This is not my best dance photo from a purely technical point of view. There are two spectators' heads in the foreground, and the face of the man on the far side is slightly out of focus. Moreover, one of the participants is mostly hidden behind one of the others. I thought of cropping the image so as to keep the sihlouetted heads out of it, but I finally decided it was more important to leave them where they were, in the interest of being able to tell this story. My wife agreed with my conclusion, and for the reasons to be explained below, I hope this one gets a lot of attention on Flickr.

I do not know the name of the young woman you see here, but that does not prevent me from regarding her with great respect. She is confined to a wheelchair, but dances anyway, and even does so in public from time to time. This was, in fact, the second time I had seen her perform. Her affliction clearly has not limited her ability to find joy in life. I admire courage, which I regard as the supreme human virtue, and she obviously has it. And the men you see here, as well as the others who have performed with her and helped her to develop her unusual skills, deserve kudos for their part in her story as well.

While this image is not my best one technically, the story it relates says something good and noble about the human spirit, and it celebrates charity, generosity, and decency as well as courage. It is for that reason alone that I chose to honor all of the participants in this very memorable dance by posting their photograph here on Flickr.

Taken in Mesa, Arizona, at a USO-themed benefit for MS patients, sponsored by the Phoenix-area Fred Astaire dance studios.

More tea, you ask?

Well, yes. Mostly because this is the only tea set my mother had the decency to purchase despite my affection for them, which therefore means I will make time to visit a thrift shop and purchase some lovely ones.

At least the hibiscus was free, hurrah!

© 2010 Yu-Jie Yu. All rights reserved.

Malevolent Daisy

© 2013 Kristine Jabbour

Daisy falls from the sky unannounced

Uninvited

Specks of sherbert overlay

My field of vision

Objects lose their hard edges

Subway interior

Through a Monet filter

Petals flap gently

Then bounce and float

Its stem pierces the water’s surface

Vision turns monochrome

Then fades away, pixel by pixel

Fighting blindness

The flow of people

Pull me out of the train

Up the flight of stairs

Determined to reach work

I clutch the handrail

Splash

Roots have developed

Needle punctures the pupil of my left eye

Petals pirouette

Clouding my sight with grace and saccharine

Roots plunge deeper and release their poison

Capillaries bulge

Eye visibly pulsates

Nausea

Need to get home!

I creep back on the train

Need mint tea, menthol gel, wet washcloth

A bucket, just in case.

Above all, I need darkness

The daisy needs light to grow

So I intend to starve it.

I stumble home from the station

Squinting and wincing

Home at last!

Heaving sigh

Throw thick blankets over the windows

Slivers of light sneak in with each gust of wind

The plant quivers with sadistic joy

Wildly spraying its venom

Abandoning decency

Searing knife in my pupil

I recoil and cry aloud

Sensitivity to smells heightens

Compensating for impaired vision

A whiff of bacon or baked beans

Kicks me to the feet of the porcelain god

Who doesn’t smell good either

Vomit compounded

Until nothing is left

And then some

I languish on the bathroom tiles

My mind is crystalline amidst the searing pain

I am a captive audience to my thoughts.

I consider the meaning of life and pain

God, what am I doing with my life

Good things to consider in moderation

Often neglected in the rush of mundane tasks

But the smug inner prosecutor is over the top

Playing scenes of my supposed crimes

Before I collapse in resignation and exhaustion

After 2 or 3 days of darkness

Soft music and tea saturation

It usually relents

Pulls up as suddenly as it came

But sometimes it lingers, languid and limp

Until it slowly deliquesces

When it’s finally gone

I blink, sigh, offer copious thanks

And resolve to cherish life and love

It's early. Good vibe, when I was taking this. Everyone here seems to be asleep. Years ago, Mr Ellis (number 8) would probably have been doing his naturalist thing, walking round his garden, starkers. Him and his misses were all right, thinking back. Quiet people who kept themselves to themselves, mainly, like you probably have to do to not become part of this damaged and damaging community.

Mr and Mrs Wood (number 9) would've been asleep. Mrs Wood, whose son-in-law was on the verge of hysteria when I was ejected from town, similarly loved her gossip. She told me when I was a little kid that we need wars, occasionally, to limit the population. I even knew then that she was full of it. Her husband, Eddie - sleazy Eddie - another personable type on the surface. No wonder they were married. They had a lodger, Kojak. He stopped for a few nights once, and never left. Strange but funny one, him. For some reason, we always wound him up, I think because he really did look like an English version of Kojak.

Paddy (number 11), who told me when I was little that he wanted to put me in his stewpot after which I genuinely thought for years that he was a serial killer. He was a pisshead, who argued with his son, and died suddenly, one day in his house.

Apart from maybe Mr and Mrs Ellis, the one I remember with most interest, here, was great-grandmother Goode (number 9). Must have been in her 90s - very, very old, however old she was. Never spoke to her. She was incredibly frail, but would always struggle to get to the end of the path to prop herself up on her gate and seemingly endlessly watch us young kids playing in the street. I'd look at her, now and again, not really thinking much about why such a very old woman would make such a struggle to stand at her gate, watching very young children playing in the street for so very long. Now I know. I know everything she was thinking. Everything. What a great memory that is, now.

There were other people in the street, but that was about it, down our end. Up his own end, there was a bloke who'd always tell us to get down our own end, so we usually didn't.

My Mom and Dad bought our house for about £4000 in 70 or 71, and this was the house I grew up in. Amazing times: mostly good, occasionally bad. A great upbringing, tainted by a form of intense psychological abuse at times from my dad that I had to figure out and manage from a very early age. I'm proud of how my kid self did that. I never gave in to it because, after the first few times, I mastered the methods he used and just took the piss. Poor fella didn't stand a chance. My capability to take the utter piss out of that sort of behaviour, while not a great problem-solving strategy, was outstanding for someone so young. But the depths he could reach with the mind games would leave a legacy I had unpick even up until recently. I'm pretty sure it's done now, though, but maybe you can never tell.

Mom would try her stunts, too, hitting more emotional buttons. Sometimes I'd just shake my head, even as a really young kid and think: 'These people are supposed to be grown up. Sort it out.' But I'd still scream the house down and shake the radiator by the front window whenever she crept out of the house to go to work, partly because, I now realise, the woman's always had an issue with just levelling with me. Grown ups.

The only leveller was my half-sister, who loved my sense of humour and my rebellious streak. She'd go berserk, laughing her head off, when I did my very special freak out dance to the theme from Hawaii-Five-O. You had to be there. Always stuck by me, that one, when we were kids.

But that's decades ago. It's years later, now, another era and another world. It's Sunday, early on a morning in 2012. Those people in the street are all dead, now, my family's gone, too, never to return, and the street's very different, these days. I have absolutely no connection with any of these people in the street and I don't ever want one.

I've mentioned before the malicious gossip that changed everything back in 96, that just snowballed here to the point where, because I didn't go along with it or submit to it, even came to my front door from people in this street who now, one told me recently, have no recollection of how crazy they were in the lead up to me being detained under the Mental Health Act in 2000, misdiagnosed and medicated, when it was obvious what was really going on.

Even when the doctors and a social worker first came to my door, I could clearly see that they were hyped up and that the processes and psychological positioning instigated, perpetuated and fuelled by that gossip in 96, right up to that moment, were now being made official.

I shouldn't really say this, but back in about 97, when I was at this big deal cultural studies department at Birmingham University, it even reached there and I had to leave. I probably wasn't ready to do a Masters then, anyway, but that's not really the point. It would have been nice to have had the chance to fly at that age. I pretty much guessed the gossip was going to get there, though, the original people behind it - people with close links to the local medical community and local police - had that very deep and ugly capacity to go to those lengths.

I can't make direct links with any proof from Kidderminster's community, but the bullshit was there, make no mistake about that and one of the senior lecturers there, some dude who's quite big in the field had links with someone from guess where: Kidderminster Fucking College. Fair play to the senior lecturer at Birmingham, though, he was a decent bloke in the end and tried to build bridges, but the damage was done and I had no choice but to walk.

Because there's nothing much you can do about that, because the safeguards aren't realistically there, I'm not the type of character to go for official mechanisms and because gossips like that are excellent at cutting off the type of realistic communication that could resolve such things by exposing the gossip, I had no choice but to walk and just know my place, thank you very much, something I had to do more and more of between 1996 and 2000.

So, here we are in 2000. On my doorstep: the official representation of my 'friends' from 1996, finally at to my door. Kafka couldn't have dreamt this up. I didn't stand a chance, looking back with what I know now, but I did put up a fight in that hospital. Didn't I just. They got scared, at times. One doctor, terrified, said I was right about almost everything. Another doctor, who fluctuated from scared to freaky, said I was wrong about everything, but this same doctor was similarly terrified especially the once, offering to essentially cut me a deal that would give me some sort of medical treatment, some package of care or something. I launched, shouting him and the place down about what had really been taking place for four long, isolated years. He was a tall bloke, who withered to almost nothing in the face of that and almost crawled away into an office. I could write loads about what happened in that hospital, back then, but I don't need to. That's enough. Or it should be.

They eventually established their authority, and, in the years since, the pain of trying to make sense of what mistakes I might have made in relation to that, I know now that whatever I did that could have given them back that bogus authority didn't matter. The momentum of those four years was always going to mean that I would be forcibly medicated, detained and psychologically and socially reframed, essentially according to processes and ideas laid down by a couple of malicious gossips in 1996.

If you know where to look, it's in all the major write ups in the medical records and it's been in every significant conversation with health services. With a disastrous combination of damaging and very strong psychiatric medication, along with a fair amount of social influence, I pretty much lost who I was for about 12 years, only now and again approaching what always should have been, only to burn up on re-entry, a process they framed and medicated away as a 'relapse' (a 'relapse' to what, exactly?), a process that, in my experience, you just have to ride through to the other end, making the most of it, as constructively as you can.

It's only now that I'm getting even close to the pre-2000 levels of functioning I had. And it's only now that it all makes sense - clear sense - and 1996 is pretty much defeated in my mind, although it's influence in my social environment persists, which I have to be watchful about, even now. Another problem that detracts from the life I should have been living since 1996. Like I say, this area is not a healthy place for anyone.

