Holiday

A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tradition of cultural or religious significance. Holidays may be designated by governments, religious institutions, or other groups or organizations. The degree to which normal activities are reduced by a holiday may depend on local laws, customs, the type of job being held or even personal choices.

The concept of holidays has most often originated in connection with religious observances. The intention of a holiday was typically to allow individuals to tend to religious duties associated with important dates on the calendar. In most modern societies, however, holidays serve as much of a recreational function as any other weekend days or activities.

In many societies there are important distinctions between holidays designated by governments and holidays designated by religious institutions. For example, in many predominantly Christian nations, government-designed holidays may center on Christian holidays, though non-Christians may instead observe religious holidays associated with their faith. In some cases, a holiday may only be nominally observed. For example, many Jews in the Americas and Europe treat the relatively minor Jewish holiday of Hanukkah as a "working holiday", changing very little of their daily routines for this day.

Say It (Britt Nicole album)

Say It is the debut album from Britt Nicole. It was released May 22, 2007 and features the hit songs, "You", "Believe" and "Set the World On Fire".

Track listing

Singles

Critical review

About.com's Kim Jones said "bottom line ... Britt Nicole has a winner going with Say It. This girl has it all: talent, drive and a huge heart for ministry. This is one of those faces that you will be seeing a lot more of in the future."

CCM Magazine's Meredith Ball wrote "Musically and vocally, this album is solid. The melodies are infectious, and her voice is appropriately raspy without sacrificing vocal flexibility. Say It is a good listen the entire way through."

Cross Rhythms' Tony Cummings said "this is the debut from 2007 which established this precocious pop talent on the US CCM scene but somehow missed the Cross Rhythms reviewing process. Not that that omission stopped your favourite media organisation from selecting five tracks for its radio stations and all of them - "Holiday", "Good Day", "Don't Worry Now", "Say It" and "World That Breaks" - are as catchy confections as you're likely to hear anywhere." In addition, they said the album "all in all, this is still pure pop put together with considerable skill."

Holiday (America album)

Holiday is the fourth original studio album by American folk rock band America, released by Warner Bros. Records in June 1974 (see 1974 in music). The album was produced in London by noted Beatles producer George Martin.

The album was a big hit in the US, reaching number 3 on the Billboard album chart and being certified gold by the RIAA. It produced two hit singles: "Tin Man" reached number 4 on the Billboard singles chart and went to number 1 on both the adult contemporary chart as well as the Radio & Records chart; and "Lonely People" which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard singles chart and also hit number 1 on the adult contemporary chart. Several other songs received radio airplay on FM stations playing album tracks, including "Baby It's Up To You" and "Another Try".

History

Bandmember Dewey Bunnell was thrilled at the prospect of working with Martin as producer. He was quoted as saying that it "was great working with George. It was like we knew each other. We were familiar with the Beatles, of course, and we had that British sense of humor." In a separate interview, Dan Peek recalled to Circus magazine: "Gerry (Beckley) had been in England, and we'd talked about using George Martin as our producer. He's such a hot arranger, thinking about all the stuff he's done. There were several other people we wanted to use, but that idea sort of flashed and George was available."

Sápmi

Sápmi (Northern Sami: [ˈsaʔmi]), in English commonly known as Lapland (/ˈlæplənd/), is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people, traditionally known in English as Lapps. Sápmi is located in Northern Europe and includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia. The region stretches over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. On the north it is bounded by the Barents Sea, on the west by the Norwegian Sea and on the east by the White Sea.

Russians and Norwegians are the most numerous groups in the region; the Sami make up only a small minority of about 5% of the population in Sápmi. No political organization advocates secession, although several groups desire more territorial autonomy and/or more self-determination for the region's indigenous population.

Etymology

Sápmi (and corresponding terms in other Sami languages) refers to both the Sami land and the Sami people. In fact, the word "Sámi" is only the accusative-genitive form of the noun "Sápmi"—making the name's (Sámi olbmot) meaning "people of Sápmi." The origin of the word is speculated to be related to the Baltic word *žēmē that simply means "land". The same word is speculated to be the origin of "Suomi", the Finnish name for Finland.

Being Eileen

Being Eileen is a BBC "heart-warming" comedy-drama which began as a new six-part series on 4 February, and ended on 11 March 2013. Originally titled Lapland, it was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 24 December 2011, the channel the series airs on. Although initially a single 75-minute episode which was set in Lapland, Finland, it was announced as a series renamed Being Eileen, consisting of six 30 minute episodes, due to the success of the single episode, which was viewed by 6.9 million viewers upon its original airing. The series also aired on BBC Two as part of Sign Zone, which features sign language throughout. The series was released on DVD on 1 April 2013.

The series, written by Michael Wynne, features an ensemble cast. Headed by Sue Johnston, who plays Eileen Lewis, the programme focusses on her, the widowed matriarch of a "large, close-knit and dysfunctional Northern family". The single episode focused on the family's visit to Lapland, whilst the series focusses on their life in Birkenhead. Elizabeth Berrington and Stephen Graham (later recast to Dean Andrews) play Eileen's children, whilst William Ash and Julie Graham play their partners. All the cast - Johnston, Berrington, Ash, Julie Graham and Keith Barron- a love interest for Eileen - returned for the series, with the exception of Stephen Graham and Zawe Ashton, who played Jingle Jill.

Lapland (electoral district)

Lapland is an electoral district represented in the Finnish Eduskunta (parliament). It covers the administrative region of Lapland, with a population of 187,777 (as of 2002). Lapland currently elects seven members of the Eduskunta.

The constituency is largely rural, and the only cities in the area are rather small. Thus, the dominant party has traditionally been the rural Centre Party. The second party has been SKDL/Left Alliance.

The other two major Finnish parties, Social Democrats and conservative National Coalition have usually got one of the scarce seats in constituency, National Coalition has usually allied with Christian Democrats, and in 2007 with Green League to secure their seat.

Members of parliament 2007–2011