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kuroshmazandrani
Fun Facts About Bahais: Baha'u'llah suffered from Dwarfism & Brother was a Killer & Drug Smuggler
by kuroshmazandrani
Baha'u'llah and his son (pictured top right) suffered from Dwarfism.
Baha'u'llah's brother (pictured top left) was bascially the Osama Bin Laden of his day, having murdered many people and known as a drug smuggler.
And then there is Abdul-Baha's contacts with British Intelligence (pictured bottom).
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by rbnfl on Wed May 09, 2012 02:36 PM PDT
I honestly fail to understand the purpose of this blog. I sense a lot of hatred within the author. Wouldn't it be more constructive to have a mature dialogue?
by Dr. Mohandes on Wed May 09, 2012 12:40 AM PDT
man, i love your prompt and efficient customer service. yes sir, i can work with that indeed:)) is there anywhere i can rate it and give you some big fact rating or something your prophetness?
I will have meatloaf please with the side of Fesenjoon.
window seats are fine. She would want to go back as Elizabeth Taylor. Money is no object:))
I guess we will to just hold off on the sexual integration/union then ha?:) no problemo.
Dr. Mohandes you've been elevated to be the President
by kuroshmazandrani on Wed May 09, 2012 12:27 AM PDT
Dr. Mohandes jan, you've been elevated to be the President of the NEW Universal House of Justice. You can decide who can join our new world police force and how we spend the money we take in from the UK government in "grants" (wink wink wink).
1. seating arrangements for heaven: Your choice of window or aisle seat. Dinner is Meatloaf or chicken. (Peanuts and 7up are complimentary.)
2. raincheck for reincarnation: No problem. Just let me know in advance if you want to come back as Elvis or Michael Jackson (they're both in demand).
3. Love-making nights: That's only Tuesdays or Thursdays (Saturdays I have yoga classes and heal children of cancer).
Wop-Bop-a-Lu-Bop-a'u'llah, prophet of the New Bahai Church
P.S. Make sure to watch the video on Captive Lions Fed Live Donkey in Public VIew. We will be very anti-Donkey and very pro-Lion in the new Church.
New prophet joon
Can i send you my aks-deductible contributions to you as well?
I also have some questions:
Will you give us seating arrangements in heaven? Any seat numbers? I mean how are we gonna know what to do when we get there?
Can we get a rain check on the reincarni thingy? my wife is having a hard time making up her mind.
I can't make it on neither one of those days. could we do ours on even days or on saturday, right after we are done with our shopping?
Thanks dude. Rock on man.
Our New Theme Song ... G-d loves you
by kuroshmazandrani on Tue May 08, 2012 02:05 PM PDT
From now on the name "Baha'u'llah" is null and void. I am the NEW Messiah and the name I choose for myself (in maintaining with Bahai tradition) is Wop-Bop-a-Lu-Bop-a'u'llah. Enjoy our new theme song. We take checks and credit cards. Beards are optional, and unlike the old faith you are welcome to recruit members from Israel.
Shalom children, shalom ....
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5gh0t1co6k
The Messiah has been called "Fred" and "Wahid" this morning ...
I'm not either of them. I am the NEW Messiah (I don't have any issues revealing my identity, but the Bahai Internet Agency and Israelis here will have to do the same). Talk amongst yourselves and see if it is a fair bargain.
Fred and Wahid (whomever they are) are welcome to comment here - unlike the OLD Bahai church; my newer religion does not censor.
All new members will get a bonus pass for a friend that will allow them entry into heaven (or reincarnation - their choice).
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, members of the faith can also make love to me (free of charge).
The new-&-improved seventeen (17) commandments will be posted soon. (We even have a theme song!)
Followers, you will never have to wonder if the photos of Abdul-Baha and the British Minister of Intelligence are significant because we have a NEW religion. I will let you know where to send your tax-deductible contributions later.
Each time you shower, just imagine it's me blessing you with holy water.
Peace & Love,
The Messiah
Wahid, instead of posting this repetitive nonsense
by Anonymous Observer on Tue May 08, 2012 12:32 PM PDT
under various usernames, why don't you visit the thread on Evin prison and leave some thoughts there...any thought. That's where you should be putting your keyboard and your photoshop talents to use.
But admit Abdul Baha had a body-hair problem; I'm clean shaven
"Abdul Baha was a great IRANIAN who Cared by Azarbanoo on Tue May 08, 2012 11:57 AM PDT"
Who do you think would win in a Kung Fu fight? Abdul Baha or Jesus?
Abdul Baha was a great IRANIAN who Cared
by Azarbanoo on Tue May 08, 2012 11:57 AM PDT
About IRAN & IRANIANS. His Doctorine /manifesto frees Iranians from Islam & Akhoonds' barbariate and ignorance which have been instilled in us for more than 1400 years. Lucky are Bahais who recogenized and converted to bahaiesm. As Iranians I would advise Iranians who got to knw Islam of akhoondism in last 33 years to convert to the Bahai or Zorasterianism to save your soul and Persian culture as well.
Shouldn't the Universal House of Justice be in the UK then?
"by faryarm on Tue May 08, 2012 11:47 AM PDT Dear Friends, Please read and see for yourself how some misguided people try to poison minds with lies and distortion. The following link gives some background to Why Abdul Baha is pictured in front of a table clad with The British flag."----------------------------------------------- Faryarm jan, oh puuuuuuuuuhlease join my NEW Universal House of Justice. It is so equal-minded that as your new Messiah I will allow ladies to grow beards (or shave). All new members get a foot massage from me (no charge and you get a complimentary key chain and gift certificate to Starbucks). Baha'u'llah claimed that "Jesus" had returned "in My Person," and I'm saying the same. And this is what 'Abdu'l-Baha had to say about native Africans:
"The inhabitants of a country life Africa are all as wandering savages
and wild animals. They lack intelligence and knowledge; all are
uncivilized; not one civilized and a wise man is not to be found among
them. These are the proofs of the wise men. The prophets also
acknowledge this opinion, towit: That education hath a great effect
upon the human race, but they declare that minds and comprehensions
are originally different. And this matter is self-evident; it cannot
be refuted. We see that certain children of the same age, nativity and
race, nay, from the same household, under the tutorship of one
teacher, differ in their minds and conprehensions. One advanceth
rapidly, another is slow in catching the rays of culture, still
another remaineth in the lowest degree of stupidity. No matter how
much the shell is educated (or polished), it can never become a
radiant pearl. The black stone will not become the world-illumined
gem." (Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha p.567 vv.3-4)
FACTS: Abdul-Baha and the British
by faryarm on Tue May 08, 2012 11:55 AM PDT
Please read and see for yourself how some misguided people try to poison minds with lies and distortion. The following link gives some background to Why Abdul Baha is pictured in front of a table clad with The British flag.
Abdu'l-Baha's knighthood has never been a matter of importance to Bahais themselves, who have many much weightier reasons to admire and follow Abdu'l-Baha as the successor to his father, Baha'u'llah, as the authorised interpreter of the Bahai scripture and teachings, as the Centre of the Covenant that unites Bahais across the world, and as the best exemplar of the Bahai life. However the photograph of Abdu'l-Baha, seated at the ceremony to confer on him the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, is one of the stock images on Iranian and Islamic anti-Bahai sites that seek to present the Bahai Faith as a Western invention, foreign to the Middle East. These anti-Bahai sites have also presented quite scandalous speculations about the reasons for the British award, such as Abdu'l-Baha spying for the British during the period of Ottoman rule, or supplying the British army during the war. So it will be useful to have a blog page that gathers documented evidence of Abdu'l-Baha's activities before and during the British Mandate in Palestine, and the circumstances of his knighthood. What I have is incomplete: feel free to use the comments section to add more. I have selected what appear to me the more illuminating documents published in Moojan Momen's The Babi and Bahai Religions: Some Contemporary Western Accounts, beginning on page 332, and supplemented these from other sources. To avoid a metres-long page, in some case I have put references and brief summaries on this page, with links to the full documents and their sources in the comments section.
Abdu'l-Baha returned to Palestine from his European journeys eight months before the outbreak of World War I. In that war, the Ottoman Empire which ruled Palestine was allied with theCentral Powers, against the United Kingdom, France and Russia and their 'associate,' the United States.
Abdu'l-Baha remained in Palestine throughout the war. For the first few months, he and the Bahais retired to the Druze village of Abu-Sinan, but as the severe famine remembered as the Safar Barlik struck Palestine, due to maladministration, the disruption caused by the war, Ottoman requisitions, and a plague of locusts, Abdu'l-Baha returned to Haifa to organise the distribution of food and supplies. Haifa was central, since it had both a port and a railway, which connected to the Hijaz-Palestine railway."
Meeting the need
In the Hidden Words, Baha'u'llah writes: "The best of men are they that earn a livelihood by their calling and spend upon themselves and upon their kindred …" And in his Will he writes, "It is enjoined upon everyone to manifest love towards the Aghsan [Baha'u'llah's sons], but God hath not granted them any right to the property of others. His sons therefore were expected to earn their own livings. Zia Bagdadi reports a talk in which Abdu'l-Baha says that he is able to weave a mat, and I have heard from other sources that Abdu'l-Baha learned to be a mat weaver in his youth. That would have been a handicraft that could be done in prison, to earn a little income. As the conditions of detention were eased, Abdu'l-Baha established himself as a significant businessman in the area. By 1911 and 1912, he was able to pay all the expenses for himself and his entourage during their travels to Europe and North America.
