Dan has introduced the overall concept of this series, so I won’t repeat his comments again. I will note that in my case, several of my choices could be replaced by other very similar people that I read around the same time as those figures, but ultimately this whole exercise is on the arbitrary side and is for fun, so here goes!

1. CS Lewis. In the early half of my high school career I started to read Christian apologetics and study the Bible, and one of the first major apologists I came into contact with was CS Lewis. I think, as I look back, that God especially blessed me. Lewis was an exceptional man and Christian scholar, and had gifts beyond that of apologetics. However, one of the main things I learned from Lewis which has stuck with me since those years was that Christianity was really true: that there was good reason to believe it, and that it claims to be the correct description of reality (both nature and history). Lewis’ classic Mere Christianity was seminal for me in this stage of my growth.

2. Cornelius van Til. Outside of American and/or conservative Presbyterian circles, van Til is often known for his acerbic criticisms of Karl Barth, but for me he will always be synonymous with the recognition that ultimately our covenantal loyalty to Christ must control everything else in our thought and life. He was the founder of one of the more popular versions of presuppositional apologetics, which attempted to mount a kind of Kantian transcendental argument for Christianity: that the Christian system was a logical prerequisite to all thought, period. I have since come to recognize that van Til’s apologetic is more helpful as an agenda rather than as a single argument, but still am appreciative of van Til for first introducing to me to the “biased” nature of all thinking.

3. John Frame. I feel Frame’s influence continually on me in my theological method. Unlike many today, Frame has articulated a philosophically sophisticated biblicism: Frame always keeps front and center that for Reformed theologians, scripture is always the ultimate standard in every area of human life. In addition, consciously and unconsciously I have sought to emulate and follow Frame’s intentionally irenic and evangelically ecumenical project: to always try to put the most charitable construal on any opponent’s comments that one can, and to always try to anticipate and incorporate their perspective into your own.

4. Peter Leithart. Leithart is perhaps the biggest influence on me in many ways. From him I have learned to see the centrality of the church and the sacraments to God’s plan and God’s kingdom for and in history, and to be cautiously but truly “For Constantine” in philosophical and theological disputes over the relevance of religion and the church to society and the state. In many ways, Leithart has put flesh on idealistic “worldview” thinking I learned from van Til. As well, I have learned from Leithart how to read the Bible in a whole different way: instead of reading the Bible simply to confirm my Reformed heritage, I have come to love the Scriptures for their internal complexity and beauty (especially in the typological patterns suffused throughout), and I have come to absorb Leithart’s project of trying to get Christians to “speak Bible” (rather than try to translate the Bible into other idioms, instead try to “fit the world into the text”). More than any of the others on my “5″, I hope gets more of a hearing in the wider Christian community in days to come.

5. Dallas Willard. Willard filled in a gap emphasized less in the above four: personal spirituality and moral development. While I’m sure the above four men would agree that these things are necessary, I have not found anyone who writes with so much wisdom and clarity on the formation of the soul into the image of Christ, and how practical that process really is meant to be. Further, through his work I have come to appreciate the charismatic and pietistic wings of the church in a way that would not be natural for the Anglican and Presbyterian theologies of the above four.

Utterly Horrendous seems to be turning into THIS JUST IN ABOUT ADAM LAMBERT! But it’s the hot IDOL topic! What do you want us to talk about? Michael Sarver signing a recording contract!?!  OK FINE!  So Michael Sarver signed a recording contract with Dream records, and he performed his first single. Here’s the vid! ENJOY!

Slightly bored? Not his fault. I think if the song gets some AC radio love, then it could do decent. Not Carrie, but maybe Constantine good? At least he won’t have to go to a oil rig again!

ADAM LAMBERT TIME!

So handsome.

So the world premiere of the video was late Tuesday. To coincide with the week of his debut album. Right off the bat I think the video has a very “Slave 4 U” vide except not as well lit. Definitely goth, and he blurs the lines of sexuality which has always been his staple. The song sounds WAAAY better here than it did live at the AMAs on that fateful Sunday.

Here is the video! CHIME IN AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!! Btw, I submitted to actually be in this video. I can definitely see why I wasn’t picked for an audition. lol.

„„Adduktoren“ … Wenn ich sowas schon höre! „Adduktoren!“ Sowas gab es bei uns noch gar nicht. Die wurden erst nach meiner Zeit erfunden.“
Max Lorenz (ehemaliger Fussballspieler bei Werder Bremen)

Am 17. November erschien die neue Version von Fedora. Die Version hört auf den Codenamen „Constantine“ und trägt die Nummer 12. Die Community hat viel und schwer gearbeitet, um zumindest eine Tradition zu wahren: Fedora 12 kam, wie die meisten Releases, wieder einmal zu spät. Dafür gibt es einen Haufen neuer Technik, die in Constantine eingebaut wurde.

Fedora pflegt seine Traditionen

360 Seiten umfassen die Release Notes, oder anders ausgedrückt: Die CDs bzw. die DVD sind picke packe voll. So erhielt SELinux eine Erweiterung, um eine sog. Sandbox für Anwendungen bilden zu können. Frisch aus der Taufe gehoben wurde das OpenSharedRoot Project. Das macht das, was der Name vermuten lässt. Verschiedene Linux-Installationen können damit dieselbe root-Partition benutzen. Und das sind nur 2 Beispiele, die zeigen, dass Fedora (mal wieder) Techniken einbaut, die bei anderen Distributionen erst in den kommenden Releases dabei sein werden.

„bleeding“ oder „leading edge“?

