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This lady's name is Sonia.
When days slowly crawl into cloudy moods and cold temperatures, and the sentence "Winter is coming" is heard more often than not, a source of warmness and a splash of colour is something we feel instinctively drawn to, as photographers and human beings tired of grey hues and dull weather.
That would be the case for this woman who, working as a waiter for one of the restaurant/clubs in centric Plaça Reial, was clearly visible from the other side of the square with only a quick glance.
At first I didn't dare asking, and minutes later she was engaged in a lengthy conversation with a fellow waiter from a neighbouring business, so I took some time to circle the fountain and scout for other possible strangers, but nobody seemed to be more suitable than her. So I waited a bit more.
Eventually, as soon as she was available again, I jumped into her with a smile and asked if she could pause her job for a little while, and she gladly conceded me the privilege.
When asked about what she should do or where she should stay, I chose to place her against a rather symmetric background, between the porched archs of the square. Those were more suitable for a generous body portrait, covering her red trench coat, but when I tried a close up I realized the square itself lacked plain surfaces or neutral backgrounds, but I didn't want to move her to a dark area away from her workplace. I don't know if you'll find the umbrella and bokeh balls too distractive or not...
All in all, Sonia was very kind and gave me the couple of minutes I needed for the shots, apparently enough to make his work colleague a bit jealous because he'd never been asked for a portrait :-)
She gave me her email so I could sent her the pics (I captured her ring, which was massively awesome), but so far I've received no reply: unluckily it happens most of the time. Thanks for your time anyway!
This picture is #40 in my 100 strangers project. Check out the rest of the stranger street portraits in my project at the 100 Strangers Set or find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
Av. Mª Cristina - Barcelona (Spain).
Barcelona Harley Days: 18-19-20 Jun 2010.
Better seen in Fluidr.
Se ve mejor en Fluidr.
Love finished. The Spanish State finally does not accept the wish of the Catalan people approved by General Court and authenticated by himself in the ballot boxes.
Se acabó el amor. El Estado Español finalmente no acepta la voluntad del pueblo catalán aprobada por las Cortes Generales y refrendada por él mismo en las urnas.
ENGLISH
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia (Spain), the political institutions of the Catalan nationality, their competences and relations with the rest of Spain and the financing of the Government of Catalonia.
This Law was approved by referendum 18 June 2006 and supplants the Statute of Sau, which dated from 1979.
Catalonia is an Autonomous Community within the Kingdom of Spain, with the status of historical region in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. In September 2005, the Parliament of Catalonia approved the definition of Catalonia as a 'nation' in the preamble[4] of the new Statute of Autonomy (autonomous basic law). The 120 delegates of all parties (CiU, PSC, ERC, ICV-EA) with the exception of the 15 delegates of the Partido Popular approved this definition. In the opinion of the Spanish Government this has a 'declaratory' but not a 'legal' value, since the Spanish Constitution recognises the indissoluble "unity of the Spanish Nation".
The Generalitat de Catalunya is the institution in which the self-government of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat and the Executive Council or Government of Catalonia.
The Statute of Autonomy gives the Generalitat of Catalonia the powers which enable it to carry out the functions of self-government. These can be exclusive, concurrent and shared with the Spanish State or executives. The Generalitat holds jurisdiction in various matters of culture, education, health, justice, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments. Catalonia has its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, although the Spanish government keep agents in the region for matters relating to border control, terrorism and immigration.
Most of the justice system is administered by Spanish judicial institutions. The legal system is uniform throughout Spain, with the exception of so-called "civil law", which is administered separately within Catalonia.
The Statute has been legally contested by the surrounding Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, as well as by the Partido Popular (the main opposition party at the Spanish Parliament). The objections are based on various topics such as disputed cultural heritage but, especially, on the Statute's alleged breaches of the "solidarity between regions" principle enshrined by the Constitution in fiscal and educational matters. The Constitutional Court of Spain is currently assessing the constitutionality of the challenged articles and its binding assessment is expected sometime in 2010.
The Catalan political arena has largely viewed this debate as a sort of cultural war waged by "Spanish nationalists" (espanyolistes in Catalan). In response, four of the six political parties represented at the Catalan parliament--Convergence and Union, the Catalan Socialists, Republican Left of Catalonia, and Catalan green party--reached an agreement to fight together at the Spanish Senate to reform the Constitutional Court of Spain, and hopefully nullify the possibility of an overturn of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. This pact is particularly interesting because, aside from the fact that they all pertain to various degrees of Catalan nationalism, the four parties differ greatly in political ideology, and together, they form nearly 80% of the Catalan Parliament.
The June 28 of 2010, the Constitutional Court, in view of the resource of unconstitutionality presented by deputies of the Popular Party, and after 4 years of controversial deliberations, solved by 6 votes to favor and 4 against the constitutionality of most of the text, doing to observe the “legal inefficiency” of the Introduction (where the term consisted nation when talking about Catalonia) although the failure it maintains the definition of Catalonia like nation, and declared 14 inconstitucionales articles.
These articles treat about the language, the managing organs and judicial organs of the Generalitat of Catalonia, on competences in the matter of bank, savings banks and insurance and on the level and calculation of the participation of Catalonia in the yield of the state tributes and equilibrators and solidarity, that is, the basic axis of the self-government of Catalonia.
More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Autonomy_of_Catalonia
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CASTELLANO
El "Estatuto de Autonomía de Cataluña" es la norma institucional básica de Cataluña que las Cortes Generales de España han aprobado en 1932, 1979 y 2006 para otorgar la autonomía y fijar los márgenes del autogobierno de este territorio. El Estatuto de autonomía de 2006 fue aprobado por las Cortes Generales y posteriormente refrendado por los ciudadanos de Cataluña el 18 de junio de 2006. Incluye, entre otros aspectos, el sistema institucional en que se organiza la Generalidad de Cataluña, las competencias que le corresponden y su tipología, derechos y deberes de los ciudadanos, el régimen lingüístico, las relaciones institucionales de la Generalitat y la financiación de la Generalidad.
El 21 de enero de 2006, el Presidente del Gobierno de España, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero y el jefe de la oposición de Cataluña, Artur Mas llegaron a un preacuerdo sobre la definición de Cataluña en el nuevo Estatuto y sobre el modelo de financiación. El nuevo Estatuto de Cataluña fue aprobado en el Congreso de los Diputados el 30 de marzo de 2006, tras lo cual fue remitido al Senado, que lo aprobó en la Comisión General de Comunidades Autónomas el 5 de mayo de 2006 y en el pleno el 10 de mayo de 2006. En la votación final, el texto contó con el apoyo de todos los grupos políticos, salvo del PP, que votó en contra, y con la abstención de ERC.
Tras entrar en vigor el 18 de junio de 2006, el Estatuto fue recurrido por considerarlo inconstitucional en siete ocasiones por siete instancias distintas: el Partido Popular a través de la firma de sus diputados y senadores contra 187 artículos y disposiciones ; el Defensor del Pueblo contra 112 artículos y cuatro disposiciones adicionales, y cinco comunidades autónomas (Comunidad de Murcia, contra el artículo 117, La Rioja contra 12 artículos y siete disposiciones adicionales, Gobierno de Aragón contra una disposición adicional, Generalidad Valenciana contra ocho artículos y cuatro disposiciones transitorias, Gobierno de las Islas Baleares contra lo que establece el Estatuto sobre el Archivo de la Corona de Aragón).
El 28 de junio de 2010, el Tribunal Constitucional, ante el recurso de inconstitucionalidad presentado por diputados del Partido Popular, resolvió por 6 votos a favor y cuatro en contra la constitucionalidad de la mayor parte del texto, haciendo observar la "ineficacia jurídica" del Preámbulo (donde constaba el término nación al referirse a Cataluña) aunque el fallo mantiene la definición de Cataluña como nación, y declaró 14 artículos inconstitucionales.
La ponencia fue redactada finalmente por la Presidenta, María Emilia Casas, y la votación se realizó por bloques: el primero respecto al Preámbulo, en la que se resolvió por 6 votos a favor y 4 en contra mantener el término nación, si bien se advirtío de su falta de eficacia jurídica, ya que no forma parte del texto normativo; el segundo bloque afecto a los artículos a declarar inconstitucionales, siendo una mayoría de 8 magistrados contra 2 los que han votado por la inconstitucionalidad de 14 de ellos; los otros dos bloques, que eran los preceptos ajustados a la Constitución y la interpretación de los artículos sobre los que existía conformidad, fueron avalados por 6 votos a cuatro. Cuatro de los magistrados, pertenecientes al denominado sector conservador, manifestaron que presentarían un voto particular: Ramón Rodríguez Arribas, Jorge Rodríguez Zapata, Vicente Conde y Javier Delgado.
El Tribunal Constitucional declaró 14 artículos inconstitucionales: el artículo 6 sobre lengua y nombres cooficiales, el 76 sobre el carácter vinculante de los dictámenes del Consejo de Garantías Estatutarias, el 78 sobre algunas funciones del Síndico de Agravios de Cataluña, el 95.5 sobre el Presidente del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña, el 97, 98, 99, 100 y 101 sobre el Consejo de Justicia de Cataluña, el 111 sobre las competencias compartidas entre el Estado y la Generalidad de Cataluña, el 120.2 sobre competencias de la Generalidad en cajas de ahorro, el 126.2 sobre competencia compartida en materia de crédito, banca, seguros y mutualidades no integradas en el sistema de seguridad social y el 206.3 sobre el nivel y cálculo de la participación de Cataluña en el rendimiento de los tributos estatales y mecanismos de nivelación y solidaridad.
Más info: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estatuto_de_autonom%c3%ada_de_Catal...
"Sentences" is a new project with Triplets (photo-philosophy.net/triplets/ )
How could I tell you what I hope. I already said about us finally being in a place where we could really be happy for each other, and it's not a lie. Trust me. Now, enough about me..but questions-How about you? How have you been? Why did you do that?-are not allowed so I just write sentences here left alone.
Prior to European settlement, the island had the Eora name Mat-te-wan-ye (sometimes Mallee’wonya). In 1788 a convict named Thomas Hill was sentenced to a week on bread and water in irons there, and the island came to be known as Pinchgut. Once a 15m high sandstone rock, the island was flattened as prisoners quarried it for sandstone to construct nearby Circular Quay (from where I took this view).
In 1839, two American warships entered the harbour at night and circled Pinchgut Island. Concerned with the threat of foreign attack, fortification of the island began in 1841 but was not completed. Construction resumed in 1855 because of fear of a Russian naval attack during the Crimean War, and was completed on 14 November 1857.
The newly-built fort then took its current name from Sir William Thomas Denison, the Governor of New South Wales (1855-1861). The fortress features a distinctive Martello tower, the only one built in Australia and the last one ever in the British Empire. The tower's walls are 3.3-6.7m thick at the base and 2.7m thick at the top. However, developments in artillery rendered the fort largely obsolete by the time it was completed. The tower itself had quarters for a garrison of 24 soldiers and one officer.
In May 1942, three Japanese two-man midget submarines attacked Sydney Harbour. When the USS Chicago (CA-29) fired on the Japanese, some of its 5-inch shells hit Fort Denison, causing the tower minor damage that is still visible. Fort Denison is now a museum, tourist attraction, Sydney's only island cafe, and a popular location for wedding receptions and corporate events.
In 1900, as the Boer War raged in Africa, the White Star Line ship Medic arrived in Sydney. One evening, the Fourth Officer, Charles Lightoller and four midshipmen rowed to Fort Denison and climbed the tower with a plan to fool locals into believing a Boer raiding party was attacking Sydney. They hoisted a makeshift Boer flag on the lightning conductor and fired one of the cannons. After an investigation Lightoller accepted sole responsibility for the incident and was reprimanded. White Star Lines apologised and paid damages to the city. Charles Lightoller went on to be the Second Officer of the RMS Titanic and the most senior officer to survive the 1912 sinking of the ship. He was a key witness at both the British and American inquiries into the disaster.
A plan view of the island can be seen at: www.flickr.com/photos/67307569@N00/4370205143/in/set-7215...
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If you are interested in my photos, they are available for sale. Please contact me by email: aragaofrancisco@gmail.com. Do not use without permission.
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Portuguese
A lenda do Galo de Barcelos narra a intervenção milagrosa de um galo morto na prova da inocência de um homem erradamente acusado. Está associada ao cruzeiro seiscentista que faz parte do espólio do Museu Arqueológico, situado no Paço dos Condes de Barcelos.
Segundo a lenda, os habitantes de Barcelos andavam alarmados com um crime, do qual ainda não se tinha descoberto o criminoso que o cometera. Certo dia, apareceu um galego que se tornou suspeito. As autoridades resolveram prendê-lo, apesar dos seus juramentos de inocência, que estava apenas de passagem em peregrinação a Santiago de Compostela, em cumprimento duma promessa.
Condenado à forca, o homem pediu que o levassem à presença do juiz que o condenara. Concedida a autorização, levaram-no à residência do magistrado, que nesse momento se banqueteava com alguns amigos. O galego voltou a afirmar a sua inocência e, perante a incredulidade dos presentes, apontou para um galo assado que estava sobre a mesa e exclamou: "É tão certo eu estar inocente, como certo é esse galo cantar quando me enforcarem."
O juiz empurrou o prato para o lado e ignorou o apelo, mas quando o peregrino estava a ser enforcado, o galo assado ergueu-se na mesa e cantou. Compreendendo o seu erro, o juiz correu para a forca e descobriu que o galego se salvara graças a um nó mal feito. O homem foi imediatamente solto e mandado em paz.
Alguns anos mais tarde, o galego teria voltado a Barcelos para esculpir o Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo em louvor à Virgem Maria e a São Tiago, monumento que se encontra no Museu Arqueológico de Barcelos. Este também é representado pelo artesanato minhoto, geralmente de barro, conhecida por galo de Barcelos e é um símbolo de Portugal e foi adotado pelo Gil Vicente como sua mascote.
English
The Rooster of Barcelos (Portuguese, "Galo de Barcelos") is one of the most common emblems of Portugal.
The legend of the Rooster of Barcelos tells the story of a dead rooster's miraculous intervention in proving the innocence of a man who had been falsely accused and sentenced to death. The story is associated with the 17th-century calvary that is part of the collection of the Archeological Museum located in Paço dos Condes, a gothic-style palace in Barcelos, a city in the Braga District of northwest Portugal.
According to the legend, silver had been stolen from a landowner in Barcelos, and the inhabitants of that city were looking for the criminal who had committed the crime. One day, a man from neighboring Galicia turned up and became suspect, despite his pleas of innocence. The Galician swore that he was merely passing through Barcelos on a Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to complete a promise.
Nevertheless, the authorities arrested the Galician and condemned him to hang. The man asked them to take him in front of the judge who had condemned him. The authorities honored his request and took him to the house of the magistrate, who was holding a banquet with some friends. Affirming his innocence, the Galician pointed to a roasted cock on top of the banquet table and exclaimed, "It is as certain that I am innocent as it is certain that this rooster will crow when they hang me." The judge pushed aside his plate because he decided to not eat the rooster. But still, the judge ignored the Galician's appeal.
However, while the pilgrim was being hanged, the roasted rooster stood up on the table and crowed as the Galician predicted. Understanding his error, the judge ran to the gallows, only to discover that the Galician had been saved from hanging thanks to a poorly made knot in the rope. The man was immediately freed and sent off in peace.
Some years later, the Galician returned to Barcelos to sculpt the Calvary (or Crucifix) to the Lord of the Rooster (Portuguese, "Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo") in praise to the Virgin Mary and to Saint James. The monument is located in the Archeological Museum of Barcelos.
Wikipedia
© 2013 Lechatbon/LGS All Rights Reserved
This photo taken in the (downtown) Seattle Public Library Evelyn W. Foster Learning Center, which houses the library's literacy, ESL and world languages collection.
The maple-wood floor was created by artist Ann Hamilton. It contains 556 lines of text (in reverse) from the first sentences of books in 11 languages and alphabets found in the collection.
Sentences parallèles en écriture sigillaire
Rouleau vertical de gauche : inscription de sept caractères en écriture sigillaire suivie de la signature de l'artiste et de deux sceaux,
Rouleau vertical de droite : inscription de sept caractères en écriture sigillaire
L'artiste a calligraphié deux sentences avec des caractères écrits dans le style archaïque du premier empereur de Chine : Qin Shi Huangdi (221-210 avant notre ère)
Par contre, les citations poétiques sont plus récentes et extraites de "la préface du recueil du pavillon des Orchidées" de Wang Xizhi (307-365) qui est écrite dans le style régulier semi-cursif.
Oeuvre de Yao Hua (1876-1930), calligraphe
Entre 1920 et 1929
Encre sur papier
Don de la famille Barrère, 2004
Musée Cernuschi, musée des Arts de l’Asie de la Ville de Paris
www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-cernuschi/oe...
www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-cernuschi/oe...
Oeuvre présentée dans l'exposition "L'encre en mouvement, Une histoire de la peinture chinoise au XXe siècle", musée Cernuschi, Paris
Le musée, Cernuschi, qui possède l’une des plus importantes collections européennes de peintures chinoises modernes et contemporaines, présente pour la première fois une exposition exclusivement consacrée à ces chefs-d’œuvre. La présentation de ces fragiles trésors faits d’encre et de papier, qui ne peuvent être exposés à la lumière de manière permanente, constitue un évènement... Extrait du site de l'exposition
www.cernuschi.paris.fr/fr/expositions/lencre-en-mouvement...
Came across this sentence from @erickimphoto "learn from the master of street photography -v7" "if you have a photography which is weak without a compelling story, ditch the shot." How true. #bkk #bangkok #thailand #river #peace #pray #serenity #klongsuan #filmcamera #film #filmisnotdead #filmphotography #filmlove #keepfilmalive #lomography #twentytwopotatoes #fm2 #nikon #afgactprecisa #afga #kodak_photo #thefilmcommunity #filmphotographic @filmphotographic #filmphotographer #yourshot #travelphotographer #natgeotravel #guardiantravelsnap
Self Portrait
©Nourhan Refaat Maayouf
All rights reserved. My work is not to be edited, distributed, sold or uploaded anywhere without my written permission.
