"cockfight"

"The Cockfight"

Jean-Léon Gérôme 1846

...as always...you decide.

Jonathan Winters - thanks for the laughs

Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor and artist.

Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also had comedy albums released every decade for over 50 years, receiving 11 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album nominations during his career, and winning the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for Crank(y) Calls in 1996.

Winters has also appeared in hundreds of television show episodes/series and films combined, including eccentric characters on The Steve Allen Show, The Garry Moore Show, The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters (1972–74), Mork & Mindy, Hee Haw and in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

A pioneer of improvisational stand-up comedy with a gift for mimicry, various personalities and a seemingly bottomless reservoir of creative energy, Winters was one of the first celebrities to go public with a personal mental illness issue and felt stigmatized as a result. According to Jack Paar, “If you were to ask me the funniest 25 people I’ve ever known, I’d say, ‘Here they are — Jonathan Winters’." He also said of Winters, “Pound for pound, the funniest man alive”.

In 1991, Winters earned an Emmy Award for his supporting role in Davis Rules. In 2002, he earned an Emmy nomination as a guest star in a comedy series for Life With Bonnie. In 1999, Winters was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2008, Winters was presented with a Pioneer TV Land Award by Robin Williams.

Winters also spent time painting and presenting his art in many gallery shows. (read more)

it's a mad mad mad mad world

mutiny !

consequences

Irk

"In an industrial society which confuses work and productivity, the necessity of producing has always been an enemy of the desire to create." -- Raoul Vaneigem

make believe

' Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange;

Stranger than fiction; if it could be told,

How much would novels gain by the exchange!

How differently the world would men behold!

How oft would vice and virtue places change!

The new world would be nothing to the old,

If some Columbus of the moral seas

Would show mankind their souls' antipodes.

Lord Byron, in the satirical poem Don Juan, 1823.

clever enough ?

Annette Funicello - thanks for the memories

Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. Beginning her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve, Funicello rose to prominence as one of the most popular "Mouseketeers" on the original Mickey Mouse Club.

As a teenager, she transitioned to a successful career as a singer with the pop singles "O Dio Mio," "Tall Paul" and "Pineapple Princess", as well as establishing herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful "Beach Party" genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon during the mid-1960s.

In 1992, Funicello announced her having been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She died from complications of the disease on April 8, 2013. (read more)

Kindergarten Fukushima Science Project Says it All: “Now tuna fish in California have cesium. YUK!” | #OccupyNuclear

[the report]..focused on the fact that this deadly radiation is now contained within the bodies of tuna and other edible fish in the great Pacific...

Kindergartener, Savanna Urry was busy presenting her drawings, a poster setup, and an exclusively iPad shot and edited video, that all featured the nuclear topic, and focused on a very plain and daunting fact: The fact that deadly, and highly carcinogenic plutonium and cesium isotopes were spewed, and continue to be spewed into the Pacific Ocean to this very day from the world’s first, full blown, (triple) nuclear core MELT-THROUGH (many magnitudes more destructive than a traditional nuclear MELTDOWN because it enters groundwater tables). The project additionally featured and focused on the fact that this deadly radiation is now contained within the bodies of tuna and other edible fish in the great Pacific and beyond.

more/video: Kindergarten Fukushima Science Project Says it All: “Now tuna fish in California have cesium. YUK!” | EnviroNews

#OccupyNuclear.net

anti-nuclear actions, events & links 

#OccupyNuclear (whats up blog)

The OcNuke Daily • #OccupyNuclear news

#OccupyNuclear on Facebook

#OccupyNuclear on Twitter

what you think ?

forbidden archeology

view more artifacts

revelation

"As a child,


 my first 


earth shattering 


revelation,


was that 


I was going to die."

the edge

don't be a victim

Break The Spell

Ever feel that every day life is crowding in? That matters of the mundane are obscuring your view of the enchantment? Life can be complicated at times. If you find mundane issues are clouding your judgement I have a tonic for you :>)

Take a multi faceted cut glass crystal wash it well. Hang it at a sunny window, take note that the crystal is blessing you with rainbows on your ceiling or walls. Use a large glass, rinse well and fill with water. Hold the glass by the crystal so that tiny intense rainbows are held within the water.

