Contemporary witches;

The three witches;  

Cast; Margaret Thatcher; Madeleine Albright; Hilary Clinton; 

(A fourth witch in waiting, Angela Merkel.)

There are so many around, have been around, and are still emerging;  Nasty women abound when it comes to politics; 

They are stirring the pot with mighty spoons;

In go the ingredients.

Lies upon lies, polished with a smile and an ice cold heart.

In go thick slabs of deceit and arrogance  delivered with  flourish and Pearls around their necks.

A good serve of venom from their lips plus cunning to thicken the broth;

Adding iniquity and covetousness;

Spice it with malice and slander, 

Ready to be delivered to the hungry!

 For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 

Double, double toil and trouble; 

    Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 

Macbeth; William Shakespeare.

Thatcher, you might like to know that she was also a very, very close friend with General Augusto Pinochet, fascist President of Chile who was responsible for the deaths and torture of tens of thousands of Chilean people, all of which Thatcher wholeheartedly endorsed!

Madeleine Albright confronted on New World Order WAR crimes - ONE MILLION CHILDREN DEAD! She looks like a witch and acted like a witch.

Hillary Clinton "She who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a criminal". Bertolt Brecht

©Titania

Science;

Scientist creates lifelike cells out of metal
Researcher says he has created living cells made of metal instead of carbon — and they may be evolving;

Scientists trying to create artificial life generally work under the assumption that life must be carbon-based, but what if a living thing could be made from another element?

One British researcher may have proven that theory, potentially rewriting the book of life. Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow has created lifelike cells from metal — a feat few believed feasible. The discovery opens the door to the possibility that there may be life forms in the universe not based on carbon, reports New Scientist. 

Even more remarkable, Cronin has hinted that the metal-based cells may be replicating themselves and evolving.

"I am 100 percent positive that we can get evolution to work outside organic biology," he said.

The high-functioning "cells" that Cronin has built are constructed from large polyoxometalates derived from a range of metal atoms, like tungsten. He gets them to assemble in bubbly spheres by mixing them in a specialized saline solution, and calls the resultant cell-like structures "inorganic chemical cells," or iCHELLs.The metallic bubbles are certainly cell-like, but are they actually alive? Cronin has made a compelling case for the comparison by constructing the iCHELLS with a number of features that make them function much as real cells do. For instance, by modifying the outer oxide structure of the bubbles so that they are porous, he has essentially built iCHELLs with membranes capable of selectively allowing chemicals in and out according to size, much as what happens with the walls of real cells.

Cronin's team has also created bubbles inside of bubbles, which opens the door to the possibility of developing specialized "organelles." Even more compelling, some of the iCHELLs are being equipped with the ability to photosynthesize. The process is still rudimentary, but by linking some oxide molecules to light sensitive dyes, the team has constructed a membrane that splits water into hydrogen ions, electrons and oxygen when illuminated — which is how photosynthesis begins in real cells.

Of course, the most compelling lifelike quality of the iCHELLs so far is their ability to evolve. Although they aren't equipped with anything remotely resembling DNA, and therefore can't replicate themselves in the same way that real cells do, Cronin has nevertheless managed to create some polyoxometalates that can use each other as templates to self-replicate. Furthermore, he is currently embarked on a seven-month experiment to see if iCHELLs placed in different environments will evolve.

The early results have been encouraging. "I think we have just shown the first droplets that can evolve," Cronin hinted.

Though the idea of a strange new metal-based form of life rapidly evolving in a lab somewhere on Earth may sound ominous, the finding could forever change how life is defined. It also greatly improves the odds of life existing elsewhere in the universe, since life forms could potentially be built from any number of different elements. 
The possibilities are exciting to imagine, even if Cronin's iCHELLs eventually fall short of full-blown living cells. His research may have already blown the door off previous paradigms about the conditions necessary for life to form.

Photo P Gordon

By  Brian Nelson

Where are we going from here?

Baby Rockstar;

©Ts

Justice;

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973 

J. R. Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature there from 1945 to 1959. 

He was a close friend of C. S. Lewis—they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings manuscripts,  The Silmarillion  together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about a fantasy world called Arda, and Middle-earth within it. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the term legendarium to the larger part of these writings.

