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When the realization dawns that there is, has been, and will be only One Being in the whole existence who plays this game in countless forms, all duality dissolve and resolve naturally. It's not even correct to say that there is only One, because there is never anything other than the One to even compare against. When the mind cannot fathom the concept of there is never Two, therefore, there cannot even be One, it will collapse in this meditation, and utter Peace is realized.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX 77005
Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan Republic, which was also the capital of Shirvan (during the reigns of Akhsitan I and Khalilullah I), Baku Khanate, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Azerbaijan SSR and the administrative center of Russian Baku governorate. Baku is derived from the old Persian Bagavan, which translates to "City of God". A folk etymology explains the name Baku as derived from the Persian Bādkube (بادکوبه ), meaning "city where the wind blows", due to frequent winds blowing in Baku. However, the word Bādkube was invented only in the 16th or 17th century, whereas Baku was founded at least before the 5th century AD.
Starting from the 13th century AD the name of Baku begins to appear in mediaeval European Sources. Spelling of the name varies from Vahcüh (Pietro Della Valle), to Bakhow, Baca, Bakuie and Backu.
On the coins minted by Shirvanshahs name appears as Bakuya.
Various different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the etymology of the word Baku. According to L.G.Lopatinski[3] and Ali Huseynzade "Baku" is derived from Turkic word for "hill". K.P. Patkanov, a specialist in Caucasian history, also explains the name as "hill" but in Lak language.
Around 1000 years ago, the territory of modern Baku and Absheron was savanna with rich flora and fauna. Traces of human settlement go back to the Stone Age. From the Bronze Age there have been rock carvings discovered near Bayil, and a bronze figure of a small fish discovered in the territory of the Old City. This have led some to suggest the existence of a Bronze Age settlement within the city's territory. Near Nardaran in a place called Umid Gaya, a prehistoric observatory was discovered, where on the rock the images of sun and various constellations are carved together with a primitive astronomic table. Further archeological excavations revealed various prehistoric settlements, native temples, statues and other artifacts within the territory of the modern city and around it.
In the 1st century, Romans organized two Caucasian campaigns and reached Baku. Near Baku, in Gobustan, Roman inscriptions dating from 84–96 AD were discovered. The remnant of this period is the village of Ramana in the Sabunchu district of Baku.
In the Life of the Apostle Bartholomew, Baku is identified as Armenian albanus. Some historians assume that during the existence of Caucasian Albania Baku was called Albanopolis. Local church traditions record the belief that Bartholomew's martyrdom occurred at the bottom of the Maiden Tower within the Old City, where according to historical data, a Christian church was built on the site of the pagan temple of Arta.
A record from the 5th-century historian Priscus of Panium was the first to mention the famous Bakuvian fires (ex petra maritima flamma ardet – from the maritime stone flame emerges). Owing to these eternal fires Baku became a major center of ancient Zoroastrianism. Sassanid shah Ardashir I gave orders "to keep an inextinguishable fire of the god Ormazd" in the city temples.
There is little or no information regarding Baku in medieval sources until the 10th century. The earliest numismatic evidence found in the city is an Abbasid coin dating from the 8th century AD. At that time Baku was a domain of the Arab Caliphate and later of Shirvanshahs. During this period, they frequently came under assault of the Khazars and (starting from the 10th century) the Rus. Shirvanshah Akhsitan I built a navy in Baku and successfully repelled another Rus assault in 1170. After a devastating earthquake struck Shamakhy, the capital of Shirvan, Shirvanshah's court moved to Baku in 1191. A mint was put into operation.
Between the 12th and 14th centuries, a massive fortification was undertaken in the city and around it. The Maiden Tower, castles of Ramana, Nardaran, Shagan and Mardakan, and also famous Sabayel castle on the island of the Baku bay was built during this period. The city walls were also rebuilt and strengthened.
The biggest problem of Baku during this time was the transgression of the Caspian Sea. The rising levels of the water from time to time engulfed much of the city and the famous castle of Sabayel went completely into the sea in the 14th century. These led to several legends about submerged cities such as Shahriyunan ("Greek city").
Hulagu Khan occupied Baku under the domain of the Shirvan state during the third Mongol campaign in Azerbaijan (1231–1239) and it became a winter residence for Ilkhanids. In the 14th century, the city prospered under Muhammad Oljeitu who relieved it from some of the heavy taxes. Bakuvian poet Nasir Bakui wrote a panegyric to Oljeitu thus creating the first piece of poetry in Azerbaijani language.
