blast from the past, this was the first panoramic photo i ever took

So my friends came out to visit from Saskatchewan! I had to take them out to the aerodrome. I took a lot more photos, and figured I would share some up here as well.

( more this way.... )

( Read more... )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theneighborhoodwatch/sets/72157620159513818/

Has anyone ever heard of a zombiewalk being done as a geocaching event?

If you have no idea what a zombiewalk is, read about it on my blog where I discuss the one held is Asbury park, NJ 2 months ago. I was hoping to go to a caching event that was tubing on the delaware but I got hit with the first planning meeting for the next zombiewalk and we're already kinda late to be doing our planning so I can't go tubing...

anyway as I was contacting the organizer, the idea hit me: make the zombie walk a cache event too.

Being a zombie is easy, and to make it relevant you can make yourself up as if you died while caching, suffering some sort of hiking or biking or boating related injury... like branches sticking out of your neck or something.

So... I'm wondering... does anyone out there think this is a cool idea? a bad one? or what?

cause you always could go out caching beforehand while made up, totally scaring other hikers.

Friends, right now there is no smile on my face, & I'm feeling down & in a grim mood. Today, a bit before Two P.M., Dave Mahoney was sentenced to 90 days by Ramsey County Judge Paulette Flynn in Saint Paul. This was the result of his plea bargain, which I've spoken of in this community previously. I recall that that post was on One June,'09.

I truly hate it when the Man's machine gets one of us in its steely grip. Dave, in my book, is a hero, as were all who were in the black bloc on the Marion Street Bridge during the R.N.C.

Below is a link to the Twin Cities Indymedia article by Haloka. He's done a fine job of reporting & I don't have much to add. I'm in too much of a grim mood to say more, eh. Having to sit on a hardwood bench & watch the charade made me gnash my teeth.

http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/jul/mahoney-sentenced-90-days-will-likely-serve-56

Free All Political Prisoners!

Billy Kropotkin

Looks like the screen printing solution Im trying out works.

Expect MFA t-shirts soon :-)

The old Belle Mina School near Mooresville

Found this place near my house in Harvest. It has several outbuildings. Last time I was there I was harassed by....yes this is really true...a BUZZARD who was roosting in the building. I never knew buzzards could growl and smell like death. There are more pics in the scrapbook

This is just something I wrote for school. Wondered how anarchists would respond to it...
_________________________

If you grow up in a time, in a place, with a tribe, they will show you how to live based on what has been passed down from generations upon generations, aeons upon aeons, of tried-and-true methods of living. They will pass them down to you in the form of stories. Those stories will probably involve gods. That is where they become very real to the peole who believe in them.

Those gods died a long time ago.

Today the gods have been reduced to things you buy in books and boxes, kits and trinkets. They teach you virtually nothing. They have things they want you to do that are nothing more than superstitions that have virtually no real merit, nor change in any way of your daily life. And that's due to the advancement and invasion of civilization.

When the people of one land invaded another, they brought their gods with them. Those gods taught them how to live in that land from which they came. Although chances are, because they're invading, they need more land. So those gods taught them poorly. Thus they're transferring bad gods onto good people. And they usually always insist on imposing their gods.

But to the invaded, the gods teach ways that make no sense whatsoever. Why would a desert god's teachings have any bearings on the ice-dwelling peoples of the north? It is for this reason that, for a world where everyone now lives in apartments and condos, shops for food rather than growing it, and shapes their entire world on how they earn and spend money, none of us understand what a god actually is. We pick our gods eeny meeny miney moe out of vending machines and give them no real special place in our lives. They teach us nothing. We make them a cute ritual that has no bearing on our lives. We still earn, spend, and sit in our condo watching TV.

To the people growing up, gods were not consciously chosen. Choice had nothing to do with it. It was simply the language. It was simply the method of communication. It was the air they breathed. They weren't really trying to explain how everything happened, they were simply explaining what was happening. The why wasn't really a concern. If you asked them what story they created, or what religion they had, they'd stare at you with absurd faces. What the devil are you talking about?

That is the same response as you'd get if someone asked you the same. Yet your story of how things came to be this way is historical. Believe it or not, your gods are the media, pure and simple. And your media tells stories to preserve your life, but are absurd to the other people.

The point is, gods that are pushed onto others are the bad gods who taught their people poorly and ways of life that do not work. Notice, therefore, how they insist their ways are superior. The people, and the gods, who have to insist constantly that their ways are the best, are usually the self-conscious ones who know that they are not.

And that is where we stand. Our gods are very real, in a way we don't actually expect them to be. They are the language we use to propagandize. They can be the truths that get us through a sustainable reality. But today, in our world, they are the lies we tell ourselves so that we can continue to live a way that we know is killing everything.

