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Probably the most interesting feature of this store is its yogurt counter. No, not frozen yogurt, just regular greek yogurt. Yes, it's weird. Here's a writeup about the company, which is apparently kind of a big deal locally (though I had only barely heard of it before this... I'm not exactly a foodie, and I try to stay several blocks away from Pike Place Market, especially during the summer :) ).
May 18, 2021: This morning, I worked on another Pep Ventosa image. Various website writeups of the Pep Ventosa Technique recommend starting with a simple subject - a tree. So this morning, I found this tree with new green growth at Stagecoach Inn Park in Newbury Park. I took a series of images covering 180 degrees of the tree, keeping the trunk in the exact location. I used eleven of the images to make this version.
Richard sent me these very cool techniques along with a great writeup on his blog. Details are now on Swooshable: #1 and #2.
I stand corrected on the physical explanation of the sunset angel. The key term here is "cloud shadowing"; Google with this, and you will find the best writeups on the phenomenon, including Phil Plait's excellent blog posting on Slate. When the sun is behind a cloud, a shadow is cast, but the irregularities of a cloud contour allows for random beams of light to poke through. These beams are essentially parallel, but from far away, they look like they are radiating from the sun. That is just perspective at work. We will see an angel on the opposite horizon when the clould is close by at about the same level as us with plenty of blue sky around the cloud as it blocks the sun. Then the beams shoot past us and appear to converge on a vanishing point on the opposite horizon. This is of course fainter than the rays seen when facing the sun. Anyway, a sunset angel should be rare; the necessary conditions probably occur only a couple times in a decade. It requires a high place like Haleakala along with a higher altitude cloud like cumulonimbus in just the right place and of the right size and shape and air filled for many miles with water droplets or volcanic aerosols to make beams visible. This is still much more likely than a camera obscura event. See actual CLOUD blocking sun
Vehicle mode of Delorean Time Machine
For more photos and writeups on this LEGO creation:
alanyuppie.blogspot.com/2018/04/lego-transformer-delorean...
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Strobist: Elinchrom Quadra HS Head in a large octa, boomed overhead, f/5.6. 2 silver reflectors on side, one on the floor. Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 500 in the ELinchrom "Bishop's Hat" background reflector, seasoned to taste.
Skyport triggering.
PP in LR/PS.
Writeup on kidona.com.
© Donald J. Fadel, Jr. | kidona.com
Sasha is a beautiful cat "with her own viewpoints and opinions. She can be quite friendly and enjoys chin scratches -- on her own terms, of course!. She's active and would love her own human companion to share playtime with." (says the shelter writeup.) As of about 6 November 2015, she was at Purrington's... not sure if she went back to the shelter but she was adopted on 27 November 2015, when thanks to "black (cat) friday" all adoption fees for all cats and kittens were covered by Best Friends and Zappos.com!
This photo shows the Sherwood main shelter adoption area from inside one of the free-roam rooms. You can see a cat-quarium and the wall of cages that goes around the central care area.
Pointblank from G1 Transformers cartoon series, turns into a futuristic speedster. Transformation doesn't require reassembly of parts.
I am taking inspiration from both his original toy version from the 80s and also some design cues from his cartoon/comic version.
For more photos and writeups of this LEGO creation, do pay a visit to my blog link below ! Thank you!
alanyuppie.blogspot.com/2018/05/lego-former-targetmaster-...
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Strobist: Elinchrom Quadra HS Head in a large octa, boomed overhead, f/4. 2 silver reflectors on side, one on the floor. Skyport triggering.
PP in LR/PS.
Writeup on kidona.com.
© Donald J. Fadel, Jr. | kidona.com
For more photos and writeups on this LEGO creation:
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Vehicle mode of Delorean Time Machine
For more photos and writeups on this LEGO creation:
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I built this for the Jaeger vs. Kaiju building challenge over on Brick Mecha Division. Here's the lore writeup I made for it there:
The next generation of technology in the fight against the Kaiju, EUXO was designed to mirror a human's anatomy without using any organic material. The result is an incredibly complex synthetic organism that - by linking with the pilot's brain - functions as their surrogate body. This allows for reaction times and awareness unheard of in previous generation Jaegers.
For standard armaments, EUXO carries a medium-range AP rifle for piercing Kajiu hide and an "Ahlspiess" Anti-Kaiju spear. The Ahlspiess is designed to be stabbed into the enemy beast, whereupon its two prongs forcefully open and it emits a large energy blast to the Kaiju's internals.
The EUXO can also utilize optional Type-B equipment. This functions as extra armor and includes a number of stabilizers for extra maneuverability during air drops.
So yeah, obvious Evangelion inspiration here. I originally just wanted to add some optional shoulder parts containing ammo/missiles but that eventually grew into a full armor set. Note that the waist armor also includes extra braces for the hip joints so the whole thing doesn't topple under the added weight.
Pointblank from G1 Transformers cartoon series, turns into a futuristic speedster. Transformation doesn't require reassembly of parts.
I am taking inspiration from both his original toy version from the 80s and also some design cues from his cartoon/comic version.
For more photos and writeups of this LEGO creation, do pay a visit to my blog link below ! Thank you!
alanyuppie.blogspot.com/2018/05/lego-former-targetmaster-...
Follow me in FB!
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Not super happy about the lighting on this one, but I'm tired. Better version tomorrow, maybe.
Taken at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.
Check out all of my Species a Day writeups here.
