BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Sunday, October 11, 2009

"JULIUS CAESAR"

Julius Caesar was a general, a statesman, a lawgiver, an orator, an historian, and a mathematician. His government endured for centuries. He never lost a war and fixed the calendar. He also created the first news sheet, Acta Diurna, which was posted on the forum to let everyone who cared to read it know what the Assembly and Senate were up to.

Julius Caesar traced his ancestry to Romulus, putting him in as aristocratic position as possible, but his association with his Uncle Marius' populism put Julius Caesar in political hot water with many of his social class.

Under the Roman king era, Servius Tullius, the patricians developed as the privileged class. The patricians then took over as the ruling class when the Roman people, who were fed up with kings, drove out Servius Tullius' murderer and successor. This Etruscan king of Rome was referred to as Tarquinius Superbus 'Tarquin the Proud'. With the end of the period of kings, Rome entered into the period of the Roman Republic.


At the start of the Roman Republic, the Roman people were mainly farmers, but between the fall of monarchy and the rise of Julius Caesar, Rome changed dramatically. First it mastered Italy; then it turned its sights to the Carthaginian hold on the Mediterranean, to gain primacy over which it needed a fighting naval force. Citizen fighters left their fields prey to land speculators, although if all went well, they returned home with ample booty. Rome was building its remarkable empire. Between slaves and the conquered wealth, the hard-working Roman became the luxury-seeking compulsive shopper. Real work was carried out by slaves. A rural lifestyle gave way to urban sophistication.

Rome needed powerful leaders whose terms would not end mid-battle. Such men were called dictators. They were supposed to step down after the crisis for which they were appointed, although during the late Republic, Sulla had put his own time limits on his term as dictator. Julius Caesar made himself dictator for life (literally, perpetual dictator). Although Julius Caesar may have been permanent dictator, he was not the first Roman "emperor".



DUBAI - A GLITTERING MEGACITY of MANMADE WONDERS

GEOGRAPHY
Dubai is one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the largest emirate in terms of population and largest in area,located on the Persian Gulf Coast. The current ruler of Dubai is Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He is also the Prime Minister and Vice President of UAE. The capital and largest city of this emirate is called Dubai City. The Dubai divides into two halves. Deira, where the old city center is located is to the north and Bur Dubai is located to the south.



HISTORY

The Al Maktoum royal family have been the rulers of Dubai since early 1800's. The emirate of Dubai was created when Abu Dhabi, Dubai and five other emirates came together to form United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1971. Historically Dubai was a natural harbour and therefore was a center for sea-trade, fishing and pearling industry. Dubai earned the nickname of "City of Gold" when it became the hub of the gold trade. Dubai gold market called the gold "souks" are world famous. Oil was discovered in 1966, but today it contributes only about 6% of its product. Starting early 1990's Dubai transformed itself into a service based economy and come up as a popular tourist destination.




THE MEGACITY

In the early 1990's Dubai has rapidly transformed itself into a modern marvel. The city has grown at a blistering pace and it has only acclerated in the past few years. It is estimated that 15%-25% of the construction cranes is being employed in Dubai. Dubai is well-known for its megaprojects. It is the home to some of the most ambitious construction projects. The most iconic of them is the Burj Al Arab. It is considered the world's only "seven star" hotel. It is built in the shape of a ship's sail. Burj Dubai,the world's tallest building is also being built here. Estimated to be 800 meters tall, it will be 40% taller than the current tallest building,Taipei 101. There are plans to build a even taller building called the Al Burj.
The other marvels of Dubai include the Palm Islands, three island structures in the shape of a palm frond and World Island, a man made group of islands of 300 islands shaped as a world map. Dubai also boasts of a ski resort in the middle of the desert and the hydropolis,a under water hotel being constructed now.
In the world of sports, Dubai will host the richest golf tournament next year as a part of the european tour called the Dubai World Championship. The same goes for the Standard Chartered Dubai marathon. It also hosts the richest horse race and horse show called the Dubai World Cup and Dubai Gold Cup.




INFORMATION

Since Dubai has become a wonderland of man-made structures and a shopping mecca of the middle east it has attracted tourists. Dubai is well connected to the rest of the world by air and is served by many different airlines. Dubai's own airlines,the Emirates is a premier award winning airline that flies to more than hundred destinations. They offer some insights on Dubai, for prospective visitors.
Besides there are many architectural attractions and nice clean beaches, Dubai also has many huge malls that offer not only a wide variety of shops but food and entertainment. Every year in January,Dubai also organizes an International shopping festival that stretches for 32 days.
Cabs are easy to find and charge a reasonable fare. There are also city buses at regular intervals and a rail system is almost completed. Many high end hotels offer driven cars for their customers. Car rentals are also available.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

@LasKa NatiVe Yup'iK MaSK

The term” indigenous” aka “aboriginal” means a group of people that naturally existing in a place or country rather than arriving from another place; while the term “people” define as a society or the men, women and children who live in a particular country. However, the term “indigenous people” describe as any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number.







There are many groups of Eskimo that live on these Earth. For instance, Yup’ik, Seranik, Inuit, and Aleut. The Yup’ik is a group of aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and south central Alaska and the Russian Far East with total population of 21,000. The name Yup’ik is derived from their word for “person” (yuk) and “real” or “genuine” (-pik). Languages that used widely among the Yup’ik includes Yup’ik language and also English in their daily communication. The Yup’ik language is written with the Latin alphabet in Alaska and with the Cyrillic alphabet in Siberia. For example, mikteɫratni means small in Central Alaska Yup’ik.







Meanwhile, Yup’ik is famous with their overwhelmed Alaska native mask that varied in imaginative forces. A traditional Yup’ik spirit mask was carved from different parts of wood, stained with clays, decorated with feathers, hides, beaks, teeth and other organic materials (parts of animals). The mask is varied in their unusual size and shape, ranging from tiny forehead “maskettes” to monstrous 20 pound constructions.


AlaSka NaTiVe MasK




Maiden Spirit Mask




Yup'ik Spirit Mask



Alaska mask presented a wide range of experiences through performances and stories. It is actually stage props and most were destroyed after performance.


Singing Spirit Masks



Yup’ik masks can be classified into 3 categories, which are angalkut’s masks, animal masks, contemporary masks. The angalkut (hunting) mask was make to reveal masks, and masks. An extraordinary experiences while animal mask was to get the animal’s return in the future. The shape of mask is usually deceptive. Therefore, it is hard to classify a mask as “yua” or “tunghak” based in their appearance. Thus, some scholars describe the yua type mask as an animal face or body in which a human face. At the same time, human face may also represent the angalkut and the animal. So, the only way to decide and classify a mask is by knowing the story it was created.


ANgaLkuT MaSk




ANiMal MasK

WolF



FiSh MaSk




Phillip Charette's "Wolf"



Ceremonial mask was known as an agayu in past. During that period, when people told stories, they would mention the agayuyaraq, which means the way or process of praying or requesting. Besides, term agayu define as mask on Nunivak Island. However, after Christianity was introduced by the priest, the term agayu was applied to religious ceremonies.


CeReMoNiaL MaSk