Although self-powered vehicles were demonstrated as early as 1769, it was not until 1885 that the history of the automobile truly began. Automotive history is generally divided into a number of eras based on the major design and technology shifts seen over the last century. Although the exact boundaries of each era can be hazy, scholarship has defined them as follows:
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Although self-powered vehicles were demonstrated as early as 1769, it was not until 1885 that the history of the automobile truly began. Automotive history is generally divided into a number of eras based on the major design and technology shifts seen over the last century. Although the exact boundaries of each era can be hazy, scholarship has defined them as follows:
]]>Vampires - A Chronologyhttp://www.sfetcu.com/content/Vampires-Chronology2008-09-29T05:46:10-06:002008-09-29T05:48:59-06:00nicolae
Vampires - A Chronology
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Vampires - A Chronology
The 1000's
1047 First appearance of the word "upir" (an early form of the word later to become "vampire") in a document referring to a Russian prince as "Upir Lichy", or wicked vampire.
The 1100's
1190 Walter Map's "De Nagis Curialium" includes accounts of vampire like beings in England.
1196 William of Newburgh's "Chronicles" records several stories of vampire like revenants in England.
The 1400's
1428/29 Vlad Tepes, the son of Vlad Dracul, is born.
1463 Vlad Tepes becomes Prince of Wallachia and moves to Tirgoviste.
1442 Vlad Tepes is imprisoned with his father by the Turks.
1443 Vlad Tepes becomes a hostage by the Turks.
1447 Vlad Dracul is beheaded.
1448 Vlad briefly attains the Wallachian throne. Dethroned, he goes to Moldavia and befriends Prince Stefan.
1451 Vlad and Stephan flee to Transylvania.
1455 Constantinople falls.
1456 John Hunyadi assists Vlad Tepes to attain Wallachian throne. Vladislav Dan is executed.
1458 Matthias Corvinu succeeds John Hunyadi as King of Hungary.
1459 Easter massacre of boyers and rebuilding of Dracula's castle. Bucharest is established as the second governmental center.
1460 Attack upon Brasov, Romania
1461 Successful campaign against Turkish settlements along the Danube, Summer retreat to Tirgoviste.
1462 Following the battle at Dracula's castle, Vlad flees to Transylvania. Vlad begins 13 years of imprisonment.
1475 Summer wars in Serbia against Turks take place. November: Vlad resumes throne of Wallachia.
1476/77 Vlad is assassinated.
The 1500's
1560 Elizabeth Bathory is born.
The 1600's
1610 Bathory is arrested for killing several hundred people and bathing in their blood. Tried and convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, being bricked into a room in her castle.
1614 Elizabeth Bathory dies.
1610 Leo Allatius finishes writing the first modern treatment of vampires, "De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus".
1657 Fr. Francoise Richard's "Relation de ce qui s'est passé a Sant-Erini Isle de l'Archipel" links vampirism and witchcraft.
1672 Wave of vampire hysteria sweeps through Istra.
1679 A German vampire text, "De Masticatione Mortuorum", by Phillip Rohr is written.
The 1700's
1710 Vampire hysteria sweeps through East Prussia.
1725 Vampire hysteria returns to East Prussia.
1725-30 Vampire hysteria lingers in Hungary.
1725-32 The wave of vampire hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the famous cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paul (Paole).
1734 The word "vampyre" enters the English language in translations of German accounts of European waves of vampire hysteria.
1744 Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati publishes his treatise, "Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri."
1746 Dom Augustin Calmet publishes his treatise on vampires, "Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges des Demons et des Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de boheme, de Moravic, et de Silesie."
1748 The first modern vampire poem, "Der Vampir," is published by Heinrich August Ossenfelder.
1750 Another wave of vampire hysteria occurs in East Prussia.
1756 Vampire hysteria peaks in Wallachia.
1772 Vampire hysteria occurs in Russia.
1797 Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" (a poem concerning a vampire) is published.
1798-1800 Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes "Christabel," now conceded to be the first vampire poem in English.
