No great movement designed to change the world can bear to be laughed at or belittled. Mockery is a rust that corrodes all it touches.

Milan Kundera

Sexual abuse drags a person's soul to the darkest of places. The victim feels trapped with no where to run, no one to share their secrets with. The loneliness is their only friend as they lie there numb and silent. So belittled they long for the silence forever.

Someone I knew went through this, and today I find out that she took her life to end the pain. I am so sorry that I was not physically closer to you, and that I did not know that any of this was going on. I wish I could have done something, anything to prevent this. You were my friend, and I will forever miss you dearly.

This tribute is for you. Rest in love my friend.

Listen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CveANi17YfU

We ought not to be embarrassed of appreciating the truth and of obtaining it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us. Nothing should be dearer to the seeker of truth than the truth itself, and there is no deterioration of the truth, nor belittling either of one who speaks it or conveys it. Al-Kindi

Although many people ask, there really isn't a single best Grand Canyon view. Each location is unique and offers a new insight. The Grand Canyon is about seeing the beautifully exposed pile of rock that makes up the Canyon and this changes from every view point you visit. It is interesting to observe how monuments and temples make entrances and exits and change shape as your angle of view varies.

The best places to watch the Grand Canyon sunset and Grand Canyon sunrise are where there are few obstructions to your view. Most of the Grand Canyon view points are located on promontories that stick out from the rim. The perfect spot would be a point that extends out into the canyon far enough that you have a clear view of both east and west.

"The canyon of the Colorado River has become for me a haunting memory, dwarfing all things that I have seen, belittling all the gorges, all the mountains that in the past impressed me."

Burton Holmes, travel writer and lecturer

Thank you for your comments,

Gemma

Copyright ©Maria Gemma June, 2015

“The true dwellers help you embrace

the darkness in yourself and wield it at will.

It is never belittling but empowering.”

― Harshita Gottipati, Born A Free Spirit

“It is becoming fashionable to scorn the idea of sin in society. The impact of humanistic thinking is to belittle the concept that man is corrupt. Psychologists and psychiatrists would persuade us that people really are not responsible for their wrongs. Rather, the view of sociologists is that the environment is all wrong.

Their cry is, 'Change society and you will get better men and women'. It simply does not happen.

Christ's call is, 'Change men and women and you will get a better society'. This does work. It always has.”

― W. Phillip Keller, Salt For Society

The little prince believes he can fly...

Skippy was excited to shape his wonder-filled universe with the following inspiring creations:

David Heather's Villi Jacket, which is part of the SWAGBAG!

Deadwool's Pleated Jeans, which you can find at TMD,

and Ulrich Boots!

The FORGE's Black Helmet and Goggles!

Booger's Picket Fence!

Zerkalo's Wheels!

Little Branch's Wild Grass!

Scarlet Creative's Wimberley Farmhouse!

Make your dreams come true.

Support one another and lift each other up up up to the stars!

I believe in you!

For the Saturday Smile topic: "Blue for You - ME 2023"

Taking inspiration from Elvis Costello's Album and track "Almost Blue" and weaving together crystal glass sphere, glass prisms and a blue scarf.

The video verison I chose is by Chet Baker at a concert in Tokyo in 1987, and is instrumental as well as vocal. Quite soft ....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjf6gb8hjW8

As a long-time sufferer from M.E. I appreciate the chance to draw people's attention to what has always been a post-viral phenomenon. Any virus can leave sufferers with long lasting after-effects. For too long the medical community has belittled and scorned M.E. I was told that either I should go buy a new dress or get a new haircut, and snap out of it!

After Covid has revealed the reality of just what long-term damage can and does arise from viral infections, we all hoped that at last lessons could be learned from the mis-treatment of M.E. sufferers. But there are already hints of impatience creeping into the conversation as no easy solutions have been found - so let's hope that it won't be back to the old medical stand-by "blame the patient".

If you are interested I wrote about the experience of M.E. in 2019, before the pandemic

theliddells.com/m-e-and-me/

HCC and HSoS ;o)

Cliche and Smile on Saturday: Here

The colour Blue: Here

Blend and Merge: Here

My Glass set is: Here

Post-processing set: Here

A sunset from last September, far north Norway, bumfuck in the middle of nowhere, it's "almost" near Ballangen village, which itself is "almost" near Narvik, which is almost civilization :-), I don;t mean to belittle Narvik, I would retire there if it wasn't so expensive.

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Hi I am the best thing you never had... Corban

I have always found it amusing how much a person will take from another. How we will let them treat us badly, neglect us, belittle us and abuse us... yet we continue to go back with open arms asking, née begging for more.

Someone recently came into my eye line, someone I thought was a friend but recently the feelings turned a little, that flutter of beautiful excitement starts as a tiny tickle, a spark inside your guts. It grows and permeates through your entire being, gripping and clawing you until it possesses every fiber.

Find the full rambles and credits @ Corbans Cabinet of Curiosities

we should not forget those acts of courage with which men have lived :-)

John F. Kennedy

HFF!! Impeach, Convict and Imprison!

tall bearded iris, 'Ride the Tiger', j c raulston arboretum, ncsu, raleigh, north carolina

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.”

– Mark Twain

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Phantos/254/177/24

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in the Canadian Rockies is the majestic Pyramid Mountain overlooking the town of Jasper (in the bottom left third of this image) belittled by the enormity of the natural world around it.

Shortly after taking off from Vancouver I was playing with the in flight entertainment and realised that our plane was en-route to Eastern Russia from our current position over the Yukon – that suggested to me that our flight path would likely take us close to or over the Denali National Park in Alaska and, if so, we would possibly be flying past the southern face of the stunning Mount McKinley.

My geography is acceptable but by no means exceptional but, on this occasion, I surprised myself because about an hour later I was eagerly trying to peer out of the right side windows at the highest mountain peak in North America – exactly as I had hoped.

I’m back in Australia watching India bat against Australia in the summer cricket series and reading about the Bass and Messner lists for the seven summits club – one of the worlds most respected challenges for the brave of heart and thinking back to the sharp cold of the Canadian Rockies and what it is that I truly miss.

I am a humble Australian with little experience in and indeed no desire to peruse such a challenge as the seven summits but the pursuit to seek out the best of what this amazing world has to offer is certainly what interests me. All I need to do is find a way to achieve this before my only chance passes me by.

Life, apparently, only gives us one chance.

Now, back to the cricket.. :(

View large and, as always, thanks for looking!

The fingers delighted in ridiculing and belittling the thumb just because he looked different than them. They didn’t realize or even think about the thumb’s importance in the hand’s ability to grasp and grip.

Our Daily Challenge: “Embracing Weird” and “The Odd One/Man Out”

The candle glows

A bright encouraging molten gold

The light filling our heart

Imparting happiness

An optimistic feel

Lending a fiery liveliness

Radiant even in sad times

Cheering us up when blue

Expanding small hearts

Into an ocean of generosity

Yet when the light wanes

Charring the milky white wick

Almost drooping like a dog’s ears

Enveloped by dying smoke

Gradually darkening like the summer night sky

With its light no more

Pessimism invades

Depressing, boring black

Adding a frown, gloominess and melancholy

The magic evading, leaving us belittled.

... a cyclist belittles a car ...

Holland, land of cyclists.

The main feature of this shot was the planet in the background. I was just captivated by its presence. I just had to pose in a pair of short shorts for a somehow conflicting settings within between the planet and me on a beach. The location of the shoot is in the title but who knows how long this place will exist before being removed.

Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean - Paul Simon

Érase una vez un océano, pero ahora es una cordillera. Algo imparable se puso en marcha. Nada es diferente, pero todo ha cambiado. Es un trabajo sin futuro y te cansas de estar sentado. Es como el hábito de la nicotina, siempre estás pensando en dejarlo y yo pienso en dejarlo... todos los días de la semana.

.....

One of the great mysteries of science and for scientists has been the behavior of migratory animals when they navigate the open sea, where there are no visual reference points. And the greatest mystery has always been the ability of turtles to travel thousands of kilometers and mysteriously return to the beach where they were born. Turtles have feeding grounds and breeding grounds separated by great distances of several thousand kilometers. Sea turtles are possibly one of the living beings with the greatest capacity for navigation and orientation. A few years ago, science rendered its verdict on this astonishing ability. Turtles are able to detect the lines of the Earth's magnetic field and use it as a "map" to navigate and travel within it, covering enormous distances. This allows them to return, many years later when they reach maturity, to the same beaches where they were born to lay their eggs and give birth to a new generation of baby turtles (on average, it usually takes 20 years to reach this level of development). When they are born, the young turtles memorize the data (or pattern) of the magnetic field of their home beach and store it in their brain, in their memorie. This data they will later use to return across the open ocean. They detect the intensity, inclination, magnetic declination, and other parameters of the magnetic field of the place where they were born, and as they grow, the young turtles learn to distinguish the magnetic field and the different parameters and variations this magnetic field has in the places they encounter along their journey. This allows them to compile a "magnetic map" in their brains that allows them to navigate between specific feeding and nesting areas by reading and using the detected magnetic field lines. This way, they always know their position, longitude, and latitude. To put it more simply, they have and use a map, just like you and I, except it's a magnetic map, through which they travel, or if you prefer, they have built into their brains, something like a compass or GPS to navigate thousands of kilometers. At the end of the last century, a colony of turtles that departed from the beaches of Japan began to be monitored. Approximately two decades later, when they had reached sexual maturity, they returned to the beach where they were born, traveling a great distance, almost 15,000 kilometers. However, migratory movements and the distance traveled are currently being studied in a population of turtles that departed Papua New Guinea heading for North America. (I imagine monitored by satellite.) These turtles have reached sexual maturity and are returning to their native beaches. It is believed that these sea turtles, once they reach their place of origin, will have made a journey of almost 20,000 kilometers. While scientists worked for centuries to invent instruments for maritime navigation, sea turtles moved away from the coasts and into the mysterious oceans unknown to humans, deciding at every moment where they wanted to go. While navigators and sailors clung to the coast, never straying far from land so as not to get lost and be able to return home, sea turtles, thousands of miles away, decided when to change course and return with extreme ease... to the place where they were born.

.....

¿De nuevo en casa?

Noooooo... nunca volveré a casa.

¿Piensas en casa de nuevo?

¡Nunca pienso en casa!

Pero entonces llega una carta de casa. La letra es frágil y extraña. Algo imparable se pone en movimiento. Nada es diferente, pero todo ha cambiado. La luz a través del vitral era cobalto y roja y los puños y cuellos deshilachados fueron remendados por halos de hilo dorado. El coro cantó: ""Érase una vez un océano"" y todos los viejos himnos y apellidos bajaron revoloteando como hojas de emoción...

Nada es diferente... pero todo ha cambiado...

.....

Legend has it that when the dinosaurs exercised their tyranny on Earth, the turtles decided to return to the oceans. But Nature made them pay a price. The eggs from which the next generations of turtles would hatch had to be buried on the beaches for incubation. The turtles had to return to land, even if only for a brief moment, to deposit the eggs as an offering to Nature so that the next generations of turtles would hatch on land, on the beaches, and then return to the ocean. The life of turtles is an odyssey. Throughout their lives, they must overcome many difficulties. When they are born on the beaches, many predators wait to feed on tiny turtles that measure only four centimeters and weigh 20 grams. Only 10% make it to the sea. But their odyssey continues for years, overcoming dangers. They also encounter many predators on their journeys across the sea. Only when they reach maturity and have a strong shell do they live safer and longer. But only one in every thousand turtles reaches maturity. Even with strong shells, they are attacked by sharks and orcas. The life of turtles is a constant struggle. There is no animal species that has such calmness, perseverance, constant, determination, and resilience. In nature, it is not the strong who survive, but those with the ability to adapt to circumstances, to ecosystem changes and fight. It is not the strongest who survive, but the most intelligent, constant and adaptable. The true masters of the oceans aren't the aggressive sharks and orcas. The true masters of the oceans are the intelligent octopus... and the persevering, sage and tenacious turtle.

Surviving Sea Turtles - National Geographic Wild

.....

The "Caretta caretta" is a large sea turtle and is the most common and widespread species of sea turtle on the coasts of Catalonia and the Mediterranean. It spends most of its time at or near the surface, making it very easy for fishermen to catch. This is why it is commonly known as the "loggerhead" (silly, foolish) turtle. I hope that one day someone will change the vulgar and stupid name used to describe one of the most intelligent species in the oceans and give it a more respectful name. One of the greatest dangers to turtles is precisely the fishing nets that fishermen carelessly abandon on the seabed, just like trawling nets. These nets become a death trap for the turtles.

www.worldanimalprotection.es/siteassets/images/hero/tortu...

.....

Ocean Bloom - Hans Zimmer ＆ Radiohead / (Blue Planet II, produced the BBC Natural History Unit, 2017)

Open your mouth wide. The universal sigh. And while the ocean blooms it's what keeps me alive.

.....

Life's An Ocean - The Verve

.....

Turtle - Thomas Newman

"Turtle" is a song written by Thomas Newman for the soundtrack of the film "Cinderella Man." I don't know the meaning of the song or what it has to do with a film based on the life of a boxer. Only Newman knows that. But the explanation could be the following, although I'm not sure about it. "Cinderella Man" is a film based on the true story of a boxer, James J. Braddock, who received the nickname "Cinderella Man" for having the ability to win fights, even though he was never the favorite and was infinitely inferior to his rivals technically. Braddock was American but his roots were Irish (perhaps this is why the song "Turtle" has a musical base of Irish Celtic music). He retired from boxing due to frequent injuries to his right hand. Furthermore, when the Great Depression hit in 1929, he had to work for years as a stevedore in the port to earn money and support his family. Given his precarious financial situation, he decided to return to boxing, trying to use his left hand to box. Eventually, he was presented with the opportunity to challenge Max Baer, a very strong and technically gifted boxer, for the world title. Baer was a boastful, arrogant, and brutal boxer who boasted of having killed two boxers in the ring. Baer was infinitely superior to Braddock, both in strength and technique, as the betting odds indicated. In fact, Baer didn't even train or prepare for the fight. During the fight, Baer was all about foolishness and clowning around in the ring. He mocked his opponent, belittled him, and underestimated him, knowing he was better than Braddock and would beat him sooner or later. Braddock took heavy blows from Baer. He endured them with consistency and patience. He withstood all of Baer's heavy right hands as best he could. He never let his opponent knock him down. As the fight progressed, Baer grew exhausted and lost strength, ultimately losing the fight against Braddock "Cinderella Man.". Max Baer underestimated his opponent. He failed to realize that "no one is better than anyone else" and that overconfidence can lead to failure. He failed to see that arrogance, vanity, haughtiness, or feeling superior to others are bad traveling companions that are useless in learning to overcome oneself every day. They distance you from sacrifice and effort, from dignity and honesty, something that Braddock did possess. But having come this far, what does this story have to do with the song "Turtle" on the soundtrack? Perhaps the explanation lies in the fable of the tortoise and the hare, where the two challenge each other to a race. The cunning and confident hare, aware of its speed and the tortoise's slowness, feels far superior to it. The hare mocks the tortoise, belittles and undervalues it. Meanwhile, the tortoise walks at its slow but steady pace, aware of its limitations, never giving up even when everything is against it, and continuing to strive to the maximum and with perseverance. In contrast, the confident and swift hare decides to rest next to a tree and falls asleep. But when it wakes up, it's too late. The slow but steady tortoise, who hasn't given up, reaches the finish line and wins the race. The fable invites us to reflect on the fact that it's not good to belittle or mock anyone. That "no one, absolutely no one, is better than anyone else." That overconfidence, vanity, arrogance, and hubris are bad traveling companions. Fables, nature, our own lives, always find a way and a time to show us that we're not the best, that we're not as strong or as smart as we thought. Life, sooner or later, eventually finds a way to teach us a lesson, learning from that lesson depends solely and exclusively... on you.

