Different Beat'
The mornings were now cold and foggy and India had taken to wearing Matt's big coat, hat and gloves when she went out to feed the calves. The mountains, rearing majestically behind the old house were wreathed in mist, usually only showing themselves by noon, when the sun had burned away the fog and revealed the world.
By noon of course India had already been out on the motor-bike, checking the lambs, moving stock and inspecting fences. Striding back into the dark and still chilly house at lunchtime, tossing gloves and coat into the box on the veranda, she usually had to brace herself to endure the equally chilly looks and barbed comments from her future mother-in-law. For Fay was a country woman who firmly believed a woman's place was in the home. Let the men go traipsing around outside in the dust and dirt, hardening their hands and toughening their skin in the wind and weather; women needed to tend to the housework, prepare a hot midday meal and ensure things in the homestead ran smoothly.
Watching in amazement India's insistence on going out and doing farm work dismayed and shocked the older woman, who complained dourly to her friends at bingo and church. What would happen when babies came along? What then? You can't run around with a baby in tow driving tractors and what not.
Matt was fine with it though. He reassured his mother that India was great on the farm and in the house (and in the bed, but he didn't say that) and told her that girls these days didn't always want to be in the house and if it made her happy to help him and his Dad out in the paddock, he wasn't gonna stop her! Giving a cheerful shout of laughter he had gone back to crutching his sheep, confident his bride-to-be was all a man could wish for.
India was aware however of Fay's growing disapproval and lately was coming to dread the return to the house and the other woman's brooding presence, her terse comments and negative vibes. She had started to wonder how living there would be once she and Matt were married, wondered whether they would be better trying to build a house of their own? But money was tight, even though the long drought was supposedly over and she didn't think Matt would go along with that idea.
Clad in apron, Fay now bustled into the dining room.
"Ah, there you are. The men will be in soon. Wanting their dinner. Could you come and help dish up please? They'll be hungry." Turning on her heel she departed briskly without waiting for an answer.
India swallowed back the reply that she too had worked all morning, she wanted her dinner! Dutifully she went in and helped pile platefuls of mashed potato, beef casserole and vegetables which would fill the men up until 3.30pm, whereby they would appear and consume vast quantities of cakes, sandwiches and steaming mugs of tea.
During lunch (dinner as it was called in the country) Matt asked India what she had done that morning. Proudly, she told him she had been up to the 500 acre and found some sheep and lambs caught in a tree break. After rescuing them she had gone further and fixed a hole in the fence where the neighbor's sheep were obviously getting through. Conversation turned to lice and the avoidance and treatment thereof. Fay showed her disapproval by pursing her lips and banging plates around.
"There's things to be done inside this afternoon," she finally commented dourly. Sorting cupboards and so forth. And we have to start cleaning the patio if you want to have your wedding there at Easter!"
The men were silent. India had to think before she spoke carefully.
"Well, I just have to finish sweeping the wool"
"Or maybe there'll just be no wedding!" Tears forced themselves to Fay's eyes and she stood up and rushed from the room.
The men shifted uneasily in their seats. Matt looked at India. His Dad cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Not good when women get upset. Come'n lass, lets see if we can work things out."
Fay's soft sobs could be heard coming down the passage. Outside the chooks clucked distantly and a lamb bleated nearby. India raised her chin, dark eyes glistening with her own unshed tears.
"I will help in the house. But I also have to be able to do outside stuff as well or I'll go mad. I can't help it."
Matt covered her hand with his own thickened one.
"Of course, darling. We've been through this before. Dad, you'll have to talk to mum. Explain again that India's life will be split between her farming interests and her duties inside. She is not the same as mum, she.well, she dances to a different beat, that's all."
Matt flushed. Not given to flowery images, his phrasing was a bit surprising. It seemed to strike a chord with his Dad however, who brightened.
"Aye, that's it lad. That's it. Dances to a different beat. I like that."
He lumbered to his feet and went off chuckling to talk to Fay. A low murmuring could be heard and the sobs eased to intermittent snuffling.
