text:
Technology in the 1990's
Timeline created by BE3022
Smart pills are pills that control the amount of medicine it releases. It was invented byJerome Schentag. These pills are now used by almost every pill making company.
Texting was first used in 1993 by Riku Pihkonen in Finland. He used two Nokia mobile phones. He also used ther first text messaging network.
Genetic engineering is altering an organisms gentics. It is very useful ranging from changing bacteria to altering crops. Genetically altered food has been sold also.
The Internet was first released to the world in 1995. Scientists had been working on it for a long time. They finally commercialized it and released it to the public.
Java computer language
It is now a multi purpose computer program. It is a high level programming language developed bu Sum Microsystems. It was originally called OAK
DVD is an optical disc storage format. DVD's are made by machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD. Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic.
The USB stands for universal serial bus. They can transfer information from computer to computer. They are themosrt used port of the modern computer.
Tagagotchi is a handheld digital pet. It was sold in Bandai in Japan. Over 76 million of them were sold.
The Nintendo 64 was one of the first products made by Nintendo. It was released in Japan. They were dicontinued in 2002 and replaced by the game cube.
Cloned Sheep
A sheep named Dolly was cloned from an adult somatic cell. They did it by using nuclear transfer. She ended up living for seven years.
Gas powered fuel cell
A fuel cell is a device that changes fuel into electricity. There are many different types that all work. The first commercial usage was by NASA.
Google was first incorperated as a privately held company. It quickely bacame the most popular search engine in the world. It is one of the most useful tools on the internet.
The game boy color was advanced by the game boy in black and white. It was first released into Japan and spread. It was a little bit thicker and a taller screan. Advanced from the Game boy pocket it has an 8 bit processor.
Tekno Bubbles
Tekno bubbles were black light bubbles. There is a lot of science and chemistry put into making them.These bubbles absorb and invisible ultraviolet source to work.
TiVo was the first digital video receorder. It has been made and sold in many different countries. It was developed by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay
Antecedentes de la estadística
Les évènements marquants du Québec au XVII siècle
A Antiguidade Clássica
Evolução do site do DN Madeira
Reformas electorales
"Stamped - Giana"
Psicología Política
Energía del Mar
Periodo entre Guerras
8A/Sales ~ Independent Reading #1 '' IGRAINE THE BRAVE" by
Linea del tiempo sobre la Evolucion de la Calidad
Autores y obras más importantes de la Edad Media
Timeline of the Glorious Revolution
LOS 30 EVENTOS MAS IMPORTANTES DE LA MICROBIOLOGIA
Los Filosofos de la naturaleza continua y discontinua de la materia
Timeline of Swimming
The Main Events of "The Outsiders" made by S.E. Hinton
Científicos contribuyentes a la Teoría Celular
Events of the animal farm
The Most Important Events in New York History
Evolucion de las Bocinas
Darian Rojas
Other Inventions of the 1940s
linea del tiempo contextual de mexico 1940 a 1980
Technology Timeline 1990-2013
linea del tiempo historia de la gestión empresarial
John Dalton's Life


text:
Revel Sold To Florida Billionaire Straub For $82 Million
Back from the dead: Glenn Straub finally gets his hands on the shuttered Revel casino resort, which he plans to turn into a casino-cum-center devoted to life extension science. (Image: wsj.com)
Sold, to the eccentric Florida billionaire in the front row: one gigantic, doomed casino resort that leaks $2 million a week. Stunning views of the beach.
Yes, after months of tortuous legal wrangling, property developer Glenn Straub has finally got his mitts on the stricken Revel Casino Resort in Atlantic City. He will pay $82 million for the building, a fraction of the $2.4 billion it cost to build.
His plans? Well, Revel will NOT become an elite university where the brightest minds in the world can wander up and down the boardwalk ruminating on solutions to global problems, such as "famine, cancer and nuclear waste storage," as Straub previously proposed.
Instead, it will become some kind of weird center devoted to the pursuit of eternal youth, or "life-extension science," to use the preferred terminology. We imagine this is very big in Florida.
Oh, and a casino.
Life Extension for Revel
Yes, despite, previous statements that he dislikes the very idea of Atlantic City as a casino town and that he would feel uncomfortable about profiting from gambling (although, given Revel's history, there would seem to be little chance of that), Straub has tantalizingly revealed that the failed casino property will reopen as a casino. Albeit a strange one. After all, as he explained to Bloomberg this week: "It's a shame not to have some entertainment."
"I think we can help a lot of people," added Straub of Revel's forthcoming life-extension facilities. "We'll give you a week of knowledge and maybe extend your life."
A factor that may have been instrumental in Straub compromising his convictions about casinos is the crippling energy bill that's tagged onto Revel. While Straub had been the initial "stalking horse" in Revel's bankruptcy auction, establishing the base bid at $90 million, the auction was eventually won by the Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management, with a bid of $110 million.
Energy Bills from Hell
But Brookfield balked and bolted when it saw the annual energy bill of $36 million. In comparison, the Borgata, which has twice as many hotel rooms and a larger casino floor, paid $11.7 million last year in energy costs.
The property gets its power from an adjacent plant, owned by ACR Partners LLC, that was built specifically for that purpose and with Revel is its sole customer. Revel AC Inc began building the power plant when work began on the property, in 2008.
When the company ran out of money, however, the plant was taken over by ACR, which demanded a 15 percent return on its equity in the first five years and 18 percent after that. Revel's obligations to ACR constitute equity payments totaling $20.1 million annually, plus $4 million for operations and maintenance.
Punchline: Receiving a bill like that is unlikely to do wonders for anyone's life expectancy.
Meanwhile, Straub's lawyer says the deal should close by March 31, and Straub hopes that at least part of the complex will be open by summer.
New Jersey's Atlantic Club Closes Its Doors For Good
Revel in Atlantic City on Auction Block for $90 Million Starter Bid

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


every once in a while, thankfully rarely, your lose one.
It's been so long since this has happened, it's always humbling, not to mention fun to play around with the pieces!
Why cry over spilled-milk, or cut-through-bottoms? Have fun. Delight in the mistakes. Do better next time. There's always another chance to make good.
Lot's of plastic to chase on Tuesday.
Day Two of the Big Week!


text:
Carmen Villalobos Y Jencarlos Canela
She is best known for her character Catalina Santana in the telenovela Sin senos no hay paraíso based on the book by Gustavo Bolívar titled Sin tetas no hay paraíso. She won another major role in the Telemundo series, El Señor de los Cielos, where she played Leonor Ballesteros. She was also known as Alejandra Paz in the Telemundo novela, Niños Ricos, Pobres Padres. She recently re-personified Catalina Santana in the telenovela Sin senos sí hay paraíso, based on Bolivar's new book titled Sin tetas si hay paraíso, in the first season of the series only had a special participation as flashback and cameos. In the second season she was promoted as titular character of the series.
Cape Gooseberry Bush
Black And White Striped Kittens
Michael Cera Juno Quotes
Upside Down Cross Tumblr Backgrounds
Morning Sun Clipart
Interesting Question For Facebook Status In Odia
Lugia Human Form
Cartoon Goose Head
Carmen Villalobos En Bikini
Carmen Villalobos Wedding
Carmen Villalobos Y Su Novio
Carmen Villalobos Images
Carmen Villalobos Boyfriend
Carmen Villalobos Instagram
Carmen Villalobos Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso
Carmen Villalobos Biografia
Carmen Villalobos Boda


text:
Amid Crackdown, Controversy Over Zimbabwe Presidential Runoff Delay
Zimbabwean state media reported Monday that the government rejected the demand by opposition leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai that international observers be in place for the presidential runoff election that authorities have called, saying no invitations would be extended unless Western sanctions are lifted.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying Harare would not bow to pressure to invite United Nations and other Western observers to monitor conditions during the presidential run-off which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has called but for which it has set no firm date.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, meanwhile, reported an escalation of violence since Tsvangirai in a news conference in Pretoria on Saturday declared his willingness, subject to a number of conditions, to take part in the runoff. One of those conditions was an end to the post-election violence plaguing rural communities.
The government in recent days has widened a crackdown on the opposition and civil society, arresting two elected MDC lawmakers: Trevor Saruwaka of Mutasa Central constituency in Manicaland Province, and Heya Shoko of Bikita West, Masvingo.
Another MDC politician elected to parliament in March 29 elections, Misheck Shoko of the Chitungwiza South constituency, was detained for four hours last week by police who accused him of planning to raid a ZANU-PF youth militia base in rural Seke.
MDC sources said Tsvangirai has put on hold his plans to return to Harare this week. The government has intimated it may charge Tsvangirai and Tsvangirai MDC grouping Secretary General Tendai Biti with treason. But Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said the two opposition figures have nothing to fear.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai MDC formation told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Harare has narrowed the democratic space in Zimbabwe and now is targeting senior opposition members.
Chinamasa was quoted in The Chronicle, a Bulawayo-based state-run newspaper, as castigating Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, current chairman of the Southern African Development Community, for allegedly failing to urge the United States and Britain, among other nations imposing targeted sanctions, to lift them.
Chinamasa was quoted as saying that if the sanctions are not lifted, there would be no need for Harare to have a relationship with such countries such that it would be willing to invite them to send observer delegations to monitor the presidential run-off.
But University of Zimbabwe Professor John Makumbe, a leading government critic, told reporter Patience Rusere that sanctions merely bar top government and ruling party officials from traveling to the countries imposing such sanctions, and therefore should stay in place until a new government is democratically elected.
Meanwhile, international observers as well as Zimbabwean voters awaited word on when the presidential run-off will be held. Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Chairman George Chiweshe said it was never realistic for it to be held within 21 days of when results were issued, but did not specify how much longer it might be put off.
His commission issued its election results on May 2, pointing to a late-May election if the electoral act's language were strictly observed. The commission said Tsvangirai received 47.9% of the vote, short of a majority, while President Robert Mugabe received 43.2%, concluding that a run-off election would be necessary.
The opposition and others have questioned the integrity of ZEC's data.
Though Chiweshe and some observers cite language in the electoral act empowering the commission to alter "any such period specified in this act," others challenge the commission's right to extend the deadline for the run-off beyond 21 days/
University of Zimbabwe law lecturer Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that if the government runs afoul of the law in allowing the commission to extend the deadline, the winner will be running the government "illegally."


