125559+P5+Present

= Imperialism Today: The Bussiness Aspect =

Today the idea of industrial revolution is still alive today, hidden in plain sight. The factories will always keep the memories of it alive. Back when the surplus of products came and competion drove prices into the ground, the owners had to find more places to sell it. They came upon Africa, but the english merchants ran into many problems. The english not only sold the old products the could sell, but brought back more raw goods to make more of the new materials that they came to Africa to sell. You would think that they would just make a new product.To do that they would have to get new machines and even fire a few workers. So they had to continue making the same product. But there was a whole continent waiting to recieve products. But it wasnt so easy for england to get into the middle of africa. There were a few obsticles stopping them. There were wild animals, rivers, rapids, jungles, and did I mention WILD ANIMALS. On the beaches the were huge hippos that could swim up to 30 miles an hour. And in the jungle there are plenty of little poisonis insects and plants. Africa is was known as the White mans Grave because english man who came over would die within a year of living there.
 * __ Matthew Pierre's Outlook:__**

But today these tactics are still used today. For instants cell phones are used the same way today as cloth and clothin were used back then. the old cell phones that arent sold are brought to other places that dont have cell phones at all. To them it's a neww amazing thing but in America its old news. Then they makes phones with new features and when they get old they can sell them some where else. So America is always a bit ahead of the other country. The are places out there where people are still amaized by the color screen but here people are way more advanced wit touch screens and fios internet. The funny thing is that the touch screen has been around for quite a while no the phone companies were jus waiting for the customers got tired of their old phones. You wonder, can phones get any better? I think they can and they will.