India looked adoringly at her future husband.
"Oh Matt. Thank you. You're such a, such a babe!"
The smacking of her kiss drowned out any further noises from up the passage.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
~Couple~
Sometimes I think it must be hard being an actor and then I see a movie like this," Aiden said, ruefully shaking his head. They left the cinema and he grabbed Donilee's hand pulling her through the crowd. She had to take two and a half steps to his one but she managed to keep up with him as he led the way to his car in the far reaches of the parking lot. He always parked in the boondocks in the hope no one would hit his new car.
She laughed and breathlessly commented, "It wasn't exactly Academy Award material, you know. That makes a difference."
"Come on, Donilee, anybody could have played that role, even me. He was just a plain ordinary guy, doing plain ordinary things in a plain ordinary way. You call that acting?"he said derisively.
"You just wish you could make out with that not-so-plain-and-ordinary sweet young thing, whatever her name was," she retorted gleefully. "I know kissing doesn't take much acting skill if you like your partner."
"She was good. She had a much tougher job with her role. She had to cry and all that. She had lots to do. The guy was.... just there," he insisted as they continued darting between cars and narrowly avoiding being run over.
"Oh, please! Crying is nothing. Any girl should be able to cry at the drop of a hat. I can," she told him smugly.
He cast a skeptical glance at her and laughed. "Sure you can, Donilee."
"You doubting me, Aiden?"she said smiling playfully up at him.
"No, I'm sure you can do it when you're PMS-ing. Kidding, kidding, just kidding!" he said quickly before she could smack him. They finally could see the car and he rushed forward still pulling her behind him. He clicked the key ring and unlocked the doors. As he held the door open for her he turned to her and saw her lip tremble and her eyes flood with tears.
"Donilee, what's wrong?"he asked apprehensively.
He stood in stunned silence as big fat teardrops ran down her cheeks, her nose turned red and she started sobbing as if she just lost her mother. "Donilee! Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. Don't cry. Please, don't cry, Donilee!" he shouted anxiously. He tentatively put his arms around her and patted her back soothingly. He never did quite know what to do when girls cried.
Just as quickly as she started she stopped and looked up at him with a triumphant grin. "Now do you believe me?"she said as she pulled out of his arms and grabbed a tissue out of her purse. She wiped at her eyes then blew her nose while he stared at her with his mouth hanging open.
"You
weren't really crying?"he asked incredulously.
"Of course I was. You saw the tears, didn't you?"she retorted vehemently.
He opened and closed his mouth several times before finding something to say. "You were pretending?"
"Acting, actually. Did I do as well as the hot babe from the movie?" she asked smirking and still wiping her eyes.
"Better, way better. Your makeup didn't run like hers. Freakin' amazing," he said in awe.
"Why thank you, kind sir," she replied with a tiny curtsy.
He closed the car door again and leaned on it still astounded. "But how the heck did you do that, Donilee?"
"Easy. I just had to think of something very sad," she said with a careless shrug.
He frowned skeptically. "I could think of sad things until my head hurt but it still wouldn't make me cry like that," he answered adamantly.
"I did say girls could do this. I never said guys could and a macho guy like you? You probably didn't even cry when Old Yeller died,"she grumbled dismissively.
"Actually I did but I was only five then. I thought it was real too," he said seriously. "What could possibly make you cry like that just by thinking about it?"
She hesitated a bit then shrugged. "Nothing much," she replied evasively.
"Come on, Donliee. We're friends, you can tell me. What made you that sad?"he asked curiously.
She looked up at him and gave him a rueful grin. "I pictured you lying dead in a car wreck."
He stared at her aghast. "Me? You pictured me dead?"he said incredulously.
She nodded as her eyes swelled with tears again.
"Hey, stop that!"he shouted desperately. "Don't cry. I'm fine, Donilee, see? I'm fine!" He pounded his chest for emphasis.
"Sorry," she said weakly, "it's hard to stop sometimes. Got an overactive imagination, I guess."
