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They Live, We Sleep
Artist Statement
“We are living in an artificially induced state of consciousness that resembles sleep. The poor and the underclass are growing. Racial justice and human rights are nonexistent.
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it.
They have created a repressive society and we are their unwitting accomplices ...their intention to rule rests with the annihilation of consciousness.
We have been lulled into a trance.
They have made us indifferent, to ourselves, to others; we are focused only on our own gain. They are safe as long as they are not discovered ...that is their primary method of survival.
Keep us asleep, keep us selfish, keep us sedated...they are dismantling the sleeping middle class.
More and more people are becoming poor. We are their cattle. We are being bred for slavery.”
– They Live
This photographic body of work is inspired by John Carpenter’s 1988 film, “They Live.” The movie was also credited by Shepard Fairey “as a major source of inspiration for his own subversive brand of street art.” They Live was the basis for his use of the word ‘OBEY’ that became his main campaign and a popular clothing brand consequently.
The protagonist of the movie, an unemployed drifter named "Nada," accidentally comes across a box of sunglasses. After putting a pair on, he realizes that they are quite special. He sees the world in black and white and discovers that it's not what it seems. The series of images I have created are like those unique sunglasses that Nada stumbled upon, aim to show the world to the viewer for what it truly is. I hope they will help people to take into consideration what they sacrifice by blindly following self-serving governments and corporations’ agendas.
Through this photographic project my intent is to encourage people to be more aware of the habitual ways of living that we have been thoughtlessly following for most of human history. It seems as though the human race would have learned by now to not put their trust in the hands of the misguiding ruling class. Unfortunately most of the humanity is still in the state of mindless consumerism and simply does not realize that their decisions, their entire lives are being manipulated.
Barn is located in Mendon Ponds Park, at the intersection of Clover St and Pond Rd, Mendon, NY... next to the Nature Center. Monroe County Sheriff Mounted Division was started in 1938.
Mendon Ponds Park is owned and very poorly maintained by the County of Monroe, NY.
Unfortunately, this extraordinary property is rapidly deteriorating due to an egregious lack of care. Trails are not cleared of debris... signs are useless. Park maintenance is essentially nonexistent. They do have a marketing department. Seriously, the taxpayers are paying the salaries of a county parks marketing department.
Email Mendon Ponds Park complaints to: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov
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Stewart
On Jan 29, 2013, at 11:20 AM, Jeffrey Warren
wrote:
iOS screenshot pls!!
On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 2:17 PM, Stewart Long
wrote:
> Very exciting updates. The archive page looks great in iOS. It is
> excellent to see the global map of maps as well!
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Jeffrey Warren > wrote:
>
>> Also, a revision to the archive front page:
>> alpha.publiclaboratory.org/archive
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 10:16 PM, Jeffrey Warren > jeff@publiclaboratory.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I made the search look through note/wiki body, not just titles, and the
>>> search seems much more robust. I'd start using it instead of the regular
>>> site now!
>>>
>>> Also unlike before if you search for a term, or look for a tag, where
>>> that term or tag does not exist, it now tells you so nicely and suggests
>>> how you should search for it.
>>>
>>> Thirdly, it now prompts you to create a wiki page if you go to a page
>>> which doesn't exist yet. Although of course for now you cannot actually
>>> create one, it's a dummy page.
>>>
>>> I've been working a little on getting the actual login system working so
>>> we could start creating real content on the new site... ! But its going to
>>> be a busy month so it may go slowly. We'd probably start with tagging and
>>> commenting.
>>>
>>> Jeff
>>>
>>>
>> --
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024
Fortune Global Forum 2018
October 16th, 2018
Toronto, Canada
3:30 PM
THE NEW GLOBAL CONSUMER: DOING BUSINESS IN A DIGITAL ECONOMY
The digital economy is no longer part of the economy. It is the economy. How can traditional brick-and-mortar firms reinvent themselves, their supply chains, and their marketplaces to avoid the fate of brands once thought of as everlasting but which are now nonexistent? And how are new platforms – from e-commerce to shared services – rewriting the rules of the game? A conversation on how businesses can manage expectations for digitally empowered customers, and how technology is being used to enhance the customer experience.
Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer, Majid al Futtaim
Andrea Stairs, General Manager, Canada and Latin America, eBay
Ning Tang, Founder and CEO, CreditEase
Moderator: Phil Wahba, Senior Writer, Fortune
Photograph by Stuart Isett/Fortune
The prophet Ezekiel described in great detail a future temple yet to be built in Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40). One thing that puzzles people is how that temple could possibly be built on the Temple Mount as long as the Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa mosque exists. That, however, is a story for another time – and, by the way, with God nothing is impossible.
For nearly 2,000 years an even greater obstacle to the existence of a third temple has puzzled men. Where are you going to get the priests who are to minister in the temple? A temple with no priests is like a Corvette with no gas. Nice to look at, but not functional. Ezekiel specifically states that that high priest must come from “the sons of Zadok.” Try looking them up in the phone book. And who in the world is Zadok?
In case your Bible memorization has not included genealogies, you’ll probably need some help with that. Zadok was the first direct descendent of Aaron to minister as the high priest in the First Temple that was completed by Solomon. Aaron’s family name was HaKohan (or HaCohen); hence Aaron’s descendents are Kohanim, the plural for Kohan. When God established the priesthood, it was declared in Exodus 29 & 40 that the priesthood would be a “statute forever” and that it would be “an everlasting priesthood throughout their (the Kohanim) generations.” That takes us back to the problem – where are the Kohanim? Do they even exist?
Yes, in fact, they do exist. But up until the last few decades, there was no way to find them and prove that they are truly Kohanim. There was no way our progenitors could do what can be done now and, therefore, the task appeared impossible. But we know about DNA.
Here is the truly amazing thing. “It now has been demonstrated that the priestly order of Cohanim has a common genetic marker that it characteristic of only 10% of the general Jewish population and nonexistent in Gentiles.” Dr. Patrick Young said that “While this is not direct confirmation that the Cohanim specifically descended from Aaron, it does demonstrate a separation and preservation of this priestly group that has persisted over 3,000 years! It is fascinating that the Bible predicted the existence of this priestly line . . . today because of God’s everlasting covenant with His people.”
Quoting Dr. Young, “The DNA data . . . demonstrates that the Cohen genetic line thrives today and is equipped to fulfill the priestly needs of any future temple.” Which should remind us that “faith is the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Before the beginning of creation, God knew exactly, not only how to create the Kohanim genetically, but He has been tracking them for 3,000 years! He has allowed scientists now to come to the knowledge of how to identify them only far enough in advance of the time they would be needed for preparation for temple worship in Jerusalem. Now ask yourself this question: “If God had already figured out how to do this, is the Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa mosque a problem for Him?” I think not!