While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the "father" of modern fantasy literature,  more precisely, of high fantasy

▓▓▓

Tolkien thoughts

Many that live deserve death.

 And some die that deserve life.

 Can you give it to them?

 Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety.

 Even the wise cannot see all ends.

 -   J. R. R. Tolkien  -

The Lord Of the Rings, Book Four, Chapter One

▓▓▓

Dick Cheney  received a Heart transplant to continue his life.

  In the name of justice, I say there is no justice; 

Dick Cheney, whose actions directly caused deaths and injuries that number in the hundreds of thousands. The deaths he is responsible for are ongoing to this day, in fact  If there were any justice to be found, whatever profits he earns from his book would be spread out between the families of dead and wounded soldiers whom he lied into war in Iraq, between the families of dead and wounded Iraqi civilians, and between Americans like Valerie Plame, who along with numerous other intelligence figures, had their lives bulldozed by Cheney's eight-year rampage through our system of government.

By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed   Read here  Dick Cheney the ultimate American Terrorist.

Been there, done this;

Paris

Place de la Concorde  one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring 8.64 hectares in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.

In  2008  Sacré Coeur  was visited by 10,5 Million people.

7 Million visited the Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame was visited by 13.6 Million  people.

French Trivia

A Powder Room was strictly used to powder the wig!

Coco Chanel said:" There is time for work and time for love; that leaves no other time!

Bistro comes from the word bistrouille. French slang for a mixture of inexpensive brandy and coffee!

Late in the 17Th  century small rooms designed for grooming - les toilettes, meaning both dressing room, cabinet de toilette - and the toilette itself - appeared.

Marie Antoinette was partial to purple. she splashed her private rooms in her favourite shades; washed wooden pieces in dignified greenish grey.

Centuries ago, Empress Eugenie's  love for perfumes led to a race to produce alluring perfume bottles. Today, factices - factitions,  bottles that serve as prototypes for perfumeries - are collectibles.

©Ts

Bookshelf;

The written word abides;

The winter Palace;   by Eva Stachniak;

From the book:  ...…I was a tongue, a gazette. The bearer of the truth of the whispers”…

Elizabeth and Catherine had their female spies at court; these girls or women were called  "a tongue".

A well written and researched novel, brings to life the Empress Elisabeth and the early years of

  Catherine the Great;  

 Elizaveta Petrovna (29 December 1709 – 5 January 1762), also known as Yelisavet and Elizabeth, was the Empress of Russia (1741-1762).

As a child, Elizabeth was bright, if not brilliant, but her formal education was both imperfect and desultory. Her father, Peter the Great adored her. Elizabeth was his daughter and in many ways resembled him as a feminine replica, both physically and temperamentally. Peter had no leisure to devote to her training, and her mother, Catherine I of Russia, was too down-to-earth and illiterate to superintend her formal studies.

She had a French governess, and was fluent in Italian, German and French. She was also an excellent dancer and rider. From her earliest years she delighted everyone with her extraordinary beauty and vivacity. She was commonly known as the leading beauty of the Russian Empire.

Born: April 21 (May 2), 1729 Szczecin, Pomerania (Prussian Kingdom)

Died: November 6 (17), 1796 Tsarskoye Selo, Russia

The future Catherine the Great was born a German princess in one of many tiny German states, but ended her life a powerful and enlightened ruler of the vast Russian Empire. In 1745 she married Prince Carl Peter Ulrich, the heir to the Russian throne (the future Emperor Peter III). Being a bright personality with a strong sense of determination she joined the Russian Orthodox Church, learned the Russian language and through personal study acquired a brilliant education. She was proud to be a friend and an active correspondent of some of the brightest thinkers of the day, such as the prominent philosophers of the French Enlightenment, Rousseau and Diderot.

In June 1762 Catherine took an active part in a coup against her husband Emperor Peter III. He was overthrown and later killed "in an accident", and Catherine became Russia's autocratic ruler. Throughout her long reign she undertook many reforms and ensured the extension of the Russian Empire by acquiring territories in Southern Ukraine and the Crimea. Amongst her reforms was the extension of rights and privileges granted to the Russian nobility, which won Catherine popularity among the Russian social elite.

