Are you a fan of Union J? If so, you will probably be able to name the band members but how much else do you know about the four boys? Whether you are fully familiar with the lads from Union J, or would like to find out more about them, this quiz book is for you. With what record company did Union J sign after their time on The X Factor in 2012? Where did Union J first perform their single 'Carry You'? During what month in 2013 did Union J take over the Daybreak sofa at 7.50 am each morning for a week? The answers to these questions and more can all be found inside this new book. Packed with fun facts about all aspects of Union J, including many personal details, The Union J Quiz Book documents the boys' journey from four unknown artists into successful X Factor boy band and beyond. With 100 questions about your favourite group, this is a book Union J fans of all ages just won't want to be without.

Do you like British boy band The Wanted? Have you followed their career from when they first formed in 2009 through to the current day? Would you like to find out more about Max, Siva, Jay, Tom and Nathan? If you answered yes to any of these questions, 101 Interesting Facts on The Wanted is certain to appeal to you. Do you know who is the oldest member of the group? Which artist did The Wanted support on tour in Brazil? What member of the band originally came up with the name, The Wanted? The answers can all be found inside this book, together with many more fascinating facts about your favourite band. Fun and informative, this book includes many personal details about the individual band members as well as up-to-date information about The Wanted's projects, past and present. Gen up on The Wanted so that you can impress your friends with your knowledge. If you are a fan of The Wanted, you won't want to be without this book.

Are you a big fan of Doctor Who? Have you watched all of the series from years gone by through to the present day? Can you name the various actors who have played the Doctor from William Hartnell to Matt Smith? If you can tell a Hath from the Heavenly Host and a Sontaran from a Slitheen, you are certain to enjoy this fun new quiz book? What was the title of episode one of the first Doctor story, The Daleks? Who played The Siren in the eleventh Doctor story, The Curse of the Black Spot? What companion has appeared in the most episodes of Doctor Who since its return in 2005? The answers to these brain-teasers and more can all be found inside The Doctor Who Quiz Book. As the iconic series celebrates 50 years of production, have a go at the 500 questions in this book to find out how much you really know about the Doctor. This is a must-have tribute for Doctor Who fans of all ages.

Are you a fan of rock band the Arctic Monkeys? Have you followed their career from the early days when the band first gained recognition via the internet through to international success? Would you like to know more about your favourite indie band? 101 Interesting Facts on Arctic Monkeys gives you the chance to pick up some little-known trivia about popular band from Sheffield. What was the original line-up and who was the band's other lead singer with Alex Turner? What NME first did the Arctic Monkeys clock up in 2006? What offer did the Band repeatedly turn down during 2005? Find out the answers in this exciting new book along with many more fascinating facts. Packed with information including many personal details about the individual band members as well as up-to-date news on the Arctic Monkeys' recent projects. This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in contemporary music and is a must-have for all Arctic Monkeys' fans.

Are you a fan of One Direction? Have you followed the popular boyband from their very first performance on The X Factor to international stardom? Would you like to find out more about the 1D boys? If so, you there is no better way to get to know your favourite band than with 101 Interesting Facts About One Direction. Which member of One Direction was the first to suggest the name for the band? When and where was the premiere of 1D's 2013 film This Is Us held? What new product did One Direction launch in September 2013? Find out the answers inside this book, full of up to the minute information all about 1D. The book includes many personal details about each of the band members as well as facts about their past and current projects.Make sure that you are up to date on all the latest 1D news with this new book. If you love One Direction, you won't want to be without it.

Ronnie Biggs is widely known for his part in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, his subsequent escape from prison, and notoriety as he lived as a fugitive around the globe with his family. Biggs' story has been well documented over the years but how much do you really know about the man behind the headlines? The Ronnie Biggs Quiz Book is your chance to gen up on all the facts. How old was Ronnie when he first appeared in court? On what date did Ronnie receive a 30 year sentence? Who was Ronnie's famous cellmate in Brazil? The answers to these questions and more can all be found in this fascinating new book. The 50th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery in 2013 has renewed interest in the gang who pulled of this audacious heist, and Ronnie Biggs in particular. Packed with information, this book will tell you everything you want to know about Ronnie Biggs, his life on the run and his part in one of the most talked about crimes of all time.

