Monthly Archives: January 2013

Art, Beauty, Birds, Food for Thought, Inspirations, Post A Day 2013, This is Life

Paper Bird Sculptures of Diana Beltran Herrera

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj
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I thank hovercraftdoggy.com for introducing me to the paper bird sculptures of the 24-year-old Colombian artist Diana Beltran Herrera.

Diana Beltran Herrera
Colombian Artist Diana Beltran Herrera

Diana has created a series of vibrantly colored feathered friends. Trained in industrial design, she has created an ever growing collection of imaginary and actual species of birds. Now this hobby has become a full-time project for her.

Diana says: “I have chosen to study birds in many places: simple pieces of paper transform into real birds with bright colors. The study moves between two addresses: the movement and surprise. Birds are often built in places and environments, which highlights the symbolic from the idea of ​​movement. It is at that moment capture the wonder of the things that are made and moments, thus stimulating thought processes in the viewer. The use of paper as a material for the construction of these sculptures perfectly adapted to the chosen themes, convey to the viewer the impression of freedom and lightness. The role that loaded itself the concepts of temporality and fragility. Then, the process that allows me general these visual documents of facts, has a life and a transformation process, the same process that has issues that I talk in my work.

I’m worried about the lack of interest that humans have lately regarding the nature, and with my work, I hope to help in thinking about these things that will disappear soon.”

Bird

Here are some pages you can click on to see the fantastic creations of this talented artist:

Climate, Eco, Education, Environment, Food for Thought, Inspirations, Nature, Post A Day 2013, This is Life, Weather

Save Water- the Elixir of Life

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj
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We all know that

Worth more than gold
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Save water - 2

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these are only posters

A POSTER CAN NOT SAVE WATER

however

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Don't hog

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Save water - 1

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Save Water shower with me

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If not, this would be the fate of your grandson’s well!

Wells

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Earthquake, Eco, Environment, Food for Thought, Post A Day 2013, United States

The “Ring of Fire”

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj
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Ring of fire

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About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 81% of the largest earthquakes occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean in a 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) horseshoe shape known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. This arc also known as “Ring of Fire” or as the circum-Pacific belt or the circum-Pacific seismic belt with a continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. stretches from New Zealand, along the eastern edge of Asia, north across the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and south along the coast of North and South America has 452 volcanoes, and over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes.

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This is Life

AK47

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Mikhail Kalashnikov, whose work as a weapons designer for the Soviet Union is immortalized in the name of the world’s most popular
firearm, died Monday at the age of 94.

Kalashnikov once aspired to design farm equipment. But even though his most famous invention – the AK-47 assault rifle – sowed havoc instead of
crops, he often said he felt personally untroubled by his contribution to bloodshed.

“I sleep well. It’s the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence,” he said in 2007.

Kalashnikov died in a hospital in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia republic where he lived, said Viktor Chulkov, a spokesman for the republic’s
president. He did not give a cause of death. Russian media was also widely reporting his death. Kalashnikov had been hospitalized for the past month
with unspecified health problems.

The AK-47 – “Avtomat Kalashnikov” and the year it went into production – is the world’s most popular firearm, favored by guerrillas, terrorists and the
soldiers of many armies. An estimated 100 million guns are spread worldwide.

Though it isn’t especially accurate, its ruggedness and simplicity are exemplary: it performs in sandy or wet conditions that jam more sophisticated
weapons such as the U.S. M-16.

“During the Vietnam war, American soldiers would throw away their M-16s to grab AK-47s and bullets for it from dead Vietnamese soldiers,”
Kalashnikov said in July 2007 at a ceremony marking the rifle’s 60th anniversary.

The weapon’s suitability for jungle and desert fighting made it nearly ideal for the Third World insurgents backed by the Soviet Union, and Moscow
not only distributed the AK-47 widely but also licensed its production in some 30 other countries.

The gun’s status among revolutionaries and national-liberation struggles is enshrined on the flag of Mozambique.

