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By Pink Floyd
“You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world.”
― Woodrow Wilson
Bit of a slide with Summer's Coneflower or Echinacea.
Happy Slider Sunday - HSS
Texture by Lenabem-Anna
ODC 1 ~ Retro for 10.04.13
Day 277 ~ 365: the 2013 edition
What is the meaning of 'Shave and a haircut Two Bits'?
It was the cost of a shave and a haircut in a barber shop during the mid-1800s - Two bits. Two bits equals a quarter.
A bit of retro tech for you here from 1987. I found a boxed Interface card for the IBM PC, used with 'LEGO TC Logo', a technic control program using the Logo programming language, and LEGO's actual first foray into programming. Slap this baby in the expansion slot of your IBM PC (another variant was made for the Apple II) and load the software, and you could create primitive commands for your technic motors connected to a control deck.
"Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self,
to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms."
~ Kahlil Gibran
Next to the importance of knowing one's self is the goal of understanding others. The two are inexorably linked and provide balance and harmony in life and relationships.
Here's my 2 bits-worth for today:
1) I seek balance in my life and strive to know myself and others. This statement is pretty self-explanatory.
2) I am a gregarious introvert. This may need some explanation.
This fact I initially gleaned from the book, Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types, a psychology book (but written for the lay public) by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates which focuses on the classification and categorization of temperaments and personality types. From this book I further learned of Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers of the famous "Myers-Briggs Type Indicator" mother/daugter duo, and their landmark work in identifying the characteristics of personality.
I've taken the MBTI at least twice with trained administrators in workshop situations and I come out the same each time.
I have one foot in two temperament camps (E/I and N/S) that royally confuse the issues. According to results, I am an E/I N/S F P. The F and P are hardwired; the E/I and N/S are constantly in flux.
More later when I'm feeling more gregarious! ;o)
(Photo digitally manipulated from original on AllPosters.com)
There is a bit of background required to put this portrait in context. By mere chance, I discovered online that a fully-restored Boeing B-17G World War II heavy bomber was going to spend a week at the small airport in Kingston Ontario. Kingston is a beautiful, historic city three hours east of Toronto. It is also home to my son and his fiancée. While I wasn’t in a position to take a flight on Sentimental Journey, I was determined to see the plane, tour it on the ground, photograph it, and watch it take off and land.
When I saw it sitting on the tarmac of the Kingston Flying Club at the south edge of the airport, it was truly a thing of gleaming beauty. The plane is owned by the Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit which is dedicated to preserving historic aircraft. It has chapters throughout the U.S. Sentimental Journey’s home base is in Phoenix Arizona but it tours and is available to the public every summer.
The man you are looking at was one of the volunteers who was available to explain about the airplane and answer questions and he was a treasure trove of historical and aviation information. Sensing my eager interest, he kindly made himself available to talk about airplanes and World War II and when I expressed interest in him, he also shared a bit about himself. Meet Bruce.
Bruce is a member of the Commemorative Air Force chapter in Indiana and he told me every year he likes to donate a couple of his vacation weeks to the organization. This summer he flew up to Toronto from Indiana on a commercial flight and met Sentimental Journey in nearby Peterborough Ontario. He spent that week hosting visitors and accompanying them on demonstration rides on the plane. He then accompanied the plane from Peterborough to Kingston where he is doing his last week of volunteering before returning to his “real life” in Indiana.
What is Bruce’s “real life?” Interestingly, it has nothing to do with aviation. He is a PhD research chemist at Purdue University in Lafayette Indiana. His work has to do with analyzing the quantities of medications in bloodstream samples and much of his work has to do with the pharmaceutical industry. He directs the university’s Metabolomics Facility (yes, that was a new one for me too.)
Understandably, most of our conversation was about Sentimental Journey and historic aircraft and it was clear that Bruce is a very informed student of history and lover of airplanes. He had a very warm, pleasant manner, which combined with is knowledge of the plane, made him the perfect tour guide. He had a very pleasant accent which I think was a mix of North Carolina where he did his PhD and Indiana where he lives currently.
