Thanks to Mr. Percifield.
14. Mohammed and the Arab Conquests
"In this lecture, Professor Freedman introduces Islam. He begins with a discussion of its geographical context: the dry desert lands of the Arabian peninsula. The Bedouins, or nomadic Arabs of the region, lived in a tribal society somewhat similar to the Germanic tribes discussed earlier in the course. Their raids against the Byzantine and the Persian Empire, for lack of strong opposition, would lead to the Arab conquests. The second half of the lecture focuses on the life of Mohammed (570/580 -- 632) and the early years of Islam. Mohammed's revelation was one of the unity of God and a progressive interpretation of God's prophets, with Mohammed as the last of these. Early Islam was slow to differentiate itself for Christianity and Judaism, though this process accelerated after Mohammed's flight to Medina in 622. Professor Freedman ends with a discussion of the tenets of Islam and anticipates the discussion of the Arab conquests in the next lecture."
Islam Part 2: 15. Islamic Conquests and Civil War
"In this lecture, Professor Freedman discusses the Islamic conquests. Although they were in some sense religiously motivated, Arab did not attempt to forcibly convert or eradicate Jews, Christians, or other non-Muslims. The conquests began as raids, but quickly escalated when the invaders discovered that Byzantium and Persia were too weak to withstand their assault. In a relatively short period of time, the Arabs were able to conquer an area stretching from Spain to India. Against this background of successful conquests, Islam began to experience deep internal divisions. These began as criticisms of the election of Mohammed's successors, but broadened to criticize the Caliphate and the ruling family. Out of this strife came the division between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Professor Freedman concludes the lecture with observations on the increasingly non-Arab Muslim populations."
"Hervé Pierre designs for a very specific customer: First Lady Melania Trump. We take you inside his New York City studio."
Commentary and narration by Ernest Hemingway.
I posted this six years ago but, as I'm watching it again, I'm posting it again too.
Mattel's Agent Zero-M Transistor Radio Rifle and Jet Coder Pen featuring a young Kurt Russell.
"Enigma is a 1982 Anglo-American thriller film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Martin Sheen, Sam Neill, Brigitte Fossey, and Kevin McNally. Based on Michael Barak's novel Enigma Sacrifice, the film centers on a CIA agent that tries to infiltrate Soviet intelligence in order to stop a murderous plot."
Action is eloquence.
Lets go home, do you know?
Through the line, through the line
There is a place out of space
Follow on all the time
Draw the window, draw the window, draw the window
In your... wouldn't fall to..
In your... with a long way
Will you know this
Do you know they are
Draw the window, draw the window, draw the window
Draw the window, draw the window, draw the window
Lets go home, do you know?
Through the line, through the line
There is a place out of space
You're going on the city alone
"The Koo Koo art by Giger represents a great deal to Debbie and myself. A period of time in the course of fresh ideas, breaking through the stale shell that crusts over the arts, ideas always rejected before being embraced, the schizophrenic relationship of the artist to society, the reaction of the media (all too often subject to the identity crisis of people or things close to creativity) which frequently considers itself an art form rather than the buzzing of so many angry insects biting a fresh bit of prey (though perhaps a poor analogy, bugs being a superior form to most journalists)."
"Dark Benediction" is a science fiction novella by American Walter M. Miller, first published in 1951.
"Ceylon Cinnamon and Sri Lanka's affinity is so strong that the very botanical name of the spice - Cinnamomum Zeylanicum is derived from the island's former name, Ceylon. We ship worldwide.
"Ceylon Cinnamon groves in Sri Lanka lie exclusively in its western and southwestern regions, north and south of the country's commercial capital, Colombo. The tropical sunshine and abundant rain in these areas provide an ideal habitat, but even here the quality of the spice varies with soil conditions. The sweetest, most prized variety grows in the "silver sand" coastal belt of the Negombo district, just north of Colombo.
"A laurel which in its wild state grows up to 20 meters high, the cinnamon tree is pruned down hard two years after a seedling is planted out. This produces "tillering" - a profuse, bushy growth of bark-yielding twigs whose five-nerved, shiny, fragrant leaves (like all laurels) sing melodiously in the wind. At blossom time the small, creamy-white flowers attract swarms of birds and bees, which find their spicy fragrance irresistible.
"Ceylon Cinnamon Oil owes its distinctive, spicy fragrance to a volatile oil that it contains. Cinnamon oil is distilled in copper stills from off-grade bark, leaves and roots. The distilleries are always located close to Farms, have a very pleasant effect on the surroundings and scenting the air with a sweet and spicy perfume."
Escape through a Crack in Time. Assignment 1 of Sapphire and Steel.
"Even when Poe did manage to sell his literary wares, he didn’t earn very much, as this chart I assembled shows. Over time, he did his fitful best to make his art commercial; he simplified his language and tried his hand at popular forms. Some of these experiments worked and some didn’t. Poe still wrote “in a style too much above the popular level to be well paid,” as his editor-friend N.P. Willis put it.
"Why? The usual reasons, as I see it. A writer’s heart wants what it wants. It’s not at all a simple matter to ditch the obsessions that drive you to write to begin with, and it’s hard to change your natural register, no matter that commonplace comment in MFA programs, Maybe I’ll just write a romance novel for money. If it really were so easy to write popular stuff, wouldn’t we all be churning out viral articles and paying the rent with royalties from our bestselling YA werewolf romances? In between writing prose that makes the Nobel people tremble, I mean."
