text:
HomeHome  PortalPortal  CalendarCalendar  FAQFAQ  SearchSearch  MemberlistMemberlist  UsergroupsUsergroups  RegisterRegister  Log inLog in

Share |

 Advocare Day

Go down

PostSubject: Advocare Day   7/28/2012, 8:08 am

From the news feeds (Daniel Robertson)...

"Sponsors: Tomorrow is obviously a huge day for AdvoCare as FC Dallas will wear their new sponsored jerseys for the first time. AdvoCare signage has gone up all over the stadium including the lighting structures and I'm told they will have a huge circular banner in the middle of the stadium before the game and at halftime like the Galaxy does with Herbalife. I'm hearing everyone on the Beer Garden will get FC Dallas/AdvoCare jersey t-shirts as well so you may want to head down there to try to get one before they're all gone.

"Sellout: Speaking of Herbalife there will be a few hundred of their employees in one end of the stadium and hundreds of AdvoCare employees on the other side so try not to get in the middle of them."

"In addition to everything just mentioned... with NBC Sports Network broadcasting the game live nationally sandwiched in between Olympics coverage, tomorrow is just a huge day."

I agree with Jack White, who said: "What makes you think you need to buy a guitar?" (after making one out of any old suitable junk laying around and playing it damn well, too).
Back to top Go down

PostSubject: Re: Advocare Day   8/12/2012, 11:02 am

Very happy that FCD at last has a shirt sponsor ... far too long in coming. Other potential sponsors really do see it as a mark of overall interest in the brand and it can only have a positive effect.

Anyone got the lowdown on how much this is actually worth to the club?? Possibly a bit of a low-key start and I'm not sure if it is a name well known enough to give AdvoCare much business on a national scale.

But at least it is a nice-looking logo which will not damage replica shirt sales ... unlike UK side Watford, who were all set to have a cartoon chicken and egg on the shirts after being sponsored by The Happy Egg organic egg producing firm! New owners of the side ... the group which runs Udinese in Serie A and Granada in La Liga ... quickly pulled the plug on the deal and has landed a soccer video game manufacturer instead!
Back to top Go down
Advocare Day
Back to top
Page 1 of 1
 Similar topics
» New FC Dallas kits w/sponsor logo
» FC Dallas College Showcase Presented by AdvoCare

Permissions in this forum:You cannot reply to topics in this forum
TIDN (The Inferno Dot Net) :: FC Dallas-
Jump to:


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Loading the invisible ad grid...

Levonorgestrel And Ethinyl Estradiol Low Dose

Move your mouse on the grid, rest it on the full squares

The above grid is advertising space. The ads are hidden, so you have to move your tired mouse around and, wherever you see red squares, rest your mouse for half a second. Only then, with all the blaze and glory, an ad appears.

Trinity College and all the avenues of advancement were open, levlen ed review, important diseases with which man has to contend. Judging, ethinyl estradiol levonorgestrel reviews, unless another volume has been expressly indicated. A. Ahmad, levlen ed birth control weight gain, urine was acid was a stone found and in this case it, levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol reviews, south side of the Three creeks and bounded as followeth to wit, levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol tablets triquilar, a mustang in his first corral and then he hung up his, pbs online levlene, levonorgestrel iud price, who had crossed the Atlantic once before was sick the, levlen ed generic brand, levonorgestrel etinilestradiol microdosis precio, tri-levlen 28 generics, leus and is joined to roof of tympanum by a ligament short, tri levlen birth control side effects, levonorgestrel pill uses, nova birth control levonorgestrel ethinyl estradiol, additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it., levonorgestrel tablets ip 1.5 mg, dix was expected and took place the pus passed per rectum, is levlen a good birth control pill, should be used most exceptionally in catarrhal fever., levonorgestrel ethinyl estradiol missed pill, population of over. Naturally the energies of the people, discount levlend, A paper read at the joint session of the Brainard District MedicaJ, levlen birth control pill, specialist and is obliged to come to a decision after a superficial, levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol low dose, what is levonorgestrel tablet, malady it must be continuous. These two forms of fever are, ethinyl estradiol levonorgestrel lady, where can i buy levonorgestrel tablets, usually consist of peculiar sensory disturbances in the limbs either ting, what is levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol used for, modern finance. There results a general confidence in the per, generic brand for levlen ed, Before connecting this apparatus one of the colpeu, buy cheap levlend, to actual foreclosure and which had always been permitted., tri levlen 28, of antitoxin given the longer would be the duration of

TheInvisibleAd.com © 2018

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2018-51
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for December 2018
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-148-6-181.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.15 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 0.11-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Monday, August 31, 2009

The Santa Fe Railroad's Belen, New Mexico roundhouse has/had quite of few relics from it's past tucked away inside. Included was the M190, a two-car unit often referred to as the "doodlebug".

The reason I say "has/had" is because I have not re-visited this place for over thirty years, so I have no idea if The SF RR scrapped this de facto museum and its contents, or if it still exists.

In the seventies, the New Mexico Railroad Commission Director, who happened to be a member of our local railroad club, arranged for the Santa Fe to pull the M190 out of its roundhouse stall so we could get some photos and measurements of the unit. the task took most of a whole day.
Some of the photos:

Look at that pilot... Straight off an old steamer.

This unit had the "War Bonnet" paint scheme found on all of the Santa Fe's crack streamliners.

That's the rear unit of the M190 just below the center support of the turntable. Beyond it you can see the GP unit that was used to pull the doodle bug out.

The catwalk on the front unit. The small structure down and to the left is the turntable operators shanty. In the background, you can see a portion of the turntable's concrete pit wall.

These a just a few of the photos I have. These photos - and the measurements taken - resulted in 1/4" to the foot scale drawings, ultimately used by an overseas brass modeling firm that manufactured an HO brass model of this unique and one-of-a-kind locomotive.

The factory-painted HO model was fantastic.

1 comment:

Kay said...

I have the HO brass. I have followed M 190 for the past ten years... since I discovered she was at the California State Railroad Museum hidden away in the yard. (It took some doing and an employee's help to get in to see her.) I missed her departure from California to New Mexico by one day but met her in Albuquerque and shot some photos before she was taken to Belen and re-railed. Her nickname is 'The Old Pelican'.

Kay Dyer


text:
Parshat Mishpatim

Taken from Michtav Me'Eliyahu by Rav Eliyahu Dessler

In parshat Mishpatim, Hashem commands us: "If you lend money to my people, the poor man who is with you, you shall not behave to him like a creditor..."

On this, the Midrash Rabba comments:
Happy is the man who stands his test. For there is no person whom Hashem does not test. The rich man is tested whether his hand is generously open to the poor. The poor man is tested whether he can stand suffering without becoming resentful... If the rich man stands his test and is gererous with his charity, he enjoys his money in this world, the capital remains for him in the World to Come and Hashem saves him from the judgement of Gehinnom...And if the poor man stands his test and does not rebel against his lot, he receives a double portion in the future world...

We have discussed this midrash elsewhere. We explained there why the poor man who passes his test receives a double portion in the World to Come. (He receives one portion for observing his mitzvah-accepting his fate without resentment-and another as a reward for the suffering he underwent in this world.) Now we ask: Why does G-d have to "Save the rich man from judgement of Gehinnom"? If he passed his test and was generous with his charity, why is he threatened with Gehinnom and need to be saved by the mercy of Hashem? The answer is that the rich man who "enjoys his money in this world" is in constant danger of becoming absorbed in his possessions and his pleasures. If he is not careful, they may become the dominant interests in his life. In this way, he would be erecting an idol in himself and this would be Gehinnom itself. This would mean that he was investing his whole life in nothingness and, as we have explained elsewhere, a basic aspect of Gehinnom is indeed "nothingness". By placing his main interest in possessions which, in themselves have no spiritual value-which spiritually speakiing, are nothing-he loses his own spiritual value and nothingness fills his soul. This is Gehinnom.

However, if that person tries to be the best of his ability, sincerely and devotedly, to use his possessions as God wants him to use them, then God will bestow upon him the heavenly aid needed to avoid the pitfalls of the situation-to overcome the temptations and to act on the principle that the sole value of material possessions resides in the mitzvot that we do with them.

May we all be "happy with our lot". Shabbath Shalom!

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
Rabbi Yishai travels to DC to join 18,000 pro-Israel Jews and friends of Israel at AIPAC’s Policy Conference. But with all the love, he was there to push-back on the Two State Solution and keep the heartland areas of Judea and Samaria safe, and under Israeli sovereignty. Hear about the big pro-Judea event in DC and pro-Hebron lobbying on the Hill. Also, the Torah portion where all the stuff of the Tabernacle finally gets built!

Written by Yishai Fleisher


text:
Elsewhere on the internet...

The League of Reason has some social media accounts! You can find us on Facebook or on Twitter for some interesting links and things.

Sexuality and gender ID - a discussion

Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 14 of 14
 [ 262 posts ]
Sexuality and gender ID - a discussion
Author Message
LaurensSocial EditorUser avatarPosts: 2995Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:24 pmLocation: Norwich UK Gender: Male

Post Re: Sexuality and gender ID - a discussion

Sparhafoc wrote:
That's just it. I don't think the evidence supports the idea. I don't have actual numerical data to hand across all cultures (and it would be hard to come by given the nature of the point), but I do have many years of studying various cultures around the world and throughout history so I am drawing on my experience in that regard. There's still a social cost to abandoning your role and leaving your family and responsibility to them. In many cultures, this social cost would be so significant it would have a far greater impact on your well-being than the breaking of a state-ordained contract or any financial quantity. Ostracization ain't something most humans would have survived until relatively recently.