"I can see that," he said half relieved she stopped crying and half baffled by all this. It made no sense. They were friends, yes, good friends but he never knew nor suspected she ever felt so strongly, cared that much about him. But perhaps she felt that way about all her friends and he was making more out of this than necessary.
"Do you cry like that when you think of all your friends dead in the street?" he asked albeit casually.
"Well, it's not like I go around picturing all my friends dead," she said exasperated. "You didn't believe I could do it and I wanted to prove I could. You just happened to be right in front of me and it was easy to do. You travel so much it's a very likely way for you to go." She looked down at her hands avoiding his stare.
"Donilee, you're
not going to cry again, are you?" he asked anxiously.
She giggled and looked up at him. "I think I'm done for the day if you believe me now."
He nodded emphatically. "I do. Please, don't ever cry like that, okay? It freaks me out," he said adamantly.
"Then don't ever die," she said flippantly.
"Do you really care that much about me?" he asked softly.
"Of course I do. You're one of my closest friends," she said shyly. She could feel her cheeks burning. Good thing it was dark or he might notice it.
But he did notice it and some other things too, though not about her, about himself. He remembered how he felt two weeks ago when she went home to White Bear Lake, a four hour drive, to visit her mother. He had begged her to put it off a couple of weeks so he could take her himself but she insisted on going alone. He had worried the whole time she was traveling and insisted she call him the minute she arrived. He recalled not being able to concentrate that whole day until she called four and a half hours later. Relief had flooded him. It had not meant anything to him then but it did now.
What if she had died on that trip? What if he had never seen her again? What if she had died before he could tell her she meant the world to him? What if he never got to tell her he had been stupidly in love with her and not even known it?
Emotion filled his chest to the point he could barely breath. His eyes stung as he stared at her. When she looked up a tear slipped down his cheek.
"Aiden, what's wrong?"she said placing her small, soft hand on his rough cheek. He suddenly pulled her into his arms crushing her to his chest and holding her tightly as if to never let go.
"I love you, Donilee. It took me this long to figure it out. I'll promise not to die if you promise the same," he said shakily.
Shocked to her toes, it took a while before she could do anything more than cling to him. "Okay," she answered in a tiny, squeak of a voice. "I love you, Aiden. I only figured it out lately too."
He pulled back to peer into her face. "When?"he asked brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"When I went to visit my mom. You were so sweet, Aiden, worrying about me driving all that way. But it wasn't until I called you and you sounded so scared. You thought I was dead already somewhere just cuz it took me a half hour longer. You forget, I don't drive 80 miles an hour like you. But that's when I realized you really cared. I felt so happy I told my mother I was in love and then she scolded me for not bringing you along."
He burst out laughing as did she. He kissed her, kissed her again and then again. "You know what this means now that we're a couple, don't you?"
"What? We can't be friends anymore?"she said anxiously.
"That and we'll have to take another trip to White Bear Lake and see if your mom approves of me. If she does I'll ask permission to marry you, that is, if you want to marry me. Will you, Donilee?"he asked tentatively.
"No fair, Aiden. You made me promise never to cry and then you say something like that,"she replied as the tears slipped down her face again.
He pulled her into his arm hugging her right off her feet. "This one time we're both allowed. After all, we're a couple of really good actors, aren't we?" he said grinning broadly.
She laughed and breathlessly commented, "It wasn't exactly Academy Award material, you know. That makes a difference."
"Come on, Donilee, anybody could have played that role, even me. He was just a plain ordinary guy, doing plain ordinary things in a plain ordinary way. You call that acting?"he said derisively.
"You just wish you could make out with that not-so-plain-and-ordinary sweet young thing, whatever her name was," she retorted gleefully. "I know kissing doesn't take much acting skill if you like your partner."
"She was good. She had a much tougher job with her role. She had to cry and all that. She had lots to do. The guy was.... just there," he insisted as they continued darting between cars and narrowly avoiding being run over.
"Oh, please! Crying is nothing. Any girl should be able to cry at the drop of a hat. I can," she told him smugly.
