text:
Arizona and Texas Too
What Shall We Do With Our Anger
What should we do with our anger?
Shall we hold it inside?
Until it explodes
Scorching the earth with hate
Fight like there's no tomorrow
Burn down every bridge that we see?
What should we do with our anger
Shall we bury it deep in our hearts
Feed it with resentment
A smoldering coal that smokes
And colors our vision grey.
What shall we do with our anger?
Shall we release it bit by bit
Hiding a nasty word with a smile
A dagger sly behind a hug
A pretended innocence
Oh, what shall you do with your anger
What shall I do with mine?
Can we build a fire to light our way
And warm our ragged hearts?
Can fury can give us the energy
To build the world anew?
Can justice come from rage?
Can anger be guided by love?
Can it become a blessing
Instead of a curse?
Only love will make it so.
A visitor's comments about our service today
Read what this visitor said about us. (Here)
Comments like these make me think we are doing something right.
What is Love?
Call to worship (click here)
Music Video (Click here)
The sermon was not video-taped this week.
Sermon text:
What is love? That is a complicated question. Most of you know by now that this church is not a place to come if you are looking for easy answers.
Frank Sinatra sang about love being a many splendored thing.
"It's the April rose that only grows in the early spring. Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living."
The Greeks, who were quite excellent at philosophy, broke love down into four different types: Eros, a passionate and intense love that arouses romantic feelings, Storge, is family or brotherly love, something you might feel for your children or your very best friend, Phileo, is the affection you feel for the people you like, and last, but not least, Agape, which is love in the verb form, an unconditional love that requires action.
The Greeks distinguished their forms of love not only by the qualities of the different types of love they were defining, but also about where that love was directed: to a lover, a family member, a friend, or to the world.
What they left out was love of self, which is an odd and significant omission I think. I have no clue as to why, except maybe it was just assumed that people love themselves. The Greeks were much less guilt ridden and prone to self-esteem issues than is our modern culture.
It is very difficult to love anyone else if you don't love and respect yourself. Can we apply all four of the Greek forms of love to ourselves? Can we like ourselves as in Phileo? Other people like us, so it shouldn't be that hard for us to like ourselves as well. Can we love ourselves like a close family member? After all, we know ourselves better than we know anyone else. I also don't think there is anything wrong with self-love in terms of Eros. We are all sexual beings; passion is part of our nature. Loving yourself, satisfying yourself sexually, is not a sin. We're probably going to need talk more someday soon about sin and what it means in our religious tradition, but for me, a sin is something that actually causes harm, not just something that someone says you shouldn't do.
And then there is Agape, love as a verb, love as unconditional. Agape love directed inward is a form of radical self-acceptance. It drives us toward spiritual health, and moves us to make the changes in our own lives that allow us to focus that Agape love on other people and on the planet.
So what do you think love is? Do you think it can be divided into categories like the Greeks did?
My friend, the Rev. David Miller, who serves as the minister of one of our congregations in San Diego, CA. has been posting quotes about love on his facebook page.
Some of my favorites are:
Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker
"Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free."
Rita Mae Brown, Riding Shotgun
"Sorrow is how we learn to love. Your heart isn't breaking. It hurts because it's getting larger. The larger it gets, the more love it holds."
Marianne Williamson
"Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth.
Carl Jung
Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.
Lord Byron
"There are four questions of value in life, Don Octavio. What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love."
Everyone, it seems, has something to say about love. The minister who officiated at my recent wedding asked both Anne and I what we had learned about love in our 39 years together. This is what I wrote:
What I have learned about love is this: it doesn't come easy. It isn't a happily ever after riding into the sunset with a prince or princess by your side. Soul mates aren't magic mirrors reflecting back how you want to see yourself or them. Reach through the mirror, pay attention to the cracks. They are how the love – and light gets in. Leonard Cohen taught me a lot with that line. You aren't royalty either, just a frog like other frogs. Life is the swamp can be lovely though. It is not necessary to sing every song in tune or dance in time with a perfect rhythm.
Marriage means so much more if you have been engaged for decades. I know this from experience. Because engagement is the thing, one of them, that makes a marriage, a partnership, work. Be real and honest and yourself. Listen carefully. Pay attention. Hold your lover's hand, but don't hold them back, and try to catch them when they fall. You will stumble too. Stay engaged even after you are married. I think that might be the key.
In any case be grateful. If someone really loves you, it is a miracle
Love, like justice, does not come easy, but with enough grace, with enough effort, it comes.
That is what I wrote, and the minister used some of those words in the ceremony. After the wedding, our daughter gave us a toast. It really moved me, and I am going to read parts of it for you.
"Not many daughters get the opportunity to give a wedding toast for their parents. It's kind of an unusual situation. It's like, "when I first met Anne and Theresa…I was in the womb. I remember when they were just two young lovebirds, the vague sound of their voices coming through to my amniotic sac."
I also can't ruminate on their future together. It's like "spoiler alert," 39 years later.. things are pretty good. You still get nervous when the other person drives. You are still in love. You have 3 kids.. and they turned out awesome.
So, I don't get to do the typical wedding toast. But, instead I do have this really remarkable opportunity to celebrate my moms' relationship. I want to talk about what I've learned from my witty, opinionated mothers.
Especially with all of the news and debate about marriage equality today, I've had lots of time to think about my moms and the impact they have had on me. Am I all screwed up because I have lesbian moms? Am I confused about who I am? Do I wish I had a dad?
I've had to answer those questions a lot. And the answer is no.
My mothers are parents who chose to be together, in spite of real obstacles.
These are parents who pushed their children to always be who we are, no matter what other people think. Parents who taught us to advocate for our rights and for the rights of others. Parents who taught us to love who we love, no matter what.
They have taught me so much, but because today is a wedding, I want to talk in particular about what I've learned from my mothers about love.
Some of you might know that last summer, I hiked the John Muir Trail. It's a backcountry trail that runs 218 miles from Yosemite, over 8 mountain passes to Mt. Whitney, all in the backcountry. This is something I would never have considered if not for the wonderful summers my mothers spent taking the three of us camping in Yosemite, in Yellowstone, in Glacier national parks.
One of the things I was thinking about as I was hiking, was my moms. I had called them from an outpost a week into the hike, and they told me that they had been officially married in California.
It's good I had my moms to think about because while the trail was beautiful, actually hiking it was also the hardest thing I have ever done. My backpack was too heavy; it weighed 45 pounds. I had to clamber up these endless 10-mile inclines, up thousands of feet in elevation, to get to each peak. And then I had to do it all over again. Those climbs were absolutely horrible.
But then, I'd get to the top.
And the top was unfailingly the most beautiful place I'd ever been, each peak more breathtaking than the last. There were turquoise alpine lakes, wildflowers, and snowcapped peaks, the whole world spread out below your feet.
And I realized, this is what I know about love. And I learned it from my moms. It is hard sometimes. It can be horrible. There are endless switchbacks and sometimes you don't know if they'll end, you're not sure if you'll make it to the top.
But you keep working at it, you put your head down and put one foot in front of the other and you make it to the top. And at the top is the most beautiful place you've ever been.
And then you do it all over again.
And, mommy and mama, you've been through a lot together. You've climbed a lot of long uphills, and I've watched you put the work into many of them. You have reached so many glorious peaks. Thank you for your perseverance and your honesty, your commitment and your love. You've taught me that the things that matter, like love, take work."
That made me cry when I heard it, and it still makes me a bit teary-eyed.
We have had some hard things to deal with in this community the last few weeks. Many of us have been experiencing grief and loss. But even in the midst of painful emotions, we know that life is better because of love. Life is better with you.
I want to end this sermon with you, reading something together. Please turn in your grey hymnals to #639. The words are from 1 John 4. Your part is in italics.
Let us love one another, because love is from God.
Whoever does not love God does not know God, for God is love.
No one has ever seen God, if we love one another, God lives in us.
God is love and those who abide in love, abide in God, and God abides in them.
There is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear.
Those who say "I love God" and hate their brothers and sisters are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
No one has seen God, if we love one another, God lives in us.
Namaste my friends, Namaste.
Love is More Than a Valentine
Love is more
Than a valentine
A sunset beach
Or a fancy meal
Love is more than
Than a roaring fire
On a snowy night
Chocolate hearts
Or dreams of sweet delight
Love is just
What we do
Each and every day
We wash the dishes
We rake the leaves
Tend to the children
And watch the days go by
Holding hands and hearts
We pray that love
Will grow and spread
And wrap the world around
Feed the hungry
Care for the sick
Heal the earth
Bring justice
Raining down
For all of this
And so much more
Love finds us work to do
No, We Are Not "Fine"
Utah's suicide rate has been consistently higher than the U.S. rate for the last decade. See the statistics here.
The number of drug overdose deaths – a majority of which are from prescription drugs – in Utah increased by 59 percent since 1999 when the rate was 10.6 per 100,000. Our state is #8 in the nation in drug overdose deaths. See more statistics here and here.
Utah culture is currently very toxic and frankly, deadly. It is much worse for Mormons and even worse for LGBT mormons. How LGBT people are treated in Utah is appalling. (See an article on gay LDS youth being thrown out of their home and forced to live on the streets – here) .
I did a sermon on this issue last week. Read it here. If the LDS faith wants to continue to exist, they really need to address these issues and soon. They say they support "traditional" families, but their families are currently being torn apart by suicide and by drugs. Attacking other families won't help them, it will only hurt them as they will also lose almost all of their GLBT members and many of the friends and families of LGBT people. They need to look at their own culture. This really is a crisis that faith alone will not solve.
Sinners and Saints
Video of this sermon posted (here)
Opening words (here)
Sermon text:
Have you ever been called a saint? Have you ever been called a sinner? If so, it's time to get over it. It is just not true; it isn't who you are. It doesn't matter what you've done in your life, be it good or be it bad. You are not a saint and you are not a sinner – and neither is the person sitting next to you. Your neighbors aren't saints and they are also not sinners. It might be a stretch, but I think that is probably true even for our politicians here in Utah. They may be self-righteous, but they are far from saints. They may be corrupt, but they are not just sinners.
No, we are all human. We are capable of amazing acts of compassion, generosity and love. We are also capable of disgusting acts of cruelty, selfishness, and hate. It is important that we learn to accept this. It is critical that we learn to forgive each other and ourselves. It is the only way that we can begin again in love and create the kind of world we would like to see for ourselves and for our children.
It is a radical religious idea, that there are no saints and no sinners. It is not the history of most religions in this country or in the world.
Most common is the theological belief that we are all sinners, and are saved only by the grace of God, or maybe just by believing in certain very specific ideas about God.
Universalism was born out of a rejection of the idea that some are saved and some are damned. I love the quote from our reading about God dragging the last sinner kicking and cursing into heaven.
If you think that some of your neighbors are damned because of their sins, and by neighbors I mean every other human being that shares this planet, then it is not much of a stretch to try and make their life in this world a living hell. Hey, you'd just be doing God's will. I won't count up all the atrocities committed in the name of this type of religion. They include the crusades, 911, and all the witches and heretics that were burned at the stake. They include hate crimes and the murders of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and they include the genocidal war waged against the native peoples of this continent. Who cares about a heathen, who cares about a heretic, and who really cares about a sinner? God is going to punish them with hell anyway, so why do bother to treat them decently now?
Saying you love the sinner, but hate the sin, also just doesn't cut it. If you really love someone, then you look beyond whatever flaws they might have or mistakes they might have made. You shouldn't qualify that love by saying what you hate about someone. That isn't love, it is just self-righteousness. Don't tell someone that you love them, but that you believe God thinks that their love is an abomination. That's not love; it's spiritual violence.
Conservative beliefs about sin and damnation are obviously dangerous to the people they consider to be sinners, but they are also dangerous for those who hold those beliefs.
I did an interview on a Christian TV station in Salt Lake a couple of years ago. The man wanted to talk about how the Bible condemned homosexuality, but I somehow managed to turn it into a discussion about why one should never take scripture literally. The scariest part of that experience for me was when he said that we are all sinners. I responded that while I knew that some people did very evil things that caused great harm, my experience was instead that most people wanted to do good and tried their best to do so. He responded by saying that the person who stops and helps you change your flat tire goes home afterward and abuses his child. I think he really believed that, and it was a frightening view of the world. I asked if he believed that he was evil too, and he said that he was. He said that was why he believed in Jesus and the Bible. His religion was all that was going to save him from burning in the hell he believed that he deserved.