Some of Abdu'l-Baha's business activities leading up to, and during, the First World War have been described by Iraj Poostchi, in 'Adasiyyah: A Study in Agriculture and Rural Development' (Baha'i Studies Review 16 (2010), pp. 61–105). Adasiyyah was just one of Abdu'l-Baha's ventures (there were also farms at Samrah, Nuqayb and Nogaile, and perhaps others I have not heard about). Thanks to Poostchi's research, the Adasiyyah estate gives us a picture of Abdu'l-Baha's vigour and persistence in business. Briefly, sometime in 1901, Abdu'l-Baha purchased about 2200 acres of land at Adasiyyah, on the Jordan river, for 400 Turkish lira. Soon after, he gave 1/24th of the land to the family from whom he purchased it, 3/24ths to his brother Mirza Muhammad 'Ali (despite the latter making false accusations against him to the Ottoman authorities), and 1/24th to the Mufti of Akka, leaving Abdu'l-Baha with about 1704 acres.
The land at that time was scrubland. A first attempt to grow wheat and barley was unsuccessful, due to lawlessness in the area, and 'Abdu'l-Baha then leased the land for two years to a wealthy Christian merchant, on condition that he would build a house, stables and animal sheds in lieu of one year's rental, and would prepare the ground. He too failed, due to the theft of his produce. In 1907 Abdu'l-Baha arranged for a number of Bahai farmers, mostly those of Zoroastrian background from the village of Mahdiyabad, to come to Palestine, and in the following years increasing numbers moved to Adasiyyah. The influx continued until 1916. Most of the land was farmed by individual families in a sharecropping arrangement. The farmers had security of tenure, and if they wished to give up the land, could ask for a payment for the incoming sharecropper. These provisions gave them an incentive to improve the land and facilities. The share croppers were responsible for seed, water, manure and labour for their plots. They were advised but not required to pay their labourers a portion of their profits. Before the war they paid 1/3rd of their harvest to Abdu'l-Baha, and after the war 1/5th (the norm at that time was a 50/50 division). This would be paid in cash or in grain, which would be shipped to Haifa, some of it for distribution to the poor.
Abdu'l-Baha took a close interest in the farming and in the little community. He advised the farmers to plant a type of eucalyptus that produces quinine in its bark, to drain a marsh, combat malaria, cool the climate and ultimately for construction timber. The Baha'i farmers also built a small stone dam in the Yarmouk river, which provided water for both the Bahai and non-Bahai farms in the area through an irrigation ditch that eventually extended over a kilometre. In addition to wheat and barley (usually on the unirrigated land), they grew chickpeas, lentils, broad beans, tomatoes bananas, citrus fruits, pomegranate, apples, pears and other fruit, vetch and sweet corn, as well as raising cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, and pigeons. Crop rotation was practiced. 'Abdu'l-Baha encouraged the farmers to diversify to fruit production, and suggested that they grow large yellow lemons and sesame seeds, which fetched much higher prices than other farm products. He introduced bananas by bringing a number of shoots (suckers) from India, which also proved lucrative. He also encouraged them to engage in crafts and small rural industries, and to expand their sales to markets further away.
In July 1917, with the First World War raging and rainfall was also poor, Abdu'l-Baha arrived in Adasiyyah and told the Bahais that he needed wheat for Haifa and Akka. The Bahai farmers offered Abdu'l-Baha all they had, and Abdu'l-Baha also bought all the wheat available in the area, using 200 camels to ship it to Haifa and 'Akka, carrying 400 sacks on each trip. According to Iraj Poostchi's informants, when the caravan arrived at Haifa, the British had already taken the city. This is plausible: if Abdu'l-Baha intended to feed the population, there would have been little point in sending the food while the Ottoman forces were in control, since they would have requisitioned the supplies for their soldiers. So it was that hundreds of the poor there benefited from the wheat distributed by 'Abdu'l-Baha on this dramatic occasion. However this distribution was not a unique event: as noted above the share farmers would sometimes pay their rents in grain, and Abdu'l-Baha distributed some at least of this in small amounts to individual households, and stored some at the Khan Al-Umdan and Khan Al-Shavardeh in Akka. HM Balyuzi describes how the wheat was given to a lady named Sakinih Sultan, and quotes a letter sent to on July 26th 1918, and a list for the distribution of a shipment of wheat:
Sen McGlinn's blog
//senmcglinn.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/abdu'l-baha-british-knighthood/
Shalom Mousa jan ... maybe you can help me
by kuroshmazandrani on Tue May 08, 2012 11:41 AM PDT
Ahmadinejad was one of the tribe:
//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/6256173/Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad-revealed-to-have-Jewish-past.html
Maybe together we can work to lift the unfair restrictions on the Bahai faith recruiting members in Israel.
Can you be my contact in Tel Aviv for that purpose? Let's work together.
Baha'u'llah was in favor of the 5th Fleet
... whatever his handlers wanted, Baha'u'llah (or "Bobby Big Beard" as we called him in elementary school) was willing to do.
Come on! You can't expect the poor man to have made a living off of opium smuggling and midget tossing alone? That's not fair.
If you follow my NEW Universal House of Justice, you will get all the pancakes you can't eat in the after-life.
shalom mr ahmadinejad's mamoor jan :)
by mousa67 on Tue May 08, 2012 11:26 AM PDT
i thought you claimed you had a "day job" and that's why you had to run away from mr fred's blog this morning. now we know what your "day job " is my feisty london residing cyber warrier. LOL.
did you shia cyber warriers who are even frightened of sticking to a single anonymos ID on internet had the pathetic dreams of "managing the world"? at least your sunni brothers had the balls to stand and fight in the real world unlike you and your ilk taking refuge in the west at the first sign of US 5th fleet proudly sailing through the straits of hormouz!
truely pathetic you and your ilk are. truely pathetic.
Baha'u'llah cured my erectile disfunction
... every time I look at that soft fuzzy beard, the little general salutes.
Abdul Baha's Persian Intelligence...
I will not dignify the horrible comments about Baha'u'llah and family .. However the picture of Abdul Baha, is the occasion when the Victors of the First World War and new governors in Palestine, praised and recognised Abdul Baha's Vision and foresight years before the War for making the community to grow and store wheat in anticipation of the terrible famine that follows as a result of War. Abdul- Baha's actions saved the lives of thousands of local people, and for that He was recognised. However the ignorant enemies of Bahais , whose identity and motivation for such attack is by now so abundantly clear can find no better way to demonstarte their absolute weakeness and bankruptcy.
Albaloo Polo ... you're delicious
But censorship is typical of the teaching of Bahaism, and that particular comment shows it clearly. It also shows that the followers have indeed been flagging comments on various internet sites.
+1 For me (the New Messiah).
The followers are also chicken and will run from addressing facts.
Albaloo Polo, you're still delicious.
What this blogger is stating
by Albaloo on Tue May 08, 2012 11:19 AM PDT
What this blogger is stating may have no truth in it. It is then up to us to prove him wrong. Flagging and deleting would not help and would not solve the problem.
Anahid, nothing is sacred ! Right ?
On this site there are all sort of blogs .. so what?
Shalom Mousa jan
... Is it also possible for a private individual to hire the Bahai Internet Agency or do they only work for government agencies? I could use them to advertise my businesses ... can I get a quote? I basically want them to post a lot of online comments promoting my products as the best (as judged by G-D), and sharing with customers that I am the Messiah. What does something like that cost? (P.S. Baha'u'llah came to me in a dream and said it would be cool, and handpicked me as his successor. Can I get a good price?)
15hrs 45mins on this site & already such an impressive blog :)
given mr ahmadinejad's particular "interest" in bahai faith it gives one some clue as to which other avatars this "latest" islamist blogger with a "sense of humor" uses on this site. which makes me to remind mr "kurooshmaza..." that to most of us mr ahmadinejad himself is suffering from "dwarfism" of not only physical but also mental nature.
I wish I could flag blogs
by Anahid Hojjati on Tue May 08, 2012 10:45 AM PDT
If I could, I would flag this one.


Interview with Hvàll from Vreid. On October 28th this year, Vreid released their newest album Lifehunger. A perfect opportunity for Metal-Exposure to have a chat with one of the masterminds behind the band 'Hvàll', also known as Jarle Kvåle. Read our chat with him here!


Transform a used soda pop can into a bug-eyed robot with the 4M Soda Can Robug kit. The 4M Soda Can Robug teaches the value of recycling by repurposing a used can into a fun and functional robot. No special tools or knowledge required; the kit contains detailed instructions and all the necessary parts. Just add a used soda pop can and let the fun begin. Perfect for young science enthusiasts, especially those with an interest in robotics and green science. Requires two AAA batteries (not included). Recommended for ages 8 years and up.


The weather was as expected for February being gloriously hot during the day with cooling sea breezes and stormy by night.
Holiday was eventful as some of the beaches have dangerous seas but without warnings. Husband dislocated shoulder which meant a trip to hospital in Trivandrum.
The Ayurvedic practitioners wanted to fix it but too painful. I would recommend going to hospital straight away.
People very friendly and welcoming.
Noisy in the early hours when locals being called to prayer.
We were warned not to go to areas where there were drunken fishermen.