Are you a fan of classical music? Can you name all the well-known composers, conductors and the compositions they are associated with? Or perhaps, you would like to learn more about them? If so, you are certain to enjoy the quotes and musical miscellany in 101 Quirky Observations on Classical Music. Who defined music as 'a science that would have us laugh and sing and dance'? Which composer said, 'the trombones are too sacred for frequent use'? What writer requested, 'please do not shoot the pianist, he is doing his best'? The answers to these questions and similar brain-teasers can all be found inside this book. With sections on composers, compositions, instruments, orchestras and their musicians, conductors, soloists and opera as well as much more classical music related trivia, this book has something for everyone. This book is a great way to find out more about classical music and those who have been involved in writing, playing and performing it through the years. This is a must-have for anyone who listens to, plays or appreciates classical music.

Playing Sherlock Holmes contains three verbatim interviews - with John Wood, Robert Stephens and Christopher Lee - about their very different experiences of appearing as Holmes on stage and screen. The interviews were conducted in 1974. At the time, John Wood was appearing on stage in an acclaimed revival of William Gillette's play Sherlock Holmes, a Royal Shakespeare Company production; Robert Stephens had recently completed The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes for film director Billy Wilder; and Christopher Lee - who had a role as Mycroft Holmes in that film - had earlier played the lead role in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace. The interviews have been transcribed from tapes held in the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection - Richard Lancelyn Green Bequest at Portsmouth Museum.

Are you a fan of American girl band Fifth Harmony? Have you followed the girls' success from auditioning as solo artists on The X Factor USA to the formation of Fifth Harmony and beyond? If you think you know all about Ally, Normani, Dinah, Lauren and Camilla, or would like to find out more about them, dip inside The Fifth Harmony Quiz Book. What song did Ally sing during her audition on The X Factor USA in 2012? When the group was formed by Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato, what was the band's original name? What award did Fifth Harmony win at the 'People's Choice Awards 2016'? The answers can all be found in this exciting new quiz book. With 100 questions and fascinating facts all about Fifth Harmony, including many personal details, you are certain to learn something new about this popular girl band. This is a must-have book for everyone who supported the girls on their The X Factor USA journey and who continue to enjoy the music of Fifth Harmony.

As in the case of "The Bases of Design," to which this is intended to form a companion volume, the substance of the following chapters on Line and Form originally formed a series of lectures delivered to the students of the Manchester Municipal School of Art. There is no pretension to an exhaustive treatment of a subject it would be difficult enough to exhaust, and it is dealt with in a way intended to bear rather upon the practical work of an art school, and to be suggestive and helpful to those face to face with the current problems of drawing and design. These have been approached from a personal point of view, as the results of conclusions arrived at in the course of a busy working life which has left but few intervals for the elaboration of theories apart from practice, and such as they are, these papers are now offered to the wider circle of students and workers in the arts of design as from one of themselves. They were illustrated largely by means of rough sketching in line before my student audience, as well as by photographs and drawings. The rough diagrams have been re-drawn, and the other illustrations reproduced, so that both line and tone blocks are used, uniformity being sacrificed to fidelity.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?WALTER CRANE. Outline, one might say, is the Alpha and Omega of Art. It is the earliest mode of expression among primitive peoples, as it is with the individual child, and it has been cultivated for its power of characterization and expression, and as an ultimate test of draughtsmanship, by the most accomplished artists of all time. The old fanciful story of its origin in the work of a lover who traced in charcoal the boundary of the shadow of the head of his sweetheart as cast upon the wall by the sun, and thus obtained the first profile portrait, is probably more true in substance than in fact, but it certainly illustrates the function of outline as the definition of the boundaries of form.Silhouette As children we probably perceive forms in nature defined as flat shapes of colour relieved upon other colours, or flat fields of light on dark, as a white horse is defined upon the green grass of a field, or a black figure upon a background of snow.Definition of BoundariesTo define the boundaries of such forms becomes the main object in early attempts at artistic expression. The attention is caught by the edges—the shape of the silhouette which remains the paramount means of distinction of form when details and secondary characteristics are lost; as the outlines of mountains remain, or are even more clearly seen, when distance subdues the details of their structure, and evening mists throw them into flat planes one behind the other, and leave nothing but the delicate lines of their edges to tell their character. We feel the beauty and simplicity of such effects in nature. We feel that the mind, through the eye resting upon these quiet planes and delicate lines, receives a sense of repose and poetic suggestion which is lost in the bright noontide, with all its wealth of glittering detail, sharp cut in light and shade. There is no doubt that this typical power of outline and the value of simplicity of mass were perceived by the ancients, notably the Ancient Egyptians and the Greeks, who both, in their own ways, in their art show a wonderful power of characterization by means of line and mass, and a delicate sense of the ornamental value and quality of line. Formation of LettersRegarding line—the use of outline from the point of view of its value as a means of definition of form and fact—its power is really only limited by the power of draughtsmanship at the command of the artist. From the archaic potters' primitive figures or the rudimentary attempts of children at human or animal forms up to the most refined outlines of a Greek vase-painter, or say the artist of the Dream of Poliphilus, the difference is one of degree.

