ITM1692074

 

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behavior excellent deal used car good deal performance Your performance affected by your sleep fight don’t fight with throw German ball! top are top student quickly Let’s finish reading this quickly past past English was as good as it today goal speak English fluently second second goal increase confidence bed go bed around 10pm order would like order book author author this series world-famous fill need fill (up) gas tank represent represent family focus Turn off your phone TV focus on your studies! foreign It’s great having foreign friends drop don’t drop eggs! plan Let’s make plan blood hospital needs people give blood upon Once upon time princess lived castle agency Let’s contract agency help with marketing push door says ‘push ’ ‘pull ' nature love walking nature! colou color blue no ‘No’ one shortest complete sentences recently cleaned bathroom most recently think it’s your turn this time store I’m going store buy some bread reduce reuse recycle are ways help environment sound 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well staff There are five people on staff here recognize recognize person this photo indicate reply indicated that she understood character trust people good character growth company has seen strong growth this quarter loss farmer suffered heavy losses after storm degree Set oven 300 degrees wonder wonder Bulls win game attack army attack at dawn herself She bought herself new coat region internet services are your region television don’t watch much television box packed dishes strong box TV There good movie on TV tonight training company pay your training pretty That pretty dress trade stock market traded lower today deal got good deal at store election Who think win election everybody likes ice cream physical Keep physical distance six feet lay baby crib general impression restaurant was good feeling have good feeling about this standard standard fee $10 00 bill electrician send bill message have text message on your phone fail fail see funny about that outside cat goes outside sometimes arrive When your plane arrive analysis I’ll give analysis when I’ve seen everything benefit There are many health benefits quinoa name What’s your name sex know sex your baby yet forward Move car forward few feet lawyer legal helped write present everyone present meeting begin section stadium are sitting environmental science economy politics political politician issues are news glass much heavier than plastic answer Could answer question skill best skill woodworking sister lives close PM movie starts at 7:30 PM professor Dr Smith professor operation mining operation employs thousands people financial keep accounts at financial institution crime police fight crime stage caterpillar larval stage butterfly ok Would it ok eat out tonight compare should compare cars before buy one authority City authorities make local laws miss you when see again design need design new logo sort Let’s sort these beads according color one only have one cat act I’ll act on your information today ten baby counted ten toes knowledge have knowledge fix that gun Gun ownership controversial topic station There train station close house blue favorite color blue state After accident was state shock strategy new corporate strategy written here little prefer little cars clearly instructions clearly written discuss We’ll discuss that at meeting indeed Your mother does indeed have hearing loss force It takes lot force open that door truth tell truth song That’s beautiful song example need example that grammar point democratic Does Australia have democratic government check check work sure it’s correct environment live healthy environment leg boy broke leg dark Turn on light it’s dark here public Masks must worn public places various That rug comes various shades gray rather Would rather have hamburger than hot dog laugh That movie always makes laugh guess don’t know just guess executive company’s executives are paid well set Set glass on table study needs study test prove employee proved 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direction direction city from here weapon No weapons are allowed government buildings employee That store only has three employees cultural There cultural significance those old ruins contain carton contains dozen egges peace World leaders gathered peace talks head head hurts control Keep control car base glass has heavy base it won’t fall over pain have chest pain apply Maria applied job play children play at park measure Measure twice cut once wide doorway was very wide shake Don’t shake soda fly fly France next year interview job interview went well manage Did manage find keys chair table has six matching chairs fish don’t enjoy eating fish particular That particular style looks good on camera use camera on phone structure building’s structure solid politics Mitch very active politics perform singer perform tonight bit It rained little bit last night weight Keep track your pet’s weight suddenly storm came up suddenly discover You’ll discover treasures at that thrift store candidate There are ten candidates position top flag flies on top that building production Factory production has improved over summer treat Give yourself treat job well done trip are taking trip Florida January evening I’m staying home this evening affect bank account affect how much buy inside cat stays inside conference There expert presenters at conference unit foot unit measure best Those are best glasses buy style dress out style adult Adults pay full price but children are free worry Don’t worry about tomorrow range doctor offered range options mention mention your story rather Rather than focusing on bad things let’s grateful good things far don’t move far from family deep That poem about life deep front face front edge stand close edge cliff individual These potato chips are individual serving size package specific Could more specific writer are good writer trouble Stay out trouble necessary It necessary sleep throughout Throughout life have always enjoyed reading challenge challenge 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At a crossroads – Needing to make an important decision

When you are at a crossroads, you are at a point in your life where you need to make a decision. The implication is that the decision you make will have big, life-altering consequences.

Bad apple – Bad person

You can use this idiom to describe someone who is not nice and maybe even criminal.

Barking up the wrong tree – Pursuing the wrong course

When you “bark up the wrong tree” you are pursuing the wrong solution to your problems.

Be closefisted – Stingy

If you are being “closefisted”, you don’t want to spend a lot of money.

Be cold-hearted – Uncaring

If you decide to be “cold-hearted”, you are making a deliberate decision not to care about someone or something.

Be on solid ground – Confident

When you are “on solid ground”, you are confident in your position or feel that you are safe.

Beat around the bush – Avoid saying

When you do this, you are taking a long time to say what you really need to say. You may be doing this because the “truth” is embarrassing or your unsure about how the listener will take it.

Behind you – Supportive

When you are “behind” someone, you are saying that they have your support.

Between a rock and a hard place – Facing difficulties

When you have to choose between two options, neither of which are ideal or “good”.

Blow off steam – Try to relax

When you are stressed or upset about something, sometimes you need to do something to keep you from thinking about it.

Born with a silver spoon in their mouth – Born wealthy

This idiomatic expression is used to describe someone who was born into a wealthy family.

Break the bank – Spend a lot

When you “break the bank”, you spend a lot of money on something. If something will “break the bank”, then it’s expensive.

Bright spark – Smart

A “bright spark” is someone who is smart and valuable to an organization.

Build a case – Argue your point

When you “build a case” for something, you are preparing to argue a point or convince someone that your opinion is the right one.

Build castles in the sky – Daydream

When you fantasize about something you hope to have or achieve.

Burn your bridges – End a relationship

When you “burn your bridges” you end a relationship permanently.

Butter up – Flatter

When you “butter” someone up, you are telling them nice things about themselves.

Bought a lemon – Bad bargain

If something you bought is a “lemon” it is a bad product. In a sense, you wasted your money on it.

Break the ice – Start a conversation

When you start a conversation strangers with the end goal of making new friends.

Calm before the storm – Peaceful

When you use this to describe your state of being or mind, you’re talking about a quiet period before anticipated trouble comes your way.

Chasing rainbows – Pursuing dreams

When you try to follow your dreams. The implication here, however, is that you might be better off forgetting your dreams.

Clear as mud – Hard to understand

When you are confused about something or a situation.

Cool as a cucumber – Calm

This idiomatic expression is meant to describe someone who is calm and relaxed.

Couch potato – Lazy

A couch potato is a lazy person. Specifically, someone who sprawls on their couch watching TV almost all day.

Cross that bridge when we get to it – Think about it later

When you say this, you are telling someone that you will think about something later. The implication is that it’s a problem or a decision that can be put off for now.

Chew it over – Think had about something

This idiom implies that you need to make an important decision and can’t afford to be hasty about it.

Come to light – Be revealed

When something “comes to light” something that was originally concealed from you is revealed.

Cut back on – Reduce

When you use this idiom, you are reducing something.

Cut to the chase – Speak concisely

When you tell someone to “cut to the chase”, you are expressing impatience. This is usually used when someone feels someone else is taking to long to deliver important news.

Crystal clear – Easy to understand

When you say that something is “crystal clear”, you are saying that it is understood.

Dead-end job – No more opportunities

When you are stuck in a “dead-end job”, you are in a career situation where there is no more room for advancement.

Dig deep – Strive

When you “dig deep” you put a lot of effort into a task.

Digging into – Looking closer

When you “dig into” something, you are looking for more information.

Don’t run before you can walk – Don’t assume something is easy

This is a descriptive idiom, it’s meant to make you think about how a baby needs to learn how to walk before they can run. It’s supposed to caution you about assuming you can just do something without learning the basics.

Down to earth – Practical

This describes someone who is known for being sensible and practical.

Eat like a bird – Small appetite

This is used to describe someone who doesn’t eat a lot.

Eat like a horse – Eat a lot

If you eat like a horse, you are eating a lot. You can “eat like a bird” most of the time but “eat like a horse” at a specific time because you are either very hungry or you really like the food.

Eat your words – Admit you were wrong

When you “eat your words” you are admitting that something you said earlier turned out to be wrong.

Every cloud has a silver lining – Things will get better

When you say this, you are telling yourself or someone else that you will get through your troubles.

Face the music – Face the consequences

When you “face the music”, you are owning up to a mistake and trying to make amends.

Find your feet – Adapt

When you are “finding your feet” you are learning how to adapt to a new situation, like a new job.

Follow in their footsteps – Imitate

This idiom is often used between children and their parents, but it can also refer to a mentor or someone you admire. If you “follow in someone’s footsteps”, you do the same thing that they did.

Food for thought – Something to think about

If you are given “food for thought” you have been given something to think about.

A frosty reception – To be unwelcome

If you received a “frosty reception”, you are not welcome.

Fly off the handle – Rages

You can use this idiom to describe someone who is visibly angry over a situation. Often this means that someone is shouting and maybe gesturing violently and even causing damage to property. It also implies that the angry reaction is disproportionate to the situation.

Get on with your life – Continue on after a setback

This is something you can say and should do after going through some problems.

Give them a run for their money – Compete

If you are competing with someone, you are giving them a “run for their money.”

Go Dutch – Split the bill

You can use this idiomatic expression when dining out with friends.

Go with the flow – Relax and get along

When you “go with the flow” you keep calm and just go along with whatever is happening around you.

Got off scot-free – Escaped

When you “get off scot-free”, you managed to escape any consequences for your actions.

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Hard to swallow – Unbelievable

If someone told you something that you just can’t believe, they told you something that is “hard to swallow”.

Have your whole life in front of you – Young

Someone who has their whole life in front of them is young and full of promise.

Hold out an olive branch – Apologize

When you do this, you try to make amends or peace with someone you’ve hurt or angered.

In hot water – In trouble

This idiomatic expression can be used to say that you are in a less than ideal situation.

Inching forward - Making slow progress

When you say this, you’re saying things are proceeding slowly.

Keep on the straight and narrow – Keep out of trouble

When you say this, you are implying that you are going to live in a morally correct way.

Keep your chin up – Stay positive

Even if you’re going through a hard time, you should keep thinking positive.

Kicked the bucket – Died

This is an irreverent phrase to say that someone has died. Be careful how you use it.

Let the cat out of the bag – Spoiled the secret

You “let the cat out of the bag” when you accidentally let someone in on a secret that they weren’t meant to know.

Look up to – Respect

When you “look up to” someone you are acknowledging that you respect them and value their opinion.

Loaded – Rich

When you call someone “loaded” you are saying that they are rich.

Lost at sea – Confused

If a situation is making you feel confused or lost, this is the idiom to use.

Making ends meet – Careful budgeting

If you. don’t have much money, you need to “make ends meet”. This means you carefully budget what you do have to meet your needs.

Make a mountain out of a molehill –Exaggerate

This idiom is used to say that someone is being over-dramatic with their complaints or concerns.

Make waves – Change things

When you “make waves”, you change a situation dramatically. This can also mean that you caused trouble.

Nip in the bud – Stop

When you do this, you take action to keep a situation from getting worse.

No sweat – Easy

When you say “no sweat” you are saying that a task was easy

Not your cup of tea – Not something you like

If you say that something is “not your cup of tea” you are saying it’s not something you particularly like or enjoy.

Once in a blue moon – Rare

This implies something that either won’t happen or rarely happens.

Out in the open – Public knowledge

When something is “out in the open”, it is a matter of public knowledge.

Over the moon – Very happy

You can use this to describe the feeling of getting something you’ve been looking forward to for a long time.

On cloud nine – Very happy

Similar to being over the moon.

Packed like sardines – Crowded

If people are “packed like sardines” in a venue, they are standing very close together in a small space.

Piece of cake –Easy

If you say something is a “piece of cake” you are saying that it is easy.

Pitch in - Contribute

When you “pitch-in”, you work with a group of people to reach a common goal.

Point of view – An opinion

Your “point of view” is what you think about someone or a situation.

Pony up – Pay

If you are paying back a debt, you are “ponying up” the money.

Pour oil on troubled waters – Calm things down

This basically means that you played peacemaker and kept an argument from developing into a physical fight.

Put your head in the sand – Deny something unpleasant

When you have your “head in the sand”, you are deliberately ignoring a bad situation.

Rags to riches – Became rich

Someone who went from “rags to riches” was born poor or underprivileged, but is now in a better social position.

Rain or shine – No matter what

This idiomatic expression is used to express the idea that nothing will stop you.

Reap the rewards – Received the benefits

When you “reap the rewards”, you are getting the benefits of your good work.

Rings a bell – Sounds familiar

When you think that you’ve heard a piece of information before but are not so sure.

Rule of thumb – General practice

A “rule of thumb” is an unwritten rule that is followed by the majority.

Separate the wheat from the chaff – Decide what is valuable

This picturesque idiom refers to how, when you harvest wheat, you need to separate it from the stalks and leaves. So, it means that you pick out or choose what is valuable to keep.

Shell out money – Pay

When you “shell out money”, you pay for an item.

Sitting on the fence – Neutral

When you “sit on the fence” you are avoiding making a decision. Often, this is a decision between two people with different opinions.

Smart cookie – Smart person

You can use this idiom to describe someone intelligent.

Spice things up – Make things interesting

When you “spice things up” you do something to break out of your normal routine.

Spill the beans – Tell

When you do this, you tell someone something they didn’t know. It may or not have been a secret previously.

Sticky fingers – Thief

If you accuse someone of having “sticky fingers” you are basically calling them a thief.

Take a side – Choose who to support

When you “take a side” in an argument, you are agreeing with one of those arguing.

Throw light on – Explain something

When you “throw light on” a situation, you help make sure that it is understood.

To move at a snail’s pace – Move slowly

This is another idiomatic phrase that’s meant to paint a picture. A snail moves slowly, so to move at its pace means things are going slowly.

Tread carefully – Be cautious

This implies that a situation is fraught and it might be easy to offend those involved.

Under the table – Secretive

When you do something “under the table”, you are trying to do something so that only a small amount of people are aware of it. It’s commonly used to describe something that is possibly unscrupulous. For example, bribes are given “under the table”.

Undermine your position – Act unconvincingly

When you behave in a way that makes you and your opinion seem untrustworthy.

Up in the air – Uncertain

When you say something is “up in the air”, you are saying that you are not sure that an event is happening.

Weather the storm – Survive

When you “weather the storm”, you endure a bad situation.

When it rains, it pours – Trouble comes

This refers to the fact that sometimes, many bad things happen to people at one time.

So there you have it, 10 idiomatic expressions and their meanings. These idioms are used by native English language speakers to add some color to their daily speech.

 

Google is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence,[9] and consumer electronics. It has been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world"[10] and one of the world's most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the area of artificial intelligence.[11][12][13] Its parent company Alphabet is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University in California. Together they own about 14% of its publicly listed shares and control 56% of the stockholder voting power through super-voting stock. The company went public via an initial public offering (IPO) in 2004. In 2015, Google was reorganized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Google is Alphabet's largest subsidiary and is a holding company for Alphabet's Internet properties and interests. Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO of Google on October 24, 2015, replacing Larry Page, who became the CEO of Alphabet. On December 3, 2019, Pichai also became the CEO of Alphabet.[14]

The company has since rapidly grown to offer a multitude of products and services beyond Google Search, many of which hold dominant market positions. These products address a wide range of use cases, including email (Gmail), navigation (Waze & Maps), cloud computing (Cloud), web browsing (Chrome), video sharing (YouTube), productivity (Workspace), operating systems (Android), cloud storage (Drive), language translation (Translate), photo storage (Photos), video calling (Meet), smart home (Nest), smartphones (Pixel), wearable technology (Pixel Watch & Fitbit), music streaming (YouTube Music), video on demand (YouTube TV), artificial intelligence (Google Assistant), machine learning APIs (TensorFlow), AI chips (TPU), and more. Discontinued Google products include gaming (Stadia), Glass,[citation needed] Google+, Reader, Play Music, Nexus, Hangouts, and Inbox by Gmail.[15][16]

Google's other ventures outside of Internet services and consumer electronics include quantum computing (Sycamore), self-driving cars (Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project), smart cities (Sidewalk Labs), and transformer models (Google Brain).[17]

Google and YouTube are the two most visited websites worldwide followed by Facebook and Twitter. Google is also the largest search engine, mapping and navigation application, email provider, office suite, video sharing platform, photo and cloud storage provider, mobile operating system, web browser, ML framework, and AI virtual assistant provider in the world as measured by market share. On the list of most valuable brands, Google is ranked second by Forbes[18] and fourth by Interbrand.[19] It has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, censorship, search neutrality, antitrust and abuse of its monopoly position.

In March 1999, the company moved its offices to Palo Alto, California,[52] which is home to several prominent Silicon Valley technology start-ups.[53] The next year, Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords against Page and Brin's initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine.[54][22] To maintain an uncluttered page design, advertisements were solely text-based.[55] In June 2000, it was announced that Google would become the default search engine provider for Yahoo!, one of the most popular websites at the time, replacing Inktomi.

 

In 2003, after outgrowing two other locations, the company leased an office complex from Silicon Graphics, at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California.[59] The complex became known as the Googleplex, a play on the word googolplex, the number one followed by a googol zeroes. Three years later, Google bought the property from SGI for $319 million.[60] By that time, the name "Google" had found its way into everyday language, causing the verb "google" to be added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, denoted as: "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet".[61][62] The first use of the verb on television appeared in an October 2002 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[63]

Additionally, in 2001 Google's investors felt the need to have a strong internal management, and they agreed to hire Eric Schmidt as the chairman and CEO of Google.[49] Eric was proposed by John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins. He had been trying to find a CEO that Sergey and Larry would accept for several months, but they rejected several candidates because they wanted to retain control over the company. Michael Moritz from Sequoia Capital at one point even menaced requesting Google to immediately pay back Sequoia's $12.5m investment if they did not fulfill their promise to hire a chief executive office, which had been made verbally during investment negotiations. Eric wasn't initially enthusiastic about joining Google either, as the company's full potential hadn't yet been widely recognized at the time, and as he was occupied with his responsibilities at Novell where he was CEO. As part of him joining, Eric agreed to buy $1 million of Google preferred stocks as a way to show his commitment and to provide funds Google needed.

Google generates most of its revenues from advertising. This includes sales of apps, purchases made in-app, digital content products on Google and YouTube, Android and licensing and service fees, including fees received for Google Cloud offerings. Forty-six percent of this profit was from clicks (cost per clicks), amounting to US$109,652 million in 2017. This includes three principal methods, namely AdMob, AdSense (such as AdSense for Content, AdSense for Search, etc.) and DoubleClick AdExchange.

In addition to its own algorithms for understanding search requests, Google uses technology its acquisition of DoubleClick, to project user interest and target advertising to the search context and the user history.

In 2007, Google launched "AdSense for Mobile", taking advantage of the emerging mobile advertising market.

Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, for example by examining click rates for all the links on a page. Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Google Ads allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through a cost-per-click scheme.[138] The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website and earn money every time ads are clicked.[139] One of the criticisms of this program is the possibility of click fraud, which occurs when a person or automated script clicks on advertisements without being interested in the product, causing the advertiser to pay money to Google unduly. Industry reports in 2006 claimed that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were fraudulent or invalid.[140] Google Search Console (rebranded from Google Webmaster Tools in May 2015) allows webmasters to check the sitemap, crawl rate, and for security issues of their websites, as well as optimize their website's visibility.

Consumer services

Web-based services

Google offers Gmail for email, Google Calendar for time-management and scheduling, Google Maps for mapping, navigation and satellite imagery, Google Drive for cloud storage of files, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides for productivity, Google Photos for photo storage and sharing, Google Keep for note-taking, Google Translate for language translation, YouTube for video viewing and sharing, Google My Business for managing public business information, and Duo for social interaction. In March 2019, Google unveiled a cloud gaming service named Stadia. A job search product has also existed since before 2017, Google for Jobs is an enhanced search feature that aggregates listings from job boards and career sites.

Some Google services are not web-based. Google Earth, launched in 2005, allowed users to see high-definition satellite pictures from all over the world for free through a client software downloaded to their computers.

Software

Google develops the Android mobile operating system, as well as its smartwatch, television, car, and Internet of things-enabled smart devices variations.

It also develops the Google Chrome web browser, and Chrome OS, an operating system based on Chrome.

 

Hardware

 

In January 2010, Google released Nexus One, the first Android phone under its own brand. It spawned a number of phones and tablets under the "Nexus" branding until its eventual discontinuation in 2016, replaced by a new brand called Pixel.

In 2011, the Chromebook was introduced, which runs on Chrome OS.

In July 2013, Google introduced the Chromecast dongle, which allows users to stream content from their smartphones to televisions.

In June 2014, Google announced Google Cardboard, a simple cardboard viewer that lets user place their smartphone in a special front compartment to view virtual reality (VR) media.

Other hardware products include:

•Nest, a series of voice assistant smart speakers that can answer voice queries, play music, find information from apps (calendar, weather etc.), and control third-party smart home appliances (users can tell it to turn on the lights, for example). The Google Nest line includes the original Google Home (later succeeded by the Nest Audio), the Google Home Mini (later succeeded by the Nest Mini, the Google Home Max, the Google Home Hub (later rebranded as the Nest Hub), and the Nest Hub Max.

•Nest Wifi (originally Google Wifi), a connected set of Wi-Fi routers to simplify and extend coverage of home Wi-Fi.

 

Enterprise services

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite until October 2020) is a monthly subscription offering for organizations and businesses to get access to a collection of Google's services, including Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides, with additional administrative tools, unique domain names, and 24/7 support.

On September 24, 2012, Google launched Google for Entrepreneurs, a largely not-for-profit business incubator providing startups with co-working spaces known as Campuses, with assistance to startup founders that may include workshops, conferences, and mentorships. Presently, there are seven Campus locations: Berlin, London, Madrid, Seoul, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, and Warsaw.

On March 15, 2016, Google announced the introduction of Google Analytics 360 Suite, "a set of integrated data and marketing analytics products, designed specifically for the needs of enterprise-class marketers" which can be integrated with BigQuery on the Google Cloud Platform. Among other things, the suite is designed to help "enterprise class marketers" "see the complete customer journey", generate "useful insights", and "deliver engaging experiences to the right people". Jack Marshall of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the suite competes with existing marketing cloud offerings by companies including Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce, and IBM.

 

Internet services

In February 2010, Google announced the Google Fiber project, with experimental plans to build an ultra-high-speed broadband network for 50,000 to 500,000 customers in one or more American cities.[178][179] Following Google's corporate restructure to make Alphabet Inc. its parent company, Google Fiber was moved to Alphabet's Access division.[180][181]

In April 2015, Google announced Project Fi, a mobile virtual network operator, that combines Wi-Fi and cellular networks from different telecommunication providers in an effort to enable seamless connectivity and fast Internet signal.

