chinese knife tip, originally uploaded by S. B. Ruppe.
The tip of a chinese knife (actually more like a letter opener) that my mother brought back from here trip to China… I should have had the dragon head a bit more in focus…
bronse crab (candle holder – mouth flips open), originally uploaded by S. B. Ruppe.
Watch your fingers!… I Bite! …
Cats, Cats Everywhere…I was listening to the radio the other day – National Public Radio (NPR) – and there were some callers trying to win a free trip to see the Diane Rehm Show, get an autographed copy of a book of hers, or something along those lines…
They were calling answering some random questions (I forget who was actually asking the questions…). One of the questions was something along the lines of, “What famous establishment is know for it’s very large number of stray cats roaming around?” I think it was a multiple choice question, if I remeber correctly. One of the answers was the Roman Coliseum, and that was the correct answer. Apparently, there are hundreds of cats that roam these ancient Roman ruins. It has been said that the great Roman Emperor, Julius Cesear’s, spirit resides in these feline creatures. Who know’s…
I guess that in the past, no one spayed or neutered these cats so their numbers multiplied greatly over many years. Also, back in the 1920’s, the ‘gattare,‘ or cat ladies, would always feed these stray cats. The number of stray cats in Rome has grown so large that a sanctuary was found for them. Torre Argentina (excavated in 1929) became this sanctuary. The sanctuary is run by volunteers and has taken in thousands of cats over the years, feeding them, nursing them; and now, spaying or neutering as necessary.
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The United States Army is an organization, like many others, that tries it’s best to implement an equal opportunity program in-order-to make for a less hostile work environment for it’s troops. Of course, it does not solve each and every problem, but at least, there’s an attempt…
Each unit in the Army is required to have what is called an “Equal Opportunity Representative.” This Soldier is sent to a two week course where he/she learns the basic ins and outs of the concept of equal opportunity as it applies to Soldiers in the Army. At higher levels within the Army there is what’s called an Equal Opportunity Advisor. This Soldier is sent to a 4-month long course in-order-to handle full blown equal opportunity complaints upon graduation. This becomes their full-time job once they graduate.
The equal opportunity ‘representative’ is required to train it’s unit on matters of equal opportunity throughout the year. There are quarterly requirements and anual requirements. There are lecture formats and /or discussion settings as well.
This past week, our unit had a discussion about “disparaging terms.” One of the most well known derogatory, or degrading, terms that comes to mind is the “N” word (I’m not even going to spell it.) When it came to this particular word during the discussion, one of the African American Soldiers gave us a brief history lesson about the origin of that word, and the origin of “lynching” used for hanging someone. He talked about the ‘Willie Lynch Letter’ and shared some of it’s contents with us. This discussion suddenly got very interesting to say the least… I had either forgotten, or never knew, about this man and his infamous (terrible) letter. …
Willie Lynch had called himself the master of a ‘modest plantation.’ He was summoned from the British West Indies to speak to the local slave owners on the James River in Virginia in 1712 about the problems they were having managing their slaves. The methods he discribed/advised were some of the most brutal physical, and psychological, methods imaginable. Basically, he advised the slave owners to stop hanging, or ‘lynching’ their troublesome slaves, and instead, start the process of breaking them down. Break them down to the point where all they know to do anymore is work themselves to death for you…
Part of the psychological degredation process was using the “N” word. A word coined by Willie Lynch. A word that, to this day, is still one of the most terrible words ever uttered…
The bottom-line of our discussion about disparaging terms was to be much more aware of what you are saying to others, because your words could have a larger impact than you realize…
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Or the WORLD for that matter. …
Full Sail University has DEGREE programs in Music, Film, Gaming, Computer Animation, …you name it, or just go check them out yourself: FullSail.com >>>
The list of credits to this institution in phenomenal! … One of my favorites, ‘Flood,’ The Rock Band: U2’s main mixer on a few albums, graduated from Full Sail. Also, there were several graduates that worked the movie: ‘TiTanic” with Lianardo DiCaprio… But the list goes on and on…
It’s a rather expensive school, but it seems to probably offer the best overall education in the field of multimedia. Years ago I had looked into going to this institution, but never did. The loans I would have needed to take out would have been a considerable amount. Also, it depends upon your skills and experience, but most intro audio productionists/engineers (that’s what I was interested in) do not start out making that much money. So, like many others, I let the ‘money thing’ put a damper on ‘my dreams’…
Today, there are many other options to help pay for school and the school itself has grown to offer several other degree programs. When I was looking to go (back in the early 90’s) there were no degree plans, just certifications. So the School has definately grown into a multimedia artist producing monster! …
If you are even slightly interested in a multimedia career, you should take a look > fullsail.com
Image: (one of my amps (line 6) controls)
Everyone likes a good vilain. One with a cool presence on the screen that makes you think, “I’d like to play that character and be that cool…”
Well, I was watching part of ‘Hellboy II‘ the other day on HBO wondering who this Prince Nuada was, thinking that he was Wes Bently from the movie, ‘Ghost Rider.’ I had never really heard of Luke Goss, or realized that I had probably seen him in another movie and just didn’t realize it. I know he’s a hottie to the ladies and that’s probably why I never really took notice…I checked out his prior list of films and realized I hadn’t seen any of them…
So, I pulled out my iPhone (I love my iPhone) and did some searching and finally found out who this slick vilain was. He had also played the main vilain in ‘Blade II.’ Of course, I hadn’t realized that either.
Both of these vilains rock! … They are good looking (despite their make-up) and can kick ass! Exactly what most men aspire to be like (just having the skills, the conditioning; not going around and actually beating people up…:)…) … The fighting scenes in both movies were pretty cool…The movies themselves… eahehah…but worth watching…
Of course, Princess Nuada - Anna Walton – would be more my type I believe; however, Luke you still rock Man! …
>Luke Goss Filmography<
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Looking for an inexpensive and unique way to cover a vacant space on the wall? Give BlockPosters.com a visit…
At BlockPosters.com, they let you upload an image from your computer (get specifics from their site) and create a .pdf file from it. You decide how large you want it to be. The result of your tinkering around with size is a combination of 8X10 PDF pages that you can trim and tape back together for a solid poster, or paste them up on your wall leaving spaces between each page, creating this block effect… kinda cool looking…
The quality of the poster does degrade the larger you make it; however, the ‘pixelly’ effect kind of adds to the coolness if you ask me…
View some examples Here …
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The United States Army (as well as the other branches of military) has increased it’s motorcycle safety standards to the point of creating the ‘Motorcycle Mentorship Program.’ …
Its basically a program where all the riders in a unit get together for a decent length’s ride in-order-to spend the day observing/learning from each other different riding techniques. This ride gives the senior ranking rider as well as the rider with the most experience (because they are not necessarily the same) a better assessment of each riders’ capabilities, which can reported back to the Commanding Officer (if he/she isn’t a rider himself) in-order-to identify any potential high risk riders…
Prior to this program, a Soldier still hand to attend (and still does today) a Basic Riders Course in-order-to ‘legally’ ride on, or even off, post. When I say legally, I mean that if a Soldier wrecks on a motorcycle and has never attended the course, he could be held responsible for the medical care cost.
Beides the Basic Riders’ Course, a Soldier must also wear the proper protection gear required by Army Regulation 385-10 which includes the following:
Here’s a video of my first bike, a 2009 Green Kawasaki Versys. I kind of leaning more towards a regular sport bike now, but I guess I’ll wait a bit before I make the switch… Not the best of vids but anywayzzzz:
Ride Safe!