#cog the cacti

[voidbears-oc-stash]

Just read the blog banner and description. I'll use this pinned post as a list of my OCs.

Jax and perhaps Springtime, you both know the rules I put for asks. And if you don't, reread the rules on @the-cookies-of-darkness blog.

More OC tags

Even more OC tags

Yeah I think you get the point

OC List under cut

OCs:

Expo, a Sphinx Cat that is half void, and is extremely powerful because of that. He's a bit witty but all-in-all loves adventuring. Lost his mom soon after his birth and his father died in The Great Void War.

Luna The Werewolf Queen. She's a werewolf queen and can command werewolves. She, unlike other werewolves, is not weak to sliver. You'll find her backstory depressing, but I'm keeping a little mystery for now. She typically wears a special gold necklace that keeps her in a between-form. She just looks like a white wolf but her front paws are hand shaped. She's a bit self-conscious about her full werewolf form and doesn't go into it unless necessary. Yes, in the between-form she walks on all 4s.

Vinnie the Velociraptor. He's a Velociraptor from the dream realm and can enter others dreamrelms while they're asleep. He's kinda dumb but in a funny way, though he takes his 'job' to save others from nightmare seriously. He miraculously came from the dream realm of Sky The Cloud Warrior, in which in the realm he though Sky died and had a whole existential crisis when he became real.

Nameless, he does not know exactly what he is, even his own name was a bit of a misunderstanding but he kept it anyways. He stays around special rainbow crystals that keep him 'powered up', though he can still make more if given the energy. Here's some art of him by @maskoni-five. He's basepart wolf, has owl wings, aardvark claws in front, basilisk legs in back, a camel hump, and the venomous bite of a gila monster. His favorite food is eggs.

He dislikes being called rat-like, especially while being AT LEAST the size of a Great Dane. In reality, he's a Demigod, the son of a god of nature from a different planet. Rumors spread that the new baby demigod had a key to immortality, so he was kidnapped. His dad wasn't too happy, so his papa cursed the species that kidnapped his son with immortality without any of the benefits(As in you literally cannot die but your body can't keep up forever), and for his safety sent Nameless off world with a protection boon so his true backstory would be near impossible to find out even from other godly beings. This, somewhat unfortunately, lead to Nameless not exactly knowing much about his own backstory and having large gaps in his memory. He got his name because for some official IDs that were made for him, a rather tired worker asked him for his name, and he said "I'm nameless...", which led to his name being named Nameless. He finds it funny and has gotten too used to it to get a 'real' name. He specializes in nature control and healing magic. The rainbow crystals are basically generators for his power, which he got from his mother's side. With enough energy, he can make more rainbow crystals, but prefers to just use the ones he already made. He can also use his power directly through the rainbow crystals, which makes it stronger.

Blacky The Void Demon. He's not exactly a "demon", demon is just the void's word for powerful, like the void's word for the world outside the void is "Osega". He has a pet Shadow Beast named Beastie. He also has a complex backstory, involving him loving somebody who his dad did not allow and (his dad)causing The Great Void War. He left out of hatered of his dad and gained enough power to be able to survive the osega without having to possess anyone, granting him rank of Void Demon. He'd be willing to share his knowledge about what lives in the void. Here's his ref.

Fiqunzur: A full on species of mythical bests I have made. They can shapeshift and fit through even the tightest of gaps, and have the magpie's tendency to just take anything shiny or that they find neat. I'll likely be using Fritz and his two kids, Atsen(male) and Zemryu(female). Fritz's partner was murdered by the superstitious folk, but his kids don't know that. Here's what they looks like typically

(Yes, my pfp is Blacky petting one)

Shadow Beasts. I've already introduced the jist of them on @the-cookies-of-darkness but I'm thinking of moving Raider, Silho, and Buddy here. They're shadowy lions, basically, though their temperament changes on how they grow up. Without supervision (or supervision of ferals), they grow up a feral apex predator. When treated like a person, they grow up acting like a person and are capable of speech, though still stand on all 4s(Raider, Silho, and Buddy as examples). And when treated like a pet, they'll act like a mix of a cat and a dog, Beastie being an example of this. They're weak to attacks of "pure light". Which they describe as "something you can see that does not cast a shadow". AKA mostly just fire. Their scratches typically leave permanent black marks, and when one dies they are reborn. Though they can still have the more 'traditional' kids way. They're all one gender but it still takes two. The ferals have been known for taking over universes.

Sola and Quasar are two space-patterned technically aliens. Sola looks like a and is about the size of a Songbird, while Quasar is a large and powerful-looking dragon. The two are in love. They refuge in this galaxy to hide from a Tyrant in their home one. Quasar, despite looking powerful, the most power he has is the strength due to his size, the typical dragon fire-breath (but, ya'know, at will), and technically being able to move at Faster Than Light speeds, but he's actually a big softie who loves to make cookies(for eating, which might cause awkwardice when confronting cookie run characters.) Sola is a bit more willing to talk about the tyrant dictator of their home multiverse, but is clearly still scared to talk about them. She's a bit more introverted and only really feels comfortable around Quasar. She's prone to nightmares.

Sybeny, said Tyrant Dictator. I do not intend for her to show up yet, but I am at least writing her name down. The warning I have: Do not let her cuteness fool you. That's exactly how she gets you.

Cannibal, one of my Just Shape and Beats OCs. His home world's treeangle had a star on top that often kept our cannibalistic friend fed, but after a lot of trouble and the world starting to fade, he and 2 remaining others had to leave. Will Of Fire (will be referred to as "Will") made the mech and infused his soul into it, giving the mech his ability to make golden fire that has like a midus touch effect. However, it did not have enough time to charge with solar power, so Cannibal grabbed his other remaining friend Fusion, who was already in a comatose state, and put him into the backup power source spot and managed to flee the world before it faded. Fusion will ne near impossible to wake up again unless another star-topped treeangle is found, Will's soul does have some mild influence in the mech, but Cannibal is the main guy controlling it. He controls it all from the head portion like that scene in Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 where Berry controls the sentinel of safety suit. He can leave the suit if he wants, but usually only opens the visor to eat, and only ever leaves to go to the bathroom. But here's a ref of him outside the humanoid mech suit! Due to not having a star treeangle piece to keep giving him the required food he needs, he usually eats cacti as it's the closest to what he could eat in home world that lives up to his cannibalistic instincts(as long as it works to keep him from self-cannibalism, that's what he's concerned about). He is not corrupted, he is just naturally pink.

Fusion, another Just Shapes and Beats OC. When not able to be powered by a treeangle, Fusion will be in a comatose ball form that's all rainbow-y that constantly leaks energy. When powered by a treeangle, Fusion is a force to be reckoned with. With powers from each boss from Just Shapes and Beats with looks to boot, he is essentially a demigod. He takes his job to protect the innocent very seriously. Sometimes even too seriously. Threaten anyone he deems innocent, you're in for a bad time. If he's in a good mood, you'll likely just be punted. In a bad mood? Better start praying to what gods you believe in. His favorite attack is lasers, which he, like annihilate, can shoot from his mouth. He can also summon things like sawblades and scythes, fire and spider webbing. Arms can also detach and regrow like Blixer/Fresh/whatever you call the main boss guy.

