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Denny's

Denny's Corporation (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,700 restaurants in many countries.

Description
Originally opened as a coffee shop under the name Danny's Donuts in Lakewood, California, Denny's was known for always being open and serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner 24 hours a day. Denny's did not close on holidays and nights, except where required by law. Many restaurants are located near freeway exits, bars, and in-service areas.

Denny's started franchising in 1963, and most Denny's restaurants are now franchisee-owned. Franchise agreements require 24/7 service in most locations. Because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry in the United States, many Denny's had to close for the first time and may now have limited hours of operation.

History
Denny's was founded by Harold Butler and Richard Jezak in 1953, who opened Danny's Donuts in Lakewood, California, in 1954. In 1956, a year after Jezak departed from the six-store chain, Butler changed the concept, shifting it from a donut shop to a coffee shop with store No. 8. Danny's Donuts was renamed Danny's Coffee Shops and changed its operation to 24 hours. During the 1950s, Los Angeles architects Armet & Davis created a new prototype building with a boomerang-shaped roof that became a model for stores built nationwide. They also designed a second prototype in 1965 with a zigzag shingled roof. These designs enabled Googie architecture to spread across America. Many Denny's locations were built near freeway offramps, leading to increasingly larger signage. In 1959, Butler changed the name from Danny's Coffee Shops to avoid confusion with the Los Angeles restaurant chain Coffee Dan's to Denny's Coffee Shops. In 1961, Denny's Coffee Shops was renamed Denny's. The business continued to expand, and by 1981, there were over 1,000 restaurants in all 50 U.S. states. The company absorbed many of the old Sambo's restaurants and used their mid-century design in some of their restaurants. In 1977, Denny's introduced the still-popular Grand Slam breakfast. In 1994, Denny's became the largest corporate sponsor of Save the Children, a national charity. All but six Denny's closed for the first time ever on Christmas 1988; many restaurants were built without locks, and some had reportedly lost their keys.

Denny's main offices were in La Mirada, California, until 1989. At that time, the office was first moved to Irvine, California, and subsequently moved to the Spartanburg, South Carolina headquarters of the parent company Trans World Corporation (TW Corporation) that acquired Denny's in 1987. In 1992, private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired a 47% interest in TW Corporation, later known as The Flagstar Companies, and encouraged the company to sell non-core businesses. On July 12, 1997, Flagstar, Denny's parent company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Eventually, Denny's operations dominated the parent company to such an extent that The Flagstar Companies changed its name again to Denny's Corporation. It trades on the NASDAQ under the DENN symbol.

From 1990 through 1996, Denny's offered a free meal to anyone on their birthday. The offer included limited meal options from a special birthday menu. The promotion began in the 1990s, though occasionally, individual franchises had offered it before that time. Because too many people went to Denny's more than once on their birthdays, the management had to restrict the rules to only one meal per person, per birthday, only on the actual birthday, with proof of legal birth date required, such as a driver's license, other photo ID, or a birth certificate. Since 2009, the restaurant chain has offered a free Birthday Build-Your-Own Slam on the customer's birthday.

In 1994, Denny's began renovating its stores with a lighter color scheme; select locations also began serving Baskin-Robbins ice cream for a short time. Houston, Texas, was the test market for the chain-wide renovation.

Denny's opened its first restaurant in Australia in December 1982, in the suburb of Forest Hill, Melbourne. The Australian franchise was owned by Ansett Australia and expanded into other states throughout the 1980s. However, changing tastes of the Australian consumer led to the sale of the chain in 1989 and its closure shortly after that.

Denny's Diner prototype

Some Denny's restaurants employ the "diner" concept, using modular buildings resembling classic 1950s diners. In May 1997, the first Denny's Classic Diner was opened in Fort Myers, Florida. The diner concept was created by Ron, Marcia, Marc, and Todd York, the principals of Denny's Franchisee SWFRI, Inc. Today, there are about 40 Denny's Diners in the United States. Additionally, several diners resemble modular buildings but are actually stick construction.

Domestic and international growth
In July 2010, Denny's presence in the United States saw a major expansion when Pilot Flying J started opening Denny's locations inside their Flying J-branded truck stop locations. 123 Pilot Flying J conversions were eventually completed.

In June 2012, Denny's opened a location in the Las Américas International Airport, its first location in an airport and its first in the Dominican Republic. In July 2012, Denny's announced it had signed an agreement with a franchisee to open 50 restaurants in southern China over 15 years, beginning in 2013. This makes it Denny's largest international development deal at that time. However the deal was cancelled before any restaurants opened.

On August 29, 2014, Denny's opened its first location in New York City, with some patrons waiting as long as two hours before its official opening to eat there. Located in Lower Manhattan, the location is designed to be more upscale than the typical Denny's, serves alcohol, and offers a location-exclusive $300 Grand Cru Slam, which is the standard Grand Slam Breakfast served with a bottle of Dom Pérignon. It closed in January 2018.

In November 2017, it was announced that Denny's was to open its first UK restaurant in Swansea in December 2017 as part of Parc Tawe's 15 million redevelopment scheme, occupying a 4,000 sq ft unit. The restaurant opened on Christmas Day 2017 for the homeless people in the city of Swansea, although the official opening to the general public was on December 27.

At the end of 2023 there were 1,602 Denny's restaurants. With the company owning and operating 66 with the remaining 1,582 under a franchising model; 1,445 of Denny's 1,602 restaurants are located in the United States (including the District of Columbia), 84 in Canada, 15 in Mexico, 15 in Puerto Rico, 10 in Philippines, 7 in New Zealand, 6 in Honduras, 5 in the UAE, 2 in Guatemala, 3 in Costa Rica, 2 in Guam, 3 in El Salvador, 1 in Curaçao and 1 in the United Kingdom. Denny's previously had a location in Chile.

There are also about 578 Denny's restaurants in Japan operated independently under a license by a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings since 1984. The first Denny's restaurant in Japan opened on the first floor of the Ito-Yokado in Kamiōoka (ja:上大岡), Kōnan-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture on April 27, 1974, however, it closed on March 20, 2017, on account of the demolition of the building of Ito-Yokado.

Health inspection records
In October 2004, Dateline NBC aired a segment titled "Dirty Dining", in which the ten most popular family and casual dining chains in the United States were examined: Applebee's, Bob Evans, Chili's, Denny's, IHOP, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday, TGI Friday's, and Waffle House. As part of the segment, the producers examined the health inspection records for 100 restaurants over 15 months and totaled all of the critical violations that could result in adverse effects on the customers' health. Denny's had the fewest violations, averaging fewer than one violation per restaurant. Denny's attributes this relative success to its adherence to the principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points.

Animal welfare efforts
Denny's had worked with the Humane Society of the United States to address animal welfare issues. In 2008, Denny's began switching to cage-free eggs.

In 2012, the company announced it would work with its suppliers to avoid keeping pigs in gestation crates. However, the company removed its initial commitment and is now facing a public awareness campaign (itsdinertime.com). In 2024, the Humane Society of the United States filed a shareholder proposal requesting that the company reinstate its deadline to eliminate gestation crates from its supply chain.

Discrimination
Denny's has been involved in discrimination lawsuits involving food servers denying or providing inferior service to racial minorities, especially black customers.

A 1993 incident occurred when six black United States Secret Service agents visited Denny's restaurant in Annapolis, Maryland. They were forced to wait an hour for service while their white companions were seated immediately.

In San Jose, California, in 1991, several black teenagers were refused service unless they agreed to pay in advance.

In 1994, Denny's settled a class action lawsuit filed by black customers who had been refused service, forced to wait longer, or pay more than white customers. The $54.4 million settlement was the largest under federal public accommodations laws established thirty years earlier.

In 1995, a black Denny's customer in Sacramento, California, was told that he and his friends had to pay upfront at the counter upon ordering their meals. He questioned the waitress: "We asked the waitress about it and she said that some black guys who had been in the restaurant earlier had made a scene and walked out without paying their bill. So the manager now wanted all blacks to pay up front."

In 1997, six Asian-American students from Syracuse University visited a local Denny's restaurant late at night. They waited more than half an hour as white patrons were regularly served, seated, and offered more helpings. They complained to management and their server but were forced to leave the establishment by two security guards called by Denny's management. Then, according to the students, a group of white men came out of Denny's, attacked them and shouted racial epithets. Several of the students were beaten unconscious.

After the $54.4 million settlement, Denny's created a racial sensitivity training program for all employees. Denny's has also made efforts at improving its public relations image by featuring African-Americans in their commercials, including one featuring Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford, actors from the popular The Jeffersons television series. In 2001, Denny's was chosen by Fortune magazine as the "Best Company for Minorities." In 2006 and 2007, Denny's topped Black Enterprise's list of "Best 40 Companies for Diversity."

In 2014, a Denny's location in Deming, New Mexico, was subjected to a discrimination claim by an LGBT group, alleging that wait staff used homophobic slurs and refused to serve a group of gay, lesbian, and transgender customers who were attending a gay pride celebration. One year later, Denny's agreed to donate $13,000 to Deming Pride, pay $3,250 to a female customer who was subjected to abusive behavior by wait staff, and retrain its employees about discrimination policies.

In 2017, the staff at a Denny's in Vancouver, British Columbia was accused of making an Indigenous woman pay for her meal before it was served. After the customer left, restaurant staff called police to report the incident, alleging that the patron had a sharp metal object in her pocket.

