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I grew up in a household where I always stood in my sister’s shadow when it came to the topic of artistic ability. I was good, but she was great. I never impressed my grade school art teacher and to my parents, I was just another kid who drew terrible pictures and colored outside of the lines. My sister, even at a young age has had the uncanny ability to render images with a precision that I never could, although she has only ever taken formal art classes for school, when required. On the other hand, I have always been gifted at creating concepts for pieces of art but am not able to correctly portray my ideas with a pencil and paper. When I began taking pictures, however, I finally felt accomplished and proud of the art I was creating. I could try to tell you that I never envied my sister for the amount of talent she has, but I would be lying. I could also tell you that she never influenced my perception of the true meaning of art, but again, I would be lying. I create art because it is the staple that gets me through the day. I create art to tell people how I feel and to put myself out there for everyone to see. I create art because it tells me who I am.
My philosophy when I create is simple: be who you are and say (show?) how you feel. When I say this I mean: take chances and create chaos; be honest, be real, and do not let other people tell you that you are not good enough because that simply means that they don’t understand you. Get angry and make something from it; don’t waste a day on being average, and let your hair down. Take pride in your imperfections, because they’re what make you perfect. Take pretty pictures, even if you don’t know why. Challenge yourself and challenge society as well. Make life an adventure; make a name for yourself; take advice and give advice too. In the past I spent my time worrying about what other people think of me and my art, but now I spend my time being excited to hear everyone else’s opinion, even if they will challenge me. When I constantly grow and improve and create art, no one can touch me.
Interesting Me is a visual representation of me that is not nonexistent, but instead hidden beneath the surface. It shows a confident girl; a punk rock star on stage where she belongs. I used bold lighting and strong shadows to convey my alter ego’s bold, strong personality. She has an awesome wardrobe and has no trouble standing out in a crowd. She is not afraid to be herself; she is the type of girl who would take any dare and win every bet, smirking in order to show her mischievous side. With this photo, I took the chance at showing people what I would be if I had the chance to choose.
She's a cute little thing. At first glance, you would assume she is a highly adoptable, lovely little house kitty. But as you get to know her, you learn about her medical problems. Cats without tails are often called Manx cats. Manx are a specific breed, that not only has no tail, but has a depression where the tail should be. The last vertebrae is missing. Your spinal cord runs through your vertebrae, and connects to nerves all over your body. When nerves are damaged, or nonexistent, you lose sensation and or the use of parts of the body. Because of this abnormal body structure, Manx cats, are very prone to nerve problems near the end of the spine. Without grossing you out with too much medical detail, this is the area that controls one's bowels and one's bladder. Deformities in this area leads to issues such as incontinence, inability to go potty by oneself, and constant leakage.
Gilda & Steve were caring for Nicole at their home in Pennsylvania. They foster and do adoptions through Stray Cat Blues, www.petfinder.com/shelters/straycatblues.html. I met Gilda & Steve at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah in 1998, after acquiring the land for Rikki's Refuge, while I was still in the "oh my gosh, what have I gotten myself into !!!" mode. I spent two weeks out there studying, and begging all of their directors for every last little bit of helpful information that could give me. Gilda & Steve were there visiting and volunteering, and we hit it off.
They were so excited to hear at Rikki's Refuge would soon become a home for un-adoptable animals. A few months later they picked up a precious little girl off the streets who was a Manx. She was named Kelly, and her medical problems were far more severe than Nicole's. Kelly was animal number 12 at Rikki's Refuge. She came to join us on December 1, 1998, long before we have built anything. Her condition required constant medical attention. She crossed the Rainbow Bridge on July 25, 2001 from medical complications. She had been the Spokes Cat of Cat House Number One, adorable and charming, and never complaining about all the medical treatment she needed - including daily baths.
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
Somewhere in the late 18th century, the cultivation and marketing of tobacco marks the development of the site. Therefore beneficial, reconstruction of the settlement we now call "Old Town".
A small crosses from the modern city and go to the stone-built streets of a dream state. One moment only and the time course of changes. Migrates in the past, the aesthetics of a prior era when houses were writing their history with a personal touch. Walking to the Old Town meet the Municipal Art Gallery , the Folk Museum, the Cathedral Square and other important buildings and of course ... people who are distant, but have the sun in the eyes and the friendliness of the soul ... A "good morning" that is warmer and the intimacy ...
The Old Town is preserved village, well preserved and enviable example of urban planning. Has a human face, the houses seem to talk to each other, their voices filled the streets and courtyards.
Small gardens where the honeysuckle few passerby and Jasmine boasts its flowers, gates vying for the appearance of the railing, doors, carved by skilled carpenters - a feast of creation ...
The colors of the houses, the first family of landscape, distances nonexistent, direct communication. And it is truly wonderful to see more children playing in the streets and women to sit on street corners chatting everyday. If you want to feel carefree, to enjoy a peaceful stroll, chewing sweets or eating ice cream, but with eyes enriched architectural beauties , move the square Antique for a trek in the past.
This series of photos shows our cruise ship's journey along the Fiordland coast between Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, and then our looping route in one entrance to this enormous fiord and out another. The reaction of my fellow passengers to this magnificent New Zealand scenery was, in itself, wonderful to observe.
•Doubtful Sound is a very large and naturally imposing fiord in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. Doubtful Sound was named 'Doubtful Harbour' in 1770 by Captain Cook, who did not enter the inlet as he was uncertain whether it was navigable under sail. It was later renamed Doubtful Sound by whalers and sealers. There are three distinct arms to the sound, which is the site of several large waterfalls, notably Helena Falls at Deep Cove, and the Browne Falls which have a fall of over 600 metres. The steep hills are known for their hundreds of waterfalls during the rainy season. Access to the sound is either by sea, or by the Wilmot Pass road from the Manapouri Power Station. Most areas of the sound itself are only accessible by sea however, as the road network in this area of New Zealand is sparse or nonexistent, as is the human population. Doubtful Sound is unusual in that it contains two distinct layers of water that scarcely mix. The top few meters is fresh water, fed from the high inflows from the surrounding mountains, and stained brown with tannins from the forest. Below this is a layer of cold, heavy, saline water from the sea. The dark tannins in the fresh water layer makes it difficult for light to penetrate. Thus, many deep-sea species will grow in the comparatively shallow depths of the Sound.
Fort Greene Park, Fort Greene Historic District , Brooklyn
The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument that stands today in the center of Fort Greene Park is a 1908 memorial to the 11,000 men and boys who died in horrid conditions on the British Prison Ships during the Revolutionary War. The Monument, which is sometimes referred to as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, stands in the center of what was once called Fort Putnam, an actual Revolutionary War fort, named after Gernal Putnam. The Monument you see today is actually the third incarnation of this sacred shrine. The story of the horrid Prison Ships – and the ghastly conditions suffered by the men and boys imprisoned on them during the Revolutionary War – is one of the most disturbing chapters in American history.
During the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775, the British arrested scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens on both land and sea. Many were apprehended simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. Besides American civilians and resistance fighters, the British captured the crews of foreign ships on the high seas, especially Spanish vessels. The soldiers, sailors and civilians they arrested were deemed by the British to be prisoners of war and were incarcerated. When the British ran out of jail space to house their POWs they began using decommissioned or damaged war ships that were anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons.
