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Thread: Duke the menace

  1. #161
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    Re: Duke the menace

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    Duke
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  2. #162
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    Re: Duke the menace

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  3. #163
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    Re: Duke the menace

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  4. #164
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    Re: Duke the menace

    Yes I am a real menace for a lot of people. For I see that most of the world is imprisoned for they own brain, attached to their reality and unable to see fantasy as the freedom of the mind.

    The most intriguing is that fantasy as always making me see the world for a better and more consistent point of view, a more real world. A more complete world, so to say.

    The more I fantasize about one thing the better I understand that thing and those who have denied themselves the dream and fantasies live a life so far from reality that didn't make sense for me. Without fantasy they live apart from reality.

    I am a free man and I begin being free in my brain and will free all I can, in order they can make a nice journey with me in the freedom of fantasy.

    As a prisoner of war I will flee and take as many as I can with me, that is my duty.

    Fantasy Duke
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  5. #165
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    Re: Duke the menace

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    Duke
    Last edited by Duke of Buckingham; 08-13-12 at 08:53 AM.
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  6. #166
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    Re: Duke the menace

    Battle of Aljubarrota

    The Battle of Aljubarrota (Portuguese pronunciation: [aɫʒuβɐˈʁotɐ]) was a battle fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his general Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of English allies, opposed the army of King John I of Castile with its Aragonese, Italian and French allies at São Jorge place, between the towns of Leiria and Alcobaça, in central Portugal. The result was a decisive victory for the Portuguese, ruling out Castilian ambitions to the Portuguese throne, ending the 1383-1385 Crisis and assuring John as King of Portugal.

    Portuguese independence was confirmed and a new dynasty, the House of Aviz, was established. Scattered border confrontations with Castilian troops would persist until the death of John I of Castile in 1390, but these posed no real threat to the new dynasty. To celebrate his victory and acknowledge divine help, John I of Portugal ordered the construction of the monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória na Batalha and the founding of the town of Batalha (Portuguese for "battle", Portuguese pronunciation: [bɐˈtaʎɐ]). The king, his wife Philippa of Lancaster, and several of his sons are buried in this monastery, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


    The Battle

    The initiative of starting the battle was with the Castilian side. The French allied heavy cavalry charged, as they were accustomed to do, in full strength, in order to disrupt order in the enemy lines. Even before they could get into contact with the Portuguese infantry, however, they were already disorganized. Just as at Crécy, the defending archers and crossbowmen, along with the ditches and pits, did most of the work. The losses of the cavalry were heavy and the effect of its attack completely null. Support from the Castilian rear was late to come and the knights that did not perish in the combat were made prisoners and sent to the Portuguese rear.

    At this point the main Castilian force entered the battle. Their line was enormous, due to the great number of soldiers. In order to get to the Portuguese line, the Castilians became disorganized, squeezing into the space between the two creeks that protected the flanks; it was not an auspicious start. At this time, the Portuguese reorganized. The vanguard of Nuno Álvares Pereira divided into two sectors. Since the worst was still to come, John of Portugal ordered the archers and crossbowmen to retire, while his rear troops advanced through the space opened between the vanguards. With all his troops needed at the front, there were no men available to guard the knight prisoners; John of Portugal ordered them to be killed on the spot and proceeded to deal with the approaching Castilians.

    Advancing uphill with the sun on their backs, squashed between the funnelling Portuguese defensive works and their own advancing rear, and under a heavy rain of English longbowmen's arrows shot from behind the Portuguese line and crossbow quarrels from behind both the Sweethearts' and the Honeysuckle wings on their flanks, the Castilians did their best to win the day. The Castilian knights on the main body were forced to dismount and break in half their unwieldy four metre-long lances in order to join the constricted melèe alongside their infantry. At this stage of the battle, both sides sustained heavy losses, especially on the "Ala dos Namorados" where the Portuguese students became renowned for holding off the heavily armoured knights of the Castilian wings who, still on horseback, attempted to flank the Portuguese lines. A similar attack was more successful on the right "Honeysucle" flank, though only briefly and late in the fight.