Animal cruelty allegations
In 2023, the global animal rights group Animal Equality began a public information campaign regarding Denny's failure to eliminate gestation crates for pigs from its supply chain.

Sudden closures
In June 2017, eight Denny's locations in Colorado, including Colorado Springs and Pueblo, abruptly shut down due to a franchise owner failing to pay nearly $200,000 in back taxes as well as over $30,000 in sales tax from the previous year. In addition, several employees claimed there were issues with accounts not being paid, bounced checks, and paychecks not arriving on time. As a result of the seizure of the eight Denny's locations by the IRS, numerous employees were left without employment and claimed that no advance warning was given regarding the sudden closures. The franchise owner responsible for the closures immediately fled the state of Colorado.

On January 31, 2024, a Denny's location in Oakland, California permanently closed after 54 years of operation, citing the "safety and well-being" of customers and employees.

title: Denny's


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Philippe de Vitry

Philippe de Vitry (31 October 1291 – 9 June 1361) was a French composer-poet, bishop and music theorist in the ars nova style of late medieval music. An accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, he was widely acknowledged as a leading musician of his day, with Petrarch writing a glowing tribute, calling him: "... the keenest and most ardent seeker of truth, so great a philosopher of our age." The important music treatise Ars nova notandi (1322) is usually attributed to Vitry.

It is thought that very little of Vitry's compositions survive; though he wrote secular music, only his sacred works are extant.

Life and career
Details of his early life are vague. While some medieval sources claim that he was born in the Champagne region, more recent research indicates that he may have originated in Vitry-en-Artois near Arras. Given that he is often referred to in documents as "Magister," he is thought likely to have studied at the University of Paris. Later he was prominent in the courts of Charles IV, Philippe VI and Jean II, serving as a secretary and advisor; perhaps aided by these Bourbon connections, he also held several canonries, including Clermont, Beauvais and Paris, also serving for a time in the papal retinue at Avignon starting with Clement VI. In addition to all this, he was a diplomat and a soldier, known to have served at the siege of Aiguillon in 1346. In 1351 he became Bishop of Meaux, east of Paris. Moving in all the most important political, artistic and ecclesiastical circles, he was acquainted with many lights of the age, including Petrarch and the famous mathematician, philosopher and music theorist Nicole Oresme. He died in Paris on 9 June 1361.

Music
Philippe de Vitry is most famous in music history for the Ars nova notandi (1322), a treatise on music attributed to him that lent its name to the music of the entire era. While his authorship and the very existence of this treatise have recently come into question, a handful of his musical works do survive and show the innovations in musical notation, particularly mensural and rhythmic, with which he was credited within a century of their inception. Such innovations as are exemplified in his stylistically attributed motets for the Roman de Fauvel were particularly important, and made possible the free and quite complex music of the next hundred years, culminating in the Ars subtilior. In some ways the "modern" system of rhythmic notation began with the Ars Nova, during which music might be said to have "broken free" from the older idea of the rhythmic modes, patterns which were repeated without being individually notated. The notational predecessors of modern time meters also originate in the Ars Nova.

He is reputed to have written chansons and motets, but only some of the motets have survived. Each is strikingly individual, exploiting a unique structural idea. He is also often credited with developing the concept of isorhythm (an isorhythmic line consists of repeating patterns of rhythms and pitches, but the patterns overlap rather than correspond; e.g., a line of thirty consecutive notes might contain five repetitions of a six-note melody or six repetitions of a five-note rhythm).

Five of his three-part motets have survived in the Roman de Fauvel; an additional nine can be found in the Ivrea Codex.

Works
While there is still debate about what Vitry did and did not compose, the first sixteen works here, all motets, are widely considered to be his.

 * Attributed on strong historical evidence

 * 1) Aman novi / Heu Fortuna / Heu me, tristis est anima mea
 * 2) Cum statua / Hugo / Magister invidie
 * 3) Douce playsence / Garison / Neuma quinti toni
 * 4) Floret / Florens / Neuma
 * 5) Garrit gallus / In nova fert / Neuma
 * 6) Impudenter circuivi / Virtutibus / Contratenor / Tenor
 * 7) O canenda / Rex quem / Contratenor / Rex regum
 * 8) Petre clemens / Lugentium / Tenor
 * 9) Tribum / Quoniam secta / Merito hec patimur
 * 10) Tuba sacre fidei / In arboris / Virgo sum
 * 11) Vos quid admiramini / Gratissima / Contratenor / Gaude gloriosa

Note: The motet Phi millies / O creator / Iacet granum / Quam sufflabit and the ballade De terre en grec Gaulle appellee are securely attributed to Vitry, but no music for the latter survives, whilst the former survives only fragmentarily (see Zayaruznaya, 2018).

 * Attributed on a combination of weaker historical evidence and stylistic grounds

 * 1) Colla iugo / Bona condit / Libera me Domine
 * 2) Firmissime / Adesto / Alleluya, Benedictus
 * 3) Flos ortus / Celsa cedrus / Tenor
 * 4) Orbis orbatus / Vos pastores / Fur non venit (less widely accepted)
 * 5) Quid scire proderit / Dantur officia (less widely accepted)

 * Attributed on stylistic grounds alone (not widely accepted)

 * 1) Almifonis / Rosa / Tenor
 * 2) Amer / Durement / Dolor meus
 * 3) Apta caro / Flos / Alma redemptorisa mater
 * 4) In virtute / Decens carmen / Clamor meus / Contratenor
 * 5) O Philippe / O bone
 * 6) Per grama protho paret
 * 7) Scariotis / Jure
 * 8) Se cuers / Rex
 * 9) Se paour / Diex / Concupisco
 * 10) Servant regem / O Philippe / Rex regum

Recordings
2009 – ''En un gardin. Les quatre saisons de l'Ars Nova. Manuscrits de Stavelot, Mons, Utrecht, Leiden.'' Capilla Flamenca. MEW 0852. Contains recordings of "Vos quid admiramini virginem / Gratissima virginis / Gaude gloriosa" and "Adesto sancta trinitas / Firmissime fidem / Alleluia Benedicta" by Philippe de Vitry.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Philippe de Vitry


text: User:WikiDon

title: User:WikiDon


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Femslash

Femslash (also known as "f/f slash", "f/f", "femmeslash", "altfic" and "saffic") is a genre which focuses on romantic and/or sexual relationships between female fictional characters.

Characteristics
Typically, characters featured in femslash are heterosexual in the canon universe; however, similar fan fiction about lesbian or bisexual female characters is commonly labeled as femslash for convenience. The term is generally applied only to fanworks based on Western fandoms; the nearest anime/manga equivalents are more often called yuri and shōjo-ai fanfiction. "Saffic" is a portmanteau of Sapphic from the term Sapphic love and fiction. "Altfic" as a term for fanfiction about loving relationships between women was popularized by Xena fans.

There is less femslash than there is slash based on male couples; for example, in The Lord of the Rings fandom, only a small number of femslash stories are written about the Arwen/Éowyn pairing in comparison to slash between the male characters. It has been suggested that heterosexual female slash authors generally do not write femslash, and that it is rare to find a fandom with two sufficiently engaging female characters. Janeway/Seven is the main Star Trek femslash pairing, as only they have "an on-screen relationship fraught with deep emotional connection and conflict". Although it is debated whether fanfiction about canon lesbians such as Willow and Tara of Buffy the Vampire Slayer counts as "slash", their relationship storylines are more coy than heterosexual ones, which entices Willow/Tara femslash authors to fill in the gaps in the known relationship storyline. It is "relatively recently" that male writers have begun writing femslash, and this entry of males into femslash has occurred within Buffy femslash. The femslash authorship is mostly female. As of 2006, femslash is enjoying increasing popularity and is the "dominant form" of slash in some fandoms.

History
Femslash was relatively rare in fanfiction communities until the 1990s. The show Xena: Warrior Princess served as one of the first major femslash fandoms, with the relationship Xena/Gabrielle, and also served as one of the first major fandoms where alternative universe fics were widely written.

The television show The L Word set up a contest at the website FanLib.com where fans could submit a femme slash fanfic. The winner's story was incorporated into a scene of a third-season episode.

In more recent TV series, such as Rizzoli and Isles, Warehouse 13, Orange Is the New Black, Supergirl and Once Upon a Time, the slash-shipping portions of the fandoms are significant, particularly in online forums.

title: Femslash


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Talk:List of film genres

01:58, 8 Mar 2004 62.31.108.18 (removed machinima - production technique, not genre)

But under the entry for machinima, it says

"Machinima (a portmanteau word for machine cinema) is both a film genre and a collection of associated production techniques."

Only one can be right. The other should be changed.

