Definitions by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫

Zoe Pound 

A very ruthless gang that originates with Haitians immigrants. It became an official recognized gang of killers around 1994-1995. They mostly reside in south Florida along with other foreign countries. They carry the symbol of the Haitian flag with them along with their Haitian pride. It is said that some Zoe Pound gang members use Voodoo to take people out. The word Zoe by itself means somebody that is of Haitian decent. A Zoe Pound gangster interviewed on the History Channel’s Gangland stated that there was Haitians with a pound of drugs and that's how the name Zoe Pound came about. Originally Zoe Pound was not a Haitian movement, but a "lick" (way to make easy money). Many Zoe Pound Members do not view themselves as gang members, but view themselves as a group standing up for their Haitian people. Many of them also believe that it is foolish to go around throwing up gang signs, and gang tattoos are not mandatory – most likely to keep their operations as secret as possible. The only colors they represent are the colors of their Haitian flag.

Past Zoe Pound activities have included: armed robbery, piracy, drug trafficking, and murder.

Zoe Pound by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ December 22, 2009

Pacifism 

Pacifism is the principled rejection of war and the ideology that peace should be achieved without the means of violence. It covers a spectrum of views ranging from the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved; to calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war; to opposition to any organization of society through governmental force (anarchist or libertarian pacifism); to rejection of the use of physical violence to obtain political, economic or social goals; to the obliteration of force except in cases where it is absolutely necessary to advance the cause of peace; to opposition to violence under any circumstance, including defense of self and others.

Principled pacifism holds that at some point along the spectrum from war to interpersonal physical violence, such violence becomes morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism holds that the costs of war and inter-personal violence are so substantial that better ways of resolving disputes must be found. Pacifists in general reject theories of Just War. Pacifists follow principles of nonviolence, believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or pragmatically most effective.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a pacifist.

Pacifism by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ December 7, 2009

Leo Tolstoy 

Leo Tolstoy or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer widely regarded as among the greatest of novelists. His masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina represent in their scope, breadth and vivid depiction of 19th-century Russian life and attitudes, the peak of realist fiction. Tolstoy's further talents as essayist, dramatist, and educational reformer made him the most influential member of the aristocratic Tolstoy family. His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

"All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do." - Leo Tolstoy

"Boredom: the desire for desires." - Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ December 6, 2009

Arabic Music 

Arabic music is the music of the Arab World, including several genres and styles of music ranging from Arabic classical to Arabic pop music and from secular to sacred music. Arabic music, while independent and very alive, has a long history of interaction with many other regional musical styles and genres. It is an amalgam of the music of the Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula and the music of all the peoples that make up the Arab World today. It also influenced and has been influenced by Egyptian, Cypriot, Greek, Persian, Kurdish, Assyrian, Turkish, Indian, African (i.e. North African, Berber and Swahili) and European music (i.e. Flamenco). As was the case in other artistic and scientific fields, Arabs translated and developed Greek texts and works of music and mastered the musical theory of the Greeks.

Arabic Music: Ahmed Bukhatir, Marwan Ali, Saber El Robaey, Hussein Al Salman, Hamza El Din, Ammar Hassan, Ehab Tawfik, Diana Haddad, Asala Nasri, Sherine Ahmed, Samira Saeed, Najwa Karam, Nancy Ajram, Nawal Al Zoghbi, Amr Diab, Dolly Chahine, Aseel Omran, Dania El Khatib, Angham, Myriam Fares, Yasmein El Gohary, Yara Shabany, Elias Karam, Fares Karam, Amal Hegazy, Omneya Soliman, Carol Samaha, Yara, Haifa Wehbe, Grace Deab, Ragheb Alamah, Wael Kfouri, DJ Saeed Murad, Tamer Hosny, Mohammad Hamaky, Ahlam, Hossam Habib, Sami Yusuf, Ibtisam Lutfi, Fadel-Shaker, Kazem Al Saher, Ragheb Alama, Asalah, Shereen, Omar Al-Abdillat, Shaam, Aziza Jalal, Rim Banna, Amal Hijazi, Master Musicians Of Jajouka, Rashed Al-Majed, and Ramy Sabry.