A friend of mine, who's got The Knowledge, said 'I feel so sorry for you.' She knows me better than anyone else on this planet, but she was wrong, in a way, to think like that. The way she said it - just flat, brutally literal and entirely human - hit me temporarily. Then I realised that to feel like that was a reaction to a myth that, because I can see it, I don't need to react off it, however the social environment may play on things like that.

Anyway, I'm cool. Over the years, I've seen many people psychologically destroyed beyond repair by stuff like this. They're never, ever coming back, but they should be treated differently because, although their real message can be buried deep, and many of them have been consumed by many of the myths of mainstream culture, when you really can hear what they're saying at what I consider to be their best, these people are saying something very deep and profound, almost in unison: our culture has failed, and failed badly.

Psychiatry is definitely not the answer. It is a conservative and limiting mechanism, with its primary function to bring about conformity and, if it sees fit, impose control, that has all manner of quite sophisticated techniques to detract from that basic, core idea. It hides and suppresses information that's of benefit to everyone. This is another example pointing to something that I've learned from what I've read, experienced and thought about during my 12 wilderness years in the mental health system: Psychiatry is extremely broken both theoretically and practically from top to bottom and, because of its very core ideas, will never, ever work. That that's obscured and easily dismissed information that's so rarely heard accessibly and widely in public is a testimony to the methods and power psychiatry has, along with the dominance of its ideas in mainstream culture. Nearly everyone's taken in by it and, from everything I see, hear, read and watch, that's relevant to this, their ideas run very deep in almost everyone's mind in the wider society, even most of the people I've come across who hope and believe that they're better than that.

Here I am, quite vulnerable to people who've shown over the years that they can be all too willing to exploit and compound abuses of information, now, perhaps soon depending on any decency and insight of key officials. It's being going on for years and I can't see any reason why that'd stop. Too many people with too many personal interests, now. Too many people who can't stand the idea of this being mentioned, even though it gives back to my life a sense of a proper context, despite everything. Dangerous situation, in all, especially when I consider how high and wide this all went over the years, much of which I haven't covered, some of which I daredn't, but it really does all beggar belief, which is why these posts aren't even a request for support. The required structures aren't really there, yet.

I could write reams about all the crap that could be said and done to discredit what I'm saying here. That sort of shit usually goes on when you're not there. It has to to survive, because anything else exposes it to analysis that would easily spoil the fun. The trick with malicious gossip in the context I'm faced with isn't to make some of the mistakes I've made over the years. Neither is it to essentially react and be forcibly made to submit and accept it (I never had 'psychosis' before I was put on psychiatric meds, by the way), is to just leave them to it. There's no other way, not with my (I'm sure) realistic approach to official mechanisms, especially locally, or the environment I'm in.

After I told my friend with The Knowledge what had really been going on, yesterday, and what I'd been putting online, she said, 'You're going to get sectioned.' She knows full well how it can all work around here. She said I'd 'seen the light', a sort of religious phrase that I'm not too happy with, but I'll take it because it's true. My mate knows, too, that I'm healthy. Very healthy, especially when you take into account what's been going on around here and the threat of being forced into what they might spin as 'medical treatment'.

It doesn't really matter what I say. It doesn't matter about 96 or 2000. It doesn't matter that I've got more than enough to go on that there's two people in this town who may, according to conventional definitions, be psychopaths, who've been at the heart of what's been going on in the past and of late, in terms of manipulating the social environment for hidden and dubious purposes, which even dragged in the local police and may have been the reason for the behaviour of the local medical community in recent times. It really doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that I'm healthy. My experiences of my environment since 1996 suggest that, although I've got an advocate, now, I remain vulnerable to all this. That's stressful, but manageable. The fact that there's nothing I can do or anything that would be done even as a result of saying such things is something I've been realistic about for years. It happens, partly because it's so sounds so incredible.

The good thing is that I could see this all playing out over a prolonged period in the town centre. Very interesting stuff and good for what I want to do. I now pretty much know who was involved, why, what they did, why they'd cover it up, how they'd do that, what they'd say if they were exposed, why they'd be wrong to do that and why the justifications that they truly believe are seriously wide of the mark. I've seen it all before.

Sometimes, especially when I'm in a mood, I sometimes conduct my own version of the Milgram Experiment (and I have done that on myself). I think mine's better, because it goes deeper, looking for solutions beyond the premature cut off point of that test. I see the authority figure as the culture and the offending behaviour as something that could be addressed, rather than going on the notion that this is the way people are and that's that.

I'm not buying that. There's ways of addressing that stuff and I know there are. One of the failures of the way most of us think of the Second World War is that we think beating the Third Reich was the be all and end all. It was important, but it was only part of the battle. I shouldn't need to elaborate on that.

Tomorrow, I'm getting a phone call from a psychiatrist at the local hospital. I scare and intimidate him, according to an independent advocate, who sat in on our last meeting, because, she thinks, I'm so intelligent and know a lot more than they do. Whatever the case on that, that points to a reaction in these people that's too widespread and says so much, especially when seeing their behaviour in context since events stretching way back to 1996. I contacted the psychiatry department at the local hospital, to calm the waters just in case, not least because one of their staff was at the coffee shop when I was being banned.

I also have a meeting, a 'consultation', there next week. The plan is that that will be my last appointment with a psychiatrist. The job, that wasn't even needed in the first place, has been done and done well. Recent events have made that easier, because I could see all these social processes playing out all around me and know exactly why they were playing out. All the tricks and all the games were pretty transparent from day one. What would be good now, though, and not for any petty reasons, is if officials were to actually be open and honest about what was really going on at the hospital in recent times. Something was definitely going on. I'm pretty sure I know what, but I'm open to a transparent explanation of alternatives.

Similar to 2000, though, I'm highly unlikely to get that, even though the very gesture would mean a lot. I could say 'wish me luck', but if you don't know by now that that probably won't make a blind bit of difference, you never will. It's looking like the time's coming for me to conduct yet another Milgram Experiment.

A Church along MLK Blvd. in Augusta, GA

True Vine Missionary Baptist Church

1780 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.

Augusta, GA

30901

(706) 722-4011

maps.google.com/maps?q=1765+Martin+Luther+King+Blvd.+++Au...

This is one of the photos from a Power Point presentation explaining a study in Augusta, Georgia about a street named for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The “Claiming A Street Named King” Project is the brainchild of Rev. Terence A. Dicks of Augusta, Georgia.

These photos depict homes, building and abandoned structures along Martin Lutheran King, Jr. Boulevard in Augusta, Georgia.

It began with research in Athens and Augusta (Georgia) through the University Of Georgia School Of Environmental Design.

Research was led by Dr. Mary Anne Akers in collaboration with Georgia Legal Services Program, Georgia State Trade Association of Non-profit Developers (G-STAND) and Neighborhood Works America, INC.

“Claiming A Street Named King” Project study in Augusta, Georgia – conducted along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard - shows areas that need economic assistance – and that’s the same issue in many American cities that have streets named for civil rights leaders

For more information:

claimingastreetnamedking.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/Claimin...

The closure of a popular Barrowford pub has left the community stunned.

Pendle Borough Council licensing officers shut down the George and Dragon, in Gisburn Road, on Friday, at 3-30pm, to the horror of licensee Chris Joyce, who had just returned from honeymoon that day.

The closure order is thoguht to have come about following the death of one of the business partners at the pub and a failure to remove his name from official documents.

There has already beenn outcry on Facebook over the decision, with Chris being quaoted as saying: “It was a shock when the officer said he was shutting me down with immediate effect. They could have had the decency to give me until Monday. Beer had been tapped and ready to serve. Food had been purchased and prepared for the weekend. Now, I’ve to apply for a temporary events license - and the pub will not be able to open until February 5th.”

Pendle Today 270115

Published on Monday 14 January 2013 09:19

THREE men have been arrested on suspicion of wounding after a fight at a Barrowford pub over the weekend.

A 22-year-old, and two 23-year-olds, are currently on bail until April following the public order offence at the George and Dragon, in Gisburn Road. The incident happened at around 11-15pm on Saturday night.

A 45-year-old man, and a 25-year old man were treated for injuries. One had a broken leg, while the other was reported to have head injuries.

Another person was injured, but allegedly refused treatment.

A police spokesman said: “We were called to a disturbance outside the pub.

“When we got there, there were a number of people in the road.”

Pendle Today

A burglar was tracked down by police after he accidentally left behind his shirt and a letter at the scene of the crime with his name and address on it.

Teacher's son Max Bancroft, 21, had smashed into his local pub after earlier being thrown out for drunkenness - only to injure himself on the broken glass of a window.

As he pulled off his T shirt to to stem the flow of blood, a letter he had received in the post fell out of his pocket and landed on the floor.

Police found the incriminating blood-stained note and T-shirt as they hunted for clues following the burglary at The George and Dragon in the village of Barrowford, Lancashire.

Officers went to arrest Bancroft at his home and found his fridge full of cooked meat stolen on the same night from a grocery store.

At Burnley Crown Court, Bancroft admitted two charges of burglary and was jailed for two years.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288482/Teachers-son-21-...

Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

(Please note there have been a few cast revisions in this episode).

Captain Tim: Right Sargent Willis, call the men around.

Chorus of suffragette voices: And the women.

Capt. Tim: Yes, yes let’s not go through all that again. Just get everyone around Willis.

Sarg. Willis: I say, it would be awfully nice if you could just all gather around the captain quick as you can, that’s right, nice and close, let’s all cosy together, thank you so much, that’s awfully nice of you.

Corporal Shepherd: Right you lot, you heard what the fine officer said, cosy round, cosy round get cosyed in, smartly does it now, smartly does it, that’s right, that’s right. Permission to speak sir, the men and women all are cosying around just like what you said sir. Shall I cosy with them?

Capt. Tim: Of course, I shouldn’t have to tell you that corporal.

Corp. Shepherd: Right sir, thank you sir, cosying in now sir. Permission to speak sir, we are all cosy together sir.

Capt. Tim: Where’s Sargent Willis?

Private McMercer: Aye he’s absent on parade, that’s a criminal offence, he should be shot, shot I tell ye.

