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The existence of hundreds of political prisoners in the United States has been exposed by the National Jericho Movement. The organization has called for a general amnesty for all of those held for political reasons in the country. A national demonstration held on March 27, 1998 was the first step in re-building a political prisoner's suppport movement.
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 1.39 million kilometers (864,000 miles), or 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth. It accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Roughly three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen (~73%); the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) based on its spectral class. As such, it is informally and not completely accurately referred to as a yellow dwarf (its light is closer to white than yellow). It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core. It is thought that almost all stars form by this process.
The Sun currently fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second, converting 4 million tons of matter into energy every second as a result. This energy, which can take between 10,000 and 170,000 years to escape from its core, is the source of the Sun's light and heat. When hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point at which the Sun is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium, its core will undergo a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand, eventually transforming the Sun into a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury and Venus, and render Earth uninhabitable – but not for about five billion years. After this, it will shed its outer layers and become a dense type of cooling star known as a white dwarf, and no longer produce energy by fusion, but still glow and give off heat from its previous fusion.
The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, and the Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity. The synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of solar calendars, one of which is the predominant calendar in use today.
The solar constant is the amount of power that the Sun deposits per unit area that is directly exposed to sunlight. The solar constant is equal to approximately 1,368 W/m2 (watts per square meter) at a distance of one astronomical unit (AU) from the Sun (that is, on or near Earth). Sunlight on the surface of Earth is attenuated by Earth's atmosphere, so that less power arrives at the surface (closer to 1,000 W/m2) in clear conditions when the Sun is near the zenith. Sunlight at the top of Earth's atmosphere is composed (by total energy) of about 50% infrared light, 40% visible light, and 10% ultraviolet light. The atmosphere in particular filters out over 70% of solar ultraviolet, especially at the shorter wavelengths. Solar ultraviolet radiation ionizes Earth's dayside upper atmosphere, creating the electrically conducting ionosphere.
The Sun's color is white, with a CIE color-space index near (0.3, 0.3), when viewed from space or when the Sun is high in the sky. When measuring all the photons emitted, the Sun is emitting more photons in the green portion of the spectrum than any other. When the Sun is low in the sky, atmospheric scattering renders the Sun yellow, red, orange, or magenta. Despite its typical whiteness, most people mentally picture the Sun as yellow; the reasons for this are the subject of debate. The Sun is a G2V star, with G2 indicating its surface temperature of approximately 5,778 K (5,505 °C, 9,941 °F), and V that it, like most stars, is a main-sequence star. The average luminance of the Sun is about 1.88 giga candela per square metre, but as viewed through Earth's atmosphere, this is lowered to about 1.44 Gcd/m2. However, the luminance is not constant across the disk of the Sun (limb darkening).
Photo by Jason Read-Jones
Sarnath is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The Buddha went from Bodhgaya to Sarnath about 5 weeks after his enlightenment. Before Gautama (the Buddha-to-be) attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances and his friends, the Pañcavaggiya monks, left him and went to Isipatana.
Isipatana is the name used in the Pali Canon, and means the place where holy men (Pali: isi, Sanskrit: rishi) landed.
After attaining Enlightenment the Buddha, leaving Uruvela, travelled to the Isipatana to join and teach them. He went to them because, using his spiritual powers, he had seen that his five former companions would be able to understand Dharma quickly. While travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had to cross the Ganges. Having no money with which to pay the ferryman, he crossed the Ganges through the air. When King Bimbisāra heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics. When Gautama Buddha found his five former companions, he taught them, they understood and as a result they also became enlightened. At that time the Sangha, the community of the enlightened ones, was founded. The sermon Buddha gave to the five monks was his first sermon, called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. It was given on the full-moon day of Asalha Puja. Buddha subsequently also spent his first rainy season at Sarnath at the Mulagandhakuti. The Sangha had grown to 60 in number (after Yasa and his friends had become monks), and Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. All 60 monks were Arahants.
Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of the first sermon, are mentioned as having taken place in Isipatana. Here it was that one day at dawn Yasa came to the Buddha and became an Arahant. It was at Isipatana, too, that the rule was passed prohibiting the use of sandals made of talipot leaves. On another occasion when the Buddha was staying at Isipatana, having gone there from Rājagaha, he instituted rules forbidding the use of certain kinds of flesh, including human flesh. Twice, while the Buddha was at Isipatana, Māra visited him but had to go away discomfited.
A stone pillar marks the spot where the Buddha preached his first sermon. Nearby was another stupa on the site where the Pañcavaggiyas spent their time in meditation before the Buddha's arrival, and another where five hundred Pacceka Buddhas entered Nibbāna. Close to it was another building where the future Buddha Metteyya received assurance of his becoming a Buddha.
Buddhism flourished in Sarnath in part because of kings and wealthy merchants based in Varanasi. By the third century Sarnath had become an important center for the arts, which reached its zenith during the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries CE). In the 7th century by the time Xuan Zang visited from China, he found 30 monasteries and 3000 monks living at Sarnath.
Sarnath became a major centre of the Sammatiya school of Buddhism, one of the early Buddhist schools. However, the presence of images of Heruka and Tara indicate that Vajrayana Buddhism was (at a later time) also practiced here. Also images of Brahminist gods as Shiva and Brahma were found at the site, and there is still a Jain temple (at Chandrapuri) located very close to the Dhamekh Stupa.
At the end of the 12th century Sarnath was sacked by Turkish Muslims, and the site was subsequently plundered for building materials.
