RANDY JONES, THE COWBOY FROM THE VILLAGE PEOPLE AT THE 2011 OUT MUSIC AWARDS
7th Annual OUTMUSIC Awards Red Carpet sponsored by Live Nation
Red Carpet hosted by Charlii featuring the best of the LGBT community.
Randy Jones (singer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Randy Jones (born on 13 September 1952 in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States) is an American disco and pop singer and was the original cowboy from Village People.
As of 2006, he currently lives in New York City.
He attended Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina and graduated in 1970. While there, he was a founder of Enloe's Drama Club, which was then called Amicus Scaena; Latin for friend of scene or friend of theatre.
Jones had a marriage ceremony with his partner of 20 years, Will Grega, at a New York club on May 7, 2004. Although the marriage is not legally binding, as gay marriage was still illegal in New York state, Jones commented that: It's only a matter of time before the courts rule in favor of what's morally right and humanly decent.[1] The pair published a book together in 1996, titled Out Sounds: The Gay and Lesbian Music Alternative.[2]
| BICYCLE TOUR | USA | ATLANTIC COAST | ORLANDO, FLORIDA TO BAR HARBOR, MAINE
Our first bike tour from Orlando Florida to Bar Harbor Maine.
I wasn't able to capture the entire trip so for the sake of telling the story as closely as it happened I added in a few pictures to fill in the blanks..
Music Credit
Hippie Sabotage - Drifter
Jape - Floating
The Flaming Lips & Tame Impala - Children of the Moon
My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus
Dr. Dog - Heart It Races
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul to Squeeze
Wilco - No Poetry
Bicentennial Symposium: Poetry & the American People
As part of the celebration of the Library of Congress Bicentennial in 2000, it sponsored the symposium Poetry and the American People: Reading, Voice and Publication in the 19th and 20th Centuries featuring a number of distinguished speakers followed by an evening reading by Robert Pinsky (U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry from 1997-2000) and W.S. Merwin (U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry from 2010-2011 and special Bicentennial Consultant from 1999-2000). In addition to Pinksy and Merwin, featured speakers included Rita Dove (U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry from 1993-95), Louise Glück (U.S. Poet Laureate from 2003-04), and Witter Bynner Fellows for 2000--Naomi Shihab Nye and Joshua Weiner.
For transcript and more information, visit
Over Wyoming
WyomingPBS takes cameras aloft to explore the sweeping beauty of the Cowboy State and finds etched on the land, history as vast as its horizons and human stories as intricate as its streams. Narrated by Pete Simpson.
Obama Drone Strikes Climate Change!?!
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Climate study pushes the clock way back:
US CO2 emissions dropping thanks to natural gas:
Horrible smog hits Hardin, China:
China's mass migration:
8 states vow 3.3M zero-emission cars by 2025:
Pope suspends Bishop of Bling
No guns in schools:
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Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as The Bad Boys from Boston and America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with vocalist/harmonica player Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston.
They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album, followed by their 1974 album Get Your Wings. In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rocks cemented their status as hard rock superstars. Two additional albums followed in 1977 and 1979. Throughout the 1970s, the band toured extensively and charted a string of Hot 100 singles. By the end of the decade, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the Blue Army. However, drug addiction and internal conflict took their toll on the band, which resulted in the departures of Perry and Whitford in 1979 and 1981, respectively; they were replaced by Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. The band did not fare well between 1980 and 1984, releasing a lone album, Rock in a Hard Place, which went gold but failed to match their previous successes.
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10/12/19 Nashville City Cemetery Living History Tour
Recording of the 20th Annual Nashville City Cemetery Living History tour, held on October 12, 2019
Thy Will Be Done (Night 2) - Shepherdstown, Antietam & the Bower
copyright Jim Surkamp
Thy Will Be Done (Night 1) - A Chasm Beneath Our Feet
Thy Will Be Done (Night 2) - Shepherdstown, Antietam, and The Bower
Thy Will Be Done (Night 3) - The Homes in Ashes in the Shenandoah
By Jim Surkamp, Terry Tucker, Ardyth Gilbertson and Homer Speaker.
copyright jointly held by all the above persons with the exception of musical performances of Ms. Tucker and she is the owner of the arrangements and the performance. More at Go to civilwarscholars.com for 700K of footnoted content and 12K images to accompany these videos made possible with the support of American Public University System more at Go to civilwarscholars.com for 700K of footnoted content and 12K images to accompany these videos made possible with the support of American Public University System more at
The Shadow by Arthur Stringer | Audiobook with subtitles
A manhunt for a bank robber takes a determined and fixated New York City detective on a gripping, globe-spanning adventure, with many plot twists along the way.
