. Often referred to as the BSOD, it strikes when you least expect it and will bring down even the most critical services.
Apple The Mac Owners: 333	The Macintosh, commonly called the Mac for short, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured and marketed by Apple Computer, running the Macintosh operating system ("Mac OS"). Named after the McIntosh apple, the original Macintosh was released on January 24, 1984; it was the first popular personal computer to use the now-standard graphical user interface (�GUI�), with windows on a desktop and mouse control instead of the then-standard command line interface. Apple continued to sell its Apple II family as well as Macs until 1992�93. Since then, all Apple computers have been of the Macintosh family. A significant difference between Macintosh computers and competitors' models (notably Microsoft Windows operating system), is that Apple oversees both the hardware and the OS; this is unique in the industry. Whereas the Windows OS is manufactured by Microsoft and the hardware by dozens of other parties, Apple facilitates all aspects of its hardware, and creates its own OS. The Unix based operating system gives multiuser networking as standard but means that a much smaller range of third party software is available, though suitable applications (such as Microsoft Office) are available in most areas. It has also contributed to the current absence of the malware and spyware that plagues most Microsoft Windows users.
Telecommunications Industry Transceiver Owners: 285	Short for transmitter-receiver, �transceiver� is a generic term for any device that can both send and receive communication, whether it is in a human or a machine language. The term, which originated in the mid-20th century, is used commonly in computer networking, radio, telephony and electronics. The transceiver is the core of two-way communications technology, managing all aspects of signal transmission and reception. It must follow correct protocols to ensure that signals are properly coded and modulated for transmission, and demodulated and decoded when received. Parts of this process may be handled by a codec (coder-decoder) or a modem (modulator-demodulator), either of which can be implemented in either software or hardware/firmware. Privacy and security are important issues in signal communication. Transceivers must be properly programmed to ensure that private communications cannot be received accidentally by the wrong receiver, and that secure communications are properly encrypted and decrypted.
Earth Sciences None!	Suggest One in the forums.
History of Science None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Philosophy of Science None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Science in Society None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Social Sciences None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Addictions Denial Owners: 254	"Denial is not a river in Egypt." Anonymous No, indeed. Denial is a psychological defense mechanism, a concept arising from psychoanalytic theory and first researched seriously by Anna Freud. Denial is a means of coping with reality. Though denial is primarily considered to be maladaptive, in some situations it is considered to be functional. Essentially, denial is a way of either rejecting some uncomfortable or painful truth, or of failing to recognize or acknowledge the consequences or implications of a thought, behavior, or situation. Maladaptive denial is a factor in the behavior of patients with various diseases, but in the treatment of addictions and in twelve-step programs it is particularly well articulated. In addictions, the abandonment or reversal of denial forms the basis of the first, fourth, fifth, eighth and tenth steps. The ability to deny or minimize is an essential part of what enables an addict to continue his or her behavior in the face of evidence that, to an outsider, appears overwhelming.
Women's Health Gynecologist Owners: 435	The Gynecologist deals with diseases and routine physical care of the reproductive system of women. Fertility and longevity in yourself (if you're female) and your female employees ensure a long-lasting dynasty. Essential for the harem keeper or power suit female tycoon.
Mental Health / Illness DSM-IV Owners: 211	The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States and internationally. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) is a commonly-used alternative. The DSM tends to be the more specific of the two. Both assume medical concepts and terms, and state that there are categorical disorders that can be diagnosed by set lists of criteria. It is controversial and some mental health professionals and others question the utility of this classification system. The DSM has gone though five revisions (II, III, III-R, IV, IV-TR) since it was first published. The next version will be the DSM V, due in approximately 2011.
Men's Health Little Blue Pill Owners: 217	Never has a class of medications taken the male populace by such storm. Men who avoided doctors as carefully as they did the tax collector suddenly needed a health checkup and a prescription. The little blue pill was only the first of many drugs now on the market to enhance male health and wellbeing.
Pharmacy None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Teen Health None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Weight Loss Diet Pill Owners: 392	Regarded as one of the biggest successes of the dieting industry, the diet pill comes in all shapes and sizes, featuring such ingredients as ma-huang, Xenical, Phentermine, caffeine, aspirin, and many others. Take one, and your appetite may be reduced, the fat you eat not absorbed, or your metabolism speeded up. Watch out though, some come with mild to serious side effects.
Alternative Medicine None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Fitness and Exercise Deluxe Portable Gym Owners: 324	The Deluxe Portable Gym includes: 30" take-apart lifting bar! Two 6' fitness cables (R4 and R6), rotator handles and door attachment! Jogging (proprioception) belt! Carrying case! Award winning HBO instructional video! Instructional manual by fitness expert Some Chirpy Bloke, CSCS, CPT, NASM, former strength coach of some sports team!
Disabilities Assistive Technology Owners: 107	For as long as humans have been self-aware, they have likely understood the concept of disability. And since those early moments, humans have consistently developed ways to overcome such impediments. Assistive technology allows people with disabilities to access and utilize other technologies and essential functionality. These include the text telephone system, wheelchair ramps, and hundreds of software programs designed to make computers accessible to everyone.
Environmental Health None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Ice Hockey Hat Trick Owners: 404	In ice hockey, a hat trick is when a player scores three goals in a game. While the term was first associated with cricket, it sprung up in ice hockey during the 1940s when Sammy Taft, a Toronto hatter, gave free hats to Maple Leafs players who scored three goals in a game. Some call him genius, others simply call him mad. While three goals in a game is the minimum requirement, there are many variations on the hat trick. A natural hat trick is scoring three goals in succession, ideally in the same period. Other hat tricks have become associated with various players, many of which involve meeting other criteria such as the Gordie Howe hat trick: Scoring a goal, getting an assist, and winning a fight, as well as the Mario Lemieux hat trick: Sc The ultimate hat trick is scoring five goals, one in each of the five possible game situations: Powerplay, shorthanded, even strength, penalty shot and empty net. Mario and Claude Lemieux are the only players to achieve an ultimate hat trick in the history of the NHL.
Equestrian None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Cheerleading None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Martial Arts Black Belt Owners: 217	The Black Belt signifies perseverance, dedication, confidence, self-control, and achievement.
Folklore Weekly World News Owners: 189	This black and white tabloid first appeared in 1979, and had the same type of content as its sister weeklies, the Enquirer and the Star. Within a few years, the Weekly World News moved away from celebrity news and began to devote its resources to urban legends and "News of the Bizarre." Batboy grabbed his moment of glory and Bigfoot consorted with Elvis and Marilyn Monroe in its pages. Today, the Weekly World News is your one-stop source for news of Bigfoot, Chupacabra, The Jersey Devil, Vampires, Aliens, and a host of other characters from modern folklore.
Future Society Big Brother Owners: 382	Big Brother is the nominal leader of Oceania in Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell's dystopic novel. The name is now used to mean surveillance in general, usually by a government. Big Brother" is a dictator in a totalitarian state, taken to its utmost logical consequence. In the society that Orwell describes, everybody is under complete surveillance by the authorities. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state. The physical description of "Big Brother" is reminiscent of Joseph Stalin or Lord Kitchener. In the novel, it is not clear if he actually exists as a person, or is an image crafted by the state. However, since Inner Party torturer O'Brien at one point tells Winston Smith that Big Brother can never die, the implication is probably that Big Brother is merely the Party personified. In a book supposedly written by the rebel Goldstein (but later revealed to have a more complex origin) it is stated that "nobody has ever seen Big Brother. He is a face on the hoardings, a voice on the telescreen� Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organisation." In Party propaganda, however, Big Brother is presented as a real person, who was one of the founders of the Party along with Emmanuel Goldstein. His real name is never mentioned and it is not publicly known. Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the phrase "Big Brother" has entered general usage, to describe any overly-inquisitive or overly-controlling authority figure or attempts by government to increase surveillance. The reality TV program Big Brother takes its name from Nineteen Eighty-Four and a similarly named figure is big mama � the informal name for the internet censor on web boards in the People's Republic of China.
Military Roman Legion Owners: 468	The Roman legion was the basic military unit of ancient Rome. It consisted of about 5,000 to 6,000 infantry soldiers and several hundred auxiliary cavalrymen and ranged troops. Legions were named and numbered; about 50 have been identified. Usually there were 28 Legions plus their Auxiliaries, with more raised as needed or as able. Due to the enormous military successes of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire the legion has long been regarded as the prime ancient model for military efficiency and ability.
Paranormal Skeptic Owners: 285	The skeptic: it's the one thing all paranormal activities have in common, from ghosts to UFO's to Bigfoot to crop circles. No matter how good you think your evidence is, the true skeptic will not believe. The skeptic wants to see for himself, have the ghost appear in front of him and speak with him; have the alien abduct him; have Bigfoot sit down and chat with him. EVP's are just noise; photos can be doctored; and everything is a hoax. According to the skeptic, anyone who believes this stuff is a loony - until the skeptic actually comes face to face with grandma's ghost in the attic. Then the skeptic becomes a believer.
Philanthropy Altruist Owners: 239	Someone who makes charitable donations intended to increase human well-being. Don't forget this someone is part of the human species as well though.
Sexuality Agony Aunt Owners: 672	The Agony Aunt knows everything there is to know about sex and sexuality. She can tell you why the scent of vanilla turns you on, give you guidance on how to be a better lover, or explain the difference between devotion and obsession.
Urban Legends Pop Rocks and Coke Owners: 234	Possibly one of the greatest urban legends of all time is the myth that eating Pop Rocks and drinking Coke will kill you. Most stories claim that the result will be gas build up in the stomach that is so fast that the stomach will explode. While it's not clear where the story truly began, it spread quickly and at one point may have been responsible for the removal of Pop Rocks from American markets. The story grew and even had one version in which "Mikey" the kid from the Life Cereal commercials, was rumored to have died from the "lethal" combination.
Teen Life Teen Angst Owners: 779	The advent of puberty sees a rapid decay in both the physical and mental stability of human children with a booming industry of angst written music and other media ready to profit from their misery. Teen Angst is the clever marketers' best weapon for the lucrative youth market but can also be used to produce pellets of powerfully bad poetry which can be used to sicken adults or saved for later to embarrass / blackmail the youth when they grow out of this hormonally imbalanced state. A wonderful source of discord and profit.
Webrings CGI Script Owners: 543	The one early feature of webrings was the next link, that people could use to go from site to site that was affiliated with a specific topic. Ring-master.net credits Denis Howe at Imperial College, London, UK with creating the first webring on December 22, 1994. They write: <i>He created a project which he called EUROPa, (Expanding Unidirectional Ring of Pages). A year later, in June of 1995, another young man by the name of Sage Weil stumbled on the EUROPa ring and felt that he could improve on the concept. He decided he could write a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program that would automate the process of adding sites to the ring. Later, Jerry Hierro suggested a centralized CGI program, and thus the WebRing system was born. The first WebRing was called ESLoop.</i>
Fascism Lateran Treaties Owners: 217	The Lateran Treaties of February 11, 1929 provided for the mutual recognition of the then Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican City. The treaties were negotiated between Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, on behalf of the Vatican, and Benito Mussolini, the Fascist leader, as Prime Minister of Italy. There are three treaties: a treaty recognizing the independence and sovereignty of the Holy See and creating the State of the Vatican City; a concordat defining the civil and religious relations between the government and the church within Italy (summarised in the motto: "free church in free State"); and a financial convention providing the Holy See with compensation for its losses in 1870. Through the concordat, the Pope agreed to submit candidates for bishop and archbishop to the Italian government, to require bishops to swear allegiance to the Italian state before taking offices, and to forbid the clergy from taking part in politics. Italy agreed to submit its rules on marriage and divorce to make them conformable to the rules of the Roman Catholic Church, and to exempt clergy from military conscription. The treaties granted the Roman Catholic Church the status of the established church in Italy. They also gave the Roman Catholic Church substantial control over the Italian educational system.
Anarchism Circle-A Owners: 140	Traditional symbol of the anarchist movement, the Circle-A, a capital letter A enclosed by a circle (an O), stands for "Anarchy is Order," a phrase coined by one of its founders, French philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. The symbol has been co-opted and adapted by several other groups, including the Freemasons, of which Proudhon was a member, and several punk rock groups of the 1970s. The anarchist revolutionary in the comic "V for Vendetta" also paints his own stylized version of the symbol throughout London, substituting a "V" for the "A".
Indian Classical Music None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Utilitarianism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Mercantilism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Feminism Suffragette Owners: 547	The title of suffragette was given to members of the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom and United States, particularly in the years prior to World War I. It is a name often associated with the followers of Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women's Social and Political Union. The term tends to connote acts of defiance, protest, self-sacrifice and sometimes violence.
Monarchy None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Conservatism The Iron Lady Owners: 549	Of all the 20th century leaders of the British Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher most embodied the true spirit of Conservatism. Because of her spirited opposition of Communism, the Soviets knick-named her the Iron Lady. But it was the Conservative leader who had the last laugh as, allying herself with the Ronald Reagan, the British and American leaders brought about the fall of the Iron Curtain and the break-up of the Soviet empire.
Political Systems None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Civic Participation Rally Owners: 425	When the people want to get together and speak about the state of things, they hold a rally. Attended by all interested parties, the ideal rally is both an exchange of ideas and a building up of social energy.
GLBT Politics The Stonewall Riots Owners: 360	The gay rights movement hit a major turning point in 1969 when the patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, NYC, resisted arrest. Prior to that event, police conducted routine raids on the bar, in line with an earlier practice of entrapping and arresting gay men on indecency charges�a practice that had started to be discouraged in 1966. At the same time, New York had been forced by the court to revoke its policy of removing a bar�s liquor license for knowingly serving a group of three or more homosexuals. Gay bars were thus legal. The first of the Stonewall Riots followed a raid sometime after 1:20 a.m. on June 28. For previous raids, the police provided the bar�s management with advance warning and conducted raids early, allowing the bar to resume business for the nighttime peak. Not so this time. This was a surprise raid, carried out almost entirely by non-uniformed officers, on the night following the funeral of singer and cultural icon Judy Garland. The raid allegedly targeted cross-dressers, transgendered individuals, and those without ID. Accounts vary as to what sparked the violence that followed the raid that night. Once the fighting started, the crowd overtook the police who then retreated and retaliated, especially against those men whose behavior they considered effeminate. Nearby residents and patrons of other bars joined the crowd. Police sent in a riot-control squad but they were not successful in dispersing the rock-throwing mob. In total, over 2000 people fought against more than 400 officers, resulting in 13 arrests and numerous injuries. A second, less violent, riot occurred the following night. A third riot four days later resulted in extensive property damage. As a result of the Stonewall Riots, the gay rights movement gained significant visibility and momentum in exposing entrenched systemic discrimination.
Green Politics Boycott Owners: 412	The boycott is the application of consumer pressure on environmental issues, a useful tactic employed in the burgeoning field of Green Politics. Sometimes the measures bring long term viability to world markets by conserving the environment and sometimes the boycott can serve as a useful tool in crippling industrial foes. Even when resolved amicably the costs of improving environmental standards can be a burden.
Political Parties Caucus Owners: 474	Defined as "a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement", the Caucus is the one thing most United States political parties and groups have in common. The Caucus is used by the parties to plan strategies, elect officials and lay out policies. Without the caucus, most parties would not be able to operate as a single entity. Some notable Caucuses include the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which focus on the large role their respective ethnic groups play in politics.
Political Philosophy None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Scientific Theory Hypothesis Owners: 158	The foundation of the scientific method, every scientific theory requires a hypothesis, a prediction that is able to be tested. If there is enough evidence and data to support the hypothesis, it becomes a generally accepted theory by the scientific community. However, this is not set in stone. Future experiments will provide more data to either support or refute the theory. Should the theory ever become refuted, new hypotheses are generated to try and create a theory that best explains the data.
Paris (France) The Eiffel Tower Owners: 423	The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, opened the tower. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen. However it was not accepted by all at first, and a petition of 300 names - including those of Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Garnier and Dumas the Younger - protested its construction. At 300 metres (320.75m including antenna), and 7000 tons, it was the world's tallest building until 1930. Other statistics include: • 2.5 million rivets. • 300 steel workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it. • Sway of at most 12 cm in high winds. • Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature. • 15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets). • 40 tons of paint. • 1652 steps to the top. It was almost torn down in 1909, but was saved because of its antenna - used for telegraphy at that time. Beginning in 1910 it became part of the International Time Service. French radio (since 1918), and French television (since 1957) have also made use of its stature. During its lifetime, the Eiffel Tower has also witnessed a few strange scenes, including being scaled by a mountaineer in 1954, and parachuted off of in 1984 by two Englishmen. In 1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower's four legs which slope outward. However, if its birth was difficult, it is now completely accepted and must be listed as one of the symbols of Paris itself.
Space Exploration Hubble Space Telescope Owners: 489	The Hubble Space Telescope was designed in the 1970's and launched into orbit in 1990. It orbits at a height of 375 miles above the Earth and makes a complete orbit about every 97 minutes. Since its launch, it has been repaired and upgraded through several Space Shuttle "service calls" and is now a state of the art, model year 2001 space telescope. It was the first piece of space equipment of any kind designed to be completely serviceable by space-walking astronauts. It has a "modular" design which allows astronauts to take apart, repair, and change virtually any part of the telescope. Each time a new piece of scientific equipment is added, it increases Hubble's scientific power by a power of 10 or greater. Every day, Hubble archives 3 to 5 gigabytes of data and delivers between 10 and 15 gigabytes to astronomers all over the world. As of March 2000 Hubble has: # Taken more than 330,000 separate observations. # Observed more than 25,000 astronomical targets. # Created a data archive of over 7.3 terabytes. # Provided data for more than 2,663 scientific papers. # Traveled about 1.489 billion miles�nearly the distance from Earth to Uranus.
Java None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Flash None!	Suggest One in the forums.
HTML Browser Wars Owners: 199	Using the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, web browsers are the primary way of retrieving HTML from a web server and turning it into an interactive page. The first public version of a web browser was the WorldWideWeb released in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee. Over the years, many different software companies started to release their own version of the web browser, some that supported multiple languages. Netscape Navigator was the leading browser, until Microsoft started integrating Internet Explorer with their operating system. As Netscape�s down fall began, they open sourced their technology which began the start of Mozilla and the more commonly known Firefox. Though it started in 1995, the browser war still continues to this day. There will never be a standard as the languages used to produce web pages are ever changing and each end user prefers to surf the web in their own way. Today�s web browsers not only read HTML, but XML, CSS, DHTML and will support future languages that are being developed.
Perl Shebang Owners: 302	The shebang, or hash-bang, tells Unix systems where to look for the perl interpreter and pass the rest of the file to that program for execution. Every perl program must be passed through the Perl interpreter, hence the shebang must always be present. This perl interpreter is normally installed in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin.
