what are you doing ?

Thích Quảng Đức

What Price Comfort?

In contemporary civilization, individual success is often measured by such parameters as social and economic status and the level of wealth one has achieved. Those who are looked up to as models to be emulated have accrued a remarkable degree of luxury and live enshrouded by all manner of conveniences. They are propelled forward in life with the goal of satisfying essentially selfish desires. They are often driven by a ferocious ambition, and, to their credit, exhibit a remarkable level of creativity, ingenuity and motivation.

The world of humans and the natural world that we are an integral part of cannot be sustained if the focus of individual existence is rooted in acquisition. The price that humanity collectively pays for comfort, convenience and an utterly false sense of personal security is enormous.

There are over one billion individuals on planet earth that subsist of one dollar a day. Tens of millions of people have already died from AIDS because they do not have access to the drugs that could sustain them. This same disease has produced millions of orphans. Millions of men, women and children die annually from the gruesome process of starvation not because there is no food available, but because they do not have access to the food that could give them life – they cannot afford to live. The economies of many of the nations of the so-called undeveloped world have been encouraged and coerced to produce commodities for export to the developed world at the expense of their own indigenous people. Vast armies of individuals throughout the world work endlessly performing mindless tasks in frightful factories so that those more affluent can fill their lives and homes with stuff purchased at megastores filled with this seeming cornucopia.

Our addiction to the “good life” not only imperils the human world, but is having disastrous consequences in regards to the natural world. The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is already having a marked impact on the global environment – profound ignorance will not change this indisputable fact or its inevitable results. The diversity of life on planet earth is inexorably diminishing as a direct result of human activity.

What price are we willing to pay for the lifestyles we have chosen? This to me is a central question of the age. We are all the children of history and the future will unfold as a direct result of the choices we make. We can have a world where we honor and uplift the lives of all rather than accept a world where the lives of the many are sacrificed for those of the few.

Japan's Killer Quake

fukushima nuclear disaster

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Einstein said, "The splitting of the atom changed everything save man's mode of thinking; thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe." He also said, "Nuclear power is a hell of a way to boil water."

The "outer building" surrounding Unit 3 of Fukushima I explodes, presumably due to the ignition of built up hydrogen gas, on March 13, 2011. This is the reactor which has the extremely dangerous plutonium-laced MOX fuel. State of the nuclear reactor core remains unknown...

variations at whats more

the file is suitable for 4x6 high resolution photo prints - please print some and pass them around - no nukes!

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fukushima nuclear disaster updates at "whats up"

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NO NUKES | RE-TOOL NOW

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fluid motion

(watch trailer)

Digiting Solutions

friday the 13th

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was successfully launched toward the Moon, but the landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured, severely damaging the spacecraft's electrical system. The flight was commanded by James A. Lovell with John L. "Jack" Swigert as Command Module pilot and Fred W. Haise as Lunar Module pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for the original CM pilot Ken Mattingly, who was grounded by the flight surgeon after exposure to German measles.

The mission was launched on April 11, 1970 at 13:13 CST. Two days later an explosion crippled the service module upon which the Command Module depended. To conserve its batteries and the oxygen needed for the last hours of flight, the crew instead used the Lunar Module's resources as a "lifeboat" during the return trip to Earth. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17. NASA called the mission a "successful failure". (read more)

Apollo 13

there's something wrong with the world...

...it's us.

Save the Arts

it's your choice

Collateral Damage

Collateral damage,
what exactly is it?

Is it a rock band,
perhaps heavy metal,
some obscure
auto insurance term
itemizing what’s not covered
in case of an accident
written in miniscule print,
a mistake a surgeon might make
in the midst of a delicate operation,
those individuals
indirectly injured from the
side effects of a nasty divorce,
debris left over from an
overzealous football game?

Collateral damage,
what exactly is it?

The stupefying carnage,
the chaos and mayhem that
accompanies ferocious and brutal violence,
the torrential flow of blood spewing from
shattered and broken bodies
separated from the yolk of the living,
the pungent odor released from
myriad corpses strewn upon fields of
overwhelming death,
the instantaneous incineration of entire families,
the horrific and bountiful products of murder
cannot be expunged by the simple application of
innocuous words in a vain attempt to
circumvent the reality of
such depravity.

frida

Frida Kahlo de Rivera (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954; born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón) was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits.

Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. She gave her birth date as July 7, 1910, but her birth certificate shows July 6, 1907. Kahlo had allegedly wanted the year of her birth to coincide with the year of the beginning of the Mexican revolution so that her life would begin with the birth of modern Mexico. At age 6 years, Frida developed polio, which caused her right leg to appear much thinner than the other. It was to remain that way permanently. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.

