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open thoughts thursday

  

by: RiaD

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 03:00:00 AM EDT


have you seen this?

a simple idea that is just brilliant!

RiaD :: open thoughts thursday

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open thoughts thursday | 20 comments
awesome video Ria! n/t (8.00 / 5)
how are you feeling today?

Bear Shake Tree Pictures, Images and Photos
thanks kathleen! (8.00 / 5)
they have another... to do with garbage bins!

they had a contest last year to come up with new fun ideas, but i haven't checked out the new vids yet.

but this really is brilliant imho.
just as you can teach more easily by making it fun/interesting...
so you can get people to do the 'right' thing by making it fun/interesting.
a simple idea.

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett


[ Parent ]
Ria, those are GREAT (8.00 / 5)
Especially the trash can.  All I can think of about the piano stairs is, terrific idea, but the maintenance on them must be awful.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White  
[ Parent ]
What a cool video, RiaD! (8.00 / 6)
How're you feeling today, btw?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
meh (8.00 / 6)
i'm on my way to feed/water the chickens while there is still a bit of dew holding the pollen down & before the breeze picks up...

i'll try to get to your pictures tomorrow, okay?
it's supposed to rain here tonight, so i hope to feel much better tomorrow.

& thanks for asking
♥~

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett


[ Parent ]
Sounds good, RiaD. Thanks. (8.00 / 5)
Thanks for your quick reply to my messages and question about how you've been feeling.

Hope you feel better soon.  

This:

i'll try to get to your pictures tomorrow, okay?

sounds good, RiaD.  Thanks.

Take care--feel better soon.

all the best.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[ Parent ]
I have seen it. Have you ever seen Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase? (8.00 / 5)
Can you pick out Gertrude Stein? I give you a hint. When her portrait was finished she said "That doesn't look like me" and Pablo Picasso said "It will." later in life she said "Picasso was right."

Please enjoy this Sort of a seven minute art history lesson in morph.

And consider a quote from Gertrude Stein;

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense".

wow, cool vid, Eddie (8.00 / 5)
Really interesting.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White  
[ Parent ]
PS: Yes, I saw Gertrude Stein (8.00 / 3)
but I'm very familiar with that painting (in reproduction, everywhere I've read about Stein) so it wasn't fair.  I almost missed Nude Descending a Staircase but I think that's b/c it was only a small portion of the whole (or else it was small enough to not be easy to see on my monitor).  I'd kick myself if I couldn't identify that one: we used to go to the Phila. Museum of Art often enough when I was a kid.  Really liked what they did with Van Gogh, too, and The Scream.  There were a bunch more I couldn't identify, but: really an excellent vid.  Thanks!

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White  
[ Parent ]
Parking a link here (8.00 / 5)
When I went looking for a quote I just posted to describe my obsession with the comings and goings of the sun;

"That morning I was not yet a vampire, and I saw my last sunrise. I remember it completely, and yet I can't recall any sunrise before it. I watched its whole magnificence for the last time as if it were the first. And then I said farewell to sunlight, and set out to become what I became." - Interview with the Vampire

I found it at a very interesting page, The Top 10 Movie Quotes Of All Time

"If you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? ---- Carpe -- hear it? - Carpe, Carpe Diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary." - Dead Poets Society

And;

"I am not going to sit on my ass as the events that affect me unfold to determine the course of my life. I'm going to take a stand. I'm going to defend it. Right or wrong, I'm going to defend it."- Ferris Bueller's Day Off

And;

"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything." - Fight Club

Awesome Eddie! (8.00 / 5)
The movie quote your sunsets remind me of is from, Where the Heart Is.....

Novalee Nation: You tell them that our lives can change with every breath we take



Bear Shake Tree Pictures, Images and Photos
[ Parent ]
Never seen it. (8.00 / 5)
Odd because I'm a huge fan of both Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd.

Favorite Natalie Portman quote was a taste of Sinclare Lewis;

"So that's how democracy ends, to thunderous applause."

And from Ashley Judd;

"You have so much power to bring awareness, prevention and change."

