Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Pink Daisy For Cee’s FOTD – Suzette B’s Blog

Marguerite Pink Daisy For Cee’s #FOTD

The height of summer

daisies growing outdoor fans

in-vent-ing shade

Source: Pink Daisy For Cee’s FOTD – Suzette B’s Blog

VIAJE A LA INDIA INÓSPITA by Neus Bonet – El plumier de Nenuse

El móvil empezó a marcar batería baja. Cerré la música que estaba escuchando. Seguí mirando por la ventana del viejo tren. Hacía tres horas que había llegado a la India, un viaje que quería hacer desde muchos años antes, para poder encontrar la esencia de mi alma. Y allí estaba, de camino al sur del […]

VIAJE A LA INDIA INÓSPITA by Neus Bonet

Source: VIAJE A LA INDIA INÓSPITA by Neus Bonet – El plumier de Nenuse

Review: Borders of Infinity, by Lois McMaster Bujold | Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

Review: Borders of Infinity, by Lois McMaster Bujold

The last story in a larger Frame story, this one, called The Borders of Infinity is the title story for the frame novella, and is set in a pow camp. It was really good, if also a trifle hard to swallow, with a fragile dwarf managing to take over a huge camp on almost Day 1, but a very good ending to the frame story, nonetheless.

Once again, thanks and compliments go to Fan Artist artfrostedleaf for the Featured Image, found on her Tumblr images, of how seeing the invisible feathers on the equally invisible hat can help one understand how to expand one’s borders to infinity. Cool.

The short story The Borders of Infinity comes immediately before the start of the full length novel Brothers in Arms, review recently published here, and then the other stories in the frame pick up after the novel. Those stories are Mountains of MourningLabyrinth, and then The Borders of Infinity

Source: Review: Borders of Infinity, by Lois McMaster Bujold | Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

Göttliche Natur, die sich selbst verschenkt… – Leben als Mensch

 

Uns zog es gestern wieder einmal in den Stadtpark von Beelitz-Heilstätten. Es war LEBEN pur, mit AllemWasIst. Mit Sonne, Starkregen und sowohl stillen als auch fröhlichen Begegnungen… Kurz bevor das Gewitter mit wahrlich Starkregen begann, hatten wir einen trockenen Unterschlupf in einem kleinen Pavillon gefunden. Es ist ein kleines Café, wo wir kurz zuvor draußen bei Sonnenschein saßen.

Schnell räumten wir die mittlerweile leeren Kaffeetassen ab und liefen in den Pavillon. Andere Gäste hatten bereits darin Platz genommen… Die wenigen Tische waren mit fröhlich schwatzenden Menschen, die aus dem Regen kamen, schnell besetzt. Alle lachten, machten gemeinsam Scherze. Eine junge Frau, die einen kleinen Hund auf ihrem Arm hatte, stand noch etwas unschlüssig draußen unter einer Plane…

Einer der beiden jungen Männer, die in diesem Café dienten, winkte die Frau aus dem Regen schnell noch hinüber ins Trockene, bevor er die „Schotten“ dicht machte… Zu meinem Mann meinte ich… Wohl ähnlich wie einst in der Arche Noah… Allerdings war die Arche wohl dicht… der Pavillon eher nicht… Wer weiß, wer weiß… Vielleicht war es ja eine Art „Taufe“, denn draußen stand ein Schild mit „Neueröffnung“… Das lasse ich jetzt einmal dahingestellt… 😉

PS. Die Fotos können gerne zur Vergrößerung angeklickt werden… 

Source: Göttliche Natur, die sich selbst verschenkt… – Leben als Mensch

Ocean Within – Kaushal Kishore

 

Within me lies an ocean, calm and serene,

Turquoise waters soothing, tranquil and clean…

It seeks to flow with grace, in peace profound,

Undeterred by the pace of eternal world around…

.

But deep within, it harbors tales and secrets,

A myriad of emotions and feelings in fluid states…

Tainted by pellets, briquettes, logs, and decay,

Seeds of hatred sown or thrown with intent on the way…

.

Turning the salinity to acidic, more toxic by the day,

Waves and tides grow stronger, crashing in disarray…

Some oysters dissolve, before they can create,

Pearls of love and kindness, lost in the storm’s weight…

.

People, unaware of the lurking pain and yearning,

Attempt to steer through the choppy waters, discerning…

But my ocean also discards, the garbage it holds,

Every night, with gratitude, forgiveness that unfolds…

.

In its soothing cadence, I find a tranquil place,

Where love’s tender light illuminates grace…

My ocean’s wisdom softly whispers to release,

And in its calm embrace, my heart finds peace…

.