Mexican culture and Amerindian cultural tradition are important in her work, which has been sometimes characterized as Naïve art or folk art. Her work has also been described as "surrealist", and during 1938 one surrealist described Kahlo as a "ribbon around a bomb".

Kahlo had a marriage with the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She suffered lifelong health problems, many of which derived from a traffic accident during her teenage years. These issues are perhaps represented by her works, many of which are self-portraits of one sort or another. Kahlo suggested, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." She also stated, "I was born a bitch. I was born a painter." (read more)

Frida Kahlo

what if

money speech

water is wet

How will I know...



the truth from the lies?...



you ask yourself...



All I can tell you is...



that rocks are hard...



and water is wet.

a mighty long time

Human Rights Watch

The Chinese government should immediately release the artist and outspoken critic Ai Weiwei and end its arbitrary crackdown on dissent, Human Rights Watch said today.

Ai was arrested at Beijing airport on the morning of April 2, 2011, as he was about to board a flight for Hong Kong. Despite considerable domestic and international attention, the Chinese government has refused to disclose where he is detained or the reasons for his arrest.

Update (April 7): A government spokesperson admitted on April 7 that Ai was under investigation for suspected economic crimes but no legal notification has yet been issued. Incommunicado arrests are often the prelude to criminal prosecutions, Human Rights Watch said.

"The arrest of Ai Weiwei reflects a new escalation in the current and already severe crackdown," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Only sustained international pressure can help Ai Weiwei now."

On April 6, in what can be read as the first official acknowledgment of Ai's arrest, a newspaper article in the state-run Global Times announced that Ai would "pay a price" for being an activist and that "the law would not concede" to his criticisms of the government.

The government's detention of Ai Weiwei appears to have been carefully planned. On the day he was arrested, Beijing public security officers raided his art studio in the suburbs of Beijing and took eight members of his staff, his wife Lu Qing, and a lawyer friend of Ai's, Liu Xiaoyuan, in for questioning; they were all released later that day. The police seized computers, hard-drives, and other items. State media were instructed not to report on the case, and all references to Ai Weiwei's arrest were censored on internet and popular micro-blogging services such as Weibo, a Twitter clone.

Under Chinese law, the police can hold an individual for up to three days before deciding whether to release him or apply to the prosecutors for an arrest warrant. But invariably the police manipulate exception clauses that allow for up to seven days' and, in limited circumstances, up to 30 days' detention. Police also routinely prevent lawyers from meeting their clients in detention despite legal provisions guaranteeing such access.

Ai's lawyer, the prominent Beijing lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, has so far been unable to see his client, or even to get formal notification of his arrest. Approval of arrest by the prosecutors, a matter of routine in most cases, usually guarantees later indictment, conviction, and punishment, which typically includes a prison sentence. The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo, was detained for a year before he was sentenced in December 2009 to an 11-year term of imprisonment for a series of articles published overseas.

"The Chinese authorities appear to be laying the ground for Ai Weiwei's formal arrest," said Richardson. "This is an ominous sign because there are no fair trials of government critics in China."

Since mid-February, the Chinese government has arrested, detained, disappeared, put under house arrest, summoned for interrogation, or threatened with arrest over two hundred people for dissent or peaceful social activism. Six of the country's most prominent human rights lawyers - Teng Biao, Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, Liu Shihui, Tang Jingling, and Li Tiantian - have been "disappeared" by the police and remain at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment.

Four prominent activists, Ran Yunfei, Cheng Wei, Ding Mao, and Li Shuangde, have been formally arrested on state security charges. On March 25, the veteran dissident Liu Xianbin was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for "incitement to subvert state power." The government has also significantly increased its censorship of internet, forced several liberal newspaper editors to step down, and imposed new restrictions on foreign media reporting in Beijing.

The arrest of Ai, one of the most celebrated Chinese artists, who is currently exhibiting at Tate Modern in London, has prompted a reaction from several foreign governments, with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle calling on China for an "urgent explanation" of his fate. British Foreign Secretary William Hague has called on the government to "urgently clarify Ai's situation and well being." The European Union delegation in Beijing, members of the European Parliament, and the Australian government have also expressed concern. US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said on April 4 that the government was "deeply concerned."

