Gaia Embedded - How it works.
Hi everyone, I know you've been having these strange urges. You have these new feelings and you're not sure what to do about them. Everyone goes through this at one point. Its part of growing up. Meet me at camera three.
Ok, so we're here to talk about Gaia Embedded of course. Gaia Embedded is the OS that runs the SMB checkpoint firewalls. Its a combo of a uboot image, busybox, lua, sqlite3 databases and then all the normal stuff you would expect on a firewall. Your fw commands, environment variables and what not.
Another major difference is Gaia Embedded doesn't currently run on any x86/x64 cpu. As of right now it only runs on a ARM or MIPS CPU (that I know of). Meaning you can't just take an executable from say R77.20 Gaia and expect it to work on R77.20 for 1100.
First lets talk boot up. Gaia Embedded uses an image created via u-boot. This loads the kernel and the root file system, which is a rootfs (shocking!) and all the normal file systems.
Lets take a look! This is a small portion of /logs/boot_log. This provides a little hint of what is happening. Oh btw, this is a 1100 running R75.20.71.
i2c driver was not initialized yet.
So it looks like one partition has something related to boot loader environment, then we have kernel, root (-1 and -2). default_sw, logs, preset_cfg (maybe factory default boots here?), adsl (who uses that still?) and storage.
Lets compare to what we have running.
Looks like we found logs and storage. Maybe default_sfw is /pfrm2.0 (this is basically where most of the appliance lives).
So what else do we see? /tmp, /fwtmp, /tmp/log/local are tmp file systems, meaning RAM based file systems. Technically virtual memory base file systems, but these boxes don't have a swap file so everything is for sure in RAM.
Now I want to point out there is no "/" in that listing. I'm pretty sure this is because / is a rootfs which is loaded by the kernel. Its kind of like a tmpfs, only it gets a list of files inserted into it before hand.
Now.. something to notice. flash is a symbolic link (not a 3rd party app) to /pfrm2.0/config1. We'll come back to that.
Storage - this seems to be where online updates go? Not %100 sure. /logs its pretty much what it looks like. Logs..
Busybox. Busybox is a single application that will act differently based on how its called. You might be thinking, what do you mean by "how its called?". Let me show you with a shell script.
In this script i'm saying show me the first argument to this script and print it after the "is".
Guess what? There is also a $0, which is the name of the command (script in this case).
See how that changed? Using this logic a script with the exact same contents could act differently if there was a change for how it was called.
echo My Argument is $1!
echo "i don't know how $0 acts!"
i don't know how script.sh acts!
Now lets make a copy of the script and call it hello.
Ok so we've proven we can change how something reacts based purely on its file name!
In comes Busybox! Busybox is a swiss army knife. Its a single binary that has a lot of programs built into it. This is done for massive disk space savings.
754k. So whats in there?
That is a lot of programs! So how does busybox know how to act? symbolic links!
So as you can see mv is a symbolic link to busybox.
You can feel free to poke around in there and see what else you can learn. Lets move on.
This is where firewall kernel modules are loaded and all kinds of things happen.
If you need run a script at boot up, you'll need to create the following.
Ok, so what else can we talk about? Where do your configuration changes go that are made from clish or the webui?
Notice a few things. shadow and passwd? these files are copied over to /etc on boot up or when changes are made via clish/webui.
The interesting one is system.db. This is a sqlite3 database. Want to read it? SURE!
Now you can view all the table schemes.. schema?.. whatever.. database output!
Something else interesting. Gaia Embedded on all platforms has a built in switch, fully managed switch!
I'm not going to dive into that right now, but you can split the ports and do basically anything a normal layer 3 switch would do. Cool stuff.
Now.. something odd i've noticed. If for some reason your doing dynamic routing on Gaia Embedded, keep this in mind when trouble shooting routing issues. If for some reason routed crashes it won't be restarted (well it depends on which routed process crashes but lets just say all of them crash). BUT!! If you login via cli and issue a show route, it will pause, then restart routed under the sheets, THEN show you the output.
This can be VERY confusing as it will look like all the sudden a issue fixed itself before you've had a chance to look at it. Want to see this in action? Setup a lab, get OSPF running. Kill routed then do a show route from clish.
When a process crashes on Gaia Embedded the kernel will use this sysctl to figure out how to generate the core file.
This means the core file will be piped into the shell script /pfrm2.0/bin/core_dump.sh.
Lets look at that shell script.
Ok two things! You will only ever have a hit at while a single process crash and only the latest one because of this. That being said how do you know what process crashed? We only have a file called /logs/core.
We use the magic file command!
Lets tell sleep to go away most violently and check out core file. I'm going to tell sleep to sleep for 1000 seconds, then kill it with -6 (seg fault i think) %1 is the first job running in the background.
If you were trouble shooting something at this point I would say, create a cpinfo (cpinfo -o /logs/`hostname`.cpinfo.gz -z) and then download that core file also. If you aren't faint of heart I would also say do backtrace on said core file as well. You'll need gdb to do that. You can request it from checkpoint or use mine from the tools page. More on doing a backtrace later.
I'll update this with anything else i can think of, but for now thats all folks!
Strace / Backsup / how magical strace is - Part 3 - The final!
UPDATE: as of R77.20 HFA 20 checkpoint has added a scheduled backup option in the webui. Its under device -> system operations -> Periodic backup is OFF | Settings..
So I've had a fun journey going slightly insane trying to figure out why one backup method creates a meta string on the zip file and the other doesn't.
Well... so.... I made in important discovery. The zip file always had a meta header on it. Technically its called the comment field (--archive-comment). What happened? Well, I used unzip -l from cygwin and compared it to the output of unzip on Gaia Embedded. The unzip on Gaia Embedded doesn't print the meta header!!
ARG! Well that was a waste. Note to self, saving a prompt would have been useful.
Here is the command to backup a centrally firewall managed.
And here is the command to backup a locally managed firewall.
Here is an option to backup without the policy.
I don't really understand the "pc" argument. Seems like it has control over where the backup gets stored locally. Not sure I see a point in changing it.
Right.. so I'm on a firewall with local policy.. SOOOOO...here is my current userScript. I moved crond down the list because it looks like if you make any crontab changes you'll need to restart crond. So to make everything work right we need to create all crontabs before starting cron on boot up.
Hurray! it works.. up next.. make this look less terrible.
In the previous write up I showed how I think I found the backup command used in Gaia Embedded. How can we be sure this is the backup command? Well, this is what I did. I downloaded a backup via the webui then issued my backup command and compared the md5sums. Guess what I found? They're different! aaahh crap.
So how bad is it? File listing in the zip is the same. However, when I list the archive with zip -l I found this. The one from the webui has a meta section. The one created via clish (backup settings to tftp server 127.0.0.1) does not.
Well... that is odd.. So the backup created via clish is different from the backup created by the webui on R75. Hopefully we haven't stumbled onto a bug that only effects R75 as R77 is out.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the backup made via the webui is a better backup then from client.
Oh.. right.. no package.. sigh.. Well hopefully support doesn't see this. I uploaded lsof to /logs.
Boom! Now we know what process to strace.
This time I'm going to attach strace to a live process ( 910 ).
Now... lets review our strace log.
Let go right to egrep -i backup /storage/thttpd.txt.
Ok, So the first line looks like it is us hitting the backup button, so the backup command has to be close to this line. However, I can't figure out what thttpd is doing using the unfilter log (not shown because of how long it is). Its like strace isn't seeing it. Its very possible strace has dorked something up and I need to reboot. I can't do that right now because the wife is watching Ill Tempered Masters of Tattooing on Hulu.