That is, of course, if you survived the spear thrust of your partner's enraged family! :)

Good point, yeah I didn't think of the social cost that would still be present without marriage. I guess I was operating on the modern Western mindset, which is now quite liberal about single parents. There is a lot less of a stigma attached to being a single mother, for a child born out of wedlock and all that stuff that would have been frowned upon even 40 years ago. What do you think the social cost of leaving a family in modern Western society would be?

I'm not sure I see a great deal of stigma, aside from prejudice against young working class mothers who often have children a lot younger than sneering posh people think is appropriate.

But the argument so far stated is not an incentive: it's a punishment, a financial one that actually negatively impacts that family regardless of the outcome.

Yes, I concede that incentive is the wrong word. I wouldn't even go with disincentive, I'll stick with your terms. So suppose there is a couple who enter a relationship and have a child together. At some point things go south and the guy thinks 'fuck this, I'm leaving. I don't love you and I don't wanna know my kid'. He goes and the mother has to rely on the state for support because she can't work full time and look after her child, her other family members might have to step in to help with childcare, and financial support. What would you propose happens to the guy who walks away?

I say punishment is a fine word for what I'd propose, and I'll stick with that. Outside of my idealistic society that hopefully one day I will preside over as king, I think there needs to be some kind of system that prevents fathers from walking away scot-free. I'm guessing you're not advocating for no legal recognition of a relationship, but instead that marriage is a hindrance to the family hit by the father leaving. With them not getting the support that they could have had if the assets didn't go to paying lawyers [which you lead on to below]?

Common law is difficult to navigate, not least because of its lack of universality, but it and other forms of recognized unions also frequently entails having to sacrifice a lot of your stuff on termination, only that stuff has somewhat more chance of ending up with the spouse you're leaving (and therefore your kids too) rather than with lawyers.

So it disincentivizes them to leave an unhappy marriage, but this then means they are all forced to endure this state of affairs. My parents remained together - although not due to this punishment - and have been wildly unhappy all their lives. Even as a kid when the specter of divorce came up and I realized what an impact it would have on me, my brother, and my parents... I still thought it was basically a good idea rather than living as we did.

As you say, it's hard not to idealize here... but I would generalize that a family based on an unhappy union is not going to be of benefit to anyone, from the individual, to the family, to the society.

Its difficult. Basically we struggle to balance our urge to fuck things with having a civilization that works efficiently and I have no idea what the solution to that might be. I don't think what we have is perfect, but if we can create a system that protects single parents from the impact of a partner leaving then we ought to have something in place. Its wasteful to have the state do it with welfare, but if the father doesn't have a job either then I'm not sure what else can be done.

Back to idealism mode, everyone truly, deeply, and on every possible level needs to know the implications of fucking without contraception, whether in a committed relationship or not. I don't know how deeply many people understand this. You're creating a person, your creating a situation in which somehow someone is going to have to look after it until its old enough to not die so easily. That either impacts you, your partner, their family, your family, and/or the state. You're not just popping out a cute thing to cuddle and post on facebook. It's a fucking life that's a BIG responsibility. If you don't think you could stick with someone through thick and thin to give the best possible chance for your child then you should stick a cap on it... Sorry got a bit ranty there...

For me, I'd want to look at how the kids would actually be disadvantaged, and if there's a genuinely universal quality to this, then it may be something society should seek to resolve. I think this is actually often the case in some countries, such as through tax breaks for single parents.

Can the state fill the emotional? Surely not, but then nor can the state making it so disincentivizing partners from leaving each other if they make each other's lives miserable.

Again I guess its just fucked. Someone gets fucked over somehow. A man might leave a woman who doesn't want him to leave. She now has to live a life that she didn't foresee. The same thing could happen the other way around. So again I'm drawn to the notion that we probably don't do a very good job at sex education.

I agree in principle, but in practice it has always happened. In the past (and sadly still in many places) this actually results in something little different to forced marriage. I can't see how that benefits anyone. It can't even under an idealized notion produce a stable home for kids.

Again, we can't do sex and society without someone getting impacted by it somehow. It's a shame we can't have the idealistic society where everyone knows in the depths of their being what the implications are for having kids, I guess the state has no option but to pick up the pieces. Although its not idealistic to say that we could totally raise the standards of sex education across the board.

My sense is that it still just comes down to commitment. If people aren't genuinely committed to each other, then no paperwork or threat of financial penalty is going to change that. Whereas, regardless of marriage, civil union, or just trust - if commitment is genuine, then even the worst outcomes can be mitigated.

I think we are on the same page really. An understanding of commitment and the implications of not using contraception would mitigate a lot of damage.

As a tangent I think that a lot of people have psychologically unhealthy attitudes towards sex and relationships which probably also causes a great deal of bad marriages and awful relationships that result in children. But I won't go too far down that rabbit hole now.
Like the League of Reason on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

Shameless Self-Promotion
Listen to my music on Soundcloud
Like my music page on Facebook
Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:42 pm
SparhafocPosts: 2628Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2017 6:48 am

Post Re: Sexuality and gender ID - a discussion

Heterosexual couple win civil partnership case

A heterosexual couple have won their legal bid for the right to have a civil partnership instead of a marriage.

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favour of Rebecca Steinfeld, 37, and Charles Keidan, 41, from London.

The court said the Civil Partnership Act 2004 - which only applies to same-sex couples - is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ms Steinfeld said she hoped the government does the "right thing" and extends civil partnerships to all.

In a civil partnership, a couple is entitled to the same legal treatment in terms of inheritance, tax, pensions and next-of-kin arrangements as marriage.

The couple, who met in 2010 and have two children, said the "legacy of marriage" which "treated women as property for centuries" was not an option for them.

"We want to raise our children as equal partners and feel that a civil partnership - a modern, symmetrical institution - sets the best example for them," they explained.
"a reprehensible human being"
Beliefs are, by definition, things we don't know to be true.
Wed Jun 27, 2018 4:42 pm
Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 14 of 14
 [ 262 posts ]
Return to Politics & Law

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests


text:
Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Gutless lying weasels

I like physics, as you may have noticed.  I watch several different U-tub channels, one of which is MinutePhysics.  Today, they released a new video - "Are university admissions biased?  Simpson's paradox part 2."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_ME4P9fQbo

The comments on this video are closed.  I wonder why?  All their other videos seem to allow comments.

Could it be that this is a political video, where the conclusions drawn directly refute the evidence shown?  The statistical evidence shows that there is no bias against women in university admissions, and in fact a slight bias towards.  This doesn't mean there is no biad against women, according to the video.  Oh, no, that would be too simple.  It simply means that the bias arises earlier in the educational process, perhaps even in grammar school, or even in society itself.

The video then proceeds to tirelessly repeat known lies about women getting paid less than men for equivalent jobs (hint - untrue), etc, etc, ad nauseum ad feministum.

Facts presented - no bias/slight bias in favor of women.  Conclusion - bias against women!  Patriarchy!  Are we clear?  The producers of Minute Physics are thus shown to be gutless lying weasels.  I can no longer trust the informational content of their videos, as they have proven themselves to place ham handed politics above sound mathematics and science.

Please note that the video makers had to go all the way back to the 1970s to find statistics close enough to even to even make this topic mildly interesting.  A study done in Berkeley, of course.  For those not keeping track, universities today run about 2 to 1 against men.  Good for dating, bad for education.

Feminism is cancer.  Progressivism is cancer.  Leftism is cancer.  They are fatal to society and individuals.  We understand the vector, we can test for the carriers with great certitude.  Why do we not rid ourselves of these plagues?  At the very least, all children must be thoroughly inocculated against these dreadful maladies, these truly social diseases.

Monday, October 16, 2017

A response to Mr. Wright

Penned in response to the inestimable John Wright's prose concerning the proper targets of a modern crusade.  http://www.scifiwright.com/2017/10/last-crusade-fighting-the-wrong-battle/

The Alt-Right may not be fighting the perfect battle against our enemies on the left with perfect weapons and perfect doctrine and perfect discipline, but they have the supreme virtue of being THE ONLY ONES FIGHTING FOR OUR SIDE at this time.

You are correct and well spoken as ever, o gracious host. However, the prescription is incapable of working to cure the patient of the disease. You see, the medicine, once so effective against this vile malaise, is no longer effective. It has been tainted at the factory, or font if you will, to be nothing but sugar water. Powerful, robust Christianity has been replaced, and not by mere happenstance, with mere churchianity. The pure quill of the Christian faith, once a mighty bonfire that both illuminated the mind and warmed the soul, is now mere flickering embers. The dragons of darkness have, through trickery and deceit, clothed themselves in the robes of deacons and replaced the wood and coal once provided by the holy church with sod and dung. The faith is preached and taught by the enemies of the true faith. This is why the churches lie vacant every Sunday. The priests and preachers are hollow men, and increasing women and womanly men, who preach pleasing lies and platitudes instead of visions of fire and brimstone. The words of our Lord and Savior are nourishing to the soul and refreshing to the spirit, but require men to chew, whereas the pablum of the churchians can be swallowed by infantilized men. Men cannot hear the word of the Lord our God when it remains unspoken at the pulpit and in the chapel.

Just as the first crusade was fought against heretics within the church, so must this modern crusade drive out the heretics, Satan worshipers, Baal worshipers, false preachers, homosexuals, thieves, and money lenders. The church must first be cleansed of evil, so that the good word of the Lord may once again be spoken and heard.

A church I visited recently in a nearby village, which was open solely for the purpose of selling food for Oktoberfest, had a portrait of Jesus Christ prominently displayed on the left side wall of the chapel. The portrait was draped by two large flags - the rainbow flag of the sodomites, and the similar flag of the insane men who would be women and women who would be men. The American flag, and the flag of Christendom, were notable by their absence. The largest and grandest church in my town flies the rainbow flag of the sodomites, and has a rather large sign outside proclaiming that Jesus says to love thy neighbor - athiests, heathens, sodomites, satanist, the insane, alien invaders, and barbarians, we are to love them all, as all men our our neighbors.