"Ai Weiwei is a test case for the international community," said Richardson. "The past few years have shown that appeasement and ‘quiet diplomacy' do nothing to dissuade Beijing from cracking down even harder on dissent." (Human Rights Watch)

heaven and earth

" There are more things

in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Hamlet Act 1, scene 5

The Power of Humility

The Power of Humility
In the course of societal development, many countries throughout the world have ascribed to an economic model where acquisition is the measure of personal success and happiness and the immediate gratification of the individual has come to have greater value than the long term survival of the species. This set of intrinsic beliefs is irrational. From a biological perspective, our collective purpose is the continuation of the species and the maintenance of life requires a stable, long lasting and healthy biosphere. Individually, we are transient creatures; the material makeup of our bodies along with our memories, accumulated knowledge and intellect is effectively broken down into its essential elements upon our demise. Our legacy lies in the genes we may have contributed to progeny, all that we may have inspired in others and memories others may hold regarding those who have departed. This is the essence of what I regard as the reality principle. Many who find the intrinsic limitations of this reality unacceptable often find solace in religions that embrace the idea of the perpetuation of the individual after death. Although this is conceivable if one posits the existence of a mysterious, invisible and supernatural world, it is exceedingly unlikely.

The individual cannot trump reality no matter how zealous the beliefs might be. In my mind, the belief in the self above all other considerations is the essence of human arrogance. Arrogance, by its nature, runs counter to human progress, for it attempts to negate the reality principle – an essentially useless, vain and counter-productive endeavor. It is from an arrogant worldview that humans devolve into greed, hatred and ultimately violence and war.

On the other hand, the acceptance of our personal limitations and the recognition of the greater role of nature and the wondrous natural world that we are intrinsically a part of is the basis of humility. Humility fosters self awareness – an essential ingredient for the acceptance of the limitations of others. Humility is a powerful force, for it can reshape thinking and, as a natural consequence of its recognition, modify individual behavior for the greater good.

Cydonia

Cydonia is a region on the planet Mars, and has attracted both scientific and popular interest.

One of the features in the Cydonia region, the "Face on Mars" (about 1.5 kilometers (one mile) across), has had special notoriety in Western culture since it was imaged in 1976, because it looks like a face.

One of the images taken by Viking 1 on July 25, 1976, a 2 km (1.2 miles) long Cydonian mesa, situated at 40.75° north latitude and 9.46° west longitude, had the appearance of a humanoid "face".

When the image was originally acquired, Viking chief scientist Gerry Soffen dismissed the "face" in image 35A72 as a "trick of light and shadow".

However, a second image, 70A13, also shows the "Face", and was acquired 35 Viking orbits later at a different sun-angle from the 35A72 image. (see more mars anomalies)

Viking image 70A13

Max Headroom

BOY - soufi soul - for OBERON

 

This is a photo of my son I took this weekend

I felt the compulsory need to offer it to you in response to your last post "GIRL"

girl

We ask her to be pure...

we paint her face...

and make her dance...

We All Want To Be Young

We All Want to Be Young from box1824 on Vimeo.

Calvin

burn the house down

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism. A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. (read more)

UFO

UFO Jerusalem

bumble boogie

Giant

"Giant Woman" - Eric Drooker

Eric Drooker (b. 1958, New York) is an American painter, graphic novelist, and illustrator.

Drooker grew up in Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town, adjacent to the Lower East Side, which was then a working-class immigrant neighborhood with a tradition of left-wing political activism. He attended the Downtown Community School and spent the summers of 1969, 1970 and 1971 at Camp Meadowlark in Monterey, Massachusetts. Drooker developed an early interest in graphic arts and cartoons, particularly the woodcut novels of Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward and the underground comics of Robert Crumb.

During the 1980s, Drooker was further radicalized by his experiences with the police, due to their actions against squatters in the rapidly gentrifying Tompkins Square Park area and their increasing intolerance of unlicensed street artists and musicians.

In the 1990s, Drooker broadened his scope from graphic arts to painting, creating several covers for The New Yorker and a book of illustrations of Allen Ginsberg's poetry, Illuminated Poems.

In 2006, the Library of Congress acquired the original art for FLOOD! A Novel in Pictures, including preliminary drawings, sketches and cover paintings. The complete Flood Archive is housed in the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, which is open to the public. (read more)

(PRIVATE) Poetic Reassurances

"Dear Journal"
she wrote
"Today I've found my Truth
an old man wished me Merry Christmas
somewhere a child lost a tooth"
pauses for reflection
regarding Universal Connection
"There's something that I want to do"
wrinkles her brow
"and much more that I will have to
but where to turn when I lose track
and have nowhere to get back to?

Oh! Journal, damn your quiet ways!
where was I now?
Oh, yes.
I've much to say.

This something that I've figured out
is magical for certain.
Turns the key around in locks
In the 'Play of Life," it lifts the curtain.

Intention driven by will
Willful, skillful, implementation
of purposeful Intending.
Harmony. Balance.
Synchronicity of soul
with Life
Complete recognition of life as a vessel . . . "
She shakes herself from
quantum daze

"Journal, I sense you may be getting a promotion
To 'Diary.'

Love,
Brittany"

Yorick & Helaine Blumenfeld, Cambridge- "self-portrait, New York 1945"