(This on how The 'Thule Society' organization for more than
100years ago- secretly made great plans to release mankind from this
capital conspiracy/control they saw as the cause of the "darkness".)
"…mankind will have to rewrite history when it examines
financed the Napoleons wars, 'Lenin's' communist revolution
and all political parties of the World War I.
Towards the end of the 18th Century, in Europe,
especially in Germany, a new movement was
founded which was interested in deeply
spiritual matters. Especially the real origin of
mankind and all the secrets of Atlantis were of particular interest.
These spiritual groups were inspired by invisible masters who taught European scientists in India and Tibet in mediumism.
The foundations for these secret esoteric teachings were the
secret writings of Helena Blavatsky. At the beginning of the 19th
century, various esoteric groups such as the "anthroposophists"
with Rudolf Steiner emerged from these teachings. They mentioned the
coming of a new age which would preceded by a great battle between
Good and Evil.
The teachings by the invisible masters of Shambhala were mixed by
contemporary fellowers with other religions such as Hinduism,
Buddhism and German myths.
Many newly founded occult sects discovered that there were
esoteric lodges before them such as the Freemasons, the
Rosicrians and the ILLUMINATI orders, who were pulling the string of
The new 'occultists' at the turn of the century were all waiting
for this 'New Golden Age' and like various sects today they all
thought of themselves as the 'chosen ones', who
would inherit eternal life and the 1,000 years empire after the apocalypse and Christ's
("Christ's Return" - means that the way
of being and acting as Christ demonstrated, will be adopted in the
ripe ones, and that they can let their inside "angelic or pure
spiritual pole govern their earthly life - as I see it. rø-rem)
At a time of turmoil many longed for an 'Enlightened leader'.
Some of these 'occultists' emerged from the Germanic Order
founded by Rudolf von Sebottendorf in Bad Aibling in 1912,
whose ideas would later trigger the great tragedy. They saw in the
old Freemason and capitalistic lodges the personification of the
Evil enemy. In 1918 after the German defeat of the World War I, this
Germanic Order in Munich, merged with a whole group of sects into the 'Thule
Society' . They also invited recently discharged
officers of World War I. to join them.
At this meeting they discovered that they were used as
Cannonfodder for the plans of the Zionist capital lodges. One can
only assume that they saw the personified Satan in both the
Freemason and the capitalistic lodges, who had financed the war.
Thus World War II was already preprogrammed. For many years
people had worked on the illusion of ridding the world of a Satan
and to triumph over evil in a last battle, making way for the
ThousandYear empire along with Christ's Return.
The ' Thule Society' organization secretly made great plans to
release mankind from this capital conspiracy. To them the Illuminati,
Freemason lodges and Zionistic financial connections represented a
World Dictatorship which had to be fought and defeated. But it would
still take some time until they found a suitable political candidate
with whom they would rise to power.
The 'Thule Society' and its more than 50 organizations as
well as Hammerbund and Germanenorden
and home defense movements, were responsible for giving the order to
form a political party and to secure political influence for the whole movement. Because
of the deep Christian and occult character of the Thule Society, which
meant something like 'The Society For Research on Atlantis', its members
searched in all ancient prophecies for when the Dark Age would come to
In his last days Jesus revealed something about the days to come.
These old secret prophecies that were revealed by Jesus
to his apostles said that the beginning of salvation would spread from a
country behind large mountains, where a great leader by the name of Elijah would be born.
Jesus turned around while talking and pointed the Roman
legionnaire Longistus who was a Germanic mercenary. As a
result the German Lodges believed that from this secret revelation
this land could be interpreted as Germania, the
'large' mountains' being the Fortress of the Alps, and that
the mentioned leader had already incarnated. He would free
the world through the final battle in order to initiate The 'Thousand
Year Empire' of peace and The Return of Christ.
This is how the Thule Society interpreted Christ's speech:
... "in about one thousand plus not quite one thousand
years, you all (with this he meant 2,600 Essene disciples, who are Atlantean descendants) will be reborn together with Elijah to free the world militaristically". . .
The actual prediction was that His light workers dedicated
to His work would be reborn in approximately 2,000 years,
shortly before His Return, together with Elijah, who at the time
of Christ was John the Baptist, in order to herald the imminent Return of Christ and preach the gospel of life again,
thus announcing The Last.
In this secret revelation it was mentioned that the power
would be taken from the Hebrew Brotherhood. This related
only to spiritual leadership, which would be given to an another
country. However, the Thule Society indentified
itself with the role of world saviour to free the world of evil and
incorporated this idea as key statement of anti-semitic teachings. When
this occult sect wanted to rid the world of Atlantean Freemasonry
through World War2, they thought that a part of this secret prophecy
would be fulfilled.
The fratricidal war of the two priesthood casts from Atlantis was
rekindled before World War2, by the Thule Society.
The members regarded themselves as the reincarnation of
Christ's disciples, who would lead the battle for freedom against the
Yet these souls of the Third Reich were the other
Brotherhood from Babylon which had lost power, the Brothers from Agartha, who had lost their last high culture in Babylon to the Hebrew priests.
Thus World War II. was a continuation of the Atlantean fratricidal war and karma, because the largest secret is that in
reality the Jewish and Germanic people emerged from a common
Churchill and Roosvelt were the leaders of the Freemason
Brotherhood, and Hitler was the leader of the Thule Society and
honorary member of the Neutempler-Orden (New Templar Order)
With the prophecy that upon Christs return, the head of
the serpent would be crushed, it did not bear the meaning
that the Freemasons and the Illuminati would be violently destroyed.
It rather meant the return of the inner Cosmos,
the Christ powers would topple the worldly powers through the overcoming of man's polarity.
When the Eagle, i.e. the Space Brotherhood, has landed,
there will be no worldly powers left, because from then on
there will be only ascended and conscious humans living on earth, who
have lived through the resurrection and are connected to inner truth.
Thus Christ's Return is the revelation of the planetary spirit in man, out of which he can read the whole truth himself and thus
we can perhaps only guess that the Apocalypse to a great extent will
take place in the minds of people and only partially in the outside
world. The true light children and Christ's disciples were to be born much later and their
mission is rather to heal the Earth through the overcoming of polarity, than by waging of wars.
The Thule Organization believed then that the new 'Golden Age'
had already begun and that Elijah and the great Atlantean
Souls had already been born to free the world from
the forces of darkness.
When Dietrich Eckart, Rudolf von Sebottendorf and his
followers consulted several spiritual mediums, the
name of the young officer 'Adolf
Hitler' was mentioned to them through
the Astral World.
Adolf Hitler's' occult past already began during his years of
study in Vienna. He read Nietzsche's 'Super
Human' (Uebermesch), studied the secret
teachings of HelenaPetrova Blavatsky, St. John's Revelation and
regularly he attended the lectures of Guido
He was definitely a subscriber to the occult magazine
published by Lanz von Liebenfels which already glorified the racist madness, the male sun cosmologies, and the Aryan culture.


The Canadian Dollar is the currency of Canada. Our currency rankings show that the most popular Canadian Dollar exchange rate is the CAD to USD rate. The currency code for Dollars is CAD, and the currency symbol is $. Below, you'll find Canadian Dollar rates and a currency converter.
Importance of the Canadian Dollar
The Canadian Dollar is the seventh-most traded currency on the Forex market, as many institutions and individuals trade the CAD. People also refer to the CAD as the Loonie, buck, Huard, and Piastre (in French). The Canadian Dollar is held as a reserve currency by a number of central banks. It is also known as a commodity currency, due to the country's substantial raw material exports.
Introduction of the CAD
Currency was first introduced to Canada in the early 1660s when French colonists brought coins to the area. The very first banknotes were issued in Canada in 1821 by the Montreal Bank and soon became a primary method of payment. In 1841, as a British colony, the Province of Canada began to issue a currency called the Canadian Pound; but in 1858, the Canadian Dollar replaced the Pound and aligned with the US Dollar. During this time, both US Dollars and British Gold Sovereigns were legal tender within Canada's borders. After Canadian Confederation, the government decimalized the currency and a new series of coins were issued in the Dominion of Canada. The Bank of Canada was established in 1934 with the first issue of banknotes a year later. The first Loonie coin was introduced in 1987 and the two-dollar coin (often called the Toonie) was launched in 1996. In 2011, the Central Bank of Canada issued a new series of bank notes printed on a polymer material.
|Minor unit||1/100 = cent|
|Minor unit symbol||¢|
|Central bank rate||0.50%|
|Top CAD conversion||CAD to USD|
|Top CAD chart||CAD to USD chart|
|Nicknames||Loonie, buck (English), Huard, piastre (French)|
|Coins||Freq used: 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, $1, $2|
Rarely used: 1¢, 50¢
|Bank notes||Freq used: $5, $10, $20, $50, $100|
Rarely used: $1, $2, $500, $1000
|Central bank||Bank of Canada|
I want to...Send a cheap money transfer to the United StatesSend a cheap money transfer to the United KingdomSend a cheap money transfer to CanadaSend a cheap money transfer to AustraliaSend a cheap money transfer to New ZealandSubscribe to CAD email updatesGet CAD rates on my phoneGet a CAD currency data API for my business


Frank Walter Scott (F.W.S.) Colpitts opened his tailor shop in 1913, later relocating to 805 Main Street (adjacent to the Capitol Theatre). The main floor of F.W.S. Colpitts contained a retail outlet where customers would choose fabrics for their made-to-measure garments. The second floor housed tailors and seamstresses who fabricated all of the garments on-site. By the 1940’s, Colpitts had grown to one of the largest custom tailoring companies in the area, and employed as many as 20 craftsmen and women outfitting the area’s finest gentlemen.
In 1945, the business was taken over by Frank’s son, Paul, and began selling off-the-rack garments to complement its custom clothing business. By the mid-sixties, Austin Turner, who had joined the firm fresh out of high school as a salesman purchased the business from the Colpitts family in 1967. The company was renamed Colpitts Men’s Wear Ltd., and was relocated to 836 Main Street. A second location was opened in Moncton Mall in 1978, followed by a third store known as “Osty’s” in 1982 to offer men’s and women’s casual clothing.
Austin’s son, Greg Turner, took over the business after his father’s death in 1987. Both Colpitts and Osty’s moved from Moncton Mall to Champlain Place in 1992 and began to expand their customer base beyond the Greater Moncton area.
On August 19th, 2000, a devastating fire destroyed the Main Street location of Colpitts. The business continued from the Champlain Place location, but Greg and his wife Claudette maintained their vision for Colpitts to return to its roots as part of a vibrant downtown. In 2012, the store was relocated to 735 Main Street, just steps down the street from where Mr. Colpitts opened his tailor shop in 1913.
Colpitts Men’s Wear Ltd. was purchased by Robert and Jessica Smith in April, 2016. A lot has changed in 104 years, but the commitment to quality products and exceptional service remains the foundation of our business and the key to our success.


