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Although the terminal has been officially called "Grand Central Terminal" since the present structure opened, it has "always been more colloquially and affectionately known as Grand Central Station", a name of one of the earlier railroad stations on the same site.
Grand Central Terminal is the most extraordinary public space in New York City. Opened to the public in 1913, this historic train terminal is a world-famous landmark in Midtown. Its rich history is a story of immense wealth and great engineering. Grand Central is one of the busiest train stations in the world, with approximately 750,000 visitors every day.
"Transportation" designed by Jules Alexis Coulan of Paris (1914), the statues around the clock on Grand Central’s south face represent Mercury, Hercules and Minerva, all considered apt gods to represent the railroads with their attributes of speed, strength and intellect.
At the time, this was considered the largest group of sculptures in the world, at 48 feet (14.6m) high.
The French artist Jules-Alexis Coutan was responsible for the design of the sculpture (known as “Transportation”). However, M. Coutan never visited the US, and the sculptures were carved by the John Donnelly company.
Twirling Intestines.
Regarder de loin marcher entrailles conjectures profond éditeur poète intellect entrailles arrogance vipères froid gaspillé mouvements,
Impii fragmenta, regna dervichea, gradus superaestimati, saepta foetida, vermes humani, corda circumdantes, mores instabilis patefacti.,
колонны антаблемента царапающие навозную кучу тела страхи сцепленные лезвия прерывистая тишина презренные щеки воспаленные кишки,
zavarok szabályok nyilvánvaló kapuk fenséges méreg lenyelve örök gondolatok beszennyezett gyűrődő ráncolt hártyák sötét mesék,
Dispositionen Folterungen konfrontiert Umhänge Hunger Notizen eingesperrt verborgene Gesetze Unglücke Rote schmutzige Tricks kompromittierte Stimmen flüsternde Meinungen Befehle direkter Donner,
道化師のようなやり方、不可能なこと、コケコッコーという音、詩、誤解された偽善者、高慢な想像力、悪徳、成功した嵐、知覚された苦悩、虫に似ている、サナダムシ、空腹.
Steve.D.Hammond.
Yellow is full of creative and intellectual energy. Always use yellow note pads.
Yellow symbolizes wisdom. Yellow means joy and happiness. People of high intellect favor yellow. Yellow daffodils are a symbol of unrequited love. Sunday's color is yellow-gold.
Like the energy of a bright sunny day, yellow brings clarity and awareness.
This is my old Texas Tech friend Mike Flanagan from Lubbock. He was half Louisiana Irish and half Mexican Indian. He taught me chess and the proper way to load and smoke a pipe. He also introduced me to the music of Gustav Mahler, and got me to read THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov and A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller, Jr. He said he hated Texas, but after a couple of hours in Denton, he said Denton was the exception. He'd love to live here. He later joined the US Army, and I haven't heard from him in years. He was a brilliant man with a varied and imaginative intellect. I hope he prospered.
What does it mean to be the silent observer? The subjects in this series embody the joint-like posture of mannequins. They allude view, obscuring themselves behind objects and other times reveal their presence in an ordinary remote world.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Chance Nkosi Gomez known initiated by H.H Swami Jyotirmayanda as Sri Govinda walks an integral yogic path in which photography is the primary creative field of expression. The medium was introduced during sophomore year of high school by educator Dr. Devin Marsh of Robert Morgan Educational Center. Coming into alignment with light, its nature and articulating the camera was the focus during that time. Thereafter while completing a Photographic Technology Degree, the realization of what made an image “striking” came to the foreground of the inner dialogue. These college years brought forth major absorption and reflection as an apprentice to photographer and educator Tony A. Chirinos of Miami Dade College. The process of working towards a singular idea of interest and thus building a series became the heading from here on while the camera aided in cultivating an adherence to the present moment. The viewfinder resembles a doorway to the unified field of consciousness in which line, shape, form, color, value, texture all dissolve. It is here that the yogi is reminded of sat-chit-ananda (the supreme reality as all-pervading; pure consciousness). As of May 2024 Govinda has completed his 300hr yoga teacher training program at Sattva Yoga Academy studying from Master Yogi Anand Mehrotra in Rishikesh, India, Himalayas. This has strengthened his personal Sadhana and allows one to carry and share ancient Vedic Technology leading others in ultimately directing their intellect to bloom into intuition. As awareness and self-realization grows so does the imagery that is all at once divine in the mastery of capturing and controlling light. Over the last seven years he has self-published six photographic books, Follow me i’ll be right behind you (2017), Sonata - Minimal Study (2018), Birds Singing Lies (2018), Rwanda (2019), Where does the body begin? (2019) & Swayam Jyotis (2023). Currently, Govinda is employed at the Leica Store Miami as a camera specialist and starting his journey as a practitioner of yoga ॐ
Ted Kord is the second hero to call himself Blue Beetle. He is the successor to Dan Garrett and the predecessor to Jaime Reyes.
Garrett was Ted's mentor and he vowed to take up the crime-fighting legacy. When he found himself unable to activate the Blue Beetle Scarab he turned to science and martial arts instead.
Ted is a scientific and engineering genius. He puts his inventions to public use through Kord Enterprises. He has been a member of Justice League International, the Living Assault Weapons and the Birds of Prey.
His most enduring partnership is with his best friend Booster Gold.
Ted Kord has no superpowers; he possesses a genius-level intellect, with an IQ of 192.
He iss proficient in numerous sciences such as chemistry, physics, engineering, aircraft, and solar tech, as well as an understanding of alien tech.
Despero once claimed that Ted's mind was second only to that of J'onn J'onzz. Former Justice League teammate Guy Gardner claims that Ted was smarter than Batman, "although nobody ever noticed".
Kord is an Olympic-level acrobat and skilled hand-to-hand combatant, having studied in the martial arts of karate and aikido. Dick Grayson stated that Ted was very adept physically, to the point where he was almost ambidextrous. He is also highly skilled in espionage.
Kord is best known for the crime fighting equipment he has invented. He created numerous gadgets, including suction pads, sight-enhancing lenses, and a protective costume.
To prevent being forcibly unmasked, especially if rendered unconscious, Kord's cowl had a lock mechanism that only opened when he touched the mask under his jaw with a chip in his glove, which would at least force an enemy to perform the more troublesome task of cutting through the material to unmask him.
He also created a power armor suit for his friend Booster Gold. The suit contained a fully functioning artificial arm and also provided life-support for Booster as he recovered from potentially fatal injuries. He later converted a suit of alien power armor for Booster to use.
His BB gun was a handheld weapon that could blind villains with a flash of light, or knock them back with a compressed air blast capable of felling a charging rhino.
The original BB gun was designed with a security feature so that it would function only when the Blue Beetle held it, becoming inactive without contact with special circuitry in the Beetle costume's gloves. The BB gun is solar powered.
Blue Beetle's airship, the "Bug", contains high tech equipment, can electrify or magnetize its hull, fire electrical energy, and fly at 600 mph. All models had booster jets hidden under the shell of the Bug. The boosters on the first two models could speed the Bug up to the speed of sound for a short period of time; no time limit was ever given for how long the burst lasted.
