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falcor-thee-luck-dragon · 4 years ago

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Diego Hargreeves x reader

Summary: You and Klaus cause some mischief in the local liquor store while Diego does a terrible job at stopping you.

It’s a cold October night, Diego would honestly love nothing more then to cuddle up next to you on your guys bed back in your warm apartment. But the universe appears to have other plans, so here he is, standing behind you and Klaus as the two of you discuss amongst yourselves which brand has the best alcohol. You’re completely oblivious to Diego’s inner thoughts as your eyes scan over the different labels and their prices. You don’t notice when Klaus’ attention shifts from the various beverages to a festive poster on the nearby store window. He chuckles when he spots the poster of Dracula holding a red glass of wine as little black bats dance around him. Klaus’ head turns towards you and then at another store patron who’s just trying to mind their business.

“Vhatch out for Y/N...she’s come to svuck your vlood.” Snickers Klaus in his best Transylvanian accent as he holds up his pointer fingers near his mouth to show off mock vampire fangs. The random lady nearby just gives him an odd look, turning away and making a beeline for the next isle. Klaus snaps his attention back to you as he continues his little theatrics, you just do your best to suppress your laughter.

“Stop it Klaus.” Warns Diego with a brotherly roll of his eyes. You turn to Diego with a mischievous smirk as your eyes playfully darken.

“He’s right Diego, I’ll turn you into one of my minions.” You retort as you fake growl at him, he just shakes his head as a small smile forms onto his lips. Deciding to have a bit of fun with your two favorite boys, you indulge in Klaus antics.

“I am a vampire seductress who wants something delicious to drink this fine evening. Klaus my dear, pick the flavor.” He nods with a cheeky grin as he turns to scan down the long isle, looking for just the right bottle.

“M’lady whateth should I choose? I’m thinking the most pricey, would you agree?” Asks Klaus, now choosing to really play the part as a medieval peasant of sorts, throwing in an accent and everything. You turn to him, he’s holding up a beautiful ruby red 200 dollar bottle of the good stuff, your eyes go wide in excitement.

“Brilliant. We’ve got our treasure, now let us make off with the loot.”

“Y/N cover me while I hide it.” Whispers Klaus, you walk over to him and as casually as ever to block anyone’s view from watching as he shoves the expensive bottle into his jacket, like this is the most normal thing in the world. Diego attempts to look over your shoulder to put together what the hell you two are doing. You swiftly twist around to face him like nothing out of the ordinary just happened, you and Klaus definitely did not just steal anything.

“Did Klaus just steal that bottle?” Wonders Diego as he crosses his arms over his muscular chest. You furrow your brows in false confusion while Klaus stops to stare an accusing eye at Diego.

“What? Did you see someone stealing something?” You ask him casually, he gives you an amusing are-you-actually-kidding-me face in reply. You just smile up at him as sweetly as ever, “That’s illegal you know.”

“Very, so if you saw something you better report it. Never know what kind of delinquents are running these streets.” Adds Klaus with a knowing look, the both of you flash Diego a tight lipped smile before walking past him towards the end of the isle. The both of you heading straight for the glass doors at the front of the store when suddenly Diego catches both your arms, one in each of his own hands, you and Klaus snap your heads to him with annoyed faces.

“You two aren’t stealing anything.” His voice is serious and calm as his dark eyes flash in between the two of you.

“What’s this Klaus? A goblin trying to take our stash, I think not.” You announce to Diego and Klaus with a sassy hair flip. Diego releases the two of you as he gives you an frustrated glare.

“My vampire mistress will put a spell on you, and HA HA you won’t be able to rain on our picnic anymore.” Whisper yells Klaus as he sticks his tongue out at Diego. Diego lets out a tired sigh, putting his gloved hands up in surrender, deciding it wise to let you two have your fun. He honestly really wants to see if you’ll get caught or not, giving him another reason to possibly catch up on the dealings around the police department. You and Klaus link your arms together as you both continue to walk down the long isle of various alcoholic beverages. When you make it to the carpet at the front door, the 78-year-old half blind cashier calls for you guys to stop and turn around. Your nerves prick, more-so in annoyance then anything else, but like the veteran thief that you are you know exactly what to do to charm the old fart. Giving him the sweetest of smiles you walk in front of Klaus and slowly up to the cash register.

“How’s ya evin’ Marv?” You ask with a bit of Brooklyn charm, you’re a slight regular at this joint and he’s always in the mood to talk to you. Better yet, Marv’s incredibly easy to convince and you’re about to work your magic like a boss.

“Oh you know, same old same old. Always nice when you come ‘round these parts.” You keep a forced smile as you quickly shift your eyes to the right, catching a surprised Diego who catches your gaze before he heads out the door with a disapproving shake of his head. You turn to fully face Marv once again, batting your lashes like a teen in love.

“Is that a new shirt? I’m loving the whole Hawaiian floral get up, it adds a bright splash of color to the usual dreary autumn weather.”

“Oh yeah, you really think so? Aw sweetheart you’re just saying that.” He gushes with a wave of his wrinkled hand. You let out a small fake laugh, keeping the mood light and fluffy, just giving enough time for Klaus to make off with the riches.

“No I’m one-hundred percent serious it suites you well.....uh anyways..Marv its been a time, but I really gotta go. See ya when I see ya.” You say with a tiny wave of goodbye, but as you turn to leave you “accidentally” bump into the side of a large cardboard cut-out of the latest Budweiser can. It goes down with a less then dramatic crash to the grubby tiled floor. Your head snaps up to Marv with the best sad face you can muster as you clutch your hands together like an abashed Victorian maiden.

“Shit I’m such a klutz. Your poor sign.” You exclaim, he just chuckles as he walks around to where the sign has fallen.

“Oh no worries. Anyone coulda sent it tumbling, I’ll just havta move it to the other side is all.” Replies Marv while he leans down to pick up the large cut-out, you give him a friendly smile as he walks over to the other side of the counter setting it down and walking back behind the register. By the time he reaches the counter which feels like a thousand years later, you’ve reached the front doors. You say a last goodbye before hearing the bell chime when you open up the doors and swiftly make your way out of the liquor store. The air is crisp and a burst of wind smacks you right in the face, sending your hair in various directions. You flick it out of your face, unbothered by the current weather conditions you walk further down the sidewalk, heading straight for Diego’s car. Like the sly fox you are, you reach into your coat and casually pull out the concealed bottle of top of the line tequila you may have just stolen. You catch the wide eyes of Diego from inside the car as your face breaks out into a huge smile while you joyously raise your bottle into the air like you’ve just won the World Cup. You quickly open up the passenger side door, getting in and shutting it to keep the cold out.

