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What’s the point of satire? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31442441

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From BBC : What does Assad really think about Syria’s civil war?

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From CNN : Tribesman: Iraqi army in Anbar may ‘collapse’

Tribesman: Iraqi army in Anbar may ‘collapse’
http://www.cnn.com//2015/02/14/middleeast/isis-iraq-syria/index.html

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From CNN : Cartoonist: ‘Should be possible to insult all religions’

Cartoonist: ‘Should be possible to insult all religions’
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From CNN : Americans have plotted against cartoonists

Americans have plotted against cartoonists
http://www.cnn.com//2015/01/07/opinion/bergen-americans-have-plotted-to-kill-cartoonists/index.html

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From BBC : Synthetic vaccine sought for polio

Synthetic vaccine sought for polio http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31468224

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From BBC : Lebanon marks Hariri assassination

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From BBC : Injuries in second Denmark shooting

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From BBC : Ukrainian president orders ceasefire

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Good Taste Always_Pencil Sketch 3_FotoSketcher (my art collection)

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Gunman hits Danish blasphemy seminar http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31472423

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Mozart – Flute Quartet No. 1 in D, K. 285 , great compositions/performances

Mozart – Flute Quartet No. 1 in D, K. 285

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Published on Apr 28, 2012/ views: 22,053

The Flute Quartet No. 1 in D major, K. 285, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for flute, violin, viola, and cello, the first of three quartets for the amateur Ferdinand De Jean, was probably written between 1777 and 1778. It is in three movements :
1. Allegro, common time
2. Adagio, B minor, 3/4
3. Rondeau: [Allegro], 2/4
Ludwig van Beethoven borrowed from the first movement for his Duo for clarinet and bassoon of 1792. The “distinguished Adagio in B minor, [is] a romantic troubadour song which, in the brevity of its thirty-five bars, hints at the future slow movement of the A major piano concerto (K.488).” There are a number of different editions. The edition of G. Schirmer was edited by Louis Moyse, while that for International music was edited by Jean-Pierre Rampal. The piece has also been arranged for flute and guitar.
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FREE .mp3 and .wav files of all Mozart’s music at: http://www.mozart-archiv.de/
FREE sheet music scores of any Mozart piece at: http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/start…
ALSO check out these cool sites: http://musopen.org/
and http://imslp.org/wiki/

 

Historic musical Bits: W. Kempff plays Schubert Sonata in C minor, D.958, great compositions/performances

W. Kempff plays Schubert Sonata in C minor, D.958

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Uploaded on Aug 17, 2011/39,544 views

00:00 – Allegro
08:42 – Adagio
15:39 – Menuetto
19:30 – Allegro
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Franz Schubert – Sonata in C minor, D. 958

Find much more information on Franz Schubert’s Work at the website bellow:

http://www.franzpeterschubert.com/sonata_d_958.html

The Sonata in C minor, D. 958 marks the first works of the kind since Beethoven’s death the previous year, and Schubert seems at last to have felt free to challenge the great composer on his own ground. The work was written three months before Schubert’s death and comprises 4 movements.

In the Allegro, the exposition shifts from the tonic to the relative major (E-flat major), touching midway upon its parallel minor (E-flat minor), all in accordance with Classical practice. The development section is highly chromatic, and is texturally and melodically distinct from the exposition.

The recapitulation is once again traditional, staying in the tonic and stressing subdominant tonalities (D-flat, the lowered second degree – in the first theme). The coda returns to the material of the development section, but with stable tonality.

The Adagio is written in A-flat major, and has the A–B–A–B–A form. The unorthodox, chromatic harmonic structure of this movement is generated from a short progression that appears towards the end of the A section, leading to a plagal cadence in the subdominant key (D-flat), chromatically colored with its own minor subdominant chord (G-flat minor). This leads to the haunted atmosphere of the B section, which is full of chromatic modulations and ‘frightening’ sforzandos. In the second appearance of the A and B sections, almost the entire music is shifted a semitone up. The ‘kernel’ progression returns transformed at the end of the movement, with even subtler chromatic coloration and harsher modulations, leading from A-flat minor to C major. Throughout the entire movement, brisk modulations of a rising or falling semitone predominate.

The third movement is a somber one, quite distinct from the typical atmosphere of dance movements. It is relatively conservative in its key scheme, moving to the relative major key and back to the tonic. In the B section, a sequence of hemiolas is interrupted by a dramatic interpolation in A-flat major. The second A section is a transformation of the first, interrupted every four bars by a silent bar, creating a mysterious atmosphere. The trio is in A-flat major, ternary form.

