Elysian (E•ly•sian): relating to, or characteristics of heaven or paradise. | Model: @ktmkvi

 

So I'm finally posting personal work. Took this awhile ago with my friend. I really really wanted to get out and go explore. We decided to go check out these waterfalls by my house & do a shoot. It was super cold. So cold that nobody was even at this park. We climbed down to the base and walked right over the ice. Large portions of the water was frozen so it made it easy getting over by the waterfall. After a while we both started getting cold and packed up.

Because the 's is usually missed off the end of the name, many people call this "Stellar" Sea-lion, which relates to the stars, rather than its discoverer George Wilhelm Steller. It is the largest and most northerly species of Sea-lion on the planet, and sometimes goes by the name of Northern Sea-lion. Males can weigh up to 1000kg, up to four times heavier than females. They are distinguished from the similar California Sea-lions by their tan-coloured coat. The population has plummeted by about 80% over the last fifty years but nobody really knows why. This bellowing adult male was photographed on a haul-out off Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island but only three animals were present.

 

They are named after German naturalist George Wilhelm Steller who discovered them on Vitus Bering's expedition to the north Pacific in 1740-41. He also discovered Steller's Eider, Steller's Sea Eagles and Steller's Sea Cow (a manatee that is now extinct), plus Spectacled Cormorant (also now extinct) and described a "Sea Ape" that has to date defied identification.

Feeling better and I do hope to get out and get photos instead of screen shots. But I love Aunty Acid and she gets the feelings of this Covid time in a way that never fails to make me laugh. And relate!

I don't know how that title relates to the picture but it's what came to mind.

 

And, as always, view large!!!

 

Also, what is your opinion of getty images? I got a message about it a long time ago inviting me to join but I feel like I don't know enough about it to participate. If anyone could give me more insight about it or, if they are/did use it, what they thought about it. If I do add some of my photos to the sight, I'm afraid of where they will end up..

 

My Etsy - www.etsy.com/shop/NoelleBPhotography?ref=si_shop

Arianne Grande.

God is a woman.

 

You, you love it how I move you

You love it how I touch you, my one

When all is said and done

You'll believe God is a woman

And I, I feel it after midnight

A feeling that you can't fight, my one

It lingers when we're done

You'll believe God is a woman

 

I don't wanna waste no time, yeah

You ain't got a one-track mind, yeah

Have it any way you like, yeah

And I can tell that you know I know how I want it

Ain't nobody else can relate

Boy, I like that you ain't afraid

Baby, lay me down and let's pray

I'm tellin' you the way I like it, how I want it

 

And I can be all the things you told me not to be

(Yeah)

When you try to come for me, I keep on flourishing

(Yeah)

And he see the universe when I'm in company

It's all in me

  

You, you love it how I move you

You love it how I touch you, my one

When all is said and done

You'll believe God is a woman

And I, I feel it after midnight

A feeling that you can't fight, my one

It lingers when we're done

You'll believe God is a woman

 

I tell you all the things you should know

So baby, take my hands, save your soul

We can make it last, take it slow

And I can tell that you know I know how I want it, yeah

But you're different from the rest

And boy, if you confess, you might get blessed

See if you deserve what comes next

I'm telling you the way I like it, how I want it

 

And I can be all the things you told me not to be

(Yeah)

When you try to come for me, I keep on flourishing

(Yeah)

And he see the universe when I'm in company

It's all in me

 

You, you love it how I move you

You love it how I touch you, my one

When all is said and done

You'll believe God is a woman

And I, I feel it after midnight

A feelin' that you can't fight, my one

It lingers when we're done

You'll believe God is a woman

I hope you like them. Some are original, some are one's I've tried to improve or to relate to my English teaching. The images were either found online or created on Canva.

 

Here is the album with a few more. www.flickr.com/photos/jax_chile/albums/72177720314575304

Not much to do while staying home. Going through past pictures and weeding out the bad ones. I'm sure some of you can relate. ;-)

Frankie has a problem. She can't stop buying toys. I think some of us can relate! ;)

The Huli are an indigenous people who live in the Hela Province of Papua New Guinea. They speak primarily Huli and Tok Pisin; many also speak some of the surrounding languages, and some also speak English. They are one of the largest cultural groups in Papua New Guinea, numbering over 250,000 people (based on the population of Hela of 249,449 at the time of the 2011 national census).

 

There is every indication the Huli have lived in their region for many thousands of years and recount lengthy oral histories relating to individuals and their clans. They were extensive travellers (predominantly for trade) in both the highlands and lowlands surrounding their homeland, particularly to the south. The Huli were not known to Europeans until November 1934, when at least fifty of them were killed by the Fox brothers, two adventurers unsuccessfully looking for gold who had just parted with the more famous explorers Mick and Dan Leahy.

 

Click on the photo to enjoy it large size.

 

Kinetic Photograph made with one single long exposure shot, printed straight out of camera.

 

If you’d like to read more details about how the shot is made see below. And for more of my kinetic photographs here’s my set, "Drawing with Light"

 

www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/albums/72157652166665058

 

Copyright © by John Russell – All Rights Reserved

 

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

 

Kinetic: Relating to, caused by, or producing motion.

 

These are called “Kinetic” photographs because there is motion, energy, and movement involved, specifically my and the camera’s movements.

 

I choose a light source and/or subject, set my camera for a long exposure (typically around 4 seconds), focus on my subject and push the shutter button. When the shutter opens I move the camera around with my hands...large, sweeping, dramatic movements. And then I will literally throw the camera several feet up into the air, most times imparting a spinning or whirling motion to it as I hurl it upward. I may throw the camera several times and also utilize hand-held motion several times in one photo. None of these are Photoshopped, layered, or a composite photo...what you see occurs in one shot, one take.

 

Aren’t I afraid that I will drop and break my camera? For regular followers of my photostream and this series you will know that I have already done so. This little camera has been dropped many times, and broken once when dropped on concrete outside. It still functions...not so well for regular photographs, but superbly for more kinetic work.

  

The 1890 Empress Flour Mill on Queen Street is category C industrial heritage building, which means that its removal is a permitted activity. There are two plaques on the front of the building, one relating to the 118 year old structure and the other to the 1921 grain silos. With a height of 35 metres the category B listed heritage silos are the town's most prominent landmark. They're still in use and will not be demolished.

