#south west western australia

[travelmanposts]

Perth, Australia: Perth is the capital city of Western Australia. It is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of Perth's metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which its central business district and port of Fremantle are situated. Wikipedia

[nuytsia]

Grevillea petrophiloides "Pink Pokers"

[mycological-mariner]

Hmm… Cornish Western story… hm

[reasonsforhope]

"In an open-air courtroom set up in a nature reserve in Western NSW, a four-nation clan has secured one of the largest native title claims in the region's history. 

Far from the four walls and formalities of a federal courtroom, Justice Melissa Perry delivered her determination at Newey Reserve in Cobar on Wednesday, recognising the native title rights of the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan and Wayilwan peoples.

The decision marks the successful end of a 12-year legal battle that began in 2012.

The claim covers more than 95,000 square kilometres of land and water from the Barwon River in the north, to the Lachlan River in the south, the Castlereagh River in the east and Ivanhoe to the west. 

It recognises native title rights including the right to hunt, fish and gather resources, the right to access and camp on land and right to protect places of cultural and spiritual importance.

A legacy for future custodians 

Aunty Elaine Ohlsen, a Ngiyampaa Elder from Cobar and one of the original applicants, said the decision brought her "mixed emotions".

"I just persevered," she said.

"We've been through a lot of trials and tribulations to get here, but I'm someone who won't give up fighting for our people."

"These sorts of things need to happen all the time, because we need to know who we are and where we come from and where we are in this country."

Aunty Elaine hopes the determination will inspire future generations to continue their ancestors' legacy.

"Hopefully, this will encourage them to stay connected to their country, heritage, and culture, and to carry on the hard work we've done," she said.

Vision for the future

Wangaaypuwan man and claim applicant John Shipp recently camped on country with four generations of his family.

He said the recognition of native title meant they could continue to do so without fear of being moved on.

"It's just those little things that give us our connection back to our land, our heritage, our culture," he said.

The native title holders have now formed the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan Wayilwan Aboriginal Corporation (NNWW Corporation) to manage their rights.

As a director of the NNWW Corporation, Mr Shipp sees the determination as the beginning of a new chapter...

As for Mr Shipp's message to other Indigenous groups fighting for recognition?

"Keep going — it's getting better, it's getting shorter, it's happening, just keep going," he said."

-via ABC News Australia, August 14, 2024

[herpsandbirds]

May I request a compilation of favourite deffensive displays? Saw the lil guy yall posted and thought to ask about this.

YOU DONT HAVE TO GET SO DEFENSIVE!!!

Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus), in a defensive display, family Viperidae, OK, USA

Venomous.

photographs by Snakes on the Plains Photography

Jasper Cat Snake (Boiga jaspidea), juvenile - defensive posture, family Colubridae, Singapore

Rear-fanged mildly venomous.

photograph by Tan Robbin

Power’s Rain Frog (Breviceps poweri), in full defensive inflation, family Brevicipitidae, South Luangwa, Zambia

photograph by Frank Willems

Common Blue-tongued Skink (Tiliqua scincoides), giving a threat/defensive tongue display, family Scincidae, northern Western Australia

photograph by robbesorre

Northwestern Salamander (Ambystoma gracile), female showing defensive posture with milky whte toxic secretions, family Ambystomatidae, Del Norte County, California, USA

photograph by John P Clare

Armadillo Girdled Lizard (Ouroborus cataphractus), HE BITE HIM OWN TAIL!!! (defensive position), family Cordylidae, West Coast, South Africa

photograph by MOC Reptiles (@mocreptiles)

Secret Toadhead Agama (Phrynocephalus mystaceus), defensive display, family Agamidae, found in found in Iran, North Afghanistan, Eastern Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan

photograph by Milan Zygmunt Photographer

Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris) in defensive position, family Bufonidae, northern FL, USA

photograph by Dick Bartlett

[matan4il]

Judaism is a native religion and identity, so like all indigenous religions, it has ALWAYS sanctified the bond between the tribe and its ancestral land:

* Jews, no matter where around the world we are, pray in the direction of the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem.

* Israel, Jerusalem, and Zion are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible hundreds of times, often in connection to the importance of the bond between the land and the Jewish people.

* The Hebrew calendar and Jewish holidays are based on the agricultural year as experienced in the Land of Israel. For example, we celebrate Shavu'ot, the Jewish festival of the harvest, during the Hebrew month of Sivan, which is roughly around the Gregorian month of June. In Australia, June is the rainiest month of the year, with severe temperature drops, absolutely not the right time for the harvest. But Australian Jews still celebrate Shavu'ot at the same time as all other Jews, around June. Because we ALL honor and preserve the agricultural cycle of our ancestors in Israel.

