entertainment
science & technology

Researchers and historians are still arguing about why Omaha Beach was the hardest beach to capture in the D-day landings. Presenter Richard Hammond analyses the latest theories with Dr. Simon Trew of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

in this post you can watch this interesting bbc documentary, read wikipedia’s article on “omaha beach”, and watch the video of the making of bloody omaha.

omaha beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the allied invasion of german-occupied france in the normandy landings on 6 june 1944, during world war ii. the beach is located on the coast of normandy, france, facing the english channel, and is 5 miles (8 km) long, from east of sainte-honorine-des-pertes to west of vierville-sur-mer on the right bank of the douve river estuary. landings here were necessary in order to link up the british landings to the east at gold beach with the american landing to the west at utah beach, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the normandy coast of the bay of the seine. taking omaha was to be the responsibility of united states army troops, with sea transport provided by the u.s. navy and elements of the royal navy. [wikipedia]
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the neanderthal (short for neanderthal man) is an extinct member of the homo genus known from pleistocene specimens found in europe and parts of western and central asia. neanderthals are classified either as a subspecies (or race) of modern humans (homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or as a separate human species (homo neanderthalensis). [wikipedia]

Tank Man, or the Unknown Rebel, is the nickname of an anonymous man who stood in front of a column of Chinese Type 59 tanks the morning after the Chinese military forcibly removed protestors from in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. The man achieved widespread international recognition due to the videotape and photographs taken of the incident. Despite his anonymity, he is commonly (though not necessarily correctly) referred to in Chinese as Wang Weilin (王維林), as dubbed by a Sunday Express article. [wikipedia]

nowrūz (persian: نوروز, ipa: [nouˈɾuːz], “new day”, originally “new light”) is the name of the new year in iranian calendars and the corresponding traditional celebrations. nowruz is also widely referred to as the persian new year.
nowruz is celebrated and observed by iranian peoples and the related cultural continent and has spread in many other parts of the world, including parts of central asia, south asia, northwestern china, the crimea and some groups in the balkans.
nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in iranian calendar. it is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on march 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. as well as being a zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the zoroastrian ancestors of modern iranians, the same time is celebrated in parts of the south asian sub-continent as the new year. the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and iranian families gather together to observe the rituals.
originally being a zoroastrian festival, and the holiest of them all, nowruz is believed to have been invented by zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin. since the achaemenid era the official year has begun with the new day when the sun leaves the zodiac of pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of aries, signifying the spring equinox. [wikipedia]

mohammad mosaddegh or mossadegh (19 may 1882 – 5 march 1967), was the democratically elected prime minister of iranfrom 1951 to 1953 when he was overthrown in a coup d’état backed by the united states central intelligence agency. [wikipedia]
michael minn has composed a rock opera based on the story of the coup: “mossadegh is the true story of the coup orchestrated by the c.i.a. in 1953 that installed the shah of iran. ” [michaelminn.com]

painting by morteza katouzian

mossadegh rock opera contains 12 tracks:
dream of persia | waiting for the future | gunboat diplomacy | fight the communists | ‘da shah | survive | sign the decrea | long hot summer night | the calm before the storm | regroup, reorder, restore | finale | workin’ fo’ the c.i.a.

all music and lyrics are composed by michael minn and available in realaudio and mp3 format on michaelminn.com.

the band playing sign the decree