Distinctions between categories of categories
 These distinctions between genre, style, and format seem pretty artificial. I've never seen the like outside of the Wikipedia, and I'd love to see some references--or have they indeed been invented for the purposes of this page? Generally speaking, heist is not a genre--it is a story archetype. You can have Western heists, noir heists, sci-fi heists, etc. There is nothing in the definition of a heist film that has to do with genre, except in the outline of plot conventions. Comedy, which is generally considered to be a genre, does not qualify under the definition provided here. A comedy is not considered a comedy because it is about something, it is considered a comedy because it was made in a certain filmmaking mode: designed to provoke laughter. The broad category of comedy does not define storylines, characters, visual styles, premises, settings, subject matters, or anything along those lines, and as such, that, by the definition provided here, keeps it from being a genre. Film noir, on the other hand, is a category defined mostly by subject matter, which, by the definition provided here, would make it a genre. It is listed under style, however. As a style, it is in no way distinct from expressionism--what sets it apart is the subject matter, as well as the collection of conventions (archetypal storylines, character archetypes, plot twists). This would in fact make it more of a genre as defined on this page than most any other film category listed under "genre".
 * This page smacks of primary research and arbitrary definitions. Characteristic style is generally considered to be one of the most defining aspects of a genre.  Unless people can provide some external references to support the article as it is currently written, I'm going to nominate it for an overhaul and see that it gets rewritten.
 * I agree that there should be some change, as it is, the article currently doesn't divide the complex world of films in small number of easy to grasp packages; The number of genres is huge and they are not on the same level. E.g. "comedy" and "fantasy" are well established genres, but "propaganda" is often non-fictional and everything can be an "art" film if it's made well enough. Grouping things is a good strategy to cut down on the size of genres, even if I can't cite any academical references.
 * I think we could group those "genres" into "technical genres", like 3D, Machinima, Short, "story genres" (what screenwriters would call the technical type of storyline) like comedy, drama, satire, melodrama, thriller, horror etc. and "domain genres" (what's the most apparent element), like cop film, road movie, circus film, medieval film, baseball film.
 * I think this separation would fit the bill especially well, since "genre" is not a one-dimensional attribute: A cop film can be a drama, it can be a comedy or a thriller. Plus it can be 3D cop comedy or a short cop comedy. But any film will at least choose one from all three genre types. Comments? Peter S. 17:16, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Merge with Cinematic genre?
At first sight this list seems to overlap considerably with Cinematic genre. Would there be any objections to my merging them and redirecting one article to another? --Tony Sidaway|Talk 23:41, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

 * I say go for it GTBacchus 02:38, 12 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Works for me -- go ahead. Just remember that people are going to be continuing to look for a place to list genres as new articles about teen films and the like get written.  Make it easy for them to add to a list or find a place for new additions in paragraphs of prose.  — Catherine\talk 05:25, 12 July 2005 (UTC)
 * God idea. I'd say leave this page intact, and redirect the other to this place, since this article title is simpler. Peter S. 17:23, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Avant-garde
Would an avant-garde film qualify as a type of genre or style? Also, would a caper (a heist film that also contains humor) be the same as the heist genre?

title: Talk:List of film genres


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Provinces of Panama

Panama is divided into ten provinces (provincias) and four provincial-level indigenous regions (Spanish: comarcas indígenas, often shortened to comarcas).

There are also two indigenous regions within provinces that are considered equivalent to a corregimiento (municipality).

title: Provinces of Panama


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Michael D. Barnes

Michael Darr Barnes (born September 3, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician who represented the eighth district of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1987.

Early life
Born in Washington, D.C. to John P. Barnes former general counsel to C&P Telephone Company, and Vernon S. Barnes. His grandfather John P. Barnes was a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Barnes moved to Chevy Chase in Montgomery County, Maryland at age 13.

Personal life
Barnes married Claudia Dillon Fangboner in 1970. He has two daughters, Dillon and Garrie.

Career
After serving in the Marine Corps (1967 to 1969), being discharged with the rank of corporal, Barnes attended George Washington University and obtained a Juris Doctor degree in 1972. Barnes served on the Maryland Public Service Commission. Barnes served as executive director of the 1976 Democratic party platform committee. Barnes served in both private and government practice until his election to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1978.

Tenure in Congress
During the first session of the 99th Congress, he was the chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As a member of Congress, Barnes was generally an outspoken critic of Ronald Reagan's Central America policy, although he did in 1983 call the United States invasion of Grenada "justified," after a personal trip to the island. In 1986, Barnes lost the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Maryland to Barbara Mikulski and retired to private legal practice.

Later career
Following his congressional service, Barnes was President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Chair of the Center for National Policy, Chair of the Governor's Commission on Growth in the Chesapeake Bay Region and a member of the Boards of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, University of Maryland Foundation, Center for International Policy, Public Voice, and the Overseas Development Council. Prior to his service in Congress, Barnes was a Commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission and Vice Chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission.

From 2000 through 2006, he served as president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Barnes was Senior Of Counsel in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling. He retired as senior counsel at Covington & Burling LLP in December 2010.

Barnes joined the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in April 2011 as Principal Director representing Montgomery County and the State of Maryland. He is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC. Barnes is also a member of the Inter-American Dialogue and the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.

He was appointed to be a member of the Office of Congressional Ethics, a nonpartisan, independent committee charged with overseeing outside ethics complaints against members of Congress.

Education
Barnes attended the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. He graduated from Principia High School in St. Louis, Missouri in 1962. He earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1965, where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He attended the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland from 1965 to 1966. He attained his J.D. from George Washington University in 1972.

title: Michael D. Barnes


text:
Congress of Paraguay

Paraguay's bicameral Congress (Congreso) consists of a 45-member Senate and an 80-member Chamber of Deputies. It serves as the legislative branch of the Paraguayan state.

Both chambers of Congress are elected concurrently with the president by means of a proportional representation system. Deputies are elected by department and senators on a nationwide basis.

title: Congress of Paraguay


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Governorates of Oman

Oman is divided into eleven governorates (muhafazah) as of 28 October 2011. Each of the 11 governorates are divided into wilayat (provinces).

Regions and governorates before 2011
Before 28 October 2011, Oman was divided into five regions (mintaqah) and four governorates (muhafazah). The governorates were Muscat, Dhofar, Buraimi and Musandam. Buraimi Governorate was created in October 2006 from parts of Ad Dhahirah Region. The regions are further subdivided into 61 wilayat. Each region has one or more regional center with a grand total of 12.

title: Governorates of Oman


text:
User:Ashmodai

Trivia

 * Name: Alan Plum
 * Gender: Male
 * Nationality: German
 * Religion: Discordian Determinist Atheist

Interests

 * Mediaeval combat reenactment
 * Computer programming (Python)
 * Web standards (HTML5, CSS, Accessibility, ...)
 * Web development
 * Metal
 * Philosophy

License
All my contributions fall under the default license as stated below.

title: User:Ashmodai


text:
U.S. Route 141

US Highway 141 (US 141) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the states of Wisconsin and Michigan. The highway runs north-northwesterly from an interchange with Interstate 43 (I-43) in Bellevue, Wisconsin, near Green Bay, to a junction with US 41/M-28 near Covington, Michigan. In between, it follows city streets in Green Bay and has a concurrent section with US 41 in Wisconsin. North of Green Bay, US 141 is either a freeway or an expressway into rural northern Wisconsin before downgrading to an undivided highway. In Michigan, US 141 is an undivided highway that runs through rural woodlands. The highway has two segments in each state; after running through Wisconsin for about 103 mi, it crosses into Michigan for approximately another 8 mi. After that, it crosses back into Wisconsin for about 14+1/2 mi before crossing the state line one last time. The northernmost Michigan section is about 43+1/2 mi, making the overall length about 169 mi.

When the US Highway System was formed on November 11, 1926, US 141 ran from Milwaukee to Green Bay, and one segment of the modern highway in Michigan was originally designated US Highway 102 (US 102). This other designation was decommissioned in 1928 when US 141 was extended north from Green Bay into Michigan. Michigan has rebuilt the highway in stages over the years to smooth out sharp curves in the routing. Since the 1960s, the section south of Green Bay has been converted into a freeway in segments. US 141 has ended southeast of Green Bay in Bellevue since the 1980s—the southern freeway segment was redesignated as I-43. The section north of Abrams, Wisconsin, was converted to a freeway in the opening years of the 21st century, with an additional divided-highway section opening a few years later.

Route description
As a bi-state highway, US 141 is a state trunk highway in Wisconsin and a state trunkline highway in Michigan. In Wisconsin, the segment through the Green Bay area is not on the National Highway System (NHS), except for about four blocks along Broadway Avenue that is part of an intermodal connector with the Port of Green Bay. The NHS is a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. From the Green Bay suburb of Howard northward, including the entire length through Michigan, US 141 is a part of the NHS. From the I-43 interchange in Howard north to the split at Abrams, US 141 is also a part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour (LMCT), a tourist route that surrounds Lake Michigan.

Green Bay to Niagara
US 141 starts at an interchange with I-43 southeast of Green Bay in the suburb of Bellevue. From the terminus at exit 178, US 141 runs north to Main Street, and then northwesterly along Main Street through town. Wisconsin Highway 29 (WIS 29) merges with US 141 at an intersection on the northwest side of Bellevue, and the two highways run concurrently through residential subdivisions. Main Street passes over I-43 and continues to the north and into the city of Green Bay. US 141/WIS 29 crosses Baird Creek and runs along the banks of the East River. At the intersection with Monroe Avenue, WIS 29 turns south, joining WIS 54/WIS 57 while US 141 continues westward on Main Street to cross the Fox River on the Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge. On the west side of the river, the highway follows Dousman Street for a block before turning north along Broadway Avenue for four blocks. From there, the highway follows Mather Street west to Velp Avenue. US 141 follows that street northwesterly and parallel to I-43 on the north side of Green Bay. This area is mostly residential with some businesses immediately on either side. In the suburb of Howard, US 141 merges onto the I-41/US 41 freeway via the interchange at exit 170. I-41/US 41/US 141 has an interchange for I-43 just south of the Duck Creek crossing, where I-41 terminates.

