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Here, on the Urban Wildland frontier, we play at Civilization versus the Wild. Daily, we recreate the circumstances of the birth of America - for it happened at the fringe of a feral continent, the first cabin a European statement of urbanity, a reproof to the unfettered fecundity of the natural world. Inside, the human frailties of the pilgrims were contained in the flimsy trappings of European civilization and religious conviction.
The Urban Wildland represents the collision of this continent's aboriginal state of grace with European industrial capitalism and religious expansionism. This is not Hotel California. This is American Genesis. Urban Wildland is its simulacrum. Here is its precinct, and in it we have created a minimalist barn in which we conduct our twenty-first century, secular lives - but when we look out of capacious windows we see the wild where was birthed America.
These are the kinds of paragraphs you write after you read Beaudrillard. It's a disease. A bad case of the sideration blues. Star-blasted America; planet-struck California. For Jean Beaudrillard was, as Geoff Dyer writes in his introduction to 'America', New York, 2010 (originally published in Paris, 1986), "a superstar of the simulacrum, a shaman of the virtual, an evangelist of the hyperreal". Beaudrillard's take on chaparral? Well, he's a visitor, so in California he only sees urban sprawl, the desert and the sea. The interstitial wildland eludes him. California's signature eco-system passes him by. Los Angeles, he sees as a mobile desert - like Death Valley, where, he writes, "Fire, heat, light: all the elements of sacrifice are here". In Los Angeles he sees "no monuments and no history", only a kind of ritual death.
The single most stunning statement ever made about Los Angeles is contained, I believe, in its aboriginal name which translates as Valley of Smoke - variously attributed to either the Gabrielino Shoshone or the Malibu Chumash. When I first read it - in the lobby of the Transamerica building in an exhibition of Los Angeles Pre-history in the mid-nineteen eighties - I immediately beheld a vision of camp fires across the basin as a kind of pre-echo of the twinkling lights one experiences when flying in at night to this most crepuscular city; and rising from those fires the resinous smoke of burning chaparral - for such was the available firewood.
Here was evidence of the continuity of a human presence - and the inversion layer - backwards in time, stretching back far enough to link up with the ravening mega fauna now closeted in the La Brea tar pits, that other pre-historical factoid that made up a part of my Los Angeles amulet (the rune stones that connected me to the deep aquifers of humanity and nature that run through this strangest of cities). Only one human skull was ever recovered from the tar-pits amidst the bobcats, sloths and sabre-toothed tigers; but there was an existential human connection - in that primeval smog of a thousand camp fires was the smoke from some very large barbecue.
For those attuned to these layered complexities of the State, the crashing presence of its nodality is overwhelming. But for Beaudillard, "The mythical power of California consists of extreme disconnection and vertiginous mobility captured in the setting, the hyperreal scenario of deserts, freeways, ocean and sun. Nowhere else does there exist such a stunning fusion of radical lack of culture and natural beauty...." Jean Beaudrillard (and earlier, Gertrude Stein) fail to find the facticity of California, the thereness of it all - or as D.H. Lawrence writes of Taos, N.M., "When you get there you feel something final. There is an arrival."
There is a sense that the spirit has long dwelled here; but to experience that you have to kick a few rocks, get tangled in some chaparral and watch the waters of a stream, flush with snow melt, bubble over rocks and catch in the low hanging branches of bay, willow, cottonwood, sycamore and oak. Or, even more directly, perhaps, see the petroglyphs and pictograms on rocks strewn along the littoral, where the Kern river forsakes its usual gorge and flattens and spreads over a flood plain, slows to a meander, and afforded the native Kaweah people an opportunity to live with its placid waters (Song of Life).
Locked in his rented, convertible Mustang - Beaudrillard recreated on his windshield the California he understood from the movies - framed in hard plastic and edged at the top with pressed painted metal, this was his filmic simulacrum of America.
De Tocqueville never got much further west than Detroit, but in 'Two weeks in the Wilderness', 1831, he 'gets it' in a way that completely eludes Beaudrillard.
"A majestic order reigns above us, when the midday sun bathes the forest in its light, one often hears from its depths a long moan, a plaintive cry that carries a long way. This is the last gasp of the dying wind. Everything around you then subsides into a silence so deep, a stillness so complete, that the soul is gripped by a sort of religious terror. The traveler stops; he looks around. The trees, pressed one against the other, their branches intertwined, seem to form but a single mass, an immense and indestructible edifice, under whose vaults reigns an eternal darkness."
De Tocqueville has the advantage of actually meeting with native peoples and is acutely aware of their imminent demise. he writes,
"An ancient people, the first and legitimate master of the American continent, is melting away with each passing day like snow in the sun, vanishing from the face of the earth. In the same location, taking its place, another race is growing with even more astonishing rapidity. Through its handiwork, forests fall and swamps are drained while lakes as big as oceans and immense rivers vainly oppose its triumphant march. Wildernesses turn into villages and villages into cities. Americans, who witness these miracles daily, are not surprised by any of them. To them, this incredible destruction and still more surprising growth seems as if it were the immutable order of nature."
One hundred and fifty years before Beaudrillard drove his rental car across California, De Tocqueville broached the Urban Wildland at the frontier of America. We are now that frontier. Heirs to that home-grown expansionism, that 'immutable order of nature' that we have taken so to heart: wreakers of destruction by the simple fact of our being here.
In this one hundredth posting at Urban Wildland, I continue to play at Civilization versus the Wild. This Valley of the Moon is my sanctuary: the reification of a dialog; the blog an exploration of the conflation that is its masthead.
American Genesis
Posted by John Davis at 4:21 PM
Labels: California History
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Dan Levy (Stamford, CT)
Dan joined Rubicon Technology Partners in 2016. Dan currently serves on the Board of Directors for Gimmal. He previously served on the Board of Directors for Personify.
Prior to joining Rubicon, Dan was Vice President at Angelo, Gordon & Co. where he spent three years completing private equity transactions. Prior to that, Dan worked at Realm Partners, a multi-strategy hedge fund, where he focused on equity and debt investment opportunities across the healthcare, consumer/retail, business services, media, and technology sectors. Prior to that, Dan was an Associate with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, where he focused on leveraged buyouts and growth equity investments. Dan started his career as an Investment Banking Analyst with Lehman Brothers' Global Leveraged Finance group.
Dan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and East Asian Studies from Yale University.

subset: commoncrawl


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Color Collection
Everything come and go, people,money,clothes,shoes... but feelings stay. It doesn't matter if you don't feel them anymore, they are always there right in your heart. We came up with the idea of making them visible with Color Collection. If they are always there, why can't we touch them or see the hues of our feelings. Lines are drawn with emotions, that's why they are both smoothly circular and sharply pointed.
When you look at the hues of Color Collection, every single scarf will tell you something about yourself. It differs from scarf to scarf, according to your choice.That's why you shouldn't pick your iodes whether it goes well with your clothes or your shoes or your bags. You should choose your iodes with your heart and see if it goes well with your soul.


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Monday, April 25, 2011
Army Chic
27 comments:
That shirt is everything! I'm praying to the thrifting gods I can find a military inspired top.ReplyDelete
I love the sequin pockets :) YEY Gossip Girl!ReplyDelete
I really love this outfit!ReplyDelete
Fashion Rehab
love the pockets!ReplyDelete
your legs are so sexxxy, girl..ur lyin..u have a man lolReplyDelete
Am looking to send out some press kits (once I have time to get one together). So I'm interested in the same thing! Loving that shirt! I did a double take too...had to scroll back up hehehe..loving the sequin pockets!ReplyDelete
Your so working the outfit :))ReplyDelete
Love the nude pumps. Follow me - I am following you on Google Connect.ReplyDelete
Look great, that top is hott!!! I would love to send out a press kit but I dont think I'm ready yet.ReplyDelete
Editor & Chic
There is nothing I love more than perfectly fitted jeans as seen here.ReplyDelete
Happy hunting!
These jeans fit you perfectly lady! That's definitely a look at me shirt,great find. Good luck on those press kits! Hope you get a reply back soon.ReplyDelete
Fashion Nostalgia
Very cute! Love the shoes too! FAB as always...ReplyDelete
Stacey Kay
"Runway Inspiration, Vintage Decoration"
Cleveland Free Press: Goodwill Huntingg Shopping Guides
Fashionable Photography with Mindy Sue
My Vintage Handbag Line
amazing.... you look amazing in those jeggings... 4 more days till we are united :)ReplyDelete
I love those pants! I was going to buy one in Target like that once. They look cute on you!ReplyDelete
You're wonderfull always :DReplyDelete
AMAZING outfit :D
This shirt is great and I love your style!ReplyDelete
You look super beautiful!!
That shirt is so cute! I am loving the sequin and studded details!ReplyDelete
Xo Lynzy
Fantastic shit, fabulous you. I cannot get ove how wonderful you look with that haircut.ReplyDelete
I have voted!!
You're a Commander. Lovely! You're video is pretty cool. Good luck. I love House btw. Gossip Girls, not so much- i got bored with the high school dramaReplyDelete
I love that army shirt! Totally get why you feel like a bad ass :) You look fantastic...I also love your blog, followed you :)ReplyDelete
I love your shirt. great outfitReplyDelete
i really like those jeans!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 26, 2011 at 10:26 PM
This is so cute! I love the jeans and pumps, but that shirt is HIP!ReplyDelete
I really like those jeans...cute outfit!ReplyDelete
NICE VERY NICE YOU ARE TOP TOP TOPReplyDelete
Love the sequinned lapel!ReplyDelete
Fantasic shirtReplyDelete