ASP None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Unix None!	Suggest One in the forums.
PC 8088 Owners: 65	The Intel 8088 microprocessor, the heart of the original IBM PC, was a variant of the 8086 introduced in 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus that made it compatible with the less expensive 8-bit supporting chips then available on the market, allowing for mass production of an economical personal computer.
Drug Policy None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Socializing Speed Date Owners: 455	A group of singles, usually around 30 in total, gathers at a predetermined cafe or some chosen classy restaurant. They are then paired off in 15 tables and given a certain amount of time (about 3-10 mins) to get to know the other party. Heaven or Hell? Too bad you've only got to spend few minutes with that marvelous person? Or glad you can get away before the urge to jump out of the window gets too strong? It can get either way.
India Caste Owners: 578	Castes systems in India and caste like groups--those quintessential groups with which almost all Indians are associated--are ranked. Within most villages or towns, everyone knows the relative rankings of each locally represented caste, and people's behavior toward one another is constantly shaped by this knowledge. Between the extremes of the very high and very low castes, however, there is sometimes disagreement on the exact relative ranking of castes clustered in the middle.
Pakistan None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Modelling (Hobby) Glue Owners: 83	While many modelling kits can be put together by snapping parts onto each other, the central item every serious modelling hobbiest must have is glue. Whether it is a super glue, wood glue, rubber cement, or another adhesive, no hobby modelling kit is complete without the right glue to hold it all together.
Shopping Shopping Cart Owners: 304	The Shopping Cart is the tool of choice for any serious shopper. Carrying items in your arms is simply not going to do, especially when they are bargains to be had and you need to move quickly though the store. Dropping you pork roast in the canned foods section because you were on your way to the clothing department is not acceptable. Get a cart! Picking the right cart is key. Choose one with a complete handle. Sometimes, rough treatment in the parking lot will damage the handle and make it uncomfortable to push around. If its raining or snowing outside, get a cart that is already inside so you don't get your items all wet and messy. Make sure that the wheels turn easily and are not bent. There' nothing worse that fighting the cart in the store as it tries to play bumper carts with the other patrons. Lastly, make sure you don't get one with a sqeaky wheel. Nobody wants to hear the "eeeeeek eeeeek eeeeek" as you go wandering down the aisles. For the safety of the other patrons and to keep the store's costs down, please return your cart to the cart corral when you are finished.
Consumerism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Anti-Globalization Flash Riot Owners: 341	Whilst anti-globalisation campaigners are not universally violent or prone to rioting, the movement has been characterised by the famous riots at intra-governmental meetings. Their warnings of the perils of global corporations and the excesses of free trade, can be a protectionists dream come true if used correctly. Manipulating the movement through rioters can help put pressure on politicians to protect and interfere in parts of the economy whilst discrediting their agenda in the public mind. A good capitalist knows the value of a good Flash Riot.
Religious Conservatism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Atheism Madalyn Murray O'Hair Owners: 361	Madalyn Murray O'Hair was the one of the most outspoken proponents of atheism in US history. As a supreme advocate of separation of church and state, she was the "Murray" in the landmark court case of Murray vs. Curlett that led to the banning of prayer in public schools. She founded the American Atheists and Time magazine named her the "Most Hated Woman In America". She wrote articles, gave public speeches, and lectured at Universities as an advocate for atheism and First Amendment rights. In 1995 she was murdered along with her son and granddaughter by an employee at American Atheists. Her son had been forced to withdraw $600,000 of the organizations funds before the three of them were murdered and the bodies were mutilated and hidden on a remote location. O'Hair's body was identified by the serial number on her artificial hip. Madalyn Murray O'Hair had written once that she didn't want any "dirty Christers" touching her body after she died. She wanted her body "flung into the water where fish could feed on it". Just the same, her remains are interred in an unmarked grave along with those of her son and grand daughter.
Asian Politics None!	Suggest One in the forums.
U.S.A. Politics The Candidate Owners: 711	American politics revolve around The Candidate. What are The Candidate's policies? What is The Candidate's voting record? What are The Candidate's finances? What does The Candidate say? Who are The Candidate's family members? Is The Candidate intelligent? Is The Candidate religious? Is The Candidate in good health? Who are The Candidate's financial backers and political friends? It's all about The Candidate, whether the position to be filled is that of the Presidency of the United States or a Council Member of the smallest municipality.
Plays The Persians Owners: 237	Written by Aeschylus, The Persians is the oldest surviving play, meaning that it can still produced today because a script of the play still exists. A Greek tragedy, the play was produced in 472 BC as a group of four plays for a festival in Athens. Of the four, only The Persians has survived. Set in eight years before it was written, the play is set in Susa then the capital of Persia and now the Khuzestan province of Iran, during the Persian War. The play begins with the royal family waiting for news of the Battle of Salamis and if the Xerses, a ruler during the time of the Achaemenid empire, has survived the conflict.
Musicals (Stage) Gilbert & Sullivan Owners: 191	Over 125 years ago composer Arthur Sullivan and librettist William Gilbert joined together to create a sensation in Victorian England with their wit, charm, and well-crafted, lively tunes. Despite the fact that their works were called �comic operas� in their day, this phenomenal team redefined the musical theatre experience and created what later became the modern musical. Gilbert and Sullivan took aim at the Victorian notions of class distinction with such wit and respectability that, rather than take offense, the very classes being lampooned embraced their works. Much of the success of Gilbert and Sullivan may be attributed to Richard D'Oyly Carte, the London producer and theater owner who recognized their unique talents and promoted their work. The three formed a partnership that would produce such classics as H.M.S Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado. Many of the productions were directed by Gilbert and were renowned for the attention to detail. In their later works plots and characters were intertwined with the words and music creating the integrated musical which would become the standard into the next century for such teams as Rodgers and Hammerstein and Webber & Rice. Their works continue to be produced throughout the English speaking world, a testament to their timelessness as audiences still find them relevant to this day. Both Gilbert and Sullivan were knighted for their contributions to the arts
Ecstasy None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Cigarettes Camel Cash Owners: 135	Found on packs of Camels everywhere, Camel Cash can be used to purchase such useful items as a Camel inflatable raft, Camel pants, or the much-sought Camel pool table. Start savin'!
Amphetamines None!	Suggest One in the forums.
LSD None!	Suggest One in the forums.
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Cancer Survivorship Owners: 211	Dignity.� Pride.� Honor.� Courage.� These are the characteristics that one often equates with survivors.� It takes this and much more to deal with the challenges faced daily by a cancer survivor.� Because of advances in the early detection and treatment of cancer, individuals are living many years after diagnosis.� Survivorship is a broad term that refers to how people who have been diagnosed with cancer as well as their friends, family members and caregivers, live with cancer on a daily basis. Whether an individual is successful in eliminating the hold the disease has on their body, cancer is always a part of his or her life.� Living with it, living through treatments, dealing with the unknowns and the statistics - it all changes the cancer patients and those that surround and support them.� Cancer is the survivor's journey and each one finds their own path.� There is no 'correct' path.� There is no 'right way' of surviving.� Each does this thing called survivorship their own way. Live out loud.
AIDS and HIV It's the virus, stupid. Owners: 169	Despite massive evidence that HIV, left untreated, can lead to AIDS, denialists believe in a conspiracy-theory approach to refuting this evidence: it's a lifestyle issue, it's the drug companies making (more) money, it's a deliberate poisoning of homosexuals and Africans by the CIA, it's god's punishment of the immoral. Ignoring logic and science, stupidly. In a humorous emulation of President Clinton, David Ho wore a simple badge stating "It's the virus, stupid". Much to the dismay of AIDS denialists the world over, HIV activists started wearing the same badges. You can use this artefact's PRD function to decimate your opponents shares, much as AIDS has done to many communities the world over or you can use it to boost your own shares, much as the combination therapies now available have done for the health of those of us living with HIV/AIDS. However you use it, remember to keep yourself safe by having safe sex and using new injecting equipment every hit.
Hebrew Ben Yehuda Owners: 86	In the late 19th Century, Jews were spread across the globe in many different countries, speaking many different languages and dialects depending on their region. Most Jews could read Hebrew since it was the language that all religious prayers and texts were written in; however, it was not a secular spoken language by the majority of Jews. Eliezer Ben Yehuda was exposed to the ideas of Zionism through his university studies of Hebrew, as well as Zionist and Jewish newspapers written in Hebrew for mass distribution. When he moved to Palestine, as many other Jewish immigrants were doing throughout the 1900s, he observed that there was no common language for these diverse Jews to communicate with. He decided to make it his goal to unite the Jewish people with a common language, and is largely responsible for the adoption of Hebrew as the official language of the State of Israel and Jews worldwide.
Yiddish None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Orthodox Judaism Halakha Owners: 278	Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish rabbinic law, custom and tradition. Like the religious laws in many other cultures, Judaism classically drew no distinction in its laws between religious and non-religious life. Hence, Halakha guides not only religious practices and beliefs, but numerous aspects of day-to-day life. Historically, Halakha served many Jewish communities as an enforceable avenue of civil and religious law. In the modern era, Jewish citizens may be bound to Halakhah only by their voluntary consent. In Israel, though, certain areas of Israeli family and personal status law are governed by rabbinic interpretations of Halakha. Reflecting the diversity of Jewish communities, somewhat different approaches to Halakha are found among Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, and Sefardi Jews. It is the strict adherence to these laws that distinguishes Orthodox Jews from the more liberal Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist streams of Judaism who have declared the Halakah as non-binding to various degrees.
Reform Judaism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
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Humanist / Humanism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Ultra-Orthodox / Haredi The Haredim Owners: 207	Haredim is a general term used to describe ultra-Orthodox Jews. The Haredi population in Israel has become increasingly diverse. Haredim as a distinct cultural and political force arose within Jewish communities in Europe in reaction to the westernization and secularization that accompanied what historian Jacob Katz termed "coming out of the ghetto." In Europe as well as in Palestine, Haredim formed their own religious and cultural institutions, including separate schools, as well as a roof organization, Agudath Israel, which is presently one of the two main political parties representing Haredim in Israel. Agudath Israel was opposed to Zionism, and it remained aloof from the institutional structure erected by Zionism in Palestine.
Conservadox None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Traditional None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Chicago Tommy Gun Owners: 582	The perfect weapon for gangland murders. Being compact and easily hidden, and possessing tremendous firepower, it could easily kill one or more targets without requiring the gunman to get close enough to be exposed to return fire - which usually wasn�t a problem because anyone near the intended victim was either also killed, or diving for cover. Even heavy doors and automobile bodies could not shield a victim from a Tommy Gun firing armor piercing ammunition. It was these fearsome qualities that inspired the nicknames bestowed on it. Chopper, Gat, Chicago Typewriter and Tommy Gun all became popular terms used by criminals and the public at large. Carry a Tommy Gun artefact and the Chicago blogstocks are well within your reach.
Munich None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Berlin (State) (Germany) Fernsehturm Owners: 287	At 368m, Berlin's Fernsehturm (television tower) is the tallest building in Germany and the fourth tallest in Europe. Built in then Communist East Berlin between 1965 and 1969, the Fernsehturm was a formidable feat of the most modern engineering, intended to demonstrate the superiority of the Communist East over the Capitalist West. Tour guides like to claim that Berliners refer to their television tower affectionately as "Telespargel" (tele-asparagus) but this is largely apocryphal. Though the East German regime sought to introduce this nickname, in truth it never really caught on. The Fernsehturm has outlived the country in which it was built, and today it towers over the Alexanderplatz in the centre of a unified Berlin and is visible from most parts of the city.
Boca Raton None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Tel Aviv-Jaffa (city) None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Jerusalem (city) Lion of Judah Owners: 267	The central image on the Emblem of Jerusalem is the Lion of Judah, who stands in front of a drawing of the bricks of the Western Wall and bordered on the right, left, and bottom with olive branches. Lions are often used to represent royalty, nobility, and chivalry; but much of this symbolism is based on this ancient image. The Lion of Judah, a symbol with religious significance for both Judaism and Christianity, harkens back to the tribe of Judah, a founding tribe of the ancient nation of Israel. As the central image of Jerusalem's emblem, the Lion of Judah represents two of the religions that influenced the heritage of the capital of the nation of Israel.
Cairo None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Beijing (municipality) Tiananmen Square Owners: 398	Tiananmen Square is a very large plaza near the center of Beijing, China, named for the Tiananmen (literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. It is seen by many as the symbolic heart of the Chinese Nation. Outside of China, the square is best known for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests were a series of student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in the People's Republic of China, which occurred between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989. The protests ended in violence when the 27th Army of the People's Liberation Army used force to restore order in the capital city.
San Antonio The Alamo Owners: 280	The Alamo is the name of a former mission and fortress compound, now a museum, in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The compound, which originally comprised a church and surrounding buildings, was built by the Spanish Empire in the 18th century for the education of local Native Americans after their conversion to Christianity. After its later abandonment as a mission, it was used as a fortress in the 19th century and was the scene of several military actions. On February 24, 1836, during the Texan War for Independence, some 5,000 Mexican soldiers under the command of Santa Ana besieged less than 200 Texans and their supporters in this mission church. Thirteen days later, the Mexicans stormed the Alamo from all sides, penetrated the fortress and killed all 187 defenders, including famed frontiersmen James Bowie and David Crockett. The Battle of the Alamo was one of the pivotal battles between the forces of the Republic of Texas and Mexico during the Texas Revolution. You can't visit San Antonio without visiting the Alamo. Remember the Alamo!
Philadelphia Liberty Bell Owners: 441	Along with the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell is perhaps the most prominent symbol of American liberty, and probably the most prominent symbol associated with early American history and the battle for American independence and freedom. Its most famous ringing, on July 8, 1776, summoned citizens for the reading of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress. It previously had been rung to announce the opening of the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775. The bell was not officially called the Liberty Bell until 1837, when it became a symbol of the abolitionist movement because of its cast inscription from Leviticus 25:10: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." The bell received its first crack in March 1753, the first time it was rung. It was originally cast in 1752 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, for use in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall). The bell had been ordered the previous year by the Pennsylvania Assembly, and the inscription from Leviticus was possibly intended to mark the 50th anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Privileges of 1701. After its initial cracking, the bell was recast by John Pass and John Stow of Philadelphia, whose surnames also appear inscribed on the bell. When the tone of the recast bell proved unsatisfactory, Pass and Stow recast the bell again, and this third bell was hung in the steeple of the State House in June 1753. The bell was used to summon members of the Assembly to meetings. It remained in the tower through the start of the American Revolutionary War, when the Second Continental Congress used the building for its deliberations in 1775-76. In October 1777, however, as the Revolutionary War intensified and the British attempted to seize Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell was moved north, to the Pennsylvania village of Northamptontown (now known as Allentown). In Allentown, the bell was hidden under the floor of Old Zion Reformed Church, where it remained until the British evacuated Philadelphia in 1778, when it was again returned to Philadelphia. Today, in the basement of this center city Allentown church, the only official replica of the bell is on display, surrounded by the flags of the original thirteen colonies. The location is open to tourists. The bell was repaired in February 1846. The method of repair, known as stop drilling, required drilling along the hairline crack so that the sides of the fracture would not reverberate. When the bell was rung that month in honor of George Washington's birthday, the crack extended from the top of the repaired crack to the crown of the bell, rendering the bell unusable. From the 1880s through the early decades of the 20th century, the Liberty Bell traveled to numerous cities and was displayed at expositions and world's fairs. For many years, the bell was housed in the stairwell of Independence Hall where visitors could view it while touring the historic building. On January 1, 1976, the bell was transported from Independence Hall to a glass pavilion located one block north, in anticipation of increased visitation during the bicentennial year of American independence. In October 2003, the bell was moved a short distance to the southwest to a new pavilion, the Liberty Bell Center.
Miami (FL) None!	Suggest One in the forums.
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Dynamism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Traditional Chinese Medicine The Five Elements Owners: 70	The Five Elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and are central to the practices in traditional Chinese Medicine. These elements, known collectively as the Wu Xing (Five Elements), are used to describe relationships and interactions of natural processes, including health. In the Cycles of Balance, each element has a role in balancing out other elements.
Drug Addiction None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Alcoholism Alcoholics Anonymous� Owners: 178	Alcoholics Anonymous� (commonly known as AA), was founded in 1935 by Bill W. (William Griffith Wilson) and Dr. Bob (Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith). Smith and Wilson were both alcoholics and both native Vermonters. Bill W. worked through his disease with the help of a support group in Vermont. When he met Dr. Bob in Ohio, he helped him to sober up by bringing him to the same group back in Vermont. Bill W. and Dr. Bob began a project of studying alcoholism as a disease and eventually created what came to be known as the "Big Book", which contained the now well-known 12 Steps to recovery. AA does not maintain records of members, but membership is estimated at over 2,000,000 worldwide. There are no dues. The only requirement of membership is a desire to stop drinking.
Caribbean Nations None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Oceania Hawaiki Owners: 395	Various indigeous peoples from all over Oceania trace their origins to the mythical island of Hawaiki. Polynesian peoples are said to have set out from Hawaiki in open, canoe-like craft and populated much of Oceania. In Maori mythology, Hawaiki is the place where the supreme God, Io, created the world and the first people. Attempts to place Hawaiki have led to wildly differing theories, including Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa and even Java in Indonesia. Modern DNA testing, however, suggests that the Polynesian peoples likely originated from islands in East Asia, possibly even Taiwan.
Russia The Tsar Owners: 54	The word Tsar (or Czar) is derived for Caesar and it literally means ruler or emperor who had absolute authority over his or her people and land. This was the title given to the Russian ruler from from about 1547 until 1721. The origins of Czarism are generally considered to be purely military and Despotic. The czar, although a paternalistic figure for the people of Russia, had absolute supreme power and no one could question him. There was no tradition of consultation, the czars ruled according to their will and wish. They exercised unlimited Executive, Judicial and Legislative power. All powers of policy and decision making lay with the Czar. The Czars' ministered which were hired and fired by him would only occasionally be consulted and then even individually. Under the Czarist rule people had no say in the government.
