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This plaque at the College of Staten Island, dated September 17, 1987, reads:
A PROMISE FULFILLED
The institution once known as the Willowbrook State School, which occupied this site for thirty-six years, was closed in 1987.
The end of this institution symbolizes the success and appropriateness of New York State's commitment to provide an extensive and comprehensive program of community living opportunities for its citizens with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
What was the Willowbrook State School? As we learned a few months ago:
The Willowbrook State School was the country's largest state-run institution for the mentally disabled. By the 1960s, it had over 6,000 residents, 2,000 more than it was designed to accommodate. Underfunded and understaffed, it "offered a mean, often desperate existence" to the people who lived there. After a visit in 1965, Bobby Kennedy described the place as "border[ing] on a snake pit".
But it wasn't until 1972 that the wretched conditions at Willowbrook were brought into the national spotlight, when a TV reporter named Geraldo Rivera snuck into one of the wards with a handheld camera and documented the awful scene: "children lying naked on the floor, their bodies contorted, their feces spread on walls".
This prompted a lawsuit that led to the eventual closing of the institution in 1987. Many of the buildings were taken over and renovated by the College of Staten Island, which opened a new campus — the largest college campus in the city — on the site in 1993.
So that makes two plaques here at CSI that acknowledge Willowbrook's existence. One, half-hidden behind a rose bush at the back corner of a building, does at least pay tribute, albeit in very vague and euphemistic terms, to all the helpless people who suffered abuse and neglect at this state-run institution. The other plaque, above, located in a little treed area near the middle of campus, makes no mention of the poor souls who lived here but instead just offers the state government a nice pat on the back for finally shutting the place down (after being sued into submission).
Bulimia will make you lie. It will make you lie to yourself, your friends, and your family. And it's not worth it...
Nieuwbouw jacht PROMISE ging naar de Noordzee voor proefvaart , maar kreeg problemen en ging een poosje voor anker buiten de vaargeul op de Nieuwe Waterweg om later naar de Noordzee te gaan.
The rainbow is God's promise to Noah Genesis 8:1 - 9-17
V. 8:22
" As long as earth endures
Seed time and harvest
Cold and heat
Summer and winter
Day and night
Will not cease"
Whenever you see the rainbow in the sky, remember God's promise and covenant
of grace for all who believe and trust in the Lord Jesus christ.
Tonight, 1 June 2018, I have just added six extra photos, to get them into my albums. I will be so glad when I eventually come to a few photos that I feel better about uploading. I am trying to post more or less in the order that the photos were taken, and unfortunately, there are so many odds and ends that I want to keep just for the record. I promise that, later on, I will have photos of some very different things - thank goodness.
Not having much success with seeing and photographing all the tiny, very fast-moving Warblers at Pt Pelee, I was delighted to come across a few fungi. Not much variety, as it was still only spring. Not sure, but I think this is Dryad's Saddle fungus / Polyporus squamosus aka Cerioporus squamosus.
Four friends (four of the six friends with whom I went to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017) and I left Calgary airport on 6 May 2018 and flew to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There, we rented a van and did the long drive to Point Pelee for four whole days of birding. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel in Leamington, which is close to Point Pelee National Park. It fills up very quickly (with birders) and our rooms were booked months ago.
Our four days walking at Point Pelee were interesting and I, for sure, saw various things I had never seen before, including my very first Raccoon : ) Various friends had told me that the Warblers at Pelee were fantastic - so many and numerous species, and so close. Have to disagree with the "closeness" when we were there! I don't have binoculars as cameras are enough for me to carry around, so I know I missed all sorts of birds. Though my Warbler count was lower than my friends' counts, I was happy to at least get a few distant photos of some species. So many of my shots are awful, but I will still post some of them, just for the record of seeing them. Some photos are so bad that I doubt anyone can ID them.
