Saturday 25 April 2015

Gallipoli centenary: Australia and New Zealand mark Anzac Day

Australia and New Zealand have been remembering soldiers from the two countries who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War One.
A series of events on Saturday marked the centenary of the Allied attack on the Gallipoli peninsula.
A dawn service was held at the landing. The two countries later remembered their dead at battlefield services.
More than 11,400 of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) troops were killed in the course of the campaign.
Australian PM Tony Abbott paid tribute to their selflessness, describing them as Australia's "founding heroes".
Anzac Day is arguably the most important national occasion for Australia and New Zealand.
Gallipoli holds a special place in Australian hearts. Many believe it was here Australians proved themselves the equal of any in the world, heralding the young nation's emergence onto the world stage.
Read more about events during the course of the day here.


Meanwhile in London, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh - who is patron of the Gallipoli Association - and Prince William were joined by senior government and military figures to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

The dawn service in Gallipoli was held under the shadow of the peninsula's mountains

Prince Charles read the words of Lieutenant Ken Millar and Company Quartermaster Sergeant Benjamin Leane, which were written during the campaign

In Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael joined veterans and members of the public in marking the anniversary at Edinburgh Castle.
About 131,000 - of whom 45,000 were Allied forces and 86,000 from Turkey - died in the campaign. The fatalities included about 25,000 British military personnel and 10,000 from France.
'Founding heroes'
Thousands from Australia and New Zealand came to Turkey for the anniversary along with Princes Charles and Harry and a large number of international dignitaries.
Australians commemorated their dead with a service at Lone Pine, the site of a bloody battle on the Gallipoli peninsula in August 1915, while New Zealanders paid tribute at Chunuk Bair, a hilltop captured by the Allies in their only brief success of the campaign.
The Australian service began with schoolchildren reading out the names of some of the fallen.
In a speech, Prime Minister Abbott stressed the importance of the troops in Australia's history.
"To us they are Anzacs, but in their day they were fathers, sons, parents, children, cousins and mates just as you are now," he said.
"You walk among their headstones, you read the inscriptions, you hear the epitaphs and you hear their families speak - in these inscriptions and in these epitaphs we hear the echoes of our country a century ago."
The campaign has become synonymous with troops from Australia and New Zealand


One hundred years later, bullets can still be found on the beach at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli



"We wonder at their selflessness, at their capacity to face death," he added.
At a dawn service to mark the landing, Mr Abbott described the Australian troops as the "founding heroes" of their country.
At the same event, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said that Gallipoli had become a by-word for the best characteristics of Australians and New Zealanders "especially when they work side by side in the face of adversity".
A quotation by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - the founder of the Republic of Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire - was also read at the service.
"You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.
"After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."
Thousands of miles away in Australia and New Zealand, dawn services and other events were also held on Saturday morning to mark the centenary of the landings amid tight security.
In Sydney, dozens of surf boats from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey took part in a symbolic re-enactment of the Gallipoli landings.
 Events were held across Australia on Saturday morning in Brisbane....


 ...and in Melbourne where a dawn church service was held


In Sydney dozens of surf boats from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey raised their oars in tribute

Many believe it was at Gallipoli where Australians proved themselves the equal of any in the world

Cemil Gokten, a Turkish student in Sydney, described the centenary as a "bonding event across cultures".
"It is great to come here and share our mutual bonds together," he said.
More than 20,000 people in New Zealand attended a service at the national war memorial in Wellington, where Governor-General Jerry Mateparae was accompanied by Australian counterpart Peter Cosgrove.
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What was Gallipoli?
  • After a failed naval attack, the Allies tried to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) via the Gallipoli peninsula by land assault
  • The amphibious assault started at dawn on 25 April, 1915
  • British, French and their dominions' troops - including soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, India and Newfoundland - took part
  • They faced months of shelling, sniper fire and sickness, before abandoning the campaign
  • 45,000 Allied troops died for no material gain, although the Turkish Army was tied down for eight months
  • 86,000 Turkish troops died. Commander Mustafa Kemal survived and went on to found modern Turkey
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The Gallipoli invasion failed, with the Allied forces unable to advance more than a few miles inland.
A bloody stalemate ensued which lasted until Allied troops evacuated the peninsula in January 1916.
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Why do Australians and New Zealanders mark Anzac Day?
In Melbourne, 5,000 poppies have been laid in Federation Square as part of the commemorations

  • Gallipoli was the first campaign Australia and New Zealand fought as independent nations
  • They joined the Allies in an attempt to knock Germany's Turkish allies out of World War One
  • But the Anzac forces barely advanced a mile inland
  • 10,000 Anzacs died while 23,000 were injured, which had a devastating impact on the male population of the fledgling nations





Earthquake slams Nepal; devastating loss of people, history

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 shook Nepal on Saturday near its capital, Katmandu.Nepal-earthquake-4
People in the capital described scenes of panic and collapsed buildings, and the United States Geological Survey predicted very severe damage to villages near the quake’s epicenter, about 50 miles from Katmandu.
A spokesperson for Nepal’s home ministry said the preliminary death toll stood at 211, and that thousands of people had been injured.
There are fears the death toll could rise yet further

Rescue efforts in Nepal are intensifying after more than 1,800 people were killed in the country's worst earthquake in more than 80 years.
Many countries and international charities have offered aid to Nepal to deal with the disaster.
Seventeen people have killed on Mount Everest by avalanches - the mountain's worst-ever disaster.
Officials fear that the death toll could rise as the desperate search for survivors continues.
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck an area of central Nepal between the capital, Kathmandu, and the city of Pokhara on Saturday morning.
The latest home ministry figures say 1,805 people were killed and 4,718 people were injured.
There were also victims in India, Bangladesh, in the Chinese region of Tibet and on Mount Everest, where avalanches were triggered.
Little information has emerged from the epicentre, where extensive damage has been reported, and there are fears the death toll could rise yet further.
It is the worst earthquake to strike Nepal since one in 1934 which killed some 8,500 people.