I think we're done for tonight.
So... I made blog post about how to use a symbolic link to enable crond. I'll follow up this with a blog post about busybox based on the feed back I got from that posting.
I think this will be an interesting post. I'm going to point out i'm doing this on a live firewall.
so.. strace.. this tool does not ship on any checkpoint firewall. That being said its pretty easy to get it on Gaia. Just install CentOS 5.11, install it and copy over the strace binary. Gaia Embedded however.. thats a little more difficult. So if you check the tools page you'll find a download link for the 600, 1100, and 1200R. I should point out this is only for learning and most likely should not be used on a production firewall. Use this on a lab to learn how things really work because lets face it. If you don't know how something works when its working its much harder to understand why its broken if its broken.
So back to backsup. So you're thinking you spelled that wrong. I'll explain that later, it will make sense, just stick with me.
ok rock and roll. So we've already discussed how to enable crond so that we can schedule jobs on Gaia Embedded. The next step is to setup a backsup job. Lets see what options we have in clish and then try to figure out what command to use.
lets just finish the backsup command and see what happens. Lets send it to 127.0.0.1.
FW> backup settings to ?
ok, so what happened? the tftp timed out.. no surprise there. But what is interesting is the file name. Lets get out of clish (because I already set bashUser on in expert) and see if we can find that file.
Ok! Now we're cooking with gas! So we know we could stop here. We could add a cronjob that simply calls clish -c "backup settings to tftp server 127.0.0.1" and then upload said backup from there, but come on. We don't want to fire off a needless tftp command.
Lets upload strace for the 600 / 1100 since this is a 1100 firewall. I've put strace in /logs/.
strace has a lot of arguments. I should also point out it does some things that can cause problems on production system. I would only use this in a lab environment as it has a chance of crashing or causing unexpected bad things to happen. But this is our lab! so what do we care?
[Expert@FW]# /logs/cnf/bin/strace -f -o /logs/strace-output.txt -s 1024 clish -c "backup settings to tftp server 127.0.0.1"
This should complete without issue (assuming you're running in bash because you issued a bashUser on from expert, logged out and back in).
So the arguments are as follows.
-f == Mean follow any child processes. What is a child process? Well.. you can't do it with one process so many programs will create sub processes to handle small tasks and then return to the main process. This options means trace those child processes as well.
-s == This is the max size of each line logged. So each line should be no longer then 1024 .. characters. might be a little excessive.
The final arguments are the command we want to trace, which in this case is clish -c "backup settings to tftp server 127.0.0.1"
You'll need to wait a little while. This eats a lot of cpu. After about 5-10 mins we have the following.
ok.. yeah.. -s 1024 was a bit much but we'll just work with what we have.
So short cut. I know from playing with this before hand that we're looking for execve calls mostly.
Ok so what do we have in /logs/execve.txt?
Not too bad.. Get to the good part.
Ok.. that was super long. So what are we looking at? These are sub processes created by the clish command!
So we're pretty sure our magic backsup command is somewhere in here because I'm guessing the sub system that is uploading the backsup to a tftp server is different from the process that creates the backsup.
So the first few pages of lines seem like validation tests.
This looks like our clish command! We must be getting close now..
This looks like a check for local vs central management. hmm. so backup command maybe different base on how the firewall is managed. This firewall is locally managed FYI.
ok.. this is what we're looking for.
So this is our backsup file created from the clish command to backup to tftp? Lets remove it first.
Ok now.. that backsup command.
How do we run this from cli? Well each "," is showing each argument to /pfrm2.0/bin/backup_settings.sh.
So looks like is script local_polic pc " " admin "" ""
let see what that does..
[Expert@FW]# /pfrm2.0/bin/backup_settings.sh local_policy pc " " admin "" ""
Well... something happened, that command took a few seconds to run. Do we have anything special in the /storage dir?
oh nice! is that a valid backup? We'll have to do more testing to find out. Its getting a bit late and i'm running out of stream.
* I misspelled backup. See i told you everything would be explained!
So I added a tool to the list of unsupported tools. Tail! I'm fighting the urge to be completely juvenile. Oh well.. :). See tools page to see why this is useful.
I know I said the next post was going to be on backups but I found out that one of my tools was broken (strace on the 600/1100) so I decided to write up a blog on tools. This is kind of rehash but I wanted to put this in a final resting place. I'll be updating this as other tools are compiled as well.
Gaia Embedded I think is missing a few tools. I know, you're thinking just these 4? Well these were just kind of my starting point. I have others that I haven't posted but if someone wants something compiled I'll be more then happy to do so. I'll be releasing the compilers once i get everything packaged up nicely. I lost my source code for the 1200R compiler so i'll need to restart that mess again. (ugh).
All files in the tars are prefixed with cnf/ so no need to worry about trashing a local binary. They also don't require any libraries not already installed which is a big plus (so far!).
I would expand them under /logs/ or /mnt/sd if you have a external SD card formatted with EXT4 (stick to /logs if your using dos/vfat).
Note: These packages are not supported by checkpoint (or anyone really). Also note using 3rd party apps are not supported on checkpoint firewalls.
dosfstools - this is for people running a 600/1100/1200R that have an external SD card installed. If you reboot (reboot command) these devices there is a good chance the dos/vfat file system on the SD will become corrupted at some point because checkpoint shutdown process is not so great. I would reformat with EXT4 if possible. If you need access to the data of a hosed dos file system and you're remote this gives you a way. Its a bit of a gamble. I mean there is no guarantee that repairing the file system will give you access to your data. 2nd option would be to dd off the unmounted SD card, upload to a remote server, mount via a loop and use a native dos file system checker.
strace - strace is a magical tool. You can watch what happens real time and catch error when debugs aren't useful. If you know what procmon on windows is, its basically the same thing. Basically you get to log almost everything a process does. Like, files it opens (or tries), libraries, external processes it might spawn. All that jazz. How many times have you thought, "how should xyz work normally" when something is broken in production but works in a lab? This will shed light. Next blog will be on how to use this so stay tuned!
gdb - if you find you have a core file (/logs/core) run file against it to find out what process crashed then use gdb to create a backtrace. This in addition with the core file and a cpinfo will help speed along any support ticket.
tail - I know, I know.. John.. everything has tail. Oh.. but does your tail include -F support? well.. this one does. If you know a -F is more then a grade a passive aggressive teacher gives you then this is for you!
NOTE: Gaia Embedded has been updated to enable cron by default. This should no longer be needed.
If you're familiar with UNIX skip down to step 6 for the commands to add to userScript (note the capital "S"). Also see note about crontab command and writing your cron jobs by hand.
In this post I'll show you what is required to configure cron so that jobs can be scheduled. This allows you to create custom jobs to run at a certain time/day. For whatever reason this services isn't enabled by default, but this is easy to address and should be upgrade safe. Meaning if you upgrade the firmware this setting should be saved. This also means we'll need to create/edit the userScript file. This is a file read during boot up. Each line will be executed as the devices boots up. For Gaia users this is like a custom rc.local file.
So, let's start off. This is a quick list of what we're going to do.
Create the symbolic link in the startup file so crond can be found.
Create the directory for crontabs. These are scripts that tell cron when and what to run.
Start cron (to make sure it will run correctly).
Reboot (to make sure cron starts on boot up).