We covered several different trails at Pelee, and also drove to a few places somewhat further afield, such as Hillman Marsh. If you are unfamiliar with this Conservation Area, just wait till you see a photo of the old barn that was there. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was in so much pain that I wasn't sure if I would be able to walk across a grassy area to take a few photos. However, it was so unusual and beautiful, that I reckoned I could try and move forward inch by inch - and crawl (ha, ha) if necessary. Another place we enjoyed was Rondeau National Park. One amazing and totally unexpected sighting just outside Pelee was a very distant male Snowy Owl sitting in a fieldl!!
We walked every single day that we were at Pelee and the areas mentioned above, seeing not just birds, but a frog/toad, snakes that we suspect were mating, several Painted turtles, a few plants (including both white and red Triliums, that I had never seen growing wild before, and a couple of Jack in the Pulpit plants).
The Friends of Point Pelee have food available at lunch time that one can buy. They also have a shuttle bus that one can take from the Visitor Centre all the way to the southern tip of Pelee, which is the most southern part of Canada. They also have birding walks with a guide each day (there is a charge). On 9 May, we spent the morning from 6:00 am to 11:00 am on a birding walk at Pelee with guide, Tom Hince, whom we had contacted while we were still in Calgary.
At the end of our stay at Point Pelee, we had to drive all the way back to Toronto, from where we flew to Quebec airport. From there, we had a four-hour drive to Tadoussac on the coast of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is such a delightful, small place and in a beautiful setting. One of our friends, Anne B, and her husband have a summer cabin further along the cliff from the few stores and port. She had invited the four of us to go with her from Pelee to spend a week at her beautiful home. What an absolute treat this was! We were able to meet some of her relatives, too, who also have built cabins out there. We were looked after so well, and we were able to see and photograph all sorts of birds and other things. We made several trips to see different places, including the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, where we were able to see endless thousands of Snow Geese. Breathtaking!
We also had two boat trips from Tadoussac - one was a whaling trip in a Zodiac, where we saw very, very distant Beluga and Minke Whales. The Belugas looked almost like the white wave crests - but they were Belugas. The other boat trip was to Brandy Pot Island, inhabited by thousands of Razorbills and Common Murres, which were new birds for me, and Double-crested Cormorants that were nesting in tree tops. That long boat trip (in a tiny boat named Juno, piloted by Greg) started off in the rain and dark clouds and it was soooo cold! Thermal underwear, layers of fleece and toque and gloves were needed. This day was arranged through a contact of Anne's and it was so much enjoyed! Of course, we anchored a distance away from the island and sat there and ate our sandwiches and took endless photos. It is forbidden to land on the island at nesting time.
Anne B, I can't thank you enough for organizing this holiday for us all and for inviting us to spend a week at your cabin. You worked so hard and it was so much appreciated by each and every one of us. Thank you for doing all the many hours of driving, too! Janet and Anne, thank you so much for compiling the lists of birds seen each day at various locations, and posted to ebird. These entries will be a huge help while I try and sort out where we were and when, and what species we saw. Miss your cookies and muffins, Janet, that you kindly made for us in Tadoussac, to go along with the wonderful meals that Anne planned and made for us : )
(Further pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the ende of page!)
The history of the sanctuary and parish Mariahilf
The beginnings of Mariahilf
Since the cemetery of Hofpfarre (Court Parish) St. Michael - it was too close to the Imperial Palace - in 1508 had to be abandoned due to an imperial command, a new location outside the city walls and the glacis - served as a military parade and defense area - was searched. Only in 1656 could a vineyard in Ried "Schoeff" at the black cross in front of the Widmertor - the present castle gate - to be purchased for the new cemetery.
This Ried "Schoeff" stretched from Widmertor on the slopes of the left bank of Vienna (very small river Wienfluss) to Penzing. Here flourished a famous and popular type of wine, "the Gumpendorfer".
The first cemetery chapel
Picture of grace. At the highest point of this hill a small wooden cemetery chapel was built, that together with the cemetery on 19 April in 1660 was consecrated by Bishop Philipp Friedrich von Breuner. The only decoration of this humble chapel was that of the Barnabitenmönch (monch of the Barnabites) Don Celestine Joanelli - see today's Joanelligasse - donated miraculous image "Mariahülf ", which soon became the destination of many pilgrims from Vienna and the surrounding area.