 

Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name comes from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities and, since 2006, anyone over 13 years old. As of July 2022, Facebook claimed 2.93 billion monthly active users,[6] and ranked third worldwide among the most visited websites as of July 2022.[7] It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.[8]

Facebook can be accessed from devices with Internet connectivity, such as personal computers, tablets and smartphones. After registering, users can create a profile revealing information about themselves. They can post text, photos and multimedia which are shared with any other users who have agreed to be their "friend" or, with different privacy settings, publicly. Users can also communicate directly with each other with Facebook Messenger, join common-interest groups, and receive notifications on the activities of their Facebook friends and the pages they follow.

The subject of numerous controversies, Facebook has often been criticized over issues such as user privacy (as with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal), political manipulation (as with the 2016 U.S. elections) and mass surveillance.[9] Posts originating from the Facebook page of Breitbart News, a media organization previously affiliated with Cambridge Analytica,[10] are currently among the most widely shared political content on Facebook.[11][12][13][14][15] Facebook has also been subject to criticism over psychological effects such as addiction and low self-esteem, and various controversies over content such as fake news, conspiracy theories, copyright infringement, and hate speech.

 

Zuckerberg built a website called "Facemash" in 2003 while attending Harvard University. The site was comparable to Hot or Not and used "photos compiled from the online face books of nine Houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the "hotter" person". Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours. The site was sent to several campus group listservs, but was shut down a few days later by Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged with breaching security, violating copyrights and violating individual privacy. Ultimately, the charges were dropped. Zuckerberg expanded on this project that semester by creating a social study tool. He uploaded art images, each accompanied by a comments section, to a website he shared with his classmates.

A "face book" is a student directory featuring photos and personal information. In 2003, Harvard had only a paper version[ along with private online directories. Zuckerberg told The Harvard Crimson, "Everyone's been talking a lot about a universal face book within Harvard. ... I think it's kind of silly that it would take the University a couple of years to get around to it. I can do it better than they can, and I can do it in a week."[29] In January 2004, Zuckerberg coded a new website, known as "TheFacebook", inspired by a Crimson editorial about Facemash, stating, "It is clear that the technology needed to create a centralized Website is readily available ... the benefits are many." Zuckerberg met with Harvard student Eduardo Saverin, and each of them agreed to invest $1,000 ($1,435 in 2021 dollars[30]) in the site.[31] On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "TheFacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.

Six days after the site launched, Harvard seniors Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing that he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com. They claimed that he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to the Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation. They later sued Zuckerberg, settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares (worth $300 million ($354 million in 2021 dollars[30]) at Facebook's IPO).

Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College. Within a month, more than half the undergraduates had registered.[36] Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help manage the growth of the website.[37] In March 2004, Facebook expanded to Columbia, Stanford and Yale.[38] It then became available to all Ivy League colleges, Boston University, NYU, MIT, and successively most universities in the United States and Canada.

In mid-2004, Napster co-founder and entrepreneur Sean Parker—an informal advisor to Zuckerberg—became company president.[41] In June 2004, the company moved to Palo Alto, California.[42] It received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. In 2005, the company dropped "the" from its name after purchasing the domain name Facebook.com for US$200,000 ($277,492 in 2021 dollars). The domain had belonged to AboutFace Corporation.

In May 2005, Accel Partners invested $12.7 million ($17.6 million in 2021 dollars) in Facebook, and Jim Breyer added $1 million ($1.39 million in 2021 dollars) of his own money. A high-school version of the site launched in September 2005. Eligibility expanded to include employees of several companies, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft.

 

Facebook was sued by the Federal Trade Commission as well as a coalition of several states for illegal monopolization and antitrust. The FTC and states sought the courts to force Facebook to sell its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram.[183][184] The suits were dismissed by a federal judge on June 28, 2021, who stated that there was not enough evidence brought in the suit to determine Facebook to be a monopoly at this point, though allowed the FTC to amend its case to include additional evidence. In its amended filings in August 2021, the FTC asserted that Facebook had been a monopoly in the area of personal social networks since 2011, distinguishing Facebook's activities from social media services like TikTok that broadcast content without necessarily l

 

At a crossroads – Needing to make an important decision

When you are at a crossroads, you are at a point in your life where you need to make a decision. The implication is that the decision you make will have big, life-altering consequences.

Bad apple – Bad person

You can use this idiom to describe someone who is not nice and maybe even criminal.

Barking up the wrong tree – Pursuing the wrong course

When you “bark up the wrong tree” you are pursuing the wrong solution to your problems.

Be closefisted – Stingy

If you are being “closefisted”, you don’t want to spend a lot of money.

Be cold-hearted – Uncaring

If you decide to be “cold-hearted”, you are making a deliberate decision not to care about someone or something.

Be on solid ground – Confident

When you are “on solid ground”, you are confident in your position

@algonquinoutfit : Sunrise: December 02, 2016 at 07:37AM AM Snow Showers today! With a high of: 2 and a low of:-3 t.co/K3bab3aMI8 (via Twitter twitter.com/algonquinoutfit/status/804641404068753408)

I updated it with a part of foundations and stairs around both towers. Every part in specific color is available to buy so it can be built in real life. In this section, right between those two stairs next to both towers, there would be standing Marriott hotel. More renders soon.

 

A tribute to my all time favourite buildings - The Twin Towers - World Trade Center. I finished this project a few months ago but I still will be updating it with some details. I'm planning to build these in real life one day.

R.I.P. To all innocent people who lost their lives on Sep 11, 2001.

Not sure if this company had a specific color for their trucks --

Capitolo primo. L’astratta qualità del ricordo. (2016/2017).

Installazione site specific al Museo Civico Villa dei Cedri per la mostra "In(de)finiti luoghi".

Ticino, Svizzera.

 

Chapter one. The abstract quality of remembrance. (2016/2017)

Site specific installation at Villa dei Cedri Museum for the exhibition "In(de)finiti luoghi".

Ticino, Swizterland.

The waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus Kobus of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833.

The specific name ellipsiprymnus refers to the white elliptical ring on the rump, from the Greek ellipes (ellipse) and prymnos (prumnos, hind part).

 

The animal acquired the vernacular name "waterbuck" due to its heavy dependence on water as compared to other antelopes and its ability to enter into water for defence.

The thirteen subspecies are grouped under two varieties: the common or ellipsen waterbuck and the defassa waterbuck. The head-and-body length is typically between 177–235 cm (70–93 in) and the average height is between 120 and 136 cm (47 and 54 in). A sexually dimorphic antelope, males are taller as well as heavier than females. Males reach approximately 127 cm (50 in) at the shoulder, while females reach 119 cm (47 in). Males typically weigh 198–262 kg (437–578 lb) and females 161–214 kg (355–472 lb). The coat colour varies from brown to grey. The long, spiral horns, present only on males, curve backward, then forward and are 55–99 cm (22–39 in) long.

 

Waterbuck are rather sedentary in nature. A gregarious animal, the waterbuck may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females and their offspring or bachelor herds. Males start showing territorial behaviour from the age of five years, but are most dominant from the age of six to nine. The waterbuck cannot tolerate dehydration in hot weather, and thus inhabits areas close to sources of water. Predominantly a grazer, the waterbuck is mostly found on grassland. In equatorial regions, breeding takes place throughout the year, but births are at their peak in the rainy season. The gestational period lasts for seven to eight months, followed by the birth of a single calf.

 

Waterbuck inhabit scrub and savanna areas along rivers, lakes and valleys. Due to their requirement for grasslands as well as water, the waterbuck have a sparse ecotone distribution. The IUCN lists the waterbuck as being of Least Concern. More specifically, the common waterbuck is listed as of Least Concern while the defassa waterbuck is Near Threatened. The population trend for both the common and defassa waterbuck is downwards, especially that of the latter, with large populations being eliminated from certain habitats because of hunting and human disturbance.

 

You can read more here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterbuck

 

Letsha Link

Pilanesberg National Park

Northwest Province

South Africa

Hear my prayer, O LORD! And let my cry for help come to You. Psalm 102:1

 

The Ways and Means of Prayer

In Ephesians 6:18 Paul says we are to pray with “all prayer and petition.” The Greek word translated “prayer” (also in 1 Thes. 5:17) is the most common New Testament word for prayer and refers to general requests. The word translated “petition” refers to specific prayers. Paul’s use of both words suggests our necessary involvement in all kinds of prayer, every form that is appropriate.

 

The Posture

To pray all the time necessitates being in various positions because you will never be in the same position all day. In the Bible, people prayed standing (Gen. 24:12–14), lifting up their hands (1 Tim. 2:8), sitting (Jud. 20:26), kneeling (Mark 1:40), looking upward (John 17:1), bowing down (Ex. 34:8), placing their heads between their knees (1 Kings 18:42), pounding on their breasts (Luke 18:13), and facing the temple (Dan. 6:10).

 

The Circumstances

While some people today think prayer ought to be very formal, the Bible documents that people prayed in many different circumstances. They prayed wearing sackcloth (Ps. 35:13), sitting in ashes (Job 1:20–21; 2:8), smiting their breasts (Luke 18:13), crying tears (Ps. 6:6), throwing dust on their heads (Josh. 7:6), tearing garments (1 Kings 21:27), fasting (Deut. 9:18), sighing (Ezra 9:4–15), groaning (Ps. 6:4–6), crying out loud (Heb. 5:7), sweating blood (Luke 22:44), agonizing with broken hearts (Ps. 34:18), making a vow (Acts 18:18), making sacrifices (Ps. 20:1–3), and singing songs (Acts 16:25).

 

The Place

The Bible records people praying in all sorts of places as well: in battle (2 Chron. 13:14–15), in a cave (1 Kings 19:9–10), in a closet (Matt. 6:6), in a garden (Matt. 26:36–44), on a mountainside (Luke 6:12), by a river (Acts 16:13), by the sea (Acts 21:5–6), in the street (Matt. 6:5), in the temple (1 Kings 8:22–53), in bed (Ps. 4:3–4), in a home (Acts 9:39–40), in the stomach of a fish (Jonah 2:1–10), on a housetop (Acts 10:9), in a prison (Acts 16:23–26), in the wilderness (Luke 5:16), and on a cross (Luke 23:33–34, 46). In 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul said, “I want the men in every place to pray” For the faithful, Spirit-filled Christian, every place becomes a place of prayer.

 

The Time

At a pastors’ conference I attended some years ago, one man preached on the subject of morning prayer. To support his point, he read various passages that show people praying in the morning. As he did, I looked up all the Scriptures that show people praying three times a day (Dan. 6:10), in the evening (1 Kings 18:36), before meals (Matt. 14:19), after meals (Deut. 8:10), at the ninth hour (3 P.M.; Acts 3:1), at bedtime (Ps. 4:4), at midnight (Acts 16:25), day and night (Luke 2:37; 18:7), often (Luke 5:33), when they’re young (Jer. 3:4), when they’re old (Dan. 9:2–19), when they’re in trouble (2 Kings 19:3–4), every day (Ps. 86:3), and always (Luke 18:1; 1 Thes. 5:17).

 

Prayer is fitting at any time, in any posture, in any place, under any circumstance, and in any attire. It is to be a total way of life—an open and continual communion with God. After having embraced all the infinite resources that are yours in Christ, don’t ever think you’re no longer dependent on the moment by moment power of God.

  

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1995). Alone with God (18–20). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. www.gty.org

A group of us visited three specific sites in Pickens County, in the upstate of South Carolina over the weekend of March 19-20, 2021. Lots of wildflowers in full bloom. These are just a sampling of what we saw.

 

For the full trip report, please go to Jim's Blog.

MCA Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

From the Tropics with Love

Mexico City–based architecture firm Pedro y Juana (Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo and Mecky Reuss) created the site-specific installation

mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/Pedro-Y-Juana-From-The-Tropics...

„I don't have a specific sense of national identity. The entire world is my home. That's the reason why all people are equal to me, I don't care where they're from. But I spent the first ten years of my life in Kurdistan, and maybe that did shape me somehow. At least there's this yearning for the rural quietness of that country that I get from time to time. And so I visit that place every two years.“

 

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After finishing my 100 Strangers Project, I continue to photograph strangers based on the principles of the Project. Find out more about the project at the group page 100 Strangers.

Westwards from the Bell-Tower stands the exquisite Customs Palace Divona, called Sponza,...

 

Sponza Palace

built in Dubrovniks specific Gothic-Renaissance style. The Palace that also served as the mint and arsenal, was constructed in the 16th century according to the design of Paskoje Miličević. Built in a rectangular shape, it has a shady portico and atrium. The stone-mason’s works were mainly performed by the Andrijić Brothers. The doors in the atrium and the first floor portico lead to the storages.

 

The following inscription can be read on the main wall: FALLERE NOSTRAVETANT; ET FALL PONDERE: MEQVE PONDERO CVM MERCES PONDERAT IPSE DEUS (We are forbidden to cheat or falsify measures, and when I weigh goods, God himself is weighing them with me). This Palace was the liveliest commercial centre of the City, and in the 17th century it became the meeting place of members of the Academy of the Learned, who used to discuss literature, arts and science. Today the Sponza Palace houses the Dubrovnik Archives, considered to be among the richest in Europe.

 

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Građena je od 1516. do 1521. godine. Gradili su je dubrovački majstor Paskoje Miličević i braća Andrijić s Korčule, od 1516. do 1520. godine.

 

Za vrijeme Dubrovačke Republike, imala je razne funkcije. Bila je carinarnica, državna blagajna, banka, kovnica novca, škola i riznica. Palača je prvobitno bila namijenjena za carinarnicu u kojoj se carinila trgovačka roba što su je trgovci donosili iz svih krajeva svijeta. Atrij palače s arkadama, bilo je najživlje trgovačko središte i sastajalište poslovnih ljudi Republike. U jednom je krilu bila državna kovnica novca koju je Republika osnovala 1377. godine, i koja je u ovoj palači neprekidno djelovala sve do pada Republike. Vrlo brzo, već potkraj 16. stoljeća, Divona postaje i kulturno središte Republike kada je u njoj osnovana prva književna institucija u Dubrovniku – "Akademija složnih" u kojoj su se okupljali najobrazovaniji građani Dubrovnika i tu su raspravljali o književnosti, umjetnosti i svim znanstvenim dostignućima svoga vremena. U njoj je organizirana i prva škola u Dubrovniku.

 

Francuski kipar Bertrandus Gallicus izradio je medaljon u reljefu, na kojem je monogram Isusa u pratnji dva anđela. Skladišni odjeli nazvani su po svecima. Na nadsvođenom prolazu atrija piše na latinskom jeziku: Fallere nostra venant et falli pondera; meque pondero cum merces ponderat ipse deus. (Nama je zabranjeno varati i krivo mjeriti; i kad važem robu; sa mnom je važe sam Bog).

 

Danas je u palači smješten Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku, koji čuva povijesnu građu Dubrovačke Republike s materijalima najstarije povijesti Dubrovnika i njegova područja od proteklih stoljeća do najnovijeg vremena. A i palača sama postala je na svoj način jedna od dragocjenijih dokumenata tog arhiva. Neoštećena u potresu, postojano je dočekala i naše vrijeme.

 

Na trgu pred Sponzom svake se godine svečano otvara Dubrovačke ljetne igre. S terase iznad trijema ispred Sponze glumci odjeveni u kostime kneza i dubrovačke vlastele evociraju davna vremena kulturnih manifestacija i slobode Dubrovačke Republike.

 

Danas se u palači Sponzi nalazi Spomen soba poginulim hrvatskim dubrovačkim braniteljima.

 

10019 R Dubrovnik Palača Sponza (Divona) 1.VIII.1939.

Although there are no specific reasons to become an alcoholic, many social, family, environmental, and genetic factors may contribute to its development.

 

Researchers have shown that the lack of endorphin is hereditary, and thus that there is a genetic predisposition to become addicted to alcohol. Beta-endorphin is a kind of "morphine" released by the brain in response to several situations, such as pain. In this way, beta-endorphins can be considered "endogenous analgesics" to numb or dull pains.

 

According to José Rico Irles, lecturer of Medicine of the UGR, and head of the research group, this low beta-endorphin level determines whether someone may become an alcoholic. When a subjects' brain with low beta-endorphin levels gets used to the presence of an exogenous surplus, then, when its own production stops, a dependence starts on the external source: alcohol. Source MedicalNewsToday.

  

Queercircle #Collective [Single], #Site-specific #performative #environmental #installation #artwork #queer, #woke, #antifa and #inclusive [Sketchbook], 2024, London

 

Altro titolo - Another title: ContemporaryArt needs Tags, 2024

 

[Fototeca Fondazione Omeri]

 

sites.google.com/view/fabioomero/artists

Finally I will start to upload weekly (or a little less time to time) a picture of a specific Lilee from my Lilee's Collection. Each time a different Lilee doll with another outfit-dress combination.

I used-collected all the "main" collections outfits - my personal favorites - (except "Campfire" since I didn't find a Yasmin complete outfit yet.), for now.

 

For the majority of cases, she will wear a specific complete outfit-dress from a specific character of a specific line, but sometimes I mix-and-matched some outfits and accessories for my personal tastes.

 

Since we are in winter I decided to start with one of my favorite lines ever : Wintertime Wonderland.

 

As you can see, her first (main) outfit ensemble is a combination between Yasmin and Dana outfits (the second from this line will be the same), since I loved some stuff from one and some from the other.

 

I love this look since is wintery but is delicate, fluffy and I love how the pastel color blend so much.

 

- - -

 

Specific "Wintertime wonderland 1" outfit:

 

Coat: Pink fluffy -Yasmin

Sweater: Lilac stripes - Dana

Hat: Pink/periwinkle - Yasmin

Trousers: White-grey (with belt) - Dana

Legwarmers: Lilac fluffy - Dana

Boots: Periwinkle/white - Yasmin

Bag: Lavender bag - Dana

Gloves: pink-brown with stripes - Yasmin

Glasses: Pink - Yasmin

Winter accessory: Lilac/cream Slide - Dana

Pet: White seal - Dana

Doll: Sweet heart Basic Lilee (with added glittery lips)

  

- - -

 

Just a reminder: all my Lilees are a hard result of long search work, purchasing all the specific dresses-pieces where is possible. She is one of my biggest passion.

  

...in some specific sign language

There’s a very specific kind of holiday frustration that only Christmas lights can deliver—and this look captures it perfectly. Wrapped from head to toe in glowing strands, Ivanna stands frozen in that familiar moment: lights everywhere, patience nowhere. What started as festive cheer has turned into a battle of knots, twists, and wires that somehow multiplied while you weren’t looking.

 

The styling leans into that chaos beautifully. Strings of lights crown her head, coil around her arms, and cling to her outfit as if they have a mind of their own. Her expression says it all—equal parts disbelief and exhaustion—because no matter how carefully you store them, Christmas lights always come back tangled. It’s tradition at this point.

 

Set against a softly glowing tree and scattered ornaments, the look balances humor with realism. It’s messy, bright, and slightly unhinged—just like decorating for the holidays. And yet, there’s something charming about it. Because even in the frustration, there’s magic. Once the knots are (mostly) undone and the lights finally glow where they’re meant to, the stress fades, and the season feels warm again.

 

This look is a love letter to that shared holiday struggle—a reminder that sometimes the chaos is part of the charm, and the lights are worth it… even if they test your sanity every single year.

 

T-Shirt: The Bold Llama T-Shirt Co. EVERYTHING's FINE Tee

* Bring a little holiday attitude to your wardrobe with this festive tee, featuring one bold logo and all the What The Elf energy you need this season. Designed to fit Lara, LaraX, Petite, PetiteX, Reborn, Ebody Classic, Waifu, GenX, Freya, Isis, Venus, Hourglass, Physique, Legacy Classic, Perky, TMP, plus 5 Standard Sizes, it’s an easy, versatile must-have.

 

Available for just $20L, this tee is an exclusive at Evil Bunny Productions’ “What The Elf” Sim Hunt, running Dec 13 – Dec 31. Grab it before it’s gone!

 

What the Elf Hunt

WS: www.evilbunnysl.com/gacha-life-gallery

LM: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Grumble/176/30/21

 

The Bold Llama T-Shirt Company

◆ Mainstore: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sandstorm/19/98/1622

◆ Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/165644473@N06/

◆ Marketplace: marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/202793

◆ PrimFeed: www.primfeed.com/the-bold-llama-t-shirt-co

◆ Bold Llama Bloggers Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/theboldllama/

 

Bali is an island and province of Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. It is located at the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital of Denpasar is located at the southern part of the island.

 

With a population of 3,890,757 in the 2010 census, and 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census, 83.5% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13.4% Muslim, Christianity at 2.5%, and Buddhism 0.5%.

 

Bali is a popular tourist destination, which has seen a significant rise in numbers since the 1980s. It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali.

 

Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species. In this area alone over 500 reef building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean. There is a wide range of dive sites with high quality reefs, all with their own specific attractions. Many sites can have strong currents and swell, so diving without a knowledgeable guide is inadvisable. Most recently, Bali was the host of the 2011 ASEAN Summit, 2013 APEC and Miss World 2013.

 

HISTORY

ANCIENT

Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.

 

In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, namely Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Waisnawa, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora and Ganapatya. Each sect revered a specific deity as its personal Godhead.

 

Inscriptions from 896 and 911 don't mention a king, until 914, when Sri Kesarivarma is mentioned. They also reveal an independent Bali, with a distinct dialect, where Buddhism and Sivaism were practiced simultaneously. Mpu Sindok's great granddaughter, Mahendradatta (Gunapriyadharmapatni), married the Bali king Udayana Warmadewa (Dharmodayanavarmadeva) around 989, giving birth to Airlangga around 1001. This marriage also brought more Hinduism and Javanese culture to Bali. Princess Sakalendukirana appeared in 1098. Suradhipa reigned from 1115 to 1119, and Jayasakti from 1146 until 1150. Jayapangus appears on inscriptions between 1178 and 1181, while Adikuntiketana and his son Paramesvara in 1204.

 

Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa". It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation. Some religious and cultural traditions still practised today can be traced to this period.

 

The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The uncle of Hayam Wuruk is mentioned in the charters of 1384-86. A mass Javanese emigration occurred in the next century.

 

PORTUGUESE CONTACTS

The first known European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1512, when a Portuguese expedition led by Antonio Abreu and Francisco Serrão sighted its northern shores. It was the first expedition of a series of bi-annual fleets to the Moluccas, that throughout the 16th century usually traveled along the coasts of the Sunda Islands. Bali was also mapped in 1512, in the chart of Francisco Rodrigues, aboard the expedition. In 1585, a ship foundered off the Bukit Peninsula and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung.

