24 January 2009

Conversations With Animal Authors

from: http://animalcommunicationbookclub.blogspot.com/

Cat Writer Dusty Rainbolt Headlines First "Conversations With Animal Authors" Teleconference



I'm pleased to announce that award-winning writer, Dusty Rainbolt, will be my guest at the inaugural "Conversations With Animal Authors" teleconference, to be held on Thursday, January 29th at 8:30pm (EST). Ms. Rainbolt will discuss her recent book, Ghost Cats: Human Encounters with Feline Spirits, which was recently reviewed here.

The hour-long teleconference is free and can be accessed by calling: 616-347-8100, and entering PIN #1063739. Long-distance charges may apply. For those who are interested in hearing the interview, but cannot participate live, I'll be posting a link to a recording of the event a few days later.

Dusty Rainbolt is the host of the Pet Life Radio program, Paranormal Pets." She has written several other books, including Cat Wrangling Made Easy: Maintaining Peace and Sanity in Your Multicat Home, and Kittens for Dummies. She is also the product editor for Catnip newsletter, published by Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Dusty Rainbolt has a distinguished record as a cat chronicler, and she has been investigating paranormal phenomena since 1998. She brings not only a first-hand knowledge of the subject, but also, a spirit of fun, wonder, and good humor. I know that anyone who joins in on this call will have a great time.

20 January 2009

Leo, Moon in Gemini, Aquarius rising

from: http://www.cainer.com/

Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu at 7.24pm local time. He's a dignified Leo with the Moon in thoughtful Gemini and calm, composed Aquarius rising. He sometimes describes himself as 'restless'. And, to an astrologer, this is confirmed by a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter forming a 150-degree 'quincunx' angle to his triple conjunction of Sun, Mercury and Uranus. With five key planets in a permanent state of unresolvable flux, he's mission driven, sincere and brave yet realistic. He has already changed the world. But his work has only just begun.

Complete Text of President Obama's Inaugural Address

Complete Text of President Obama's Inaugural Address

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

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19 January 2009

Little Mo addresses the TCJB photo pool on Flickr.com & feels HOPE


Been busy these past couple of weeks, getting the new year off to a good start, putting a lot of time and effort into getting through final editing and production of THE CONCRETE JUNGLE BOOK, and working on the larger challenge of getting it published. We'll be making some announcements about that as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, it's fun to watch as people contribute so many fine images on the "concrete jungle book" meme at the Flickr groups http://www.flickr.com/groups/tcjb/ and Scrapbook Edge http://www.flickr.com/groups/scrapbookedge/ As we say in the book: "The city is just the jungle in disguise."

That doesn't mean only the dog-eat-dog, Nature red in tooth & claw, only the strong survive kind of jungle that is too common on TV, in movies & books. The jungle as unexplored, dark, dangerous. It's more than that. Mysterious & full of wonders, the more you look the more you see.

Yet more.

Because we know that the jungle itself won't survive if the residents -- human, nonhuman, & otherwise -- don't work together, cooperate, help each other.

The surprising thing about this planet is how beautiful and peaceful life is, despite the tragedies that erupt and the suffering that seems never to end.

I write these thoughts just a few hours before we salute our new President Barack Hussein Obama.

I love the way that HOPE and OPTIMISM and SERVICE dominate conversations throughout the USA today! On TV, in homes, schools, places of business, churches, on the Web - everywhere.

Because, the jungle is a place of HOPE as well as strife; death, yes, but also LIFE.

Together, let's continue to explore the concrete jungle, in curiosity and love. Let's express what we discover in our art, and share it with each other.

signed,
Little Mo & the Nonhuman Crew

P.S. If you're on Twitter.com, give a shout-out and a "follow" to my man, Twitter user name = @dougmillison. He helps get the news out about our book, my art, what we're doing here and over at our Scrapbook Edge group, and the new Nonhuman Communcations group here on Flickr (check it out!).

12 January 2009

New tattoo


New tattoo, originally uploaded by 3rd Coast Chick.

Geeked up & tripped out
Know how'm talkin' bout?

Missoula woman says she can communicate with animals

How can I resist an article that begins:

In her living room high above the Missoula Valley floor in upper Miller Creek, Kathleen Mensing spends most of her early mornings in deep meditation, conversing with animals.

…read it all:
As a psychic mediator, Missoula woman says she can communicate with animals
http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/01/12/news/state/40-psychic.txt

11 January 2009

the importance of scrapbooks

[…] This beautifully illustrated coffee table tome suggests that the scrapbook is an amazingly flexible medium, one that adapts to and reflects the times. In fact, it may once even have been ahead of its time. Helfand calls it "the original open-source technology, a unique form of self-expression that celebrated visual sampling, culture mixing, and the appropriation and redistribution of existing media." That may sound a little too highbrow for an artform that thrives on ribbons and roses, but Helfand's text points out that all kinds of lively minds have kept scrapbooks over the years, from playwright Lillian Hellman (who hilariously kept track of her running feuds and pasted in nasty clippings about herself) to poet Carl Van Vechten (who maintained a clandestine and artful compendium of male pornography) to Anne Sexton, who gathered telegrams, recipes and fledgling poems into a newlywed's memory book, 25 years before she commited suicide. Mark Twain not only recognized the importance of the format but also profited from it, patenting the first "self-pasting scrapbook" back in 1872.