This representation of Mary is a replica of the miraculous image on Mariahilferberg near Passau, which again is a copy of the miraculous image in the parish church at Innsbruck. All three images, the story tells of miraculous powers. In many "miracle books" - partly till today in Mariahilfer library preserved - is reported about miraculous healings.
The pilgrimages became more and more intense and so the Barnabites were forced to build in the years 1668 and 1669 a stone chapel, including residential buildings for the priests.
In the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, the buildings were destroyed, but the picture of grace in time could be brought to safety by the then sexton Eduard Lampel within the city walls.
The new church
Due to popular demand for the miraculous image, the many pilgrimages and the non-successful floor plan of the building was from 1711 according to the plans of Franziskus Jänckl - a student and construction supervisor of Lukas von Hildebrandt - the church, using part of the existing foundation walls, in its present form built. 1714 choral parts were rebuilt and the nave erected, in 1715 were the towers of the west front - facing the present Mariahilferstraße - ready in shell (2nd construction periode). In the 3rd construction periode 1721-1726 the towers were covered with copper and decorated the west facade with statues and reliefs of J. Jacob and Ignatius Gunst.
A drawing of Salamon Kleiner from 1724 shows the general impression at that time.
Church 1724
Pilgrimages to the holy image of Mariahilf
To get a feel for the intensity of the pilgrimage tradition at this time, some numbers from 1733: 97 692 people received the Holy Communion, 20,000 Holy Masses were celebrated this year in Mariahilf.
The Empress Maria Theresa made a pilgrimage to Mariahilf to ask Our Lady for her intercession. The Chronicle reported that, during the three Masses, those she here attended sequentially, she a quarter hour lying on the ground here prayed and wept.
These and other notable historical documentations can be found until the middle of the 19th Century in the "Akta" of the parish Mariahilf, which can be looked-up in our library.
In the years 1805, 1809 and 1813 during the Napoleonic war took place enormous state processions with up to 90,000 participants to Mariahilf.
Many Viennese suburb and suburban communities pilgrimaged here every year for centuries to pray, to take their concerns to Mary and to obtain a plenary indulgence, under certain specified conditions. Some parishes in Vienna and Lower Austria come even today annually to the miraculous image "pilgrimaging".
In the years 1760 - 100th anniversary, 1860 - 200th anniversary of the mounting of the miraculous image, 1910 - 250 anniversary celebration and 1960 to the 300th recurrence of this event took place festivities lasting for days, the, as the chronicle reported, especially in the years 1760 and 1860 not only religious contents had but also secular celebrations were.
Ultimately led all these conditions and events to the consequence that until now the 6th District of Vienna is called Mariahilf and probably the largest shopping street in Vienna Mariahilferstraße.
The religious communities of Mariahilf
The Barnabitenorden (Barnabite Order) oversaw the parish, which in the meantime from 1722 was also the provost until 1920. From 1920-1923 diocesan priests worked here until church and parsonage were transferred to the Order of Salvatorianer. These were active here until 1997 and had to give up for lack of personnel and financial reasons this location. Subsequently transferred the Archdiocese of Vienna to the Polish Order of Michaelites the care of the parish and pilgrimage church.
Architectural and historic preservation measures in recent decades:
In 1960, on the occasion of the 300 year celebrations the partly wooden marble altars - this was quite usual in the Baroque period for cost reasons - new marbled , that is newly painted. In 1950/55 and 1982, the exterior facades of the church were renovated and restored, from 1986 to 1988 the interior of the church was also renovated and restored the frescoes on the ceilings and walls. Solid plaster damage, moister penetration of the masonry and the increasing pollution from the environment made in 2003 a renewed facade repair at the moment on the Western Front and the two church towers, including the statues and reliefs, urgently required to prevent an even greater extent of damage.
Another construction was 2008-2010, being renovated the remaining facade surfaces of the church (both long sides and south side) including sacristy tower and at the parsonage the roadside west facade and the narrow, southern front facing the courtyard. At the parsonage also an extensive roof renovation was necessary.