Today's blog post has four photos and ten sentences. dennissylvesterhurd.blogspot.com/2023/09/getting-toward-e...
I looked up fear of wasting time and got this sentence instead : Fear is a waste of time.
Fear is not your fault, and it doesn't make you bad person. Your suffering, and soon you'll get better. Your not alone though, if you look up your fear I grantee, lots of people feel like you too.
3 good things happened today, but
What didn't make me buzzing was the fact I asked for help because my canon 50mm was broken in the canon slr user group but most people found it better to attack my spelling and the fact I don't pronounced things right. I am dyslexic. I didn't appreciate being attacked.. here but the 1st post helped and its fixed :)
ok so the good things where I bought a new skirt, I uploaded my photos on getty images, the 2 of my friend with the candle (fear of the dark) are going under royalty managed which is really exciting. So that made me buzzing for hours.
and finally 2 of my photos got explored!!! the phone phobia and the explore lines one.
{telling me a joke after his shower}
my favorite portrait crop is square. something good about it, no?
oh...and i know...one post a day, but i couldn't hold back on this one after i processed. he's just so cute (says his biased momma).
A mosaic of images from the One Letter group, arranged by luminance & color.
Image created in Perl using the Flickr API and ImageMagick.
This will be much nicer when we get a larger assortment of letters in the pool If you like this, help us out by adding more licensed letter photos to this image pool.
Text: Lewis Carroll, "Jabberwocky"
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More stuff by jbum:
To see details in this drawing, try the largest image size...
The weather was hot, the creeks were spring fed and cold.
There was a BLUE MOON at this gathering! I wrote a long story about our trip, full of run-on-sentences. No names were changed to protect the innicent. All facts are just my opinions. I am not a journalist. Here is the story....
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Rainbow Recollections
1996 Missouri
"Who fears today
His rites to pay
Deserves his chains to wear.
The forest's free!
This wood take we,
and straight a pile prepare.
Yet in the wood
To stay 'tis good
By day till all is still.
With watchers all around us placed
Protecting you from ill.
With courage fresh, then,
Let us haste
Our duties to fulfill......" - Goethe
My daughter Skater (aka: Pixie, Shine, age 13) and I had a grand time at the Missouri Rainbow. We arrived Sunday June 23 and left July 3, and those were 11 magical days! Our drive in was 12 hours, and started with thunderstorms and a downburst in central Illinois that forced us off the road near Springfield. Big booming lightning! Old Mother Nature's power chords! Ba-BOOM!! Ka-Pow!!!!!
We got in about 1 am, drove right past FS road 3173 in the dark. Whoops! When we hit Thomasville we turned around and headed back north. Right exactly at 3 miles on the odometer from Thomasville there was FS #3173 off to the right. We drove on in quietly without seeing a single cop. There was the big green and yellow "Welcome Home" banner and a quiet group with a lone drummer singing and pounding out his heartsongs. We parked in the dark fog and decided to get some sleep in our old pickup until the sunrise. Just before dawn it rained hard for about 45 minutes, and that made the air smell clean and sweet! :)
We got up and meandered through the parking lot and met a lot of kind folks at the front gate. Out in the lot we met Katie and Brian and Althea (shy white Siberian husky puppy with pretty blue eyes) in the green bubbletop "Save the Buses" bus from Chicago. We also shared munchies and explored with Funky (Matt) and Shannon in the green VW camper bus, and met Victor and Kevin. At dawn we started packing for the hike in towards Kiddie Village where we would set up our camp.
It was nearly 3 miles to Kiddie Village. The first mile was dry and hot, then we started crossing the streams and it was like heaven to stop and play in that cold water. There was a steep incline down to the first stream, too steep for bikes to ride, but not too steep for horses. Spring creek was it's name, filled with tadpoles and there were lovely Spicebush and Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies hovering about the banks.
The second creek crossing had MARVELOUS sand!! SO nice on bare feet! The White Dove kitchen settled here and had the secret luxury of a hidden beautiful white portable shitter with a lid. "Pixie" was a frequent stopper at White Dove and we kept their secret close to the vest. Up the hill from the "good sand" crossing was the first clearing, a beautiful meadow with five tipis. The path here was named Hanuman Highway.
The main path crossed Spring Creek again and opened onto the big meadow with main fire circle and C.A.L.M. and good water piped from underground springs. We drank copious amounts of the spring water for 11 days with no problem. Our friend Question Mark happily spent his time filtering the water for anyone patient enough to get that extra protection. The pipe system evolved and grew with the gathering, so that eventually you were always close to a source of underground spring fed clean drinking water. We give an A+ to all who hauled pipe and ran samples for tests. GREAT water is such a luxury! :)
The next creek crossing had a pipe with roaring spring water you could shower in! Fill up the canteens! No waiting! Cold clean showers! The bridge there was called H20 bridge or Rainbow Bridge, and the crossing was called "Copperhead Crossing" after a snake was sighted in the water by some shady bushes. The original location of C.A.L.M. was to the right just after H20 Bridge. Continuing up, the main path was called Son Dance Trail and opened onto another fine meadow.
At the end of the meadow on the left side was Kiddie Village, which eventually grew to a City of Wonder! We parked our camp halfway twixt original C.A.L.M. and Kiddie Village, up into the shade of the tree line in the raspberry bushes by a big broken tree. Flattening out a place for our sleeping tent we ate juicy raspberries as we stomped. There was poison ivy everywhere so we sacrificed a shade tarp to cover the ground for safe lounging and relaxing. We set up a second small dome tent for all our gear and food and clothes and schtuff. We were on the map, had our own gnome home at home!
Pixie donated a pile of her old Golden Books to Kiddie Village. She talked with the smaller kids while I helped a crew installing support poles and guy ropes for that immense circus-tent-sized tarp for the main play area. I was amazed how four folks could hold a 25' ladder firmly in the air while another person climbed fearlessly to the top to adjust rope connections. The kids were having a blast here! There were four teeter-totters and the kids had figured how to "launch" each other, so the adults were trying to calm their butts down. Then we gravitated over to Kiddie C.A.L.M. where she helped Pat take care of several kids. One had poison oak all around his eyes.
Water and Flame were the main healers at Kiddie C.A.L.M., but Pat and the Swedish Bitters woman also put in huge hours there. Pat's dog Gaia was hilarious to play stick with. Gaia would plunge pell mell into high thick weeds and come out in a nanosecond with the very same stick you'd thrown. We trudged back to parking and got a second load of supplies that day. We donated a lot of apple juice and zuzu drink (cola) and that made for heavy loads to haul.
We learned to linger in the shade. In the stretches of sun it was best to conserve energy and keep moving towards the shade. We drank constantly from our canteens and often poured as much on our heads as we put in our mouths. We quickly learned all the places we could get water and paced our water consumption accordingly. It was close to 100 degrees everyday, and only rained one other time just before dawn for about two hours (July 2nd). Two pack loads in one day (and setting up the camp) wore us out, so we collapsed at sunset and slept with rainbow dreams. The Missouri whippoorwills sang us to sleep.
The next morning we found our Lovin' Touch kitchen up in the trees on the hillside in the shade. The big sign said "Kitten Safety Zone, All Dogs On Leashes!" and we met Grace, who had three kittens and a full grown cat! Grace told us how she and Steps had come in on June 10th and started Lovin' Touch in a shady patch of poison ivy. They knew where to find the good spring water, and they brought in a reporter from the West Plains Daily Quill. Grace opened her trunk and showed us the beautiful photo of the start of Lovin' Touch kitchen that made the front page of the June 13th Quill, along with an excellent article. Great public relations!!
Steps gave us the best hugs of the gathering and Piper played his didgeridu, and Lizard had made some great pancakes with apples and strawberries in them. This was OUR kitchen! I helped Justin chop wood and Pixie found every cat and dog in the area and gave em all hello hugs! There was a big tie-dye of a pot frond and hammocks strung all over. John was reciting poetry in the corner and Buddy Paul floated in with his beautiful cutaway Applause guitar and just let anyone play away on it.
The next morning we went to Copperhead Crossing for a shower and to splash in the stream and we met Nancy who was entering 6th grade in the fall. She was lugging around a big heavy bedroll. Pixie and Nancy became best friends instantly. I put her gear in my backpack and we trudged off to her mom's van back in A-camp, then came back to Kiddie Village. On the way they caught 50 tadpoles at the first creek crossing and had them all in a single drinking cup! Nancy slept about half the time in a hammock at Lovin' Touch. Nancy traded for two matching filigree rings and gave one to Pixie, and they changed their names to Sunshine. Pixie was Sun and Nancy was Shine. Nancy showed us where the kids were swinging off a rope into a deep cold spot in the creek. It was too cold for me, but the kids could stand it and had a great time!
There was also a swing/hammock for kids to swing in over the creek, and children's toys scattered about. The milk for Kiddie village was stored in the cold water, a natural refrigerator. Then came early dinner call at Kiddie Village! Many courses! Seconds and thirds for all who wanted!! Filled us up (yummy!) and we went off burping to the main circle to hear all the news and see how big the OM circle was getting. My best guess was two to three thousand at the site on our arrival June 23rd. When we left on Wednesday, July 3rd there were maybe 10,000 and it was growing every hour with the four day weekend approaching.
About Thursday, June 27th, Pixie patiently had sat through another evening main circle and eaten good Rainbow food. She went to her first "Sister Circle" with an older friend. The hot topic was the rape of a sister in A-camp. It turns out a young woman had gotten real drunk and been passed around and passed out. She wasn't with the girls discussing the hearsay at Sister Circle, she was already back getting loaded with those same brothers at A-camp who had taken advantage of her. The news I heard was that she was "consenting" until she passed out, but I wonder how could she consent while unconscious? A sorry story, but she apparently knew and stood by her rapist friends even afterwards. They were her drinking buds. A more tragic story was a pregnant 14 year old who miscarried at the Rainbow. I never met either woman, just passing on what I heard at the site.
The RUMORS on the computer newsgroup alt.gathering.rainbow (when I got home to read it) were really silly! The National Guard was not called out! No one was shot in A-camp. Hillbillies were NOT beating up hippies! The locals thought we were a godsend and treated us kindly with smiles! The police traffic checks were only for driver's license/insurance/registration. We passed in and out many times and most times there was no traffic check, or they just waved us by without stopping. Pixie did catch an ancient box turtle at the gathering, and had it in her lap on our way in when we were stopped. The Forest Service made her set the turtle free, it was a protected citizen of the Irish Wilderness!!
There were about 8 horse cops we met on the main trail and we learned the names of all the beautiful horses. Rebel Command and Ollie were our favorites. The riders were especially courteous, three women and five men, I think. There were about four FS cops on mountain bikes, and they ate a lot of dust from the cars on FS road 3173 going from the site to the police command location about 2 miles down the road. We stopped and greeted the FS and Dept. of Interior police we met and they were all friendly and kind. We even had a FS cop by A-camp get out of his jeep and paw through his supplies to find Pixie a Band-Aid for a finger cut.
One woman (who was a little crazed) climbed on top of a FS jeep and jumped up and down, denting the roof! And she wasn't arrested! Many were openly rude to the cops, calling out "Six UP!" or "Doughnut!!" as they went by. A select few chanted OM towards them. I always asked if all was well, and never heard any problems, although some were nervous and would say, "No problems .... yet!" I give the cops a C+, they are only human. We saw very little of them inside the real gathering, and only on the main trail, and always preceded by shouts of warning. I wish they would have stayed out of the church altogether and turned in their guns. HA!
The main trail crosses Spring Creek again to the right of Kiddie village, and heads upwards past the Animal Rainbow Family first aid for dogs and cats (Arf Arf!!) and Teen Village and Granola Funk Express kitchen. If you follow it all the way to the end there were three ropes tied across the trail and a sign that said "Turn around, Private property". Just before that sign, if you turned left, you could meander down to Cafe Cough Fee (Coffee Coffee) and find the best swimming spot of the gathering! Spring Creek is 12 feet deep here, fifty feet across, and cold cold COLD! The bank on the Coffee Coffee side is full of good mud and music all day. Those who can handle the cold water swim across and scramble up the rocky bank, and the adventurous climb up to dive off rock ledges 20 and 30 feet up.
There was a cave upstream to explore, and some kind souls left an inflatable raft for kids to paddle back and forth. Frisbees hummed back and forth as didgeridus droned and the mud people drew designs on themselves. This was a hopping swim hole! Musicians would gravitate in and stay for hours singing heavenly songs. We met Megan out by Coffee Coffee and she blew Pixie dust on Skater, then told her she was now a Pixie and had Pixie dust in her blood! That's when Skater changed her name to Sunshine Pixie, but she shortened it to Pixie later, and we got some gold glitter dust so she could turn others into Pixies. Skater was a glittering gold-dusted free spirit the last five days we were there. One bottle of glitter covers a LOT of people! :) Sparkling like star dust in the moonlight and sunshine!
Early in the gathering we met Steve and Cheyenne and their daughter. Steve was giving out water about the 1 mile point from A-camp at the end of a long dry path in the hot sun. Each day Steve and Foxfire (aka: Bridge Troll, Pegleg) went on a water run to Birch Tree and brought back water to give out at the water station, as well as "PowerBurst" electrolyte drink. Steve and Cheyenne also brought two riding horses and hung out a sign that read "Horse Camp". They brought a white horse (age 13) named Patches, and another spirited brown horse, both elegant females. Cheyenne took Pixie for a four hour horse ride one day, while I baby-sat their younger girl Kailey. Kailey was 15 months old and an energetic whirlwind. Kailey was born premature at only 1 pound and hydrocephalic, but was obviously doing well and happy to be at her first rainbow!
Cheyenne and Pixie washed the two horses and brushed them and got them water. Then they rode them down the steep path to the first creek for an hour or so and tried to get them to drink. Pixie rode the white horse, Patches. The brown horse drank some and had a coughing fit, Cheyenne thought maybe she had swallowed a tadpole! Then they went up into the first meadow and galloped around the tipis. They decided to take them all the way in to Kiddie Village and back.
In the main circle meadow they walked the horses through the big fire pit and really stirred up some ashes and dust. Then Pixie had to hold on as Patches decided to take off and run some around the main meadow, even leaping over some logs by where the wash station was later set up by the water people. Patches was the type of horse that needed to be ridden firm or whacked a bit with a stick to get going. Pixie was uncomfortable doing that, but she had a great time riding nonetheless. They rode through the thick fog of the gathering at sunset and came back after dark with the fireflies twinkling around them in the mist.
When they returned, Pixie had bowlegs and saddleburns and was worn out! That's when Cheyenne's stomach began to hurt a LOT! She tried some herbal cures from C.A.L.M. but nothing seemed to help. We all felt for her. She wound up going in to the hospital the next day before feeling better, and came back to the Gathering again. After her long ride Pixie volunteered to run the water station. It was dark and she was lit by a lantern and offered weary incoming travelers water or electrolytes or pixie dust. Just about everyone wanted pixie dust! A kind soul gave her a bag of little chocolate bars with the instructions to only give them to girls, but she gave them to everybody! We were given strawberries and watermelon and also changed Kailey's diaper twice! We stayed until after midnight, then closed down the water station and finally wandered back to our tent by the light of the big smiling moon.
One evening after main circle I went to wash our dishes while Pixie played hacky-sack with a group of teens. I met George while washing. His 12-string guitar was autographed by Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul and Mary) and Stanley Jordan and Kenny Burrell and John Prine and Stevie Ray Vaughan's nephew Roy Vaughan, and about 40 others. He was from Austin and sang me a song he wrote about the Wyoming gathering... "on July 1st there was a fire, on July 2nd there was a fire, on July 3rd there was a fire, on July 4th there was a Raaaaaaainbow!" ...and as he sang the sunset disappeared quickly... where was Pixie?
The hacky-sack group was nowhere to be seen. I started looking for Pixie in her dark purple shirt. I circled the fire twice, the drummers were already roaring, a BIG crowd! I had lost her! I circled inside right next to the fire so Pixie could see me if she was there, I was wearing her giant red & black Dr. Suess hat. Night had come on in a hurry and it was too dark to see faces even up close. Being a parent is a wonderful thing, and I was VERY concerned. The gathering had grown to a sizable city. I wandered away from the fire and hollered out "Ska-a-a-a-a-aterrrrr!!!!" and she called out "Right here, Dad!" right under my feet! What a relief! After that I stuck with her like glue, and brought a white T-shirt for her to wear after main circle sunset!
That night Pixie wanted to stay by the fire, so we crept in close between the drummers and found two saxophone players and sat near them listening to the sounds. Pixie kept wanting to sit closer and closer to the fire and we wound up almost IN the fire! The fire tenders had to walk over us as they added logs, and we were well-done and roasted by the heat of the flames! All our clothes were covered in soot and the next day our throats were sore from breathing so much smoke! But we stayed right in the thick of the drums and dancers and hung in there until that blue moon finally went down behind the trees over the mountainside. Just before the moon disappeared she met her friend Eagle, they talked as the fire crackled and the dark night settled in around us. After about six hours at the main drum circle we crept back to the tent and brushed our teeth and slept.
All that night and most every night we visited the fire there was a big menacing dude like Big Daddy in sinister sunglasses with a shaved head. He apparently thought he was King of the Fire or something and would stop the drums and recite a short poem to tell us to listen to the birds or hear the spirits talk. He also threatened to shove the trombone up the ass of a trombone player! He also would occasionally give slices of sweet melon to everyone in the inner circle of the fire, and maybe also drinks of electric punch. He never bothered us, thank goodness, and Pixie was able to dust him with Pixie dust the last day we were there. Good work, Pixie! We always ended the day by brushing out teeth and started the day by brushing our teeth. We were probably the only two at the gathering that didn't have morning breath!