Marsha Hunt, an actress who was blacklisted from Hollywood during the 1950s for fighting the witch hunt for communists, has died at the age of 104. She passed away on Wednesday from natural causes at her Sherman Oaks home. Hunt’s story is a testament to the strength and resilience of the creative human spirit, as she continued to pursue her passion for acting despite the obstacles she faced, thanks to the anti-Communist trend that spread across America in the mid-twentieth century.
Her legacy will continue to inspire future generations of artists who strive to create meaningful art in the face of adversity.
Marsha Hunt was an impressive woman. Not only did she bravely stand up for her beliefs by fighting against the ‘witch hunt’ for communists in Hollywood during the 1950s, but she also continued to show her bravery and spirit throughout the entirety of her life.
Even after being blacklisted from her career when she was a young woman, Marsha Hunt still managed to leave behind a legacy of courage and determination. Dying at the age of 104, she left a legacy that will be remembered for years and years to come. Her story is one that should be remembered and celebrated, both within the sphere of Hollywood and beyond.
Marsha Hunt was an inspiring figure during a turbulent time in American history. At the height of the Red Scare, when fear and suspicion of communists led to a mass disinformation campaign, she proudly stood her ground and refused to bow to pressure from those in charge.
Unfortunately, because of its stance, she was blacklisted from Hollywood during this time. Despite this setback, Hunt continued to lead a remarkable life and passed away at age 104 on Wednesday due to natural causes. She will be remembered for her courage and grace in the face of adversity.
Marsha Hunt was a tenacious and fearless icon in Hollywood history. An actress of immense power, she defied the witch hunt for communists, which ultimately led to her being blacklisted. Her impact, however, will live on through her distinguished career of activism and entertainment as an actor. There is no doubt that Hunt’s memory shall never be forgotten.
Throughout her long career, she stood up against the oppressive atmosphere of authoritarianism in Hollywood due to the McCarthy witch hunt for communists. Even though she was blacklisted in 1952, she continued her activism alongside many other brave actors. Her actions served as a turning point that influenced various cultural debates throughout the years, and she will be remembered as an inspiration to all who strive for justice and liberation.
Hunt married her first husband, Jerry Hopper, from 1938 to 1943. She married he second husband screenwriter Robert Presnell, Jr. until his death in 1986. She gave birth to a daughter who died shortly after birth. Hunt and Presnell Jr. refused to give up their dream of being parents and fostered children for years.


Lew Childre and the Riverhouse
The Riverhouse was originally owned by the legendary Lew Childre, inventor of Lew's Speed Spool and Lew's Speed Stick. The Lew's Speed Spool was noted for its small size and narrow reel, designed to make longer casts. The Lew's Speed Spool and Speed Stick, revolutionized bass fishing and became one of the first pieces of mass-marketed competition equipment for bass fishing tournaments. Lew Childre also assisted in the development of the Fuji guide, which reduced line friction and resulted in longer casts and less line wear. Lew tested these and many other fishing inventions right here in the water of the Apalachicola River. Lew Childre's company was eventually bought out by Shimano after his death in an airplane crash.


Pictured: James Madison’s Montpelier | Credit: Orange County Tourism
Located Near The Historic Montpelier
In town to see James Madison’s historic estate? There are plenty of things to discover in the beautiful Orange, VA, and plenty of history to uncover. Round Hill Inn is conveniently located just a short drive away from the popular Montpelier. Book now and take a guided tour, explore a gallery, or enjoy the trails, history, and delicious food at Montpelier while staying with us.
Point me to Montpelier
Round Hill Inn is a 15-minute drive to one of the most popular historic attractions in Virginia. While exploring the estate of James Madison make sure to check out the Constitutional Connections or a signature tour.
To get to Montpelier from Round Hill Inn, turn right onto Round Hill Road and head southeast for 0.1 mile. Turn left at the first cross street onto Radney Road. Take VA-20 S to S Montpelier Road in Montpelier Station. Turn right at the first cross street onto N Madison Road and stay on N Madison Road for 1.1 miles. Turn right onto W Main Street and stay on W Main Street for 0.6 miles. Continue on to VA-20 S for 3.5 miles. Drive to S Montpelier Road and turn left. Stay on S Montpelier Road for 0.9 miles until you come across Montpelier.
All about Montpelier
Explore history as if you were truly living it. James Madison, or also known as the “Father of the Constitution” and the fourth president of the United States, was known for being one of the most vital thinkers during his time. The vast estate of James Madison’s embodies his true essence and the special character he once was, as one of the most essential people during the founding era. Stop by the Constitution room for a visit with President Madison himself, or find yourself wandering to all the other historic adventures Montpelier has to offer.
Pictured: James Madison’s Montpelier Gardens | Credit: Orange County Tourism
Your calm oasis
Learn and live the history at Montpelier
Book now and attend a signature tour or a behind the scenes exploration at Montpelier. With endless opportunities, these breathtaking grounds have something for everyone. Attend special events, trek beautiful trails, and learn about Madison’s legacy. From classic history tours to nature explorations to hunt races, Montpelier weaves the stories of the past with the experience of the present. Reservations may be required for more specialized tours and events.
Pictured: Hunt Race at James Madison’s Montpelier | Credit: Orange County Tourism
Reserve room blocks
Reserve your room blocks today for group outings and events at Montpelier. With discounted prices and connecting rooms, our hotel is sure to satisfy all your group’s needs. Booking is a breeze with Round Hill Inn, and we are more than happy to accommodate groups of all sizes.


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The Background Of The Bike
The Harley Davidson Firm officially started with the conclusion of its initial bike in 1903. Unofficially everything began in 1901 when 21-year-old William S. Harley prepared prepare for a tiny engine that displaced 7.07 cubic inches as well as had 4-inch flywheels. He made this engine for usage on a regular pedal-bicycle structure. One of the reasons the Harley has done so well over the years is their marketing and embroidery team. Much like Branded Image Madison Provides at http://www.brandedimage.com/embroidery-madison-wi/.
By 1903 William Harley had actually joined with his boyhood close friend Arthur Davidson, along with Arthur’s brother Walter. They utilized the machine shop of their good friend Henry Melk to complete the model of their very first engine-powered bike. The engine that powered this model was not powerful sufficient to propel the motored-bike up Milwaukee’s small hillsides without the cyclist considering pedal power.
The very first “real” Harley Davidson Bike was ultimately finished with extra assistance from one more Davidson brother called William. It had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches with 9-3/4 inch flywheels considering 28 extra pounds. The new bike was practical by September 08, 1904, as well as made its opening night in a Milwaukee bike race.
The business generated 3 bikes in 1903, complied with by 3 more in 1904. Production rose to 8 completed cycles in 1905, enabling Walt Davidson to quit his work with the railroad and also end up being the company’s initial full-time staff member. The Davidson’s aunt, Janice Davidson additionally began helping out by using her creative talent to letter and also pinstripe the bikes, which were painted black with gold trim.
The initial Harley Davidson Motor Business manufacturing facility was constructed in 1906 on Chestnut Road. It was a moderate 40 by 60 foot solitary tale wood framework. Chestnut Street was later renamed Juneau Method, and thoug
h the initial structure was replaced, this place stays the Motor Firm’s corporate headquarters to now. An overall of 50 bikes were created in 1906.
The list below year, 1907 produced much change for the recently established company. William S. Harley finished from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a level in mechanical engineering. The manufacturing facility was broadened as well as the company formally integrated. Production boosted to 150 motorbikes in 1907.
One more significant adjustment that took place in 1907 was the completion of a prototype of a 45-degree V-Twin engine. These engines displaced 53.68 cubic inches and produced concerning 7 horsepower, almost doubling the hill-climbing power of the very first singles. Production continuouslied increase to 450 motorcycles in 1908 adhered to by 1,149 in 1909.
Success continued in the years that adhered to. The original factory was destroyed as well as replaced by a new 5-story structure of strengthened concrete and also red brick. It soon expanded to take up two blocks along Juneau Method as well as nearby on 38th Street. During this period bikes generated by Harley Davidson started to control the motorcycle auto racing sector and manufacturing reached 16,284 in 1914.
World war saw the need for motorbikes in the armed force. Harley Davidson offered over 20,000 motorcycles to military forces during World War I. Improvements as well as increased manufacturing continued after the war. The Harley Davidson Electric Motor Firm was in reality among just 2 American cycle manufacturers to endure the Great Clinical depression. The business remained to create makers for the army throughout World War II and the Oriental Battle. The Jeep after that changed it in popularity.
The Harley Davidson Motor Company is still going solid today, in spite of bumps and swellings in the process. You will certainly identify it on the Securities market under the sign HOG.


Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut of the Soviet Union, on April 12, 1961, made the first manned space flight that lasted 108 minutes. It was a huge step in the exploration of outer space. The time of the great achievements of Soviet scientists. The whole country rejoiced and celebrated!
The feat of Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut and tester of Soviet space technology, will forever remain in people’s memory. After all, it was he who became the first to escape from the cradle of humanity into the airless space of the cosmos.
A bit of history:
There was a departure to the starting position in the bus. Together with comrades — my deputy was Titov German Stepanovich — and all of my fellow astronauts, our bosses went to the start. Got off the bus, but here I was a little confused. Reported not to the chairman of the State Commission, but reported to Sergey Pavlovich and Marshal of the Soviet Union. Just at some point confused.
Yuri Gagarin and German Titov in the bus on the way to the start. Photo from the archive of Vladimir Yaropolov.
“Let’s go!” Shouted Yuri Gagarin (call sign — Kedr) at the time of the launch of the Vostok spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
During the launch, the commander of the launch team was Lieutenant Colonel of the Missile Forces Anatoly Kirillov — he gave commands for the missile launch stages and monitored their implementation, observing the missile at the periscope from the command bunker. Leonid Voskresensky, a test scientist for his rocket technology, was his backup at the second periscope.
Start the ship «Vostok». Photo from the archive of Vladimir Yaropolov.
There was a separation of the first stage of the launch vehicle, earned the second stage. “I was literally pressed into a chair,” Gagarin wrote. — As soon as the «East» broke through the dense layers of the atmosphere, I saw the Earth. The ship flew over the wide Siberian river. The islands on it and the sunlit wooded shores were clearly visible. Looked now in the sky, then on Earth. Clearly differed mountain ranges, large lakes. Even the fields were visible. The most beautiful sight was the horizon — the strip painted by all colors of a rainbow dividing the Earth in the light of sun rays from the black sky. There was noticeable bulge, roundness of the Earth. It seemed that all of it was girded with a halo of pale blue color, which, through turquoise, blue and violet, turned to bluish-black. ”
Reset the head fairing booster. On the air, Gagarin’s voice rang out: “I see the Earth … What a beauty!”
There was a TASS message about the launch of a spacecraft. “On April 12, 1961, in the Soviet Union, the world’s first spacecraft-satellite Vostok with a man on board was launched into Earth orbit. Pilot-cosmonaut of the spacecraft-satellite «Vostok» is a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics pilot Major Gagarin Yuri Alekseevich. The launch of the space multi-stage rocket was successful, and after the first space velocity was set and the spacecraft separated from the last stage of the launch vehicle, the satellite began free flight in orbit around the Earth … cosmonaut Comrade Gagarin transferred the orbit of the spacecraft Vostok to orbit time feels good. Systems that provide the necessary living conditions in the cabin of a satellite ship are functioning normally. The flight of the satellite ship «Vostok» with the pilot-cosmonaut Comrade Gagarin in orbit continues. »
Edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper
“After successfully conducting the planned research and carrying out the flight program on April 12, 1961, at 10 hours 55 minutes Moscow time, the Soviet spacecraft Vostok made a safe landing in a given region of the Soviet Union,” the TASS message sounded.
— Pilot-cosmonaut Major Gagarin said: “Please report back to the party and the government that the landing took place normally, I feel good, I don’t have injuries and bruises.”
Order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR
#Gagarin #space #astronaut #USSR #flight #stars


The old wedding poem!
and a silver sixpence in her shoe.
What does it represent?
Something old - Symbolises continuity with the bride's family and the past.
Something new - means optimism and hope for her new life ahead.
Something borrowed is usually an item from a happily married friend or relative who’s good fortune will carry over to the bride, and reminds the brides that she can depend on her friends & family.
Something blue - symbolises love, modesty & fidelity.
Before the late 19th Century, blue was the popular colour for the bridal dress. In early Biblical times, blue (not white) symbolised purity. Both the bride and groom usually wore a band of blue material around the bottom of their wedding attire, hence the tradition of “something blue”.
A silver sixpence in her shoe - represents wealth & prosperity.
The Wearing of the White Wedding Dress.
The white wedding dress came into fashion when Queen Victoria married in 1840.
After Queen Victoria's and Prince Albert's wedding, the colour white resembled wealth and social status.
Because of the limitations of laundering techniques before the later part of the 20th century, white dresses provided an opportunity for conspicuous consumption. White wedding dresses favoured primarily as a way to show the world that the bride's family was so wealthy and so firmly part of the leisure class that the bride would choose an elaborate dress that could be ruined by any sort of work or spill.
The Bridal Veil
Tradition says that the groom marries the bride with the veil on to symbolise that beauty may fade but love is eternal.
In some cultures throughout history, a wedding veil protected a bride from being seen by other men who might steal her away before the wedding could take place.
Modern veils are used to accent a gown and add to a bride's beauty.
The Bridal Garter
The garter is normally worn on the right leg, 10cm above the knee.
The wedding garter tradition dates back to around the 14th century.
Guests believed that having a piece of the brides clothing brought good luck.
For hundreds of years, brides have worn decorative bridal garters under their wedding dresses.
Modern tradition, the bride wears two garters, one as a keepsake garter and the other as the throw away garter.


Nankhatai – the Indian Cookie which most of us, living in this part of the world have grown up on !!
I have some amazing memories of enjoying nankhatais with my grandfather. In our house he was the one who was so so fond of these lovely cookies, and had introduced me to them. White crumbly texture, the richness of the cardamom flavour and the aroma of desi ghee (clarified butter)…oh they make for the perfect cookie!!
Have tried my hands, a couple of times at making nankhatais, but I was never satisfied. Either it was too sweet or the texture was not crumbly enough !! Finally I’ve found the perfect recipe for the Nankhatai. They look as good as they taste, exactly they way they used to when I was a little kid !
The recipe is courtesy Aromatic Essence.
Nankhatais are shortbread biscuits popular both in India as well as Pakistan.
On searching the net, Wiki tell me, Nankhatai is believed to have originated in Surat in the 16th century, the time when Dutch and Indians were the important spice traders. A Dutch couple set up a bakery in Surat to meet the needs of local Dutch residents. When the Dutch left India, they handed over the bakery to an Iranian. The locals disliked the bakery biscuits and to save his business he started selling dried bread at low prices. It became so popular that he started drying the bread before selling it. With time, his experimentation with bread ultimately gave birth to Nankhatai.
Happy baking !!


The espresso machine was a child of passion, love and great demand. In the 19th century, coffee was big business especially in Italy. Not only did people try to improve on the quality and taste of the brews but, they also tried to reduce the brewing time. That was the only way they could keep up with the demand. This led to the birth of the espresso machine. At the beginning, it was nowhere close to what it looks like today. Here is a short walk down memory lane to show you just how far the machine has come.
Before the birth of the espresso machine, it would take about five minutes to brew one cup of coffee. In 1884, Angelo Moriondo was the first to patent an Espresso machine. However, his efforts are not largely recognized because his design was a far cry from what is the current espresso machine.
The first real break-through of the espresso machine was not until 1901 when Luigi Bezzera filed a patent for a machine that contained a boiler and four ‘groups’. In this machine, each of the groups in the machine could take different sizes of filters that contained the coffee. The machine also had the ability to force boiled water and steam through the coffee into the cup. This is considered to be the cradle of the espresso machine.
Later on, Bezzera’s patent was purchased by Desiderio Pavoni who started building the machines in his garage which has since become a company. They could only put together one machine per day. These were known as the Superelegant ‘Column’ Machine that had an upright boiler and was encased in copper and brass. This was perhaps the first commercially produced espresso coffee maker.
In the machines made by Pavoni, would later on receive a much needed mechanical boost by adding a piston that allowed the total exclusion of steam to only use hot water powered by a 14 bar pressure. The result was a revolutionary drink that was creamier, thicker and with a great aroma. This is now considered to be the mother of the modern espresso. The old espresso machines forced steam through the coffee. This gave the final brew a burnt flavour. But, in 1938, Cremonesi came up with the idea of adding the piston. After the modification, the first espresso machine of its kind was installed at the Achille Gaggia’s Coffee bar.
World War II prevented further enhancements to the machine and Gaggia had to wait until 1946 to be able to start manufacturing the commercial piston machine.
After the war in Italy, during the country’s social and economic recovery, the most important invention to the espresso machine was made by Ernesto Valente in 1950. This new machine had a thermosiphon circuit that had heat exchangers in the boilers. The new addition allowed water to be pumped at a higher pressure. This is the same technology that features in espresso machines to date.
There is no doubt that the espresso machine has had a long path to the success that it enjoys today. Currently, there are tens of different types of espresso machines that use different technologies to make the perfect cup of coffee. However, the basics are still the same as those that were laid when the coffee machine was improved in 1950.
More the espresso machine’s illustrious history can be found on Sieblands website


“Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck” – One hour HD Documentary
A mysterious sinking, a group of dedicated scientists and technicians and a 200 year old shipwreck have all collided in the Gulf of Mexico. Four thousand feet below the choppy seas the remains of a 19th century shipwreck lie in wait and a month long expedition has been mounted to uncover her secrets. This is the deepest underwater archaeological project ever attempted and Nautilus Productions spent 14 months working with archaeologists, conservators and scientists from Texas A&M and the Minerals Management Service (now BOEM) to create a one hour, high definition, educational documentary about the project.
The Mardi Gras Shipwreck site is located just off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico in nearly 4000 feet of sea water. The team used a state of the art remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to survey the wreck and recover artifacts from the site. Information indicates the shipwreck may date between the 1810 and 1820 time period and could possibly be a War of 1812 gun runner, privateer or British trader. The artifact assemblage includes intact sand clocks, glassware, cutlery and even a period stove. Texas A&M’s Center for Marine Conservation (CMAC) handled the conservation of the artifacts removed from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. These cultural treasures are now on public display at the Louisiana State Museum.
Tryon Palace in New Bern, North Carolina and the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana provided period backdrops for the documentary.
Since the 1996 discovery of the wreck by Intersal, Inc. the Nautilus staff has been the official video crew for the study and recovery of the infamous pirate Blackbeard’s ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge (Concorde). Project videographer, Rick Allen, and our staff has worked with the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch documenting this incredible underwater find. Nautilus Productions’ duties have included the video documentation of site activities above and below the water as well as the archaeological survey, provenience and recovery of artifacts from the shipwreck. We own and maintain the video library containing nearly two decades and over 80 hours of stock footage from the wreck site and project. This archive is the digital video record of the project. Our Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR) footage has been seen in over a dozen documentaries and broadcast worldwide on ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, NBC, PBS, Smithsonian Channel, Travel Channel, ZDF and more.
In the fall of 2000 Rick Allen’s Nautilus Productions co-produced with Bill Lovin of Marine Grafics a groundbreaking, week long live internet webcast known as QAR DiveLive from the Blackbeard wreck site. For the first time ever, live video and audio was broadcast from an underwater archaeological site to the World Wide Web. Students were able to watch the underwater archaeology in real time and ask questions of the scientists exploring the shipwreck. The twice-daily live distance learning programs reached an estimated 1600 students from as far away as Canada during the five days of broadcasting. In October of 2001 Allen and Lovin again co-produced DiveLive 2001. This time the interactive webcasts from the seafloor and conservation laboratories of the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project reached over 3600 students and another 2700 remote viewers from fifteen states and 2 countries during the five days of broadcasts.
In October 2013 the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Intersal, Inc., and Nautilus Productions LLC signed a Settlement Agreement connected to QAR commercial, replica, and promotional opportunities for the benefit of the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project.
Visit the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck project of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NC DNCR) to learn more.
Modern Day Piracy on the Queen Anne’s Revenge
On December 1, 2015, Nautilus Productions, which has spent almost two decades documenting the retrieval of Blackbeard’s pirate flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, filed a Federal lawsuit against Gov. Pat McCrory, the State of North Carolina, the Friends of Queen Anne’s Revenge nonprofit, and others, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina over Blackbeard’s Law and copyright infringement. A hearing date is pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Nautilus Productions worked with maritime archaeologist Kimberly Eslinger Faulk, the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Association (PILHA), the Cambrian Foundation and the Volusia County Reef Team to document their work on the site believed to be the SS Commodore. For two weeks in May 2002, Faulk, a crew of technical divers from the Cambrian Foundation, representatives of PILHA and videographer Rick Allen from Nautilus Productions completed the first archaeological survey of the wreck site. In keeping with the Light House’s mission of protecting the wreck site and better interpreting its importance to the people of Ponce Inlet and Daytona Beach, Florida project parameters were laid out for a professional archaeological survey of the site. Nautilus Productions provided video mosaic services, site documentation and recorded survey and diving activities on site.
The site believed to be the SS Commodore has been known to the local sport diving and fishing industries in Daytona Beach and Ponce Inlet, Florida for almost four decades. Local diver Don Serbousek (now deceased) seized the site and today it is protected under an Admiralty Claim jointly held by Don Serbousek and PILHA. Monitoring and protection of the site is under the auspices of the Volusia County Reef Team.
The SS Commodore sank in a January gale off the northeast Florida coast in 1897. An ocean going steam tug built for the harbor tug work, the SS Commodore finished her career attempting to run guns to Cuba. The storm that sank SS Commodore also killed or injured every member of the crew. After three days adrift in a small boat New York Times reporter (and later novelist) Stephen Crane landed on the Florida coast. His tale of survival resulted in the short story, The Open Boat, which immortalized the sinking of an otherwise unknown vessel.
The SS Commodore is key to understanding a pivotal time in American History, World History, and Maritime History. Kimberly Faulk, Don Serbousek (now deceased), PILHA, the Cambrian Foundation, the Volusia County Reef Team and Nautilus Productions worked together to identify and preserve this unique maritime treasure.
During 2002-2004 three seasons of archaeological investigation were begun in order to archaeologically document the exposed remains and to definitively identify the vessel. The results of this fieldwork were eventually incorporated into a Master’s Thesis produced by Kimberly Faulk, then a graduate student at East Carolina University’s Maritime Studies Program. Later in 2004 scientists from the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum offered their assistance to PILPA in their ongoing investigation of the vessel remains and visited the shipwreck site for a series of dives on April 7, 2004. The recording of the engine remains by LAMP divers resulted in measurements of a 26-inch bore and a 30-inch stroke. These dimensions are a perfect match with the schematics for the single-expansion steam engine built by the Neafie & Levy yard in Philadelphia as listed in the 1882 survey produced when Commodore was first registered. This data, when considered with the accumulated evidence gathered to date, finally substantiated the identification of this sunken vessel as the SS Commodore beyond a reasonable doubt.
Initial efforts in 1995 by Navy and NOAA divers to raise the warship’s propeller were foiled by an abnormally stormy season off Cape Hatteras. Realizing that raising the whole wreck was impractical for financial reasons as well as the inability to bring up the wreck intact, NOAA developed a comprehensive plan to recover the most significant part of the ship, namely her engine, propeller, guns, and turret. It estimated that the plan would cost over 20 million dollars to implement over four years. The Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program contributed $14.5 million. The Navy divers, mainly from its two Mobile Diving and Salvage Units, would perform the bulk of the work necessary in order to train in deep sea conditions and evaluate new equipment.
In 1998 recovery of key elements of the Monitor’s components began. This culminated with the recovery of the turret in August 2002 which was covered by Nautilus Productions while producing stories for the “National Geographic Today” television show. In 2003 NOAA divers and volunteers returned to the Monitor with the goal of obtaining overall video of the site to create a permanent record of the current conditions on the wreck after the turret recovery. Jeff Johnston of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary (MNMS) also wanted a definitive image of the vessel’s pilothouse. During the dives, the Monitor’s iron pilothouse was located near the bow of the vessel and documented for the first time by videographer Rick Allen, of Nautilus Productions, in its inverted position.
Queen of Nassau
Nautilus Productions worked with nautical archaeologists from of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, NOAA and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to document work on the site believed to be the Queen of Nassau (CGS Canada & HMCS Canada). For one week in March 2003 a crew of research divers from the National Undersea Research Center – NURC at UNC-Wilmington and videographer Rick Allen and Kimberly Faulk from Nautilus Productions documented the archaeological survey of the wreck site. Nautilus Productions provided site documentation and recorded diving activities during the event.
The steamer CGS Canada was built in 1904 for the Canadian Fisheries Protection Service, and became the first armed, steel-hulled cruiser owned and operated by the Canadian government. The Canada’s ram bow (picture above), 10-to-1 length-to-beam ratio, and steel hull were a departure from the previous style of Canadian armed vessels. Consequently, the Canada marked the transition from traditional wooden schooners to modern steel cruisers, playing a crucial role as Canada formulated its young navy. The Canada was the fastest ship in the Fisheries Protection fleet; it was Canada’s first successful naval training vessel, and the first Canadian naval vessel to train with the Royal Navy was equipped with what was then the smallest Marconi wireless telegraph in the world.
After the First World War broke out in August 1914, CGS Canada was officially transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. She underwent a refit to become a naval patrol ship which saw her forecastle raised and the Maxim guns for fisheries patrol use replaced with two 12-pounder and two 3-pounder naval guns. She was commissioned as HMCS Canada in 1915 and served on the Atlantic coast. In November 1919 and she resumed her former civilian fisheries patrol duties as CGS Canada before being retired from government service in 1920.
In 1924, the Canada was sold to the Florida Inter-Island Steamship Company.
The vessel was renamed Queen of Nassau and used as an inter-island cruise ship for the lucrative Nassau-Miami route. Failing financially in its new role, the vessel sank under mysterious circumstances on July 2, 1926 while under tow.
Recreational divers discovered the wreck in 2001 approximately seven miles south of Lower Matecumbe Key and reported their find to officials from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The site became the focus of an archaeological investigation by a NOAA team consisting of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, East Carolina University, the National Undersea Research Center (NURC) at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and Nautilus Productions. The vessel is in remarkably good condition, lying intact on top of a white sandy bottom in 230 feet of water.
(Casserley, “Queen of Nassau Site Report,” 2002)
CSS Black Warrior
The Black Warrior was originally named the M.C. Etheridge and was built in Plymouth, North Carolina, in 1859. She was a Confederate two-masted schooner, armed with two 32 pounder guns, that participated in the defense of Roanoke Island in North Carolina during the Civil War. She was part of the Southern Mosquito Fleet and her brief wartime career ended with her burning at the Battle of Elizabeth City during an attack by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside‘s Union fleet. She opened fire while still at anchor but when the USS Whitehead turned and closed in for the attack the crew abandoned ship, setting fire to the Black Warrior, and escaped to shore to avoid capture. In 2000 Nautilus Productions joined Doug Jones and the NC Underwater Archaeology Branch during an expedition to map the site. Visibility in the tannic water was only 1 foot at best but we were able to document archaeological activities and an intact gun carriage. The gun carriage was retrieved in 2001 for conservation and later display at the Museum of the Albemarle.
In 1998 Nautilus Productions worked with the Surface Interval Diving Company (SIDCo) to relocate, document and identify the remains of Fort Ocracoke. The Confederate fortification constructed at the beginning of the American Civil War was located on Beacon Island in Ocracoke Inlet, two miles to the west-southwest of Ocracoke village, North Carolina. The octagonally shaped fort was built on a previous War of 1812 site. At one point nearly 500 Confederate troops were stationed in and around Ocracoke and the fort. The Confederates abandoned and partially destroyed Fort Ocracoke in August 1861 after Union victories on nearby Hatteras Island. Union forces razed it a month later on September 17, 1861. Beacon Island and the fort subsided beneath the waves of the inlet after a series of hurricanes that struck the area in 1933. Diagnostic items documented at the site include glassware, pottery sherds and a brick cistern.