I stopped by the Camera Company today with a simple question, which is really no matter to this stranger story. Alas, I waited for a few minutes as they were assisting a man with 35mm film. I couldn't help but notice the beautiful camera and lens combination in his hand, and knew that at that instant I wanted to take his photograph. We all chatted for a brief moment on the benefit to the Nikon system being so interchangeable between digital and 35mm. After brief conversation he left, and I was able to ask my question; but I still wanted to capture the man with the magnificent camera!
As luck may have it, I did my usual up and down walk of State Street and when I reached the 100 Block we ran into one another again. This time I was able to make a little more conversation with him, introducing myself as Chris and he informed me that his name was Brent. Quickly learning the ins and outs of his photographic style, he told, me that he prefers film over digital. Though he did admit that shooting so much digital sometimes creates a false reality, as often he finds himself looking at the back of his 35mm SLR to review images. I explained to him my project of shooting the strangers of Madison, and asked if I could include him in the project. As most photographers do, he agreed and posed nicely for me against the glass windows on Overture Center for the Arts. Quickly adjusting my settings, I fired a few frames off; but he told me that I should take a photo of him with his camera to his eye. As often enough that is how his subjects see him, while I tried that I like this more classic pose.
I learned through our conversation that Brent recently made his first ebay purchase, in fact it was a mint Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens. While he didn't specify what version, I've owned a number of Nikkor 50mm an always had good luck with them. He acknowledged that he was a bit leery of the offer as it was being auctioned from Japan (home to Nikon at that) but four quick days later he had his new lens. He stated that it looked as good as new and came in the original box and everything, I hope that we cross paths again someday so I can take a look at the lens. Today he was shooting with a 135mm f2 AI-S lens, a tack sharp of a telephoto (1981-2005).
In parting I gave him a link to my Flickr page, so that he could sort out finding his photograph and story included for the 100 strangers project. He did inform me that I should consider a name change as "local paparazzi" could bring up all sorts of bad results. I assured him that I have a large following, and thus upon searching Google the first result is a link to my photostream. All the more reason to get business cards made out, but that's another step for another day!
063/100
I originally built my previous LEGO Technique as an assembly to deal with the gavel. Then things got crazy. See my writeup at www.dagsbricks.com/2013/11/lego-techniques-bring-down-gav...
And with this Han, this is 53 custom Star Wars Friends in 53 weeks in 2015, completing the Custom Star Wars Friends project. This brings me to over 100 custom Friends in 19 months (including every day in July 2014) and it’s time to finally take a break. A full writeup about my process and the project will be on JustJon.Net next week. And I’ll get to some more of these sporadically in 2016 along with some other projects I have in the pipeline, including my second book.
Crosshair from G1 Transformers Cartoon Series transforms into a futuristic buggy.
For more photos and writeups on this LEGO creations:
alanyuppie.blogspot.com/2018/03/lego-transformer-crosshai...
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I built this for the Jaeger vs. Kaiju building challenge over on Brick Mecha Division. Here's the lore writeup I made for it there:
The next generation of technology in the fight against the Kaiju, EUXO was designed to mirror a human's anatomy without using any organic material. The result is an incredibly complex synthetic organism that - by linking with the pilot's brain - functions as their surrogate body. This allows for reaction times and awareness unheard of in previous generation Jaegers.
For standard armaments, EUXO carries a medium-range AP rifle for piercing Kajiu hide and an "Ahlspiess" Anti-Kaiju spear. The Ahlspiess is designed to be stabbed into the enemy beast, whereupon its two prongs forcefully open and it emits a large energy blast to the Kaiju's internals.
The EUXO can also utilize optional Type-B equipment. This functions as extra armor and includes a number of stabilizers for extra maneuverability during air drops.
So yeah, obvious Evangelion inspiration here. I originally just wanted to add some optional shoulder parts containing ammo/missiles but that eventually grew into a full armor set. Note that the waist armor also includes extra braces for the hip joints so the whole thing doesn't topple under the added weight.
Vehicle mode of Delorean Time Machine
For more photos and writeups on this LEGO creation:
alanyuppie.blogspot.com/2018/04/lego-transformer-delorean...
Follow me in FB!
www.facebook.com/alanyuppiebrick/
..and subscribe my youtube channel!
www.youtube.com/user/alanyuppie
...Instagram, anyone?
A little crazy Mayan flash flavor experience
full writeup on: www.flashflavor.com/2007/11/26/165/for-the-next-time-you-...
I built this for the Jaeger vs. Kaiju building challenge over on Brick Mecha Division. Here's the lore writeup I made for it there:
The next generation of technology in the fight against the Kaiju, EUXO was designed to mirror a human's anatomy without using any organic material. The result is an incredibly complex synthetic organism that - by linking with the pilot's brain - functions as their surrogate body. This allows for reaction times and awareness unheard of in previous generation Jaegers.
For standard armaments, EUXO carries a medium-range AP rifle for piercing Kajiu hide and an "Ahlspiess" Anti-Kaiju spear. The Ahlspiess is designed to be stabbed into the enemy beast, whereupon its two prongs forcefully open and it emits a large energy blast to the Kaiju's internals.
The EUXO can also utilize optional Type-B equipment. This functions as extra armor and includes a number of stabilizers for extra maneuverability during air drops.
So yeah, obvious Evangelion inspiration here. I originally just wanted to add some optional shoulder parts containing ammo/missiles but that eventually grew into a full armor set. Note that the waist armor also includes extra braces for the hip joints so the whole thing doesn't topple under the added weight.