* Many Jewish prayers express a desire to return to Israel, for example with the phrase, "Next year in Jerusalem."

Here's a greeting card, drawn at Linz, a Nazi concentration camp in Austria, which was turned into a DP (displaced persons) camp at the end of the war. The card features the above three Hebrew words (you can see the freed prisoners of the camp on the left, heading towards a land with palm trees on the right, with one of the buildings having a Star of David on top):

* The holiest site for Jewish people in the entire world is the thousands of years old Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Jewish temple stood, in Israel.

* Several Jewish holidays explicitly celebrate the Zionist notion, meaning the importance of the bond between the Jews and the Land of Israel. Hanukkah is a celebration of the native Jews fighting off the Greek occupying forces, and re-establishing Jewish sovereignty in Israel, and the freedom from religious persecution this allowed Jews, by re-dedicating the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem to Jewish worship, after it was defiled by the Greeks (including by re-lighting the Temple Menorah). Passover celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, and the start of their journey back home, to their ancestral land in Israel, with the Passover meal ceremony including thanking God for bringing Jews back to Israel, and for building the Temple in Jerusalem for them.

* The language of the Jewish people is Hebrew, which is the last Canaanite language, the last of the languages spoken by the native peoples of Israel. Hebrew is specifically tied to the geography of Israel. For example, in the Bible, the Hebrew word for "west" is also the Hebrew word for "sea," because Israel's western border is the Mediterranean Sea. Similarly, the Hebrew word for "south" is also the Hebrew name of the desert that makes up the southern part of Israel, the Negev. Every Jewish language, which developed in the diaspora (such as Yiddish and Ladino), features words borrowed from Hebrew.

Here's an Israeli poster made in 1949, honoring "Sea Day" and featuring a part of a biblical verse (Genesis 28, verse 14): "And your seed shall be as the sand of the earth, and you will spread to the sea and to the east, to the north and to the Negev, and blessed in you and in your seed will be all the families of the Earth."

* Among the 613 Jewish mitzvahs, religious decrees that Jews must observe, one explicitly states that whenever possible, Jews should strive to live on their ancestral land in Israel. This is called in Hebrew, "mitzvat yishuv Eretz Yisrael."

* Among the 613 mitzvahs, there are 26 mitzvahs that can only be observed while living in the Land of Israel. These are called in Hebrew, "mitzvot ha'tluiot ba'aretz."

* Jewish homes have included for centuries a decorative piece hung on the eastern wall, and called "mizrach" (the Hebrew word for "east"), because that was the direction of Israel to most Jews. It usually included a biblical verse in Hebrew, often one that either mentions the east, Israel or Jerusalem, and also illustrations of Jerusalem or Israel.

Here's an 18th or 19th century mizrach from Germany:

* In Jewish synagogues, especially in Europe, the eastern wall was the most important one, because it was the one facing Israel. This wall was called, "kotel ha'mizrach" which means in Hebrew "the wall of the east."

* Oh, but the word "kotel" refers specifically to the walls of the Temple Mount. For example, the Western Wall, the only one of the Temple Mount's four walls accessible to Jews for centuries (and therefore the plaza in front of it became the second holiest place to Jews, after the Temple Mount itself) is called in Hebrew, "ha'kotel" (the wall). So why would a synagogue wall be referred to as "kotel" as well? Because every Jewish synagogue is called "mikdash me'at," a lesser temple. Every Jewish synagogue is a reminder and placeholder for the destroyed Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

* Accordingly, many Jewish synagogues feature reminders of the Beit Ha'Mikdash (the Hebrew Temple). For example, this holy ark, from a synagogue in Romania, which survived the Holocaust, and is today presented at Yad Vashem (Israel's national Holocaust museum), includes two pillars on its sides, a reminder of the Temple in Jerusalem's pillars believed to have been build by King Solomon. The holy ark's pillars are named exactly like the Temple's two pillars, Boaz and Yachin. This holy ark also features two hands, they're meant to be the high priest's, while he's performing the priestly blessing, an ancient Jewish ceremony that was conducted on the steps of the Temple in Jerusalem.