“One hundred points for Vampire Seduction.”

“Y/N you sly motherfucker.” Smiles Klaus from the backseat as he shakes your shoulder, impressed with your thieving skills.

“I played that old bear like a violin. He’ll never suspect a thing.”

“Cheers to that m’lady, we’re like....pirates.... truly amazing.”

“You know Klaus you kinda look like Jack Sparrow, just grow out the hair a bit and find a red bandanna and wallah, pirate.”

“Y/N you’ve just found my Halloween costume. Oh hey, you could be a vampire mistress and Diego could be the seduced servant guy.”

“You two just stole from a store, that’s a crime.” Interrupts Diego like a mother goose telling off her naughty children. You just let out an amused huff of air as Klaus blows a raspberry at Diego.

“Oh come on bro, have a little fun. No cameras and that dude is practically blind. And anyways, look at the cool shit we got.” Replies Klaus excitedly while he holds up his bottle, Diego glares at the two of you as you suppress the urge to laugh once again. He’s so dramatic sometimes with his whole vigilante hero/ failed cop persona going on, you forget that not everything you do is agreed upon in his eyes when it comes to breaking the law. You can’t help it that stealing things with Klaus is incredibly entertaining to you, sometimes being the hero all the damn time can get so boring.

“Still a crime.” Grumbles Diego, you suddenly lean in close to his face, staring deep into his chocolate irises, his breath catches in his throat. You smirk at him, “Or whatta gonna do pretty boy? Turn us in?” Klaus lets out “ohhhh” from behind the two of you as Diego seemingly forgets how to speak. He looks rather adorable all flustered from your abrupt change in positioning. He opens his mouth to probably reply with something sarcastic or heroic, so to shut him up you crash your lips into his. The kiss is a quick one, but it’s all you needed to do in order to shut that pretty mouth of his. You sit back in your seat, a satisfied smile appearing onto your lips while you hold the bottle of tequila in your lap.

“Diego she just used Vampire Seduction on you. Y/N that was brilliant, now make him take us to the trampoline park.” Says Klaus while unknowingly breaking the sexual tension between you and Diego. You giggle as Diego blinks, snapping out of the brief post kiss confusion you just handed him.

“Uh...no trampoline park, you’re going home and then me and Y/N are going to have a fun rest of our night with that bottle of tequila.” Your eyes glance over to a grinning Diego, it appears that your simple plan to quiet him has suddenly turned his mind onto you. And everything he plans on doing with you once Klaus is gone and you’re back at the apartment. You bite your lip in anticipation while Diego drives down the road, your own mind swirling with images of a soon to be shirtless Diego and other fun nightly activities to follow.

#diego hargreeves #diego hargreeves x reader #diego hargreeves x you #diego hargreeves imagine #the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy x reader #tua imagine #tua #number two #falcor the luck dragon stories

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phoebehalliwell · 4 years ago

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How about WMC all getting into the food game? Like Wyatt doesn't start anything himself but he loves working at Halliwell's, Chris and Piper co-open a little homey lunch cafe called Penny's. And Mel. PJ, and Kat open a queer bookstore/coffee shop that also sells magical ingredients/potions/spells

you know how like like working with your hands is meditation like knitting and stuff all that is really recommended for like. mental health. i think the halliwell kids get that through like mise en place like chris especially like you give a box of daikon and say make matchsticks and he’s like fuckin in the zone his Most Zen State (and of course bc he’s also him with like whatevers going on in his damaged little brain with magic he also hones his knife skills telekinetically something i think neither wyatt nor melinda does). i think melinda and wyatt would definitely be more into baking that cooking just because (as stated somewhere previously on this blog) i think melinda is like a shade ocd so like. in baking with the precise measurements and the specific steps and all that and just like. everything being an exact science and going exactly how you think it will like you can control it and anticipate it and if u follow it to the letter than wallah baked good : ) (which is also how melinda goes about potion making imo like again its this kind of belief that if everything isn’t organized or like you know whatever then something will go horribly wrong and as she practices actual magic she feels like this is a very accurate belief like chris and even wyatt will like eyeball stuff like ehh whatever lord the way the mitchells make potions damn near gives her a heart attack she’s just like. stop. there is an order!! u gotta do it by the this by the that don’t just throw things in willy nilly!!!) so yeah i think melinda likes baking because it’s like low stakes potion making. i think she can also cook, but she’s not a chef. she’s not gonna be visionary and go off book she’s no remy ratatouille but she knows how to mimic piper down the the smallest movements and when she cooks it’s the bomb dot com. i think wyatt also likes baking i don’t think he’s anything like melinda. i think i’ve said this before i think wyatt like. keeps trying to make bread. like he keeps trying to make sourdough bread and it never really goes right but like he’s gonna keep trying. i also don’t think wyatt is the best chef i think chris is arguably a better cook than wyatt but this boy can meal plan like nobody’s business. for starters, given his craft and then also just like who he is as a person (gay) he’s really into plant and the like and is super attune to what’s season this boy Loves i mean he fuckin loves his farmer’s markets all the vendors know him by name he asks them about their families blah blah blah chris can’t even remember the names of like. the farms. he’s like yeah i think i got this beef from stonehenge? he recognizes them visually alright and he knows their geographical location and he can even recognize some of the faces but just like. he cannot tell you shit. but back to wyatt i think wyatt definitely ends up having a heavy hand in producing the menus at halliwell’s which i do think are like these kind of ever changing season menus where it’s kind of like the whole family gets together to plan it but for the most part it’s wyatt and piper doing the strategizing with chris contributing and melinda and leo just sitting there like yum : ) that sounds good : ) that also sounds good : ) that one? it also sounds good! : ) bless their heart they cannot help menu plan but they will certainly eat all of that food.

i feel like i could totally see chris opening his own restaurant if that were the path he were to go down however i would kinda love to see the restaurant be a collaboration between wyatt and chris (i also think bianca could come on board as more of the business side i think she’d kick ass at that) just like. i would like to see it. and mel pj and kat all having their own queer magical cafe!! i love. i feel like pj is definitely going to control the aesthetic of this cafe the most like once it gets to valentines day?? don’t even get me started. to the nines. balls to the wall. the full nine yards. even just like local things like if the warriors or giants or something (i guess we can invite the niners bc they’re “san francisco” but like. they’re santa clara. oh i forgot the a’s lmao.) when some local team wins a championship or whatever pj goes all out celebrating actually i’m sure she goes so all out that i wouldn’t be surprised if their little cafe had like a room you could rent out for parties kind of like tea parties et cetera that pj really just like. is the visionary behind. i think melinda would probably be the books and then also a baker but as previously established she’s very by the book she’s not the wild card so it’s kat who’s the one who gets real weird with it and does all of their experimental recipes. i also think it could be nice if this was like y’know like a brunch morning cafe that closed at like three or four then on certain days of the week open again from like 7 to 9 for assorted witchy activities. paige makings custom paintings of the major arcana and that’s the art on the walls of the cafe.

