Clipmarks | Actuality Clips

The Portrayal Of Paganism In The Media

Sun, 25 May 2008 04:43:18 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Hi. I'm a Pagan. Yes, you heard me right. What image jumps into your head right now? Is it a person dressed all in black, with large pentacles, dragons and ankhs hanging around their necks? Did you picture me as a hippie who can't seem to escape the Swinging 60s?

Guess what? I'm a normal person. I wear jeans and t-shirts, I have a 9-5 job, and I'm studying to achieve my high school diploma at a mature-age level.

The media has done a fantastic job at portraying Pagans (including Wiccans and Witches) as these ugly women with long fingernails, warts and green skin, tall pointy hats and all dressed in black. Look at the popular film, 'The Craft' - it's portrayal of young witches, all in black, with supernatural powers. What about 'The Wicker Man'? Makes us all out to be lovers of sacrifice, huh?

In all actuality, we're normal people, and my personal mission (as I've come to discover) is to break down this stereotype of modern Pagans. So let's start with the basics...

Tags: pagan, faith, religion, media, wicca, witchcraft, witch

Mount Fear - Sculptures Created from Data Sets of Violent Crimes in London

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:00:06 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: ( thanks, reflex!) The terrain of Mount Fear is generated by data sets relating to the frequency and position of urban crimes in South London, Manchester,. East London, and Eindhoven. Precise statistics are provided by the police. Each individual incident adds to the height of the model, forming a mountainous terrain.

Clip Source: www.abigailreynolds.com

The terrain of Mount Fear is generated by data sets relating to the frequency and position of urban crimes. Precise statistics are provided by the police. Each individual incident adds to the height of the model, forming a mountainous terrain.

All Mount Fear models are built on the same principals. The imaginative fantasy space seemingly proposed by the scupture is subverted by the hard facts and logic of the criteria that shape it. The object does not describe an ideal other-worldly space separated from lived reality, but conversely describes in relentless detail the actuality of life on the city streets.

Clip Source: www.abigailreynolds.com

Mount Fear

MOUNT FEAR Statistics for Crimes with Offensive Weapon South London 2001-2002

Clip Source: www.abigailreynolds.com

Return to index

Mount Fear

MOUNT FEAR Statistics for Violent offences 2001-02 Central Manchester (2003)

Clip Source: www.abigailreynolds.com

Return to index Mount Fear

Map here

MOUNT FEAR East London Police Statistics for violent crimes 2002-3

Clip Source: www.abigailreynolds.com

MOUNT FEAR Statistics for Sex Crimes Eindhoven 1998 and 2003 (2004)

Tags: data, statistics, crime, london

NOAA 2007/2008 Winter Prediction

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:33:34 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks: A look back at their prediction versus the actuality.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Warm Winter Predicted For United States

ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2007) — NOAA forecasters are calling for above-average temperatures over most of the country and a continuation of drier-than-average conditions across already drought-stricken parts of the Southwest and Southeast in its winter outlook for the United States, announced at the 2007-2008 Winter Fuels Outlook Conference in Washington, D.C October 9, 2007.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Coolest Winter Since 2001 For U.S., Globe, According To NOAA Data

ScienceDaily (Mar. 15, 2008) — The average temperature across both the contiguous U.S. and the globe during climatological winter (December 2007-February 2008) was the coolest since 2001, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. In terms of winter precipitation, Pacific storms, bringing heavy precipitation to large parts of the West, produced high snowpack that will provide welcome runoff this spring.

Tags: meteorology, science, climate change

Weird Statues and Sculptures around the World

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:03:44 GMT

clipped by: hawgwild

Clip Source: www.toroller.com

33 Weird Statues and Sculptures Around The World

Probably you have seen some of these wonderful statues before,but I think it’s worthy to have a collection of these 33 weired art works in one single page.So here they come:

Magic tap, which appears to float in the sky with an endless supply of water. In actuality, there is a pipe hidden in the stream of water.

Location: Aqualand, Cadiz.

Madame Chapeau:

Designed to create a dynamics between two streets, this sculpture beams with its presence in the space that was allocated to the artist.The lady is fearlessly counting her money in an area of Brussels that is famous for its pickpockets. She even teases them with her unsnatchable bronze wallet!

Location: Brussels , Belgium.

La Trobe :

A contemporary representation of Charles La Trobe in central Melbourne (This temporary installation was removed at the end of June 2006 and has been acquired by La Trobe University).

Location: Melbourne

The Hanging Rhino :

The Thumb :

Man at work :

De Vaartkapoen :

Words Without Borders

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:16:30 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: A chance to read English translations of authors from around the world.

Intriguing methinks.

Clip Source: www.wordswithoutborders.org

January 2008

Vice and virtue clash daily round the world, and while the definition of sin may vary, its literary allure is universal. Perhaps that’s because no matter how easy we think moral failings are to finger, in actuality their elusiveness on the page is what makes for the stuff of great literature. “It’s so easy to forget . . . ” says a former student of an envious teacher; yet do moral failings arise because it’s easy to forget, or because it’s even easier to harbor and remember? Maya Arad, Roberto Bolaño, Lars Saabye Christensen, Doris Kareva, Danilo Kiš , Mathieu Lindon, Sérgio Rodrigues, Kjell Westo, and Yan Lianke put envy, greed, pride, sloth, gluttony, anger, and lust to thought-provoking ends for the New Year.