Fedora legt also zum wiederholten Mal die Messlatte für Innovationen sehr hoch. Für Eingeweihte keine besondere Überraschung, schließlich entwickelt (und testet) hier der Linux-Riese Red Hat. Die Community nennt Distributionen, die an vorderster Softwarefront sind, gerne „cutting edge“. Und als Steigerung „bleeding edge“, wenn ausgedrückt werden soll, dass hier wenig (manchmal auch keine) Rücksicht auf Stabilität genommen wird.
Unter Linux-Nutzer, vor allem unter Neueinsteigern, ein beliebtes Spiel ist, darüber zu diskutieren, welche Distribution am ehesten das Prädikat „bleeding edge“ verdient. Gerne genannt werden dabei Sidux und Arch. Und mit was? Mit Recht! Schließlich haben Beide stets neueste Software an Bord. Sind diese Distributionen nun aktueller als Fedora? Ein klares jein! Beide haben zwar zügig das neueste KDE, GNOME oder andere Software, aber die neue Technologie hat dann doch Fedora. Oder wie es jemand im deutschen Fedora-Forum schrieb: „Fedora ist nicht bleeding edge sondern leading edge.“

Jammern auf hohen Niveau

Leider hat das Benutzen von Fedora einen leicht faden Beigeschmack. Durch den konsequenten Einsatz neuer Techniken muss man fast immer ein halbes Jahr warten, bis man fremddistributieren kann, ohne auf den gewohnten Luxus verzichten zu müssen.Hört sich nach jammern auf hohen Niveau an, kann aber entscheidend und/oder nervend sein. Wer, als Beispiel, mit Fedora 11 auf ext4 umgestellt hat, durfte beim erneuten Wechsel die home-Partition meist neu formatieren. Klar, das ist kein Weltuntergang, aber trotzdem nervig.
So wird Fedora zur indirekten Falle für alle Entwicklungsjunkies.

What do you know about Constantine? Other than the fact that he created Constantinople, his fame has close to faded. But did you know that he played the main role in changing the Christian day of worship from Saturday to Sunday?  The Roman emperor was hailed as Constantine “the Great” for his contributions to Christianity.  Catholic historians presented him as an ideal ruler and even named him as the model of a Christian prince.  Through his Edict in AD 321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians should be united in observing and resting on the “venerable day of the sun.”  Eusebius, a bishop and Constantine flatterer unintentionally acknowledges that the grounds for changing the day of worship were not scripture based.  “All things whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.” —Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 538.

U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy is in a brazen public battle with Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin regarding Catholic beliefs and his right to participate in Communion.  Kennedy is a Democrat and supporter of Pro-Choice.  Catholic former Democratic New York Gov. Mario Cuomo said, “Don’t ask me to make everybody live by [Catholic doctrine] because they are not members of the church,” Cuomo said. “If that were the operative rule, how could you get any Catholic politician in office? And would that be better for the Catholic church?”

One of the definitions of Communion is a religious or spiritual fellowship.  It is an act of remembering Christ and His sacrifice (1 Corinthians 11:24).  While supporting abortion is Biblically wrong, does a religious leader have the right to refuse a practice set in place by Jesus Himself simply due to a disagreement with someone?  Or possibly it’s (once again) all about exercising undue authority.

If Jesus were to return to earth today would he be pleased with the path that modern Christianity has taken? My thought is no. Christianity as we know it bears little resemblance to the church that Christ himself created. True Christianity was a beautiful, pure, loving relationship between God and his people. Early Christians would have never been found fighting or butchering their fellow Christians, as seen throughout history. Jesus was not a violent man, he was a tender hearted peace loving man as show over and over in the New Testament.

Nowhere in the early church did they pray to so called dead “saints” or to idols including the virgin Mary. Nor did they celebrate Christmas, Easter or Halloween. (I will touch more on this subject in the next few weeks)

I myself, whilst searching for the “Original Christian Church” have discovered that there was no “church” – when I say that I mean that there was no physical church building. Several times the bible speaks about Jesus preaching in synagogues (he was Jewish!) People met in private homes, I suppose out of fear of persecution. Later on it is thought that the “original church” earthy headquarters was the Jerusalem Church, where the holy spirit was originally poured out on the true Christians. (Acts 2)

Peter, James & John carried out a lot of their ministry there. (Acts 4:1, 8:1, 11:1-2 & 15:4-6) where they answered major questions such as circumcision for Gentiles etc.

Where did it all go wrong?

 ^“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths”. 2 Timothy 4:2-4 NIV New International Version Bible.

It seems to have taken a wrong turn with many misguided, false religious leaders such as Simon Magnus. Simon Magnus was at the heart of the apostasy that led astray much of the church away from Jesus teachings. The bible recounts that all of Samaria gave heed to Simon as someone great, calling him “the great power of God” (Acts 8:9-10)

Peter recognized Simon as being “poisoned by bitterness and captive to sin” (Acts 8:23) It is said that he was influenced by Greek philosophy, and was also thought to have been the founder of a school of Gnostics, and as a father of heresy. His desire was to create a faith that “fused” together different beliefs/practices/religions to win mass acceptance. This is why Christianity adopted paganism, to make it more appealing. Since then Christianity has been saturated with Greek philosophy, mysticism, and rituals. Numerous other pagan cultures have played a part in the destruction of Christianity, however the major damage came in the 4^th century, when the pagan, self-serving tyrant, Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as his religion. Constantine felt that it was his duty as Emperor to “oversee” the establishment of doctrine for the church. (council of Nicaea 325AD) They basically decided what books of the bible made “the cut”. This was the perfect opportunity for Constantine to infuse his pagan background into what would become official Christianity.

What did he change?

-       The Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

-       Declared Christ birthday as December 25^th, which was his birthday.

-       He declared “Jewish” holidays (BIBLICAL HOLIDAYS ) offensive.

-       Created Easter, which has nothing to do with Christ. It is based on the sex & fertility goddess Isis, hence the use of Easter eggs.

-       Did away of the Hebrew calendar.

There are too many to list, but basically stripped Christianity bare & has led millions of so called Christians down the wrong path. I suppose it would have been easier to list what he didn’t change!

So what can I do?

-       Try to find a church that sticks as close to “original Christianity” as possible, before the Catholic Church got “involved”.  

-       Observe all of the biblical feasts.

-       Observe the true Sabbath.

-       Pray for forgiveness for being led astray.

-       Try to avoid any further pagan activities.

-       Read the ENTIRE bible, I don’t care what the Catholic Church or Protestant religions say….ALL of it is relevant!

To help with your search try looking up phrases like : Apostolistic Christianity, Messianic Judaism (they DO believe in Christ & follow the ORIGINAL beliefs), Sabbatarian, Sabbath Keeping Christians, Torah Observant Christians.

