View allAll Photos Tagged hierarchical
The Hierarchy made Makhet is a energy blade that creates a confined stream of ionized gas. This blade was originally designed as a tool to scrap old starship hulls but the hot plasma beam is also adept in cutting through both flesh and Tritanium Alloy based armor making the Mahket a surprisingly good weapon in a pinch.
The weapons power cell situated in the handle and is good for at least one hour of continuous heavy duty cutting.
In the case of a damaged power cell or an overload, workers are instructed to discard the cell in question posthaste, preferably not towards their fellow workers.
Credits: StrIntFire for energy beam base.
Left to Right
Jaamal.
Curtley.
Da Bad Man
Marcus.
Youngblood.
An explanation from Wikipedia :)
In 1951 Hurrican Charlie ripped through the Carribean causing widespread damage and killing over 250 people. It is estimated that it caused over $50,000,000 worth of damage. Social Housing projects were built in Trenchtown, a neighborhood in West Kingston Jamaica to rehouse many of those made homeless by the devastation. Yardie (or Yawdie) is a term stemming from the slang name originally given to occupants of "government yards", these projects had very basic amenities, with each development built around a central courtyard with communal cooking facilities. Poverty, crime, and violence sprung up almost immediately in these neighborhoods, leading the occupants of Trenchtown to be in part stigmatized by the term "Yardie", gangs were quickly formed although each had very little in the way of organisation or hierarchy.
Yardies deal in drugs, prostitution and violence, Yardie gangs sprung up in the Immigrant communities in Both England and later the USA. indeed the term is most usually associated with Gangs now based in the UK.
Elizabeth Tower (1843-59). Architects: Augustus Pugin and Charles Barry.
Palace of Westminster.
Parliament Square. City of Westminster, London, England, United Kingdom.
Technical data:
Nikon D800 | PC-E Nikkor 24 mm f/3.5D ED | B+W ND 110 E + B+W KSM Circular Polarizer | Induro AT213 tripod + BHL2 ballhead
197s (3min 17s) | f/22 | ISO 50
Red indian.... a member of the race of people living in America when Europeans arrived
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the descendants of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas. Pueblos indígenas (indigenous peoples) is a common term in Spanish-speaking countries. Aborigen (aboriginal/native) is used in Argentina, whereas "Amerindian" is used in Quebec, The Guianas, and the English-speaking Caribbean.[21][22][23][24] Indigenous peoples are commonly known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, which include First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.[25] Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives.[26]
According to the prevailing theories of the settlement of the Americas, migrations of humans from Asia (in particular North Asia)[27][28] to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The majority of experts agree that the earliest pre-modern human migration via Beringia took place at least 13,500 years ago.[29] These early Paleo-Indians spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of creation myths.
Application of the term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus, who, in his search for Asia, thought that he had arrived in the East Indies.[30][31][32][33][34][35] The Americas came to be known as the "West Indies", a name still used to refer to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This led to the names "Indies" and "Indian", which implied some kind of racial or cultural unity among the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. This unifying concept, codified in law, religion, and politics, was not originally accepted by indigenous peoples but has been embraced by many over the last two centuries.[citation needed] Even though the term "Indian" does not include the Aleuts, Inuit, or Yupik peoples, these groups are considered indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in Amazonia, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time and work in reshaping and cultivating the flora indigenous to the Americas.[36] Although some societies depended heavily on agriculture, others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires.
A Navajo man on horseback in Monument valley, Arizona.
Many parts of the Americas are still populated by indigenous peoples; some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. At least a thousand different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, and Nahuatl, count their speakers in millions. Many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization, and subsistence practices. Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, but also cater to modern needs. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western culture and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples.
Migration into the continents[edit]
For more details on theories of the migrations of the Paleo-Indians, see settlement of the Americas.
The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the exact dates and routes traveled, provide the subject of ongoing research and discussion.[37][38] According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitation.[37] During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the land bridge of Beringia that joined Siberia to north west North America (Alaska).[39][40] Alaska was a glacial refugia because it had low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of North America, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska (East Beringia) for thousands of years.[41][42]
Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single ancestral population, one that developed in isolation, conjectured to be Beringia.[43][44] The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10–20,000 years.[45][46][47] Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond.[38][48][49] These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets.[50]
Another route proposed involves migration - either on foot or using primitive boats - along the Pacific Northwest coast to South America.[51] Evidence of the latter would have been covered by a sea level rise of more than 120 meters since the last ice age.[52]
The time range of 40,000–16,500 years ago is debatable and probably will remain so for years to come.[37][38] The few agreements achieved to date include:[29][53]
the origin from Central Asia
widespread habitation of the Americas during the end of the last glacial period, or more specifically what is known as the Late Glacial Maximum, around 16,000–13,000 years before present
Stone tools, particularly projectile points and scrapers, are the primary evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Crafted lithic flaked tools are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to classify cultural periods.[54] The Clovis culture, the earliest definitively-dated Paleo-Indians in the Americas, appears around 11,500 RCBP (radiocarbon years Before Present[55]), equivalent to 13,500 to 13,000 calendar years ago.
In 2014, the autosomal DNA of a 12,500+-year-old infant from Montana found in close association with several Clovis artifacts was sequenced.[56] These are the Anzick-1 remains from the Anzick Clovis burial in Montana. The data indicate that the individual was from a population ancestral to present South American and Central American Native American populations, and closely related to present North American Native American populations. The implication is that there was an early divergence between North American and Central American plus South American populations. Hypotheses which posit that invasions subsequent to the Clovis culture overwhelmed or assimilated previous migrants into the Americas were ruled out.[56]
Similarly, the skeleton of a teenage girl (named 'Naia', after a water nymph from Greek mythology) found in the underwater caves called sistema Sac Actun in Mexico's eastern Yucatán Peninsula in 2007 has had DNA extracted, and at 13,000 years old is considered the oldest genetically intact human skeleton ever found in the Americas. The DNA indicates she was from a lineage derived from Asian origins that is represented in the modern native population's DNA.[57]
Pre-Columbian era[edit]
Main article: Pre-Columbian era
See also: Archaeology of the Americas
Language families of North American indigenous peoples
The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European and African influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original arrival in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization during the early modern period.[58]
While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus' voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until Europeans either conquered or significantly influenced them, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing.[59] "Pre-Columbian" is used especially often in the context of discussing the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya civilizations) and those of the Andes (Inca Empire, Moche culture, Muisca Confederation, Cañaris).
Ethnic groups circa 1300-1535
Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont
Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies.[60] Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first significant European and African arrivals (ca. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through oral history and through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Mayan, Olmec, Mixtec, and Nahua peoples, had their own written records. However, the European colonists of the time worked to eliminate non-Christian beliefs, and Christian pyres destroyed many pre-Columbian written records. Only a few documents remained hidden and survived, leaving contemporary historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.
According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter had achieved many accomplishments.[61] For instance, the Aztecs built one of the largest cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. The domestication of maize or corn required thousands of years of selective breeding.
Inuit, Alaskan Native, and American Indian creation myths tell of a variety of origins of their respective peoples. Some were "always there" or were created by gods or animals, some migrated from a specified compass point, and others came from "across the ocean".[62]
European colonization[edit]
Main article: European colonization of the Americas
See also: Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas and Columbian Exchange
Cultural areas of North America at time of European contact
The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives and cultures of the peoples of the continents. Although the exact pre-contact population of the Americas is unknown, scholars estimate that Native American populations diminished by between 80 and 90% within the first centuries of contact with Europeans. The leading cause was disease. The continent was ravaged by epidemics of diseases such as smallpox, measles, and cholera, which were brought from Europe by the early explorers and spread quickly into new areas even before later explorers and colonists reached them. Native Americans suffered high mortality rates due to their lack of prior exposure to these diseases. The loss of lives was exacerbated by conflict between colonists and indigenous people. Colonists also frequently perpetrated massacres on the indigenous groups and enslaved them.[63][64][65] According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1894), the North American Indian Wars of the 19th century cost the lives of about 19,000 whites and 30,000 Native Americans.[66]
The first indigenous group encountered by Columbus were the 250,000 Taínos of Hispaniola who represented the dominant culture in the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. Within thirty years about 70% of the Taínos had died.[67] They had no immunity to European diseases, so outbreaks of measles and smallpox ravaged their population.[68] Increasing punishment of the Taínos for revolting against forced labour, despite measures put in place by the encomienda, which included religious education and protection from warring tribes,[69] eventually led to the last great Taíno rebellion.
