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snapple16 · 10 months

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Bowuigi Roaring 20s Au!

So! I decided to share this new project here with everyone who is part of the Bowuigi fandom! It may take a little while to get an actual ch posted but hopefully it'll be worth the wait! Just a heads up there will be a couple uncomfortable subjects, please keep this in mind but I hope y'all will enjoy this story! The story title:

Guns and Roses 🌹

This story takes place in Brooklyn 1926, the height of Prohibition. There are four main gangs that control four of the Five Burroughs of New York. Here's the list of characters and who is who!

Lt Dr. Luigi Mariano: Younger brother of Mario, honorably discharged military medic. Owns a modest flower shop in Brooklyn

Bowser Ryujin: leader of the Koopa gang, the biggest rival to the Mariano Gang.

Mario Mariano: Leader of the Mariano Mafia family. As the eldest son he had to take over the family even during the first world war, he didn't want Luigi to go to war but it was their fathers last ditch effort to turn the coward of the Mariano family into a man.

Gang territories:

North Burrough: Mariano Leader: Mario Mariano crimes: violence, money laundering, boot legging

South Burrough: Koopa Leader: Bowser Ryujin crimes: violence, gun runners, Bootlegging, racketeering, murder

East Burrough: Long Leader: "Donkey" Kong crimes: rigged boxing matches, money laundering, gambling

West Burrough: Boo Leader: King Boo (human name tbd) crimes: bootlegging, human trafficking, prostitution ring, opium runner, murder, kidnapping

Gang second in commands:

Toad, Mario's second

Kamek, Bowsers second

Madame Gravely, King boos second

Chunky, Dks second

Other notable characters

.Peach: Mario's secret lover. A member of Brooklyn's elite society

.Daisy: also a member of high society, peach's cousin and Secretly dating the mayor

.Paula: mayor of Brooklyn, adopted sister of Dk

.Rosalina: Daisy and Peach's cousin, best doctor in the city. All gangs go to her when in need of medical assistance, except king Boos men

.Peasley: Local rich boy that likes to pick on Luigi when Mario isn't around.

.Wario and Waluigi: Muscle and whiskey runners for hire when the heat is too much for the gangs.

.the Koopalings: Bowsers adopted kids and the street agents for the Koopa gang

.Junior: Bowsers biological son and Heir to the Koopa gang

I hope you guys will enjoy this story!

#bowuigi #bowser #luigi #Mario #super mario

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homomenhommes · 3 months

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … February 5

1848 – Joris-Karl J.K. Huysmans (d.1907), born in Paris of a French mother and Dutch father, was an important figure in the Aesthetic and Decadent movements, who exemplified a style of homosexuality at a pivotal moment in the emergence of a gay identity.

Huysmans admired the descriptive writing of Charles Dickens, but practiced a form known in France as the prose poem. This genre, which typically emphasized sensation and an elaborate or exotic setting, was perfectly suited to his elegant style and rich vocabulary.

Huysmans was a prolific writer of novels, art criticism, essays, short stories, and prose poems. His most renowned work À rebours, (Against the Grain or Against Nature(1884), celebrated the decadent movement in European art and literature, later to be embraced by Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, and others. In this novel, the protagonist, Duke Jean Floresas des Esseintes, embodies the aestheticism found in Wilde.

A wealthy aesthete living a life of pleasure in his country house, Des Esseintes is characterized by his addiction to exquisite sensations, exoticism, flowers, decoration, perfume, and art. Against the Grain ranks with Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray and Moore's Confessions of a Young Man as important examples of the decadent movement.

It is now considered an important step in the formation of "gay literature". À rebours gained notoriety as an exhibit in the trials of Oscar Wilde in 1895. The prosecutor referred to it as a "sodomitical" book. The book appalled Emile Zola, who felt it had dealt a "terrible blow" to Naturalism

Huysmans maintained a correspondence with numerous writers of his day, including the homosexual symbolist poet Jean Lorrain and the novelist André Gide. Huysmans met Paul Verlaine in the summer of 1884, and in 1904, he edited and prefaced Verlaine's Religious Poetry.

Although Wilde was a more notorious figure than Huysmans, Huysmans influenced several of Wilde's artistic principles, especially those associated with "art for art's sake," "Art Nouveau," "decadence," and "impressionism."