Be careful of being ripped off in tourist areas. Some of the local unauthorised guides trap you and demand money for showing you sites that are normally free.
Glorious, although I struggle with hot climates, I found the weather to be bearable, especially close to the beach where there was a pleasant breeze.
Absolutely wonderful. Having visited Kerala four times already I am planning to return next month as I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
I have visited Cochin, Periyer, Alleppey and Tamil Nadu to name but a few places - a wonderful experience, friendly people and wonderful food.


The median home value in North Port, FL is $203,700. This is lower than the county median home value of $237,200. The national median home value is $185,800. The average price of homes sold in North Port, FL is $203,700. Approximately 60.36% of North Port homes are owned, compared to 21.71% rented, while 17.93% are vacant. North Port real estate listings include condos, townhomes, and single family homes for sale. Commercial properties are also available. If you see a property you're interested in, contact a North Port real estate agent to arrange a tour today!
PLEASE ENJOY THE 3D INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL TOUR ASSOCIATED WITH THIS NEW CONSTRUCTION HOME: This BRAND NEW residence is ready for immediate occupancy and offers an open floor plan concept with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, galley kitchen, dining area and large living room space. Interior features include all wood cabinets, granite countertops, tiled floors throughout, breakfast bar, APPLIANCE PACKAGE CREDIT and cathedral ceilings. Perfect for entertaining or relaxation, the covered lanai area overlooks an expansive tranquil backyard with plenty of room for a pool. Concrete block construction, hurricane shutters and PGT windows assist with reducing insurance costs and monthly payments. This home qualifies for all types of financing, including FHA and VA loans. Perfect for a starter home, downsizing, rental investment or winter retreat. Centrally located to schools, dining, entertainment, shopping, golf, boating waters, Florida beaches and the interstate. NOT IN A FLOOD ZONE!
As you step inside the front door, you are welcomed with towering ceilings and suddenly the 1500 sq ft feels much larger than imagined. Whether you are a growing family, a young family or a snowbird; this home will accommodate your space needs. Generous living room and formal dining room space. Dinette off the kitchen is perfect for casual evenings or a place for the kids to do homework as you prepare dinner. Catch up with your family while preparing dinner. Ample cabinet space so storage is no problem. Separate pantry space for spillover. Home features a split floor plan where the guestâs bedrooms are opposite of the master suite for quiet seclusion. The master bedroom closet is HUGE! Plenty of room for sharing. The master bathroom features a double sink vanity, large soaking tub and walk in shower space. Home has been freshly painted in a warm palette to appeal to all tastes. The security of the cul de sac allows the kids an opportunity to play outside. Private location with no neighbors to the side or rear. North Port is a family friendly community filled with parks, waterways and recreation. Commuter friendly with all of today's conveniences right at hand. With a dedication to education, Sarasota County has earned an A rating for the last 14 years. This is a home located in a community that itâs residents are proud to call home.
This lovely large home is in the up and coming city of North Port, Florida. North Port has excellent schools, community centers, walking trails, a swimming pool and lots of great shopping and dining. It is close to I75 for those special trips to Fort Myers, Sarasota, Venice and of course Port Charlotte. Five airports are withing one hour and fifteen minutes for family members who want to visit our paradise. This home has a lovely entrance with a picket fence. You could just add your swing for those pleasant evenings visiting with neighbors, and don't worry about being too warm, the AC is only 1 year old. There is also plenty of privacy with the wood fencing all around. Lush foliage adorn the yards, front and back. Inside you will find an inviting great room with high ceilings and stairway to 2 bedrooms and a bonus room upstairs. There are interesting architectural nuances that give you that Walton family home feel. Come and see this great home before it's gone! The price is right!


i wore scarves. and was cold. and started my last semester of grad school.
i wore lots of layers. and it was probably still cold. and i was still in grad school.
i wore these chartreuse tights a whole lot. and skinny belts.
the boy graduated, i traveled all over, and i wore white a lot.
i wore more white. and we went to the dunes.
i started a new job in chicago and we moved. and i wore belts.
i wore sunnies a lot. and those crazy shorts every chance i got. and apparently found all sorts of brick walls.
oh, the gray of it all.
it got slightly colder in chicago and i started layering up and busting out the boots more.
i wore those rust-colored tights a whole bunch.
this short puffer has recently joined my coat collection since my white coat has to take a trip to the dry cleaner's every time i wear it on the subway. they were asking me all sorts of questions about the nature of the stains and i said that they were train-based. apparently this is NOT funny.
they make rainy days soooo much better!
since last year i went extra unsaturated for my christmas wrapping, this year i went crazy overboard with my gift tableau. i'm talking wrapping paper pattern mixing, dumping out my whole collection of grosgrain ribbon, gift tags made from giant helvetica initials, and (best of all) making bows out of a W magazine editorial about tilda swinton. yes, you heard right, tilda.
pink for christmas. it's the next big thing.
black and white and red all over. not unlike a newspaper.
kinda minimalist, but only so that tilda stands out. get instructions on how to make bows from magazines over here at how about orange.
a helvetica d. such a good letter.
i tried to make an "L" out of ribbon, but it came out more disease-awareness than cursive letter. oh, and a chanel ad bow.
i found this j.crew skirt at a thrift store on my usual pass through skirts for bright-colored wool. i think it's from the late 90s and set me back less than a lincoln. it's got a full coat of sequins plus extra blobs of sequins for texture or depth or something. i haven't been thrifting much in chicago, so it was a perfect welcome-home-to-the-land-of-awesome-thrifting gift from the state of michigan.
to the toledo glass museum. it's been on our "buildings to go see" list for awhile and when we found ourselves less than an hour away from it we decided it was time to check it off.
this wool dress makes things seem so easy. a funny belt, some slightly less punchy tights, my go-to flats, and done! can i just wear this all winter and just swap out the belts and tights?
i thrifted this top from the dresses-you-only-wear-once section last summer and have been pondering how to dress it down. all those beads make it pretty heavy, so i kept the layers to a minimum. wearing it this way seems kinda anti-holiday season, but i figure there will be plenty of sequins and shiny things in store over the next few weeks!
oh, and i had a pigeon trying to get in on my photo shoot, so i chased him. i kicked a pigeon once in florence accidentally. true story. feathers went everywhere.
i am totally addicted to these rust-colored tights and am thoroughly convinced that they go with all sorts of other colors. it's weird how some punchy tights, like my turquoise pair or smurf blue pair, i can't seem to match with much. then this pair i picked up randomly at target (when i stopped in to get headphones) have been on repeat for the last six weeks. maybe next year i'll be really into blue and make use of all those other tights that have been pushed aside to make way for these suckers.
back in 2009 i saw these shiny leggings at our local ross for $7 and bought them for their superhero quality. (since if i were going to fight crime, it would most definitely involve some awesome leggings!) the backup plan was to incorporate them into some sort of halloween costume. neither of these things has happened yet, but when i packed up my tights for chicago i resolved to find a way to wear them that didn't involve dressing like catwoman.
i have this jacket in two colors because i liked the first one i bought so much. it's one of those randomly higher-quality pieces that exist somewhere hidden in the messiness of forever21.


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Q: AAPT: Error: Resource attr/(various) not found Having all kinds of problems tonight. Downloaded updated Android Studio and Gradle and coded a little and then started getting these errors. Have tried uninstalling android studio, changing the version of Gradle in my build file to an earlier version, using an older version of android studio, deleting the Gradle cache, and maybe one or three other things. Older versions of Android Studio now say my project must be used with Android 3.6.
These things the build output is complaining about all seem to exist in the file it's talking about at the exact line. Tried commenting them out... that didn't work either.
Little out of my league here. Any of you gray hairs see something I'm missing?
Any help much appreciated.
===========================================================================

C:\Users\me\.gradle\caches\transforms-2\files-2.1\d083c96bf16f0afa497f0903aac86f7e\constraintlayout-2.0.0-beta2\res\values\values.xml:268:5-4347:
AAPT: error: resource attr/flow_horizontalSeparator (aka
com.myproject.myproject:attr/flow_horizontalSeparator) not found.
C:\Users\me\.gradle\caches\transforms-2\files-2.1\d083c96bf16f0afa497f0903aac86f7e\constraintlayout-2.0.0-beta2\res\values\values.xml:268:5-4347:
AAPT: error: resource attr/flow_verticalSeparator (aka
com.myproject.myproject:attr/flow_verticalSeparator) not found.
C:\Users\me\.gradle\caches\transforms-2\files-2.1\d083c96bf16f0afa497f0903aac86f7e\constraintlayout-2.0.0-beta2\res\values\values.xml:269:5-3548:
AAPT: error: resource attr/flow_horizontalSeparator (aka
com.myproject.myproject:attr/flow_horizontalSeparator) not found.
C:\Users\me\.gradle\caches\transforms-2\files-2.1\d083c96bf16f0afa497f0903aac86f7e\constraintlayout-2.0.0-beta2\res\values\values.xml:269:5-3548:
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A: Update:
Added  implementation 'androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout:2.0.0-beta4' to my app's build.gradle file and it worked.
Pretty simple question but going to leave this up there. Might save someone a few hours of ignorance.

A: My case was really different. I had set android:text=" ??? " in my layout file, when I changed it to android:text=" ? " it worked. I have no idea why this works, maybe it helps someone. It took me hours to find the issue.