Quinton the Hydra. Good friend of Luna's, ended up in a minecraft world that's basically single-biome of cherry grove. So has gotten used to eating cherries, pigs, and sheep. Ironically, when I first made him I imaged him looking like the hydra from minecraft's Twilight Forest mod. He's kinda goofy, with his center head being in control, and the other heads tend to not exactly care, which leads him to limp now-and-then when the other heads are lazy and sleeping. He does take his job as a guardian seriously, however. He's covered in scars, though at least it seems people are smart enough to not cut any of his heads off. He calls his other heads Lefty and Righty

Swifty the Jagfox. She lives in the trees and is very quick in them, that's even how she got her name! And her jaguar spots help her camouflage. Was also in the cherry grove world. She tries to be friendly, but sometimes her hunting instincts take over. (Drawing was made when I was still, like, a freshman in highschool and was starting to get into drawing, so don't judge how bad it is :b)

Silver the Giant Snake. She's an albino Burmese Python who is slightly bigger than a Reticulated Python. She's sometimes seen like the mom of the group, she's kind and caring, but can do the 'I'm not mad I'm disappointed' attitude. Sadly and ironically, she's infertile. She did take care of a baby turtle named Ellipse for a while before the shadow beast invasion, in which Ellipse was killed in front of her, which has caused her to be a little more depressed. Ellipse was friends with Swifty. She ended up in the Cherry Grove world

Desmond the Phantom Witch. He's a Phantom from Minecraft mixed with a Witch(which makes him humanoid). He makes potions for a 'living' and is always trying to find new things to use to make them. Being a phantom, however, he sometimes has a hard time controlling himself when he's around somebody who hasn't slept for days and feels the urge to aggressively leech the energies off of them. He wears a hat with mending and curse of binding to keep him from burning in the sunlight. He has a knack for showing up in random worlds when testing out potions. He always carries brewing stands and potion making supplies with him at all times. No matter what light, you can't see his face under the immense shade of his hat, just his glowing green eyes. He does mention he has fangs and a nose. Here's his ref and a poster he made! (Ignore the "in the thread" part, I used that for roleplays on Discord then the server got closed down =/)

Firefly. A Windchime Squid from The Void. Ended up in the Osega when Void Cookie (from @the-cookies-of-darkness) had a power surge. He and Stinger both now control a body made out of scrap coredroid parts with a void-infused core. He controls the upper body. He uses fancier words and is quite smart, and often instructs Stinger where to go. He takes responsivity cleaning up most of the void-related messes

Stinger. A Monstera-Mimic The Void. Ended up in the Osega when Void Cookie (from @the-cookies-of-darkness) had a power surge. He and Firefly now control a body made out of scrap coredroid parts with a void-infused core. He controls the lower body. As a predator species from The Void, he's more physically strong than smart. While he often now listens to Firefly, his predator instincts will sometimes get the better of him and he starts using his thousands of microscopic stingers to consume sugars of those he gets close enough to. While Firefly insists they flee most squabbles, Stinger prefers to try to fight anyone off.

Notebuster. A Superhero on basically the other side of the world or at the very least a different country from where most of the OCs hang out. He's a superhero there with superpowers that relate to music! But he's also half-void on his mom's side, so he also has void powers like Expo! Just slightly ones, at the very least by color. He is somewhat ironically a cousin of a famous (in the towns nearby at least, anyone who knows void people would hate him) void demon hunter and killer named Oggy Budderhorn (who has since died and has a memorial). He wears a cyan suit with a screen, speaker, and special fingertips that allows him to control music in a way to create attacks. He also doesn't talk verbally most of the time. He can talk, but he prefers to just scroll through videos to talk for him, like that one scene in Animation Vs YouTube. Basically, he's mute by choice, like Henry Stickman.

Rzore. Notebuster's mother. She's one of the last surviving members of the pink tribe that was wiped out in The Great Void War. She wasn't aware the war ever happened, and had been in hiding in the Osega for a few hundred years before finally having a child. She became a Void Demon through mostly determination, rather than killing fake people in a fake world like Blacky did. As for why? She found the Osega much more interesting than the void.

MINOR (for now) OCS:

Sky The Cloud Warrior. I do not intent on having him be very relevant other than being Vinnie's 'dad'. He's retired and loves pizza parties, though he gets his nickname "The Cloud Warrior" for a good reason. He lives on the top of a mountain. Here's a ref with a little bit of info on it(Via a very inexperienced OC maker past me). The clouds he makes are always the perfect comfortable temperature and he can choose whether or not they're tangible.

Plobettba(Goes by "Plob" for short). I don't intend for her to actually show up in a long time, but she will be mentioned by Expo and the others. She's a cyborg dragon with the ability to melt planets, and only the metal on her could resist such high temperatures. She's killed her maker, Snatg(which is a shorting of "Snatgbbgu"(back when I was obsessed with Rot13 names lol), he was a mix of an Okapi and a Rhino, and is a more horrible and powerful tyrant than Sydeny could ever dream to be.), and has the source of his power on her. She's currently residing in the center of a star about a thousand lightyears away in hypersleep mode, and has connections to Expo if she wakes up and wants to talk, or if something goes horribly, horribly wrong to the point she can't handle it alone.

Qwarkon, The Blood Moon's Ghost. He's a weather elemental that looks ghost-like, though he can only seem to charge up his powers at night when the moon is out, and when he charges up, anyone nearby sees the moon turn to look like a blood moon. So he kinda typically stays away from the crowd and usually can't get himself the confidence to start a conversation.

Fred. He's just a grouchy scrooge Komodo Dragon who would kill just for peace and quiet.

These four. Not adding as much info as I've already shared it all in DMs with Jax and I'm pretty sure it's just me and him on this blog lol

Phantasma the Ghost. He's a humanoid wolf-panther mix who is, of course, a ghost. His tail is completely clipped off and he has no idea what happened to it. He's a quiet guy who enjoys the little things. His favorite thing to do is watch Fireflies, which he hadn't done in a long time due to first being stuck underground and then being stuck in the cherry grove world (even if Minecraft added Fireflies, they would've only been in swamps). He is lacking a good chunk of his memories, and only remembers that he died due to his best friend betraying him and thus doesn't trust easily.

adding the mutants to the more OC Tags post

Avtug. One of the few of the elusive Void species called Lucem. He's one of the more braver ones of the species, but still flighty. He hides in ghost towns of the world, fleeing when any explorers or tourists or the like show up. He isn't afraid of being seen, he is afraid of his picture being taken and the world knowing about his species because of him.

Willy The Wanderer and Vlad The Destroyer. Two mice people (who I made using this Picrew) who are adventurers. They're cousins, but are as close as brothers. Willy is the one in black and has brown fur. He knows magic, and has somehow wound up in the wrong place multiple times. He's adventurous and has a knack for solving problems. Vlad is the one in read with gray fur, he's a sailor who sometimes tells tall tails, once saying he rode a shark with nothing but his fishing hook steering it. He's a bit more serious, but has a soft spot. The two live in the same area as Notebuster and Rzore

Pyth (Previously named Decidoreal). A Green Tree Python helplessly in love with Silver, ended up foolishly saving Geno. In return, he ended up getting fused with a cacti and changed himself up to try to impress Silver.

Ellipse. Silver's adopted turtle daughter who was killed in front of her. Revived using corruption by Pyth in an attempt to woo Silver, she ended up fairly unstable due to Shadow Beast DNA being in her.

[ask-thomassaggs]

With a simple flight, getting home was easy for Thomas. The lamp on was mostly left to deter any Toons or bold cogs from breaking in.

At the door, a tortoiseshell calico presses onto the window and mewls excitedly. His smile warms seeing his cat, she always made his days brighter.

[OOC: The cacti is from this ask. Which is from... a bit ago.]

[thesmpisonfire]

Cogchamp! Misfern AU

Yes I am in denial, now shut up and enjoy

(P.S.: Fennec Fox! Niki is present here bc I want to, credits to @yiihonk for the design)

Fundy and Ranboo left their house because they had heard about this place where new ores where being found, allowing the development of new machinery. Plus the town was very messy and chaotic, wtf?? Lets dip, what if they start bombing shit and we all go downhill mentally??? haha better go

They met Tubbo and 5up on their way, and Ranboo was responsible to write frequent updates for Eret and Niki with the communicator

When they finally get to the place, they part ways. Tubbo and Fundy starts a friendly competition, so they now had another motivation to mine and build

It took around one month for them to get there, so it took another month to Niki and Eret meet them

Fundy and Ranboo were already with the big windmill and their smelting place, together with their lil cacti farm, big tunnel underground, and half of a forest gone

The place looks empty, but Niki can hear banging under the earth, so she sprints to the place Fundy and Ranboo built the drill

Eret just laughs at that and look around. They can see a jukebox, two beds kinda tossed to the corner, a table next to a furnace with two big chairs and thats it. They sigh and seaches for wood and stone, ready to make this place their new home

Niki can fit in tight spaces, so she crawls her way to her brothers in between cogs and pistons

Ranboo has the fright of his life when he suddenly felt someone hugging him from behind, he was sure he would die there by the hands of some clingy zombie

Fundy will never let this die again, he is having a cough fit after laughing so much, the foxboy is laying on the floor and Niki is almost doing the same while hugging her stomach. Ranboo is traumatized and frozen in place

They all after that have a group hug, the boys turn the drill off and they go upstairs

Eret has half of a cottage done. They smile widely when they see Ranboo and Fundy and rush to hug them and ask how they’ve been

The kids help Eret finish the house, dragging the beds and other stuff

They all dinner together that day, and for the days that came after

Thats my take, probably I’ll do more of these later (Are you listening to this??? Its the sound of 5undy coming)

Enjoy our sweet teropay, pals

[mozgoderina]

MARTIN PURYEAR: Multiple Dimensions

Internationally recognized, well exhibited, and critically acclaimed sculptor Martin Puryear currently has a fantastic show of drawings and prints on view at the Art Institute of Chicago. (An iteration of this show was at the Morgan Library through January 10, 2016.) The works included in this tightly curated exhibition span the artist’s career, from his time in Sierra Leone in the early-mid ’60s to a recent batch of etchings.

