Culturel

03/05/2026

May 1 had been designated International Workers' Day.

03/05/2026

Demosthenes grew interested in politics during his time as a logographer, and in 354 BC he gave his first public political speeches. He went on to devote his most productive years to opposing Macedon's expansion. He idealized his city and strove throughout his life to restore Athens's supremacy and motivate his compatriots against Philip II of Macedon. He sought to preserve his city's freedom and to establish an alliance against Macedon, in an unsuccessful attempt to impede Philip's plans to expand his influence southward, conquering the Greek states.

After Philip's death, Demosthenes played a leading part in his city's uprising against the new king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great. However, his efforts failed, and the revolt was met with a harsh Macedonian reaction. To prevent a similar revolt against his own rule, Alexander's successor in this region, Antipater, sent his men to track Demosthenes down. Demosthenes killed himself to avoid being arrested by Archias of Thurii, Antipater's confidant.

The Alexandrian Canon, compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace, called Demosthenes one of the ten greatest Attic orators and logographers. Longinus likened Demosthenes to a blazing thunderbolt and argued that he had "perfected to the utmost the tone of lofty speech, living passions, copiousness, readiness, speed."[2] Quintilian extolled him as lex orandi ("the standard of oratory"). Cicero said of him that inter omnis unus excellat ("among them all, he excels alone"), and also praised him as "the perfect orator" who lacked nothing.
Wikipedia

23/10/2025

21/10/2025

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd.

Literary movement: Romanticism
Notable works: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (originally The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere,
“Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream”, Christabel (poem), The conversation poems, Biographia Literaria

He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and "Kubla Khan", as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical works were highly influential, especially in relation to William Shakespeare, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking cultures. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including "suspension of disbelief". He had a major influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism. Throughout his adult life, Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime. He was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these conditions with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong o***m addiction.
Coleridge had a turbulent career and personal life with a variety of highs and lows, but his public esteem grew after his death, and he became considered one of the most influential figures in English literature. For instance, a 2018 report by The Guardian labelled him "a genius" who had progressed into "one of the most renowned English poets". Organisations such as the Church of England celebrate his work during public events, such as a "Coleridge Day" in June, with activities including literary recitals.

1795 portrait by Peter Vandyke

21/10/2025

(Libra ♎️)
Hongwu Emperor
洪武帝

The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398.

In the mid-14th century, China was plagued by epidemics, famines, and peasant uprisings during the rule of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, orphaned during this time of chaos, joined a Buddhist monastery as a novice monk, where he occasionally begged for alms to sustain himself, gaining an understanding of the struggles faced by ordinary people, while harboring disdain for scholars who only gained knowledge from books. In 1352, he joined a rebel division, quickly distinguishing himself among the rebels and rising to lead his own army. In 1356, he conquered Nanjing and established it as his capital. He formed his own government, consisting of both generals and Confucian scholars, rejecting Mongol rule over China. He adopted the concept of country administration from them and implemented it in the territory he controlled, eventually expanding it to the entire country. He gradually defeated rival rebel leaders, with the decisive moment being his victory over Chen Youliang in the Battle of Lake Poyang in 1363. In 1364, he declared himself King of Wu. In 1367, however, he still acknowledged his formal subordination to the main Red Turban leader, Han Lin'er, who claimed to be the successor of the Song dynasty.

A Seated Portrait of Ming Emperor Taizu, c. 1377 by an unknown artist from the Ming dynasty. Now located in the National Palace Museum, Taipei

21/10/2025

Alfred NOBEL, (Alfred Bernhard Nobel),
born (21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, and businessman. He is known for inventing dynamite, as well as having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.
He also made several other important contributions to science, holding 355 patents during his life.

Monuments
Nobel Monument,
New York City, U.S.
Occupations
ChemistEngineerInventorBusinessman
Known for
Inventing dynamite (1866)
Establishing the Nobel Prizes
Parents
Immanuel Nobel
Andriette Nobel

Born into the prominent Nobel family in Stockholm, Nobel displayed an early aptitude for science and learning, particularly in chemistry and languages; he became fluent in six languages and filed his first patent at the age of 24. He embarked on many business ventures with his family, most notably owning the company Bofors, which was an iron and steel producer that he had developed into a major manufacturer of cannons and other armaments. Nobel's most famous invention, dynamite, was an explosive made using nitroglycerin, which was patented in 1867. He further invented gelignite in 1875 and ballistite in 1887.
Upon his death, Nobel donated his fortune to a foundation to fund the Nobel Prizes, which annually recognize those who have "conferred the greatest benefit to humankind". The synthetic element nobelium was named after him, and his name and legacy also survive in companies such as Dynamit Nobel and AkzoNobel, which descend from mergers with companies he founded. Nobel was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which, pursuant to his will, is responsible for choosing the Nobel laureates in Physics and in Chemistry.

20/10/2025

18/10/2025

Celebrating my 6th year on Facebook. Thank you for your continuing support. I could never have made it without you. 🙏🤗🎉

Adriano Celentano (born 6 January 1938) is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, showman, and filmmaker. He is dubbed Il Molleggiato ('the springy one') because of his energetic dancing.

Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both commercial and critical success. With around 150 million records sold worldwide, he is the second best-selling Italian musical artist.[4][5] Often credited as the author of both the music and lyrics of his songs, according to his wife Claudia Mori, some were written in collaboration with others. Due to his prolific career, both in Italy and abroad, he is considered one of the pillars of Italian music.
Celentano is recognized for being particularly perceptive of changes in the music business and is credited for having introduced rock and roll to Italy. As an actor, Celentano has appeared in 39 films, mostly comedies.
Wikipedia
⬇️Adriano Celentano — The Movie
Database (TMDB)

07/10/2025

(Libra ♎️)
Georges Croegaert (7 October 1848 – 1923) was a Belgian academic painter who spent most of his career in Paris. He is known for his genre paintings of scenes from elegant society and portraits of women. He also had a reputation for his humorous depictions of red-robed Catholic cardinals executed in a highly realist style.

Born 7 October 1848, Antwerp, Belgium
Died 1923, Paris
Nationality Belgian 🇧🇪
Education Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)
Movement Realism

Most of Croegaert’s portraits of elegant young women are distinguished by their lavish detail. The influence of his relation, Jan Jacob Croegaert-Van Bree, is suspected in the elegance and realism of his style.[3] When he arrived in Paris portrait paintings depicting the lifestyle of contemporary, fashionable city dwellers had become popular. The trend was started in Paris in the late 1850s by the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens and was then adopted by other Belgian painters working in Paris such as Charles Baugniet and Gustave Léonard de Jonghe and the Frenchman Auguste Toulmouche. By the late 1860s there was a ready market for genre scenes with bourgeois figures, usually young glamorous women, depicted in sumptuous surroundings. With the onset of the Belle Epoque in the 1870s, this type of paintings depicting fashionable women set in an interior became popular at the Paris Salon.
The highly realistic depictions of Croegaert of society women have usually a slightly ironic undertone. This is clear in his wink at the contemporary fashions of Japonism and Orientalism in his paintings of Young lady reading in a japonising interior and the Dreams of the Orient, where the women depicted appear overcome by their infatuation with Japanese and Oriental art.

07/10/2025

Absolutely beautiful and original!