We have the honor and privilege of coming into the very presence of God to pray. We can pray believing, even when we don’t see the answer. That is what faith is all about. Think about Jerusalem, surrounded by enemies and terror; wanting to possess the Temple Mount, but unable to; waiting to rebuild the temple, but prevented from doing so. But, if we believe God, then we know that He keeps His promises. He will do it. The Kohanim are ready. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)
For more on this story, visit: Jerusalem Prayer Team Articles Page.
LIKE and SHARE this story to encourage others to pray for peace in Jerusalem, and leave your own PRAYERS and COMMENTS below.
--------------------
Support the Jerusalem Prayer Team. Visit us now.
Day 110
*Day 109 does not exist
11/11
I got in trouble last night blahblahblah and I had no computer for the night, therefore day 109 is nonexistent.
Hey, don't write yourself off yet. It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on. Just try your best, try everything you can and don't worry what they tell themselves when you're away. It just takes some time, little girl, you're in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything will be just fine, everything, everything will be alright. Hey, you know they're all the same. You know you're doing better on your own, so don't buy in. Live right now, yeah just be yourself. It doesn't matter if it's good enough for someone else. The Middle-Jimmy Eat World
We had a really interesting discussion today during Current Events about discrimination and everything just because we're from West Orange and that's "the ghetto" and there are black people and gay people here. Honestly, I've learned so much from living here. I've learned to accept someone for who they are, black, white, yellow, or whatever. It doesn't matter, we're all equal.
So I just thought a song about someone feeling left out/looked down on really fit.
Anyway, sup Kell?!
I had a pretty good day, minus the fact that my doggie is in the Animal Hospital :(
Hopefully he'll be okay.
Anyway, this week has been eventful.
Friday- My Arcadia and Socratic show at Caldwell College, if my mom lets me go. I don't see why not.
Saturday- Theodore Grimm, Those Mockingbirds, Tourmaline, and Ultra Violent Lights show at the Meatlocker in Montclair, definitely.
WOOOOOO.
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Jump to: navigation, search
Iso Isetta Turismo
Iso Isetta Turismo
The Isetta was one of the most successful microcars produced in the post-WWII years—a time when cheap, short-distance transportation was most needed. Although the design originated in Italy, it was built in a number of different countries, including Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil, Germany and Britain. Because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, it became known as a bubble car—a name later given to other similar vehicles. Other countries had other nicknames: In Germany it was das rollende Ei (the rolling egg) or the Sargwagen (meaning something like "coffin car"; the name apparently came from the small (or rather nonexistent) distance between the passengers and oncoming traffic). In France it was the yogurt pot. In Brazil it was the bola de futebol de fenemê (soccer ball of FNM [a truck]), and in Chile it is still called the "huevito" (little egg).
www.science.org/toc/science/193/4250
Science
•Volume 193|
•Issue 4250|
•23 Jul 1976
Female opossum (Didelphis virginiana) and young. At birth (after a 12-13-day gestation), the opossum is partially equivalent in development to a 4- to 6-week-old human embryo. Once nursing begins, voluntary detachment from the teat is not possible for about 70-90 days. The young pictured are in characteristic association with the mother just prior to weaning at 3 months of age. The opossum is the only marsupial indigenous to North America. See page 328. [Robert L. Blake, Duke University Medical Center]
Embryonal Neoplasms in the Opossum: A New Model for Solid Tumors of Infancy and Childhood
William Jurgelski, Jr., Pearlie M. Hudson, Hans L. Falk, and Paul KotinAuthors Info & Affiliations
Science
23 Jul 1976
Vol 193, Issue 4250
pp. 328-332
DOI: 10.1126/science.180602
Abstract
Opossums fed the chemical carcinogen ethyl nitrosourea early in postnatal life developed a variety of epithelial and mesenchymal embryonal neoplasms that were closely analogous, in morphology and biological behavior, to tumors of human infancy and childhood for which experimental models in laboratory animals are either imprecise or nonexistent. The embryonal tumors were found in association with, and occasionally at the same sites as, a limited number of malformations.
The More You Know 😊
The Snowden Bridge near Nohly, Montana was built in the early 1900’s and spans the Missouri River. The bridge not only served the railroad, but planking was added so cars could also cross the river. Huge concrete counterweights allowed the lift system to raise the bridge in around 30 minutes. The bridge was almost obsolete when it was completed as river traffic was almost nonexistent at that time. A new bridge was built nearby toward Fairview, Montana halting traffic on this bridge.
Art collection
At first sight I was charmed and embraced this as sculpture, acquiring it with no knowledge but suspecting a good story lay in wait. Western interest in these mid-20th century Japanese incense burners (koro) is nonexistent, so I was up against both a backstory and language challenge…and the sorting out of two involved artists.
Saegusa Sōtarō (right) is one of the most famous Japanese metal artists of the 20th century and is credited with the original design of this koro. He is now collected by many museums, and many of his large-scale monumental works are installed in public spaces in many cities throughout Japan. (left)
Manyo Keisuke (sometimes translates to “Keikusaku”) is a Japanese metalwork artist credited with bringing this Sotaro design to life. He is celebrated for his refined bronze casting and distinctive surface treatments such as the “aokin-fun” finish, present here and highly regarded among art enthusiasts and collectors.
At some point in the 1950s/60s Manyo Keisuke brings to life the Saegusa Sotaro design of a Green Pheasant incense burner and names it “Zuiho”. (The Green Pheasant is Japan’s national bird and symbolic of good fortune, courage, and resilience)
The number of these Zuiho koros produced is unknown.
Length: 5.25” Width: 2.5” Height: 9”
My phone was too cold to take any pics on the ride in. This was 1/5 shots today, the other 4 are just gray squares or nonexistent.
Many of the tropical butterflies have distinctive seasonal forms. This phenomenon is termed seasonal polyphenism and the seasonal forms of the butterflies are called the dry-season and wet-season forms. How the season affects the genetic expression of patterns is still a subject of research. The dry-season forms are usually more cryptic and it has been suggested that the protection offered may be an adaptation. Some also show greater dark colours in the wet-season form which may have thermoregulatory advantages by increasing ability to absorb solar radiation.
The wet-season form has large, very apparent multiple eyespots whereas the dry-season forms have very reduced, oftentimes nonexistent, eyespots. Larvae that develop in hot, wet conditions develop into wet-season adults whereas those growing in the transition from the wet to the dry season, when the temperature is declining, develop into dry-season adults. This polyphenism probably has an adaptive role. In the dry-season it is disadvantageous to have conspicuous eyespots because they blend in with the brown vegetation better without eyespots. By not developing eyespots in the dry-season they can more easily camouflage themselves in the brown brush. This minimizes the risk of visually mediated predation. In the wet-season, these brown butterflies cannot as easily rely on cryptic coloration for protection because the background vegetation is green. Thus, eyespots, which may function to decrease predation, are beneficial for Satyrine butterflies like the Bushbrown to express.