When I explained my Human Family photo project to him, Bruce was interested and was happy to participate. We had a few minutes while other visitors were inside the plane and I suggested posing him inside the bomb bay, the doors of which were open and provided sheltered light on this bright day. We both had to duck to get into the bay and I took a couple of portraits with sample bombs hanging on the racks above his head. When I invited him to share a message with the project he thought for a moment and said “We should not glorify war, but we should not forget the past either. This plane serves as a memorial to the young men, often just 20 and 21 years of age who risked and lost their lives in these machines while serving their country.” He went on to reflect about the fact that many of the pilots, navigators, radio operators, and bombardiers were just kids and many of them had never been more than 25 miles from their Midwestern farm lives when they entered the military, were taught to fly and fight, and found themselves over the heart of Germany in the dead of night at 30,000 feet, dropping bombs and fighting for their lives. It is a sobering thought indeed. Bruce concluded with the comment “I wonder how many 20 year-olds would be able to manage that today?”
Thank you Bruce, for a fascinating conversation, a wealth of information about B-17s, and for participating in The Human Family. This is my 522nd submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
I hope you had a great two weeks of volunteering and return to your university job with fond memories of Canada.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
hihihi. I got a haircut. College apps suck. Got five in. A million more to goooooo.
Im taking better pictures thursday :D can't wait.
The amazing "Indian" muffler man at the closed Two-Bit Town attraction.
Lake of the Ozarks Strip - Missouri.
Maybe a bit of an explanation about the title is needed. There were six of us in Croatia: the two of us, Mari's brother, his wife and their two kids (ages 11 & 14). On many a night we played music (everybody got to choose some songs) and critiqued and scored them. After I gave a particularly harsh critique of a sentimental ballad, Mikko (the 14-year old boy) exclaimed: "You Heartless Bastard". That rather stuck as an honorific for me for the rest of the trip and probably years to come. It is rather handy, actually, now they do not have to try to explain I am their aunties husband, they can just say I am their Heartless Bastard.
And the kitten was quite lovely and curious, and loved attention and petting.
Anna is now fully deboxed. Her skirts are stiff enough to permit her to free stand, although she a bit unstable this way. She is posed standing, supported by her included doll stand. All photos were taken with the built-in camera flash.
Anna is in her coronation gown, with a velvet black bodice and green skirt. The bodice is form fitting, with multicolored embroidery and jewels, with a dark green satin shoulder straps. Her outer skirt is made of panels of yellow green embroidered and jeweled satin alternating with plain dark green satin panels, the pattern repeating ten times. The lighter green panels are tacked together with plastic T-tabs, so we don't see the full extent of the skirt. When the sections are freed, the skirt can expand to a full semicircle. Under the skirt is a full length yellow green satin slip, with a wide lacy hem. Under that is a 3/4 length stiff tulle petticoat. Under that are yellow green satin knee-length bloomers. Finally under that are full length stockings or leggings. Anna is certainly dressed for cold weather. Her legs are wired to the doll stand at the ankles and knees. Her feet are posable, and she is wearing black flats, which is rather disappointing given the gorgeous and unique shoes that Elsa is wearing. She is wearing a necklace, with the pendant stuck to her chest.
Her face is very movie accurate. She has a round face, with huge blue green eyes, long gently curving rooted eyelashes, thin dark brown eyebrows. She has a small pointy nose, thin dark pink lips in a slight smirk, and large round ears. She has orange freckles all over her face, extending down to her neck, shoulders and chest, and even on her upper back. She has a very pale complexion, but her sister Elsa is much, much paler. Her body is the usual LE Princess body, with full articulation in her arms and legs, and an upper torso joint. Her rusty red hair is fashioned into a large bun in the back of her head, with a spiraling braid around a small bun in the middle, out of which comes several thin ponytails, including two very skinny braids, and also several satin ribbons. In front are long curly bangs, and a tight flat braid over it. There is a streak of white hair from her right side, and ending in one of the thin pony tails hanging off the small bun.
Anna is very beautiful and elegant, very much a Disney Princess.
First look at the Harrods special edition of the Disney Store's Limited Edition Anna and Elsa Doll Set. I purchased it through a reseller, as it was only sold at the Harrods London store. It was released on November 1, 2013, in an edition of 100. The retail cost is more than four times that of the separately sold LE Anna and Elsa dolls (which will be released worldwide on November 20, 2013, in an edition size of 2500). My set is #39 of 100, and I received it on November 11, 2013.
