Search This Blog

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Their moment of death: Rest in peace, piece a piece made a list


Death is a part of every person’s life; in this article we explore ten of the strangest deaths that have occurred in recorded history.
These deaths are not noted in Darwin awards. Yet they are well worth mentioning.
Caution! reading this list can cause multiple phobias — you risk to develop phobias to laughter, food consumption or insomnia. You will be afraid to hold your bladder. Don't say I didn't warn you.
1. Francis Bacon (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) [Britannica]
Manner of death: Stuffing snow into a chicken
484Px-Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon; statesman, philosopher, creator of the English essay, and advocate for the scientific revolution (he established “The Scientific Method” still used today), was one of very few people to die as a result of one of their own experiments.
In 1625, whilst gazing out the window at a snowy afternoon, Sir Francis Bacon had an epiphany of sorts. Why would snow not work as preservative of meat in much the same way salt is used? Needing to know and unheeding of the weather, Bacon rushed to town to purchase a chicken, brought it home and began the experiment. Standing outside in the snow, he killed the chicken and tried to stuff it with snow. The experiment was a failure; the chicken didn’t freeze, and as a consequence of standing around in the freezing weather, Bacon developed a terminal case of pneumonia. Trying to stave off the inevitable, Bacon roasted and ate the chicken. That too was a failed experiment. He died.
2. Horace Wells (January 21, 1815 – January 24, 1848) [Britannica]
Manner of death: Used anesthetics to commit suicide
Image
An American dentist, born in Vermont and educated in Boston, Horace Wells was one of the pioneers in the field of anesthesia. Weary of screaming patients, (it was known to upset him terribly, he often debated leaving the field of dentistry altogether), he was one of the first practitioners to see the value of nitrous oxide or laughing gas as an anesthetic.
After a failed experiment and falling out of favor with the medical community, Wells became a traveling anesthetic salesman and European expert for his former partner, Gardner Quincy Colton. His ‘investigations’ led to a chloroform addiction that would be his down-fall. In 1848, delirious and deranged after a week of self-experimentation, Wells ran into the street and assaulted two prostitutes with sulfuric acid. He was arrested and confined at New York’s infamous Tombs Prison. Recovering from the drug induced psychosis; the true horror of his actions came home to roost. Unable to live with this shame, Wells committed suicide by first inhaling a substantial dose of chloroform and then slitting his femoral artery.
3. Tycho Brahe (December 14, 1546 – October 24, 1601) [Britannica]
Tycho Brahe.Jpg
Manner of death: Didn’t get to the toilet in time
Famous as an alchemist and astronomer, Brahe’s pioneering observations of planetary motion paved the way for Sir Isaac Newton to develop the theory of gravity.
Unfortunately brilliance and common sense do not always go hand in hand, the manner of his death being the case in point. Known to have a weak bladder and knowing that it was very bad form to leave the banquet table before the festivities concluded, Brahe still neglected to relieve himself before dinner. To compound matters, he was known to drink excessively, and this particular banquet was no exception. Too polite to ask to be excused, his bladder strained causing a protracted (11 day), agonizing death. Whether he died of a burst bladder or hyponatremia (low levels of sodium in the blood) or mercury poisoning is now debated.
Note: this is very similar to an event in which a lady died recently in a competition entitled “Hold Your Wee for a Wii”. She died of hyponatremia.
4. King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (May 14, 1710 – February 12, 1771) [BritannicaManner of death: Eating too much pudding                   Adolph’s Frederick was the titular King of Sweden from 1751 – 1771. The omnipotent Riksdag or senate held the reins of power despite Adolphus’ best efforts to wrest it from them. Another victim of personal excess, Adophus Frederick is known by Swedish children as “the king who ate himself to death”. On February 12, 1771, after partaking of a banquet consisting of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne he moved on to his favorite dessert, Semla, a traditional bun or pastry made from semolina/wheat flour, served in a bowl of hot milk. One or two portions would have been sufficient; 14 servings was excessive. He died shortly thereafter of digestion problems.


