Republic

A republic (from Latin: res publica) is a sovereign state or country which is organised with a form of government in which power resides in elected individuals representing the citizen body and government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law. In modern times, the definition of a republic is commonly limited to a government which excludes a monarch. Currently, 147 of the world's 206 sovereign states use the word "republic" as part of their official names; not all of these are republics in the sense of having elected governments, nor do all nations with elected governments use the word "republic" in their names.

Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology and composition. In the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as "civic humanism", is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust and Tacitus. However, Greek-influenced Roman authors, such as Polybius and Cicero, sometimes also used the term as a translation for the Greek politeia which could mean regime generally, but could also be applied to certain specific types of regime which did not exactly correspond to that of the Roman Republic. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect.

Republic? (album)

Republic? is the fifth studio album from Canadian stoner rock band Sheavy. It was produced by Billy Anderson.

Reception

Jim Martin observed in Terrorizer that "Republic? finds sHeavy rejuvenated, fighting fit and sounding vital and righteous beyond belief. Central to this unexpected rejuvenation is that this is no mere Sabbath tribute record. Although still firmly rooted in elephantine riffs, chugging doom-grooves and 70s shapes, Republic? marks a considerable broadening of this band's horizons, revelling in punkier drives and psychedelic expanses". While Alex Henderson also noted sHeavy's affinity for Sabbath, he said that Republic? differentiated itself from mere tribute due to "a sludginess that you won't find on Sabbath's classic '70s recordings - a sludginess that owes something to the Melvins as well as grunge".Blabbermouth's Scott Alisoglu praised the album for its "biting guitar tone, monster riffage, and a batch of cool solos make it worth cranking at top volume in the car stereo with a cooler of brew in the backseat", and suggested that "Unless you're looking for a reinvention of the wheel, there isn't much to bitch about on Republic?".

Republic (Transnistria)

Republic (Moldovan: Република, Republica, Russian: Республика, Ukrainian: Республіка) is a political party in Transnistria. Although formerly the majority party in parliament, at the legislative elections of 11 December 2005 the party won 13 of the 43 seats and found itself in the minority for the first time since the founding of the country on September 2, 1990. In the 2010 elections, Republic won 16 seats. The party is affiliated with former President Igor Smirnov.

References

Work of art

A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an aesthetic physical item or artistic creation. Apart from "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature and music, these terms apply principally to tangible, portable forms of visual art:

Used more broadly, the term is less commonly applied to:

Works (Pink Floyd album)

Works is a Pink Floyd compilation album released in 1983. It features a variety of material, such as (among others) the band's early singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", alternative mixes of tracks from The Dark Side of the Moon, and the previously unreleased track, "Embryo".

Release and contents

The album was released by their former American label, Capitol Records, to compete with their then-current album The Final Cut. The main interest for collectors is the track "Embryo", an outtake from Ummagumma that later became a concert staple in a greatly elongated form, which originally only appeared in January 1970 on a scarce various artists compilation album promoting Pink Floyd's UK label Harvest Records entitled Picnic – A Breath of Fresh Air. Also unique to Works, the tracks "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse" are presented as alternate versions, possibly stereo mixes from the master tapes of the quadraphonic edition of The Dark Side of the Moon.

Alternate recordings

Factory-backed

In motorsports, a factory-backed racing team or driver is one sponsored by a vehicle manufacturer in official competitions. As motorsport competition is an expensive endeavor, some degree of factory support is desired and often necessary for success. The lowest form of factory backing comes in the form of contingency awards, based upon performance, which help to defray the cost of competing. Full factory backing can be often seen in the highest forms of international competition, with major motorsport operations often receiving hundreds of millions of euros to represent a particular manufacturer.

One-make series can also be backed by the factory, notably Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Supercup purely to allow themselves sell their competition specials of their models to customers and to organize series. These series commonly offer prize money and even sometimes a factory drive to an upper lever series.

In lower level racing, support from dealerships and importers may also be referred to as factory backing. In drifting, where factory backed teams are few and far between (Mopar and Pontiac of Formula D for example), works team/drivers are those backed by large or highly established tuning companies, as opposed to those entered by the drivers themselves or smaller and less well-off tuning companies. The advantage to this is drivers can get access to expensive prototype parts provided by the company that are not yet available to customers and in the event of their car being too badly damaged to compete, a back-up car will be available to them.