I built this for the Jaeger vs. Kaiju building challenge over on Brick Mecha Division. Here's the lore writeup I made for it there:
The next generation of technology in the fight against the Kaiju, EUXO was designed to mirror a human's anatomy without using any organic material. The result is an incredibly complex synthetic organism that - by linking with the pilot's brain - functions as their surrogate body. This allows for reaction times and awareness unheard of in previous generation Jaegers.
For standard armaments, EUXO carries a medium-range AP rifle for piercing Kajiu hide and an "Ahlspiess" Anti-Kaiju spear. The Ahlspiess is designed to be stabbed into the enemy beast, whereupon its two prongs forcefully open and it emits a large energy blast to the Kaiju's internals.
The EUXO can also utilize optional Type-B equipment. This functions as extra armor and includes a number of stabilizers for extra maneuverability during air drops.
So yeah, obvious Evangelion inspiration here. I originally just wanted to add some optional shoulder parts containing ammo/missiles but that eventually grew into a full armor set. Note that the waist armor also includes extra braces for the hip joints so the whole thing doesn't topple under the added weight.
At the preview for Houston's 2014 Art Car Parade.
Today's Houston Chronicle features a great writeup on the parade, history, etc.:
If you wish to read about the rock sculptures then go here for the writeup about what I made today. If you want to read mad ramblings then stay right here as you'll find plenty... :-)
There is something that my art gives to me that I find quite hard to explain. It gives me little insights into the world and into myself but they happen without me knowing I am looking for them. Often after I create something I learn something that I was not searching for or expected to reveal. I suppose many artists have questions they want to answer and they use their art to search for resolutions. But with mine I regularly find out that there are things being revealed by accident. It is almost like my subconcious mind is opened and things come out that I did not expect nor was looking for. It is only now that I have realised that art allows you to learn about oneself. I only found this out by practicing art and I had no idea that that is the way it would be.
Recently I have been taking a break. I have been reading lots of art history and looking at symbology from around the world to try and open my mind to more wider influences. Doing these things has given me some space to think about my own art and as this new year begins and spring approaches I feel like I have consolidated what I have learnt over the past year and feel that I am ready to begin again and learn much more.
I am trying to peel back a new layer by starting to investigate how the seasons affect me personally. Of course my art reflects the seasons, the colours and materials available are my pallete with which to express but it is starting to become clear to me that the changes in season actually affect me physiologically and this is also expressed through what I make. How exactly, I don't know but I want to learn more about that this year.
I came to this conclusion as I have entered the doldrums on two occasions in the past year, whilst being quite prolific the rest of the time. As summer turned to spring and since the turn of the year I have felt unable to muster any inspiration but as the nights draw back and spring draws nearer I feel the passion returning and I am convinced that this is more than just one-of-those-things and it is tied in with the change of the seasons. After all we are creatures of this world and under its influence just the same as anything else that lives along with us.
Anyway - normal coverage has been resumed. And if you have made it this far, and managed to get through these mid-winter musings then I have something important to share with you.
I am attracted by colours and my art nearly always involves spotting something I like that grabs my attention and then making something with it. Today it was grouse poo.
Well no not really. But there was a lot of it on the fell today and in a world of brown and grey, brightly coloured grouse poo did seem attractive. I noticed that depending on its age the colours changed and I was so very tempted to create a colour fade with it. I am a little worried that I am becoming a little obsessed and when that happens I just have to make whatever is in my mind for fear of going insane. I can envisage a whole series of poo land art with such broad scope for different ideas. And through the study I can learn about what all the different creatures eat and bring a whole new dimension to it through the sense of smell. And before you know it a whole new field of land art will be born. And that field may have cows, sheep or chickens in it. And of course poo...
Now I expect you want to know about these rock stacks? Well they are just stacked bits of rock! There is nothing new to learn here not while there is grouse poo to collect...
shot this photo way back in 2008 and came across it recently. My editing of it was simply terrible and, since it was one of my favorites, I decided to give it new life with a total post processing redo. Came out much better. Here is my writeup from back then.
Venice is a magical place and it is very hard to describe it to someone who hasn't been there. There is a feel to the "city" that is unlike anywhere else I have been. Venice actually lies in a lagoon that is protected from the sea by thin strips of land that have three small inlets. Rather than an island, Venice is actually made up of 124 small islands connected by small bridges. Venice is a favorite destination for tourists who arrive by plane, water taxi and cruise ships. This particular morning, I got up at dawn and wandered out onto the Grand Canal. This is one of the few times you can avoid the crowds of tourists and get some shots without worrying about bumping into someone. I noticed this artist that had the same idea and was painting the scene. As I began to shoot a few photos of the artist, I noticed this large cruise ship being towed down the Grand Canal out to sea by a little tugboat. It was an amazing scene that I never saw coming. I think I enjoy the images that are a result of just dumb luck the best.
1903, Henry Ives Cobb. Cobb was a prominent architect from Chicago; this was his first building in New York. It originally had a 4-column portico surrounding the entrance, topped by an entablature. Interestingly, 100 Broadway, a couple blocks up and built a few years before, originally had a similar structure: Greek Revival columns surmounted by Renaissance Revival relief on the facade. But that building lost its facade decoration in a subsequent reconstruction, whereas this one lost its columns.