As you do this look out of the window into the world, relax and watch as the crystal continues to charge the water. When you feel ready drink the water, sip it, as you do so visualize the spirit of the rainbow in your life. Feel yourself filling up with crystal light. If you do not finish the water keep it with you and drink it through out the day.

You may find that you see things differently in all aspects of your life and the rainbows will continue to bless you with energies that will make your work in the mundane much simplified. Leave the crystal hanging in the window, remember to wash it regularly.

http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html

http://motherdamnable.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=break+the+spell

http://www.danamrkich.com/workshops/wtrp/chakra_res.html

http://motherdamnable.blogspot.co.uk/2006/01/charmed-by-mundane.html

what do you think ?

johnny

Johnny Got His Gun is an anti-war novel written in 1938 by American novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and published September 1939 by J. B. Lippincott. The novel won one of the early National Book Awards: the Most Original Book of 1939.

Joe Bonham, a young soldier serving in World War I, awakens in a hospital bed after being caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost his arms, legs, and all of his face (including his eyes, ears, teeth, and tongue), but that his mind functions perfectly, leaving him a prisoner in his own body.

Joe attempts suicide by suffocation, but finds that he had been given a tracheotomy which he can neither remove nor control. At first Joe wishes to die, but later decides that he desires to be placed in a glass box and toured around the country in order to show others the true horrors of war. After he successfully communicates with his doctors by banging his head on his pillow in Morse code, however, he realizes that neither desire will be granted; it is implied that he will live the rest of his natural life in his condition.

As Joe drifts between reality and fantasy, he remembers his old life with his family and girlfriend, and reflects upon the myths and realities of war.

wake up

three aliens

lunar anomalies in apollo photos

"out there"

the tether incident

prison planet

"We are building 

a prison planet 

silence is consent 

wake up and speak up."

who is the seer ?

what's wrong with this picture ?

We Day and Save the Children

On Wednesday March 27, 2013, some 15,000 middle and high school students from around the state of Washington are expected to converge upon Key Arena in Seattle to celebrate We Day.  The students who are attending share one thing in common – they have committed to work on at least one globally-based service project and one project focused on a local problem.

This event is sponsored by Craig Kielburger, co-founder of Free the Children, and represents the twenty-fourth gathering and the first to be held outside Canada, the home of the organization.  Kielburger now thirty years old has been an activist for the causes of world peace and social justice since a young boy of twelve.  His story is exceptional and a brief description of his early life follows.   

Craig Kielburger was born on December 17, 1982.  He gained some notoriety as an activist for the rights of children around the world.  He is the founder of an organization called, Free the Children and Me to We.  Kielburger comes from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada.  At twelve years of age, he happened to come upon an article about the senseless murder of a young boy named Iqbal Masih.  This story was to launch Kielburger on a personal quest that would irrevocably change his life.

Iqbal Masih was a freed child laborer from Pakistan.  He had won the Reebok Youth in Action Award on account of his courageous decision to speak out against and in expose child labor abuses in his native country.  He came to the United States to receive this honor.  This child’s story is representative of the horrors so many children face in South Asia.  His parents had taken out a loan amounting to 600 rupees (equivalent to 12 USD) from an unscrupulous lender - who was the owner of a carpet factory - in order to pay for the wedding of their eldest son.  As repayment for this loan, Masih was forced to join other children whose job it was to squat before looms in the owner’s carpet factory tying miniscule knots in the products destined for world markets.  According to the nature of the agreement made with the owner, Masih would be literally owned by the manufacturer; until, the loan was fully paid off.  The boy was, in a sense, human collateral for this loan that in Western eyes would appear miniscule.  The “owner” retained the right to “sell” the boy to another factory owner.  As a consequence, Masih worked twelve hours a day and six days a week.

