Au piranha tondeur

Banner per il 7 ottobre: Associazione ANNAVIVA!!

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:35:00 +0000

Il prossimo 7 ottobre saranno passati tre anni dall'omicidio di Anna Politkovskaja,

indimenticabile giornalista russa assassinata perché raccontava le cose che vedeva, in Cecenia come a Mosca.
In un mondo globalizzato e unito dai gasdotti, crediamo che tale omicidio non venga dimenticato, che debba rimanere vivo delle coscienze, se non delle autorità, della gente comune.
La politica occidentale fa affari con la "Russia di Putin" e come ha taciuto per la mattanza cecena, finge di indignarsi, ma se ne frega degli omicidi di giornalisti e difensori dei diritti umani nella Federazione Russa. Omicidi tutti rimasti impuniti come quello della Politkovskaja, di Markelov, della Baburova, della Estemirova, della Saludaeva, per citare solo quelli che hanno avuto eco in Occidente.
L'associazione Annaviva (nata per tener viva la memoria di Anna Politkovskaja)

vorrebbe che il 7 ottobre diventasse una data "per non dimenticare" quel che accade e per ribadire con forza la richiesta di giustizia.
Per questo abbiamo preparato il banner che vi mandiamo e che vi chiediamo di porre sull'home page del vostro sito, del vostro blog, delle vostre finestre virtuali su Facebook, Twitter, Myspace & co.
Noi non vogliamo dimenticare. E siamo certi che neanche voi lo volete fare.
Ad maiora

Se non potete eliminare l'ingiustizia, almeno raccontatela a tutti. Ali Shariati.

ACQUISTATE IL LIBRO "ANNA E' VIVA" DI ANDREA RISCASSI, SONDA EDITORE. NELLE LIBRERIE FELTRINELLI E, A MILANO, ALLA LIBRERIA POPOLARE DI VIA TADINO. I PROVENTI FINANZIANO ANNAVIVA.

Un Albero per Anna Politkovskaja,

giornalista assassinata

da chi calpesta i diritti umani.

Nell'anniversario dell'assassinio della giornalista russa

Anna Politkovskaja, l'associazione AnnaViva organizza

un presidio per commemorare la sua memoria.

Perche' il suo sacrificio in favore dei diritti umani in Cecenia

non venga dimenticato.

Annaviva, associazione nata per mantenere viva la memoria di Anna Politkovskaja, organizza un presidio di fronte a Palazzo Marino a Milano, per commemorare il secondo anniversario della morte della giornalista russa e per chiedere al comune di Milano di piantare in suo nome un albero nel Giardino dei Giusti.

Il presidio, che si svolgera' il 7 Ottobre 2008, alle ore 20.30, in Piazza della Scala, vedra' la partecipazione di numerose autorità e personalita', tra cui l'attrice Ottavia Piccolo.

In contemporanea si svolgerà una manifestazione anche a Roma, al Campo dei Fiori.

Futureland.it, azienda leader nella comunicazione tramite canali digitali come Internet e cellulari, ha contribuito all'iniziativa realizzando campagne di comunicazione via e-mail e SMS indirizzate a coinvolgere un pubblico eterogeneo per età, ma localizzato geograficamente nell'ambito territoriale dell'iniziativa.

Il Giardino dei Giusti di Milano, un’istituzione fondata nel 2004 e situata sul Monte Stella, è nata per ricordare persone comuni, che per i loro valori morali hanno dedicato la vita a battersi in difesa della dignità umana.

Chi era Anna Politkovskaja

Anna Politkovskaja era una giornalista russa che ha dedicato la sua vita alla denuncia delle violazioni dei diritti umani perpetrate dal governo russo nei confronti della popolazioni, sia in Russia che in Cecenia.

Per questo suo scomodo ruolo e i suoi reportage svolti per il quotidiano russo Novaja Gazeta, la Politkovskaja è stata assassinata il 7 ottobre 2006. Il suo omicidio, da più parti imputato ad un killer assoldato dal governo russo, ha prodotto una forte mobilitazione in tutto il mondo, ma tutt'oggi rimane ancora un caso irrisolto.

La Sua Vita, Le Sue lotte

Anna Politkovskaja, figlia di due diplomatici sovietici di Nazionalità ucraina, nasce il 30 agosto 1958 a New York.

Dopo essersi laureata in giornalismo all'università di Mosca nel1980, inizia la sua carriera giornalistica nel 1982, lavorando per il famoso giornale moscovita Izvestija. Dal 1994 al 1998 passa al ruolo di cronista per un'altra testata, l' Obščaja Gazeta. E' durante questa esperienza che Anna Politkovskaja inizia ad interessarsi delle problematiche Cecene.

Dal 1999 fino al suo tragico assassinio, Anna Politkovskaja alterna la vita giornalistica, lavorando presso la Novaja Gazeta, a quella di scrittrice, pubblicando libri fortemente critici nei confronti delle politiche di Vladimir Putin e della sua conduzione delle guerra in Cecenia, Daghestan ed Inguscezia.

Proprio per le tematiche critiche trattate, la giornalista inizia a ricevere minacce di morte sempre più insistenti, al punto di essere costretta, nel 2001, a fuggire a Vienna in seguito a ripetute minacce ricevute da Sergei Lapin, un ufficiale dell'OMON (polizia dipendente direttamente dal ministero degli Interni russi) che era stato da lei accusato di crimini contro la popolazione civile in Cecenia. Lapin, dopo queste denunce è protagonista di complesse vicende giudiziarie, che lo porteranno, solo nel 2005 ad essere condannato per i crimini commessi.

Anna Politkovskaja non si dà per vinta e prosegue nella sua convinta opera di denuncia documentando i crimini russi in Cecenia e guadagnando sempre maggiore considerazione negli ambienti Ceceni, anche per il suo impegno personale in favore dei più deboli.

Questa alta considerazione di cui gode la porta, col tempo a ricoprire ruoli di “negoziatrice privilegiata” per condurre trattative con la guerriglia cecena, partecipando attivamente alla crisi del Teatro Dubrovka nel 2002.

Nel 2003 pubblica il suo terzo libro, Cecenia, il disonore russo, in cui denuncia torture, rapimenti, e uccisioni perpetrati su migliaia di innocenti dalle autorità federali russe o dalle forze cecene.