How can someone live like that, believing that they are nothing but a depraved sinner, believing that humans are nothing more than horrors? It is a belief that I think must eventually rot your very soul.
You can't see the good in yourself or in anyone else and you focus instead on your failings and the so-called sins of others.
That world must seem a dreary and dangerous place.
That fundamentalist scared me, but I also had to feel some compassion for him, as it seemed a very sad and limited life that his belief system was causing him to live. Maybe there would be pie in the sky when he dies, but meanwhile here on earth his spirit was simply starving for joy.
You can't love yourself if you think you are nothing but a sinner. You can't really love other people either if you can't love yourself. Yes, we all do some bad things, things we are ashamed of; things we regret, but those sins don't define who we are as people. No matter what we have done, we have the potential to make amends, if not to the same people we have hurt, then to someone else and even to the world as a whole. That is the glory of being human and the grace that comes from being alive.
There are other theologies that don't think everyone is a sinner, but they divide up the world into the sinners and the saints. People that believe in those religions, of course, think they are the saints and those other people over there are the sinners.
They are doing everything right, and God will reward them for their efforts. Saints tend to love themselves, at least as long as they continue to feel that God is blessing them.
In the old story of Job, a righteous man as described in the Bible, his life quite literally falls apart and he begins to question both himself and God. What had he done wrong that life would treat him so cruelly?
His neighbors assumed that he must not be as righteous as he appeared. Which is another danger with that type of theology, which says that if people are suffering it must be their own fault, because suffering is all a part of God's plan.
I do not think we can blame God, or the divine, for the bad things that happen to us. I also don't think everything good that happens is part of some cosmic plan.
Much of our suffering is human caused, either because of the acts of individuals or because of what we do collectively as a society. The same is true for the good things. That doesn't mean we should not be grateful for the good things is our lives, but we also don't always have to blame God or ourselves when bad things happen.
"If only I were a better person, if only I could be more Christ-like, if only I could be compassionate like the Buddha, then everything would be OK." Saints have a hard time, because, well, no human being is really capable of pure sainthood. Yes, we all have a spark of the holy within us and in that sense we are partly divine, but there is no way that any of us can achieve God-like perfection. Thinking we can, trying and failing, can be spiritually devastating.
Some of the new age philosophies contain a similar trap. "Think positive thoughts, repeat your aspirations in the mirror daily, release the power of this crystal, and don't forget to check your horoscope. If you do everything right, you will be rewarded either in this life or in heaven.
But what happens when you can't do everything right? When you just aren't good enough?
I think we know what happens, because we see it all around us, here in Utah. People are so polite. When I first moved here, I was startled by one of the common expressions here. If you bump your shopping cart into someone in the grocery store and say that you are sorry, what is the response you are likely to get?
In other places, someone might say, "no problem," "no worries," "it's OK", or even "you need to watch it."
Anyone know the phrase I am talking about? Right, people here tell you, pretty much every time you apologize for anything: "you're fine." I am used to it now and even say that myself sometimes, but in the beginning I was tempted to say, "No, I am not 'fine,' I just made a mistake and I am sorry."
There seems to be a culture here wants everything and everyone to be "fine." Some of it comes, I think, partly from LDS theology. Mormons are essentially Universalists, believing that all can choose to be saved, if not in this life then in the next. They are also Unitarian in their belief that we all have divine potential. I obviously have no real quibble with any of that. Mormons are actually in many ways our close cousins in the larger family of world religions.
But I cannot help but be concerned about the suffering I see around me. I worry about the people who know they aren't "fine", that everything is not OK, but they can't tell anyone because if you are supposed to be a saint, then you must be good all the time. You must do everything right. Perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. That, my friends, is impossible and is a distortion of the universalism that Joseph Smith inherited from his father and which influenced how his church developed. Universalism says God loves all of us, just the way we are. We don't have to be perfect.
Utah has extremely high numbers of people who are diagnosed with depression. Many get addicted to prescription drugs, trying to ease their pain. There is also a very high suicide rate in Utah, particularly among young people. We also know that it isn't just young people who kill themselves. We tragically lost one of our own just this last week.
Is this epidemic of severe depression and suicide partly because people can't, in the end, live up to the expectations they have for themselves? Do they feel like failures because they aren't perfect, because they can't control their "same gender attraction," because sometimes the contradictions are so great that they are swallowed up by despair? Do they feel like being depressed is even worse than it is because it is something they are not supposed to experience? They are supposed to be "fine" but they are not. They judge themselves as unworthy, perhaps too unworthy to continue living.
I'm going to quote the Pope here, who said, "Who am I to judge?" Who are we, indeed, to judge? How can we judge others or even ourselves? Who are we to call someone else a sinner, and who are we to think that we can become saints?
Simply human, that is all we are, and it is a wonderful thing. We can, as the Rev. John Wolf has said,
"(We can) search for the holy, rather than dwelling upon the depraved. (We) call no one a sinner, (because we know) how deep is the struggle in each person's breast and how great is the hunger for what is good."
Let us continue search for the holy, wherever we might find it, that we each might find a way to feed our hunger for the good. But most of all, may we learn to forgive ourselves and each other, as we begin, again, each new day of our lives, in love.
Pray for the Saints
How must it feel
To be told you're a saint
That your life's been designed
By God's perfect plan?
What happens then
When you stumble and trip
And fall down the stairs
Like we all sometimes do?
Do you know what its like
To be told you're a sinner?
You're lost and you're damned
Not part of God's plan?
What happens then
When you find deep within
Knowledge of wrong and of right
And a truth you hadn't been told.
Pray for the saints
Pray for the sinners
Pray for the day that will come
When we'll all live our lives
In the best way we can
We won't cast aspersions
On ourselves or each other
We will look in a mirror
Cleared from the illusion
No sinners, no saints
God holds us all
In a loving embrace.
A Larger Ministry
I am a large woman
It is a good thing.
As a minister
My shoulders must be wide
When people need them
To absorb their tears.
My arms must open up
To create a safe space
To hold the fearful
Close to my body
In a strong embrace.
If I could only be
Even larger
My giant heart
Might beat a rhythm
Loud enough
Just loud enough
To teach this hurting world
The joy of the dance.
Change is Good
For a video of this sermon click (here)
Opening words (click here)
Sermon notes:
To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose, under heaven. Sometimes it doesn't seem like that. Sometimes a change happens that makes us angry, that fills us with rage or with grief. I know many of us here today are feeling grief and loss because of our good friend's sudden death this week. I know I am. Just a few weeks ago, he stood right here before you, sharing his thoughts and his wisdom. What a gift that was, and what a gift he was. It is a gift we should be grateful for.
I don't know why he had to die. I just found out this morning how he died. I do know that we will miss him. He filled a space in many of our hearts, a space that is aching with emptiness today.
But loss such as this one, my dear friends, is a part of life. We are only here for a season, and then the wheel will turn and things will change. We are creatures of habit, however. We like most things, at least the things we like, to stay the same.
Change does not always feel good. Despite today's sermon title, I don't believe that change is always good. The death of someone we love never feels like a good thing, even if it is expected, even if the person has been ill for a long time. Pete Seeger, whose song we just sang, lived to 94 before he, too, died this week. Pete lived a very long life, but many of us are feeling his loss today as well.
Our world seems a little smaller, a little lonelier when good people have left it. There are so many people who I wish were still with us. People I knew personally and people who influenced my life even though I never met them in person.
I know you all have people you miss. It is OK to think about them. Grief never completely goes away when we have lost someone we love. But do not forget that love cannot die. It continues inside of us, it keeps us warm as we remember with gratitude the blessings that loved ones brought into our lives.
But changes will come no matter what we do. Impermanence is the essence of being alive. As in our reading, it is important to accept this fact, even as we struggle to hold on to what we love and what matters to us. Nothing lasts forever, all is Dukkha, and while we suffer from some changes, there are also changes we would love to see both in our lives and in the world.
Change always involves some loss, but it also can create opportunities. And in that sense change is good. It means we are alive and awake to possibilities. Our climate is changing, not for the better, but people are starting to come together, to work with each other, to both lessen the impact of the changes and to work to repair the damage that has been done. We can have cleaner air to breathe. We are a people who want to make things better. We want to bring more justice and freedom into the world. We want the hungry to be fed and the sick to be healed.
We are not content with the world just the way it is.
Change is still hard. It is important to acknowledge all the complicated feelings we can have about any change, about any loss. Our emotions can be very complicated. We can be sad. We can be angry. We can be afraid. All of these emotions are very human. It is good to just let yourself feel them. Cry, shed the tears and don't try to stop them. We can be angry with a person who has died because they have left us. That is OK too. Fear is normal as well. What will happen and how can we go on? What other horrible changes might be coming?
What is also important to remember, is that change will come to those feelings. Life will go on. You will find other people to love and others will love you. The sun will come out and a small bird will sing. Life will feel good again.
If we don't understand this, if we do not understand that such change will come, then we could become stuck in despair. That happens to some people. They become overwhelmed and they lose hope because they no longer believe that anything will ever change. It is, in some senses, losing faith in life, because life is all about change. Even rocks are changed as the wind and the rain wear their sharp edges away.
Erik Wikstrom had this to say about change and the church:
"If you are who you were, and if the person next to you is who he or she was, if none of us has changed since the day we came in here— we have failed."
"The purpose of this community— of any church, temple, zendo, mosque— is to help its people grow."
"We do this through encounters with the unknown—in ourselves, in one another, in "The Other"—whoever that might be for us, however hard that might be— because these encounters have many gifts to offer."
His prayer is that people will go forth from the worship service each Sunday, not as they were when they came, but as the people they could be.
Holly Near wrote a song about change. It is a prayerful song. Beth will sing it now.
I am open and I am willing For to be hopeless would seem so strange It dishonors those who go before us So lift me up to the light of change
There is hurting in my family There is sorrow in my town There is panic all across the nation There is wailing the whole world round
May the children see more clearly May the elders be more wise May the winds of change caress us Even though it burns our eyes
Give me a mighty oak to hold my confusion Give me a desert to hold my fears Give me a sunset to hold my wonder Give me an ocean to hold my tears.
I am open and I am willing For to be hopeless would seem so strange It dishonors those who go before us So lift me up to the light of change"
Are you open? Are you willing? Are you ready to be lifted up to the light of change?
Change does not mean chaos. You still have your values; you still have your visions and hopes for what can be. Hold onto them let them guide you. Hold onto each other as well. Lift us all up to the light of change.
Pete Seeger taught me something this week, something I needed to learn. He had a long career as a musician and social activist, but his was full of changes. He sang with the Weavers and with Woody Guthrie; he was a Communist for a time. He was called up before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 50's and was blacklisted for quite awhile. He was active in the Peace Movement, he worked as an environmentalist to clean up the Hudson River, and while in his 90's he sang for the Occupy Movement. He did a lot of different things and, as the world changed around him, he also changed. He used his voice and his passion for justice in a variety of different ways, but he also always held on to who he was.
He was always guided by love and compassion. There was anger at times, righteous anger, but it was never mean spirited. He sometimes called the people who had power damned fools, but his song was always the same. Pete Seeger was a good Unitarian Universalist. He joined one of our churches because his values were our values. His songs were always love songs, even the angry ones. They were songs about the love of justice, of freedom, of the planet and of people.
They were songs about the love between and among us all. The love that lasts, that is stronger than death and loss, that is stronger than hatred, and stronger than despair.
If we hold onto that love, we will always know what to do. We will greet whatever changes may come in the spirit of that love.
We will keep singing. We will keep dancing.
I wrote a poem about Seeger the day that he died. It was about him, but it could have been about anyone like him. It could have been about all of the people we are missing today. There is nothing better than to live your life fully in a way that helps to heal the world.
Oh, Pete
You've died in your bed
But your songs they still play
In my head and my heart
No lullabies these
They say wake-up and rise
We will march to the beat
Of your troubadour's heart
Walking the pathway of peace.
Your hammer we'll swing
Until justice has come
Your bell we will ring
Until freedom is real
And your song about love
We will sing it for you.
Keep singing the songs. Keep singing the songs for your heroes, for your loved ones, for those who inspire you, for those who are kind.
Sing the songs too for those who are lost, abandoned, or afraid. Bring them hope with the power of your songs, and bring them peace with the power of your love. May it be so! Namaste