5. Clement Vallandigham  Death by Jury Demonstration

After the Civil War, controversial Ohio politician Clement Vallandigham [wiki] became a highly successful lawyer who rarely lost a case.

In 1871, he defended Thomas McGehan who was accused of shooting one Tom Myers during a barroom brawl. Vallandigham’s defense was that Myers had accidentally shot himself while drawing his pistol from a kneeling position.

To convince the jury, Vallandigham decided to demonstrate his theory. Unfortunately, he grabbed a loaded gun by mistake and ended up shooting himself! By dying, Vallandigham succeeded in demonstrating the plausibility of the accidental shooting and got his client acquitted.
















































 6. Grigori Rasputin  (January 22, 1869 – December 29, 1916) [Britannica]
 Manner of death: Drowning after being poisoned, shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned.   
                                     
                                 
Rasputin Pt    The Mad Monk, Grigori Rasputin, was a peasant and mystic healer who found favor with the royal court of Russia by providing relief to Crown Prince Aleksey, a hemophiliac and heir to the throne. Wielding much influence on the royal court, the unkempt, vulgar, and amazingly resilient Rasputin made many political enemies. He had to go; much easier said than done. The conspirators first tried poison, enough poison to kill a man three times his size, but he seemed unaffected. Next they snuck up behind him and shot him in the head. This should have done it, but no; while one of the assassins was checking his pulse, the mystic grabbed the conspirator by the neck and proceeded to strangle him. Running away, the would-be assassins took up the chase, shooting him 3 times in the process. The gunshots slowed him down enough to allow his pursuers to catch-up. They then proceeded to bludgeon him before throwing him in the icy cold river (Russian  winter). When his body was recovered an autopsy showed that the cause of death was drowning.






Isadora Duncan Ggbain 056548.  Isadora Duncan (May 27, 1877 – September 14, 1927) [BritannicaManner of death: Strangulation and a broken neck Isadora Duncan is widely considered as the mother of Modern Dance. Born in San Francisco, California, Dora Angela Duncan was the product of divorced parents; her father a disgraced banker and her mother and pianist and music teacher. Her free form style was never very popular in her home country, but she found great success after immigrating to Paris. She founded three schools of dance and her likeness is carved over the entrance to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
Isadora Duncan died of a broken neck and accidental strangulation when her scarf caught on the wheel of a car she was traveling in. The New York Times, succinctly and brutally described it thusly:
“The automobile was going at full speed when the scarf of strong silk began winding around the wheel and with terrific force dragged Miss Duncan, around whom it was securely wrapped, bodily over the side of the car, precipitating her with violence against the cobblestone street. She was dragged for several yards before the chauffeur halted, attracted by her cries in the street. Medical aid was summoned, but it was stated that she had been strangled and killed instantly.”
7. Félix Fauré (1841 1899)  7th President of the French Republic & Co-Prince of Andorra (1895-) Faure died suddenly from apoplexy on 16 February 1899, at a critical juncture while engaged in sexual activities in his office with 30-year-old mistress. It has been widely reported that those activities were used as the origin of  a various jeux de mots (puns) made up afterward by his political opponents. One such pun was to nickname her "la pompe funèbre" (wordplay in French). George Clemenceau's epitaph of Faure, in the same trend, was "Il voulait être César, il ne fut que Pompée" (another wordplay in French) 





9. Christine Chubbuck (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 1974) [Wikipedia]
Manner of death: Suicide on live TV
Chris Chubb
Christine Chubbuck was the host of “Suncoast Digest” a well regarded public affairs program on WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida. Breaking format, her guest was waiting across the studio at the news anchor’s desk; Christine read eight minutes of national news stories before the tape reel malfunctioned while describing a shooting at the Beef and Bottle restaurant. Seemingly unfazed by the technical glitch, Christine looked into the camera and said:
“In keeping with Channel 40′s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide.”
Taking a revolver out from under her desk, she placed it behind her left ear and pulled the trigger (she learned this was the most effective way to commit suicide from the police while researching a project for her show). She tumbled violently forward as the technical director slowly faded to black. Some viewers called 911 while others called the station to see if it was real. Camerawoman Jean Reed later stated that she didn’t believe it to be genuine until she saw Christine’s body twitching on the floor.