1914 – Born: William S. Burroughs (d.1997) who, In his novels as in his life, was an outlaw and a provocateur. Beginning with Naked Lunch (1959), his fiction was distinguished by violently hallucinatory images, rendered in prose that brilliantly mimics the speech of criminals, redneck sheriffs, bureaucrats, political extremists, and hipsters. A series of later writings applied collage techniques to the novel form. Burroughs always incorporated transgressive sexual imagery and situations into his writing. In this, he went far beyond the acknowledgment, in the 1950s, of his own homosexuality.

Most of his novels contain representations of such practices as auto-erotic asphyxiation and sado-masochism. Primarily a satirist, Burroughs treated both sexuality and language as manifestations of social power — and as sites of conflict.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a wealthy family, William Burroughs studied English, medicine, and anthropology at Harvard and the University of Vienna before becoming addicted to narcotics in the mid-1940s. Following an arrest for heroin and marijuana possession, he fled to Mexico. There, in 1951, he accidentally shot his wife, Joan Burroughs, during a drunken imitation of William Tell. He spent much of the 1950s recovering from heroin addiction and brooding over the act of violence that ended his companion's life.

Life in the underworld of addicts and petty criminals is the basis of his first published novel, Junkie (1953), written in a "hard-boiled" style and published under the pseudonym of "Bill Lee" (his mother's maiden name). During this period, Burroughs started another novel, in the same stylistic vein, describing the gay demimonde; this unfinished manuscript was published, much later, as Queer (1985).

With Naked Lunch (1959), Burroughs abandoned the naturalistic depiction of "outsider" subcultures and began to write in a surrealistic and bitterly satirical mode. This novel incorporated characters and scenarios Burroughs had created while improvising skits to amuse his friends (including Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, fellow members of the Beat Generation literary group). Often highly scatological, laced with the argot of various underworlds Burroughs had encountered in his travels, the paranoiac and hallucinatory scenes in Naked Lunch treated addiction as a complex metaphor for all varieties of domination and control. The novel was subject to a number of court cases for obscenity.

During the 1980s, Burroughs began performing with some regularity in films and on television, and several recordings have been made of the writer reading portions of his work. David Cronenberg's film adaptation of Naked Lunch (1992) treated the novel as a story of the author's literary and sexual self-discovery. Burroughs's work has been influential for several generations of novelists, poets, performance artists, and feminist and queer theorists.

1942 – Gil Wechsler was the first resident lighting designer at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He lit his inaugural show in 1977 and, over the next 20 years, made days dawn, rain fall and cities burn in 112 Met productions, 74 of them new.

His career also took him to London, Paris and other international centers of opera and ballet. Wherever he was designing, he knew that audiences often didn’t take much notice of his contributions to a production — which was usually the point. “If lighting is good, you really shouldn’t notice it often,” he told Opera News in 1987. “In some operas, however, such as ‘Die Walküre,’ the lighting becomes the show. It should seem natural — it shouldn’t jar, but you should be moved by it.”

He graduated from Midwood High School in Brooklyn and studied for three years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., before realizing that a career in business or finance was not in his future. In 1964 he earned a theater degree at New York University, and in 1967 he received a master of fine arts degree at Yale.

Upon graduating he found work as an assistant to the prominent set and lighting designer Jo Mielziner, and in 1968 he received his first Broadway credit, as lighting designer on the Charles Dyer play Staircase. He would have one more Broadway credit, in 1972, for Georges Feydeau’s There’s One in Every Marriage. Before coming to the Met, he also designed for the Stratford Festival in Ontario, the Harkness Ballet, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and other leading regional theaters and festivals.

At the Met, Mr. Wechsler worked with Otto Schenk, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, David Hockney and many other leading directors and designers. Lighting for the Met is particularly challenging because — unlike on Broadway, for instance — the shows change on a weekly or even daily basis. One of Mr. Wechsler’s accomplishments was to develop accurate records of the lighting schemes for each production, so that one show could be swapped for another more efficiently.

Wechsler died on 2021 at a memory-care facility in Warrington, Pa. He was 79. His husband, the artist Douglas Sardo, said the cause was complications of dementia.

1960 – Born: Versatile African-American artist Nayland Blake who creates—in a variety of media—work that reflects his preoccupation with his racial and sexual identities. Interracial desire, same-sex love, racial and sexual bigotry, and the body are all recurrent themes of his increasingly influential art.

Born to an African-American father and an Irish-American mother at a time when such unions were outlawed in many parts of the United States, Blake is a black man by the definition of historical jurisprudence, yet easily passes for white. He grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side. As a gay man, his sexual identity is similarly subject to either concealment or revelation. A self-described teenage "art nerd," Blake spent his high school years with like-minded friends hanging out in Soho and East Village galleries and lofts, watching experimental film and performances by artists such as Richard Foreman and Jack Smith.