Church tower 2, church tower 1 Church Renovation 2010
The historic bell of the Mariahilferkirche - The Schuster Michel
Schuster Michel
After the shoemaker Johann Michael Sailler yet in the previous year had donated a large bell, he gave 1720 again fl 4,000 for a larger bell. This was in the imperial Arsenal by the imperial stucco founder Michael Leopold Heylil casted into tin bronze and weighed 4445 kg with a diameter of 193 cm. On the spot took, took Gottfried Bessel, abbot of Göttweig (Lower Austria), the consecration to the "Blessed Virgin Helper" (ad impositum phenomenon BV Auxiliatricis). It is designed with typical squat baroque style in heavy rib with wide flaring, heavy blow ring carried out and it resounds with massive, very dark basic tone a.
Artistic design of the surface: at the neck (upper edge), a narrow flower frieze, below it then again, broad, by decorative strips edged frieze with rose garlands, enclosed by double trimming elements, the inscription in Roman capitals:
GOSS ME IN LEOPOLD HALIL KAYSERLICHER STVCKGIESSER Wienn 1720 WIGT 7939 PF I AM TO HONOR GOD AND HUMAN SERVICES MANAGEMENT AND READY WHEN I AM (shall) the dead THE TOLL !
The sheath of the bells adorn four cartridges with inscriptions and images: the picture of grace Mariahilf, the Apostle Paul with the sword icon and the founders of the Regular Clerics of the St. Apostle Paul, farther a with an arrow pierced shoe, probably the arms of the founder.
The fourth cartridge contains the chronogram: AVS Dear Rich h MICaeLI Saller generosity Am I AVCH here gehenCket ("from dear rich bounty of the Lord Michael Sailer I 'm also here gehäncket (suspended)"), the capital letters of this inscription constitute the latin number sequence VLIICMICLILLIIIIICVCIC, giving as a result the year 1720.
Schuster Michel
That such a large bell was not so easy to ring by hand and in the course of time were necessary stabilization measures in the belfry, shows an entry in the parish chronicle of 1903: It...."was for the Great Bell "Schuster Michel" of the tower instead of the much more expensive wood helmet an iron belfry .....manufactured, by which the dangers at ringing should be eliminated because now only two men were required to ring the bell and also the vibrations of the whole tower are resolved. "Meant are probably iron bracings and reinforcements in the bell chamber, as the wooden belfry itself continued to remain preserved.
The replacement of the old wooden yoke through a Glockenjoches (bell yoke) of steel followed 1930. When the electrification took place is not documented.
The legend of the "miserly Schuster Michel" was created 1726-1731 and initially referred to a 1719 by the same donor donated, smaller Michael bell. Its defects, which coincided in terms of time with illness and death of the donor, and the in 1731 necessary recast gave this bell a mysterious reputation. As of 1731, hence the name "Michel Schuster" was transferred to the in 1720 also by Michael Sailler donated larger bell. The Michael Bell, however, was later referred to as "Saller-bell" or "Saillerin (Lady Sailler)".
Schuster Michel Schuster Michel
In the heyday (1st half of the 19th century) the Mariahilferkirche was equipped with a total of 8 bells. A detailed Läutordnung (toll regime) already should give the believers acoustically the time and type of worship. The Schuster Michel was rung on the eve before Sundays and public holidays. In the two world wars but in each case bells had to be delivered as war material. 1930 three new bells were still re-purchased, but 1941 the next war took its toll. It remained in the Mariahilferkirche only the historically valuable bell from 1720.
2011: New Patterns for Schuster Michel
Probably 1930, at the Schuster Michel the original wooden yoke was replaced by a steel yoke. These steel suspension proved now but not as convenient, because the ringing of the bell had to be done in a very high Läutwinkel (toll angle). Furthermore, the iron clapper from 1908 was too hard and proportioned wrong and could have hurt the bell. Since the antiquated electric drive, too, was very susceptible to disturbance, the Schuster Michel since Easter 2011 had to be silent.