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Fiona Cameron is a journalist who has worked for the BBC and Norwegian seafood trade publication IntraFish, as well as running a PR/media relations consultancy for the past 10 years.
She has had six short stories published in New Fiction collections , and her first novel (writing as Nancy McKnight) is due tone published in late summer 2013. www.nancymcknight.com. She lives in Galloway, with her husband, two Afghan hounds, two Birman cats & a Norwegian Forest Cat.
I started writing novels when I was twelve, but I only recently took up finishing them. I'm particularly fond of my twelve year-old self's right-on angst-ridden inter-racial romance-mystery novel, set in a lawyers office in New York. Maybe L.A., possibly Chicago. Somewhere American. The hero was a brilliant black man, (to be played by Sydney Poitier in the film, only with loon pants and afro of Mark out of Ironside). He rejects our blonde heroine lawyer's advances but she tells him, as she lays her pale hand on his chocolate one, "It's only you who sees the skin colour, Joshua, I just see the man inside!" And all written from my wee Glaswegian bedroom. Ye cannae beat it.
I worked as a teacher and lived in the North, then the Hebridees for another long stint before moving here. I've co-written a comic mystery with my niece. She lives in Italy, so this would have been impossible before the glories of Skype. I've also written my own first novel - a mystery featuring a Glasgow witch. Both novels are conceived of as a series. I'm the newest member of our inspirational group. Gerry is one half of Jemima Wallace whose novel "The Case of the Curious Kilt" was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Award 2012.
Jemima's bottom (and better) half is supplied by her niece Germaine Stafford. She was also shortlisted for the Bridgeport Prize for Flash Fiction 2012.
I have always enjoyed writing and dabbled with various bits and bobs over the years. I regularly write instructions for chain maille jewellery projects for national magazines and monthly for our website Beadsisters' Library.
It was a trip to Peak Castle in Derbyshire in the late 1990s, which set me onto writing historical romances (unpublished). 'Write what you know' advice led me to Nottingham University where I studied medieval history as a part-time adult learner. Each module was like a piece of a jigsaw building up a fascinating world that has countless backdrops for stories. Writing a novel is a long-term commitment but one I love as you build your characters and set them loose – you might know the end place for their journey but how they get there often comes as a surprise.
I worked for many years as a social science lecturer and trainer in higher education and the voluntary sector in the South of England. During this time I wrote and published technical articles and papers, but hankered after the freedom of expression that more imaginative writing would allow. Following several years of holidaying in Scotland, retirement gave me the opportunity to settle here in the South West which is a wonderful area for encouraging self-expression.
I have surprised myself in learning to paint, taking up country dancing, setting up a beginners French group and, with the support of the Booktown Writers, I have cautiously taken up creative writing.
Jayne Baldwin I was born in Yorkshire but have lived almost half of my life in Scotland. Like many writers I began inventing stories as a child and I went on to become a journalist when, despite popular belief about the profession, I changed to reporting facts.
I retrained as a yoga teacher but in 2008 I came across the story of aviator Elsie Mackay and returned to writing with the publication of 'West Over The Waves' a book about her attempt to fly the Atlantic. In 2011 my first children's book 'The Belties of Curleywee Farm' was published and I now work as a freelance writer, editor and publicist. I am a member of the Society of Authors.
A Glasgow girl I applied to study English at Glasgow University but when asked why I wanted to do this I gave the wrong answer, I said I wanted to write. That was back in the sixties and I'm sure they're more reasonable now; after all they even run courses in creative writing. Leaving Scotland in disgust I studied fashion design for a bit before becoming a psychiatric nurse. This led me onto becoming a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist, try saying that when you've had a few nippy sweeties, and I can honestly say now thank you Glasgow Uni., I wouldn't have missed it for the world. The experience of working with people who have such terrible difficulties was not only humbling it taught me so much about the fortitude of the human animal.
My career led me to meet my life partner Andy and took me to Wiltshire, Devon, Birmingham, Sheffield and Derby. All the time I was doing psychotherapy, teaching psychotherapy, writing about psychotherapy or commissioning psychotherapy I was also writing what I wanted, a poem here, a short story there, a series of satirical articles for a magazine. I was also doing dog agility with my border collies, the other love of my life, and this again took me all over the country. It also gave me great insights into dog folks, the Kennel Club and the type of people who inhabit that rarefied atmosphere. Perhaps all I was really doing with my life was collecting bits for future characters; let's hope it's made mine more realistic.
I've got more letters after my name than are in my name but the most satisfying ones are BSc (Hons) Open, when I actually got to study creative writing and literature with the Open University. This helped hone my skills and I got my first poetry and short stories published because of it. Andy and I retired to Wigtownshire in December 2009 and we're both now so busy we don't know how we found the time to work. Apart from walking on the hills and beaches, taking pictures for Geograph (Andy), gardening, knitting (me), cooking, going to concerts and the theatre, we've both joined the SNP, I'm a lifelong Nationalist and we're looking forward to 2014.
Gerrie Douglas-Scott Gerrie Douglas-Scott is co-owner of ReadingLasses Bookshop and Café in Wigtown, Scotland's national book town. Gerrie believes in the power of the story and its ability to heal and inspire. Her own story begins "In my life so far I have been a nun, a wife, a mother and now a wee dyke…" Formerly a writer of dry epidemiological texts, she now concentrates on writing and conducting wedding and funeral scripts. celebrating life and love. The Book Town Writer's group is hosted by ReadingLasses which makes her feel proud and happy to see how good cake, coffee and conversation can inspire such incredible creativity. Gerrie is partner to Susan and mother of 3 amazing young women and step mother to another 2. How many stories can one person live?
I emerged from Glasgow School of Art in the late sixties with a diploma in Graphics; became a visual and layout artist for a major advertising firm in Glasgow, but left this after a year to pursue other avenues. In the last forty odd years I have been a bit of a gypsy and wandered far, living and working all over the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. From Glasgow to Loch Duich in Wester Ross, Durness and Cape Wrath, Rosehall in the middle of Sutherland, Argyll and then from there to the Uists on the Western Isles and St.Kilda where I have spent the last ten years working as a chef for the military, not exactly my metier in life….but it was instrumental in getting me where I needed to be…..there.
It was in this unique archipelago of islands and stacs that I started to paint again and write with purpose. I've had two successful one man exhibitions of my landscape paintings and on the writing front, I've had numerous articles published and a few short stories. My first book came out in November 2013. ' George Murray - A school teacher for St.Kilda 1886 – 87' Publisher; the Islands Book Trust. This biography has taken me seven years to write owing to the vast amount of research involved.
I have another book finished and almost ready to sell and have just started another biography of a Victorian walled garden.
I've had no formal training as a writer, but I am looking carefully now at how I write and how I can improve as a writer.
I cannot imagine a world without books and art. I crave this visual and mental stimulus.
I love the look of words, the feel of them on the tongue, the sound of them…..yeh probably obsessive….. I have to write.
I was born in the North-East of England where I worked as a teacher and gained an MA in Creative Writing at Northumbria University in 2002. I moved to SW Scotland in 2003 and retired in 2010.
Prior to 2000 the bulk of the work I had published was academic educational stuff but after that date I embarked on an MA in Creative Writing at Northumbria University and started taking my poetry and prose seriously. Since then my poems have been published in anthologies and small press magazines like Lookout, First Time, Southlight, New Voices, Fankle and Poetry Scotland, to name a few and I self-published a poetry pamphlet, The Language of Crows, in 2011 to bring the published poems together in a collection with a few new ones. A second pamphlet is being compiled.
My short stories have been short listed by BBC Radio 4, highly commended in various competitions; one is published along with one of my poems in the Federation of Writers (Scotland) anthology due out in March 2014 and one won an award from the Scottish Centre for Writing. My first novel, In Desolate Corners, Shadows Crouch, is currently available from Amazon and a second, Monsoons and Marigolds, is completed, awaiting placement. A third, a crime novel, is under construction. I have also written a short script that was professionally read in 2009 at The Swallow Theatre in Glasserton under the direction of Kate Nelson.
A new departure for me has been to write poems to accompany black and white fine art images created by photographer Elliot Nichol, my son. Two such collaborations are published in the spring edition of Southlight magazine and we have completed a book to accompany Elliot's fine art exhibition of Between Lands which opened in Malta, April 2013.


text:
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CONTENT: Multimedia with summary
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text:
Zeus and Hera: Images of a Divine Syzygy
On December 24, 2018 December 25, 2018 By ptero9In Archetypal Psychology
"He was a sky god, associated with wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, and was the master of spiritual phenomena, since it was the spirit realm that was signified by the sky and the manifestations of the weather. He was a carrier of justice and judgment, an embodiment of law and the punisher of transgression of the law, accomplished by the hurling of the thunderbolt. He was the personification of creative energy, which constantly spilled out and had an unceasing urge to impregnate, hence his perpetual love affairs." Edward Edinger, The Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of Greek Mythology
In Edinger's description of Zeus, we see the image of a powerful masculine ruler of the heavens. Although Zeus is still one of many gods, he is both leader and creator of the pantheon. And just as importantly, we see Zeus' engagements with his wife, Hera, not as his compliment, but as a shadowy cohort. And although Zeus and Hera are said to be married, the relationship seems less relational and more pro-generative. Zeus is much less interested in a relationship with Hera, but rather a preoccupation with the power to endlessly create through the continual love affairs outside of his marriage. In the realm of the gods, we may see these creative urges as saying less about the familial, and more about the archetypal urge towards expansion through creative reproduction, or differentiating and articulating the One through the diversity of the Many.