And that is why it is considered blasphemy to live sustainably.

Ok in 15 minutes, I'm going on lunch. After that, I have an hour left of work until I leave to go to Florida, visit my friend Jorsh and go to / be a volunteer at Nerdapalooza. I sincerely hope they readjust my volunteer time slot so that I can see MC Chris for the 4th time...and also the Protomen because Jorsh keeps talking up this band and I want to see them. I'll be back Monday night. Tuesday I have work and after work I'm going to see George Clinton [king of FUNK!] in Milwaukee for FREE.

THis is my 3rd mini-vacation in as many weeks.

whatta life. I have honestly just been TOO BUSY to post about all my busy-ness. But I really want to. I have pictures of the canoeing trip. I had Kenny re-clipper the sides of my hair and I have a purple 'hawk now. You guys still need to see a picture of Harley! annnnd Sarah my room mate is still my bff.


and all that 'I'm saaad wahh' shit from my previous post has been booted out the window bc I knew I was being dumb and just needed to readjust my way of thinking.

sew.

needless to say, I can not concentrate on work. I'm really excited, and also hungry. Also I almost beat Gregtaro in Facebook Scrabble today. ALMOST. So close. He always schools me and I think it's just because he knows how to work the board. But I did get a 48 point word in, so I was proud of that. Yeah.

one more thing. Last night, I finally figured out how to download albums with torrents [don't laugh, I'm extremely slow to figure out techmology sometimes]...and I got really excited and stayed up all night pirating music. ARRRR. I'm really happy about it. I got Frank Turner, James Figurine, the sound track from The Harder They Come [a movie about reggae music, NOT A PORNO!], Tarkio, Defiance Ohio, and lots of other stuff which I can not remember at the current moment. But the point is, my ears will be filled with joy whilst waiting around in the air port by myself, and riding the airplane by myself, to and from Florida.


Now make like a tree and beat it.

Hi!! This is my first post to this community. I've been reading for a while and love it.

I'm working on my first real-actually-gonna-do-it-this-time zine type project, and I have no idea what to charge for it. I recently graduated from an awesome alternative school called Upattinas where basically all I did was sit in the art room and make art all day, including visual journals. The last one I made was based in dream work; I recorded all my dreams after waking up and made a page about each dream.

So! I had several friends express interest in buying this book from me but I definitely wasn;'t going to give it up, so I'm working on making a reproduction on it. It's slightly smaller than half size, since I started with an odd sized book, in full color, and made with high quality copies. None of it has been printed off a computer - it's all been copied at Kinkos on their color copier. It's 19 pages long plus a color cover.

How much would you expect to pay for a zine like this? It's slightly unorthodox so I haven't really found anything to compare it with. I'd like to find other people who would be interested in it, as well, through this community and other places.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/12211.aspx

( Dust&Dirt )

I'm amazed at the lack of technology employed by T-Mobile in their shops. I went to the one in Oxford Street last night, attempting to get the upgrade I'm now due, but the phone I want seems to be rarer than the proverbial hen's teeth, and they didn't have any in stock. But...they can't check availability on their computer system. They have to phone each store individually to find out if they've got any! Crazy. Only one branch had one, and I didn't have time to get there before it closed - it's in Victoria, so I'll go later.

Anyway, on the way home I dropped into the T-Mobile store in Westfield (biggest urban shopping centre in Europe, apparently) on the off-chance that they might have had one. Turns out they didn't, but hey. Westfield was interesting, but profoundly depressing, to see - it's the size of a small town, crammed absolutely full of clone stores. Evils of capitalism writ large - I felt dirty for having gone there, and I won't be making that mistake again.

Work has been moderately good this week so no complaints there - plus it's almost the weekend. Hurrah!

Final piece of news for now is my discovery of Florence And The Machine. Ohh, my! Go buy the album right bally now! It's extraordinarily gorgeous, as Florence has a wonderful voice, the songs are gloriously eccentric and unusual, and it's just...perfect...really, really good. They could be one of the first new bands I've actually got into in years, given the extremely retro nature of most of my music collection. I'm very keen to see them live, but their upcoming tour appears to be entirely sold out everywhere. :(

Presentation coming up shortly. Should be OK. Might not be. But I don't really care. :)

In late April, between the many storms that hit the region, we went out on several wanders to see what we could. Along a major thoroughfare were several sites points out to us by friends so off we went.

The Farm
After wandering through the overgrown and virtual gardens that was the yard of the farm, we wandered into the open and almost welcome interior of the farmhouse. Though recessed and barely visible from the road, the house had major signs of wear and tear. In addition the house showed signed of nearly haphazard expansion over the years.