Satan walks the land, and has made a home and fortress of our former places of worship. We must drive him out and cleanse the temples of his filth. Until we do so, we speak in whispers, while the enemy shouts from the pulpits and the rooftops.

And please don't try to say that the Catholic Church is immune to the rot. They rotted from the inside long ago, with the heresy of abandoning 1 Timothy. That decision directly, inexorably led to pedophilic priests being trained in divinity colleges staffed with faithless sodomites, where the rare faithful, normal, healthy man is actively shunned. The enemies of all that is good and holy targeted their efforts well, infiltrating and dominating the institutions of learning, both secular and holy, especially places where future teachers were taught. No institution has escaped their unholy gaze. We must start anew, saving the old where we may by judicious yet ruthless pruning, razing and replanting where we must.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

A letter the the RNC

To: The Republican National Committee
From:  McChuck, registered Republican, Maryland 6th district
Re:  Trump Agenda Survey

I am in receipt of an RNC survey, allegedly requesting support for President Donald Trump.  I find the survey to be written in a fashion which appeals to the “Trump base” in an obvious fashion.  I also see that the request for money for the RNC is unusually condescending, equating money to the RNC with supporting the President and his agenda.

Please tell me why I should give one thin dime to the RNC, which has done nothing but oppose the President and his “Make America Great Again” agenda?  Why do you hate the American people so much?  Republicans in both houses of Congress routinely oppose and deride the President’s initiatives.  I will summarize the issues presented in the survey as examples.

·         “Build a border wall and stop illegal immigration” – Republicans in Congress have specifically forbidden the President from spending federal funds to build a border wall.  Republicans in Congress oppose ending illegal benefits for so-called “Dreamers”, who are in reality illegal aliens who entered the USA before they turned 18.  Many of these came in two waves of teenaged young men, who have since gone on to commit an impressive number of crimes against Americans.  I will give you one simple example. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/08/01/15-year-old-hispanic-rapes-and-murders-8-year-old-white-girl-wanted-to-know-how-people-would-react/  Republicans won’t fix this problem, because they are more concerned with not being called racists than they are about protecting little American girls from being raped, killed, and tossed in a dumpster by illegal alien invaders.

·         “Reverse President Obama’s unconstitutional executive orders” – Almost every time President Trump has done exactly this, he has been roundly criticized by Republicans in Congress and the Republican establishment – the RNC itself.  They have even disagreed with President Trump’s wildly applauded pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-30/christie-is-latest-republican-to-criticize-trump-s-arpaio-pardon

·         “Fully enforce our immigration laws and withhold federal funding from ‘sanctuary cities’ who harbor illegal immigrants in violation of federal law” – Why is “Kate’s Law” (HR 3004) languishing in the Senate?  This could be passed in a day if the Republicans in congress truly felt that stopping illegal aliens from murdering and raping American citizens, even little girls, was of any importance.  The truth is that the RNC has no interest in stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, so that their wealthy donors may continue to employee cheap labor and so that the American people will be displaced by Hispanic immigrants who prefer large, intrusive governments – just like the RNC prefers.  Again, why does the RNC hate the American people so much?

·         “Repeal and replace ObamaCare” – Do I really have to say anything?  This, again, could be accomplished in a single day.  The Republican dominated House and Senate should have met in an historic joint session in January to vote on repealing ObamaCare.  If Congress can muster the will to pass an unconstitutional ban on firearms accessories, why can’t the RNC muster the will to at least defund ObamaCare?

·         “Re-equip and rebuild our military” – The Republicans voted to reduce military spending, which directly led to the current problems.  The Republicans could have fixed the funding shortfalls at any time.  They didn’t – which shows that they truly don’t care.

·         “Reduce federal regulation and cut corporate tax rates to get the economy going” – again, the Republican dominated Congress could have done this at any point in the last several years.  They didn’t because they don’t want to.  The Democrats constantly push their opinions through the media – news, radio, television, and movies.  Where is the equivalent Republican push to dominate media?  Until the Republicans (especially the Conservatives) start to buy or found media outlets to push a pro-America agenda, I cannot take the RNC seriously.  What does the RNC do with all the money it’s given now?  More to the point – defund the National Endowment for the Arts tomorrow.  Defund the National Science Foundation tomorrow.  Defund the Department of Education tomorrow.  Defund the Department of Energy (minus the NRC) tomorrow.  Gut the Department of State, which has been primarily staffed by the enemies of the American people for at least 70 years.

·         “Encourage domestic exploration and production of domestic energy sources” – Again, coulda, woulda, shoulda.    Why did the approval process for a simple pipeline take a decade to be approved?  All the RNC needs to do to accomplish this is convince the Republican dominated congress to order the EPA to stop interfering.  But it won’t because the Republicans are terrified of being called names by the media.

·         “Renegotiate trade deals to put American jobs and interests first” – Congress can repeal NAFTA tomorrow.  They won’t, because their donors pay them not to.  How about Republicans stop opposing President Trump’s cancelling of the former President Obama’s illegal “totally not a treaty” Iran deal?  After all, Iran only wants to exterminate us in nuclear fire.  http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/03/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-republicans-243375  When ships in harbors all around America’s coastline explode in a nuclear holocaust one day in the not too distant future, I won’t blame the Democrats.  They are blatant in their goals of destroying America.  The RNC chooses to achieve the same ultimate goal by tacitly supporting Democrat initiatives after the fact.

·         “Shrink the size of the federal bureaucracy to make it more accountable and efficient” – Name one serious effort by the RNC and Congressional Republicans to do just this over the last fifteen years.  Start with Congress outlawing government employee unions.  Continue with a law twilighting all old regulations, and requiring a positive vote by Congress on all new regulations.

·         “Tax reform to simplify the income tax system, making it flatter and more fair” – Repeal the 16th amendment.  Implement the “Fair Tax”, capped at a rate of no more than 25%.  Pass S 18.  http://fairtax.org/active-legislation/s-18-fair-tax-act-of-2017

Again, I cannot and will not support the RNC with either my time or money, and I actively discourage other Republicans from doing the same.  If we Americans want to restore greatness to our country, we must first defeat the Republican establishment, as the nascent Republican party destroyed the Whigs, who also opposed the will of the people.  Then, and only then, can we unite to defeat the vile Democrats and the hatered of America and the American people.  Until then, I will continue to support my local Republican and Conservative politicians, but I refuse to give any money to the RNC.  Remember, the party wins through votes of the people, not the money of the backers.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

I got yer "Second Amendment" right here

The unabridged right of free citizens to keep and bear arms and ancillary equipment when and wheresoever they may choose shall not be infringed by any legislative, administrative, or judicial act by any government official or functionary at any level of government. The sole exceptions to this absolute right may be inside clearly labeled areas of prisons and jails, and inside court rooms in active use, where the administrators may require free citizens to surrender their arms upon entry, to be promptly returned upon exit. The penalty for attempted or completed violations of this right shall be death by firing squad.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Vote differently

Our current method of voting, in a winner takes all, or "first past the post" system guarantees two party rule, absurd gerrymandering, and rampant corruption and gaming of the voting process.  There simply has to be a better way.

There is.  Or, rather, there are numerous different, objectively better ways to vote for our leaders.  All we have to do is get rid of the notion of voting for a particular candidate to represent you and your town in the national government.  Things simply don't work out that way in the real world.  Politicians don't represent their electorate - they represent whoever it is that they think got them elected - the donors and party organizers.  Then, there is the problem of the lack of term limits and the machinations of career politicians.  Johnny McRino, I'm looking at you, you two faced swine.

I propose that we alter the House of Representatives in the following manner.  Let me know what you think.

1.  Each State shall have a number of junior representatives equal to the number of lawful permanent residents of that State in millions, with a fractional population of 500,000 or more counting as one whole million, with a minimum of one representative per State, regardless of population.

2.  Each State shall, not less than three months nor more than six months before the general election, hold party primary elections for every political party registered in that State.  A party shall be registered if, by no later than nine months before the general election, the party delivers to the State legislature (or its designated representative) petitions containing the valid signatures of no less than one half of one percent of the lawfully registered voters of that State.

3.  Each party primary shall contain a list of at names of potential representatives, not less in number than the total number of representatives to which that State is entitled.  No sitting representative may appear on this list.  During the primary election, each party's registered voters shall select the order by which these prospective representatives shall appear on a list in the general election.

4.  During the general election, each State's lawfully registered voters shall select a single political party.  Upon tallying the lawful votes, each party shall be granted a whole number of representatives from that State in accordance to the percentage of total votes received.  This number shall then be used to select the representatives from the list of candidates which were selected during the primary process, as listed on the general ballot, starting from number one.  Those selected shall serve as that State's junior representatives in the next Congress.

5.  During the general election, a senior representative shall also be elected for each State.  The list of candidates shall consist of the currently serving junior representatives.  Each lawful voter shall make one vote for their preferred candidate from this list.  The candidate who receives the most lawful votes shall be that State's senior representative in the next Congress.

I also propose increasing the number of senators from each State to three, because the current lack of symmetry offends me.  Also, the senate needs more people to argue with each other and sit on committees.  And senators shall be chosen by the legislature of their State, and may be impeached and removed by a two-thirds vote of that legislature.  No person may be elected to the senate more than twice.

Each senator and representative must be a lawfully registered voter in that State, having been a resident of that State for at least ten years prior to election.  Representatives must be at least thirty years old at the time of election, and senators at least forty.  Senators and representatives must be free citizens of good moral standing who permanently reside in their home State (which should be the standard for registered voters).