–Kaushal Kishore  

Source: Ocean Within – Kaushal Kishore

Camp Stoneman and Letter home # 1 | Pacific Paratrooper

Camp Stoneman

Pvt. Smith was as cocky and proud as the next trooper, but he also thought of the Army as a learning experience and considered his new adventure as a chance to experience things he would not otherwise have the opportunity and on April 23, 1944, he stepped off a train near Camp Stoneman, California.  It was here the troopers would learn how to live aboard ship, operate life boats, raft kits and climb up and down rope ladders.  Censorship of the soldier’s letters began here as well…

Source: Camp Stoneman and Letter home # 1 | Pacific Paratrooper

The GENOCIDE of the YANOMAMI and the DEATH of NATURE for Gold and Diamond Merchandise – The ART of GREENWASHING by the MERCHANTS of GOLD – in their own words – 2024! | Barbara Crane Navarro

Cartier shops have been selling their signature luxury gold and diamond jewelry, watches and accessories since 1847 – photo: Cartier

“Things have been bad since 2015, when the price of gold started to rise. The life of the Yanomami is indexed to the price of gold”, says anthropologist and paid consultant for the Cartier Foundation, Bruce Albert.

Bruce Albert at a Cartier Foundation art show in France in 2022. The Cartier Foundation is funded by the sale of Cartier luxury gold jewelry, watches and accessories – photo: Cartier Foundation

Bruce Albert transcribed the thoughts of Yanomami spokesman and shaman Davi Kopenawa in “The Falling Sky” (2010), a book whose objective is to warn “the people of merchandise” to stop the destruction of the forest before “the sky falls on us all.”

This admonition is repeated in the recently published texts of Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert “The Spirit of the Forest”, which was originally written for exhibitions held in Paris by the Cartier Foundation.

“We are in the last chapter of colonization and the gold rush, which began in the 16th century.”

“The Spirit of the Forest” details how Yanomami territory has been devastated by invasions of gold miners and subsequent epidemics for a century.

Why does this tragedy continue to repeat itself incessantly?

Who are “the people of merchandise”?

Photo montage:  “Pas de Cartier” series – Barbara Crane Navarro – with advertisement for Cartier, photo of gold mining site in indigenous territory by João Laet and Cartier® LOVE gold ring

In the marketing spin continuum of employing “art” as a mechanism for the greenwashing of the gold jewelry, watches and accessories company that created and bankrolls them, the Cartier Foundation is relentlessly pursuing additional opportunities to display their « Yanomami » – « Trees » – « Nature » art shows in association with the Cartier brand…

Successive directors of the Cartier Foundation have been decidedly unambiguous about the goal of the foundation as “a tool for the seduction of public opinion” and “communications for the Cartier company” and that’s exactly what is taking place right now at The Shed, Hudson Yards, New York, just in time for Valentine’s Day – or is that only a coincidence?

If the Cartier Foundation can persuade the public that Cartier is doing good works on behalf of the Yanomami, nature and trees, they’ll sell more tickets to the art shows, more big catalogs of the art and, best of all – (the entire point of the existence of the Cartier Foundation) – the name of the “philanthropic, benevolent, altruistic, humanitarian,” luxury jewelry, watch and accessory company that the public will retain when Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Black Friday and the other consumer holidays arrive is, of course, Cartier.

Fortunately for any visitors to The Shed (from February 3) who are inspired by “The Yanomami Struggle” and wish to dash to the nearest Cartier shop in order to buy gold and diamond trinkets for Valentine’s Day, the Cartier shop is right there in the same shopping and entertainment complex!

Online it states that reservations are recommended at the Cartier shop, Hudson Yards, but when you get there the “security guard” might tell you that you cannot even come inside without an appointment, so be sure to reserve in advance so that you won’t miss out on this intensive consumerist extravaganza; a Cartier art event (buy the catalog and the new new book!) and just moments away, a Cartier shopping event (buy the ring, bracelet, watch!)

“Their True Nature Cartier Foundation“
photos: Fondation Cartier – Luc Boegly / gold mining site – João Laet
photo of Yanomami, Alto Orinoco, Amazonas, Venezuela and photomontage – Barbara Crane Navarro