Three nights later it was a full blue moon! The main circle was filled with pomp and drama, lots of poetry and heartsongs and then a special OM circle where we all laid back and chanted to the sky while holding hands laying down! After the food there was a Rainbow Wedding and we got right up close to observe and take part! The crowd was swept up and chanting "HO!" as the couple exchanged vows and were blessed and covered with incense smoke and then there was a huge group hug and OM chant. Pixie had big stars in her eyes and she said, "Dad, I want a hippie wedding!"
They had piled up a huge pile of logs for the fire, and after the wedding it ROARED into life and there were tons of wild dancers circling the fire. Little blond 13 year-old Eagle came up with half his head shaved and the other half dyed bright green with braided dreads. He raced naked around the fire in circles leaping and cavorting! We were among the first to spot the moon's entrance over the hill, and the drumming soared with that big lunar energy! We hung in with the drums and the fire and wailed on our bells and trumpet and rhythm egg up till the moment of fullness at 10:58 pm, then meandered back listening for vampires and werewolves on the paths!
The full moon night, Pixie was asleep by midnight and I wanted to stay close to the tent but soak up some sounds of the gathering. About 50 feet away by the trail that leads to Lovin' Touch kitchen was a couple of flute players and a drummer that were jamming their asses off. Both flutists were singing and scatting into their flutes as they played, and throwing wild jazz riffs back and forth like two Johnny Heartsman clones with Roland Kirk egging them on! A person nearby with a laser light did a light show at their feet with that eerie flashing red light, and Piper wandered down from Lovin' Touch with his "D" wood flute and joined in.
This was the best music I heard at the gathering, these souls were on FIRE! I nestled up right next to them and leaned on my walking staff and just inhaled the magic for a half hour in delight! Afterwards there was a couple banjos and a guitar and a real fine fiddle over at Tea & Toke kitchen a hundred feet to the north of our tent. I sat down and played on the rhythm egg, and a big golden lab drooled all over me wagging his tail. They were playing real Ozark bluegrass, and they ripped through a dozen tunes and had a captive audience of about 40 clapping for more each time they would stop!
The first day we packed in I was lured into the Popcorn Palace kitchen by the sounds of Robbie playing a mandolin and singing. Robbie was older and his legs were crippled, but he could and did sing like a songbird and played that mandolin all the time beaming a big rainbow smile! He'd also been at the 1980 gathering and told us about how they had finally jailed the guy that killed the two girls hitching to that West Virginia national. While I was talking to him and his friends, a 17 year old named Cheshire Cat was trying to attach himself to Pixie! Cheshire was hard to escape the next two days. He found and followed us wherever we went. Finally Pixie met Eric (age 17) and then it was in reverse, with Pixie dragging Dad all over trying to find and hang out with Eric. After Eric, Dad got dragged around as Pixie hung out with Eagle (age 13) all day.
Eagle had a fake English accent and claimed to have 190 wives. His Mom had brought him to gatherings about every year and also to regional gatherings in-between, and he was a creative soul! After Eagle, a different fellow named Weasel decided to hang with us non-stop and try wooing Pixie. Weasel was 19, but shorter than Pixie by a couple inches, and liked to hang out with the younger kids. Weasel was extremely polite and good company, but he really had no business with a 13 year old just out of grade school. After a couple of days I told Weasel he was a little too old for my girl and he respectfully backed off. Rainbow men are cut of a finer cloth, I think. I had done my utmost patient share of being flexible and mellow and allowing Pixie to meet and mingle with a LOT of folks, all the while never letting her too far out of my sight. I did about seven days of non-interfering chaperoning before explaining to Pixie that we weren't there to chase and be chased by boys. Amazingly, she agreed! The rest of the time we hung together and still managed to have major fun!
Out in the parking lot after an early visit to Steve and Cheyenne to see about riding horses, Pixie serenaded the FS with her trumpet. They drove past in a jeep and stopped right in front of us and asked if she would play them a song. She pulled out her sheet music for "This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land" by Woody Guthrie and blasted them with about three full verses with choruses! I was mighty proud! Afterwards we sang the two banned socialist verses to folks in the lot, and a day later I heard Pixie singing those verses to people at the Bliss kitchen!
"As I was walking, in the shadow of the steeple,
by the relief office, I seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there whistling..
(whistle melody to "This land was made for you and me")
As I was walking, I saw a sign there!
And on the sign it said, No Trespassing!
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing...
THAT side was made for you and me!"
The Krishna commune in West Virginia sent a bus and a couple of Swiss brown work bulls to the gathering. The bulls were twin brothers named Gita and Bhagavad. They were HUGE! We saw them as they arrived in a big trailer, and later grazing in a meadow. The Krishna's brought their usual assortment of fine musicians, including Indian drums and a harmonium, and put on theater in a stage in the first clearing. They had two big tipis and two large tents. Pixie and I stopped in their first tipi right after it went up, the incense was real fine and sweet and they were singing sweet songs to Krishna.
The inside of the tent had little triangular flags all around in a circle with some of the many names of god written on each flag. I wrote down the name of "Ksamah, one who is patient in all things!" Pixie grew impatient to leave and we tried to wait until their song ended, but it turned out to be an ENDLESS song so we snuck out quietly. They gave Pixie a glossy postcard of a blue lotus Shiva with four arms holding a nice talking drum and a ceremonial spear. Krishna was late arriving this year and we never made it to their kitchen, which opened about July 1st. Their kitchen has a reputation for the sweetest food!!
Josef arrived for the full moon sans his beard, but he brought his bagpipes! He remembered us from the Kentucky gathering where he worked communications and organized healers at the C.A.L.M. tipi. We also met Caribou, who maintains an unofficial Rainbow Family of Living Light homepage on the internet. Also it was a pleasure to meet Running Bear, an elder and cartoonist who posts regularly on the "alt.gathering.rainbow" internet newsgroup.
Early on we met Woody and his niece and her young friend David at the main circle. They were from West Virginia, and Woody told me an interesting tale of searching caves in Belize for artifacts. He was in a tight spot in a cave and poked at a mound of bat guano when a cloud of guano dust burst into the air and right down his lungs. He went into distress almost right away and developed histoplasmosis, a dangerous lung disease. After years of herbal and natural remedies, Woody's histoplasmosis is now in remission. Beware the guano dust in caves!
Woody's camp was near ours but on the other side of the Son Dance Trail and right next to Spring Creek. Woody heard some funny sounds one night and got up with a flashlight to find two armadillos had waddled out of the creek and were rummaging through his camp! He followed them a ways with the light as they waddled slowly off, and the next day he thinks he found their burrow a bit further downstream.
I would have loved to see those critters myself, but had to settle for the armadillos we saw hit by cars on the highway. Pixie and I stopped when we saw our first armadillo road-kill. The poor thing had really been clobbered by cars and we dragged it off the asphalt and into the weeds. Soon after we saw another armadillo in the classic four feet in the air bloated road-kill posture. Woody was a trader and kept business hours by his tent with wares on display luring folks in from the main trail. His demeanor was elegantly mellow and I liked him a lot. He had been at the Kentucky National in 1993, so I brought him some apple juice and a copy of the map I drew of that Gathering. He gave Pixie a beautiful ankle bracelet with bells. Later we brought him a set of juggling balls because the ankle bracelet was so sweet.
Everywhere we went we saw juggling sticks and Pixie was fascinated. The first juggler we saw with them was in Lovin' Touch kitchen, and he was a MOST excellent and smooooth juggler! Eric's friend Sage was playing an extended set of songs on Buddy Paul's guitar, and this juggler was sitting cross-legged in the dirt and working magic with those sticks in time with the music.
Sage was playing Nirvana and other tunes. He was real young but could play like my friend Johnny OH and sing like Kurt Cobain.
Sage and I traded songs later at their camp out by Granola Funk Express. Pixie was embarrassed to hear Dad chomping out bad versions of God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols) and Hey Baby (Hendrix) while she was trying to make eyes at Sage's friend Eric. Eric had a joker's hat and gave Pixie a necklace that came apart later. Pixie was sweet on this guy after getting that necklace! He was a drummer without a drum, promised to meet Pixie by the Kiddie Village swimming hole, but we couldn't find him. It's easy to lose folks at a Rainbow.
Trader's blankets were spread out at all the congested spots on the main trail, slowing foot traffic and bringing the shopping MALL spirit into the church. Call me a relic but I remember in 1980 the traders were NOT allowed to peddle inside until July 4th, when they flooded inside to the main meadow with all their trinkets glittering on their blankets. For many of these traders the Rainbow is just another stop on the flea market trail, and I resent this crass materialistic merchandising. Pixie was constantly drawn to gawk at their wares, and Dad (the Old Grouch) was given to grousing & crabbing & whining & beefing as I tried to pry her from those little portable stores. Jesus threw the bastards out of the temple on their ears, didn't he? Heeheheeheheee! Enough... :)
This was the first national where I didn't squirm my way into blowing the conch shell at main circle to call the family to grub. I must be getting old. The conch blowers I heard were doing their best but weren't getting the volume that the tuba player from Michigan got back in Kentucky in 1993! We had meadow neighbors from Urbana, Illinois, that brought a trombone and blew reveille way too EARLY one morning right next to our camp! Pixie had been sleeping but that blew her right out of the tent into the morning sunshine! Another trombonist at the Gathering liked to haunt the main drum circle and would let anyone pass around his trombone while he wandered off for hours. Way up by Arf Arf!! there was a cackle of five saxophones that regularly gathered in the shady trail and jammed together. They sounded to me like Frank Zappa's "The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue // Dwarf Nebula Professional March & Dwarf Nebula", a real soaring pack of honkers in disarray.
Ours was the only trumpet we saw, and carrying it around a coupla days, we indulged a lot of requests from former trumpet players to play on it! It was played at the swimming holes with didgeridoos, tooted with wandering clarinets on the trail, and covered with fire soot at the main drum circle. We saw hordes of wood and orchestral flutes. There seemed to be a hundred didgeridoos! There were scores of guitars from the precious to the silly variety, and hundreds of big and small drums (the new Rainbow instrument of choice). SOOOO many drummers! Deep in the thundering buffalo stampede of oblivious amateur drumming there lurked a serious core of talented and demented real percussionists. The good drumming would surface and carry the energy in surprising places, even in the Walmart parking lot in West Plains!
There was a hilarious handbill posted at info about the telltale warning signs of drum abuse! It's interesting to note that lots of regional gatherings are just called "Drum Circles" now. The domination of the rhythmic ones has beaten the melodic minority to the sidelines! All hail the thumping BEAT!! Just kidding, I like drums a lot. Someday I would like to have a talking drum and a real low pitched booming tabla. I got a chance to play on both at the Shawnee regional in Early October! I didn't see many of either at this years National, but for all I know there were undoubtedly some real fine drums out there lurking in that foggy misty pulsing valley.
Pixie's new Rainbow friend Flipper was 19 and had been married and divorced twice already. Claimed to have already owned a house and had a high powered job at one point. He had a green spiked mohawk that kept lying down without his spray and mouse, and Pixie loved to take her fingers and mess it up! For him life was black leather and tattoos and musical angst (post-Punk) but he was obviously filled with joy and had a happy soul enjoying the Rainbow. He left July 2nd, hitching his way to Colorado with friends. A kind dude!
My Rainbow friend Jarrod had sliced three toes open in a farm accident loading hay bales a week before the rainbow. He wandered into Kiddie C.A.L.M. limping on a cane with no shoes or socks, and had flies crawling in & out of the mud caked around his wound! The Swedish Bitters woman decided he needed to clean that and apply Swedish Bitters. She prescribed Swedish Bitters for everything! We donated a clean sock for him to wear and he kept returning for more Swedish Bitters and cleaning each day. By the end of our stay he was walking without a cane, and new skin was growing on his wound. It was looking 100% improved! We poured through the ancient herbal tomes but never did find out the secret ingredients of Swedish Bitters. What the hay, Jarrod was healing fast! Center for Alternative Living Medicine does it again! May the Goddess praise Swedish Bitters!
A-camp, or Alcoholic Camp, lived up to it's bad reputation as usual. While there were a few kind souls welcoming folks home out on the road before parking, the welcome home info board area was home to a motley crue of sordid motorcyclists and macho self-designated Shanti Sena bosses. There was a giant "my-size" Barbi doll, naked, with duct tape over her mouth greeting everyone. The next day we went by and they were doing rather unspeakable things to her in the grass. I had Pixie turn her head and we walked quickly by.
The next time we went by, there was a crowd trashing a compact car. They had broken all the windows and were kicking in the doors. Some people have their own special forms of amusement, I guess. For a couple days there was a nice three-wheeled motorcycle that looked like a hearse parked right at the front gate, and the cycle gang members who brought it in were loading up on beer before hiking in where their feet would have to carry them.
The woman who had jumped up and down on the FS jeep without being arrested eventually calmed down a lot. We saw her several times being reeeeeally wacky but in better control. That day when she jumped on the jeep she had been hugging people on the trail, then tearing off their metal jewelry and throwing their rings and bracelets off into the weeds. Our friend Funky had his silver ring and silver bracelet thrown down into a ravine filled with poison ivy. Pixie and I and Cheshire Cat climbed down into it and helped him search. The bracelet was found quickly, but it was a long while later when Cheshire finally found the ring. Another brother lost an amulet and necklace and was extremely upset, but did not file charges against the woman.
One brother I met had the handle of "Less Stress". Now that is a good name! We can all use less Stress! Have you heard of "Vermin Supreme"? He is the infamous Disco Ball and giant toothbrush wielding hippie we met in Kentucky. He was here and passing out bumperstickers that said VERMIN SUPREME `96 "Brush Your Teeth, It's The Law!" We ran into him with a group that was asking cosmic questions of a Magic Eight Ball. I asked an important question and the 8-ball gave me the answer I was hoping for, but the exact words were, "Of course, you dork!"
The new summer edition of the 1996 Rainbow Guide was given away at info and there was a big color photo of Vermin Supreme with a shit-eating grin right on the cover! Fame!!! We had met Vermin in Kentucky in 1993. Vermin wandered around at night with a mobile and raucous party entourage. They carried that giant-size disco mirror-ball everywhere they went, shining flashlights on it and calling out for all to "Bow down and worship the Sacred Disco Ball!!" It was too-o-o-o hilarious! :)
Out in the parking lot we met and shared grub and laughs with Geo (George) from Minneapolis. The next night we heard machete whacking sounds back behind our camp in the trees, it seemed to go on all night! It was Geo and several of his Minneapolis friends carving out a shady campsite from the poison ivy and poison oak and raspberry brambles! Wack-a-wack-a-wack!! While we had set up at the tree line and had a tarp for protection from rain, the angle of the morning sun slanted in and heated up our tent in the early morning, ewwwwwwww!!!! Hot! Geo and friends did the extra work and wound up with a fine cool site with all day shade! A few set up tents out in the baking sun, only to move them the next day when they discovered how HOT the sun can be!
Our big hot meadow suddenly FILLED with tents on the weekend of June 29 and 30. An explosion of people arriving really changed the chemistry of the gathering from seed camp to full national homecoming! I crawled from our tent to find both paths we usually took to get to the main trail were now covered by new arrivals. There were tents everywhere!! A German shepherd from out of nowhere took umbrage at my emerging and growled and advanced on me to chew on my skinny leg!! I yelped backwards and grabbed my walking staff, which saved me! Dogs do not like big sticks wielded with a little bravisimmo! This big shepherd belonged to a tent two tents over, turned out to have a name (Nebraska) and took huge shits wherever he pleased.
The next night we tucked Pixie's sandals under the drop tarp next to the door of out tent because they were too raunchy and sandy to bring inside. The next morning Nebraska was using one of her sandals as a chew toy! I took several time outs during the gathering to move and cover other folks dog shit on the main trail. As much as I love cats, the Rainbow just makes me love cats all the more! I saw several people dive in to break up dog fights and almost got bowled over by fighting dogs a few times myself. As Bob Dylan says, "If dogs run free, then why not me? Across the swoop of tiiiiime........"
My favorite dog of the gathering was a three legged little black terrier that thought he was Napoleon! His name was Weasel. He stayed wherever he wanted, and had friends at Lovin' Touch and out at Horse Camp. His owner said he had picked a fight with a big German shepherd and got his leg bit off as a result. I was baby-sitting Kailey out at horse camp when a brother handed me Weasel and pleaded with me to hold him long enough for him to get away with his lady doggie that was in heat. Weasel had been romancing his pooch non stop, haahahaahaha! Who would bring a dog in heat to a Rainbow?
We also saw a beautiful brown/gray Afghan dog roaming without an owner (I like Afghans) and several big wolfhounds. There were a number of real classy fancy doggies whose owners kept them sensibly in tow, but 90% of the dogs just ran free. We came walking down the trail when two dogs locked in intercourse were captured by their owners who tried to separate them, but they were stuck! Pixie's eyes almost popped out of her head! Here were these silly humans pouring water and oil on these two pooches to no avail and trying to pull them apart. Oh the pain! I tried to move Pixie down the trail but all her friends had stopped to gawk at the sight.
Pixie was helping at Kiddie C.A.L.M. when a guy asked her to watch his little black cuddly puppy named Zodax while he ran a quick errand. Three hours later, the guy finally comes back! In the meantime, Pat had diagnosed Zodax as starving and loaded with worms! Pat and Pixie and I marched this guy down to the Animal Rainbow Family (ARF ARF!!) first aid camp. There he got medicine for his puppy and free food and a lecture, but the next day we found out he had given the puppy away. Rainbow people are BAD to their animals! Just my $.02 opinion! We met a family of 3 week old kittens in a sack. The mother had died, they said. They were taking care of them, they said. They had no milk, no food. My heart went out for them and their chances of surviving the Rainbow. :(
We saw lots of kittens but only about four adult cats. Adult cats will not put up with these conditions! Grace had a beautiful black and white cat named Fat Cat that ran free and safe at Lovin' Touch, but there was an uncomfortable and vulnerable black cat on a tied leash at the Popcorn Palace. We saw a couple of people on the trail carrying adult cats as they hiked. We saw people carrying mice and leading goats. Someone brought a rooster that crowed all day long! There were ferrets and pet birds and snakes and baby dwarf rabbits. Pixie caught and released her box turtle, caught and released butterflies and tadpoles. She got bit by a crawfish in the creek. We were all enjoyably nibbled on by little fish.