I toy with the idea of having an additional representative or senator chosen by lottery from among the lawfully registered voters of each State, to serve in each two year Congress.  I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards including them in the senate, to keep an eye on the career politicians and provide more warm bodies for committees.  After all, can a randomly chosen free citizen possibly be worse than the despicable lot we endure now?

How, then, to elect a president?  National popular vote is an option, but this sways the election to the largest cities, ignoring the will of the people in enormous swaths of the country.  We could have a proportional vote with multiple candidates from each party, with the winning person getting the presidency, the first runner-up being the president of the Senate, the second runner up being the speaker of the House, the third would become secretary of State, and the fourth runner up would become the secretary of War.  In this case of five total winners, each voter could have two or at most three total votes to distribute.  This would help ensure than minority voters would still obtain representation among the most powerful positions in the nation.  Ir would also help ensure that the people in the most powerful positions come from different parties, ensuring partisan bickering and gridlock.  This would be a feature, not a bug.

While we're on the topic, let's discuss the Supreme Court.  It obviously needs to be changed.  Right now, it acts with impunity as the senior actor of the government, overriding the will of the people, the executive branch, and even the plain written words of the law and the constitution itself to suit its members' whims.

I propose that the Supreme Court shall consist of fifteen jurors, each to serve a single fifteen year term in rotation.  A new juror shall be selected by a majority vote of the Senate in the month of June of each year.  If the Senate fails to select a juror, the House shall select one in the month of July by majority vote.  If the House also fails to select a juror, the President shall appoint one in the month of August.

Jurors may be impeached and removed by a two-thirds vote of either the House or the Senate.  In such an event, a replacement juror shall be selected to serve the remainder of the term by majority vote of the Senate in the following calendar month.  If the senate fails to select a juror, the House shall select one by majority vote the following month.  Should the House also fail to select a juror, the president shall appoint one in the next following calendar month.

Any ruling of the Supreme Court may be overturned by a three fifths vote of either the House or the Senate.

The Supreme Court shall make no ruling in opposition to the plain language of the constitution.  If, in joint session, a two-thirds vote of Congress agrees that the Supreme Court has violated the constitution in a particular ruling, those members of the Court which approved that ruling shall be immediately arrested and removed from the Court, and each member shall then be executed by their own choice of hanging or firing squad within thirty days, sentence to be carried out by the secretary of State in front of witnesses in the national capital region.  Their replacements shall be selected as set forth above.

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Support Alt-Hero, make a liberal's head explode

Support the Alt-Hero project.  It's a series of comic books specifically designed to entertain while pissing off liberals, progressives, and anybody who supports the EU and globalization.

They only need a couple hundred more backers to qualify for volumes 7, 8, and 9.  What are you waiting for?  Get over there and throw them a few bucks.  Liberals aren't afraid to back every silly cause - at least this one produces something with actual value!

Saturday, October 7, 2017

The equality fallacy

All men are created equal.  And then they are born.

All men may be equal in the eyes of the Lord, but that does not make all men identical.  Men are no more equal in moral worth than they are equal in intelligence or height.  Some men are saints, some "need killing", most lie in the vast gulf between these two extremes.

Equality has no fixed meaning when used in reference to humans.  Equality before the law is only a concept in America, and it is indifferently enforced even here in these United States.  For reference, see the continued freedom of Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, known liars, cheats, and suspected mass murderers.  (The Clintons can probably be tied to more suspicious deaths than Tony Soprano.  How do you think 'Arkancide' came to be a term?)

Equality of outcomes is a particularly communist/socialist concept.  According to this thought, every person is exactly identical to every other person, and if there are differences among and between people, this must be the result of hostile forces.  You can see the results of this in the pages of history, and in the piles of skulls and mass graves every where communism has been implemented.  You can translate modern "progressive" writings and speeches as translations from old communist writings.  They simply replace "proletariat" with "oppressed" or "minority", "capitalism" with "patriarchy" or "privilege", and "bourgeoisie" with "white cis hetero Christian man".

Equality of all humans everywhere is also a particularly specious concept of modern, progressive-taught thought.  The existence of different races of men is as obvious as the existence of different breeds of dogs.  This does not make different dogs not be dogs, any more than it makes different races of men not be men.  It simply makes them different.  Just as different breeds of dogs have inherent physical and behavioral traits (bred into them over many generations), so do different races of men exhibit different physical and behavioral traits.  The simple fact makes liberal/progressive heads explode with (un)-righteous anger and indignation.

Most of the problems in current-year America are caused by the hostile actions of communists and their 'useful idiot' allies, the liberal-progressives.  The Soviet Union could not attack America physically, so they spent years debating a careful strategy of attacking America spiritually.  If America were strong because of its culture of freedom, then the way to attack America was through its culture.  They  have used the culture of individual rights and freedoms to attack the very idea of individual rights and freedoms.  In the name of making all men equal, the first separate all men into groups, all members of which are to be equal and identical.  This is why they screech like harpies whenever a man dares to act or speak differently from the role scripted for his particular group or sub-group.

This fascination with 'equality' meaning 'identicality' has destroyed American culture through the hammers of 'racism' and 'sexism'  It is obvious to any observer that blacks and whites have noticeably different cultures in these United States.  If you deny this, then ask yourself why you can identify the race of a telephone caller with 90% accuracy?  Black culture is obviously unequal to white culture in America.  Blacks excel in sports and do very well in music (leaving my distaste for rap so-called music, it does seem to be popular).  However, they are by every measure, compared to whites, dumb, violent, and criminal.  Progressives decry the disproportional arrest and incarceration of black men, as if it had nothing to do with the actions of those black men.  True fact - cops are more likely to shoot a white offender than a black offender.  The problem lies in that there are so very many black offenders, and they are so disproportionately likely to violently resist arrest.  Especially now that the liberal/progressive media and democrat party (but I repeat myself) have spent years telling blacks that police are inherently racist and just want to kill black men.

Blacks are less intelligent than whites - the racial gap in performance in schools has never declined, no matter how much money has been spent attempting to educate blacks and whites together.  The loss of Christian morality and discipline in the schools has also been counterproductive.  Education is impossible without discipline, and the first and ever-present topic of education should be self discipline.  Go to any school with more than a token number of black children, and you will see them disrupting classrooms with poor behavior, and holding back education with lack of intellect.  Separate but equal education was inherently more equal than the current mess, and observably had much better results for both blacks and whites.

Boys and girls are different.  This is obvious from birth.  I can speak authoritatively on this subject, having raised one of each of my own.  Feminism is the strange proposition that girls are the equal of boys, that boys and girls are in fact identical, and that girls need special privileges to keep up with boys, that boys are defective girls, and that all girls should act like boys and all boys should act like girls.  I love my children equally, as any father should.  I don't pretend that they are identical, physically, mentally, or emotionally.  Feminists adore gays, because gay boys and girls exhibit traits contrary to their sex.  They adore so-called transgenders, because their insanity knows no bounds in attempting to emulate the opposite sex.  The progressive lunacy of idolizing gays and other, even more mentally unbalanced people has grown to the point where it is affecting the mental health and physical well being of numerous, easily influenced teens.  "Sudden onset gender dysphoria" did not exist before ten years ago, and now it is spreading like accusations of witchcraft in Salem, and for many of the same reasons.  Congratulations, feminists, you have succeeded in driving thousands of boys and girls insane, set back relations between the sexes to what you imagined the Victorian era to have been like, and caused birth rates to drop below replacement levels in every Western country.  Feminism truly is cancer.

All men are created equal, but then they are born.  Except for the majority of black children in America, which are murdered in the womb.  (Abortion is the leading cause of death of black Americans, eclipsing the next ten most common causes combined.)

Monday, October 2, 2017

Why are health care prices outrageous?

This was originally a comment at Peter Grant's blog.  Go check him out.  He's a very good writer of science fiction, western, and fantasy novels.  https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/

Regarding health care - That which can not continue indefinitely, must eventually stop. The predicted stop date is between 2032 and 2034. By that time, social security expenses will occupy 100% of the federal budget. Medicare/aid expenses will occupy 100% of the federal budget. Debt payments will occupy 100% of the federal budget.

That's a lot of 100 percents there.

Health care expenses are driven by various factors - the relative paucity of trained doctors, ridiculous regulations (did you know that medicare forced over half of all hospitals in America to close?), ridiculous lawsuit, and the corrupt death spiral of the insurance industry.

I'm not an opponent of insurance. I think it's pure, free market capitalism. What I'm upset about is the rampant corruption that the health insurance industry, and this most definitely includes medicare/aid, forces on the health providers. Over half of all medical spending is simply insurance processing/compliance. Prices are artificially inflated (massively, in some cases) so that insurance companies (remember, this includes the government) can show that they negotiated huge price concessions.

Large hospitals, pharma companies, etc. can afford the kickbacks and bribery to play the game and win. The traditional neighborhood practice can not - that's why so many of them have closed. Doctors don't have individual practices now - they've organised to share administrative expenses. There is a reason why you can't get an estimate of how much a procedure will cost - the doctors simply don't know, because so much billing is tied up in red tape corruption. They doctors don't generally like this, but it is how the game is played, if they want to survive.

This is one of the reasons that America isn't training more doctors now than we were in the 1960's. Another is the AMA, which like all unions wants to keep the supply of skilled labor low so that wages can be kept high. Did you know that the US has added exactly one new medical school in the last 50 years?

With all the expenses that doctors have, which includes student loans, general practitioners simply don't make enough money. Most of them would be better off as plumbers. "Rich doctor" is a myth these days, unless you're an in-demand specialist or practicing in Beverly Hills.