I have spent years trying to find the real church (and have !) The main thing to keep in mind is: Jesus was a Jew, he celebrated Jewish holidays and that never changed! Remember, when he was crucified in Jerusalem he was there to celebrate Passover!

 He said many times in the New Testament that he did not come to do away with the law (Old Testament) but to fulfill it !

By 667 BC, a Greek ruler by name of Byzas, from Megara, established his kingdom here, on the advice of an oracle of Delphi, and named it Byzantium. But it was besieged by the Romans in AD 196, and became part of the Roman Empire. The ravaged city was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor, Septimus Severus, and temporarily given the name of ‘Augusta Antonina’. But in 306 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium the capital of the entire Roman Empire, and from then on, the city was called Constantinople. The Byzantium Empire was more or less influenced by Greek culture, and was also a hub of Greek Orthodox Christianity, which resulted in the construction of several magnificent Christian architectural wonders, the prominent among them being the Hagia Sophia, which remained the world’s largest cathedral till 1850.

The Roman Empire passed through much turmoil due to attack from various sources, especially the Barbarians, not to mention their internal problems, and finally, in 532 AD, during the reign of Justinian I, the city was totally destroyed due to anti government riots. Though much favored for its ideal location, that made trade and transport between continents an easy affair, this very factor also proved to be the doom of Constantinople. For several hundred years hence, it had to face a lot of assault from the Arabs, Nomadic, Persians, as well as the Fourth crusaders, who periodically occupied it.

At last, in 1453, Constantinople was attacked and conquered by the courageous Ottoman Turks led by Sultan Mehmet II, who renamed it Istanbul. It continued to function not just as an important cultural, political and commercial hub, but also as their main centre for military operations too, till World War I, after which it was occupied by the Allies.

Sultan Mehmet II was supposed to have given the city a cosmopolitan social outlook. After deporting the remaining Byzantine population, a great many changes were made to the existing architecture in general. The old world Christian city was gradually transformed into a Muslim conurbation as the Emperor started rebuilding all churches so as to convert them to mosques. The great mosque and the Fatih College were built on the old burial grounds of the erstwhile Byzantine Emperors at the Church of the Holy Apostles. The Hagia Sophia too was converted to a mosque. But to his credit, the Sultan held a cosmopolitan outlook and for the greater part, allowed people of all faiths to settle in the vast city, and made effective use of their varied skills. Tolerance was a great virtue that was practiced by Sultan Mehmet II, and it was reflected all over the empire.Istanbul acquired a status of great importance in the eyes of all Muslims, after the conquest of Egypt, and its glory increased from leaps and bounds in the hands of its various rulers, many of whom were great patrons of art and architecture.

Although the capital of Turkey was changed from Istanbul to Ankara by Kemal Ataturk, in 1923, Istanbul still retained its attractions and continued to expand majestically. But gradually, due to the mass exodus of the various nationalities, especially after the war between Greece and Turkey, it became a prominent Muslim nation.

The many historic monuments of yesteryears, that are to be found there, like the various museums, castles, palaces, mosques, churches, etc contribute greatly to the increase in the tourism industry today. In fact, many of its historic architectures have been added to the UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites. Though no more a capital city, Istanbul, which is considered to be Turkey’s cultural and financial center, still retains its old world attraction and continues to generate its own individual history through out the ages.

sumber: http://www.hagia-sophia.net/history.htm

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

Photographed for Esquire magazine April 2004 by [searching for credit]

“I think mystery is kind of great. I don’t know anything about Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn or Ava Gardner — not really — and I like that. I love watching their movies because they’re my personal movie stars. I don’t know what they eat and who their trainer is.”

No clue where this came from; sometimes I just right-click and save things and make no effort to credit them. Super-sorry!

“Most of the time we do nothing, myself included, … I think the lesson I learned from [playing humanitarian Tessa in The Constant Gardner] is that a lot of drops make up an ocean. If people would stand up and say what they believe in maybe we can make a difference. Helping one person is better than nothing. Just do something.”

Still from The Shape of Things

“There’s not much room for eccentricity in Hollywood, and eccentricity is what’s sexy in people.”

I have heard rumors she is one of the actresses who has been approached to play Catwoman in the next Batman movie, but I’ve also heard Chris Nolan quoted saying that Catwoman isn’t going to be in it. It doesn’t matter, because that would be lame anyways. She should not be Catwoman, regardless of whether Selina Kyle pops up in the next movie (a direction which would actually disappoint me).

What Rachel Weisz should do in the new Batman movies is play Talia, the daughter of Rā’s al Ghūl and love of Bruce Wayne’s life. Helloooo, she would be perfect! Talia seriously needs to once and for all get in the mainstream big screen storylines, especially considering how great the new movies Chris Nolan’s been making are: in the comics she even has Batman’s kid, for god’s sake (Damian Wayne, who is the current Robin). It’s already been set up, when, in the novelized Batman Begins, Rā’s al Ghūl refers to having a wife and daughter while he is talking to Bruce.

So, come on. Let’s finally get her in a movie, and let’s have Rachel Weisz play her. The woman is a stranger to neither action pictures (The Mummy franchise) nor comic book movies (the wildly underrated Constantine). That’s my awesome suggestion: obey!

El pasado martes 17 de noviembre ha sido liberado oficialmente Fedora 12.
Fedora, para cualquier despistado, es una distribución de Linux de puro software libre o código abierto que está a la vanguardia de la tecnología, con software seguro y estable. (más información ver los enlaces)

Para probar Fedora 12 sin importar el sistema operativo que tengas, puedes bajar el Live CD que te permite usar Fedora sin instalarlo en tu disco duro. Si te ha gustado para instalarlo es tan sencillo como dar doble click al icono de instalación en el escritorio y seguir las instrucciones.

Para actualizar Fedora 12 desde Fedora 11 es bastante simple(pero algo tardado) Utilizamos el programa preupgrade.
Para instalar preupgrade
                yum install preupgrade
Y luego
                preupgrade

Una vez que haya descargado todas las nuevas versiones del software que tenemos instalado se nos pedira reiniciar para instalar los paquetes que ha bajado. Luego que reiniciemos continuara automaticamente con la instalación. Es cuestión de esperar unos minutos(o quizás horas ) y voila!, tendremos actualizado a Fedora 12!!