    By sunset, only one hour after the battle began, the Castilian position was indefensible and the situation quite desperate. When the Castilian royal standard-bearer fell, the already demoralized troops on the rear thought their King was dead and started to flee in panic; in a matter of moments this became a general rout where Juan of Castile himself had to run at full speed to save his life, leaving behind not only common soldiers but also many still dismounted noblemen. The Portuguese pursued them down the hill and, with the battle won, killed many more while there was still light enough to see the enemy.


    Aftermath


    During the night and throughout the next day, as many as 5000 more Castilians were killed by the neighbouring towns' villagers; according to Portuguese tradition surrounding the battle, there was a woman called Brites de Almeida, the Padeira of Aljubarrota (the baker-woman of Aljubarrota), said to be very tall, strong, and to possess six fingers on each hand, who ambushed and killed by herself eight Castilian soldiers as they stormed her bakery in the town of Aljubarrota itself. This story in particular is clouded in legend and hearsay. But the popular intervention in the massacre of Castilian troops after the battle is, nevertheless, historical and typical of battles in this period.

    In the morning of the following day, the true dimension of the battle was revealed: in the field, the bodies of Castilians were enough to dam the creeks surrounding the small hill. In face of this, the Portuguese King offered the enemy survivors an amnesty and free transit home; an official mourning was decreed in Castile that would last until the Christmas of 1387. The French cavalry contingent suffered yet another defeat (after Crécy and Poitiers) by English defensive tactics. The battle of Agincourt decades later would show that they still had a lesson to learn.

    In October 1385, Nuno Álvares Pereira led a pre-emptive attack against Mérida, in Castilian territory, defeating an even larger Castilian army than at Aljubarrota in the battle of Valverde, in Valverde de Mérida. Scattered border skirmishes with Castilian troops would persist for five years more until the death of John I of Castile in 1390, but posed no real threat to the Portuguese crown; recognition from Castile would arrive only in 1411 with the signature of the Treaty of Ayllón (Segovia).

    As stated above this victory assured that John of Aviz was the uncontested King of Portugal and the House of Aviz ascended to the crown of Portugal. In 1386, the closeness of relations between Portugal and England resulted in a permanent military alliance with the Treaty of Windsor, the eldest still active in existence. His marriage to Philippa of Lancaster in 1387 initiated the Portuguese second dynasty, and their children went on to make historically significant contributions in their own right. Duarte, or Edward of Portugal, became the eleventh King of Portugal, and was known as "The Philosopher" and "The Eloquent". Henrique, or Henry the Navigator, sponsored expeditions to Africa.


    The end of the 14th century in Europe was a time of revolution and crisis, with the Hundred Years' War devastating France, the Black Death decimating the continent, and famine afflicting the poor. Portugal was no exception. In October 1383, King Ferdinand I of Portugal died with no son to inherit the crown. The only child of his marriage with Leonor Telles de Menezes was a girl, Princess Beatrice of Portugal.

    In April of that same year the King signed the Treaty of Salvaterra de Magos with King Juan I of Castile. The treaty determined that Princess Beatrice was to marry Juan I, king of Castile, and the Crown of Portugal would belong to the descendants of this union. This situation left the majority of the Portuguese discontent, and the Portuguese nobility was unwilling to support the claim of the princess because that could mean the incorporation of Portugal to Castile[a]; also the powerful merchants of the capital, Lisbon, were enraged from being excluded from the negotiations. Without an undisputed option, Portugal remained without king between 1383 and 1385, in an interregnum known as the 1383–1385 Crisis.