Create your dream Outdoor Living Space with furniture and accessories from Ashley Furniture HomeStore. Indoor-Outdoor Living transitional for every space.
Get comfortable and spend time outside on new patio furniture. Shop Now to eat or relax outsideit's also an extension of your indoor decorating style.


text:
Home > Night Flight Movies > NF Original > "Welcome Home": In 1988, King Diamond used Gothic spook stories for his unearthly rock
"Welcome Home": In 1988, King Diamond used Gothic spook stories for his unearthly rock
By Bryan Thomas on February 19, 2019
In 1988, during the peak days of the so-called "Satanic Panic," Night Flight aired our "Take Off to Satanic Metal," a "Metal In Your Face" segment featuring King Diamond's video for "Welcome Home," which lyrically tells a fictionalized saga in which King Diamond himself welcomes home his mentally-ill grandmother (she's been away at a insane asylum).
Watch this vintage half-hour devoted to heavy metal and hard rockers who weren't afraid to dance with the Devil on Night Flight Plus!
Night Flight's Pat Prescott introduces King Diamond's video this way: "Leather-lunged Great Dane King Diamond uses Gothic spook stories for his unearthly rock. Here he welcomes the undead back home."
Danish-born occult-metal legend King Diamond — born Kim Bendix Petersen on June 14, 1956 — is notable for possessing an iconic multi-octave vocal range.
He's also known for wearing black & white face makeup which ultimately resulted in him being sued by KISS bassist Gene Simmons, who thought Diamond's face makeup too closely resembled his own stage persona The Demon, which led to an out-of-court settlement with Diamond being forced to modify his makeup.
Diamond first rose to prominence with the theatrical black metal rockers Mercyful Fate, who despite a relatively short time together as a band , forming in the early '80s, inspired likely hundreds of thrash and death metal bands who would later name them as an influence.
King Diamond would release a self-titled 4-track EP on their own before signing with Roadrunner Records, who issued a pair of thrash metal classics, 1983's Melissa and 1984's Don't Break the Oath.
After getting deeper into the occult, Diamond wanted to continue to pursue some of his lyrical ideas as a thrash metal band.
Meanwhile, some of the other members of the band wanted to focus more on being a mainstream hard rock act, which would eventually lead to their splitting up in 1985.
The following year, Diamond launched a successful solo career with a few of his fellow band members, using his name as his band's name, much like Alice Cooper (one of his earliest influences) had done decades earlier.
Since their inception, King Diamond have had a revolving-door membership, and other than Diamond (lead vocals, keyboards) the only constant over the years has been guitarist Andy LaRocque.
The other members of the band at the time of this video were Pete Blakk (guitars), Hal Patino (bass) and Mikkey Dee (drums).
Read more about King Diamond below.
By the time of King Diamond's second studio album, Diamond had found his own musical niche, composing haunting, progressive concept albums with horrific storylines, beginning with his band's second studio album, 1987's Abigail.
That album's concept — admittedly similar to the Count Dracula legend — was originally based on a nightmare that Diamond had on a "dark, stormy night" (or so we're told).
It's built around the story of a couple, Jonathan La'Fey and his wife, who move into a mansion they've inherited in the summer of 1845, despite being warned by no less than seven different horsemen that dangerous spirits of the dead are haunting the hallways and empty rooms.
They learn about one of their long-dead relatives, Count La'Fey, who some seventy years later, in July of 1777, had discovered that his wife Miriam had had an adulterous affair and was pregnant with another man's child.
In a rage, the Count had thrown Miriam down a staircase, breaking her neck and killing her unborn female child, which the Count has named "Abigail." He has the fetus mummified and laid to rest in a sarcophagus.
The young couple who move into the mansion are astonished to discover that Abigail is very much alive, however, now inhabited by her dead mother's spirit, and she throws Jonathan La'Fey down a staircase in the mansion.
The seven horseman return later to the mansion to find the child spirit Abigail feasting upon her own mummified remains. They take her deep into the forest, where she's impaled by seven silver spikes and buried in hopes of preventing a future rebirth.
"Welcome Home" was the first vocal track — coming after a long instrumental opener, "Out From the Asylum" — on King Diamond's third studio album, Them, released by Roadrunner Records in July of 1988.
Them was the second of two consecutive King Diamond concept albums, this time telling the story of another haunted house inhabited by a protagonist — who is named "King" just like the singer, who decided to insert himself into the story — and his his relationship with his mentally-ill grandmother.
"Welcome Home" kicks off the album's storyline, as a young King and his mother and little sister welcome home King's grandmother home after her stay in a mental asylum.
We find out over the course of the rest of the album that King and his grandmother are both descending into madness and they hear voices — known to the listener only as "Them" — in what we're told is a dwelling called the House of Amon.
Watch "Take Off to Satanic Metal" — which, in addition to Ozzy's "Miracle Man" (followed by an excerpt from an exclusive Night Flight interview with Ozzy himself!) also features videos by Iron Maiden ("Can I Play With Madness?"), Danzig ("Mother"), KISS ("Rock N Roll All Night"), Mötley Crüe ("Looks That Kill") and Damien ("Every Dog Has His Day") — on Night Flight Plus.
DenmarkFeaturedKing DiamondMercyful Fatemusic videoNight Flight PlusNight Flight: Take OffSatanic MetalSatanic Panic


The Paragon School of Pet Grooming Distance Learning Program can be a perfect choice for you if you are working a full-time job or making a career shift. It is also ideal for those who want to pursue an education in professional pet grooming but do not have a grooming school located nearby. Because you will be learning on your own time, the flexibility options are endless! Choose the course that fits you best and add your textbooks and toolkit and you are on your way!
Please select your courses below. Please select only one option.
Please note that the textbooks are required.
You can add the toolkit bundle or use your own.
Paragon is a proprietary school licensed in the State of Michigan. The Acknowledgement of Completion of Paragon's Distance Learning Program is not a license or certificate granted on behalf of any state or federal government and Paragon's Distance Learning Program is not accredited by any branch of any state or federal government, organization, or institution.


Look after your best friend – Get pet insurance!
Let's face it… watching Crufts has made all of us want a doggie best friend, hasn't it? Though we might struggle to get ours as… neat and well groomed as those on display.
Whether it's a toy poodle, a bulldog or a shiba inu – they are not cheap friends to keep. If you ask any pet owner the biggest drawback of owning an animal companion – it would be the cost of the insurance. I'm looking at you, Pig!
How complicated can pet insurance be?
Very! There are four different types of pet insurance… maximum benefit, lifetime, accident-only and time limited. If you opt for lifetime cover, it promises a maximum sum of money that you can claim every year, whereas some other policies can penalise you if you claim multiple times throughout the year for the same reason.
Maximum-benefit policies will only pay out a certain amount for the same condition, and after this, the same illness will not be covered.
Time-limited policies will pay out for an illness or injury for the specified period, after which that condition will no longer be covered.
Accident-only policies, as the name suggests, pay out only if your pet has an accident and requires veterinary care. They do not cover chronic conditions.
So, how many dogs in Britain are insured?
Out of the estimated 9m pet dogs in Britain, only about 2.4m are insured, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
It depends on your dog's breed, age and gender — as well as the level of cover you choose. Policies vary considerably: for example, some will even cover the cost of having to cancel your holiday if your pet falls ill and requires treatment.
Smaller breeds and non-pedigree dogs tend to be cheaper to insure, as they are less prone to genetic disorders than pure breeds. Owners living in towns and cities also tend to pay higher premiums than people in the countryside because vets' charges are typically higher in urban areas.
Predictably, premiums tend to rise with the age of your dog — and some insurers have age limits. A survey of 277 dog policies by Gocompare found that the minimum acceptance age for a dog is five weeks, with the oldest ranging from 7 to 15 years.
The amounts charged vary hugely. Insuring a male beagle puppy in Nottingham, for example, costs £13 a month with HelpuCover's "classic" lifetime policy, which will pay out up to £4,000 a year towards vet fees, with a maximum of £1,000 for each condition. For a seven-year-old male beagle in Nottingham, the same cover would cost £25.58 a month.
Shop around for the best policy using sites such as gocompare.com and comparethemarket.com.
Many owners choose not to insure their pets, particularly as the cost is rising. Premiums are expected to increase by as much as 50% by 2019, according to a study by the market research company Key Note, published in Money last November. This is partly down to the government's decision to increase the premium tax on pet cover from 6% to 9.5%. The ABI said this added an estimated £10 a year to the average policy.
Like car insurance, pet policies have an excess amount written in. Check the terms of your policy as the excesses can apply in different ways.
However, as pet insurers regularly like to point out, there is no NHS for your dog. Veterinary bills can easily run into five figures in the event of a serious accident or illness.
It typically costs £350 to treat a wounded cat, or £875 if it requires aid following a road accident, according to the ABI. For dogs, arthritis treatment usually costs £368 per treatment and a damaged knee ligament would set you back £1,200.
The most common pet claims — not only for dogs but all pets — are for skin problems, wounds, arthritis and gastrointestinal issues, the ABI said. Treating your tortoise for a digestive disorder, for example, could cost about £560.
Always check the small print of your policy for any conditions that are excluded. Typically, pre-existing illnesses or injuries are exempt. Preventive action, such as vaccination, castration and worm and flea treatments, may also not be covered, as is anything to do with pregnancy or giving birth.
If you think pet insurance is a rip-off, you could "self-insure" by setting aside savings for any future veterinary costs, as many people do for their home contents insurance.
If a high bill for a procedure or treatment suddenly arises, you can take out a specialist loan. For example, CarefreeCredit offers loans for medical treatment for uninsured pets — some even have 0% interest. More than 700 veterinary practices have signed up with the company and pay a £10 monthly fee to CarefreeCredit, plus a percentage of the value of each loan.
Most vets who have signed up then allow you to take out an interest-free loan from the company over 12 months. If you want to spread the repayments over 24 months, interest is charged at about 9.9% although rates between veterinary surgeries.
When it comes to it, most of us would pay anything to assure our pet's safety and wellbeing. Pet insurance makes sense – although you losing out on a bit of cash each month or year, depending on your policy, the expensive cost of surgery or repeat prescription medication for a long term illness can be a big amount to part with in one go.
Do you have any questions about pet insurance? Get in touch!


