Tuesday, May 31

Last day of the month: hangman!




Extreme Hangman

Write the letter on your keyboard in order to guess the hidden word. Watch out, you have limited time.

 Play More Hangman Games:


The executions are very funny. It's better to... FAIL to see them. Enter the letters pressing the keyboard. Have fun! Bonus: You'll learn ten ways to execute someone! Turn off the sound at the right top of the game.
Update: December, 2012

The game cannot be embed anymore. Go HERE and have fun.

Monday, May 30

Make heads of states see that people exists: the revolution won't be televised

avatar
Revolution people have in their minds whenever the word is pronounced. It was one revolution in the history of humankind. Do you remember the Copernican revolution?

Traditional revolution, where there is a party or someone to speak to the revolutionaries with the program ready and hierarchical posts with people to take them, seems to be in some people's mind as the only possible way to revolutionize.
There are many kinds of revolutions and ways of revolution and what is happening now in Europe is not being taken away from Europeans citizens by the mainstream media.
If one wants to know about what is really happening it is necessary to search at twitter, facebook and go to the streets.
Help reach the post-revolutionary period: the time to argue about agendas, how to achieve the goals, explain ideologies that now are just being understood by those who are really committed, in short, making tangible and comprehensible what in a revolution can only be abstract is the best part and most important of revolutions.
Egypt is there they are fighting the post-revolutionary era.
Just remember that in revolutions refrigerators, computers, fans, jobs, happiness, husband or wife won't be falling from the sky. At least it didn't happen till the moment
But Please! Don't give up! Liberty, freedom and respect have to be conquered. The word "change" has to be returned to the people and not be a presidential propaganda motto.
Funny, critics that people are not active, they don't think, they only trust the media, they are in total apathy, don't exercise their citizenship anymore and loads of complains... when something starts... it's  also criticized. Hard, hard to understand and to fight this way. I also have my recipe but it is not time to exchange them. Time to follow what is really happening at the streets, not at the computer.
The crowd is not applauding anymore, the crowd is part of the process. But it's not enough to some people. For a revolution far from indoctrination. We know what we don't want.
The revolution won't be televised.

Update:
We are an informative platform in English that aims to support the ongoing pro-democracy protests throughout Europe. We believe in alternative and independent media, net neutrality, real participatory democracy, active citizenship and the common ideals put forth by the first protests in Spain. We understand this revolution is made up of global citizens facing global issues, therefore, one of our goals is to create a net of volunteers and activists from around Europe to fight for our common goal. We are open for collaboration in many ways, feel free to contact us at info@europeanrevolution.net (emphasis mine)
Facebook 16,080 people like this
If you have a better and more efficacious way to promote justice, democracy and a possible change, please, do it!
Update:
Channels for the Spanish:

Sunday, May 29

Reverse Psychology: planting your ideas in people's mind


The video is funny, very funny. Poor boy! But the site... you have to take a look just not to fall in someone's trap or... should I say: "Don't watch the video, the site is good for nothing." I guess I have to read more. An advice from the blogger
"Again, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that planting ideas in the minds of others is not necessarily a nice thing to do. Use this information to detect when someone's doing it to you and not necessarily as a guide to do it to somebody else."
Nice, isn't it?

Vicki Shuck's world in motion

I did a post with a painting by Vicki Shuck and today I went back to her blog. I didn't noticed before all the movements she gives to her creatures. Everybody seems to have something to do after what is being depicted but it doesn't take the pleasure of that moment.
It was difficult to choose and did choose the "Walk" because I love graphite drawings and "Beaudreau" because he is: "a little dog that occasionally visits the local dog park. He is such a kick--just runs and runs, getting the other dogs to chase him. His favorite thing, though, is chasing balls--he lives for it!" as Vick describes him.
Vick's blog is a good place to go on a Sunday. I hope you like these two.

Saturday, May 28

Ratko Mladic arrest: Great news, not justice!