Life was unbearable on the prison ships, the most notorious of them being the Old Jersey – which was called "Hell" by the inhabitants. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were horrendously overcrowded and wretched. If one had money they could purchase food from the many entrepreneurs who rowed up to the boat to sell their wares. Otherwise, the meager rations would consist of sawdust laden bread or watery soup.
A great number of the captives died from disease and malnutrition. Their emaciated bodies were either thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes of Wallabout Bay. Even thought the British surrendered at Yorktown. Virginia in 1782, the surviving prisoners were not freed until 1783, when the British abandoned New York City. (A footnote: after the war, the British Commander in charge of the Prison Ships was brought up on war crimes charges and was subsequently hanged.)
The "Old Jersey"
In the years following the war the bones of the patriots would regularly wash up along the shores of Brooklyn and Long Island. These remains were collected by Brooklynites with the hopes of creating a permanent resting place for the remains of the brave Prison Ship Martyrs. In the early 1880's the first Martyrs Monument monument was erected by the Tammany Society of New York. It was located on a triangular plot of land near the Brooklyn Navy Yard waterfront in what is now called Vinegar Hill.
By the 1840s, the original monument was in a state of disrepair and neglect. By 1873 a large stone crypt was constructed in the heart of what is now Fort Greene Park (then called Washington Park), and the bones were re-interred in the crypt. A small monument was erected on the hill above the crypt.
By the close of the 19th century, funds were finally raised for a grander more fitting monument for the Prison Ship Martyrs. The prestigious architectural firm of McKim. Meade and White was commissioned to design the large 148 ft. tower which stands today in the park. It was unveiled in 1908 with a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by President-Elect Taft.
Sadly, over the ensuing decades the monument was severely neglected. Due to shortage of public funds, urban blight and lack of community interest both the park and the memorial fell into disrepair. The monument originally housed a staircase and elevator to the top observation deck, which featured a lighted urn with a beacon of light which could be seen for miles. The elevator was operational until the 1930s but was unfortunately removed by the city in the early 1970s.
Since it founding in 1998, the Fort Greene Park Conservancy has been a catalyst for the restoration and revival of both the monument and the park. In November 2008 a grand weekend event is planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the 1908 Prison Ships Martyrs Memorial.
The bus stops are kinda cool. Incidentally I also declared that day officially the last day of this nonexistent summer.
Sonoma, CA – Lighting up metal textures with a flash never seems to get old - especially when taken in black and white. It was an overcast, rainy drizzle of a day. Not the most ideal for photography, so the weather added some challenges. This cloudy dark day did benefit in some ways; it acted like nature’s soft-box so shadows were virtually nonexistent. Trying to make even the most ordinary and boring objects and them seem interesting through photography has been an exercise of mine for several years. I’m not often successful but it doesn’t deter me from trying. Soon after this photograph was taken. I had a really good sandwich.
A simple selfie taken using the Therm-App Pro using a 13mm f/1.0 lens. The depth of field is quite small (almost nonexistent, in fact), but look at the sharpness of the eyebrows and the bridge of my spectacles. Who'd have thought we'd have got thermal cameras to the stage where we can start considering the bokeh of germanium lenses?
There is one dead pixel visible just beside my chin. I'll sort that out in due course.
Manufacturer: Yamato Motor Corporation
Nationality: Japan
First assembled: December 8th, 2044
Birthplace: Tochigi, Japan
Engine: 2.4 L Turbocharged Three-Rotor/ Dual AC Synchronous E-Motors
HP: 820
0-60: 2.4 seconds
Top speed: 225.00 MPH
Despite accounting for such a large piece of the global automotive industry, genuine supercars out of Japan are a rarity. Not nonexistent by any means, but for a part of the world that is so instrumental to car culture across the globe you'd expect more. Of course alot of the greatest sportscars ever created hail from the Land of the Rising Sun, but very few fit the traditional definition of a supercar despite some reaching supercar-levels of performance. For the few bona-fide Japanese supercars out there however, they're considered some of the greatest cars to not only come out of the eastern hemisphere, but some of the greatest the world has ever seen. Yamato Motor Corporation, probably the biggest name in the Japanese automotive industry, predictably gave the world one of these few Japanese supercars. What they gave is one of the most revered driver's cars ever conceived and something that influenced their performance and motorsports programs decades after it first appeared.
The story of Yamato's supercar begins in the mid-1980s within the depths of Yamato's R&D division. Engineers were experimenting with different engine and chassis layouts to test their viability for future products, and one project was a hacked-up economy car with its engine placed behind the driver and powering the rear wheels. Data from this project would go on to influence some rallycar projects, but engineers had so much fun working with this frankenstein platform that higher-ups in the company were convinced to develop a pure sportscar. A couple concept cars and some consultation from race car drivers working under Yamato at the time, and the XSP (eXperimental Sportscar Prototype) project began in earnest. With a robust and highly-decorated motorsports team alongside some of the greatest engineers in the business backed by one of the largest R&D departments in the industry, Yamato had about the best development resources available to them and used them liberally. The fruits of their labors would hit the public eye in the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show, creating quite the splash with the automotive press. The Yamato Raijin had made its grand debut, and it stole the show wherever it went. Yamato went with the name "Raijin" after the Shinto god of lightning, not just to hint at the car's lightning-quick performance, but to compliment the "lower-tier" Fujin sportscar Yamato was producing at the time. In Shinto faith, Raijin and Fujin are depicted as brothers, so it only made sense for Yamato to reflect this with their two dedicated performance cars. And what a performer the Raijin was. Yamato outright targeted Italian supercar maker Scaletti when developing the Raijin, intending to provide on-par or greater performance figures while offering something more usable, reliable, and affordable. When the Raijin reached production a year later in 1990, reception was near-universal where it was more or less agreed that it crushed the goals Yamato was aiming for. Special mention was given to the Raijin's frame, which was meticulously fine-tuned to be as lightweight as possible while providing laser-precise handling. The punchy, high-revving flat-6 engine was also unlike anything else on the road with plenty of innovative firsts at the time such as titanium connecting rods and forged pistons. Despite this motorsports-born performance credentials, the Raijin was also a practical and reliable daily driver, notably with a fighter jet-inspired canopy that offered great visibility for a supercar in that era. As it was developed by Yamato's motorsports division, predictably it would end up going racing where it would gain even more race victories for the company. Overall the Raijin would turn out to be a fantastic success for Yamato that would greatly influence their future performance cars and even other marques across the globe. While the first-gen Raijin would cease production in the early-2000s, the nameplate's popularity would never really fall, and Yamato certainly wasn't foolish enough to forget it.