For an excellent writeup on this building, as well as a picture of the original facade with columns, see daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/07/henry-ives-cobbs-1....
Portraits Of Seattle #6 Musician FENCES
Click the Link to read my writeup/Andrew Matsons 3 Questions
Richard sent me these very cool techniques along with a great writeup on his blog. Details are now on Swooshable: #1 and #2.
This is a side-project that I've been working on for a while.
Like most people, I have a large collection of digital music, which is awesome, but sometimes I miss the process of physically choosing an album. Also, when you have friends over, it's a little weird to hand them a laptop and say "Pick an album!". When you have thousands of artists to choose from, the paradox of choice kicks in and it's a bit like asking them to pick a 401k plan.
The small vinyl records are Christmas ornaments that I embedded RFID tags into and then pasted their album art that I downloaded from discogs and had printed on quality photo paper at a print shop. The record player is a cardboard box that I put the RFID reader in and then pasted a photo of a record player I found on Flickr.
Full writeup is here.
presenting the next 2x in battery performance with a novel manufacturing process that is 7x more compact.
Templeton's writeup in Forbes.
I built this for the Jaeger vs. Kaiju building challenge over on Brick Mecha Division. Here's the lore writeup I made for it there:
The next generation of technology in the fight against the Kaiju, EUXO was designed to mirror a human's anatomy without using any organic material. The result is an incredibly complex synthetic organism that - by linking with the pilot's brain - functions as their surrogate body. This allows for reaction times and awareness unheard of in previous generation Jaegers.
For standard armaments, EUXO carries a medium-range AP rifle for piercing Kajiu hide and an "Ahlspiess" Anti-Kaiju spear. The Ahlspiess is designed to be stabbed into the enemy beast, whereupon its two prongs forcefully open and it emits a large energy blast to the Kaiju's internals.
The EUXO can also utilize optional Type-B equipment. This functions as extra armor and includes a number of stabilizers for extra maneuverability during air drops.
So yeah, obvious Evangelion inspiration here. I originally just wanted to add some optional shoulder parts containing ammo/missiles but that eventually grew into a full armor set. Note that the waist armor also includes extra braces for the hip joints so the whole thing doesn't topple under the added weight.
My newest pattern is now live on the Knit Picks site! Adva is a wrap crocheted in an angular ripple stitch and finished with tassels at each end. It's worked up in five colors of Knit Picks Swish Worsted at a (somewhat) loose gauge so it's drapey and breathable. I put a little writeup on my blog, and the pattern is on ravelry (but only for sale through Knit Picks) for queuing, faving, etc. Hope you enjoy!
And millions and millions of thanks to Kat who so patiently let me pose her and take 90000 pictures of her wearing a wool wrap on what was kiiiiind of a warm day. :)
(the man whose never taken a "selfie")
As I was out walking with my friend Ryan, I felt that I was in a bit of a rut for finding strangers since my 100 more strangers set was completed. The large amount of tattoos on him, as well a gentle looking face drew me to introduce myself and the project that is the 608 strangers. He agreed and as most people do, I asked him about his many tattoos. The over cliched question arose, when I asked "Which one is your favorite?" He smirked and explained to me that while he has a large amount of ink on his body, most of the tattoos were just done out of being "bored" with fellow artists. Kind of interesting to think that one would cover themselves with such works, and not have something that stands out a "favorite" or at least one with the most behind it.
None the less I learned that Lawrence was a recent transplant to Madison, as he had only been on the isthmus the better part of the last three weeks. With positive energy and a good outlook on the world, he hopes to either open his own shop OR join forces with one of the many local artists in the area. He expressed to me that the hardest part with tattoos is that it's always a learning curve, as every client is different and each has their own style and ideas. As I snapped a few photos from the middle of State Street (keeping my peripherals open for buses) he cracked a smile. As he told me that he's never taken a selfie, lack of self confidence maybe not. He just "never got into that," so with hopes I can share this photo with him someday.
We parted ways and I wished him the best of luck with his search, and maybe someday down the road I'll get ink and he will be the artist. None the less I made a new friend, which is truly what I believe the concept behind 100 strangers is all about. If I hadn't joined the group, I may not have been as adventurous with my writings and style. If your looking for quality portraits of total strangers (or maybe not so much) feel free to check out the group. If your up for a challenge, considering joining the group as it's full of very helpful awesome people!
111/100
The concept of this picture is based off the books/papers “Queering Anarchism,” “Priests of the Goddess: Gender Transgression in Ancient Religion, History of Religions,” “The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival,” and “Trans-Spirit: Religion, Spirituality and Transhumanism.”
“Till heart’s bewitched, till senses reel: With Satan I have struck my deal.” – Karl Marx
Anarchism is another denomination of the religion of Karl Marx. That is why, when all the denominations of Marx gather together to evangelize in protest, they all put forth the same basic tenets of faith. When they unite as one in the spirit of Marx, they all look the same, they all act the same, and they all sound the same. That is why Anarchism looks at the neo-Marxist doctrine of gender/queer theory through a lens of the oppressed vs the oppressor, intersectionality, and collectivism. Indeed, Marxism is a Machiavellian religion.