10. 
Dick Shawn    Death on Stage, While Telling a Joke

Dick Shawn (1924-1987) was a comedian who had a heart attack and died during a joke that seemed strangely appropriate:

He was making fun of politicians by saying campaign cliches ending with "I will not lay down on the job!" Shawn then laid down on the floor face down. At first, the audience thought that it was all part of the show, until some time later a theater employee checked him for a pulse and began administering CPR.

The paramedics then arrived, and the audience were told to go home
- Dick Shawn was dead.

las palomas de la Rue d'Ulm -gregorio moran

Las palomas de la rue d´Ulm (2), 


gregorio moran en Sabatinas intempestivas a La Vanguardia


Nunca se me había ocurrido pensar en las palomas. ¿Qué ha ocurrido con estos animales hermosos, elegantes, amables, padres ejemplares que cuidan a sus retoños sin diferencia de sexo ni de grado, privilegiados de la vista, y más veloces y seguros que cualquier servicio de mensajería? Algo tiene que haber pasado para que decir paloma o pichón, que era antaño una sugerencia de felicidades, se haya transformado en ese odio sordo de los ciudadanos a unos pájaros impasibles a los que no se sabe si la historia -sí, la historia, ¿acaso no es historia el tiempo que pasó sin apenas darnos cuenta?- ha 
convertido en enemigos del género humano. Ratas urbanas, para algunos, depredadores de la arquitectura para otros. Obsesión de alcaldes y mala conciencia de partidos con representación en los ayuntamientos que no osan exterminarlas por no romper el consenso social de lo políticamente correcto.




¿Qué pasó con las palomas? No creo que exista ningún símbolo tan rotundo y benigno como la paloma. No sólo en La Biblia sino en el arte y en la vida. Los mensajes del Dios implacable, cuando se vuelve conciliador y amable, llegan en forma de paloma. El collar de la paloma, la excelsitud de la poesía arábigo-andaluza. Zurbarán y las palomas. Toda la canción latinoamericana, de México a Chile, está habitada por palomas portadoras de cartas enamoradas. Joan Manuel Serrat las evoca en una elegía redonda. Hay bandadas de palomas que asumen la radicalidad y la transforman. Los poetas exiliados de la República. Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio.
En 1949 Picasso una de sus imágenes más conocidas "La Paloma de la Paz"
que pronto se convierte en un símbolo universal- El 1962 "un mundo sin armas"
 Una paloma se inventa Picasso contra la guerra de Corea, y su eficacia es tal que deviene icono. Una paloma, la misma que antaño fue Espíritu Santo, se transforma en la Paz por antonomasia del Congreso de Estocolmo. La del Espíritu Santo, que venía avalada por siglos de catolicismo, luego siguió representando todo lo contrario. Nicolás Guillén el cubano se hartó de metáforas colombófilas. No me negarán que resulta fascinante la historia de la paloma como gran parábola que traspasa las épocas y supera las ideologías. El pensamiento como paloma.

PD: on doves and icons:
Dove with Flowers- 1957  by Pablo Picasso, is a fine art work from what's now referred to as the cubism period, crated for a festival for the yuth. A graceful dove is outlined in blue wearing a colorful assortment of vibrant flowers
   