text:
Besides, If you use hollywood sized space all you have to do is
use the meters per second when it says miles per second and
then use 'common sense'...
I've been lying to you. Cinematic Spaceship rules do that. They give you the impression of scale and size that simply are not true. Things don't match up the way you think. For example, it seems pretty reasonable that starfighters can hug close to a dreadnought, and then spend a few rounds fighting off turrets as they fly to the back of the ship and then shoot it up. That makes sense, intuitively. It's also complete nonsense.
Let me show you what I mean.
Ships to Scale
Somewhat famously, I imagine, there's a website by Jeff Russel where he puts ships to scale. A very useful resource. I've used it to create the images below.
A starfighter is about SM +5, about 15 yards long, and about 7-8 times the size of a person. For a "person" I have Maria from Metropolis, and for a Starfighter, I have an X-wing. I apologize for the blurriness (I had to scale the x-wing up). But this is about what you expect: A fighter is about the size of, you know, a jet fighter. A person can figt in the cockpit and an engine is about as big as a person.
A corvette is about 50 yards long, or about 3 times the length of a fighter. The Serenity below is about 60 yards, putting it between an SM+9 corvette, like the Tiger, and an SM +8 corvette like the Dark Horse or the Taj Mahal.
I've removed Maria, but you can see where you could obviously put quite a few people inside, for example, the bridge of the Serenity. You can also see how it's much larger than a fighter, but not vastly larger. The Tie-Interceptor, by the way, is SM +4 and about 10 meters long. It's mostly wing: the bulk of the ship is that little ball, which is much smaller than the engines and the guns of the X-wing.
I'm going to skip capital ships and jump straight to dreadnoughts: An empire class dreandought is 500 yards long, ten times the length of a corvette like the Serenity. It's not actually nearly as big as a Star Destroyer (I used a ship from Farscape to represent the dreadnought), which is three times longer than an Empire-Class dreadnought. But still, you get an idea of the scale of a Dreadnought: If you sat it on the skylines of New York, it would be one of the tallest buildings there.
The dreadnought is clearly huge compared to a fighter, which would be but a few pixels down in the corner, a fraction of the size of the Serenity, which is already minute. So far so good... only ships in GURPS Spaceships (and likely space) move really fast. In my version of space combat, I've focused entirely on abstractions, but remember that the tactical mass combat system I used had 100-mile hexes. The Starhawk in that fight crossed 10 hexes in the first turn... in 20 seconds, it covered over a third of the continental US, and it did so incidentally, while trying to slow down.
If we used Boost Drives (a good idea, by the way), then the Starhawk would fly at around 40 miles per second. While it was hugging the Empire-Class dreadnought, assuming that the dreadnought was standing still, then during a 20-second turn, if the starhawk was going from one long end to the other, it would cross that distance in ~0.0075 seconds (back of the envelope calculations). Or, said differently, it would have to circle the dreadnought 2400 times per 20-second turn to stay close enough to "hug" it. Twenty-four hundred times! This would be eased a bit if we assume that the dreadnought is also moving at 40-miles per second, and the difference we concern ourself with is the speed at which they differ, so that one seems to be standing still compared to the other... but if we do that, then one ship, with 50gs of acceleration, can suddenly shift gears and be moving in a completely different direction (50gs is an acceleration of acceleration is around 500 meters per second per second. It would be like having a move of 500, where you could constantly add another 500 every turn. It looks like the picture to the right. Incidentally, it turns out you can survive these accelerations, though note that the starfighters accelerate 4 times a fast as this), which explains why remaining engaged is so futile in actual, realistic space combat... because it is futile. What I've done to create a workable space opera combat system is whimsically lie to you and use abstractions in the system to cover it up. Of course, you don't have to think too hard about how space combat should actually work... just realize that it would look nothing like my system. If players demand that it make sense, use the advice Ericthered gives above. At 40 meters per second, a fighter will take about 20 seconds to get around behind a dreadnought while hugging close to it.
The Scale of Infrastructure
One thing I've noticed playing Star Wars games, and watching Star Wars (especially the non-prequel games) is how much time characters spend running around inside the internal infrastructure of ships and stations. In Star Trek, characters regularly trod long hallways built for people, and occassionally crawl in "Jeffries tubes", but in Star Wars, they end up in grey, desloate corridors with walkways over titanic arrays of power cables or pipes or god knows what. I find the Star Wars approach entirely realistic.
The Scale of a Workspace
How large is a workspace? GURPS Spaceships doesn't really work with volumes, but we can make some order of magnitude estimates on the back of an envelop. The lengths given in GURPS Spaceships represent shapes that are longer than they are wide or tall, but a sphere would be less than half that size. So, let's estimate that a cube would be about half the given length, roughly. This allows us to calculate a volume: the cube of half the listed length. A single system is 1/20th of the ship, and thus takes up about 1/20th of this volume. Engine rooms provide a single work space for ships smaller than SM +10. If we look at the volume occupied by an Engine room (ships smaller than SM +10), what do I get?
I ran some numbers on an excel sheet, and what I came to about 50 cubic meters. If we laid that out as a single-story room, how much floor space would it have? Roughly 150 square feet. What does a 150-square-foot apartment look like?.
That's not very big. Of course, this varies: This is almost more space than en entire SM+5 ship even has, so obviously an engine room (and thus a workspace) in an SM+5 ship is smaller than in an SM +8 ship That said, we have an actual example of an Engine room in Firefly, as the Serenity is SM +8 to SM+9 (giving it between 1 and 2 workspaces). It looks like this:
Which, to me, looks pretty close to the picture above. This suggests that my numbers aren't too far off the mark.
The Scale of other systems
What about a habitat? Using the same spreadsheet, I come to the same size as a workspace, which makes sense: you could fit two people in that apartment pretty comfortably, four if you squeezed them together, and a single person living in an apartment twice that size is going to be quite comfortable.
What about armor? A ship is often dominated by its armor? Well, a battleship has armor that looks something like this:
An empire-class dreadnought is about 30 times larger than a battleship but it's also not nearly as well-armored, and it has highly advanced armor, so it might have armor about twice as thick as that. That means that the armor doesn't really occupy that much volume (which tracks with a pyramid article that suggests reducing the size of a spaceship if it's mostly armor). Habitats and fuel tanks and cargo space, etc, will almost certainly take up more volume than the armor does. Thus, floor plans that show a ship as mostly walkways instead of mostly armor aren't wrong: By weight, a ship might mostly be armor, but by volume it's probably mostly walkways.
Inside a Dreadnought
So what does an Empire-Class dreadnought look like, if you're crawling around inside of one?
The Empire-Class dreadnought is 500 yards long, so roughly 150 yards of its length is each facing (rear, center, front). More of the front is armor than the back or center, which can be explained by a tapering construction. It's central spine is dominated by a spinal cannon that is, of course, about 500 yards long. We could make it longer (say, 700 yards) by assuming that it's considerably longer than it is wide (which is reasonable). It also has 300 workspaces, which is about 1500 cubic yards of workspace, leaving a tube about 30-35 yards across and tall, or a tube (full of gun and machinery and safeties and breakers and etc) about 100 feet tall and 100 feet across, that extends for 700 yards, all to fire a single cannon. Most items (such as engine or star drives) will have similiar dimensions (though, obviously, will be shorter as they take up 1/3 of the ships length, rather than the whole thing). The workspaces themselves, work out to the equivalent of 300 150-square-foot apartments worth of hallways, consoles, store rooms, tool closets, etc.
If we break everything down into "150 square-foot apartment-sized rooms," then we find that Empire-class dreadnought has 2600 "rooms" in living space, 250 in "offices and facilities" (including a 100 "room" hospital), 3810 "rooms" in industrial space, workspaces or lifesupport, 550 "rooms" of cargo space, and 6000 rooms of "hangar," and 40 rooms worth of control stations.
- 45% of the open space on an empire-class dreadnought is the hangar bay
- 30% of the open space on an empire-class dreadnought is maintenance and industrial
- 20% of the open space on an empire-class dreadnought is living space (rooms and such)
- 4% of the open space on an empire-class dreadnought is cargo
- 1% of the open space on an empire-class dreadnought is miscellaneous hospitals, laboratories, offices, or the bridge, etc.
Moreover, most of this space is huge. You can fight a several thousand people into the 1/5 of the open-space that's meant for actual living. So Star Wars isn't too far off: most of your adventures in an Empire Class dreadnought (and probably in a capital ship as well) is in technical or industrial spaces, rather than corridors that connect to mess halls and gyms and holodecks and cabins.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I'm Paul Bissex. I build web applications using open source software, especially Django. Started my career doing graphic design for newspapers and magazines in the '90s. Then wrote tech commentary and reviews for Wired, Salon, Chicago Tribune, and others you never heard of. Then I built operations software at a photography school. Then I helped big media serve 40 million pages a day. Then I worked on a translation services API doing millions of dollars of business. Now I'm building the core platform of a global startup accelerator. Feel free to email me.
I co-wrote "Python Web Development with Django". It was the first book to cover the long-awaited Django 1.0. Published by Addison-Wesley and still in print!
Built using Django, served with gunicorn and nginx. The database is SQLite. Hosted on a FreeBSD VPS at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet.
Bitbucket, Debian Linux, Django, Emacs, FreeBSD, Git, jQuery, LaunchBar, macOS, Markdown, Mercurial, Python, S3, SQLite, Sublime Text, xmonad
At least 237138 pieces of comment spam killed since 2008, mostly via Akismet.
The starting premise here is: most speakers sold to work with the iPod and other DAPs are crap. They have fragile plastic cases, pointless stereo, and little 1" speakers that "deliver surprisingly good sound quality" or whatever euphemism one uses when trying to rationalize spending $100+ on something that sounds like a telephone receiver.
I've pitched my idea for a better approach to my cool product designer friends, but they're busy working on magnesium snowboard bindings, electric mountain bikes, and military-spec safety glasses.
In short, the idea is this: a ruggedized 5" cube with a single high-quality 3.5" speaker, a volume control, and inputs for your favorite DAP. Built-in NiMH batteries that get charged via a USB connection. That's it.
I swear that I thought this up before the Tivoli iPal came out. There's a reason that the iPal reviews rave about the sound quality: it has a bigger speaker. There's no magic. Make the speaker even bigger, and make the unit cheaper (removing the radio electronics), and there you go. I don't know if you'll make a million bucks, but I'll buy one.
A 3.5" mid and a tweeter, please. Pretending that something like that can reproduce anything in the highs is silly, and puts undue stress on it. You could even make them... gasp co-axial, and save space. Honestly, repackage a car speaker for all I care, they'd sound better.
That's a great idea -- a 3.5" co-ax car speaker would be perfect.
How to port 100,000 lines of Python 2 to Python 3
261-character git one-liner of the day
How things get better after you screw up at work
Neo4J and Graph Databases
965 days ago
How to install the open source application Darktable on OS X
1970 days ago
How to install the open source application Darktable on OS X
1981 days ago
Alfred Nutile
Switching from OS X to Ubuntu
2022 days ago
The story of dpaste.com 2.0
2200 days ago
Copyright 2020
by Paul Bissex
and E-Scribe New Media


text:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 8 ounces shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup sherry
- 1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well. Over a medium-low heat melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add onion to melted butter and stir until onion is soft. Add shrimp and mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes stirring often. Remove shrimp mixture from saucepan, place in a medium size bowl and set aside. Remove saucepan from heat. Combine flour, mayonnaise, salt, milk, and sherry in the saucepan. Mix well. Return the saucepan to the heat and cook until sauce thickens. Pour sauce into the bowl containing the shrimp mixture. Add the spaghetti to the bowl and mix well. Place all ingredients in a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish (baking pan). Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top of the mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
Source: Tetrazzini


text:
Autopsy results released Friday showed a Northwestern University student found in a suburban Chicago harbor drowned, but the medical examiner could not determine whether the death was accidental.
A fisherman found the body of 18-year-old Harsha Maddula on Thursday night in Wilmette Harbor, a few miles north of Evanston, six days after he disappeared after leaving an off-campus party. U.S. Coast Guard and Wilmette firefighters recovered the body.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office said the manner of his death was undetermined because there was not enough information to rule it an accident, a homicide or a suicide.
But Wilmette police said there was no trauma to Maddula's body, no signs of a struggle and nothing to indicate foul play. Searchers looked for Maddula on foot, with boats, a helicopter, sonar, dogs and divers, Wilmette police said.
Earlier Friday, his family said they were seeking more answers about his disappearance and death.
Maddula was a sophomore from New Hyde Park, N.Y., at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He left a party shortly after midnight Friday and disappeared, setting off days of searching by police and fellow students.
Investigators are still trying to determine why he ended up two miles north of the party and whether he was alone or had left the party with friends.