Macbeth (full title The Tragedy of Macbeth) is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, and is considered one of his darkest and most powerful works. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfil the ambition for power. The play is believed to have been written between 1599 and 1606, and is most commonly dated 1606. The earliest account of a performance of what was probably Shakespeare's play is the Summer of 1606, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe Theatre. Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, and tells the story of a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and death. The play opens amidst thunder and lightning, and the Three Witches decide that their next meeting shall be with Macbeth. In the following scene, a wounded sergeant reports to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals—Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis, and Banquo—have just defeated the allied forces of Norway and Ireland, who were led by the traitorous Macdonwald and the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth, the King's kinsman, is praised for his bravery and fighting prowess.In the following scene, Macbeth and Banquo discuss the weather and their victory. As they wander onto a heath, the Three Witches enter and greet them with prophecies. Though Banquo challenges them first, they address Macbeth, hailing him as "Thane of Glamis," "Thane of Cawdor," and that he shall "be King hereafter." Macbeth appears to be stunned to silence. When Banquo asks of his own fortunes, the witches inform him that he will father a line of kings, though he himself will not be one. While the two men wonder at these pronouncements, the witches vanish, and another thane, Ross, arrives and informs Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor, as the previous Thane of Cawdor shall be put to death for his traitorous activities. The first prophecy is thus fulfilled, and Macbeth immediately begins to harbour ambitions of becoming king.King Duncan welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, and declares that he will spend the night at Macbeth's castle at Inverness; he also names his son Malcolm as his heir. Macbeth sends a message ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her about the witches' prophecies. Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband's uncertainty, and wishes him to murder Duncan in order to obtain kingship. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husband's objections by challenging his manhood, and successfully persuades him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan's two chamberlains drunk so that they will black out; the next morning they will blame the chamberlains for the murder. They will be defenseless, as they will remember nothing.While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a hallucination of a bloody dagger. He is so shaken that Lady Macbeth has to take charge. In accordance with her plan, she frames Duncan's sleeping servants for the murder by placing bloody daggers on them. Early the next morning, Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, and Macduff, the loyal Thane of Fife, arrive. A porter opens the gate and Macbeth leads them to the king's chamber, where Macduff discovers Duncan's body. ABOUT AUTHOR: William Shakespeare ( 1564 (baptised) – 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physic

Hogyan váltak a lovak az emberiség kiszolgálóivá?A lovak évezredek óta jelen vannak az emberek életében: hatalmas erejüket és engedelmességüket kihasználva dolgoznak, küzdenek, hódítanak.De hogyan lehetséges, hogy a 60-65 millió éve a F?ld?n él? állatokat végül az ember igába hajthatta? Ez a regény err?l is szól, fantasztikus, mesés elemekkel telet?zdelve. Kül?n?s mozzanat a t?rténetben a lovak találkozása az emberekkel, akik a F?ldész nev?, egy a F?ldh?z hasonló élhet? bolygóról érkeztek, és egyedül ezekben csodás állatokban találták meg azt az akarater?t és intelligenciát, ami alkalmassá teszi ?ket majd a f?ldi emberi társadalmak kialakítására.Fuli Sándor kalandos regénye az életigenlésr?l felhívja fiatal olvasói figyelmét a minden nehézséggel való bátor szembenézés fontosságára.

Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640), was a Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasised movement, colour, and sensuality. He is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe.. Early lifeRubens was born in the German city of Siegen, Westphalia to Jan Rubens and Maria Pypelincks. His father, a Calvinist, and mother fled Antwerp for Cologne in 1568, after increased religious turmoil and persecution of Protestants during the rule of the Spanish Netherlands by the Duke of Alba. Jan Rubens became the legal advisor (and lover) of Anna of Saxony, the second wife of William I of Orange, and settled at her court in Siegen in 1570; their daughter Christine was born in 1571. Following Jan Rubens's imprisonment for the affair, Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577. The family returned to Cologne the next year. In 1589, two years after his father's death, Rubens moved with his mother Maria Pypelincks to Antwerp, where he was raised as a Catholic. Religion figured prominently in much of his work and Rubens later became one of the leading voices of the Catholic Counter-Reformation style of painting (he had said "My passion comes from the heavens, not from earthly musings").In Antwerp, Rubens received a humanist education, studying Latin and classical literature. By fourteen he began his artistic apprenticeship with Tobias Verhaeght. Subsequently, he studied under two of the city's leading painters of the time, the late Mannerist artists Adam van Noort and Otto van Veen. Much of his earliest training involved copying earlier artists' works, such as woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger and Marcantonio Raimondi's engravings after Raphael. Rubens completed his education in 1598, at which time he entered the Guild of St. Luke as an independent master. Italy (1600–1608)In 1600, Rubens travelled to Italy. He stopped first in Venice, where he saw paintings by Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, before settling in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. The coloring and compositions of Veronese and Tintoretto had an immediate effect on Rubens's painting, and his later, mature style was profoundly influenced by Titian. With financial support from the Duke, Rubens travelled to Rome by way of Florence in 1601. Last decade (1630–1640)The Exchange of Princesses, from the Marie de' Medici Cycle. Louvre, ParisRubens's last decade was spent in and around Antwerp. Major works for foreign patrons still occupied him, such as the ceiling paintings for the Banqueting House at Inigo Jones's Palace of Whitehall, but he also explored more personal artistic directions.In 1630, four years after the death of his first wife, the 53-year-old painter married 16-year-old Hélène Fourment. Hélène inspired the voluptuous figures in many of his paintings from the 1630s, including The Feast of Venus (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), The Three Graces and The Judgment of Paris (both Prado, Madrid). In the latter painting, which was made for the Spanish court, the artist's young wife was recognized by viewers in the figure of Venus. In an intimate portrait of her, Hélène Fourment in a Fur Wrap, also known as Het Pelsken, Rubens's wife is even partially modelled after classical sculptures of the Venus Pudica, such as the Medici Venus. In 1635, Rubens bought an estate outside of Antwerp, the Steen, where he spent much of his time. Landscapes, such as his Ch?teau de Steen with Hunter (National Gallery, London) and Farmers Returning from the Fields (Pitti Gallery, Florence), reflect the more personal nature of many of his later works. He also drew upon the Netherlandish traditions of Pieter Bruegel the Elder for inspiration in later works like Flemish Kermis (c. 1630; Louvre, Paris).

Toate popoarele sunt preocupate de identitatea lor, dar la rom?ni aceast? chestiune a ?mbr?cat forme speciale. Rom?nii, locuitori p?n? ?n epoca modern? ?n dou? principate autonome supuse Por?ii Otomane ?i r?vnite de mul?i al?i vecini, dar tr?itori ?i ?n vaste provincii ocupate de unguri, de austrieci, de ru?i ?i de turci, pierdu?i ?n mijlocul at?tor str?ini rapace, s-au ?ntrebat, parc? mai mult dec?t al?ii, de unde vin ?i cine sunt ei. P?n? la urm? ?ns?, toate popoarele mici, lovite de soart? ?i l?sate la cheremul celor mari, au asemenea preocup?ri, transformate uneori ?n adev?rate obsesii. (Ioan-Aurel Pop)

Imaginea Romaniei prin turism, targuri si expozitii universale, in perioada interbelica, este titlul unei noi carti extrem de interesante, adresata atat specialistilor cat si publicului larg. Lucrarea elaborata de dr. Claudiu-Alexandru Vitanos reprezinta bilantul unor eforturi sistematice ale autorului de cercetare a modului in care a fost elaborata politica nationala privind dezvoltarea turismului si, totodata, politica de promovare a Romaniei prin intermediul targurilor si expozitiilor universale de-a lungul deceniilor interbelice.