* In fact, over the centuries, one of the most prominent Jewish symbols is the menorah, which is a reflection of the candelabra eternally lit in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

The Temple Menorah being stolen by the occupying Romans, as seen on the Titus Arch in Rome:

The menorah as incorporated into jewelery, as a Jewish symbol, goes back thousands of years:

* For centuries, Jews created Jewish art and culture, which expressed Zionist longing. For example, the Sephardi doctor, philosopher and poet Rabbi Yehuda Ha'Levi writes what is maybe the most famous of the "Zion poems" while living in Islamic-occupied Spain: "My heart is in the East, and I am at the end of west / How shall I taste what I eat, and how should it be an enjoyable taste? / How shall I repay my vows and commitments, while / Zion is in the ropes of Edom, and I am in the bonds of Arabia? / It would be easy for me to leave all of the good of Spain, just like / It would be precious to me to witness the ashes of a ruined temple."

* In 1140, Rabbi Yehuda Ha'Levi finally fulfilled his wish, and boarded a ship for the Land of Israel. We don't know what happened to him, but the phrasing in a Hebrew letter, written by Jews who knew him, and found in Egypt, implies that he was murdered. For almost 2,000 years, it was dangerous for Jews to try and return to Israel, and it certainly wasn't possible on the scale of a national movement. Jews knew it was dangerous. And yet for centuries, despite that, individual Jews like Rabbi Yehuda Ha'Levi persisted in attempting this return. This is a part of Jewish history. It's not just that there was a small number of Jews, who managed to remain in Israel despite the repeated expulsions and massacres of Jews from our land, it's also that there was a small number of Jews who dared attempt the return to Israel continuously, over centuries, and neither of these things would have happened had Judaism not been Zionist. Always.

* For centuries, every Jewish wedding includes a part, where the groom recites an oath of loyalty and longing for Jerusalem. The text itself is taken from the Bible, from the second part of Psalms 137: "If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget itself, let my tongue be glued to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not raise Jerusalem at the height of my joy."

* For centuries, every Jewish wedding included a symbolic reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and our ancestors' following expulsion from the Land of Israel, by breaking a cup made of glass.

* For centuries, many Jewish homes featured an unfinished patch, as a similar reminder. I'm a secular Jew, but my real life bestie is religious, and her house has a hole in the eastern wall, intentionally left there.

* In fact, the destruction of the Temple, and the following expulsion of the Jewish people from Israel, is SUCH a traumatic and significant event for the Jewish faith, that there is a religious national day of mourning every year, on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av (the date when Jews believe the first Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem by the Babylonian occupiers, and the second one, re-built after an expulsion and return of the Jews from Babylon to their native land, was destroyed by the Roman occupiers), when Jews fast.

* Ethiopian Jews, who were probably the most disconnected Jewish community along the centuries, have a special holiday, called Sigd. This name is derived from the Hebrew word for worship or prostration, "sgida." It features asking God to return them to Israel. Since the state of Israel has helped the Ethiopian Jewish community to return to this land, starting in 1982, it has become a part of Sigd to celebrate it specifically in Jerusalem.

The Ethiopian Jewish community celebrating Sigd in Jerusalem:

* In fact, the three major Jewish holidays, other than Yom Kippur, are also called "the three pilgrimages" ("shloshet ha'regalim"), because while the Temple stood in Jerusalem, they included all Jews coming there to celebrate the holiday together. These three holidays are Sukkot, Pesach (Passover) and Shavu'ot.

Here's a piece of art depicting Jews in antiquity, coming from all over Israel to the Temple in Jerusalem for sholoshet ha'regalim:

* The Hebrew Bible itself expresses the Jewish Zionist longing, the desire of the Jews to return to their ancestral land no matter what, after they were expelled by the Babylonians from Israel, the same desire that drove their return from their first exile, as recorded in the Bible, and supported by historical documents and archaeological finds. Here's the first part of Psalms 137:

Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, and we wept, as we remembered Zion. On willows there we hung our harps, because there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors for joy. "Sing to us from the song of Zion!" How shall we sing God's song on foreign soil?

and here's the craziest thing about this list: there's a good chance I forgot some stuff.

This is posted in honor of the first candle of Hanukkah tonight, and the many Tumblr antisemites, who distort Jewish identity and history by claiming Zionism is incompatible with or has nothing to do with Judaism, people who in the name of anti-Zionism celebrated the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, who ignore Jews pointing out that anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic, who prove it by going out of their way to deny Jewish native rights, and who think posting "Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish followers!" (as if Hanukkah isn't a Zionist holiday) covers up their antisemitism.

Happy Jewish sovereignty in Israel holiday to all who celebrate Hanukkah! I hope you really enjoy its foods! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[coochiequeens]

Ladies don't travel to another country with a man if your legal status is uncertain. If you do hold onto your passport and make sure your ticket isn't a one way.