We both got chigger bites and TRIED not to scratch `em. We still have `em *scratch scratch* to tell ya the truth! There weren't many flies or mosquitoes or spiders. The great paranoia about Lyme disease from ticks was totally overblown. Any black bears or snakes probably fled the area after the first drum circle. Several folks went out of their way to seek out and kill some snakes, and their unlucky hides wound up as wares on the Trader's blankets. There were beautiful little golden finches fluttering around the kitchens and Red Tailed Hawks circling the updrafts above the hills. We spotted some fast little lizards that were black with narrow yellow stripes on their backs and bright blue tails.
I was really happy with the diversity of butterflies! Beautiful butterflies everywhere! Harvesters and Checkerspots and Blues and Viceroys and Fritillaries and lovely Dark Tiger Swallowtails! Saw my first live Zebra Swallowtail ever! And tattoos of butterflies! Tattoos everywhere! Tattoos in progress in the dust of the main trail! Pierced lips and tongues and nipples and belly buttons and ears and genitals and whole body irezumi tattoos. One woman from New Orleans wore an owl foot, alligator teeth, eagle feathers, and a gris-gris bag of zu-zu mamou! The further you got from A-camp, and the closer you got to the great swimming by Coffee Coffee, there were a lot of folks who wore only woven leaves of grape vine, or creative mud designs, or just shone with the light of their smiles! Rainbow spirit embraces all!!
Packing out the tents on our last trip down the trail, we came upon a man pushing his son (Zack) in a baby-buggy with little swivel wheels. The dirt path reached a rocky bUmPy stretch, so we swept the buggy up in the air and Zack was flying down the trail like a bird! We reached A-camp after a block-long flight, and set him back down on the dirt path. Dad suddenly took off and pushed that buggy about 200 yards down the path at a full sprint, with Zack laughing all the way! We were left smiling in clouds of buggy dust!
We saw a couple unloading a cello case from a van, so I asked about it. Sure enough, the kind brother got out his cello and treated us to a Bach concerto right there on the road in A-camp! Marvelous!!! I loooove cello! He was nailing the pitch and playing those hammer-ons and trills and getting those bow-stutters in there. I was in heaven! But soon we were loading the last of our gear into our old pickup truck. We ambled out of parking and onto FS road 3173. Eagle spotted us and ran to say farewell, then we headed out slowly, winding up through the Irish Wilderness towards Route 99. Farewell Rainbow `96!
Here's a partial list of kitchens and campsites we saw by July 3rd:
KITCHENS:
Tea Time
Granola Funk Express
Lovin' Touch/munchateria
Instant Soup
Ship of Love (Diva Diner)
White Dove
Bliss Kitchen
Brew Ha Ha
Popcorn Palace
Jah Love
Milliways (Cafe At The End Of The Universe)
Sun Dog
Musical Veggie
Have a Beautiful Day
The Woderfull Whirrled of OZ
Avalon
Everybody's Whatever Lovin' Ovins/NERT
Kool Aid Coroner
Cofee Cough (no fee, pop free)(Cafe Cough Fee)(Coffee Coffee)
Dee Bakery (Da Bakers)
Beeck Party
Jesus Soup Kitchen
Tow Back Go Kitchen
Krishna Kitchen
Turtle Soup
Dragon Kitchen
CAMPSITES and ORGANIZED MAYHEM:
Kiddie Village
Kiddie C.A.L.M.
C.A.L.M.
Info/Rumor control
Welcome Home
A-Camp
Bus Village
Teen Village
Kiddie Camping
Sorta First Aid
Celestial Tea & Toke
Lost Tribe
Kaw Valley
Mo Love/Dragon Camp
S.H.Y. Camp
Morning Star
Illinois Dysfunctional Family
Yoga Loca
Camp Got A Minute
Be Here Now
Butterflies & Roses
This Camp (Not That Camp)
That Camp (Not This Camp)
Thier Streak - Frier Camp
Sacred Space
Shama Lama Ding Dong
RME RUNE
Top Secret Research Facility
Area 51
Poison Ivy Camp
Teen Barbarian Space
Know Mun Land
FAEREYE Camp
Faerie Camp
Pixie Camp
Multi 4th Dimension
Polka Dot Camp
Safe Love Bowl
Baby Nap
H(({{OM}})) KLA HOMA
Sparrows Nest
Bliss Pit
Madame Frogs
World Peace Pilgrimage
Purple Gang
A.R.F. Animal Rainbow Family
Rest Area
Prop-A-Ghandi Camp
Seven Minit Low
Children Of The Sun
Health Info
Bench March
Calif Cove
Freedome Village L.P.
Camp Calm Union
Kamp U Can't Fine
Fallen Tree Tribe
Flip-N-Tripe E.E.
N.W. - S.W. Western Tribe (Scroll Deaf Tribe)
The Nurd Ick
Mother Ship of F.U.E.L.
NVR NVR LND
Bufins Party
Camp Of Know Repute
Yell Oh Flash Lite
No Feds Tree House
White Hawk
Kumformeee
Ora Gone Camp
Hum Zah
Bah Ree
Bi The Way
Serenity Ridge
Blissters
Cody Massage
Rooster Shack
Blues Party
Mayan Camp
Zoe (Ask For Oness)
High Times
Palm Tribe
Greenwitch Village
Sister Space
Aloha Camp
Om Home
Nowhere
Minnesota Camp
Turk's Head/East Wind
Katuah
No Butt Heads Be Us
The MADD Tea Party
Choc Olate Roomers
All Around The Universe
Coo Cool Ka Chew
Good Space Grove (New Amsterdam)
Well this rambling blathering spew has gone on long enough!
We had a great time and all was good!
The only way to describe a Gathering is to be there, really.
The vision doesn't get through to all,
but enough get the drift to keep this magical thing afloat now for 25 years!
Thanks for your patience and ear,
Lovin’ you,
guano
Star Trek, First Contact (Paramount, 1996).
youtu.be/wxyZQR2d6yw Trailer
Star Trek - 'Beyond First Contact' The Borg - Making The Movie.
Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, Neal McDonough, Robert Picardo, and Dwight Schultz. Directed by Jonathan Frakes.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard awakens from a nightmare about his Borg assimilation experience to an incoming message from Admiral Hayes. Hayes informs Picard that Deep Space Five reported that a colony has been destroyed. Completing the Admiral's sentence, Picard realizes who destroyed the colony — the Borg.
Picard calls a meeting and informs his senior officers that their ship has been instructed to patrol the Neutral Zone. Their orders are to protect the area from any possible Romulan uprising during a Borg attack. Despite protests from his officers, Picard remains faithful to his orders and the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-E begins to patrol the area. Later, Picard regretfully tells Riker that it is his own fault they are stuck in the Neutral Zone. Starfleet believes Picard to be too emotionally involved with the Borg because of his previous assimilation to tactically complete a mission against them.
The men return to the bridge to learn that Starfleet has engaged in combat with the Borg. Intercepting messages between the starships, the crew learns that the Federation is losing. Picard, with his Borg experience, knows he can help the fleet. He informs his staff that he will make a decision directly in opposition to Starfleet commands. With no objections from his crew, Captain Picard gives the order and the starship Enterprise sets a course for Earth and the attacking Borg cube.
A massive battle ensues and it appears that the Federation will lose the fight. Despite serious structural damage to the Borg cube, their strength does not weaken. Even the U.S.S. Defiant, commanded by Worf, does not appear to be able to turn the tides of the battle. As the starship Defiant is about to ram the Borg ship on a suicide run, the U.S.S. Enterprise beams aboard its crew, including Worf. Picard, having an inside perspective of the Borg and their vessel, focuses the firepower of the fleet on coordinates he knows to be critical. Just as the main ship is destroyed, a spherical escape pod flies out. The sphere creates a temporal vortex, catching the starship Enterprise in its wake. Immune to the paradoxes created by the time travel, the starship's crew learns that Earth at the present time appears to be inhabited entirely by the Borg. The commanding officers realize that the Borg have gone into the past and assimilated Earth, so they follow them back in time to repair the damage the Borg have done.
On Earth, over three centuries earlier, a somber Lily Sloane accompanies a stumbling, drunk Zefram Cochrane out of a bar after a night of revelry. Then, Lily notices a fast moving light. She hardly has time to ask what the object is, when the Borg vessel attacks. Back aboard the Enterprise, Picard demands that Data tell him the exact date and location the Borg ship is attacking. The location: central Montana. The date: April 4, 2063 — the day before First Contact. Realizing that the Borg have come to prevent first contact between alien life forms and humans, the crew knows they must stop the Borg and facilitate this exchange. They destroy the Borg sphere, and Dr. Crusher, Captain Picard, Commander Data, Commander Riker, Counselor Troi and other U.S.S. Enterprise crew transport down to Earth to survey the damage.
At the Borg attack site in Montana, the crew finds destruction and chaos. They split into groups to search for Cochrane. Data and Picard hunt for Cochrane's warp ship, the Phoenix. There they encounter a very angry and confused Lily, who believes Data and Picard to be members of a coalition that broke the cease-fire after World War III. She shoots at them in a rage, but impervious to bullets, Data approaches Lily. Overcome by fear and radiation, she falls to the ground. Dr. Crusher diagnoses Lily with radiation sickness caused by the damaged Phoenix, and inoculates the entire crew. Against Picard's better judgment, Crusher takes Lily to sickbay. Geordi is called to help repair the warp vessel and Picard becomes intrigued by its historical significance. In this vessel began the future as the world would know it, and the past as Picard remembers it. He reaches out to touch the ship. Data, curious about the human need for tactile reinforcement, attempts to create the same feelings he observes in Picard, but is unsuccessful in duplicating this aspect of humanity.
Aboard the ship, two crewmembers are sent to examine unexplained maintenance problems, and both disappear. Picard is called to the ship and discovers that the survivors from the Borg sphere have transported onto the ship and are taking over Deck 16. While Picard arranges teams to fight them, the Borg manipulate the climate of the deck to suit their needs and begin to spread throughout the ship. When the Borg attack sickbay, Crusher, her staff, and Lily escape through a Jeffries tube, thanks to a distraction by the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram. While Crusher leads the group down the passageway, Lily steals away in a different direction.
On Earth, Riker finds Troi and Cochrane drunk in a bar. Troi justifies that the only way she could get Cochrane to talk to her was by shooting Tequila with him. Denying her drunken state, Troi offers her professional opinion on Cochrane. She explains, "He's nuts."
Picard and his team are tracking the Borg through the starship. As Crusher and her staff find Worf's team, Picard's team encounters the Borg, who have begun to assimilate U.S.S. Enterprise crewmembers. Worf's team engages the Borg in combat, but the enemies adapt to the crew's weapons too quickly to make any difference. The teams are ordered to regroup on Deck 15, but Data is captured. Picard cannot save him, so he quickly crawls into a Jeffries tube to escape. Face to face with Picard, Lily steals his phaser and demands an explanation and escape route. Picard agrees.
Geordi shows Cochrane the starship Enterprise through a large telescope on Earth and tries to convince him to launch his vessel the next morning. Geordi glorifies Cochrane by explaining that his ship will make first contact with alien life forms. Humanity will be saved if Cochrane launches his ship. Still drunk, Cochrane agrees.
Aboard the ship, the Borg Queen introduces herself to a bound Data, claiming that she is the Collective. Reactivating Data's emotion chip, the Borg begin to graph organic, human skin onto the android's arm. As Data is overcome by this new human sensation of touch, something he never thought possible, the Borg continue their work.
Lily and Picard wander through the service deck as the captain attempts to explain what has happened between Lily's time and his own. She begins to calm down until they suddenly run into a Borg-infested area. Quickly escaping in the Holodeck, Picard activates a Dixon Hill program. At a dance, he and Lily try to blend in without being noticed by the Borg. Following the Holodeck's story, Picard searches for Nicky the Nose and takes his machine gun. Killing the Borg with the gun, Picard retrieves the memory chip that contains all of the information the Borg has received. Lily then notices that the two dead Borg were once crewmembers of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Back on Earth, Cochrane keeps hearing what an amazing historical figure he is and begins to question whether or not he wants to go through with the launch. He doubts his own nobility and flees the launch site. Geordi and Riker attempt to catch up with Cochrane in the woods and are forced to stun him with a phaser to return him to the Phoenix.
Lily and Picard join the rest of the surviving crew and discover that the Borg are outside of the ship. The retrieved memory chip reveals that they are reconfiguring the main deflector in order to contact the Borg of this century, calling them to Earth to assimilate the planet. Picard, Worf and Lieutenant Hawk put on space suits and venture onto the surface of the starship to stop the Borg.
Aware of Data's desire to become human, the Borg Queen offers him the chance to be entirely covered in human flesh and join the Borg, in an attempt to get the encryption codes from Data so she can obtain total control over the U.S.S. Enterprise. Outside the Enterprise, Hawk, Worf and Picard attempt to unlock the deflector dish. Attacked by a Borg, Worf's suit begins to depressurize. Two Borg are killed and Hawk is attacked. As the dish is released, a now-assimilated Hawk attempts to kill Picard. Worf saves the captain, but Hawk is killed. Picard and Worf then destroy the free-floating deflector dish.
On Earth, Cochrane explains to Riker that his only motivation for inventing warp travel was money. He never expected to save mankind, become a hero, or be instrumental in the founding of a new civilization. He simply wanted to retire in peace.
An argument ensues aboard the Enterprise as the majority of the senior officers believe that they should evacuate the ship, destroying it and the Borg. Picard won't give up, and insists they stay. Challenged by Worf, Picard orders him off the Bridge. Lily follows Picard into his ready room and demands that he explain his obsession with fighting the Borg. Picard declares he won't sacrifice the starship, and swears to finally make the Borg pay for all they've done. Lily quietly and calmly compares Picard to Captain Ahab, forever fighting his white whale — the Borg. Realizing that this fight could only destroy himself and his crew, Picard decides to evacuate the ship. Worf, Picard and Crusher activate the ship's self-destruct sequence. The countdown begins, and the crew leaves in escape pods. Picard surveys his ship and prepares to leave when he hears Data calling him.
Meanwhile , the earth-bound crew and Cochrane begin takeoff. Cochrane, Geordi and Riker take off in the Phoenix, and with music blaring, the three men launch successfully into orbit.
On the ship, Lily and Picard say good-bye and the captain goes to save Data. Entering Engineering, Picard confronts the Borg Queen, whom he knows from his experience with the Borg. The queen reminds Picard that it was not enough that he was assimilated, but that he needed to give himself freely to the Borg — she wished him to stand by her side as an equal to further the power of the Collective. Picard offers himself in exchange for Data, but the android does not comply. He refuses to leave, and at the queen's command, disarms the self-destruct sequence. He quickly enters the encryption codes, offering full control of the Enterprise to the Borg.
As Cochrane's ship nears warp, Data arms the U.S.S Enterprise's weapons and aims them at the defenseless Phoenix. At the Borg Queen's order, Data fires, but the missiles fail to hit the Phoenix. His deception of the Borg complete, Data smashes a conduit, releasing a gas that floods engineering, killing all organic material. As the Borg are destroyed, Picard climbs to safety and the Borg Queen falls into the deadly gas. With the Borg threat gone, Cochrane safely completes humanity's first warp flight.
Celebrating the flight back on Earth that night, Cochrane and the Enterprise crew see an alien ship land nearby. The doors open, and Zefram Cochrane makes Earth's first contact with an alien race — the Vulcans. Picard and his crew beam out, having witnessed this historic event, and the U.S.S Enterprise NCC 1701-E returns to the 24th century.
One of the oldest techniques in psychology, Sentence Completion often has been used to understand creativity, imagination, and personality.
How would you fill in the blank?
Funny story.
An artist came to my classroom today to teach a music lesson to prepare the kids for a trip we are going on next week.
She wrote the sentence "The man was carrying a large package" on the board.
(If you really want to know why - the kids had to say the sentence using different emotions.)
Anyway, someone who knows me intimately came in the room, saw me standing next to this after the artist had gone, and burst out laughing and said
"How did she know?"
(None of the kids heard this.)
Year 2 - Upload 192
March 4, 2009 - Finally got this photo the way it was meant to look - a year to the day!
For SW Factions. Mato has a moment of clarity, and makes a choice.
Story below:
“Take the woman before the Hutt Lords.”
It was a death sentence. He had carried it out before.
His life was three things: putrid smells, fear of death, and orders from the Hutts. Mostly orders to kill.
He had killed people for talking back. He had killed people for failing Baga’s orders. He had even killed other enforcers, when the Hutts demanded entertainment during dinner. And now he would probably have to kill this woman.
The girl walked proudly in front of him. She was some sort of spy, trying to undermine the Hutts. He shook his head; he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She’d gotten in over her head.
“Have you lived on Nal Hutta long?”
The young woman’s question came out casual, almost flippant. Before he realized what he was doing, he stammered a reply.
“My whole life,” he said, then he corrected himself, twisting his weathered face into a snarl. “. . . Shut up and keep walking!”
The girl kept walking, but she kept talking too.
“My name is Yigs. I’m from a planet called Wayland. It’s beautiful there. The rain is fresh, there’s cool breezes . . . nothing like this toilet. You should see it, if you get the chance.” She frowned back, a sympathetic look that startled him. “I’m sorry that you’re stuck here.”
He growled. “There’s nothing to see. Nal Hutta is where the Hutt Lords rule. It’s an honor to even be in the same system.”
Even as he said it, he thought of his quarters. Swamp water pooling on the floor from the drain overhead. The smell of garbage rising from under the door. He had to keep a constant eye on his stained blankets, otherwise they’d be stolen. You couldn’t trust anyone. But that was just the way life was.
“You don’t even know, do you? You’ve never seen anything better than this stinkhole.”
He was silent.
She went on. “That’s why I’m here. There’s so many beautiful worlds out there, but they’re being ruined by the Hutts. People are free, and happy. They laugh at jokes and watch the sunrise. They have friends.”