Arthur Stringer was a novelist, screenwriter and poet. He published 45 works of fiction and 15 other books in addition to writing numerous film scripts and articles. See:
This book is unrelated to the 1930s and 1940s pulp magazine and radio series of the same name. (Lee Smalley)
Genre(s): Action & Adventure Fiction
The Shadow by Arthur STRINGER
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The Hound of The Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the crime novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin. Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case. This was the first appearance of Holmes since his intended death in The Final Problem, and the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles led to the character's eventual revival.
Chapter 1. Mr Sherlock Holmes - 00:00
Chapter 2. The Curse of the Baskervilles - 15:05
Chapter 3. The Problem - 39:28
Chapter 4. Sir Henry Baskerville - 58:37
Chapter 5. The Three Broken Threads - 1:24:00
Chapter 6. Baskerville Hall - 1:45:31
Chapter 7. The Stapletons of Meripit House - 2:07:17
Chapter 8. First Report of Dr Watson - 2:38:16
Chapter 9. The Light Upon the Moor (Second Report of Dr Watson) - 2:55:05
Chapter 10. Extract from The Diary of Dr Watson - 3:34:23
Chapter 11. The Man on the Tor - 3:56:35
Chapter 12. Death on The Moor - 4:24:02
Chapter 13. Fixing The Nets - 4:50:29
Chapter 14. The Hound of the Baskervilles - 5:15:12
Chapter 15. A Retrospection - 5:41:15
Read by David Clarke (
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The Man Who Would Be King - FULL Audio Book - by Rudyard Kipling - Classic Adventure Fiction
The Man Who Would Be King - FULL Audio Book - by Rudyard Kipling - Classic Adventure Fiction
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Chapter 01 -- 00:26:12
Chapter 02 -- 00:33:27
Chapter 03 -- 00:30:51
Total running time: 1:30:30
Read by Philippa
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The Idea of Zion The Doctrine & Covenants Lecture 04 by Hyrum Andrus
Hyrum L. Andrus August 15 - 19, 1991
Lecture – 4 THE IDEA OF ZION
I just want to say again how much I appreciate being here with you folks and feeling the Spirit and particularly having Helen Mae with me. We’ve had an enjoyable trip down. She has a whole big batch of files on President Benson, and she brought them with us, and we read Ezra Taft Benson from Alpine to Snowflake. It was just a thrilling experience to read through discourse after discourse that he has given. As I’d drive along, she’d read and we’d discuss and say, “Hey, that’s a great idea; where can we work that one in?” It’s a thrill and a pleasure to be with you.
Our subject for this hour is The Idea of Zion. As you read some of the early Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, Sections 11, 12, 14--and it’s easy to remember, because they’re all verse 6 in those three revelations, and they all say the same thing. The thing that they say, as in Section 11:6, is, “Now, as you have asked, behold I say unto you, keep my commandments, and seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion.”
The Prophet Joseph Smith makes this statement as he talks about the importance of Zion. This is Teachings, page 160: “We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object.” As our greatest object. Some people say that teaching the gospel is the greatest work, and other people say that the redemption of the dead is the greatest work, and there are ways in which that comment needs to be understood to make it more meaningful. But the building of Zion will include both of them, won’t it? So if there’s an end to controversy, it will be on this.
We need to build Zion, not just as something that’s going to happen in the last days. We need to build Zion for our salvation. Let me put it this way: no person will enter into the celestial kingdom as an heir to be exalted therein who has not established in his life the principles, the knowledge, the doctrine and the program of Zion. You become exalted by becoming a Zion people. And to the degree that we are a Zion people, we are prepared for celestial existence. The building of Zion is not just something for the Millennium, it’s something that I need to do if I ever expect to be exalted in the celestial kingdom, because exaltation is not based on any other principle. You cannot neglect the building of Zion and be exalted; it just cannot be done. And you cannot neglect understanding the principles and the doctrine of Zion, and be exalted; it simply cannot be done.
You can be baptized and get into the celestial kingdom and be a ministering angel and run around loose in eternity as a free-lance celestial being, as it were--sealed, however, to some family. But you cannot be exalted unless you have learned and internalized the principles of Zion.
