Blood eagle

The blood eagle is a ritualized method of execution, detailed in late skaldic poetry. Featuring in Norse Sagas, the condemned prisoner would have their spine column exposed and then their ribs severed from the spine and pulled open (to resemble wings). Finally the lungs were exposed (and in some instances covered in salt) to complete the torture and lead to the death of the prisoner. There is a continuing debate about whether the ritual was a literary invention, a mistranslation of the original texts or an actual historical practice.

Accounts

There are only two incidents and one oblique reference in Norse literature which mention the ritual. The primary versions both have some commonalities: the victims are both noblemen (Halfdan Haaleg or "Long-leg" was a prince and Ælla of Northumbria a king) and both of the executions were in retaliation for the murder of a father.

Einarr and Halfdan

In the Orkneyinga saga, the blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to Odin. Torf-Einarr has Harald Fairhair's son Halfdan Long-Leg ritually executed:

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is an online repository of free-use images, sound, and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all Wikimedia projects in all languages, including Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikivoyage, Wikispecies, Wikisource, and Wikinews, or downloaded for offsite use. The repository contains over 30 million media files. In July 2013, the number of edits on Commons reached 100,000,000.

History

The project was proposed by Erik Möller in March 2004 and launched on September 7, 2004. A key motivation behind the setup of a central repository was the desire to reduce duplication of effort across the Wikimedia projects and languages, as the same file had to be uploaded to many different wikis separately before Commons was created.

Several sister projects (e.g. Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Spanish, Basque, Polish, Czech and Slovak Wikipedias) moved all their media content to Commons and stopped allowing local uploading. Some projects, such as the English Wikipedia, have more compliant copyright policy and allow to upload and keep files which are not acceptable at Commons, e.g. fair use images.

The Blood

The Blood are a London-based punk rock band, formed in 1982. Led by Cardinal Jesus Hate and JJ Bedsore (AKA Colin Smith and Jamie Cantwell), the band formed in the early 1980s under the name "Coming Blood". Their music is a blend of hardcore punk, Oi!, heavy metal, football chants and shock rock.

Many of their songs criticize religion or discuss political or philosophical topics. Their first single, "Megalomania", ridiculed the Pope. Doctor Wild Thing played drums on 'Megalomania'. Their second single release "Stark Raving Normal" (a double A side with Mesrine) criticized one-dimensional patriotism, apathy and mediocrity. The Cardinal calls himself a punk secular humanist. Their first album, False Gestures for a Devious Public featuring Evo (ex Angelic Upstarts,Warfare & Major Accident)on drums (1983), hit the UK top 30 and was voted one of the year’s best releases by Sounds magazine. They used to be managed by Garry Bushell, and their song "Such Fun" was on the Oi! compilation album Oi! Oi! That's Yer Lot!. 'False Gestures For A Devious Public' 1983 also included the song 'Mesrine' which was an anthem about the French iconoclastic gangster Jacques Mesrine. 'Mesrine' by The Blood was released in 1983 which preceded the release of the film of the same name that was made in 1984. J.J. Bedsore died in 2004 of multiple organ failure due to years of chronic alcoholism.

Eagle

Eagle is a common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae; it belongs to several groups of genera that are not necessarily closely related to each other.

Most of the 60 species of eagles are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just 14 species can be found – two in North America, nine in Central and South America, and three in Australia.

Description

Eagles are large, powerfully built birds of prey, with a heavy head and beak. Even the smallest eagles, like the booted eagle (Aquila pennata) (which is comparable in size to a common buzzard (Buteo buteo) or red-tailed hawk (B. jamaicensis)), have relatively longer and more evenly broad wings, and more direct, faster flight – despite the reduced size of aerodynamic feathers. Most eagles are larger than any other raptors apart from some vultures. The smallest species of eagle is the South Nicobar serpent eagle (Spilornis klossi), at 450 g (0.99 lb) and 40 cm (16 in). The largest species are discussed below. Like all birds of prey, eagles have very large hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong muscular legs, and powerful talons. The beak is typically heavier than that of most other birds of prey. Eagles' eyes are extremely powerful, having up to 3.6 times human acuity for the martial eagle, which enables them to spot potential prey from a very long distance. This keen eyesight is primarily attributed to their extremely large pupils which ensure minimal diffraction (scattering) of the incoming light. The female of all known species of eagles is larger than the male.

Blood

Blood is a bodily fluid in humans and other animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. When it reaches the lungs, gas exchange occurs when carbon dioxide is diffused out of the blood into the pulmonary alveoli and oxygen is diffused into the blood. This oxygenated blood is pumped to the left hand side of the heart in the pulmonary vein and enters the left atrium. From here it passes through the mitral valve, through the ventricle and taken all around the body by the aorta. Blood contains antibodies, nutrients, oxygen and much more to help the body work.

In vertebrates, it is composed of blood cells suspended in blood plasma. Plasma, which constitutes 55% of blood fluid, is mostly water (92% by volume), and contains dissipated proteins, glucose, mineral ions, hormones, carbon dioxide (plasma being the main medium for excretory product transportation), and blood cells themselves. Albumin is the main protein in plasma, and it functions to regulate the colloidal osmotic pressure of blood. The blood cells are mainly red blood cells (also called RBCs or erythrocytes), white blood cells (also called WBCs or leukocytes) and platelets. The most abundant cells in vertebrate blood are red blood cells. These contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein, which facilitates oxygen transport by reversibly binding to this respiratory gas and greatly increasing its solubility in blood. In contrast, carbon dioxide is almost entirely transported extracellularly dissolved in plasma as bicarbonate ion.