'Moment of crisis'

"We have launched a massive rescue and rehabilitation action plan and lots needs to be done," Information and Broadcasting Minister Minendra Rijal told Indian television.



 Historic landmarks were wrecked in the earthquake




 Kathmandu's landmark Dharahara tower before and after the earthquake


 People clear rubble in Kathmandu's Durbar Square



Codex Gigas (the Devil’s Bible) - the largest manuscript in the world

The Codex Gigas or the Devil’s Bible at the National Library in Stockholm is famous for two features. First, it is reputed to be the biggest surviving European manuscript. (Codex Gigas means ‘giant book’.) Secondly, it contains a large, full page portrait of the Devil.
This site contains a digitised version of every page of the manuscript as well as commentaries on its history, texts, script, initials and decoration.
The Highlights contain a selection of images from the manuscript. About the Codex Gigaspresents a short introduction to the manuscript; Read more includes a commentary, augmented by a number of transcribed and translated shorter texts. The glossary and biographical addenda can be used as study aids.
Starting in May 2013, the original manuscript is on display for the general public in a new exhibit, "Treasures".

The Codex Gigas (English: Giant Book) is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world.[1] It is also known as the Devil's Bible because of a large illustration of the devil on the inside and the legend surrounding its creation. It is thought to have been created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic). It contains the Vulgate Bible as well as many historical documents all written in Latin. During the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was taken as war booty by the Swedish, and now it is preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, on display for the general public.

Description

The codex is richly illuminated throughout.
The codex is bound in a wooden folder covered with leather and ornate metal. At 92 cm (36 in) tall, 50 cm
(20 in) wide and 22 cm (8.7 in) thick, it is the largest known medieval manuscript. Weighing 74.8 kg (165 lb), Codex Gigas is composed of 310 leaves of vellum allegedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys or perhaps calfskin.It initially contained 320 sheets, though some of these were subsequently removed. It is unknown who removed the pages or for what purpose but it seems likely that they contained the monastic rules of the Benedictines.

Legend has it, that it was written by one scribe.Acts 12:25 reads απο Ιερουσαλημ ("from Jerusalem") along with manuscripts: D, Ψ, 181, 436, 614, 2412, ℓ 147, ℓ 809, ℓ 1021, ℓ 1141, ℓ 1364, ℓ 1439, ar, d, vg, Chrysostom; majority reads εις Ιερουσαλημ (to Jerusalem).[6] Acts 18:26 supports reading την οδον of Codex Bezae.

History

The codex is believed to have been created by Herman the Recluse in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim in the Czech Republic. The monastery was destroyed during the 15th century during the Hussite Revolution. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. The codex was later pledged to the Cistercians Sedlec Monastery and then bought by the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov. From 1477 to 1593, it was kept in the library of a monastery in Broumov until it was taken to Prague in 1594 to form a part of the collections of the Emperor Rudolf II.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the entire collection was taken as war booty by the Swedish army. From 1649 to 2007, the manuscript was kept in the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm.[8] The site of its creation is marked by a maquette in the town museum of Chrast.

On Friday, 7 May 1697, a fierce fire broke out at the royal castle in Stockholm, and the Royal Library suffered very badly. The codex was rescued from the flames by being thrown out of a window. The codex apparently injured a bystander and some of its leaves fluttered away and they are still missing today.In September 2007, after 359 years, the Codex Gigas returned to Prague on loan from Sweden until January 2008, and was on display at the Czech National Library.

A National Geographic documentary included interviews with manuscript experts who pointed towards evidence (handwriting analysis and a credit to hermann inclusus – "herman the recluse") that indicates the manuscript was indeed the work of just one scribe.
Illustration of the devil, Folio 290 recto. Legend has it the codex was created by a monk who sold his soul to the devil.

Legend

According to one version of a legend that was already recorded in the Middle Ages, the scribe was a monk who broke his monastic vows and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to forbear this harsh penalty he promised to create in one single night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight he became sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen angel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid. In tests to recreate the work, it is estimated that reproducing only the calligraphy, without the illustrations or embellishments, would have taken 5 years of non-stop writing.

See also

List of New Testament Latin manuscripts
National Geographic documentary covering the story of the Codex Gigas
Complete high-resolution gallery of pages (only covering the New Testament section of the codex)

Friday 24 April 2015

Movie Special Effects Before and After.

We know that many of today’s movies are filled with visual effects, but it’s rare that we get a behind-the-scenes look at where the acting and makeup ends and technology takes over. Here are just a few comparisons between what the cameras filmed and what you saw in the theater…