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by MATT TREWHELLA, MISSIONARIES TO THE PREBORN
Sunlight was just beginning to break over the darkness of the morning as my wife and I hurl toward the entrance of the cold brick-faced building. Fear and apprehension gripped me each step of the way. A thousand questions and thoughts raced through my mind. "How much pain will there be? Why the heck did I ever do this in the first place? Maybe I should just leave."
As I entered the door, I figured these were my last moments to bolt and run. I thought back to when I had done something similar six and a half years earlier and remembered the words that blazed across my mind when the procedure began–l will never do this again! Yet there I was, about to have a vasectomy reversal. What could possibly bring a man to the point where he would be willing to go under the knife once again?
Two UnBiblical Beliefs
Only two things could convince a man to get a vasectomy reversal.
1. a radical restructuring of his beliefs, or
2. a nagging wife.
For me it was the former.
In 1985, I held two beliefs which convinced me that getting a vasectomy was fine. The first belief was that God nowhere in Scripture condemns the use of birth control, therefore it must be okay. The second belief was that God wants us to use"wisdom," therefore in today's economy and because of my emotional makeup it would not be wise for me to have more than two children, and I already had two. Both beliefs are unBiblical.
The first belief, that God no where in Scripture condemns the use of birth control therefore it must be okay, fails to recognize the very first command of God in Scripture. It is found in Genesis 1:28. God says, after creating man and woman, "be fruitful and multiply." This is not a suggestion – it is a command!
By virtue of the fact that God commands us to be "fruitful and multiply," He speaks against birth control.
When we use birth control, we are saying, "No, I won't be 'fruitful and multiply!"' We are disobeying God and we are abrogating one of His intents for marriage (Gen. 2:24).
Some would say that this command no longer applies because the earth is full. This teaching that the earth is overpopulated or may soon be is a humanistic, pagan myth. Christians who teach this display their ignorance and sadly show once again that too often the presuppositions of popular 20th century Christianity are the same as the world's.The truth is, all the people of the world standing side by side in a four foot square area each could fit in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, leaving the rest of the world wide open. (Read The Economics and Politics of Race: An International Perspective by Thomas Sowell.)
The second belief, that we must use "wisdom," is nowhere supported by Scripture and reveals our lack of trust in God to meet our needs. If God wants us to "use wisdom" i.e. use birth control, then why is it that whenever people in the Scriptures have many children God declares it is because He has blessed them? In I Chronicles 25:4-5, we read that Hamen had 14 sons. For what purpose? To financially burden him? No. God did it to bless him the Scriptures say!
God views children as rewards, gifts and arrows from Him (Psalm 127:3-5). He views them as a blessing (Deuteronomy 7:13,14), and as a sign of His approval (Exodus 23:25,26). Most Christians would view houses from the Lord as a gift, reward, blessing, or sign of His approval, yet, if they received four or five houses, I highly doubt any of them would say, "Well, we better use wisdom" and begin to practice house-control, not accepting more than two. Obviously, God's view of children is very different from ours.
Historical Teaching
For too long birth control has been looked upon as a "Catholic issue". It is fast becoming a "Protestant issue" however, as Protestant ministers like myself protest the heretical teaching of birth control that is being propagated in Protestant churches. We must understand that the Church, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, spoke consistently for 1900 years against birth control. Only in the last 75 years have Protestant churches begun to peddle this belief that God thinks it's okay or wise for us to use birth control.\
Listen to this quote, "The purpose of marriage is not to have pleasure and to be idle but to procreate and bring up children, to support a household. Those who have no love for children are swine, stocks, and logs unworthy of being called men or women; for they despise the blessings of God, the Creator and Author of marriage." some Protestants would say, "This quote is obviously them ad dribblings of some medieval Pope." It is not. Rather, it is the founder of the Reformation, Martin Luther who said this. Protestant Christians need to realize that their leaders consistently spoke against birth control up until about 75 years ago.
Who are some of the leaders besides Luther? John Calvin, John Wesley, Robert Dabney, Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Pink, Zacharius Ursinus, Heinrich Bullinger, Cotton Mather, Herbert Leupold, Johann Keil, Franz Delitszch, Matthew Henry, Adam Clark and John Machen, just to name a few, spoke against the use of birth control.
The founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, once stated, "The most merciful thing a large family can do to one of its infant members is to kill it." This does not shock most Christians today because they agree with her and quote her daily. " I can't handle more than two." "I can't wait until you grow up and move out." "Will this be your last?" (Asked in church after a couple announces they are having a third child; no congratulations of course) All of these statements and those like them parade the party line of Planned Parenthood, and are in opposition to our Protestant forefathers.
Time has come for those of us in Protestant Christianity to come to grips with the teaching of scripture and our historical heritage and begin to follow the teaching of God and our forefathers, rather than the teaching of Margaret Sanger.
Blood in our Bricks
If you were to list all the reasons why Christians use birth control, you would see that they are the same reasons why a woman aborts her child. The number one reason (according to all studies ever done) a woman aborts her child is because the child is an inconvenience. The child interferes with the mother's (or the father's) pursuit of happiness or possessions. When we use birth control, we are embracing the same anti-child mentality. We are saying that our pursuit of so called happiness, our pursuit of possessions, is more important than obeying God. The question is,"How can we abrogate God's design for marriage and expect to really be happy?"
In the Church today, we "warehouse" children. We don't want them around us during the church service. Many pastors are advising newly married couples to use birth control the first two years of their marriage so they can have time to get used to each other without having undue stress added to the marriage.
The cause for abrogating God's command to "be fruitful and multiply," is the same as the cause for abrogating His command "you shall not murder" – self-centeredness! One of the main reasons why the Church has failed to act against abortion is because it embraces the same anti-child mentality as those who advocate the murdering of the helpless preborn.
We have no God-given right to manipulate God's design for marriage by using birth control. As long as we continue to make "possessions" and "self" our god and as long as we look at children as a diaper bill rather than a blessing, we will never see the Church act in mass against baby-murder. God help us to have His view of children and to obey His commands!


