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Rough Magic
ROUGH MAGIC MOVIE REVIEW
Title: Rough Magic
Director: Clare Peploe
Writer: James Hadley Chase, Robert Mundi, William Brookfield, Clare Peploe
Cast: Bridget Fonda, Russell Crowe
Plot summary of ROUGH MAGIC:
Set in the 1950s, Rough Magic tells the story of what happens when a pretty apprentice magician goes to Mexico to escape her fiancé, a wealthy politician, and to find a Mayan shaman who will teach her ancient principles of magic. She is being trailed by a detective hired by her fiancé. He's a former photojournalist traumatized by what he saw in Hiroshima. The photojournalist joins her in the search for the Mayan shaman, and falls in love with her; the feeling is not reciprocated. When she finds the shaman, she drinks a potion which empowers her to do magic. The potion has life-changing effects on her and her relationship with her companion. They have strange experiences which are brought about by magic.
© Text and image: Wikipedia and IMDB
Although set in the maya region of Mexico, the movie shows some footage filmed in the lava fields of PARICUTIN volcano in Michoacán State. You can read more about this volcano on this blog entry [in spanish].
Etiquetas: English, Mexico, North America, TV & Cinema
Art of the Dogon
Title: Art of the Dogon
Author: Jan Baptist Bedaux
Synopsis(Some information by the author himself):
My name is Jan Baptist Bedaux and I would like to tell you something about my new book Art of the Dogon. A private collection of Dogon material culture, Bedaux Art Editions, Brussels 2012, 368 pp, 745 ills. in full colour, hard cover 30 x 30 cm, ISBN/EAN 978-90-818531-0-, that will appear in January 2012.
In the summer of 1975 I had my first encounter with the cultures of the Dogon and Tellem. This was at Utrecht University's Institute for Human Biology, whose exhibition represented over ten years' research by the institute's staff in the Republic of Mali in the area where the Dogon live and before them the Tellem.
The exhibition showed a wealth of items that had been placed in the caves as grave gifts for the Tellem dead – artefacts that were a constant inspiration to me when I founded my collection. In the same year, I acquired my first Tellem neckrests, which were included two years later in the Tellem exhibition in the Afrika Museum in Berg en Dal. These were soon followed by the first statues, which I bought in Paris from Michel Huguenin, Félicia Dialossin and Robert Duperrier.
My 35 years of collecting since then have created a collection that gives a broad view of the material culture of the Dogon and Tellem.
In my view, the value of the collection lies not just in its breadth, but also in the sheer variety of items. For, when compiling it, I was always guided by my ongoing fascination with the wide diversities within the Tellem and Dogon cultures.
The book contains 745 illustrations and descriptions of 650 objects spread over 368 pages. The cost is 95 € (without shipping).
Almost none of the items were ever published before. I am sure the collection will surprise you.
For a taste of Art of the Dogon click here (pdf).
As a bonus you get a signed copy when you buy through the website www.bedauxart.nl
©Text: Bedaux Art
Etiquetas: Africa, Cultural Heritage, Mali, Tribal Art, Tribes
Mazu belief and customs
UNESCO CULTURAL HERITAGE
As the most influential goddess of the sea in China, Mazu is at the centre of a host of beliefs and customs, including oral traditions, religious ceremonies and folk practices, throughout the country's coastal areas. Mazu is believed to have lived in the tenth century on Meizhou Island, where she dedicated herself to helping her fellow townspeople, and died attempting to rescue the survivors of a shipwreck. Local residents built a temple in her honour and began to venerate her as a goddess. She is celebrated twice each year in formal temple fairs, when Meizhou residents, farmers and fisherfolk temporarily suspend their work to sacrifice marine animals, venerate statues of Mazu and enjoy a variety of dances and other performances. Smaller worship ceremonies take place throughout the year in the other 5,000 Mazu temples around the world and in private homes; these may involve floral tributes; candles, incense and firecrackers; and evening processions of residents bearing 'Mazu lanterns'. Followers may implore the god for pregnancy, peace, the solution to a problem or general well-being. Deeply integrated into the lives of coastal Chinese and their descendants, belief in and commemoration of Mazu is an important cultural bond that promotes family harmony, social concord, and the social identity of these communities.
Inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
© Text: UNESCO, Image: First Mazu Temple of Meizhou
Etiquetas: Asia, China, Cultural Heritage
Title: Hotel Rwanda
Director: Terry George
Writer: Keir Pearson and Terry George
Country: USA, UK, Italy, South Africa
Plot summary:
The true-life story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.
Etiquetas: Africa, Rwanda, TV & Cinema
Un segle de l'arribada al Pol Sud
Avui fa un segle de l'arribada de Roald Amundsen al Pol Sud, finalitzant així la cursa que havien mantingut Noruega i el Regne Unit (amb Amundsen i Scott al davant) per a ser els primers en arribar-hi.
L'aprenentatge de les tècniques esquimals i dels trineus de gossos que Amundsen va realitzar durant el seu viatge de descoberta del pas del Nord-Oest uns anys abans van resultar ser vitals per a poder aconseguir l'objectiu en menys temps que Scott que, equipat amb animals deficients (els ponis de Shetland queien com a mosques al clima antàrtic), va acabar havent d'arrossegar amb tracció humana el seu pesat trineu.
La cursa del Pol Sud representa, en major grau que la cursa entre Peary i Cook pel Pol Nord (vegeu Último Grado al Polo Norte per a més informació), la competició de l'obsessió, ser el primer en entrar als llibres d'història, en aportar prestigi al país i en plantar una bandera.
Com els antics conquistadors espanyols en arribar a Amèrica, Amundsen plantà la bandera Noruega al bell mig de l'Antàrtida un dia com avui de fa cent anys, donant fama mundial a la recentment independitzada Noruega (com ho havia fet el seu predecessor polarista Fridtjof Nansen).
Robert Falcon Scott arribaria al Pol Sud 33 dies després. Desil·lusionat i sense un bon equipament, tot el grup d'Scott moriria durant el retorn. Les anotacions al seu diari posen la pell de gallina. El Regne Unit ho va viure com una humiliació nacional.
Amundsen retornà a Noruega triomfant. Per sempre més va quedar lligat a les zones polars, i participà després en expedicions al Pas del Nord-Est i al Pol Nord sobrevolant-lo amb el dirigible Norge.
Va desaparèixer el 1928 quan participava en una missió de rescat dels membres de l'expedició d'Umberto Nobile.
La base americana al Pol Sud, Amundsen-Scott, va ser batejada en honor dels dos expedicionaris que van competir pel Pol.
Per sempre més, quedaran units allà on el destí els va separar.
Etiquetas: Polar Regions
The Kirgiz ethnic minority in China, concentrated in the Xinjiang region in the west, pride themselves on their descent from the hero Manas, whose life and progeny are celebrated in one of the best-known elements of their oral tradition: the Manas epic. Traditionally sung by a Manaschi without musical accompaniment, epic performances takes place at social gatherings, community celebrations, ceremonies such as weddings and funerals and dedicated concerts. Regional variations abound, but all are characterized by pithy lyrics with phrases that now permeate the everyday language of the people, melodies adapted to the story and characters, and lively parables. The long epic records all the major historic events of greatest importance for the Kirgiz people and crystallizes their traditions and beliefs. The Kirgiz in China and the neighbouring Central Asian countries of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan regard the Manas as a key symbol of their cultural identity and the most important cultural form for public entertainment, the preservation of history, the transmission of knowledge to the young and the summoning of good fortune. One of the 'three major epics of China', it is both an outstanding artistic creation and an oral encyclopaedia of the Kirgiz people.
© Text: UNESCO, Image: Xinjiang Cultural Heritage
Etiquetas: Asia, China, Cultural Heritage, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
N'Diangane
Title: N'Diangane
Director: Mahama Traoré
Writer: Mahama Traoré
Country: Senegal, France
Mame is six years old child, living happily at home with his parents and playing in the fields, forests and nearby rivers with friends. Loved and well fed, he leads an idyllic life. In one fateful decision, all that changes.
Etiquetas: Africa, Senegal, TV & Cinema
Hua'er
In Gansu and Qinghai Provinces and throughout north-central China, people of nine different ethnic groups share a music tradition known as Hua'er. The music is drawn from an extensive traditional repertoire named after ethnicities, towns or flowers ('Tu People's ling', 'White Peony ling'), and lyrics are improvised in keeping with certain rules – for example, verses have three, four, five or six lines, each made up of seven syllables. Songs may tell of young love, the hard work and weariness of the farming life, the foibles of men and women or the joy of singing. The songs are also a vivid oral record of recent social developments in China as singers comment on the changes they observe around them. Hua'er singers may have little schooling, but the most successful and widely respected singers today have become household names, performing widely and even creating their own institutes to pass on their art to apprentices. Whether it is being sung spontaneously by rural people working in the field or travelling or performed more formally at one of more than a hundred traditional Hua'er festivals held annually in these provinces, Hua'er is an important vehicle for expressing personal feelings in a social setting and cultural exchange across ethnicities, as well as a popular rural entertainment.
Inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
© Text: UNESCO, Image: Linxia prefecture
Etiquetas: Asia, China, Cultural Heritage, Tribes
Komal Gandhar
Title: Komal Gandhar (A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale)
Director: Ritwik Ghatak
Writer: Rabindranath Tagore, Ritwik Ghatak
Komal Gandhar (English title: A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale; literally: E-flat) is a 1961 Bengali film written and directed by noted film maker Ritwik Ghatak. It was part of the trilogy, Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar, and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it, though this was the most optimistic film of his oeuvre. The film explores three themes juxtaposed in the narrative, the dilemma of Anusuya, the lead character, divided leadership of IPTA and the fallout of the partition of India.
The title was taken from the line of a poem by Rabindranath Tagore that meant a sur or note, E-flat. As in other films by Ghatak, music plays a pivotal role in the movie.
Through the microcosmic perspectivising of a group of devoted and uncompromising IPTA workers, Ghatak with his signature style touches on varied issues of partition, idealism, corruption, the interdependence of art and life, the scope of art, and class-struggle. Unlike his other films, this one runs along an upbeat mood with the lead pair of lovers (Bhrigu and Anusuya) being reunited.
Etiquetas: Asia, India, TV & Cinema
Grand song of the Dong
A popular saying among the Dong people in Guizhou Province in southern China has it that 'rice nourishes the body and songs nourish the soul'. Their tradition of passing on culture and knowledge in music is exemplified in the Grand Song of the Dong ethnic group, multi-part singing performed without instrumental accompaniment or a leader. The repertoire includes a range of genres such as ballads, children's songs, songs of greeting and imitative songs that test performers' virtuosity at mimicking the sounds of animals. Taught by masters to choirs of disciples, Grand Songs are performed formally in the drum-tower, the landmark venue for rituals, entertainment and meetings in a Dong village, or more spontaneously in homes or public places. They constitute a Dong encyclopaedia, narrating the people's history, extolling their belief in the unity of humans and nature, preserving scientific knowledge, expressing feelings of romantic love, and promoting moral values such as respect for one's elders and neighbours. Grand Song is performed widely today, with each village boasting various choirs divided by age and sometimes gender. In addition to disseminating their lifestyle and wisdom, it remains a crucial symbol of Dong ethnic identity and cultural heritage.
© Text: UNESCO, Image: China Ministry of Culture
Reo Franklin Fortune
ANTHROPOLOGISTS OF THE WORLD
Reo Franklin Fortune (1903 - 1979)
Reo Fortune was a New Zealand social anthropologist.
Originally trained as a psychologist, a Cambridge graduate (1928–1935), Fortune was a lecturer in social anthropology at the Cambridge University, and a specialist in Melanesian language and culture.
He was married to Margaret Mead, with whom he undertook field studies in New Guinea, from 1928 to 1935.
He is also known for his contribution to mathematics with his study of Fortunate numbers in number theory.
His works
As an anthropologist, his Sorcerers of Dobu remains the locus classicus of eastern Papuan anthropology.
Fortune was a student of Malinowski, the famous Trobriand ethnographer. He spent five months with the "fourty odd souls" that inhabited Tewara Island (north of Fergusson Island), in the hamlet Kubwagai, one month with the people of Basima on Fergusson, and some months later he concluded his field work with a one month stay on Dobu Island itself. During his stay he aquired a good knowledge of the language "by contagion", as he claims.
His classic book Sorcerers of Dobu contributed strongly to Massim ethnography and, according to Malinowski in his preface of the book, demonstrated the value of participant observation as a method of field work: "The present book may be regarded by the Functional Method as one of its triumphs in the field". In fact, Sorcerers of Dobu is a well written account of the social organisation of Tewara Islanders in the late 1920s. It covers many topics that are related to social life with a strong focus on economies (gardening, mortuary exchanges, kula exchange) and interpersonal relationships (marriage, conflicts within and between social groups, structural animosities and the effect of matrilineality).
The highlight of his ethnography however is Fortune's information on male sorcery, called by him "the black art". He collected an extraordinary amount of spells and techniques although this knowledge is regarded as amongst a person's most precious possessions. Perhaps partly due to his quite grizzly main topic his impression of "The Dobuan" was very negative. According to his former wife, Margaret Mead, he stated later on that he did not like them at all. His experience was that it was "an individualistic and quarrelsome society".
Fortune's work can still be seen as a historically interesting account of the Dobu language area.
© Text and photo: Wikipedia and New Zealand Library
Etiquetas: Anthropologists, Papua New Guinea, Tribes
Mead Film Festival 2011
Name: 35th Margaret Mead Film Festival
Dates: 10th to 13th November 2011
Entrance fee: Ticket fees per film
Place: Entrance for screenings is on 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, New York
Webpage: www.amnh.org/programs/mead/2011/
The Mead showcases the best in non-narrative filmmaking, encompassing a broad spectrum of work including international documentaries, experimental films, animation, hybrid works, and more.
The Festival presents documentaries that increase our understanding of the complexity and diversity of the peoples and cultures that populate our planet.
The Margaret Mead Film Festival is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work, from indigenous community media to experimental nonfiction. The Festival is distinguished by its outstanding selection of titles, which tackle diverse and challenging subjects, representing a range of issues and perspectives, and by the forums for discussion with filmmakers and speakers.
Opening Night with Grande Hotel (directed by Lotte Stoops)
www.grandehotelthemovie.com