From Howard northward, the freeway runs through suburban Brown County to Suamico, parallel to a line of the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad (ELS), through a mixture of farm fields and residential subdivisions. There are frontage roads on both sides of the freeway to provide access to the properties immediately adjacent to US 41/US 141. There are a number of interchanges with county-maintained roads between Suamico and Abrams in Oconto County. At Abrams, US 141 splits from US 41 and heads northward while the latter freeway turns northeasterly. The landscape north of the split transitions to forest, and the freeway crosses the Oconto River in Stiles south of the interchange with WIS 22. The freeway bypasses Lena to the east. It crosses a railroad track at the surface and continues north through mixed farm fields and forest to the county line. North of the line, US 141 continues to the Marinette County communities of Coleman and Pound as an expressway. There is another grade railroad crossing at Pound. Through Coleman and Pound there is also a Business US 141. Past the latter town, US 141 transitions from expressway to a two-lane undivided highway.

South of Crivitz, US 141 crosses the Peshtigo River. The highway crosses a branch line of the ELS on the east side of Crivitz and continues north through woodland to the community of Middle Inlet. North of town, the roadway turns northeasterly to the community of Wausaukee where it intersects WIS 180. From there, the highway passes through the communities of Amberg and Beecher before coming into Pembine, where US 8 merges in from the west. The two highways run concurrently north and northeasterly to an intersection southeast of Niagara. US 8 separates to the east, and US 141 turns northwesterly along River Street into Niagara. The highway then turns north along Roosevelt Road and over the Menominee River to exit the state of Wisconsin.

Quinnesec northward
Once in Michigan, 1 mi west of Quinnesec, US 141 meets and joins US 2. The two highways run concurrently westward into Iron Mountain along Stephenson Avenue, passing through a retail business corridor and into downtown. M-95 joins the two highways, and all three pass Lake Antoine. M-95 turns off north of town and US 2/US 141 crosses the Menominee River back into Wisconsin.

US 2/US 141 makes a 14.5 mi run through Florence County, passing the Spread Eagle Chain of Lakes. The highway serves the communities of Spread Eagle and Florence. The only junction with another state trunk highway in Wisconsin on the northern section is with the concurrent highways WIS 70/WIS 101 in Florence. The highway crosses back into Michigan on a bridge over the Brule River south of Crystal Falls.

Across the state line, the trunkline runs through forest near several smaller bodies of water such as Stager, Kennedy, and Railroad lakes. The highway enters Crystal Falls on 5th Street. US 2/US 141 runs along the top of the hill in town and intersects the western terminus of M-69 next to the Iron County Courthouse. US 141 continues westward on Crystal Avenue and separates from the US 2 concurrency on the western edge of town. Running north and northwesterly, US 141 passes to the east of the Ottawa National Forest through rural Iron County. The highway crosses the Paint River and continues through forest to the community of Amasa. The trunkline crosses the Hemlock River on the west side of town. From there, US 141 runs northward into the southwest corner of Baraga County and also enters the Eastern Time Zone. West of Worm Lake, US 141 meets M-28 in the community of Covington. The two highways merge and run easterly for about 4 mi before US 141 terminates at US 41; M-28 continues eastward, merging with US 41.

Initial state highways
In 1918, when Wisconsin initially numbered its highway system, the route of what later became US 141 followed two separate state highways: WIS 17 from downtown Milwaukee to Manitowoc and WIS 16 from Manitowoc north to Green Bay. Segments that later became US 141 in Wisconsin were numbered WIS 15 between Green Bay and Abrams, and WIS 38 between Abrams and Wausaukee. North of Wausaukee, the future US Highway was an unnumbered secondary highway. In 1919, Michigan signed its highway system, but the state did not have a highway running south from Quinnesec to the state line. The highway from Quinnesec into Iron Mountain was part of M-12. The segment through Florence County, Wisconsin, was WIS 69, and from the Crystal Falls area north to Covington, the M-69 moniker was used. In 1919, the WIS 38 designation was extended northward to Niagara and the state line. The highway was straightened to eliminate a series of sharp curves between Crivitz and Beaver in 1921. The same year, WIS 17 was realigned between Sheboygan and Cedar Grove to run via Oostburg. WIS 17 was also realigned in 1922 to follow a separate routing south of Port Washington; previously it was routed concurrently with WIS 57 in the area. By 1924, maps showed an unnumbered roadway running south from Quinnesec to connect with WIS 57 at the state line.

Conversion to a US Highway
As originally proposed in 1925, several US Highways in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula were to be designated. However, the routings for two highways were different in Michigan in 1925 than on the final 1926 map. In the original plan, US 102 was supposed to replace M-15 from US 2 at Rapid River, continue via Marquette to Humboldt, and the highway between Crystal Falls and Covington was not included in the system. However, when the final plan was approved and implemented on November 11, 1926, US 41 took the eastern routing through Rapid River and Marquette, and US 102 was routed between Crystal Falls and Covington. In both plans, US 141 was only routed between Milwaukee and Green Bay, replacing WIS 17 and WIS 16. At the time the two US Highways were created, WIS 57 was left untouched between Abrams and Niagara. The next year, the M-57 designation was assigned to connect WIS 57 to Quinnesec, and US 8 was extended to follow US 141 to US 2 near Iron Mountain.

On November 12, 1928, the extension of US 141 northward from Green Bay along WIS 57 to the Michigan state line had been approved; the signage was readied for installation the previous month. The US 102 designation was decommissioned when US 141 was also extended to replace M-57 from the state line, along US 2 to Crystal Falls and north to Covington. US 8's eastern end was rerouted along a separate bridge over the Menominee River to a new terminus at an intersection with US 2 in Norway in 1929. US 141 was fully paved in Wisconsin in the early 1930s; the last segment to be completed was between Pound and Abrams.

The next major changes were made at the beginning of the 1930s in Michigan. A realignment in the Iron Mountain area shifted US 2/US 141 to a new bridge over the Menominee River between 1932 and 1934. In 1940, a new routing from the state line north to Crystal Falls was opened; the previous routing was returned to local control. The northern end was relocated near Covington in late 1948 or early 1949 when US 41 was realigned in the area. This terminus was shifted again when US 141/M-28 was realigned in the area in late 1955 or early 1956.

Freeway era
At about the same time as the realignments in Michigan, two-lane bypasses of Manitowoc and Port Washington in Wisconsin were opened in 1957. The state built a divided-highway segment that opened the following year running from the Milwaukee area northward to the Ozaukee–Milwaukee county line. The highway was rerouted to run further inland, bypassing Haven, Wisconsin, in 1959. In late 1961, the highway in Michigan was rebuilt in northern Iron and southern Baraga counties between Amasa and Covington as the state smoothed out sharp corners in the routing and finished paving US 141; a similar project was completed in 1972 south of Amasa to Crystal Falls.

Wisconsin proposed an addition to the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s to connect Green Bay, the state's third-largest city, to the system. Variations on this proposal included using either the US 41 or US 141 corridors, or a new corridor in between. This request was rejected in the 1950s, but it was approved in the 1960s. After approval, the state started the process to convert US 141 between Milwaukee and Abrams into a freeway. The first segments of freeway were opened in the Milwaukee area, starting in 1963 between Locust Street and Good Hope Road. The following year, an extension of the freeway opened southward from Locust to North Avenue. By 1965, the bypass of Sheboygan was opened; the Milwaukee area freeway was extended northward to Brown Deer Road the following year. Another freeway segment in the Milwaukee area opened in 1967, extending northward to Grafton in Ozaukee County. The last section of US 141 in the city of Milwaukee to open as a freeway was completed in 1968 when I-94 was finished through downtown; at the same time, US 141 was extended southward from North Avenue to meet I-94.

Another freeway section from north of Green Bay to Suamico was opened in 1971. In 1972, the divided-highway segment between Suamico and Abrams opened, and the state started the construction of additional freeways between Green Bay and Milwaukee. The bypasses of Sheboygan and Cedar Grove were converted to full freeways in 1973. Another segment of freeway opened in 1975 that bypassed Port Washington and connected the freeway sections that ended near Grafton and Cedar Grove. I-43 was first designated on the 1978 official state highway map along US 141 from Milwaukee to Sheboygan; missing segments of I-43 between Green Bay and Milwaukee are shown as either under construction or proposed. In November of that year, the 9 mi section bypassing Maribel opened. In October 1980, the 33 mi segment of freeway between Sheboygan and Denmark opened. At the same time, the northern bypass of Green Bay was under construction and I-43/US 141 was open from Maribel to Branch northwest of Manitowoc; US 141 was truncated to end at the northern end of the Sheboygan bypass. I-43 was initially completed in 1981, and the southern terminus of US 141 was moved again, truncating the highway to end in Bellevue by 1983.

In 1986, the states in the Great Lakes region created the LMCT as part of a larger program of tourist routes in the region; US 141 carries the LMCT between the northern I-43 junction in the Green Bay area north to the split with US 41 at Abrams. In the first years of the 21st century, US 141 was expanded to a four-lane expressway northward from Abrams to Oconto Falls. A further upgrade in 2006 expanded the highway to four-lanes northward to Beaver. On April 7, 2015, the segment of US 141 that runs concurrently with US 41 on the west side of Green Bay was designated a part of I-41 by the Federal Highway Administration.

Business routes
Three business routes of US 141 have existed. Two of these routes have been decommissioned.

Coleman–Pound
Business U.S. Highway 141 (Bus. US 141) is a business loop of US 141 that runs through the communities of Coleman and Pound. The loop follows County Trunk Highway B (CTH-B) northeasterly from the US 141 expressway into downtown Coleman and then turns northward near Coleman High School. Bus. US 141 continues northward into Pound, crossing the Peshtigo River in between the two communities. North of Pound, the loop crosses over US 141 on 21st Road and continues to an intersection with WIS 64. The business loop follows WIS 64 back to an interchange on US 141 northwest of Pound where the loop terminates.