Edinger's own words, in which he declares Zeus as he who "…comes closest of all the members of the Pantheon to embodying the whole Self," we see an obvious bias, still with us today, towards a preference for a more masculine style of consciousness. Hera, on the other hand, as the feminine divine, is somehow a necessary accomplice and more of a saturnine threat of imprisonment that spurs on Zeus' impulse for freedom. If the stories of the gods are expressions of particular styles of consciousness, we are glimpsing the ways in which Western civilization values the initiatory force of masculine power, while reducing the value of the feminine, as that which induces fear in the masculine, of time-bound constraint, and the threat of limitation. Is then, the masculine impulse a prerequisite for creative action that requires an abandoned shadowy feminine? If so, is this dynamic the springboard from which Western Civilization arose?
We might pause here to remind ourselves when considering ideas about mythology to see them not so much as literal figures representing male and female, or even as ways to understand male and femaleness, but as powers of the psyche whose dynamics take hold of the cultural imagination and live through us, sanctified, although sometimes shadowy collective influences. As dynamics, these traits persist, even where individuals themselves may more or less incorporate them within a particular lifetime.
"There are long lists of the lovers of Zeus, and by and large they had an unhappy time of it. Hera, personifying the feminine embodiment of the Self, was fiercely opposed to these dalliances, and would often punish Zeus' lovers. For example, Zeus fell in love with the beautiful Io and then turned her into a white cow so that she could escape Hera's detection. This ruse failed and Hera set gadflies after her which, stinging, pursued her around the world."
Edinger, Edward F.. The Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of Greek Mythology
Rather than the separate dynamics of masculine and feminine, aren't we though, seeing a syzygy within the relationship between Zeus and Hera? And, in what ways do these dynamics reassemble within our own modes of modern day consciousness? Although there's no denying that the archetypes play out between actual men and women, and that men and women are afforded different degrees of power by virtue of their physical nature and social-political norms, can we also see the ways in which all of us have inherited a portion of Zeus' quest for power, and Hera's jealous ploys to address or balance the excess? For if as Jung states, the gods have become diseases, surely this syzygy is one of them! The more a Zeus-like excess threatens to destroy the world as we know it, the more outrageous the response of Hera's house-holding economics becomes.
Where Edinger sees Zeus as the bold exhort of creativity, bringing the endless gifts of light and expanding consciousness, perhaps through the shadowy side of that light we see an insatiable desire for power accompanied by a complete disregard for consequences, desperately in need of Hera's restraint. Does he then, not attempt to appease her with the riches of the household and all the distraction and substitution for feminine creativity it might contain?
"There are long lists of the lovers of Zeus, and by and large they had an unhappy time of it. Hera, personifying the feminine embodiment of the Self, was fiercely opposed to these dalliances, and would often punish Zeus' lovers." Edward Edinger
Within the syzygy, isn't this just a little too lopsided a view of Hera's role? While she remains that which shadows Zeus, the syzygy is deprived of the feminine aspect of creative urges. Perhaps we see in Hera the opportunity to imagine the qualities of a divine feminine as that embodiment of containment and restriction necessary for the creative powers of Zeus to be of actual service. But as the keeper of the household, amassing possessions to appease her, we see only opportunity missed.
It bears noting that if we are in the midst of an era of a lopsided patriarchal power, and that power has become the exploitative grandiosity of "too much of a good thing" that underlies so much of what is going wrong, the story of Zeus and Hera might help us to see in what ways Hera's feminine resistance is not only missing, but could be a necessary correction. And how interesting it might be to see Hera's plea as the desire for a more relational mode of being. It might help us too, to train the eyes for images of the masculine and feminine in syzygy that do appear in a relational dynamic in which excess and constraint are bound together, reflecting the necessity for each other.
In James Hillman's, Mythic Figures, he echoes Edinger's idea of the necessity for Zeus to go off on his heroic quest of never-ending expansion. Although Hillman is looking the phenomenon straight in the eye, he doesn't apply the myth to our current cultural mess.
If we don't know the myths, we don't understand what fantasies we have when we go into a union. When we go into the bedroom we don't know which myth we are enacting. He goes into the cave with the fantasy of a child of Venus. For him this is a pleasurable, delightful experience. But she is under the guidance of Juno. She goes in with the marriage fantasy of deep coupling. Soon after he gets a message from Hermes that he must get on with his job which is to go found Rome, and so he sets sail. She's absolutely destroyed. Desertion, betrayal. For him it's not a betrayal because he came with a different fantasy. For her, it is a radical violation of the laws of the universe, the very Queen of Heaven. And she never forgives him, because she appears in the Underworld still enraged, embittered forever.
Hillman, James. Mythic Figures. Spring Publications, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
He does goes on to imply that Hera might find consolation through domestication in the care and maintenance of the household which has become her domain; a place where she can invest her powers as an "upholder of civilization," but where her creative impulse remains outwardly directed inside the house.
Society is intimately connected in Hera to the psyche and to biological laws. In that way she is the upholder of civilization, of providing the homestead, the economy, the household, the domestication, the husbandry of civilization, so that marriage becomes something dedicated to service to principles higher than personal happiness. The house stands for both civil society and my personal property.
Where Zeus and Hera provide an archetypal background for both marriage and economy as the primary structures that uphold Western Civilization, we can perhaps begin to recognize the correlative loss of the riches once known through pagan and tribal cultures, where, although the creative impulse may never have given us the bounty that the West provided, but provided a more direct experience of the divine in its rituals and recognition of the value of the collective. Through Zeus, Hera and much of the mythology of the Greek pantheon, we get a glimpse of what truly distinguishes us, but also of what ultimately keeps us heroically driven, outwardly expanding, inwardly impoverished, all in response to the creative impulse gone wildly independent and outside of relationship. Perhaps there is a middle way that could flourish if we survive the current tests of our time.
ArchetypesCreativityEdward EdingerEsotericHeraJames HillmanMarriagemythologyPatriarchySaturnSyzygyWestern CivilizationZeus
Wholeness, Fragmentation and Dionysus
Soul Possession
13 thoughts on "Zeus and Hera: Images of a Divine Syzygy"
theburningheart
A practice its necessary, to keep us anchored, otherwise things to go out of focus, lot of people achieve something Spiritually speaking, only to lose it, when they believe they have arrived to their goal.
As paraphrasing:
The game of life its not over, until life its over.
We fulfill our plan of life, until the moment we die.
And its up to each of us to keep the candle flame going.
The light from a humble candle is also said to symbolize the enlightenment of the Buddha.
We cannot let it go out, neither allow our knife to go dull, or our mirror to get rusty.
https://konekrusoskronos.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/polishing-the-heart-mirror-of-the-soul/
Blessings to you Debra. 🙂
Thank you Debra for your response. 🙂
Talking about these issues its fascinating to me.
What you say its true to a certain point.
But first let me say that I study Religions, but I am not a follower of any particular Religion.
I fall on the unpopular category of SBNR (Spiritual but not Religious) my life studies of over sixty years had take me on many routes, if interested to find about it, you can read my post:
https://konekrusoskronos.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/my-views-on-religion-atheism-buddhism-and-other-manifestations-of-the-human-spirit-houston-smith-a-life-on-religion/
In it I pour my own experiences, although do not reveal my many years practicing diverse methodologies towards Enlightenment, and those of Houston Smith, a person I met, and talked with a few times.
Smith devoted his life to the study of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism. He believes in them all.
In the same post I published part of a Houston's interview elucidating the problem, pretty much as I see it.
As in the parable of the Talents Matthew 25:14–30.
Spiritually speaking, you can only take, as much as you put in.
It's not a matter of what you believe, as much as to what you do, with it.
ptero9
Hello again, dear Burning Heart!
I wholeheartedly agree that what we do with, or through, a practice of our ideas or beliefs matters most. I hope that my words are not giving a different impression here.
Speaking for myself, unless a lived experience penetrates to the heart, mind and body, I will not be impacted by what happens to me; the good, the bad and the ugly. Pain and suffering are potential motivators and educators that lead me beyond former limits and patterns that no longer serve me, and especially the other people in my life.
I am currently struggling to learn how to navigate through the woods of some very intense, much needed life changes, in which I am just beginning to gain some insight and understanding of how difficult it is to live a life as one among others and engage people in a healthier manner. So, the intensity of my interest in all things esoteric and spiritual, is a safe place for me to go to find peace from the difficulties I have always had being around, and interacting with other people. Maybe that is the path some of us must follow, but my current wish to push on through to a place where the fear I have isn't so stifling and is keeping me stuck in a loneliness of not being able to bridge the distance between self and others.
Beliefs have never set well with me either, although I have joined, and subsequently left, five "churches," since the age of 11. I consider formal religious organizations to offer us no more than training wheels – with the addition of both the blessing and challenge of fellowship – which can be useful depending on where we are on the journey, yes?