In laying out the show roughly chronologically, the curators create a fluidity that the Morgan version lacked, allowing the viewer to track Puryear’s progress from a fine draftsman to a respected sculptor. Multiple Dimensions succeeds because it presents these works, many of which have not previously made it out of Puryear’s studio, as more than sketches that simply register the development of a sculpture realizing its final form. Rather, the exhibition gives the works on paper critical attention, links the concerns embedded in them to those of his sculptures, and demonstrates the breadth and depth of Puryear’s inquiry into how organic, abstract forms can resonate politically.

On the first wall of the show hangs a cluster of drawings, mostly in ink and mostly with line, that demonstrate Puryear’s early dedication to close looking. After college, Puryear joined the Peace Corps to teach French, English, and biology in Sierra Leone, one of two countries in West Africa where American slaves had been repatriated. Puryear refused to take a camera because he didn’t want what he was seeing to be filtered through its lens.[1] Instead, he drew what he saw—houses, figures, animals, foliage—with a confident thin line, hatched shadows and delicate ink washes, sometimes adding brief, written captions like “grass roofed house in area across from our house.” These are drawings Puryear has kept in his various studios (in Williamsburg in the ’70s, Chicago in the ’80s, and the Hudson Valley currently) for decades, drawings he made before he realized he was a sculptor.

They are interesting not only in that they are beautiful, delicate and well-composed, but also because they anticipate the formal interests that crop up repeatedly throughout his career: how things are constructed, how texture and surface—of skin, grass, thatch, and cloth—vary. The tight grip of Joseph Momoh’s hands (Untitled (Joseph Momoh), 1965) foreshadows the attention Puryear would give to his joinery. In the oval forms that comprise Gbago’s neck and the cactus (Gbago, 1966, and Cacti, 1965), we see Puryear looking both to document his surroundings and to understand how parts fit together. The drawings reveal how the Adam’s apple meets the neck skin, how the plant’s tubercles protrude from its spine, how the beetle’s legs attach to the stomach (Rhinoceros-Beetle—Female, 1965). In his sitters’ casual poses and frank gazes, these drawings expose the familiarity that Puryear cultivated with the community he was teaching and living, the Mende. These drawings are rooted in that time and in that place, which Puryear has called, in a 2016 conversation with Theaster Gates,“one of the most important experiences I could have had […] to finish college, go into the Peace Corps, and live among people who lived in the place, the part of the world that stamped me, as a black American.”[2]

Indeed, after leaving Sierra Leone to study at the Royal Academy in Sweden, Puryear made a number of prints that reworked the drawings he made in Africa. Modifying these images to make Gbow’s Gard (1966) and Gbago, Puryear added further compositional complexity and subtle tonal gradation. As a result, these prints—which resemble beautiful postcards—have a higher level of finish than the drawings. Alongside the prints that register his memory of Sierra Leone, Puryear made etchings of different architectural structures that are rooted in reality—in actual, monumental forms that Puryear transposed onto copper and then onto paper: Belltower, Stonehenge I, Stonehenge II, and Gate (all 1966).

In 1967, something new happened in Puryear’s work. The monumental became the archetypal. Puryear subsumed the real, architectural forms he had transposed into rounded mounds: Zig (1966 – 67) and Klot (1967). The thatched roof of the Mende huts was incorporated as a zigzag pattern; it lost its site specificity but kept its textural sensuality. Both Zig and Klot required multiple steps to achieve the final image and demonstrate Puryear’s dedication to craft, to the precise execution of the technical, and often finicky, process of printmaking. In using two plates for Zig and four plates for Quadroon (1966 – 67), Puryear broke away from the rectangular format that drawing and etching expect. Image and form converged; abstraction became Puryear’s language.

In titling this evocative piece Quadroon, Puryear acknowledged the social connotations of the image he made. He arranged three blush colored plates and a black plate around a diamond of blank paper, at once evocative of an orifice and an acknowledgement of the complexity of racial categorization. After all, “quadroon” was a widely popular term used to refer to an individual who had one black grandparent and three white ones. It is interesting that this piece came after his time in Sierra Leone, a time when a shift in context might have allowed him to recognize how deeply, yet how falsely, the binary of black and white exists in the American conception of race, how society has developed terminology dedicated to the classification that helps keep that hierarchy entrenched.[3] Throughout his career, Puryear has often used titles like this to hint, subtly or overtly, at the so-called “content” of the work; yet his art never feels illustrative of an idea. Rather, it is suggestive and deeply personal; the title functions as an ex post facto name in which Puryear makes textual a feeling or idea he sees in the piece.

In its selection of drawings, Multiple Dimensions suggests that Puryear’s drawing practice anticipates his sculpture not only in that it often provides a carpenter’s guide for what he must execute, but as a way for him to find his forms. In preparatory drawings, Puryear works in two dimensions, looking to the third. His drawings speak to a future thing that will exist beyond the paper, in our space. But, in some drawings, we see Puryear repeating himself to find the forms that will reappear in his sculpture. These drawings register discovery. In a charcoal drawing from 1990, “Drawing for Untitled,” he makes an elongated head and neck form, reminiscent of a Fang Mask, a Brancusi sculpture, and a drinking vessel. This elegant, evocative form informs many of his later sculptures, such as Bearing Witness (installed 1997), which stands outside the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington DC, and Guardian Stone (2002), which was commissioned to sit outside TV Asahi’s headquarters in Tokyo. Many of Puryear’s commissioned sculptures use large formats so that the piece’s scale is divorced from its source, abstracting the thing and making it just unrecognizable enough to surprise. Puryear’s drawings, too, often feel bigger than their actual size. And here, Puryear demonstrates his accomplished sense of how to manipulate space, whether that is the plane of the paper or the places where he installs his public sculpture.

The final selection of works is perhaps the most exciting and illuminating in demonstrating the sustained process by which Puryear makes drawings and etchings to discover his forms and then uses drawing to plan their construction. In 2003, Puryear made two graphite drawings, both titled Drawing for Untitled. The smaller one renders a shaded, three-dimensional form—shaped almost like an elephant’s seated body—that curves to leave a key-shape opening. The larger flattens this form to reveal a cross-sectional slice, which looks to be made of stacked wood or stone. In two other Drawing from Untitled also from 2003, Puryear adds two more holes and softens any sharp edges. He elaborates on these forms in a more complex drawing, Untitled (2003), made with charcoal and conté crayon, so that the textures of the drawing suggest the material of the sculpture he seems to be planning. In 2012, Puryear made an etching of this more complicated form, suggesting cogs in some kind of machine. On view are two maquettes, Untitled, Maquette for Deichman Library, Oslo (2013), and Shackled (2014). The latter’s title, along with its prominent cuff, presages the forty-foot wooden sculpture Puryear plans to install in Madison Square Park in May 2016. More than a decade in development, this sculpture, crowned with an oversized gold shackle, will function as a temporary and hugely visible memorial to the slave trade so important to the growth of New York City.

Endnotes. [1] Mark Pascale and Ruth Fine, Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions. (Yale University Press, 2015): 33. [2] “Artist Conversation: Martin Puryear and Theaster Gates.” The Art Institute of Chicago (February 4, 2016) 30’27’’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LVmdOrC91c [3] Ibid. 37’50’’

  Source: The Brooklyn Rail / Kate Liebman. Link: MARTIN PURYEAR: Multiple Dimensions Illustration: Martin Puryear [USA] (b 1941). 'Untitled (State 1)', 2016. Intaglio in 3 colors on Hahnemuhle Bright White paper with deckled edge (104 x 101.5 cm). Moderator: ART HuNTER.