The Raijin would return in the late 2010s as a more tech-focused hybrid-powered supercar, offering a glimpse of 7-figure technology for a 6-figure price. It was a great car by all regards, but with the bar the original Raijin set there was no way this new generation was going to have the same universal acclaim. After a few years the second-gen Raijin would cease production, and it would be decades before Yamato would try their hand at a supercar again. Their motorsports and R&D division wouldn't slow down, however, and would expand their knowledge and resources all the way up until the 2040s. International automotive press would be set off when something was spotted at Twin Ring Montegi in Togichi, Yamato's test track of choice for their racing projects. An obviously mid-engined supercar in heavy prototype camo was frequently spotted doing test laps around the circuit. The spotters noted a distinctly high-pitched engine note that was unlike the boxer-style engines Yamato commonly used for their high-performance models. They also noted that sometimes while it was driving, it made no sound at all outside of tire noise. The prototype camo was very effective at hiding the car's design, but even then many enthusiasts noted from the spy shots that it seemed to carry some design cues from older Raijin generations. This in turn would spark common speculation that this strange new car was Yamato resurrecting the legendary nameplate for a 3rd time. Speculation was all anybody had until the 2044 Tokyo Motor Show came up. To nobody's surprise but to everyone's excitement, the speculation was true. Flanked on both sides of the stage by prior Raijin generations, Yamato revealed the 3rd-generation Raijin supercar to the world. While this new generation visually respected its past, it was clearly looking towards the future. Yamato stated that while the Raijin name was a historically-significant one to not just themselves but the Japanese auto industry as a whole, this latest-and-greatest Raijin was the result of them throwing all their most advanced research and technology into one platform, taking it from a supercar to nearly reaching into hypercar territory.
The amount of advanced tech that went into developing the latest Raijin is outright daunting to get into, so its best to cover the highlights. The greatest is the new powertrain by far. Like the previous generation the new Raijin is a hybrid, utilizing internal combustion and electrification together. The electric component is a pair of motors powering both the front and rear wheels, making the Raijin AWD. The Raijin is of course capable of electric-only mode, that thanks to a high-capacity solid-state battery pack located directly behind the cabin, gives it a range of 400 miles per charge. What makes the powertrain of the new Raijin so noteworthy is the internal combustion component. Previous generations used some iteration of Yamato's long-running flat-6 platform. The latest Raijin has broken this norm by dumping pistons entirely in place of utilizing a new rotary engine, specifically a 2.4 liter 3-rotor inspired by some of Yamato's historic LM Prototypes. Yamato went with a rotary engine for a few reasons. The compact size and light weight was optimal for the packaging of the Raijin while also helping mitigate the weight gain of the hybrid platform. Rotaries are also high-revving and produce the most power per displacement, which doesn't need much explaining why that's good to have in a supercar. To give it even more power Yamato grafted a single turbo to this new powertrain, which they even prominently display in the back, exposed just behind the rear wing with the car's muffler attached to its other end. The most unique thing about the Raijin's rotary engine has to be its construction. Each one of these engines is assembled by hand by master craftsmen called a "Takumi". The assembly doesn't take place in a typical manufacturing line, but in a special "clean room" that is temperature controlled down to the thousandth of a degree, and so sanitized even a brain surgeon would find it a bit overkill. Sanitation is taken so seriously that there's an outright "airlock" engineers have to go through to enter the room. All this is to minimize parts expanding or retracting during assembly, and to avoid molecular imperfections. After roughly 20 hours of assembly, including about 2 towards post-assembly inspection and testing, what you get is an engine making 700 HP on the nose. Combined with the electric component's 120 HP, the latest Raijin is good for a formidable 820 HP. What's really impressive is the Raijin's advance computers governing this power, and how it determines how much power should be going to each wheel under hard driving, with millions of subtle alterations being made in a second to provide optimal performance. Very much supercar stuff, but power isn't solely where Yamato's technological might went when making the new Raijin.
The new Raijin's frame is built from nanocomposites on aluminum subframes, with the body also being made entirely from nanocomposites. Nanocomposites aren't new for high-performance vehicles, but its how these composites are constructed that makes the difference. Said nanocomposites consist of carbon and titanium that offer excellent strength and weight advantages. Yamato utilizes a 3D loom to weave these materials together, which helps further increase the strength of the assembled parts while significantly cutting down on the volume of materials needed to make the parts in the first place. 3D looms are also not new tech, but the one Yamato utilizes is working with nanocomposites. Threads of carbon and titanium so thin one can hardly see with the naked eye, yet Yamato's loom is able to weave them with surgical precision to create lightweight high-performance parts. This weight shedding is needed as outside of the hybrid powertrain adding some weight, other components like the suspension system also give the Raijin a bit of heft. Yamato has taken a heavily-modified variant of the "Sleipnir" electromagnetic suspension from the ultra-luxury Millennium sedan and gave it to the Raijin. While in the Millennium this system was meant to make the ride as sublime as possible, in the Raijin it makes real-time split-second adjustments during hard driving to determine the optimal setup. This is helped by the same computers that control where the Raijin's power goes. Each individual shock will never have the exact same stiffness or softness in a turn while the system is set in sport mode or above. Of course since this system first saw use in a luxury cruiser, a highway setting is available to give the Raijin Grand Tourer-levels of road comfort. Another thing that helps with both performance and ride comfort is the wheels. Each rim on a Raijin is forged from a single piece of Magnesium. Yamato chose Magnesium instead of a lighter nanocomposite for a few reasons. Magnesium is simply more affordable by every regard, able to be more easily repaired or refurbished. Magnesium also has better vibration dampening, providing better ride quality and handling. And finally, magnesium is great for heat transfer, able to take heat from the brakes during hard driving and move it to the tires to keep them warm and grippy. Various active aero elements throughout the Raijin also help to direct airflow to precise areas to either give the Raijin optimal performance in either straight-line speed or under more track-focused conditions. The body and aero of the Raijin was primarily designed by Yamato's in-house design A.I in wind tunnel testing to both offer the best aerodynamics while offering a design with the great cabin visibility the Raijin was famous for. Again, this aero is controlled by the Raijin's advanced computers, which speaking of, is a quantum-based CPU developed in-house by Yamato's electronics division. Considering all the ultra-precise tasks it has to manage, Yamato going big on the CPU was outright necessary. Especially to give the driver a proper readout of the Raijin's speed. With how high the rotary engine revs and how quickly it can get to said revs, a regular rev counter wouldn't cut it. And with the electric components to the powertrain giving the Raijin incredible acceleration, a normal speedometer wasn't going to cut it. 0-60 in the latest Raijin is in the lower 2 seconds, and 0-120 in just over 6. Overall it'll hit its electronically-limited top speed of 225 MPH in little over 20 seconds. With numbers like that, its safe to say the latest Raijin more than deserves to share a name with a god of lightning.
When the latest Raijin was released, it was met with mixed reception. Obviously the overall performance was lauded, with many reviewers making note of its unorthodox powertrain, impressive acceleration and refined handling characteristics. Many also appreciated the advanced technology that went into its design and production. Others weren't so receptive to Raijin's reliance on tech, saying that all the driver aids and electrification to the powertrain diluted the driving feel. The Raijin was also scrutinized for its pricetag, which at $350,000 per unit was considerably more than previous generations and even comparable sportscars on the market. Many fans of the Raijin nameplate went as far as to say the new model didn't deserve to carry the name. However, some looked at the price and pointed out that the latest Raijin was offering 7-figure tech at a 6-figure price bracket not unlike the generation it succeeded, which was hard to argue with considering everything it provided. With its hybrid setup and well-designed interior, many also noted how comfortable of a daily driver it was. Again, much like prior generations of the Raijin. Whatever anyone thought of the latest Raijin, it was still a success in Yamato's eyes. It was an exciting demonstration of their technological ability, making it the perfect "halo model", and it sold well enough, too. Yamato would make 500 Raijins annually, with large quantities of them selling quickly.