This horror does not end here.  For it was within the factory owner’s right to add on to the amount of the loan should the boy make mistakes and daily charges were made for the boy’s bowl of rice.  In addition, severe physical punishment was applied to these young children when mistakes were made; many of these hapless victims had scars on their hands and feet as a result of this kind of abuse.  Accidents were common as well given the long hours and physical exhaustion that accompanied this kind of work.

By the time Masih was ten years old, he realized that he would never be able to pay off the debt which now amounted to 13000 rupees.  With the help of a human rights organization that learned of his plight, Masih was able to escape and go on to school where he did exceedingly well.   He quickly learned to read and write and became an eloquent advocate for the rights of child workers and eventually campaigned on their behalf.

Masih’s personal dream was to become a lawyer and use his profession to help free more children trapped in the same kind of bondage that severely impacted his life.  All his aspirations were to end in tragedy, however, for on April 16, 1995, Masih was assassinated in Pakistan while attempting to visit his uncle on bicycle with two of his cousins; he was twelve years old at the time. 

Kielburger clearly remembered reading about this tragic event on April 19, 1995; this news had a profound effect upon him.  He questioned his mother about the story; her response was that he should go to the library and get more information.  The library was of little help, but by the time he returned home that day he remained extremely concerned about the tragic story of that boy and the horrific injustice that it spoke of.

This harsh reality that he was suddenly exposed to through something as innocuous as a newspaper article, seemed to light a fire in his mind.  As a result, he began making telephone calls to organizations dedicated to such issues.  Kielburger was to discover that all the persons he talked to over this issue that impacted children were adults; he found this very disturbing.  This apparent awakening in his awareness of the magnitude of this social inequity, Kielburger describes in the following way, “I’m always fascinated by coincidences, how one random event can come on the heels of another and together alter the whole direction of a person’s life.”

Eventually, Kielburger would be introduced to Alam Rahman from Bangladesh and shared his thoughts regarding child labor with him.  Rahman encouraged him to pursue the issue further.  In short order, Kielburger had organized students at his school and together they formed a group called, Free the Children with the goal of raising both awareness regarding this issue and funds to help combat it.

Kielburger often wondered why it was that even as a young boy he was so determined to be involved in such a large and important issue as the abuses of child labor.  His Grandfather on his father’s side was a German immigrant who arrived in Canada during the Great Depression (1929-1938).  His life and the life of his family were exceedingly difficult; they worked exceedingly hard.  In a similar way, his mother’s parents had a tough life.  Kielburger felt that he was instilled since childhood with a strong work ethic; his parents believed that anything was possible if one worked hard enough to achieve it.  His parents also emphasized the importance of issues of peace and social justice.  In addition, his older brother Marc had a profound impact upon him and served as a model for him to emulate, for Marc was concerned about environmental issues as a young boy and became an activist for this cause.

The Free the Children organization began to grow, not only on account of the indefatigable energy of the young Kielburger but also do the upwelling of support his organization received from many of his peers.  Many were shocked to learn that there were over 250 million child workers across the globe, and that, in general, their working conditions were abominable.

At the age of 12, Kielburger was invited to address two thousand delegates who were attending the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) regarding the work of Free the Children.  As a result of his presentation, the OFL agreed to pledge five thousand dollars to his organization.  This initial donation, created the momentum for other groups to donate as well.  Free the Children had truly taken off.  It is still extant to this day – freethechildren.com.

Kielburger’s real adventure began when his good friend Rahman – mentioned above – decided to take a year off from his university studies to travel through Asia and discover his ethnic roots.  He asked Kielburger to accompany him.  In this way, he suggested, Kielburger could meet working children throughout the region.  It took some convincing to receive the approval his reluctant parents, who were concerned about his safety.  Ultimately, they relented provided that some conditions were met to ensure their son’s well-being. 

After some negotiations, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) agreed to contact their offices in South Asia to see if they could help.  In addition, PLAN International – a development agency – became involved; PLAN representatives sought to find individuals in the countries on the travel itinerary who would be willing to take care of Rahman and Kielburger.