Gender theory is a communist manual on how to break down the family and societal norms in order to destroy capitalism and democracy. Marxism is a faith based religion: Jesus shed His blood to bring salvation to humanity, yet in communism the bloodshed of millions brings salvation for humanity. Its salvation is obtained through revolution. The end justifies the means to gain their heaven on earth. Its prophet is Karl Marx. (Like Cain, Marx was bitter and angry). Its apostles are activists. Its disciples must spread their gospel of socialism to the entire world and make disciples from all nations. They cast out the demons of capitalism. They baptize their converts into socialism. These converts were capitalists, but now they are born again (woke) socialists. They have seen the light of socialism! If one backslides from the faith, they will be excommunicated! They have replaced sainthood with victimhood. They have replaced sinners with capitalists. Their trinity is Marx, Mao, and Marcuse. They have the moral conviction that they are right.
Gulags 5:22-23 “But the fruit of Marx is hate, anger, envy, bitterness, selfishness, narcissism, covetousness, violence, murder.”
Indeed, the anarchist religion is the only true religion. Its moral laws are the truth: Thou shalt abolish all hierarchies! Thou shalt abolish capitalism! Thou shalt abolish private property! Thou shalt abolish the state! As you can see, they have their universal battle between good and evil. They are righteous crusaders for their cause. They fight their crusade against “the tyranny of the state, religion, and society.” They “challenge dominant forms of social organization including the state, marriage, capitalism, parenting, love relationships, friendships, and families.” They do all these things in the hope of obtaining their utopian heaven on earth. It is a religion of decadence.
“Anarchism is the only philosophy that brings to man the consciousness of himself; which maintains that God, the State, and society are non-existent, that their promises are null and void, since they can be fulfilled only through man’s subordination. Anarchism is therefore the teacher of the unity of life; not merely in nature, but in man.” – Emma Goldman
Now, let’s move on and take a look at the definition of Queer:
“UNLIKE GAY identity, which, though deliberately proclaimed in an act of affirmation, is nonetheless rooted in the positive fact of homosexual object-choice, queer identity need not be grounded in any positive truth or in any stable reality. As the very word implies, “queer” does not name some natural kind or refer to some determinate object; it acquires its meaning from its oppositional relation to the norm. Queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant. There is nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers. It is an identity without an essence. ‘Queer,’ then, demarcates not a positivity but a positionality vis-à-vis the normative—a positionality that is not restricted to lesbians and gay men but is in fact available to anyone who is or who feels marginalized because of his or her sexual practices.” – David Halperin
In the book Queering Anarchism, they also use David Halperin’s definition of queer. They particularly concentrate on “Queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant.” Now, for those who want to learn more about this subject, here are some excerpts from Queering Anarchism:
“Queer liberation is the destruction of straightness.” “The subjective interpretations of sexuality within Queer theory subvert any monolithic traditional notion of sex, sex roles, gender, and even sexual orientation.” “We need to oppose the institution of state-sanctioned marriage because it strengthens the nuclear family as the consumptive and reproductive unit of capitalism.” “The nuclear family, for example, perpetuates capitalism.” “The struggle against sexual and gender oppression is an important component of a larger struggle to transform and establish a new society.” “The destruction of straightness would mean a world in which all of our bodies, all of our desires, all of our genders, all of our consensual sexualities, would be honored and viable.” “All of us have an obligation to unlearn straightness—to unlearn the ways we have been socialized into straightness, much like the ways in which we have been socialized into capitalism.” “The struggle for queer liberation, and the struggle to abolish straightness; these are inseparable from anti-capitalist and anti-statist struggle.” “The entire capitalist patriarchal white supremacy that structures our world unequally, and indeed preys on unequal relations of power, requires heteronormative relationships. Break down those kinds of relationships, and we are also starting to break down patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism.”
“Queer theory understands people in relation to the normal and the deviant, creating infinite possibilities for resistance. Queer theory seeks to disrupt the ‘normal.’” “In other words, a queer critique of capitalism based on an analysis of commodity fetishism would do the following: it would have to recognize that the heterosexual matrix based on the gendered division of labor is not so much an extension of patriarchy into capitalism but rather a genuine product of it. Capitalism does not only assign men and women different roles within its realm, it also creates the modern notion of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine.’” “Queer theory shows that gendered identities as well as sexualities are not fixed and ‘natural’ but rather that they are socially constructed, fluid, and changeable—both socially and with regard to physical bodies. Gender and sexuality, in this view, are not something we are born with but something we do—or ‘perform’—on a daily basis. Queer politics therefore calls for a subversion of fixed identities such as ‘man,’ ‘woman,’ ‘straight,’ ‘homosexual,’ and so on by exploring individual performances that break out of these categories altogether.” “The heteronormative, hierarchical two-gender system in its current form is a result, rather than a predecessor, of modern capitalism.” “Biological and medical discourses about gender and sexuality shift historically.” “The transition to capitalism was indeed a main driving force of the conquest over different forms of gender expression and sexuality, enforcing a strict gender/sex binary.” “Gender is socially and not biologically constructed.” “Instead, gender is a product of social norms, individual behaviors, and institutional power.” “From the very moment of birth, our bodies are fit into a social system in which there are two genders, built upon the myth that the two sexes are ‘natural.’” “We are imprisoned by a gender binary.” “To achieve liberation, we must reject the binary gender system, which divides us into two mutually exclusive categories.” “I argue not that gender transgression or deviance is in itself revolutionary, but that we must transcend or destroy the gender-based power relations, as part of a sort of decolonizing.” “Our liberation from heteropatriarchy is intimately tied to the struggle to dismantle racism, capitalism, and an authoritarian state. In other words, our movements need to understand and confront how systems of oppression—capitalism, heteropatriarchy, and white supremacy—intersect, and reproduce one another.”