Catherine had a string of sensationalized and widely publicized love affairs with various army officers and politicians, although much of what was reported was untrue. Nevertheless, she promoted most of her lovers to the highest ranks and some of them proved themselves extremely talented and able figures (for example Prince Potyomkin, a very prominent general and political figure of the day).


Catherine the Great, being the foreign element in the Romanov dynasty, wanted to establish strong links with earlier Russian history and the Romanov Tsars and with this in mind she commissioned an impressive monument to Peter the Great - the Bronze Horseman. Most experts agree that Catherine changed the appearance of St. Petersburg quite significantly, and turned it into one of the most impressive capital cities in Europe.

Catherine the Great died in 1796 at the age of 67, having lived longer than any other Romanov monarch. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.


My thoughts about Monarchies;

Monarchies in the 21 first century  are outdated and should be abolished!

I do not think they have a genuine place in today’s society. The term aristocracy is nothing else then a man made word to deceive the people, duped to function as the tool of another person or power.There is no aristocracy this is a man made invention.
 Aristocracy had its time and  worked well for them but now it is time to get rid of this invention as it  is absolutely superfluous. People are people,  none has blue blood, the so called aristocracy are humans like everybody else, they have the same bodily functions, nothing superior.

Why should tax payers money be used to prop up the spongers of society, whose forefathers have killed, lied and robbed the people for centuries?

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Pandoras Box;

 A pithos from Crete, ca. 675 BC. Louvre

The original Greek word used was pithos, which is a large jar, sometimes as large as a small person. It was used for storage of wine, oil, grain or other provisions.

In the case of Pandora, this jar may have been made of clay for use as storage. 

The mistranslation of pithos is usually attributed to the 16th century humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam who translated Hesiod's tale of Pandora into Latin. Erasmus rendered pithos as the Greek pyxis, meaning box.

Pandora's Box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation in Hesiod's Works and Days. The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora  which contained all the evils of the world.

When Pandora opened the jar, all its contents except for one item were released into the world. 

The one remaining item was Hope. Today, to open Pandora's box means to create evil that cannot be undone. 

Pandoras box has been opened there is so much evil that has been done  and is continuing in a very fast pace.

HOPE is still in the box. People of the world might come to their senses and recognize what is done to them in the name of  “terror”! Governments have no sense of right and wrong anymore. They are slaves to the oligarchy and Plutocracy. Democracy is nothing but a catch phrase. Nothing is democratic in our system, it is a make believe system. Governments do not work for the people but against them to the  advantage of the elites of the world.. Hope  means for all the people of the world NO more wars.

An oligarchy is a form of government in which most of the political power effectively rests with a small segment of society, typically the people who have the most wealth, military strength, ruthlessness or political influence. The word "oligarchy" from the Greek words olígos, which means "few," and archo, which means "to rule". Arguably all societies are inevitably oligarchies, regardless of their supposed political system.

How Oligarchies Form

Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and mentored to become inheritors of power, often at some sort of expense to those governed. In contrast with aristocracy — or government by the "best" — this power might not always be exercised openly, with some oligarchs preferring to remain "the power behind the throne," exerting their control through economic means. Unlike plutocracy, oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, either, because oligarchs can simply be a privileged cadre. 

Plutocracy

Plutocracy ,from Ancient Greek ploutos, meaning "wealth", and kratos, meaning "power, rule" is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. The combination of both plutocracy and oligarchy is called plutarchy

The term plutocracy is generally used to describe these two distinct concepts: one of a historical nature and one of a modern political nature. The former indicates the political control of the state by an oligarchy of the wealthy. 

The wealthy minority may exert influence over the political arena via many methods. Most western democracies permit partisan organizations per example to raise funds for politicians, and political parties frequently accept significant donations from various individuals either directly or through corporations or advocacy groups. These donations may be part of a cronyist or patronage system, in which major contributors and fund-raisers are rewarded with high-ranking government appointments. Politicians have a personal interest in serving the needs of their campaign contributors: if they fail to do so, those contributors will likely give their money to candidates who do support their interests in the future. Unless a quid pro quo agreement exists, it is generally legal for politicians to advocate policies favorable to their contributors, or grant appointed government positions to them. In some systems there are also mechanisms of patronage. The UK, for example, uses a variety of means to reward individuals that hold the same values or interests. These include honours such as medals and honorary titles.