He cast a skeptical glance at her and laughed. "Sure you can, Donilee."
"You doubting me, Aiden?"she said smiling playfully up at him.
"No, I'm sure you can do it when you're PMS-ing. Kidding, kidding, just kidding!" he said quickly before she could smack him. They finally could see the car and he rushed forward still pulling her behind him. He clicked the key ring and unlocked the doors. As he held the door open for her he turned to her and saw her lip tremble and her eyes flood with tears.
"Donilee, what's wrong?"he asked apprehensively.
He stood in stunned silence as big fat teardrops ran down her cheeks, her nose turned red and she started sobbing as if she just lost her mother. "Donilee! Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. Don't cry. Please, don't cry, Donilee!" he shouted anxiously. He tentatively put his arms around her and patted her back soothingly. He never did quite know what to do when girls cried.
Just as quickly as she started she stopped and looked up at him with a triumphant grin. "Now do you believe me?"she said as she pulled out of his arms and grabbed a tissue out of her purse. She wiped at her eyes then blew her nose while he stared at her with his mouth hanging open.
"You
weren't really crying?"he asked incredulously.
"Of course I was. You saw the tears, didn't you?"she retorted vehemently.
He opened and closed his mouth several times before finding something to say. "You were pretending?"
"Acting, actually. Did I do as well as the hot babe from the movie?" she asked smirking and still wiping her eyes.
"Better, way better. Your makeup didn't run like hers. Freakin' amazing," he said in awe.
"Why thank you, kind sir," she replied with a tiny curtsy.
He closed the car door again and leaned on it still astounded. "But how the heck did you do that, Donilee?"
"Easy. I just had to think of something very sad," she said with a careless shrug.
He frowned skeptically. "I could think of sad things until my head hurt but it still wouldn't make me cry like that," he answered adamantly.
"I did say girls could do this. I never said guys could and a macho guy like you? You probably didn't even cry when Old Yeller died,"she grumbled dismissively.
"Actually I did but I was only five then. I thought it was real too," he said seriously. "What could possibly make you cry like that just by thinking about it?"
She hesitated a bit then shrugged. "Nothing much," she replied evasively.
"Come on, Donliee. We're friends, you can tell me. What made you that sad?"he asked curiously.
She looked up at him and gave him a rueful grin. "I pictured you lying dead in a car wreck."
He stared at her aghast. "Me? You pictured me dead?"he said incredulously.
She nodded as her eyes swelled with tears again.
"Hey, stop that!"he shouted desperately. "Don't cry. I'm fine, Donilee, see? I'm fine!" He pounded his chest for emphasis.
"Sorry," she said weakly, "it's hard to stop sometimes. Got an overactive imagination, I guess."
"I can see that," he said half relieved she stopped crying and half baffled by all this. It made no sense. They were friends, yes, good friends but he never knew nor suspected she ever felt so strongly, cared that much about him. But perhaps she felt that way about all her friends and he was making more out of this than necessary.
"Do you cry like that when you think of all your friends dead in the street?" he asked albeit casually.
"Well, it's not like I go around picturing all my friends dead," she said exasperated. "You didn't believe I could do it and I wanted to prove I could. You just happened to be right in front of me and it was easy to do. You travel so much it's a very likely way for you to go." She looked down at her hands avoiding his stare.
"Donilee, you're
not going to cry again, are you?" he asked anxiously.
She giggled and looked up at him. "I think I'm done for the day if you believe me now."
He nodded emphatically. "I do. Please, don't ever cry like that, okay? It freaks me out," he said adamantly.
"Then don't ever die," she said flippantly.
"Do you really care that much about me?" he asked softly.
"Of course I do. You're one of my closest friends," she said shyly. She could feel her cheeks burning. Good thing it was dark or he might notice it.