There are, within these esoteric practices, ideas that can and do now offer me a way to ground this difficult period of my life in a perspective that honors the suffering and perhaps can also lead me into insights that facilitate some much needed changes. Through alchemy (for example), I can place myself within a variety of specific stages of the work, each with their own style or coloring, which can bring understanding to the nature of feelings and beliefs, substantiating them with very specific ways that ground the spiritual/psychological work into what is currently challenging me. Astrology offers another way of imagining the powers that have their grip on me, while also showing me the ways in which recognition and a radical acceptance can help me know when to push and when to slow down and let my feelings speak.
I hope to write more soon, and perhaps even a post here, specifically about how much my past writing has unexpectedly become a guide for me in recent months. Little did I know year's ago that I was in a sense, and unknowingly, writing notes to my future self.
Writing, of course, is never enough. I am finding that desire and emotion might be better, even if forceful, guides, inescapable as they are for distilling what appears to be going on, down to a more raw essence of what the heart is most in need of – and that is always a deeper and more expansive way of participating in love that is both grounded and yet partakes of a divine spirit, which reminds me that "I" am a co-creator of something much bigger than "me." What I need most to practice is perhaps a spirit of cooperation as a being who is simply one among many.
Thanks for these exchanges! I look forward to reading your posts that you linked to here.
One of the things I discovered during my studies on Religions, was to find out that if most Western civilization its based on mayor part on one of the three Abrahamic religions, depending on your personal Faith and background.
Meanwhile Judaism, and Islam, can accuse us so named Christians as the Muslims will say, of shirk.
In Islam, shirk is the sin of practicing idolatry or polytheism, i.e., the deification or worship of anyone or anything besides the singular God, i.e., Allah. Literally, it means ascribing or the establishment of partners placed beside God.
Its said that the whole of Western civilization and Christianity in particular, at its core its Greek pagan, wearing a Christian dress, so our inner core, of values, that Freud easily identified, and expanded by many since, we reflect that view.
On itself as you mention the word syzygy.
"animus and anima represent a supreme pair of opposites, the syzygy"
I find Jung, Hillman, plus others valuable, but I recognize the split right at the core of our values, and the problem that derives from such a split.
On itself a whole material for many books.
Thank you, its always a reward, and enjoyable to read your posts. 🙂
Thank you, Burning Heart!
It is an interesting phenomena, yes? Although there are many ways to make comparisons, the historic comparison for example, or perhaps an evolutionary comparison, which I see as providing a map of a steady progression from polytheism to monotheism. I suspect that monotheism seen in this perspective is a result of the conflict between competing polytheistic cultures vying for the heart and soul of its people, even if by hook or by crook. Monotheism then, offers a way to elevate the one God among many, and hence, simply remove the competition through the imposition of a hierarchy. This might be a handy tool when trying to maintain cohesiveness in a world where tribal cultures once isolated, are slowly expanding their reach towards each other.
Psychologically, I sense that we more naturally experience a multitude of gods via our general experience of being one being among a multitude of otherness. If this otherness can be understood as that which potentially reaches to the core of the heavens, the archetypal realm, it may add to each persons limited reach a necessary differentiation between the ideas that grip us into constructing a single world view and surrounding ourselves within its confines.
Perhaps someday, we might more readily access an overview that allows us to see the ways that we humans have both widened and narrowed our view over time and because of technology. A split, whether of the one into two, or the one into many, is still none the less, a split, yes? To both see and feel oneself into a whole is perhaps the healing so many of us seek and sense is there.
Stafford Art Glass
Ah!!! I was just explaining how language disrupts an ability to communicate wholeness by the fact of how language itself is structured, as well as the part of the brain from which it tends to spring. I would go so far as to say wholeness can only be felt, it never can be fully expressed. But wholeness does allow for great discoveries in a whole mind. And I'd love to know who the artist was who painted that "wild" painting!
Oh the irony! I've always struggled with the idea of wholeness, but the way you phrased it, suggesting that wholeness might be likened to the ground of being, an analog background to a digital foreground, makes sense to me (not to put words in your mouth). Depending on your view of consciousness, wholeness could be a way to describe the field in which our consciousness is but a participant in. In that sense, each of us do participate in wholeness, even if we can't ever grasp the whole of that which we are inside of.
Which painting, the last one?
Its curious to me…because I have sensed that wholeness isn't the result of just a left and right brain together, but a synthesis that takes place that appears to be greater than the sum of their parts.
Oh, I only noticed the one with those animals.
As the idea of "left" and "right" brain most likely fails the reality of what the brain is, and will always remains somewhat unknown to us as we can't get outside of consciousness to be objective about its source or workings. So yes, to see that the totality of the brain is greater than the sum of the parts makes sense to me.
The painting is Ruben's The Meeting of Marie de Médicis and Henri IV at Lyon.
History of the painting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de%27_Medici_cycle
I asked about that painting because it looked so familiar to the style of Rubens, but I had never seen that one in all my days. It is kind of wild. Thanks!
lampmagician
Reblogged this on lampmagician.
shoe1000
Excellent work Debra!!
Thank you, Jim. Merry Christmas to you!
Your comments welcome here: Cancel reply


text:
Hawaiian Surfboard Championships, 1929-31
Following his win of the first Pacific Coast Surfing Championship at Corona del Mar in 1928, Tom Blake took his hollow board back to Hawai'i with him and took on the famous races held at the Ala Wai Canal annually. By this time, he had given up on filled-in drilled holes in favor of a hollowed-out chamber approach.
"I introduced at Waikiki a new type of surfboard," Blake wrote of his hollow board. It was, "new so the papers said, and so the beach boys said, but in reality the design was taken from the ancient Hawaiian type of board," his 1926 replicas of them, and "also from the English racing shell. It was called a 'cigar board,' because a newspaper reporter thought it was shaped like a giant cigar."[1]
Of Blake's hollow olo-inspired design, Dr. D'Eliscu of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin wrote that "The old Hawaiian surfboard has again made its appearance at Waikiki beach modeled after the boards used in the old days. A practice trial was held yesterday at the War Memorial Pool, and to the surprise of the officials, the board took several seconds off the Hawaiian record for one hundred yards."[2] Blake referred to this modern olo design as the racing model; in essence a true paddleboard. He built his surf riding model surfboard, "Okohola," a month later, in December 1929.[3]
The hollow paddleboards and surfboards Blake now made, "differed from the olo in that they were flat-decked, built of redwood, and hollow," wrote Finney and Houston in Surfing, The Sport of Hawaiian Kings, many years later. "They were excellent for paddling and also successful in the surf. Like the olo they were well adapted to the glossy rollers at Waikiki. A man could catch a wave far out beyond the break, while the swell was still a gentle, shore-rolling slope, and the board would slide easily along the wave, whether it grew steep and broke, or barely rose and flattened out again."[4]
Duke Kahanamoku told his biographer that Blake's first experiments had actually been initially "predicated on the belief that faster rides would be generated by heavier boards. But the turning problem became bigger with the size of the board; a prone surfer was compelled to drag one foot in the water on the inside of the turn, and this only contributed to loss of forward speed. If standing, he had to drag an arm over the side, and with the same result of diminishing momentum.
"Paddleboards are still with us today, and they are obviously here to stay," Duke affirmed. "Some fantastic records have been established with them. And the sport of paddleboarding has naturally drawn some outstanding men to its ranks. It is a long list, a gallant list."[5]
Recapping its initial evolution, Blake said his first hollow board "was purely for racing, and I soon followed it with a riding board sixteen feet long. The new riding board model was a great success ['Okohola']." Blake added with some pride that "Duke Kahanamoku built his great 16-foot hollow redwood board along about the same time…"[6]
Tom Blake set his first world's record in paddling at Ala Wai in December 1929. It came after years of discipline and development of skill in racing under stress. He had swum in hundreds of races during the eight years previously and won the first official California surfing contest (the PCSC) just the year before. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin from December 2, 1929, reported the event the day after: "BLAKE SETS 100-YARD SURFBOARD PADDLE MARK. Big Crowd On Hand To Take In Sunday Races; Outrigger Club Clean Sweeps In Ala Wai Program of 18 Popular Events." The Honolulu Star-Bulletin went on:
"Demonstrating the possibilities of such a surfboard, Tom Blake of 'cigar surfboard' fame, yesterday paddled his pet water rider to a new 100-yard Hawaiian record (world's record) at the Ala Wai where he negotiated the distance in 35 1-5 seconds, bettering the old mark by five full seconds in an exhibition witnessed by a crowd of 1000.
"The former record was 40 1-5 seconds made last year by Edric Cooke. More plumes are added to his [Blake's] achievement when it is considered that he had to paddle through the water against a stiff wind and a tide.
"The 'cigar surfboard' just glided through the water without a splash and it was an uncanny sight. Blake was in excellent shape and worked his arms tirelessly to set the new world record."[7]
"The exhibition," continued the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, "was the feature to a program of surfboard races staged by the recreation commission of the city. The events were put on to prepare those interested in surfboard paddling for the big races to be held during the Christmas holidays.
"The number of automobiles and the large crowds that gathered on both sides of the canal surprised the officials who helped revive the interest in an activity which typifies the islands…
"Sixteen paddle events were conducted in two hours and the timers, judges, clerks and other officials were kept running up and down the banks following the start then taking the finish…
"The Outrigger Canoe club, under the guidance of George ('Dad') Center, romped away with all the honors, as the other organizations did not believe that a contest of this kind would be successfully held.
