Jesus
Jesus referred to as Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ, was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, is described as the most influential person in history. Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. All modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed although the quest for the historical Jesus has produced little agreement on the historical reliability of the Gospels and on how the Jesus portrayed in the Bible reflects the historical Jesus. Jesus was a Galilean Jew, baptized by John the Baptist and began his own ministry, he preached orally and was referred to as "rabbi". Jesus debated with fellow Jews on how to best follow God, engaged in healings, taught in parables and gathered followers, he was arrested and tried by the Jewish authorities, turned over to the Roman government, crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect. After his death, his followers believed he rose from the dead, the community they formed became the early Church.
The birth of Jesus is celebrated annually on December 25th as Christmas. His crucifixion is honored on his resurrection on Easter; the used calendar era "AD", from the Latin anno Domini, the equivalent alternative "CE", are based on the approximate birthdate of Jesus. Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary, performed miracles, founded the Christian Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement for sin, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, from where he will return. Most Christians believe; the Nicene Creed asserts that Jesus will judge the living and the dead either before or after their bodily resurrection, an event tied to the Second Coming of Jesus in Christian eschatology. The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of the Trinity. A minority of Christian denominations reject Trinitarianism, wholly or as non-scriptural. Jesus figures in non-Christian religions and new religious movements.
In Islam, Jesus is considered one of the Messiah. Muslims believe Jesus was a bringer of scripture and was born of a virgin, but was not the son of God; the Quran states. Most Muslims do not believe that he was crucified, but that he was physically raised into Heaven by God. In contrast, Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill Messianic prophecies, was neither divine nor resurrected. A typical Jew in Jesus' time had only one name, sometimes followed by the phrase "son of <father's name>", or the individual's hometown. Thus, in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as "Jesus of Nazareth". Jesus' neighbors in Nazareth refer to him as "the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon", "the carpenter's son", or "Joseph's son". In John, the disciple Philip refers to him as "Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth"; the name Jesus is derived from the Latin Iesus, a transliteration of the Greek Ἰησοῦς. The Greek form is a rendering of the Hebrew ישוע, a variant of the earlier name יהושע, or in English, "Joshua", meaning "Yah saves".
This was the name of Moses' successor and of a Jewish high priest. The name Yeshua appears to have been in use in Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus; the 1st-century works of historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote in Koine Greek, the same language as that of the New Testament, refer to at least twenty different people with the name Jesus. The etymology of Jesus' name in the context of the New Testament is given as "Yahweh is salvation". Since early Christianity, Christians have referred to Jesus as "Jesus Christ"; the word Christ was a office, not a given name. It derives from the Greek Χριστός, a translation of the Hebrew mashiakh meaning "anointed", is transliterated into English as "Messiah". In biblical Judaism, sacred oil was used to anoint certain exceptionally holy people and objects as part of their religious investiture. Christians of the time designated Jesus as "the Christ" because they believed him to be the Messiah, whose arrival is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
In postbiblical usage, Christ became viewed as a name—one part of "Jesus Christ". The term "Christian" has been in use since the 1st century; the four canonical gospels are the foremost sources for the message of Jesus. However, other parts of the New Testament include references to key episodes in his life, such as the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23. Acts of the Apostles refers to the early ministry of its anticipation by John the Baptist. Acts 1:1 -- 11 says more about the Ascension of Jesus. In the undisputed Pauline letters, which were written earlier than the gospels, the words or instructions of Jesus are cited several times; some early Christian groups had separate descriptions of the life and teachings of Jesus that are not included in the New Testament. These include the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel
Favela
A favela, is a unique and middle-income, unregulated neighborhood in Brazil that has experienced historical governmental neglect. The first favela, now known as Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro, appeared in the late 19th century, built by soldiers who had nowhere to live following the Canudos War; some of the first settlements were called bairros africanos. Over the years, many former enslaved Africans moved in. Before the first favela came into being, poor citizens were pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs. However, most modern favelas appeared in the 1970s due to rural exodus, when many people left rural areas of Brazil and moved to cities. Unable to find places to live, many people found themselves in favelas. Census data released in December 2011 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics showed that in 2010, about 6 percent of the Brazilian population lived in slums; the term favela dates back to the late 1800s. At the time, soldiers were brought from the conflict against the settlers of Canudos, in the Eastern province of Bahia, to Rio de Janeiro and left with no place to live.
