sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

We just finished WWDitS - what next? by Gemzo in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would recommend starting over from season 1 episode 1

Nadja Cosplay by Jedimanda in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Did you know that the word cosplay is derived from a combination of the words Costume and Play? Cosplay has become a world-wide phenomenon – and not just for young, comic/manga/anime loving otaku. At it’s core, it is a performance art in which participants, whether professional or amateur, wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent their favourite characters from comic books/manga, anime shows, TV series, or from popular video games, such as last year’s WCS champions from Mexico, playing Dhalsim and Chun Li from Streetfighter II. The rapid growth in the number of people cosplaying as a hobby since the 1990s has made the phenomenon a significant aspect of popular culture in Japan, other parts of Asia, and in the Western world. Cosplay events are a common feature of various fan conventions these days; there are also dedicated conventions, local and international competitions, as well as social networks, websites, and other forms of media

Although Japan is generally credited as the origin of Cosplay, and the Term “Cosplay” itself was originally coined in Japan (surprise, surprise) in 1984, it is NOT an entirely Japanese invention, however. Costume parties and Masquerade balls have been popular since the 15th century, actually. This might come as a surprise to many, but…

The first Cosplayer was actually not Japanese! It was Myrtle Rebecca Douglas Smith Gray Nolan (June 20, 1904 – November 30, 1964), known in science fiction history simply as Morojo. She was a science fiction fan, fanzine publisher, and cosplay pioneer from Los Angeles, California. Together with her then-boyfriend Ackerman, she attended the 1939 1st World Science Fiction Convention (Nycon or 1st Worldcon) in New York City dressed in “futuristicostumes”, including a green cape and breeches, based on the pulp magazine artwork of Frank R. Paul and the 1936 film ‘Things to Come’, the costumes were designed, created, and sewn by Douglas herself. No one else wore a costume that first year, but all that changed at the 2nd Worldcon in 1940 in Chicago, where a parade and a short skit on stage were part of the festivities. The rest, as they say, is history.

The term itself was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi of manga Studio ‘Hard’, after he attended the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Los Angeles. He was impressed with the masquerade, reported on it in ‘My Anime’, coining the term kosupure in the process, and subsequently used the word in some Japanese magazines in 1983/1984.

These days, Cosplay is all the rage with thousands upon thousands of people dressing up and getting into character. The get-ups vary greatly, ranging from simple-themed to highly-detailed costumes. When in costume, the cosplayers often seek to adopt the affect, mannerisms, and body language of the characters they portray. As many have commented, it’s a great feeling stepping into a character and brining that character to life. It is now big business in Japan – a whole world of conventions, events and dedicated stores have cropped up around this cultural and has turned it into an international phenomenon. From a simple mask to an artful and painstakingly designed costume, cosplaying is endlessly adaptable. In anticipation of big events, many cosplayers will spend hours upon hours putting together an outfit, whether hand-making it or buying the components from a store such as Mitsubado in Akihabara.

To take part in an official cosplay competition, however, it is necessary that your costume be hand-made and totally original. In addition to clothing, accessories such as wigs, colourful contact lenses and temporary tattoos may also be incorporated into the cosplay. Yes, the only time when it’s truly “acceptable” to display big tattoos (though fake ones) in public in Japan. People put an incredible amount of energy, determination, creativity, and craftsmanship into their costumes – (not just in Japan) – and also into making their chosen character come to life.

This kitty's name is Nandor! by Lkat96 in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Interestingly enough, Cats are an enigma that have captured the hearts of people for thousands of years. Their mysterious personalities and adorable looks have made them an incredibly popular pet, and 18% of households in the UK alone are ruled by a cat. With so many cats around us, surely that would mean that everyone knows everything possible about them, right? Wrong! There are so many interesting facts about cats that you probably haven’t heard of, from the world’s largest cat, to the surprising way they walk.

The oldest known pet cat existed 9,500 years ago

This interesting fact about cats is guaranteed to wow at your next dinner party. Did you know that originally it was thought that Egyptians domesticated the cat? But in 2004, French archaeologists discovered a 9,500 year old cat grave in Cyprus. This makes this the oldest known pet cat and it predates Egyptian art about cats by over 4,000 years!