Capt. Tim: Oh don’t be so melodramatic McMercer. Willis, Willis what are you doing? You’re supposed to be cosying, er gathering around, with the rest of the men.

Pte. Bevins: And women!

Sarg. Willis: I thought as it was such a nice morning I’d just have a wander around, you know Sir, just a little wander and look at all the lovely countryside. After all it’s not as if we’ve not heard what you’ve got to say before.

Capt. Tim: That’s not the sort of attitude I expect from my junior officers. You’re supposed to support me up to the hilt, the hilt. Do you understand? We’re not out here to enjoy the countryside, we’ve got a very important job of work to do. Just what do you think would happen if everyone went about enjoying the countryside? The country would be ruined in no time.

Sarg. Willis: Oh very well.

Capt. Tim: Right, now then..

Pte. Jones: Excuse me captain, I was wondering if I might be excused?

Capt. Tim: Not now Steven, I’m just about to explain what we’re going to do.

Pte. Jones: Oh dear.

Capt. Tim: Now today we’ve been appointed to do a very important task helping our brave farmers, reaping and gathering in the sheaves.

Corp. Shepherd: Permission to indegest Sir. I would like to be the person what does the reaping and gathering.

Capt. Tim: We’re all in this together corporal, there’s plenty of work for all of us.

Pte. McMercer: Aside; Aye, and plenty for someone to order the rest of us about while he looks on.

Pte. Moffatt: Excuse me Mr. Spencer, what do we do when we’ve gathered in the sheaves?

Capt. Tim: It’s Captain, how many times do you have to be told?

Pte Moffatt: Sorry Mr. Spencer, what do we do with the sheaves Captain?

Capt. Tim: We burn them.

Pte. Miller: Ah, now then, it just so happens I know where to lay my hands on some firelighters they’re very hard to come by these days. I could let you have say half a dozen at five quid each.

Capt. Tim: Five pounds? Five pounds? Oh no, no, no. Thank you but we have our very own fire lighter in the form of private Breed.

Pte. Miller: Suit yourself.

Pte. Jones: I’ve just done a first aid course and we covered burns. You have to pour cold water on them for ten minutes. Oh dear, I’ve got a bottle of water in my first aid bag but I don’t think it will last for ten minutes.

Pte Miller: Funny you should mention bottled water, now I know where I can lay my hands on a crate..

Capt. Tim: We shall not be needing any water for the simple reason no one will get burnt. I won’t allow it. Now let’s get going, I need to unload the mowing machine and..

Pte. Moffatt: Please Mr. I mean Captain Tim, can I do the mowing, I know how to do it, I saw it in a film once with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

Capt. Tim: No it’s far too dangerous for an inexperienced person from the ranks. This takes leadership.

Pte. McMercer: Aye and it’s easier than raking.

Pte. Moffatt: Oh it’s not fair, he never lets me have any fun.

Capt. Tim: No talking in the ranks. Let’s to it, we haven’t got all day, looks like rain later on.

Pte. Jones: Talking of rain, I wonder if I might be excused for a moment?

Later that morning;

Capt. Tim: Now remember men,

Pte. Bevins: And women!

Capt. Tim: Careful near the ditch, it’s covered in reeds, so we don’t want anyone falling in.

Pte. Shepherd: Excuse me Capt. Tim, I’d like to volunteer to work by the ditch what isn’t there on account of it being covered in reeds then if anyone should fall in it will be me and not you or any of our other brave lads. I remember once when we was at...

Capt. Tim: Not now corporal, Not now.

Pte. McMercer: I was wondering how strong these wooden rakes are? I’ll just lean on one to see if it takes my weight.

Lunchtime;

Pte. McMercer: Aye, it seems to be holding up okay. Look Captain Tim, isn’t that captains Raven and Pratt coming over yonder Hill?

Capt. Tim: What? Oh yes, pay no attention to them, Captain Pratt has probably only come to show off the latest set of gaudy ribbons spread across her chest. No sense of decency, if I had any medals I wouldn’t go displaying them like that for all the world to see. She looks like a walking rainbow with all those decorations. Still better than the things she usually wears.

Sarg Willis: What did she get them for do you suppose?

Capt. Tim: Pond dipping I shouldn’t wonder, not proper work like we do.

Capts. Raven and Pratt: Greetings Captain Tim, just in time for a spot of lunch we see. Any cake?

Several pieces of bread pudding and tiffin later

Capts. Raven and Pratt: Well bye all.

Pte. Miller: Now before we get started again, I just happen to have some very nice calendars for sale. Going cheap, lovely pictures of birds on them. Get it, cheap, birds?

Suddenly everyone finishes lunch and starts working again.

Pte Miller: Please yourselves. Charmed I’m sure.

Early afternoon;

Capt. Tim: Well that’s another job well done. I think we can all be proud of ourselves, don’t you Sargent Willis?

Sarg. Willis: What? Oh yes, yes, very proud. I was just looking at those very pretty birds..

Capt. Tim: Not those damn calendars again?

Sarg. Willis: No Sir, those charming little birds on all that bare ground that we’ve laid to waste.

Capt. Tim: Oh we’ve no time for that now. We need to collect all our gear together before everybody slopes off. I’m still missing a rake!

Sarg. Willis: I think you’ll find private McMercer is still leaning on it.

(Any resemblance to the truth is purely accidental).

Enough already. Thanks to everyone and we missed those of you who weren’t able to join us on what was a very pleasant day. I’m sure Mr. Pitts photos will say it all.

Anon.

"how deep is the sea"; with forlin brothers for emergence festival, giardini naxos (sicily)

..babbo, che eri un gran cacciatore

di quaglie e di faggiani

caccia via queste mosche

che non mi fanno dormire

che mi fanno arrabbiare

come è profondo il mare

come è profondo il mare

è inutile

non c'è più lavoro

non c'è più decoro

dio o chi per lui

sta cercando di dividerci

di farci del male

di farci annegare

come è profondo il mare

come è profondo il mare..

---------------------------------------------

..daddy, you who were a great hunter

of quails and pheasants,

chase away these flies

that don't let me sleep

that make me angry

how deep the sea is

how deep the sea is

it's useless

there's no work anymore

there's no decency anymore

god or someone for him

is trying to divide us,

to hurt us, to drown us

how deep is the sea

how deep is the sea..

Queens Of The Stone Age @ The Orbit Room, Grand Rapids, MI

p.s. if you are gonna post my copyrighted images elsewhere on the internet at least have the decency to credit me with them or link them back to here, or i'll probably stop posting them or at least start putting big watermarks on them.

Titan, formerly a Skeleton Warrior, has just joined the Skull Boyz jazz & blues band as their new lead guitarist. He's trying out his newly-acquired Gibson SG, and seeing if he can busk a little for some cash.

He was convinced to wear clothing by other members of the Skull Boyz. Seems that there's decency laws in town which requires covering up one's pelvis, regardless if one is a human, animal or skeleton.

The guitar is modeled after a classic red Gibson SG, scaled-down to 2.75", which is 1:15 scale. It is handmade of basswood, mainly because no companies make miniature guitars in this scale. 1:12 would be way over-sized and 1:18 (Rement) would be too small. In this size, the guitar can actually be strung.

Marshall amp is a small basswood box, dolled-up to look like a small Marshall amp.

in the name of morality, and decency the Red Lights District has been destroyed.

actually, just a very bad excuse to test stop motion on my new Mac.

Not strictly a Finsec event, but here's a few photos of the Service and Food Workers' Union Nga Ringa Tota rally in Wellington on International Cleaners Day.

The 'Fair Deal for Cleaners' campaign that this rally is part of aims to provide a voice to the low-waged largely immigrant female workforce, in cities across Australia and New Zealand, who are calling on big property owners to support decency in their workplaces.

Arctic Council Ministerial Dinner at Artikum Glass Hall. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland.

Finland hosts the 11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting on 7 May in Rovaniemi. Minister-level representatives from the eight Arctic States will convene to review and approve work completed under the two-year Finnish Chairmanship to improve sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

Photo: Jouni Porsanger / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Pierre Perret : when the woman is behind a fence

Stoned in public place

(seen in a Wolford shopwindow)

Monkey Wrench Collective presents Wallace Shawn's "The Fever".

Over the course of a long, terrifying night, a weary traveler is forced to confront her role in the war that ravages the countryside just beyond her hotel window. As she recounts the events that brought her to this point -- fabulous dinner parties, a chance encounter on a nude beach, a clandestine meeting with an armed rebel -- she tries to come to some kind of understanding of her place in the world. How do you lead a life full of joy and happiness without simply ignoring the injustice that surrounds you? What does it mean to say "I am a decent person?"

An intellectual horror story with resonances into the current global economic crisis, THE FEVER was originally performed by the playwright in the apartments of his friends. In keeping with that atmosphere, the Monkey Wrench Collective's new production, starring Melanie Gable as the traveler, is set in an intimate storefront theater located in the heart of downtown Fullerton. Each evening's performance will feature live musical accompaniment by pianist Teresa Chan Escober, along with a complimentary service of wine and hors d'œuvres. Only 20 tickets will be available for each show.

June 3 through June 19, 2010. Thursdays and Saturdays at 8pm, special Friday performances June 11 and June 18 at 8pm. All seats $10.

Directed by "Greg Adkins". Starring Melanie Gable. Musical performance by Teresa Chan Escober.

Postcard design by "Greg Adkins".

MORE INFO: Monkey Wrench Collective

Not the worst White Queen outfit I've seen - you have to realize that many of the drawn designs for White Queen's many costumes simply would not work in the real world - either due to gravity, or laws of decency. I'm talking about you, Frank Quitely...

Protesters against Trump's "travel ban" and immigration plans marching to the US Capitol.

Washington, DC / February 4, 2017

Troy Van Leeuwen, Queens Of The Stone Age @ Gasometer, Vienna, Austria

p.s. if you are gonna post my copyrighted images elsewhere on the internet at least have the decency to credit me with them or link them back to here, or i'll probably stop posting them or at least start putting big watermarks on them.

Not strictly a Finsec event, but here's a few photos of the Service and Food Workers' Union Nga Ringa Tota rally in Wellington on International Cleaners Day.