=http://mineralsciences.si.edu/hope.htm= = = = = = =

=The Story of the Hope Diamond=

The history of the stone that was eventually named the Hope diamond began when the French merchant traveller, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, purchased a 112 3/16-carat diamond. This diamond, which was most likely from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India, was somewhat triangular in shape and crudely cut. Its color was described by Tavernier as a "beautiful violet.". Tavernier sold the diamond to King Louis XIV of France in 1668 with 14 other large diamonds and several smaller ones. In 1673 the stone was recut by Sieur Pitau, the court jeweler, resulting in a 67 1/8-carat stone. In the royal inventories, its color was described as an intense steely-blue and the stone became known as the "Blue Diamond of the Crown," or the "French Blue." It was set in gold and suspended on a neck ribbon that the king wore on ceremonial occasions. King Louis XV, in 1749, had the stone reset by court jeweler Andre Jacquemin, in a piece of ceremonial jewelry for the Order of the Golden Fleece (Toison D'Or). In 1791, after an attempt by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to flee France, the jewels of the French Royal Treasury were turned over to the government. During a week-long looting of the crown jewels in September of 1792, the French Blue diamond was stolen. In 1812 a deep blue diamond described by John Francillion as weighing 177 grains (4 grains = 1 carat) was documented as being in the possession of London diamond merchant, Daniel Eliason. Strong evidence indicates that the stone was acquired by King George IV of England. At his death, in 1830, the king's debts were so enormous that the blue diamond was likely sold through private channels. The first reference to the diamond's next owner is found in the 1839 entry of the gem collection catalog of the well-known Henry Philip Hope, the man from whom the diamond takes its name. Unfortunately, the catalog does not reveal where or from whom Hope acquired the diamond or how much he paid for it. Following the death of Henry Philip Hope in 1839, and after much litigation, the diamond passed to his nephew Henry Thomas Hope and ultimately to the nephew's grandson Lord Francis Hope. In 1902 Lord Francis Hope obtained permission from the Court of Chancery and his sisters to sell the stone to help pay off his debts. It was sold to a London dealer who quickly sold it to Joseph Frankels and Sons of New York City, who retained the stone in New York until they, in turn, needed cash. The diamond was next sold to Selim Habib who put it up for auction in Paris in 1909. It did not sell at the auction but was sold soon after to C.H. Rosenau and then resold to Pierre Cartier that same year. In 1910 the Hope diamond was shown to Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean, of Washington D.C., at Cartier's while on her honeymoon in Paris, but she did not like the setting. Cartier had the diamond reset and took it to the U.S. where he left it with Mrs. McLean for a weekend. This strategy was successful. The sale was made in 1912 with the diamond mounted as a headpiece on a three-tiered circlet of large white diamonds. Sometime later it became the pendant on a diamond necklace as we know it today. [|Mrs. McLean's flamboyant ownership of the stone lasted until her death in 1947.] Harry Winston Inc. of New York City purchased Mrs. McLean's entire jewelry collection, including the Hope diamond, from her estate in 1949. This collection also included the 94.8-carat Star of the East diamond, the 15-carat Star of the South diamond, a 9-carat green diamond, and a 31-carat diamond that is now called the McLean diamond. For the next 10 years the Hope diamond was shown at many exhibits and charitable events world wide by Harry Winston Inc., including as the central attraction of their Court of Jewels exhibition. On November 10, 1958, they donated the Hope diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, and almost immediately the great blue stone became its premier attraction. The Hope diamond has left the Smithsonian only four times since it was donated. In 1962 it was exhibited for a month at the Louvre in Paris, France, as part of an exhibit entitled Ten Centuries of French Jewelry. In 1965 the Hope diamond traveled to South Africa where it was exhibited at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg. In 1984 the diamond was lent to Harry Winston Inc., in New York, as part of the firm's 50th anniversary celebration. In 1996 the Hope diamond was again sent to Harry Winston Inc., in New York, this time for cleaning and some minor restoration work. The weight of the Hope diamond for many years was reported to be 44.5 carats. In 1974 it was removed from its setting and found actually to weigh 45.52 carats. It is classified as a type IIb diamond, which are semiconductive and usually phosphoresce. The Hope diamond phosphoresces a strong red color, which will last for several seconds after exposure to short wave ultra-violet light. The diamond's blue coloration is attributed to trace amounts of boron in the stone. In the pendant surrounding the Hope diamond are 16 white diamonds, both pear-shapes and cushion cuts. A bail is soldered to the pendant where Mrs. McLean would often attach other diamonds including the McLean diamond and the Star of the East. The necklace chain contains 45 white diamonds. In December of 1988, a team from the Gemological Institute of America visited the Smithsonian to grade the great blue stone according to present day techniques. They observed that the gem shows evidence of wear, has a remarkably strong phosphorescence, and that its clarity is slightly affected by a whitish graining that is common to blue diamonds. They described the color as fancy dark grayish-blue. In 1996, after another examination they described the color as fancy deep grayish-blue. An examination on the same day in 1988 by another gemologist using a very sensitive colorimeter revealed that there is a very slight violet component to the deep blue color which is imperceptible to the naked eye. Still, one can only wonder that the original 112 3/16-carat stone bought by Tavernier was described as "un beau violet" (a beautiful violet).

HOPE DIAMOND DATA
WEIGHT: 45.52 carats DIMENSIONS: Length 25.60 mm Width 21.78 mm Depth 12.00 mm CUT: Cushion antique brilliant with a faceted girdle and extra facets on the pavilion. CLARITY: VS1. Whitish graining is present. COLOR: Fancy dark grayish-blue


 * __ Matthew Pierre's Outlook:__**

=http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx= =Still feeding off the Italian Renaissance=