Later models of the boosters were used for intercontinental travel at supersonic speed. It was also 90% solar powered. Later models also had energy weapons of various types, from lasers to plasma. The last two models were capable of reaching orbit and all models could operate underwater. No depth was ever given that they could go to, but one model Bug was seen operating on the sea floor after going through an underwater volcano.
All models were remotely controllable from controls built into Kord's gloves.
He also built flight pads similar to Mister Miracle's flight discs used throughout the entire Extreme Justice run and claimed to Barbara Gordon that he could keep the Birds of Prey jet flying 24-7 with technology based on the Darkseid's Mother Boxes.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Ted Kord
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Captain Atom 83 (November 1966)
Created by: Steve Ditko
There was no way I was going past this without a photo.
Yes, my intellect is stuck at age 14. Sorry!
"Worry about a girl, eh ? Hah ! If they think they can cut me off from where the action is, they're mistaken ! I restyled this motorbike for just such an emergency !"
('Batgirl' and motorcycle by DC Collectibles / DC Icons 'Batgirl of Burnside' Deluxe Figure)
It may sound like the kind of bogus claim made on late-night infomercials, but trust me when I say it's true: Mr. Brown Pelican's violations of the rules of decency are so goofy they beggar belief. But first, I'm going to jump ahead a bit and talk in general terms about how Mr. Pelican has an amazing ability to disengage his intellect. Then, I'll back up and fill in some of the details. Okay, so to start with the general stuff, Mr. Pelican's supercilious, twisted asseverations have caused the most self-deceiving analphabetics you'll ever see to descend upon us like a swarm of locusts, destroying our moral fiber. Yet there's much more to it than that. His occasional demonstrations of benevolence are not genuine. Nor are Mr. Pelican's promises. In fact, he uses cannibalism to cover up his criminal ineptitude. That's the large elephant in the room that nobody ever talks about. Nevertheless, I unquestionably maintain that people really ought to start talking about it because then they'd realize that Mr. Pelican makes a lot of exaggerated claims. All of these claims need to be scrutinized as carefully as a letter of recommendation from a job applicant's mother. Consider, for example, Mr. Pelican's claim that all any child needs is a big dose of television every day. The fact of the matter is that I profess that the best way to overcome misunderstanding, prejudice, and hate is by means of reason, common sense, clear thinking, and goodwill. Mr. Pelican, in contrast, believes that all it takes to start a rabbit farm is a magician's magic hat.
Spirit is Substance, matter is accident: that is to say that matter is but a contingent and transitory modality of the radiation of the Spirit which projects the worlds and the cycles while remaining transcendent and immutable.
This radiation produces the polarisation into subject and object: matter is the final point of the descent of the objective pole, sensorial consciousness being the corresponding subjective phenomenon.
For the senses, the object is matter, or let us say the perceptible physical domain; for the Intellect, objective reality is the Spirit in all its forms. It is by it that we exist, and that we know; were it not immanent in physical substances these could not exist for one instant.
And in this Spirit precisely the subject-object opposition is resolved; it is resolved in the Unity which is at once exclusive and inclusive, transcendent and immanent. The alpha as well as the omega, while transcending us infinitely, reside in the depths of our heart.
Intellect enjoys a worshipful intimacy with God and a perfection born of this intimacy. From this worship, emerges Universal Soul, perfect in potentiality but not in actuality, because it is separated from God by Intellect.
There is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Una delle tante strade del mondo
C'è una strada che va dall'occhio al cuore, senza passare per la ragione
Gilbert K. Chesterton
And scarcely anyone appears to care!
(A.W. Tozer)
The only power God recognizes in His Church, is the power of His Spirit. Whereas the only power actually recognized today by the majority of evangelicals, is the power of man. God does His work by the operation of the Spirit--while Christian leaders attempt to do theirs by the power of trained intellect. Bright personality, has taken the place of the divine influence. But only what is done through the Eternal Spirit, will abide eternally.
For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was:
a device for wasting time,
a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience,
a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability.
But of late she appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god entertainment--she may as well join forces with him and make what use she can of his power.
Christianity is so entangled with the world, that millions never guess how radically they have missed the New Testament pattern. Compromise is everywhere!
Evangelical Christianity is now tragically below the New Testament standard.
Worldliness is an accepted part of our way of life.
Our religious mood is social, instead of spiritual.
We have lost the art of worship.
We are not producing saints.
Our models are successful business men, celebrated athletes and theatrical personalities.
We carry on our religious activities after the methods of the modern advertiser.
Our homes have been turned into theaters.
Our literature is shallow, and our hymnody borders on sacrilege.
And scarcely anyone appears to care!
"Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal" - H.P. Lovecraft
Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are. Successful people are not superhuman. Success does not require a super-intellect. Nor is there anything mystical about success. And success doesn't based on luck. Successful people are just ordinary folks who have developed belief in themselves and what they do. Never -- yes, never -- sell yourself short.
He enjoyed the view and conversation. What do you think? Long Legs, Curves, and my Eyes, Smile, and Intellect! Any thoughts?? Perhaps a comment?
Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international and intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as the ethics[3] of using such technologies.The most common thesis is that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into different beings with abilities so greatly expanded from the natural condition as to merit the label of posthuman beings.The contemporary meaning of the term transhumanism was foreshadowed by one of the first professors of futurology, FM-2030, who taught "new concepts of the human" at The New School in the 1960s, when he began to identify people who adopt technologies, lifestyles and worldviews "transitional" to posthumanity as "transhuman".This hypothesis would lay the intellectual groundwork for the British philosopher Max More to begin articulating the principles of transhumanism as a futurist philosophy in 1990 and organizing in California an intelligentsia that has since grown into the worldwide transhumanist movement.
The year 1990 is seen as a "fundamental shift" in human existence by the transhuman community, as the first gene therapy trial,[8] the first designer babies,[9] as well as the mind-augmenting World Wide Web all emerged in that year. In many ways, one could argue the conditions that will eventually lead to the Singularity were set in place by these events in 1990.[original research?]Influenced by seminal works of science fiction, the transhumanist vision of a transformed future humanity has attracted many supporters and detractors from a wide range of perspectives including philosophy and religion.Transhumanism has been characterized by one critic, Francis Fukuyama, as among the world's most dangerous ideas,to which Ronald Bailey countered that it is rather the "movement that epitomizes the most daring, courageous, imaginative and idealistic aspirations of humanity".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism
What does it mean to be human? Biology has a simple answer: If your DNA is consistent with Homo sapiens, you are human — but we all know that humanity is a lot more complex and nuanced than that. Other schools of science might classify humans by their sociological or psychological behavior, but again we know that actually being human is more than just the sum of our thoughts and actions. You can also look at being human as a sliding scale. If you were to build a human from scratch, from the bottom up, at some point you cross the threshold into humanity — if you believe in evolution, at some point we ceased being a great ape and became human. Likewise, if you slowly remove parts from a human, you cross the threshold into inhumanity. Again, though, we run into the same problem: How do we codify, classify, and ratify what actually makes us human?Does adding empathy make us human? Does removing the desire to procreate make us inhuman? If I physically alter my brain to behave in a different, non-standard way, am I still human? If I have all my limbs removed and my head spliced onto a robot, am I still human? (See: Upgrade your ears: Elective auditory implants give you cyborg hearing.) At first glance these questions might sound inflammatory and hyperbolic, or perhaps surreal and sci-fi, but don’t be fooled: In the next decade, given the continued acceleration of computer technology and biomedicine, we will be forced to confront these questions and attempt to find some answers.
Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement that believes we can, and should, improve the human condition through the use of advanced technologies. One of the core concepts in transhumanist thinking is life extension: Through genetic engineering, nanotech, cloning, and other emerging technologies, eternal life may soon be possible. Likewise, transhumanists are interested in the ever-increasing number of technologies that can boost our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of (thus the term transhuman). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), for example, which speeds up reaction times and learning speed by running a very weak electric current through your brain, has already been used by the US military to train snipers. On the more extreme side, transhumanism deals with the concepts of mind uploading (to a computer), and what happens when we finally craft a computer with greater-than-human intelligence (the technological singularity). (See: How to create a mind, or die trying.Beyond the obvious benefits of eternal life or superhuman strength, transhumanism also investigates the potential dangers and ethical pitfalls of human enhancement. In the case of life extension, if every human on Earth suddenly stopped dying, overpopulation would trigger a very rapid and very dramatic socioeconomic disaster. Unless we stopped giving birth to babies, of course, but that merely rips open another can of worms: Without birth and death, would society and humanity continue to grow and evolve, or would it stagnate, suffocated by the accumulated ego of intellectuals and demagogues who just will not die? Likewise, if only the rich have access to intelligence- and strength-boosting drugs and technologies, what would happen to society? Should everyone have the right to boost their intellect? Would society still operate smoothly if everyone had an IQ of 300 and five doctorate degrees?As you can see, things get complicated quickly when discussing transhumanist ideas — and life extension and augmented intelligence and strength are just the tip of the iceberg! This philosophical and ethical complexity stems from the fact that transhumanism is all about fusing humans with technology — and technology is advancing, improving, and breaking new ground very, very quickly. Humans have always used technology, of course — our ability to use tools and grasp concepts such as science and physics are what set us apart from other animals — but never has society been so intrinsically linked and underpinned by it. As we have seen in just the last few years, with the advent of the smartphone and ubiquitous high-speed mobile networks, just a handful of new technologies now have the power to completely change how we interact with the the world and people around us..Humans, on the other hand, and the civilizations that they build, move relatively slowly. It took us millions of years to discover language, and thousands more to discover medicine and the scientific method. In the few thousand years since, up until the last century or so, we doubled the human life span, but neurology and physiology were impenetrable black boxes. In just the last 100 years, we’ve doubled our life span again, created bionic eyes and powered exoskeletons, begun to understand how the human brain actually works, and started to make serious headway with boosting intellectual and physical prowess. We’ve already mentioned how tDCS is being used to boost cranial capacity, and as we’ve seen in recent years, sportspeople have definitely shown the efficacy of physical doping.An early television: It would've seemed incredibly alien to our grandparentsIt is due to this jarring juxtaposition — the historical slowness of human and societal evolution vs. the breakneck pace of modern technology — that many find transhumanism to be unpalatable. After all, as I’ve described it here, transhumanism is almost the very definition of unnatural. You’re quite within your rights to find transhumanism a bit, well, weird. And it is weird, don’t get me wrong — but so are most emerging technologies. Do you think that your great grandparents weren’t wigged out by the first television sets? Before it garnered the name “television,” one of its inventors gave it the rather spooky name of “distant electric vision.” Can you imagine the wariness in which passengers approached the first steam trains? Vast mechanical beasts that could pull hundreds of tons and moved far faster than the humble — but state-of-the-art — horse and carriage.The uneasiness that surround new, paradigm-shifting technologies isn’t new, and it has only been amplified by the exponential acceleration of technology that has occurred during our lifetime. If you were born 500 years ago, odds are that you wouldn’t experience a single societal-shifting technology in your lifetime — today, a 40 year old will have lived through the creation of the PC, the internet, the smartphone, and brain implants, to name just a few life-changing technologies. It is unsettling, to say the least, to have the rug repeatedly pulled out from under you, especially when it’s your livelihood at stake. Just think about how many industries and jobs have been obliterated or subsumed by the arrival of the digital computer, and it’s easy to see why we’re wary of transhumanist technologies that will change the very fabric of human civilization.The good news, though, is that humans are almost infinitely adaptable. While you or I might balk at the idea of a brain-computer interface that allows us to download our memories to a PC, and perhaps upload new memories a la The Matrix, our children — who can use smartphones at the age of 24 months, and communicate chiefly through digital means — will probably think nothing of it. For the children of tomorrow, living through a series of disruptive technologies that completely change their lives will be the norm. There might still be some resistance when I opt to have my head spliced onto a robotic exoskeleton, but within a generation children will be used to seeing Iron Seb saving people from car crashes and flying alongside airplanes.The fact of the matter is that transhumanism is just a modern term for an age-old phenomenon. We have been augmenting our humanity — our strength, our wisdom, our empathy — with tools since prehistory. We have always been spooked by technologies that seem unnatural or that cause us to act in inhuman ways — it’s simply human nature. That all changes with the children of today, however. To them, anything that isn’t computerized, digital, and touch-enabled seems unnatural. To them, the smartphone is already an extension of the brain; to them, mind uploading, bionic implants and augmentations, and powered exoskeletons will just be par for the course. To them, transhumanism will just seem like natural evolution — and anyone who doesn’t follow suit, just like those fuddy-duddies who still don’t have a smartphone, will seem thoroughly inhuman.
www.extremetech.com/extreme/152240-what-is-transhumanism-...
Humanity+ is an international nonprofit membership organization that advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities. In other words, we want people to be better than well.Our Humanity+ conferences explore innovations of science and technology and their relationship to humanity. Recent conferences have been held at San Francisco State University, Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, California Technology Institute, and Harvard University.
humanityplus.org/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwipi4BRD7t6zGl6m75IgBEiQAn...
Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition. The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it.Generally, however, humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom and progress. In modern times, humanist movements are typically aligned with secularism, and today humanism typically refers to a non-theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world.[
Riddle us this: what cerebral criminal with an affinity for purple and green loves challenging the Dark Knight with cleverly calculated crimes and puzzling plots?
One of the Dark Knight's most infamous villains, Edward Nygma enjoys flaunting his intellectual superiority by conducting crimes and leaving clues for Batman to piece together. While this habit constantly leads to the aptly named Riddler failing in his criminal endeavors, his puzzle-problem actually stems not only from his own narcissism and ego, but also from a deep-seeded psychological compulsion. Because of this, the Riddler often finds himself a resident of Arkham Asylum following his inevitable capture.
Possessing a genius-level intellect, the Riddler creates elaborate, sometimes Rube Goldberg-esque traps, and is even willing to use innocent civilians as bait. Although not physically imposing, the Riddler's brilliance, neurosis and lack of empathy make him an incredibly dangerous foe. He cares very little—if at all—about the lives of those he uses in his plots and instead only sees them as disposable pawns in his continuing intellectual battle against Batman.
Edward Nygma is the Riddler, a master strategist who incorporates riddles into his crimes in Gotham City, making him an enemy of its protector Batman.