This is the title of Human Right's Watch for the article about Ratko Mladic arrest and I don't think it's correct. Still the article is good since it it does not close the case as others do and points out that supporters, including civilians, of Mladic are not that happy.
If justice is being done sure it is a start however I think that only listening to those who suffered can make the entire picture be depicted:
"Its great news but many of Bosnian, innocent, children had to be raised without fathers, brothers, tortured mothers. Many of them didn't get a chance for their kids to have an Uncle, a grandfather.. And thru all that pain Mladić was a hero to many.. Its unfortunate how politics Work, in a funny way.. My heart goes out to all of the victims and their families from my country, Bosnia. I hope for many this could be a closure but its hard to think so because he had all of the freedom while Bosnian people suffered.. Now he Will be placed in a wonderful Jail With all nice necessities, what kind of justice is that?!?!"
"The slaughter of thousands could have been avoided but the EU seeing what was happening politically in Yugoslavia before the war ever started did nothing, it took US muscle to allow a recourse but an eye for an eye makes the world blind, killing Mladic now would serve no purpose, it cannot undo what has been done."
These are comments at Facebook at the Human Rights Watch group. Sicking for justice is endless, it is a process that never stops. We have to face it and be alert. I think that the concept of justice has to be debated because it's being used as a synonym to events that are not related to what justice really is.
Picture: BBC

Bear newborn behaving like a newborn

Have a great weekend!

Friday, May 27

Martin Luther King - "...the world is all messed up. The nation is sick."


Lots of what he said is valid for today. He is eloquent and persuasive but he is not using rhetoric to indoctrinate people or to try to convince people that a terrible action is necessary for the sake of security or marketing himself. He is speaking from his heart to create a change environment and will. He succeed. He died the next day after this speech.
Changes were done but were lost along the way. It's time to reconquest them all.
The Mountaintop Speech
"Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow."

"Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.

I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even go by the way that the man for whom I am named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church of Wittenberg. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but "fear itself." But I wouldn't stop there.
Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy." (emphasis mine)

Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding.

Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee -- the cry is always the same: "We want to be free." (emphasis mine)

And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today. (emphasis mine)

And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and done in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding. And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis.

I can remember -- I can remember when Negroes were just going around as Ralph has said, so often, scratching where they didn't itch, and laughing when they were not tickled. But that day is all over. We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God's world.

And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying -- We are saying that we are God's children. And that we are God's children, we don't have to live like we are forced to live.

Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.

Secondly, let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that. That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didn't get around to that.

Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: We know how it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do. I've seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out. And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around."

Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on." And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history. He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the transphysics that we knew about. And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out. And we went before the fire hoses; we had known water. If we were Baptist or some other denominations, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water. That couldn't stop us.

And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them; and we'd go on before the water hoses and we would look at it, and we'd just go on singing "Over my head I see freedom in the air." And then we would be thrown in the paddy wagons, and sometimes we were stacked in there like sardines in a can. And they would throw us in, and old Bull would say, "Take 'em off," and they did; and we would just go in the paddy wagon singing, "We Shall Overcome." And every now and then we'd get in jail, and we'd see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs. And there was a power there which Bull Connor couldn't adjust to; and so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we won our struggle in Birmingham. Now we've got to go on in Memphis just like that. I call upon you to be with us when we go out Monday. (emphasis mine)

Now about injunctions: We have an injunction and we're going into court tomorrow morning to fight this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on. (emphasis mine)

We need all of you. And you know what's beautiful to me is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must have a kind of fire shut up in his bones. And whenever injustice is around he must tell it. Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and saith, "When God speaks who can but prophesy?" Again with Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Somehow the preacher must say with Jesus, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me," and he's anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor."

And I want to commend the preachers, under the leadership of these noble men: James Lawson, one who has been in this struggle for many years; he's been to jail for struggling; he's been kicked out of Vanderbilt University for this struggle, but he's still going on, fighting for the rights of his people. Reverend Ralph Jackson, Billy Kiles; I could just go right on down the list, but time will not permit. But I want to thank all of them. And I want you to thank them, because so often, preachers aren't concerned about anything but themselves. And I'm always happy to see a relevant ministry. (emphasis mine)

It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.

Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people. Individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively -- that means all of us together -- collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the American Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it. (emphasis mine)

We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles. We don't need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."

And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy -- what is the other bread? -- Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on town -- downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right. (emphasis mine)

But not only that, we've got to strengthen black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank. We want a "bank-in" movement in Memphis. Go by the savings and loan association. I'm not asking you something that we don't do ourselves at SCLC. Judge Hooks and others will tell you that we have an account here in the savings and loan association from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We are telling you to follow what we are doing. Put your money there. You have six or seven black insurance companies here in the city of Memphis. Take out your insurance there. We want to have an "insurance-in."

Now these are some practical things that we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here. (emphasis mine)

Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We've got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. If it means leaving work, if it means leaving school -- be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together. (emphasis mine)

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus, and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters of life. At points he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew and throw him off base.... (emphasis mine)

Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn't stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But he got down with him, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother.

Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to a church meeting, an ecclesiastical gathering, and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that "One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony." And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem -- or down to Jericho, rather to organize a "Jericho Road Improvement Association." That's a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effect.

But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that those men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles -- or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked -- the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is, "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.

You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?" And I was looking down writing, and I said, "Yes." And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, your drowned in your own blood -- that's the end of you.

It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply,

Dear Dr. King,

I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School."

And she said,

While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I'm a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze.
And I want to say tonight -- I want to say tonight that I too am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream, and taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1961, when we decided to take a ride for freedom and ended segregation in inter-state travel.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent.

If I had sneezed -- If I had sneezed I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, to see the great Movement there.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been in Memphis to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering.

I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.

And they were telling me --. Now, it doesn't matter, now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us. The pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."

And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

Pictures: These pictures I took at the project by University of Pennsylvania at Second Life that recreated Abrahan Lincoln's memorial and also did the 1962 March of Washington.

Thursday, May 26

Dad, why they kill people to solve quibblings?

I went to Ken Foster blog and found this post from the time he was in London.
He was sketching sat at this bench but didn't noticed what it was - sometimes artists are so concentrated in forms, colors and lines that there is no room to pay attention to anything else. He found the sketch today and discovered
"It is a memorial dedicated to the 202 people killed in Kuta, Bali in 2002, 28 of whom were Britons. There are 202 peace doves carved into this 5' round marble globe representing every person that died in that bombing."
At this post he starts making all of those questions sometimes we do to ourselves about killing people to solve conflicts. It's like going back to adolescence again and experiencing that strange feeling of total incomprehension and perplexity in face of some events. Just remembering that soldiers are sent to other countries to kill; terrorists action are the sole way to fight; bombing an entire city... I feel so ashamed of humankind and just like a five years old girl nothing makes sense for me. I feel like asking an adult: "what is it all about?" It last some minutes or hours depending on the day. Now I'm not in this state of mind but thinking with my reason: "Why on earth we still kill civilians to solve quibblings?" We still kill people because of land, to set boarders. This is shameful to say the least.
The technological advance we've been experiencing makes us believe that we are evolving but taking a good look at the world, all the wars, conflicts, lost of civil liberties, lost of human rights already conquered and all that is causing pain to human beings assure that we lost track of the way of a world where justice prevails.
Another evidence to the fact that things are changing another way is the lack of incentive for the study and research in humanities.
Can you imagine ancient Greek without philosophy?
Photography: AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved by Feggy Art. Flickr

Wednesday, May 25

Very Demotivational

First Hella Heaven's Very demotivational.

Children's illustration mesmerization

It's been a long time I'm following Phillip's blog Children's/ Fantasy Illustration and browse it's page enchanted by the numerous illustrations he collects each artist with a very different style.
Today this grandma by Linda Benton mesmerized me.
Click the image to see it clearly, especially the left one.

Tuesday, May 24

US Congress' 26 standing ovation to Netanyahu: The Jewish activist Rae Abileah

It was amazing! The American Congress behaved like a claque during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speech. They were so perfect that it seems they had rehearsed or maybe that crowd of congresspersons were full of stunts.
I believe that there was a green light to ovation and a red light for standing ovation.
Netanyahu was so secure, so full of himself repeating all those lines we have already heard so many times, one of the reasons that standing ovation is a little out of place because enthusiasm is usually brought when something new or unexpected happens, and other new pearls.
When the activist American Jewish Rae Abileah disrupted and shouted: “Stop Israel war crimes.” Netanyahu received an standing ovation and said that it can only happens in a democracies.
Rae was hospitalized and arrested. Quite democratic!
Read more about Rae Abileah here. About the US Congress cheer-leaders rehearsed by the lobbyists?
Everyday at the news you see lots of them.
Update: May, 26
"As for Americans, we should be deeply ashamed of our Congress. It has been sold to the highest bidder."
This is what M.J. Rosemberg wrote at this article at Al Jazeera. He did a very good analysis of the way the American congress received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A touch of divinity at The Sketching Life of Ken Foster

