Photo(s) of the week: The Big Pair

 

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia was born on this day in 1895

 

Olga with Pierre Gilliard

Olga and Anastasia in Tobolsk

Olga and Tatiana sitting on the same chair?

Olga with Rita Khitrovo

Olga with Rita Khitrovo

Sticking her tongue out at the camera?

Photo of the Week: Circle Game

 

The golden month of college sports season

    It is now early November and that means college football is nearing the end of it's regular season while college basketball season tipped off today. My Iowa State Cyclones currently sit at 6-3 with three games to play against Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and TCU. They could still make the Big 12 Conference championship game but that would require:

1. Winning all three of their remaining games
2. Baylor dropping another game and at least one of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State finishing 7-2 in conference.

    In Iowa State's most recent contest they defeated that snake in the grass known as the Texas Longhorns by a score of 30-7, marking the third straight victory over Texas and possibly the last as conference opponents. Soon Texas will be heading to the Southeastern Conference in pursuit of more money because if there is one thing the University of Texas athletic department lacks it's money.

    God willing, Kansas will beat Texas this Saturday and put them on the brink of missing a bowl game.

Horns Down!

    Today was the first day of college basketball season. While the Iowa State men's team will have to win me back from last season's 2-20 disaster the women's team has rather lofty expectations.

    They began their regular season today by hosting Omaha. in the first half they almost seemed afraid to attack the paint and the stats showed it; of their 30 field goal attempts in the first half, 20 were 3-pointers (and they only made four). Perhaps it was just pre-game jitters because they seemed to calm down coming out at halftime and became more aggressive in the lane, ultimately winning 65-38.

FYI, the men's team did beat Kennesaw State tonight 84-73, so they're at least off to a winning start.

Photo of the Week: Anastasia kissing her tennis racket

And some other photos from the same day

Restore the Monarchy Part 1: Montenegro

    It is known that I support the return of old monarchies and the creation of new monarchies and today I was reading the Wikipedia article for sub-national monarchies when I read the one sentence mention of Montenegro. The brief blurb spoke of something called the Law on the Status of the Descendants of the Petrović Njegoš Dynasty. The page for the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty states that:

In 2011, Montenegro recognized an official role for the Royal House of Petrović-Njegoš in Montenegro: to promote Montenegrin identity, culture and traditions through cultural, humanitarian and other non-political activities, which has been interpreted as a "creeping restoration" of the monarchy.

    Further down the page it states:

On the 12 July 2011 the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Law on the Status of the Descendants of the Petrović Njegoš Dynasty.

The law "regulates the important issues regarding the status of the descendants of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, for the historical and moral rehabilitation of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty for whom their dethroning was contrary to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Montenegro, a violent act of annexation in the year 1918." (Article 1).

The law recognises the descendants of King Nikola I in the male line and their wives as the descendants of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty (Article 2), and appoints the eldest male heir, namely Prince Nikola II, as the representative of the dynasty (Article 5). It also affirms the House law of the dynasty by defining the succession to the headship of the dynasty as being passed down through the "male heir of the oldest male heir" (Article 5).

The law protects the use of the heraldic symbols of the dynasty by the representative of the dynasty, Prince Nikola II (Article 6).

Article 8 allows for members of the dynasty to obtain Montenegrin citizenship and also to be dual-nationals of other nations without losing their Montenegrin citizenship. This is of particular relevance today as all of the members of the dynasty also hold French citizenship.

The law also creates the non-political (Article 10) Petrović-Njegoš Foundation (Article 9), an organisation chaired by Prince Nikola II (Article 10), with its aim to "affirm the Montenegrin culture and participation in humanitarian and development activities in the interest of Montenegro and its traditions" (Article 9).

From Montenegro's exchequer, the law allocates 4.3 million euros over a seven-year period to the Petrović-Njegoš Foundation (Article 11). In addition, Prince Nikola II is entitled to a monthly income equivalent to the gross monthly earnings of the President of Montenegro (Article 16).

The Petrovic-Njegoš Foundation has its seat in Montenegro. "The Descendants of the dynasty are given the continuous use of the house of King Nikola I of Montenegro in Njeguši...its gardens...and meadow-land."

"Descendants of the dynasty will have built for them a family home in Cetinje...and be given an apartment in Podgorica" (Article 12).

To carry out their official functions Prince Nikola II has the right to use State objects and resources and "the exclusive right of use of the first storey" of the Petrović Palace (Dvorac Petrovića) in Podgorica, "and when protocol requires, use of the ground floor with priority over other users" (Article 13).

The law allows for Prince Nikola II to act as a representative of the Government of Montenegro and perform other protocol and non-political functions (Article 7). The first such undertaking was made by the Prince in July 2011 when he represented the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Igor Lukšić, at the requiem of Otto von Habsburg, former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary.

When performing functions on behalf of the Government, Prince Nikola II and the other members of the dynasty are afforded full State protocol (Article 15).

    To me this reads as Montenegro being a constitutional monarchy in everything but name. If only they would go one step further and make it official.

Firestorm

    Day and night had long since blurred together. At this point we were only delaying the inevitable and conceded our house to the flames. We tried to leave town on the main road going east but abandoned vehicles blocked the way. Upon returning to town we went to the visitor’s center where emergency services were shuttling people out on buses. Seating was limited and most of the buses had already left. Instead we joined a convoy of private vehicles heading out on the bus route. Our car had to be abandoned when a tree fell in front of us. Just as well for once we stepped out the tires erupted into flames. It was misery.

We pulled our jackets up to shield our heads from the flames that licked at us from both sides of the road. As we walked I noticed an ember alight on my finger, yet I couldn’t feel it burn. I couldn’t even feel my sweat. Was I sweating? The soot coating my skin felt dry. I tried rubbing some off between my fingers and with it came the outer layer of skin. I felt no pain. I looked beyond my hands and saw that the bottom of my shoes had melted away. I had been walking barefoot on the asphalt for some time. Feeling nauseous from heat stroke, I vomited. Now my stomach rumbled with hunger.

After walking for what felt like an eternity our group emerged from the blaze into a clear blue sky, as far as I could tell. With my eyes cloudy as egg whites I could only see silhouettes against a nondescript background. I raised my hands in a vain attempt to wipe my eyes clear and felt the skin on my arms split open. I held them straight out to avoid any more damage.

    Eventually I could hear people talking in the distance. I couldn't understand what they were saying. I called out to them but with all of the smoke I had inhaled I could only get out a hoarse groan. I reached out for help and shambled over to them.

    Finally I was close enough to hear what the voices were saying. “There’s nothin' we can do for 'em, boys, 'cept send 'em back to God", said a voice in a country drawl, "Make it quick for 'em and aim for the head.”