The 'Fair Deal for Cleaners' campaign that this rally is part of aims to provide a voice to the low-waged largely immigrant female workforce, in cities across Australia and New Zealand, who are calling on big property owners to support decency in their workplaces.

Eurasian Green-winged Teal

Anas Crecca crecca/nimia

Eurasian Green-winged Teal, with a horizontal light stripe, and without a vertical stripe on its side. I found it on the Columbia River down from Priest Rapids Dam. For county listers, it ventured between Yakima, Grant, and Benton Counties.

Here's my post to Tweeters, a birding listserv for Washington:

[edit notes: I think that Wanapum Village should have been written Wanapum village; and Simon Martinez Cattle should be Simon Martinez Livestock.]

Eurasian Green-winged Teal

Friday I found what looks to me like a Eurasian Green-winged Teal, the first I've ever seen. It was pretty exciting, but I couldn't share the find immediately, because I found it near a place where two prominent local bird listers, AS & SD, have told me they trespass. I tried Friday, and over the holiday weekend, but this morning was finally able to reach the Grant County PUD head of security to alert him that birders with scopes and binoculars and such might be around, and that some might try to stop and bird on the dam, as Scott Downes has told me and written to the Washington Birds Records Committee that he did. The head of security was very polite and helpful. He made it clear that doing so continues to be prohibited. It is National Critical Infrastructure. Across the dam on the Yakima County side is the Wanapum village, Simon Martinez Livestock Company private land, and Yakima Training Center military site. Visiting without express prior permission continues to be prohibited. Security at Priest Rapids Dam, and the security camera monitor crew have been alerted. Please stop trespassing there, and everywhere else.

There are plenty of good reasons to not trespass including simple decency, avoiding scaring or angering residents and property owners, avoiding hindering heavy construction and endangering the workers, respecting Yakama Nation sovereignty, and being able to "count" the birds you "get" if you're a lister. From ABA Listing Central -- Code of Birding Ethics listing.aba.org/ethics/ : "Do not enter private property without the owner’s explicit permission. Follow all laws, rules, and regulations governing use of roads and public areas, both at home and abroad."

Another good reason is bird watcher access -- for the rest of us. I was working on getting birders access permission to viewing from the dam embankment a couple of years ago. I stupidly told a local prominent lister that birders are not allowed to stop on the dam and are not allowed to go into the Wanapum Village without consent of local residents, and that similarly the Simon Martinez Livestock land is private and requires permission from the landowner. Despite reiterating that to him and getting him to acknowledge it, he proceeded to bird on the dam and got kicked off -- politely. The person at Grant PUD with whom I was working on birder access ended the discussion. I'm not a birding expert, but I don't think that listing a Common Tern flitting back and forth across the Yakima / Grant County line, or any other sighting, was worth that. Birding ethics are not defined by what you can get away with.

I once again am working on getting birders access to a viewing location on the dam. It's a dream of mine that I'd value greater than any rare bird find. Please, please, do not muck that up.

If you witness any trespassing or security concerns near Priest Rapids Dam or Wanapum Dam, they ask you call (509) 766-2538 any day at any hour. In the ABA Code of Birding Ethics: "If you witness unethical birding behavior, assess the situation and intervene if you think it prudent. When interceding, inform the person(s) of the inappropriate action and attempt, within reason, to have it stopped. If the behavior continues, document it and notify appropriate individuals or organizations."

My wife Mary Giovanini, Nori dog, and I returned Saturday and relocated the Eurasian Green-winged Teal. This time there were pintails and Mallards, but no American GWTE with it as there'd been on Friday. It was tucked close to shore on the Yakima/Benton side of the Columbia River below Priest Rapids Dam dam. I saw it from the Jackson Creek Fish Camp, at the junction of Grant, Yakima, and Benton Counties, clearly venturing well into each. For listers, if you look across from the day use area, at mid-river you're looking into Benton County. Looking across and upstream a bit to the rocks jutting into the river, Yakima County is to the right, and Benton County is to the left. The Yakima/Benton county line goes from shore there, north upstream at an angle to mid river, where it meets Grant county. The Yakima/Grant line continues mid-river up to the dam. The Priest Rapids Dam spillways are in Yakima. The generators are in Grant. Google Earth shows county lines quite well.

I apologize for not being able to share the find sooner. I hope you can understand and respect my concerns.

I wish I could share this post on BirdYak, a Yakima County bird-related list-serve, but am blocked by Denny Granstrand. Just the same, I'll keep up my efforts to discourage unethical birding. Please don't share a censored or edited version of this on BirdYak.

Red-breasted Mergansers, both Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, and plenty of others were there to see too." [end Tweeters post]

Good birding -- Enjoying observing birds, and trying to give eBird and Washington Birder accurate data.

Please always consider the sensitivity of birds, nearby humans, and the environment.

Don't pish or use playback on rare or sensitive birds or in heavily birded areas.

Please Follow this Code and Distribute and Teach it to Others ABA Code of Birding Ethics.

Whistle blower

At least somebody had the decency to lose both shoes and not just the one this time.

A few days later a pair of jeans were on the same wall. I've started to believe it is a shrine to the clothing God.

I would tell you about the things

They put me through

The pain Ive been subjected to

But the lord himself would blush

The countless feasts laid at my feet

Forbidden fruits for me to eat

But I think your pulse would start to rush

Now Im not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

Youll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

If you try walking in my shoes

Morality would frown upon

Decency look down upon

The scapegoat fates made of me

But I promise you, my judge and jurors

My intentions couldnt have been purer

My case is easy to see

Im not looking for a clearer conscience

Peace of mind after what Ive been through

And before we talk of repentance

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

Youll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

If you try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

Now Im not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

Youll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

Now Im not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

Youll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

If you try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

When I first lived in North Carolina, back in the 70's, I moved from Charlotte up to Greensboro because I thought I might have a shot at getting in to the Creative Writing Program at UNC-Greensboro. Of course, that didn't happen. Instead, I had a series of dead-end jobs. After being fired from the first of these jobs, my cousin introduced me to this fellow, John Fisher. John had the Servicemaster franchise in Greensboro, and he gave me a job cleaning carpets and shampooing furniture. It was an interesting job, because John had a gift of gab, and we did excellent work, so we were kind of like the Cadillac cleaning company in the city. We went in to all the best homes in Greensboro, and some of those homes were swank indeed. Swank means that some of them had Renoir drawings hanging in the library (originals, of course). Swank means that at least one of them had bathrooms where all the walls, the floor, and the ceiling, were made of marble. Swank meant that one of the houses had two identical kitchens side by side, each with a Sub-Zero refrigerator and a commercial ice cube machine. I spent probably as much time absorbing my surroundings as I did doing my job.

I got to be good friends with John and his wife Hazel. They would invite me to stay after work sometimes for dinner, and I babysat their kids a few times. John and Hazel were deeply religious, involved with their church, thoughtful, generous, and willing to talk and argue (in nice ways) about most anything.

I stayed at that job for three years, and then I got involved in politics. I campaigned for Jimmy Carter, got accepted in the writing program at the University of Arkansas, and moved away. I kept in touch with John and Hazel for a while, but when Ronald Reagan got elected, John was excited and I was distraught, and, well, we drifted apart. And for one reason and another that's the way it stayed for some years.

My cousin who had introduced me to John told me at some point that John had developed MS. Maybe that was good enough reason to go see him, but I never did, even though at some point I had moved back east, first to Florida and then to North Charleston, South Carolina. Then I took an Executive Chef's job in Des Moines, and any idea of reconnecting with John went by the wayside.

Allright, I'll try to be brief: I was a bust in Des Moines, I took a new job in Cary, North Carolina as a sous chef, and finally, after years of dithering, I got back in touch with my friend John Fisher. John's health had deteriorated, but his spirits were high, perhaps he even was a more positive, forward-thinking, voice for common sense and decency than he had been before. Another person might have been depressed to be so limited physically, and beset by such recurring ailments. But John had found a way to focus on the good. No more job, no more stress, fewer financial worries, more time to devote to his friends and his community. And he was active as always, with his church, with community outreach programs, with his fellow sufferers of multiple sclerosis. His politics hadn't changed, but mrwaterslide got over that. In fact, John Fisher and mrwaterslide liked nothing better than a health political slugfest (that often evolved in to a challenging discussion of questions of real importance), over a good cup of coffee.

At a certain point, I, mrwaterslide (aka John Van Noate) needed a carpenter to make me some picture frames. I knew that the person to ask was John Fisher. I wanted a really good craftsman, but I had one special requirement.

"I need for you to find me a carpenter," I said to my friend John Fisher. "He needs to be an old guy."

"I know just the fellow," John Fisher said.

To be continued.

