Everyone remembers their first Lego set. I recall being exceedingly jealous of my brother when he was given his first set at age eight. At just three years old, this must be my earliest memory. It was Christmas time and both of us had an excitingly large package each under the Christmas tree. After much shaking, it still had not dawned on either of us exactly what lay within the parcels. As one can imagine, Christmas morning started very early for the pair of us, to the dismay of our slumbering parents. Rushing to their bed to startle them into activity, my brother and I then raced to the Christmas tree to solve the mystery of the parcels once and for all.
My brother’s package was the first to be opened, he having the benefit of extra years to endow him with greater dexterity. Out of the red and green wrapping paper emerged a Lego set, greeted by our open mouths and followed quickly by my brother’s squeals of excitement. Pressed with a greater urgency to now unveil my personal Lego set, I ripped open the wrapping paper which lay between me and my prize. Out fell, no lego ninjago, but a box of crayons.
Saturn Devouring His Son is perhaps the best known of all Goya’s Black Paintings. The painting portrays the Roman god Saturn eating one of his children, it is rather gruesome! The Roman story dictates that Saturn, upon hearing a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him, ate his two children upon their birth to prevent the prophecy coming to fruition. Goya depicts Saturn’s act of cannibalism with horrific savagery.
There is no colocation of this painting. Only one version was ever painted and it was painted on the wall of Goya’s home, the Quinta del Sordo. Whilst the background is black, the limbs and head of Saturn seem to emerge from the shadows. Saturn’s eyes are rather scary, big and bulging from his head as though he were mad. The head and right arm of the child that he is consuming have already been eaten and the only use of colour except for the flesh-tones is the red blood with covers the mutilated upper part of the motionless body which is depicted is a chilling deathly white.
My first contact with Gu10 mounts for light bulbs was when I bought a bathroom cupboard with a mirror and a Gu10 mount attached to it. This small light was a fantastic thing to have when shaving because unlike the regular light bulb that is hanging from the ceiling of my bathroom, this one shines extra light on my face when turned on instead of just making shadows there where I need to see most clearly.
But when I found out that the Gu10 mount and the LED light bulbs that can be used with it can also be turned up and down by means of a potentiometer, instead of just being turned on and off, I decided that I want to have my whole home lit by these little suckers. I was also quite happy when I found out that Gu10 mounts and lights save power and by that also cash which is after all one of the most important considerations in this crappy capitalist world that we live in.
Also, if you want a happier perspective on this whole thing, they are eco friendly because consuming less power means consuming fewer natural resources. If you consider yourself an eco friendly person and you want to reduce your carbon footprint on this world, you will definitely want to consider introducing these bulbs in your home or business office. You will also want to do so if you want to have a lighting solution that not only looks cool but is also very pleasant to the eyes.
An aggressive resurgence of the near-dormant conflict in the North Caucasus coincided with Putin’s rise to public office in August 1999. The conflict resurged when a number of Chechans invaded a neighbouring region which heralded the start of the War in Dagestan. Putin’s tough handling of the war forged his public image in both Russia and abroad. On December 31st 1999 Putin went on a trip to visit Russian troops in Chechnya. A controversial referendum was held in 2003 which led to Chechnya adopting a new constitution which declared the Republic to be part of Russia. Gradually, Chechnya became stabilized through the adoption of parliamentary elections and the establishment of a regional government. Although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus, the war severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, not led strip lights.
Putin pledged his support to the newly formed Unity Party which went on to win the second largest amount of the popular vote in the Duma elections of December 1999. His support of the Unity Party understandably led to the Party’s support of him.
There are now only six days, nine hours and fifteen minutes until Christmas 2011!
I'm so excited for Christmas morning, mainly because it will be my first day off in a 9 days working stretch, but also because I love Christmas and can't wait to give my family all their gifts! I love Christmas morning, no matter how old we all get it's always so nice to give and receive gifts, though as you get older I do think that you enjoy giving them more I think, well I do anyway!
I've got quite decent Christmas presents for my family this year which I'm pretty chuffed about. I've bought my Mum a new handbag, my Dad the box set of The Wire, which will last him a good while, and I got my brother an r4 card which I'm kitting out with stuff before I give him it. Roll on Christmas Day!
Photo: maureen_sill (Flickr)