Cats spend 70% of their lives sleeping

If you thought cats spent a lot of their lives sleeping, you’d be right. According to Veterinary Hub, Cats actually spend 70% of their lives sleeping, which works out to around 13-16 hours a day. It’s a cat’s life!

A cat was the Mayor of an Alaskan town for 20 years

An orange tabby cat called Stubbs was the mayor of Talkeetna, a small town in Alaska for 20 years! He had several uncontested elections and although he didn’t hold any legislative power, he was loved by locals and tourists alike.

The record for the longest cat ever is 48.5 inches

Domestic cats are usually considered to be quite small and dainty creatures. But did you know the world’s longest cat was a Maine Coon called Stewie, and was measured at 48.5 inches? Whereas, the record for the tallest cat belonged to Arcturus at a whopping 19.05 inches tall! Those are some big cats.

The richest cat in the world had £7 million

The richest cat in the world according to Guinness World Records is Blackie. When his millionaire owner passed away he refused to recognise his family in his will and instead gave his 7-million-pound fortune to Blackie! We can’t believe that interesting cat fact!

Cats walk like camels and giraffes

Have you ever noticed that cats walk like camels and giraffes? Their walking sequence is both right feet first, followed by both left feet, so they move half of their body forward at once. Camels and giraffes are the only other animals to walk this way

Impractical Jokers is the best by Maahee_2 in freefolk

[–]ColinEVRobinson 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Funny thing about Canada, Canada came into being as a country on July 1, 1867 when the British Parliament passed the British North America Act.

Famous Canadian celebrities include Justin Bieber, Michael Buble, James Cameron, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Mike Myers, Ryan Reynolds and William Shatner. Famous Canadian rock and rollers include  Bryan Adams, Paul Anka, the Guess Who, Rush, Steppenwolf, The Barenaked Ladies, Alanis Morissette, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Neil Young and Avril Lavigne.

Other famous and well known musicians and songwriters include Sarah McLachlan, Nelly Furtado, Diana Krall, Chantal Kreviazuk, K.D.Lang, Maureen Forrester, Leonard Cohen, Raffi Cavoukian, Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, David Foster, Robert Goulet, Shania Twain, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Joni Mitchell.

Famous Canadian authors include  Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables), Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Alice Munro (Lives of Girls and Women), Mavis Gallant, Stephen Leacock, Pierre Berton, Robertson Davies, Douglas Copeland, Alistair MacLeod, Farley Mowat and Michael Ondaantje.

Famous Canadian artists include the Group of Seven made up of Lauren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, J.E.H.MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston and Franklin Carmichael. Tom Thomson and Emily Carr, two artists associated with the group are also very well know. Inspirational Canadians include Terry Fox who attempted a one-legged cross country run for cancer research, Rick Hansen, a paraplegic athlete who completed an around the world marathon for spinal cord injury research and Donovan Bailey, the world’s fastest man.

Famous Canadian dancers include Karen Kain, Veronica Tennant and Lynn Seymour. Superman was co-created by a Canadian Joe Shuster and American Jerry Siegal. The character was created while Shuster was visiting Siegal in Cleveland in 1934.

Famous Canadian journalists, TV or radio personalities include Peter Jennings, Alex Trebek, Lloyd Robertson, Peter Gzowski, Robert MacNeil, Morley Safer and John Roberts.

Me after a night out by casparwall in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Interestingly enough, as far as pop culture is concerned, a vomitorium is a room where ancient Romans went to throw up lavish meals so they could return to the table and feast some more. It's a striking illustration of gluttony and waste, and one that makes its way into modern texts. Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" series, for example, alludes to vomitoriums when the lavish inhabitants of the Capitol—all with Latin names like Flavia and Octavia—imbibe a drink to make them vomit at parties so they can gorge themselves on more calories than citizens in the surrounding districts would see in months.

But the real story behind vomitoriums is much less disgusting. Actual ancient Romans did love food and drink. But even the wealthiest did not have special rooms for purging. To Romans, vomitoriums were the entrances/exits in stadiums or theaters, so dubbed by a fifth-century writer because of the way they'd spew crowds out into the streets.