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Outdoors and In
This post had painting in it several days ago but between the plein air painting, the after plein air painting naps and the "other" stuff I've managed to neglect it. So…. I put in a couple more images to make up for making everyone wait.
The piece above is one of the "outdoor" pieces. This was my first paint trip to that particular location on Bear Creek. Despite the look of it being so cold it was actually pretty comfortable. I left my thermal coveralls in the car. It was an incredibly brave thing to do for someone who feels about the cold as I do. No Wind.
My friends Wes Hyde and Mark Coulter went with me to a favorite painting spot along Coal Creek. This painting above was painted on another one of those warm cold days. It's the wind that makes ya hate it! No wind that day either.
And above, an indoor piece. It is a mixture of two photos taken near Salida Colorado. It measures 10×20 inches and will be a part of the next delivery to the Earthwood gallery. I'm beginning to enjoy these foggy pieces.
And the Mamooey sky painting for Stoneheart. I've got to do a little edge work on this one and it's ready to go. It's a 30×40 inch piece and is an inny painting.
I was amazed at how this painting translated to black and white. It give me an idea how I did with the values.
And this old fat truck is from a photo I took about 30 years ago. It was, of course, on film so I had to scan it and get it to where I could print it out and paint from it. I have a sort of vision of how I want this to work out. Cross your fingers. I have painter friends who would knock this out in a New York second and make it look fresh and loose. I've worked with steel and blue prints for so long I'm going to have to work really hard at keeping it from being hard edged and photo like. A 12×16 inch inny.
12 Responses to "Outdoors and In"
You did it! What a brave soul with the winter we've had. The last two days have made me anxious to get out in the open. Painting is still eluding me but you may have given me the "bug". Thanks, Vicki
Always good to see what you are up to, Eldon. Nice work, inside or outside but I betcha you prefer to do plein aire work, yes?
I like them all but I think that sky painting is pretty special! Nice mood to it!
Can't wait to see the finished truck..
Nice to paint with you yesterday Eldon! It was a beautiful warm "winter" day! I feel the cold too. Could this mean spring is around the corner??
The Coal Creek piece is my fav!
Hello Eldon,
I am Doug Hoffman's sister and just a few min. ago he said I should check your website-How beautiful your pictures are(few I have looked at) Is Coal Creek close to Florence, CO? We have family at Florence- I am in Durango, CO and have been for many years. What a God-given talent you have! I am so glad my bud suggested I look…Much luck in all your brush strokes!
Hi Eldon,
What incredible paintings. I just keep looking at them and saying, "I love this, oooooo and this too, and wow this too," and so on.
You are a great painter. No question about it. Up here it hasn't been a bad
winter so far for wind. The wind in Florence in December was something
fierce. We've been lucky, or is it more of what's not okay with the climate.
As the line in the song goes, how could something that feels so right be so wrong, but that's been this winter, short, snow free, and not too cold. Woops.
Take care,


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Why do some FODMAP dieters react to molasses and some do not? Like many other FODMAP foods, more research needs to be done to refine the dietary restrictions. In the meantime, a possible explanation could be that molasses can be made with sugarcane, grapes, sorghum or beets. Beets are an Oligosaccharide, a FODMAP trigger. Some …
Monthly Archive: September 2013
Sep 20
FODMAP Community Education Class
Helping to spread the word about the FODMAP diet … For those of you lucky enough to be in the Nashua, New Hampshire (USA) area, St. Joseph's Hospital is hosting a "Dinner with the Doc" discussion on "IBS, Crohn's Disease and Colitis: Is a FODMAP Diet Right for Me?" on October 9. If you …
Sep 18
Soy Confusion
Information worth repeating. Soy based products are confusing for FODMAP dieters because their FODMAP content varies widely depending on how the soy is used. Soy flour has a high FODMAP content. Tofu is low in FODMAP because of the way it is processed. The level of FODMAPS in soy yogurt also varies by manufacturer, depending …
Sep 16
Ice Cream and Cookies! YUM!
Summer may be officially over, but it is always the right time for new desserts! Try our FODMAP Free Chocolate Chip Cookies with FODMAP Free Salted Caramel Ice Cream. DELICIOUS!!
Sep 09
FODMAP Free Classic White Cake with Cookies & Cream Frosting
This classic white cake with cookies & cream frosting is moist, delicious and no one will know it is FODMAP free! ENJOY!!
Sep 06
FODMAP Free Pizza Crust
Just in time for football season … but really, pizza is always a great idea! This crust is just like regular pizza crust. The consistency is best if you have a stoneware pan to cook it on. Give it try! FODMAP Free Pizza Crust
Sep 05


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The medievalist Jacques Le Goff is fascinated by the obsession of folk in the Middle Ages with the wheel. It turns up everywhere as a motif, from crop rotation to rose windows, from architecture to the ubiquitous iconography of the Wheel of Fortune, rooted in the Fates of Greek mythology. Le Goff is both an acutely brilliant intellectual and a convinced Marxist, and it is likely that his interest in the wheel as a medieval emblem is informed by this. Notwithstanding this, he is clearly on to something. There is a profoundly subversive undercurrent in the wheel of fortune image ("Non timeo rota fortunae!"; I am not afraid of the wheel of fortune!), picturing, as it does, a king at the top of the wheel with his crown balancing precariously on his head – or even toppling off – as the blindfolded Lady Fortune spins the disk.
Le Goff links the wheel to the craftsmen who produced the rose windows. With technological advances meaning that tall buildings could stand (thanks to flying buttresses, among others) without collapsing, a whole new industry sprang up of artisans to carve statues, make stained glass, and decorate these hitherto impossibly high reaches. Almost for the first time in history, a peasant could move up the social strata and journey from rags to riches because of the possibilities of acquiring a trade. These were the men who created the rose windows, the symbol of revolution, the wheel turning, and established order changing. Le Goff notes that, at the same time, chess rules evolved to allow a pawn to become a powerful piece, "queened", if it reached the end of the board, reflecting these social changes.
The social hierarchy's calcification is enshrined in a ghastly stanza of the insipid nineteenth-century hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful:
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.
The only job from which I was ever fired was lost because of this stanza. I worked during a long, sultry summer at a greetings-card company in Yorkshire, and while dealing with the programme for a wedding with a stationer over the telephone, suggested that this stanza be omitted, as it commonly is. When he asked why, I gently explained that some people were rightly startled by its "know thy place" sentiments. He said nothing to me but phoned my manager later and was absolutely livid, claiming that I had accused him of being politically incorrect. It turned out to be a serendipitous dismissal as I had saved enough money from that job to begin my MA in history a few weeks later.
We use the word revolution a little casually and often in a promiscuous fashion, but we should reflect on what a delicious word it is. The wheel turns and is as inevitable as it is unstoppable. Things come full circle. They spiral out of control. The ultimate lesson seems to be that life and society are often unpredictable. At the same time, we seem destined to make the same mistakes unless we are empowered to remove the blindfold and learn from the past.
This brings me to today's pair of cufflinks. They are a sterling-silver pair designed by the Danish silvermith L. Cordt-Andersen and have his maker's mark of L.C.A. Little is known about him as he did not make a huge range of jewellery; he worked in Charlottenlund from 1962 to 1973. This town is located in one of the richest areas of Denmark. The links are undated (only Finnish and some Swedish silver has coded date-stamps). While there is no indication of the date, I would like to guess that they were made in 1968 or 1969. The spiral, repeated almost for emphasis, and the circular sense consolidated by the central balls, possibly reflects the cultural revolution occurring in the West during that time, from the student riots in Paris to civil unrest in the USA. The difference between a disk and a spiral is that there is more anarchy with a spiral, more of a sense of uncertainty as to the final destination. While we know little about Cordt-Andersen, I would like to infer that his work echoes his personal interest in societal changes viewed from his vantage point of a provincial, wealthy Danish town, as well as his deep-seated anxiety as to where these would lead.


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Why organizations need digital marketing agency?
Time has actually led to several enhancements. Every area and each has enhanced in so the business and a substantial technique. Popularizing it and obtaining business before the earth, is never a straightforward job. Although some approaches have actually created eventually, digital marketing for small businesses have received enormous value. It is the simplest way to accomplish the specific market in an expense-effective method. In the day these days, when automation maintains growing significantly greater than various other things, demand for a highly efficient marketing can be a demand. Making a productive site and keeping it requires having hold of professionals. This becomes a help make your service acquire a huge success. With specialists, marketing starts going into notification and gets a reliable monitor. The advantages of choosing a marketing firm for the site are not limited to this. Below are a couple of even more elements that will help to recognize the demand for employing marketing business.
For marketing your supplier whenever you use other companies it comes to be less costly than in house workers. Besides this, their experience comes to be extremely great for the businesses. Time, their research and assumed projects right designs for the internet site. To be able to popularize your supplier, not big yet small investment is rewarding. This boosts your benefit globally and aids to keep your demands. Innovation in this field went through huge adjustments. Such scenario, digital marketing agency comes to be exceptionally valuable not just as a result of reliable marketing yet additionally for their updated details. Their large information assists in successful methods.
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- Posted in: Digital Marketing