When they served the army in Bahia, those soldiers had been familiar with Canudos' Favela Hill – a name referring to favela, a skin-irritating tree in the spurge family indigenous to Bahia. When they settled on the Providência hill in Rio de Janeiro, they nicknamed the place Favela hill." The favelas were formed prior to the dense occupation of cities and the domination of real estate interests. Following the end of slavery and increased urbanization into Latin America cities, a lot of people from the Brazilian countryside moved to Rio; these new migrants sought work in the city but with little to no money, they could not afford urban housing. In the 1920s the favelas grew to such an extent that they were perceived as a problem for the whole society. At the same time the term favela underwent a first institutionalization by becoming a local category for the settlements of the urban poor on hills. However, it was not until 1937 that the favela became central to public attention, when the Building Code first recognized their existence in an official document and thus marked the beginning of explicit favela policies.
The housing crisis of the 1940s forced the urban poor to erect hundreds of shantytowns in the suburbs, when favelas replaced tenements as the main type of residence for destitute Cariocas. The explosive era of favela growth dates from the 1940s, when Getúlio Vargas's industrialization drive pulled hundreds of thousands of migrants into the former Federal District, to the 1970s, when shantytowns expanded beyond urban Rio and into the metropolitan periphery. Urbanization in the 1950s provoked mass migration from the countryside to the cities throughout Brazil by those hoping to take advantage of the economic opportunities urban life provided; those who moved to Rio de Janeiro, chose an inopportune time. The change of Brazil's capital from Rio to Brasília in 1960 marked a slow but steady decline for the former, as industry and employment options began to dry up. Unable to find work, therefore unable to afford housing within the city limits, these new migrants remained in the favelas. Despite their proximity to urban Rio de Janeiro, the city did not extend sanitation, electricity, or other services to the favelas.
They soon became associated with extreme poverty and were considered a headache to many citizens and politicians within Rio. In the 1970s, Brazil's military dictatorship pioneered a favela eradication policy, which forced the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents. During Carlos Lacerda's administration, many were moved to public housing projects such as Cidade de Deus popularized in a wildly popular feature film of the same name. Poor public planning and insufficient investment by the government led to the disintegration of these projects into new favelas. By the 1980s, worries about eviction and eradication were beginning to give way to violence associated with the burgeoning drug trade. Changing routes of production and consumption meant that Rio de Janeiro found itself as a transit point for cocaine destined for Europe. Although drugs brought in money, they accompanied the rise of the small arms trade and of gangs competing for dominance. While there are Rio favelas which are still ruled by drug traffickers or by organized crime groups called milícias, all of the favelas in Rio's South Zone and key favelas in the North Zone are now managed by Pacifying Police Units, known as UPPs.
While drug dealing, sporadic gun fights, residual control from drug lords remain in certain areas, Rio's political leaders point out that the UPP is a new paradigm after decades without a government presence in these areas. Most of the current favelas expanded in the 1970s, as a construction boom in the more affluent districts of Rio de Janeiro initiated a rural exodus of workers from poorer states in Brazil. Since favelas have been created under different terms but with similar end results. Communities form in favelas over time and develop an array of social and religious organizations and forming associations to obtain such services as running water and electricity. Sometimes the residents manage to gain title to the land and are able to improve their homes; because of crowding, unsanitary conditions, poor nutrition and pollution, disease is rampant in the poorer favelas and infant mortality rates are high. Those favelas which are situated on hillsides are at risk from flooding and landslides.