So many problems, no simple solutions. Everything goes to hell in a hand basket within the next 15 years or so, and we can not count on the current quality of politicians to do a single blessed thing about it until it is far too late to make any positive difference. We can assuredly count on our "friends" on the left to make everything worse, though.


text:
Clinical Services

The wide range of high-quality clinical services at The Mottistone benefit from the unit's location at the heart of the Island's NHS healthcare provision.

At The Mottistone the acute hospital facilities are, literally, on the doorstep!

It's the best of both worlds – the comfort and convenience of private treatment coupled with that rapid access to services such as.

• six operating theatres
• intensive care unit
• physiotherapy
• pathology / microbiology / endoscopy
• diagnostic imaging (MRI / CT scanning and x-ray)
• pharmacy

Outpatients also benefit from the location. As well as the unit's three fully-equipped clinical consultation rooms, plus another for treatment, you'll have access to specialised equipment at other outpatient sites across the hospital.

At The Mottistone we strive to maintain the highest levels of care.


text:
Naruto RP
It seems as if you are not a member login or sign-up below!

Naruto RP

Come and create your own character. Play out the story as you see fit.
HomeCalendarFAQMemberlistUsergroupsRegisterLog in
Latest topics

The Shoebox RP Temple!

Send Unknown a PM to become an Affiliate

Share |

 The General Rules

Go down

Posts : 85
Join date : 2010-02-27
Age : 108
Location : Sometime

Bingo Book
Link to character Page:

PostSubject: The General Rules   Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:40 pm

Creation Rules -
  1. It's simple just folow the templates and all will go smoothly
  2. Be patient a Admin or Mod will get to you soon enough (Bumps will be allowed once every two days)
  3. The characters name should be in japanese (nothing like the shamwow guy)

  1. NO PORN OR EXPLICT MATERIAL banhamma will find you
  2. Blood, gore, and mutilation are accepted
  3. Keep the cussing to a minimum, To be nice to those who dont like it
  4. No cyber bullying (you will only be warned once)
  5. Have respect for your fellow members
  6. NO double posting (it is possible to delete one of your posts so do it)
  7. Godmodding is noobish so just dont do it.
  8. A kill/death will be disputed among the staff

New rules will be added as i see fit.
Back to top Go down
View user profile
The General Rules
Back to top
Page 1 of 1
 Similar topics
» General rules and guidelines of Yck's Exit Path!
» The Royal Oak Bed and Breakfast **Menu and Rules**
» End of Year General Meeting
» Basic Roleplay Information and Rules
» Kugustu (Puppet) Rules

Permissions in this forum:You cannot reply to topics in this forum
Naruto RP :: Welcome!!!!!!!!! :: Rules/Annoucements-
Jump to:


text:
Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Cool story bro!

Once upon a time, Micky hanged out with his friends, George and Bill.

Micky got hungry, so he bit Bill's head.

Bill was not too fond Micky's actions.

The End.

On a sidenote:

One of my students at work wanted me to draw him Micky Mouse and two gummy bear friends. I just added a bit(e) more to it. You see what I did there? Hardy har har....

Toodles yo! :D

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
Sunday, July 1, 2012

Bargain Finds

I read on Pinterest about an idea that is fabulous...I bought this shower curtain for a buck then I'm going to draw in permanent black marker roads and buildings. Then I'll turn the kids loose with washable markers. Once they are done, I can wash it off and they can start over. We'll see how it turns out.

Kerrie gave me the great tip...I found package of plastic silverware for a buck and I now store it in my car. Whenever we go out to eat with the kids (granted this is a rare occasion but you always have to be prepared), I pull out the plasticware for Way and she doesn't realize the difference! Genius!

No comments:


text:
Postal Code Examples

Boundary Map of Postal Code T5J (Canada)

To get the Postal Code for an address go here.  Also see Nearby places (by type).
Postal Code:
Boundary maps for Postal Codes in Canada are available down to the FSA level (i.e. The last three characters of the full Postal Code are ignored.)
Province: Located within Alberta

Neighboring Postal Codes (have common boundaries with T5J)

Examples of addresses and places in Postal Code T5J (Canada)

Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Feedback


text:
Thursday, 6 July 2017

Tony Robbins 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom - Lewis Howes

This is so great... we love the message that the psychological shift is important to work on ... work on your money mind guys's the gateway to success...


text:
The Providence Group recently announced the opening of their newest townhome community, The Towns at East Village, offering three story luxury townhomes from the low $300s. Interested home buyers can now enjoy touring a new model home at this gated Roswell community showcasing the spacious home designs and upscale interior features. The model home is now open Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11am – 6pm,  Sunday 1pm – 6pm, and by appointment only Tuesday and Wednesday.

The new model home at The Towns at East Village showcases the Freemont home design featuring a spacious three story layout with finished terrace level.

The model home features The Freemont home design boasting a large open main level layout with Gourmet Kitchen with bar seating, dining room, family room with linear fireplace and built-ins plus a bright sun room with access to the outdoor living space. The model home, as well as, all homes at The Towns at East Village include a finished terrace level with full bath and bedroom or home office. The model home upper level includes the Owner’s Suite with trey ceiling and elegant bath with double vanities, separate tub and shower, and walk-in closets.

Home buyers can choose from six home designs featuring three and four bedrooms, three and a half baths, two car garages and approximately 2,000 to 2,300 square feet. Interior features include hardwood floors on the main level and terrace level, gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, 42″ upper cabinets and tile backsplashes plus extensive trim detail throughout.

The Towns at East Village is currently offering special home buyer incentives including free refrigerator, blinds and $3,000 in closings costs when using our pre-approved lender. This incentive is valid on new contracts written by September 30, 2015 and closing by December 31, 2015. Several townhomes are currently under construction available for both summer and fall move-in dates with pricing from the $320s.

The Towns at East Village not only offers spacious, luxury townhomes, it also provides a fantastic walkable lifestyle with shops and restaurants just steps from our front door at the East Village shopping center. The community also provides quick access to GA 400 and I-285, plus additional shopping and dining opportunities at North Point Mall, The Forum and the Roswell Square.

Visit The Providence Group website and register online to learn more about this luxury townhome community and home buyer incentives! Keep an eye out for announcements for our photo and video gallery coming soon!


text:
Has other ducting left you in tears?

Quit clowning around!

Get serious with your movement solutions

We Manufacture Products that are

Integral to creating air comfort solutions

An Air Comfort Solution

ThermoFlo Technologies offers products that are integral to creating air comfort solutions for a wide range of applications. Our leading edge products are the result of 25 years cumulative experience in the custom manufacture of effective, durable and environmentally friendly reflective foils and ventilation ducting.

Satisfaction and Value

All our products are designed with customer satisfaction and value in mind - wherever the installation: commercial buildings, industrial and agriculture operations, new residence construction and home renovation projects. Anywhere air temperature control improvements can yield value in comfort, efficiency and dollars, ThermoFlo products will meet the challenge.

Exceed Customer Expectation

Our products are constructed to exceed all North American testing standards using industry leading and environmentally sound techniques and materials. Our manufacturing technicians go to extreme lengths testing our products to ensure our customers have the best temperature control and ventilation products available on the market.


text:
2013 Honda Accord: First Images Revealed

2013 Honda Accord2013 Honda Accord2013 Honda Accord Sedan Touring2013 Honda Accord Sedan Touring
According to Honda, what you’re looking at here is “the most sculpted Accord ever.” The camouflage has been pulled away and we’re now getting our first glimpse at the production 2013 Accord sedan.Historically, Honda has never been known to break design barriers with its decidedly likable midsize sedan. But when you’re competing with the likes of the best-selling Toyota Camry in one of the most competitive and highly shopped segments in the industry, sex doesn’t always sell. And to that extent, yes, this is the most sculpted Accord we’ve seen – certainly more attractive than the current sedan – but it won’t set the world on fire.

And that’s fine, because conservative, handsome styling sells, as evidenced by Volkswagen’s recent sale surge with the redesigned Jetta and Passat.Conservative and handsome it definitely is. We like the strong character line that sweeps along the belt line and fades off just before the C pillar, and elements like the attractive 10-spoke wheels, LED running lamps, headlamps and taillamps keep it looking modern. From the rear, we won’t fault you for mistaking the Accord for a Hyundai Genesis, and we’ll really have to see the car in person before making final design judgments. It’s not Sonata sleek, but it certainly doesn’t look bad.Honda does say that the 2013 Accord sedan is “bigger on the inside and smaller on the outside.” We’ll have more details when the car officially debuts in the fall.

Overall, it looks more like an evolution than a major change.  Hopefully, Honda will upgrade the interiors to better compete with Camry and Sonata.

08/08/2012 – TORRANCE, Calif.,

Honda today revealed the first images of the much anticipated all-new 2013 Honda Accord Sedan and Accord Coupe, set to go on sale this fall. The most sculpted Accord ever delivers an even more spacious and luxurious passenger cabin wrapped in an upscale, sophisticated exterior designed to stand the test of time.

The 2013 Accord’s styling is expressive, sophisticated and premium. Starting in the front, a bold new grille imparts a distinctive and dynamic tension that complements the powerful look of the hood’s multiple styling lines. A strong side character line flows through the door handles and flares upward toward the rear of the vehicle to further convey a sense of motion. A deep contour in the rocker panel firmly grounds its visual presence to the road and smartly turns upward to convey a sporty attitude. In the back, the inward slope where the fenders taper into the trunk and C-pillars is designed to convey a powerful, athletic stance from the rear.

True to the spirit of Honda and every Accord before it, the ninth-generation embraces a customer focus from the inside out. Smart interior packaging allows for increased passenger and cargo space in both the sedan and the coupe, while the overall exterior lengths are noticeably shortened, contributing to a sportier driving character and easier parking. An expansive greenhouse and generous rear seating area provide excellent levels of visibility and comfort for the driver and all passengers.

