Untitled

delusionaldianne: The Dalai Lama answers a question

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:13:39 +0200

The Dalai Lama answers a question

gardensgrey: You won’t see Hillary Clinton in the same light...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:24:55 +0200

You won’t see Hillary Clinton in the same light ever again. Read Meryl Streep’s introduction of Hillary Clinton during the recent 2012 Women in the World conference:

Two years ago when Tina Brown and Diane von Furstenberg first envisioned this conference, they asked me to do a play, a reading, called – the name of the play was called Seven. It was taken from transcripts, real testimony from real women activists around the world. I was the Irish one, and I had no idea that the real women would be sitting in the audience while we portrayed them. So I was doing a pretty ghastly Belfast accent. I was just – I was imitating my friend Liam Neeson, really, and I sounded like a fellow. (Laughter). It was really bad.

So I was so mortified when Tina, at the end of the play, invited the real women to come up on stage and I found myself standing next to the great Inez McCormack. (Applause.) And I felt slight next to her, because I’m an actress and she is the real deal. She has put her life on the line. Six of those seven women were with us in the theater that night. The seventh, Mukhtaran Bibi, couldn’t come because she couldn’t get out of Pakistan. You probably remember who she is. She’s the young woman who went to court because she was gang-raped by men in her village as punishment for a perceived slight to their honor by her little brother. All but one of the 14 men accused were acquitted, but Mukhtaran won the small settlement. She won $8,200, which she then used to start schools in her village. More money poured in from international donations when the men were set free. And as a result of her trial, the then president of Pakistan, General Musharraf, went on TV and said, “If you want to be a millionaire, just get yourself raped.”

But that night in the theater two years ago, the other six brave women came up on the stage. Anabella De Leon of Guatemala pointed to Hillary Clinton, who was sitting right in the front row, and said, “I met her and my life changed.” And all weekend long, women from all over the world said the same thing:

“I’m alive because she came to my village, put her arm around me, and had a photograph taken together.”

“I’m alive because she went on our local TV and talked about my work, and now they’re afraid to kill me.”

“I’m alive because she came to my country and she talked to our leaders, because I heard her speak, because I read about her.”

“I’m here today because of that, because of those stores.”

I didn’t know about this. I never knew any of it. And I think everybody should know. This hidden history Hillary has, the story of her parallel agenda, the shadow diplomacy unheralded, uncelebrated — careful, constant work on behalf of women and girls that she has always conducted alongside everything else a First Lady, a Senator, and now Secretary of State is obliged to do.

And it deserves to be amplified. This willingness to take it, to lead a revolution – and revelation, beginning in Beijing in 1995, when she first raised her voice to say the words you’ve heard many times throughout this conference: “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights.”

When Hillary Clinton stood up in Beijing to speak that truth, her hosts were not the only ones who didn’t necessarily want to hear it. Some of her husband’s advisors also were nervous about the speech, fearful of upsetting relations with China. But she faced down the opposition at home and abroad, and her words continue to hearten women around the world and have reverberated down the decades.

…

She’s just been busy working, doing it, making those words “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” into something every leader in every country now knows is a linchpin of American policy. It’s just so much more than a rhetorical triumph. We’re talking about what happened in the real world, the institutional change that was a result of that stand she took.

…

Now we know that the higher the education and the involvement of women in a culture and economy, the more secure the nation. It’s a metric we use throughout our foreign policy, and in fact, it’s at the core of our development policy. It is a big, important shift in thinking. Horrifying practices like female genital cutting were not at the top of the agenda because they were part of the culture and we didn’t want to be accused of imposing our own cultural values.

But what Hillary Clinton has said over and over again is, “A crime is a crime, and criminal behavior cannot be tolerated.” Everywhere she goes, she meets with the head of state and she meets with the women leaders of grassroots organizations in each country. This goes automatically on her schedule. As you’ve seen, when she went to Burma – our first government trip there in 40 years. She met with its dictator and then she met with Aung San Suu Kyi, the woman he kept under detention for 15 years, the leader of Burma’s pro-democracy movement.

This isn’t just symbolism. It’s how you change the world. These are the words of Dr. Gao Yaojie of China: “I will never forget our first meeting. She said I reminded her of her mother. And she noticed my small bound feet. I didn’t need to explain too much, and she understood completely. I could tell how much she wanted to understand what I, an 80-something year old lady, went through in China – the Cultural Revolution, uncovering the largest tainted blood scandal in China, house arrest, forced family separation. I talked about it like nothing and I joked about it, but she understood me as a person, a mother, a doctor. She knew what I really went through.”

When Vera Stremkovskaya, a lawyer and human rights activist from Belarus met Hillary Clinton a few years ago, they took a photograph together. And she said to one of the Secretary’s colleagues, “I want that picture.” And the colleague said, “I will get you that picture as soon as possible.” And Stremkovskaya said, “I need that picture.” And the colleague said, “I promise you.” And Stremkovskaya said, “You don’t understand. That picture will be my bullet-proof vest.”

Never give up. Never, never, never, never, never give up. That is what Hillary Clinton embodies.

publicradiointernational: British company Pavegen has developed...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:46:27 +0100

publicradiointernational:

British company Pavegen has developed a new paving tile that captures the energy of footsteps and turns it into electricity.

On a small scale, one day’s worth of foot traffic over a few tiles could power one street light overnight. In another recent field test at a music festival, dancers stomping on a dance floor with Pavegen tiles generated enough energy to recharge their mobile phones.

The company’s first big field test will come this summer at the London Olympics. Pavegen will be installing its system just outside the Westfield Stratford Shopping Center, one of Europe’s biggest and busiest urban shopping malls. The tiles will be placed on one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares leading into nearby London Olympic Park. Depending on the foot traffic, the company hopes its tiles might be able to power the mall’s entire lighting system. More.