Morocco Imperial Cities Owners: 202	F�s (Fez), Marrakech, Meknes and Rabat are known as the Imperial Cities of Morocco, each having been the country�s capital at some time during its history. Rabat, the present capital of Morocco, was founded in the 12th century. It is a town of trees and flowers, and many monumental gateways, including the Gate of the Ambassadors and the Oudaias Kasbah Gate. The nearby Mamora forest and the many beaches are popular tourist attractions, particularly during the summer. Tour Hassan is a grandiose minaret in Rabat, part of a vast, uncompleted 12th-century mosque. Battlements surround the old town and part of the new city, dating from the mid-12th century. Meknes is protected by 25km (16 miles) of battlements, and flanked by towers and bastions. The city reflects the power and the constructive genius of King Moulay Ismail, a contemporary of Louis XIV, who ruled the country for 55 years. The Michlifen and Djebel Habri are two ski resorts above Meknes. The city boasts a wonderful souk (market) and the old town is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Fez is the most ancient and impressive of the imperial cities. Built in the eighth century, it has more history and mystery than anywhere else in Morocco. Officially encompassing two cities � El Bali and Jadid � F�s is famous for the Nejjarine Square and Fountain, the Er Rsif and Andalous (Al-Andalus) mosques, the Royal Palace, the Kasbah and Karaouine (Al-Qarawiyin) University, which is older than Oxford University. The old part of the city � F�s El Bali � still retains the magical, bustling atmosphere of an ancient time and it is centered around the two famous mosques of Al-Qarawiyin and Al-Andalus. The medina (market) in F�s El Bali is one of the largest in the world and is also on UNESCO�s World Heritage list. As in all of Morocco, the market business is conducted in a leisurely, although deadly earnest way, with the accompaniment of endless glasses of sweet mint tea. Founded in 1062, Marrakech was once the capital of an empire that stretched from Toledo to Senegal. Called the �Pink City� because of the color of the local earth used in its construction, it is a city of labyrinthine alleyways, secluded palaces, museums, mosques and markets. The city�s gardens are still supplied with water from 11th-century underground irrigation canals. The Djemaa el-Fna (Place of the Dead), the city square, comes alive after nightfall; thronged with dancers, fortune-tellers, musicians, acrobats, storytellers and snake charmers, it is an exciting and occasionally bewildering place � an exotic spectacle that is striking and endlessly surprising. Koutoubia, the 12th-century mosque, is as tall as the towers of N�tre Dame and dominates the Marrakech skyline.
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Malaysia Jalur Gemilang Owners: 568	Translated into "Stripes of Glory", the Malaysian flag or Jalur Gemilang consists of 14 horizontal red and white stripes of equal width; a dark blue canton occupying the upper left quarter of the flag; and within the canton, a crescent, and a 14-pointed star. The Malaysian flag was officially named Jalur Gemilang on the 40th anniversary of the country's independence, Aug 31, 1997. It symbolized the forward thrust Malaysia was making in this nation's desire to be recognized as a developed country by the year 2020.
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Victoria Harbour Owners: 348	The Victoria Harbour is famous around the world for its stunning panoramic night view and skyline, particularly in the direction towards Hong Kong Island where the skyline of skyscrapers is superimposed over the ridges behind. The best place to view the Harbour is at the Victoria Tower on the Victoria Peak, or from the piazza at the Culture Centre or the promenade of Tsim Sha Tsui on the Kowloon side. Rides on the Star Ferry to view the harbour are also widely popular. As the natural epicentre of the territory, the harbour has played host to many major public shows, including the annual fireworks displays on the 2nd night of the Lunar New Year. These shows are popular for tourists and locals alike, with the show usually telecast on local television. To add to the popularity of the harbour as a sightseeing location, the government introduced a show dubbed A Symphony of Lights, using use audio, lights and pyrotechnics to introduce the city to its viewers every evening. Also recently opened, was the Avenue of Stars, built along the promenade outside the New World Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. Modeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it honours the most illustrious people the Hong Kong film industry has produced over the past decades. By the end of November every year, the outer walls of buildings in the central business districts on both side of the harbours are dressed with Christmas-related decorations, and replaced with Lunar New Year-related ones by January.
Cambodia The Angkor Wat Owners: 205	One of the most beautiful temples in the Siem Reap surroundings. It's regarded as the supreme masterpiece of Khmer architecture. This huge Khmer style temple was built by Suryavarman II between 1113 and 1150. Many part of this temple were destroyed by the regime in the early late 70's and early 80's. Nowadays it is a big tourist attraction especially after the movie Tomb Raider and many foreign countries are helping to restore the temple in it's original beauty.
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Philippines Filipiniana Owners: 444	Filipiniana are novelty items, nature materials, or craft collections authored and created by Filipinos that reference the Philippine people, their history, art, and cultural heritage. A visit to the Philippines is not complete without Filipiniana purchase of the following collections: figurines, hand-made greetings cards, nature accessories, graphics and paintings, scents, wall decor, wooden furnitures, metal crafts, t-shirts, desk accessories, woodcarvings, bags, kits, and a bunch of giveaway souvenirs of Philippine products. New addition to Filipiniana collections are herbal medicines and locally made skin care and beauty products.
Taiwan The Nine Tribes Owners: 422	The original settlers of Taiwan are called the Nine Tribes. Also known as Taiwan’s aborigines, they are believed to have come from the Malay archipelago in different waves about 6,000 years ago. The nine tribes of the "mountain people" live in less accessible mountains, remote eastern Taiwan, and the offshore Orchid Island, where their culture and languages are relatively well preserved. Some of the distinctive historical traits of these nine remaining aboriginal groups in Taiwan inclue tattooing (except among the Yami and Bunun), pantheism, shamanism, and head-hunting (except among the Yami).
Thailand Tom Yam Kung Owners: 444	He/she who visited Thailand knows this famous soup. It's hot and spicy especially for the foreigner. It is prawn soup with lemon grass and lot's of other ingredients: 20 prawns(shrimp), medium size 4-5 sups water 3 shallots, finely chopped 2 stalks lemon grass, lightly pounded, cut into 1 inch long segments 2 table spoons fish sauce 2 slices fresh or dried galangal 20 small mushroom, halved or whole 6 kaffir lime leaves 3 table spoons lime juice 2-3 chillies, cut small coriander leaves and spring onion cut five (courtesy of the Thai Cookbook) He/She who tasted it will never forget beautiful Thailand. The land of smile!
Tourism Travel Agent Owners: 272	So you want to see Fiji? Tijuana? Spain? Call up the travel agent. Need to book a flight for a business meeting? Call up your travel agent. Need someone to blame when the cruise line serves only non-vegetarian meals? Blame your travel agent.
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Panama Panama Canal Owners: 180	The Panama Canal bisects the continents of North and South America, cutting through the isthmus of Panama, and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in Central America. The canal, whose building was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, has a huge impact on shipping, as it removes the need for ships to travel the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America.
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Bulgaria Martenitsa Owners: 202	On the 1st of March Bulgaria celebrates Martenica. Not an official holiday, it is a traditional celebration and one of Bulgaria's most unique. On this day, people exchange white and red woolen bracelets, dolls, or other small red and white articles, called Martenitsa, to wear on their clothes or wrists. According to Bulgarian folk-tradition, they do this to please or appease Baba Marta -- an angry old lady who changes her mood very rapidly -- so that she will not make winter last. With the giving of Martenitsi, the start of the spring is celebrated. The Martenica, a symbol of wishes for a good harvest and good health, is worn until the wearer sees a sign of spring -- a stork, a swallow or a blossoming tree. S/he then takes it of and ties it to a fruit tree for good luck and health for the coming year. The proper greeting on Martenitsa is: �Chestito Baba Marta� which means �Happy Grandma Marta.�
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Denmark Hans Christian Andersen Owners: 428	Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the world-famous Danish author, whose work has been translated into almost 150 languages, was born in Odense - then Denmark�s second largest town, today the third largest. The first 14 years of his life were spent in this town, which provided him with subject matter for several of his fairy-tales, as well as for parts of novels, memoirs and plays. At age 14 he moved to Copenhagen. Hans Christian Andersen was a product of two towns, two social environments, two worlds and two ages. Both as a man and as a writer he thus continually developed and changed, but was also in constant dialogue with himself and even at times at war with himself. Thus his social rise provides the direct and indirect motif in many of his tales, novels and plays, both as a productive source in his search for a new and more comprehensive identity and as a source of perpetual and unresolved traumas. The extensive interest for Hans Christian Andersen, not only within Denmark but also internationally, encompasses both the man and the writer: His fairy-tales (210 in total), autobiographies (3), travel journals (5), novels (6) etc., his personal connections with the arts, music and theatre of the time, and not least Andersen as a point of departure today regarding children�s reading and drawing, illustrators, puppet films, cartoons, movies, stage productions, ballets, operas etc. Also significant is the use of Hans Christian Andersen in the tourist industry. Dear Hans Christian Andersen ... You were there, in my childhood back in Denmark. And you were here, when I arrived in New York in 1940. And wherever you are now, I fancy you are up there in some heavenly Elysium, with Mozart and your friend Mendels sohn playing Bach and you maybe telling your stories in the unique, sublime literery fashion in which you wrote them. Wherever you are, know that we refer to you with reverence and pride, as your pen has engraved your name in the stars forever. Affectionately, Victor Borge Another Dane
Republic of Ireland Pocket Leprechaun Owners: 533	Having your own pocket leprechaun will make you an instant hit! Think of the possibilities, he's small he's sneaky, he can be yours. When he's not intoxicated and recovering from his home-brew poteen that is.
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Portugal Explorer Owners: 794	Sea monsters? No way! Nothing frightens this man. Courage is his middle name. Send him to sail the seven seas and to bring you some treasures.
Psychology None!	Suggest One in the forums.
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Ann Arbor Charles Baird Carillon Owners: 400	The Charles Baird Carillon is mounted on the top of the Burton Memorial Tower on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It is claimed to be tied for the fourth heaviest carillon in the world and weighs a total of 43 tons. The 55 bells in the carillion cover a range of 5 octaves from the heaviest bell (which chimes the hour), weighing 12 tons, to the lightest, weighing 16.5 pounds. The Burton Memorial Tower was dedicated on Dec. 4, 1936, and the carillion has been chiming daily since that time. The carillonists choose new pieces to play each day in various musical genres which have included classical compositions, "The Victors", songs by the Beatles, Christmas carols, and brand new compositions of music students. The University of Michigan also boasts the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Carillon on its North Campus which was completed in 1996 and contains 60 bells.
Neuropsychology Alexander Luria Owners: 241	Considered by many to have played a major role in defining neuropsychology as it is practiced today, Soviet neuropsychologist, Alexander Luria forumlated two major goals of neuropsychology: isolating lesions in the brain and analyzing brain function and psychological activity through behavioral observation. He is also the co-author of the Luria-Nebraska test battery, one of the common test batteries that some neurophyschologists like to give their patients. These tests allow individuals to be compared to their peers in activities involving the area of the brain that was damaged because of injury or illness, and help to assess brain and nervous system damage and setting goals towards improvement as well as evaluating a patient's capacity to return to work. Many people who have survived severe brain trauma via car wreck, stroke and athletics are evaluated by a neuropsychologist at least once during their hospital stay.
Math Slide Rule Owners: 213	The slide rule is a portable, mechanical, analog computer usually consisting of three interlocking calibrated strips and a sliding cursor used to record intermediate results. It was once widely used for rapid, approximate scientific and engineering calculations. Slide rules became obsolete with the advent of the electronic calculator and modern digital computers yet many models are still considered priceless items.
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Sociology Focus Group Owners: 346	Focus groups are proving an increasingly popular research method not just in academic social research, but also in the parallel worlds of commercial market research and public policy formation. Theoretically-informed focus group methodologies promise new patterns of insight on the complexities and ambiguities of social behaviour, where former methods and theories are themselves derived from certainties and assumptions which can no longer be 'taken-for-granted' or deemed reliable. Critics however claim that focus group methods are unreliable, are prone to selective interpretation, and are likely to misrepresent public sentiment.
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Engineering Doc Edgerton Owners: 270	Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton was a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose work with an obscure laboratory instrument (the stroboscope or strobe) allowed him to pioneer strobe photography. Winner of both a bronze medal by the Royal Photographic Society and the National Medal of Science, Edgerton engineered photographic equipment and techniques for photographer Gjon Mili and undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau. Without Doc Edgerton�s engineering, the photographic/videographic works of these two men would not have been possible. Edgerton invented the Rapatronic camera; his strobe engineering resulted in devices that can be found in most cameras produced today; he was instrumental in the development of side-scan sonar technology, used to scan the sea floor for wrecks. Edgerton was an engineer, an admired professor of engineering, and a photographer whose still photographs of fast-moving objects adorn art museums worldwide.
Chemical Engineering Haber-Bosch Process Owners: 80	In 1909, the brilliant German chemist Fritz Haber demonstrated his high-pressure method for synthesizing ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen to representatives of Badische Anilin- und Soda Fabrik. BASF immediately bought the patent rights for this revolutionary process and turned it over to engineer Karl Bosch for the daunting task of developing a full-scale production design. Until that point, such high pressures had never been used in bulk chemical production. Bosch�s team developed a low-cost method for producing the chemical components (nitrogen and hydrogen) and a steel reactor that could withstand the physical and chemical stresses of production. With low-cost ammonia readily available, Germany could create an ample supply of both fertilizer and munitions, thus circumventing the British naval blockade of nitrates from South America and prolonging World War I. Commercially, the Haber-Bosch process is also directly responsible for much of the advancement in chemical technology in the 20th century as it laid the foundation for modern methods of chemical production, particularly in the petroleum and plastics industries.
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Cybernetics The Ktesibios Water Clock Owners: 68	In the third century BCE, a mechanic named Ktesibios built what many consider one of the first machines used to study what would eventually become known as Cybernetics. The self-regulated process used a steady-flow of water moving at a known flow-rate to measure time, and had a feedback-control that was essential to maintain consistent results. While modern usage of the term Cybernetics often brings to mind electronics, AI, and lots of wires and monitors, the field began fairly simply many thousand years ago as Ktesibios, and many others, pondered some of the basic properties of self-regulating devices. The basic principals found in Ktesibios' water clock have been favorably compared to modern toilet functionality, and certainly launched many others to study the tenats of Cybernetics over the centuries.
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Electrical Engineering Fast Fourier Transform Owners: 254	The Fast Fourier Transform, or FFT, is a vital part of signal processing technology. It translates the strength of an electrical signal from a function of time to a function of frequency, making it easier to manipulate the desired frequencies in a signal. The FFT was adopted by the engineering and scientific community almost immediately following the publication of a paper by James Cooley and John Tukey in 1965. This paper described a method for translating the laborious calculations of the discrete Fourier transform into an algorithm that would be much more efficient in terms of time and computational power, especially for large quantities of data. In addition to its uses in applications such as radar signal processing, X-ray crystallography, medical imaging and seismology, the FFT has become a key component in the design of state-of-the-art computer technology, particularly for communications components. Notably, the development of the wireless local area network was made possible by the ability to embed a Fourier processor on a computer chip.
Electronics Circuit Owners: 431	Printed circuits, integrated circuits, digital circuits, series and parallel circuits, telecommunication circuits -� in electronics, it�s the circuit that makes it happen by interconnecting electrical elements. Use the power of the Circuit to interconnect the elements of your game play and make it all happen for you at BlogShares.
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Invention and Innovation The Prototype Owners: 516	The Prototype: It might by ugly, but at least it works. It doesn�t work perfectly, but at least it�s a step in the right direction. It�s buggy, but at least the most important functions have been built in. A patent might appear sound, but without a working model, it�s just theory. The prototype puts theory into practice in a tangible, working device, even if it isn�t pretty and it�s far from perfect. The prototype often starts out as a collection of �proof of concept� experiments melded together into a functional system. The buttons might be in the wrong place and the labels might be missing, the wiring might look like a pile of spaghetti, but at least the thing works. The prototype plays a vital role in any product-based company. Its success or failure can completely reroute budgeting and marketing plans. For a small company, it can convince venture capitalists to invest. For a large company, it is the difference between launching a new product line and relegating research to the archives. After the prototype is approved, it is refined further to fit engineering, marketing and manufacturing requirements, often undergoing a nearly complete change of functionality and appearance from the original design and marketing specifications.
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Mechanical Engineering Otis Safety Brake Owners: 53	While there are many issues to be solved in designing buildings (framing materials, air conditioning, how to keep buildings from being greenhouses, wind/rain forces), none of these problems would present themselves if we didn�t have a way to move people from one floor to another. If the only way to get to a higher floor is the stairs, buildings are limited in height. The elevator solved this problem, and the Otis safety brake for elevators made it a practical solution. Elisha Graves Otis, born in Vermont in 1881, did not invent the elevator (initially known as the "ascending room�). But he did see a problem with the first elevators � if the rope snapped, you were in for a speedy and catastrophic descent. An inveterate tinkerer, Otis came up with the safety brake, a mechanism that would lock the elevator car in place on the tracks by use of a spring that was triggered by cable failure. The brake was patented as �Improvement in Hoisting Apparatus Elevator Brake Patent Number(s) 31,128�. In 1854, Otis made a dramatic public display of his new safety device at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York. In front of a large audience, Otis had himself hoisted up in an elevator cradled in an open-sided shaft. Halfway up, he had an assistant cut the hoisting cable with an axe. The elevator fell only for a few seconds, and then came to a halt. Contemporary accounts say that Otis then doffed his top hat, bowed, and said, "All safe, ladies and gentlemen, all safe." The first elevator for public use was a steam-driven type installed by Otis Brothers in the five-story New York department store E.W Haughtwhat & Company. The nine-story Equitable Life Assurance Society Building was the first building to have passenger elevators specifically designed by the architect for office building use. Built in 1870, it was the tallest building in New York City at the time at 130 feet high. The building was destroyed by fire in 1912. Interestingly, once buildings were no longer limited by the size of the site and you could build up not just out, the real estate valuation of floors was inverted. Rather than wanting to occupy the ground floor, where you were visible and accessible to passersby, tenants found the top floors of buildings, with their light and air, away from traffic, the most desirable. These days, elevator technology is being pushed to new heights in buildings like the Burj Dubai, which will hold world titles in at least four engineering categories when it is completed in 2008. The 160-plus-story tower will be nearly double the height of the Empire State Building at more than 2,290 feet (700 meters). Otis will provide 54 elevators; the highest-rise elevator will reach 1,640 feet (500 meters). The fastest elevator, a double-deck, will travel at the rate of 1,969 feet per minute (10 meters per second). Passengers will be transported up and down at almost 22 miles per hour; the trip will take about 55 seconds.
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Nanotechnology K. Eric Drexler Owners: 205	While Richard P. Feynman is widely heralded as the father of nanotechnology, K. Eric Drexler is most credited with advancing the field to where it stands today. Drexler was already a well accomplished student at MIT before discovering Feynman's 1959 lecture "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom. In 1986 he published the first book to lay out the potentials of molecular nanotechnology, entitled "Engines of Creation". The release coincided with the foundation of the . His PhD from MIT was the first doctoral degree in Molecular Nanotechnology. Drexler's graduate thesis was released as a book, "Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation, which received the AAP award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992.