Edward Barkham 1633 , Lord Mayor of London, who bought the manor in 1621 lies in the north mortuary chapel he built before his death. He lies with wife Jane Crowche who died 16 Jun 1661, and some of his children on a monument completed c 1654

"My will and mynd is that my bodie shall bee buried within the chappell of the Church of Southacre in the Countie of Norfolk within the vault of the North side of the chancell there which I lately made for that purpose without any name pomp or great solemnitie onely with decency and upon buriall lying as shall seeme best to my Executors"

He was the son of Edward Barkham 1599 & Elizabeth daughter of Henry Rolfe of White Parish Wilts and Agnes Boteler

He was Lord Mayor of London in 1621/ 1622 & knighted in June 1623

He m Jane daughter of John Crowch / Crouch 1605 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/79QMcP of Cornbury & Layston Herts (a cloth merchant) & Joan 1583 heiress of John Scot & Elizabeth Pickard

Her elder sister Eiizabeth Flyer Freman is at Aspenden Herts www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/kA3uG8 widow of William Freman www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/6693KP

Children www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/166591 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/Uw5WFy www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/119GJs

1. Elizabeth 1593-1632 m 1611 Sir John Garrard, 1st Bart 1590-1637 of Dorney Bucks, (buried at Wheathampstead www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/mB6uvN ) son of Sir John Garrard, Mayor of London & Jane daughter of Richard Patrick / Partridge

2. Edward 1595-1667 m 1622 Frances daughter of Sir Thomas Berney of Park Hall in Reedham & Juliana daughter of Sir Thomas Gawdy of Redenhall & Frances Richers (died at Tottenham, buried here)

3. Susan 1596-.1622 m 1619 Robert Walpole 1593-1663 of Houghton son of Calibut Walpole & Elizabeth daughter of Edmund Bacon Esq and Elizabeth Cornwallis

4. John b/d 1597

5.Robert 1599-1661 m Mary daughter of Richard Wilcox

6 Jane 1602- 1661 <https://flic.kr/p/8gS5Zo www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw136315/Jane-... m 1626 (2nd wife ) Charles Caesar 1643 flic.kr/p/8gS5Zf of Benington Herts, Master of the Rolls; Son of Julius Caesar Adelmare 1636 & Dorcas Martin; Widower of Anne 1625 flic.kr/p/8gS5Z3 daughter of Peter Vanlore &Jacoba Teighbott / Thibault

7. Margaret 1602 - 1603

8. Margaret 1603-1640 m (3rd wife) Anthony Irby 1605-82 flic.kr/p/hjG5U9 son of Sir Anthony Irby 1610 of Irby Hall Whaplode & Elizabeth flic.kr/p/hjJpJr third daughter of Sir John Peyton 1616 www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/10740503164/ of Isleham by Alice daughter of Edward Osborne, Lord Mayor of London

9. John b1604

10. Thomas b/d 1606

11. Hugh d 1628

At the top are the arms of Barkham & Crouch between figures of victory and death with winged hourglasses

His Will

"In the name of god Amen

Edward Barkam of Southacre in the county of Norfolk yeoman being in p(er)fect minde & memory the xxnl (18) daye of ffebruary in the xly(?) year of the reaigne of our sovereigne Lady Elizabeth by the grace of god of England ffrance & Ireland Queene

First he committed his soule to god Allmighty and his body to the earth

Item he gave towards the rep(ar)ations(?) of the p(ar)ish church in Southacre XXs(20s)

Item he gave to the poore (there xx’s (20s) ) there Xs (10s)

Item he gave to the other poore people dwelling neere there abouts to be delt at his funerall XX’s(20s)

Item he gave to my^or^(4?) poore men that shall carry him to church my’s (4s)

Item he gave to the ringers at his funeral my’s (4s)

Item he gave to two of his mayde servannts dwelling with him at his decease XXs (20s)

Item he also gave to my men servannt my’s (4s)

Item he gave to Elizabeth Rolfe Xs (10s) & to Mrs Smith his daught’r being goddaught’s to the same Edward X’s (10s) of lawfull money of England

Item he gave to his grandchildren the some of xx1’lb (£21) of like mony to be paid evenly x’ted amongst them at their severall ages of xx1 (21) years

Item he gave to his sonne Barkam of London his children the some of my’lb (£4) to be x’ted equally amongst them at their severall ages of xx1 (21) year

The residue of his goods & chattells what soend he gave to his daughter Margaret Gallard(?)

Witness: Thomas Barkam, Robt Barkam"

- Church of St George, South Acre, Norfolk

Picture with thanks - copyright Picture with thanks .layston-church.org.uk

Four acres granted to St Paul’s Church of England 17 Nov 1847 for a cemetery, earlier there had been a few burials, closed 15 Jan 1874, last official burial 1922 (although later burials noted in newspaper), transferred 1938 to City of Port Adelaide. Headstones cleared c1972, info plaque erected 1990, developed 1994 as Pioneer Park. The burial register indicates 3,000 burials; seven headstones remain. The Portonian Walk was established 2003 with pavers engraved with names of former residents of Port Adelaide. Now a peaceful park, the cemetery was so neglected in the 1920s & 1930s that a two-up school was hidden amongst the prickly pear & boxthorn, cows were pastured in clear areas and children played with broken headstones & bones.

“The remains of Thomas King, the unfortunate carpenter of the Lightning, found drowned a few days ago, at Port Adelaide, were yesterday interred in the Cemetery reserve, at Albert Town.” [Adelaide Observer 15 Aug 1846]

“Alberton Church of England Cemetery closed, except to persons who have already acquired a portion for the burial of members of their families.” [Express & Telegraph 16 Jan 1874]

“a fire, which was caused through some dry grass becoming ignited, started on the eastern side of the Alberton Cemetery. . . Many of the tomb fences and headstones suffered damage.” [Daily Herald 10 Mar 1911]

“Near Port Adelaide, north of Albert, Albert Town, or Alberton, as it was variously called, is one of the oldest South Australian graveyards. It is now closed. The first burial was on October 28, 1846.” [Register 5 Mar 1917]

“The Friends of the late Robert Cruickshank are respectfully informed that his Remains (Ashes) were Laid to Rest in the Family Ground, in the Alberton Cemetery.” [Register 30 Mar 1922]

“Mrs. Hephzibah Beulah Channon. . . recalled the times when funerals from ships were taken to the old Alberton Cemetery by .boats along the canal.” [Daily Herald 22 Jun 1922]

“In the middle of the cemetery is a capacious vault erected, so blackened letters on a slate slab above indicate, to the memory of John Snoswell and his wife Eliza. John Snoswell was buried there in 1878 [sic], but the weather has removed the record of the exact year in which his wife was interred. . . Alberton cemetery is a graveyard of tears. Everywhere there are broken headstones, some crushed by careless feet into a thousand fragments, and some half buried in a tangle of undergrowth. Though it is difficult to trace the history of the burial ground from its headstones there is plenty of evidence to show that beneath its unkempt surface many of the pioneers of South Australia sleep. The inscription on one stone indicates that Grace Parsons, who died at Port Adelaide in 1845, sleeps beneath. . . Though an occasional burial still takes place in the cemetery, holders of land exercising the right to inter relatives there, the place has been closed as a public burial place for years.” [The Mail 11 Jun 1927]

“cows had been allowed to roam in the cemetery. . . The owner of the cows was no better than the other wretches, for to pen his cows where he wanted them on that day he had attached the barbed wire to the railings of the graves. . . A ‘two-up school’ frequents ‘God's acre’, particularly on Sundays. Rabbiting with dogs is one of the most inoffensive of the pastimes indulged in there. . . It was not to be expected that any reputable cemetery trust would have allowed prickly pear, cacti, boxthorn, and other weeds to spread all over the property and smother the graves.” [Port Adelaide News 24 Jun 1927]

“Alberton Cemetery Fund Opened. . . Mayor of Port Adelaide (Mr Lewis) . . . is endeavoring to raise £200 to have the neglected graveyard cleared of boxthorns, prickly pear, and other weeds, and the graves restored to a state of decency. The cemetery is the resting place of many pioneers of the district. The last lease was issued about 60 years ago. Since then there have been no funds available for upkeep.” [News 3 Dec 1931]

“Captain G. H. McKay . . . interred in the Alberton cemetery on Monday afternoon. The late Captain McKay who was 56 years of age, had been connected with the shipping industry on the S.A. coast all his life. . . leaves a wife and large family” [Kangaroo Island Courier 9 Apr 1932]

“Alberton Cemetery. . . was given by the Government in the early 1850s as a burial ground for Port Adelaide, the management being vested in the Church of England. The cemetery ceased to be used as burial ground about 20 years ago, when the Cheltenham Cemetery was opened, and within recent years had fallen into a state of neglect. About two years ago, the council took the matter up with the trustees, and an arrangement was made whereby the council was to assume control of the cemetery. Because of the terms of the original trust, however, the ground cannot be taken over by the council until the authority of Parliament is given.” [Advertiser 3 Jun 1938]

“the control of the Alberton Cemetery to be transferred to the Port Adelaide Corporation.” [Chronicle 15 Dec 1938]

“The Old Cemetery at Alberton, which is now 100 years old, was the first burying ground of the Port Adelaide district, and many pioneer families are represented there. The headstones include such well-known names as Bayly, Barratt, Bowen, Bower, Brock, Blake, Dixon, Grosse, Hannay, Hodge, Fisher, Le Messurier, Moyers, Newman, Risely, Quin, Yeo, Wells, Weman, and Dr. Duncan. Originally it adjoined the Church of England Rectory, and was controlled by that body, but as a general cemetery and open to all creeds. After the establishment of the Cheltenham Cemetery by the corporation, it fell into disuse, and the graves became very neglected. In November, 1936, however, the Church of England handed it over to the Municipal Council, together with £100 for its upkeep, and it is therefore now under the same control as the Cheltenham Cemetery.” [The Citizen, Port Adelaide 30 Jun 1939]

“The Port Adelaide City Council will recondition the Alberton Cemetery and make several improvements. The cemetery has been overgrown with weeds and in a shocking condition for some time. Vandals have committed numerous acts of desecration and few of the headstones remain in good condition. Members of the cemetery committee of the council found on inspection last week that the burial ground had been haphazardly laid out. On only 25 per cent. of the tombstones were the inscriptions legible, and only half a dozen graves received attention from relatives. Although the council has a list of those buried, it is unable to determine the position of the graves, except by the headstones. . . There have been only occasional burials at Alberton during the last 40 years, and no maintenance work has been carried out for a quarter of a century. Seven years ago the public subscribed £120, and prickly pear and weeds were cleared from the land. But the cemetery again became an eyesore.” [News 12 Oct 1939]

“MOORE.—The friends of the late Miss Mary Ann Moore, of 13 Hastings st., Glenelg, are respectfully informed that her funeral will leave the residence of her niece (Mrs E. Peake), 17 Boundary rd., Glenelg, on Monday, at 4 p.m., for the Old Alberton Cemetery.” [Advertiser 16 Mar 1942]

Read about the issue of Mediocrity vs. Decency

1)Name:

Bryan Conrad

2)Where are you from? Where did you grow up?

Born in OH, lived in Minnesota and Florida. I have not grown up yet.

3)Where do you live now?

Raleigh, North Carolina

4)Favorite team/teams?

Ohio State Buckeyes, U of Minnesota Golden Gophers

Campbell Fighting Camels (gym seats 947, smallest in DI)

5)Least favorite team/teams?

Michigan Wolverines, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles

6)Favorite NCAA tourney memory?

Ohio State's Final Four run in '99, anytime Duke gets upset in the second round

7)Favorite Cinderella team in recent memory?