Arabic Music by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ December 3, 2009

Adhan 

Adhan is the Islamic ritual call to prayer. It was explained to Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) as "music for God." Stevens said, "I thought, music for God? I’d never heard that before. I’d heard of music for money, music for fame, music for personal power, but music for God!" Adhan is called out by the muezzin in the mosque, sometimes from a minaret, five times a day summoning Muslims for mandatory (fard) prayers (salah). There is a second call known as iqama (set up) that summons Muslims to line up for the beginning of the prayers. The main purpose behind the loud pronouncement of adhan five times a day in every mosque is to make available to everyone an easily intelligible summary of Islamic belief. It is intended to bring to the mind of every believer and non-believer the substance of Islamic beliefs, or its spiritual ideology. Loudspeakers are sometimes installed on minarets for the purpose.

Sunnis state that the adhan was not written or said by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, but by one of his Sahabah (his companions). Shi'a sources state that it is Muhammad who, according to God's command, ordered the adhan as a means of calling Muslims to prayer. Shi'a Islam teaches that no one else contributed, or had any authority to contribute, towards the composition of the adhan.

Adhan by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ December 3, 2009

Yakuza 

Yakuza (also known as gokudo) are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The term Yakuza comes from a Japanese game, Oicho-Kabu (played with hanafuda or kabufuda cards). The worst hand in the game is a set of eight, nine and three. In traditional Japanese forms of counting, these numbers are called Ya, Ku and Sa, thus the origin of the word yakuza. The yakuza took this name because the Ya-Ku-Za hand requires the most skill (at judging opponents, etc.) and, obviously, the best luck in order to win. The name was also used because it signified bad fortune, presumably for anyone who went up against the group. Despite uncertainty about the single origin of Yakuza organizations, most modern Yakuza derive from two classifications which emerged in the mid-Edo Period: tekiya, those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen or shoddy goods; bakuto, those who were involved in or participated in gambling. During the formation of the yakuza, they adopted the traditional Japanese hierarchical structure of oyabun-kobun where kobun (lit. foster child) owe their allegiance to the oyabun (lit. foster parent). In a much later period, the code of jingi (justice and duty) was developed where loyalty and respect are a way of life. The alleys and streets of Shinjuku are a popular modern Tokyo Yakuza hangout.

Yubitsume, or the cutting of one's finger, is a form of penance or apology. Upon a first offence, the transgressor must cut off the tip of his left little finger and hand the severed portion to his boss. Sometimes an underboss may do this in penance to the oyabun if he wants to spare a member of his own gang from further retaliation. Its origin stems from the traditional way of holding a Japanese sword. The bottom three fingers of each hand are used to grip the sword tightly, with the thumb and index fingers slightly loose. The removal of digits starting with the little finger moving up the hand to the index finger progressively weakens a person's sword grip. The idea is that a person with a weak sword grip then has to rely more on the group for protection—reducing individual action. In recent years, prosthetic fingertips have been developed to disguise this distinctive appearance. Many Yakuza have full-body tattoos. These tattoos, known as irezumi in Japan, are still often "hand-poked," that is, the ink is inserted beneath the skin using non-electrical, hand-made and hand held tools with needles of sharpened bamboo or steel. The procedure is expensive and painful which can take years to complete.

Yakuza by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ December 3, 2009

Bokuto 

A wooden Japanese sword used for training, usually the size and shape of a katana, but sometimes shaped like other swords, such as the wakizashi and tanto. Bokken is a term synonymous with bokutō in Japan, but is more widely used in the west.

Traditionally, the character Ken is used at the beginning of a word, for terms having to do with the sword, for example in Kendō (way of the sword) and Kenjutsu (art of the sword). In contrast, tō is used primarily as a suffix, for example, in shōtō (short sword) and daitō (long sword). Thus, in Japan, the word bokuto (wood sword) is more commonly used.

Bokuto by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ December 3, 2009