Pu'er, Yunnan, China
see comments for wet season form......
024
Fortune Global Forum 2018
October 16th, 2018
Toronto, Canada
3:30 PM
THE NEW GLOBAL CONSUMER: DOING BUSINESS IN A DIGITAL ECONOMY
The digital economy is no longer part of the economy. It is the economy. How can traditional brick-and-mortar firms reinvent themselves, their supply chains, and their marketplaces to avoid the fate of brands once thought of as everlasting but which are now nonexistent? And how are new platforms – from e-commerce to shared services – rewriting the rules of the game? A conversation on how businesses can manage expectations for digitally empowered customers, and how technology is being used to enhance the customer experience.
Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer, Majid al Futtaim
Andrea Stairs, General Manager, Canada and Latin America, eBay
Ning Tang, Founder and CEO, CreditEase
Moderator: Phil Wahba, Senior Writer, Fortune
Photograph by Stuart Isett/Fortune
I am very particular about the crumb of my French bread. Too often do bakeries sell "French bread" with crumb as dense as standard white bread. That is simply not right.
This, however, is excellent. A good mix of smaller and bigger pockets, for delicious chomping.
Also notice the crust: crunch on top, but almost nonexistent on the bottom. And the bottom is flat.
This is French bread designed for sandwiching. The bread uses a very high hydration dough (which can basically only be handled right after taking it out of the fridge... it's not so high that the dough runs, but it's pretty close to it - 63%!) which results in a loaf with a flat bottom, with just enough crust to resist a knife spreading hard butter or goat cheese on it.
Ever tried spreading a firm paste on French bread only to tear up the crumb instead of getting the delicious topping evenly spread?
This is International Sandwich Science in progress.
I was sitting in a restaurant next to my hotel when my roommate (we were both traveling alone and had been paired up), ran in, panicked.
"You have doula training, right?" (We'd discussed it the day before.) "We need you badly next door."
I felt my whole torso and neck go numb. I'd met another hotel guest that day who confided she was four months pregnant. Oh, man, I thought. Not now -- it's too, too early. And I have absolutely no idea what I'd do for her. I threw off my flip-flops and sprinted next door, following my roommate along the water and past the guest cabins. Weird. We ran farther, to the edge of the hotel property, right up to the security shack. I admit now that as I entered the shack -- we're talking dirt floors, plank siding, empty bottles -- I had terrible visions right then of seeing something pretty horrific.
But I felt composed and focused: I pysched myself into believing I could handle whatever it was I was about to see.
I entered and found two Mexican men huddled around a black Labrador retriever, clearly in the throes of labor. Two tiny, mewing puppies were suckling at her, but mama dog -- Frieda, they told me -- was whining and moaning, heaving and straining against the dirt floor.
She was laying in a puddle of bloody tissue, and it was clear there were more puppies to be had. My roommate explained (her Spanish is Ok; mine is nonexistent) that they guards told her the first two puppies had come out fine, but that Frieda had taken a turn and was now really struggling.
Mendon Ponds Park is owned and very poorly maintained by the County of Monroe, NY.
Unfortunately, this extraordinary property is rapidly deteriorating due to an egregious lack of care. Trails are not cleared of debris... signs are useless. Park maintenance is essentially nonexistent. They do have a marketing department. Seriously, the taxpayers are paying the salaries of a county parks marketing department.
Email Mendon Ponds Park complaints to: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov
They Live, We Sleep
Artist Statement
“We are living in an artificially induced state of consciousness that resembles sleep. The poor and the underclass are growing. Racial justice and human rights are nonexistent.
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it.
They have created a repressive society and we are their unwitting accomplices ...their intention to rule rests with the annihilation of consciousness.
We have been lulled into a trance.
They have made us indifferent, to ourselves, to others; we are focused only on our own gain. They are safe as long as they are not discovered ...that is their primary method of survival.
Keep us asleep, keep us selfish, keep us sedated...they are dismantling the sleeping middle class.
More and more people are becoming poor. We are their cattle. We are being bred for slavery.”
– They Live
This photographic body of work is inspired by John Carpenter’s 1988 film, “They Live.” The movie was also credited by Shepard Fairey “as a major source of inspiration for his own subversive brand of street art.” They Live was the basis for his use of the word ‘OBEY’ that became his main campaign and a popular clothing brand consequently.
The protagonist of the movie, an unemployed drifter named "Nada," accidentally comes across a box of sunglasses. After putting a pair on, he realizes that they are quite special. He sees the world in black and white and discovers that it's not what it seems. The series of images I have created are like those unique sunglasses that Nada stumbled upon, aim to show the world to the viewer for what it truly is. I hope they will help people to take into consideration what they sacrifice by blindly following self-serving governments and corporations’ agendas.
Through this photographic project my intent is to encourage people to be more aware of the habitual ways of living that we have been thoughtlessly following for most of human history. It seems as though the human race would have learned by now to not put their trust in the hands of the misguiding ruling class. Unfortunately most of the humanity is still in the state of mindless consumerism and simply does not realize that their decisions, their entire lives are being manipulated.
A herd of four African elephants at the Cleveland Zoo, one of the Cleveland Metroparks in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.
It's not easy telling the four girls apart, but here goes:
Kallie was born in 1982 in Zimbabwe. She has long even tusks, a long straight tail, and keeps her head low.
Martika was born in 1985 in Zimbabwe. She has an almost nonexistent right tusk and a short left tusk, a smooth forehead, and a kink in the end of her tail.
Shenga was born in 1982 in Zimbabwe. She has two short tusks, a wrinkly forehead, and a tail like a question-mark.
Moshi is the matriarch. She was born in 1976 in South Africa. She has two long tusks (the end of one is filed down), a fat tummy, a smooth forehead, and a cropped tail (she had an accident).
Photo by Oscar Leiva/ Silverlight
Comasagua is located in southwestern El Salvador in the Balsamo coastal range between San Salvador and La Libertad departments. The Balsamo Range is a coffee producing area with 3,452 coffee farmers with 33,502 ha of coffee. These coffee-dominated watersheds on the south slopes of the Balsamo mountain range are the water sources and recharge areas for water sources for the towns and villages in the upper watershed plus numerous fast-growing tourist cities and towns in the coastal zone directly south of Comasagua, including the city of La Libertad. The high elevation coffee farms in Comasagua produce high quality coffee. Nevertheless, most farms have yields far below potential and investment continues to be limited. Coffee rust hit many of these farmers severely in 2012.
