Uranus was, in Greek Mythology, the god of the Sky, and Gaia was the goddess of the Earth. Gaia was also the mother of Uranus, but even being his mother she had several sons with her own son. Cyclopes were the sons of Gaia and Uranus. Cyclopes were giants that had only one eye in the middle of their foreheads. They were very strong and powerful beings, with a very irritable personality. The three cyclopes sons of Uranus and Gaia were called Brontes, Steropes and Arges. They had more children. This way the race of the cyclopes was born. Uranus feared the strength of his sons the cyclopes, and sent them to Tartarus, a hellish place of punishment worser than Hades. But Uranus not only feared the cyclops, he felt that his other sons will also dishonor him. So he threw them to the abysses thinking that Gaia won't notice this. Gaia, enraged, decided to take revenge on him, and did a plan with her son Cronus to use an enormous sickle to castrate Uranus. From the drops of blood of Uranus emerged nymphs and giants. From the spilled blood that fell on the sea, Venus was born. Uranus powers were lost since then, and he only retained the power to predict the future. But Cronus was not alone when he defeated his father Uranus. He freed his brothers the giants that helped him. But once Uranus was beaten, Cronus locked them up, guarded by Campe, a monster with body of woman and scaled skin, whose hair were snakes and scorpions. It was Zeus who killed Campe and freed the Cyclopes and their brothers the Hecatonchires (giants with 100 arms and 50 heads). The Cyclopes helped Zeus forging the thunderbolts, that became the weapon of Zeus with which he is always depicted. Arges did the thunder, Steropes did the lightning. Zeus, using the thunderbolts forged by the Cyclopes, managed to beat Cronos and the other titans. The Cyclopes also forged the trident of Poseidon, that had the power to invoke earthquakes, and the bow and arrows of Artemis. But Apollo, to get revenge on Zeus that had killed his son, murdered the 3 cyclopes. And that's how the first generation of cyclopes became extinct. But there were other generations of cyclopes that inhabited a mysterious island. One of them was Polyphemus, son of Poseidon and a nymph. Polyphemus is mentioned in the Odyssey of Homer. Odysseus arrived to the island of the cyclopes, and entered with his men in the house of Polyphemus, and ate his supplies. Polyphemus, in rage, stuck them inside his house and started to devour them one by one. But Odysseus escaped and made him drunk, and when he was sleeping, they crossed his only eye with a big club. Later on, Odysseus took advantage on Polyphemus blindness and he and his men escaped tying themselves to the undersides of the cyclops' sheep. This way, Odysseus escaped from the island of the cyclopes. Images (in order): Cyclops, by Shadowless; Bringer Of The Fall, by Ridvan; Pilgrims, by Sb51075; Polyphemus, by Maestro Tomberi.

Francisco De Orellana was born in Trujillo (Spain) in 1511 and died in 1546. Francisco De Orellana was a cousin of Francisco Pizarro and Gonzalo Pizarro, both of them conquerors and adventurers. When Francisco was only seventeen, he traveled to Central America. He joined his cousin's (Francisco Pizarro) expedition as a soldier and took part in the conquer of the Inca empire. He lost an eye in battle, and before he was 30, Francisco De Orellana had been an important part in the colonization of Peru. He founded the city of Guayaquil, and became a very wealthy man. Between the advantages that Francisco De Orellana had compared to other adventurers there is his deep knowledge of the American lands, and that he knew several Amerindian languages. When the war between Francisco Pizarro and Diego De Almagro started (both of them were powerful Spanish conquerors), Orellana joined his cousin and created a small army that fought in the battle of Salinas, in which Diego De Almagro was defeated. Tired of so many adventures, he retired to Ecuador, and became the governor of Santiago De Guayaquil. For some time, he had a peaceful life, but one day he received some news: Gonzalo Pizarro was looking for men to go to the "Country of the Cinnamon", and Orellana joined the expedition. Cinnamon was a very valued spice. In that time, it had a value very similar to gold's. In addition, they were also trying to find El Dorado, a mythical place that was supposed to have big quantities of gold, and a city with streets of gold. The search for El Dorado was an obsession for many adventurers. But when Orellana was going to meet his cousin, he was already gone. But he had left him a message telling Orellana to follow him and meet on the way. So Orellana and his men crossed the Ecuadorian Andes. It was a very dangerous area, hard to go through, with hard environmental conditions. Orellana lost many men before he arrived to the camp of his cousin Gonzalo Pizarro. But far from finding forests full of trees of cinnamon, they found dangerous swamps that were impossible to inhabit. The expedition was very tired, they had very little supplies left, and many men had died. They had no strength to cross the jungle. They found a river and decided to build a ship. It was very hard as they had to cut trees, create furnaces, and the needed forges to build the vessel. As they were still many men, Gonzalo Pizarro ordered Orellana to take 60 of their men and go down the river to find supplies. As