Thank God for this sign.
Please note that it's not like this *used* to be a road at any time. It's never been a road. Ever. Also, you'd have to drive over a giant curb to even get up there. Also, there's another "road closed" sign on the right because it's obviously such a temptation that they need to tell you twice.
BOX DATE: 2011
MANUFACTURER: Mattel
DOLLS IN PACK: Ghoulia, Draculaura, Cleo
BODY TYPE: 2008; molded dot panties; articulated elbows, wrists, & knees
HEAD MOLD: 2008 "Ghoulia"; pierced ears
PERSONAL FUN FACT: The very first time I acknowledged Monster High dolls was back in 2011, and this Ghoulia was one of the dolls. That fall, sometime in October, my dad took me out to a neighboring state to look at some Bratz dolls that were listed on Craigslist. The lady selling the dolls said that her daughter wanted to make room/money for her Monster High collection. At the time, I had only been collecting dolls again for several months. So my knowledge of Monster High dolls was virtually nonexistent. While we were sitting on this woman's couch, looking at the huge hoard of Bratz dolls (which Dad did buy me), I spotted three Monster High dolls on the mantle--the 2011 Go Team!!! pack. I was secretly intrigued about these strange dolls right then and there. But I had more important, Bratz related things to worry about. It might have taken me two years from that moment to start collecting Monster High dolls myself, but that first encounter never strayed far from my mind. Ever since, I've always wanted those three dolls. No matter how many Monster High dolls I found at stores or at flea markets, my collection never quite felt complete without the original Go Team!!! set. In 2016, I found this Ghoulia doll at my local flea market. Since the seller had so many Monster High dolls at the time, and being that they were $5 each, I left this Ghoulia behind the first time I saw her. But deep down, I knew I had made a mistake. In fact, this Ghoulia made an appearance in one of my dreams, and I actually forgot I had left her behind...I confused myself into thinking I had grabbed Ghoulia. I was very grateful the next weekend to find that she had not sold. I had only left her behind the first time due to limited funds and the fact that her Cleo and Draculaura counterparts were nowhere to be found. But deep in my heart, I knew that THIS Ghoulia was meant to be mine. I almost felt like I was abandoning my own doll when I left her behind the first time. Even though I may not have Cleo or Draculaura at this time, I guess it is fitting that it was Ghoulia that I found first. After all, Physical Deaducation, Go Team!!!, and Dead Tired Ghoulia were some of the first Monster High dolls that cemented themselves into my memory and captured my attention. Ghoulia will always have a special place reserved in my heart, and in my collection, and it feels so right finally owning the Go Team!!! doll.
In August 2009, members of civil society organization Las Abejas (The Bees) demonstrated in the streets and stood in front of the Cathedral of San Cristobal de Las Casas to protest the decision of the National Supreme Court of Justice. The Court had ruled in favor of the release of dozens of perpetrators of the Acteal Massacre, identified by survivors as paramilitaries.
The sentence extended the impunity and nonexistent investigation into the “masterminds” of the Acteal Massacre, all of them government officials at the time: President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon; Emilio Chuayfett, Secretary of the Interior; Mario Renan Castillo, Commander of the Seventh Military Region; General Enrique Cervantes, Secretary of National Defense; Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro, Governor of the State of Chiapas; Homer Tovilla Cristiani, Secretary of the State Government of Chiapas; Uriel Jarquin Galvez, Undersecretary of the Government of the State of Chiapas, among others.
The massacre took place at a camp of people displaced by the paramilitary violence in the area, as documented in previous reports. According to witnesses, people had to leave their communities because of death threats and physical attacks received. The looting and burning of homes was committed by members of the community, including some family members manipulated by agents of the army, who would later form part of the paramilitary group that perpetrated the Massacre of Acteal.
Fort Greene Park, Fort Greene Historic District , Brooklyn
The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument that stands today in the center of Fort Greene Park is a 1908 memorial to the 11,000 men and boys who died in horrid conditions on the British Prison Ships during the Revolutionary War. The Monument, which is sometimes referred to as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, stands in the center of what was once called Fort Putnam, an actual Revolutionary War fort, named after Gernal Putnam. The Monument you see today is actually the third incarnation of this sacred shrine. The story of the horrid Prison Ships – and the ghastly conditions suffered by the men and boys imprisoned on them during the Revolutionary War – is one of the most disturbing chapters in American history.
During the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775, the British arrested scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens on both land and sea. Many were apprehended simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. Besides American civilians and resistance fighters, the British captured the crews of foreign ships on the high seas, especially Spanish vessels. The soldiers, sailors and civilians they arrested were deemed by the British to be prisoners of war and were incarcerated. When the British ran out of jail space to house their POWs they began using decommissioned or damaged war ships that were anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons.
Life was unbearable on the prison ships, the most notorious of them being the Old Jersey – which was called "Hell" by the inhabitants. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were horrendously overcrowded and wretched. If one had money they could purchase food from the many entrepreneurs who rowed up to the boat to sell their wares. Otherwise, the meager rations would consist of sawdust laden bread or watery soup.
A great number of the captives died from disease and malnutrition. Their emaciated bodies were either thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes of Wallabout Bay. Even thought the British surrendered at Yorktown. Virginia in 1782, the surviving prisoners were not freed until 1783, when the British abandoned New York City. (A footnote: after the war, the British Commander in charge of the Prison Ships was brought up on war crimes charges and was subsequently hanged.)
The "Old Jersey"
In the years following the war the bones of the patriots would regularly wash up along the shores of Brooklyn and Long Island. These remains were collected by Brooklynites with the hopes of creating a permanent resting place for the remains of the brave Prison Ship Martyrs. In the early 1880's the first Martyrs Monument monument was erected by the Tammany Society of New York. It was located on a triangular plot of land near the Brooklyn Navy Yard waterfront in what is now called Vinegar Hill.
By the 1840s, the original monument was in a state of disrepair and neglect. By 1873 a large stone crypt was constructed in the heart of what is now Fort Greene Park (then called Washington Park), and the bones were re-interred in the crypt. A small monument was erected on the hill above the crypt.
By the close of the 19th century, funds were finally raised for a grander more fitting monument for the Prison Ship Martyrs. The prestigious architectural firm of McKim. Meade and White was commissioned to design the large 148 ft. tower which stands today in the park. It was unveiled in 1908 with a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by President-Elect Taft.
Sadly, over the ensuing decades the monument was severely neglected. Due to shortage of public funds, urban blight and lack of community interest both the park and the memorial fell into disrepair. The monument originally housed a staircase and elevator to the top observation deck, which featured a lighted urn with a beacon of light which could be seen for miles. The elevator was operational until the 1930s but was unfortunately removed by the city in the early 1970s.
Since it founding in 1998, the Fort Greene Park Conservancy has been a catalyst for the restoration and revival of both the monument and the park. In November 2008 a grand weekend event is planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the 1908 Prison Ships Martyrs Memorial.
Bigos is a Polish stew, made of all the things you see here (except the meat is usually not soy-based). I chopped all these vegetables and put them in that huge black turkey roaster you see to the right, where they heaped to about three centimetres above the rim (it ended up with two more packets of tomato paste). I had trouble lifting it myself when it was finished.