In order to conserve the Schuster Michel as long as possible, the parish Mariahilf decided to had done some changes. With the renovation work the company Schauer und Sachs from Salzburg was commissioned: The steel yoke was again exchanged with an oak one (approximately 350 kg). As a result, the Läutwinkel (toll angle) could be reduced by 15%. A new round bale clapper, 180 kg, of special steel RSK 100, cast of the company Rosswag in Germany, was installed.
During a small devotion on 25 October 2011, the new clapper was blessed by Father Casimir, before it acceded to the applause of a small crowd of onlookers to the breezy trip to the height on its new location. The unilateral electrical drive has been replaced by an electronic drive with two motors. The screw connections at the belfry were tightened. So the Schuster Michel after a half year break on 28th October 2011 finally could resound again .
The costs for these bell remediations amount to € 20,218.38. Of which bears the parish Mariahilf € 6,803.01. The Federal Monuments Office has a grant of € 5.000, - promised, the rest is pumped in from the Archdiocese of Vienna .
Photos of the installation can be found here: in the photo gallery.
www.pfarremariahilf.at/mariahilf/index.php?mid=Kultur&....
Promise Fulfilled, Accomplishment Achieved at WSSU Commencement on May 14
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- For Jeanette Valentine, earning her bachelor’s degree in business administration will be fulfilling on many levels.
Valentine, 50, is one of the approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students who are expected to participate in WSSU’s Spring Commencement exercises on May 14 at 9:45 a.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Stephen A. Smith, noted journalist, media personality and motivational speaker, will be the keynote speaker.
Commencement will mark a special satisfaction not just because Valentine, a travel audit officer in WSSU’s accounting department, will be graduating with her 24-year-old son William R. Valentine. It’s because of a long-time promise fulfilled. Valentine made the promise to her mother back in 1978. Her mother and father never graduated from high school. When Valentine’s mother, who was battling cancer, asked her to promise she would graduate college, Valentine did. Valentine’s mother died two weeks before she graduated high school. Valentine was devastated over losing her mother.
“I started school at WSSU that year, but it lasted only one semester. I didn’t have the drive. I was still too distressed and overcome by my mother’s death. I couldn’t focus on school,” Valentine said.
Instead, Valentine got married, had two children and eventually went to work at a few jobs before coming to work at WSSU in 2006. In 2007, she decided to return to school since her children were adults. At the same time, her son who graduated high school in 2004 was thinking about returning to college after quitting previously. By fall 2007, both with full-time jobs returned to school at WSSU. He was an exercise science major and she was in the School of Business and Economics.
“He was so career focused on his job and he was doing well. But I kept pushing him and telling him he had to get a degree. I was thrilled he came back to school and that we were in school at the same time. It was exciting,” said Valentine.
Eventually Valentine saw her son was distracted by work. They talked and it was he who asked they agree to push each other so they could graduate at the same time.
That time is now. Valentine is thrilled they are graduating together. She says it feels like she has kept the promise made to her mother times two.
“In addition to the accomplishment, it may be quite an emotional day,” Valentine said.
Valentine is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society for collegiate schools of business as well as Alpha Sigma Lambda, a national honor society for Adult Learners in Continuing Higher Education. She plans to pursue her master’s degree at Liberty University.
Extraordinary Journey
It will be a festive ending to an extraordinary journey for Jerrica Scott, 24, of Winston-Salem. For Scott, commencement will symbolize the end of a passage marked by limitations, fear and uncertainty. It will be a celebration of a personal renaissance, driven by a theme that anything is possible with faith, passion and purpose.
“No matter how bad things may look, you can make a difference in your own life and the lives of others if you work really hard and know things can change. Soon things may look different, then not so bad, better, even good.”
Scott’s journey is verification of her belief. She entered WSSU to earn a four-year bachelor’s degree in elementary education six years ago as a single teen-aged mom. During that time as a full-time student, living on her own with her young daughter, she worked full-time, changed majors multiple times, quit school, got married, had another child, returned to school, made up a semester of credits lost when she quit and found her way back to the major that gave her the purpose.
