Global Village 2 (post 1 - give a globe to 5)
View allAll Photos Tagged Discourse
Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
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"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
-Dorothy Nevill
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This started off as us chatting while I was playing with different winlight settings in the editor on a low graphics setting, so perhaps for some of you it may not too exciting. I snapped away to remind myself of each setting and Kusari liked this one enough to nag me to post it here.
A lot of what you see is actually EEP settings, in Firestorm, which I was poking to see what it could do compared to Black Dragon. I added some finishes like smoke and the fireflies to give the image a little life. Even ordinary FS can add interesting effects so you don't need to be a Photoshop wizard to make your photos have more depth about them.
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Viewer: Firestorm Beta EEP - low graphics settings
Base Winlight: [TOR] NIGHT - Dark Came Over (additional nudges on Sky Editor)
Poses used in furniture provided by sim owner and clothing (in Kusari's Kimono).
Taken at the beautiful Hamamura Island Sim.
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This is an intermission post and not a blog post, but for those of you with a burning curiosity:
[ ridi-ludi-fool ]+N RAN2019 AMEDAMA yukata Blue
+ Ibaraki Horns (little) + {aii}
[CX] Withered Bezerker Ear
L'Emporio::*Damned Claws & Rings*
Signature [Gild] tama_necklace
LeLutka [both of us}
The first time I came to Flickr I was literally amazed by the topic of "texture". I didn't know what they were and I thought that there were only applications that made the "texture" effect. When I then discovered here what they could give a photo and the "transforming" power, I was thrilled to learn how to use them.
It's like painting on layers of oil or a smooth sheet of paper or a sheet of metal or....endless techniques that a painter can use live.
You can add oil to your painting, but you can prepare a primer for painting on top....
The first textures I met here were those of Lenabem Anna J. to whom I must say a lot of thanks.
My works also came out of the textured landscape, but the layered discourse started from here.
I wanted to play with a beautiful texture of Anna that I found these days, this one:
These three sequential works show how much you can vary with the same texture the same image
Music:
Europe, France, PACA, Bouches du Rhône, Marseille, Le Panier, Street, Stairs, Election time, Discourse, People (cut from B&T)
Shot during a 'Le Panier' exploration. It was obviously election time.
This is number 86 of Southern France and 14 of Marseille.
Tune♥: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZegAOMmSso
Hat/Hair: Modulus: Anthony Snapback
Mask: [TNK] ARCANE ENFORCER MASK / @ENGINE ROOM •Available - March 20th - April 20th / ACCESS: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Syndicate/212/141/26
Collar: [TNK] KUROSU COLLAR / Mainstore: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/TOKYO ZERO/225/46/3305
Shirt: [TNK] LAYERED T-SHIRT / Mainstore: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/TOKYO ZERO/225/46/3305
Shot wide-open, contre-jour (with two LED lamps plus reflector). In the public discourse of the West, there is a resurgence of medieval brutality. Some interest groups believing in the righteousness of their cause show a worrying tendency to publicly shame those with a different point of view. These are not just considered as thinking differently, they are publicly "exposed" as traitors. As in any ferocious kind of religiosity, "heretics" need to be persecuted, tortured by the thought police and then quartered and burned - if not physically, then at least in the social media. As I said, these are worrying times. The re-introduction of the Inquisition can be in nobody's interest.
really? there seems to be some difficulty on the question of democracy. the point of civility was to advance society, to better meet the needs of all it's peoples.
genocide, and murdering dissenters, is not about promoting civil discourse. it's about stifling the discussion.
no need to ruminate....hate does not equate.
2 Peter 2:18 “Uttering pompous discourses of inanity, ensnaring by the lusts of the flesh, by lascivious impurities, those who had truly escaped from such as live in a course of delusion.”
If we are powerless to anneal discourse with honesty, clear thinking, and a sense of moral good, it is because we have allowed Mr. Brown Pelican to lay all of society open to the predations of organized criminality. He offers two reasons as to why the cure for evil is more evil. He argues that (1) his ploys provide a liberating insight into life, the universe, and everything, and (2) he is the way, the truth, and the light. These arguments are invalid for the following reasons: First, if I wanted to brainwash and manipulate a large segment of the population, I would convince them that Mr. Pelican is a refined gentleman with the soundest education and morals you can imagine. In fact, that's exactly what Mr. Pelican does as part of his quest to transform our little community into a global crucible of terror and gore. He may be reasonably cunning with words. However, he is absolutely loquacious with everything else.
after much discourse, contemplation, and help from computer guru/photographer extraordinaire/wordsmith Paul BOudreau I've figured out how to implement my plan. I'd like you folks to think about what your best shot of the year was and put a link to it in comments. I'll unfave and refave so I can put it in a gallery. I'd love to hear the telling of the tale if it isn't already on the pic. Have fun with this, it's a hard choice for sure. I'll start in comments.
come back in a week or so and check this out, I follow some awesome folks. :-)
(Elevated Discourse)
This area was recently scorched by a brush fire (not that it was ever known for it's scenic beauty).
