PASTE FERICIT!

Hristos a inviat, Adevarat a inviat!

ROMANIAN ORTHODOX EASTER

Most Romanian Easter traditions are the same all over the country. Still, each region has some specific customs and practices. Typically associated with the natural beauty of the areas, some of them legendary, the Easter Holidays should encourage you to explore Romania.
Are you going to be in Romania for Orthodox Easter this year? Then you could spend this holiday in a unique and unforgettable way.
Although staying in Bucharest doesn't mean you are going to be bored, as there are many places to go and a lot of things to do, few of the old traditions have been kept alive here. If you really want to experience Romanian Easter, you need to go to villages or small towns. The local residents will welcome you into their homes with traditional “pasca” and “cozonac” (a sort of pound cake), with coloured eggs, painted in themes which are specific to this part of the world (we call them “oua incondeiate”).
We cannot speak about Easter without saying a few words about the Holy Day that precedes it, Palm Sunday (in Romanian, “Florii”), the Sunday before Easter. On this day, we celebrate the revival of nature. The faithful go to church to bless small willow branches, which they later put at their windows, doors or gates. In some areas the villagers will put these branches around their waist ,in the belief or hope that this will protect them from disease and make them stronger. They also hang the “martisor” lace, which they wore in March, on a blossoming tree, in addition to some objects from the dowry of young girls. During this night, the girls put sweet basil flowers under their pillows, if they want to get married that year.
In Muntenia, people don't wash their hair on this day, believing that if you do that on Florii, when all the trees blossom, your hair will turn white like the crowns of the trees. Another old belief says that the on Easter the weather will be just as it is on Florii. The popular name of this holiday comes from the Roman goddess of flowers, called Flora. The Christian Holiday overlapped the Roman one. If there is a storm, people may burn the buds of the willows from Florii, in order to scatter the clouds and the hailstones, protecting their house and family from disaster.
In the countryside, peasants make big fires on top of the hills during the Easter night. The fires are called “watch fires”, and in some villages they burn all night, the fires can be seen not only on the hills, but also the valleys. The celebrants sit around the fire, re-telling stories from the life of Jesus. The boys and the young men jump over the fire, so that witches will have no power over them.
A ritual washing takes place on Easter morning., the villagers put a red egg in a basin or, in some places, a silver coin, over which they pour fresh water brought from a well. All the members of the family wash themselves, while saying: “Let me be healthy, and may my cheeks be as red as the egg; let everybody want me and wait for me as are awaited red eggs on Easter; let me be loved like eggs on Easter Day.” Then they take the silver coin and, passing it over their faces, they say: “Let me be proud and clean like silver”. The girls add to that: “Let me pass from one hand to another while dancing, like money; let me be light like the egg-shell, which floats on water”. In some villages, they also put common basil in the basin, for they say that if you wash yourself with it you will be honored like basil.
Having come back from church, the family sits around the table. After eating and toasting with glasses of drink, there comes the great moment: the knocking of eggs. The head of the family knocks first with his wife, speaking the traditional “Christ has risen!”, to which the response comes right away: “He has risen, indeed!”, sometimes add: “Let us knock eggs so we may have a beautiful Easter next year as well, and after death meet each other again in heaven”. The other members of the family follow in turn, beginning with the elderly. According to popular belief, it is well to remember with whom you knocked first, because, if you happen to get lost in a forest, all you have to do is remember the person with whom you knocked eggs first on Easter, and you will find your way back. Lunch on the first day of Easter is a chance to reunite the family, following the entire ritual. On the Easter table you will always find, beside the red eggs, the green cheese, green onion and radish salad, kell and, of course, lamb steak.
All these practices have very old roots, going back to the Middle Ages or earlier, some preceding Christianity. The tradition of using coloured eggs on different occasions comes from times out of mind. It existed already in ancient Egypt and Rome. The Chinese used coloured eggs 2000 years before Christ. The researcher Ioan I. Lacusta speaks about the Easter egg as “a bearer of life, a symbol of regeneration, purification and eternity”. In Bucovina, the red egg is believed to protect people from the devil, who try to learn whether they dye the eggs and keep the traditions. Only when these customs disappear will he come to the world.
One of the oldest storie about coloured eggs in Romania is of the Florentine secretary of Constantin Brancoveanu, Antonio Maria del Chiaro, who, around the year 1700, was amazed by the golden color of the dyed eggs from the Court of the Muntenian ruler.
The colors used for dying eggs correspond to certain symbols:
Red – the symbol of blood, sun, fire, love and joy of life
Black – absolute stability, eternity
Yellow – light, youth, happiness, harvest
Green – revival of nature, freshness, hope, fertility
Blue – sky, health, vitality
Violet – self control, patience, confidence in justice
A long time ago, the eggs were dyed using vegetal colors, but today chemical dyes are more typical. Vegetal colors were prepared following old recipes, passed on from one generation to another, with a great variety of methods and techniques. The materials and utensils used in decorating the eggs are extremely diverse, ingenious and vary in the different regions of the country. In some areas people boil the eggs, in others, they make a small hole and suck out the contents. Decorative eggs are also made with colors in relief (Vrancea, Putna Sucevei), embellished with glass beads (Bucovina), of wood (Neamt), of clay (Corund-Harghita) or even of plastic (Bucovina). The ornamentation of the eggs includes geometrical, vegetal, animal, anthropomorphous, as well as religious symbols