I visit Ken's blog frequently but usually to see his new work. I was searching at Google and end up at one of his 2009's pages and even thou I had already seen them I discovered new things.
It was not these two sketches I'm publishing today. I also rediscovered them and I will share with you what he wrote for the right sketch:
"This is the bell tower of the St. Feliu - a cathedral I visited in Girona last Summer. I visited three cathedrals while I was in Spain. The first one I visited was in the Barri Gotic of Barcelona - the Cathedral de Barcelona, which is undergoing a major renovation. I walked in and was instantly brought to tears. It was very unexpected and a bit embarassing.
The second was the Sagrada Familia - again tears welled up as I began to take in the space. It is a surprising thing when tears just well up for apparently no reason. But it was my experience in all three of the cathedrals I walked into that this welling up of tears took place. It must have been the intention of the people that built these cathedrals. There are several natural places that do this to me - grand and epic places, or even simple sunsets and sunrises. But there are very few man-made places that do this. Outside of cathedrals, the only one that comes to mind is a turkish carpet shop I once visited in Austin, TX. I'm not sure what it is exactly that evokes this feeling but I believe it has something to do with being in a place where the intention of the people who made it was to strengthen others in their feeling, or specifically in the case of these three cathedrals, to make a gift, or an offering, to God."
I'll publish the others this week. I'm touched as if I had the experience because it also happens to me, not at churches that I go in times nobody is there. I sit and listen to the silence, look at the sculptures and feel the peace. Sunsets and sunrises make me on the verge of tears.
I did a label for Ken Foster because I will surely keep posting his work.

Degas's intimacy of his dancers

In Degas's numerous paintings of ballet dancers there is always this atmosphere of women concentrated in themselves. It is not a place where the dancers talk to each other about their problems or victories.
It seems they are thinking if the clothes are well adjusted, if their postures are fine, movements correct, everything related with their own performances.
They are self-conscious an maybe fearing any tiny little thing wrong can ruin it all.
I don't know why for me they always finish in standing ovation.

Monday, May 23

Sunday, May 22

Tony Judt and the future of our youth - Power to the people

When I think about those who are in their twenties now I consider myself lucky but not because things were easier. We were still under dictatorship and suffered all the problems of this particular age but we had a future and we wanted to change the world.
We could imagine, dream and even have the luxury, or take the chance, to have a BA in literature, sociology, philosophy, history, any of the humanities that now receive less and less money from governments because they don't generate the immediate profit they require.
This is something very serious that jeopardizes democracy but this is another post.
When I watch what is happening in Madrid, hoping that it spreads in all European countries, I cannot help being happy.
These youth is in search of their future and even a present because it's being hard. Governments are ruling by corporations and for themselves in perhaps the most greedy era of the capitalist times where few buy a bag that costs three months of salary of others.
Never the word democracy has been pronounced every day for at least ten times in the hour we watch the news. Still we see less and less of the people, by the people and for the people.
I found today in Tony Judt thoughts that expresses what I feel and I'm very happy knowing that so many people are concerned with the same issues I am.
I'm looking forward to read the book "Ill Fares the Land".
I want to share with you this excerpt of an interview he gave to Terry Gross.
Dan Colman was the one who was touched by it and did the transcription from the audio (available, here or on iTunes)

"When Gross asked whether history still mattered deeply to him, the historian answered: yes, but:

"I think now, I’m more worried about the future. The past is always going to be a mess. It’s going to be a mess because it was mess and because people are going to abuse it, get it wrong and so on. But I’m reasonably confident that with each generation of historians, we keep fighting hard to get it right again. But we could get the future very seriously wrong, and there it’s much harder to get it right… I’m encountering the first generation of young people in colleges and schools who really do not believe in the future, who don’t think not just that things will get evidently and permanently better but who feel that something has gone very badly wrong that they can’t quite put their finger on, but that is going to spoil the world that they’re growing up into.

Whether it’s climate change or political cynicism or overreaction or lack of reaction, to external challenges, whether it’s terrorism or poverty, the sense that it’s all got out of control, that they, the politicians and so on, media people, are neither doing anything nor telling us the truth. That sense seems to have pervaded the younger generation in ways that were not true in my experience.

Maybe the last time that might have been true was in the 1920s, where you had the combination of shock and anger from World War I, the beginnings of economic depression and the terrifying realization that there might very well be a World War II. I don’t think we’re on the edge of World War III or IV. But I do think that we are on the edge of a terrifying world. That’s why I wrote the book." (Ills Fare thee Land)

The first chapter of Ill Fares the Land is now available (for free) on The New York Times website, and it will give you a quick feel for the issues that Judt thinks we need to confront. The complete Fresh Air interview ranges much more broadly, going into Judt’s personal experience with ALS, and I’d encourage you to give it your time. (Stream below.) Also please visit Move For ALS to contribute to a new campaign affiliated with Tony Judt to fund ALS research."