Taken from a much larger piece I wrote / recorded for my blog/pod at substack:
Political discourse has become our lives. The news cycle is constant. We are expected to understand and have fully formed opinions on everything immediately. And it truly is everything.
On top of that, our media crafts stories for us rather than reporting the facts. Lately, almost all of our media is capitulating to authoritarianism.
Our reaction as people, voters, artists, and citizens isnât to sort it out and to have some kind of discourse to make our society better for everyone. Our only objective is to win. Itâs not even about being right â we are living in a largely post-factual atmosphere now â it is simply and only about winning.
With winning comes power, but only for the already-powerful. For us, the regular folks just trying to survive, the win is merely for the sake of winning. Our love of absurd competition, especially reality TV, directly led to this.
I'm not saying that photography contests and juried shows lead to fascism. But I am saying that we are already weighed down by competition, so why add to it? Why do this to ourselves?
[Again, this is from a larger piece. It's taken out of context. If you'd like to read/listen to that context, you can find it.]
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'Spark Again'
Camera: Ansco Color Clipper
Film: Harman Pheonix 200
Process: ECN-2
Washington
August 2025
“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.”
Italo Calvino
René Descartes "Discourse on Method" (1637).....
www.netprof.fr/Voir-le-cours-en-video-flash/Philosophie/T...
Erik Satie "Gnossiene No.3" www.youtube.com/watch?v=of3ZdK8aKqQ&mode=related&...
Chopin "Nocturne op. 27 nr.2" www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfPgLj4MlfQ&NR=1
“Am I in love? --yes, since I am waiting. The other one never waits. Sometimes I want to play the part of the one who doesn't wait; I try to busy myself elsewhere, to arrive late; but I always lose at this game. Whatever I do, I find myself there, with nothing to do, punctual, even ahead of time. The lover's fatal identity is precisely this: I am the one who waits.”
― Roland Barthes, A Lover's Discourse: Fragments
I quite like visiting locations that have been famously shot many times before just to see what the fuss is about, and this spot has been ‘togged to death’ more times than most.
I shared my room at the hostel with 2 nutjobs who were doing the UTS 50 mile race starting at 5am so I was awake even earlier than my alarm, which was already set to go off 1 hour before I even went to bed!
As I made my way to the lake in total darkness, I had the thought that I really should have recced this place in the light, however, as this tree is a celebrity in the arboreal world, it even has its own location marker on Google maps, it wasn’t hard to find.
The thing people don’t realise however is that it doesn’t normally have this sweeping curve in the trunk. At rest it’s actually quite straight, it just puts this theatrical pose on for show. I’m scouting around it, working out compositions as our little planet spins and the beautiful blue light of dawn gradually appears and I hear a voice.
‘‘For God’s sake, not again, can’t you just leave me alone for one day! Why don’t you go and harass that ‘has been’ at Buttermere or the ‘wannabe’ at Malham?’’
I initially put this down to those voices in my head again and set up the stick friend and fired a few test shots, but it still wasn’t right, the tree was still straight. Frustration was beginning to take hold, I could still be in a warm bed, not out here failing miserably, so I gave Birch Face one last chance.
‘‘I know what you’re thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well to tell you the truth in all this frustration I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a Lee Big Stopper, the most powerful piece of black glass in the world and would blow your highlights clean off, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?’’
After some fluttering of leaves, creaking and groaning, Birch Face finally obliged and 'assumed the position', and I got a shot which could only be described as almost ‘fair to middlin’, but anyway It’s my take on the Lone Tree at Llyn Padarn.
I bestowed my gratitude upon on my new friend, and left him contemplating the undoubted arrival of more togs as I departed to harass some slate in a nearby quarry! I was also due for my medication.
Music: Style -4, Cringe value 10+
Have a lovely weekend everyone.