Create a test cronjob! (edit userScript again and reboot again).
Step 1. Here we are going to create a symbolic link (think of this as a shortcut) to busybox for cron.
The link should look something like this now.
Step 2. Create the crontabs directory for crond. This is where your scheduled jobs will need to be placed.
Directory should look like this.
once running you should see something like this for output.
Step 4. Lets do this on boot up!
Add each start up command to /pfrm2.0/etc/userScript. This file isn't created by default. This is what it should look like.
Once the system is done rebooting you should see something like this run expert mode.
Step 6. Setup a test cronjob!
I've created a file called /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root. This is the file that cron jobs will be run from. In this example I created a job that will simply create a message in the /var/log/messages file every min.
Everything looks good, now create you own crontab via an echo statement in /pfrm2.0/etc/userScript. This way your cronjob will be created at boot up. You'll need to be careful about only using " " inside your command if you need quoting as part of your cronjob. Be sure to escape $ and ! otherwise odd things may happen. Here is our final /pfrm2.0/etc/userScript. Note I used append statements ( >> ) so that if you add more than one job the last line won't clobber the previous.
Next up, we'll use cron and userScript to setup a job to automate backups! Hopefully this wasn't too long winded.
NOTE: Do not use the command crontab. It will create your crontab, however it won't be saved as /var is on / which is a rootfs. This means no data is saved on a reboot.


Airline pilots must possess a valid airline transport pilot certificate and a first-class medical certificate issued by the FAA.
3 Do You Need 20/20 Vision to Be a Helicopter Pilot?
4 Can I Get a Pilot's License if I Have High Blood Pressure?
In the United States, all student, recreational, sport, private, commercial and airline pilots must hold valid pilot and medical certificates issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for enforcing federal aviation laws and regulations. The FAA has different categories for pilot and medical certificates. For example, pilots who operate aircraft for scheduled airlines, such as JetBlue or Southwest Airlines, need an airline transport pilot certificate and a first-class medical certificate.
The FAA grants first-class, second-class and third-class medical certificates, with the first-class certificate the highest rating. It doesn't require individuals to have prior aviation experience nor meet age requirements to apply for a medical certificate. But applicants must meet minimum age requirements for different pilot certificates. For example, applicants for the airline transport pilot certificate must be at least 23 years old.
To qualify for the first-class medical certificate, pilots must meet minimum vision and hearing standards. Pilots must see 20/20 or better in each eye for distance, with or without corrective lenses, and they must see colors necessary for safe operation of aircraft. They must pass a voice test that requires them to hear a conversation from 6 feet, with or without a hearing aid. Pilots must also meet various neurological, cardiovascular and other medical standards as well as pass a drug test.
The FAA cites 15 medical conditions that disqualify individuals for any medical certificate. Some disqualifying conditions are personality disorders, a history of myocardial infarction, cardiac valve replacement and substance dependence or abuse. The FAA may also deny pilots a medical certificate if they have two alcohol-related offenses on their driving record within three years or more than three offenses in all.
Pilots must renew the first-class medical certificate on a regular basis, which varies according to an individual's age and type of pilot certificate he or she holds. The first-class medical certificate is good for one year for airline pilots under the age of 40 and for six months to those 40 or older. The FAA issues the first-class medical rating to commercial pilots, regardless of age, for one year. Recreational, private, student and sport pilots receive the first-class medical certificate for five years, if under 40, and for two years if 40 or older.
Medical or osteopathic doctors who've completed the required training to be FAA medical examiners may issue FAA medical certificates. These FAA-designated physicians may be family practitioners or medical specialists. After performing a physical exam on applicants, the FAA medical examiners have the authority to issue or deny the medical certificate that applicants seek.
Echaore-McDavid, Susan. "Airline Transport Pilot Medical Qualifications." Work - Chron.com, http://work.chron.com/airline-transport-pilot-medical-qualifications-24441.html. Accessed 19 April 2019.
What Will Prevent Me From Getting a Pilot License?
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Discussion in 'Clock Repair' started by DeanT, Apr 15, 2019.
Does anyone have plans for a simple fusee cutting engine or can point me in the direction of a book with plans?
This is kind of a sour subject for me.
I once had a fusee cutting engine and I let someone talk me out of it. I regret it to no end.
While my particular one was cumbersome, skill oriented and inaccurate, it was a absolute superb overly complicated display center piece to anyones collection.
Having said all of that, I do not have any of the items you are looking for.
(1) The first photo shows a Sherline Lathe set up to cut a linear Fusee.
(2) The lathe is equipped with the thread cutting attachment, and the slide hand wheel and leadscrew thrust bushing are removed. This allows the spring to hold the slide guide bearing against and track the guide.
(3) The second photo shows the same setup, only for the more common concave style fusee. (Same Linear fusee shown) A desired or duplicating sheet metal plate is made to produce the profile.
(4) depth adjustments are made by measuring the guide bearing position from the rear of the slide with a caliper. The measurement is the either increased or decreased and the guide bearing is loosened, adjusted to the new measurement and locked in place for the next cut.
(5) The thread cutting attachment is designed for both power or hand operation. Personally, I disconnect the threading attachment and machine the profile with normal lathe operation and by operating the carriage hand wheel separately. I then engage the thread cutting attachment to cut the grooves either by hand operation or power.
(6) The limitation of the system on this lathe restricts Fusee diameter to about 3" (75mm) in diameter. However, at this diameter, the carriage slide will not move under the fusee allowing the lathe tool to be positioned as in the photos. For this, I use a left hand internal threading tool mounted in the tool post so it extends in front of the carriage. The tip is then ground to match the desired groove.
oh very clever.....as usual. Thanks Jerry.
The fusee I need to replicate is about an inch in diameter so that setup would be fine. I have one so that provides the template for the shape. Its a pretty old and rough fusee so it doesn't need to precise. The original is made in wrought iron and I'd like to make the new one in similar material although I suspect that iron won't cut as well as brass. But only one way to find out.
I think Jerry's approach of using a template, which echoes some of the earlier types of fusee engine, is a very much easier one to implement than some of the later types which used multiple slides and lead screws, with adjustable pivoting points. I should think that wrought iron would indeed pose problems in machining, due to its inherent 'grain' structure; I'd be interested to see how you progress with it.
There's a two-part article on Early Lancashire Watch Fusee Engines by P.H.J. Baker in AH Vol. 21 Nos. 3 & 4 from 1994.
I'm interested to know the machining property as well. I suspect there was a lot more filing than machining in the time this fusee was made. For example I expect the pinions were filed to shape rather than a cutting machine. The existing fusee has 7 turns and would be about an inch in diameter.
From your picture, that fusee doesn't look too bad. What's wrong with it?
It is lonely and doesn't have a friend.
Ah, I see. A close examination of the existing fusee should reveal whether it's wrought iron or steel; I'd expect the latter for that part.
It's 16thC. Looking at the case I think closer to mid 1500's than late. I thought most parts were wrought iron at that age?
I just thought as they could make springs that didn't break and we could not they might have had access to other steels.
I'm sure they did; after all, what were medieval swords, armour and heavy crossbow prods made of?
It all seems to revolve around when they changed from charcoal to coke, which links to something I said on the smithing thread about what would a smith have used in the 17th century, I had a feeling it may be charcoal.
Wrought Iron is a very low carbon steel that can be very easily cut by lathe tools but is springy like machining copper. I would strongly suggest only the highest quality stock from trusted suppliers.