#literally so cute #charmed #next gen #wyatt halliwell #chris halliwell #melinda halliwell #pj halliwell #kat mitchell #charmed next generation #💌

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assamtourin · 4 years ago

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7 Interesting Things about Assam You Probably Didn’t Know About

Known chiefly to be home to the precious one-horned rhinoceros in Kaziranga, and also the mind-numbing paradox of birds committing mass-suicide in Jatinga; the beautiful country of Assam stands as a lot more than just these! Moving past the thoughts that a lot of individuals possess about A the nation, here are a few interesting things about Assam to expand your horizon concerning the area!

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1. Assam has a State Anthem!

The anthem has been composed by Lakshminath Bezbaroa and goes like that --' O Mur Apunar Dex' (O my beloved motherland). It was officially adopted as the anthem of the State in 1927 at a conference in Tezpur.

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2. Celebration of Cultures

Contrary to the image that people have of Assam, it is not an independent country in itself. It's in reality home to many Bengalis, Marwaris, Biharis, etc... Every road is peppered with discussion wallahs and mithai wallahs, chiefly run by people from Bihar. Marwaris are also quite high in number here.

3. Assam has Three Distinct Types Bihu Celebrations

Bihu is the national festival of Assam. But instead of coming in a year, it comes thrice! Having been residing in Assam for 2 decades today, the grand celebration of the festival has always astounded me.

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4. Guwahati -- the pseudo-capital of Assam

Dispur as most of us know is that the official capital of Assam. It serves as the unofficial capital of this State. Dispur, in actuality, is so small the area skids away in a bus trip of 2 minutes!

5. Jonbeel Mela

Lesser-known even among st the people of Assam, that can be a three-day fest that occurs some 30 kilometres from Guwahati at the entry of the Porbitora Wildlife sanctuary. This festival has been inaugurated by the King of this Tiwa tribe who then collects taxes from the public according to their own earnings.

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6. All Kinds of Food Available Here!

Assam offers an inviting palate whatsoever. From Rava dosas, cheese momos (try Fancy Bazaar from Guwahati) to scintillating pasta -- the country affords all avenues for foodies to carry them onto an ultimate-gastronomic journey. With their very own native specialties of all pitha ladu, bamboo shoot-infused duck, pigeon dishes and rice beer, Assam has excellent options to silence the naysayers about the only foods in Assam being 'rice together with anything'. Bhoot Jolokia is just another hot chilly place that is famous.

7. Not a Jungle or even Rape-state or Flood-land!

Lastly, here's a fantasy that was "busted" many times before (and consequently its notable mention here). Guwahati appears to be a thriving and ever-developing, globalization-welcoming town. Also, since the Brahmaputra is one of the largest rivers of the nation, it does make sense that after it gets over-flooded through monsoons, there'll be floods throughout the nation. But it is not all water anywhere' rather than a popular notion.

Open your minds fellow readers and enjoy the condition a little more! Come to Assam and celebrate life! Pre-sentiments are in presence for Â every place, but do not let that dampen your spirits; let this state spin its magic on you also!

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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 years ago

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#10yrsago Ian McDonald's "Cyberabad Days" -- short stories in 2047 India that blend technology with spirituality, love, sex, war and humanity

Ian McDonald is one of science fiction's finest working writers, and his latest short story collection Cyberabad Days, is the kind of book that showcases exactly what science fiction is for.

Cyberabad Days returns to McDonald's India of 2047, a balkanized state that we toured in his 2006 novel River of Gods, which was nominated for the best novel Hugo Award. The India of River of Gods has fractured into a handful of warring nations, wracked by water-shortage and poverty, rising on rogue technology, compassion, and the synthesis of the modern and the ancient.

In Cyberabad Days, seven stories (one a Hugo winner, another a Hugo nominee) McDonald performs the quintessential science fictional magic trick: imagining massive technological change and making it intensely personal by telling the stories of real, vividly realized people who leap off the page and into our minds. And he does this with a deft prose that is half-poetic, conjuring up the rhythms and taste and smells of his places and people, so that you are really, truly transported into these unimaginably weird worlds. McDonald's India research is prodigious, but it's nothing to the fabulous future he imagines arising from today's reality.

All seven of these stories are standouts, but if I had to pick only three to put in a time-capsule for the ages, they'd be:

1. The Djinn's Wife: this Hugo-winning novelette is a heartbreaking account of a love affair between a minor celebrity and a weakly godlike artificial intelligence. The special problems of love with an "aeai" (AI) are incredibly, thoroughly imagined here, as are the possible glories. Here, McDonald perfectly captures the stepping-off-a-cliff feeling of the new kinds of romance that technology enables, and of the wonderful, terrible sense of the wind rushing past your ears as the ground screams towards you.

2. Sanjeev and Robotwallah: a story that will be anthologized in two of this year's "Best Of" anthologies, Sanjeev and Robotwallah is the story of a young, displaced boy who finds temporary glory in acting as batsman for a squadron of amped-up teen mecha pilots. The pathos here arises when the war ends and the glamorous warriors are retired, leaving Sanjeev in limbo, his aspirations smashed with the lives of the older boys. Like all of McDonald's stories, the ending is bittersweet, rich and unexpected.

3. Vishnu at the Cat Circus: the long, concluding novella in the volume is an account of three siblings: one genetically enhanced to be a neo-Brahmin, one a rogue AI wallah who is at the center of the ascension of humanity's computers into a godlike state, and one who remains human and bails out the teeming masses who are tossed back and forth by the technological upheaval. A story of character, Vishnu blends spirituality and technology to look at how the street might find its own use for things, when that street is rooted in ancient traditions that are capable of assimilating enormous (but not infinite) change.