Valparaiso, Gonzaga under Dan Monson

8)Least Favorite anouncer and why(How do some of these people get jobs?)

Billy Packer, who knew being the MVP of the 1960 Dixie Classic made you an expert on basketball 45 years later? By the way, Wake let him be an assistant coach right after he graduated (c'mon, a 5'7" guard in the NBA???), but refused to hire him as their head coach. That's why he's an announcer.

Close second is Dickie V. They should make him and Billy Packer call a Duke-Wake Forest game together. It would be about as honest and partisan as a presidential debate.

9)Favorite moment from 2005 tourney?

Pittsnogle and West Virginia

10) Favorite 2006 memory?

Watching Albany beat UConn for most of the game and screaming at CBS for not having the guts to switch to the feed. I mean, really, Albany wins and the cats would've earned the entire pool.

11) Hmm, which mascot would I dress up as for an entire year-

First off - Why hasn't the FCC banned the names Testudo and Scrotie? Particularly given their reactions recently to anything that could be even remotely considered offensive. Maybe the NCAA is too busy banning Chief Illiniwek.

Second off - anyone who names a mascot "Victor E." should be shot. Or at least, tortured for being unoriginal and/or exceptionally pathetic. Klondike (the Ohio Northern University polar bear) may have a bad name, but at least students had the good decency to vote against Victor E. Bear.

The mascot I would go with is not even on the list. I would want to be Gaylord the Camel of Campbell University. In addition to having a large irregular hump and a bulky head, I would get the added effect of ticking off the homophobes AND the agnostics and atheists all at once. I could attend the home games of the Campbell Fighting Camels in the second-smallest facility in Division I (a sellout is approximately 937 people). I could live among teetotalling Baptists in the town of Buies (pronounced BOOZE) Creek. And my name would protest the Southern Baptists' position on gays.

If I couldn't be Gaylord, I'd settle for Superfrog. Simply because it suggests superhero capabilities.

extra note

My mom's family is all Ohio State, as is Dad and numerous cousins. Yet, oddly enough, none of the Conrad kids ever went there.

Notes:

-One of 4 Conrads in the pool

-Goal to get hair cut in all 50 states

-loves minor league baseball

East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 2105, 1964. Brigitte Bardot in En effeuillant la marguerite / Plucking the Daisy (Marc Allégret, 1956).

French actress Brigitte Bardot (1934) died on 28 December 2025, at the age of 91. In the 1950s, she was the sex kitten of the European film industry. BB starred in 48 films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded 80 songs. After her retirement in 1973, she became an animal rights activist. In the coming weeks, we will continue to post a BB postcard every day to remember her as she once was.

Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris in 1934. Her father, Louis Bardot, had an engineering degree and worked with his father in the family business. Her mother, Ann-Marie Mucel, was 14 years younger than Brigitte's father, and they married in 1933. Brigitte's mother encouraged her daughter to take up music and dance. At the age of 13, she entered the Conservatoire Nationale de Danse to study ballet. By the time she was 15, Brigitte was trying to launch a modelling career and found herself on the cover of the French magazine Elle in May 1949. Her incredible beauty was readily apparent, and Brigitte was noticed by Roger Vadim, then an assistant to the film director Marc Allegrét. Vadim was infatuated with Bardot and encouraged her to start working as a film actress. BB was 18 when she debuted in the comedy Le Trou Normand / Crazy for Love (Jean Boyer, 1952). In the same year, she married Vadim. Brigitte wanted to marry him when she was 17, but her parents quashed any marriage plans until she turned 18. In April 1953, she attended the Cannes Film Festival, where she received massive media attention. She soon was every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris. From 1952 to 1956, she appeared in seventeen films. Her films were generally lightweight romantic dramas in which she was cast as an ingénue or siren, often with an element of undress. In 1953, she made her first US production, Un acte d'amour / Act of Love (Anatole Litvak, 1953) with Kirk Douglas, but she continued to make films in France.

Roger Vadim was not content with the light fare his wife was offered. He felt Brigitte Bardot was being undersold. Looking for something more like an art film to push her as a serious actress, he showcased her in Et Dieu créa la femme / ...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956). This film, about an immoral teenager in a respectable small-town setting, was a smash success on both sides of the Atlantic. Craig Butler at AllMovie: "It's easy enough to say that ...And God Created Woman is much more important for its historical significance than for its actual quality as a film, and that's true to an extent. The immense popularity, due to its willingness to directly embrace an exploration of sex as well as its willingness to show a degree of nudity that was remarkably daring for its day, demonstrated that audiences were willing to view subject matter that was considered too racy for the average moviegoer. This had both positive (freedom to explore, especially for the French filmmakers of the time) and negative (freedom to exploit) consequences, but its impact is undeniable. It's also true that Woman is not a great work of art, not with a story that is ultimately rather thin, some painful dialogue, and an attitude toward its characters and their sexuality that is unclear and inconsistent. Yet Woman is still fascinating, due in no small part to the presence of Brigitte Bardot in the role that made her an international star and sex symbol. She's not demonstrating great acting here, although her performance is actually good and much better than necessary, and her legendary mambo scene at the climax is nothing short of sensational." During the filming of Et Dieu créa la femme / And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956), directed by her husband, Brigitte Bardot had an affair with her co-star, Jean-Louis Trintignant, who at the time was married to French actress Stéphane Audran. Her divorce from Vadim followed, but they remained friends and collaborated in later work.

Et Dieu créa la femme / ...And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim, 1956) helped Brigitte Bardot's international status. The film took the USA by storm, her explosive sexuality being unlike anything seen in the States since the days of the 'flapper' in the 1920s. It gave rise to the phrase 'sex kitten', and fascination with her in America consisted of magazine photographs and dubbed over French films - good, bad or indifferent, her films drew audiences - mainly men - into theatres like lemmings. BB appeared in light comedies like Doctor at Large (Ralph Thomas, 1957) - the third of the British 'Doctor' series starring Dirk Bogarde - and Une Parisienne / La Parisienne (Michel Boisrond, 1957), which suited her acting skills best. However, she was a sensation in the crime drama En cas de malheur / Love is My Profession (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "This Brigitte Bardot vehicle ran into stiff opposition from the Catholic Legion of Decency, severely limiting its U.S. distribution. Bardot plays a nubile small-time thief named Yvette, who becomes the mistress of influential defence attorney Andre (Jean Gabin). Though Andre can shower Yvette with jewels and furs, he cannot "buy" her heart, and thus it is that it belongs to handsome young student Mazzetti (Franco Interlenghi). Alas, Yvette is no judge of human nature: attractive though Mazzetti can be, he has a dangerous and deadly side. En Cas de Malheur contains a nude scene that has since been reprinted in freeze-frame form innumerable times by both film-history books and girlie magazines." Photographer Sam Lévin's photos contributed considerably to her image of sensuality and slight immorality. One of Lévin's pictures shows Brigitte, dressed in a white corset. It is said that around 1960, postcards with this photograph outsold in Paris those of the Eiffel Tower.

Brigitte Bardot divorced Vadim in 1957, and in 1959 she married actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she starred in Babette s'en va-t-en guerre / Babette Goes to War (Christian-Jaque, 1959). The paparazzi preyed upon her marriage, while she and her husband clashed over the direction of her career

Her films became more substantial, but this brought a heavy pressure of dual celebrity as she sought critical acclaim while remaining a glamour model for most of the world. Vie privée / Private Life (1962), directed by Louis Malle, has more than an element of autobiography in it. James Travers at French Films: "Brigitte Bardot hadn’t quite reached the high point of her career when she agreed to make this film with high-profile New Wave film director Louis Malle. Even so, the pressure of being a living icon was obviously beginning to get to France’s sex goddess, and Vie privée is as much an attempt by Bardot to come to terms with her celebrity as anything else. Malle is clearly fascinated by Bardot, and the documentary approach he adopts for this film reinforces the impression that it is more a biography of the actress than a work of fiction. Of course, it’s not entirely biographical, but the story is remarkably close to Bardot’s own life and comes pretty close to predicting how her career would end." The scene in which, returning to her apartment, Bardot's character is harangued in the elevator by a middle-aged cleaning lady calling her offensive names was based on an actual incident, and is a resonant image of celebrity in the mid-20th century. Soon afterwards, Bardot withdrew to the seclusion of Southern France.

Brigitte Bardot's other husbands were German millionaire Playboy Gunter Sachs and right-wing politician Bernard d'Ormale. She is reputed to have had relationships with many other men, including Samy Frey, her co-star in La Vérité / The Truth (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960), and musicians Serge Gainsbourg and Sacha Distel. In 1963, Brigitte Bardot starred in Jean-Luc Godard's critically acclaimed film Le Mépris / Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) opposite Michel Piccoli. She was also featured along with such notable actors as Alain Delon in Amours célèbres / Famous Love Affairs (Michel Boisrond, 1961) and Histoires extraordinaires /Tales of Mystery (Louis Malle, 1968), Jeanne Moreau in Viva Maria! (Louis Malle, 1965), Sean Connery in Shalako (Edward Dmytryk, 1968), and Claudia Cardinale in Les Pétroleuses / Petroleum Girls (Christian-Jaque, 1971). She participated in various musical shows and recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distel, including 'Harley Davidson', 'Le Soleil De Ma Vie' (the cover of Stevie Wonder's 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life') and the notorious 'Je t'aime... moi non plus'.

Brigitte Bardot’s film career showed a steady decline in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1973, just before her fortieth birthday, she announced her retirement. She chose to use her fame to promote animal rights. In 1976, she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She became a vegetarian and raised three million French francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and many personal belongings. For this work, she was awarded the Légion d’honneur in 1984. During the 1990s, she was also outspoken in her criticism of immigration, interracial relationships, Islam in France and homosexuality. Her husband Bernard d'Ormal was a former adviser of the far-right Front National party. Bardot has been convicted five times for 'inciting racial hatred'. More fun is that Bardot is recognised for popularising bikini swimwear, in such early films as Manina / Woman without a Veil (Willy Rozier, 1952), in her appearances at Cannes and in many photo shoots. Bardot also brought into fashion the 'choucroute' ('Sauerkraut') hairstyle (a sort of beehive hairstyle) and gingham clothes after wearing a checkered pink dress, designed by Jacques Esterel, at her wedding to Charrier. The fashions of the 1960s looked effortlessly right and spontaneous on her. Time Magazine: "She is the princess of pout, the countess of come hither. Brigitte Bardot exuded a carefree, naïve sexuality that brought a whole new audience to French films."