In 2006, the US 141 expressway was extended northward near Beaver, and the former route of US 141, plus a connector roadway southwest of downtown Coleman was designated as a business loop. This route does not appear on the official Wisconsin Department of Transportation maps, so it is a locally designated business loop under local maintenance.

Manitowoc
Business U.S. Highway 141 (Bus. US 141) was a business loop of US 141 that was signed along US 151 and US 10 through downtown Manitowoc. The route was created in 1975, and decommissioned in 1980.

Sheboygan
Business U.S. Highway 141 (Bus. US 141) was a business loop of US 141 that served downtown Sheboygan. The route was created when an expressway bypass of Sheboygan was finished in the early 1970s, and replaced with a business loop of WIS 42 when I-43 was finished and US 141 was truncated in 1980.

title: U.S. Route 141


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States and federal territories of Malaysia

The states and federal territories of Malaysia are the principal administrative divisions of Malaysia. Malaysia is a federation of 13 states (Negeri) and 3 federal territories (Wilayah Persekutuan).

States and federal territories
Eleven states and two federal territories are located on the Malay Peninsula, collectively called Peninsular Malaysia (Semenanjung Malaysia) or West Malaysia. Two states are on the island of Borneo, and the remaining federal territory consists of islands offshore of Borneo; they are collectively referred to as East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo. Out of the 13 states in Malaysia, 9 are monarchies.

Governance
The governance of the states is divided between the federal government and the state governments, while the federal territories are directly administered by the federal government. The specific responsibilities of the federal and the state governments are listed in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of Malaysia. Theoretically, any matter not set out in the Ninth Schedule can be legislated on by the individual states. However, legal scholars generally view this as a "pauper's bequest" because of the large scope of the matters listed in the Ninth Schedule. The courts themselves have generally favoured a broad interpretation of the language of the Ninth Schedule, thus limiting the number of possible subjects not covered. The Ninth Schedule specifically lists the following matters as those that can only be legislated on by the states: land tenure, the Islamic religion, and local government.

Nine of the peninsular states, based on historical Malay kingdoms, are known as the Malay states. Each Malay state has a hereditary ruler as titular head of state and an executive Chief Minister or Menteri Besar as politically responsible head of government. The rulers of Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor and Terengganu are styled Sultans. Negeri Sembilan's elective ruler holds the title of Yamtuan Besar, whereas the ruler of Perlis is titled Raja. The federal head of state, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (commonly referred to as "King" in English) is elected (de facto rotated) among the nine rulers to serve a 5-year term. Former British settlements and crown colonies of Penang and Malacca (both peninsular), and Sabah and Sarawak (both on Borneo) each have a titular Governor (styled Yang di-Pertua Negeri) appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and an executive Chief Minister or Ketua Menteri. except for Sarawak whose head of government is styled 'Premier'.

While the population of Malaysia is ethnically and religiously diverse, such diversity is spread throughout the country and not inherently reflected by the borders of the states. There is a significant distinction however between the peninsular states and the two states of East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, which have significant indigenous populations. Both states have greater autonomy that those on the peninsula, including additional powers over their immigration controls as part of the 20-point agreement and 18-point agreement drawn up by the respective states when they, together with the Federation of Malaya and Singapore, formed Malaysia. They have separate immigration policies and controls and a unique residency status. Passports are required even for Peninsular Malaysians for travelling between either state and Peninsular Malaysia, or between the two states, however those who are on social/business visits up to three months are allowed to produce a MyKad or birth certificate and obtain a special printout form in lieu of a passport.

Each state has a unicameral legislature called Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN, State Assembly). Members of DUN are elected from single-member constituencies drawn based on population. The state leader of the majority party in DUN is usually appointed Chief Minister by the Ruler or Governor. The term of DUN members is five years unless the assembly is dissolved earlier by the Ruler or Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. Usually, DUN of the states in Peninsular Malaysia are dissolved in conjunction with the dissolution of the federal parliament, to have state elections running concurrently with the parliamentary election. However, Rulers and Governors hold discretionary powers in withholding consent to dissolve the DUN. Each state sends two senators elected by the DUN to the Dewan Negara (Senate), the upper house of the federal parliament.

The Parliament of Malaysia is permitted to legislate on issues of land, Islamic religion and local government to provide for a uniform law between different states, or on the request of the state assembly concerned. The law in question must also be passed by the state assembly as well, except in the case of certain land law-related subjects. Non-Islamic issues that fall under the purview of the state may also be legislated on at the federal level for the purpose of conforming with Malaysian treaty obligations. Each state is further divided into districts, which are then divided into mukim. In Sabah and Sarawak districts are grouped into "Divisions".

The 3 federal territories were formed for different purposes: Kuala Lumpur is the national capital, Putrajaya is the administrative centre of the federal government, and Labuan serves as an offshore financial centre. Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya were carved out of Selangor, while Labuan was ceded by Sabah. The territories fall under the purview of the Ministry of the Federal Territories, and the Parliament of Malaysia legislates on all matters concerning the territories. Each federal territory elects representatives from single-member constituencies drawn based on population to the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) of the Parliament. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong appoints senators to represent the territories in the Dewan Negara; Kuala Lumpur has two senators, while Putrajaya and Labuan each has one.

The local governments for the territories varies: Kuala Lumpur is administered by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur), headed by an appointed mayor (Datuk Bandar), while Putrajaya is administered by the Putrajaya Corporation (Perbadanan Putrajaya) and Labuan by the Labuan Corporation (Perbadanan Labuan); each corporation is headed by a chairman.

Sabah and Sarawak
The states of Sabah and Sarawak merged with the existing states of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement in 1963 to form the independent state of Malaysia. Representatives from Sabah and Sarawak demanded a higher degree of autonomy as part of the bargain which were included in the 20-point agreement and 18-point agreement respectively. While both states arguably joined the federation as equals to Malaya, the Malayan government and constitution became the Malaysian government and constitution. The constitutional amendment codifying the enlarged federation initially listed Sabah and Sarawak separately to the other states, however it was later amended again to list both these entities together with the other states, suggesting a status equal to the original states of Malaya. Sabah and Sarawak still retained a higher degree of autonomy than the peninsular states in areas such as immigration, state revenue, and legislative power over land and local government. However, federal influence over their politics increased over time, including direct interference in the state assemblies.

Restoration of Sabah and Sarawak status
In conjunction with the celebration of Malaysia Day in 2018 under the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad promised to restore Sabah and Sarawak status in the Malaysian federation in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement, restoring "their status from merely a state to an equal partner of the Malayan states". Although the status of both entities were clearly defined in Article I, Malaysia Agreement 1963 as 'states' which shall be federated with the existing states of the Federation of Malaya. However, through the process of the amendment, the bill failed to pass following the failure to reach two-thirds majority support (148 votes) in the Parliament with only 138 agreed with the move while 59 abstained from the voting. Nevertheless, the Malaysian federal government agreed to review the 1963 agreement to remedy breaches of the treaty with the "Special Cabinet Committee To Review the Malaysia Agreement" and directed a Special Task Force Team (Taskforce MA63) to prepare a final report on the 1963 agreement before 31 August 2019.

Two years after the failed attempt, on 16 September 2021, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob pledged to look into issues relating to Sabah and Sarawak via the Special Council on Malaysia Agreement 1963, with negotiations being chaired by the Prime Minister, joined by the Chief Ministers of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as eight federal ministers. On 19 October 2021, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Maximus Ongkili announced a Bill to be tabled in the coming Parliament sitting after the Special Council on Malaysia Agreement 1963 agreed to Articles 1(2) and 160(2) of the Federal Constitution to restore Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners to Peninsular Malaysia. The proposed law differs from the 2019 proposed amendments by the then Pakatan Harapan government, being tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Parliament) Wan Junaidi. Discussions on restoring Sabahans and Sarawakians' rights will continue in the meantime. The same meeting also saw the council agree to empower both the Sabah and Sarawah governments to issue deep fishing licences as opposed to the federal government currently. The amendments were tabled on 3 November 2021, consisting of four changes, being restoring Sabah and Sarawak as "partners", defining Malaysia Day as the day when Sabah and Sarawak joined and changes to the definition of the Federation, and defining who are natives of Sabah and Sarawak. On 14 December 2021, the proposed amendment was passed in the Parliament unanimously with 199 votes in favour, and 21 MPs absent from the 6-hour long debate. On 6 January 2022, Minister Ongkili announced the setting up of a joint technical committee to study Sabah's proposal for increased annual grants in addition to a counteroffer from the Federal Government.

Singapore and Brunei
Singapore was a Malaysian state from the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963 until it was expelled from the Federation on 9 August 1965. During its time as a state of Malaysia, Singapore had autonomy in the areas of education and labour and was the smallest state in Malaysia by land area, but the largest by population.

Brunei was invited to join the Federation but decided not to in the end due to several issues, such as the status of the Sultan within Malaysia, division of Bruneian oil royalties, and pressure from opposition groups which amounted to the Brunei Revolt.


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User talk:Mioi

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Nijntje is a Rabbit
I like Nijntje.. also known as Miffy.

Proposed deletion of Miyuki Baker

The article Miyuki Baker has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern: "School newspapers, blogs, podcats, etc., seem to be the only available sources. I cannot find any source material demonstrating notability."