Por cuestión de tiempo no puedo ampliar más sobre el tema, pero pronto pondre una entrada reseña sobre Fedora 12

Bajar Fedora 12
Más información sobre Fedora

Hoje vou iniciar uma série de posts chamada de Filmes que vale a pena ter, e começo com Constantine, filme de 2005 baseado na HQ Hellblazer da linha Vertigo da DC Comics. Vertigo é a linha de HQ’s adultas da DC, e realmente, Constantine não é para crianças.

O filme conta a história de John Constantine, interpretado por Keanu Reeves, um homem que já conheceu o inferno de perto, literalmente. John acaba sendo levado a ajudar a policial Angela Dodson, interpretada por Rachel Weizs, a solucionar o caso do suicídio da irmã de Angela. Durante a investigação os dois encontram demônios, que misteriosamente estão aventurando-se no mundo humano, onde não deveriam estar, e Constantine não exita em mandá-los de volta para o inferno.

A trama é muito bem bolada, com algumas traições e detalhes inesperados, tem até a aparição do ‘Lu’, nome ‘carinhoso’ ao qual Constantine se refere ao diabo em pessoa, ou Lúcifer. Outros nomes famosos do céu e inferno também aparecem, como por exemplo o anjo Gabriel, que tentaram mantê-lo hermafrodita no filme, e creio que conseguiram.

A capa do dvd do filme é muito bacana, tanto que quando comprei para dar de presente pra minha namorada, que simplesmente ama o filme (com razão, é claro ), me segurei para não pedir um pra mim também. E compensa ter a versão dupla, que vem com um dvd inteiro só de extras, que conta com cenas deletadas, comentários dos criadores dos quadrinhos, do diretor, entre muitas outras coisas.

A atuação dos atores eu considero muito boa, Keanu Reeves parece que combinou muito com o papel, com seu jeito sério e seco, mas vale dizer que eu não cheguei a ler a HQ, portanto não falo como quem conhece o personagem. Rachel Weizs também fez um trabalho competente.

Enfim, Constantine é definitivamente um filme que vale a pena ter em casa. Vale ver uma, duas, três, muitas vezes, sem cansar. Eu posso dizer que ainda não cansei, mas vou ser testado, já que agora minha namorada tem o dvd, com certeza irei assistir muitas e muitas vezes, mas a gente faz um esforço né.

Filme: Constantine
Duração: 121 minutos
Ano: 2005
Elenco: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weizs, Shia LaBeouf
Recomendação: 14 anos

Al igual que en la versión de Fedora, nuestra comunidad (la suya también ) Fedora Blogger Network gracias al gran trabajo de sus miembros, ha creado una guía para Fedora 12 Constantine.

Aquí algunos de los cambios hechos para esta versión de la guía:

Actualizadas todas las secciones que hacen referencia a elementos de Fedora que han cambiado desde la versión anterior.

Añadida la sección Recuperación del Sistema, con una guía de uso básico de Fedora desde la línea de comandos.

Añadidos los anexos de uso básico de YUM e inicio automático en GNOME.

Actualizada la sección de instalación de controladores gráficos privativos

Adaptación para impresión.

Renovada la web.

Además de que el que lo desee podrá adquirirla en formato impreso con un costo aproximado de 20-30€ (precio estimado, no es el final) cantidad que corresponde a los gastos de impresión unitarios, sin beneficios para nosotros. Hay descuentos para grupos, por lo que si desean más información contactar con nosotros en ventas@fbnetwork.org.

Más información en el anuncio oficial en el blog de FBN.

Para descargarla pueden hacerlo visitando la nueva web creada:

Doc – FBNetwork.org

Espero que les guste la guía y sobre todo que les sirva. Dejen sus comentarios acerca de qué les pareció

P.D. Ya casi tengo la guía de postinstalación actualizada, disculpen las tardanzas :S

Fedora 12, which is codenamed Constantine, has been released in to the Linux market. This time around, there have been a large number of enhancements built right into this version. Some of the enhancements are support for Bluetooth audio devices, better tablet support, and much more.

If you are a Fedora person, then you need to defintely grab this version.

Some more information can be obtained from here:

Download:

• Fedora 12 Installer
• Fedora 12 LiveCD

Une journée comme les autres, j’étais assise devant mon ordinateur avec ouverte la page d’accueil de Facebook. Dans les nouvelles affichées j’ai trouvé un élément qui a attiré mon attention, “Bad Romance” en était le titre, “la dernière vidéo de Lady Gaga, le phénomène musical du moment et nouvelle icône de la musique internationale”.

Lady Gaga est une chanteuse particulière, non pas à cause de ses chansons pop, mais pour les vêtements excentriques qu’elle porte et qu’elle conçoit et dessine, de véritables oeuvres d’art pour moi! Après avoir vu la vidéo et être restée fascinée par les images, j’ai immédiatement effectué une recherche pour savoir qui était le réalisateur, et j’ai découvert qu’il n’était autre que le grand Francis Lawrence !

 Ce que je veux présenter ici, c’est le travail du réalisateur de film, l’américain Francis Lawrence, mieux connu pour sa riche production de vidéo-clips, même si ses films ne sont pas moins intéressants. Francis Lawrence a débuté en 2005 dans ses premiers projets derrière la caméra, même si en réalité il avait déjà travaillé dans le monde du cinéma depuis l’année 1994, où il s’était occupé de la photographie d’un film japonais.

Constantine

Son premier long métrage, Constantine, est une histoire de la bande dessinée Hellblazer ; Lawrence est en mesure de diriger parfaitement les acteurs, réussissant à leur faire donner le meilleur dans les scènes encore plus difficiles. La caméra n’est pas étouffée par les effets spéciaux, mais recherche toujours les meilleurs rythmes et espaces, cherchant parfois une profondeur de champ inhabituelle pour une production à grande échelle. L’image suit la tendance de l’histoire, en nous aidant à nous plonger dans le conflit inhabituel entre deux «superpuissances», qui jouent aux échecs le sort de la terre.