We have the exceptional collection of precious gems! Measures: 10.35x8.13x6.10mm.
Color: bluish green changing to pinkish purple. The item "Natural Alexandrite GemStone 4.47 carats Green Color Changing To Pinkish Purple" is in sale since Friday, October 16, 2015. This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Loose Diamonds & Gemstones\Loose Gemstones\Alexandrite".


text:
Tag: Futurism
on September 15, 2020 December 31, 2020 By remelcher
I became dismayed and extremely frustrated the other day when somebody for which I carry a lot of respect and affection parroted to me the same right wing propaganda that constantly proliferates on You Tube and Facebook. Both sources are essentially 'Rabbit Holes,' programmed to drive gossip, controversy and sensationalism while selling ads.
Between the paranoia and the propaganda, much of it not even generated in this country, our adversaries have gotten America's number. We are a society that appears to be coming apart at the seams. Only the slightest encouragement is required to cause us to turn on one another like frightened dogs. Since Americans tend to trust our screens more than our actual experience we are VERY ripe for programming and manipulation. Tell a good yarn and it's certain you'll create a following. Provide a cliffhanger or sense of constant crisis and you can, like Trump, create a cult.
A cult functions like a cancer on the collective consciousness. Ideology is substituted for facts, programming takes the place of thinking, Individuals begin to function like robots. People once regarded as intelligent humans begin repeating the currently circulating memes and claims in a kind of science fiction nightmare that features suffocating hordes of mindless clones.
When a sufficient number are pulled into the myriad belief systems and ideologies that offer alternatives to the actual processing and evaluation of information, collective decision making becomes almost impossible. There can be no accord, because every position becomes an absolute. The quest for solutions becomes a battle between religions.
So, here we are America, trapped in our own tar pits of misinformation and increasingly obsessive fanaticism. As a nation we appear to be suffering various forms of mass psychosis, shouting at one another from totally different perceptions of reality.
The anxiety of the final days and weeks leading us toward our fate is that we don't really know how bad is the disease. We know it's pretty bad, and it's spreading in waves, mostly driven by social media and those who profit from chaos. Everyday the stories and rumors get more imaginative and ridiculous, while people huddle in groups formed mainly to reinforce their own fears and premeditations.
Perhaps there are still enough Americans out there who are capable of rational decision making, who aren't afraid of facts and data, who can make the mental leap to figure out that voting out of fear and insecurity will only lead to more of the same.
It's hard to tell. Rational people find themselves trying to be heard above the noise, and the noise is everywhere. In the year 2020, with pandemic, racial tensions, climate change and election fever all appearing to peak at once, we will be forced to see more clearly, once the dust settles, just who and what peers back at us in the mirror.
Continue reading "Weird Tales"
on February 5, 2020 February 5, 2020 By remelcher
I've in the last week picked up a copy of a book composed by Timothy Leary and associates back in 1994, two years before Leary's death in 1996, and around the time when I was imbedded in the post-psychedelic New Age culture of art and speculation that nested in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'd actually passed by Doctor Tim in person as he toured as guest speaker and celebrity for some sort of exploratory consciousness fair that took place at the city's main Convention Center.
I am certainly no stranger to Leary's thought and his writings. From the time when he was advocating from an eminent platform at Harvard for boundary breaking explorations of consciousness via LSD and Psylocibn, to the time when I spent days trying to process my own headlong perceptual journeys out to the boundaries of consciousness and beyond. I travelled along parallel paths while Leary made his way through prison and exile and paranoia and the trials that came along with pop stardom and self deification.
When I walked into my dormitory room at Case Western Reserve one night, getting off on some form of chemically induced revery I heard Leary's voice come over the radio, telling me to, "Sit down Ralph." He then took me on a guided verbal tour of my brain, the universe and the whole history of human DNA. It turns out that the 'Ralph' in the recording, played that night over the student station was of Leary at Harvard conducting an LSD session with one of his grad students, Ralph Metzner. I didn't learn this until years later, and in the meanwhile carried it around with me like the inner knowledge of some secret synchronistic initiation, a mystery for which I sought no further solution.
The book I'm reading is one I wasn't particularly familiar with, lent to me by a friend. It's called "Chaos & Cyber Culture." By 1994 Leary as visionary prophet had been largely discredited by both popular and serious academic culture. He had spent time in prison, in Europe and in North Africa, in flight from the American police, hobnobbing with revolutionary elites and movie stars and science fiction writers, hounded by governments and ideologues of the Left and the Right. The 60's dream of storming the barricades of capitalist/consumer culture had long ago faded or been absorbed and replaced by the high octane quest for new meaning and new wealth accelerated by revolutions in technology and communication.
Society was itself going through the initial stages of the sort of destabilization one encounters on an acid trip. Timothy Leary, along with many former prophets and outlaws and explorers were now mere flotsam in massively circulating currents of change. He was gone before the currents would peak and then break into fading fragments after September of 2001.
The book is a collection of words and images splattered across pages designed in the mode of a psychedelic version of The Whole Earth Catalog. There are dozens of typefaces in all sizes floating in the form of giant quotes and poster graphics and images from the past and the future. There are interviews and conversations with the likes of William Gibson and William Burroughs and David Byrne and all sorts of artifacts assembled around a political documentary and summary of sorts of Leary's broad visions of past, present and possible future.
Other than in worlds of extreme science fiction I haven't read anything like this in years. Drawing on history, art, mysticism, biology, psychology, computer science and literature, framed with over-the-top optimism regarding the future of civilization and human consciousness, Leary's vision has no boundaries, and in reading I grow increasingly aware of how much my vision and that of my culture has narrowed over these past four decades. As a nation and as a world we've become increasingly ruled by fear and apprehension, which by nature is a narrowing of consciousness to the primitive state of flight or fight that responds robotically to a wider and wider range of stimuli.
We sit in our cocoons of political power and economic anxiety and anticipate the worst. We are a shell-shocked population with eyes and ears open to more and more information but with less ability to integrate it into something that makes sense. We live in a world of chaos, awaiting signs of the next real 'strange attractor' that we hope can assemble all of this mess into meaning. We've entered a historic and geological period where the shocks come in accelerating waves of war, recession, natural disasters and forced migrations, and our response is to reach out to the person who promises to protect us and shield us and make it all right. Increasingly we realize that the future can't be controlled by any power wielded by the few for the supposed welfare of the many. Individually we awake once again to the knowledge that the portraits we perceive of the world around us are painted mostly by ourselves.
At first this makes us all feel incredibly alone, until we make an effort to explore and find new ways to make contact with one another, not as crowds or constituents or mobs or armies, but as fully responsible human beings. Our challenge always, is to create entirely new realities for ourselves, through our storytelling and our imagining, that are fluid and adaptable enough to deal with the constant change that our world throws at us. We have the tools to do it, and our task is to awake to our possibilities and to summon the courage to face and dismiss those who would build walls out of our fear.
To the Super Bowl
So, this evening (Monday, Feb. 3rd) the REAL Super Bowl begins. Now that all of the Impeachment drama is coming to a close and the football drama is over for a year and we've watched the most expensive commercials ever made, perhaps we can get down to business of moving forward.
For the year's total anticlimax there's the State of The Union embarrassment taking place tomorrow, in which the Donald will…who knows what the Donald will do or say? The best approach in dealing with our Asshole in Chief is to ignore him as much as possible and go forward with our lives, using our thoughts and imaginations to conjure more palatable futures.
Rush Limbaugh is dying of lung cancer. That'll take some of the wind out of the sails blowing toward oblivion. While Senators bloviated, the biggest news this week is that the Thwaite Glacier is getting ready to drop and could quickly raise the ocean levels by up to 3 feet. The impending drop of what scientists have dubbed the 'Doomsday Glacier' will only be the first of many. There goes one civilization, to be replaced by necessity with another.
I've spent the past three years stewing in the juices of my own anger and it has gotten me nowhere. The daily disaster has driven me to forget that the best way to observe the ongoing bombardment and spectacle of news and information is to step as far back from the sheer noise and confusion as possible. The news of the 'moment' is mostly made to sell personality and product rather than offering much in the way of useful information. What happens in the moment isn't as important as our collective mediated response to it. The Reality we perceive in this digital world is of necessity always second hand.
We are each in the business of assembling a world that corresponds to our own predilections. For myself I've chosen to accept information primarily through online digital conversations, rather than merely accepting what is 'broadcast.' Avoiding antiquated mediums like television and radio or newspaper, I seriously engage with information only after it's been processed through trusted networks of intelligence and discrimination, carefully evaluating the materials with which to assemble my own picture of the world. I'm a subscriber to reality, mostly through print and podcasts, and an occasional glance at headlines from selected inputs on Apple News or Flipboard or the front pages of newspapers.
When I encounter, as in the laundromat, televised news formats in real time I'm conscious that what I'm receiving is an agenda that has more to do with commerce than truth. This stuff, including all forms of mass public broadcast, from out and out propaganda to public radio, is safe to consume only to the degree that one is aware that every broadcaster has their own agenda. Whatever presents itself as absolute truth is only ideology.
Everyone I know who merely consumes 'The News' on television or radio appears to be driven crazy by it.
As a consuming culture many Americans are being consumed by cynicism, doubt and despair. The world we've constructed in our minds is one in continual emergency, to which we must react without being given a trusted set of tools to react with. Too many of us are swimming and drowning in a pool of helplessness where new alarms are shouting every day, "Danger! Danger!" After years of daily bombardment we are shell shocked and numb, unable to pierce the fog that obscures the future. Christians and New Agers await the Apocalypse, white supremacists look forward to their 'boogaloo,' conspiracy fetishists obsess over every revelation while screwing themselves into increasingly paranoid fantasies, and the rest of us deal with a growing sense of apprehension and dread.
Meanwhile, the world trundles on within webs of mind boggling complexity and we are swept along in rushing rivers of karma and consequence. So easy to imagine that we are either victims, or else we are fighting a constant war for particular outcomes. So easy for me to spew words into the void like weapons, effecting only to increase the chaos instead of offering clarity or hope.
Well, it's a new year and I've been mostly silent lately, after what has felt to me like constant struggle against overwhelming odds. It's true that there is struggle. The need for change is obvious. The change that's needed however, can only come about through a change of channels. I've been paying too much attention to the idiots waving the flags, and too little time spent in a world where human beings are meant to live, one that's woven through our minds and our imaginations, where we tell each other stories and look at dire situations as problems to be solved. This is the only kind of world where we have a chance to live beyond our fears. It's the only world where we can construct the necessary bonds that will hold this ship together.
Let's try something different for a change.
A Strange Year
on December 28, 2017 December 28, 2017 By remelcher
I was laid off once from a computer software company with the boss saying to me, "You're kind of a liberal arts sort of guy." He had a point, and it was true that I didn't really fit in with the climate and culture of the place. What he wanted was more on the STEM side of things. More about numbers and programs and accounting and less about words and magic. I've always had trouble with numbers but have never veered from a fascination with the hidden underside of things.