Marco Polo had written of Baku oil exports to Near Eastern countries. The city also traded with the Golden Horde, the Moscow Princedom, and European countries.
In 1501, Safavid shah Ismail I laid siege to Baku. The besieged inhabitants resisted, relying for defense on their fortifications. Due to the resistance, Ismail ordered part of the fortification's wall to be undermined. The fortress's defense was destroyed and many inhabitants were slaughtered. In 1538, the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I put an end to the Shirvanshahs' reign and in 1540, Baku was recaptured by Safavid troops again.
Between 1568 and 1574 there is a record of six English missions to Baku. English men named Thomas Bannister and Jeffrey Duckett described Baku in their correspondence. They wrote that the "...town is a strange thing to behold, for there issueth out of the ground a marvelous quantity of oil, which serveth all the country to burn in their houses. This oil is black and is called nefte. There is also by the town of Baku, another kind of oil which is white and very precious, and it is called petroleum." The first oil well outside of Baku was drilled in 1594 by a craftsman named A. Mamednur oglu. This man finished the construction of a high-efficiency oil well in the Balakhany settlement. This area was historically outside city territory.
In 1636, German diplomat and traveler Adam Olearius described Baku's 30 oil fields, noting that there was a great quantity of brown oil.[citation needed] In 1647, famous Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Baku. In April 1660, Cossacks under Stepan Razin attacked the Baku coast and plundered the village of Mashtaga. In 1683, Baku was visited by the ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden, Engelbert Kaempfer. In the following year, Baku was temporarily recaptured by the Ottoman Empire.
Baku is noted for being a focal point for traders from all across the world during the Early modern period, commerce was active and the area was prosperous. Notably, traders from the Indian subcontinent established themselves in the region. These Indian traders built the Ateshgah of Baku during 17th–18th centuries; the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh, and Parsi place of worship.
The fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722 caused widespread chaos.[citation needed] Baku was invaded by the Russian and Ottoman empires.
On 26 June 1723, after a long siege, Baku surrendered to the Russians and the Safavids were forced to cede the city alongside many other of their Caucasian territories. In accordance with Peter the Great's decree, the soldiers of two regiments (2,382 people) were left in the Baku garrison under the command of Prince Baryatyanski, the commandant of the city. Peter the Great, while equipping a new military expedition commanded by General Mikhail Matyushkin, charged him with sending more oil from Baku to St. Petersburg, "which is a basis of an eternal and sacred flame"—Old Russian: "коя является основой вечного и священного пламени". However, due to Peter's death, this order was not carried out.
In 1733, Baku was visited by physician Ioann Lerkh, an employee of the Russian embassy and, like many others before him, described the city oil fields. By 1730, the situation had deteriorated for the Russians as Nadir Shah's successes in Shirvan forced the Russians to make an agreement near Ganja on 10 March 1735, ceding the city and all other conquered territories in the Caucasus back to Persia.
After the disintegration of the Safavid Empire and after the death of Nader Shah, the semi-independent principality of Baku Khanate was formed in 1747 following the power vacuum which had been created. It was ruled by Mirza Muhammed Khan and soon became a dependency of the much stronger Quba Khanate. The population of Baku was small (approximately 5,000), and the economy was ruined as a result of constant warfare, banditry, and inflation. The khans benefited, however, from the sea trade with the rest of Iran. Feudal infighting in the 1790s resulted in the dominance of an anti-Russian faction in the city resulting in the Russian-leaning brother of the Khan being exiled to Quba.
By the end of the 18th century, Tsarist Russia now began a more firm policy with the intent to conquer all of the Caucasus at the expense of Persia and Ottoman Turkey. In the spring of 1796, by Yekaterina II's order, General Valerian Zubov's troops started a large campaign against Qajar Persia following the sack of Tbilisi and Persia's aim to restore its suzerainty over Georgia and Dagestan. Zubov had sent 13,000 men to capture Baku, and it was overrun subsequently without any resistance. On 13 June 1796, a Russian flotilla entered Baku Bay, and a garrison of Russian troops was placed inside the city. Later, however, Pavel I ordered the cessation of the campaign and the withdrawal of Russian forces following the death of his predecessor, Yekatarina II. In March 1797, the tsarist troops left Baku.
Prince Pavel Tsitsianov was shot to death when he tried to make Baku surrender during the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813).
