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An interview between Frank Heirmann and David Norden:

How to you become an expert?

“It is like Jazz Music, most don’t get a clue, because you must listen to it much and for a long time. You must see thousands of mask before understanding the mystery. The Nordens have been antique dealers for three generations. My mother collected African art and from the age of 6 I went with her to auctions. My father had from time to time African art in his shop on the Lange Leemstraat, but my mother kept the best pieces for herself. My father wasn’t really an afro-specialist in the same way as my brother Jacob who took up the family shop specialized in antique music instruments. I too had the African virus and opened a double antique shop on the Sint-Jorispoort in 1992 – one for general antiques and one for tribal art. In 1998, I was able to buy a house in the Sint Katelijnevest and started to specialise more on African masks and statues.”

What is the use of Masks?

“Masks are coming from animistic cultures, tribes who don’t believe in one single god, but rather try to live in harmony with the ancestors’ spirits and nature’s forces. For the ritualistic ceremonies they carve masks and statues that are “empowered” by the village sorcerer. It is only after this empowerment that the masks can call upon the spirits and nature’s forces.”

How many different kind of masks exist?

“The Masks are ‘danced’ during ceremonies. You have death masks for funerals, masks used during the harvest, hunting masks, initiation masks. Many tribes also have disease masks to prevent and heal. The Pende tribe from Congo has splendid objects that show a split tormented personality. Animal figures generally symbolise the forces of nature. The significance of certain masks, however, is still not known.”

How old are these masks?

“For an African it’s not the age which is essential. Every generation makes new masks. But some special samples are kept for generations. For an antique dealer and a collector a mask must be at least fifty years old, preferably with a traceable pedigree – a documented line of ownership confirming the age of the item. Typically, this means that it has been recorded who brought it back from the colonies, or better, that it was exposed a Museum’s permanent or temporary collections. The best masks are coming from the interbellum, the most valuable pieces were already exposed before the First World War. In Museums you can find masks whish are more than 600 years old, but these are historical curiosities.”

Are there many fakes?

“Absolutely. There are two kinds of fakes. The “airport art” means pieces carved fast for the tourist market. These masks have never been danced or used. Then you have the more sophisticated fakes, items artificially made to look older and that give the impression of having been used in rituals. Only experts can tell the difference. There are laboratories that can date objects, but science doesn’t know everything either. The style, the patina, and the way it has been carved give more clues to the experts. Real collectors buy only from specialists who can give them some guarantees. In case of doubt, I take pieces back without problem.”

Price ticket?

“You get a nice tourist mask at 50 euros, a fine mask half a century old will easily cost 2,000 euros. Top pieces can go up to 200,000 euros. For most people these expensive masks are not relevant because they simply couldn’t tell the difference.”

Who are the collectors then?

“With globalisation the interest in ethnic art has grow rapidly. In 1998, I started a website that now gets 3,000 visitors each week. The site has an international discussion platform with 400 members. Survey’s showed that ethnographic art constitutes a mere two percent of the general art on offer. But more and more people interested in Western art, are now developing an interest in ethnic arts too. They buy a piece occasionally. Really knowledgeable collectors are rare. In Belgium I think they are only some 300. Luckily for me, I sell worldwide to good clients.”

How alive is the mask culture?

“We see a revival in Africa, led by financial and touristic reasons. Also, animistic and tribal culture can be a way to express opposition or resistance to the ( Christian or Islamic) colonialists. It reinforces the identity”.

Is there a relation with Carnival masks?

“Our disguises are a remnant from a far past. Did you know that in Germany they found masks from the XIXth century looking very similar to the African ones? Finally we are also animals, with a layer of culture. Halloween, students baptism, groups with signs or uniforms are in the same sphere as African mask rituals. Only in our civilisation it became a game, whereas the African believes in it.”

Frank Heirmann.
Gazet van Antwerpen
http://www.gazetvanantwerpen.be/

You may use this article freely on condition that you include this copyright line and URL and that people who subsequently use this article follow the same conditions. Thank you for accepting these conditions.