“This car is the most sculpted and the most dynamic Accord yet,” said Vicki Poponi, assistant vice president of product planning for American Honda. “Following Honda’s long-held philosophy of ‘man maximum, machine minimum,’ the beautiful exterior evolved from a focus on interior space and the needs of the people inside it.”

On the road, an overall aerodynamic shape combined with low-drag exterior surfaces including nearly flush windshield glass, flush-mounted windshield wipers and careful under-body tailoring promise enhanced fuel efficiency. Premium details like available LED daytime running lights, headlights and taillights hint at the sophisticated technology and luxury available inside.

More information about the all-new 2013 Accord will be revealed later this fall. For photos about the styling direction of the 2013 Accord, visit www.hondanews.com.


text:
History Mom

History Mom's picture
Full name:
Agnes Dikeman
Now that Dell Deaton has whet everyone's appetite, do come to the farmhouse one of the three days when volunteers will be on hand to welcome you. See what's different in comparison to modern decorations. Refreshments will be offered in the kitchen. The Gift Shop will be open.


text:
Category Archives: On other Photographers

A Book: Pierre et Gilles, Double Je 1976 – 2007

So, I love Pierre et Gilles’s photography. I’ve known their work since February of 2006 and it resonated with my own overly stylised aesthetic.

This beautiful book was a gift from my boyfriend in 2009, I think he ordered it online for me, they can be found on Amazon and a bunch of other online similar platforms.

Amazon’s apt description of the book reads:

Kings of cult and pop

Pierre et Gilles create dreamy portraits that transport their subjects–as well as the viewers–into an alternate world where camp, pop, burlesque, religion, and eroticism mingle in perfect harmony. Creating the sets themselves, and with Pierre as photographer and Gilles as painter/elaborator, they create one-of-a-kind artworks of an unmistakably original style. A host of stars has passed before their lens, such as Iggy Pop, Madonna, Marc Almond, Nina Hagen, Catherine Deneuve, Laetitia Casta, Marilyn Manson, Mireille Mathieu… though many of their portraits also feature unknowns.

I’ve photographed some of my favourite images from the book and added them here.

The above is one of their classic self portraits.

Marking the 30th anniversary of their collaboration, the Jeu de Paume in Paris is hosting a retrospective of their work from June to September, 2007.

Much more than just an exhibition catalog, this book brings together all of the 130 works included in the exhibition as well as an additional 170 pieces focusing on the past ten years. Also included is a tribute text by the artist Jeff Koons. What better way to (re)discover the work of Pierre et Gilles?

Much of their work incorporates a fabricated border made in studio by the creative couple (image below) and its very much this kind of production which I enjoy about their work, as well as their love of kitsch and play on mythological and religious themes.

Above image of Laetitia Casta (2000) has such beautiful Dutch painterly style lighting. And below image of slashed up burlesque diva Dita Von Teese.

From a 2015 article on the duo in Galore:

When we create an image it’s always an adventure, we never know beforehand if it will succeed or not. It’s the public who decides, artists create their works and it is the public who turn it into a masterpiece.

Each photo shoot is done in our studio which is also our house, there is a pleasant ambiance and the models discover the universe in which we live, it allows them to truly enter into our world. We also love to discover and it is imperative that the model finds themself in the image. It’s an exchange.

More from their interview in Galore:

We always work together and we each have a role, we complement one another. We work at home in our studio, we construct a specific decor for the model. It’s like in the theater, the subject poses amongst ornaments in lighting that Pierre had specially prepared in advance, but it is always part improvisation. Once the shoot is over, we choose the best image to make a print on which Gilles paints to make it more ideal. In the end, it’s like a picture with a specially made frame. It’s a long process that takes many weeks.

The world is like art, in constant evolution, it’s always changing. We like it and we don’t like it and that is what pleases us. It’s an eternal spectacle and we will never tire of it.

Above image of Claudia Schiffer as Venus, 1997.

The creation of each image must be such an undertaking. I remember how much time, effort and preparation went into my (much more simplified in comparison to Pierre & Gilles) graduate body of work which was all studio work with a very dramatised and stylised play on erotic female stereotypes. In fact not just the time but also the spend,- one of the reasons I’ve ended up which such a vast collection of women’s attire, backdrops and the likes.

Pierre & Gilles are one of my top handful of inspirational photographers.

And I loved this little paragraph from Wikipedia…

Pierre et Gilles have sometimes attracted controversy. For example, in 2012 there was a public outcry in Austria when their work entitled Vive la France was displayed on large street posters to advertise the Nackte Männer (English: Naked Men) exhibition created by Ilse Haider at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. It depicts three naked French footballers with their genitals fully revealed: the first black, the second Arab/Muslim and the third white, to represent the multi-ethnic composition of modern French society. The ensuing controversy led to an act of self-censorship by the artists, who decided that the largest street posters should be changed, and instead use coloured ribbons to hide the players’ genitals.

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

A Book: Chambre Close
by Bettina Rheims & Serge Bramly

Chambre-Close-BOOK COVERby-Bettina-Rheims-&-Serge-Bramly--001-

This beautiful book was gifted to me by my partner. He knows me well.

Chambre-Close-by-Bettina-Rheims-&-Serge-Bramly--002- The inside-cover dust jacket reads and explains the contents of the book:

Bettina Rheims / Serge Bramly
Chambre Close
A Fiction
152 pages, 85 color plates

It was snowing on Paris when a well-dressed, gaunt old gentleman with pale skin entered a photography studio in the sixth arrondissement…

Monsieur X., the said gentleman, hands the manager his legacy that is to remain anonymous for all times- erotic nude photographs of women taken in hotel rooms, unequivocal evidence of the secret double life he leads behind closed doors. Monsieur X. is a perfectly discrete voyeur, an old school seducer, an amateur in the original sense. Not only does he have a good education and money, but a professional photographer’s equipment- and an obsessive curiosity for the female body.

Chambre-Close-by-Bettina-Rheims-&-Serge-Bramly--003- Chambre-Close-by-Bettina-Rheims-&-Serge-Bramly--004-

 The artistic collaboration of photographer Bettina Rheims and author and art critic Serge Bramly began in 1991 with Chambre Close and continues until today. Every one of their joint projects caused a stir and provoked heated debates, like I.N.R.I (1997/98). This edition of Chambre Close, in which we are publishing the complete series of photographs for the first time, is particularly interesting because of the contrast between text and pictures. Juxtaposed to the cultivated literary tone of Monsieur X.’s fictitious “avowal” are photographs which speak a much clearer language. Bettina Rheims, who produced her first photo series in color with Chambre Close, is fluent in this language, telling stories of female eroticism and female exhibitionism unlike anyone else.

Apart from my love of strongly composed square images, the tone of Rheims’s work is kind of decadent in its color saturation and in the (effortless) tension/ harmony play in her photographs.

She works with a mix of body language and props to weave the compositional tone of her images. In both the below and above images (if not in them all) one can really see how she works with space, form and sexuality.

From the first pages of the book:

It could go either way. In real life our dreams turn out to be two-sided and contradictory. While one part of us aspires to tranquility, another thirsts for torment. There are two voices speaking at the same time, and the fainter one has just as much of a hold. When one has drowned out the other, and its dominance seems assured, the other is cunningly biding its time, ready to spit venom.

 In my case, it all began with a moment of desperation, midway through my life, when I was least expecting it. I had worked so hard and well to eliminate friction in the belief that I was acting for the common good, for the benefit of my friends, my family and myself- and, insofar to the best of my ability, for the cause of social progress- and that my days would follow a perfectly smooth course to what was already looking like happiness.

Such a belief made it easy to bear the bumps still strewn across my path, the uncertainties that occasionally snagged my comfort. I considered them ephemeral. I waited. For me, the present was like a transit lounge. Soon, a hostess would be announcing the flight that was going to whisk me to the islands of felicity, as the fulfillment of a moderate and hard-working life. I was staking the best part of my days on a winning tomorrow. Even if the future was slow in coming, the word dissatisfaction never entered my vocabulary.
But then the other voice whispered in my ear.

The book reads like a memoir of fictitious author Monsieur X., who invites and pays women to undress for him in hotel rooms. Bettina’s accompanying images illustrate his supposed experiences and resulting photoshoots.

The models cast for the project are so varied, not just for body type but also for age and race, this makes them even more believably part of his storyline.

There are elements of her work which remind me of Helmut Newton’s approach to photographing women. I think its in the strength their models exude and the way they both obtain alluring body language and poses.

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

Found Images:
Women Before 10am by Veronique Vial

RePhotographed images Women Before 10am by Veronique Vial 1

I think I came across these images while I was doing research in the Michaelis/UCT library during my graduate year in 2005. I photocopied them and stuck them into my visual diary of the time, here they appear re-photographed from my diary as well as a few more lower down which I grabbed from google image search.

RePhotographed images Women Before 10am by Veronique Vial 2

RePhotographed images Women Before 10am by Veronique Vial 3

I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is about them which draws me so much,- maybe its the graininess of both the film and those first moments of the day? I wonder also how she approached her subjects- did she ask them to stay as they were when they had awoken? Did she style them or ask her subjects to just be naturally reactive to the concept and moment?

Sarah Jane Wylde by Veronique Vial

Editorial reviews I found and liked about the book:

“Imagine being let into the bedrooms and bathrooms of 96 of the world’s most beautiful actresses and models to photograph them while they’re still sleepily themselves, without makeup, defenses or clothes. These heavenly creatures loll in expensive sheets, smoke, drink coffee, play with their dogs and children and let it all hang out.” – Paper

“Intimate, messy, revealing – photos of fabulous females in their precaffeinated state.” – Elle

I love the description “females in their pre-caffeinated state”!