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On Monday 21 June, a public thanksgiving marked 60 years of Queen Victoria's rule. And, for the first time since the death of the Prince Consort in 1861, at the state banquet that evening, the queen set aside her widow's weeds and wore "a dress of which the whole front was embroidered in gold, which had been especially worked in India."
Ten days later, the Duchess and Duke of Devonshire gave a ball at Devonshire House on Piccadilly, overlooking Green Park. The 700 invited guests were requested to wear "allegorical or historical costume before 1815".
Rarely had the London social world been so stirred as by this fancy-dress ball. According to Lady Randolph Churchill's reminiscences
For weeks, not to say months before hand it seemed the principal topic of conversation. The absorbing question was which characters our friends and ourselves were going to represent. Everyone of note and interest was there, representing the intellect, beauty and fashion of the day.
She finally decided to be the Empress Theodora. Her sister went to the ball as Brünnhilde and her future sister-in-law, Princess Henry of Pless, came as the Queen of Sheba "surrounded by a retinue in Oriental garb, some of whom so far sacrificed their appearance as to darken their faces", as The Times reported with the slightest hint of disapproval. Darkie Oriental she might be but they loved her Sheba costume:
...of gold and purple gauze, the short-waisted bodice encrusted with immense turquoises set round with diamonds and other precious stones; the skirt and draperies of gold gauze embroidered to correspond, and the long gold girdle encrusted and fringed with jewels. Bird of paradise and crown. Four servants held her train.
The host, the Duke of Devonshire, appeared as the Emperor Charles V in a costume copied from Titian's famous portrait, rich in black silks and furs, and wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece (borrowed from the Prince of Wales). But all eyes, to be honest, were on his wife who had dressed as Queen Zenobia (above left, for it is she). The Times waxed lyrical:
The skirt of gold tissue was embroidered all over in a star-like design in emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and other jewels outlined with gold, the corners where it opened in front being elaborately wrought in the same jewels and gold to represent peacocks outspread tails. This opened to show an underdress of cream crepe de chine, delicately embroidered in silver, gold, and pearls and sprinkled all over with diamonds. The train, which was attached to the shoulders by two slender points and was fastened at the waist with a large diamond ornament, was a green velvet of a lovely shade, and was superbly embroidered in Oriental designs introducing the lotus flower in rubies, sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, and diamonds, with four borderings on contrasting grounds, separated with gold cord. The trains was lined with turquoise satin. The bodice was composed of gold tissue to match the skirt, and the front was of crepe de chine hidden with a stomacher of real diamonds, rubies and emeralds.
Those were not her only jewels; of course not.
A gold crown incrusted with emeralds, diamonds, and rubies, with a diamond drop at each curved end and two upstanding white ostrich feathers in the middle, and round the front festoons of pearls with a large pearshaped pearl in the centre falling on the forehead.
Wow. Just Wow!
On the other hand, it does rather smack of waiting for a date with the guillotine.
Speaking of "Madame Guillotine", the costume was designed by Maison Worth, the first ever couturier of Paris.
An Englishman in Paris
Ironically, the founding father of haute couture in Paris was the Englishman Charles Frederick Worth, who opened his shop on the Rue de la Paix in 1858. Lincolnshire born, Worth had worked as a clerk for two London textile merchants, gaining a thorough knowledge of fabrics and learning the business of supplying dressmakers. Unusually ambitious, he visited the National Gallery to study historic portraits. Elements of the sitters' dresses in these paintings would later provide inspiration for Worth's own designs for both fashionable ensembles and masquerade costumes.
Worth moved to Paris in 1845, aged 19, and succeeded so well that his maison couture (fashion house) dominated Parisian fashion during the second half of the nineteenth century. Before he established his business, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses.
Worth Firsts.
Worth was the first to sign his name on the garments he created, in effect the world's first designer labels. His customers could now attach a name and a face to his designs once they recognized that they were from the House of Worth. It was his genius to use 'live mannequins', our models of today (selected in Worth's case not for their beauty but for their resemblances to his best customers) to show off the clothes -- so that his clients would see how the garments look when worn. The House of Worth was also the first to present seasonal collections, four each year, and thus invented fashion shows, as we still know them.
High-society women flocked to his plush, very private salon; a letter of introduction was usually required. Charles Dickens, in 1863, reported back in astonishment to his compatriots across the Channel that a bearded man with his "solid fingers" was allowed to take "the exact dimensions of the highest titled women in Paris — robe them, unrobe them, and make them turn backward and forward."
Twice the price for Americans
Worth's rise as a designer coincided with the establishment of the Second Empire in France. The restoration of a royal house in 1852, with Napoleon III as the new emperor, once again made Paris an imperial capital and the setting for numerous state occasions. The demand for luxury goods, including textiles and fashionable dress, reached levels that had not been seen since before the French Revolution. When Napoleon III married Empress Eugénie, her tastes set the style at court. Worth was appointed court couturier and held a royal warrant. Maison Worth not only clothed empresses but also czarinas, queens and princesses, Rothschilds and Vanderbilts. With Empress Eugénie as his ultimate mannequin, Worth and his novelties — hoopskirts, bustles, leg-o'-mutton sleeves — penetrated deep into the New World. Americans, arriving by private steamship, were routinely charged higher prices.
Worth's gowns are notable for their lavish fabrics and trimmings, such as fringe, lace, braid, and tassels made of pearls. His designs included an ankle-length walking skirt, shockingly short for its time, and the princess gown, a waist-less dress that hung simple and straight in the front while draping in full pleats in the back. While Worth still created one-of-a-kind pieces for his most important clients, he is especially known for preparing a variety of designs that were shown on live models at his fashion house. Clients made their selections and had garments tailor-made in his workshop.
Although Worth was not the only designer to organize his business in this way, his aggressive self-promotion earned him the title of the 'Father of haute couture'. By the 1870s, Worth's name frequently appeared in ordinary fashion magazines, spreading his fame to women beyond courtly circles.
Not bad for an Anglais in Paris.
Worth A Double Duchess
Born in Germany, née Countess Louisa Frederica Augusta von Alten, the future Duchess of Devonshire reigned as a young beauty at the court of the King of Hanover. In 1852 she married Viscount Mandeville, eldest son of the 6th Duke of Manchester. He succeeded his father as 7th Duke in 1855, and Louisa became Duchess of Manchester. They had five children but it was not a happy marriage and his profligacy ruined the family fortune. When the Duke finally died at Naples in 1890, the sixty-year-old Dowager Duchess, after a decent interval, married Spencer Compton Cavendish with whom she had carried on a love affair for over 30 years.
Just months before, Cavendish had succeeded as the 8th Duke of Devonshire, so she thereby became Duchess of Devonshire -- and thus acquired the nickname, 'the Double Duchess'.
The Duke, by all accounts was only interested in politics and horse racing (in no particular order). He had been an MP since he was 24, held various cabinet posts, and led the Liberal Party from 1875-1886. More Caesar than Caesar, he was asked by the Queen to form a government three times -- and each time he declined to become Prime Minister, choosing to stand aside for another; surely a political record.
Gossip preserves but a single indiscretion, and that was his affair of many years with Catherine 'Skittles' Walters, one of the last of the great courtesans of Victorian London. It was more than a brief fling. Over 200 of his love letters to Skittles are preserved in the Chatsworth archives and she is known to have followed him to New York during the American Civil War.
Cavendish courted her, it seems, for more than sex alone. She was a fine horsewoman, too, known for wearing a riding habit "that fitted like a glove, and a bit of cherry ribbon round her neck". A fellow hunter recalled that, as she galloped past, "She made a remark ... to the effect that she felt convinced that when she reached home a certain portion of her anatomy would probably be of much the same hue as the tie she wore round her neck."
Scandalous! But, in middle age, this superstar of the Victorian demi-monde presided over a popular political salon, so perhaps she and Cavendish shared that interest in earlier days as well.
On the other hand, the Double Duchess had plenty of arrows in her quiver, too.
There had been no Duchess of Devonshire at the family seat of Chatsworth House (left) for eighty years and she brought the place to life again, the rooms always filled with the smartest people. She loved gambling, keeping stacks of cards and betting chips piled on tables incongruously set next to lecterns displaying Bibles. Her political dinners were historic events. She was the very pattern of a political hostess, having a genius for entertaining, which reached its zenith when Edward VII came to the throne (another of Skittles' lovers when still Prince of Wales) . There are photographs of the King on his annual visits to Chatsworth, getting stouter and stouter with every passing year.
So, when the Duchess of Devonshire decided to hold a fancy-dress ball to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, instead of trying to compete, other London hostesses rolled over and invested all their efforts into ensuring that they were on the guest list.
It was the grandest and the most sensational ball since the Prince of Wales's own masquerade ball at Marlborough House in 1874; then, the prince's guests had been dressed in the costume of one of a number of distinct pictorial quadrilles -- a Venetian quadrille, a Vandyck quadrille, a quadrille costumed as characters from a pack of cards....
The Duchess' brilliant innovation was to honour the reign of Queen Victoria by dividing the guests into five different Courts, each Court led by an historical female monarch attended by her 'princes' and 'courtiers'.
There was the Austrian Court of Maria Theresa (Lady Londonderry), Empress Catherine's Court (Lady Raincliffe), the French Court of Marie Antoinette (Lady Warwick, with her head still stuck on), an Elizabethan Court (Lady Tweedmouth, surrounded by eight gigantic guardsmen), and the Court of Queen Guinevere (Lady Ormonde, attended by the inevitable Knights of the Round Table. Men do like to dress up in armour). Mixed themes gave still more scope for disguise: the Oriental group with its many female queens -- including the Double Duchess as Zenobia who entered perched atop a palanquin borne by her slaves, the Queen of Sheba with her dusky retinue, and Cleopatra, who was reputed to have worn the most expensive gown at the ball;* and an Italian Renaissance Procession, with a decidedly literary slant but making room for a Doge and a Dogaressa , but no Medici.
About 11pm the National Anthem announced the arrival of the Royal party, who were dressed, like the rest of the company, in character. They took their seats on the dais, and immediately the "processions" began, each Court advancing in order, bowing, and passing on.Or possibly the oriental characters salaamed instead.
Not surprisingly, the guests experienced the evening more as fancy dress than as ball. The programme of fifteen dances "was not undertaken with much enthusiasm except by the very young and energetic, for many of the guests were not suitably dressed, especially those in armour and those with long heavy trains."
They were also too busy gazing at each other or struggling to play up to their assumed parts.
A charming Hebe, with an enormous eagle perched on her shoulder and a gold cup in her hand, made a perfect picture, but alas! in one attitude only, which she vainly tried to preserve throughout the entire evening; while the late Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg as the Duke of Normandy ... in casque and chain armour, kept his visor down until heat and hunger forced him to sacrifice his martial appearance.
Why Zenobia?
I like to think that the Double Duchess felt some affinity with the character of Zenobia, but alas! (if I may copy Lady Randolph Churchill's style) there is nothing in her life story to suggest the slightest rebellious urge.
Perhaps she was influenced in her choice of character by the appearance a year earlier of the 'Kelmscott Chaucer', possibly the most beautiful book ever produced. Had she read the Monk's Tale, she would have met Zenobia:
Zenobia, of all Palmyra queen
(As write old Persians of her nobleness).
So mighty was in warfare, and so keen,
That no man her surpassed in hardiness,
Nor yet in lineage, nor in gentleness.The folio-size Canterbury Tales was published by William Morris at his Kelmscott Press and its splendour can hardly be matched among the books of the time: its many large border decorations, frame decorations, large initial word decorations, and ornamental initial letter decorations were designed by Morris. And it contains 87 wood cut illustrations by the celebrated Victorian painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones, but alas! (it is habit forming), no picture of Zenobia. So that's not a likely source for the Duchess' inspiration.
That leaves Edward Poynter's Neo-classical Zenobia Captive (left) as a possible fount.
Much admired in its time, most critics rhapsodised when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878:
The handsome, swarthy face of the princess is clouded with an expression of mingled pride and distress, and it is probable that she even now prepared to deck the triumph of her conqueror's entry into Rome - for loaded with jewels, upon her head a splendid diadem, rich in diamonds and precious stones, we readily picture the unfortunate queen when borne down with her golden chains she was led captive through the imperial city. (The Athenaeum, 4th May 1878)One can well imagine the Double Duchess relating to this very grand and sumptuous work. What's not to like? It would strike just the right chord in what was to be the most magnificent and incomparable fancy dress ball.
In fact, one of the few dissenting voices ('An Occasional Correspondent' for The Argus of Melbourne, Vic) put his finger on a contradiction in the painting that might have made it still more attractive to the Duchess:
The head and bust are magnificently modelled, the drawing is classic in its purity, and the finish in the turquoise pendants to the diadem of beaten and embossed gold, the auriferous fetters, the snake shaped armlets, is positively wonderful. But it is not ' Zenobia Captive'.Why not?
Aurelian's vanquished prisoner was all womanly; but she would have been much less than a woman had she tramped through the dust of the Via Triumphalis, in the wake of the conqueror's car and exposed to the hooting of the rabble, with feelings of anything save rage and shame and despair.Whether empresses or charladies, whatever women do, they are still women.
The generous Aurelian pardoned his former enemy, and presented her with an elegant villa at Tivoli. The Eastern queen became a Roman matron. Thus Mr Poynter has only to take the chains off the lady's wrists, and 'Zenobia Captive' would do very well for a grande dame de par le monde fully prepared to entertain the ladies of the consular families at a 5 o'clock tea at Tivoli.
How perfect for the Double Duchess. Tea, anyone?
I am grateful to Paula Howarth in Rome for having drawn my attention to the Duchess of Devonshire as Zenobia and for sending me a copy of the photograph reproduced above left.
Eye-witness reports from Lady Randolph Churchill's Reminiscences (London 1908) quoted in Marion F. O'Connor, "Theatre of the Empire" in (J. E. Howard & M.F. O'Connor, eds.) Shakespeare Reproduced , London, which also tells a good deal about the ball. I have also used G. King's Twilight of Splendor: The court of Queen Victoria during her Diamond Jubilee, London, 2007.
The ball, guest list, and many costumes were described in The Times; found on-line at The Duchess of Devonshire's Ball.
* Cleopatra was Mrs Arthur Paget, later Lady Paget, an American heiress possessed of the fantastic sum of ten million dollars. For the ball, she "commissioned one of the most spectacular and certainly the most expensive costume from Worth of Paris at a reputed cost of over $6,000. The train is of black crêpe de chine, embroidered with gold scarabs. The bodice, encrusted with gold and diamonds, is held up on the shoulders with straps of large emeralds and diamonds. The square headdress is made of cloth of gold with striped black and gold sphinx-like side pieces studded with diamonds, and incrusted with diamonds". See her all dressed up at Aftermathnews.com . The cost of her gown may be compared to the average family income in the USA at that time, $650.00 per year . The same website also has a photograph of The Prince of Wales, dressed down (so to speak), as Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers of Malta.
Above left. Duchess of Devonshire dressed as Zenobia, 1897. Credit: Photobucket.com
Above right. Duchess of Devonshire's Zenobia gown, which is today kept at Chatsworth House. Credit: artnet.com's review of "The Devonshire Inheritance: Five Centuries of Collecting at Chatsworth", Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, New York.
Second left: Duchess of Devonshire on an outing. Credit: ChestofBooks.com
Third left: the State Dining Room Chatsworth. Credit: artnet.com
Lower left: Zenobia Captive by Edward Poynter ( 1836-1919). Credit: The Leicester Galleries. Did the Duchess of Devonshire ever see the painting? I do not know. The work is even today in private hands but alas! I have been unable to track its provenance before the Leicester Galleries sold it in 1993.