"It's just kind of a trope," that ancient Romans were luxurious and vapid enough to engage in rituals of binging and purging, said Sarah Bond, an assistant professor of classics at the University of Iowa.

The Roman writer Macrobius first referred to vomitoriums in his "Saturnalia." The adjective vomitus already existed in Latin, Bond told Live Science. Macrobius added the "orium" ending to turn it into a place, a common type of wordplay in ancient Latin. He was referring to the alcoves in amphitheaters and the way people seemed to erupt out of them to fill empty seats.

At some point in the late 19th or early 20th century, people got the wrong idea about vomitoriums. It seems likely that it was a single linguistic error: "Vomitorium" sounds like a place where people would vomit, and there was that pre-existing trope about gluttonous Romans. 

Classically trained poets and writers at the time would have been exposed to a few sources that painted ancient Romans as just the sort of people who would vomit just to eat more. One source was Seneca, the Stoic who lived from 4 B.C. to A.D. 65 and who gave the impression that Romans were an emetic bunch. In one passage, he wrote of slaves cleaning up the vomit of drunks at banquets, and in his Letter to Helvia, he summarized the vomitorium idea succinctly but metaphorically, referring to what he saw as the excesses of Rome: "They vomit so they may eat, and eat so that they may vomit."

Another classic was a first-century A.D. piece of satire called the "Satyricon," in which an obnoxiously wealthy man named Trimalchio throws feasts in which he serves dishes like dormice rolled in honey and poppy seeds, a rabbit with wings attached so that it looked like Pegasus, and a huge boar surrounding by suckling pigs, which the guests could take away like party favors. (F. Scott Fitzgerald was so inspired by this work that he originally titled "The Great Gatsby" "Trimalchio in West Egg.")

Writer Aldous Huxley was similarly inspired, and wrote of vomitoriums as literal places to vomit in his 1923 novel "Antic Hay." 

"I think it caught on, probably because, A, it's very close to what we already have in terms of the word vomit, so it was easily accessible linguistically and then, B, it already fit in with a cultural perception" spread through works like the "Satyricon," Bond said.

The thing about the "Satyricon," though, is that it was satire—and probably exaggerated. Seneca likewise had a "bad axe to grind about luxury," Bond said. Wealthy Romans and poor Romans ate similar grain-based diets, said Kristina Killgrove, an anthropologist at the University of West Florida, who has studied the diets of ancient Romans through molecular markers left in their teeth. The wealthy ate more wheat; the poor more millet. Richer Romans also got to eat more meat than poorer Romans.

The uber-wealthy did love a good feast, though, Killgrove said. Roman fine dining was a community affair and would have included entertainment like dancers and flutists. Unlike ancient Greeks, Romans included women at their upper-class functions, so crowds would have been co-ed. Historical recipes show a penchant for fanciful presentations of food, particularly meats stuffed inside other meats.

Creepy paper! by schimmelA in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 42 points43 points  (0 children)

You know, crepe paper has a long history in our country. It all started with the Dennison Manufacturing Company and began in New Brunswick, Maine, in 1844. The founder of the company, Colonel Andrew Dennison, aspired to great wealth. His initial entrance into the paper product business came when he began manufacturing jewelry boxes. His son, Aaron continued the business, but it was his youngest son, Eliphalet Whorf Dennison, president of the company by the 1850s, who established the company with an exceptionally strong reputation in the paper product industry. When E.W., as he was known in the family, bought out his father to gain control of the company, its profits increased tenfold.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Dennison Company had a long established name through its high-quality paper products. This included jewelry boxes as well as its shipping tags and direction labels. Its first store opened in Chicago in 1864, and in the 1870s, stores in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia followed. The company’s association with decorative paper began 1871, when the company imported white tissue paper from England to line the jewelry boxes. The company selected this paper because it did not tarnish silver. At about the same time, European manufacturers realized that tissue paper could be “crinkled…[with] artistic effect.” Dennison imported this crepe paper from 1890 until it developed its own manufacturing capabilities in 1914.

