Thích Quảng Đức

Thích Quảng Đức (1897 – 11 June 1963) was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Thích Quảng Đức was protesting against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration.

Photos of his self-immolation were circulated widely across the world and brought attention to the policies of the Diệm regime. Malcolm Browne won a Pulitzer Prize for his iconic photo of the monk's death, as did David Halberstam for his written account.

After his death, his body was re-cremated, but his heart remained intact. This was interpreted as a symbol of compassion and led Buddhists to revere him as a bodhisattva, heightening the impact of his death on the public psyche. (read more) (mooncake)

whats up: 25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT: "It was 25 years ago today when a deadly explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the former Soviet state of Ukraine led to what was then the worst nuclear disaster in history. It sent a cloud of radioactive fallout into Russia, Belarus and over a large portion of Europe."

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An exhibit at the Ukrainian National Chernobyl Museum. Mutations in both humans and other animals may have increased as a result of the disaster.

Chernobyl radiation map

Chernobyl Disaster @ wikipedia

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In 1945, a profoundly sad experiment in public health began when U.S. forces dropped a 13-kiloton nuclear fission bomb on Hiroshima, Japan...

Status of Reactors 1 - 4 at Fukushima Daiichi

25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster | NUCLEAR "SAFTEY" = NUCLEAR THREAT - info, video commentaries, news, links

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WHATS UP
RC'S NEWS & RANDOM BLOG

Money talks by Amir Zainorin

Girl Walks Into A Bar

women

should

be

obscene

and

not

heard

("Girl Walks Into A Bar")

Cake without Sugar ... have you tried?

constant craving

The Stonewall Uprising

"A Naked Man Being A Woman"
Diane Arbus 1968

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

American gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s faced a legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries. Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. The last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture of the 1960s, and antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots.

Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. The Stonewall Inn, at the time, was owned by the Mafia. It catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, representatives of a newly self-aware transgender community, effeminate young men, hustlers, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn, and attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.

After the Stonewall riots, gays and lesbians in New York City faced gender, class, and generational obstacles to becoming a cohesive community. Within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for gays and lesbians. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world. On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride marches took place in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York commemorating the anniversary of the riots. Similar marches were organized in other cities. Today, Gay Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots. (read more)

round-up

(naturalnews.com)

(food inc.)

7 deadly sins

to defeat the beast use...


humility against pride...


charity against greed...


kindness against envy...


patience against anger...


chastity against lust...


moderation against gluttony...


diligence against sloth...

Earth Day

Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While this first Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations.

Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day. (read more)

Man In Space

you can't handle the truth

NASA and the

Department of Defense

say you can't handle the truth...

but I think you can

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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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.