DRAGONFLY GLOBAL PRODUCTIONS, LTD., Blog

Tuesday, February 24:

MARDI GRAS IN RIO: FLOATS & SEX; PLUS A BRIEF HISTORY OF "FAT TUESDAY."

The Middle East Must be put aside again. It is Major party time around the Christian world today and particularly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: The Big Daddy of all Mardi Gras'.

Enormous Tiger Float belonging to a Rio Samba School.


Solange Alves (Yes, the Woman), Queen of the Drums dancing in Rio.

The pictures of hundreds of floats and very, very sexy women dancing could fill up this blog for months; but it's roots are part of a Christian holiday, Shrove Tuesday ( from "to shrive," or hear confessions).

"Mardi Gras" literally means ,in French, "Fat Tuesday". The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting on fattened calf on the last day of Carnival (Today!). Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale meaning "Farewell To The Flesh" an apt word when you consider that the city of Rio de Janeiro gave out 2 Million Condoms this year for the very, very festive celebration.

Carnival most likely has it's roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons, as many Christian holidays are.

It is also the last day before Lent, that coincides with a a Roman tradition, started as early as the second century, of 40 days of Fasting. Lent begins tomorrow on the Catholic Holyday Ash Wednesday. Thus, all Mardi Gras Carnivals around the world end abruptly at Midnight tonight. And the clean-up crews from Rio, to Nice, to New Orleans, and everywhere else having Carnivals begin their massive clean up.

For The Full History of Carnival Read: Mardi Gras' Catholic Roots.

Have a wonderful Mardi Gras where ever you may be.

Regards,

Charlie
Charles B. // 10:42 AM

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Wednesday, February 18:

SADDAM HUSSEIN HEAVILY INTO DRUGS.

This Is your Brain On Drugs; Well Known Anti-Drug Commerical.

This Is A Bloodthirsty Dictator On Drugs.

All joking aside, Saddam's former senior aide, Issam Rashid Walid, Iraq's ex-Chief of Protocol, says ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein frequently used cannabis (pot, weed, blow,etc.) and heroin (skag, dope,etc.) while Dictator and was probably high when he invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Walid is now based in London and is releasing his book titled In Saddam's Shadow in French in the coming weeks.

Walid said Saddam began with cannabis in 1959 and then moved up and up to heroin. "Drugs made him lose his mind," Walid said. Quite a profound statement.

While "high" Saddam ordered that one of his foes be devoured by a doberman pinscher.

It wasn't all that bad in business for the "Dictator on Drugs." He amassed a fortune of roughly $35 Billion through various investments particularly in the Brazilian auto industry.

Strange drug induced business decision. One has to remember, though, that being a successful business leader and captain of industry does NOT mean that one has to be rational. Most tycoons I've known are literally out of their minds, but have good press that shows them sane to the public.

Sorry, I did forget about Saddam's infamous Minister of Information who had to be doing the hubbly bubbly along side Saddam.

Regards,

Charlie
Charles B. // 12:10 PM

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Friday, February 13:

ST.VALENTINE'S DAY: BOTH A TAME & A SEXY HISTORY.

This is being written on the day, always on a Friday during the show, that Johnny Carson of The Tonight Show (His bio included for all to remember & enjoy) always tried to stump the audience with the question: What is the fear of the number 13 called?
Answer: Triskaidekaphobia.

But back to St. Valentine's Day where it is now celebrated even in the Muslim world. A high ranking Saudi Royal Family official goes as far as to claim he was born on that day, because of the time difference, and uses it as his private e-mail address.

One of the TWO St. Valentines baptizing St. Lucilla (c. 1575).

Yes, there were two St. Valentines. The origin of the day goes back to the Roman era when February 14th. was a holiday to celebrate Juno the goddess of love and marriage. February 14th. was also the eve of the Lupercalia Festival key to the whole St.Valentine's history. On this day, in Rome, the boys would each pick a girl's name from a vase and become partners for the length of the festival; dancing and celebrating (even if either sex was not to the other's liking: O.K., ugly). Lupercus was the god of fertility.

That being understood, we fast forward to Pope Gelasius, who in 496 A.D. changed the date of the festival from the 15th. to the 14th. (formerly the eve of the festival).