Nel 2004, mentre si sta recando in aereo a Beslan per svolgere il ruolo di mediatrice per tentare di liberare gli ostaggi in mano cecena, viene improvvisamente colpita da un malore. L'aereo è costretto a tornare indietro per permettere un suo immediato ricovero. Il malore è stato da molti imputato a un tentativo di avvelenamento, ma le reali cause dell'accaduto non sono mai state chiarite in forma ufficiale.

L'assassinio di un personaggio diventato scomodo

Anna Politkovskaja viene uccisa a Mosca, il 7 ottobre 2006. Il suo corpo viene trovato all'interno dell'ascensore del palazzo in cui abitava. Accanto al suo corpo viene ritrovata l'arma del delitto una pistola Makarov PM e quattro bossoli.

Anna è stata assassinata da un killer a contratto, ma nonostante siano passati 2 anni dalla sua morte, né gli esecutori materiali, né i mandanti del suo omicidio, sono ancora stati assicurati alla giustizia.

I riconoscimenti per la professione giornalistica

Nonostante in patria non fosse particolarmente apprezzata, per la sua avversione al governo russo, Anna Politkovskaja ha ricevuto all’estero numerosi riconoscimenti per la sua attività giornalistica:

il Global Award for Human Rights Journalism di Amnesty International nel 2001;
il Freedom to Write Award del PEN nel 2002;
il Courage in Journalism Award nel 2002;
il Premio Olof Palme nel 2004;
il Premio per la Libertà e il futuro dei media del Media City Leipzig nel 2005;
l’International Journalism Award nel 2006.

L'associazione AnnaViva

AnnaViva è un'associazione nata per mantenere viva la memoria Anna Politkovskaja.

Seguendo il sentiero tracciato dalla coraggiosa giornalista, l'associazione AnnaViva si batte per i diritti umani nell'est Europa.

A tal fine ha organizzato manifestazioni contro la repressione dell'opposizione in Bielorussia e contro l'invasione russa in Georgia.
Attraverso il suo sito, AnnaViva racconta cosa accade oltre il "muro di Schengen".

Rock'n'Roll!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:14:00 +0000

The emergence of a youth culture that rejected older styles of popular culture helped rock and roll to displace the New York-based Tin Pan Alley songwriting tradition that had dominated the mainstream of American popular taste since the late 19th century. Rock and roll was a combination of the R&B style known as jump blues, the gospel-influenced vocal-group style known as doo wop, the piano-blues style known as boogie-woogie (or barrelhouse), and country-music styles such as hillbilly and honky-tonk.

The term ROCK AND ROLL goes back to 1929. It’s the title of a song by the Boswell Sisters.

Rock and roll was first released by small, independent record companies and promoted by radio disc jockeys (DJs) like Alan Freed, who popularized the term “rock ‘n’ roll” (originally a slang term for sex) to help attract white audiences unfamiliar with R&B. Fred hosted a concert, The Moon dog Coronation Ball, at the Cleveland Arena in 1952, which is often cited as the first major rock-and-roll promotion. Indeed, the appeal of rock and roll to white middle-class teenagers was swift and caught the major record companies by surprise. As these companies moved to capitalize on the popularity of the style, the market was fuelled by cover versions (performances of previously recorded songs) of R&B songs with their original suggestive lyrics and expressions excised and performed in the singing style known as crooning, by white vocalists such as Pat Boone. The most successful rock-and-roll artists wrote and performed songs about love, sexuality, identity crises, personal freedom, and other issues that were of particular interest to teenagers.

Popular rock-and-roll artists and groups emerged from diverse backgrounds. The group Bill Haley and the Comets, which had the first big rock-and-roll hit with the song “Rock Around the Clock” (25 Million seller in first year) and became well known because it was the theme for blackboard jungle the 1954 movie, was a country-music band from Pennsylvania that adopted aspects of the R&B jump-blues style of saxophonist and singer Louis Jordan. The unique style of Chuck Berry came from his experience playing a mixture of R&B and country music in the Midwest. The rock-and-roll piano style of Fats Domino grew out of the distinctive sound of New Orleans R&B, which also influenced singer and songwriter Little Richard. The earthy style of guitarist Bo Diddley derived from the blues of the Mississippi Delta region. Rockabilly, a blend of rock-and-roll and country-and-western music, was pioneered by Memphis producer Sam Philips, who first recorded artists Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins on his Sun Records label.

The first Elvis single release in 1954 combined two critical aspects of rock and roll. One track was a spirited version of the R&B song, “That’s All right Mama”. The second track was a bluegrass song, “Blue Moon of Kentucky”, played much faster than before. Elvis became a figurehead for this new music, which also valued image, attitude, and energetic performances in addition to the music.

The age of classic rock and roll, which lasted only five years, from 1954 to 1959, is exemplified by the recordings of Berry, Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly. The latter developed the standard four-piece instrumentation of rock bands (drum kit and lead, rhythm, and bass guitars). By the early 1960s, the popular music industry was assembling professional songwriters, hired studio musicians, and teenage crooners to mass-produce songs that imitated late-1950s rock and roll.

Gaius Valerius Catullus, Carmina, To PRIAPUS

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:39:00 +0000

This place, O youths, I protect, nor less this turfbuilded cottage, Roofed with its osier-twigs and thatched with its bundles of sedges; I from the dried oak hewn and fashioned with rustical hatchet, Guarding them year by year while more are they evermore thriving. [5] For here be owners twain who greet and worship my Godship, He of the poor hut lord and his son, the pair of them peasants: This with assiduous toil aye works the thicketty herbage And the coarse water-grass to clear afar from my chapel: That with his open hand ever brings me offerings humble. Hung up in honour mine are flowery firstlings of spring-tide, [20] Wreaths with their ears still soft the tender stalklets a-crowning; Violets pale are mine by side of the poppy-head pallid; With the dull yellow gourd and apples sweetest of savour; Lastly the blushing grape disposed in shade of the vine-tree. Anon mine altar (this same) with blood (but you will be silent!) [15] Bearded kid and anon some horny-hoofed nanny shall sprinkle. Wherefore Priapus is bound to requite such honours by service, Doing his duty to guard both vineyard and garth of his lordling. Here then, O lads, refrain from ill-mannered picking and stealing: Rich be the neighbour-hind and negligent eke his Priapus: [20] Take what be his: this path hence leadeth straight to his ownings.