They are 17'' fully articulated dolls, with doll stands and certificated of authenticity. Anna is in her coronation gown, Elsa is in her Snow Queen gown. As might be expected, the dolls are considerably different in details than the ''regular'' limited edition dolls. In particular there is considerably more crystals on the outfits, and embroidered snowflakes completely cover the outer gown (cape) of Elsa. Also, Elsa's skin has a pearly shiny surface, very similar to the skin of LE Ursula, although it has a much paler purplish color. She has unique shoes, iridescent blue high heeled shoes with a snowflake design. She also bucks the trend of fully articulated legs in the Limited Edition dolls, by having fixed angled feet. She looks much more elegant with fixed feet in the high heels.
I took this while following deer all through the woods with my mother. (I didn't think this picture would turn out.)
film expired by 10 or 11 years. sooc.
Found this little claw next to the trail, not far from the Wisconsin. Leftover lunch I suppose. Plenty of otters, raccoons, mink and fishers that probably all love a tasty crayfish now and again.
Susie is being a bit more tolerant than I had feared
Poor Shay had a bad injury 2 weeks ago, ended up getting his back right leg amputated on July 9th, so he is now about 10 days post surgery. We are fostering him, looking after him as he recovers.
At first he was very down, very anxious and not eating. But this has all come on really well in past 2 days.
He has urinary incontinence for now but we are hoping this improves over coming days.
The 2 dogs have very similar markings on their faces
The Velvet Underground & Nico - I'll Be Your Mirror
The Postcard
A postcard that was published on behalf of the Reader's Digest Association Ltd. Note how the bits of the Little Mermaid that are easy to reach have been kept free of the green patina.
The postmark on the back of the card is not legible, but the 2½p stamp indicates a posting date between the 15th. February 1971 and the 9th. September 1973.
The card was posted to:
Mrs. H. Hepworth,
16, Woodmere,
Bracknell,
Berks.
The printed message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Congratulations!
Lucky numbers in the
Reader's Digest £12,500
Prize Draw will be sent
out next week to selected
people in your area - and
you are among the
lucky ones!
Prizes include £50 a month
for life ... a new Ford
Granada ... a Copenhagen
holiday for two ... and
hundreds of other exciting
prizes.
And there's no catch - you
don't have to buy anything
to win.
Watch out for the postman --
and Good Luck!
Anthony King."
The £1 and £5 Notes
Note the bundles of banknotes in the photograph.
In 1984 it was announced that the English £1 note would be completely phased out. It was gradually replaced by the £1 coin, and fully removed from circulation in 1988.
The Bank of England £5 note, known informally as a fiver, is now the smallest denomination of banknote issued by the Bank of England.
In September 2016, a new polymer note was introduced, featuring the image of Queen Elizabeth II on one side and a portrait of Winston Churchill on the other.
The old paper note, first issued in 2002 and bearing the image of prison reformer Elizabeth Fry on the reverse, was phased out, and ceased to be legal tender after the 5th. May 2017.
The Little Mermaid Statue
The Little Mermaid is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid becoming human. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is 1.25 metres (4.1 ft) tall, and weighs 175 kilograms (385 lb).
Based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the statue is a Copenhagen icon, and has been a major tourist attraction since its unveiling.
In recent decades it has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists.
-- History of The Little Mermaid
The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen's Royal Theatre.
He asked the ballerina, Ellen Price, to model for the statue.
The sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the bronze statue, which was unveiled on the 23rd. August 1913. The statue's head was modelled after Price, but as the ballerina did not agree to model in the nude, the sculptor's wife, Eline Eriksen, was used for the body.
The Copenhagen City Council arranged to move the statue to the Danish Pavilion for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. This was the first time it had been moved from its perch since it was installed almost a century earlier.
While the statue was away in Shanghai, an authorised copy was displayed on a rock in the lake in Copenhagen's nearby Tivoli Gardens. Copenhagen officials have considered moving the statue several meters out into the harbour to discourage vandalism and to prevent tourists from climbing onto it, but as of May 2014 the statue remains on dry land at the water side at Langelinie.
-- Vandalism of The Little Mermaid
The statue has been damaged and defaced many times since the mid-1960's for various reasons, but has been restored each time.
-- On the 24th. April 1964, the statue's head was sawn off and stolen by politically-oriented artists of the Situationist movement, amongst them Jørgen Nash.
The head was never recovered, and a new head was produced and placed on the statue.
-- On the 22nd. July 1984, her right arm was sawn off and returned two days later by two young men.
-- In 1990, an attempt to sever the statue's head left an 18 cm (7 in) deep cut in her neck.
-- On the 6th. January 1998, the statue was decapitated again. The culprits were never found, but the head was returned anonymously to a nearby television station, and re-attached on the 4th. February.