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Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Seraphimblade Talk to me 22:34, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

title: User talk:Mioi


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Regions of Mali

Since 2016, Mali has been divided into ten regions and one capital district. A reorganization of the country from eight to nineteen regions was passed into law in 2012, but of the new regions, only Taoudénit (partitioned from Tombouctou Region) and Ménaka (formerly Ménaka Cercle in Gao Region) have begun to be implemented. Each of the regions bears the name of its capital. The regions are divided into 56 cercles. The cercles and the capital district are divided into 703 communes.

Demographics
The most populated region is Sikasso with 2.648 million people, and the least most populated is Kidal with just 38 thousand people.

Geography
Though five regions are composed of mainly desert, they also have half the country's land mass. The largest region is Taoudénit and the smallest is Ségou, excluding Bamako.

Regions
The regions are numbered, originally west to east, with Roman numerals. The capital Bamako is administered separately and is in its own district. The ten regions and the Bamako District are listed below. The population figures are from the 1998 and 2009 censuses.

title: Regions of Mali


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William Durant

William Durant may refer to:
 * Will Durant (1885–1981), historian and philosopher
 * William C. Durant (1861–1947), industrialist and founder of General Motors Corporation
 * William West Durant (1850–1934), architect and developer of camps in the Adirondack Great Camp style
 * William A. Durant (1866–1948), American politician in Oklahoma

title: William Durant


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Marquis Grissom

Marquis Deon Grissom (born April 17, 1967) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Francisco Giants between 1989 and 2005.

With the Expos, Grissom led the National League (NL) in stolen bases in 1991 and 1992, and represented the NL in the MLB All-Star Game in 1993 and 1994. He won the 1995 World Series as a member of the Braves. Grissom won four consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1993 to 1996.

Early life and amateur career
Grissom was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the second-youngest of sixteen children of Marion and Julia Grissom. Grissom was one of fifteen children who survived infancy. He grew up in Red Oak, Georgia, in a house which his father built from scratch while working on the assembly line at the Atlanta Assembly, a Ford plant. Grissom could not afford to play organized baseball in early childhood. When Grissom was 8 or 10 years old, he struck a police officer's Cadillac with a rock thrown from a great distance. The officer, who was impressed by the throw, agreed not to charge Grissom if later he would join his youth baseball team.

Grissom attended Lakeshore High School in College Park. He was offered college scholarships in baseball, football and track and field.

Grissom played baseball at Florida A&M University as a pitcher and outfielder. He played two seasons with the Rattlers in 1987 and 1988 during which time he posted a .408 batting average. In 1988, he scored more runs per game and hit more triples per game than any other player in Division I. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of that season's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference baseball tournament after pitching two complete games and maintaining a .643 batting average. He was inducted into the MEAC Hall of Fame in 2014.

Montreal Expos
In 1988, the Montreal Expos selected Grissom with the 76th overall pick in the amateur draft, as part of that draft's third round. He had been considered a prospect as both a pitcher and an outfielder, but the Expos decided to have him work solely as a position player. He made his professional debut with the Jamestown Expos of the New York–Penn League that fall and advanced quickly through the system, first appearing in the majors on August 22, 1989. He showed steady improvement for the next few seasons, gradually developing into a star as Montreal's leadoff hitter and center fielder. He led the National League in stolen bases in 1991 and 1992, was a member of the NL All-Star team in 1993 and 1994, and won four consecutive Gold Gloves, the first coming in 1993.

Against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 28, 1991, Grissom caught Chris Gwynn's fly ball for the final out of Dennis Martínez's perfect game.

Atlanta Braves
The Expos enjoyed success on the field, but a strike ended the 1994 season before the playoffs, and after baseball resumed the team was forced to trade many of their stars for financial reasons. Grissom was the last of the three highest-paid Expos players at the time to be traded when he was acquired by the Atlanta Braves for Tony Tarasco, Roberto Kelly and Esteban Yan on April 6, 1995. The Braves beat out the Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox to land the deal. The Braves were just beginning a run of dominance in the NL East, and in his first season in Atlanta, they won the World Series with Marquis (the only player on that Braves team who actually was born and raised in Atlanta) securing the final out by catching a fly ball by Carlos Baerga. They returned to the Fall Classic the next season, but failed to defend their title against the New York Yankees.

Cleveland Indians
Teams' financial motivations continued to affect the course of Grissom's career, and in March 1997, he was involved in a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Indians. Hoping to save money that had been committed to long-term contracts, Atlanta traded Grissom and two-time All-Star David Justice to the Indians, receiving in return three-time All-Star Kenny Lofton and setup man Alan Embree. The deal worked out well for Cleveland, as the team went all the way to the World Series, ultimately losing to the Florida Marlins in seven games. Grissom performed exceptionally well in that postseason, winning the MVP award in the ALCS, and completing a 15-game World Series consecutive game hitting streak spanning 3 World Series, the 2nd longest of all time next to Hank Bauer of the New York Yankees.

Later career
That offseason, however, the Indians re-signed Lofton as a free agent, subsequently trading Grissom and pitcher Jeff Juden to the Milwaukee Brewers for pitchers Ben McDonald, Ron Villone, and Mike Fetters. Grissom's production declined as he spent three seasons with the struggling club, and a trade in the spring of 2001 made him a Los Angeles Dodger, sending Devon White to the Brewers in return. Grissom continued to struggle that year, but he enjoyed a strong bounce-back season as a part-time player in 2002. On September 16, 2002, the Dodgers had a crucial game against the San Francisco Giants. In the top of the 9th inning, he robbed Rich Aurilia of a potential game-tying home run to protect the 7–6 victory. The Giants went on to make the playoffs and the Dodgers did not. As a free agent he subsequently attracted the attention of the San Francisco Giants, who had just been defeated in the World Series. San Francisco signed Grissom, and he enjoyed two more productive seasons as their starting center fielder. The Giants were successful as well, winning the NL West in 2003 and missing the wild card by one game in 2004. Marquis won the 2003 Willie Mac Award for his spirit and leadership. On April 8, 2004, Grissom hit the first home run ever at San Diego's Petco Park. Grissom's production dipped again in 2005, and in a season of struggles by the Giants, he was released. On January 3, 2006, the Chicago Cubs signed him to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training as a non-roster player.

Retirement
On March 28, 2006, Grissom retired after a 17-year career. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he knew it was time for him to retire when he began spending more time preparing for games than playing in the games themselves.

In 2011, Grissom received four votes in the Baseball Hall of Fame balloting.

Coaching career
Following his retirement, Grissom became a youth baseball coach. Among other Atlanta-area prospects, Grissom worked with family friend Michael Harris II from his youth through his early professional career. When Harris won the 2022 National League Rookie of the Year Award, he dedicated it to Grissom.

Grissom was hired to become the Washington Nationals first base coach for the 2009 season on October 24, 2008. In November 2009, he was replaced on the coaching staff by Dan Radison.

Personal life
As of 2015, Grissom lived with his wife, Sharron, in Fayetteville and Sandy Springs, Georgia. He has five children, Micah, D'monte, Tiana, Marquis, Jr. and Gabriella. Marquis Jr. is a pitcher in the Washington Nationals organization, having been drafted out of Georgia Tech in the 2022 MLB Draft. During his playing career, Grissom bought houses for his parents and every one of his fourteen siblings.

One year after retiring, Grissom founded the Marquis Grissom Baseball Association, a nonprofit which helps underprivileged youths in the Atlanta area play baseball.

Grissom's younger brother, Antonio, played in the farm systems of the Expos and Philadelphia Phillies.

title: Marquis Grissom


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Regions of Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a federation subdivided into ethno-linguistically based regional states (Amharic: plural: ክልሎች kililoch; singular: ክልል kilil; Oromo: singular: Naannoo; plural: Naannolee) and chartered cities (Amharic: plural: አስተዳደር አካባቢዎች astedader akababiwoch; singular: አስተዳደር አካባቢ astedader akabibi). This system of administrative regions replaced the provinces of Ethiopia in 1992.

As of August 2023, there are twelve regional states and two chartered cities (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa). Being based on ethnicity and language, rather than physical geography or history, the regions vary enormously in area and population; the most notable example is the Harari Region, which has a smaller area and population than either of the chartered cities.

The word "kilil" more specifically means "reservation" or "protected area". The ethnic basis of the regions and choice of the word "kilil", which can also be translated as homeland, has drawn fierce criticism from those in opposition to the ruling party who have drawn comparisons to the bantustans of apartheid South Africa.

Governance
The regions are each governed by a regional council whose members are directly elected to represent woredas (districts). Each council has a president, who is elected by the council. Each region also has an executive committee, whose members are selected by the president from among the councilors and approved by the council. Each region has a sector bureau, which implements the council mandate and reports to the executive committee.

History
Ethiopia was historically divided into provinces. The current system of administrative regions was introduced in 1992 by the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, and was formalised in 1995 when the current Constitution of Ethiopia came into force.

There were 13 regions initially, but five regions were merged to form the multi-ethnic Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region later in 1992, following the first elections of regional councils on 21 June 1992. The country's capital Addis Ababa, and Dire Dawa became chartered cities in 2004.

New regions
During the premiership of Abiy Ahmed, several new regions have been created.

In November 2019, a referendum was held in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, in which voters supported a proposal for Sidama Zone to become a region in its own right. The Sidama Region was created in June 2020.