The Weequay snarled. “Friends. Useless.”
“Hah!” her laugh was clear, strong. She wasn’t afraid, even though she must have known what was ahead for her. “Have you ever had a friend?”
It wasn’t condescending. She meant it.
He grumbled a non-committal answer, then said, “You should shut up. The Hutt Lords want a word with you. You can talk then.”
“What’s your name?”
“What?”
“What do people call you?”
“. . . Enforcer,” he joked, a bitter edge creeping into his voice. “Or wrinkle-head. Leatherskin. Sometimes just trash. Take your pick.”
“What did your parents call you? You had parents, right?”
What was he doing, talking to this dead woman? She was getting into his head. He’d be lashed if anyone heard them.
“Mato,” he heard himself say.
“Mato,” she said, her voice full of a fire and surety and fierceness he’d only seen in the Hutts themselves. But there was something else there that the slugs never had; genuine care. He figured either she had never had a boot on her neck, or she threw it off the moment it was placed there. Both boggled his mind.
“Give me your blaster,” she said seriously. “I can get us both out of here. I can get you to free skies, to friendly people. You don’t have to serve the slugs.”
He felt something new, bright, and frightening rising in his chest. He tried to push it away. “You’re a slave,” he spat. “What could you possibly do?”
“No,” she said firmly. “You’re a slave. And I’m going to free you.”
“No,” he said again, and his voice gave out. “Even if you could, I’ve . . . done too much. No one wants to help a Hutt enforcer.”
A sad smile twisted her mouth. “Really? I’m helping you right now, and you’ll probably have to kill me soon.” She caught his gaze, which had been set dully on the floor.
“Please, Mato,” she said. “Give me your gun, and I promise to get us both out of here.”
When he met her eyes, he was suddenly shocked with clarity. It was a moment of destiny, like a waking dream, where he saw two courses of life stretch forward. One was a stream of steaming swamp water. It was killing for the Hutts, eventually dying alone.
The other was what he imagined clean water might look like. He’d heard it was blue. That stream was helping the girl. With her, either he would die, or he would be free. No more Hutts. No more orders. No more slime.
When he compared the two streams, what did he have to lose? All he had to do was trust. To put his life in someone else’s hands. Could he do that?
He’d seen her fire. The light in her eyes. The care in her voice. Unlike anything he’d ever seen or heard.
He undid her cuffs, unbuckled his holster, pulled his blaster, and held it out to her.
“I hate the Hutts. I hate this killing. I’m done,” he snarled. “I choose the blue water.”
She nodded.
He felt sweat roll down his temple. He’d been so sure of his choice, but now there was no going back. “W-What now?” he asked.
She primed the blaster. A reassuring grin—confident, but not cocky—played on her face.
“Now, Mato, we ditch this place forever.”
He tried to smile back, but he was too nervous. He took a deep breath, and hefted his vibroaxe.
“Okay,” he exhaled, and nodded. “Okay.”
They turned to face the fight ahead. He felt so much better that she was in it with him.
Was this what having a friend was like? It was a brand new feeling. And he had a sneaking suspicion—though it was still just a hunch—that she wouldn’t even try to steal his blankets when he wasn’t looking.
Life would be different from now on.
Part 2 is here: www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/178764-s...
The Painter mused on whether we might meet up at the railway station, spend some time over lunch then venture to the court where she has been framed.
Unremarkably, we met at the bus station. The court is The High Court, Australia's constitutional court. She is hung in the foyer, not literally, but as one of the artists to embellish its brutalist concrete walls. How was she framed? In wood. Her complaint was that the unfinished linen edge of her work was raw and undignified. Now was her opportunity to see how the framing sat with her work.
For such a momentous and solemn building, the attendants are charming and welcoming. Once The Painter introduced herself, it was as though we were old friends. They hold that the figure on the ramp is the lady who each morning rubs the smudges from the brass railing. It's true! This scene captures the morning light; the polishing hour.
We didn't use the terms rectilinear and orthorhombic as such, but when we ascended to the balcony that is the viewpoint for this work, The Painter did admit to taking liberties in the composition and perspective of her rendering of this scene. It's none the worse for taking on her expression.
For the curious, and just for fun, this was shot in "Pro" mode, cropped and "deskewed" in the device and posted as I watch the cycling on the idiot box… The white balance was set to daylight despite being indoors because, well, all the glass means that provides the most true colour rendering of this scene.
Olympus E-M1 camera, Olympus 12-60mm lens, Olympus FL-50 flash. Flash shot off camera through umbrella on stand.
Location: Acton Arboretum, Acton Massachusetts
2015.09.19-17.19.05
John Storey was sentenced to 1 month at Newcastle City Gaol for stealing wood.
Age (on discharge): 32
Height: 5.8
Hair: Light
Eyes: Grey
Place of Birth: Newcastle
Status: Single
Occupation: Labourer
These photographs are of convicted criminals in Newcastle between 1871 - 1873.
Reference:TWAS: PR.NC/6/1/1279
(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.
To purchase a hi-res copy please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk quoting the title and reference number.
A naturalistic 'theory of everything' is it feasible?
Or is it just a revival of pagan naturalism in a new guise - an atheistic device to explain the universe in terms of the creative powers and godlike attributes of nature?
Contrary to what we are lead to believe by the popular media, science is not the enemy of Christianity.
Genuine science is completely compatible with the belief in the creator God of Christianity.
Most of the world's greatest scientists, who were the pioneers and founders of modern science recognised this.
It is only fairly recently with the rise of militant (evangelistic) atheism that science has been portrayed, through relentless propaganda, as being in conflict with Christianity.
So why were so many great scientists convinced that the principles of science were in perfect harmony with belief in the Christian God?
Consider this ....
A creator God (or supernatural first cause) has been made redundant and the final gap (pertaining to the so-called God of the gaps) has now been filled ... who says so?
Atheists, along with the secularist pundits in the popular media.
Why do they say that?
Because they believe that the greatest brain in atheism - Stephen Hawking, has finally discovered the secret of the origin of the universe and a naturalistic replacement for God.
The atheist replacement for God was summed up in a single sentence written by Hawking:
"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing"
That is it .... problem solved - apparently!
The secularists in the popular media loved it, as far as they were concerned the problem was solved. Hawking had finally dealt the fatal blow to all religion, especially Christianity. No need to question it, if a revered scientist of his calibre, is so sure of how the universe came into being, it must be correct.
The new atheists loved it, they wasted no time in proclaiming the ultimate triumph of 'science' over religious mythology and superstition.
So just how credible is the atheist claim that God has been made redundant?
And just how 'scientific' is Hawking's replacement for God?
Shall we analyse it?
"Because there is a law of gravity" ....
So,
1) If the law of gravity existed, how is that nothing?
AND -
2) Where did the law of gravity come from?
AND -
3) How can a law of gravity exist before that which gravity relates to ... i.e. matter?
"the universe can and will create itself from nothing"
4) How can something create itself, without pre-existing its own creation?
(A) could possibly create (B), but how could (A) create (A)? Of course it can't.
5) What about the 'nothing' that is not really nothing, as most people understand 'nothing', but a bizarre 'nothing' in which a law of gravity exists. A nothing which is actually a 'something' where a law of gravity is presumably some sort of eternally, existent entity?
AND -
6) Is Hawking implying that the self-creation of the universe is made possible by the pre-existence of the law of gravity?
Of course, natural laws are not creative agents, they simply describe basic properties and operation of material things. They can't create anything, or cause the creation of anything. Something which is a property of something, cannot create that which it is a property of.
So, even if we ignore the law of cause and effect which definitively rules out a natural, first cause of the universe, the atheist notion of the universe arising of its own volition from nothing is still impossible, and can be regarded as illogical and unscientific nonsense. Hawking's naturalistic replacement for God, presented in his single sentence, and so loved by the new, atheist cabal, is obviously just contradictory and confused nonsense.
The truth, which atheists don't want to hear, is that atheism is intellectually and scientifically indefensible. That is why they always duck out of explaining how the concept of an uncaused, inadequate, natural first cause is possible.
The best they ever come up with, is something like "we don't really know what laws existed at the start of the universe".
However, the atheist claim that - we don't really know... is completely spurious.
We certainly do know that the Law of Cause and Effect is universal, there is no way round it.
The only reason atheists don't want to accept it, is ideological.
And ... isn't it strange, that the only laws atheists dispute are precisely those that interfere with their beliefs. For example, atheists seem pretty sure that one law existed .... the law of gravity (even prior to that which gravity is a property of … matter).
Why are they so sure that the law of gravity existed?
Because their naturalistic substitute for God, summed up in the sentence by Stephen Hawking, apparently requires that the law of gravity existed before anything else …..
Here it is again ...
‘Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing’ Stephen Hawking.
So atheists DO KNOW for sure that the law of gravity existed, but they don’t really know what other laws existed at the start of the universe. They especially doubt that the Law of Cause and Effect existed.
AMAZING!
Well, how about this for a refutation of Hawking’s replacement for God, also summed up in a single sentence?
Because there is a Law of Cause and Effect, the universe can’t and won’t create itself from nothing!
Something cannot give what it doesn’t possess. Nothing possesses nothing.
The effect cannot be greater than its cause.
If the cause is nothing the effect is nothing.
That is something Stephen Hawking conveniently forgot.
Apparently, he accepts that the law of gravity existed, because he thinks it suits his argument, but he ignores the existence of other laws that positively destroy his argument.
So now you know the truth about the best substitute for God that atheists have ever come up with.
IMPRESSED? I think not!
Why is it ATHEISTS that try to dispute the universality of natural laws?
According to their claims, atheists are supposed to be the champions of science. Yet we find in practice that it is actually theists who end up defending natural laws and the scientific method against those atheists who try to refute any laws and scientific principles that interfere with their naturalistic beliefs.
Whatever happened to the alleged conflict between science and religion?
That is revealed as purely, atheist propaganda. There is obviously much more conflict between atheism and science.
In fact, it is true to say that the real enemy of science is atheism, not religion - and the real enemy of atheism is science, not religion.
Why is the law of cause and effect so important?
Because it tells us that all natural entities, events and processes are contingent.
They are all subject to preceding causes. It tells us that natural entities and events are not autonomous, they cannot operate independently of causes.
That is such an important principle, it is actually the basis of the scientific method. Science is about looking for adequate causes of ALL natural events. According to science, a natural event without a cause, is a scientific impossibility.
Once you suggest such a notion, you are abandoning science and you violate the basic principle of the scientific method.
What about the first cause of the universe and everything in the material realm?
How does that fit in?
Well, the first cause was obviously a unique thing, not only unique, but radically different to all NATURAL entities and occurrences. The first cause HAD to be an autonomous entity, it HAD to be eternally self-existent, self-reliant, NON-CONTINGENT ... i.e. it was completely independent of causes and the limitations that causes impose.
The first cause, by virtue of being the very first, could not have had any preceding cause, and obviously didn't require any cause for its existence. When we talk about the first cause, we mean the very first cause, i.e. FIRST means FIRST, not second or third.
The first cause also had to be capable of creating everything that followed it. It is responsible for every subsequent cause and effect that is, or has ever been. That means that nothing, nor the sum total of everything that followed the first cause, can ever be greater, in any respect, than the first cause.
So the idea that the first cause could be a natural entity or event is just ludicrous.
We know that the first cause is radically different to any natural entity, it is NOT contingent and that is why it is called a SUPERNATURAL entity, the Supernatural, First Cause (or Creator God). All natural events and entities ARE contingent without exception, so the first cause simply CANNOT be a natural thing.
That is the verdict of science, logic and reason. Atheists dispute the verdict of science and insist that the first cause was a 'natural' event which was somehow able to defy natural laws that govern all natural events.
Consequently, atheism can be regarded as anti-science. Which means .... the real enemy of atheism is science, not religion. And the real enemy of science is atheism, not religion.
An idea which seems to be popular with atheists at present, is a continuously, reciprocating universe, one which ends by running out of energy potential and then rewinds itself in an never ending cycle ..... this is an attempt to evade the fact that an uncaused, natural, first cause is impossible. They claim that, in this way a first cause, is not necessary. And that matter/energy is some sort of eternally existent entity.
So is it a valid solution?
Firstly .....
Matter/energy cannot be eternally existent in a cycle with no beginning).
Why?
Because all natural things are contingent, they have to comply with the law of cause and effect, so they cannot exist independently of causes. The nearest you could get to eternally existent matter/energy would be a very, long chain of causes and effects, but a long chain is not eternally existent, it has to have a beginning at some point. At the beginning there would still have to be a non-contingent first cause. So a long chain of causes and effects simply pushes the first cause further back in time, it can't eliminate it.
Secondly ....
It is pretty obvious that the idea of the universe simply rewinding itself in a never ending cycle, which had no beginning, is complete, unscientific nonsense. How such a proposal can be presented as serious science, beggars belief.
It seems atheists will try anything to justify their naturalist ideology. They apparently have no compunction about completely disregarding natural laws.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics rules out such atheist, pie-in-the-sky, origins mythology.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, the idea of a rewinding universe is tantamount to applying the discredited notion of perpetual motion - on a grand scale, to the universe.
Contingent things don't just rewind of their own accord.
The Second Law (not to mention common sense) rules it out.
Where does the renewed power or renewed energy potential come from?
If you wind up a clock, it doesn't rewind itself after it has stopped.
The universe had a beginning and it will have an end. That is what science tells us, it cannot rewind itself.
Such ridiculous, atheist musings are just a desperate attempt to wriggle out of the inevitable conclusion of logic and the Law of Cause and Effect, which are the real enemies of atheist ideology.
Once again atheism is hoisted on its own petard by natural law and science, not by religion.
A variation of the cyclical universe is the argument proposed by some atheists that the universe 'just is'?
Presumably they mean that the universe is some sort of eternally-existent entity with no beginning - and therefore not in need of a cause? Once again an eternally self-existent universe is not possible for the same reason outlined above.
In addition ....
The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us the universe certainly had a beginning and will have an end. The energy potential of the universe is decreasing from an original peak at the beginning of the universe. Even the most rabid atheists seem to accept that. Which is why most of them believe in a beginning event, such as a big bang explosion.
So the question is how did it (the universe) begin to exist, not whether it began to exist?
Which takes us back to the question of the nature of the very first cause.
It can only be one of two options,
an uncaused, natural first cause
OR
an uncaused, supernatural first cause.
An uncaused, NATURAL first cause is impossible.
Thus the only possible option is a supernatural first cause, i.e. God.
Atheists can’t refute the Law of Cause and Effect which is so devastating to their naturalist agenda, so they regularly invent bizarre scenarios which ignore natural laws, and hope people won’t notice. If anyone does they just brush it off with remarks like “we just don’t know ” what laws existed prior to the beginning of the universe.
Sorry, the atheist apologists may not know …. but all sensible people do know, we certainly know what is impossible ….
And we certainly know that you cannot blithely step outside the constraints of natural laws and scientific principles, as atheists do, and remain credible.
We know that natural laws describe the inherent properties of matter/energy. Which means wherever matter/energy exist, the inherent properties of matter/energy also exist - and so do the natural laws that describe those properties. if the universe began, as some propose, with a cosmic egg. or a previous universe, those things are still natural entities with natural properties, and as such would be subject to natural laws. So the idea that there were natural events leading up to the origin of the universe that were not subject to natural laws is ridiculous.
The atheist claim; that we just don't know, is not valid, and should be treated as the silliness it really is.
The existence of the law of cause and effect is essential to the scientific method, but fatal to the atheist ideology.
SO ....
Is the law of cause and effect really universal?
Causation is necessary for the existence of the universe, but ALSO for the existence of any natural entities or events that may have preceded the creation of the universe.
In other words, causation is necessary for all matter/energy and all natural entities and occurrences, whether within the universe or elsewhere.
ALL natural entities are contingent wherever they may be, whether in some sort of cosmic egg, a big bang, a previous universe or whatever.
Contingency is an inherent character of all natural entities, so it is impossible for any natural entity to be non-contingent.
Which means you simply CANNOT have a natural entity which is UNCAUSED, anywhere.
If, for example, matter/energy was not contingent at the start of the universe, or before the universe began, how and why would it be contingent now?
Why would nature have changed its basic character to an inferior one?
If matter/energy once had such awesome, autonomous power - if it was, at some time, self-sufficient, not reliant on causes for its operation and existence, and not restricted by the limitations causes impose, it would effectively mean it was once an infinite, necessary, self-existent entity, similar to God.
Now if matter once had the autonomous, non-contingent powers of a god, why would it change itself to a subordinate character and role, when it became part of the universe?
Why would it change to a role where it is limited by the strictures of natural laws. And where it cannot operate without a preceding, adequate cause?
To claim matter/energy was, at one time, not contingent, not subject to causes (which is what atheists have to claim) – is to actually imbue it with the autonomous power of a god.
That is why atheism is really just a revamped version of pagan naturalism.
By denying the basic, contingent character of matter/nature, atheism effectively deifies nature, and credits it with godlike powers, which science clearly tells us it doesn’t possess.
Thus, if anyone dismisses causality, they effectively deify matter/nature.
Which means they have chosen the first of the 2 following choices …
1. Atheism ... the unscientific, illogical belief in a natural, uncaused god (of matter or nature) which violates natural laws - which science recognises restrict its autonomy?
2. Theism ... the logical belief in an uncaused, supernatural God, which created matter and the laws that govern matter. And therefore does not violate any laws, is not contingent, and thus has completely unrestricted autonomy and infinite powers?
Which one would you choose?
Which one do scientists who respect natural laws and the scientific method choose?
The great, scientific luminaries and founders of modern science, such as Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur etc., in fact, nearly all of the really great scientists and founders of modern science, had no doubts or problem understanding that choice, and they readily chose the second (theism), as the only logical option.
So, by choosing the second - a supernatural first cause – rather than meaning you are anti-science or anti-reason or some sort of uneducated, superstitious, religious nut (as atheists frequently claim) actually puts you in the greatest of scientific company.