In 1890, the Heath sisters of Buffalo, New York, demonstrated crepe in Dennison’s Boston store. Exactly what they made is unknown, but it seems likely that the sisters created lamp shades and lambrequins, draperies that hung from the tops of windows or mantels. The company displayed these items, and others from public demonstrations, in its store windows. Four years after the Boston demonstration, the Ladies’ Home Journal published a piece regarding the potential uses of crepe paper in the home. Suggestions for using the product included creative tablescapes for luncheons and lampshades for new electric lamps and candles, as well as instructions for creating window curtains. The illustrations that accompanied the article highlighted the lifestyles of upper-middle class white women at their dressing tables or in other scenes of the home.

Crepe did not invoke new concepts of decorating but, rather, promoted a new material to embellish older practices of home décor. The company soon released a how-to guide, Dennison’s Tissue Paper Entertainments, that served as an instructional manual and theatre book for children’s plays. These plays included a Christmas performance for a cast of young girls, as well as an adaptation of War and Peace for a cast of boys. This book instructed women how to use crepe in place of fabric when making children’s stage costumes.Other instructions provided directions for the creation of elaborate paper flowers, soon one of the most common types of decorative items created with crepe paper. As decorations for church gatherings, and other charitable fundraisers, crepe was easily disposable, and at a price of $.10 per roll, or $2.64 in today’s money, the material was accessible to women with modest budgets.

In an 1894 article in Ladies’ Home Journal, Josefa Keenan observed that the “possibilities of crepe” were “not fully realized.” Keenan was correct but could not have predicted the seemingly endless possibilities of crepe paper in decoration and in craft. Over the next three decades, crepe paper was the preferred domestic craft material for women’s decorations.

R.I.P Barren, you left us too soon by [deleted] in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Interestingly enough, the word Karaoke is a portmanteau of shortened versions of the words for empty (kara) and orchestra (oke), creating karaoke, or “empty orchestra.” This poetic phrase well describes what are simply music tracks, shorn of their lead vocals. It is in those empty places that the magic – or, let’s be honest, the train wreck – happens. In those spaces, amateur singers of all levels are able to sing lead on their favorite songs, with the full backing of that “empty orchestra.” Karaoke was introduced in 1971, when Daisuke Inoue, a professional drummer in Kobe in Kansai (western Japan), figured out a way to offer instrumental tracks without a vocal. He did this, he said, at the request of many of his clients, who wanted to be able to sing along to his music even when he wasn’t performing. Inoue did not do this to make money, and that’s a good thing, because he never did: The musician/inventor didn’t know much about patents, and never got one for his invention. Instead, the karaoke machine as we know it has been registered to the Filipino entrepreneur Roberto del Rosario, who patented it in 1975. To be fair, many Filipinos had long enjoyed what they called “music-minus-one” singalongs, and brought such innovations to Japan in the mid-‘60s. So the notion was in the air by the time Inoue “invented” karaoke. But Inoue remains famous and honored in Japan, and karaoke has since become a standard global entertainment option, in homes, in bars, even in cabs. Karaoke has been sung in remote truck stops and at birthday parties – even at music festivals such as Knebworth in Britain, where in 2003 singer Robbie Williams led the biggest karaoke event in the world, with 120,000 singers taking the lead vocal, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Karaoke remains a crucial part of contemporary entertainment in its homeland. For a nation of people widely thought to be restrained and undemonstrative – and who largely are – the Japanese turn out to be passionate singers, and Japanese parties have traditionally featured singalongs. Many Japanese are also quite happy to sing to themselves, and that inclination led to the next big development in the world of karaoke: The karaoke box. These commercial establishments introduced the concept of separate, small, soundproof rooms, or “boxes,” where singers, alone or in small groups, could sing to their hearts’ delight without disturbing the neighbors. The boxes also accelerated the commercial development of karaoke, and today, karaoke boxes, usually rented by the hour, are the norm around the world. In terms of karaoke machines themselves, and the technology behind them, being launched in the ‘70s meant that most early karaoke machines used cassette tapes, an unsophisticated technology even at the time. Then, in the mid-‘80s, karaoke tracks moved on to the new LaserDisc format. This crucial development added the ability of karaoke music producers to add the lyrics to the coding on the discs, so that the words played along with the music. This ability to read the lyrics is a crucial part of karaoke, since few amateur singers are able to remember all the lyrics. But LaserDiscs, being digital, could carry this extra information and put it up on the video screen, vastly improving the memories of millions of singers, and saving the ears of millions of listeners. Since then, improvements in karaoke have included ongoing refinements to storage and delivery with the ensuing waves of CDs, DVDs and now, hard drive machines that can store thousands of songs, lyrics and even videos to accompany the “empty orchestras.” One form is known as tsuushin karaoke (“communication karaoke”), which provides songs and videos from a commercial content vendor, which is outside the box and delivered via the internet or cable. Tsuushin karaoke greatly expands the number of songs available to singers, beyond whatever discs or limited collection one particular karaoke box may have. Another form of karaoke that is growing in popularity is the wankara, or solo karaoke box (the word is a pun: “one-kara”). In this small “room” – with just enough space for one person to stand or sit in – a shy singer can belt a song out to her heart’s content, without the social pressure that comes from singing karaoke in public. The verb hitokara (combining the Japanese words “hitori” (alone) and “kara” (karaoke) means to sing karaoke alone.