The Grande Hotel in the East African seaside town of Beira, Mozambique, was once the most opulent resort on the continent. Now, it is home to an estimated 3,000 squatters. Living in this shell of former luxury, those on the margins of society create a self-enclosed community as the place they call home crumbles around them. As one voice in the film says, the history of the hotel is the history of the country itself.
About the Mead Film Festival:
Etiquetas: Africa, Mozambique, TV & Cinema
Gesar Epic Tradition
The ethnic Tibetan, Mongolian and Tu communities in western and northern China share the story of the ancient hero King Gesar, sent to heaven to vanquish monsters, depose the powerful, and aid the weak while unifying disparate tribes. The singers and storytellers who preserve the Gesar epic tradition perform episodes of the vast oral narrative (known as 'beads on a string') in alternating passages of prose and verse with numerous regional differences. Tibetan masters carry bronze mirrors and use facial expressions, sound effects and gestures to enhance their singing, while Mongolian performers are accompanied by fiddles and intersperse improvised, melodic singing with musical storytelling and oral narrative. Epic performances, often accompanied by rituals such as offerings and meditation, are embedded in the religious and daily lives of the community. For example, when a child is born, passages about King Gesar's descent into the world are sung. The hundreds of myths, folktales, ballads and proverbs handed down as part of the tradition not only serve as a form of major entertainment in rural communities but also educate listeners in history, religion, custom, morality and science. A continuing inspiration for thangka painting, Tibetan opera and other art forms, the Gesar epic imbues audiences both young and old with a sense of cultural identity and historical continuity.
© Text: UNESCO, Image: IEL of CASS
Etiquetas: Asia, China, Cultural Heritage, Mongolia, Tibet
The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves
Name: Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves
Dates: January 13, 2012–May 9, 2012
Place: National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall, Washington, DC
Webpage: www.americanindian.si.edu
This exhibition brings together rare works of art as a counterpoint to the supernatural storyline of the popular Twilight films. Interpreted by the Quileute people of coastal Washington, Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves offers an intimate look into the tribe's artwork and wolf creation stories, which are central to the Quileute world view. The exhibition includes two wolf headdresses from different regions, as well as replicas of items used on the Twilight set; a paddle necklace symbolizing the "canoe culture," and a necklace made from Olivella shells. A 12-minute video illuminates the history and oral and cultural traditions through interviews with tribal members and teens as they describe the phenomenon and effect of the Twilight films in their own words.
"Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves" is an exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian that brings together rare works of Quileute art as a counterpoint to the supernatural storyline depicted in the popular Twilight books and movies. Opening Jan. 13, 2012, the exhibition will be on view through May 9, 2012, in the museum's second-level Sealaska Gallery.
The exhibition showcases 23 objects, including elaborate wolf headdresses, rattles, baskets and a whale-bone dance club. Historic drawings created by Quileute teens who attended the Quileute Day School at Mora, near La Push, Wash., from 1905 through 1908, depict activities, including wolf ritual dances and shamanistic performances, house posts that were part of the Potlatch Hall and a whaling scene that shows a crew of eight men coming alongside a whale in their cedar canoe.
Visitors will be able to learn more about Quileute ritual life and the five secret societies that maintained balance between the human and spirit realms, including the Wolf society for warriors, the Fisherman's society for fisherman and sealers, the Hunter's or Elk society for land-animal hunters, the Whale Hunters and the Weatherman's Society, who predicted the weather. Whaling was an important but dangerous endeavor as the giant sea mammals where hunted on the open ocean from 35-foot dugout canoes.
The exhibition also includes a map of Quileute language place names of the modern village and the vast aboriginal territories stretching from the ocean to the Olympic Mountains, a timeline of Quileute history and a 12-minute looped video that illuminates the history and oral and cultural traditions through interviews with tribal members and teens as they describe the phenomenon and effect of the Twilight films in their own words.
Replicas of items used in the Twilight films include a paddle necklace worn by the character Emily portrayed by actor Tinsel Korey, a traditional Quileute hand drum that hangs in Emily's house, a shell necklace of Olivella shells that was on the wall of her house and the dream catcher that Jacob gives to Bella as a gift.
During the exhibition's opening weekend, Quileute tribal member and one of only two fluent speakers left in the tribe, Chris Morganroth III, will tell traditional stories for kids and families in the museum's imagiNATIONS Activity Center at 1:30 p.m. as well as presenting Quileute culture and stories in the Rasmuson Theater at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. during the Native Storytelling Festival, Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 14 and 15.
This exhibition was organized by the Quileute Nation and the Seattle Art Museum, where it was on view August 2010 through August 2011.
© Text and image: National Museum of the American Indian
Etiquetas: Exhibitions, North America, Tribes
Sir Wilfred Thesiger
EXPLORERS OF THE WORLD
Sir Wilfred Thesiger (1910 – 2003)
Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger, CBE, DSO, FRAS, FRGS (3 June 1910 – August 24, 2003) was a British explorer and travel writer born in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Thesiger was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford University where he took a third in history. Between 1930 and 1933, Thesiger represented Oxford at boxing and later (1933) became captain of the Oxford boxing team.
In 1930, Thesiger returned to Africa, having received a personal invitation by Emperor Haile Selassie to attend his coronation. He returned again in 1933 in an expedition, funded in part by the Royal Geographical Society, to explore the course of the Awash River. During this expedition, he became the first European to enter the Aussa Sultanate and visit Lake Abbe.
Afterwards, in 1935, Thesiger joined the Sudan Political Service stationed in Darfur and the Upper Nile. He served in several desert campaigns with the Sudan Defence Force (SDF) and the Special Air Service (SAS) with the rank of major.
In World War II, Thesiger fought with Gideon Force in Ethiopia during the East African Campaign. He was awarded the DSO[1] for capturing Agibar and its garrison of 2500 Italian troops. Afterwards, Thesiger served in the Long Range Desert Group during the North African Campaign.
There is a rare wartime photograph of Thesiger in this period. He appears in a well-known photograph usually used to illustrate the badge of the Greek Sacred Squadron. It is usually captioned 'a Greek officer of the Sacred Band briefing British troops'. The officer is recognisably the famous Tsigantes and one of the crowd is recognisably Thesiger. Thesiger is the tall figure with the distinct nasal profile. Characteristically, he is in Arab headdress. Thesiger was the liaison officer to the Greek Squadron.
In 1945, Thesiger worked in Arabia with the Desert Locusts Research Organisation. Meanwhile, from 1945 to 1949, he explored the southern regions of the Arabian peninsula and twice crossed the Empty Quarter. His travels also took him to Iraq, Persia (now Iran), Kurdistan, French West Africa, Pakistan and Kenya. He returned to England in the 1990s and was knighted in 1995.
Thesiger is best known for two travel books. Arabian Sands (1959) recounts his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins. The Marsh Arabs (1964) is an account of the Madan, the indigenous people of the marshlands of southern Iraq. The latter journey is also covered by his travelling companion, Gavin Maxwell, in A Reed Shaken by the Wind — a Journey through the Unexplored Marshlands of Iraq (Longman, 1959).
Thesiger took many photographs during his travels and donated his vast collection of 23,000 negatives to the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.
Obituary from The Guardian, August 27th 2003
Explorer whose mystic vision rejected the modern technological world in favour of the tribes people of Africa and the Arabian deserts
Once, in 1946, Wilfred Thesiger lay starving on a sand dune in Arabia's Empty Quarter for three days, waiting for his Bedu companions to bring back food, and tortured by hallucinations of cars and lorries that could carry him to safety. "No," he wrote later, "I would rather be here starving as I was than sitting in a chair, replete with food, listening to the wireless and dependent on cars to take me through Arabia." As an explorer, Thesiger, who has died aged 93, recognised that satisfaction in attaining a goal was directly in proportion to the hardship and challenge involved in getting there.
He reserved the word "abomination" for cars and aeroplanes, and all his life resented the intrusion of any innovation post-dating the steam engine. His mystical regard for tradition was a product both of his childhood in still-medieval Abyssinia and an intense pride in his aristocratic forebears, the Barons of Chelmsford.
Born in Addis Ababa, where his father was British minister, he grew up in the barbaric splendour of an imperial court, and was privileged to see a victorious and blooded Abyssinian army marching through the city in the full panoply of war. It was an experience he never forgot.
Daydreams of Africa and the wider world were his means of escape throughout his awkward and often unhappy schooldays at St Aubyn's school, Rottingdean, in Sussex (1919-23), Eton College (1923-28), and his time reading history at Magdalen College, Oxford (1929-33). During his first summer vacation from the university, he set off alone, working his passage on a tramp steamer to Istanbul and returning third-class by train.
So began the travels that he recorded in fine prose and black-and-white photography. On his return, he found both a personal invitation to attend the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia, and a note from the Foreign Office appointing him honorary attaché to the Duke of Gloucester for the event - where he met Evelyn Waugh, a writer of very different sympathies.
For his second vacation, he set himself another endurance test, a month with a Hull fishing trawler off Iceland. Here he learnt to withstand the need for sleep.
But Africa was his goal, and at the age of only 23 he went to explore Abyssinia's Awash River and the forbidding Aussa sultanate with its Danakil nomads, chiefly noted for a disturbing tendency to kill men and carry off their testicles as trophies. Such practices held little horror for Thesiger, who had survived fagging and flogging at Eton, and saw at least one young Afar man, flushed from the exertion of slaughtering and mutilating four victims in a day, as "the equivalent of a nice, rather self-conscious Etonian who had just won his school colours for cricket".
Thesiger gained his own blue, for boxing at Oxford - when he captained the university team in 1933, a victory against Cambridge was marred by the breaking of his noble nose - and like many an athletically endowed young Oxbridge graduate of the 30s, he sought a career in the country where "blues" were said to rule "blacks": the Sudan. As an assistant district commissioner in the Sudan political service from 1935 onwards, he served in arid Darfur, and later in the steaming swamps of the Sudd, where one of his chief jobs was shooting troublesome lions that attacked local herds.
It was in Darfur that he first learned to travel by fast-riding camel with local companions, dressing as they did, eating local food out of the same bowl, and asking nothing of technology but a good rifle, a torch and a compass. During one leave he completed a long and dangerous journey to the almost unknown Tibesti mountains in the Sahara, and fell in love with the desert: "I was exhilarated by the sense of space, the silence, and the crisp cleanness of the sand. I felt in harmony with the past, travelling as men had travelled for untold generations across the deserts, dependent for their survival on the endurance of their camels and their own inherited skills."
During the war he was a bimbashi - the most junior officer rank - in the Sudan defence force. He won the DSO in 1941 for leadership under fire in fighting the Italians, under the idiosyncratic Orde Wingate in the liberation of Abyssinia. With a masterstroke of bluff, he subsequently forced the surrender of an Italian-held fort, taking 2,500 prisoners. He later fought as a major, as second in command of a Druze legion formed to fight the Vichy French in Syria - which enabled him to visit a deserted Petra. He also served with Colonel David Stirling's Special Air Service (SAS) in north Africa. Following the defeat of the Afrika Korps in 1943, the SAS went to Palestine, and in October of that year Thesiger left the organisation to act as an adviser to Haile Selassie in Abyssinia.
A resulting chance meeting brought him a job in what became the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation's anti-locust unit and the opportunity to make his most famous journeys in the deserts of Arabia under its aegis, between 1945 and 1949. Arabia's legendary Empty Quarter had been the goal of all Arabian explorers from Richard Burton onward, and although Thesiger was not the first to cross it, he was the first to explore it thoroughly, mapping the oasis of Liwa and the quicksands of Umm As-Sammim. He crossed the desert twice with Bedu companions, and his trek across the western sands from the Hadhramaut to Abu Dhabi was the last and greatest expedition of Arabian travel.
During his journeys he was caught up in inter-tribal raids, pursued by hostile raiders, and arrested by the Saudi authorities. He travelled alone in the Hejaz, the Assir and Najran, and explored the Trucial Coast and Dhofar in southern Arabia. He lived with the canoe-borne marshmen of Iraq for several periods over the seven years up to the Iraqi revolution of 1958, attaining acceptance only by learning the unusual skill of circumcision.
He still found time to travel in Kurdistan, Hunza (north-east Pakistan), Swat, Chitral (both north-west Pakistan), and Nuristan (across the border in north-east Afghanistan), where in 1956, 16,600ft up in the high passes, he bumped into a dispirited Eric Newby and friend Hugh Carless, and invited them to spend the night with him. They got on well until Thesiger saw them blowing up inflatable air-beds before retiring. "You must be a couple of pansies!" he said.
He crisscrossed postwar Abyssinia, fought on the royalist side in the civil war in Yemen (1966-67), traversed most of northern Kenya, where he spent much time between 1968 and 1994, travelled with the Bakhtiari nomads in Iran, trekked across the burning plains of the Dasht-i-Lut, the Great Sand Desert of eastern Iran, and explored inner Afghanistan. All of these travels and many more - in total tens of thousands of miles - were made either on foot or by traditional transport, be it camel, horse, mule, donkey or canoe.
Thesiger felt least at home in his own culture and with his own kind. He resented the juggernaut of western "civilisation" and its inexorable movement to squash what he believed was the colour and diversity of the earth's peoples. His sympathies were with the indigenes, and his closest human ties were with certain of them who were his companions on his many journeys - his Zaghawa servant in the Sudan, his Bedu companions in Arabia, his paddlers in Iraq and his Samburu family in Kenya. ("Sex has been of no consequence to me, and the celibacy of desert life left me untroubled. Marriage would certainly have been a crippling handicap.") Few other explorers of the last century have tried so genuinely to see the world through the eyes of these foreign peoples. Yet much as he despised civilisation, Thesiger was never able to forsake completely his place in it.