Exit trafficking: Western Sydney man abandons his wife overseas after she fell out with his mum

Western Sydney man convicted over 'exit trafficking'

He took his wife abroad, but only he had a return ticket 

READ MORE: Human trafficking gang that operated a string of brothels jailed

By PADRAIG COLLINS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 06:40 EDT, 27 June 2024 

A western Sydney man who abandoned his wife overseas after she fell out with his mother has been convicted over what is known as 'exit trafficking'. 

It is a type of modern slavery where women are tricked or coerced into leaving a country, in this case Australia, and prevented from returning.

The 44-year-old man, who lives in Merrylands in Sydney's south-west, took his wife on 'a charity mission' to their home country of Afghanistan in January 2018, police said.

But the man, known as AR to protect his family, only had a return ticket for himself. His wife did not realise that her ticket was one-way to Afghanistan. 

The day after he returned to Australia, AR wrote to the Department of Home Affairs, cancelling the sponsorship of his wife's visa, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He did so because his mum didn't like his wife, and it resulted in the woman he had been married to for four years being stranded overseas.

The woman's relatives helped get her back to Australia, where she reported her husband to the police.  

AR's conviction last Friday was the third such exit trafficking conviction in Australia.

He was sentenced to two years jail with 12 months of it to be served in the community on a good behaviour bond.

Human rights activist Helena Hassani said there has been an increase in such oppression of women, often in migrant communities, in Australia.

While there are many cases involving men from Afghan and other migrant communities taking their wives abroad and leaving them there, she said there are also many cases where 'Aussie men marry women from Asia, bring them here, but marry them into servitude, or treat them like sex workers'.

Many women, such as AR's wife, are only in Australia on partner visas, leaving them reliant on their husband's sponsorship to stay in the country.

Some women in these communities are discouraged from using money, getting an education or working outside the home because the men want a 'servant'.

'It's a cultural practice where the less educated women are, the happier men are, because then no one is challenging them, no one is confronting them, and they just live the way they want to live,' Ms Hassani told the publication.

Acting Detective Sergeant Sarah Manning of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said exit trafficking often goes unreported.

No one has the right to 'cancel' another person's visa, including the visa sponsor,' she said. 

'This type of behaviour is a Commonwealth offence and carries a potential 12-year jail term.'

The first exit-trafficking conviction was in 2021, when a man from Lidcombe in western Sydney threatened to murder a woman unless she boarded a flight to India with her infant child.

The horrific interaction was captured on Sydney Airport's CCTV after the anti-human trafficking group Anti Slavery Australia told the AFP what happened.

Anyone with information about potential modern slavery or trafficking is urged to report it to Australian Federal Police on 131 237.

[akasanata]

Yes, yes, I know these have been done a thousand times before, anyway

[physics-of-one-piece]

Timezones in One Piece World

I am back with a physics post! Well, more meteorology/geography post!

I was inspired to create a timezone map after reading the newest chapter of Doflamingo's Marine by @moonbaby26 where a timezone difference was mentioned, which was a great detail! I remember thinking about timezones in OP world but never got around to it but I did now. So it made me wonder just what timezone is Dressrosa (my fav island 🤗) in, what timezone are the other islands in?

SO!

I pulled a grid of irl timezones, simplified it, and put it over the One Piece World Map! (You can see some parts where I was like, no keep it simple, simplify it).

HERE IT IS!

UTC is coordinated universal time, aka time in the center of the world. Anyway, here are the islands + locations and I'll put some ANs for some cus some are interesting.

Paradise:

Reverse Mountain [UTC -1]

Red Line Center [UTC -1]

Twin Cape [UTC 0] Greenwhich Mean Time,

📍Iceland

I find it PERFECT the exit from Reverse Mountain into Grand Line are the ones in the center of the One Piece World, not the Red Line Itself.

Cactus Island [UTC 0] Western European Time (WET)

📍irl ex: Reykyavik, Iceland

Little Garden [UTC +1] Central European Time (CET)

📍 Italy, Spain

Drum Island [UTC +2] Eastern European Summer Time (EEST)

Alabasta [UTC +3] irl ex:

📍

Jaya [UTC +4]

Skypiea [UTC +4]

Long Ring Rong Island [UTC +5]

Water 7 [UTC +6]

Amazon Lily [UTC +7]

Enies Lobby [UTC +6]

Florian Triangle [UTC +9] Japan Standard Time

Sabaody Archipelago [UTC +10]

Impel Down [UTC +8]

Marineford [UTC +9] Japan Standard Time (JST)

Holy Land of Mariejois [UTC +9] New Zealand Standard Time

Fishman Island [UTC +10]

New World

New Marineford [UTC -8] Baker Island Time (BIT)

Punk Hazard [UTC -8] Samoa Standard Time (SST)

Dressrosa [UTC -7] Pacific Daylight Time

📍 Los Angeles

It used to be in Hawaii, it fit so much, whyyyy 😭😭

Totto Land [UTC -5] Eastern Standard Time

📍irl ex: Florida, U.S.