Catullus. Carmina. Sir Richard Francis Burton. trans. London. For translator for private use. 1894.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Marrakech

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:44:00 +0000

La chiamano Marrakech la Rossa. La terra è rossa, le mura sono rosse e le montagne dell'Atlante riflettono un cielo rosso. Winston Churchill, uno degli innamorati di questa città, la definì la "Parigi del Sahara". Delle sue permanenze all'allora mitico Hotel Mamounia (purtroppo dopo i recenti rifacimenti molta dell'allure di un tempo è sparita) restano alcuni dipinti, non proprio pregevoli appesi alle pareti dell'albergo. Marrakech è la città imperiale per eccellenza, fondata nell'undicesimo secolo dalla dinastia berbera degli Almoravidi, un esercito di cavalieri venuto dal sud che oltrepassate le montagne dell'Atlante, si accampò in questa valle. La città divenne un centro di vitale importanza nel passaggio tra nord e sud ed ebbe un periodo di fulgore quando al ritorno dalla felice campagna di Spagna contro il Cid Campeador, gli Almoravidi ne arricchirono piazze e palazzi. Fu così edificata la Koutoubia, il cui minareto - alla cui base vi erano cento librerie (kutub in arabo significa libro) - domina tuttora la città (fratello gemello della Giralda di Siviglia). La sua costruzione ebbe una storia assai complessa. Una volta terminata, gli architetti si accorsero che non era orientata esattamente verso la Mecca e furono costretti a ricostruirla. Dall'Andalusia arrivarono anche pietre e marmi, maioliche e terracotta e la città si impreziosì. Basta andare a visitare il palazzo Bahia, residenza del visir di Marrakech, o la Medersa Ibn Youssouf, la scuola coranica che ospitava fino a 400 allievi, completamente decorata da stucchi e marmi, o le Tombe Saadiens riscoperte dai francesi nel 1917 dopo secoli di abbandono. Ma di tutte le bellezze della città la più intrigante è la Medina, un labirinto fitto di passaggi, vicoli, tetti e case che all'interno nascondono fontane e giardini. Il punto di partenza ideale per inoltrarcisi è la piazza Jemaa el Fna, una delle piazze più belle e vive al mondo. È uno spettacolo unico, con il suo brulicare di persone e di venditori di ogni sorta. Ci si potrebbero passare giornate intere prima di carpirne gli intimi segreti. È una piazza al di fuori del tempo che deve essere stata sempre così, con i suoi cantastorie e acrobati, venditori di spiedini e incantatori di serpenti. Una piazza viva ma dedicata alla morte: deve il suo nome "piazza dei trucidati" al fatto che qui venivano eseguite le pene capitali ed esposte le teste dei morti.

Dalla terrazza del Café Glacier o dai tavolini del Café Paris si potrà godere appieno del brulicante formicolio di questa piazza. Sorseggiando un tè alla menta e aspettando il tramonto quando il cielo si arrossa e le lampade ad acetilene dei venditori rischiarano la piazza. La Medina con il souk è una delle più belle del Marocco (con quella di Fes). È consigliabile affidarsi ad una guida per evitare di perdersi tra vicoli e androni. Si inizia con il souk Semmarine dove troneggiano stoffe e broccati, per poi passare al souk Attarine, regno degli artigiani del rame. Poco distante il souk Smata, dedicato esclusivamente alle babbucce, e poi il souk El Kebir con negozi di pelletteria. Per chi non fosse ancora stanco c'è il souk Haddine, quello dei fabbri, e la piazza Rahha Kedima che ospita il mercato degli ortaggi e del pollame. Dopo tutta questa camminata ci si può ristorare al Café de Paris o optare per una più romantica gita in carrozzella lungo le mura. Il rosso del tramonto le infiamma e le cicogne tornano ai propri nidi. Per gli amanti dei giardini, la visita d'obbligo è alla Majorelle, tra ninfee e bambù...

Roman masculinity in a nutshell...

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:22:00 +0000

For a Roman freeborn citizen it was not important who their sexual partners were. These might have been male or female, including slaves or prostitutes of any gender and age, a wife or freeborn of any gender and age, even though, having sex with the latter would have created legal problems (stuprum). What really mattered to them, however, was that their integrity, as real men (vir), would not be harmed.

For having a stigma of softness or of not being a real man (male marem), to a Roman man meant losing all his privileges and stopped him from taking political office, or joining the army, his credibility would have been lost and he would have become an object of derision.

Roman men were known to be dominant in every aspect of their lives, however, in the beginning they were a sober hard working, practical nation of farmers, and there were no similarities between the early ancient nation of farmers and the later conquerors. Yet, it was exactly these roots of having being born as a nation of hard working, practical people that moulded the character of the great civilisation that was to come.

International Gothic

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:18:00 +0000

"These paintings are full of naturalistic detail.

The miniature are remarkable for their

mastery in rendering space strongly suggesting

that one or more of the brothers had visited

Italy, and they occupy an important place in

the development of the northern traditions of

landscape and genre painting."

By the end of the 14th century, the fusion of Italian and Northern European art had led to the development of an International Gothic style. For the next quarter of a century, leading artists travelled from Italy to France, and vice versa, and all over Europe. As a consequence, ideas spread and merged, until eventually painters in this International Gothic style could be found in France, Italy, England, Germany, Austria and Bohemia. The International Gothic Style can be described by pointing out its absolute taste for beautiful flowing lines and for dainty motives, the immense desire of refined and elegance, the particular care given to small precise work and the extreme attention to the decorative details. Among the many characteristics that defines this style we can see an intense attention to the realistic and naturalistic contents that shows the artists’ acute observation of human beings and nature. However, because the lack of space the manuscripts and all the small works were over loaded with thin elaborated figures wearing highly fashionable clothes. Foreshortening could be seen on the individual and on the exotic animals. The use of precious materials, again gold, very rare minerals, plants or chemicals, in creating colours; the use of perspective and proportions, even though, in specific ways appealing to the artists’ taste. Human figures, landscapes and spaces in a realistic approach were accompanied by a peculiar quality of dreams, decorative dimension and deep emotional charges. Another very important method that defined this style was that the artist started actually to study the nature and used a sketchbook, and started to gather up groups of sketches of rare and beautiful plants and animals. Where before was sufficient to have just a general knowledge of all and then to adopted into different work of art.