Now enters the First St. Valentine who went against the proclamation of Roman Emperor Claudius and married couples. Emperor Claudius needed soldiers, not lovers. The First St. Valentine was jailed and died in prison.

St. Valentine the Second was jailed for helping Christians in the 3rd. Century. In prison, Valentine fell in love with the jailor's blind daughter, and by a miracle, he cured her of blindness.

For this miracle, St. Valentine the Second was executed on, yes,February 14th. and then his heart was cut out.

In 496 A.D. all the Valentine stories were combined and Pope Gelasius declared February 14 in honor of the combined St. Valentines.

Now the sexy part, as we fast forward again to The Beatles.

Just CLICK HERE and the sexy girl above, The Beatles, and MUCH, MUCH, more, frankly TOO much after reviewing the entire site, will all fall into place.

Have a wonderful, loving St. Valentine's Day,

Charlie
Charles B. // 11:13 AM

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Monday, February 9:

PASSPORTS GALORE: STOLEN, MISSING (AND VALID), AND NO COUNTRY'S SEEMS ACCEPTABLE AFTER OCTOBER 26th. TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES, EXCEPT ONE.

On February 5th. it was reported by The Australian that a "gang" had stolen 9000 blank French passports and 6000 vehicle registration cards in a heist of a truck outside of Paris.

On February 6th. it was reported by NEWS24 that 60,000 Finnish passports were "gone" or missing. A lieutenant commander at the Finnish frontier said that Finnish passports were attractive in many criminal circles because, the commander astutely noted,"most (passport controllers) don't speak Finnish or know anything about Finland, so it's hard for them (the controllers, as well as the rest of the world) to decide if the passport holder is , in fact, from Finland or not."

If this isn't enough to bring more confusion to the Bush Administration's GWOT (Global War on Terrorism), then the fact that all people entering the United States by the 26th. of this year must have Machine Readable Passports (MRP), even countries with visa waivers to enter the U.S. such as the U.K., Ireland, and most of the European Union, and Australia. All visa waiver countries have asked for an extension to come into compliance and it will most likely be granted by the U.S. Dept. of State. But the State Department's original passport law stated that all passports had to be biometric after the 26th., not just MRP that contain a mere two lines of computer code at the bottom of the photo page.

The winner on all fronts with both MRPs and biometric passports by the 26th. looks to be Australia with its new Hopping Kangaroo Passport. The passport has an abstract image of Australia's national symbol, the kangaroo, cut by laser onto a glass laminate giving the impression of hopping- like the real life marsupial from down under- making the passport "virtually impossible" to forge.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer Holding The Hopping Kangaroo Passport.

These hopping passports have been issued since December 1, 2003.

Even the United States does not have the biometrics for their own passports. But, then again, 90% of the U.S. population does not have a passport.

Regards,

Charlie
Charles B. // 10:51 AM

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Monday, February 2:

SEA PIRACY AT ALL TIME HIGH.

Putting aside, again, the "War on Terrorism" and the Bush administrations derailed "roadmap" to Middle East Peace, it's important to note what is happening on the high seas around the world.

Stereotypical Image Of Pirates.

I am constantly amazed when mentioning about pirates (hardly ever; give me a break!) that everyone seems confused when I say it is alive, deadly, and flourishing around the world. The stereotypical idea of pirates and piracy, as shown in the image above, is long gone, of course, but it has evolved into a deadly form that resulted in over 445 attacks around the world last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

This Agency describes how and where the pirates operate. And, yes, they are still after valuable goods. Today, though, these pirated goods come from container vessels, bulk carriers, chemical and oil tankers.

These attacks take place mainly in South East Asia off of the Indonesian and Malaysian coasts. A detailed world map of pirate attacks in 2003, provided by the IMB, will wake up any seafarers' complacency that pirates are long gone. Frankly, the world map showing pirate attacks is scary, as scary as al-Qaeda.

In addition, if the reader wishes to keep up with what is happening on the world's oceans, the IMB again comes to the rescue of the skilled as well as casual seaman with it's detailed Weekly Piracy Report on piracy.

Stay safe and keep up to date on this modern day phenomena that is not a myth, but brutal reality.

Regards,

Charlie
Charles B. // 10:59 AM

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