Empress Theodora, wife of 6th-century Byzantine emperor Justinian is reported by several ancient sources to have started in life as a courtesan and actress who performed in acts inspired from mythological themes and in which she disrobed "as far as the laws of the day allowed". She was famous for her striptease performance of "Leda and the Swan". From these accounts, it appears that the practice was not exceptional or new. It was, however, actively opposed by the Christian Church, which got statutes banning it in the following century. The degree to which these statutes were enforced is open to question. No practice of the sort is reported in texts of the European Middle Ages.
In the 1880s and 1890s, Parisian shows such as the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère had attractive scantily-clad women dancing and "tableaux vivants" (static poses). Acts in the 1890s had a woman slowly removed clothes in a vain search for a flea crawling on her body. The "People's Almanac" credits this as the origin of modern striptease.
Starting in 1905, Mata Hari entered the scene. On the invitation of Emile Guimet she danced before a carefully chosen audience. The scene at the end of the show, where she was naked was a sensation. Similar performances, at the requests of Baron von Rothschild, Cécile Sorel, Gaston Menier and Natalie Clifford Barney followed. Mata Hari had never learned how to dance, and had never studied Indian and oriental dancing. Her dances were a product of her imagination. In 1917, Mata Hari was charged with espionage and sentenced to death. She was shot, on 15 October 1917, in Vincennes, near Paris.
Another landmark performance was the appearance at the Moulin Rouge in 1907 of an actress called Germaine Aymos who entered dressed only in three very small shells. In the 1930s the famous Josephine Baker danced semi-nude in the "danse sauvage" at the Folies and other such performances were provided at the Tabarin. These shows were notable for their sophisticated choreography and often dressing the girls in glitzy sequins and feathers. By the 1960s "fully nude" shows were provided at such places as Le Crazy Horse Saloon.
After the war, in the 1950s striptease became the motor of an emerging sex industry (mainly focused on publications, like Playboy). Paris saw the opening of the high-society strip clubs, like the Alcazar or the Crazy Horse.
In modern times, the art of striptease gets lost more and more. In the 1990s, a German private TV channel (called RTL) made a strip show called Tutti Frutti. Since then, during the night, many TV stations have women, who try to get rid of their clothes (without even dancing), while they advertise some phone sex numbers (or other prime-rate numbers).
There is also a film called "Striptease". It plays in US strip clubs, without giving much background information.
Originally, striptease was only done by women. Today, a very small number of male strippers are there. Among the most notable of them are the Chippendales.
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, poet, screenwriter, short-story writer and wartime fighter pilot.
Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales to Norwegian parents. He was educated in England, Llandaff Cathedral School, and then worked in Africa for Shell Oil Company. In the Second World War, he was an RAF fighter pilot. It was after an air-crash and "a monumental bash on the head" that he began to write. The crash was the subject of his first published story, "Shot Down Over Libya".
He wanted to become an adult book writer but ended up as a children's book writer. He had a tragic life since his father and oldest sister both died when he was young. Roald Dahl said that the key to his success rested in sympathizing with children and realizing that to children, parents and school teachers are the enemy.
His stories are full of huge, wild ideas and he hoped they would help children to learn to love books. He is one of the world's most popular children's writers.
Dahl wrote many famous children's stories and adult horror stories. Many of his books and stories have been made into films and TV shows all over the world. Among his most popular books are "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "James and the Giant Peach", "Matilda", "The Witches", "The BFG", Fantastic Mr Fox, and "Kiss Kiss". Many of his children's books have pictures drawn by Quentin Blake.
Dahl was married to Patricia Neal from 1953 until they divorced in 1983. They had four daughters (one of whom died before them) and a son. Dahl was married to Felicity Crosland from 1983 until his death. He lived in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. He died on 23 November 1990 in Oxford, from myelodysplastic syndrome, aged 74.
Model Sophie Dahl is his granddaughter.
There is a Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden.
Let There Be Rock
Let There Be Rock is a studio album by the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was released on June 23, 1977.
Electrical energy
Electrical energy can refer to several closely related things. It can mean:
In any of these cases, the SI unit of electrical energy is the joule; which is the amount of energy used by a one-watt load, such as a tiny light bulb, drawing power for one second. The unit used by many electrical utility companies is the watt-hour (Wh); which is the amount of energy used by the same one-watt load drawing power for one hour. The kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is 1,000 times larger than a watt-hour, is a useful size for measuring the energy use of households and small businesses. A typical household uses several hundred kilowatt-hours per month. The megawatt-hour (MWh), which is 1,000 times larger than the kilowatt-hour, is used for measuring the energy output of large power plants.
The terms "electrical energy" and "electric power" are frequently used interchangeably. However, in physics, and electrical engineering, "energy" and "power" have different meanings. Power is energy per unit time. The SI unit of power and electricity is the watt. One watt is a joule per second. In other words, the phrases "flow of power," and "consume a quantity of electric power" are both incorrect and should be changed to "flow of energy" and "consume a quantity of electrical energy."
Power (physics)
In physics, power (symbol: "P") is how fast work is done or energy is given from one thing to another. In the SI system of measurement, power is measured in watts (symbol: W).
It may take a certain amount of work to make a change in the world, such as lifting a heavy weight to a higher level. It makes no difference if the weight is lifted slowly or quickly. The same amount of work will have been performed. The difference between a slow lift and a quick lift is that a quick lift requires more power. This means the work can be done in a shorter time if there is more power available.
As a rate of change of work done or the energy of a subsystem, power is:
where
Power is also equal to force times velocity (or speed).
In optics, or radiometry, the term "power" sometimes refers to radiant flux. This is the average rate of energy transport by electromagnetic radiation, measured in watts. But the term "power" is also used to express the ability of a lens or other optical device to focus light. It is measured in dioptres (inverse metres), and is equal to one over the focal length of the optical device.
List of Byzantine Emperors
This is a list of the Emperors of the late Eastern Roman Empire, called Byzantine by modern historians. This list does not include many of the emperors that rules with someone else.
The title of all Emperors before Heraclius was Augustus, but other titles such as Dominus were also used. After Heraclius, the title was changed to the Greek Basileus. This title used to mean "king", "sovereign" but now was used in place of Augustus.
This list begins with Constantine I the Great, the first Christian emperor reigning from Constantinople.