Nuclear Power Uranium Owners: 165	The main fissile material in nuclear reactions, Uranium is a radioactive element identified by the symbol U and is a member of the group actinides (or actinoids) on the periodic table of elements. Uranium has the atomic number of 92 and is a heavy, dense metal. Uranium itself naturally occurs in the earth's crust, but the various form of nuclear power may require higher levels of enrichment, which means increasing the amount of U-235 in the ore. The more common the kind of nuclear power, the lower the levels of enrichment required. Advanced research reactors need the highest level of enrichment called "weapons grade," which is enriched over 85%. After being mined and enriched if needed, the uranium is turned into flat pellets approximately a centimeter in diameter. The pellets are stacked to form fuel rods, which are then bundled together and used in the fission process. The resulting fission can either be controlled as in the use of nuclear power plants, or uncontrolled as occurs with nuclear weapons.
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Petroleum Engineering Edwin L. Drake Owners: 181	The Year: 1859 The Man: Edwin L. Drake Way back in 1858, the Seneca Oil Company leased Some Pennsylvania land and then sent Edwin L. Drake into the area to find some way to increase oil production. First, Drake tried drilling through the earth, then drilling through rock. Progress was slow as the soft ground kept collapsing. Drake solved this by driving a pipe into the bedrock and using a drill bit from inside the piping to excavate the earth. His ingenuity paid off in a big way. Edwin Drake struck black gold on August 27th, 1859. The depth: 69 feet. Had he drilled just a few feet in any other direction he would have had to drill a further 100 feet before hitting the oil reservoir. A pump was added and soon was producing nearly 20 barrels per day. This was double the rate produced by all other sources available at that time.
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Robotics Machine Vision Owners: 167	While the ability to capture a digital image is commonly available using inexpensive technologies, the implementation of machine vision in a robot is considerably less straightforward. Machine vision enables a robot to capture an image, interpret it to the extent required, make a decision based on that interpretation, then act on that decision�usually faster than the blink of a human eye. It requires not only camera technology but computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and systems design engineering. Because machines do not interpret images the same way humans do, often a highly sensitive black-and-white camera is preferred over the current digital color imaging technology for machine vision applications. Machine vision is often used in industrial applications where high throughput is required, higher than a human being could reasonably manage and often under inhospitable conditions. Typical examples include quality control inspection in high speed processing and manufacturing lines (often using a strobe light), and real-time image processing in security systems and other camera applications. In the food industry, machine vision is commonly used to ensure the integrity of food items and their packaging during processing. Food items are checked for size, blemishes or discoloration, while highly processed foods are checked for inconsistencies. Packaging is inspected for fill levels, seam flaws and faulty labelling. Problem items discovered during this high-speed inspection are removed from the processing lines in a variety of ways, including mechanical force (pushing an item off the line), diversion (switching the line briefly to dump an item elsewhere) and blowing (using a puff of air to whisk a small item off the line).
Sanitary Engineering Watershed Owners: 63	A basic fact of physics is that water flows downhill. A basic fact of geology is that much of this water flows underground. A watershed is an area of land in which groundwater is collected from rain and snow, and flows toward a major body of water. Sanitary engineers must have an intimate knowledge of our relationship with the water in our environment: how it is used for human, agricultural and commercial purposes, how we acquire it from wells, rivers and lakes, and where it goes. If mismanaged, the watershed can become an insidious and difficult-to-detect source of illness by carrying toxins such as motor oil, heavy metals such as lead or arsenic, or deadly pathogens such as E. coli O157H, into our drinking and irrigation water.
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Space Images Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) Owners: 297	In March 2004 astronomers of the Space Telescope Science Institute released the deepest portrait of the visible universe every recorded. The exposure was created by Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) from September 2003 to January 2004 and required over 1,000,000 seconds of exposure due to the faint light. The HUDF image contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies some of which astronomers believe were created 800 million years after the big bang. The universe today is about 13.6 billion years old. Astronomers believe the major evolution of galaxies occurred within 1 billion years of the big bang. The images provide the first view of galaxies when they were basically in their toddler years. The photons of light captured by the telescope�s ACS camera began traversing the universe before Earth even existed. In addition to the more common elliptical and spiral galaxies of today, the image includes galaxies in a wide variety of shapes, colors, and designs which are indicative of the chaotic nature of the early stages of the universe. Some galaxies even appeared to be interacting as order and structure was beginning to emerge. Hubble also provided images in the near-infrared portion of the spectrum from its Near Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Astronomers believe these images may show galaxies as they were only 400 million years after the big bang. The expanding of the universe has stretched their light so that they are only visible in the near-infrared portion of the spectrum. These images provided by Hubble will be the most detailed available to astronomers until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) currently scheduled for 2013. JWST is the replacement for Hubble and will primarily provide images in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum in addition to some capability in the visible range.
NASA Countdown Owners: 323	T minus 3 hours and counting. The launch clock resumes from its scheduled hold at the 3 hour mark, now subtracting time inexorably toward the final hold planned at the T minus 20 minute mark. Booster tanks have been filled with hydrogen and oxygen fuel. All safety checks have been successfully completed, all computer systems synchronized between Houston ground control and the rocket standing bright in the Florida morning sun. The astronauts arrive and are helped into their places aboard the vessel; the crew module hatch is closed and latched for flight. The launch clock choreographs millions of collective efforts and advanced instruments as it ticks off each second of preparation, each moment of growing expectation. Skies are clear at T minus 20 minutes, all systems are go from here. Every eye turns to the launch pad in eager anticipation. Your Countdown artefact is ready to blast you to the stars and beyond. Ten�nine�eight�seven�six�five�four�three�two�one��
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Space Colonization L5 Society Owners: 140	Founded in 1975 by Carolyn and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of U.S. physicist and space pioneer, Dr. Gerard K. O�Neill, the L5 Society was organized after Dr. O�Neill�s paper, �The Colonization of Space,� appeared in the September 1974 issue of Physics Today, the flagship publication of The American Institute of Physics. L5 refers to the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points proposed as locations for a huge rotating space habitat envisioned by Dr. O'Neill. Lagangian points are positions in interplanetary space where the combined gravitational pull of two large objects (such as the Earth and the Moon) can keep a smaller object (such as a space station) rotating in a fixed position relative to the two large objects. In 1986, with a membership of about 10,000 people, the L5 Society merged with the larger National Space Institute, founded by German-born NASA engineer Dr. Wernher von Braun. The new entity, called the National Space Society (NSS), exists today as an international nonprofit 501(c)(3), educational, and scientific organization. A space-advocacy organization, the NSS envisions �people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth� and it promotes �change in social, technical, economic, and political conditions to advance the day when people will live and work in space"(from the NSS Vision Statement).
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Fossil Fuel The Keeling Curve Owners: 255	One of the most recognizable images in modern science, the Keeling Curve (named for climate scientist Charles David Keeling, who charted it) is a graph of the continual rise of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over a forty-seven-year period covering most of the second half of the 20th century and the first few years of the 21st century. While it reflects the annual cycle of carbon growth and decline following the vegetation cycle, the Keeling Curve more dramatically describes the growing accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide due to the burning of fossil fuels. The measurements reflected in the Keeling Curve make it one of the foundational sets of data for the study of global climate change. The importance and context of Keeling's work and the Keeling Curve were described this way by the director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography -- the organization that funded Keeling's work -- after Keeling's death in 2005: "Charles David Keeling�s measurements of the global accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere set the stage for today�s profound concerns about climate change. They are the single most important environmental data set taken in the 20th century. David Keeling was living proof that a scientist could, by sticking close to his bench, change the world."
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Lesbian Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Owners: 344	On February 12, 2004, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon made history when they became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in the United States. Recognized as founders of the lesbian rights movement, they had been together 51 years at the time of their San Francisco wedding. Martin was 83; Lyon, 79. Their activism has spanned five decades, ranging from co-founding America�s first lesbian organization in 1955, to successfully changing, in coalition with others, California�s sex laws in the 1960s, to writing two highly influential books in the 1970s and playing a key role in the American Psychiatric Associations�s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its diagnostic manual, to serving as delegates to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging, to being featured in a 2002 documentary, No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. �Martin and Lyon occupy a particularly important position as founding mothers of the modern glbtq movement, having participated in the movement's evolution from the timid first steps of the homophile organizations to the heady days of the gay and lesbian liberation to the achievement of more mainstream political clout.� (Tina Gianoulis, glbtq.com)
Political Humor Will Rogers Owners: 817	Will Rogers (November 4, 1879 � August 15, 1935) was a famous American entertainer and political humorist. His views on the nature of politics always provide fuel for his witicisms. Famous sayings include "There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you" and "I don't belong to any organized party. I'm a Democrat". Rodgers was a man of many interests, including aviation. He undertook an polar flight in 1935, but crashed in Point Barrow, Alaska, killing himself and friend Wiley Post.
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Climbing Figure 8 Knot Owners: 121	The Figure 8 knot is the first and most important knot a beginning climber or mountaineer learns. This knot attaches the climber and his or her harness to the climbing rope, and also attaches the climber's belayer to the far end of the rope. In a pinch, a doubled Figure 8 can also be used to quickly tie a climber off to a fixed anchor or a belay station.
Cycling Tour de France Owners: 327	The Tour de France is widely regarded as the world's most prestigious bicycle race. It was conceived as a publicity stunt by French sports newspaper L'Auto after the owners lost a trademark lawsuit and were forced to change the paper's name. The first race took place in 1903 and covered a distance of about 2,400 kilometres (1,400 miles) split into 6 stages. 21 of the original 60 racers eventually struggled across the line on fixed-gear bicycles which weighed in excess of 30 pounds, the winner receiving the princely sum of 3,000 francs. The Tour has been an annual event since then, except for during those years when it was rudely interrupted by the small matter of two world wars. The first mountain stage was introduced in 1905 and by 1910 horrified participants were having to tackle the Pyrenees. In 1919 the organisers came up with the idea of putting the leading cyclist in a yellow jersey so that spectators along the route could tell who was winning the race. The longest ever Tour covered a distance of 5,564km split into 24 stages, but nowadays the race has settled into a format of 20 stages covering between 3,000 and 4,000 km. In 2004, Lance Armstrong of the United States became the first rider to win six tours, and also the first to win six in succession - all this after recovering from life-threatening cancer. Other notable Tour winners include: Eddy Merckx of Belgium, Greg LeMond of the United States, and Miguel Indurain of Spain.
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Rabbits Watership Down Owners: 233	"Watership Down" is the title of Richard Adams's first and most successful novel. The story follows a warren of Berkshire rabbits fleeing the destruction of their home by a land developer, and their subsequent adventures as they search for a safe haven. They find sanctuary in a warren on the down for which the book is titled. The greatness of "Watership Down" rests on the sense of realism that Adams brings to his story of wild rabbits.
Angry Road Rage Owners: 312	Road recklessness. Auto Anarchy. Vehicular Violence. Road rage is a term used to describe angry, hostile reactions directed toward other drivers. It is characterized by everything from aggressive tailgating and gesturing to truly violent acts, such as using an automobile as a weapon or assaulting, even killing another driver. In 2006, medical professionals indicated that road rage may be a related to Intermittent Explosive Disorder, or IED. IED is caused by an imbalance in brain chemicals and affects up to one in twenty people � more men than women. However, as of the fall of 2006, there is no medical evidence to support this claim.
Grumpy The Scowl Owners: 130	From the oldest adult to the youngest child, no one gets by without periodic bouts of grumpiness. Whether from too little sleep or too much, high stress or low self-esteem, almost every grumpy person exhibits the classic scowl. Not quite a frown, not quite a sign of anger, the grumpy scowl is a sign to leave the person alone for the time being. No matter what you try, that scowl will be the first sign that the grump isn't giving in any time soon.
Romance Stories Three Musketeers Owners: 296	The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the magazine Le Si�cle between March and July 1844. Dumas claimed it was based on manuscripts he had discovered in the Biblioth�que Nationale. It was proved Dumas based his work on the book M�moires de Monsieur d'Artagnan, capitaine lieutenant de la premi�re compagnie des Mousquetaires du Roi (Memories of Mister D'Artagnan, Lieutenant Captain of the first company of the King's Musketeers) by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (Cologne, 1700). The book was borrowed from the Marseilles public library, and the card-index remains to this day. (Dumas kept the book when he went back to Paris.) It covers the adventures of D'Artagnan and his friends in 1625, as they are involved in intrigues involving the weak King Louis XIII of France, his powerful and cunning advisor Cardinal Richelieu, the beautiful Queen Anne of Austria, her English lover, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and the siege of the rebellious Huguenot city of La Rochelle.
Crime Thriller Literature Maltese Falcon Owners: 76	The Maltese Falcon is quite possibly the most famous of the "hard-boiled" detective novels, largely thanks to Humphrey Bogart's memorable portrayal of the P.I. Sam Spade in the film adaptation, and written by the genre's founder, Dashiell Hammett. In both the book and the film (which follows the book closely), the Falcon is a valuable statuette, lusted after by several ruthless groups who catch detective Spade in the crossfire. Alfred Hitchcock described the Falcon as the ultimate "MacGuffin," an object very important to the characters but really of no consequence to the audience, i.e. something which serves no purpose but to further the plot.
Science Fiction Literature Analog Owners: 438	Analog is often considered the publication where science fiction grew up. The pages of Analog have been home to many of science fiction's foremost writers and stories. Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Spider Robinson, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Frank Herbert are just a few of the prominent names which have often appeared, and Analog has a long tradition of discovering and cultivating new talent. The Analog artefact may give traders a fiction of things-to-come based on things-on-hand.
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Cellular Ringtones Owners: 338	Cellular technology offers a wide range of capabilities -- text messaging, videos, built-in cameras. But one thing is certain: cell phones are nothing without their ringtones. From Crazy Frog, Skater Bear, and Pinky Pig to Classical, Hip Hop, and Movie Themes, ringtones bring personality to cellular technology. Even phones that support only polytonal ringtones give owners the opportunity to individualize their cell phones.
Photoblogs Image Compression Algorithm Owners: 909	The world of photoblogs would not be possible without the availability of image compression algorithms such as JPEG and GIF. This artefact represents the innovation of a unique patent in this field which applied judicially can extort license fees from its photoblog users. Careful not to bite more than you can chew or else other patent holders may come out of the woodwork to claim a share in the pie; standards, prior art and ubiquity be damned.
Catholic Spanish Inquisition Owners: 590	NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Amongst their weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and nice red uniforms... Put your target into the Comfy Chair and have your way with the industry.
Montreal Fortified City Owners: 257	When it was first founded,Montr�al was defended by fortified structures. As early as 1688, the colonial administration urged its inhabitants to build a large number of small forts,houses, fortified mills and redoubts�outworks or fieldworks without flanking defences.The first stockade,made of wood,was erected between 1687 and 1689. Louis XIV gave his consent to build a stone fortification in 1712, and construction began in 1716. The new stone ramparts, built between 1717 and 1738, were a symbol of authority and a guarantee of security, which both had a positive impact on the economy of Montr�al. In 1744, as war loomed, improvements were made. The ramparts were designed according to the rules of fortification, the construction art that takes the topography of the site into account. Since Montr�al is situated on relatively flat land, it was easy to apply the principle of flanking, which requires that all parts of the fortified wall be in the defenders� full view.This strategy was intended to protect the city from the greatest threat to its security: a standard siege from a large military troop pulling small artillery. The 18th-century fortified city formed a dense urban mosaic, dotted with large buildings�many belonging to religious communities�landscaped with great walled gardens, and nearly 400 houses were built during this time of expansion. The fortifications were gradually dismantled between 1804 and 1817 following the adoption of The Act to Demolish the Old Walls and Fortifications Surrounding the City of Montr�al in 1801.
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Sailing America's Cup Owners: 211	In 1848, Queen Victoria authorized the creation of a "One Hundred Guinea Cup" of solid silver (134oz), 27" tall for a yacht race "open to all nations." In 1851 one American boat challenged 16 English ships. The Royal Yacht "Squadron" of Cowes, England was the host. The New York Yacht Club entry was the schooner "America." W.H. Brown, the designer, was so confident of his design that he refused payment if "America" did not win. The oft-quoted remark by the Queen was sparked by a great lead and victory around the Isle of Wight over the 16 other yachts. She asked, "Who is first?" "America" has won, she was told. "Who was second," asked the Queen? The reply still echoes - "Your Majesty, there is no second." In 30 defenses since then, the interplay of national pride, giant egos, wide-ranging brilliant designs, and now modern technology, have kept the cup very much alive. The 132 years of successful defense by the New York Yacht Club remains the longest record in sports history. Sir Thomas Lipton tried for 31 years to win The Cup, commencing in 1899. From schooners, to J-boats, to 12 meters to the current IOAC designs, men's brains, wits, skills and money have been locked in sea-swept combat. [Information courtesy http://www.americascupnews.com/history.htm]
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National News Associated Press Owners: 231	Beginning in the spring of 1846, what eventually became the start of the Associated Press was the pony express delivery of news of the Mexican War to a telegraph in Richmond, Virginia. By the end of summer, most major newspapers across the country were communicating by telegraph to form the Harbor News Association. By the early 1900�s, the AP began using telewire to transmit their stories across the country. In 1933, they began using teletype instead of Morse code, allowing them to transmit stories up to 66 words per minute. In these times, the AP are pushing constant video streams across the internet as well as relaying text, video, and audio stories around the world.
Local News Hometown Station Owners: 313	The Hometown Station is the local or closest regional television to the area you live. The Hometown Station normally airs a primarily locally based news broadcast held morning, mid-day, evening and night. The station covers the news with a local angle, focusing on topics like crime, politics, weather, traffic, restaurant ratings, crime/fraud watch and youth, college and pro sports. They are the place to go for local election results, high school football and footage of the city council debating the latest issues. Sometimes the news on the Hometown Station barely qualifies as journalism and is more lighthearted than a national news broadcast. The Hometown Station fashions themselves as part of the community fabric, sponsoring community events, charity drives and champions local causes while not touching any issues with political implications.
Celebrity Gossip Paparazzi Owners: 590	The hordes of photographers at every movie studio, palatial residence and trendy cafe in the world may be a drag on the celebrity lifestyle - but without them, how would we know what our favorite stars had for lunch on Tuesday?
Indie and Alternative Music NME Owners: 478	�New Musical Express� (better known as the NME) is a weekly music magazine in the UK. Its focus is on guitar-based music and indie rock bands, and it is often credited as the starting point for many successful British bands. It was also responsible for the first UK Singles Chart.