There has never been a significant water resource management program in this area; the water issues are serious and highly conflictive within these watersheds. Collaboration between municipalities, communities and coffee producers is considered weak to nonexistent. There is visible contamination and sedimentation of rivers and streams that reach the coast. Catholic Relief Services works here to teach ways of preserving water resources with coffee producers and processers in this area through its project Blue Harvest. It´s goal: sustainable management of water resources for people in coffee growing areas of Central America by promoting sustainable coffee production in ways that restore and protect water resource and promoting social and political processes for effective, sustainable, and local management of water resources.
All day it rained every 30 minutes and each time the sun shone brightly in between. This was taken while on my run. The creek was too wide to jump, unlike in summer when it is nonexistent. That shower of rain in the distance beat me home.
Taken with a Samsung Maxima Zoom 105XL point & shoot in the summer of 2007. I was finishing off the roll of Fuji Superia that had been sitting in it for over five years. Most of the scans from this roll were awful. This shot was okay, but the colors were nonexistent. I cleaned it up in Topaz DeNoise AI, then worked the image over in Photoshop.
July 27 2007, 4:35PM
This photosphere, taken May 4, 2016 north of Flagstaff, AZ, shows dense, overgrown forest BEFORE mechanical thinning restoration treatments.
What you're seeing:
NONEXISTENT UNDERSTORY -- Very little sunlight reaches the forest floor, so grasses and forbs don't grow well.
PAINT MARKS -- Foresters orange slash marks in thinning projects to identify trees that that will not be cut ("leave trees").
SNAG -- We try to keep the large, dead trees - called "snags" - whenever possible. They're ideal habitat for a variety of wildlife.
LOG DECK -- a large stack of logs can be seen in the background. These logs have been stripped of the leaves and small branches and are ready to be hauled away.
See this same area 2 months later: www.flickr.com/photos/4fri/28205635962/in/album-721576703...
The C-212x is loaded with double 12" LF/MF and a single high energy 3" HF driver. Each enclosure is constructed of high grade birch ply-wood and is custom fitted with steel fly hardware that has been test rated for a 7:1 static load, hanging 12 enclosures in a single array. Our user friendly hardware allows for hanging and ground stacking applications, permitting the user to stack up to six enclosures.
All C-212x enclosures are hand wired using premium 14 gauge wire and Neutrik brand NL8 connectors. All drivers are built with cast fame baskets for strength and longevity. Our compression drivers have replaceable titanium diaphragms for superb sound quality, performance and durability. We use a standard phase plug design to control the isophasic wave form as well as a wave guide system for smooth coverage and coupling. Our components are designed and built to a commercial standard and have a proven track record on tours ranging from stadiums to festivals of up to 30 shows per month with practically a nonexistent failure rate.
All C-212x enclosures are equipped with a removable back panel that can be disconnected and replaced by an internal TVi multi channel "Class D" power amplifier module. Each power amplifier has a built in multi-channel processor that has been chamber tuned for the C-212x to achieve a flat response curve with pre set limiters, DSP and crossover points. One amplified C-212x enclosure will also power one additional non-powered C-212x enclosure in tri amp mode by daisy chaining an NL8 cable.
A karesansui (枯山水), Japanese rock garden, or Zen garden is an enclosed shallow sandbox containing sand, gravel, rocks, and occasionally grass or other natural elements. The main elements of karesansui are rocks and sand, with the sea symbolized not by water but by sand raked in patterns that suggest rippling water. Plants are much less important (and sometimes nonexistent) in many karesansui gardens. Karesansui gardens are often, but not always, meant to be viewed from a single, seated perspective, and the rocks are often associated with and named after various Chinese mountains. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_garden)
Ginkakuji, Kyoto, Japan
Canon EOS-33,
Fuji RVP-100,
Tamrom 28-75 F2.8
A group of my friends and I went to Talkeetna for the "bluegrass" festival, but it was basically over by the time we got there, and there was no bluegrass (only poorly-executed classic rock covers). So we just hung out in the town and ate food and ice cream!
A G4 Security Officer and the TRCA Rep walk towards my position as P638 comes in with the newest Hyundai Rotum Cabcar #518 on the point. No, the two did not hassle me for being on the platform. Harassment of railfans is pretty much nonexistent nowadays especially at Boynton which was known as a "no go" spot for railfans.
Ponderosa Canyon is so named because of the huge Ponderosa Pines on the canyon floor.
In the slick rock sandstone of the White Cliffs the soil is thin or nonexistent and plants cannot easily take hold. The lack of plants causes this region to endure intense erosion with each rainstorm forming deep canyons, rounded domes and pointed nipples.
Where the roots of trees and plants can get established they help stabilize the soil and rock underneath. This is evident in the Grey Cliffs, the sequence of rock that lies above the White Cliffs. The Grey Cliffs are made of rock that consists of a combination of sand, shale, and clay. This combination produces better soils allowing dense vegetation, which better protects the rock underneath by absorbing some of the rainfall and preventing flash floods.
Another regular in both winter and summer. Hard to believe that before 1940 were nonexistent in the Eastern states. And that all our house finches are descended from a few pairs of cage birds turned loose in Long Island in 1940. Today they are more common in most places than the native purple finches.
dans le nid d'ange - rue Jules Machard à Dole - Jura - France - Photo argentique
Les bâtiments étaient en préfabriqués : donc isolation inexistante.
Ma mère a une photo ou je suis à côté du poêle à charbon. Elle m'a dit qu'il y avait 0° à côté du poêle ! Le nid d'ange était vraiment au top pour cela !
C'était l'hiver 1956. Température extérieure : dans les - 20°
google translate :
in bunting bag - street Jules Machard - Dole - Jura - France - Photo film
The buildings were prefabricated : so insulation nonexistent.
My mother has a picture where I am next to the coal stove. She said there was 0 ° to the stove! The bunting was really on top of it!
It was winter 1956. Outdoor temperature: in - 20 °
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vague_de_froid_de_l'hiver_1956_en_E...
United Airlines
Boeing B747-400
Registration: N721UA (nonexistent)
Manufacturer: NewRay
Scale: 1:270
Length: 25cm / Wingspan: 23,5cm
Salazaria mexicana, commonly known by variants on bladder sage or paperbag bush, is a shrub of the mint family Lamiaceae distinctive for its calyx lobes that develop into small bag- or bladder-like shells around the fruits. Widespread in the southwestern part of North America, it is the only member of its genus.