I want to thank both Tony Judt for the great thinker he was and Dan Colman for transcribing this part of the interview. I did listen and it is really amazing.

Power to the people! I dare say it now because this phrase will never, never loose it's strength just because it was a slogan of a generation. Those youngsters who are at the squares never heard them. So... Power to the people!

Update:

"For 30 years," Judt writes, "we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest. ... The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in the human condition. Much of what appears 'natural' today dates from the 1980s: the obsession with wealth-creation, the cult of privatization and the private sector, the growing disparities [between] rich and poor. And above all, the rhetoric which accompanies these: uncritical admiration for unfettered markets, disdain for the public sector, the delusion of endless growth." Tony Judt

The Four Dogs

Ninth of the "The Four Dog" series they look at each... oops, there is something wrong. One, two, three, and four... correct! They are all white an black with some grey.... they look sleepy... I don't know. There is something wrong!
Have a great Sunday!

Saturday, May 21

Real Democracy Now - European Revolution in progress

"Of the people, by the people for the people!"
I remembered it here and now those who by law are entitled to choose their rules will do it peacefully.
People of Europe raising for true democracy.
"They don't represent us - we're asking for change," "We want to demonstrate that society is not asleep, and we will fight for what we deserve. We want a society that prioritizes people over economic interests."

Protests in Madrid - What a great news!

I was watching the news and BBC reported that people are at Puerta del Sol 'Sun's gate' square. It's funny the way they report: quickly as if it wasn't important and hurry back to talk about Africa where the problems really are. I want to make a big deal and I'll try to find informations: Thousands of protesters who are camped out in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square and in dozens more Spanish cities have pledged to defy an order to pack up their tent cities and leave. "We're fed up with politicians governing according to the markets, and not the needs of the citizens," explains Antonio Rodriguez. "They don't represent us - we're asking for change," he says. "We want to demonstrate that society is not asleep, and we will fight for what we deserve. We want a society that prioritizes people over economic interests."
If you want you can follow this twitter @acampadasol, or this @acampadalondres in english.
via BBC and Reuters for the moment
Update:
Real Democracy London is a blog that is reporting the Spanish revolution with texts in Spanish and English.

Van Gogh's Dr. Gachet painting hide ans seek story; art as commodity
















The right painting is missing. 
Van Gogh had given it to Dr. Gachet* and the painting is having a very difficult existence.  
Sold for the first time in 1897 for £300 it was confiscated in 1930 by the Nazis as degenerated art, found in 1937 to be sold in 1938 by a greedy Goering**, known as an art thieve, for $53 000 and last seen in an auction in 1990 being sold for $82,500,000 to Ryoei Saito a Japanese art lover that wanted the painting to be cremated with him. He died in 1996 and the painting was not cremated but it disappeared.
This price Saito payed made the painting be the number four at the top ten most expensive masterpieces what is ironic when we remember that Van Gogh didn't sell any painting during his lifetime and lived asking money to his brother.
Now, thanks to a crazy art dealer the painting is missing. Many questions arise from this occurrence being one of them: have art became a commodity? to whom masterpieces belong? 
The left painting is the copy Vincent has made to himself and is now at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris France.
In a letter to his brother Van Gogh wrote about Dr Gachet's painting:
"I've done the portrait of M. Gachet with a melancholy expression, which might well seem like a grimace to those who see it... Sad but gentle, yet clear and intelligent, that is how many portraits ought to be done... There are modern heads that may be looked at for a long time, and that may perhaps be looked back on with longing a hundred years later." 
"What impassions me most- much, much more than all the rest of my métier – is the portrait, the modern portrait. I seek it in color, and surely I am not the only one to seek it in this direction. I should like – mind you, far be it from me to say that I shall be able to do it, although this is what I am aiming at – I should like to paint portraits which would appear after a century to the people living then as apparitions. By which I mean that I do not endeavor to achieve this by photographic resemblance, but by means of our compassioned expressions – that is to say, using our knowledge of and our modern taste for color as a means of arriving at the expression and the intensification of the character."
"So the portrait of Dr. Gachet shows you a face the color an overheated brick, and scorched by the sun, with reddish hair and a white cap, surrounded by a rustic scenery with a background of blue hills; his clothes are ultramarine – this brings out the face and makes it paler, notwithstanding the fact that it is brick-colored. His hands, the hands of an obstetrician, are paler than the face. Before him, lying on a red garden table, are yellow novels and a foxglove flower of a somber purple hue. My self-portrait is done in nearly the same way; the blue is the blue color of the sky in the later afternoon, and the clothes are a bright lilac.” Letter written in 5 June 1890.