This was a year when all of the lessons I should have learned were taken out of the theoretical realm and brought rather severely to earth. The barriers between the worlds of wishful thinking and the awful realities that threaten our planet no longer held. It was time to put aside hopeful speculation and face down some awful truths.
It was a bad year for dilettantes. From January on it was as if, after the numb horror of events had begun to give way to the appalling normalcy of daily assault, an enormous dark sinkhole had opened in the collective psyche, and absolutely everything was sucked down into its depths so that all one looked at was somehow infected by the dread and anger that issued out of an unavoidable hellmouth, like something in a painting by Heironymous Bosch.
Now that we are past the initial shock and have accommodated ourselves somehow to the steady degradation of our public life we can perhaps leave it to unfold (and degrade) without the need to push or pull. It will unfold anyway, and perhaps someday the dirty tide will recede a bit of its own accord and meanwhile we can take stock of what's going on in the world that lives inside of us.
I've always been compelled to take in everything there is in order to see the links between. To pursue one object or another to the end of its particular tunnel is an activity left to those so inclined, while my own interest is to follow the branches as they lead back from twig to trunk, fascinated less by the fleeting detail than by how it all connects. I could be called a 'dilettante' or perhaps a philosopher or something equally 'iffy' in terms of consistently reliable income streams. In the long run this generally places me somewhere at the 'bleeding edge,' or slightly on the outside of things that occupy most people from moment to moment. I often feel as if I'm looking on, observing with fascination, from some distance this or that quest for particulars and rarely feel fully engaged with those who spend most of their time in the weeds. Instead of attending to the particular I'm obsessed with the thread that connects this particular to another, and anot!
her, along the long and almost mystical yarn that comes from the past and stretches ahead to the future.
In this old year waning and new year dawning I've decided to go 'cold turkey' in terms of politics, hoping to free up energy for something a bit more connected to larger and longer streams that portend the creative or at least the positive. This past year felt like a full-on war, fought with words and images rather than missiles and bombs. All the words flung back and forth hammering relentlessly at any sense of civility or even responsibility, for the purpose of differentiating 'us' from 'them,' breaking the branch from the tree. All having a deeply corrosive effect on the bonds that make us feel connected in a way that makes some kind of collective sense. Most of us are reduced to sitting helplessly observing, trying to apply the old rules of civility to a situation where they've apparently become irrelevant. We are like mad children in some re-enactment of 'Lord of The Flies,' let loose to trample the bonds of the social order like they are brittle fur!
niture left around for us to trash.
I tell myself in better moments, when my mind isn't so mired in the details of our day-of-horror unfolding, that out of chaos comes creativity. On other days I want to join in with the trashing.
Why should I even care? Even if politics and war are more entertaining than any other sport I could name, its become the sport by which we the people tear each other to pieces. My new thought is that I should stop being concerned or finding myself in any way responsible for the outcomes. My fellow citizens after all, dug this grave for themselves. Why should I not allow them to shit in their own hole and then lie down in it? Even if I must share the hole with them (there is no true escaping in this world), perhaps I can hold my nose and look away toward the sky.
Not so easy this for me, to be mired and yet to turn away as if nothing's amiss. It's like a sports addict deciding to turn off ESPN and ignoring the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Olympics. Actually not so hard for me to imagine, as I've ignored these things for most of my life, politics being my 'sport' and the one interest that ties me to the things that apparently matter to the people around me from day to day.
I'll turn to my only real audience, which is this presence inside of me, this all-judging voice that measures the world that I see and most of all that measures me. Instead of the usual 'Politico,' 'FiveThirtyEight,' Pod Save America,' today I listen to 'The Paris Review,' and 'The New Yorker Radio Hour.' Instead of Netflix I find myself in books: Jack Kerouac's Scroll, Haruki Murakami, Dave Hickey. I am edified and entertained, inspired even. I rearrange my apartment, twice.
Then, of course, there are all the counter voices, telling me, "You're being irresponsible and arrogant. How can you be so uninvolved when the country is going to shit? You have to be INVOLVED, even if it's only being aware and passing your awareness on. And I realize there is no way to be uninvolved, as the slippage we all feel is like some gravimetric beacon bending every current and pulling everything toward itself. We are all at some level compelled to respond, as we walk an ever narrowing collective path toward the future.
And of course, all things are political. "We're either part of the solution or part of the problem." Is there no escape? Of course there isn't. The world moves on and we come around on our endless loops of self-doubt and over-confidence, trying to find that median place called 'decision.' We decide, we move on, we face the crisis brought about by yesterday's decisions.
Amazingly, these two days off without once checking the news beyond the headlines, which are reliably and predictably grim, begin to feel like an actual weekend (even though my 'weekend' days these days are in the middle of the week). I realize that for the past year I've been living outside of myself, disembodied, a ghost on social media, juiced on the rage I see and feel all around me there, feeding it back in return, almost forgetting that I ever had a real life or that there are real people out there who are just living.
And yet, over the year I've written over a thousand words, mostly captions and short comments, an occasional thumb-length essay, and always in reaction to something OUT THERE. You can look at my Facebook page and find a running chronicle of anger and despair that's book length and illustrated, a veritable museum exhibit of the Year in snapshots. But, very little of what you see goes beneath the armor. It's merely a chronicle of suffering, as if every move we made was constrained by the straitjackets of fear and rage.
I fell into the very traps I've been warned to avoid and have warned others about. In my studies of magic and media and the dangers of astral space (where ideas and images are born and fed) I was aware of the potentials for getting lost in the endless gulf that opens between imagination and matter. Into that gulf is where the 'enemy' projects his tricks, his spells, his signals of doom. The tragedy is that we gave him the biggest platform from which he could play his tricks.
So we were played.
On the bright side, I learned to write with my thumb. This was entirely written and edited on my iPhone.
Sex and Politics: The Resistance
on April 19, 2017 April 20, 2017 By remelcher
Fox News is, more than anything else media headquarters for patriarchal resistance and institutional racism in America, just as the Republican Party is headquarters for it's political arm. In the past few months Fox has lost their former ringleader (Roger Ailes), their leading female commentator (Megan Kelly), and now their biggest moneymaker (Bill O'Reilly) due to a pervasive climate of inappropriate sexual behavior and harassment.
Given that the prevailing attitudes at Fox and in the Republican Party are basically throwbacks to an era of 'Madmen,' which educated and aware Americans have grown out of, but Fox/Republicans and their constituency have not, this should be no surprise. While commentators like O'Reilly rail at manufactured bugaboos under the banner of attacking 'political correctness,' women broadcasters at Fox are evaluated according to their measurements and how closely they match some male's beauty pageant ideal. Intelligence and competence must be overmatched by ample exposure of 'legs and cleavage' and the job description should read: Applicants preferred: blond and buxom (and very white).'
When news becomes a front for sensationalism and entertainment and government becomes nothing more than performance art the abuse of persons follows inevitably out of the abuse of truth. We have gone very far down that road, but the dumping of Bill O'Reilly demonstrates that the popular and political resistance in the Age of Trump is mounting and is indeed effective. While the forces of reaction circle the wagons a wave is growing with every abuse, every revelation of corruption and every broken promise.
New York Times: 'Bill O'Reilly Is Forced Out'
Winter Is Coming – Part One
More than a decade ago I published the following article on the Arclist and in the magazine "Annals of the Earth" that compared the fantasy narratives of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and George Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" which had just published it's fourth volume and which I was advocating to my friends and associates at the time. This was long before anything was said about the series being made into a film. Martin's imaginary world is dark and complex, without the clear definitions of good and evil presented in the worlds of Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins. It was in fact a pioneering work in the emerging genre of what was being called "adult fantasy" which meant that it has an uncomfortable resemblance to the actual world we inhabit.
Before television's recent so-called 'golden age' and the rise of the cable series franchise a work that did justice to Martin's expansive vision would have indeed been impossible. The success and emerging dominance of the extended narrative form has bridged the gap between the literary form of the novel and the realm of visual storytelling.
As much as I regarded George R. R. Martin's work as the best in it's genre I could not have anticipated the phenomenal success of the HBO series "Game of Thrones" based on, and now actually extending the cycle of narratives taking place in the Imaginary world of Westeros and lands to East. Not only has the series succeeded as the most ambitious cinematic production ever attempted for television, it has become a cultural meme that dominates whole sections of bookstores, is referred to in political and cultural commentaries and taken over vast sectors of Internet culture.
In the piece I wrote in 2005 my argument was that, as "Lord of the Rings" represented the 'climactic' work of an age dominated by literature and the rise of industrial technology. As a cinematic production it made more extensive use of digital technology than anything that came before and thus it marks the transition from a primarily mechanical/chemical/industrial process of filmmaking into an almost entirely electronic medium. "The Song of Ice and Fire" is a 'formative' work that announces the birth of a new ecology of consciousness and communication. It is produced entirely within the digital medium of television and not for theaters, so it represents a further step into a more intimate form of storytelling. I believe that my argument is supported by the immense popularity of this cultural artifact that crosses the generations from those of us raised by television onto the new denizens of a 'digital' age.
It will be enlightening to further explore the particular qualities that have elevated George R. R. Martin's tale far beyond the boundaries of fantastic literature. To start with I'll republish here, slightly edited for clarity, the original article entitled "Winter Is Coming."
Meanwhile, there are weekly "Game of Thrones" parties everywhere.
From: Ralph Melcher <melcher@nets.com>
Subject: [Arclist] Winter Is Coming
Date: November 1, 2005 at 8:35:09 PM MST
To: Arclist <Arclist@cybermesa.com>
I look forward this fall to the release of "A Feast For Crows," the fourth book by George R. R. Martin in his cycle of medieval modern fantasy epics collectively titled "A Song of Ice and Fire." Martin, perhaps immodestly, displays the same middle initials as J.R.R.Tolkien, while departing radically from Tolkien in his construction of a world based as much on history as on myth. (England's "War of the Roses" provided inspiration for a tale of two battling royal families) Where Tolkien weaves an apocalyptic tale of a Manichaean clash between ultimate good and evil in which most of his characters appear more as classical archetypes than familiar people, Martin's narrative proceeds through revelation of the evolving perceptions of a cast of very recognizable human characters. In Tolkien's world every character's move is the culmination of larger forces with origins deep in the mythical history to which he dedicated his creative life. As massive and ambitious as his popular masterpiece "The Lord of the Rings," it was a small piece in a much larger and more ambitious tapestry that traced the mythical prehistory of humanity all the way back to the time of creation. George Martin's intentions are modest in comparison, that is to tell a good yarn with engaging characters recognizable by modern readers. As different as these works appear, they each represent significant milestones in the evolution of a literary genre, as well as exposing the underlying foundations of the cultures out of which they emerge.