 

DUTCH EAST INDIA

In 1597 the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived at Bali, and the Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. The Dutch government expanded its control across the Indonesian archipelago during the second half of the 19th century (see Dutch East Indies). Dutch political and economic control over Bali began in the 1840s on the island's north coast, when the Dutch pitted various competing Balinese realms against each other. In the late 1890s, struggles between Balinese kingdoms in the island's south were exploited by the Dutch to increase their control.

 

In June 1860 the famous Welsh naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, travelled to Bali from Singapore, landing at Buleleng on the northcoast of the island. Wallace's trip to Bali was instrumental in helping him devise his Wallace Line theory. The Wallace Line is a faunal boundary that runs through the strait between Bali and Lombok. It has been found to be a boundary between species of Asiatic origin in the east and a mixture of Australian and Asian species to the west. In his travel memoir The Malay Archipelago, Wallace wrote of his experience in Bali:

 

I was both astonished and delighted; for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had never beheld so beautiful and well-cultivated a district out of Europe. A slightly undulating plain extends from the seacoast about ten or twelve miles inland, where it is bounded by a fine range of wooded and cultivated hills. Houses and villages, marked out by dense clumps of coconut palms, tamarind and other fruit trees, are dotted about in every direction; while between them extend luxurious rice-grounds, watered by an elaborate system of irrigation that would be the pride of the best cultivated parts of Europe.

 

The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults at the Sanur region in 1906 and were met by the thousands of members of the royal family and their followers who fought against the superior Dutch force in a suicidal puputan defensive assault rather than face the humiliation of surrender. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 200 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. In the Dutch intervention in Bali, a similar massacre occurred in the face of a Dutch assault in Klungkung.

 

AFTERWARD THE DUTCH GOVERNORS

exercised administrative control over the island, but local control over religion and culture generally remained intact. Dutch rule over Bali came later and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.

 

In the 1930s, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, artists Miguel Covarrubias and Walter Spies, and musicologist Colin McPhee all spent time here. Their accounts of the island and its peoples created a western image of Bali as "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature." Western tourists began to visit the island.

 

Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II. It was not originally a target in their Netherlands East Indies Campaign, but as the airfields on Borneo were inoperative due to heavy rains, the Imperial Japanese Army decided to occupy Bali, which did not suffer from comparable weather. The island had no regular Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) troops. There was only a Native Auxiliary Corps Prajoda (Korps Prajoda) consisting of about 600 native soldiers and several Dutch KNIL officers under command of KNIL Lieutenant Colonel W.P. Roodenburg. On 19 February 1942 the Japanese forces landed near the town of Senoer [Senur]. The island was quickly captured.

 

During the Japanese occupation, a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. The harshness of war requisitions made Japanese rule more resented than Dutch rule. Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch returned to Indonesia, including Bali, to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels, who now used recovered Japanese weapons. On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, by then 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance.

 

INDIPENDENCE FROM THE DUTCH

In 1946, the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly proclaimed State of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia, which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on 29 December 1949.

 

CONTEMPORARY

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia. Mirroring the widening of social divisions across Indonesia in the 1950s and early 1960s, Bali saw conflict between supporters of the traditional caste system, and those rejecting this system. Politically, the opposition was represented by supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), with tensions and ill-feeling further increased by the PKI's land reform programs. An attempted coup in Jakarta was put down by forces led by General Suharto.

 

The army became the dominant power as it instigated a violent anti-communist purge, in which the army blamed the PKI for the coup. Most estimates suggest that at least 500,000 people were killed across Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island's population. With no Islamic forces involved as in Java and Sumatra, upper-caste PNI landlords led the extermination of PKI members.

 

As a result of the 1965/66 upheavals, Suharto was able to manoeuvre Sukarno out of the presidency. His "New Order" government reestablished relations with western countries. The pre-War Bali as "paradise" was revived in a modern form. The resulting large growth in tourism has led to a dramatic increase in Balinese standards of living and significant foreign exchange earned for the country. A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely reduced tourism, producing much economic hardship to the island.

 

GEOGRAPHY

The island of Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java, and is approximately 8 degrees south of the equator. Bali and Java are separated by the Bali Strait. East to west, the island is approximately 153 km wide and spans approximately 112 km north to south; administratively it covers 5,780 km2, or 5,577 km2 without Nusa Penida District, its population density is roughly 750 people/km2.

 

Bali's central mountains include several peaks over 3,000 metres in elevation. The highest is Mount Agung (3,031 m), known as the "mother mountain" which is an active volcano rated as one of the world's most likely sites for a massive eruption within the next 100 years. Mountains range from centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Bali's volcanic nature has contributed to its exceptional fertility and its tall mountain ranges provide the high rainfall that supports the highly productive agriculture sector. South of the mountains is a broad, steadily descending area where most of Bali's large rice crop is grown. The northern side of the mountains slopes more steeply to the sea and is the main coffee producing area of the island, along with rice, vegetables and cattle. The longest river, Ayung River, flows approximately 75 km.

 

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand. Bali has no major waterways, although the Ho River is navigable by small sampan boats. Black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the seaside temple of Tanah Lot, they are not yet used for significant tourism.

 

The largest city is the provincial capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. Its population is around 491,500 (2002). Bali's second-largest city is the old colonial capital, Singaraja, which is located on the north coast and is home to around 100,000 people. Other important cities include the beach resort, Kuta, which is practically part of Denpasar's urban area, and Ubud, situated at the north of Denpasar, is the island's cultural centre.

 

Three small islands lie to the immediate south east and all are administratively part of the Klungkung regency of Bali: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. These islands are separated from Bali by the Badung Strait.

 

To the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from Lombok and marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The transition is known as the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who first proposed a transition zone between these two major biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was connected to Java and Sumatra and to the mainland of Asia and shared the Asian fauna, but the deep water of the Lombok Strait continued to keep Lombok Island and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated.

 

CLIMATE

Being just 8 degrees south of the equator, Bali has a fairly even climate year round.

 

Day time temperatures at low elevations vary between 20-33⁰ C although it can be much cooler than that in the mountains. The west monsoon is in place from approximately October to April and this can bring significant rain, particularly from December to March. Outside of the monsoon period, humidity is relatively low and any rain unlikely in lowland areas.

 

ECOLOGY

Bali lies just to the west of the Wallace Line, and thus has a fauna that is Asian in character, with very little Australasian influence, and has more in common with Java than with Lombok. An exception is the yellow-crested cockatoo, a member of a primarily Australasian family. There are around 280 species of birds, including the critically endangered Bali myna, which is endemic. Others Include barn swallow, black-naped oriole, black racket-tailed treepie, crested serpent-eagle, crested treeswift, dollarbird, Java sparrow, lesser adjutant, long-tailed shrike, milky stork, Pacific swallow, red-rumped swallow, sacred kingfisher, sea eagle, woodswallow, savanna nightjar, stork-billed kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbul and great egret.

 

Until the early 20th century, Bali was home to several large mammals: the wild banteng, leopard and the endemic Bali tiger. The banteng still occurs in its domestic form, whereas leopards are found only in neighbouring Java, and the Bali tiger is extinct. The last definite record of a tiger on Bali dates from 1937, when one was shot, though the subspecies may have survived until the 1940s or 1950s. The relatively small size of the island, conflict with humans, poaching and habitat reduction drove the Bali tiger to extinction. This was the smallest and rarest of all tiger subspecies and was never caught on film or displayed in zoos, whereas few skins or bones remain in museums around the world. Today, the largest mammals are the Javan rusa deer and the wild boar. A second, smaller species of deer, the Indian muntjac, also occurs. Saltwater crocodiles were once present on the island, but became locally extinct sometime during the last century.

 

Squirrels are quite commonly encountered, less often is the Asian palm civet, which is also kept in coffee farms to produce Kopi Luwak. Bats are well represented, perhaps the most famous place to encounter them remaining the Goa Lawah (Temple of the Bats) where they are worshipped by the locals and also constitute a tourist attraction. They also occur in other cave temples, for instance at Gangga Beach. Two species of monkey occur. The crab-eating macaque, known locally as "kera", is quite common around human settlements and temples, where it becomes accustomed to being fed by humans, particularly in any of the three "monkey forest" temples, such as the popular one in the Ubud area. They are also quite often kept as pets by locals. The second monkey, endemic to Java and some surrounding islands such as Bali, is far rarer and more elusive is the Javan langur, locally known as "lutung". They occur in few places apart from the Bali Barat National Park. They are born an orange colour, though by their first year they would have already changed to a more blackish colouration. In Java however, there is more of a tendency for this species to retain its juvenile orange colour into adulthood, and so you can see a mixture of black and orange monkeys together as a family. Other rarer mammals include the leopard cat, Sunda pangolin and black giant squirrel.

 

Snakes include the king cobra and reticulated python. The water monitor can grow to at least 1.5 m in length and 50 kg and can move quickly.

 

The rich coral reefs around the coast, particularly around popular diving spots such as Tulamben, Amed, Menjangan or neighbouring Nusa Penida, host a wide range of marine life, for instance hawksbill turtle, giant sunfish, giant manta ray, giant moray eel, bumphead parrotfish, hammerhead shark, reef shark, barracuda, and sea snakes. Dolphins are commonly encountered on the north coast near Singaraja and Lovina.

 

A team of scientists conducted a survey from 29 April 2011 to 11 May 2011 at 33 sea sites around Bali. They discovered 952 species of reef fish of which 8 were new discoveries at Pemuteran, Gilimanuk, Nusa Dua, Tulamben and Candidasa, and 393 coral species, including two new ones at Padangbai and between Padangbai and Amed. The average coverage level of healthy coral was 36% (better than in Raja Ampat and Halmahera by 29% or in Fakfak and Kaimana by 25%) with the highest coverage found in Gili Selang and Gili Mimpang in Candidasa, Karangasem regency.

 

Many plants have been introduced by humans within the last centuries, particularly since the 20th century, making it sometimes hard to distinguish what plants are really native.[citation needed] Among the larger trees the most common are: banyan trees, jackfruit, coconuts, bamboo species, acacia trees and also endless rows of coconuts and banana species. Numerous flowers can be seen: hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea, poinsettia, oleander, jasmine, water lily, lotus, roses, begonias, orchids and hydrangeas exist. On higher grounds that receive more moisture, for instance around Kintamani, certain species of fern trees, mushrooms and even pine trees thrive well. Rice comes in many varieties. Other plants with agricultural value include: salak, mangosteen, corn, kintamani orange, coffee and water spinach.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Some of the worst erosion has occurred in Lebih Beach, where up to 7 metres of land is lost every year. Decades ago, this beach was used for holy pilgrimages with more than 10,000 people, but they have now moved to Masceti Beach.

 

From ranked third in previous review, in 2010 Bali got score 99.65 of Indonesia's environmental quality index and the highest of all the 33 provinces. The score measured 3 water quality parameters: the level of total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

 

Because of over-exploitation by the tourist industry which covers a massive land area, 200 out of 400 rivers on the island have dried up and based on research, the southern part of Bali would face a water shortage up to 2,500 litres of clean water per second by 2015. To ease the shortage, the central government plans to build a water catchment and processing facility at Petanu River in Gianyar. The 300 litres capacity of water per second will be channelled to Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar in 2013.

 

ECONOMY

Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry in terms of income, and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia's wealthiest regions. In 2003, around 80% of Bali's economy was tourism related. By end of June 2011, non-performing loan of all banks in Bali were 2.23%, lower than the average of Indonesian banking industry non-performing loan (about 5%). The economy, however, suffered significantly as a result of the terrorist bombings 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry has since recovered from these events.

 

AGRICULTURE

Although tourism produces the GDP's largest output, agriculture is still the island's biggest employer; most notably rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruit, vegetables, Coffea arabica and other cash and subsistence crops. Fishing also provides a significant number of jobs. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce a vast array of handicrafts, including batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings, stone carvings, painted art and silverware. Notably, individual villages typically adopt a single product, such as wind chimes or wooden furniture.

 

The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. Generally, Balinese coffee is processed using the wet method. This results in a sweet, soft coffee with good consistency. Typical flavours include lemon and other citrus notes. Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana". According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production. Arabica coffee from Kintamani is the first product in Indonesia to request a Geographical Indication.

 

TOURISM

The tourism industry is primarily focused in the south, while significant in the other parts of the island as well. The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), and its outer suburbs of Legian and Seminyak (which were once independent townships), the east coast town of Sanur (once the only tourist hub), in the center of the island Ubud, to the south of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Jimbaran, and the newer development of Nusa Dua and Pecatu.

 

The American government lifted its travel warnings in 2008. The Australian government issued an advice on Friday, 4 May 2012. The overall level of the advice was lowered to 'Exercise a high degree of caution'. The Swedish government issued a new warning on Sunday, 10 June 2012 because of one more tourist who was killed by methanol poisoning. Australia last issued an advice on Monday, 5 January 2015 due to new terrorist threats.

 

An offshoot of tourism is the growing real estate industry. Bali real estate has been rapidly developing in the main tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Oberoi. Most recently, high-end 5 star projects are under development on the Bukit peninsula, on the south side of the island. Million dollar villas are being developed along the cliff sides of south Bali, commanding panoramic ocean views. Foreign and domestic (many Jakarta individuals and companies are fairly active) investment into other areas of the island also continues to grow. Land prices, despite the worldwide economic crisis, have remained stable.

 

In the last half of 2008, Indonesia's currency had dropped approximately 30% against the US dollar, providing many overseas visitors value for their currencies. Visitor arrivals for 2009 were forecast to drop 8% (which would be higher than 2007 levels), due to the worldwide economic crisis which has also affected the global tourist industry, but not due to any travel warnings.

 

Bali's tourism economy survived the terrorist bombings of 2002 and 2005, and the tourism industry has in fact slowly recovered and surpassed its pre-terrorist bombing levels; the longterm trend has been a steady increase of visitor arrivals. In 2010, Bali received 2.57 million foreign tourists, which surpassed the target of 2.0–2.3 million tourists. The average occupancy of starred hotels achieved 65%, so the island is still able to accommodate tourists for some years without any addition of new rooms/hotels, although at the peak season some of them are fully booked.

 

Bali received the Best Island award from Travel and Leisure in 2010. The island of Bali won because of its attractive surroundings (both mountain and coastal areas), diverse tourist attractions, excellent international and local restaurants, and the friendliness of the local people. According to BBC Travel released in 2011, Bali is one of the World's Best Islands, ranking second after Santorini, Greece.

 

In August 2010, the film Eat Pray Love was released in theatres. The movie was based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. It took place at Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach at Bali. The 2006 book, which spent 57 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list, had already fuelled a boom in Eat, Pray, Love-related tourism in Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert's quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love.

 

In January 2016, after music icon David Bowie died, it was revealed that in his will, Bowie asked for his ashes to be scattered in Bali, conforming to Buddhist rituals. He had visited and performed in a number of Southest Asian cities early in his career, including Bangkok and Singapore.

 

Since 2011, China has displaced Japan as the second-largest supplier of tourists to Bali, while Australia still tops the list. Chinese tourists increased by 17% from last year due to the impact of ACFTA and new direct flights to Bali. In January 2012, Chinese tourists year on year (yoy) increased by 222.18% compared to January 2011, while Japanese tourists declined by 23.54% yoy.

 

Bali reported that it has 2.88 million foreign tourists and 5 million domestic tourists in 2012, marginally surpassing the expectations of 2.8 million foreign tourists. Forecasts for 2013 are at 3.1 million.

 

Based on Bank Indonesia survey in May 2013, 34.39 percent of tourists are upper-middle class with spending between $1,286 to $5,592 and dominated by Australia, France, China, Germany and the US with some China tourists move from low spending before to higher spending currently. While 30.26 percent are middle class with spending between $662 to $1,285.

 

SEX TOURISM

In the twentieth century the incidence of tourism specifically for sex was regularly observed in the era of mass tourism in Indonesia In Bali, prostitution is conducted by both men and women. Bali in particular is notorious for its 'Kuta Cowboys', local gigolos targeting foreign female tourists.

 

Tens of thousands of single women throng the beaches of Bali in Indonesia every year. For decades, young Balinese men have taken advantage of the louche and laid-back atmosphere to find love and lucre from female tourists - Japanese, European and Australian for the most part - who by all accounts seem perfectly happy with the arrangement.

 

By 2013, Indonesia was reportedly the number one destination for Australian child sex tourists, mostly starting in Bali but also travelling to other parts of the country. The problem in Bali was highlighted by Luh Ketut Suryani, head of Psychiatry at Udayana University, as early as 2003. Surayani warned that a low level of awareness of paedophilia in Bali had made it the target of international paedophile organisations. On 19 February 2013, government officials announced measures to combat paedophilia in Bali.

 

TRANSPORTATION

The Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the isthmus at the southernmost part of the island. Lt.Col. Wisnu Airfield is found in north-west Bali.

 

A coastal road circles the island, and three major two-lane arteries cross the central mountains at passes reaching to 1,750m in height (at Penelokan). The Ngurah Rai Bypass is a four-lane expressway that partly encircles Denpasar. Bali has no railway lines.

 

In December 2010 the Government of Indonesia invited investors to build a new Tanah Ampo Cruise Terminal at Karangasem, Bali with a projected worth of $30 million. On 17 July 2011 the first cruise ship (Sun Princess) anchored about 400 meters away from the wharf of Tanah Ampo harbour. The current pier is only 154 meters but will eventually be extended to 300–350 meters to accommodate international cruise ships. The harbour here is safer than the existing facility at Benoa and has a scenic backdrop of east Bali mountains and green rice fields. The tender for improvement was subject to delays, and as of July 2013 the situation remained unclear with cruise line operators complaining and even refusing to use the existing facility at Tanah Ampo.

 

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by two ministers, Bali's Governor and Indonesian Train Company to build 565 kilometres of railway along the coast around the island. As of July 2015, no details of this proposed railways have been released.

 

On 16 March 2011 (Tanjung) Benoa port received the "Best Port Welcome 2010" award from London's "Dream World Cruise Destination" magazine. Government plans to expand the role of Benoa port as export-import port to boost Bali's trade and industry sector. The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has confirmed that 306 cruise liners are heading for Indonesia in 2013 – an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year.

 

In May 2011, an integrated Areal Traffic Control System (ATCS) was implemented to reduce traffic jams at four crossing points: Ngurah Rai statue, Dewa Ruci Kuta crossing, Jimbaran crossing and Sanur crossing. ATCS is an integrated system connecting all traffic lights, CCTVs and other traffic signals with a monitoring office at the police headquarters. It has successfully been implemented in other ASEAN countries and will be implemented at other crossings in Bali.

 

On 21 December 2011 construction started on the Nusa Dua-Benoa-Ngurah Rai International Airport toll road which will also provide a special lane for motorcycles. This has been done by seven state-owned enterprises led by PT Jasa Marga with 60% of shares. PT Jasa Marga Bali Tol will construct the 9.91 kilometres toll road (totally 12.7 kilometres with access road). The construction is estimated to cost Rp.2.49 trillion ($273.9 million). The project goes through 2 kilometres of mangrove forest and through 2.3 kilometres of beach, both within 5.4 hectares area. The elevated toll road is built over the mangrove forest on 18,000 concrete pillars which occupied 2 hectares of mangroves forest. It compensated by new planting of 300,000 mangrove trees along the road. On 21 December 2011 the Dewa Ruci 450 meters underpass has also started on the busy Dewa Ruci junction near Bali Kuta Galeria with an estimated cost of Rp136 billion ($14.9 million) from the state budget. On 23 September 2013, the Bali Mandara Toll Road is opened and the Dewa Ruci Junction (Simpang Siur) underpass is opened before. Both are ease the heavy traffic congestion.

 

To solve chronic traffic problems, the province will also build a toll road connecting Serangan with Tohpati, a toll road connecting Kuta, Denpasar and Tohpati and a flyover connecting Kuta and Ngurah Rai Airport.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

The population of Bali was 3,890,757 as of the 2010 Census; the latest estimate (for January 2014) is 4,225,384. There are an estimated 30,000 expatriates living in Bali.

 

ETHNIC ORIGINS

A DNA study in 2005 by Karafet et al. found that 12% of Balinese Y-chromosomes are of likely Indian origin, while 84% are of likely Austronesian origin, and 2% of likely Melanesian origin. The study does not correlate the DNA samples to the Balinese caste system.

 

CASTE SYSTEM

Bali has a caste system based on the Indian Hindu model, with four castes:

 

- Sudra (Shudra) – peasants constituting close to 93% of Bali's population.

- Wesia (Vaishyas) – the caste of merchants and administrative officials

- Ksatrias (Kshatriyas) – the kingly and warrior caste

- Brahmana (Bramhin) – holy men and priests

 

RELIGION

Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 83.5% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (13.3%), Christianity (1.7%), and Buddhism (0.5%). These figures do not include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

 

Balinese Hinduism is an amalgam in which gods and demigods are worshipped together with Buddhist heroes, the spirits of ancestors, indigenous agricultural deities and sacred places. Religion as it is practised in Bali is a composite belief system that embraces not only theology, philosophy, and mythology, but ancestor worship, animism and magic. It pervades nearly every aspect of traditional life. Caste is observed, though less strictly than in India. With an estimated 20,000 puras (temples) and shrines, Bali is known as the "Island of a Thousand Puras", or "Island of the Gods". This is refer to Mahabarata story that behind Bali became island of god or "pulau dewata" in Indonesian language.

 

Balinese Hinduism has roots in Indian Hinduism and Buddhism, and adopted the animistic traditions of the indigenous people. This influence strengthened the belief that the gods and goddesses are present in all things. Every element of nature, therefore, possesses its own power, which reflects the power of the gods. A rock, tree, dagger, or woven cloth is a potential home for spirits whose energy can be directed for good or evil. Balinese Hinduism is deeply interwoven with art and ritual. Ritualizing states of self-control are a notable feature of religious expression among the people, who for this reason have become famous for their graceful and decorous behaviour.

 

Apart from the majority of Balinese Hindus, there also exist Chinese immigrants whose traditions have melded with that of the locals. As a result, these Sino-Balinese not only embrace their original religion, which is a mixture of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, but also find a way to harmonise it with the local traditions. Hence, it is not uncommon to find local Sino-Balinese during the local temple's odalan. Moreover, Balinese Hindu priests are invited to perform rites alongside a Chinese priest in the event of the death of a Sino-Balinese. Nevertheless, the Sino-Balinese claim to embrace Buddhism for administrative purposes, such as their Identity Cards.

 

LANGUAGE

Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and the vast majority of Balinese people are bilingual or trilingual. The most common spoken language around the tourist areas is Indonesian, as many people in the tourist sector are not solely Balinese, but migrants from Java, Lombok, Sumatra, and other parts of Indonesia. There are several indigenous Balinese languages, but most Balinese can also use the most widely spoken option: modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is diminishing. Kawi and Sanskrit are also commonly used by some Hindu priests in Bali, for Hinduism literature was mostly written in Sanskrit.

 

English and Chinese are the next most common languages (and the primary foreign languages) of many Balinese, owing to the requirements of the tourism industry, as well as the English-speaking community and huge Chinese-Indonesian population. Other foreign languages, such as Japanese, Korean, French, Russian or German are often used in multilingual signs for foreign tourists.