In the late 19th century, the state gave regulatory impetus for the creation of Rio de Jane
Maracanã Stadium
The Maracanã Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, is a football stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The stadium is part of a complex that includes an arena known by the name of Maracanãzinho, which means "The Little Maracanã" in Portuguese. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro state government, it is, as is the Maracanã neighborhood where it is located, named after the Rio Maracanã, a now canalized river in Rio de Janeiro; the stadium was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup, in which Brazil was beaten 2–1 by Uruguay in the deciding game, in front of 199,854 spectators on 16 July 1950. The venue has seen attendances of 150,000 or more at 26 occasions, the last being on 29 May 1983, as 155,253 spectators watched Flamengo beat Santos 3-0; the stadium has seen crowds of more than 100,000 284 times. But as terraced sections have been replaced with seats over time, after the renovation for the FIFA World Cup 2014, its original capacity has been reduced to the current 78,838, but it remains the largest stadium in Brazil.
The stadium is used for football matches between the major football clubs in Rio de Janeiro, including Flamengo, Fluminense and Vasco da Gama. It has hosted a number of concerts and other sporting events; the total attendance at the last game of the 1950 FIFA World Cup was 199,854, making it the world's largest stadium by capacity when it was inaugurated. After its 2010–13 renovation, the rebuilt stadium seats 78,838 spectators, making it the largest stadium in Brazil and the second in South America after Estadio Monumental in Peru, it was the main venue of the 2007 Pan American Games, hosting the football tournament and the opening and closing ceremonies. The Maracanã was rebuilt in preparation for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup, for which it hosted several matches, including the final, it served as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, with the main track and field events taking place at the Estádio Olímpico. The official name of the stadium, Mário Filho, was given in honor of an old Pernambucan journalist, the brother of Nelson Rodrigues, a strong vocal supporter of the construction of the Maracanã.
The stadium's popular name is derived from the Maracanã River, whose point of origin is in the jungle-covered hills to the west, crossing various bairros of Rio's Zona Norte, such as Tijuca and São Cristóvão, via a drainage canal which features sloping sides constructed of concrete. Upon flowing into the Canal do Mangue, it empties into Guanabara Bay; the name "Maracanã" derives from the indigenous Tupi–Guarani word for a type of parrot which inhabited the region. The stadium construction was prior to the formation of the Maracanã neighborhood, once part of Tijuca; the stadium of Red Star Belgrade, the Red Star Stadium, is popularly called Marakana in honor of the Brazilian stadium. After winning the right to host the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian government sought to build a new stadium for the tournament; the construction of Maracanã was criticized by Carlos Lacerda Congressman and political enemy of the mayor of the city, general Ângelo Mendes de Morais, for the expense and for the chosen location of the stadium, arguing that it should be built in the West Zone neighborhood of Jacarepaguá.
At the time, a tennis stadium stood in the chosen area. Still it was supported by journalist Mário Filho, Mendes de Morais was able to move the project forward; the competition for the design and construction was opened by the municipality of Rio de Janeiro in 1947, with the construction contract awarded to engineer Humberto Menescal, the architectural contract awarded to seven Brazilian architects, Michael Feldman, Waldir Ramos, Raphael Galvão, Oscar Valdetaro, Orlando Azevedo, Pedro Paulo Bernardes Bastos, Antônio Dias Carneiro. The first cornerstone was laid at the site of the stadium on 2 August 1948. With the first World Cup game scheduled to be played on 24 June 1950, this left a little under two years to finish construction. However, work fell behind schedule, prompting FIFA to send Dr. Ottorino Barassi, the head of the Italian FA, who had organized the 1934 World Cup, to help in Rio de Janeiro. A work force of 1,500 constructed the stadium, with an additional 2,000 working in the final months.