Here in Section 105, as the Lord spoke to the Saints in June of 1834, at a place called Fishing River in Missouri, the setting is Zion’s Camp which had traveled this thousand miles, thereabouts, from Kirtland to Missouri, to give the Saints support in being reinstated upon their lands. When they got there, the Lord gave this revelation:
Verse 2: “Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my people, speaking concerning the church and not individuals, they might have been redeemed even now. But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them; And are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom.” That “union” is union based on Spirit, testimony, the revelations of God’s will and mind to each person, which brings a natural union.
He says, “And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.” That last phrase is very, very important. It has more than one application. It means for the here and now, for this earth, that Christ will not come in the second coming until he has a people established on the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom. You can talk about the second coming, you can speculate when it’s going to take place, but you write this down that he will not come in his glory and in his power until there is a body of people living the full law of the Doctrine and Covenants concerning Zion. It simply will not be, because he cannot come and receive them unto himself.
Then that extension goes on into the resurrection. He cannot receive us as his people, and we be his people in the resurrection, except it is on the basis that we have received, embraced, applied, internalized the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom. So this is very important.
In the Inspired Revision of the Bible, in tÖ Get the full transcription from hyrumandrus.com!
The Clue by Carolyn Wells | Audio book with subtitles
The Clue by Carolyn WELLS. Read by Roger Melin.
Once Carolyn Wells began, or re-invented her writing career, 'The Clue' was her initial book which strayed from children's writings into mysteries and detective stories. It is also when we are introduced to her most famous of detectives, Fleming Stone.
On the eve of her wedding day, Madeleine Van Norman, a beautiful young lady who is soon to come into her family fortune is found dead, apparently stabbed with an ominous blood-stained letter opener found nearby. There is nobody within the household who is not considered a suspect by the police, but how could a killer have slipped through the doors of Madeleine’s locked bedroom? It must have been suicide, as a note was found lying on a table near her body. Or was it? An intriguing mystery ensues which hinges on the discovery of a single, all-important clue. - Summary by Roger Melin
Genre(s): Detective Fiction
Chapters:
0:26 | Chapter 1. The Van Normans
20:13 | Chapter 2. Miss Morton Arrives
41:22 | Chapter 3. A Cry in the Night
1:00:31 | Chapter 4. Suicide or ----?
1:21:11 | Chapter 5.A Case for the Coroner
1:42:36 | Chapter 6. Fessenden Comes
2:04:08 | Chapter 7. Mr. Benson's Questions
2:22:41 | Chapter 8. A Soft Lead Pencil
2:44:11 | Chapter 9. The Will
3:02:45 | Chapter 10. Some Testimony
3:23:25 | Chapter 11. 'I Decline to Say'
3:41:40 | Chapter 12. Dorothy Burt
4:00:29 | Chapter 13.An Interview With Cicely
4:22:11 | Chapter 14. The Carleton Household
4:42:02 | Chapter 15. Fessenden's Detective Work
5:02:32 | Chapter 16. Searching for Clues
5:22:45 | Chapter 17. Miss Morton's Statements
5:41:47 | Chapter 18. Carleton is Frank
6:04:21 | Chapter 19. The Truth About Miss Burt
6:23:46 | Chapter 20. Cicely's Flight
6:43:50 | Chapter 21. A Successful Pursuit
7:01:41 | Chapter 22. A Talk With Miss Morton
7:18:13 | Chapter 23.Fleming Stone
7:36:56 | Chapter 24. A Confession
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The Cruise of the Snark Audiobook by Jack London | Full Audiobook with subtitles
The Cruise of the Snark (1913) is a memoir of Jack and Charmian London's 1907-1909 voyage across the Pacific. His descriptions of surf-riding, which he dubbed a royal sport, helped introduce it to and popularize it with the mainland. London writes: Through the white crest of a breaker suddenly appears a dark figure, erect, a man-fish or a sea-god, on the very forward face of the crest where the top falls over and down, driving in toward shore, buried to his loins in smoking spray, caught up by the sea and flung landward, bodily, a quarter of a mile. It is a Kanaka on a surf-board. And I know that when I have finished these lines I shall be out in that riot of colour and pounding surf, trying to bit those breakers even as he, and failing as he never failed, but living life as the best of us may live it. Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Genre(s): Memoirs
The Cruise of the Snark
Jack LONDON
Chapters:
0:23 | 1 - Chapter I -- Foreword
22:46 | 2 - Chapter II -- The Inconceivable And Monstrous
54:18 | 3 - Chapter III -- Adventure
1:11:43 | 4 - Chapter IV -- Finding One's Way About
1:34:55 | 5 - Chapter V -- The First Landfall
1:50:08 | 6 - Chapter VI -- A Royal Sport
2:14:28 | 7 - Chapter VII -- The Lepers Of Molokai
2:45:10 | 8 - Chapter VIII -- The House Of The Sun
3:14:18 | 9 - Chapter IX -- A Pacific Traverse
3:50:08 | 10 - Chapter X -- Typee
4:21:00 | 11 - Chapter XI -- The Nature Man
4:48:48 | 12 - Chapter XII -- The High Seat of Abundance
5:27:12 | 13 - Chapter XIII -- The Stone-fishing of Bora Bora
5:42:33 | 14 - Chapter XIV -- The Amateur Navigator
6:22:33 | 15 - Chapter XV -- Cruising in the Solomons
7:01:18 | 16 - Chapter XVI -- Beche de Mer English
7:17:00 | 17 - Chapter XVII -- The Amateur M.D.