PS: I know. I don't like boxing either. I don't approve of it, and I don't find it exemplary. But even in a boxing movie, you can find something that will help you in your life. Even if it's just a song. Anyway in English, the word "turtle" is used for sea turtles and "tortoise" for land turtles. Conclusion... I don't know why Newman composed a song called "Turtle" for the Cinderella Man soundtrack. But it's a song I really like, and I was looking for an excuse to include it in this photo. And I also wanted to remember the other turtles... the land turtles. And I couldn't find a land turtle song I liked.Only Newman knows why he titled it... "Turtle."

PS: In Celtic culture, turtles have a multifaceted symbolism: they symbolize longevity, endurance, protection, security, stability, perseverance, experience, and wisdom. Braddock had Irish roots. An Irish person is considered a person of Celtic descent. And perhaps this is why Newman titled his song "Turtle." But only Thomas Newman knows that.

PS: "No one is better than anyone else". But you believed... that you would win...

.....

¿Y cuándo cobraré mi billete de lotería y enterraré mi pasado con mis cargas y mis conflictos? Quiero sacudir cada rama del Jardín del Edén y convertir a cada amante... en el amor de mi vida.

.....

Le grand bleu (Pat)

2nd Movement of the Odyssey... (of the Turtles) - Incubus

4th Movement of the Odyssey... (of the Turtles) - Incubus

PS: Supongo que una vez... fui un océano...

“Keep away from those who

try to belittle your ambitions.

Small people always do that,

but the really great make you believe that

you too can become great.”

– Mark Twain

...

Vintage Fair |DRD | FoxCity | TENTACIO | Rezz Room

...

All the details SimplyAnafied

do matter. Belittle them and, before you know it, life will start losing its glow.

Best viewed by pressing L :)

Brooklyn Bridge, NYC

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B27w1pnXvY

What you did to me made me see myself something different

Though I try to talk sense to myself but I just won't listen

Won't you go away? Turn yourself in, you're no good at confession

Before the image that you burned me in tries to teach you a lesson

What you did to me made me see myself somethin' awful

A voice once stentorian is now again meek and muffled

It took me such a long time to get back up the first time you did it

I spent all I had to get it back, and now it seems I've been out-bidded

My peace and quiet was stolen from me

When I was looking with calm affection

You were searching out my imperfections

What wasted unconditional love

On somebody who doesn't believe in that stuff

You came upon me like a hypnic jerk when I was just about settled

And when it counts you recoil with a cryptic word and leave a love belittled

Oh, what a cold and common old way to go

When I was feeding on the need for you to know me

Devastated at the rate you fell below me

What wasted unconditional love

On somebody who doesn't believe in that stuff

Oh, well

Lesson 1 today :

Narcissists in SL

What is a narcissist?

*Perfect charmer at first: flatters you, showers you with attention.

*Constantly needs validation, praise, and admiration.

*Has no genuine empathy - your feelings are secondary.

*Manipulates: distorts facts, belittles you, you're "always" to blame.

*Double standards: he can do anything, you can't.

*Can't maintain genuine closeness - withdraws when you no longer function.

*Behind the facade: a weak ego that constantly needs fuel to fill the inner emptiness.

How do you protect yourself?

#Don't believe the "love bombing" at first > check if words and actions match.

#Set clear boundaries and don't let yourself be intimidated by fear of losing him.

#Trust your gut: if something seems strange to you, it is.

#Don't make yourself dependent - always maintain your own life without fear of consequences.

#Withdraw his energy: no justifications, no drama > just pull away.

Your own peace is the most important thing in your life. Freedom is the most beautiful feeling of all.

Homework for today:

Recognize narcissists - and let them sit with their emptiness in SL.

_____________________________________________

SchlappOhrStyle Blog

____________

My PRIMFEED

Primfeed Post

____________

ALOE - Selene’s Corset -

ALOE MARKETPLACE -

____________

CYNFUL SHOP - Dizzy You Up Skirt - Cynful Marketplace

____________

~Mark Twain

Happy Friday Peeps!

An oldie re-visited because I am tired and don't feel up to processing new stuff today! Hope everyone has a FAB weekend:)

Made Explore October 3rd #150

View On Black

Stay away from people trying to belittle your ambitions. The petty people always do it, but the big ones really make you feel that you too can become one.

EXPLORE #467Summer holidays are coming in two weeks!!!

This is the last week at school for our students. At this point of the year, I feel I need to go away, I feel exactly like this video...Every time I see this video, (it is an Argentine advertisement) it makes me cry a little bit...I love it...

Wish I was the scarecrow...please watch it:

HAVE A GOOD REST OF THE WEEK DEAR FRIENDS!!!

Peace and freedom indeed.

Freedom to speak -- without competition.

Freedom to listen -- without judgment.

Freedom to be right -- without domination.

Freedom to be wrong -- without accusation.

Freedom to laugh -- without ridicule.

Freedom to cry -- without belittlement.

Freedom to be vulnerable -- without fear of condemnation.

Freedom to worship -- without comparisons.

Freedom to love -- without restraint.

thanks Frank!

By Kahlil Gibran

Once I said to a scarecrow, “You must be tired of standing in this

lonely field.”

And he said, “The joy of scaring is a deep and lasting one, and I

never tire of it.”

Said I, after a minute of thought, “It is true; for I too have

known that joy.”

Said he, “Only those who are stuffed with straw can know it.”

Then I left him, not knowing whether he had complimented or belittled

me.

A year passed, during which the scarecrow turned philosopher.

And when I passed by him again I saw two crows building a nest

under his hat.

##############################################

Scarecrow is something frightening but not dangerous. Aims to scare birds from damaging crops in the fields.

Scarecrow here tells the story of a conditioning your region in a state of war. He built from the rubble of war.

Grenades and chain as the symbol: the supply of arms will continue to flow strongly in that area.

Barbed wire and apples as a symbol:

a state of war would be very painful for civilians, from birth to death he felt tormented by barbed wire. State of siege lasted very long, from birth to death, from green to rot, from generation to generation. This is something sad for us all.

two crows as a symbol: puzzle, who actually make the region in a state in a state of war. seemed to be peace in the region difficult upheld.

Scarecrow intended to scare anyone trying to make the region's peace.

rant 73

##############################################

© Leanne Boulton, All Rights Reserved

It can happen to anyone, from any walk of life.

20 years ago I had a career that I was incredibly proud of, saving lives, I had a home, mortgage, car and disposable income. I was confident and, even though I hate to blow my own trumpet, I was incredibly good at the work that I did.

I was, however, bullied, harassed, abused, belittled and ostracised by management and many colleagues in a toxic environment where this behaviour had spread like a cancer. This went on daily for 13 years. I thought that I was 'ignoring' it and just knuckling down in my work. I didn't know, until it was too late, that this was damaging both my physical and mental health.