Blake's work first came to national and international attention when it was featured in the 1991 Whitney Biennial and the 1993 Venice Biennial.

In 1995, Blake co-curated a show at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum entitled In a Different Light: Visual Culture, Sexual Identity, Queer Practice. This was the first major show to exhibit the work of queer artists exclusively. The volume produced from the show has become a standard in queer art scholarship.

Blake's work perennially theatricalizes, and even eroticizes, the characteristically suppressed linkages between interracial desire, same-sex desire, and the overt displays of bigotry and intolerance that customarily greet such transgressions as these.

Among his most famous pieces are a log cabin made of gingerbread squares fitted to a steel frame entitled Feeder 2 (1998). When it went on display, visitors furtively nibbled off bits and pieces of the cabin's interior walls, while the smell of the gingerbread filled the gallery. Another well-known work is Starting Over (2000), a video of the artist dancing with taps on his shoes in a bunny suit made to weigh the same as his lover, Philip Horvitz. The suit was so heavy that Blake could hardly move as he took choreographic directions from Horvitz offstage.

Gorge (1998) is a video of the artist sitting shirtless being hand fed an enormous amount of food for an hour by a shirtless black man from behind. In 2009, a live version of Gorge was staged in which audience members fed Blake.

Hung Bunny

hrough Blake's work bounds the recurrent figure of the bunny rabbit, a seemingly innocuous character often given an ominous cast. They variously suggest a youthful naiveté, a sexual precocity, the stereotype of homosexual promiscuity, or a social slipperiness. The last meaning is perhaps best exemplified by Brer Rabbit, the "trickster" of Joel Chandler Harris's "Uncle Remus" tales.

Through his work as an artist, teacher, and curator, Blake exerts an important influence on queer art, art scholarship, and artists.

1993 – Curdin Orlik is a Swiss professional wrestler who competes in Schwingen (a type of folk wrestling native to Switzerland), and an agronomist. Orlik came out as gay in March 2020, making him the first athlete in the sport of Schwingen to come out as gay, and also the first openly gay male active in Swiss professional sports.

Orlik was raised in Landquart, Grisons. He is the brother of wrestler Armon Orlik.

Orlik competes in Schwingen, a form of folk wrestling that is native to Switzerland. Orlin was named "Schwinger of the Week" by the Swiss magazine Schlussgang in May 2019. So far in his wrestling career he has been awarded thirty-five wreaths and has won five festivals. In 2019 he ranked twenty-fourth in the Eidgenössischer Schwingerverband.

He also works as an agronomist.

Orlik was previously married to a woman, with whom he has a son. They later separated. He is the first athlete in the sport of Schwingen to come out as gay, and also the first openly gay male active in Swiss professional sports. Orlik came out in March 2020.

"For far too long I have pushed out who I really am," he said in his coming out interview with The Magazine. "I always knew that I was gay, for sure since I was 12. But I thought: this is wrong, it cannot be.

"I heard things on the school building square [like] 'you gay pig,' 'you faggot.' Or in soccer, 'such a gay pass!' Even when [wrestling]. Sure nobody really meant that, but if you're like that yourself, you think, 'Shit, that's not a good thing.'

Orlik tried to hide the truth, even from himself, even going so far as to get married to a woman. They have a two year old child, but divorced after Orlik realized he couldn't keep up the charade any longer.

"I thought: I don't want to be gay. But it's me. Now it's out."

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bubblesandgutz · 7 months

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Every Record I Own - Day 783: Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

I'm not sure when In the Aeroplane Over the Sea became so divisive. It's a love it or hate it record. Even its early advocates have taken to a certain reevaluation of Neutral Milk Hotel, with the asinine "they're not even the best Elephant 6 band" hot take becoming fairly standard music snob commentary. If Olivia Tremor Control or Apples in Stereo had blown up instead, I'm sure they'd face the same criticism. Honestly, I'm not even sure when this album became popular enough for it to have an intense cult following and adamant detractors, but for me, this album was a complete game-changer when it came out in 1998.

I had a college radio show when the station manager added Aeroplane to the "indie" rotation. DJs were required to play a certain number of songs from the three-dozen-or-so albums in the rotation of their assigned genre, and being that I was officially an "indie" DJ, I had to break up my playlists of hardcore records with the occasional "college rock" tune from the station manager's weekly picks.