But he did notice it and some other things too, though not about her, about himself. He remembered how he felt two weeks ago when she went home to White Bear Lake, a four hour drive, to visit her mother. He had begged her to put it off a couple of weeks so he could take her himself but she insisted on going alone. He had worried the whole time she was traveling and insisted she call him the minute she arrived. He recalled not being able to concentrate that whole day until she called four and a half hours later. Relief had flooded him. It had not meant anything to him then but it did now.
What if she had died on that trip? What if he had never seen her again? What if she had died before he could tell her she meant the world to him? What if he never got to tell her he had been stupidly in love with her and not even known it?
Emotion filled his chest to the point he could barely breath. His eyes stung as he stared at her. When she looked up a tear slipped down his cheek.
"Aiden, what's wrong?"she said placing her small, soft hand on his rough cheek. He suddenly pulled her into his arms crushing her to his chest and holding her tightly as if to never let go.
"I love you, Donilee. It took me this long to figure it out. I'll promise not to die if you promise the same," he said shakily.
Shocked to her toes, it took a while before she could do anything more than cling to him. "Okay," she answered in a tiny, squeak of a voice. "I love you, Aiden. I only figured it out lately too."
He pulled back to peer into her face. "When?"he asked brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"When I went to visit my mom. You were so sweet, Aiden, worrying about me driving all that way. But it wasn't until I called you and you sounded so scared. You thought I was dead already somewhere just cuz it took me a half hour longer. You forget, I don't drive 80 miles an hour like you. But that's when I realized you really cared. I felt so happy I told my mother I was in love and then she scolded me for not bringing you along."
He burst out laughing as did she. He kissed her, kissed her again and then again. "You know what this means now that we're a couple, don't you?"
"What? We can't be friends anymore?"she said anxiously.
"That and we'll have to take another trip to White Bear Lake and see if your mom approves of me. If she does I'll ask permission to marry you, that is, if you want to marry me. Will you, Donilee?"he asked tentatively.
"No fair, Aiden. You made me promise never to cry and then you say something like that,"she replied as the tears slipped down her face again.
He pulled her into his arm hugging her right off her feet. "This one time we're both allowed. After all, we're a couple of really good actors, aren't we?" he said grinning broadly.
Short Stories 1 - 爱她，所以离开她。
Short Stories 1 - 爱她，所以离开她。
从初中起，安冬就是我的同桌，他爱玩爱闹，成绩却很好。平时我话不多，可是跟安冬在一起却滔滔不绝，有笑又闹。
那时我是个爱做梦的小姑娘，安冬成了我梦中的白马王子。
一天，我无意中翻安冬的笔记本，最后一页写着：“爱她，所以离开她。” 莫非安冬对哪个女孩倾心了？ 我装作好奇、活泼的样子对他嚷：“快快从实招来， 是哪位？”
不料安冬却沉下脸，烦躁地说：“你干嘛乱翻我的东西！我抄的一句歌词， 关你什么事！”同学们诧异的望着我们，第一次被他如此对待，又恼又气，不再理他。
第二天安冬和别人换了座位，少女的矜持与自尊，我装作无所谓，很快跟新同桌打得火热，其实心里很难过。有时想，那句话是不是对我而言呢？有骂自己自作多情。 慢慢地我们疏远了。
不久，安冬突然宣布退学，他说：“我早就想赚钱了。赚钱，是一种责任。懂不懂？我要接管我哥的小百货店，以后各位上大学若缺欠，找我就是！”安冬经营那家小百货店后，还真赚了不少钱。
后来我上了大学，偶尔会想起那个白马王子的梦，安冬偶尔会给我打次电话。
一个雨天，安冬的姐姐出现在我的眼前，显得很憔悴。她告诉我:“你知道吗？我弟弟有心脏病，医生曾说他很难活过二十岁。他说他很喜欢同桌的你，却不能告诉你。弟弟两个月前已经去世了，他有一本日记，扉页上写满你的名字......”
