Beethoven “Moonlight” Sonata op 27 # 2 Mov 3 Valentina Lisitsa ,great compositions/performances

Beethoven “Moonlight” Sonata op 27 # 2 Mov 3 Valentina Lisitsa

ValentinaLisitsa

 

Uploaded on Jan 18, 2010 ? 8,617,331 views

Recording in Beethovensaal, Hannover Germany, Dec 2009. Wilhelm Kempff recorded Beethoven cycle in the very same hall.
Buy Moonlight Sonata DVD http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Royal-Al…

Valentina Lisitsa Live at the Royal Albert Hall
US iTunes – http://bit.ly/iTunesUSVal
US Amazon – http://bit.ly/ValRAH

Liszt Un Sospiro Concert Étude No. 3 , Valentina Lisitsa , great compositions/performances

Liszt Un Sospiro Concert Étude No. 3 Valentina Lisitsa

ValentinaLisitsa

Published on Dec 15, 2012

Translated from Italian as “The sigh” ( not Liszt’ original title by the way ) this is an aural painting , the seascape equal to the masterpieces of Turner or Aivazovsky … So clearly you can “see” the gently rolling waves, smell the salty breeze, marvel at first glimpses of majestic sunrise at the very end., all in a perfect solitude…..Why in the world this gorgeous Nocturne is called an ETUDE? Did old man Liszt decided to joke with us? No, he certainly knew what he was doing! This piece is the best proof that technique, yes, that elusive thing so many aspiring pianists are desperately trying to conquer , the “technique” is nothing but physiological function of the body, just as natural a thing as breathing or walking. If you let your soul, your imagination, your ears lead the way, the fingers will come along.

Recorded November 2012 in the medieval church of beautiful village of Blumenstein Switzerland, Bosendorfer imperial from http://www.leclavier.ch/
Download mp3 https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/val…
Download free sheet music from IMSLP http://tinyurl.com/cjves7k

Bedrich Smetana－Overture from “The Bartered Bride” , great compositions/performances

Bedrich Smetana－Overture from “The Bartered Bride”

irie1948

 

Mariss Jansons－Berliner Philharmoniker
***********************************************************

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Bedřich Smetana

The Bartered Bride (Czech: Prodaná nevěsta, The Sold Fiancée) is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the Provisional Theatre, Prague, on 30 May 1866 in a two-act format with spoken dialogue. Set in a country village and with realistic characters, it tells the story of how, after a late surprise revelation, true love prevails over the combined efforts of ambitious parents and a scheming marriage broker. The opera was not immediately successful, and was revised and extended in the following four years. In its final version, premiered in 1870, it gained rapid popularity and eventually became a worldwide success.

Czech national opera until this time had been represented only by a number of minor, rarely performed works. This opera, Smetana’s second, was part of his quest to create a truly Czech operatic genre. Smetana’s musical treatment makes considerable use of traditional Bohemian dance forms such as the polka and furiant, although he largely avoids the direct quotation of folksong. He nevertheless created music which was accurately folk-like, and is considered by Czechs to be quintessentially Czech in spirit. The overture, often played as a concert piece independently from the opera, was, unusually, composed before almost any of the other music had been written.

After a performance at the Vienna Music and Theatre Exhibition of 1892, the opera achieved international recognition. It was performed in Chicago in 1893, London in 1895 and reached New York in 1909, subsequently becoming the first, and for many years the only, Czech opera in the general repertory. Many of these early international performances were in German, under the title Die verkaufte Braut, and the German-language version continues to be played and recorded. A German film of the opera was made in 1932 by Max Ophüls.^[1]

Context

Until the middle 1850s Bedřich Smetana was known in Prague principally as a teacher, pianist and composer of salon pieces. His failure to achieve wider recognition in the Bohemian capital led him to depart in 1856 for Sweden, where he spent the next five years.^[2] During this period he extended his compositional range to large-scale orchestral works in the descriptive style championed by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner.^[3] Liszt was Smetana’s long-time mentor; he had accepted a dedication of the latter’s Opus 1: Six Characteristic Pieces for Piano in 1848, and had encouraged the younger composer’s career since then.^[4] In September 1857 Smetana visited Liszt in Weimar, where he met Peter Cornelius, a follower of Liszt’s who was working on a comic opera, Der Barbier von Bagdad.^[5] Reportedly, their discussions centred on the need to create a modern style of comic opera, as a counterbalance to Wagner’s new form of music drama. A comment was made by the Viennese conductor Johann von Herbeck to the effect that Czechs were incapable of making music of their own, a remark which Smetana took to heart: “I swore there and then that no other than I should beget a native Czech music.”^[5]