As far as the setup shown, I have machined steel on it without issues.
You may want to consider good quality cast iron and beat it up with sand blasting to look like the original if all else fails.
What about the fibrous slag inclusions inherent in the production process?
if your question is in regard to the integrity/appearance of wrought Iron after machining, hopefully it will duplicate the original. However, Some days your the Dog and some days your the Hydrant. On Hydrant days you hope for a small female Dog but generally end up with a large male Malamute.
However, If by chance, your question is about the appearance of Cast Iron, after rough sandblasting the roughness can be slightly smoothed out with light sanding.
Aging will then highlite its rough original construction appearance. For larger details, I generally put the work piece in a vise and create what is required with a small brass hammer and a variety of Watchmakers staking tool punches.
I'd definitely prefer the dog days!
I can't say I'd ever consider 'ageing' a replacement part, that just doesn't fit with my concept of restoration; make it to the same design so that it works as the original, but that's all. I think it should be clear to subsequent owners or reasonably knowledgeable observers where parts are not original. For instance, I always initial and date the undersides of any watch hands I make.
yes, as a collector I have to agree, I'm rather concerned about artificial ageing.
I make an exception for cases to an extent. I would not expect a replacement piece of marquetry or parquetry to be as bright and colourful as the original would have been 300 years ago, so I would rather the cabinet maker used skill to blend the hue of replacement work. It will still, however, be obvious to the close observer it is replaced.
This is a personal preference thing that is not up to me to suggest what is right or wrong.
My personal practice and feelings are as follows.
First, I have never had a customer request a replacement part that was an obvious replacement.
When I receive something for repair, I see it as that persons personal possession given to me to respect, protect and retain or increase its value. While there are always exceptions, obvious repairs on anything of value will decrease an items value. However, If its a valuable collectable, obvious repairs will deny the owner and others the enjoyment of viewing the item the way it originally was.
An excellent example of this would be the Notre Dame fire. To reconstruct this building in a manner that is obvious from the original down to the last detail, would be a travesty in my personal opinion.
If something is of little value, no one cares. If something is of high value, purchasers closely inspect and purchase based on what they see or the known ability to restore if required so it can be enjoyed by all for what it was.
It's a question of whether the repair is to deceive or not. To repair trying to make it look like it has not been repaired to retain or enhance value is to deceive and is a fraud.
Nick you have just stated what I have always felt about this topic.
Now I never work on valuable, rare or expensive clocks. However as far as I am concerned if a clock has a broken part it is no longer "original" and no amount of work will make the clock / part original. I will do my best to repair the part with good workmanship, but not with the end goal of being invisible. Now some seem to think that if the repair isn't invisible then that is a sign of poor workmanship, I don't.
I suppose we can consider two people with two identical valuable clocks. One is in all original condition, and the other has had an undocumented "invisible" repair done to it. The owner of the all original clock would probably think that his clock should be worth more than the broken one, wouldn't he?
novicetimekeeper and gmorse like this.
There is a distinction to be made between restoring a part in such a way that it is given the (false) appearance of age consistent with the rest of the object, which Nick and I both find unacceptable, and the honest restoration, using appropriate materials and finishes in the context of its original state.
As an example, how much of the material of these hands is original?
I'd be very surprised if the new Notre Dame roof timbers were aged to appear identical to their 14th century predecessors!
My work is all billed and referenced for all who wish a reference. I make no attempt to fraud or deceive anyone. At high end auctions, value is often determined by the reputation of who may have worked on a particular object. Craftsmanship and invisible restoration perfection is not discouraged but highly sought after by both sellers and buyers. Examples of this can be seen in the US on popular TV shows such as the High end car Auctions and PBS "Antiques Road Show".
However let me guess. For example. when you guys have a minor dent or scratch in your car, You have that small area painted a slightly different color to show it had been worked on.
I suspect the restoration will require the same type of wood cut in the same manner or mimic the same cut as well as a aging appearance if possible. Anything less will deprive everyone in the future from seeing what was. A local example of this type restoration was done about 20 years ago and I had the pleasure of seeing some true craftsman at work.
It was inspiration at a high level I will never forget.
I believe we must agree to differ on where to draw the line when arriving at a compromise in restoration versus conservation.
First regarding the discussion on deception. My comments are my personal feelings only. I am not in anyway suggesting that anyone that seeks to make invisible repairs is trying to be deceptive.
I can assure you that any restoration work on such a building in this country would not be permitted to be artificially aged. We have very strict controls on such buildings.
The French usually have a rather dismissive attitude to old buildings, but not so Notre Dame. However they are already seeking input from around the World as to how to replace the spire with something appropriate, as opposed to another pastiche repeat of the one that did so much damage when it fell.
If you take a rare and damaged oil painting to a professional to fix, exactly zero out of ten professionals would go with the colors as they existed on the Master's pallet when he originally painted it.
It would, however, be obvious to later restorers it had been repaired. Did you miss the bit about marquetry and parquetry?
This is the organisation behind much of the guidance and legislation on the care of old buildings in this country. Artificial ageing is not in their guidance, but a clear history of the work done is.
i love this guy. i think this series is....i don't know....4 or 5 installments.
I always just make parts the same as original no aging or deception.
There is fairly simple plans for a fusee copying tool in the appendix of deCarle's Practical Clock Repairing. Probably the easiest book to obtain.
Interesting debate. I prefer an invisible repair and as these are my clocks I'm not trying to fool anyone. The clock I am restoring is 450 years old. Its completely trashed and its historical value is greatly diminished but I'd like it back where it started. Its a passion not a commercial exercise. The picture on the side is Aritmetica one of the seven liberal arts (the study of arithmetic) and as a mathematician it has an appeal over a normal clock to me.
"It may be found difficult to machine wrought-iron on lathes, mills, etc., and get a good finish due to the lack of a free-cutting agent and the iron's inherent woolly softness which tears on the tool producing a rough torn surface and leaving heavy burrs where the tool goes off the edge of the metal where the iron would rather push aside than be cut. For turning use a tool having 7 degrees front clearance and at least 8 degrees top rake with a highly polished finish on the top rake."
Sounds like it might be difficult to machine the fusee out of wrought iron but will try anyway. I have another clock of the same age which has the fusee cut out of wood so I guess anything is possible!
I did find a shop in the UK which makes "real" wrought iron but shipping will be expensive down to Australia. But I'd really like to try the real thing...maybe I can find some scrap at one of the local scrap yards.
Thought i'd start making the barrel before the fusee as I thought that would be easier. Here's the first attempt made in mild steel.
Make sure the tool extends from its holder only far enough to complete the cut. Either slightly more than the wall of the pipe or radius of the bar. Make sure it is introduced exactly perpendicular to the part and that it's cutting tip height is exactly set to the center of the part. If the piece is long, use a follower instead of a center to support the end.
Thanks Martin. I will take your advice the next time i try it.
I feel like the steel heats up and case hardens making it difficult to cut. Not sure if this is possible?
If that's the case then I think you need to look at the sharpness of your tooling. It is a common phenomenon if the profile, presentation and/or the edge of the cutter isn't as it should be.
I also use a very slow speed (70 rpm) as well as cutting oil (Tap-Magic brand name here) when parting off. That generally works well for me.


This is a true story about Estonia, a small European nation that won its freedom from the former Soviet Union by showing that the spirit of a people is stronger than tanks and bullets. They showed their spirit by doing what they have always loved doing: raising their voices together in song. Sing Freedom! captures the essence of this successful nonviolent revolution in a format highly accessible to children. The conflict that eventually won the Estonians their freedom could have had a very violent outcome. This story tells the history of the oppression of the Estonian people and how they gained their freedom through non-violent means.