This plant takes the form of a rounded shrub, typically 50-100 cm high, sometimes larger. The stems form a spreading rigid pattern, with the tips often becoming spine-like. The leaves are small, 3-15 mm long and 2-8 mm wide, ovate to elliptic, entire, and with a very short or nonexistent petiole. The 2-lipped flowers develop in pairs facing away from each other; the upper lip is white to light violet and hairy, while the lower lip is 3-lobed and intense dark violet. The calyx starts out as simply a base to the flower, reddish-purple in shade, and then as the flower ages, it expands into its distinctive bag shape, 1-2 cm across, the dried flower eventually falling out of the hole in the end.
Flowering is generally April through June, but the bags are durable and may last on the plant into winter, becoming dry and papery.
These bushes occupy a variety of habitats in their range, including washes, gravelly or sandy slopes, shrubland, and woodland, often growing intermixed with other shrubs. The range extends from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the deserts of California, east to Texas and south into Mexico. They are relatively common; although both the foliage and flowers are sparse, the distinctive pattern of bags makes them easy to spot from a distance.
The genus is named after astronomer José Salazar y Larregui, Mexican commissioner for the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey of 1848-55.
6171. We're not entirely sure if this an Allan Green image of HMVS CERBERUS, or one he has collected from elsewhere, as we think it was taken around the time Green and his brothers had gone to remote Day Dawn, on the goldfields of Western Australia. We date it aroound 1901 mainly because of the new Australian flag at her jack staff on the bow.
In any event here is the latest news on the long and searing struggle to save the remains of this now unique maritime relic, a disintegrating breakwater at Half Moon Bay at Black Rock Victoria, since 1926.
With a tipping point now approaching in and hope of saving here, it's good to see that the threat to the CERBERUS is again getting some serious attentyion. This well-researched and balanced article by Jan Fisher in the Melbourne Weekly's Bayside edition has been passed on by John Rogers of the Save the CERBERUS organisation. The article invites comment at the end of this link:
www.melbourneweeklybayside.com.au/news/local/news/general...
Before going to the Fisher article, a COMPENDIUM of links to 35+ HMVS CERBERUS images on the Photostream can be found under entry NO. 5848, here:
www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/7253528494/in/photostream
Now here's the Jan Fisher piece in print-out version :
CERBERUS getting that sinking feeling
BY JAN FISHER
02 Aug, 2012 10:18 AM
To most bayside residents, the CERBERUS is just the rusting hulk that sits off shore at Black Rock. But to some it represents more than a century of Australian and maritime history.
Bayside council recently asked Heritage Victoria to change its mind about using a $500,000 federal grant – earmarked for preservation works – to establish an onshore display and a corrosion control system.
Heritage Victoria’s decision raised the ire of Friends of the CERBERUS, which described it as a ‘‘death warrant’’ for the ship.
But why should we care what happens to the CERBERUS? Friends of the CERBERUS president Peter Tully says preserving the world’s only surviving monitor warship represents a unique opportunity.
“There is nothing like her left in the world,’’ he says. ‘‘Her design was cutting-edge technology when launched in the United Kingdom in 1868 and was the forerunner of all other seagoing battleship designs that followed. She was very powerfully armed and served her entire career of more than 50 years within Port Phillip Bay – defending Melbourne.”
We can thank paranoia about Russia invading Melbourne for the CERBERUS. If that seems ludicrous now, in the late 1800s Victoria was awash with money from the gold rush and wool industry. The young Australian colonies still felt closely bound to Europe, which had recently felt the sting of the Russian military might in the Crimean War. It didn’t help when, in the 1860s, two Russian warships sailed into Port Phillip Bay unannounced. Turns out they were on a supply stop, but the good citizens of Melbourne were spooked.
All this happened before Australian Federation, when the only significant naval power was based in Sydney and had no intention of coming to Melbourne’s aid in the event of an invasion.
Melbourne needed protection, so in 1866 a delegation was sent to England to buy two ships. The first was the HMS NELSON, which was provided on permanent loan, and the second was to be the CERBERUS.
Launched in 1868 and completed in 1870, the CERBERUS was a landmark naval design. It was the first British warship to dispense with sail power, the first to be built with iron-plating protection (previously plating had been retro-fitted to existing ships) and the first to have gun turrets above deck both fore and aft. It also sat low in the water, which meant it was less of a target, and came equipped with tanks that could be flooded in order to lower the boat still further.
As a warship, its lack of sails and low freeboard – the distance between deck and waterline – made it almost useless for open water warfare, but perfect for protecting a sheltered harbour.
HMVS CERBERUS arrived in Melbourne in April 1871 to much fanfare, although not everyone was enamoured. The Australian Illustrated News described it as “an elongated gasometer”.
Despite its impressive military pedigree, the CERBERUS never fired a shell in anger, but perhaps it served its purpose, because the Russians never did get around to invading.
CERBERUS was decommissioned in 1911 but when World War I broke out it was used as a port guard ship and storage space for ammunitions and explosives.
After the war CERBERUS was renamed PLATYPUS II and towed into Corio Bay, where it was used as a supply ship for submarines. In 1924 it was sold for scrap and, after anything of value was removed, sold again to the Black Rock Sailing Club, which scuttled it in 1926 to serve as a breakwater in Half Moon Bay.
It wasn’t until the 1960s that any sort of campaign to save the CERBERUS took off. In 1969 the National Trust investigated the possibility of refloating the ship, and since then three other major campaigns to save her have come and gone. Although many people have lobbied for its preservation, progress has been minimal and funding is now almost nonexistent.
Bayside council’s latest request to have the $500,000 federal grant redirected to preserving the wreck, including bracing works, may be a last-ditch attempt. The underside of the hull collapsed twice in the mid-1990s during rough seas and the Heritage Victoria maritime unit has claimed that at its current rate of deterioration, the ship may have only five to 10 years left.
Peter Tully believes the CERBERUS deserves better. ‘‘She served for 50 years, an incredible record for any vessel,” he says. “No other ship has such a unique link to the development of Melbourne, Victoria and ultimately Australia. She deserves a far better fate than rusting away at Black Rock.’’
Photo: Green Collection, State Library of Victoria [La Trobe Library] accession NO.108/2125, publicly released.
slv H91.325fs2125
ANTICA GRECIA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA. "England Über Alles" - Parthenon marbles: British Museum to send more Elgin Marbles abroad despite Greek anger, THE TELEGRAPH, U.K., & ARTNET NEWS (06-09|12|2014).
___
s.v., The Parthenon Gallery | THE ACROPOLIS MUSEUM, ATHENS, GEECE [12|2014].
In the centre of the Parthenon Gallery on the 3rd floor, the visitor can observe a video presentation about the Parthenon and the sculptural decoration of the monument. In the same area are presented ancient marble inscriptions recording detailed cost records of the construction of the Parthenon and the statue of Athena Parthenos. As a result, visitors are informed on how democratic bodies functioned in the 5th century BC.