[izzythecyborg]

Nature aesthetics.

bold the natural aesthetics that appeal to / apply to your muse.  repost, do not reblog.  feel free to add any natural features you see fit !

fluffy white nimbus clouds. dark grey cumulonimbus clouds. rainclouds.  a hurricane.light spring breeze. a sherbert-colored sky at sunrise. hazy yellow skies. deep blue ponds of fresh water.  blankets of sparkling snow. tornado winds. monsoon flooding.rich orange sunsets. soft, purple clouds at dusk. heavy hail. the rumbling of thunder. icy sleet. gentle snowfall. moss-dusted tree bark. pink sunset clouds. grey winter skies.navy blue skies in the daytime. cool mist in the morning. leaf-bare trees. giant ocean wave. the full moon. a cracked, dry desert. rolling hills of prairie grass. sweeping waves of briny seawater. rocky, steep ravines. rippling canyon walls. spindly, cave stalactites. creeping green ivy. lush canopies of leafy trees. dense, white fog. a peaceful creek of clear water.  flowering cacti dusted with dew,catching light in the morning sun. a bubbling, hot pool of volcanic sulfur.sharp, grey mountainsides. fossils nestled in chunks of rock. a white sand beach. dark water. deep imprints of animal tracks in the dirt. soft, squishy moss. uniform rows of birch trees in winter.delicate mushrooms popping up in spring from beneath the decay on the forest floor.  tumbleweeds jerking in the faintest wind across the desert landscape. light rain.white feathers fluttering down from flocks of doves in the sky. summer wildfires. a mixing of hot and cool air before a storm. silent lightning in the static of summer heat.  a windy blizzard.  thick flakes of snow tumbling down from the sky.  a tree standing alone in a barren field.  a desert of loose sand and tall, orange dunes. a pure blue sky. a river of molten rock. a grove of flowering trees. twisting, mangled roots sticking up from the muddy ground. bitter, cold winds. tumultuous skies of stormy clouds. branches of lightning ripping across the sky.  a foggy swamp.  the tree-bare foothills of a mountain range.  sandy brown cliffsides. rocky coastlines. the violent shaking of an earthquake. the mysterious sound of ethereal trumpets in the sky. the lights of the auroras borealis and australis. a black sand beach.  a lone tropical island in the reef of shallow.underwater volcanic vents.  a herd of migrating mammals. tree branches growing heavy with ripe fruit.  light streaming down through the clouds.  a field of lush grain wading peacefully in the summer breeze. the sound of insects and frogs teeming in the night. natural diamonds nestled in coarse desert sands. a frozen lake. the sea salt scent of the air right above the ocean. the rippling of water as fish dive down under the surface to hide. the warmth of the seaside sand in the tropics. the quaint of a spider’s web balancing dew on its threads at dawn.

TAGGED BY: @archerwhiterp

TAGGING: @coffee-and-cogs @cicero-the-assassin @mrspicydad and @caell

[some-trash-pigeon]

Aries: Fireworks on New Year’s Eve, heavy woollen knitwear, red sky at night and orange sunsets, hot metal, warm noodle soup, firm handshakes, lights in the passenger saloons on the train, the smell of burning wax, bruised knuckles, walls covered in graffiti, volcanic eruptions, fresh paint, martial arts, the nick of pages against your thumb as you flick through a book.

Taurus: Pollen in the air, old, twisting staircases, brass instruments, cracks in the earth, old houses covered in wisteria, gears & cogs, cosy living rooms with crackling fires, an old song you remember from your childhood but could never remember the title of, icebergs, pumpkins on the doorstep on Halloween, moss growing over bracken.

Gemini: Glittering jewellery in the jewellers shop window, fresh sheets on the bed, an enthralling documentary, tornados, sneaking into the cinema, conversations heard through walls, the first time on an aeroplane, tangled wires, extravagant desserts, telecommunication towers, gardens with fountains, brand new shoes, migrating birds, long Skype conversations.

Cancer: Long walks down the pier, baby’s hair, footprints in the sand being washed away by the tide, old fashioned seashell trinket boxes, overcast skies, hilarious comments made out of the blue, coming home to the smell of cooking, heavy books full of esoteric knowledge, long walks with friends, coral reefs, sticks and rocks thrown off bridges into rivers, a hand clasped tightly in yours.

Leo: Bonfires, family albums, waking up on your birthday, shopping trips, purring cats, protective mothers, movie marathons, panoramic views, rollercoasters, lighted vanities, warm summer nights, the excitement of a new episode of your favourite show, conversations late at night in the kitchen, torn jeans, skipping stones over water.

Virgo: Harvest moon, studying in the library, fresh cut grass, playing on swings late at night and drunk, 24 hour stores, candyfloss/cotton candy, gig posters plastered on walls, phone boxes in the middle of nowhere, the sound of trains in the distance, pressing gum onto the underside of school desks, crickets in the night at summer, talking in the dark at sleepovers.

Libra: Gossip written on bathroom walls, hourglasses, messy notebooks, tyre swings, passing notes in class, deep conversations about your past with friends, fairy lights, paper cranes, aeroplane smoke streaks in the sky, hot air balloons, rosebushes, abandoned, overgrown farm machinery by the roadside, fireflies, letting friends copy your homework.

Scorpio: Constellations, black plumage, silent movies, hospital waiting rooms, sleeping in your car, quiet graveyards, silhouettes, deep pools of water, secret societies, cities lit up at night, old sepia photographs, cookie-cutter sharks, cloaks, black clouds before the storm, venomous animals, heavy black boots, butterfly knives, studded belts.

Sagittarius: Ferris wheels, lanterns on a string, shooting stars, skydives, nomads, see-through elevators, winding roads, friendship bracelets, the dawn chorus, spicy food, hazy blue skies, clouds around mountain peaks, casinos and arcades, lollipops that make your tongue turn blue, hot springs, cherry blossom, cacti and succulents, dynamite.

Capricorn: Cobbled streets, second hand shops/thrift stores, hollowed-out oak trees, book store coffee shops, mushrooms, moths, sunlight through blinds, crystal caves, dark, mysterious forests, owl calls at night, cracking joints, geometric design, animal skulls found in fields, stalactites and stalagmites, rocking-horses, marble statues, dinosaur fossils.

Aquarius: Hypnosis, weather balloons, cool techno music, metallic texture, the pyramids, morse code, mazes, neon signs, black holes, ‘fashionably late’, robots, Salvador Dali paintings, political protests, elaborate cocktails, satellites, ancient castle ruins, conspiracy theories, freshwater springs, rooftop parties.

Pisces: Tie dyed shirts, aquariums, grunge music, underwater volcanoes, bioluminescent deep sea creatures, hookahs, sand dunes, manta rays, witches’ covens, pub crawls, ambient sounds, celestial white noise, psychedelic art, boats on the horizon, storms at sea, lava lamps, natural hallucinogens, seaweed tangling around your limbs.

Sagittarius all the way.

[tourguideexpert-blog-blog]

10 of the world's best public transport rides: readers travel tips

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10 of the world's best public transport rides: readers travel tips

Theres no need for expensive tours when you can take a cable car to a cloud forest, a train through a gorge or a $10 bus to fantastic vineyards

Winning tip: Ferry to Mull and Iona, Highlands and Islands

Idyllic Iona is reached by a 10-minute, 3.50 return, ferry from Mull. It is the culmination of a pilgrimage starting at Oban on the mainland with the 45-minute ferry to Craignure and then bus, from which you can enjoy the isolated beauty of the road across Mull to reach Fionnphort. You embark on your short voyage to Iona with seals and dolphins playing in the wake of your ferry, impressive sea bird displays and the teal- to indigo-shaded waters. You will be rewarded with spiritual refreshment at sixth-century-founded Iona Abbey, the freshest fish in the St Columba Hotel and beautiful beaches near the Iona Hostel. calmac.co.uk Lizzie

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Hovercraft to the Isle of Wight

Photograph: Colin Burdett/Alamy

The hovercraft trip between Southsea (Portsmouth) and Ryde may well be the worlds only passenger hovercraft service, and its one of the most exciting rides you can take. That moment when the craft rises ponderously from its haunches, then slides gloriously sideways into the sea is one of the most exciting bits of any journey I ever go on. Theres the feeling of flying in fact, the reality of flying without any of that tedious business of getting to an airport and climbing into an aircraft. Those hovercraft go fast a shame its over in 10 minutes, but you get to see Victorian forts in the Solent and other interesting marine craft that traverse the channel. Yes, its noisy, but my, its fun. From about 24 return, hovertravel.co.uk Matthew