The Art of Manipulation:
The corporate contrivance of art sponsorship was so perfectly described in 1994 by Hans Haacke in “Free Exchange”, the book by Pierre Bourdieu and Hans Haacke, that I’m quoting here from the English version published by Polity Press in 1995: “One would underestimate the Venice Biennale if one were to think that it is only concerned with development aid for Venice and dividing the secular shares of the art market. Philip Morris, at least, was not fooled, when the giant consumer goods corporation sponsored the American pavilion of Isamu Noguchi in 1986.  The Marlboro cowboys couldn’t care less whether Noguchi’s prices would go up. Living in the saddles all their lives, they understood one thing: ‘It takes art to make a company great.’ – Philip Morris’ slogan on double-page advertisements in the American press announcing art events sponsored by the company during the 1970s and 1980s.  In Italy, during the  Biennale year of 1993, Philip Morris presented itself with the slogan ‘La culture dei tempi moderni.‘
One might be tempted to assume that the weather-beaten fellows with big hats were thinking of paintings of their horses, or of fiery sunsets behind the Rockies. No … They aim at the big show places for ‘high art’ around the world. One can surmise what they are looking for from the jargon with which such behavior is analyzed in a book published by the conservative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: ‘Sponsoring has three central communications goals: recognition, attitudes, and the promotion of good relations. What matters is that ‘the positive image of the sponsored is transferred to the sponsor’ (image transfer).  FAZ summary: ‘Sponsoring is an opportunity to cultivate relations with selected big clients, trading partners, opinion makers and opinion multipliers, in an attractive setting.’ (Manfred Bruhn, ‘Sponsoring. Unternehmen als Mäzen und Sponsoren’‘ – The company as Sponsor and Patron – 1987)
The oil men from Mobil are more direct. They call it ‘Art for the sake of business.’ For those who are a bit dense they elaborate: ‘What’s in it for us – or for your company? Improving – and securing the business climate.’ (Mobil corporation advertisement, New York Times, October 10, 1985)
In short, this means low taxes, favorable regulations in the areas of commerce, public health, and the environment, governmental export assistance, irrespective of the nature of the products and the politics of the country of destination, and a defense against criticism of the sponsor’s conduct. For example, behind the smokescreen of art, it is easier for the Wehrwirtschaftsführer (Third Reich term for leaders of the defense industry) of Daimler-Benz to rid themselves elegantly of pesky reporters inquiring about the company’s chumminess with Saddam Hussein and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Alain-Dominique Perrin, the boss of the Cartier bauble shops in Paris (and the creator of the Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art) once described this mechanism in exquisite, amorous terms: ‘Sponsoring art is not only a fantastic communications tool. It is much more than that. It is a tool for the seduction of public opinion.’ (Alain-Dominique Perrin, ‘Le Mécénat français: La fin d’un préjugé’, Galeries Magazine, no. 15, 1986)
The best part is that the seduced are allowed to pay for the aphrodisiac expenses incurred in their seduction. They are tax-deductible. The cowboys with their cancer sticks simply followed their innate country smarts when they decided to take Noguchi along for a ride.
‘Culture is in fashion. All the better. As long as it lasts, we should use it,’ applauds the gentleman from the Place Vendôme (Alain-Dominique Perrin in the same article in Galeries Magazine) – apparently aware of the impermanence of the high entertainment value culture enjoys at the moment.
According to Thomas Wagner, who staged a fair of electronic consumer products (MEDIALE) laced with art in the 1993 cyberspace of Hamburg, ‘art events of the scale of documenta or the Biennale are modern myths.’  Public relations experts and their marketing colleagues have gleefully discovered that, of late, the prestige and the symbolic power of these and comparable mythical art institutions are at their disposal. Art still exudes the odor of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, an unbeatable image-transfer offering.
Because it is not suspected of serving worldly interests, the Good, the True, and the Beautiful (GTB) represent an enormous symbolic capital, even though it cannot be put into figures.  In his Biennale call, the mayor/comedy writer Riccardo Selvatico had declared that ‘art is one of the most valuable elements of civilisation’ and that it offers ‘unprejudiced decision of the spirit.’ Managers do not need to worry about what this may mean, as long as their target groups believe in the immaculate conception and no mass layoffs are in the offing.
While Casanova, that great Venetian expert, has taught them that not just anything is suitable for the enterprise of seduction, they can rely on the art institutions to choose the appropriate means.
We know from Philippe de Montebello, (from 1977 to 2008 the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) unquestionably a connoisseur of the milieu, how the internal control mechanism of sponsoring works: ‘It’s an inherent, insidious, hidden form of censorship.’ (cited in ‘A Word from our Sponsor,’ Newsweek, November 25, 1985).
GTB not only serves as a lubricant and constitutes exchange value in art markets. The Good, the True, and the Beautiful are empty terms, ready to be filled by any number of different contents. It is therefore not surprising that fierce arguments have always raged among producers and traders, as well as in the warehouses, over the dominance of this or that ingredient. And not only there. When it comes to the definition of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, more is at stake than parochial politicians of the art world sometimes imagine. Determining language is ideological and political management – to be sampled also in what has filled the pavilions of the Biennale over the past 100 years.”

Source: The GENOCIDE of the YANOMAMI and the DEATH of NATURE for Gold and Diamond Merchandise – The ART of GREENWASHING by the MERCHANTS of GOLD – in their own words – 2024! | Barbara Crane Navarro

Study Finds Arctic Plants Are Thriving. That Could Be a Problem! — Mother Jones | Barbara Crane Navarro

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Antarctica’s two native flowering plants are spreading rapidly as temperatures warm, according to the first study to show changes in fragile polar ecosystems have accelerated in the past decade. 646 more words

Study Finds Arctic Plants Are Thriving. That Could Be a Problem. — Mother Jones

Source: Study Finds Arctic Plants Are Thriving. That Could Be a Problem! — Mother Jones | Barbara Crane Navarro