Had he done so, he might never have left us his unique glimpses of strange worlds, in his classic books The Marsh Arabs (1964) and Desert, Marsh And Mountain (1979), his autobiography The Life Of My Choice (1987), his portfolio of superb monochrome photos, Visions Of A Nomad (1987), and above all his description of the traditional life of the Bedu, Arabian Sands (1959), probably the finest book ever written about Arabia and a tribute to a world now lost forever.
He won the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society, together with three other medals from learned societies, honorary fellowships of Magdalen College, Oxford, and the British Academy, and an Honorary DLitt from Leicester University. In 1968, he was awarded a CBE, and in 1995 he was knighted.
Yet, far more than these many honours, he valued the friendship and confidence of the nomadic peoples with whom and among whom he travelled. Thesiger's best years were the five he spent among the Bedu of South Arabia, and one cherished companion from those days, Salim bin Ghabeisha, when a greybeard in his 60s, remembered him: "He was loyal, generous, and afraid of nothing. He was a wonderful man to travel with." Thesiger would, I am sure, ask no better epitaph.
Copyright: Wikipedia, Oxford University Exploration Club
Etiquetas: Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Ethiopia, Explorers, Kenya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen
Meet the Natives
Title: Meet the Natives
Running time: 45 minutes each episode
Country: UK and USA
Website: www.natgeotv.com/uk/meet-the-natives
Meet the Natives is a reality television show that first aired in September 2007 on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. This series included five tribesmen: Yapa, Joel, JJ, Posen and Albi, from the island of Tanna (Vanuatu) who travel to England to participate in an experiment which Guy Adams of The Independent called reverse anthropology.
The series has three episodes in which they visited a Norfolk pig farm, a Manchester estate, and Chillingham Castle in Northumberland.
Meet the Natives: USA is a spin off of the UK version of this television series in which the tribesmen travel to the United States, this time on a quest to learn more about the land and also share their ideas and beliefs. Meet the Natives: USA aired on the Travel Channel in November and December 2009.
The 6 episodes for the American series are:
1. "Montana"
For their first stop, the tribesmen traveled to a cattle farm in Montana. During their visit, they learned how Americans raise and maintain farms. The tribe did not like the fact that medicine is injected into the cows that people actually eat for the fear of "spoiling the body".
2. "New York"
The men visited New York's upper class area where they meet Bunny, who lives alone while her husband is away on business and her children are away at college. Bunny introduces them to the art of painting. The tribe starts to realize that America lives off of money. They take interest in an individual who is homeless and quickly explain how their culture would not allow for an individual to be homeless.
3. "Peoria"
In Peoria, the tribesmen get the chance to experience Thanksgiving. While helping cook the meal, they have some concerns with the way in which the food had been stored. They were particularly concerned with using a plastic oven bag to cook the turkey in for the fear of being poisoned. They also were shocked that people ate food that has been stored in tin cans for months, maybe even years. They realized that the way Americans cook is very different from the way they are used to cooking.
4. "Orange County"
The men travel to Orange County, California where they experience the life of being pampered with pedicures, facials and mud baths. They also play golf, observe a home Botox party, and ride roller coasters at Knott's Berry Farm. They notice that there is a lot of food available as well as the usage of cars for almost everything.
5. "Fort Stewart"
The tribesmen travel to Fort Stewart and Washington, D.C., where they learn more about the war that America is fighting and they also give advice on keeping peace. They explain that they do not agree with people fighting other people and they vigorously tried to relay the message that America should put the guns down and keep peace. They speak with Colin Powell to try to get their message across to the people of America.
6. "Reflections"
The group reflects back on the experience they had while visiting America. They express that they know there are some differences, but for the most part people in America are loving and very welcoming individuals. They also reflect back on the "big animals" of America, such as the buffalo, and their first time seeing snow. While in the U.S they loved eating ice cream and sweets such as candy. They are preparing to go back home and tell the rest of their tribe about their experience and everything they learned about American culture.
American series cast:
Chief Mangau is the chief of the tribe who is the elder and leader of their tribe. He was sent with the others by his father, the supreme chief of the tribe back in Tanna. His purpose of going on this journey with the other four men was to serve as a leader and to help keep the rest of the men on track. He is the oldest of the five men at the age of 65 years old.
Keimua serves as the "head dancer" of the group. Back in Tanna he helps coordinate dance routines and teaches the children of the tribe how to do the traditional dances. In America he brings smiles to many faces with charm and love for dancing.
Sam is the "medicine man" of the tribe and serves as somewhat of a doctor of the tribe. During his visit to the United states he was specifically interested in how Americans treat themselves of different infections and diseases. He gave advice and shared the different treatments that his tribe has traditionally used throughout the tribes history.
Kuai serves as the "happy man" of the tribe. He is known for spreading happiness and jokes. In Tanna his purpose is to help keep the tribe happy in times of sadness and also everyday life. While in the United States he kept the families that they were staying with laughing and kept the field open for memorable moments.
Namus is the translator of the group. Holding one of the most important roles of the group he helps to connect the two worlds together. Without him the experience may have been very different for the tribe and the families in America. As a young child he had gone away to school to learn English. He is also the youngest of the group at the age of 27 years old.
"Tom Navy" is one of the major reasons for the tribesmen's visit to the United States. The tribe has learned that America is at war and they want to return the message of keeping peace that the U.S had given them once before. During World War II, the Americans helped to keep the tribe at peace during a time when the tribe was fighting. "Tom Navy" is described as an African American serviceman who helped the tribe during this time. During their visit to America the tribe had wished to meet Tom Navy to thank him for his help, provided during hard times. The show's executive producer, Charlie Parsons, guessed that back during the war there was a man by the name of Tom, who was from the Navy and his name was understood by the tribe as being Tom Navy.
In the UK series, the tribesmen meet finally and off-camera, Prince Philip, who they adore as a god. The Prince Philip Movement is a religious sect followed by the Yaohnanen tribe on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu.
The Yaohnanen believe that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort to Queen Elizabeth II, is a divine being; the pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit and brother of John Frum. According to ancient tales the son travelled over the seas to a distant land, married a powerful lady and would in time return. The villagers had observed the respect accorded to Queen Elizabeth II by colonial officials and came to the conclusion that her husband, Prince Philip, must be the son from their legends.
When the cult formed is unclear, but it is likely that it was sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. Their beliefs were strengthened by the royal couple's official visit to Vanuatu in 1974, when a few villagers had the opportunity to observe the Prince from afar. At the time the Prince was not aware of the cult, but the matter was eventually brought to his attention by John Champion, the British Resident Commissioner in Vanuatu between 1975 and 1978.
The Resident Commissioner suggested that the Prince send them a portrait of himself. A signed official photograph was duly dispatched. The villagers responded by sending a traditional nal-nal club. As requested, the Prince in return sent them a photograph of himself posing with the weapon. Another photograph was sent in 2000. All three photographs were kept by Chief Jack Naiva, who died in 2009.
On September 27, 2007, British television station Channel 4 broadcast Meet the Natives, a reality show about five Tanna natives of the Prince Philip Movement on a visit to Britain; their visit culminated in an off-screen audience with Philip, where gifts were exchanged, including a new photograph of the Prince.
Yaohnanen people were featured on the second season of the Spanish television series "Perdidos en la Tribu" (Lost in the Tribe), on which they cohabitated with a Spanish family during the course of 21 days, teaching them their customs and culture, and also in the first season of the same Portuguese series called "Perdidos na Tribo".
© Text and image: Wikipedia, Channel 4
Etiquetas: Oceania, Tribal Art, Vanuatu
The Iban of Sarawak
Name: Iban
Living Area: Sarawak (Malaysia)
Population: >600.000 people
Language: Iban language
The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. In Malaysia, most Ibans are located in Sarawak, a small portion in Sabah and some in west Malaysia. They were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks. Ibans were renowned for practising headhunting and tribal/territorial expansion. In ancient times the Ibans were a strong and successful warring tribe in Borneo.
Today, the days of headhunting and piracy are long gone and in has come the modern era of globalization and technology for the Ibans. The Iban population is concentrated in Sarawak, Brunei, and in the West Kalimantan region of Indonesia. They live in longhouses called rumah panjai. Most of the Iban longhouses are equipped with modern facilities such as electricity and water supply and other facilities such as (tar sealed) roads, telephone lines and the internet. Younger Ibans are mostly found in urban areas and visit their hometowns during the holidays. The Ibans today are becoming increasingly urbanised while retaining most of their traditional heritage and culture.
The origin of the name Iban is a mystery, although many theories exist. During the British colonial era, the Ibans were called Sea Dayaks. Some believe that the word Iban was an ancient original Iban word for people or man. The modern-day Iban word for people or man is mensia, a totally modified Malay loan word of the same meaning (manusia) of Sanskrit root.
The Ibans were the original inhabitants of Borneo Island. Like the other Dayak tribes, they were originally farmers, hunters, and gatherers. Not much is known about Iban people before the arrival of the Western expeditions to Asia. Nothing was ever recorded by any voyagers about them.
The Ibans started moving to areas in what is today's Sarawak around the 15th century. After an initial phase of colonising and settling the river valleys, displacing or absorbing the local tribes, a phase of internecine warfare began. Local leaders were forced to resist the tax collectors of the sultans of Brunei. At the same time, Malay influence was felt, and Iban leaders began to be known by Malay titles such as Datu (Datuk), Nakhoda and Orang Kaya.
In later years, the Iban encountered the Bajau and Illanun, coming in galleys from the Philippines. These were seafaring tribes who came plundering throughout Borneo. One famous Iban legendary figure known as Lebor Menoa from Entanak, near modern-day Betong, fought and successfully defeated the Bajaus and Illanuns. It is likely that the Ibans learned seafaring skills from the Bajau and the Illanun, using these skills to plunder other tribes living in coastal areas, such as the Melanaus and the Selakos. This is evident with the existence of the seldom-used Iban boat with sail, called the bandung. This may also be one of the reasons James Brooke, who arrived in Sarawak around 1838, called the Ibans Sea Dayaks. For more than a century, the Ibans were known as Sea Dayaks to Westerners.
The Ibans were traditionally animist, although the majority are now Christian. Many continue to observe both Christian and traditional ceremonies, particularly during marriages or festivals.
Significant festivals include the rice harvesting festival Gawai Dayak, the main festival for the Ibans. Other festivals include the bird festival Gawai Burong and the spirit festival Gawai Antu. The Gawai Dayak festival is celebrated every year on the 1st of June, at the end of the harvest season, to worship the Lord Sempulang Gana. On this day, the Ibans get together to celebrate, often visiting each other. The Iban traditional dance, the ngajat, is performed accompanied by the taboh and gendang, the Ibans' traditional music. Pua Kumbu, the Iban traditional cloth, is used to decorate houses. Tuak, which is originally made of rice, is a wine used to serve guests. Nowadays, there are various kinds of tuak, made with rice alternatives such as sugar cane, ginger and corn.
The Gawai Burong (the bird festival) is held in honour of the war god, Singalang Burong. (Singalang the Bird). This festival is initiated by a notable individual from time to time and hosted by individual longhouses. The Gawai Burong originally honoured warriors, but during more peaceful times evolved into a healing ceremony. The recitation of pantun (traditional chants by poets) is a particularly important aspect of the festival.
Iban music is percussion-oriented. The Iban have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles - percussion ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drones without any accompanying melodic instrument. The typical Iban agung ensemble will include a set of engkerumungs (small agungs arranged together side by side and played like a xylophone), a tawak (the so-called 'bass'), a bendai (which acts as a snare) and also a set of ketebung (a single sided drum/percussion).
The Iban as well as the Kayan and Kenyah also play an instrument resembling the guitar called Sape (instrument). The Sape is the official musical instrument for the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is played similarly to the way rock guitarists play guitar solos, albeit a little slower, but not as slow as blues.
The Ibans perform a unique dance called the ngajat. It serves many purposes depending on the occasion. Iban men and women have different styles of ngajat. The ngajat involves a lot of precise body-turning movements. For men is more aggressive and depicts a man going to war, or a bird flying (as a respect to the Iban god of war, Singalang Burong). The women's form of ngajat consists of soft, graceful movements with very precise body turns. Each ngajat is accompanied by the taboh or the body.
Known by their: headhunting
Headhunting among the Ibans is believed to have started when the lands occupied by the Ibans became over-populated. In those days, before the arrival of western civilization, intruding on lands belonging to other tribes resulted in death. Confrontation was the only way of survival.
In those days, the way of war was the only way that any Dayak tribe could achieve prosperity and fortune. Dayak warfare was brutal and bloody, to the point of ethnic cleansing. Many extinct tribes, such as the Seru and Bliun, are believed to have been assimilated or wiped out by the Ibans. Tribes like the Bukitan, who were the original inhabitants of Saribas, are believed to have been assimilated or forced northwards as far as Bintulu by the Ibans. The Ukits were also believed to have been nearly wiped out by the Ibans.
© Text: Wikipedia, Image: Kumuka
Etiquetas: Asia, Malaysia, Tribes