As they discoursed, they discovered some thirty or forty windmills, that are in that field; and as soon as Don Quixote espied them, he said to his squire, “Fortune doth address our affairs better than we ourselves could desire; for behold there, friend Sancho Panza, how there appears thirty or forty monstrous giants, with whom I mean to fight, and deprive them all of their lives, with whose spoils we will begin to be rich; for this is a good war, and a great service unto God, to take away so bad a seed from the face of the earth.”
“What giants?” quoth Sancho Panza.
“Those that thou seest there,” quoth his lord, “with the long arms; and some there are of that race whose arms are almost two leagues long.”
“I pray you understand,” quoth Sancho Panza, “that those which appear there are no giants, but windmills; and that which seems in them to be arms, are their sails, that, swung about by the wind, do also make the mill go.”
“It seems well,” quoth Don Quixote, “that thou art not yet acquainted with matter of adventures. They are giants; and, if thou beest afraid, go aside and pray, whilst I enter into cruel and unequal battle with them.”
And, saying so, he spurred his horse Rozinante, without taking heed to his squire Sancho’s cries, advertising him how they were doubtless windmills that he did assault, and no giants; but he went so fully persuaded that they were giants as he neither heard his squire’s outcries, nor did discern what they were, although he drew very near to them, but rather said, so loud as he could, “Fly not, ye cowards and vile creatures! for it is only one knight that assaults you.”
These two seemed to be having a brief chat on this cold and blustery morning in Andover, NJ. House finch and Brown-headed cowbird, both male.
"When I hear a man discoursing of virtue, or of any sort of wisdom, who is a true man and worthy of his theme, I am delighted beyond measure: and I compare the man and his words, and note the harmony and correspondence of them. And such an one I deem to be the true musician, having in himself a fairer harmony than that of the lyre." -Plato
Before any prolonged discourse takes place as to whether this is wheat or barley - here is a link for you to decide for yourselves. I must say as kids we were told that only the barley had the long 'hairs'. Nowadays, there are varieties of wheat that are very similar and it is not just the barley that has the long hairs... the important thing it seems - is how and where they are attached. www.livingfield.co.uk/living-field-garden/living-exhibits...
THE TROUT
Y Brithyll
Swimmer in praise, gleaming trout,
Bright of discourse, fast as thought,
Fearless fish, feeding aflow,
Currents above, deeps below,
Swirling foundling, foster fish
Of Llyn Tegid, full of flesh,
Swim the Conwy, scry the stream,
Seek the highland, scales agleam.
None but you, water-father,
Serves me still: out of favour,
Exiled, spurned, sent from sight.
Swim the Tâf’s wave of light,
Valiant, immune to steel,
Undrownable, never still,
Speechless, breathless current-wender,
Cryptic shadow under water.
You do not need, by great God
To fear fly or willow rod.
Poet’s stalwart, spawn of Môn,
Flowing river’s talisman,
Torrent-fish of flux and flood,
Foam-rider, staunch of blood,
Ransom of the landing net,
Glimpsed by vagrants in the wet,
Twist and slither, snap two snares,
Short and sleek, free from cares,
Go by grace, be not taken.
For my heart, take this token:
A loving pledge – lithe fish, slender –
May I give the slip to slander!
To Creirwy’s court, by my whim,
Go forthwith, then cease to swim.
Handless go, as to heaven;
Footless, return to haven.
Linger not by ford nor burn;
Bring fishy tales when you return.
- Attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym; paraphrased by Giles Watson. Most of the fourteen manuscripts of this poem attribute it to Dafydd; the remainder do not name a poet. Recent scholars have questioned Dafydd’s authorship, and although none of the manuscripts name him, Gruffudd Gryg (writing c. 1357-70) has been suggested. Llyn Tegid is Bala Lake, Meirionnydd, north-west Wales. Conwy is the name of a river as well as a town. The river Tâf flows southwards through Carmarthenshire, emptying into the sea at Laugharne. ‘The Trout’ is a traditional llatai poem in which a non-human agency is called upon to act as a love messenger. The poet’s beloved, Creirwy, is also traditional: a beauty whose name appears in Hanes Taliesin and in the Triads. I have taken certain liberties with meaning in order to preserve some of the tone and rhythm of the original. In particular, I have reversed the meaning of the phrase “croyw awdur o Fôn” (founder of Môn), since the meaning is rather obscure, and “spawn of Môn” seems to suit a fish. For metrical reasons I have also left out a phrase, “Deifr ni’th feiddian”, translated by Fulton: “the men of Deira cannot defy you”, which in context probably means that the trout is immune to attacks from the English.