The cultural historian William Irwin Thompson, in his many explorations into cultural ecology, presents a critique of literature as cultural artifacts, in which there are three stages of that correspond to the unfolding of consciousness. The kinds of text that define particular stages in this model are the formative, dominant and climactic. "The formative work enters into a new ecological niche of consciousness through the work of solitary and shamanistic pioneers; the dominant work stabilizes the mentality through the work of an institutional elite; and the climactic work consummates and finishes the mentality for all time through the work of an individualistic genius." (2)
Although Thompson cites James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake" as most clearly epitomizing the climactic work of the (last) age, I would argue that Tolkien's epic more clearly and definitively fills that niche for a number of reasons, not least of which is it's spectacular success as a genuine artifact of mass culture. Tolkien lived and wrote his myth while witnessing the titanic struggles of a century defined by the rising power of technology and industrialization. In opposition to the dominance of machine culture he identified with attempts to maintain some vestige of traditional memory and culture. The author was clearly conscious of the scope of the intent to summarize an age. He states in a quote, cited by David Day, "I was from early days grieved by the poverty of my own beloved country (England): it had no stories of its own, not of the quality that I sought, and found in legends of other lands. There was Greek, and Celtic, and Romance, Germanic, Scandinavian, and Finnish; but nothing English, save impoverished chapbook stuff…I had in mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic, to the level of romantic fairy-story…which I would dedicate simply to England; to my country."(3)
David Day goes on to compare Tolkien's undertaking as the equivalent of Homer first inventing Greek mythology single handedly before embarking on the "Illiad" and "Odyssey". His argument is founded in a rather culture centric idea that England was the fount and seed carrier for much that reflected the transition from the medieval European world of moral absolutism to a transatlantic culture that worshiped progress and modernity. Tolkien's work is reflected in it's ambition by that of Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle," which was a similar attempt to both crown and transcend the operative form. "The Lord of the Rings" is a text that depicts in markedly Christian terms the final battle between good and evil, in which an agrarian civilization faces down the rising power of the machine. After many heroic struggles humanity emerges forever transformed, while the ancient powers and principalities of an older time are either defeated or simply fade away. Tolkien both sums up the moral landscape of a pre-modern civilization while proclaiming its ultimate replacement by a new world order in which the heroic tribal quest ultimately leads to a new bourgeois world of trade and acquisition governed by new rules and individual initiative. At the end of the tale, the heroes disappear in the west while Merry and Sam and Pippin take up the settled life of the Shire.
What better characterization of the historical nature of the twentieth century, where ancient tribal mythologies mingled with the ascending powers of technocracy and fueled the rise of new orders and empires that clashed in climactic conflagrations that involved the entire civilized world? Ultimately, at the end of two massive wars the nation state was subdued by a new order embodied in globalized commerce and transnational communication, where the centers of power were continually challenged and then overtaken by explosive evolutionary forces generated near the boundaries of the known. At the the century's transition a reaction has set in as people seek retreat in familiar rules and in texts of a world that is rapidly passing away. Tolkien's fantasy wistfully recounts the passing of a time when the simple desire for comfort, family and the hearth, represented by the hobbits of the shire, was sufficient. The 'War of the Ring' represents nothing less than our collective passage into a new age and a new order where values must be forged anew with little assistance from the guardians of the past.
Tolkien's work portrays in many ways the rise and final conflagration put forth in the Judeo-Christian paradigm of creation and apocalypse. His work that invents cultures, races and language echoes the birth and rise of nation states. As in the Christian mythos, all things proceed toward a final apocalypse that results in the ascension of the savior-king as ruler of a new order and at least a temporary peace governed by principals of honor, charity and love.
If, as Thompson proposes, the solitary and shamanistic explorations of Shakespeare's "King Lear" and "The Tempest," Cervantes's "Don Quixote," and Descartes's "Discourse on Method,"(4) created the formative texts of the new mentality that replaced the medieval Mediterranean with the modern Atlantic cultural ecologies, then Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" surely fills the bill for "the work of an individualistic genius" which characterizes a climactic work that "consummates and finishes the mentality for all time." Interesting as well is the fact that Tolkien's tale truly came into its' own as a work that achieved mass popularity when it was turned into a movie; and not just any movie, but one that marked the transition from film as primarily an optical/mechanical artifact at the pinnacle of the industrial process, to the fully realized digital creation of total worlds out of the imagination.
George Martin's novels can be seen in this light as a preliminary shamanic exploration into a new level of culture. Its' structure owes more to television than to the classic film or novel. Martin began his career writing television scripts for popular shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits." The importance of his background in television perhaps can be found in the quality of the epic feature film, where background is as much a character as the actors within the frame. Television, due to its intimacy as a virtual presence in the modern household as well as the size and shape of the screen (a limitation growing obsolete), has evolved around the close-up, or talking head. Television narratives are generally driven by a succession of character portraits which emphasize individual points-of-view, and which change rapidly from one to another in a sequence of abrupt cuts.
Martin similarly unfolds his epic tale in a sequence of intimate character sketches functioning like a sequence of various camera positions. Every chapter is named for a single character, and as the narrative proceeds our feeling for each character deepens with each mention of their name. The books could actually be read as a score of separate tales, each about separate characters, all woven together through a tapestry in time. In a sense, Martin's story begins where Tolkien's leaves off, in an age dominated by men, where evil and virtue are no longer the province of externalized forces embodied by magical beings, but carried in the heart and mind of every individual. One could say that "The Song of Ice and Fire" is a postmodern fantasy, where the battle between good and evil is played out in the choices each person makes in a moment of crisis based on their own unique perception of right and wrong. Yet, underlying the human drama and giving it ultimate shape is a much larger unfolding, determined not by good and evil, darkness and light, but by the immense and irrevocable powers of the natural world. The destinies of men are less a factor of their own moral virtue than the result of the ultimate relationship between society and the complex and inevitable cycles of summer and winter.
In the world of Westeros the timing of the seasons is unpredictable, every summer lasting more than a decade followed by an equally long cold winter. In a sense the summer fosters the powers of the day while winter brings forth the demons of the night. These cycles are long enough that generations forget the fact that all that is will inevitably change. The ultimate lesson to be learned is that the castles and kingdoms built by men are only as strong as their memories for, although the precise timing is unpredictable there are plenty of signs and warnings for those who can remember. It's on this stage of the inevitable cycles of the natural world that the dramas and struggles of human society are waged, and we are made conscious that the quest for temporal power meets final judgment in the face of what is to come. If there is ultimate virtue it's in the value people place on wisdom and long term vision over short term ambition and greed.
Two families epitomize the poles of this very human struggle. In the north are the Starks of Winterfell, whose family motto is "Winter is Coming." Their demeanor is conservative, their colors white and grey, their values shaped by necessity and tradition. In the south, near the colorful fountains of trade and culture and civilization is the 'Iron Throne.' There dwells the Lannisters, hungry for wealth and power and jealous of all those who would challenge their rule over the lands of men. Within this tale the common order of classical heroic fantasy is followed more or less faithfully, as the outsiders in both families emerge as heroic figures in the story which unfolds. When the seasons begin to change, awakening long forgotten dangers out of the northern wastes, and as another force driven by fire and signaled by the rebirth of dragons rises in the south, one gets a sense that the synthesis of human aspirations with the seemingly implacable forces of transition can only be found by those less invested in things as they are.
As I look on at the absurd struggles raging across our lands in a time when a future filled with the present and looming crisis of war, pandemics, climate change, water shortage, overpopulation and the rest, I find the Stark motto, "Winter Is Coming," to be a succinct characterization of the realities we collectively face in our world, as a species and a civilization. Many of us are outsiders with little at stake in the petty power struggles of politicians and our so-called leadership. We find ourselves in a shamanic role, as observers on the periphery of social events, living in a reality that challenges the assumptions of powers-that-be, transcending the narrow limits of an obsolete world-view. Tolkien's magnificent epic leaves us with a challenge, to face the future as moral and responsible human beings, without the crutch of certainty provided by ancient texts and ancient prophecy. We are in a new world after all. George R. R. Martin offers a rather dire tale of the consequences of short sightedness while giving us hope that we may find a way, as we always have, through new leadership and pragmatic vision. Our constant temptation is to dwell on what we lack, and to be trapped in a struggle that keeps us bound to a world that is passing away. Our salvation lies not in belief but in clarity, and our faith must be found not in the past but in the future.
1. Martin, George R. R. Martin's cycle: A Song of Ice and Fire, includes: A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1999), A Storm of Swords (2000) and A Feast for Crows (2005).
2. Thompson, William Irwin, Coming Into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousness, St. Martin's Press, 1996 (p. 233).
3. Day, David, Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1993.
4. Thompson, William Irwin, Coming Into Being. St. Martin's Press, 1996 (p. 143).
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
You can't stop the signal.
http://internet.cybermesa.com/~melcher/
The Lost Art of Ecstasy
I was recently sent a link to an article in the New Yorker reporting on the most recent results of research into the use of psychedelics for treating the anxiety of cancer patients. This led me to a longer and much more in depth article written last year by one of my favorite writers on food, in this case food for spiritual nourishment. As in all of Pollan's work, his investigation goes to great depths and approaches the subject from many angles, alternating history with personal anecdotes to deliver an encompassing view of the possibilities.
For those of us who grew up in the sixties, and embarked on many of these same explorations on our own, without supervision or scientific rigor, these efforts to understand may appear absurdly restrictive. At the same time, they are very familiar. Although the Michael Pollan article is pretty long it's worth a read, particularly for those facing problems of addiction or depression, the loss of loved ones or the prospect of impending sickness or death, or anyone interested in possibilities at the frontiers of therapy and science.
Finally I include a link to a video that offers a look into the face of a person encountering the ecstasy of release and freedom. There was a time when this look was not so uncommon in the people we found around us.
May we all be happy. May we all be well. May we all find freedom.
The Short Version:
"The Lingering Legacy of Psychedelia"
"The Trip Treatment"
The Ecstatic Version:
"If you want to find pure gold, you must see it through fire." – Mumonkan
"You're part of my crew. Why are we still talking about this?" – M.R.
To receive Arclist mailings reply to melcher@nets.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the Subject.
Feel free to pass this on or post on Facebook (or wherever) by copying the following link.
http://arclist.org/
Other sites of interest:
www.photoarc.us
www.gabrielmelcher.com
Pirates and Prophets
on August 17, 2015 August 17, 2015 By remelcher
Viruses, drugs, paranoia, death dwarfs, injections of millions of images, insect people, vegetable junkies, heavy metal SOS addicts, word dust, the subliminal kid, apomorphine,
words of a prophet….
The NOVA Express by William Burroughs Images by terminal pictures, Andre Perkowski