I planned a big birthday party for the 19th for a long and convoluted reason: Jules wanted us to go to Berlin for his cousin's birthday on the 26th (my birthday is the 27th), so I moved to the 12th, and then Jules had another friend's birthday party on that weekend, so I moved to the 19th, and then found out another colleague had a conflicting party, and then I said, "Fuck it." (The funny postscript is that then Jules didn't get around to organizing the Berlin trip on my birthday weekend.)
So we invited about a hundred people. And let me tell you, I am never going to try to organize a large party with Germans again: the basic principles of courtesy, such as responding to RSVPs, are largely nonexistent in this culture, so I spent days frantically chasing people down to find out if they were going to allow me to cook for them for a week, which was extremely frustrating--mind, there were always nice Germans who not only RSVPed but asked if I needed things or help.
We spent about two hundred euro on food and supplies, though a lot of it can be kept for later (chips, flour, pop, napkins, etc.).
I started preparing Monday night...
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
This series of photos shows our cruise ship's journey along the Fiordland coast between Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, and then our looping route in one entrance to this enormous fiord and out another. The reaction of my fellow passengers to this magnificent New Zealand scenery was, in itself, wonderful to observe.
•Doubtful Sound is a very large and naturally imposing fiord in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. Doubtful Sound was named 'Doubtful Harbour' in 1770 by Captain Cook, who did not enter the inlet as he was uncertain whether it was navigable under sail. It was later renamed Doubtful Sound by whalers and sealers. There are three distinct arms to the sound, which is the site of several large waterfalls, notably Helena Falls at Deep Cove, and the Browne Falls which have a fall of over 600 metres. The steep hills are known for their hundreds of waterfalls during the rainy season. Access to the sound is either by sea, or by the Wilmot Pass road from the Manapouri Power Station. Most areas of the sound itself are only accessible by sea however, as the road network in this area of New Zealand is sparse or nonexistent, as is the human population. Doubtful Sound is unusual in that it contains two distinct layers of water that scarcely mix. The top few meters is fresh water, fed from the high inflows from the surrounding mountains, and stained brown with tannins from the forest. Below this is a layer of cold, heavy, saline water from the sea. The dark tannins in the fresh water layer makes it difficult for light to penetrate. Thus, many deep-sea species will grow in the comparatively shallow depths of the Sound.
artefacts from the Spanish presence in the Philippines (the Spanish East Indies) and engagement in trade with China.
Spanish interest in the (Spanish East Indies) region was primarily focused on its use as a base for trade with East Asia, and large parts of the territory were under loose or nonexistent Spanish control.
Museo Naval, Madrid
29 November 2012
camera Panasonic DMC ZS8
P1140798
This is a completely out of focus shot of an LED strip. By setting the f-stop low and focusing to a (nonexistent) object that should be very far away, everything else in the photo becomes very blurry, giving it the light bokeh. This is also poorly composed because there is no symmetry nor can you understand the perspective of this shot.
Art Education
With ever increasing cutbacks in public school systems, formal art education is in decline or nonexistent. The current state of our economy proposes that art education and the arts are an extravagance we cannot afford. But studies have proven that education in the arts promotes greater success in other academic areas and results in students having a better understanding of problem solving and boosts morale. We ask our panelists and the audience how has art education enhanced and improved your life and what can we do to ensure that our children have the same rewards and benefits?
Amber Clark (M), Alisa Gray, Brenda Carre, John R. Gray III, Margaret Organ-Kean
Artist's Perspective
09 July 2013 -- 190/365
Narragansett, Rhode Island
Taking advantage of a cool, overcast morning that would not result in heavy beach traffic, I headed to the Point Judith Lighthouse hoping to find some surfers. The water was flat and the surfers nonexistent, however I did spot this artist setup on a hill to sketch the Coast Guard headquarters at the lighthouse. That jet black umbrella she setup dominated the hazy sky, but it did serve its purpose in preventing any glare from hitting her sketch board. Her sketch at this point was so faint that only a hint of shape was taking place on the paper, and given the lighting, that was not going to appear in the photo.
Post processing started with a neutral greyscale filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted the color sensitivity sliders, followed by adaptive exposure, and contrast. In PSE I added a dodge and burn combination on the umbrella to at least bring out a hint of the spokes; it was jet black before any processing. I also added a levels adjustment and a sepia photo filter.
Taken in 2012.
Prtince Street in Soho. When I first saw this area in the 1970s, crowds like this were unknown and shops like these (Calvin Klein, Michael Kors) were nonexistent. It was already called Soho -- the name was coined in 1968 but had little cachet before the 80s. I remember once coming down here from midtown, eating at a restaurant on Spring Street (a block from here) that I'd read about in the Times, and then walking down to a photo exhibit at a gallery on White Street in Tribeca. There was nothing to see along the way.
Chicago politics, where voting is such a revered civic duty that people do it even after they're dead, cold, stiff, stuffed, boxed and buried beneath the permafrost for years, has now come to D.C. with the Obama administration.
This afternoon comes the most encouraging economic news, courtesy of our keen-eyed buddy Rick Klein over at ABC, that the Obama administration's $787-billion economic stimulus has, for example, thankfully created 30 new jobs in a little-known rural corner of Arizona at a cost to American taxpayers of only $761,420.
That works out to only $25,380.67 spent to create each individual job.
Seems like a lot per slot, but those 30 folks must be happy to be employed again and paying taxes.
This will be a real feather in the cap of Vice President Joe Biden, who's been left behind and assigned by the ever-campaigning president to monitor the stimulus plan, its spending and effectiveness moving into the crucial midterm elections of 2010. Might the Democrats snatch that House seat?
So the people of that 15th Congressional District in staunchly Republican Arizona should be pretty happy about this.
Trouble is, there is no 15th Congressional District in Arizona. None. Nada. Zip. Zero. Doesn't exist. Not in Arizona. Not even on paper at the Democratic National Committee. There are only eight. Period.
But the administration's much-vaunted recovery.gov website reported these jobs as being created there.
Could well be a computer glitch. Lord knows humans would never make such a dumb, misleading mistake, even in politics.
But then the trouble is that just months after grandly unveiling the recovery.gov website to showcase its economic prowess and tech-savvy, the Obama administration just spent 18 million additional taxpayer dollars to redesign the still new website.
And that site proudly also reported nonexistent new stimulus spending not just in Arizona but other states across the country.
So that looks to have worked pretty well, at least if you're counting computer designer jobs created.
Anyway, how do you think the 15th will vote next year?
-- Andrew Malcolm
Allow me to officially signal the beginning of the end of the Destination Age on the Web. No matter what your new web app does, it's now critical to think about how it will play as a feature of other sites and applications. This means your content needs to be able to get other places easily are part of your plan for it. By the same token, if your new app doesn't create / manage / foster content that potentially adds value in other contexts, you might have a problem. The new deal is what I like to call the "Featureful Web" and, yes, I know featureful is not really a word. Neither is website though, we're all adjusting.
The building blocks of the Featureful Web are already with us (and beneath us in the vast majority of current sites and web products). I have started to view "Web 2.0" as having been a lot about this transition intentionally or not. I see shops and products starting to approach problems in a featureful way on purpose more and more. The core ideas that inform Rest, JSON and Ajax are impelling us toward the Featureful and away from the landing pages and destinations of yester-month.