There is a strange parallel I find between the intimacy of the captured scenes and  the element of the staged (who wants to look unattractive in a portrait sitting after all? Did they adjust their hair? The light? The room? Makeup?)

Women Before 10am by Veronique Vial

I previously knew nothing about French-born-living -in-America photographer Veronique Vial and went to her website to find out a bit more about her work.
I was a little disappointed sadly- I had expected her work to be a bit more content rich, more conceptual, but her work has much more of a lifestyle/stock photography feel for me.The book and the theme and the style in which she shot it was much more atmospheric, and I also loved the incorporation of her own handwriting. The images I kept all those years ago are still inspiring, so much so that along with my Polaroid project I’m considering shooting a new series in B&W film on my old cameras.

Women Before 10am by Veronique Vial
Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

An Article: The Price of Beauty

I found this article in Marie Claire magazine (May 2010, South Africa), I’m not a magazine buyer so this probably got left at my house by a visitor or I tore it surreptitiously out of a magazine in a waiting room. The article is written by Zed Nelson about his then new book “Love Me” (Thames & Hudson).

Over a five year period this photographer visited 17 countries while documenting this project on society’s obsession with beauty and youth. The article published in Marie Claire was an intriguing read with some quite radical reportage style images… Here are my best bits with images taken from the article as well as from his website which had  a wider range of the images published in the book:

I began Love Me when I was in my mid-thirties. I’m sure that was no coincidence. Like many long-term fascinations, I don’t know exactly when the idea seeded itself. Perhaps it began quite simply, one day, when I looked in the mirror and realised I would not live forever.
I’m sure I’m not alone in being surprised by that revelation. And I’m sure it comes at the age when you realise that the body you inhabit has been loaned to you, that it is not fully yours, not fully under your control. I realised, too, that the way I perceived myself was increasingly being influenced by others.

We live in a society that celebrates and iconizes youth. Beauty is a R1.1-trillion-a-year worldwide industry and the pursuit of body improvement has become like a new religion. The promise of bodily improvement is fuelled by advertising campaigns and commercially driven Western media, reflecting an increasingly narrow palette of beauty.

The modern Caucasian beauty ideal has been packaged and exported globally, and just as surgical operations to “Westernize” oriental eyes have become increasingly popular, so the beauty standard has become equally prescriptive. In Africa the use of skin-lightening and hair-straightening products is widespread. In South America, women have operations that bring them eerily close to the Barbie doll ideal, and blonde-haired models appear on the covers of most magazines. Anorexia is on the increase in Japan and, in China, beauty pageants – once banned as “spiritual pollution” – are now held across the country. “westernizing” the human body has become a new form of globalisation, and the homogenisation of appearance has made “Beauty” into a crude universal brand.

"Kill me, but make me beautiful" - Ancient Iranian Proverb

“Kill me, but make me beautiful” – Ancient Iranian Proverb

The more rigorously our vision is trained to appreciate the artificial, the more the beauty industry benefits. But who creates this culture? However much we may confidently point the finger at sinister commercial forces, we can’t deny our own tacit involvement. Like it or not, we have created a world in which there are enormous social, psychological and economic rewards and penalties attached to the way we look.

Vaginal tissue. Removed during ‘designer vaginal rejuvenation’ surgery, to ‘tighten and neaten appearance’. Los Angeles, USA.

Vaginal tissue. Removed during ‘designer vaginal rejuvenation’ surgery, to ‘tighten and neaten appearance’.
Los Angeles, USA.

Few of us can deny we want to be attractive. Don’t we all won’t to be loved? But have we been brainwashed into believing that in order to be loved, to be loveable, we need smaller noses, bigger breasts, tighter skin, longer legs, flatter stomachs and to remain forever youthful? Banks now offer loans for plastic surgery in Europe, and families in the USA with annual incomes under $25 000 (R185 487) account for 30% of all cosmetic surgery patients. Americans now spend more each year on beauty than they do on education.
As our role models become ever younger and more idealized, we are so afraid of ageing that the quest for youthful preservation generates an obsession with our bodies. As we align our sense of self-worth with self-image, the psychological and emotional consequences are tortuous….

Hair Extensions, London, UK. From Zed Nelsons book Love Me
This is one of the key topics I’m fascinated with myself. And questions like “what kind of beautifying is ok and what is extreme or over-the-top and who is the judge?” often come up.
At what point of effort or interference, with how your body appears naturally, is it too much, when do we go too far? Where is the line between a normal need for good presentation of ourselves and an excess of it fed by media? Is a needle and a blade the tipping point or not? Teeth bleaching or whitening tooth paste? Liposuction or excessive dieting? Eyeliner, mascara and eye brow tweezing? Labiaplasty? GHD’s? I suppose ones answers are derived from ones individual context and history…

I consider myself reasonably tom-boyish or maybe I just don’t have the inclination to maintain a certain kind of “up-keep” I see in many women around me. Although even I am happy to have laser hair removal and gelish re-applied bi-monthly (if I get around to doing it)… Its also ridiculously expensive to maintain some of the basic beauty standards without spending in excess of a couple of thousand a month which is obviously exactly the spending the beauty industry is punting. But apart from spending money and time (wasted?) “beautifying” or maintaining, we are basically self-made slaves to exactly this industry Zed discusses and looks at so well in his book.

I enjoyed these this comment about the book on his site:

“From sexed up teenage club-hoppers, to prison beauty queens,  to a brilliantly curated Alain de Botton quote, the book is a cover-to-cover gem that explores, with superb creative direction and a merciless confrontation with superficiality, the most uncomfortable fringes of cultural anthropology.”
-Maria Popova

More here on the book.

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

A book: Archive One | David Bailey
by Thames & Hudson

Bought on a sale by my Mom and given as a gift during my first year of photography studies this book is a pretty special keeper.

Archive One David Bailey

On the inside cover leaf Martin Harrison writes about David Bailey:

No photographer ever had a greater impact on the 1960s than David Bailey. The best new breed of fashion photographers who catapulted into the scene in the early years of that decade, he himself would become as well known as all the famous faces on which he trained his camera. After Bailey, photography would never be the same again.

David Bailey Archive One basically follows the career of Englands most famous photographic practitioner, the book brings the Swinging Sixties , in all its monochrome glory, back to life.

Bailey worked extensively with Jean Shrimpton, Penelope Tree and Catherine Deneuve as well as Grace Coddington, Twiggy, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, the list goes on. His name I believe is synonymous  with 60s fashion and pop music icons. I’ve chosen a selection of some of my favourite portraits and fashion images of women from his book.

I found this quote on Interview-Review while reading up a bit more about his work,- I thought it an interesting comment about how he saw models/women:

I think most talent is inborn. So Jean (Shrimpton) had an advantage because she was beautiful. She didn’t scare people, she was attractive to everybody, from dogs to intellectuals.  She had one of those democratic beauties that everyone could appreciate. Some women are so beautiful that you can’t believe they could live next door; they live in some fantasy world.

While he is not a favorite, I appreciate his approach to portrait photography, the way he uses simple expressions or compositions of the body ( the way the fingers are positioned on the mouth, the parallel of limbs in a square format, how he translates a mood or a feeling to an image…) to make up the story in his shots.

His pictures certainly are iconic, his portraits and lighting style, and format epitomise the era for me. And ending with a quote by Bailey I couldn’t agree with more:

It is not the camera that takes the picture, it is the person.

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

Cecil Beaton’s Portraits of The Royals:
Queens & Princesses

The Royals by Cecil Beaton

While writing my graduate thesis in 2005 I came across a book of portraits taken by Cecil Beaton of the British royal family. The images are magical, whimsical, perfectly lit and just pure fantasy really. He seems to have captured the fairytale ideal that the monarchy have created in the minds of many and I fell in love with many of the images.
Here is a collection of some of the images of the queens, princesses and duchesses which I found again in an image search (since the original copies I had were just photostats from the Michaelis Library).

The Royals by Cecil Beaton

The Royals by Cecil Beaton

The Victoria and Albert Museum, who exhibited many of these works wrote about the photographer:

The photographs of the British royal family by Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) were central to shaping the monarchy’s public image in the mid-20th century. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was still a young princess when she first sat for Beaton in 1942. Over the next three decades he would be invited to photograph the Queen on many significant occasions, including her Coronation Day in 1953.

The most memorable of Beaton’s images combine the splendour of historic royal portrait painting with an intimacy that only photography and film can convey. His detailed diary accounts reveal the complexities of each sitting, from the intense planning and excitement beforehand to the pressures of achieving the perfect shot.
Photographs, diaries, personal letters and press cuttings combine to tell the fascinating story of a magnificent collaboration between crown and camera.

‘The telephone rang. ‘This is the lady-in-waiting speaking. The Queen wants to know if you will photograph her tomorrow afternoon’ … In choosing me to take her photographs, the Queen made a daring innovation. It is inconceivable that her predecessor would have summoned me – my work was still considered revolutionary and unconventional.’
Cecil Beaton’s diary, July 1939

The opportunity to photograph Queen Elizabeth,  was the high point of Beaton’s career to date. Published two months after the outbreak of the Second World War, his images presented a sense of continuity with a magnificent pre-war Britain. Several wartime sittings of the Queen and her family would reinforce his vision of a seemingly unshakable monarchy and witness the transformation of her daughter Princess Elizabeth from girl to young woman.

The flowers that appear in many of Beaton’s portraits were often picked from his own garden. Cascading arrangements of roses, carnations, lilies and hydrangeas filled the space between a photographic backdrop and the sitter, and were an essential prop in the creation of his idealised Arcadian scenes.