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Country Music Grand Ole Opry Owners: 214	The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly Saturday night country music radio program that is broadcast live on WSM Radio in Nashville, Tennessee. It is also televised and promotes live performances both in Nashville and on the road. The oldest continuing radio program in the United States, the Grand Ole Opry has been broadcast on WSM since November 28, 1925. It started out as the WSM Barn Dance in the new fifth floor radio station studio of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company. The featured performer on the first show was Uncle Jimmy Thompson, a fiddler who was eighty years of age. The announcer was producer George D. Hay, who was known on the air as "The Solemn Old Judge." He was only thirty and was not a judge, but was an enterprising pioneer who launched the Barn Dance as a spin-off of his National Barn Dance program at WLS Radio in Chicago, Illinois. The name Grand Ole Opry came about on December 8, 1928. The Barn Dance followed the Music Appreciation Hour, which consisted of classical music and selections from grand opera. When the program signed off that night and it was time for the WSM Barn Dance to sign on, Judge Hay stepped up to the microphone and said, "For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the 'Grand Ole Opry.'" The name stuck and has been used for the program since then.
Fishing Lepenski Vir Owners: 148	On a high terrace in a narrow plateau on the banks of the Danube, across the river from the trapezoidal Treskavek mountain in what today is eastern Serbia, lies the remains of an ancient settlement composed of a number of related villages. Archaeological digs, started in 1965, have revealed that Lepenski Vir was continually inhabited for more than two millenia, starting about 7000 BCE. Its earliest inhabitants, descendants of an early European hunter gatherer population, numbered fewer than one hundred. Theirs was a fishing community, one of many common to the Danube valley region during the early period of habitation. From fishing settlement, to complex semi-nomadic foraging settlement, to the eventual center of an extended, settled farming community, Lepenski Vir provides a remarkable archaeological record of a human population's transition from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers and culture creators. The layout of the settlement from an early level reveals a well-planned village with houses arranged in a geometric pattern and built with identical floor plans that repeat the trapezoidal shape of the mountain that dominated the landscape. These features are responsible for an architecture distinctly Lepenski Virian. The wooden houses, floored with sandstone, contained a central hearth. Often the remains of a fish-roasting spit were found in the houses, as were altars and sacred objects such as figural sandstone sculptures and miniature stone axes. Unique among the many artifacts of this settlement are its piscine (fish-like) sculptures. Some sculptures are highly geometric; others are strikingly representational, with human heads and faces that have fish-like mouths. On some, various other human features appear -- breasts, arms, beards, hands. Some of these human-fish sculptures are huge and as such are considered to be the first examples of monumental sacral art on the European mainland. Other smaller ones were found in shrines in the houses, suggesting a religious life with river and/or fish deities central to it. Frequently carved into these sculptures is the image of the large whirpool that existed in the Danube in front of the site. In 1971 excavations ended when the entire site was relocated to higher ground to escape being flooded and lost as a result of the creation of an artificial lake in the Iron Gates Gorge.
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Youth Ministry / Youth Worship Lock In Owners: 274	A lock in is the classic youth event where everyone is locked in for the night eating masses of pizza, tons of candy and cokes, with a variety of movies, games, and devotions. A lock in will draw tons of kids and make your youth ministry grow.
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Seattle Rain Owners: 572	While most people associate Seattle with grunge bands, espresso stands on every street corner, or a certain software colossus, Seattle has been long known for its rainfall. In reality, Seattle's annual rainfall is less than that of New York, Chicago or Houston. However, the lingering canopy of clouds and the slow, drippiness of the rain makes it feel like it's more. Especially in winter. It is said that the average Seattle child can differentiate between rain, drizzle, and a rain shower before he or she knows how to read.
Boston Tea Party Owners: 559	The Boston Tea Party was one of the most effective pieces of political theater ever staged. John Adams, no fan of mob action, wrote of the dumping of the tea: "There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire." The Boston Tea Party was a protest of British tax policies. It came in the midst of a boycott of English tea during which the East India Company, which owned the tea, had seen its profits plummet in the wake of a boycott of tea in the colonies. The Tea Party artefact can be used to exert positive or negative pressure on the Market, earning you friends or enemies, depending on how it is used.
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Northern Ireland Bomb Scare Owners: 336	The bomb scare will shut down business for a day or two, snarl up traffic for miles around and cause a wee man from a Bobcat to sweat buckets. Usually a tin of Quality Street with an alarm clock and a few wires hanging out, occasionally it will contain something with a little more ba-ba-boum. Very effective when placed on the train tracks to Newry.
Computer Hardware The Mouse Owners: 370	The first mouse was developed in 1963 by Douglas Engelbert at the Stanford Research Institute. Originally called �bug� by his team, the device quickly gained the name mouse due to early models having the cord attached to the rear part of the device. The earliest mouse had two gear rotating wheels touching the working surface, but later inventions such as the ball & optical mice became extremely popular with business & home users alike leading to it becoming a standard component of any computer system. A mouse can have between one and three buttons, two buttons being standard for a PC and one button mice being shipped with Apple computers until 2005. As well as being a must-have accessory for the modern computer user, it has accessories of it�s own, such as a mouse pad & wrist rests.
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Taipei Snake Alley Owners: 214	One of the biggest attractions for tourists in Taipei has to be the night markets, and arguably the most famous one of all is Huaxi Street, most commonly known as Snake Alley. It is the oldest, and without doubt the most exotic of the popular night markets in Taipei. Here you can find snakes of all kinds being displayed, prepared, and sold for medicinal purposes and as gourmet delicacies. Snake Alley offers lots of entertainment. Snake performers handle cobras and other poisonous snakes right on the sidewalks. Street musicians and other food vendors add to the excitement and high energy level. Snake-skin items are sold next to more traditional tourist items. Take advantage of guided tours offered by Taiwan�s tourism bureau on your next trip to Taipei, or use the Snake Alley artefact here at BlogShares. Wait, what was that sound? Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Gadgets and Gizmos Swiss Army Knife Owners: 640	The swiss army knife is the ultimate gadget. No matter the job required, the right tool is available. This powerful gadget will transform to fit the situation. This weapon can be used for both good and evil. Use it with care.
Star Trek Gene Roddenberry Owners: 353	Star Trek collectively refers to six science fiction television series, ten motion pictures, and hundreds of novels, video games, and other works of fiction all set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry in the early to mid 1960s. It depicts an optimistic future in which humankind has overcome sickness and poverty and warfare on earth; the central characters explore the galaxy, finding new worlds and meeting new civilizations, while helping to spread peace and understanding. Star Trek is one of the most popular names in twentieth century science fiction entertainment.
Elementary Education Elementary School Teacher Owners: 355	Science tells us that a child is most impressionable in elementary school, thus if you have the teacher in your control you can imprint anything you want on the poor, unsuspecting kids. Use wisely though, if parents get wind of fowl play they can raise a real stink.
Yoga Tadasana Mountain Owners: 210	Yoga is an ancient Indian practice that dates back to 2500 BCE, possibly even earlier. It is a scientific system designed to bring the practitioners health, happiness, and a greater sense of Self. In Yoga, the body and mind are linked to create a state of internal peacefulness and integration. At the practical level, and included in the contemporary definitions of Yoga, are the actual physiological/mental techniques themselves. These techniques concentrate on posture and alignment, as well as creating a higher consciousness. Yoga utilizes stretching postures, breathing, and meditation techniques to calm the emotional state and the mind, and tone the body. The Tadasana Mountain pose is one of the first poses taught to a student in Yoga.
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Switzerland Direct Democracy Owners: 245	The land-locked alpine country of Switzerland features a system of government which makes it unique in the world: direct democracy. This system is not currently used on a national level in any other country, though it is employed on a local and state level in several other countries and was first experimented with in the ancient Athenian repblic from around 508BC. Under Swiss direct democracy, any law passed by parliament may be challenged by any citizen, provided he or she can collect 50,000 signatures for a petition against the law in question. Whenever such a petition is presented, a national vote must be scheduled, in which all registered voters may decide, by simple majority, whether the law should be accepted of rejected. In addition, the Swiss system of direct democracy provides for any citizen to seek an amendement to the constitution. This requires 100,000 signatures and is known as a "popular initiative." Popular initiatives are also decided in a national vote. In such cases, a double majority is required: the amendment must achieve a simple majority of popular votes, as well as a simple majority in over half of the states, or cantons. Over the past 120 years, there have been more than 240 such popular initatives put to the vote in Switzerland.
Venezuela Angel Falls Owners: 283	Rising majestically out of the wilderness of Venezuela�s Gran Sabana region, the tepuis (table-top mountains) are considered by the indigenous Pemon people to be the homes of gods or spirits. One of these mountains, called Auyan-Tepui (Devil Mountain) by the Pemon, is the home of Angel Falls, the world highest waterfall at 979 m (3,212 ft), making it over 19 times higher than Niagara Falls. The longest uninterrupted drop is 807 m (2,648 ft) down the sheer face of the tepui. Known to the Pemon as Parekupa-meru, Angel Falls was unknown in the western world until a flight mishap by American pilot Jimmie Angel in 1937, who bogged down his plane after landing on Auyan-Tepui. Angel was driven by the urge to confirm sighting of the �mile-high� waterfall he�d believed he had seen in 1933 during a flight to find gold ore. It took his three-person party 11 days to climb down the mountain and make their way to the mission in Kamarata. Even now, a trip to the falls is a non-trivial undertaking and visitors have no guarantee of being able to see the falls through the fog. Angel was not the first to �discover� the falls. Credit for that is given to Venezuelan explorer Ernesto Sanchez La Cruz who in visited it in 1910.
Cookies Toll House Inn Owners: 200	The Toll House Inn, located on the outskirts of Whitman, Massachusetts, was the birthplace of the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie. The cookie was a happy accident of one Ruth Graves Wakefield, owner of the Inn. In 1937, Wakefield was baking chocolate cookies but ran out of regular bakers' chocolate. She is said to have substituted broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate, believing they would melt in the batter when the cookies were baked. However, the chocolate pieces did not totally melt, and instead remained nuggets of chocolate within the cookies. The cookies are often referred to as Toll House Cookies, the name used by the Nestle company for the recipe printed on the back of every bag of chocolate chips they sell. The Toll House Inn itself was destroyed by fire in 1984.
Atlanta Gone With The Wind Owners: 357	Atlanta is a city where old meets new. Over 150 years ago, the land belonged to Creek and Cherokee Indians, and many of those names populate the city today. And, of course, everyone remembers Sherman's march to the sea, even if it is from "Gone with the Wind", leaving 400 of the original structures in the city. Today, it is a metropolitan city with the nation's busiest airport, every street is named "Peachtree something", and it's hard to find a true Atlanta native living in the city.
Funny Pictures Dogs Playing Poker Owners: 428	Along with Elvis painted on black velvet, "Dogs Playing Poker" has become the quintessential kitsch item in American art. And unlike "Velvet Elvis" the viewer is likely to actually laugh at the content of the picture instead of just how tacky it is. The original painitngs were done by C. M. Coolidge in 1903 as part of an advertising campaign. The series showed dogs acting like humans, with 9 of the 16 paintings featuring dogs playing poker and smoking cigars. Since this time there have been numerous copies, as well as other pieces of art inspired by the concept. The pictures are now found in dens and pool rooms around the world. The originals have become valuable pices of Americana, with two selling for almost $600,000 in 2005.
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Milan (Italy) Il Duomo Owners: 283	Not only did the incredible Il Duomo di Milano cathedral take more than 500 years to build, it is also the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and boasts Europe's largest sundial. Started in 1386 and finished in 1887, the marble building dominates Milan's central square. The prosperity of Lombardy's capital can be read in the cathedral's size as well as in its immensely detailed and florid workmanship. Looking at a map of Milan, you can see that Milan's city streets follow a spider web pattern with the Duomo being the center point. All roads either run towards or around the great cathedral. When searching for an address, it is always helpful to know where the Duomo is in relation to the street, the lower street addresses are always at the end closest to the Duomo. Features include Perego's Madonnina, which rests on top of the highest spire of the cathedral and has done so since 1744; the neoclassical central bronze doors designed in 1906 by Lodovico Pogliaghi, and the duomo's most holy relic - a nail from Christ's cross, housed inside a large crucifix which hangs suspended above the chancel. Once a year, on the Feast of the Cross, it is the focus for an extraordinary ceremony.
Rome (Italy) The Colosseum Owners: 193	One of the most recognizable icons of the Roman Empire, the Colosseum was built in the center of Rome between 72 and 80 A.D. Construction was begun under the Emperor Vespasian and completed under the rule of Titus. It was used for traditional gladiatorial games and other public spectacles for approximately 500 years. The amphitheater derives its name from a "colossal" bronze statue of Nero that was built nearby on land Emperor Nero had seized for his personal use. Emperor Vespasian built it there as a way of returning the land to the people of Rome. In 1349, an earthquake caused much of the south side of the structure to collapse, damage that was never repaired. But despite the interior being in too poor a condition to host any type of spectacle, the Colosseum remains one of the most popular tourist attractions within the city and its name has become synonymous with any large amphitheater or stadium. In July of 2007, the Colosseum was voted as one of the "new" Seven Wonders of the World.
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Copyright DMCA Owners: 535	The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and its progeny are the prison put to fool your mind by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). DMCA is the ultimate slap in the face of free speech and the death of fair use. In the hands of the unscrupulous BlogShares tycoon it can be used to launch a series of Cease and Desist letters to prevent your competition from emulating your ideas, sharing your media (think of the artists!) or exposing the ridiculous security flaws in your software. Well done, young apprentice, your journey to the Dark Side is complete..
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Photography Art Lomography Owners: 627	Lomography is, at first glance, a bit like good old photography, but it is actually something else, something completely different. It requires uncompromising and relentless snapshots of everyday insanity by lomographers using their Lomos. These are taken from the hip, over their heads, through legs, from the floor, upside down, facing backwards, etc... The images might turn out to be great but you never know.
Kayaking Paddle Owners: 168	The paddle is a device used to propel the kayak through the water. It is usually made of fiberglass, carbon fiber, or wood. While most kayakers use the standard two bladed paddle, there are some that use a single one bladed paddle, similar to what you would paddle a canoe with. This class of kayaking is considered "C1", and the kayaker sits on his knees...again, similar to canoeing. A paddle is essential to kayaking. Without it, you would not get very far. Disclaimer: If you don't know what a paddle is, don't buy a kayak.
Telecommunications Synchronous Telegraph Owners: 304	Claude and Ignace Chappe spent the winter of 1790-1791 experimenting with telegraph designs, and in the spring of 1791 they were ready for a demonstration of the telegraph they had constructed. The pedulum system is known in telecommunications circles as the Synchronous Telegraph. Although the initial design notes have been lost, it is likely that two modified pedulum clocks were used. The first was placed on a terrace in Br�lon, and the other at the window of a private house in Parc�. The distance between the two pendulums was approximately 16 km (10 miles). Ignace described the experiment: "The first telegraphic correspondence that we performed was done with two pendulum clocks, that were kept in perfect synchrony; the face of the clocks was divided into ten parts, each part designating a different numeral [French: un chiffre de la num�ration ordinaire]. When the pointer of one clock passed over the number one wanted to indicate, a sound was made, announcing to the correspondent that the number which also his pointer indicated at the moment that the sound was heard, was significant. By representing the words in a dictionary with successive numbers one could thus transmit any thought. ..." Reference: The Early History of Data Networks, Gerard J. Holzmann, Bj�rn Pehrson
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Free Software Free Beer Owners: 366	When Richard Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation, he found he had to explain the free part of the software so he coined the phrase "it's free as in speech, not free as in beer".
Disc Jockey / DJing Vinyl Record Owners: 141	Though the general public has stopped buying records as a main source of music, a true DJ has a collection of records piled to the ceiling. While the more professional �day time� DJ has been using CDs and computers to keep the music flowing, the professional �night time� DJ will have a set of turn tables and a crate of records at bay while he attempts to master his craft. Vinyl records were the norm for recording music beginning in the early 1900's, but was slowly phased out when the Compact Disc came around in the 80's. They are now made out of polyvinyl chloride and have a variety of speeds and sizes.
Waiter/Waitress The Tip Owners: 301	Tipping customs differ worldwide from country to country. In some countries, tipping is not done in restaurants except in the case of outstanding service, while in countries where tipping is the norm, the size of the tip as a percentage of the bill varies. In some countries, restaurant workers other than the wait staff receive the tip and some restaurants have policies of sharing received tips between most or all of the restaurant staff. Tips or gratuities are also offered to service providers in many different fields. The majority of tips, both in terms of dollar amount and in terms of annual number of tips per year, go to a single service provider: the restaurant waiter or waitress. Studies of tipping are nearly always primarily based on tipping of wait staff in restaurants for this reason. Waiters and waitresses rely heavily on income from tips, since their jobs usually factor them in to the salary. Often the restaurant wages themselves are at or near minimum wage, sometimes even falling below minimum wage without tips factored in. In many cases, the tip income a wait person receives during a shift is the determining factor in whether he or she can pay the bills that month or not. Studies show that while there is a positive relationship between quality of service and size of tip, it constitutes a small percentage of the total amount of the tip. Also, customers who are likely to be one time customers do not tip significantly less than repeat customers do. While most people identify quality of service received as the best explanation for their tipping, tips are more likely to be based on societal and cultural customs than quality of service. The size of a tip is also positively correlated with actions by the wait person which are not service related but serve to increase the quality of interpersonal contact (and possibly perceived friendliness). Examples include: introducing oneself to the customer, squatting beside the table while taking the order and touching the customer's hand or shoulder when returning their change. While some people believe that the word tips in English is an acronym which stands for "to insure prompt service" (or something similar), this is not the case. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a reference of the verb tip in this meaning as early as 1610 and a reference to the noun tips as early as the mid 1700s; the first reference for the word acronym is not until the mid 1900s.
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Internet Radio SHOUTcast Owners: 276	SHOUTcast is free audio broadcasting software. It allows anybody to broadcast music and voice from their PC to Internet listeners around the world. SHOUTcast uses MPEG Layer 3 (otherwise known as MP3) to broadcast. It can be used for live, or archived audio broadcasts. SHOUTcast was created by nullsoft, creators of the well-known Winamp media player.
Singapore Merlion Owners: 627	Singapura, from the Sanskrit, means 'Lion City'. Founded as a modern port in 1819 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, this South-East Asian city-state's symbol is the Merlion - a beast with the upper body of a lion and the lower body of a fish, thus marrying economic courage with mercantile prowess. Apart from China, Singapore is the only UN-represented state with a majority Chinese population; yet, its main language of education, administration and commerce is English.
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Celtic Languages The Hallstatt Culture Owners: 95	While the origin of the Celtic languages is still very much open to debate among scholars, due mainly to the lack of writing samples from very early civilizations, one of the key ancestors of Celtic languages was likely the Hallstatt Culture. Existing in the Bronze and Iron Ages, the Hallstatt Culture was located in France, Switzerland, Bavaria, Bohemia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and elsewhere in Europe. Along with the Urnfield Culture and La T�ne Culture, the Hallstatt Culture likely laid the foundation for more modern Celtic languages that eventually developed into the more well known Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Manx, and Irish.