NEW ON THE BOOKSHELF

This month, there's solace in words at Dorothea Dieckmann's Guantanamo, allusions fill Aharon Megged's The Flying Camel and the Golden Hump and Eastern Europe writhes under capitalism in Andrzej Stasiuk's Nine.

More Prisoner Abuse Claims @ Harrison County, MS

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:46:47 GMT

clipped by: KimbleKency1683
clipper's remarks: I realize that people who commit crimes need to be punished, but no one deserves treatment like that. I am so glad Harrison County got a new sheriff. I hope he will clean up that jail!

Clip Source: www.sunherald.com

The jail booking mug of Only Al-Khidhr taken in October 2005 after Al-Khidhr was jailed on charges including public drunk, was posted around the Harrison County jail booking area as a 'trophy picture.'

Attorneys Jim Halliday and Robert Harenski have filed a civil lawsuit on Al-Khidhr's behalf. The lawsuit is one of two similar lawsuits they have filed in the past two weeks. They seek no specified amounts, but want compensation for physical and emotional damage. And they expect to file others soon.

"All of their stories are similar," Halliday said. "So many people never complained officially because they didn't think anyone would believe the atrocities actually happened.

"The jail hid behind the shield of accreditation and touted itself as meeting national standards. In actuality, the atrocities were covered up and the abused were taunted and threatened with criminal charges of assaulting an officer."

The lawsuit for Al-Khidhr and one for Marguerite Carrubba name many of the same defendant

Tags: harrison county, mississippi, prisoner abuse, jail, jailers

Peak oil: BP, Conoco CEOs say it's here - also IEA's Fatih Birol really freaks out

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:00:33 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.theoildrum.com

After the CEO of Total (the French oil major) last week, two more CEOs of an oil major came out this Thursday to give stark warnings that mean that peak oil is happening right now. In addition, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (the IEA), one of the main cheerleaders of the "there's more than enough oil" camp until now, is giving an extraordinarily pessimistic interview in the Financial Times,

"Where is the oil going to come from?" This is the CEO of the third biggest oil major in the USA, admitting that we no longer know where we can get access to oil. And he's repeating exactly what Christophe de Margerie, the boss of energy giant Total said a few days before: that IEA's projections, that everybody uses, are completely absurd

Tags: energy, oil, i-peak oil, i-actuality

Diamond Cuts 101

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:14:11 GMT

clipped by: amybennett
clipper's remarks: Good information on diamond cuts.

Clip Source: www.weddings.sc

Let’s focus on diamonds for a bit. Every girl knows about the four C’s of Diamond buying, but it can be hard to remember what all the cuts look like. The cut of a diamond directly effects the amount of sparkle a diamond has. Cut can also affect how big your diamond looks. Carat is actuality the weight of the diamond, so depending on the cut a diamond can look bigger or smaller than a diamond with the same carat weight. A well cut diamond will look bigger than many diamonds of a heavier carat weight.

“What makes a good cut,” you may ask. The quality of a diamonds cut is affected by many factors.

Okay, so we’ve established what makes a good cut, but what do the cuts look like.

Baguettes: Are long thin oblong asscher cuts.

Single Cut Diamonds: A single cut diamond consist of 18 facets. Single cut diamonds are normally very small stones, like the stones you would see in a channel setting.

Tags: wedding, diamond, gem, jewelry, weddings, rings

YOU'RE ON THE AIR WITH RUSH LIMBAUGH.

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:09:55 GMT

clipped by: thinkingblue
clipper's remarks: On the website http://www.thethinkingblue.com/limbaughcomments.html is a remake of the Rush Limbaugh video from YOUTUBE The only changes I made were the pictures. The original film had images of the devastation of war, on all people involved, the men, women and children caught in the horrors of war. I don't know why YOUTUBE pulled the video but I thought perhaps it was because of those sad pictures. We Americans get a WHITEWASHED version of the war and maybe YOUTUBE wanted to keep it that way. But if it was because of what Rush Limbaugh said on the uncut audio of his show and YOUTUBE was protecting him... THE SHAME IS ON YOUTUBE, who like so many on the right spin, twist and cajole TRUTH until it no longer resembles actuality, just so it will fit their account of reality.

You can also view the video on the camaroz28 server: http://videos.camaroz28.com/video/6ebe1dc3-e5e0-4a3a-bcc4-99d401031775.htm

Clip Source: www.thethinkingblue.com

I received this email from youtube today...

After being flagged by members of the YouTube community and reviewed by YouTube staff, the video below has been removed due to its inappropriate nature.

