Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").

From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in an ever changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek Phrourion was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These construction mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and lands that might threaten the kingdom. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch and maintain the border.

Fortified wine

Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, is added. Many different styles of fortified wine have been developed, including Port, Sherry, Madeira, Marsala, Commandaria wine, and the aromatized wine Vermouth.

Production

The original reason for fortifying wine was to preserve it, since ethanol is a natural antiseptic. Even though other preservation methods now exist, fortification continues to be used because the process can add distinct flavors to the finished product.

Although grape brandy is most commonly added to produce fortified wines, the additional alcohol may also be neutral spirit that has been distilled from grapes, grain, sugar beets, or sugarcane. Regional appellation laws may dictate the types of spirit that are permitted for fortification.

The source of the additional alcohol and the method of its distillation can affect the flavor of the fortified wine. If neutral spirit is used, it will usually have been produced with a continuous still, rather than a pot still.

Opium

Opium (poppy tears, lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium latex contains approximately 12% of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine and non-analgesic alkaloids such as papaverine and noscapine. The traditional, labor-intensive method of obtaining the latex is to scratch ("score") the immature seed pods (fruits) by hand; the latex leaks out and dries to a sticky yellowish residue that is later scraped off, and dehydrated. The word "meconium" (derived from the Greek for "opium-like", but now used to refer to infant stools) historically referred to related, weaker preparations made from other parts of the opium poppy or different species of poppies.

The production of opium itself has not changed since ancient times. Through selective breeding of the Papaver somniferum plant, the content of the phenanthrene alkaloids morphine, codeine, and to a lesser extent thebaine, has been greatly increased. In modern times, much of the thebaine, which often serves as the raw material for the synthesis for hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and other semisynthetic opiates, originates from extracting Papaver orientale or Papaver bracteatum.

Opium (disambiguation)

Opium is a plant latex that is a source of narcotic analgesic drugs

Opium may also refer to:

Places

Biology

Brands

Arts, entertainment, and media

Film

Music

Albums

Songs

Literature

Fictional locations

Works

See also

Opium (Serebro song)

Опиум (Opioom (or Opium in English)) is the third released single by Russian girl band Serebro. Given to its order of release, the song is nicknamed "Song #3" after its predecessors "Song #1" and "Song #2" (Дыши). This is the fourth song to be made public from Serebro's upcoming album after "What's Your Problem?" was performed at the RMA on 4 October 2007.

Debut

On 13 March 2008 Serebro announced on their official website that they will be releasing their third (official) single "Опиум". The site says that the song premiered on a Russian morning radio show 'BrigadaU' on Europa Plus radio and that until 17 March Europa Plus had exclusive rights to play the song.

The song Опиум is available to download for free (as are other serebro songs) on the official Serebro website.

On 2 May 2008 Serebro announced on their official website that the new music video of Opium will debut on MUV-TV, 7 May 2008. They also mention that this date is the day after their producer's (Maxim Fadeev) birthday.