After some time off due to a stress breakdown I returned and the bullying turned into a witch hunt. They succeeded. My mental and physical health had been destroyed. I was wrongly advised to resign by a union that had representatives embedded in management. I was too unwell to pursue any means of recompense.

Losing my career lead to my first Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy attack. This one was nearly fatal.

I have suffered from Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) for at least 20 years as a direct result of this. Only finally receiving help for the condition last year after years of medical denial because the establishment at the time did not understand the connection between non-life threatening instances and PTSD despite mounting evidence. Thankfully it is much better understood today.

The bullies took my career, my confidence, my identity, my physical health, my mental health and now they have taken my relationship and my home. My ex being unable to cope with my PTSD and reacting to it in a way that was making it worse in a cycle that just destroyed our relationship.

Now, unable to work and unable to claim benefits for the moment, unwell, terrified and struggling at times to cope with basic life things, I am facing this horrendous situation that is so daunting there are times that my thoughts go to a very dark place.

I never imagined any of this would happen to me. I was on top of the world back in the early 2000s. The best time of my entire life.

Maybe I deserved this. Maybe I did something terrible in a former life. I don't know. I can't make sense of it.

I don't want to give up just yet. I want to fight back. I just have so little actual physical support. PTSD can cause isolation. Distrust. Withdrawal.

I have lost my few best friends since moving to Scotland for numerous reasons outside of my control. My family are 300 miles away and offer just loving thoughts. I am on my own.

On Friday I will be completely on my own for the first time in 20 years. This time without the confidence and abilities I had back then. I have to try and find them but without safety, comfort and familiarity I face an impossible task. It can take monumental effort just to cook a simple meal. PTSD is a terrible thing to have.

I am sharing my story as I don't know when or how I will return to Flickr.

Photography has been my recovery. My saviour from PTSD. An adrenaline kick from street photography, the excitement of the edit when you return home. Sharing my photographs with you and taking time to enjoy your photographs. The Flickr routine has kept my sanity and been an important part of my day for years now. I fully intend to return but the odds are against me at least for the moment.

Some of you wanted to help by donating towards the expensive Internet costs I will face in temporary housing.

I hate asking for help but please know that I am incredibly grateful for the help that I have received, both financially and otherwise. Just knowing that people care is a help in itself.

If you wish to keep in touch with me via WhatsApp while I am unable to get my PC online then please Flickrmail me your contact details. (bearing in mind that over the next few days my time is limited).

My PC will be packed tomorrow so I may make one more post before I go. I'll make sure it is a happier picture.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am profoundly thankful for the friendships and acquaintances that I have made here. You are all wonderful, awesome people. Thank you.

Homelessness can happen to anyone.

bored bothered bruised burdened

Celia Farber claims to be an investigative *ahem* journalist. Really she is nothing more than a person who gets paid for spreading HIV denialist propaganda. Every cause has their mouthpiece. Celia Farber is an expert. Not in HIV or AIDS. No Celia is an expert in very publicly stitching herself up! The following extracts from an interview are taken from bookslut all comments in bold are my own observations:

BS:You are constantly described as an AIDS dissident that does not believe HIV causes AIDS -- but nowhere in your book is this explicitly stated. So how would you describe your views?

CF: Thank you for noticing that critical detail. I have never written that HIV does not cause AIDS. I don’t think I’ve ever said that HIV does not cause AIDS. I took one semester of journalism in college. Thanks Celia. Good to see that you spent a hell of a lot of time earning the title of journalist!!!

CF: It is not for me to say as a journalist -- as a nonscientist -- what causes or doesn’t cause AIDS. Great Celia. You are off to a blinding start. Not only do you admit to having no substantial education as a journalist but you make it perfectly clear that you are not a scientist...

BS:Do you wish you had taken a different approach reporting? Is there anything you would have done differently?

CF:My quick answer is usually yes, of course. But it’s unanswerable… What I wish I had done differently, in retrospect, was to calculate the damage and the blight, both on myself and on my family and ask myself, “Is it fair to do to others?” Because what you actually do is you invite financial ruin. The damage and the blight Celia? Oh poor you and your poor family! How many of your denialist chums have died? How many people who have listened to your warped rhetoric are now dead because they did not access the treatments that could have prolonged their life? That is the damage and that is the blight Celia. NOT the fact that you did not earn more money. But I think that is more to do with just the one semester at journalist school than anything else...

BS:As a non-gay male AIDS reporter and Westerner investigating Africa, did you have to deal with identity politics?

CF: I never got that kind of guff from any Africans, [but] certainly from the gay community. Those that were opposed to what I was doing -- that was one of the charges: that I wasn’t gay and how the hell could I know what I was doing and what right did I have to say anything? But that’s inconsistent with the core belief system, which is that AIDS is everybody’s disease... Yes darling but you started spouting your denialist crap in 1988. Do you also have selective amnesia? Of course the Gay community were going to take exception to your denialist crap because Gay men were bearing the brunt of the numbers of deaths and the social stigma. The last thing they would have wanted when they were dying would be for someone like you to add more bulshit to the fire...

I would go to AIDS conferences and go through an immense crisis each time, “Am I crazy or are they crazy?” Answers on a postcard...

BS: Do you think The Constant Gardner was able to voice political dissent as it is shielded as fiction?

CF:I would caution people against assuming that John le Carre is writing fiction. Let me make a generality: fiction writers today like John le Carre are doing journalism, and the journalists are writing fiction. Thanks again Celia.... i didn't need to read this interview with you to know that you talk a pile of stinking shit! But thanks for the clarification!

I do wish that I could crawl away, quietly and turn up on some completely other part of the beach. So do we Celia, so do we... and take your denialist chums with you...

Celia worked as a researcher on the BBC documentry "Guinea Pig Kids" This is what the BBC had to say about the programme in question:

ECU ruling: Guinea Pig Kids, BBC2, 30 November 2004 and related websites

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/news/2007/11/30/51154.shtml

Publication date: 30 Nov 2007

Complaint

The Director of Planning and Policy Research of the New York-based Center for HIV Law and Policy, supported by several academics and other agencies involved in HIV research and treatment, complained that the programme unfairly claimed that New York City's Administration for Children's Services, together with a number of medical and child care institutions, "effectively conspired to force helpless children of colour into inappropriate and sinister 'experiments' when in fact they made life saving drugs already approved for adults available to children living with HIV/AIDS who were in the foster care system", that it gave a misleading impression of the effects of anti-HIV medication, and that it falsely claimed that "denying medication to children with AIDS will improve their health while appropriate treatment will kill them".

BBC Editorial Complaints Unit's ruling

The programme explored legitimate concerns about a research project involving the testing of anti-HIV drugs on children in the care system, where (it had emerged) there had been a failure in some cases to provide independent advocacy as required by the research protocols. However, the programme portrayed this failure as being the more serious because the drugs being trialled were, it claimed, both "lethal" and ineffective. In support of these claims, the programme interviewed an expert witness who was, though the audience was not told, a leading advocate of the propositions that HIV is unconnected with AIDS, that anti-retroviral drugs do not work in the treatment of AIDS and that they are, in fact, responsible for deaths attributed to AIDS. The audience was not told that his was a minority and controversial view which would be challenged by mainstream medical opinion. No other medical opinion was heard on this subject.

The programme also gave the false impression that parents or carers who objected to their children being placed in the trials risked losing custody of their children. In fact, the three case studies which created this impression did not involve children connected with the trials. Though there was no explicit claim that "denying medication to children with AIDS will improve their health while appropriate treatment will kill them", the treatment of case studies in the programme contributed to that impression. This complaint has been partly upheld.