Coat of arms of Baku Governorate
Tsar Alexander I set out to conquer Baku once again during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) during which Pavel Tsitsianov tried to capture Baku in January 1806. But aide-de-camp and cousin of Huseyngulu Khan suddenly shot Tsitsianov to death during the presentation of the city's keys to him. Left without a commander, the Russian Army left Baku and the occupation of Baku Khanate was delayed for a year. Baku was captured on October of the same year and eventually absorbed into the Russian Empire after formal ceding of the city amongst other integral territories in the North Caucasus and South Caucasus by Persia in the Treaty of Gulistan, in 1813. However, it was not until the aftermath of the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the Treaty of Turkmenchay that Baku came under nominal Russian rule, as the city was retaken by Persia during the war.
When Baku was occupied by the Russian troops during the war of 1804–1813, nearly the entire population of some 8,000 people was ethnic Tat.
In 1809, at the time of the Russian conquest, the Muslim population grew to become 95% of the city's population.
On 10 July 1840, the Russian Duma approved "The Principles of Ruling of the Transcaucasian Region", and Baku uyezd was turned into an administrative region of the Russian Empire.
Fortstadt, a new suburb, grew from the dispersed buildings scattered within the city's fortifications. Medieval seaside fortifications were demolished in 1861 to allow for the creation of the port and a customs house in the quay.
Baku became a center of the eponymous province after the devastating earthquake of 1859 in Shamakha. The population of Baku Governorate began to increase steadily. It is recorded that the number of police stations increased. The first Baku stock exchange had ten brokers, all of Russian nationality.
In 1823, the world's first paraffin factory was built in the city, and in 1846, the world's first oil well was drilled in Bibi-Heybat. Javad Melikov from Baku had built the first kerosene factory in 1863. In 1873, the Russian government offered competition for free land, and Baku caught the eye of the Nobel brothers. In 1882, Ludvig Nobel invited technical staff to Baku from Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Germany and founded a colony that he called Villa Petrolea. This colony was located in the "Black City". Bullock-cart drivers used wineskins and flasks to transport oil until the 1870s. In 1883, a Rothschild's plenipotentiary arrived from Paris and created the "Caspian-Black Sea Joint-Stock Company". Famous Baku oil magnates of the era included Musa Nagiyev, Murtuza Mukhtarov, Shamsi Asadullayev, Seid Mirbabayev, and many others.
The companies owned by Musa Nagiyev and Shamsi Asadullayev were the largest of Baku's oil producers. Established respectively in 1887 and 1893, they produced between 7 million and 12 million poods (110 to 200 Gg) of oil annually. The companies owned oil fields, refineries, and tankers. By the beginning of the next century, more than a hundred oil firms operated in Baku.
The oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries contributed to massive growth of Baku. Between 1856 and 1910 Baku's population grew at a faster rate than that of London, Paris or New York.
The second half of the 19th century was notable for its advancement in communication. In 1868, the first telegraph line to Tiflis was established, and in 1879, an under-sea telegraph line connected Baku with Krasnovodsk. In the same year, the Baku-Sabunchi-Surakhany was in operation. The tracks were 520 versts (555 kilometres) from Tiflis and was completed in a relatively short time on 8 May 1883. The first telephone line was in operation in 1886. In 1899, the first horse tramway appeared.
In 1870, a Lutheran-Evangelical community was established in Baku. However, in 1937, the clerics as well as the representatives of other religious communities were banished or shot. The Lutheran community was not revived until 1994, after the fall of the Soviet Union.
In the 1870s, the number of administrative and public institutions had grown, among them a provincial court and arbitration. In the first years of the 20th century, a case considered in the district court won great popularity and lawyers from Petersburg, Moscow, Tiflis, and Kiev became involved because of fabulous fees often received there.[clarification needed] The loudest litigations passed with the participation of a certain Karabek, who knew by heart the extensive code of laws of the Russian Empire and remembered all decrees of the Sacred Synod with exact reference numbers and dates.
In the beginning of October 1883, tsar Alexander III with his wife and two sons, accompanied by a huge retinue, arrived to Baku from Tiflis. The railway station had been prepared for the solemn ceremony. The city authorized Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev to welcome Alexander. The visitors examined the oil storage of Nobel brothers, the pump station, and three powerful oil wells of Shamsi Asadullayev. Beginning from the 1890s, Baku provided 95% of the oil production in the Russian Empire and approximately half of world oil production. Within ten years, the city had become the foremost producer of oil overtaking the United States.