Milkshake and Cookies organise bespoke children's partys throughout the UK.
Milkshake and Cookies offer specialist kids' party entertainment solutions, providing tailor-made children's parties to clients throughout the UK. Backed by more than 20 years of experience, their experts put together a fantastic array of packages that are affordable and bespoke.
The owner of Milkshake and Cookies wanted an online presence whereby potential customers could view information about their party packages and enquire about their services online. The site is bright, colourful and appealing and stands out over competitors.


Welcome to the NEW WOODWORKER'S JOURNAL Website!
Home remodeling projects can be stressful, since there are so numerous different things to think about and keep track of to make sure things go smoothly and you don't make any costly mistakes. This is particularly true when you are renovating the kitchen. The kitchen is truly the heart of any home, so when you are giving yours a makeover, you desire to be extra vigilant and make sure you have all of your bases covered during both planning and execution.
Knobs are conspicuous by their presence on all kitchen cabinets and their unique styles and finishes by which they add to the aesthetic value of the kitchen and provide the ideal environment to cook in an aesthetic environment.
Make sure that your kitchen is fully functional by picking the perfect cabinets that will compliment your kitchen and you.
Most people wish that their kitchen looked a little better. This is the one room that most people remodel right after buying a home. There are many ways that you can update the room, but it is also a very expensive update. You will want to stick to a budget for your kitchen when thinking about remodeling ideas. You need to take some time and really look at your kitchen and what you see that is wrong to you and what you would to do to make it better. This is the starting point of remodeling.


Voting 232 for and 190 against, the House on April 10 passed a bill (HR 1644) that would reinstate and write into law Federal Communications Commission "net neutrality" rules implemented in 2016 during the Obama administration but repealed in 2017 during the Trump administration. The rules require the internet to be made equally accessible to all users. They prohibit service providers such as Verizon and Comcast from offering faster content delivery to customers in return for higher fees while leaving other customers in a slower lane. The bill gives the FCC permanent authority to prevent internet gatekeepers from blocking or throttling customer access, and it retains FCC programs that expand broadband access in rural areas and make the internet more accessible to low-income persons.
Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said the bill "not only protects consumers from large corporations, but it also strengthens our economy by promoting innovation and small businesses. Net neutrality ensures that any business, no matter how small, gets the same internet at the same speeds as giant corporate interests."
Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said, "The government is not regulating the internet today, and it is growing and expanding to the point where we are the envy of the world. We have some of the best job creation in this industry. We don't need the federal government to come in and save us from this great growth and expansion."
Voting 204 for and 216 against, the House on April 10 defeated a Republican motion that would prevent HR 1644 (above) from overriding the Internet Tax Freedom Act, a 1998 law that prohibits state and local taxation of internet service providers. Democrats said the bill already protects the internet's tax-free status.
Greg Walden, R-Ore., said, "This is pretty simple. Republicans want to close the door on taxation of the internet. Will Democrats join us or not?"
Michael Doyle, D-Pa., said, "The Internet Tax Freedom Act is federal law. Nothing in this order allows the FCC to modify, impair or supersede federal law."
Voting 56 for and 41 against, the Senate on April 11 confirmed David Bernhardt, 49, as secretary of the interior. He had been the department's acting secretary and deputy secretary. Republicans lauded Bernhardt's experience in government and as an oil and gas attorney in private practice. But Democrats criticized his record of undermining climate change regulations while advocating oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in waters off the east and west coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. They also faulted Bernhardt's refusal to fully recuse himself from decisions benefiting clients he represented as an oil lobbyist.
Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Bernhardt has seen how federal policies impact people's access to and use of public land, and he also recognizes the need to balance conservation and opportunities for economic development.
Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said that for New Jersey, which depends on a healthy, vibrant coastal economy, Mr. Bernhardt's extensive ties to the fossil fuel industry are troubling, to say the least.
Voting 92 for and seven against, the Senate on April 10 confirmed John P. Abizaid, 68, a former commander of the U.S. Central Command, as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Abizaid, who retired from the military in 2007, had been a fellow with the Hoover Institution think tank, a director of United Services Automobile Association financial services firm and advisor to Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak.
Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Abizaid has the experience and leadership necessary to both manage a large mission and get the currently fraught relationship with Saudi Arabia back on track in a way that advances our security interests and stays true to our ideals.
No senator spoke against Abizaid.
Voting 53 for and 45 against, the Senate on April 10 confirmed Cheryl Marie Stanton as administrator of Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor, where she will oversee the enforcement of overtime rules, the federal minimum wage, child labor laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act, certain immigration statutes and the wage-garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act. Stanton resigned in December as executive director of an agency that administers unemployment benefits in South Carolina. She was an associate counsel to President George W. Bush and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito while he was an appeals judge.
Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Stanton has vast experience in labor and employment law, both in public life and in the private sector.
Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she would oppose Stanton because of her very long history of siding with employers when they have violated workers' rights.