The Minster is pleased to annouce that the Schulze Organ is back in use after 6 months of silence while the Rockingham blowers have been refurbished. The Organ was used for the first time again on the Sunday before Christmas.
The monthly Organ recitals on the 4th Friday of each month will begin again in January 2012:
Organ recitals at 1.10pm (organ recitals last approx 50 mins)
January 27th - Mr Ian Roberts (Director of Music St John's Ranmoor Sheffield)
February 24th - Mr Jordan English (Student Royal Northern College of Music)
March 23rd - Mr Nick Sutton (Assistant Organist Doncaster Minster)
April 27th - Mr Darren Williams (Director of Music Doncaster Minster)
The medieval Parish Church of St. George, Doncaster (now “Minster”) possessed a fine Harris organ of 1739-40. This instrument was praised by John Stanley who declared “every pipe in the reed stops to be worth its weight in silver”. It grew from an original specification of some 24 stops to one of 51 stops and was reputed to be the largest organ in England except for York Minster, thanks due to the tireless efforts of Jeremiah Rogers (organist 1835-1879), who paid for much of the work himself. The organ had only just been relocated from the West Gallery to the Chancel and its pedal extended to 32’ pitch, when it was consumed by fire along with the entire building on 28 February 1853.
The leading architect of the day, Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned to rebuild the church, a task which he completed in only 4 years. Consecrated in 1858, the new church is the most cathedral like of Scott’s parish churches and is crowned by a magnificent bell tower 170 feet in height.
Naturally Jeremiah Rogers was desirous of commissioning an organ worthy of Scott’s new church and set out to acquire “the best organ that could be obtained anywhere in the world”. Rogers made many visits around Europe inspecting famous organs, often in the company of his friend E.J. Hopkins (organist of the Temple Church).
It was surely no coincidence that when writing in “The Organ, its History and Construction” (E J Hopkins and E F Rimbault, Third Edition, London 1877) Hopkins describes a specification for an ideal 4 manual organ of 87 stops which bears a remarkably close resemblance to Doncaster.
The order was placed in 1857, originally for a 3 manual instrument. With the death of Johann Friedrich Schulze (1793-1858), it was left to his son Heinrich Edmund Schulze (1824-1878) to take over as the innovative and creative force within the firm. Edmund Schulze soon persuaded Rogers to enlarge the specification to a 5 manual instrument which was to be the largest church organ in the country with 94 registers over 5 manuals including 25 stops on the pedal department, exceeded only by Willis’s organ for St. George’s Hall, Liverpool of 1851.
In 1860 the main consignment of parts from Germany arrived at Hull. Much of the construction took place in the church itself where Edmund Schulze together with 4 or 5 men work on the project for 2 years. One observer reputedly noted that the massive 32 foot principal was cleverly made from the wooden packing cases of the shipment itself! According to Rogers, Schulze spent 3 weeks regulating and finishing the mixtures working from the early hours of the morning until midnight, and sleeping on the bellows before resuming his labours. The new organ was dedicated at a service on 24 September 1862.
Doncaster was to be the largest organ the firm were to build. Prior to Doncaster, Schulze’s largest contract had been the 80 stop 4 manual instrument in the Marienkirche, Lübeck, completed in 1854 (destroyed in 1942), often regarded as a sister instrument to Doncaster. After the death of Edmund Schulze in 1878, the firm ceased trading the following year.
The Doncaster Schulze contained a number of technical innovations. Huge pedal slider soundboards were built to enable each pedal stop to be available at two pitches, thus enabling an independent pedal section of some 25 registers including 2 mixtures, 4 mutations and 8 reeds, well able to support both classical and romantic repertoire. In terms of sheer number of stops, though perhaps not in ranks, it exceeded its rival at St. George’s Hall, Liverpool.
In addition to the provision of conventional beating reeds, Schulze provided two free reeds, the pedal Contra Posaune 32’ and Posaune 16’. Doncaster possesses the only known example of this stop at 32’ pitch in England.
In order to obtain more definition in his pedal department, Schulze provided the first known example of a wooden 16’ Violone, fitted with a box mouth to steady the speech.
Other innovations included in the instrument were the triangular section Hohl Flute 8’ on the Great division and the use of wooden harmonic flutes. Stop names and characteristics unfamiliar in this country included the Quintaten, Lieblich Gedackt, Gemshorn, Dolce, Terpodian and of course the famed wide mouthed ‘Schulze’ diapason. The Flauto Traverso 8’ and the Flauto Traverso 4’, as noted by Hopkins, consist of cylindrical open flute pipes, made from Beech, bored and turned on a lathe.
The chief glory of the Doncaster Schulze is its bold Great Flue Chorus which extends from its manual 32’ to no fewer than 14 ranks of mixture (the Swell having to be content with a mere 12 mixture ranks).
The original foot blowing gear required the services of four men to raise sufficient wind . With the advent of modern technology, it was unsurprising that in 1894 the Leeds firm of Abbott & Smith replaced it with a Shipley gas engine and compressor. At the same time a new console was provided with a pneumatic stop action. The Schulze key actions and the borrowed Solo manual remained. They also converted the pedal action to pneumatic operation, with the new supply of wind allowing the addition of thumb pistons and other gadgetry.
The story is told of the “loss” of the choir mixture arising from the somewhat ill advised attempt of a verger to search for a gas leak with a naked flame. This action resulted in an explosion causing the loss of the original North Transept window and supposedly the Choir mixture. Curiously there was no apparent sign of damage to the case pipes or any other ranks. A probably more plausible explanation is that Edmund Schulze substituted the 2 rank Flauto Gambe in place of the Mixture originally specified in his father’s quotation.
In 1910 the only significant changes were made to the instrument with the replacement of Schulze’s “borrowed” solo manual with an independent department in its own swell box. Another new swell-box was provided for the echo organ making it in the words of Magnus Black “inaudible above the traffic except in the early hours of the morning”. The echo swell box shutters have since been removed! A large leathered No1 Diapason, standing in its own separate chest, was added to the Great at this time. It was removed in 1959.
The sum total of the Norman & Beard changes was the addition of 8 new stops (i.e. the Solo division and the Swell Celestes). It is believed that the wind pressure to the Great Reeds was increased, but no other changes were made to the voicing.
In 1935 J W Walker & Sons provided a new electro- pneumatic action and radiating terraced stop tab console on the south side of the choir. Further work was carried out by Walkers in 1959 including the replacement of the original pedal chests, which after 100 years service were no longer reliable. The Walker console was removed in 1999 when Andrew Carter installed a replacement 5 manual drawstop console built by Nicholson. The blowing plant and Great action were overhauled at this time.
The organ at Doncaster Minster is the Magnum Opus of Edmund Schulze and is the largest instrument that the firm produced. One of the largest organs in Europe, it is no exaggerated claim that this single instrument revolutionised the British organ and led to a complete reappraisal of the classical organ. Doncaster became, and still is, a place of pilgrimage for musicians and organ builders alike.
One example of its significance was the reaction of the Victorian architect, T.C. Lewis, who became a follower of Schulze and set up on his own account as an organ builder. Lewis, whose famous instrument at Southwark Cathedral owes much to Doncaster, had high praise for the Doncaster instrument:
“…anything finer it is, I believe, impossible to imagine…it is by far the grandest instrument I have ever heard.”
Dr. Nicholas Thistlethwaite in “The Making of the Victorian Organ” Cambridge 1990, states:
“The Doncaster organ proved to be one of the two most influential organs built in England during the second half of the century. Schulze’s work and especially his monumental organ at Doncaster, established a new ideal. His later English work was to be received with equal respect, but it was Doncaster that showed the way.”
The historical importance of the Doncaster instrument to the present day lies in the fact that it was sufficiently good to escape the almost continual rebuilding that similar instruments of the period underwent. Sadly similar instruments at St. George’s Hall Liverpool, York Minster and Birmingham Town Hall found themselves undergoing regular rebuilds to keep up to date with the latest organ fashion.
A number of works have been written specifically for the Doncaster Schulze; these include Francis Jackson’s Fourth Organ Sonata and a Trio Sonata by Magnus Black (organist 1957-1995).
Magnus Black summed up its musical significance thus:
“The classical revival….led to an appreciation of well-balanced manual choruses and independent pedal departments……These are among the features of the Doncaster Schulze. The German Romantic organ never lost its connections with its classical predecessor and many important features relate it to the organs of Bach’s time.”
[by Andrew Wilson]
Manual compass C to a³ Pedal compass C to f¹ (originally to e¹)
8 thumb pistons to Great 8 thumb pistons to Swell 8 thumb pistons to general combinations 6 thumb pistons to Choir 3 thumb pistons to Echo 4 thumb pistons to Solo Thumb pistons for So-Pd, Sw-Pd, So-Gt, Sw-Gt, Gt-Pd, Ch-Pd 8 toe pistons to Great 8 toe pistons to Swell Reversible toe piston for Gt-Pd Great and Pedal combinations coupled Generals on Swell toe pistons Balanced Swell and Solo pedals
16 levels of departmental memory 64 levels of memory on generals
Swell Flue 3 ½" Swell Reeds 6" Great Flue 3 ½" Great Reeds 5" Choir 2 ¾" Echo 2 ¼" Solo 6" Solo Tuba 15" Pedal Reeds 5" Pedal Flue 3 ¾" and 5"
( The Nicholson Organ Console 1999)