Following years of mistreatment, the Taínos began to adopt suicidal behaviors, with women aborting or killing their infants and men jumping from the cliffs or ingesting untreated cassava, a violent poison.[67] Eventually, a Taíno Cacique named Enriquillo managed to hold out in the Baoruco Mountain Range for thirteen years, causing serious damage to the Spanish, Carib-held plantations and their Indian auxiliaries.[70] Hearing of the seriousness of the revolt, Emperor Charles V (also King of Spain) sent captain Francisco Barrionuevo to negotiate a peace treaty with the ever-increasing number of rebels. Two months later, after consultation with the Audencia of Santo Domingo, Enriquillo was offered any part of the island to live in peace.
The Laws of Burgos, 1512-1513, were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regard to native Indians. The laws forbade the maltreatment of natives and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism.[71] The Spanish crown found it difficult to enforce these laws in a distant colony.
Drawing accompanying text in Book XII of the 16th-century Florentine Codex (compiled 1540–1585), showing Nahuas of conquest-era central Mexico suffering from smallpox
Various theories for the decline of the Native American populations emphasize epidemic diseases, conflicts with Europeans, and conflicts among warring tribes. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives.[72][73] Some believe that after first contacts with Europeans and Africans, Old World diseases caused the death of 90 to 95% of the native population of the New World in the following 150 years.[74] Smallpox killed up to one third of the native population of Hispaniola in 1518.[75] By killing the Incan ruler Huayna Capac, smallpox caused the Inca Civil War. Smallpox was only the first epidemic. Typhus (probably) in 1546, influenza and smallpox together in 1558, smallpox again in 1589, diphtheria in 1614, measles in 1618—all ravaged the remains of Inca culture.
Smallpox had killed millions of native inhabitants of Mexico.[76][77] Unintentionally introduced at Veracruz with the arrival of Pánfilo de Narváez on April 23, 1520, smallpox ravaged Mexico in the 1520s,[78] possibly killing over 150,000 in Tenochtitlán alone (the heartland of the Aztec Empire), and aiding in the victory of Hernán Cortés over the Aztec Empire at Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1521.[citation needed]
Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the indigenous Americans had no immunity.[79]
Explorations of the Caribbean led to the discovery of the Arawaks of the Lesser Antilles. The culture was destroyed by 1650. Only 500 had survived by the year 1550, though the bloodlines continued through to the modern populace. In Amazonia, indigenous societies weathered centuries of colonization.[80]
Indians visiting a Brazilian farm plantation in Minas Gerais ca. 1824
Contact with European diseases such as smallpox and measles killed between 50 and 67 per cent of the Aboriginal population of North America in the first hundred years after the arrival of Europeans.[81] Some 90 per cent of the native population near Massachusetts Bay Colony died of smallpox in an epidemic in 1617–1619.[82] In 1633, in Plymouth, the Native Americans there were exposed to smallpox because of contact with Europeans. As it had done elsewhere, the virus wiped out entire population groups of Native Americans.[83] It reached Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679.[84][85] During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans.[86] The 1775–82 North American smallpox epidemic and 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic brought devastation and drastic population depletion among the Plains Indians.[87][88] In 1832, the federal government of the United States established a smallpox vaccination program for Native Americans (The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832).[89][90]
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil declined from a pre-Columbian high of an estimated three million[91] to some 300,000 in 1997.[dubious – discuss][not in citation given][92]
The Spanish Empire and other Europeans brought horses to the Americas. Some of these animals escaped and began to breed and increase their numbers in the wild.[93] The re-introduction of the horse, extinct in the Americas for over 7500 years, had a profound impact on Native American culture in the Great Plains of North America and of Patagonia in South America. By domesticating horses, some tribes had great success: horses enabled them to expand their territories, exchange more goods with neighboring tribes, and more easily capture game, especially bison.
Agriculture[edit]
See also: Agriculture in Mesoamerica and Incan agriculture
A bison hunt depicted by George Catlin
Over the course of thousands of years, American indigenous peoples domesticated, bred and cultivated a large array of plant species. These species now constitute 50–60% of all crops in cultivation worldwide.[94] In certain cases, the indigenous peoples developed entirely new species and strains through artificial selection, as was the case in the domestication and breeding of maize from wild teosinte grasses in the valleys of southern Mexico. Numerous such agricultural products retain their native names in the English and Spanish lexicons.
The South American highlands were a center of early agriculture. Genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species suggests that the potato has a single origin in the area of southern Peru,[95] from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex. Over 99% of all modern cultivated potatoes worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile,[96] Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum, where it was cultivated as long as 10,000 years ago.[97][98] According to George Raudzens, "It is clear that in pre-Columbian times some groups struggled to survive and often suffered food shortages and famines, while others enjoyed a varied and substantial diet."[99] The persistent drought around 850 AD coincided with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization, and the famine of One Rabbit (AD 1454) was a major catastrophe in Mexico.[100]
Andenes in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru. The Incan agricultural terraces are still used by many of the Incas' descendents, Quechua-speaking Andean farmers.
Natives of North America began practicing farming approximately 4,000 years ago, late in the Archaic period of North American cultures. Technology had advanced to the point that pottery was becoming common and the small-scale felling of trees had become feasible. Concurrently, the Archaic Indians began using fire in a controlled manner. Intentional burning of vegetation was used to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understories. It made travel easier and facilitated the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants, which were important for both food and medicines.[101]
In the Mississippi River valley, Europeans noted Native Americans' managed groves of nut and fruit trees not far from villages and towns and their gardens and agricultural fields. Further away, prescribed burning would have been used in forest and prairie areas.[102]
Many crops first domesticated by indigenous Americans are now produced and used globally. Chief among these is maize or "corn", arguably the most important crop in the world.[103] Other significant crops include cassava, chia, squash (pumpkins, zucchini, marrow, acorn squash, butternut squash), the pinto bean, Phaseolus beans including most common beans, tepary beans and lima beans, tomatoes, potatoes, avocados, peanuts, cocoa beans (used to make chocolate), vanilla, strawberries, pineapples, Peppers (species and varieties of Capsicum, including bell peppers, jalapeños, paprika and chili peppers) sunflower seeds, rubber, brazilwood, chicle, tobacco, coca, manioc and some species of cotton.
Studies of contemporary indigenous environmental management, including agro-forestry practices among Itza Maya in Guatemala and hunting and fishing among the Menominee of Wisconsin, suggest that longstanding "sacred values" may represent a summary of sustainable millennial traditions.[104]
Culture[edit]
Further information: Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of North America
Quechua woman and child in the Sacred Valley, Andes, Peru
Cultural practices in the Americas seem to have been shared mostly within geographical zones where unrelated peoples adopted similar technologies and social organizations. An example of such a cultural area is Mesoamerica, where millennia of coexistence and shared development among the peoples of the region produced a fairly homogeneous culture with complex agricultural and social patterns. Another well-known example is the North American plains where until the 19th century several peoples shared the traits of nomadic hunter-gatherers based primarily on buffalo hunting.