 

Sometimes I think I have nothing to write about a photograph, then I start writing, and stuff comes out. This is one. It's a complex composition, almost like two photographs in one. My idea was to try to link the curved pipes in the foreground with the pink, white, and cyan stripes on the building in the background. I couldn't get a seamless transition but visually I think the concept comes through and maybe a perfect alignment would seem too contrived anyway. The frame felt right when I snapped it; afterwards I spotted some of the things that for me make the image "work," such as the repeating vertical elements starting at the left with that big tank and thinner structure next to it, and ending at right with the tree. The dynamic shadow of the fire escape stairs speaks for itself and maybe draws the eye in from one angle, while the shadow of the fence posts, perpendicular to the stair shadow, pulls from another angle and relates to some of the other angled elements like wires, stripes, pipes, branches, and stair shadows. The strong color contrast between almost all cool to warm agrees with me, and then there's things I always like in the frame--brick, deterioration, fire hydrant, wires, brown overgrown weeds, tires, and bollards.

Relating to a blog I posted today about how I'm fine taking my clothes off in abandoned buildings yet totally afraid to pose clothed in public view, I went outside to take a photo. Granted, it was just on the corner of my street, but someone even walked by while I was setting up the camera and nothing bad happened! Baby steps. That's what it's all about.

This was taken at about 8 am, with a bright sun creating really high contrast. I was surprised an owl would still be up and hunting at that time but maybe he was after one final rodent before calling it a night.

 

This was also the photo shoot where I was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible but we were interrupted by the Ornithologists. Right when I was anticipating the great grey swooping down on his unsuspecting prey, he was spooked and was flushed to another perch, on top of a power pole.

 

I previously stated my version of the events immediately before and after this photo, so I won't go into that again. One of my good flickr friends forwarded my story on to the president of the BCFO, who responded as follows:

 

"I am responding to your message sent to the BCFO web site regarding a Great Grey Owl siting near Tumbler Ridge.

 

First, I looked at your flickr site where you posted your excellent photo of the owl.

 

I can appreciate your frustration and disappointment when you were observing this bird in solitude and then a group stopped to observe the bird as well.

 

I contacted three people who were in that group and asked them to relate what they saw of the birders’ behaviour while viewing this bird. They all said that they felt you probably wouldn’t be happy that a group of people stopped while you were photographing the owl. However, their description of the birders’ activity while viewing the owl did not indicate any inappropriate behaviour. The movement of the owl to a post and eventually flying away was likely due to the presence of the group. When I read your description to them, they all indicated that they did not see behaviour that you described, other than enthusiasm for seeing this bird.

 

The BCFO meets annually in different areas of the province to provide our members with the opportunity to view and enjoy wildlife and we organize our members into groups for field trips. Any time a group stops to view wildlife, it is not going to be the same experience as it would be as an individual. It was unfortunate timing that you and our field trip were viewing this owl at the same time."

 

Mike McGrenere

President, BCFO

 

Falcon 9 second stage impact

Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello (Oria Amateur Astrophysical Observatory - OAAO)

  

Final analysis of the data relating to the impact of the Falcon 9 upper stage on August 5, 2026.

 

1 - This is a raw stack without any contrast filtering.

2 - Increased contrast on the black and white points.

3 - Gamma adjustment.

4 - Equalization.

5 - Equalization with curves.

6 - Composite image (1, 5).

 

As already communicated immediately after the event with the summary analysis, the captured images exhibited some "noise" in the affected area. In the stack of three captured videos, the signal-to-noise ratio improves significantly, and with appropriate equalization, very low-contrast structures emerge. In fact, it is the same technique I use to investigate tidal stellar streams in galactic halos, which has been applied here to the planetary field.

 

The highlighted plume is in excellent agreement with other published images, however, it does not represent its evolution but rather a sort of summation over the course of approximately 15 minutes after the event at 06:35:12 UTC (08:35:12 Italian time).

 

Crops from the full image with an ED127mm f/9. MOV video obtained with Canon EOS 4000D DSLR. Raw data is available for study and upon reasonable request.

Avian: Relating to birds.

 

This is a female Hairy Woodpecker at our suet feeder.

I'm one of those people who is always worried about being a bother to everyone. About half of my life is spent by me apologizing for anything and everything. So this image kind of relates in me feeling vulnerable all the time. So yeah that's all, happy Sunday (:

A recent news article informed us that birds that love to play are the most intelligent. Australian Native Cockatoos and Parrots just love to play and there is no doubt they are intelligent. Comparisons are often made to kids up to the age of 3+. Like this Corella at Buckley's Hole, Bribie Island, the various types of cockatoos, galahs, and even other birds like crows, magpies and noisey miners just love to play and muck around. Watching them is sheer delight. Most relate very well to humans also.

Are the things that are not....

 

:

:

:

 

"My brain played tag with the unconscious

and one day they finally collided.

I realized reality was actually only tangible,

and the only thing that was real....

were the things that were not.

 

I had to be convinced the story was in fact fictional,

so in return I could realize I was the one that wrote it.

Time is only moving forward because of the thoughts that drive it.

I hear the hours of time like you hear the music on the radio.

I hear god and myself in the music because I became aware of my existance.

I became aware because of the conversations I had with myself when my eyes divided dimensions.

I see because I always have,

I hear because I can relate with the stories being told."

-Allison Malachowski (mycoronaborealis.tumblr.com/)

Il. Title- ( - sang sur mains - ) Mike Mullen having a nice steak dinner with a 'clear conscience' ... ( On top of dead Afghani civilians & dead soldiers.. Egomaniac.. ) Yes Wikileaks shared this piece inspired by them & their work: twitter.com/wikileaks/status/21824111844 it & the entire Wikileaks series is not- for sale.

At some point there may be an exhibition with funds going towards WL & Bradley Manning.

 

But for now none of the pieces in the series are commercially available or for sale to private individuals.

 

They do have free use by Wikileaks however.

More work to be posted soon.

  

Dimensions: 18" x 24.5" acid free paper, acrylics, gouache & ebony pencil

 

"Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family," Mullen said."

 

www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/29/pentagon-wikileaks-bl...

 

MMm no- Mullen..How can we end these wars ASAP- & STOP you from getting any MORE blood on YOUR hands..