“I have often pointed out the importance of considering the essential role played by pleasure in drug use—even in the most chaotic use—and its life-endorsing ‘usefulness,’ as well as the need to draw on the parallels between the gay liberation and the drug users’ rights movements.”
“When it is operating at its best, anarchism is tearing down the borders of nation states, smashing the borders of capitalist control, and transgressing all borders of oppression and authoritarianism. When queer(ness) is operating at its best it is tearing down the borders of gender, smashing the confines of compulsory monogamy, and transgressing the moralism of sex and sexuality. When abolition is at its best it is tearing down the prison walls, smashing the police state, and transgressing the power of punishment while instituting new forms of transformative justice.”
“The trans community defies the ‘accepted’ social constructs of sex and gender, of free market capitalism, and the state with its need for society’s adherence to strict social norms/constructs in order to maintain its operating systems of power, keeping its focus on assimilation within a system that by definition constrains the core concept of trans.” “So a key tenet of trans liberation lies within the liberation of one’s self (and others) from the tyranny of the state, religion, and society; and equally important—from our own self-imposed tyranny.” “It is our promiscuity that will save us.” “Without justice, there can be no pleasure. After all, what we are protecting is a right to social imagination that rejects both paternalism and positivism, while opening spaces for alternative social relations and ways of embracing experience outside the realm of the rational experience.” “To do away with shame and the repression it fuels, pleasure activists push to transform the social order.”
These anarchists seem to confuse hedonism with love. If I were to say that they desire hedonism, they would say that they desire love.
“If they can discredit capitalism, they can consider themselves free to pursue their own impractical vicious morality.” – Ayn Rand
Their goal is to queer society. Queer movements, however, are nothing new. They have been around since ancient times:
The Galli were priests of the gods Cybele and Attis. This cult became popular in Roman. The goddess Cybele was a Hermaphrodite. She had her male parts castrated, turning her into a female. The god Attis castrated himself, thus the Galli also practiced self-castration. The Galli earned money by begging. It appears that they also made money through prostitution.
The Gala were priests of the goddess Inanna/Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia. There’s a Sumerian saying: “To destroy, to build up, to tear out and to settle are yours, Inanna,” and, “To turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man are yours, Inanna.” Since Ishtar could transcend categories, her followers where emboldened to defy and redefine social boundaries, especially those related to gender. An ancient Sumerian proverb said: “When the Gala wiped off his ass [he said], ‘I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress (Inanna/Ishtar).’” They spelled the word “Gala” with the cymbals of “penis + anus.” It appears that they also made money through prostitution.
The Hijra of India worship the goddess Bahuchara Mata. Bahuchara Mata cut off her breasts, thus cursing a bandit named Bapiya with impotency. The castration of the Hijra removes both the penis and testicles. While they are being castrated, they chant the name of their goddess. The Hijra earn money by begging and prostitution. They consider themselves to be neither man nor women, though they generally wear women’s clothing in public. There are many striking parallels between the Galli and Hijra.
“The goddesses who stand at the head of these cults—Cybele, Bahuchara Mata, and Inanna/Ishtar—also share important traits. All three are credited with the power to inspire divine madness, which can include the transformation of gender.” These kinds of gender cults also spread beyond India into Southeast Asia, Borneo, and Sulawesi.
In alchemy the Androgyne, or Rebis (“god” self), signifies the union of opposites, such as spirit and matter, soul and body, light and dark, male and female, human and divine. Androgyne is a gender identity on the queer gender spectrum; it is a blending of both genders or somewhere in between. “The Rebis, meaning duality, is the divine fruit that grows from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, however, the Rebis is actually the true and complete form of the divine fruit and largely considered to be the end result between harmony and discord.”
“Adam ate the apple and anti-pleasure religious doctrine took a foundation that we are still grappling with today.” – Queering Anarchism
“Transfeminism builds on the work that came out of the multiracial feminist movement, and in particular, the work of black feminists.” Feminism, which has played a large role in birthing the modern-day transgender movement, has its roots in the occult. A while back, when I was looking into the first wave feminist movement, I found that many of its writers were occultists. You can even do a Google or YouTube search for “feminism and the occult.” It’s easy to find! Guess what group has been deeply ingrained in both the feminist and transgender movements? Marxists, the ones who want to abolish the family.
Sexual immorality is one of many vices that cause an empire to decline. If we examine the fall of empires in history, we can see many parallels with our society today. In the early stages of an empire, according to Sir John Glubb, boys are expected to be tough and manly. They are expected to tell the truth, because lying is cowardly. They must courageously face their fears like men. They must have honor and duty. Decline starts when the people start to seek wealth. The desire for money gradually replaces loyalty and self-sacrifice. People go from service to selfishness. Students no longer go to college for learning and virtue, but they go to obtain degrees that will gain them the highest salaries. Once the nation becomes wealthy, it desires to protect its wealth and luxury. The citizens become cowardly, and they consider the conquest of their forefathers as immoral. Their ancestors were heroes, but they are inferior. So they vilify their empire as evil, which gives them a feeling of moral superiority. Since these people lack physical toughness, they chase after academic honours. Knowledge spreads and intellectualism grows. This leads to lots of discussion and debates. These arguments are not very fruitful, and produce men of little action. Their forefathers were men of action, but they are not. They have become cowardly, lazy and weak. In their intellectual pride, they think that they can solve the world’s problems. Yet they lack selflessness, dedication and service. The people become more and more politically divided. As the nation grows weaker, it becomes less unified.