Orellana knew many native languages, he could manage to communicate with the Indians, and ask for help. But Orellana and his men didn't find any village while they were navigating by the rivers Coca and Napo. They suffered so much hunger that they even ate their own shoes. Orellana feared a mutiny, but he refused any special privileges, he suffered the same hunger as his men. They arrived to a village and the people there received them with generosity giving them food. Orellana couldn't accomplish the mission that Gonzalo Pizarro gave him, as his men didn't want to go back. They awaited Pizarro in that place. One month passed, and there were no news about Pizarro, so they went on board and went down the river. In Napo River they saw there were more turbulences as they advanced, until they reached the Amazon River. The name of Amazon was given because in their travel they found some terrible warrior women that reminded them of the legendary Amazon, so they gave the river this name. They built a new ship, called Victoria, and Orellana and his men survived to many risks before they arrived to the sea. Between the biggest menaces there were those warrior women that were very skilled with the bow and arrows. Their Queen was called Conori, and had great treasures. In the Amazon River they discovered the most exuberant vegetation that anyone could imagine. They arrived to the Caribbean Sea, to the island of Cubagua. They had not discovered El Dorado nor the Country Of Cinnamon, but they discovered the Amazon River. Orellana was accused of betrayal for abandoning Gonzalo Pizarro, but his men testified and he was found innocent. The following year, Orellana married. They ordered him a new expedition to the Amazon River. This time, the path will be the other way round, from the sea to the river. But that journey was much harder than the previous, and most of the crew died, and Orellana himself with his wife.

After three years of waiting, finally Indiana Jones is back. The return of Indy was in the mind of George Lucas since 1993, but 15 years have passed until this movie is shown for first time, the fourth part of this series. "Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" is a wink for Indiana's fans, and an attempt to capture the attention of the new generations, as Steven Spielberg himself said. Following the comments that Harrison Ford did, this kind of movies that mix so much emotions and fun are hard to find nowadays. This movie is without a doubt done with a big care. It is told that during the filming of the movie, when Harrison Ford was finally dressed for first time as Indiana Jones, everybody in the filming team clapped with emotion. I confess that I'm a big fan of adventure movies and Indiana Jones. I went to the cinema quite skeptic but I liked it very much. In fact, it may be the second one of the saga that I like most after "The Temple Of Doom". Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull As in the previous movies, this is directed by Steven Spielberg and the executive producer is George Lucas, who wrote the story with Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour and series like Terminal, The Last Shot). The story is the following: Indiana keeps on getting himself in trouble, and it costs him his job as teacher in the University. A young rebel called Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), son of Marion (the girl that appeared in "Raiders Of The Lost Ark", the first movie of Indiana Jones) asks Indiana Jones for help and they go together to Peru. They get the coveted Crystal Skull, but the Russians, lead by a diabolical Cate Blanchett go after them and the skull. As in the other movies of Indiana Jones, there's a mix of fantastic and real elements. As a curiosity, in the beginning of the XX century, the archaeologist F.A. Mitchell-Hedger found some fossilized skulls in the shape of quartz crystal. Their origin is still a mystery. In this movie, they talk about Francisco De Orellana, a Spanish explorer and adventurer that gave its name to the Amazon River. I will write a post soon about this personality, and also another one about the Nazca Lines, that also appear in the movie and are part of a real mystery. Indiana Jones, the character Although Indiana Jones seems a comic book character, he's actually originated in the imagination of George Lucas. Lucas created Indiana (Indy) in 1973. Indy is an archaeologist and teacher that searches for historical relics. In his adventures, Indiana always wears the same clothes (as a comic hero): a hat (a fedora, that is near to loose in many occasions, risking his life to recover it), a brown leather jacket, brown trousers similar to those of a II World War soldier, shirt of safari-style, a bag and a whip and a revolver as weapons. The success of the character is without doubts due to the unforgettable duet of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The name of Indiana is a reference to the dog of Lucas which had that name. In the beginning, Indy's surname was Smith, but Spielberg changed it for Jones. Indiana Jones is a brave hero, intelligent, very lucky to keep himself safe and sound after all the dangerous situations that he has to face. He has only one phobia: the fear to snakes. The character of Indiana Jones has been so captivating that has generated many theme parks, a TV series, computer games, and fans for generations. Raiders