War

War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme collective aggression, destruction, and usually high mortality. The set of techniques and actions used to conduct war is known as warfare. An absence of war is usually called "peace". Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant casualties.

While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue that it is only a result of specific socio-cultural or ecological circumstances.

In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths down from 72,000 deaths in 1990. The deadliest war in history, in terms of the cumulative number of deaths since its start, is the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, with 60–85 million deaths, followed by the Mongol conquests which was greater than 41 million. Proportionally speaking, the most destructive war in modern history is the War of the Triple Alliance, which took the lives of over 60% of Paraguay's population, according to Steven Pinker. In 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth (of ten) biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. War usually results in significant deterioration of infrastructure and the ecosystem, a decrease in social spending, famine, large-scale emigration from the war zone, and often the mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilians. Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties in the conflict, and increased revenues by weapons manufacturers.

List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters

The following is a list of main characters in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

Main protagonists

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a team of mutant red-eared sliders named after four Renaissance artists and living in the sewers of New York City, where they train by day and fight crime by night as ninjas.

Leonardo

Leonardo is the tactical, courageous leader of the Ninja Turtles and a devoted student of Ninjutsu, usually wearing a blue mask and wielding two katanas.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo is the most comical of the Ninja Turtles, usually wearing an orange mask and wielding a pair of nunchucks.

Donatello

Donatello is the scientist, inventor, engineer and technological genius of the Ninja Turtles, usually wearing a purple mask and wielding a bo-staff.

Raphael

Raphael is the bad boy of the Ninja Turtles, wearing a red mask and wielding a pair of sais.

Supporting characters

Splinter

Splinter is the mutant rat sensei and adoptive father of the Ninja Turtles, trained in Ninjutsu by his owner and master, Hamato Yoshi, in Japan.

The Red Badge of Gayness

"The Red Badge of Gayness" is episode 45 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on November 24, 1999.

In the summer of 2013, fans voted "The Red Badge of Gayness" as the best episode of Season 3.

The episode's name is a play on the Red Badge of Courage.

Plot synopsis

As the entire town of South Park is preparing to hold its annual American Civil War reenactment of the (fictional) Battle of Tamarack Hill, the children rehearse as a Union Army rally band.

In the morning of the reenactment, Jimbo informs the reenactors that over 200 people will come to see them reenact the battle, setting a new record. He also takes the time to remind everyone that the primary sponsor of their event is Jagerminz S'more-flavored Schnapps, "the schnapps with the delightful taste of s'mores." In addition, the special guest will be Stan's grandpa, Marvin Marsh. Meanwhile, Cartman comes dressed as General Robert E. Lee, and the boys are outraged by his dressing as a Confederate officer. Evidently under the impression that the reenactment is a competition of some sort, Cartman bets that the South will win the Civil War, and if it does, Stan and Kyle will be his slaves for a month, or vice versa. Knowing that the outcome is supposed to be historical victory for the North as planned, Stan and Kyle eagerly accept the challenge.

Muscogee

The Muscogee (or Muskogee), also known as the Creek, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern woodlands.Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. Today Muscogee people live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Their language, Muscogee, is a member of the Muscogee branch of the Muscogean language family.

The Muscogee are descendants of the Mississippian culture peoples, who built earthwork mounds at their regional chiefdoms located throughout the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries. The historian Walter L. Williams and others believe the early Spanish explorers encountered ancestors of the Muscogee when they visited Mississippian-culture chiefdoms in the Southeast in the mid-16th century.

The Muscogee were the first Native Americans considered to be "civilized" under George Washington's civilization plan. In the 19th century, the Muscogee were known as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes", because they had integrated numerous cultural and technological practices of their more recent European American neighbors. Influenced by their prophetic interpretations of the 1811 comet and earthquake, the Upper Towns of the Muscogee, supported by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, began to resist European-American encroachment. Internal divisions with the Lower Towns led to the Red Stick War (Creek War, 1813–1814); begun as a civil war within the Muscogee Nation, it enmeshed the Northern Creek Bands in the War of 1812 against the United States while the Southern Creeks remained US allies. General Andrew Jackson then seized the opportunity to use the rebellion as an excuse to make war against all Creeks once the northern Creek rebellion had been put down with the aid of southern Creeks. The result was a weakening of the Creek Nation and the forced ceding of Creek lands to the US.