I am legend

En 2007 le réalisateur revient à la charge et dirige Will Smith dans sa meilleure performance, dans I am legend extraite du roman de Richard Matheson. Plein de calme et de réflexion, il veut creuser plus profondément la psychologie du personnage et construit et l’entretient la tension grâce aussi à de longs moments d’introspection. Les émotions sont présentes et vous pouvez presque les entendre.

La photographie de Andrew Lesnie, colorée et luxuriante, remplit les yeux du spectateur et nous montre une ville abandonnée victime de la déclaration de la nature. New York est vaste mais aussi désespérément vide et immobile. L’impact est donc très fort sur le spectateur. La caméra se déplace dans la scène avec beaucoup de talent, partage les craintes et le sentiment de solitude du protagoniste. Pendant la journée, nous ressentons un sentiment de paix constant, une ville silencieuse où la lumière filtre d’entre les bâtiments, on voit des inondations de jaune dans les rues vides maintenant recouvertes par la végétation.

Deux films, à mon avis extraordinaires, plus que pour les effets spéciaux, notamment pour l’implication émotionnelle qu’ils créent chez le spectateur.

J’ai choisi de parler de lui, parce ses vidéos m’ont passionnée, avant même de savoir qui était cette per­sonne, avant même de savoir qui était le réalisateur de ces vidéos.

Ces images m’ont fait rester des heures devant l’écran, à re­garder les mêmes images qui se répétaient devant mes yeux.

Chaque fois qu’une vidéo me frappe aussi beaucoup, je rêve, rêve du jour où je créerai un produit similaire, qui collera les gens devant l’écran pendant des heures, une vidéo qui arrivera en trois jours à 10 millions de visites et 50 mille commentaires …

Quelques clips vidéos, vraiment célèbre pour la collaboration du réalisateur avec des artistes majeurs, je n’en citerai que quelques-uns, comme :

- Aerosmit – Jaded, 2001

- Avril Lavigne – Sk8er Boy, 2002

- Justin Timberlake – Cry Me A River, 2002

- Gwen Stefani – What You Waiting For?, 2004

- Jennifer Lopez – Get Right, 2005

- Black Eyed Peas – Pump it, 2006

- Lady Gaga – Bad Romance, 2009

(j’en oublie beaucoup, Natalie Imbruglia, Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette, Garbage, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Child Destiny …) tous les artistes majeurs sont passés devant son appareil.

Je termine en montrant les deux vidéos pour moi les plus folles de sa carrière et je pense qu’elles ont quelque chose en commun, comme des vêtements et quelques situations bizarres de la protagoniste, poussée et harcelée par les autres personnages, aussi la pose maladroite, en terminant par le même jeu de lumière pulsée qui suit le rythme de la musique. Et juste pour vous, un “behind the scenes” que j’apprécie dans toutes les vidéos. Je pense que vous allez l’aimer, comme je suis moi-même follement amoureuse de lui …

Claudia USAI, étudiante italienne, 3° année design

LADY GAGA – BAD ROMANCE

BEHIND THE SCENES

Ya se encuentra entre nosotros Fedora 12. Según sus notas del lanzamiento, integra lo último en software libre y de código abierto.

Para descargar Fedora 12 puedes utilizar la página oficial con todas las opciones de descarga (BitTorrent, descarga directa, etc.) o los siguientes enlaces:

• CD de instalación 32 bits.
• CD de instalación 64 bits.

Se pueden destacar las siguientes características de esta nueva versión:

• Soporte de WebCam mejorado.
• Mejores Codecs de Vídeo.
• Mejoras del Audio.
• Mejor Administración de Energía.
• Herramienta de informe de errores automático.
• Bluetooth por demanda.
• Muchas, pero muchas mejoras en la virtualización.
• Aún más mejoras de seguridad.

A disfrutarlo.

Hot off the press here! Fedora 12, codenamed Constantine, has just been officially released. Click for download options.

What’s new in Fedora 12? According to the release notes:

There are also a ton of new features listed here.

Fedora 12 download options.

La distribucion descendiente de Red Hat muchas novedades entre las que se encuetra el innovador soporte 3D.

En esta nueva version nos han sorprendido con una excelente arquitectura de i386, asi como mejor soporte para webcams a la par de la actualizacion de los escritorios KDE (v4.3) y Gnome (v2.28), pudiendo probar su variante experimental (futura versión 3.0) de Gnome Sell (tutorial de instalación en UbuntuLife)

En las mejoras 3D nos presenta la posibilidad de mejorar la deteccion de nuevos monitores y la notable mejoría de los efectos de Compiz Fusion para tarjetas ATI y Nvidia ademas del uso de Moblin para netbooks.

Se incluye Theora 1.1, con calidad H.264 e integración en Firefox, NetworkManager integra la solución de seguridad PolicyKit y permite usar el protocolo IPv6.Como software de desarrollo son incluidas versiones  de Netbeans 6.7 y Eclipse 3.5

Tambien se incluye Empathy como programa de mensajeria por defecto, junto al nuevo Grub2 y la posibilidad de probar el formato Ext4 como en el reciente Ubuntu Karmic.

Links de descarga:

• GNOME Live CD
• KDE Live CD
• DVD (Con KDE, GNOME y XFCE)

Hoy es un día un tanto diferente. Recuerdo que la salida de Fedora 11 Leonidas me entusiasmó muchísimo y no me defraudó en lo más mínimo. De Fedora 12 dudé, y lamentablemente acerté. Debo decir que Fedora 12 no es lo que me esperaba. Tiene muchas mejoras importantes, sobretodo en rendimiento y seguridad, pero creo que con esta nueva edición también se ha perdido la esencia que caracterizaba a nuestra distribución favorita. Creo, en mi opinión, que independientemente de todo, con Fedora 12 veremos algunos usuarios que emigren a otras distribuciones y se olviden de esta. Solo quienes usan Fedora y pueden comprar después de haber usado varias ediciones anteriores sabrán entenderme. Es algo que se siente, es algo que te hace sentir diferente pero que difćilmente se puede explicar con puntos concretos.