  

( News from Wikileaks Twitter feed, 8 - 19 - 2012: "In fact, being from another planet, he might even have picked up on something that most Americans would be unlikely to notice -- that, with only slight alterations, Mullen’s blistering comment about Assange could be applied remarkably well to Mullen himself. “Chairman Mullen,” that Martian might have responded, “can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he is doing, but the truth is he already has on his hands the blood of some young soldiers and that of many Afghan families.” "

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/06/opinion/main6748239.shtml )

   

War Diary - wardiary.wikileaks.org/ Timeline: wartimeline.haineault.com/

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mullen#2007_Senate_testimon...

  

& from the Pentagon- "“We want whatever they have returned to us and we want whatever copies they have expunged… We demand that they do the right thing. If doing the right thing is not good enough for them, then we will figure out what alternatives we have to compel them to do the right thing." mashable.com/2010/08/05/pentagon-wikileaks-demand/

 

The NERVE.. -

  

Wikileaks - "What we didn't hear from the Pentagon last week: "killing all those innocent people is bad. Sorry. We will stop that" Thursday, August 05, 2010

YES.

 

-

 

"Thousands of children and adults had been killed and the US could have announced a broad inquiry into these killings, "but he decided to treat these issues with contempt''.

He said: "This behaviour is unacceptable. We will continue to expose abuses by this administration and others."" - www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/30/us-military-wikileak...

 

-

 

( From Wikileaks twitter- Aug 19 2010 _ ) -

 

Wikileaks vs the Pentagon: Phony Fingerpointing

Tom Engelhardt:: Who Really Has Blood On Their Hands?

  

"Consider the following statement offered by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a news conference last week. He was discussing Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks as well as the person who has taken responsibility for the vast, still ongoing Afghan War document dump at that site. "Mr. Assange,” Mullen commented, “can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.”

 

Now, if you were the proverbial fair-minded visitor from Mars (who in school civics texts of my childhood always seemed to land on Main Street, U.S.A., to survey the wonders of our American system), you might be a bit taken aback by Mullen’s statement. After all, one of the revelations in the trove of leaked documents Assange put online had to do with how much blood from innocent Afghan civilians was already on American hands.

 

The British Guardian was one of three publications given early access to the leaked archive, and it began its main article this way: “A huge cache of secret U.S. military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents. They range from the shootings of individual innocents to the often massive loss of life from air strikes...” Or as the paper added in a piece headlined “Secret CIA paramilitaries’ role in civilian deaths”: “Behind the military jargon, the war logs are littered with accounts of civilian tragedies.

 

The 144 entries in the logs recording some of these so-called ‘blue on white’ events, cover a wide spectrum of day-by-day assaults on Afghans, with hundreds of casualties.” Or as it also reported, when exploring documents related to Task Force 373, an “undisclosed ‘black’ unit” of U.S. special operations forces focused on assassinating Taliban and al-Qaeda “senior officials”: “The logs reveal that TF 373 has also killed civilian men, women, and children and even Afghan police officers who have strayed into its path.”

 

Admittedly, the events recorded in the Wikileaks archive took place between 2004 and the end of 2009, and so don’t cover the last six months of the Obama administration’s across-the-board surge in Afghanistan. Then again, Admiral Mullen became chairman of the Joint Chiefs in October 2007, and so has been at the helm of the American war machine for more than two of the years in question.

 

He was, for example, chairman in July 2008, when an American plane or planes took out an Afghan bridal party -- 70 to 90 strong and made up mostly of women -- on a road near the Pakistani border. They were "escorting the bride to meet her groom as local tradition dictates." The bride, whose name we don’t know, died, as did at least 27 other members of the party, including children. Mullen was similarly chairman in August 2008 when a memorial service for a tribal leader in the village of Azizabad in Afghanistan’s Herat Province was hit by repeated U.S. air strikes that killed at least 90 civilians, including perhaps 15 women and up to 60 children. Among the dead were 76 members of one extended family, headed by Reza Khan, a "wealthy businessman with construction and security contracts with the nearby American base at Shindand airport."

 

Mullen was still chairman in April 2009 when members of the family of Awal Khan, an Afghan army artillery commander on duty elsewhere, were killed in a U.S.-led raid in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan. Among them were his "schoolteacher wife, a 17-year-old daughter named Nadia, a 15-year-old son, Aimal, and his brother, employed by a government department.” Another daughter was wounded and the pregnant wife of Khan's cousin was shot five times in the abdomen.

 

Mullen remained chairman when, in November 2009, two relatives of Majidullah Qarar, the spokesman for the Minister of Agriculture, were shot down in cold blood in Ghazni City in a Special Operations night raid; as he was -- and here we move beyond the Wikileaks time frame -- when, in February 2010, U.S. Special Forces troops in helicopters struck a convoy of mini-buses, killing up to 27 civilians, including women and children; as he also was when, in that same month, in a special operations night raid, two pregnant women and a teenage girl, as well as a police officer and his brother, were shot to death in their home in a village near Gardez, the capital of Paktia province. After which, the soldiers reportedly dug the bullets out of the bodies, washed the wounds with alcohol, and tried to cover the incident up. He was no less chairman late last month when residents of a small town in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan claimed that a NATO missile attack had killed 52 civilians, an incident that, like just about every other one mentioned above and so many more, was initially denied by U.S. and NATO spokespeople and is now being “investigated.” "

  

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/06/opinion/main6748239.shtml

    

-

 

"What is interesting is who is responsible for the killings.

 

Of the 1,325 civilian deaths recorded by the Afghan human rights group, 23 per cent were attributed to Nato or Afghan government forces. The Taliban and their allies were responsible for 68 per cent of the deaths.

 

The UN study claimed the civilian death toll was slightly lower at 1,271 with anti-government forces blamed for 76 per cent of the casualties.

 

Chronicling precise figures is extremely difficult because most parts of the country are inaccessible.

 

Crucially, both studies suggested that the proportion of deaths attributed to Nato and Afghan government forces were down compared to last year because of fewer air strikes.

 

This is important because clumsy air strikes on innocent villages and unfair raids on their houses has been driving a lot of Afghans to pick up arms on behalf of insurgents."

 

by, Hamida Ghafour

More: www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100811/OP...

 

& -

"My countrymen called me a prostitute

(Filed: 26/10/2004)

 

Fourteen months ago, Hamida Ghafour went to Afghanistan to cover her native countrys postwar reconstruction for this newspaper. But, as a westernised Afghan, her homecoming wasnt as welcoming as she had hoped"

www.afghanistan.org/news_detail.asp?17220

 

I am skeptical about agendas.. It can be confusing, this is why for better or worse one must have THE FACTS - it would have been better if we had them from the START.