Chinese The Han Owners: 593	The Han are the largest ethnic group in China. The name comes from The Han Dynasty is credit with unifying what is now considered China. The process began with the defeat of the Qin Dynasty in 206 B.C.. The Han lead an overthrow of the Qin due to what was perceived as a tyrannical and legalistic society. The unification of most of modern day China was completed during the reign of Wu Ti, from 141 to 87 B.C. Today, although the various Chinese dialects are truly better defined as different languages, they are still referred to as Han languages to differentiate from the numerous foreign languages spoken in various parts of the nation.
Wind Power Small Wind Turbine Owners: 85	Like its larger cousin, the small wind turbine is used to produce electrical power, but for a small single family, farm, or business. Small wind turbines usually have a power ranking of less than 100 kW, though they can have a higher power production capability. The small wind turbine is the perfect green solution to providing modern day conveniences to rural communities and remote areas where hooking up to the grid are impractical, or cost prohibitive.
Working Rat Race Owners: 438	If one works, one is "in the rat race". "Rat Race" is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape whilst running around a maze or in a wheel. Many people see work as an seemingly endless persuit with little reward or purpose, and hence always try to escape the Rat Race. Put the teeming masses to work for you in your own endless pursuit.
Objectivism Atlas Shrugged Owners: 344	Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Russian-born writer and philosopher Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the USA, and Rand's last work of fiction before concentrating her writings exclusively on philosophy. Along with The Fountainhead, it is one of her two most famous novels, it is considered her tour de force, and many Objectivists hold it to be the greatest novel of all time. Its theme (as stated by Rand) is "the importance of the individual's reasoning mind in human life."
Memoir / Autobiographical Malcolm X Owners: 390	Although written by Alex Haley (based on extensive interviews with his subject) The Autobiography of Malcolm X has become on of the most famous - and contentious - autobiographies of all time. In 1999, Time Magazine called it one of the ten most important works of non-fiction in the 20th century. Toward the end of his autobiography, Malcom X states: "I know that societies often have killed the people who have helped to change those societies. And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help to destroy the racist cancer that is malignant in the body of America - then, all of the credit is due to Allah. Only the mistakes have been mine."
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Fiscal Conservatism Supply Side Economics Owners: 211	Supply Side Economics states that the economy grows best when taxes are low because business has more money to spend, thus having higher production, the need for more employees, and more money churning through the economy. Supply side economics is often attacked as nothing more than a tax break to the rich as the tax reductions often favor those at the higher end of the economic strata.
Theology Commentary Owners: 598	Commentaries are books written by scholars that theologians read and learn from as well as dialogue with. Acquiring commentaries will increase theology.
Libraries Andrew Carnegie Owners: 508	Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland but known primarily as an American industrialist. He first began his building of libraries with a library built in the town of his birth, Dunfermline, Scotland in 1881. He continued by building libraries for his employees in Pennsylvania and then embarked on his philanthropic library scheme. Carnegie was a canny Scotsman and required communities to contribute monies for upkeep of the library buildings, pay utilities and supplement the collections. The Carnegie libraries were established in large and small communities scattered across the globe in the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Australia and Tasmania, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Fiji. A Carnegie Library became the first library in BlogShares' home town of Santa Cruz, California.
Human Rights Amnesty International Owners: 433	Amnesty International (AI) is a global organization of people who campaign for the universal recognition of human rights. It was founded in 1961 by Peter Beneson and Eric Baker, and within a year had chapters throughout northern Europe, north America, and Australia. Today, AI has subscribers in over 150 countries and territories around the world, totaling almost 2 million people. At first, AI focused on the release of political prisoners, especially those who worked non-violently. But their efforts soon expanded to include abolishing all human rights abuses, including genital mutilation, torture, and political executions.
Marathon Pheidippides Owners: 234	The marathon race commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Pheidippides collapsed and died at the end of his historic run, thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the marathon. While marathons were originally 24.7 miles long, the marathon distance was changed to 26 miles to cover the ground from Windsor Castle to White City stadium, with 385 yards added on so the race could finish in front of King Edward VII's royal box. After 16 years of extremely heated discussion, this 26.2 mile distance was established at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as the official marathon distance.
Altermondialism ATTAC Owners: 133	The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l'Aide aux Citoyens (ATTAC) supports globalisation that is both sustainable and socially just. ATTAC supports fair trade - as opposed to "free" trade" - as well as social security and universal health care. Will use you this artefact to ATTAC or attack?
Urdu Ghazal Owners: 151	The ghazal came to India with the advent and extension of the Muslim influence from the 12th century onwards. The Moghuls brought along with them Iranian culture and civilization, including Iranian poetry and literature. When Persian gave way to Urdu as the language of poetry and culture in India, the ghazal, the fruit of Indo-Iranian culture, found its opportunity to grow and develop. Although the ghazal is said to have begun with Amir Khusro (1253-1325) in Northern India, Deccan in the South was its real home in the early stages. It was nursed and trained in the courts of Golconda and Bijapur under the patronage of Muslim rulers. Mohd. Quli Qutab Shah, Wajhi, Hashmi, Nusrati and Wali may be counted among its pioneers. Of these, Wali Deccany (1667-1707) may be called the Chaucer of Urdu poetry. Wali's visit to Delhi made in 1700 acquires a historic significance. This visit was instrumental in synthesizing the poetic streams of the South and the North. Wali's poetry awakened the minds of the Persian-loving North to the beauty and richness of Urdu language, and introduced them to the true flavor of ghazal, thus encouraging its rapid growth and popularity.
Unitarian Universalism Flaming Chalice Owners: 225	A flaming chalice is the most widely used symbol of Unitarian Universalism and the official logo of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The chalice symbol is often shown surrounded by two linked rings. The two linked rings was used to symbolize the joining of Unitarianism and Universalism. Because UU's rarely agree on anything, no one meaning or interpretation is official. In one interpretation, the chalice is a symbol of religion freed from the impositions of doctrine by a hierarchy and open to participation by all; the flame is interpreted as a memorial to those throughout history who sacrificed their lives for the cause of religious liberty. In another interpretation, the flaming chalice resembles a cross, symbolic of the Christian roots of Unitarian Universalism. Regardless of what people feel it may or may not represent, the flaming chalice stands open to receive new truths that pass the tests of reason, justice, and compassion.
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Indonesia Wayang Owners: 458	Wayang is the Indonesian term for puppet, and the term refers to any and all of the numerous varieties of puppetry found in the archipelago. "Wayang", the Javanese word for puppet, also connotes "spirit." Performances are typically accompanied by gamelan music. Even before Hinduism came to Indonesia, the original inhabitants of Indonesia already had puppet plays, heavily bound up with their traditional beliefs about the spirits of their ancestors. According to their animist beliefs, ancestors' spirits could affect the lives of the living, either as protectors or to do harm. The adherents of these beliefs performed rituals and ceremonies in the form of puppet plays to ask their ancestors for assistance. The figures in these puppet plays were wayang golek (stick puppets with a head assembly connected by a straight stick to a trunk which allowed the head to swivel and with arms attached to a separate staff, allowing hand motions). They were carved, painted and dressed figures, manipulated via threads or strings. Hinduism and Islam have changed traditional Wayang, but in the non-Islamic parts of Indonesia, one can still find wayang golek performances, though the stories are based in Hinduism and not in indigenous Indonesian culture. In modern Indonesia, the Wayang remain a beloved entertainment, second only to televised football (soccer) matches.
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Progressive Jane Addams Owners: 675	Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 - May 21, 1935) was an American social worker and reformer. Born in Cedarville, Illinois, she was educated in the U.S. and Europe. In 1889 she co-founded (with Ellen Gates Starr) Hull House in Chicago, which was one of the first settlement houses in the United States. Influenced by Toynbee Hall in the East End of London (founded by Samuel Barnett in 1884), settlement houses like Hull House were a type of welfare house for the neighborhood poor and a center for social reform. She was a member of the American Anti-Imperialist League, and a founder of both the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP. In 1911 Addams also helped found the National Foundation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, and she was its first president. She was also a leader in women's suffrage and pacifist movements. She received the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize (shared with American educator Nicholas Murray Butler). The Hull House could boast a group of about 2,000 people a week. It had facilities including: a night school for adults, kindergarten classes, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a coffeehouse, a gymnasium, a girls club, a swimming pool, a book bindery, a music school, a drama group, a library, and labor related divisions.
Chemistry Periodic Table Owners: 229	In 1869, a Russian chemist named Dmitri Mendeleev came up with a way of organizing the elements that were known at the time. He set them out in order of atomic weight, and then grouped them into rows and columns based on their chemical and physical properties. Mendeleev had no idea what atoms were made of or why they behaved as they did. Nevertheless, he was able to put together the periodic table almost as we know it today--except that some elements were missing, because they were unknown in 1869. Based on the gaps in his table, Mendeleev even succeeded in predicting the existence and properties of several new elements. The basic rule of the Period Table is that elements in any column, or group, of the table are similar to their column-mates. For example, the first column on the left, underneath hydrogen (H) are called the alkali metals; they're all soft metals that react violently with water to make hydrogen gas. The Periodic Table has been an invaluable tool in the development of Chemistry.
Danish Ballad Owners: 252	The fairy-tale-like ballads of magic and the novel-like ballads of chivalry constituting the major part of the ballads that have been handed down to us, often have a considerable literary value through their sharply defined and genuinely tragic conflicts or their boisterous humour, and through the emotive refrains with which they are all provided. In an international context the Danish ballad tradition is remarkable for its relatively homogeneous character, its very early redactions and finally because Denmark is the country that can boast of the oldest printed editions of the ballads (Anders S�rensen Vedel's Hundredvisebog (Book of a Hundred Ballads) 1591, Mette Gj�e's Tragica 1657 and Peder Syv's edition of 1695. These printed editions have kept the ballads alive in an oral - and later written - tradition until far into the 19th century. When the ballads were rediscovered by the Romantics they exerted an enormous influence on the poetical language throughout the 19th century and inspired a host of imitations and re-creations. And from that time the ballads were an essential element in the Danish literary identity.
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Tai Chi Chen Wanting Owners: 121	Chen Wanting of Chenjiagou village Wen County is accredited as the founder of T’ai Chi Ch’uan’s fundamental document known as the Song of the Canon of Pugilism. Chen’s work included the compilation of Qi Jiguang's(1528-1587) techniques of 16 popular martial schools of the time. Chen's document outlined a clear exposition of the working principles of Chen style Taijiquan. Chen described a large variety of subtle and varied energetic exercises to promote spirited health and powerful boxing skills. After Five generations the Chen family style was passed on by Chen Chanxing (1771-1853) who taught Yang Luchan (1779-1872) of the Yongnian County, Hebi province. Yang Luchan became highly skilled and developed a new school of T’ai Chi Ch’uan commonly known as Yang style, The Yang School flourished. Later the Zhaoboa style of the Chen school developed by Chen Qing-ping was modified into the Wu School. Later the Sun Lu Tang started the Sun school.
Indonesian Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan Owners: 444	Indonesia has a language called Bahasa Indonesia. Bahasa means language, so the language name is "Bahasa Indonesia", not just "Bahasa". Bahasa Indonesia has roots from Malay and any language distributed on so many islands in Indonesia. In 1928 young people declared "Sumpah Pemuda" on Youth Congress II on October 28th, 1928. Sumpah Pemuda means an oath from youth people struggling for independence from Dutch-Indies colonizations. This oath has three points: One Homeland: Indonesia, One Nation: Indonesia, and One Language: Bahasa Indonesia. After independence was declared by Soekarno and Hatta Bahasa Indonesia was applied as nation language on the preamble Undang Undang Dasar 1945. The first revision is known as Ejaan Van Ophuysen. Bahasa Indonesian has a guidebook called "Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan" which was released in 1972 and is still used today. This Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan (EYD) regulates the characters used (Latin), phonetics, vocabularies, structures, grammar, acronyms, idioms and any other rules for assimilating new words into Indonesian. The main dictionaries used are Kamus Umum Bahasa Indonesia (KUBI) and Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI). The third revision for Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan is an ongoing project in Lembaga Bahasa (a government body).
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Oddly Enough Man Bites Dog Owners: 591	We are naturally curious about the unusual. The more unusual, the more interesting. Perhaps this is a product of our evolution where surprises - events that stand out in sharp contrast to the ordinary - are often threatening. We need to notice the wolf among the sheep because while the sheep are not threatening, the wolf may be. Things and events that are unusual stand-out against a background formed of the ordinary and the usual. They attract our attention. Anomaly is thus an attractor, perhaps the attractor, for consciousness. The greater the anomaly the greater the attraction. Thus the greatest anomaly in the world having the highest contrast with the ordinary will be the most effective attractor of our consciousness.
Tabloid Junk Food News Owners: 480	Junk food news refers to news stories that sensationalize, personalize or homogenize relatively inconsequential trivia in the mass media. The term "junk food news" suggests an unflattering similarity between the quality of some �news� stories and junk food (poor quality food stuffs). The term was first used in print by Carl Jenson in the March 1983 edition of Penthouse. Typically, "junk food news" can be said to fall into one or more of these categories: � Brand name news (Stories about brand-name products, such as "New Coke") � Sexual titillation (Celebrity pregnancies, unusual sexual affairs and crimes) � 'Yo-yo news' (statistics that change daily, such as stock market numbers and movie box office totals) � Showbusiness news (box office opening news) � Latest craze news (Brief fads such as Furby, Pok�mon, Segway) � Celebrity news (Celebrity gossip) � Anniversary news (Anniversary of a major event or celebrity death) � Sports news (sports rumours and gossip) � Political junk news
New Zealand Kiwi Owners: 519	The "kiwi" is a flightless bird native to New Zealand. (New Zealanders also like to call themselves "Kiwis".) The kiwi (bird) is unusual in at least two respects. First, it is the only bird in the world that has its nostrils at the end of its beak. Second, the female kiwi has the largest egg, in proportion to its body size, of any bird in the world (except possibly for the hummingbird). Kiwis are about the same size as chickens, but their eggs are almost as big as those of ostriches! The "kiwi" is not to be confused with "kiwifruit" - the brown furry fruit with the green flesh. Kiwifruit come originally from China, and in fact were originally called "Chinese gooseberries". Sometime in the 1960s, kiwifruit farmers in New Zealand decided to market the fruit overseas, but decided to give them another name, to avoid confusion. To help identify the fruit with New Zealand, the name "kiwifruit" was chosen. Some people refer to kiwifruit as "kiwis", but this is incorrect. New Zealanders also find this very irritating! A "kiwi" is a bird (or a human New Zealander); the fruit should always be called "kiwifruit" (or "Chinese gooseberries").
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Anime Hayao Miyazaki Owners: 285	Hayao Miyazaki (b.1941) is the creator of many popular anime feature films, as well as some manga. He was largely unknown in the West outside of animation circles until Miramax released his award-winning film Princess Mononoke in 1999. Miyazaki's Spirited Away is the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan and Princess Mononoke held the same title for a short period as well. Miyazaki's success has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney. However, Miyazaki does not see himself as a person building an animation empire, but as an animator lucky enough to have been allowed to make films with his own personal touch. Some consider him the Don Bluth of Japan.
Manga Osamu Tezuka Owners: 291	Dr. Osamu Tezuka (1928 - 1989) was the Japanese manga artist and animator whose prolific output and pioneering techniques earned him the names "the father of manga" and "the god of manga." He is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, which came to the US in the form of an animated TV show in 1963. He created hundreds of manga after Astro Boy: in fact, his complete ouevre includes over 700 mangas in about 170,000 pages. His influence cannot be overestimated. It is well-known that many of the yet-to-flourish young manga artists once lived in the apartment where Tezuka lived. In 1994 the city of Takarazuka, where Tezuka grew up, opened a museum in his memory and in 1997, stamps were issued in his honor.
Marvel Jack "King" Kirby Owners: 338	Jack "King" Kirby, the great American comic book and comic strip artist, writer and editor was born in New York City on 28 August, 1917. In 1961, Kirby teamed up with Stan Lee and created the 'Fantastic Four' for the Marvel Comics Group. Kirby, Lee and Marvel rose to the top of the industry and many claim they completely revamped the comic book world. After a disagreement with Lee, Kirby left Marvel in 1970 to return to National Comics as a writer/editor/artist, where he created nearly a dozen titles, but none were as successful as his Marvel work. Throughout his career, Jack Kirby was distinguished by his energetic and forceful compositions, and by the respect accorded to him by both mainstream and independent cartoonists.
Dark Horse Concrete Owners: 103	The foundation of Dark Horse Comics� success was built on Concrete. Paul Chadwick�s tales of a man whose brain was transplanted into a stone body by aliens was met with critical acclaim, earning Concrete an unprecedented 26 awards and nominations during just the first two years of its run. Originally appearing in the company�s first publication, the anthology Dark Horse Comics Presents, the Concrete character quickly gained in popularity and became a regular cover feature for much of the first few years of that title. Within a few months of appearing in Dark Horse Comics Presents #1 in 1986, Concrete was spun out into a title of his own. The success of Concrete for the fledgling company helped to pave the way for other popular titles, notably Frank Miller�s Sin City.
DC Comics Kryptonite Owners: 317	The glowing green substance that robs the most powerful man in the world of his powers, Kryptonite is the most valuable substance in the world of DC Comics for very obvious reasons.
Iceland Geyser Owners: 241	A geyser is a type of hot spring which erupts periodically to form a column of hot water and steam that can rise up to several hundred feet. The word geyser is derived form the Icelandic word Geysir meaning 'to gush' as well as being the name of the most famous Geyser in Iceland. This natural geothermic phenomenon is quite rare in nature because of the combination of factors that are required for its existence. For geysers to form there must be an abundant supply of water, an intense source of heat, and a unique plumbing system. Apart from being rare they are also very sensitive to human carelessness, in fact the Geysir in Iceland stopped erupting after people used to throw litter in it to watch it raise. Fortunately in 2000 after an earthquake, the Geysir started erupting again restoring Iceland natural landmark.
Romance Rose and Candle Owners: 247	The rose and candle symbolize the essence of romance, namely the sensual elegance of time spent with the one most dear. Romance takes many forms, from expensive dinners followed by a Shakespearian play, to TV dinners followed by a favorite movie. No two couples hold the same opinion of the ultimate romantic event, but the rose and candle are symbols every couple understands implicitly. Together, the rose and candle symbolize the light and love that hold romantics together.
Haiku Matsuo Basho Owners: 259	Matsuo Basho was the pen name of a Japanese poet widely credited with raising the haiku poetry form to its highest level. Basho took haiku from a more comic verse, written for light relief, to a serious form imbued with the spirit of Zen Buddhism. He wrote his last haiku on his deathbed in 1694: Travelling, sick / My dreams roam / On a withered moor.