Modern Music taking notes from the 17th Century
Of the many accomplishments of the Renaissance Italian mind, science and music stand out. There was a family connection between music and science. Galileo Galilei, the father of modern science, learned to apply mathematics to observable phenomenon from his father. Vincenzo Galilei worked out the application of the inverse square law to the relationship between pitch and tension of vibrating strings. He was also a member of the Florentine Camerata, associated with the birth of opera, and is credited with the invention secco recitative. At the turn of the 17th century Vincenzo's Camerata, looking for an alternative to the domination of text by music in the polyphony of the 16th century, reached for inspiration back to the Greeks. In the old polyphonic style, all the voices in an ensemble were, in theory, equal in importance. In the new style, the earliest examples of which are called monody, a new polarized relationship was created between all-important vocal melody and supporting harmonic ensemble. Music's new role was to heighten the expression of the text. Recitative is the clearest example of this new texture. The texts most often set in the new genre that would turn into opera were not at all new, however. On the contrary, often the texts for the monodies, and later the operas that employed the new style, were taken from Ovid's Metamorphosis. This Roman poet's collection of ancient Greek myths also provided the subjects for many of the frescos that decorated the walls of the villas of that time. With the composition of operas like Monteverdi's Orpheo, the sung word was supreme, at least in theory. However, it did not take many decades for the creation of new kinds of vocal and instrumental virtuosity, making use of the new musical textures in new contexts. Soon idiomatic sonatas were being composed for many instruments, while cantatas were opportunities for vocal fireworks. Even in the new genre, opera, by the middle of the 17th century the text soon became an excuse for vocal display. Regardless of varying dominance of music and word, with the move towards a vigorously emotional musical expression, music's harmony developed from modality to tonality. Within the 17th century what is today often called common practice harmony was established, although it took some more decades for it to be codified. It is this common harmonic practice that every popular musician uses to this day. It was between the deaths of Galileo and Newton that the most famous Italian instrument makers Stradivari, Amati, and Guarnari worked. The violin family predates the work of these famous makers by many decades, however. Shepardic Jewish musicians may have invented the viola in the early 16th -century, probably used at first to substitute for the tenor in three part songs at the court of Isabella d'Este. These players, fleeing the inquisition in Spain, needed different tools for their new audience in Italy. The rest of our bowed stringed instruments followed the viola: the violin (little viola) the violone, (big viola) and, at the beginning of the 18th century, finally the violoncello, (little big viola.) Some authorities claim that the other bowed stringed family, viola da gamba family, was invented at more or less the same time as the viola. In the 16th century the social contexts of these two families, the violin and viola da gamba, were distinct. The viola da gamba was associated with the aristocracy and with serious polyphonic music; the violin was the brash shrill choice of the musician who eked out a living playing dances. At the turn of the 17th century, the new musical sung staged versions of the Greek myths, the new operas, required a new instrumental accompaniment. To intensify further the heightened emotional atmosphere at these operas not just the new musical texture was created, but a new ensemble was assembled. This was the beginning of the orchestra, with the violin family as its backbone. The viola da gamba had only a minor role in the new orchestra, but its family continued to flourish for another 6 generations, until the sheer numbers and variety of activities associated with the violin overshadowed those of gamba, at least in the minds of writers on music. These Italian musical genres, opera, sonatas, and cantatas, the instruments that figure in them, and the musicians that played them, were exported from the Italian states to all the countries of Europe, and to their colonies. So it was that Frescobaldi worked in Dresden, Geminiani in England and in Ireland, Ariosti in London, and countless other examples. And the violin soon made it to nearly every part of the globe. Durable, adaptable, it made its way into a rainbow of musical styles, outlasting many of its contemporaries, the harpsichord, lute, recorder, and many other unique and beautiful musical creations. To this day kids learning classical music learn 'forte' for loud, 'allegro' for fast, 'fine' for end. All commercial music depends on the harmonic language first created for opera centuries ago. It is not too much to say that Brittany Spears is still feeding on the harmony language created in the Italian Renaissance. Of course, Vincenzo Galilei would not have recognized her music, any more than Galileo would have recognized the Hubble telescope, or Stradivari would have recognized the Berg violin concerto. Nonetheless all these modern creations, in their different ways, depend on the achievements of the Renaissance Italian mind. = = **By Thomas Georgi** In very brief and simplew words the article say the Italian Renaissance insperade some music we have to day. To be exact it inspired the classical side of music like opera. The Reniassence helped Vincenzo find the realation ship between the tension of vibrating strings, to create lower or higher sounds. But most importantly almost all music we listen to today depends on harmonic lanugage, which was created in the opera of the Italian Reniassence.
 * __ Matthew Pierre's Outlook:__**