Saturday, February 2, 2013

The Double-Headed Eagle


The Double-Headed Eagle

I am trying to get through David Starkey's Churchills on Channel Four, and I noticed that the emblem of the family is a double- headed Eagle.  I have always loved that symbol.  I have always loved that symbol.  I am Greek Orthodox, and the emblem of the church has a double-headed eagle, which was borrowed from the Byzantine Empire.

The double-headed eagle is a common symbol in heraldry and vexillology. It is most commonly associated with the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire and their successor states. In Byzantine heraldry, the heads represent the dual sovereignty of the Emperor (secular and religious) and/or dominance of the Byzantine Emperors over both East and West. In the Holy Roman Empire's heraldry, it represented the church and the state. Several Eastern European nations adopted it from the Byzantines and continue to use it as their national symbol to this day.
Frankly, I think the church's symbol isn't as pretty as some that I have seen.  Here is one that was used by Russia, which I find attractive:

The one you usually seen used by the church isn't muscular like Russia's, but looks like it could afford to lose a few pounds.

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Antinous


Antinous

Here is a statue of Antinous, which now resides in Berlin.  Antinous was born to a Greek family in what is now north-west Turkey, and joined the entourage of the emperor Hadrian at a young age. He is frequently described and depicted as a beautiful boy and youth. The relationship is believed to have been sexual.

Antinous drowned in the Nile in October 130. The death was presented as an accident, "but it was believed at the time that Antinous had been sacrificed or had sacrificed himself," and Hadrian "wept for him like a woman." Hadrian went through the process of deifying him soon afterwards, a process previously exclusively reserved for imperial family members rather than friends or lovers of non-Roman origin.


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Pergamon


Pergamon


Pergamon (or Pergamum) was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, located 16 miles (26 km) from the Aegean Sea that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC. Pergamon is cited in the book of Revelation as one of the seven churches of Asia.

The following is a picture o fhe frieze of the Pergamon Altar which was "recovered" between 1878 and 1886 and now resides in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.


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Homer's Greece


Homer's Greece


The following is a map of Homer's Greece. At the bottom right, you will see my favorite Greek island, Symi (Syme).  According to Homer, King Nereus led three ships from Symi to the Trojan Wars.





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Monday, January 21, 2013

File Lockers


This is my current experience with file lockers:

  • Mediafire is very fast and reliable.
  • Zippyshare is very fast and reliable.
  • Mega is very fast and reliable. It allows multiple downloads, which is great. 
  • Bitshare is can be very fast and reliable.  Sometimes it is just fast.
  • Megashares is very fast, but it is hard to find a download slot. ...You have to keep trying. You also have to wait 2 hours to download another episode.
  • Uploading is fast and reliable.
  • Freakshare is fast and reliable.
  • Filefactory is fast and reliable.
  • Ultramegabit  is fast and reliable.
  • Fileparadox  is fast and reliable.
  • Sendspace  is not very fast, but it is reliable.
  • Uploaded is not very fast, but it is reliable.
  • Ryushare is not very fast, but it is reliable.
  • Fileparadox is not very fast.
  • Sharesix is not very fast.
  • Lumfile is not very fast.
  • Asfile is not very fast. Sometimes it doesn't download a big file completely, but if I keep my downloads to one big file a day, I may not have that problem.
  • Putlocker is not very fast, but you can do multiple downloads.
  • Blizfiles is not very fast.
  • Cloudzer is slow.
  • Rapidgator is slow, and sometimes it doesn't download an episode completely. 
  • Rapidshare is slow, but reliable. The last time that I used Rapidshare, however, the download was very fast. Unfortunately, episodes are removed very quickly. Because the links are taken down so quickly, only recently posted links are worthwhile.


Avoid :

  • Netload  - It never downloads an episode completely. 
  • Billionuploads  - It gives you an .EXE file.
  • Uploadcore  - It gives you an .EXE file.
  • Putlocker  - It gives you an .EXE file.
  • Cyberlocker  - It requres an account. 
  • Datacloud  - Alot of advertising and no file to download. 
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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Links

Important Tools 

Skydrive.live.com - Microsoft Office Apps
CSULB - Webmail
Keepvid.com - YouTube
FVD Video Downloader (For Chrome)
California Documents - First American Title
California Documents - LA County Recorder
LA County - Tax Assessor Parcel Information
Places Please
Sigalert
Daily Kos
Google News
Yahoo News
PBS Political Wrap
Inside Washington
TV Newser
MSNBC (Click On Video)
Real Clear Politics
Talking Points Memo
Mother Jones
Huffington Post - Pollster
Five Thirty Eight (Nate Silver)
USA Today
Filmon.com - CBS Evening News
Buzz Feed

Bookmarks - Important Information 
California VLF Calculator - DMV - Income Taxes
Koch Brother Products To Avoid
Recreate DVD From VOBs
CSULB - Webmail
Experian Tenant Screening
How To Thread A Singer Sewing Machine
How To Remove Windows Log-on Screen

Bookmarks - Shopping

Being Human
Call The Midwife
DCI Banks
Death In Paradise
Endeavour
Father Brown
George Gently
Great Houses With Julian Fellowes
The Hour
Lewis
Marple: Julia McKenzie
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders (2)
Miranda
Murdoch Mysteries
New Tricks
Poirot
Ripper Street
Sherlock
Silent Witness
Vera
Wallander
Whitechapel

Bookmarks - Downloads

Keepvid.com - YouTube
The Paradox
Gelo - Mismusicales.Blogspot.com/









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Sunday, July 1, 2012

Free Software

The following is a list of software that I have useful at different times.  I just bought a new computer, and having this listing made it easy for me to find and install the programs on it.