"Tate Curator, Linsey Young, explores the work of Rachel Whiteread, one of Britain’s leading contemporary artists and the first woman to win the Turner Prize in 1993. Using industrial materials such as plaster, concrete, resin, rubber and metal to cast everyday objects and architectural space, her evocative sculptures range from the intimate to the monumental."
Rachel Whiteread: Drawings.
Skinny Puppy - Live in Toronto, 1987
"On November 19th Intelligence Squared hosted the ultimate clash of civilisations: Greece vs Rome. It was also the ultimate clash of intellectual titans. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London and ardent classicist, made the case for Greece; while Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge and redoubtable media star, championed Rome.
"As Boris argued, the Greeks got there first: in literature, history, art and philosophy. The Iliad and the Odyssey are the earliest surviving epic poems, the foundations on which European literature was built. The Greek myths – the tales of Oedipus, Heracles and Persephone, to name but a few – contain the archetypal plot elements of hubris and nemesis on which even Hollywood films depend today.
"It was in ancient Athens that the birth of democracy took place under the leadership of the great statesman Pericles. And in that political climate with its love of freedom and competition, and passion for argument, the great cultural flourishing of classical Athens occurred: the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides; the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle; and the marble and stone wonders of the Parthenon. Nothing before or since has matched that explosion of talent in a slice of Mediterranean coast smaller than Gloucestershire, with a population the size of Bristol’s.
"But as Mary Beard reminded us, Greece eventually lost out to Rome. Little Athens, with its loose-knit, short-lived empire, had nothing to rival Rome’s scale. From Hadrian’s Wall to north Africa, from Spain’s Atlantic coast to Babylon, the Romans stamped a permanent legacy on architecture, language, religion and politics.
Although nothing can detract from the brilliance of Greek literature, the great Roman writers have an immediacy unmatched by any other ancient culture. Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid, while invoking Homer, conveys an ambiguity towards war that appeals to modern sensibilities; Catullus’s taut analysis of his own complex emotions and the scatological insults he hurls at his rivals make him seem like the kind of clever and amusing friend we all wish we had. These poets reach out to us with voices that make the intervening 2,000 years vanish.
"While Athens declined into a forgotten backwater, Rome became the eternal city, home to the greatest classical buildings on earth – the Colosseum, the Pantheon and Trajan’s column. It is thanks to a Roman emperor, Constantine, that Christianity became both the presiding European religion and the force that shaped the Renaissance. Europe is still built in Rome’s image, despite the fall of the Roman Empire.
"Some say that if Mary Beard had been in charge, the Roman Empire would never have fallen. Others say Boris is soon to be the Pericles of Downing Street. Who gets your vote?"
“Those guys who are worth, say, 100 million, they say: ‘We are not wealthy because there are guys who are worth a billion,’” Igor explains. “Those guys worth a billion say: ‘We’re not wealthy because others have tens of billions.’” Got it.
"It all started with wondering what I could learn about someone from a little piece ... they left behind,"" says artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg. Using discarded items like cigarette butts, chewing gum, and fingernails, she extracted traces of DNA to create masks based on the owner's genetic profile. While difficult to determine how closely these portraits match the original holder, they do put a human face on larger questions surrounding genetic surveillance. Filmmakers Veena Rao and Emily Sheskin present Dewey-Hagborg's Stranger Visions"" series and her counter-surveillance product Invisible, a set of sprays she claims erases the majority of one's DNA footprint."
I steal DNA from strangers | Heather Dewey-Hagborg | TEDxVienna:
"For your protection against emerging threats to biological privacy."
Voynich manuscript: the solution.
And while we're at it: "A 17th century 'letter from the devil' written by a Sicilian nun who claimed to be possessed by Lucifer, has finally been translated thanks to the dark web."
"The Last Question is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly..."
Repeating radio signals coming from deep space have been detected by astronomers.
"Andrew George, Professor of Babylonian, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
"The Epic of Gilgamesh is a 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian poem about a hero who embarks on an arduous quest to find the secret of immortality. Preserved on clay tablets in cuneiform script, it is generally considered to be the earliest great work of literature to survive from the ancient world. In this illustrated lecture, Andrew George, author of a prize-winning translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, explores four themes related to this Babylonian masterpiece: the archaeology of the poem’s recovery, the reconstruction of its text, the story it tells, and its messages about life and death."
Thanks to Barbarian Steve.
"The BBC World Service Drama production of Neuromancer aired in two one-hour parts, on 8 and 15 September 2002. Dramatised by Mike Walker, and directed by Andy Jordan, it starred Owen McCarthy as Case, Nicola Walker as Molly, James Laurenson as Armitage, John Shrapnel as Wintermute, Colin Stinton as Dixie, David Webber as Maelcum, David Holt as Riviera, Peter Marinker as Ashpool, and Andrew Scott as The Finn. It can no longer be heard on The BBC World Service Archive."
"One of the languages to reemerge from the parchments is Caucasian Albanian, which was spoken by a Christian kingdom in what is now modern day Azerbaijan. Almost all written records from the kingdom were lost in the 8th and 9th century when its churches were destroyed."
"Dukes exist for the same purpose as the rest of the English aristocracy – to amuse everyone else on television."