The 1800's
1800 "I Vampiri," an opera by Silvestro de Palma, opens in Milan, Italy.
1801 "Thalaba" by Robert Southey is the first poem to mention the vampire in English.
1810 Reports of sheep being killed by having their jugular veins cut and their blood drained circulated through northern England. "The Vampyre," an early vampire poem, by John Stagg is published.
1813 Lord Byron's poem "The Giaour" includes the hero's encounter with a vampire.
1819 John Polidori's "The Vampyre," the first vampire story in English, is published in the April issue of "New Monthly Magazine." John Keats composes "The Lamia," a poem built on ancient Greek legends.
1820 "Lord Ruthwen ou Les Vampires" by Cyprien Berard is published anonymously in Paris. June 13: "Le Vampire," the play by Charles Nodier, opens at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris. August: "The Vampire; or, The Bride of the Isles," a translation of Nodier's play by James R. Planche, opens in London.
1829 March: Heinrich Marschner's opera, "Der Vampyr," based on Nodier's story, opens in Liepzig.
1841 Alexey Tolstoy publishes his short story, "Upyr," while living in Paris. It is the first modern vampire story by a Russian.
1847 Bram Stoker is born. "Varney the Vampire" begins lengthy serialization.
1851 Alexandre Dumas' last dramatic work, "Le Vampire," opens in Paris.
1854 The case of vampirism in the Ray family of Jewell, Connecticut, is published in local newspapers.
1872 "Carmilla" is written by Sheridan Le Fanu. In Italy, Vincenzo Verzeni is convicted of murdering two people and drinking their blood.
1874 Reports from Ceven, Ireland, tell of sheep having their throats cut and their blood drained.
1888 Emily Gerard's "Land Beyond the Forest" is published. It will become a major source of information about Transylvania for Bram Stoker's "Dracula."
1894 H.G. Wells' short story, "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid," is a precursor to science fiction vampire stories.
1897 "Dracula" by Bram Stoker is published in England. "The Vampire" by Rudyard Kipling becomes the inspiration for the creation of the vamp as a stereotypical character on stage and screen
The 1900's
1912 "The Secrets of House No. 5," possibly the first vampire movie, is produced in Great Britain.
1913 "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker is published.
1920 "Dracula," the first film based on the novel, is made in Russia. No copy has survived.
1921 Hungarian filmmakers produce a version of "Dracula."
1922 "Nosferatu," a German-made silent film produced by Prana Films, is the third attempt to film "Dracula."
1924 Hamilton Dean's stage version of "Dracula" opens in Derby. Fritz Harmann of Hanover, Germany, is arrested, tried and convicted of killing more than 20 people in a vampiric crime spree. Sherlock Holmes has his only encounter with a vampire in "The Case of the Sussex Vampire."
1927 February 14: Stage version of "Dracula" debuts at the Little Theatre in London. October: American version of "Dracula" starring Bela Lugosi, opens at Fulton Theatre in New York City. Tod Browning directs Lon Chaney in "London After Midnight," the first full-length feature film.
1928 The first edition of Montague Summers's influential work "The Vampire: His Kith and Kin" appears in England.
1929 Montague Summers's second vampire book, "The Vampire in Europe," is published.
1931 January: Spanish film version of "Dracula" is previewed. February: American film version of "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi premiers at the Roxy Theatre in New York City. Peter Kurten of Dusseldorf, Germany, is executed after being found guilty of murdering a number of people in a vampiric killing spree.
1932 The highly acclaimed movie "Vampyr," directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is released.
1936 "Dracula's Daughter" is released by Universal Pictures.
1942 A. E. Van Vought's "Asylum" is the first story about an alien vampire.
1943 "Son of Dracula (Universal Pictures) stars Lon Chaney, Jr., as Dracula.
1944 John Carradine plays Dracula for the first time in "Horror of Dracula."
1953 "Drakula Istanbula," a Turkish film adaptation of "Dracula," is released. "Eerie" No. 8 includes the first comic book adaptation of "Dracula."