The front porch area

( Nature reclaimed [19 images behind the cut] )

I just fried and ate minced meat I bought yesterday (Spaghetti). I know it's madness, but I was hungry and there is a long work shift ahead. Will I survive this?

Love,
M

Hello there! My heart is beating superfast right now because this is my first time posting. I love everybody's posts on here, so I thought I'd participate. Some of these are miscellaneous excerpts from my sketchbook (you can click on them for a bigger version); others are just tidbits of parts of my life I want to share with all of you. Thank you so much for looking! ♥

( because memory moves in orbits of absence )

So, yesterday I got a fortnight's leave approved, so we'll be trundling off down to the west country sometime in August.  We're going to park up the camper van at a coastal camp site - we've yet to decide which - and relax for a couple of weeks, after which we'll head to south Devon for the Beautiful Days festival, which despite its high crusty quotient, is pretty good.  Well, its really good, but the abundance of smug, filthy people with dreadlocks pulls the rating down a bit IMHO.

Got a two hour meeting this morning re swine flu.  What's the point?  Is anything going to be decided which will make this workplace less susceptible to it?  I doubt it - its just a pointless talking shop set up by someone who thrives on meetings, which is a pain in the arse when I've got so much work to do.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

though not fairy tale oriented, i somewhat felt as though i'd gone to a different beautiful land when visiting my favorite park today.

( a few more )

Is there any place better to get an appreciation of art than at Value Village?

( Oh, it gets worse. (23 more horrors behind the cut) )

Starts okay, gets steadily worse. (Scroll to the bottom for the best/worst stuff.)

Peacocks are a silly little obsession of mine. I think they are absolutely stunning creatures, and I've always enjoyed taking pictures of them. I'm no professional photographer, but I thought some of you might enjoy my pictures of these beautiful birds anyway.

These were taken a few weeks ago at the Philadelphia zoo, where there are quite a few peacocks mingling freely with the people. Me and my girlfriend got as many shots as possible to use as inspiration for a peacock inspired costume we have been working on for quite some time now. These are just a few of my favorites.


( Beautiful feathers... )

In an effort to continue not working, while learning about things that interest me and could possibly provide the means to do something for a living down the line that doesn't suck, I would like to stay in college for quite a while. In the spirit of willful unemployment, I'd like to do so making use of various grants and scholarships, including the federal Pell Grant.

I figure this would be a good place to go for people to prattle on about how colleges are "tools of the system" that "suck out your brains" or some such bullshit that I don't really care about. I also figure it would be a good place to find people that have gone this route or are currently doing this.

So, yeah, advice on how to do the school/major-changing or whatever would be muchly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

First time poster and, to top it off, had to snap these on my cell because I didn't have my regular camera. So, apologies for the relatively low res- hope it's still entertaining despite all that. These are from a local Goodwill that I visited for the first time today. I actually found some stuff I wanted (a lovely little ceramic Japanese-style tea set with pot AND six cups for $7?? HELL YES), but there was also some stock that was good for a laugh.

Though I didn't have room on the phone to cover quite everything that amused or confused me, there's still a LOT of images here, so I'm putting most of them behind a cut (except one), and they will progress from the moderately odd to the disturbing.

I was going to put them all behind a cut honestly, but... this one needed the ultimate level of exposure. He just did. I'm sure you'll agree:



That is a tiny little Mattel-produced toy turtle. If you roll him across a flat surface on his belly, these little gears turn and he "swims".

And yes, that is a black and silver skull and crossbones rather expertly painted and/or drawn on his back, in what appears to (potentially?) be Sharpie marker.

It was 20 cents.

I... couldn't resist.

I actually bought it.

Come on though... like you wouldn't even consider it?? :P


And now for the rest of the list, ranging from the slightly perplexing to the o.O

( Read more... )

For those that didn't read my HORRIBLE VIBRATOR post, I work at goodwill. I get to see a lot of stuff, the worst stuff never hits the shelves. The "best" gets put out with everything else. I am a pricer but there are several others so I don't always get to pick what goes out and what stays in. What may be garbage to me, may be treasure to others. Here are a few of the best things I've found (and managed to take a picture of) during the last few weeks.

( Odd sheep, old fashion, LSD wolf clocks and more )

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/07/are-you-comix-experienced.html

Preorders for the book can be taken immediately by visiting Comix Experience at 305 Divisadero St. (at Page) in San Francisco, or by calling 415-863-9258 from 11-7 Monday-to-Saturday, Sundays 12-5, PST.