Con esto no quiero decir que Fedora 12 sea mala. Todo lo contrario, es una edición que como ya dije, mejora enormemente en rendimiento, sobretodo en el arranque, en seguridad, en estabilidad, etc. Lo que quiero decir es que este Fedora no parece ser “mi” Fedora de siempre…

Hubo muchos cambios desde la alpha y la beta a esta edición final y una de las cosas que más se va a extrañar es el tema Nodoka que ha sido reemplazado por Clearlooks. Hay una nueva herramienta de reporte de errores, nuevas funciones en la administración de las políticas SELinux, entre otros. Por otro lado, muchas herramientas de administración del sistema que venían incluidos por defecto hasta Leonidas ahora han sido suprimidas y en el caso de algunas ya ni siquiera están disponibles desde los repositorios.

Algo ha cambiado. En cuestiones técnicas es mucho. Ya mencioné anteriormente cuáles son las novedades más importantes en una entrada llamada Avances en el desarrollo de Fedora 12 Constantine, sin embargo voy a volver a exponerlas aquí:

* Al ser una distribución tradicionalmente basada en GNOME se actualiza el entorno a la última versión estable 2.28. Por otro lado también se hace lo propio con KDE que pasa a actualizarce a la rama 4.3.x.

* Se ha implementado el entorno de escritorio Moblin para que Fedora 12 pueda correr el sistema en dispositivos móviles del tipo MID y tener un mejor control en las ultraportátiles, también llamadas Netbooks.

* La integración de Fedora Studio que no es más que un componente adicional para clasificar aplicaciones multimedia en subcategorías para un acceso más fácil y adecuado.

* Se ha trabajado en la mejora de las conexiones de red inalámbricas, con lo que ahora se tendrá un mayor control y poder de administración de las mismas. Esto está pensado directamente en el uso de las cada vez más populares y usadas tecnologías 3G, sumamente recomendable para la interacción con otros dispositivos móviles y conexión compartida con los mismos.

* Fedora 12 ahora permite montar servidores NFS en IPv6.

* La nueva función PackageKitCommandNotFound facilita la instalación de aplicaciones que no estén disponibles en el sistema. Esta es una función muy parecida o prácticamente igual a la que desde hace años dispone Ubuntu, que básicamente consiste en sugerir la instalación del paquete adecuado en caso de no ser encontrado en el sistema a la hora de tratar de ejecutarlo desde la consola. Por ejemplo, si abrimos la consola y tecleamos el siguiente comando: # aircrack-ng pero la aplicación no está instalada, esta función se encargará de sugerir la descarga e instalación del paquete en ese mismo instante. Por otro lado también incluirá una especie de corrector ortográfico que en caso de teclear mal un comando nos sugierirá ejecutar otro que bien puede ser el correcto. Por ejemplo, si al abrir la consola y querer establecer permisos de archivos y carpetas por medio de del comando # chmod los escribimos como # chomd esta función nos rectificará y sugerirá el uso del comando adecuado.

* Fedora 12 proporciona un soporte más amplio a un mayor número de cámaras web y mayores funcionalidades en vídeo.

* Se incluye en los repositorios la versión más reciente de el entorno de desarrollo NetBeans, la 6.7.

* El cliente de mensajería instantanea por default pasa a ser Empathy en lugar de Pidgin. Este parece ser un cambio importante. Empathy es parte del proyecto GNOME y como principales ventajas sobre Pidgin se encuentra la posibilidad de hacer videoconferencias y también la posibilidad de geolocalizar contactos.

Pueden leer las Notas de la versión completas desde el sitio web de Fedora Project.

Por parte de Fedora Project está disponible el anuncio de la disponibilidad de Fedora 12 con una síntesis de lo que podemos esperar en esta edición, así como un Tour de la características más importantes incluidas.

En el caso de Red Hat sí quiero transcribir el anuncio oficial de la disponiblidad de Fedora 12:

Fedora 12 Unites Latest Features and Usability Into Compelling Free Distribution

Community of Contributors Continues to Grow
Raleigh, NC – November 17, 2009 – The Fedora Project, a Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) sponsored and community-supported open source collaboration, today announced the availability of Fedora 12, the latest version of its free open source operating system distribution. Fedora 12 includes a robust feature set for desktop users, administrators, developers and open source enthusiasts alike. New enhancements available in Fedora 12 include next-generation Ogg Theora video, virtualization improvements and advancements to NetworkManager, among numerous others.

“Fedora always looks to include the latest cutting-edge features in its distribution and we believe that Fedora 12 stays true to this pattern, packing a lot of punch across its feature set,” said Paul Frields, Fedora Project Leader at Red Hat. “Our community of global contributors continues to expand, with about 25 percent growth in Fedora Accounts since the release of Fedora 11. We’ve also seen more than 2.3 million1 installations of Fedora 11 thus far, which is a 20 percent increase over the previous release.”

Notable feature enhancements in Fedora 12 are:

* Fedora 12 includes the new Theora 1.1, enhancing the quality of free video to better meet user expectations. Ogg Theora video in Fedora 12 delivers crisp, vibrant media, enabling users to stream and download high-definition video while using 100 percent free and open software, codecs and formats.

* Introduced in Fedora 7, NetworkManager has become the de facto network configuration solution for multiple distributions. Network Manager improvements in Fedora 12 make it easier for users to be online using mobile broadband, or configure servers or other special situations.

* Virtualization is an increasingly important part of IT infrastructures and the Fedora community has delivered a large number or virtualization-related features in Fedora 12 including better virtual disk performance and storage discovery, hot changes for virtual network interfaces, reduced memory consumption, and a modern network booting infrastructure. These new, higher-performance virtualization capabilities help administrators build more secure, powerful, scalable and easy to manage solutions.

Other features in Fedora 12 are PackageKit command-line and browser plugins; better file compression to save disk space and time; libguestfs, which lets administrators work directly with virtual guest machine disk images without booting those guests; SystemTap 1.0, with improvements to help developers trace and gather information for writing and debugging programs, as well as integration with the widely-used Eclipse IDE; and NetBeans 6.7.1. Learn more about all of the features in Fedora 12.

Fedora aims to deliver a complete operating system approximately every six months. In just under one year’s time, the Fedora community has released Fedora 11 and Fedora 12 which, when coupled together, deliver a very large and compelling feature set available for incorporation into other Linux distributions. Technologists looking to the future can preview functionality which may appear in future versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux in this release of Fedora.