[ Parent ]
making things fun.... (8.00 / 5)



"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett


finally! RAIN!!!! (8.00 / 7)
we have a huge storm going on...
& are now under a tornado thingey....

so. i'm going off-line & unplugging the 'puters

g'nite!
♥~

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett


Good idea, RiaD. (8.00 / 4)
This:

we have a huge storm going on...
& are now under a tornado thingey....
so. i'm going off-line & unplugging the 'puters

is an excellent idea, RiaD.  

Again, here's hoping you feel better soon.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[ Parent ]
My favorite cop (8.00 / 3)
came in the store as the storm clouds were just starting to mass over us, around 6:30, maybe.  He promised thunder & lightning & heavy rain -- said Pittsburgh just got hit so it was only hours away.

Well, we have rain, and it's steady, and the air has certainly cooled off.  But so far there are no fireworks in the sky.  Maybe they'll come later, who knows, but so far, just normal rain.

Hope the tornado fears were overblown, Ria: those things scare me & I'm not easily scared.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White  

[ Parent ]
Everybody posts such interesting stuff here, and mine (8.00 / 5)
is so dull compared with everybody else's here!    Yet, I also feel a sense of acceptance and belonging here that, with some other rare exceptions (the West  Side Story blog(s), for instance), I seldom, if at all, feel on other blogs, even on progressive blogs.  I've admittedly been banned or hounded out of more than one blog, but I guess that's the breaks.  

Our district is holding a special election next Tuesday, due to the fact that our present State Representative has vacated that particular seat, due, at least in part, because, after all the grandiose promises that he made for transparency and accountability during his campaign and for when he got elected, guess what?  He ended up going to jail on a drunk driving charge!   Not that he was so great, anyhow, but this is worse.  So, about a half-dozen candidates came to our building tonight to state their reasons for running for this vacated seat and why they wanted our votes.  Frankly, I'm not sure I trust any of them, since they all seem to be a bunch of blowhards, but I have to think about who I want to vote for.  As you know, I distrust even the Democratic Party at large right now, and I'm hard-pressed to find any politician that I can trust right now.  Oh, well...what can I do?

There seemed to be a general consensus that there's a real crisis, economically and educationally, etc., here in the Bay State, as well as everywhere else.   The MBTA's (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority) Green Line Extension is supposed to come through, but  there's much wrangling over where the maintenance facility will go, because we, as an artists' community, definitely don't want it right near our building the way the MBTA wants it, for environmental, noise, and light reasons.  Moreover, there are other alternatives regarding placement of that maintenance and storage facility for the MBTA, which the MBTA refuses to look at.  We all made it clear to the Candidates, that, whilie we're very supportive of the Green Line Extension, because it would benefit the area in more ways than one, we cannot and will not accept an MBTA maintenance and storage facility right next door to our community.   They  all seemed to agree on that, but let's see what whoever gets elected does.   There was an agreement among candidates that a large coalition has to be formed to get various agents and other people together to hold the MBTA accountable.  We're fighting for our rights here.  

I stood up and asked a three-part question:

A)  Why do we need any casinos here in the Bay State?  We don't need another Atlantic City or Mohegan Sun here in Massachusetts.

B)  How the hell is the state going to get any money for the various programs such as education, drug and substance abuse prevention programs,  job creations in healthcare, high-tech, etc.,  better healthcare and healthcare coverage for all, and improving our environment, and green energy when our Administration in Washington is still too busy fighting unnecessary wars abroad (Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan), sticking our nose in other countries' business and invading other countries?

C)  We need our State governor to stand behind us in our opposition to Yard 8 I(the MBTA's choice) for the placement of this maintenance and storage facility.  Why hasn't he stood with us in our opposition to yard 8?  I suggested that if our present State governor doesn't actively stand with us in our support in our opposition to Yard 8, then we should vote him out come this November.   All I know he won't get my vote if he doesn't.

The response to the questions that I got were fairly bland and vague, and one candidate who was at the debate tonight said that he "agreed to disagree with me about the casinos".  I thanked everybody who responded to my questions, and one candidate, an African-American woman,  even came over, shook hands with me,  and thanked me for coming and staying for the whole debate.  I responded by a You're welcome, shook her hand, and thanked her for coming and staying also.  I also shook hands with and thanked all of the candidates, but I was glad to speak my mind.