1954 The Comics Code banishes vampires from comic books. "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson presents vampirism as a disease that alters the body.
1956 John Carradine plays Dracula in the first television adaptation of the play for "Matinee Theatre." "Kyuketsuki Ga," the first Japanese vampire film, is released.
1957 The first Italian vampire movie, "I Vampiri," is released. American producer Roger Corman makes the first science fiction vampire movie, "Not of This Earth." "El Vampiro" with German Robles is the first of a new wave of Mexican vampire films.
1958 Hammer Films in Great Britain initiates a new wave of interest in vampires with the first of it's "Dracula" films, released in the United States as the "Horror of Dracula." First issue of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" signals a new interest in horror films in the Untied States.
1959 "Plan 9 From Outer Space is Bela Lugosi's last film.
1961 "The Bad Flower" is the first Korean film adaptation of "Dracula."
1962 The Count Dracula Society is founded in the United States by Donald Reed.
1964 "Parque de Juelos (Park of Games)" is the first Spanish made vampire movie.
1964 "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family"; two horror comedies with vampire characters, open in the fall television season.
1965 Jeanne Youngson founds The Count Dracula Fan Club. "The Munsters," based on the television show of the same name, is the first comic book series featuring a vampire character.
1966 "Dark Shadows" debuts on television.
1967 April: In episode 210 of "Dark Shadows", vampire Barnabas Collins makes his first appearance.
1969 First issue of "Vampirella," the longest running vampire comic book to date, is released. Denholm Elliot plays the title role in a BBC television production of "Dracula, Does Dracula Really Suck? (aka Dracula and the Boys)" is released as the first gay vampire movie.
1970 Christopher Lee stars in "El Conde Dracula," the Spanish film adaptation of "Dracula." Sean Manchester founds The Vampire Research Society.
1971 Marvel Comics releases the first copy of a post-Comics Code vampire comic book, "The Tomb of Dracula." Morbius, the Living Vampire, is the first new vampire character introduced after the revision of the Comics code allowed vampires to reappear in comic books.
1972 "The Night Stalker" with Darrin McGavin becomes the most watched television movie to that point in time. "Vampire Kung-Fu" is released in Hong Kong as the first of a string of vampire martial arts films. "In Search of Dracula" by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu introduces Vlad the Impaler, the historical Dracula, to the world of contemporary vampire fans. "A Dream of Dracula" by Leonard Wolf complements McNally's and Florescu's effort in calling attention to vampire lore. "True Vampires of History" by Donald Glut is the first attempt to assemble the stories of all the historical vampire figures. Stephan Kaplan founds The Vampire Research Centre.
1973 Dan Curtis Productions' version of "Dracula" (1973) stars Jack Palance in a made-for-television movie. Nancy Garden's "Vampires" launches a wave of juvenile literature for children and youth.
1975 Fred Saberhagen proposes viewing Dracula as a hero rather than a village in "The Dracula Tape." "The World of Dark Shadows" is founded as the first "Dark Shadows" fanzine.
1976 "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice is published. Stephen King is nominated for the World Fantasy Award for his vampire novel, "'Salem's Lot." Shadowcon, the first national "Dark Shadows convention, is organized by Dark Shadows fans."
1977 A new dramatic version of "Dracula" opens on Broadway starring Frank Langella. Louis Jordan stars in the title role in "Count Dracula," a three-hour version of Bram Stoker's book on BBC television. Martin V. Riccardo founds the Vampire Studies Society.
1978 Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's book "hotel Transylvania" joins the volumes of Fred Saberhagen and Anne Rice as the third major effort to begin a reappraisal of the vampire myth during the decade. Eric Held and Dorothy Nixon found the Vampire Information Exchange.
1979 Based on the success of the new Broadway production, Universal Pictures remakes "Dracula" (1979), starring Frank Langella. The band Bauhaus's recording of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" becomes the first hit of the new gothic rock music movement. "Shadowgram" is founded as a "Dark Shadows" fanzine.