Of The Lost Ark It was shown for first time in 1981. The music is by John Williams. It was starred by: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey. The story is the following: It's 1936. Indiana Jones is a teacher in an University that searches historical relics. This time, he searches for the Ark of Alliance, where the Hebrew put the tables of the law that God gave to Mosses. Those who have the Ark in their hands will be invincible, so the Nazis try to get it. Curiosities of this movie: During the filming, Karen Allen "let go" real punchs to Harrison Ford. The tarantulas that they used were real too. And as nobody was very convinced with the "Fedora" hat, they trampled on it and wrinkled it to make it more realist. They also used real snakes for the movie, and Harrison Ford was not bitten in the filming. But when he got to his home, a snake bite him in his garden. Karen Allen's character is called Marion, that was the name of Steven Spielberg's cat. The Temple Of Doom It was shown in 1984. The music was also by John Williams, and it was starred by Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ice Quan (The Goonies)... Indiana Jones has a fight in a night club in Shanghai and escapes with his little oriental friend and the club singer in a plane. After an accident they end in a small village of India, where all the children have disappeared, as well as the powerful stone that protected them. Curiosities of this movie: During the filming, an elephant ate the read dress of the actress Kate Capshaw. Kate Capshaw married Steven Spielberg some time after this movie. Steven Spielberg appears in this movie, in the first scene of the airport. The Shanghai club is called "Club Obi Wan". The Last Crusade It was shown for first time in 1989. The music is by John Williams. It's starred by Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, River Phoenix... Indiana Jones' father (Sean Connery) is kidnapped when he was searching for the Sacred Grail. Indiana will have to rescue his father and help him to find the Grail. Curiosities of this movie: The rats of the basements of the Library of Venice are real rats that were already there. Sean Connery uses to take his trousers off between the scenes in the filming for "relaxing himself". Some scenes in which only his torso is visible are filmed with Connery in shorts. The hat of Indy was stapled to the head of Ford in some scenes, so it couldn't fall.

In this moment, Twitter is one of the most fashionable tools in Internet and outside Internet. Many people connect to Twitter from their mobile phones, iPods... It's one of the most easy and fast communication tools. Twitter allows you to share information, images and videos. With Twitter you can be in constant contact with your friends and family, and allows you to meet many new people. Without a doubt, this list can help you to get the most of Twitter. Twitter Client Software Hahlo, Twitter client for iPhone and iPod. It has a lot of features and a very neat and appealing interface. Yahoo Messenger Twitter Plugin, Integrate Yahoo Instant Messenger with Twitter so you can post to Twitter from it. Spaz, Desktop client for Linux, Mac and Windows. It is opensource, fully customizable and has a very appealing design. TwitterFone, Post messages to Twitter using your voice through your mobile phone. Twibble, Client software for Windows and Mac. Full of interesting features. HelloTwitFace, Twitter client software for Windows Mobile. Twit From Terminal, This is a geeky trick to post to Twitter from Terminal, which Linux users would love. TwitBerry, Twitter client application that runs on a BlackBerry. Twhirl, Desktop application that can connect to multiple Twitter accounts that you have, and to Friendfeed at the same time. It can also send messages to Pownce and Jaiku. Twitteresce, Java Twitter client for mobile phones. Image/Video/File Sharing TwitPic, Web tool that lets you share images on Twitter and also watch in real time what images people share. TweetCube, Share and send files through Twitter. Share as many files as you want, of a size of 10 MB or less. Twit+, Service to share videos, images and files through Twitter. Twixxer, Solution that consist in installing a Firefox plugin (Greasemonkey) and a script, and after that you can share and view pics and videos directly on Twitter. Twiddeo, Share videos on Twitter using this service, and also watch the recently shared ones in their website. This gives it the added value of promoting your videos. Read Reviews On Twitter TwitterCritic, If you like Twitter and movies, this web tool tells you the opinions of Twitter users that have been posted, so you can decide to watch some movies or not. Notches, Find all kinds of reviews on Twitter: foods, movies, gadgets, software... Bkkeepr, If you like reading and Twitter, this is a way to share your readings through Twitter. Find Twitter Friends TweetWheel, You enter the Twitter name of someone and it makes a wheel graphic with his/her contacts. This also shows the connections between them, who's friend of who, etc. Twellow, Index of people in Twitter in categories. You can also add yourself to this index. Twits Like Me, Find people that are similar to you to add them as friends in Twitter. Twubble, Lists people that you may like to follow, as they share common friends that you are already following. Twitter's Most Popular Twist, Like