I abhorred the majority of stuff in the indie rotation, but I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I remember begrudgingly picking out the Neutral Milk Hotel CD simply because it was on Merge Records, which meant it might at least sound like Superchunk, and playing it on air without previously hearing a note of their music. I don't even remember which song I played, but I was so blown away that I smuggled the CD out of the DJ booth and took it home.

Stealing from the radio station was bad business, though I knew more than a few fellow DJs who supplemented their personal music libraries with stolen promo albums. I mean, who was going to miss a Big Boys LP from the station's neglected vinyl closet? But to steal a CD that was currently in rotation? That was risky.

I couldn't help it. I was so fascinated by what I'd heard that I was willing to risk getting busted. I took the CD home and immediately put it on the stereo, sat on the couch, and listened to the whole album with my undivided attention.

It was 1998 and I was a twenty-year-old hardcore kid. I had begun to feel a little bored and underwhelmed by the lack of sonic diversity in the punk world and had begun listening to a lot of folk and country music when I got tired of listening to music where I was getting yelled at. So when the opening chords of acoustic guitar kicked off "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1," my ears perked up. Jeff Mangum's voice---double tracked and compressed to a rich, almost-in-the-red saturation---comes in with his cryptic lyrics describing a tumultuous childhood and adolescent sexual awakening. An accordion and bass creep into the mix as the song builds to the climax, only for the band to switch gears into "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 2 and 3," where Mangum repeatedly professes his love for Jesus Christ against a backdrop of fuzz bass, dissonant singing saw, and tape manipulations. The song eventually explodes into a blown-out punk-tinged pop tune where everything---acoustic guitar included---is cranked to the point of distortion.

Every song seemed to offer something new: the horns and woeful singing saw of the title track, the austere performance and stream-of-consciousness lyrics on "Two Headed Boy," the mournful Eastern European-influenced instrumentation of "The Fool"... it all flowed together like some strange collage of yesteryear sounds, but pushed to the limits of a DIY recording studio's compressors. And in the center of it all was Jeff Mangum---an untrained singer with crystal-clear diction weaving Burroughs-esque vignettes that were purportedly inspired by Anne Frank. There were references to the loss of childhood innocence, war, death, sex, communism, and religion, but all described in a detached and surrealist manner. The music exuded joy, but the lyrics seemed more like excerpts from The Naked Lunch.

I can't understate how much this recalibrated my brain back in 1998. The year prior, all my friends had fallen head over heels in love with OK Computer. While I have since grown to appreciate Radiohead, I did not share my peers' initial enthusiasm. As far as I was concerned, any major label band with a big recording budget and a hot producer was capable of making a lush record with all kinds of cool sounds and wild guitar effects. But Aeroplane? This sounded like a bunch of down-and-out weirdo college kids with their grandparents' instruments making magic in some basement recording studio.

I loved the music, but I was particularly drawn to Mangum's lyrics. I gravitated towards punk as a teenager because the music actually seemed to mean something. Minor Threat sang about being an outsider. Dead Kennedys sang about the cultural climate of the late '70s / early '80s. Minutemen sang about history and how the present reflected the past. Even my love for country and folk music centered on protest songs, outlaws, and earnest heartbreak. But I was reaching the point where it felt like all the bands I loved were singing about the same thing. Rebellion felt codified. You had to sing about certain things or the zines wouldn't like you. And along came Neutral Milk Hotel where the lyrics were somehow borderline non-sensical while simultaneously seeming far more earnest and honest than anything else I was listening to at the time.

Aeroplane didn't leave my 5-CD disc player for the remainder of the '90s. And I am still upset that I was just a few months shy of turning 21 when they opened for Fuck at a bar in Seattle that summer. Within a year Botch would write and record "C. Thomas Howell as the Soul Man," a song that's essentially about feeling that the earnestness and honesty of hardcore was being replaced by lyrical formulas. In hindsight, I can't help but think that Neutral Milk Hotel had showed me that you didn't have to sing about animal rights or hating cops to be profound or passionate. And I also can't help but wonder if the fuzz bass breakdown in that song was a subconscious homage to the bass tone on Aeroplane.