    The first clear act of hostility was taken in December 1383 by the faction of John (João), the Grand Master of the Aviz Order (and a natural son of Peter I of Portugal), with the murder of Count Andeiro. This prompted the Lisbon merchants to name him "rector and defender of the realm". However, the Castilian king would not relinquish his and his wife's claims to the throne. In an effort to normalize the situation and secure the crown for him or Beatrice, he forced Leonor to abdicate from the regency. In April 1384, in Alentejo, a punitive expedition was promptly defeated by Nuno Álvares Pereira, leading a much smaller Portuguese army at the Battle of Atoleiros. This marked the first use of English defensive tactics on the Iberian peninsula, reportedly without any casualties to the Portuguese. A larger second expedition led by the Castilian king himself reached and besieged Lisbon for four months before being forced to retreat by a shortage of food supplies due to harassment from Nuno Álvares Pereira, and the bubonic plague.

    In order to secure his claim, John of Aviz engaged in politics and intense diplomatic negotiations with both the Holy See and England. On 6 April 1385, (the anniversary of the "miraculous" battle of Atoleiros, a fortuitous date), the council of the kingdom (cortes in Portuguese) assembled in Coimbra and declared him King John I of Portugal. After his accession to the throne, John I of Portugal proceeded to annex the cities in whose military commanders supported Princess Beatrice and her husband's claims, namely Caminha, Braga and Guimarães among others.

    Enraged by this "rebellion", Juan I ordered a host of 31,000 men to engage in a two-pronged invasion in May. The smaller Northern force sacked and burnt populations along the border, including the open city of Viseu, before being defeated by local Portuguese nobles in the battle of Trancoso, on the first week of June. On the news of the invasion by the Castilians, John I of Portugal's army met with Nuno Álvares Pereira, the Constable of Portugal, in the town of Tomar. There, they decided to face the enemy in battle, before they could get close to Lisbon and besiege it again.

    Along with its English allies who arrived on the 1385 Easter, consisting of a company of about 100 English longbowmen, veterans from the Hundred Years War, sent to honor the 1373 alliance (presently the oldest active treaty in the world). The Portuguese set out to intercept the invading army near the town of Leiria. Nuno Álvares Pereira took the task of choosing the ground for the battle. The chosen location was São Jorge near Aljubarrota, in a small flattened hill surrounded by creeks, with the very small settlement of Chão da Feira (Fair's Ground) at its widest point, still present today.



    Monastery of Batalha
    The Dominican Monastery of Batalha is the most significant testimony to the Portuguese Gothic style. It was built at the end of the 14th century with patronage from King João I, in memory of the battle of Aljubarrota. This vast complex, which is a royal Pantheon, is an excellent example of the evolution of medieval architecture up to the 16th century, from the innovative experience of the late Gothic to the Manueline decorative exuberance. Located in the historic centre of Batalha, the Monastery is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
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  7. #167
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    Re: Duke the menace

    Woodstock


    Woodstock Music & Art Fair (informally, Woodstock or The Woodstock Festival) was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre (2.4 km²; 240 ha, 0.94 mi²) dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969. Bethel, in Sullivan County, is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, in adjoining Ulster County.

    During the sometimes rainy weekend, thirty-two acts performed outdoors in front of 500,000 concert-goers. It is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history. Rolling Stone called it one of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.

    The event was captured in the 1970 documentary movie Woodstock, an accompanying soundtrack album, and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which commemorated the event and became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.


    The festival


    The influx of attendees to the rural concert site in Bethel created a massive traffic jam. Fearing chaos as thousands began descending on the community, Bethel did not enforce its codes. Eventually, announcements on radio stations as far away as WNEW-FM in Manhattan and descriptions of the traffic jams on television news programs discouraged people from setting off to the festival. Arlo Guthrie made an announcement that was included in the film saying that the New York State Thruway was closed. The director of the Woodstock museum discussed below said this never occurred. To add to the problems and difficulty in dealing with the large crowds, recent rains had caused muddy roads and fields. The facilities were not equipped to provide sanitation or first aid for the number of people attending; hundreds of thousands found themselves in a struggle against bad weather, food shortages, and poor sanitation.

    On the morning of Sunday, August 17, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller called festival organizer John Roberts and told him he was thinking of ordering 10,000 New York State National Guard troops to the festival. Roberts was successful in persuading Rockefeller not to do this. Sullivan County declared a state of emergency.