Free tram, Melbourne, Australia

Photograph: Getty Images

There could not be a more charming way of exploring Melbourne than the City Circle tram, a quaint Burgundy and Gold W6 class tram, with glossy wooden bench seats and panoramic views. It trundles around a circular loop of the city centre, with the rolling commentary sharing anecdotes about the history, buildings and parks. You can hop on and off all day between Melbournes vibrant centre, Flinders Street and the pretty waterfront. It is the saviour of travel-worn feet, a wonderful novelty and, best of all, its free. ptv.vic.gov.au Anna Kennett

Medelln cable car, Colombia

Photograph: Getty Images

For under $1, you can glide smoothly out of the citys centre to barrios on its lush surrounding hills and even further into the cloud forest on cable cars, part of Medellns metro network. This transport is not only cheap and convenient for locals but is a wonderful way to take in all of the different flavours of this fabulous city. Line L takes visitors to the Arv Park nature reserve, with its miles of trails and bountiful wildlife. A fifth line (Line M) is due to open this summer as the network expands. medellincolombia.co Eleanor

Alilaguna water bus, Venice

Photograph: Getty Images

If you reach Venice by air, buy your tickets for the Alilaguna water bus from Marco Polo airport and follow the well-signposted route to the jetty. We found the linea rossa boats frequent (they run twice an hour in summer) and clean, and the staff were helpful. A cheap and unhurried trip across the lagoon via the Lido and Murano, with a stop near Piazza San Marco. Incredibly scenic. Returns 25 between airport and Lido, alilaguna.it Lynn

Wine-tasting by bus, Argentina

Quilmes fort. Photograph: Alamy

Doing a wine-tasting trip is brilliant if you use the bus. The Mendoza-bound 339 from Salta to Cafayate follows a route through steep rocky valleys, dusty, cacti-covered hills and flashes of surprisingly lush green vegetation to deliver you 190km south to some of the countrys best vineyards in beautiful Cafayate, well known for its Torronts grapes. Youre almost certain to be the only tourist on the 339, and if you stay onboard for another hour youll arrive at the ruined fortress of Quilmes atop a hill that commands a majestic view of Tucumn province. Tickets from around US$10. The 339 is operated by Flechabus.com.ar but other bus companies operate between Salta and Cafayate, including transporteaconquija.com.ar Alex

Sleeper from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Photograph: Ian Atkinson/Alamy

We booked the SE2 Reunification Express overnight train from Ho Chi Minh in the far south up the east coast to Da Nang, taking about 18 hours. What a great experience. Soft(ish) sleeper, lots of stops, the opportunity to talk with locals on and off the train, and fascinating sights along the way. Dinner of two boiled eggs, accompanied by rice wrapped in a banana leaf, was tasty and filling. Its not fast or luxurious, but beats flying hands down. Sleeper from about $50 one way, vietnam-railway.com Mike Kilbane

Derry to Coleraine train line, Northern Ireland

Photograph: Alexander Cimbal/Alamy

Trains in Ireland are as rare as hens teeth in this day and age but those that do exist boast some of the most spectacular and scenic views anywhere. Particularly the 45-minute Derry to Coleraine journey which Michael Palin described as one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world. Hugging the unspoilt coast of the north-west of Ireland, this journeys highlights include Downhill Strand (where Stannis Baratheon oversaw the burning of the statues of the Old Gods for you Game of Thrones fans) and Mussenden Temple perched on the clifftop above the railway. 10 one way, translink.co.uk Catherine

Ferry journey, Alaska and the Aleutians

Photograph: Danita Delimont/Alamy

Instead of expensive and environmentally harmful cruises, take the Alaskan State Ferry between Bellingham, Washington State (just across the border from Vancouver), and Juneau, the Alaskan capital. It runs at the least weekly and takes about 60 hours. The accommodation may not be as smart as a private cruise but the scenery is the same and your fellow passengers are much more interesting. You can continue your journey along the Aleutians to the remote port of Dutch Harbor on Unalaska island perhaps the most remote place you can ever get to by public transport in North America. Ive been on the ferries twice both memorable journeys subsidised by the Alaskan taxpayer. Adult from $418 (Bellingham to Juneau), dot.state.ak.us Simon Fowler

Historic railway near Patras, Greece

Photograph: Charalambos Andronos/Getty Images

Train journeys dont get much more dramatic and technologically interesting than the Odontotos rack railway between Diakopto and Kalavrita in Greece, south of Patras. The journey covers 22km and takes 68 minutes as the train winds its way through the Vouraikos gorge, a geologic area recognised by Unesco. To allow for the ascent of 750 metres, a cog or rack system kicks into effect at certain points on the route. Youll move through towering cliffs, with rushing waterfalls below and a canopy of plane trees above. The destination, Kalavrita, was the scene of an infamous wartime massacre, marked by a moving museum and memorial site. Return ticket 19, odontotos.com Ian Ferguson

Looking for a holiday with a difference? Browse Guardian Holidays to see a range of fantastic trips

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

[voidbears-oc-stash]

*Discord'n Felicity are EXTREMELY! happy! tails wagging up a STORM! as they nuzzle'n cuddle them all VERY much! they're SPOILING'EM with love!*

Cog still seems timid, but the rest look happy!

[ask-thomassaggs]

The gift-giving anon has struck a-oh. Oh dearie, it seems the cog for this blog is now a plant. Well then. Unsure what to do, the anon wraps the gift, a pink sweater with cacti on it, meant for this cog around the plant’s pot. They hope you enjoy it!

*-Rustles-*

[indigo-ra]

Application for Enlightenment

OIL

If man is truly the master of his domain, then we should not be fighting over resources at this juncture of humanity. While I cannot say that oil/petroleum/gasoline is unimportant to our current economic structure, I can say that the dependence on it is easily replaced.

 I would like for the entire world to enter an enlightened state of consciousness, starting with world leaders and their corporate counterparts alike. If we are to continue to rely on petroleum for fuel, we need to be cautious of  pollutants and considerate as to how we procure them. If this is executed with tact and the utmost respect for life and nature, then it really is not a problem at all.

 The biggest issues are underscored in continuing conflicts with the suppliers of this particular economy. They rely on the trade of oil to bring water to their deserts. If you can step outside of your own ego and put yourself in the mind of your enemy, understand the type of life, history, land and culture they’re fighting for, you will realize that hubris has no place in treaty negotiations.

 The issue with pollution is that there are not enough trees to scrub the air. Solution: Plant more trees. Make the roofs of all the buildings into canopies. There should be bushes, cacti, bamboo, flowers or grass EVERYWHERE THAT THEY CAN GROW!

 Now that we’ve figured out how to filter the dirty air, lets tackle the soil and water.

 If the soil and water are irreversibly contaminated, humanity’s true natural wealth in resources will be damaged and depleted beyond repair.

  WATER

There are natural ways for filtration of rivers and lake water with charcoal stones, mussels, insects and certain bacterium. That’s not a band-aid, though. We, first, need to actively clean up our rivers and lakes to the best of our evolved human ability BEFORE we introduce other means to filter the water.  

 I strongly believe that our sewage should not touch our water. PERIOD. It’s been this way for nearly 1,000 years, but since we’re evolved enough to realize it and technologically advanced  enough to CORRECT it, it would be better for the whole of humanity to not sh*t where we drink. We could gradually taper off the traditional plumbing system and septic tanks with an organic, compost-making alternative. Just getting organized is the key to saving the entire world. Excrement does not belong in the water. It belongs in the soil.

 When you are a child and your parents make you clean your room, you know to put things away, where they belong. That does not change as an adult. You are expected to know better and, though the task seems monumental, there are ways to delegate and make the transition. I know it’s possible because when all analog TVs switched to digital, it was a smooth transition.

 While I do realize all the toilets are connected to intricate and complex subterranean sewage and waste pipes and drains, the solution is as simple  as swapping out the toilets themselves. There are composting toilets now. Though, not everyone likes that alternative, the market is open to inventing other types of flushing toilets that to do not taint our WATER!

 Of course resistance within the general population will be met, but just as EVERY TV signal eventually turned digital. The toilets will eventually gradually stop flushing to the sewers. The parts to replace them will no longer be made or sold and the only market for them will be for composting and other varieties that will just make that plumbing hole in the floor obsolete. It’s simple.