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Swedish Pippi L�ngstrump Owners: 109	Pippi L�ngstrump (Pippi Longstocking) is one of the most beloved Swedish children's book characters. Created by Astrid Lindgren, Pippi is still today one of the most well-known children's book characters around the world. Known for her rebellious ways and fierce independence she often went out on adventures with her two friends, Annika and Tommy. Pippi lives alone in a house called Villa Villekulla. Her father, Efraim, a sea-faring captain, bought the Villa for Pippi. She owns a monkey named Herr Nilsson and a horse. Both animals live in the Villa with her. Pippi is very strong. She can pick up her horse and hold it above her head with one hand!
Illustration Arthur Rackham Owners: 169	Arthur Rackham is perhaps best known not by name but for his fantastical illustrations of editions of such works as �Alice in Wonderland,� �A Midsummer Night�s Dream,� and �Fairy Tales,� by the Brothers Grimm. Rackham was born in England in 1867. His family did move to Australia briefly in 1884, due to Arthur�s poor health, and one of his earliest watercolors was painted while he was there. He enrolled at the Lambeth School of Art when he returned to London, and worked as a clerk to help pay the tuition; Rackham eventually left his position in order to pursue a career as an illustrator. His first magazine illustrations were black and white, and fairly unremarkable, giving no hint of his later unique style. One of his first major works was �Fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm� in 1900, but most biographers agree that his illustrations in �Rip Van Winkle� (1905) and �Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens� (1906) established him as a major force in his new career. Rackham made skillful use of the new three-color photomechanical line block process, which was replacing wood engraving in the early twentieth century. He also kept his sense of wonder and Victorian sensibilities throughout his career. Sinuous lines, muted water colors, animated trees and animals, hidden images in the background, charming fairies and ugly but not overly frightening ogres and trolls continue to enchant and delight even today. While Rackham is well known for illustrating children�s books, he also illustrated books for grownups, such as Wagner�s Der Ring des Nibelungen and works by Edgar Allen Poe. Rackham died at home in 1939; his final work, an edition of Wind in the Willows, was published posthumously in 1940.
Peru Machu Picchu Owners: 213	In "The Heights of Machu Picchu", Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote: "Machu Picchu is a trip to the serenity of the soul, to eternal fusion with the cosmos, there we feel our own fragility. It is one of the greatest marvels of South America. A resting place of butterflies at the epicenter of the great circle of life. One more miracle." Sometimes called "The Lost City of the Incas", the fortress city of Machu Picchu is simply breathtaking. Machu Picchu, which means Old Peak in the Quechua language of the Incans, is set between two peaks about 50 miles NW of Cuzco, Peru. This pre-Columbian ruin is 5 square miles of terraced stonework linked by 3,000 steps. It is believed that Machu Picchu was built between 1460 and 1470 AD by Incan ruler Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui. The city has an altitude of 8,000 feet, and is high above the Urubamba River canyon cloud forest. The city contains approximately 200 buildings, including residences, temples, storage structures and other public buildings. It has polygonal masonry, characteristic of the late Inca period. At the height of the Incan empire, about 1,200 people lived in and around Machu Picchu. It was mysteriously abandoned just before the Spanish conquest, and remained hidden until its rediscovery. Forgotten for centuries, it was virtually intact when discovered by Yale archeologist and historian Hiram Bingham in 1911.
Fantasy Literature The Hero Owners: 313	The Hero is the central character of a fantasy novel, he (or she) is the individual that the reader is drawn to, circumstances and events are viewed from within his moral compass. Typically young and often portrayed as an underdog, The Hero is someone who fights on for the good of others despite personal risk and regardless of the odds on success. The attraction of the Hero is in our own ability to identify and empathise with the emotional struggles they go through. For a time we can leave our own surroundings and allow the world of the hero to become our own, struggling against monumental problems, overcoming extreme odds, and holding hope as a flaming brand before us. The defining fantasy work was written in the hand of J.R.R. Tolkien when he published <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> in 1953, painting such memorable characters as Frodo and Sam who truly shine as The Heroes we are all called to be.
Book Clubs Reading Group Guides Owners: 76	Once the exclusive province of students, Reading Group Guides are now essential tools for book clubs. Designed to provide enlightenment and to facilitate conversation, a reading group guide generally contains a summary of the book, background on the author, a list of discussion questions, and other supplemental material. With a reading group guide in hand, you can be sure of a lively discussion when your group meets!
Hedonism None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Accessibility None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Useability Section 508 Owners: 49	508 Compliance (Section 508 is an Amendment to the US Rehabilitation Act of 1973) is a term used to describe a set of standards that allow disabled people proper usability of computer software. The policy outlines how to allow impaired people access to media and graphical aspects of software that they previously were not able to see or hear. As an example, web pages should have certain features that can be read by screen readers or Braille display tools that help impaired users access the site. Videos or multimedia should have captions or transcripts coded with the files. As another example, you cannot use an image where the words on the image say 'Click Here' to successfully navigate the site. Private web sites are not required to follow these standards, but government funded software must comply with all the regulations of Section 508.
Water Sports None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Australian Rules Football None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Gaelic Football None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Football Goal Owners: 472	Football, no matter which sort, involves a ball, the ball being moved to one end or the other of a defined area, and a goal being made. In the variations on this theme the ball may be kicked, carried, or passed from one player to another either on the ground or in the air, but move toward a goal it must.
Rugby League None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Bartender Sam Malone Owners: 77	Played by Ted Danson for eleven seasons, Sam Malone was America�s favorite bartender. It�s said that had it not been for alcoholism, Sam would have spent his life pitching for the Boston Red Sox. He purchased Cheers while off the wagon, but decided to keep it once he�d cleaned up his act. Throughout the show, we see Sam deal with situations we endure every day, from falling off the wagon to an off-and-on relationship that breaks your heart. Regardless of the drama that surrounds him, Sam faithfully returns behind the bar each day to lend an ear to the friends on the other side. After a long, hard day�s work, there�s nothing like sitting down at the bar and grabbing a nice cold beer � especially when it�s in the place where everyone knows your name.
Python None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Creative Writing Muses' Crown Owners: 605	Oh to be able to wear the crown of inventiveness and inspiration. Truly the muse is with you when you wear it, as the crown is renowned for its ability to make the storytelling flow.
ColdFusion None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Rugby Union None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Polish None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Norwegian None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Scotland Scotch Whiskey Owners: 376	Scotch whiskey is famous through out the world for being one of, if not the finest types of whiskey around. Scotch is distilled from barley, either malted or unmalted. It is then left to age in wooden barrels, normally oak, for years, 24 years is not unusual. The barrels are normally used beforehand to age American bourbon. The storage in these oak barrels is what gives the whiskey its distinguishing flavour and colour. Whiskies can be single or come in a blend. Single strain whiskies are generally considered more up market as they are 100% pure aged whisky while a blend will generally have a mixture of aged and un-aged whiskey in it. The word whiskey comes from the ancient Gaelic expression, <i>uisce</i>, meaning <i>Water of Life</i> which in itself says a lot about the Scots.
Wales Sheep Owners: 192	Wales, one of the 4 countries making up the "United" Kingdom, is one of the most picturesque places in the British Isles. Wales is physically located on a penninsula in the south-west of the United Kingdom, and is bordered by the English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, St George's Channel to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west and north. About 80% of the land surface of Wales is zoned as agricultural, with a large proportion of that used for cattle grazing, particularly sheep. Many outsiders (English, Scottish etc) consider that "Welsh" and "Sheep" go hand in hand because the animals are so prevalent. Wales is split into North and South Wales, and further subdivided into 22 council areas. Both North and South primarily speak English, but some 20% of the population still speaks Welsh (Cymru), with a slightly larger proportion to the north. Road signs to this day continue to be printed in both languages. Much of the landscape is mountainous, particularly in the north and central regions of Wales. The mountains were shaped during the last ice age, the Devensian glaciation. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia, and include Snowdon ('Yr Wyddfa' in Welsh), which, at 1085 m (3,560 ft) is the highest peak in Wales.
Tea Ch a Ching Owners: 219	"Although my neighbors are all barbarians, and you, you are a thousand miles away, there are always two cups on my table." ~ Tang Dynasty ~ The first written reference of tea made and consumed appeared in 350 A.D. Kuo Po updated an old Chinese dictionary to include the description of tea as a beverage made from boiled leaves. Tea during this time was made of leaves boiled in water with ginger, orange or other produce added to it. Although tea was mostly consumed for medicinal purposes to treat digestive and nervous conditions, people living in the interior part of China pressed tea into brick currency to barter with other tribes. In the fourth century AD, tea was already a popular drink in China. Tea developed through three main stages: boiled tea, mashed or beaten tea and infused tea. The three Tea Schools are indicative of the spirits of their respective ages, which correspond to the Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties. In the eighth century, tea became a royal beverage adopted by the nobility as an elegant pastime. Poet Lu Yu, at the height of the Tang Dynasty, wrote the first book of tea, Ch a Ching or Tea Classic in 780 A.D. Tea has always been linked to history and as it spread it brought peoples into contact with different religions and philosophies. The Indian History has a mention about how Marco Polo, the great traveler, carried tea from China to the court of the famous Indian Emperor Harsha Vardhana. Lu Yu, because of his book, Ch a Ching - Tea Classic, is considered to be the Father of Tea in Chinese history.
Groove None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Marriage Equality None!	Suggest One in the forums.
GLB Adoption Issues None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Immigration Issues Statue of Liberty National Monument Owners: 409	The Statue of Liberty, located in New York Harbor, was frequently the first site to greet new immigrants to the United States after her unveiling day on October 28, 1886 on Bedloe's Island (now known as Liberty Island). "From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome" proclaims Emma Lazarus' famous poem, The New Colossus, written in 1883. The poem was added to an interior wall of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal in 1903. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" the poem concludes. Between the years of 1892 and 1954, over 12 million immigrants entered the "great melting pot" of the United States via Ellis Island. With the passage of stricter immigration laws in 1891, immigrants were now screened for "moral turpitude" in a prison record, polygamy, "loathsome or contagious disease" and "undesireables". Only passengers with steerage class accommodations had to pass through Ellis Island; first and second class passengers were quickly "inspected" aboard ship before going directly to New York. Conditions in steerage were so horrific that at one point in time the average mortality rate for passengers in steerage class during a voyage which could take anywhere between 10 days and one month was 10%. Steamboat companies were responsible for returning deportees to their homelands, the cost of housing and food while the deportees were detained in the U.S. and for the screening and medical examination of their passengers before they ever left Europe. Prospective immigrants were asked, among other questions whether they had at least $30, whether they were anarchists and whether they had ever been imprisoned, in an almshouse or institutionalized. In 1965, Ellis Island was declared part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
Sabermetrics Bill James Owners: 325	Bill James (born June 18, 1949 at Mayetta, Kansas) is an important and influential baseball writer, and is its most influential statistician. Since 1977, James has written over two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. His approach, which he termed sabermetrics, attempts to use scientific data collection and interpretation methods to explain why teams win and lose. For most of his career, James's ideas have either been ignored or rejected by professional baseball teams. James' sabermetrics rejects much of the "conventional wisdom" that has been passed down by players, executives and writers over decades. Most teams, managers and players prefer to continue to follow maxims that were developed decades ago. In recent years, James's ideas have begun to gain official acceptance. Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane began applying sabermetric principles to running his low-budget team in the late 1990s, to great effect (as chronicled in Michael Lewis' book Moneyball), and sabermetricians have penetrated other organizations since then.
Collecting The Packrat Owners: 204	Why does the packrat need to collect things? Maybe it's to amuse himself, maybe it's to impress the neighbours, maybe it's to hold the house down in a tornado. Whatever the reason, only the packrat and other like-minded collectors truly understand and appreciate his obsession with his collection, and only a true friend will help him move.
LGBT News The Advocate Owners: 327	Beginning as a small LGBT newspaper, The Advocate quickly expanded to become the leading source for LGBT news in the United States. When The Advocate began publishing, it was one of the only places LGBT people could turn for news coverage that mattered to them. Today, it is the most respected of the ever-increasing number of LGBT magazines.
Mirror None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Digital Photography Pixel Owners: 194	Short for Picture Element, a pixel is a single point in a graphic image. The more pixels used to represent an image, the more accurate the picture resembles its original object. The word pixel was first published in 1965 by Frederic C Billingsley to describe the picture elements of the video images from space, though the word was not his idea � he claims to have heard it a few years prior though he did not remember where. More commonly known in the photography world, a megapixel is one million pixels and explains not only the number of pixels in an image, but expresses the number of display elements on digital display.
Lomography and Instant Cameras None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Detroit Motown Records Owners: 293	In the 1960's an independent record company named "Motown Records" in Detroit, Michigan began creating and marketing hit records better and in larger volume than any record company in the world. The recording techniques that were developed by Motown in the mid 60's were part of the formula for the company's success. Before the age of synthesizers and computer-aided recording, Motown engineers created special sound effects by ingenious means. A rich piece of Motown’s history is relived when visitors clap and sing into Motown’s innovative echo chamber (a hole cut in the ceiling), and experience early reverb. When “Studio A” was in use, the effects created by the echo chamber were relayed to the recording studio; they can be heard on recordings such as “Where Did Our Love Go”, “Dancing In The Streets”, and “Make Me The Woman You Go Home To”. Even today, many of the recording techniques used find their roots in this "Motown Sound" of the 1960's. Top Motown talent includes names such as The Four Tops, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, The Marvelettes, and The Contours.
Constitutional Law Writ of Habeas Corpus Owners: 278	Habeas Corpus is Latin for "produce the body." A Writ of Habeas Corpus is an order to bring a person before a Court or a Judge. The primary use is to obtain the release of a person who is being improperly held in custody by the government. The Writ allows a person to bring a constitutional challenge to his/her incarceration. The protection provided by the Writ of Habeas Corpus is such that Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution provides that "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."
Tarot The Fool's Journey Owners: 105	Who knows where it comes from, that impulse to jump off a cliff on the way to discovery? Who knows where it comes from, the courage to strike out into the unkown. Who knows what sparks The Fool to go where, sometimes, angels dare not tread? Why the Fool leaves the known for the unknown is the 64,000 dollar question, but leave s/he does. The Fool card in the Tarot represents the basic impulse for change, growth, beginning and beginning again, discovery. The Fool card, along with the other 21 cards in the Tarot's major arcana, comprises what some consider to be The Fool's Journey. That is, a symbolic, visual, archetypal representation of not just what might be considered a spiritual journey, but more basically of each person's journey through life. The Fool card is usually numbered 0. Each of the other 21 major arcana (trump) cards represents a stage of the Fool's journey -- an experience, a guide, a state of being, an obstacle, a lesson, an epiphany. Taken together, these 22 cards become keys to the kingdom of wisdom, enlightenment, wholeness, self-actualization -- the ultimate goal of The Fool's Journey.
Asatru None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Celtic Reconstructionist None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Contemporary Paganisms The Fifth Sacred Thing Owners: 209	The Fifth Sacred Thing is the name of the acclaimed Utopian novel written by the neopagan visionary leader/teacher/activist, Starhawk. Published in 1993, it begins with the following declaration, which includes in it many of the core concepts shared by most neopagans. "Declaration of the Four Sacred Things The Earth is a living, conscious being. In company with cultures of many different times and places, we name these things as sacred: air, fire, water, and earth. Whether we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a Creator, or as symbols of interconnected systems that sustain life, we know that nothing can live without them. To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves become the standard by which our acts, our economics, our laws, and our purposes must be judged. No one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy. All people, all living things, are part of the earth life, and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or lower than any other. Only justice can assure balance; only ecological balance can sustain freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirit flourish in its full diversity. To honor the sacred is to create conditions in which nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom, and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to make love possible. To this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage, our silences, and our voices. To this we dedicate our lives."
Wicca Pentagram Owners: 160	The pentagram, a five-pointed star drawn with five straight lines, is an ancient symbol adopted by Wiccans to represent earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. Called sometimes a pentacle (usually when referring to an object) and sometimes a pentagram (usually when referring to the symbol), the Wiccan pentagram includes a circle around the five-lined star with the end of each line touching the circle -- which stands for protection, sacred space, infinity, the wheel of life, and the circle/cycle of the year. An ancient symbol, the pentagram has been found on broken clay fragments in Palestine (approx 4000 BCE) and Mesopotamia (approx 3500 BCE). It was an early Egyptian hieroglyph, and around 2700 BCE it was in common use among the Sumerians. The Greek Pythagoreans (6th century BCE) adopted it as a symbol of perfection. In the Jewish kabbalistic tradition, it represents the five upper sephiroth on the Tree of Life. In Old Testament times, the pentagram was the first of the Seven Seals of Solomon and it represented the five books of the Pentateuch (the Torah). From 300 to 150 BCE it was the main ideogram in the official seal of the city of Jerusalem. In early Christianity the pentagram represented the five wounds of Jesus and the Feast of the Ephiphany. In the Middle Ages it was associated with the five knightly virtues, and in various parts of Europe it was hung in windows and doors for (magical) protection. A Gnostic symbol, in Freemasonry the pentagram is known as the Blazing Star. It appears in much of the iconography of the early United States, which relates it to the many Freemasons who were Founding Fathers. In the latter Middle Ages, the pentagram became associated with the Devil, and in the latter half of the 20th century the upside-down pentagram was adopted as one of the symbols of Satanism. The upside-down symbol also stands for the �Second Degree� in some Wiccan traditions and is used in Freemasonry, but any association of Satanism with Wicca (or Freemasonry, for that matter) is a false one. Unfortunately, the ignorance and fear of Wicca as somehow related to the Devil, Satanism, and all things bad persists, such that many Wiccans hide their Pentagrams at work and when in public, and school children in the United States are often denied the use of the Pentagram for jewelry even though this infringes on their First Amendment rights. This ancient symbol almost certainly comes from ancient astronomical observations: it describes in two dimensions the eight-year cycle of the planet Venus as it travels around the Zodiac. Indeed, it has long been associated with both the planet Venus and the worship of the goddess Venus (and other goddesses associated with the planet, considered to be a star in earlier times).
Pittsburgh Kennywood Park Owners: 227	Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987, Kennywood began as a small trolley park in 1898. In the 1910's, two roller coasters, the Racer and the Speed-O-Plane, were constructed on the site. After the park survived the Great Depression, it was made famous by rides such as the Jackrabbit, and the Thunderbolt (both of which still exist today), earning it the slogan "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World". Recent decades brought new rides, including the Pittsburgh Plunge and a new steel looping roller coaster dubbed The Steel Phantom, which would later be reconstructed and re-named The Phantom's Revenge. Today, Kennywood Park remains a popular tourist attraction for the entire state of Pennsylvania.
Poetry Writing Form Owners: 564	The poet fits the voice of the poem into its Form; the Form carries the dream to the reader. From the haiku to the sonnet, from the tightest villanelle to the loosest free verse, the poem would be invisible without its Form. Meter, whether as rigid as a strict march or open as a modern dance, echoes the poet's footsteps. Rhyme is the poet's shadow, following even when hidden by cloud or night. The world is void and without Form, then the poet creates.