Writing systems[edit]
See also: Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, Cherokee syllabary, and Quipu
Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico
The development of writing is counted among the many achievements and innovations of pre-Columbian American cultures. Independent from the development of writing in other areas of the world, the Mesoamerican region produced several indigenous writing systems beginning in the 1st millennium BCE. What may be the earliest-known example in the Americas of an extensive text thought to be writing is by the Cascajal Block. The Olmec hieroglyphs tablet has been indirectly dated from ceramic shards found in the same context to approximately 900 BCE, around the time that Olmec occupation of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán began to wane.[105]
The Maya writing system was a combination of phonetic syllabic symbols and logograms — that is, it was a logosyllabic writing system. It is the only pre-Columbian writing system known to represent completely the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than one thousand different glyphs, although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning, and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than about five hundred glyphs were in use, some two hundred of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.[106][107][108]
Aztec codices (singular codex) are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Aztecs. These codices provide some of the best primary sources for Aztec culture. The pre-Columbian codices differ from European codices in that they are largely pictorial; they were not meant to symbolize spoken or written narratives.[109] The colonial era codices not only contain Aztec pictograms, but also Classical Nahuatl (in the Latin alphabet), Spanish, and occasionally Latin.
Spanish mendicants in the sixteenth century taught indigenous scribes in their communities to write their languages in Latin letters, and there is a large number of local-level documents in Nahuatl, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Yucatec Maya from the colonial era, many of which were part of lawsuits and other legal matters. Although Spaniards initially taught indigenous scribes alphabetic writing, the tradition became self-perpetuating at the local level.[110] The Spanish crown gathered such documentation, and contemporary Spanish translations were made for legal cases. Scholars have translated and analyzed these documents in what is called the New Philology to write histories of indigenous peoples from indigenous viewpoints.[111]
The Wiigwaasabak, birch bark scrolls on which the Ojibwa (Anishinaabe) people wrote complex geometrical patterns and shapes, can also be considered a form of writing, as can Mi'kmaq hieroglyphics.
Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write some Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families.
Music and art[edit]
Main articles: Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas and Native American music
Apache fiddle made by Chesley Goseyun Wilson (San Carlos Apache)
Chimu culture feather pectoral, feathers, reed, copper, silver, hide, cordage, ca. 1350–1450 CE
Textile art by Julia Pingushat (Inuk, Arviat, Nunavut Territory, Canada), wool, embroidery floss, 1995
Native American music in North America is almost entirely monophonic, but there are notable exceptions. Traditional Native American music often centers around drumming. Rattles, clappersticks, and rasps were also popular percussive instruments. Flutes were made of rivercane, cedar, and other woods. The tuning of these flutes is not precise and depends on the length of the wood used and the hand span of the intended player, but the finger holes are most often around a whole step apart and, at least in Northern California, a flute was not used if it turned out to have an interval close to a half step. The Apache fiddle is a single stringed instrument.[citation needed]
The music of the indigenous peoples of Central Mexico and Central America was often pentatonic. Before the arrival of the Spaniards and other Europeans, music was inseparable from religious festivities and included a large variety of percussion and wind instruments such as drums, flutes, sea snail shells (used as a trumpet) and "rain" tubes. No remnants of pre-Columbian stringed instruments were found until archaeologists discovered a jar in Guatemala, attributed to the Maya of the Late Classic Era (600–900 CE), which depicts a stringed musical instrument which has since been reproduced. This instrument is one of the very few stringed instruments known in the Americas prior to the introduction of European musical instruments; when played, it produces a sound that mimics a jaguar's growl.[112]
Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise a major category in the world art collection. Contributions include pottery, paintings, jewellery, weavings, sculptures, basketry, carvings, and beadwork.[113] Because too many artists were posing as Native Americans and Alaska Natives[114] in order to profit from the cachet of Indigenous art in the United States, the U.S. passed the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, requiring artists to prove that they are enrolled in a state or federally recognized tribe. To support the ongoing practice of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian arts and cultures in the United States,[115] the Ford Foundation, arts advocates and American Indian tribes created an endowment seed fund and established a national Native Arts and Cultures Foundation in 2007.[116][117]
Demography of contemporary populations[edit]
This map shows the percentage of indigenous population in different countries of the Americas.
The following table provides estimates for each country in the Americas of the populations of indigenous people and those with partial indigenous ancestry, each expressed as a percentage of the overall population. The total percentage obtained by adding both of these categories is also given.
Note: these categories are inconsistently defined and measured differently from country to country. Some figures are based on the results of population-wide genetic surveys while others are based on self-identification or observational estimation
Nessie's elder brothers, Igor and Shadow...
An inside glimpse into the missionary practices and hierarchical structures of the Mormon Church as seen thought the eyes of 2 young men struggling with their faith and beliefs...highly recommended
Just another shot of an object inside my house.....
© Copyright mrizal@72 2010 | All rights reserved.
Do not use, copy or edit any of my materials without my written permission.
Would appreciate not having large/animated multi invite codes.
Happy New Year! If you are like me, you need music to survive. On the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, music is right there at the top with self actualization. If you don't have music, how do you understand yourself, come to terms with the past, present, and future? if you don't have music, how do you cope with the small and large tragedies that threaten to destroy you? A world without music is one in which I wouldn't be able to survive. So, now that it's officially 2016, here's my way of saying goodbye to 2015.
I will always make the caveat here that it would be impossible for me to listen to every record that came out every year. I have a limited amount of time and I have a full time job...listening to records would be an amazing full time job on it's own but it wouldn't pay the bills, of course, so for now I'll just do what I can.
2015 was an amazing year for independent music and creative thought. There are probably thousands of records out there I didn't hear that I would love. So, it's surprising to me that when I look at the top lists/Best of the year lists of many major publications, I'm left with a stale feeling. There are only so many times you can read recommendations for Kendrick Lamar and Courtney Barnett before you realize all the top ten lists are starting to sound almost exactly the same and that music journalists have become lazier than sloths.
My aim in creating these lists is a little different than most. I don't really care about the major label type of artists. They bore me. They are formulated to appeal to a wide variety of people and I don't consider myself part of this group, especially in terms of my musical tastes. I prefer the extraordinary, the experimental, and the weird. I like music that challenges me to think and feel instead of just maintains a certain boring status quo. At the same time, the top album here is incredibly accessible and it didn't get the recognition for end of year lists in the States that I thought it should.
Here's my Best Records of 2015 list:
1. FFS (Franz Ferdinand + Sparks): S/T
I've been a Franz Ferdinand fan for a long time-in fact, since they became a band. I saw them on their first US tour and have seen and photographed them several times since. Yet, Sparks is a much newer band for me to come around to. I tried listening to them a few years back and found their sound to be just way too sugary and too oriented in disco. I'll admit, I also saw photographs of them and Ronald Mael's mustache reminded me of Hitler and made me scared they might be anti-Semitic so I avoided them based on that. When I saw they collaborated with Franz Ferdinand, I looked more into the band and was reassured that the Mael brothers of Spark come from an Austrian Jewish descent. I found quite a few singles to love, though I still feel like they are better in moderation (I feel the same way about Abba, even though I think they are tremendously fun.)
Somehow, though, the dark and seductive qualities of Franz Ferdinand paired with the up tempo disco pop qualities of Sparks make for some of the most interesting sounds and song compositions. This is catchiness to the extreme and each song will get stuck in your head in different ways and at different moments of the day. Think of the best singles by the band Queen and you'll be close to how great this is. The album is fun, to be sure, but it's also more than that. How many albums will you find "martyr" rhyming with "Sartre" for instance? Also have to say, even though I have decided not to do a top shows list this year, this was definitely one of my favorites!
Listen here: www.ffsmusic.com/
More photos I took of their set at the Vic Theater in Chicago here:
www.thelineofbestfit.com/photos/live-photo-gallery/ffs-at...
2. Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell
I was shocked when I didn't find this album on more best of lists. Sufjan has created some delicate music before in the past but this is him at his best-it has the same gentleness he created with Seven Swans with the more clever songwriting we saw in Come on Feel the Illinoise. It has become my favorite album of his to be sure and the sense of honesty is both disarming and alarming at the same time. Some of the lyrics really take you to the edge in many ways, "Fourth of July" especially. When someone bares all like Sufjan has here, it deserves a listen!
music.sufjan.com/album/carrie-lowell
3. Low: Ones and Sixes
You'll have a hard time finding a band that is as sincere and as hard working as Low is for as long as they have been creating music. Low hasn't ever, in fact, released a dud album. Each one of them has their gems and their strengths and Ones and Sixes is no different. Low, as always, ask questions of the listener. Sometimes, they give answers and sometimes they encourage you to think for yourself. There are times when Low is bare and deep and other times when Alan Sparhawk's and Mimi Parker's vocals together provide a lushness not unlike the sublime feeling of sinking your teeth into a deep dark chocolate truffle. If you're not already a fan of the band, I highly recommend you invest some time and energy into listening to their most recent as well as, honestly, any and all of their 11 releases. I've never been disappointed.
Low was also another band I greatly enjoyed seeing live in Chicago this year and they are coming to Evanston to Space January 30th..looking forward to it!
Low backstage and live in Chicago earlier this year: www.thelineofbestfit.com/photos/live-photo-gallery/low-ba...
4. Julia Kent: Asperities
If you took the music inside my soul, it would sound very much like Julia Kent's cello playing. There are no words and yet she creates the words I can't express sometimes and provides relief for me by doing so. Some words are used too often...still others haven't been invented yet. Thank you, Julia Kent, for providing the catharsis that comes from feeling the pain of the universe and still wanting to be a part of it and create inside it.
5. GY!BE (Godspeed You! Black Emperor): Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
I'm really looking forward to seeing Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Thalia Hall in Chicago on Valentine's Day in 2016 because I find turbulence and emotional chaos pretty romantic. Ok, so now that you have a little too much information about me, if you like other Godspeed You! Black Emperor records, you're sure to like this one as well. It's an instrumental maelstrom to be sure from start to finish but it's well worth the journey. You feel like with each GY!BE, you're looking at apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic collapsed cities, half turned into dust and while you're sifting through the ashes, you gain insight into the former humanity of it all. I'm not saying that you should only listen to GY!BE at the end of the world but it sure would be a great soundtrack for it. In any case, the ensemble is always gloriously effective at creating a mood and sustaining it and this is definitely no exception. I'm pretty sure Efrim Menuck is one of those people who will never sell out and I like that people like him exist in this world. Tra la la...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMgDyd2E6_8
6. Django Django: Born Under Saturn
Life is complicated..I mean, really complicated...and there are a great deal of sounds But what Django Django does is organize all the greatest sounds and make them melodic and interesting and...at the same time...not overstimulating. When I listen to Django Django, I hear catchy yet careful songs filled with intricate and interesting sounds that make the temporal lobes of my brain so extremely happy, I start to feel like I am actually floating in the atmosphere. And, if being a cloud weren't enough, you can actually dance to this stuff...highly recommended!
7. Gwenno: Y Dydd Olaf
Gwenno Mererid Saunders used to be Gwenno Pipette, which was a band I saw and loved awhile back (super catchy and fun!) The difference here is that she sings in Welsh and it's a bit more psychedelic as well. It's not as accessible as Joy Formidable but it's a little less weird than Super Furry Animals. All in all, it's a great and memorable record that has fantastic melodies extending beyond the wall hit by so many contemporary musicians.
Check it out and decide for yourself!: www.gwenno.info/
8. Cinchel: The Timing was Right for a Walk in the Woods
"Capital letters don't mean anything..they are useless," said my husband Cinchel while I complained that the album title on his Bandcamp was not acknowledging the proper capitalization of a title. That pretty much sums up my husband... he won't let any kind of pre-determined structure define him unlike myself who finds grammar and spelling rather organizing and comforting amidst the chaos of the modern world and all of it's endless rambling words and punctuation.
I digress...Cinchel is my husband and I am lucky to have him in my life. Every day or almost every day, I get to experience a part of him playing in the same room I am editing photos and each day he seems to come into his own a little bit. It's always an interesting dynamic..although we have very different day jobs, two artists living together under the same roof, struggling to create amidst a 40-60 hour work week. Life gets intense, complicated, draining, and will kill you if you let it. Cinchel is the optimist and he always finds a way to try to cheer me up...he doesn't seem to think about atrocities in the world like genocide as constantly as I do or, if he does, it doesn't let it get to him. Our cats definitely help.
We survive to create or do we create or survive? Either way, it's a bit of a symbiotic relationship. Cinchel is extremely prolific and puts gals like me to shame in that way...and, even more so, he provides the quality behind the quantity which is a rarity in this modern world. Check out his albums here and, if you don't connect to the above one in question, there is a little variety amongst his works-all well worth hearing:
9. Richard Skelton: Memorious Earth
This too shall pass and by this I mean us and the planet we live on. But, the thing about this particular funeral is that we'll all be dead and won't be able to witness it. Memorious Earth has a sort of dark emotional tone befitting of a eulogy and, at the same time, an homage to the sadness inherent in us as a species. It's what we admit is inescapable, passed down genetically and only growing stronger within our DNA as deep feeling humans. This is a little bit of a challenge to listen to but it's necessary when experiencing the loss of each moment in our lives when we made a different choice or couldn't make a choice, when we failed ourselves and our families, when we couldn't be what we dreamed we were and everything was lost slowly but surely.
aeolian.bandcamp.com/album/memorious-earth-2
10. Ian William Craig: Cradle for the Wanting
If you were to hear angels singing to you at the end of your life while you drifted in and out of consciousness, it would probably sound a little like this.
And then, your transported across different dimensions that you didn't know existed before. The static in the atmosphere threatens to interfere but you refuse to let it have it's way. Instead, you float and make the clouds your playthings, elevated by quite a different sort of wavelength.
Craig's Cradle for the Waiting is uplifting and beautiful, a little slice of a postmodern heaven that is flawless because it has small impenetrable flaws like little cracks in the universe where the static creeps in so it just seems more realistic that way.
soundcloud.com/recitalprogram/ian-william-craig-habit-worn
11. Helen: The Original Faces
Anyone who is familiar with the music of Grouper is aware of the breathy and often drifty vocals of lead singer Liz Harris. With Helen, the songs pack more of a punch relative to her and they are aided by a poppy shoegaze texture that makes them as lush as they are loving. There are times even I have to admit I'm not in the mood for the lackadaisical stylings of Harris in Grouper but Helen is definitely easier to get behind. It also makes me think Harris might be developing more self confidence and a sense of an artist...wish she would come to Chicago to play and also, this time around, use a little more light.
www.kranky.net/artists/helen.html
12. William Basinski: Cascade
Cascade is an album that makes you also think a little bit about the dreamland that only exists between your waking life and your sleeping life. If you could create a level of subconscious with it's own soundtrack and inject a little bit of Cascade, you'd probably become a much more well balanced individual. This record leads to interesting dreams but also has a level of reassurance that is perfect for experiencing at the end of a long day. If it seems strange to describe an album as perfect to fall asleep to, realize you're reading the words of someone who has struggled on and off with insomnia for the last 20 years and is finally optimistic about my ability to fall asleep on a more regular basis. If you need an album like this, consider it a gift to you and to humanity. I'm so happy Basinski is alive and creating music.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5s-KLGVcTI
13. Sóley: Ask the Deep
Some people might thing that 13 is an unlucky number but maybe those people would still be enlightened by the music of Sóley Stefánsdóttir or Sóley for short. She put out some wonderful music with Seabear and Sin Fang and, now that she's a solo artist, she continues to show tremendous growth in her own singular journey as a musician. Sóley is creative and surely is contributing to positive aspects of our collective consciousness. There's something quite magical in Iceland that makes empowered female artists like her, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir and so many more. Of course, Bjork also put out a great album called Vulnicura that didn't make this list but also comes highly recommended. I don't really feel the need to talk about albums you've probably already heard and heard of, though.