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Online advertising figures are flooding in from all directions, this time the latest quarterly online ad spend results by the Interactive Advertising Bureau New Zealand (IAB) and PwC, which shows interactive ad spend is up 26 percent to $99.2 million in the first quarter of this year.
IAB's latest quarterly figure brings on a new methodology that's been a year in the making, and now includes more information on mobile and social media ad spend. The survey includes 40 New Zealand media companies and agencies, including APN New Zealand, Fairfax Media New Zealand, TVNZ, Ogilvy, Y&R and OMD.
IAB forecasts a 12 percent growth in interactive ad revenue each year for the next two years, reaching $510 million by 2015. This is a much more aggressive position than PwC's independent research which has online ad spend reaching $543 by 2017. IAB predicts that by 2016 online ad revenue will overtake newspaper advertising revenue.
According to the survey, New Zealand's online ad spend in Q1 is still dominated by search and directories (41 percent), followed by classifieds (31 percent) and display (25 percent). The display ads are further divided into video advertising which accounts for half the revenue in that category, followed by programmatic banner displays (8.6 percent of the total online ad spend) and email (just less than one percent).
Online advertising growth year on year (Q1):
Mobile: +196 percent
Search & directories: + 38 percent
Video: + 33 percent
Classified: +18 percent
Tourism and accommodation and the finance sector are the biggest spenders on display ads, accounting for 15 percent and 12 percent respectively.
Mobile has had the strongest year-on-year growth, up 196 percent – although it's still only a sliver compared to the overall picture, $850,000 in spend in Q1. This is further broken down to reveal an almost even split between smartphone-targeted and tablet-targeted revenue.
Social media rounds off the figures, accounting for 2 percent of total interactive spend worth $1.72 million.
Online video is predicted to double in the next four years, says the IAB.
Idealog has been covering the most interesting people, businesses and issues from the fields of innovation, design, technology and urban development for over 12 years. And we're asking for your support so we can keep telling those stories, inspire more entrepreneurs to start their own businesses and keep pushing New Zealand forward. Give over $5 a month and you will not only be supporting New Zealand innovation, but you'll also receive a print subscription and a copy of the new book by David Downs and Dr. Michelle Dickinson, No. 8 Recharged (while stocks last).
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A post!? I forgot about those.
Well, it's been forever since I've posted. It's certainly not cause nothing has happened. Quite the contrary. I could say I've been too busy to post...but that's not really true. I could try and pass off some psycho-babble nonsense about how I'm so well adjusted here now that I don't have a need to share my thoughts and experiences...but that wouldn't really be accurate either. Mostly I think I've just been lazy. I have also found myself less and less inclined to spend lots of time on the intarweb if I can avoid it. Maybe I've actually kicked my need to feel constantly wired into the rest of the world. That's a fun thought.
Anyway, I suppose I should fill you in. I'm not actually looking at my blog while I type this so I'm not really sure when my last post was. I'll just give a rundown in reverse chronology of some of the most significat events of the past few months.
Just finished swear in week. It's been a madhouse. The PC director was in town for that and the combined PC Niger 45th anniversary celebration. This means that everything had to be perfect. It also meant that everyone was running their asses off trying to make sure we presented the ideal face for the director. So much for objective observation. I was seriously contemplating not coming into Niamey this week, but I got roped into doing a musical performance for the 45th with little to no prep time to get it organized. Kurt and Josh and I found a couple of our musical buddies and basically just had a 10 minute jam session. It was what it was. I think it was awful...people keep telling us otherwise.
I've also been horribly sick all week. Worst case of amoebas ever. I've been finished with the main meds for two days now and I still have diarhea. They say you're not a true Peace Corps volunteer until you've crapped your pants. Well you can count me in those ranks now.
Last week I went to a training session at the ICRISAT research center with my school teacher and several other volunteers and their counterparts. It was very interesting and will hopefully help my teacher and I when we try and set up a school market garden in the comming months. Kudos to Danielle for all the work and effort she put into it.
Let's see...what else... OH YEAH! I went to that magical place: America! I went home for about 3 weeks in August for a couple of weddings. The trip really deserves its own post as it was very interesting to go back into that society after my time here. Suffice to say for now that I did have reverse culture shock (first three days home were in Manhattan) and that it was wonderful to be back visiting with friends and family. America is also freezing. Even in August. It was glorious.
Prior to my trip to America I'm not sure what I have or have not talked about. If I find any gaps I'll be sure and fill you in. In the meantime I'll try and type out some discussions of what it was like to be home and what it's like to be back here now. Bizzare and perfectly normal are both apt descriptors. I'm sure it'll make more sense later.


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Korea national debt per capital hits W13m: data
Published : Feb 11, 2018 - 11:23
Updated : Feb 11, 2018 - 11:23
South Korea's per capita national debt hit 13 million won ($11,900), more than double that of 2008 when the country was reeling from the aftermath of the global financial crisis, official data showed Sunday.
The National Assembly Budget Office said that as of Saturday, the national debt stood at 671.5 trillion won, up 4.6 trillion won from late last year and 2.2 times greater than the 309 trillion won tallied a decade earlier when the per capita debt stood at 6.31 million won.
It said that, based on the size of the country's budget for 2018, the total debt could grow to 708.2 trillion won by the end of the year.
"In effect, the national debt is growing by 1.31 million won every second," NABO said. It said the rise comes as the government increases its welfare-related outlays and injects more money into the economy to bolster growth, meaning Seoul is spending more than it brings in.
National debt is the sum of repayment obligations held by the central and regional governments and overseas borrowing by both the state and private sectors that needs to be handled in due course.
South Korea's debt stood at just 60.3 trillion won in 1997, but this started growing sharply in the following years and hit 111.2 trillion won in 2000. It surpassed the 200 trillion-won mark in 2004 and rose another 100 trillion won by 2008 before doubling in size to top 600 trillion won in 2016.
The incumbent Moon Jae-in administration has set its expenditure increase at 7.1 percent on-year in 2018, which is expected to cause the deficit in the operational budget balance to hit 28.5 trillion won.
The government has, moreover, said that it plans to increase outlays on social welfare, to help stem the low birthrate and support senior citizens, likely speeding up the rise in national debt going forward.
Local observers said policymakers are currently considering an increase in the 5.8 percent annual fiscal expenditure increase set through 2022 to meet the rise in demand for spending. If such a change takes place, the size of the national debt and the burden on the population will increase at a faster pace.
Cho Young-moo, a researcher at LG Economic Research Institute, said that the pressure to increase state spending will become greater with the rise in social welfare demands.
"Since the country needs to have some fiscal leeway to prepare for the possible unification with North Korea, it is prudent to examine all aspects of spending and procurement," he said. (Yonhap)
Trump says troop withdrawal not on summit agenda
Feb 23, 2019
Tickets sell out for BLACKPINK's N. America tour
Feb 22, 2019


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Welcome to my photos' hunt at Disneyland Resort Paris. You can find this newsletter at this address: http://joel.at.dlp.online.fr/dlp/
Click on a picture to enlarge it. If you like one of them and want to use it on your web site, don't forget to inform me and to mention the original source with a "© J°o°eL" !
This week in the photos' hunt :
Walt Disney Studios
|The new street already visible on the Studios' map, becomes reality.
|Some trees behind Walt Disney statue have been removed.
|And new trees are already visible behind the fence.
|On the side of Hollywood Tower Hotel, FastPass sign is visible.
|Chef Remy welcomes you at Rendez-vous des Stars.
|Main gate refurbishment.
Disneyland Park
|After Disney & Co. it's turn of Lilly's Boutique to be closed for refurbishment.
|FastPass refurbishment:
after Big Thunder Mountain, it's turn of Peter Pan's Flight,
|and Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril.
|Work continues at Critter Corral.
|Halloweeeeen is back at Frontierland.
|"Witches go home..."
why not ! and Pumpkin-men too !
Disney Village
|Halloween is back here too.
|Billy Bob's Country & Western Saloon facade new decoration added.
© J°o°eL / 2007


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Climate Change – The Individual's Problem? (2/2)
Euan Robb (1st year History and Politics), Guest Writer Humans have many faults. They are often vain, indolent and self-centred. One might suggest that humanity needs to change its nature before it can confront a collective challenge like global warming. But that is not the case. In the previous article, I discussed the possible necessity of switching from our currentRead more


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Wow! I feel really thankful to the camera man who did his job perfectly well and shot lots of steamy close ups with insatiable dolls' pussies getting filled by massive peckers! These slutty studs want nothing but sliding cock inside and they pay no attention to camera shamelessly filming intimate moments for us...
Slim gal with tiny tits owned
Chick rides cock and blows
Hot exposition of sweet butts
Damn! I was in danger of immediate squirting once I saw this video from a very nasty student party! Those provoking dolls seem to be created for a really splendid oral job and they prove it when take boys' sticking pistons in sexy mouths and start sliding it up and down between hot lips that could drive you crazy...


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Tag Archives: creative writing
The Perfect me (and you) Already Exists!
I decided on a new sort of resolution for 2018. I took it upon myself to learn more about cosmology; the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe. Sounds lofty, doesn't it? But really I'm just a major geeky … Continue reading
Camels And Botox
Camels and Botox. Two subjects I never thought I would write about – or even see in the same sentence. Maybe now my writing will finally hit the big time. This is the silver bullet. Camels and Botox. One … Continue reading
Weather Report or, Making Life More Interesting
We're obsessed with weather in New England. Weather is usually the top story of the day-overriding wars, famine, even stories about brides gone wild at the local Filene's basement. When friends visited us this past February, they were incredibly lucky … Continue reading
This December Song
Feeling bare I know there's more To December Than crowded stores Feeling wistful Remembering when a Flexible Flyer Was my Amen Feeling hopeful When I see Children marvel At a Christmas tree Feeling blessed For so many things Including my … Continue reading
Most fields have their dreams. Finding my way.
The field of urban planning uses terms like wayfinding and desire lines. When I first heard of the latter, my thoughts traveled to 900 numbers. Maybe that's why transportation planners now mostly refer to this phenomenon as a desire path. … Continue reading


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K Lab Inc. has announced the pre-registration event for the global version of Captain Tsubasa Dream Team. The game is expected to launch this December so hurry now and pre-register!
Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team is a head-to-head football simulation game based on the classic football manga series enjoyed the world over, Captain Tsubasa. Players are given the opportunity to train football legends Tsubasa, Misaki, Hyuga and all the fan favorites from the series to build their own dream team. Players then hit the pitch with their custom teams to battle it out for football supremacy against the A.I., or go head-to-head with friends or other players from around the world in online matches.
The Pre-Kickoff Campaign began earlier today with pre-registration for the upcoming release currently available on the official Twitter and Facebook accounts. Players are encouraged to follow either (or both!) to receive the latest updates on the upcoming title and stay one step ahead of the game. More details can be found on the official website, which opened earlier today in all six languages available in the global version of the game.
The global release will be localized into six languages—English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese.