 

Without facts no one cares what we do- or who we kill, because we simply don't have ANY concept of how a decade long war is going..

 

“The government is engaging in selective prosecution to ensure that employees keep their mouths shut,” says Stephen Khon, a lawyer specializing in whistleblowing cases. “All of a sudden the whistleblower becomes public enemy number one. There is no proportionality.” www.alternet.org/world/147778/how_the_military_destroys_t...

  

This- - you MUST watch-- It's of Afghani's asking for peace & for us to leave- "Wikileaks Assange, stand freely for love & we in Afg will stand with you.." From: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9E_nXiPj9g

 

US war crimes: soldiers speak out. - www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj6s1V0Dpuw

  

From Wikileaks Twitter- "UNAMA Human Rights Unit issued recommendations in the report including:

 

• The Taliban should withdraw all orders and statements calling for the killing of civilians; and, the Taliban and other AGEs should end the use of IEDs and suicide attacks, comply with international humanitarian law, cease acts of intimidation and killing including assassination, execution and abduction, fully respect citizens’ freedom of movement and stop using civilians as human shields.

 

• International military forces should make more transparent their investigation and reporting on civilian casualties including on accountability; maintain and strengthen directives restricting aerial attacks and the use of night raids; coordinate investigation and reporting of civilian casualties with the Afghan Government to improve protection and accountability; improve compensation processes; and, improve transparency around any harm to civilians caused by Special Forces operations.

 

• The Afghan Government should create a public body to lead its response to major civilian casualty incidents and its interaction with international military forces and other key actors, ensure investigations include forensic components, ensure transparent and timely compensation to victims; and, improve accountability including discipline or prosecution for any Afghan National Security Forces personnel who unlawfully cause death or injury to civilians or otherwise violate the rights of Afghan citizens."

unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1741&ctl=Deta...

 

From Wikileaks Twitter- CBC

 

"A bomb is found tucked into a school typewriter. Insurgents dressed in military uniforms attack an education chief. School guards are tied up while the building is bombed to smithereens. Teachers and students at an all-girls high school are poisoned through the drinking water."

 

"School attacks

Year Number of attacks against schools

2005 98

2006 220

2007 236

2008 348

2009 610

 

Source: UNICEF. Data for 2008 and 2009 are from the UN Country Task Force on Children, and previous years are from the Ministry of Education."

 

"Education for children up in Afghanistan since 2002- .

"Nine years ago, about 100,000 students were enrolled in schools. The figure now stands at more than seven million students, one-third of whom are girls, according to the Afghanistan Ministry of Education.

 

"It's one of those sectors where we've seen radical and dramatic progress since 2002," notes Rowell.

 

"No one knows where the country is going … but education is a beacon of success."

 

Read more: www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/08/06/f-afghanistan-education...

 

& www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/database-afghan-war-logs/

 

""

 

"New Petition Gains Prominent Signatures: “Defend WikiLeaks – End the Secret Wars” - Sign: seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/64042

"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Jung.

   

Treating Soldier Stress: www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2008931_2172992,00...

 

"Afghan War Diary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  

The Afghan War Diary (also called The War Logs) is a collection of internal U.S. military logs of the War in Afghanistan published by Wikileaks on 25 July 2010.

The logs consist of 91,731 documents, covering the period between January 2004 and December 2009. Most of the documents were classified as "secret", which The New York Times called "a relatively low level of classification".

As of 28 July 2010, only 75,000 of the documents have been released to the public, a move which Wikileaks says is "part of a harm minimization process demanded by [the] source". Prior to releasing the initial 75,000 documents, Wikileaks made the logs available to The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel in its German and English on-line edition which published reports per previous agreement on that same day, July 25, 2010."

 

&

 

"In June 2010, Guardian journalist Nick Davies and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange established that the US army had built a huge database with six years of sensitive military intelligence material, to which many thousands of US soldiers had access and some of them had been able to download copies, and WikiLeaks had one copy which it proposed to publish online, via a series of uncensorable global servers.

 

Wikileaks describes itself as "a multi-jurisdictional public service designed to protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public."

 

In an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that "we have a stated commitment to a particular kind of process and objective, and that commitment is to get censored material out and never to take it down." He contrasted the group with other media outlets by saying that "other journalists try to verify sources. We don't do that, we verify documents. We don't care where it came from." He denied that the group has an inherent bias against the Afghanistan War, saying that "We don't have a view about whether the war should continue or stop – we do have a view that it should be prosecuted as humanely as possible." However, he also said that he believes the leaked information will turn world public opinion to think more negatively of the war."

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary

  

"War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford." -

Hannah Arendt

 

"The leak of tens of thousands of Afghanistan war-related documents tells us more than the sum total of many official communiqués about the war. On balance, more disclosure is a good thing, but the leaking of raw military intelligence is a special case that requires a careful, rather than a cavalier, approach.

 

There is not enough information about the war, and much official information is misleading. In Canada, the federal government's quarterly reports contain a few updates based on its goals in Kandahar, but little else that informs. The government has already shown itself to be an unreliable source on issues relating to Afghan detainees.

 

The situation is now too dangerous for the most trustworthy chroniclers – journalists, UN personnel – to go outside NATO-protected areas.

 

So reliable, independent information is lacking. The circumstances in this war make such information even more necessary."

 

www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/we-neede...

  

"Instead, many eyes will now pore over this data from many different directions, looking for patterns and attempting to eliminate the noise, disinformation and fog of war.

Many will look to it to criticise and condemn the US presence in Afghanistan, but if those on the other side – those who support such military incursions – have any sense, they too will use it to understand better the war in which they find themselves and adapt their counsel to fit more accurately the facts on the ground.

That’s the benefit, usually, of an open society. We get to triangulate on the truth by gathering facts in the public space, then providing them to all sides to chew over. We use this against our own illusions and those of more closed societies who can only view the world through one narrow perspective.": www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0730/1224275801...