In 2018, Shrieve celebrates 40 years of business since first opening its doors in 1978. The year also celebrates 10 years of business in China and, in 2019, 20 years of business in the UK.
Shrieve has experienced many significant milestones over the years and is looking forward to achieving many more through great relationships with our employees, customers and suppliers.


text:
Woman escapes jail for £15k benefit fraud
A HUNTINGDON woman escaped jail after admitting cheating Huntingdonshire District Council out of more than £15,600 in benefits. Edith Howell, 49, of Stukeley Road, pleaded guilty at the town s magistrates court to four charges of benefit fraud between Ju
A HUNTINGDON woman escaped jail after admitting cheating Huntingdonshire District Council out of more than £15,600 in benefits.
Edith Howell, 49, of Stukeley Road, pleaded guilty at the town's magistrates' court to four charges of benefit fraud between June 2004 and February 2008.
She had claimed benefit as a lone parent for some years but, following a tip-off from a member of the public, an investigation revealed that her only son had not lived with her since 2004 and that, late in 2007, her partner had moved in with her.
As these changes had not been reported at the correct time, Howell was overpaid £15,634 housing benefit and Council Tax benefit between 2004 and 2008.
Her solicitor, Michelle Cheatle, said Howell accepted that she had made false claims but said that she had now got herself sorted out, was in a stable relationship and in work, so she had already made efforts to repay the money she had claimed.
The court ordered Howell to complete 180 hours of unpaid work. Although the magistrates accepted that the amount of benefits falsely claimed would appear large to anyone, they did not believe it appropriate to impose a prison sentence because of Howell's previous good character, guilty plea and efforts to repay the council.
At the same court, Viki Burke, 30, of Dryden Court, St Neots, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud. The court heard that she had made claims for housing benefit and Council Tax benefit when she became a single parent but continued to claim benefit after her husband had returned to her address.
An investigation followed a tip-off from a member of the public, and it was found that Burke had been overpaid £704.56 between September and December 2007. Burke was ordered to pay a fine of £65, compensation to the council for the overpayment and £100 costs.
Jillian Harlow, 46, of Viceroy Close, Eaton Socon, had earlier pleaded not guilty to a charge of benefit fraud but changed her plea to guilty at the hearing last week.
The court was told Harlow had failed to report that she and her former partner had received an inheritance, which was paid into bank accounts that had not been reported on her claims for benefit. She was overpaid £907.14 between December 2006 and May 2007.
Harlow received a 12-month conditional discharge, and was ordered to pay compensation to the council for the falsely claimed benefit as well as £150 costs.
Kevin Lambe, 40, of Duchess Close, Eaton Socon, failed to attend court to answer charges alleging fraudulent housing benefit claims for £840.
The Bbench heard that Lambe had made a claim to help with his rent when he was unemployed but he had subsequently found work and continued to claim benefit payments between August and November 2007.
The magistrates found the case against Lambe proved and imposed a £350 fine, compensation to the council, and £240 costs.


WEBER ELECTRIC GRILL OWNER'S MANUAL Pdf Download.
View and Download Weber ELECTRIC GRILL owner's manual online. 120 volts 50 60 Hz Output: 1500 W. ELECTRIC GRILL Grill pdf manual download. Also for: Q 1400, Q 2400.


I YIELD TO NO-ONE in my admiration of Chris Nickson and his Leeds historical crime novels, and so it is with a heavy heart that I am launching this competition to win a prize that is so gorgeous, I am tempted to assume an alias and enter the draw myself.
THE HANGING PSALM is a dark and brooding novel set in Georgian Leeds, and is a tale steeped in revenge, murder, astonishing period detail and a certain amount of social anger.
MAY I SUGGEST two small steps? First, click the blue link to read my review of The Hanging Psalm. Then, email me at fullybooked2016@yahoo.com – no need to do any more than put 'The Hanging Psalm' in the subject box. Alternatively, if you are a Facebook user, go to the Fully Booked Facebook page and 'like' the post about this competition. The image link below will take you straight there.
PROBABLY EVEN EASIER, if you belong to the Twitterati, is to either like or retweet my daily posts about this competition. Click the little blue bird below to go the Fully Booked Twitter timeline.
ENTRIES please by 10.00pm GMT on Sunday 30th September. The winner will be drawn from the Fully Booked digital hat, with United Nations observers present to ensure fair play. One entry per person only, please, and I will let the lucky winner know sometime on Monday 1st October.


Discussion in 'Buying Tips and Advice' started by kaelell, Nov 16, 2009.
But if it is worth the jump I am willing to spend an extra couple of hundred £.
the question is would it be better to jump to the 2nd model with ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics or spend that money on increasing the RAM. This all obviously depends on what I use it for so basically the main applications I am running on my little macbook ok are Final Cut pro, Adobe after effects, Photoshop CS4.0. I mainly use it for Video Editing and touching up Photos/doing some graphic work but nothing to a professional level or that regular.
Although I'm managing ok at the moment, the main reasons for wanting to upgrade is the larger screen and the fact that I am working with HD footage and maybe in the future change that hobby into a second profession.
My other question also is: by buying just the base model, is there really a big jump between using my macbook+external screen, as it has the same ram/graphics card however processor is only 2.4ghz. i.e is it a case of buy an upgraded imac or stick to the mac.
Many thanks for any advice you can give me !
...what are the specs of your macbook (kind of hard to make a recommendation without that info)?
I assume by the wording of this that you have a Macbook with the 9400M graphics? If so, keep it - you won't see that much improvement. Upgrade your RAM to 4GB, too (or 6GB, as the newer whites and all the aluminums can support it). If you really want the iMac AND want to see an improvement in performance, get the upper model with the ATI card.
thanks for the replies, I have the recent alluminium macbooks with the 9400 card thats right ( and 4GB ram) & Ive come to the same conclusion as you guys, keep the macbook, save my money and buy something worth the jump. cheers !


text:
Techradar India Awards 2019
Best phones under Rs 15,000
Apple Music overtakes Spotify in subscriber numbers in the US
By Nick Pino 2018-07-06T17:42:27Z
Beats the competition: Apple overtakes Spotify in a big way
(Image credit: unsplash/@dotgrid)
While we've come to acknowledge the dominance of Spotify in the music streaming space, that dominance might be diminishing … well, at least here in the US.
A new report, which says Apple Music has just surpassed the once-titan of the streaming audio space, comes by way of Digital Music News who has a source at a "US-based, major [music] distributor" with insight into the exact numbers.
For reference, both services had around 20 million paying subscribers here in the United States last time they revealed subscriber numbers publicly in February of this year. At the time, it appeared as though Spotify would hold its lead for the rest of the year but, apparently, that hasn't been the case.
While Apple Music has overtaken the Swedish-based streaming service here on its home turf, it has a long way to go to overtake the service on the global stage, as Spotify has around 75 million paying subscribers outside of the confines of the US compared to Apple Music's 20 million based on numbers obtained by The Wall Street Journal in early April.
What's more troubling for Spotify is that Apple Music subscribers could be more voracious listeners, racking up a combined 170 million streams of Drake's latest album Scorpion, compared to only 132.4 million on Spotify. Those numbers come by way of Music Business Worldwide who got official numbers from Apple and used Spotify's public-facing charts to get its data.
A defeat in the US isn't the death knell of the service but it does mean Spotify has to work harder to remain competitive, lest it become the next Pandora.
Apple Music vs Spotify: the music streaming titans go head-to-head
See more Audio news
Get the best TechRadar India deals, reviews, product advice, competitions, unmissable tech news and more!
We found the cheapest 16GB RAM laptop with a 1TB SSD
Looking for the cheapest fanless silent PC? We tracked it down
The Samsung Galaxy S20 needs to fix this one big problem with the Galaxy S10
Why 2020 is the year you should finally buy true wireless earbuds


The Cullum Ranch has been owned by the same family for 50 years and is now being offered for the first time! The total acreage is 1246.25 +/-. The ranch is being offered as a whole, or in two tracts: Tract 1 is everything west of FM 1197 and includes 366.5 acres; Tract 2 is everything east of FM 1197 and includes 879.75 acres. The property is located 6.5 miles north of Henrietta, TX, in Clay County. FM 1197 is a two lane, paved road, giving all weather access. This particular listing represents the East Side – 879.75 acres.
The terrain varies, from rolling hills and creek ravines on the north end, to flat mesquite pastures on the south. It has approximately 100′ of elevation change across it. One large hill in the central part of the ranch would be a great place to build a home, as it provides views for miles and miles across the surrounding ranches. The northern part of the ranch has a lot of open grasslands and pasture, covered in tall bluestem, with the draws lined with trees. The main creek on the north end, which is part of the Long Creek watershed, is lined by towering elm trees and native pecans.
The ranch hasn't been grazed in months, and even before then, it was under stocked to preserve the land. It has been cross fenced into nine different pastures, plus a large trap by the pens. Sixteen ponds, six of which are one acre or more in size, are throughout the ranch, providing adequate water for livestock and wildlife. The fences are appear to be in good shape, with metal t-posts and large pipe corners filled with cement. There is no farm land on the East side of the Cullum Ranch, however, in one of the south pastures there appears to be a 20 acre clearing that was once cultivated. On an average year, the ranch should be able to sustain 80 cows.
This property is prime for deer and quail hunting! Until just a couple of years ago, it had been under a superb quail management program for decades. The University of North Texas performed wildlife research on the property, specifically for bobwhites, and some seasons had reported counting up to 5 coveys per hour. Ask around the county, and you'll hear consistently that the Cullum Ranch is known for its abundant quail! The rolling hills and grass covered pastures create a perfect habitat for birds and bird hunting.
Other wildlife includes feral hog, Rio Grande turkey, migratory dove, and possibly some duck too. We believe most of the ponds are stocked with bass and catfish. Some of them are so clear you can see the fish swimming around. One tank near the barn has a fishing pier already built on it.
From the entrance gate off of the paved FM 1197, a gravel road leads you up a hill to the ranch headquarters. Here, a 60′ x 60′ metal barn with a concrete slab sits, plus a couple of other outbuildings. The barn has large hanger doors on it, as the owner used to park his plane in it. A 2200′ dirt landing strip, which is fenced off separately, is near the headquarters too; the owner used to take off and land directly from the ranch. The landing strip would need some clearing and leveling to use again, as it hasn't been used in years. The barn also has small office inside it.
A large set of pipe cattle working pens is at the headquarters, complete with branding pens, lanes, chutes, and scales. A line from a water well is ran over to the pens. Several older quail raising pens are on site too, as well as a concrete cellar.
Including perimeter and cross-fencing, the ranch has approximately 10.9 miles of fences. Most of the gates in between the interior pastures are wire.
For more information or to schedule your private tour of this ranch, contact agent Beau Byars at cell phone (940) 224-3183.