In 1914–1917, Baku produced 7 million tons of oil each year, totaling 28,683,000 tons of oil , which constituted 15% of world production at the time. Germany did not trust Turkey in oil matters and transferred General Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein from the Middle Eastern front with his troops to Georgia in order to enter Baku, through Ukraine, the Black Sea and Georgia. Great Britain, in February 1918, urgently sent General Lionel Dunsterville with troops to Baku through Anzali to block the German troops. Having studied the Caucasus from the strategic point of view, Dunsterville concluded: "Those who capture Baku, will control the sea. That's why it was necessary for us to invade this city." On 23 August 1918, Lenin in his telegram to Tashkent wrote: "Germans agree to attack Baku provided that we would kick the British out of Baku".
Having been defeated in World War I, Turkey had to withdraw its forces from the borders of Azerbaijan in the middle of November 1918. Led by General William Thomson, British troops of 5,000 soldiers arrived in Baku on 17 November, and martial law was implemented on the capital of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic until "the civil power would be strong enough to release the forces from the responsibility to maintain the public order".
In the same year, Thompson was faced with an enormous challenge to recreate confidence in the economy. His fundamental requirement was to recreate a sound and reliable banking system. He wrote, however: "the political situation in Baku does not permit the opening of a British Bank because this would have increased suspicion and jealousy as to British intentions".
In the spring of 1918, Armenian interests in Baku were protected by the Baku Soviet of People's Commissars, who became known as the 26 Baku Commissars.
In February 1920, the 1st Congress of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan legally took place in Baku and made a decision about preparation of the armed revolt. On 27 April of the same year, units of the Russian 11th Red Army crossed the border of Azerbaijan and began to march towards Baku. Soviet Russia presented the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic with an ultimatum to surrender, and the troops entered Baku the next day, accompanied by Grigory Ordzhonikidze and Sergey Kirov of the Bolshevik Kavbiuro. The city became a capital of the Azerbaijan SSR and underwent many major changes. As a result, Baku played a great role in many branches of the Soviet life. Since about 1921, the city was headed by the Baku City Executive Committee, commonly known in Russian as Bakgorispolkom. Together with the Baku Party Committee (known as the Baksovet), it developed the economic significance of the Caspian metropolis. From 1922 to 1930, Baku was the venue for one of the major Trade fairs of the Soviet Union, serving as a commercial bridgehead to Iran and the Middle East.
On 8 February 1924, the first tram line and two years later the electric railway Baku-Surakhany—the first in the USSR—started to operate.
While being in Baku in May 1925 Russian poet Sergei Yesenin wrote a verse "Farewell to Baku":
Farewell to Baku! I'll see you no more
A sorrow and fright are now in the soul
And a heart under the hand is more painful and closer
And I feel the simple word "friend" more distinctly.
However Yesenin returned to the city on 28 July of the same year.
Maxim Gorkiy wrote after visiting Baku: "The oil fields remained in my memory as a perfect picture of the grave hell. This picture suppressed all the fantastic ideas of depressed mind, I was aware of." Well-known—at that time—industrialist V. Rogozin noted, in relation with the Baku oil fields, that everything there was done "without counting and calculating". In 1940, 22.2 million tons of oil were extracted in Baku which comprised nearly 72% of all the oil extracted in the entire USSR.
In 1941, the trolley bus line started to operate in the city, meanwhile the first buses appeared in Baku in 1928.
The US Ambassador to France, W. Bullitt, dispatched a telegram to Washington concerning "the possibilities of bombing and demolition of Baku" which were being discussed in Paris at the time. Charles de Gaulle was extremely critical of the plan according to both his wartime and postwar statements. Such ideas, he believed, were made by some "crazy heads that were thinking more of how to destroy Baku than of resisting Berlin". In his report submitted on 22 February 1940, to French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, General Maurice Gamelin believed the Soviets would fall into crisis if those resources were lost. However, during the Soviet-German War, ten defense zones were built around the city to prevent possible German invasion, planned within the Operation Edelweiss.
Even a cake for Hitler was adorned by a map of the Caspian Sea with the letters B-A-K-U spelled out in chocolate cream. After eating the cake, Hitler said: "Unless we get Baku oil, the war is lost".