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Apprenticeships are equivalent to academic qualifications. There are three different levels of apprenticeships available. If you are looking to hire an apprentice yet are unsure of which route to take, the National Apprenticeship Service has helpfully outlined the different levels to provide employers with more information.
There are three levels of Apprenticeship available:
- Intermediate Level Apprenticeships: Apprentices study for work-based learning qualifications such as a Level 2 Competence Qualification, Functional Skills and usually a relevant knowledge-based qualification.
- Advanced Level Apprenticeships: Apprentices work towards work-based learning such as a Level 3 Competence Qualification, Functional Skills and usually a relevant knowledge-based qualification.
- Higher Apprenticeships: Apprentices undertake a framework at Level 4 and above which will include a competence based qualification, Functional Skills and in some cases a broader vocationally related qualification which could be a Foundation degree.


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Absolute Web Services is a full service agency with strong abilities in ecommerce development and management as well as marketing, photography, video and content creation. Based in Miami, we specialize in custom development of Ecommerce Solutions on Magento, Shopify & WooCommerce platforms, as well as building Mobile Applications, informed by strategy and guided by our clients goals we utilize all of our assets and expertise to ensure results.
Is this your company? Log in to update your information.


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Answer the following questions. Use 1 or 2 paragraphs per answer. Clearly structure your document through use of HTML5 header and list elements. Images are not required in this first assignment. However, if you include them in your HTML page, be sure to add the image files to the Git repository.
Recent Posts
Quick Order


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But place–like character and plot–is one of the essential elements of a story, and, if you ignore it or treat it like a simple backdrop, you'll miss the chance to deepen your reader's experience of your story.
Every story must have a setting, a place where the action occurs.
"Setting exists so that the character has someplace to stand," writes John Gardner, "something that can help define him, something he can pick up and throw, if necessary, or eat, or give to his girlfriend."
And Eudora Welty observes: "Place conspires with the artist. We are surrounded by our own story, we live and move in it. It is through place that we put out roots."
Sometimes it takes nothing more than a few brush-strokes to create a sense of place:
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland. (from Holes by Louis Sachar)Sometimes it takes a different kind of brush work:
My name is Vahan Kenderian. I was born in Bitlis, a province of Turkey, at the base of the Musguneyi Mountains of the East. It was a beautiful city of cobbled streets and horse-drawn wagons, brilliant springs and blighting winters, strolling peddlers and snake charmers. Beyond sunbaked mud-brick houses were fields of tall grass, rolling hills, and orchards of avocado, apricot, olive, and fig trees. Steep valleys of stone climbed sharply to grassy plains and pastures, and higher still to the slopes of snowcapped mountains where every summer evening the sun set in deepening shades of red and blue. (from Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian)What's interesting about both of these examples is how the narrators of each description offer a reader a way into their individual stories through place.
The way into the story isn't only through the physical descriptions of place–the dry, flat wasteland that was a lake over a hundred years ago or the beautiful city of cobbled streets and horse-drawn wagons, brilliant springs and blighting winters–but through the way the narrators feel about the settings that they describe.
In Holes, the narrator has placed himself smack in the middle of that wasteland with the word "here" in the second sentence. By placing himself in that setting, he's raised an essential (and gnawing) question in the reader's mind: why would anyone want to live in such a dry, desolate place? He also challenges the reader to look closely at the scene and to understand--the way he has come to understand--that appearances can be deceptive.
Unlike Sachar's narrator, Bagdasarian's narrator in Forgotten Fire has a name--Vehan Kenderian--and his description of his birthplace is filled with longing. It's a lush, evocative description bursting with love in the same way that his memory bursts with images of ripe avocado, apricot, olive, and fig trees. Bagdasarian's description is colorful ... full of life... in ways that Sachar's description, is colorless and, hence, lifeless... except for the life breathed into the narrative by the narrator himself.
What we see in each of these examples–and what we'll see in the third example below–is how descriptions of setting can reveal the emotional state of the narrator and can be used to intensify the reader's sense of the character's central struggle. In this way, setting can offer the reader a deeper understanding of the conflict at the heart of a story.
Here is how Sandra Cisneros presents the setting in The House On Mango Street:
But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb. Out back is a small garage for the car we don't own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side. There are stairs in our house, but they're ordinary hallway stairs, and the house has only one washroom. Everybody has to share a bedroom–Mama and Papa, Carlos and Kiki, me and Nenny.Such a description of place lets the reader not only "see" the setting but "feel" exactly how the narrator feels about her surroundings.
The house... is not the way they told it at all... No, it's not the narrator's dream house, and you can feel the narrator's frustration, maybe even her anger, at having to live in a house made of crumbling bricks and a swollen front door and a small yard and only one washroom that six people have to share.
It's small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath... Those "tight" steps give a reader a sense of the same constricted feeling the narrator must have felt when she climbed the steps. And the tiny windows, so small, it's as if you can feel the narrator holding her breath, not quite wanting to admit that this place might be her house, the place where she and her family might live out their lives.
As you read these and other stories, notice the interplay between a character's dreams and the setting within which those dreams are framed.
And as you revise your own stories, try to become aware of the place in which your story is set, and how you might use it to reveal your character's emotional life on a deeper, more profound level.
For more information on place and setting, visit:


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Carlsbad Learners Rise to the Challenge!
Learning Connection: May/June 2018
The Writer to Writer Challenge winners were recognized at the Southern California Library Literacy Network Conference in Buena Park on April 14. Seven Carlsbad learners entered the challenge this year. A total of 86 letters were entered from 14 literacy programs in Southern California. Carlsbad learners Carmen C. and Nyla H. won the Emerging and Beginning Writers categories, respectively. Angelica G. was a runner-up in the Advanced category.
Thanks to the tutors and learners for their participation. It's not too early to pick your book and plan for next year's Writer to Writer Challenge!
Library Learning Center staff, tutors and learners attended SCLLN Conference workshops, including a Writer to Writer Panel—Learner Workshop presented by learners Carmen C. and Nyla H. and a Writer to Writer Tips for Tutors workshop presented by Carrie Scott, Community Outreach Supervisor. READ MORE >>
Emerging Category :: Winner
Carmen C, Carlsbad City Library Learning Center
Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom
Beginning Category :: Winner
First Grave on the Right, Darynda Jones
Advanced Category :: Runner-Up
Angelica G, Carlsbad City Library Learning Center
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel


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We really enjoyed their great tasting Chinese food but the place is quite noisy
Best time to go there for a dinner is around 5pm to 7pm if you want a quiet ambiance.
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.


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Right now my kids should be in school my wife should be at work and I should be finishing up a couple stories I had from last weekend when my wife and I had a wonderful time at a family/friend's wedding in the country's oldest city Saint Augustine.
But the kids are at home and the wife is at Target. She just called to say that she scored three cases of bottled water (the only thing I couldn't get yesterday.) And as for St. Augustine, Castillo de San Marco can weather anything but I fear I may have some of the last pictures of some of the shops on St. George St.
We get hysterical news about hurricanes a few times a year but central Florida hasn't had anything to worry about in a decade. This one might be different.
Yesterday, I was meeting a friend as he checked out of a hotel at Disney and we parked in the new lot of the newly redesigned Disney Springs to get some brunch. Just then I got a text from my wife that I should probably head to the store sooner than later. I didn't know it yet, but all Orange County schools had already been announced as closed for Thursday and Friday and all Orange County events and activities were canceled through Sunday. I said a quick goodbye and skipped out on brunch to head home along a path that takes me by three Publix grocery stores, three Walgreens, two gas stations and a few banks. It wasn't even noon yet and every one of those places had a line, just to get into the parking lot. So I headed home and stopped at the Publix adjacent to my subdivision. They were out of water but not yet anything else. It was a different story later that day but I got what I needed (sans agua) and took my loot home with an hour to spare before getting the kids.
With very little gas I squeezed the last drops from the can meant for the yard equipment and headed down the tollway. I knew that the local stations were everyone's first choice so as predicted, the oasis on the Florida turnpike was barely busy.
The rest of the preparations were pretty mundane & boring; find the candles, batteries, etc. This far inland and at 120′ elevation, our only issue is power being out for a few days. One trick I learned for that is to fill coolers 1/4 with ice & rock salt then line the salted ice with aluminum foil. It makes a 1930's refrigerator so you have 3 days to finish what was in the fridge, not 4 hours.
I just heard that Disney closed until Saturday, not just the parks, the resorts too. Not sure how the resort hotels can 'close'. Maybe the shops and services but I hope guests can still eat, there's only a few grocery stores anywhere near Disney.
Good luck Florida!


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Porsche will head into qualifying for the World Endurance Championship finale with its tail up after its two 919 Hybrids locked out the quickest times during night practice at Bahrain.
As in FP1, Neel Jani set the fastest lap of the 90 minute session in the championship-leading #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
Jani will share the car with Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas during Saturday's six hour race.
Lieb went to the top of the timesheets initially during the early running, but he was ousted by a 1:39.817s marker from his team-mate Jani after the driver change.
Second quickest, and 0.455 seconds down, was the #1 Porsche 919 driven by Brendon Hartley.
The New Zealander's 1:40.272s effort pushed him ahead of Lucas di Grassi in the best placed Audi, which ended the session third overall.
Fourth place went to Mike Conway in the #6 Toyota TS050.
The significant upturn in pace from the Porsches was predicted by technical director Fritz Enzinger between sessions.
"We had problems back in Austin with the high temperatures but I think we should be OK here because it isn't quite as hot," Enzinger told The Checkered Flag.co.uk.
"Our pace in the night is expected to be good so we should have the advantage during the race after it falls dark around two hours in."
Completing the top six were the #7 Audi of Andre Lotterer and the #5 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi.
In LMP2, Alex Brundle led the way for G-Drive Racing with a 1:50.056s marker.
That was enough to put the British driver 0.388 seconds ahead of Gustavo Menezes in the Signatech Alpine which had previously topped afternoon practice.
Third fastest and almost a second off the class pace was Richard Bradley in the #44 Manor ORECA, ahead of Filipe Albuquerque driving the RGR Sport by Morand Ligier.
Rounding out the top five in LMP2 was WEC debutant Tom Dillmann in the KFC-painted Ligier entered by Extreme Speed Motorsports.
Aston Martin Racing continued to assert its grip on the GTE-Pro field by posting the two quickest times of the session.
A 1:57.226s effort by Nicki Thiim in the all-Danish #95 Vantage ultimately topped the timesheets, with Darren Turner trailing in the sister #97 car by just 0.007 seconds.
Ford GT driver Andy Priaulx finished third fastest, ahead of the two works AF Corse Ferrari 488s and the Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911.
The quickest time in the GTE-Am category was set by Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston Martin, who dipped into the times set by the Pro field.
Qualifying for the WEC 6 Hours of Bahrain takes place tomorrow (Friday, November 18) at 17:00. A third and final free practice session is also scheduled for the morning at 11:30 (both times local).