 After that, the water, will be half clean before it even reaches the treatment facility. From there, exercising conscious disposal and recycling practices with solids, alkaloids, chemical and synthetic materials becomes as simple as sending out 2 different garbage trucks. One truck picks up the synthetics (plastics, batteries, cleaning solvents and everything inorganic) for disposal (nuclear disposal byproduct is steam!) OR drilling a magma quarry and letting it be melted down into its basic elements( probably less safe if stuff is super flammable….(come back to this)

 Fracking needs to stop. It’s too toxic to justify. If the need for natural gas and oil is great enough to drive the need for fracking then we need to rely on other renewable and eco-conscious energy sources such as wind turbines, solar panels and geothermal energy. Car engines can be designed of intricate cogs that are entirely automated like wind-up toys. Until a time comes that coal is not the primary source of electricity, electric cars are still relying on a secondary pollutant for power.

  SOIL

Pesticides are the main culprit in polluting the soil. For large, major crops like corn, oranges, and apples it is the  most cost efficient way to prevent pests like mice, birds or locusts from overtaking the crops. BUT  there are other solutions. Like, ants, snakes, frogs and foxes. Chemicals are not the answer to every little thing. There are flora and fauna that are evolved to do things even better than chemical agents and you don’t even have to pay them.

 I’m sure there are natural pesticides that don’t contaminate the soil as well. SO let’s focus on making that the standard.

  CRIME

 Wherever there is a concentrated, population of humans, crime will follow. Generally, most crime occurs when a criminal is discontent and trying to fulfill or satisfy a basic need or desire. The best way to minimize crime and discourage criminal activity is by creating a thriving economy where all basic needs are met.

 Low or no income individuals should always have shelter to sleep, a place to cook, wash(clothes) and bathe.  Public Shower/Laundromats with outside seating and grilling areas should do the trick. And as for the shelter (Tubo hotel) Concrete tubes with basic bedding. All of this should be free of charge (mostly) because the laundry facilities may need regular maintenance so if it’s possible there could be an aluminum can and glass bottle recycling at the door, which can cover the cost of entry and allow full use of the facilities. 50 cents or even a dollar is attainable in pennies, cans or bottles. That’s in addition to taxpayers money, of course, which, in the case of lowering crime rate is a worthy cause to pay.

 For individuals who make less than is sustainable in urban areas. Low income, manufactured freight car homes should be organized in LEGO rental parks that give special rental discounts to students, seniors, disabled, and hard-working, blue-collar people who have goals and ambitions to advance their living standards.

 [ Freight container mobile home park community]  

 Because of their mobile and utilitarian design, the Freight container home is infinitely customizable. For those who prefer more a nomadic lifestyle, these tiny traveling homes could serve as a key component in a more independent economy and provide the opportunities for fair trade to be cultivated within its communities. Because the population will be mostly low income students/workers/families, anyone who can work, but is unemployed for any reason will be able to work in the community greenhouse(s) maintaining and growing the crops that feed its inhabitants.

 Of course, creating a supply and demand for cheap, sustainable and eco-friendly housing is the key to the beginning of this endeavor.

 [Apt building with freight container homes loaded in]

 Once every one has a home, crime rates will fall, but it is always a possibility for Crazy Daisies to pop up in the genetic pool, like weeds.

Mental Health

As it currently stands, the mental health facilities and practices funded by the government are extremely poor. Even private institutions are comparable in their poor treatment of the mentally ill. It’s uncomfortable to talk about, especially when more and more people are ending up homeless and living on the street, because of their mental instability.

 Therapy, psychiatry and social work are all fields that inevitably take a toll on the mental stability of its practitioners. The stories and situations of the patients, objectively, leave their marks on the listeners, albeit less detrimental. Over time, anyone would crack, if subjected to this on a daily or weekly basis for years at a time.

 Healthy mental health professionals will result in healthier, more productive mental patients, or at the very least more accurate diagnoses and facility placements.

 I think all mental health professionals should be tested and reviewed by an unbiased third party annually to gauge their mental fitness and determine whether they are fit to continue their practice. We can succeed in this by sending mole patients (like undercover detectives) to see them in action without them actually knowing they are under scrutiny. This will weed out the corrupted and support the efforts of the best practitioners with awards, accolades and milestone achievements encouraging them to keep up the good work. But ALL of these professionals should be removed after a  period of time (to curb unhealthy patient/doctor attachment) and promoted to more administrative or corporate level positions, where mental instability still exists, but the causes are different and  building from the bottom of the economical ladder UP, will qualify them to handle a plethora of mental and emotional conditions while still advancing pay, benefits and gradually addressing higher and higher socioeconomic classes of patients.

  Prison

Prison is a necessary part of society to maintain a civil population. The rising trend of corporate prisons is alarming,  because they are not federally regulated to meet government standards, nor do they care to understand what it takes to run a mass facility manned by people who were prosecuted under the law/public, yet are now subjected to private corporate slavery. It COSTS more money to run a prison than to profit from one. But there is a much larger hierarchy that needs to be reorganized  before  the penal system can be perfected.

#1 The Judicial due process of law should not be a debate club. Right now, lawyers just tell the best stories to sway juries (who are all oblivious, disgruntled spectators) to land on a verdict. It’s like a pinball table. Once a person is in that courtroom, the odds of coming out of it free and clear are slim, just by design.  

 Judge jəj/

noun

1.     

a public official appointed to decide cases in a court of law.

If a jury is important to due process, the judge should hold much more responsibility than they currently do. At this point, they act as little more than a referee between the lawyers and unfortunately, the more aggressive the lawyer, the better their reputation.

Sitting in court for long hours is boring and irritating for everyone involved except for the person(s) on trial. The jury will take any entertainment they can get, and I hate to say it, but people are more prone to conforming to a hive mentality when subjected to these types of displays.

[Examples: Sports and other competitive events, Spectators when traffic slows to a crawl when there are accidents on the highway]

When the majority of a mass of strangers land on a verdict, in the rare incident that a minority percentage of them do not agree, they are more LIKELY to end up being swayed to the majority opinion for entirely selfish reasons of convenience. Being FORCED to take off work and sit in a boring court room all day, listening to strangers tell the same story over and over again, is not a great way to get an unbiased opinion from anyone, especially if they care nothing about the individual on trial!

If nothing else, at least one person who is close to and knows the defendant and one person who represents the victim/plaintiff, should be in that jury. THEY should be the ones who negotiate the terms of the verdict and sentence/punishment with the jury and give the final suggestion to the judge. Otherwise, get rid of the jury. If a judge were to do their actual job by dictionary and biblical definition that you like to operate under oath and swear by, they need more practice in  “judgment”. Perhaps even a jury of judges would be more appropriate, since a practiced judge can tell the difference between an innocent or guilty person as soon as they enter the room. I believe a lot of prisoners serving long term stints in prison for minor offenses will be granted more amnesty, fitting punishments and better facility placement dependent on the nature of their crimes rather than treated like clusters of zoo animals. If judges were more like Shark Tank or American Idol, it would make more sense. I hate to say that, but the dramatic display between lawyers at this point is just as ridiculous. There’s just less confetti. Maybe you should add confetti and balloons when they’re proven innocent and everyone will leave court with a smile on their face, because judicial stuff is a drag!

Juvenile, Minimum Security, Maximum Security, and Mental Institutions, cover the main placements of incarceration. They could be better organized, though. For instance, violently criminally insane people don’t fit in any of these places. They belong in Hell. But for the sake of being civilized, I don’t think caging or locking up a person who has no hope for rehabilitation is an option either. It’s a waste of money, resources, and a hazard to prisoners and guards alike, not to mention the quality of life for a person who is constantly restrained is no life at all. Some people need to be put out of their misery, which brings me to my next point.

Ethical Euthanasia/Fight or Die

A lot of states have gotten rid of the Death Penalty because they may feel it is uncivilized, outdated or primitive, but only their execution methods were. Death by lethal injection is still pretty rude, since even cats and dogs get put to a calm sleep. I strongly believe criminally insane people driven by their id (the disorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human's basic, instinctual drives.) are more animal than human. To me, it seems fitting that we have some fun with these, since they are cause for more pain and suffering in a string of families lives who have lost loved ones to murders, rape and kidnappings, can count. If you want to just delete an anomaly of human being, by all means, put them down. But do it quickly and ethically. Personally I think that’s a little too tame of an end for these types of criminals and I think they should, instead, be subjected to the untamed elements they project and forced to fight for survival. If their life is worth anything to anyone, they must at least prove it to themselves.

 I’m talking spectator bloodsport.