Golden Age
The origin story recounts Edward Nigma's fascination with puzzles from a young age. After a teacher announces that a contest will be held over who can solve a puzzle the fastest, Nigma sets his sights on winning this, craving the glory and satisfaction that will come with the victory. He breaks into the school at night to practice the puzzle until he is able to solve it in under a minute. Due to this he wins the contest and is given a book of riddles as a prize. His cheating rewarded, Edward embraced the mastery of puzzles of all kinds, eventually becoming a carnival employee who excelled at cheating his customers out of their money with his bizarre puzzles and mind games. He soon finds himself longing for greater challenges and thrills and dons the disguise of the "Riddler" to challenge Batman, believing him to be a worthy adversary. In his first encounter with the Dynamic Duo, Riddler first tried to confound the crime-fighters with his infamous double-entry Riddle Clues and then tried to kill them both in a booby-trapped glass maze on a pier, sealing the door so they couldn't leave the structure before it exploded, only for Batman and Robin to escape and the Riddler "vanishing" after getting knocked into the sea by the explosion, leaving only his trademark "?" floating in the water.
Post Crisis on Infinite Earths
Origin
Before the Mask
Ed Nygma, Wayne Enterprises employee
Before the first appearance "the Batman", Edward Nygma was the trusted strategist of Philip Kane, Bruce Wayne's uncle and the CEO of Wayne Enterprises during Wayne's absence, despite Nygma having what was described as a "questionable past".
When Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham and threatened to uproot all the shady plans Nygma had for Wayne Enterprises, Nygma sent the Red Hood Gang after the prodigal son, only for the assassination attempt to fail. His position at Wayne Enterprises now compromised, Nygma departed to begin his endgame for Gotham, giving his boss Philip Kane his resignation in the form of trapping him in his office with a magnet.
"Zero Year"
Having strategically calculated his plans for Gotham, Nygma, donning the alias "the Riddler", cut the power throughout the entire city, telling the people that they would need to get smart or die. As the lights darkened in Gotham, Riddler kicked off what would later be called "Zero Year". Working with a vengeful scientist named Karl Helfern, Riddler sat back as Helfern collected all the materials needed to bring the city to its knees. While Helfern's motives were to hurt Wayne Enterprises, Riddler's motives were to make the city of Gotham smarter - to eradicate those that dumbed down the human race.
Riddler's beginning
As Batman was distracted with Dr. Helfern, Riddler used the time to further the survival challenge he initiated in Gotham by blowing up the retaining walls around Gotham. The approaching hurricane that the city had been preparing for was now unchallenged, and the streets immediately flooded with several feet of water. Using a special chemical developed by Dr. Pamela Isley, Riddler hastened the growth of plants throughout the city - now a dark, savage jungle under Riddler's thumb.
Working with Lieutenant Gordon and Lucius Fox, Batman discovered the Riddler's location after multiple difficult tasks to find his broadcasting spot, tracking him to the Gotham Museum. Finally coming face-to-face, Riddler challenged Batman one last time by demanding he answer twelve riddles. Batman went along with it for a bit, afraid that the villain would detonate weather balloons throughout the city if he did not play along, but ultimately punched Riddler in the face before the mastermind had a chance to ask all his questions. Turning the power back on, Riddler's reign was ended. Nygma, deemed too dangerous for the usual Blackgate Penitentiary, was put in a straight jacket and detained at Arkham Asylum.
The War of Jokes and Riddles
Riddler vs. Joker
After having been imprisoned for about a year following the Zero Year, the Riddler had become a tool for the GCPD whenever they found themselves stumped during an investigation until the day he finally escaped, threatening every guard on his way out of his cell by simply reciting the names of all of their loved ones. Hearing about a seemingly inconsistent string of murders committed by the Joker, the Riddler visited the clown, telling him he deduced that the Joker had lost his ability to laugh and suggested teaming up to take down Batman would be just what he needed. However, the Joker didn't find this offer funny and shot Nygma in the stomach, beginning the event that would later be called, "the War of Jokes and Riddles".
Recruiting every supervillain in Gotham they could, Joker and Riddler both amassed small armies to fight one another, leaving Batman and the rest of the city caught in the middle. For weeks the two sides fought, with Batman unable to contain the casualties caused by both armies; the Bat was forced to ally himself with one side in order to first defeat the other. Batman chose to work with the Riddler, despite Nygma having murdered Kite-Man's young son in a power play, in order to track down the Joker and finally end the war.
In the final confrontation with the clown, after Batman had inevitably betrayed him, Riddler surrendered and revealed that every move of the war - even Kite-Man's involvement - was orchestrated by him as a means to solve the ultimate riddle - how to make the Joker laugh again. Batman, furious over all the civilian casualties, attempted to stab the Riddler with a kitchen knife, only for Nygma to be saved by the Joker himself, an act that was so surprising that Joker regained his ability to laugh. The two criminals were both arrested and taken to Arkham Asylum.
Other Early Crimes
Sometime not long after the War, Joker and Riddler returned to the streets and put their past transgressions behind them. They, along with the Penguin and Catwoman, were contacted by the Designer - a new criminal in Gotham who volunteered to make their wildest schemes a reality. The Riddler agreed to the deal and asked the Designer for unlimited access to deathtraps to use against the Gotham City police. However, the Joker caused the whole deal to fall apart and seemingly killed the Designer, and the villains burned down his base to leave no trace.
At some point, Edward fathered a daughter known as Enigma. Later, perceiving her as less intelligent than himself, he attempted to kill her, though he was unsuccessful.
Nygma would later be returned to Arkham.
New 52
Death of the Family
The Strategist
With the Joker's return to Gotham, sporting his own cut-off face as a mask after a yearlong absence, the clown prince took over Arkham and began to spruce it up in anticipation of Batman's arrival. Nygma, still in his cell, asked Joker to let him out using the keycard of a dead guard. Considering Riddler to be a useful ally, Joker decided to challenge the Riddler in order to make sure he was at the top of his game for when Batman arrived. Tossing a toxic gas capsule into his cell, Joker told Riddler that, in order to survive, the mastermind had to figure out a way to get himself out of the cell. Without a problem, Riddler succeeded in his escape, using only one of the multiple ways he had thought of in advance, and joined Joker in his plan, being given the title of "strategist" in Joker's royal interpretation of Batman's rogues gallery.
After the Joker's defeat, Riddler was taken back to his cell in Arkham.
Forever Evil
When the Crime Syndicate arrived on Earth, the team of super-criminals liberated Riddler, as well as all the other villains around the country, after seemingly killing the Justice League. Nygma, taking advantage of his freedom, immediately invaded the Wayne Enterprises building in order to kill a security guard who had denied him a pack of cards five years ago. Alone in Wayne Tower, having defeated all the advanced security systems of the building, Riddler opened up a pack of cards and played solitaire, waiting for Batman to eventually return.
Endgame
During Joker's endgame, Riddler remained in his cell in Arkham Manor while the rest of the city was infected by Joker's mind control toxin.
When the city was saved and Batman was seemingly killed, the inmates were shipped off, and Wayne Manor was restored to Bruce Wayne, who was trying to restart his life after receiving amnesia during the Joker attack. However, Riddler, Clayface, and Mister Freeze secretly remained behind and ambushed Wayne as he attempted to move back in, hellbent on ruining his life the same way he ruined theirs by funding Batman. The villains were eventually foiled by the new Batman, and Riddler was brought back to the newly renovated Arkham Asylum.