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Sounds The Business: Mobile Disco - Music for all occasions
For over 15 years - as both Sounds The Business, and Hills 'n' Toes - Paul & Hillary have prided themselves in providing a professional sound system and light show at many hundreds of family and corporate functions; including weddings, engagements, birthdays, anniversaries, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, presentations, charity events and Christmas/New Year functions.
As hospital radio trained professional DJs with over 40 years of combined experience, we appreciate that – whatever the function – your day is special to you. We believe that the disco service you choose to compliment your celebrations should give your family and friends an evening to remember. We use superior quality sound systems, incorporating equipment manufactured by QSC, Martin Audio, Peavey, Yamaha, etc. Our lighting equipment is chosen to create excellent visual effects on the dance floor. Visit our Gallery to get an idea of the atmosphere we can create for your function. All our equipment is PAT tested and we have Public Liability insurance.
Sharing a passion for music, we are both fully self-employed within the entertainment industry. We have two independent rigs, enabling us to cover two functions at the same time at regular-sized venues. Alternatively, we have the capacity to utilise both rigs together for larger venues. (Using two amps driving two sets of speakers and a crossover with a bass bin we have comfortably powered a venue with a floorspace of c. 3,000+ sq.ft.)
Playing the right music is a key factor in creating the right atmosphere for your function. With an extensive music collection, we can cater from golden oldies to the most recent chart music. We encourage our clientele to discuss their music requirements with us and are happy to receive 'play-lists' and take requests on the day of the function.
We want to make your special event a 'Night To Remember'
See our KwizaokeTM page to see how you could combine karaoke with a music quiz!
We are currently taking bookings into 2019! To make an enquiry please contact Paul or Hillary:
Tel: 01708 702468
by The JavaScript Source
|Site copyright ©2010~2018 Sounds The Business -
designed and operated by Paul Webster/WEBsterSITESTM


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Wondering how Volkswagen is going to dig themselves out of the manure pile? You might be able to rest a little easier once you've seen the 2017 Golf GTE Sport.
The Golf GTE Sport is unlike anything VW has built since…well, ever, actually. It's bold, it's unique, and it's efficient — actually. The Golf GTE Sport is a plug-in hybrid, demonstrating Volkswagen's commitment to green technology. You know the commitment — 30 new alternative-fuelled vehicles by 2025.
Check out the doors – not quite gullwing, not quite Lambo. They integrate a section forward of the door, it appears and the extremely high window beltline makes it quite sexy. Dual exhaust tips protruding from the rear bumper are a little out of place, though. It's supposed to be ultra-efficient, isn't it?
The Golf GTE is a two-seater and is a commitment to performance as well. It's a turbo-charged engine and two electric motors powered by a plug-in power supply. It should go like stink, though maybe not quite like other supercar hybrids like the Acura NSX or the LaFerrari Aperta.
What do you think of the 2017 VW Golf GTE Comcept? It's due to be unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show this year. Should Vee-Dub build this car?


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'Northern Edge' from SCORPIO-L's third EP 'Phantasmagoria'. Video was recorded in Iceland by SCORPIO-L.
SCORPIO-L New EP 'Phantasmagoria' is available now!
iTunes: goo.gl/xyHUsQ
Spotify: goo.gl/fws2ld
Bandcamp: goo.gl/AFMmYZ
Mowave SOUNDSCAPE (Macao Electronic Music Compilation) out now!
01.Kaze Patricio Chan – I'm Falling Down
02.EVADE – 尋找佛洛依德的虛無飄渺 (Seeking For Mr. Freud)
03.nOISE808 – Too Low
04.Eva Tana – Situation
05.Carl Cixous – Echoes From Islay Island
06.Burnie – Narcissus
07.Faye Choi – Bond
08.N1D – The First Sight
09.Sinking Summer – Inblood
10.SYT – Melancholia
11.Lobo Ip – 東方紅 (Dong Fong Hong)
12.Sonia Ka Ian Lao – 花 (Flower)
13.e:ch & the forgottens – Swamp
14.Jansky.Hz – Alien Army March
15.SCORPIO-L – Mission Hypergiant
The Sound & Image Show at Loft345 on 2014.02.22
Photo by Piotr Bockowski (http://neofung.info/)
More photos: https://www.facebook.com/SCORPIO.L.MUSIC
the sound and image show by SCORPIO-L (Live in GZ Loft345 on 2014.02.22)
More information:
It's 2014!
New video 'Well-To-Do' now on youtube. Video and Music by SCORPIO-L.
Please feel free to share and spread!
'Well-To-Do' from 'Dehumanization' EP. Released on 1 July 2013. Listen & Download the EP : http://scorpio-l.bandcamp.com/album/dehumanization-ep-2013
Download the 'Well-To-Do' track in high-quality digital formats:
Excited about 'Phantom Limbs' will be holding at Hong Kong XXX Gallery on 1 Sep.
Phantom Limbs' is an ongoing collaboration art project between Scorpio and V.O.I.D. and other guests artists. It consists of exhibition, live body performance, videos and sounds.
More information:https://www.facebook.com/events/138937519648739/
SCORPIO-L new EP 'Dehumanization', is now available to stream in full, listen now:
Download 'Dehumanization' in Bandcamp:
New video 'Like A Kiwi' now on youtube. Video and Music by SCORPIO-L. Feel free to share and spread!
'Like A Kiwi' from SCORPIO-L 2013 new EP 'Dehumanization'. EP released on 1 July 2013. Listen & Download the EP : http://scorpio-l.bandcamp.com/album/dehumanization-ep-2013
Download the 'Like A Kiwi' track in high-quality digital formats:
The air is our chapels. And our lungs are the altars.
I love us for that, because it was so human!
The colors white and orange. I am ready!
Ready to leave. Ready to lose.
No dehumanizing!
And welcome our spiritual enemy!
Phantom Limbs will be holding in Macau on 5th of May 2013.
More informations :
SCORPIO will be playing at MOWAVE music gathering party in Pin-to Musica
Date: 21 April, 2013
Time: 15:00-19:00
Line up:
Brandon (DJ)
Faye (DJ)
Francisco Silveirinha (DJ)
Noname (VJ)
Sinking Summer (VJ)
More information: http://www.facebook.com/events/496361447090185/
Phantom Limbs Show at Guangzhou Loft345 Art Space on 24 Mar, 2013
Photos by Adam Ruszkowski
SCORPIO was invited to make a new long track for a live body performance. It's the opening performance for the 'Phantom Limbs' exhibition which will be holding in Guangzhou Loft 345 Art Space from 24 March to 30 April 2013.
'Phantom Limbs' uses new visual media as a bodily experience of viewers' phantasms. It presents different visions of a "haunted" existence of the body, which is recalled through media phantoms. In this perspective of the event, media becomes the phantom limbs of the viewers.
The event consists of collage exhibition, live body performance and video projections. Most of the works were made recently by Adam Ruszkowski (Poland), Piotr Bockowski (Poland) and Cristine Brache (USA). They are based in China now. SCORPIO will also perform with them on the live body performance.
More information about this exhibition please go http://www.loft345gz.com/
SCORPIO in Little Thing Magazine (Issue 27)
SCORPIO will be the guest performer on La'bridge new EP Release Party
Date: 4 Aug, 2012
Time: 20:00
Venue: Ox Warehouse
Let's join the party!
More information: http://www.facebook.com/events/147943502008482/
Upcoming shows:
30 Jun>>>Strategic Sounds>>>Hong Kong (Forgotten Dreams Session No.1)
28 Jul>>>Ox Warehouse>>>Macau (Achun On The Other Side Electronic Concert)
More information go SCORPIO-L Facebook Page
This is the live projection for a song﹣Mountain
Visual by SCORPIO and Wang Zi Bao (The Beijing Illustrator)
HEADZ 3rd Anniversary presents:《 Rebirth of Sound 》
Burnie ( 4daz-le , Macau )
SCOPRIO ( Macau )
Evade ( Macau )
loboo ( 4daz-le , Macau )
SUSHi RoBoT ( UK / Italy / HK )
JCC ( ChAos , GZ )
Date:2011/09/17 (Saturday)
Time:18:30 ─ 00:30
Venue:Av. do Coronel Mesquito, Nos 48-48D, Edf Ind. Man Kei, 10B, Macau / LMA
Tickets : MOP120 (Buy 2 Get 1 Free)
Ticket offices :
1. HEADZ﹣Beco Da Arruda No.8A R/C , Macau
2. Pin-to Livros & Musica﹣1A, Veng Heng Largo do Senado, 31, Macau
To celebrate the eighth anniversary, Center for Creative Industries – CREATIVE MACAU will hold an exhibition called "WILD ROAD TRIP 8" from 27th August to 14th September of 2011. 17 artists give us the pleasure to show their works in this exhibition.
SCORPIO was invited to give a live performance on 27th August during the opening of the exhibition on sunset.
Come and enjoy the art works and the music!
Electronic Music Live + Experimental Video Projection By SCORPO (Free of charge)
Date : 2011/04/09 (Saturday)
Time : 19:30 – 21:00
Venue : ZhuHai 9 Art Space ﹣ ZhuHai Ji Da Bai Lian Road, N0.148
We have limited seats. Please make reservation by E-mail : email@example.com -or-
Tel : (756) 3328339 (Mr. Liang)
Electronic Music Live + Experimental Video Projection By SCORPØ
Date : 2010, October 16th (Saturday)
Time : 20:30 – 21:30
Venue : OUT TO Box (Behind the Portuguese Embassy)
Price : MOP70 / Student for MOP50 (One drink and MOP5 discount coupon with the ticket)
We have limited seats. Please make reservation by E-mail: email@example.com
For more information : http://outtobox.blogspot.com
Enquiry : (853) 2852 2877