 It’s really quite logical if you think about it. The Romans had the Coliseum, and that worked pretty well up until they began throwing innocent people into it. We could make Hunger Games type courses, put a tracking device on them and drop a bunch of these wild murderous, rapist, cannibalistic predators on the top of Mt Everest  or something with each other and see how they respond. It will also tell us more about the psyche of such individuals. This is the part of the criminally insane mind that has socially eluded us for generations. We, as civilized people tend to take a passive stance on the aggressive transgressions of serial murderers by turning our backs on them and locking them away. Or we deal a tawdry death sentence without ever unraveling what makes them so evil and driven in the first place. We are now in a time where we can actually privately televise and monetize these types of events, in which the proceeds could be given to the victims’ families.

 Placing them in the proper wilderness settings with blunt objects or tools and watching whether they can learn how to be civilized or fight to the death would be entertaining AND educational. Either way, the information is invaluable to ending the cycle of these types of criminals from cropping up in the first place.

 We have to also remember to remain civilized ourselves. We can indulge in this only for as long as it is a necessity; but I have faith that seeing what the darkest and most evil transgressors of humanity, have to endure as a result, will eventually be enough to stop it from happening. At the very least it may even create other bloodsport arenas in which these types of animals can express themselves (death matches and cage fights to the death, maybe with motorcycles and lead pipes in a Mad-Max dystopian sand pit or something) so that they even have a way to rise to some meaningful notoriety in their short, otherwise meaningless, lives is better than them kidnapping, raping and murdering innocent people. Some people place minimal value on their own lives, but if we allow them to do that, instead of trying to place the same existential “all lives matter” label on everyone, they will only hurt themselves  and each other instead of the truly innocent lives of people who do value theirs.

 What you are left with after that, is prisons that eliminate the need for life OR death sentences, as well as a variety of punishments that fit the crimes so that we rehabilitate criminals instead of creating recidivists, because they are bad for businesses everywhere!

 For Example:

 Tony is a 21-year-old white male who broke and entered into a house and stole a bunch of jewelry and sold it to the pawn shop for drug money.

 Today if this person was caught and indicted, depending on the state, judge, jury, and prosecutor, Tony could end up in jail for a VERY long time or not at all depending on if they’re dealing with a good-ol-boy racist white supremicist on the legal board. The racial bias in anyone who has a hand in legal proceedings makes them unfit for that duty and they should be terminated. End of story.

 But the point is, there is no set length of time that is guaranteed to rehabilitate this 21 year old poor kid who got addicted to drugs while hanging out with the only people who ever treated him like family since his own parents abused and emotionally abandoned him.

 Each individual’s story is as unique as their crimes, and the judicial system is prone to vehemently ignoring the circumstances that drive people to doing crime in the first place by locking them away from civilized humanity and making them worse off than when they went in. When they finally re-emerge back into the world with no prospects or options, of course they will return to the same life they’ve only EVER known to work.

 Tony obviously needs rehab, the support of a group home to sleep in and get used to having domestic stability and the support of others who are also committed to staying clean (NA/AA officials) and a JOB. A job is so important. If a person has to work 8 hours a day, you’ll find they prefer being productive rather than destructive in 9 out of 10 cases.

 I hear a lot of budget talk and raising taxes and so on, but the truth is the government doesn’t have to do EVERYTHING. Non-profit sectors and religious organizations do good work in these areas already. If the government actually gave them material donations as well as funding (building and maintenance supplies, food, and basic living provisions as they provide to prisons!) the government wouldn’t have to worry about re-inventing the wheel.

 Eventually the point is to put Tony on the path to pursuing prosperity so that he will become successful and independent enough to support himself. If that program was a well oiled-machine, no one would be left behind...and the ones that choose the life of laziness have to sleep in tubo beds and shower in laundromats. Get it?

   Police

All over the world, the definition of this is different. The Police in Germany are much more tolerant than Police in Virginia-by historic design, of course. It only really means that police are human beings of flesh and blood too; wielding guns as weapons. A racist, rapist junkie that wakes up every morning and puts on the police hat, is really just a polished turd, with a gun.

I emphasized the need for better mental health practices and I cannot emphasize it enough here by saying it should be absolutely MANDATORY  to stage regular psychological screenings apart from just drug tests. A gun is a serious weapon, so having a license to kill by a hair trigger that is enforced by the LAW is no place for folly of any sort. Police should take this part of themselves as serious as a Royal British Palace Guard, but also as a public protector, be the hero you are when people are giving you love.

It’s a fine line, because it is the difference between confident and cocky. Confidence is sexy while Cockiness starts wars.  Military Police are Police for the Military. The entire Military is just a percentage of a nation’s people with different skill-sets and almost a nation within the nation itself. That being heard, understood and acknowledged means that Wars are fought and won by the military’s police.

The biggest ongoing conflict that everybody wants to quit, other than the videogaming drone stoners, is the middle east conflict. It’s displacing people and ruining EVERYONE’S economies.

What now needs to be understood, is that guns have a place. The desert is of blood and sand, and always has been. Now, the best place to profit from buying and selling guns in every currency should be there. The people who are stationed and want to stay should set up hobby shops selling all kinds of guns, paintball, airsoft, water, nerf and so on. Then divide your camps into your hobby lobbies. What you’ll come to find is that there are people of all lands and cultures that will gravitate to your bazaar communities and create their own cultures there and unite the (Fire Nation).

Like yogurt or wine, the culture, with age, will eventually develop your creole language and you’ll notice that war is just a game you play. Even the real guns still have purpose if we let those Crazy Daisies play Call of Duty: Real World.

The private owners of guns have an opportunity to create armories, like libraries, where people can check out guns, this way they are easily tracked, and gun violence will eventually taper off into nonexistence by obsolesence.

 Now that I have addressed the most urgent, pressing and dire matters of Earth. Let us enter into a responsible economy by investing in beauty. It is no longer a race for money, but material wealth in loveliness.

Trading between human beings does not have to be ugly or slavery. If a person wants to be a slave, let them. Owning a slave should be a contract negotiated between two people.

Not everyone is comfortable being a leader or independent. If a man wants a harem of wives that wash, cook and clean for him, but also is willing to provide for them all, then the legality of these terms must be discussed between contracts.

Human trafficking is also a gold mine. People have beautiful snowflakes of babies they don’t want every day. People could buy AND trade THESE CHILDREN like Pokemon cards and breed them (as adults). Again, buying the rights to people calls for the accommodations to take care of them all. Obviously the drive to love them will yield the best crops.

Children are the most inexpensive, yet MOST valuable resource on this planet.

Now…that creates new problems… because then people will start having kids just for the sake of trying to profit from this model, and overpopulation will end us all before long. So in that same vein, if a Crazy Daisy gets caught doing this, they should be sterilized. It’s only fitting and fair, if they willingly subject their offspring to a life they never intended to cultivate, themselves.

Do you like my future model so far?  Would you like to be a part of this from a shareholders stake? Well allow me to introduce myself:

I am DOCTOR Princess Rhonda Bear.

[garagedoorshampshire]

40 Decorative Wall Hooks To Hang Your Things In Style

Remember that beautiful coat stand at your grandmother’s front door? Or that quirky hat hook your friend’s mother found at market? A great hat or coat hook is a valuable entrance to any home – so why make it standard? These forty wall hooks are designed for any style of décor, any passion of interest, and any type of accessory. Have a few too many towels in the bathroom? Get them off the floor with a steel octopus. Want to mimic the city skyline? Hang your keys behind the door on its silhouette. Get creative and fashionable with our top hook picks to hang your coats, umbrellas, scarves, handbags and bathroom necessities.

$31BUY IT Modern-Style Wall Hooks: Create an art feature out of a coat rack, with this line of alternating black blocks. Simply flick out the block when you need it, and pop it back in when you don’t.

$33BUY IT Piano Wall Hooks: Love pattering away on a piano tune? Extend the passion to your entrance wall, where the sharps and flats can fold over your coat.

$25BUY IT Skyline Wall Hook: Mimic the city view outside, with this skyline wall hook drenched in grey. Choose a building on which to hang your favourite scarf.

$35 for 3BUY IT Mountain Wall Hooks: Rather be climbing rocks? This natural and black-painted wood creation works in a trio, creating a Scandinavian, kitschy vibe.

$19BUY IT Climbing People-Shaped Wall Hooks: Ever feel your coats are dragging you down? These climbing people feel the same – although with hidden wall fasteners and colour-moulded figures, you’d never know.

$15BUY IT Cute Kids Room Wall Hooks: Make every hanging part of playtime, with this set of three hooks for the kids. Candy-coloured and self-adhesive, they hang pictures whilst protecting bedroom walls.