Further action

A correction will be published on bbc.co.uk, as part of the pages on which the material complained of appears, with a link to this summary. In addition, the ECU will contact other websites featuring the material in order to draw their attention to its ruling. The management of BBC News is addressing the issues arising from the ruling for the commissioning and supervision of independent productions of this kind.

Celia Farber: An AIDS Denialist Masquerading as a Journalist

www.aidstruth.org/folly.php

Celia Farber, the author of the March 2006 Harper's Magazine article attacking HIV clinical research, misrepresents herself to the popular media as a legitimate journalist and science writer, interested only in doggedly covering a good story. She is in fact an AIDS "dissident" who has been publicizing and extolling the claims of AIDS denialists and attacking scientific research on HIV/AIDS since the late 1980s. Farber has signed the two defining petitions of HIV denialism and she co-authored with members of the denialist group HEAL a core tract of the denialist movement called "HIV: Against Science." She described herself in the subtitle of one of her articles as "an AIDS Dissident" and she is a prominent member of the denialist "Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis." Her denialism is well documented, but she conceals her beliefs in order to fool the mainstream media into allowing her to promote them in print.

Farber's main contribution to the AIDS denialist movement is to broadcast their views to the general public in the disguise of objective journalism. In her writing for the popular press, she has consistently and deceptively refused to fully disclose her deep involvement with, and her role as a spokesperson for, the denialist camp. She has also evaded explaining clearly her own understanding or beliefs about HIV and AIDS. Instead, she allows other denialists to make the case for her in extended, laudatory quotes, while maintaining the pretense that she is just an objective reporter asking honest questions, and one who is unfairly abused for her honesty:

All I ever did was follow and report, with what some may consider excessive attention, the vital debate about whether HIV is the cause of AIDS. And whether AZT is a viable therapy for those who are HIV antibody positive. And whether being HIV antibody positive is the same as "having" HIV. And whether "having" HIV necessarily means your immune system is decaying. Etc. I consider all of these questions to be very straightforward, logical, and of obvious importance. I simply picked up a thread and followed it. (Farber , "AIDS Inc." 1994).

Farber's disingenuous claim to "follow and report" on an issue in which she is deeply committed to one side is one she has tried to maintain even as the Harper's Magazine piece brought new attention to the denialist clique. She is reported in The New York Times as saying that she "does not endorse [denialist Peter] Duesberg's position but is simply reporting on an unpopular view. 'People can't distinguish, it seems, between describing dissent and being dissent [sic],'" she wrote in an email to the reporter, Lia Miller. But in fact, people can distinguish between reportage and the party line, and Farber has always toed the latter. She has for two decades consistently attacked medicine, belittled scientific research and enthusiastically promoted denialists and their various claims. There is nothing even remotely balanced in her work.

Despite the denialist motive that drives her writing, Farber lacks the courage of her convictions and won't publicly stand behind the denialist ideology she promotes so relentlessly. She even cravenly disclaims her own positions when cornered. In a recent email she sent to a wide circulation list, she wrote of her Harper's Magazine article, "It does not, for example, say that all AIDS drugs are ghastly, or worthless." No, perhaps not in those exact words, but Farber is being disingenuous. What her article does say is "Duesberg thinks that up to 75 percent of AIDS cases in the West can be attributed to drug toxicity. If toxic AIDS therapies were discontinued, he says, thousands of lives could be saved virtually overnight." In the same email, she asserted "In each article [in the past] where I have addressed HAART I have included, clearly, the fact that the regimens have absolutely helped people who are very sick." That statement's as absolutely false as it is hypocritical. For example, in an article about HAART published in 2000, she made two comments about the benefits of antiretroviral drugs:

There are facts and figures, studies and counter-studies, a virtual blizzard of data that could be arranged to show any number of things. The new AIDS drugs have saved people's lives: that's one piece of truth. The new AIDS drugs have killed people: that's another. The new AIDS drugs have damaged and deformed some people so badly that although they are alive, they wish they were dead.

And:

Precisely what it means for a life to be "saved" is complicated, especially when the patient was not sick to begin with. As [German denialist Claus] Koehnlein wryly commented, "If you treat completely healthy people you can claim great therapeutic success."

Both of these statements, spun by sarcasm, are in effect claims that no people with HIV/AIDS have benefited from HAART, which is a blatant lie.

Farber has tried to portray herself as a neutral observer to The New York Times and critics by claiming she merely presents the contradictory views of others for the edification of the reader. But when we reviewed 34 articles about AIDS by Farber, we found that the clear thesis and topic of every single one was some variant of AIDS denialism--HIV does not cause AIDS; AIDS doesn't exist; there is no heterosexual AIDS; there is no AIDS epidemic in Africa; HIV is not transmitted by sex or by semen or by breast milk; HIV does not exist...

Farber's writing style typically highlights extensive quotes from denialists, whom she describes in warm, laudatory and respectful terms and whose claims are given great credence. By contrast, she consistently attacks legitimate HIV science, medicine, researchers and AIDS activists. Occasionally, she takes the words of legitimate doctors and advocates out of context to support the denialist argument. All of this is held together with her grandiose narrative of her Quest for The Truth: This, she says, "is my private hell, but also my great Sisyphean challenge. My labyrinth…" (Berkowitz: "Interview" 2000).

Celia Farber wants the world to regard her as a courageous and objective investigative journalist, but in reality she's nothing more than a lying propagandist for the denialist mini-movement. What is shocking is that Harper's Magazine's editors fell for this scam.

Roger Hodge: In Cahoots or Just Incompetent?

Roger Hodge, Farber's editor and, sadly, the man replacing Harper's Magazine's legendary editor Lewis Lapham, has defended his ignominious debut by claiming that he is merely airing an important controversy. It is not yet clear if he actually shares Farber's denialism or was, by failing to exercise due diligence, merely deceived by her masquerade as a journalist. Quite possibly, both of these things are true. On the question of HIV as the cause of AIDS, he told Gay City News "I don't feel like I am qualified to judge it"-a dodge similar to Farber's feints when she's in the headlights. The New York Times reported that "Mr. Hodge said the magazine stood behind the article and Ms. Farber. 'The fact that she's been covering this story does not make her a crackpot - it makes her a journalist. She's a courageous journalist, I believe, because she has covered the story at great personal cost.'"

Hodge also continues to assert the accuracy of the article against the overwhelming evidence presented to him that the piece is a farrago of fabrications, errors and innuendo. Gay City News reported that he said: "It was very, very thoroughly fact-checked over the course of three months. … A lot of what people are describing as errors are differences of opinion about the data." But his fact-checkers were either biased or incompetent, because at least 58 scientific and non-scientific howlers made it into print (www.aidstruth.org). Did Farber provide Hodge with her own list of "experts" to consult as fact-checkers? Or did Hodge select them based on his own knowledge of science and medicine? In either case, this vital task in the editing of any article was thoroughly botched.

If all it takes to get a science-bashing article into the new, dumbed-down Harper's Magazine is to warm-over baseless conspiracy theories and wild speculation, then we can expect the next issue to feature a piece from the Discovery Institute that promotes Intelligent Design – let's teach the controversy, brave Sir Roger! And perhaps he'll offer space to the oft-maligned Holocaust denialists, too, who make the same claim that legitimate scholars will not pay attention to their theories.

