USA is the Mecca of Boxing

[BrooklynBomber]

A bit more about pop culture


Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 film starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated by visits to a local discotheque. While in the disco, Tony is the king, and the visits help him to temporarily forget the reality of his life: a dead-end job, clashes with his unsupportive and squabbling parents, racial tensions in the local community, and his associations with a gang of dead-beat friends.

The movie significantly helped to popularize disco music around the world, and made Travolta a household name. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, featuring disco songs by the Bee Gees, became the best selling soundtrack ever.

The film also showcased aspects of the music, the dancing, and the subculture surrounding the disco era: symphony-orchestrated melodies, haute-couture styles of clothing, sexual promiscuity, and graceful choreography.

The story is based upon a 1976 New York magazine article by British writer Nik Cohn, "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night." In the late-1990s, Cohn acknowledged that the article had been fabricated. A newcomer to the United States and a stranger to the disco lifestyle, Cohn was unable to make any sense of the subculture he had been assigned to write about. The characters who were to become Tony Manero and his friends sprang almost completely from his imagination.

The film is also notable for being one of the first instances of cross media marketing, with the tie-in soundtrack's single being used to help promote the film before its release and the film popularizing the entire soundtrack after its release

[BrooklynBomber]

And the mecca of the underground

Tribal house is a form of electronic dance music derived from house music but being highly drum-centric and often without a core melody.

In many tribal house tracks, it is rare to find a core melody or prolonged synth sound, such as those found in techno music and similar electronic music styles. Instead, tribal house tracks rely on sophisticated drum patterns for their rhythm. A track can consist of several different drum sounds.

There is no clear-cut definition of tribal house music, instead tracks are usually classified or perceived as tribal because of their live sound. Tribal house is reminiscent of the ethnic music of various tribes of Africa and South America, and it is not unusual for this music to feature chanting and ululation as acappellas. Tribal music can be produced with either live (ie. with real drums and instruments) or digital instrumentation: however, live-produced music of this sort in the purest sense is seen as ethnic, while digital tribal music is called 'tribal house'.

Tribal house is a fusion of various styles of electronic dance music. It is an extension of the funky house genre, and is usually uplifting and cheerful (see Latin House and African House). It can sometimes distort the boundaries between dark house, which is an offshoot of progressive house, and tech-house, a more techno-like, yet jazzy kind of house, as if mixing intelligent dance music and minimal techno. Tribal music can be produced in such a way that it absorbs the characteristics of all styles of house music

[adamk1304]

If a fighter fights and beats the best contenders available, then he should be considered great, regardless of where the fights were fought.

[Welter_Skelter]

BullFrogs!!!

The American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus, previously Rana )is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or "true frogs", native to much of North America.
The bullfrog is a large species of the Ranidae family and can grow to a length of 6 inches (15 cm) with a weight of up to 1.5 lb (750 g). Females are typically larger than males. They are generally varying shades of green or brown, with dark brown, dark green, or black blotching and a yellow or white underside.

The skeleton of an adult frog consists of bone, hyaline cartilage, and calcified cartilage. The calcified cartilage can be found throughout the body of the frog, but it is particularly more noticeable in the epiphyses of the long bones in the limbs and shoulder-gridle. The frog has no scapula and a suprascapula which allows for greater range of motion for long jumps.[citation needed] The radius and ulna have become fused into a single bone, the radio-ulna, and the tibia and fibula have become fused into a single bone, the tibio-fibula.

The vertebrae comprise ten bones; nine are true vertebrae, and the rod-shaped urostyle that is almost as long as the other nine. The head of the frog is flat but its form depends on the extensive separation of the jaw bones; the orbital cavities and the horizontal direction of their floor also have an effect on the form of the head of the balls. The central nervous system is made up of the spinal cord and the brain, where the spinal cord is a bit smaller than the brain. The peripheral nervous system contains the cranial nerves and spinal nerves.

[col Blake]

i've a local bingo hall called the mecca does this count

[!!! Beowulf !!!]

The Cook Islands were first settled in the 6th Century A.D. by Polynesian people who migrated from nearby Tahiti, to the southeast.[4]

Spanish ships visited the islands in the late sixteenth century; the first written record of contact with the Islands came with the sighting of Pukapuka by Spanish sailor Álvaro de Mendaña in 1595 who called it San Bernardo. Another Spaniard, Pedro Fernández de Quirós, made the first recorded European landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahanga in 1606, calling it Gente Hermosa ("Beautiful People").