PASTE FERICIT!

THE HUMAN MIND

Aoccdrnig to rsecearh, it deosnt mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,olny taht the frist and lsat leettr be in the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae thehuamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe!

V-2: Hitler's last weapon of terror

HITLER'S V2


John Clarke was six years old when the first V-2 rocket to hit London landed outside his house in Chiswick in the west of the capital.


"The best way of describing it is television with the sound off. You're deafened, that's what it boils down to. Seeing an airing cupboard crumple in front of you without a sound is an eerie experience," he says.
John's sister, Rosemary Ann, was killed that Friday in 1944. She was three.
"There wasn't a mark on Rosemary. The blast goes up and comes down in a mushroom or umbrella shape," Mr Clarke explains.
"But in the process of that, my sister's lungs collapsed. She was deprived of air."
Rosemary had been in the front upstairs bedroom of the Clarke family residence at 1, Staveley Road, when the explosion ripped their house apart. John was in the bathroom, upstairs at the rear of the house.
"I got a piece of the bomb casing in the back of my hand which has created a scar. But I still have full use of my hand - I was very fortunate. The bathroom upstairs didn't collapse. But one of the bedrooms next to it did, which I found very strange as a boy."
Space dreams
The V-2 that shattered Chiswick 60 years ago on Wednesday took just five minutes to travel there from its launch site in the Netherlands.