The last movement is written in 6/8 and in tarantella style, and is characterised by a relentless galloping rhythm. It employs the three-key exposition, a recurrent element in Schubert’s style. The first theme shifts from C minor to C major – another Schubertian feature, and contains many allusions to D-flat major, which eventually becomes the key of the second theme. After a series of modulations, the exposition ends in the traditional relative major, E-flat. The development section begins in C-flat with a new theme, derived from the last bars of the exposition. Later on, additional material from the exposition is developed, gradually building up towards a climax. The recapitulation is also written in three keys, this time the second theme in B-flat minor and the closing section in the traditional tonic. The coda begins with a long anticipatory passage which stresses A-flat, the submediant, and then reintroduces the first theme, gradually building up tension towards the fortissimo ending.

!. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Menuetto: Allegro – Trio
IV. Allegro.

Listen to the Sonata in C minor, D. 958

Recommended recordings of Schubert Sonatas

Obama’s New Order Urges Companies to Share Cyber-Threat Info With the Government

Obama’s New Order Urges Companies to Share Cyber-Threat Info With the Government (gently click to access wired story)

read more               HERE

Save Net Neutrality

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.

February 14

Happy Valentine’s Day!Today is St. Valentine’s Day, the feast day of two Christian martyrs named Valentine: one a priest and physician, the other the Bishop of Terni. Both are purported to have been beheaded on this day. The custom of sending handmade ‘valentines’ to one’s beloved became popular during the 17th century and was first commercialized in the United States in the 1840s.
1349		2,000 Jews are burned at the stake in Strasbourg, Germany.
1400		The deposed Richard II is murdered in Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire.
1549		Maximilian II, brother of the Emperor Charles V, is recognized as the future king of Bohemia.
1779		American Loyalists are defeated by Patriots at Kettle Creek, Ga.
1797		The Spanish fleet is destroyed by the British under Admiral Jervis (with Nelson in support) at the battle of Cape St. Vincent, off Portugal.
1848		James Polk becomes the first U.S. President to be photographed in office by Matthew Brady.
1859		Oregon is admitted as the thirty-third state.
1870		Esther Morris becomes the world’s first female justice of the peace.
1876		Rival inventors Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell both apply for patents for the telephone.
1900		General Roberts invades South Africa’s Orange Free State with 20,000 British troops.
1904		The “Missouri Kid” is captured in Kansas.
1912		Arizona becomes the 48th state in the Union.
1915		Kaiser Wilhelm II invites the U.S. Ambassador to Berlin in order to confer on the war.
1918		Warsaw demonstrators protest the transfer of Polish territory to the Ukraine.
1920		The League of Women Voters is formed in Chicago in celebration of the imminent ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.
1924		Thomas Watson founds International Business Machines Corp.
1929		Chicago gang war between Al Capone and George “Bugs” Moran culminates with several Moran confederates being gunned down in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
1939		Germany launches the battleship Bismark.
1940		Britain announces that all merchant ships will be armed.
1942		Japanese paratroopers attack Sumatra. Aidan MacCarthy‘s RAF unit flew to Palembang, in eastern Sumatra, where 30 Royal Australian Air Force Lockheed A-28 Hudson bombers were waiting.
1945		800 Allied aircraft firebomb the German city of Dresden. Smaller followup bombing raids last until April with a total death toll of between 35,000 to 130,000 civillians.
1945		The siege of Budapest ends as the Soviets take the city. Only 785 German and Hungarian soldiers managed to escape.
1949		The United States charges the Soviet Union with interning up to 14 million in labor camps.
1955		A Jewish couple loses their fight to adopt Catholic twins as the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to rule on state law.
1957		The Georgia state senate outlaws interracial athletics.
1965		Malcolm X’s home is firebombed. No injuries are reported.
1971		Moscow publicizes a new five-year plan geared to expanding consumer production.
1973		The United States and Hanoi set up a group to channel reconstruction aid directly to Hanoi.
1979		Armed guerrillas attack the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
1985		Vietnamese troops surround the main Khmer Rouge base at Phnom Malai.
1989		Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini charges that Salman Rushdie’s novel, The Satanic Verses, is blasphemous and issues an edict (fatwa) calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie.
Born on February 14
1760		Richard Allen, first black ordained by a Methodist-Episcopal church.
1817		Frederick Douglass, slave, and later, activist and author.
1819		Christopher Latham Sholes, inventor of the first practical typewriter.
1845		Quinton Hogg, English philanthropist.
1859		George Washington Gale Ferris, inventor of the Ferris Wheel.
1894		Jack Benny, comedian, radio and television performer…and violinist.
1894		Mary Lucinda Cardwell Dawson, founded the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC) and was appointed to President John F. Kennedy’s National Committee on Music.