14. Allah-Las: Worship the Sun
Oh, I love garage rock and I crave garage rock to feel in this nice happy place sometimes when I need something with a little more structure than experimental drone music (which granted still has a substantial place in my life). Allah-Las probably aren't reinventing any wheels here but it's just so darn catchy and well put together that I love listening to this record. It takes me back to my former life as a sixties flower child when I didn't have a care in the world and I lay in the sun like a cat and listened to music all day. In some ways, this sounds like a found record from this period, in fact, instead of a 2015 release. There's a sense of authenticity to the sound even if the production is better than many records that came out in this decade. It would fit well on a Nuggets box set. Oh California, keep your wonderful music coming to this side of the country!
15. Wand: 1000 Days
Wand actually put out two albums this year and both are fantastic. Their first release of 2015, Golem, is much more heavy hitting than this lighter and brighter release. There's more of a psychedelic pop music influence here and it's quite weird as well as wonderful. These are songs to relish in, a grand adventure to an enlightened level of consciousness. You'll feel like you're on a blissful carpet ride you won't want to end for many moments! At other moments, there is still the heft of the former album Golem but it isn't as overpowering.
Honorable mentions:
Some other even more challenging and creative releases by female artists I liked this year:
Jenny Hval: Apocalypse Girl: jennyhval.com/
Holly Herndon: Platform: www.hollyherndon.com/
(Slightly more accessible): Briana Marela: All Around Us: www.brianamarela.com/
When you read the title you might expect a man in ermine and silks standing in a great hall with flunkeys at his beck and call? Instead here is a portly young man with a suit that is just a little tight and a very pleasant smile on his face. From a photographic point of view this is a dreadful crop from another photo!
Photographers: Various
Collection: Irish Personalities Photographic Collection
Date: 5th September 1928
NLI Ref: NPA PERS36
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Some text is BIG and some is small. Seen on the street in Cape May. Contax IIIa, Kodak Ultra Color 100 (expired 2009, always refrigerated and shot at box speed), ECN-2 development.
Anarcho-collectivism relies on cooperation and mutual aid, rather than hierarchies and force. Unfortunately, the rest of the world has not yet reached this idyllic stage of government. Also there's a giant sign hovering in the sky that says PvP Enabled, idk what's up with that.
Therefore, Lemunesia must take up arms to defend itself. Unlike the densely-populated nations of Azia and Kalonesia, the collectivist islands tend to be sparsely populated. While densely-populated Oyashima can recruit merely 1% of its population to form a vast army, every citizen of the Collectives must be ready to serve if the need arises. Every age and gender, if physically and mentally able, trains with their friends and neighbors to defend their communities and liberate the oppressed abroad, while those unable to fight prepare to contribute in other ways, from industry to logistics to coast-watchers. Luckily, the brave collectivists are not alone: the crabkin kingdoms of Salkrikrator overlap with Lemunesia beneath the waves. These anthropomorphic crustaceans were hunted and persecuted under the last several monarchs, but after the Revolution, the collectives sent gifts and peace offerings to bring the crabkin back to their coral homes. Now, young crab-kin come ashore to help the collectives in times of war, and the aquatic and terrestrial societies exchange fish, deep-water minerals, and pearls for forged and machined metal.
Though most Lemunesian islands are too small for mechanized maneuver warfare, the value of an armored and well-armed vehicle that could transition from the surf to the jungle eventually became too obvious to ignore. Soldiers dubbed the resulting prototype Mekala Niu, or Metal Coconut, for its rounded cast-iron hull and turret. Though initially intended to be produced as a medium tank, it turns out tank destroyers are just kind of better at most parts of being tanks than medium tanks are, so the Mekala Niu is being registered as a tank destroyer with the appropriate international publications.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've had this sitting in LDD for a few weeks now. At first I wanted to do a full diorama with tracks in the sand, but then LDD crashed when I tried to move a palm tree and I lost motivation. The palm trees are probably similar to techniques I've seen in the past, especially the upside-down dark tan bushes, but I can't remember who used them. If you're the original creator, nice job, comment and I'll add credits where due.
The tank started as a Sherman, because I went to a living history re-enactment in March and realized they looked better in person than in photos. The suspension was the first part I did. My first design was way too big for a minifig, like 1.5 scale height-wise, so I shrunk it down to the right dimensions. However, that left the suspension too tall, and plus I was already running into issues with the front fenders and the ugly ridges when you stack one-brick-high slopes (the same problem Chek ran into with another American tank). Then the lovely people of D&C started roasting my Sherman attempt, so I decided to roll with the curviness of my turret and make a hull to match that's shorter than a Sherman's hull but fits better on top of this higher-than-scale suspension. I feel like it's a little flat on the sides, which is why I added the roller-skates for detail. If I revisit this or do a group render later, I'm probably gonna try to add some ropes/spare treads/tactical logs on the sides and front glacis to break up those big smooth surfaces.
However, I'm probably not gonna be re-rendering this any time soon, because… the 2x2x1 corner bow pieces on the turret are not in Mecabricks, so I had to import them from Stud.io and then spend hours banging my head in frustration trying to get them to line up on the model. The Roman shield on the mantlet isn't even in Stud.io. Luckily Cagerrin helped me out by getting the 3d model of the shield from LDraw and importing all the missing parts. Turns out if I wanna pose a complex vehicle at a cool, dynamic angle that isn't 90 degrees to the grid, I should do that in Blender, or move the rest of the scene around the vehicle. This caused us both a lot of unnecessary frustration. Blender's a powerful program, but it's so unintuitive to me and so rife with hidden keybinds and menus. Rip.
A cropped shot for you to inspect, because Flickr won't zoom in properly on stupidbig renders and Discord won't upload anything bigger than 8 MB. Thanks for watching.
From Hinterland Who's Who:
This bird
-can remember where it hid food for at least 28 days after putting it in its hiding place
-drops its body temperature at night by 10 to 12°C below daytime body temperature, to conserve energy
-depletes much of its energy by feeding nestlings from six to 14 times an hour
-has a very established hierarchy, or “pecking order”
To hear the calls:
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-capped_Chickadee/sounds
Member of the Flickr Bird Brigade
Activists for birds and wildlife
Properties of the number 13
The apostle James says the Minor directed the Church of Jerusalem during thirteen years.
The thirteen ecclesiastical titles of the sacerdotal hierarchy of the Roman Church.
The father of Job had thirteen children, according to visions' of Ann-Catherine Emmerick
.
The celebration of the Epiphany takes place the thirteenth day after the nativity of the Lord. The number 13 is called theophanicus for this reason.
We find often the number thirteen associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her Assumption occurred a Friday 13, in August, at 3 o'clock of the evening, according to visions of Mary Agreda. However, according to revelations of Mary Jane Even in 1994, the Virgin would have died on August 13 and would have resuscitated two days later, that is to say on August 15 to be then received Body and Soul in the Sky. Also, the first and the last appearance of the Virgin Mary in Fatima occurred respectively on May 13 and on October 13, 1917 and it is on July 13, 1917 that the children of Fatima had their vision of the Hell, showing thus that the thirteen is also closely in relation to the suffering and to the death. Still today, in the end of time, the Virgin appears to some seers and clairvoyant only the 13 of each month. The 13th day of the month in the Christendom would be thus particularly dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Moreover several received particular messages tend to show it as it is the case of following messages. In one of messages given to a privileged soul of Quebec, Our-Lord recommended that the 13 of each month is in the honor of his Mother and established in each family. In another message given by the Virgin Mary to Sister Lucy of Fatima the 1st May 1987 for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the day when she appeared her to Fatima on May 13, 1917, She asked her to celebrate the 13 of each month by songs and the praises in spirit of repair and of expiation. Remind also that it is on May 13, 1981 that occurred the attack of the Pope John-Paul II, in the Saint-Peter place. What saved him from the death, it is that he turned the head to look an engraving of Our-Lady of Fatima at the same moment where the ball of the gunner passed. The France, devoted to Mary since Louis XIII, celebrated her by processions.