  

wikileaks.org/

 

( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_ecology )

 

"The first phase was chilling, in part because the banter of the soldiers was so far beyond the boundaries of civilian discourse. “Just fuckin’, once you get on ’em, just open ’em up,” one of them said. The crew members of the Apache came upon about a dozen men ambling down a street, a block or so from American troops, and reported that five or six of the men were armed with AK-47s; as the Apache maneuvered into position to fire at them, the crew saw one of the Reuters journalists, who were mixed in among the other men, and mistook a long-lensed camera for an RPG. The Apaches fired on the men for twenty-five seconds, killing nearly all of them instantly."

 

Read more www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khat...

  

"With the release of the WikiLeaks documents, Arab media may finally feel vindicated, as Western media finally start to give greater prominence to civilian casualties." newamericamedia.org/2010/07/wikileaks-documents-validate-...

 

"Wikileaks confirmed: A plan to kill American geologist with poison beer

 

The Wikileaks documents contain a claim that Pakistan and Afghanistan insurgents were working to poison alcoholic drinks in Afghanistan. While that's unproven, one US adviser in Afghanistan tells the Monitor he was almost poisoned that way in 2007." : www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0728/Wiki...

  

"This is duplicitous only if you close your eyes to the Pakistani reality, which the Americans never did. There was ample evidence, as the WikiLeaks show, of covert ISI ties to the Taliban. The Americans knew they couldn't break those ties. They settled for what support Pakistan could give them while constantly pressing them harder and harder until genuine fears in Washington emerged that Pakistan could destabilize altogether. Since a stable Pakistan is more important to the United States than a victory in Afghanistan—which it wasn't going to get anyway—the United States released pressure and increased aid. If Pakistan collapsed, then India would be the sole regional power, not something the United States wants."

 

www.billoreilly.com/site/rd?satype=13&said=12&url...

 

"How to read the Afghanistan war logs: video tutorial

David Leigh, the Guardian's investigations editor, explains the online tools we have created to help you understand the secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan": www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/video/2010/jul/25/afgha...

 

"Jonathan Foreman, writing for the right of center National Review's Corner blog, hopes the documents will force America to deal with the possible deceptions being made by ally Pakistan. "It is possible that the publication of documents that provide actual evidence — rather than rumors — of the role of ISI personnel in Taliban planning, logistics, and strategy will give the West greater leverage in dealing with Islamabad and might force Pakistan’s political elite to confront the reality of the ISI’s secret activities. If so, that would be a silver lining to what is otherwise a military disaster abetted by the U.S. and British media."

www.nbclosangeles.com/news/politics/NATL-The-Importance-o...

  

"The real significance of the Afghan war diaries lies in what Wikileaks represents as a movement, as an evolution in journalism. One analyst has called it the emergence of open source journalism. Julian Assange makes it possible for anybody anywhere in the world to submit secret documents for publication." www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Sevanti_Ninan/article541...

  

A War Without End: www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html

  

"Julian Assange on the Afghanistan war logs: 'They show the true nature of this war'

 

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, explains why he decided to publish thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan Afghanistan war logs expose truth of occupation": www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jul/25/julian-assange...

 

The history of US leaks: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10769495

 

Freedom of Information Act: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_...

 

"A long-delayed Afghanistan war funding bill, stripped of billions for teachers and black farmers, is back before the House and walking now into the storm over the Internet leak of battlefield reports stirring old doubts about U.S. policy and relations with Pakistan.": www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40254.html & www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40251.html

  

This is a large study/drawing, Assange/Wikileakers of the organization Wikileaks ( wikileaks.org ) uses 'matches from sources' to disclose US gov secrecy ( behind large black curtains ) & to also finally bring some much needed attention & closure to some of these revelations ( set ablaze ).

   

This ongoing series is dedicated to everyone who has needlessly had their lives destroyed, been injured or die in this almost past decade of war. For the sources, journalists & average citizens who risk their lives to inform us.

Reuters reporters Namir Eldeen, Saeed Chmagh & the good samaritan ( father ) who died trying to save them & of course his two surviving small children who will forever be impacted by the brutality of war for decades to come.

 

Please help Private Bradley Manning- www.bradleymanning.org/

  

"One surprising consequence of the war in Iraq is the surrender of postmodernism to a victorious modernism. This has been largely overlooked in North America.

 

In reaction to the U.S. intervention in Iraq, Jacques Derrida, a famous postmodernist, signed on as co-author of an article drafted by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, previously an opponent of his, in an unmistakable endorsement of modernist Enlightenment principles. Derrida, the apostle of deconstructionism, is now advocating some decidedly constructive and Eurocentric activism.

 

The article appeared simultaneously in two newspapers on May 31, in German in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as "After the War: The Rebirth of Europe," and in French in Libération, less triumphantly, as "A Plea for a Common Foreign Policy: The demonstrations of Feb. 15 against the war in Iraq designed a new European public space."

 

Other famous intellectuals joined in with supportive newspaper articles of their own: Umberto Eco (of The Name of the Rose) and Gianni Vattimo in Italy and an American philosopher, Richard Rorty. This provoked much discussion in Europe, but only a few comments so far in North America, the Boston Globe and the Village Voice being rare exceptions.

 

This week in Montreal, there was an anti-globalization riot in which windows were broken in protest against a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting. But the Habermas-Derrida declaration praises the WTO and even the International Monetary Fund as part of Weltinnenpolitik: maddeningly hard to translate, but something like "global domestic policy" or "external internal policy."

 

Yet it is not much of a stretch to claim the young anti-globalists as disciples of postmodernism and Derrida, who has hitherto been a foe of "logocentrism" (putting reason at the centre), "phallologocentrism" (reason is an erect male organ and, as such, damnably central) and Eurocentrism (the old, old West is the homeland of all of the above).

 

Derrida added a note to the article, observing most people would recognize Habermas's style and thinking in the piece, and that he hadn't had time to write a separate piece. But notwithstanding his "past confrontations" with Habermas (Derrida had objected to being called a "Judaistic mystic," for one thing), he agreed with the article he had signed, which calls for new European responsibilities "beyond all Eurocentrism" and the strengthening of international law and international institutions."

 

More: www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/000361.php

 

"In early 2003, both Habermas and Derrida were very active in opposing the coming Iraq War, and called for in a manifesto that later became the book Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe for a tighter union of the states of the European Union in order to provide a power capable of opposing American foreign policy. Derrida wrote a foreword expressing his unqualified subscription to Habermas's declaration of February 2003, "February 15, or, What Binds Europeans Together: Plea for a Common Foreign Policy, Beginning in Core Europe,” in Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe which was a reaction to the Bush administration demands upon European nations for support for the coming Iraq War[25]. Habermas has offered further context for this declaration in an interview."