"Huh? What the hell do you want me to do about it?"
Well, for starters I think it means that we can begin to ramp down on being destination-centeric with some or all of our efforts. It's more and more okay if you can't find that perfect domain name now because a lot of people who use your product won't ever go there anyway. Instead, you might let them experience and get value from your product as a google gadget, or embedded in the social networking site of the month. The web is finally in a place where you can reliably let other people leverage your ideas and data as features of something they are working on. Of course when you do that, you should also make sure you have a plan for your product to thrive when being used that way!
It also means that your product's micro-branding is becoming a much bigger deal. You can't just sell yourself as and purely identify with your domain. You can't count on "doing ads" as your revenue model. When people interact with your product remotely at "destination-that-is-not-yours X," your product has to let them know who you are and what you stand for but do it in a way that still adds value to the content around it. You can do that with UX, with look and feel, with the consistent kind of utility of your features, and with your visual branding. Those things all need to work together fundamentally to make a single message about what your brand is and what your attitude is. Have a look at what Google Checkout is doing as an example. They are experimenting with taking themselves out of the destination game, and offering checkout as a feature for your site, right inline. This allows you to keep your users and not send them off to the checkout domain, probably never to return. This also means that your brand and Google's brand need to play nice together. Notice all the subtle things they are doing to make that possible: checkout.google.com/seller/gsc/beta/demo
Come with me on a brief thought experiment about what happened with soft drinks in the stupid real world. Coke for example started as some kind of bullshit patent medicine with actual cocaine in it (or so the legend goes). It was sold in plain bottles out the back of a wagon or some similarly quant delivery mechanism. Ineffective, lame or nonexistent branding was tolerable for them because everyone had to get it from the source (are you listening, evite?). Think about how disconnected Coke is from each 12 ounce can in South Dakota! The branded can is now critical, because they can't possibly predict where it will be encountered or in what context. They need to make sure that the object itself is a sufficient bran messenger or be doomed. In a Featureful Web, your brand will need to work just the same way and though none of those standards are anywhere near established. They will grow up organically just like the 12 ounce can did in the US. There is no Wikipedia entry on the origin of the soda can btw.... Bummer.
By Aubrey Anderson
i suppose they thought this a "creative" cover but note the mirrored cracks in the wall: this was actually printed on a narrow strip of green-painted stucco after Jones' death, a highly unlikely portrait of him against this nonexistent "wall". typical journalistic procedures.
Marsh Master Guide Service
Leeville, Louisiana
on Bayou LaFourche
LaFourche Parish
Leeville was settled by flood victims. On October 1, 1893, a hurricane wiped out the area's main settlement, Caminadaville, which sat on a spit of land bordered on three sides by the Gulf and on the fourth by swamp. Nearly half of Caminadaville's inhabitants perished in the storm, most by drowning, some when the buildings they had taken refuge in collapsed.
Survivors sailed up the bayou in their damaged canots and began buying land from an orange-grower named Peter Lee, who was selling plots for $12.50 each. For sixteen years, they fished, planted rice, and held fais do-do dancing parties in homes with covered verandas.
Then, in 1909, the Leeville Hurricane struck. (A contemporary newspaper account described survivors of that storm subsisting on drowned rabbit.) Six years later, a third hurricane forced residents to flee north once more. According to local legend, the storm surge carried one house from Leeville nine miles inland. The owner simply bought the plot underneath it and moved back in.
In the nineteen-thirties, Leeville rebounded briefly. Oil was discovered in the area, and by the end of the decade there were ninety-eight producing wells in town. The pay was good and regulation nonexistent. Blowouts routinely rained sulfur and brine onto the houses, into the cisterns, over the trees. Tin roofs corroded and vegetable gardens shrivelled up. When the wells ran dry, oil production moved offshore and Leeville was again deserted.
There were no more jobs, and the town itself had begun to wash away. Where once men in straw hats picked oranges and harvested rice, today there is mostly open water.
from: www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15339115_ITM
Fort Greene Park, Fort Greene Historic District , Brooklyn
The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument that stands today in the center of Fort Greene Park is a 1908 memorial to the 11,000 men and boys who died in horrid conditions on the British Prison Ships during the Revolutionary War. The Monument, which is sometimes referred to as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, stands in the center of what was once called Fort Putnam, an actual Revolutionary War fort, named after Gernal Putnam. The Monument you see today is actually the third incarnation of this sacred shrine. The story of the horrid Prison Ships – and the ghastly conditions suffered by the men and boys imprisoned on them during the Revolutionary War – is one of the most disturbing chapters in American history.
During the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775, the British arrested scores of soldiers, sailors, and private citizens on both land and sea. Many were apprehended simply because they would not swear allegiance to the Crown of England. Besides American civilians and resistance fighters, the British captured the crews of foreign ships on the high seas, especially Spanish vessels. The soldiers, sailors and civilians they arrested were deemed by the British to be prisoners of war and were incarcerated. When the British ran out of jail space to house their POWs they began using decommissioned or damaged war ships that were anchored in Wallabout Bay as floating prisons.
Life was unbearable on the prison ships, the most notorious of them being the Old Jersey – which was called "Hell" by the inhabitants. Disease was rampant, food and water were scarce or nonexistent, and the living conditions were horrendously overcrowded and wretched. If one had money they could purchase food from the many entrepreneurs who rowed up to the boat to sell their wares. Otherwise, the meager rations would consist of sawdust laden bread or watery soup.
A great number of the captives died from disease and malnutrition. Their emaciated bodies were either thrown overboard or buried in shallow graves in the sandy marshes of Wallabout Bay. Even thought the British surrendered at Yorktown. Virginia in 1782, the surviving prisoners were not freed until 1783, when the British abandoned New York City. (A footnote: after the war, the British Commander in charge of the Prison Ships was brought up on war crimes charges and was subsequently hanged.)
The "Old Jersey"
In the years following the war the bones of the patriots would regularly wash up along the shores of Brooklyn and Long Island. These remains were collected by Brooklynites with the hopes of creating a permanent resting place for the remains of the brave Prison Ship Martyrs. In the early 1880's the first Martyrs Monument monument was erected by the Tammany Society of New York. It was located on a triangular plot of land near the Brooklyn Navy Yard waterfront in what is now called Vinegar Hill.
By the 1840s, the original monument was in a state of disrepair and neglect. By 1873 a large stone crypt was constructed in the heart of what is now Fort Greene Park (then called Washington Park), and the bones were re-interred in the crypt. A small monument was erected on the hill above the crypt.
By the close of the 19th century, funds were finally raised for a grander more fitting monument for the Prison Ship Martyrs. The prestigious architectural firm of McKim. Meade and White was commissioned to design the large 148 ft. tower which stands today in the park. It was unveiled in 1908 with a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by President-Elect Taft.
Sadly, over the ensuing decades the monument was severely neglected. Due to shortage of public funds, urban blight and lack of community interest both the park and the memorial fell into disrepair. The monument originally housed a staircase and elevator to the top observation deck, which featured a lighted urn with a beacon of light which could be seen for miles. The elevator was operational until the 1930s but was unfortunately removed by the city in the early 1970s.