7:56:00 | 18 - Back Word
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Calling All Cars: The 25th Stamp / The Incorrigible Youth / The Big Shot
The radio show Calling All Cars hired LAPD radio dispacher Jesse Rosenquist to be the voice of the dispatcher. Rosenquist was already famous because home radios could tune into early police radio frequencies. As the first police radio dispatcher presented to the public ear, his was the voice that actors went to when called upon for a radio dispatcher role.
The iconic television series Dragnet, with LAPD Detective Joe Friday as the primary character, was the first major media representation of the department. Real LAPD operations inspired Jack Webb to create the series and close cooperation with department officers let him make it as realistic as possible, including authentic police equipment and sound recording on-site at the police station.
Due to Dragnet's popularity, LAPD Chief Parker became, after J. Edgar Hoover, the most well known and respected law enforcement official in the nation. In the 1960s, when the LAPD under Chief Thomas Reddin expanded its community relations division and began efforts to reach out to the African-American community, Dragnet followed suit with more emphasis on internal affairs and community policing than solving crimes, the show's previous mainstay.
Several prominent representations of the LAPD and its officers in television and film include Adam-12, Blue Streak, Blue Thunder, Boomtown, The Closer, Colors, Crash, Columbo, Dark Blue, Die Hard, End of Watch, Heat, Hollywood Homicide, Hunter, Internal Affairs, Jackie Brown, L.A. Confidential, Lakeview Terrace, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Life, Numb3rs, The Shield, Southland, Speed, Street Kings, SWAT, Training Day and the Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour and Terminator film series. The LAPD is also featured in the video games Midnight Club II, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, L.A. Noire and Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
The LAPD has also been the subject of numerous novels. Elizabeth Linington used the department as her backdrop in three different series written under three different names, perhaps the most popular being those novel featuring Det. Lt. Luis Mendoza, who was introduced in the Edgar-nominated Case Pending. Joseph Wambaugh, the son of a Pittsburgh policeman, spent fourteen years in the department, using his background to write novels with authentic fictional depictions of life in the LAPD. Wambaugh also created the Emmy-winning TV anthology series Police Story. Wambaugh was also a major influence on James Ellroy, who wrote several novels about the Department set during the 1940s and 1950s, the most famous of which are probably The Black Dahlia, fictionalizing the LAPD's most famous cold case, and L.A. Confidential, which was made into a film of the same name. Both the novel and the film chronicled mass-murder and corruption inside and outside the force during the Parker era. Critic Roger Ebert indicates that the film's characters (from the 1950s) represent the choices ahead for the LAPD: assisting Hollywood limelight, aggressive policing with relaxed ethics, and a straight arrow approach.
Sherman's Armies in South Carolina (Lecture)
National Park Service Ranger Bert Barnett follows the path of General William T. Sherman as his armies move through South Carolina in 1865.
Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland | Audiobooks Youtube Free
Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749) was the first widely-read English novel in the genre “Erotica.” It was written by John Cleland as he was serving hard time at a debtor’s prison in London. Over the centuries, the novel has been repeatedly banned by authorities, assuring its preeminent role in the history of the ongoing struggle against censorship of free expression.