The South West Ethiopia Region was created on 23 November 2021 following a successful referendum earlier that year. The new region was split off from the SNNPR and consisted of Keffa, Sheka, Bench Sheko, Dawro, and West Omo Zones, along with Konta special district.

On 19 August 2023 the South Ethiopia Regional State created following the 2023 South Ethiopia Region referendum with the remainder becoming the Central Ethiopia Regional State, thus dissolving the SNNPR.

title: Regions of Ethiopia


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Pyrotechnic star

Pyrotechnic stars are pellets of pyrotechnic composition which may contain metal powders, salts or other compounds that, when ignited, burn a certain color or make a certain spark effect. They are a part of all projectile-type fireworks. The most common is the aerial shell. When watching this firework, it will launch into the sky, burning a lifting charge. Once the shell has attained proper altitude, due to other mechanisms within the firework, it will ignite the stars.

Procedure
Stars are either rolled, pumped or cut.

 * Rolled stars are small cores of a hard material (often lead shot or an organic material such as mustard seeds or even cut stars) which are coated in a rotating mixer similar to a concrete mixer. First some water is sprayed on cores. Then an amount of a pyrotechnic composition is dropped into the mixer. These two steps are repeated, and the stars will grow bigger and bigger into a spherical shape.
 * Pumped stars are stars that have been pumped using a star pump. A dampened composition is put in the star pump and is pressed against a flat surface and ejected again, creating cylinder shaped stars.
 * Cut stars is a dampened composition spread out to an even layer on a flat surface. The stars are then cut into cubes.

The stars are allowed to dry for some days before being put into the fireworks piece.

Priming the stars is often necessary because they may be hard to ignite. Priming consists of coating the surface of the star with a more easily ignited substance, such as black powder.

Putting into use
Stars can be used in aerial shells, Roman candles, star mines, and certain bottle rockets. When used in aerial shells, the stars may sometimes be required to be "primed" with an ignition coating, consisting of a pyrotechnic mixture with an ignition temperature lower than that of the star. This is usually done if the star composition does not ignite easily.

title: Pyrotechnic star


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File:Pallas-sentinel-panorama.jpg

Summary
Wraparound cover art from The Sentinel by Pallas. Art by Patrick Woodroffe. Scanned by User:Lee M.

title: File:Pallas-sentinel-panorama.jpg


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User:Sasank

Please edit my page and make it beautiful :-(

My life story....

I am Sasank Jampana from Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India. Completed PG Diploma in Computer science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Started my master's thesis, but didn't have the motivation to go through with it.

I started using linux a couple of years ago. Started out by testing knoppix. Loved the idea of an operating system directly from the cd not disturbing anything in your hard disk. Installed ubuntu after a while and removed windows completely. Now I am "FREE" :-) Though I still use some "non-free" software for watching dvd's. :-O Sasank 13:04, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I would prefer if material was put into public domain rather than using copyleft licenses. I understand the motivation of GPL, GFDL, etc... But cannot understand why someone should use BSD or MIT licenses instead of adding it to the public domain. Sasank 13:04, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I love watchin movies...

My favourite movie My favourite television series My favourite song

Ha... at last some recognition on google.

More to follow soon.

title: User:Sasank


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Castleisland

Castleisland is a town and commercial centre in County Kerry in south west Ireland. The town is known for the width of its main street. As of the 2022 census, Castleisland had a population of 2,536.

Castleisland was described by one of its citizens, journalist Con Houlihan, as "not so much a town as a street between two fields".

History
Castleisland was the centre of Desmond power in Kerry. The village got its name, 'Castle of the Island of Kerry', from a castle built in 1226 by Geoffrey Maurice (or de Marisco). Maurice had been the Lord Justice of Ireland during the reign of King Henry III. The island was created by turning the waters of the River Maine into a moat around the castle.

Sometime in the 120 years after its construction, the castle was taken by the forces of the Fitzgerald dynasty. It is known that in 1345 the castle was being held for Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond by Sir Eustace de la Poer and other knights when it was captured by Sir Raoul d'Ufford, Chief governor of Ireland. Sir Eustace and the other knights were captured and executed. Little is known of the further history of the castle and few ruins are left of it today. The main ruin is the de Marisco tower, located behind some private houses at the western end of the town, on the Killarney Road.

The Black and Tans and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) were active in Castleisland during the Irish War of Independence in the 1920s. On 8 May 1921, two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) men were shot by the IRA while leaving Castleisland Parish Church; one of the men died. Two months later, on 10 July 1921, three IRA men and four British soldiers were killed during a gunfight in the town.

A vagrant juvenile bald eagle was captured near Castleisland in November 1987, exhausted after reputedly flying across the Atlantic Ocean from North America.

Geography
Castleisland is in the east of County Kerry, 16 km east of Tralee and 19 km north of Killarney. The town is close to the Limerick border and close to the Cork border, and the main road in western and southern Kerry passes through here. The N21 from Limerick continues on to Tralee while the N22 goes to Killarney and other towns in southern Kerry. The Glanaruddery Mountains to the north and the Stack's Mountains to the west define the beginning of the 'Vale of Tralee', at the mouth of which Castleisland is situated. Most of the land around Castleisland is pasture for dairy stock, with bogland located at various locations around the town, particularly to the east and south. It is in the barony of Trughanacmy.

Buildings and places of note
There are several buildings of note in Castleisland, including the Gothic-styled Church of St. Stephen and St. John which was designed by Doolin and built in 1880. The town's Carnegie Trust Library building was designed by R.M. Butler for Tralee District Council. A tender by James O'Connor, Castleisland, for £1,451.4s.7d. was accepted, subject to the approval of the architect. It was completed by 1915. The library was burnt down in 1920, and replaced by the present structure in 1929 and is located at the eastern end of Castleisland's main street. The function of the town library was moved to new premises in 2008, but the original building is still used as the district court for the area.

Crag Cave, one of the most extensive cave systems in Ireland open to the public, is located just outside Castleisland.

Rail
Castleisland railway station opened on 30 August 1875. It closed for passenger traffic on 24 February 1947 and for goods traffic on 3 November 1975, finally closing altogether on 10 January 1977.

Road
Since the 1990s, traffic congestion had been an issue for Castleisland, as the main road linking most of County Kerry to Limerick and Dublin passed through the town. As a result, the main street through Castleisland dealt not only with local traffic, but also traffic destined for Tralee and Killarney. This resulted in traffic congestion in Castleisland, with delays of over half an hour possible at peak times. Ultimately, the local community decided that action was needed and, ahead of the 2007 Irish general election, a formal lobbying campaign was started.

With funding allocated by the National Roads Authority, construction of the new road started in May 2009. The project involved creating two major new sections of road and one smaller section. It consists of a 3.4 km dual carriageway linking the Limerick road roundabout north of Castleisland to the Tralee road west of the town, and a 1.6 km single carriageway continuing south from the roundabout on the Tralee road to meet the Killarney road roundabout southwest of the town. At the Limerick road end, there is also a 0.4 km section of single carriageway that links the newly constructed Limerick road roundabout to the pre-existing N21 Limerick road. On 22 October 2010, the bypass was officially opened by the then Minister for Defence, Tony Killeen.

Sport
Castleisland Desmonds is the local GAA club. They won the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship in 1985, beating St. Vincents of Dublin in the final. The club were also the winner of the 2010 series of RTÉ reality television show Celebrity Bainisteoir, while managed by singer Derek Burke of Crystal Swing.

Castleisland A.F.C. are the town's representatives in the Kerry District League in soccer. Castleisland Rugby Football Club U16s was the second rugby club in Kerry, under all age groups, to win a Munster League title in 2008.

An Ríocht Athletics Club, established in 1973, is located at Crageens in Castleisland. Its facilities include a 400-metre tartan athletics track and a soccer pitch. A gym, Barracks Gym, was established in 2018 on Barrack Street in Castleisland.

St Marys is the local basketball club.

Town twinning
Castleisland became twinned with the town of Bannalec in France on 14 August 2007.

People

 * Denis Mary Bradley (1846–1903), Catholic priest who became the first Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire and co-founded Saint Anselm College.
 * Mick Doyle (1941–2004), Irish rugby union international player and coach. While Doyle was coach, Ireland won the Five Nations and subsequent Triple Crown. He was born in Currow, a parish just outside Castleisland.
 * Con Houlihan (1925–2012), sports journalist and columnist for the Evening Herald and Irish Press group newspapers.
 * Katherine Kelly (b. 1979), British actress known for her role Coronation Street, is the daughter of John Kelly, who originally hails from Castleisland.
 * Charlie Nelligan (b. 1957), Kerry GAA goalkeeper during the 1970s and 1980s who won 7 All-Ireland football medals. Nelligan played his club football with the Castleisland Desmonds, who won the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship in 1985.
 * Redmond Prendiville (1900–1968), Archbishop of Perth; reputedly the youngest archbishop ever and aged 32 at the time of his consecration.
 * Larry Sharpe (1951–2017), professional wrestler and wrestling trainer was born in Castleisland.

title: Castleisland


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Season (sports)

In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of September. In other team sports, like association football or basketball, it is generally from August or September to May although in some countries – such as Northern Europe or East Asia – the season starts in the spring and finishes in autumn, mainly due to weather conditions encountered during the winter.

A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are: a preseason, a series of exhibition games played for training purposes; a regular season, the main period of the league's competition; the postseason, a playoff tournament played against the league's top teams to determine the league's champion; and the offseason, the time when there is no official competition.

Preseason
In association football, many clubs tour and then they have a series of exhibition games for training purposes.