Smetana did not act immediately on this aspiration. The announcement that a Provisional Theatre was to be opened in Prague, as a home for Czech opera and drama pending the building of a permanent National Theatre, influenced his decision to return permanently to his homeland in 1861.^[6] He was then spurred to creative action by the announcement of a prize competition, sponsored by the Czech patriot Jan von Harrach, to provide suitable operas for the Provisional Theatre. By 1863 he had written The Brandenburgers in Bohemia to a libretto by the Czech nationalist poet Karel Sabina, whom Smetana had met briefly in 1848.^[6][7] The Brandenburgers, which was awarded the opera prize, was a serious historical drama, but even before its completion Smetana was noting down themes for use in a future comic opera. By this time he had heard the music of Cornelius’s Der Barbier, and was ready to try his own hand at the comic genre.^[8]

From NBC: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Dies

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Serbia offers to bang Russia-EU heads together

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Day in pictures: 22 January 2015

Day in pictures: 22 January 2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-30934105

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US House passes anti-abortion bill

US House passes anti-abortion bill http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30941092

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‘No US charges’ for Ferguson officer

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Saudi King Abdullah dies aged 91

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I’m watching the latest FRANCE 24 news bulletin
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Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has died, Saudi State TV reports. He was 90.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has died, Saudi State TV reports. He was 90.
http://www.cnn.com

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Chomsky: Hypocrisy of West’s outrage

Chomsky: Hypocrisy of West’s outrage
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tv/2015/01/18/pencils-flowers-notes-a-memorial-to-charlie-hebdo.cnn.html

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From NPR News

Yemen’s President, Cabinet Resign Amid Political Chaos http://n.pr/1yMoi1p

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Citing Proximity Of Israeli Election, Obama Won’t Meet With Netanyahu http://n.pr/1y30zX2

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Jeff Gordon Says 2015 Will Be His Last Full NASCAR Season http://n.pr/1y43MFG

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How Much More (Or Less) Would You Make If We Rolled Back Inequality? http://n.pr/1wdWdvN

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Maybe Early Humans Weren’t The First To Get A Good Grip http://n.pr/1CQUl18

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EXCLUSIVE: Volunteers Secretly Battle ISIS Militants

http://nbcnews.to/1L2wdOE

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‘It’s So Cool!’: Sidecar Dogs Make Easy Riders

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Get Vaccinated or Stay Out of Disneyland: Officials

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beauty-1._FotoSketcher_emergence 2_2 (My Art Collection)

beauty-1._FotoSketcher_emergence 2_2 (click to enlarge)

From France 24

Income inequality is ‘brake on growth’, Oxfam chief warns Davos

http://f24.my/1JcMJK5

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From France 24:

France to dispatch 40 more troops to advise Iraqi army

http://f24.my/1JcRP9f

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From France 24:

ECB plans to purchase €60 billion in bonds per month

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From France 24

Saudi Arabian blogger’s flogging postponed again

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From France 24:

Yemen’s President Hadi resigns amid standoff with Shiite militia

http://f24.my/1JdEAVN

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From Los Angeles Times: Police appear to try to tip man out of his wheelchair in video

Police appear to try to tip man out of his wheelchair in video (click to access article and watch video)

Of Human Fishes, poetic thought by George-B ( the Smudge and Other Poems Page)

Of Human Fishes, poetic thought by George-B
( the Smudge and Other Poems Page)

The human fish is hungry
the human fish is focused on the pray –
the rest of the humans,
fish of no fish, flash, flash,
the human fish knows only teeth, and jaw,
and carnage is written in the cartilaginous, sacrilegious lack of bone in the backbone
the human fish can’t learn and hates it,
can’t laughs and loves it

the human fish: hurts and takes and
makes reason for that,
the human fish  that time leaves unchanged,
generation in – generation out
it’s just a mass of non-evolving flash,
flash in – flash out, the human fish, the shark inside
the mindless, mind, that’s not evolving.

– George-B

Copyright © 2015 [George-B]. All Rights Reserved.