– See more at: http://www.historynet.com/today-in-history#sthash.8Ow54pqd.dpuf

today’s image: Valentine’s Day (Image: Courtesy of My Scrap Album)

Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day probably has its origins in the Roman feast of Lupercalia, which was held on February 15. One of the traditions associated with this feast was young men drawing the names of young women whom they would court during the following year–a custom that may have grown into the giving of valentine’s cards. Another legend associated with Valentine’s Day was the martyrdom of the Christian priest St. Valentine on February 14. The Roman emperor believed that men would remain soldiers longer if they were not married, but Valentine earned the wrath of the emperor by secretly marrying young couples. The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland, who sold elaborate handmade cards for as much as $35 at the end of the 19th century. Complex and beautiful machine-made cards brought the custom of valentine exchanging within the reach of many Americans.

Image: Courtesy of My Scrap Album

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

Saint of the Day for Saturday, February 14th, 2015 :St. Valentine

Saint of the Day for Saturday, February 14th, 2015

St. Valentine

Click Here for St. Valentine Prayer’s Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and … continue reading

More Saints of the Day

St. Valentine St. Abraham of Carrhae St. Antoninus of Sorrento St. Auxentius of Bithynia St. Conran Sts. Cyril and Methodius St. Dionysius

St. Eleuchadius St. Maro Sts. Cyril and Methodius St. Nostrianus St. Theodosius Bl. Vicente Vilar David

today’s commemoration/holiday: Douglass Day (2015)

Douglass Day (2015)

Each year on February 14, Frederick Douglass‘s birthday is commemorated with a ceremony at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, DC. The event features speakers on human rights, recitations of excerpts from Douglass’s speeches, music performances, and a wreath-laying ceremony. Activities, including lectures, readings from his works, and film presentations about his life, are also planned in New Bedford, in Rochester, New York, where Douglass’s grave is located, and in many other locations throughout the country. More… Discuss

quotation: “She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.” W. Somerset Maugham

She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) Discuss

today’s birthday: Max Horkheimer (1895)

Max Horkheimer (1895)

Horkheimer was a German philosopher and sociologist and played an important role in the development of critical theory and Western Marxism. In Eclipse of Reason and Dialectic of Enlightenment, he developed a critique of scientific positivism, and his ideas about liberation and consumer society continue to influence contemporary empirical sociologists. What did Horkheimer believe to be the cause of the ills of modern society? More… Discuss

This day in the yesteryear: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929)

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929)

When Jack McGurn, a member of Al Capone’s gang, was almost killed by members of rival George “Bugs” Moran’s gang, Capone decided to retaliate by luring Bugs and some of his men to a warehouse and killing them. On the day of the massacre, Capone’s men thought that the rival crime boss had entered the warehouse and opened fire. They killed seven men but not Bugs—he had grown suspicious and changed his plans. One of the seven victims initially survived, despite how many gunshot wounds? More… Discuss

Love Is in the Air

If you’ve had enough with online dating, try airline dating. Australian airline Jetstar has teamed with a feng shui master to match compatible single passengers. Interested participants simply need to enter their relationship status and birthday online to generate a feng shui report that lists their ideal travel destinations and in-flight seats, as well as their best zodiac matches. Single passengers can also enter a contest to win a trip overseas with a blind date selected based on potential compatibility. The program, called “Love Is in the Zodiac Pair,” drew 5,000 applications within hours of launching. More… Discuss

The Great Mississippi Flood

The Great Mississippi Flood

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in US history. Following heavy rains in 1926, the Mississippi River broke out of its levee system in 145 places, causing over $400 million in damages and killing 246 people in seven states. After the disaster, the federal government took over flood-control work—stabilizing river banks, improving channels, and constructing levees, floodwalls, floodways, and reservoirs. What famous song was written about the flood? More… Discuss

word: doggerel

doggerel

Definition:	(noun) Crudely or irregularly fashioned verse, often of a humorous or burlesque nature.
Synonyms:	jingle
Usage:	I want the man I love and honor to be something finer and higher than a perpetrator of jokes and doggerel. Discuss.

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From France 24

Tunisians flock to join the jihad

http://f24.my/1E7AKu3

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From France 24:

Kirchner ‘formally accused’ in cover-up of 1994 bombing

http://f24.my/1MjI1Ne

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http://www.voanews.com/A/2644052.html

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From VOA : Report: Obama, Khamenei Exchange Letters

http://www.voanews.com/A/2644047.html

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