subset: commoncrawl


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December 2010 - by CSCS
Have a look to the assembling of the data center roof for the new Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano in December 2010.
In the movie (see here below) you can see the positioning of the roof beams for the new machine room. Each roof beam is 35 meters long and weights 50 tons.The machine room will offer a surface of about 2'000 square meters without pillars to host the supercomputers.
The mobile crane used is the largest worldwide and can lift up to 1200 tons. The crane itself weights about 380 tons.


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I've got an XNA Creators Club trial membership via DreamSpark, but I cannot download the XNA Game Studio Connect app due to a bug in the site. Users from Finland and US experienced this before and MS fixed something in the Marketplace configuration that enabled them to download this. You need this app to deploy apps to Xbox 360 during development.
Can someone with a Creators Club account please download this app for me and upload it someplace?
I'm legal since my account on App Hub shows Registered, Student, and Premium Member.


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iTrain offers an easy to use solution to control your model railroad with your computer(s), especially if you want to automate only parts of your layout and keep control of the rest yourself. For example, automatic block control avoids collisions and you control which train is driving manually or fully automatically according to a selected route.
Modern software techniques make it possible to run the program on all major computer operating systems such as Windows, macOS and Linux. Client server architecture allows extra computers to be used as extra overviews or controllers. The switchboard is fully scalable with an optional layout overview for large layouts, and allows different tabs for different views of (parts of) the layout.
It is not necessary to study for weeks to be able to use iTrain. Simply draw the layout and assign the signals and feedbacks to the blocks for automatic control of your block signals, without providing difficult rules. Defining a route can be as simple as selecting the order of blocks, but more advanced options are also possible. In case you use a modern system like the ECoS or Central Station 1 and 2, iTrain will import all loc definitions so you can start even faster.


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As a woman, do you know what your risk is of developing heart disease? You might be surprised. Take this quiz to see how much you know about heart disease in women. The quiz is based on information from the American Heart Association.
Gender words are used here to talk about anatomy and health risk. Please use this information in a way that works best for you and your provider as you talk about your care.