我翻开那本日记，看见了大大的我的名字，后面一句话：“爱她，所以离开她。”
从初中起，安冬就是我的同桌，他爱玩爱闹，成绩却很好。平时我话不多，可是跟安冬在一起却滔滔不绝，有笑又闹。
那时我是个爱做梦的小姑娘，安冬成了我梦中的白马王子。
一天，我无意中翻安冬的笔记本，最后一页写着：“爱她，所以离开她。” 莫非安冬对哪个女孩倾心了？ 我装作好奇、活泼的样子对他嚷：“快快从实招来， 是哪位？”
不料安冬却沉下脸，烦躁地说：“你干嘛乱翻我的东西！我抄的一句歌词， 关你什么事！”同学们诧异的望着我们，第一次被他如此对待，又恼又气，不再理他。
第二天安冬和别人换了座位，少女的矜持与自尊，我装作无所谓，很快跟新同桌打得火热，其实心里很难过。有时想，那句话是不是对我而言呢？有骂自己自作多情。 慢慢地我们疏远了。
不久，安冬突然宣布退学，他说：“我早就想赚钱了。赚钱，是一种责任。懂不懂？我要接管我哥的小百货店，以后各位上大学若缺欠，找我就是！”安冬经营那家小百货店后，还真赚了不少钱。
后来我上了大学，偶尔会想起那个白马王子的梦，安冬偶尔会给我打次电话。
一个雨天，安冬的姐姐出现在我的眼前，显得很憔悴。她告诉我:“你知道吗？我弟弟有心脏病，医生曾说他很难活过二十岁。他说他很喜欢同桌的你，却不能告诉你。弟弟两个月前已经去世了，他有一本日记，扉页上写满你的名字......”
我翻开那本日记，看见了大大的我的名字，后面一句话：“爱她，所以离开她。”
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Top 10 Most Evil Men
Top 10 Most Evil Men
Attila The HunAttila was Khan of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. In much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. An unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire, the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West. He passed unhindered through Austria and Germany, across the Rhine into Gaul, plundering and devastating all in his path with a ferocity unparalleled in the records of barbarian invasions and compelling those he overcame to augment his mighty army. Attila drowned in his own blood on his wedding night.
Maximilien RobespierreMaximilien Robespierre was a leader of the French revolution and it was his arguments that caused the revolutionary government to murder the king without a trial. In addition, Robespierre was one of the main driving forces behind the reign of terror, a 10 month post-revolutionary period in which mass executions were carried out. The Terror took the lives of between 18,500 to 40,000 people, with 1,900 being killed in the last month. Among people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes.
In an act of coincidental justice, Robespierre was guillotined without a trial in 1794.
Ruhollah KhomeiniAyatollah Khomeini was the religious leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989. In that time he implemented Sharia Law (Islamic religious law) with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Opposition to the religious rule of the clergy or Islam in general was often met with harsh punishments. In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom, August 30, 1979, Khomeini said:
“Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God’s order and God’s call to prayer.”
In the 1988 massacre of Iranian prisoners, following the People’s Mujahedin of Iran operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner and kill those who would not repent anti-regime activities. Many say that thousands were swiftly put to death inside the prisons. The suppressed memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri reportedly detail the execution of 30,000 political activists.
After eleven days in a hospital for an operation to stop internal bleeding, Khomeini died of cancer on Saturday, June 04, 1989, at the age of 86.
Idi Amin DadaIdi Amin was an army officer and president of Uganda. He took power in a military coup in January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extra judicial killings and the expulsion of Indians from Uganda. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is unknown; estimates range from 80,000 to 500,000. On August 4, 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, with the exception of professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. Amin was eventually overthrown, but until his death, he held that Uganda needed him and he never expressed remorse for the abuses of his regime.
Leopold II of BelgiumLeopold II was King of Belgium from 1865-1909. With financial support from the government, Leopold created the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken to extract rubber and ivory in the Congo region of central Africa, which relied on forced labour and resulted in the deaths of approximately 3 million Congolese. The regime of the Congo Free State became one of the more infamous international scandals of the turn of the century. The area of land privately owned by the King was an area 76 times larger than Belgium, which he was free to rule as a personal domain through his private army, the Force Publique. Leopold’s rubber gatherers tortured, maimed and slaughtered until at the turn of the century, the conscience of the Western world forced Brussels to call a halt.