The first offshore oil platform in the world, originally called "The Black Rocks", was built in 1947 within the city's metropolitan area. In 1960, the first Caucasus house-building plant was built in Baku, and on 25 December 1975, the only plant producing air-conditioners in the Soviet Union was turned over for operation.
In 1964–1968, the level of oil extraction rose to the stable level and comprised about 21 million tons per year. By the 1970s, Azerbaijan became one of the largest producers of grapes, and a champagne factory was subsequently constructed in Baku. In 1981, a record quantity of 15 billion m³ of gas was extracted in Baku.
In 1990, Shaumyan rayon of Baku was renamed to Khatai and Ordzhonikidze rayon to Narimanov. In 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Bakgorispolkom as a result, the first independent city mayor Rafael Allahverdiyev was appointed. On 29 April 1992, the names of some more city rayons were changed:
With the initiatives for saving the city in the 2000s, Baku embarked on a process of restructuring on a scale unseen in its history. Thousands of buildings from Soviet Period were demolished to make way for a green belt on its shores; parks and gardens were built on the land claimed by filling up the beaches of the Baku Bay. Improvements were made in the general cleaning, maintenance, garbage collection fields and these services are now at Western European standards. The city is growing dynamically and developing at full speed on an east-west axis along the shores of the Caspian Sea.
Most Soviet era street names have been replaced after the collapse of the Soviet Union. More than 225 streets have been renamed since 1988; however, some people still use the old names. Namely, the first street ever to be built outside the Inner City, originally called Nikolayevskaya after Nicolas I, was renamed to Parlaman Kuchesi, because the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic held its meeting in a building located at that street, then during soviet era it became Kommunisticheskaya Ulitsa and now is called İstiqlaliyyet Kuchesi (Azeri: "independence").
Dark Demons' Night II (Kavka Antwerpen)
Video: youtu.be/aKS4rAMScPI
More: soundcloud.com/comafrequency/06-coma-frequency-feat-eufor...
And who told the light manager hat it would be a good idea to use only red lights and cut all front lights?
The Brian Setzer Orchestra was what got me into swing dancing, which has got me into all sorts of delightful trouble ever since. The Brian Setzer Orchestra alerted me to the existence of timeless cool, not because anybody called it cool but because it simply was. The memory of how many nights after finishing my homework when I pulled down my blinds (or forgot to, as my giggling mom and sisters attest) and cranked "Rock This Town" up to eleven on my Sony CD deck and practiced solo the kicks and turns that I knew, just knew, I'd someday do with someone else who recognized cool for what it really was.
(More at theconnoisseurs [dot] us [slash] briansetzer
This old man cooks in the morning for his wife and himself ... by the road side ... not giving up on life ... however tough and unresourceful it is ...
Cassini images reveal the existence of a faint arc of material orbiting
with Saturn's small moon Anthe.
The moon is moving downward and to the right in this perspective. In this
image, most of the visible material in the arc lies ahead of Anthe (2
kilometers, or 1 mile across) in its orbit. However, over time the moon
drifts slowly back and forth with respect to the arc. The arc extends over
about 20 degrees in longitude (about 5.5 percent of Anthe's orbit) and
appears to be associated with a gravitational resonance caused by the moon
Mimas. Micrometeoroid impacts on Anthe are the likely source of the arc
material. The orbit of Anthe lies between the larger moons Mimas and
Enceladus. Anthe shares this region with two other small moons, Pallene (4
kilometers, or 3 miles across) and Methone (3 kilometers, or 2 miles
across). Methone also possesses an arc (see PIA11102), while Pallene is known
to orbit within a faint, complete ring of its own (see PIA08328).
Cassini imaging scientists believe the process that maintains the Anthe
and Methone arcs is similar to that which maintains the arc in the G ring
(see PIA08327). The general brightness of the image (along with the faint
horizontal banding pattern) results from the long exposure time of 32
seconds required to capture the extremely faint ring arc and the
processing needed to enhance its visibility (which also enhances the
digital background noise in the image). The image was digitally processed
to remove most of the background noise. The long exposure also produced
star trails in the background. This view looks toward the un-illuminated
side of the rings from about 3 degrees above the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft
narrow-angle camera on July 3, 2008. The view was obtained at a distance
of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (739,000 miles) from Anthe and at
a sun-Anthe-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 12 degrees. Image scale is 7
kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The
Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and
assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space
Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team
homepage is at ciclops.org.
credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Choreography, Libby Nelson
Music, Sarajevo by Max Richter & Sara Leonard
Performers, Jordan Nazos, Kayla Spears, Hayley Smith, Austin Winter, Sara Wuchte
The Beaneaters were members of the Players League, whose existence was an early attempt by professional ballplayers to control what teams they played for. Boston won the pennant, but the league collapsed after just one season.