Mockingbird
Using the alias Mockingbird, the Riddler gathered a group of six villains and trapped them aboard a sinking container.
Fighting the Flash
Another formidable opponent - the Flash
Sometime during his stay in Arkham Asylum, Nygma became interested in how to stop the Flash, considering him a new and formidable opponent. After a breakout, Nygma gained possession of the Flash villain Heat Wave after he had been left for dead in Gotham during the the Crime Syndicate's invasion. Next, the mastermind donated an army of "protection" drones to Central City through a collection of shell companies and waited until the police force fell right into his trap by activating them throughout the city. Finally, maneuvering public opinion against the Flash, Riddler secretly convinced the police force to allow the Rogues to arrest its city's hero, under the pretense that he was a threat.
When the Flash was finally captured, the Riddler revealed himself and took control of the drones that had been sent to patrol the city, threatening to use them to kill anybody if the Flash activated his powers. After the Flash was saved by Pied Piper from police custody, Nygma announced that, if the Flash did not reveal his secret identity to the world, he would destroy Central City by using Heat Wave, his hostage, as a human-nuke. Working together with the Rogues, who felt betrayed by the Riddler, the Flash defeated Nygma and the drones and handed him over to the Central City police to be taken back to Gotham.
Rebirth
I Am Bane
Riddler assisted Bane in unlocking a high tech door in Arkham, allowing him access to confront Batman.
Defiance, The Society
Riddler placed Deathstroke on trial for appearing to have reformed, and using Hector Hammond's abilities, he convinces the Secret Society of Super-Villains that Deathstroke is indeed evil by showcasing a simulation of the assassin killing them all right before Deathstroke himself is kidnapped.
Doomsday Clock
During the Doomsday Clock, the Riddler held an underground meeting with several supervillains to talk about the Superman Theory, but the meeting was crashed by the Comedian, who shoots Riddler in the leg.
Death Metal
After Batman accidentally unleashed an ancient evil from the Dark Multiverse, one of the cross-dimensional Dark Knights called the Batman Who Laughs came to Gotham and offered some of its villains metal Joker cards that could give them powers to bend reality. Riddler, serving time in Arkham Asylum, was personally handed a card by the Batman. Riddler used his new power to create a labyrinth around the city, acting as its first line of defense against heroes who wanted to reclaim it. His compulsion to tell riddles was again his downfall though when he was defeated by the newly formed Gotham Resistance.
Infinite Frontier
The Hill
A former mob hitman known as "Mr. Fun" went on a killing spree across The Hill, a lower-class neighbourhood in Gotham. The Riddler deduced the "Hill Ripper's" true identity, but rather than report it to the police he instead decided to plant riddles at the crime scene which would lead to an elaborate scavenger hunt ending at the killer's house. However, the GCPD could not solve the Riddles and, as they were no longer cooperating with Batman, the Dark Knight never found out about them. The Batgirls stumbled across his trail of clues, but rather than play his game they just trailed his henchman Killer Moth back to the Hill Ripper's hideout. He revealed the killer's true identity and escaped, but before he left he told Stephanie Brown that her father the Cluemaster was alive.
Skills and abilities
The Riddler is a criminal genius capable of extraordinary lateral thinking in decoding and formulating puzzles of all kinds. As a private detective during the time he was reformed, he demonstrated investigative skills that rival those of the Dark Knight. However, Batman's observations note that "[Nigma] exhibits personality disorders consistent with a fanatic narcissist, egocentrism, and megalomania crossed with severe obsessive compulsion".
Like most of Batman's enemies (and Batman himself), the Riddler has no superhuman abilities but is a highly cunning criminal strategist. He is not especially talented in fisticuffs (although his endurance has grown from having to engage in it over the years), but sometimes employs weaponry that exploits his gimmick, such as exploding jigsaw pieces, question-mark-shaped pistols, and his infamous question-mark staff, known to house a wide variety of technological devices and weapons. He is shown to be skilled with engineering and technology, having confronted Batman and Robin with unique and elaborate deathtraps. He is also well known for being Batman's most intelligent adversary, and with a flexible theme to his crimes compared to similar criminals: all the Riddler requires is to be able to describe his threatened crime with a riddle or puzzle. Riddler once tried to commit crimes without leaving any clues using self hypnosis; however, he learned too late that while he was asleep his unconscious mind left riddling clues, causing Batman and Robin to capture him. Riddler has a grudging respect for Batman in that he is the only adversary that has a intellectual genius equal to the Riddler; in the episode of Batman the animated series titled "What is Reality"? Riddler came close to defeating Batman once and for all; when Batman was forced to engage in a mind battle of the intellect versus the Riddler after Riddler "captured" Jim Gordon's mind in a virtual reality computer, Batman not only saved Gordon but also gave Riddler a riddle of his own: How could Riddler spread his consciousness 32 times more than Batman and still keep the mental concentration to keep his virtual ward "Riddlerville" together? The answer was that the Riddler couldn't keep his "Virtual World together" and instead suffered an emotional breakdown with his mind trapped in the virtual computer world until his next appearance.
However, the threat that Riddler actually poses is somewhat inconsistent across his various stories. His most formidable depictions emphasize his intelligence and cunning, portraying him as one of few rogues capable of seriously taxing Batman's mental prowess, while also willing to take the precaution of obtaining firearms to deal with the superhero. Some recent depictions, however, have placed a derogatory focus on his flamboyant gimmickry and relative lack of major victories (even despite this applying to most of Batman's enemies), portraying him as petty, overconfident, relatively harmless, and held in low esteem.
The latter approach has proved polarizing, with some fans finding it wasteful in light of the character's classic status and history of compelling stories, while others argue that most of his popularity has come from media other than his comic storylines and enjoy the notion of knowing that his "real" threat level is overrated. In recent years the Riddler has been consistently depicted as a serious threat, with notable successes.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Edward Nigma
Publisher: DC Comics
First appearance: Detective Comics #140 (October 1948)
Created by Bill Finger (Writer)
Dick Sprang (Artist)
The Riddler has appeared before in BP 2021 Day 277!
www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/51549562768/
He has also been seen trying to ruin Christmas!
Before, one could borrow books. Now one can borrow books & vinyl (and this is not 1997; with our inflation, today needs a borrowing system more than ever). But feelings for this place are not something one can borrow and give back. It’s always here.
a rare position where i find myself stunned by another's gorgeous eloquence & heartfelt intellect ; borne through a life wrought in the severity of mundane suffering & sheer ecstasy
ephemeral existence & how you cope with your ghosts
so much that it inspires me to shut my goddamn whore mouth, or should i keep gooing?
"It's gonna go wrong." Or "She's going to hurt me." Or,"I've had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore . . ." Well, that's nonsense. You're going to miss life. You've got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down:-)
― Ray Bradbury
HBW!!
prunus, flowering cherry, 'Dream Catcher', sarah p duke gardens, duke university, durham, north carolina
The colour Yellow is the colour of Sunshine, Hope, and Happiness !! It stands for Freshness, Positivity, Clarity, Energy, Optimism, Enlightenment, Remembrance, Intellect, Spirituality, Honor, Loyalty, and Joy !!! ……What else do you want???