"The appearance of the smoothness of the cigar-shaped board, and the quiet, reserved and impressive showing of its maker and paddler, Tom Blake, attracted more than usual interest. Everybody wanted to use that type of board and the success and speed of this board showed itself in the number of races that were won by the individuals using it.
"Never before in any open races have so many boards been collected in one place. It required a private truck to haul all the surfboards from the Outrigger and Hui Nalu clubs to Ala Wai..."[8]
Perhaps as significant as the wins that day, were resentments by some surfers and paddlers toward the hollow board and its creator. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin noted the resistance to this new type of watercraft: "The question was raised by the officials as to a standard board to be required in all future open competition. The feeling was against this proposal. The officials felt that no board designed to ride the surf could be barred from any of the races scheduled.
"The result of Sunday's special events assures a number of new records on Christmas Day, when a special program will be held for surfboard followers…"[9]
"This board was really graceful and beautiful to look at," Tom wrote proudly of his carved chambered paddleboard, "and in performance was so good that officials of the Annual Surfboard Paddling Championship immediately had a set of nine of them built for use..."[10]
Not everyone enthusiastically embraced hollow paddleboards and hollow surfboards. Later, when hollow boards became the standard at many beaches, solid boards were still preferred by some surfers. Doc Ball's California Surfriders, featuring photographs taken primarily during the 1930s, shows a large number of solid boards in use.
Blake's world record-breaking wins in both the 100-yard and half mile paddling events of the Hawaiian Surfboard Paddling Championships actually put him into disfavor with some Hawaiians. Resistance to his new designs hit a high point in the December 1, 1929 race. There was an initial attempt to disqualify him, some saying that he was not using a surfboard. Well, they were right on that account. Up until the Pacific Coast Surfing Championship the year before, there had been no such thing as a "paddleboard" specifically used for paddle racing.
Popular local Tommy Keakona, himself a champion of the 1928 Ala Wai races, refused to compete against Tom in protest over his use of the hollow paddleboard.[11] Other "purist" Hawaiian surfers and distance paddlers demanded that only conventionally shaped and solid paddleboards be allowed to race. Other paddlers lobbied for the new design, claiming, rightfully, that it "marked the beginning of a new era in surfing and paddling."[12]
The hollow board's detractors were not sufficient in number to keep Blake from competing, that day, nor the other paddlers using hollow boards. Referring to Blake's board as "The Cigar Water Conqueror," a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article written by Francois D'Eliscu documented Tom's win with this headline: "3000 WATCH SURFERS RACE UPON ALA WAI CANAL. Every Record in History of Sport is Shattered; Cigar Board Comes Into Its Own." D'Eliscu went on to write: "More than 3000 spectators crowded the banks of the Ala Wai this morning to witness the championship surfboard races in which every record in the history of the sport was shattered.
"Never before was such a contest so keenly fought. Remarkable times were made in the 10-event program.
"The cigar-shaped board was supreme. Each paddler showed speed, smoothness and wonderful control in handling the thin, light, fast-moving planks.
"Tom Blake, originator of the cigar shaped board, staged a surprise unknown to even his coaches when he appeared with a hollow carved cigar board. In the first event on the program, the half-mile men's open, Blake won in 4 minutes 49 seconds, beating the old record by 2 minutes 13 seconds.
"T. Keakona, last year's title holder, refused to enter the races, due to the type of board used by Blake.
"The feature event of the morning was the 100-yard open championship. Eight men from three of the best surfboard organizations started. Tom Blake, O.C.C.; Sam Kahanamoku, Hui Nalu; and Fred Vasco of the Queen's Surfers, finished in the order named.
"The race was exciting from the gun. Tom with his powerful, easy, mechanical stroke and perfect balance found Sam a real competitor. The finish found Blake just a few inches ahead of the versatile swimmer. The time of 31 3-5 seconds for this race was better than last year's 36 1-5 seconds."[13]
Another Honolulu newspaper article, written by Andrew Mitsukado, also documented Blake's wins: "EIGHT RECORDS LOWERED IN MEET. Cigar-shaped Board Is Big Hit, Tom Blake Is Big Star." Mitsukado continued: "Eight old records went whirling into oblivion and two new marks were established at the sixth annual Hawaiian championship surf board paddling races, sponsored by the Dawkins, Benny Co., yester morn in the Ala Wai before a monstrous crowd which was kept on the well-known edge throughout the ten event program.
"The newly devised cigar-shaped surfboards assisted tremendously in creating the new marks.
"Tom Blake of the Outrigger Canoe Club proved to be the big star of the meet, winning two individual events – the 100 yards men's open and the half-mile open – and paddling anchor on the triumphant Outrigger team in the three-quarter mile club relay. He used a cigar-shaped board of his own invention and came through with flying colors.
"All of the races were hard fought and competition was keen, furnishing thrills after thrills for the spectators…"[14]
"The half-mile record of seven minutes and two seconds was cut that year," Tom wrote of the 1929 Annual Surfboard Paddling Championship, "to four minutes and forty-nine seconds and the hundred-yard dash was reduced from thirty-six and two-fifths seconds to thirty-one and three-fifths seconds. This made me the 1930 champion in the senior events and, incidentally, the new record holder. But as is true in yacht and other similar racing, I won because I had a superior board. This was the first cured or hollowed out [paddle] board to appear at Waikiki. As the racing rules allowed unrestricted size and design, I staked my chances on this hollow racer whose points were proven for now all racing boards are hollow."[15]
But Blake's win "was a 'hollow' victory," underscored Tom's friend Sam Reid, who also competed in the Championship. Playing on words in a surfing memoir published in a 1955 edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Reid added that "Blake had hollowed out his 16-foot cigar board to a 60 pound weight, compared with an average 100 to 125 pounds weight of the other 9 boards in the 100."[16]
"Oh, yeah!" Santa Monica lifeguard Wally Burton told a little bit about what was behind the resentment, adding his own take on it. "He was very innovative. Yeah, he had a good, active mind and… when he was over in the Islands there, he was winning everything. You know, the Duke was the all-time great over there, at that time. And he [Tom] went over there and he took everything away from the Duke. As a matter of fact, they didn't like Tom too well over in the Islands [after his competitive wins], because Duke was the hero."[17]
"Reverberations of the 'hollow board' tiff were heard from one end of the Ala Wai to the other," recalled Sam Reid around 1955, "and echoes can still be heard at Waikiki even today – 25 years later. At a meeting of the three (surfing) clubs, Outrigger, Hui Nalu and Queens, held immediately after the disputed races… it was decided that… there would be no limit whatever on (the design) of paddleboards."[18] It is a sad fact that much resentment over his lightweight designs remained after Tom's Ala Wai wins. Because of the 1929/1930 Ala Wai controversies, Tom only entered the race one more time, the following year.[19]
Impressively, Tom's half-mile record of 4:49:00 stood until 1955. It was broken by George Downing, who covered the course in 4:36:00 on a 20-foot hollow balsa board. Blake's board had been a 16-foot hollow redwood.[20] Other long-standing records held by Tom include the world's record for the 1/2 mile open and 100 yard dash in paddleboard racing. They were held for twenty-five years.[21]
When Tom competed in the Ala Wai contest in early 1931, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin published word of his participation, some of the history of the race and a little about surfing's history in Hawai'i: "Announce List of Officials to Handle 1931 Surfboard Races," headlined the article written by Francois D'Eliscu. "Any Type of Board Can Be Used This Year; Races Will Be Held at the Ala Wai on January 4; New Kind of Board Will Be Introduced.
"The seventh annual surfboard paddling Hawaiian championships to be held Sunday morning, January 4, 1931, on the Ala Wai canal, promises to be the most interesting event ever held for the paddlers of Oahu… All of the titleholders of last year are entered and the ruling permitting any kind of board in the various races means new records...
"Tom Blake, who startled the community with his cigar-shaped hollow board and smashed all existing records, is reported to have another new type board that is faster and lighter than the one he won with so easily last year."[22]
Under the subheading of "'Sport of Kings,'" D'Eliscu continued: "Surfboard racing in Hawaii is known as the 'sport of kings' on account of its association with the history and tradition of old-time Hawaii when the chiefs competed on large heavy boards.
"Many of these relics are on exhibition in the museum and it is here where Tom Blake spent many an hour studying the shape, weights and speed of the boards, which prompted him to build his cigar-shaped board…
"Committees and officials have been selected to conduct the meet. The group in charge of the events are: Honorary chairman, 'Dad' Center; sponsors, C.G. Benny and H.L. Reppeto; Gay Harris of the Outrigger Canoe Club; Charles Amalu from Queen Surfers, and David Kahanamoku, representing the Hui Nalu swimming club.
"The officials in charge of the meet are as follows: Referee Duke P. Kahanamoku; clerk of course, David Kahanamoku; starter, G.D. Crozier; timers, Dad Center, A.H. Myhre, R.N. Benny, C.A. Slaght, R.J. Thomas and William Hollinger.
