All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Patriarch Raï Equates Terrorists With Atheists & Non-Religious

Free at last, free at last, thank God, I am free at last – from religious organizations, patriarchies, …

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

Patriarch Bechara Rai

It’s yet another Sunday in Lebanon and another opportunity for the Maronite Patriarch to offer his words of wisdom, in his weekly sermon, to the ears that would listen. It’s also yet another Sunday in a Lebanon of presidential void, security chaos and with more people listening in to the likes of Raï for possible hints at what to expect in the next few weeks when it comes to political development, the patriarch new quite well the stakes of his sermon. Here’s an excerpt, translated by yours truly, of Raï’s sermon today:

“In this occasion, we cannot forget that the Lebanese family is made up of two components: Christian and Muslim, and it has become a model for today’s societies, eastern and western, threatened by two extreme and opposite movements: religious regimes that aim to eliminate those that are different and to enforce their own faith and teachings onto others…

View original post 715 more words

Israeli settlers posse’s shoot at Palestinians near Ramallah | Maan News Agency

Israeli settlers opened fire at Palestinians northwest of Ramallah late Sunday in the second such incident in hours, locals said.

Two settlers shot at nine men who were working in a quarry near the village of al-Mazraa al-Gharbiya, without causing injuries, the workers told Ma’an.

They said they noticed the settlers sneaking into the quarry and fled the scene as settlers opened fire with an automatic rifle.

After being chased for nearly two miles, the workers reached al-Mazraa al-Gharabiya unscathed, they told Ma’an.

via Israeli settlers shoot at Palestinians near Ramallah | Maan News Agency.

The Secret Lives Of Paintings

The Dish

ezgif.com-save
dish_sdagger2resized

James Kerr, aka Scorpion Dagger, makes irreverent GIFs out of Renaissance art. He described his project in an interview this February:

Q: How does your practice relate to collage, or your other pre-GIF art practices?

A: Essentially, I’m using these Renaissance paintings as a palette to draw upon or cut open. So I’ll take a head from a Lucas Cranach the Elder painting, and hand from a Hans Memling painting and put those things together.

Mostly, I’m inspired by the idea of what happens to these types of paintings after a museum closes. I like the idea that the people in the paintings then get on the bus, go home, do the dishes, go to a restaurant. I like to think I’m creating a world for them outside of the museums where you would normally view these pieces of art. I like to think about what the life of…

View original post 105 more words

Habitat for Humanity to begin building 25 homes

Jaydon Crump, age 6, doesn’t know what sweat equity is, nor is he all that aware of the violence in his neighborhood that has worried his mother for the past three years.

He does know, however, that he’s about to get a yard to play in instead of a parking lot, and he already has big plans for a garden.

“I don’t know how he knows anything about gardens, and I’m not sure he knows what it means to grow one,” his mom, Candice Crump, said with a laugh. “But he’s told me we’re getting one. He says we’ll figure it out later.”

The Crump family’s three-bedroom, 1.5-bath house will be the first to be constructed in Habitat’s Hudson Hills community, located off Johnston Boulevard in West Asheville.

This July, Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity will begin building a cul-de-sac of 25 single-family arts and crafts style homes off Johnston Boulevard in West Asheville. The neighborhood of Green Built NC-certified homes is expected to be complete by the end of 2016 and will be referred to as Hudson Hills.

via Habitat for Humanity to begin building 25 homes.

Guy toys – really? : Check Out The Military-Grade Stealth Motorcycle The LAPD Bought: LAist

“Our officers have an added tactical advantage while on patrol,” said Officer Steve Carbajal of the LAPD Off-Road Unit in a press release. Among these tactical advantages aside from the quiet engine include the ability to go zero-to-60 in 4.4 seconds and ford water over three feet deep. The bike is designed for off-road use, but can even be used in indoor pursuits down with zero emissions. It has a top speed of 85 MPH.

via Photos: Check Out The Military-Grade Stealth Motorcycle The LAPD Bought: LAist.

Asian Heatwave Precedes Monsoon : Image of the Day

In the first half of June 2014, news accounts described an extreme heatwave in India, as well as the late and somewhat weak arrival of the seasonal monsoon. Air temperatures in New Delhi climbed as high as 48° Celsius (118° Fahrenheit) and stayed above 43°C (110°F) for seven days. Satellite data offer some insights on what was happening on the ground.

via Asian Heatwave Precedes Monsoon : Image of the Day.