Click here to see a map of V2 launch sites and flightpaths
At 6.44pm, the tonne of high explosives it carried detonated in the centre of the road, gouging a crater 10m (30ft) across and 2.5m (8ft) deep. The blast killed three people, injured 22 and demolished six houses.
The attack marked the beginning of a terror campaign by Adolf Hitler against targets in Allied territory that would claim at least 5,000 lives.
The rocket's original title was the A-4, but propaganda minister Josef Goebbels named it Vergeltungswaffe zwei (Vengeance Weapon 2), or V-2.
The Nazis hoped the V-2, and other weapons like it, would rain down on their enemies causing physical destruction and psychological shock.
Yet one of the most curious and - to some - disquieting stories in the development of this ultimate weapon was the crucial role played by amateur space flight enthusiasts inspired by romantic ideas of manned travel out into the cosmos.
At the end of the 1920s, Lieutenant-Colonel Karl Emil Becker of Germany's Army Ordnance Office began to investigate the revival of the rocket as a weapon.
Amateur beginnings
"The Army was looking for a replacement to heavy artillery, which had been forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I," explains Konrad Dannenberg, 92, an engineer who worked on the German Army's rocket programme.
"The amateur people just didn't have the means to build large rockets. It took this special support from the government to really sustain the activities that led to the A-4."
Becker's relationship with one of the amateur groups - the Raketenflugplatz Berlin - established the nucleus of the team behind the V-2.
Inspired by the work and mentorship of pre-war rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, the Raketenflugplatz had been experimenting with liquid-fuel rockets. These worked by mixing an oxidiser (liquid oxygen) with a fuel (petrol or alcohol) and burning them in a combustion chamber to provide propulsion.
In 1932, Becker invited the amateur group to make a demonstration launch, which was an embarrassing failure. But Becker was impressed with a young member of the group - a charismatic aristocrat named Wernher von Braun - and offered him a job.
The 20-year-old space flight enthusiast accepted and immediately began work on a liquid fuel rocket, named Aggregat-1, or A-1, at the Army Ordnance Office in Kummersdorf.
Von Braun was soon joined by another young rocket enthusiast called Walter Riedel. They were to work under the direction of an engineering-savvy army officer named Walter Dornberger.
Intentions clear
"Von Braun always saw this as a detour; he'd rather have been building space vehicles. But he also said this was the only way we were going to get the money. From the very beginning, he knew he was there to build weapons," says Michael Neufeld, curator of World War II history at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, US.
"He hoped that the weapons investment would lead to a technological investment that would then make possible space flight."
Von Braun later defended his decision: "In 1932, the idea of another war was absurd - there was no reason for moral scruples over the use to which our researches might be put in the future."
The following year, the National Socialist (Nazi) Party seized power under Adolf Hitler. Von Braun's detour would see him become technical director of a programme to produce a guided missile for use against Allied targets during WW II.
Between 1932 and 1935, real progress was made by von Braun and his team, and the programme outgrew Kummersdorf.
Von Braun began looking for a site to build a new experimental centre for their rocket development activities. He settled on Peenemuende on Germany's Baltic Coast.
Incredible site
To justify the move, von Braun, Dornberger and Riedel met to sketch out the specifications of the ballistic missile they planned to build. In late 1935, they proposed the goal of a rocket engine with a thrust of 25 metric tonnes (56,000 lbs).
The new project, designated A-4, would have to overcome significant technical obstacles. Its engine had to be 17 times more powerful than the largest rocket motor at the time, it would have to fly at nearly five times the speed of sound and be guided to targets 300km (186 miles) away.
Due to the high priority now being placed on liquid-fuel rocketry by Army High Command, the programme received lavish funding and vast resources.
In just five years, the team had mastered four technologies key to the rocket's success: its powerful 25-tonne thrust engine, its aerodynamic shape, its innovative "inertial" guidance system, and its radio transmission system.
The first two attempts at launching the A-4 failed. But on 3 October 1942 - the third attempt - the rocket soared to a height of 80km (50 miles), crashing into the sea 190km (120 miles) away.
Werner Dahm, 87, a former aerodynamics engineer at Peenemuende, witnessed the launch from a boat on the Baltic Sea.
"I saw that thing fly high up, with an increadible scream. I always thought it could be done, but it's a complicated business, after all. A lot of things have to go right," he says.
Allied search
Hitler had been slow to see the potential of rocketry but, says Dahm, the successful test probably did much to convince the Fuehrer of its value to the war effort.
Over 18-19 August 1943, the RAF conducted a bombing raid at Peenemuende. The raid missed many key facilities, but it prompted the SS to order that the production side of the A-4 programme be moved to an underground facility in central Germany that became known as Mittelwerk.
The use of slave labour from the Dora concentration camp in the production of V-2 rockets at Mittelwerk would haunt the rocket programme's legacy long after the war had ended.
The V-2 campaign was a last desperate attempt by the Nazi leadership to turn the course of the war.
In all, over 1,300 V-2s were fired at England, killing 2,724 people. Germany struck Antwerp in Belgium with 1,265 V-2s and Paris with hundreds more. An accurate count of casualties on the continent is not available.
It was not to be the war-winning weapon the Nazis hoped for. In March 1945, the western front collapsed and Allied forces swarmed across the Rhine.
But amid the chaos, the major Allied powers were scouring Germany to find out whatever they could about the V-2.
Specialist recruitment
Determined his engineering team should not be broken up, von Braun and his close associates debated what to do. The discussions resulted in unanimous agreement to surrender to the Americans.
"Would you like to work for a guy like Stalin?" Dahm asks rhetorically. "We didn't want to get caught by the Russians. And in Europe, after the war, nobody could afford to build rockets."
US Army intelligence officers soon found many Peenemuenders in and around Oberammergau, in the Bavarian Alps, where they had been evacuated. On 2 May, two days after Hitler's suicide, von Braun, Dornberger and their close associates surrendered to American troops.
The Russians, meanwhile, reactivated Mittelwerk with the help of former staff, many of whom had remained in the surrounding area.
So began a scramble to unlock the secrets of the V-2 that would ensure the rocket had a lasting and profound legacy on the post-war world.
The technology pioneered at Peenemuende would eventually realise dreams of space flight. The V-2 was the forerunner of the booster rockets that would allow humans to escape the shackles of gravity.
But it was also the precursor of all modern guided missiles. As such, rocketry was not to escape the shadow of military exploitation.