ANTHROPOMORPHIC OBJECTS
The complex existence of objects intrigues me. I am interested in the independent existence of objects, their personal narratives and their anthropomorphic characteristics. Through experimental sculpture using plastic bags and gloves I identified the importance of volume and curve in emulating anthropomorphic qualities in objects. The image of the glove to the left of the page forms a part of the portfolio of work produced in collaboration with Tu Pham (a Fine Art student) exploring the use of technology to 'animate' forms. Exposed to this 'medium' has opened my mind to its possibilities which I doubt I would have considered without the experience of this collaboration. Working with Tu encouraged a playful approach to experimentation and the humorous spirit to my practice. The experience gave me the confidence to take risks and be less 'serious' with my ideas, worrying less about the result.
Although the material manipulation is rough here, I was able to gain an in depth understanding of the properties of the objects working in this way. Bringing plastic bags to life by making them into kites, the influences of this collaboration are now present in my own work.
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Ramanunjan does not stop here; he brings in even oral ballads of South Indian folk into literature .
and cites the ballad as sung by 'tamburis' of Kannada. As per this Ravan called Ravula there, had .
no child. He along with his queen Mandodri went to forest and did int~se tapasya. L~rd_Shiva .
appeared as jogi and gave him a mango to be eaten by his queen after certain ntuals. .
Ravan instead ate the fruit himself and became pregnant. The poem detailing month-wise .
conditi~n of prednancy has also been cited. Eventually, Ravan, out of public shame, gi~es birth to .
Sita through nasal sneeze (Sita meaning sneeze in Kannada). Ravan, out of sheer d1sgust then .
leaves Sita in the fields of king Janak! .
Author even sorts out a tale from Santhal folklore and puts forth the greatest outrage to .
Hindu psyche before the students of literature that Ravan as well as Lakshman both seduced Sita. .
No one on Earth so far dared to question the character of Sita so brazenly as Ramanunjan has .
done, though, all through under the convenient cover of a folklore! How Ramayana called .
Ramkein in Thailand manipulates the episode also does not escape the vigil of our learned author. .
Here, he finds something to grossly denigrate Hanuman. According to this story: "Hanuman is .
quite a ladies' man, who does not at all mind looking into the bedrooms of Lanka and .
doesn't consider seeing another man's sleeping wife any thing immoral." .
While describing thoughts on translation, author, on page 158 questions the very existence .
of Ramayana in a unique way by mocking at the very root of Hindu faith. In his own words: \\A .
folk legend says that Hanuman wrote the original Ramayana on a mountain-lop, after the Great .
War, and scattered the manuscript : it was many times larger than what we have now. Valmiki is .
said to have captured only a fragment of it. In the sense, no text original, yet no telling is a mere .
telling and the story has no closure, although it may be enclosed in a text. In India and in South-.
east Asia, no one ever reads the Ramayana or Mahabharat for the last time. The stories are there, .
always ready." Here even folklore has been made the basis of and penned to shatter the erstwhile .
impregnable belief. How mischievous, how cheap! .
On page 156 the author comes out stark naked with his own conclusion about the episode and the major characters exposing his mind-set and intention to the hilt. In his words: "Now is there a common core to the Ram stories, except the most skeletal set of relations like that of Ram, his brother, his wife and the antagonist Ravana who abducts her? Are the stories bound together only by certain family resemblances, as Wittgenstein might say? Or is it like Aristotle's jack-knife? \Nhen the philosopher asked an old carpenter how long he had his knife, the latter said, 'Oh! I have had it for thirty years. I have changed the blade a few times and the handle a few times, but it is the same knife.' Some shadow of a relational structure claims the name of Ramayana for all these things, but on a closure look one is not all that like another. Like a collection of people with the same proper name, they make a class in name alone." .