-- On the night of the 10th. September 2003, the statue was knocked off its base with explosives, and later found in the harbour's waters. Holes had been blasted in her wrist and knee.
-- Paint has been poured on the statue several times, including one episode in 1963, and two in March and May 2007.
-- On the 8th. March 2006, a dildo was attached to the statue's hand, green paint was dumped over it, and the date March 8th. was written on it. It is likely that this vandalism was connected to International Women's Day, which is on March 8th.
-- The statue was found drenched in red paint on the 30th. May 2017 with the message:
"Danmark [sic] defend the
whales of the Faroe Islands."
This is a reference to whaling in the Faroe Islands (an autonomous country in the Kingdom of Denmark), written on the ground in front of the statue.
-- Two weeks later, on the 14th. June 2017, the statue was drenched in blue and white paint. "Befri Abdulle" (Free Abdulle) was written in front of the statue, but it was unclear what this referred to at the time.
Later, police said the writing was likely referring to Abdulle Ahmed, a Somalian refugee who has been detained in a high security unit in Denmark since 2001 due to a custody sentence.
-- On the 13th. January 2020, "Free Hong Kong" was painted on the stone on which the statue is mounted by supporters of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
-- On the 3rd. June 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter movement, the statue was vandalised with the words "racist fish" scrawled on its stone base.
This attack left observers and specialists puzzled, because nothing related to the statue, H. C. Andersen or his fairy tale could be construed as racist.
-- Dressing of The Little Mermaid
Although not regarded as vandalism since no damage is done to the statue, people have also repeatedly dressed it, either for fun or to make more serious statements.
-- In 2004, the statue was draped in a burqa in a protest against Turkey's application to join the European Union.
-- In May 2007, it was again found draped in Muslim dress and a head scarf.
-- Other examples are times where a Christmas hat has been put on the head, or it has been dressed in the jerseys of the Norwegian or Swedish national football teams (the Danish team has a highly competitive rivalry with the Swedish team).
-- Copies of The Little Mermaid
Aside from the statue on display, which is a replica of the original, more than thirteen undamaged copies of the statue are located around the world, including California, Iowa, Romania, Madrid, Seoul, and a half-sized copy in Calgary, Alberta.
The grave of Danish-American entertainer Victor Borge includes a copy as well. Copenhagen Airport also has a replica of the mermaid, along with a statue of Andersen.
A statue of The Little Mermaid also looks out over Larvotto beach in Monaco. She was created, in 2000, with multiple layers of metal by Kristian Dahlgard, in homage to the Danes who live in Monaco and to the late Prince Rainier III.
A copy of the statue forms the Danish contribution to the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City. The half-size replica was stolen on the 26th. February 2010, but was recovered on the 7th. April 2010, abandoned in the park.
A replica of the statue was presented by Denmark to Brazil in 1960, in honour of the construction of Brasília, the country's new capital that was inaugurated in that year. It was installed 5 years later in front of the main building of the Brazilian Navy Command, in Brasília, Federal District, where it remains to this day.
Copyright Issues
The statue is under copyright until 2029, seventy years after the 1959 death of the creator. However as of 2019, replicas can be purchased, authorised for sale by the Eriksen family.
A replica was installed in Greenville, Michigan in 1994 to celebrate the town's Danish heritage, at a cost of $10,000.
However in 2009 the Artists Rights Society asked the town for a $3,800 licensing fee, claiming the work violated Eriksen's copyright. At about 76 cm (30 in) in height, the replica in Greenville is half the size of the original, and has a different face and larger breasts, as well as other distinguishing factors. The copyright claim was later dropped.
The 1972 statue of a female diver (entitled Girl in a Wetsuit by Elek Imredy) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was commissioned when, unable to obtain permission to reproduce the Copenhagen statue, Vancouver authorities selected a modern version.
In 2016, a similar statue was installed at the harbor in Asaa, Denmark, where it is also mounted on the top of a rock. The heirs of the sculptor are (2021) suing, claiming that the Asaa statue bears too close a resemblance to the famous one, and they are demanding damages and the destruction of the Asaa statue.
Censorship
Social Democrat politician Mette Gjerskov tried to post a photo of The Little Mermaid on her Facebook page, but was initially told that it had "Too much bare skin or sexual undertones", and the post was blocked. Facebook however later rescinded the ban, and approved the image for posting.