Author : David Norden
Site : ezinearticles.com

Visiting museums, galleries and theaters can give one a new perspective and outlook in life. Looking at artistic pictures, paintings, artifacts, sculptures can give life a brand new dimension that you’ve never seen before.

It’s not possible to visit a place without delving a little bit into the historical value of the place and the best place to find evidence of its history is the museum. There are many top world-class museums everywhere in the world. For example, there’s the world-class Cleveland Museum of Art whereby there’s continuous upgrading to accommodate the stream of visitors to the museum. And of course, if you ever step foot into Detroit, don’t forget to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. There, you can check out many intriguing Ancient Arts collection especially the Frankenthaler’s “The Bay”. The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco is another not-to-be-missed museum because there’s more than 70,000 pieces of arts and images there; the most popular ones in the museum features works by Rodin and Rembrandt.

If you’re a fan of Italian artists and painters, you’ll fine a huge collection of work from Italian artists at Galleria Delgi Uffizi. The art museum features works from famous Italian artists like Botticelli, Veronse and Giorgione. Of course, Russia used to be really famous for its creative painters and artists too, for instance, some of the most popular works are housed in the Hermitagae Museum in Russia. This is where there are approximately 2,000 holdings that contain more than 3,000,000 pieces of world masterpieces.

Who can forget France when we’re talking about museums and world-class art? Musee du Louvre is another art museum that is surely not-to-be-missed if you visit France. This is the museum where the Mona Lisa, The Raft of Medusa, Venus de Milo and the Victory of Samothrace is housed. Therefore, your visit to France is not complete without visiting this art museum. We’re talking about truly renowned art pieces here, not to be seen anywhere else. The visit to this art museum will definitely be worth your time.

Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain, is also known as Museo del Prado. It’s, by far, not the largest nor the most exquisite art museum in the world but this museum contains some of the best art pieces to be ever created in this world! Museo del Prado contains some wisely selected art pieces. While you’re there, why not pick some extremely unique greeting cards (with smaller versions of some world class art pieces) to send home to your friends and family?

The National Gallery of Art in the Washington, D.C., is also not to be missed. In fact, you’ll be astounded with the effort they put into making their website coordinate with the design of the actual museum. The National Gallery of Art website is one of the most extensive and aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-use art gallery websites that I have ever visited. You can go on a virtual tour by visiting the museum’s website before you decide to pop on over to the museum.

Author : Dakota Caudilla
Site : ezinearticles.com

Corrado Feroci (1892 – 1962) was a graduate of the Academy
of Fine Arts in Florence, the art capital of Italy. He came to
Bangkok in 1923 when King Rama VI requested the Italian
government for a sculptor to train Thai artists and craftsmen
and raise the standards of Thai art to international levels.

The arrival of Corrado Feroci was to start a train of events
that would have a profound impact on the development of Thai
art. He started as a sculptor with the Fine Arts Department
and taught sculpture to art graduates.

Later, he was asked by the Thai government to prepare a
curriculum and the textbooks for the formal training of artists.
With a formal teaching system in place, the Silpakorn School
of Fine Arts was set up in 1937 with Corrado Feroci as the first
director.

In 1943, as part of the government’s policy to emphasize the
importance of art, the school was raised to the status of a
university. The Silpakorn University of Fine Arts was
established with Corrado Feroci as the first Dean.

In recognition of his services, Corrado Feroci was granted Thai
citizenship in 1946 and changed his name to Silapa Bhirasri.
During his career in Thailand, he was responsible for 18
famous monuments in Thailand of which 9 are in Bangkok.

His better-known monuments are:

King Rama I Monument (1932) at the Memorial Bridge to
honor the founder of Bangkok and the Chakri dynasty that has
reigned over Thailand till this day.

Democracy Monument (1939) in Ratchadamnoen Avenue to
commemorate the coup in 24 June 1932 that ended the
absolute monarchy and brought in constitutional government.

Victory Monument (1941) in Phahonyothin Road to honor
Thai servicemen and civilians who died in the Franco-Thai war
from November 1940 – January 1941, over disputed Indo-
Chinese territories that are now part of Cambodia.