The International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (IAMFC) is an organization that promotes excellence in the practice of family counseling by creating and disseminating first-class publications and media products, providing a forum for exploration of family-related issues, involving a diverse group of dedicated professionals in our activities, and emphasizing collaborative efforts. One of our most fruitful collaborations is with the National Academy for Certified Family Therapists.
IAMFC is a division of the American Counseling Association (ACA) , which embraces a multicultural approach in support of the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of the families we serve.
Proposed Bylaws Revisions : Bylaw changes have been suggested as of April 20, 2002. Please take time to compare these revisions with IAMFC's current bylaws .
Advocacy Efforts : Check here for the latest news on legislation and regulations for marriage and family counselors.
Distinguished Presenters Videos : Check here for purchase information.
ACA Books : Click here for purchase information. Be sure to check out the "Couples, Marriage, Divorce and Family" and "Audio/Video" sections for the latest books and videos in the field of marriage and family counseling.


text:
Q: Reload screen when data change - react native app I have two tabbar : ListMusic | Favourite.
When I add a song to favourite in tab ListMusic, how can I set listener for tab Favourite know that it need for reload to display new data.
Thanks!

A: You can set one prop state which will be set on each change of ListMusic and use that prop in Favourite as key in render() 's parent view component. So, whenever state changes it will re-render Favourite.
Example:
render() {
    const unconfirmedErrorMsgToken = this.props.unconfirmedErrorMsgToken;
    return (
      <View key={this.state.ListMusicSuccess} >
        ...
      </View>
    );
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Greenbank School
01606288028| lleech@greenbank.cheshire.sch.uk |http://www.greenbankschool.org/
Greenbank School is a co-educational secondary school with a residential facility registered with the Department of Education as a school for pupils with Moderate and Severe Learning Difficulties. Throughout the last decade we have provided for secondary age pupils with Social / Communication and Complex Learning Difficulties, including Autistic Spectrum Conditions.
Situated on a large educational campus in Hartford on the outskirts of Northwich, Cheshire. Greenbank shares the campus with 2 secondary schools, 2 primary schools, a special school, a Children's Centre and Mid Cheshire College.
Greenbank has 99 pupils and students aged 11-18 years; all of whom have a Statement of Special Educational Need.
'Greenbank is a remarkably happy school where students feel exceptionally well cared for and supported in a calm and purposeful environment' OFSTED Report 2013