Despite the stadium having come into use in 1950, the construction was only completed in 1965. The opening match of the stadium took place on 16 June 1950. Rio de Janeiro All-Stars beat São Paulo All-Stars 3–1. While the major part of the stadium was finished, it still looked like a construction site. Brazilian officials claimed it could seat over 200,000 people, while the Guinness Book of World Records estimated it could seat 180,000 and other sources pegged capacity at 155,000. What is beyond dispute is that Maracanã overtook Hampden Park as the largest stadium in the world. Despite the stadium's unfinished state, FIFA allowed matches to be played at the venue, on 24 June 1950, the first World Cup match took place, with 81,000 spectators in attendance. In that first match for which Maracanã had been built, Brazil beat Mexico with a final score 4–0, with Ademir becoming the first scorer of a competitive goal at the stadium with his 30th-minute strike. Ademir had one each from Baltasar and Jair.
The match was refereed by Englishman George Reader. Five of Brazil's six games at the tournament were played at Maracan
Brazil
Brazil the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 208 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the fifth most populous. Its capital is Brasília, its most populated city is São Paulo; the federation is composed of the union of the 26 states, the Federal District, the 5,570 municipalities. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 kilometers, it borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47.3% of the continent's land area. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats; this unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, is the subject of significant global interest and debate regarding deforestation and environmental protection.
Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. In 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system; the ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, now called the National Congress. The country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup d'état. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, after which civilian governance resumed. Brazil's current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. Due to its rich culture and history, the country ranks thirteenth in the world by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Brazil is considered an advanced emerging economy. It has the ninth largest GDP in the world by nominal, eight and PPP measures, it is one of the world's major breadbaskets, being the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years. It is classified as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country, with the largest share of global wealth in Latin America. Brazil is a regional power and sometimes considered a great or a middle power in international affairs. On account of its international recognition and influence, the country is subsequently classified as an emerging power and a potential superpower by several analysts. Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Union of South American Nations, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, it is that the word "Brazil" comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.
In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a deep red dye, it was valued by the European textile industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. Throughout the 16th century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by indigenous peoples along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders in return for assorted European consumer goods; the official Portuguese name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the "Land of the Holy Cross", but European sailors and merchants called it the "Land of Brazil" because of the brazilwood trade. The popular appellation eclipsed and supplanted the official Portuguese name; some early sailors called it the "Land of Parrots". In the Guarani language, an official language of Paraguay, Brazil is called "Pindorama"; this was the name the indigenous population gave to the region, meaning "land of the palm trees".
Some of the earliest human remains found in the Americas, Luzia Woman, were found in the area of Pedro Leopoldo, Minas Gerais and provide evidence of human habitation going back at least 11,000 years. The earliest pottery found in the Western Hemisphere was excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil and radiocarbon dated to 8,000 years ago; the pottery was found near Santarém and provides evidence that the tropical forest region supported a complex prehistoric culture. The Marajoara culture flourished on Marajó in the Amazon delta from 800 CE to 1400 CE, developing sophisticated pottery, social stratification, large populations, mound building, complex social formations such as chiefdoms. Around the time of the Portuguese arrival, the territory of current day Brazil had an estimated indigenous population of 7 million people semi-nomadic who subsisted on hunting, fishing and migrant agriculture; the indigenous population of Brazil comprised several large indigenous ethnic groups. The Tupí people were subdivided into the Tupiniquins and Tupinambás, there were many subdivisions of the other gro
Ipanema
Ipanema is a neighborhood located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, between Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema became known internationally with the popularity of the bossa nova jazz song, "The Girl from Ipanema", written by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes; the word "Ipanema" comes from the Tupi language and means "stinky lake", from upaba and nem or "bad water. Ipanema today consists of land that once belonged to José Antonio Moreira Filho, Baron of Ipanema; the name "Ipanema" did not refer to the beach, but to the homeland of the baron at São Paulo. Ipanema gained fame with the rise of the popular bossa nova sound, when residents Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes created their ode to the neighbourhood, "The Girl from Ipanema." The song was written with music by Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by de Moraes. Ipanema is adjacent to Copacabana and Leblon Beach, it is easy to navigate because the streets are aligned in a grid. Ipanema's beach culture includes surfers and sun bathers.