MY SPIRITUAL GUIDE & FAMILIAR

MY SPIRITUAL GUIDE & FAMILIAR

First of all, what is a spiritual guide and a familiar? In simple terms, a spiritual guide is a being that guides you though life. It can be of a human being, an animal, or something that closely represents yourself. Sometimes a spiritual guide is mistaken for a familiar. This is not true! It goes deeper than that. A familiar is something that anyone can see at any given time while only you and it has the knowledge of being your familiar. Also, a familiar is usually there to keep you from bodily harm and stupid decisions that could cause damage to your physical and mental self. Unlike a spiritual guide, a familiar relates to you in most aspects and there is a mind link as well. On the other hand, your familiar can be your spiritual guide as well. Most people will only go through life having one spiritual guide as well as a familiar. Being a special case though, I have more than one of each.Let's start with my spiritual guides which are also my Guardians/Protectors. I will not give names to them all due to "putting myself out there". Right then, the first one I have known about whom I have had since I was a little girl would be Dementrus Damian. He is, believe it or not, a dragon. He is one of the few left whose the son of the Father of all Dragons. He is average height of around seven feet, stands on two legs with black scales and long jeweled wings. He can become very moody and overly protected; he is not the type of creature I would like to deal with when you get him pissed off! Another would be an angelic figure, flesh and blood just like a human being just with black feathered wings. He is more gentle natured but deadly all the same. His innocent face and god-like body along with a sweet pure voice confuses a lot of people. Now for my familiars! Where to start is my question?! Let me start with Shadow. He is my first familiar and the "Leader". Shadow is a shade tiger meaning his real form is a black tiger that seems like mist, but he is able to take on any shape. There is also Little Ashe which is pretty much a smaller form of my inner wolf. Yes, he is a soot colour wolf with slightly powder white paws. The last one I shall mention is a female Ocelot whom I call Icey Veins due to her eyes which seem to pierce through everything she gazes upon. As you can tell, I have more males than females. ( Thinking to self: "Maybe this is why many mistake me for a guy?" v_v; )Well, I hope you enjoyed reading little on my spiritual guides and familiars. Until next time, Adieu!

President Bush and Romanian Prime Minister Popescu-Tariceanu After Meeting

BUCHAREST, Romania--

(BUSINESS WIRE)----Victoria Palace

Bucharest, Romania 2:03 P.M. (Local)

PRIME MINISTER POPESCU-TARICEANU:

(As translated.) Hello, good day. Of course our discussion was a very useful and very pleasant one. We discussed both bilateral issues between Romania and the United States. I expressed to President Bush our gratitude for having had the trust to have Romania organize this important NATO summit in Bucharest. The organization of the NATO summit in Bucharest was very symbolic. It is part of a much larger vision and concept, this vision being that to strengthen and to unify Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. And the idea was to foster, to strengthen the Alliance in the eastern and southeastern flank, from the Baltic Sea all the way to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

That is how we have to interpret the membership of Albania and Croatia to NATO, the future membership of Macedonia, and eventual Georgia and Ukraine membership, as well. But our discussion was not limited to that. We also discussed other issues of political and economic relationship between our countries and about the U.S. investments in our country. And I shared with President Bush my ambition, my hope, and actually my dream that to see a very important industrial investment from the United States in Romania, an investment with which generate common interests and would foster even more our partnership. And I'm referring to the Ford company, and of course a common interest like this would make me feel, as a citizen and as a Prime Minister, much more protected by our common interests. I would like to also mention another initiative which was announced by the President yesterday, which was the creation of an American-Romanian foundation which will set up educational programs and grants for Romanian students. I'm talking about seed money of $150 million, which could be -- which in time will arrive at $1 billion investment, which will create -- which would be an investment in the future, creating the future, Romanian ambassadors to United States or the American ambassadors to Romania, it would be our hope.

PRESIDENT BUSH:

Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. We just had a great -- we had a good meeting, because we're good friends. Okay, I'll just keep going. INTERPRETER: I was actually told that everyone speaks English, so I should not interpret. PRESIDENT BUSH: Okay, fine. (Laughter.) Anyway, we had a very good meeting, Mr. Prime Minister. Thank you for your time. First of all, I want to congratulate the government, yourself, for hosting a very successful NATO summit. It's not easy to host as many automobiles, body guards, world leaders, hanger-oners as you did. And yet you did it, and you organized well. Everybody who came to the summit was most impressed. I really do want to thank you. And I want to thank the people of Bucharest for their patience. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I do think it was a good sign, it was important for your country to be the host of this important event. And it was a very successful summit. We had good discussions about a successful bilateral relationship, as well. I told the Prime Minister, one reason why capital comes to a country is because people feel comfortable about taking risk.

