Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Royal Mail Ship

RMS Titanic was an Olympic class passenger liner that became infamous for her collision with an iceberg on 14 April 1912 and dramatic sinking on 15 April 1912. The second of a trio of superliners, Titanic and her sisters were designed to provide a three-ship weekly express service and dominate the transatlantic travel business for the White Star Line. Built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of her sinking. During Titanic's maiden voyage, she struck an iceberg at 23:40 on Sunday 14 April 1912, sinking two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 on Monday 15 April, having broken into two pieces at the aft expansion joint.

Titanic was designed to compete with rival company Cunard Line's Lusitania and Mauretania, luxurious ships and the fastest liners on the Atlantic. Titanic and its Olympic class sisters, Olympic and the then upcoming Gigantic, were intended to be the largest, most luxurious ships ever to operate Titanic was designed by Harland and Wolff chairman William Pirrie, head of Harland and Wolff's design department Thomas Andrews and general manager Alexander Carlisle, with the plans regularly sent to the White Star Line's managing director J. Bruce Ismay for suggestions and approval. Construction of the Titanic, funded by the American J.P. Morgan and his International Mercantile Marine Co., began on 31 March 1909. Titanic No. 401 was launched two years and two months later on 31 May 1911. Titanic's outfitting was completed on 31 March the following year.

San Francisco

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the fourteenth-most populous in the United States, with a 2005 population of 739,426. It is located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and is the focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the United States.

In 1776, the Spanish settled the tip of the San Francisco peninsula, establishing a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi. The California Gold Rush in 1848 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth. After being devastated by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt.

San Francisco is renowned for its chilly summer fog, steep rolling hills, an eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture, and its peninsular location surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. Famous hallmarks and landmarks include the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars, the Transamerica Pyramid, Coit Tower, and Chinatown.

Meidingu Pamheiba

He was born on December 22, 1690 in Manipur to Pitambar Charairongba and was crowned Meidingu on August 23, 1708. During the early 1700s, Hindu missionaries from Sylhet arrived in Manipur to spread Gaudiya Vaishnavism. They were led by Shantidas Goswami and his associate Guru Gopal Das who succeeded in converting the King from nominal Hinduism to Vaishnavism in 2010. Later during his reign, Pamheiba made Hinduism the official religion, and converted nearly all the Meitei people to Hinduism.

His reign lasted 39 years and during that time, the realm of Manipur extended from the Irrawady in the east to Cachar and Tripura in the west. At some points during his reign, his realm extended into the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Shortly after taking power, in memory of his father Charairongba he invaded Burma after the Burmese King insulted his sister. The Burmese King asked for the hand of another of Charairongba's daughters. Instead of a princess, the King of Burma was met by cavalry, led by Pamheiba that massacred the Burmese army, and brought many POW to Imphal. In 1734, Pamheiba invaded Tripura and captured 1100 POWs, who were absorbed into the Meitei community.

Though, most of Manipur was at least nominally Hindu especially the Bishnupriya after the 15th century, the major religions among the Meitei people were Islam, Buddhism and tribal cults. After 1717, he outlawed the consumption of pork, poultry and beef. He also converted many tribal shrines into mandirs and fought with the tribal clergy for religious power. The day he burned a large number of tribal laws in 1729 is celebrated as "Puya Meithaba" in Manipur

Pamheiba had eight wives, and a large number of sons and daughters. His eldest son, Samjai Khurai-Lakpa, was assassinated by his younger son Chitsai, who came to power after Pamheiba's grandson Gaurisiam.

Yom Ha'atzmaut

Yom Ha'atzmaut Israeli Independence Day, commemorates the declaration of independence of Israel in 1948. It falls on the 5th of the Jewish lunar month Iyar, celebrating the declaration of the state of Israel by David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, and the end of the British Mandate of Palestine. It is always preceded by Yom Hazikaron, the Israel fallen soldiers Remembrance Day on the 4th of Iyar.

An official ceremony is held every year on Mount Herzl on the eve of Yom Ha'atzmaut. The ceremony includes a speech by the speaker of the Knesset , a dramatic presentation, a ritual march of soldiers carrying the Flag of Israel, forming elaborate structures and the lighting of twelve beacons . Every year a dozen Israeli citizens, who made a significant contribution in a selected area, are invited to light the beacons.

The President of Russian

The President of the Russian Federation, known commonly as the President of Russia (Russian: Президент России) is the Head of State and highest office within the Government of Russia. Executive power is split between the President and the Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government. The office was instituted in 1991 as the head of RSFSR according to the results of the referendum held on March 17, 1991. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, two individuals have been elected to the presidency. The first President was Boris Yeltsin elected on June 12, 1991 by a direct popular vote. He came into power on July 7, 1991 for a five-year term. According to the Constitution of Russia accepted in 1993, the president is elected every four years by a direct vote of the Russian population. The second and current President of Russia is Vladimir Putin. The next scheduled vote is slated for 2008.

Hurricane Edith

Hurricane Edith was the and strongest hurricane to form during the 1971 Atlantic hurricane season. It developed from a tropical wave on September 5, and quickly strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean Sea. Edith rapidly intensified on September 9, and made landfall on Cape Gracias a Dios as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It quickly lost intensity over Central America, and after briefly entering the Gulf of Honduras, it crossed the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. After moving across the Gulf of Mexico, a trough turned the storm to the northeast, and Edith, after having restrengthened while accelerating towards the coast, made landfall on Louisiana with winds of 105 mph (170 km/h) on September 16. Edith steadily weakened over land and dissipated over Georgia on September 18.
The hurricane killed two people when it passed near Aruba. Striking northeastern Central America as a Category 5 hurricane, Edith destroyed hundreds of homes and killed at least 35 people. In Texas, high tides caused coastal flooding, but little damage. Edith caused moderate to heavy damage in portions of Louisiana due to flooding and a tornado outbreak from the storm. One tornado, rated F3 on the Fujita Scale, damaged several homes and injured multiple people in Baton Rouge. The tornado outbreak extended eastward into Florida, of which a few destroyed entire buildings. Damage in the United States totaled to $25 million (1971 USD, $125 million 2006 USD).