Twenty-five years later, I can't say that I listen to Aeroplane all that much anymore. At some point I learned every lyric and chord progression on the album. I'd heard bands like Bright Eyes and The Decemberists borrow heavily from Neutral Milk Hotel without actually capturing any of their wonder, mystery, or charm. Long story short, I got too familiar with the record and bummed on the imitators they spawned. So maybe in some sense I do understand why people are so critical of the album. But listening to it this morning, I still think it's a fantastic record and I can't deny how it completely altered my listening habits. Aeroplane is one of those records that impacted me in a way only a handful of other albums have in my lifetime. And for that reason, I'll always be a fan.

#neutral milk hotel #everyrecordiown

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asteroidtroglodyte · 10 months

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[what am i]

Mutant

It is 2004. Is the Geiger Counter heavy because it’s Old Tech, or because it’s a Geiger Counter? I do not ask the question aloud. My father is talking. I rotate it in my hands, examining it. He is talking about his father. The Geiger counter is a relic of my grandfather’s military service. It is older than me. It is older than my school. It is older than my father. I turn it on. A red light glows. The dial fidgets. “Are we safe?” I ask aloud, as it softly, slowly ticks. “Are we ever?” My father answers. My look of horror is met with laughter.

It is 1999. There is a photo of a mushroom cloud rising out of a deep blue ocean. It sits inconspicuously in a wooden frame near my grandfathers chair. I stare at it. I have recently learned about atomic weapons in an abstract sort of way in school. My grandmother speaks. “Your grandfather took that picture.”

It is 2002. “These are some of my favorite books.” My father believes I am old enough for his old novels. The entire John Carter of Mars. Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke. Foundation & Empire. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan.

It is 1971. My father hunts wild pigs. Dogs he has raised from puppies explicitly for this purpose rustle through the jungle ahead of him. He is like the pigs, the descendants of Europeans on tour, left behind by boats bearing death. He is armed only with a large knife and his dogs. He survives.

It is 1955. My father plays with the Geiger counter that I will hold in my hands one day. It is humid and hot inside the Quonset hut. My father points it at my grandfather. The dial dances; the machine goes tickticktick. My grandmother is sleeping, or trying to; migraines take her out for days at a time, sharp pain and vivid halos exacerbated by the tropical sun. The noise wakes her, and my grandfather takes the Geiger counter away.

It is 2009. “Weird.” Not the sort of thing you want your doctor to say. “Has your heart always done that?” I ask him to explain what he means. “Oh, it’s just, it’s… beating… funny?” He indicates some squiggles on a monitor, as if I could see the patterns as he did. “Do you mind if we run some tests?” I would be a fool to decline.

It is 1977. My father watches the stars. The sea is still. He has turned off the lights on his boat, and the nearest artificial light is over the horizon. He eats fish he caught during the day. He comes to land to get the supplies he cannot catch; tools made of metal; rope, line, medicine. He spends seven years on that boat, going from island to island. He survives.

It is 2019. My father puts dilute hydrogen peroxide in his water bottle. We dress and depart. He hike through the craggy desert highlands, rich browns and ambers of the desert varnish broken by the occasional brilliance of a tarantula hawk. The local wildlife is smart enough to seek shelter at this time of day, but we are Sons of Empire and ignore the sun, like Adam turning his back on God. We traipse over broken boulders, fighting gravity for a scenic view. He tells me about the past between breaths; this mountain was sacred, once. Those who sanctified it are dead now. The way he talks, you would think that he killed them himself. The breeze is hot and dry on the ridge top. Looking down on the valley below, he drinks deeply from the bottle. He offers me some. “Extra oxygen” he says, with the air of someone sharing valuable advice. Tentatively, I take a sip: It is slippery, and burns slightly. My 70 year old father climbs back down from the mountains with me. We pretend the desert sun does not exist.

It is 1946. The War is Over. The Good Guys have won; or so the story goes. My grandmother is newly married, and loves her husband very much. Once, she had been a daydreaming farm girl, a fan of the Wizard of Oz books; She feels like Dorothy, transported, when her husband’s work whisks them away from rural California to The Pacific. They’re working on something big, he says, but loose lips sink ships and he says nothing else.

It is 1949. The migraines are paralyzing. The doctor tells her she is pregnant, and her mind fades to static. This is the 5th time she has been told this in her life, but she has yet to give birth to a single living child. The Geiger counter ticktickticks whenever her husband is near.

It is 1950. My father is born.

