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Land

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (French pronunciation: [siʁkɥi də spa fʁɑ̃kɔʁʃɑ̃]), informally referred to as Spa, is a 7.004 km (4.352 mi) motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about 8 km (5.0 mi) southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, also hosting an F1 race in the first ever F1 season with the 1950 Belgian Grand Prix, and has held a Grand Prix every year since 1985 except 2003 and 2006. Spa also hosts several other international events including the 24 Hours of Spa and the World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. It is also the host of the Uniroyal Fun Cup 25 Hours of Spa, one of the longest motor races in the world. The circuit has undergone several redesigns through its history, most extensively in 1979 when the track was modified and shortened from a 14.120 km (8.774 mi) circuit using public roads to a 6.947 km (4.317 mi) permanent circuit due to safety concerns with the old circuit.

Being

Scott Caan (born August 23, 1976) is an American actor, director, photographer, writer, and former rapper. He received his breakthrough role in Ocean's Eleven as Turk Malloy, whom he played in the Ocean's trilogy, and starred as Detective Danny "Danno" Williams in the CBS television series Hawaii Five-0 (2010–2020), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Caan had a recurring role as manager Scott Lavin in the HBO television series Entourage (2009–2011). In the 1990s, he was a rapper and was a part of hip hop group The Whooliganz with The Alchemist, under the pseudonym Mad Skillz.

Land

Villeneuve-d'Ascq (French pronunciation: [vilnœvdask]; Picard: Neuvile-Ask) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Lille metropolitan area (Métropole Européenne de Lille) and the largest in area (27.46 km2) after the city of Lille itself. It is also one of the main cities of the Hauts-de-France region. Built up owing to the merger between the former communes of Ascq, Annappes and Flers-lez-Lille, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is a new town and the cradle of the first automatic metro system in the world (VAL). Villeneuve-d'Ascq is nicknamed the 'green technopole' thanks to the implantation of many researchers, including two campuses of the University of Lille and many graduate engineering schools, and companies in a pleasant living environment. Owing to its activity centres, its Haute Borne European scientific park and two shopping malls, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is one of the main economic spots of the Hauts-de-France region; multinational corporations such as Bonduelle, Cofidis and Decathlon have their head office there. Outside its academic, scientific and business facilities, Villeneuve-d'Ascq is known for its sporting events, boasting two stadiums (Stade Pierre-Mauroy and Stadium Lille Métropole) and some top division sports teams, its museums, e.g. the Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art), its green spaces, and its facilities for disabled people.

Concept

Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical and religious tradition rooted in the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic figure combining elements of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. These teachings are contained in the various writings attributed to Hermes (the Hermetica), which were produced over a period spanning many centuries (c. 300 BCE – 1200 CE) and may be very different in content and scope. One particular form of Hermetic teaching is the religio-philosophical system found in a specific subgroup of Hermetic writings known as the 'religio-philosophical' Hermetica, which were written in Egypt between approximately 100 and 300 CE. The most famous of these are the Corpus Hermeticum (a collection of seventeen Greek Hermetic treatises) and the Asclepius (a closely related treatise mainly surviving in a Latin translation). This specific, chronologically and geographically limited form of Hermetic philosophy is sometimes more narrowly referred to as Hermetism, to distinguish it from the philosophies inspired by the many Hermetic writings of a completely different period and nature. A more open-ended term is Hermeticism, which may refer to a wide variety of philosophical systems drawing on writings attributed to Hermes, or even merely on subject matter generally associated with him. Most notably, alchemy often went by the name of "the Hermetic art" or "the Hermetic philosophy". A famous use of the term in this broader sense is in the concept of Renaissance Hermeticism, which refers to the wide array of early modern philosophies inspired by Marsilio Ficino's (1433–1499) and Lodovico Lazzarelli's (1447–1500) translation of the Corpus Hermeticum, as well as by Paracelsus' (1494–1541) introduction of a new medical philosophy drawing upon the 'technical' Hermetica (i.e., astrological, alchemical, and magical Hermetica, such as the Emerald Tablet). In 1964, Frances A. Yates advanced the thesis that Renaissance Hermeticism, or what she called "the Hermetic tradition", had been a crucial factor in the development of modern science. While Yates's thesis has since been largely rejected, the important role played by the 'Hermetic' science of alchemy in the thought of such figures as Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644), Robert Boyle (1627–1691) or Isaac Newton (1642–1727) is now widely recognized. Throughout its history, Hermeticism was closely associated with the idea of a primeval, divine wisdom, revealed only to the most ancient of sages, such as Hermes Trismegistus. During the Renaissance, this evolved into the concept of a prisca theologia or "ancient theology", which asserted that there is a single, true theology which was given by God to some of the earliest humans, traces of which may still be found in various ancient systems of thought. Thinkers like Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) supposed that this 'ancient theology' could be reconstructed by studying what were then considered to be the most ancient writings still in existence, such as those attributed to Hermes, but also those attributed to other ancient sages such as Zoroaster, Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Plato, as well as anonymous works such as the Chaldean Oracles and the Kabbalah. This soon evolved into the idea, first proposed by Agostino Steuco (1497–1548), that one and the same divine truth may be found in the religious and philosophical traditions of different periods and places, all considered to be different manifestations of the same universal perennial philosophy. In this perennialist context, the term 'Hermetic' tended to lose even more of its specificity, eventually becoming a mere byword for the purported divine knowledge of the ancient Egyptians, especially as related to alchemy and magic. This generic and pseudo-historical use of the term was greatly popularized by nineteenth- and twentieth-century occultists, despite their occasional use of authentic Hermetic texts and concepts.

Land

The Principality of Sealand () is an unrecognised micronation on HM Fort Roughs (also known as Roughs Tower), an offshore platform in the North Sea. It is situated on Rough Sands, a sandbar located approximately 11 kilometres (6 nmi) from the coast of Suffolk and 13 kilometres (7 nmi) from the coast of Essex. Roughs Tower is a Maunsell Sea Fort that was built by the British in international waters during World War II. Since 1967, the decommissioned Roughs Tower has been occupied and claimed as a sovereign state by the family and associates of Paddy Roy Bates. Bates seized Roughs Tower from a group of pirate radio broadcasters in 1967 with the intention of setting up his own station there. Bates and his associates have repelled incursions from vessels from rival pirate radio stations and the UK's Royal Navy using firearms and petrol bombs. In 1987, the United Kingdom extended its territorial waters from its previous 3 nautical miles to 12, which places the platform in British territory. As of August 2024, Sealand has only one permanent resident.