dirkdeklein

  • On February 11, 1938 the BBC broadcast the first piece of television science-fiction ever. A thirty-five-minute adapted extract of the play RUR, written by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek, was broadcast live from the BBC’s Alexandra Palace studios. Concerning a future world in which robots rise up against their human masters, it was the only piece of science fiction to be produced until the

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  • Just before Christmas 2011, I lost sight in my right eye. The retina had become detached, but after two operations, the sight could not be saved, in fact, my eye shrunk dramatically, and I now have a glass shell with an eye painted on it in front of the remainder of my eye. In November

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  • Bridget Dowling was born on 3 July 1891 in Dublin. She grew up at Flemings Place, near Mespil Road. She was still in her teens when she attended the 1909 RDS Dublin Horse Show and met Adolf Hitler’s half-brother, Alois Hitler, Jr. Alois had pretended to be a wealthy hotelier who was touring Europe, but

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  • Your killing me did not stop your hate. Hate is like a disease, a cancer—it eats at you bit by bit, and the more you hate, the sicker you get. Hate is like a tumour in your head. It drives you insane up to the point that you don’t even realize anymore that killing an

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  • The Buchenwald experiments

    On October, 1  1944, the first of two sets of medical experiments involving castration were performed on homosexuals at the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany. Buchenwald was one of the first concentration camps established by the Nazi regime. Constructed in 1937, it was a complement to camps north (Sachsenhausen) and south (Dachau), and was

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  • This day 225 years ago the last Queen of France was executed. Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755, Marie Antoinette married the future French king Louis XVI when she was just 15 years old. The young couple soon came to symbolize all of the excesses of the reviled French monarchy, and Marie Antoinette herself became

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  • There is no denying that the Dutch should have done more to protect their Jewish neighbours during World War II. But I am looking at this from a retrospective point of view; hindsight always comes with 20/20 vision. That’s why I can’t judge; I really don’t know what I would or wouldn’t have done. However,

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  • Why Them???

    Philip Wallage was born in Groningen on 12 July 1927. He was murdered at Sobibor on 26 March 1943. He was 15 years old upon his death. Rosalien Wallage was born in Groningen on 15 May 1932. She was murdered at Sobibor on 26 March 1943. She reached 10 years of age. Elisabeth Wallage was

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  • It’s October, which means it’s time once again for the annual Rocktober festivities! This year, I’m kicking things off with a touch of the risqué—something to please both the eyes and the ears. For the first episode, we’ll be celebrating two of Ireland’s greatest rock legends: Gary Moore and Phil Lynott. Sadly, both were taken

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  • On February 10, 1993, the University of Limerick Concert Hall hosted an unforgettable night of music history. Four of country music’s greatest legends—Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson—took the stage together as The Highwaymen. This concert was a special event for Irish audiences, allowing them to witness the magic of these iconic artists in

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