King Rama VI Monument (1942) in Lumphini Park, a
monument that is fittingly in memory of the king who was
responsible for inviting Feroci to Thailand.

King Taksin Monument (1954) in Thonburi in honor of the
king who united the kingdom after the fall of Ayutthaya, drove
the Burmese out and established the capital in Thonburi.

Corrado Feroci died in Thailand in 1962 leaving behind an
institution dedicated to the preservation of Thai art. The
Silpakorn University of Fine Arts has produced generations of Thai artists schooled in the best traditions. His famous monuments in Bangkok and Thailand bear further testimony
to his legacy.

The Silapa Bhirasri Memorial
Museum in Silpakorn University was set up to honour
Corrado Feroci and his contribution to Thai art.

Corrado Feroci is one of the legendary
figures in Tour
Bangkok Legacies, a historical travel site on people,
places and events that shaped the landscape of Bangkok. The
author Eric Lim, is a free-lance writer, lives in Bangkok
Thailand.

Author : Eric Lim
Site : ezinearticles.com

Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Time and Decay

Eventually, time and decay effect everything. Shakespeare uses this theme in many of his sonnets. The sonnets give no hint of an afterlife and express that nothing survives time. Shakespeare used numerous methods to depict this theme including personification, metaphors and similes. Even though Shakespeare says that time destroys everything, he also addresses how to “defeat” time to a degree. One way to “defeat” time is to marry and have children. A person’s offspring will in some measure carry him or her on throughout time. Shakespeare also believed that poetry is immortal and those who are featured in them will be also. He offers this immortality to his friend and the dark lady. This paper will examine the theme of time and decay in sonnets 15, 18, and 73.

In sonnet 15, Shakespeare writes about the changes that people go through and maturity. In it the sonnet states that perfection only lasts for a little time. He writes, “When I consider every thing that grows holds in perfection but a little moment…” (lines 1 –2). He compares men to plants and says that they display themselves at the height of their perfection and then are slowly forgotten. In other words life is like a flower that blooms. It bursts out with beauty and then time and decay cause it to slowly wither away to old age and death. In the last couplet of the sonnet, Shakespeare gives his friend a way to win the war with time and decay and implant his beauty again. The way offers this is to be featured in his poetry. What better way to “live on” then to be read about for centuries?

The cycle of the year is used to describe life in sonnet 18. Spring equals youth, summer equals maturity and perfection, fall equals middle age and winter equals old age. Shakespeare writes “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate…And summer’s lease hath all too short a date…” (lines 1,2 and 4). He is saying to his friend that he is in the height of his perfection right now, but it will not last for very long. Again towards the end of the sonnet he tells him that he shall conquer time and decay by being immortal in his poetry “But thy eternal summer shall not fade…When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st” (lines 9 and 12).

Sonnet 73 is a little different because Shakespeare is making a plea to the dark lady because their love is dying. The whole sonnet has indications of fall such as “That time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang…” (lines 1 and 2). This is making use of the cycle of the year again and he is expressing that he is in middle age and soon approaching twilight or death

“In me thou seest the twilight of such a day

As after sunset fadeth in the west;

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self that seals up all in rest.” (Lines 5-8)

He is saying that he is past his moment of perfection and that death will come soon. Time and decay have started to affect him. In the last couplet of the sonnet he states that the dark lady should value him more because he won’t be here for long, instead of forgetting him because he is no longer in his moment of perfection.

Shakespeare used the theme of time and decay frequently in his sonnets. He states that everything has a brief moment of perfection, which is it’s maturity, and then slowly withers and dies away. He uses many different ways to get this point across including the comparison of life to a year and a day. Shakespeare also tells of how time and decay might be “defeated”. He gives this “immortality to his friend and the dark lady through the written word.

Dr. Mike Cooper provides term paper assistance to college students at http://www.termpaperadvisor.com and http://www.safe-papers.com. Above is a term paper example from his website.

Dr. Mike Copper provides term paper, essay, and research assistance to college and university students.

Author : Michael Cooper
Site : ezinearticles.com

The Law of the Future

I realize this is a bumper sticker cliche, but it doesn’t make it any less true. You really do “touch the future” with your students.