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Romanz was a South African pop/opera vocal quartet. They sung predominantly in Afrikaans and also in English. They won several prominent awards for their work. They disbanded in 2014. Adam Barnard died on 6 May 2022.

Members

Past Members:
 André Venter (2008–2014)
 Burgend Botha (2008–2014)
 Adam Barnard (2008–2014)
 Christopher Lee Viljoen (2012–2014)
 Louis Loock (2008–2012)

Discography

Studio albums
 My Hele Hart (2009)
 Bly Getrou (2009)
 Ek Sal Getuig (2010)
 'N Duisend Drome (2011)
 Hou Vas (2012)
 With All My Heart (2012)
 Lig Jou Stem Op (2013)

Live albums
  2010: Treffers Live (CD)
  2011: Ek Sal Getuig 'Live' CD

DVDs
  2010: Treffers Live (DVD)
  2011: Ek Sal Getuig 'Live' DVD

References

South African musical groups
Vocal quartets
Afrikaans-language singers
Musical groups established in 2008
South African pop music groups

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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MALAYSIA'S SARAWAK Energy Bhd (SEB) is in talks with Brunei and Sabah authorities on proposed power exchange agreements.
Chairman Amar Abdul Hamed Sepawi said the agreements would provide a platform for SEB to develop the proposed Borneo power grid that would pave the way for Sarawak to export electricity to neighbouring Brunei and Sabah.
He said SEB, which is now undertaking the fourth hydroelectric dam project in Baleh in central Sarawak, had taken the first step towards establishing a Trans-Borneo power grid with its first interconnection to west Kalimantan, Indonesia, last year.
Under an agreement with Perusahan Listrik Negara Persero (which is an Indonesian utility body), SEB commenced the export of 50MW initially to west Kalimantan last year and this would be gradually increased to 230MW.
StarBiz had reported earlier that the final report for the feasibility study on the Sarawak-Brunei Power Interconnection System was completed about seven years ago.
The study was carried out under a memorandum of understanding signed between SEB, Brunei's Prime Minister's Office and Brunei Department of Electrical Services to collaborate on the generation, connection and distribution of power as well as management of electricity supply between the Brunei and Sarawak governments.
Brunei was said to have agreed to purchase 100MW of electricity from SEB, with an option to buy another 50MW.
It was also reported that the proposed first phase of power export to Brunei would be from Tudan via the border point in Sg Tujuh, Miri, while the second phase might be via Limbang after a proposed hydro dam in Trusan is built.
More recently, there were high-level discussions between Sarawak and Brunei leaders concerning the potential for Brunei to contribute equity to the development of hydroelectric dams in Sarawak.
At SEB's Hari Raya gathering last Friday, Chief Minister Datuk Amar Johari Tun Openg said Sarawak would go ahead in building the proposed Trusan dam in Lawas, Limbang. The proposed dam is expected to generate up to 200MW and will be the first to be developed in the northern region.
Johari was reported to have discussed with the Brunei Sultan on the proposed dam project during a recent visit to the sultanate.
According to Abdul Hamed, the feasibility studies on the Trusan dam project were completed about four years ago.


text:
Q: add request header on backbone My server has a manual authorization. I need to put the username/password of my server to my backbone request inorder for it to go through. How may i do this? Any ideas? Thank you

A: My approach to something like this would be overwrite the sync method in order to add the header before doing the request.
In the example you could see that I'm creating a Backbone.AuthenticatedModel, which extends from Backbone.Model.
This will impact all methods (GET, POST, DELETE, etc)
Backbone.AuthenticatedModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
    sync: function(method, collection, options){
        options = options || {};
        options.beforeSend = function (xhr) {
            var user = "myusername";// your actual username
            var pass = "mypassword";// your actual password
            var token = user.concat(":", pass);
            xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization', ("Basic ".concat(btoa(token))));
        };
        return Backbone.Model.prototype.sync.apply(this, arguments);
    }

});

Then you have to simple extend the model you need to have authentication, from the Backbone.AuthenticatedModel you have created:
var Process = Backbone.AuthenticatedModel.extend({
    url: '/api/process',

});

A: Models in Backbone retrieve, update, and destroy data using the methods fetch, save, and destroy.  These methods delegate the actual request portion to Backbone.sync.  Under the hood, all Backbone.sync is doing is creating an ajax request using jQuery.  In order to incorporate your Basic HTTP authentication you have a couple of options.
fetch, save, and destroy all accept an additional parameter [options].  These [options] are simply a dictionary of jQuery request options that get included into jQuery ajax call that is made.  This means you can easily define a simple method which appends the authentication:
sendAuthentication = function (xhr) {
  var user = "myusername";// your actual username
  var pass = "mypassword";// your actual password
  var token = user.concat(":", pass);
  xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization', ("Basic ".concat(btoa(token))));
}

And include it in each fetch, save, and destroy call you make.  Like so:
 fetch({
  beforeSend: sendAuthentication
 });

This can create quite a bit of repetition.  Another option could be to override the Backbone.sync method, copy the original code and just include the beforeSend option into each jQuery ajax request that is made.
Hope this helps!

A: The easiest way to add request header in Backbone.js is to just pass them over to the fetch method as parameters, e.g.
MyCollection.fetch( { headers: {'Authorization' :'Basic USERNAME:PASSWORD'} } );

A: Object.save(
  {'used': true}
  {headers: {'Access-Token': 'access_token'}}
)

A: One option might be to use the jQuery ajaxSetup, All Backbone requests will eventually use the underlying jQuery ajax. The benefit of this approach is that you only have to add it one place.
$.ajaxSetup({
    headers: { 'Authorization' :'Basic USERNAME:PASSWORD' }
});

Edit 2nd Jan 2018
For complex web applications this may not be the best approach, see comments below. Leaving the answer here for references sake.