I am a dress historian, and am currently a member of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. I have written extensively on the subject of dress in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and am currently working on a thesis on the dressmaking and millinery trades in eighteenth-century Yorkshire. My earlier research has covered topics such as the perception of fashion plates in the late C18th and early C19th, and the politicisation of dress during the French Revolution.
In addition to my academic work, I run Dressing History, a company specialising in authentic reproduction dress and accessories from the C18th and C19th. My clients have included the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Costume Project, The Science Museum, Clifton Park Museum, the National Trust and the York Archaeological Trust. I use my work with Dressing History to conduct research into the concept of experimental archaeology, particularly in regards to the construction of dress and accessories from the C18th and C19th. The process of reproduction can teach us more about the material objects themselves, and about the working conditions and lives of the individuals who experienced these objects. In this blog, I will be charting both my research, and my experiments in dressmaking and clothing reproduction.
I also work as a freelance researcher, lecturer, writer and costume mounter. I have recently worked on the Revolutionary Fashion 1790-1820 exhibition at Fairfax House in York. I write for various magazines and journals on the history of dress, such as Your Wardrobe Unlock'd, and have lectured at venues such as the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute.
One of my reproduction gowns in a photo shoot for Dressing History. The gown is c.1842, and constructed from blue silk with a white floral motif, woven at the Stephen Walters Silk Mills in Sudbury, Suffolk. The bonnet is covered in blue silk satin, and has a ruched lining of white silk.
Carrying out research at Leeds Museum for my current thesis on the dressmaking trade for the Yorkshire elite 1750-1850.
Working at Fairfax House, York on the Revolutionary Fashion Exhibition 1790-1820 as an exhibition assistant. This involved mounting the garments for display, carrying out research, locating images, writing display boards and arranging the gowns around the house.
The images above are from two talks held at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute as part of the Jane Austen Festival. I have talked and lectured on topics such as C18th and C19th headwear, the dressmaking trade, and women's accessories.


With a God led spirit, and a Godly desire to secure a place to worship for a group of disciples in the North East section of Houston, a group of believers met and organized a Church. This assemblage took place Sunday, March 13, 1966 at a house of worship on Autumn Street. Several names were suggested for the newly organized Church. From a far corner in the Church auditorium Sister Ella Coleman rose and proposed the name Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church. To make a distinction between the large numbers of churches with the same name the word “Greater” was added, thus the official name became “GREATER JERUSALEM MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH”. A name that has stood for a unified people with a Godly spirit.
This group of disciples negotiated a contract to secure a facility at 8312 Eastex Freeway, which would serve as its home for the next three months. It was at this location on March 24, 1966, that the Church was officially organized. This service with 108 members present was conducted by the Pastor S. L. Farris, Pastor of the Macedonia Baptist Church and Moderator of the American Baptist Association; along with Pastor H. D. Smith, First Vice Moderator; and the Pastor H. D. Stewart, who delivered the spoken Word.
This ever expanding group purchased a facility at 6113 Jensen Drive, which would serve as its House of Worship for almost eight years. June 19, 1966 these Christian Soldiers marched from the Eastex Freeway location to their new House of Worship with Brother Roosevelt Coleman and Wayman Hopkins carrying the Cross.
Many Pastors shared the word until a Pastor was sent to us. Among them were the Pastor Wiley L. Dunn, H. L. Price, Donald Burge and N. T. Burks, Jr.
On October 17, 1966, the Reverend Wilbert Leo Daniels was installed as the first Pastor by Pastor M. L. Price along with the Pastor A. Doyal McCraw. Pastor W. Leo Daniels stood as a giant in the Spirit Arena, encouraging our hearts with such sermons as “It’s Coming Up Again”, “Quit Talking To Yourself”, and many others.
Pastor W. Leo Daniels took a small band of members and embarked on a journey that would take him to the bed sides of all the sick members in both the homes and hospitals, thus a Hospital and Home Ministry began.
Under Pastor W. Leo Daniels leadership Greater Jerusalem moved from selling dinners to support God’s Kingdom to tithes and offering. With God’s plan of financing the entire church building was renovated, three buses and two station wagons were purchased, and an eight room parsonage was constructed, at 2702 Caplin and a day care center was organized.
With a determined spirit to carry out the “Great Commission,” Pastor W. Leo Daniels, along with his wife, Nevarro and the Church family, initiate ministries on KCOH and
KFMK Radio Stations. In addition Gospel Melody Hour was telecasted each Sunday morning on KHTV.
In the next three years the Church membership grew steadily. The Reverend Aaron Jefferson Jr. joined the flock, and became “Special Aide” to the Pastor. The continued growth of the membership and Pastor W. Leo Daniels desire to minister to the individual need of each member created a need of a Co-Pastor. On March 26, 1972, the Reverend C. D. Daniels, Jr. was chosen by Pastor W. Leo Daniels as Co-Pastor.
With a growing membership and additional space needed, a million dollar facility at 8901 Jensen Drive, formerly known as Melrose Baptist Church was purchased. March 3, 1974, the Church sponsored a “Great March on Sin 74.” Thousands of Christians led by Pastor W. Leo Daniels and Pastor C. D. Daniels, Jr., members, friends, Kashmere Stage Band and many City officials marched from 6113 Jensen Drive, to 8901 Jensen Drive, the present location.
In August, 1974, Pastor W. Leo Daniels organized the Greater Jerusalem Baptist Church Private School; the school included a Day Care Center, Pre-School, Kindergarten and Grades 1 thru 8.
Because of Pastor W. Leo Daniels vision for better living conditions for the elderly and handicapped, along with the Church family support plans were made to construct a high-rise facility for them. This vision became a reality with a record breaking award of 2.98 Million Dollar Federal Grant to finance and complete this project.
Pastor W. Leo Daniels was not to witness the fulfillment of his vision. He entered eternal rest April 25, 1977, after a high prolific gospel ministry that spanned more than eleven (11) years.
Pastor C. D. Daniels who had accepted the call in 1975 to pastor the congregation of the Greater Progressive Baptist Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana returned back to Greater Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church on May 8, 1977 to oversee the body of Christ. Under the most able leadership Reverend Aaron Jefferson was named Assistant Pastor. Pastor C. D. Daniels fulfilled the vision for a high-rise facility for the elderly and handicapped envisioned by his brother Pastor W. Leo Daniels. On August 19, 1980 the W. Leo Daniels Towers, an eight story, 100 unit apartment complexes with a full service kitchen was dedicated in memory of the late W. Leo Daniels by Greater Jerusalem under the leadership of Pastor C. D. Daniels. Also, nineteen Deacons were ordained; the Church sanctuary was renovated in, the premier of the W. Leo Daniels Memorial Day In Revival, a Leadership Institute was developed to assist newly appointed officer’s function in their assigned positions, and a Senior Citizen’s Bible Study on Wednesday mornings.
The Church maintained “The Great Commission” as forerunner and the Church remained on fire doing the task of Evangelism pledging to stand boldly, and proclaim that “Jesus Is Lord”. The highlight of Evangelism was the School of Evangelism organized by Pastor C. D. Daniels, Jr. There were approximately 125 graduates of this school.
During the illness of Pastor C. D. Daniels, Jr. his son, Pastor Darryl Daniels returned home to assist him. The Church was blessed for 17 years under the leadership of Pastor C. D. Daniels, Jr. until God called him home on October 23, 1994.
After Pastor C. D. Daniels entered into eternal rest, Pastor Darryl Daniels was called to oversee the body of Christ. Under his leadership the church continued to grow and prosper. November 3, 1996 Pastor Darryl Daniels resigned.
On May 7, 1997 Pastor Joe Fred Russell who was pastoring Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Corrigan, Texas was asked to return to oversee the body of Christ. He was privileged to serve under the late Pastor W. Leo Daniels, late Pastor C. D. Daniels, and Pastor Darryl Daniels.
With the church focusing on “Launching Out By Faith Into The Deep” we have accomplished many things. Under this theme Evangelism is the full time ministry of the church. Evangelism is taught in three (3) twelve (12) week classes on Sunday morning along with Christian Education. Our Evangelism Ministry goes from door to door witnessing at least once per quarter. Each first (1st) Saturday all sick members are visited and all confined members are administered the Lord’s Supper.
Between the years of 2000 and 2011, 633 individuals became members of Greater Jerusalem. During this same period 74 have transition from time into eternity.
Many physical blessings have been shown towards Greater Jerusalem during Pastor Russell leadership. Nine Deacons were ordained. A bus ministry with a handicapped bus is now operating, complete renovation of the church with new pews, offices, lighting, additional classrooms. In August, 2002 five acres of land was purchased for future development at a cost of $ 160,000.00. May, 2003 Value Pawn Shop located at 9008 Jensen Drive was purchased, and is now a twelve (12) station Barber and Beauty Salon, Supply House and Record Shop at a renovated cost of $ 104,464.00. September, 2003 Southern Pawn Shop located at 8910 Jensen Drive was purchased and is now a Cosmetology School at a renovated cost of $ 248, 970.00. September, 2004 Sun Dance Auto building located at 2814 Firnat was purchased, and is now counseling center for teen pregnancy, drug addiction, alcohol addictions, HIV counseling, at a renovated cost of $ 75, 579.00. July, 2009 the Community Recreation Center located at 8901-C Jensen Drive with a weight room, men and women locker rooms, a full gymnasium, twelve (12) class rooms was opened at a cost of $ 998,000.00. During September, 2008 Hurricane Ike damaged our church so severely that we held services in our Fellowship Hall. The damages to the church were in excess of $ 500,000.00. During the same storm the Counseling Center located at 2814 Firnat was totally destroyed. The damages to the counseling center were in excess of $ 220,000.00. During the year of 2008 a Two Million Dollar ($ 2,000,000.00) renovation project that included an Eight Hundred Eighty-Six Thousand Dollar ($ 886,000.00) grant from the City of Houston. In November, 2010 the renovation project was completed.
We are Grateful to God for His tremendous goodwill toward this church family and its shepherds. May God’s will for Greater Jerusalem forever be manifested and exhibited through God’s divine guidance and through our obedience to our Leader. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!