Cyberabad Days has it all: spirituality, technology, humanity, love, sex, war, environmentalism, politics, media -- all blended together to form a manifesto of sorts, a statement about how technology shapes and is shaped by all the wet, gooey human factors. Every story is simultaneously a cracking yarn, a thoughtful piece of technosocial criticism, and a bag of eyeball kicks that'll fire your imagination. The field is very lucky to have Ian McDonald working in it.

Cyberabad Days

https://boingboing.net/2009/02/27/ian-mcdonalds-cybera.html

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penguinsandcupcakes · 6 years ago

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10 reasons why I love India

Last December, I ventured my solo backpacking to India for a month. I couldn’t believe it’s already April! My trip felt like ages ago. I’ve always wanted to visit India, but it wasn’t until I moved to Australia to finally give it a go. I read so many blogs over the years, mostly about female travelling alone. I did get mixed reactions from my family and friends when I told them about my trip. India is considered as the most dangerous country for women. I feel safe the whole time travelling mostly alone in ten cities and seven states. I have no words how incredible India is. It’s overwhelming with over one billion populations and each state is unique and different.The culture, colour, food, diversity, religion and people blew me away. It’s a wonderful country to visit. If you’re planning to go, do it!

1. It’s cheap! I stayed in hostels, spent less than $20-$25 a day for foods sometimes more if I feel like eating Western food, shopping and eating non stop even the hotel accommodation is affordable. I’m still dreaming of Amritsari kulcha and chole!

2. FOOD!!!

Days before my trip my host family took me to an Indian restaurant. My first Indian food ever! I had no idea what thali or dhal were. I was clueless. I had my first thali in Amritsar. Before I know it, I’m stuffing myself with samosa, lassi, go to the nearest shop to get jalebi, licking my fingers clean from eating delicious curries. In less than 24 hours I was obsessed!

3. Witnessing the Aarti ceremony, life, death and rebirth in Varanasi

Varanasi is such a unique and fascinating place. It’s the oldest city in India. A walk along the Ganges river will take you to a different world from the 24 hour cremation, religious ceremonies, animals and people bathing, washing clothes, scattering ashes, baptism in the holy river all at the same time. The scene was mind blowing. Monkeys and cows everywhere and many more. We rented a boat to watch the evening Aarti traditional spiritual ceremony. On my last day, I rented a boat in a very peaceful and misty morning happily taking it all in. It’s one of the highlights of my trip.

4. The majestic Taj Mahal

When my sister and I made it on the top of Huayna Picchu mountain, we couldn’t see the Machu Picchu because it was covered in fog. I had a similar experience with the Taj Mahal. Just like in the Machu Picchu, seeing the fog drifts away and finally seeing the beautiful marble mausoleum was everything I wanted it to be. It was magical and even more special because it was built for love.

5. Wagah border ceremony

The border closing ceremony between India and Pakistan was unbelievable and bizarre at the same time. A great display of patriotism! I found a video on YouTube before and during the ceremony. It was so much fun!

6. Rajasthan Forts and Kingdoms

Rajasthan is the land of maharajas, forts, tigers and kingdoms. I spent two weeks exploring the cities of Jaipur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur.

Jaipur

My first stop was in Jaipur also known as the “pink city.” When I think of Jaipur, first thing comes to my mind was me being miserable and sick on my birthday. I was in Jaipur when I got hit with a very nasty “Delhi belly” a stomach flu suffered by visitors to India. I was in bed for two days. I still got the chance to see a little bit of the city, the famous Hawa Mahal and the Amber fort.

Udaipur

Udaipur is also known as the “city of lakes,” “Venice of India,” and “romantic city.” It’s vibrant, laid back, walkable and picturesque. I couldn’t be happier to finally find a “real coffee” ever since arriving in India. My friend from Delhi joined me and we celebrated the new year watching fireworks in the rooftop. We spent our time browsing the market stalls, hanging out in the lake drinking chai tea, took a boat ride and admiring the architecture and street arts. It’s definitely one of my favourite cities!

Jaisalmer “golden city”

Jaisalmer wasn’t part of my itinerary. A lot of people recommended the dessert safari package. I didn’t like the idea of a camel ride, so I chose to walk with my friendly camel. Our tour guide made the most delicious dinner and we gathered around the fire listening to the stories about life in the village. Sleeping in the desert under the blanket of stars was breathtaking!

Jodhpur “blue city”

I enjoyed my early morning stroll in the narrow streets of the blue city, eating my way through the old city market and the clock tower.

7. Golden Temple in Amritsar

Amritsar is the holy city of the Sikh religion. The stunning Harmandir Sahib or the golden temple is the number one place to visit. It’s open 24 hours a day. Langar is a community kitchen open everyday serving free food to over 100,000 visitors per day. Hundreds of volunteers serve wholeheartedly day and night. Such a dedication and faith. I don’t know what it is, but with thousands of devotees visiting, it’s so calming and peaceful inside.

8. Rail journeys

I fell in love with train journeys when I was backpacking in Europe. The bustle of Indian railways is one of a kind. It’s nerve wracking, chaotic, fun and exhausting. I booked all the classes from first to the cheapest class, second seating. It was interesting.. I love waking up in the chant of “chaiiiiiiii” If you are going on a long journey, avoid drinking a lot of water unless you’re brave enough to use the toilet. I also took the overnight bus a few times that was a different experience. Delhi to Varanasi took over 14 hours. There are many options to travel around India depends on your budget. Train journeys are my favourite.

9. The art of Masala Chai tea

Chai tea is an integral part of Indian culture. Chai wallahs (tea vendors) are everywhere in the streets of India. I couldn’t help but stop and watch the tea vendors expertly pouring tea from cups to cups. I’m a coffee person, but I came to love masala tea and the aromatic spices.

10. The people. The best part of my trip is hands down the people I’ve met along the way. I meet a family of twenty; cousins, grandparents, uncles and aunts travelling together. They’re warm, friendly and they look after me the whole trip in my long train journeys. I will never forget the women in the village standing tall and beautiful in their colourful sarees carrying pots filled with water. They’re bold and self sufficient. People in the slums of Mumbai welcoming us to their homes, tea vendors sharing words of wisdom, bunch of 20 something guys talking about the past, present and future of India - their future and more. No photos just memories that I can go back to over and over again. There’s no way I could share that feeling. I had no idea I fell in love with the country so much!