The Law of the One

Most people can remember the one or two teachers who believed in and took a special interest in them. For many of us, these special teachers made a tremendous difference in our lives. Might you be “the one” this year?

The Law of Learning

Whatever subject you teach, if you can foster a love of learning in your students, you have done more than perform your job well.

The Law of the Three P’s

Politics: In teaching, as in any other profession, there are politics. You don’t have to be an integral part of all of it. You do need to be aware of it, however.

Paperwork: Many teachers complain about the overwhelming amount of paperwork that keeps coming at them each year. I’m certainly no fan of paper work. The most important thing is to not let the first two Ps interfere with the third P.

Passion: When you bring a sense of passion to what you do inthe classroom, it will spread to your students. Not to all of them, of course. But enough of them will pick up on and catch your passion to make a huge difference.

The Law of the Role

Too many times, I hear someone say, “I’m just a teacher.” Stop right there. You are so much more. Instead of concentrating on your job title, focus instead on your role. You are so much more. You are a: Counselor – Confidant -Influencer – Future-shaper – Preparer of minds – Future changer – and much more.

The Law of a Difference

All the roles listed above, and many others, contribute to you making a difference in the lives of your students. It was said best by a few lines on a framed picture my lovely wife Lauren gave me:

“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove … but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

The Law of the Visit

If you are one of the folks who have been truly blessed by “the visit,” you’ll be able to relate to how powerful this is.

It may come in the form of a phone call, e-mail, letter or actual visit. It’s when one of your former students comes back and lets you know what a difference you made in his or her life. It may not even be something you remember saying, but the former student does because it made a difference. It can make your day or even your year, and reminds you why you are doing what you are doing.

The Law of the Starfish

Later this year, if you find yourself overwhelmed, stressed out and just tired of it all, you may wonder if you’re making any difference at all. Save this story for those times.

A man was walking down the beach one day and came across hundreds of tiny starfish that had washed up on shore. He immediately began to pick up as many as he could and throw them back in the ocean. He repeated this over and over, until another man walked up and asked him what he was doing.

“Isn’t it obvious,” said the man. “All these starfish will die if we don’t get them back in the water. Please help me.”

The second man replied, “What’s the use, you’ll never be able to get them all back in the water. So what difference does it make?”

The man bent down, picked up just one starfish, and tossing it back into the water said,

“It makes a difference to this one.”

Visit SecretsofGreatRelationships.com for tips and tools for creating and growing a great relationship. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 10 day e-program on how to enrich your relationship today, from relationship coach and expert Jeff Herring.

Author : Jeff Herring
Site : ezinearticles.com

Hi all. So what if I don’t know to blog? I have come on the block. Oh! No, this is not me telling. You know I was pushed in to blogging when I just became aware of the word. And the words above are the generous advice of that pusher. He is a friend of long standing. If I have to blame him, I have to blame for reasons that are countless. You know he is such an affable fella and a friendly devil kinda guy that you can’t blame him even when you want to. Secretly I confessed to the fact that for many things I am today, he was the person that can take credit.

Afterall why should he do it to me or is he just kind to me alone? He is a couple of years older than I. he was a form ahead of me in school too. He, as I know was the most bubly and chirpy guy as a school boy. Oh! My…he was talking from anything to every thing though the topics naturally were limited to our age bound world. The games, dresses he had purchased from his pocket money and that blue skirt of our teacher. I did really enjoy the moments he used to narrate all these in his inimitable style, sometimes exaggerating sometiimes in an emotional voice. I don’t remember disliking or objecting to anything except for that one day when he described the length of his teacher’s legs. I was a bit frieghtened as I protested. He laughed at me first and then just switched over.

He was not like it as I knew. This thing bugged me all night long. I can’t express what exactly I should call the thoghts that crawled my mind. But it is also true that appreciation for him surfaced strongly. But it never occured to me that he was growing up. Or was he grown up already?

More than anything else what brought me to adore him was his integrity. For some reason or the other I could not go to school or play without him. With him by my side, I felt safer always. He made fun off me, ragged me. But as always, his pranks showed me I had to grow more.