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Today the KDE Project released KDE 3.2. It is the result of a combined year-long effort by hundreds of individuals and corporations from around the globe. For packages, please visit the KDE 3.2 info page. At the moment binary packages for Conectiva Linux, Slackware (9.0, 9.1) and SUSE Linux (8.2, 9.0) are listed. Or compile the source either manually or with the help of Konstruct after reading the KDE 3.2 Requirements list. All changes can be found in the detailed KDE 3.2 change log or continue to read about the highlights.
Some of the highlights in KDE 3.2 at a glance:
- Increased performance and standards compliance
- Lowered start up times for applications and hundreds of optimizations
make KDE 3.2 the fastest KDE ever! - Working in concert with Apple Computer Inc.'s Safari web browser team,
KDE's web support has seen huge performance boosts as well as increased
compliance with widely accepted web standards - Increased support for FreeDesktop.org standards in KDE 3.2 strengthens
interoperability with other Linux and UNIX software. - New applications
- JuK: a jukebox-style music player
- Kopete: an instant messenger with support for AOL Instant Messenger,
MSN, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Gadu-Gadu, Jabber, IRC, SMS and WinPopup - KWallet: providing integrated, secure storage of passwords and web form
data - Kontact: a unified interface that draws KDE's email, calendaring,
address book, notes and other PIM features together into a familiar
configuration - KGpg: providing an easy-to-use KDE interface to industry-standard
encryption tools - KIG: an interactive geometry program
- KSVG: a viewer for SVG files
- KMag, KMouseTool and KMouth: accessibility tools for KDE
- KGoldRunner: a new riff on a classic game
- ... and many more!
- Thousands of incremental improvements and bug fixes
- During the development of KDE 3.2 nearly 10,000 bug reports were
processed via the KDE Bug Tracking System - Approximately 2,000 feature requests were also processed, with hundreds
of requested features added to KDE applications and components - An improved configuration system that opens the door to new
installation management possibilities, improved roaming support and
many improvements to the "KDE Kiosk" environment management system - Inline spell checking for web forms and emails
- Improved email and calendaring support
- Powerful tabbed interface for the Konqueror file manager and web
browser - Support for Microsoft Windows desktop sharing protocol (RDP)
- Improved Usability
- Reduced clutter in many menus and toolbars
- Many applications, dialogs and control panels reworked for clarity and
utility - Enhanced appearance
- Plastik, a tastefully understated new look, debuts in KDE 3.2
- Hundreds of new icons improve the consistency and beauty of KDE
- Tweaks to the default look including new splash screens, (optionally)
animated progress bars, styled panels and more! - New Tools for Software Developers
- Comprehensive API documentation extended for 3.2
- Language bindings for ECMAScript (aka Javascript), Python, Java and
Ruby - New versions of the powerful KDevelop IDE and Quanta web development
suite - Umbrello brings UML modeling for 11 different languages including C++,
Java, SQL, PHP, Python and Perl to KDE
More information and why you should use KDE 3.2 can be found in the KDE 3.2 announcement.
I had the same speed problems. KDE runs fine for a while but slowly grinds to a halt. I tried editing the Xservers file, but this did not help. I also tried a clean .kde directory and removing the files in /tmp, but this also changed nothing.
Finally, I completely removed KDE from my system and installed the packages from the SuSE ftp site. Everything seems in order now.
I guess there might be something wrong with the KDE packages, but I've been unable to track it down. My advice is to just stick with the SuSE rpms.
hope this helps
There are no "KDE packages". The SUSE packages on ftp.kde.org are from the same person than the one on the SUSE ftp site.
Using SuSE 9 Pro with KDE 3.2 but with gdm instead of kdm and everything seems to work fine.
On a side note. If you're trying to use superkaramba on this system then be sure to install 33 instead of 32b. The weather theme will work perfectly :)
Cheers to the KDE team for the awesome work.
I have installed the 3.2 rpms, but there are a few problems ...
1) The menu is all messed up. The development menu comes up no more ..
2) Transparent kicker doesnt work properly ... the whole image is a bit shifted towards the left at the portion of kicker.
3) The new window manager creates more problems than it solves : whenever i minimize xmms, only the main window gets minimized, the others stay where they are. Worse still i cannot alt-tab to them.
I use Mandrake 10 Community and have the same problem with XMMS (but when I installed Cooker RPMs of KDE 3.2 on Mandrake 9.2 XMMS minimized correctly). Maybe it is somehow connected with some libraries (GTK or GTK+?).
The same problem with XMMS in Fedora Core v1 / KDE 3.2 ):
I've noticed that some of you have just skipped satisfying the dependencies that the Suse RPM asks for, I was just wondering if anyone had noticed any adverse effects due to this.
should I
1. Spend the time satisfying the dependencies?
2. Skip it?
3. Wait for an RPM that has the libs within?
It depends on what dependancies you encounter on your suse installation.
I have tried, Redhat, Mandrake, Fedora, SuSE. But I found Slackware the fastest and most responsive Linux Distro ever. It works nicely with just 128mb ram with 64mb swap!!!
KDE 3.1.4 and 3.2 is much faster in Slackware 9.1 than any other distro. Hats Off to KDE 3.2 and Slackware Developers...
Hi I am running a RH7.3 machine (yes... it's old)
and attempted to build KDE 3.2 release via
konstruct. I get the following error when
it as building QT's designer I assume?
Can anyone point out what lib that I may
have missing or need to upgrade?
My suspicion is something to do with
zlib or libpng?
g++ -fno-exceptions -Wl,-rpath,/usr/local/kde3.2/lib -o ../../../bin/designer .obj/release-shared-mt/main.o -L/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/lib -L/usr/X11R6/lib -L/usr/X11R6/lib -L/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/lib -L/usr/X11R6/lib -ldesignercore -lqui -lqassistantclient -lqt-mt -lpng -lz -lGLU -lGL -lXmu -lXrender -lXinerama -lXft -lfreetype -lXext -lX11 -lm -lSM -lICE -ldl -lpthread
.obj/release-shared-mt/main.o: In function `main':
.obj/release-shared-mt/main.o(.text+0xa18): undefined reference to `qInitImages_designercore()'
/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/lib/libdesignercore.a(mainwindow.o): In function `MainWindow::MainWindow[not-in-charge](bool, bool, QString const&)':
mainwindow.o(.text+0x5c1): undefined reference to `qInitImages_designercore()'
/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/lib/libdesignercore.a(mainwindow.o): In function `MainWindow::MainWindow[in-charge](bool, bool, QString const&)':
mainwindow.o(.text+0x12e1): undefined reference to `qInitImages_designercore()'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[8]: *** [../../../bin/designer] Error 1
make[8]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/tools/designer/app'
make[7]: *** [sub-app] Error 2
make[7]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/tools/designer'
make[6]: *** [sub-designer] Error 2
make[6]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/tools'
make[5]: *** [sub-tools] Error 2
make[5]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3'
make[4]: *** [build-work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/Makefile] Error 2
make[4]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free'
make[3]: *** [dep-../../libs/qt-x11-free] Error 2
make[3]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/libs/arts'
make[2]: *** [dep-../../libs/arts] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/kde/kdelibs'
make[1]: *** [dep-../../kde/kdelibs] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/konstruct/kde/kdebase'
I have the same problem on RH 9, so it's not related to your distribution version.
Did we find a resolution to this error? I'm using FC-1 with kernel 2.4.22-2.2174 and I get this error as well.
make[5]: *** [.obj/release-shared-mt/qpngio.o] Error 1
make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/techlaw/download/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/src'
make[4]: *** [sub-src] Error 2
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/techlaw/download/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3'
make[3]: *** [build-work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/Makefile] Error 2
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/techlaw/download/tmp/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free'
make[2]: *** [dep-../../libs/qt-x11-free] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/techlaw/download/tmp/konstruct/libs/arts'
make[1]: *** [dep-../../libs/arts] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/techlaw/download/tmp/konstruct/kde/kdelibs'
make: *** [dep-../../kde/kdelibs] Error 2
I sent an email to the developer when I had this error before. He said that I didn't have the Xfree86-devel package installed. However, now I do:
[techlaw@localhost kdebase]$ rpm -qa X*devel*
and I get this same error. Any who can help sort this out?
"this error" cannot be because it happens in another directory. And unless you post the part of the log relevant to the error nobody can help.
Hi There,
let me join Your problem,
I have the same on woody debian with kernel 2.4.20.
I cat the errmsg to this text:
.obj/release-shared-mt/main.o: In function `main':
.obj/release-shared-mt/main.o(.text+0xab8): undefined reference to `qInitImages_designercore(void)'
/usr/src/installed/kde/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/lib/libdesignercore.a(mainwindow.o): In function `MainWindow::MainWindow(bool, bool, QString const &)':
mainwindow.o(.text+0x581): undefined reference to `qInitImages_designercore(void)'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[4]: *** [../../../bin/designer] Fehler 1
make[3]: *** [sub-app] Fehler 2
make[2]: *** [sub-designer] Fehler 2
make[1]: *** [sub-tools] Fehler 2
make: *** [build-work/qt-x11-free-3.2.3/Makefile] Fehler 2
Ilove KDE, but how can it be that 3.2 is released with a bug like this still not fixed:
I couldn't get arts to work on my 2.6 kernel, so now I have to use xmms instead of JuK.
If konqueror won't render some pages correctly, that might be annoying. But no sound on 2.6 kernels? Thats a showstopper!
Did I miss something?
Ilove KDE, but how can it be that 3.2 is released with a bug like this still not fixed:
on kernel 2.4 (suse) the sound doesnt work, too!
Don't blame KDE for SUSE packages. I have SuSE, Kernel 2.4 and sound - but compiled from source.
And I have SuSE 8.2, kernel 2.4 -- and installed the 3.2 packages today with that apt-rpm thingy, and I have sound, too. Listening to some madrigals at the moment, in fact, with noatun. On the other hand, I'm having a hard time getting KOffice cvs to compile :-(. No clone tool for Krita today, I'm afraid.
hmm i had not used apt, i installed the packages with kpackage :-( When I uninstall the 3.2 packages and install the standart suse packages, the sound doesnt work anymore :-(
maybe it doent work because i became a error in rc1 - "You have no permissions in /tmp/dcop-martin" so i deleted the folder - now i become no errors and no sound :-( Can i restore the folders?
nobody knows how i can fix the problem? :-(
that is your problem, not kde's.
I have another problem with artsd from KDE 3.1.95 compiled from sources on Slackware-current: artsd crashes every time when it tries to mix two sounds. I use oss (linux-2.4.24), but alsa-lib is also present on my system.
well using -current it's normal to have bugs as it's only a test version.
Also use the final release of KDE. There are fixes from 3.1.95
Kernel 2.6.1 with ALSA support for the onboard intel sound. Arts performs flawlessly. Now, it might be using the OSS compatability, but I haven't checked that.
I don't like artsd either. I've always used the KDE-Applications in ICEWM but now they all load artsd and ignore my kcontrol-setting "don't use soundsystem"!
I have to kill xmms every time after it has stopped because of this artsd. Offen I get this warning dialoges because my sounddevice is already busy.
Everything becomes extremely annoying, when I have used kwrite as root and it has loaded artsd.
Then I have to open xterm, become root and kill that trash.
Everything was fine, the speed, the design, but artsd is really a showstopper.
Ok, enough stories, but is there already a solution to this? Because I started to think that the sound chipset became out of order, and neither do I have sound. I don't see anyone saying "this is what you have to do...blah blah blah" and sound gets back!
Similar grief here.
plain unadulterated fresh install of suse 9.3
followed by the automatic online updates
kernel, kde, xmms, all apps only from suse packages from an official suse 9.3 ftp mirror so far except boinc/seti@home.
artsd crashes about once a day or so. I don't have to exit xmms. I just have to go to kde control center and uncheck & re-check "use sound system" & hit apply and it starts artsd again. Then just hit play in xmms and it reconnects to the stream I always listen to and works for another day or so. Doesn't seem to matter if I'm actually playing audio, it'll sometimes be crashed already when I go to hit play after coming home from work and everything was sitting idle all day.
Annoying as hell. If I were trying to avoid loading arts and silly things like a text editor kept loading it like the other guy says I'd be junking kde wholesale the first time that happened. I usually never use kde/gnome exactly for reasons like this. But I figured I should at least try doing things the "normal" way once in a while or else I'm talking through my ... when I advize people to reject these gross fat "desktop environments".
linux:~ # cat /dev/sndstat
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.9a emulation code)
Kernel: Linux linux 188.8.131.52-21.8-smp #1 SMP Tue Jul 19 12:42:37 UTC 2005 i686
Config options: 0
Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation
Card config:
Intel ICH6 with ALC655 at 0xfdffe000, irq 185
Audio devices:
0: Intel ICH6 (DUPLEX)
Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG
Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG
7: system timer
0: Realtek ALC655 rev 0
linux:~ #
Go into your KDE Desktop Admin.
Click Sound
Click Sound System
Uncheck "Run with the highest possible priority"
You can also play with your buffer here if you have skip problems. System hasn't crashed since (Used to several times / hour when I had my regular windows open. Ie. LOTS!).
Fedora Core 4 running icewm.
Along with that, I set the buffer VERY SHORT to get the notification sounds to work properly. I guess a larger buffer is a problem with small sound bytes.
No my friend, you did not miss a thing. You started this thread in 2004, when ARTS sucked. Now it is 2006, and ARTS sucks just the same, if not more for still being a part of KDE. How this crap is an integral component of the best non-commercial desktop in existence is beyond me.
I run only Debian, and every single time I have attempted to use ARTS, it has failed. Not only that, but failed miserably. This is over a period of several years, mind you. Sometimes I get a strange philanthropic urge and decide to try ARTS again. EVERY TIME, I GET BURNED.
ARTS is one of the worst pieces of non-commercial software available. I LOVE KDE, and do everything in my power to keep ARTS away from me. But it just keeps coming back, like THE EVIL DEAD.
i read here, that Arts is going to be stripped from KDE 4.0 because it is unmaintained.
This was in an interview with one of the KDE Developers. http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2006/01/12/kde4.html
"selecting a new multimedia system (aRts is unmaintained and not providing what we need)
JL: Right. I remember Stefan changed his thinking on that approach. What are the main alternatives now?
AJS: GStreamer, NMM, and MAS. GStreamer looks like the most probable candidate at this point."
Although as KDE 4.0 isn't released yet, 14-08-2006 it is all well possible they may change their minds.
I wonder why the control center graphics are still in the old design?
Well done!!! Thank you all.
I installed kde 3.2 yesterday and it is a (nearly) perfect software. It runs much faster compared to my old kde 3.1.
But I have one problem:
The mouse does not work well in the K-menu. Sometimes it works, sometimes the mouse "hangs" and I can´t clik on a program to start it. After I press a key (eg. alt-tab), all works fine. That does not happen every time, only sometimes.
KDE 3.1 worked fine with the same hardware.
My system:
2.4Ghz Athlon, 512 MB, PS/2 wheel mouse.
RedHat 9.0a, Kernel 2.4.20-18 KDE 3.2, installed from
binary RPMs via rpm -Uvh -nodeps
Thanks for help!
What RPMs you used for installation? Fedora's? I would like to run 3.2 on my RH9 comps, but I see no RH9 RPMs.
Yes, I used the Fedora RPMs. Installing KDE 3.2 with the Fedora RPMS was working well without any problems. And it runs fine (and fast!).
The only problem I have is, that the mouse sometimes "hangs". It happens only in the K-menu. I move around the menu items and sometimes the mouse movment stops. And sometimes I can click on a item/program and nothing happens. When I press a key (eg. Alt) after the "hang" the menu disappers and the mouse is working again.
Using menus in other programs (kde, gnome, gtk) is working fine.
I took a look at my XF86config (XFree 4.3) file and removed an entry for the usb-mouse, because I use a PS/2 mouse. But it does not help.
The same configuration (hardware, kernel, XFree) worked perfect with KDE 3.1.
Any idea?
Afaik it was a known Qt issue which has been fixed in KDE's Qt copy and the patch had been sent to Trolltech already. There were several bug reports about it but I can't find them right now.
mouse doesn't work well,
sometimes, I need to click a application icon several times on the kicker to launch or maximum it, very very frustrating, I am thinking about going back to gnome, but still struggling, hope I could fix it, haven't been using gnome form years...
I use fedora core 1.
Arghhh! I've got the same problem as well. But it's not just the Menu, it's also happening in the panel. Mouse clicking sometimes (in fact most of the time), doesn't work right.
The weird thing is this. I had the same problem with the first Beta. And then, when I installed the RC, the problem went away. I figured "Yay.. this is fixed..."
Now, I've installed 3.2.. and the problem is back. It's very frustrating. Anyone can help?
Thank you!
>Anyone can help?
I solved the problem as follows:
I removed Klipper from the panel. Right-click on it, than click on remove, Miniprogram, Klipper.
(I hope, that I translated it correct, because I use a German version of KDE)
Funny: when you re-use Klipper the mouse problem will not come up again.
Dont ask me why ;-)
Wow! That worked just spiffy. Who'd a thunk it? Thank you very much, Wolfgang.
Your English was just fine. Only difference is "Miniprogram" = "Applet"
I wish I knew German :)
Now I am no longer frustrated. I really appreciate you posting your solution. Weird solution though, huh?
It is possible the problem will be also gone if you use standalone Klipper (i.e. not applet). See also http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=74487 .
Thank you!
Thanks for the suggestion, this has been driving me mad - all fixed now!
Really strange the way you can put Klipper back again afterwards and it's OK.
Ah well, we have a saying, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" which means: if it's good - don't ask!
i have a problem with mouse, it does not work properly especially when i want to click on the address book in my email. if i click on insert address from email address book it will just show GREEN EXCLAIMATION MARK.. why is it so.. and what should i do to make it working again like it used to be???this ia happen too when i want to click on some other link page.. the GREEN eclaimation mark will show out.. but before this it is just perfect.. but not now.. can someone help me??? thanks..
Nice KDE 3.2 review at: Fedora News.Org
Thanks to all the devs./others - looking forawrd to the next release :)
Just installed KDE 3.2 (on Gentoo). The only problem I've noticed is that Konquerer (web browser) always opens mpeg links using Kaboodle embedded in a new browser window. It seems to totally ignore the file associations I set using the control panel (or going to Configure Konqueror in the settings menu). I also can't stop it from opening Kaboodle in a new browser window.
Here is the weird part... the mpeg file associations work perfectly when using Konqueror as a file manager.
Anyone else have this problem?
Did you change the file associations in the embedded tab as well?
I went into the embedded tab and changed to "Show file in seperate viewer."
However, it still insists on using Kaboodle embedded in a new browser window. Oh btw... the movie never actually opens (hence my desire to change to something else).
Did you remove kaboodle from the list of embedded players?