Wano Country [UTC -4]

📍irl ex:

Uf, I think that's all the big locations. I recommend using just the UTC and then you go minus or plus just so you don't have to go converting everything. The One Piece world most likely just says "Universal Time + (number)" or sth.

So, for example, if it's 17:00 (5 pm) in Marineford (UTC +9) on a Monday, it will then be 1 am on Monday in Dressrosa.

17 - 9 (to get UTC 0) = 8 am Monday (UTC 0)

Then another -7 hours, you get Monday 1 am (UTC -7) in Dressrosa. So Dressrosa is 16 HOURS behind Original Marineford.

Interesting how Doflamingo settled in Dressrosa, which is the entire 22 hours behind Holy Land by time, symbolising how his family abandoned the privileges of Celestial Dragons. Nice.

Also, for the Blues, regarding seasons:

North Blue & East Blue = North Hemisphere such as Europe & U.S. (winter months - December, January, February)

West Blue & South Blue - South Hemisphere (like Australia & New Zealand) so the winter months are June, July, August.

The seasons are interchangable in the Grand Line depending on the islands!

Taglist: @fanaticsnail

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Numbat - Myrmecobius fasciatus

Another huge thrill on the trip with Inala Nature Tours was seeing a numbat in Dryandra Woodland National Park in south west Western Australia. These amazing marsupials are endangered.

By Jenny Thynne

[vestaignis]

Гигантская австралийская каракатица (Sepia apama) — вид головоногих моллюсков из рода настоящих каракатиц семейства каракатиц (Sepiidae). Достигая 50 см в длине мантии и свыше 10,5 кг в живом весе, считается крупнейшей каракатицей в мире.Их называют «рок-звездами океана», потому что при жизненном цикле всего лишь в 12-18 месяцев, они живут быстро и умирают молодыми.

Гигантская каракатица – эндемический вид, обитающий исключительно в прибрежных водах на юге, юго-западе и юго-востоке Австралии (от побережья штата Квинсленд до залива Акул в Западной Австралии). Встречается на глубине не более 100 метров, но чаще всего — на мелководье.

Непонятно по какой причине, но природа наделила этих живых существ 3-мя сердцами. Одно отвечает за снабжение кро��ью нервной системы, а остальные два — за работу жабр.Эти каракатицы прославились способностью моментально менять свой окрас, который чаще всего зависит от настроения животного или окружающей среды. Также он сильно меняется у самцов в брачный период. В брачный период или во время нападения на добычу их окраска приобретают металлический блеск и покрывается яркими светящимися точками.

Эти гиганты ведут дневной образ жизни. Большую часть времени проводят, укрывшись среди зарослей водорослей, каменистых рифов или зарывшись на морском дне. Большую часть энергии они тратят не на активность, а на рост. Очень любопытны и любят поиграть, чем часто пользуются дайверы.

The giant Australian cuttlefish (Sepia apama) is a species of cephalopod from the genus of true cuttlefish of the cuttlefish family (Sepiidae). Reaching 50 cm in mantle length and over 10.5 kg in live weight, they are considered the largest cuttlefish in the world. They are called the “rock stars of the ocean” because, with a life cycle of only 12-18 months, they live fast and die young .

The giant cuttlefish is an endemic species found exclusively in coastal waters in the south, south-west and south-east of Australia (from the coast of Queensland to Shark Bay in Western Australia). It is found at a depth of no more than 100 meters, but most often in shallow water.

It is unclear for what reason, but nature endowed these living creatures with 3 hearts. One is responsible for supplying blood to the nervous system, and the other two are responsible for the functioning of the gills. These cuttlefish are famous for their ability to instantly change their color, which most often depends on the mood of the animal or the environment. It also changes greatly in males during the mating season. During the mating season or during an attack on prey, their color acquires a metallic sheen and is covered with bright luminous dots.

These giants are diurnal. They spend most of their time hidden among kelp beds, rocky reefs, or buried on the seabed. They spend most of their energy not on activity, but on growth. They are very curious and love to play, which divers often take advantage of.