According to visions of Maria Valtorta, during the descent of the Holy Spirit on apostles in prayer in the upper room (Cenacle), the Fire of the Holy Spirit, then in form of sphere very shining above the head of Mary, was shared in 13 very shining melodious flames to go down on the 12 apostles and the Virgin Mary.
The value of the letter M of Mary, center of the Latin alphabet, is 13. Likewise 13 words compose the invocation to the Virgin on the Miraculous Medal: O Mary, conceive without sin, pray for we who have recourse to you.
For believer, Friday 13 (of the month of nisan) is the day where the Christ is dead on the Cross; it is also a Friday 13, day placed under the sign of Venus, that Eve, tempted by the demon, made eat an apple to Adam, what entailed their expulsion of the terrestrial Paradise. God being indeed rested the seventh day of the Creation, first Saturday (Sabbath of the Jews) was this day. The next week there had therefore a Friday 13, day of the original sin, since they was redeemed an other Friday 13, that the death of the Christ. Particularly the Jewish Passover was the 14 of the month of nisan, and the Crucifixion took place the day before the Sabbath of Passover, therefore a Friday 13.
In the visions of Maria Valtorta, Jesus speaks about the thirteen veins of the humanity by which are distributed the divine graces, first by Himself, and then by His 12 apostles, choose by Him to represent the whole humanity and in which all the humanity is gathered in His 12 apostles.
Some authors tell that Jesus would be born in a year counting thirteen months. When Hebrews celebrated their first Passover, they abandoned the solar Egyptian calendar and adopted the lunar calendar. Thus, to maintain the correspondence between the month of Pescha and the beginning of the spring, they had to introduce all the three years approximately a thirteenth month into the year.
On the Miraculous Medal, the M of Mary surmounts the Holy Cross of Christ, this one being associated to the number 13. And the letter M is also 13th letter of the alphabet.
The 13th glorious mystery of the Saint Rosary refers directly to Pentecost.
According to the Rule in the Order of the Saint Saviour, given by the Christ to saint Brigitte of Sweden (who lived from 1303 to 1373), in the monastery, thirteen priests have to sing daily the mass and the office of the ecclesiastical year.
The Jewish Faith states thirteen articles that are called fundamental dogmas of the Judaism. They were formulated by Maimonid.
The Witnesses of Jehovah have 13 fundamental doctrines, without speaking their internal rules.
The bible is the inspired word of Jehovah
Jehovah is the only true God
Jesus-Christ is the fathered unique son of God
Satan is the "chief of this world"
The Kingdom of Jehovah and the Christ will replace all human governments and will be the only government of all the humanity
Since 1914 we live the "time of the end"
A only path leads to God, all the other religions are not approved by Jehovah
The death is a consequence of the sin of Adam
Only 144000 go to the sky
The others will live eternally on the earth under the Kingdom of Jehovah
Respect the authority of this world, if they don't hinder their works
Refuse the blood: transfusion and foodstuff
Do the will of Jehovah
The 13 is the number of skies for the Aztecs, and the hair of the Ancient of Days had thirteen buckles and his beard thirteen wicks. The ancient Mexico divided also the time in cycles of 52 years divided themselves in four periods of thirteen years. They had also a week of thirteen days. Thirteen was also, for the Aztecs, a time number, which represented the completion of the temporal series.
The sacred cord of Druids has thirteen segments.
The thirteen evil spirits according to the Cabal.
The thirteenth in a group appears in antiquity as the most powerful and the most sublime. For example, Ulysses, the thirteenth of his group, escapes the appetite devouring of the Cyclops.
For the superstitious ones, Fridays 13 are real nightmares: if that day there are 13 guests to the table, that precedes a death in the year (to be 13 to table would carry misfortune); to see a black cat Friday 13 carries misfortune; it is preferable not to exit that day, but in the opposite case, if one leaves by a door, it is always necessary to enter by the same door. The superstition of Friday 13 was also revivified in this era of the computer by some viruses introduced into the computer systems appearing only the day of Fridays 13. The fortune teller on the other hand predicts better the future on Friday 13. In France, as soon as there is a Friday 13 to the calendar, the National Lottery organizes a special drawing because some choose that day to bet the money. But for some, less credulous and more prone to the optimism, the number 13 is a lucky number on which they hope to make a success of what they do or to try their chance. For example, one of these succeeds to convince the British navy to dissipate fears of superstitious sailors who refused to go up a ship a Friday 13. It was indeed decided that they would proceed to the launching of a new ship on a Friday 13. This ship was baptized the H.M.S. Friday. It was controlled by the Friday Captain and took finally the sea a Friday 13. They never see again the ship and the crew.
For the Mayas, the time is divided into several cycles beginning with the birth of Venus. And the cycle in which we are would have begun August 13, 3114 before J.-C. and would end on December 22, 2012. According to them, this date corresponds to the fifth and last cycle of the Earth, what would end to the destruction of the world.
One tells that Philip II, king of Macedonian from 356 to 336 before J.-C., had the misfortune, during of a procession, to add his statue to those of the twelve major gods of the Greek mythology. He was assassinated few time after while he was going to combat against Persia.
Number in relation with the moon: it covers on the average thirteen degrees per day and there are thirteen lunations in the year.
The Creation would be divided into thirteen dimensions and levels: in the first dimension, there are 13 levels; in the second dimension, there are 12 levels; in the third dimension, there are 10 levels. And so on until the thirteenth dimension, which is the dimension of the portal, which is the Dimension of the Christ. And there, there is one level.
The Sumerian used a zodiac including 13 constellations and 26 main stars.
The shield of the old Slav divinity Prono was decorated with thirteen white points.
The thirteen cords of the harp in Japan.
The thirteen gates of the human body of the woman: 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, the mouth, 2 breasts, the navel, the anus, the urethra and the vagina.
Some advance that the Universe created is governed by thirteen fundamental constants of the physics which are amongst other the speed of the light, constants of Planck, Boltzmann and Eddington, the load of the proton, the mass of the proton and the electron to the rest, etc. But this is far to make the unanimity for all seekers and scientists.
In none of the most modern American buildings there is a 13th floor et bedroom number 13. They has also taken the practice to proscribe the number 13 of the numbering in some streets. No more 13 also for some airlines and to the automotive race departure.
It had been formed in Bordeaux, at the 19th century, a society of 13. These jolly fellows organized banquets Friday of each week and committed all their businesses a Friday. The feast of the society was celebrated 13th Friday of each year. Before sitting down at table, they never omitted to reverse the salt boxes.
To the historical viewpoint, there had: 13 primitive cantons in Switzerland, 13 States primitive in the USA, 13 Länder of the Federal German Republic.
The Apollo-13 capsule of the NASA is the only Apollo not to have succeeded to land on the Moon. This mission, which proceeded from the 11 to April 17, 1970, was already at midway of the Moon when an explosion occurred in an oxygen tank and paralyzed a part of instruments. The capsule had then to return on the Earth as soon as possible.
The relationship between the volume of the Earth and that of the Sun is approximately 13 times a power of 10, that is to say 1 / (13.01 x 10E5) to be precise.
The card deck includes 13 hearts, 13 spades, 13 squares, 13 clovers.
Weight of the soul in ounce.
Birthday of marriage: lace weddings.
**************
IL NUMERO KARMICO TREDICI
Il numero karmico Tredici rappresenta la morte, la strasformazione e la rinascita. Chi vive sotto l’infuenza del Tredici avrà la concreta possibilità di riparare o di completare ciò che nelle vite passate è rimasto incompiuto. Ostacolate in precedenti esperienze di vita da situazioni di malattia, ignoranza e/o schiavitù, le persone del Tredici potranno quindi agognare ad una vita migliore.