Now, in retrospect I think of him. He is coming back to our town after 32 years. They moved south after he finished high school. Later he called me to tell he had to give up further schooling for pursuing some job. He married a southerner taller than his own self. He built a home there and grew mango trees all around. This brings an incidence back to memory. In the mango season, while returning from school, we had to pass by a mangrove. And there was a hefty watchman gaurduing it. But my friend was all too clever for him. He used to yell and coo standing infront of the gate as if somebody else was trying to thieve mangoes and he wanted to alert the watchman. My friend was so quick to sense if the watchman wasn’t around when he didn’t turn up immediately. He would dash in, in big strides and whew.. would pluck a few mangoes. Always more for him and one or two for me. I didn’t dare ask why.

He is coming to me. To see me. He couldn’t even attend my marriage. He just sent a condolence letter when my dad expired. This had disturbed me deeply as I needed him besides me when I thought the world was getting washed away from under my feet. When he called up to tell he is coming here, it relieved me. I didn’t ask any more questions.

I recieved him at the airport. My wife was all curious about him as she just knew him through my narrations. he was looking more aged than he actually was.A very thin grey patch on his pate. He just grinned to me but still I could sense the affection unaltered.

Back home, he gave a shocker. He had blood cancer in the advanced stage. Over many coffees he narrated his story. He had lost hopes. His only daughter refused to see him for long time now for just he did not like her fiance. The boy belonged to a rich family. For once, he appeared to be seeking my suggestion. His days were numbered. He had built a big estate that he didn’t just want to give it to his daughter or waste it. Even at his lurking death, it filled me with gratitude coz he was asking me for suggestion. My wife was watching him, tears filled in her eyes, as he shoved the registration papers of his estate. He made all properties in my name.

He didn’t give me any chance to refuse it. For nth time it reminded me why I adored him. He had all the faith in me. He had calculated everythings in advance. He familiarised me with his properties, business dealings and the charity that he started oflate and requested me to continue. He didn’t want to do all these at his death bed. I could not stop revering him for all that he is. A friend, a philosopher, a guide and a brother. I am jumping into blogging(I hope this is not blogging) just because my thoughts can be understood by some soul just like him, on the net.

The author Rajgopal has been writing on technical matters and in this avtar he gave up tags that confine to particular genre of writing. Rajgopal is a mechanical engineer and served the pharmaceutical industry. Oflate he has been putting his efforts in to creative art and healthcare writing. Here he looks in to the nostalgic aspect of humanity. He can be contacted at http://bangalore.sancharnet.in/rjgopal1

Author : Alevoor Rajagopal
Site : ezinearticles.com

Passion was the main stuff of journalism long before the Civil War, the birthplace of modern American journalism. The Press of the American Revolution during the War and before it, was borne of it. Newspapers then were not as we know them today. Weekly advertising mediums they were, but they were primarily opinion pieces designed to protect interests or to provoke the readership. They were propaganda organs in the truest sense. They were virtual flagpoles of ideology from which the editor could wave his political flag. As tools of political activism they often published articles of principles treating of various freedoms or governmental responsibilities, as the editors saw them to be, mostly by pseudonymous authors sometimes using names taken from the Greek or Roman classics like Cato or Ovid.

What news did exist was usually a local crime graphically treated, a poem perhaps, or a reference to a literary work or some happening from Europe that occurred months previously and brought to the editor’s notice by people arriving in town. Newspapers shared news too, for as fever rose in the colonies and happenings became more frequent the need to know took place and the sharing of news from paper to paper became more commonplace.

But news gathering during the war coverage was not organized, newspapers relied almost wholly on the chance arrival of private letters and of official and semi-official documents. News sources were scarce, but opinion was abundant and it covered both sides. Tory and patriot presses would fire verbal broadsides at each other’s interests and any newspaper hoping to maintain a dispassionate objectivity examining both sides of the issues, found themselves in a “no-man’s land” and was considered “on the other side.” Often the news was engineered, perhaps none so well as the ‘reportage’ of the Boston Massacre by the Boston Gazette.