I personally prefer the Golden Yellow , because it makes my heart sing, like the colour White does !! Therefore, I have plenty of both representatives in the garden, which make EXCELLENT associations with all the rest strong bloom colours in the garden, like the reds , Indian pinks, and blues!! Well, I would say a very ….Mediterranean-style-coloured garden…
***** Amber Queen Rose is the MOSTly(!!!) Golden Rose bloom in our Garden!! Sweetly scented! She is a sturdy , healthy plant, with upward strong branches, dark green beautiful leaves!! Just Adorable!!!
Girl with Ball is a 1961 painting by Roy Lichtenstein. It is an oil on canvas Pop art work that is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, after being owned for several decades by Philip Johnson. It is one of Lichtenstein's earliest Pop art works and is known for its source, which is a newspaper ad that ran for several decades and which was among Lichtenstein's earliest works sourced from pop culture.
Girl with Ball was exhibited at Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition and was displayed in Newsweek's review of the show. This work significantly alters the original source and is considered exemplary of Lichtenstein's works that exaggerate the mechanically produced appearance although the result of his painterly work. It is an enduring depiction of the contemporary beauty figure.
Girl with Ball was inspired by a 1961 advertisement for the Mount Airy Lodge in the Pocono Mountains. The ad, which started running in 1955, was widely published in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere, including several prominent newspapers such as The New York Times and the Daily News. The advertisement was still running in newspapers more than twenty years after Lichtenstein produced the work.
According to the Lichtenstein Foundation website, in autumn 1961, a fellow teacher at Rutgers University named Allan Kaprow made introductions between Lichtenstein and Leo Castelli Gallery director Ivan Karp. Lichtenstein showed Karp several paintings including Girl with Ball, which was the one that intrigued Karp. Karp agreed to represent Lichtenstein weeks later. After showing the painting to Andy Warhol, he sold it to architect Philip Johnson that November. The painting appeared in Newsweek's 1962 review of Lichtenstein's Castelli Gallery show. The work appeared in the April 3, 1963 "Pop! Goes the Easel" show at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston along with his Brattata (1962) and Head-Red and Yellow (1962).
Girl with Ball depicts a woman wearing a bathing suit holding a beach ball with red stripes in the same color as her lips and tongue. Lichtenstein used a painter's version of comic strip artist techniques to create his own rendition of the subject of a nostalgic photograph, resulting in a simplified work of art with its own appeal. He produced the work using Ben-Day dots of primary colors. The process is described as exaggerating the "limitations of mechanical reproduction" to strip the photograph of its polish in a startling and intense form. In 1961, this painting was groundbreaking. Facial features such as nose and mouth are depicted using "commercial shorthand".
His process of reworking original artwork is described as "abstraction by subtraction", in which all features of the original are reduced to simple graphic elements. Lichtenstein alters the planar position of the subject of the picture to position her "nearer to the picture plane". He drew the picture more distorted than might be expected of a cartoonist by augmenting and focusing on her two-dimensionality.
The image and technique were regarded as unartistic. However, the painting presented an allusion to printing technology, with its Ben-Day dots, and to art history, with its "Art Nouveau forms". Though "crude and simplistic" the work demonstrates artistic intellect.
Girl with Ball is described by Diane Waldman as "striking" in the simple and bold way it presents a vacation atmosphere. She notes it is "reminiscent of Picasso's frolicking bather in one of his paintings on the subject, Bather with Beach Ball, 1932," especially in the way Lichtenstein has scaled down the representation and the way he depicts movement.
The newspaper ad source provided Lichtenstein with "one of the most common tropes of the day for the image of a woman." The updated Betty Grable-type subject, was a fashionable glamor figure that Lichtenstein used for a symbolic value that ranks her with "iconoclastic female figures, including Manet's Olympia, 1863, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907 and de Kooning's three series of Women"
The genesis of this idea came in an amazing music video from Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight". The central character here is a woman played by Elizabeth Moss, who is truly outstanding. Watch her face as she seems to be enduring an inner torment that finally dissolves her completely. Notice what happens to the focus. And of course that music simply grabs your heart and MAKES you feel her pain. www.youtube.com/watch?v=InyT9Gyoz_o
Wendy Mass (born 1967), a children's writer, wrote the memorable line: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about." But in various forms it is a saying that has persisted through the ages and is attributed to the great philosopher Plato (perhaps the greatest intellect who ever lived). It is good advice and not surprising then, that it has persisted for over 2,500 years.
So please be kind...
. . . the three most precious resources of life, I should say books, friends, and nature; and the greatest of these, at least the most constant and always at hand, is nature. Nature we have always with us, an inexhaustible storehouse of that which moves the heart, appeals to the mind, and fires the imagination and health to the body, a stimulus to the intellect, and joy to the soul.
-John Burroughs (1837 - 1921), American writer and naturalist
Big Branch
New River Gorge
instinct vs intellect, like 2 midget mexican wrestlers inside the ropes of our capacity to cope with the world
once upon a time a white dragon saw the elements falling apart, for this reason he made him self into the form of a man and then created a warrior temple on mount life, this is so he could train the best warriors to face evil.
>master
>good
>attack- 100/100
>strength- 95/100
>intellect- 100/100
>abilities- every type of magic, every fighting technique, the power of every life stone (elements), and almost everything else XD
he trained wa-hune also, so u can see that in her desc.
OC by me
(A young woman is standing inside an apt. with Helen & Di. A large, fluffy white cat is twining repeatedly around Di's ankles.)
Molly: Horatio, bad kitty. (the cat suddenly leaps into Di's arms, nuzzling her & purring.) Oh, my gosh! He doesn't usually act like this with strangers. I'm sorry!
Di: (cuddling the cat) It's all right. He's a good boy.
Helen: (to Molly) We call it the DiAngela Syndrome. It tends to charm animals. A lot of men are affected by it, too. My name is Helen Cafferty and this is Professor DiAngela Royce.
Molly: Professor? (to Di) You don't look like any professors in my college. You look young enough to be a student.
Di: They're all honorary degrees. I don't like institutionalized learning, but I adore taking the final exams.
Molly: What are you? Some kind of genius?
Di: Intellect has less to do with what you know and more to do with where you happen to be standing. I refuse to take those ridiculous IQ tests, but one or two institutions estimated mine to be in the 180s, but to be fair; I have an eidetic memory, and can read 20 or 25,000 words per minute, which helps-
Helen: (interrupts) Yes, she's some kind of genius.
Di: (to the cat) Who's an adorable guy? Who gets all the attention? Is it you, Horatio?
Molly: Yeah, Dana adores him. I take care of him when she's gone for a while. He's usually a cuddle muffin, like now, but this time - I don't know. Cats are supposed to be psychic, right? It's like he knows something's wrong.
Di: He's not psychic, you smell worried.
Molly: I - I beg your pardon?
Di: Mm hm. Sweat glands. Most of the apocrine glands in the skin are located in the groin, armpits, and around the nipples. In the skin, they usually have an odor. They are scent glands. The apocrine glands are mainly responsible for body odor because the sweat they produce is high in protein, which bacteria can break down easily. You're worried, you sweat, Horatio smells it and knows you're on edge. So, he is too. (to the cat) Aren't you, lover? But I'm not worried, I am? No, I'm not. So, he gravitates toward me.
Helen: (to the girl, who's staring at Di) Molly, does your roommate own a horse?
