Not sure how to start... I am a lady in her fifties with no supernatural/paranormal talents. I have been reading stories on this site for a couple years, so I thought it might be time for me to do my part and put my story out there for others to think and wonder about. I haven't done it sooner because the length, but here goes.
My husband and I moved to El Paso, Texas in fall of 1998, along with our two year old daughter and three year old son. We first moved into a rental home. I only mention it because of the bad vibes there. The previous owners were drug cartel members who kept Rottweilers and were hauled off by men in black suits according to the neighbors. The house had broken doorframes on the front door and master bedroom, and other damage throughout that someone searching would do so we have no reason to doubt the neighbors.
The front bedroom was the smallest, and had the worst vibes. Our daughter never slept there a night if she could avoid it. She just waited until we were asleep and crawled in with us. We stayed there only six months, but other than general creepiness and ugly feelings nothing happened there.
We moved to our present home in spring of 1999. It was built in the 1920's, is a two story stone house with three bedrooms upstairs, living room, dining room, kitchen on the main floor, and a full basement. It is on a large corner lot with an unusual amount of trees and shrubs for the desert, and others have told me they think it is spooky.
The first odd thing we noticed was a large black and white photo of a baby boy, maybe 12 to 18 months old, blown up to almost poster size, hung in the smallest upstairs bedroom. It is so large it is blurry. You cannot help but think they would have taken a better picture if the child were alive. It is expensively framed and looks to be from the early 60's or even 50's. Couldn't leave that there - kind of afraid to throw it out - so I ended up putting behind the headboard of the bed in the master and kept unpacking.
Being the smallest bedroom, the picture room fell to the smallest child, but this was never a problem. From the very first night on, the daughter slept in her own bed and didn't bother us unless she had a bad dream or tummyache or some-such. We chalked it up to the bad vibes in the rental being gone, but we were very surprised at the sudden change.
My husband and I did not sleep so soundly. Three times in the first two months we went to bed only to hear a huge crash downstairs as soon as our heads hit the pillow. It sounded like a cement block crashing through the front window onto the hardwood floor. We would rush downstairs and find - nothing. No broken glass, no large object, nothing at all. We rationalized things like maybe all those VCR tapes the kids had out had fallen from an end table, but I really thought they were on the floor anyway and there wasn't something to blame it on the second or third time. Seems like something that sounds like breaking glass and a boulder crashing onto bare wood would be pretty easy to spot anyway. We chalked it up to 'something' or 'that was weird'.
About two months after we moved in, the hubby and I finally moved the last three or four large furniture objects to the floors they needed to be on and we were exhausted. When my head hit the pillow and I heard that crash I still sat up, but Hubby didn't. I looked at him and said "I'm not going." He grunted affirmative, and we went to sleep. We never heard another one of those crashes again. However, I would never stay down on the main floor at night alone. I had a creepy uncomfortable, unsafe feeling, only at night. I assumed I was wimpy and just went upstairs to read or something early if Hubby was away on business.
About a year later, I woke up one night to a child's voice softly calling "mamama, mamama" from outside the master bedroom. My son used to give mama an extra ma so I assumed it was one of the kids, probably him. I dragged myself up and out into the hall (more of a large landing) between the bedrooms. I was facing the bathroom, which had a kid's bedroom to either side and stairs to my right. I paused for the next "mamama" to figure which way to go. It came from the stairs. I stopped dead and listened, straining to wake up as fast as possible, wondering what the little bugger was up and roaming around for. It came from further, like the downstairs hall. Then the kitchen, and finally it sounded like it was in the back yard (I did not hear a door). We have an open window downstairs because we had an evaporative cooler at that time, not central air. That is how I knew it was the back yard.
I was just standing in the hall in shock, until I shook it off and took a couple of steps into the boy's room - he was sound asleep, ran a couple steps back to the girls room - SHE was sound asleep, and then I hauled back to my own bed and smashed up against Hubby with my eyes bugged out and hid up under the covers. I did not tell him what happened. I was too shocked. I DID NOT like it that the ghost used mamama like my kids. To me it meant it was watching us.
About a year after that (it was probably around 2001 or 2002), we were at my mother-in-law's house sitting around on the front porch one night and some of the family started telling ghost stories. Supposed to be true ones. So I got brave and told my mamama story; this was the first time I had ever told a soul. To my surprise, my husband said that he had SEEN the baby. He said that since we had moved to the house there were nights when he would wake up and see a baby at the foot of the bed watching. He has bad eyesight and without his glasses he assumed it was our daughter, so he would tell her to come up into the bed, but she would turn and go back to her own room. He had recently realized that this baby may have been the same size as the daughter when we first moved in, but now she was much taller - kids grow three or four inches a year at that age. Our son was always much larger than that, so Hubby had recently concluded that this was not our kid that he was seeing! Our daughter said it wasn't her, she always climbed in bed if she came over to us. I believer her, though she was only three.
My mother-in-law kindly sent me home with a Gatorade bottle full of holy water (Hispanic Catholics are prepared for the supernatural) and the next day I went around the house and blessed everything. Doors, windows, closets, open spaces, EVERYTHING. I prayed especially long in my daughter's bedroom where we found the photo. I talked to the baby and told it to call its mom, dad, or grandparents, and I talked to God and asked him to send loved ones to get the baby, or angels if need be.
We never saw or heard the baby again. Seeing as I had only heard it once, and that was at least a year before, you could say that nothing happened, except that I immediately noticed that I wasn't afraid to be alone on the main floor at night anymore. Now I was terrified of the first corner of the stairs.
Our stairs had three triangle steps creating a 90 degree curve at the very bottom. At night I was terrified to turn my back at that corner and go upstairs. I would run like mad up that first flight after I turned the corner (remember I was 40ish at the time - this was just silly). The corner itself didn't scare me, it was just having my back to it. I ended up getting the holy water back out (Gatorade is a pretty big bottle - I still had a lot) and blessing that corner and putting a religious statue and a decorative plate showing the life of Christ nearby and blessing those just to be safe. The fear was much less but iffy for a while, then it faded completely away like it just left or slowly wore away.
About six months or so after that the weirdest thing of all happened. We had left the kids at one of the sister-in-law's for a sleepover with the cousins, so we were alone in the house that night. I woke up and it was morning. Sun was up and bright. Hubby was not in bed, so I thought that maybe he went to sleep downstairs. It was May and pretty warm already (can get up into the 90's or even higher in the desert in May) and we didn't have the cooler working yet.
I wasn't worried until I got out of the bathroom, then I suddenly had the most horrible feeling that Hubby was downstairs dead on the floor and that I should go check on him immediately. I didn't; I shook it off and climbed back on the bed and lay down. Well it shook. Like shake-a-shake-a-shake. I sat up, and it did it again. Shake-a-shake-a-shake, I looked at the ceiling fan to see if it was an earthquake, and at everything in the room to see if anything was swaying like an earthquake and nothing was moving, but the bed shook again, shake-a-shake-a-shake. I leaned off around the bed to see if anyone was doing it and hiding, and nothing (Hubby wouldn't fit under it, trust me). Then I heard Hubby cough downstairs. Immediately the shaking stopped and the horrible 'Hubby is dead' feeling left. I went back to sleep, believe it or not. When you have your first night without the kids since they were born you do that.
I went downstairs an hour or two later and was making coffee in the kitchen when Hubby called me from the living room. He wanted to know why I had come downstairs earlier and gone out to the back yard. He had heard me come down the stairs and even heard the back door open and close.
We have a theory about this - that Hubby may have really been having trouble breathing. He has sleep apnea, and can stop breathing for long periods of time. Maybe the ghost was genuinely concerned.
Notice that the mamama voice went down the stairs and out to the backyard and now the bed shaker did the same thing.
That was the last really unexplainable thing that has happened in the house, and it was over 10 years ago. Recently we did some painting/fixing up in the kitchen that may have triggered a dream visit this past summer, 2015.
I was taking a nap, and in the dream I was in the living room when I heard a key in the front door lock, and the door opened. A very tall (around six foot?) lady came in, a little heavy but not terribly overweight. Her clothes reminded me of how my mother dressed in 60's, even the hair was a variation of what we kids called 'helmet head', popular with ladies back then. I did not know her. I would guess her age to be thirtyish. I was shocked and ran screaming up to her, telling her to get out of my house. She completely ignored me, gazing around over my head (I am not much over five foot). She looked around slowly and walked through the house, not in any rush. I ran circles around her like a mad hen, threatening her to get out. I felt strongly that inside she was empty, hollow, devastated, in an emotional dead space past pain and grief.
It didn't really register with me because I was focused on getting her out of my house, but I felt it. She walked through the house to the back door and went outside to the yard. In the dream I was trying to wake up because I was so upset, but no luck. I found a cell phone in the kitchen, and I called the cops, all the while looking out the window at the woman, who was just standing in the yard. A cop came and I showed him out back. He got her attention and spoke to her. He wasn't threatening her at all, just talking, but she looked at him, pulled out a pistol and shot him dead! I was still watching from the kitchen window, shrieking hysterically to police on the phone. Another cop was coming over the back wall when I woke up.
I almost never dream, and my nightmares are either dinosaur attacks or being naked in public. I can't but help thinking this was a message. This is my house (I have a key). I choose to ignore you (I treat you like a ghost). I want to be left alone (killed the cop).
That is our haunting; I am pretty sure the dream is part of it. Not the scariest ghost story, but that is because it happened over several years' time. If it all happened in a week or a month we may well have moved. Hubby has not had any additional experiences. My kids are 19 and 21 years old now and neither ever had an experience.
Most importantly, the house is too big for us now. What do I do with that giant baby portrait if we sell the house? I moved it to the back of a closet in the basement a few years ago, but I still have it. I really want to throw it out, but the other family members think that would be asking for trouble.
Thanks for reading, I would love your opinion!
The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, RedRaven5, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.
I would like to apologize for never answering these very thoughtful and helpful responses. After I submitted this I was stricken with such a fit of embarrassment that I didn't log in or even look at the site for 6 months.
I am not normally so shy as that, but ghost stories are so very personal that even though I know this is a safe place to talk about them, I felt extremely exposed.
I am really very sorry, I know it was rude of me.
I still have the little boy's picture, and everything in the house has remained quiet this past year. For disposing of the picture, I like the funeral idea the best; I never would have thought of that myself. Thank you ladydarke.
Macknorton, if you are still interested, I am pretty sure the dinosaur dreams are about fighting an impossibly strong foe - feelings of inadequacy, that sort of thing.
Thank you, and my apologies again.
I had an intense feeling of dread come over me as I was reading the part about your dream. Maybe I'm an empath or it was just well written. Either way, thanks for sharing. The entire thing was quite an intriguing read.
Hi Redraven5. Thanks for posting your experiences. Like others here, I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
I can't really add anything new that people haven't already theorised about, other than I found your comment about your dreams are often " dinosaur attacks or being naked in public" intriguing. I have lots of very vivid and random dreams but never about dinosaurs!
Do you mind if I ask your opinions on what those dreams represent?
Wow what a story! Very well written and quite eerie enough to give me chills!
I agree with previous commentors that it seems like the tall woman is the child's mother. I am just aching to know what happened in that house! Have you considered going to the library and checking old local newspapers for the 60s? Tax and property records could give you names to research.
Something had to have happened... And I agree with the others that the stairs and back yard have to be significant. I get the feeling that every experience you've had is a part of the puzzle and the way it comes together in my head, it starts to look like an abduction. The way I see it, the tall woman (from the dream) or perhaps she was away and the person who was supposed to be looking after the child (in the dream, you saw her coming into the house devastated and looking around the house) was upstairs likely in bed when it happened probably asleep... It was the 60s, maybe drugs were involved making them quite asleep indeed (recall the morning when you were so luxuriously able to sleep in and the bed started shaking and you felt like something was wrong downstairs). I think an intruder came in through the back door, perhaps they paused for a time listening for movement at that first bend in the stairs (where you felt uneasy, the spot that made you want to go rushing upstairs), went up, took the child from their bedroom (the small one where you found the picture), and left the same way they came in... Maybe the child called for its mother as it was taken and, sleeping, she thought it was just part of her dream. I just get the feeling that it wasn't the mother at home when all this happened but a babysitter - and that she was in the upstairs master bedroom doing something irresponsible like making out with a boyfriend, smoking weed or taking a nap when it happened. I think when she finally went to check the baby, it was long gone and she called the police. The police contacted the mother and the mother came home feeling hollow and devastated. Perhaps the police got nowhere with the investigation and the ensuing feelings of anger, grief and frustration led to the manifestation of the final scene in your dream where she shot the police officer - maybe she actually did it or maybe just dreamed of doing it over and over out of desperation and anger at getting no answers.
Ok, I've managed to really go on and on with this but... Once I started writing and the pieces started coming together, I just couldn't stop... I hope it was coherent enough to follow... Anyway, let us know if you do any research - all my musings and wild conjecture aside - it would be truly fascinating to learn what really happened!
I forgot to mention about the picture frame when I recommended cremating the portrait. I don't think that you should burn it because 1) it's probably varnished or otherwise treated and you don't need to breath in chemicals and 2) I doubt you have the facility for melting glass anyway and it's not like that would scatter.
The cremation is just for the picture. As far as the frame is concerned... You know how Western culture once had and some Eastern cultures still do have a tradition where the family undresses, washes and otherwise prepares the body for funerary rites? I apologize if this is a morbid reference, but it seems the best one to make. I think you should remove the picture from the frame in much the same way, doing so with a bit of ceremony as well as care and respect. The important part is to make clear your intent through both words and actions: that this is a separation of the portrait from its dressing. Run water over the frame, which will remove any lingering energies. Then break it up.
Although the frame is expensive, I think you should break it and discard it the trash rather than find it a new home. At this point, it will have been stripped of relevance but even so you don't want to allow any temptation or possibility for any entities/energies to find their way back to the frame. Breaking it up closes that door. Mostly what happens is when you establish your clear intent of separating the frame, you strip it of any relevance and make it okay to chuck it in the regular trash.
Hello RedRaven5, I really enjoyed reading your experiences I have to say they gave me enough of a chill to raise a couple of hairs on my arms. 😨 I agree with ladydarke and believe the woman was the child's mother and somehow the child passed away in the yard. Your dream gave me the impression that the woman is going to continue on this loop. I would say she is residual because as you explained she looked over you, around you and went about her business, the only time she showed interaction was with the cop in your dream. I believe the spirit of the child was intelligent and tried to communicate to both you and your husband. I'm glad the Gatorade bottle of Holy Water and prayers helped. LOL! I had to laugh at that because as my ghost hunting buddies know I bring holy water with me on our hunts and bless us before we enter. They make fun of me but... Hey my motto is No demons allowed. 😉 😆 Thank you for sharing this with us and take care.
Thank you for sharing your experience. It has a highly intriguing read. You told it very well and you're an excellent writer.
I think you handled your spooky experiences effectively and it speaks well to the power of your intuition. I particularly commend you on calling guides and guardians to come gather the soul and help it on its way.
It's interesting that even the dream lady went out the door into the backyard, following the same pattern. Do you suppose she was the child's mother, hence the hollow, burned-out-on-grief, devastated feel you got from her? If the child's spirit had been there as well before your blessing, could it have been that what you dreamed was not only her ignoring you, but perhaps you intuitively picking up on the relation between spirits themselves? What I mean is that perhaps she had been unable to see or find the spirit of her son though they haunted the same house, because she had fixated on the portrait instead. Even in spirit, her child remained dead to her. Another interesting possibility is that the mother is still alive, and perhaps her astral self went wandering while she too was dreaming, and came to the place of her loss. Again, as you seem so intuitive, you picked up her presence and dreamed what you intuited.
One wonders if the child passed in the backyard. Is there a pool there or any evidence that there may have once been a pool, even an above-ground one? I imagine if you were aware of any history of the house regarding the death of a child, that would be a major point you would have included in your story.
Frankly, I'm astonished you managed to keep the baby portrait for so long! I imagine it niggled at you for all those years. If you'd like to get rid of it, I recommend holding a funeral for it, thus laying it finally and symbolically to rest. You might consider "cremating" the portrait. Burn it with a few words and dignified solemnity, then scatter the ashes. Although there seem to be ties with the back yard, I am inclined to feel you should not inter it there but break that chain and instead scatter the ashes into the wind someplace beautiful and freeing. The words that you spoke while blessing the house were lovely and powerful. Something similar would do just fine for this purpose. You might consider saying something for both mother and child.
Best of luck to you. Please do as your wonderful intuition guides you and trust yourself to know what is right.
© The ghost story The Baby, The Large Lady, And The Bad Feeling is copyrighted to RedRaven5. Edited by yourghoststories.com.


Art Week - An artist I can relate to maths with Year 1!
Discussion in 'Primary' started by impulce, Jan 26, 2011.
We do a whole school Art week, and this year we need to link it in with maths. We have been asked to choose an artist to base our work around.
I am absolutely clueless when it comes to Art but would love to do some graphics art on the computers and like the idea of creating rotational symmetry pictures, or normal symmetrical pictures using a graphics package.
Or, for that matter, any artist that I could relate to maths with my Year 1 class in any way at all!?
Who is that snail man? Matisse?
What about looking at a minimalist painter?
Frank Stella looks like a likely candidate. Tate collection playing up at the moment, but lots of other sites with pictures and info.
I was going to day Mondrian too, or maybe Picasso as he used a lot of geometric shapes. Op art is another good one but dont know the name of individual op artists.
Not Picasso, Kandinsky! Dont know why I got them confused!
For symmetry etc Escher would work.
for simplicity just use the names and google images.
As soon as I saw your title I thought of Mondrian and Escher!
I did find Escher for the symmetry and considered that. Now im erring towards Mondrian.
I am just struggling for ideas to make anything last a full week - for Mondrian we can recreate his style of pictures in paper, paint and digitally but it may get a bit dull just drawing and filling in boxes! I cant think of any way to extend that or make it more exciting.
Escher I really like and find interesting, but his paintins all have twists and turns and hidden pictures and again I have no idea what to do with Year 1 to develop this idea.
Unless I take the circular pictures of his - theres one with lizards and one with bats - and get them to choose their own monochrome picture of a creature to create a similar picture.
Kandinsky I LOVE but dont think id be able to do anything with my class that would look any good!
Kandinsky would be dead easy.... give them cirles, triangles (to draw around) in different sizes and give them a ruler.
afterwards check their understanding of the shapes (pleanaries in each lesson maybe or starter of the next bit) and Kandinskys style and then ask them to design their own picture based on kandinsky (so a diagram of what shapes they would use and where- 1-2 lessons) Then they could have a go at painting their design.
so theres about 8 lessons worth.
If you would rather they paint instead of use coloured pencils (which would work better but not as fun) then instead of shapes to draw around in the first one give them stencils so they can paint the insides.
Bit of extra work but would be worth it.
Oh mjkthorpe - I have had to tell my head today my chosen artist and I chose Mondrian!
I feel terrible coming back to your wonderfully detailed post! What great ideas though. I will definately keep it all in mind for next time - we have art weeks quite regularly - thankyou!
As an artist working in a primary school i have to say you all are clueless when it comes to art - try this- type into google - viscosity - it should come up as viscosity create - have a look you will find it useful for maths and ICT and what ever happened to mirrors ? too much reliance on computers - get your hands dirty for goodness sake!
But if you are STUCK then google Dali and relate the imagined landscape as fractals and metascapes as a starting point - you do know every classic painting has a starting point? and is based on concepts of symmetry? look to the Greeks for this one.
As an "artist working in a primary school" you have no idea about the level of Year 1 maths.
Fractals and metascapes!? Some of them cant tell me what a square is!
I appreciate your input - but not your attitude.
How does Banksy relate to mathematics for a 6 year old?
Oh dear, fractals and metascapes? As the above poster has said, thanks for the input but make sure you read the whole post and make sure you know what is going on before you mouth off. Not everyone has the same knowledge of technical language as you do.
Actually fractals might work quite nicely. Probably one for higher-ability year 1 though, and the language is a bit tough. I've known some who would probably handle it very well, but they'd be a minority. Basically: draw a shape, any shape you like. Inside that shape, draw a circle (actually, this shape can be more or less anything as well, as long as you can replicate it at a number of different sizes and every one be similar) and make it as big as you can to fit inside your shape. In the spaces left inside the first shape, draw more circles as big as possible to fit the gaps. Repeat ad infinitum - fractals keep going into infinity. This fast talking American girl explains it with pictures: www.vihart.com/blog/tags/video.html (scroll down to 'infinity elephants'). I don't know any artists off hand who use fractals but there are bound to be some.
'Metascapes' seems to escape me at the moment, though I think it has something to do with Dali? A very interesting artist, but I don't think I'd introduce him to KS1 on anything other than a very basic level.
I really like Banksy's work but also fail to see how that would relate to mathematics in Year 1. I'm sure there's some maths in there somewhere but I can only think of very tenuous links. It's also a bit controversial; he is, after all, a vandal and I'm not sure all schools/parents would appreciate his work being glamorised.
Matisse is the guy who made the snail collage - it's hanging in the Tate Modern and is surprisingly large! A quick google suggests he has made lots of other collages as well (and it would appear a school out there has used his snail as inspiration as there are a few children's collage snails in the mix). You could look at colour, shape, size. They might not think his snail is very good, so you could pursue why and get them to 'improve' it.
Can't think of any other artists to add, I'm afraid, but I hope the above expansions are helpful.
well, that WAS neatly in paragraphs. Sorry, must have messed up the formatting somehow.
I have just taken the advice to look up viscosity, I knew I'd heard of it. I think there was some work in Kettle's Yard in Cambridge by an artist working in this style; or, I think there was an exhibition called 'viscosity' there and it seems to fit the same style as the whizzy computer program. Still, apart from getting to muck about on a computer for a while, I don't think any pupil at any age will absorb any maths from it.
Siggi Eggertsson comes to mind. Colour and geometry - beautiful. He's an illustrator and designer.


Lida, a South African living in Rome, has a background in film and tv production, and currently works as a freelance writer and lifestyle photographer. When she's not behind her camera, or typing away at her computer, you'll find her exploring the hidden corners of the eternal city and petting strangers' dogs.
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Zaha Hadid, who was born in Iraq and died suddenly in Miami, Florida, last year and now the MAXXI Museum of Modern Art, is devoting an exhibition to her.


text:
UK police data leaked by Cl0p ransomware group
The stolen data may include the personal information and records of up to 13 million UK residents.
Following a ransomware attack on a British IT company in October, confidential data belonging to the UK police was leaked on Sunday by the Cl0p ransomware gang, The Daily Mail reports.
It appears that the data was posted on the ransomware operator's leak site after the victim, Dacoll, refused to pay an undisclosed amount in ransom to the attackers.
According to the report, Dacoll "handles access to the police national computer (PNC)," which stores UK criminal records data that is used by local law enforcement for investigation purposes.
Up to 13 million criminal records
Cl0p seems to have gained access to Dacoll systems via a phishing attack and exfiltrated the data, which includes PNC information, in October. The Daily Mail states that the UK's police national computer data may include "the personal information and records of 13 million people.
The report claims that the data leaked by Cl0p also includes images of the faces of speeding drivers from the UK's national Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system.
Dacoll did not reveal the size of ransom that was demanded by the threat actors. A company spokesman told The Daily Mail: "We can confirm we were the victims of a cyber incident on October 5. We were able to quickly return to our normal operational levels. The incident was limited to an internal network not linked to any of our clients' networks or services."
Data was stolen from Dacoll subsidiaries
Dacoll, based in the UK, has a number of subsidiary companies, two of which - NDI Technologies and NDI Recognition Systems - appear to have been targeted by the Cl0p ransomware gang.
According to The Daily Mail, NDI Technologies provides remote access to the police national computer which is used by 90% of the UK's police officers, while NDI Recognition Systems provides IT support for the ANPR systems, which are also used by law enforcement in the UK.
Cl0p ransomware group is considered a 'big game hunter' attacker due to their volume. The group and its affiliates are credited with carrying out attacks against oil giant Shell, US bank Flagstar and others.
The group is a member of a larger conglomerate named TA505, and groups like F1N11 use ransomware Cl0p developed malicious software.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Crawford Murray MacLehose (), ou Baron MacLehose of Beoch à Maybole, est un diplomate et politicien britannique. Il fut le Gouverneur de Hong Kong de novembre 1971 à mai 1982.

Notes et références

Références

Liens externes

Naissance en octobre 1917
Naissance à Glasgow
Gouverneur de Hong Kong
Diplomate britannique
Pair à vie
Décès en mai 2000
Décès à 82 ans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: What's the right way to connect to the thread signal from the main GUI window? What's the right way to connect to the DXF_Convert thread signal from the MainWindow and show the message inside the update function when the thread is done?
I've done this but the message doesn't show up (the thread runs fine, though):
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from gui import Ui_MainWindow

    .
    .
    .

class MainWindow(QMainWindow, Ui_MainWindow):

    .
    .
    .

    def DXF_convert(self):
        t = DXF_Convert(self)
        t.start()
    def PDF_print(self):
        t = PDF_Print(self)
        t.start()
    def update(self, message=''):
        QMessageBox.information('Done', message)
        self.updateui()
    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(MainWindow, self).__init__(parent)
        self.setupUi(self)
        self.connect(PDF_Print(), SIGNAL('Done'), self.update)
        self.connect(DXF_Convert(), SIGNAL('Done'), self.update)

class DXF_Convert(QThread):

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super(DXF_Convert, self).__init__(parent)

    def run(self):
        global un, fl, sq, rv
        sp = Spool(un, fl, sq, rv)
        sp.dxf_convert('local')
        self.emit(SIGNAL('Done'), 'DXF conversion done!')

app = QApplication(sys.argv)
form = MainWindow()
form.show()
app.exec_()

A: The problem is your code in line this;
t = DXF_Convert(self)

self.connect(DXF_Convert(), SIGNAL('Done'), self.update)

Reason is you must use same object to connect your signal. Like this;
t = DXF_Convert(self)

self.connect(t, SIGNAL('Done'), self.update)

So, I have little example for QThread PyQt4, Hope this helps
import sys
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
from PyQt4.QtCore import *

class QTestThread (QThread):
    def run(self):
        self.emit(SIGNAL('done'), 'Thread is end')

class MainWindow (QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self, parent = None):
        super(MainWindow, self).__init__(parent)
        self.TestThreadInit()

    def TestThreadInit (self):
        self.myQTestThread = QTestThread(self)
        self.connect(self.myQTestThread, SIGNAL('done'), self.update)
        self.myQTestThread.start()

    def update (self, message):
        QMessageBox.information(self, 'Information', message)

app = QApplication(sys.argv)
myMainWindow= MainWindow()
myMainWindow.show()
app.exec_()

And problem in QMessageBox is your put wrong parameter in QMessageBox.information
Please read this reference;
Reference : http://pyqt.sourceforge.net/Docs/PyQt4/qmessagebox.html#information

Regards,

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Senior guard Brianna Cummings dribbles the ball up the floor during a women's basketball game against Richmond Saturday.
Saturday afternoon was a day to forget for women's basketball, but for senior guard Brianna Cummings, it was a day to remember.
Cummings scored her 1,000th career point with 7:30 to go in the fourth quarter as GW (15-13, 10-6 A-10) fell to Richmond (13-16, 8-8 A-10) 49–36 on Senior Day at the Smith Center.
GW struggled offensively, shooting just 31.0 percent from the floor.
Senior forward Kelli Prange – the team's second leading scorer behind Cummings – managed just two points while turning the ball over three times.
Richmond's defense made life difficult for the Colonials all afternoon. The Spiders kept GW to the outside and forced shots from the perimeter as the shot clock wound down.
Prior to the game, the Colonials hadn't scored fewer than 44 points in a outing, and their field goal percentage was the second worst of the season.
Despite the loss, GW's defense, which has been a strength of the team all year, held their own and forced the Spiders to just 39 percent shooting from the floor and only yielded two free throws all game.
The Colonials got off to a slow start, trailing 9–0 after just three minutes. Rizzotti tried to change things up by putting Prange and senior guard Camila Tapias on the bench for extended periods of time, but her team still found themselves behind, 16–8, after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, GW was much stronger on the defensive side of the ball, limiting the Spiders to just five points. The effort was not capitalized on, as GW barely improved on their first quarter performance offensively and scored just nine points.
Junior guard Mei-Lyn Bautista came out of halftime and hit a three pointer within 15 seconds – what would be the Colonials' only field goal of the quarter.
Tapias' pair of free throws provided the only other points for the Colonials, who trailed 33-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Colonials will be back in action Tuesday at the Smith Center as the No. 5 seed, hosting No. 12 La Salle.


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Friday Olympic Viewing Guide: U.S. Women Take on Team Canada for Gold Medal
The men are off ahead of Friday's big tilt, but there's just as much at stake as the U.S. and Canadian women go head to head for gold on Thursday.
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Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The United States will play Team Canada on Friday. And on Thursday as well.
The women's half of the 2014 Winter Olympic hockey tournament comes to a dramatic conclusion tomorrow morning, on NBC PROPER, no less, (fancy!) as the only two powerhouses in the female sector of the sport collide for their fourth gold medal match. Canada leads those prior meetings 2-1.
Action is live on NBC at 11:00am CST.
Canada defeated the U.S. 3-2 in preliminary play, and the American bounced back with a trouncing of the Swedes, out-shooting them 70-9 in the 6-1 to earn yet another spot in the top game.
The Washington Post reports that the U.S. women are well aware of the challenge that faces them, despite that dominating victory over Sweden.
After losing to Canada in the preliminary round, the United States women's hockey team gathered for a film session that was lengthier and more pointed than any previous one the players could remember.
"Whenever film sessions run 30 minutes or longer, it's not the happiest moment," U.S. forward Monique Lamoureux said Wednesday after the team's last full practice before a rematch against Canada in the gold medal game. "I got called out, and a lot of people did. We took it to heart.
"After that, we felt a lot better because we know we can do better and we will do better." [Washington Post]
Canada barely got past Switzerland in the semi so despite their victory over the United States just a week ago the Americans are actually favored to win this game, slightly. Very slightly.
Elsewhere tomorrow:
Ski Cross, Nordic Combined (men's team event), the women's curling medal matches where Canada will take a silver or a gold, ski half-pipe continues, and there will be a nauseating quantity of women's long program figure skating presented.
Ski halfpipe is pretty cool. For a judged event, which are generally the worst. Sorry, "scored" events.
Go USA. Come chat with us tomorrow. Blow off work.
More from Defending Big D
Follow @DefendingBigD Follow @SBNationNHL
2014 Winter Olympics: USA Men's Hockey Rolls to Semifinals, Canada Escapes Latvia to Meet Them
2014 Winter Olympics: Russia Eliminated by Finland, Valeri Nichushkin's Tournament Done
Dallas Stars Daily Links: Olympic Quarterfinals Begin Today in Sochi
2014 Winter Olympics Watching Thread: Quarterfinals Round
2014 Winter Olympics: Wednesday's Ice Hockey Quarterfinals Television Schedule


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Q: Spring @Transactional propagation property I have a question about spring transaction propagation. I understand different Spring transaction propagation i.e. Propagation.REQUIRED, Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW etc. What I am not clear about is how would it behave in case of nested transactions with different propagation values.
For example If I use @Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRED) to annotate a method m1. If I call a method m2 which is annotated as REQUIRES_NEW. What would be the behaviour? If an exception occurs in m2 will it rollback the changes in m2 and as well as m1 or only the changes of m1.
Similarly m1 annotated as REQUIRES_NEW and m2 as REQUIRED.

A: It's explained pretty well in the spring documentation for Transaction Propagation.
The propagation behavior of a method defines how Spring behaves upon entry/exit of that method and what happens if a transaction already exists (or does not exist) at that time.
The propagation behaviors of methods up the stack (whatever is calling your method) are irrelevant.
For your examples:
Outer (m1): REQUIRED
Inner (m2): REQUIRES_NEW
Result: A completely separate transaction will be created for m2 which can commit/rollback separately. m1 having REQUIRED is not relevant to m2.
Outer (m1): REQUIRES_NEW
Inner (m2): REQUIRED
Result: Spring will check that a transaction exists upon entering m2 or create one if none exists.


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Who Are You, And What Have You Done With The Sixers?
By Jordan Sams Aug 18, 2012, 8:04am EDT
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Let's make one thing clear – it doesn't matter what the Sixers say. It doesn't matter what Rod Thorn says. It doesn't matter what Adam Aron says. And it doesn't matter what Doug Collins says. Spike Eskin tackled this very subject a month ago.
Here's the thing though; it just doesn't matter what Doug Collins says. It matters what Doug Collins does.
Proof? Remember when Collins said that Marreese Speights would start last season in the Sixers big man rotation? He never saw the court for the Sixers and was traded shortly after. How about when he said that Evan Turner was a point guard? Surely you remember where that went. As well as several less publicized differences between what Collins said publicly and his true intentions.
Doug Collins says things like 'I think Andre Iguodala should be in the Hall of Fame', while saying the opposite in private. Adam Aron has Forest Gump marathons and tweets things like 'I LOVE SPAGHETTI AND BASKETBALL' from his iPad. And Rod Thorn – well you know what Rod Thorn does.
Despite these known truths, Sixers fans – including myself – have gone bonkers, on numerous occasions, based on something one of these guys has said publicly.
YOU'RE STARTING SPENCER HAWES?! OUTRAGE!
YOU'RE NOT TRADING ANDRE IGUODALA?! OUTRAGE!
YOU'RE GETTING RID OF HIP HOP?! OUTRAGE (said no one, ever).
But the reason Sixers fans were outraged by these statements isn't because of the statements themselves – the reason we were outraged, is because the Sixers have been nothing but 'Sixers' for the past decade. They few fans who remained treated every situation like a wounded husband, whose wife has cheated on him 15 different times, with 18 different dudes (you do the math). Every time the Sixers did or said something remotely stupid, we reacted like the husband whose been cheated on would react to the sight of a harmless text message his wife received from another dude – that actually turned out to be her brother, asking for a cup of sugar.
But things seem to be changing around here. The Sixers are no longer run by Ed Snider, and the new ownership – led by Joshua Harris – now has two full seasons under their belt. And the one big move the new owners made – trading for Andrew Bynum – gave them a relatively clean slate, because nothing else they've done up to this point really matters, because of Bynum
Now, less than a week after the stunning Andrew Bynum trade, the Sixers appear to be interested in Mike Zarren as their General Manager. Like, Bynum, this news comes from left field (Hi, Juan Pierre!). Also like Bynum, this news appears to be a non-Sixers thing to do. Praise of this potential hiring is coming from all corners of the basketball universe.
Whoa, the Sixers are considering Mike Zarren for their GM job? That would actually be a good move! Who woke up the Sixers?
— Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33) August 18, 2012
Zach Lowe
People of Philly: If the Sixers are including Mike Zarren in the GM search, they are doing a really good job. That is all.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_SI) August 18, 2012
John Hollinger
Michael Zarren would be an absolutely fantastic hire for Philly. Better yet, if hired, he might actually have a photo at next #SSAC.
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) August 18, 2012
Now, what these guys say doesn't really matter either. However; it says something when EVERYONE likes the move – it doesn't guarantee it's a good move, but it does say something. It also says something that the Sixers appear to be exploring options that they never have before. Ed Snider would've traded Andre Iguodala for Luis Scola and hired a re-tread General Manager. The new Sixers traded Andre Iguodala for Andrew Bynum – a previously unfathomable move – and are considering two advanced stats guys as their GMs. Zarren is supposedly Daryl Morey 2.0.
To be clear, no move has been made yet, and the Sixers are reportedly still considering Jeff Bower as GM, which would kinda fit the old Sixers strategy. So, I'm reserving judgement until an actual move has been made. That said, I'm one Penn or Zarren hiring away from my confidence pendulum swinging over from I HATE THIS MEDIOCRE FRANCHISE to HOLY HELL, I'M CONFIDENT IN THE SIXERS FRONT OFFICE.
Confidence in the Sixers front office – that's one thing I never thought I'd have. And it won't be Adam Aron, Doug Collins or Rod Thorn I have confidence in, it'll be the guy behind the curtains, pulling the strings – Joshua Harris.
We may actually have good owners. Who are you, and what have you done with the Sixers?


Used almost exclusively as a thickener, arrowroot powder has little to no flavor but gives a mouthfeel like butter when used properly. It adds that silkiness you wouldn't normally be able to find with something that isn't butter. Made from the starches of the tubers of Maranata arundinacea, arrowroot powder can also be used in baking, frying, and roasting.
What Does Arrowroot Powder Taste Like?
The name comes from a medicinal use of the past. Arrowroot was originally used to help draw poison out of wounds inflicted by poison-drenched arrows, especially in South American and Caribbean communities. Another origin story for the name however is the less commonly known word "araruta" which means "root flour." The etymology of "arrowroot" is not one hundred percent certain, but what hasn't been lost to history is the incredible way arrowroot powder interacts with other foods.
Archeologists have found evidence of arrowroot being cultivated over 7,000 years ago. Between 1900 and the mid-1960s, arrowroot powder was a major export for St. Vincent. It was used as both a food and an ingredient in medicine. At the height of its popularity in the 19th century, it was more widely cultivated than sugar, but has since declined in popularity as its widespread use has decreased steadily over time.
The first record of the word arrowroot in English comes to us from documents dated in the 1600s. There is a recorded story from 1681 where a group of Carib people were approaching the home of some English settlers when they shot a man with a poison arrow. Through the window, the people inside the home saw this happen and when the group reached their home, asking for a drink, they stated they would only give them drinks if they would go to the man and cure him with arrowroot. They refused to do so, saying the man deserved to die.
An Englishman named James Walker brought arrowroot to Barbados in 1668 and then later introduced it to an English settlement in Jamaica after he learned about its medicinal properties from watching Carib people use it. Evidence of the use of arrowroot powder as a thickening agent by English settlers is present all the back into the 18th century, with some documentation that people were using it as an ingredient in soup to feed large groups, especially slaves. Slaveholders were often in search of ways to feed their slaves more cost effectively and thickening with arrowroot powder was a simple way to bulk up soups and make them feel heartier. In England, the plant was widely regarded as a botanical curiosity until the 19th century when they began incorporating it into food.
In 1930s America, arrowroot powder had a burst of popularity because bakers and confectioners were discovering new uses for it, meaning the imports from St. Vincent to the United States increased exponentially. Today, arrowroot is used in the production of baby foods and puddings, especially for the mass market.
Arrowroot Powder is primarily cultivated in Jamaica and St. Vincent. Arrowroot requires constantly moist soil, and does best in tropical climates with minimal sun exposure or full sun exposure with partial shade. It can survive in clay-rich soil, but it will not be as high quality as it is when it grows in loose, sandy soils. It can be planted through cuttings of the plant or tubers. Pests and disease are not a problem for this plant, unlike most other tropically grown plants.
Arrowroot tubers are harvested just as the plant turns one in order to yield the best starch for arrowroot powder. This starch is made by washing harvested tubers to remove the paper-like skins, grinding the washed tubers into a pulp, and then mixing that pulp with water. The mixture of pulp and water is strained to remove any leftover fibrous materials and then set aside to settle and air dry. What's left behind, the starch solids, is then ground into the fine powder we call arrowroot powder.
Our Organic Arrowroot Powder is grown in Vietnam.
If your recipe requires little cooking time or needs thickening at the end of the process, arrowroot powder is an asset. It can thicken at lower temperatures than flour or cornstarch, and it perfect for use in clear liquids. It's useful in fruit glazes or dessert fruit sauces. It's easiest to add arrowroot powder to your recipe by creating a slurry first. A slurry is a term used to describe a mixture of two or more ingredients- one being a solid and one a liquid. In this case, you will want to make a slurry with some arrowroot powder incorporated into it before you add the powder to your recipe directly. Adding arrowroot powder to a liquid that is very hot without first creating a slurry will cause the starch molecules to swell and clump up immediately instead of evenly mixing into the liquid. Once the arrowroot powder has been added and the sauce is thickened to your desired consistency, remove your pot from the heat source and cease cooking. Something to note is that this powder doesn't perform the same way with dairy based sauces, so you should experiment before deciding to incorporate this powder in place of flour into something like a cream sauce. The only exception here is that arrowroot powder is a phenomenal ingredient in making homemade ice cream.
Arrowroot powder is incredible for making things crispy. Coating your favorite French fries or tofu in arrowroot powder before you pop them in the oven will make them crispier and more delicious than if you had simply baked them.
Overcooking arrowroot will break down the amylopectins in the starch. Since these are what gives the starch its thickening qualities, a breakdown would mean your sauce will thin out again.
It's excellent in making jellies or fruit sauces. Arrowroot powder is popular in gumbos, and it is good in recipes like Instant Pot General Tso's Style Chicken as well. Add arrowroot powder with a gentle hand and add more if you require more thickening. Adding too much at the get go will leave you with a gloopy mess, not the beautifully thickened dish you were envisioning.
Arrowroot is most frequently used United States as a powder and thickener in other dishes, not eaten as a whole. While young, arrowroot tubers can be diced and eaten in many of the same ways you would eat a potato. If it gets too old, an arrowroot tuber will become hard and fibrous. It's best to harvest and consume the plant before it is a year old. When whole, it's more of a vegetable than a spice.
Arrowroot powder has a neutral flavor that is essentially tasteless. It mostly adds a silky mouthfeel when added to sauces, or similarly liquid food types.
Arrowroot powder is a unique ingredient! Generally speaking, a tablespoon of this powder will thicken a cup of liquid but add slowly until you get to your desired consistency. You can use it as a replacement for flour, with one and a half teaspoons of arrowroot powder replacing a single tablespoon of flour. When replacing cornstarch, you will need two teaspoons of arrowroot for every one tablespoon of cornstarch.


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STORIES: CHANGING LIVES. ONE STUDENT AT A TIME.
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"My experience at Foothill directly related to my success at UC Berkeley," she said. "Without the instruction and support I received I would not have been as successful as I was."
Foothill Alumna Angelica Caez
Angelica Mantilla Caez
Transfer Alumna Cites Foothill's Caring Staff & Faculty for her Success
Angelica Mantilla Caez moved to the United States from Colombia with her mother when she was 17 years old. Her first education experience in the U.S. was as a senior at Mountain View High School. She got good grades but struggled in a new school and new country.
After high school Angelica chose Foothill College because she wanted to attend a university but knew she wasn't ready yet. To prepare, she took advantage of all the resources available to her at Foothill, starting with a well-established student success program, Extended Opportunity Programs & Services (EOPS). The program offered her educational support such as extra counseling, book vouchers and tutoring.
When a friend from EOPS mentioned that she was thinking about joining the Puente program, Angelica thought it would be a good fit for her too. The goal of Puente is to increase the number of educationally underserved students who enroll in four-year colleges and universities, earn degrees, and return to the community as leaders and mentors to future generations.
Part of Puente is an English class that focuses on Latino history, culture and experience. The course helps students become better writers. Angelica remembers the day when she got back her first essay with a "C "grade. She was shocked because she considered herself a good writer in high school.
"I went back to the instructor, Susie Huerta, and she went over my entire essay with me," Angelica said. "Throughout her whole class she challenged me and guided me so I became a better writer."
Angelica attended Foothill for three years while working part time to support herself and her mom. She came to Foothill knowing she wanted to transfer to a four-year university but as a first-generation college student, she found the application process daunting. Her dream was to go to the University of California, Berkeley, but she worried that it was out of reach. It was Puente counselor Voltaire Villaneuva who guided her through the university application process.
"I was scared that I wouldn't get in," Angelica said. "I didn't think I could do it, but Voltaire believed in me and his confidence gave me confidence. Without Voltaire's guidance I would have been too afraid to apply. I wouldn't have known what to do."
Before beginning the application process, she'd told Voltaire about her interest in studying law.
"Voltaire helped me apply for internships at local legal aid companies," she recalled. "This not only gave me experience in the field I wanted to pursue, but also let me serve my community and add the experience to my college application to make me stand out as an applicant."
"The biggest impact that Foothill had on me was that each of the resources I used was there for me at the right time. The level of care I received was above and beyond. With Puente, I found even more champions. They mentored me and believed in me."
Angelica ended up being admitted to her dream school, UC Berkeley, and graduated with a degree in legal studies.
After working in various roles in nonprofit and corporate organizations she began her current role as a legal assistant at the Mountain View offices of the national law firm Fenwick & West.
"The best part about working there is that they encourage us to volunteer within the community," Angelica said. "Part of my job is taking a designated amount of time each year and doing pro bono work. It reflects on what I learned at Foothill, about serving my community and being a leader. "
Angelica just got engaged to another community college alumnus, a graduate of Santa Monica College, and they recently purchased a house in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Reflecting on her journey, Angelica said, "I spent my college years working to support myself and my mom. When I was in school I always had to have another job, sometimes two. Now that I'm financially secure I've gotten to travel all over the world and experience so many different things. This year my fiancé and I went to southeast Asia for two weeks. It was an incredible experience. To be able to explore the world and learn new things is something I never take for granted. I worked so hard during school and it paid off."
Last Updated 10/11/19


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Canada is the 2nd biggest country by total area and located in the North America. Canada has one of the best education structure in the world. Education is provided publicly in most part of the country and funded by federal and local governments. Education in Canada can be divided into three major parts that are primary, secondary and post-secondary education. Students will find quality institutions across the country. Studying in Canada can be a great and exciting opportunity for you to experience life and lessons. You will be benefited from world-class teaching and other facilities that inspire progress, innovation, and forward thinking. No matter what the level of education you pursue, the cost of study in Canada is affordable and you will get internationally renowned qualifications that will take you on the path to success. The education quality and living standards are very world-class in Canada. Canada is one of the safest and best countries to live and study. It is a bilingual country French and English as a 1 st and 2 nd language, you will be able to improve your language capacity and fluency for either of the language as you further your studies. With quality institutions, post-study work, immigration options and welcoming people, Canada is a leading place to study. In fact, Canada is the preferred option for the international students attending college or university.
University of Toronto - The University of Toronto is the best Canadian university. It was founded in 1827 and has around 88,700 students at its three campuses in Toronto and famous for its innovations and research, like discoveries of insulin and stem cells. The University offers more than 700 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate degree programs to around 60,000 students. It was ranked 22nd in World University Rankings 2018.
McGill University - Bases in Montreal, McGill University is among the most prestigious universities. The University was established in 1821 and has more than 40,000 students among them 25% are international students. It attracts thousands of overseas students from all around the world. It was ranked 42nd in World University Ranking 2018.


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Under The Posing Straps: 80 WSE Excavates Bob Mizer
Posted on February 8, 2014 by Emily Colucci Leave a comment
Bob Mizer, Siamese cat, 1945 (Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation)
When thinking of Bob Mizer's photography, the first image that comes to mind is not usually a cat…or any kind of pussy for that matter.
However, New York University's 80 Washington Square East Gallery's exhibition focusing on the famous, as much as infamous, beefcake photographer begins with just that–a large, stunning photograph of a somewhat cross-eyed Siamese cat, which appears more like a freakish Diane Arbus photograph than the muscled men from Mizer's Athletic Model Guild (AMG).
The first institutional solo exhibition of Bob Mizer's expansive career, DEVOTION: Excavating Bob Mizer delves into the little known and barely seen photographs separate from his career as the penultimate beefcake photographer. It's not all posing straps and prison fondling here! Even though a beefcake fan will still be satiated by the satisfying amount of body builder posing, DEVOTION reveals the wide range of Mizer's photographic talent and interests.
Being completely honest here, as you know I always do, frequent filthy readers, Bob Mizer's non-beefcake photographs are unabashedly bizarre ranging from a strange photo of a woman playing with a monkey to a still erotic photograph of a naked Leonard Chambers in a flask. Like a peek into Hollywood's campiest studio, Mizer's photographs, which are just now being unearthed from his extensive archives, are hilarious, beautiful, compelling and more than just a little confusing, as all good art should be.
Organized by Straight To Hell's Billy Miller and 80 WSE Gallery director Jonathan Berger in collaboration with the Bob Mizer Foundation's Dennis Bell and students and faculty from NYU, DEVOTION participates in the increasing interest in archiving and the rapidly spreading archival impulse that is dominating not only the fine art world but also queer scholarship, particularly surrounding art and art history.
Bob Mizer, Still from "Witch Boy," 1955 (Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation)
Like the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art's exhibition Paul Thek and His Circle in the 1950s, as well as Phaidon's major publication Art and Queer Culture, DEVOTION: Excavating Bob Mizer dives into the queer past that was filled with coded behavior, kitschy muscle mags and queer pulp fiction novels. Largely assumed to be a period of the closeted, the conservative and the repressed, pre-Stonewall queer culture is having a new resurgence as the queer culture and intimacies are studied and celebrated rather than easily dismissed.
While Mizer's photographs may have not been classified as fine art by many before this exhibition, Mizer's influence on contemporary art is undeniable, inspiring queer artists from Andy Warhol to Robert Mapplethorpe and David Hockney.
Before we get into the significance of Mizer's archival trash trove, let me introduce Mizer to those uninitiated to the muscle mag icon.
Born in 1922 in Hailey, Idaho, Mizer eventually moved with his mother and brother to Los Angeles where he continued to live and photograph the subcultural scenes of LA until his death in 1992.
Primarily known as the founder of the Athletic Model Guild, a physique photography studio and…ahem…"talent agency" in 1945, which operated out of his house, Mizer found his "talent" among the surfers, juvenile delinquents and wannabe actors around Downtown, LA. In 1951, Mizer founded Physique Pictorial, described by art historian Richard Meyer in Art & Queer Culture as "a magazine populated by pictures of oiled, muscular and nearly naked young men, sometimes outfitted as Roman gladiators, prison inmates or sailor buddies " (118). Not only featuring Mizer's iconic and alluring photographs, Physique Pictorial is also notable for publishing the filthy, leather-bound imagery of Tom of Finland.
Now this muscled kingdom was certainly not all fun and games for Mizer who had his own share of legal trouble over his photographs and films. In 1947, he spent a year in prison for taking nude photographs of a 17 year old and in 1954, he was convicted of distributing obscene material through the mail.
As queer men became more visible and increasingly accepted after Stonewall, Mizer continued to heroically push the boundaries of taste and acceptability, removing the posing straps and taking all nude photographs and films.However, as shown in DEVOTION, this beefcake photography was certainly just a small part of Mizer's prolific photographic practice.
Bob Mizer, Bill Adkins (with switchblade), Los Angeles, c. 1957 (Photo by author)
Unmistakably drawing inspiration from Hollywood films and West Coast subcultures from surfers to car culture to greasers and beatniks, many of Mizer's photographs in DEVOTION portray single models who are playing to these types. One of my favorite photographs is a hysterically threatening greaser in a leather jacking, holding a switchblade up to the camera. I can just hear the wild rockabilly music and squealing tires now.
While many of these photographs still seem semi-erotic with the use of costumes, a few of the photos depict truly off-the-wall and random scenes, celebrating some sort of bizarre West Coast irreverence. For example, one of the most unlikely photographs in the exhibition depicts a young boy smiling and holding a rooster. I mean, what is that doing there?
Bob Mizer, Hope #2: Los Angeles, c. 1949 (Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation)
In addition to the never-before-seen photographs, DEVOTION: Excavating Bob Mizer brings Mizer's extensive archives to the gallery space where viewers can observe the actual excavation. Immediately upon entering the gallery, the viewer is confronted by an enormous wall of archival boxes, stuffed to the brink with negatives, as well as an organized section of costumes and posing straps. Even though I know you want to ask, please stifle the urge to sniff the posing straps.
As the press release explains, Mizer's archive consists of "nearly two million negatives and slides, three thousand films and thousands of objects." Not only are the archives part of the exhibition, but students have been working on processing the archive through the run of the show during gallery hours, making this archival work public, sharing photographs, films and objects as they are discovered.
Reintroducing viewers, as well as the archivists, to Bob Mizer, DEVOTION creates an intimate and increasingly complex view of Mizer's incredible and long career, developing a more nuanced and complete understanding of Mizer than a pervy beefcake photographer who reinforced the clone image. While many have relegated Mizer's work as an anachronistic, romanticization of hyper-masculinity, DEVOTION complicates this view, stressing the importance of Mizer's work in the legacy of queer culture-making and eroticism.
Bob Mizer, Jim Carroll with antlers, Los Angeles, 1951 (Courtesy Bob Mizer Foundation)
While we here at Filthy Dreams have always loved the pre-Stonewall trash era of queer culture and camp, it is undeniable that contemporary LGBTQ politics have tried to leave this filth behind, replacing it with flash mob marriage proposals. Yeuuck…I'll be with Bob in his compound.
However, some queer theorists such as Heather Love have worked on reconsidering the necessity of looking to this pre-Stonewall history. While Love focuses on the backward past of modernist queer representation in her Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History, her critique of the erasure and avoidance of difficult pre-Stonewall queer creations in the name of progress is still relevant to the revisiting of Mizer's work.
As Love states, "'Advances' such as gay marriage and the increasing media visibility of well-heeled gays and lesbians threaten to obscure the continuing denigration and dismissal of queer existence. One may enter the mainstream on the condition that one breaks ties with all those who cannot make it—the nonwhite and the nonmonogamous, the poor and the genderdeviant, the fat, the disabled, the unemployed, the infected and a host of unmentionable others. Social negativity clings not only to these figures but also to those who lived before the common era of gay liberation—the abject multitude against whose experience we define our own liberation" (10).
Bob Mizer, Leonard Chambers (in flask), Los Angeles, 1950
To be sure, Bob Mizer is definitely not one of these "acceptable" queers, one easily assimilated into mainstream gay culture and politics with his willingness to cross the line and push people's limits.
Which is precisely why we need Mizer right now.
Arguing for Mizer's significance and influential and diverse aesthetic, DEVOTION: Excavating Bob Mizer contextualizes Mizer's photographs into the realm of fine art where it belongs. An essential piece of the timeline of queer art and sexual culture, the more we excavate Mizer's archives, the more he emerges as an important figure in the genealogy of queer creation.
Tags: 80 Washington Square East Gallery, archives, beefcake photography, Bob Mizer, DEVOTION: Excavating Bob Mizer, Heather Love, Physique Pictorial. Bookmark the permalink.
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Understanding net neutrality can be difficult for those who are not technologically inclined, yet it's an issue that affects us all. Now, to help clear up the confusion, Burger King has converted the issue of net neutrality into terms that everyone can understand: cheeseburgers.
In a hilarious yet eye-opening ad, Burger King applied the rules of slowing down and speeding up service that many fear will be the consequence of net neutrality's repeal to their Whopper burgers, requiring real-life customers to pay more if they wanted their Whopper right away and recording their reaction. As you might imagine, customers were not pleased.
This ad – which has taken the internet by storm – provides a bit of comic relief to a serious issue that continues to take twists and turns. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order that requires state agencies to only do business with ISPs whose networks remain neutral. This move will force ISPs in the state to continue following the rules of net neutrality despite its repeal lest they lose a large portion of their business. More states could follow suit with this tactic, as the governor of Montana has already signed a similar order.
All of this begs the question of just how much effect the repeal of net neutrality will really have. Like the Burger King customers, people paying for internet service are not going to be too pleased with their provider speeding up and slowing down service on a whim. With state governments saying they will not give their business to any ISP that does not follow the rules of net neutrality, we're already seeing a backlash from the market before any real changes have been made.
It's easy to imagine, then, a scenario where the free market solves the issue of net neutrality on its own, forcing ISPs to either tow the line or risk losing their business to competitors that do. After all, when it comes to burgers and internet access alike, the customer is king.


Believe it or not, this is probably Nottingham's coolest bar, hidden away behind a glum, anonymous exterior (by choice rather than accident), and occupying a large, dimly-lit space with boho decor and vintage sofas. It's a cocktail bar, and although you can order a bottle of beer or cider, wine or champagne, the real treat is the cocktails, and you'll be issued with a menu as soon as you are settled. Choose from such delights as 'Mississippi Malt Shake' (honey, banana and chocolate liqueur. malt extract and almond milk), 'The Not-Quite Right White Russian' (Araku rum, espresso, maple syrup and almond milk) , or the 'Cinema Paradiso' ('disaronno, cinema sweet popcorn, cranberry juice, lemon juice and ginger tea'): all deliciously creative, more-ish and not over-priced. Attracts a late twenties to early forties clientele, plus a few baffled students.


Virtually indestructible LED regulated to maximize output and run time.
Comes with 3 function light: High light, low light, Strobe Light.
Comes with a green indicator light (will turn red for showing battery is running out).
Comes with ergonomic and ambidextrous push button.
Comes with adjustable nylon wristband with o-ring type strap.
Comes with rechargeable lithium-ion battery and USB charging cable (micro usb plug).