The Limburg brothers book of hours, Les Trè Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, is considered by common consent one of the supreme masterpieces of manuscript illumination and the archetype of the International Gothic Style. The twelve-page illustration of the months is superb, for the first time a calendar was so lavishly treated. Full of exquisite ornamentation and the naturalistic details are amazingly observed, which strongly suggest their studies on this matter. To conceive this book the Limburg brothers have used a wide variety of colours obtained from minerals, plants or chemicals and mixed with either Arabic or tragacinth gum to provide a binder for the paint. Some of the minerals and materials used to produce these colours were extremely expensive, precious and rare like the Middle Eastern lapislazuli to paint brilliant blues or the green made with especial plants. Moreover all their work, which were executed with amazing fine details and surprising beauty, needed to be achieved with precise and specific brushes and almost certainly lenses.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:29:00 +0000

Pieter Bruegel (b. ca. 1525, Breughel, d. 1569, Bruxelles) known as the Elder, has given an immense contribution to art. He was an expert in depicting landscapes and scenes of peasant life. He stressed the absurd and vulgar, yet, his paintings are full of zest and fine details. Bruegel, in his landscapes and town views, was able to show minute lively figures and was wonderful in rendering movement. He was also able to depict, as Bosch’s the “ Ship of Fools” the human weaknesses and follies: in the Netherlandish Proverbs (1559) he uses a bird’s-eye perspective and his role players are the rustic people of every day, they aren’t covered with artificial and conventional gentlemen’s manors, on the contrary they are, indeed, the real peasants, butchers, farmers, the house women and the kids playing, who do not bother to pose elegantly, for they are not acting they are living! Bruegel, utterly succeeded, in representing them and the artists to come where deeply influenced by his style. Michelangelo once said: “They paint in Flanders only to deceive the external eye… their paint is of stuff, bricks and mortar, the grass of fields, the shadow of trees and bridges and rivers, which they call landscapes, and little figures here and there”. I disagree…

Grove, the dwelling of the gods...

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:23:00 +0000

Ovid writes: There was a grove below the Avantine dark with the shade of oaks and when you saw it you would say there is a deity there a numen. Similarly the Elder Pliny use to assert: Trees were the temples of spirits and […] according to ancient rituals simple farming communities even now dedicate an outstanding tree to a god. We worship groves and their very silence.

Religion?

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:55:00 +0000

Religion is an all-round movement in the light of faith in a Supreme Sovereign Creator and a sense of responsibility for the formation of thought and belief. This belief leads to the promotion of high principles of human morality for the very purpose of the establishment of good relations among members of the society and the elimination of every sort of undue discrimination.

The Great wall of China - The Wall’s unique communication system

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0000

Continued from: The Great Wall of China - The Farming Garrison

All the architectural structures along the wall, which I have already mentioned, were of great tactical importance in the wall’s defence system. The section of the wall at Badaling for example, still well preserved was about 22-26 feet in height, 19-22 feet in breadth at the foundation and 10 feet on top, and permitted a pathway for the garrison troops, allowing five cavalryman or ten soldiers to gallop or walk abreast respectively[i]. All along the wall, watchtowers, wall towers and beacon towers had grown in multitudes creating an impressive sight, built at intervals of 300 yards in less dangerous areas and at 100 yards in a more hazardous one; their size varied from the geographically areas in which these towers were built, however, generally measuring 40 feet in height, 40 feet square at the base and 30 feet square at the top. Similarly to the turrets of a Medieval European castle, in it 30 to 50 men were able to hold up position; stoked with enough provisions, they were able to withstand a four month siege. ‘At the height of the wall’s usefulness there were as many as 25,000 such towers […] as well as several thousand others that were free standing further north as outpost to warn of marauding bands’[ii]. Accuracy was of vital importance in communication matters, any misbehaviour was severely punished:

beacon towers, together with their guards, must be inspected regularly. Stocks must be stored in quantity, and lookouts placed around the clock. In case of emergency, raise smoke in the daytime, or light a fire by night, to pass on the alert. See to it that no damage is done to the towers, so as to ensure prompt communication. Those who convey the information quickly and help defeat the enemy will be rewarded. Violators shall be punished according to military law.[iii]

The soldiers on guard at the beacon tower were obliged also to reconnoitre the terrain, safeguarding the terrain lands reclaimed by the garrison troops, checking and protecting the passing trade caravans, supporting troops during attacks. From Ch’in’s period to the later Ming one, an accurate system of communication with specific guidelines was drawn up and significantly improved during the years. While in the early centuries only beacon fires and drums were used to warn the approach of the enemies, later on flag signals were added:

The main signals used from Ch’in’s time and onward were: beacon fires, coloured torches, signals derricks, flags, smoke – wolf dung and sulphur as the preferred burnable material – and drums.

By the Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.) messages could be conveyed more then 1000 km in 24 hours, compared with only a few hundred kilometres in the earlier days. With Ming dynasty cannons were also introduced as a means of signalling:

Furthermore, the use of colour smoke or lantern was also added:

Enemy force less than 100: one yellow flag in daytime and one lantern at night.
Enemy force 100-500: one black flag in daytime and two lanterns at night.
Enemy force 500-1,000: a sheepskin hoisted in daytime and three lanterns at night.
Enemy force 5,000-10,000: a long white cloth strip in daytime and four lanterns at night.
Enemy attacking: artillery fire.
Enemy not withdrawing; repeat alarm every two hours[iv].

Secret and urgent messages were delivered by dispatching a courier, who would find fresh horses along his way and 400 km in a day was the record for delivery. Each of these tower were guarded by a minimum of 3 soldiers, up to 29 soldiers, and each group had its beacon officer.

(To be finished...)

[i] Lou Zewen, The Great Wall, McGraw-Hill Book Company, England, 1981, p.145.

[ii] Jonathan Fryer, The Great Wall of China, New English Library, London, 1975, p. 51.

[iii] Lou Zewen, The Great Wall, McGraw-Hill Book Company, England, 1981, p. 152.

[iv] Ibid

Does freedom of thought means freedom of speech?