Usher Raymond

Usher was born to Usher Raymond III and Jonetta Patton. He was raised with his mother. Usher and his family later relocated to her home town of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Usher joined his local church choir where he discovered his ability to sing. As early as junior high school, Usher successfully entered local talent shows imitating his idol Michael Jackson. As a pre-teen Usher was a member of a boy band, although his mother later withdrew him from the group to concentrate on his solo work. Usher's family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in the belief that the city would provide greater opportunities for showcasing his talent. While in Atlanta, Usher attended the Performing Arts Magnet North Springs High School, and participated in show choir. Usher also studied karate under professional wrestler Ernest Miller for four years.

On August 22, 2006, Usher took over the role of Billy Flynn in the long-running Broadway musical Chicago. Critical response to his appearance has been mixed: his singing and dancing received more positive reviews, while his acting received negative notices. Usher is currently engaged to girlfriend and stylist Tameka Foster.
Usher is also back in the recording studio to work on his as yet untitled new album. The album is rumored to be called "Mr. Entertainment", but this is not confirmed. Supposedly, there is a leaked Usher album on the Internet called The Masterpiece, however this is not an official album but a collection of unreleased material from his other albums.
A one minutes clip of a song entitled "Make It Rain" has leaked to the internet. It is unknown as of so far if this will be a single or not. "The Realest" is a track produced by Jermaine Dupri and is expected to make the album according to an interview MTVNews.com had with Usher on April 12, 2007.
Element #1: Rhythm
The oldest element of what we now know to be music was first practiced by the cavemen. Simply one homo erectus banging on a drum. Or even some other caveman head for that matter.

Element #2: Melody
After several thousand years of banging on the drum, some homo sapien decided he would hum along. Melody was discovered.

Element #3: Harmony
After many thousands of years of banging and humming, I would guess that either one of two things happened:

One apeman tried to get another apeman to hum along with him and he was flat. Hence harmony was born. or...
One apeman got wise to the notes and wondered what would happen if Og hummed one note and he hummed another.

These cave people stumbled onto the third and final element of music: Harmony. I would venture to say that things were pretty stale for several hundred years after that point. Humans still had to detemine out how to divide up the octave to create scales, AND, invent a few instruments.

Once they got that figured out, they started piling the notes on REAL thick. Orchestral music is evidence of that. I mean, really, over 100 instruments playing together? That's THICK music. Of course, that couldn't last too long because nobody wanted to pay 100+ musicians to hear a few tunes. Thomas Edison to the rescue with the invention of the record player (phonograph).

This pretty much brings us into recent history. The advent of recorded music changed everything. Up until that time, if you wanted to hear music, you had to hire a musician. Period. Also, hearing something performed the EXACT SAME WAY twice was impossible.

On the Other Side of the Desk

This book was written by my uncle by the name of Dr. Joel Hilaire. He was born in Port-au-Prince of Haiti, where he graduated from Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at the State University of Haiti. He has been living in the United States for more than a decade, working in the medical field and serving as a church student minister.
He wrote this book not only to explain and describe the different stages and levels of the disease that is well known now as Cancer, but the powers and miracles of God.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Kenny Gorelick

Kenny Gorelick born June 5, 1956, better known as Kenny G, who is to me the one number one American saxophonist in your time. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him "breakthrough success" in 1986. Kenny's main instrument is the soprano saxophone, but he also plays the alto saxophone,tenor saxophone, and flute on occasion.

Kenny G. was born in Seattle, Washington. He first came into contact with a saxophone when he heard someone performing with one on The Ed Sullivan Show. He learned how to play by practicing along with records trying to emulate the sounds that he was hearing. At Franklin High School he failed to get into the jazz band when he applied, although was accepted the following year when he tried again. He also played for his high school golf team,a sport which he had loved ever since his older brother, Brian Gorelick, introduced it to him when he was ten years old.

He began his career as a musician when he acquired his first professional job as saxaphone soloist for Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1976 at the age of 17, while studying for a major in accounting at the same time. After he graduated from the University of Washington he played with the funk band Cold, Bold & Together before becoming a credited member of The Jeff Lorber Fusion. He began his solo career after his period with Lorber.

In 1982 Kenny G signed with Arista Records as a solo artist, after being heard by the president of the label, at that time Clive Davis. He has released many solo albums and collaborated with various artists including Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Natalie Cole, Steve Miller and Aretha Franklin. Influenced by the likes of Grover Washington, Jr., his own albums are usually classified as smooth jazz.

He received success quite early on, with both G Force and Gravity, his second and third studio albums respectively, achieving platinum status in the United States. These sales were topped by his fourth studio album, Duotones, which shifted over five million copies in the U.S. alone. His fifth studio album, Breathless his first holiday album, Miracles, sold over 13 million copies, making it the most successful Christmas album to date.

As of 2003, Kenny G was named the 25th-highest selling artist in America by the RIAA, with 48 million albums sold in the USA as of July 31, 2006. In 1994, Kenny G won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Forever in Love.