#India #solobackpacking #Asia #visitindia #wanderlust #amazingindia

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glittergummicandypeach · 5 years ago

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Emeralds and desperation: My mother and Sathya Sai Baba | Religion | Al Jazeera

She ran through the Mumbai airport and checked each airline.

It was winter of 1984. We were visiting India from the United States and had been in Mumbai for two weeks. I was eight years old.

"Do you have any flights to Madurai?"

Madurai was the nearest airport to Kodaikanal, only 120km (75 miles) from where Sathya Sai Baba resided. But there were no flights to Madurai.

Possessed with a mad sense of urgency, my mother's next plan was to find a taxi. A private car must have been too expensive. She dragged me along as she approached taxi after taxi outside the airport and peered into each car to assess the driver. She wanted to make sure he was someone she could trust, someone who would not rape or rob us.

She found a taxi wallah, a kind old man dressed in a tattered lungi who warned us of bandits who kidnapped women during the night and stole from tourists. A long, clean machete sat next to him as he drove.

I curled my body onto the back seat, but I did not sleep at any point during the 24-hour car ride.

Instead, I watched the scenery of India pass us by as we drove from north to south. My skin melted into the tattered vinyl of the seat; my sweat mixed with the heavy air.

Every hour or so, I would carefully raise my face to the windows and look at all the lorries that drove past us. I wondered if they were filled with men who might mutilate us with their long knives. I somehow knew the definition of rape, how it was a violation of skin. I imagined men taking my mother somewhere into the jungle and irrevocably harming her. I shook with terror at the thought.

I watched people on autorickshaws, men on scooters, the way all the cars and trucks kicked up dirt and formed a never-ending cloud of dust.

It was so different to where we lived in Pasadena, California, where the roads were wide and evenly paved and the white and yellow lines clearly demarcated where cars belonged, the sleek sedans and beat-up Camaros.

In California, there were no lorries painted primary colours of blue, red and yellow, no automobiles that recklessly weaved around each other, no trails of smoke and dust that illustrated in which direction each car was headed, as if writing the story of their vehicular lives.

Later, I would realise that being in a taxi, rather than a rental car, made us safe; we blended into the local language of vehicles.

Rani and her mother pictured in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu during a trip to meet the Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba [Photo courtesy of Rani Neutill]

We had been going to see Sai Baba every year but this particular trip was frenetic. While we were in Mumbai, an astrologist told my mother it was an auspicious time and we needed to get to Kodaikanal to see Sai Baba.

My mother believed this was the time he was going to bless us, choose us - take us into his big home, answer her questions, yield a brilliant diamond and grant her wishes. This was what fuelled our trip down the subcontinent of India.

It was when I was five years old that my mother, a widowed Bengali immigrant in the US, became obsessed with Sathya Sai Baba, a philanthropist who claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi. The original Sai Baba lived without worldly possessions, a true fakir. He was a saint with followers from both the Hindu and Muslim faiths and combined the teachings of both religions - a sort of peacekeeper in a nation that would become increasingly contemptuous and violent toward its Muslim minority.

Sathya Sai Baba did not live like this. A chauffeur drove him around in a Mercedes. His houses and cars were gifts from wealthy admirers in India, Western Europe, and the US. He always wore a full-sleeved, long orange kurta that shimmered with cleanliness. His massive coif of hair pointed into the air like lines of electricity drawn by a cartoonist. His presence was loud and boastful. So was his lifestyle, with lavish homes in both Puttaparthi and the hillside tourist destination of Kodaikanal.

Sathya Sai Baba died on April 24, 2011. Devotees of the Indian guru, including Sonia Gandhi, the former president of the Indian National Congress, paid their respects at an ashram in Andhra Pradesh [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]

As my mother's belief in Sathya Sai Baba grew stronger, she used her inheritance from my father to travel to various places in India and abroad. Our trips involved seeing my dida, my mother's mother, in Kolkata and visits to Sai Baba's compounds at least twice a year.

Each visit to see Sai Baba was the same. He separated his followers by gender. Women and their children were always huddled together. We walked into the enclosure that surrounded his mansion and sat down; the hard earth beneath us - a feeling of groundedness that dissipated when Sai Baba arrived. Our bodies tensed and roused with anticipation. I desperately wanted to see his bare feet approach us, to feel the stroke of his hand on my hair and receive his good tidings. My mother raised her hands in prayer. I copied her movements and lifted my hands in worship. We waited for his acknowledgment.

He walked around and waved like a beauty queen, his long orange kurta gracing the dust and dirt on the floor. My mother always held a note in her hand, hoping he would take it from her.

Please keep us financially stable.

Please let Rani get a good education and find a husband.

When will I die?

He randomly chose people to bring into his mammoth home where he performed small miracles. He made fancy goods like diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and vibuthi - a holy ash - magically spring from his palms. I never understood how he produced these riches. I suppose it might have been a sleight of hand.

Sai Baba was well known for his philanthropy. He accepted money from his wealthy devotees, built hospitals and schools for the poor. An educated elite of doctors and teachers donated their services in exchange for his blessings.

Devotees hold flowers to place on a sand sculpture of Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba, created by sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik, on a beach in Puri on April 24, 2011 [Stringer/Reuters]

There were also rumours of sexual misconduct, of his interest in teenage boys; allegations that were denied by Sai Baba and many of his followers.

I later learned that we did not have the money to give to his charities; whatever we had was rationed for travel.

On that frenzied trip, when we eventually arrived at our hotel, we met a white American couple. They were there to see Sai Baba as well. They had a baby, a little girl. She could not have been more than five months old. The wife wore a large emerald ring encrusted with tiny diamonds wrapped around her index finger. My mother looked at the ring, and the woman looked at her. The woman's blonde tresses stood out in contrast to my mother's night-black hair, the woman's blue eyes piercing, my mother's dark brown eyes overflowing with desire. The woman knew that the look on my mother's face was a question.

"Oh, this? Yes, Sai Baba made this for me."

The woman explained how Sai Baba had brought them into his home and performed his small miracles, the emerald ring and a tiny figurine of some god. She pulled the statue from her purse, and we marvelled at it. I held the idol in my palm and imagined it was a medallion worn by a superhero, that by holding it I would be granted good luck. The woman told us how her family was chosen, how they had bought Sai Baba a car in return for his blessings. There was a hint of superiority when she narrated this story, glancing at my mother with what I can only describe now as pity.