Sarnath has been developed as a place of pilgrimage, both for Buddhists from India and abroad. A number of countries in which Buddhism is a major (or the dominant) religion, among them Thailand, Japan, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, have established temples and monasteries in Sarnath in the style that is typical for the respective country. Thus, pilgrims and visitors have the opportunity to experience an overview of Buddhist architecture from various cultures.
WIKIPEDIA
estaraswanberg: medievalpoc: medievalpoc: Joshua Reynolds and Students Study of Francis Barber & student copies England (c. 1770s) This is a version of an unfinished picture now in the Menil Foundation Collection, Houston. The existence of many versions of this work can be explained by the fact that Sir Joshua Reynolds encouraged his students to copy it. The sitter is thought to be Francis (Frank) Barber, the servant of Dr Johnson. Johnson held Barber in high esteem, flouting convention by educating him and making him his principal heir. -tate.org I really enjoy the subtle differences in these works, although some dimensions are lost due to the less than stellar photography. You can read more about Barber here, a man who was enslaved, and after gaining freedom had various adventures as an apothecary, in the Royal Navy, and as heir to his companion & mentor Dr. Samuel Johnson. Although many of you might not recognize that name, you might be familiar these paintings, also by Reynolds: Yep. He’s that guy. Here’s an update with additional info via a Twitter follower; I’ll add a transcription when I have time later (unless one of you wants to volunteer as tribute): Transcription Tribute ^^: BARBER, JOHNSON AND BOSWELL 6. The portrait at Dr. Johnson’s House The oil painting that hangs in the Parlour of Dr. Johnson’s House is used as a vehicle to tell the story of Francis Barber and his time at 17 Gough Square. The portrait is a copy of a painting by Joshusa (sic) Reynolds: A Young Black Man (c. 1770), which is held at the Menil Foundation collection in Texas. The identity of the artist who painted the copy in Dr. Johnson’s House is unknown, although the work was previously attributed to James Northcote of the Reynold’s School. At least five other copies of this portrait are known to exist. But does the portrait really reveal the face of Francis Barber? A long-standing belief that the picture represented Barber rested largely on a note in Reynold’s pocket book, where the name ‘Frank’ appears under a list of sitters for April 1767. From this, it seems likely that Francis did indeed sit for a portrait. But Reynolds also had a black servant of his own, a man who Northcote claimed was depicted by Reynolds in several pictures. In 1813, the original portrait appeared in an exhibition catalogue by the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts as “Portrait of a Black Servant of Sir Joshua Reynolds”. An organiser of the exhibition (and then the owner of the portrait), Sir George Beaumont, had known Reynolds well and was in a position to say whether the portrait was of his servant. So ambiguity continues to surround the identities of both the art[ist] and the sitter - a reminder that the lives of black Londoners in this pe[riod] remain relatively unknown to this day. The portrait provides an [?] important reference to this community and hangs in Dr. Johnson[’s] House to commemorate the remarkable life of Francis Barber.
" Notre existence n'est que la brève lumière d'une fente entre deux éternités de ténèbres "
Vladimir Nabokov.
Autres rivages
self manufactured images of self.
research on a greater project on the manufacturing of identity in the myspace generation.
Wandering on the busy streets of Manila, I saw this compelling image of an old beggar woman. At first, I was hesitant to take a photo but the artist in me won, and so I took a shot despite the gnawing pain inside... Yes, we have to accept the fact that there are ghostly existence amid us that are personified by helplessness, poverty and abandonement... We may have seen them everyday in every corner of the street in our destitute society but dismiss them because we are too busy in our own existence. Like the old woman with her hand trying to reach out to other's existence, I asked myself, 'am I a beggar too trying to reach out toward others to affirm that I still exist?'
The holes of existence series explores the many unique holes that we find ourselves trapped in. The grey hole keeps us trapped in a mundane, flatline of existence. Embracing the grey will allow the ordinariness of the universe to be seen and all the colors that dance through it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsbvdVCWtjI
Capernaum:
Also known as Tell Hum, Khirbet Karazeh, Bethsaida, Capharnaum, Chorazin, Kefar Nahum, Kafarnaum, Kefar Tanhum, Talhum, Tanhum
In existence from the 2nd c. B.C. to the 7th c. A.D., Capernaum was built along the edge of the Sea of Galilee and had up to 1500 residents.
Today the ruins are owned by two churches: the Franciscans control the western portion with the synagogue and the Greek Orthodox’s property is marked by the white church with red domes.
Jesus made Capernaum his home during the years of his ministry: “Leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum” (Matt 4:13).
Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen living in the village. Matthew the tax collector also dwelt here.
Capernaum is one of the three cities cursed by Jesus for its lack of faith.
The Synagogue
The dating of this synagogue is debated, but it is clearly later than the first century. Excavations have revealed a synagogue from the time of Jesus with walls made of worked stone and 4 feet thick.
These earlier walls were preserved up to 3 feet high and the entire western wall still exists and was used as the foundation for the later synagogue.
Jesus was confronted by a demoniac while teaching here (Mark 1:21-27).
In Capernaum, Jesus healed the servant of the centurion. This Roman official was credited with building the synagogue (Luke 7:3).
In this synagogue, Jesus gave sermon on the bread of life (John 6:35-59).
The House of Peter
Excavations revealed one residence that stood out from the others. This house was the object of early Christian attention with 2nd century graffiti and a 4th century house church built above it. In the 5th century a large octagonal Byzantine church was erected above this, complete with a baptistery. Pilgrims referred to this as the house of the ap
ostle Peter.