*Dr. Gachet is the doctor who took care of Van Gogh during his stay at the doctor's home in Auvers-sur-Oise.
** Goering was the Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force sentenced to death at Nuremberg trial. He committed suicide before the sentence was executed.

Friday, May 20

Eugene Delacroix and Gustave Courbet: two women















Right: "Study for Les Demoiselles des bords de la Seine", 1856, Gustave Courbet
Left: "The Orphan Girl at the Cemetery", 1823, Eugene Delacroix

I love these two paintings. I will just quote the artists:

"I am fifty years old and I have always lived in freedom; let me end my life free; when I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any regime except the regime of liberty." Gustave Courbet
"What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough." Eugene Delacroix

Thursday, May 19

The bust of the Egyptian Nefertiti is still in Germany

I believe that many people know the bust of Nefertiti or heard about her and her husband Akhenaton.
They founded a new era in Egyptian history by adopting the monotheism, adoring the God Ra, Sun, instead of the polytheistic traditional culture.
The bust of Nefertiti was found in Egypt in 1912 by a German archeologist and was sent to Germany at that time.
It is at Berlin at their Egyptian museum.
The right image is not the original. It is a plaster copy of the original found at Amarna, Egypt, in 1912.
To make things a little more spicy there are those who claim that the bust that is at Berlin in not the original, it is fake.
Fake or not fake, it is a very strange doubt that was cast and some people keep feeding it what is odd since in Berlin there are experts that can easily make the tests to concede the original status to the bust.
I truly believe that a lot of what is being said surrounding the bust of Nefertiti is only an excuse not to return it to Egypt where it belongs.
It would be a great gesture from the German government to give Nefertiti back to a country that is showing how their people want democracy and are willing to fight till the end.
State minister for antiquities Mr. Zahi Hawass is fighting relentlessly to have Nefertiti back but the answer is always: "Nefertiti will remain in Berlin." Why? I don't have the official reason.
If the bust was sent to Germany illegally in 1912 or not is not the most important issue anymore. Nefertiti was found in Egypt is part of Egyptian culture and this is above any other argument, evidence or fact. 
Queen Nefertiti is real and with her husband Pharaoh Akhenaton founded the Amarna period that transformed the art, religion, architecture and many aspects of Egyptian culture and her bust, fake or real, is the icon that expresses all these changes. Nefertiti is Egyptian all too Egyptian.
It is sad that for economical reasons, Nefertiti is the most important attraction for people to go to the museum, the German government keeps in their possession a masterpiece that has nothing to do with their culture. 
During the Nazism numerous European works of art was confiscated. Artists like Picasso, Matisse, Dufy, Van Gogh, Munch, Chagall, Cezanne, - I'll post about it - received the label degenerated, there was even an exhibition in Munich, and disappeared.
But only a few was destroyed because Hitler knew what he had in his hands and from time to time a part of the art that was confiscated by the Nazis from 1939 to 1945 is discovered. The Nazis not only conquered the lands but also the art of the countries they were invading.
Well, a lot has to be done to repair errors from the past. It only takes common sense and justice beyond the book minds to solve these mistakes. 

Wednesday, May 18

Dolphins always cheer us up

To Cynthia, post below, who wanted to be a marine biologist, and to you and me.

Tuesday, May 17

Transgenders awareness campaign: talking to a transgender woman

Please, I hope you read it because you will not find any campaign at the mainstream media about hermaphrodites, transgenders is the right word, and there are lots of people needing you to understand them.
If you want skip and scroll down to the talking to Cynthia that is the most important and you will understand the problems transgenders have to endure.

"Transgenders are murdered, many commit suicide, they are given medicines in a trial and error roulette that destroy their healthy, many can't get a job because of prejudice...
You have no idea how these people suffer.
I'll publish a chat I had with a very nice woman who is a transgender today.
It is heartbreaking and you cannot help feeling angry.
A campaign about them have to be done but WHO and no other institution will do it.
It's up to us, citizens, to make our best.
Many people think they are rare. No. They stay home because of stigma and some bad health due to medical treatments that made them get worse.


"they decided to make me a boy by injection"
"They guessed I was a boy. They guessed wrong. Should have asked me maybe?"
"Really, when I was a kid wanted to work with dolphins."
Cynthia