Rani's mother [Photo courtesy of Rani Neutill]

In our hotel room, my mother fiddled through our belongings, searching for some paper and a pen to write down all the questions she had for Sai Baba. I was exhausted, cold, and very hungry. A big bed called out to me to lie down. I begged for room service. My mother ordered me my favourite meal, masala dosa, which arrived on a stainless-steel thali with steam twisting through the air. The smell of potatoes and onions mixed with curry leaves, black mustard seeds, and green chilies, all wrapped in a long crepe, overwhelmed me.

I stuffed my face, dropping pieces of the dosa into the coconut chutney and sambar it was served with. Soon after, I began to throw up, heaving the food I had just devoured into the hotel toilet. I lay on the floor, peered up at the ceiling, and wondered if my mother would find the answers she came for.

The next morning, my mother pulled my shivering body up a hill. We were 5km (three miles) from Sai Baba's home.

"We must see him today," she said. "Today is the day. I know it."

I tugged the edges of my wool shawl to tighten it around me. I was weak, dizzy, and dehydrated from throwing up the night before. My mother did not notice. She had a look that I had seen before: a desperate plea for answers, a belief she was nearing an opportunity. Her hair stretched back into a messy bun, wisps of it defining her round face. Her deep brown eyes were a panorama of hope and wonder, her cheekbones high and alert.

I gazed at the path before me. A canopy of lush emerald-green trees marked the horizon. Clusters of fog surrounded us. I reached out to capture a handful of the tiny droplets that waltzed through the air. They disintegrated into nothingness.

As I gathered the breath to continue to move, my mother grabbed my wrist.

"I'm trying, mama. I'm trying," I said, in my eight-year-old voice. I knew I had to follow her. There could be no childhood resistance. She was the only thing I had. I was attached to her mind and body, and I only wanted to please her.

I shuffled my feet forward.

"Mama, can we take a taxi? I don't feel good."

"Na, sona, the fresh air will be good for you," my mother declared, perhaps to convince herself that my illness might be cured by the journey to see Sai Baba and the consecration he might grant us.

"We must walk, we must live minimally, the way Sai Baba has advised us."

I did not understand but trusted that my mother knew best. As we walked, I felt dizzier and dizzier from the elevation. I paused to regain my balance and tensed my legs to make them strong enough to carry me. A shiny white Hindustan Ambassador approached us and slowed its pace. The couple and their baby were in the car. The wife turned to look at us. My gaze met hers and lingered on her face and that of her child. She looked healthy and happy with her perfect nuclear family. Suddenly, I began to vomit. They drove away.

I would never feel the desperation that plagued my mother during those trips to find salvation. At that time, I did not know it was because demons lived inside her, demons that grew in her mind and ultimately led her to a tragic death. But when the car drove away, vomit splattered at my feet, my mother, distracted, filled with longing for someone to tell us our future, it defined my relationship with religion and revealed dynamics of wealth and race.

I now understand that my mother's fierce desires were tumultuous and dangerous. But at eight, I just noted the difference in race between my mother and I and the couple in the immaculate car. Mostly I felt confused: how could they leave a small girl and her mother behind? A sick child who should not have been walking kilometres to see a man who represented an almighty force? I understood the meaning of hypocrisy - even if I did not possess that word.

I wondered how Sai Baba could believe that these were the kinds of people that deserved his attention. And though I felt dirty and sullied from knowing the couple did not want me near the creamy leather of their shiny vehicle, I also felt rage. My legs suddenly felt strong and propelled me forward towards Sai Baba's compound. I felt the desperation that my mother felt; I wanted to prove to the couple that we were worthy of Sai Baba's love and attention. We were not unwanted.

When we finally reached Sai Baba's home, hundreds of people entered the arched columns of his compound. We sat on the floor. A chorus of men played instruments and brought Sai Baba in on a velvet throne. He was placed directly before us and assumed the posture of an idol, his hands in front of his chest, clasped in prayer. Eventually, he climbed off his regal chair and walked around and pointed at those he wanted to bring into his home.

Sai Baba asked the white woman with her baby to rise up and join the chosen few. My mother looked at her with desire and anticipation that the astrologer's predictions would finally materialise and Sai Baba would gesture for us to join this woman and we could rejoice. But he did not pick us.

He never would.

This content was originally published here.

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najallawala-blog · 6 years ago

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The Sovereign’s Hospitality- Hajj

I sat down to write about my memorable experience of hajj, thinking of a suitable title. My first few thoughts were ‘hajj memories’ or something along the lines of ‘hajj experience”. Just then it struck me instead of going with the cliched, if I were to describe the whole hajj experience in as little as few words.. what would it be? It would in fact be Almighty’s splendid hospitality upon His servants. In entirety; The Supreme-Most, Magnificent Host, greets us with His infinite generosity every step of the way. And what a blessing it is to be amongst those favored ones. It is a call from our Lord. To be in that Holy place for A-purpose is the greatest feeling I have ever had to experience. It is an amazing journey of a lifetime. While we hear this a lot from those who have performed hajj, it only makes sense after we have experienced it ourselves. It has been just over a month and I’m feeling nostalgic, yearning for that one more look at Kaaba and to have that whole experience all over again.

I’ll take you through my journey. It was a 14-day trip. Just about the perfect number of days for us. We live in UAE and have two young boys whom we had to leave behind in Pakistan with family.

a- We had never left our kids with anyone before.

b- They’re not used to living in Pakistan without us.

Yes, they’re very fond of their short visits back home during summer and winter holidays and love the attention from the family too. For them, going for holidays is one thing and being away from their parents is quite another. Imagine our anxiety at that!

I’d mention here that planning hajj had been on our mind for the last 2 years. We knew this was something we had to plan, but when and how; that we were not quite sure of. We had planned our holidays to Europe for august 2018, pretty much the same dates that hajj was. We bought the tickets much earlier and booked the hotels too. All arrangements for the summer holiday trip were in order. For us, hajj wasn’t remotely on the cards that year either. Somehow, we had a complete change of heart and we decided to cancel the trip and apply for hajj. Albeit the penalties we had to pay on cancellations at that point were hard on pocket. God had planned something bigger and better. And so, it happened for us. It was one thing after another. We were led by God all through out and it worked one by one. Indeed, Allah is the best of planners. And we couldn’t be happier that it happened in such a delightful way. All it took was intention and sincerity and complete faith in Allah to work it out for us. Believe you me, He works it in ways we can’t even imagine. Oh, the infinite gratitude for His guidance! Our biggest farz obligation was taken care of with utmost ease.