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My OS GNU / Linux Mint.
- Code: Select all
~ $ uname -a
Linux SpSystem 4.10.0-38-generic # 42 ~ 16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 10 16:32:20 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU / Linux).
Installed XAMPP for Ubuntu (xampp-linux-x64-7.2.4-0-installer.run). Everything works fine, but Server Apache and XAMPP resources are available from the local network. This is not acceptable for me, because in the local network of my apartment is a lot of other people's devices, including those who are versed in IT. I do not want them to have access to resources deployed to XAMPP: I watched how I develop sites, the results of my work (privacy).
To ensure that the XAMPP resources are not visible from the local network, I have managed the httpd configuration file (/opt/lamp/etc/httpd.conf). Changed the parameters of <Directory />:
- Code: Select all
#AllowOverride none
#Require all denied
Order deny, allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1
#AllowOverride All
#Order allow, deny
#Allow from 127.0.0.1
</ Directory>
This yielded the result: By the external local IP (For example: 192.168.0.110, permanent, local.) The XAMPP home page became unavailable. But by 127.0.0.1 (Internal IP) it is available, although localhost is also not available (Browser: Ferefox, Chromium). It's strange. I checked the hosts file (/ etc / hosts): The localhost 127.0.0.1 entry is available. PHP gives phpinfo. But PHPMyAdmin does not work. I understand because of the wrong host. Therefore, I replaced the host in /opt/lampp/phpmyadin/config.inc.php from localhost to 127.0.0.1 (Crutch, Laughter). And of course PhpMyAdmin worked, it worked well when restarting XAMPP, but before rebooting the OS. After the OS was rebooted, it stopped working and gave: mysqli_real_connect (): (HY000 / 2002) (Two errors) and asked to check the host name. Editing /opt/lampp/phpmyadin/config.inc.php (localhost to 127.0.0.1 and back) no longer helped.
In addition, I noticed that the Chromium XAMPP statr page is only available on 127.0.0.1, and localhost is not available, in Firefox XAMPP start page is available both on localhost (Cntrl + R reload page) and on 127.0.0.1. Very strange behavior.
Now I need to ensure that XAMPP resources become inaccessible in the "external" local network, and PhpMyAdmin has earned without "crutches" and mistakes.
Thank you for watching.


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Social Media – Where to Start?
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Not sure where to begin when it comes to social media? A good place to start is determining who your target audience is or will be. According to an article titled Social Demographics: Who's Using Today's Biggest Networks on Mashable, more than 66% of adults are connected to one or more social media platforms. They've • Read More »