Hodge's quotes in Gay City News reveal that he still sees AIDS denialism as something honorable, a case of the little guy taking on the big bad wolves of the federal government and the pharmaceutical industry, standing up to be counted, risking it all for the sake of the truth and freedom of speech. If this were true, Hodge would have the full support of all of us, for we share this predisposition. We, like most scientists and AIDS activists, are liberals and progressives. That's why it's so difficult for us to accept that Harper's Magazine, a journal aimed at liberal intellectuals, would print Farber's article. The AIDS denialists are not honest dissidents, and they tarnish the word by using it. In South Africa, they even have tried to link their dissidence to that of Nelson Mandela, as if the two positions could in any way be equated. And when it comes to craven profiteering and the unethical exploitation of people with HIV, the denialists' champions, such as Matthias Rath and David Rasnick, take the cake.

Where Roger Hodge got it so badly wrong was to allow such an obviously error-ridden and biased article into a once-reputable magazine. In the circumstances, Hodge should now do what is honorable and resign for the sake of his magazine's reputation. He's proven himself not up to the task of editing an article. He's proven unable to exercise intelligent judgment about scientific discourse, medicine, public health and the HIV epidemic. He's proven himself gullible and sloppy by being fooled by a writer he told Gay City News he's known for "many years." Perhaps you knew Farber both too well and not well enough, Roger? And perhaps, Lewis Lapham, you knew Roger both too well and not well enough when bequeathing your legacy to him?

Jeanne Bergman, PhD, Health GAP, New York, NY

John P. Moore, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York

Well done Celia... keep on digging.....

"Placating replies to curious eyes

Deepen no oceans, broaden no one’s sky.

With frontiers belittled, invention dies.

Life is shared mystery, let us ally.”~N. Parkison

Sunrise against the massive Ship's Prow at 12,000ft, Chasm Lake, Colorado.

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions, the really great make you feel that you too can become great."- Mark Twain

I really struggled this week to find a visual way to express what it is like living with M.E. I find a lot of inspiration in flowers and plants - and I finally decided that the yellow tulips withering in a vase on the table probably caught the reality. I thought.... I used to be a yellow tulip, vibrant, sunny and alive, one of the bunch of social tulips ... but now, in reality, I feel more like the shrivelled remains in that vase. My first shot was indeed a yellow flower, but the Smile on Saturday group asked for blue ... so my tulip is now feeling blue, as well as somewhat shrivelled.

It is hard to explain M.E. even though I've been living with it for over 30 years. I usually try to hide it, as it has been so ridiculed and belittled over the years. I finally decided to write about it this week. If you've ever wondered what it is, or had a friend or someone close with M.E. or even dismissed it thinking "we all know what tiredness is!" ... then PLEASE open a new tab in your browser and read: M.E. and me it might give you a little information, a little insight into the hidden world that 17 million sufferers inhabit across our planet!

Thank you so much, Maria for making this part of SoS. We can still smile, and enjoy life in our own quiet way ;o)

texture: MixPixBox

Cliche and Smile on Saturday: Here

my Tulip set: Here

I'm an avid listener of two relatively new landscape photography podcasts, namely "The Landscape Photography Podcast:" hosted by Nick Page and "F Stop Collaborate And Listen" hosted by Matt Payne. One of their recurring topics has been the outright disdain in the professional landscape photography community for posting shots that aren't completely original. I was re-listening to an episode today where Nick was actually on Matt's podcast and Nick compared taking a shot of a well known location to collecting baseball cards. Other similar derisive terms that have been used are "stamp collecting" and "trophy hunting."

These terms....and the attitude behind them, are disappointing to me. I think Nick's inference in this particular episode was that you really couldn't take pride in a shot unless it was completely original, i.e. you came upon that location and that composition completely on your own.

Leaving "pride" aside for the moment, I'd like to share with you a shot that represents one of the best mornings I have ever experienced. It was back in the Autumn of 2014 and I was still getting my legs under me as a landscape photographer. Several of my buddies and I set off for Glacier National Park with a very limited amount of time to shoot in either side of the park. We scouted our butts off for weeks and from the shots that we were inspired by, we came up with a series of potential locations using google earth.

On this particular morning I was up at 4:30 AM. I didn't sleep well that night because the Many Glacier Hotel kept bouncing around in the howling wind. In spite of the wind and the rain that began as soon as we stepped outside, we scrambled up a nearby hillside as we knew one of our potential shots overlooked the Swift Current creek with a view of the sky to the East. We had our fingers crossed for a decent sunrise.

The weather, on that particular morning, did not disappoint. As the sun blazed through the clouds and lit up the valley before us....as the wind howled and the rain pelted down....as we kept looking over our shoulders for the bears that had been spotted in this area....I had never felt more alive in my entire life.

THIS particular shot was not about collecting stamps...or baseball cards...or whatever term the elite professional photographers are using today to belittle such efforts. It was about simultaneously capturing a moment and living that moment at the same time. Even if I had no camera with me at the time, I would have been frozen in my tracks as the sheer beauty of that morning exploded around me. But I'm a photographer. Like I'm not going to shoot that?

Yes...by the time my buddies and I scrambled up that mountainside, this shot had already become rather iconic. (i.e.Ryan Dyar, Miles Morgan, Ryan Engstrom, Willie Huang, etc.) But for some reason...that didn't bother me then, and it sure doesn't bother me now. Since that morning I have taken dozens of shots that I have felt were more original, some at well known locations and many others that are more obscure. But I can guarantee you that won't be my last trip to Glacier...or Yosemite...or several other locations that photographers like Alex Noriega have crossed off their list and presumably will never return to. I'm currently averaging about 5 trips a year to Yosemite and I have barely scratched the surface of that incredible park. In spite of some of the hard to reach locations that I have shot from while I have been there, I will be the first to slam on my brakes if I come through that tunnel and the light is exploding. I will happily continue to shoot from locations like the tunnel, or the Horseshoe outside of Page, or this incredible view above the Swiftwater Creek in Glacier and I couldn't possibly care less about the opinions of other photographers when I shoot there. At the same time, my curiosity has taken me to several spots in the Eastern Sierras recently that are still pretty much unknown to our landscape photography community. I'm continuing to look for new locations, but I refuse to refrain from shooting a particular location simply because two hundred other photographers got there right before me.

My current mantra is, and will remain... shoot what speaks to you. As David Soldano so eloquently pointed out to Matt a few weeks ago, we run the risk of letting others steal the JOY of photography away from us when we care more about their opinions and approval than shooting what we are compelled to shoot. God knows I'm not Alex...or Matt...or Nick. I'm a full time college professor who mainly shoots on weekends who is already looking forward to his next trip to Glacier. When I arrive, this hillside might just be one of my first stops.

SuperKai acquired the sword from Middle earth... She and select group of kids must try to fight the effects of the "RUSH of the LIGHT WORLD" before its too late.

Facts:

Global warming, an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate, is a growing environmental issue caused by the influx of human industry and agriculture in the mid-twentieth-century to the present. As greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane are released into the atmosphere, a shield forms around our Earth, trapping heat inside of our planet and therefore creating a general warming effect. One of the most influenced territories of warming has been our oceans.

Rising air temperatures affect the physical nature of our oceans. As air temperatures rise, water becomes less dense and separates from a nutrient-filled cold layer below. This is the basis for a chain effect that impacts all marine life who count on these nutrients for survival.

SAD that Earth is almost covered with 75% Water but Pollution caused by us tends to Belittle its importance....

Series of shots with my kids wherein I try to introduce to them the basic needs of helping EARTH for the future generation .

Shots made in:

San Antonio Seaworld

USA

TINTIN TININT

Heart Stops

You wish you could push the shutter at the right moment.

Eyes winks... Tintin Tinint It is...

This tells a story of a damsel in distress, but in truth I believe we all have the power to be hero or heroine in our own stories.