Our arrival was at medina first, which seemed like a good choice for us as it didn’t oblige us to be in our ihram. I found it easier Not being under ihram at the start of journey. Two quick days in medina were almost cut to one and half for us due to some flight issues. That was all we had to make the best of. We arrived in medina middle of the night. Dreading crazy immigration upon our arrival but much to our surprise, immigration was a breeze. It was quick and speedy. As a group, we headed for the hotel in the bus. All tired and exhausted from a long late-night flight, thinking how we would function that day with time so little and so much to do. Reached hotel at the break of dawn. Much to our surprise, our check-in was already taken care of at the hotel. When we arrived, we were handed our keys, which was a relief knowing we could finally get some rest.

The agenda for the day was to maximize our ibadat time in madina, as we were already pressed for time. We had quick breakfast, refreshed ourselves and left straight for the mosque. Fortunately, our hotel was close to the mosque gate, about a minute walk. We offered our nawafil at the mosque and paid our respects at Rouda. Entering Raoda Rasool was a long wait and struggle. Amongst packed roomful of women pushing and throwing others off, together with mini episodes of stampede, I slowly managed to make my way on to the green carpet- Which is a part of Riyaz ul Jannah. On a personal level, it was so emotional and rewarding to offer nafil there. However physically, it was challenging being almost squashed due to massive crowd. Despite all the chaos, there was a divine tranquility to it.

I spent a few good hours at the mosque after rauda. By 10 am we were exhausted and needed to get some power nap to gear ourselves for the rest of the day. A few hours of well rested sleep was need of the hour!

A ziarat tour around the city was planned for the afternoon, with our group members. It was an interesting and an informative tour. So much of history about our prophet and his followers is in Medina. We could feel their presence in the city. To experience it firsthand was sentimental, knowing prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and his companions were once there. Visiting Masjid Quba was one of the exciting features. Offering nafil and prayers over there is equivalent to performing one umrah. How rewarding is that!

After city tour, we carried on with rest of the day, spending as much time at Masjid-Nabwi, offering each prayer at the mosque. The mosque is so peaceful. Just being there was powerfully meditating.

The following day, we left madina feeling content and now looked forward to reaching mecca. Around noon, we were ready to leave for mecca. We had our ihrams on, all set to start our journey, calling out our labbaik all the way through. It generally takes a couple of hours to reach mecca from medina. But this was a very long day for us. It took 10 hours to reach on a bus trip. Although, it was a private group bus, but that was about the time it typically took during hajj days. Tiring to say the least, it seemed like a never-ending road trip with our anxieties building higher. The stop overs on the way for prayers and snacks were a breather. What I don’t forget from this bus trip is the cup of tea we had at one of the small tuc shops on the way. The best thing about mecca and medina is, anything you think of, comes right there for you. No kidding! We were all craving a cup of tea, hoping we would find our kind of desi chai somewhere around the deserted highway. And There it was! A small shop that prepared fresh tea for all of us! I suppose we were in the moment, but hands down it was the best chai we ever had! I can’t ever forget that moment and that chai! Wallah, that cup of tea was god send. 😊

Long long day as it was, we reached mecca close to midnight. Our lodging was at azizia, where we headed straight after. First thought was to rest it out and stall the obligatory umrah for the next morning when we felt a little more relaxed. But that place has magical energy to it. A bit of fresh air was enough to gather ourselves for the next best thing. Without further ado, we left for haram to perform our first umrah of the trip. The feeling of walking into masjid- Haram and that first look at Kaaba is a moment that can only be felt. No matter how well I narrate the experience in words, I can never do complete justice. It is an indescribable feeling. Still as fresh in my mind as it was that day. Trembling steps, heartbeat faster, teary eyed, completely mesmerized! Despite thousands of people around, the instant was standstill. It was surreal; living a dream standing in front of Kaaba, tears trickling down only to sink in that feeling forever. Being grateful to our creator for bringing us there in good health, standing humbled in front of His home. That esteemed place of worship, only to submit to Allah.

Alhumdullilah, a smooth first umrah it was!

Getting closer to 8th zilhajj. We set out for Mina camps in our ihram, with our small backpack keeping it as light as possible. Mina was not very far from our accommodation in Azizia. The walk up to Mina through the tunnel, from our hotel-apartment was about 45 minutes. It was slightly uphill, that demanded physical agility. On a lighter note, engaging conversations with a fellow mate certainly made the walks less mundane.

I had imagined a completely different picture of mina camps, something shabby like Bedouin camps :D Thankfully, that was only my imagination. These camps were fairly decent with individual mattresses given to each pilgrim. Shared Camp-stay in Mina had its own thrill. It feels like an enormous, lively village community coming together. The likelihood of running into friends and relatives from other places is also high, that adds on to a fun stay. Although we were free to move around during the day, nights we had to stay in at the mina. Night-ins were a good bonding with girls from the group. The range of talks were from heart to heart to practicalities of life in general, Sharing personal experiences or simply going crazy laughing over meaningless things. That was the norm each night before we went to sleep. 5 mina days were a pleasant stay and a lovely experience altogether. We developed a good understanding with each other. It was important to enjoy the company of those traveling with us and feel comfortable, as we spent most of the time moving together. Not only we made new friends who were likeminded but also enjoyed a memorable journey with them.

Every day was a new day for us, with new energy and more love for the holy place. 9th zilhajj early morning after fajar, we headed to our designated bus. The vibes and the feel were downright spiritual. Chanting our talbiyah (labaik) together, we huddled for Arafat. I imagined Arafat to be an isolated mountain place, perhaps because of stories heard from elderly who performed hajj many years ago. :D Pleasantly, it was a colossal camped area. These camps were shared by other group hajis as well.