text:
The photo below is my favorite!
This looks absolutely divine! Chocolate and malt are the perfect combo but I've never thought to cook with those malted milk balls before. Must try it!
I LOVE malt!!! My dad use to make us malt milkshakes growing up and they were DELISH. Also, I love your cute recipe cards!
OMG. This looks insanely delicious!
Looks delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Good recipe! it looks delicious.
Andrea, Italy
I love chocolate with malt. This tart sounds perfect! The chopped malt balls on top look great.
Your blog is beautiful & Helen's book will be my photography bible :)
This is a weird comment: I like how you sliced your tart. It's something I would never have thought to do.
I agree with your boyfriend, Whoppers are not my favourite candy. But it doesn't matter cuz I love your photos (and they're better for me than malt tarts anyway) ;)
Call me crazy, but I used to love those hard "malt balls" when I was younger. I grew up drinking chocolate malt shakes with my dad, it was his favorite - now, mine too! I don't always remember to use malt powder, you've inspired me to do so! The pics and recipe look amazing!
Yum... delicious post and pics!
This really looks wonderful!
This looks like an amazing recipe. I think i will be saving this one, i'm a fanatic for chocolate!
We can't buy malt powder here in New Zealand :( I wonder what would be an alternative..? What a beautiful photo shoot. Having a browse through your blog - your photos improve exceptionally! Must be a good book :P
This looks so decadent and delicious! Bookmarking! :)
Katie {Epicurean Mom Blog}
Hi. Your blog is so beautiful, it's very logical layout. I also want to make a good blog like yours but not impossible. I was lucky to know your blog, I will visit often. This article is very interesting and meaningful. Thank you very much. Hope you do not delete my signature ! Thank you very much! :)
Lincoln Cooling FanBridal Shower Invitations
Love the recipe. It's so flexible. As is, it was WAY to salty for us; so I made it again used 1 tsp salt in batter threw in some toffee chips and added some instant expresso to the chocolate it got rave reviews. Next time I might do blueberries or raspberries in batter and almonds on the chocolate.
This is a keeper, so simple, quick and tasty!