Google Trends but in Twitter. Compare the use of words inside Twitter. You enter two words and it shows a graph with the compared amount of use they have. Twitio.us, Like a del.icio.us of twits. You can install a button in your browser that will allow you to send the url you're watching directly through your Twitter account. There's also a website with the last twits sent, and the most popular ones. Twitturly, It's like a Digg of Twitter. All the most shared urls of Twitter are published here. Tweetlists, This website shows the people with more Twitter followers, the most linked domains, and the most popular links on Twitter. Graphics Tweetgift, Give small virtual gifts to your Twitter friends. Free Twitter Graphics, Very original buttons in PNG and GIF for making easier to your visitors to follow you on Twitter. Auto-Post To Twitter TwitterFeed, This tool posts your RSS to your Twitter every time you publish a new post on your blog. It can be used to post any RSS Feed to Twitter, not only blog posts, so your updates, or RSS of social sites, can be automatically published on your Twitter. AutoPostr, This web service post a message automatically to Twitter when you add a photo to Flickr. Posting Tools TweetLater, Schedule your twits for later, to be published when you want. TwitThis, Button that you can insert in your website or blog and make easier for visitors to send your page or posts to Twitter. Tweetburner, Creates a short url that you can post to Twitter, and in addition you can keep track of it and see if it is shared and clicked. Twiddict, Sometimes Twitter is down. When it happens, you can post to Twiddict and they'll post your messages to Twitter when it's up again. Post Like A Pirate, You can write something and this web tool instantly converts it to pirate slang and sends it to twitter. A fun tool to talk like a pirate. LOL!!! Conversation Tools Quotably, To follow conversations in Twitter is difficult, and to reply them too. This web tool makes it very easy as it shows conversations threaded. TweetBeep, Alerts you when someone mentions something that you want to watch, and emails you. Tweet2Tweet, Shows conversations or replies between 2 Twitter users that you specify. Another possible use is to know if someone made references to you or replied and you didn't noticed. TwitterIgnore, Ignore the messages of a too talkative Twitter user without actually unfollowing him/her. Crowdstatus, Another way of seeing a group of people's twits. It shows the messages of the selected people in a single page, so you can visualize them as a whole, being less confusing. TweetDumpr, Exports your messages on Twitter and the time the were sent to a file that emails to you. TwitRefresh, For lazy ones, it loads your Twitter page and refreshes it every minute. Watch The Public Conversations TwittEarth, Watch messages of the Public timeline of Twitter in real time over a 3D Earth and watch cool monsters as avatars. Twistori, Fun experiment that consists in a scrolling text of the messages that people send containing the words love, hate, think, feel, believe... An inspiring one. Twittter Spy, Watch the Twitter public conversations as they come, read them, pause or play the upcoming of messages, and locate them in a map. TwitterVision3D, Shows a rotating 3D Earth globe with the blurbs of messages of people in real time. TwitterVision, This tool shows a map of the world and shows in real time the messages of people in blurbs as they come to Twitter. Find More Uses For Twitter PollDaddy Twitter Polls, Use Twitter to run polls using the free PollDaddy service. Chirrup, Use Twitter as a comment system for your website, wiki or blog. HelpWith, Get help and help others asking and answering questions with Twitter and this service. StrawPoll, Run polls on Twitter and ask whatever you want through it. Tiwtzu, Web tool that finds an use for Twitter as a way to organize events and post them to your followers, that can sign up and tell you that they'll come. TwitterDoodle, Wordpress plugin that shows the messages of people in Twitter that mention a topic of your choice. So you can place it in the sidebar and have related content through Twitter. Search Engines TweetScan, Search engine that looks into the messages of people in Twitter and gives you a list of the ones in which your search was mentioned. Summize, Searches on conversations of Twitter in real time. A faster and powerful search engine, with docs for programmers that want to make some application based on it. Firefox Extensions TwitterFox, Firefox Extensions that installs a Twitter icon in the status bar. When you click on it, it opens a mini-window that shows the messages of your Twitter network of friends. That way you can keep track of your friends messages while you use Firefox browsing, and don¡t miss anything. TwitterBar, Send messages to Twitter from your Firefox address bar. You can also send the url in which you're in. Twitkit, Firefox add-on that runs in a sidebar of your browser and can deal with most of the possible things that you can do when posting with Twitter. TwitBin, Opens your Twitter page in a sidebar of Firefox, so you can see your Twitter friend's messages while browsing, and reply. If you don't have a wide monitor screen, you may prefer TwitterFox. Tweetbar, Similar to TwitBin. A browser extension that shows your Twitter page in the sidebar, and runs both in Firefox and Flock.

