Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310, written in 1778 is a sonata in three movements:
1- Allegro maestoso 2- Andante cantabile con espressione 3 -Presto
The A minor sonata is the first of only two Mozart piano sonatas to have been composed in a minor key. Written around the time of the death of Mozart's mother, it is one of the darkest of his sonatas. The second movement is especially beautiful and the last movement has an obsessive, haunted quality about it, heightened near the end by the interruption of the relentless drive to the conclusion by repeated and chilling quiet falling passages.
"So let me tell you the story of a suspected murder, a real one, the irresistibly tragic tale of a beautiful young actress of early 20th century Hollywood, the adventure-loving heroine of one successful film after another: Madcap Madge, The Flapper, and – what would turn out to be her last picture – Everybody’s Sweetheart.
The actress, Olive Thomas, had the look of a charming child, with a shining bob of dark, curly hair, big violet-blue eyes, and a pale, heart-shaped face. It was a look that launched her career, starting in 1914 when she’d won a “Most Beautiful Girl in New York City contest.” And it launched her marriage to a member of Hollywood’s inner circle, Jack Pickford – younger brother of screen star Mary Pickford.
The couple rapidly developed a reputation for wild behavior, intense partying, intense quarreling, usually over his numerous side affairs – he’d developed syphilis as a result of one of them. They separated, reunited, separated, tried again, delighting the gossip magazines. In early September 1920, the couple flew to Paris, reportedly on a reconciliation holiday. They checked into the Hotel Ritz and whirled off to enjoy time in a Prohibition-free city. At the end one particularly drunken spree, Pickford and Thomas staggered into their hotel room at nearly three in the morning. As Pickford told the police, he was floating in a whiskeyed haze, when Olive began screaming, over and over, “Oh my God, my God.”
He stumbled into the dimly lit bathroom, where she was leaning against the counter. Mistaking it for her sleeping medicine, she had picked up a bottle of the bichloride of mercury potion that he rubbed on the painful sores caused by syphilis, poured a dose, and chugged it down. As the corrosive sublimate burned down her throat, she had a moment to realize her mistake. He caught her up and carried her back to the bed, grabbing the phone and calling for an ambulance. “Oh my God,” she repeated, “I’m poisoned.”
And it’s at this point, that I hope I’ve gotten you caught up in the story so that you’ll continue read on as I pause to tell you something about the poisonous element mercury – its history, its chemistry, its use in everything from thermometers to medications, it’s rather insidious poisonous effects......"
"The Pennsylvania General Assembly this week passed a non-binding resolution that declares 2012 as “the year of the Bible.”
“As not only Pennsylvania, but the United States, continues to face great tests and challenges, House Resolution 535 serves as a reminder that we must look to our faith in God and the Holy Scripture to provide us with the strength, wisdom and courage to conquer these great trials,” Rep. Rick Saccone (R), who sponsored the resolution, said.
“All over the Pennsylvania Capitol, one can easily see the tremendous influence that Christianity and the Bible have had over our founders and predecessors,” he added. “These images and quotes illustrating the beliefs and morals that have shaped our great Commonwealth must never be forgotten.”
The symbolic resolution was approved by a unanimous 193 to 0 vote. “[The] House of Representatives declare 2012 as the ‘Year of the Bible’ in Pennsylvania in recognition of both the formative influence of the Bible on our Commonwealth and nation and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the holy scriptures,” it states.
Not surprisingly, the move upset the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group dedicated to keeping religion and government separate. “Our constitution grants sovereignty not to a deity or a ‘holy book,’ but to ‘We, the People.’ There is no reference to God, the bible, the Ten Commandments or Jesus in the U.S. Constitution, just as there are no references to ‘consent of the governed,’ ‘civil liberties’ or ‘democracy’ in the bible,” the group said.
“Those who have truly studied the bible realize that it is a moral quagmire, a behavioral grab bag, which has been used to justify automatic rule, tyranny, slavery, the degradation of women and gays, child abuse, war, atrocity and mayhem.”
Sorry, but my computer crashed last week. Happens to everyone from time to time - I guess. Local computer tech said my memory card had stopped functioning and I needed a new one. In addition I have had a miserable head cold during the same period.
So no new posts for over a week now, but new tidbits of odd/significant information will be forthcoming . . . . .
Most Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists won't touch it, yet many coffee aficionados can't go a day without it. I belong to the latter group. When I lived in a high mountain valley in Mexico I used to buy my coffee beans from a local grower, always on the day that they were roasted. They were still warm and aromatic when they arrived in my kitchen. Now that I live in Thailand, a friend sends me monthly parcels of a delicious coffee grown and harvested in Vietnam, and which satisfies my taste buds more than the locally grown Thai coffee.
And in case you were wondering, September 29th is recognized as National Coffee Day in the U.S.
"Sultan Murad IV, a ruler of the Ottoman Empire [12th century], would not have been a fan of Starbucks. Under his rule, the consumption of coffee was a capital offense.
Though Murad IV banned tobacco, alcohol and coffee, some say he consumed all three and his death was the result of alcohol poisoning. The sultan was so intent on eradicating coffee that he would disguise himself as a commoner and stalk the streets of Istanbul with a hundred-pound broadsword. Unfortunate coffee drinkers were decapitated as they sipped.
Murad IV's successor was more lenient. The punishment for a first offense was a light cudgeling. Caught with coffee a second time, the perpetrator was sewn into a leather bag and tossed in the river. ...."
"Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, author of The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet and host of the WGBH-produced TV series Nova ScienceNow talks about his passion for science, his efforts to make astronomy accessible, and why he doesn't think the sky is the limit."
Discovered a new fractal program, Mandelbulb 3D, yesterday. Still learning the basics since the learning curve is pretty steep on most fractal programs.
It is available as a free download from: Fractal Forums, along with a 35 page read-me text which can serve as a basic tutorial. There are also several step-by-step tutorials on YouTube. And a very good web tutorial is available at Mandelbulb/Mandelbrot/fractals for beginners.
Almost immediately found one of the basic parameter images which appealed to me with little tweaking; a marvelous 'fractal box' which I saved and then added some text. It was a childhood fantasy which had suddenly become a reality, well in the virtual sense, a wonderfully detailed Treasure Chest. [Although most here know me as Jing-reed, my childhood name in Slovakia was Igor.]
Common cranes have been hand-reared to fly alongside a microlight to capture these images.
Earthflight uses many different filming techniques to create the experience of flying with birds as they reveal some of the greatest natural and man-made monuments of the planet.
So now the most self serving, corrupt, and ineffectual legislative body in history of the U.S. has decided to take on the internet. They never fail to kowtow to the large corporations, and the public can be damned. Cretins each and every one.
"With a Web-wide protest on Wednesday that includes a 24-hour shutdown of the English-language Wikipedia, the legislative battle over two Internet piracy bills has reached an extraordinary moment — a political coming of age for a relatively young and disorganized industry that has largely steered clear of lobbying and other political games in Washington.
The bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate, are backed by major media companies and are mostly intended to curtail the illegal downloading and streaming of TV shows and movies online. But the tech industry fears that, among other things, they will give media companies too much power to shut down sites that they say are abusing copyrights.
The legislation has jolted technology leaders, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, who are not accustomed to having their free-wheeling online world come under attack.
One response is Wednesday’s protest, which will direct anyone visiting Google and many other Web sites to pages detailing the tech industry’s opposition to the bills. Wikipedia, run by a nonprofit organization, is going further than most sites by actually taking material offline — no doubt causing panic among countless students who have a paper due.
It said the move was meant to spark greater public opposition to the bills, which could restrict its freedom to publish. . . . "