British navigator Captain James Cook arrived in 1773 and 1779 and named the islands the Hervey Islands; the name "Cook Islands", in honour of Cook, appeared on a Russian naval chart published in the 1880s.[5]

In 1813, John Williams, a missionary on the Endeavour (not the same ship as that of Cook), made the first official sighting of the island of Rarotonga.[6]

The first recorded landing by Europeans was in 1814 by the Cumberland; trouble broke out between the sailors and the Islanders and many were killed on both sides.[7]

The islands saw no more Europeans until missionaries arrived from England in 1821. Christianity quickly took hold in the culture and many islanders continue to be Christian believers today.

The Cook Islands became a British protectorate at their own request in 1888, mainly to thwart French expansionism. They were transferred to New Zealand in 1901. They remained a New Zealand protectorate until 1965, at which point they became a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. Sir Albert Henry, the Islands' first Prime Minister, led the country until he was accused of vote-rigging in 1978.

Today, the Cook Islands are essentially independent ("self-governing in free association with New Zealand") but are still officially placed within New Zealand's sovereignty. New Zealand is tasked with overseeing the country's foreign relations and defence. The Cook Islands are one of three New Zealand dependencies, along with Tokelau and Niue.

After achieving autonomy in 1965, the Cook Islands elected Albert Henry of the Cook Islands Party as their first Prime Minister. He was succeeded in 1978 by Tom Davis of the ********ic Party.

On June 11, 1980, the United States signed a treaty with New Zealand specifying the maritime border between the Cook Islands and American Samoa and also relinquishing its claim to the islands of Penrhyn Island, Pukapuka (Danger), Manihiki, and Rakahanga.

In 2006, the British television station Channel 4 broadcast the show Shipwrecked, filmed in the Cook Islands. The thirteenth season of CBS's Survivor series was also filmed in the Cook Islands during the summer of 2006. It was broadcast in the autumn of 2006 as Survivor: Cook Islands.

[small_warrior]

i'm not suprised SIN launched that threat

[!!! Beowulf !!!]

Singapore is a republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government representing different constituencies. The bulk of the executive powers rests with the Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister. The office of President of Singapore, historically a ceremonial one, was granted some veto powers as of 1991 for a few key decisions such as the use of the national reserves and the appointment of judiciary positions.[12] Although the position is to be elected by popular vote, only the 1993 election has been contested to date. The legislative branch of government is the Parliament.

Parliamentary elections in Singapore are plurality-based for group representation constituencies since the Parliamentary Elections Act was modified in 1991.[13]

Singaporean politics have been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since self-government was attained.[14] In consequence, foreign political analysts and several opposition parties like the Workers' Party of Singapore, the Singapore ********ic Party (SDP) and the Singapore ********ic Alliance (SDA) have argued that Singapore is essentially a one-party state. Many analysts consider Singapore to be more of an il******* or procedural democracy than a true democracy. The Economist Intelligence Unit lists Singapore as a country with a "hybrid" system comprised of ********ic and authoritarian elements.[citation needed] Freedom House ranks the country as "partly free".[15] Though general elections are free from irregularities and vote rigging, the PAP has been criticised for manipulating the political system through its use of censorship, gerrymandering, and civil libel suits against opposition politicians. Francis Seow, the exiled former solicitor-general of Singapore, is a prominent critic. Seow and opposition politicians such as J.B. Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan claim that Singapore courts favour the PAP government, and there is no separation of powers.[16]

Singapore has a highly successful and transparent market economy. Government-linked companies are dominant in various sectors of the local economy, such as media, utilities, and public transport. Singapore has consistently been rated as the least-corrupt country in Asia and amongst the top ten cleanest from corruption in the world by Transparency International.[17]

Although Singapore's laws are inherited from British and British Indian laws, including many elements of English common law, the PAP has also consistently rejected ******* ********ic values as "Western." Laws restricting freedom of speech are justified by claims that unrestricted speech may breed disharmony within Singapore's multi-racial, multi-religious society. Some offences can lead to heavy fines or caning, and there are laws which allow capital punishment for first-degree murder and drug trafficking. More recently the PAP government has claimed to relax some of its socially conservative policies and created a "Feedback Unit"[18] to receive comments on some policies and public services.