 

CULTURE

Bali is renowned for its diverse and sophisticated art forms, such as painting, sculpture, woodcarving, handcrafts, and performing arts. Balinese cuisine is also distinctive. Balinese percussion orchestra music, known as gamelan, is highly developed and varied. Balinese performing arts often portray stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana but with heavy Balinese influence. Famous Balinese dances include pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, gong keybar, and kecak (the monkey dance). Bali boasts one of the most diverse and innovative performing arts cultures in the world, with paid performances at thousands of temple festivals, private ceremonies, or public shows.

 

The Hindu New Year, Nyepi, is celebrated in the spring by a day of silence. On this day everyone stays at home and tourists are encouraged to remain in their hotels. On the day before New Year, large and colourful sculptures of ogoh-ogoh monsters are paraded and finally burned in the evening to drive away evil spirits. Other festivals throughout the year are specified by the Balinese pawukon calendrical system.

 

Celebrations are held for many occasions such as a tooth-filing (coming-of-age ritual), cremation or odalan (temple festival). One of the most important concepts that Balinese ceremonies have in common is that of désa kala patra, which refers to how ritual performances must be appropriate in both the specific and general social context. Many of the ceremonial art forms such as wayang kulit and topeng are highly improvisatory, providing flexibility for the performer to adapt the performance to the current situation. Many celebrations call for a loud, boisterous atmosphere with lots of activity and the resulting aesthetic, ramé, is distinctively Balinese. Often two or more gamelan ensembles will be performing well within earshot, and sometimes compete with each other to be heard. Likewise, the audience members talk amongst themselves, get up and walk around, or even cheer on the performance, which adds to the many layers of activity and the liveliness typical of ramé.

 

Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island's largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). In addition to spatial orientation, kaja and kelod have the connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the mountain whereas demons live in the sea. Buildings such as temples and residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.

 

Most temples have an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard which are arranged with the inner courtyard furthest kaja. These spaces serve as performance venues since most Balinese rituals are accompanied by any combination of music, dance and drama. The performances that take place in the inner courtyard are classified as wali, the most sacred rituals which are offerings exclusively for the gods, while the outer courtyard is where bebali ceremonies are held, which are intended for gods and people. Lastly, performances meant solely for the entertainment of humans take place outside the walls of the temple and are called bali-balihan. This three-tiered system of classification was standardised in 1971 by a committee of Balinese officials and artists to better protect the sanctity of the oldest and most sacred Balinese rituals from being performed for a paying audience.

 

Tourism, Bali's chief industry, has provided the island with a foreign audience that is eager to pay for entertainment, thus creating new performance opportunities and more demand for performers. The impact of tourism is controversial since before it became integrated into the economy, the Balinese performing arts did not exist as a capitalist venture, and were not performed for entertainment outside of their respective ritual context. Since the 1930s sacred rituals such as the barong dance have been performed both in their original contexts, as well as exclusively for paying tourists. This has led to new versions of many of these performances which have developed according to the preferences of foreign audiences; some villages have a barong mask specifically for non-ritual performances as well as an older mask which is only used for sacred performances.

 

Balinese society continues to revolve around each family's ancestral village, to which the cycle of life and religion is closely tied. Coercive aspects of traditional society, such as customary law sanctions imposed by traditional authorities such as village councils (including "kasepekang", or shunning) have risen in importance as a consequence of the democratisation and decentralisation of Indonesia since 1998.

 

WIKIPEDIA

please view on black

Picture Taken Of NYPD Car #5945-16 - 2016 Dodge Charger Assigned To The Highway Patrol Unit. It Is Not Assigned To Any Specific Highway Patrol Unit. Photo Taken Tuesday July 10, 2018.

 

IMG5015

 

IPhone 8 Plus

This specific photo was taken massive flood in Prague in 2013. Trees in front are at park on island Střelecký ostrov fully covered under water.

 

In the left part of the picture is Charles bridge (in 2017 is 660 years from foundation stone laying), which was completely banned for pedestrians during the flood. Its pillars are deep below water level. Behind the tree, in the far part of the Charles bridge, is the Four Seasons hotel. On the right side of the same tree lies tympanum of the Knights of the Cross with Red Star Monastery (identifiable with the large triangle in the upper front part). Behind this monastery can be seen monumental large dark tower called Oldtown Bridge Tower. To the right of this tower is seen green cupola of the church of the saint Francis of Assisi. In front of this church is Museum of Bedrich Smetana, partially covered by trees. The tallest tower is the Oldtown Waterworks Tower. The tower in the distance with the green cupola is the astronomic tower in Clementinum.

 

Even though we tend to forget it, nature is strong and its power can be shown in very drastic ways.

 

© Do not use without written permission from the photographer.

Vortex Science Fiction / Heft-Reihe

- Lelon Kohle / The Paper Knife

- Bruce Fearing / The Unlikeliest Thing

- Emmett Herlocker / Granch Male-Left

- Rice Arden / Food for Thought

- Marion Zimmer Bradley / Women Only

- James L. Harte / Shade of Blond

- Frank Bristow / Rejects

- Jack Lewis / The Miraculous Lens

- Sylvia Jacobs / The Sportsmen

- Garen Drussaï / Grim Fairy Tale

- Lelon Kohle / The Time-Killer

- Stephen Arr / The Ball

- T. D. Hamm / The Corner

- John Foster West / Weird Catch

- Joseph Slotkin / Release

- L. Major Reynolds / One Man War

- Gene Hunter / Aunt Liz

- Richard Terzian / The Farmer's Daughter & The Martian

- C. M. Webster / The Venus Gipsy

- Don L. Johnson / Dream Drink

- Marion Zimmer Bradley / Keyhole

- J. T. Oliver / Teacher's Pet

- Garen Drussaï / The Closet

- Joseph Slotkin / Mercer's Machine

- Lucius Daniel / The Question

cover: Martin (II)

Specific Fiction Corp. / USA 1953

Reprint: Comic-Club NK 2010

ex libris MTP

 

Picture Taken Of Brand New NYPD Car #5952-16 - 2016 Dodge Charger Assigned To The Highway Patrol Unit. It Is Not Assigned To Any Specific Highway Patrol Unit But Is Escorting United Nations Delegates Around New York City During The United Nations 72nd General Assembly. Photo Taken Tuesday September 19, 2017.

 

IMG2163

 

iPhone 7 Plus

There's a knock at the door, which is instantly recognizable to the both of us. It's Brick... He has a specific knocking pattern, which sends a shiver up both mine and my fathers spine. Looks like he's got a new job for one of us. My father nervously gets up off the couch, putting his drink down on the coffee table. and walks towards the door, opening it seconds later.

 

"B-rick.." Is all my dad says, almost choking on his words. Oddly enough, Dregz isn't with him.

 

"Relax, I'm not here for you. " His voice booms, before continuing his train of thought. "I'm here for the kid. Got a big job that I'll need him for. All hands-on deck." With that, he hands me a card, before leaving. That's strange. Why would he show up here, by himself, just to hand me a card? All that's written on the card is an address, and a time.

 

8:30pm.. That's an hour from now. I mutter to myself, before my father speaks up once again.

 

"By the way, your friend, what was her name again?"

 

"Sin?" I assume, since I don't really have many other friends.

 

"Oh that's right! Cindy... Well, she showed up earlier looking for you, wanting to talk. Even went into your room. But I told her you weren't home." He muses, slightly slurring his words.

 

"She didn't leave anything behind? Like a note or something?"

 

"Not that I'm aware of. But I was half asleep at the time, so maybe she did."

 

"Thanks, I guess." I say with a shrug, before going into my room. Sure enough, there's a package beside my bed. Ripping it open, there's a note, and a Ziploc bag. Inside the bag, is a vial.. And inside of the vial, is a yellowish-brown liquid.

 

Haven't tried this shit myself, but I hear it's supposed to give you superpowers or something? At least, that's the rumor. Hopefully it can help you take Brick down or something? If not that, you'll give him a good ass whooping at the very least. Assuming that this even works. Anyways, catch ya next time Abercrombie. As you know, I actually have a job now, so I gotta go. Can't be late. The note reads. I can't help but smile. Sin's still looking out for me, even though she's been extremely busy this past year with her job. So proud of her, while also a little bummed, as we can't hang out as much. Also a little annoyed at myself for missing her visit here too.

 

I notice the word Tar written down the side of the vial. Opening the bag, I pull the vial out.

 

"Well, here goes nothing." I say, before popping the lid off the vial, and drinking the yellowish-brown liquid.

 

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

An hour later

 

I knew I recognized this address. Can't say I'd ever forget this place. The remnants of dad's mechanic shop. Why doesn't this surprise me that Brick's retrofitted this place to act as one of his safehouses? Just the thought of him pisses me off. He'll get what's coming for him, soon enough. I take a quick look around, before entering through the front entrance.

 

Sure enough, as I enter, there's Dregz, Brick's right-hand man, and a man of few words.

 

"This way, Junior." He says, before leading me through what remains of the lobby, and into the office, which has gotten considerably bigger since I've been here last.

 

Inside the office, are four people, besides me and Dregz.

 

The first of which, is a guy dressed in grey and black tactical gear, with a black gas mask. The gas mask has red lenses. On his back, are two red air tanks, one of which is connected to the gun he holds in his left hand by a black hose. He's the first of the group to notice me walk in, as he stands in the corner, tapping the corner of his gun.

 

"Wait, this is who we've been waiting for? A kid? You're kidding me, right?" He groans.

 

"And who are you exactly?" I reply, doing my best to ignore his kid comment.

 

"You dare speak that way to Pesticyde?" He responds in a threatening tone, but it just comes out rather pathetic.

 

"You don't scare me... Wait, Pesticyde? Seriously? Of all the names you could come up with, you come up with that. Don't tell me you worked in pest control too, didn't you?" I ask, trying to contain my laughter.

 

Pesticyde just stays silent.

 

"I'll take that silence as a yes. Also, talking about yourself in the third person? It doesn't make you any cooler."

 

It's then that I hear a modulated sigh, coming from the center of the room. The one decked out in a costume ripped right out of a sci-fi movie. Bright green and pink circuitry running through the suit. A mask is covering their face, with a green visor. They are also wearing a coat overtop. And their appearance is rather ambiguous, so I can't tell whether they are a guy or a girl.

 

"You can dislike each other all you want. Just wait until after the job to go after each other, alright?" They say, trying to calm us down, before looking back at the table they're standing over. On the table are some blueprints of what I assume is our target. Cyberwear, which if memory serves me right, is one of the biggest tech companies of Star City.

 

"Sure, whatever." I grumble.

 

It's then that someone else catches my eye. A girl that looks to be around my age. She's going to be trouble. I think to myself, as I keep looking at her. Long, flowing black hair, with a green headband wrapped around her forehead. But what really captivated me was her eyes. They are this deep green color. Sort of like an emerald kind of color. Or maybe it's a jade? I'm too distracted to really remember properly. Anyways, she's wearing a green and black tunic, with black boots, and gloves. Everything she's doing, is definitely working, as I can feel my cheeks reddening. Even though she could probably kill me in a hundred different ways. She gives a quick smile, before looking towards the middle of the room.

 

Damnit Roy, focus. Tonight's the night, where Brick will finally get what's coming to him.

 

"Alright, since everyone's here now, let's go over the plan." The sci-fi person announces, snapping me back to reality. Everyone else stays silent as we are told the plan.

The Rovingian Lunar Evocations by Daniel Arrhakis (2026)

 

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The Lunar Evocations of Rovingian Animism

 

The Rovingian Lunar Evocations is a ritualistic and practical guide composed of:

 

Lunar Prayers: General and specific prayers for the four phases of the Moon, structured in three quatrains with eight-syllable poetic meter to maintain cadence and rhythmic musicality.

 

Objective: Focused on transformation, symbolic death, and spiritual renewal.

 

Protection Mantras: Verses to be repeated during nighttime journeys. These are particularly useful for Rovingian monks on walks that extend into the night, something common on the shorter winter days.

  

1. General Prayer to the Moon

 

For continuous guidance, balance between light and shadow, and connection with the cosmos.

  

O moon that shines up in the sky,

You guide my steps where I may go.

Your changing veil lets daylight die,

To let the dark of evening grow.

 

In shadows giving us a shield,

Your ancient bond is now revealed.

The soul undresses from its fear,

To keep the secret you hold dear.

 

In dance of death and life reborn,

Guided by you, we face the morn.

The cosmos wakes inside our heart,

In this eternal, long depart.

  

2. Evocation of the Crescent Moon

 

Phase of expansion, movement, germination of the seed and strengthening of nomadic consciousness.

  

Your growing arc of light will gleam,

The strength of earth begins to sprout.

The cos-mos weaves inside our dream,

The trail that leaves the moonlight out.

 

The mind expands within the dark,

Our step is safe, our path is clear.

The leaf that seeks the seeded spark,

As life moves forward without fear.

 

The soul awakens from the shell,

To scare the empty ghost away.

Inside the dance we know so well,

The strength comes inside us to stay.

  

3. Evocation of the Full Moon

 

Phase of fullness, spiritual peak, mental clarity and absolute union with the All.

  

You brighten up the deepest night,

The world receives your mantle bright.

Your white light floods into the dark,

The soul now leaves its wondering spark.

 

The body and the space are one,

The earth awaits the rising sun.

In nights that sing and stay awake,

Our vision path is right to take.

 

A mystery the chest will show,

The night when heaven starts to glow.

For life is pure and full of grace,

The spirit finds its holy place.

  

4. Evocation of the Waning Moon

 

Phase of recollection, inner emptying, silence and detachment from the past.

  

Your arc of light now fades away,

The silent night invites us near.

The world inside goes sleeping gray,

Inside this space that I see clear.

 

The mind releases all the past,

The heavy weight we used to bear.

The leaf falls from the branch at last,

The soul returns to work and care.

 

The waning brightness teaches well,

The strength that time has destined now.

In ending cycles we can dwell,

And peace pours in to clear my brow.

  

5. Evocation of the New Moon

 

Phase of mystical death, primordial void, rest of the ego and promise of rebirth.

  

The sky is dressed in mystery,

The cloak of night has faded out.

In realms of your great empery,

The world has ceased its form and doubt.

 

In death that heals the guilty wound,

The resting soul forgets its pride,

Deep inside the darkness womb,

The strength of world begins to hide.

 

The nothingness is sacred space,

The cradle where the soul is free.

And life returns to start its race,

In faithful, long eternity.

  

Lunar Walking Mantras

 

1. General Walking Mantra

 

To attune the body to the continuous rhythm of the universe during the journey.

 

The road runs under foot and bone,

The cosmos guides the way I know.

 

My soul walks upright, not alone,

Within the breath’s unbroken flow.

  

2. Waxing Moon Mantra

 

To generate energy, overcome fatigue, and expand strength with each step.

  

With every step, in peace I rise,

Strength rises from the earth below.

 

I leave my weariness and sighs,

Upon the road where new winds blow.

  

3. Full Moon Mantra

 

To expand the perception of the senses and merge the body with the surrounding landscape.

 

My mind beholds the open space,

The moonlight leads me through the night.

 

One with the world, I pace in grace,

Along the shining path of light.

  

4. Waning Moon Mantra

 

To ease mental burden, purify the spirit, and practice detachment during the journey.

 

The weight of what has passed away,

I set it free upon the wind.

 

I walk more lightly on my mind,

With steady heart and quiet sway.

  

5. New Moon Mantra

 

To walk through absolute darkness with faith in intuition and invisible wisdom.

  

In the dark where nothing is clear,

My spirit shines, a beacon bright.

 

The earth calms my deep fear,

In the night that prepares the light.

  

Nomadic Practice Guide: Rhythm and Breath

 

Four-beat rhythm: each verse should cover exactly four steps—two with the left foot and two with the right.

 

Breathing: inhale during the first two lines, accumulating air and energy; exhale during the last two, releasing sound and focus.

  

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As Evocações Lunares do Animismo Rovingiano

 

As Evocações Lunares Rovingianas é um guia ritualístico e prático composto por:

 

Preces Lunares: Orações gerais e específicas para as quatro fases da Lua, estruturadas em três quadras com métrica de oito sílabas poéticas para manter a cadência e musicalidade rítmica.

Objetivo: Focado na transformação, morte simbólica e renovação espiritual.

 

Mantras de Proteção: Versos para serem repetidos durante deslocamentos noturnos. Estes são particularmente úteis para os monges rovingianos em caminhadas que se estendem pela noite, algo comum nos dias mais curtos de Inverno.

  

1. Oração Geral da Lua

 

Para orientação contínua, equilíbrio entre luz e sombra e conexão com o cosmos.

  

Ó lua que brilhas no céu,

Guias meu passo na terra.

Teu ciclo de luz é o véu,

Que a noite escura descerra.

 

Na sombra que traz o abrigo,

No brilho do teu laço antigo,

A alma se despe do medo,

Tu guardas o grande segredo.

 

Na dança de morte e renovo,

Guiados por ti, somos povo,

O cosmos em nós ganha vida,

Na longa e eterna partida.

   

2. Evocação da Lua Crescente

 

Fase de expansão, movimento, germinação da semente e fortalecimento da consciência nómada.

  

Teu arco de luz vai crescendo,

A força da terra a brotar.

O cosmos em nós vai tecendo,

O trilho que ganha o luar.

 

A mente expande no escuro,

O passo se torna seguro,

Na folha que busca a semente,

A vida caminha em frente.

 

A alma desperta o casulo,

Espanta o fantasma do nulo,

Na dança que vai começar,

A força nos vem habitar.

   

3. Evocação da Lua Cheia

 

Fase de plenitude, ápice espiritual, clareza mental e união absoluta com o Todo.

   

Clareia a noite profunda,

O mundo recebe o teu manto.

A tua luz branca inunda,

A alma que quebra o espanto.

 

O corpo e o cosmos são um só,

Na noite que canta esplendor.

Desata o mais profundo nó,

Na Terra livre de pavor.

 

Mistério que o peito revela,

Na noite que o céu acende,

A vida que é pura e bela,

O espírito enfim compreende.

   

4. Evocação da Lua Minguante

 

Fase de recolhimento, esvaziamento interior, silêncio e desapego do passado.

  

Teu arco de luz vai sumindo,

A noite convida ao silêncio.

O mundo em nós vai dormindo,

No espaço que agora presencio.

 

A mente liberta o passado,

O peso que foi carregado,

Na folha que cai do galho,

A alma regressa ao trabalho.

 

O brilho que míngua ensina,

A força que o tempo destina.

No ciclo que aceita o fim,

A paz se derrama em mim.

   

5. Evocação da Lua Nova

 

Fase de morte mística, vazio primordial, repouso do ego e promessa de renascimento.

  

O céu se vestiu de mistério,

O manto da noite apagou.

No reino do teu grande império,

A forma do mundo cessou.

 

Na morte que cura a ferida,

A alma repousa esquecida.

No ventre do escuro profundo,

Esconde-se a força do mundo.

 

O nada é o berço sagrado,

O espaço que foi libertado.

A vida que volta ao início,

No eterno e fiel sacrifício.

  

Mantras de Caminhada Lunar

 

1. Mantra da Caminhada Geral

 

Para sintonizar o corpo com o ritmo contínuo do universo durante o trajeto.

 

A estrada corre sob o pé,

O cosmos guia a direção.

 

A minha alma segue em pé,

No ritmo da respiração.

  

2. Mantra da Lua Crescente

 

Para gerar energia, vencer o cansaço e expandir a força a cada passo.

 

A cada passo cresço em paz,

A força sobe do meu chão.

 

Os meus cansaços deixo atrás,

No rumo da renovação.

  

3. Mantra da Lua Cheia

 

Para expandir a perceção dos sentidos e fundir o corpo com a paisagem ao redor.

 

A minha mente vê o espaço,

O luar me conduz.

 

Unido ao mundo sou o passo,

No caminho da luz.

  

4. Mantra da Lua Minguante

 

Para aliviar a carga mental, purificar o espírito e praticar o desapego durante a viagem.

 

O peso do que já passou,

Eu deixo livre pelo vento.

 

Caminho leve como sou,

Bem seguro e com alento.

  

5. Mantra da Lua Nova

 

Para caminhar no escuro absoluto com fé na intuição e na sabedoria invisível.

 

No escuro onde nada vejo,

O meu espírito é o farol.

 

A terra guia o meu desejo,

Na noite que prepara o sol.

  

Guia de Prática Nómada: Ritmo e Respiração

  

Passada de quatro tempos: cada verso deve cobrir exatamente quatro passadas — duas com o pé esquerdo e duas com o direito.

 

Respiração: inspire durante as duas primeiras linhas, acumulando ar e energia; expire durante as duas últimas, libertando som e foco.

Kathy Dalwood's wonderful "Ballroom Banquet" at the Holburne Museum in Bath.

For the artist's own take on the show see her blog here:

www.kathydalwood.blogspot.co.uk

Epilobium densiflorum. Posting some replicates of this guy for a few out there want to ensure I've got the correct plant in a specific location. I will say there are LOTS of these blooming now.

Big Babyz were never something I planned to collect. I'm not entirely sure if I knew they existed back in 2011, when I rediscovered my passion for dolls. I vaguely recall seeing pictures of them floating around on the internet when I was researching the standard Bratz Babyz. But obviously these oversized toddlers did not resonate with me at the time, being that I really don't have any specific memory of my opinions on them. My first true encounter with the Big Babyz was back in March of 2012, when Dad purchased me the lot we know as "Craigslist #3." It was our very last outing together before Dad was hospitalized the final time. A day or so earlier, I had found a very tempting listing on Craigslist, that advertised a large group of brand new, unopened Bratz. There weren't any pictures on this listing, which ordinarily would have deterred me from inquiring. But since the seller lived in the town over, Dad figured there was no loss in us checking the dollies out. The majority of the dolls for sale from said lot were boxed at the time, as the seller denoted in the Craigslist ad. A few loose dolls were also present, some in better condition than others. If memory serves me correctly, there were two or three Big Babyz dolls. The seller wanted quite a bit of money for the Bratz. Being that the Big Babyz were so large, he wanted an extra $20-$30 for the two or three dolls if I'm not mistaken. Since I had no knowledge or interest in the Big Babyz line, I didn't see a point in Dad forking over the dough for them. I don't honestly recall the specifics anymore, except that one of the dolls was Jade (and I believe they may have been from the Bubble Trouble line). There was a part of me that couldn't fathom a use for such cumbersome baby dolls. But my inner Bratz addict I can never seem to repress was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to come home with the Big Babyz too. It was my only chance since to get Big Babyz brand new. The afternoon we came home with all the "Craigslist #3" dolls sans Big Babyz, I never anticipated that I'd strongly regret not coming home with them too. But of course fate and Bratz addiction played its role, because it wasn't all that long later when Big Babyz stole my heart.