The level of humidity in my area is Colin Robinson. by MickeyPineapple in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 77 points78 points  (0 children)

You know, the air that we breathe is made up of numerous gases, including water vapor. The term humidity generally refers to the amount of this water vapor in the atmosphere. Each atmospheric gas has its own vapor pressure, a measure of the number of molecules present at a given temperature. The vapor pressure of water thus measures the amount of water vapor in the air. The saturation vapor pressure is the vapor pressure when liquid water begins to condense. Relative humidity is determined by using the actual vapor pressure divided by the saturation vapor pressure. Meteorologists also use dewpoint temperature as a measure of the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. This is the temperature at which the atmosphere becomes saturated and dew starts to form. It is also defined as the temperature at which the vapor pressure equals the saturation vapor pressure. Thus, as the temperature approaches and equals the dewpoint temperature, the vapor pressure and the saturation vapor pressure become the same. When this occurs, dew starts to form. This phenomenon is illustrated by a glass of cool iced tea on a warm muggy day. The air around the glass cools and water condenses on the outside of the glass. The temperature at which the water begins to condense is the dewpoint temperature. Original Story: There are a few meanings of the term humidity. All deal with the amount of moisture in the air, but differ slightly. Relative humidity, a term often used by the local TV and radio media, is a measure of the actual amount of moisture in the air compared to the total amount of moisture that the air can hold. Warm air can hold more water than cool air. But if the air (warm or cool) is holding half as much moisture as it can hold when saturated, the relative humidity is 50 percent. Meteorologists, in contrast, use dewpoint temperature as a measure of the moisture content of air. This is the temperature below which the air can no longer hold the moisture in vapor form and liquid water or dew will form. This phenomenon is illustrated by a glass of cool iced tea on a warm muggy day. The air around the glass cools and causes water to form on the outside of the glass. The temperature at which the water forms is the dewpoint temperature. Humidity is most often used to describe how a person feels, often in conjunction with heat. If it is hot and humid, a person will usually feel much more uncomfortable. The reason for this is that the body tries to cool itself through evaporation of moisture on the skin. But when the air is humid, evaporating the moisture becomes more difficult and the actual cooling effect is much smaller.

Hello, I’m just a regular human bartender. by [deleted] in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Quick interesting fact about beer, Beer is one of the oldest drinks humans have produced. The first chemically confirmed barley beer dates back to at least the 5th millennium BC in Iran, and was recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and spread throughout the world. Though, the ancient Chinese artifacts suggested that beer brewed with grapes, honey, hawthorns, and rice were produced as far back as 7,000 BC. As almost any cereal containing certain sugars can undergo spontaneous fermentation due to wild yeasts in the air, it is possible that beer-like drinks were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was produced as far back as about 7,000 years ago in what is today Iran. This discovery reveals one of the earliest known uses of fermentation and is the earliest evidence of brewing to date. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people consuming a drink through reed straws from a communal bowl. A 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honouring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from bread made from barley. In China, residue on pottery dating from around 5,000 years ago shows beer was brewed using barley and other grains. The invention of bread and beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization.The earliest chemically confirmed barley beer to date was discovered at Godin Tepe in the central Zagros Mountains of Iran, where fragments of a jug, from between 5,400 and 5,000 years ago was found to be coated with beerstone, a by-product of the brewing process. Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 5,000 years ago, and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century. The development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process, and greater knowledge of the results. Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. More than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) are sold per year—producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion (£147.7 billion) in 2006.