The Fedora community is vibrant and continues to grow. In 2009, the community held fifteen Fedora Activity Day events across the globe. These are mini-conferences where Fedora experts gather to work on a specific set of tasks, ranging from developing new features and web applications, to showing new and existing contributors how to get involved in Fedora by working on simple tasks. During that same period the Fedora Project also held three Fedora Users and Developers Conferences (FUDCons) around the world, in Boston, Porto Alegre, and Berlin. Thanks to a focused effort by the community Ambassador leadership on mentoring, the Ambassador ranks continue to grow steadily, with almost 700 active members worldwide and Fedora 12 release parties planned around the world.

Finalmente, quiero dejarles un pequeño vídeo de presentación de esta nueva edición de Fedora. Vale la pena y pueden descargarlo desde aquí.

No queda más que esperar a ver lo que dice el tiempo de Fedora 12, si esta es una edición que marcará un cambio importante y sobretodo positivo, si por el contrario es negativo o si pasa sin pena ni gloria. Tengo firme la esperanza de que sea la primera, pero como digo, eso solo lo dirá el tiempo y sobretodo los usuarios una vez que podamos dar nuestro feedback personal.

Sitio Oficial de Fedora Project | Sitio Oficial de Red Hat | Descarga Fedora 12

Dear David,

So Baldy, Mad managed to both skewer and expose the truth of American Idol at the same time. Lucky for you this was published before you came onto the scene or you might be on it singing about how the Piggly Wiggly took your expired coupons.

It’s pretty funny, enjoy.

Day 67 – Ken here
(DEF v.1, ch.14 & 15, pp.440-450)

It’s late again – after midnight – just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done.

The age of Diocletian is getting dimmer and dimmer, as we begin today’s 10 pages, Constantine has been out-waiting his last imperial opponent (Licinius, emperor in Asia and Egypt) for 8 years after their 1st Civil war (Const. vs Lic. around 315). Now Constantine sees his chance, betting his strength in seasoned legions will counterbalance Licinius much greater wealth and larger armies. Constantine gathers a great force and marches through Thrace towards the Hellespont, Licinius waits with greater forces at a city that will be famous for another Roman slaughter in 50 years – Adrianople (Hadrianopolis).

And as we end chapter 14, we leave imperial history behind for 2 chapters and about 140 pages (actually the rest of volume 1), and venture into Gibbon’s long interlude about Christianity. He’s for it (Christianity that is), in a general, English, ecumenical, Enlightenment sort of way – as everyone knows, a Christian protestant religion serves to stabilize society. He also displays over and over again a typically English rabid anti-catholic bent – “Pope” is a dirty four letter word to Gibbon.

He’s mercilessly negative when it comes to hypocrisy, double-standards, and fuzzy reasoning in the early church (and the later church, actually). The inevitable, and vicious backlash that occurred after the first volume was printed in 1776 led to his 78 page Vindication (Feb 1779) (attached to the end of my volume 3) – an open letter to all his detractors (whom he names by name in the actual letter) with minute and exact treatments of their specific objections, all in inimitable Gibbon style. We’ll circle back to that after we finish the 1st volume.

The Story

Constantine wins empire (Chapter 14)

Famous Chapters (15 & 16) – Begin Gibbon On the Christian Religion (Chapter 15)

Constantia wife of Licinius, sister of Constantine - coin - her brother ended up killing her husband, although she got a city named after her 300 years later on the Black Sea

Martinianus - co-emperor with Licinius for a few months - a follis from 324 - had Licinius NOT elevated him, he would have lived much longer

This from Wiki:”In 324 the second civil war between Licinius and Constantine I was at its height, and Licinius was losing. Because of this war he decided to replace Constantine (in name only) as western Augustus. As his replacement he named Martinian co-emperor, as he had previously appointed Valens during his earlier war with Constantine. Prior to his elevation, which took place some time after the Battle of Adrianople (July 3, 324), Martinian was serving as magister officiorum at Licinius’ court. …Due to the intervention of Flavia Julia Constantia, Constantine’s sister and also Licinius’ wife, both Licinius and Martinian were initially spared, Licinius being imprisoned in Thessalonica, Martinian in Cappadocia. However, Constantine seems to have soon regretted his leniency as both men were subsequently executed, probably in the spring of 325.”

Constanţa - Casino on the pier of this city in the southwest Black Sea coast in Romania - named for Constantine's sister Constantia

Contrairement aux couscous très relevés des campagnes précédemment présentés, ceci est un couscous fin est blanc des villes.  Principalement de  Constantine et d’Annaba, servi indifféremment lors des fêtes ou des circonstances plus tristes. Il se caractérise par la finesse de ses graines, par la parcimonie de sa sauce blanche, les boulettes de viande hachée et les œufs durs qui le décorent. En absence d’épices et de légumes, le goût ici est assuré par la viande et par le beurre fermier qui enrobe la graine.

Ingrédients

500 g de couscous fin

500g de viande d’agneau du  collier ou de l’épaule

250g de viande hachée

2gros oignons

Une poignée de pois chiches

Œufs durs

Sel, poivre

Beurre fermier

Eau

Marche à suivre

-         Commencer par râper les oignons puis les faire égoutter et réserver leur eau à part

-         Mettre la viande dans une cocotte, ajouter les oignons mixés, le sel, le poivre et faire revenir dans une cuillère de smen à feu doux

-         Couvrir d’eau chaude, rajouter les pois chiches et laisser cuire

-         Mettre  le couscous dans un grand saladier et le couvrir d’eau fraiche pour le rincer. Egoutter rapidement et totalement et laisser reposer un moment pour  que les graines absorbent  l’eau.

        -Enduire les graines de couscous de deux cuillères à soupe    d’huile et les travailler délicatement du bout des doigts pour les séparer et les aérer afin d’éviter leur agglutination.