Kalashnikov, born into a peasant family in Siberia, began his working life as a railroad clerk. After he joined the Red Army in 1938, he began to show
mechanical flair by inventing several modifications for Soviet tanks.

The moment that firmly set his course was in the 1941 battle of Bryansk against Nazi forces, when a shell hit his tank. Recovering from wounds in the
hospital, Kalashnikov brooded about the superior automatic rifles he’d seen the Nazis deploy; his rough ideas and revisions bore fruit five years later.

“Blame the Nazi Germans for making me become a gun designer,” said Kalashnikov. “I always wanted to construct agricultural machinery.”

In 2007, President Vladimir Putin praised him, saying “The Kalashnikov rifle is a symbol of the creative genius of our people.”

Over his career, he was decorated with numerous honors, including the Hero of Socialist Labor and Order of Lenin and Stalin Prize. But because his
invention was never patented, he didn’t get rich off royalties.

“At that time in our country patenting inventions wasn’t an issue. We worked for Socialist society, for the good of the people, which I never regret,”
he once said.

Kalashnikov continued working into his late 80s as chief designer of the Izmash company that first built the AK-47. He also traveled the world helping
Russia negotiate new arms deals, and he wrote books on his life, about arms and about youth education.

“After the collapse of the great and mighty Soviet Union so much crap has been imposed on us, especially on the younger generation,” he said. “I
wrote six books to help them find their way in life.”

He said he was proud of his bronze bust installed in his native village of Kurya in the Siberian region of Altai. He said newlyweds bring flowers to the
bust. “They whisper ‘Uncle Misha, wish us happiness and healthy kids,'” he said. “What other gun designer can boast of that?”

Brutality, Food for Thought, Gang-rape, Humanitarianism, India, Post A Day 2013, Rape, Re-posted, Sri Lanka, This is Life

The Gang Rape Near Colombo, Peoples’ Sovereignty and the Absence of Protest by Basil Fernando

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basilfernando1-142x150

By Basil Fernando

A 45 year-old woman was gang raped in the early hours of January 23 in Nugegoda (some reports give her age as 47). This gruesome incident only received a few lines in some of the newspapers and in the media. Yet a similar incident that occurred in New Delhi, India, when a medical student was gang raped on a bus, provoked a nation-wide protest for several days and, in fact, the protests continue internationally even up to now. This protest caused the Indian Prime Minister to intervene and take action, not only to ensure medical treatment and justice for the young girl but also to take steps towards bringing in speedy legislation to prevent the re-occurrence of similar incidents. Protests took place also in Nepal when a similar case came to the notice of the public. There too, heavy demands have been made of the government, not only to bring legislation but also to achieve other reforms needed to protect women.

The media and the active participation of the people and women’s movements, including local politicians, both in India and Nepal reflected the active participation of the people to ensure protection and to express outrage at the malfunctioning of the law enforcement agencies which are duty bound to protect the public.

In both countries, the media responded to these protests and ensured that the unfortunate event came to be an occasion for the whole nation to introspect and to discuss the crisis of the law enforcement agencies and the failure of the government to ensure that these agencies act with the required diligence in future. On the one hand, the role of the media represented the problems of the conscience of the public. On the other hand, the media also created a discussion among the people in order to express concern as well as to critically discuss the deficiencies of the government that make it possible for such crimes to occur.

According to the short reports that appeared in the Sri Lankan media, the police reported that the woman who became the victim of the gang rape had gone to the market and having lost her way, made some inquiries as to directions from a three-wheeler driver. Under the pretext of offering help, the driver took her into the three-wheeler and then, against her will, took her near a well and threatened her. Thereafter, several persons who came in another three-wheeler, gang raped her. She is said to be taking treatment at the Kalubowila Hospital. The items discovered from the three-wheelers include some condoms which, according to observers, suggest that the attackers may have been engaged in such activities on a regular basis.

