On May 7th 2000 Vladimir Putin became president of Russia and he appointed Minister of Finance Mikhail Kasyanov as his Prime Minister. In that same month, Putin issued a decree which divided the 89 federal subjects of Russia between 7 federal districts, each overseen by a representative of himself in order to smooth federal administration. Putin gained the right to dismiss heads of federal subjects in a law proposed by himself in July 2000 and approved by the Russian parliament in that month.
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Pop-parody champs The Lonely Island have had their 2011 album 'Turtleneck & Chain' make it to Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums Of The Year List. Sure it's at number 50, but that's a pretty good achievement, especially for a parody outfit!
I discovered The Lonely Island when I came across their video for 'Like A Boss', which is hilarious, and that was it, I was hooked. Their videos make the songs even funnier, but when you actually listen to the lyrics they've done a pretty spectacular comedic job. The 'band' is made up of comic actors Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, ...
Read more »As you all know, I’ve been a little bit down lately. Firstly I got made redundant from work through no fault of my own, and then my friends left me to go on a holiday to Southeast Asia that we had been planning for years. I couldn’t afford to go, and have been worried about losing my house soon if I don’t find a new job.
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Faust is a character pertaining to classic German legend. A very successful scholar, Faust is dissatisfied with life and so makes a deal with the devil in which he exchanges his soul for unlimited worldly pleasures and knowledge. Many literary, cinematic, musical, and artistic works have taken Faust’s tale as their basis. The adjective ‘faustian’ has come to describe an arrangement in which an ambitious person surrenders their moral integrity in order to achieve greater success and power, the “deal with the devil”.
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I went to a lecture at the London School of Economics a few days ago. The subject of the lecture was the most effective ways to make lots of money without working too hard, and the discussion centred around a host of ideas which could make you very rich, without putting in a lot of man hours. There were a number of ideas recommended, including trading financial instruments, and committing mass online banking fraud. These are two good ideas, one a lot more legal than the other! There was also a discussion about whether being self employed is more lucrative ...
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