Gaga

Gaga (meaning "mentally senile", "crazy", "infatuated"), ga-ga and variants in other languages may refer to:

Arts and entertainment

Sports

Other uses

Gaga (god)

Gaga is a minor Babylonian deity featured in the Enûma Eliš. She is sent by Anshar to the forces of Tiamat with the formal announcement of Marduk's readiness to battle Tiamat.

References

Gaga (genus)

Gaga (gaga lipfern) is a genus of 19 species of ferns in the family Pteridaceae named after American singer and songwriter Lady Gaga. Two of the 19 species are newly-described—Gaga germanotta from Costa Rica, named after the family of the singer; she was born Stefani Germanotta, and Gaga monstraparva, in honor of Gaga's fans, whom she calls "little monsters". According to biologists, the ferns bear a close resemblance to Gaga's costume from the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards and also bear a distinct DNA sequence spelling GAGA.

Except for the two new species, the rest of the Gaga ferns were reclassified, having previously been assigned to the genus Cheilanthes, based on their outward appearance. Biologists at Duke University explained that they listed the ferns with the name Gaga, due to the singer's active support of equality and individual expression. The decision received widespread attention from the science community and the media.

Background and naming

"We study, in particular, a group of ferns called the cheilanthoid ferns, there are about 500 or 600 of them, and many of them tend to be more adapted to living in desert situations, which is unusual for ferns... We've been doing a lot of molecular sequencing, looking at a lot of plant material, doing a lot of field work, so we're now at the point where we're concluding some of the work, and we have enough evidence to be able to look at all the data and say, 'Hmmm, there's this group here that is really in the wrong genus... We need to give it a new name'."

Opening

Opening may refer to:

See also

Chess opening

A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of initial moves are referred to as openings by White, or defenses by Black, but opening is also used as the general term. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to Chess lists 1,327 named openings and variants. These vary widely in character from quiet positional play to wild tactical play. In addition to referring to specific move sequences, the opening is the first phase of a chess game, the other phases being the middlegame and the endgame.

A sequence of opening moves that is considered standard (often catalogued in a reference work such as the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings) is referred to as "the book moves", or simply "book". These reference works often present these move sequences in simple algebraic notation, opening trees, or theory tables. When a game begins to deviate from known opening theory, the players are said to be "out of book". In some opening lines, the moves considered best for both sides have been worked out for twenty to twenty-five moves or more. Some analysis goes to thirty or thirty-five moves, as in the classical King's Indian Defense and in the Sveshnikov and Najdorf variations of the Sicilian Defense. Professional chess players spend years studying openings, and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve. Players at the club level also study openings but the importance of the opening phase is smaller there since games are rarely decided in the opening. The study of openings can become unbalanced if it is to the exclusion of tactical training and middlegame and endgame strategy.

Balance of Power (album)

Balance of Power is the twelfth studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) released in 1986.

Overview

Balance of Power was the last studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra before their disbanding (the band would later reform in 2000). By this time Kelly Groucutt had departed and the group was pared down to a trio of Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy, and Bev Bevan. Recording for the album began in 1984, with a planned release in spring 1985. The addition of several synthesizer tracks to the album caused its release to be pushed back to early 1986. ELO played some live concerts in the UK and Europe (their last for fifteen years), and for one UK show George Harrison performed as guest guitarist.

The video for the single "Calling America" was shot in Paris, and contains shots of the band playing in front of Centre Georges Pompidou. A video was also made for the single "So Serious." The track "Endless Lies" was intended as an homage to Roy Orbison, and was originally recorded for the never-released double LP version of Secret Messages; it reappeared on this album in a slightly reworked and more compact form. The album was ELO's first to not feature any strings, the first to feature a saxophone solo, and the first released on CD. The original release has the shortest running time of any ELO album.