New approach to scandal management under peoples’ sovereignty

In recent times when such scandals occurred, the police filed reports of arrest and this appeased the public by creating the impression that the law was being enforced. However, shortly after arrest, these matters were forgotten. Through all kinds of negotiations and bribery exchanges, or by the intervention of politicians, the process of justice was subverted. The cases of the murder of several persons, together with a government politician, Baratha Lakhsman Premachandra and the recent murder of an elected local government official in Kelaniya are public events which demonstrate this quite strikingly. The murder of a British national and the rape and assault of his Russian companion at Tangalle, allegedly by the Urban Council Chairman of Tangalle and others, was also hushed up. The gang rape of a child by several local area politicians in another rural locality in the South underwent a similar fate. Similarly there were allegations of rape against government member of parliament, Duminda Silva which too, came to nothing. In fact, the list of crimes that have been followed by no real consequences is quite long.

It will not be surprising, if one of these days, the rape victim of this present incident and her family are called to Temple Trees and given some money from the President’s Fund. Such examples of so-called mercy have been evidenced many times, when such scandals happen. After neglecting Rizana Nafeek’s case resulting in her beheading in Saudi Arabia, her mother was called to the palace and some money was given.

Lawlessness and public apathy

In Sri Lanka while there is a public acknowledgement of the existence of widespread lawlessness involving particularly shocking offenses against women, the public itself reacts to these events apathetically. There is no energetic pursuit of justice or demands for accountability from the government.

Such apathy that prevails amongst the public regarding heinous crimes as well as the criminal negligence on the part of the government to resolve the problems of the law enforcement agencies is indicative of the deeper malaise in the Sri Lankan society and the Sri Lankan system of justice.

The collapse of the policing system has been acknowledged. This was the direct result of the politicisation process which in turn is a product of the total control of the state by the executive president which has paralysed the bureaucratic apparatus in Sri Lanka. Naturally, it is not within the capacity of the Sri Lankan president to enquire into all crimes and to deal with them. The task of controlling crime could only take place through the functioning of the law enforcement agencies within the framework of the law. The duty of the president and the government is to ensure that these agencies function and deliver the necessary services to the public. However, the nature of the Sri Lankan system at present is such that the president and the government do not have a reliable bureaucratic apparatus through which law enforcement as well as other aspects of the running of governance can be effected.

The result is crimes that re-occur and the gimmicks that are played by politicians to create the impression of law enforcement while there is no real attempt to ensure protection to the people. This situation has resulted in the creation of a sense of apathy in the society as a whole, even in the face of gruesome crimes such as the gang rape of this woman.

As an independent media is suppressed, there is apathy, widespread cynicism and shameless manipulation of news in the state media which is the only media that is allowed to function without hindrance.

While the rest of the south Asian countries are rising to demand better performance from their governments and the creation of efficiently functioning law enforcement agencies to protect all citizens with particular emphasis on the more vulnerable groups such as women, in Sri Lanka crimes continue to take place with impunity.

Re-posted from Colombo Telegraph

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Events, Food for Thought, India, This is Life

January 26, 2013 – India’s 64th Republic Day

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Myself . By T.V. Antony Raj
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Republic Day - Vande Mataram

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On August 15, 1947, India became independent of the British rule as a constitutional monarchy with King George VI as head of state and Earl Mountbatten as the governor-general.

The country, then did not have a permanent constitution. Its laws were based on the modified colonial government of India Act 1935. So, on 28 August 1947, a Drafting Committee was appointed to create a permanent constitution, with Dr.B. R. Ambedkar as chairman. On November 4, 1947, this committee submitted a draft constitution to the Assembly. The Assembly met, in sessions open to the public, for 166 days, spread over a period of two years, 11 months and 18 days before adopting the Constitution. After many deliberations and modifications, the 308 members of the Assembly signed two hand-written copies of the document in Hindi and English on January 24, 1950. Two days later, on January 26, the constitution came into effect throughout the nation.

Today, 26 January, India celebrates its 64th Republic Day.