In the first stages of an empire the people are homogeneous, so they have strong feelings of solidarity. However, as the empire declines, it increasingly brings in foreigners. These immigrants form their own communities, in order to protect their own interests. When the crap hits the fan, they are less likely to sacrifice their lives and prosperity for the empire. They come from different cultures and tend to cause cracks and divisions over time. As the nation further declines, it employs cheap foreign workers to perform menial tasks. The empire becomes sympathetic to other races and generously bestows the rights of citizenship on every race, proclaiming equality for mankind.
The influence of women in public life is often connected with decline. The empire starts to loosen it morals and abandons sexual morality. It becomes indifferent to religion and becomes increasingly materialistic. The politicians become more and more corrupt, enriching themselves. The government spends lavishly on its own benevolence. Music becomes increasingly erotic. Obscene language, which would not have been tolerated in the past, becomes normal. People also spend more time on leisure, amusement, and sports.
“Decadence is a moral and spiritual disease, resulting from too long a period of wealth and power, producing cynicism, decline of religion, pessimism and frivolity. The citizens of such a nation will no longer make an effort to save themselves, because they are not convinced that anything in life is worth saving.” – Sir John Glubb
In a declining empire, as people become more educated, new technologies are discovered. We see the same thing in our decadent society. Artificial intelligence is growing by leaps and bounds. Soon there will be machine learning systems around the world that will be linked to digital biometric IDs, central bank digital currencies, and social credit score systems. The natural world and the digital world are merging ever-increasingly. And the future is heading towards transhumanism.
“Trans-Spirit researchers” want to gain a complete understanding of religious and spiritual phenomena, so that they can manipulate and control them for the supposed good of society. They want to induce spiritual experiences and altered states of consciousness, using all technologies at their disposal. This includes transcranial electro-magnetic stimulation, visual and auditory stimulation, and chemical agents. Once they fully understand the operations of the neurological mechanisms of the brain, then the brain “can be monitored, manipulated and managed benevolently as a living art.” Creepy! Can anyone say: modern day MK-Ultra!?! “Transhumanist spirituality will be possible without mythology or religious belief. It will be highly personalized, and based on spiritual practices that have scientifically verified value. Transhumanist spirituality will be the ultimate fruit of the Trans-Spirit research program.” The author of this transhumanist paper kept using the word “rational” when talking about transhumanism. Why, then, are these rational transhumanists so irrational? They are mad scientists with a god complex! They want to manipulate and control the human brain, specifically in a religious context. As the last sentence of this academic paper states: “Transhumanist spirituality will be the ultimate fruit of the Trans-Spirit research program.”
The Bible warns about the transhumanist spirituality of the Beast. 666: you will be transitioned into a transhuman! The Beast system will include worship of Caesar, thus an idol of the Antichrist will be erected. This Image of the Beast will be given life (artificial intelligence) to speak. This AI Image will be the brains of the Beast surveillance system (the internet of all things). By law, all people must worship the Beast. The Image of the Beast will know who does not worship the Beast. The brains of those who have the Mark will be manipulated, and they will worship the Beast. Through technology, they will have a feel-good spiritual experience. Those without the Mark of the Beast will not worship the Beast. They will not have the Digital Biometric Mark that connects them to the Beast system. Those who refuse to worship the Beast will be arrested and sentenced to death.
Society is being steered towards these things. The LGBTQ movement has the support of governments, multinational corporations, billionaires, and banks. It is no coincidence that sperm counts and testosterone levels have been decreasing in men over the years. Transhumanists talk about producing a genderless transhuman society, where people evolve with future technologies into non-human super beings. The logical conclusion of transhumanism is the end of the human race. Their agenda is anti-human, and they are advocating for the extinction of mankind. They want to play God, just like their father the Devil; for the Devil desires to be God. “And if you eat the apple, you too will be like God.” Humans are indeed rebellious sinners, and sin ends in destruction and death. Yet through Christ Jesus there is salvation!
Check out a full writeup on Canibeat.com :
www.canibeat.com/2012/02/well-worth-the-trip-mike-d-twin-...
Pictures from an overnighter on Bainbridge Island mid-October 2014. For a complete writeup check out this post on my blog.
I want to preface this writeup by saying that I am approaching this from an amateur's perspective. The effects of these satellites will be more noticeable for certain professional observatories, but SpaceX are [working with them on reducing the brightness of the satellites](www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/mkmsqa/spacex_rele...). It's also important to keep in mind that the streaks in my photo are a worst case scenario, as the satellites had just launched and haven't spread out or reached their final orbit height. The satellites become significantly dimmer once fully deployed.
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Satellite trails have always been present in astrophotos since satellites first became a thing. With every starlink launch I often see photos or videos of the trains accompanied with "staRLINk iS RUInINg asTRoNoMy". For the amateur astrophotographer this is not the case. Image stacking and pixel rejection algorithms have been around for a while, and do a pretty good job at removing the trails, even with just the 10 images in my example photo. Many deep sky photos stack hundreds of frames together, which helps reject more outlier pixels from satellites or other sources of noise. Even the most popular nebula for beginners, the Orion Nebula, is [regularly 'photobombed' by geostationary satellites](i.imgur.com/niwKELZ.png), which are rejected out from the [final image if enough frames are taken](live.staticflickr.com/65535/50926610233_84a5b0b22c_o.png).