Teatre en anglès: Water Everywhere

Al centre cultural Sant Jordi de Catalunya Caixa
el grup que aprén amb el Joan Noguera i el Miquel Àngel va preparar aquest text.
El vam representar davant els alumnes de 5è Primària del CEIP Pare Alguer, alumnes de l'Anna Pujol.
ens van obsequiar amb uns quadernets fets a ma
amb 17
 tongue-twisters (embarbussaments/traballengües) molt ingeniosos.
L'obra, Water Everywhere tenia a veure amb la discussió que és genera a l'agencia local pel pagament d'algunes factures massa abusives.
Vam fer una introducció bilingüe a les dues escenas
amb l'ajuda d'un magnífic Eduard.
L'origen era un text de Bits and Pieces. Drama sketches and language practice in English -Collins ELT (1984) que em va costar unes bones 910 pessetes de les antigues. De fet, va ser un text fet servir amb el meu primer grup d'angles a Benicassim-Escola d'adults.
Vejam algunes fotos:

La funcionaria, Blandina, rep les queixes dels clients:
 la Maria, l'Emilia, la Fina i el Jaume qui deixen l'escena enfadats...


   
Acaba amb la parella anglesa que han decidit anar a judici per l'error en la seva factura!
Després marxa Blandina i arriba el segon torn amb l'Eduard, ara més improvissat, Emilia, Maria, Fina i Conxita  i un passatge afegit pels alumnes al final):
   

La segona part, més llarga i dialèctica, passa davant el fiscal (inigualable improvisadora la Maria Àngels), qui estudia les queixes de Mr & Mrs Smith (increibles Ramon i Rosa)  qui afirmen que no han de pagar.

    

A la fi, la foto dels protagonistes... i fins una altra.

STARRING: from left to right:
Maria Àngels, Jaume, Emília, Ramon, Rosa, Maria, Xonxita, Blandina, Miquel À., Fina i Eduard.

Acompanyats de la col.laboració de Joan i Miquel Àngel, i el suport de Maria Carreras.
Per veure l'album, gràcies Rosa, cliqueu aquí 

Example of text -improvised one!:
A- Client: Good morning
B: Officer: Next ¡
A: This is my telephone bill, I think there’s a mistake , it says  2.500 (two thousand five hundred)
B: : No mistake¡
A: But it  is a mistake , the bill during the other months were less, much less: only 220 (two hundred and twenty)
B:  but do you  have some friends?  je. Je,
A: , yes but this month I do the same calls.
B: No mistake next, next
A: I can’t pay !  It is very expensive , I have to claim, where’s the officer for the claims?
B : this one next to the main door, but it only opens  on Wednesdays.   Good bye, Lady.
A: this officer does’t work well , it is always the same here

Thursday, June 23, 2011

PIS ATIC arago amb fotos

Gran àtic


Es un sisé amb ascensor. 
Té parquet, terrassa de 50 m2, és molt lluminós, 
orientat a l'est+oest.

it's located on the 6th floor, with lift. 
It's got parquet on the floor. Terrace (50 m2) and very bright. 
Orientated at east-west.

comedor




orientacion este
habitación 1 (16 m2)

 
habitacion 2 (14 m2)  



orientacion oeste
habitacion 3 (10 m2)


habitacion 4 (7 m2)


cocina


lavabo grande


terraza





Thursday, June 16, 2011

from albania to zimbawe -names and origins


for your enlightment,
  a bit of light of letters and sounds into the darkness of meaning in etimologies
Albania
From medieval Greek "Αλβανία" (Albania).[1] "Alb" from the Proto-Indo-European root meaning "white" or "mountain", as mountains are often white-capped with snow; compare Alps[citation needed] and Alba, Gaelic for Scotland.
  • AlbanianShqipëria or Arbëri (poetic and archaic)
 Algeria. Name derived from the name of the city of Algiers (via French and Catalan Aldjère[2]), from the Arabic word "الجزائر" (al-ǧazāʼir), meaning the islands

AustraliaOriginally from Latin 'australis' which mean southern, the word come from terra australis incognita – "unknown southern land" (1814)


Austria. First recorded use 1147. Latinized from German Österreich.[6] This word was recorded as Ostarrîchi in 996 and as Osterrîche in 998.[7] Translated from Latin marchia Orientalis (eastern borderlands) into the local dialect at that time.