In baseball, many clubs go to spring camp and then they have spring training. The National Football League preseason is a highly structured three-game series of games in which teams are afforded a larger roster limit and play games that do not count toward the record. It is used to evaluate and prepare talent for the upcoming regular season.

In the highest levels of professional tennis, the preseason (November–December) consists of extensive period of training on and off the court (gym/fitness work as well as working on tennis-specific skills like for example improving the accuracy of serve).

Regular season
In sport, the term "regular season" or "home-and-away season" refers to the sport's league competition. The regular season is usually similar to a group tournament format: teams are divided into groups, conferences and/or divisions, and each club plays a set number of games against a set number of opponents. In most countries the league is played in a double round-robin format, where every team plays every other team twice, once at their home venue, and once away at the opposition's venue as visitors. The results over all games are accumulated and when every team has completed its full schedule of games, a winner is declared.

In North America, the scheduling is different. Rather than every team playing all others twice, teams usually play more games against local rivals than teams in other parts of the country. For example, the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers will play the Los Angeles Clippers (a team within their division, a subdivision of the conference) four times in a regular season, while both will only play the Toronto Raptors, who are in the opposite Eastern Conference, twice. Part of this is due to the vast geographic distances between some teams in North America — measured in a straight line, Los Angeles is 3,494 kilometres from Toronto, for instance — and a desire to limit travel expenses. In the scheduling system used in the NFL, it is possible for two teams to only meet every four years, and to only have 2 common opponents in a season. Major League Baseball has the most uneven schedules of all the four major North American sports. In MLB, the conferences are called leagues instead, but have exactly the same effect as conferences (as with all North American major leagues, leagues, conferences, and division are not based on skill, but instead geography, history, and rivalries). Teams play 19 games against each of the teams in their own division each year but will only play 20 games total against all of the teams in the other league. Because each of the inter-league match-ups is part of a 3-game series or a 2-game series, teams will play no games at all against most teams from the other league. They play 6 of the 15 teams in the other league, a historically high number (until 1997, interleague play was limited to exhibition matches and the postseason World Series, and thus MLB teams did not play the other league's teams at all).

In Australia, the two largest football leagues, the AFL (Australian rules football) and NRL (rugby league), both grew out of competitions held within a single city (respectively Melbourne and Sydney) and only began expanding to the rest of the country when inexpensive air travel made a national league possible. These leagues use a single table instead of being split into divisions. The term "home and away season" is sometimes used instead of regular season.

Many football leagues in Latin America have a very different system. Because most Latin American countries never had a football cup competition, they instead split their season into two parts, typically known as the Apertura and Clausura (Spanish for "opening" and "closing"). Most countries that use this system, Argentina being one notable example, crown separate league champions for each part of the season, using only league play. A few others, such as Uruguay, crown one champion at the end of a playoff involving top teams from each half of the season. Mexico operates its Apertura and Clausura as separate competitions that both end in playoffs. Brazil has a different system, the season starts with the state championships in January (every Brazilian state have his own championship), these state championships ends in April. The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A itself starts in May and ends in early December, and is played in a double round-robin format in the same way as the European championships.

A system similar to the Apertura and Clausura developed independently in Philippine professional basketball, with formerly two, now three tournaments (called "conferences") in one season, with each conference divided into an "elimination round" (the single round-robin group stage) and the playoffs in the North American sense. Winning the playoffs is the ultimate goal of every team for every conference; while there is no season championship, winning all conferences within a single season is rare and has only happened five times since 1975, with the two most recent examples occurring in 1996 and 2013–14. The qualifying round and playoffs setup has permeated down to the local level and in most team sports, although seasons are not divided into conferences.

Postseason
Many sports leagues have playoffs or "finals" that occur after the regular season is complete. A subset of the teams enter into a playoff tournament, usually a knockout tournament, generally a pre-determined number with better overall records (more wins, fewer losses) during the regular season. There are many variations used to determine the champion, the league's top prize. In many of these leagues, winning the league's top prize at the conclusion of the postseason is more important than winning the regular season. This includes the five major U.S. and Canada sports leagues (Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals, World Series and MLS Cup), the major Australian sports (BBL Grand Final, NBL Grand Final, A-League Grand Final, AFL Grand Final and NRL Grand Final) and the CFL's Grey Cup.

European leagues have also started holding playoffs after a double round-robin "regular season". The Football League started its promotion playoffs in 1987, with the third up to the sixth-ranked teams participating for the final promotion berth (the two top teams are automatically promoted). Elsewhere, relegation playoffs are also held to determine which teams would be relegated to the lower leagues. One prominent top-level football league, the Eredivisie of the Netherlands, uses two different playoffs—one for relegation purposes, and the other to determine one of the league's entrants in the following season's UEFA Europa League. In Superleague Greece, which currently has two places in the UEFA Champions League and three in the Europa League, the teams that finish second through fifth in the regular season enter a home-and-away "playoff" mini-league. Since one Europa League place is reserved for the country's cup winner, only three of the four teams are guaranteed a place in the next season's European competitions (unless both the cup winner and runner-up are already qualified for Europe by other means). The playoff determines the country's second Champions League participant, and the points at which the two or three Europa League entrants join that competition. Conversely, some leagues like the Premier League do not hold a postseason, and therefore these leagues' champions and relegation are instead based on the regular season records.

Although rugby union did not become professional until 1995, that sport has a long history of playoffs, primarily in France and the Southern Hemisphere. The French national championship, now known as Top 14, staged a championship final in its first season of 1892, first used more than one round of playoffs in 1893, and has continuously operated a playoff system (except during the two World Wars) since 1899. South Africa's Currie Cup has determined its champions by playoffs since 1968, and New Zealand's National Provincial Championship, the top level of which is now known as the Mitre 10 Cup, has used playoffs since its creation in 1976. Argentina's Nacional de Clubes has determined its champion by playoffs since its inception in 1993. Currently, two separate competitions feed into the Nacional, the Torneo de la URBA (for Buenos Aires clubs, held since 1899) and Torneo del Interior (for the rest of the country); both use playoffs to determine their champions. Super Rugby, involving regional franchises from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and national franchises in Argentina and Japan, has used playoffs to determine its champions since its creation as Super 12 in 1996.

By contrast, other European countries were slow to adopt playoffs in rugby union. The English Premiership only began playoffs in 1999–2000, and did not use them to determine the league champion until 2002–03. The Celtic League, now known as Pro14, resisted a playoff system even longer; its champions were determined solely by league play from its inception in 2001–02 until playoffs began in 2009–10.

When the UEFA Champions League reformatted in 1993, it added a "knockout stage" involving four teams that finished at the top two places in their respective groups. Like North American sports leagues, this setup prevented some participants from facing each other, necessitating a two-round knockout stage to determine the champions. It has since been expanded to the 4-round knockout stage today. The Copa Libertadores has applied a knockout stage since the 1988 tournament, expanding to the current four-round format next season. All intercontinental club football competitions now feature a knockout stage.

Off-season
The off-season, vacation time, or close season is the time of year when there is no official competition. Although upper management continues to work, the athletes will take much vacation time off. Also, various events such as drafts, transfers and important off-season free agent signings occur. Generally, most athletes stay in shape during the off-season in preparation for the next season. Certain new rules in the league may be made during this time, and will become enforced during the next regular season. The Off-season is characterized by a break in regular league or tournament play, allowing athletes, coaches, and staff to rest, recover, and prepare for the upcoming season. The off-season typically follows the conclusion of the regular season or playoffs and precedes the start of preseason training or conditioning camps.

During the off-season, athletes often take time off to recuperate both physically and mentally from the demands of competitive play. This period of rest is essential for preventing burnout, reducing the risk of injuries, and allowing the body to recover from the wear and tear of regular training and competition. Athletes may use this time to focus on rehabilitation from any lingering injuries, undergo medical evaluations, and engage in cross-training activities to maintain overall fitness levels.

In addition to rest and recovery, the off-season provides athletes with an opportunity to address weakness and areas for improvement in their performance. Many athletes use this time to work on specific skills, refine techniques, and build strength and conditioning through targeted training programs. Coaches and training staff often collaborate with athletes to develop individualized offseason training regimens tailored to their specific needs and goals.

Off-season training may include a combination of strength and conditioning workouts, skill, development sessions, and team building activities. Athletes may also participate in recreational sports or activities to maintain their competitive edge while enjoying a break from the rigors of their primary sport. Furthermore, athletes may take advantage of the off-season to pursue personal interests, further their education, or engage in community service and outreach initiatives.

Beyond individual training, the off-season is also a critical time for teams to regroup, strategize, and plan for the upcoming season. Coaching staff and management may conduct player evaluations, analyze performance data, and make personnel decisions such as trades, drafts and free agent signings. Team bonding activities, such as retreats, workshops, and social events, may be organized  to foster camaraderie and cohesion among teammates.

As most countries which have a league in a particular sport will operate their regular season at roughly the same time as the others, international tournaments may be arranged during the off season.

For example, most European football league club competitions run from July or August to May, subsequently major international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship are organised to occur in June and July.

Seasons by league
The table represents typical seasons for some leagues by month. Blank or white denotes off-season and pre-season months and solid colors mark the rest of the year. Leagues in the same sport use the same color.
 * "E" denotes exhibition/preseason games.
 * "Q" denotes pre-competition qualifiers.
 * "S" denotes the start of the regular-season.
 * "P" denotes playoff(s)/postseason/knockout stages.
 * "F" denotes Final(s).

title: Season (sports)