    Jimi Hendrix was the last act to perform at the festival. Because of the rain delays that Sunday, when Hendrix finally took the stage it was 8:30 am Monday morning. The audience which had peaked at an estimated 400,000 people during the festival, was now reduced to about 30–40,000 by that point; many of whom merely waited to catch a glimpse of Hendrix before leaving during his show.

    Hendrix and his band performed a two hour set. His psychedelic rendition of the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" occurred about 3/4 into their set (after which he morphed into "Purple Haze"). The song would become "part of the sixties Zeitgeist" as it was captured forever in the Woodstock film; Hendrix's image performing this number wearing a blue-beaded white leather jacket with fringe and a red head scarf, has since been regarded as a defining moment of the 1960s.

    Although the festival was remarkably peaceful given the number of people and the conditions involved, there were two recorded fatalities: one from what was believed to be a heroin overdose and another caused in an accident when a tractor ran over an attendee sleeping in a nearby hayfield. There also were two births recorded at the event (one in a car caught in traffic and another in a hospital after an airlift by helicopter) and four miscarriages. Oral testimony in the film supports the overdose and run-over deaths and at least one birth, along with many logistical headaches.

    Yet, in tune with the idealistic hopes of the 1960s, Woodstock satisfied most attendees. There was a sense of social harmony, which, with the quality of music, and the overwhelming mass of people, many sporting bohemian dress, behavior, and attitudes helped to make it one of the enduring events of the century.

    After the concert, Max Yasgur, who owned the site of the event, saw it as a victory of peace and love. He spoke of how nearly half a million people filled with possibilities of disaster, riot, looting, and catastrophe spent the three days with music and peace on their minds. He states that "if we join them, we can turn those adversities that are the problems of America today into a hope for a brighter and more peaceful future..."


    Sound


    Sound for the concert was engineered by Bill Hanley, whose innovations in the sound industry have earned him the prestigious Parnelli Award. "It worked very well," he says of the event. "I built special speaker columns on the hills and had 16 loudspeaker arrays in a square platform going up to the hill on 70-foot [21 meter] towers. We set it up for 150,000 to 200,000 people. Of course, 500,000 showed up." ALTEC designed 4×15" marine ply cabinets that weighed in at half a ton apiece, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, almost 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, and 3 feet (0.91 m) wide. Each of these enclosures carried four 15-inch (380 mm) JBL D140 loudspeakers. The tweeters consisted of 4×2-Cell & 2×10-Cell Altec Horns. Behind the stage were three transformers providing 2,000 amperes of current to power the amplification setup.[26] For many years this system was collectively referred to as the Woodstock Bins.


    Performing artists

    Friday, August 15 – Saturday, August 16

    Richie Havens
    Swami Satchidananda
    Sweetwater
    Bert Sommer
    Tim Hardin
    Ravi Shankar
    Melanie
    Arlo Guthrie
    Joan Baez

    Saturday, August 16 – Sunday, August 17

    Quill
    Country Joe McDonald
    Santana
    John Sebastian
    Keef Hartley Band
    The Incredible String Band
    Canned Heat
    Mountain
    Grateful Dead
    Creedence Clearwater Revival
    Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band[28]
    Sly & the Family Stone
    The Who
    Jefferson Airplane 8:00 am – 9:40 am

    Sunday, August 17 – Monday, August 18

    Joe Cocker and The Grease Band
    Country Joe and the Fish
    Ten Years After
    The Band
    Johnny Winter
    Blood, Sweat & Tears
    Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
    Paul Butterfield Blues Band
    Sha Na Na
    Jimi Hendrix / Band of Gypsys


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  8. #168
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    Re: Duke the menace

    Cultivate solitude and quiet and a few sincere friends, rather than mob merriment, noise and thousands of nodding acquaintances.
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  9. #169
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    Re: Duke the menace

    My back is killing me.



    Duke
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  10. #170
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    Re: Duke the menace

    Quote Originally Posted by Duke of Buckingham View Post
    My back is killing me.



    Duke
    The penguin looks fine to me. Feel better DUUUUUUKE!!!



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