 

To this day, the "Craigslist #3" Big Babyz were the only dolls of their kind I ever had the chance to buy brand new. I saw quite a few used ones in my travels around that time frame, but I turned them all down. One indoor flea market in particular seemed to be loaded with the Big Babyz--I recollect seeing several in bins with stuffed animals. There was always a hidden temptation, a longing to rescue these unwanted baby dolls. But I was picky back then, and far too concerned with having a perfectly pruned collection to want to introduce such oddly sized dolls to my family. But wouldn't' you know, the most unworthy of Big Babyz was the one who broke me. It was sometime in 2013, a year after Dad passed away. Colleen and I had gotten onto the topic of Sharidan, one of my most sentimental Bratz characters. We were reminiscing about all the Sharidan luck I had in 2011/2012, and how she reminded me so much of Dad. As we were hashing out our desires for more black haired beauties, I suddenly spouted out that I had seen a Big Babyz Forever Diamondz Sharidan at a local indoor flea market. "Really?!!!" Colleen exclaimed, "We should go out and rescue her." After pretending to debate the idea for ten minutes or so, I finally caved and we jumped in my Jeep and headed out to the old mill, where the flea market was located. Stuff at this particular flea market rarely changes, and it is always inconvenient to shop at. Sellers never seem to be at their booths, and the ones that are often treat customers like they are thieves. But we were so desperate to rescue Sharidan, that none of this mattered on the day in question. We rushed to the back of the flea market, where I had last seen the Big Babyz doll. I searched high and low, all over the booth, hoping to find Sharidan. But she was gone...someone had finally bought her, just when I had changed my mind. I was feeling defeated and regretful, when one of us spotted another Big Babyz doll. She was an African American character, stuffed into a bin beneath one of the tables. What an atrocious mess she was--her hair was entirely ratted up, she had severely chipped paint on her lips and nail polish, and she was covered in strange highlighter pink marks. To top it off, unlike Sharidan who was at least partially dressed on our last encounter, this Babyz doll was nude. Looking into her warm brown eyes, I thought to myself that although she was no Sharidan, perhaps this dolly was in more desperate need of a home. Plus, I really didn't want to leave empty handed, and the inexpensive Big Babyz fashion packs on eBay were calling my name.

 

When we got home, Colleen and I set out to shop for a Big Babyz wardrobe, clean the new doll, and of course identify her. I was convinced she was a Sasha of sorts--I never even questioned if another African American Big Babyz character had been produced. Colleen was hired to identify this doll while I worked on other stuff. After a while of toiling she called me over to the laptop and announced that we had in fact found "Hair Flair" Felicia! I had dreamed of finding a Felicia doll since I learned of her existence two years prior. But it was never my intent to get my hands on a Big Babyz one. Within a few days, Felicia had a small wardrobe of beautiful new clothes from eBay, a fabulous hairdo, and a much fresher smell. She also had a new place to live next to my Bitty Baby wagon in my bedroom. I was enchanted by this oversized, super chubby dolly despite her inconvenience when it came to finding display space. I unexpectedly took a shine to my still somewhat shabby friend. I became obsessed with hoarding clothes for her, which inevitably lead to the acquisition of my second Big Babyz doll. Colleen was on eBay one evening, in search of more threads for Felicia. She stumbled upon a used lot which featured several fashion packs, a Lil' Angelz Jade, and a Big Babyz Jade. She fell in love with Jade's molded hair and sassy features. Colleen ended up talking me into bidding on the lot, not that it took much coercion. I had always wanted to add a regular sized "1st Edition" Jade to my collection, but so far she had been out of reach. This Big Babyz doll looked just like my dream Jade, just sporting a different ensemble. We ended up winning the lot, which meant Felicia had a friend and some additional clothes. The perk was that some of the clothes were duplicated pieces, meaning the girls could match! What I wasn't anticipating was Jade stealing the show...and my heart. I had put countless hours into Felicia's restoration, and had toiled to make her look the best she could with what I had to work with. Usually these are the kinds of dolls I have the deepest connection to. But Jade, she is magical, and the moment we met, I could hardly remember Felicia's name. While she may not have rooted hair to play around with, and those molded ponytails are a pain to work with, she is the cutest thing ever. I think that it was this Big Babyz Jade who started to make me love Jade even more as a character. I began to appreciate Jade's ability to fluidly transition from one type of Bratz doll to another. This slowly shifted her to the spot of being my favorite Bratz character--prior to this, Yasmin never had any competition.

 

Jade opened my heart to a world of endless possibilities. I was no longer simply more than willing to adopt another Big Babyz doll. No, now I had Big Babyz lust...but luck was not on my side. It wasn't until two years later, when I finally found more dolls to add to my small family. During the 2015 flea market season, one of our regular sellers showed up one Sunday with a set of the Twiins. I spotted Phoebe and Roxxi on the ground as we slowly walked up the hill to the final stretch of the flea market. I knew right then and there I had to come home with the duo. Phoebe and Roxxi were always to of my favorite members of the Bratz pack. They were perfect huge replicas of the original, regular sized Babyz set I had acquired some years before in "Craigslist #1." Although "Monster High Lady" wanted a bit more money than I wanted to spend for the pair, I was not about to pass up this opportunity. So with the included Motor-Bike in tow, I forked over the cash and brought my new treasures home. The only reason Phoebe and Roxxi were spared from an equally beat up fate as Felicia was the fact that they had molded tresses. But despite this, they were still scuffed and marked up all over. Not to mention, someone had taken the liberty to draw colorful marks all over their faces and body parts. Phoebe was only wearing a shirt, and neither girl had her jacket or extra accessories. But it did not matter, I felt like I had won the lottery finding both twins together. Plus, I had plenty of fashion packs for my now four dolls to share, and the knowledge and skills to restore them!

 

Sometimes it is what we least expect to win us over that steals our hearts. I spent a great deal of time, energy, and effort back in the day trying to force an "ideal" collection on myself. I wanted nothing but the best, the most pruned and refined collection of dolls. I rejected any doll who didn't fit this standard, who didn't seamlessly blend in with some aesthetic I thought I "needed" to have. And so I turned down a number of wonderful dolls, many of whom were in desperate need of a loving home. The more I pressured myself to fit this perfect standard, the less fun I felt I had when it came to dolls. I was trapped inside this self created box of who I thought I should be, instead of realizing why it was I collected in the first place. Dolls like Felicia are much like the ones that started my fascination with this hobby in the first place. My original Barbie was a half bald, stark naked 1989 Ice Capades Barbie--someone else's reject. But she was the most magnificent creature I had ever seen, and she captivated my two year old self. That's the thing, what drew me to dolls in the first place was never perfection or aesthetic, rather the dolls themselves...the idea that they had a story to tell, and it was my job to discover it. None of my Big Babyz were complete or in mint condition...on the contrary they were anything but flawless. But despite all their imperfections, their quirky faults, I love them just the same. I don't feel any less connected to them, or any less willing to share my love. Instead, I embrace all four of my girls for exactly who they are, and I'm so grateful I got the chance to be their dolly mama. Maybe I didn't deserve a second chance when it came to Big Babyz collecting--after all, I did turn down the first ones I saw back in 2012, when all the other dolls from their lot came home with us. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't' change a thing--I wouldn't go back and tell my former doll snob self to lighten up, to buy this doll, or to not stress out about stuff so much. Because doll collecting is just like life, it's a journey--it's about the ride, and not the final destination, and that's what makes it so exhilarating!

All my images are protected by copyright, Please do not use in any blogs, websites or reproduced in any way without my specific written permission. Any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

 

Please press "L" to enhance your viewing experience.

 

I visited an old talc mine in northern Nevada for the specific purpose of attempting to photograph one of the bats that sleep there during the day. It is quite challenging to get a photo of them as they rest face down along the walls in a passage that I can barely stand in, about chest-high off the floor. Plus, while some light does get in the relatively shallow dig, it is pretty dark for getting a camera to focus and I certainly wouldn’t want to disturb the little critters while they rest up for a night of hunting insects. I took a couple light stands and some little LED panel lights I generally use for nightscape shooting. These lights can be dimmed WAY down so as not to disturb the bats. I also borrowed my wife’s 100mm f2.8 macro lens to for the task. This lens is absolutely tack sharp and purpose built for close-up work and that big aperture lets in lots of light. The downside is that depth of field is almost nil at that focal length and aperture when you’re shooting something from a foot away. Therefore, a single frame may only have the face of a mouse-sized creature in focus and nothing else. By placing the camera on a tripod very low and pretty much leaning the camera to the wall of the passage, I was able to shoot some longish exposures to gather enough light to expose this bat. I also used my mirrorless (Canon R7)camera’s automatic focus stacking feature to shoot 32 separate frames to ensure I’d have sharp sections of the bat from front to back to later merge in Photoshop (the camera also composites them automatically but only in JPEG and I wasn’t super happy with that one). Avid macro shooters actually use a "slider" that physically moves the camera a tiny bit with each shot which produces better results as it eliminates the "breathing" that can occur by changing the focus point each time as it is done here. My result isn’t perfect but, given the challenges and not wanting to spend too much time and disturb the animals, I’m fairly pleased.

 

As to the animals themselves, I believe they are myotis lucifugus or the not-so-imaginatively named Little Brown Bat, a species of “mouse eared” bats that is, interestingly enough, not related to eptesicus fuscus, the BIG brown bat. They are fascinating little animals that I enjoy watching flit around and chase bugs above my patio on summer evenings. They can eat more than half their body weight in insects in a single night (lactating females can actually consume MORE than their body weight in a night at peak lactation). As I read up on them a bit I also found it quite interesting that females only birth one baby per year. That’s definitely not what I’d expect from such a tiny and delicate creature. They can form colonies number in the tens of thousands but this little spot probably only had a dozen or so roosting in it that I saw.

All the spots have been filled!

 

For specific Audition Information, follow the link below:

www.wix.com/bratznextmodel/evelated#!__audition

 

DEADLINE: Friday, December 23 2011

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

ENTRANTS

 

1. Adrianna Which | yasminrules123

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/66232353@N04/6547252551/in/photostr...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/66232353@N04/6547253441/in/photostream

 

2. Elizabeth | °×βεℓℓα βratz×°

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/61389238@N04/6472249737/in/photostr...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/61389238@N04/6488826719 /

 

3. Natasha Kay | sashalover1998

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/sashalover1998/6477958171/in/photos...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/sashalover1998/6463022171/in/photos...

 

4. - | angelcoolcat13

Head:

Body:

 

5. Abigail Garcia | tomboy551

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzmoviezofficial/6550388011/in/p...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzmoviezofficial/6549351029/

 

6. Kiana | Bratzmoviezofficial

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzmoviezofficial/6550388011/in/p...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzmoviezofficial/6549351029/in/p...

 

7. - | An-Chee ♡

Head:

Body:

 

8. Jenette Henderson | ρuℓℓiρρεσplε0000(2ηd)™

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/pullippeople2/6485554235/in/photost...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/pullippeople2/6485554055/in/photost...

 

9. Arianna Bervert | BratzLover2000

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/purzypurlovesyou/6483610799/in/phot...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/purzypurlovesyou/6483610791/in/phot...

 

10. - | ♥αѕнєℓу∂σℓℓуℓσνє♥

Head:

Body:

 

11. - | MRwayne98™

Head:

Body:

 

12. Kat | DomoHelloKitty<3

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzluver1d/6480030809/in/photostream

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzluver1d/6480023955/in/photostr...

 

13. Aurea Swan | CoolBraatz ®

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/crushphobia/6528731101/in/photostream/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/crushphobia/6528734167/in/photostream/

 

14. Cornelia Bello | Happy@nn

Head:

Body:

 

15. Fianna Anderson | <3Lianna<3

Head:

Body:

 

16. - | Annabel_Bratz_Cloe

Head:

Body:

 

17. April | MilkandCookies<3

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/anydolllover/6489026101/in/photostr...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/anydolllover/6489023921/in/photostr...

 

18. Maci Stone | Drekitude™

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/drekitude/6493747977/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/drekitude/6493748389/

 

19. BreeAnna Pollock | reesecups

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/18551168@N03/6494217335/in/photostr...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/18551168@N03/6494216143/in/photostream

 

20. Leia | °•ακчα•°♥™

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/akyababe/6494913525/in/photostream/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/akyababe/6494933789/in/photostream/

 

21. Allison Potts | kiddgaga

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzboyz/6541267277/in/photostream/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/bratzboyz/6541254019/in/photostream/

 

22. - | BratzForeverMore

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/bratz-forever-more/6496627455/in/ph...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/bratz-forever-more/6496633865/in/ph...

 

23. Claire Nelly | bratzfan626

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/53588269@N02/6508424177/in/photostr...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/53588269@N02/6508441561/in/photostr...

 

24. - | BratzBabee

Head:

Body:

 

25. Charlie Lynch | Jojosawesomeworld ;)

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/jojosawesomeworld/6534731225/in/pho...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/jojosawesomeworld/6526521167/in/pho...

 

26. Sue Tracy | RainbowDoll489

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/rainbowdoll489/6556999117/in/photos...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/rainbowdoll489/6556998357/in/photos...

 

27. Alessia Benoit | piinkx3

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/67167051@N02/6508242469/in/contacts/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/67167051@N02/6508294395/in/contacts/

 

28. Calliope Papas | M.Jonathan

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/mikeysmhcollection/6545244713/in/ph...

Body:

 

29. - | JLS!

Head:

Body:

 

30. Amelia Marcellus | lola.ayou

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/57541329@N03/6532338705

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/57541329@N03/6532338455

 

31. Alisia Morrison | Blake♥'s Dolls:D

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/blakelovesdolls/6533505865/in/photo...

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/blakelovesdolls/6533442731/

 

31. Elaine Davis | Mr.Peanutbutter™

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/dollie_3_luver/6558337117/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/dollie_3_luver/6558224259/in/photos...

 

32. Minka Perez | btyler96

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/btyler96/6560969965/in/contacts/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/btyler96/6560969835/in/contacts/

 

33. Charli Drew | dollsrmylife™

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/47127787@N07/6560639463/in/contacts/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/47127787@N07/6560639137/in/contacts/

 

34. Paine | GoneCookie

Head: www.flickr.com/photos/gonecookie/6561545685/in/photostream/

Body: www.flickr.com/photos/gonecookie/6561540445/in/photostream/

______________________________________________________________________________

Copyright © 2011-2012 bratznexmodel. All rights reserved.

The Romanian Athenaeum was built between 1886 and 1888 and was designed to accommodate the specific activities of the Romanian Philharmonic Society (an institution founded in 1868).

 

It is that time the famed saying “Daţi un leu pentru Ateneu” (Give one leu for the Athenaeum) dates as the building was erected at the initiative of Constantin Esarcu who made a public appeal for the raising of the funds. The athenaeum was built on the already existing foundations of the riding school built by the Romanian Equestrian Society.

 

The chief architect Frenchmen Albert Galleron designed the building by following the guidelines provided by a team of Romanian architects. The circular shape of the structure is due to the already laid out foundation ensuring the originality and singularity purpose of the concert hall.

 

The façade is fronted by six 12 metre high columns and the entire structure is topped by a monumental dome rising 41 meters above ground level. Five medallions, each of them rendering the figure of a historical prince of the Romanian Principalities, decorate the peristyle.

 

The athenaeum auditorium seats approximately 800 and it is renowned for its outstanding acoustics.

 

During the WWII the building fortunately remained unscathed by some miracle during bombing raids that ruined many surrounding buildings.

 

In front of the building is a small park and a statue of Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu.

 

In 2007 the Athenaeum received the European Heritage Label, granted to sites that have a strong symbolic value for European history and heritage.

 

From various sources.

 

I must confess that I didn’t pick one specific painting to let myself be influenced by. I particularly wanted to work on producing a painting that actually showed dimension and perspective. So using some of the wonderful inspiration and examples Mati and Lisa provided I went from there.

 

I chose to use encaustics again this week. Addictive and I have so much to learn. I started with layering the sky over and over with black, clear, Payne’s Grey, and white until I got it the way I wanted it. That took forever and I wish more of the layers were actually visible but it’s all part of the process and I am happy with it. After the sky came the formless white land. All the trees and corn rows were incised into the cool wax. I started with putting blue in the far mountains, adding brown on top and in the foreground trees. Then the corn rows were filled with yellow. As soon as I put the first blue paint down I knew I had got something right. My distracted driving staring at the mountains over the past few weeks had paid off. I had achieved at least some sense of dimension.

 

And then the house. Storm clouds behind it, the home is rooted to the mountain. With the home again as a symbol of my personal world, this is a hopeful painting. Despite the storm there is a foundation.

 

jetfuellines.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/get-your-paint-on-w...

via Instagram ift.tt/1QfEA8y

Massive upload incoming!

 

- - - little disclaimer - These images are shot for specific scenes that fit in the story on my blog - - -

 

It's done and published! I am so happy it's finally done, it was one helluva job! Please take a peak at it over at SkyrimTales, the story is really written in a nice detailed style. And drop some feedback, critique if you feel like it!

 

Tordis - The Lone Strider of Bruma - Part I

 

And with this I would also like to show off my new fancy blog design. SkyrimTales got a sleek new look, thanks to Blogger and my wife for assisting me with all those means and nasty codes! <3 Love you!

 

This is the Collab project I was working on all this time, and it's finally finished. We wanted to do something with Tordis and Uther for a long time. We will probably make a second part that you will hopefully see appear around next week.

 

We hope you really enjoyed it and I hope you guys all have a great weekend. :)

Written from nowhere, no specific time.

Addressed to unspecific person.

Unclear defined subject.

 

The final chapter, the last question to be asked: Is this world worth to be saved? Yes, at least for those poor urang utangs in Indonesia and the wailing whales in the ocean.

How about human beings? Yes, the majority of our mankind is a decent one. So what are you going to do with the rest, de-cell or de-atom them ?, make them not to spread the diseases further more on earth? I do not know.

 

Nevertheless, one thing I am certain that we have guardian angels everywhere on earth like trees or rocks. They live in different forms more than you could imagine. My human one is aged 81 years now. He was speechless on his last birthday. His pride and will are even stronger to protect the goodness and justice.

 

The problem is………… these guardian angels are fatigue. They would not live very long.

Who is going to come out next to protect our broken blue world?

 

I hopelessly guess it may be “YOU”

  

Although I haven't uncovered any specific information regarding Thomas Edison's Uncle Sam automaton at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, I suspect that it wasn't too far removed from the inventor's unsuccessful talking doll, which appeared in 1890. For info on this, see Gaby Wood, Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life (Knopf, 2002); Edison’s First, Less Scary Talking Doll Recording, a posting on The History Blog; and a page dealing with the Edison Talking Doll - 1890.

 

Originally posted on Ipernity: Uncle Sam Automaton at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1893.

 

Uncle Sam

 

The wonderful Edison talking automaton at World's Fair, delivering 40,000 speeches during the Exhibition, about Highest Award, Gold Medal, Hub Gore.

 

Hub Gore Makers, Elastic for Shoes. Hub Gore A. Trade Mark.

 

Highest Gold Medal Awarded. Elastic for Shoes, Highest Award to Hub Gore Makers. Columbian Exposition.

Here we are in a pandemic and terrible climate change. A specific site that I like to focus on is the forest, a place where trees were buried, water crept in and minerals stayed. One of the signature gifts from the earth herself. The forest breathes, listens and answers. Beautiful forest kept and calm designed by nature to cherish living things that may not be able to survive outside of their habitat. A place where it is meant for no man to enter and destroy. However, with every cause of disaster is a cry for help from mother nature, man ignores and continues for their own benefit. Forest fires, landslides, poaching, climate change, deforestation and the list goes on but man kept silencing mother nature’s cries for mercy.

 

Maybe if we cared a little more and helped the earth, we would still be able to save the earth. Ask yourself how many more times the earth will cry out to us before she finally goes silent? As true as me and you and all we ever knew, our world will fall away if we let it.

 

I’m Siti Nur Sajidah from Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Higher Nitec in Chemical Technology. I drew my masterpiece using Staphylococcus aureus on Baird Parker Agr (BPA) because the bacteria will form distinctive black colonies on the yellow agar due to tellurite reduction. Additionally, I grew some bread mould at home and cultivated the mould on top of the forest canopy. Upon incubation, the artwork turned out amazing! The deer and forest are black due to growth of S. aureus, with a tinge of greyish-white from the bread mould, which looked like the aftermath from the forest fire. Wildfire seasons were larger than in previous history, with increased extreme weather caused by climate change strengthening the intensity and scale of fires. I hope my art can build awareness on forest fire. Let us heal the planet and make it a better place to live in!

Specific_️‍️

Kona is well known for it's manta ray night dives, but there are also specific locations where the rays congregate during the day. If your diving skills are together, and you know where to go, if you're patient and relentless, you can simply swim out to them and have a little face time, one on one, for as long as your air lasts. Big, small, juveniles and adults, male and female, sometimes one or two, often more.

 

Being in the water alone with these beasts is addicting, and it's about all I do these days. Drive a couple miles down the road, reggae blasting. Suit up, jump in and swim out, and wait for the action to start. It's almost always different mantas. In a typical session I might shoot a couple hundred images, but only a few are keepers.

 

It's a struggle to capture the essence of what it feels like to have a long solo encounter with them; this pic is as close as I've come. Here Nick, a young male, and Isabelle share a moment together. March 1 2012.

 

Lively up yourself!

Steve

Photographing the Arabian horse

When you look at a photograph of An Arabian horse you are not merely looking at that specific horse; you are also looking at the history of everything that has contributed to its existence in today's world. Centuries of dramatic and widespread events have shaped its conformation and persona. The Arabian horse has, foremost throughout its history, been a weapon in brutally fought wars in the harshest conditions of survival: environments with little shelter, food, or water. For thousands of years, the horse had to eke out its existence in the cruel, unforgiving terrain of the Najd Desert of Saudi Arabia, a land of great extremes and hardship. The area can almost instantly transform from blistering heat to biting cold as the sun plummets over the horizon.

 

Please note: DEPICTION IS NOT ADVOCACY!

  

(Made with a Nikon FE 35mm SLR camera + amber light + close-up lens) (1993) (Berkeley, California)

 

("For the first time, the General Social Survey--a large, national survey conducted every two years and widely considered to represent the gold standard for public opinion research--shows a majority of Americans favoring the legalization of marijuana."

 

---Christopher Ingraham, the Washington Post, 3.4. 2015.)

  

(I subscribe to a free official California state website run by the Department of Cannabis Control, which can be found here:

 

cannabis.ca.gov/resources/cannabis-recalls-and-safety-notices/

  

I think their testing of cannabis products is far, far too limited, in that there are many toxic and possibly toxic substances that they are not testing for. Still, there is value in receiving their email warnings, because I am not seeing these warnings about specific products being widely posted anywhere by the online media, and I do not see such warnings being publicly posted at cannabis stores. Below is a warning I received today.

  

"Notification of Mandatory Product Recall

June 25, 2024

 

The Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) is issuing this consumer advisory for a single CUREpen PREMIUM THC OIL Vape Cartridge product due to the presence of the pesticide chlorfenapyr.

 

Consumers who purchased this product are urged to check their packaging for the UID and batch number listed below."

 

The notification also mentions that the recalled product was "Packaged by: Alkhemist DM LLC".)