Mutant

Survivor

Son of Empire

Human

#writing #journaling #Drabble #radioactive #colonialism #ancestry #troglodyte thoughts #druid life #mutant #survivor #sons of empire

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usafphantom2 · 5 months

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The F-117 Nighthawk

The Lockheed F-117A was developed in response to an Air Force request for an aircraft capable of attacking high value targets without being detected by enemy radar. By the 1970s, new materials and techniques allowed engineers to design an aircraft with radar-evading or “stealth” qualities. The result was the F-117A, the world’s first operational stealth aircraft.

SR-71 T-Shirts

CLICK HERE to see The Aviation Geek Club contributor Linda Sheffield’s T-shirt designs! Linda has a personal relationship with the SR-71 because her father Butch Sheffield flew the Blackbird from test flight in 1965 until 1973. Butch’s Granddaughter’s Lisa Burroughs and Susan Miller are graphic designers. They designed most of the merchandise that is for sale on Threadless. A percentage of the profits go to Flight Test Museum at Edwards Air Force Base. This nonprofit charity is personal to the Sheffield family because they are raising money to house SR-71, #955. This was the first Blackbird that Butch Sheffield flew on Oct. 4, 1965.

The first F-117A flew on Jun. 18, 1981, and the first F-117A unit, the 4450th Tactical Group (renamed the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing in October 1989), achieved initial operating capability in October 1983.

A total of 59 F-117As were built between 1981 and 1990. In 1989 the F-117A was awarded the Collier Trophy, one of the most prized aeronautical awards in the world.

F-117 Nighthawk low RCS

The F-117A program demonstrated that stealth aircraft with a low radar cross section (RCS) could be conceived, designed and developed, as the following story that appears in Ben Rich’s Book “Skunk Works” proves.

Rich (who served as the second vice president of Lockheed’s Skunk Works after Kelly Johnson) recalls that time Denys Overholser, engineer and radar specialist for Lockheed’s Skunk Works, spoke to him about the first completely stealthy airframe, the F-117.

KC-135Q, F-117s and A-7

The Hopeless Diamond

“Boss,” he said, handing me the diamond-shaped sketch, “Meet the Hopeless Diamond.”

“How good are your radar-cross-section numbers on this one?” I asked.

“Pretty good.” Denys Overholser grinned impishly. “Ask me, ‘How good?’”

I asked him and he told me. “This shape is one thousand times less visible than the least visible shape previously produced at the Skunk Works.”

“Whoa!” I exclaimed. “Are you telling me that this shape is a thousand times less visible than the D-21 drone?”

“You’ve got it!” Denys exclaimed.

“If we made this shape into a full-size tactical fighter, what would be its equivalent radar signature… as big as what—a Piper Cub, a T-38 trainer… what?”

Denys shook his head vigorously. “Ben, understand, we are talking about a major, major, big-time revolution here. We are talking infinitesimal.”

F-117A print

This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS. F-117A Nighthawk (Stealth) 49th OG, 8th FS “The Black Sheep Squadron”, HO/88-843, Holoman AFB, NM – 2008

As big as an eagle’s eyeball

“Well,” I persisted, “what does that mean? On a radar screen it would appear as a… what? As big as a condor, an eagle, an owl, a what?”

“Ben,” he replied with a loud guffaw, “try as big as an eagle’s eyeball.”

Although officially retired in 2008, many F-117s remain airworthy and are used to support limited research and training missions (such as conducting dissimilar air combat training sorties with USAF and US Navy aircraft) missions based on overall cost effectiveness and their ability to offer unique capabilities.

I am sure that Ben Rich is smiling down from heaven knowing that his baby is still active.

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force

Premium F-117

This model is available from AirModels – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS.

Linda Sheffield Miller

Grew up at Beale Air Force Base, California. I am a Habubrat. Graduated from North Dakota State University. Former Public School Substitute Teacher, (all subjects all grades). Member of the DAR (Daughters of the Revolutionary War). I am interested in History, especially the history of SR-71. Married, Mother of three wonderful daughters and four extremely handsome grandsons. I live near Washington, DC.

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thedepartmentofdiscoveries · 3 months

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David Bowie employed his artistic endeavours as a means to delve into the depths of his profound interests, among which was his enduring fascination with Buddhism and broader Eastern philosophy. His exploration of these themes became a distinctive thread woven into the rich tapestry of his creative expression.

Bowie was introduced to the power of Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies by his older half-brother, Terry Burns, who had a tremendous impact on how his life and career would turn out. Burns also opened Bowie’s mind up to total creativity with the works of Beat Generation writers such as William S. Burroughs, modern jazz, and even the occult. Many of what would become his artistic hallmarks can be traced back to these formative influences.