Just paying the bills…
Pol PotPol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979, having been de facto leader since mid-1975. During his time in power Pol Pot imposed an extreme version of agrarian communism where all city dwellers were relocated to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labour projects. The combined effect of slave labour, malnutrition, poor medical care and executions is estimated to have killed around 2 million Cambodians (approximately one third of the population). His regime achieved special notoriety for singling out all intellectuals and other “bourgeois enemies” for murder. The Khmer Rouge committed mass executions in sites known as the Killing Fields. The executed were buried in mass graves. In order to save ammunition, executions were often carried out using hammers, axe handles, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks.
Vlad TepesVlad III of Romania (also known as Vlad the Impaler) was Prince of Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1476. Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire main character in Bram Stoker’s popular Dracula novel. In Romania he is viewed by many as a prince with a deep sense of justice. His method of torture was a horse attached to each of the victim’s legs as a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled, and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp; else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Wikipedia has an article that describes, in great details, the methods of Vlad’s cruelty. The list of tortures he is alleged to have employed is extensive: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to animals, and boiling alive. There are claims that on some occasions ten thousand people were impaled in 1460 alone.
. Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia, also know as Ivan the Terrible, was the Grand Duke of Muscovy from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of Tsar. In 1570, Ivan was under the belief that the elite of the city of Novgorod planned to defect to Poland, and led an army to stop them on January 2. Ivan’s soldiers built walls around the perimeter of the city in order to prevent the people of the city escaping. Between 500 and 1000 people were gathered every day by the troops, then tortured and killed in front of Ivan and his son. In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, causing a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son’s (accidental) death.
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, becoming “Führer” in 1934 until his suicide in 1945. By the end of the second world war, Hitler’s policies of territorial conquest and racial subjugation had brought death and destruction to tens of millions of people, including the genocide of some six million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. On 30 April 1945, after intense street-to-street combat, when Soviet troops were spotted within a block or two of the Reich Chancellory, Hitler committed suicide, shooting himself while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule.
Josef StalinStalin was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Under Stalin’s leadership, the Ukraine suffered from a famine (Holodomor) so great it is considered by many to be an act of genocide on the part of Stalin’s government. Estimates of the number of deaths range from 2.5 million to 10 million. The famine was caused by direct political and administrative decisions. In addition to the famine, Stalin ordered purges within the Soviet Union of any person deemed to be an enemy of the state. In total, estimates of the total number murdered under Stalins reign, range from 10 million to 60 million.
~Criminal~
1 " I have killed them all! "... ups... sorry... Wrong Number!
A call mistakenly made by a victorious video gamer led to his arrest on an outstanding warrant.
Authorities arrested Thomas Ballard, 29, of Delhi,after a woman reported receiving a late-night call from someone saying, "I have killed them all."
Ballard's number showed up on the woman's caller ID; he'd called by mistake, meaning instead to get a buddy to talk-up his success in an Xbox game, said Sgt. Julie Lewis, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana State Police.
Authorities following up at the address, to investigate whether there had been any foul play, found no evidence of wrongdoing, she said. But they did find, in the process of identifying Ballard, that he had a 5-year-old warrant out of Baton Rouge, charging him with failure to appear on a possession of cocaine charge.
Ballard was booked into the Richland Parish Detention Center for extradition to Baton Rouge.
"It was weird the way this all came down," Lewis said. "This isn't something you could just make up."
A call mistakenly made by a victorious video gamer led to his arrest on an outstanding warrant.
Authorities arrested Thomas Ballard, 29, of Delhi,after a woman reported receiving a late-night call from someone saying, "I have killed them all."
Ballard's number showed up on the woman's caller ID; he'd called by mistake, meaning instead to get a buddy to talk-up his success in an Xbox game, said Sgt. Julie Lewis, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana State Police.