What led up to the shootings, deemed a “ Boston massacre”, was the business of quartering British troops in the public houses and private homes of residents in America when barracks space was not available. The additional insult to the public was that the colonial legislative body was to provide financing.

This was going on for four years after the British Parliament enacted a piece of legislation called the Quartering Act in 1765 and expanded it in 1766, ostensibly to economize on troop expense. When the soldiers first appeared in Boston in 1766 resplendent in redcoats and brandishing gleaming muskets and bayonets, they were held in awe but when it was learned that they were ordered never to use force and that in order to fire a musket they would first have to seek an order from a magistrate, bellicose crowds of youth began to taunt them. A mutual dislike developed between soldier and citizen, taunts epithets and curses the main discourse. Tempers began to flare as Boston tolerance dipped to increasingly low levels. One citizen’s distaste for things British turned extreme resulting in the shooting of his neighbor’s son, Christopher Seider, an eleven year old Boston youngster

Tension between soldier and citizen was stretched thin and snapped on March 2 after rumors were circulated through Boston that the soldiers were planning a massacre of Boston citizens following an incident in which one soldier with a broadsword, slightly injured one young man, who with three companions wished to pass in an alleyway.

Later a brawl between some troops and some rope makers erupted, the latter besting the former leaving emotions in a tattered state, then on March 5th, a group of youths taunted a British sentry who took exception by beating one of them with his musket. Fire alarms sounded bringing a crowd of about four hundred to the scene, surrounding the sentry and throwing snowballs, ice and sticks at him. Seven soldiers led by Captain Thomas Preston came to the sentry’s support but suffered the crowd’s taunts and physical assault with clubs. Daring the soldiers to fire on them, one soldier did after being hit with a club and the others followed suit. Three citizens died on the spot, another the next day and another one a few days later, five were dangerously wounded and a few slightly.

One can imagine the reaction of the citizens in the tavern as they heard, through sips of ale , the report in the Boston Gazette informing its readers that the man with a broadsword,who was described as having grown “to uncommon size” and who was now accompanied by “ a person of a mean countenance armed with a large cudgel,” attacked two of the youths wounding them with sword punctures then reenforced by two more soldiers armed with tongs and shovel, they continued beating the boys who valiantly defended themselves.

“The noise bro’t people together, and John Hicks, a young lad, coming up, knock’d the soldier down, but let him get up again; and more lads gathering drove them back to the barrack, where the boys stood some time as it were to keep them in. In less than a minute 10 or 12 of them came out with drawn cutlasses, clubs and bayonets, and set upon the unarmed boys and young folks, who stood them a little while, but finding the inequality of their equipment dispersed,- In hearing the noise, one Samuel Atwood, came up to see what was the matter, and entering the alley from Dock-square, heard the latter part of the combat, and when the boys had dispersed he met the 10 or 12 soldiers aforesaid rushing down the alley towards the square, and asked them if they intended to murder people? They answered ‘Yes by G-d, root and branch! With that one of them struck Mr, Atwood with a club, which was repeated by another, and being unarmed he turned to go off, and received a wound on the left shoulder which reached the bone and gave him much pain.

Retreating a few steps, Mr. Atwood met two officers and said, ‘Gentlemen, what is the matter?’ They answered, ‘you’ll see by and by.’ Immediately after those heroes appeared in the square, asking ‘where were the boogers? Where the cowards?’…Thirty or forty persons, mostly lads…gathered in Kingstreet, Capt. Preston, with a party of men with charged bayonets, came from the main guard to the Commissioners house, the soldiers pushing their bayonets, crying, ‘Make way!’ They took place by the custom-house, and continuing to push to drive the people off, pricked some in several places; on which they were clamorous, and ,it is said, threw snow-balls. On this, the Captain commanded them to fire, and more snowballs coming, he again said, ‘Damn you, Fire, be the consequence what it will.! One soldier then fired, and a townsman with a cudgel struck him over the hands with such force that he dropt his firelock; and rushing forward aimed a blow at the Captain’s head, which graz’d his hat and fell pretty heavy upon his arm; however, the soldiers continued the fire, successively, til 7 or 8, or as some say 11 guns were discharged.