THE SYRIAC ORTHODOX CHURCH
Few Christian denominations can claim the antiquity of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, whose foundations can be traced back to the very dawn of Christianity. The Church justifiably prides itself as being one of the earliest established apostolic churches. It was in Antioch, after all, that the followers of Jesus were called Christians as we are told in the New Testament, "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." (Acts 11:26).
According to ecclesiastical tradition, the Church of Antioch is the second established church in Christendom after Jerusalem, and the prominence of its Apostolic See is well documented. In his Chronicon (I, 2), the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea tells us that St. Peter the Apostle established a bishopric in Antioch and became its first bishop. He also tells us that St. Peter was succeeded by Evodius. In another historical work, Historia Ecclesiastica, Eusebius tells us that Ignatius the Illuminator, "a name of note to most men, [was] the second after Peter to the bishopric of Antioch" (III, 36).
In the mid of the 5th century, the Bishop of Antioch, and his counterparts in Alexandria, Byzantium and Rome, would be called patriarchs. The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch used to be known by his own name; however, since 1293 the patriarchs of Antioch adopted the name Ignatius, after the Illuminator. The See of Antioch continues to flourish till our day, with His Holiness Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I, being the 122nd in the line of legitimate patriarchs.
The patriarchate was forced to move from Antioch in ca. A.D. 518, after a period of turbulent history, to various locations in the Near East until it settled in the monastery Dayro d-Mor Hananya (also known as Kurkmo Dayro, Deir az-Za'faran--Syriac and Arabic respectively for Saffron Monastery) in Mardin, Turkey, during the 13th century. After another period of heinous violence during and after World War I, which took the lives of a quarter million Syriac Orthodox faithful, the patriarchate was transferred to Homs, Syria, in 1933, and later to Damascus in 1957.
The Syriac Orthodox Church is quite unique for many reasons. Firstly, it presents a form of Christianity, which is Semitic in nature, with a culture not far from the one Christ himself experienced. Secondly, it employs in its liturgy the Syriac language, an Aramaic dialect akin to the Aramaic spoken by Christ and the Apostles. Thirdly, its liturgy is one of the most ancient, and has been handed from one generation to another. Fourthly, and most importantly, it demonstrates the unity of the body of Christ by the multiethnic nature of its faithful: A visit to your local Syriac Orthodox Church in Europe or the Americas would demonstrate, for example, the blend of Near Eastern and Indian cultures in the motifs and vestments of clergy. The Syriac Orthodox faithful today live primarily in Middle Eastern countries and the Indian State of Kerala, with many communities in the diaspora.
The Syriac Orthodox Church has been a member of the World Council of Churches since 1960, and is one of the founding members of the Middle East Council of Churches. The Church takes part in ecumenical and theological dialogues with other churches. As a result of these dialogues, the Church has issued two joint declarations with the Roman Catholic Church and another with the Eastern Orthodox churches.
In Syriac, the proper name of the Church is `idto suryoyto treeysath shubho. In the past, the name of the Church had been translated to English as "Syrian Orthodox Church". The Holy Synod of the Church approved the translation "Syriac Orthodox Church" in its session of March 28-April 3, 2000.
The supreme head of the Syriac Orthodox Church is the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East. He also presides over the Holy Synod, the assembly of all bishops.
The local head of the church in Malankara (India) is the Catholicos of the East. The Catholicos is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch and is accountable to the Holy Synod and the local Malankara Synod. He is consecrated by the Patriarch and presides over the local Holy Synod.
The local head of every archdiocese is an archbishop. He is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch and is accountable to the Holy Synod. The archbishop is ordained by the Patriarch and at least two bishops. Some archdioceses are 'patriarchal vicarates'; the patriarchal vicar, regardless of ecclesiastical office, is accountable directly to the Patriarch.
Each parish is assigned a vicar. He is under the direct jurisdiction of his archbishop and is directly accountable to him. The parish is run by a board of trustees (or a committee) which is elected by the parishioners and approved by the archbishop.
Deacons assist the priest in the administration of the liturgy. Each archdiocese may have one archdeacon who is called "the right hand of the bishop." Only qualified and learned deacons are elevated to this office.
There are three ranks of priesthood in the Syriac Orthodox Church:
Episcopate: Within it there are the ranks of Patriarch, Catholicos, archbishop, and bishop.
Vicarate: Within it there are the ranks of chor-episcopos and priest or qasheesho.
Deaconate: Within it there are the ranks of archdeacon, evangelical-deacon, subdeacon, lector or qoruyo and singer or mzamrono.


to german version
Somewhere in the middle 80s I spontaneously purchased a record with an elk-head on its cover on a flea market. One or two years later and meanwhile interested in Rock Music's history I asked who this Moosknukkl Groovband was. Although producer Conny Plank was a well known name in german music I couldn't find any hints the band had ever existed. No entries in Rock-Encyclopedias or collector catalogues, only helpless people in record stores. How could that be? An LP, recorded by a well known producer in a renowned studio - and nothing was to be found on it? First three decades later it should succeed to unravel the mystery.
Until then i had to hang on to the sparse information on the cover of the LP. Thus the Moosknukkl Groovband had been Mike Lewis (keyboards, percussion) Tommy Graham (Guitar, Percussion, Vocals), Brother Josh (Drums, Vocals), und John Morton (Bass, Vocals) bestanden. Were they british? From USA? Unknown. Rock-encyclopedias didn't know anything about these musicians. THis was not the case with Conny Plank,well known als Krautrock-Mastermind, also producer of the first Scorpions-Album, for the debut of Ultravox and hits of the Eurythmics.
The six songs of the record oscillate between fast bluesrock (Run For Your Life), psychedelic stuff (Nahi Bole) and boogie rock (That ain't all). A nice but not very special 70s record without elements that were entirely new at that days. Recorded in 1972 in Windrose-Dumont Studios in Hamburg, the album appeared on Spiegelei, a sub-label of the Intercord company specially installed for krautrock.
Internet brings more details
More than two and a half decades later the grown-up Internet had changed the world and provided at least a few details to the Moosknukkl Groovband. Record collectors offered the LP for about 100 Euro. And at least keyboarder and song-author Mike Lewis got a piece of identity, to be found for example in Krautrock-Musikzirkus. He was canadian, said the sources like this, had studied composition in munich, germany, in the midddle 60s and later founded several musical projects within a circle of experimental avantgarde composers.
Together with the cologne-based american composer and percussionist Michael Ranta, composition-lecturer Karl-Heinz Böttner and with Conny Plank at the recording desk he published under the project title Wired two tracks for the LP "Free Improvisation" (released on grammophone records). Side one of the record to be found here on Youtube. A few month later, Lewis, Ranta und Plank recorded Mu (Youtube: 1/1 und 1/2), a recording session which was published first 40 years later when Michael Ranta released Mu on the belgium label Metaphon as limited edition of 500 copies.
Who digs deeper discovers radio-recordings of Ranta and Lewis, for example with the ensemble of Josef-Anton Riedl. Ironically: While the Moosknukkl Groovband's LP got lost in music history you can still hear former band's head Mike Lewis in radio, for example within the performance of a composition of Josef-Anton Riedl broadcasted on 6. of June 2014 in bavarian broadcast (Schedule).
In 1971 the LP Wuschel was released, according to the credits only recorded by Lewis and Plank. Musically this LP leads the way to the Moosknukkl Groovband with organ-oriented bluesrock.
The text in the sleeve of the CD Mu noticed that the guys of the Metaphone Label had no idea what became of Mike Lewis. Internet-search led to nothing because the search for a Mike Lewis via Google could not be more successful than for John Smith. Also band mates John Morton and Tommy Graham had very common names and „Brother Josh" was presumably not a real name. Moreover the musicians would be nearly 70 years old now - which made presence in the world wide web not very likely.
Who could I ask for information? Spiegelei-Label didn‘t exist anymore. Studio-Mastermind and Lewis-companion Conny Planck already died in 1987. What happened to Michael Ranta? According to Wikipedia and additional Google entries, Lewis' old friend from german days lived in Cologne today where he was running a shop for asian music instruments. Requested by email, Ranta answered after a few days: Yes, he wrote, while publishing the old recordings of MU, he also had tried to find where his old friend Mike Lewis has been left- without success. Hints, given by canadian authorities even led to the conclusion that Lewis wasn‘t alive anymore. "Very likely he‘s dead, but we didn‘t get a confirmation for that", Ranta wrote.
New sources were needed. On the Groovband LP, Tommy Graham was credited „In Courtesy of Capitol Records". Internet provided a Tom Graham, who was contracted at Capitol. The canadian (!) had recorded a LP with the title „Whole Earth“ in 1970. And currently google listed a worldmusic producer based in toronto with name Tom Graham. His age matched and so I sent him a Mail.
Waiting for his answer, I followed another trace. There was a hint on the record‘s sleeve that some of the musicians of the band knew each other since a long time: „Thanks to Mr. Spitalney, our Music-Teacher“. Had the Moosknukkl members played together before 1973? Yes! This fact was to be found in the archives of The Ottawa Journal. In an issue from 1965 we found an article about a beatband called The Big Town Boys, based in Toronto. Members among others: Michael Lewis, Tommy Graham and a Peter „Josh“ Collins!
Additional informations to the Big Town Boys were to find in a blog about the beat-era in Canada. In one post the editors report that Michael Lewis left the Band 1964 in direction Germany to study in Munich - that was the missing link to the already known pre-Groovband History. Now it was ensured, that the right Mike Lewis has been found. And with the real name of "Brother Josh" we now could put a light on his career. In 1973 he recorded with Andy Marx, the later guitarist of Udo-Lindenberg, a famous singer in germany, the LP "Garden of Delight". As drummer Josh is also credited in this work. And the article from the blog confirmed another fact: The today‘s canadian producer Tom Graham was in fact Tommy Graham from the Moosknukkl-Groovband-LP.
And Tom Graham itself confirmed that via email: Nearly 30 years after the purchase of the mysterious unknown record I now had contact to the guitar player of the Groovband LP. „Yes, thats me“, declared the canadian. Yes, he had fond memories to this album, he wrote and attached two previously unknown band photos taken while the recording sessions in hamburg. Among the less left owners of the LP I now was the only one with two additional pictures of the band. One was a simple band photo, the other showed legendary producer COnny Plank behind his recording desk and a long haired man with a bottle of beer in his hand - according to informations of Tom Graham, this was John Morton. With this information the first time in history of Moosknukkl Groovband research it was now possible to assign the correct names of the band‘s members to the displayed persons in the record sleeve.
What else did Graham know? Until today, he let know, he stood in contact with Josh Collins, who lives in Montreal - as Mike Lewis does!
Still before i could ask him to establish contact to Lewis, we got help by chance. We had published the first steps of our search on this website in autumn 2014. Weeks later I recieved a mail. „Cool website", it said. „I told my father of it - he‘s very flattered.“ Sender was Julian Lewis - Mike Lewis‘ son. FOr about every two years, he told me, he searched the net for remains of his fathers‘s work. And yes, he was still alive an would get my mail adress. A few days later I discovered a mail in my spam folder, sent under a female french sounding name. „Hello, here‘s Michael Lewis“, the text started.
Now the secret how the strange constellation with the unknown record could have emerged, was disclosed. In 1971 Lewis got the offer to write music for the accompanying programm of the olympic summer games 1972 in munich . Beside composition and concerting this offer contained the possibility to record an LP. While spending vacancies in autumn 1972 in canada, Lewis had contacted his old bandmates Collins and Graham. A young bass player from Ottawa completed the quartet. In march 1972 the quarted and Conny Plank had entered the studio in Hamburg for recording sessions. During the summer games then the Moosknukkl Groovband gave conerts in the olympic area. In october, Graham, Morton and Collins left Germany in direction Canada. The LP was released in 1973, 3000 copies had been made. How many were sold? "No idea", says Mike Lewis.
Those informations supplied new food for search engines, and as a result we discovered the official Olympic Report Munich 1972, where Michael Ranta, Mike Lewis and the Moosknukkl Groovband are listed as part of the cultural program (S. 59/253).
Mike Lewis stayed in Germany for another two years and composed music for german productions: „Die Verrohnung des Franz Blum“ of Reinhard Hauff, „Desaster“ (same Regisseur) and „Die Ameisen kommen“ and „Umarmungen und andere Sachen“ of Jochen Richter. Some cinema databases confuse in their records to these films the canadian Mike Lewis with the welsh composer Michael J. Lewis.
1975 Mike Lewis moved back to Canada where he earned money with concerts in Jazz- und R&B-genre, music for TV commercials and his own studio. Currently he was in retirement, he wrote us in december 2014.
The end of Moosknukkl Groovband investigation? No, because of one open question: What became of bassist John Morton? "I don't know", Mike Lewis says. "Last time I've seen him was at a concert in Ottawa in 1975", remembers Tom Graham. Still something to do. (Jens in january 2015. Mail: firstname.lastname@example.org)
Update: Meanwhile the complete album appeared on Youtube. Moosknukkl Groovband has reached the 21th century.