$29BUY IT Raindrop-Shape Wall Hooks: Available in white, blue or natural wood, these raindrops turn a rainy day into oodles of practical fun.

$18BUY IT Minimalist Ball-Shaped Hooks: Rather be out of the rain? These minimalist ball versions look like you’ve polka-dotted your entranceway, while holding hats, coats and umbrellas.

$20BUY IT Minimalist Wooden Hooks: These beechwood or walnut beauties give a solid frame on which to hang your wear. Coated in wood wax oil, they provide a simple, understated polish.

$8BUY IT Geometric Hooks: Not after the usual shape? These geometric hooks resembling cacti come in charcoal, red and pastel mint green.

$10BUY IT Rustic Branch-Shaped Hooks: Lift your bag from the floor with this cast iron hook resembling a branch. With all your essentials up here, the kids and cat can’t get close.

$28BUY IT Decorative Branch Wall Hook: For a tree that seems the real deal, look no further than these wooden wall hooks. With top and bottom branches holding differing levels of weight, they’re both artistic and handy.

$77BUY IT Paint Drip Wall Hooks: The art deco home would love these abstract paint drip hooks. Painted in a scintillating red, each drip offers a new height – and bloody, Thriller-like seduction.

$29BUY IT Subway Wall Hooks: Plan your daily subway journey before you leave the house, with this multi-coloured hook. Hang your jackets on the places you’d like to go, your bag on the routes you’ve never travelled.

$11BUY IT Ninja Shuriken Hooks: Ever wanted to pin an enemy to the wall, with a flying steel shuriken? This unique coat hanger is the next best thing, living out your combat fantasies while your bags sit high.

$10BUY IT Rustic Key-Shaped Hook Rack: Made from recycled iron, this Secret Garden-esque key could be the missing part of your back entrance. Place it before a garden patch, holding the keys to the shed, garage, and greener pastures.

$75BUY IT White Wall Shelf With Hooks: Need a bit of extra storage? Find it in this white wall shelf with hooks underneath. Cubbying bags, knick-knacks and a shelf above, this design is sure to organise the little necessities.

$79BUY IT Birdhouse-Shaped Hook Rack: Perfect for the garden or outdoor area, this row of birdhouses doubling as coat racks play nicely to exteriors. A white dummy bird inside headlines a structure made of wood and metal hooks.

$40BUY IT Industrial-Style Wall Hooks: Made from wood and steel piping, these fixtured rows would look a treat above the workman’s bench or industrial kitchen. Distressed wood behind adds a touch of the antique to a modern classic.

$25BUY IT Steampunk-Style Gear Hooks: Go back to the future with these gear-style hooks, a perfect steampunk home décor partner. As cogs turn in the detail above, a row of three curved hooks holds your everyday essentials.

$9BUY IT Antique-Style Brass Wall Hook: Play the part in brass, with this antique-looking hook with wall base detailing. Two-pronged, it can hold his ‘n’ hers towels, scrubbing brushes, or a couple of hats in one.

$15BUY IT Shabby Chic Iron Wall Hooks: Twisting into fleur-de-lis, Florentine and French symbols, these cast iron hooks evoke the genteel garden, painted in white.

$20BUY IT Fleur De Lis Double Wall Hooks: After a more subdued look? These fleur-de-lis hooks sit separately afront your back garden, guest entrance or family garage door.

$40 for 2BUY IT Nautical-Themed Anchor Hooks: Anchor your beach home in an oceanic flavour, with these black hooks. Subtle, practical, and oh-so-nautical, they add a design feature to the seaside interior.

$24BUY IT Beach-Themed Wall Hooks: Hang with the fishes, buoys, boats or seahorses with these quirky additions to your nautical home décor. Their painted ceramic exteriors work well in the bathroom, entrance or the ocean-mad kids’ room.

$24BUY IT Sparrow Wall Hooks: Qualy Design created this pair of sparrows, to twitter about your hanging belongings. Drenched in black and white, the monochrome home would welcome their chirpy humour.

$16BUY IT Modern Bird Hooks: Pinocchio isn’t the only one lying in this collection of birds. With beaks jutting out to hold your coats, each tweeter holds its own shape and attitude.

$22BUY IT Birds On A Branch Wall Hooks: This cast iron creation is sure to send birdsong through your home entrance. Coated in a metallic finish, two birds and six hooks offer enough storage for your knick-knacks.

$20BUY IT Peacock Wall Hook: Reminiscent of Sri Lankan or Indian colonial times, this teal-painted hook is an exemplary piece of peacock home décor.

$18 for 3BUY IT Owl Wall Hooks: Add some wisdom to your interior, with this understated owl holding your coat. Perfect for light, bright, French-inspired areas, its charcoal hues work beautifully with florals.

$15BUY IT See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil Owls: Remind yourself of your better nature, with these owl-lined hooks at your entrance. A didactic example of owl home décor, three hooks mean two for the couple, one for a guest.

$11BUY IT Deer Wall Hooks: Recycled resin takes this stag head from its place above the mantelpiece, to your living room or library wall. Pair and contrast with our wider range of faux deer heads to choose the right stag for your living room.

$13BUY IT Elephant Wall Hooks: Evoke the elephant’s lasting memory, with this wall hook in your library or lounge. A pair of headphones or potted plant could look a treat in a range of decors.

$22BUY IT Whale Tail Wall Hook: Make a splash in your bathroom, not on your towel, with this wall hook in your wetter areas. A flipping tail is sturdy enough to hold bags, clothes and shower knick-knacks.

$20BUY IT Cute Cats Wall Hook: The cat lover just can’t go past this miaowing posse of felines. Slot it under a ledge for a no-holes way to hold essentials at the doorway.

$13BUY IT Octopus Wall Hook: This cast iron octopus is another find for the bathroom. Two of its eight tentacles hook shower caps, clothes and towels.

$36BUY IT Bang Bang Wall Hook: Point a gun without pointing a gun, with this hand-made wall hook. Its sturdy two fingers give a helping hand at your front door.

$77BUY IT Come Here Hand Gesture Wall Hook: Want to welcome guests with a friendlier gesture? This ‘come hither’ hand uses its index finger to take hold of your bag.

$36BUY IT Peace Sign Wall Hook: Take the more relaxed approach, with a peace sign marking your entranceway. Two fingers prop up coats and umbrellas on those windy, rainy days.

$36BUY IT Thumbs Up Wall Hook: Good with everything but a place to hang your stuff? Thumb a lift up of your coat, scarf or handbag.

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from Interior Design Ideas http://www.home-designing.com/unique-decorative-wall-coat-hooks-and-racks

[voidbears-oc-stash]

*Discord picks up Pixel'n Willow! she's VERY soft! especially her upper torso which has extra fur! giving the two several kisses'n nuzzles! Felicity offers Spec'n Cog for her to do the same! having both arms extended in a "come hug me son!" pose! *

Spec helps Cog feel comfortable going over to Felicity. Cog eventually grans Felicity's hand, while Spec goes more into the hug

Pixel's webbed paws grip onto Discord's shoulder, while Willow's soft paws hold around her neck gently.

[voidbears-oc-stash]

*Discord holds Willow's paw!* Discord: if people think Ultra's irresponsible for adopting EVERYONE he can! then WE'RE taking some of the burden! and i'd LOVE to see someone pull that crap with us! *to Willow* that is if you all'd WANT us as moms?

Spec grabs Cog's paw and goes up to Felicity and Discord. "Got us food. I trust."

With Spec's comment, Cog seems to relax a bit.

Willow nods. "Happy!"

Pixel had finished her food and also offered her paw to Discord.

[voidbears-oc-stash]

Felicity: you kids, all by yourselves surviving! and- Discord: well congrats then kiddos you got two new moms now! Felicity: HUH!?

"Mamas?" Cog questions

Willow reaches to grab Discord's hand.

[voidbears-oc-stash]

Felicity: we know! Discord: we're his GFs- I mean your BIO parents are they- not around?

They all shake their head.

"Don't know them..." Cog squeaks out.

"We don remember them. Except were all different between us. We like siblings..." Spec tries her best to explain. "I'm oldest. Can talk best."

[voidbears-oc-stash]

Felicity: hey! its okay! sweetie! calm down! Discord: uh hey kid watch this! *she shapeshifts into a tiny clown car! and starts driving in circles making tiny funny honks! she has NO idea how to comfort children- *

Cog looks extra nervous, he grabs Spec's hand

Spec gives Cog a few pats. "It's ok. They was scared like you"