To put it another way, who would you rather trust in science, such scientific giants as: Newton, Pasteur, Faraday, Von Braun, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Mendel, Marconi, Kelvin, Babbage, Pascal, Herschel, Peacock etc. who believed in a supernatural first cause?
OR,
the likes of: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Lawrence Krauss, Stephen Hawking, Daniel Denton etc. who believe in an uncaused, natural first cause?
No contest!
We can see that atheists are anti-science, because they treat natural law and the whole principle of the scientific method with utter contempt, and all the while, they masquerade as the champions of science to the public.
The question of purpose ....
A further nail in the coffin of bogus, atheist science is the existence of order.
Atheists assume that the universe is purposeless, but they cannot explain the existence of order.
The development of order requires an organizational element.
To do useful work, or to counter the effects of entropy, energy needs to be directed or guided.
Raw energy alone actually tends to increase the effects of entropy, it doesn't increase order.
The organizational principle in living systems is provided by the informational element encoded in DNA.
Atheists have yet to explain how that first, genetic information arose of its own volition in the so-called Primordial Soup?
Natural laws pertinent to all natural entities, they guide the behaviour of energy and matter, but also serve to limit it, because natural laws are based only on the inherent properties of matter and energy.
So ... natural laws describe inherent properties of matter/energy, and natural processes operate only within the confines of natural laws which are based on their own properties. They can never exceed the parameters of those laws.
The much acclaimed, Dawkinsian principle that randomness can develop into order by means of a sieving process, such as shaken pebbles being sorted by falling through a hole of a particular size is erroneous, because it completely ignores the regulatory influence of natural laws on the outcome, which are not at all random.
If we can predict the outcome in advance, as we can with Dawkins' example, it cannot be called random. We CAN predict the outcome because we know that the pebbles will behave according to the regulatory influence of natural laws, such as the law of gravity. If there was no law of gravity, then Dawkins' pebbles, when shaken, would not fall through the hole, they would not be sorted, they would act completely unpredictably, possibly floating about in the air in all directions. In that case, the randomness would not result in any order. That is true randomness.
Dawkins' randomness, allegedly developing into order, is not random at all, the outcome is predictable and controlled by natural laws and the inherent properties of matter. He is starting with 2 organizational principles, natural laws and the inherent, ordered structure and properties of matter, and he calls that randomness!
Bogus science indeed!
This tells us that order is already there at the beginning of the universe, in the form of natural laws and the ordered composition and structure of matter .... it doesn't just develop from random events.
A major problem for atheists is to explain where natural laws came from?
In a purposeless universe there should be no regulatory principles at all.
Firstly, we would not expect anything to exist, we would expect eternal nothingness.
Secondly, even if we overlook that impossible hurdle, and assume by some amazing fluke and contrary to logic, something was able to create itself from nothing ….. we would expect the ‘something’ would have no ordered structure, and no laws based on that ordered structure. We would expect it to behave randomly and chaotically.
This is an absolutely fundamental question to which atheists have no answer. The basic properties of matter/energy, and the universe, scream …. ‘purpose’.
Atheists say the exact opposite.
Furthermore, if we consider the accepted, atheist belief; that matter is inherently predisposed to produce life and the genetic information for life, whenever environmental conditions are conducive (so-called abiogenesis), where does that predisposition for life come from? Once again, atheists are hoisted on their own petard, and the atheist idea of a random, purposeless, universe is left completely in tatters.
It is the atheist ideology that is anti-science, not necessarily individual scientists.
There may be sincere, atheist scientists who respect the scientific method and natural laws, but they are wedded to an ideology that - when push comes to shove, does not respect natural laws.
It is evident that whenever natural laws interfere with atheist naturalist beliefs, the beliefs take precedence over the rigorous, scientific method. It is then that natural laws are disregarded by atheists in favour of unscientific fantasies which are conducive to their ideology.
Of course, in much day-to-day practical science and technology, the question of violating laws doesn't even arise, and we cannot deny that in the course of such work, atheists will respect the scientific method of experiment and observation within the framework of the Law of Cause and Effect and other established laws of science.
Bizarrely, It is a different matter entirely, when it comes to hypotheses about origins. It then becomes an 'anything goes' situation. The main criteria then seems to be that it doesn’t matter whether your hypothesis violates natural laws (all sorts of excuses can be made as to why natural laws need not apply), all that matters is that it is entirely naturalistic, and can be made to sound plausible to the public.
However, the same atheist scientists would not entertain anything in general, day-to-day science, that is not completely in accordance with the scientific method, they make an exception ONLY with anything to do with origins, whether it be the origin of the universe, or the origin of life, or the origin of species.
Atheism is not simply passive non-belief, you can only be a ‘genuine’ atheist if you proactively believe in the following illogical and unscientific propositions:
1. A natural, first cause of the universe that was ‘uncaused’.
2. A natural, first cause of the universe that was patently not adequate for the effect, (a cause which was able to produce an effect far greater than itself and superior to its own abilities).
3. That the universe created ITSELF from nothing.
4. That natural laws simply arose of their own accord, without any reason, purpose or cause.
5. That energy potential at the start of everything material was able to wind itself up from absolute zero, of its own accord, without any reason, purpose or cause.
6. That the effect of entropy (Second Law of Thermodynamics) was somehow suspended or didn’t operate to permit the development of order in the universe.
7. That life spontaneously generated itself, of its own volition, from sterile matter, contrary to: the Law of Biogenesis, the laws of probability, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Information Theory and common sense.
8. That the complete human genome was created by means of a long chain of copying mistakes of the original, genetic information in the first living cell, (mutations of mutations of mutations, etc. etc.).
9. That the complex DNA code was produced by chemical processes.
10. That the very first, genetic information, encoded in the DNA of the first living cell, created itself by some unknown means.
11. That matter is somehow inherently predisposed to develop into living cells, whenever conditions are conducive to life. But such a predisposition for life just arose of its own accord, with no purpose and with no apparent cause.
12. That an ordered structure of atoms, guiding laws of physics, order in the cosmos, order in the living cell and complex information, are what we would expect to occur naturally in a purposeless universe.
The claim of atheists to be the champions of science and reason is clearly bogus.
They think they can get away with it by pretending to have no beliefs.
However, when seriously challenged to justify their dogmatic rejection of a Supernatural First Cause, they indirectly espouse the unscientific beliefs outlined above, in their futile attempts to refute the evidence for a supernatural first cause.
Of course, whenever possible, they avoid declaring those beliefs explicitly, but you don’t need to be very astute to realize that relying on those beliefs is the unavoidable conclusion of their arguments.
That is why atheism is intellectually bankrupt and is doomed to the dustbin of history. And that is why we are seeing such a rise in militant, evangelizing, atheist zealots, such as Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens.
Their crusading, bravado masks their desperation that the public is so hard to convince. What Dawkins et al need to face is that they are in no position to attack what they consider are the bizarre beliefs of others, when their own beliefs (which they fail to publicly acknowledge) are much more bizarre.
What about Christianity and pagan gods?
Atheists frequently try to dismiss and ridicule the idea of a Creator by comparing it to the numerous, pagan gods that people have worshipped throughout history.
Do they have a good point?
Certainly not, this is just a red herring ….
Other gods, cannot be the first cause or Creator.
Idols of wood or stone, or the Sun, Moon, planets, Mother Nature, Mother Earth etc. are all material, contingent things, they cannot be the first cause.
They are rejected as false gods by the Bible and by logic and natural laws.
They are considered gods by people who worship things which are 'created' rather than the Creator, which the Bible condemns.
In fact, they are much more similar to the atheist belief in the powers of a naturalistic entity to create the universe, than they are to the one, Creator God of Christianity.
For example, the pagan belief in the creative powers of Ra (the Sun god) is similar to the atheist belief that raw energy from the Sun acting on sterile chemicals was able to create life.
So atheist mythology credits the Sun (Ra) with the godlike power of creating life on Earth. And thus, atheism is just a revamped version of paganism.
Just like paganism, atheism rejects worship of a Supernatural, First Cause, and rather chooses to worship created, natural entities, imbuing them with the same godlike powers, that theists attribute to the Creator.
There is nothing new under the Sun ... We can see that atheism is just the age old deception of ancient paganism, revisited.
The Creator is a Supernatural, First Cause, which is not a contingent entity, nothing like the pagan gods, but rather a self-existent, necessary entity. As the very first cause of everything in the universe, it cannot be contingent (it cannot rely on anything outside itself for its existence, i.e. it is self-existent) and therefore it cannot be a material entity.
The first cause is necessary because, not being contingent, it necessarily exists.
If anything exists that is not contingent, it has to have within itself everything necessary for its own existence. If it is also responsible for the existence of anything outside itself (which as the first cause of the universe, we know it is) it is also necessary for the existence of those things, and has to be entirely adequate for the purpose of bringing them into being and maintaining their continued existence. It is not subject to natural laws, which only apply to natural events and effects, because, as the first cause, it is the initiator and creator of everything material, including the laws which govern material events, and of time itself.
The atheist view of a natural first cause is not even rational, to propose that all the qualities I have mentioned above could apply to a material entity is clearly ridiculous. But apparently, atheism has no regard for natural laws or logic. Atheists get round it by simply dressing up their irrational beliefs to make them appear ‘scientific’.
This combined with rants and erroneous and derisory slogans about religious myths and superstition makes it all seem perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, those with little knowledge, or who can’t be bothered to think for themselves are taken in by it.
Atheists repeatedly claim that they have refuted the law of cause and effect by asking : So what caused God then?
How true is that?
The ... what caused God? argument is a rather silly argument which atheists regularly trot out. All it demonstrates is that they don't understand basic logic.
The question to always ask them is; what part of FIRST don't you understand?
If something is the very FIRST, it means there is nothing that precedes it. First means first, not second or third.
That means that the first cause cannot be a contingent entity, because a contingent entity depends on something preceding it for its existence. In which case, if something precedes it, it couldn't be FIRST.
All natural entities, events and effects are contingent ... that is why the Law of Cause and Effect states that ... every NATURAL effect requires an adequate cause.
That means that the first cause cannot be a natural entity. An UNCAUSED, NATURAL event or entity is ruled out as not possible by the Law of Cause and Effect.
Therefore the very FIRST CAUSE of the universe, which we know cannot be caused, by virtue of it being FIRST (not second or third) CANNOT be a natural entity or event.
Thus we deduce that the first cause ... cannot be contingent, cannot be a natural entity, and cannot be subject to the Law of Cause and Effect.
So the first cause has to be non-material, i.e. supernatural.
The first cause also has to have the creative potential to create every other cause and effect that follows it.
In other words, the first cause cannot be inferior in any respect to the properties, powers or qualities of anything that exists...
The effect cannot be greater than the cause....
So we can thus deduce that the first cause is: UNCAUSED, SUPERNATURAL, self-existent, and capable of creating everything we see in the existing universe.
If there is life in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create life,
If there is intelligence in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create intelligence.
If there is information in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create information.
If there is consciousness in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create consciousness. And so on and on. If it exists, the first cause is responsible for it, and must have the ability to create it.
That is the Creator God … and His existence is supported by impeccable logic and adherence to the demands of natural law.
Essential characteristics of the first cause.
Consider this short chain of causes and effects:
A causes B, - B causes C, - C causes D, - D causes E.
'A, B, C & D' are all causes and may all look similar, but they are not, there is an enormous and crucial difference between them.
Causes B, C & D are fundamentally different from cause A.
Why?
Because A is the very first cause and thus had no previous cause. It exists without a cause. It doesn’t rely on anything else for its existence, it is completely independent of causes - while B, C & D would not exist without A. They are entirely dependent on A.
Causes; B, C & D are also effects, whereas A is not an effect, only a cause.
So we can say that the first cause ‘A’ is both self-existent and necessary. It is necessary because the rest of the chain of causes and effects could not exist without it. We also have to say that the subsequent causes and effects B, C, D and E are all contingent. That is; they are not self-existent they all depend entirely on other causes to exist.
We can also say that A is eternally self-existent, i.e. it has always existed, it had no beginning. Why? Because if A came into being at some point, there must have been something other than itself that brought it into being … which would mean A was not the first cause (A could not create A) … the something that brought A into being would be the first cause. In which case, A would be contingent and no different from B, C, D & E.
We can also say that A is adequate to produce all the properties of B, C, D & E.
Why?
Well in the case of E we can see that it relies entirely on D for its existence, E can in no way be superior to D because D had to contain within it everything necessary to produce E. The same applies to D it cannot be superior to C, but furthermore neither E or D can be superior to C, because both rely on C for their existence, and C had to contain everything necessary to produce D & E.
Likewise with B, which is responsible for the existence of C, D & E.
As they all depend on A for their existence and all their properties, abilities and potentials, none can be superior to A whether singly or combined. A had to contain everything necessary to produce B, C, D & E including all their properties, abilities and potentials.
Thus we deduce that; nothing in the universe can be superior in any way to the very first cause of the universe, because the whole universe, and all material things that exist, depend entirely on the abilities and properties of the first cause to produce them.
So to sum up … a first cause must be uncaused, must have always existed and cannot be in any way inferior to all subsequent causes and effects. In other words, the first cause of the universe must be eternally, self-existent and omnipotent (greater than everything that exists). No natural entity can have those attributes, that is why a Supernatural, Creator God MUST exist
Atheists often say: you can’t fill gaps in knowledge with a supernatural first cause.
But we are not talking about filling gaps, we are talking about a fundamental issue ... the origin of everything in the material realm.
The first cause is not a gap, it is the beginning - and many of the greatest scientists in the history of science had no problem whatsoever with the logic that - a natural, first cause was impossible, and the only possible option was a supernatural creator.
Why do atheists have such a problem with it?
Atheists also seem to think that to explain the origin of the universe without a God, simply involves explaining what triggered it, as though its formation from that point on, just happens automatically.
This has been compared by some as similar to lighting the blue touch paper of a firework. They think that if they can propose such a naturalistic trigger, then God is made redundant.
That may sound plausible to some members of the public, who take such pronouncements at face value, and are somewhat in awe of anything that is claimed to be 'scientific'.
But it is obvious to anyone who thinks seriously about it, that a mere trigger is not necessarily an adequate cause.
A trigger presupposes that there is some sort of a mechanism/blueprint/plan already existing which is ready to spring into action if it is provided with an appropriate trigger. So a trigger is not a sole cause, or a first cause, it is merely one contributing cause.
Natural things do only what they are programmed to do, i.e. they obey natural laws and the demands of their own pre-ordered composition and structure. Lighting blue touch paper would do absolutely nothing, unless there is a carefully designed and manufactured firework already attached to it.
What about the idea proposed by some atheists that space must have always existed, and therefore the first cause was not the only eternally, uncaused self-existent power?
This implies that the first cause was limited by a self-existent rival (space,) which was also uncaused, and therefore the first cause could not be infinite and could not even be a proper first cause, because there was something it didn’t cause i.e. ‘space’.
There seems to be some confusion here about what ‘space’ actually is.
Space is part of the created universe, it is what lies between and around material objects in the cosmos, if there were no material objects in the cosmos, there would be no space. The confusion lies in the failure to distinguish between empty space and nothing. Nothing is the absence of everything, whereas space is a medium in which cosmic bodies exist. ‘Empty’ space is just the space between objects. So space is not an uncaused, eternally self-existent entity, it is dependent on material objects existing within it, for its own existence.
What about nothing? Is that an uncaused eternally self-existent thing? Firstly, it is not a thing, it is the absence of all things. So has nothing always existed? Well, yes it essentially would have always existed, but only if the first cause didn’t exist. If there is a first cause is that is eternally self-existent, then there is no such thing as absolute nothing, because nothing is the absence of everything. If a first cause exists (which it had to), then any proposed eternal ‘nothing’ has always contained something, and therefore can never have been ‘nothing’.
What about the idea that the first cause created everything material from nothing? Obviously, the ‘nothing’ that is meant here is … nothing material, i.e. the absence of any material entities.
The uncaused, first cause cannot be material, because all material things are contingent, so the first cause brought material things into being, when nothing material had previously existed. That is what is meant by creation from nothing.
So what existed outside of the eternally existent first cause? Obviously no other thing existed outside of the first cause, the first cause was the only thing that existed. So did the first cause exist in a sea of eternally existent nothingness?
No! the first cause was not nothing, it was ‘something’. So to ask what surrounded the something that is the first cause is not a valid question, because if something exists that is not ‘nothing’. This means that such a notion of ‘nothing’ didn’t exist, only something – i.e. the eternally existent first cause. If you have a box with something in it, you wouldn’t say there is both something and nothing in the box. You would say there is something in the box, regardless of whether there was some empty space around the thing in the box.
Atheists invent all sorts of bizarre myths to explain the origin of the universe and matter/energy.
Such as the utterly, ludicrous notion of the universe creating itself from nothing. Obviously for something to create itself, it would need to pre-exist its own creation, in order to do the creating!
They are clutching at straws and anyone with any common sense understands that.
So to sum up .....
The atheist ideology is illogical, unscientific nonsense. Even worse, it has no compunction in treating natural laws and the basic principle of the scientific method with utter distain and contempt whenever they interfere with atheist beliefs.
Science, not religion, is the real enemy of atheism, and atheism, not religion, is the real enemy of science.
The garden path of lies
Death sentence, December 23, 1941 Poventsa.
••••••••
Kuolemantuomio, 23.12.1941, Poventsa.
••••••••
[ sa-kuva | A.Viitasalo | 68127 ]
“Hello, citizens of the world we all came here today to celebrate the death of the foe Envy.” The crowd cheered me on.
“We love you!” Most of the crowd yelled to me, cheering for me. They thought that I was the hero, but the real hero was Tyler.
“But, we all lost somebody we loved in the time Envy was walking, we all did, yet we will continue on with living our precious lives. A friend once told me that our life is like a book; we decide what happens and which path we would take. So, all of our stories will continue if we want them to.” I closed my eyes, and went off the stage I was on; I couldn’t take the pain. Tyler was my friend, but I let him die. Now I knew why Rikku was so upset about us leaving Andrea; we could have saved her, but we didn’t.
“Yuni, come here!” It was Rikku waving her hand. Her other hand held the hand of Suki, her secret daughter.
