Buk missile system

The Buk missile system (Russian: "Бук"; “beech” (tree), /bʊk/) is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation, and designed to fight cruise missiles, smart bombs, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Buk missile system is the successor to the NIIP/Vympel 2K12 Kub (NATO reporting name SA-6 "Gainful"). The first version of Buk adopted into service carried the GRAU designation 9K37 and was identified in the west with the NATO reporting name "Gadfly" as well as the US Department of Defense designation SA-11.

With the integration of a new missile the Buk-M1-2 and Buk-M2 systems also received a new NATO reporting name Grizzly and a new DoD designation SA-17. The latest incarnation "Buk-M3" is scheduled for production.

A naval version of the system, designed by MNIIRE Altair (currently part of GSKB Almaz-Antey) for the Russian Navy, according to Jane's Missiles & Rockets, received the GRAU designation 3S90M1 and will be identified with the NATO reporting name Gollum and a DoD designation SA-N-7C. The naval system is scheduled for delivery in 2014.

S&M (Metallica album)

S&M (an abbreviation of Symphony and Metallica) is a live album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, with The San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Kamen. It was recorded on April 21–22, 1999 at The Berkeley Community Theatre. This is the final Metallica album to feature Jason Newsted as bassist.

Album information

S&M contains performances of Metallica songs with additional symphonic accompaniment, which was composed by Michael Kamen, who also conducted the orchestra during the concert. The idea to combine heavy metal with an epic classical approach, as James Hetfield has stated repeatedly, was an idea of Cliff Burton. Burton’s love of classical music, especially of Johann Sebastian Bach, can be traced back to many instrumental parts and melodic characteristics in Metallica’s songwriting including songs from Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets. The other inspiration was Deep Purple's 1969 Concerto for Group and Orchestra. Purple revived their hybrid musical performance in 1999's Live at the Royal Albert Hall after being notified that Metallica were doing theirs earlier that year.

S.M. Entertainment

S.M. Entertainment (Hangul: SM엔터테인먼트, SM stands for Star Music or Soo Man -the label's founder's name) is a South Korean entertainment company, founded by Lee Soo-man. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, travel agency, film production company, music production company, event management and concert production firm as well as a music publishing house. A prominent entertainment company in South Korea, the label is one of the biggest record labels in the K-pop industry.

Once the home to the original Korean idol groups like H.O.T., S.E.S., Fly to the Sky and Shinhwa, the label itself is home to a roster of prominent K-pop recording artists that include BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, SHINee, f(x), EXO and Red Velvet where all have achieved domestic and international success. The company also manages a number of actors, including Go Ara, Kim Min-jong, Kim Ha-neul, Lee Yeon-hee and Kim Ian, among others. SM Entertainment also co-publishes Avex Trax releases for Japanese artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, and Koda Kumi, as well as Johnny's Entertainment acts like Arashi and KAT-TUN.

Kansas

Kansas ⁱ/ˈkænzəs/ is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind", although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans". For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue.

When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 34th most populous of the 50 United States.

Kansas River

The Kansas River (also known as the Kaw; via French Cansez from kką:ze, the name of the Kaw (or Kansas) tribe) is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwestern-most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwestern-most portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its name (and nickname) come from the Kanza (Kaw) people who once inhabited the area. The state of Kansas was named for the river.

The river valley averages 2.6 miles (4.2 km) in width, with the widest points being between Wamego and Rossville, where it is up to 4 miles (6.4 km) wide, then narrowing to 1 mile (1.6 km) or less in places below Eudora. Much of the river's watershed is dammed for flood control, but the Kansas River is generally free-flowing and has only minor obstructions, including diversion weirs and one low-impact hydroelectric dam.

Course

Beginning at the confluence of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers, just east of aptly named Junction City (1,040 feet or 320 metres), the Kansas River flows some 148 miles (238 km) generally eastward to join the Missouri River at Kaw Point (718 feet or 219 metres) in Kansas City. Dropping 322 feet (98 m) on its journey seaward, the water in the Kansas River falls less than 2 feet per mile (38 cm/km). The Kansas River valley is only 115 miles (185 km) long; the surplus length of the river is due to meandering across the floodplain. The river's course roughly follows the maximum extent of a Pre-Illinoian glaciation, and the river likely began as a path of glacial meltwater drainage.

Kansas (Once Upon a Time)

"Kansas" is the twentieth episode of the third season of the American fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time, and the show's 64th episode overall, which aired on May 4, 2014. The episode was written by Andrew Chambliss & Kalinda Vazquez and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton.

In this episode Zelena kidnaps Snow White's baby, while flashbacks show Zelena's past with Glinda the Good Witch of the South.

Plot

Opening Sequence

The Emerald City of Oz is shown in the background.

In the Characters' Past

In the Emerald City of Oz, Zelena watches Rumplestiltskin train Regina through the portal, as she plots her scheme to destroy her half-sister. Glinda then arrives to tell Zelena about her true destiny, and wants her to meet her real sisters, who then offer her a chance to become the Witch of the West after she is introduced. Glinda tells them that Zelena doesn't have to be wicked, but believes that she can be good, if she can put aside her vengeance against Regina. However, the sisters tell Zelena of a book that Glinda keeps that foretells the arrival of a person to Oz in a cyclone, and Zelena is led to believing that she was the one they were looking for. Glinda, on the behalf of her sisters, then give Zelena the light pendant that will harness and protect her as it grows her powers, but tells her that once it is removed she will be powerless. After she takes the pendant her green skin disappears. Moments later after Glinda shows her the land she is giving to Zelena, both Glinda and Zelena witness a green cyclone arriving and it reveals debris being left behind and along with it, a young girl from the outside world, who Zelena finds among the rubble. She tells them that her name is Dorothy Gale and when they ask her where she is from, Dorothy tells them she is from Kansas but wants to know where she is and their names. When Glinda suggests that they take Dorothy to meet the sisters, Zelena's jealousy starts to reemerge.