Sources: Denny Jackson (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Craig Butler (AllMovie), James Travers (French Films), French Films, Wikipedia and IMDb.

And please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

I cannot understand what happens to people that they can collectively lose their control of decency and regard for the respect for human life and regardlessly kill men, women and children in a massacre such as what happened at the Battle of Bud Dajo, Mindanao 100+ years ago. This picture of this young woman is overwhelming sad.

A period hand-colorized postcard.

Hubbell Family Papers, Bentley Historical Library

University of Michigan

NOBODY WANTS TO RETURN TO THE 40S, but the educations system today hardly focuses on life in the 40s, thus denying today's generation part of their heritage. There is way too much emphasis placed on political correctness, way too much focus on what a bunch of A-holes our past leaders were for doing this one group or another, etc, etc. Well, the truth of the matter is this, what is done is done, so a lot of educators should just "get over it and start teaching a little more respect for American values as they apply to the golden rule...not the religious golden rule, per se, just the golden rule that applies to common decency. Of course, this would leave one hell of a big gap in the educational system of this nation would it not?

Suomen ulkomaanedustustojen päälliköt kokoontuvat vuosittaiseen tapaamiseensa Helsinkiin 19.–22. elokuuta. Kokous järjestetään Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamolla Töölössä. #slsk19

Kuvat: Petri Krook/ Ulkoministeriö

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

Indian Cricketer Lifting Wife of Business Tycoon Mukesh Ambani , Owner of Reliance. Its Amazing.. Before some Time Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty was highly criticised for her indecent behaviour with Holywood Actor Richard Garry, By Right Wing Hindu Activists, though the the work of Actors and actress are indecent and we cant expect decency.. Now why is that the same Right wing are quite ? are they fed by this Tycoons ?? A number of narrated prophetic traditions (ahadith) illustrate the significance of modesty. The following hadith suggests that modesty is so important that the absence of it could lead a person to sinful behavior and disbelief: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ‘If you have no shame, do as you wish.’" (al-Bukhari) Another hadith links modesty to faith: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ‘Faith consists of more than seventy branches. And haya (modesty) is a part of faith.’” (al-Bukhari)

It's Christmas and people are ordering belts from me. If you'd like to throw your name onto that list or feel like giving someone the gift of decency (keeping their pants up) get a hold of me. I have brown and black leather at the moment. More brown than black. It's 10 oz stuff, so it's pretty beefy. Widths are variable and I'll make the buckle to fit what ever width.

Arctic Council Ministerial Dinner at Artikum Glass Hall. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Timo Soini and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland.

Finland hosts the 11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting on 7 May in Rovaniemi. Minister-level representatives from the eight Arctic States will convene to review and approve work completed under the two-year Finnish Chairmanship to improve sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

Photo: Jouni Porsanger / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Four acres granted to St Paul’s Church of England 17 Nov 1847 for a cemetery, earlier there had been a few burials, closed 15 Jan 1874, last official burial 1922 (although later burials noted in newspaper), transferred 1938 to City of Port Adelaide. Headstones cleared c1972, info plaque erected 1990, developed 1994 as Pioneer Park. The burial register indicates 3,000 burials; seven headstones remain. The Portonian Walk was established 2003 with pavers engraved with names of former residents of Port Adelaide. Now a peaceful park, the cemetery was so neglected in the 1920s & 1930s that a two-up school was hidden amongst the prickly pear & boxthorn, cows were pastured in clear areas and children played with broken headstones & bones.

“The remains of Thomas King, the unfortunate carpenter of the Lightning, found drowned a few days ago, at Port Adelaide, were yesterday interred in the Cemetery reserve, at Albert Town.” [Adelaide Observer 15 Aug 1846]

“Alberton Church of England Cemetery closed, except to persons who have already acquired a portion for the burial of members of their families.” [Express & Telegraph 16 Jan 1874]

“a fire, which was caused through some dry grass becoming ignited, started on the eastern side of the Alberton Cemetery. . . Many of the tomb fences and headstones suffered damage.” [Daily Herald 10 Mar 1911]

“Near Port Adelaide, north of Albert, Albert Town, or Alberton, as it was variously called, is one of the oldest South Australian graveyards. It is now closed. The first burial was on October 28, 1846.” [Register 5 Mar 1917]

“The Friends of the late Robert Cruickshank are respectfully informed that his Remains (Ashes) were Laid to Rest in the Family Ground, in the Alberton Cemetery.” [Register 30 Mar 1922]

“Mrs. Hephzibah Beulah Channon. . . recalled the times when funerals from ships were taken to the old Alberton Cemetery by .boats along the canal.” [Daily Herald 22 Jun 1922]

“In the middle of the cemetery is a capacious vault erected, so blackened letters on a slate slab above indicate, to the memory of John Snoswell and his wife Eliza. John Snoswell was buried there in 1878 [sic], but the weather has removed the record of the exact year in which his wife was interred. . . Alberton cemetery is a graveyard of tears. Everywhere there are broken headstones, some crushed by careless feet into a thousand fragments, and some half buried in a tangle of undergrowth. Though it is difficult to trace the history of the burial ground from its headstones there is plenty of evidence to show that beneath its unkempt surface many of the pioneers of South Australia sleep. The inscription on one stone indicates that Grace Parsons, who died at Port Adelaide in 1845, sleeps beneath. . . Though an occasional burial still takes place in the cemetery, holders of land exercising the right to inter relatives there, the place has been closed as a public burial place for years.” [The Mail 11 Jun 1927]

“cows had been allowed to roam in the cemetery. . . The owner of the cows was no better than the other wretches, for to pen his cows where he wanted them on that day he had attached the barbed wire to the railings of the graves. . . A ‘two-up school’ frequents ‘God's acre’, particularly on Sundays. Rabbiting with dogs is one of the most inoffensive of the pastimes indulged in there. . . It was not to be expected that any reputable cemetery trust would have allowed prickly pear, cacti, boxthorn, and other weeds to spread all over the property and smother the graves.” [Port Adelaide News 24 Jun 1927]

“Alberton Cemetery Fund Opened. . . Mayor of Port Adelaide (Mr Lewis) . . . is endeavoring to raise £200 to have the neglected graveyard cleared of boxthorns, prickly pear, and other weeds, and the graves restored to a state of decency. The cemetery is the resting place of many pioneers of the district. The last lease was issued about 60 years ago. Since then there have been no funds available for upkeep.” [News 3 Dec 1931]

“Captain G. H. McKay . . . interred in the Alberton cemetery on Monday afternoon. The late Captain McKay who was 56 years of age, had been connected with the shipping industry on the S.A. coast all his life. . . leaves a wife and large family” [Kangaroo Island Courier 9 Apr 1932]

“Alberton Cemetery. . . was given by the Government in the early 1850s as a burial ground for Port Adelaide, the management being vested in the Church of England. The cemetery ceased to be used as burial ground about 20 years ago, when the Cheltenham Cemetery was opened, and within recent years had fallen into a state of neglect. About two years ago, the council took the matter up with the trustees, and an arrangement was made whereby the council was to assume control of the cemetery. Because of the terms of the original trust, however, the ground cannot be taken over by the council until the authority of Parliament is given.” [Advertiser 3 Jun 1938]

“the control of the Alberton Cemetery to be transferred to the Port Adelaide Corporation.” [Chronicle 15 Dec 1938]

“The Old Cemetery at Alberton, which is now 100 years old, was the first burying ground of the Port Adelaide district, and many pioneer families are represented there. The headstones include such well-known names as Bayly, Barratt, Bowen, Bower, Brock, Blake, Dixon, Grosse, Hannay, Hodge, Fisher, Le Messurier, Moyers, Newman, Risely, Quin, Yeo, Wells, Weman, and Dr. Duncan. Originally it adjoined the Church of England Rectory, and was controlled by that body, but as a general cemetery and open to all creeds. After the establishment of the Cheltenham Cemetery by the corporation, it fell into disuse, and the graves became very neglected. In November, 1936, however, the Church of England handed it over to the Municipal Council, together with £100 for its upkeep, and it is therefore now under the same control as the Cheltenham Cemetery.” [The Citizen, Port Adelaide 30 Jun 1939]

“The Port Adelaide City Council will recondition the Alberton Cemetery and make several improvements. The cemetery has been overgrown with weeds and in a shocking condition for some time. Vandals have committed numerous acts of desecration and few of the headstones remain in good condition. Members of the cemetery committee of the council found on inspection last week that the burial ground had been haphazardly laid out. On only 25 per cent. of the tombstones were the inscriptions legible, and only half a dozen graves received attention from relatives. Although the council has a list of those buried, it is unable to determine the position of the graves, except by the headstones. . . There have been only occasional burials at Alberton during the last 40 years, and no maintenance work has been carried out for a quarter of a century. Seven years ago the public subscribed £120, and prickly pear and weeds were cleared from the land. But the cemetery again became an eyesore.” [News 12 Oct 1939]

“MOORE.—The friends of the late Miss Mary Ann Moore, of 13 Hastings st., Glenelg, are respectfully informed that her funeral will leave the residence of her niece (Mrs E. Peake), 17 Boundary rd., Glenelg, on Monday, at 4 p.m., for the Old Alberton Cemetery.” [Advertiser 16 Mar 1942]

11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Rovaniemi.

Finland hosts the 11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting on 7 May in Rovaniemi. Minister-level representatives from the eight Arctic States will convene to review and approve work completed under the two-year Finnish Chairmanship to improve sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

Photo: Jouni Porsanger / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Arctic Council Ministerial Dinner at Artikum Glass Hall. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland.