Pardon my rambling, everybody.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Ramble away! (7.00 / 4)
But, y'know, about the rail yard: it's going to be a NIMBY thing everywhere in the city.  If you live in a semi-industrial neighborhood, it might not be such a bad thing.  The people who work there will need restaurants or takeout places for their lunch -- you might even get some excellent lunch carts!  There's some terrific cheap (& often healthy) food if the right kinds of lunch carts move in; I am thinking of this one guy in NYC who did fantastic falafel but there were many others -- and pubs for after work, and other types of places they can shop at on their way to or from work.  So, while it might not look like a great use of land, it might have collateral benefits for the whole area.

Just sayin'.  Obviously I don't know what your neighborhood is like, but it might not be as awful as you think.

As far as choosing a candidate: you could go to their websites and read what they're saying.  You could also check out some of the liberal Bay State blogs to see what others are saying about what the candidates are saying.  Just a thought....

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White  

[ Parent ]
Here's the rub, Youffraita: (8.00 / 3)
We all want the Green Line Extension, and we realize that the area could use a certain amount of re-development, but there are some legitimate reasons for not wanting the MBTA maintenance and storage facility right next door (a mere 50 feet away) to our building:

A)  Environmental reasons:  There would be much toxic chemical run-off into the soil and water nearby, as well as more air pollution, which is unacceptable to all of us.  As artists, we're conscientious of environmental impacts on our community.

B)  There would be noise from the MBTA storage and maintenance and facility from storage and maintenance facility 24/7, which would be totally unacceptable to have right smack near us.

C)  We do not want to have too much light, many people would lose light coming into their apartment, and therefore their view, which is also not right.

D)  We would be totally ghettoized and isolated from the rest of the area, rather than connected with it, because they offered to put a protected wall around it and special windows, which would be more expensive, it wouldn't be acceptable.

Youff--since you really don't know the situation at all, you don't realize why the yard 8 plan for the MBTA maintenance and storage facility, which would be right smack near our community is unacceptable.  You'd have to actually be living here to understand.  Thanks.  

This is our community that we've invested in and built up over the years, and we will not accept its potential destruction.  

There are other alternatives for that maintenance and storage facility if they want it there.  It's not a matter of NIMBY...at all! Youff...Please try to understand.  Thanks.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[ Parent ]
Also, Youff, (8.00 / 3)
our city would lose valuable land would otherwise provide much needed tax revenue that would be generated by some of the kind of redevelopment that you were referring to as a consequence of that MBTA storage and maintenance facility.  A certain amount of re-development is expected, but over-development is no good, and has disastrous consequences for many areas.  History has indicated it.  Boston's so-called urban renewal policies actually resulted in "people" removal, and, that, imho, was very strongly corelated with why the resistance to mandatory school busing here in Boston was so strong and so explosive during the mid to late 1970's.  The people had had enough, and an unscrupulous, highly political and opportunistic, not to mention bigoted, school committee back then rode on the coattails of white workingclass frustrations, whipping people up, and resulting in a solution to Boston's school problems that proved totally disastrous.  We do not desire a repeat of this kind of crisis of some sort or other.  

They also wanted to put a soccer stadium nearby. it wouldn't work.  It would only generate more traffic and more noise.  

A stadium for the New England Patriots was proposed down near Southie (one of Boston's neighborhoods),for similar reasons;  noise and excessive vehicular traffic.  The community resisted and the stadium was not built.  The people were right to resist there.  Well, we're resisting this maintenance facility right next door to us for legitimate reasons, and it's not just a NIMBY situation.  Sorry to disabuse anybody of that idea, but I'm just telling it like it really is;  This maintenace facility in Yard 8 would be a disaster.  There are some alternatives which must be explored.

The only thing we can do is elect somebody who's accountable, and can be contacted, which is one thing we're fighting for.  I suggested that we vote our present State governor out if he doesn't stand squarely behind us in our opposition to yard 8  and in support of plan L, which would be nearer the Boston Engine Terminal and farther away from us.  I also know that he won't get my vote this time around unless he does.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[ Parent ]
open thoughts thursday | 20 comments

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