  

(The website of the large cannabis dispensary Harborside in Oakland, California has a "Seizure-Safe" setting that "clears flashes and reduces color".)

 

(In May 2011, "DistantEchoes" commented on reddit dot com that viewing my art "may cause seizures and brain damage.")

 

("...video games with rapidly changing images or highly regular patterns can produce seizures, and video games have increased in importance as triggers as they have become more common."

 

---from the Wikipedia page "Photosensitive Epilepsy".)

  

("...in November 2017, two months before legal sales were to begin...the California Department of Food and Agriculture released rules that shocked the farming community: The state would allow legal pot farms to grow as large as they want."

 

"Glass House Farms, one of the state’s biggest cultivators, grows cannabis in a 2 million-square-foot greenhouse facility that was financed by a $100 million loan."

 

---Lester Black, 11.17. 2024, SFGATE.

  

["Glass House reported its cost of production at $139 per pound. The company also stated that it sold the equivalent of over 90,000 pounds of dried biomass in the second quarter of 2023 at an average price of $340 per pound."

 

---cannabis benchmarks dot com, 8.22. 2023.]

  

["...we’re the largest cannabis flower brand in the largest market in the world."

 

---glass house brands dot com, 11.19. 2024. The site also says that Glass House has a six million square-foot "state of the art greenhouse footprint".]

  

[On their website, Glass House tells people how to buy stock in Glass House Brands, even providing links to brokers like Charles Schwab.])

  

"'Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,' Biden said in December. 'Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It's time that we right these wrongs.'"

 

---from a 4.30. 2024 CBS News article "Justice Dept will move to reclassify marijuana in a historic shift, sources say". ("Robert Legare and Willie James Inman contributed to this report.") "The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across the country."

 

(During the course of my career in non-profit quality control, I smoked marijuana every day for 29 of the past 42 years. I found that it often inspired me.

  

***Burning plants and then inhaling the smoke very, very obviously seems like an unhealthy thing to do since there are so many, many possibly toxic substances in the smoke!***

  

[“'On Jan. 1, 2014 in Denver, 1/8 ounce of Bubba Kush was the USA’s first legal sale of this for recreational purposes,' the host said."

 

"One of the $2,000 challenges on a recent episode was to identify the first part of the name of a 'well-known hallucinogen' that ends 'acid diethylamide.' The contestant said 'lysergic,' as in LSD."

 

---Kyle Jaeger, 5.12. 2019, marijuanamoment dot net, writing about the mainstream television game show "Jeopardy".]

 

As of early 2022, there are said to be 779 different strains of marijuana being sold.

 

My favorite imported kinds of marijuana were Punta Roja Colombian, "Thai sticks", and Mexican from Oaxaca. Some of the Cannabis Sativa grown in Hawaii that I smoked was not only potently psychedelic, but also WONDERFULLY TASTY.

 

I also enjoyed some of the hashish that came from Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Nepal. The hashoil I smoked that came from Morocco greatly lifted my spirits and provided unique insight. "Bubble Hash" made in Berkeley gave me colorful visions.

 

I even quaffed Hi-Brew Beer [early 1980s marijuana/alcohol beverage].

  

To celebrate my 70th birthday I smoked a potent "sativa hybrid" strain of marijuana called "Runtz". [29.1% THC, .05% CBD, 33.8% total cannabinoids. Total terpenes: 1.5%. Top 3 terpenes: caryophyllene, limonene, and myrcene. Packaged 9.6. 2021. Tested by Belcosta Labs. Distributed by a company in North Hollywood, California.]

  

[In the 1970s I trimmed MANY pounds of marijuana. One of my associates, a taxi driver who claimed that he had “rolled so many joints I don’t have any fingerprints left” was so impressed that he borrowed my scissors and had them plated with gold.]

  

['Miron had stolen a big pile of wedding invitations... and we would use them to make filters for joints."

 

---Etgar Keret, translated from the Hebrew by Miriam Shlesinger and Sondra Silverston, in his 2002 collection of short stories THE NIMROD FLIPOUT. When I was arrested in 1985 the police seized a small box of filters from me that I had made by cutting some of my business cards into strips. I called them "jay-spacers" and had labeled the box. In 1986 when I went in front of the parole board, they (not knowing what a "jay-spacer" is) made a big deal out of the filters. "You had almost a hundred jay-spacers!" they said very accusingly...]

  

["I was able to access memories I didn't even know I had in extreme detail!!"

 

---Idefe, describing "Peanut Butter Breath", a hybrid strain of marijuana. Leafly dot com, 2019. Idefe gave "Peanut Butter Breath" the highest possible rating. I AGREE!]

  

[And yet:

 

In late April 2021, Facebook warned me that when it comes to illegal drugs, on my Facebook page I am NOT allowed to admit "personal use" without acknowledgment of or reference to recovery, treatment, or other assistance to combat usage...]

  

Surfing on a toke--and when the bowl of the pipe looks like the Grand Canyon, I know I've almost had enough...

  

[Stoner humor: Photo of a marijuana cigarette. Over the first four-fifths of the marijuana cigarette is written "I love nature so much...what a beautiful day." Over the last fifth is written "The raccoons work for the CIA."]

  

[Willie Nelson won 10 Grammy awards, and has appeared in 37 movies and TV shows. More than 40 million copies of his more than 100 albums have been sold. He has smoked marijuana for MANY years. Nelson is an outspoken advocate for the drug and has been arrested several times for possession of marijuana. He was arrested in 2006 for possessing marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms. His latest song is titled "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die".

 

---from an Associated Press news report, 4.21. 2012.]

  

["I smoke two joints in the morning

I smoke two joints at night

I smoke two joints in the afternoon

It makes me feel all right"

 

"I smoke two joints in time of peace

And two in time of war

I smoke two joints before I smoke two joints

And then I smoke two more"

 

---Chris Kay and Michael Kay, in their 1983 song "Smoke Two Joints", which was recorded by The Toyes.]

  

["Things Get Grounded When There's Chemistry"

 

"Cannabis Connects"

 

"Life In Color" (over a rainbow of colors)

 

---from a billboard advertisement for cannabis oil cartridges, edibles, and tinctures made by a company named Chemistry. I saw the billboard, which has a lavender background and depicts two women on a rug smiling at each other, on Telegraph Avenue at 63rd street in Oakland, California in June 2019.]

  

[The first cannabis label that I remember seeing (printed in black ink on blue paper) was "STONY RIDGE" brand marijuana. It was on a one-pound bag of American-grown product that I obtained from Richard Krech in 1972.]

  

["One toke over the line sweet Jesus

One toke over the line"

 

"Waitin' for the train that goes home sweet Mary

Hopin' that the train is on time

Sittin' downtown in a railway station

One toke over the line"

 

---Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley, in their 1970 song "One Toke Over The Line". Vice President Spiro Agnew did not like the song and called it "subversive". After being investigated on suspicion of conspiracy, bribery, extortion, and tax fraud, Agnew was convicted of felony tax evasion and forced to resign.]

  

["California's cannabis-growing nuns pray for profits"

 

---BBC News headline, late October 2022.]

  

["He said 'drugs make you too pleased with everything.'"

 

---Sarah Seiter, associate curator of Natural Sciences at the Oakland Museum of California, quoting David Hockney on the connection between drugs and creativity. Seiter was quoted by Paul Kilduff in an interview about a current show, "Altered State: Marijuana in California". The East Bay Monthly, July 2016 issue.

 

I think I somewhat understand what Hockney said, and I think there is truth in his statement. I also think that I often find great value and much joy in seeing beauty in both the wheat AND the chaff!]

  

[After many years of refusing to go to marijuana stores, I made my first purchase at one in 2020. (I now must purchase my cannabis at a store since, because of my extreme poverty, it is not [and has never been] possible for me to grow marijuana, and since it is no longer safe for me to continue, as I did for decades, to purchase black market marijuana. I enjoy interacting with the many helpful and kind people working at the local cannabis store. It makes me very happy to see them working there!)]

  

Here is a list of some of the cannabis products I have used [and a few that I have not used, or do not remember the effects of using] that were obtained from marijuana stores in the San Francisco bay area. [From labels I saved]:

  

"Jeeter" brand "Mai Tai" [sativa] pre-roll one gram joint of indoor-grown marijuana "infused" with THCA "diamonds" and kief. "MFG/PKG date: June 23RD, 2023" "Total THC: 42.5%, delta-9 THC: 1.69%, THCA: 46.5%"

 

["...a class action lawsuit against DreamFields Inc., and Med for America Inc., on behalf of California consumers who purchased cannabis products with inaccurate THC content labels.

 

The lawsuit alleges that defendants, who make, sell, and market 'Jeeter' brand cannabis products, overcharged consumers by illegally selling products whose THC content was substantially lower than the amounts listed on the label."

 

---from a October 2022 press release.]

 

Blueberry

Tsunami

Outdoor Rom

Trainwreck

Orange Hill Special

Red Widow

Smoothelove

Dutch Passionkush

Northern Green

Spice

Nor Kali Black Spice

Sensi Star

Organic Main Wreck

Sour Diesel ["22.73% THC" (2019)]

Sour Diesel [26.22% THC, .8% CBD, 27.72% total cannabinoids (2021)]

Ice Ice

Fruity Bliss

Organic Remedy

NYC Diesel

S1-5

Organic Super Silver Haze

Morning Star

Sun Grown Purple OG

Jedi

Sweet Nightmare

Kosher Strawberries

Dirty Little Pig

Durbin Poison

Oracle

Space Cowboy

Bubble Haze

White Widow

Mountain Kick

Snow White

Sun Grown Diesel

Yumbolt

Co-op

Organic Flo

Candyland

Silvercratic

Sun Grown Chocolope

Pineapple Kush

Goo-5

Nor Kali Kaui Kola

Dynomite

Nor Kali Buddha's Haze

Old Grand Huck

Grape Ape

Sour Diesel Lemon

Buddha's Sister

Super Jack

Organic Rom Thai

Third Eye

Pink Champagne

World Wide Widow

Afgootiva

Greased Lightning

Outdoor Organic Humboldt

Herijuana

Cherry Pie

Peak 19

Organic Mazar

Outdoor Train Crossing

Organic Shaman

Super Star

Rhino

Burmese

Double Dream

Jelly

Caramel

Kahuna

Shiva's Tears

Organic A-10

Purple Burmese

Lemon Skunk x Royal Orange

Mendo Blendo

The Sativa

Organic Hawaiian Snow

Purple Kush Domina

Organic Ultra Skunk

Sage 'n' Sour

Outdoor Organic Kam

Tree-W

Da Kind

Jack Frost

Pot O' Gold

Shiva Afghani

Gorilla's Mist

Strawberry Cough

Sativa 2

Organic Jane

Organic Purple Way

Outdoor Organic Bonkers

Organic Purps

Outdoor Organic Goo

Juicy Fruit

Mind Eraser

Pearly Baker

Lavender Goo

Titan OG

White Russian

Sonoma Coma

Organic Sticky Nurple

MK Ultra

Outdoor Organic Trainwreck x White Widow

Organic Sweetleaf

Organic Purple Ice

Jack Herer

Zlushie Kush

God's Gift

Outdoor Organic Purple Mendo

Organic Ogre

Organic Trance

William's Wonder x Northern Lights

Blue Ogre

Organic Lamb's Bread

Champagne

Black Bunanna

Super Chunk

Organic Rom Cross

Sun Grown Goji Jack

Rom Hottie

Organic Slider

Animal Cookies

Sunshine Grown Green Dragon

El Bueno

Jakki

Organic Time Warp

Durban Dream

Organic Mist

Cookie Pie

Mantanuska TF

Pineapple Trainwreck

Organic Mantanuska Mist

Organic Mothership

Traincrash

Swazi Haze

Grape Pop

Golden Goo

Organic Trance

Jack'l Berry

Outdoor Mysty

Purple Peak 19

AK-47

Sage

Motor City

Purple Erkel

Crazy Hazy

Bright Star

Green Crack

Power Plant

Organic Cindy 99

Skunk #2

Organic Bonana

Outdoor Organic Hash Plant

Baby Blues

Cat Piss

Mr. Nice (G 13 x Hash Plant)

Girl Scout Cookie

Outdoor Organic Blue Dot

Sour Daze

Thin Mint

Grand Daddy Purple

Spicy Jack

Outdoor Organic Pure Rezin

Old Mother Sativa

Master Yoda Kush

Mountain Girl

Green Ribbon

Ice Cream Cake #5

Super Wreck

Sapphire Star

Grenadine

Bombshell

Also Known As

Pea Soup

Razzlez

Pirate's Kush

Purple Tangie

Leda Una

Cloud Berry

Northern Lights x Big Bud

All Star Organic Oaktown Wreck

Animal Punch

805 Glue

Sunset Sherbet

Forbidden Fruit

Cookie Monster

Blue Dream [Blueberry x Santa Cruz Haze] [26.64% THC, .1% CBD] ["AlphaPinene: 0.51%, BetaCaryophyllene: 0.25%, BetaMyrcene: 0.95%, BetaPinene: 0.23%, Bisabolol: 0.03%, CBC: 0.06%, CBD: 1.08mg/g, CBDa: 1.23mg/g, CBG: 0.07%, CBGA: 0.26%, CBN: 0.02%, Humulene: 0.1%, Limonene: 0.1%, Linalool: 0.06%, THC: 266.45mg/g, THC9: 19.57mg/g, THCA: 281.51mg/g" (Information posted by the Harborside cannabis store in San Leandro, California on 10.23. 2024 about "Dime Bag" brand Blue Dream marijuana flowers.)]

Berry Haze [26.8% THC, .1% CBD, 28.51% total cannabinoids] ["AlphaPinene: 0.03%, BetaCaryophyllene: 0.49%, BetaMyrcene: 0.05%, BetaPinene: 0.06, CBD: 1.02mg/g , CBDa: 1.17mg/g, CBG: 0.06%, CBGA: 1.31%, CBN: 0.02%, Humulene: 0.16%, Limonene: 0.35%, Linalool: 0.1%, THC: 267.97mg/g, THC9: 5.87mg/g, THCA: 298.85mg/g" (Information posted by the Harborside cannabis store in San Leandro, California on 10.23. 2024 about "Dime Bag" brand Berry Haze marijuana flowers.)]

Jelly Cake [27.4% THC, .14% CBD]

Cherry Popperz [28.85% THC]

Blue Face [Face Off OG x Animal Mints (Blue Pheno)] [32.90% THC, .05% CBD]

Orange Tree [27.08% THC, .06% CBD, 28.84% total cannabinoids]

Bubblegum Runtz [32.5% THC]

Starberry Cough [21.51% THC, 21.62% total cannabinoids]

Apple Fritter [37.1% THC]

Girl Scout Cookies [36.58% THC]

Organic Purple Haze

Purple Haze [34.5% THC, .043% CBD, 35.2% total cannabinoids]

Z x Georgia Pie [27.8% THC, 29.1% total cannabinoids]

Space Lollipops [31.42% THC, .12% CBD, 32.1% total cannabinoids]

Snow Runtz [37.34% THC]

Sour Tangie [25.05% THC, 25.29% total cannabinoids]

Rainbow Smacks [indoor shake] [23.37% THC, .01% CBD, 34.64% total cannabinoids (15.4% delta-9 THC)]

Platinum Gelato [18.17% THC, .07% CBD]

Blueberry Space Cake [31.98% THC, 33.6% total cannabinoids] [Said to be a 90% indica-10% sativa hybrid. Packaged on 8.31. 2023.]

 

[I am thinking of legally changing my name to Blueberry Space Cake...]

 

Gooberry [30.43% THC, .1% CBD, 31.75% total cannabinoids]

Lemonwreck [34% THC]

Balance [31% THC]

Chill [34% THC]

Platinum Scout [26.90% THC, .07% CBD, 27.60% total cannabinoids]

Cadillac Cookies [38.79% THC, 39.11% total cannabinoids] [infused with THCA "diamonds"] [With the image of an American flag:"Veteran owned and operated since 2017."]

Woah-Si-Woah [41.7% THC, 42.07% total cannabinoids] [infused with THCA "diamonds"]

Grapes N Cream [27.05% THC, .05% CBD]

Space Mamba [32.14% THC, .14% CBD, 32.71% total cannabinoids]

Blue Horchata Mintz [30.44% THC, .08% CBD, 35.78% total cannabinoids]

Triangle Cookies [19.49% THC, .07% CBD (21.22% total cannabinoids: 14.93% THCA, 6.40% delta-9 THC) (1.32% terpenes, including .69% b-caryophyllene and .21% humulene)]

GMO Fuel [Girl Scout Cookies x Chemdawg] [33.1 % THC, .06% CBD, 35.4% total cannabinoids] [A mostly indica strain that has a strong taste and smell reminding some people of things like "garlic, mushrooms, and onions" aka "GMO". (NOT genetically-modified, at least not in the conventional meaning of the term...)] I smoked GMO Fuel to celebrate becoming 72 years old in 2023.

Obama Runtz [30.61% THC, .09% CBD, 31.02% total cannabinoids]

Headband [OG Kush x Sour Diesel] [37% THC]

Jetfuel [31% THC]

GMO [28.7% THC]

Rainbow Belts [Moonbow x Zkittlez] [32% THC}

Wet Dream [Blue Dream x Ocean Beach Haze] [28.65% THC, 28.94% total cannabinoids]

Animal Mints [Thin Mint GSC x Fire OG] [25.03% THC, .03% CBD, 26.62% total cannabinoids]

Mixed Berry Runtz [30.6% THC, .07% CBD, 32.7% total cannabinoids]

Gello [21.4% THC, .04% CBD, 22.15% total cannabinoids] ["Indoor Sugar-Trim"]

Bernie Hana Butter [24.65% THC]

Prism [25.17% THC, 30.06% total cannabinoids]

Delirium [29% THC, 35% total cannabinoids]

Pave [29.9% THC, 30.9% total cannabinoids]

Astro Funk [21.2% THC] [Pre-ground indoor-grown flower shake] [Limited amounts of this surprisingly potent marijuana were being legally sold in California cannabis stores in May 2023 for fifty cents per gram as marijuana "extender"...]

Lemonchello Gelato [33.205% THC] ["Main Terpenes: limonene, caryophyllene, humulene"] A FAVORTE!

Gush Mints [27.32% THC]

Gush Mints [18.6% THC] ["indoor sugar-trim"]

OG Legend Littles [23.11% THC, .06% CBD]

Cherry Chem [21.16% THC, .04% CBD]

Dosilato [27.32% THC]

Cereal Milk [24.5% THC]

Fuji Ice [Apple Fritter x Ice Bx2] [31.44% THC]

White Cherry Gelato [25.07% THC]

Peanut Butter Gelato [Do-Si-Dos x Mendo Breath] [28% THC]

Toffee [26.6% THC]

Maui Cheesecake [24% THC]

Wedding Cake "Sugar Shake" [30.31% THC]

Kush Mints "Sugar Shake" [24.32% THC, 26.46% total cannabinoids]

Apple Sauce [33.84% THC, 37.91% total cannabinoids]

Early Bird [34.71% THC, 38.16% total cannabinoids]

Purple Cake Batter [25.82% THC, .06% CBD, 31.21% total cannabinoids]

True OG [26.4% THC, 27.2% total cannabinoids]

Magic City Mango [Platinum Cookies x GDP x Blue Power x Gelatti] [26.4% THC, .07% CBD, 31.3% total cannabinoids]

Cookie Dawg [26.89% THC, .07% CBD, 31.79% total cannabinoids]

Lemon Jack [25.86% THC, .06% CBD, 30.90% total cannabinoids]

Hawaiian Haze [25.56% THC, .07% CBD, 30.65% total cannabinoids]

Marshmallow OG [24.99% THC (22.49% THCA, 5.25% THCD9), 1.06% CBD, 29.16% total cannabinoids, 4.6% terpenes (1.72% Limonene, .82% B-Caryophyllene, .47% Myrcene, .35% B-Pinene, .30% Linalool, .25% a-Humulene, .24% a-Pinene, .23% Nerolidol) (indoor-grown)]

GMO Crasher [Wedding Crasher x GMO] [24.7% THC, .062% CBD, 26.46% total cannabinoids]

Black Diamond [28.26% THC, .08% CBD, 34.51% total cannabinoids]

Bubba Berry [36.57% THC, .11% CBD, 44.47% total cannabinoids]

Cookies and Cream [26.6% THC, .08% CBD, 32.7% "total active cannabinoids"]

Blue Cookies [38.25% THC, .15% CBD, 46.77% total cannabinoids]

Snowcap [38.96% THC, 41.35% total cannabinoids] [Packaged in May 2022 with an image of people dancing and the words "a Party in every Bag!"]