Questa aspettativa non si limita solamente all’individuo influenzato dal Tredici, ma coinvolge anche le persone che gli stanno vicine a cui trasmette questa grande capacità. Dato che, nell’ultima fase del suo percorso evolutivo il Tredici si troverà a dover affrontare diversi ostacoli, potrà cedere alla debolezza di abbandonare il cammino o di prendere deviazioni per rendere il percorso più semplice, eviando così proprio ciò che si era prefisso di fare sin dall’inizio. Il Tredici karmico simboleggia inoltre il bisogno innato di apprendere la disciplina e il modo giusto per superare qualsiasi tipo di difficoltà.
John T. Phillifent - Hierarchies
Ace Double 53415, 1973
Cover Artist: Kelly Freas
"She and her pet were only a cover-up for the theft of the Crown Stones—and the few who knew might have to die for it!"
In the hierarchy of man-made beauty does a Gibbsian doorcase outrank an Ionic capital? Was the Renaissance better than the Baroque? Does a painting by Sir Frank Dicksee, RA, "trump" a Kelmscott Chaucer? Idiotic questions, of course, and what could be more foolish than the bureaucratic attempt to draw up a league table of such matters, for the benefit of the heritage and tourist industries? With that proviso in mind, I will mention that Bath is Britain's only World Heritage City. Large parts of it have been ruined, partly by the Luftwaffe, but probably even more by our postwar would-be commissars, who bestowed upon the city these flats in London Road which, when I used to pass them on the X4s, gave me the feeling that I was looking at coke-sorters' apartments in the suburbs of Smolensk.
Across the road is evidence of another act of hatred against English identity ...the alien decimalised currency introduced some eight years before the photograph was taken on Saturday 28th April 1979. I don't think people have ever taken it to their hearts ...and why should they? You hear it in the clumsy nomenclature. "One pence", "five pee", pence always pronounced in full, rather than the old "p'nce" contraction, no telescopings such as "tuppence" or "ha'penny", let alone demotic locutions such as "tanner" or "bob". The only identifiable price in the Co-op's window is 12p for cans of Coca-Cola (not yet "Coke"). The half penny ("half a pence") was still in circulation.
The bus is, of course, one of the FLF Lodekkas acquired by Bristol Omnibus Co. from Western National with the handover of the latter company's Trowbridge operation in 1970. Their side-by-side destination screens were a good early warning identifier and, at closer range, the Exeter registration marks.
I have been conducting studies with my captive subjects and can now confirm that monkeys do indeed create their own hierarchical structures. Here, we observe the alpha male displaying his dominance in terms of foraging success (his banana) and also his reproductive success (his bright, desirable clothing will surely attract a mate). The other monkeys in the group, whilst being subordinate, will occasionally fight with the dominant male; this can lead to power struggles, lack of food and resources, and in some cases losing your trousers.
in fall the leaves are at the top of the tree's glory hierarchy, followed by branches then the trunk...
This image cannot be used on websites, blogs or other media without explicit my permission. © All rights reserved
One of those 'failed' shots I guess (didn't turn out the way I imagined) but uploading anyways.
We all see the world through different lenses, but sometimes we also see the world differently at different stages in our lives.
one at the top has all the fun..
(This image is under full copyright, kindly contact me before any usage - selvink@yahoo.com)
Simona Halep (born on 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She won the award WTA's Most Improved Player Of The Year for 2013.
After the China Open (October 2017) she is ranked as the new number 1 in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) hierarchy.
Simona Halep is the 25th WTA World leader.
See: From Evert to Halep- The list of all WTA world WTA Leaders:
www.wtatennis.com/photos/evert-halep-all-25-wta-world-no1s
===============================
© Ioan C. Bacivarov
All the photos on this gallery are protected by the international laws of copyright and they are not for being used on any site, blog or forum, transmitted or manipulated without the explicit written permission of the author. Thank you in advance
Please view my most interesting photos on flickriver stream: www.flickriver.com/photos/ioan_bacivarov/
Many thanks for yours visits and comments
Classic Star Control ships in Intercept Orbit sizes!
The Ur-Quan Dreadnought is clearly a capital ship with frame catapults. (Launch fighters!)
Others can be negotiated into different roles.
Detolf Rules
Hierarchy
a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.
Sabi Sabi Game Reserve
Inside Kruger National Park
South Africa
Spotted Hyena deep in thought, the animal seems to be bothered by what could be insects of some sort on its nose. A hyena is more physically like a cat than a dog. Unknown to many people, the hyena spends 95% of its time hunting and not scavenging.
The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), also known as the laughing hyena, is a species of hyena, currently classed as the sole member of the genus Crocuta, native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUCN on account of its widespread range and large numbers estimated between 27,000 and 47,000 individuals.The species is, however, experiencing declines outside of protected areas due to habitat loss and poaching.
The spotted hyena is the most social of the Carnivora in that it has the largest group sizes and most complex social behaviours. Its social organisation is unlike that of any other carnivore, bearing closer resemblance to that of cercopithecine primates (baboons and macaques) with respect to group-size, hierarchical structure, and frequency of social interaction among both kin and unrelated groupmates.
However, the social system of the spotted hyena is openly competitive rather than cooperative, with access to kills, mating opportunities and the time of dispersal for males depending on the ability to dominate other clan-members. Females provide only for their own cubs rather than assist each other, and males display no paternal care. Spotted hyena society is matriarchal; females are larger than males, and dominate them. From Wikipedia.
To see the cosmos as theophany and not veil, it is necessary to return again and again to the truth that reality is hierarchic, that the cosmos is not exhausted by its physical aspect alone.
The cosmologies which appeal to the immediate experience of the cosmos by terrestrial man have no other aim but to convey this metaphysical and central truth concerning the multiple states of existence in a vivid and concrete fashion. Cosmologies based on Ptolemaic astronomy or other astronomical schemes based on the way the cosmos presents itself to man are not in any way invalidated by the rejection of this geocentric scheme for the heliocentric one, because they make use of the immediate experience of the natural world as symbol rather than fact, a symbol whose meaning like that of any other symbol cannot be grasped through logical or mathematical analysis.
If one understands what symbols mean, one cannot claim that medieval cosmologies are false as a result of the fact that if we were standing on the sun we would observe the earth moving around it. The fact remains that we are not standing on the sun and if the cosmos, from the vantage point of the earth where we were born, does possess a symbolic significance, surely it would be based on how it appears to us as we stand on earth. To think otherwise would be to destroy the symbolic significance of the cosmos. It would be like wanting to understand the meaning of a mandala by looking at it under a microscope. In doing so one would discover a great deal about the texture of the material upon which the mandala has been drawn but nothing about the symbolic significance of the mandala which was drawn with the assumption that it would be looked upon with the normal human eye. Of course, in the case of the cosmos the other ways of envisaging and studying it, as long as they conform to some aspect of cosmic reality, also possess their own profound symbolism—such as, for example, the heliocentric system, which was in fact known long before Copernicus, or the vast dark intergalactic spaces—but the destruction of the immediate symbolism of the cosmos as it presents itself to man living on earth cannot but be catastrophic. To look upon the vast vault of the heavens as if one lived on the sun creates a disequilibrium which cannot but result in the destruction of that very earth that modern man abstracted himself from in order to look upon the solar system from the vantage point of the sun in the absolute space of classical physics. This disequilibrium would not necessarily have resulted had the type of man who rejected the earthcentered view of the cosmos been the solar figure, the image of the supernal Apollo, the Pythagorean sage, who in fact knew of the heliocentric astronomy without this knowledge causing a disruption in his world view. But paradoxically enough, this being who abstracted himself from the earth to look upon the cosmos from the sun, through that most direct symbol of the Divine Intellect, was the Promethean man who had rebelled against Heaven. The consequences could, therefore, not be anything but tragic.
In civilizations of a traditional nature, intellectual intuition lies at the root of everything; in other words, it is the pure metaphysical doctrine that constitutes the essential, everything else being linked to it, either in the form of consequences or applications to the various orders of contingent reality.
Not only is this true of social institutions, but also of the sciences, that is, branches of knowledge bearing on the domain of the relative, which in such civilizations are only regarded as dependencies, prolongations, or reflections of absolute or principial knowledge.