1980 The Bram Stoker Society is founded in Dublin, Ireland. Richard Chase, the so-called Dracula Killer of Sacramento, California, commits suicide in prison. The World Federation of Dark Shadows Clubs (now Dark Shadows Official Fan Club) is founded.
1983 In the December issue of "Dr. Strange," Marvel Comics' ace occultist kills all of the vampires in the world, thus banishing them from Marvel Comics for the next six years. Dark Shadows Festival is founded to host an annual "Dark Shadows" convention.
1985 "The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice is published and reaches the best seller list.
1989 Overthrow of Romanian dictator Nikolai Ceaucescu opens Transylvania to Dracula enthusiasts. Nancy Collins wins a Bram Stoker Award for her vampire novel "Sunglasses After Dark."
1991 Vampire: The Masquerade," the most successful of the vampire role-playing games, is released by White Wolf.
1992 "Bram Stoker's Dracula" directed by Francis Ford Coppola opens. Andrei Chikatilo of Rostov, Russia, is sentenced to death after killing and vampirizing some 55 people.
1994 Interview With The Vampire comes to the big screen. Oprah Winfrey forms "prayer circle" outside premiere to work against the forces of darkness she believes the film is calling down. Others also are appalled by the casting of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.
1995 Pam Keesey edits Dark Angels, an anthology of lesbian vampire fiction.
1996 The series Kindred: the Embraced airs for a whole 8 episodes. Director Quentin Tarantino makes From Dusk Till Dawn.
1997 TV version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Geller, debuts. Teen lockers get new poster girl.
1998 Blade is released, with Wesley Snipes as a vampire slayer. Pandora and The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice are published.
1999 Vittorio the Vampire by Anne Rice is published.
2002 Blade II and Queen of the Damned are released.
2004 Blade: Trinity
(Inspired from the book of J. Gordon Melton)
]]>Automobile history erashttp://www.sfetcu.com/content/Automobile-history-eras2008-09-26T04:35:52-06:002008-09-26T04:35:52-06:00nicolae1885-built Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first car to go into production with an internal combustion engine
Although self-powered vehicles were demonstrated as early as 1769, it was not until 1885 that the history of the automobile truly began. Automotive history is generally divided into a number of eras based on the major design and technology shifts seen over the last century. Although the exact boundaries of each era can be hazy, scholarship has defined them as follows:
]]>1885-built Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first car to go into production with an internal combustion engine
Although self-powered vehicles were demonstrated as early as 1769, it was not until 1885 that the history of the automobile truly began. Automotive history is generally divided into a number of eras based on the major design and technology shifts seen over the last century. Although the exact boundaries of each era can be hazy, scholarship has defined them as follows:
]]>The Myth of Draculahttp://www.sfetcu.com/content/Myth-Dracula2008-08-26T01:17:19-06:002008-08-26T01:17:19-06:00nicolae
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The Myth of Dracula
Most non-Romanians remember of Dracula's cruelty. After becoming prince, Dracula supposedly invited many beggars and other old, sick and poor people to a banquet at his castle. When his guests had finished eating their meal and drinking a toast to him, Dracula asked them, "Would you like to be without cares, lacking nothing in this world?"
Yes, they said enthusiastically.
So Dracula had the castle boarded up and set it on fire. Nobody made it out alive - and that was the end of their problems, as he had promised. "I did this so that no one will be poor in my realm," he said.
According to another story, he invited 500 boyars to a banquet and asked them how many princes had ruled in their lifetimes. They said they had lived through many reigns. Shouting that this was their fault because of their plotting, Dracula had them all arrested on the spot. The older ones were impaled; the others were marched 50 miles to Walachia's capital, Poenari, where they were forced to build a mountaintop fortress. They worked a long time; when their clothes fell off, they worked naked. Most of them died, of course. And of course Dracula seized the boyars' property and passed it out to his supporters. In that way he created a new nobility, loyal to him.
Dracula liked to set up a banquet table and dine while he watched people die. His favorite form of execution was impalement. It was slow; people could take days to die. He liked to impale many people at once, arranging the stakes in fancy designs. Nothing was too brutal for Dracula - he enjoyed having people skinned, boiled alive, etc. He prided himself on making the punishment (supposedly) fit the crime.