 

More: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%c3%bcrgen_Habermas#Habermas_and_D...

  

Habermas: ”The asymmetry between the concentrated destructive power of the electronically controlled clusters of elegant and versatile missiles in the air and the archaic ferocity of the swarms of bearded warriors outfitted with Kalashnikovs on the ground remains a morally obscene sight

 

I consider Bush' s decision to call for a "war against terrorism" a serious mistake, both normatively and pragmatically. Normatively, he is elevating these criminals to the status of war enemies; and pragmatically, one cannot lead a war against a "network" if the term "war" is to retain any definite meaning.”

     

Derrida: “To say it all too quickly and in passing, to amplify and clarify just a bit what I said earlier about an absolute threat whose origin is anonymous and not related to any state, such "terrorist" attacks already no longer need planes, bombs, or kamikazes: it is enough to infiltrate a strategically important computer system and introduce a virus or some other disruptive element to paralyze the economic, military, and political resources of an entire country or continent. And this can be attempted from just about anywhere on earth, at very little expense and with minimal means. The relationship between earth, terra territory, and terror has changed, and it is necessary to know that this is because of knowledge, that is, because of technoscience.

 

It is technoscience that blurs the distinction between war and terrorism. In this regard, when compared to the possibilities for destruction and chaotic disorder that are in reserve, for the future, in the computerized networks of the world, "September 11" is still part of the archaic theater of violence aimed at striking the imagination. One will be able to do even worse tomorrow, invisibly, in silence, more quickly and without any bloodshed, by attacking the computer and informational networks on which the entire life (social, economic, military, and so on) of a "great nation," of the greatest power on earth, depends.”

 

www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/000361.php

 

I am incredibly- delighted at all the vital discussions about the war & US gov that are FINALLY taking place- & on a mass scale- as a result of this leak .. Simply miraculous..

  

FREEDOM & PEACE ( transparency, diplomacy & the evolution of such ) FOR ALL WAR NATIONS.

  

( WARNING - links ( after excerpt ) are NOT for sensitive viewers- ) "Wikileaks have released over 150 supressed images. This is the tip of the iceberg, keep looking, keep publishing.In the last week Wikileaks has released over 150 censored photos and videos of the Tibet uprising and has called on bloggers around the world to help drive the footage through the Chinese internet censorship regime — the so called “Great Firewall of China”The transparency group’s move comes as a response to the the Chinese Public Security Bureau’s carte-blanche censorship of youtube, the BBC, CNN, the Guardian and other sites carrying video footage of the Tibetan people’s recent heroic stand against the inhumane Chinese occupation of Tibet."

fortuzero.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/tibet-western-media-sa...

 

file.wikileaks.org/file/tibet-protest-photos/index.html

 

FREE TIBET!!!!!!!!!!!!

   

Also other dire & serious issues ( out of countless ) - that expose corruption by corporations & gov's:

 

"A documentary about intensive pig farming due to be screened at the Guardian Hay festival on Sunday is facing a legal threat from one of the companies it investigates. Pig Business criticises the practices of the world's largest pork processor, Smithfield Foods, claiming it is responsible for environmental pollution and health problems among residents near its factories."

 

www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/29/pig-business-document...

 

"In an investigation broadcast on BBC Radio 5 on November 14, 2004,[79] it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. A sample of drinking water from a well near the site had levels of contamination 500 times higher than the maximum limits recommended by the World Health Organization.[80]

 

In 2009, a day before the 25th anniversary of the disaster, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi based pollution monitoring lab, released latest tests from a study showing that groundwater in areas even three km from the factory up to 38.6 times more pesticides than Indian standards."

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

   

-

 

The Blue Mask - Lou Reed - www.goear.com/listen/9960779/the-blue-mask-lou-reed ( & O Superman ) www.goear.com/listen/02cf55d/o-superman-(for-massenet)-la...

 

Lou Reed The Blue Mask

 

Lyrics:

 

They tied his arms behind

his back to teach him how to

swim They put

blood in his coffee and milk

in his gin They stood over the

soldier in

the midst of the squalor

There was war in his body and

it caused his

brain to holler

Make the sacrifice

mutilate my face

If you need someone to kill

I'm a man without a will

Wash the razor in the rain

Let me luxuriate in pain

Please don't set me free

Death means a lot to me

The pain was lean and it made

him scream he knew he was alive

They put a

pin through the nipples on his chest

He thought he was a saint

I've made love to my mother,

killed my father and my brother

What am I

to do

When a sin goes too far, it's

like a runaway car It cannot

be controlled

Spit upon his face and scream

There's no Oedipus today

This is no play you're thinking you

are in What will you say

Take the blue mask down from my face and

look me in the eye I get a

thrill from punishment

I've always been that way

I loathe and despise repentance

You are permanently stained

Your weakness buys indifference

and indiscretion in the streets

Dirty's what you are and clean is what

you're not You deserve to be

soundly beat

Make the sacrifice

Take it all the way

There's no won't high enough

To stop this desperate day

Don't take death away

Cut the finger at the joint

Cut the stallion at his mount

And stuff it in his mouth

---

  

-

   

"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. "

  

Albert Einstein

  

IMAGINE THE HAPPINESS & GREAT WORK AHEAD OF US WE COULD HAVE AT THE END OF THE WARS!!!!!!!!!

 

www.goear.com/listen/48d6016/hora-de-la-mehedinti-romania...

 

NO MORE WAR & FREEDOM FOR ALL WAR NATIONS!!!!!!!!!

 

Peace.

I can relate, LOL! This made me laugh, as did the yellow squash in the previous post. I mean, usually you see them in a more passive pose at the grocery store. This was at the roadside market on Hwy 60 in east Brandon, FL. Hugs and thanks for viewing! I hope this makes you smile as it did me! =o)

 

***All rights to my images are STRICTLY reserved. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing my images or if you are an educator or non-profit interested in use. copyright KathleenJacksonPhotography 2009***

Once a year, our academy's three buildings in Amsterdam are transformed into 5,800 square metres of exhibition space. By showcasing their graduation projects, the graduates position themselves within their fields and share how they relate to the world.