Thus a true hierarchy is always and everywhere preserved: the relative is not treated as non-existent, which would be absurd; it is duly taken into consideration, but is put in its rightful place, which cannot but be a secondary and subordinate one; and even within this relative domain there are different degrees of reality, according to whether the subject lies nearer to or further from the sphere of principles.
Thus, as regards science, there are two radically different and mutually incompatible conceptions, which may be referred to respectively as traditional and modern. We have often had occasion to allude to the 'traditional sciences' that existed in antiquity and the Middle Ages and which still exist in the East, though the very idea of them is foreign to the Westerners of today. It should be added that every civilization has had 'traditional sciences' of its own and of a particular type. Here we are no longer in the sphere of universal principles, to which pure metaphysics alone belongs, but in the realm of adaptations.
(…)
By seeking to sever the connection of the sciences with any higher principle, under the pretext of assuring their independence, the modern conception robs them of all deeper meaning and even of all real interest from the point of view of knowledge; it can only lead them down a blind alley, by enclosing them, as it does, in a hopelessly limited realm.
Moreover, the development achieved in this realm is not a deepening of knowledge, as is commonly supposed, but on the contrary remains completely superficial, consisting only of the dispersion in detail already referred to and an analysis as barren as it is laborious; this development can be pursued indefinitely without coming one step closer to true knowledge.
It must also be remarked that it is not for its own sake that, in general, Westerners pursue science; as they interpret it, their foremost aim is not knowledge, even of an inferior order, but practical applications, as can be deduced from the ease with which the majority of our contemporaries confuse science and industry, and from the number of those for whom the engineer represents the typical man of science.
(…)
Modern experimentalism involves the curious illusion that a theory can be proven by facts, whereas in reality the same facts can always be equally well explained by several different theories; some of the pioneers of the experimental method, such as Claude Bernard, have themselves recognized that they could interpret facts only with the help of preconceived ideas, without which they would remain 'brute facts' devoid of all meaning and scientific value.
Since we have been led to speak of experimentalism, the opportunity may be taken to answer a question that may be raised in this connection: why have the experimental sciences received a development in modern civilization such as they never had in any other?
The reason is that these sciences are those of the sensible world, those of matter, and also those lending themselves most directly to practical applications; their development, proceeding hand in hand with what might well be called the 'superstition of facts', is therefore in complete accord with specifically modern tendencies, whereas earlier ages could not find sufficient interest in them to pursue them to the extent of neglecting, for their sake, knowledge of a higher order. It must be clearly understood that we are not saying that any kind of knowledge can be deemed illegitimate, even though it be inferior; what is illegitimate is only the abuse that arises when things of this kind absorb the whole of human activity, as we see them doing at present.
(…)
One of the characteristics of the present age is the exploitation of everything that had hitherto been neglected as being of insufficient importance for men to devote their time and energy to, but which nevertheless had to be developed before the end of the cycle, since the things concerned had their place among the possibilities destined to be manifested within it; such in particular is the case of the experimental sciences that have come into existence in recent centuries.
There are even some modern sciences that represent, quite literally, residues of ancient sciences that are no longer understood: in a period of decadence, the lowest part of these sciences became isolated from all the rest, and this part, grossly materialized, served as the starting-point for a completely different development, in a direction conforming to modern tendencies; this resulted in the formation of sciences that have ceased to have anything in common with those that preceded them. Thus, for example, it is wrong to maintain, as is generally done, that astrology and alchemy have respectively become modern astronomy and modern chemistry, even though this may contain an element of truth from a historical point of view; it contains, in fact, the very element of truth to which we have just alluded, for, if the latter sciences do in a certain sense come from the former, it is not by 'evo-lution' or 'progress' - as is claimed - but on the contrary, by degeneration.
(…)
These are the two complementary functions proper to the traditional sciences: on the one hand, as applications of the doctrine, they make it possible to link the different orders of reality and to integrate them into the unity of a single synthesis, and on the other, they constitute, at least for some, and in accordance with their individual aptitudes, a preparation for a higher knowledge and a way of approach to it - forming by virtue of their hierarchical positioning, according to the levels of existence to which they refer, so many rungs as it were by which it is possible to climb to the level of pure intellectuality.
It is only too clear that modern sciences cannot in any way serve either of these purposes; this is why they can be no more than 'profane science', whereas the 'traditional sciences', through their connection with metaphysical principles, are effectively incorporated in 'sacred science'.
The ways leading to knowledge may be extremely different at the lowest degree, but they draw closer and closer together as higher levels are reached. This is not to say that any of these preparatory degrees are absolutely necessary, since they are mere contingent methods having nothing in common with the end to be attained; it is even possible for some persons, in whom the tendency to contemplation is predominant, to attain directly to true intellectual intuition without the aid of such means; but this is a more or less exceptional case, and in general it is accepted as being necessary to proceed upward gradually.
The whole question may also be illustrated by means of the traditional image of the 'cosmic wheel': the circumference in reality exists only in virtue of the center, but the beings that stand upon the circumference must necessarily start from there or, more precisely, from the point thereon at which they actually find themselves, and follow the radius that leads to the center. Moreover, because of the correspondence that exists between all the orders of reality, the truths of a lower order can be taken as symbols of those of higher orders, and can therefore serve as 'supports' by which one may arrive at an understanding of these; and this fact makes it possible for any science to become a sacred science, giving it a higher or 'anagogical' meaning deeper than that which it possesses in itself.
Every science, we say, can assume this character, whatever may be its subject-matter, on the sole condition of being constructed and regarded from the traditional standpoint; it is only necessary to keep in mind the degrees of importance of the various sciences according to the hierarchical rank of the diverse realities studied by them; but whatever degree they may occupy, their character and functions are essentially similar in the traditional conception.
What is true of the sciences is equally true of the arts, since every art can have a truly symbolic value that enables it to serve as a support for meditation, and because it’s rules, like the laws studied by the sciences, are reflections and 'applications of fundamental principles: there are then in every normal civilization 'traditional arts', but these are no less unknown to the modern West than are the 'traditional sciences'. The truth is that there is really no 'profane realm' that could in any way be opposed to a 'sacred realm'; there is only a 'profane point of view', which is really none other than the point of view of ignorance.
This is why 'profane science', the science of the moderns, can as we have remarked elsewhere be justly styled 'ignorant knowledge', knowledge of an inferior order confining itself entirely to the lowest level of reality, knowledge ignorant of all that lies beyond it, of any aim more lofty than itself, and of any principle that could give it a legitimate place, however humble, among the various orders of knowledge as a whole. Irremediably enclosed in the relative and narrow realm in which it has striven to proclaim itself independent, thereby voluntarily breaking all connection with transcendent truth and supreme wisdom, it is only a vain and illusory knowledge, which indeed comes from nothing and leads to nothing.
This survey will suffice to show how great is the deficiency of the modern world in the realm of science, and how that very science of which it is so proud represents no more than a deviation and, as it were, a downfall from true science, which for us is absolutely identical with what we have called 'sacred' or 'traditional' science. Modern science, arising from an arbitrary limitation of knowledge to a particular order-the lowest of all orders, that of material or sensible reality-has lost, through this limitation and the consequences it immediately entails, all intellectual value; as long, that is, as one gives to the word 'intellectuality' the fullness of its real meaning, and refuses to share the 'rationalist' error of assimilating pure intelligence to reason, or, what amount to the same thing, of completely denying intellectual intuition.
The root of this error, as of a great many other modern errors - and the cause of the entire deviation of science that we have just described - is what may be called 'individualism', an attitude indistinguishable from the anti-traditional attitude itself and whose many manifestations in all domains constitute one of the most important factors in the confusion of our time; we shall therefore now study this individualism more closely.
----
excerpts from The Crisis of the Modern World by René Guenon
Chapter 4: Sacred and profane science
----
Dekoulou Monastery, Greece