By 1462, when he was deposed, he had killed between 40,000 and 100,000 people, possibly more. He always thought up some excuse for these executions. He killed merchants who cheated their customers. He killed women who had affairs. Supposedly he had one woman impaled because her husband's shirt was too short. He didn't mind impaling children, either. Afterwards he would display the corpses in public so everyone would learn a lesson. It's said that there were over 20,000 bodies hanging outside his capital city. Of course, the stories about Dracula's cruelty might have been exaggerated by his enemies.
Dracula was so scornful of other nations that when two foreign ambassadors refused to doff their hats to him, he had the hats nailed to their heads. He was opposed to the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches because he thought foreigners, operating through the churches, had too much power in Walachia. He tried to prevent foreign merchants from taking business away from his citizens. If merchants disobeyed his trade laws, they were, of course, impaled.
To prove how well his laws worked, Dracula had a gold cup placed in a public square. Anyone who wanted to could drink from the cup, but no one was allowed to take it out of the square. No one did.
A visiting merchant once left his money outside all night, thinking that it would be safe because of Dracula's strict policies. To his surprise, some of his coins were stolen. He complained to Dracula, who promptly issued a proclamation that the money must be returned or the city would be destroyed. That night Dracula secretly had the missing money, plus one extra coin, returned to the merchant. The next morning the merchant counted the money and found it had been returned. He told Dracula about this, and mentioned the extra coin. Dracula replied that the thief had been caught and would be impaled. And if the merchant hadn't mentioned the extra coin, he would have been impaled, too.
Concerns over the 2008 Summer Olympics include the potential for protests from pro-Tibetan independence organizations such as Students for a Free Tibet as well as from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International critical of China's involvement in the crisis in Darfur. China has also been battling problems with air pollution both in the city of Beijing and in neighboring areas, which the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) says it hopes to remedy before the games. The head of Interpol warned China on April 25, 2008 that there is a real possibility that the Beijing Olympics will be targeted by terrorist groups, as well as potentially violent disruption from protestors.
Events controversy
Prior to the start of the Games, the Spain Men's Basketball team featured in an ad that appeared in the Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca. The athletes were in uniform pulling back the skin on their eyelids, with smiles on their faces, at a center court bearing a dragon logo. Many consider the slant eye a racially pejorative. Sarah Smith, a spokesman for the Organization of Chinese Americans in Washington, D.C. said that the photo is "clearly racist, and not even in a jovial way", saying that she expected more from a group of Olympians, many of whom have played professionally in the United States. The IOC considers the matter closed, saying "clearly it was inappropriate, we understand the team has apologised and absolutely meant no offence whatsoever". This was one in a string of racist incidents that may hurt Madrid's bid for the 2016 Olympic games.
The Chinese men's football team was severely criticised by the domestic media for its poor sportsmanship, as two players were sent off during their 2-0 loss to Belgium.
Iran's Mohammad Alirezaei was due to race against Israel's Tom Be'eri in the fourth heat of the 100 meter breaststroke, but pulled out, apparently under the orders of the chiefs of the Iranian delegation. Efraim Zinger, Olympic Committee of Israel General Secretary, criticized the withdrawal saying "Politics takes precedence over sport with the Iranians and the Olympic spirit is as far from them as east is far from west". At the 2004 Games in Athens, Iran's Arash Miresmaeili, a two-time world judo champion, refused to compete against Israel's Ehud Vaks in the opening round of the 66kg competition, later admitting that he made his decision to show solidarity for the Palestinian cause. Giselle Davies, director of communications for the IOC, said that Alirezaei withdrew because of sickness and submitted his case in writing to his Federation.
Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian rejected his bronze medal in 84kg Greco-Roman wrestling in protest over the judging of a semifinal match. He was later disqualified from the event and his medal stripped.