I came across the quote used in the title somewhere - I rather relate to it - although I'm not sure I quite fit the 'antique' model (others will disagree I'm sure!)

 

This is me and my youngest grandaughter Melody playing together. she had spied my Lego men and wanted to play with those - so, knowing who would have the job of putting those fiddly arms and legs back on after she'd pulled them apart, I steered her in the direction of some of my boyhood toys - no stereotyping in this house!

 

Quite nice really because when I grew out of them my little bro used them, then my son played them to near death, and now my grandaughter loves them

 

The photo was taken by my 30 year old son (Uncle Ben to Melody) and edited by moi.Oh, and your'e looking at the room where I do all my editing - my study/music room.

 

Have a fab day - it's nearly weekend!

Facebook Page I Deviantart I Instagram I Tumblr

 

HMUA: Vincent Paul Enomar

Model: Zorel Chezka Bacud

Photo assistant: Edan Jon Navera

 

---

 

Lately I’m thinking why do I keep photos all to myself? Same questions I have asked myself over and over again, promised to share more and have broken such promises more often than ever. I shoot photos all the time – from weddings, to portraits, to personal pieces- but never fully feel the need to share it for the world to see.

 

I don’t know if anyone can ever relate but there’s this fear that my “art” might not be appreciated. Not liked. That it is and was NOT ever good enough. This photo in particular was taken last May, from another epic collaboration with brilliant creatives that I’m blessed to know; most especially the one and only Master Mang Tacio. I wanted to convey how we perceive reality, where is up after all? This concept isn’t new per se but it is new for me, to try things I haven’t tried before. But it has taken me so long to go over this image because yes, the same fear crept in.

 

I want to start a day where I let go of those fears and finally embrace what I am capable of.

 

Probably this would be the start, I hope.

 

Paul Saad's Photostream

 

Considering the turmoil faced by a number of universities in South Africa at the moment, it is very clear for all to see that the current university model has become completely unaffordable to the vast majority.

 

Sending a child to university costs somewhere in the region of R10 000.00 per month after Tax. In broad terms, fees are about R 5000.00 per month and then budget at least another R5 000.00 for transport, residence costs and living expenses. That relates to R120 000.00 per year after tax. Let’s put that into perspective. If a family earns R 1 million per year, less tax they have about R 600 000.00 left of which 20% must now go to university fees. That relates to a huge portion of total income and has to come out of the “disposable” part of income. Who has that much disposable income these days? It’s financially distressing to say the least. More than one child and that puts university at a new level of unaffordability, so I am honestly not surprised there is an uprising going on. What is surprising is that it didn’t happen earlier. Less than 1% of the population can afford it.

 

Why then to we continue with the same traditional business model for universities when in it is so unsustainable?

This entry relates to the north-eastern most part of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, that receives the first light as the sun rises in the east. This is the landscape during April and the start of the harvst season following the wet, when the earth receives sudden showers during what is meant to be the dry. This artwork was painted on a huge piece of bark and tells the story about a group of spirit women who appear as stars in the night sky.

I can relate to this surfer's race to beat the setting sun. The big kid in me is always on the lookout for one last adventure before the end of the day. With this kind of daydream/sunset who can resist not getting one last ride before the days end?

 

Pacific Ocean Sunset

Southern California, USA

 

Mike D

 

Behind the Camera:

I'm off today and have loads of chores to do around the house. It's cold and rainy outside. All I care to do is sit around and surf the web or go out on a photo walk. Yes its the winter of my discontent.

  

It is not very hard to relate human behaviour to plant behaviour, but is it really true? It is all in the eye of the believer.....

NB. This image is made for large monitors

ANSH scavenger1 "Any item relating to Halloween"

The arch was built in the 16th century as an extension of the city walls to protect ships from looters, with a garrison and cannons on the roof. Oddly, its name only relates to former Spanish merchant ships which docked here, and the name was applied only in the 1800's.

The newspapers are not generally available in the time of Corona, so we wait at a station that does receive copies. Some days it arrives early and some, like today, late. The timing seems to relate to traffic.

ive been doing a lot of thinking about the US constitution and the freedom of the press, especially as it relates to the citizenry as the media. should blogging be given the same protections as commercial mainstream journalism? ive read many articles from the journalism camp that point to the unwashed and untutored masses in the blogosphere as unworthy of the mantle of Press and vaunt their own dedication to veracity and impartiality. That argument seems trite to me - the modern media has very little credibility as an independent and accountable arbiter of facts. Big Media has become a power center of its own and is driven by the same expediencies as any business. consider this: thomas paine who penned On Common Sense, was a blogger - in those days they were called pamphleteers - played a greater historical role in shaping the public discourse against British colonial rule than any partisan rag of its time. can a blog be part of the press? the constitution specifies no organizational or commercial requirements for the definition of the press. in fact, it first protects the right of the free speech by the citizenry, and then extends that coverage to the press as a necessary adjunct because speech without communication is specious and worthless. the protection of the press is derived from the right of citizen to speak and share their views and information without improper government restriction.

 

what are your thoughts?

I can relate, Teddy.

I took this shot last fall and made it a B&W for a challenge. I really like the original, though, and I feel a sense of anguish from seeing this little bear up there.

15 years ago yesterday my sweet Momma went on to the next place. As I told my friends yesterday, that's 5,475 days of me missing her. Make that 5,476 now.

 

Sandwich board sign outside a store called Zebraclub on South Granville

"After I started shooting self portraits, I got over my insecurities about showing my face in my photos. Whenever I'm in front of the camera, the sense of the character I'm portraying in my photographs starts to take ahold of me. I've stopped thinking I'm shooting a photo of myself - I more so go along with the thought process of saying I'm acting as a character for a story I want to tell."

 

Blog Post - www.zukephotography.com/blog/2015/2/13/creating-a-fine-ar...

 

Facebook - www.facebook.com/zukephoto

I can relate.

Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger)

My photos can also be found at kapturedbykala.com

A barn I can relate to.

Kingston, JA

Pooper Scooper

 

Pet owners and parents will be able to relate to the terror, and perplexing mystery, of having to clean up poop that is disproportionate in size and quantity to the pooper.

 

Each of the elements in this photograph have so much character, they could easily have their own narrative. If you've ever lived on a farm, you can relate to most of what you see here.

Hope you enjoy. Comments welcome.

Photo # IM3_1089-95h2bws.