"Judges, Dr. Francois D'Eliscu, T.C. Gibson, Henry Sheldon and V. Ligda; recorder, H.L. Reppeto, and Gay Harris will be in charge of the equipment…
"Cecil Benny, who has been responsible for the continuation of the surfboard races and competitions, deserves a great deal of public commendation for his interest in keeping the Hawaiian sport alive."[23]
Blake's superior designs were not the only factor in his success. He was also a tremendous swimmer, paddler and overall competitor. Two decades later, his protégé Tommy Zahn paddled the Ala Wai, for practice, with Hot Curl surfer Wally Froiseth's protégé George Downing. At first he thought his watch was off because he could not achieve Blake's times on an evolved paddleboard with superior training.[24]
During this period, Tom was coming out with a new board every year. He was driven to refine his designs, and by the end of the 1930s, both his surfboards and paddleboards were very different from what he had started out with a decade before. As far as the controversies at Ala Wai were concerned, Tom learned that good intentions do not always breed good feelings. Because of his competitive wins, he later said that he became a version of "The Ugly American." Specifically, Tom recalled, "I discovered too late that beating the locals at their own game, in front of their families, could sour relations with my Hawaiian friends."[25]
When he had first come to Hawai'i, he was accepted at the beach, welcomed by the Kahanamoku's and the beach boys, and "treated… like a king." Even so, he couldn't shake the fact that he was an outsider and consequently "… they paid no attention to you," recalled Tom. "You roamed around there, nobody knew you, and it's a wonderful way to live, when you keep a low profile. Like, nobody's shootin' at you, you know? That went on for years, and it's just like, I got interested in their sports, surfing and paddling, and managed to build a little better board than they had, and beat them in their contests. And then they began to look at you. There's something we don't like, and that was the end of the real good days."[26]
It may have been the end of the "real good days" for Tom in the Islands, but he still had many good Hawaiian days to come. He would continue his love affair with the Hawaiian Islands – specifically O'ahu – for another 25 years.
[1] Blake, 1935, 1983, p. 51.
[2] Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1929, article by Dr. D'Eliscu, quoted in Blake, 1935, p. 59.
[3] Blake, 1935, 1983, p. 59. It was incorrectly spelled in Blake's book. Pictures of the board clearly have the name "Okohola" written on the board's deck. "Okohola," translated, means whaling or a variety of sweet potato.
[4] Finney and Houston, Surfing, The Sport of Hawaiian Kings, ©1966, p. 74.
[5] Kahanamoku, ©1966, p. 39. In the original wording in the book, biographer Brennan seems to have confused what one did standing vs. prone. Prone, one dragged the arm; standing, the leg was the drag and direction changer.
[6] Blake, 1935, 1983, pp. 51-52.
[7] Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 2, 1929.
[10] Blake, 1935, 1983, pp. 51-52. See also Lueras, p. 82.
[11] Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 1, 1930. Article written by Francois D'Eliscu. T. Keakona's name incorrectly spelled as "Kiakona."
[12] Lueras, 1984, p. 82. Quotations are presumably Sam Reid's.
[13] Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 1, 1930. T. Keakona incorrectly spelled as "Kiakona." See also Lynch, Gary, "Thomas Edward Blake: Beyond The Horizon," May 20 1989.
[14] Honolulu newspaper, January 2, 1930, by Andrew Mitsukado.
[16] Lueras, 1984, p. 82. Honolulu Star-Bulletin from 1955, with Sam Reid's quotations.
[17] Lynch, Gary. Interview with Wally Burton, May 10, 2000.
[18] Lueras, 1984, p. 82. Sam Reid quoted. Parentheses probably Lueras'.
[19] The Santa Monica Heritage Museum, "Cowabunga!" exhibit, 2/94 and Young, p. 49.
[20] Blake, Tom. Letter to Tommy Zahn, October 12 & 14, 1972, postmarked from Midland, California. Tommy's notation to this achievement.
[21] Lynch, Gault-Williams, et. al. TOM BLAKE: The Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman, ©2001.
[22] Honolulu Star-Bulletin, "Announce List of Officials to Handle 1931 Surfboard Races," by Francois D'Eliscu, January 1, 1931.
[24] Lynch, Gary. Interview with Tommy Zahn. Date not specified.
[25]Lynch, Gary. "Thomas Edward Blake: Beyond The Horizon," May 20, 1989.
[26] Lynch, Gary. Interview with Thomas Edward Blake, April 16, 1989, Washburn, Wisconsin.
Labels: 1929, 1930s, 1931, Hawaiian Surfing Championships, Sam Reid, Tom Blake, Tommy Keakona
Location: Honolulu, HI, USA


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Find out what behind-the-scenes changes The Bold and the Beautiful has made to become the first American soap opera to resume production in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and how those changes might affect the viewing experience.
CBS soap opera fans are ecstatic about the news that the cast and crew of The Bold and the Beautiful went back to work on Monday, June 15, which means new material is finally on the way. Deadline reports that B&B is actually the first U.S. broadcast series -- and possibly the first scripted series on American soil -- to return to pre-production on stage. But how did the daytime drama become the first in the country to get back up and running, and what specific behind-the-scenes changes have been made in order for official filming to resume on Wednesday, June 17?
In an upcoming Soap Opera Digest article, B&B executive producer and head writer Bradley Bell reveals that the show began overhauling its studio to accommodate social distancing some time ago.
"We've been at the studio and we've totally revamped the control room and the hair and makeup room," he shares. "We've got plastic dividers up and six feet distance between everyone in the booth. We're going over all the precautions with the studio heads."
B&B cast member John McCook (Eric Forrester) adds that actors will be shooting their scenes differently than they've done in the past.
"Now if there are four people in a scene, we're not shooting all four of them at a time," McCook explains. "We don't want four actors on the set at once, so we'll be shooting two people, and then they'll reverse and shoot the other two people. So, it's like doing a one-camera show, or doing film. I imagine it's going to be a little difficult at first, but I am just so glad we're coming back!"
RELATED: Y&R star says it might be impossible for soaps NOT to write coronavirus storylines in the future
As Soap Central previously reported, California guidelines released last week allowed film and television shows to resume production on Friday, June 12, as long as COVID-19 safety protocols were in place. For a list of the required protocols that heavily affect soap opera production, click here.
As for how the actors feel about returning to work at B&B, Don Diamont (Bill Spencer) and Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke Logan) both shared enthusiasm and excitement on social media. Wrote Lang, "So excited to be going back to work this week!! My first day back after 4 months is on Thursday! I am soooo happy!! I had to take off my mask for the photo so you could see me smile @boldandbeautifulcbs here we come! Let's do this! Protocol and all!"
So excited to be going back to work this week!! My first day back after 4 months is on Thursday! I am soooo happy!! I had to take off my mask for the photo so you could see me smile😃😃😃😃 @boldandbeautifulcbs here we come! Let's do this! Protocol and all! #boldandbeautiful #cbsdaytime
A post shared by Katherine Kelly Lang (@katherinekellylang) on Jun 15, 2020 at 2:16pm PDT
HERE. WE. GO. Every bit of safety protocol imaginable is in place,and @boldandbeautifulcbs is back in production!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 LET'S ROLL!!!
A post shared by Don Diamont (@dondiamont) on Jun 15, 2020 at 12:24pm PDT
UPDATE (June 17, 2020): Brad Bell did an interview with the Hollywood Reporter and went into greater detail about how B&B will be filming intimate scenes and love scenes under the COVID-19 guidelines. He explains that the show will be relying on its directors to use camera tricks, and the real-life spouses of actors will sometimes be employed as stand-ins.
"[Actors will] shoot eight feet apart, following all the safety standards, but use the tricks of the business. We'll shoot one side of the couple in a romantic scene alone in the room, but looking at a spot very close to them, and then shoot the other side alone. When we edit it together, it will look like they're nose to nose," Bell reveals. "We're also bringing in, in some cases, the husbands and wives of the actors as stand-ins for their [characters'] significant others. So if you see hands touching faces in close proximity from a wide shot, instead of a stunt double we'll have a love-scene double, where it will be the husband or the wife doing the actual touching. Then when we edit it together, it will look like our couple on screen."
He also explains that B&B will also heavily rely on "some of the classic, old-fashioned tricks of soap opera, where when things heat up, we pan to the fireplace or pan to a candle to indicate things are getting hot [laughs]. All in all, I think a lot of it will be done with the eyes and the voice, and there can still be love in the air and romance on the screen from a safe distance."
As for when viewers can expect to see new B&B material on their screens, the executive producer says it'll be sooner than most fans might think.
"We've eaten up our pad -- usually at this time we have a month or a month and a half between tape and air," he says. "That's disappeared now, so I think after a week or so of filming we're going to turn it around and be on the air within a few weeks. It'll be quick."
What do you think about some of the changes B&B has made to safely resume production? What do you think about the cast and crew of the CBS soap getting back to work? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
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"... . Recently Brass and Dix have introduced the semantics D-WFS for general disjunctive logic programs. The interesting feature of this approach is that it is both semantically and proof-theoretically founded. Any program \Phi is associated a normalform res(\Phi), called the residual program, by a non- ..."
"... In recent years, much work was devoted to the study of theoretical foundations of Disjunctive Logic Programming and Disjunctive Deductive Databases. While the semantics of non-disjunctive programs is fairly well understood, the declarative and computational foundations of disjunctive logic programmi ..."
"... The development and maintenance of modern information systems, that are getting more and more complex and, at the same time, require a high flexibility, is a great challenge for current information and communication technology. One contribution is the usage of a rule-based specification mechanism th ..."
Towards expressive, well-founded and correct . . .
"... We introduce the general notion of a Confluent LP-System, which is a rewriting system on the set of all logic programs over a signature L. Such a system is based on certain transformation rules and induces a semantics SEM in a natural way. We show that most of the well-known semantics for normal log ..."