Hawaiian Dream [26.71% THC, .8% CBD, 31.97% total cannabinoids]

Cookies Kush [27.66% THC, .08% CBD, 32.72% total cannabinoids]

White Kush [26.06% THC, .07% CBD, 34.60% total cannabinoids]

Papaya Punch [28.10% THC, .07% CBD, 33.02% total cannabinoids]

Royal Kush [24.47% THC, .07% CBD, 29.31% total cannabinoids]

Platinum Cake [31.63% THC, .11% CBD, 38.23% total cannabinoids]

Gorilla Breath [22.33% THC, .16% CBD, 23.56% total cannabinoids]

French Cookies [Girl Scout Cookie x Chemdawg] [21.44% THC, .06% CBD, 26% total cannabinoids]

Bubba Hash [34.32% THC, .16% cbd, 35.68% total cannabinoids]

Dank You [26.57% THC, .06% CBD, 31.86% total cannabinoids]

Sugar Plum [27.87% THC, .23% CBD, 28.64% total cannabinoids]

Mazar Kush [36.86% THC, .16% CBD, 38.25% total cannabinoids]

Blackberry Hashplant [26.09% THC, .06% CBD, 31.19% total cannabinoids]

Kali Mist [26.24% THC, .08% CBD, 31.47% total cannabinoids]

Gumball No. 3 [29.73% THC, 35.73% total cannabinoids]

Gumball No. 4 [27.93% THC, 28.31% total cannabinoids]

Wedding Pie [28.13% THC, 32.72% total cannabinoids]

E85 [Jetfuel OG x Biscotti] [32.99% THC, 2.11% CBD, 2.56% terpenes, 35.1% total cannabinoids]

Super Lemon Cherry [31.4% THC, 36.6% total cannabinoids, 2.3% terpenes "white ash, no black ash, all organic, 14-day flush, slow cure"] Sour Jack [24.24% THC, .2% CBD, 25.23% total cannabinoids]

Sweet Diesel [34.3% THC, .06% CBD, 34.41% total cannabinoids]

Banana Dream [25.2% THC, .09% CBD, 30.5% total cannabinoids]

Banana Bread [Banana OG x Maui Bread] [34.98% THC, 42.2% total cannabinoids]

Kush Mountains [30.2% THC, .07% CBD, 35.19% total cannabinoids]

Hindu Kush [24.1% THC, .04% CBD, 28.79% active cannabinoids]

Hindu Kush [24.99% THC, .07% CBD, 29.92% total cannabinoids]

Biscotti Cookies [22% THC]

LA Pop Rocks [27% THC, 31% total cannabinoids]

OCC [17.87% THC, 20.38% total cannabinoids]

Sundae Driver [24% THC]

Flow White [22.14% THC, 0.056% CBD]

Slurricane [22.57% THC, 0.065% CBD]

Super Silver Haze [24% THC, 0.07% CBD, 1.30% total terpenes]

Super Silver Haze [27.87% THC, .16% CBD, 29.98% total cannabinoids]

Space Cakes [31.96% THC]

Gorilla Goo [23.24% THC]

King Louis [20.82% THC, 25.77% total cannabinoids]

Turquoise Jeep [23.6% THC]

OG Kush [22.0% THC]

Kush Mint Cookies [31.36% THC]

Willie's Kush [23.97% THC]

Chem Reserve [38.56% THC]

Petrol Kush [20.73% THC]

Mimosa [24.8% THC, .1% CBD]

Mimosa [27.05% THC, .14% CBD, 27.99% total cannabinoids]

Mimosa [28.49% THC, 0% CBD]

Clout Cake [26.14% THC, .06% CBD] ["Friends Don't Let Friends Smoke Mids"]

Cali Cherry Pie [20.60% THC, .08% CBD]

PR OG [16.51% THC]

Meat Breath [21.26% THC, 26.56% total cannabinoids]

Orange Cookies [19.90% THC]

White Fire [29.1% THC, .07% CBD, 34.5% total cannabinoids]

Motorbreath [15.42% THC]

805 Sour [20.72% THC]

Cherry Dosido [Cherry Cheesecake x Dosido] [29.98% THC]

Cherry Do-Si-Do [24% THC]

Super Chem [Sour 2.0 x Chem] [21.28% THC, 26.17% total cannabinoids]

Orange [20.08% THC]

Malawi Dream [20.4% THC, .19% CBD]

Purple Cake [18.34% THC]

Strawberry Banana [20.59% THC, .19% CBD]]

Peanut Butter Breath [18.18% THC]

Peanut Butter Breath [27.7% THC, .05% CBD, 32.8% total cannabinoids]

Alien OG [20.18% THC]

Garanimal Cookies [20.64% THC, .03% CBD]

Dark Karma [Dutch Treat x Strange Love] [25.71% THC, .04% CBD]

China White [26.42% THC]

Gushers [20.65% THC]

Gushers [36.08% THC]

Los Angeles Kush [23.05% THC]

Triple Scoop Gelato [27.7% THC]

Purple Punch [26.44% THC]

Trifi Cookies [21.99% THC]

Rollins [24.36% THC]

Wedding Chemz [24.2% THC] [from a cannabis company founded by Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart]

Han Solo Burger [GMO Cookies x Larry F8] [More than 30% THC]

Cereal Milk [29% THC, 31.12% total cannabinoids] [A hybrid strain that is distributed in glass jars with VIVIDLY colorful reflective metallic labels containing 28 pre-rolled filter-tipped marijuana cigarettes. Each marijuana cigarette contains .5 gram "greenhouse hydroponic" cannabis.

 

One of the warnings on the label:

 

"Smoking cannabis increases your cancer risk and during pregnancy exposes your child to delta-9-THC and other chemicals that can affect your child's birth weight, behavior, and learning ability."]

 

Ice Cream Cake [22.2% THC] ["Honest Flower" brand "Indica" from Eden Enterprises. "Flower You Can Trust" 3.5 grams in a small child-resistant plastic container from Calyx Containers. "Made in USA"]

Humboldt OG ["17.76% THC" hybrid pre-roll. Cultivator: "Grouse Mountain Green" in Humboldt County, California. Distributor: "Emerald Family Farms" 2019]

Ghost OG ["22.49% THC .05% CBD" hybrid "Manufactured and distributed by Flora California" from "Sessions Supply Co." pre-roll]

Wedding Cuvee ["21.60% THC .05% CBD" hybrid "Manufactured and distributed by Flora California" from "Sessions Supply Co." "Time For Blast Off" (On package containing 3.5 grams) 2019]

Jungle Glue ["Krush Kingz" pre-roll by "Berkeley Pharmz" 2019]

Orange Mango ["19.8% THC" "Distributed by Black Oak Gallery" 2019]

Ziablo [Grown by IC Collective.] [2019] [The jars containing 3.5 grams feature one of my favorite labels, a very colorful skeleton-skull!]

Now and Laters ["20.51% THC" "Sativa" Grown in Shasta County, California, and distributed by Ember Valley, 2019.]

Ghost Mints ["23.31% THC, 0.9% CBD". "...may be habit forming." "This product may be unlawful outside of Washington State." from "Green Fire Production, Inc."]

Extreme Jack [16.49% THC "even hybrid" "greenhouse-grown" "Warning: This product can expose you to chemicals including arsenic, which is known to the state of California to cause cancer. For more information, go to www.p65warnings.ca.gov&quot; from Foxworthy Farms, 2019.]

Blackout ["Inspire featuring limonene 7.84% THC, 8.05% CBD. From Abatin Farms, 2018]

Cherry Vortex [Sativa-dominant."17.46% THC". From Headwaters. Source: UPI Supply Systems, Inc. Origin: Carpenteria, CA. Packaged 12. 14. 2018. Expiration date: 12. 13. 2019. "WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive harm."]

Wedding Cake ["14.36% THC" pre-roll from "Humboldt Growers". 2019] [Also: from Marley Natural, "grown in Trinity County, California." "16.3% THC" 2019] [Also: "from Sublime, in Oakland, California." "Fuzzies" brand pre-roll, "infused with cannabis concentrate, kief, and terpenes" "25% THC and 1% CBD" 2019] [Also: from Pacific Stone in Santa Barbara, California 2019]

Blueberry Muffin ["15.94% THC" pre-roll from "Humboldt County Indoor". Harvested 12.1. 2018]

Unicorn Tears [indoor Sativa"blend"] "22.8% THC", 1 gram pre-roll from Sunset Connect in San Francisco, 2024.

Raspberry Diesel ["18.2% THC", grown by "Fleur d'elite"]

Banjo [hybrid pre-roll from "Just Chief"]

Banjo [2 gram bottle from "Coastal Sun Farm". Package date: 8.28. 2019. "26% THC. 30.9% total cannabinoids". "Consciously Grown." "Healthy Plants Heal Humans".]

Banjo ["16.49% THC "sativa" from Pacific Stone in Santa Barbara, California.

Wifi43 [pre-roll from State Flower Cannabis Company, San Francisco 2019 "19.63% THC"]

Dolato [hybrid pre-roll from "Just Chief"]

Miss U.S.A. [1 gram all flower Indica pre-roll from Lowell Smokes. 18% THC. In a glass tube. "Test: Cannasafe 01. 19. 19"]

Royal Blend ["Krush Kings" brand pre-roll from "Industry Standard Group, Inc." 18.74% THC "hybrid-indica" "Your Royal Highness"]

San Fernando Valley OG ["The Weed Brand pre-roll. 1 gram."]

Shark Shock ["The Weed Brand pre-roll. 1 gram." "grown by Caliber." "Harvested 4.20. 2019." "19.5% total cannabinoids"]

Gelato 45 [The Weed Brand preroll. Harvest date: 7.23. 2018. Packed: 9.24. 2018. "Best Buy": 7.23. 2019. 16.9% THC. 0.26% CBD.]

Banana Bubble [1 gram pre-roll. 160 mg THC. Manufactured by Marigold. Packaged in Santa Rosa, California. 9.28. 2018. "Cultivation with a conscience"]

Fire OG [1 gram pre-roll. 29.23% THC. "infused with oil and kief". From Jeeter.] Pure Kush [Indica. pre-roll. 133 mg THC. "Harvested 7.6. 2018. Best by 10.3. 2019."]

Grizzly Bones [Hybrid. 1 gram pre-roll. Indoor-grown. 155 mg THC. "Grown by Grizzly Peak Farms."]

"Lifted" brand .7 gm "House Cone Fortified with Hash Oil"]

"Cookies" brand "Triple Scoop Infused Blunt" [1 gram flower, .25 gram BADDER, and .25 gram THCA] [hemp wrap and glass tip.]

Super Silver Haze [infused pre-roll] [29.26% THC]

Chocolate Hashberry [Grown in downtown Los Angeles. "Manufactured by Purple Heart Compassionate, Inc."]

Orange Citron ["19.19% THC, 0.02% CBD" "Packaged 4.24. 2019" from "Molecular Farms" in California.]

El Fuego [from "Molecular Farms"]

Key Lime Pie ["Humboldt Farms" "Premium Flower-Hybrid" "15.2% THC, 0.00% CBD" "Harvested on July 2018, Packaged on July 2018" "One-Eighth Ounce" in a clear glass jar with a stopper made of wood. The label has a 1" x 2" colorful detailed image of tall trees and small flowers and a small white Volkswagen van. Printed with metallic ink. After smoking some Key Lime Pie I decided that, in my opinion, this extremely appealing image is the best illustration I have seen on a cannabis label.]

Taffie [This medical cannabis strain is sold in cork-lined light-proof well-labeled tins, each containing 5 joints. The tins come sealed in a bag that contains a Boveda 2-way humidity control packet. This product is distributed by Humboldt Legends, and is labeled Steelhead Sativa. Organically grown in sunlight and harvested by hand. The label has the name (and a copy of the handwritten signature) of the person who grew the marijuana (Scott Davies). Also the batch number and the percentages of THC (19.5%) and CBD (0.0%). The label on the back of the tin states that the group of cultivators who call themselves "Humboldt Legends" have been growing marijuana for "forty years". A warning note states that marijuana is a “Schedule 1 controlled substance”. And that “Smoking this product will expose you and those in your immediate vicinity to marijuana smoke...known to the State of California to cause cancer.” “Keep out of reach of children and animals.” "This product may impair the ability to drive or operate machinery." Obtained in the San Francisco bay area, 2017. (After I smoked some of this marijuana in a dark room, I closed my eyes and saw beautiful hallucinations that were extremely complex, with uniquely vivid colors. When I opened my eyes I had a VERY strong urge to write poetry.)]

Juicee Fruit ["bud-only pre-roll. 1 gram. Cultivated 7.28.18. Packaged 7.16.18. Batch ID 6-15-18-JF.] THC 21.14%. 211.4 mg/serving. 0mg CBD/serving V.H.H.C. Juicy Fruit $9.99+Tax" Seven Leaves brand, packaged in black plastic child-proof tube]

"Top Shelf Rainbow Diesel Minis [Sativa]" [small joints]

"Top Shelf Hell OG Minis [Indica]" [small joints]

"Maui Wowie" [infused flowers] 25.20% Delta-9 THC, 41.75% total cannabinoids [from Baby Jeeter]

"Blue Poison" indoor-grown ground Sativa flower infused with solventless cannabis oil [45.1% THC, 47.8% total cannabinoids]

"Pineapple Express" hybrid indoor cannabis-infused 51.17% THC prerolls, live resin-infused, kief-coated, and terp-enhanced. Five prerolls in a glass jar from Stiiizy. Each pre-roll weighs .5 gram.

"Mericanna" hybrid [small joint] "16.79% THC" [2018]

"Pacific Remedy Shatter joint, hand-rolled in California" "Blue Russian flower, Kosher Kush, BHO Snake" "Indica-dominant" [2017]

"Heshies" brand pre-rolls "Selfies" [small joints] [2019]

"Sour Diesel X Sherbet" [Hybrid pre-roll. 19.97% THC.] [2019] [From Pacific Sunset.]

"Sublime King Fuzzies", pre-roll terpene-enhanced "top shelf bud, CO2 wax/kief", "Indica OG Kush" "THC 253 mg". [2017]

"Watermelon" ["Fuzzies" infused pre-roll, 54.72% THC]

"Trix Bubble" [concentrate]

"Fire Walker" [Raw Garden brand .5 gram pre-roll infused with "Crushed Diamonds" from fresh frozen whole flower. 42.4%

cannabinoids]

ZAZA flower pre-rolls [65% THC, .84% CBD "infused with dual refined distillate, rolled in golden kief"]

"Shiva Crystals" [hashish]

"Pineapple Fruz" [52.56% THC] "Diamond-infused select flowers" in a glass jar containing 2.5 grams of flowers, plus one gram "diamond". [Pineapple Fruz flowers are totally covered with THC "diamond" that looks like dense confectioner's powdered sugar.]

Bombed Buzz [36.46% THC, 36.30% total cannabinoids] ["ingredients: cannabis flwers, THCa, terpene blend"] The packaging features a colorful and vivid cartoon of a bee wearing aviator goggles, smoking a joint while kicked-back on a red bomb falling through the clouds, with these words: "Our mission is to achieve federal legalization for veterans. Your purchase helps fund our lobbying efforts to pressure Congress and the White House to make it happen ASAP. Thank YOU for YOUR support. Let's Roll!" [From the "American Weed Company"]

"Biscotti" [Indica] [Half gram THC pods, for vaping.] [88.24% THC.] [2019] [From STIIIZY. Made by Ironworks Collective.]

"Juicy Melon" [Half gram pods, for vaping.] [41.05% THC, 1:1 CBD] [2020] [From STIIIZY] "This product can expose you to chemicals including Beta-myrcene, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."

"Sky Diver" ["Refined raw resin. 84.68% THC .29% CBD" ["Indica hybrid" cartridge made by "Raw Garden" "100% fresh frozen whole flower terpenes and cannabis oil" 2019]

Jack Herer brand 1 ml cannabis oil cartridge 83.98% THC, .16% CBD, 89.49% total cannabinoids

"Yogi Berries"["Refined raw resin. 81.99% THC."] ["Indica hybrid" cartridge made by "Raw Garden" 2019]

"Skydoggie" ["Refined raw resin. 83.33% THC 0.2% CBD"] ["Indica" cartridge made by "Raw Garden" 2019]

"Chemberry" ["Refined raw resin. 81.65% THC .35% CBD"] ["Indica" cartridge made by "Raw Garden" 2019]

"Chem Walker" ["Refined raw resin. 81.82% THC" ["Indica hybrid" cartridge made by "Raw Garden" 2019]

"Lemon Haze" [Distilled CO2 extract.] ["90.63% THC 1.64% CBD".] [Made by "Clear Day". 2019]

"Mendo Breath" [CO2- extracted cannabis oil. 78.2% THC.] [From by Marley Natural.] [2019]

"Mango Kush" [Cannabinoid extract plus terpene blend cartridge] [2019] [Made by "Pure Extracts".]

"Select" brand "Mimosa" "cannabis oil vape cartridge" [125 doses per cartridge] 3.5 mg THC per dose. [from the "Select" brand label: "Curating the Science of Feeling" [2018]

Cali Gold H20 [extracted cannabis resin]

"Emerald Dream" ["Single Origin"] [Trinity County, CA] [58% THC] cannabis oil extracted with CO2 [cartridge for use with "Highlighter" vapor pen]

Garlic Cookies [Raw Zen solvent-less cannabis extract. 72.45% THC. One gram in a small glass jar.] [2019]

"Chemdawg" ["terpene rich distillate" by Bakked. 81% THC. 1.14% CBD.]

"XJ-13" [distillate. 88.08% THC. ]

"Granddaddy Purple" ["Flavored Cannabis Extract" cartridge, for vaping, by "Naked Extracts"] ["Indica] ["Ingredients: Cannabis Extract, Non-Cannabis Terpene Blend, Natural Flavors"] [2019]

"Granddaddy Purple" "cured resin" [79.6% THC, 82.1% total cannabinoids]

"Green Crack" [distillate. 88.13% THC.]

[Concentrates:

Banana Kush 95.25% THC

Banana OG 79% THC

Skywalker OG 91.62% THC

Alien OG 87.76% THC

Sour Cookies 89.53% THC

King Louis XIII 85.85% THC

King Louis XIII 90.76% THC

King Louis XIII 92.28% THC

Blue Valley 77.54% THC, .23% CBD

Acapulco Gold 87% THC, .18% CBD, 92% total active cannabinoids

Lemon Tree 90% THC

OG Kush 91.68% THC

Purple Punch 91.7% THC

Super Silver Haze 79.46% THC [live resin]

Electric Blue 78.69% THC [live resin]

Dutch Treat Haze 84% THC, .20% CBD

Blackberry Kush 82.4% THC

SFV OG (San Fernando Valley OG) 78% THC

Crunch Berries Crumble 88.96% THC, 89.09% total cannabinoids

Apple Jack 88% THC

Strawberry Shortcake 91% THC

Dream Queen 87% THC

Star Chaser 89.42% THC

Berry Blast 88.13% THC

Jack Herer 90.83% THC

Blackberry Diesel 91.1% THC

Beach Party 2 83.07% THC

God's Gift 90.8% THC

Mango Dream 86% THC

Strawnana 92.25% THC

Stawberry Shortcake 91% THC

Melonade 91% THC

Incredible Hulk [Green Crack x Jack Herer] 88.93% THC

Strawberry Cough 85.47% THC

Mendo Clouds 83.77% THC

Golden Kiwi 82.84% THC

Do-Si-Dos 91.35% THC

Cookies 84% THC

Blue Beary 83.91% THC

Birthday Cake 83.15% THC

Birthday Cake 87.72% THC

Watermelon Z 71.45% THC

Watermelon OG 91% THC

Cannis Major x Milky Way 65.6% THC, 67.9% total cannabinoids

Double Platinum Cookies 73.27% THC

Gorilla Cookies 77.65% THC

Orange Cookies #12 83.89% THC

Yoda OG 90.43% THC

Blueberry Cookies 85.0% THC

Grapefruit Romulan 92.2% THC

Limeade 83.20% THC

Premium Jack 90.5% THC

Dosi Lemonade 81.62% THC

White Fire 93% THC

Fruity Pebble OG 92.0% THC

Slurmberry 82.71% THC

Pineapple Express 92.82% THC

Georgia Peach 90.63% THC, .23% CBD

"Raw Garden" brand "Forbidden Fruit" "liquified diamonds and botanical terpenes" [87.98% THC, 92.81 total cannabinoids] ***Ocean Beach .5 gram "dry flower" vape cartridge from Cookies (November 2021): 35.3% delta-9 THC, 59.3% total THC, THCA 27.3%. Total terpenes: 7.53%, 1.8% Limonene, 1.08% Linalool, 1.54% Betacaryophyllene***

"hybrid cannabis" from Space Monkey Meds.

Chemdawg + Gelato "Sativa cannabis flowers" distributed in 2019 by "Papa's Herb", 3.5 grams in a lightproof ziplock bag.

  

"Green Crack" cannabis flowers bought at High Fidelity, a marijuana store next to Amoeba Music on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, several blocks from the University of California campus. "Grown by: Blue Nose. Harvested: 10.18. 2018. THC: 16.42%." High Fidelity motto: "Your supreme source for herbal inspiration and higher education."

(After smoking this marijuana, I ate a bag of HIPPEAS brand Bohemian Barbecue Flavor organic chickpea puffs. "Store in a dry and, like, totally cool place.")

 

("UC Berkeley synthetic biologists have engineered brewer's yeast to produce marijuana's main ingredients--mind-altering THC and non-psychoactive CBD--as well as novel cannabinoids not found in the plant itself. Feeding only on sugar, the yeast are an easy and cheap way to produce pure cannabinoids that today are costly to extract from the buds of the marijuana plant..."

 

---Robert Sanders, "Yeast Produce Low-Cost High-Quality Cannabinoids", news.berkeley.edu, 2.27. 2019).

  

"THC-Indica" transdermal patch 18.4 mg THC per patch. By Mary's Medicinals. [Made: 2.4. 2019. Expires: 2.4. 2021.] I have also tried the CBD version.

 

"Releaf Patch" Transdermal patch by Papa & Barkley. "18.56 mg THC plus 18.61 mg CBD" Mfg. date: 7.15. 2019 Best by date: 8.5. 2020

 

Oh, Yes! [cannabis extract + aloe vera] [for vaginal use] [from Quim]

  

[A few times I have gone for months without smoking marijuana, and then smoked a potent joint. On more than one such occasion I have experienced intense fearful disorientation, acute paranoia, and horrible physical distress including nausea and a sudden loss of consciousness. CAUTION IS ESSENTIAL!]

  

I have eaten a variety of cannabis preparations sold at marijuana stores in Berkeley, including:

 

"Emerald Bay Extracts" ["a women owned company"] brand 25 mg THC tablets. [Each of these tablets is said to contain 25 mg of THC from RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a very potent strain of Cannabis Indica called "Afgoo". (The strain is so-named because it is very resinous and is genetically related to marijuana from Afghanistan.) RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil is named for a Canadian, Rick Simpson, who claimed in 2003 that "full spectrum" marijuana oil can cure a variety of ailments. RSO is VERY easily made by soaking dried and cured marijuana flowers in ethyl alcohol, then filtering out the flowers by pouring the alcohol/marijuana oil mixture through a coffee filter, then removing the alcohol from the alcohol/marijuana oil mixture by heating, leaving the "full spectrum" marijuana oil in the bottom of the container.

 

"Full spectrum" marijuana oil can be made from any strain of marijuana. I first made "full spectrum" marijuana oil more than 51 years ago. Over the decades I made and smoked quite a bit of it. I remain convinced that "full spectrum" marijuana oil made using pure food-grade ethyl alcohol as a solvent yields a product that gets me higher when I smoke it than any other marijuana oil I have tried that was made by any other method.

 

I never ate any of the "full spectrum" marijuana oil I made because I thought it was too difficult to accurately measure the dosage.

 

I find these easily dividable tablets to be EXTREMELY potent.

 

["Emerald Bay Extracts" also produces 25 mg THC tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a very potent and, to me, very mind-active strain of Cannabis Sativa, "Blue Dream". Also 25 mg THC tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a powerful and, to me, dreamy strain of Cannabis Indica, "Grand Daddy Purple". Also 25 mg THC tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from what to me is a wonderfully sensual strain of Cannabis Sativa, "Super Sour Diesel". Also 25 mg tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a mysterious and exotic strain of Cannabis Sativa known as "Blackberry Sour". Also 25 mg tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a strain of Cannabis Indica, "Ice Cream Cake". Also 25 mg THC tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a (what I often find to be trippy) strain of indica-dominant hybrid cannabis, "Trifi Cookies". Also 25 mg tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a strain of hybrid cannabis, "Banana Kush". Also 25 mg tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a strain of Cannabis Sativa, "Lemon Zest". Also 25 mg tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a thrillingly tasty strain of indica-dominant hybrid cannabis called "Dosilato" that seems to make art come alive. Also 25 mg tablets containing tasty RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a hybrid strain of Cannabis Sativa, "Lemon Cherry Gelato" ("Sunset Sherbet" x "Girl Scout Cookies"). Also 25 mg tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a hybrid strain, "Runtz". The indescribable mental effects I experience after taking "Banana Kush" tablets are INTENSE.]