“Just before I started my freshman year, I could hear people saying now that I had a baby as a teenager, my life was over or I wouldn’t get very far,” noted Scott. “Because I got pregnant in high school and had a baby in my first year of college, it didn’t mean I would be a failure. I did not want to be the stereotype of a young single mom who would work only at fast food restaurants or be on welfare the rest of her life.”
Although Scott was determined, she became distracted during her second year.
“I was failing classes miserably. I was living on my own and I was 18 years old. I felt lost and beaten, so I quit school,” Scott said who worked as a waitress. “Then one day, my manager told me the biggest thing he regretted was not finishing school. So if you don’t want to be waiting tables for the rest of your life, you need to go back to school. “
That was the turning point for Scott. She also thought about her mother, a cosmetologist, who always stressed the importance of education and often expressed interest in wanting her children to be greater than she. Scott soon quit her job and returned to school. Her best friend and others helped her find her way back to the major that aligned with where her talents and passions had always been -- elementary education.
“My best friend told me this is what I suppose to be doing. She told me we are going over there right now and you are going to get enrolled back into school. I just thank her,” said Scott.
Then she met a good man who cared about her and her daughter. It was like an unattainable dream. They soon married. Her second daughter was born in 2010. Now in school and completely focused on her education, Scott delivered the baby on a Friday and returned class on Monday.
Scott is currently working as a substitute teacher and searching for a fulltime permanent teaching job. She is also going to be the “first in my family to graduate college.”
Multiple Job Offers Early in Her Senior Year
Information technology major Kristen Dunlap, 21, of Charlotte, has accomplished a standout achievement, even before she completed her last year of college. In this challenging economy, she had two job offers from Fortune 500 companies one before her senior year, the other early in her senior year. She selected one position which she will begin this summer.
Dunlap attributes her success to internships, which she began participating in back in her freshman year. That first one was a summer research experience for undergraduate WSSU computer science students at WSSU, funded by NASA. She used, GIS visualization tools to visualize North Carolina weather patterns. The goal of the summer program was to expose students to researching skills and help to develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills.
For her second year, Dunlap interned at the NASA Langley, Va., facility where she worked as a liaison between the technology and client teams for the database tracking system used to manage NASA’s contractual projects.
For summer 2010, she was an intern at Altria Client Services in Richmond ,Va., where she worked on data archiving to consolidate previous and current information to migrate to a new system.
“You can never underestimate the value of internships. I started utilizing the WSSU Career Services office in my second year. My parents always told me to be aggressive at seeking job opportunities. I didn’t want to be a person to work hard for four years and have no job in the end,” Dunlap said.
She will start her new job at Altria Client Services as an IT assistant analyst.
The Entertainment Mogul
Erikka Rainey, 22, of Philadelphia wants to be a female Sean “P-Diddy” Combs. In fact, she has wanted to be an entertainment mogul from a very young age. As a child, she dabbled in music and even took classes, but by age 14, she knew wholeheartedly that she wanted to be on the business side of the music industry.
“When I first learned about P-Diddy, I knew that was where I wanted my future to be,” said Rainey. “I look up to P- Diddy because I’m working to be the first female to start a record label, then restaurants, clothing lines and television shows.”
When she sees a famous entertainer, she wonders what sort of things they did in their career to get famous. If not famous, she wonders what it would take to make them famous. While at WSSU she jumped at every opportunity to market and promote musical artists and events. She worked with Hidden Beach Recordings to promote events for a new CD. She passed out flyers and did social media and internet marketing for jazz artist Monette Sudler of Philadelphia this past summer.
“If there’s one thing I live by, it’s take advantage of all opportunities. Don’t close yourself off to anything. You never know what you will learn that can be the key to your future,” Rainey said.
An honor student, Rainey will be attending New York University’s (NYU) music business program in the fall. She plans to maintain at least one home in New York City after graduate school when her career kicks off.
13 red roses from my love on our 13th wedding anniversary and this one as a promise for another happy year together.