Источник://octonation.com/cephalotography-lawrence-scheele/,

robertrath.com/serendipity/archives/2021-Sepia-Apama.html,

/normpost.ru/25643-gigantskaya-avstralijskaya-karakaticza.html,

http://www.daveharasti.com/articles/speciesspotlight/cuttlefish.html,

/reeflifesurvey.com/species/sepia-apama/,

/pikabu.ru/story/gigantskaya_avstraliyskaya_karakatitsa_lat_sepia_apama_7269332,

http://inbetweendives.com/gallery?s=Sepia%20apama

[fatehbaz]

Hmm. Alarming trend in mass incarceration in Central America.

Also: Very disingenuous wordplay here.

Where do we begin?

-- Very disingenuous for multiple outlets to run with "the West”. Though this initial AP article does specify that this refers to the Western Hemisphere, the choice to run headlines with “West” kinda implies that there are no other island prisons in “The West” (as in the European Union, the United States, Australia, etc.).

-- One of the most infamous incarceration schemes on the planet is Australia’s “Pacific Solution,” a “solution” to refugee migration centered on the imprisonment of asylum seekers on island prisons, including the infamous prisons at Nauru and Manus, both opened initially in 2001, and re-fortified after 2012. (Nauru is extremely isolated, in the South Pacific, 3000 kilometers away from the Australian coast; the Manus detention centre is far away off the northeast coast of Papua.) Since 2012, over 3,125 people have been sent to Nauru while over 4,180 people have been sent to Manus. (The “last refugee held on the Pacific island of Nauru under Australia’s offshore detention policy” was “evacuated” to mainland Australia only on 24 June 2023, not even a month prior to this headline.)

-- Obviously the EU incarcerates refugees on Mediterranean islands, notoriously at Moria on Lesbos, whose international reputation as the home of Sappho has been supplanted by its reputation as a de facto prison for asylum seekers. In October 2015, over 10,000 people landed on Lesbos in just one day. In 2017, the island averaged 2,500 arrivals per month. By 2019, humanitarian investigations showed that over 10,000 people were being held in a facility with a maximum capacity of 3,000. In 2020, fires left over 12,000 refugees on the island without shelter. By December 2021, Doctors Without Borders raised alarm that over 2,200 refugees were living in “dire” conditions on the island. As of early 2023, Lesbos (along with Kos, Leros, Chios, and Samos) is hosting over 4,500 people who are stuck in “reception and identification centers.”

-- And in the Western Hemisphere? The US prison at Guantanomo, also on the coast of an island in this same sea.

-- One of the most notorious island prisons was the early twentieth century French penal colony on the periphery of the Caribbean region at Guiana (run by a France, a “Western” power, in the Western Hemisphere), known internationally as “Devil’s Island.”

-- The federal government says the prison will be built “in harmony with nature.”

-- A prison ... in harmony with nature.

-- An island prison in the Caribbean, a region fundamentally and intimately connected to centuries of imprisonment, plantations, Indigenous genocide, antiBlackness, racial castes, and chattel slavery, all achieved and enforced through the bounded, isolated geographic containment structure allowed by islands.

-- And this is extra-worrying, because it seems it’s a regional trend, evidently for Honduras, El Salvador, and Colombia.

-- Merely a few days before this headline about Honduras, international outlets were profiling Honduras’s direct neighbor, El Salvador, with headlines like “Inside El Salvador’s new ‘mega prison’” (Al Jazeera) and, within the past couple months, headlines like “Prisoners are being tortured to death in El Salvador’s prisons” (VICE News).

-- From less than a week before this AP headline, we have BBC: “El Salvador’s secretive mega-jail.”

-- Don’t forget nearby Tapachula’s detention of asylum seekers.

Still discussing implementation of literal island prisons despite our collective familiarity with carceral archipelagoes.

[nuytsia]

Purple Enamel Orchid, Caladenia brunonis

[spanishskulduggery]

You're probably familiar with the cardinal directions in Spanish (and they're usually cognates with English):

(el) norte = north

(el) sur = south

(el) este = east

(el) oeste = west

However there are other more literary terms that you will see from time to time for using the directions as adjectives. This is different from something like norteño/a "northern" or "northerner" and sureño/a "southern" or "southerner"

And sometimes people will say del norte / sur for "from the north/south" as an adjective though it can translate as "northern/southern" regardless

...