text:
Home | Bradley Blakeman
Tags: catcher | ptsd | salinger
Author's Post-War Trauma Reminds Veterans Deserve Our Best
A January, 2010 photo shows the former home of author J.D. Salinger, in Cornish, New Hampshire. The house, which Salinger bought in the 1950's, was up for sale again in August of 2014. The land once belonged to sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Salinger left the home after separating from his first wife, but he remained in Cornish, where he died in 2010 aged 91. (Jim Cole/AP)
By Bradley A. Blakeman | Wednesday, 13 September 2017 04:47 PM EDT
J.D. Salinger, America's most iconic and elusive author of all time was misunderstood.
He is most famous for his one and only best-selling novel "Catcher in the Rye." He started writing it while serving in combat during World War II. After returning home, he had difficulty finishing it, but finally got the book published in 1951.
Many people who labeled him a "recluse", "crazy," or "eccentric" never really understood or appreciated the causation of his reportedly questionable behavior. Many are even unaware of his service in the U.S. Army.
This is what The New York Times said in his Jan. 28, 2010 obituary: "J.D. Salinger who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, becoming the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous, died on Wednesday at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire where he had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years. He was 91."
The background of his service and resultant, likely Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was glossed over and never put in context or perspective: "Mr. Salinger had been drafted. He served with the Counter-Intelligence Corps of the Fourth Infantry Division, whose job was to interview Nazi deserters and sympathizers, and was stationed for a while in Tiverton, Devon, the setting of "For Esmé — with Love and Squalor," probably the most deeply felt of the "Nine Stories." On June 6, 1944 (D-Day), he landed at Utah Beach, and he later saw action during the Battle of the Bulge.
In 1945 he was hospitalized for "battle fatigue" — often a euphemism for a breakdown. Following recovery, he stayed on in Europe past the end of the war, chasing Nazi functionaries.
It's possible he never "recovered." When he returned to the U.S. he was reportedly haunted by his probable disability. Yet he was offered no meaningful help from the military, suffering in silence, while desperately seeking remedies and outlets for his purported symptoms. There is no doubt that his probable PTSD may well have had a profound impact on his writing. He never published another novel after "Catcher in the Rye," but did publish two short story volumes.
It was easy at that time to affix labels on someone, dismissing him or her, rather than taking the time to know them, and realizing there is more to a story than what appearances suggest.
I would have never have known the true J.D. Salinger but for a powerful, compelling and wonderful film soon to be released, "Rebel in the Rye," written and directed by Danny Strong.
"Rebel in the Rye," tells the true story of an iconic American author who may well have suffered from PTSD and how it affected his personal and professional life. It shows the struggle to survive and how debilitating this wartime affliction can be if not properly treated — and understood.
The message of "Rebel in the Rye" is one resonating today. PTSD is a debilitating condition. It saps the life and creativity of those suffering from it.
In the 1940's it was seen as "fatigue" of war and dismissed. Today we recognize its seriousness, and thus attend to those affected with respect, understanding, and treatment.
I came away from the screening of "Rebel in the Rye" wondering what might have been had Mr. Salinger received the proper medical attention for his purported condition. To think of the loss to Mr. Salinger personally and to the world — the denial of his complete talents and abilities is a shame.
I urge all to view "Rebel in the Rye," seeing it as a "think film." Meaning, it makes you think during it, and following it. It opens your eyes to better understand the sacrifices of service as well as the need to care for our veterans.
Because of his likely PTSD, Mr. Salinger was prevented from reaching the fullest potential of his amazing talents. That must never be allowed to happen to any veteran today.
Bradley Blakeman was a member of President George W. Bush's senior White House staff from 2001 to 2004. He is also a frequent contributor to Fox News and Fox Business Channel. He currently is a Principal with the 1600group.com a consulting company. — Click Here Now.
BradleyBlakeman
Because of his likely PTSD, author J.D. Salinger was prevented from reaching his full potential of his amazing talents. That must never be allowed to happen to any veteran today.
catcher, ptsd, salinger
Wednesday, 13 September 2017 04:47 PM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook chops in butter, turning once to brown evenly.
Pour in wine, and season with salt, pepper, rosemary, and garlic. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until chops are tender. Transfer pork chops to serving plates, and spoon sauce over the meat.


text:
American Airlines may be 'unsafe' for black passengers, NAACP warns
Benjamin Zhang
American AirlinesAn American Airlines Boeing 757-200.
The NAACP has issued a travel advisory warning against booking travel on American Airlines.
The civil rights organisation cautions black travellers on the risks of experiencing discrimination while flying with American.
American Airlines would like to meet with the NAACP regarding their concerns.
The NAACP has cautioned black travellers to be careful when flying with American Airlines.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) instituted a national travel advisory warning black passengers of potential discriminatory and unsafe practices at American Airlines.
"The NAACP for several months now has been monitoring a pattern of disturbing incidents reported by African-American passengers, specific to American Airlines," the civil rights organisation said in the statement. "In light of these confrontations, we have today taken the action of issuing national advisory alerting travellers — especially African Americans — to exercise caution, in that booking and boarding flights on American Airlines could subject them disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe conditions."
The NAACP's travel advisory went into effect on October 24 and will remain in force until further notice.
In a memo to employees, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker expressed his disappointment with the announcement.
"The mission statement of the NAACP states that it "seeks to remove all barriers of racial discrimination," Parker said. "That's a mission that the people of American Airlines endorse and facilitate every day — we do not and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind."
"We have reached out to the NAACP and are eager to meet with them to listen to their issues and concerns," he added.
According to the NAACP, the travel advisory stems from a series of incidents the organisation called "troublesome."
"The series of recent incidents involve troublesome conduct by American Airlines and they suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias on the part of American Airlines. Among these incidents:
An African-American man was required to relinquish his purchased seats aboard a flight from Washington, D.C. to Raleigh-Durham, merely because he responded to disrespectful and discriminatory comments directed toward him by two unruly white passengers;
Despite having previously booked first-class tickets for herself and a travelling companion, an African-American woman's seating assignment was switched to the coach section at the ticket counter, while her white companion remained assigned to a first-class seat;
On a flight bound for New York from Miami, the pilot directed that an African-American woman be removed from the flight when she complained to the gate agent about having her seating assignment changed without her consent;
An African-American woman and her infant child were removed from a flight from Atlanta to New York City when the woman (incidentally a Harvard Law School student) asked that her stroller be retrieved from checked baggage before she would disembark."
The NAACP believes these incidents represent only the "tip of the iceberg" when it comes to what the organisation called "American Airlines' documented mistreatment of African American customers."
In response, American Airlines emphasised that its role as an international airline is to connect all people regardless of race, gender, and religion.
"As we work through this in concert with the NAACP, please keep doing the great and noble work you always do: treat our customers and each other with respect; connect diverse groups of people with each other and allow them to see the world; make the world a smaller and more open place; and do it professionally and safely," Parker said.
american airlines bitranspo clusterstock-us naacp politics transportation


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text:
Return to Launch Page
Britain's Got Talent 2014
Mrs A Gabriel 18/12/14
Our annual Barnhill's Got Talent event is a success for the second year running!