       -Remplir le keskes (haut du couscoussier) et le  placer sur le couscoussier plein d’eau bouillante

      -Laisser cuire 20 mn après échappement de la vapeur, vider le contenu du keskes dans un très grand plat, aérer avec une cuillère puis avec les  paumes des mains  

     -Arroser de l’eau d’oignon et d’un bol de sauce préalablement passée et de beurre

- Recouvrir et laisser s’imbiber de la sauce

   -Façonner des boulettes avec la viande hachée, le sel, le poivre et un peu de hachis d’oignon et les plonger dans la sauce et laisser cuire

   – Remettre le couscous à cuire à la vapeur pour 15mn

   -Retirer le couscous, l’aérer, l’enduire de beurre fermier, le servir dans un plat creux, le garnir de viande, pois chiches, boulettes et les œufs durs en quartiers

   – Présenter à part la sauce dans une saucière

Source : Ancestral constantinois 1 d’Assia D

Plus que quelques heures pour envoyer vos couscous!!

Why do Roman women have this fixation or obsession with the letter, ‘a’? Does it have some religious significance of its own or what? Is it a totem of good fortune and prosperity? I am quite surprised that Historians had not stumbled across this fact earlier on. Maybe they have and have chosen to keep Mum over the whole issue. All the names of Female Aristocrats in the Roman society end with the letter ‘a’. Check out the names of the spouses of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine, the Great. Here are a few samples.

Livia(Augustus),Julia(Tiberius),Caesonia(Caligula),Messalina(Claudius),Poppaea Sabina(Nero),Domitia(Domitian),Plotina(Trajanus),Faustina(Antoninus Pius),Faustina(Aurelius),Marcia(Commodus),Sabina(Hadrian),Julia(Septimius Severus),Severa(Philip),Cornelia Paula(Elagabalus)and Fausta(Constantine, the Great).

Roman society was Patriarchal in nature. It was chauvinistic and biased against women. They could not be educated and were barred from the arts of Law, Medicine, Philosophy and the Classics. There were no female versions of Virgil, Cicero, Pliny (Elder and Younger), Suetonius and Dio Cassius.They could not bear arms and were banned from serving in the Roman legions. They could not hold the administrative positions of Aedile or Duovir.and could not be admitted to the sacred and exclusive cult of Mithras.Bluntly Put, Roman women were second class citizens in the Empire.

However, Roman women were fiercely independent in words and actions. Within the family, women played an important role in childbearing and the management of the household. They controlled the purse stings and purchased goods for consumption by the family. They took loans when necessary to balance the accounts and budgets of the family.

They played the dual roles of managers and advisers to their husbands who were often away from home in defense of the empire and realm. Part of the duties included control over slaves who performed many domestic tasks Roman women were noted for their strength and loyalty, but also for their sexual freedom.

Although Adultery was punishable by death or exile, most chose to take the risk of discovery and ruin. Augustus’s daughter, Julia was extremely promiscuous and was renowned for her escapades at the forum. When she was asked how she managed to bear children that resembled her husbands, she replied; “I only take in passengers when the boat is full”. Octavian was so distraught about her wantonness; he seriously considered putting her to death because of the strict Julian Marriage laws in force at the time. He settled on exile, but she was later starved to death on the orders of her former husband, Tiberius.

Domitian (Dominus et Deus) murdered the actor, Paris because of his affair with his wife, Domitia.She was sent into exile on account of this.Septimius Severus turned a blind eye to the affairs of his wife, Julia.She committed incest with his successor and son, Caracalla.Hadrian’s wife, Sabina was to take for a lover, a slave in retaliation for her husband’s infatuation with the Greek boy, Antinous.

Roman women also had rights under the common and civil laws. They could not be bought or sold into slavery unless they had been convicted of a serious offence (like treason). They could own property. (Vespasian’s wife came into the marriage with a sizable dowry).They could divorce their husbands and could not be put to death without full recourse of the law.

Roman women were also Kingmakers. They pulled the puppet strings, advising their men folks on matters of the state. Until Nero had his mother, Agrippina stabbed to death; she held considerable sway and Nero had to seek her consent in making important appointments of state. The priestess, Acte controlled Nero and Suetonius in his biography, The Private Lives of the Twelve Caesars, describes her as an evil genius who had a deep hold over the emperor.

Hadrian became Emperor under the machinations of Plotina (Trajanus’s widow).She forged a will naming him as heir and successor to Trajan who had died on his way to Rome from his Parthian Campaign. She even went as far as getting an actor to mimic the feeble voice of her husband. The Roman senate accepted this deception and proclaimed Hadrian as emperor of Rome.

Under Elagabalus, Roman law was amended to give women entrance to Senate meetings and deliberations at the Capitol. This was a revolution for the times, unheard of and was at the instigation of the two Julias (Maesa and Domna).There was a return to the status quo after the assassination of Elagabalus by the Praetorian guards. When the Roman general, Avidius Cassius rose in rebellion against Marcus Aurelius, the emperor’s wife took matters into her hands and wrote a letter urging her husband to deal harshly with the insurgency.Faustina’s ploy worked.Avidius was declared an enemy of the state and put to death on the orders of the Roman senate.

Most of the gods that the Romans chose to worship had a female gender.Venus; Aphrodite, Isis, Earth and Minerva were eagerly sought by the Romans for protection and good luck. The night that Emperor Domitian (Dominus et Deus) was struck down by assassins, he dreamt that Minerva told him that she could no longer guard him because she had been disarmed by Jupiter.

The functions of worship were carried out by women. The priestesses of Isis (the goddess of fertility) were women. So also were the renowned Vestal virgins of Rome. The public processions across Rome were led by women priests. The emperor, Domitian (Dominus et Deus) added a new spice to gladiatorial fights at the Colosseum by admitting members of the fairer sex to participate.

Emperor Elagabalus was so enamored with the physiology of women that he sought a sex change and offered huge sums of money to any surgeon who could alter his appearance and give him female genitalia.His attempts came to naught.

The advent of the new religion of Christianity did not improve the lot of women in the empire.St Paul was to write in his letters to the Corinthians that Women were to keep silence and leave all matters to their husbands.

Even the ruin of Rome was predicated on the whims of a Princess who had been caught in the act of adultery with a page boy who was put to death. This infuriated the fiery princess who invited Attila the Hun to ravage Rome. He took her up on the offer.