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:36:00 +0000

IT is a common saying that thought is free. A man can never be hindered from thinking whatever he chooses so long as he conceals what he thinks. The working of his mind is limited only by the bounds of his experience and the power of his imagination. But this natural liberty of private thinking is of little value. It is unsatisfactory and even painful to the thinker himself, if he is not permitted to communicate his thoughts to others, and it is obviously of no value to his neighbours. Moreover it is extremely difficult to hide thoughts that have any power over the mind. If a man’s thinking leads him to call in question ideas and customs which regulate the behaviour of those about him, to reject beliefs which they hold, to see better ways of life than those they follow, it is almost impossible for him, if he is convinced of the truth of his own reasoning, not to betray by silence, chance words, or general attitude that he is different from them and does not share their opinions. Some have preferred, like Socrates, some would prefer to-day, to face death rather than conceal their thoughts. Thus freedom of thought, in any valuable sense, includes freedom of speech.

Mexico - Yucatan

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Preciso subito che Cancun non ha niente a che spartire con lo Yucatan o con il Messico in generale. È semplicemente una riproduzione del "paradiso per turisti, preferibilmente yankee" sulla costa caraibica: alberghi, negozi, ristoranti, discoteche e di nuovo alberghi, negozi .... Venti chilometri di fine sabbia bianca bagnata da una stupenda laguna blu massificati in nome del turismo. Un progetto studiato a tavolino che con grande dispendio di mezzi ha, nel 1970, creato questa Miami di plastica per edonisti bushiani ... Se vi piace il genere, parapendio-pesca d'altura-beach volley-disco-tette al vento (e a chi non piace), siete a cavallo. L'unica traccia caratteristica sono i mercatini di artigianato, anche questi ad uso yankee.

Ma le spiagge bianche non sono esclusiva di Cancun. Tutta la costa è un susseguirsi di insenature e azzurri accecanti che si rincorrono. Playa del Carmen è meno gaudente del "vaso di oro" (il significato maya di Cancun) ma più piacevole (sullo stile hippy tranquillo) anche se preda di nuovi massicci investimenti nella zona denominata Playacar. Le isole: Isla Mujeres e Cozumel hanno splendide baie e fondali intaccati, paradisi per subacquei. Ma lo Yucatan non è soltanto spiagge, qui si trovano alcuni dei più bei reperti archeleogici pre-colombiani, come Tulum, una fortezza sui Caraibi, Chitchen Itza e Uxmal che resistono impassibili alle orde di turisti armati di macchina fotografica e cinepresa (andateci al mattino presto e forse rivivrete la magia della pietra). E poi Merida che amava definirsi la "Parigi del Messico", ricca città agli inizi del secolo grazie alla vendita dell'henequen, la fibra usata per la fabbricazione dei cordami. Godetevi la città comodamente seduti su di una calesa, la carrozzella trainata da cavalli, come i ricchi possidenti di una volta. Anche questo è Messico…

Save the Baracchino!!

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:05:00 +0000

People, the issue is a serious one: the former mayor of Pisa, Fontanelli, widely impopular for his prohibitionism at the time of the WC 2006, approved a project for a cycling road passing near to the basilica of S. Piero a Grado. The terrible thing about that, is that the road is planned to be built on the soil where our beloved baracchino lays. It seems that there'll be no chances for the baracchino to survive: it will be closed and healty bikers will replace the oily alici alla povera. The mythical insalatona will soon become a true myth, and let us not forget the formaggi & salami misti platter! We have to do something. I scream, you scream, we all scream for baracchino. Hence join the petition and give a chance to the pleasure loving people so that they can enjoy their summer!!! JOIN US AND JOIN THE PETITION @ Save the Baracchino!!

The Caveman's Fantasy

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:58:00 +0000

CB

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:40:00 +0000

The baby got a lolly
But he dropped it to the floor
The baby's got his lolly back
Then drops it to the floor
He knows he'll get it back because he always did before
It makes the baby jolly but the lolly's getting bored

"The three stories of Edgar and Anne", or otherwise said "Jappez, Rauques Quilles"

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:23:00 +0000

OR OTHERWISE SAID 1
“Ta sobre élégance cesse. Laide, hideuse!”
Dit Edgar haineux. Qu’impoli… ne… ce… ouaip….
Oh, les mimes y versent de beaux rogues oeufs!
Haine de mots me rata, ou ta crêpe?

Bu verre, s’échappèrent, OK. Maison:
Cette chaussette baille, se clôt sa cage…
Bu.Verse jus. Bu jus. Beurk! Haine jaune!
Ce fruit mou s’épand, odeur nage…

Et toc! Hisse, fort pâle, sueur dînant.
L’honte: aïe, me sema Anne! Que sommes faux et sots…
Seraient-ce tes dits? Bah, cet homme tôt me trie.
Est-ce tout? D’Hawaii ligne saute.

Haine tasse, s’en fiche. Sottises. Doute,
Sèche apéros. Qu’ils aillent aux flammes!
Came? Oui. Vilain trousse, en tôle gît. Faute d’
Anne. Peur bleue d’acide. Qu’aime!

Wah! nettoie, nettoie un trou, un trou!
Ce fort pulpe l’aide. Veine, ce n’est guère cinoque…
Ils lèvent des dés. Des nouilles y cèdent
Et veine: galons, fine bagues…

Amassent douces laines c’échappés rogues
Comme tout : mailles armes, habits, mi-chapeaux…
Yo! frappe, joue dés! Cailloux! Colliers!
Ais-je or? Te le dis. N’est-ce chaud?

Toit. Sobre. Il lit Kant (c’est, cela dit, tough)
- D’Edgar Hank immeuble innovait.
Bah, le mime y verse de beaux rogue oeufs…?
Et ne t’émeut. Marre à toutes crêpes.

OR OTHERWISE SAID 2:
Reviled by Edgar for her waning beauty, Anne ran away with a pancake-cooking mime. Edgar stayed alone in the unkempt flat, drinking expired orange juice that made him sick He flew to Hawaii in a desperate attempt to forget Anne, but got arrested for alcoholism, drug-addiction and petty criminality. In jail, he befriended a pulp (arrested for gambling) and they escaped together by digging a hole. They accumulated a small fortune cheating with dice, and returned home.
Sitting on the roof while an American friend renovated his flat, Edgar read philosophical texts and eventually came to terms with the failure of his marriage.