Every Sunday, the roadway closest to the beach is closed to motor vehicles allowing local residents and tourists to ride bikes, roller skate and walk along the ocean. Ipanema is one of Rio's most expensive districts to live in. Ipanema has played a cultural role in Rio de Janeiro since the city's beginning, with its own universities, art galleries, theaters, it holds a street parade, the Banda de Ipanema, during Carnival festivities separate from those of Rio de Janeiro, attracting up to 50,000 people to the streets of Ipanema. The beach at Ipanema is known for its social life. Two mountains called the Dois Irmãos rise at the western end of the beach, divided into segments delineated by postos, or lifeguard towers. Beer is sold along with the traditional cachaça. There are always circles of people playing football and footvolley, a locally invented sport, a combination of volleyball and football. In the winter the surf can reach nine feet; the water quality varies from clear light-blue water to a more murky green after heavy rains.
Constant swells help keep the water clean, the treacherous beach break forms surfable barrels. Just west of this colorful section, towards Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, is another popular stretch of sand known as Posto 10, referring to the #10 lifeguard station; the beach is one of many areas. In its waters, "fecal coliform bacteria sometimes spike at 16 times the Brazilian government's'satisfactory' level." Large amounts of pollutants are still dumped into the sea through the nearby marine outfall pipe, a matter of increasing concern to ecologists. Beachgoers applaud the sunset in the summer. In 2008, the Travel Channel listed Ipanema Beach as the sexiest beach in the world. Posto 9 is the section of the beach around the #9 lifeguard station, across from Joana Angelica Street, its notoriety began around 1979 when Fernando Gabeira, now a federal deputy for the State of Rio de Janeiro, returned from political exile in France and was photographed there in a thong. He had been a member of the leftist urban guerilla group MR8, which kidnapped the American ambassador, Charles Burke Elbrick, in 1969 and demanded the release of fifteen political prisoners in exchange for his life.
Gabeira became a political celebrity with the publication of a memoir about his experiences as a guerilla and his years in exile. In 1979, he was photographed wearing a skimpy purple swimsuit at Ipanema, gave an interview to a gay and lesbian newspaper, inciting rumors that he was gay, which he neither confirmed nor denied, his going to the beach at Posto 9 made it famous throughout the country. Posto 9 inherited its status as a gathering spot for counter-cultural types from the area near Farme de Amoedo Street, next to the dunes called Dunas do Barato and a pier, demolished in the 1970s, it has a long history of public cannabis smoking, police raids, gatherings of left-wing intellectuals. It is still popular with students, artists and liberal-minded people. A group of hippies started a Sunday market in Ipanema in 1968 and the traditional fair continues with over 700 stalls set up at the Feira Hippie de Ipanema. Back to Rio, RGSSA blog post contains images of Ipanema Beach, 1914 Ipanema Beach
Rock climbing
Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling. Professional rock climbing competitions have the objectives of either completing the route in the quickest possible time or attaining the farthest point on an difficult route. Due to the length of time and extended endurance required, because accidents are most to happen on the descent, rock climbers do not climb back down the route, or "downclimb" on the larger multiple pitch class III–IV, or multi-day grade IV–VI climbs. Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, one that tests a climber's strength, endurance and balance along with mental control, it can be a dangerous activity and knowledge of proper climbing techniques and use of specialized climbing equipment is crucial for the safe completion of routes. Because of the wide range and variety of rock formations around the world, rock climbing has been separated into several different styles and sub-disciplines, such as scrambling, another activity involving the scaling of hills and similar formations, differentiated by rock climbing's sustained use of hands to support the climber's weight as well as to provide balance.