Since it founding in 1998, the Fort Greene Park Conservancy has been a catalyst for the restoration and revival of both the monument and the park. In November 2008 a grand weekend event is planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the 1908 Prison Ships Martyrs Memorial.
June 24, 1952: EYE CANDY FOR ANN ARBOR POLITICAL JUNKIES: The man standing in the doorway at left is a real Looker, for sure. No, really! His name was Fred J. Looker, and he was our town's City Clerk as far back as I could remember -- from the dawning of my awareness, and for years thereafter. In this ceremonial photo from the archives of the old "Ann Arbor News," Looker is turning over the keys to the Sixth Ward Polling Place, a small building then on Forest Avenue (but now the rerouted end of Washtenaw), where residents of that now-nonexistent ward voted in several elections and primaries each year. Recipient of the keys on this day was Col. R. M. Lawson (at right), the head of Army and Air Force recruiting in Michigan. This was a more visible office for local recruiters, who formerly had been in the basement of the Armory downtown. Here they would be closer to the target population of young men, many of whom attended the University. The recruiters promised to vacate the premises on polling days, by terms of a rent-free agreement with the city. A new city charter, adopted in 1955, eliminated wards six and seven, changing to a system of five wards, shaped like wedges of a pie. This building was converted to a residence long ago, and extensively remodeled in recent years.
This series of photos shows our cruise ship's journey along the Fiordland coast between Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, and then our looping route in one entrance to this enormous fiord and out another. The reaction of my fellow passengers to this magnificent New Zealand scenery was, in itself, wonderful to observe.
•Doubtful Sound is a very large and naturally imposing fiord in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. Doubtful Sound was named 'Doubtful Harbour' in 1770 by Captain Cook, who did not enter the inlet as he was uncertain whether it was navigable under sail. It was later renamed Doubtful Sound by whalers and sealers. There are three distinct arms to the sound, which is the site of several large waterfalls, notably Helena Falls at Deep Cove, and the Browne Falls which have a fall of over 600 metres. The steep hills are known for their hundreds of waterfalls during the rainy season. Access to the sound is either by sea, or by the Wilmot Pass road from the Manapouri Power Station. Most areas of the sound itself are only accessible by sea however, as the road network in this area of New Zealand is sparse or nonexistent, as is the human population. Doubtful Sound is unusual in that it contains two distinct layers of water that scarcely mix. The top few meters is fresh water, fed from the high inflows from the surrounding mountains, and stained brown with tannins from the forest. Below this is a layer of cold, heavy, saline water from the sea. The dark tannins in the fresh water layer makes it difficult for light to penetrate. Thus, many deep-sea species will grow in the comparatively shallow depths of the Sound.
Whenever we hear of dirty cops falsifying evidence, we ALL pay attention. Yet — when the city attorneys deliberately mislead the court, the Courts do NOT want to hear it and neither do the Bar Associations. So, who will police dirty city attorneys?
Generally — the city attorneys come armed with enormous budgets and start with reputation damage through their PR machines, hoping to distract the Truth from reaching an audience. This is strategic — by insulting the opponent, you now hear with a biased view.
When the San Francisco City Attorney sought to retaliate against black landlord, Anne Kihagi, who called them out on their misuse of the building department, they framed her as a slumlord. This made most people NOT listen to the truth and allowed the Court’s to disregard the law.
But in this case, look at ALL the pictures of this BLACK Landlord’s buildings– and see if she’s a Slumlord. The City Attorney made releases alluding to Ms. Kihagi being a slumlord, yet her buildings are better than 90% of the Condos in San Francisco. Why have we all not questioned that simple, irrational yet — intentionally biased and perverted insult. Ms. Kihagi is extremely proud of the beautiful buildings she owns and was offended by this insult — and trusts our intelligence as we can choose to see the pictures which speak louder than insults.
Normally we catch dirty cops on video, but we have to Read and Sort out the truth especially when it is being orchestrated through the legal process.
Should we NOT care when this dirty lawyering and ignorance of laws corrupts the legal system. How much pain is enough for the Courts to investigate the truth? Why has no one taken time to investigate these abuses? Ms. Kihagi is unveiling the dirtiest cover up and abuse of law with evidence. Yet — it’s all racially driven– and happening in one of the cities we consider “Forward” — so it gets less attention as we believe racial abuse only happens in the “Other” cities. Which is precisely why the City Attorneys and the Courts have failed to follow the law.
Ms. Kihagi, has been subjected to such treachery, and has vowed to be relentless until a true investigation into the more than 20 misrepresentations that were made are resolved.
We will detail over 20 violations of laws and misrepresentations — in a system that has enabled tenants to present false evidence — city attorney who knew the truth, but thought the means justified the end. This will stop — as we show you how more than $25 million has been at play and a ploy to forcibly take money from the black owner through ALL means possible.
Isn’t this another form of Slavery — the same attitude that prevailed and why slaves couldn’t own anything? It is the same reason why we are quick to believe that a BLACK LANDLORD must have done something wrong to be successful. But — we are challenging you to investigate the corruption in the City Attorney’s office and how the San Francisco Court has allowed them to get away with it.
This should be an easy challenge — let’s get past their game of tarnishing her reputation and now read the evidence of these tenants who lied to the courts with impunity. Let us look at one example that resulted in over $130,000 in penalties plus attorneys’ fees of six-times bonus for these same city attorneys.
In City of San Francisco v. Kihagi, deliberate one-sided focus on tenants’ allegations left Ms. Kihagi vulnerable, despite many questionable and even baseless accusations. In one instance, tenants were previously displaced on the basis of an owner move-in eviction (OMI). Under an owner move-in eviction in San Francisco, the property owner has the legal obligation to move into the evacuated unit for 36 months and is prohibited from offering a lease on this unit. The previous occupants found an ad on Craigslist for what they thought was the same unit they had once leased.
As a result, the City Attorney sent an investigator to an open house for this listing and found that this was not the same unit at all. The previous tenant even sent his own investigators and confirmed it was indeed a different unit. In fact, other tenants witnessed Kihagi living in the OMI-affected unit and the mob formed against Kihagi even hosted protest at her building. On Thursday, January 8, 2015, Deputy City Attorney Weiss emailed the former tenant: “Hi Kelly, we sent an investigator to the open house for the Craigslist advertised unit last night. Unfortunately, the unit being shown was Unit 3 which has no legal restrictions on it, as far as I know.” The City investigators were sent to snoop on Kihagi’s open house even though Kelly, the former tenant, already knew that it was not his unit; he had sent an email on Tuesday, January 6, stating “I’ll get a full report Wednesday once my friend gets done viewing.” Weiss and the former tenant were grasping at straws to amass valid claims against Kihagi, but they were not alone.
A separate January 8th email from Weiss to another deputy City Attorney, Victoria Weatherford, stated, “As I wrote to Kelly… our investigator reported that the unit being shown last night on 18th Street was unit 3, not Kelly’s.” This exchange reveals another member of the City Attorney’s Office was also apprised of its irrelevance.
Despite these confirmations, Mr. Weiss presented the Craigslist ad as evidence to show San Francisco Court’s Judge Bradstreet that Kihagi had not only displaced a tenant, but that the unit was being rented for a profit. Why would city attorney Weiss want the court to rely on such evidence while aware they did not stand for the proposition he was making? Why would the other deputy attorney Weatherford sit silently in court while such evidence was presented? This false testimony led to city being awarded about $130,000 in penalties and attorney fees of approximately $400,000 for an entirely nonexistent violation. This is only an example of numerous false evidences presented in this trial.