James Noble, a Broadway-seasoned actor who appeared on soap operas and films like "10" and "Being There," but perhaps was best known for playing the absent-minded governor to Robert Guillaume's patient head of household in the 1980s sitcom "Benson," has died in Connecticut. He was 94.
Noble died Monday at Norwalk Hospital after suffering a stroke, according to his daughter, Jessica Katherine Noble Cowan.


The 3rd of Iyar is the Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Isaac Farchi of Jerusalem, the author of Marpeh laEtzem. He died on May 11, 1853: One must approach Torah study with faith that the entire world is contained with in Torah, and that all of creation was based on its wisdom.
One must approach Torah study with a sense that in The Same Way, God teaches each of us, addresses each individual soul, so too, God is directly involved in every aspect of our lives.
One must approach Torah study with deep faith that this is the best way to involve God in our lives so that we are not limited by the physical world.
One must approach Torah study with this sense that it is only Torah which will empower us to pray in such a way that God will surely answer.


text:
package com.github.thorbenkuck.netcom2.network.shared.comm;

import com.github.thorbenkuck.netcom2.network.shared.ReceiveFamily;
import com.github.thorbenkuck.netcom2.network.shared.Session;
import com.github.thorbenkuck.netcom2.pipeline.CanBeRegistered;

import java.util.function.BiConsumer;

public interface OnReceive<T> extends BiConsumer<Session, T>, CanBeRegistered, ReceiveFamily {
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


As we know, a cruise to sunnier climes is a great way to escape the British winter but for those who like to blend cultural and historic experiences at the same time as working on their tan, there's a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites which offer a great way to do just that.
It's quite possible you've already heard the term 'UNESCO World Heritage Site', whether you're a culture aficionado, a regular reader of these blog pages, or just the type of person who makes sure you listen closely to your tour guide during your port excursions. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, to give it its full title, is a special agency of the United Nations which promotes international collaboration through education and culture, among other things. Its World Heritage Site programme is just one of the ways it does this, by cataloguing places of cultural or natural importance. The good news is, you can see many of the most famous ones while on your winter cruise.
It's no surprise that one of the world's most iconic landmarks is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Indeed, it marks a lot of land, stretching over 13,000 miles across China. However, visit Beijing on your cruise and you'll have the chance to see it for yourself with a trip to Badaling or a little further from the city, the less-crowded Mutianyu.
Beijing's great for the UNESCO tick-list and the Forbidden City, now known as the Palace Museum, is another highlight. This sprawling 250-acre site consists of over 9,000 rooms and presents a fascinating insight into Chinese dynasties-past, offering a wealth of fabulous temples, courtyards and other key buildings to explore.
Staying in China's capital, this is another top World Heritage Site. It used to be a summer retreat for emperors of old, but today, the site's more than just the palace alone. This 290-acre park is a great way to escape the hustle-bustle, offering beautiful gardens, temples, bridges, tea houses and a tranquil lake.
Another UNESCO heavyweight, Angkor is dedicated to a number of Hindu gods, is the world's largest temple complex and can be found close to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Angkor Wat itself is none other than the world's largest religious structure and the site's most famous temple.
Of course, UNESCO World Heritage Sites are about nature too and one particular highlight when it comes to famous Eastern creatures is the Komodo National Park on the Indonesian island of the same name. Here you'll be able to see the fabled Komodo Dragons for yourself in a protected indigenous environment.
The Indonesian island of Java is where you'll find this vast 9th century Hindu temple complex – the largest in the country and one of the biggest in South-East Asia. The soaring pointed towers of the larger temples dominate the skyline but there are no fewer than 224 smaller temples perfectly arranged in rows to explore too.
This spectacular Vietnamese bay is a true natural gem and regarded by many as one of the world's most beautiful places. A boat trip will give you the opportunity to witness around 1,600 soaring limestone islands rising from crystal-blue waters as well as a number of secluded grottos and a vibrant local fishing community.
UNESCO's educational role is well-evidenced with the choice of this particular site. Equal parts moving and insightful, Japan's Hiroshima Peace Memorial ensures that the world will never forget the fateful events of August 6th, 1945 but in a tasteful and thought-provoking manner.
One of the most famous South American World Heritage Sites and a popular excursion if you're on a cruise and stay in Peru. This 15th century mountaintop Incan site is one of the most popular and recognisable structures associated with the civilisation and is believed to have been built as an estate for the emperor Pachacuti.
Peru's capital has a centre which is in itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site, thanks largely to its stunning colonial architecture. Highlights include the stunning Archbishop's Palace, the Basilica Cathedral, the Government Palace and the House of Pilatos, which dates back to 1590.
The most famous feature of this 212-square-mile Argentine natural expanse is its spectacular waterfalls of the same name, which cascade into the Iguazu River and which really are one of the world's most awesome natural spectacles. The park is also home to a number of rare and threatened animal species, such as jaguars and Harpy Eagles.
Mexico is abundant in Mayan ruins but the ones you'll find at Chichen Itza are some of the most stunning and a trip to them is a popular cruise excursion. This was believed to be one of the civilisation's fabled 'great cities' and the towering El Castillo is a high point of the site, in every sense.
Australia's most famous man-made landmark is understandably an UNSECO World Heritage Site thanks to its now legendary status as one of the most recognisable buildings of the 20th century. It's Expressionist 'shells' are one of the identifying sights to be seen in the city's world-famous harbour and the acoustics are pretty good, too.
One of the world's most celebrated natural wonders can also be found in Australia, specifically off the coast of Queensland – served by the cruise ship-friendly Port Douglas. It's the world's largest coral reef system and the biggest structure made by living organisms, supporting an abundance of marine life including green turtles, porpoises, dugongs and 30 species of whales.
Easter Island is, strictly speaking part of Chile, though it lies in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean and Rapa Nui National Park encompasses a large portion of the island. It is, of course, where you'll be able to see for yourself the most famous legacy of the Polynesian people, the iconic Easter Island statues, of which there are 887.


text:
Bernt Åke Hedberg, född 14 december 1929 i Vansbro, död 7 april 1971 i Västerås, var en svensk tyngdlyftare. Han tävlade för Kristinehamns ABK.

Hedberg tävlade för Sverige vid olympiska sommarspelen 1952 i Helsingfors, där han slutade på 6:e plats i mellanvikt.

Han blev svensk mästare i 75-kilosklassen 1951 och 1953.
Blev nordisk mästare i mellanvikt 1953.

Åke Hedberg är begravd på Storfors kyrkogård.

Källor

 Bernt Åke Hedberg på Gravar.se

Noter

Svenska tyngdlyftare
Svenska mästare i tyngdlyftning
Tävlande i tyngdlyftning vid olympiska sommarspelen 1952
Tävlande vid olympiska sommarspelen 1952 från Sverige
Födda 1929
Avlidna 1971
Män

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Three buildings in Whitechapel evacuated after suspected gas leak
Published: 5:42 PM January 31, 2012 Updated: 8:34 AM October 14, 2020
Works need to be done on a main underground pipe in Whitechapel Road following a suspected gas leak.
Three buildings in the area were evacuated on Monday and National Grid said its engineers believe one of two major pipes running through the road needs repairing.
Some market stalls close to Whitechapel Tube station may have to close in the coming days.
Police and fire fighters were called at around 5.20pm on Monday to close the road and it was reopened half an hour later.
The emergency services had first been called out on Sunday night and evacuated premises as well as closed the road.
A spokeswoman for National Grid said: "On Sunday we did some work identifying a disused pipe believed to be the source of the leak.
"We were then called to the same vicinity to another report and we are in the process of tracing the gas escape to its source. There are two gas mains running down Whitechapel Road and we believe there's a gas escape on one. We are talking to the market supervisor as we need to close some of the stalls."
National Grid said the situation is being monitored.
Gas escaping outdoors does not pose the threat that it does in contained buildings, it said.


text:
package feature

import (
	"github.com/aetimmes/discordgo"
	"github.com/jakevoytko/crbot/model"
)

// Parser is used to multiplex on builtin ?* commands, and ensure that the
// commands are correctly formatted.
type Parser interface {
	// The user-facing name of the command. Must be unique.
	GetName() string
	// Parses the given split command line.
	Parse([]string, *discordgo.MessageCreate) (*model.Command, error)
	// The user-facing help text for the given name. `command` is passed as an arg
	// so fallback parsers can provide custom help text.
	HelpText(command string) (string, error)
}