TBi



Jospeh Stalin, ( born **Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili**; 18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was the first Soviet Union leader after the death of Vladimir Lenin. Researchers before the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union attempting to count the number of people killed under Stalin's regime produced estimates ranging from 3 to 60 million. After the Soviet Union dissolved, evidence from the Soviet archives also became available, containing official records of the execution of approximately 800,000 prisoners under Stalin for either political or criminal offenses, around 1.7 million deaths in the [|Gulags] and some 390,000 deaths during kulak forced resettlement – for a total of about 3 million officially recorded victims in these categories. In [|1948], he was officially nominated for the [|Nobel Prize for Peace] by Wladislav Rieger. On 1 March 1953, after an all-night dinner in his Kuntsevo residence some 15 km west of Moscow centre with interior minister Lavrentity Beria and future premiers Gregory Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin, and Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin did not emerge from his room, having probably suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body.

 In Prince Henry the Navigator's exploration career, he was dedicated to find a faster, more affordable trade route to the West Indies and China in search of profitable income sources, such as spices. In this quest, he came to the conclusion that he must develop a faster, sleeker ship that could hold more cargo, and yet still be lighter than the galleon that was currently used at the time. The ship that he developed was called the caravel, that completely revolutionized the shipping industry. He also created the first school for oceanic navigational learning, which was based in Sagres, Portugal, this school also boasted an impressive astronomical observatory. Thanks to the innovative inventions of Prince Henry, Portuguese ships sailed to the Madeira Islands (1420), rounded [|Cape Bojador], also known as the Sea of Darkness, (1434), sailed past Cape Blanc (1441), sailed past Cap Vert (1455), and journeyed as far as the Gambia River (1456) and Cape Palmas (1459-1460). Sadly, Prince Henry died before the completion of the final voyage. **NOTE**: Prince Henry the Navigator did not journey on any of these voyages.**
 * [[image:http://www.whatdoyaknow.com/Age%20of%20Discovery/Prince_Henry_Navigator001.jpg]]Prince Henry the Navigator- Prince of Portugal, Portugal

//[|The Man in the Red Turban]//, or //The Portrait of a Man//, also more commonly known as //Portrait of a Man in a Turban//, is an oil painting done by the artist Jan van Eyck, has been hanging in the National Gallery of London since the year 1851, when it was donated by Thomas Howard, the 21st Earl of Arundel, who personally acquired it during his exile in Antwerp. The phrase on the bottom of the painting inscribes, JOHES DE EYCK ME FECIT ANO MCCCC.33. 21. OCTOBRIS. In translation, it means, Jan van Eyck Made Me on October 21, 1433. At the top, it says [|AlC IXH XAN], whi ch means, I Do As I Can. The subject of the painting is believed to be Jan himself, though this cannot be proven. The evidence pointing towards that it is Jan is that the clothing is that of a person in his social position, and that the motto on the painting is his personal one. Oddly enough, the subject of the painting is in fact not wearing a turban. The headwear the man is wearing is actually a [|chaperon], which is a highly ornate European hat fashionable in the Middle Ages. The ends of the chaperon are tied up, a preferable characteristic for any painter of the time. As in the style of Jan van Eyck, the size of the head is slightly larger than it should be as compared to the torso. The most detailed part of any Jan van Eyck painting is the eyes. This following quote is from Lorne Campbell, curator of the National Gallery. " The white of the eye is laid in white mixed with minute quantities of red and blue. A very thin scumble of red is brought over the [|National Gallery], which is, however, left exposed in four places to create the secondary highlights. The veins are painted in vermilion into the wet scumble. The iris is ultra-marine, fairly pure at its circumference but mixed with white and black towards the pupil. There are black flecks near the circumference and the pupil is painted in black over the blue of the iris. The principal catchlights are four spots of lead white applied as final touches, one on the iris and three on the white, where they register with the four secondary lights to create the glistening effect." It is obvious that Jan van Eyck paid an enormous amount of attention to the smallest detail in order to obtain perfection.