“What do you want, Rikku?” I asked. I hadn’t talked to Rikku or the others for two days, since Tyler’s death.
“You have to look at what I found when I was sphere hunting. Suki and I already watched it and, well, we thought you should look at it.” She handed me a red sphere that was in her pocket of her jean short shorts. The glass was slowly burning my skin until I squeezed it.
“Oh my god...is that?”
“Yes, it is Tyler or at least somebody that looks like him.” This was just making me feel more guilty about what happened to Tyler. He was inside of a cage, going insane.
“I can’t watch this. Show Luku about it she might know where it came from.” The pain was becoming unbearable, the pain of a broken heart.
“Yeah, Rikku. Let’s get, Luka.” Suki pulled Rikku’s hand. “Yuni, you are coming with us.”
“I rather stay home.” But, Suki grabbed my hand and pulled Rikku and I with her. Gosh, this girl is strong, I thought.
“Plus, we should visit Basil again. It is would be good to see our old home.” Suki and Rikku moved out of Rikku’s mom house right after we defeated Envy. They moved into a house in FayetteVille, a place a couple hours away from Basil. “I miss it.”
“Suki, I told you mom doesn’t want me there because she does not like the fact that I am part of the Ali Vran. She says it is cursed.” The little girl was still pulling both of us. I knew that she wanted to be exactly like her ‘sister’ but I thought she was pushing herself too far.
“So, we could still visit.” Suki did not know the real reason why Rikku moved out of the house, it was her dad not her mom.
At Luka’s house:
RING RING! We rang Luka’s doorbell, nobody answered. So, we rang it again. Luka opened the door with her youngest child, Von, in her arms. Violet was playing with Moxie Girlz in their front room. “Oh my god, guys! Wilden, Yuni, Rikku, and Suki are here!” Wilden went down the stairs. They were both wearing bathrobes.
“Hey, Luka.” We had to break her the news about Tyler’s disappearance.
“Where’s Tyler and Kirami?” Luka seemed shocked to see us without them by our side.
“Kirami went back to his family and Tyler...” I broke down in tears before I could finish my sentence.
“Disappeared?”
“How do you know that?” Then I realized Luka could read minds, but I couldn’t take back what I said.
“Well, I can read minds. I knew all this time, yet Tyler begged me to keep it a secret because he knew you would stop the journey and not kill his father. And, I knew ever since the incident with Si.” That angered me that Luka knew all this time about Tyler’s secret. “You have to understand why.”
“Tyler could be still here, and Andrea also. Two lives could have been saved if you told us. Andrea wouldn’t be a dark priest and Tyler would be here next to me.” I made Rikku, Suki, and Wilden too scared to talk with my anger.
“You loved him, didn’t you?” Luka wasn’t frightened by me, so she glared at me.
“Correction: I LOVE him. No loved, love!” My finger went into Luka’s face.
“Um, Luka, we came here to show you this sphere.” Rikku gave Luka her sphere, and then comforted Suki. She hugged her; she loved her.
“Let’s see.” Luka saw what the sphere showed. She looked scared for once in her life.
“Oh crap. This can’t be tracked; it somewhere out of this world.” Rikku stopped hugging Suki and ran up to Luka.
“What do you mean?” Suki questioned while she walked over to Luka.
“That means you have to look somewhere else but Earth.” Luka gave Rikku the sphere. Wilden hadn’t moved since he went down the stairs. Sometimes, I felt like Wilden was the brother of Kirami, but he wasn’t. They were the same, yet completely different.
“Then we have to search, be sphere hunters. It seems like we could only find him that way.” Rikku put the sphere back in the pocket. After that, she fixed her pink dotted tank top. Her boots were as black as night even when the sun hit them. Suki wore the same black dress and boots. So, I fixed my white dress.
“Okay.” I accepted Rikku’s invitation to join her.
“But, first I have to show you the team I have for cases like this.” She got a panel from her purse, and pressed a button on it. A couple seconds later an aircraft land in Luka’s huge front yard. Violet stared at it in wonder through a window.
“Oh my god.” The ship was a shiny red rooter. It was one of the biggest things I ever seen in my life; Luka’s front year being number one biggest thing ever.
“You have to meet the team! Suki, stay here for a moment.” Rikku pulled my hand, and I figured out why Suki was so good at it. I was getting tired of people pulling on my hands.
“How many of you are there?”
“You see when we get inside.” Rikku ran, so I had to because she wouldn’t let go of my hand. My hand was starting to turn red she was holding on it so hard.
“Here goes nothing.”
“Don’t be that way.” I felt like saying then let go of my hand to Rikku, but I couldn’t say it. She was one of the little friends I had left alive.
Inside the ship:
When we stepped on the floor it made an echoing sound that rung my ears. “Oh, sorry for that. You will get used to the sound eventually.” Rikku hadn’t let go of my hand yet. I couldn’t feel the blood go to my hand.
“Rikku, my hand is falling asleep,” I complained. She turned back to me, and rolled her eyes.
“You have to meet them. Let’s see there is Kimber, Fatima, my brother, Buddy, Stewart, Lee, Thunder, and Hail. We will be like the most awesome team ever when you join us.” So, there was eight people I had to meet, I noted. I usually didn’t note myself, but when Tyler disappeared from my life I kept keeping note of things.
“Where are them?”
“They should all be at the control room, Yuni. If not their rooms or the mature playroom.” Rikku seemed happy that I was about to meet her friends that she worked with.
“Alright.” When I finished saying alright we reached a see through door that showed a room with eight people in it. I knew only Andru, Rikku’s brother, from all of them. The doors made a beeping sound when they opened.
“Who’s this, Rikku?” A girl with a half-shaved head of brown hair with gray highlights. “I hate it when you bring in all of these random people.”
“Kimber, give her a break.” Another girl came up. Her face was two ways, two different faces on one. One had brown curly hair, green eyes, and black skin the other had straight black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.
“Shut up, Fatima.” The woman with the half-shaved hair glared at two-face.
“Fatima is right, Kimber, stop being this way.” Rikku’s brother shouted his words from the other side of the room.
“Can we just have one day without a fight?” A man that had red hair and dark skin was right next to Andru complained about how they always fight. That made me have second thoughts about this plan to join Rikku.
“I wish, Buddy, but there is always two certain people who won’t give each other a break,” Andru, Rikku's brother, answered.
“Well, I think Kimber is right about you guys need to shut up.” Then I saw another girl with pale pink hair, pale skin, and gray eyes.
“Thunder, urgh, you always do this.” The girl next to the girl with the pink hair slapped her head. “Urgh.”
“Hail, stop complaining, and everybody in this room should just stay quiet for one millisecond!” Then a man with brown hair got out of a chair and went up to Rikku and I. “Who are you anyways?” He popped my personal bubble.
“Layoff, Stewart.” The last man had blue eyes, black hair, and tannish skin. “Make our new member feel welcomed.”
“Who says she is our new member? We don’t even know her name yet and you are acting like she is your sister, Lee! This girl could be from MARKA for all we know.” I hated the man that was in my bubble for saying that. He doesn’t know I hate MARKA because of what they did to Andrea and many other poor souls.
“My name is Yuni thank you very much. Also, my crew and I just destroyed MARKA’s toy, Envy.” The man that was in my face went away from me in utter shock. He just called a hero a traitor; I wasn’t a traitor in anyway. So, he walked away from me.
“Well, I guess you now know how it is like everyday. But, these people are still loveable once you get to know them.” The woman with the grayish-brown hair flicked Rikku off, yet Rikku didn’t seem to mind.
“So, its you the lucky b*tch who killed Envy. Ha ha, nice to meet you my name is Kimber.” It was the girl with the shaved head that was talking.
“Nice to meet you too.” I wanted to make a good impression on these people because I knew that I was going to be with them for a very long time.
“And, that girl over there with the two faces is Fatima.”
“So sorry, but I have to go.” Fatima ran out of the room to who knew where.
“Don’t worry she is always like that with new people. It used to be only me, my brother, Kimber, and Fatima until I meet new people.” There was a frown on Kimber’s face when I looked behind me. “The two girls with pink hair over there that look like clones are Hail and Thunder. They might look alike, but they do not act alike at all.”
“It was the same way with my old friends in first grade. I miss the days that I was a naive child that thought the only evil in this world would be destroyed like they were in Disney movies.” But, those days are long gone, I told myself.
“The man with my brother is Daniel but call him Buddy. And, the one fighting with you was Stewart and the last person is Lee. That is are little group.”
“Count me in.” I was glad to be part of their group because I knew they would bring me to Tyler.
“Okay, so here is the plan, Yuni.”
Two years later:
“Where this, Yuni, Kimber and I will figure out who is doing this.” Rikku gave me a bunny costume. “We will track down the impersonator. And, remember call Andru and the others if you are in trouble.” First, Rikku forced me to become a pop singer for their plan and now she was making me where this stupid bunny thing.
“Alright.” It had been two years, but we hadn’t found any more clues about Tyler’s whereabouts.
“Cheer up, Rikku and I got this in the bag.” Kimber was the same girl she was two years ago. Her hair was a tad bit longer, but Kimber still wore torn jeans everyday along with a goth shirt and tons of makeup.
“We will be done in no time.” Rikku was the same too. The same blonde hair tied together in a thousand ponytails and the same type of clothing, tank tops and short shorts. She was lucky it never got cold in South America anymore.
“What will I do if you guys are in trouble?” I should have known the answer to that question.
“Kick a*s like you always do.” Sometimes, I didn’t like Kimber’s attitude. She was too much of a rebel in my opinion. When the went away to bust the bad guy I put the bunny costume on. It was the most uncomfortable thing I wore in my entire life; I was sweating heavily also to make it even more unbearable.
“Gosh, I hate it when they have to do stuff without me.” But, I remembered most of the others had to sit in the ship during the missions. Some were too scared, some were ship specialist, and the others were excluded.
“I know,” Andru said. Dang it I forgot to turn out the radio...again. I did it all the time, and Andru or Buddy held me talking to myself.
“Do you know what Hail, Thunder, Buddy, Fatima, Lee, Suki and Stewart are doing?” I yawned.
“The others are upgrading the aircraft right now.” Most people on our team were masters of fixing things and fighting and I was the only one who knew magic. Suki was accepted into the group one year after me to my surprise, but Rikku did want Suki to always be with her.
“Do you know what your father is doing?” I hated saying those words because I knew what he did to Rikku years ago. Nothing was going to change my mind about him; anybody who raped their own daughter deserved to go to hell.
“No, I don’t know he hasn’t talked to me in weeks on end. He is probably busy with other Vran stuff.” The Vran didn’t know that Rikku and Andru were working with many other people that were not part of them. But, if they did figure out Rikku was hiding other people on the aircraft they would suspend her and the rest of her family from their team.
“That’s a bummer.” At this point I wanted to know where he was to rip him into pieces. His heart in my hands will be my award. Andru didn’t know what his father did, at least yet.
“I know. He’s my dad and I need him here.” But, I knew Rikku would become paranoid if her father came onto her ship.
“Yeah...he should be here,” I lied. I couldn’t tell Andru that his father was the worst man in the universe. That was something Rikku needed to do not me.
“Rikku says it is better off without him. She gets this idea that our father isn’t a good man.” So, Andru knew about Rikku’s hate for him, but not why that is. Knowing Andru, he probably thought it was because he didn’t talk to Rikku or Suki or him for a long time.
“She has her reasons.”
“It better be good ones.” Oh it is Andru, I thought, something absolutely horrible.
“Talk to you later.”
“Stay safe, okay, Yuni?”
“I will, Andru.” Yet, I knew that I was lying. All I was doing was getting in danger’s path to save Tyler.
“Good.” I disconnected my radio, and whistled. It was something I did everyday ever since Tyler went away. But, my hopes were always crushed when there was no answer.
“Thank god that is over.” Then I realized somebody was calling me on the radio, so I connected it back. I hoped it wasn’t Andru calling me about nothing important.
“Yuni, come to the front of the arena. We got ourselves in a mess here.” The voice on the radio was Rikku’s. “MARKA!”
“Crap, i’m coming.” I took off my bunny thing thinking that was all for nothing at all.
“Be quick I think this is serious.” Luckily for me, I was right next to the entrance, and saw them. It was one of the MARKA people who were crazy enough to join them. So, I jumped out of my hiding spot and stood my guard. I took out one of the guns I had and pointed it at the person.
“You are outnumbered here.” Kimber secretly had the panel she had in her hands and pressed one of the buttons on it. Then the ship, whose name was Red Feather, appeared behind us. Fatima, Andru Buddy, Hail, Thunder, and Suki jumped out of it, landing on their feet. Stewart and Lee were inside the aircraft making sure it didn’t crash.
“MARKA, you are going down.” Thunder took out her lightning nunchucks. She did was swinging them around making a display of lightning. Thunder didn’t care that her name wasn’t lightning she still loved the shocking beauty and pain of it.
“You’re so full of yourself, sis.” Hail showed her sith to battle the threat.
“What are we waiting for?” Suki still had the axe that she stole from her sister years back. It was her favorite weapon she had, and always will be.
“I don’t know,” Andru responded while taking out his sword, the classic weapon. Fatima took her weapon out last, a club covered with spikes.
“Let’s just get this over with. All of you guys love making a scene before everything we do.” Fatima was ready to fight with us. Rikku had her daggers, and Kimber had a sword in flames.
“Yeah, come at us you b*tch,” Kimber said. She pulled her tongue out to egg the agent on. And, that was why I thought she was being too rebellious.
“Ha, fouls.” When the agent snapped her finger I smelled smoke. That was when I turned around and saw Red Feather falling, bursting into flames with Stewart and Lee inside it.
“NO!” All of us ran towards the falling plane, but it had crashed somewhere we couldn’t see. Stewart and Lee were dead because everybody else was outside the aircraft fighting MARKA. The death count just kept on rising and rising of remarkable speeds; it made me have a bad feeling in my stomach.We turned around once again and saw that there were hundreds of MARKA agents behind us.
“We are going to die,” Fatima commented. But, somebody jumped out of nowhere and started to attack. Then even more people came out from hiding spots and fought the MARKA. There were about five people who were going against them, so we decided to help them.
“What a relief.” Hail slashed up one of the agents with her sith. “Take that you jerks!” We were all fighting with this mysterious crew that appeared out of nowhere. To my surprise, nobody from the arena had came out yet. Then we saw hundreds of MARKA bodies on the ground, dead like Stewart and Lee.
“Wow, that was fun.” I could tell Kimber was being sarcastic with that statement.
“Knock it off,” Fatima commanded. Her eyebrows were going up in anger; I wouldn’t blame her because mine were too.
“How can you joke in this situation, Kimber? Lee and Stewart are DEAD and you are making stupid jokes.” I was siding with Fatima in this fight.
“Guys, stop acting like this is some type of soap opera. Can have a day without drama, a single day!” Hail screamed. The girl was tired of all of the stuff that was happening with the group.
“I surely hope.” Rikku probably didn’t like the fact that I sided with Fatima. I usually stayed in the middle of the fights, but I couldn’t this time around.
“We sometimes need jokes to make us feel better! Kimber just heals differently than all of you.” Thunder was always on Kimber’s side; they thought alike so they sided with each other.
“Why can’t you guys just get along?” Andru was against us fighting all the time. “Stewart and Lee died and all you guys are doing is fighting! Gosh, drama these days.” It used to annoy me the fighting, but I got used to it.
“STOP FIGHTING IT IS JUST MAKING US WASTE PRECIOUS TIME!” Suki commanded. We looked at her, shocked.
“Nice group you got there.” One of the five people that popped out of nowhere came out, well, from nowhere. The person was wearing something a ninja from old movies wore, and was carrying a chainsaw.
“Shut up.” Kimber went into his face like Stewart did to me two years ago. “Why don’t you go run along with your other friends.”
“What other friends? The only people here when I got here were you and those MARKA agents...wait Rikku, Yuni! What’s up?” The figure took off his mask, it was Kirami.
“Kirami, what are you doing here?” I asked. I hadn’t seen my old friend since Tyler disappeared two years ago. Sometimes it was good to see a face you know, especially a friend’s.
“I was just walking by.”
“Well, me and my cuz are fine, thank you very much.” Rikku wrapped her arm around me.
“Trying to find Tyler?” he questioned. Okay, I thought, Kirami knew me like the back of his hand.
“Yes, and the MARKA headquarters. We might be able to free Andrea if we do find it.” Then I realized neither me or Rikku told the others about Andrea yet.
“Who’s this Andrea girl anyways?” Kimber asked. Now she was in my face except for Kirami’s.
“Um...she was a friend.” I wasn’t lying to Kimber, but I wasn’t telling the complete truth either.
“Go on,” Thunder said. It seemed like that Thunder was turning into Kimber as the days rolled by. “I said go on; I know that is not the complete truth, so go on.” She kept pressuring me by giving me the eye.
“And, she,um um-”
“Stop saying um already!” Kimber demanded.
“Andrea died.” Kirami had finished the sentence for me. “Now she is a Dark Priest.”
“Holy s*it.” Kimber’s mouth fell right open. “You know a former identity of a Dark Priest! Why didn’t you tell me or the others this before?” All I did by not telling the new team was upset them.
“This is probably the only time I will agree with Kimber. You did not tell the truth to us. For all we know you might have turned into an Alive Dark Priest,” Fatima screamed. She was making a mad expression on both of her faces.
“What do you mean Alive Dark Priest?” Rikku was in caution because she did get processed by a Dark Priest, and I got entwined with black muck.
“Whenever they process people or whenever they put their muck on you.” I gulped; that was what happened to all of the group.
“Oh my god, we were all Dark Priests...” Rikku then started to scream and pull on her hair. “We were all part of them! Me, you, you too Kirami, Andrea, Suki, and Tyler! Part of f*cking MARKA.”
“Why are we only learning about this now?” The others were glaring at us.
“Rikku, you’re my sister and you didn’t tell me this. What else are you hiding?” Andru turned away, and wouldn’t look at Rikku.