OR OTHERWISE SAID 3:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and througha
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

L'ora della Politica - Tra aspirine e pioggia...

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:01:00 +0000

Quanto pesa Mastella?

Di Pasquale Terracciano, Mercoledì 16 Gennaio 2008 alle 20:13

Mi sveglio tardi. Ho la febbre da tre giorni e da tre giorni non smette di piovere sui lungarni. Nel dormiveglia sento in casa brindisi di aspirine per le dimissioni di Mastella. Tutti hanno la febbre. Torno a dormire. Mi risveglio e scopro che è vero. L'Udeur campana decapitata. Quello che in Campania si sussurrava neanche tanto sottovoce sull'ingombrante ruolo nella sanità della Sandra Lonardo ha trovato forse conferma nelle indagini della magistratura. Lei si dichiara martire dei valori cattolici e accosta, con raccomandabile modestia, la sua vicenda a quella del papa; lui la dichiara "ostaggio" e considera insanabile il conflitto con la magistratura. "Frange estremiste" dice, e non si capisce se intenda la parte o il tutto. Tutto il Parlamento si leva a sua difesa.

La solidarietà a Mastella è un sentimento umano, ed è da fiera cavalleria bretone l'idea che la famiglia vada lasciata fuori dallo scontro, per quanto crudo esso sia. Sarebbe ammirevole, ma purtroppo non può essere così, per il semplice e banalissimo motivo che Sandra Lonardo è un politico ed un importante amministratore di una regione che per la sua cattiva amministrazione è sotto i riflettori del mondo (nonostante il fastidio di Napolitano). Perchè lo stesso Mastella è indagato, perché i vertici locali del suo partito sono indagati. Se può presentare tale vicenda come un attacco personale e familiare è perché il suo stesso partito si sviluppa secondo un modello personale e familiare.

Nella speranza che la situazione si risolva positivamente per la famiglia Mastella, l'opportunità delle sue dimissioni appare chiara; più discutibile la decisione di Prodi di non accettarle. Prodi condivide forse l'idea che vi sia in corso un attacco della magistratura? O pur non condividendolo reputa in questo momento Mastella capace di essere equilibrato nei confronti della situazione giudiziaria?
E' chiaro in realtà che la paura di Prodi e del centrosinistra è che le dimissioni di Mastella si accompagnino allo sfaldamento della maggioranza e forse alla rottura delle sottili tele che si stanno tessendo per la ricostruzione di alcune regole comuni condivise. Motivi alti, motivi importanti. Ma nonostante questo, sufficienti? Sufficienti per avallare un livello di scontro così alto nei confronti della magistratura? Sufficienti per far apparire nuovamente, nei giorni in cui non si è ancora spenta l'emergenza rifiuti, il volto accondiscendente dello Stato nei confronti dell'amministrazione campana? Sufficienti per mettere a rischio la credibilità della politica italiana? E' facile profezia immaginare che l'ondata di simpatia per Grillo, il malessere verso la politica partitica verrà potentemente amplificata dalla visione dell'intero emiciclo parlamentare, con la concordia anche delle forze antisistema, che omaggia Mastella mentre attacca la magistratura che indaga su lui e la moglie; ancor più facile è prevedere quanto senso civico e rispetto per lo Stato avranno lasciato in eredità alla Camapania le due consecutive mancate dimissioni di Bassolino e della Lonardo.

C'è un solo aspetto positivo: alle prossime elezioni il centro sinistra dovrà fare campagna elettorale vera, perché ha ormai del tutto svuotato di significato il moralismo antiberlusconiano.

Venice - City of Haunting Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:19:00 +0000

“So, o’er the lagoon
We glided; and from that funeral bark
I learned, and saw the city, and cold mark
How from their many isles, in evening’s gleam,
Its temples and its places did seem
Like fabrics of enchantment piled to heaven.” (Percy Bysshe Shelly)

To many, Venice is quite simply the most beautiful city in the world. At first sight, it appears like a dream - its breathtaking architecture and almost overwhelming weight of centuries challenging us to question the pace and purpose of our modern lives.
It is a city of many contradiction - something grand but faded, magical yet ghostly, beautiful but with dark, sinister undercurrent running through its canals and a pervasive sense that a second spectral city exists beneath the façade of everything you see. Sense too the silence and churches, feel the aura of the once mighty Venetian Empire and the decadence of its fall from grace.
Step away from the Grand Canal, let the gaudy masks and plastic souvenirs fade into the background and enter this ghostly world. See the ‘Bridge of Sighs’ as it must have seemed to the friends of prisoners marched along it, San Michele Cemetery, ‘The Island of the Dead’, with its barred and locked door set low on the water-line, the peeling walls of a once proud palazzo, the mossy steps of a canal-side residence, a gilded funeral gondola, a solitary cloaked figure walking home from carnival, St Mark’s Square in winter, wreathed in white as mist sweeps in from the sea...

Lake Garda in a nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:09:00 +0000

Lying between the Alps and the Dolomites, Lake Garda is the largest and most 'Mediterranean' of the Italian lakes. Beautiful villas and gardens line the south-western shores and semi-tropical flowers flourish in the mild climate. Vines and orchards of olive trees and lemons fringe the region and the vineyards of Bardolino and Valpolicella, amongst others, are nearby. Hydrofoil, catamaran and steamers ply the lake with possible destinations including the harbour and fortress of Peschiera, the elegant resort of Gardone Riviera with its fine villas and parks, Sirmione's meticulously made mosaics, and Gargnano del Garda.

The popular resort of Salo, once the capital of Mussolini's short-lived republic, has a 15th-century cathedral and a good selection of cafés and characteristic restaurants.