In the early years, when Bowie was still trying to find his feet as an artist, his fascination with Buddhism made its way into his work. The first song to contain his interest in religion is ‘Silly Boy Blue’ from 1967’s self-titled debut album. Years later, Bowie would claim that he wrote the song ‘Karma Man’ about the ongoing strife between Tibet, the home of the Dalai Lama, the leader of ‘Yellow Hat’ Tibetan Buddhism, and China, who annexed it in 1951.

Bowie developed his interest in Tibetan Buddhism in 1965. In addition to what his brother showed him, this materialised after reading Nazi SS Sergeant Heinrich Harrer’s 1952 memoir Seven Years in Tibet. It retold his experiences in the country between 1944 and the Chinese annexation.

Speaking to Melody Maker in 1966, Bowie outlined his love for Tibet, stating: “I want to go to Tibet. It’s a fascinating place, y’know. I’d like to take a holiday and have a look inside the monasteries. The Tibetan monks, Lamas, bury themselves inside mountains for weeks and only eat every three days. They’re ridiculous – and it’s said they live for centuries.”

Although Eastern philosophy and Buddhism greatly influenced the counterculture of the 1960s, Bowie was serious in his dedication to the faith, and it would remain for decades after the zeitgeist changed. In 1966, he visited the North London Buddhist Centre, Tibet House, and spoke to one of its teachers, Chime Yong Dong Rinpoche, with whom he would become lifelong friends.

Introducing ‘Silly Boy Blue’ at the Tibet House Benefit in 2001, Bowie explained: “I stumbled into the Buddhist Society in London when I was about seventeen. Sitting in front of me at the desk was a Tibetan lama, and he looked up and he said, ‘Are you looking for me?’ He had a bad grasp of English and, in fact, was saying, ‘Who are you looking for?’ But I needed him to say, ‘You’re looking for me.’ It’s absolutely true!”

Bowie recalled: “So he became my friend and teacher for quite some time. His name is Chime Yong Dong Rinpoche and he now is head of [he was Curator of Ancient Tibetan Manuscripts] at the British Museum in London. This was ’65, ’66. That’s when I met him. Around that time, I wrote this next song… ‘Silly Boy Blue’.”

Bowie also introduced Rinpoche to his friend Tony Visconti, who also became his student. Looking back on their significant first meeting, Lama Chime Tulku Rinpoche told The Telegraph in 2016: “I said, ‘Come in, young man. Why did you come to see me?’ He said, ‘I want to become a monk.’ I asked him, ‘What is your talent?’ And he said music. I said, so then don’t become monk; you do the music. And from that day, that is what he did."

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jasposeyblog · 1 year

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My Wildfire has been now colored. pencils by Angel Medina digital inks and colors by Rich Seetoo

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nem0c · 10 months

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Tío Paco has been a waiter for forty years. Very poor, very proud, contemptuous of tips, he cares only for the game. He brings the wrong order and blames the client, he flicks the nastiest towel, he shoves a tip back saying “The house pays us.” He screams after a client “Le service n’est-ce pas compris.” He has studied with Pullman George and learned the art of jiggling arms across the room: hot coffee in a quiet American crotch. And woe to the waiter who crosses him: tray flies into the air. Rich well-dressed clients dodge cups and glasses, bottle of Fundador broken on the floor.

William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys

#william burroughs #william s burroughs #the wild boys

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kenjodanni · 6 months

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Kenjo's Jewel Homeworld Map

Kenjo's Crown The capital province of Kenjo's Jewel, known for it's vast majority of intact data centers left by the long lost Ketling Empire. This is where Kenjo, daughter of Lostran, began her great unification of the planet. Located near the center of Kenjo's Crown is a mighty spire that many engineers believe to have previously worked as a space elevator.

Bryn's Hammer An engineering hotspot of the planet, the securing of Bryn's Hammer was instrumental in the unification of the planet, as it houses immense amounts of workable metals for the development of our planet's industry.

Myara's Burrough A clustered space known for it's still-intact subterranean tunnel system. It is a widely accepted theory that these tunnels once stretched throughout the entirely of the planet, but unfortunately much of it has yet to be excavated.

De'ahn's Fields A collection of nearly half of the arable farmlands of Kenjo's Jewel can be located in this province, which once led it to be one of the strongest nation-states during the Era of Strife.

Aurrol's Lights The exceptional lack of clouds found at the northern edge of this province allows strange lights to be seen floating above the snowy landscape. It is this beautiful phenomenon that has inspired many of the artistic minds of Kenjo's Jewel.