Tutankhamun’s beard ‘glued back on’

Tutankhamun’s beard ‘glued back on’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30931369

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From France 24:

Foreign ministers gather in London for anti-IS coalition talks

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From France 24:

Ukrainian troops forced to withdraw from Donetsk airport

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From France 24:

Education on ‘frontline’ of France’s battle against terror

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Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Opus 20

United States Marine Band

Published on Jul 28, 2014

Members of the Marine Chamber Orchestra performed Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Opus 20 on May 4, 2014, at the Marine Barracks Annex in Washington, D.C.
***********************************************************************

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Felix Mendelssohn‘s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20, was composed in the autumn of 1825 and completed on October 15,^[1] when the composer was 16. He wrote it as a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher Eduard Ritz (1802-1832); it was slightly revised in 1832 before the first public performance on 30 January 1836 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.^[2] Conrad Wilson summarizes much of its reception ever since: “Its youthful verve, brilliance and perfection make it one of the miracles of nineteenth-century music.”^[3]

The work comprises four movements:

1. Allegro moderato ma con fuoco
2. Andante
3. Scherzo
4. Presto

A typical performance of the work lasts around thirty minutes, with the first movement usually comprising roughly half of this.

The scherzo, later scored for orchestra as a replacement for the minuet in the composer’s First Symphony at its premiere, is believed to have been inspired by a section of Goethe’s Faust entitled “Walpurgis Night’s Dream.”^[4] Fragments of this movement recur in the finale, as a precursor to the “cyclic” technique employed by later 19th-century composers. The entire work is also notable for its extended use of counterpoint, with the finale, in particular, beginning with an eight-part fugato.

The work has been compared to Louis Spohr‘s 1823 Double Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 65.^[5]

Instrumentation

The original score is for a double string quartet with 4 violins and pairs of violas and cellos. Mendelssohn instructed in the public score, “This Octet must be played by all the instruments in symphonic orchestral style. Pianos and fortes must be strictly observed and more strongly emphasized than is usual in pieces of this character.”^[2]

The piece is sometimes played by full string sections using multiple players for each part as well as an added double bass part which usually (but not always) doubles the 2nd cello part below the octave. For example, Arturo Toscanini created such a version for a performance with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1947. More recently in 2009, conductor Yoon Jae Lee made a transcription of the first, second, and last movements for full orchestra.^[6]

The composer also arranged the piece as a piano duet and orchestrated the 3rd movement Scherzo (with compositional alterations) as an alternate 3rd movement to his Symphony No. 1 in C minor.

3 Gymnopédies, 6 Gnossiennes

3 Gymnopédies, 6 Gnossiennes -AT D SZ

dzemann l

Erik Satie
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (pronounced: [eʁik sati]) (17 May 1866 — Paris, 1 July 1925; signed his name Erik Satie after 1884)

Pascal Rogé
Erik Satie – Piano Dreams – 01 – Gymnopedie N°1

Erik Satie – Piano Dreams – 02 – Gymnopedie N°2
Erik Satie – Piano Dreams – 03 – Gymnopedie N°3
.
Gnossienne No. 1
Gnossienne No. 2
Gnossienne No. 3
Gnossienne No. 4
Gnossienne No. 5
Gnossienne No. 6

 

François Couperin – Le Rossignol en Amour – Flute & Harp

Jonathan Brahms

The DaCamera Duo, flutist Jonathan Brahms and harpist Cynthia Price, perform Le Rossignol en Amour (The Nightingale in Love) in a live concert at the Donnell Library Center in New York City on February 9, 1982.

Originally composed for solo harpsichord, the piece consists of a theme and one variation (“Double”). The composer himself stated:

“This “Rossignol” can be performed with the greatest possible success on the flute, when it is well played.”

G. Holst – The planets Op. 32 – Berliner Philharmoniker – H. von Karajan , great compositions/performances

G. Holst – The planets Op. 32 – Berliner Philharmoniker – H. von Karajan

doramas67

Published on Jan 26, 2013

The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst. With the exception of Earth (the centre of all yet influentially inert astrologically, all the astrological planets known during the work’s composition are represented.