text: Bjørn Torske has a new new booking agency call Support Agency in Berlin. They do cool artists like The Glimmers, Rub N Tug, Tim Sweeney, Headman, WhoMadeWho and many more. So if you want to book Bjørn, either as DJ or live, you should contact these guys. Contact info in the booking section.


text:
Vegan Burger Bonanza
VEGANS OF LOUGHBOROUGH REJOICE! 🍔🌱🍔🌱🍔🌱 Join us for Loughborough's first ever Vegan burger event at Fenways Loughborough! Featuring a 100% Vegan friendly exclusive menu with one off burgers, sides, desserts, fries & drink options. 🍔🌱🍔🌱🍔🌱 We're taking table bookings now, on Wednesday 25th July from between 6 - 10pm....Read More


text:
I was on Facebook the other day and saw Heaven 17 is touring with Blancmange, but entirely in the U.K.
Are there any good artists touring the U.S.? I know there's the "Retro Futura" group with Men Without Hats, Paul Young, Howard Jones, The Beat, etc.
Other than that I've seen Aimee Mann, Depeche Mode, OMD (only one concert), The Alarm and that's about it. The Alarm sounds pretty attractive but are any real like English bands or obscure-ish bands coming that anyone has seen posted?


text:
Posts Tagged 'wine'
i cant edit
ive been posting like a muthaf*ka in september. just literally pissing out images. ive cleared the whole stack of stuff so heres the dregs. who knows what order to put em in or what they mean. theres no pretensions, im just gonna splatter 17 of the best ones all over the place


text:
Image: Street scene. Protest demonstration. Paul Robeson (left) and Dr. John E.T. Camper (right) protesting Ford's Theatre Jim Crow admission policy. 314-320 West Fayette Street, Baltimore. March 1948. Photograph by Paul Henderson. Paul Henderson Photograph Collection, MdHS, HEN-00-A2-178
The Maryland Historical Society proudly relaunches its Paul Henderson Civil Rights-era photography exhibition featuring never-before-seen scenes of Baltimore life c. 1940-1960.
On January 14, 2017, free tours of the Paul Henderson: Maryland's Civil Rights Era in Photographs exhibition will be offered in advance of a special MLK Commemorative lecture hosted by the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Maryland Historical Society. The lecture, which will begin at 2pm, features Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Founder and President of Economic Education and author of the new book, Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy.
Beginning at 10:30 am, Curator of Films & Photographs, Joe Tropea, and Historical Investigations Specialist, David Armenti, will lead guided tours of the exhibit Paul Henderson: Maryland's Civil Rights Era in Photographs, c.1940-1960. The tours will cover topics such as Henderson's life and work as a photojournalist, MdHS's work on the 7,000 piece collection, and the many stories his photos convey. Each tour will begin on the half hour: 10:30am, 11:30am, and 12:30pm. Each session will last approximately 45 minutes. Tours will meet in the Symington Library.
Then at 2pm, The Enoch Pratt Free Library hosts its annual King Commemorative Lecture featuring Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Founder and President of Economic Education. This lecture will begin at 2:00pm in France Hall.
Museum admission will be free all day. To register for the tours or lecture, visit this link
About Paul Henderson and Maryland's Civil Rights Movement
Image: People swimming at the "Black Swimming Pool.² Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. Ca. 1948. Photograph by Paul Henderson Paul Henderson Photograph Collection, MdHS, HEN-01-03-013
Maryland's Civil Rights movement began in the early to mid-1930s. The lynching of George Armwood on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1933 sparked revamping of the Baltimore Branch NAACP and intense activism on the part of black and white residents of Baltimore.
Paul Henderson (1899-1988), born in Springfield, Tennessee moved to Baltimore in 1929. In 1930, Henderson married grade school teacher Elizabeth Johnson and the couple took an apartment on McCulloh Street, within walking distance of Pennsylvania Avenue, the black community of Baltimore's shopping and entertainment district. Along with the NAACP, politics, church life, sports, education, and the Afro-American newspaper, Pennsylvania Avenue is one of the many subjects featured in his photographs.
Exhibited in Paul Henderson: Maryland's Civil Rights Era in Photographs, c.1940-1960 are important events, groups, and people such as the protest at segregated Ford's Theatre in Baltimore, NAACP membership campaign meeting, Baltimore Elite Giants Negro League baseball team, Morgan State College, Dr. Lillie May Carroll Jackson (head of the NAACP, 1935-1970) with her family, Thurgood Marshall with Dr. Carl Murphy (editor-publisher of the Afro-American newspaper) and many more.
About Dr. Julianne Malveaux
Julianne Malveaux is a labor economist, author and commentator on issues such as race, culture, gender and their economic impacts. Her writing has appeared in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms. Magazine, Essence and many other publications. Her weekly columns, syndicated through King Features, appeared in newspapers across the country from 1990 to 2003. She has hosted television and radio programs and appeared as a commentator on all the major networks.
Since receiving her Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1980, Dr. Malveaux has been a contributor to academic life. She has been on the faculty or visiting faculty of the New School for Social Research, San Francisco State University, the University of California (Berkeley), Michigan State University, and Howard University, and she served as president of Bennett College for Women.
Dr. Malveaux serves on the boards of the Economic Policy Institute as well as the United Medical Center of Washington, D.C. Her latest book, Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy, will be on sale at a book signing following the program. Book sales provided by the Ivy Bookshop.
About The Maryland Historical Society
Founded in 1844, The Maryland Historical Society Museum and Library occupies an entire city block in the Mount Vernon district of Baltimore.
The society's mission is to "collect, preserve, and interpret the objects and materials that reflect Maryland's diverse cultural heritage." The Society is home to the original manuscript of the Star-Spangled Banner and publishes a quarterly titled "Maryland Historical Magazine." Visit www.mdhs.org.