This approach is total negation of the greatest episode and attack on an article of faith and a sort of blasphemy. These extracts have been cited here just as an example to give one an idea as to how and, probably, why, only negative, derogatory, humiliating and often outrageous pieces have been sort?d out by Ramanunjan though the entire write-up highlights only negative and defamatory tellings, through and through, which will not be difficult for one to grasp even on a casual reading. It is amazing that his 'genius' could find no positive material supporting or alleviating Hindu psyche and tradition! Unless one is bent upon denigrating a particular thought, culture or belief, such a negative and perverse attitude is not expected by a 'litterateur', especially, in the·background of ethos of Hindu culture. .
One is well aware, how small distortion about Shri Ram by Karunanidhi has brought furor in th~ . whole of the country. One can well appreciate what potential, full throated abuse of all splntu~l personalities like Shri Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanuman, does have and what disaster it can bnng to the GOP rise and send development to back burner! .
.. O~r esteeme_d Constitution does not permit violation of any breach of 'freedom of reh~lon and certainly scandalizing one's belief is the breach of this fundamental right. Indian_ Penal Code has specific provisions against this violation. Many petitions have been f1led under these provisions, and will be filed, if a breach is not remedied. .
We call_upon ~II th_e nationalists, democratic and progressive minds of the country to stand aga1nst th1s k1nd of Distortion at the behest of UPA Governme-nt. We also appeal to the student community to rally behind ABVP to isolate and expose this Congress-communists unholy alliance and save Indian culture and heritage. .
Sd/-Amit Singh, President, ABVP-JNU. Sd/-Manoj Kumar, Secretary, ABVP-JNU. .
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The Athlone 10KM and 5KM road races were held in Clonown Village, Co. Roscommon, Ireland on Sunday 28th of April 2013 at 14:30 and 15:00. Clonown is a small townland on the west bank of the River Shannon and is situated about 3 miles south of the town of Athlone. Whilst the townland is almost completely rural it is accessed easily from major routes and towns by the M6 motorway.
This race completely defied the fact that it is only the second year of it's existence. Every aspect of the organisation was professional: from stewarting, registration, start of races exactly on time, car-parking, and post race refreshments. The 10KM route followed an anti-clockwise loop. The race started on the L2035 Togher Road (about 100m from Clonown Centre) and heads towards the old Ballinasloe Rd and back via Creggan with the finish at the Clonown Community Centre. The 5KM run was added this year to provide a managable challenge for people who are following programmes such as Operation Transformation. The 5KM race route follows a meandering around the townland. The race starts at the church in Clonown and head clockwise around the Ballinaculla townland which offers lovely views of the River Shannon. The route then goes to the Drumlosh road and runs for 1.5 km before the roundabout which is the 3km mark. The race then turns around and returns back to the village and finish at Clonown Community Centre. Both races share some of the race route for the Flatline Athlone Half held in September (www.athlonehalfmarathon.com/) which makes the race routes very fast and flat.
Overall Race Summary
Participants: Approximately 400 people took part in both events with runners, joggers, walkers, and families involved.
Weather: This was a wonderfully bright dry afternoon but a very strong wind made difficult running conditions in places.
Course: Very flat accurately measured course on rural roads and bog roadway. There were waterstops provided at various points and by locals along the route. Very well stewarded.
Refreshments: There were lots of refreshments served in the community center aftwards.
Location Map: This is the start/finish area on Google StreetView [goo.gl/maps/W0Hxc]
Some Useful Links
The Clonown area on Google Streetview [goo.gl/maps/W0Hxc]
Facebook Page for the Athlone 10KM Race 2013 www.facebook.com/Athlone10krun?fref=ts
How can I get a full resolution copy of these photographs?
All of the photographs here on this Flickr set have a visible watermark embedded in them. All of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available, free, at no cost, at full resolution WITHOUT watermark. We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not know of any other photographers who operate such a policy. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, Google Orkut etc or (2) other websites, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us. This also means the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a wall post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember - all we ask is for you to link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc.
I ran the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set!
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
If you want to contribute something for these images?
We do not charge for these images. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the image(s) you request are good enough that you would ordinarily pay for their purchase we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible.
Gilbert Carrizales & Gabriel Vasquez (from the band EXODO) in the shoot for their collaboration ''Distant Existence" - Photo taken by Josh Newell
Comiccon Brussels 2020 - Q&A Ian Mcdiarmid
IAN MCDIARMID aka EMPEROR PALPATINE aka DARTH SIDIOUS
We are incredibly proud to announce the next guest! It is the main antagonist of all Star Wars films! From the very beginning 43 years ago to the very last movie Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker that is still in theaters.