I also congratulated him on these big investments that are coming; it's a good sign. The people of Romania ought to be -- appreciate the fact that the conditions are such that people are willing to invest. And by the way, investment creates jobs, which is also -- will have a direct benefit for the people of Romania. I also congratulate the Prime Minister on having a 16 percent flat tax. I'm a little envious. I would like to have been able to achieve the same objective for our tax code, and it was a smart thing to get done, because I think those kinds of policies will enable the Romanian folks to have a bright future. We talked about energy. But we also talked about visas. There is a real contradiction here that's hard for the people of Romania to understand, in that on the one hand, how can certain people within the EU be treated one way, and Romanians be treated another way when it comes to visas. And I fully understand that contradiction, Mr. Prime Minister. Our Congress passed new law -- it frankly wasn't as good as I thought it should be, but nevertheless, it is the law of the land, because I signed it into law. And we will work with your government on a couple of matters, one, to figure out why the rejection rate is so high. There needs to be more transparency, and the Prime Minister made it very clear that we have an obligation to explain why certain folks are not getting visas. And we'll do that. The other thing is, obviously, we've got law on our books that we need to work with you, to help everybody understand in the process what compliance means. Overall, the trip here has been great. This is the second time I've come. I didn't have quite the dramatic rainbow scene this time as I did the first time I came, but clearly there's been a lot of progress. The city looks different to me. The spirit is still strong. Freedom has taken hold, and I congratulate you, the government, and all involved for the progress you've made.

END 2:12 P.M. (Local)

Amost a week off! ugh

After almost a week off, well, I wasn't off I was really busy. But I'll start posting again.

LIBERAE SUNT NOSTRAE COGITATIONES

Liberae sunt nostrae cogitationes
by: Katac Cerrus Criophix

A wandering of the mind in extents. Where do the minds of vampires wonder exactly and what is this place we call a day dream? These are questions which we do not commonly think about.

Is it to say that our minds are not opened on a spiritual level and subcuming to outside interaction with preconscieved thoughts and notions? Are we making this up in our head as we go along or are we part of a daily feed of images and designs so complex and indepth we don't know where its coming from. This idea could be mind boggling.

Vampires naturally have a connection to outside and inside forces and relieze this potential more keenly in general than other individuals. To this extent we are more intune with our body and its needs and it is more intune with us.

To a outside extent everything that you day dream maybe real to a degree. To a inside extent when you look out at the world and close your eyes and imagine the world there is no differnce in your brain besides you telling it "I have my eyes closed and I can't see". Your brain also cross referances with your body to understand situations and to feel situations. You can look outside and it seems sunny but when you go out its 40 below.

Vampires have adapted to this sharing of information and tend to weight it out between themselves and others. In a way it keeps the parts of the whole correct to the best of its abilitys.





There you go-something for you to add to-a basic frame work-work what you need into it and take away what you don't. Just keep the title because its latin and spiffy.

Man Believes His Dead Wife is Contacting Him Via Cell Phone

It was five years ago when Frank Jones' wife and son died unexpectedly. His son, Steven, died of a brain tumor at an early 32. Three months later, his wife, Sadie died from a heart attack at the age of 69. Sadie was a cell phone addict. "She always had a mobile with her," Jones told the Blackpool Gazette. So, of course, they buried Sadie with her cell phone.Now Jones believes Sadie is getting service six feet under, and she has been sending him text messages with words only Sadie would say. Of course, there is no return number on the messages or missed calls, leading Jones to believe the communications are form his deceased wife.Creepy? Yes. But here's where things get creepier: The house Jones lives in has a history of hauntings from a being called "The Thornton Thing". The entity drove a family from the house in 1971, and after the Jones family suffered hauntings as well, they had the house exorcised. It wasn't until the untimely deaths of his wife and son did Jones start experiencing messages from beyond. The obvious question we can't help asking: What kind of service does one get up there? She's clearly getting a lot of dropped calls.From the Blackpool Gazette

Romanian Muralist Dies.