[!!Captain]

Sea Ray boats!!!

Sea Ray History

Sea Ray is the world's largest manufacturer of superior quality pleasure boats, producing more than 40 models ranging from 18 to 68 feet. No other pleasure boat manufacturer in the world offers such variety. The four families of Sea Ray products include Sport Boats, Sport Cruisers, Sport Yachts, and Yachts.

Founded in 1959, Sea Ray was one of the first boat builders to use fiberglass and other high-tech composite materials in the construction of pleasure boats. The company's continuing innovations in unique styling, performance, interior design, technical systems, and many other areas, plus many revolutionary breakthroughs in technology and quality manufacturing processes, have placed Sea Ray at the top of the world's pleasure boat builders for over a quarter of a century.

In 1986, Sea Ray became part of the Brunswick Corporation. Sea Ray, together with the other divisions, makes Brunswick the world's largest producer of marine engines and boats. At twice the size of the next largest marine company, Brunswick's strength and expertise gives Sea Ray the resources to employ the industry's best people and allow them to fund the ideas, innovations and investments required to be the industry leader.

Sea Ray's range of products was augmented even further in 1995 with Ray Industries' acquisition of a new subsidiary, Baja, the world's largest manufacturer of performance boats.

Sea Ray's employees at its eight manufacturing facilities, as well as employees at Baja, are committed to ensuring that Sea Ray customers are ultimately and totally satisfied. This commitment is not merely an ideal, but a corporate policy. As a result, Sea Ray's customer satisfaction ratings are among the highest in the world, and the resale value of Sea Ray boats is unsurpassed.

Sea Ray's focus on quality is evidenced by a complete line of boats that not only meet but also exceed the standards set by the United States Coast Guard, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the American Boat and Yacht Council and the International Organization of Standards (ISO). Sea Ray, in fact, is the first pleasure boat manufacturer to be certified for meeting the high ISO 9002 standards.

Quality. At Sea Ray, it's not just exacting attention to details. Or careful desire to use only the best suppliers, materials and components. Or employing the highest caliber people in the industry. Or four decades of being committed to be the very best in the boating industry. It is, for everyone in the Sea Ray family, a way of life.

[!!! Beowulf !!!]

Japan is a country of over three thousand islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. The main islands, running from north to south, are Hokkaidō, Honshū (the main island), Shikoku and Kyūshū. The Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, are a chain of islands south of Kyushū. Together they are often known as the Japanese Archipelago.

About 70% to 80% of the country is forested, mountainous,[38][39] and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. This is due to the generally steep elevations, climate and risk of landslides caused by earthquakes, soft ground and heavy rain. This has resulted in an extremely high population density in the habitable zones that are mainly located in coastal areas. Japan is the thirtieth most densely populated country in the world.[40]

Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the juncture of three tectonic plates, gives Japan frequent low-intensity tremors and occasional volcanic activity. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunamis, occur several times each century.[41] The most recent major quakes are the 2004 Chūetsu earthquake and the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. Hot springs are numerous and have been developed as resorts.[42]

The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate, but varies greatly from north to south.[43] Japan's geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones:

Hokkaidō: The northernmost zone has a temperate climate with long, cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snow banks in the winter.
Sea of Japan: On Honshū's west coast, the northwest wind in the wintertime brings heavy snowfall. In the summer, the region is cooler than the Pacific area, though it sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures, due to the Föhn wind phenomenon.
Central Highland: A typical inland climate, with large temperature differences between summer and winter, and between day and night. Precipitation is light.
Seto Inland Sea: The mountains of the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions shelter the region from the seasonal winds, bringing mild weather throughout the year.
Pacific Ocean: The east coast experiences cold winters with little snowfall and hot, humid summers due to the southeast seasonal wind.
South-west Islands: The Ryukyu Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very heavy, especially during the rainy season. Typhoons are common.
The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the stationary rain front responsible for this gradually works its way north until it dissipates in northern Japan before reaching Hokkaidō in late July. In most of Honshū, the rainy season begins before the middle of June and lasts about six weeks. In late summer and early autumn, typhoons often bring heavy rain.[43]

Japan is home to nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Ryūkyū and Bonin islands, to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to temperate coniferous forests in the cold, winter portions of the northern islands.[44]