The destroyer of the Jedi council, the puppeteer of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and the entire Sith order! It's Darth Sidious aka Emperor Palpatine! This Star Wars greatness comes to the heart of Europe to celebrate the 5-year existence of Comic Con Brussels together with you! We are talking about the one and only Ian Mcdiarmid!
( Comic Con Brussels is your celebration of geek culture in the heart of Europe!
You will find us at the beautiful Tour & Taxis site near the Brussels North train station. At Comic Con Brussels you will find Dealers, Artists, Actors, ... It's a Con that brings together all the things you love:
Comics, cosplay, gaming, films, manga, collectibles, anime, tv series, clothing, toys, gadgets and lots more!!! )
Choreography, Libby Nelson
Music, Sarajevo by Max Richter & Sara Leonard
Performers, Jordan Nazos, Kayla Spears, Hayley Smith, Austin Winter, Sara Wuchte
The only surviving pre-Reformation glass in the cathedral has been collected into a single window at the west end of the south aisle. It is a gorgeous display of late medieval / Renaissance glass including a composite figure of St John, four Old Testament kings from a Jesse Tree and further Old Testament scenes from the story of Susannah.
Bury St Edmunds Cathedral for most of its existence was simply the parish church of St James until the foundation of the new diocese of St Edmundsbury in 1914 when it was raised to cathedral status, one of the many new dioceses formed in the early 20th century that elevated existing parish churches to diocesan rank rather than purpose building a new cathedral. Many of these 'parish church cathedrals' sit slightly awkwardly with their new status, lacking in the scale and grandeur that befits such a title, but of all of them Bury St Edmunds has been adapted to its new role the most successfully, with in my opinion the most beautiful results.
The medieval church consisted of the present nave, built in 1503-51 under master mason John Wastell, with an earlier chancel that was entirely rebuilt in 1711 and again in 1870. Originally it would have seemed a fairly minor building at the entrance to the monastic precinct, overshadowed by the enormous abbey church that once stood immediately behind it. The absence of this magnificent church since the Dissolution and the scant remains of this vast edifice always sully my visits here with a sense of grievous loss, had history been kinder it would have served as the cathedral here instead and likely be celebrated as one of the grandest in the country.
The church never had a tower of its own since the adjacent Norman tower of the Abbey gateway served the role of a detached campanile perfectly. It is an impressive piece of Romanesque architecture and one of the best preserved 12th century towers in the country.
Upon being raised to cathedral status in 1914 the building underwent no immediate structural changes but plans were made to consider how best to transform a fairly ordinary church into a worthy cathedral. This task was appointed to architect Stephen Dykes Bower and work began in 1959 to extend the building dramatically. Between 1963-1970 the entire Victorian chancel was demolished and replaced with a much grander vision of a lofty new choir and shallow transepts, remarkably all executed in traditional Gothic style in order to harmonize with the medieval nave. It is incredible to think that this was done in the 1960s, a period in which church and cathedral buildings were otherwise constructed in the most self consciously modern forms ever seen, with delicate neo-medieval masonry in place of brick and concrete.
The new crossing of transepts and choir however remained crowned by the stump of a tower for the remainder of the century as funds were not available to finish Dykes Bower's complete vision of a lantern tower over the crossing: this was only realised at the beginning of the 21st century, aided by a legacy left in the architect's will and some subtle design changes under his successor as architect Hugh Matthews. The transformation from church to cathedral was finally completed in 2005 with most satisfactory results. A stunning fan-vault was installed within the new tower in 2010, an exquisite finishing touch.
Whilst it isn't a large building by cathedral standards its newer parts do much to give it the shape and dignity of one. This is especially apparent within, where the cruciform eastern limb draws the eye. The interior is enlivened by much colour, with the ceilings of Dykes Bower's choir and transepts adorned with rich displays of stencilling, whilst the nave ceiling (a Victorian replacement for the medieval one) was redecorated in similarly lively colours in the 1980s which helps to unify the old and new parts of the church.
Few fittings or features remain from the medieval period, most of the furnishings being Victorian or more recent, but one window in the south aisle retains a rich display of early 16th century stained glass, very much Renaissance in style. The remaining glass is nearly all Victorian, some of the windows in the new choir having been transferred from the previous chancel.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral is not filled with the monuments and fittings that make other great churches so rewarding to linger in but it is a real architectural delight and cannot fail to uplift the spirit.