Paintings dating from 200 BC show Chinese men rock climbing. In early America, the cliff-dwelling Anasazi in the 12th century are thought to have been excellent climbers. Early European climbers used rock climbing techniques as a skill required to reach the summit in their mountaineering exploits. In the 1880s, European rock climbing became an independent pursuit outside of mountain climbing. Although rock climbing was an important component of Victorian mountaineering in the Alps, it is thought that the sport of rock climbing began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century in various parts of Europe. Rock climbing evolved from an alpine necessity to a distinct athletic activity. Aid climbing, climbing using equipment that acts as artificial handhold or footholds, became popular during the period 1920–1960, leading to ascents in the Alps and in Yosemite Valley that were considered impossible without such means. However, climbing techniques and ethical considerations have evolved steadily.
Today, free climbing, climbing using holds made of natural rock while using gear for protection and not for upward movement, is the most popular form of the sport. Free climbing has since been divided into several sub-styles of climbing dependent on belay configuration. Over time, grading systems have been created in order to compare more the relative difficulties of the rock climbs. In How to Rock Climb, John Long notes that for moderately skilled climbers getting to the top of a route is not enough. Within free climbing, there are distinctions given to ascents: on-sight and redpoint. To on-sight a route is to ascend the wall without aid or any foreknowledge, it is considered the way to climb with the most style. Flashing is similar to on-sighting, except that the climber has previous information about the route including talking about the beta with other climbers. Redpointing means to make a free ascent of the route after having first tried it. Style is up to each individual climber and among climbers the verbiage and definitions can differ.
Most of the climbing done in modern times is considered free climbing—climbing using one's own physical strength, with equipment used as protection and not as support—as opposed to aid climbing, the gear-dependent form of climbing, dominant in the sport's earlier days. Free climbing is divided into several styles that differ from one another depending on the choice of equipment used and the configurations of their belay and anchor systems; as routes get higher off the ground, the increased risk of life-threatening injuries necessitates additional safety measures. A variety of specialized climbing techniques and climbing equipment exists to provide that safety. Climbers will work in pairs and utilize a system of ropes and anchors designed to catch falls. Ropes and anchors can be configured in different ways to suit many styles of climbing, roped climbing are thus divided into further sub-types that vary based on how their belay systems are set up. Speaking, beginners will start with top roping and/or easy bouldering and work their way up to lead climbing and beyond.
Still the most popular method of climbing big walls, aid climbers make progress up a wall by placing and weighting gear, used directly to aid ascent and enhance safety. This form of climbing is used when ascent is too technically difficult or impossible for free climbing; the most used method to ascend climbs refers to climbs where the climber's own physical strength and skill are relied on to accomplish the climb. Free climbing may rely on top rope belay systems, or on lead climbing to establish protection and the belay stations. Anchors and protection are used to back up the climber and are passive as opposed to active ascending aids. Subtypes of free climbing are trad sport climbing. Free climbing is done as "clean lead" meaning no pitons or pins are used as protection. Climbing on short, low routes without the use of the safety rope, typical of most other styles. Protection, if used at all consists of a cushioned bouldering pad below the route and a spotter, a person who watches from below and directs the fall of the climber away from hazardous areas.
Bouldering may be an arena for intense and safe competition, resulting in exceptionally high diffic
Alberto Santos-Dumont
Alberto Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian inventor and aviation pioneer, one of the few people to have contributed to the development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft. The heir of a wealthy family of coffee producers, Santos-Dumont dedicated himself to aeronautical study and experimentation in Paris, where he spent most of his adult life. In his early career he designed and flew hot air balloons and early dirigibles, culminating in his winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize on 19 October 1901 for a flight that rounded the Eiffel Tower, he turned to heavier-than-air machines, on 23 October 1906 his 14-bis made the first powered heavier-than-air flight in Europe to be certified by the Aéro-Club de France and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. His conviction that aviation would usher in an era of worldwide peace and prosperity led him to publish his designs and forego patenting his various innovations. Santos-Dumont is a national hero in Brazil, where it is popularly held that he preceded the Wright brothers in demonstrating a practical airplane.