(Image: Pavegen)

nnokka: (via: kateoplis) Julian Imrie in his Los Angeles...

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:54:04 +0200

nnokka: (via: kateoplis)

Julian Imrie in his Los Angeles workshop

Imrie quit college to assist Bruce Weber, went on to work on a horse farm in Montauk, NY, then moved to Amish country, where he salvaged crumbling barns. He spent a year studying the New Testament (in Greek). Then he biked from Los Angeles, his current home base, to Brazil. At one point, he decided to start Julian Boots, his stylish take on 19th-century footwear, but first he learned how to make molds in the English Midlands and to tan leather in a 250-year-old Swiss factory. Now he’s an amateur boot historian, able to slip easily into a disquisition on what a 19th-century Cornish miner might wear. What his boots share with their fuss-free forebears, Imrie says, is that ‘‘you can use them in your garden and then rub them off and go to a wedding.’’
T-Magazine

just …. wow.

saramdle: Be LINEN gorgeous to boot.

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 11:50:36 +0100

saramdle:

Be LINEN

gorgeous to boot.

home tour

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:17:12 +0200

home tour

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who..."

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:04:53 +0200

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”

- Robert Frost

Via sericite

(via travelhighlights)

global-culture: Trees Near You helps you learn about more than...

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:56:50 +0200

global-culture:

Trees Near You helps you learn about more than 500,000 trees that live on New York City sidewalks.

The Gay Movement: Homophobia

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:11:35 +0200

The Gay Movement: Homophobia:

yvestown:

floralcrown:

wordstattoedinhisveins:

thegaymovement:

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a fag everyday

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the one working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the woman who died when the EMTs stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn’t have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am a warrior for my country serving proud, but can’t be my true self because gays aren’t allowed in the military.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends I’m a lesbian, because they constantly make fun of them.

I am the who isn’t sure what she is. I am the who is rejected by her “best friends” because of a less-than-conventional crush.

I am the boy tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die because two straight men wanted to “teach me a lesson.”

This is the boy, Matthew Shepard. On October 7, 1998 Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson lead him to a remote area east of Laramie where they demonstrated unimaginable acts of brutality . Matthew was tied to a split-rail fence where he was beaten and left to die in the cold of the night. Almost 18 hours later he was found by a cyclist who initially mistook him for a scarecrow. Matthew died on October 12 at 12:53 am at a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. Murdered because he was gay.

If you believe that homophobia is wrong, then reblog this.

If you are ignorant, then ignore this.

Recycle This!

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:03:51 +0200

Recycle This!:

centaurismymentaur:

Recyclethis is a pretty cool website from the UK that posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with tips on how to reuse, recycle or re-purpose just about anything.

As they put it:

More than three years on, we’ve covered over 600 items and had over 8500 suggestions of ways to reuse, repurpose or recycle things that would otherwise go in the bin. We’ve covered items from around the home, office and garden, things for particularly hobbies or sports, and random bits of technology that have broken or are just out of date.

Check it out!

travelhighlights:Pearl of Adriatic by Gabriel Zubac: Dubrovnik,...

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:29:40 +0100

travelhighlights:Pearl of Adriatic by Gabriel Zubac:

Dubrovnik, Croatia

copenhagen. no matter the weather.

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:22:00 +0100

copenhagen. no matter the weather.

paper toys to download and make, from canon

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:28:34 +0100

paper toys to download and make, from canon

It takes 3

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:32:49 +0100

artislovely:pinkhotel:

There were three books I read this year that had a significant impact on me, particularly, in ways I never expected.

1. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan:

One of the now infamous bylines of the book is:

“Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”

It seems like a no brainer but, Pollan is right.

A major part of the book that really stood out for me was his discussion on obesity, America, and diabetes:

“Apparently it is easier, or at least a lot more profitable, to change a disease of civilization into a lifestyle than it is to change the way that civilization eats.”

I was, in a way, a little overwhelmed how strongly I felt after reading this. Instead of taking the necessary steps to feel better, and make a better life for yourself, it’s easier for Americans to function out of convenience (even if it is not healthy). Have we really become that lazy as a society? What about our ancestors who only could eat off of the land? Why do we have to artificially preserve almost every damn thing that is put into our mouths these days instead of making it ourselves? What happened to families discussing their day, news, life, etc. over a meal vs. eating on the go?

For a society that has evolved so much overtime, sadly, I sometimes believe that we haven’t evolved at all.

2. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer:

I briefly mentioned it before, but Foer does an outstanding job with his entry into investigative journalism.

This book went into significantly more detail than I was prepared for regarding factory farming and the treatment of animals.

Even though I was close to being a vegetarian before reading this book, as of the late, I’ve been struggling with the transition of giving up fish and fully committing to vegetarianism. Regardless if you eat meat (or not) or what I personally decide to do in my own life, give this book a read. You won’t regret it.

3. No Impact Man by Colin Beavan:

Hands down, this book had the most profound impact on me. I can’t say exactly why it has other than it is probably one of those books that I just read at the “right” time regarding my own struggles, choices, and goals.

I think the general gist of this social novel is:

“When I take my last breath, will there be a wish that I had more stuff? I’ll wish for only one thing, I think. That I loved better. That I had been better at loving and not being distracted by stuff or accomplishment. This life is so short and it will soon be over. What will we use it for?”

No matter what words I choose to write, none of them will do it any justice- rather, I urge you to please, please read this book.

Great list. The 1st 2 books are on my to-read list. I hadn’t heard of No Impact Man, but I am adding it now.