Dla wszystkich fanów serialu Stranger Thing - i nie tylko! Polecamy nasz plecak z wyjątkowym napisem nawiązującym do fabuły wspomnianego serialu. Plecak Promise Stranger Things świetnie sprawdzi się jako plecak szkolny, ponieważ z łatwością pomieści format a4 i jest naprawdę wygodny. Plecaczek będzie także super prezentem np. dla przyjeciela czy przyjaciółki. Dostępny jest w czarnym oraz białym kolorze.
Bronica sq-a, 150mm f/ 3.5, 1x close-up lens, self-developed, kodak tmax 400 film
From my series "Absence"
A little 4x4 streched canvas frame was painted and the various paper scraps glued on to make a heart. Ribbon, and a vintage button was attached with a nice tassel hanging off. The top buttons by the hanging wire are vintage leather buttons. The letters on the top spell out "promise to love" and were clipped from a 70's yoga book, from the chapter headings.
Daughter #1's reading at the moment (even during a later breakfast).
Waterstones say:
"The biggest book of the decade is a Presidential memoir like no other. Recounting Barack Obama’s journey to the White House in matchless, eloquent prose, A Promised Land is utterly essential reading."
www.waterstones.com/book/a-promised-land/barack-obama/978...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rGOl4jdogs
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk group, formed in Liverpool in 1978. Their original lineup consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut album, Crocodiles, met with critical acclaim and made the UK Top 20. Their second album, Heaven Up Here (1981), again found favour with the critics and reached number 10 in the UK Album chart. The band's cult status was followed by mainstream success in the mid-1980s, as they scored a UK Top 10 hit with "The Cutter", and the attendant album, Porcupine (1983), reached number 2 in the UK. Their next release, Ocean Rain (1984), continued the band's UK chart success, and has since been regarded as their landmark release, spawning the hit singles "The Killing Moon", "Silver" and "Seven Seas". One more studio album, Echo & the Bunnymen (1987), was released before McCulloch left the band to pursue a solo career in 1988. The following year, de Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident, and the band re-emerged with a new line-up. Original members Will Sergeant and Les Pattinson were joined by Noel Burke as lead singer, Damon Reece on drums and Jake Brockman on keyboards. This new incarnation of the band released Reverberation in 1990, but the disappointing critical and commercial reaction it received culminated with a complete split in 1993.
After working together as Electrafixion, McCulloch and Sergeant regrouped with Pattinson in 1997 and returned as Echo & the Bunnymen with the UK Top 10 hit "Nothing Lasts Forever". An album of new material, Evergreen, was greeted enthusiastically by critics and the band made a successful return to the live arena. Though Pattinson left the group for a second time, McCulloch and Sergeant have continued to issue new material as Echo & the Bunnymen, including the albums What Are You Going to Do with Your Life? (1999), Flowers (2001), Siberia (2005) and The Fountain (2009).
Ian McCulloch began his career in 1977, as one third of the Crucial Three, a bedroom band which also featured Julian Cope and Pete Wylie. When Wylie left, McCulloch and Cope formed the short-lived A Shallow Madness with drummer Dave Pickett and organist Paul Simpson, during which time such songs as "Read It In Books", "Robert Mitchum", "You Think It's Love" and "Spacehopper" were written by the pair. When Cope sacked McCulloch from the band,[1] A Shallow Madness changed their name to The Teardrop Explodes, and McCulloch joined forces with guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson to form Echo & the Bunnymen. This early incarnation of the band featured a drum machine, assumed by many to be "Echo", though this has been refuted by the band. In the 1982 book Liverpool Explodes!, Will Sergeant explained the origin of the band's name:
We had this mate who kept suggesting all these names like The Daz Men or Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I thought it was just as stupid as the rest.
In November 1978, Echo & the Bunnymen made their debut at Liverpool's Eric's Club appearing as the opening act for The Teardrop Explodes.
Echo & the Bunnymen's debut single "The Pictures on My Wall" was released on Bill Drummond's Zoo Records in May 1979, the B-side being the McCulloch/Cope collaboration "Read It in Books" (also recorded by The Teardrop Explodes approximately six months later as the B-side of their final Zoo Records single "Treason"). McCulloch has subsequently denied that Cope had any involvement with the writing of this song on more than one occasion.