text:
In this article, the late Ted Althof, who was known as Papa Ted, gave us an in-depth history of decorative dimestore Christmas village houses and other vintage Christmas decorations. A page at CardboardChristmas.com is now devoted to his memory and interests.
The following is a history of these wondrous little artifacts called cardboard Christmas village houses – a history devoted to establishing some way of categorizing them and putting them into chronological perspective.
It's a tall chore, because these were small-change notions, not expensive nor considered serious enough to impart model numbers, cataloging, and so forth by those who made them. Even the cheapest 59-cent Christmas light sets had numbers collectors could refer to. Not so the little Christmas houses – especially the Japanese houses. To this day, no Japanese OEM product line catalogs have been turned up (at least by me).
The sleuthing has been addictive and I cannot lay it down. Because of the doors and windows, styles and methods of construction, I'm convinced that a single Japanese company made them all. I cannot find the name of that company, even with a solid contact in the Japanese Business Embassy in Detroit. But I think I have managed to gather a fair amount through little clues and evidences that have provided telling insights along the way. If anything of this kind turns up for you, I hope you will share! This story is FAR from over!
Some Background on Vintage Dimestore Christmas Items
The American "Five and Dime" and the mail-order catalog had grown into national institutions between the 1880's and World War I, but the truly "Great Golden Age" of the American Dimestore Christmas occurred between the two Great Wars: World Wars I & II.
Two names are foremost to be credited with the origins of our American Christmas holiday trappings: The Butler Brothers of Chicago, who in the 1860s invented the concept of the low-priced open display counter from which all "dimestores" sprang; and F.W. Woolworth, who went abroad and provided product encouragement and a vast marketplace – first to the German and then to the Japanese holiday and toy industries, enabling both to bloom and thrive.
Prior to WW I, most everything toy and holiday was German. Traveling Europe extensively in the 1890s in search of merchandise for his stores, Woolworth came upon a small glass Christmas ornament cottage industry in the Thuringen Valley region of Germany, sent some home for a trial, and the rest is history. Germany was already famed for cheap and charming toys and cuckoo clocks, but America had not seen the glass Christmas tree ornaments. Demand was instantaneous and insatiable. The words "German" and "Christmas" became synonymous.
WW I changed everything. Even several years before America entered the fray, the supply of German goods became unreliable and then totally dried up. Woolworth again set out for foreign shores, but in the opposite direction – this time to Japan, with whom we were not at war. There he did what he had done in Germany some 20 years before.
It is fascinating to speculate on the obstacles he surely had to overcome, trying to communicate the kinds of things he wanted to a vastly different culture that had had no idea of Christmas whatsoever. Germany was long steeped in Christmas traditions and had practically invented the Holiday, but to the Japanese it was alien and new. History proves F.W. did it, somehow, but the curious aesthetic nature of so many of the Japanese items from those times remains of never-ending fascination to collectors.
In the 1920's, as inexpensive series lights lit up the average American Christmas tree with blazing color, the middle-class American Christmas came alive with unprecedented electric light and sparkle. Delighted to discover the sheer size of their new marketing opportunities, the Japanese expanded explosively into all holiday product areas and were anxious to sell to anybody. F.W. had no monopoly, and soon Japanese Christmas goods were to be found in every "five-and-dime," the department stores, and mail-order houses.
Thus, the phrase "Made in Japan" came into the American common vocabulary in the "Roaring Twenties," and German things began to creep back in again during that decade. The Great Depression, for all its strife, was absolutely rich with Christmas – to say nothing of radio, fabulous cars and electric trains and talking motion pictures. If you had a job and money in the 1930s – and 75% of the workforce did – you had an unprecedented cornucopia of wonderful things to choose from.
Cardboard Village Houses Arrive: The Prewar Period
Sometime around about 1927-28, the ever-innovative Japanese came up with the little cardboard houses – a logical, but brilliant outgrowth of the candy/surprise-box houses they'd been making for some time. Colorful and delightful "eye-candy" on those open counters, they were an immediate sensation, hitting the American Christmas with all the impact that bubble lights enjoyed post-war.
There was such an explosion of creative genius and innovation put into these little dimestore notions that it is hard to comprehend! So many different kinds came out in such a short amount of time! Such creative and imaginative – sometimes even bizarre designs and handwork – produced in staggering quantities by virtual slave labor in conditions of abject misery.
It was unbelievable what you could buy for a quarter or a dime, so blissfully unaware what great suffering lay behind our delight in bright and inexpensive things. But they have forever made a place in the Christmas memories and traditions of so many American families. And like so many things we've loved – we did not begin to appreciate them 'till they were gone …or the untold thousands who produced our dimestore reveries in long days of misery and toil.
I am sorry if I darken the bright joy of these things for you. But these are the facts of it, and I believe the hundreds of dollars that serious collectors now pay for exceptional examples are quite justified. They cannot be produced again for anything like the pittance they brought to their creators then. That people suffered and perhaps even died in sweat-shop conditions producing them imparts a significance undeniable. It couldn't have been total darkness, though. Not altogether. The sheer delightful whimsy of these little marvels shows that someone took considerable pleasure in their creation.
The End of an Era
WW II put the second bookend on this shining row. The period of the truly finest houses was less than ten years. By 1937, war was looming in minds everywhere. The trend was toward the "realistic," and one sees it in the toys and model trains. Less the whimsical bright fantasies of earlier that decade, they were becoming models, now, and trending ever more toward scale and accurate detail. We had to be "realistic," now. Put the childish fantasies away and view the dark clouds burgeoning with the clearest kind of eye.
Through the War and to the present day, Christmas village houses have continued in some form. They make some really nice ones even now, but it is not the same. The innocence and simplicity of those first Golden Days" when they were bright and newly born can never really be again.
Do you have an article you'd like us to publish as a guest column in The Collectors Weekly? Let us know.
22 comments so far
This was a great article and the links I clicked on were interesting and enjoyable. It is so true that some of our parents had no idea that those of us who grew up enjoying the little village under the tree would want to not only cherish them as adults, but would pass them on to our families. Christmas Past is to be fondly remembered and some of the items that have made it to present day should be truly treasured.
Thanks for a wonderful article.
Dianne Gray Says:
My big brother wrote this elegantly brief artical on his "Smithonion Institute" version of collectable-vintage-cardboard=christmas-houses-&-villages. I know that his well written article is but a snowflake on the Greenland Glacier compared to the richness and good heartedness of his not-for-profit, just-for-joy, website. If his snowflake has tickled your nose, you must see his glacier of joy. Papa Ted, whom I have known all my life, is one of few Great Keepers of the Magic Window on Christmas Past.Do not miss an opportuny to visit his joy, he will gladly share a life's work.
As alway, an amazing work
Doc "A"
Jim Althof Says:
just started collecting–really love these little putz houses; i have 3.
emily cameline Says:
Thanks to Papa Ted for the great article and wonderful website! I have been in love with these beautiful little homes as long as I can remember. My grandmother and mother had invested in several sweet little houses long before I was born. My earliest and brightest Christmas memories include sitting by the Christmas village, reveling in its sparkling beauty, and imagining the fantasy world of the delightful people who must have lived there. Unfortunately, through my own fault (a sad story of irretrievable mistakes!), several of our cardboard houses were destroyed back in the late seventies. Since then, I have been collecting and restoring, I guess trying to recapture that early magic. My current houses are beautiful and well loved, but I believe I will always mourn for the treasures I let slip away!
Arlene English Says:
dear ted, i saw your article on the cardboard japanese dime store houses. i didn't think anyone cared for these little house. to me they are very significant. i would like to share many of these christmas houses for your readers. i'm sure what they will see will bring back many fond memories. they defintly made my train display. my website-www.garythetrainguy.com & my u-tube is garythetrainman. with kind regards, gary hanson
gary hanson Says:
Not a comment, but I have a complete set of Putz xmas houses includes two churches and six houses with some of the brush xmas trees. They are from my mother who kept them in a divided box and put them out every xmas. just thought you would like to know. If anyone is interested I would be willing to sell them they are in excellant condition. Thank You; Pam
Pam Says:
How I loved these tiny houses in my youth in Pennsylvania. We bought them at Woolworth's, and I too dreamed about the tiny families who lived in them, especially since they were soft colors of rose, yellow, blue, and so on, with those sparkly snow roofs. Christmas was magic then, even through WWII when my parents carefully saved each strand of tinsel icicles, each glass ball, and our wonderful silver metal bells, along with the teeny houses. But always my favorites were the houses, which disappeared sometime, probably when my parents moved to another state. I moved across the country to California, where everything was modern and nobody seemed to have ever heard of little cardboard houses. So, I started making my own, using pale blue poster board, with colored pencil drawings to make windows showing scenes of the rooms with Christmas trees and furniture, wreaths on the doors, and the ubiquitous bottle-brush trees. The most difficult was the town church with its tall spire, a rose window, (cruciform building) and gothic entry doors. Later, I used fine black ink pens to draw borders and trace the figures inside: cows peering out a window in the barn, cakes and sweets in the large bakery window, pets in the pet store window, etc. Those little German lead figures were just the right size to create scenes with ladies riding in horse-drawn sleighs and horse-drawn English red buses and ice skaters on the pond. . . . I never knew before reading your website that there were collectors and some of these putzes could be bought as old-time collectibles. Now I'm off to find out more.
I am positive that our Christmas houses were NOT made in Japan, but didn't realize they may have come from Germany — I always thought they were American, so cheap and considered rather kitschy. But I still love them even after 70 years!
Thanks so much — I'd love to know more. Jane
Jane Says:
Good article, I am interested in buying houses and churches. I also collect bottle brush trees
chris Bryan Says:
Oh the memories! As a kid growing up in the 50's I remember my grandparents' Christmas village.Colorful cardboard houses,bottle brush trees,and a skating pond(mirror)replete with skaters and skiers made of lead.As my own children grew up we bought the Snow Village houses by Department 56,but split them up as they married and presented us with grandchildren.Now I am collecting the beautiful Cody Foster houses which are larger versions of the putz houses of the 20's-30's,and every bit as magical.I have added a skating scene identical to the one in pictures from Christmases past at my grandparents' house by using lead based reproduction figures from the Barclay Company.It's all about the memories for me now!
Richard Says:
China Tour Deals Says:
Great job my friend. Thanks for a great blog. Keep up with the good work. Stan
I have my grandmother's wooden Christmas Church with music box inside. It's on a base, with wire brush trees- overall dimensions are approx. 10″ long x 10″ high x 6″ wide. Church windows are transparent paper in stained glass designs, glued in from behind. There's a sprinkling of glitter snow over everything. It has a paper label on the bottom: Ell-Bee L. B. Goetschius Co. Hackensack, NJ I have the original shipping box- came from F.A.O. Schwarz Toys in NYC in 1941.
I can't find anything about this company or their products. This must be the type of Christmas "village" decor that appeared after the start of WWII stopped the importation of the Japanese paper houses.
Candace Volz Says:
Own about 70 pre-war paper houses along with 15 composition houses and 5″grandfather"houses made from various wood scraps.Have just finished a vintage Christmas display at the Eckley Miner's Village Museum near Hazleton,Pa.Ornaments,houses,people,animals,train,etc.date from 1900 to 1940.Invite the interested public to pay a visit to this state administered site. Viewing from now until Jan.15th.Bob Zimmerman,Weatherly,Pa.
robert zimmerman Says:
I hope Candace Volz sees this. Her comment is #11. My grandfather was L.B.Goetschius. He made wooden toys for FAO Schwarz from 1936 until 1970, first in Hackensack, NJ, and then from North Egremont, MA. He left Hackensack in 1942 and moved "up country." It is wonderful to think, after all these years, that people are still enjoying his wonderfully crafted items.
Virginia Traver Says:
Dime store houses are still being made in Haddonfiel N. J. in different sizes
by hand for model railroads.
John W. Roat Says:
Love the history of these wonderful houses! I started collecting these houses about 1990, when I found some at a garage sale. Since then the number of my houses have grow, I add more every year. Just when I think I have enough and no room for more, I find another and do find I have room for just one more. My family would not think it was Christmas if I didn't put up my village each year. They are the first to go up and the last to come down. I found the web site for making some, now I am in the process of making one for each member of my Quester group. It is a labor of love, I hope I inspire a love that will allow them to start collecting also!
Carol Rosenbaum Says:
I found your info. on the putz house very interesting and a good learning experience.
I was born in 1955 and my parents always had a village of putz houses under our Christmas tree. I think I even have pictures of those wonderful days. Every year it was a must to set up these beautiful cardboard homes. Dad would always wire lights underneath the cotton to put through the holes that were in the back of these houses.
During the early 1960′ s the putz houses started to show their age and the new Plasticville came out. So it was then the putz homes were packed away and the Plasticville village came to be under our tree looking just as nice as the putz village but with out the glitter. These houses of Plasticville I still have. My parents gave them to me after I had married because I was the only child out of 4 who would come at Christmas time and still set them up under their tree.
My question to you is, I have 3 Czechoslovakia putz card board ornaments and can't find any information on the ornaments. Can you tell me when Czecholsovakia started producing these? I am guessing they are from the 1950's or 60's though I saw that someone on ebay had one of these ornaments and had dated it from I think the 1920's or 30's. Do you know if these Czechoslovakia ornaments date back that far? I appreciate any information you may have on these little "putz' ornaments.
Cathy Stahl
Cathy Stahl Says:
Sadly, we lost Papa Ted in October, 2012. At the moment, his site name is being squatted on by people promoting unrelated products, services, and scams. Fortunately, at Ted's request, friends at CardboardChristmas.com established an archive of his web page before his death. The complete address of the web archive is:
Many of Ted's longtime friends are contributing to the CardboardChristmas.com forums, so that's a good place to find out what's been happing in the world of putzes.
Paul Race Says:
What a wonderful story!i wrote some comments earlier,it is5:30am and I have read this whole websightwonderful. It has brought be so m wonderful memories the children today are missing out on so much.we too had the vil under the tree,I not know what happens to it.there is no one lef to ask.but. Not I will be on. Search for little card board houses.thank ou so much,this has brought many tears to my eyes!i wrote about the plastic santas under comments,I hope you will read it. Merry Christmas 2016. Evgenia Boswell
Evgenia Boswell Says:
I have about 10 of these houses and a lot of the metal figures how do I find out about them? My figures, those which are marked ,say England or France. Thank You
Constance Schmall Says:
Warmest of all greetings everyone! I am the founder and Admin of a Facebook group by the name of "Nutz 4 Putz". I own several of Papa Ted's putz house collection and I'm very active in the putz house collector/restorer/builder community. Please kindly come by and join us if you like. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/groups/nutz4putz.
Clinton Hoffmann Says:
We had a set of the houses and tin figures on our mantle during our childhood in the 50s and 60s. We loved them. They got lost in my parents moves, but I think of them each year and was once again seeing if they existed to buy. I may buy one just to have. Would love to have the tin figures. Thank you for your article and the memories.
Kay Says:
My mother passed a paper Christmas village on to me that was made in Italy…my now EX husband sold it in a garage sale!! I'd love to find one like it again…I remember it was in a dark colored box with the cellophane window. It probably had a dozen structures…I wish I could remember more detail, but I'd know it if I saw it!! Any suggestions (besides eBay) where I could look?
Jenkins Sandy Says:


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Hobart Accommodation - St Ives Hotel Apartments
Hobart Accommodation - St Ives Hotel Apartments
St Ives Hotel Apartments Hobart Accommodation Tasmania is centrally located in historic Battery Point. Only a few minutes stroll from the Salamanca Market and the waterfront precinct.
Our spacious studio and two-bedroom Hobart apartments have king-sized or queen-sized beds and allow the flexibility to cater for yourself.
Fully equipped with cooking facilities the accommodation apartments also feature FREE WI-FI internet, FREE Austar, FREE off-street parking & L.C.D televisions.
Our Hobart accommodation is close to restaurants, antique shops and craft stores, St Ives Hotel Apartments is only minutes by car to the city, MONA – Hobart's fabulous Museum of Old & New Art, Wrest Point Casino as well as all of Hobart's conference venues & attractions.
St Ives Hotel Apartments have rated a solid four-star standard (AAA rated).
Other accommodation features include super comfy latex mattresses & individual air-conditioning for heating & cooling.
Our Deluxe Superior Studio Apartments have King sized latex beds and large L.C.D televisions.
We are rated amongst the top Hobart hotels on TripAdvisor
"We recently stayed for two nights in room with a balcony and view towards the Derwent.River. Very comfortable with comfortable chairs for watching TV. No DVD player. Friendly staff and within easy walking distance of good local restaurants. Louisa's Walk which starts from Cascade Brewery not to be missed if staying in Hobart. On site bottle shop and 5 minutes walk to Salamanca square. Good Value and highly recommended."
"We stayed here for 4 nights, and the room was very spacious and very clean, room serviced each day which is a nice touch, parking is very easy in the car park at the back. There is a lift up to the 3 floors as well as stairs, guest laundry is on the ground floor along with dryers and iron and ironing boards are provided in your own room as well as the laundry, wash powder is also available free of charge in the laundry.
A really easy walk down to Salamanca place and constitution dock and all the restaurants with plenty on offer. Our stay included a weekend just to see the markets held in Salamanca place each Saturday, such an amazing array of fresh produce and hand made items, and so busy too, but lovely to see. All the staff are very helpful, and we would definitely stay again if we returned to Tasmania on a holiday."
"Stayed here for 3 nights in Room 109. Fantastic room, clean, comfortable, small kitchenette with a microwave and 2 hot plates everything you needed if you wanted to cook instead of eating out. Fridge was bigger than your normal mini bar fridge, and there breakfast packs for $6.00 per person were amazing value. King size bed very comfy, 2 sofa chairs to sit in, lots of storage and hanging space. Check in very easy and efficient, Serviced daily and if you require any extras then there are no problems at at all, staff friendly and helpful.
The bottle shop next door was convenient and did not hear any noise at all. If I had to find a negative then it would be that when it rains the down pipe from the above balcony is right smack bang in the middle so you have water running onto your balcony onto the outdoor carpet. The apartments are in a great location and you can walk down to Salamanca, the wharf area, MONA ferry and Hobart central. Definitely recommend and would stay again"


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Science engagement volunteer, Eilish Menzies, considers beekeeping and the role that it plays in food production.
Walking through the MERL galleries you can see the crucial role bees play in past and present global food security. By simply taking a stroll through the collection, you can really get a sense of the progressive steps that honey production has made and inspired throughout agriculture. Our library, archives and Special Collections also contain multiple historical books on bee keeping, bee anatomy and honey cookbooks. However, for a process so old and ingrained in societies all over the world, it seems strange that we are now facing an international reduction in bee colonies.
Much like humans, bees are social creatures, meaning they live together in large colonies. They present one of the few examples of true eusociality, where all individuals in the hive work by cooperative division of labour. The hive is essentially controlled by one female, known as the queen, whose sole function is to reproduce. As the name would suggest, honey bees produce honey. This is their primary source of food and it is obtained from the nectar of plants.
Bees on the whole are incredibly important players in the ecosystem ballgame. When foraging for food they act as pollinators for a range of different plant and tree species, and contribute £200 million to crop production every year in the UK. It's estimated that one in every three mouthful of food we eat is dependent on pollination by bees.
Our relationship with bees stems back millions of years, when ancient human cultures would collect honey from wild bee colonies. However, this wasn't for the faint hearted, as it almost always involved climbing to high and hard to reach places and sticking your hand in a nest of unwelcoming bees. It wasn't long until humans began to domesticate bees by providing artificial spaces to house the hive. As the growth of bee keeping continued to spread, many new structures were produced to improve the collection of honey. The typical hives you see today are known as Langstroth Hives, named after Lorenzo Langstroth. His design has remained relatively unchanged for over 160 years.
As for the future of bee keeping, things seem a little bit uncertain. National statistics show that bee populations have not been able to keep up with the increased demand for honey. Disease and harsh winters have meant the global production of honey has become much more irregular, leading to an increase in price. As pollinators, bees are responsible for large proportions of global agriculture, meaning a decrease in their population could have severe consequences on food production and ultimately our survival. This issue becomes apparent when you consider the role of bees within the pollination of rural crops around the globe. Smallholder agriculture makes up 80% of the crops in Africa and Asia and is particularly important in developing communities. For the 2.5 billion people living off of these crops, optimising pollination could be the primary approach in food security schemes.
As the MERL galleries demonstrate, change and uncertainty has always plagued our agricultural industry. We can only hope that the bee populations and the honey industry continue to adapt to these changes and that our future collections will be filled with the results of these achievements.


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How About a Peace Race Instead of an Arms Race?
In late April, the highly-respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that, in 2018, world military expenditures rose to a record $1.82 trillion. The biggest military spender by far was the United States, which increased its military budget by nearly 5 percent to $649 billion (36 percent of the global total). But most other nations also joined the race for bigger and better ways to destroy one another through war.
This situation represents a double tragedy. First, in a world bristling with weapons of vast destructive power, it threatens the annihilation of the human race. Second, as vast resources are poured into war and preparations for it, a host of other problems―poverty, environmental catastrophe, access to education and healthcare, and more―fail to be adequately addressed.
But these circumstances can be changed, as shown by past efforts to challenge runaway militarism.
During the late 1950s, the spiraling nuclear arms race, poverty in economically underdeveloped nations, and underfunded public services in the United States inspired considerable thought among socially-conscious Americans. Seymour Melman, a professor of industrial engineering at Columbia University and a peace activist, responded by writing The Peace Race, a mass market paperback published in 1961. The book argued that military spending was undermining the U.S. economy and other key aspects of American life, and that it should be replaced by a combination of economic aid abroad and increased public spending at home.
Melman's popular book, and particularly its rhetoric about a "peace race," quickly came to the attention of the new U.S. President, John F. Kennedy. On September 25, 1961, dismayed by the Soviet Union's recent revival of nuclear weapons testing, Kennedy used the occasion of his address to the United Nations to challenge the Russians "not to an arms race, but to a peace race." Warning that "mankind must put an end to war―or war will put an end to mankind," he invited nations to "join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war."
Kennedy's "peace race" speech praised obliquely, but powerfully, what was the most ambitious plan for disarmament of the Cold War era: the McCloy-Zorin Accords. This historic US-USSR agreement, presented to the UN only five days before, outlined a detailed plan for "general and complete disarmament." It provided for the abolition of national armed forces, the elimination of weapons stockpiles, and the discontinuance of military expenditures in a sequence of stages, each verified by an international disarmament organization before the next stage began. During this process, disarmament progress would "be accompanied by measures to strengthen institutions for maintaining peace and the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means." In December 1961, the McCloy-Zorin Accords were adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly.
Although the accelerating nuclear arms race―symbolized by Soviet and American nuclear testing―slowed the momentum toward disarmament provided by the McCloy-Zorin Accords and Kennedy's "peace race" address, disarmament continued as a very live issue. The National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE), America's largest peace organization, publicly lauded Kennedy's "peace race" speech and called for "the launching of a Peace Race" in which the two Cold War blocs joined "to end the arms race, contain their power within constructive bounds, and encourage peaceful social change."
For its part, the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, created by the Kennedy administration to address disarmament issues, drafted an official U.S. government proposal, Blueprint for the Peace Race, which Kennedy submitted to the United Nations on April 18, 1962. Leading off with Kennedy's challenge "not to an arms race, but to a peace race," the proposal called for general and complete disarmament and proposed moving in verifiable steps toward that goal.
Nothing as sweeping as this followed, at least in part because much of the subsequent public attention and government energy went into curbing the nuclear arms race. A central concern along these lines was nuclear weapons testing, an issue dealt with in 1963 by the Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed that August by the U.S., Soviet, and British governments. In setting the stage for this treaty, Kennedy drew upon Norman Cousins, the co-chair of SANE, to serve as his intermediary with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Progress in containing the nuclear arms race continued with subsequent great power agreements, particularly the signing of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1968.
As is often the case, modest reform measures undermine the drive for more thoroughgoing alternatives. Certainly, this was true with respect to general and complete disarmament. Peace activists, of course, continued to champion stronger measures. Thus, Martin Luther King, Jr. used the occasion of his Nobel Peace Prize lecture in Oslo, on December 11, 1964, to declare: "We must shift the arms race into a 'peace race.'" But, with important curbs on the nuclear arms race in place, much of the public and most government leaders turned to other issues.
Today, of course, we face not only an increasingly militarized world, but even a resumption of the nuclear arms race, as nuclear powers brazenly scrap nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties and threaten one another, as well as non-nuclear nations, with nuclear war.
Perhaps it's time to revive the demand for more thoroughgoing global disarmament. Why not wage a peace race instead of an arms race―one bringing an end to the immense dangers and vast waste of resources caused by massive preparations for war? In the initial stage of this race, how about an immediate cut of 10 percent in every nation's military budget, thus retaining the current military balance while freeing up $182 billion for the things that make life worth living? As the past agreements of the U.S. and Soviet governments show us, it's not at all hard to draw up a reasonable, acceptable plan providing for verification and enforcement.
All that's lacking, it seems, is the will to act.