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Modes of Control; checkpoints, border-crossings & guns – Egypt to Gaza
Dec 27, 2009 – Jan 02, 2010
Bearing gifts of duty-free whisky and Champion tobacco, Conor managed to find his way to my apartment building, made visible by a large 'DIESEL' sign at its base. He walked past the Boab- the doorman, and stepped into the archaic lift, synonymous of downtown Cairo. At the 7th floor I met him trying to un-jam himself from inside the dodgy box; I opened the gate and apologised for not waking up earlier.
Situated next to the enormous Al-Fath Mosque on Ramses Street, this home had been mine for the four weeks prior while I had been studying Arabic, climbing into old buildings and walking along railway yards late at night, trying to sneak a free swim at expensive hotels, drinking ample amount of coffee, tea and fresh juice and being "WELCOMEd TO CAIRO"! at least 12 times a day.
My room, the loudest in the apartment, had a 24hr symphony of honking cars and a 5am wake up call to prayer. It also had a rooftop full of shanty homes, a stairwell full of rubbish, and a faulty system of electricity, gas and water.
The fact that C found the place at 6.30 in the morning after arriving from a 26 hr journey from Australia assured me that he knew how to travel, and would be a much needed/appreciated entity of the journey ahead. Although we didn't know each other, he brought with him a familiarity of home, of the activist/enviro mob, and of a certain calm and humour that would prove the most valuable of traits in absurd situations.
We made coffee and I tried to breakdown what the situation was for the 100 Internationals now arriving in Cairo for the Gaza Freedom March set for the 31st of December- A march which was to commemorate the one year anniversary of the brutal 'Operation Cast Lead' – the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, and to send a message to the world to finally end the siege and open the borders.
"As you know," I whispered to C as to not wake my nocturnal housemates, "the Egyptians (authorities) have done everything to prevent this march from happening, to prevent us all from going to Gaza tomorrow. They've used 'security reasons' for their position and have canceled all our buses and set up new checkpoints along the highway to Al-Arish, the police are everywhere and all the hotels are being monitored.
"What Codepink (the organisers) are planning to do, is to have a symbolic departure tomorrow morning, knowing that they won't go anywhere, and then over the course of the next week there will be demonstrations, sit-ins and the like all over Cairo; at the UN, at different embassies, etc. They are still hoping to go to Gaza, but it's not looking good. Danya and I want to go and set up a camp at the border of Rafah, leaving tonight. We will, of course try and cross the border first, but failing that, we're planning to camp out."
We woke Danya, my partner in crime and savior earlier in the year when we were both in Israel/48 Palestine and I had only a very subdued friend and project partner for three months. I knew D well, also from Australia; working on anti-nukes and forest campaigns. There was no explanation needed between us and the absurdity of our surroundings, we knew the area, the mentalities and the possible obstacles to come.
So we set out to buy a large tent, for some 15 of the people we envisioned to be camping at the Rafah border with us once we arrived; we had been getting text messages from various groups that had made it to Al-Arish – just 50km from the Egypt-Gaza border-crossing. These small groups knew that the larger delegation wasn't going to make it out of Cairo and still wanted to try to enter Gaza – but they were all now under hotel-arrest, having police monitor their every move and prevent them from travelling on to Rafah.
So, maybe I should skip a few details; involving bargaining for the tent, bargaining for the taxis, eating koshary, deliberating on whether or not to leave, when to leave; watching the sun go down over the smog and realising we must leave if we want to go at all. A Turkish girl jumped on board who didn't speak too much English, so didn't speak much at all, the withdrawn silent body that popped up with strange questions at strange times.
So. Again. So. We made our way to the outskirts of Cairo to catch a mini bus, full of Egyptians, we had been told to 'look Arab' on our journey to Arish, so on the mini bus we women covered our heads with scarfs and pretended to sleep; by now the time was around 10pm so this wasn't hard. I asked the other passengers on the mini bus if we could swap seats and sit in the back so that when stopped at a checkpoint we would be less obvious – they were confused at first, but then understood why we were dodging the authorities. They agreed, and kept saying at 'the café' we would swap, but the café never eventuated.
Our new friends warned us when the checkpoints were coming, so we ducked our heads and covered our skin, after we passed through the gaze of police, everyone on the bus cheered. We made it through three checkpoints and were feeling positive, however, when stopped again I heard the policeman asking the bus driver if there were any foreigners on the bus, and he said yes, for fear of persecution if he lied.
C was taken off first, then D, still mumbling, pretending to be sleeping, then me and the Turkish girl got out and had to hand over our passports, to 'officials' who refused to show us their ID's – "No ID, no ID," they kept saying. Mohammed, the main spook, was happy to learn that I spoke a bit of Arabic, as there were two other internationals he hadn't been able to communicate with very well; a mother and son from the UK, who had been pulled over earlier and were waiting there at this checkpoint some 150km from Arish in the Sinai desert.
Mohammed, as they were all called, an unofficial official, took a liking to me after I tried to describe our reason for travelling to the Arish. By now our bus had to take our bags off the roof and continue it's journey. "We're doing a project, a book project, on the Mediterranean," we said. "We've been to Turkey, France, and now Egypt. We're writers for university, and photographers."
But, "Terrorists," they said, it was dangerous for tourists in Arish. "But why Arish?" we asked. "Rafah," one said accidentally, then was corrected by someone else, "Arish," they said again. So we were ordered to wait, and I was trying to sweet-talk the Mohammed in charge, calling him a prophet, as you do, in Arabic.
Soon after, another two internationals, one from Australia and one from Malta, were pulled over in a taxi and ordered to get out as we were. So we were now eight, strangers mostly, in the desert, going on midnight.
Our conditions were that we had to return to Cairo, and then we would get our passports back, but we refused, and after an hour or so, J from Australia and L from Malta tried to pitch a small camping tent at the checkpoint; the spooks got so infuriated that they called in a squad of armed police and yelled "YALLAH" "go/lets go/move" a hundred times and threatened arrest. They moved us to an area about 100m away, where they didn't care what we did, just as long as were out of their sight.
So we pitched our massive 15-person tent and deliberated our situation. We had no food and not much water, we would write a media release and try and get it out to the others, but I was beginning to lose charge and credit on my phone, and our internet thumb-drive didn't work on Macs.
At around 3am Mohammed came to ask us if we knew George Galloway, and if we were a part of his convoy. We looked at each other, confused, What was happening? Could we get through if we were part of Galloway's convoy? Should we lie? "Yes, we know him, we are going to meet him in Arish," we said. I'm not sure Galloway would have like this very much, but it helped our Mohammed have a change of heart and declare that in the morning he would help us get to Arish to join up with Galloway who was coming through. We were delighted.
At 4am Mohammed came back and asked me to translate passport details, so I complied. He also asked if he could come in to sleep next to me; but having previously said I was married to C, to help me out of these situations, he didn't believe me, and asked me when C was born. I had to check his passport and memorise the birth date to get through it. I finally got into my sleeping bag freezing cold at about 5am.
At 7am Mohammed came and asked me to come and translate, then the new spook, also Mohammed, took over. I asked Mohammed what was happening with Galloway, "I don't know," he said, and left.
We checked up on the Galloway convoy and found that they had been refused travel through Israel to Egypt and had to go back to a Syrian port to continue their journey to Gaza, carrying millions of dollars in aid.
Confused, we got back into bed and slept until midday. A few people went to find food and water about 5km away while the rest of us dozed and walked around the tents a hundred times, played soccer and looked into the desert at Bedouins herding sheep.
Much later when the others came back with food, they came back with news that a Bedouin man, also named Mohammed, who, after a series of charades, had managed to understand our situation and indicate that he wanted to help by driving us around the checkpoints through the Sahara/desert.
So we waited until around 9pm, dark and cold, then communicated with our personal minders that we were tired and hungry and were going to leave, to go back to Ismailia or Cairo to a hotel and eat some food. They were happy, and tried to organise us a taxi all the way to Cairo. But I said that we just wanted to go to the closest café, and then eat and then we would get another taxi to Ismailia. They refused, saying we must go all the way, because there is 'nothing' in between, and it's dangerous.
I finally agreed, just to get our passports returned, and once they were handed over someone yelled "take your bags" and we took our luggage out of the taxi that was getting orders from the police not to stop until Ismailia, and we started walking up the dark highway, seemingly not being followed by the police.
The tent was so heavy and we struggled with it; stopping behind a greenhouse we called the Bedouin Mohammed. I spoke, where are we? Landmarks, signs, road, gas station? They found us in the end and C asked me "do they seem alright? Genuine? Dodgy?" I really couldn't tell in the dark, after exchanging a few words. We got in the pick-up/ute and they drove us into the desert a few km away from our checkpoint, there we bargained prices and organised where we were going. We needed two cars and it would cost us 1000LE each, about AU$208- Far more than planned/hoped, but plans didn't really exist right now, nor did choices.
We waited in the moonlight, the growing full moon, in the desert, while they got the other car and filled up with petrol. There was two of them, and the older man waited with us, to assure us of their sincerity.
We're in the cars now, two in the front and two in the back of each pick up; C, my pseudo husband, between Mohammed and me in the cab of one, – them, chain-smoking, me trying to read works and phrases from my dictionary to make sure I'm actually taking us somewhere, or no where at all.
"trees, dates, desert, roads," Mohammed is speaking to me, I've got partial understanding of it all, but now it's late, like 2am, 1am maybe, maybe later. He says we'll swap somewhere, before Rafah, 50km before, and do a swap into another car. Why? Sure, we have no choice. When we stop at around 3am, 3.30? a new-looking 4wd pulls up next to us and two guys with gun-straps get out, we think, fuck, they're police, fuck…but we realise they're just.. in the business, of things, out here.
We all pile into their 4wd and say goodbye to the Bedouins, although our new friends are Bedouins too, a little better off perhaps. C picks up a belt of magazines and asks "what should I do with this?" Yusef, we'll call him, responds with a signal to throw it anywhere.
So I'm in the front, with the gear stick in between my legs, and the Turkish girl sitting near on top of me, and the driver, Yusef and another guy, umm, Hussein, perhaps, on either side of us. On the journey we pass through an old checkpoint with a blown apart tank – it frightens me as we approach because I didn't see it coming, and Yusef tricks me into believing we're headed straight for the police…
I am trying to translate that we want to go to the checkpoint, to the border, of Rafah, but not quite the border, close enough to go there in the morning, but far enough away to camp and be out of sight for the night. Everyone kept changing their minds, though, which made translating in broken Arabic even more difficult. Finally we realised we had no more food or water, and should stay in town. By now we learnt that these guys were in the business of people smuggling, Africans into Israel, and goods smuggling into Gaza; they kept asking if we wanted to go through the tunnels into Gaza, or through the border, I'm not sure they understood why we would go to the border, when it was clearly full of police and closed…
On his phone, Hussein showed me a clip of Sudanese people jumping a fence and wandering off into the desert of Israel… C started speaking and Yusef told him to be quiet, because of the police, then he blasted Arabic beats and sped through the Bedouin-made roads of the Sarah/Sinai.
Finally I managed to translate/ask/communicate that we needed some place to stay for the night, did he have somewhere? "Yes, with me, my house," he said. We were confused, I was confused, I wasn't sure if I was translating properly, or if I understood.
We were taken to a hut, D and I instantly thought we were taken to a tunnel, but inside we found other Bedouins, and an Ethiopian guy called Gabriel, who spoke English, I was so happy, I didn't realise how stressed I had become for having to semi-translate with my basic Arabic with people-smuggling Bedouins at 4 in the morning in the middle of fucking Sinai en route to Israel/Gaza/Police/hghsdifoh! – so we sat down drank tea.
They, the others, some, spoke of the tunnels, how much to go through them? Me D and C were not interested; they continued, actually D could speak some Hebrew, and they could too, due to the whole – border business.
I wasn't present anymore, beyond tired, beyond bemused, amused, surprised, humoured, confused, I wanted to sleep. They brought Twinkies and soft drinks – we ate and drank them; wanting anything, not starving, just – not hungry even, just because they were there.
Finally by the call to prayer heard in the distance, we fell asleep.
I kept waking, looking at the guys looking at us, watching us sleep, I felt dodgy, the whole thing felt dodgy, but we had some sort of 'trust' based on no alternative situation right then and there – if this is fucked we're fucked, so we better trust that it's not fucked. But they kept moving about, but when one of the young guys said 'good-morning', I trusted him. Perhaps, a little.
Wandering out of the hut we could see Kerem Shalom, one of the Israeli crossings into Gaza; we were not far from the borders of Egypt Israel and Gaza. Some 2km away perhaps.
Lunch, we were fed, meat, salad, bread.
No money asked for.
Visits, by – the sheikh, the big men of the area, all lovely and welcoming, some spoke English, Hebrew, as well as Arabic – more tunnel talks, more removal, more unknowing, what to do. If we go to the border we are sure to be taken in, straight into the hands of the police. But if we don't go, do we stay in this hut until we have word from someone that there will be others moving to the border?