FONTE | SOURCE:
-- THE ACROPOLIS MUSEUM, ATHENS, GEECE [12|2014].
www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/content/parthenon-gallery
___
NOTE: The British Museum also states that ‘no talks' [= THE GUARDIAN U.K., 4 December 2014] had ever been held with the Greek government about a loan of part of the Parthenon marbles. “To date they have always made it clear that they would not return them. That rather puts the conversation on pause,” ‘This last statement is clearly untrue, as there are letters on file relating to loan requests dating to 2002, between Sir John Boyd (then chair of the British Museum trustees) and Evangelos Venizelos (the Greek Minister of Culture). The Director of the British Museum was then, as it is now, Neil MacGregor.
s.v.,
-- Greece’s Parthenon Marbles loan request that was rejected - Elginism (5 December 2014).
www.elginism.com/elgin-marbles/greeces-parthenon-marbles-...
___
-- ENGLAND, Parthenon marbles: British Museum to send more Elgin Marbles abroad despite Greek anger, THE TELEGRAPH, U.K. (06|12|2014).
The director of the British Museum has said it is already in talks to loan more Elgin Marbles to foreign museums.
Neil MacGregor told The Telegraph that the negotiations would continue despite the angry reaction from the government of Greece this week when it emerged that the museum was lending one of the Marbles – a headless statue of the river god, Ilissos – to the State Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia.
"A number of other people, other institutions abroad have suggested that they are very interested [in borrowing Marbles]," said Mr MacGregor. "A couple of other conversations are in train."
Mr MacGregor said the talks had been under way for "a year or so" and would continue in spite of Greece's opposition to the loan of the Ilissos sculpture, which was unveiled in the Roman Courtyard of the Hermitage on Friday afternoon. He declined to give details of the timing or of which museums would receive the masterpieces.
Greece has long insisted the Marbles – collected by Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, in the early 19th century and later passed to the British Museum – should be returned to Athens, where they once adorned the Parthenon.
Fresh loans to other countries are likely to infuriate the Greek government. On Friday, Antonis Samaras, the prime minister of Greece, said the British Museum's transfer of the 2,500- year-old Ilissos statue to St Petersburg until January 18 was "an affront to the Greek people".
"The British argument held until recently – that the Parthenon Marbles cannot be moved – is no longer valid; just as the existence of the new Acropolis Museum invalidated the other British argument that there was no appropriate space for exhibiting the sculptures," he said.
"We Greeks are one with our history and civilisation, which cannot be broken up, loaned out, or conceded."
The British Museum argues the sculptures were legally acquired and that it is up to the trustees to decide what to do with them. "This is a totally normal thing for the British Museum to do, to lend great objects to great museums," said Mr MacGregor. However, the Ilissos statue is the first piece of the artwork ever to be loaned abroad since the Marbles were acquired.
Asked if Elgin works could be loaned to Athens, Mr MacGregor said: "To date, the Greeks have always refused to borrow [the Marbles] because they would not borrow what belongs to them. But were they to make a request, it would be reviewed in exactly the same terms as any other."
Members of the British and Russian art establishments mingled in St Petersburg on Saturday at the opening of an exhibition of Francis Bacon paintings on the eve of the Hermitage's 250th birthday.
The event was attended by David Sainsbury, the philanthropist and supermarket heir, and the Marquess of Cholmondeley, who lives at Houghton Hall in North Norfolk, which hosted a show of masterpieces from the Hermitage last year.
The Kremlin was represented at the event by Mikhail Shvydkoy, special representative on international cultural cooperation to Vladimir Putin, Russia's president.
Mr Shvydkoy said UK-Russia cultural ties were "taking on a special significance in the current climate", in a reference to tensions between Moscow and the West over the Ukraine crisis.
"Culture is becoming an instrument to preserves some kind of contacts, some kind of atmosphere that might help revive a feeling of trust," he told The Telegraph. "That is the main political problem, the absence of trust [between Russia and the West]. It's not that we don't understand each other: we don't even hear each other."
Mr Shvydkoy dismissed suggestions by some in Britain that the Ilissos marble should not have been sent to Russia because of the Kremlin's support for separatist rebels in Ukraine.
"What if I were to say as the president's representative that our relations with Britain are difficult, so let's stop reading Shakespeare or Bernard Shaw?" he said. "I don't think that would be right." Meanwhile on Saturday, a steady stream of visitors passed the Ilissos sculpture in the Hermitage.
Igor Koryabin, an opera critic, 46, said he had come after the museum announced a mysterious "masterpiece from the British Museum" would go on display.
"It's a surprise that it's here despite the political undercurrents, of course," he said. "But I don't think there's any risk we won't give it back to Britain. There are agreements, guarantees. And I think it belongs in the British Museum now – the Elgin Marbles are symbol of it, they're in its blood." Elena Khodza, head of the museum's section on Greek and Roman Art, said: "When a masterpiece like this is shown in a fresh setting it gains a new life, a new aura. The fact it is here is a great and significant thing."
FONTE | SOURCE:
THE TELEGRAPH, U.K. (06|12|2014).
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11277535...
-- ANTICA GRECIA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA: Lorena Muñoz-Alonso, Fight Breaks Out Over Loan of Elgin Marbles to Russia, ARTNET NEWS (09|12|2014).
The British Museum's controversial decision to loan a sculpture from the Elgin Marbles to Russia's State Hermitage Museum (see “Elgin Marble Loaned to Russia, While Greece Keeps Getting Snubbed") has created heated debate among politicians and members of the museum community.
Greece, which has long lobbied for the marbles' return, struck the first blow. According to the Guardian, Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, called the loan a provocation, upon finding out about it last Friday. He declared: “The Parthenon and its sculptures were pillaged. We Greeks identify with our history and culture. They cannot be torn apart, loaned, and ceded."
Samaras also declared that the loan effectively defeated the British Museum's own argument against the repatriation: that the marbles were “immovable."
The Greek government found a prompt ally in Turkey, whose Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu declared last Saturday, while on a trip to Athens: “We support Greece in its efforts to return the god Ilissos to the Acropolis museum. The return of works of a nation's cultural heritage is very important." Davutoglu refers specifically to the sculpture of Ilissos, which is the Elgin Marble currently on view at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Turkey's support of Greece in the Elgin ordeal comes as the two countries begin to strengthen their bilateral ties after years of conflict over Cyprus, where half of the territory is under a Greek-Cypriot government and the other half under a Turkish-Cypriot government. Negotiations regarding the reunification of Cyprus are currently stalled but both sides are making strides to resume them "as soon as possible," according to the Hurriyet, an effort which even small gestures such as Davutoğlu's support of the Elgin Marbles' return to Greece could help foster.