Should we get the technical shizz out of the way first? Great, let's make it technical because in this whole discourse it's the facts and not the emotions, the reason and logic, not the faith that we need to float to the top. Yes this is flat food and I love flat food. I want to explore if flat is enough or are there other things to consider?
Here's a fact: Flaxseed gum can be used as a setting agent. We ought test then whether this is the best answer or just an answer.
The gum component of flaxseed is about 8 per cent by weight. Don't expect that much yield unless you have a unicorn handy to help with extraction efficiency. That slimy goop that oozes out of soaking flaxseed is a polysaccharide mix composed of xylose, arabinose, glucose, galactose, galacturonic acid, rhamnose and fucose — whatever they are. Really important to understand is that this stuff is hydrophilic — once it gets hold of that water it really wants to hang on to it. It'll stay gloopy.
When you cook with wheat flour or egg, heat is used to produce changes in the proteins that make bonds. Those coagulated proteins give whatever you are cooking its structure; the strength to hold it together. Flaxseed gum doesn't set with heat. What gets it into the mood for binding things together is losing that water it absorbed in the extraction process. There's the rub! Being strongly hydrophilic it selfishly wants to hang onto that water; to not give it back. There are two ways you can get that water out in your kitchen — both use evaporation and heat. But you can't rush it — each is low and slow.
I made these seed crackers in an oven. You can see here they are furrowed; scored with a blade so they will snap when done because they'll be too crisp to cut. I didn't need to make them at all. But I wanted to try, and to learn. I learned a LOT. My oven is BIG and for this batch of crackers it needed to run for between 1.5-2 hours at 170°C. That's a lot of energy and just how tightly the gum was hanging onto the 2 cups of water in the recipe.
I'm not really cooking. This is dehydrating and that's another way to approach this recipe. The mix could be spread out in my dehydrator. Then instead of maybe two hours I could have it running for something like 24 hours — a whole day of power consumption to make one little box of seed crackers. Hmmm?
Some people need this kind of recipe. Food allergies are real: salicylates, gluten, crustaceans, tomatoes, peanuts etc can make people really ill. Some like lactose intolerance, that thing with broad beans, a genetic variant which makes coriander undesirable etc aren't going to kill you, just spoil your day. Then there's the ideologues who for whatever reason develop philosophical rather than biological approaches to diet. Here I will take the lead from ABC TV's Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney — a food intolerant and an intolerable foodie. For whatever reason you have to deviate from a conventional diet you really should have a reason which makes better outcomes, not intolerable ones.
I've been a self-reliant cook: water collection, fuel, food production, harvesting, breeding, slaughter, processing, preservation, the works. If you do work to collect and process your fuel for cooking you want efficiency. You don't want to burn more than you need to feed yourself because of a rash of ideology. This stuff is HARD work. I'll go further. If you are using fossil fuels to feed your ideology in the mistaken belief that if you don't eat meat, go gluten-free because it's bad for some people or you forage for weeds or that vegan will save the world then you had better take an introspective look at yourself in the room of mirrors. "Frankenfood", like these crackers is the fodder of ideologues and the green-washing fraternity marketing these tropes.
I'll explain. First of all, every component in these crackers was imported except for 2 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. They were carried around the world in a petroleum-fuelled contrivance, wrapped in petroleum derived plastic…and on and on. That CO₂ you might have saved by not eating meat? Yeah, it got made by baking or dehydrating, by freight, by falsehoods. Even if I had a solar drier or all the electricity for appliances was made from a source which made no emissions…quieten down now…I still have to somehow offset the transport emissions AND the emissions from mining, transport, refining, fabrication and transport of the devices which generated and transported that electricity! It's a minefield!! Likewise let's look at whether you saved a cow, a chicken etc. Well, no, you didn't. The cuddly little animals exist because they were bred for a need. The loss of diversity in domestic animals has come about precisely for this reason. If the market for something goes away, nobody breeds it and it dies out. Want to save kangaroos so you oppose shooting them? Actually the best way to ensure that we value kangaroos is to eat them. Then someone will protect them because they can earn an income.
We need to do better if we want to save the planet. If we travel to forage or hunt by any means because we live in a concrete jungle then that's a lifestyle. If we have a forest outside our door, a garden, even a weed patch…that's a sustainable resource — zero food miles. We have to choose to eat locally, not ideologically. These crackers were yummy and yet they were so utterly wrong in their self-indulgent way that they left a bitter taste in my mouth. I won't cook them again because in all their smug marketing they did more harm than good.