Primarily what you will see for the fancier or more literary/geographic terms is:

septentrional = northern

meridional = southern

oriental = eastern

occidental = western

Particularly oriental and occidental get used with geographical terms, like el Medio Oriente is "the Middle East" or something like el hemisferio occidental "western hemisphere"

It's also common to see el Oriente as "the East" or "the Orient", and el Occidente as "the West"

I'd say oriental and occidental are much more common than septentrional for example... Largely you can consider them synonymous, but I think of septentrional as more formal than del norte and meridional feels more formal than del sur to me

These terms may also be used in relation to nautical things, or astronomical terms like constellations or the stars in the night sky, especially septentrional being used for the constellation Big Dipper [called (La) Osa Mayor in Spanish as Ursa Major, or "big bear"; sometimes called El Carro being "the Chariot" or "Wagon/Cart"], and sepentrión or septentrional also applies to stars near the North Star/Polaris and the Little Dipper [(La) Osa Menor or Ursa Minor; "smaller bear"]

Unrelated but Osa means "she-bear" literally; el oso is generally "male bear"

...But in etymology septentrional means "(related to) seven oxen", as the old word for the Big Dipper was "the Plow/Plough" or "Wagon", and it was said that the Seven Stars were the oxen pulling the plough; that sept- is related to "seven"; so again septentrional came to be related to "north" simply because that's what you'd look for as a sailor because that's where the North Star was

In other words, "north" was related to "the North Star and where you'd find it and what other stars were around it" hence septentrional

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The other important directional words you'll want to know are:

el Levante = the East

el Poniente = the West

You may have heard the term "Levant" used for the Middle East; these terms come from Latin but have to do with the rising and setting sun

levantar is "to raise/rise", and poner(se) el sol is "for the sun to set"; thus el Poniente is "where the sun sets" for example and viceversa el Levante is "where the sun rises" which is more based on the old world knowledge of the East being more like Persia, Mesopotamia, and what the Ancient World called Asia [today we'd say "Asia Minor" now that we know fully about China and the Far East]

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Other words to maybe just be aware of:

boreal = North / North wind

austro/a, austral = South / South wind

These you won't see too much except for something like la aurora boreal for "Northern lights" or just the Latin aurora borealis or when you look into the etymology of places like Australia as literally being "southern" [the north wind was el bóreas related to Boreas from Greek mythology]

And maybe be aware of el céfiro "zephyr" which was linked to the west wind; not that you necessarily need to know it for "west wind" unless you're reading Greek mythology or fancy literature, but they do use it when discussing the wind every so often

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Side Note: el norte is also related to the ideas of "finding one's way"; like perder el norte can be "to lose one's way" which is literally "to lose north" - but it's related to nautical terms where people would follow la Estrella Polar "North Star / Polaris" and compasses facing north

A lot of directional vocabulary is related to wind and stars; which does make sense since it features heavily in navigation and nautical terms

[magz]

Palestine Summary: March 13 to March 15, 2024. From "Let's Talk Palestine". Quote:

March 13. Day 159

🇬🇧 In an unprecedented move for a Western state, UK granted asylum to Palestinian w/ Israeli citizenship, overturning their 2022 rejection. His request was largely based on risk of persecution under Israel’s “apartheid” regime. This is first official Western recognition Palestinian reality under Israeli apartheid, even if the UK didn’t explicitly label it apartheid. More on abuse of Palestinians w/ Israeli citizenship: https://tinyurl.com/292zvw7p

🇿🇦 South Africa announces that citizens enlisted in Israeli forces will be arrested upon returning + possibility of stripping citizenship from dual South African-Israeli citizens

• 13-year-old Rami Halhouli shot & killed by Israeli forces in Jerusalem (West Bank) while playing w/ fireworks; Israel National Security Minister Ben-Gvir praised this as “exceptional work”

🇺🇳 Israel bombs UNRWA aid distribution center in “safe zone” Rafah, 5+ killed incl. 1 UN staff

• 88 Palestinians killed, 135 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

March 14.

Day 160

🚨 Another horrifying massacre of aid seekers in Gaza City as Israeli forces opened fire and killed 21+ Palestinians, injured 155+, death toll expected to rise. Israel’s blockade is obstructing entry & distribution of aid, purposefully starving Palestinians while they repeatedly massacre them as they seek the little aid allowed in

🇺🇸 US sanctions 3 more Israeli settlers + 2 outposts (settlements illegal under Israeli law) in West Bank; first US sanction of entire settlement over just individuals

• Israel witholds body of 13-year-old Palestinian killed by IOF to deter mourning gatherings & curtail attention to the killing of Palestinians; witholding remains of 65 Palestinians killed in West Bank since Oct 7

🇦🇺 Australia revoked visitor visas issued to Palestinians fleeing Gaza while enroute — saying they didn’t intend a “temporary” visit. Australia advising they apply for this visa, issuing the same visa’s to fleeing Ukranians without the expectation they were tourists

March 15, message.