Molly: Not since she was in high school, but she adores them, and she just found a place where she can afford to stable one, so she's been looking. (to Di), Don't tell me - you could smell that, too? Come on, Horatio. (takes the cat from Di, clearly insulted by her odor remarks, and leaves the living area)
Di: Buyers and sellers form an artifice of a relationship because there's got to be trust between them, even if it's tenuous. If I'm a predator looking to coerce a young equestrienne into an isolated location -
Helen: Offer her a ride she can't refuse.
(Cast: Helen-Kestrel R., Di-Me Thank you so much for playing Helen. I apologize for how silly the cat looks, but I couldn't find the right kitty for the pic.))
also known as the masked wolf lady. Left her home village to be trained by the wise old man known as master Hun in the warrior temple at mount life, when her training was complete, she then joined a small group of heros.
>scout
>good
>attack- 60/100
>strength- 60/100
>intellect- 55/100
>abilities- master archer, enhanced sense of smell, good hunter, can feel her surroundings, parkour.
she is also mute
OC by me
The record of the Dantean Way begins with three things—an experience, the environment of that experience, and the means of understanding and expressing that experience; say—a woman, a city, and intellect or poetry; say again—Beatrice, Florence, and Virgil.
-THE FIGURE OF BEATRICE A Study in Dante by CHARLES WILLIAMS
the followers of urakeh (look at urakeh 1st, that is be4 this pic)
>soldiers
>evil
>attack- 40/100
>strength- 60/100
>intellect- 20/100
>abilities- run really fast, eat/chomp through anything (e.g. trees, people), deafening shout, climb anything.
these are expendable soldiers, so to stop them coming get to their master, he is the one creating them.
OCs by me
kinda like the orcs of LBFW
Oṃ Gaṇeśāya Namaḥ,
Oṃ Gan Gaṇapatayē Namaḥ
" Ganesha ... is one of the best-known and most widely worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains, Buddhists, and beyond India. [He} is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as the Lord of Beginnings, patron of arts and sciences, and the deva of intellect and wisdom ... ." Wikipedia. For more about Sri Ganesha: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha
Another image from Shining Cliff woods...shot on the Nikon D7100 and Nikkor 105mm DC glass.
It's a tricky lens to get the best from ... dof is shallower than my intellect. And, as can be seen, the CA is intrusive...for all that, it's a beguiling lens to use and once Snapseed creates a CA module I'll be a lot happier
Across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
L to R - Jesse Quick, Johnny Quick, Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, Liberty Belle.
Jesse Quick - Jesse Chambers reluctantly picked up in her parents’ crime-fighting ways after her mother mysteriously disappeared after a mysterious lightning storm. Chambers had memorized her father’s formula that allowed him to tap into the speed force and used the formula to try to find an answer to her mother’s disappearance. Years passed with no luck, however while searching for her mother, Jesse found the thrill in crime fighting at super speed and has since become a valuable member of the Flash Family as Jesse Quick!
Johnny Quick - Johnny Chambers was fascinated at the news of a crime fighting blur in Keystone City. Using his vast intellect and imagination, Chambers found a formula that enabled him to tap in to an energy source he believed was the source of “The Flash’s” super speed. Johnny began to use this newfound power source to fight injustice in New York. While the news of the Flash grew, New York touted a speedster of their own, known as Johnny Quick!
The Flash - After an experiment gone wrong, Jay Garrick found his entire body vibrating faster than he could comprehend. Eventually, Jay gained control over his body and soon realized that he had reflexes and other heightened abilities that allowed him to travel at super speed! Using this newfound power, Jay Garrick has sworn to protect not only his hometown of Keystone City, but the world from threats both earthly and otherworldly! While he may not be the first speedster to have ever existed, Jay will forever be known as the first Flash!
Max Mercury - Working in the 1800s, Max Crandall was the best, fastest, and most trusted messenger his settlement had. Max was often called “Mercury” by his fellow settlers as well as the nearby natives he would often interact with. One fateful day, while Max was making his routine trip delivering messages, a strange rift opened up in front of him. While Max was quick on his feet, he was not fast enough to stop from falling into the rift. In an instant, Max was transported to an alternate dimension that seemed to consist of pure electricity. With one strike of pure energy, Max gained knowledge of many different worlds and realities as well as a boost in his already quick speed. While the world passed Max by in an instant, he found himself tumbling into the 21st century, a far cry from the world he was familiar with. Equipped with his knowledge and new abilities, Max works as a mentor to anybody who finds themself with the ability to tap into the speed force, all they have to do is ask for Max Mercury!
Liberty Belle - Elizabeth Lawrence was once a seasoned reporter before she disappeared. Lawrence began her career making headlines after she busted a drug operation in New York, nearly crippling a crime family in the process. After this, “Libby” had a target on her, something she proudly gloated that as long as she lived that her fellow New Yorkers would be able to live free of fear of the crime that was destroying her home city. Eventually, Elizabeth married a fellow crime fighter, Johnny Chambers, and became pregnant with a girl. This temporarily took Libby out of action, but she would soon return to the scene with a new persona and costume to hide her identity from those who would threaten her and her growing family. Libby would continue to fight crime and fight for justice as the Liberty Belle!
Presso la religione induista, Ganesha o Ganeshè uno degli dei più conosciuti e venerati; figlio primogenito di Shiva e Parvati, viene raffigurato con una testa di elefante provvista di una sola zanna, ventre pronunciato e quattro braccia. Spesso è rappresentato seduto, con una gamba sollevata da terra e ripiegata sull'altra, nella posizione della Lalitasana
Ganesha è una divinità molto amata ed invocata, poiché è il signore del buon auspicio che dona prosperità e fortuna, il distruttore degli ostacoli di ordine materiale o spirituale; per questa ragione se ne invoca la grazia prima di iniziare una qualunque attività, come ad esempio un viaggio, un esame, un colloquio di lavoro, un affare, una cerimonia, o un qualsiasi evento importante.
Ganesha, also known as Ganapati and Vinayaka, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon.
Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify.Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom.
As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions
Read My Interview with Nic below.
As many of you know, I spend a fair amount of time on flickr looking at various artists’ work and following their evolution, and their favorite works. The main reason for this is that our photography series (Meet SL Photographer) started with the mission to introduce artists that make the world look amazing - either in the pictures or in-world - and to bring to you faces to watch for in the coming years.
Recently, in one of my flickr paths, I landed on a page that held my attention. The artist did not have a super popular page, like those where every picture has hundreds of faves and fifty-nine comments. She looked fairly new to the field. I continued looking at the work she displayed for another few weeks, and decided she is definitely an artist to watch. NicBor has a fun sense of style, good sense of composition, and an acute sense of lighting. As I kept enjoying every time she posted a new picture, I finally called her up to meet and have a chat.
I arrived at her house where cute little kitties walk about. They are the replacement for her not being able to care for them in RL due to serious allergies. We had a good laugh about that, before settling down in her living room where she spent a great amount of time not only chatting with me but patiently looking at skins and hairs I was suggesting for our photo session. Her work turned out beautifully and she did capture the mood I was in as well.
Leda Carter: Nic, it is great to meet you. Thank you for your time and letting me visit you in your house.
NicBor: Pleasure.
Leda: From your profile, it doesn’t look like you have been around much. What brought you to SL?