RED relates to the BASE chakra situated at the base of the spine

The organs to which this chakra relates are the kidneys and bladder .(The kidneys are formed within the pelvis and here they link with the base chakra energy, although prior to birth they rise to the position in the loins with which we are more familiar). The vertebral column, hips and legs are also areas related to this chakra. The endocrine gland to which this colour relates is the adrenal gland.

 

On the psycho-spiritual level, this chakra relates to self awareness. That is to say our awareness of ourselves as human beings and our place on earth. It is the area of survival and relates to our basic human instincts of fight or flight. Red gives us courage and strength. The colour relates to stability and security.

 

© All rights reserved

I'll bet many of you can relate to this image, huh? Let me make this analogy clearer ... the three birds representing the weekend days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the crab representing the abrupt arrival of Monday. Let's try our best to usher it away. LOL. OK, I know, that's quite a bizarre interpretation of the image, but it's the best that I can do on an early Monday morning. :-)

 

Actually, the least terns are nesting on the sunny Florida beaches ... some still courting, some sitting on eggs, some taking care of their newborns. These little birds are quite aggressive with each other ... and the on-lookers ... as they don't like anything or anyone entering their "home space". Can't blame them either, since it's quite crowded on the inn. ;-)

 

So if those close quarters aren't enough, enter the ghost crabs which call the area their home as well. These territorial terns, who were infighting just a few moments ago, unite in fight that benefits them all. See, as the ghost crabs emerge and begin to intermingle with the nesting terns, an all-out war is waged ... terns working together ... to eliminate the threat to the colony. Several will make the approach to the crab, wings out and upward, squawking away, puffing up, and jumping around, as the crab tries to defend itself, but eventually retreats. It's 3 against 1! LOL. I can't remember when I've been so amazed at the behavior of birds (OK, it probably wasn't that long ago, seeing how it's baby bird season, but it was quite entertaining).

 

Nature is quite amazing and birds are quite smart, at least they seem like it to me. I guess "pack behavior" extends in all forms of life. :-)

 

Hope that everyone, in their own way, can find something to be happy about on this Monday morning. Welcome to another week ... not sure about you, but mine have been flying by!

 

Thanks for stopping by to view and especially for sharing your thoughts and comments too.

 

© 2015 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography

 

www.tnwaphotography.wordpress.com

www.tnwaphotography.com

A Little Bit Of History Relating To What Was New Brighton Pier

A book partially fiction, but also very much relating to real murders which took place is Stockholm in the Russian community after the fall of the tsar family rule.

Hip Hop is an acquired taste. It's loud, it's abrasive and plenty times vulgar. Growing up in NYC surrounded by the ethnic working-class there was always new lingo to learn. When you're a 90's kid okay, you learn to deal with what the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air teaches you: phat, dope, wack... check, check and check! Fast forward to my late twenties and I'm a front end supervisor for that well known Arts & Crafts big-box store and most of my team are fluent in ebonics while I'm utterly left behind. They are dropping new words like 'lit' and 'fire' and 'ratchet' which for a long time I thought was wretched. So I would, in good faith, say things like "Oh, that is wretched!" -- One time I was in a convenience store with some friends and this short Latino with gold teeth, face tattoos and a heavy swag was bantering with his co-workers. He glanced at us once and sighed then saying, "Aight I'mma go make downstairs Gucci." And dear me, I didn't think to ask any of my friends what he meant but I dwelled on it for the rest of the day before the meaning finally dawned on me! GUCCI; like the opulent luxury brand. Downstairs was a mess and he was going to make it fancy and clean like the Gucci brand.

 

So back to Hip Hop. I started easy. I really liked Macklemore and Black Eyed Peas and eventually, Justin Bieber joined the genre. More Pop than Hip Hop but hey whatever, I got my foot through the door. Not bad for someone who once nervously handed a cashier my soon-to-be copy of Backstreet Boys Millenium; she easily sensed my fear as she smacked her lips then saying, "Not you too" as she rang me up. Yes, me too. I was a teen and a sucker for Pop music. I would have worn a ski mask to buy this album if I could, lady. My music taste is broad as I love everything! Mostly. Or at least I try to. My playlist goes from Post Malone to Bach. Music is very personal. I've met Rock & Rollers who would lynch you if you mentioned Nickelback. It's just the way the world works. Music is a part of our identities and sometimes one of the most relatable aspects of our humanity. And if we share that on a common level, it opens up an instantaneous connection paving the path to a meaningful relationship. That is until you fight over whether or not pineapples deserve to be on pizza's (They don't. Fight me.) It's 2020 and I find myself craving Hip Hop. It reminds me of NYC where part of me will forever be no matter where in the world I am. This year the word is WAP. If you don't know what it means by now, don't worry, someone will let you know but it won't be me!

 

Find the WAP Hot Girl Fountain at this month's Kinky Event starting July 28th, 7 PM SLT. Or window browse early. You do you.

 

Fountain Preview GIF: gyazo.com/f8286fd024378ae80e03d3edc1da5e98

 

The Fountain is sold without flora. If you would like the Lillies used here are the credits:

 

LOTUS by Tia Biscuit L$80 ([Tia] Madison - Pond Lillies)

• Inworld: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tia/113/78/1501

 

• Marketplace: NOT AVAILABLE

 

LILYPADS by Cube Republic L$399 (Frogbit Aquatic Pond Plant)

• Inworld: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gloria/227/227/3512

 

• Marketplace: marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Frogbit-Aquatic-Pond-Plant-MESH-MATERIALS/6815506

 

[ Landmarks and Marketplace Listings are accurate as of August 2020 ]

Today is the first day of NAIDOC week

  

In the city there was a gathering with lots of speeches and musical entertainment to gather support for the ‘Vote Yes’ campaign for the referendum later this year to actually give the indigenous people of this country a voice in Parliament. Amazing that this still has to happen!!! Hoping for an overwhelming ‘Yes’ vote of course.

 

NAIDOC Week (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) occurs annually in July, and celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

  

What is the Voice to Parliament?

The Voice would provide permanent representation and recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution.

It would be a new body that represents First Nations people from across Australia to provide their input into federal government, decisions, policies and laws that affect their lives.

This would be on matters relating to the social, spiritual and economic wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Voice would be an advisory body, but it would not have powers to overrule parliament, commonly known as "veto" powers