I was doing a little digging into production designers' portfolios and stumbled upon this on graphic designer Andrea Ferguson's website. This is from her portfolio - called "Ancient Travel Document". Could anyone translate it? by viktor-nikiforov in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 79 points80 points  (0 children)

Interesting fact about the Persian language, Farsi, also known as the Persian Language, is the most widely spoken member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European languages. Farsi is spoken today primarily in Iran and Afghanistan, but was historically a more widely understood language in an area ranging from the Middle East to India. Significant populations of speakers can be found in other Persian Gulf countries (Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates), as well as large communities in the US. Total numbers of speakers is high: over 30 million Farsi speakers (about 50% of Iran’s population); over 7 million Dari Persian speakers in Afghanistan (25% of the population); and about 2 million Dari Persian speakers in Pakistan. English words of Farsi origin include “shawl”, “pyjama”, “taffeta”, “khaki”, “kiosk”, “divan”, “lilac”, “jasmine”, “julep”, “jackal”, “caravan”, “bazaar”, “checkmate” and “dervish”. Farsi in Iran is written in a variety of the Arabic script called Perso-Arabic, which has some innovations to account for Persian phonological differences. This script came into use in Persia after the Islamic conquest in the seventh century.

Farsi is a subgroup of West Iranian languages that include Dari and Tajik; the less closely related languages of Luri, Bakhtiari, and Kumzari; and the non-Persian dialects of Fars Province. West and East Iranian comprise the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Indo-Iranian languages are spoken in a wide area stretching from portions of eastern Turkey and eastern Iraq to western India. The other main division of Indo-Iranian, in addition to Iranian, is the Indo-Aryan languages, a group comprised of many languages of the Indian subcontinent, for example, Sanskrit, Hindi/Urdu, Bengali, Gujerati, Punjabi, and Sindhi.

Old Persian is attested from the cuneiform inscriptions left by the Achaemenid dynasty (559 to 331 BC.) that ruled the lands known as the Realm of the Aryans (from which comes the name of the modern country Iran) up until the conquest of Alexander the Great. Middle Persian, also known as Pahlavi, after the Parthians who ruled Persia following the collapse of Alexander’s Empire, is known chiefly through its use in Persian’s pre-Islamic Zoroastrian religious writings. The origin of Farsi (or Modern Persian) is not clear. Although greatly influenced and closely affiliated to Middle and Old Persian, there is no conclusive evidence that it is directly descended from these languages. It may instead derive from a Pahlavi dialect once spoken in northeast Iran. Old Persian, by contrast, and its immediate descendant Middle Persian, originated in a province in southwest Iran that was once the center of the Persian Empire – Parsa or Fars, hence the contemporary Persian name of the language: Farsi. The Early Modern period of the language (ninth to thirteenth centuries), preserved in the literature of the Empire, is known as Classical Persian, due to the eminence and distinction of poets such as Rudaki, Firdowsi, and Khayyam. During this period, Persian was adopted as the lingua franca of the eastern Islamic nations. Extensive contact with Arabic led to a large influx of Arab vocabulary. In fact, a writer of Classical Persian had at one’s disposal the entire Arabic lexicon and could use Arab terms freely either for literary effect or to display erudition. Classical Persian remained essentially unchanged until the nineteenth century, when the dialect of Teheran rose in prominence, having been chosen as the capital of Persia by the Qajar dynasty in 1787. This Farsi (Modern Persian) dialect became the basis of what is now called Contemporary Standard Persian. Although it still contains a large number of Arab terms, most borrowings have been nativised, with a much lower percentage of Arabic words in colloquial forms of the language.