By this fatal maneuvre, three men were laid dead on the spot, and two more struggling for life; but what shewed a degree of cruelty unknown to British troops, at least since the house of Hanover has directed their operation, was an attempt to fire upon or push with bayonets the persons who undertook to remove the slain or wounded.”

Following the imputation of unusual cruelty for this final bit of brutality the Gazette went on to describe the slain and to comment on the outrage felt by the Boston citizenry, the outrage, undoubtedly, now shared by the gentry in their drawing rooms and the lads in the taverns. The flames of passions that were kindled by the outrageous Stamp Act of 1765 and the infuriating Quartering Act of the same year, had been flickering but now found new fuel and burst into the blaze of revolution. A “massacre ‘ had now been committed. A “massacre!” Blood had been drawn.

The following week, the grand jury indicted the British soldiers for wilful murder but the court thought fit to hold trial when tempers had cooled in the following term. On October 24th, trial was held for Captain Preston and on November 12th, for the soldiers. John Adams, second U.S. President-to-be, was one of four defense lawyer for all. The captain was acquitted as were six of the eight soldiers. Two were found guilty not of murder but manslaughter. The jury was drawn from residents of towns surrounding Boston.

In the courtroom, reality replaced fiction, but the impression of a massacre had not been erased. The words of the Gazette in its best fictional form were truly the words of revolution.

John Adams in 1815, summarized: “What do we mean by Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.”

Journalism had moved the minds of the people.

Author : Don Bracken
Site : ezinearticles.com

They walk among us. By the mid nineties, science had only smoked out a few dozen of them worldwide but there are undoubtedly many more. You may well know some of them. You may even be one yourself. Perhaps you’re sometimes haunted by the sense that there is someone lurking very near, invisible and silent but sharing that odd thought, impression, or fear from time to time. A more solid clue might be found in the skin on your back. Sometimes you can see this plainly though they say it’s usually only discernable under UV light.

I’m talking about what might be looked upon as the most extreme form of Siamese or conjoined twinning, one in which both bodies have merged completely into a single individual. Scientists call the perplexing result a chimera, after the mythological beast described by Homer and others that sported the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the rear of a dragon or snake. What happens is that you have two fertilized egg cells that converge very early in the gestation process. If the cells were identical twins there would probably be no way to identify such two-in-one individuals and the world may well be full of them. But if they’re fraternal, things can get more interesting.

If the two are of opposite sex you can end up with a true hermaphrodite, though this seems to be exceedingly rare. In January of 1998 doctors in Scotland reported the birth of a child, originally conceived through in vitro fertilization, who ultimately tested out to present both female (XX) and male (XY) chromosomes and corresponding equal-opportunity genitalia. Most of the time the consequences are much more subtle. In 1953 an English woman named Patricia McDonnell underwent some routine tests when she became pregnant and discovered she carried both Type O and Type A blood in a ratio of about 13 to 1. After considerable study her doctors concluded that the minority Type A was her own and the Type O was what was left of her twin brother.

Sometimes a chimera will have a left and right eye of different colors (like Jane Seymour and Joe Pesci… hmm, do ya think?), while others — as alluded to in the first paragraph — may display marbling or streaking patterns on their backs, called Blaschko’s lines, which suggest an imperfect blend of two differing complexions. Researchers call the latter individuals mosaics. They’re intrigued with the phenomenon because they suspect certain afflictions may arise from it such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and autism. (Indeed, Susan Folstein of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston reports that about one in ten autistics show Blaschko’s lines. The inference is that there is an antagonistic mingling of chimeric brain cells that have trouble communicating with each other.)

Beyond all of this, surgeons and researchers can and do intentionally create interspecific chimeras, where they combine tissues from different animal species. Considering that about five hundred prospective transplant patients die in the U.S. every month waiting for human donors, this can obviously be a very good thing. Pig and cow heart valve transplants are already quite common.

Here are two links at least tangentially related to chimeras.
This one deals with a rather eerie, way-out aspect in a book by Bill Chalker; while this one explores purported interspecific hybrids involving domestic cats.