In some instances, extremely wealthy individuals have financed their own political campaigns. Many corporations and business interest groups pay lobbyists to maintain constant contact with elected officials, and press them for favorable legislation. Owners of mass media outlets, and the advertisement buyers which financially support them can shape public perception of political issues by controlling the information available to the population and the manner in which it is presented

In modern times, as today we are rooted in state-corporate capitalism and the prioritization of endless accumulation of wealth and warfare over other interests, like public health, education, or the environment. Western governments are plutocracies,  a fusion of money 

and government.  


©Ts  (some excerpts from Wikipedia)

Rare Ruthenium;

Ruthenium Powder;

I have always been interested in the periodic table; Ruthenium belongs to the platinum group of metals found in the middle of Rows 5 and 6 of the periodic table. Its atomic number is 44, its atomic mass is 101.07, and its chemical symbol is Ru.

Ruthenium is one of the rarest elements on Earth with an abundance estimated at about 0.4 parts per billion. It occurs in combination with other members of the platinum family in ores of platinum. It is obtained as a byproduct of the purification of those ores and during the refining of nickel metal.

Fountain pen nibs are frequently tipped with alloys containing ruthenium. From 1944 onward, the Parker 51 fountain pen was fitted with the "RU" nib, a 14K gold nib tipped with 96.2% ruthenium and 3.8% iridium.

Ruthenium is also a versatile catalyst. Hydrogen sulfide can be split by light by using an aqueous suspension of CdS particles loaded with ruthenium dioxide. This may be useful in the removal of H2S from oil refineries and from other industrial processes

Some ruthenium complexes absorb light throughout the visible spectrum and are being actively researched in various, potential, solar energy technologies.

Ruthenium-based dyes have been used as the electron providers in dye-sensitized solar cells, a promising new low-cost solar cell system.Ruthenium is exceedingly rare and is the 74th most abundant metal on Earth roughly 12 tonnes of Ru is mined each year with world reserves estimated to be 5000 tonnesL. Ruthenia, 

History, Russia) Berzelius and Osann in 1827 examined the residues left after dissolving crude platinum from the Ural mountains in aqua regia. While Berzelius found no unusual metals, Osann thought he found three new metals, one of which he named ruthenium. In 1844 Klaus, generally recognized as the discoverer, showed that Osann's ruthenium oxide was very impure and that it contained a new metal. Klaus obtained 6 g of ruthenium from the portion of crude platinum that is insoluble in aqua regia.

A member of the platinum group, ruthenium occurs native with other members of the group in ores found in the Ural mountains and in North and South America. It is also found along with other platinum metals in small but commercial quantities in pentlandite of the Sudbury, Ontario, nickel-mining region, and in pyroxinite deposits of South Africa.

The metal is isolated commercially by a complex chemical process, the final stage of which is the hydrogen reduction of ammonium ruthenium chloride, which yields a powder. The powder is consolidated by powder metallurgy techniques or by argon-arc weldRuthenium is a hard, white metal and has four crystal modifications. It does not tarnish at room temperatures, but oxidizes explosively. It is attacked by halogens, hydroxides, etc. Ruthenium can be plated by electrodeposition or by thermal decomposition methods. The metal is one of the most effective hardeners for platinum and palladium, and is alloyed with these metals to make electrical contacts for severe wear resistance. A ruthenium-molybdenum alloy is said to be superconductive at 10.6 K. The corrosion resistance of titanium is improved a hundredfold by addition of 0.1% ruthenium. It is a versatile catalyst. Hydrogen sulfide can be split catalytically by light using an aqueous suspension of CdS particles loaded with ruthenium dioxide. It is thought this may have application to removal of H2S from oil refining and other industrial processes. Compounds in at least eight oxidation states have been found, but of these, the +2, +3, and +4 states are the most common. Ruthenium tetroxide, like osmium tetroxide, is highly toxic. In addition, it may explode. Ruthenium compounds show a marked resemblance to those of cadmium.

The metal is priced at about $30/g.

Aqua regia  is a highly corrosive mixture of acids, fuming yellow or red solution, also called nitro-hydrochloric acid.Some excerpts courtesy Wikipedia 

An interesting link, please click Ruthenium

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”  Seneca