Charles N. O'Sullivan, B.Sc.
PositionChairman and Director
Mr. O'Sullivan founded Hemisphere in 1977. He was President of the Company from 1977 to 2001 and remains an active Director and Chairman of the Board. From 1977 to 1983 and under Mr. O’Sullivan’s direction, the Company participated in 86 successful oil and gas wells in the U.S.A., including the deep Tomcat #1 well. At the time, this well, in the Anadarko Basin, Oklahoma, was the biggest gas well ever drilled in the continental U.S.A. Mr. O’Sullivan also founded Northern Continental Resources Inc. in 1986, to explore for uranium in the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan. He served as Chairman until the company was merged with Hathor Exploration Limited in 2009. Subsequently, the merged company was purchased by Rio Tinto for $640 million in 2011. Mr. O'Sullivan graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in geophysics in 1965.


Cultural getaway in Lyon
Do you want to discover Lyon's finest monuments? Stay at Villa Florentine, a genuine jewel of Renaissance architecture! Take advantage of your stay to uncover the secrets of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, just a stone's throw from the Villa. Immerse yourself in the fascinating adventure of the Basilica, from its construction in the 19th century to today.
Benefit from the advantages of the Lyon City Card included in our Cultural Getaway, available as a gift voucher!


I recently got the pleasure of sitting down to talk with a very phenomenal Black woman. Her talents and historical feats to me are astounding and her continual strides in life are perplexing. Sharon Risiner is beyond ordinary, on the contrary her extraordinary life and talents has dropped headlines and inspired many to move ahead and delete the words “no” and “can’t”, from all vocabulary.
Growing up Sharon Risiner had a life unlike many other young black women in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. At a time when segregation and racism was an everyday thing Sharon Risiner was moving mountains and overcoming feats that most women of color couldn’t or wouldn’t dare. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin then one of the country’s most booming, influential, industrial cities Sharon Risiner knew the value of work and proved it by excelling in every job that she ever had. She was always focused on moving up the ladder and was certainly a movement by herself.
No matter what job she took she always became either the manager or supervisor. Sharon Risiner was the first Black woman in Milwaukee to gain the rank of Manager of Jewel-Osco Supermarket, a known grocery store chain at that time then only local in the Midwest region. She was and continues to be a constant professional.
Her leadership skills, ambition, talent and determination have opened up countless opportunities. After quitting work at the Post Office she heard of a glamorous opportunity to become a waitress at Hugh Heffner’s Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. It was a remarkably glamorous way to expand her horizons.
Hugh Heffner started his magazine in 1953; it was and still is a publication that celebrates sex. At that time many Americans were not willing to talk so openly about this subject but it went on to become a smashing success. Hugh Heffner began opening nightclubs in the 1960’s and 70’s his first club opening in Chicago, his clubs featured scantily clad women known as ‘Bunnies”. Sharon Risiner happened to be one of those “bunnies” and historically one of the first Black Bunnies in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Sharon Risiner was hired in 1971 at the age of 27 she was the oldest bunny at the club and was nicknamed Granny as most girls where 21 when they start at the club. Her out-going personality and excellent interpersonal skills doubled in making her the most well-liked, well-tipped and most popular bunny on site not to mention her being a favorite of the Bunny Mother, which was the head of all the bunnies. As a bunny waitress it was all about glamour serving clients and making money. In addition to being one of the highest paid bunnies in Lake Geneva Sharon Risiner loved the experience of meeting new and interesting people and planned on getting residency, but since Lake Geneva was a resort she was unable to at the time because there was no vacancy. Sharon was offered by Hugh Heffner himself to work in the Bahamas Club however, the Bunny Mother wouldn’t let her go because she liked Sharon and thought she was right for the Lake Geneva Club and of course because she was the only Black woman there.
Life at the Bunny Club was something very familiar to a college dorm. Each bunny had roommates, and like every roommate situation a lot of the rooms where dirty in fact bathrooms were close to unbearable, they would often go through cleaning staff like water. However, Sharon kept her room clean as she was a stickler for being tidy and clean. The maximum they could work was four hours a day however; they could swap out hours with each other.
They had many different names and areas at the Playboy club. They had the Bunny Hutch, The Penthouse and the Steakhouse just to name a few. Sharon loved working at the Steakhouse because of the hours. On her spare time she went horseback riding and skiing. While on the premises they couldn’t be seen onsite with a male, at which Sharon didn’t mind and you couldn’t date a key holder which was a member of the club without consent from the Bunny Mother and she would look the person’s background up to make sure they were safe.
Whenever bunnies would have birthdays they’d get together and go to the penthouse and for Sharon’s birthday she had Tiny Tim come by to celebrate with her and the other ladies. Sharon had only been at the Playboy club a year. When she came home for a short break she ended up gaining 10 pounds and due to the glamorous status of a bunny being slim and fit to wear their personally tailored suits she was unable to return unless she lost the weight. She had planned on a continued career but because of the commute and at that time she had a baby and many obligations she chose to pursue an alternate route. All in all the experience although short lived was historical and to this very day this talented lady as continued to venture on into the road less traveled.


The ‘Home Movie’ craze started in 1923 with the introduction of 16mm movie film. 35mm film had been around for decades, used for theatrical movies of the day. The film was large, cumbersome and extremely expensive, it was also very flammable. For many years, Eastman Kodak were in development of a new format that was easy to use, yet a fraction of the price of 35mm film. The end result was 16mm Cine Kodak. The ‘kit’ came with the camera, a projector and a tripod. The actual 16mm camera weighed in at 7 pounds. it had a hand crank, which had to be turned twice every second during the filming process. The whole deal cost a huge amount of money, $350 in the day, which equates in today’s money of $14,000! With that kind of investment, home movies were an extremely expensive hobby, reserved only for the wealthy and well funded individuals and film makers. In 1932, Kodak introduced ‘ Cine Kodak Eight ‘ . It utilized a special 16mm film type that had double the amount of sprocket holes, which were on both sides and 25ft long. The home movie maker would use one side of the movie film, then flip the movie film over and use the other side. When the movie film was exposed on both sides, the lab would split the film down the middle creating 2 x 25ft movie film strips which were then spliced together to make 50ft. The frame size of 8mm movie film was 1/4 that of 16mm movie film. The reduction in film frame size doubled the running time of 8mm movie film vs 16mm movie film with the same amount of film length, i.e 50ft of 8mm movie film would run approx 4mins, vs 100ft of 16mm movie film would be 4mins.