 General Programs

  • Nitro Reader Three. This program is a free PDF Reader and Writer. When you download it from the publisher, there does not seem to be any spam, adware or other programs installed.

Video and Audio Programs


Freemake Video Converter 

  • I used to love this program. Not only does it easily convert videos from one format to another, but it will take a video files (or multiple files) and create DVD folders that I can use to burn DVDs (using Imgburn).  It also joins files together, and it extracts mp3 files from video files.

    The reason why I have become disappointed with this program is that when it makes a DVD sometimes the video freezes (but the audio plays fine).  I then have to play with converting the program to a new format to fix the problem.

Handbrake

  • I love this program. It rips a mp4 video from a commercial DVD. Change the extension to mp4 after it is done.  There is no watermark.

Spesoft Free Text To MP3 Speaker 

  • I love this program. It creates an mp3 file out of text.

Atube-catcher

  • I love this program. I can't get it to download the streaming video, but it has a great Screen Recorder.  I have been able to record a video playing on the PBS website.  It can create DVD iso images and burn DVDs.  

Imgburn

  • I love this program. This program allows you to burn a DVD from a DVD foler (VIDEO_TS) or from an ISO file.  If you need an ISO file, it can create one from a DVD.
7-Zip

  • I love this program. I am often given video files that have been separated into parts and compressed.  This program will join and decompress the files.  All I have to do is click on the first file and 7-zip does the rest.  

DVD Fab Decrypter
  • This program supposedly lets you ripper the Video_TS folder from a commercial DVD. I used it to rip a UK commercial DVD, but it leaves a large watermark.

Winrar
  • I sometimes get a set of 7z files, which are separated and compressed.  I haven't been able to get 7-zip to handles these files yet. (I am sure that 7-Zip does handle these files, but I am doing something wrong.) Winrar joins and decompresses these files for me.  I just click on the zip file, and Winrar does the rest.

Windows Live Movie Maker
  • I love this program. This program allows you to edit videos and make WMV files.  I like that it lets you substitute an audio file for the audio track already in the video.  It also lets you blend the two audio files.  
Audacity
  • I love this program. This program allows you to modify audio files and to convert them from one format to another. 
Vobedit
  • This program allows you to create a DVD from VOB files.  It works with Ifoedit.  Among my links (at the top of the Blog), you can find a tutorial on how to do this. 
Ifoedit
  • This program allows you to create a DVD from VOB files.  It works with Vobedit.  Among my links (at the top of the Blog), you can find a tutorial on how to do this. 
Dvdstyler
  • This program lets you create DVDs from video files.  It allows you to add hard subtitles to your video if you have a subtitle file. This is what I use it for.  Otherwise, I find Freemake Video Converter easier to use.
Hjsplit.exe
  • You can use this program to separate video files into smaller files, and then join them back into the original file.  It comes it handy in uploading larger video files to filelockers. 
Dvdflick
  • This program lets you create DVDs from video files.
Format Factory
  • This program converts videos from one format to another. 
Yaai.exe
  • This program supposedly allows you to try to correct audio sync problems in your video files. I haven't had a lot of success with this file, but I still thought that I would list it.
Avidemux
  • This is a highly regarded program that allows you to edit videos.  It is too complicated for me.
Freestudio
  • This suite of freeware programs has a lot of programs that can be useful in editing and burning DVDs and CDs.  
Freevideotomp3converter
  • This program will extract the audio from a video file and create an mp3 file.  It can be useful if Freemake is causing you problems.  
Freevideotomp3converter
  • This program will extract the audio from a video file and create an mp3 file.  It can be useful if Freemake is causing you problems.
  • This program unzips files.  Get the non-commercial free version.
  • This program looks a lot like ImgBurn.  I noticed that it allows you to create an audio CD from audio files.
  • I haven't used this yet, but it says that the audio burning software never expires.
  • I to download videos from YouTube with KeepVid, but for non-YouTube videos, I have had a lot of luck with this Firefox add-on. Of course, you will have to install Firefox first.

Free Media Players:


  • This program is a free video player.
Vlcmediaplayer

  • This program is a free video player.
Kmplayer

  • This program is a free video player.
Free Anti-Virus and Malware Programs:

Avast

  • This is a free anti-virus and malware program.

CCleaner

  • This is a free registry cleaning and malware program.

Spybot Search and Destroy

  • This is a free malware program.
AVG

  • This is a free anti-virus and malware program.
Malwarebytes
  • This is a free malware program.
Windows Security Essentials
  • This is a free anti-virus and malware program.
Adaware
  • This is a free malware program.
Free Anti-Virus and Malware Programs:


Eudora OSE
  • This is a free email program.  It is a refinement on Mozilla Thunderbird.  I enjoy it.
Mozilla Thunderbird
  • This is a free email program.
AOL Press
  • This program only works with 32-bit Windows. AOL Press is a wonderful WYSIWYG HTML Editor.
Artweaver Free
  • This program a free art program. If you need to do art that is beyond the Windows Paint program, this usually does it. 




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