The Great Wall of China - The Farming Garrison

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:17:00 +0000

Continued from: The Great Wall of China – The Builders of the Great Wall

It was not until the Ming Dynasty that the army became the sole builder of the wall. The idea of a permanent or shifting farming-garrison had improved during the centuries and it had reached its perfection during the late thirteen and fourteen century A.D.. The Mings had made the military service hereditary, and once a man was enrolled his family became a military

household. The military colonisation assumed impressive proportions, one who was stationed at the Great Wall could have his family join him and he would be provided with a plot of land, which averaged 3.3 hectares per soldier, and the necessary means of production, thus assuming the status of combined soldier-peasant. His duties during peacetime alternated between farming and military training and garrisoning, while during war he had to leave his land to his family and take only part in the military activities. These farms were situated near the beacon towers, and specific barracks were built to keep the harvest, small towns were also built and a network of administrative and managerial bodies within the army was created, to supervise the work.
The Ming military system was based on a hierarchical level; its leaders were chosen from among the dukes, marquis, earls, military governors of provinces and provincial military commanders and each of them had precise duties, which varied from being the commander in chief of military forces, the sub-commander, the defender of the city, the commander of the garrison forces who also had its deputies and so on going downwards to the simple officers1 . These latter three had the duties of routine defence, as well as building, repairing and maintaining the wall, the passes, the beacon towers, the barracks, collecting animal dung, and looking after all the other edifices that were part of the Ming’s military system, which

consisted of fortressed towns, garrison cities, stronghold cities, wall towers, watchtowers, buttresses and ramparts. Interestingly enough, these structures were always connected to each other, with a highly functional network of defence system along the wall. Furthermore, the military areas along the Great Wall was divided into nine garrison zones known as zhen, which were protected by a giant defence force deployed along its length; and at times it reached a total strength of over a million soldiers. Each zhen was divided as follow:

The zhen were divided into Wei. Each wei commanded 5,600 men, and was sub divided into qianhu suo (qianhu meaning one thousand households) each commanding 1,200 men, which again split into baihu suo, or hundred-household suo, each having 120 men. The latter again consisted of two zonqi (big banners), each leading 50 men. The smallest or basic unit was xiaoqi (small banner), each made up of ten men.2

And, as Hayes notes, a single warrior could guard two hundred yards of the wall and nine men would be sufficient for a mile of fortification3; this gives an idea of the effectiveness of this structure and its unique system of communication.

----------

1- Cheng Dalin, The Great Wall of China, New China News LTD., China, 1984, Web page: http://www.meet-greatwall.org/english/gwcn/egwcn25.htm
2- ibid.
3- L. Newton Hayes, The Great Wall of China, Kelly & Walsh LTD., Shanghai, 1929, p. 15.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:41:00 +0000

In brief how not to become food for the Somali Jackal.

The year abroad and the programmes for study exchange are becoming more and more common. However, there are some unwritten rules, which must be respected, these rules may differ from country to country. Here are some examples of what you should or shouldn’t do if you were to decide to go to Mogadishu (Somalia).

You made it finally! You convinced your Mum, packed your bags and you are ready to land in Somalia for the best year of your life (yeah right). You have just stepped out of the airport and you are waiting, impatiently, for your host. The burning African sun is making you sweat profusely. All of a sudden you see a tall, robust men walking towards you while waving desperately his hands. He is talking to you in an alien language now. He smiles and then embraces you, kissing your cheeks five, six maybe seven times. Do not worry: it is normal routine to greet a guest, now you have to do the same to him (go on do it!).

You arrived in your new home. Relax! Every thing will be fine. Unpack your bags, wash up, freshen up, change clothes, and quickly go downstairs, everybody is waiting for you. Your host with his 52 children and 4 wives, the relatives and their friends with their neighbours are all waiting for you to show up. Eventually you mange to join them, (NO!!! NO!!! DON’T DO THAT!!!) You sat down and you crossed your leg facing your foot towards your host, then you lit a cigarette and started smoking your way away while chatting up his daughter. Well done to you! You just broke the world record by becoming the fastest most unpopular person in Mogadishu and you are one step away from being taken to the local market and being sold to the worst buyer. Don’t panic! Apologise! And start making excuses, first, tell your host that you have a wooden leg because of the Gulf War, that’s why you have to sit with your legs crossed and that you never meant to insult him by showing your sole. Second, tell every-body that you have a very rare kind of asthma, which needs cigarette smoke to make you breath, now apologise again to everyone. Last but not least, tell your host that the air journey caused you a stiff-neck and you were actually talking to him and not to his daughter, erm… start crying… (Ehm… ehm… no need to be bothered anymore: you are dead now).

Don’t worry the time abroad is not always as drastic as this. Gaffes do happen. The best thing to do, however, is to learn about the culture, religion and other basic facts of that particular country. And finally, remember be ready with your excuse making expertise...

Messico eterno.

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:17:00 +0000

Messico senza tempo!

Que Viva Mexico!

Lunga vita!

Atterrate di notte a Città del Messico e avrete un'idea di che cosa sia una megalopoli del Duemila. Inizia qui, su questo altopiano a 2.300 metri, il viaggio in una terra che, come diceva un suo poeta, «sogna i sogni di tutti»

Un Paese immenso, terra di violenti contrasti, di fiestas e di colori. "Non si può raccontare il Messico" dice il filosofo Manuel Zamacone in un romanzo di Carlos Fuentes "Si deve credere nel Messico, con rabbia, con passione, con totale abbandono". E tantomeno ci si può illudere di capirlo, scoprirne le molteplici facce e gli idiomi nascosti, con una breve visita, con la fretta del viaggiatore alla ricerca di storia e miti. È un intrico di civiltà e rivoluzioni, di leggende e di sorrisi tristi. Come diceva uno dei suoi grandi poeti, Octavio Paz, il Messico "sogna i sogni di tutti", raro esempio di commistione, di odio e amore, tra Europa e America. Un gran guazzabuglio per il turista frettoloso alla ricerca di spiagge da favola, melanconici mariachi, rovine pre-colombiane e tacos ardenti di habanero, il peperoncino folgorante. C'è tutto e di più. Basta avere un po' di tempo e tanta pazienza.

Robèruta

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:12:00 +0000

Robèruta Robèruta, terribile caròruta !
Da fuori sembri florida, da dentro sembri putrida
Robèruta Robèruta , che guardi dalla pòruta
La mamma era una stupida ma ora invece è mòruta.

Robèruta Robèruta, rubata dalla spòruta,
T’ho fatto volto ed àruti con una lama rigida
Da semplice caròruta sei diventata vivida
(La bocca era un po’ stòruta, ma questo non impòruta)

‘Robèruta Robèruta, la mamma mi maltràruta,
Mattino e sera strepita, mi picchia con la spatola…’
Robèruta s’incavola e grida assatanàruta,
Picchiando sulla tavola : ‘la mamma non ti merita!