And a very special thank you to My Lady: Jazzy for posing and taking a picture with me! I always got your back, sweetheart, and I'm so glad you are part of my life. No matter the distance or time, I'll always be here for you. Much love to you, sweetheart!

♥ Your Crayhoot

~~~

They had been friends for a long time; since they were young fey running through the woods together. He was the son of the Captain of the Guard and she was their Lord's daughter; a Lady of the Fey. There was a deep bond between them. However, as they grew up, she fell in love with a smooth-talking shape shifter who lived among Man. He didn't trust the shape-shifter but he wanted his friend to be happy so he let her go but always remained ever-watchful from afar. He missed her and the days of their youth where they would run wild and free through the woods. Now whenever they met, there was an air of secrecy and their meetings became more and more seldom. The last time time he'd seen her had been nearly a year ago. It seemed her lover didn't know about the bond they shared. Something was wrong, and he knew it.

He waited that evening at The Door Between Worlds, the fairies flitting around him. She'd sent him a letter asking to meet again. But she was late which was very unlike her. Finally there she was! But...what was wrong?! She was limping slightly and she looked worried! Concern crossed his features as he drew her into his arms and asked what happened and what was wrong? She hastily explained, breathlessly, that her shape-shifter lover believed she was running away from on a lover's tryst (which was untrue) but he had forbidden her from seeing her friend and to leave the house. Her lover was the controlling type, wanting her only for himself. He'd belittled her, gaslighted and manipulated her, told her how to dress and what she could or couldn't do, and was trying to keep her away for many coveted her for her beauty and sweetness. It was something her childhood friend had suspected but she was finally realizing it, herself. So when she stood up to her lover and said she was leaving, her lover had become enraged that she was trying to escape his clutches. She managed to run away but now he was coming for them!

A thunderous roar filled the air, both of them looking up in surprise as a beast took to the sky. She stepped closer and his hand reached up to caress her hair, his right hand reaching for his sword as he prepared to fight this creature and defend his Lady's honor. "You can't!" she gasped, gazing at the approaching beast in the sky. "I can," he told her, his voice deepening and eyes focusing with determination, "and I will win. No one treats My Lady like that."

Overlooked in life? Ever in the background? Belittled and struggling to show your worth? Eventually someone will notice. There in the background. Communicative and essential. Believe.

Homo Sapien has come a long way in Ten Thousand years and may go further out yet. But we have left a fair trail of destruction and extinction in our wake. I am not sure we would or should be welcomed 'out there'.

Winspit Caverns, Dorset Jurrasic Coast, 'Belittled England'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.

what is madness

is it an outbreak of dawn, a wild blood sun

killing this night

this touch less night

~ Safiya Henderson-Holmes ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

195,558 items / 1,594,151 views

The Muslim community welcomes Ramzan , month of piety charity and a month dedicated to the beauty of the Almighty , only a month mind you after Ramzan after Eid it is back to normal..

And I am not belittling Ramzan just the reality of the followers of Islam , and the poor find hope in Ramzan , and good days in Ramzan touch the beggars life too and during Iftari time you can see all the beggars in Muslim society outside the various mosques Holy Shrines waiting to be counted.

Ramzan finally comes to an end Chand Rat , happiness joy sighting of the Moon and the following day the Eid Namaz I shall shoot the Namaz at Bandra Sunni Mosque near Bandra Station..once the Namaz ends Eid will be cerebrated hugging and best wishes and a little ahead the beggars life continues only the Beggars Ramzan does not get over Eid is an extra working day with the same wounds sores smelly clothes and wait for the few coins some crispy stingy notes in the beggars bowl..

I dont celebrate Eid I am a beggar too I show my solidarity with the beggars I am barefeet the same look the same old clothes.. and I will shoot the beggars , their lives dont change from one Eid to the next, and some beggars will wait near Jamatkhana so that someone buys them a plate of sheer korma , hotels do brisk business the surmawalas attarwala the scarf and topiwalahs all celebrate Eid save the beggars .. and than I wonder perhaps God forgot to make Eid for the beggars completely..

Yes there are many sects in Islam the only two sects in Islam on Eid I see are the rich affluent Muslim and the very poor and beggarly Muslims.. forgive me for my moderation as poets we see a picture much before a photographer shoots it..

And this picture of my two year old grand daughter Marziya Shakir shot last year at Bandra , was my way of showing her, her worldly roots as a Muslim , the poor on the streets , I exposed Marziya to pain , to the slums to the world of beggars she shot hijra beggars last Bakra Eid and I took her to Mahim when she was very small introduced her to Appu the beggar without hands or legs, she has never forgotten Appu , and it saddens me he has disappeared I searched for him , because Marziya told me on seeing his picture Grand Pa when will I shoot him , I told her she has to wait , for if I find him and Marziya shoots him that will complete the cycle of her street photography of pain.

She has shot Moharam the Zanjir matam of the kids and the only Holy Month in a Shia household that never ends is Moharam...

non muslim poet

pandit brijnath parshaad makhmoor says

mit nahi sakta kabhi makhmoor gham Abbas ka

naqshe sajda ban chuka hai har Qadam Abbas ka

gar jahan walon mein dekhenge Aqeedat ki kami

hoke HINDU ham uthayenge Alam Abbas ka

salam ho imam e hussain a.s aap ki mazloomiyat par..... aap ne

sirf deene islaam hi nahi sari .....insaniyat ko bacha liye

195,564 items / 1,596,234 views

This picture was shot two years back outside my old workplace at Bandra , and if you see Marziya you see the passion of a street photographer even without a camera and I never even now ever considered the camera an instrument that takes pictures , Marziya shot the Awakener without the camera..

The Awakeners are Muslim beggars but during Ramzan they do this additional service of waking people for the Holy Fast..a superlative service for those poor needy living in the slums tenements in narrow dingy lanes and pigeon holed cubicles.

I must also add that it is not necessary all those who do this sublime job are beggars there are those who do it voluntarily as service to Muslim society, they get paid on Thursdays or on the eve of Ramzan Eid .. people give them generously I also give them as their contribution is immense and they are the beauty of Ramzan..

Their greatest enemy are the stray dogs that hate strangers waking them up from their sleep so they charge at these Awakeners , but the stick in their hands keeps evil canine intentions at bay.

Most of the hafiz kazi lower level Koran teachers of kids , are totally occupied during Ramzan , housing societies invite them to lead the namaz and take care of the roza proceedings.

As I am barefeet and not heavily decked I go to town and break fast with the beggar community , it is a moment snatched from a moment in eternity and I am crying as I write this their frugality hits me hard and not to belittle them , I hand them quietly some money after I have broken my fast.. for me this is the poetic life lasting moment in Islam and as Ramzan.

And I have in all humility captured Ramzan through a poets eyes , human eyes shown you places where angels dare to tread and I might if possible go to Lucky Compund at Byculla to break fast with the hijras..

Of late because of the advent of Ramzan and other personal reasons of pain I kept the hijra profile of my blogs on low key, but here I must add my dear friend Khushi the prettiest most beautiful transgender in the world , sends me her Ramzan message , and keeps all the fast she is a Namazi , she does charity and for me she is a devout Muslim..

I am not God to judge anyone for their life's chosen path, I know of hijra prostitutes in the red light area that stop their business for a month to be one with God.. and this is what I try to show with or without pictures as the humanity of a blog.

And those dear Hindu friends who fast along with us..their support solidifies my own faith , and the messages I received from all of them I bow my head and thank them.

And today is my first fast , and it is the first fast of all us Mumbaikars and it is a great start a great dawn of hope harmony brotherhood..