Romanian painter Sabin Balasa, appreciated for huge surrealistic murals but criticized for painting former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in a flattering light, died on Tuesday. He was 76.
Balasa had been in hospital for a month with lung cancer and died of a heart attack Tuesday afternoon, doctors at the Saint Mary hospital in Bucharest said.
Balasa was one of Romania's most prominent artists, gaining notoriety after he painted Ceausescu and his wife Elena in the 1980s. Critics said he contributed to Ceausescu's massive personality cult.
Ceausescu and his wife were executed after a summary trial during the anti-communist revolt of December 1989.
Balasa's fame and success continued after communism ended. He was often commissioned to paint murals on the walls of Romania's newly wealthy.

Big companies, public institutions and universities also commissioned his art for hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars). Some said his style often depicting naked women and fictitious animals was kitsch although his work was instantly recognizable.
He was married four times and is survived by his wife, whom he was divorcing, and two sons. He will be buried later this week in Iasi, a city in northeastern Romania.

Bush snubs Basescu.

WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: It's over when Bush says it's over
By TERENCE HUNT,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-02 12:33:23
NEPTUN, Romania (AP) - Are we done here?U.S. President George W. Bush apparently thought so when he ended a news conference Wednesday with his host, Romanian President Traian Basescu."Thank you. Thank you very much," Bush told reporters, a code phrase that means, "That's it, folks."Typically, as a matter of courtesy and protocol, the host decides when such an event is over. But Bush has been known to ignore that practice.In Colombia in 2004, he sought to end a session with reporters even when Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was ready to take more questions. In Belgium in 2005, he tried to cut off a news conference before his host, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, got a chance to speak his fill.Then there was Wednesday's abrupt moment in Romania, when Bush figured the question-and-answer session was done. He strolled over to Basescu and asked if he was ready to take a walk by the water."Just a moment," Basescu interjected politely.Oh."He's not through," Bush observed. Bush headed back to his podium, on the beach of the Black Sea at Basescu's picturesque retreat.The Romanian president took a few moments to comment about an important issue in his country, the availability of visas for people to visit the U.S.Then - finished for real this time - the two leaders took their stroll by the water.Bush is in Romania for the NATO summit, where security officials are on watch for intruders: wild foxes and stray dogs.While Bush and Basescu met at the resort in Neptun, professional hunters scoured nearby forests teeming with foxes.A local mayor, Traian Cristea, said the foxes often venture onto the roads where Bush's convoy passed, so hunters were trying to frighten the animals deeper into the woods.Officials in Bucharest, the site of the summit, have rounded up as many of the city's estimated 30,000 stray dogs as possible. They do not want the strays biting anyone in town for the meetings, which began Wednesday and run through Friday.There is some fear the animals could jump in front of leaders' motorcades and cause crashes.Strays are usually plentiful. But on Wednesday, it was hard to find an unleashed dog.Simona Panaitescu, director of Bucharest's Administration for the Monitoring of Animals, said the strays were crammed into overcrowded municipal animal shelters. After the summit, she said, they will be released back onto the streets.Remember Zamfir, "the King of the Pan Flute" who may have sold more albums than Elvis in Europe? No?Well, the Bush administration wants you to know that the star of those old television commercials is one of Romania's most famous citizens.On the occasion of Bush's visit to Bucharest, the White House has put Gheorghe Zamfir on a list of Romanian artists and athletes, including former Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci, worthy of special note by journalists traveling with the president.A three-page biography of "Maestro Zamfir," distributed to reporters in a package of background material on Romania, hails the pan flute virtuoso as a "musical pioneer," a "living legend," and, to some of his loyal fans, possibly "the reincarnation of the god Pan."The bio, downloaded directly from Zamfir's official Web site, notes his international fame and popular appeal, especially in Europe and Asia, where music lovers have no doubt racked up sales of his records.It also says the world was nearly denied his tremendous talent because as a teenager he was virtually forced to take up the pan flute when he could not get a seat in classes for his instrument of choice: the accordion.Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Alina Wolfe Murray in Bucharest, Romania contributed to this story.On the Net:NATO summit site: http://tinyurl.com/3yuwr2White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/nato/
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
04/02/08 12:32 EDT