But "Scrapbooks" doesn't dwell on famous names. Helfand is more interested in peeking at the historical shifts embedded in the way people recounted their lives: the episodes they chose to describe, the objects they included (newspaper clippings, gum wrappers, dance cards, dog tags, family photos), and even the way they laid out the pages (sophisticated modernist visual styles like collage had somehow already been absorbed by ordinary scrapbookers of the early and mid-20th century). She zooms in on an antibellum society woman whose marriage is (shockingly, for the times) falling apart, the privacy of the scrapbook's pages liberating her to record her life as she wanted it to be. Then there is the Seattle doctor, an immigrant who crams his meticulously laid-out book with portraits of presidents and newspaper clippings on wartime health -- "a kind of self-initiated primer for good citizenship," as Helfand notes.

These books are remarkable to look at -- so individual and specific, each becomes a "repository of evidence" from someone's life. An early 20th century young woman's scrapbook veers between movie star worship and suffrage marches, whereas a WWII soldier's volume gathers together enlistment papers, medals and Japanese money. In fact, war and danger seem to spur the desire to preserve memories and make one's mark, and Helfand partly traces the current mega-boom in scrapbooking -- now a nearly $3 billion industry with its own national holiday and a vast network of Web sites, groups and retreats -- to the trauma of 9/11. […]
…read it all @ http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/12/04/scrapbook/

09 January 2009

Oakland Riots 1/7/09


Oakland Riots 1/7/09, originally uploaded by kimberlywarne.

Rioters took to the streets of downtown Oakland, Ca between the hours of 5 and 10pm on Jan 7th in protest of the shooting death of 22 year old Oscar Grant on Jan 1st. Over 100 arrests were made and dozens of cars and store fronts were looted or set ablaze. COPYRIGHT KIMBERLY WARNE.

07 January 2009

paul le chien paris


paul le chien paris, originally uploaded by p.le chien.

06 January 2009

fossilized concrete jungles…underground

While these huge piles of rubble build up as humans tear old structures down and rebuild on top (which is why archeological sites of old cities rise above their surroundings), the rubble on top is chaotic. The real patterns are below:

The deep skyscraper roots form inverted concrete and steel spires beneath a New Orleans that is slowly sinking into the Gulf of Mexico, as the detritus of half a continent, washed on to the top of the Mississippi delta, presses down on the malleable crust. Around the tops of the concrete piles snake the thick tangle of pipes for water, electricity, gas, sewage, optical cables, of subways, underground carparks, and nuclear fall-out shelters. Once in the burial realm, these abandoned foundations of our human empire can begin their transformation into the Urban Stratum that may, in the yet more distant future, be discovered, analysed, explored, marvelled at.

Not all cities will fossilized, just as not all dead animals will. The conditions must be right.

What city? It might be New Orleans, or Haiphong, or Shanghai, or Amsterdam, or Venice, or Port Harcourt, or Dhaka. These are just a few of the cities and megacities that today spread across coastal plains, and over river floodplains and estuary margins. These, hence, are firmly sited on downgoing tectonic escalators, the weight of the deltaic sediment that they are built on inexorably dragging them down. And all are at or just above sea level (or just below it, in some cases, behind protective walls), so making them vulnerable to drowning by even the slightest of sea level rises. Once drowned, they will be removed from the realm of erosion into the realm of
sedimentation, as if placed in a pickling jar.

--Kevin Kelly, quoting a new book by Jan Zalasiewicz, a geologist from the University of Leicester, "The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks?"
in an intriguing essay called Fossil Cities.


(OvO) und Sirkullay


(OvO) und Sirkullay, originally uploaded by liquidnight.

The Great Gabbo

The Great Gabbo is presented by little mo and powered by Comicater

05 January 2009

Jungle Book


Jungle Book, originally uploaded by icopythat.

Daily Art Card 081230


Daily Art Card 081230, originally uploaded by iHanna.

04 January 2009

Rue du CloƮtre-Saint-Merri, Paris 4e


, originally uploaded by gabricabri.

Concrete Jungle


Concrete Jungle, originally uploaded by sassylime.

jungle book


jungle book, originally uploaded by Fraochsidhe.

03 January 2009

Horus


Horus, originally uploaded by blacklodge!!.

Fake Duckman


Fake Duckman, originally uploaded by .FAKE..

"Well it took A while but here it is! in white hehe....

size 70x100x3.5cm
Edition of 5"

Antlers


Antlers, originally uploaded by blacklodge!!.

"Off Sydney Rd. Brunswick"

Dutch West


Dutch West, originally uploaded by SReed99342.

www.dutchwest.tv/

new splash


new splash, originally uploaded by Sirkullay.

www.unaferal.com

02 January 2009

shelter


shelter, originally uploaded by Sirkullay.

FAKE FLOWER


FAKE FLOWER, originally uploaded by .FAKE..

"This is something I just made... thinking of making this in to a print.... or cut it...pfff this will be a hell of a job!"

01 January 2009

"WOLFPARY"


"WOLFPARY", originally uploaded by *PIRATA*"3cRMUNDO".

goo victims

tag
GOO VICTIMS is presented by Cliffdweller and powered by Comicater

TheConcreteJungleBook.com


TheConcreteJungleBook.com, originally uploaded by halfassnovelist.

Wall in garage

Exalte le Seigneur


Exalte le Seigneur, originally uploaded by gabricabri.

Rue Doudeauville, Paris 18e

We've Got Mail in 2009


We've Got Mail in 2009, originally uploaded by Tony the Misfit.