A: Create a custom sync method that intercepts the calls to Backbone.sync and stuffs your authorization headers in and passes everything else through:
    REPORTING_API_KEY = 'secretKeyHere';
    CustomSync = function(method, model, options) {
        options.headers = {
            'Authorization' : 'Bearer ' + REPORTING_API_KEY
        };
        return Backbone.sync(method, model, options);
    };

Then overwrite your model's sync with that one:
    MyModel = Backbone.Model.extend({
        urlRoot: '/api/',
        sync: CustomSync
    });

A: You could override Backbone sync method.
#coffeescript
_sync = Backbone.sync
Backbone.sync = (method, model, options) ->
    options.beforeSend = (xhr) ->
        xhr.setRequestHeader('X-Auth-Token_or_other_header' , your_hash_key)
        #make sure your server accepts X-Auth-Token_or_other_header!!
    #calling the original sync function so we only overriding what we need
    _sync.call( this, method, model, options )

A: Backbone.$.ajaxSetup({
    headers: {'Authorization' :'Basic USERNAME:PASSWORD'}
});

This code set headers to Backbone ajax, so they will be sent with every Backbone.sync. You will be able to send headers without using xhr.setRequestHeader with every sync call.
So you don't need to do the following every time:
MyCollection.fetch({ headers: {'Authorization' :'Basic USERNAME:PASSWORD'} } );

You can just do
MyCollection.fetch();

Maybe it's kind of hack but it works perfectly for my system.

A: Try to use it. We can use either
beforeSend: function(xhr) {
    xhr.setRequestHeader('X-CSRFToken', csrf_token);
},

or
headers: {
    "X-CSRFToken": csrf_token
},

But I would recomment the first option(beforeSend).
Here is the working code snippet in my case.
var csrf_token = this.getCSRFToken();
self.collection.fetch(
{
    beforeSend: function(xhr) {
        xhr.setRequestHeader('X-CSRFToken', csrf_token);
    },
    // headers: {
    //     "X-CSRFToken": csrf_token
    // },
    data: {
        "mark_as": "read"
    },
    type: 'POST',
    success: function () {
        if (clickLink) {
            window.location.href = clickLink;
        } else {
            self.unreadNotificationsClicked(e);
            // fetch the latest notification count
            self.counter_icon_view.refresh();
        }
    },
    error: function(){
        alert('erorr');
    }
});

A: *

*In the client side, add this before any server communication:
$.ajaxSetup({
    xhrFields: {
        withCredentials: true
    },
    async: true
});

*In the server side add these headers (PHP):
header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://your-client-app-domain');
header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods: PUT, GET, POST, DELETE, OPTIONS");
header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Content-Type, Authorization, X-Requested-With");
header('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials: true');


text:
Tomino's Hell
July 28, 2018 February 25, 2019 kowabana20422 Views 14 Comments curse
There exists a poem that you must not read out loud. That poem is called Tomino's Hell. This poem is the work of Saijou Yaso, a popular poet who worked on children's nursery rhymes and popular song lyrics. The poem is recorded in the poetry collection Sakin.
If you read it out loud, you will meet with misfortune. In reality, people have claimed to feel ill whilst reading this poem, so I recommend those who are weak to self-suggestion to read the poem silently.
I will leave it up to you how you perceive the poem itself.
You will find it below.
His older sister vomits blood, and his younger sister vomits fire,
And the cute Tomino vomits his soul.
Tomino falls into Hell alone,
The darkness of Hell where even flowers don't bloom.
Is it Tomino's older sister wielding the whip?
The blood on the whip weighs on his mind.
Beating and striking yet not hitting at all,
There is but a single road to the eighth and most painful Hell.
Would you request guidance into the darkness of Hell,
From the golden sheep, or the nightingale?
Put as much as you can into the leather sack,
In preparation for the journey into the most painful of Hells.
Spring comes to the forest and the valley,
And to the seven twisting valleys of dark Hell.
The nightingale in the cage, the sheep in the cart,
And tears in the eyes of cute Tomino.
Cry, nightingale, in the forest rains,
He screams as loud as he can in yearning for his younger sister.
The cries echo throughout Hell,
And the buttercup blooms.
Through the seven mountains and seven valleys of Hell,
The cute Tomino's solo journey.
If they are in Hell, bring them,
The mountain of pins and needles.
The red pins don't stand out,
As a sign leading to cute Tomino.
Japanese romanisation
Ane wa chi wo haku, imoto wa hibaku,
Kawaii Tomino wa tama wo haku.
Muchi no shubusa ga ki ni kakaru.
Tatakeya tatakiyare tatakazu totemo,
Kane no hitsuji ni, uguisu ni.
Kawa no fukuro niya ikura hodo ireyo,
Mugen jigoku no tabijitaku.
Haru ga kite soro hayashi ni tani ni,
Kurai jigoku tani nana magari.
Kago niya uguisu, kuruma niya hitsuji,
Imouto koishi to koe kagiri.
Kitsune botan no hana ga saku.
Akai tomebari date ni wa sasanu,
Kawaii tomino no mejirushini.
Tomino's Hell, or Tomino no Jigoku, was written by poet Saijou Yaso in the 1919 poetry collection Sakin. He was 26 at the time. On the surface, the poem is about a person named Tomino and their journey through hell. It's said that if you read the poem out loud, then you will either die or suffer from a great catastrophe. In 1983, a director by the name of Terayama Shuji made a film based on the poem and later died, which was how rumours of the poem being cursed first came about.
But why is the poem cursed? Who is Tomino and why is he or she in Hell?
Even for Japanese speakers, the true meaning behind Tomino's Hell can be difficult to understand. There are countless blog entries and forum posts where readers ask others what the poem means, and if any of them have been brave enough to read it out loud. There are several interpretations, and it's up to the reader to decide for themselves what the poem means to them. I've included the Japanese lyrics in romaji above to go with my original translation, as I found most of the available English translations on the internet to be lacking. There appears to be a lot of misleading information about this particular legend in English, so let's take a closer look at what's going on.
At face level this is a poem about Tomino travelling through hell. Who is Tomino? The gender is never mentioned in Japanese, nor is Tomino a common name particular to boys or girls. It can be deduced from the poem that Tomino is a male, however, as expressed by his love for his younger sister. There's more, but I'll get to that in a moment.
The poem begins by letting the reader know that Tomino has thrown up his tama. This is the first important point. The kanji used in the poem are the characters for 'treasure.' The reading given for those kanji, however, is tama, expresses 'balls' or 'beads.' This is on purpose, as it's meant to draw a parallel to tamashii, one's spirit. Tomino has thrown up his spirit. He has lost his soul, and thus he begins his descent into Hell.
Yet Tomino is not travelling through Hell; not literally, anyway. It is largely believed that the poem is a metaphor for war. His older sister spits up blood; she is passionately encouraging him to fight for their country and win the war. His younger sister spits up fire; she is encouraging him in her own innocent way as he sets out. Then Tomino spits up his tama; he is presenting his life for the cause. The poem repeatedly refers to Tomino as cute, letting the reader know this is only a young man, still innocent himself when he sets out.
Much of the imagery presented throughout the rest of the poem draws allusions to the battlefield and the horrors present within. He sees the buttercups, those flowers that often grow between the rice fields back home. The poem mentions him hitting and beating and yet not striking at all, reminding us of the fruitlessness of it all. He cries for his younger sister, and as he travels through the seven valleys of Hell to reach the last, the eighth and most painful, he suffers more and more.
Something that gets lost in translation is the last few lines. The 'red pins' signify the senninbari that soldiers used to wear into war. This was a piece of white cloth, usually a metre long, that was sewn with a thousand red stitches from a thousand different women. Different patterns and slogans could be sewn in, and the soldiers wore them as good luck and a sign of devotion to the women they left behind. They were supposed to give the wearer courage, good luck, and immunity from injury. These were generally made by the soldier's family; their mothers, sisters, girlfriends or wives. These women would traditionally stand near temples, stations or other busy areas of town and ask passing women to sew a single stitch, although in later periods, such as WWII, these were made en masse by thousands of women at once and then posted to soldiers already at war.
So this senninbari is not just a sign of good luck, it's also supposed to be an identifying mark, a mejirishi; should Tomino die on the battlefield, they can identify him by his senninbari and return him to his family. The final lines mention that his senninbari does not 'stand out,' however, and it's left to the reader to imagine why. If Tomino is unable to be identified, that means first of all that he has likely died in battle, and secondly that he won't be returned to his family. Suddenly the poem takes on an entirely different meaning, one even scarier than the literal reading of traversing through Hell.
BECOMING A LEGEND
In 1974, a movie called Denen ni Shisu (To Die in the Countryside) was released. It was written and directed by Terayama Shuji, and he took a lot of inspiration from Tomino's Hell when making the film. When he later died, people claimed it was because of that poem. There were also rumours of a female university student who died after reading it.
Yet in reality, Tomino's Hell did not become the urban legend it is today until 2004. In the book Kokoro wa Korogaru Ishi no you ni, author Yomota Inuhiko claimed "If you by chance happen to read this poem out loud, after you will suffer from a terrible fate which cannot be escaped." Even though people have been reading Tomino's Hell out loud since 1919, it wasn't until 2004 that one person claimed that it was cursed. While Yomota only claimed that one would suffer a terrible fate, rumours of Terayama and the university student were also floating around at the time, so it didn't take long for the legend to mutate and turn into "read this poem out loud and you will die." Never mind that Terayama died nine years after his film was made, and no-one knew who this female university student was. The poem's creator, Saijou Yaso, lived to the ripe old age of 78 himself, 51 years after creating and presumably reading the poem out loud countless times during his life.
Never take a mirror into the mountains →
14 thoughts on "Tomino's Hell"
I read the Japanese version but with a lot of mistakes, will it still kill me?
i read the poem aloud, don't do it. it can either kill you or make you suffer a catastrophe. or even be in a perpetual hell of your own. before the poem my life was grand, i was happy and i had things going for me. after the poem, it affected me as well as some else around me. i no longer have a will to live and in constant mental pain. at first i thought it didn't effect me but i think it did. i got a girlfriend 2 days later, happy right? wrong. i know something is wrong i can feel it. i suffer all day and night because, well, i don't even know. maybe it is a just normal? maybe i'm overreacting. just don't do it
i was cursed before creation begin. yet jesus helped me through hell itself. now you should pray too friend
i read it aloud night before last and nothing happened to me. the only thing that was happening was my elbow was hurting and that had been hurting from me throwing a ball around to relieve some stress
Thank you for that beautiful and lucid interpretation. I loved how, towards the end, you catalogued this poem's journey from a simple work of art to a full blown urban legend, just through fear-mongering. Thank you for upholding practicality in the face of superstition.
I agree. I am glad someone is thinking practically instead of letting themselves be swayed by rumors.
Yes I agree too. I really haven't read it but why would someone take a poem and turn in into a bad interpretation a rumor,
kinu
It is a beautiful poem but i woudnt read it out loud last time i read it out loud my aunt died 4 days afterward
Kevin Hernandez
I almost died
how did you almost die?
I read it and my mother now has an allergy to peanuts
DeianaDominguezLaDominicana
Did you read it out loud?
Pingback:Top 5 Toshiden (Japanese Urban Legend) Episodes | Kowabana
I read it in both English and Japanese and nothing happened to me. It's all good fam we won't die and shit won't happen!