This article comes from the Curious Thing of the Week section of my site Sui Generis at http://www.CuriousNotions.com where you’ll find only the world’s rarest, best, oddest and most legendary. If you crave the exotic and march to your own drummer, please stop by!

Author : Peter Blinn
Site : ezinearticles.com

During the third week of August 2005 the Trafalgar Way was officially inaugurated in Devon to commemorate the bi-centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The Lorna Doone, an original North Devon stagecoach visited inns and hostels along the full length of what is now know as the Trafalgar Way in Devon.

During this time an actor playing the part of Lieutenant John Richard Lapenotiere delivered a New Trafalgar Dispatch. Each town in Devon that he passed through has unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the occasion.

Lapenotiere, captain of HMS Pickle, travelled by post chaise, the equivalent of a taxi 200 years ago and the fastest means of public transport available at the time.

It took about six weeks from 21st October 1805 for the full news of the victory and the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson to filter through to London and the people of England.

Nelson and his fleet defeated the combined armies of France and Spain off the Spanish coast near Cape Trafalgar. Amongst the men in the English fleet were 1,115 men from Devon, more than from any other county.

Lapenotiere was the first messenger to reach Falmouth with the news. He passed quickly through Cornwall and entered Devon at Lifton. Pausing only to change horses at Okehampton, Crockernwell, Exeter, Honiton and Axminster he travelled on to London.

Each messenger who followed had more details of the Battle of Trafalgar in the dispatches they carried. Following in the steps of Lieutenant Lapenotiere hundreds of horses were used to carry the news.

Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, the local newspaper, contains full details of the contents of the dispatches as they became available. Microfilm copies are available at the Devon Record Office or online at their website.

This article may be freely reproduced with the following resource box and must include a live link:

Author : Lesley Pinkett
Site : ezinearticles.com

Over thiry-five years ago, I picked up a book on numerology and
began to have a hard time believing that numbers had anything to
do with my life. Shortly thereafter, I was awakened from a deep
sleep by a loud voice that seemed to scream into my ears,
“Numbers are real!”

Since that time, I have found out that numbers really are real.

Oh, I can’t blame you for not believing that numbers are real. I
didn’t for a very long time. But if you diligently investigate
how they show what is happening, and will be happening in your
world, you will find some amazing truths.

Almost all of us have heard of the strange “coincidences” of
numbers. I was born with a 17 birthday, which adds up to an 8.
My social security adds up to an 8, I had my first date with my
wife on January 8, 1988. If you add all those numbers up you
will get an 8: January is 1+8+1+9+8+8 =35 which reduces to an 8.
She lived at an address that added up to an 8. I know. You are
going to say that could all just be a coincidence. I won’t argue
that, but if you actually study the cycles of numbers in your
life you will find some stunning information. (Of course, you
probably know that if you multiply 9 by any other number, you
will come out with a nine if you reduce those numbers to a
single digit. Don’t you fid this curious?)

For instance, everyone is in a particular phase of a 9 year
cycle. Let’s say that if your birthday is on March 14 (3 plus 5=
8), you can add that number to 2005 (totals to 7) and determine
that the number that will “rule” your year from January to
January of the next year is the number 15 which reduces to a 6.

Each one of the numbers, 1 through 9, have their own specific
meaning and show where you are in the 9 year cycle.
Traditionally, according to the great numerologist, Juno Jordan,
the number 6 for a personal year is “…your duty year for
unselfishness, truth, justice, charity. These should be your
motives in everything you do. It is not likely that you will get
satisfactory results any other way.”

Please do not fall into the trap that a number is simply an
abstraction or a mathematical convenience. All you have to do is
investigate the effect of numbers on your life and you will be
convinced beyond your wildest dreams. They numbers are just
waiting there for you to discover how “magical” they really are.

Although these 9 numbers are astounding in their own right, they
are even more powerful and revealing when their meanings are
combined with the zodiac signs and planets. An astrologer who is
proficient with numbers is someone who can help us all
understand how all our numbers work with the heavens to reveal
our destiny. Just remember, numbers are real.

To learn more about your numbers, signs and planets you can
contact skysage

Author : Randall Curtis
Site : ezinearticles.com