A range of talented students from all year groups showcased their skills in front of the audience of Year 7,8, Sixth Formers and staff on Thursday 18 December. The audience were all really impressed as the students were enthusiastic and gave 100% in their performances.
Students to remember include Year 7 breakdancer Wayde, and Year 8 ballet dancer Ellie.
However, vocalist Hanan from Year 8 stole the show with her amazing rendition of "I Can't Make You Love Me", which won her 1st place in the competition!
We were also treated to a guest appearance by Ms Bulyaba, who gave us a fantastic rendition of Silent Night, and our very own Barnhill staff Boy Band returned with their back-flipping skills!
The judges, made up of Mr Lobatto, Mrs Fleming and Ms Lamb lived up to their reputation of harsh but fair through their praise and critique of each performance.
Overall it was a fantastic event with a great team; thank you to Mrs Gabriel, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Martincevic, Mr Mann, Bellrock & ICT, who organised the entire event.


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Salman Khan wants to marry this 24 year old beautiful actress, do not forget to see face
By admin | July 8, 2018
As you may know, Salman Khan is known as Bollywood's Dabang You may also know that almost all of his films are hit. The people love their films so much so there is no shortage of their loved ones, from all the children to the elderly, all their acting and all the lovers of body. Everyone is crazy in their love and wants to marry them. Today we are going to tell you about an actress who wants to marry Salman Khan.
Urvashi Rautla ji, Urvashi loves Salman and wants to marry. Urvashi was born in Uttarakhand on February 25, 1994. She started her film journey with the movie "Leo Saab the Great" but the film was on the screen But his next film "Sanam Ray" and "Great Grand Masti" was released in 2016 and both films were super hit. After this, Urvashi's name in Bollywood is all about knowing.
But 24-year-old Urvashi has remained in the discussion since an interview recently. In this interview, Urvashi said that she is a big fan of Salman and gave a statement in the interview that just as every girl wants to marry Salman Khan As it is, he also wants to marry Salman. He said that all this thing, you all know that Salman Khan is the most famous actor of Bollywood, most of his films are hit.
Category: Good news
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Through bush with stems and leaves lush.
Under skies which birds sing.
Day 4 - Completed third day of a three day expedition. Arrived at high ropes course to complete a few challenges.
Day 5 - Bush cook (roast lamb) Thursday night then began a four day expedition stopping for service activity at beach cleaning up rubbish.
Day 6 - Completed fourth day of five days of expedition hiking. 11km of beaches and cliffs.
Day 7 - Continued hiking expedition through very tough terrain.
Day 8 - Complete a four day hiking expedition.


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The Laney Report: Patriotic playlist pays homage to America
By Jimmy LaneFor The Bulletin
Tomorrow America celebrates its independence from the British, and there is no better genre of music than country to serve as the soundtrack for all things American.
As we celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks, apple pie, baseball and hot dogs, try to include the following songs as part of your celebration.
Here are what I consider to be the top 10 country songs about the Fourth of July ever made:
10. "American Made" by the Oak Ridge Boys
Even though the song is 30 years old, it is all things American (except for the cars, and TVs and almost everything else we buy). And what country group is more American than the Oak Ridge Boys?
9. "Where the Stars and Stripes and Eagles Fly" by Aaron Tippin
Can there be a more patriotic song title?
8. "Independence Day" by Martina McBride
Sure, it's all about an abused woman who gets revenge on her husband by burning down the house with him in it, but it happened on Independence Day while everyone was watching the parade.
7. "American Child" by Phil Vassar
It's all about someone born on the Fourth of July. How American is that?
6. "Firecracker" by Josh Turner
We love fireworks, and we love that our relationship can be considered to be as combustible and exciting as a firecracker.
5. "It's America" by Rodney Atkins
Lemonade stands, farms, cute kids and Springsteen all get shout outs in this all-American song.
4. "In America" by the Charlie Daniels Band
Even though the flags been flying low, and the lady may have stumbled, we are getting back on our feet, and if the Russians don't believe it, they can all go to H-E- double hockey sticks! Hey, it is relevant again.
3. "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" by Toby Keith
No country artist does more to tout America and the troops than Toby Keith does, and foreign countries should consider this song a warning!
2. "4th of July" by Shooter Jennings
This is one of my all-time favorite songs. The son of Waylon Jennings solidified his own outlaw status with this song about riding in the truck with his favorite girl, listening to George Jones and doing it on his favorite holiday.
1. "Star Spangled Banner" by various country artists
You can hear it every day at noon on WCTY 97.7.
Country tidbits
Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium will undergo a $14 million expansion and renovation. The project is scheduled to begin late this summer and be completed by June 2015. The venue will continue to host a full calendar of events and tours throughout construction.


Unless excused, a person had to walk the picket line to receive a strike check. A week's striking was worth only $200, no matter how much one's normal pay was.
A strike had been percolating for weeks before 2,600 workers from 11 unions at the Examiner, the Chronicle and the San Francisco Newspaper Agency walked off the job Nov. 1, 1994. Four days of round-the-clock negotiations hit a logjam over salary and job security, but by then, a solid structure had been formed for a strike.
There were serious conflicts in the pressroom and distribution system, and the mailers (by this time we had figured out these were the people who assembled the papers and preprinted inserts into bundles for delivery) still had legitimate issues twenty-six years after the 1968 strike.
The 1994 strike was remarkable for a variety of reasons, the most profound of which may have been that it was a seminal event in the development of online media. Both sides made significant contributions.
We are putting together a committee to decide how we'd like to honor the 20th anniversary of the San Francisco newspaper strike. Please volunteer.


text:
class SalaatTime
{
  private:
  	double lambda_zone,
	       longitude,
	  	   Eqt,
      	   semi_diameter,
	  	   latitude,
	  	   AIT,
	  	   D,
      	   declinition_of_sun,
	  	   gmt,
      	   zuhar_time;
  public:
	 SalaatTime();
	 void InputData();
	 void CalculateZuhrTime();
	 void CalculateAsrTime();
	 void CalculateMaghribTime();
	 void CalculateIshaTime();
     void CalculateFajarTime();
	 void printTime(string s,int hh,int mm,int ss);
};
#include "Class.cpp"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This file has been edited and saved at a constant height of 2700px.
*PLEASE NOTE: Gamest is printed in right-to-left Japanese reading style. If viewing two pages at a time, you will need to set your CBR reader to Japanese mode so that the pages will display in the correct order.
This is a really amazing piece. Thank you JhonnyD for sharing this item from your collection so it can be preserved.
Thank you kitsunebi77 for editing as always.


text:
Chrysanthemum Festival
For the past couple days, this date–9 September–has been nagging at me. I knew it was supposed to be significant, but couldn't remember why. Maybe it's just because I know that in East Asian cultures, when the day and month are the same number, and especially when that number is odd, it's a festival day. The 5th day of the 5th month is Boys' Day/Dragon Boat Festival, the 7th day of the 7th Month is the Star Festival, and so on. But although I've visited Japan and Korea quite a bit, it has always been in summer, so I haven't had the opportunity to experience most of the seasonal festivals, including this one; I have a sort of vague sense that they exist is all. But I had a strong urge to find out what 9/9 might be about.
Turns out today is the celebration of the Chrysanthemum Festival in Japan. The festival properly belongs to the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, but whereas in China lunar dates are still observed, in Japan they have been shifted to the Gregorian solar calendar. In China it is more commonly known as the Double Ninth Festival or Double Yang Festival. Odd numbers are associated with yang (and even numbers with yin), and as 9 is the highest single-digit yang number, yang energy is thought to be at a peak on this day. This year, the lunar date of the festival is 21 October–which is proper autumn, unlike today in Southern California where it is 103 degrees and most definitely still summer.