BelarusThe name "Belarus" corresponds literally with the term "White Ruthenia" (White Rus'). There are several claims to where the origin of the name "White Rus'" came from
 The exact original meaning conveyed by the term "Bela" or 'White' remains uncertain. However, the word "Bela" may have originated from Sanskrit where "Bala" does mean "morning" or "white". In fact the word "bela" in Hindi itself means morning/ morning light.

BelgiumFrom the name of a Celtic tribe, the Belgae.
The name Belgae may derive from the Proto-Indo-European *bolg meaning "bag" or "womb" and indicating common descent; if so, it likely followed some unknown original adjective.
Another theory suggests that the name Belgae may come from the Proto-Celtic *belo, which means "bright", and which relates to  the Lithuanian baltas, meaning "white" or "shining" (from which the Baltic Sea takes its name) and to Slavic "belo/bilo/bjelo/..." meaning "white". Thus the Gaulish god-names Belenos (originally from *belo-nos = "our shining one") might come also from the same source.



BritainFrom Pretani, "painted ones"; perhaps a reference to the use of body-paint and tattoos by early inhabitants of the islands; may also derive from the Celtic goddess Brigid. The form 'Britain' (see also Welsh Prydain) derives from Latin 'Britannia', probably via French. 






xxxxx


ZimbaweAlteration of Shona Dzimba-dze-mabwe, translated as "Houses of stones" (dzimba = plural of imba, "house"; mabwe = plural of bwe, "stone"), referring to the stone-built walls of the ancient trading empire of Zimbawe

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Izmir and information

http://forum.kusadasi.biz/forums/izmir/

 the region's cuisine is considered one of the most rewarding, varied and tasty. And deservedly so! After kitchen Izmir "stands on three pillars" - the main products that are actively used in the cooking of this region - the olive oil, herbs and vegetables, fish and seafood.

D'you have English BOOKS
İngilizce kitap var mı?
A shop in istanbul that will post English books to you in Turkey at a fraction of the English postage. serakıtapevi@superonline.com   02165504961
i dont think they have web addrss




1- Çaglayan Kitabevi 
2-  Homer books
3- greenhouse Kitap Address: Dumlupinar Sok 17 (Kadiköy)
4- 
Pandora Kitabevi, 


A>>  the best bet is to search the second hand bookstores (Beyoglu and Kadikoy) for vintage editions and get your fix that way.
B>>> Istanbul has two places where second-hand books are sold that are more important than the others: the one from Bakırköy is the second largest after the one at Beyazit,
C>> In the Bakırköy quarters of Istanbul, right above the train station with the same name, there’s a bookseller’s bridge. Second-hand books, that, however, you cannot complain of
D>> The bigger book stores in the main shopping centres also carry the more popular titles.
Its by the migros in one of the back streets.  http://www.gerekliseyler.com.tr[/quote]  yes yes this place is amazing.
 There are little shops that sell vintage comics around the Grand Bazaar, in "Sahaflar Carsisi (Second-hand Books Bazaar), as well as in Kadikoy. 
F>>



still available at bookshops whereas some others
only at different second-hand bookshops in Izmir 
(eg. Soydaş&Atasagun,
 Ardıç, Mater,
 Suveren, 
Asımgil, 
Özbay,
 Andaç,
 Burian,
 Olta)




catholic queries
http://forum.kusadasi.biz/threads/rc-church-in-izmir-directions.3654/

 the Church where I am getting married requires an original Baptismal Certificate. I was born at Incirlik Air Force Base in Adana Turkey and Barptized at St. John Cathedral in Izmir, where my father was stationed. I need to contact the church directly for the Baptismal Certificate






 I have been to Maryemana many times and it is indeed a lovely place


addresses: Catholic Churches
St. John's Cathedral
Sehit Nevres Bulvari, 29; Alsancak
Tel: (232) 184 53 60
Open Daily



House of Virgin Mary
Efes, Selcuk
Tel: (0232) 892 60 08