Meanwhile, the director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, threw more wood on the fire, declaring that the institution is considering loaning more Elgin Marbles to foreign museums. "A number of other people, other institutions abroad have suggested that they are very interested [in borrowing Marbles]," MacGregor told the Telegraph. "A couple of other conversations are in train."
And yet, despite the general outcry, MacGregor's actions have also generated a number of supportive responses. On Sunday, for example, the Guardian published an article by BBC arts journalist John Wilson, praising MacGregor's sustained efforts in the field of cultural diplomacy, even if the museum director is actually, in Wilson's words, “cautious of being seen as a commissar of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's cultural wing."
Wilson claims to have witnessed first-hand how MacGregor “negotiated the biggest foreign loan of the terracotta warriors" and traveled to Iran twice “at a time when diplomatic relations were not simply chilly but nonexistent." Yet, Wilson reveals that the true reason for the Hermitage loan, far from being any sort of diplomatic coup, is the strong professional bond that MacGregor has developed with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Piotrovsky. MacGregor has, in fact, spoken of the Hermitage Museum as a “twin" of the British Museum, both being the "first great museums of the Enlightenment."
J. Paul Getty Trust president, James Cuno, also recently spoke out in favor of increasing the amount of art that goes on loan from encyclopedic institutions such as the British museum as an alternative to repatriation (see “The Getty's James Cuno Speaks Out Against Repatriation"). He argues that, among other things, many repatriation cases are spurred by ideological motivations and impulses to increase nationalism, using "ancient cultural objects to affirm continuity with a glorious and powerful past as a way of burnishing their modern political image."
Amal Alamuddin-Clooney, the reputed international human rights lawyer signed by the Greek government to assist in the repatriation efforts (see “Can George Clooney's Wife Rescue the Elgin Marbles?"), has not made any public comments thus far.
FONTE | SOURCE:
-- ARTNET NEWS (09|12|2014).
news.artnet.com/art-world/fight-breaks-out-over-loan-of-e...
s.v.,
-- ANTICA GRECIA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA. Parthenon marbles: Greece furious over British loan to Russia, THE GUARDIAN (05-07|12|2014).
Parthenon marbles: Greece furious over British loan to Russia – Greek prime minister says loan of statue from pillaged frieze puts end to British Museum argument that disputed antiquities are immovable, Greece has reacted with outrage to the British Museum’s surprise move to loan one of the disputed Parthenon marbles to Russia. THE GUARDIAN (05|12|2014).
Just a warm up to see if I still got the stuff.
ahem.
Orion is the off-the-record, no limits, last resort option for one of the few governmental offices that I aren't puppet to the major corporations.
While NINE (New InterNational Enforcement) remained free of the corporations, it realized that its power was basically nonexistent due to the rest of the government functions being puppets. It created the Orion project in order to use what power it had to create a secret, brutal, and elite group that could illegally do what NINE was meant to do: protect the peace and rights of the people.
While sometimes employing questionable ethics, Orion is the secret hand that fights both chaotic hackers and corporate mercenaries on behalf of the abused common people that fill the dark residential districts of the city continent.
While imperfect, they are one of the few pure lights in the dark future.
Another cyberpunk gun.
I'll answer a few foreseen questions right now:
1. It is caseless.
2. While the the mag feeds at the very back, that is not where the mag is. As is common in guns of this theme, the mag doesn't feed directly below the bolt/firing mech.
3. This was done to look cool, as all my guns are, and thus there will most likely be many technical issues which I never considered.
Oh, yes, in case you are interested, here is the pastie:
feel free to modify.
comments and feedback are very welcome.
EDIT: no ninjas this time, hurrah!
Asperula purpurea (L.) Ehrend, syn.: Galium purpureum L.
Purple Woodruff, DE: Purpur Meier, Purpur Meister
Slo.: škrlatna perla, škrlatna lakota
Dat.: July 30. 2016
Lat.: 46.35803Long.: 13.70286
Code: Bot_993/2016_DSC4167
Habitat: an opening in mixed Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies wood; clear cut under (local) power lines, almost flat terrain; calcareous, skeletal, colluvial ground; full sun, warm and dry place; elevation 545 m (1.790 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region.
Substratum: soil.
Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soča and Trenta, right bank of river Soča; near Matevž farmhouse, above regional road Bovec Vršič, East Julian Alps, Posočje, Slovenia EC
Comment: Few plants known to me are more difficult to be photographed in the field as Asperula purpurea. It is small, very tender and its flowers have not much more than 1 mm in diameter. Its leaves can be less than 1 cm long and only a fraction of mm wide. Apparently, when it grows on sunny places it is specially small and tender. So, it shakes restlessly even if there is no observable wind. At the same time only macro photography can show its details. Since it is widely branched in all directions one would need considerable depth of field for sharp pictures. This is of cause nonexistent with macro work. Also focus stacking technique cannot be used, because the plant is in motion all the time.
This South European plant growing also on Balkan Peninsula, Carpathians and Apennines originally belonged to Galium genus, but was later repositioned to Asperula genus. All Asperula species growing in Slovenia are beautiful; however this beauty requires to be admired with a hand lens.
Ref.:
(1) D. Aeschimann, K. Lauber, D.M. Moser, J.P. Theurillat, Flora Alpina, Vol. 2., Haupt (2004), p 348.
(2) K. Lauber and G. Wagner, Flora Helvetica, 5. Auflage, Haupt (2012), p 762.
(3) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora für Österreich, Liechtenstein und Südtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 702.
(4) A. Martinči et all., Mala Flora Slovenije (Flora of Slovenia - Key) (in Slovenian), Tehnična Založba Slovenije (2007), p 521.
This is a cluster that I have always meant to image, but just never seemed to get to. It is #1 on Sir Patrick Moore's Caldwell list, which is ordered from north to south. With this cluster being only 5 degrees from the North Celestial Pole, it takes first spot. Without anthropomorphizing too much, I always found poor old NGC 188 to be a lonely little cluster, isolated as it is near the NCP with no other interesting deep sky objects nearby. To add, it's a faint, distant cluster, and it's well outside the plane of the Milky Way. Maybe Sir Patrick felt the same way about it and decided to give it some honours.
Because it is outside our galaxy's plane, it has managed to avoid the gravitational forces that generally scatter open clusters after a few million years. Caldwell 1 has remained intact for 5 billion years, which is extremely old for an open cluster.
Caldwell 1 is so close to the NGP that I couldn't get my auto-tracker to calibrate. So what then? Well I turned off tracking and let my mount do the work all by itself. At 5 degrees from the pole everything rotates so slowly that guiding errors were practically nonexistent. Problem solved
amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/04/13/health/omicron-subvariant-covi...