For wealthy Chinese, the festival seems to have grown increasingly aesthetically elaborate, with displays of assorted chrysanthemum cultivars, mountain- or hill-top picnics, drinking of crysanthemum wine with toasts to the celebrants' longevity, and composing and reciting poems.
However, I suspect the festival came to my attention, whether it was some long-buried subconscious memory surfacing or something more synchronicitous, because of its ancestor- and mortality-themed aspects. I don't know if I'm becoming especially ancestor-oriented lately, or if my ancestors are clamoring for attention. I think, due to life circumstances which I will touch on in my next couple of posts, it's a little of both. It is interesting that the chrysanthemum is associated with death in both Western and Eastern cultures; perhaps because, "Blooming late in autumn, the chrysanthemum signals the coming of winter, and death…" (Casal 1967: 102). I suppose it's equally possible that Europeans simply imported the Asian symbolic associations of mums along with the flowers themselves.
Casal (op. cit.) speculates that in its original form, prior to being co-opted for rich people's poetry parties, the chrysanthemum festival was a solar ritual focused on the mutual preservation of the sun's and people's vitality through the winter. I'm not sure I buy the solar hypothesis per se, but I do think that the complex symbolism of the chrysanthemum–mourning and melancholy, good health and longevity (it's an important herbal medicine in Asia), protection and purification–make the most sense in the context of the contemplation of and encounter with our own mortality. And although I couldn't find a single decently-cited internet source* (not even on Google Scholar) with much information on the Chrysanthemum or Double Ninth Festivals, I did find repeated references to it being a day to honor ancestors and the elderly. Note that there are other festivals and ceremonies in honor of the dead at other times of year, which might be why this aspect of the Chrysanthemum Festival has been downplayed over the years.
*This is why I didn't bother putting in many links. If you're interested, google Double Ninth and Chrysanthemum Festival and you will easily find the few crummy sources available. They mostly just repeat each other.
Author AlexandraCategories ancestors, death, festivalsPosted on September 10, 2015 September 10, 2015 1 Comment
On karma and magic
"Karmic," by Horacio Cardozo.
When it comes to the nature of reality, one of the few things I feel pretty certain of is that most Westerners are completely wrong about karma.
The general attitude to karma in the West is that there is some cosmic scorekeeper, who punishes you with unpleasant life circumstances when you do wrong, and rewards you when you do right. Just as declaring bankruptcy doesn't erase your student loans, death doesn't rebalance your "karmic debt," so if you are a bad person in this incarnation you can be assured of having a bad time of it next time around.
It makes sense that Westerners would see karma this way–it's a viewpoint drawn directly from Christianity. Though there are some sects of Christianity in which it is believed that there's no way for a person to deserve God's grace, there are others–especially Catholicism–in which a person can accrue merit through good deeds. This may or may not result in blessings in this life; my understanding is that usually it's construed as shortening one's time in Purgatory. Many Protestant sects, especially those influenced by Calvinism, are of the opinion that happy life circumstances are a sign of God's favor, whether or not you did anything to deserve them (not that you ever could, you miserable sinner). In fact, they argue that your behavior is already pre-ordained anyway, so the amount of grace in your life was determined before you were born.
In the 20th century, many Christians abandoned the idea of a judgmental God, original sin, and heaven and hell, but still wanted wrongdoers to be punished, and a misunderstanding of karma as an impersonal yet deterministic and judgmental force fit the bill. Even people who are not Christians (at least not any more) love the idea. There are even magic(k)al versions, such as Wicca's threefold law of return (everything you do comes back to you in triplicate).
I recently came across this opinion that karma "has no place in western [sic] society" and "there is no karma unless you choose to believe in it." (Spoiler alert: The author doesn't believe in the threefold law either, and is pretty down on Wiccans generally.) I am not a Wiccan so I have no dog in that race, but I do take issue with the idea that karma exists only if you believe in it and you shouldn't believe in it if you're from the West.
I don't have the slightest problem with learning from other cultures. Indeed, it would be stupid not to. Archaeologists and historians are pretty sure this is why the Norse colony in Greenland died out–they tried to farm and raise livestock like they had back home, and when the climate proved unsuitable, they opted not to learn marine mammal hunting from their "heathen" Inuit neighbors. The Inuit made it through the Little Ice Age fat and happy; the Norse Greenlanders all died. Racial and cultural essentialism is ahistorical bullshit and also stupid from a survival perspective.
But appropriation is a big worry for many Western white people nowadays. Basically, we pitched most of our traditions into the rubbish bin in favor of scientistic materialism, then, having grown dissatisfied with that, many white Westerners cast about for something that would give them a sense of spirituality and meaning and connection, and they/we pretty much had no choice but to borrow from other cultures that hadn't fallen into the materialist trap, or occasionally, make up new stuff. (I'll come back to appropriation in another post.)
At the same time, not coincidentally, European empires were heavily invested in oppressing and exploiting various less-materialistic societies, and that created a convenient opportunity for mining interesting philosophical and spiritual teachings. Especially for the British in India, where there were thousands of years' worth of philosophical writings to reward those who could be troubled to learn Sanskrit and Pali. And so karma–or rather the total misconstrual thereof–made its way West. There were a lot of things that the Theosophists didn't get right (and to be fair, plenty of Asians get it wrong too, as is the way with all esoteric conepts), but "karma" has probably been the most popular for the reasons I outlined above.
But as defined in its original meaning–and there are subtle differences of interpretation among different Indian philosophical schools, as one would expect–karma is an immutable law, and a damn useful concept. It's an essential component of a worldview that magic(k)al people should recognize.
All beings are interconnected, directly or indirectly (six to infinity degrees of Kevin Bacon). For us animists, that means literally everything is interconnected. (Here's one take on that.) Sticking with Indian philosophy for the sake of consistency, we can call this Indra's Net, in which each being is a multifaceted jewel. From the Avatamsaka Sutra:
"Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering "like" stars in the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring."
(My emphasis.) Indra's Net is thus a metaphor "used to describe the interpenetration of microcosmos and macrocosmos." Hmm, interpenetration of microcosm and macrocosm…where have I heard that before? Oh right. That would be the Western Magical Tradition then.
If we accept the interpenetration of microcosm and macrocosm, and thus of all beings in the universe, it stands to reason that the ripples of one's actions touch all beings. Given sufficient time (and pretending for the moment that time is linear and unidirectional), each action would affect and reflect from every single jewel in Indra's Net, bouncing around and back again.
That's karma. Karma is the situation of every action as–to borrow John Michael Greer's phrase–"an ongoing cascade of interactions" within the infinite interconnectivity that is the universe. The complexity of it is beyond what the human brain can grasp.
Is there some cosmic calculator that makes sure you get punished for being bad? Of course not, but there is already shit in the pool, and if you shit in there too, there will be even more shit to swim through. What is this "shit"? It's the Black Iron Prison, it's man's inhumanity to man. No one punishes you, you just deal with what you and others have co-created.
Magicians, sorceror/esses, witches, wizards, occultists–I haven't met one that doesn't believe in taking ownership of one's creations. I don't believe in a law of return, but I do accept the laws of thermodynamics. Because I recognize my part in unconsciously befouling the pool, with my conscious actions I try to fill the pool with rose petals, diamonds, and unicorns. Inevitably I am, like you, only magnificently human. We mess up a lot. Your personal system of ethics doesn't have to include the concept of karma; you don't have to be guided by empathy for others; you don't have to think about the wider (indeed, infinite) effects of your actions or the unforeseen unfurling of your magics in space/time. But whether you think about it or not, you are bound in Indra's Net. We are all in this universe together (unless we're not, but that's a topic for another day). Now that the term has been well borrowed into my native language, English, I find "karma" to be a convenient and succinct handle for this truth. What you choose to call it is up to you.
Author AlexandraCategories ethics, ontology, philosophy, Western Magical TraditionPosted on July 17, 2015 July 13, 2015 13 Comments
Xi Wangmu and the Star Festival
Tanabata streamers and wishes.
Tanabata, or the Star Festival (the 7th day of the 7th month, by either the lunar or solar calendar), is a holiday I was introduced to while staying in Japan. According to legend, on this day each year, two mythic lovers separated by the Milky Way are reunited. In China, where the story originates, the festival is known as Qixi or the Festival to Plead for Skills, and in Korea as Chilseok. When the festival is celebrated according to the solar calendar, it corresponds generally to the beginning of the summer monsoon rains, when the oppressive heat and humidity becomes slightly more tolerable; however, in the lunar calendar it falls around mid-August and was originally the beginning of autumn.
In brief–Orihime (the star Vega), the weaver-princess, was the daughter of the King of Heaven. She fell in love with Hikoboshi the cowherd (Altair). But when they were together, Orihime neglected her weaving and Hikoboshi his cattle, so the King of Heaven cast them apart and created the River of Heaven (the Milky Way) to keep them apart. Orihime was grief-stricken at the loss of her husband, so the King of Heaven agreed to let the couple meet once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month. But neither could cross the river, until the magpies, or in some versions the magpies and crows, made a bridge for them.
In one Chinese version of the story, Orihime (or as she is known in Chinese, Zhinu) is the daughter of Xi Wangmu (the Queen Mother of the West, or Great Female Ancestor of the West) rather than the King of Heaven. Xi Wangmu is a very ancient deity, whose cult exploded in popularity during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), and one that I find particularly fascinating. I am indebted to the webpage "Xi Wangmu, the shamanic great goddess of China" by Max Dashu for the following information.
Xi Wangmu lives between heaven and earth, in a paradise garden among the clouds on Jade Mountain or She Wu ("Female-Snake-Shaman") Mountain. In her garden grows the World Tree which bears peaches of immortality. With her are various magical animals, including the three-footed crow, the nine-tailed fox, the rabbit in the moon, phoenixes, and qilin. In a 3rd-century AD scroll, Xi Wangmu describes herself thus: "With tigers and leopards I form a pride; Together with crows and magpies I share the same dwelling place."
"Xi Wang Mu controls the cosmic forces: time and space and the pivotal Great Dipper constellation. With her powers of creation and destruction, she ordains life and death, disease and healing, and determines the life spans of all living beings. The energies of new growth surround her like a cloud. She is attended by hosts of spirits and transcendentals. She presides over the dead and afterlife, and confers divine realization and immortality on spiritual seekers."
Xi Wangmu, right, with tiger teeth and a leopard's tail.
In the earliest representations of her, Xi Wangmu looks like a human but has the teeth of a tiger and tail of a snow leopard. The tiger is the directional symbol of the west, and may have been since the very dawn of Chinese civilization in the Neolithic. She bears a staff, and wears a sheng headdress marking her as a weaver "who creates and maintains the universe" and controls the stars and constellations. The involvement of Xi Wangmu in the myth of Tanabata might indicate that it was originally a festival in her honor:
"This sign [the sheng headdress] was regarded as an auspicious symbol during the Han dynasty, and possibly earlier. People exchanged sheng tokens as gifts on stellar holidays, especially the Double Seven festival in which women's weaving figured prominently. It was celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month, at the seventh hour, when Xi Wangmu descended among humans. Taoists considered it the most important night of the year, 'the perfect night for divine meetings and ascents.' [Cahill, 16, 167-8] It was the year's midpoint, 'when the divine and human worlds touch,' and cosmic energies were in perfect balance."
(My emphasis.) After the Han Dynasty, the worship of Xi Wangmu was blamed for inciting ecstatic peasant movements and especially for too many uppity women peasants, so the goddess was "civilized." Gone were her wild hair and fangs, replaced by royal robes and jewels, and her opposite, the Queen Mother of the East, was replaced by the King Father of the East to balance out what was perceived as an excess of feminine directional power and yin. In some literature she was demoted to mortal human status, or even depicted as a kind of succubus. Nevertheless Xi Wangmu remained beloved by the people, who often referred to her as "Nanny."
Inspired by a miraculous tale of love, or by the awesome cosmic powers of Xi Wangmu, Tanabata is a day to make wishes for the fulfillment of long-cherished dreams, in particular the desire for new skills. People write these wishes on slips of paper and hang them on tree branches, and colorful streamers decorate the streets. Japanese festivals are open to all comers, being a matter of community participation rather than religious or cultural identification, while the stars are visible from all over Earth (albeit different ones in different hemispheres), so I don't think there are any issues of appropriation to fear here.
If you wish to celebrate the Star Festival, you can complement the colorful modern traditions with more ancient ones, including:
Nine lamps dedicated to Xi Wangmu
Propitiating ghosts and the dead
Sewing fall/winter clothes, embroidery, weaving
Offerings of melons and fruit, candles, incense, and miniature clothing, shoes, or furniture in groups of seven
A "wish-fulfillment banquet"
Author AlexandraCategories ancestors, festivals, magic, myth, mythologyology, shamanismPosted on July 7, 2015 June 16, 2016 2 Comments


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Home » Judge hears arguments in lawsuit seeking to block Trump's '2-for-1' order on regulations
Judge hears arguments in lawsuit seeking to block Trump's '2-for-1' order on regulations
Donald Trump Executive order Public Citizen
Photo: jkinsey3291/iStockphoto
Washington – A federal judge heard arguments Aug. 10 in a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's "2-for-1" Executive Order on federal regulations.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Public Citizen, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Communications Workers of America labor union on Feb. 8, nine days after President Trump signed the Executive Order.
The order calls for federal agencies to eliminate two existing regulations for every one that is introduced. The White House clarified in a guidance memo on Feb. 2 that the Executive Order would apply only to regulations with an estimated cost of $100 million or more.
Public Citizen contends the order is unconstitutional because it requires agencies "to violate the statutes under which they operate." Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a press briefing on Feb. 8 that the lawsuit "is wildly inaccurate. It makes a ton of assumptions that call for speculation on what may or may not happen in the future. … It's just subjective, at best, and doesn't have any basis in fact."
In a press release issued Aug. 8, Public Citizen President Robert Weissman said, "No one thinking sensibly about how to set rules for health, safety, the environment and the economy would adopt the Trump Executive Order approach – unless their only goal was to confer enormous benefits on big business. This order is part of the Trump administration's plan to empower big business to poison our water, pollute our air, endanger workers and cheat our economy."
After the hearing, Weissman said in a video posted on Facebook that a ruling from Judge Randolph D. Moss could come "probably in the next few months." He added that he expects an appeal from either side no matter the outcome.
Watchdog group won't appeal latest dismissal of lawsuit against '2-for-1' deregulatory order