Nic: Well, I've been on IMVU for few years and it was one of those days when your closest friends thought it was time to move onto another platform. So, we did and here we are.
Leda: Ah, so that’s how you have landed here. How would you sum up your experience so far?
Nic: It has been a great start to my virtual journey. Lots of talented people around, and tons of creativity. I appreciate it a lot. So, I am enjoying my virtual journey enormously.
Leda: That’s wonderful to hear. What are some of the things/places/people that give you the most pleasure in SL?
Nic: Sadly, I haven’t had the time to really explore SL just yet. Due to my day job, I have limited time to be online and when I am online, I am either taking photos or working on few other job assignments on SL. Having said that, I fully intend to explore places very soon.
Generally, I am almost always taking pics or thinking of different concepts for photos. Other than that, I go around mostly shopping for interesting props for photos... or feed my cats. *laughs*
Leda: I have to tell you, you are an amazing newbie. When i was 6 months old, I still was running around with my skirt not fitting right, and was sleeping under bridges.
Nic: *laughs* Thank you. I think being on IMVU helped me a lot to adjust here. It wasn’t if I wasn’t familiar with avatars. And, I have few friends who were here for many years. It just took a long time for me to get to their invitation.
Leda: How did you start on your photography path? Did you do that on IMVU as well?
Nic: In IMVU I created furnitures, clothes etc. I did take pictures there too, and did some edits as well. But, I was mostly a creator there.
I am not quite sure myself how I started taking photos on SL, but I can tell you that I am a real noob if you will. I probably have lots to learn, experience and explore in terms of photography, and just in general on Second Life. Photography definitely evolved on its own. I need to be productive in a virtual world or in RL. I couldn’t just come on here and not do anything like creating or designing. So, the first thing I did was to play around with the lightings, and then I was hooked.
Leda: I think for most people I have spoken with their SL profession was not a focused mission when they started SL, but often it has its roots in their RL and their passion. Does this passion for art and photography have its roots in RL for you as well?
Nic: I've always been interested in the creative process of any art - paintings, designs, photography, performing arts and so on and so forth. Creating art in your head
with an idea or a concept, and then delivering it to your audience for their interpretation is a keen interest to me. So I'd say this is my RL interest as well as SL.
Leda: Since you had not planned this from the start, how did you develop your technical skills?
Nic: I must confess, it is pretty difficult to 'learn' in SL as in if you don't have friends who are 'senior citizens' (that's what I call veterans on SL for laughs) to help you. As a beginner, you have no clue whatsoever, you just need to click around and see where it gets you by trial and error. But, I suppose I got the hang of it by reading lots of tutorials and by making mistakes.
Leda: From these lessons and mistakes, are there any tips you would share with our readers?
Nic: Well, I am no expert. As I said, I am considerably new to SL so I can only tell you what I'd like to see as a viewer. I appreciate photos that tell stories and provoke my emotions. Needless to say techniques are as important, but a perfect shot with no soul would be a pity. With a great risk of sounding cliche, I'd say if you sing with your voice or dance with your body, I'll listen with my ears or watch with my eyes, but if you sing or dance with your soul my emotions will respond. Same philosophy with taking photos. After all, it is art.
Leda: I absolutely agree with you. If an artist does not have their own voice, the emotional connection with the audience cannot happen. For you, what inspires your artistic sense?
Nic: Greatness inspire me, the grandeur of one's intellect or one's gracious and beautiful movement or one's humanity, raw talent or wit. Of course in reality you don't get to witness these qualities everyday, but when I do meet or even briefly cross their path, I feel tremendously inspired in all aspects of my life.
Leda: Since Valentine’s day is around the corner, I was wondering if you take clients in case any of our readers would be interested in offering that as a gift. Some of my friends like to gift a photo-shoot session to their loved ones.
Nic: Sure, I would take clients, But I worry whether the client could trust me and let me handle the shoot and the processing in my style. Do you know what I mean?
Leda: Absolutely. You don’t want them to bring in someone else’s work with a completely different sense of style and ask for one just like it.
Nic: Exactly. I would want them to let me handle the whole thing in my style.
Leda: Speaking of style, do you have the same sense of style in RL? What are the similarities?
Nic: My avatar is fearless! She has her hair really short in platinum blonde; she wears extremely low cuts and walks around sims with no problems. Lacking in guts, of course I wouldn't be able to that in RL. Although, we are both very keen on simplicity, classics and neutral tones with dash of striking color from time to time.
Leda: As always, I am curious about about the person behind the avatar. What can you tell us about her?
Nic: That's a tough question. Let's do this, I am gonna give you ten words that would accurately or loosely describe the person behind my bold avatar. I only say accurately or loosely because we are the worst critique of ourselves.
Disciplined, conservative, confident, anal (Can I say that?), uptight, blunt, fair, generous, creative but mostly I'd like to think that I am a good soul.
Leda: Do you adhere to this philosophy of keeping RL and SL separate?
Nic: I think in virtual or in reality we are faced with the equal amounts of complexity in terms of human interactions. I treat everyone on SL exactly the way I'd treat them in RL. Friends are friends, analogue or digital.
Leda: Thank you so much for your time, Nic. It was a pleasure to know you.
Fallen man, and thus the average man, is as it were poisoned by the passional element, either grossly or subtly; from this results an obscuring of the Intellect and the necessity of a Revelation coming from the outside. Remove the passional element from the soul and the intelligence (remove "the rust from the mirror" or "from the heart") and the Intellect will be released; it will reveal from within what religion reveals from without.
This brings us to an important point: in order to make itself understood by souls impregnated with passion, religion must itself adopt a so to speak passional language, whence dogmatism, which excludes, and moralism, which schematizes; if the average man or collective man were not passional, Revelation would speak the language of the Intellect and there would be no exoterism, nor for that matter esoterism considered as an occult complement.
There are here three possibilities: firstly, men dominate the passional element, everyone lives spiritually by his inward Revelation; this is the golden age, in which everyone is born
an initiate.
Second possibility: men are affected by the passional element to the point of forgetting certain aspects of the Truth, whence the necessity - or the opportuneness - of Revelations that while being outward are metaphysical in spirit, such as the Upanishads.
Thirdly: the majority of men are dominated by passions, whence the formalistic, exclusive and combative religions, which communicate to them on the one hand the means of channelling the passional element with a view to salvation, and on the other hand the means of overcoming it in view of the total Truth, and of thereby transcending the religious formalism which veils it while suggesting it in an indirect manner. Religious revelation is both a veil of light and a light veiled.
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Esoterism as Principle and as Way by Frithjof Schuon
Copyright Susan Ogden
My little friend from the aquarium. Sadly he passed away just a few short months after we met. He and I had such a sweet give and take thru the glass...he would dance and jet across the tank and swirl his arms...and allow me photo after photo of his antics. As soon as other came to watch, he would dart behind a pipe in the tank and peek out, watching for the people to leave then when he would notice it was just me and my camera he would begin showing off again and posing in adorable poses as he made eye contact with me! THIS began my total infatuation with the Octopus! I was devastated when I found out that he had passed away...and learned that they only live approximately two years. Such a shame, because they have such distinct personalities and amazing intellect for a mollusk!
Someday I want to meet one, and touch one...sigh...