From Pigs to Swines

It is an odd sentiment of humans that they often see themselves as a separate entity of the global ecological community. The world is not made like this. Animals, plants and humans live together, they are interconnected.
I will kill ants with a swift punch of my index finger if they dare to come too close to my desk. Honey bees I catch with bare hands and escort them gently out of my studio. Animals who disturb my vegetable garden, I shoot them at blank point; flowers that grow on my lawn, I don't cut grass there and leave those plants to strive. My philosophy is to keep a kind of balance.
When God tossed Adam and Eve out of Paradise, He involuntarily (or voluntarily) gave them the power to destine their future in regards of "life and death". This resulted in this form of "freedom" we now enjoy today...
This freedom is a subtle thing, and this by all means doesn't make us instantly superior to the rest of the living creatures on this globe. We are all co-dependent. As a matter of fact, since we enjoy all this "power" and "freedom", the responsibilities did increase.
The Avian Flue, the Nile Virus, the Mad Cow disease and now the Swine Flue are just responses and products of our own failures. We presently stopped to comprehend and act responsibly in accordance with the laws embedded in nature, all those creations and creatures who are part of our well being in this world.
Does it really surprise you that disease spreads the globe?

He pulled out

After decades on Wall-Street he moved to the countryside and started a small scale farm.
The other day I helped him with odds and ends on the structure of his house yet to be finished in its entirety. The dwelling has an almost perfectly round footprint (twelve facets I believe) and its interior finished tastefully by the former businessman, now turned farmer.
Hopefully I will be allowed to take some more pictures soon, the dwelling is quite stunning really.





As for now, you will have to content with mother-pig and her piglets. They bring good luck! ... at least it is so in the German speaking world.
"Du hast Schwein gehabt" translates to: You had unexpected luck! (literally, you have had "pig").
Have a great and luck-enriched weekend!








(as always - you can enlarge the pigs, uhps ... the pic's by left clicking on them)

Pirates

What are your thoughts about the latest pirate hype? I have mixed feelings. One thing I do not understand and where there is very little info: Where does all the ransom money go to? Does it feed back to the people of Somalia in one way or an other; and then, which people? Everybody is talking about the heroic adventures in the gulf of Aden, nobody explains what lies behind it. Who then is afraid to talk?
It is actually interesting to point out, that until now the people in their speedboats are being called pirates - and not terrorists. Why? The common approach had been always to stamp any agitation as terrorism that goes against the grain of imperialistic capitalism. Why now this sudden change of mind?
__________________________________________________________________
update by Lindsay, a moderate and very knowledgeable person:

Somalia piracy arose after the invasion by Ethiopia (you will recall large-scale backing by the USA for Ethiopia to invade Somali as part of the so called war on terror) leaving the country in a perpetual state of anarchy without effective coastal patrol to quell the rising opportunistic overseas illegal fishing within its coastal waters.

Somali fishermen were able to obtain small-arms and portable rockets left over from the civil war and joined together to attack against these illegal fishing fleets.

Over time that purpose changed completely along with their growing sophistication in armory to finally represent the current piracy and ransom demands directed against ships operating in the nearby busy shipping routes.

Not much is known about the money trail except it would have to be supported by bankers - probably in Africa and Europe.

I doubt if much money materially goes back to the Samalian peoples although presumably the pirates will want to keep various groups ‘on side’ so to speak. But there are reports that most of the money goes back into re equipping the “Mother ships’ which guide the speedboats. - Recent reports estimate refurbishments of over $ 300 Million.

my work

Some of "my residence clients" relaxing. Gradually I am putting together the bits an pieces of their stories when they voluntarily talk about their past. War and it's aftermath broke their bodies and psyche, but not their spirits despite that almost all of them used drugs and alcohol to chase the demons away.
As the individual puzzles form coherent pictures, I will attempt to sketch their individual bios.
This should be interesting!

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Equilibrium

Equilibrium is the basis of Great Work.
Alchemical saying


...I wish I had a bit of that in these turmoil times, but everything moves fast, too fast to catch a glimpse of what is essential. Sometimes I think we live in this big scheme that urges us to catch up, indoctrinates us with that notion that we always are a bit behind.
Why do we subscribe to that foolish thing that time works against us, that I don't know. The essence in my view is to make time, and not just to simply follow time blindly. This way we create a state of equilibrium around us, living in the present. instead of lurking in the past or the future.