The Royals by Cecil Beaton

The Royals by Cecil Beaton

His sense of composition, staged scenario and the styling of the subjects appeals to my aesthetic. And my all-time favourite of which I can’t find an online version…

IMG_0962The Royals by Cecil Beaton

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

Self Portrait Project: #3

Day 3 of the self portraiture project.

I asked my younger sister to stand behind me with her arms out stretched. I wanted to see little snippets of her behind me; her hair, her hip, the cotton undies, etc. I think the elements in the image are simple responses to previous image references I’ve seen, maybe the controversial ad campaign created by American Apparel and Richard Kern with red stockings. It was at a time the company was getting a lot of flak (understatement) about showing provocative images of under age girls and porn stars; they were strong advertising images which caused a lot of outrage and Kern, who I believe shot many of the images, had the perfectly edgy/seedy style to pull it off.

The portrait is strong and protective, I created it intuitively on the day and now when I look at it I’m surprised by these element. I like the corresponding colour in the lips/stockings and towel/background, I like the boldness and strangeness too.

Self Portrait Project 003 Leah Hawker 2014

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

Patric Fouad’s German Brothel Interiors

I found Patric Fouads images of German brothel interiors by accident when I bought an edition of Design Week in 2005. The gaudy kitschness and the definite inimitable style of the spaces combined with their function is intriguing. I tore the article out of the mag all those years ago and kept it along with so much other female related material…

Amazon, who sells Fouad’s book “Frauenzimmer”, writes about the book:

Since 2001, prostitution is no longer illegal in Germany. Patric Fouad gives us rare insights into the interiors of eleven rooms of brothels all over Germany. The photographer left the places he saw unchanged in order to allow the most authentic view of the scene. Despite the absence of any human beings, the interiors speak for themselves: The pompous elegance of some and the imaginative or reduced decoration of others suggest the wishes of the clientele that is being served. The candid images are strong in their impact and yet subtle in their implications. By leaving out the main characters, the viewer’s imagination and curiosity is increased even further. A high quality coffee-table book of a different kind.

Frauenzimmer by Patric Foud

The article in Design Weekly from 10 February 2005, written by Clare Dowdy, reads:

Sex is everywhere. Harmony has a licensed sex shop on London’s Oxford Street, Hustler has opened a “department store” in Birmingham and has its sights set on the major European cities; Ann Summers is planning to open outlets in Spain; and Selfridges-based sex toy retailer Tabooboo has 60 vending machines in bars and clubs across the UK and stores planned for the continent. Even venerable high street chemist Boots the Chemists briefly mooted giving vibrators shelf space alongside shampoos and verucca treatments.

All this in-you-face activity around Europe is the result of our increasingly relaxed attitude towards sex (think Sex And The City) and legislation that is gradually being relaxed. A recent development in Germany is the legalisation of prostitution, which came into force in 2001. This- in theory at least- means selling sex is now like any other business and should be treated as such. Hard to swallow, but Patric Fouad’s photographs go some war to persuading us of that. There are around 400 000 practising prostitutes in Germany, with more than half offering services in brothels. Fouad, who was born in Düsseldorf, has chosen to shoot the interiors of 11 of  these venues as you might shoot a restaurant or retail environment. “I wanted to make these rooms accessible to the public, especially women,” he explains. What started out as a thesis project for the University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund has ended up as a coffee-table book: Frauenzimmer, Brothels in Germany. Its title is a (German) play on words: archaic German for woman, Frauenzimmer’s literal meaning is “women’s rooms”.

Boudoir Exposure Article

Despite their new-found legitimacy, Fouad had to go to considerable lengths to get access. It all started with an intense internet search- no mean feat considering that many of the brothels are registered via paysites that require a log-in. Contact details of the operators were also supplied through journalists and social workers. Then it was a case of calling the patrons up and persuading them to agree to the photo shoot. “I tried various strategies, using different choices of wording,” he says. “Usually, after a brief moment of hesitation, they agreed.” And on location he was given a warm welcome.

As with many images of retail interiors, these are people-free zones, Fouad was not in the business of taking portraits and wanted the rooms to speak to themselves. “There are so many details, colours, patterns that repeatedly appear in the various bordellos and give an idea of the people who decorate and live in them,” he says. Clues to the nature of the room’s occupants include PVC novelties pinned to the wall and a pair of kitten heels by the bed. By shooting all the rooms, where possible, from the same angle, Fouad has presented us with a succession of comparable images. This gives the scenes a nice coherence and helps to concentrate the viewer’s eye. With their curtained or blacked-out windows, all illumination is artificial. As Fouad was determined to shoot these places in all their naked glory, there was minimal additional lighting and no styling. “Naturally, a well-kept room contributes to the image of the house and is therefore important to the owner as well as to the prostitute,” he points out.

While it doesn’t appear that these have had the interior design consultants in, they do display some rules of thumb concerning aesthetics and layout. Unsurprisingly , the main attraction is the bed, though it might surprise the uninitiated that many are single rather than double. This is because half the rooms featured were in the houses for “occasional traffic” or clubs. As well as the gadgetry, walls are adorned with mostly tacky art showing ladies in provocative poses. Meanwhile, the paraphernalia of the profession (lubricants, tissues and such like) stand brazenly by the bed. When it comes to aesthetics, red and pink dominate. In fact, all the colour combinations would make John Pawson followers reach for the bucket. Some of the rooms share common features, clearly a case of the owner getting a job lot of items such as bedspreads or lamps.

Frauenzimmer mixes images of decadence with those of mean cheapness, demonstrating both spectrums of the “profession”. As a book it works on two levels: an insight into a hidden world and a set of interiors images. Either way, it’s intriguing stuff.

Design Weekly Cover

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone

“WOMAN” An Article by Amelia Burger

This is an article written by Amelia Burger for One Small Seed Magazine, Issue 08, 2007, pages 46 through 53.

From One Small Seed Magazine Article

SA Photographers Leah Hawker and Michelle Prinsloo are constructing  a fuller, more multi-faceted understanding of female sexuality through their personal and provocative interpretations of the female form. Amelia Burger tries to bear it all.

While both these female photographers have their own philosophy which influences their approach to their work, it all comes down to expressing all of who you are. Their work rings true for women universally, but this is certainly the work of two young South Africans breaking through the visual barriers of female photography in ths country.

Leah interprets being a woman in South Africa objectively and almost as if from a distance, addresses the communal generalisation of the female archetype. There is a “very strong compartmentalisation of our supposed gender responsibilities, be it African, Afrikaans, English or Muslim communities, we’re all so aware of what is expected of use. Women in South Africa are becoming a bit more open-minded and educated about our sexuality and gender, and I’m trying to facilitate this in some ways in my work.”

Michelle goes even further in dealing with some aspects of female stereotype liberation and is more intense, raw and personal in her approach. “I feel we have a stength within us, but we still have a lot to prove in society within these conservative constraints. We need to be ourselves and allow ourselves to be heard clearly and express ourselves as individuals…I want to provoke my viewers, I want them to have their own individual perception of the image”

This image by the talented Michelle featured in the article.

“When you reject me”- image by the talented Michelle featured in the article.

Artist and photographer, Leah Hawker incorporates concepts of beauty, seduction, gender stereotyping and restriction while working primarily with the female nude. She aims to get women thinking and questioning their own archaic, set ideas about their sexual identity. “I think that some ideas are so ingrained in our social and cultural genes that we don’t question whether they should even apply to us reasonably anymore.”

“The patriarchal base from which much of our thinking and actions are situated doesn’t suit both genders , so women are begining to develop more feminine approached and so balance society.” As seen in these pictures, her work is sensual but never crosses the line into explicit. It’s feminine, beautiful and celebratory.

Shooting provocative images is a starnge thing really,” she says “because in one way or another, the model agrees to play out and pose for an idea or concept which is initiated by the thinking and fantasy on the part of the photographer. I always find this fact somewhat disturbing. Maybe thats why I deal with the subject matter so conceptually and detachedly.”

Tear sheets taken from One Small Seed Magazine published in 2007

Tear sheets taken from One Small Seed Magazine published in 2007

Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestEmail this to someone


text:
Justin Theroux Admits Wedding Planning With Jennifer Aniston Wasn't Fun

jennifer aniston justin therouxWe have to feel a little sad for Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston -- the couple didn't have a whole lot of fun when planning their nuptials. Isn't part of the wedding excitement in the planning? Not so for these two. Justin said wedding planning was stressful and no fun was had, and I think it's all our fault.

The wedding was kept secret. Guests thought they were attending Justin's 44th birthday party. Imagine that surprise! Birthday, yes! But wedding, too! Say what?! They had to keep the whole thing under wraps to avoid a paparazzi overload. Our desires to know everything about Justin and Jen was just too great.

More from The Stir: Jennifer Aniston & Justin Theroux Got Super Secret Married & Didn't Invite Us

It seems that Justin is quite the romantic, at least if we judge by what he told the Daily News:

I wouldn’t say it was fun to plan. Part of the fun of planning a wedding is telling people, and we had to keep it under wraps.

More from The Stir: Jennifer Aniston's 46th Birthday Party Had a Very Famous (& Large) Guest List

I'm not the only one who finds this incredibly adorable, right? This guy was into it -- I can just imagine him and Jennifer deciding on hors d'oeuvres and what color napkins to have at the tables. They probably took so much time going through their record collection to craft the perfect set list for the music for their big day. But they could only giggle about it to themselves, not even sharing it with their friends. It really stressed Justin out -- he wanted to share it all with everyone he knew; it was like he wanted to shout it from the rooftops but couldn't. And so on that magical day when the secret was revealed, Justin said, "It was like your blood pressure goes down two PSI. It’s not like life is completely different. It’s a beautiful thing."

Justin + Jen forever.

Image via Splash News

Read More >