When all these many conditions were met, the ambitious trip actually materialized.  The two traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh, Bangkok Thailand, Calcutta, India, Kathmandu, Nepal, Varanasi, New Delhi, India, Karachi and Islamabad, Pakistan, Lahore and many other destinations.  In all these various and exotic locations, Kielburger witnessed firsthand the extent of child labor and actually met with many children who described their horrific experiences to him.  This remarkable and eventful journey had a definite impact on the young boy’s life.  As Kielburger describes it, “Shortly after my return to Canada, a newspaper quoted me as saying, ‘I divide my life into pre-Asia and post-Asia.’  I still do.  The trip had a profound effect on me, one that changed my life forever.  I would spread the word about the suffering of all the children I met.  I would let the world know that we, too, are part of the problem.  I would not fail them.”

This remarkable journey irrevocably transformed this young boy’s life.  The extreme nature of the social injustice endured by children throughout the world that Kielburger witnessed first-hand made him determined to draw the attention of people throughout the world , especially the young, to the plight of these young victims and to help make a change for the good. 

deep water

Regarding the Cayman Islands and the Phenomenon of Off-Shore Banking

There is a disturbing trend in the developed countries, especially in the United States, in which the very wealthy – the so-called super-rich – along with multinational corporations are using offshore accounts to evade taxation from their home countries. This is phenomenon is referred to as offshore banking. For US-based multi-nationals and private citizens, the usual repository for their capital is the Cayman Islands. These banking institutions are not subject to local financial regulations or local taxation.

This kind of financial activity represents an increasingly sizable portion of the entire global financial system. Current estimates are that as much as one-half of all capital finds its ways to these offshore institutions at some point. The Cayman Islands, as an example, serve as a tax haven for the exceedingly wealthy. In total, tax havens around the globe may hold over one-quarter of the world’s wealth within the accounts of only approximately 1% of the world's total population. In addition, some 30% of profits held by US multi-nationals are deposited in offshore accounts. There may be 3 trillion dollars in deposits in these banking institutions with large sums held in securities by so-called “international business companies” (IBCs). The Cayman island-based institutions are believed to hold 1.9 trillion dollars in deposits and are considered to be fifth largest of such centers. The tax advantages provided by such accounts are supported by the fact that some 25% of US corporations pay no federal income taxes.

Furthermore, according to the “World’s Wealth Report,” generated by Merrill Lynch, approximately one-third of the entire wealth held by the super-rich may be held in offshore accounts. A substantial portion of this wealth resides within the accounts of an estimated 90,000 individuals - .001% of the world population.

There are many disturbing consequences of this global-based trend –

These vast sums of money remove much needed financial resources from national economies and from appropriate taxation in many countries, including the so-called “developed” world.

With a diminished tax base, this puts additional burdens on the middle-class. An example of this is the current pressure in the United States to balance the federal budget by cutting back substantially on the government services provided to the middle-class and to the those in need.

The net result of the removal of a substantial portion of the world’s wealth is to exacerbate the endemic problem of unemployment and the growing unavailability of work paying a living wage. It also takes money away from the essential human institutions that make up the Commons and delays or aborts important societal infrastructure projects and innovations including those related to the global threat inherent in climate change.

In my mind, this problem is a fundamental issue that has serious and unprecedented consequences for the vast majority of people around the globe. It is also representative of a thoroughly corrupt mentality that places the interests of a very few individuals and institutions above the good of humanity. The fact that this reality is widely accepted by political systems on a worldwide basis is sufficient cause for alarm, for it demonstrates the corrupting influence of money and power. It is a sad testimonial to the failure of human institutions - represented by governments - to serve the public good. Without access to a large portion of the world’s real financial assets, billions of the world’s people suffer unnecessarily.

of god and gods

...oh yeah..........

you are here

"So tell me my man... 

you happy here... 

in the big world ?"

Ruby Rhod

rex mundi

testimony

"It is no measure of health 


to be well adjusted 


to a profoundly sick society"


Jiddu Krishnamurti