A mesa (Spanish and Portuguese for "table") is the American English term for tableland, an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape.

It is a characteristic landform of arid environments, particularly the Southwestern United States. Many examples are also found in Spain, Sardinia, North and South Africa, Arabia, India, Australia, badlands and in the mountainous parts of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Grand Mesa is a large mesa located in western Colorado in the Southwest United States.

The term "mesa" is used throughout the United States to describe a flat-topped mountain or hill. In Spanish such a landform is more usually known as a meseta.

Mesas are formed by weathering and erosion of horizontally layered rocks that have been uplifted by tectonic activity. Variations in the ability of different types of rock to resist weathering and erosion cause the weaker types of rocks to be eroded away, leaving the more resistant types of rocks topographically higher than their surroundings. This process is called differential erosion. The most resistant rock types include sandstone, conglomerate, quartzite, basalt, chert, limestone, lava flows and sills. Lava flows and sills, in particular, are very resistant to weathering and erosion, and often form the flat top, or caprock, of a mesa. The less resistant rock layers are mainly made up of shale, a softer rock that weathers and erodes more easily.

Kingsnakes are colubrid snake members of the Lampropeltis genus, which also includes the milk snake and four other species, and 45 subspecies.

Lampropeltis means "shiny shield" (from Greek λαμπρος, "shine" + πελτα, "small shield"), a name given to them in reference to their dorsal scales. The majority of kingsnakes have quite vibrant patterns on their skins. Kingsnakes use constriction to kill their prey and tend to be opportunistic when it comes to their diet; they will eat other snakes (ophiophagy), including venomous snakes, lizards, rodents, birds and eggs. The common kingsnake is known to be immune to the venom of other snakes and to eat rattlesnakes, but is not necessarily immune to the venom of snakes from different localities.). The "king" in the name (as with the king cobra) references its taste for other snakes.

Some species of kingsnake, such as the scarlet kingsnake, have coloration and patterning that can cause them to be confused with the venomous coral snakes. One mnemonic rhymes to help people distinguish between the coral snake and its nonvenomous look-alikes is "Red touch yellow, kills a fellow. Red touch black, friend of Jack."

Rafael Bastos Hocsman, better known as Rafinha Bastos (born December 5, 1976 in Porto Alegre, Brazil), his stage name, is a Brazilian comedian, journalist and television personality.

Rafinha Bastos was a former host of "CQC" a popular TV show in Brazil. Since May 2010, he also hosts another TV show, "A Liga", which is broadcasted by Band TV channel.

In 2010, Bastos, together with comedian Danilo Gentili and producer Italo Gusso, opened the first comedy club in Brazil, in the city of Sao Paulo.

In 2011, Rafinha became worldwide famous after the New York Times elected him the world's most influential person on Twitter.

In CQC's September 19, 2011 live broadcast, Bastos made an allegedly dark humor joke about singer Wanessa Camargo; when Marcelo Tas, the show's main host, remarked how beautiful the singer looked pregnant, Bastos replied: "Muito. Comeria ela e o bebê." ("Absolutely. I'd do her and the baby"). The joke caused controversy among audiences and was taken with severe criticism. Following the next broadcast on September 26, Bastos was suspended from the show and has not yet returned. He was rumoured to have asked his resignation on his contract, but the fact was not confirmed. On October 13, Camargo and her husband Marcus Buaiz sued Bastos for R$100,000 claiming personal injury, as well as initiated a criminal lawsuit against him.

La Mafia is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musical group. It has its roots in the Northside neighborhood of Houston, Texas and has charted a course as a Latin music band.

La Mafia was founded in 1980 in Houston, TX. Vocalist Oscar De La Rosa & producer/keyboardist/accordionist Armando Lichtenberger Jr. created an original style that survived various changes in the music industry. The band consists of Tim Ruiz on bass, David de la Garza on keyboards and background vocals, Joe Gonzales on drums and Viktor Pacheco on Guitar in 2007. The band has won 2 Grammys & 2 Latin Grammys was nominated in 2009 for a Latin Grammy for the album Eternamente Romanticos.

La Mafia, seeking to expand their musical horizons, began touring extensively in Mexico and Latin America beginning in the late 1980s. The practice of Mexican-American artists performing in Mexico on a large scale was unheard of before La Mafia. Back home, La Mafia has performed in front of three record-setting crowds at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at the Houston Astrodome.