Yet — the court ignored the evidence and Ms. Kihagi now has to file an action against such practice which the courts know most people cannot afford to do. Why should anyone be subjected to such dishonest public officers?
Will you join us by taking action on this campaign?
campaigns.organizefor.org/petitions/stop-dirty-s-f-city-a...
For information on Anna Kihagi please go to annekihagisf.com
First shots with Sony DSC-HX200V.
Another photo at 1X shows location telephoto shot was taken from.
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
· Discarded cardboard boxes for transporting bikes on Amtrak, outside the Emeryville Amtrak station.
Some friends of mine were woken up in the middle of the night on Amtrak and told, on the basis of nonexistent policy, that they must remove (or buy two of these boxes for) their folded Brompton bicycles. The whole saga can be read here.
Update (18-Dec-2013): Amtrak policy clarification: folding bikes always allowed as carry-ons.
I went to Loch Ashie hunting photos of the wooden pier, to find the place a wreck, warning signs from Northern Scotland Water deterring people and animals from playing in the water, the pier nonexistent, several nice pines sadly fallen by the wayside, a small fuzzy dog who came up and said hello to me. The most interesting scene I could find was this, in the concrete water run-off.
Detail of water flowing around a submerged rock.
George Quinones as Pole Scavenger, Liam Day as Scavenger Guard, Lance Herota as Pole Walker, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes - The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 7 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
RICK AND JADIS REDUX
Last week Rick found himself trapped again by Jadis and her group of garbage dump-dwellers, and “Time for After” checks in with the pair throughout its running time. Rick is routinely trotted out half-naked from a shipping container to be photographed by Jadis for “sculpting” purposes, and is flatly ignored when he offers her a deal. The situation comes to a head when Jadis finally decides to execute Rick by putting him up against another gladiator-style walker with a spike-ridden helmet, similar to the battle he faced last season. It’s another effective Mad Max-style sequence, building on Jadis’ cult-like ritualism and offbeat linguistic quirks. Rick, of course, manages to turn the walker against Jadis to coerce her into negotiating, and she finally agrees to help — on the condition that she get one-fourth of the Saviors’ supplies.
While his gambit was successful, I was left scratching my head as to why Rick would go to such great lengths to add Jadis’ group to his coalition when it’s clear they cannot be trusted and will likely only betray him again. It would seem easier to enlist Oceanside’s all-female militia instead — something that may very well happen in the future. But Jadis, who has long since overstayed her welcome on the show, has become another novelty character with a nonexistent backstory that can no longer really be excused.
Whatever the show has planned for her and Rick, it may not matter much. In the final scene of “Time for After,” Rick leads Jadis and some of her people to a water tower to scout out the Sanctuary. They discover Daryl’s truck smashed into the building, with the walkers nowhere to be found. Whether Eugene succeeded and Negan is now free, or if this is just the aftermath of Daryl’s plot, is left unclear. But in the final close-up, it’s obvious Rick is not happy, as actor Andrew Lincoln looks like he has just seen the world end.
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
When love is nonexistent: Aesha Mohammadzai had her nose and ears cut off by husband and father-in-law after serving 5 months in Taliban jail. She tried to leave her husband.
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
This series of photos shows our cruise ship's journey along the Fiordland coast between Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, and then our looping route in one entrance to this enormous fiord and out another. The reaction of my fellow passengers to this magnificent New Zealand scenery was, in itself, wonderful to observe.
•Doubtful Sound is a very large and naturally imposing fiord in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. Doubtful Sound was named 'Doubtful Harbour' in 1770 by Captain Cook, who did not enter the inlet as he was uncertain whether it was navigable under sail. It was later renamed Doubtful Sound by whalers and sealers. There are three distinct arms to the sound, which is the site of several large waterfalls, notably Helena Falls at Deep Cove, and the Browne Falls which have a fall of over 600 metres. The steep hills are known for their hundreds of waterfalls during the rainy season. Access to the sound is either by sea, or by the Wilmot Pass road from the Manapouri Power Station. Most areas of the sound itself are only accessible by sea however, as the road network in this area of New Zealand is sparse or nonexistent, as is the human population. Doubtful Sound is unusual in that it contains two distinct layers of water that scarcely mix. The top few meters is fresh water, fed from the high inflows from the surrounding mountains, and stained brown with tannins from the forest. Below this is a layer of cold, heavy, saline water from the sea. The dark tannins in the fresh water layer makes it difficult for light to penetrate. Thus, many deep-sea species will grow in the comparatively shallow depths of the Sound.
A few months ago I found a perfectly preserved hermit crab at the beach that I guess became "freeze-dried" or something. I'm not exactly sure how it became so well preserved, but i'm just glad it did. There's no decay at all, and it just looks and feels like a rock. I guess the sand played a part in the preservation process too. I bet just like with home-done taxidermy with salt/borax, the sand absorbed all the moisture from the animal. The freezing temperatures all winter probably caused the decay to be almost nonexistent.
Narrow or nonexistent shoulders make walking or bicycling a challenge. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2014 to widen the shoulder on the west side of the road.
This is Banderu Seijin with metallic green highlights on navy blue vinyl base version by Marmit released in 1996. There is a story behind this figure. It came to me by misunderstanding…. I already have a blue one like this (www.flickr.com/photos/51940189@N04/6451626009/ ) but what happened was that when I made an order for the other figure, the guy in Japan, who can’t speak even a simple word of English took this one by the difference of one syllable of Katakana. Each time I make orders to him I use my terrible Japanese – however, which is hundred times better than his nonexistent English…. – but because of one syllable difference (though I used the correct one for the item but he didn’t read it carefully as two items are quite similar in spelling) he sent me something quite different. Well, I don’t mind this one as I like it anyway, but what I hate this time was that he blamed me for not using “correct” Japanese then he cut off further communication completely and no reply to my emails saying that I will take it anyway so don’t worry about what’s happened and so on. Maybe he’s worried that I will ask for the refund. You know, in the world a war can happen because of one incorrect translation of a sentence….. “One small translation error, giant genocide for mankind” kinda thing.......
When love is nonexistent: Aesha Mohammadzai had her nose and ears cut off by husband and father-in-law after serving 5 months in Taliban jail. She tried to leave her husband.
When I was here, only upper classmen and grad students could live here. They were the only ones tough enough. In midwinter, the heat in these rooms varied from nonexistent to unbearable. Some kids would wear parkas 24-7, while others would have the windows wide open and would be nearly nude in the room. They've all been renovated now, and I noticed they even have AC!
A pretty typical shot of a gondola in Venice. I like the way the composition turned out in this shot. Venice was so peaceful and quiet compared to the rest of Italy I saw. I liked how vehicles were nonexistent and all that was heard was the paddling of gondolas and engines of water buses.
Some of the thousand things Edison invented. In the foreground is a model of the Black Maria, a rotatable movie studio he built in West Orange, New Jersey in 1892. The roof opened and the building could be turned toward the sun to provide light for shooting all day. (Studio lighting was otherwise nonexistent.) Nearby are a phonograph and a movie projector.
Originally posted in 2005.