1. The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child of practice and theory. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise of employment where manual work is done with any necessary material according to the design of a drawing. Theory, on the other hand, is the ability to demonstrate and explain the productions of dexterity on the principles of proportion. 2. It follows, therefore, that architects who have aimed at acquiring manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a position of authority to correspond to their pains, while those who relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the shadow, not the substance. But those who have a thorough knowledge of both, like men armed at all points, have the sooner attained their object and carried authority with them. 3. In all matters, but particularly in architecture, there are these two points:—the thing signified, and that which gives it its significance. That which is signified is the subject of which we may be speaking; and that which gives significance is a demonstration on scientific principles. It appears, then, that one who professes himself an architect should be well versed in both directions. He ought, therefore, to be both naturally gifted and amenable to instruction. Neither natural ability without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can make the perfect artist. Let him be educated, skilful with the pencil, instructed in geometry, know much history, have followed the philosophers with attention, understand music, have some knowledge of medicine, know the opinions of the jurists, and be acquainted with astronomy and the theory of the heavens. 4. The reasons for all this are as follows. An architect ought to be an educated man so as to leave a more lasting remembrance in his treatises. Secondly, he must have a knowledge of drawing so that he can readily make sketches to show the appearance of the work which he proposes. Geometry, also, is of much assistance in architecture, and in particular it teaches us the use of the rule and compasses, by which especially we acquire readiness in making plans for buildings in their grounds, and rightly apply the square, the level, and the plummet. By means of optics, again, the light in buildings can be drawn from fixed quarters of the sky. It is true that it is by arithmetic that the total cost of buildings is calculated and measurements are computed, but difficult questions involving symmetry are solved by means of geometrical theories and methods. 5. A wide knowledge of history is requisite because, among the ornamental parts of an architect's design for a work, there are many the underlying idea of whose employment he should be able to explain toGree inquirers. For instance, suppose him to set up the marble statues of women in long robes, called Caryatides, to take the place of columns, with the mutules and coronas placed directly above their heads, he will give the following explanation to his questioners. Caryae, a state in Peloponnesus, sided with the Persian enemies against Greece; later the Greeks, having gloriously won their freedom by victory in the war, made common cause and declared war against the people of Caryae. They took the town, killed the men, abandoned the State to desolation, and carried off their wives into slavery, without permitting them, however, to lay aside the long robes and other marks of their rank as married women, so that they might be obliged not only to march in the triumph but to appear forever after as a type of slavery, burdened with the weight of their shame and so making atonement for their State. Hence, the architects of the time designed for public buildings statues of these women, placed so as to carry a load..

"When all the gods had assembled in conference, Zeus arose among them and addressed them thus" . . . "it is with this line that Plato's story of Atlantis ends; and the words of Zeus remain unknown." -- Francis Bacon, New Atlantis Of all the writings of Plato the Timaeus is the most obscure and repulsive to the modern reader, and has nevertheless had the greatest influence over the ancient and mediaeval world. The obscurity arises in the infancy of physical science, out of the confusion of theological, mathematical, and physiological notions, out of the desire to conceive the whole of nature without any adequate knowledge of the parts, and from a greater perception of similarities which lie on the surface than of differences which are hidden from view. To bring sense under the control of reason; to find some way through the mist or labyrinth of appearances, either the highway of mathematics, or more devious paths suggested by the analogy of man with the world, and of the world with man; to see that all things have a cause and are tending towards an end—this is the spirit of the ancient physical philosopher. He has no notion of trying an experiment and is hardly capable of observing the curiosities of nature which are 'tumbling out at his feet,' or of interpreting even the most obvious of them. He is driven back from the nearer to the more distant, from particulars to generalities, from the earth to the stars. He lifts up his eyes to the heavens and seeks to guide by their motions his erring footsteps. But we neither appreciate the conditions of knowledge to which he was subjected, nor have the ideas which fastened upon his imagination the same hold upon us. For he is hanging between matter and mind; he is under the dominion at the same time both of sense and of abstractions; his impressions are taken almost at random from the outside of nature; he sees the light, but not the objects which are revealed by the light; and he brings into juxtaposition things which to us appear wide as the poles asunder, because he finds nothing between them. He passes abruptly from persons to ideas and numbers, and from ideas and numbers to persons,—from the heavens to man, from astronomy to physiology; he confuses, or rather does not distinguish, subject and object, first and final causes, and is dreaming of geometrical figures lost in a flux of sense. He contrasts the perfect movements of the heavenly bodies with the imperfect representation of them (Rep.), and he does not always require strict accuracy even in applications of number and figure (Rep.). His mind lingers around the forms of mythology, which he uses as symbols or translates into figures of speech. He has no implements of observation, such as the telescope or microscope; the great science of chemistry is a blank to him. It is only by an effort that the modern thinker can breathe the atmosphere of the ancient philosopher, or understand how, under such unequal conditions, he seems in many instances, by a sort of inspiration, to have anticipated the truth. The influence with the Timaeus has exercised upon posterity is due partly to a misunderstanding. In the supposed depths of this dialogue the Neo-Platonists found hidden meanings and connections with the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and out of them they elicited doctrines quite at variance with the spirit of Plato. Believing that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost, or had received his wisdom from Moses, they seemed to find in his writings the Christian Trinity, the Word, the Church, the creation of the world in a Jewish sense, as they really found the personality of God or of mind..

Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (1488/1490 – 27 August 1576) known in English as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno (in Veneto), in the Republic of Venice. During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, taken from the place of his birth. Recognized by his contemporaries as "The Sun Amidst Small Stars" (recalling the famous final line of Dante's Paradiso), Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art. During the course of his long life, Titian's artistic manner changed drastically but he retained a lifelong interest in color. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his early pieces, their loose brushwork and subtlety of tone are without precedent in the history of Western art. Early years This early portrait (c. 1509), described by Giorgio Vasari in 1568, was long wrongly believed to be of Ludovico Ariosto; it is now thought to be a portrait of Gerolamo Barbarigo, and the composition was borrowed by Rembrandt for his own self-portraits. The exact date of Titian's birth is uncertain; when he was an old man he claimed in a letter to Philip II, King of Spain, to have been born in 1474, but this seems most unlikely. Other writers contemporary to his old age give figures which would equate to birthdates between 1473 to after 1482, but most modern scholars believe a date nearer 1490 is more likely; the Metropolitan Museum of Art's timeline supports c.1488, as does the Getty Research Institute.He was the son of Gregorio Vecelli and his wife Lucia. His father was superintendent of the castle of Pieve di Cadore and managed local mines for their owners. Gregorio was also a distinguished councilor and soldier. Many relatives, including Titian's grandfather, were notaries, and the family of four were well-established in the area, which was ruled by Venice. At the age of about ten to twelve he and his brother Francesco (who perhaps followed later) were sent to an uncle in Venice to find an apprenticeship with a painter. The minor painter Sebastian Zuccato, whose sons became well-known mosaicists, and who may have been a family friend, arranged for the brothers to enter the studio of the elderly Gentile Bellini, from which they later transferred to that of his brother Giovanni Bellini. At that time the Bellinis, especially Giovanni, were the leading artists in the city. There Titian found a group of young men about his own age, among them Giovanni Palma da Serinalta, Lorenzo Lotto, Sebastiano Luciani, and Giorgio da Castelfranco, nicknamed Giorgione. Francesco Vecellio, his older brother, later became a painter of some note in Venice.A fresco of Hercules on the Morosini Palace is said to have been one of Titian's earliest works; others were the Bellini-esque so-called Gypsy Madonna in Vienna, and the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth (from the convent of S. Andrea), now in the Accademia, Venice.