Firr's Table Once a powerful military force in the Era of Strife, Firr's Table now stands as a cultural hub of strong-minded individuals who make up nearly three-quarters of KJPC navy personnel.

Qanni's Stone The ruins of this province have all but been torn asunder by the many wars our people have faced. While the other provinces still use the many structures leftover from the glory days of our home, the early days of Qanni's Stone required its inhabitants to re-learn the art of architecture out of necessity.

Juenim's Expanse A cold, mountainous landscape that proudly holds the Juenim: our planets only animal species. It is still quite a shock to our biologists that other planets have an impossibly high number of various animals as well as plants.

Dologg's Objection This space has been set aside to house the small population of those who do not consent to live under KLPC. There is a strictly held "open door policy" regarding immigration to and from this region, as the many Unions realize that employment without consent is no better than slavery.

Rahmmis' Scale During the Eras of Darkness and Strife the people of Kenjo's Jewel used silicon chips as the primary form of currency. This allowed silicon-rich areas, such as Rahmmis' Scale, to be considered the epicenters of wealth across the planet.

The Coins A heavily sought group of islands, wherein so many wars were fought that the land itself has no claim, no unifying culture, and thus no hero to name it after.

Ghikym's Lanes While there are many Lanes (the massive roads leftover from the Era of Gold) found across the planet, this province houses the most intact Lanes of them all. Lanerunners—who now are known as the Logistics Union—have often considered this province to be more culturally significant than Kenjo's Crown due to its importance in the connection of nearby provinces.

#peritainia #stellaris rp

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lrenvs3000w24 · 3 months

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Meditation as a Gateway to Nature Interpretation

In our fast-paced world, where distractions and demands of daily life can be overwhelming, finding moments of peace and connection with nature is increasingly important. Recently, I have been exposed to a powerful tool that not only brings tranquility to the mind but also deepens our understanding of the natural world: meditation. In one of my classes, each student has been assigned a week to lead a meditation session at the beginning of class. Despite my initial apprehension, I found myself drawn to this task and ultimately discovered a newfound enjoyment in guiding others through moments of mindfulness. Which is why I decided to talk about it in this week's blog.

At its core, meditation is about quieting the mind and tuning into the present moment. When we immerse ourselves in nature through meditation, we open our senses to the rich tapestry of sights, sounds, and sensations that surround us. With each breath, we deepen our connection to the earth beneath our feet, the rustle of leaves in the wind, and the sounds of birds chirping. In this state of heightened awareness, we begin to interpret nature not just with our minds but with our hearts and souls, tapping into a deeper understanding of the interconnections of all living things.

Incorporating the insights from Chapter 3 of our textbook, we can further illuminate the connection between meditation, nature interpretation, and the quest for optimal experiences in recreational settings (Beck et al, 2018). Just as interpreters aim to provide programs that are fun, stimulating, and pleasurable for visitors in recreational areas, meditation offers a pathway to achieving these goals(Beck et al, 2018). The textbook suggests, good interpretation is fun, but the best interpretation goes beyond enjoyment and evokes an uplifting emotional response (Beck et al, 2018). This sentiment aligns perfectly with the essence of meditation. By quieting our minds and opening our heart to the beauty and wonder of the natural world, meditation evokes a profound sense of connection and joy.

Moreover, meditation adds life and feeling to nature study, making it more heartfelt and less cold like mentioned by Burrough (1916) in the textbook (Beck et al, 2018). Through practices like mindfulness meditation, participants are encouraged to connect with the living, breathing world around them. Ultimately, by embracing meditation as a form of nature interpretation, interpreters can fulfill their mission of providing optimal experiences for visitors, fostering a deeper appreciation and connection to the natural world. (Beck et al, 2018).

We talked about nature interpretation through science this week and although it may not be clear but meditation can be tied back to science. Just as a scientist meticulously observes and analyzes the natural world, so does the mediator, they do so by observing and exploring the inner landscape of their own consciousness. Additionally, just as scientific inquiry seeks to uncover underlying principles, meditation helps us uncover our personal truths and relationship with nature. Through this practice, individuals can have a sense of empathy and compassion towards all living beings and themselves, recognizing the interconnections of humanity with the wider web of life.

Would you consider using meditation as a form of nature interpretation? Or have you ever meditated?

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage : for a better world. Sagamore Venture.

Here’s a meditation video for stress if your interested!

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#Youtube

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