From its premiere to the present day, the suite has been enduringly popular, influential, widely performed and frequently recorded. The work was not heard in a complete public performance, however, until some years after it was completed. Although there were four performances between September 1918 and October 1920, they were all either private (the first performance, in London) or incomplete (two others in London and one in Birmingham). The premiere was at the Queen’s Hall on 29 September 1918, conducted by Holst’s friend Adrian Boult before an invited audience of about 250 people. The first complete public performance was finally given in London by Albert Coates conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on 15 November 1920.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an exceptionally large orchestra:
Woodwind: 4 flutes (3rd doubling 1st piccolo; 4th doubling 2nd piccolo and a “bass flute in G”, actually an alto flute), 3 oboes (3rd doubling bass oboe), an English horn, 3 clarinets in B-flat, a bass clarinet in B-flat, 3 bassoons and a contrabassoon
Brass: 6 horns in F, 4 trumpets in C, 3 trombones (2 tenor and 1 bass), a “tenor tuba” (euphonium in B-flat) and a bass tuba
Keyboards: a celesta, and an organ
Percussion: 6 timpani (2 players, 3 drums each except in “Uranus” having 4 drums for 1st and 2 drums for 2nd), a bass drum, a snare drum, cymbals, a triangle, a tam-tam, a tambourine, a glockenspiel, a xylophone, and tubular bells
Strings: 2 harps, 1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellos, and double basses
Voices: (“Neptune” only), 2 three-part women’s choruses (SSA) located in an adjoining room which is to be screened from the audience.

The suite has seven movements, each named after a planet and its corresponding astrological character (see Planets in astrology):

00:00 I.Mars, the Bringer of War
07:21 II.Venus, the Bringer of Peace
15:58 III.Mercury, the Winged Messenger
20:14 IV.Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
27:50 V.Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
37:12 VI.Uranus, the Magician
43:15 VII.Neptune, the Mystic
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The Planets (Los planetas) op. 32, es la obra más conocida del compositor inglés Gustav Holst y fue compuesta entre 1914 y 1918. Es una suite de siete movimientos a cada uno de los cuales Holst le dio el nombre de un planeta (y su correspondiente deidad en la mitología grecorromana).

La obra le fue sugerida por su amigo y también compositor Clifford Bax, durante un viaje a Gibraltar en 1912. El compositor se puso a la tarea y completó la suite en los cuatro años que duró la Primera Guerra Mundial. Debemos la primera ejecución de la obra a Adrian Boult en 1918, que desde entonces se convirtió en el director favorito de Holst para esta obra. Dicha primera ejecución (de carácter privado) se debió a un “regalo” al compositor de su amigo y también compositor Henry Balfour Gardiner.

Está parcialmente inspirada por meditaciones en su propio horóscopo; trata sobre “las siete influencias del destino y componentes de nuestro espíritu”. A pesar de ello, el propio Holst declaró que la obra se basaba en la significación astrológica de los siete planetas representados en ella; que no era “música de programa”, que en caso de pretender encontrar un “programa”, bastaba con los subtítulos de cada sección. Finalmente, declaró que “no había relación alguna con las deidades de la mitología clásica correspondientes a cada planeta.

The Planets, como reza su subtítulo, es una suite “para gran orquesta”. Instrumentos nada habituales, como la flauta baja o el oboe barítono o bajo y unos nutridos efectivos de percusión (bombo, batería, platillos, Triángulo (instrumento musical), tambor militar, pandereta, gong, campanas, xilófono y glockenspiel, así como dos timbalistas) y metal (6 trompas, 4 trompetas, 3 trombones, tuba tenor y tuba bajo) forman, entre otros, la nómina de la suite. Es quizás la orquesta más grande empleada jamás por Holst.

Estructura

La suite está formada por los siguientes movimientos:

1. Marte, el portador de la guerra.
2. Venus, el portador de la paz.
3. Mercurio, el mensajero alado.
4. Júpiter, el portador de la alegría.
5. Saturno, el portador de la vejez.
6. Urano, el mago.
7. Neptuno, el místico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets

Schumann: Symphony No. 4 (1841 Version) – Wiener Symphoniker/Sawallisch (2000) , great compositions/performances

Schumann: Symphony No. 4 (1841 Version) – Wiener Symphoniker/Sawallisch (2000)

KnaMusic

 

Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120 (1841 Version)
Wiener Symphoniker
Wolfgang Sawallisch
rec. Großer Sendersaal des NDR, Hannover, 17 June 2000
 ******************************************************************

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120, composed by Robert Schumann, was first completed in 1841. Schumann heavily revised the symphony in 1851, and it was this version that reached publication.