With the BA.2 subvariant on the rise, what's safe and what's not? A medical expert explains - CNN
How should people weigh which precautions they want to follow? Should indoor mask mandates come back? Are there settings where people should consider masking outdoors? What if you have to go back to the office, and others aren't masking? And should we skip large indoor events again?
To help us with these questions, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also author of "Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health."
The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
CNN: Can you give us a quick refresher -- what protective measures are effective against this very contagious BA.2 variant?
Dr. Leana Wen: BA.2 is a subvariant of the Omicron variant. It appears to be even more contagious than Omicron. Like previous variants, it's spread through direct contact and is airborne. Someone coughing and sneezing will exhale droplets that can transmit the virus. The virus can also be carried on microscopic aerosols that are expelled by breathing. In addition, surfaces may play a greater role in Omicron transmission. Someone who coughed onto their hand and then touched a door could seed virus there and transmit it to you if you touch that door and then your nose or mouth.
The protective measures we talked about early in the pandemic still work against Omicron. Masks work very well, though here I would urge that people wear an N95 or equivalent mask, such as a KN95 or KF94. A simple cloth mask is much less effective, especially against a variant as contagious as BA.2.
Ventilation is very important. The risk of outdoor transmission is exponentially lower than indoor transmission, and a well-ventilated, less crowded space also has much lower risk than people packed together in an unventilated space. Surfaces play less of a role than aerosol transmission, but it's still good practice to wash your hands well or to use hand sanitizer if you shake people's hands and touch frequently used surfaces. That will reduce not only this coronavirus transmission but other respiratory and gastrointestinal pathogens, too.
We also have more tools at our disposal than we did in 2020. Namely, we have vaccines and boosters, which protect very well against severe illness and also reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection. Testing prior to getting together with others tells people if they are infectious and need to avoid the gathering. That's another key preventive measure that we now have access to.
CNN: What should people consider when deciding what precautions they want to bring back, like canceling restaurant reservations or masking up indoors?
Wen: I'd consider three things. First, what is the Covid-19 risk in your community? I've talked before about how the new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can be used here. If your community is in an orange, or "high risk," area by the CDC's metrics, you should mask indoors. If it's in green or yellow -- or "low" or "medium" risk -- you could choose not to, depending on the other two factors.
The second thing to think about is, what is your medical situation and the circumstances of others in your household? If you are generally healthy and fully vaccinated and boosted, your chance of severe illness from Covid-19 is very low. That's different if you are immunocompromised or live with someone who is elderly with multiple medical conditions. You would want to have a higher threshold for caution depending on your family's medical situation.
Third, how important is it to you to continue to avoid Covid-19? Of course, none of us want to get infected by the coronavirus, and no one should be trying to get it. But there are some people who want to avoid it at all costs and others who accept that if they engage in travel, resume parties, dine in restaurants and engage in other pre-pandemic activities, they will have some level of risk. That's a personal decision that will differ from person to person.
CNN: Does it make sense to mask in some situations but not others?
Wen: Absolutely. Risk is additive. You can bring back some things that are lower risk or higher value but still take some precautions. For example, if you work in an office that has pretty good ventilation and is well-spaced, and requires proof of vaccination, you may consider not masking in that setting. But you might still decide to mask in crowded, indoor places like grocery stores and train stations. Again, I'd urge that if you are wearing a mask, wear an N95 or equivalent mask, because it will be your best chance of protecting against the very contagious BA.2 variant.
CNN: What about outdoors? Is BA.2 so contagious that it could transmit there?
Wen: The risk of outdoor transmission is very low to the point that it's virtually nonexistent. Outdoor social gatherings are very safe, and certainly lower risk than the equivalent setting indoors. I do not think that people need to mask outdoors, but there may be situations where someone is extremely vulnerable -- for example, a cancer patient on chemotherapy -- and wants to be extra careful. In that case, they should definitely feel free to wear a mask when in outdoor and more crowded settings.
CNN: What if you have to go back to the office, and others aren't masking?
Wen: You need to decide what's best for you, with the understanding that one-way masking with an N95 or equivalent works very well -- that is, even if others around you aren't masking, you are still well-protected if you wear a well-fitting, high-quality mask at all times.
It also depends on the specifics of your workplace. Let's say you work in a well-ventilated office, everyone around you is vaccinated, and you are well-distanced from the next person. You could decide to remove your mask when sitting at your desk, but put it on again to go into a crowded elevator or a conference room where you're sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with other people. You could decide to go to an outdoor lunch with your colleagues, but skip the happy hour in a packed bar. These are all reasonable decisions depending on how you think about your own risk.
CNN: Should people avoid indoor gatherings, knowing that outbreaks can happen?
Wen: Not necessarily. It again depends on what's going on in your community, what your medical situation is, and how much you want to keep avoiding Covid-19. For me, my area, in Baltimore City, is in a green or "low-risk" area for Covid-19 transmission, according to the CDC. My husband and I are vaccinated and boosted. We have two little kids who are too young to be vaccinated, but we also recognize that it's going to be very difficult to keep them from getting the coronavirus given how transmissible this new variant is.
As such, I am attending large events, including indoor conferences and meetings. I'd prefer that these events require proof of vaccination and same-day negative test result. If they don't, they are less safe, and I certainly understand if others want to avoid them for the time being—just as I understand if others will want to keep attending them. This, to me, is no different from a decision to go back to the gym, resume travel or dine indoors in restaurants. Some will think those activities are worth the risk. Others will not.
A male swimmer pretends to eat another male swimmer's nonexistent big toe, undated, between 1961 and 2007.
With a minus tide, the bird watching is almost nonexistent. Plenty of ducks and shorebirds are present, but they are way way way far from shore. Sea lions and a cormorant are closer to the camera, but still a way way far away.
No complaints from me this time, because it was a rare and special winter day with not a cloud in sight, calm wind, and 64F/18C. I was very happy to be out enjoying the day.
024
Fortune Global Forum 2018
October 16th, 2018
Toronto, Canada
3:30 PM
THE NEW GLOBAL CONSUMER: DOING BUSINESS IN A DIGITAL ECONOMY
The digital economy is no longer part of the economy. It is the economy. How can traditional brick-and-mortar firms reinvent themselves, their supply chains, and their marketplaces to avoid the fate of brands once thought of as everlasting but which are now nonexistent? And how are new platforms – from e-commerce to shared services – rewriting the rules of the game? A conversation on how businesses can manage expectations for digitally empowered customers, and how technology is being used to enhance the customer experience.
Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer, Majid al Futtaim
Andrea Stairs, General Manager, Canada and Latin America, eBay
Ning Tang, Founder and CEO, CreditEase
Moderator: Phil Wahba, Senior Writer, Fortune
Photograph by Stuart Isett/Fortune