text:
Q: How should protobuf message with repeated fields be converted to parquet to be queried by Athena? We write parquet files to S3 and then use Athena to query from that data. We use "parquet-protobuf" library to convert proto message into parquet record. We recently added a repeated field into our proto message definition and we were expecting to be able to fetch/query that using Athena.
message LedgerRecord {
....
repeated uint64 shared_account_ids = 168; //newly added field
}
Resulting parquet schema as seen by parquet-tools inspect command.
############ Column(shared_account_ids) ############
name: shared_account_ids
path: shared_account_ids
max_definition_level: 1
max_repetition_level: 1
physical_type: INT64
logical_type: None
converted_type (legacy): NONE
Athena table alternation
alter TABLE order_transactions_with_projections add columns (shared_account_ids array);
Simple Query that fails
With T1 as (( SELECT DISTINCT record_id, msg_type, rec, time_sent, shared_account_ids FROM ledger_int_dev.order_transactions_with_projections WHERE environment='int-dev-cert' AND ( epoch_day>=19082 AND epoch_day<=19172) AND company='12' )) select * from T1 ORDER BY time_sent DESC LIMIT 100
Error:
HIVE_CANNOT_OPEN_SPLIT: Error opening Hive split s3://<file_name>.snappy.parquet (offset=0, length=48634): org.apache.parquet.io.PrimitiveColumnIO cannot be cast to org.apache.parquet.io.GroupColumnIO
How do I convert protobuf message with "repeated" field into parquet so that Athena understands the field as an ARRAY instead of primitive type ? Is intermediate conversion to AVRO necessary as mentioned in https://github.com/rdblue/parquet-avro-protobuf/blob/master/README.md or parquet-mr library can directly be used?


text:
// This file is part of Notepad++ project
// Copyright (C)2003 Don HO <don.h@free.fr>
//
// This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
// modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
// as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
// version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
//
// Note that the GPL places important restrictions on "derived works", yet
// it does not provide a detailed definition of that term.  To avoid
// misunderstandings, we consider an application to constitute a
// "derivative work" for the purpose of this license if it does any of the
// following:
// 1. Integrates source code from Notepad++.
// 2. Integrates/includes/aggregates Notepad++ into a proprietary executable
//    installer, such as those produced by InstallShield.
// 3. Links to a library or executes a program that does any of the above.
//
// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
// GNU General Public License for more details.
//
// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
// along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
// Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

#ifndef CLIPBOARDHISTORYPANEL_H
#define CLIPBOARDHISTORYPANEL_H

//#include <windows.h>
#ifndef DOCKINGDLGINTERFACE_H
#include "DockingDlgInterface.h"
#endif //DOCKINGDLGINTERFACE_H

#include "clipboardHistoryPanel_rc.h"
#include <vector>

#define CH_PROJECTPANELTITLE		TEXT("Clipboard History")

typedef std::vector<unsigned char> ClipboardData;

class ScintillaEditView;

class ByteArray {
public:
	ByteArray():_pBytes(NULL), _length(0) {};
	ByteArray(ClipboardData cd);

	~ByteArray() {
		if (_pBytes)
			delete [] _pBytes;
		_pBytes = NULL;
		_length = 0;
	};
	const unsigned char * getPointer() const {return _pBytes;};
	size_t getLength() const {return _length;};
protected:
	unsigned char *_pBytes;
	size_t _length;
};

class StringArray : public ByteArray {
public:
	StringArray(ClipboardData cd, size_t maxLen);
};

class ClipboardHistoryPanel : public DockingDlgInterface {
public:
	ClipboardHistoryPanel(): DockingDlgInterface(IDD_CLIPBOARDHISTORY_PANEL), _ppEditView(NULL), _hwndNextCbViewer(NULL), _lbBgColor(-1), _lbFgColor(-1) {};

	void init(HINSTANCE hInst, HWND hPere, ScintillaEditView **ppEditView) {
		DockingDlgInterface::init(hInst, hPere);
		_ppEditView = ppEditView;
	};
/*
    virtual void display(bool toShow = true) const {
        DockingDlgInterface::display(toShow);
    };
*/

    void setParent(HWND parent2set){
        _hParent = parent2set;
    };

	//void switchEncoding();
	ClipboardData getClipboadData();
	void addToClipboadHistory(ClipboardData cbd);
	int getClipboardDataIndex(ClipboardData cbd);

	virtual void setBackgroundColor(COLORREF bgColour) {
		_lbBgColor = bgColour;
    };
	virtual void setForegroundColor(COLORREF fgColour) {
		_lbFgColor = fgColour;
    };

	void drawItem(LPDRAWITEMSTRUCT lpDrawItemStruct);

protected:
	virtual BOOL CALLBACK ClipboardHistoryPanel::run_dlgProc(UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);

private:
	ScintillaEditView **_ppEditView;
	std::vector<ClipboardData> _clipboardDataVector;
	HWND _hwndNextCbViewer;
	int _lbBgColor;
	int _lbFgColor;

};
#endif // CLIPBOARDHISTORYPANEL_H

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I don't like soft food.
I love to stay at home even though by nature I love to go outside.
I am afraid of fire, that's why I rarely cook.
I do things in lightning speed.
I like to do things my way.
I can't eat when I am not hungry.
I never make the first move.
I have my own little world which not many people understand.
I care and wanted to help.
I am alone in ' this' .
I lost you and there's nothing I can do about it.
I can't eat what I want and stay slim.
I have three beautiful kids that keep me busy.
I am forty and pregnant.
I have a very challenging job.
I have a blog that keep me sane.
I found this I am list from Casey Leigh, so I decided to make one of my own.
Now you know a little bit more about myself. If you are curious about me...> check out Simply Me.


In the life in the Alps, the tradition will be mixed with the mordern. Experience a day with an alpine family. Cow milking, cheese making und many other highlights wait for your.
You will take the chair lift from Filzbach up to the Habergschwänd where you will go on a short walk (ca. 30 minutes) to the "Mittleren Nüen" alp (or ca. 1 hour to the "Oberen Nüen" alp).
Now you will try cow milking (as you will also need milk to make the cheese)! You will balance on the milking stool and will milk a glassful to start with. After this work, we will relax for lunch − either outside for a spit roast or inside, in the herdsman's hut. This is the perfect place for enjoying Alpine life and the beauty of nature. In the afternoon you will see for yourself how milk is made into cheese.
Alpine Raclette Cheese: in the fall, enjoy it with a fine meal. For example, after a snowshoe tour on the Nüenalp.
Alpine Cheese Mutschli: each person makes their own utschli.
Glarner Alpine Cheese: the classic. Enjoyment of the alp until far into the winter.
Life up here is simple and many don't even know that such a life exists. However, the people of the Alps are young and dynamic! And the view to the Linthebene region is fantastic!
Enjoy a delicious dinner in the Hotel Römerturm or Hotel Lihn afterwards. Groups of up to 16 people can also spend the night on the alp.


The Department of Theatre presents "Circle Mirror Transformation" by Annie Baker.
Free to Denison students, faculty and staff. General admission $8, Senior Citizen $5, Non-Denison students $4. Tickets may be reserved by calling the box office at 740-587-6544.
The Department of Theatre presents "Circle Mirror Transformation" by Annie Baker, directed by Jim Dennen.
theatre games become the stuff of real-world betrayal, personal revelation, and heartbreak. At once funny and sad, theatrical, and intimate, Circle Mirror Transformation was the winner of an Obie Award in 2010 for Best New American Play and playwright, Annie Baker, recently won an ultra-prestigious Macarthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship for her inspired and affecting body of work.
The play takes place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8 through Nov. 10, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11, and at 8 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, Nov. 13 to Nov. 15.


text:
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (USA 940113)
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What do Chickens Like to Eat? Corn Cob Treats of Course!
Leftover corn cobs from Halloween and Thanksgiving don't need to be thrown away. You may wonder can chickens eat corn cobs? Yes they can. They can be used to make a nutrient rich activity treat. This treat is high in protein that will help to keep them active and warm through the colder months and fight boredom if they need to be confined.
1. Pull back the husks and remove the silk from the corn.
2. Wrap the twine around the joint where the husk and cob connect.
3. Allow the cobs to dry.
4. Spread peanut butter, or other nut butter, onto the dried cob.
5. Roll in the chicken feed or a mixture of grains and seeds.
6. Now the cob is ready to hang. You can make up several cobs and freeze them to use later.
You may wonder can chickens eat pumpkin seeds and guts? Yes, they can. You can save the seeds when you're carving pumpkins or making pies so you have them year round. You can also add some meat, fruit, vegetables and seeds that you've dehydrated, for a nourishing treat that will keep your backyard chickens active if you hang it in their run. This solves the two issues at once, what to feed chickens and how to stave boredom. To hang the cob, either drill a hole through at one end and fasten with twine, or wrap twine tightly around one end. (Drill the hole first and insert the twine or wrap the twine securely around and tie off before spreading with the nut butter.) Store them in the freezer to serve up at any time the chickens are bored and need some activity.
One note of caution; do not reuse the cobs if these have been placed on the ground or fallen to the ground in the chicken run. This will help prevent the spread of illness and disease. In addition, if there are any illnesses within your flock, do not reuse the cobs in the event they are infected with the pathogens.
There's really no need to measure the ingredients. I just took a couple handfuls of feed, a pinch or two of herbs and flower petals, a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds and mixed it all together. Then I poured the mixture onto a cooking sheet and rolled the peanut butter coated cobs in the mixture. I made sure to press down to fully cover and seal the mixture into the nut butter.
If you're using the molasses or honey, mix it thoroughly with the peanut butter, then spread on the cobs. A ratio of 2-1 works fine.
Cobs that you have already eaten from will also work just fine. Allow them to dry, then wrap the twine around one end and proceed as above.