Io vado a vendicàruti !’ ed eccola che pàrute…
‘Per carità, Robèruta, ti prego di fermàruti!’
Ma ormai è troppo tàrudi : cruenta, la caròruta,
Esperta di karàrute, la rompe in quattro pàruti !

Ma caspita, Robèruta, ci sei andata fòrute,
C’è sangue dappertutto ed un tremendo odor di mòrute !
Mi sento un poco triste, forse è meglio che tu pàruta…
Ferita dalla critica, Robèruta mi squàruta !

Robèruta Robèruta osserva un poco assòruta
La padroncina mòruta, poi pensa :‘non impòruta’.
Sospira, si congràtula, poi esce dalla pòruta…
Robèruta Robèruta, terribile caròruta!

Elio e le storie tese - UOMINI COL BORSELLO Ragazza che limoni sola

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:34:00 +0000

Ragazza che limoni sola,

denoti spigliatezza.
Tant'e' che c'e' chi invidioso
ti sussurra cosi': bea mona
(che in veneziano vuol dire
che se te guanto te scaveso
in quatro tochi che no ti mia
ca te capisse un casso etc.).
Vai, Riccardo. Il ragazzo spigliato
col borsello che tal puo' definirsi,
lui lo sa che il borsello contiene
quel bisogno d'amore che hai tu,
ragazzina spigliata che limoni da sola.
C'e' un amore in ogni borsello.
Se il tuo e' proprio in quello che sfoggia lui
raggiungi il Parco Capello col Tuttocitta':
li' trovi un drappello di uomini col borsello,
ma lui reggera' un cartello con scritto "SONGHE IE".
Ragazza che limoni sola,
fermati un momento e ascolta.
Ti ricordi quel ragazzo, ieri al Parco Capello,
che ti guardava negli occhi senza parlare?
Quel ragazzo songhe ie.
Ragazza che limoni sola, limona con fierezza.
Sento che tu, dio bonino, puoi fare breccia
nel cuore di un innamorato
con gli occhi di Ben Turpin: lui per te ha
progettato un borsello di vero budello.
Frena quel tuo mulinello.
Ragazzina, io ti vedo gia' donna:
sara' l'effetto del budello.
C'e' un amore in ogni borsello.
Se il tuo e' proprio in quello che sfoggia lui,
ritorna al Parco Capello e lo troverai la'.
Ma in quel capannello di uomini col borsello
lui solo lo avra' in budello e gli altri
in finto bue. In finto bue, in finto bue,
in finto finto finto finto finto bue.
O ti fia menitea da soa, faghe veder tuti
che ti se sgagioa; so al Parco Capeo,
so sempre a tracoa, el me ripien te fa goa;
versime co a ciave che ti ga in cuor,
fumite un spineo, fame fa l'amor,
l'amor sfacia' che nisuni te ga da',
sora go un carteo con scrito so el piu' beo.
Ciuke va dee bone parche' se un furegon,
mi so qua co Elio scavesa' e me faso un trombon.
Ooooo iiiiii.

1. Parco Capello: tipico luogo di incontro per giovani coppie.
2. Songhe ie: in lingua napoletana, "Sono io".
3. Ben Turpin: attore comico dell'epoca del cinema muto americano, dal
caratteristico strabismo.

Bronzino - The allegory of lust “Venus, Cupid, Time and Folly”

noreply@blogger.com (Shaman Dandulla) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:43:00 +0000

Agnolo Tori, called Bronzino, born in 1503, was in Pontorno’s studio from childhood, and from 1539 onwards was the chief court painter to the Medici ruler, Cosimo I, and his wife Eleanora of Toledo. For her he decorated the chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio, with frescoes of astonishing incoherence and fantastic colour, filled with the usual Mannesrist conception of men in extreme foreshortenings and exaggerated musculature, and women of the most pallid and coldly classical beauty. The allegory of lust “Venus, Cupid, Time and Folly”, painted in 1545, was probably created at the Tuscan court of Duke Cosimo de' Medici for presentation to the King of France Francis I. This work is of a rebarbatively frigid eroticism. It was designed as a puzzle, and incorporates symbols and devices from the worlds of mythology and emblematic imagery. It would have made the perfect present for the French king, known for his lusty appetites, yearning after Italian culture and magnificence, and with a liking for heraldry and obscure emblems. The allegory of lust displays the ambivalence of the Mannerist period in life and art. It also illustrates the Mannerist taste for obscure imagery with erotic overtones.

The attention to silky textures, jewels, and masks is consistent with Bronzino's courtly, aristocratic patronage. The figure of Venus appears as a precious object in a luxurious setting, perversely seductive by virtue of her very unapproachability.

Crowded into a compressed foreground space of the airless setting are several figures whose identities and purpose have been the subject of extensive scholarly discussion. The painting appears to be about lust, fraud, and envy. It has also been called a "Triumph of Venus". Its meaning, however, remains elusive.

Venus The goddess of love and beauty, entangled in an incestuous act, identified by the golden apple given to her by Paris and by her doves, has drawn Cupid's arrow, who fondles his mother's breast and kisses her lips. At her feet, masks, perhaps the symbols of sensual nymph and satyr, seem to gaze up at the lovers. To the right, foolish pleasure, the laughing nude putto with a lascivious expression dances forward and scatters flowers at them, heedless of the thorn piercing his right foot. Behind him Deceit, fair of face, but foul of body, proffers a sweet honeycomb in one hand, concealing the sting in her tail with the other. On the other side of the lovers is a dark figure, formerly called Jealousy but recently plausibly identified as the personification of Syphilis, a disease probably introduced to Europe from the New World and reaching epidemic proportions by 1500.

Bald, bearded Time at the upper right, assisted by Oblivion at the upper left, draws aside a curtain to reveal the incestuous transgressions of Venus and the adolescent Cupid.

The symbolic meaning of the central scene is thus revealed to be unchaste love, presided over by Pleasure and abetted by Deceit, and its painful consequences. Oblivion, the figure on the upper left who is shown without physical capacity for remembering, attempts to draw a veil over all, but is prevented by Father Time - possibly alluding to the delayed effects of syphilis. Cold as marble or enamel, the nudes are deployed against the costliest ultramarine blue, and the whole composition, flattened against the picture plane, recalls Bronzino's contemporaneous designs for the duke's new tapestry factories.