Romanian police question 46 anti-NATO demonstrators after scuffle

Romanian police question 46 anti-NATO demonstrators after scuffle
AP
Posted: 2008-04-02 11:34:31
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Romanian police say they are questioning 46 anti-NATO activists about scuffles that broke out before the start of a NATO summit in Bucharest.Police spokesman Christian Ciocan says 10 of the activists are German and the rest are Portuguese, Spanish, Czech and Romanian citizens.Ciocan says the activists attacked a guard and the director of a factory Wednesday because a truck carrying paint was not allowed to enter the rented facility. Officials say the demonstrators apparently wanted to use the paint to make protest banners.Ciocan has told The Associated Press that the activists are not being formally detained, but investigators want to identify them.There are unconfirmed media reports that at least one of the demonstrators was beaten during the scuffles.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
04/02/08 11:33 EDT

Death and the carrot, a bunnies story.

Death so sad and hungry.....Sitting on a stumplooking off in the horizon....thinking to himself i have no friendsin tell he hears hop hop hop in the distance....he looks to the leftlooks to the right....and looks all around but still can't find what is make the hoping sound...so he just looks off into the sunset again....in tell here hears hop hop hop again....this time he looks down...You know what he found? A little bunny with a frown....Death asks why are you so sad....bunny replies....i found this carrot laying on the ground and i have no friends to share it with me.....Death says yea i have the same problem i have no one to share my reaping with.....bunny looks up in to deaths eyes with a pitiful lonely look...death looks down into bunnies eyes with a devious look....and off goes bunnies head...Death just smiles, laughs and yells THE CARROT TRICK ALWAYS WORKS.

Romania defeats Russia 3-0! BRAVO!

Daniel Niculae

Ciprian Marica

Florentin Petre

Bucuresti, Romania (AP) - Romania beat Russia 3-0 in an international friendly on Wednesday. Ciprian Marica gave Romania a 1-0 lead in the 45th minute at Ghencea stadium when the forward drove a left-foot shot past goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev.Daniel Niculae doubled the lead in the 62nd with a 16-meter shot after taking a pass from Marius Niculae, who headed the ball past Akinfeyev from six meters in the 75th to make it 3-0.Romania attacked from the outset and had several shots at goal. The first chance came from Florentin Petre in the 22nd minute before Russia counterattacked and Vladimir Bystrov went close.Russia coach Guus Hiddink said his team had been "naive" and "foolish" in defense. He added that the pace of Romania's game was faster because more of its players are at big European clubs.Striker Adrian Mutu, who had been injured, captain Cristian and Marica were all replaced in the second half for Romania.The match was one of four friendlies for Russia ahead of the June 7-29 European Championship. Romania has one further warm-up match, against Montenegro.Lineups:Romania: Marius Popa (Razvan Stanca, 89), Cosmin Contra, Razvan Rat (Laszlo Sepsi, 87), Gabriel Tamas (Ovidiu Petre, 35), Cristian Chivu (Daniel Niculae, 46), Mirel Radoi, Florentin Petre (Banel Nicolita, 62), Ciprian Marica (Marius Niculae, 46), Adrian Mutu (Nicolae Dica, 46) , Razvan Cocis (Marian Aliuta, 85), Dorin Goian.Russia: Igor Akinfeyev, Sergei Ignashevich, Alexei Berezutskiy, Vasily Berezutskiy (Dmitry Sychev, 65), Alexander Anyukov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Dmitry Torbinsky, 61 ), Yuri Zhirkov, Igor Semshov, Vladimir Bystrov, Roman Shirokov, Roman Adamov (Roman Pavlyechenko, 59).


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Romanians are Sexy II

Well, well, well!

Romanians always get such bad press. When pictured on TV or online, they usually use some gypsy old hag! We know the truth, that Romanians are HOT!

Dan, this is a few more of Alina:








And Regina, this is a few more of Alex from an earlier post:

Sexy Romanians

Romanians are sexy!

Im back at it again Here is a little something for Dan and Regina.


Dan, this is Alina Puscau a Romanian Supermodel:

And for Regina (Stapan Obtuse) we have Ralf, okay not a very Romanian name but Im not his father so I can't sat why they named him that. Ralf (Romanian for Ralph) is a bodybuilder/model from Bucuresti.

SPRING BREAK

What images do you see when you hear the words "Spring Break"?



I think palm trees, beaches, and babes! lol but the sad reality of this spring break is.....................










A lawn full of weeds and a lifeless garden. Much work to do. No beach for me, besides check out my forcast.