While India’s Independence Day celebrates its freedom from British Rule, the Republic Day celebrates the coming into force of its constitution.

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Christianity, Food for Thought, Humanitarianism, Inspirations, Post A Day 2013, T.V. Antony Raj, This is Life

A Franciscan Benediction: May God Bless You with Discomfort …

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Myself . 

By T. V. Antony Raj
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Even though there is no historical basis that Saint Francis of Assisi was the author of this prayer, it exists in the Franciscan tradition based on the teachings and life of the saint. This prayer helps us to reflect and get inspired to help our children and the destitute.

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A Franciscan monk

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A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that we may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done,
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen.

Add this anywhere

Food for Thought, Post A Day 2013, Re-posted, Sex, This is Life

Vos Humanum Quo Vadis

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European Feminists Gang Up on Children’s Fairy Tales

by Svetlana Smetanina 

11.12.2012

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Fairy Tale

European kindergartens and schools may ban children’s books and fairy tales that depict the traditional family. This is a request of the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights. According to the committee, fairy tales should talk about sexual diversity. Norwegian experts believe that children benefit from watching porn.

The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality prepared a report that calls for a ban of all books that show the traditional family where the father is the breadwinner and the mother takes care of the children in schools and day care centers of Europe. According to the authors, these books are bad for the future life of children, especially girls, and promote wrong behavioral patterns. In the future, it may prevent them from building a career.

Feminists are concerned that children from an early age are constantly faced with “negative gender stereotypes” in television shows and commercials. The word “negative” in the report is synonymous with the word “traditional”. Over time, the ban would be extended to television and advertising. So far it was decided to start with books.

The authors of the report strongly recommend urgent legislative measures in the field of children’s literature. In particular, they suggest introducing a policy of “equality of all social sectors.” An example of alternative children’s literature is a book “King and King” with kissing men on the cover. According to the report, this would help children to learn about the “true sexual diversity of society.”

In fact, such measures have already been taken in some countries, particularly in Scandinavian ones that consider themselves the vanguard of Western democracy. “Pravda.Ru” once reported about a Swedish toy manufacturer that issued a catalog before Christmas where girls were pictured shooting imaginary enemies with laser guns, and boys were depicted playing with dolls.

This was a requirement of the Swedish advertising regulator who accused the toy manufacturer of sexism and imposition of negative gender stereotypes. Norwegian kindergartens in 2010 introduced a program of compulsory sex education focusing on sexual minorities.

The report of the European Parliament also insisted that “homosexuality should be taught in kindergarten as a form of experience and knowledge.” According to them, this will expand the concept of “gender identity” for children. “Sexual diversity should be obvious to children. Children need to know that this is normal when your parents are gay or lesbian.”

For some reason, not all parents are willing to believe that this is “normal.” In Norway Muslim community strongly opposed such education in kindergartens. They threatened to withdraw their children from such institutions or create an alternative.

For the “dark” parents who are not aware of the latest trends in sex education in modern society, Norway’s largest newspaper VG Nett recently published an opinion of psychologists and sex therapists who said that it was beneficial for children to watch porn on the internet.

“Parents should not be afraid of their children’s sexuality. Conversely, from a health perspective it is beneficial to watch porn at a time when parents and children talk openly about these issues,” said psychologist and sex researcher Andres Lindskog.

He was commenting on a statement recently issued by an expert from the organization Save the Children, who expressed concern about the fact that increasingly more children and teenagers were addicted to watching pornographic sites on the Internet.

Anders Lindskog is convinced that there is no addiction or harm from this. “It’s important for parents to understand that children are born with sexuality and follow their biology. Children have the same feelings as adults,” said the expert.

After that, should we be surprised that the number of cases of pedophilia is growing in Norway? They mostly occur within the family. A few days ago, newspapers wrote about another such case. A couple, a husband and wife, subjected their three children under 10 years of age to violence and sexual perversions for years.