PHONEY SOLDIERS by Rush Limbaugh:

The YouTube Team

This was my response back to them:

I was very saddened to receive an email telling me you removed a video I uploaded... You did not tell me why, just a vague reference that it was flagged by members as being inappropriate. Did you read the comments on that particular video? The negative ones were all Rush Limbaugh supporters but there were many positive ones also. I know it is your server and you can do as you please with any video but it sure seems unfair that members can flag a video that doesn't agree with their ideology as inappropriate and thus its removed, without rebuttal. Sad but true fact of life in what we think is a democracy. Thanks, thinkingblue

Below is a remake of the Rush Limbaugh phony soldiers video

ON THE AIR WITH RUSH

LIMBAUGH

Tags: rush, limbaugh, youtube, war, phony, phoney, soldiers, thinkingblue

Kasparov vs. Putin

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:08:33 GMT

clipped by: sylviadafox

Clip Source: www.newyorker.com

The Tsar’s Opponent

Garry Kasparov takes aim at the power of Vladimir Putin.

Kasparov is forty-four. He was the world chess champion for fifteen years. Until his retirement, two years ago, his dominance was unprecedented.

Now he has volunteered for grim and, very likely, futile duty. As the most conspicuous leader of Drugaya Rossiya (the Other Russia), an umbrella group of liberals, neo-Bolsheviks, and just about anyone else wishing to speak ill of Vladimir Putin, he is in nominal charge of opposition politics in a country that, in actuality, has no real politics except for that which takes place in the narrow and inscrutable space between the ears of its President.

Kasparov says, “I have to be careful not to become cruel, because I became a soldier too early.”

Clip Source: www.newyorker.com

Putin sees himself as the new tsar, who, after suffering the humiliation of a lost empire, has restored strength and confidence to Russia. With the price of oil at eighty-two dollars a barrel, there is a sense of global reordering.

Tags: russia

Philosophy and Depression

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:34:43 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.philosophicalsociety.com

Philosophy And Depression

"The vanity of existence is revealed in the whole form existence assumes: in the infiniteness of time and space contrasted with the finiteness of the individual in both; in the fleeting present as the sole form in which actuality exists; in the contingency and relativity of all things; in continual becoming without being; in continual desire without satisfaction; in the continual frustration of striving of which life consists."

-- Arthur Schopenhauer, "On The Vanity Of Existence"

"There is little conjunction of truth and social 'reality'. Around us are pseudo-events, to which we adjust with a false consciousness adapted to see these events as true and real, and even as beautiful. In the society of men the truth resides now less in what things are than in what they are not. Our social realities are so ugly if seen in the light of exiled truth, and beauty is almost no longer possible if it is not a lie."

-- R.D. Laing, The Politics Of Experience

Tags: philosophy, depression

we are always living in an ideational world

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:17:06 GMT

clipped by: tidbit2

Clip Source: www.jkrishnamurti.org

One has an idea, a symbol of oneself, an image of oneself, what one should be, what one is, or what one should not be. Why does one create an image about oneself? Because one has never studied what one is, actually. We think we should be this or that: the ideal, the hero, the example. What awakens anger is that our ideal, the idea we have of ourselves, is attacked. And our idea about ourselves is our escape from the fact of what we are. But when you are observing the actual fact of what you are, no one can hurt you. Then, if one is a liar and is told that one is a liar, it does not mean that one is hurt: it is a fact. But when you are pretending you are not a liar and are told that you are, then you get angry, violent. So we are always living in an ideational world, a world of myth, and never in the world of actuality. To observe what is, to see it, actually be familiar with it, there must be no judgement, no evaluation, no opinion, no fear.

Tags: spirituality, life, wisdom

White sands and pink thongs

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:37:14 GMT

clipped by: swampfoxz
clipper's remarks: Question: Does the model make the shot

Clip Source: flickrbikini.com

Pretty in Pink »

White sands and pink thongs.Tan and tone female forms basking in the warm sun while admirers cruise the shore like tiger sharks for groupers.

Question: Does the model make the shot or does the photographer make the model.One micro bikini second in time is all it takes to immortalize the subject for all time in our hearts and fantasies,which,surprisingly enough are not all geared to sex.The sensual illusion of freedom from care and worry overpowers the viewer who,given the right motivation,now turns his surfing attention to travel blogs where he may realize his fantasies in actuality.Happy surfing.

Tags: microkini, bikini, beach

You can't estimate a month

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:02:52 GMT

clipped by: travislaborde
clipper's remarks: I'm sitting on exactly this problem right now. My "hours" estimate was about 60, so I figured a month worth of ETA, given that I'm not full-time on the one project....

Of course, in a month's time, a lot of other stuff can come up...

Clip Source: ayende.com

You can't estimate a month

Udi is talking about not trusting a developer's estimate:

Developers don’t know how to estimate.

Or more specifically, the variance in the actual completion time of a feature from the estimate given by a developer increases probably exponentially with time.

For example, if the estimate is a day, you can expect it to be finished in around a day. If the estimate is a week (5 works days), it will probably vary between 4-10 work days. If the estimate is a month, in all actuality the developer probably doesn’t know enough to say but will answer when pressed.

I agree, but I think that he is taking it in the wrong direction. The problem is that you can't estimate a month, or a year. The reason for that is that you have too many variables to juggle, and once you break it down to tasks, even the slightest delay at any of those, spread over a month, can cause significant pain for the schedule.

Tags: programming