THE earliest record we have of the employment of an infernal machine at all resembling the torpedo of the present day, was in 1585 at the siege of Antwerp. Here by means of certain small vessels, drifted down the stream, in each of which was placed a magazine of gunpowder, to be fired either by a trigger, or a combination of levers and clockwork, an Italian engineer, Lambelli, succeeded in demolishing a bridge that the enemy had formed over the Scheldt. So successful was this first attempt, and so tremendous was the effect produced on the spectators, by the explosion of one of these torpedoes, that further investigation of this new mode of Naval warfare was at once instituted.But it was not until some two hundred years after that any real progress was effected, though numerous attempts were made during this period, to destroy vessels by means of sub-marine infernal machines.It was owing to the fact, that the condition which is now considered as essential in torpedo warfare, viz., that the charge must be submerged, was then entirely ignored, that so long a standstill occurred in this new art of making war. Captain Bushnell, the Inventor of Torpedoes.—To Captain David Bushnell, of Connecticut, in 1775, is most certainly due the credit of inventing torpedoes, or as he termed them submarine magazines. For he first proved practically that a charge of gunpowder could be fired under water, which is incontestably the essence of submarine warfare. Submarine Boat.—To Captain Bushnell is also due the credit of first devizing a submarine boat for the purpose of conveying his magazines to the bottom of hostile ships and there exploding them.Drifting Torpedoes.—Another plan of his for destroying vessels, was that of connecting two of his infernal machines together by means of a line, and throwing them into the water, allowing the current to carry them across the bows of the attacked ship. Mode of Ignition.—The ignition of his magazines was generally effected by means of clockwork, which, when set in motion, would run for some time before exploding the machines, thus enabling the operators to get clear of the explosion.Captain Bushnell's few attempts to destroy our ships off the American coast in 1776 and 1777, with his submarine boat, and his drifting torpedoes were all attended with failure, a result generally experienced, where new inventions are for the first time subjected to the test of actual service. Robert Fulton.—Robert Fulton, an American, following in his footsteps, some twenty years after, revived the subject of submarine warfare, which during that interval seems to have been entirely forgotten. A resident in France, in 1797, he is found during that year making various experiments on the Seine with a machine which he had constructed, and by which he designed "to impart to carcasses of gunpowder a progressive motion under water, to a certain point, and there explode them."[A] Fulton's Failures.—Though these first essays of his resulted in failure, Fulton thoroughly believed in the efficacy of his schemes, and we find him, during that and succeeding years, vainly importunating the French and Dutch Governments, to grant him aid and support in carrying out experiments with his new inventions, whereby he might perfect them, and thus ensure to whichever government acceded to his views, the total destruction of their enemy's fleets. Bonaparte aids Fulton.—Though holding out such favourable terms, it was not until 1800, when Bonaparte became First Consul, that Fulton's solicitations were successful, and that money was granted him to carry out a series of experiments. In the following year (1801), under Bonaparte's immediate patronage, Fulton carried out various and numerous experiments in the harbour of Brest, principally with a submarine boat devised by him (named the Nautilus), subsequently to his invention of submarine carcasses as a means of approaching a ship and fixing one of his infernal machines beneath her..

Conservatorismul pragmatic, conservatorismul lui David Hume, Edmund Burke i, n secolul XX, al lui Michael Oakeshott, se deosebete profund de reacionarism i de ultraconservatorismul virulent. Un conservator pragmatic este un om care gndete fr mituri caluzitoare i fr adevruri absolute, ce confisc i paralizeaz inteligena; este un adversar, i nu un adept, al utopiilor inverse, care aspir la restaurarea trecutului. El este un adept al moderaiei i al gradualismului – nu pentru ca ar avea oroare de schimbrile profunde, ci pentru ca tie c nimic important, nrdcinat ntr-o form de via omeneasc, nu poate fi schimbat brusc. Se comite adesea o confuzie ntre conservatorismul pragmatic i radicalismul de dreapta. Dar este vorba de o eroare de neiertat, cci cele doua forme ale Dreptei se opun diametral: Ostilitatea fa de radicalism, ostilitatea nencetat, implacabil, este definiia esenial a conservatorismului (Robert Cecil, Marchiz de Salisbury). Au existat i n Romania figuri celebre apropiate conservatorismului pragmatic, spre exemplu P. P. Carp. ns, din pcate, tradiia autohton este dominat de radicalismul de dreapta, ilustrat (virulent) de Eminescu i (seren) de Maiorescu, iar ulterior de generaia rtcit: Nae Ionescu, Mircea Eliade, Cioran i Noica.“ (Adrian-Paul Iliescu)

Cartea este rezultatul anchetelor desf??urate ?n paginile revistei Contemporanul – anchete ce au abordat o problema delicat?, ocolit? de nu pu?ini c?rturari: ?Problema evreiasc?". Se pronun?? pe marginea acestei disputate teme actuale personalit??i ca, de pild?, Dumitru ?epeneag, Matei C?linescu, Ion Vianu, Irina Cajal, Ion Iano?i, Nicolae Breban, ?i nu pu?ini al?i importan?i actan?i ai vie?ii sociale, politice ?i culturale din Rom?nia de azi.Un manual indirect de istorie, cartea e destinata studen?ilor, elevilor, profesorilor, precum ?i publicului larg de cititori.