The children confirmed the violence to the police. But that does not mean that the punishment will be sufficiently severe. In Norway, pedophilia is considered a disease and is listed in the Medical Register. For this reason, pedophiles are given short sentences – from several months to several years. In some cases punishment could be limited to penalty only. In the end, parents can always say that they practiced “diversity of sexual relations.”

Pravda.Ru 

Read the original in Russian

Re-posted from pravda.ru

Christianity, Inspirations, Post A Day 2013, Re-posted, Religion, This is Life, Writers

Opiate of Fear and Ignorance by My Heathen Heart

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It’s not a new story, but I’ll briefly touch upon it anyway (although it leads one to wonder why we keep preaching to the converted).

There’s no need to quote fictional bible passages that have no place in a world of reasoning and logic.

My Aunt and Uncle were obliged to turn their backs on their firstborn (they had 8 children) in order to appease nasty, psychologically-questionable individual(s) at the head of an evil organization. Their son, my cousin, was a wonderful young man whose only crime was an inquiring mind and a thirst for knowledge, who excelled scholastically because he had a passion for learning. He was academically gifted.

“What did he do wrong?”, you might well ask. He wanted to graduate from high school and go on to college.  A full education is Satan’s influence, apparently.  Indeed, I was reefed out of school at 15 for the same reason; Armageddon’s coming, education beyond legal requirements is turning your back on God, and scholastic education is always unimportant.

But he stuck to his guns. I admired him; I was anything but academically-oriented (not surprising when your parents move so frequently, you’re forced to attend 33 schools in 15 years from two different sides of the globe). And I thought he was kind of cute, too, even if he was blind as a bat without his black-rimmed glasses.

Well, they had to turn their backs on him, really; after all, he’d been baptised as one of them and once you do that, they own your sorry ass, so they’re (apparently) entitled to throw their entire Arsenal of Ignorance at you.

My Aunt and Uncle lost so much love they never knew because of religious stupidity and pride. They never met their new daughter-in-law, nor their beautiful little granddaughter. Aunt and Uncle both died with stubborn, stupid, religious fear and ignorance governing their hearts, minds and lives.

It happened to me, too, but not for long, because it was only a few years later that my mother came to her senses. She told them where to shove it – preferably sideways.

So how do they do it? How do the JWits manage to control so many minds with sheer, bullying ignorance, and twist it into a controlling mechanism?

It’s pretty easy, really. You repeatedly brainwash people by expounding your own fictional writings 3 times a week, forbid them from associating socially with anyone outside of their ‘fold’, and encourage your fictional works to be ‘light’ conversation at all your religious social gatherings.

Then, when someone breaks the rules you created, you make an example of them by telling the congregation that the ‘criminal’ is going to be murdered by their god for daring to be human, and that they must all now turn their backs on said ‘criminal’ forthwith, until the ‘elders’ decide when – and if – they might be returned to the fold.

No one likes being left out in the cold. No one likes being shunned by an entire group – especially when the ‘entire group’ has been all you’ve been permitted to associate with; without them, you’ve got no one.

It’s basic schoolyard behaviour that the JWits have crafted into an art form. The vATiCaN had an amazing control mechanism with their ‘hell’ invention; fear works wonderfully well when blended with fiction (lies) and ignorance.

How, in this 21st century, are bullying tactics still legally allowed to flourish? I mean, we don’t allow that kind ofbehaviour in schools, so why is it acceptable in an adult world? Isn’t all of life a school, after all?

In parting, I’m going to ‘dabble’ in my own ‘prophesying’ talents; let’s see how the fear mongers ‘like them apples’, as my mum would say:

MyHeathenHeart’s Prophesy – 21st January, 2013:

Religion shall create its own doom.  The day approaches when Science, Archaeology, and the Laws of Physics have thoroughly debunked the lies of men, and humanity is set free of religious tyranny. In fear and confusion, the men of cloth seek to hide from their crimes, and they shall find no succour; their way is blocked by Truth.

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Re-posted from My Heathen Heart