Clara Schumann, Robert’s widow, later claimed on the first page of the score to the symphony—as published in 1882 as part of her husband’s complete works (Robert Schumanns Werke, Herausgegeben von Clara Schumann, published by Breitkopf & Härtel)—that the symphony had merely been sketched in 1841 but was only fully orchestrated (“vollständig instrumentiert”) in 1851. However, this was untrue, and Johannes Brahms, who greatly preferred the earlier version of the symphony, published that version in 1891 despite Clara’s strenuous objections.

Movements

The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and the usual strings.^[1]

The 1851 (published) version of the work is in four movements which follow each other without pause:^[1]

1. Ziemlich langsam – Lebhaft (D minor)
2. Romanze: Ziemlich langsam (A minor)
3. Scherzo: Lebhaft (D minor)
4. Langsam; Lebhaft (D major)

The 1841 version, however, used Italian rather than German tempo indications, with the four movements as follows:^{[citation needed]}

1. Andante con moto – Allegro di molto (D minor)
2. Romanza: Andante (A minor)
3. Scherzo: Presto (D minor)
4. Largo – Finale: Allegro vivace (D major)

Schumann’s biographer Peter Ostwald comments that this earlier version is “lighter and more transparent in texture” than the revision, but that Clara “always insisted that the later, heavier, and more stately version [of 1851] was the better one.”^{[citation needed]} (Both versions are included on the recent recording of Schumann’s complete symphonies by John Eliot Gardiner.)

External links

• Symphony No. 4: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Today In History. What Happened This Day In History

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.

January 22

1689		England’s “Bloodless Revolution” reaches its climax when parliament invites William and Mary to become joint sovereigns.
1807		President Thomas Jefferson exposes a plot by Aaron Burr to form a new republic in the Southwest.
1813		During the War of 1812, British forces under Henry Proctor defeat a U.S. contingent planning an attack on Fort Detroit.
1824		A British force is wiped out by an Asante army under Osei Bonsu on the African Gold Coast. This is the first defeat for a colonial power.
1863		In an attempt to out flank Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, General Ambrose Burnside leads his army on a march to north Fredericksburg, but foul weather bogs his army down in what will become known as “Mud March.”
1879		Eighty-two British soldiers hold off attacks by 4,000 Zulu warriors at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in South Africa.
1905		Russian troops fire on civilians beginning Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg.
1912		Second Monte Carlo auto race begins.
1913		Turkey consents to the Balkan peace terms and gives up Adrianople.
1930		Admiral Richard Byrd charts a vast area of Antarctica.
1932		Government troops crush a Communist uprising in Northern Spain.
1939		A Nazi order erases the old officer caste, tying the army directly to the Party.
1943		Axis forces pull out of Tripoli for Tunisia, destroying bases as they leave.
1944		U.S. troops under Major General John P. Lucas make an amphibious landing behind German lines at Anzio, Italy, just south of Rome.
1971		Communist forces shell Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the first time.
1979		Abu Hassan, the alleged planner of the 1972 Munich raid, is killed by a bomb in Beirut.
1982		President Ronald Reagan formally links progress in arms control to Soviet repression in Poland.
Born on January 22
1440		Ivan III (the Great), grand prince of Russia.
1561		Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, essayist (The Advancement of Learning).
1788		Lord George Byron, English romantic poet (“Lara,” “Don Juan.”)
1874		D.W. [David Wark] Griffith, influential U.S. film director (The Birth of A Nation, Intolerance).
1890		Fred Vinson, Thirteenth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
1906		Willa Brown-Chappell, pioneer aviator.

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history#sthash.csBqhw0D.dpuf

Image of the day: Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901

Queen Victoria Dies
Queen Victoria, monarch of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India, died on January 22, 1901, after presiding over her vast empire for nearly 64 years–the longest reign in British history. Born in 1819, the only child of George III’s fourth son, Victoria became queen in 1837. In 1840, she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Although the match was a political one, the two were devoted to each other, having nine children before Albert’s death in 1861. Through dynastic marriages, Victoria’s descendants are connected to almost all 20th-century Europe’s royal houses. During Victoria’s long reign the monarchy lost much of its political power to Parliament, but she was the beloved symbol of the Victorian Era–a golden age of British history.