Countless roads, schools and airports there are dedicated to him, his name is inscribed on the Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom. He was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1931 until his suicide in 1932. Santos-Dumont was born on 20 July 1873 in Cabangu in the Brazilian town of Palmira in the state of Minas Gerais in southeast Brazil, he was the youngest of seven children born to Henrique Dumont, an engineer of French descent, Francisca de Paula Santos. Santos-Dumont's father managed a coffee plantation on land owned by his wife's family, bought land in Ribeirão Preto on which he established a plantation of his own, his extensive use of labor-saving inventions earned him a fortune, he was known for a time as the "Coffee King of Brazil." Santos-Dumont was fascinated by machinery, while still a child he learned to drive the plantation's steam tractors and locomotives. He read a great deal of the works of Jules Verne, he wrote in his autobiography that the dream of flying came to him while contemplating the magnificent skies of Brazil from the plantation.
After basic instruction with private tutors, Santos-Dumont studied for a time at the Colégio Culto à Ciência in Campinas, after which he was sent to the Colégio Morton in São Paulo and the Escola de Minas in Minas Gerais. In 1891 Santos-Dumont's father was paralyzed by a fall from a horse, he went to Europe with his wife and Santos-Dumont in search of treatment. In Paris, Santos-Dumont contacted a balloonist with the intention of making an ascent; the price quoted was 1,200 francs for a two-hour flight, plus payment for any damage caused and for returning the balloon to Paris. This was a considerable sum of money, Santos-Dumont decided not to make the flight, reasoning that "If I risk 1,200 francs for an afternoon's pleasure I shall find it either good or bad. If it is bad the money will be lost. If it is good I shall want to repeat it and I shall not have the means." After this he bought a Peugeot automobile, which he took with him when he returned to Brazil with his parents at the end of the year.
In 1892 the family returned to Europe, but Henriques felt too ill to continue on to Paris from Lisbon, Alberto made the journey on his own. His father's health deteriorated and he decided to return to Brazil, where he died on 30 August 1892. For the next four years Alberto lived in Paris, studying physics, chemistry and electricity with the help of a private tutor, returning to Brazil for short holidays. During this period he sold his Peugeot, replacing it with a more powerful and faster De Dion motor-tricycle. In 1896 he returned to Brazil for a longer period, but began to miss Paris and so returned to Europe in 1897. Before embarking he had bought a copy of an account of Salomon Andrée's attempt to fly to the North Pole by balloon, written by the constructors of the balloon, MM. Lachambre and Machuron. In his biography Santos-Dumont describes the book as "a revelation", resolved to make contact with the balloon constructors when he reached Paris. On arrival in Paris Santos-Dumont contacted Lachambre and Machuron and arranged to make a flight, piloted by Alexis Machuron.
Taking off from Vaugirard, the flight lasted nearly two hours during which the balloon travelled 100 km, coming down in the grounds of the Château de Ferrières. Enchanted by the experience, during the train journey back to Paris Santos-Dumont told Machuron that he wanted to have a balloon constructed for himself. Before this was completed he gained experience by making a number of demonstration flights for Lachambre. Santos-Dumont's first balloon design, the Brésil, was remarkable for its small size and light weight, with a capacity of only 113 m3. In comparison, the balloon in which he had made his first flight had a capacity of 750 m3. After numerous balloon flights, Santos-Dumont turned to the design of steerable balloons, or what became known as non-rigid airships, which could be propelled through the air rather than drifting along with the wind. A dirigible powered by an electric motor, La France, capable of flying at around 24 km/h had been flown in 1884 by Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs, but their experiments had not progressed due to a lack of funding.
His first design was wrecked during its second flight on 29 September 1898, he had less luck with his second, abandoned after his first attempt to fly it on 11 May 1899. A major cause of the accidents to his first two airships had been loss of pressure causing the elongated envelope
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