Underage gymnasts controversy
There was frequent speculation that members of the Chinese women's gymnastics team were underage and that the government had altered their passports so they could appear to be 16 years old, the minimum eligibility to compete at the Olympics in accordance with FIG, the head organisation of the sport. Nellie Kim, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, said that the advantage for younger gymnasts is that they are lighter and more fearless when they perform difficult maneuvers.
Gymnasts questioned by the media are Jiang Yuyuan and He Kexin. In response to this criticism, Chinese authorities presented passport information to show that they were 16 as of 2008. But online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, seem to contradict the passport information, indicating that He, Linlin, and Jiang may be as young as 14. For instance, The Times found two online records of official registration lists of Chinese gymnasts that list He's birthday as Jan. 1, 1994, which would make her 14. A 2007 national registry of Chinese gymnasts, currently taken offline but viewable through Google cache, shows He's birthday as "1994.1.1." State-run China Central Television (CCTV) website posted a profile indicating that Yang Yilin was 14, which the government later argued was incorrect. Yang Yun, who won two bronze medals in the 2000 Summer Olympics, later admitted on state-run China TV that she was 14 when she had competed. Despite these findings, The IOC has decided not to launch any investigations and have accepted the passports as legitimate.
Former noted coach and NBC guest commentator Béla Károlyi has said that the 2008 Chinese women's gymnastics team cheated by using athletes who did not meet the minimum age requirements. He and his wife stated that "They are using half-people. One of the biggest frustrations is, what arrogance. These people think we are stupid." He also claimed that the vault of Chun Fei of China was a major judging error and a "rip off".
China's State Training and Expectations
As the host country, China has high expectations, putting immense pressure upon athletes and coaches alike. Liu Xiang, the defending Olympic champion for the 110 meter hurdles, had pulled out of the heats with an injury. His victory in Athens four years ago was China's first gold medal in track and field, regarded by some as dispelling the widespread view that Chinese physiology was unsuitable for such a discipline. Hyped by the state and sponsors, with his fame and endorsements exceeded that of Yao Ming in China, Liu's withdrawal dissapointed millions with some accusing him of being afraid to lose. Liu's coach had been told by government officials that "if Liu could not win a gold medal in Beijing, all of his previous achievements would become meaningless." Josef Capousek, a former rowing coach who was recently fired by China's sporting federation over a dispute about his contract (the Chinese language version stated that his athletes "must" win the gold medal), said "nobody can guarantee a gold in any sport...but here, anything less than gold means nothing."
There has also been criticism of the Chinese government's training regime in the state academies, where 250,000 children are enrolled, which some liken to the harsh system of the former Soviet Union. At the age of three, prospective gymnasts are taken from their families to be coached. Besides going through a grueling schedule of practice, the children are only allowed to see their parents a few times each year, and detractors say that this robs them of their childhood. Critics also say that the sports schools focus on training at the expense of education, leaving athletes unprepared to leave the sports system that has raised them. Yang Wenjun, a C-2 rowing champion at the Athens Olympics, told The New York Times that officials threatened to withhold his retirement income if he quit before the Beijing Games, which he said was "not possible to survive without those benefits", as he acknowledged that he was ill-equipped to go to college or start a business. While Yang and his family has received numerous rewards for his achievement (including stipends, performance bonuses, endorsements, and an apartment), he has not seen his parents in three years.
Opening ceremony
The song Ode to the Motherland was recorded beforehand by another young girl, Yang Peiyi, who was replaced by Lin Miaoke who lip-synched it at the ceremony. A senior Politburo member said Miaoke's voice was not good enough for the ceremony but that Peiyi wasn't cute enough, and this was defended by International Olympic Committee executive director Gilbert Felli as being more "photogenic". The secret was revealed by Chen Qigang, the ceremony's chief musical director, in an interview with state-owned Beijing Radio. Chen, a French national, later told AP Television News he felt compelled to "to come out with the truth", saying that Peiyi was "a magnificent singer" who "doesn't deserve to be hidden." Sun Weide, the spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee, said the decision to use both girls was made by the artistic director after consulting with broadcasters, who had recommended the change. This was not the first time the Olympics Opening Ceremonies involved lip-synching, one such occasion was during the 2006 Winter Olympic opening ceremony in Turin, Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti lip-synched his own performance. Others drew a distinction between the Beijing and Turin lip-syching; Pavarotti had used one of his recordings, and conductor Leone Magiera felt the cold weather made it difficult for an ill Pavarotti to perform live.