“You are the one in denial about daddy!” Rikku was trying to upset Andru because he offended her.
“What are you talking about?” Andru turned back around to face his sister.
“Of course you don’t have a clue, Andru, you always been daddy’s little boy.” Was Rikku going to him and the others, I wondered.
“I don’t get what’s happening!” The others in the group, except for Suki, were confused.
“Ha ha, you always thought daddy was the mother f*cking best man for the world when I think he can’t get any worst. You know why? Do you?” Rikku was scaring me with her talk.
“Rikku, what are you hinting at?” This was killing me; I had to tell them or Rikku would.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out. Ask daddy what I mean; I’m sure he would tell you.” Rikku wasn’t going to tell them, but the secret was killing me. Like I could keep my past a secret, yet I couldn’t keep Rikku’s much longer. Those images haunt me for all of my life.
“This tell me, Rikku. You can trust me.” Her brother was trying to act sympatric, but it didn’t work.
“No.” Rikku sounded like a kindergartener when she said that single word.
“Rikku, you can tell him,” Hail supported. But, as before, Rikku ignored their words and said no. Even when Kimber said she would tear her guts out Rikku said no.
“If you won’t say it, I will.”
“You can’t do that, cuz, it would ruin me.” Rikku was trying so hard to keep her secret safe that I was worried the other her would destroy us all, but the other her went away when she told Andrea.
“I would if you don’t say it. It kills me to know such great people do not know the truth.”
“They don’t need to know the truth, Yuni,” she responded quickly. Rikku knew one day or another she had to teach them, yet she was refusing to.
“Andru, when your sister, Riku, was missing your father was the one that adducted her and put her in his secret house, not his friend. And, well, for ten years he raped h-”
“No why, Kirami!” Andru was in shock, and probably thought that Kirami was lying. The thing that shocked me the most was the fact that Kirami was telling everybody, not me or Rikku, KIRAMI. It might sound mean but he was the quiet type.
“Back to my story. He raped her everyday; it must be tough losing your virginity when you’re only three, Rikku. Yep, sorry you have to hear this Suki, Rikku is Suki’s mother.” After finishing his grand speech, Suki’s eyes widened in terror.
“That’s just sick.” Hail literally threw up on the ground underneath her.
“He is lying, right? Like who would do that to their own daughter?” Fatima questioned. By the looks on everybody’s faces, I could tell that Rikku was the one in most pain.
“I think i’m gonna cry. Don’t cry, Thunder, but I just can’t help it. Can’t fight back the tears.” That was the first time I saw water come out of Thunder’s eyes.
“Heard worst.” I was about to faint with Kimber’s reaction. It just made me think she was a heartless monster.
“How could you say that?” This was the first time I went into Kimber’s face; she didn’t go into mine.
“Maybe you should pay more attention to everything.” Kimber was just asking for a fight.
“STOP IT! All I want to know is that the truth,” Andru interrupted.
“It is.” Rikku was standing there, sad. “Why do you think I hate daddy so much.”
“Can you stop saying daddy; you are a fully grown woman.”
“No, daddy will hurt me.” It was pathetic that Rikku was scared of her own dad’s name. All she wanted is for him to be out of her life, forever.
“He won’t.” Andru tried to comfort her once again, and once again it didn’t work very well.
“Oh, daddy would.” Rikku was being hard on her little brother. “You just don’t remember because you were only three.” Wait, Andru is only three years older than Suki, but he looked freaking older than Rikku. I knew that he was younger than Rikku; yet not this much younger than her.
“All you guys do is fight all the time! Maybe if you can just keep your cool you can actually find Tyler!” Suki screamed. “And, I want to know about Rikku being my mother.” I thought for a child that was only ten Suki was pretty mature and serious about everything that was happening. Even more mature than some of the adults there.
“We can talk about that later, sweetie,” Rikku answered. She was trying so hard to invold telling Suki the truth for some reason.
“Stop hiding stuff from me!” But, we all turned away from her to look at Rikku. Then I heard a screaming sound, and so did the others. When we turned around Suki was gone.
“Suki, where are you?” After I said that I saw Dark Priest Andrea with poor little Suki in her arms.
“He would be so pleased.” Those words that came out of Andrea’s mouth questioned me.
“We have to follow her!” Thunder commanded. “She will bring us to MARKA.”
“Oh h*ll no she processed me.” Rikku was scared of Dark Priest Andrea. “But, I will do anything for Suki even die a painful death in front of her.”
“TMI, Rikku. I didn’t need to hear that.” Hail was very sensitive to gore and death, and usually annoyed me her fears. Just because of Hail’s fear Thunder always stayed on the ship until now.
“This is bad, really, really bad. Come on, let’s go before we lose her!” Fatima ran after Andrea, so we did too.
After following Andrea for hours:
“What is that?” Rikku pointed at a building that looked like a huge factory. Then I realized that she was still wearing Kenzie’s pearl necklace around her neck.
“Is that MARKA headquarters?” Hail asked, “I’m going to freak out.” So, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
“Time for some sweet revenge.” Kimber got out her sword, and prepared to fight. She licked her sword; Kimber didn’t care about her bleeding tongue whatsoever.
“Guys, cheer up. We now know where MARKA is, so that’s good.” Thunder tried to make everybody excited, yet it didn’t work for me.
“Thunder, we are about to go into the belly of the shark,” I reminded her. But, Thunder did not care about the safety hazards or the fact that she could die and turn into a Dark Priest. Thunder didn’t have a care in the world expect for her sister.
“Stop fighting they will hear us!” Fatima warned us with a stern tone.
“Yeah, Fatima is right.” Andru then shut his mouth. We all got out our weapons, besides Kimber, and were sly. Kirami hadn’t said anything about the matter just like usual. Dark Priest Andrea went inside the doors of the headquarters and screamed a horrible cry.
“You know what to do if anything gets out of hand. Radio, call anyone of us,” Kimber whispered. Rikku then put on Andrea’s old mask like she always did when we sneaked around.
“Yep.” Thunder nodded her head in agreement. We all went our own ways to see were everything is. Somehow, I was the one stuck checking out the entrance. I thought I was doomed.
“Here goes nothing.” I casted an invisibility spell on myself so nobody could see me, it worked. The door was completely made out of steel and so was the rest of the place that was in the middle of nowhere. But, then when I reached the door I got shocked and the spell weared off.
“There is a unMARKA at the front door.”
“Crap!” I ran as fast as I could to escape any MARKA. Then I saw Andrea go to the left, so I did. She opened a cell door with a golden key and threw Suki in there. There was another girl in there, crying. When I reached the door I saw the other girl.
“Yuni, what are you doing here?” Black muck covered the floor, and the only way to escape it was to go on the beds.
“Saving you, everybody else is here too. I could call them with my radio.”
“No, you can’t Yuni! It is a trap; get away from here it is a trap for Rikku.” Why did they want Rikku, I wondered.
“Do you know why they want her?” I questioned.
“Daddy is the leader...he’s not my daddy anymore, now he is just Natan to me.” Suki was sobbing like crazy. “I don’t know what he wants to do with her. For heaven’s sake I do not even know what rape means! Get out of here!” The tears dropped into the blackness and made a spark.
“Save us, ignore what she says. I have been here for years and the rest of my family is part of them. Do me a favor and save us before it is too late.” The girl was about Suki’s age, and looked terrible. Her hair was uneven and an oily shade of brown, her eyes were bloodshot with tints of green, and her skin turned brown by the amount of dirt and dust on her.
“What is your name, anyways?” I asked her.
“My name is Vy, it means alive,” she answer me. Vy stayed in the beds, and so did Suki when she got on one.
“Don’t listen to her. Natan is probably going to kill Rikku or rape her, whatever that means, or turn her into a Dark Priest.” Suki was trying to warn me about Rikku’s fate, but I ignored her.
“Guys, I found Suki. Map me and then come here A.S.A.P!” This broke the bond behind me and Suki; she glared at me with such hate.Kirami came first being as silent as the still night. Then all the others came after him.
“Suki, we are going to get you out of there.” Rikku put her hands on the bars of the cell.
“DON’T! It’s a trap, I kept telling Yuni that, but she wouldn’t listen. Now you guys, urgh.” Suki didn’t bother to continue her sentence. “It is a trap for you Rikku.” Even though she knew Rikku was her mom she still called her Rikku like she was her sister.
“It is going to be fine,” Fatima reassured. But, Suki glared at every last one of us.
“You won’t listen to me on anything. You can find Tyler, and then save me. Or get the heck out of here before anyone finds you.”
“She’s crazy.” Vy was still on the top bunk, waiting for something to happen.
“You’re the one that has been here for years on end,” Suki responded.
“That doesn’t mean i’m crazy.” Vy lay down on her bed and stared at the boring gray wall above her. I noticed that Vy had been by herself looking at the wall for years, hoping for freedom. Hoping for a time she could spread her wings and fly to La La Land.
“Suki, we have to get you out of there!” Thunder shouted. Kimber gave her the eye.
“Be quiet or you are going to get us all killed. Now I agree with the plan of saving them. I will stay here to see nothing bad happens to them.” It seemed weird that Kimber gave up a chance to fight to defend some kids; Kimber wasn’t the type of person that played the Guardian Angel.
“Come on, Suki, it is going to be easy. We find the key, open the door, and run like little pussies out of MARKA,” Hail said. I was surprised that she wasn’t running right then.
“What are we waiting for?” Rikku questioned. “We have to save Suki.” I knew what would happen next would end up with more death no matter what we did.
“You can’t do this! Have much times do I have to warn you about this people; its a trap!” Suki sounded like Leia from Star Wars when she screamed ‘its a trap’!
“I saw Andrea with the key. Its golden, and looks like, well, a key.” So, everybody else nodded, taking in the information.
“We spit up like usual. Yuni you look near the entrance with Hail, Andru you look around the cell block area with Kirami, Thunder and Fatima you explore the place a little more, and I will go outside,” Rikku demanded. She usually took the position of leader in situations like this.
“This is gonna fail, guys. Just listen to me for once, FOR ONCE!” Yet, we didn’t listen to Suki at all. In our eyes, she was just slowing us down because of her complaining.
“Suki, everything will be alright. Nobody will die, and it will be a happy ending to all of this. We can save you and Tyler and our lives will be normal.” Rikku tried to convince Suki that we were right, but it didn’t work. None of them even noticed Vy in the cell.
“No it’s not going to be alright. Natan will kill all of you.”
“What do you mean daddy is going to kill us all? I know he’s evil and all but he won’t do that; he isn’t even here.” Rikku and the others did not know Rikku’s dad was part of MARKA.
“Yes, he is. He’s part of MARKA, Rikku. Why do you think Andrea adducted me, so you can come here and he wants Rikku.” Suki jumped off the bed and pushed Rikku off the bars. “If you won’t listen to me leave! See if I care!” She came back on the bed she was on and stayed there.
“Suki...oh god.” But, what happened next was something nobody but Luka would have predicted.
When I was looking with Hail in the entrance for hours:
Somebody was calling my radio, so I answered it. “Guys, we found the key...well at least we think we did.” It was Thunder’s voice on the radio. “Locate us and come here before MARKA finds us.” I was happy that Thunder and Fatima found the key because we could save Suki. They ended the call a couple seconds later.
“We should find them.” She pressed the button to locate Thunder and Fatima’s radio, and we saw that they were on the patio near the middle of the headquarters.
“Alright, Hail, I think everything is going to be fine.” Yet, I felt something in my gut that made me think that something could go wrong, but I ignored it like I ignored Suki.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go already.” Hail was becoming impatient with me.
“Go ahead, Hail. I will just be here for a couple more seconds.” I wanted to be alone for a little while.
“Don’t take long, okay?” So, Hail went away to see her sister and Fatima. When I was sure that Hail was far away, I checked to see if there were any MARKA agents. There were none that I could see which was strange.
“I’m going to find you, Tyler.” I then whistled, and there was no reply. I’ve been doing it for two years and all I got for an answer was silence. “Even if it is the last thing I do.” Then I ran so I could catch up with Hail.
Three men and a woman have been sentenced after being rumbled by our detectives in Tameside investigating a drugs line that profited around £80k from the criminal exploitation of teenage boys.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard today (18 November 2021) how Ryan Wall, 24, Claire Daniels, 36, Christopher Thornton, 20, and Leigh Sleddon, 38, were involved in an organised crime group that trafficked class A drugs as well as vulnerable young people from Tameside to Blackpool.
Wall, of Lakenheath Road, Liverpool and Thornton, of Barlow Road, Dukinfield, were sentenced to a total of 17 years after admitting arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation under the Modern Slavery Act - becoming GMP's first county lines offenders guilty of this offence.
Despite not being charged with the same offence, the court also accepted that Daniels - herself a mother - of Fitzroy Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, was aware and complicit in the movement of the teenagers in order for them to deal drugs and she was given a one year and two month suspended sentence.
Sleddon, of Claremont Court, Blackpool, admitted that the children had stayed at his address in return for him being supplied with drugs. He was given a two year suspended sentence.
The verdicts conclude an eighteen-month investigation into the transportation of drugs and children - aged between 13 and 16 - led by detectives in GMP Tameside's Complex Safeguarding Team.
Investigators began the operation - codenamed 'Fairview' - following the report of a boy missing from the Hyde area. After close work with Lancashire Police, it was identified that he had been moved to Blackpool and that he was being used by the gang to supply class 'A' drugs on the streets.
Enquiries confirmed that two other teenage boys who had been missing from the nearby Ashton area had been in contact with a number associated with Ryan Wall - who was jailed for nine years today.
Already a picture was starting to develop of a group conspiring to supply class A drugs - namely heroin and crack cocaine - and also transporting the young boys to Blackpool to deal these drugs on the streets, often leaving them to fend for themselves for days.
While it is not thought the two boys - and a third boy also found to be exploited - were ever injured, detectives believe by leaving the boys alone to be involved in illicit enterprises in towns miles away from home was exposing them to a real and significant danger.
Officers ensured the boys were immediately referred to relevant specialist agencies and safeguarded away from further harm, and have pursued with a victimless prosecution to ensure that the gang are still held to account for their crimes.
A strike day was executed at the start of October 2020 where eight people - aged 16 to 67 - were arrested, before Wall, Thornton and Daniels were charged and eventually admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug. The detectives were also able to prove to the court that Thornton, who was jailed for eight years today, was also controlling a 'drug line' local to the Tameside area supplying heroin, cocaine and cannabis. He had also entered guilty pleas for these matters.
Wall and Thornton pleaded guilty of four modern slavery offences between them while Sleddon pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
While similar charges have been secured in other complex safeguarding teams in Greater Manchester for offences relating to Child Sexual Exploitation, the unit in Tameside is the first to land a conviction under the Modern Slavery Act in relation to Child Criminal Exploitation 'county lines' gangs - with support from the Crown Prosecution Service.
Comprising of specially-trained detectives, safeguarding officers, and partners from Tameside Council; the Complex Safeguarding Team currently has nine ongoing investigations and a number of suspects have been arrested. Children who have been identified as needing to be safeguarded have in some cases been re-homed.
Detective Constable Matthew Elliot, from Operation Fairview, said: "Today, this group has been jailed for their roles in a county line gang - wrecking lives along the way through the dissemination of illegal drugs.
"But what we've been able to prove to the court during this investigation, is that Wall and Thornton - in particular - were not just trafficking drugs but also trafficking people.
"They were running their drugs line to Blackpool by deliberately targeting teenage boys, and exploiting them for their own illicit gains.
"These were boys who were identified by the group as vulnerable, and groomed into travelling between counties - left to fend for themselves and exposed to danger - to do the dirty work on the ground that these offenders didn’t wish to do themselves.
"The act of exploiting children and peddling them for such selfish and criminal ways is an abhorrent crime - but one that is complex and wide-ranging which makes today's outcome all the more of a success.
"And it isn’t just putting offenders behind bars that makes this operation a great result. The fact we have been able to work with partners and ensure victims have been safeguarded and away from harm is just as - if not more - significant.
"I would like to thank our partners at Tameside Council, Lancashire Police, and the Crown Prosecution Service, for the extensive support they have offered to this investigation and helping us ensure these historic convictions for GMP.
"This has been a tireless eighteen-month investigation by our Complex Safeguarding Team in Tameside, and hopefully the first good result of many.
"We have demonstrated how by working with local police forces, local authority, and other relevant supporting agencies, that we are able to target and dismantle those involved in this truly despicable criminal activity - while identifying and protecting victims in the process.
"If you feel you are being criminally exploited, or know someone who is, then please come forward to the police or Crimestoppers, knowing information will be treat with the strictest confidence."
Tameside Council Executive Member for Children and Families, Councillor Bill Fairfoull, said: “Superb partnership working has resulted in this first conviction of Modern Day Slavery in Greater Manchester. We have removed these drug dealers from our streets and stopped them from exploiting our children. Our Children’s Services staff have worked tirelessly with the police to secure this result and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work.
“All of the children involved are being supported by our Tameside Complex Safeguarding Team and Tameside Youth Justice Service. I’m also pleased that the learning from this successful operation with be shared across Greater Manchester Complex Safeguarding Teams as a model of best practice.”
Bodmin Gaol (alternatively Bodmin Jail) is an historic former prison situated in Bodmin, on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Built in 1779 and closed in 1927, the large range of buildings is now largely in ruins, although parts of the prison have been turned into a tourist attraction.
Much of the jail remains in ruins. Some parts have been refurbished and these now form a tourist attraction with exhibitions telling of the history of the prison and of offenders imprisoned there.
The exhibits showcase gory mannequins accompanied with plaques, describing the offence committed by particular persons and their sentence, in their respective cells. Because of the style of exhibit, it has been likened to such attractions as The London Dungeon.
William Badger was sentenced to 6 months at Newcastle Gaol for stealing a watch in 1872.
Age (on discharge): 20
Height: 5.0
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Bluish Grey
Place of Birth: Newcastle
Status: Single
Occupation:Shoemaker
These photographs are of convicted criminals in Newcastle between 1871 - 1873.
Reference:TWAS: PR.NC/6/1/1133
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