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Just a quick note to say, the wonderful people at Humble Inc are now providing the shop-front over at:
This means you'll get a free CODENAME: RED Steam Key on purchase from now on, or the DRM-version, it's up to you! Everyone's a winner! All existing customers are getting free keys for the Humble store, and from there they can make their choice.
As I mentioned before, the Humble guys have gone out of their way to make a very smooth transition, and to take on the responsibility of my previous customers just to help me out, making sure everyone has the choice of update format. I can't thank them enough for their help with this!
Existing customers are most welcome to send their request at any time (see the previous blog entry for instructions.) I think most of the Mac users have got their updates now. We've still only done about 15%-20% of the purchases, so I'm trying to find a more automated way of doing it. But apart from the odd day off, we'll be getting back to anyone who send a request in within a day, and it's no trouble at all for the most part… In fact, it's great fun reading all your kind, insightful, funny and sometimes even slightly strange messages.
It also means goodbye to the First Aid Edition, which has sold 200 copies, and for which the art cards will be done soon. I can't say how long it's going to take, but I don't want to rush it. We already have the stamps, but we need to find the right place to print them…
Thanks to everyone who's bought the game on my site or Steam, and especially to the First Aid customers, who've given me a few months freeware-experimentation-room!
I really am humbled.
– Jasper


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A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is an agreement under which the countries that have signed it provide each other with exclusive trade benefits by abolishing tariffs and other barriers to trade in goods and services between the countries. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have so far gone into force largely between neighboring countries or in certain regions, just as in the cases of the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Thus, an FTA is often referred to as a Regional Trade Agreement (RTA).
A regional trade agreement can be divided into four phases depending on the degree of economic integration among the signatory countries.
01Free Trade Agreement
02Customs Union
03Common Market
04Complete Economic Union
Various types of trade restriction measures including tariffs are abolished for free trade among member countries (for example, NAFTA).
The member countries take joint steps by applying a common external tariff to non-member countries in addition to free trade among the member countries (for example, MERCOSUR).
Besides the customs union-level trade policy, the free movement of factors of production, such as labor and capital, is allowed among the member countries (for example, EC, CACM).
The member countries implement common policies among them by mutually coordinating all the economic policies including fiscal, financial and social welfare policies.
The member countries withdraw their independent economic policies, integrate and operate all the economic policies, and set up a supranational organization, such as a single parliament, among them.


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Magic Autumn in Ambroz Valley
Ambroz Valley celebrates the autumn with a programme of activities, which are designed to help you get to know this unique place.
- Explore
- Otoño Mágico
Numerous cultural events in Ambroz Valley
Location and Contact:
- Tel.:+34 927 47 34 58
- Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
- Website address: https://otoñomagico.org
- Website address: visitambroz.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ambroz.magico
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/valleambroz
Ambroz Valley celebrates the autumn with a programme of activities, which are designed to help you get to know this unique place.
Even though the festival was originally conceived to boost tourism in the district beyond the summer season, with the passage of time it acquired greater importance, which led it to being declared a Festivity of National Tourist Interest. Workshops, concerts, plays, hiking routes and competitions go to make up its programme.
However, without a doubt, the event that is most looked forward to is the celebration of the great, traditional "calbotá" (roasted chestnut party), which sees hundreds of people come together to enjoy an evening in the country eating roasted chestnuts, dried figs and drink sangria, accompanied throughout by traditional music. The fact is music forms a key part of the programme, including as it does a rock festival that attracts top local and out-of-town acts.
A passion for the theatre must be added to that for music. Throughout the festivity you will have a chance to enjoy a host of stage productions, which form part of every edition's theatre programme. Fungi events, photograph rallies, fishing competitions, sports and nature days, food and drink days, are just some of the numerous activities available during the celebration of the Ambroz Valley's Magic Autumn.
- Type:
- Festivity of National Tourist Interest
- Tourist Interest in Extremadura
- Event subject:
- Open Air
- Sports
- Gastronomy
- Nature
- Theatre
- Popular traditions
- Start date:
- 27/10/2023
- End date:
- 03/12/2023
- Events
Target audience:
- Families
- Young people
- Single people
- Senior citizens
- Children
- Couples
- Single people
More suggestions
Hervás, Sephardic legacy
Local materials such as chestnut wood, sun-dried brick and granite characterise the traditional country architecture.
It was evacuated after being declared a flood risk area, currently the village is being rehabilitated to return it to its former glory.
The Roman town of Cáparra
Caparrá, which has uncertain origins, became a Roman municipium under Emperor Vespasian. The town's growth was propelled by its privileged position along the Silver Way


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European Stroke Research Foundation - esrf
News – Aktuelles:
Recent proposals have been accepted and are granted 2023-2025
Nose to Brain delivery of Bryologs: a potential Fast Acting Stroke Treatment: NBB:FAST
INdividualizing STroke – posture Assessments in the Therapeutic Environment during RehAbilitation IN STATERA
Prevention of ischemic strokes – role of NAD(P)H oxidase 4 and hydrogen peroxide in the stabilization of carotid plaques
Mobile stroke unit: prehospital stroke treatment and triage in underserved rural settings
Poststroke lipid droplet accumulation in residing microglia
Daily habits Mobil App for Primary Stroke MAPS
Modifying endogeneous neural stem cell function for improving brain repair in stroke
Please note the new deadline for submission "30 June, 2024"
Please download the "Research Application Form" here:
Research Programme Application Form – European Stroke Research Foundation ESRF
Projects are eligible for ESRF funding
– if they cover a major issue of current stroke research
– originate and are preferentially written by a junior scientist/s working in an academic institution of brilliant stroke research
– cover a range of up to three years
– and a full amount of up to 60 T€
-if interactions with other funding organizations (e.g. EU or national) are considered, please specify the part for which funding is requested
The "European Stroke Research Foundation" (esrf) is an independently incorporated registered non-profit charity in Kanton Basel-Stadt, Switzerland (CHE-445.245.675)
Stroke is the most common cardiovascular disorder after heart disease, killing an estimated 5.7 million people annually worldwide. The prevalence of stroke in Europe has been estimated to be 9.6 million. Furthermore, stroke is a major public health issue among the leading causes of immobility and longterm disability in developed countries. During the last quarter century the management of acute stroke patients and prevention of cerebrovascular disorders has become the most challenging task for medical interdisciplinary research. This included interactive multi-professional management from emergency rescue and monitored intensive care through a primary care team as well as extensive public information about qualifying signs and symptoms of acute stroke victims coined in the phrase Time is Brain and Stroke is an Emergency in newspapers, television and the new media. Although mortality has decreased considerably since the 1990s, and early prevention is successful after transient ischaemic attacks (TIA) through better medical treatment in TIA Clinics or Comprehensive Stroke Centers, many patients still suffer from permanent dependency. Exciting new pathways have now been opened to improve the chance for full recovery and independence after brain network re-organisation that became available by very recent scientific knowledge about mechanisms active during rehabilitation. Not only for patients with sensori-motor but also more sophisticated cognitive deficits or and behaviour problems can be treated. In addition, the risk of dementia may be reduced.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the ESC and based on the merits of so many successful meetings in the past we decided to create the "European Stroke Research Foundation- esrf" as a registered, public controlled charity to support the European Stroke Conference, international workshops and meetings as well as individual and institutional activities and programmes of highly innovative stroke related basic science and challenging clinical topics ready to stimulate exciting new pathways and strategies for research, including those making use of in the Industry 4 Revolution world of internet and social media supported world wide innovative communication.
Our goal is to promote research for better prevention and treatment and to improve the chance for full recovery and independence after stroke!
The "European Stroke Research Foundation" (esrf) is an independently incorporated registered non-profit charity in Kanton Basel-Stadt, Switzerland (CHE-445.245.675) created
(a) to promote basic and clinical sciences for the improvement of current knowledge and management about stroke and cerebrovascular diseases in a broad range of various aspects
(eg pathophysiology, biology, diagnosis, acute treatment and prevention, rehabilitation and other stroke related issues),
(b) to facilitate institutional and individual communication of scientific contributions in conferences, workshops and other meetings and
(c) to present and award extraordinary new contributions to stroke related topics, as well as world of internet and social media supported world wide innovative communication for the benefit of healthy people in a global ageing population for the prevention of stroke attacks and therapeutic achievements during re-organisation and recovery in the complex brain networks after cerebrovascular lesions
(d) to improve cognitive deficits after stroke and prevent secondary deterioration of so called higher brain functions and vascular dementia
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