One part of the fireworks show which displayed the 29 footprints that wandered into the Bird’s Nest from outside the stadium, was simulated by computer animation to portray the real fireworks due to the hazy smog conditions and safety concerns with flying a helicopter near the display.
Broadcasting issues
NBC, which paid US$5.7 billion for exclusive United States broadcasting rights to the Summer and Winter Games from 2000 through 2012, requested that popular events be broadcast live during television primetime in the United States. This would require events to be held in the early morning between 8:00 and 11:00 a.m., Beijing time. The IOC granted the request for swimming and gymnastics but denied it for athletics and basketball. However NBC only broadcast live events in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.
The IOC and broadcasters are uncertain as to whether the Beijing authorities will allow them to broadcast live from locations such as Tiananmen Square, fearing protests. In 2001, Beijing announced there would be complete freedom for the media to report in China. After lengthy discussions, broadcasters are permitted to broadcast between the hours of 6-10am and 9-11pm with prior permission; however, live interviews are banned at all times. Many broadcasters are unhappy with this decision as it would "set a bad precedent in regards to press freedom", and are pushing the authorities further on the issue.
The IOC is also investigating complaints from the international media that the Internet at the Main Press Centre is slow and some websites remain blocked which may disrupt reporting. This was seen recently when Amnesty International criticised the Chinese government for not delivering on its Olympic promises of human rights; however journalists could not access the website. Additionally, websites critical of the government, or relating to Tibet and the religious group, Falun Gong remain blocked at the centre. Kevan Gosper from the IOC clarified that the 'open Internet' only refers to reporting directly on the games, and not other issues relating to China.
Decebalus (Decebal in Romanian) or "The Brave One" was a king of Dacia (originally named Diurpaneus—ruled the Dacians 87 – 106)[2] and is famous for fighting three wars and negotiating two interregnums of peace without being eliminated against the Roman Empire under two emperors.
The Statue of Dacian king Decebalus is a 40-meter high statue that is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe. It is located on the Danube's rocky bank, near the city of Orşova, Romania.
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Decebalus (Decebal in Romanian) or "The Brave One" was a king of Dacia (originally named Diurpaneus—ruled the Dacians 87 – 106)[2] and is famous for fighting three wars and negotiating two interregnums of peace without being eliminated against the Roman Empire under two emperors.
The Statue of Dacian king Decebalus is a 40-meter high statue that is the tallest rock sculpture in Europe. It is located on the Danube's rocky bank, near the city of Orşova, Romania.
Under the face of Decebal there is a Latin inscription which reads "DECEBALUS REX - DRAGAN FECIT" ("King Decebal - Made by Drăgan").
Film made by Dan Alexoae
]]>Dracula, a Chronologyhttp://www.sfetcu.com/content/Dracula-Chronology2008-08-11T06:49:04-06:002008-08-11T06:49:04-06:00nicolae
Dracula, a Chronology
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Dracula, a Chronology
1428 - Vlad Tepes, the son of Vlad Dracul, is born.
1463 - Vlad Tepes becomes Prince of Wallachia and moves to Tirgoviste.
1442 - Vlad Tepes is imprisoned with his father by the Turks.
1443 - Vlad Tepes becomes a hostage by the Turks.
1447 - Vlad Dracul is beheaded.
1448 - Vlad briefly attains the Wallachian throne. Dethroned, he goes to Moldavia and befriends Prince Stefan.
1451 - Vlad and Stephan flee to Transylvania.
1455 - Constantinople falls.
1456 - John Hunyadi assists Vlad Tepes to attain Wallachian throne. Vladislav Dan is executed.
