Brexit or not?

Withdrawal from the European Union is a right of European Union (EU) member states under the Treaty on European Union (Article 50): "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements."

Greenland, part of the Danish Realm, voted to leave the EU's predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC), in 1985. Algeria left upon independence in 1962, having been a part of France until then.

The United Kingdom held a referendum on 23 June 2016 to decide whether it should remain a member of the European Union or leave it, which was won by the "Leave" vote. The voting results showed 51,9% voted to leave (a margin of 3,8% above those voting to remain) and a voting turnout of 72,2%. 

Prior to this referendum, the United Kingdom had held a referendum in 1975 on withdrawal from its predecessor, the EEC; 67,2% of voters chose to remain in the Community with a turnout of 64,62%.

The Treaty of Lisbon introduced an exit clause for members who wish to withdraw from the Union. Under TEU Article 50, a Member State would notify the European Council of its intention to exit the Union and a withdrawal agreement would be negotiated between the Union and that State. 

The treaties of the European Union would cease to be applicable to that State from the date of the agreement or, failing that, within two years of the notification unless the Council, in agreement with the State, unanimously decides to extend this period. The two year period of time in which the terms of the withdrawal agreement are negotiated is known as the sunset period.

The agreement is concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council and must set out the arrangements for withdrawal, including a framework for the State's future relationship with the Union. 

Election law

Election law is a discipline falling at the juncture of constitutional law and political science. It researches "the politics of law and the law of politics". Some of the questions that are addressed by election law are:

- Which persons are entitle to vote in an election (e.g. age, residency or literacy requirements, or poll taxes), and the procedures by which such persons must register to vote or present identification in order to vote.

- Which people are entitle to hold office (for example; age residency, birth or citizenship requirements), and the procedures candidates must follow to appear on the ballot (such as the formatting and filing of nominating petitions) and rules governing write-in candidates.

- The rules about what subjects may be submitted to a direct popular vote through a referendum or plebiscite, and the rules that governmental agencies or citizen groups must follow to place questions on the ballot for public consideration.

- The sources of election law (e.g. constitutions, national statues, state statutes, or judicial decisions) and the interplay between these sources of law.

Public Administration

This word means the implementation of gobernment policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for working in the public service.

As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal...is to advance management and policies so that government can function." Some of the various definitions which have been offered for the term are: "the management of public programs"; the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day"; and "the study of government decision making, the analysis of the policies them, and the inputs necessary to produce alternative policies."

Public administration is "centrally concerned with the organization of government policies and programmes as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected) formally responsible for their conduct.

Many unelected public servants can be considered to be public administrators, including heads of city, county, regional, state and federal departaments such as municipal budget directors, human resources (HR) administrators, city managers, census managers, state mental hearth directors, and cabinet secretaries.

Public administrators are public servants working in public departments and agencies, at all levels of government. During back to Antiguity, Pharaohs, kings and emperors have required pages, treasures, and tax collectors to administer the practical business of government.

Prior to the 19th century, staffing of most public administrations was rife with nepotism, favoritism, and political patronage, which was often referred to as a "spoils system".

Squash

The use of stringed rackets is shared with tennis, which dates from the late sixteenth century, though is more directly descended from the game of rackets from England. In "rackets", instead of hitting over a net as in sports such as tennis, players hit a squeezable ball against walls.

Squash was invented in Harrow School out of the older game rackets around 1.830 before the game spread to other schools, eventually becoming an international sport. The first courts built at this school were rather dangerous because they were near water pipes, buttresses, chimneys, and ledges.

The school soon built four outside courts. Natural rubber was the material of choice for the ball. Students modified their rackets to have a smaller reach to play in these cramped conditions. The rackets have changed in a similar way to those used in tennis. Squash rackets used to be made out of laminated timber.

In the 1980s, construction shifted to ligheter materials (such as aluminium and graphite) with small additions of components like Keylar, boron and titaniun. Natural "gut" strings were also replaced with synthetic strings. In the 19th century the game increased in popularity with various schools, clubs and even private citizen building squash courts, but with no set dimensions. The first squash court in North America appeared at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire in 1884.

In 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the earliest national association of squash in the world was formed as the United States Squash rackets Association, (USSRA), now known as U.S. Squash. In April 1907 the Tennis, rackets and Fives Association set up a sub committee to set standards for squash. Then the sport soon formed, combining the three sports together called "Squash". In 1912, the RMS Titanic had a squash court in first clash. The 1st-Class Squash Court was situated on G-Deck and the Spectators Viewing Gallery was on the deck above on F-Deck. 

Triathlon

A triathlon is a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance disciplines. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances. 

Triathletes compete for fastest overall course completion time, including timed "transitions" between the individual swim, cycle, and run components. The word "triathlon" is  of Greek origin from "treis" or three and "athlos" or sport.

The most recognized branded Ultra Distance is the Ironman triathlon. A transition area is set up where the athletes change gear for different segments of the race. This is where the switches from swimming to cycling and cycling to running occur. 

Karate

Karate is a martial art developed on the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It developed from the indigenous martial arts of Ryukyu Islands (called te) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane.

Karate is nowpredominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open hand techniques such as knife-hands, separ-hands, and palm-heel strikes. Historically and in some modern styles grapling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital point strikes are also taught.

A Karate practitioner is called a karateka. Karate developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was brought to the Japanese mainland in the early 20th century during a time of cultural exchanges between the Japanese and the Chinese.

It was systematically taught in Japan after the Taisho era. In 1922 the Japanese Ministry of Education invited Gichin Funakoshi to Tokyo to give a karate demonstration. In 1924 Keio University established the first university karate club in mainland Japan by 1932, major Japanese universities had karate clubs.

In this era of escalating Japanese miliarism, the name was changed from "Chinese hand" or "empty hand", both of which are pronounced karate, to indicate that the Japanese wished to develop the combat from in Japanese style. After World War II, Okinawa became an important United States military site and karate became popular among servicemen stationed there.

Hiking

The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, and arose because of changing attitudes to the landscape and nature, associated with the Romantic movement. In the earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy.

Thomas West, an English clergyman, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. In the introduction he wrote that he aimed to encourage the taste of visiting the lakes by furnishing the traveller with a Guide; and for that purpose, the writer has here collected and laid before him, all the select stations and points of view, noticed by those authors who have last made the tour of the lakes, verified by his own repeated observations.

To this end he included various "stations" or viewpoints around the lakes, from which tourists would be encouraged to enjoy the views in terms of their aesthetic qualities. Published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth. 

In 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France. Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude (1850). His famous poem "Tintern Abbey" was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a walking tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth.

Wordsworth's friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the next generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland, and the Lake District with his friend Charles Armitage Brown.

More and more people undertook walking tours through the 19th-century, of which the most famous is probably Robert Louis Stevenson's journey through the Cévennes in France with a donkey, recorded in this "Travels with a Donkey" (1879). Stevenson also published in 1876 his famous essay "Walking Tours". The subgenre of travel writing produced many classics in the subsequent 20th-century.