🚨 Last night, Israel massacred Palestinians in Gaza City as they gathered waiting for aid trucks, killing over 40 people and injuring at least 160 more. Israeli forces fired live ammunition at the crowd from helicopters and tanks, leaving many to bleed out on the street.

This marks the 7th attack on aid seekers during this genocide, highlighting a pattern amidst the constant bombardment and targeted killings across Gaza.

Since January, Israel’s obstruction of the entry and distribution of aid has created a dire situation for Palestinians as dozens have since been recorded killed by starvation and dehydration. Many more remain in critical condition in barely functioning hospitals under Israel’s total siege and bombardment. Starving Palestinians is a key target of this genocidal campaign to try and force Gaza to submit to occupation.

We need to escalate our pressure.

[yinandyanglifestyle]

I went to Sydney for Alphonse Mucha

by: Icie

One thing to know about me, I was an interior design major back in my home country. I absolutely sucked at it, but I fell in love with Art History. In that minor, our professors taught us about different art styles through the ages and bit by bit I saw the progress of art through the ages. I loved the OG Gothic Style, Romanesque, was disillusioned with Baroque and Rococo from the west... It was too Western focused and it didn't interest me as much (because I was an Asian kid) until we got towards the end of the 19th century where the grandparents of weebs (of which I am a part of) hailed from and Japonisme was a thing. Japonisme inspired so much beautiful art and it triggered a domino effect that ultimately led to Art Nouveau where Alphonse Mucha was a main character.

This was it. My favourite art style! I can never go back to loving other art styles after discovering Art Nouveau. It spoke to me about how feminine it was and it awakened something from my mostly masculine soul. I wanted to see more of these beautiful girls surrounded by flowers and stars, wearing kimono-inspired clothes in pretty pastels. The macaroni hair only added to the romanticism of it all. This is what love is like, but in art form!

Fast forward to 2024, The Mucha Foundation collaborated with the Art Gallery of New South Wales to host over 200 of this master's works which was "the most comprehensive exhibition ever seen in Australia of this visionary artist's work". I had to see it. I needed to see it! I am a big fan of Mucha and Art Nouveau, and one of my dreams was to go to Paris, Brussels, and Prague for all of the beautiful swirly-whirlies. Being a Brisbanite, I was exited. Please come to my city! Please, please, please! But AGNSW said "sorry, it's exclusive to Sydney."

Dammit. It's off to Sydney I go. I donned my Sailor Moon dress, packed my bag for a 3 day trip with my partner just so I could see this legend's works and boy, I was not disappointed. I learned to love Mucha and his works even more. We landed in Sydney, didn't check in our hotel, and went straight to the main quest:

Outside, they had this big banner of Mucha's name. Inside was this glorious area that showcased Summer (left) and Rose (right). Oh wait, the exhibit is next door. So we went to the more modern building, down two floors, bought tickets, and enjoyed the art.

In the newer building next door, I was treated to pre-art nouveau Mucha. We learned about what his life was like before his popularity. He designed some clothes for a theatre, hung out with everyone's buddy Paul Gaugin, Ludek Marold and Annah the Javanese. The tour guide said, "if he wasn't a painter, he would've been a great photographer".

Then we were treated to the meat of the exhibit: the Sarah Bernhardt stuff, his lithographs, his sketches, but what struck me most were his concept art to reality. (Excuse my phone's shadow. For some reason, AGNSW decided to put these works on a 45° angle under bright lights. The girl beside me even said "fucking glare!" and I wholeheartedly agreed.)

We were treated to so many wonderful works and I cried when I saw parts of Le Pater. I'm an atheist but this made me think that maybe there is a god. Maybe. But still, beautiful artwork that left me speechless.

I got to stand next to my favourite work of his: White Star. Joy!

At the end of the exhibit, the tour guide talked about how Mucha who was somewhat influenced by Japan, now influenced Japan. Now we come full circle with anime and manga characters depicted in art nouveau styled paintings and posters. Oh boy, we had our Lord Yoshitaka Amano's works in the gallery as well. I was so lucky to see works of my two favourite artists in one day!

It was almost 2PM by the time we finished the tour. We spent at least 4 hours in the gallery after landing just because I fangirled and was willing to spend money on Mucha. Yeah, I bought stuff. A reproduction of Alphonse Mucha's original "Documents Decoratifs" which focused more on his industrial design work (jewellery, cutlery, furniture etc) which I rarely see on the internet, a set of badges and make-up from Japanese brand MilleFée.

I went to Sydney for Alphonse Mucha and it was worth it. I end this rabid fangirling with the parting words of the Art Gallery of New South Wales' tour guide: Mucha's style has never been as well loved and as well represented as it is in Japan.