 

["Emerald Bay Extracts" gave me a free tin of small tablets. The rainbow-colored tin contained 20 tablets made in a variety of colors. Each 5 mg THC tablet contained RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a strain of marijuana called "XXX". "Pride Pack", April 2021.]

 

["Emerald Bay Extracts" also produces stronger 50 mg THC tablets containing RSO "full spectrum" marijuana oil extracted from a fascinatingly dreamy strain of Cannabis Indica, "Biscotti". I was given a free 20-tablet tin of these stronger doses at a cannabis store on 4.20. 2023..."WARNING! SUPER POTENT!"]

 

"Plus" brand vegan "10:1 Calm Mango" gummies, each containing 1 mg THC, 10 mg CBD, and a blend of terpenes. [20 gummies per container]

"Froot" brand orange tangie-flavored cannabis-infused "chews", each containing 10mg of THC. "sativa" [10 "chews" per package]

"Froot" brand blue razz dream-flavored cannabis-infused "chews", each containing 10mg of THC. "hybrid" [10 "chews" per package]

"Pax" brand wild strawberry-flavored cannabis-infused live rosin gummies containing 10mg THC. [10 gummies per package]

"Park Jams" brand coconut-flavored cannabis-infused gummies containing 10 mg THC. [10 gummies per package]

"Kiva" brand peppermint pattie-flavored dark chocolate-coated cannabis-infused "bites" containing 5 mg THC from "solventless cold water hash". [20 "bites" per container]

"Yummi Karma" brand "Wicked Apple Drops". Each bottle contains 30 milliliters of fractionated coconut oil, "whole plant cannabis extract" said to contain 1000 mg THC, flavors and sweetener. Each one milliliter dose is said to contain 32.89 mg THC, .08 mg CBD, .89 mg CBG, and .42 mg CBC. [San Francisco bay area in California, 2022]

"Uncle Arnie's" brand "Blueberry Night Cap" cannabis-infused beverage. Each 59 ml bottle contains cannabis oil containing 100 mg THC and 25 mg CBN.

"High Power" brand "Watermelon "cannabis-infused THC tincture", 250 mg THC per bottle.

"Korova" brand "Cannabis-Infused Tincture", said to contain 1000 milligrams of [what I experience as VERY POTENT] "THC distillate" per bottle. With "Midnight Guava" flavoring, water, etc. ["DRINK ME. MIX ME. MICRODOSE. MACRODOSE."]

"Butter Brothers" brand Brownies, Phat Mints, Blackberry Streusel, Ginger Snaps, Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Peanut Butter Cookies.

"Absolute Extracts" brand Sleepy Time blueberry lavender cannabis-infused gummies containing "Ice Water Cannabis Extract, CBN, terpenes", etc. [5 mg THC plus 2.5 mg CBN per gummy] [2023]

"Dr. Norm's" brand SleepWell gummies containing "nanotized THC, nanotized CBN & long acting THC" [10 mg nano THC blend, 5 mg nano CBN, and 1 mg CBD per gummy] [2023]

"Chill" brand chocolate bar with finely crushed espresso coffee beans and 100 mg THC.

"Pura Vida" brand Ocean Spray, Happy Trails, Chocolate Jubilee, and Chocolate Chip Protein Bar.

"Ganja Candy" brand Caramel, Blackberry, and Dr. Pepper.

"Tainted" brand Thin Mints

"Dank" candy

"420 Grand" candy

HealTHCare "Private Reserve OG" [cannabis tincture in vegetable glycerin base]

"Double-Strength Medi Pills" [cannabis oil capsules]

"Shiva Candy" [hashish candy]

"Auntie Dolore's Medical Cannabis Glazed Pecans"

"Hashey's 200 mg Indica Bar" [made with dark chocolate In Santa Cruz]

"Rhino Pellet" [tiny cookie]

"Potlava" [vegan cannabis baklava]

"Enjoyable Edibles" brand cannabis-infused Snickerdoodle cookies. ["10.8 mg THC" per cookie. Each package contains 10 cookies. Made with "full-spectrum cannabis extract" by Ironworks Collective. 2019]

"Habit" brand "Sparkling Pineapple Cooler". 10 doses of THC in each 12.6 fl. oz. bottle. Made in Los Angeles by Canna Healthcare, Inc.

"Orange Zest Awakening Mints" [sublingual 10 mg THC tablets]

"Drivn" brand watermelon-flavored cannabis-infused gummies, 10 mg THC per gummy.

"Breez" brand mints [sublingual 5 mg THC tablets]

"Kiva" brand Blackberry Dark Chocolate [cannabis oil candy]

"Black Cherry Gummi" [cannabis oil candy]

"Wyld" brand Elderberry gummies [10 mg THC and 5 mg CBN per piece] For sleeping. "It's a little like watching sheep count you."

"Absolute Extracts" brand Blueberry Lavender gummies [5 mg THC and 2 mg CBN per piece] For sleeping.

"Original PLUS Super Potent Hybrid Cannabis-Infused Gummies" ["20 mg THC"]

"PureCure Sativa Strips" [preparation for oral use] [from the label: "EXTREMELY STRONG!"]

"Dr. Norm's Extra Strength medical cannabis cookie" "Chocolate Chip Therapy" 25 mg THC per cookie. hybrid.

"Full Extract Cannabis Oil" [Indica-dominant strain, for oral use. Full-plant extracted with ethyl alcohol. Dated 12.1. 2015 and provided in a 3 milliliter oral syringe marked for 0.1 milliliter doses. "THC 37.05%"]

"Stokes" brand "Mint Micros" [Sativa-strain] [small tablets, each containing 5 mg of cannabis extract] [I have used 2 different flavors: Mint and Watermelon]

OMedibles brand "Tree Hugger Medical Cannabis Cinnamon Maple" [high CBD extract mixed with nuts and spices]

Utopia Farms brand "Medical Cannabis Raspberry Macaroons"

"Cafe Attitude THCoffee" 40 mg THC per 8 oz. bottle ["70% Sativa, 30% Indica"]

 

"Evil Aunt Emily's Seriously Psychotic Suckers" [cannabis oil candy] ["79 mg cannabis oil" per sucker])

 

("'Remember when Abigail got her prescription for medical marijuana and we all went to the top of Doheny and sucked on those marijuana lollipops and watched the sun set?'

 

'That was a perfect day', Cheryl says definitely."

 

---A.M. Homes, portraying some young people in Los Angeles in a short story in her book DAYS OF AWE.)

 

"Sprig" brand citrus soda containing 45 mg THC per can. Made in California. [2017]

Petra "Moroccan mint"-flavored medical cannabis tablets, each containing 2.5 mg THC plus matcha tea. Produced in 2017 by Kiva, a not-for-profit collective. Lab tested by CW Analytical. "A micro-dosed blend." Packaged in tins containing 42 tablets.

 

Kiva "Lost Farm" cannabis-infused fruit chews, 10mg THC from "live resin" per piece. These fruit chews are strain-specific. My favorite so far is BLUEBERRY.

 

["CW uses its best efforts to deliver high-quality results and to verify that the data contained therein are based on sound scientific judgement. However, CW makes no warranties or claims to that effect and further shall not be liable for any damage or misrepresentation that may result from the use or misuse of this data in any way."

 

---from a disclaimer issued by CW Analytical. (found outside of a warehouse in Berkeley in 2019.)]

  

"KushyPunch" brand plum flavor Cannabis Indica gummies. Each gummy contains 10 mg THC + 0.1 mg CBD + 0.8 gm sugar. "Feel the power of the punch"

"Korova" brand Peanut Butter Dip cookie, containing 100 mg THC.

"OmEdibles" brand Sour Apple flavor cannabis gummies. Each gummy contains 10 mg THC. Distributed in plastic boxes containing 6 gummies each.

"OmEdibles" brand Lychee Blossom flavor cannabis gummies, packaged the same as the above.

"CuriouslyCannabis" brand "Rayne Drops" berry, orange, and lemon flavor cannabis pastilles. Each pastille contains 5 mg THC. Distributed in tins containing 20 pastilles each.

"Emerald Sky" brand Alpine Strawberry cannabis-infused licorice. 10 mg THC per piece [Cannabis Sativa]. 10 pieces per container.

"Emerald Sky" brand Creme Filled Chocolate cannabis infused cookies. 10 mg THC per cookie [hybrid cannabis]. 10 cookies per box.

Kanha "Enhanced Nanomolecular Gummies" made from hybrid cannabis 10 mg THC in each "Blueberry Blast"-flavored dose. 2019.

"Cannabis-Infused" organic microwave popcorn, 44.5 gram pop-up bag containing 10 mg THC and less than 2 mg CBD. Made in Berkeley in 2019 by "Type 7 Manufacturing, Inc". "Movie Night's New Best Friend".

"Somatik" brand "Sparks" cannabis-infused chocolate coffee beans. 3 mg THC per bean. 25 beans per container. '"Lovingly made by A Tribe of Us Collective". "Turn Your Magic On".

"Smokiez Edibles" brand Cannabis Infused Watermelon Fruit Chews. 10 mg THC per piece.

"Smokiez Edibles" brand Cannabis Infused Peach Fruit Chews. 10 mg THC per piece.

"Smokiez Edibles" brand Cannabis Infused Green Apple Fruit Chews. 10 mg THC per piece.

Kaneh Co. brand Mango Chile fruit jellies. 5 mg THC per serving. Manufactured by Xtracta.

Distribution, Inc. Made and packaged 3.6. 2019. Best by 7.6. 2019. Tested 3.15. 2019 by Infinite Chemical Analysis.

Kaneh Co. brand Raspbery Lime fruit jellies. 5 mg THC per serving.

"Edible Cannabis Oil" batch 030119-MUT-5-01 [4.30. 2019] by CalVape Collective.

"Chew & Chill" Blueberry Dream + Sky Og Indica "LIVE RESIN" gummies, 10 mg THC per gummy

"MC Farma" brand "Full Spectrum Oil" capsules "THC 90 + THCV" ["THC 80.11 mg + CBD 20.35 mg + THCV 29.09 mg + CBG 2.98 mg" per capsule. Cannabinoids, lipids, fats, and terpenes remain in full spectrum extraction, which "enhances efficacy and is known as the 'entourage' effect." Each package contains 10 capsules. Manufactured in 2020 in Marin County, California.

Also: "MC Farma" brand "Full Spectrum Oil" capsules "THC 60" [" THC 62.86 mg + CBD .38 mg + THCV 2.92 mg +CBN 1.66 mg + CBG 3.63 mg" per capsule.]

Glowing Buddha brand grape flavor cannabis candy, 10 mg THC per piece. Made in Santa Rosa, California. 2020

 

[It is not uncommon for people to have EXTREMELY negative experiences after they have eaten too much of a product containing cannabis. CAUTION IS ESSENTIAL!])

  

(The cannabinoid cannabidiol [CBD], along with the cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol [THC], is produced by many marijuana [cannabis] plants. Bottled water containing CBD is currently [2021] being sold over-the-counter ["AN EXTREMELY EXTREME VALUE"] at my local grocery store, where it apparently is frequently purchased by schoolkids. [From the "CBD Living Water" label: "Consult your physician before use if you are pregnant, lactating, have a medical condition or are taking any medication. CANNABIDIOL USE MAY BE HARMFUL. KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN. These staements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease."] Last night I saw an ad for "Harrelson's Own CBD" on national TV: "When Life Gets Crazy...It Just Makes Everything About My Day Better")

  

("...the dudebros continue to pile into pot. Perhaps their worst public showing was when a bunch of them traversed the convention floor during MJ Bizcon wearing t-shirts that read 'Buy Weed From Rich White Men'. This was supposedly a response to the Buy Weed From Women movement, which has popular t-shirts of its own."

 

---Dan Mitchell, in his article "Low Times-2022: the year of stunts and desperation", East Bay Express, 12.28. 2022.)

  

("...marijuana is not legal."

 

---Ed Rosenthal, interviewed by Paul Kilduff, The Monthly, December 2014.)

  

("Indeed, positive hits for pathogenic mold are already changing grower operations. 'You smoke ten random samples of cannabis and you've most likely smoked aspergillus [mold],' said Dave, one of the lab's two founders. 'It's in there, often at unacceptable levels. Now it's up to the industry to respond. We also are not in a position where we want to make enemies and piss people off. We want to see it happen in the best way for the movement and the industry to kind of just naturally evolve.'

While the distributed nature of California's cannabis supply network obviously benefits mom-and-pop growers, it doesn't encourage quality assurance. Consequently, Dave and his peers believe that some pot consumers are in danger.

'It's expensive to test every single thing that comes through the door — that's the price you pay with a decentralized supply system,' Dave said. 'But that's what you've got. You've got five pounds coming from here and two from there and one individual. I mean, a dog walks in the grow room, and wags its tail — anything can be coming off that dog's tail. It's gross. Fertilizers with E. coli. Compost teas that they don't make right, anaerobic tea that has elevated levels of E. coli and salmonella...There's no way that this is sustainable. All it takes is one story of immune-compromised people dying from aspergillus infection. The myth that cannabis hasn't killed a single person in 3,000 years is allowed to go on. Well, it's not cannabis that kills people, it's all the shit that's in it.'

 

[From "The Manhattan Project of Marijuana", David Downs, the East Bay Express, 3.4. 2009.])

  

(Steep Hill Lab says eighty-five percent of the medical marijuana samples it tests "show traces of mold".

 

---Peter Hecht, "Pot Lab Fills Need for Oversight", the Sacramento Bee, 4.6. 2010. The owners of Steep Hill Lab in Oakland California [which is NOT a federally-certified laboratory] are extremely in favor of medical marijuana...)

  

("We find e.coli in hash. We're seeing pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria that's found in filth."

 

---Robert Martin, of the Association of California Cannabis Labs. Martin was quoted by David Downs in the East Bay Express, 4.11. 2012.)

  

("It's a nasty little secret in the medical marijuana world that many growers spray their plants liberally with pesticides..."

 

---Robert Gammon, the East Bay Express, 7.28. 2010.)

  

(In places like Berkeley in 2018, where cannabis production is encouraged, much cannabis waste is generated. Some of the waste is toxic if consumed. Moldy marijuana, marijuana contaminated with chemicals, contaminated hashish, and contaminated cannabis concentrates do not seem to be rare. Some homeless people, alcohol addicts, and methamphetamine addicts find these sometimes poisonous contaminated cannabis products in garbage containers and sell them on the streets...)

  

("A 2015 study published in The Journal of Toxicological Sciences found that more than 80 percent of the concentrate samples were contaminated by residual solvents."

 

"In the same 2015 study, pesticides were detected in one-third of the concentrate samples."

 

---Kathleen Richards, The East Bay Express, 3.21. 2018, in an article about vaping cannabis.)

  

("...the true danger in untested cannabis comes from the potential pathogens--pseudomonas, aspergillis, and E. coli are routinely found by our laboratory [CW Analytical]."

 

---David Egerton, in a letter to the editor of the East Bay Express, 7.18. 2012.)

  

("...Anresco Laboratories conducted tests on all of the cannabis featured at the HempCon Festival held in San Francisco in August 2017. The San Francisco-based laboratory discovered that 80 percent of the cannabis at the festival was contaminated with unhealthy levels of solvents, pesticides, molds, fungus, or various bacteria."

 

---John Geluardi, East Bay Express, 9.20. 2017.)

  

(Over the decades, I have seen MANY careless and ignorant people with hands contaminated by perfume, cologne, cosmetics, grease, oils [and a number of other toxic substances] use their fingers to prepare marijuana for smoking. I am dismayed by the amount of marijuana I have had to throw away because of toxic substances that stupid and/or careless people have allowed marijuana to come into contact with!)

  

("Illegal Vapes are Killing People. Blame the 'Legal Market'"

 

---title of an article by Dan Mitchell, 9.11. 2019, East Bay Express. This San Francisco bay area newspaper is extremely pro-marijuana.

 

"Legal cannabis has created a market for manufactured products like vapes and gummies. If not for that legal market, there would likely be far fewer pirates out there making what look like legal vapes--complete with legit-looking packaging--but were actually made half-assedly by random cretins. When it comes to vapes, half-assed production can mean illness and death."

 

There is a full color ad for the Magnolia dispensary in Oakland on the same page as the article. "Dab Bar and Vape Lounge Open 7 Days 9AM--9PM".)

  

("People like to make poison. If you don't understand this, you will never understand anything."

 

---Margaret Atwood, in a short story, quoted by Jia Tolentino in her review of Atwood's 2019 novel THE TESTAMENTS, a sequel to THE HANDMAID'S TALE. The review was in the 9.16. 2019 issue of The New Yorker.)

  

("Mycobutanil...was found in a product recently recalled by Mettrum Ltd., a Toronto-based medical marijuana company."

 

Mycobutanil, used to control mildew, is said to emit hydrogen cyanide gas when heated.

 

"The Mettrum discovery was made recently, when a random screening of the company's products by Health Canada turned up the unauthorized use of pyrethrin, a pesticide...that is also not approved for medical cannabis..."

 

---Grant Robertson, The Globe and Mail, 3.10. 2017.)

  

("While I am grateful for access to the pot clubs...I am at a bit of a loss to understand why, given the virtual absence of risk in producing and distributing pot, it is still so expensive."

 

"What we have...are facilities charging the high end of street prices to people who are already ostensibly facing hardship."

 

["An ounce for $300 to $400..."]

 

"...besides basic capitalist greed, why does it still cost so much? Most of the truly disabled and terminally ill are on a fixed income, rendering the cost of pot not at all that compassionate."

 

--- Quotes from a letter written by Steve Stevens to the editor of the San Francisco Weekly, 1.20. 2010.)

  

("...in the Wild West of recreational marijuana consumption roamed by pandemic-stressed adults."

 

---Valeriya Safronova, The New York Times, 5.23. 2021. Article title: "Big Candy Is Angry". Some cannabis companies make drug-infused candy that is packaged to look similar to popular brand-name mainstream candy.)

  

("Each one-gram of flower is packaged in a wine bottle-shaped tin, topped with a version of Coppola's signature label and an embossed pot leaf. Each tin will retail for $99 and comes with a branded pipe and rolling papers."

 

---Katie Shapiro, Forbes.com, 11.2. 2018, describing marijuana grown in California's Humboldt County that will be sold by Francis Ford Coppola, who directed the 1972 film The Godfather.)

  

("According to Rand Corporation estimates...legalized...high-grade pot would cost just $20 per pound to produce. And low-grade weed would cost only $5 per pound."

 

---David Downs, East Bay Express, 10.9. 2013.)

  

(Since May 2011, four marijuana stores in Richmond, California [near Berkeley and Oakland] "...have paid $486,390 in police fees."

 

"To some, the situation evokes...the protection racket."

 

---David Downs, East Bay Express, 8.28. 2013)

  

(Daniel Rush, the former chair of Berkeley's Medical Cannabis Commission, was charged with 15 criminal counts, including extortion, fraud, and money-laundering. He later pleaded guilty to three felony counts.

 

["...federal authorities charged him for offering special treatment to one of the applicants for Berkeley's fourth dispensary spot."

 

---Frances Dinkelspiel, Berkeleyside, 6.23. 2017.])

   

A milk bottle collar (for wrapping around the top of a bottle) that served both as a humorous reminder to return empty bottles and as an order form to ask the milkman to deliver specific items (back when dairies used to make regular home deliveries).

 

"Help keep down the cost of your milk by returning your empty bottles. Every unreturned bottle adds to the cost of delivering milk to your door. If you have any empties around your kitchen or basement, please return them."

 

"Lady, please send me home. Empty."

 

"Handy Order Blank. Place over return bottle. Please leave: ________. Name: ________. Address: ________."

 

For an enlargement of the middle panel with the cartoonish milk bottle, see Lady, Please Send Me Home!

 

Originally posted on Ipernity: Milk Bottle Collar: Reminder and Order Form.

This visualization uses specific colors to describe which areas on the sun cooled or heated over a 12-hour period. The use of reds and yellows imply that higher temperatures dominated earlier in the time period, while lower temperatures dominated later, meaning that the area showed steady cooling over time, but any heating happened too quickly and impulsively to be measured. The image compares wavelength 211 (which shows material in the 2 million K range) to wavelength 171 (which shows material about ten times cooler).

 

Credit: NASA/Viall

 

To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/colorful-science...

 

NASA image use policy.

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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Site-specific pieces made of building materials by Amir Harrari after visiting the Wave Hill site and researching its history and architecture.

www.wavehill.org/arts/artists/amir-hariri/

 

Sunroom Space at Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill, Riverdale, the Bronx, NYC -- July 13, 2019

 

Specific Perfection ENB www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62978/?

 

Custom FOV

Another China-specific sedan coming through. I've seen quite a lot of these.

Our local flea market finally opened for the first time this year on Sunday. We were hesitant to venture out and do secondhand shopping, what with all the new safety/health protocols. But to our pleasant surprise, the atmosphere at the flea market was the same as usual, just with specific rules set in place. Anyways, this Sunday proved to be prosperous for Colleen. She found not one, but three Skipper dolls! One of the regular sellers we've bought many boxed dolls from over the years had two Babysitters Inc Skipper dolls. Colleen has been stalking this line since she first learned of its existence. Weirdly, the standard slim box girl dolls aren't sold at our local Walmart. So this was a rare opportunity for her to get her hands on these gals. They were comparable to a store's clearance price. She named the blonde Skipper (with the outfit she prefers) Callie, and the black haired doll Marisol (who is the prettier of the pair).

 

Another one of our favorite sellers was set up on Sunday--the elderly couple we get many Monster High dolls from. This week they had this delightful Fashion Party Skipper. She was the last doll from the set Colleen had needed. Growing up, Colleen found Nikki and Courtney. Weirdly, Skipper was the hardest to find from the line. We only saw her once previously in 2011, in bad condition for a high price. Ironically, Colleen had just been talking about this doll and how much she wanted her. It was as if it was destiny when Skipper showed up at the regular seller's table in part of her outfit! I also unintentionally bought a second Spring Unsprung Briar. I was sure that I already had this doll, but her missing outfit pieces had me confused. In the heat of the moment, due to my nerves and Colleen's urging that we didn't have this doll, I bought her. Once in the Jeep, I realized she was definitely a duplicate. That was fine though, since this is one of my fave Ever After High dolls ever produced!

 

The Kid Kore Winter Wonderland Sisters At Home set was actually a Mercari purchase. I was actually perusing the internet for Kid Kore research, when I spotted this deal that was too good to be true. Most of the time these sets are $30 plus, and for their quality it's not generally worth it. Growing up, Colleen and I had a similar pack that we got circa 2001. Sadly, we got rid of all the dolls and only have scraps of their clothes. This set is even more darling than our childhood one. And be assured that we will treasure these ladies even more than our first ones!

 

Video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrU-KpFKyqI

 

Dolls in photo from left to right:

-Winter Wonderland Sisters At Home Jodi, Katie, Kelsey (by Kid Kore)

-2018 Babysitters Inc. Skipper

-2018 Babysitters Inc Skipper friend

 

Front row:

-2000 Fashion Party Skipper

-2014 Spring Unsprung Briar