text:
10 Bucket-List Destinations That Don't Cost a Fortune
You can visit these postcard-worthy places on a shoestring budget.
By Liz Weiss, Staff Writer June 20, 2016
By Liz Weiss, Staff Writer June 20, 2016, at 2:01 p.m.
View all in one page
Embark on the trip of a lifetime without busting your budget.
Taking a once-in-a-lifetime trip, particularly one in a far-flung locale, isn't always within reach for the frugal traveler. Perhaps, you're dreaming of heading on an adrenaline-fueled journey to Machu Picchu's famed "lost city of the Incas," or exploring the legendary temples of Southeast Asia. Or maybe your perfect trip involves immersive experiences, such as trekking across the Great Wall of China or admiring jaw-dropping views in Niagara Falls. While it's true that some exotic places aren't well-suited for the bargain hunter, there are many must-see destinations that cater to budgets high and low. To direct you to inspiring and affordable frontiers, we asked industry experts and seasoned explorers to share top trips to cross off your list.
Next:The Great Wall of China
When it comes to extraordinary bucket-list destinations, it's hard to beat the Great Wall of China, which stretches across nearly 5,500 miles and has a history that dates back to about 200 B.C. "Every country has a must-see monument, but few of those monuments span the entire country," says Alex Howard, Lonely Planet's Western U.S. and Canada destination editor. Best of all, there are plenty of cheap dining options, moderately priced accommodations and easy public transportation in China, he adds. Beijing, which is only about 40 miles away from a popular stretch of the wall in Badaling, China, offers an easy and affordable starting point for your trip.
Our nation's capital is home to must-see museums and monuments, a burgeoning culinary scene and plenty of vibrant neighborhoods. If you've never made the pilgrimage to D.C., the city is certainly one to cross off your list, whether you're a history buff, an art lover or simply looking to check out classic attractions such as the White House and the Washington Monument. As Robert Firpo-Cappiello, editor in chief of Budget Travel, puts it, "the not-so-secret magic of D.C. is that most attractions are free," he says, pointing out that the Smithsonian museums, the National Gallery of Art and the U.S. Capitol building offer free admission.
With the National Park Service's 100th anniversary fast approaching on Aug. 25, there's no better time to explore Grand Canyon National Park. At 277 miles long, the Grand Canyon is "truly one of the wonders of the world and perhaps the wonder of the United States," says Clem Bason, CEO of goSeek. To trim travel costs, he suggests flying into top hubs in Phoenix or Las Vegas, picking up a rental car and driving to Flagstaff, Arizona, which is conveniently located near the North Rim of the park, he says. Howard also points out that because the park is in the desert, "you won't have to worry about bad weather," making it easy to cut costs by camping beneath the stars.
With striking natural splendors – from majestic granite domes to dramatic waterfalls to massive sequoias – Yosemite Valley offers a myriad of wonders. Whether you have your heart set on checking out Half Dome, the John Muir Trail or the vistas from Glacier Point lookout, you'll find plenty of captivating points of interest. To optimize savings, Bason recommends visiting in late spring or early fall, when crowds and prices go down. If you have a tight budget, he suggests looking at options in nearby Sonora, California, which offers many two- and three-star hotels and vacation rentals. "You should be able to spend less than $150 a night, if not less than $100," he adds.
In the Emerald Isle, you'll find lush landscapes, history-filled enclaves and fascinating cultural traditions. Dublin, the country's largest city, offers a vibrant introduction to the country, with must-see sites such as Dublin Castle, St. Patrick's Cathedral and lively Grafton Street. "Dublin is closer, more affordable and friendlier than almost any other European capital, and we love how easy it is to explore its center city on a budget," Firpo-Cappiello says. Affordable flights are easy to come by, too, with Google Flights currently showing round-trip treks from New York City airports starting at $596 in August and $690 from Boston's Logan International Airport for the same period.
With three legendary falls – American, Horseshoe and Bridal Veil – Niagara Falls offers an awe-inspiring experience for spectators. Whether you want to soak in the scenery from the Maid of the Mist steamboats at the base of the falls or check out the plummeting water from unique vantage points behind the falls, there's no shortage of ways to experience Instagram-worthy views. To revel in the scenery without paying a hefty price tag, Bason suggests hitting the road to dodge expensive airfare. He also advises staying on the Canadian side to take advantage of the favorable exchange rate against the U.S. dollar. "You can find two- or three-star hotels for around $50 a night," he says.
Iceland's towering waterfalls, striking geothermal pools and otherworldly landscapes beckon to the adventurous traveler. You can't miss taking a dip in the Blue Lagoon, heading on a drive to remember on Ring Road or admiring the northern lights. Reykjavik, the country's capital city, offers an excellent home base for taking in Iceland's diverse natural attractions. Plus, you won't have to pinch pennies to get there. Firpo-Cappiello points out that budget carrier WOW Air offers affordable flight prices, and with manageable distances from place to place, it's easy to drive around much of the island.
While getting to Machu Picchu's famed ruins won't be easy or cost-effective, once you make the trek to Cusco, Peru, you'll find plenty of affordable dining and lodging options. Plus, there are a variety of moderately priced, small group tours available with reputable outfitters. G Adventures, for instance, offers a seven-day trek through Machu Picchu, Cusco and other points of interest in Peru starting at $1,249 per person. If you decide to plan a trip to the UNESCO site on your own, remember tickets sell out weeks ahead of time during the peak season, from May to September.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Gazing at the centuries-old Angkor Wat temple is a sight to behold. "It's the world's greatest Hindu temple," Howard says. It is "quite literally a vision of heaven on earth," he adds. Reaching the city of Siem Reap, which is less than 4 miles from the temple complex, won't be an easy endeavor, and depending on your travel dates, airfare can be pricey. But Cambodia is an excellent budget destination that is packed with sophisticated urban centers and affordable places to stay, Howard notes. At the Golden Temple Residence in Siem Reap, for example, you'll find rooms starting at just $104 a night.
If you're based in North America and your perfect vacation involves strolling along cobbled streets, admiring graceful European-style architecture and reveling in old-world charm, Quebec City should be high on your list, Howard says. Plus, Old Quebec, a UNESCO World Heritage site, retains its storied 17th century colonial buildings and offers a myriad of historic sites, including the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame and The Battlefields Park. What's more, with the strength of the U.S. dollar, it's easy to pull off an affordable getaway.
Liz Weiss, Staff Writer
Liz Weiss is a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report. With more than six years of ... Read more
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Just at the top of my street is an old town distance post. In the horse and buggy days, this part of the road was the way to get from Grafton to Glen Innes. The initials of the towns have long faded as has the distance numbers. If there is a bush fire in the area, this is old wooden post is one of the things that I try to keep safe.
This month Paula has supplied some words that had me thinking and trying to find just the right photo to match the word supplied.
How did you think I went?
Last weekend we went for a drive along Rambaldinis Rd. More of that drive in a future post. In the mean time, here is a bit of Rambaldinis Rd for you to enjoy.


Guthrie, William an eminent clergyman of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, was born at Pitforthy in 1620. He studied at the University of St. Andrew's, and in 1644 became minister of the parish church of Finwick. He died in 1655.
His principal work is The Christian's Great Interest, with Introductory Essay by T. Chalmers, D.D., and Life (Glasgow, 1850, 7th ed. 12mo). This work has been translated into several languages. See W. Dunlap, Memoirs of W. Guthrie; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliographica, i, 1357; Howie, Scots Worthies, p. 434.


February 11, 2019 - Here are the current libor rates for today. Today's Libor Rates for 2/11/19 are: 1 Month Libor Rate - 2.50413 & 3 Month Libor Rate - 2.69775%. The overnight Libor rate is 2.38575. As you can see, Libor Rates changed today, February 11, 2019.


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We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect person information you provide against accidental, unlawful or unauthorised destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use.
Our checkout process uses industry standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) 128-bit encryption which secures your data. However, submission of information over the internet are never entirely secure.
We process your payments using secure Verifone payment gateway. Click here to find more about Verifone security.
We may pass your personal data to third parties who are authorised data processors or service providers (i.e. Royal mail, Verifone) to us for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf. We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do so. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will also hold the data securely and retain it for the period we instruct.
We will hold your personal data on our systems for as long as you are registered with us and for as long afterwards as it is in our legitimate interest to do so or for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligations. We will review your personal data every year to establish whether we are still entitled to process it. If we decide that we are not entitled to do so, we will stop processing your personal data except that we will retain your personal data in an archived form to comply with future legal obligations (i.e. compliance with tax requirements and exemptions). We will securely destroy all personal information once we no longer need it.
We offer you the opportunity to opt-in to subscribe to our e-newsletter. However, you can easily opt-out any time either by clicking on unsubscribe link found in the bottom of the e-newsletter or updating the communication preferences. Alternatively, you can also opt-out by contacting us. Similarly, you can also opt-in or opt-out to receive e-newsletters while participating in competitions or prize draws.
Micro-targeting, we allow selected third-parties to use tracking pixels on the site to track browsing habits and interactions across the site.
We gather certain information and store it in log files when you interact with our Website and Services. This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses as well as browser type, internet service provider, URLs of referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, information you search for, locale and language preferences, identification numbers associated with your devices, your mobile carrier, and system configuration information.
We use a third-party provider Zendesk, to supply and support our Live Chat service.
If you use the Live Chat service we may collect your name, email address or any other personal details you choose to share with us at the time. For more information click here.
This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of our collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Contact us for making any such request.
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. You are advised to check our website www.fragrancedirect.co.uk regularly for any amendments.