Until Fanny Hill, previous heroines had conducted their amorous liaisons “off-stage.” Any erotic misadventures were described euphemistically. As women who had gone astray, they always repented, which made even their most outrageous dalliances somehow suitable for a moralistic readership. The protagonist of Fanny Hill, however, never repented a single moment of her sexual exploits … quite the contrary! And with Fanny, the devil is in the details, realistically described. (Summary by Denny Mike)
Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
John CLELAND
Genre(s): Erotica, Romance
Chapters:
0:31 | Chapter 1
1:06:06 | Chapter 2
2:01:52 | Chapter 3
3:13:47 | Chapter 4
4:07:29 | Chapter 5
4:36:14 | Chapter 6
5:37:57 | Chapter 7
6:38:41 | Chapter 8
7:34:14 | Chapter 9
8:26:24 | Chapter 10
The Great Gildersleeve: Gildy Considers Marriage / Picnic with the Thompsons / House Guest Hooker
Premiering on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company (If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve) and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon, father of Tom Whedon (who wrote The Golden Girls), and grandfather of Deadwood scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
Mali Empire | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Mali Empire
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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The Mali Empire (Manding: Nyeni or Niani; also historically referred to as the Manden Kurufaba, sometimes shortened to Manden) was an empire in West Africa from c. 1230 to 1670. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Musa Keita. The Manding languages were spoken in the empire. It was the largest empire in West Africa and profoundly influenced the culture of West Africa through the spread of its language, laws and customs. Much of the recorded information about the Mali Empire comes from 14th-century North African Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta and 16th-century Moroccan traveller Leo Africanus. The other major source of information is Mandinka oral tradition, through storytellers known as griots.The empire began as a small Mandinka kingdom at the upper reaches of the Niger River, centred around the town of Niani (the empire's namesake in Manding). During the 11th and 12th centuries, it began to develop as an empire following the decline of the Ghana Empire to the north. During this period, trade routes shifted southward to the savanna, stimulating the growth of states. The early history of the Mali Empire (before the 13th century) is unclear, as there are conflicting and imprecise accounts by both Arab chroniclers and oral traditionalists. Sundiata Keita (c. 1214–c. 1255) is the first ruler for which there is accurate written information (through Ibn Khaldun). Sundiata Keita was a warrior-prince of the Keita dynasty who was called upon to free the Mali people from the rule of the king of the Sosso Empire, Soumaoro Kanté. The conquest of Sosso in c. 1235 gave the Mali Empire access to the trans-Saharan trade routes.
Following the death of Sundiata Keita in c. 1255, the kings of Mali were referred to by the title mansa. Sundiata's nephew Mansa Musa made a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Baibars (r. 1260–1277). Following a series of usurpations of the throne of Mali, in c. 1285 Sakoura, a former royal court slave, became emperor and was one of its most powerful rulers, greatly expanding the territories of Mali. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca during the reign of Mamluk Sultan An-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1298–1308). Dying on his return, the throne reverted to the descendants of Sundiata Keita. After the reigns of three more emperors, Musa Keita became emperor in c. 1312. Musa made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca from 1324 to 1326. His generous gifts to Mamluk Egypt and his expenditure of gold caused gold to be greatly devalued, which gave rise to his fame outside of Mali. In 1337, he was succeeded by his son Maghan I, who in 1341 was deposed by his uncle Suleyman. It was during Suleyman's reign that Ibn Battuta visited Mali. Following this period, a period of weak emperors, conflicts and disunity began in Mali.
Ibn Khaldun died in 1406, and following his death there was no continuous record of events in the Mali Empire. It is known from the Tarikh al-Sudan that Mali was still a sizeable state in the 15th century. The Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto and Portuguese traders confirmed that the peoples of the Gambia were still subject to the mansa of Mali. Upon Leo Africanus's visit at the beginning of the 16th century, his descriptions of the territorial domains of Mali showed that it was still a kingdom of considerable area. However, from 1507 neighbouring states such as Diara, Great Fulo and the Songhay Empire were eroding the extreme territories of Mali. In 1542, the Songhay invaded the capital city of Niani but were unsuccessful in conquering the empire. During the 17th century, the Mali empire faced incursions from the Bamana Empire. After unsuccessful attempts by Mansa Mama Maghan to conquer Bamana, in 1670 Bamana sacked and burned Niani, and the Mali Empire rapidly disintegrated and ceased to exist, being replaced by independent chiefdoms. ...
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy | Audiobook with subtitles | Part 2 of 2
Far From The Madding Crowd is Hardy's fourth novel. It centres on the lives of five characters: Gabriel Oak, Bathsheba Everdene, Mr Boldwood, Sgt. Troy and Fanny Robin. The plot involves love, loyalty, death and betrayal and all this is delivered to us in Hardy's most eloquent prose. The images of character and nature are painted for our mind's eye with sublime style. Finally, but not least, Hardy's use of the Greek chorus is unsurpassed in injecting comedy and nudging the story along. (Summary by Tadhg Hynes)
Far From The Madding Crowd, version 2
Thomas HARDY
Genre(s): General Fiction
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