**Image Stacking:**
Astrophotographers regularly stack dozens to hundreds of exposures together to create high SNR images of deep sky objects. It isn't necessary to completely toss out an exposure containing a satellite trail, as the stacking process removes outlier pixels from certain frames before averaging together the rest. ([more info on pixel rejection can be found here](pixinsight.com/doc/tools/ImageIntegration/ImageIntegratio...))
**Information about these starlinks in particular:**
These 13 starlink satellites were launched on the Starlink-25 launch on May 4th, 4 days prior to being photographed. There maximum brightness was around magnitude +2.2, comparable to the bright stars of the Big Dipper. Maximum altitude of the train was 90 degrees, however the galaxy was at 70 degrees. The remaining frames of the Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565) were taken a couple weeks ago. All frames were captured from my Bortle 6 driveway. I made a similar comparison [about a year ago](www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/gwyw1n/effects_of_...), however the conditions for that shot were less than ideal due to haze (there also wasn't a cool galaxy in the frame).
**Places where I host my other images:**
[Instagram](www.instagram.com/leftysastrophotography/) | [Flickr](www.flickr.com/people/leftysastrophotography/)
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**[Equipment:](i.imgur.com/6T8QNsv.jpg)**
* TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian
* Orion Sirius EQ-G
* ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
* Skywatcher Quattro Coma Corrector
* ZWO EFW 8x1.25"/31mm
* Astronomik LRGB+CLS Filters- 31mm
* Astrodon 31mm Ha 5nm, Oiii 3nm, Sii 5nm
* Agena 50mm Deluxe Straight-Through Guide Scope
* ZWO ASI-120MC for guiding
* Moonlite Autofocuser
**Acquisition:** (Camera at Unity Gain, -15°C)
* Lum - 120" exposures
* Darks- 30
* Flats- 30 per filter
**Capture Software:**
* Captured using [N.I.N.A.](nighttime-imaging.eu) and PHD2 for guiding and dithering.
**PixInsight Processing:**
* BatchPreProcessing
* StarAlignment
* ImageIntegration
> [Default settings + default large scale pixel rejection](i.imgur.com/xyTeqgH.png) used
> Windsorized Sigma Clipping rejection algorithm used for 10 image stack
> Linear Fit Clipping rejection algorithm used for 50 image stack
* DynamicCrop
* AutomaticBackgroundExtraction
* STF applied via HistogramTransformation to bring nonlinear
One of my shots on the cover of Views Magazine for the August / September 2011 issue. There is a full feature on me and my landscape photography in this issue and I will post some of the pages and the article from the feature as soon as I get a chance to scan them. Hope you enjoy it, comments welcome! ;-)
Shot with a Nikon D300 and the 18-200mm VR lens
Signed prints are available through my website at Dave Allen Photography
Unsigned prints are available through my imagekind gallery at Dave Allen on imagekind
Become a fan on my facebook page! I give away a free print there from time to time!
© 2011 Dave Allen Photography, All Rights Reserved. This image may NOT be used for anything without my explicit permission.
MerDeCha is combined from 3 individual Jaegers. The term MerDeCha is a portmanteau of Merdeka* + Mecha.
*Merdeka is a Malay language term for Independence.
For more photos and writeups on this LEGO creation:
alanyuppie.blogspot.com/2018/04/lego-pacific-rim-jaeger-c...
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Wheel-Inn Drive In, in Sedalia, Missouri, USA
The guber burger is essentially a regular burger, only instead of the usual condiments, it has peanut butter. More info here.
Railfest is the annual celebration at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN. This year as part of the celebration, they offered Southern Railway 2-8-0 #630 as an excursion round trip to Cleveland, TN. This locomotive was built in 1904 by the American Locomotive Company Richmond Works. It was restored to operation at TVRM in 2011 and is now part of Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam program.
Also as part of the activities of the 2013 Railfest, Southern Railway's EMD FP7 #6133 made a visit. This Diesel locomotive built in 1950 was used to pull their excursion, the Missionary Ridge Local throughout the weekend. It is normally on display at the North Carolina Transportation Museum which offers this writeup:
"Southern Railway #6133: The locomotive was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in 1950. This FP-7, operated by the Southern Railway, was the property of the CNO&TP (Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific). The FP designation meant the locomotive could be used for passenger or freight trains, using a 567-B 16 cylinder prime mover, generating 1500 horsepower. These were F-7 freight locomotives with a steam generator placed at the rear of the locomotive, increasing body length by four feet. FP-7 locomotives were used on small branch-line passenger trains throughout the Southern Railway System. By the late 1970s, there were very few FP-7s left on the roster due to Southern eliminating many passenger trains. The 5-8 left were used for excursion trains as part of the Steam Program begun in 1966. The 6133 was donated to the NCTHC in 1980, and restored by the volunteers to its original green/ imitation aluminum paint scheme. It is used to pull the train ride around the property when needed."
I took more photos of #6133 than I have posted to flickr. You can also see quite a thorough collection of photos of the highlighted steam locomotive Southern #630, the Missionary Ridge Local with #6133, and other rolling stock on the grounds. This gallery is on my website here:
seemidtn.com/gallery/index.php?album=chattanooga%2Frailfe...
Also, I took video and put it on youtube: All the steam footage, plus the Missionary Ridge local: youtu.be/AhCCpvO41iM