Resources Getting free textures isn't very easy. Here you are an excellent resource. These textures could help you for making the background of a banner, 3D creations... The free textures are categorized in grunge, fabrics, metal... There are hundreds of textures of high quality. Also, If you want you can have the possibility of buying the CD with all textures. Free textures.org Video Some time ago I found this awesome video. This animated video is called "A gentlemen's duel" and it's a great work of Blur Studio. Photography After the horrible tragedy happened in China, where an earthquake killed more than 60.000 persons, I wanted to link these beautiful photos of China. It's difficult to forget so horrible scenes of pain. Here you can find the beautiful China. And I only want to tell that my heart is with the victims of the earthquake. Amazing photos of China Art Bruno Torfs makes awesome sculptures of wood. Full of fantasy and really charming. His works seem to go out of a fairy tale. Bruno's art Humorous Movies and Photoshop, really funny photo-montages made with pics and mixing several movies. Flickzzz Bizarre Home Decor for absolute geeks. Well... Have a look :) Creativecloseup.com Music The Silk Road, is a piece by the great Japanese compositor Kitaro. His music is really amazing, mixing traditional music with a sound full of spirituality and passion for nature.

Everyday, all those who loved him cried in silence. At the back of the room there was that child of pale skin and dark sad eyes. His smile was so sweet, and his voice was a breeze that slipped away like sand spilling through fingers. One day, that child, called Jonathan, received a pleasant surprise. His friends had come to visit him. The three children made his house recover life again. Between laughs and smiles, they remembered their pranks and games. Little Jonathan said "Do you guess what I would like to do? To go back to the forest. We, all together... but that's impossible... I'll never go out from this room". All of them felt sad. Then, the little girl called Maggie turned her face, with her eyes covered with tears. Alan, said "And why don't we go there now?". Everybody looked at each other. Michael opened the wardrobe and said to Jonathan: "Take this, wrap yourself up. We're going". The children escaped through the window. The forest was not too far. They were so happy. Suddenly, Jonathan found a key in the ground. Each one of them started to let their imagination fly about who could be the owner of that key, and what may it open. "It must be the key of a treasure chest", said one. "Not, it's the key of a palace", said another one. They talked for a long time about the origin of that key. "Keep it with you, Jonathan, as you found it", said Alan, the youngest of them, and everybody agreed. The following week, Jonathan left them forever. Everyone of them cried for him. Maggie said to Jonathan's mother: "Is Jonathan carrying the key?" "That key that he always had with him in his last days? Whose is that key?", she asked. And Maggie replied "It's Saint Peter's. He lost his key, and Jonathan went to Heaven to give it back". The three children agreed with that. His mother put the key inside his little hands. And Jonathan left for that place were nobody has come back. His little face showed peace and joy. Photos: The Key, by negativemarionette, and In The Forest, by Hartmut Lerch.

"My baby she left me, my baby she's gone. My sweet little angel has spread her wings and flown. Can't think of a reason for going on. From this day I will play the blues. She said it was over, this time it's the end. Bad luck and trouble gonna be my only friend. I still can't believe it, after all we've been through. Everyday I will play the blues. Everybody knows what the blues is all about. It's a pain you can't live with. It's a woman you can't live without. She came from Chicago. She read me the news. In the headlines was a story of the blues. They say a broken heart can always mend. Time is the healer and sadness will end. But I've done so much crying, when will I laugh again? Till that day I will play the blues. Everybody knows what the blues is all about. It's a pain you can't live with. It's a woman you can't live without. Could have cried me a river when they told me the news. On that day was a story of the blues." -lyrics of the original song- You can find this song "Story of the Blues" in the Gary Moore album "Best Of The Blues", edited in 2002. In this double CD you can find so legendary songs like "Walking by myself" or "Still got the Blues". The beginnings of Moore were in rock. Moore has been guitar player of one of the most influential rock bands: Thin Lizzy. But although he has got a successful career in rock, maybe he's more famous for being a bluesman. Kings of blues like B.B. King or Albert Collins have collaborated with Moore. But without a doubt what makes Gary Moore special is not only his virtuosity playing the guitar. It is his nostalgic way of playing, that makes us travel with our minds.