text:
Hello Beautiful,
Do your hair a favour, Buy KREA at a 50% Festive Discount right now!!
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- Our company started with selling KREA hair straightener directly - online. We noticed how this simple decision phenomenally reduced the cost of marketing and distribution. Instead of offering big margins and commissions to distributors and retailers, we wished to transfer that cost benefit to our buyers. And it was a win-win for us and our customers. With Krea Easy Curler Pro we continue to offer a high tech hair styling tool to Indian women at an exclusively low price.
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Winner - TBB User's Choice Awards 2017
KREA Easy Curler Pro not just the most hardworking but the most popular hair curler in India right now. It has also won the hearts of million+ Bridal Box users who showed their love by nominating it for the TBB User's Choice Award 2017 (in Beauty Appliances Category).
KREA Easy Curler Pro comes with a "One Year Full Replacement Warranty" that covers any kind of quality issues or manufacturing defects that may arise. It also has complete on-call customer service available on all working days. The product has robust electricals and circuiting and even after a year if there is anything that you might need you can contact us or take it to any reputable electrical store for a quick fix.
- Ensure hair is dry and combed through. Comb each section and thoroughly remove tangles before curling.
- Plug the curler into a suitable mains socket.
- Slide the ON/OFF switch to turn it on.
- The curler is ready for use when the temperature on the screen stops flashing.
- To change to desired temperature press the + – BUTTON
- There are 4 timer settings, choose the required setting for the hair type. Select your timer settings according by pressing the MODEL BUTTON.
- Select the curl direction by pressing the L/R BUTTON
- Separate a section of hair that is no bigger than 3cm (Diagram A). Ensure that the section is clean, dry and combed through.
- Please note the curler must be positioned into the hair with the open part of the curl chamber facing towards the head. (Diagram B).
- Position the curler where you want the curl to start. The hair section must be held straight, and placed neatly through the centre of the curler.
- Once the hair is in place, let go of the hair section and close the handle to allow the hair to be automatically taken into the curl chamber.
NOTE: if you continue to hold the hair section after closing the handle the Easy Curler Pro will stop and beep to indicate that you must release the tension on the hair. If you have taken too much hair or hair is not neatly going through the centre of the appliance, the curler will again stop.
Krea's technology does not come at such a low price as offered by us. In fact, proper implementation of the ISA (Intelligent Spooling Automation) is very poorly done in many duplicates. These can be extremely dangerous to use. Krea Easy Curler Pro on the other hand offers high tech features, with great quality and at a much lesser comparative cost. Reason- We sell exclusively online and have lower marketing and storage expenses compared to other brands.
Here are a few more reasons why Krea Easy Curler Pro is a great deal!
- Best Curler in India that uses the high tech Intelligent Spooling Automation technology. It curls safely and efficiently without burns or snagging. Despite many duplicates, Krea Easy Curler pro has the best reviews and is most sold as our customers are extremely satisfied with the quality and effectiveness.
- It comes with Conformité Européene certification. This certification is only given after the product goes through a tough quality testing and safety measure protocol.
- KREA is the only hair curler that offers a 1 Year Full Replacement Warranty against any manufacturing defects.
- No brand today in India offers a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee - if you're not happy with your KREA Easy Curler Pro, you can return it and claim a full money refund! Yes, that is how sure we are about the performance KREA offers. Our confidence is only based on the feedback from thousands of happy users. We are also happy to share that 97% of customers have rated KREA 4 stars and above. And less that 1% of customers have rated us 3 stars or below.
- The fact that KREA Easy Curler Pro is sold directly and exclusively by the company online actually helps us in keeping a check on the costs. It also helps us offer you a world-class product at a price that is far more reasonable than high-end imports available in the market today. It is simple economics, we don't need to pay distributor or retailer commissions and are happier transferring that cost benefit to you.
- The success of KREA has brought many fake and cheaper replicas into the market that neither have the quality, performance or usability that KREA offers. These Chinese products are not just low on quality but also greatly jeopardize your safety. The fact that they do not come with any sort of quality certifications, safety measures, warranty or performance guarantees is also something we want you to know of. One more reason why you should always buy the original KREA.
Get a premium set of 6 styling tools ( 2 sizes of magic puff, one French tool, one curles, one bun-maker & one twister) from KREA to style your hair in many ways. This styling set is worth Rs.2000/- and we'd love to give it to you for FREE! This is in addition to the FLAT 50% OFF which bumps up the total savings you get when you buy KREA to Rs.7000/-. So HURRY and make the most of this limited period offer.
KREA Easy Curler Pro comes with a "No Questions Asked" 30-day return policy. We are serious about our customers' satisfaction and will strictly adhere to the policy of FULL REFUND if you wish to return the product within 30 days of purchase. No Questions Will Be Asked.
Here's the thing. We will never ask you to return the FREE accessories! That's yours to keep. Consider it a goodwill gesture for investing your time and effort in trying out our products. In case of a refund request, your money will be returned in 2 days and you get to keep your FREE hair accessories.
Invest In KREA Right Now & Save 50% OFFER VALID TILL
ATTENTION: Due to high recent demand we can no longer guarantee supply. As of Monday, March 12, 2018 we currently have product in-stock and will ship within 24 hours of purchase.
We truly believe Krea Easy Curler Pro is the game changer of the curling experience. And we really want you to experience this curling innovation, to know, how a simple machine can break down a difficult task, and deliver amazing results. We trust our quality and product performance, hence, we can give you, our customer, an assured money back guarantee on your Krea purchase!
To ensure that nothing comes in the way of making your decision to get Krea, we have the 'MORE THAT PERFECT CURLS' Money back guarantee.
Simply put, this guarantee helps you get A FULL REFUND if you're not satisfied with the results!
Here's how it works:
- 30 DAY TRIAL! Once you get the curler, you get to try it out for 30 DAYS. 30 FULL DAYS. Keep it. Use it. Share it.
- USE IT A LOT! In this period you can use the curler as many times as you want. We actually want you to test it out on yourself, your friends, just have fun with it!
- NOT SATISFIED? At the end of 30 days, if you think the curler's performance is unsatisfactory, you can send it right back to us. It doesn't matter even if you used a gazillion times, we'll take it back! It doesn't matter if the box is dented or dirtied. Or if a kid scribbled on it. We'll still take it back – no questions asked!
- WE'LL PAY FOR SHIPPING AGAIN! When you send it to us, we'll even cover the reverse shipping costs! We'll ensure you don't have a to pay a single buck for trying out Krea Easy Curler Pro!
- KEEP THE FREE STYLING TOOLS! When you send us the curler back, you don't have to send us back the free styling tools you get with your purchase. That's yours to keep!
How To Ask For A FULL REFUND?
If you're unhappy with the results mail or call us at email@example.com or 040-39561403 (10 AM to 5 PM) to claim your money back.
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Objection No. 1 - INTIMIDATING
"The process looks so intimidating, even painful. Just the thought of using this on my hair gives me jitters. It looks like it can definitely yank hair right out of your head."
Team Krea: Agreed, it looks dangerous at first. But, all it takes is one use to understand how easily it works with your hair. The automatic motor rotates with minimum pressure. And it stops taking in hair exactly at the point where you start curling.
Only when you clamp the hair really close to the scalp you may feel a slight tug, similar to straightening. But don't worry; the motor is not designed with so much power that it could literally strip the hair off your scalp.
Objection No. 2- WHAT ABOUT SHORT HAIR?
"I have a short hair, a little below my shoulder and my hair texture is frizzy. I don't think this can curl short hair because you would have to start really close to the scalp. That'll just tug and pull at my hair. Plus, my frizzy hair would get even frizzier."
Team Krea: The ceramic barrel actually styles frizzy hair into curls so it appears less frizzy. As far as length is concerned, this even works for short bobs without any tugging or pulling as the rotary motion is smooth. It just wouldn't work for a pixie cut where hair is less than 5 inches long. But for shoulder length hair it will work just fine.
Objection No.3- DO I REALLY NEED THIS?
"I won't even need it that much. I straighten my hair a lot, but hardly ever curl it. It would just lie around useless even if I bought it."
Team Krea: You're right. Straightening is most often preferred to curling when it comes to everyday styling. But a lot of times straightening gets way too boring. For those times, maybe twice a month, curling your hair would be a great way to glam up, wouldn't it? And once you get the hang of using it and see the results for yourself, trust us, you'll start to use it a lot more.
Objection No.4 – THE PRICE IS TOO MUCH!
"I think this is too much to pay for a curler. It's too expensive especially considering the fact that I will hardly use it."
Team Krea: We could tell you all about the tech and great quality that explains the price. Rather, let's look at this way. Every time you go to a salon to get just the ends of your hair curled, they'll charge you at least Rs. 1200-1700*. Get Easy curler pro and use it only 5 times in a year? This product already pays for itself. It's a much better deal, especially when it's not just you, but your sisters, cousins or friends who borrow it (oh they'll definitely borrow this one).
*Prices mentioned are the average price for styling services taken from the most popular salon brand chains in India.
Objection No. 5 – IT WILL TAKE TOO LONG!
"It'll take such a long time to curl your entire hair if you only take small sections. I don't have the time for this, I'd rather buy a curling iron."
Team Krea: Curling, in general, is a time consuming process compared to other styles. With a curling iron, if you're new to curling, it would take you a lot more time to do this while avoiding burning your fingers or ears with an exposed hot barrel.
Krea actually makes it easier by allowing you to take small sections and curling them perfectly, an effect you may not be able to achieve if you're handling a hot iron. And about the time, Krea takes less time than a curling iron, minus the hazard of burns of course.
Objection No.6 – I WANT ROMANTIC WAVES, NOT FAT CURLS!
"I hate those 'roll' like curls. I want a more natural finish with my curls and this machine will only give you those tight round curls. I don't think it would work if I want beachy waves or romantic loose curls."
Team Krea: This is simple. Krea just doesn't give you 1 type of curl. If you want loose beachy waves or romantic curls, just set the time preset to 8 secs or 10 secs. And, voila! Gorgeous waves. Just increase the temperature if your hair is thick and if you want the style to stay longer, and you're good to go.
Objection No.7 – DAMAGE!
"I think this is so harsh that it can easily damage hair. My hair is not very thick, it gets easily damaged. I'm sure my hair will get fried inside that thing!"
Team Krea: With its ceramic coated heating barrel, Krea Easy Curler Pro actually minimizes damage. The temperature controls allow you to choose the right temperature for your hair. The curl timer presets also help here. Choose a lower time setting like 8 seconds or 10 seconds if you want to minimize damage.
Objection No.8 – HAIR GETS STUCK?
"I'm sure my hair will get stuck inside. I'm 100% positive that my hair's going to get stuck inside."
Team Krea: There are a few mistakes that can get your hair stuck while using Krea. DON'T put the wrong side of the chamber towards your head. The correct side is clearly indicated on the machine. DON'T put a huge section inside the curler, 1 inch sections only. DON'T try to curl wet or damp hair, this will hamper the rolling motion. DON'T put in a hair section that is tangled, ensure you comb through to remove tangles before you curl your hair. . If you avoid these mistakes, you're good.
Objection No.9 – TOO LAZY…
"I'm too lazy to use this."
Team Krea: True, curling can be very long task. But we can assure you, with Krea its comparatively easier. A lot less effort is what you'll need to put in when curling with Krea. If none of this helps, just know this, Beauty is pain.
Objection No.10 – I DON'T KNOW HOW…
"I have NEVER curler my hair. This looks even more complicated"
Team Krea: Compared to other curlers, this is the EASIEST way to curl your hair. Even if you've never curled your hair before, Krea gives you a seamless, user friendly experience. It's the best beginners tool for curling.
Zero. We are offering FREE delivery across India by courier.
Your product will be delivered within 5 business days from the date you have placed your order and made the payment.
Yes, we deliver to any location within India.
As soon as you place the order on, you will receive a confirmation message on your registered mobile and also email alert on your mail ID.
Your KREA curler, will immediately get dispatched from our warehouse through our logistic partner and be sent to your shipping address mentioned in the order details. You will be able to track your order from this point to delivery.
Our logistic partner will call you on your registered mobile number before attempting delivery.
In the case of Cash On Delivery ( COD) orders, our logistic partner will inform you to have the cash amount at hand before attempting delivery.
We service to all major pin codes and cities to serve maximum customers of ours.
There is no installation/ assembly required for the product, your brand new KREA is good to use as delivered.
It takes an average time of 8-10 seconds to curl per section. Overall, it takes 20 - 30 minutes to curl the entire hair for medium thickness hair.
The safety mechanisms are the strongest feature of this product. The product has a multi layered safety system. This system prevents glitches in the curling experience or accidents like hair getting stuck in the curl chamber.
- Avoids Getting Hair Stuck : If you have taken too much hair or hair is not neatly going through the centre of the appliance, the curler will again stop and beep to indicate a problem. This safety feature ensures that there will be no tangles.
- Avoids Burning: After the hair is inside the chamber and has been curled for selected time, there will be 3 beeps to indicate releasing of the handles. Do so, and the curl will come out of the chamber neatly. (The beeps won't be heard if the time setting is on '0')
The sections you want to curl should be no bigger than 3cm wide.
There is a safety feature that avoids hair from being stuck. If you have taken too much hair or hair is not neatly going through the centre of the appliance, the curler will again stop and beep to indicate a problem. This safety feature ensures that there will be no tangles.
The safety feature to avoid burning hair is the most important feature within the curl chamber. After the hair is inside the chamber and has been curled for selected time, there will be 3 beeps to indicate releasing of the handles. Do so, and the curl will come out of the chamber neatly. (The beeps won't be heard if the time setting is on '0')
This is extremely unlikely and highly impossible. When curling a section, hold the machine at midpoint in the length of the hair. This need not be the centre. It can be at the point where you want the curl to start. The spooling will only take hair up to that point. Always comb each section and remove tangles before curling.
Hair should be allowed to cool down and can stay curled until there is moisture contact- hair washing or humidity. Depending on the environment and weather where you are at, your hair type, the health of your hair, etc the staying time can vary.
Krea Easy Curler Pro ensures adequate exposure of heat to the hair strand. However, you must ensure you use the right temperature for your hair type.
This can work even for short hair up to shoulder length.
Yes, this works for mid length hair.
Yes, this works for waist length hair.
The product is dispatched within 48 hours after purchase and will be delivered within 3-5 business days after dispatch.
If you are not satisfied with the product, you can get your full money back within 30 days of purchase. This is a 'no questions asked' process. Simply mail or call us stating your request and get your money back.
We ship free to any location in India.
We ship free to any location in India.
We have both Cash on delivery and online payment options.