Authorities following up at the address, to investigate whether there had been any foul play, found no evidence of wrongdoing, she said. But they did find, in the process of identifying Ballard, that he had a 5-year-old warrant out of Baton Rouge, charging him with failure to appear on a possession of cocaine charge.
Ballard was booked into the Richland Parish Detention Center for extradition to Baton Rouge.
"It was weird the way this all came down," Lewis said. "This isn't something you could just make up."
2 Student transferred for making counter strike map based on school
A senior at Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas was transferred to an alternative education center after it was learned that the student had created a map of his school in the online game Counter-Strike
The student wasn't arrested or charged with any crimes, but police were called in to search his home, where they found five swords. Police also ordered the student to erase the game and maps from his computer.Source
3 Gamers Arrested By SWAT Team After Playing Playstation Too Loudly
Two gamers in Denmark had a SWAT team knock down their door and arrest them after they were playing a video game too loudly. The pair were playing Rainbow Six on their PlayStation 3 when neighbors called the police to report that they heard loud gunshots coming from their apartment.
Police quickly cordoned off the area and stormed the house using a megaphone to command the pair to surrender. The two gamers were handcuffed until officers realized that they posed no threat.
A spokesman for the Copenhagen police said that they are obliged to investigate any reports of gunshots, which leads to occasional false alarms. Source
4 Try to sell "World of Warcraft gold"
Here in the US, you can't really arrest someone for selling gold in-game -- it's against Blizzard's Terms of Service, so they can ban you from the game or even file suit against you, but it's not actually illegal. But in China, under communism, things are apparently a little different. Two gold farmers have actually been arrested by the government for "unfair revenue distribution" -- apparently the two had a disagreement about how to distribute the over $200,000 they had made from selling gold in World of Warcraft.
5 Arrested for a virtual murder
A 43-year-old Japanese woman, angry over a sudden divorce in the virtual online game Maple Story, has been arrested on suspicion of hacking into the game where she killed her once-virtual husband, authorities said.
Authorities said the Miyazaki woman illegally accessed the game with a password she hijacked from a colleague. That made it appear as if her coworker committed the online murder.
According to The Associated Press, the woman told police: "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry."
The two had never met in real life.
6 Watching the sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica while driving
A truck driver watched episodes of the cult sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica as he drove a 38-ton lorry along a motorway, a court heard.
Benjamin Trotsman, 37, was spotted driving erratically in the early hours of the morning by another trucker who called police.
A Cumbria Police spokesman said: "The driver was seen to be watching a film on a laptop computer that was situated on the dashboard in his cab.
"He appeared oblivious to other motorists and continued to drive in an erratic manner, speeding up and slowing down, and crossing on occasions on to the hard shoulder."
Police stopped the lorry and when they examined his laptop it appeared that Trotsman had been watching Battlestar Galactica.
7 Arrested for carrying his replica laser blaster
"Kim", 32, dressed in the outfit of an Imperial Death Star guard, was pinned to the ground and handcuffed by the other Force – the Victorian police force - after he was spotting marching through the city with a replica laser blaster poking out of his backpack.
Kim was on his way to a photo shoot with the MX newspaper, but concerned patrons at the Southgate retail complex on the Yarra River alerted security guards when they spotted the Sci Fi foot soldier eating breakfast in the foodcourt in his Evil Empire regalia.
"I will be requesting the safe return of my trooper's replica movie prop and asking for all charges to be dropped", 501st Legion Commanding Officer Bruce Harrison said.
He said his trooper's weapon replica was worth up to $500, and he was hoping to negotiate it's safe return this afternoon.
8 The Gunman with water guns
On May 12, 2009, an incident involving the 'Assassin' game happened behind a North Hampton, New Hampshire restaurant, where an employee spotted a man in dark clothing with a gun. He called the police and the student in question did not resist but simply walked to his car and explained the game to the police. The student did not run away from the police, he cooperated fully, and was not arrested. The man turned out to be a high school senior from Exeter, New Hampshire waiting for another high school student to come out of her job at the restaurant with a squirt gun in hand.
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