BDSM Contract Owners: 382	Bondage/Domination, Domination/Submission, Sado-Masochism - this alternative lifestyle choice is governed by the Contract. It sets out what Master/Mistress and slave, Dom(me) and sub, find acceptable - whether that's a 24/7 lifestyle or an occasional romp involving novelty furry handcuffs. Above all, the Contract normally keeps everything within the bounds (no pun intended!) of the BDSM lifestyle coda - Safe, Sane, Consensual.
Turkish New Language Movement Owners: 436	Turkish belongs to the Altay branch of the Uralo-Altay linguistic family. Through the span of history, Turks have spread over a wide geographical area, taking their language with them. Turkish speaking people have lived in a wide area stretching from today's Mongolia to the north coast of the Black Sea, the Balkans, East Europe, Anatolia, Iraq and a wide area of northern Africa. Due to the distances involved, various dialects and accents have emerged. The history of the language is divided into three main groups, old Turkish (from the 7th to the 13th centuries), mid-Turkish (from the 13th to the 20th) and new Turkish from the 20th century onwards. During the Ottoman Empire period Arabic and Persian words invaded the Turkish language and it consequently became mixed with three different languages. During the Ottoman period which spanned five centuries, the natural development of Turkish was severely hampered. - - Then there was the "new language" movement. In 1928, five years after the proclamation of the Republic, the Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin one, which in turn speeded up the movement to rid the language of foreign words. The Turkish Language Institute was established in 1932 to carry out linguistic research and contribute to the natural development of the language. As a consequence of these efforts, modern Turkish is a literary and cultural language developing naturally and free of foreign influences.
Body Modification Modern Primitive Owners: 158	Pierced? Just the one? Tattooed? Just the one? Branded? Just the one? Do not limit your modifications to the socially acceptable - stretch your limits, your imagination and your friendships: don't be such a wimp! Go the whole-hog like Stelarc or Fakir Mustafar: construct an artifical arm or suspend yourself for hours on end with hooks big enough to catch a shark. With an artefact like this, your opponents will run in fear and shame when they see you armed with your Modern Primitive.
Kung Fu None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Motorsport Turbo Charger Owners: 313	The Turbo is� the best way to bump up the power of a cars engine, possibly by up to 30%! They work on the basis that fast flowing air is denser than slow flowing air and cold air is denser than hot air, therefore cold, fast flowing air is very dense (Dense air means more air). Ideally an engine needs as much air as possible so cold, fast flowing air is the key. This is where the turbo comes in! A turbo is basically a large air compressor that is powered by a turbine, which is spun by the exhaust fumes. This air compressor sucks in the air and forces it into the engine through a cooling system creating the massive power increases desired. In an industry where fractions of a gram are important, the fact turbos have a relativly small mass is a big attraction, the power to mass ratio of an engine with a turbo is massively increased.
Goth None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Punk None!	Suggest One in the forums.
CSS H�kon Wium Lie Owners: 383	H�kon Wium Lie (born 1965 in Norway) is Chief Technology Officer of Opera Software. He is best known for proposing the concept of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in 1994. H�kon's proposal was presented at the "Mosaic and the Web" conference in Chicago, Illinois, and again with Bert Bos in 1995. H�kon became a technical adviser to the W3C project aimed at adding CSS to the deliverables of the HTML editorial review board (ERB). He co-authored a book with Bert Bos on CSS etitled "Cascading Style Sheets: Designing for the Web"
Henna None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Tattoo Ink Slinger Owners: 297	These fringe artists tend not only to create this epidermal art form, they tend to inspire new works and quickly show their distain for the 'Trendy'. Often times these rare people are found in the midst of motorcyclists and various other unsavory types, so do be careful with them.
Piercing None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Alabama Sweet Home Alabama Owners: 125	Written by the seminal Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd as a response to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man", the song was a hit in 1974 and buoyed sales of their /Second Helping/ release. Many took the song to be antagonistic towards Young, but he eventually came to embrace the song, playing it in concert from time to time. When attending rock concerts in the Heart of Dixie, the audience is often serenaded to some form of "Sweet Home Alabama", whether the whole song as a cover or the opening riff just as a nod to the notoriety of the song and its reference to the state.
Alaska Trans-Alaska Pipeline Owners: 247	Writer and former president of the University of Alaska William R. Wood described it as "a silken thread, half hidden across the palace carpet." The Trans-Alaska Pipeline covers 800 miles of breath-taking landscape. It is a thread unlike any other, crossing the frozen tundra and septentrional forests in the shadows of majestic snow-capped mountains. The presence of crude oil on Alaska's North Slope was suspected for many decades. The existence of a large oil field in Prudhoe Bay was confirmed in 1968 by Atlantic Richfield Company and Humble Oil (now Exxon). Environmental groups fought construction of the pipeline through lawsuits filed in 1970. Three years of legal proceedings prevented any construction, during which time the federal government and the state of Alaska considered proposals for construction of the pipeline. Although presidential approval was obtained on November 16, 1973, construction was further delayed. In order to move equipment and supplies from the Yukon River to Prudhoe Bay, 360 miles of road needed to be constructed. This allowed time for the terminal to be built in Valdez. Pipeline construction began in 1975 by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. By May 1977, all 800 miles had been installed and tested. Oil entered the pipeline at Pump Station One, at Prudhoe Bay, on June 20, 1977, and reached Valdez on July 28. On August 1, 1977, the tanker "ARCO Juneau" sailed out of Valdez with the first load of North Slope crude oil.
Arizona Grand Canyon Owners: 417	The Grand Canyon is more than a great chasm carved over millennia through the rocks of the Colorado Plateau. It is more than an awe-inspiring view. It is more than a pleasuring ground for those who explore the roads, hike the trails, or float the currents of the turbulent Colorado River.
Arkansas Razorbacks Owners: 307	The first Arkansas football team was formed in 1894 and was known as the "Arkansas Cardinals". During the first year the team racked up two wins against Fort Smith High School but took a 54-0 drubbing at the hands of the Texas Longhorns. In 1909 the football team finished a 7-0 season allowing only 18 points on defense and scoring 186 points on offense. The coach stated that his team played like "like a wild band of Razorback Hogs". The name proved so popular that the name was changed for the 1910 season. Tale of the Arkansas Mascot - The history of the University of Arkansas’ athletic appearance began in 1894 when a contest was held on campus to select school colors, 23 years after classes were first held. Cardinal (a shade of deep red) was voted in over heliotrope, a shade of moderate purple. Arkansas athletic teams carried the name of Cardinals into battle for the next 15 years, until the close of 1909 season. Football coach Hugo Bezdek referred to his team as “a wild band of Razorbacks” at a post-season rally following an unbeaten season. The name Razorbacks quickly caught on and the famous yell, “Woo, Pig! Sooie” as added in the 1920s. In 1936 the team won its first Southwest Conference championship in football and played their first Cotton Bowl in 1946. In 1957 Frank Broyles was hired as head football coach and served in that position for 19 years. Broyles team won the National Championship in 1964. In 1969 Broyles team was ranked #2 and played the #1 Texas Longhorns, coached by Darrell Royal, at Fayetteville. The game, known as "The Big Shootout" is perhaps the greatest game in Arkansas history and even brought President Richard Nixon to the stands of Razorback Stadium. The Razorbacks led 14-0 until 15 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Texas scored 15 unanswered points and won the National Championship 15-14 in stunning fashion. After Broyles left coaching and became Athletic Director he hired Lou Holtz to take his former position. Holtz served as head football coach for three exciting years. Under Holtz the Razorbacks lost a National Championship in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama and stunned the Oklahoma Sooners in the Orange Bowl ending their National Championship hopes. In the 1980s the football team was coached by Ken Hatfield and established itself as a powerful running team. The Razorbacks challenged for the SWC title each year and went to the Cotton Bowl twice. Hatfield's teams established excellent regular season records but had difficulty winning bowl games. In 1990 Broyles led the Razorbacks out of the Southwest Conference and into the Southeastern Conference setting off a major realignment in college football. In 1995 Arkansas won its first SEC Western Division Title in football.
California Surfer Dude Owners: 735	From San Diego all the way up to the Redwoods of Eureka, you can find the California surfer dude doing his thing 365 days per year. No matter the weather, there is always some brave (foolish?) soul willing to take his own life into his hands and brave the waves first thing in the morning, because he just cannot function for the rest of the day unless he's had his early dip in the surf. Vehicles are sold based upon how well they will carry your board to the beach. Weather forecasts start with the surf report. Life in California revolves around the surfer dude.
Colorado Estes Park Owners: 358	Situated on the eastern portion of Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park gives visitors access to just one of the many beautiful glimpses of nature to be found in Colorado. Hiking trails allow the casual tourist to explore snow-capped peaks in the middle of summer, while more experienced backpackers can spend a week in the backcountry, hiking to the contintental divide or climbing some of the many steep rock faces to be found in the park. Or, after a day of driving through the park, visitors can picnic and enjoy the view from Lake Estes at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
Connecticut Nutmeggers Owners: 276	One of Connecticut's many nicknames is the Nutmeg State; people from Connecticut are often called "nutmeggers." A couple of stories exist as to the origin of this nickname. One story has it that this nickname came about as a comment on the ingenuity and shrewdness of the citizens of the state. In a story, perhaps originated by Sam Slick, it is claimed that the people of Connecticut were so ingenious and shrewd that they were able to make and sell "wooden" nutmegs to unsuspecting buyers. It may be that these wooden nutmegs were whittled by idle sailors on ships coming from the spice island and sold as souvenirs.
Delaware None!	Suggest One in the forums.
Florida Orange Juice Owners: 392	The official state beverage of Florida, orange juice is a beverage produced by squeezing or pressing the interior of an orange. Oranges are hand-picked in the field, loaded into trailers and delivered to the processing plant. The fruit is dumped from trailers onto conveyers where it is carried through a washing process. The fruit is then graded, and oranges not acceptable for processing are separated and diverted to be used for by-products. The oranges are then diverted to storage bins labeled according to juice specifications represented by each tested load of fruit. Oranges are selected from labeled bins to enable blending juice of optimal quality and transported via conveyor to juicing machines, known as extractors. Following the juice extraction, the stream goes through a finisher screen where the pulp and seeds are removed, along with the peel. The Florida citrus industry provides $9.1 billion annually (as of 2006) to the state, and it employs nearly 90,000 people and provides 650,000 acres of green space.
Georgia (USA) Georgia On My Mind Owners: 376	On April 24, 1979, "Georgia On My Mind," with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Stuart Gorrell, was designated Georgia's official state song. Gorrell wrote the song for Carmichael's sister Georgia in 1930. It was performed on March 7, 1979 before a joint meeting of the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives by Georgia-born recording artist Ray Charles. ... "Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind."
Hawaii King Kamehameha the Great Owners: 272	Widely known as King Kamehameha or just Kamehameha, Kamehameha the Great (circa 1758-1819) was the military leader behind the formation of the Kingdom of Hawaii, he also served from 1810 until his death in 1818 as the nation's first monarch. The war lord was on hand at Cook's landing in 1778 and later embraced the western weapons that the Europeans brought to the islands. Kamehameha easily crushed his opponents who where still armed with primitive weapons such as spears. King Kamehameha proved not only to be a genius military strategist but, also a skilled diplomat. He initiated friendly relations with many colonial powers in the region and began trading with nations across the globe. Today Kamehameha is remembered primarily for his unification of the Hawaiian Islands and his establishment of the "law of the splintered paddle" which is still an important international law. Every year on June 11 the life and accomplishments of Kamehameha is celebrated across Hawaii on Kamehameha day, a holiday in the state since 1872.
Idaho Russet Burbank Owners: 206	Until the First World War, potatoes were strictly a small-time enterprise in the Gem State. An important breakthrough came with the development of the Russet Burbank variety, which resisted disease and found favor with consumers as a tasty baking potato. Idaho became the nation�s number one potato producing state in the late 1950s.
Illinois Illini Owners: 501	Prior to 1640, the Illini occupied the state of Illinois including both sides of the Mississippi River from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin to the mouth of the Ohio, and then south along the west bank to the Arkansas River. The dominant tribe in the region before 1655, their hunting territory extended into western Kentucky and across Missouri and Iowa, the latter provoking occasional skirmishes with the Pawnee and Wichita on the plains (from whom the Illini learned the calumet ceremony). The Osage migration to the lower Missouri River (sometime between 1450 and 1650) isolated the Michigamea and Chepoussa from the other Illini. From 1650 to 1803 they went through several wars with other tribes and migrated from place to place until 1803 when they ceded all claim to their homeland and placed themselves under American protection. They surrendered their last Illinois lands and moved to Missouri in 1818, and in 1832 eastern Kansas. After merging with the Wea and Piankashaw in 1854, they moved to northeast Oklahoma in 1867, where their descendents still live. So when you think of Illinois think of the Illini, the first residents.
Indiana Hoosier Owners: 333	A Hoosier is a resident or native of the U.S. state of Indiana. The term is commonly accepted and employed at all levels of discourse by Hoosiers themselves, and is considered neither derogatory nor informal. The word �Indianan�, as either noun or adjective, is rarely if ever used by an actual native of Indiana. Deriving from common usage, �Hoosiers� is the team name for Indiana University athletic teams, and a movie about basketball in Indiana was also called Hoosiers.
Iowa The Ethanol Pledge Owners: 255	Fans of the NBC series "The West Wing" will no doubt recall Jimmy Smits' character giving in and making the so-called "Ethanol Pledge" - a promise to devote federal funds to the cause of converting some percentage of America's energy use to corn-based ethanol. Presidential candidates in the United States have little to no chance to get their names on the ballot without first surviving the Iowa caucus, giving the average Iowa corn farmer a pretty hefty voice in national politics. More than one third of Iowa's land is devoted to the production of corn, the majority of which goes unsold due to the lack of a feasible market. The solution? Corn-based ethanol. Americans can see the growing influence of the Iowan in the rising number of gas stations touting that their fuel is as much as 30% ethanol, however this disproportional political clout obscures the facts. Several studies conducted at leading research universities across the nation have shown that the production of ethanol from corn requires a minimum of 29% more fossil energy than the ethanol fuel itself can actually produce. While South American nations have demonstrated that other forms of ethanol, most notably sugar, are cheap, feasible alternatives to reliance on Middle Eastern oil, the United States has... The Ethanol Pledge.
Kansas Leavenworth Owners: 297	Leavenworth, the city named after Henry Leavenworth who founded Fort Leavenworth in 1827, was established in 1854 by the Leavenworth Town Company and in 1855 became the county seat of Leavenworth County. By autumn of 1856 Majors Russell and Waddell, made it headquarters for their vast transportation system. Leavenworth became a base of supply for the West and Southwest and still bears the marks of the start of the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. During the Indian wars it served as an outpost and staging point for the 9th & 10th Cavalry, better known as "The Buffalo Soldiers" and today a monument has been erected in their honor on Fort Leavenworth. In 1896 congress authorized the construction of a new prison and Leavenworth was chosen as the site. To ensure that labor would be kept to a minimum the prisoners from the Fort Leavenworth Military Prison were used in the construction. They were marched 2.5 miles to and from the military prison every day of work with construction taking 25 years to complete. Modern day Leavenworth is a quaint town settled on the Missouri river just north of Kansas City. It is home to the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, The US military Disciplanary barracks, Fort Leavenworth, The US Marshals holding facility and just South of Leavenworth is the Kansas State Penitentiary. Leavenworth is also home to Fort Leavenworth and the US Army's Command and General's Staff College which is known for training military officers from around the world and includes such graduates as GEN Douglas McArthur & GEN Colin Powell. The town itself has been home to many famous people through the years such as Buffalo Bill Cody as well as modern day stars and is the home town of Melissa Ethridge.
Kentucky Churchill Downs Owners: 339	Founded in 1874, Churchill Downs distinctive spires are internationally known, and synonymous with The Kentucky Derby and The Sport of Kings. Horse racing in Kentucky has a history dating back to the late 18th Century. It wasn't until M. Lewis Clark visited Europe in 1873 and saw the elaborate tracks that anyone had the idea for a formal jockey club in Louisville. Upon his return to the US he founded the Louisville Jockey Club, and raised $32,000 by selling memberships at $100 each. The following year the track hosted what has since become the premier thoroughbred race in the United States, The Kentucky Derby. The track was not financially successful, however. In 1894 the New Jockey Club of Louisville was founded, and took control of the track. The new president, William F. Schulte was instrumental in expanding the track, and building new grandstands, featuring the trademark spires. The track continued to lose money, however, and was eventually taken over by a group of prominent Louisville citizens. While they did take control of track management, however, they did not assume title to the track itself. Under their management the track was finally able to become profitable. There continued to be changes in the ownership structure over the years, but The Kentucky Derby's popularity continued to grow, and with it the profile of Churchill Downs. And while there have been continued improvements to the track over the years, the distinctive style, including the majestic spires, has remained a constant in the Louisville skyline.
Louisiana Crawfish Owners: 347	Louisiana has always been a melting pot of diverse cultures, from colonial times to the present. French colonial settlers evicted from Acadiana ("Cajuns") by British armies to German, Irish, Portugese, Spanish settlers, freed slaves and Carribean tradesmen and more recently Vietnamese and Laosian immigrants were all drawn to the region by the rich Mississippi River delta waters and floodlands. A thread common to all these cultures settled in Louisiana is a love for celebrating life and great food. In order to have great food and still have energy left for a bit of celebrating, you need to find something that is easy to catch, easy to prepare, and wonderful to eat. One has only to tie a bit of raw bacon to a string and dangle it in any muddy puddle to find Louisiana's favorite food: Crawfish. With little more than table scraps as bait, you can summon these bite-sized crustaceans in droves, rinse them off and drop them into the boiler with a sache of spices. By the time you've opened a beer, dinner is ready! And oh, so good. Baked, fried, broiled or boiled, crawfish is recognized worldwide as a unique aspect of life in Louisiana.
Maine Lobster Owners: 293	Despite centuries being considered a poor man's food, the lobster is now considered a prime delicacy in much of the world. The advent of better transportation systems allowed the transport of live lobster from coastal areas to inland markets. The resulting massive increase in demand resulted in turning the crustacean from being the mark of poverty to being deemed a meal for the upper classes. This has brought a great deal of wealth to the state of Maine, the largest single producer of lobsters in the United States, and among the largest producers in the world.
Maryland Skipjack Owners: 274	Developed in the 1890�s, an estimated 2000 Skipjacks were built in Chesapeake Bay for oyster dredging. The SkipJack fleet in Maryland is the only commercial sailing fleet in North America. In the 1900�s the price of oysters declined,