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Apple's new iOS 7 mobile operating system is a big departure from the previous 6 versions. In fact, it's the first big change since its inception in 2007. Change is good -- and iOS 7 is great! But Apple could actually lose money as a direct result of this new operating system update, and here's why:
iOS 7 includes a new feature which automatically updates apps in the background, which means you never have to open the AppStore app again.
Imagine if your peanut butter cans, milk jugs, and ketchup bottles automatically refilled at home without ever having to go to the grocery store again -- would you ever have Oreos in the cupboard, ice cream in the freezer, and mustard in the fridge? Probably not.
Well the same is true on your iPhone and iPad. If you never "have to" visit the AppStore, you likely won't at all. And if you don't visit the AppStore, you won't ever see all the cool new apps featured next to the updated versions of the ones you currently own. So you won't see the best advertising that exists for iOS apps, "window shopping" in the AppStore itself. And as a result, you'll buy less apps.
Therefore, this great new iOS 7 operating system that's a major improvement over it's predecessor could actually cost Apple money in the long run.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know if the comments after you install iOS 7 on September 18th. All I know is I've been running iOS 7 for a few weeks now and I'm yet to spend a dime in the AppStore (not including CandyCrush in-app purchases, of course).


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Seamless Polymer Siding Installation Available for homeowners of Kansas City, MO
Among the companies that offer siding installation services in Kansas City, Missouri, only Continental Siding can provide and install seamless polymer siding. We're able to install our siding with no seams thanks to our Perma-Strate Wall System®. Our founder, Jerry O'Neal, developed this patented installation system to solve the problem of unsightly seams in siding, and only at Continental Siding can you find the trained craftsmen to complete this special type of siding installation.
A seamless appearance isn't the only benefit of our polymer siding. Once Continental Siding completes the installation of your polymer siding, you'll be able to enjoy other great benefits, such as:
- Greater energy efficiency – Backed with thermal-resistant insulation, our polymer siding will make it easier for your HVAC unit to keep your Kansas City, MO, home at a comfortable temperature, which may reduce your utility bills.
- Easy upkeep – Thanks to the fade-resistant colors of our siding, you won't have to worry about painting your siding ever again.
- Superior impact resistance – With its durable polymer material, our siding provides great protection against hail damage, so you can have peace of mind that your siding will remain undamaged during storms and extreme weather events.
- Moisture management – Our siding has the technology to halt moisture buildup in between your home and siding and prevent the harmful growth of mold and mildew.
Best of all, we offer our one-of-a-kind seamless polymer siding and installation services at some of the best prices in the business. Because we manufacture our own siding and don't source it from a distributor, we don't have to mark up our siding's price to cover shipping and warehousing costs like other companies do.
For more information about Continental Siding's seamless polymer siding and professional installation services, CALL NOW. Also, be sure to ask about our financing options for Kansas City, MO, homeowners.


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WASHINGTON – A drug trafficker believed to have been operating since at least the 1980s was convicted by jury Monday of a federal drug conspiracy charge for his role as the leader of an international drug trafficking and money laundering ring that operated at least 14 years out of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Bahamas, France, Italy, Spain and other countries.
The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Metropolitan Police Department.
Gregory Joel Sitzmann, 61, who was born in Iowa and most recently resided in Colombia, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.
The verdict followed a six-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Sitzmann faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. A status hearing is scheduled for June 12.
"Mr. Sitzmann was the leader of an international drug trafficking and money laundering organization and is a career criminal with multiple narcotics felony convictions in the United States and elsewhere," said John P. Torres, special agent in charge for HSI Washington. "HSI and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those who continue their illicit activities even after prior convictions."
According to the government's evidence, Sitzmann has used and conspired to use numerous individuals and methods to transport hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia and Mexico into the United States and into numerous countries around the world.
For example, he used commercial and private airplanes, automobiles, trucks and luggage with secret compartments to move the drugs. He also contemplated using Colombian air force planes to smuggle cocaine into Canada.
Evidence showed that Sitzmann has been involved in drug smuggling and money laundering since at least the 1980s and that he provided hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to a Hells Angels motorcycle gang in Montreal, Canada, throughout the 1990s. He maintained corporations and bank accounts in Panama, Switzerland, Luxembourg and elsewhere to facilitate his money laundering and the purchase of assets.
"Gregory Sitzmann was a high-flying international cocaine trafficker who eluded justice for decades," said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., for the District of Columbia. "Thanks to a District of Columbia jury, Mr. Sitzmann is no longer free to smuggle cocaine and cash from one country to the next. He will now remain behind bars to contemplate the countless lives destroyed by the drugs he distributed for so many years."
"This case demonstrates that the District of Columbia cannot be used as a platform for distributing drugs throughout the United States," said Cathy L. Lanier, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. "This defendant smuggled drugs worldwide for years. A jail cell is far less exotic than some of the countries he operated in – but fitting."
Sitzmann was indicted Aug. 7, 2008, by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for activities that took place during the 1990s and at least until 2004. The day after the indictment, Sitzmann was deported from France to the United States, where HSI special agents arrested him. He has been in custody ever since. The defendant delayed trial for years, using numerous attorneys while alternating with demands to represent himself.
The prosecution grew out of the efforts of the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, a multi-agency team that conducts comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the nationwide program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.
In recent years, investigations by this task force have led to the arrests and indictments of dozens of people from drug organizations that operate in the Washington, D.C., area.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the French National Police, French Customs, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Royal Bahamas Police assisted in the investigation.


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How to Adjust the Carburetor on a Briggs & Stratton 12.5 HP Engine
The 12.5 HP Briggs and Stratton engine has an idle speed adjustment screw below the fuel bowl of the carburettor that can be adjusted in just a few minutes to keep the engine running efficiently. The optimum setting for the carburettor is to run around 1750rpm.
You can adjust the carburettor with just a screwdriver and vacuum gauge, helping you to save time and money.
Remove the air cleaner assembly from the top of the Briggs and Stratton 12.5 HP engine and set it aside. Turn the idle mixture screw clockwise with a screwdriver until it is completely closed and turn it back, counterclockwise, one and a half turns.
Put the air cleaner assembly back on top of the engine and start the motor. Let it warm up for a few minutes and slowly turn the idle mixture screw clockwise until you hear the motor slow down.
Turn the idle mixtue screw counterclockwise slowly until you hear it begin to slow down again and turn it back, clockwise, to the midpoint between where you noticed it slowing down. Remove the rubber vacuum hose at the base of the carburettor and attach a vacuum gauge.
Turn the idle speed adjustment screw slowly until the vacuum gauge reads around 1750rpm with the engine running smoothly. Remove the vacuum gauge and reattach the rubber vacuum hose.
Shut the Briggs and Stratton 12.5 HP engine off.
- Be careful of hot engine parts when attempting to adjust the carburettor on a Briggs and Stratton 12.5 HP engine.