By the time of their debut album, 1980's Crocodiles, the drum machine had been replaced by Trinidad-born Pete de Freitas. The lead single, "Rescue", climbed to UK #62 and the album broke into the Top 20 at #17, following critical acclaim. Their next album, Heaven Up Here (1981), was an even bigger critical and commercial success, reaching the UK Top Ten (#10), although a single lifted from the album, "A Promise", could only reach UK #49.
In June 1982, the Bunnymen achieved their first significant UK hit single with "The Back of Love" (#19). This was followed in early 1983 with their first Top 10, the more radio-friendly "The Cutter", which climbed to #8. The parent album, Porcupine, hit #2 in the album chart. Now firmly established as a chart act, further hits followed with a one-off single, "Never Stop" (#15), and "The Killing Moon", a preview from the new album featuring a dramatic McCulloch vocal, which became the band's second UK Top 10 single at #9.[6]
Following a PR campaign which proclaimed it "the greatest album ever made",[7] 1984's Ocean Rain reached #4, and today is widely regarded as the band's masterpiece.[8] Single extracts "Silver" (UK #30) and "Seven Seas" (UK #16) consolidated the album's continued commercial success. In the same year, McCulloch had a minor solo hit with his cover version of "September Song".
Echo & the Bunnymen toured Scandinavia in April 1985, performing cover versions of songs from Television, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and The Doors. Recordings from the tour emerged as the semi-bootleg On Strike. Unfortunately for the band, Ocean Rain proved to be a difficult album to follow up, and they could only re-emerge in 1985 with a single, "Bring On the Dancing Horses" (UK #21), and a compilation album, Songs to Learn & Sing, which made #6 in the UK album chart. However, all was not well in the Bunnymen camp, and Pete de Freitas left the band. Their next album, the self-titled Echo & the Bunnymen (1987), was recorded with ex–ABC drummer David Palmer, but when de Freitas returned in 1986, it was largely re-recorded. Eventually released in mid-1987, the record sold well (UK #4), and was a small American hit, their only LP to have significant sales there.
In the United States, the band's best-known songs were "The Killing Moon" (from Ocean Rain) and "Lips Like Sugar" (from Echo & the Bunnymen), although "Bring On the Dancing Horses" is well-known as one of the songs on the soundtrack to the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink. "The Killing Moon" was featured on the 1997 soundtrack from the film "Grosse Pointe Blank" (starring John Cusack). They also contributed a cover version of The Doors song "People Are Strange" to The Lost Boys soundtrack.
"The woods are [haunting], dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
- Altered Robert Frost Quote
This kept repeating over and over in my head as I was editing this photo
57.365
I promise to be better than before; to improve, to strive, to laugh, to smile, to help, to give, to live, and to love. And I really mean it.
+100 VIEWS ! THANK YOU SO MUCH !
Although the life of a person is in a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. You have to trust God.
Pope Francis
As promised, here is the "After" shot of Auggie. He was groomed over a week ago, and I use the term groomed loosely. He was shaved, people. A Cesky Terrier should not look like this. He should have fluffy legs, belly and chest. But he was in such matted, horrible shape before we took him in that it was the only option. He looks hilarious now, but he's super soft.
And his eyes are doing much better now. We're still giving him three drops a day in each eye, but they're almost totally back to normal, minus some redness leftover from the conjunctivitis. He's back to his old, hyper self too. :) So happy about that. And on a somewhat related note, Tom's son Brody is doing much better today too. They took him off the vent and are hopeful that he will be home by sometime next week. Thanks to everyone who sent positive thoughts and prayers during their struggle.
DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 24JAN14 - Amr Moussa (L), Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (2001-2011) speaks during the session 'Fulfilling North Africa's Promise' at the Annual Meeting 2014 of the World Economic Forum at the congress centre in Davos, January 24, 2014.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/swiss-image.ch/Photo Urs Jaudas