1458 - Matthias Corvinu succeeds John Hunyadi as King of Hungary.
1459 - Easter massacre of boyers and rebuilding of Dracula's castle. Bucharest is established as the second governmental center.
1460 - Attack upon Brasov, Romania
1461 - Successful campaign against Turkish settlements along the Danube, Summer retreat to Tirgoviste.
1462 - Following the battle at Dracula's castle, Vlad flees to Transylvania. Vlad begins 13 years of imprisonment.
1475 - Summer wars in Serbia against Turks take place. November: Vlad resumes throne of Wallachia.
1476 - Vlad is assassinated.
]]>Georgia in prehistoryhttp://www.sfetcu.com/content/Georgia-prehistory2008-08-10T15:24:35-06:002008-08-10T15:24:35-06:00nicolae
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The territory of modern-day Georgia has been continuously inhabited since the early Stone Age. The classic period saw the rise of the early Georgian states of Colchis and Iberia. The proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. Archaeological finds and references in ancient sources reveal elements of early political and state formations characterized by advanced metallurgy and goldsmith techniques that date back to the 7th century BC and beyond. In the 4th century BC a unified kingdom of Georgia - an early example of advanced state organization under one king and the hierarchy of aristocracy, was established.
Tondo depicting Saint Mamas from the Gelati Monastery, 14th–15th centuries
Christianity was declared the state religion as early as AD 337 proving a great stimulus to literature, arts and the unification of the country. As a crossroad between Christian and Islamic traditions, Georgia experienced the dynamic exchange between these two worlds which culminated in a true renaissance around 12-13th centuries AD.
Ancient Georgian Kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia
The two early Georgian kingdoms of late antiquity, known to ancient Greeks and Romans as Iberia (Georgian: იბერია) (in the east of the country) and Colchis (Georgian: კოლხეთი) (in the west), were among the first nations in the region to adopt Christianity (in AD 337, or in AD 319 as recent research suggests).
In Greek Mythology, Colchis was the location of the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts in Apollonius Rhodius' epic tale Argonautica. The incorporation of the Golden Fleece into the myth may have derived from the local practice of using fleeces to sift gold dust from rivers.In the last centuries of the pre-Christian era, the area, in the form of the kingdom of Kartli-Iberia, was strongly influenced by Greece to the west and Persia to the east. After the Roman Empire completed its conquest of the Caucasus region in 66 B.C., the kingdom was a Roman client state and ally for nearly 400 years. In AD 330, King Marian III's acceptance of Christianity ultimately tied the kingdom to the neighboring Byzantine Empire, which exerted a strong cultural influence for several centuries.
Known to its natives as Egrisi or Lazica, Colchis was often the battlefield and buffer-zone between the rival powers of Persia and Byzantine Empire, with the control of the region shifting hands back and forth several times. The early kingdoms disintegrated into various feudal regions by the early Middle Ages. This made it easy for Arabs to conquer Georgia in the 7th century. The rebellious regions were liberated and united into a unified Georgian Kingdom at the beginning of the 11th century. Starting in the 12th century AD, the rule of Georgia extended over a significant part of the Southern Caucasus, including the northeastern parts and almost the entire northern coast of what is now Turkey.
Although Arabs captured the capital city of Tbilisi in AD 645, Kartli-Iberia retained considerable independence under local Arab rulers. In AD 813, the prince Ashot I also known as Ashot Kurapalat became the first of the Bagrationi family to rule the kingdom: Ashot's reign began a period of nearly 1,000 years during which the Bagrationi, as the house was known, ruled at least part of what is now the republic.
Western and eastern Georgia were united under Bagrat V (r. 1027-72). In the next century, David IV (called the Builder, r. 1099-1125) initiated the Georgian golden age by driving the Seljuk Turks from the country and expanding Georgian cultural and political influence southward into Armenia and eastward to the Caspian Sea.
1885-built Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first car to go into production with an internal combustion engine
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Tondo depicting Saint Mamas from the Gelati Monastery, 14th–15th centuries
Ancient Georgian Kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia