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Showing posts with label Orson Welles. Show all posts
Google's Infogate
Google was initially listed on 4 September 1998, hosted by Stanford.edu, having been developed by a couple of Gen X PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Image Source: Business Insider.
This post is the first of several on decentralized information dynamics and real-fake, mainstream-alt news. I will start with the beast behind it all. On 4 September 1998, the search engine Google first appeared online. It is hard to believe, because it feels like a short time ago, but it was a pivotal moment between the way the world was and what it is now.
It used to be that if you wanted to find information you had to amass a personal book collection, and visit libraries and archives. You built a professional or amateur reputation as researcher. You had to get to know people - contacts, translators - who knew things, and travel around the world to see sequestered books, diaries and sealed files. Everything had to be taken down in pen and paper notes.
Orson Welles's sarcastic scene from Citizen Kane (1941), in which a journalist is granted permission to read in a private library which holds the unpublished memoirs of a deceased banker. Video Source: Youtube.
Once photocopiers existed, if the archivist was inclined, you would be permitted to photocopy small amounts of material at exorbitant rates. An average person might find one or two books at the bookstore or library, or have saved newspaper or magazine articles in a personal, physical, metal filing cabinet. That was it.
Before the Internet, information was hard won, and knowledge, wisdom and judgement about information even more so. The latter required time, contemplation, and reflection in total silence. It also demanded discussions with others who had done the same. It was a fundamentally different way of thinking.
Labels: A.I., Conspiracy Theories, Disinformation, Education, Film, Generation X, Informatics, Meta-Metahistory, Orson Welles, Robots, Tech Revolution, Wikileaks, World War III
The Triumphs and the Frauds
Orson Welles (1915-1985). Image Source: Indiewire.
Years ago, I concluded that changing one's name artificially is a hex sign. Someone has built a fake reality for themselves around a fake identity, an alter ego. Of course, that depends on the circumstances; and now, alter egos and icon names are everywhere on the Internet. The original question concerned what is fake and what is real when it comes to building reputation through a public persona. In those pre-Internet days, a fake name propelled a figure forward to become more real and credible than the original person, for all the wrong reasons.
In 1974, Orson Welles made a documentary - his last completed major work - about disinformation and the agency it gives to fake people. His film, F for Fake, concerns a notorious Hungarian art forger, Elmyr de Hory (1906-1976), who sold hundreds of fake copies of paintings by master artists, authenticated by art experts, to top galleries and museums. The film also focuses on the forger's biographer, Clifford Irving. Irving made his name by writing a fake biography of Howard Hughes, which was completely fabricated and for which Irving spent nearly two years in prison.
Peter Bogdanovich describes F for Fake. Video Source: Youtube.
Welles encountered these characters in Ibiza, Spain. As he tried to get to the bottom of this story, the director confirmed how impossible it was to unravel liars' lies. Over time, their fabrications gained credibility and authority, based on reputations, cultivated layer by layer, over decades in exclusive social settings. In another short from the same period, set inside a fake private gentlemen's club in London, he poked fun at class and wealth as sources of enduring historical and social authority. He thought it comical that those who acquire higher levels of class and wealth gain historical weight, no matter what their true value. And in F for Fake, he found that when liars move in these temporally-weighted circles, first to lie, then to 'come clean' and tell the 'truth' (even if they never really do), they gain even more false authenticity.
De Hory's art forgeries reflected that, because art masterpieces are part of wealthy settings. Great art is considered to be durable, a lasting testament; it has more temporal weight than wealth. Artworks are luxury items which allow collectors to augment their wealth and class status, to build identity through assertions of taste. With art ownership, collectors associate the constructed longevity of their identities with the longevity of the artwork. Today's art world has responded to this market by seeking new 'great master' prodigies, who must produce more 'great works' for a nouveau 'ageless canon.' New billionaires buy new 'masterwork' art pieces, and the billionaires and the art artificially inflate each other's perceived lasting value. In Welles's terms, they are all fakes. One painter in his film shrugged: "The fakes are as good as the real ones, and there is a market and there's a demand [for them]." Welles set out to resolve how money, fame, power and time were wrongly connected in people's minds.
F for Fake provoked introspection, since Welles was reminded of his own fake 1938 War of the Worlds radio drama performance about a Martian invasion, which people believed was real. F for Fake was further reminiscent of the film which made Welles's name at age 26, Citizen Kane, a fictional history of the character Charles Foster Kane, newspaper-magnate-turned-presidential-candidate. Kane was modeled on the real media tycoon, William Randolph Hearst. The last section of F for Fake includes some autobiographical asides, after which Welles deliberately transformed the documentary into a faux-documentary, starring his girlfriend at the time, Oja Kodar. He confessed in the last few minutes of the film that he had created a 'film forgery.' "Art," he said, "is a lie that makes us realize the truth." You can watch F for Fake here, while the link lasts.
To quote a reviewer: "So if you're keeping track, F for Fake is a fake documentary, about a fake artist, being described by a fake writer, and framed by a self-described fake super genius person." It is a difficult, scattered film, now dated, and was poorly received by critics. Others defend it, especially because the film hinged on a single scene of crystal clear truth. American media psychologist James Herndon deemed one clip (below) from F for Fake to be "the profoundest moment in all of cinema." In it, Welles suggested that every expression of genius, identity, or creativity is limited and fleeting. The director approached Chartres cathedral in France as the silent testimony of anonymous artists, whose greatness will transcend the mortal condition only for a few centuries or millennia. Any attempt at creativity, no matter how beautiful, masterful, or fraudulent, constitutes a futile effort to overcome death.
Top, from Citizen Kane, fictional Kane, running for president. The real man on whom Kane was based never ran for president, but was elected to the House of Representatives and made unsuccessful bids to become Mayor of New York City (1905 and 1909), Governor of New York (1906), and Lieutenant Governor of New York (1910). Hearst had to settle for manipulating politics through his newspapers. Images Source: Everything You Hate.
Welles as Kane in Xanadu, the fictional depiction of Hearst's San Simeon castle. Image Source: The Latest.
The real Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, USA, built 1919 to 1947, is a monument to a megalomaniac ego seeking permanence; it is stocked with exotic animals, priceless art objects, and imported historical buildings. It is a national and California historical landmark. Image Source: Wiki.
The Gothic study and library in Hearst Castle. Image Source: Inside Inside.
The outdoor swimming pool at Hearst Castle features an actual ancient Roman temple which Hearst bought in Europe and imported to California. Image Source: Wiki.
As a comment on the futile quest for immortality, F for Fake was anti-master, anti-author, anti-expert, anti-wealth, anti-fabrication, but pro-authenticity. This film, Welles's last, is filled with the wreckage of Citizen Kane, with Chartres standing in as the universal artist's palace, confronting the billionaire's estate Xanadu, based on the real Hearst estate San Simeon. This time, Welles played Charles Foster Kane again, only 'for real.' Now, Welles was the supposedly rich man, riding on his reputation, clinging to his baubles and pretty young girls, knowing it was all bullshit; he distrusted hangers-on and friends who had also arrived at the top by dubious means. In his heart, he was haunted by the possibility that not a single thing he had done was worth anything. He wondered if his own work, already a rip-off, would be ripped off; maybe people would only know and recognize derivative Wellesian products, made by other people. With nothing left but his battered art, Welles sought sanctuary in the palace of Chartres. Where Chartres was a house of triumph, San Simeon was a monument to fraud.
Chartres clip from F for Fake (1974). Video Source: Youtube.
Welles was sure of one thing. When it comes to lasting greatness, the ego must die and all its pathetic trappings must go. The ego, aware that it will die and that wealth, fame, and reasonable accomplishments are insufficient builders of immortality, makes one last ditch, explosive effort to leave its permanent mark. Welles wanted to find something irreducible and moral beneath that. Surrounded by frauds and liars, the only integrity he could imagine was a confessional, of stating the truth that he was a fraud too. But coming clean with the truth was also an act of trickery, and so Welles was left with another layer of subterfuge. He concluded that, of all the areas in life in which one built credibility and reputation, only a creative endeavour - no matter how embattled - might come close to liberating humans from this disastrous loop of projected myth, believable lies, and hierarchies of liars.
Although art immersed the artist in falsehoods with its fake depictions of reality, when artists produced something like Chartres cathedral, the result was a fleeting reflection of eternity. This became true only when the art object was stripped of any pretension toward ego, reputation, projected value, collectable wealth, authority, control, or greatness. And for those who tried to buy, or falsely create, fake ageless identities associated with that final truth, F for Fake asserted that no matter how wealthy you are, you cannot buy time, and you cannot buy your place in history.
Labels: Afterlife, Cyberethics, Disinformation, Dystopias, Film, Greeks and Romans, H. G. Wells, Immortality, Mars, Meta-Metahistory, Metafiction, Orson Welles, Politics, True Story, Visual Arts
Hallowe'en Countdown 2015: The Devil is in the Details
The British Guiana 1c Magenta (1856) has a sailing ship image and the colony's Latin motto, "Damus Petimus Que Vicissim" or "We Give and Expect in Return." Image Source: stampboards.
The most rare and valuable stamp in the world is the British Guiana One Cent Magenta, which is worth almost USD $9.5 million, according to its last auction in June 2014. As far as we know, there is only one 1c Magenta. It is so rare and valuable that it is the only major stamp not in the private philatelic collection of Britain's royal family, who have been collecting stamps for as long as stamps have existed. The stamp was discovered in 1873 by a 12-year-old Scottish schoolboy, Louis Vernon Vaughan, who found the stamp among his uncle's papers in Demerara. He saw that the stamp was not listed in his catalogue and sold it for six shillings to a local collector. According to online inflation and currency conversion calculators, six shillings in 1873 would be equivalent to approximately USD $259 in September 2015 values.
The stamp is so rare because it was produced in an emergency issue at the Georgetown newspaper, the Royal Gazette, when a British ship did not deliver enough stamps needed for the colony. Since its discovery, the stamp has had many adventures, exploded in value, and gained worldwide attention due to its uniqueness. In 1878, the greatest stamp collector in history, Count Philippe la Renotière von Ferrary added it to his collection. In 1922, the British royal family tried to buy it and failed. In 1970, a consortium of Pennsylvanian businessmen bought it. In 1980, the heir to the Du Pont fortune bought it; and the stamp spent the late 1990s up to 2010 in the owner's bank vault, while the owner spent time in prison for murdering an Olympic gold medal wrestler. The current owner has briefly lent the stamp to the Smithsonian. If you want to see it and you live anywhere near Washington DC, visit the Gross Stamp Gallery at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, where the 1c Magenta is on display between June 2015 and November 2017. The Museum warns: please call in advance to confirm the stamp's availability at +1 (202) 633-5555, since it will be periodically removed from display for preservation.
The story of this stamp is a lesson about paying attention to details and the origin of real value. It took the eyes and perspective of a twelve-year-old boy to see the value of the stamp, that is, a boy not yet brutally shaped by the world, whose imagination was still fully available to him and completely his own. Before the stamp's 2014 auction to current owner Stuart Weitzman, the Du Pont trust placed the stamp in the care of Sotheby's auction house. The Sotheby's agent who was temporarily entrusted with the stamp recognized that it takes that youthful perspective - to have one's eyes open to the wonders of the world - to recognize this stamp and things like it of immense value:
David Redden, director of special projects at Sotheby's, said the "British Guiana" was a stamp of almost mythical repute among philatelists. He said: "For me, as a school stamp collector, it was a magical object, the very definition of rarity and value: unobtainable rarity and extraordinary value."
Imagine digging through an attic stuffed with old junk. You shuffle through a sheaf of dusty papers, and a tiny square of wine-coloured paper flutters onto the floor. You step on the scrap of paper, pull it off your shoe, toss it out, and throw away the second example in the world of the British Guiana 1c Magenta, which would have been your biggest lotto ticket ever, if you had only known, if you had only been paying attention to the details.
Labels: 60s Legacies, Curios, Film, Meta-Metahistory, Numerology, Omens, Orson Welles, Religion, Superstitions, World Trade
Twin Peaks Déjà Vu and the World Economy
Image Source: Daily Mail.
In November 2014, Brooke Shields released a memoir, in which she reminisced about a few dates she shared with George Michael in the 1980s. The iconic photo of them brought back a decade, filled with glitz, glamour, and the high price of both. It is a world away from today's tricky global economies and crumbling infrastructure, where everything is deadly serious. Nevertheless, it feels like something of the 80s is returning and that time is coming full circle. Sadly, Whitney Houston's daughter has reminded me of the 1980s; so does Dakota Johnson, daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, in her breakout role in cinemas in Fifty Shades of Grey. There were many more nuances to that time, more profound than the ones selected here below the jump. But what is shown here was a major American theme: high living with beautiful people and smooth operators in the sunshine.
Dakota Johnson. Image Source: The Wrap.
One of the videos below the jump is from 1982: Eminence Front from The Who's studio album It's Hard:
In the song, Townshend sings about the delusions and drug use of the wealthy and hedonistic. The lyrics describe a party in which people hide from their problems behind a facade. Townshend has introduced the song in live performances with: "This song is about what happens when you take too much white powder; it's called 'Eminence Front.'"
The 80s promised wealth and all its sins to the masses of the United States (and to her allies who were invited to the party). Today, wealth is exclusive again in America. Capital as Power speaks of the 2010s' New Gilded Age for the Plutonomy. The United States sports a handful of home-grown billionaires. But riches are no longer promised democratically and freely to the general population of the country. That is what the exuberance, styles and expectations of the 1980s were about. The door to a big, prosperous middle class was wide open. An entire nation would become wealthy. No child left behind. Everyone would be wealthy. In 2015, Americans know better; they are abandoning the glossy, marbled shopping malls, the proletarian palaces of 80s' spending. Conspicuous consumption and money's excesses have moved on: in the late 90s, they finally arrived in London; then they flew to Dubai; to Hong Kong and Singapore; then Mumbai; by 2012, they roared through Seoul, Gangnam Style, and now, money is flooding the Asia-Pacific region, in cities like Jakarta. Don't believe the beautiful illusions, people. The crash always follows.
Some don't learn. Some surf the wave, moving from place to place, following the money, and never learning the full lesson. If you want to do that, pack your bags for sub-Saharan Africa, and get there before the 2030s. Or you can follow where the Internet of Things will take you, although according to CompTIA tech analyst Seth Robinson, "There's no map" for that.
Image Source: Hypable.
Some do learn. Sobered Americans, like the Japanese, Greeks and other peoples who blew all their money, are ahead of the curve, not behind it. They rose to the height of prosperity based on industry and trade. They shared the unambiguous virtues of engineers and builders of society. It's like that line in Citizen Kane: "It's not hard to make a lot of money, if all you want to do is make a lot of money." The real psychological and moral challenges come from squandered riches. As money trickles back to America and other once-ultra-prosperous nations, the cautionary tales which explored those challenges in the 1980s and 1990s return. This is because the challenges posed by spent money are fully digested in culture, not in the economy, politics or society. That is why Twin Peaks, David Lynch's perilous 1990-1991 journey into the American soul, is set to return in 2016:
In May 2013, cast member Ray Wise stated what Lynch had said to him regarding a possible reboot: "Well, Ray, you know, the town is still there. And I suppose it's possible that we could revisit it. Of course, you're already dead ... but we could maybe work around that."
Image Source: Before the Bombs Fall.
Labels: Collective Unconscious, David Lynch, Deja Vu, Doppelgangers, Film, Memory, Music, Nostalgia, Orson Welles, Time Warps, World Trade
The Cultural Footprint of Jodorowsky's Dune
Image Source: Amazing Stories.
For every generation, there is a window of opportunity to create what Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky's son Brontis called, "a dreamed life." This is the Beautiful Alternative, the path not followed, the epitome of achievement not attained due to failure, impediments, lack of resources or similar circumstances. In cinema, Jodorowsky's 1970s' adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) is considered by director Richard Stanley as "the greatest movie never made." A 2013 documentary on the subject argues that, at a critical time in the 1970s, this film marked the dividing line between what really matters artistically and real world limitations. And the fact that this particular film was not made because of monetary problems, and the unwillingness of the studios to bring such a radical vision to popular audiences, changed Hollywood and the entertainment industry forever.
Labels: 60s Legacies, Aliens, Baby Boomers, Comics, David Lynch, Film, Film Noir, Generation X, Greatest Generation, H. R. Giger, Orson Welles, Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott, Sci-Fi, Weird Fiction
Counting Down to Hallowe'en: Illuminati Eyes
.Gif Source: Z. Scott / We Invent You.
The New World Order plot of the Illuminati is one of the most popular conspiracy theories on the Internet. Did gossip on the Web foster this myth, mixing it with Freemasonry, black magic and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? One can scoff at the paranoid pyramid seekers, but they have a point: popular culture, institutions, corporations and political groups have incorporated so-called Illuminati messages for decades, and even centuries. That said, anti-Illuminati conspiracy theorists are often anti-Semitic and counter-factual, suggesting the Illuminati story in fact conveys those attitudes.
After the First World War, occult divination through ouija boards gained popularity as the bereaved sought to talk to their lost loved ones. At the same time, magical secularism which had enjoyed a vogue before the war lingered and combined with Satanic and Wiccan ideas. The outcome in a place like Hollywood, which already had (and has) a loose grip on reality, was grim. Perhaps certain cults gained a fatal foothold there. Odd evidence occasionally broke through the tinsel: ghosts of the 1920s; surrealism of the 1920s through the 1940s; the 1947 Black Dahlia murder, which may have involved a sacrificial black magic ritual; and many unsolved deaths from the 1930s to the present. Orson Welles, David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick are three of the most famous directors who explored this dark history.
Anne Hathaway flashed Mano Cornuto or El Diablo hand signs before she claimed her award at the 2013 Golden Globes for Les Misérables (2012). Image Source: AFP/Getty via Daily Mail.
These symbols have dominated entertainment, politics and advertising since the Second World War. Did politicians, business leaders, Hollywood and music industry moguls strike fateful bargains, applying occult practices and esoteric beliefs to the business of taming the newly-prosperous public? Did rising individuals, as director Roman Polanski may have suggested, join insider cults and labour under the illusion that their successes were and are due to arcane rituals, rather than their own talents and abilities?
Or perhaps occult and Masonic symbols offered an exciting visual lexicon for marketers in the post-World-War-II consumer culture. Just because a photographer, handler or stylist tells a celebrity to cover his or her eye, or make a cryptic hand gesture, it doesn't mean the individual is a cultist. This might simply be a marketing ploy, part of the art of public persona creation; the celebrity becomes a larger than life figure, the superficially-powerful pawn who sells entertainment media and consumer goods.
Image Source: Above Top Secret.
Are these Illuminati cults real or imagined? This blog is very skeptical of conspiracies, but this is the Hallowe'en countdown, so let us see. The Masonic all-seeing eye of God (or Lucifer?), also known as the Eye of Horus or the Eye of Providence, is a primary symbol purportedly associated with this world-dominating secret society. Below the jump, today's countdown to Hallowe'en presents a sobering overview of the prevalence of the Illuminati eye in the entertainment industry.
Chatter on the David Icke message board (for more on Icke's wild suspicions of world conspiracies, go here and here) debates the significance of a celebrity's illuminated left versus right eyes; the commenter additionally believes that there is a difference between those who encircle their eyes with their fingers or another gesture (the controllers) and those who cover their eyes (the controlled):
Handlers are those celebrities who willingly push the Agenda of the Illuminati. They can be identified by the "all-seeing eye" symbol. As handlers are often consistent with which eye they choose to "illuminate," I believe that a distinction can be made by observing which eye is favored. Though I have not been able to determine which is which, I believe that one eye indicates those who sympathize with the cause, and the other indicates those who agreed to push forth the agenda after being bribed (Please note that these individuals push the Agenda to reap its spoils, rather than doing so out of fear.) ... The Handled are those individuals who have been forced to push the Agenda. The individuals may have been opposed to the Illuminati from the start, or are former supporters who have finally had enough. Either way, these individuals are forced to cover one eye to represent that they are being oppressed; that they are the submissive. ... MK Ultra victims are viciously tortured, and when they attempt to escape within their minds, an alter-ego is put into place. Please note that many of those who have their right eye covered have referred to themselves as having alter-egos. ... Some photos may be written off as just someone winking or rubbing stuff out of their eye. However, it cannot be denied that the Illuminated eye symbol is everywhere in the celebrity community! Those who use these symbols are usually very consistent with which eye is covered, and which remains illuminated.
In addition, the left-right distinction may refer - so the conspiracy theorists say - to dominant character or talent through an indication of brain function.
Image Source: David Icke chatboard.
None of those speculations is confirmed here, but the Illuminati theory is clearly a mish-mash of pop psychology, anti-government sentiment, anti-Semitism, suspicion of the mass media, the spread of the occult and the impact of confirmed cults (you can see a daily rundown of real life cult headlines here). The theory of the Illuminati is more of a metanarrative which ensnares conspiracy theorists (online gnostic seekers constantly proclaim they have found the so-called 'real truth' above the evident truth) in their own fears of enslavement. Thus, conspiracy theorists ironically actually participate in, and constitute, the very community of believers that they project on public circles. Does that mean that public figures don't join higher cults? Not necessarily. More likely, the fears and symbols telescope the higher one goes in any area of endeavour: illumination is universally in Millennial fashion. It is a sign that the revived pre-Christian and Christian heresy of gnosticism is rampant today.
Labels: Conspiracy Theories, Countdowns, David Lynch, Dystopias, Environment, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Horror, Illuminati, Occult, Omens, Orson Welles, Religion, Stanley Kubrick, Superstitions, Surrealism
Where Are We Going? No Really, Where Are We Going?
Google Glass: 2012 preview, for release to consumers in 2014. Image Source: Extreme Tech.
The first twenty years of the Internet involved playing mental catch-up as the industry excitedly released each new application, operating system, or gadget. Except for think pieces at Wired, which launched in 1993 as a glossy magazine, few tried to grasp the implications as the sites and services rolled out - AOL (1991); Amazon (1994); eBay (1995); Yahoo! (1995); Craigslist (1995); Netflix (1997); PayPal (1998); Google (1998); Wikipedia (2001); Second Life (2003); Blogger (2003); Linked In (2003); Skype (2003); Facebook (2004); Digg (2004); YouTube (2005); Reddit (2005); Twitter (2006); Tumblr (2007); Pixlr (2008); Kickstarter (2009); Pinterest (2010); Instagram (2010). These are just the giants, with no mention of the porn sites, which do join the giants in the top rankings for traffic. See the Alexa Top 500 Global Sites for hundreds more of the most world's most popular Web hubs. There are also thousands more Web apps and services which you will have never heard of, unless they meet your particular needs.
The book reader of the future, from Everyday Science and Mechanics magazine (April 1935). Image Source: Paleofuture.
As great as these sites, services and devices are, if you are lucky, you can remember what life was like before they came along. It was far from perfect. But all someone had to do to become inaccessible was not answer the telephone. Now it takes a lot of willpower, excuses and effort to disconnect.
Wireless Emergency Alert System: "'Many people do not realize that they carry a potentially life-saving tool with them in their pockets or purses every day,' said W. Craig Fugate, administrator of FEMA." Image Source: NYT.
On the night of 5-6 August, a friend who lives in California was wakened in the middle of the night by cell phones in the house ringing an alarm he had never heard before: this was the state amber alert for a child abduction:
California issued its first cellphone Amber Alert late Monday, as phones in Southern California received an alert of two missing children in San Diego.
The timing differed from phone to phone but sometime between late Monday and early Tuesday many mobile phones across Southern California received an alert regarding James Lee DiMaggio, suspected of killing Christina Anderson, 44, and kidnapping one or both of her children, Hannah, 16, and Ethan, 8, the Los Angeles Times reported. ...
Some cellphones received only a text message, others buzzed and beeped as part of the Wireless Emergency Alert program, a cellphone equivalent of the Emergency Alert System that creates a high-pitched test tone on television.
The amber alert frightened many people when their mobile phones began ringing strangely (listen here). The system also warns the public about any other kind of major threat:
When you get an Amber Alert on your phone, you will definitely know. The sound is somewhere between a squeal, a siren and a series of tones. Even if you have your phone on silent or vibrate, or have enabled a "Do Not Disturb" or "Sleep" setting, your device may make this sound. The alert will appear as a text message including all pertinent information. ...
At the end of 2012, CTIA-The Wireless Association announced the transition from a Wireless Amber Alert program to a Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) program. ... Now, the WEA program sends messages to users within the area of the suspected abduction. For example, if a child in Orlando is abducted, all eligible devices within that area will broadcast the alert. A representative from the California Highway Patrol told HLN that Amber Alerts have previously been issued through wireless carriers regionally, but Monday's alert was the first to be broadcast statewide. It is of note that the WEA system also broadcasts other types of emergency alerts, such as severe weather warnings and imminent threat alerts.
To my friend, the alert brought home the point that mobile phones have erased privacy and are just "personal tracking devices that we also use as telephones." Smartphones are good for tracking criminals. They're also good for tracking everyone else.
A system like this can be a very powerful tool, as Orson Welles discovered in 1938. The Emergency Alert even entered the English language: This is only a test. - Or - This is not a test. In February 2013, hackers hacked a Montana TV station's Emergency Alert System and aired a fake zombie apocalypse warning to demonstrate the system's vulnerabilities. Ars Technica reported in June 2013 that the TV and radio Emergency Alert System is generally hackable. I could not find comment online about whether the Wireless Emergency Alerts program is also hackable, but presumably it is.
Some would argue that worrying about the future is pointless and unhealthy. In a July post, Maria Popova noted that anxiety is often associated with contemplation of the future; also, recent psychological research links the suicidal mind with an over-contemplation of the future:
In Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception ... BBC's Claudia Hammond explores the psychology of mitigating our worries: Ad Kerkhof is a Dutch clinical psychologist who has worked in the field of suicide prevention for 30 years. He has observed that before attempting suicide people often experience a period of extreme rumination about the future. They sometimes reported that these obsessive thoughts had become so overwhelming that they felt death was the only way to escape. Kerkhof has developed techniques which help suicidal people to reduce this rumination and is now applying the same methods to people who worry on a more everyday basis. He has found that people worry about one topic more than any other — the future, often believing that the more hours they spend contemplating it, the more likely they are to find a solution to their problems. But this isn't the case.
But what happens when the future becomes the present? As the technological future approached over the past 20 years, there seemed barely time to digest what was happening. It was enough to just keep up with the changes. There is a need to stand back, to see the big picture, to contemplate how we are changing as human beings, to understand what is happening to society, politics, the economy.
Devin Coldewey a Seattle-based writer and photographer, has a number of interesting articles for Tech Crunch (here) in which he tries to make sense of the impact of the Technological Revolution with reference to the past. In 2009, he compared Google and its many services to the construction of Roman roads (here). It was a metaphor-laden piece and pretty clumsy in its historical analogy. Nevertheless, Coldewey's comparison - between Google's messy-but-often-cool labs projects and the Roman road system - was intriguing. But Coldewey misunderstood the potential parallel in his historical comparison. The Roman road system was technologically revolutionary, but the purpose the roads served was not revolutionary at all. The Romans were building an empire. And so is Google.
Labels: A.I., Copyright, George Orwell, Greeks and Romans, H. G. Wells, Informatics, Meta-Metahistory, Millennium, Omens, Orson Welles, Postmodernism, Robots, Tech Revolution, War, World War II, Zeitgeist
Love in the New Millennium 7: Love on Your Own Terms
The Old Spice guy. Image Source: Geeksugar.
There is a great line in Citizen Kane: "A toast, Jedediah, to love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody ever knows - his own." The movie was an early portrayal of malignant narcissism. Who could know that it would become the mantra of Internet dating in the new Millennium, 70 years later?
Labels: Ars Amatoria, Disinformation, Fantasy, Orson Welles, Zeitgeist
James Rosenquist, Star Thief (1980). Image Source: Yale University Art Gallery/Yale Digital Commons.
Time is Space, Space is Time. In this philosophical and cosmological equation, space may seem more tangible. Philosophically, space is changing. And that change, a shift from real to virtual, initially seems comprehensible. Time's corresponding transformation, on the other hand, is obscure. So let us look at what is happening to space. I have posts here and here regarding the distinction between our lives in the real world and our lives in virtual reality. These posts confirm that it is becoming difficult to define reality solely in physical terms. As our understanding of that narrowing dichotomy weakens, what does it mean to exist in a different 'space'? And once we are there, how much control do we have over the virtual version of ourselves? Could the virtual Doppelgänger come back to haunt the real person?
Labels: Citizen Kane, Copyright, Doppelgangers, Dualism, Film, Metatime, Orson Welles, Philosophy of Time, Virtual Reality, Visual Arts
How Historical Events Change Language
A traumatic event can spawn a whole bunch of new words. People on the other side of the event have a new vocabulary.
How do historical events - especially traumatic ones - change language? One way is through the coining of neologisms. For example, while the 2008-2012? Great Recession persists, Time has done a little online piece about 'Post-Recession Lingo':
Adding to the list of post-recession terms such as "unbanked" (individuals without checking or savings accounts), "anti-dowry" (student loan debt holding you back from getting married or buying a house), and "Groupon remorse" (regret felt upon buying a daily deal you can't use or never really wanted), here's a roundup of zeitgeist-y phrases, including "squatter's rent," "light bulb anxiety," and "not retiring."
"Financially Fragile"
If an emergency occurred and you needed to come up with $2,000 within 30 days, could you do it? (Legally, hopefully?) If not, then you'd be categorized as "financially fragile," and researchers say that nearly half of Americans fit the description. ...
"Light Bulb Anxiety"
This fear, based on oft-misunderstood legislation intended to phase out usage of traditional incandescent light bulbs, has caused business owners and everyday consumers to stock up the old-fashioned bulbs by the thousands, according to the NY Times. Why all the hoarding? Many people just prefer the light given off by incandescent bulbs over LED or compact fluorescent bulbs. Also, there are plenty of people who aren't sold on the idea that the new-fangled bulbs really save all that much money or energy: In one survey, one-third of homeowners who paid for energy-efficiency upgrades (including switching to CFL bulbs) hadn't seen the decrease in energy bills that they expected.
"Squatter's Rent"
Also referred to as "free rent," it's the money a homeowner—soon to be ex-homeowner, most likely—gets to keep each month when he stops paying the mortgage and has yet to be kicked out of the home. "Squatter's rent" around the nation is estimated to come to a total of $50 billion this year.
I have suffered from Light Bulb Anxiety, so I guess I'm glad there's a term for it.
New techniques in expression and new terms are needed to think about that which was previously unthinkable. New words are signposts, showing us where the 'before' and 'after' of history are. The removal of words indicates a break with the past. But what happens to these linguistic reactions over the long term? Do neologisms survive? Do obliterated words, once forbidden by historical memories or historical shame, ever make a big return? Sometimes, a population does away with their whole language altogether, and switches to another one, apparently better suited to the aftermath. Finally, traumatic histories tend to produce new forms of language focussed on changing our understanding of time.
Labels: Cold War, Empiricism, Etymology, Globalization, Linguistics, Meta-Metahistory, Orson Welles, Positivism, Romanticism, World Trade, World War II
Los Angeles Noir Revisited
Police pulp claiming to solve the Black Dahlia killing. Image Source: Heaven is HERE site © Larry Harnisch.
Today in North America (and later this week in Europe) Team Bondi and Rockstar Games are releasing a new video game called L.A. Noire. Set in 1947, it portrays crime in Los Angeles during the height of the film noir era. The game is done in noir style, and will be the first of its kind shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. Wiki summarizes the gameplay:
The game takes place in post-war 1940s Los Angeles, a city of glamour, fame and wealth, but also where crime, vice corruption is rife. The player assumes the role of Cole Phelps, an LAPD officer who rises through the ranks of the department. He has joined the police force to "right the wrongs" he committed during the Second World War. He starts off as a patrol-man, then a traffic detective, homicide, vice, and finally arson investigator. Each rank gives the player a partner who will help Phelps in his investigations, fights, and arrests. The game blends investigative elements such as mystery, and crime solving, with fast paced action sequences from chases on foot to car, as well as gun-play. As well as the storyline missions, the player can choose to work on optional side-investigations following a call from dispatch. The player can also travel on foot, as well as in different vehicles.
The game draws from real crimes from the period, including the notorious 1947 Black Dahlia murder, which was most recently dramatized in a 2006 Hollywood film directed by Brian De Palma. Below the jump, the game trailer, the unsubstantiated but creepy theory that Orson Welles could have been a suspect in the Dahlia case, and some noir film clips from that era. All of them show how post-World War II California percolated with violent memories brought home from the front.
Labels: Cold War, David Lynch, DC, Dystopias, Film, Film Noir, Horror, Informatics, Neo-Noir, Orson Welles, Philip K. Dick, Pulp Fiction, Retro-Futurism, Ridley Scott, True Story, War, World War II
V for Vendetta imagery persists around WikiLeaks-related stories. Image Source: Ars Technica.
Back in 1990, Hal Hartley directed a great little film called Trust, starring the late lamented Adrienne Shelley and Martin Donovan. This dark comedy hinged on a critical moment where the heroine informs the hero that love depends above all on trust. It's a social value that is also at the root of doing business. Within the bounds of a contract, we expect that we can trust our partners. But now, trust is changing.
In a recent Piers Morgan CNN interview, this was the main point put forth by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss about their former partner Mark Zuckerberg regarding the disputed origins of Facebook. They maintained that within the bounds of a business agreement, there is nothing irrational about trusting your partner, while Morgan argued that in high-stakes business, people get stabbed in the back all the time. Morgan said: lack of trust is normal. You should expect that.
Labels: Alan Moore, Citizen Kane, Comics, Doppelgangers, Film, Fin-de-Siecle, Informatics, Millennium, Orson Welles, Tech Revolution, Zeitgeist
Only Beasts and Gods
The martyrdom of St. Ignatius of Antioch on orders of Emperor Trajan. Image Source: Mystagogy.
A recent letter (here) on the editorial page of Canada's National Post newspaper in favour of waterboarding was pretty medieval. But the writer's reference to Aristotle caught my eye: "only beasts and gods live beyond a city's walls." There is a discussion on that reference here:
"For Aristotle's zoon politikon there are no persons beyond the walls of the city; outside the city there exist only beasts or gods. To be a person means to be part of the corporate whole of the polis. The essence/end of the person does not inhere in the individual; it does not emerge in the development of the solitary self nor in the development of the self in family as child, brother or father. Neither, for Aristotle, does the person emerge in village, imperial or cosmopolitan life. Only in the polis can there be persons, for the nature of the person is political."
Going beyond the pale, moving beyond the bounds of what previously defined civilization, is now common. It started with the Battle of the Somme, then the Holocaust. The technological and information revolutions have accelerated a process already taking place. In the new Millennium, we are all beasts and gods.
Labels: Aristotle, Cold War, Film, Fin-de-Siecle, Greeks and Romans, Millennium, Orson Welles, Politics, Tech Revolution, World Trade, World War I, World War II
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came (1859). By Thomas Moran. Image: thomas-moran.org.
The last couple of years have not been easy for a lot of people. Most are not out of the woods yet economically. Even if you've been doing relatively all right, you will meet or know someone affected by the Great Recession of 2008 to 2012 (?). Recessions and depressions strip away all illusions of security and replace them with hardship and the worry that our overall standard of living - indeed, an entire middling social class in the developed countries - is in decline. People regroup with friends and families, reevaluate their priorities, question themselves, their worth, their attitudes, and the values of those who led us down this merry path. With the gnawing worries over bills, debts and unemployment comes disillusionment.
Labels: Citizen Kane, Fantasy, Fiction, Globalization, Gothic, Music, Omens, Orson Welles, Precognition, Romanticism, Weird Fiction, World Trade
Anniversaries: Remembering H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells: War of the Worlds. Cover by Frank. R. Paul.
The blog Dark Dorset has an excellent retrospective (here) on H. G. Wells to commemorate the anniversary of his death on August 13, 1946. Known as the 'father of science fiction,' Wells's influence on authors like Lovecraft and Edgar Rice Burroughs is well known. Perhaps the best rendition of his famous 1897 story about a Martians invasion, War of the Worlds, is Orson Welles's 1938 Mercury Theatre On the Air radio production, which you can listen to here (part 1, further parts play automatically on youtube). You can read H. G. Wells's original story here and the Mercury broadcast script here. There is a resource site on the story and its adaptations here.
This production was so realistic that it caused mass panic in the United States. Many people fled their homes and police switchboards were swamped with inquiries. Wiki quotes Richard Hand: "some six million heard the CBS broadcast; 1.7 million believed it to be true, and 1.2 million were 'genuinely frightened.'" Wiki: "Many listeners were apparently confused. It must be noted that the confusion cannot be credited entirely to naïveté. Though many of the actors' voices should have been recognizable from other radio shows, nothing like The War of the Worlds broadcast had been attempted in the United States, so listeners were accustomed to accepting newsflashes as reliable. The problem is that the working script had only three statements concerning the fictional nature of the program: at the beginning, at 40 minutes, and at the end. In fact, the warning at the 40-minute mark is the only one after the actors start speaking in character, and before Welles breaks character at the end."
New York Times headline: "Radio Listeners in Panic." October 31, 1938.
Welles had to apologize. Of course the power of the production stemmed from H. G. Wells's powerful descriptions of growing disaster that were embedded in the radio script.
Orson Welles's apology, October 31, 1938.
I have not confirmed this, but I recall reading that legislation was subsequently passed so that dramatizations of fictional disasters always must have a repeated tagline indicating that they are fictional. The obligatory confirmation that a real-seeming drama is fictional was cleverly used in the opening of 1999's Blair Witch Project, which initially claimed to be a true story: "I'm just telling a scary story - but it's not true." The character Heather replies: "It's not true." The reverse psychology initially made the audience think that the story was true. We can trace this 100-year history of the blurring between truth and fiction, starting with H. G. Wells.
Labels: Anniversaries, Apocalypse, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fantasy, Futurism, H. G. Wells, H. P. Lovecraft, Horror, Mars, Metatime, Orson Welles, Radio, Retro-Futurism, Visual Arts, Weird Fiction
Happy Independence Day! A great country is one year older today. May all your fireworks be bright, and your barbecues plentiful. Happy Birthday America!
Labels: 9/11, Film, John Steinbeck, Nostalgia, Orson Welles
DCU Continuity for Terra: The Rosebud of the Citizen Kane of Comic Books
Gar: "Of course. But this is -- all wrong?" Blackest Night: Titans #1 (Oct. 2009)
Why write a continuity for such a hated character? I wrote this continuity and analysis because I've always been deeply impressed by the Judas Contract as one of the greatest stories ever told in superhero comics. It is an undisputed classic, the height of what can be achieved in the medium. As a young fan in the 1980s, like many teenaged readers of the New Teen Titans at the time, I bought the issues at a newsstand, and yes, Marv Wolfman and George Perez ruined the summer of 1984 for me with the death of this charismatic and troubled character. Reading a story like that at such an impressionable age was like sitting in a master class on the tremendous power this genre of pulp fiction can have when it's at its best. The serial format also meant that the full story – including the NTT Doom Patrol arcs – unfolded from about 1981 to 1984. There were no solicitations, no previews, no internet boards to give you a hint of what was coming. The aftermath stories are still unfolding today. It is impossible to convey to younger comics fans, or newer fans of the Cartoon Network version of Terra, what that long time delay did in terms of understanding this story and the character.
Labels: 1984, Blackest Night, Citizen Kane, Comics, DC, Doom Patrol, Garfield Logan, George Orwell, George Perez, Judas Contract, Marv Wolfman, Orson Welles, Outsiders, Tara Markov, Terra, Titans, X-Men


I first heard of the power marginal gain as a student. Back then "the power" of ideas such as marginal gain, marginal pricing, marginal costing, marginal probability and compound interest were all being used in business studies to show how something didn't have to be "wiz, bang, new, fast and you beaut" to make a difference. It was power man!
Recently on a quiet Saturday (I know it's sad) I googled "The Power of Marginal Gain" expecting to find a plethora of MBA theses on the subject but instead I found page after page of British cycling triumphs and a guy called Dave Brailsford – Now Sir Dave all thanks to his marginal gains!
There is enormous power in small steady wins. This is why the tortoise usually beats the hare, the system is greater than the goal.
wow, that is really, really, interesting!


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Q: Nuxt-auth V5 how to get a user by id My 'Login' endpoint works fine, and I set the 'propertyName' to 'access_token' as that is where the value for my token lives. I see 'Vuex' update my 'LoggedIn' status to true and I can also see the Token Response in the 'Network' tab of Chrome.
However, I'm really struggling to understand how the 'User' endpoint works.
The example is given:
  auth: {
    strategies: {
      login: {
        scheme: 'local',
        token: {
          property: 'access_token',
          required: true,
          type: 'Bearer',
        },
        refreshToken: {
          property: 'refresh_token',
          data: 'refresh_token',
          maxAge: 60 * 60 * 24 * 30
        },
        user: {
          property: false,
          autoFetch: true,
        },
        autoLogout: true,
        endpoints: {
          login: { url: '/registration/login', method: 'post', propertyName: 'access_token'},
          user: {
            url: '/registration/requests/1',
            method: 'get',
            propertyName: false
          },
          logout: {
            url: '/registration/logout', method: 'post'
          },
        },
      },
    },
    redirect: {
      login: '/news',
        },
  },

The above is pretty much identical to mine, how does the 'User' endpoint, know which user is logged in?
I am using a third-party system for my authentication as I'm integrating an application into the third-party system. Their 'User' endpoint for REST requires an 'ID' or 'UserName' to return details about a particular user.
My 'Login' response contains 'UserName' which I could use to call the subsequent User endpoint (If I knew how).
Does anyone know how the User endpoint works? Essentially I need to call it something like this:
  user: { url: '/users/${userId}', method: 'get', }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Sophia Amoruso to Kick Off Book Tour in New York
The Nasty Gal founder's second book is due out in October and will be accompanied by a tour with seven confirmed cities.
By Kari Hamanaka on July 29, 2016
Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso
Equinox Names Executive Creative Director, Plans to Build Up In-house Talent
EXCLUSIVE: Elie Saab Drops Out of Paris Couture Week
Prada Ends Zheng Shuang Ambassadorship over Alleged Child Dispute
NEW CHAPTER: Sophia Amoruso will add a second title to her growing roster of media projects when "Nasty Galaxy" debuts and her book tour begins in October.
The "#GirlBoss" author and founder of e-tailer Nasty Gal is confirmed for seven stops on a book tour that begins in New York at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square on Oct. 4, the same day as the book's release. That will be followed throughout the month with two stops in Brooklyn; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; Los Angeles, and Coral Gables, Fla., a spokesman for Amoruso confirmed.
This second book is expected to be much more image driven, unlike Amoruso's first tome, released in 2014, which served as a biography of sorts on her journey in building Nasty Gal.
"Nasty Galaxy" comes with a foreword by Courtney Love, who teamed with Nasty Gal in January for an 18-piece, Nineties-inspired collection called Love, Courtney by Nasty Gal.
"I really like making books," Amoruso told WWD in June at a party for her shared cover in the Forbes issue of the richest self-made women in America. "It has a beginning and end. And, yes, it is one piece of media, but it feels like you can be really creative with it. It's like a legacy piece that sits on shelves forever and it's a little different than an archive of clothes."
Amoruso has a full plate with the book's release and tour alone, but she's also serving as consulting executive producer of a Netflix comedy series partially based on "#GirlBoss" that's due out next year and continues with her #GirlBoss Radio podcast series.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Placide – Returning to a life left behind with help from Welfare Programme
Placide's journey has made a full circle. Sitting in her shop in Cape Town – where she makes clothes, eats and sleeps – she speaks of the life she has established here. Meanwhile, she is preparing to go back to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – a process that has been assisted by Scalabrini's Welfare Programme.
Quelani: I can see where I'm going – life after Women's Platform
Quelani had to leave her family behind in Zimbabwe, but found herself a family in South Africa, which she credits the Women's Platform for.
Nzenze: Finding A Place with UNITE
Nzenze, 17, is currently enrolled in the eleventh grade at Vista High School and is an active member of UNITE, where learning about diversity has taught him to celebrate his unique identity.
Malaika: Learning to Love Myself
Malaika, 16, is in grade ten at Sea Point High and has been a member of UNITE for the past two years. Her involvement has taught her a lot about the importance of confidence and self-love.
Isaac: On the Path to Emergency Medicine with the Employment Access Programme
Isaac was 25 years old when he left his home, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and made the journey to South Africa, alone. After spending time in Zambia and Zimbabwe, he arrived in Cape Town where he is now pursuing his dream of getting a Bachelor's Degree in Emergency Care from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Isaac reflects on how the Scalabrini Employment Access Programme fitted in with his journey.


text:
Esperance, Australia © Graeme Churchard/Flickr/CC BY 2.0
Esperance, Australia © projnet/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Esperance, Australia © Stephen Edmonds/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Esperance, Australia © Tamsin Slater/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Esperance, Australia © Travel & Shit/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Esperance, Australia
Esperance is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, on the Southern Ocean coastline approximately 720 kilometers (450 mi) east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. Its major industries are tourism, agriculture, and fishing.
European history of the region dates back to 1627 when the Dutch vessel Gulden Zeepaert, skippered by François Thijssen, passed through waters off the Esperance coast and continuing across the Great Australian Bight.
French explorers are credited with making the first landfall near the present day town, naming it and other local landmarks whilst sheltering from a storm in this area in 1792. The town itself was named after a French ship, the Espérance, commanded by Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. Espérance is French for 'hope.'
In 1802, British navigator Matthew Flinders sailed the Bay of Isles, discovering and naming places such as Lucky Bay and Thistle Cove. Whalers, sealers, and pirates followed, as did pastoralists and miners, keen to exploit the free land and cash in on the gold boom in the gold fields to the north.
The area of the Esperance townsite was first settled by the Dempsters, a pioneer family of Scottish descent, in the 1870s. A telegraph station was opened in 1876, although the formal gazettal of the townsite did not occur until 1893.
The town jetty was also built through the 1890s, following the discovery of gold in the eastern goldfields region.
The population of the town was 985 (623 males and 362 females) in 1898.
The mallee area approximately 100 km (62 mi) north of the town began grain production in the 1920s, and by 1935 the construction of a second jetty, tankers jetty, was completed.
Agriculture was introduced to the Esperance sand plain by an American syndicate, in partnership with the state government, in the 1960s following the discovery that adding superphosphate fertilizers containing trace elements to the poor soils made them suitable for cropping and pastoral activity. Despite early difficulties, the project eventually became a success and large areas of land were cleared during this time.
In 1979, pieces of the space station Skylab crashed onto Esperance after the craft broke up over the Indian Ocean. The municipality fined the United States $400 for littering. The fine was paid in April 2009, when radio show host Scott Barley of Highway Radio raised the funds from his morning show listeners and paid the fine on behalf of NASA. Skylab's demise was an international media event, with merchandising, wagering on time and place of re-entry, and nightly news reports. The San Francisco Examiner offered a $10,000 prize for the first piece of Skylab to be delivered to their offices. 17-year-old Stan Thornton scooped a few pieces of Skylab off the roof of his home in Esperance, caught the first flight to San Francisco, and collected the prize.
In January 2007, the national media claimed that Esperance experienced "the perfect storm" with wind gusts of up to 110 km/h (68 mph) which brought 155 mm (6 in) of rainfall within 24 hours, causing significant flooding. More than 100 homes were damaged, several boats were destroyed, trees were felled, 35 m (115 ft) of a bridge on the South Coast Highway, (the main road linking Esperance to Perth), was washed away, and power was cut from thousands of homes. The Western Australian Government declared the area a "natural disaster zone." At least 37,000 sheep were killed in the storm.
Esperance experiences a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb) with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. It is subject to wide variations in the weather, from hot summer days when northerly winds arrive from the interior of the state to cold, wet winter days with southerly winds from the Great Southern Ocean. Annually, the city has 85.5 clear days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Esperance,_Western_Australia
Esperance, Australia: Port Information
It is a tender port, so cruise passengers are transported ashore by tender boats. The trip to the pier will take you about 15 min. There is shuttle service in the port (free).
Get around Esperance, Australia
There is no public transport. Renting a car is the best option to get around, especially considering that the beaches are in about 10 kilometers away from the central town.
What to see in Esperance, Australia
Historic Museum Village, Dempster St. Old buildings of various vintages whose former life as a Police Sergeants quarters, schoolhouse, doctors surgery, courthouse or hospital has been relocated and repurposed as cafes, Art galleries, and retail shops. Oldest of the bunch is the tiny wood and iron Methodist Church built in 1895.
Esperance Museum, Cnr James St and Dempster St, ☎ +61 8 90711579. daily 1:30 PM-4:30 PM. A rambling array of objects stacked almost up to the hefty timber rafters of the old goods warehouse that houses the collection. Nautical flotsam, domestic ephemera, and antiquated machinery are intermingled with all kinds of social curios drawn from a lengthy timeline of Esperance history. The 442-tonne steam train dominates, but debris from the 1979 crash of Skylab is an arguable highlight. There is a lot to see, so the short opening hours demand a second visit to fully explore every corner.
Pink Lake, Pink Lake Rd. Not particularly pink nor lake-like, it's a large salt pan that is either white and crunchy or grey and muddy depending on how much it has rained recently. The northern side has built up dam structures used to harvest the salt that may exhibit a pinkish tinge caused by the concentration of algae.
Wind power turbines (19km west of town). Massive propellers slowly spinning in the breeze look attractive from afar but are quite intimidating up close as the blades slice through the air with a low growl.
Cape Le Grand National Park - less than 50km from town to the east - a mix of rugged wild coast and views of the Archipelago of the Recherche.
What to do in Esperance, Australia
Have a swim at many of the fine beaches located near town, like Twilight Beach.
What to eat and drink in Esperance, Australia
Jax Snax, 3 James St, ☎ +61 8 90711601. daily 11:30 AM-2 PM, 5 PM-8:30 PM. Decent Fish and Chips.
Loose Good Bar & Restaurant, 9A Andrew St, ☎ +61 8 9071 2320, e-mail: info@loosegooseesperance.com.au. Modern Australian grill house. All seafood is freshly caught from the Australian sea.
The Pier Hotel, 47 The Esplanade, ☎ +61 8 9071 1777
Shopping in Esperance, Australia
There's Esperance Boulevard Shopping Centre, numerous art galleries, gift shops, souvenir stores, farm markets, stalls to buy clothes, accessories, jewelry, gifts, souvenirs, etc.
Safety in Esperance, Australia
King waves, as the name implies, are large freak waves common along this part of the Western Australian coast. They are difficult to predict and calm waves are not a guarantee that one is not on its way. Many people have swept off the rocks with some ending in death. Some popular spots have float rings placed to assist in the rescue. Take they sailors adage; Never turn your back on the sea.
Rips at some beaches can pose a danger even if you are a strong swimmer. Some beaches are signposted but with many hundreds of kilometers of coastline, more are not. If the beach has a reef offshore a rip might be there.
Water, or a lack of it has been the demise of many in this region. Make sure you take some with you if you are going away from towns for any length of time.
Language spoken in Esperance, Australia
English is the main language.
light rain Fri
sky is clear Sat
light rain Sun
Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance, Australia
Cape Le Grand National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 631 km (392 mi) south-east of Perth and 56 km (35 mi) east of Esperance. The park covers an area of 31,801 hectares (78,580 acres) The area is an ancient landscape which has been above sea level for well over 200 million years and remained unglaciated. As a...
Eyre Bird Observatory, Esperance, Australia
Eyre Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility in the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Western Australia. Cocklebiddy is the nearest locality on the Eyre Highway 49 km to the north. Sandwiched between the Nullarbor Plain to the north and the Great Australian Bight to the south, it lies in one of the least populated places...
Cape Arid National Park, Esperance, Australia
Cape Arid National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 731 kilometres (454 mi) south-east of Perth. The park is situated 120 kilometres (75 mi) east of Esperance and lies on shore from the eastern end of the Recherche Archipelago. The bay at its western end is Duke of Orleans Bay, and the bay at the eastern side is Israelite...
Boorabbin National Park, Esperance, Australia
Boorabbin National Park is a national park in Western Australia, between Coolgardie and Southern Cross. It is located along the Great Eastern Highway for a distance of approximately 25 km with a width of 5 km on each side in Western Australia's eastern goldfields. The park gets its name from the Aboriginal named rock on the edge of the park and...
Nuytsland Nature Reserve, Esperance, Australia
Nuytsland Nature Reserve is a protected area of Western Australia in the far south-eastern part of the state. Nominally located at 32° 18' S 125° 52' E, it has an area of 6,253.44 km², and takes in over 500 kilometres of coastline from Cape Pasley to Red Rocks Point. It was gazetted in 1969. Significant features include Twilight Cove...
Esperance Senior High School, Australia
Esperance Senior High School is a comprehensive public high school located in Esperance, a regional centre 780 kilometres (485 mi) southeast of Perth, Western Australia. The school farm 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of the town, produces grain, sheep and cattle on a commercial basis. A Pre-Vocational Rural Skills program and a year 11 and 12 Primary...
Pink Lake (Western Australia), Esperance
Pink Lake is a salt lake in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It lies about 3 kilometres (2 mi) west of Esperance and is bounded to the East by the South Coast Highway. Description The lake is not always pink but the distinctive colour of the water changes as a result of green alga Dunaliella salina, halobacterium...
Goongarrie National Park, Esperance, Australia
Goongarrie National Park is a national park in Western Australia (Australia), 592 km (368 mi) east of Perth and about 94 km (58 mi) north of Kalgoorlie. The park was part of Goongarrie Station that was purchased by the state government in 1995. The area also includes the abandoned townsite of Goongarrie. The name comes from nearby Lake Gongarrie...
Fitzgerald River National Park, Esperance, Australia
Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in Western Australia (Australia), 419 kilometres (260 mi) southeast of Perth, in the Shire of Ravensthorpe and the Shire of Jerramungup. The park includes the Barren Mountains and Eyre Range and the Fitzgerald River as well as incorporating the Fitzgerald Biosphere. There are 62 plant species which...
Lake Boonderoo, Esperance, Australia
Lake Boonderoo is an ephemeral freshwater lake located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It is situated approximately 200 kilometres (124 mi) east of Kambalda on the Nullarbor Plain. The lake covers an area of roughly 2,500 hectares (6,178 acres) when full. It is fed by Ponton Creek on its north western side. The...
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The early 80's saw the introduction of girls into the Corps. 146's first female cadet was Julie Biddle (now Julie Walker) who went on to become a Civilian Instructor with the Squadron.
In 1983 Flt Lt R Hornby handed over command to Flt Lt P Heyes who held the post for just one year.
In 1983 the old hut, which originated from RAF Cranage, was knocked down and replaced with the building which stood until 2012 when the Queen street site was demolished and replaced with houses. AWO Mike Scott played a large part in assembling and equipping the building before he moved out of the area.
Queen Street Squadron
Also in 1983, Flt Lt R E Alford became the commanding officer, taking over from Flt Lt P Heyes in 1984. Under his command the numbers of cadets increased from less than 40 cadets in 1984 to 80 cadets in 1985. Cadets continued to earn Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
Duke of Edinburgh Logo
1986 saw the band reform again under the guidance of Jos Twose.
In 1988, Flt Lt R E Alford was then transferred to Canada with his job and command was handed to Flt Lt P Twose.
The Squadron celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1989 with a church service and reception at Headquarters. Many past cadets attended, renewing acquaintances and reliving old memories.


On Thursday 6 March 2003, the Boeing 737-200 registered 7T-VEZ, operated by Air Algérie, was taking off from Tamanrasset to undertake, with a three-hour delay, a scheduled flight DAH 6289 to Ghardaïa and Algiers. Six crew members (two flight crew and four cabin crew) and 97 passengers were on board. The co-pilot was pilot flying. No technical exemptions or deferred maintenance items applied to the airplane; on departure from Algiers it had been subject to routine maintenance for a minor technical problem, a hydraulic pump having been changed in the circuit B landing gear bay.
The speeds decided on by the crew were V1 = 144 kn (267 km/h; 166 mph), VR = 146 kn (270 km/h; 168 mph), V2 = 150 kn (280 km/h; 170 mph). The EPR displayed was 2.18, (nominal maximum thrust on take-off).
About five seconds after the airplane left the ground, at the moment when gear retraction was requested, a sharp thumping noise was recorded on the CVR. The airplane's heading veered to the left, followed by a track correction. The Captain announced that he was taking over the controls. A short time later, the co-pilot told the control tower "we have a small problem". The airplane continued to climb and reached a recorded height of about 400 ft (120 m).
The speed dropped progressively from 160 kn (300 km/h; 180 mph) during lift-off, to stall speed at the end of the recording. In fact, about ten seconds before the crash, the noise of the stick shaker is heard on the CVR (which usually indicates that the airplane is 7% from its stall speed). The aural warning, which normally indicates a radar altitude below 200 ft (61 m), appeared about six seconds before the end of the recording.
The airplane, with landing gear extended, struck the ground on its right side. A severe fire broke out immediately. The airplane slid along, losing various parts, struck and knocked over the airport perimeter fence then crossed a road before coming to a halt in flames. An alert was immediately sounded by the control tower.
All but one of the 97 passengers and all of the six crew members perished, a total of 102 people. The only survivor of the accident was 28-year-old Youcef Djillali.
Investigators noted the lack of preparedness on the part of the aircrew and the unsuitability of the rocky ground near the airfield for emergency landings.The lack of co-ordination between the pilots at the moment when tasks were transferred meant the Captain had to manage an emergency situation, which he had not had time to analyse completely. For the same reasons, he did not rely on the co-pilot, whom he simply asked on several occasions to let go (of the controls). He likely encountered some problems in taking over control, given that he repeated the terms "let go" and "take your hand off", this continuing until the end of the recording. The co-pilot appears to have carried out the Captain's orders by reading back in the affirmative and indicating her willingness to act (proposal to retract the gear, radio message to the tower with the hand mike) though without being sure of the role she was supposed to play. This may, for example, have resulted in her placing her hands on the control column at the time of the stall warning alarms, which would explain the repeated requests from the Captain. She was thus not fully carrying out her role as PNF and did not monitor or at least call out the speeds as they were decreasing. The co-pilot's offer to retract the gear was probably not even noticed by the Captain, due to his sudden excess workload.
According to the airline's procedures, the initial climb on one engine should be performed with the gear retracted, maintaining safety speed at V2 until the safety altitude. However, the landing gear was never retracted. With the conditions on the day of the accident. Calculations and simulations performed by investigators show that it would have been difficult, or even impossible, to maintain a positive rate of climb. As the altitude continued to increase the airspeed inevitably dropped below safe limits for that configuration.
The Captain took over the flight controls in a critical situation while he was out of the loop with regard to flying. This probably led him to focus on a pitch attitude that was incompatible with one failed engine. His decision to take over the controls made it impossible for him to develop and supervise a strategy to adopt for the conduct of the flight.
The left engine failure coincided with the co-pilot's request to retract the landing gear and disrupted that action. The co-pilot mentioned retracting the gear again but, at that moment, the task-sharing had been reversed. It was up to the Captain to ask for gear retraction. In the end, the gear remained extended until the impact.
The airplane's aerodynamic performance subsequently deteriorated rapidly, especially as a result of the non-retraction of the gear, which added to the effect of maintaining a high pitch attitude. In addition, it should be emphasized that the high altitude of the aerodrome and the high temperature on the day, as well as a take-off weight close to the maximum also contributed to limiting the airplane's performance. During the initial climb, the high pitch attitude and the yaw induced by the failure of the left engine (which had the effect of increasing the drag at a critical moment), added to the factors previously mentioned.
The high pitch attitude and loss of speed put the airplane in a stall situation. About fourteen seconds after the noise and the "gear up" callout, the stick shaker began to operate intermittently, then continuously, until the end of the recording. The "don't sink" aural warning told the crew that the airplane was dropping. The pitch attitude was apparently maintained until impact with the ground, as examination of the site showed. On the wreckage, the horizontal stabilizer trim was found in the position for a normal takeoff, which tends to support this hypothesis.
Flight preparation was carried out by the co-pilot alone. At her request, the Captain authorized her to perform the flight leg.
The chief steward was present in the cockpit from time to time during flight preparation and during the take-off. He was talking with the Captain.
The copilot began the pre-take-off briefing by announcing the speeds for V1 (144 kt), VR (146 kt) and V2 (150 kt); she was interrupted by the Captain.
At 14h 12 min 47, the crew was authorized to line up on runway 02 and to take off. The wind, as given by the tower controller, was 330° at 12 kt.
Note: during communications with ATC, the crew was using hand mikes.
At 14 h 14 min 47, that is fifty-two seconds after engine power-up, the Captain announced rotation, at about 150 kt. The magnetic heading was 020°.
At 14 h 14 min 51, the speed of the plane reached 160 kt; it subsequently fell until the end of the flight.
At 14 h 14 min 52, the copilot asked for landing gear retraction (Gear Up callout). This request was immediately followed by a sharp thumping noise. The airplane's speed was then 158 kt, its height in relation to the threshold of runway 02 was 78 ft and its magnetic heading was 018°.
The plane veered to the left at magnetic heading 008°. A series of exclamations from the co-pilot, followed by "what' s going on" is heard.
Note: from the FDR data, the vertical speed on initial climb was calculated as between 1,400 and 1,800 ft/min.
From 14 h 15, the Captain asked the co-pilot several times to let go of the controls. The co-pilot read back and, three seconds later, spoke to the Captain and offered to retract the landing gear. There was no response.
At 14 h 15 min 04, the co-pilot told the controller "we have a small problem".
At 14 h 15 min 06, the stick shaker is heard for one second. The airplane's height in relation to the runway 02 threshold was then at its maximum (398 ft). Its speed was 134 kt.
At 14 h 15 min 08, the stick shaker is heard for a half second.
At 14 h 15 min 10, a GPWS "Don't Sink" aural warning is heard. From that moment on, the stick shaker is heard continuously until the end of the recording.
At 14 h 15 min 15, a second GPWS "Don't Sink" aural warning is heard. The two recorders stopped just after that. The airplane's height in relation to the runway 02 threshold was then 335 ft, its speed was 126 kt and its magnetic heading 005°.


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South Korea to ban plastic bags from all supermarkets
South Korean officials to outlaw single-use plastic bags in crackdown on waste
Anyone caught flouting rules could face a fine of up to three million won (£2,120)
Customers will be offered alternatives, like cloth and paper bags, instead
By Julian Robinson for MailOnline
Published: 07:59 GMT, 31 December 2018 | Updated: 07:59 GMT, 31 December 2018
South Korea is to ban disposable plastic bags from all supermarkets, it has emerged.
The country's Ministry of Environment said the crackdown on single-use carriers was aimed at conserving natural resources and managing recyclable waste.
Some 2,000 large supermarkets and 11,000 shops with sale floor spaces of 1,776ft or more will be affected by the ban, which comes into force tomorrow.
South Korea is to ban disposable plastic bags from all supermarkets, it has emerged (file picture)
They are already barred from giving out plastic bags for free.
But the new rules will mean single-use bags will now be outlawed – except for wet goods such as meat or fish, CNN reports.
Anyone caught flouting the rule could face a fine of up to three million won (£2,120).
Customers will be offered alternatives, like cloth and paper bags instead.
Officials are probing crackdowns on other products, including plastic drinking straws.
It comes after ministers in Britain launched a consultation on plans to double the charge for single-use carrier bags in England from 2020 and extend the scheme to cover all shops in a bid to cut plastic waste.
Since October 2015, large retailers in England have been legally required to impose a charge of 5 pence for plastic bags, a measure which the government says has taken 15 billion bags out of circulation.
However, Britain's seven largest supermarkets still supplied about 1 billion bags with smaller shops supplying another 3.6 billion.
In August, the government announced plans to extend the charge to all retailers and increase the minimum price to 10p from the beginning of 2020 and on Thursday launched a consultation on its proposals.
'We would like to see an overall reduction by 90 percent on figures … before the levy,' junior environment minister Therese Coffey told BBC radio.
The Marine Conservation Society says since the charge was brought in, there had been a significant fall in the number of bags found on beaches.
Personal digital assistant for productivity
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Everything you need to know about Cannabis vaping products.
1,200 climate activists march on Davos as police increase security


How beautiful, Mary. There's something about the design that makes me think of the lovely book I'm reading right now - The Moreville Hours. It's the story of a garden, and I'm sure you'd love it.
What a lovely garden! The fountain is one of my favorites. Beautiful photos, Mary! Have a great week ahead!
I could easily live in a place like this with a crew of gardeners keeping the place in magazine worthy condition. Thanks for sharing these beautiful grounds and buildings with us.
I love seeing these gorgeous gardens you bring to us - thank you! Thank you for hosting Mosaic Monday again. I hope all goes well with you and yours and you are picking up after the storms. Have a wonderful week.
The colors are wonderful...the tawny ones, golds, and greens. Very lovely still.
Such beautiful textures - the pattern of the stone, the clipped boxwood, the lovely seed pod. A truly beautiful garden.
Have a wonderful week, Mary. Thank you once again for hosting Mosaic Monday.
It's nice to see photos of this pretty place when it's getting gray outside most everywhere. We even had a frost here in Florida last night! Happy Monday!
Uma casa preciosa. Tudo em perfeita harmonia.
How lovely and such a contrst to the high desert of Oregon. We have had snow off and on and it's a wintry day.
Tthank you for hosting and sharing your beautiful surroundings.
WOW! What a magnificent place. I love thwe cobbletone path. Beautiful!
I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving, Mary!
I am enjoying your garden visit series. Love joining in.
What a beautiful place - Thanks for sharing your visit there!
I did not get a mosaic together to share this week, but want to say thanks for hosting again this week.
What beautiful photos and what a beautiful spot. It is so nice to see some green and flowers when mine are all but gone.
What a beautiful place! The stone work is gorgeous and the design is fantastic. I love the formal look. Thank you for hosting.
Mary, what a beautiful place!!! You captured it in all it's lovely elegance! Those cobblestone pavers are gorgeous!!!
Now off to do some visiting!
That is quite the show garden isnt it? Lovely photos.
Those gardens are amazing! I would love to be strolling through them right about now.
Hi Mary, thanks for sharing such a great garden, and thank you for hosting.
It's a really lovely garden!


How to enter Huawei nova 3 recovery mode ?
Release all buttons when the Huawei nova 3 screen flickers and in a few seconds the Recovery screen will appear.
Interested in tips and tricks about your Huawei nova 3?


Party - Boylesque - Burlesque - Drag Superstars ConDRAGulations!
Eleganza Extravaganza has landed in Vienna!
We are very excited to announce Adore Delano from season 6 of RuPaul's Drag Race as our host and live act for Imperial Madness - "Easter Honeymoon" on April. 5th, 2015 at Chaya Fuera!
Imperial Madness is a series of club events produced by Jacques Patriaque. It started out as the aftershow party of the first Boylesque Festival Vienna at Chaya Fuera in May 2014 and has since taken on a life of its own, due to its great success. RuPaul's Drag Race contestants host the events — on April 5th Adore Delano will greet the audience — whose performances undoubtedly bring international hit potential to Vienna. International Boy-, Bur-, Drag- and Queerlesque stars grace the stage, as well as popular EDM DJs. Imperial Madness is much more than just a party — performances, dance and great hosts, along with "hilarious" drag queens from the U.S. With all this, Imperial Madness earns its spot as a new sparkling and dazzling highlight of the queer scene. Shantay, you stay!


Yesterday, Cesar Gracie had his say on the circumstances surrounding Nick Diaz failing to turn up to this past weekend's World Jiu-Jitsu Expo where he was due to face Braulio Estima in a BJJ superfight, and now it's Estima's turn to put forward his version of events.
Estima's response seems fairly reasonable and overall I must admit to feeling a bit sorry for him given that Diaz is well known for going AWOL, yet Estima has still been subjected to some flack over this situation.
Read his statement below and judge for yourselves.
"1st- When Junior approached me to offer me the fight I was actually training at the Blackzilians at the time so obviously I was training MMA. Junior told me about Nick not wanting to fight an MMA fighter. I never fought before so [Junior] said it was fine & why [didn't you] cancel the fight before if this was really an issue..??
2nd- Nobody has ever bended no rules for me. Because there was no rules set to start off with, it wasn't going to be a UFC match but a superfight on a BJJ Expo so the whole point here was for us to show a fight.. has Nick signed a contract that stated the date time and weight that we both need to reach? I didn't. And since this whole thing was going to be a friendly event I really don't see any issue here even if Nick turned up 10lbs overweight. Still when asked I went and dropped the weight to meet the requirement. Actually to put things straight it was myself that called Junior around 10pm Friday to check if there is going to be a weigh in at all. He kept contacting you and got back to me saying I need to be 180 that time, of course I said I can't for the simple reason I was away in Irvine and it was already late at night but I said sure no problem I'll make it first thing in the morning if needed, even if it would put me in a bigger disadvantage I didn't care I just came to fight. Junior had actually called me back no later than midnight that he spoke to you and confirmed the weigh in for 10am.
Besides when did Nick actually weigh in? And who witnessed that if we are being so strict and professional?
3rd – You are saying Nick had left by 10am Saturday morning? Why you never said anything then? I even asked you I'd like to see him and his weight and you said he's not gonna come down because he ate already and wouldn't make the weight anymore. And Lana, after speaking to you, called his room and said he was actually there sleeping. Nobody at any point had mentioned he could have left. Leaving me believing we would fight till the very last minute, now you're talking about lack of professionalism in the organisation of the superfight and this was very professional behaviour right?


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☰ Menu | 🔍 Search // Main // Contributors (A→Z) // Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel (January 11, 1907 – December 23, 1972) was a Polish-born American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, authored a number of widely read books on Jewish philosophy and was active in the civil rights movement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel
Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung | Prayer as Expression and Empathy, by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1939)
Contributed on: 27 Aug 2018 by Aharon N. Varady (translation) | Aharon N. Varady (transcription) | Abraham Joshua Heschel | ❧
Abraham Joshua Heschel's essay "Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung" published in Monatsschrift Für Geschichte Und Wissenschaft Des Judenthums, vol. 83 (1939). . . .
"On Prayer," by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1969)
Contributed on: 10 Aug 2018 by Abraham Joshua Heschel | ❧
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel's speech, "On Prayer," delivered at an inter-religious convocation held under the auspices of the U.S. Liturgical Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 28, 1969. His talk was printed in the journal Conservative Judaism v.25:1 Fall 1970, p.1-12. . . .
"Prayer," by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1945)
The essay, "Prayer," by Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel, then Associate Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Hebrew Union College, published in Review of Religion vol. 9 no. 2, January 1945. . . .
The Pious Man, a prayer-poem by Mordecai Kaplan adapted from the essay "An Analysis of Piety" by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1942)
Contributed on: 13 Jul 2018 by Aharon N. Varady (transcription) | Mordecai Kaplan | Abraham Joshua Heschel | ❧
"The Pious Man" is a prayer-poem from Mordecai Kaplan's diary entry, September 19, 1942, on the virtue of piety as expressed in an essay published earlier that year by Abraham Joshua Heschel. Piety was a Roman virtue, but in this essay, A.J. Heschel appears to be describing an idealization of Ḥasidut. . . .
"The Spirit of Jewish Prayer," by Abraham Joshua Heschel (1953)
"The Spirit of Jewish Prayer," by Abraham Joshua Heschel was a speech given at the Fifty-Third Annual Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of America which took place at the Breakers Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey from Tammuz 9 to Tammuz 14, 5713 (June 22 To June 27, 1953). The speech was subsequently published in the Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly of America v.17. . . .


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Home/News/Mampintsha Launches His Own Original Shandis Gin
Mampintsha Launches His Own Original Shandis Gin
John Jabulani Send an email 17 September 2020
Mampintsha set to launch his own original shandis gin as he expands his brand.
You know how 2020 has been a very tough year for many, it has also inspired quite a lot of people to do more. Gqom star, Mampintsha now joins the growing list of celebs who own their own brand of drinks. Kelly Khumalo and DJ Sbu will be welcoming him.
Mampintsha To Launch Own Gin Brand in December 15 September 2020
Mampintsha Biography: Real Name, Net Worth, Age, Wife, House, Cars, Music, Awards, Education… 16 July 2020
The former Big Nuz member took to his Instagram to share a video of his very own original shandis gin which is set to launch in December. He urged his fans to bless his hustle and also to wish him luck. Of course, he will need a lot of it.
The talented artists dropped his new album, "Bhut'madlisa" and it has since gained a lot of love from his fans all over the country. We all can't wait to taste the gin. That's something to look forward to.
https://www.ubetoo.com/wp-content/uploads/mampintsha-launches-his-own-original-shandis-gin-2020-09-17_12-02-54_186882-www.ubetoo.com.mp4
Mampintsha


Professionall serviced. No trailer-kept high and dry year round! 200hp Johnson, 80 gal fuel tank,stainless prop, fish finder/depth/speed-garmin,vhf radio, anchors,live bait well,new bimini and seats. Must see! Clean, fast and reliable!


I took up photography as a hobby after college and immediately dove into the deep end with my Sony A65. Over the years I have cultivated my style and techniques specializing in candid photography for large-scale festivals, concerts, and conventions. Now that I have gotten pretty comfortable with my candid work, I have begun expanding my capabilities working on posed subjects and simulated studio shoots. I now carry dual Sony A77 mk II bodies with a wide array of lenses to best fit the situation I walk into.


Of course, like everyone knows, the best part of FA is the people, from the other participants to the terrific instructors, this is a place where you are encouraged, supported and pushed to succeed. It truly has become like a family to me. This has been especially true when it comes to pushing yourself to not only explore your "why" did you join FA, but when also trying to figure out how best to make FA suit your own personality and needs. Each captain that I have had has encouraged me to dig deep and I have learned things about myself that I have been ignoring/avoiding for years. The understanding and encouragement that I have experienced on the team pages and inner circle has given me the strength and determination to believe in myself and never, ever give up. But when it comes down to it, I have learned the most from the Friday night live results. It sometimes feels like Bonnie is speaking directly to me, although I know so many of us are all experiencing these issues at some point in our journey, it always feels like I am hearing them at the exact right moment for me. I am so grateful to Bonnie and to everyone who is a part of FA for being a part of my life and for being the supportive tribe that allows me to have the determination to know that while I have goals, it is all about the journey! Thank you all, I love you!


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You are here: Home / lee filters
Concave Waterfall
153/366: Concave Waterfall A photograph of the Timber Creek waterfall showing the concave structure of the waterfalls. As with many things in nature, shapes and geometry have a large role in what we see. I loved the concave attribute of…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Timber-Creek-Waterfalls-The-Cave.jpg 1138 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-06-01 16:21:342016-11-09 15:26:18Concave Waterfall
Lake Hefner Lighthouse
152/366: Lake Hefner Lighthouse Another shot of the Lake Hefner Lighthouse in Oklahoma City, except this time in color. I loved the way the sun illuminated the rocks in this photograph.. it is a beautifully soft yellow and adds a nice shadowing…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Lake-Hefner-Lighthouse.jpg 1090 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-05-31 14:11:032016-11-09 15:58:39Lake Hefner Lighthouse
Fields of Green
148/366: Fields of Green On my road trip up to Oklahoma City, I decided to take a mini detour and head over to Turner Falls. On the way there, I saw these beautiful fields of green layered for as far as the eye could see. I pulled over…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Fields-of-Green.jpg 1321 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-05-27 16:23:212016-06-29 16:20:44Fields of Green
Lighthouse Lake Hefner - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
147/366: Lighthouse Lake Hefner - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Probably my favorite photo from our trip to Oklahoma City, the Lighthouse on Lake Hefner. We got there and it was very cloudy, with peeks of sun though the clouds, the wind was gusting…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Lighthouse-Lake-Hefner-Oklahoma-City-Oklahoma.jpg 1335 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-05-26 15:34:502016-11-09 15:58:40Lighthouse Lake Hefner - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
The Sound of Waterfalls
143/366: The Sound of Waterfalls Close your eyes and picture a serene, remote, isolated waterfall in the middle of a forest. Surrounded by trees, chirping birds, mallard ducks and peace. The sound of the water falling overtakes any other…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Long-Exposure-Waterfall-Photography.jpg 1017 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-05-22 15:27:512016-11-09 15:26:19The Sound of Waterfalls
Nature is a Canvas
142/366: Nature is a Canvas Nature is a canvas painted in beauty and delight. Nature is a canvas I can stare at all night. Nature is a canvas and I am the artist. I paint what I see in the form of photograph. It was a beautiful afternoon…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Timber-Creek-Waterfall-Nature-Is-A-Canvas.jpg 1165 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-05-21 18:43:422016-06-29 16:20:48Nature is a Canvas
Little Waterfalls
140/366: Little Waterfalls I got up close and personal with a little waterfall yesterday. I loved the simplicity of this waterfall. So perfect it it's outright beauty, it even carries a memory from the Fall. The trees in the background were…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Big-Stopper-on-a-small-waterfall.jpg 1185 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-05-19 13:30:532016-06-29 16:20:49Little Waterfalls
The Big Stopper Waterfalls
139/366: The Big Stopper Waterfalls I set out on an adventure this afternoon to use my new Big Stopper from Lee Filters for the first time. The weather was cloudy and gloomy, it had rained the night before and the waterfalls were certainly…
http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Stone-Creek-Waterfalls-using-Lee-Filters-Big-Stopper.jpg 1163 2000 Cathy Neth http://thedook.com/365/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/facebookpreviewphoto.jpg Cathy Neth2016-05-18 17:52:382016-06-29 16:20:49The Big Stopper Waterfalls


Today I saw an article on YOU Magazine's website, about the death of 'Get me to 21' organ donor campaigner Jenna Lowe. Sadly she did get an organ transplant at the end of last year but still passed away.
On Facebook, below the article link many commented along the lines of "so sad", only 2 said that they are organ donors. Despite the fact that Jenna did get a transplant, and it was unsucessful, I feel that the most fitting tribute to her would be to do what she asked people to do and sign up as Organ Donors, with the organ donor foundation. Social media makes it so easy for us to pontificate, without taking any action in the real world. Here is an opportunity to do something great from the simple comfort of your keyboard.
Assuming that the Post Office do their part (In my case the post office took 9 months to deliver), you receive an organ donor card by mail, along with red stickers to place on your drivers licence and ID document. Tell your family and next of kin about your decision.
Go on don't just comment, DO SOMETHING! Do something, to honour Jenna and potentially save 7 lives.
I'm an organ donor and have informed my parents that if my organs can be used to save a life after my death, then they must ensure that this happens. Thanks for creating awareness Sula.