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For class details click Outdoor Rock Climbing School Spring 2020
To help spread the word, check out the color flyer:
Please feel free to share this link or print and tack on the wall or Bulletin board, just like the old days.
Students click here for the Student Syllabus.
Instructors click here for the Instructor Syllabus. Also, see Belay & Rappel Demo Instructions for teaching belaying & rappelling on Thursday evening.
The complete AMC Basic Outdoor Rock Climbing Manual is provided below. Important – Please note the Addendum that provides important instructional updates to the current published version of the manual.
- Disclaimer Disclaimer
- Chapter 1 Intro to the Vertical World
- Chapter 2 Access and Ethics of Climbing
- Chapter 3 Knots, Hitches, and Coils
- Chapter 4 Equipment
- Chapter 5 Climbing Calls
- Chapter 6 Belaying
- Chapter 7 Rappelling
- Chapter 8 Self-Rescue
- Chapter 9 Climbing Technique
- Addendum Basic School Instructional Changes – October 2014 Rev 1


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Please give us a brief overview of the company—when was Flight Centre Travel Group South Africa established and how did the company achieve the revered status it enjoys today?
Flight Centre started way back in 1994, with our first red and white store in Westgate shopping centre. Roll on 22 years, and we have 181 wholly-owned businesses across 11 brands nationally—including Flight Centre, Flight Centre Associates, Corporate Traveller, FCM Travel Solutions, Student Flights and Cruiseabout to name but a few—comprising corporate travel management, leisure travel and wholesale travel. We are Australian-owned and listed on the ASX with over 18 000 employees in 14 equity countries globally. Our flat operating structure—removing luxury costs to bring the very best value and pricing to our customers—is behind our success. Our sales approach to travel, coupled with the very best talent, is also unique. Our relationships with our suppliers allow us to offer the very best product and value add in the industry.
What is your company's vision and mission, and what values does it hold in the highest regard?
We want to become Africa's greatest travel and technology experience company through caring about delivering amazing customer experiences. We want to open up the world—affordably—for those who want to travel.
Flight Centre, your retail brand, has a Lowest Airfare Guarantee—how does it work, how is the company able to offer this service and, in terms of the industry, does this give you your competitive advantage?
It's a global tagline which has worked exceptionally well over the years. It's important to remain competitive in an ever-competitive industry and through the offering, we ensure we always remain competitive and best-priced in the industry. The offering costs around R5 million a year but we believe it brings back much more through customer loyalty and retention. It's also very handy in keeping our suppliers on their toes with regards to their pricing and offering.
What are the important trends in travel or changes in the industry that are currently being experienced and how has Flight Centre Travel Group accommodated these changes?
We embrace change; it's one of our company's givens. We are always looking to improve our systems, product range and distribution to suit the needs of the South African customer. The industry is experiencing a lot of disruption currently, especially from online players who are bastardising prices and product offerings to win customers over. Spending money on a holiday that one has saved for for many months or years with a non-reputable online company is very risky. We pick up a lot of business from people who have been burnt and have spent huge sums of money online. Pictures and blogs can be very deceiving. Booking with a reputable travel company that has local presence, both online and in your local shopping malls, gives South Africans peace of mind and, of course, someone to blame and fix the problem, should things go horribly awry.
Security in travel is paramount. How is Flight Centre Travel Group able to assure travellers and give them peace of mind when they're about to embark on a journey?
Because of our global network, we are kept informed constantly. Corporate travellers, however, are possibly more aware and security-conscious of duty-of-care travel. We have internal systems that track global risk around the globe minute-by-minute. Should a destination be red-flagged, we inform our customers who are travelling, as well as those who have not yet embarked on their journey. We care deeply about keeping in touch and looking after the safety of our customers before they embark on their journey and while travelling. We never leave a customer stranded. We have a 24/7 emergency and customer care line across all brands.
Please provide us with a background to your own career, prior to being appointed Managing Director of Flight Centre Travel Group
I have been with FCTG for 13 years. I first joined FCTG in 2001. I re-joined in 2004 as General Manager of Product and Marketing and after four years, I was transferred to our New Zealand operation in Auckland. In 2010, I was transferred back to South Africa in the capacity of General Manager for Corporate brands. In 2013, I was appointed General Manager for our Retail brands. In 2015, I was appointed MD—my dream job.
What is involved in your work as Managing Director—what do your duties and responsibilities entail?
My motto is: surround yourself with great people who will get the job done. My job is to inspire, motivate and lead people to do and think the impossible. I also need to nurture, develop and invest in future leaders and star performers. I must mitigate risk at every opportunity and remain six steps ahead of our competitors. I also need to ensure we keep innovating around what our customers don't and do want from Flight Centre Travel Group. I must ensure that we innovate and embrace change and that we use technology as an enabler, not a disabler. Another responsibility is to ensure the long-term plans of the company are sustainable, as my decisions affect 1 200 people and their families.
What have been the key leadership lessons that have helped you to reach your current position?
Be very clear and consistent in your communication, no ambiguity. Make the tough decisions and stick by them. Build good relations with your peers when climbing the ladder as, at the end of the day, they inevitably promote or demote you. It's okay to make mistakes. Own up to them quickly. Never make the same mistake twice. Keep developing yourself, you need experience to learn. The words I live by are discipline, tolerance, competence, competitiveness, perseverance and fun.
What are some of the most notable successes you have enjoyed with Flight Centre Travel Group?
We certainly don't take ourselves seriously. We have fun along the way and we always say you are only as good as your last month end. So I guess mine would be last month's results.
How would you describe your leadership style? What kind of leadership is necessary in your industry to ensure success?
A healthy balance between both transactional and transformational. At times, the one outweighs the other, depending on the situation. I am a very honest and direct leader who always seeks to understand. I enjoy inclusive leadership coupled with ongoing development. I struggle with incompetency. Our industry is like no other, very competitive and ever-changing. Therefore, I believe we need inclusive leadership that looks to innovate on people's productivity levels, not systems that replace people for the sake of profits. We are in the people's game. Travel is an emotive purchase whereby people buy from people.


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Thanksgiving Gingerbread Cake
This Gingerbread Cake recipe is one that my Grandmother used for Thanksgiving dinners that has been passed down through the generations. You can add some Vanilla Ice-Cream on the side if you wish.
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup White Sugar
2 Large Eggs
3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Dark Molasses
1 Cup Water
In a medium bowl, whisk the Oil, Sugar, and Molasses. Add the Eggs and whisk until smooth.
Have a large bowl to combine Flour, Ground Ginger, Cinnamon, Salt, and Cloves. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and mix well until evenly combined.
Using a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Remove saucepan and add Baking Soda and stir. Add to batter, and stir until combined.
Pour into a non-stick bundt pan to prevent sticking.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.
After the cake cools, you have the option to sprinkle Icing Sugar over the top of the cake. A nice touch.
Serves 12-15


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"In many organizations, raw material inventory consumes a major portion of the assets of he business. Management of inventory is therefore an important computer application. An integrated inventory system includes an inventory subsystem,a purchase subsystem, receiving subsystem. An inventory master file is usually maintained which is updated by all the subsystems. This file is also used to create a number of outputs for each of the subsystems."
(a) Identify some major data elements for the inventory master file.
(b) Identify which data elements are being updated by which subsystems.
(c) Identify some of the important o/p generated by each of the subsystems.


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Photo roundup – airports and views from up high
I have to admit I have a few strange habits and one of them is taking pictures of certain things or places that most people probably don't. I especially indulge in this habit whenever I fly as I take photos of airports, the skies or the places below from the plane, and even planes from time to time.
I had to fly to Taiwan last week, just months after my last visit due to the need to get a minor but important medical operation. It's kind of a hassle to fly when it's not for a vacation such go through security and transfer flights but it gave me a chance to take a few interesting photos. And of course, going to Taiwan regardless of the reason lets me be in a more healthier and polite society. And enjoy faster and uncensored Internet and a very open media environment.
Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport
Sunset flying over the strait, the best view of the skies I've even had from a plane
These photos below are from last year.
The roof of the terminal, not the lady, is what I took a photo of, though she's a fine addition to the picture of Hong Kong Airport.
This photo of Hong Kong might look like it was taken two decades ago, but this was actually last October. You can see Kowloon on the top in the middle, and Hong Kong Island's business districts opposite Kowloon on the other side of the channel, especially the IFC tower jutting out amid HK's other skyscrapers (it's also my favorite HK tower). The Occupy street protests were going on so I was even trying to see if I could spot it from the plane (I couldn't).
Beijing airport with its distinctive red-lined ceiling
Vietnamese countryside seen on a flight to Hanoi
Northern Vietnamese mountains seen on a flight to Hanoi
View over the ocean on a flight to Johannesburg from Hong Kong
Victoria Falls seen from a plane from Livingstone, Zambia (the town next to the falls), back to Johannesburg
The Angkor Air turpoprop plane I flew on to get from Siem Reap to Bangkok