Image: Library of Congress

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/picture-of-the-day#sthash.uGh1q9jJ.dpuf

Saint of the Day for Thursday, January 22nd, 2015: St. Vincent Pallotti

Saint of the Day for Thursday, January 22nd, 2015

St. Vincent Pallotti

St. Vincent Pallotti, Priest (Feast – January 22) Born in Rome in 1795, St. Vincent became a priest and dedicated himself completely to God and cared for souls. He dreamed of gaining for Christ all … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Vincent Pallotti St. Anastasius XIV St. Blaesilla St. Brithwald St. Dominic of Sora St. Francis Gil de Frederich Bl. Ladislaus Batthyany-Strattmann Bl. Laura Vicuna St. Matthew Alonso Leziniana

St. Paschasius St. Valerius of Saragossa St. Vincent of Digne St. Vincent, Orontius, & Victor St. Vincent Pallottiano St. Vincent Saragossa St. Vincent the Deacon Bl. William Joseph Chaminade Bl. William Patenson

TODAY’S HOLIDAY: St. Vincent’s Day (2015)

St. Vincent’s Day (2015)

São Vicente (St. Vincent of Saragossa) is the patron saint of Lisbon, Portugal. In Lisbon, people celebrate his feast day with processions and prayers. But in the surrounding rural areas, there are a number of folk traditions associated with this day. Farmers believe that by carrying a resin torch to the top of a high hill on January 22, they can predict what the coming harvest will be like. If the wind extinguishes the flame, the crops will be abundant; if the torch continues to burn, a poor growing season lies ahead. More… Discuss

Alexandre Dumas: ‘…Wait and hope’.

Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words, —‘Wait and hope’.

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) Discuss

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY: Bruno Kreisky (1911)

Bruno Kreisky (1911)

Kreisky was an Austrian statesman who helped negotiate the treaty that restored Austrian independence and neutrality in 1955 and who became chancellor of Austria in 1970, retaining the office until 1983. As chancellor, he increased Austria’s role in world affairs and presided over a growing economy. He instituted many liberal reforms, such as the decriminalization of homosexuality and abortion. The chancellor, who had Jewish roots, stirred up controversy by appointing whom to his cabinet? More… Discuss

Bloody Sunday: Massacre in St. Petersburg (1905)

The Russian Revolution of 1905 began on Bloody Sunday, when Czar Nicholas II’s troops killed and wounded hundreds of unarmed, peaceful demonstrators marching toward the Winter Palace. The protesters, organized by Georgy Gapon, a Russian Orthodox priest, were going to present the czar with a petition for an eight-hour workday, improved working conditions, and fair wages, when troops opened fire on them. Gapon was killed soon after. How was his friend Pinhas Rutenberg involved in his death? More… Discuss

Europe’s “Tuberculosis Capital” May Surprise You

Tuberculosis (TB), the lung disease that was among the most common causes of death before the advent of antibiotics, is still prevalent in England, with London known as Europe’s “TB capital.” In an effort to combat one of the highest TB rates in western Europe—nearly five times that of the US—British health officials launched an 11.5 million pound ($17.4 million) plan this week to increase TB screening and treatment. Among the challenges facing the initiative are the highly contagious nature of TB—which is transmitted simply through coughing and sneezing—and new, drug-resistant strains of the illness. More… Discuss

Quicksand

Quicksand is a bed of loose sand mixed with water that forms a soft shifting mass that yields easily to pressure and tends to engulf any object resting on its surface. It is usually found at the mouth of a river or along a stream or beach. Although it is possible for a person to drown while mired in quicksand, the human body is less dense than quicksand, so getting stuck in it is not as dangerous as it is often portrayed in movies. What is the recommended method for escaping quicksand? More… Discuss

besmirch

Definition:	(verb) Charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone.
Synonyms:	asperse, calumniate, defame, slander, denigrate, sully, smear
Usage:	She denied everything the tabloids wrote about her, stating that they were only trying to besmirch her reputation. Discuss.

Buddhist monk calls UN expert ‘whore’ over Muslim support

http://f24.my/1yN7ESF

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Sarkozy blasts PM’s ‘apartheid’ comment, breaking national unity

http://f24.my/1yIBHcl

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Drug drone crashes on Mexican border

Drug drone crashes on Mexican border http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30932395

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