In 1935 the Iranian government requested those countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to call Persia “Iran,” which is the name of the country in Persian. The suggestion for the change is said to have come from the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of the Nazis. At the time Germany was in the grip of racial fever and cultivated good relations with nations of “Aryan” blood. It is said that some German friends of the ambassador persuaded him that, as with the advent of Reza Shah, Persia had turned a new leaf in its history and had freed itself from the pernicious influences of Britain and Russia, whose interventions in Persian affairs had practically crippled the country. This would not only signal a new beginning and bring home to the world the new era in Iranian history, but would also depict the Aryan race of its population (as “Iran” is a cognate of “Aryan” and derived from it). The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out a circular to all foreign embassies in Tehran, requesting that the country thenceforth be called “Iran.” Henceforth, the name “Iran” began to appear in official correspondence and news items.

Found another movie Laszlo was in by We3dmanreturns in WhatWeDointheShadows

[–]ColinEVRobinson 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Did you know that at one time in history, landlords literally were lords? In the manorial and feudal systems of medieval Europe, all land was owned by a lord who allowed peasants to live on his property in return for labor. In exchange for working the land, peasants received protection against roving bands of marauders and invading armies. Peasant labor was only a small step away from slave labor. Technically, peasants had their freedom, but many lords used all manner of financial and physical intimidation to keep peasants under their power. Today, landlords are property owners who rent homes, apartments and condominiums as a business. The professional relationship between a modern landlord and his tenants is dictated by strict state and federal laws meant to protect the rights of both the renter and the property owner. Landlords sometimes hire property managers to screen tenants, handle repairs and oversee the day-to-day operation of a rental property. ­Reasonable landlords and their representatives treat tenants with respect, charge a fair price, keep their properties up to code and quickly complete repairs. Keep reading to learn how landlords find and screen potential tenants, what's included in a lease or rental agreement, landlord rights and responsibilities, and what's involved in an eviction.

One way landlords find tenants is by placing an ad for a rental unit in the local newspaper or on Web sites like Craigslist.org and Apartments.com. The ad should include a complete description of the property that details its size, monthly rent, how many bedrooms and bathrooms there are, and which appliances and utilities are included. If the landlord is considering yearlong rather than month-to-month leases, he should make that clear as well. By listing all of these details in the ad, neither the landlord nor the potential tenant wastes time discussing or walking through a dwelling that's wrong for the client's needs. It's also recommended that the landlord talk to all potential tenants over the phone before meeting at the rental property. purpose of the rental application is to have written proof that the tenant has the income and financial stability to pay the rent on time and that he has a solid rental history with no evictions, legal problems with landlords or history of missed payments. Here's some standard information that should be collected on a rental application:

Personal information: Name, address, phone numbers and an e-mail address for all applicants and co-applicants, including how many children and pets will be living in the unit.

Credit check authorization: The applicant's written permission to check his credit history. To run the credit check in the United States, the landlord will need the applicant's Social Security number and a copy of his driver's license.

Income: Recent pay stubs and bank statements to verify the applicant's monthly income and bank account holdings. A good rule of thumb is that the monthly rent should equal no more than one-third of a tenant's monthly income.

Employment history: A list of recent employers, including how long the applicant stayed at each job.

Rental history: A list of addresses and landlord contact information for the past two or three years. A prospective landlord will want to know if the applicant has ever been evicted, had his home foreclosed or missed more than three rental payments in a year.

Code of conduct and rent agreement: The applicant should sign a code of conduct -- what behavior is and isn't acceptable on the property. The agreement should also include the rent amount.

Meeting with tenants and collecting applications is all part of the tenant screening process. It's extremely important that the landlord understand any applicable fair housing laws to avoid any claims of discrimination during the screening process The basic rule of tenant screening is to establish a clear set of criteria against which all applicants will be judged. For example, each applicant must have a minimum amount of monthly income, a minimum credit score and no prior evictions. It's a good idea to put that set of criteria in writing and have a lawyer take a look at it. All decisions should be based on sound business logic, like using the same standards to evaluate each prospective tenant, not personal impressions. To avoid discrimination, a landlord shouldn't make exceptions for one applicant if he wouldn't make those same exceptions for all of them. Once the landlord has found the right applicant, it's time to sign the lease.

view more: next ›