C and I want to make stories – photograph things, but they are cautious, making sure we don't get their faces in any shots, and they tell us of the people smuggling, and we want to meet those who are smuggled. They say okay, we can do that – and later they take us in their 4wds, C and I sitting on top of AKs in the back. We're driven around the desert tracks.. and after a while, realise that they're just taking us for a joy ride through the desert; near the borders, near some huts, near not much, over some sand. L from Malta is sick.
We go up and down the dunes, laughing at the absurdity of where we are and what we're doing.
Our people. From everywhere, all here, sitting in these fucking 4wds being driven round like quasi-tourists with people-smuggling Bedouins near contentious borders of high-security and no security and insanity.
What the fuck? We go with it. Nothing else we can do.
We get taken to a house ; a large, stunning, pristine house, owned by Abed Mahmoud, who seems to be a big player in the business/es – but has a heart of warmth and welcome – his wife and other women relatives prepare tea for all of us, then coffee, then tea, then later dinner, and prepare beds for us – our bags are brought over and we all shower and come alive again.
We try and interview Abed Mahmoud, but my Arabic is so bad, and his English is not so strong, I think C gets a few interesting points, but I'm on the phone most of the time with people in Cairo, people hiding out at the border, near the border, – with people in Arish, trying to figure out what's happening elsewhere, while we cocoon in our bubble hidden by Bedouins in precarious locations, unsure if we're moving on or staying put.
The five other travellers with us are organising to go through the tunnels at night – D and I are getting stressed by the idea – but they persist, and we try and plan our moves; we'll stay the night, then move on to the border tomorrow.
Around 8pm the others leave to the tunnels, we say our goodbye's and wish them luck. As the door closes behind them we have a sense of relief – almost, all these differing opinions, ideas, conflicts, plans, – putting all this weight on this hospitable home we've been so welcomed in – we need to move on. Abed Mahmoud asks if we can stay with him for a few days, he'll take us driving in the desert, camping, just with him, no money, he's happy, we think, to be showing foreigners this place. We must look crazy to all of them, having arrived in the middle of the night trying to go to Gaza, legally, then having a plethora of different plans, then ending up not doing much at all – having heated discussions in the lounge room while sheikhs and other men waft in and out…
Half an hour later they all come back in through the door; our stress levels rise again – "Police, police around the tunnels, we'll go back later…"
But they don't go back later, and we continue our moving from one place on the floor to the next, drinking tea, smoking copious amounts of cigarettes, getting covered in a nicotine haze… conversations in Hebrew, English, Arabic, cultural miscommunications, cultural connections, laughter, hash gets passed around, eventually we sleep.
At 2 in the morning I get a text from an eccentric Brit we've been in communicado with since Cairo; it reads "100m from border, hiding in bushes" – this sets D and me off laughing – trying to recap the past 4 days, has all this really been happening?
The next evening we make our way in 2 convoys to Arish – to meet with the buses coming from Cairo – our last desert trip in the fancy 4wd with blasting Arabic beats with the Bedouin people smugglers tunnellers with guns – our new friends of the Sinai – more hospitable that could have been imagined – no money was asked for out of this. A few rain drops hit the windows, the sky is blue – the lights of Arish ascend on us.. Abed told me to call him if/when we don't get into Gaza, or afterwards, we must come back, he said. We hoped, Insha'allah.
We get out a few km from town – "straight ahead," he says, "then taxi" – our tent is too heavy for us to carry, we look down the hill and see two large buses followed by sirens from a police convoy – "fuck! That's our buses! We've missed them! Fuck!" – after all this, to miss the buses to Gaza – we're distressed – we ask some local kids to help us with our luggage and we run down the hill, get in a taxi and ask for the Swiss Inn, where we're supposedly meeting the buses – the taxi goes in the opposite direction to the bus and we know we've missed it.
At the hotel we arrive into a disaster of differing opinions – we've been so out of it we didn't realise what was going on, politically, socially, with the rest of the delegation. There is a huge divide, between those that believe no one should be going, and those that want to continue on, for whatever reason, aid delivery, journalists, Rabbis, projects, etc., so there is a large meeting inside, and those yelling at those who are going to not go, "all or none" – C and D and I are more stressed now. I totally agree with the all or none concept, it means nothing for a few to get through, it means nothing but a token.. but there are uses to, for some of us to go through. Some Palestinians who haven't seen their family in 40 years, some who are going to make work about it, some who are delivering aid or starting projects..?
Two new buses arrive, it turned out the other buses from Cairo had gone straight past Arish to the border, and were now sending another bus for us. C and I organise some people to get onto the bus, those that want to go – we're just on this mission, we want to go, I want to go to see the families I stayed with, to visit friends, to continue the body of work; I try not to analyse it too much because it makes me want to stay, but what would be achieved if I stayed?. We go. Finally.
Crossing the border of Egypt-Gaza for the 3rd time in one year – this big hall is so familiar now – this process of forms, like any border, so banal once inside, yet one of the toughest borders on earth… one of the hardest ones to cross. We pass through.
Arriving at Marna house around 1am – we're welcomed by some friends from the Palestinian Unit and Palestinian Rappers, they've been waiting for us, and try and break down for us what has been happening in Gaza. "They, the green people (Hamas they mean), have hijacked the march, it's going to be fucked, no one will go, no one knows…"
Of course, I think, this whole thing would be madder, more absurd, the whole thing is fucked, Hamas are watching our every move, more intensely than last time. We're here for other reasons too, only 2 days here now.
C and I share a room, shower, sleep, try and download some images, not that my digital camera is working, it fell out of the 4wd somewhere down the track and the battery got stuck inside, now dead. I'm shooting film too, so…
We wake up in Gaza; finally.
The march; we arrive to a crowd, Hamas has taken over, I don't want to be seen as a puppet for them – but isn't it important that we're internationals marching with Gazans, yes, but it's not with the original organisers, but anyway, we're marching together, I cover my head – I don't want to be seen as a puppet, but would I be? We're here together, fuck this insanity.
There are guns everywhere, Hamas everywhere, I'm more interested in this power play, this control, this regime…this fear…
Along the way I see that bricks are being re-made from broken cement from the year before – that workers are reconstructing destruction – it's hope, it's necessity.
After the march, where we didn't make it to the border, just some kms away, we're taken on a snap tourist adventure through destruction, then back to our Hamas controlled hotels, C and I escape; I yell in Arabic to someone from Hamas who tries to stop us "I know where we're going, I've been here before!" he gets the point and leaves us alone.
We meet up with Doa'a, from the family I usually stay with here, she's a doctor, and now engaged, ready to move to Sweden; to finally leave here. But she, like thousands of others, are on a waiting list, which is usually bumped back by Hamas members – or by the Egyptians, or by Israel, all sides, inside and out, this control, so powerful, so overbearing, so…?
She takes us to her hospital where C hopes to take some photos, talk to some people, but we don't have the permission, so we see the display of weapons from the last attacks on Gaza, the photographs of the dead, of death, of fear and terror – Doa'a doesn't want to look at this, she thinks it helps no one, does nothing, everyone in Gaza knows what happened, this doesn't help us move on.
We talk about other things, marriage, life outside Gaza, but always back to Gaza, to the war, – "I couldn't work in the hospital last war," she said, "not in emergency anyway; after the first day, when I saw my professor from university arrive, dead, I said I couldn't work here, any other department" – Her brother is also a doctor, just 25 years old, they're twins. He's also engaged.
We go and eat Knaffa, a Palestinian/Arab sweet/savoury mix – that fills our belly and distracts us for a few moments.
It's new years eve, and that night there's a hip-hop gig with the Palestinian Unit and the Darg Team – people are dancing, allowed to be free, they say, with the international presence, last time I was here, Hamas shut down the show and ordered everyone out. This time they dance, everyone does.
At midnight we welcome the new year in a circle in the foyer of the Commodore Hotel – the rappers and us – C falls asleep in the couch, I shake him, he tells me he's trying to go through 2009 in his head, all the places he's been and people he's met, stories he's heard and photographed – I try to do the same, but seems impossible to collate it all right now.
We go back to our hotel, we sip from the duty free whisky C smuggled in, it tastes perfect for now; everything seems to be absurd, but real, and we're here, or we were there- to drift into the new year, to wake in Gaza again, to bring the new year, of last years memory of massacre, of this years knowledge of struggle, of what has changed? The world has opened its eyes, but the borders are still closed…the situation is still raw, homes are still demolished, aid is still minimal..
I've organised going to see the remains of the settlements, to go to the south and work our way up – I'm interested in the absurd, the banality of the absurd – I want to try and photograph this.
My friend Majed organises us a car, equip with Press credentials and a siren to get past slow moving vehicles, donkeys and the like. He drove for Abu Mazen, the previous Fatah government in Gaza – and he knows the areas we pass through, he knows the roads. We end up in Rafah, around the border of Egypt, and at the tunnels.
We ask if we can go in to one of the tents, the very obvious trade that it is, the whole southern edge lined with these tents, bringing in most of Gaza's essential goods.
Inside we photograph bags of items being brought in from Egypt- we then go down into the tunnel, perhaps 12m down, climbing down a ladder, gear hanging off us.
Inside we watch a 20 year old work, dragging sacks, moving the cut out tanks now made into a train-type thing which is pulled along the dirt ground by a generator fed pulley – all the way to and from Egypt. He's strong, and smiling, this life, his work, some 30% of Gazans are employed in the tunnel industry I hear – perhaps 20%? Some people are making a killing off it, those who own the tunnels, – many Hamas.
We watch clothes, shoes, food and soap arrive in sacks, ripping apart, attached to the pulley and brought into Gaza, sold in shops with a 200-300% mark up price.
What will the new wall Egypt is putting in place do to the tunnels? We ask. "We have already figured out ways through it and below it," the owner of the tunnel replies, We're Palestinian, we know how to live, he implies.
We then visit the left over settler greenhouses, destroyed when they pulled out in 2005. Nothing has been made here, a strange, eerie space.
Gunshots at sea, we check it out, Israeli boats firing at fishermen – normal, absurd, daily.
In the evening I visit my friend Abdallah's family back in Gaza City, the third time now, this family of.. 10? 11 – living in this small apartment, but one of the most liberal, or less conservative families I've met in Gaza. So welcoming, of course, with food and tea and biscuits. Asmaa tells us of being harassed by Hamas when she was out at the beach with her male friends, who of which none were her husband, they were beaten, the men, taken to Jail… for what? I don't know.
Asmaa is courageous, strong and intelligent, a journalist, writer and activist, she'll publish her new book soon, but have to leave Gaza in fear of the ramifications of her content, heavily critical of Hamas and Gaza, of this territory controlled by fear.
Our last night in Gaza, I'm stolen from out of the controlling watch of Hamas by a family I've stayed with before who live in Beit Hanoun – we catch up over late night falafel and humous, drink tea, and fall asleep late.
I wake at 4.30am, to go with my friend Ahmad Hammad, who has always helped me with translating when I'm in Gaza, to the fish markets, we pick up C from the hotel and drive down just as the sun is making it's way over the tops of the city buildings next to the port.
I ask a few people about the fish, about the Israeli's capturing, shooting harassing- how is the industry now? "difficult, the fish, few…, we're always been shot at, or chased away by the Israelis." There's more to it, you know.
My last photograph will be of a group of fishermen, young to old, gathered around a fire at 7am on a Gazan winter morning, overlooking the port, the boats, the city, they're making tea, fixing nets, joking; a reminder, a confirmation, of how life goes on here, it has to, people just know how to continue, under the most fucked of circumstances, under the siege, under oppression from inside and out.
So we're shoved onto buses, some want to stay, but Hamas forces them out, threatens and bribes, putting other Palestinian chances to travel across the temporarily open border at risk – that's the deal, that's the Egyptian deal – you all must leave – it turns into a fight. But I'm tired, developing a stomach bug, half asleep for the next 12 hours back to Cairo- passed out on the bus, a few phone calls from C and D updates from being removed from Gaza, D, leaving Arish, goes to my apartment; a welcome sight returning to the room, the honking streets of Cairo, the large mosque the tall roofs, the temperamental water system. C arrives at 3.30am.
We sleep late, I pack my things over a sick belly, empty, not ready to go home, but more than ready to go home, to end this 13 month journey for now. To carry with me all the stories, images, people and places with me, back to Australia, back to some sort of normality, affluence and wealth, cleanliness and sterile buildings, history painted on with a fresh new lacquer, a familiar smell, of post rain mixed with gasoline. To my own community, what I know, to familiarity. Home.
*Some names have been changed to protect the privacy and 'security' of those in need of it
**Check out Australian photographer, Conor Ashleigh's fantastic work : www.conorashleigh.com and his recount of the journey: http://conorashleighphoto.blogspot.com/
***Check out Danya's blog on Palestine & Israel – http://revisitingtheholyland.wordpress.com