Finland hosts the 11th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting on 7 May in Rovaniemi. Minister-level representatives from the eight Arctic States will convene to review and approve work completed under the two-year Finnish Chairmanship to improve sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

Photo: Jouni Porsanger / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Antonis van Dyck, Antwerpen 1599 - London 1641

Erzbischof Laud - Archbishop Laud (1635)

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK

Strange! That thy hand should not inspire

The beauty only, but the fire:

Not the form alone, and grace,

But act and power of a face.

Edmund Waller, To Van Dyke, 1630s.

The ageing, ruddy man in this portrait may not display the kind of lavish beauty with which Sir Anthony Van Dyck endowed many of his female sitters. But his face does evoke the 'power,' and perhaps something of the 'fire', to which Edmund Waller refers in his tribute to the artist. Archbishop Laud stares directly at the viewer, commanding respect. His eyes are illuminated by intelligence but their heavy lids and raised, arched brows give him a distant, even haughty air. There is little humour or warmth in his expression.

A contemporary once dismissed Laud as "a little, low, red-faced man," but Van Dyck's Archbishop is no weakling or figure of fun. His small stature is compensated for, even masked by, his being shown here in three quarter length, dressed in a bulky eccesiastical uniform. This sense of quiet authority is reflected in Laud's stance. He rests his right elbow upon a pillar, a pose that Van Dyck borrowed directly from the great Italian painter Titian. Both artists used it for figures in whom they wanted to suggest integrity and power. The treatment of the Archibshop's hands in Van Dyck's painting has been singled out for particular praise. Is there a suggestion of restlessness, of impatience in his parted fingers? Does the Archbishop have better things to do than stand around posing for portraits?

The artist's great achievement is in conveying this sense of authority chiefly through his sitter's posture and facial expression. He does not need to use emblems here, or exaggerate the physicality of his subject. Yet the brilliantly painted white surplice, with its billowing sleeves, may denote more than the Archbishop's office. Austere though it is compared with the satins and silks worn by the dandies of Charles I's court, it is nevertheless a garment that was loaded with significance in Laud's day. In the wake of the Reformation, Puritans in England had sought to do away with much of the paraphernalia that attended Roman Catholic rites, and the surplice was seen as a regrettable relic of idolatrous pre-Reformation worship. Laud, who throughout his life staunchly defended the material aspects of Christian worship, disagreed. He regarded the surplice as a perfectly acceptable and dignified item. In 1640 he wrote: "All that I laboured for ... was that the external worship of God ... might be kept up in uniformity ... decency and some beauty of holiness."

The red and gold curtain hanging in the top right of the painting, might be a reference to altar cloths, the use of which the Archbishop also defended against the Puritans.

More than forty copies of this painting survive, so admired was it in the 17th century. It was only after cleaning in 1981, however, that the supreme quality of the Fitzwilliam version was recognised. It is now thought that this is the original from which all other copies derive - that painted by Van Dyck in 1635, and given by Laud to St. John's, his Oxford College.

Van Dyck was himself a Roman Catholic, but he spent 9 busy years in Protestant England from 1632 when he was knighted by Charles I and appointed "principalle Paynter in ordinary to their majesties." It was perhaps Catholic sympathisers like Archbishop Laud who made him feel welcome in Protestant England.

Source: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Not strictly a Finsec event, but here's a few photos of the Service and Food Workers' Union Nga Ringa Tota rally in Wellington on International Cleaners Day.

The 'Fair Deal for Cleaners' campaign that this rally is part of aims to provide a voice to the low-waged largely immigrant female workforce, in cities across Australia and New Zealand, who are calling on big property owners to support decency in their workplaces.

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1983 (Ireland) is unique in all of Europe, giving a fetus the same rights to life as the mother. This had led to untold grief, emotional hardship, public shaming, and even death. Doctors are sometimes unable to intervene even to save the mother's life, in situations where the baby has only a theoretical chance of survival. This is an incomprehensible situation.

The law was devised by the political right-wing with the Catholic Church at a time when women were gaining rights in several areas of public life. Its purpose was to put them in their place once again. Let's not forget that these same people forbade divorce, made contraception illegal, and created a country where censorship was a daily occurrence.

The facts are stark. Since 1980 more than 170,000 women and girls have traveled to other countries to get abortions that are illegal in Ireland. Others buy pills online and risk their lives in procedures without medical supervision. The shoes in this photo represent a small fraction of these women.

The Eighth Amendment is a remnant of an antique misogynist hierarchy. On Friday 25 May 2018 Ireland goes to the polls to eradicate this horrid legacy.

The vote is not about whether you "believe" in abortion or not. The abortions happen anyway. It's about whether you think women deserve the right to autonomy over their own bodies, or whether the State and Church should triumph over basic human decency and medical safety.

I would tell you about the things

They put me through

The pain I've been subjected to

But the lord himself would blush

The countless feasts laid at my feet

Forbidden fruits for me to eat

But I think your pulse would start to rush

Now I'm not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

You'll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

If you try walking in my shoes

Morality would frown upon

Decency look down upon

The scapegoat fates made of me

But I promise you, my judge and jurors

My intentions couldn't have been purer

My case is easy to see

I'm not looking for a clearer conscience

Peace of mind after what I've been through

And before we talk of repentance

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

You'll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

If you try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

Now I'm not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

You'll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

Now I'm not looking for absolution

Forgiveness for the things I do

But before you come to any conclusions

Try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

You'll stumble in my footsteps

Keep the same appointments I kept

If you try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

If you try walking in my shoes

Try walking in my shoes

[Depeche Mode - Walking in My Shoes]

Decency and good taste are harder and harder to find. People arent ashamed any more. A leaping leopard or three stripes legitimize barbarism. Dont you think?

ICE Out of the Bay!

Thurs Oct 23, 2025

Coast Guard Island, Oakland

At dawn on Thursday, hundreds of people from around the Bay Area came together at the base of Coast Guard Island Bridge in Oakland to stand up for their Bay Area communities and against the promised surge of ICE to SF by Trump. Coast Guard Island is where ICE agents were starting to deploy and where a force of over 1000 was expected.

When we arrived around 7:30am, we were told that about 15-20 minutes earlier, several ICE vehicles had raced toward the crowd of interfaith leaders, grandmothers and community members and proceeded to dispense several flash bang grenades and chemical agents into the crowd... in one instance, aiming directly and quite intentionally ("with direct eye contact" is what we were told) into the face of a clergyman - Jorge Bautista, at very close range. Someone else's foot was run over.

As the very peaceful (except for ICE thugs!) rally proceeded, organizers got word that Trump had changed his mind about surging ICE and federal troops into San Francisco, at least for now. This was cause for very limited celebration at the rally. Which federal forces was he referring to? ICE? CBP? Coast Guard? Natl Guard? Was he only referring to San Francisco? What about all the other Bay Area communities? Organizers remain on high alert and extremely vigilant and will continue to actively engage with communities at risk all around the Bay for the foreseeable future. Surge or no surge, ICE is still in our communities and continues to brutally kidnap non-citizens and citizens alike with no regard for due process and human decency.

Attempting to maintain some ladylike decency. FAIL.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Timo Soini meets Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Culture of Liechtenstein Aurelia Frick at Finlandia Hall.

The Session of the Committee of Ministers, to be held at Finlandia Hall on 17 May 2019, will mark the end of Finland’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. At the meeting, Finland will hand over the Presidency to France. More than 30 ministers from the member States of the Council of Europe will attend the meeting. The meeting will be chaired by Foreign Minister Timo Soini.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides photo material for media representatives, participants and organisers of the meeting. Please feel free to use the photos, considering the following restrictions: Not for commercial purposes nor reselling. When publishing the pictures, the name of the photographer and organization shall be mentioned as the source. No picture manipulation is permitted. The holder of the picture rights and/or the organisation shall at all times retain the copyright to the picture. When publishing the pictures, the publisher shall ensure the legality of the context where the pictures are used, obtain the permissions and consents required for their publication, and observe the generally established practices and decency. The publisher shall ensure that publication of the pictures does not insult anyone’s privacy or dignity.

Photo: Kimmo Räisänen / Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Women: whalebone corset was a necessity- serving as both a foundation to support the outer layers as a measure of internal female decency. Clothing of late Romantic period called for a narrower sleeve that fit low on the shoulder. These close fitting sleeves coupled with the low shoulder seam kept women from lifting their arms much above their heads. Detachable undersleeves- or rectangular pieces of cloth with a cuffed end- were sewn into the sleeve and could be removed for regular laundering.

By the mid 1840s, the shape of the skirt took on a bell shape and stiff crinolines along with multiple layers of petticoats became necessary to aid in lifting the circumference of the skirt. Double flounced skirts became quite popular. Bodices of the late Romantic period typically had basque waists (or elongated waistlines which ended in a point at the front). Necklines were round, V-shaped, and wide for both day and evening wear. Oftentimes interchangeable chemisettes and collars were worn during the day (see left).

Gowns of the late Romantic period were often made in one piece (the bodice attached to the skirt) but jacket and skirt combinations were also popular. The Gilet corsage was a French term for a woman's jacket made in the style of a man's waistcoat.

Mens: Shirts were cut with deep collars, long enough to fold over a carvat or neckcloth wrapped around the neck. Daytime shirts had tucked insets at the front; evening shirts had frilled insets. Sleeves were cuffed, closing with buttons or studs. Stocks have wide, shaped neckpiece fastening at the back which were often black. Carvats are square, were folded diagonally into long strips and tied around the neck, finishing in a bow or knot.

Not strictly a Finsec event, but here's a few photos of the Service and Food Workers' Union Nga Ringa Tota rally in Wellington on International Cleaners Day.

The 'Fair Deal for Cleaners' campaign that this rally is part of aims to provide a voice to the low-waged largely immigrant female workforce, in cities across Australia and New Zealand, who are calling on big property owners to support decency in their workplaces.

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92 Foot, Upper Bridal Veil Falls, Bridal Veil Creek, Columbia Gorge, Oregon

What an enjoyable day this was. Two visits to one of of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Columbia Gorge a week apart, is more then I could ask for. Making the trek down that steep hill with good company on both occasions made the visit that much more pleasurable.

I'm in the process of adding my new watermark logo to past photos and will turn them back to public as I replace each image. A lot of work but I think will be well worth it in the end. I'm also thinking about a copyright statement that I want to add to each photo in the description.