And I add words of my dear friend Hassan Shirazi he just sent them in my inbox at Facebook

Hassan S Shirazi

Firoze bhai - i tell my sons and even posted here - Pehle Insaan ban phir ban jaa Muslamaan - kya pata neik amal tuje Ek Momin banaa de ... we need to be human first - no hindu no muslim - only humanity then later muslim and who know how sinful we are as to become a MOMIN - sirf shia bolne se shia nahi banta hai - aur Imam Ali (AS) is not ameer ul Shia - but Ameer Ul Momineen .... Prophet (PBUH) came as rehmat ul Aleemeem not for sunni nor shia nor for wahabbis - Islam came for sake of Humanity then those who followed it are Muslim - height to reach the peak is MOMIN

Jazakallah.

I had to follow Mickey Spillane with a tribute to my other favorite mystery writer from that period, Chales Spain Verral. My aunt bought me "The Case of the Stolen Dummy" in the winter of '64 and I must have read it a half dozen times since. Until I got on the internet in 1999, it was the ONLY Brains Benton I'd ever seen, and no one I'd ever asked about it had ever heard of the series. But then I found the Yahoo group, and since then I've managed to collect the other five titles in the series, plus enjoyed the fan fiction other members have written. The thing I liked about them was that Brains and his Watson Jimmy were real kids, they didn't travel all over the world but solved all their mysteries in and around Crestwood, the crimes they solved were the sort of thing real kids could plausibly become involved in, they didn't have a roadster, motorbikes, a motorboat and pilot's license but had to get around on their bicylces or get Jimmy's sister Ann, reporter Lew Jarman or Officer McKeon or some other adult drive them, and unlike Chief Collig and everyone else who immediately leapt to do whatever the Hardy Boys suggested, Chief Hadley despises Brains and Jimmy and even adults like Lew Jarman and Officer McKeon who don't belittle or talk down to Brains and Jimmy still have a definite adult-child relationship with them. In short, the thing I liked best about these Brains and Jimmy kids mysteries is that Brains and Jimmy are KIDS! For more information, there are Wikipedia articles on Brains and Mr. Verral written by group members and if you're a fan who somehow hasn't found it yet, there's the group. Tell 'em Gomez sent you, and see what C has to say.

PS: Click "ALL SIZES" to see the larger version, for a better look at the book covers.

we can't seem to talk and share ideas anymore without people being offended if you don't think like, act like and fall in line like they do. if you oppose their views they think they hold the moral high ground and you are dead wrong. nothing more to discuss or they'll whine and holler and resort to belittling you because rational discussion isn't a part of their wheelhouse. i'm tired and bored with that gang!

A slogan created by the Trump campaign to belittle Joe Biden. Oops! Turnabout is fair play.

Copied from notecard Ivey of Sn@tch sent out, I like how she worded it out, so hehe, thanks Ivey! ;o)

It's Pink Shirt Day which if you don't know what it is...the gist is back in 2007 two Nova Scotia students turned the tide against the bullies who picked on a fellow student for wearing pink.

The victim — a ninth grade boy wore a pink polo shirt on his first day of school. Bullies harassed the boy, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up. Two 12th grade students heard the news and decided to take action. They went to a nearby discount store and bought 50 pink shirts, including tank tops, to wear to school the next day. Then the two went online to e-mail classmates to get them on board with their anti-bullying cause that they dubbed a "sea of pink." But a tsunami of support poured in the next day. Not only were dozens of students outfitted with the tees, but hundreds of students showed up wearing their own pink clothes, some head-to-toe. When the bullied student walked into school to see his fellow students decked out in pink, classmates said it was a powerful moment that changed his spirits. Since then Pink Shirt Day has grown to a huge event celebrated on April 14th with the wearing of pink shirts and clothes to make a visible symbolic statement on our feelings about bullying, the damage it can do and the way everyone as an individual can make a difference. By wearing something pink on April 14th, you will be part of a common voice that says the bullying stops NOW. It's NOT acceptable to harass, threaten, promote hate or belittle people for any reason.

www.pinkshirtday.ca/

www.standupday.com/08/participants/index.php?target=pages...

www.bullying.org/

www.stopbullyingnow.com/

Shirt from Pig

Panties from Hoot

Pose Prop was a group gift from Olive Juice

This very little insects helps a lot in spreading flowers everywhere.

This my look as one of what is called "little good deeds." Are these "little good deeds" are really little?

What the insect does here is spreading pollen everywhere. Is this little? Sure it is not.

So do not belittle good deeds.

Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) said:

“Do not think little of any good deed, even if it is just greeting your brother with a cheerful countenance.”

You can find this saying of the Prophet here in addition to others:

Don't judge.

everybody has different stories and I think 💭 you don't know mine

I know I'm different so, fuck your opinion. You wanna throw me to the Wolves — I'll definitely return leading the pack.

Don't confuse my personality with my attitude...

My personality is who I am 😊

my attitude depends on who you are..

I don't have any mediators in between and never concerned about what others think..

because, that's not my reality

I am what I am 🌿 I am who I am,

I am that I am 👊😄

If I am wrong, educate me.

Don't belittle me...!!!

Life gives you strange experiences, sometime it shocks YOU

and sometimes it may surprise you....

We end up making wrong judgments or mistakes in our anger,

desperation and frustration.

However, when you get a second chance, correct your mistakes and return the favor. Be Kind and Generous. Learn to Appreciate what you are given.🌿

people may hate you,

even if you are on the right track..

don't worry

It's because you have something they want..

Don't worry about those who talk behind your back,...—••

they're behind you for a _reason🌸🌼🌿🌺

cooool yE 🌿😊

As I reflect on Father’s Day, I ask myself what constitutes a good father. Hockey, baseball, football, or fishing with the kids? While those activities are important, they are also short-lived and the memory of them fades over time.

Perhaps, instilling good Christian and work ethics are of greater importance. Good work ethics last a life time, good Christian ethics are eternal.

Having said that, I will readily admit that while I’ve loved my children unconditionally and did my best to love, support and protect them, I’ve fallen short many times – for that I ask forgiveness. I’m human, and full of short comings.

So, what do I want for Father’s Day? Baubles, trinkets or toys? Not to belittle those gifts – a simple hug will do.

Dad

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.”

- Mark Twain

Sorry, no 365 photo today.. it was a very busy day! (Ok... filled with LOTS of shopping :s)

There was something really charming about this capture yesterday with my friend K and I just wanted to share. I've got another friend visiting me.. so expect some more random goodies soon : )

Hope you all have a good easter!

Back in September of 2016 there was a lot of publicity about Yosemite’s Toxic Work Environment. Here it is March 25, 2017 and it continues.

Things that were not exposed and continue:

Yosemite’s Superintendent’s Office will not meet with the victims

Some Law Enforcement Officers have been involved in the harassment and cover-up

Victims are made to believe they are at fault for the harassment

The same persons involved in the harassment continue to do so year after year without consequence

Victims are not only harassed at work but are also harassed in and at their residence (we live and work in the park)

Victims are sleep deprived by the harassment

Victims have their personal property tampered with and vandalized

Victims are Targeted and are open game for innuendoes and belittling

Yosemite's Superintendent's office and it's Law Enforcement allow this Toxic Culture to thrive

Here is a quote from Kelly Martin (Yosemite’s Fire & Aviation Management Chief):

“People do fear they aren’t safe in bringing issues to management,” Martin told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, characterizing Yosemite’s as a “hostile work environment.”

The Truth About Yosemite:

www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Sexual-Harassment-Common-in...

www.sacbee.com/news/article103536422.html

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