We were told to rest out until before noontime to get ourselves in form. Around noon, time for Arafat dua started ticking. This was the time we had to maximize. It was a time to be seized and ask Allah for forgiveness, His mercy and whatever duas we needed to make. As this is the day when every dua comes true. We prayed and prayed and submitted ourselves to Allah like no tomorrow. I had a list of duas prepared for myself and also had the one that my friends/relatives asked for themselves. Having dua’s at hand made it easier for ready recall. Regardless, so many heartfelt dua’s kept coming to my mind, and I revered in that moment and place in Arafat. The time was very precious, not a minute was to be wasted. From dhur until maghrib is the time for duas. Prayed with all my heart and prayed that Allah accepts our hajj in the highest degree.

I do want to add here; the obligation of hajj itself is reaching Arafat. Upon entering Arafat, we are supposed to stay there until sunset. The dua and ibadat time is a bonus that Allah gifts us with it. The gratuity of the whole hajj experience is rich eeman and a cleansed soul. We are clean slate and as pure as a newborn child. Subhanallah!

Having maximized our arafat time to the fullest until maghrib. We then set out for a stay over at muzdalfa. There’s great significance of duas made in muzdalfa too. It is another bonus time from Allah. Such is the generosity of our lord. Indeed He’s the most Raheem of all.

Followed on to a night in muzdalfa, which is a massive sandy open area. We collected small stone pellets for rami from here for all 3 days. There’s a limitation to the size so these must be picked carefully. We practically spent the night by the road side with noise, pollution and broad beaming flood lights over us. The idea was to sleep a few hours, and all those circumstances certainly made it difficult to sleep. One way or another most people do manage to catch a few winks. I remember sleeping like a baby (very grateful to Allah for that :)). Despite the hot humid sticky air and dusty whiffs of engine smoke around us, we slept on a flimsy sheet on a bare sandy ground. It is a true reminder that we are all equal in the eyes of Allah. There is no rich or poor on that day. Everyone is at the same level as a meager supplicant in front of Allah. All in the same appearance, all equally vulnerable seeking Allah’s mercy and forgiveness. In reality - we were created from clay, sent on earth, and ultimately be resting deep into the very same earth!!

After offering fajar at muzdalfa; the next set of obligatory rituals for 10th zilhaj were Rami, qurbani, and Tawaf ziarat. Rami was supposed to be done for 3 consecutive days at jamarat. There’s much significance of doing 4th day additional rami. It’s not a requisite but favored. Hence, we decided to stay back in Mina for one more night. Afterall earning more and more hasanat is what we are there for. Considerable number of people leave Mina after the 3rd day of rami. The place looks widely empty and the jamarat is accessed easily too.

Last few days of our journey were fast approaching. By that time, our fatigue was escalating by the minute. Friday is always overly packed at haram. For us, it was a very long, hot and draining last jumma at haram. After that, my husband and I both came down with fever and bad flu that we were resisting for these many days. It is very normal for pilgrims to fall sick at some point during their journey. They say, it’s a takeaway of hajj. Nonetheless, that fever got to us badly. It was accumulated fatigue and tiredness and multitude of viruses that our body was resisting up until. It took us two days to recover and pick up on our energy for the last 1.5 day that we were left with. Thankfully, we gathered enough strength to make a trip to haram and do our final tawaf wida. It was a very emotional time. We spent several hours as this would be the last day before we bade farewell. The longing was very strong to stay there and not leave at all. Regrettably, we had to! But praying continually to visit again and again! Filled with whirlwind of emotions, happy tears, blessed feelings and contentment of heart; we made duas in front of Kaaba for one last time.

In my personal view, hajj is about establishing a firm bond with Allah. The supplications made between Allah and oneself, bring us in closest contact with Him. Tolerance and humility are tokens that we take forward, to evolve into better individuals.

Hajj is a time where so much is happening with scores of people at the same time. Each tries the best to their abilities. But there are occasions that put limitations; such as time constraint or logistic confines, even having fallen sick or something unavoidable. The thought occasionally did lurk on me; perhaps I went easy on my efforts or that I could have possibly spent extra time at haram. Let that not dishearten us! It is a struggle to even make way into the mosque. Pilgrims stepping over each other and doing tawaf packed in between so many. Unknowingly, we even make mistakes along the way. In hindsight, what really matters is submission to Allah, no matter where we are. God is present everywhere and he knows the good intent that we hold. We are there for one purpose, that he is aware of and clearly He sees the sincerity of our efforts. The fact that we are in Allah’s house should give us solace that He is happy to host us there . I had to remind myself too, what I did was best in my capacity. Much to my heart’s content, Allah is our best judge. That said, I repeatedly pray to Allah with all my heart that He accepts our hajj in the highest possible grade. The perks of hajj are absolute forgiveness and being given a chance by Allah, of a fresh new start. To express our gratefulness in response, we must also adopt a forgiving stance and a kinder approach towards people. As individuals, our greatest responsibility after huqooq Allah, is huqooq ul ebad (duties towards mankind). The holy experience by far changed my outlook to life at so many levels, in a much-improved way.

Ending on a happy note, the whole experience was fulfilling and rewarding from the word go. Back home, the kids were well taken care of, by the family in our absence. Happy kids, happy parents. ( I feel blessed). It was heartwarming to come home to our loving family, cheerful faces of my children, tons of mubarakbads (read “gifts/ envelopes” 😉) and family & friends eagerly hosting us, to honor our new haji status. 😊

-Najia Al

#hajj hajjandumrah hajjtravel travel hajjblog hajjexperience personalhajj

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networkingdefinition · 5 years ago

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Basil Quotes

Official Website: Basil Quotes

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• A man taking basil from a woman will love her always. – Thomas More • And I did a movie called Basil with Jared Leto and Christian Slater. – Claire Forlani

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Basil', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_basil').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_basil img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Bad Girl!” She chided. “I’m pretty sure Boris is a boy,” I said. “Oh, I know,” Mrs. Basil E. assured me. “I just like to keep him confused,” Then she and Boris headed off with my future. – David Levithan • Basil Fawlty was an easy character for me. For some reason, portraying a mean, uptight, incompetent bully comes naturally to me. – John Cleese • Basil Stag Hare tut-tutted severely as he remarked to Ambrose Spike, ‘Tch, tch. Dreadful table manners. Just look at those three wallahs, kicking up a hullaballoo like that! Eating’s a serious business. – Brian Jacques • Basil..discovered a guild of abortionists, or sagae, that were doing a booming trade in Caesarea, and the surrounding environs. They provided herbal potions, pessaries, and even surgical remedies for women who wished to avoid child-bearing. The bodies of the children were then harvested and sold to cosmetologists in Egypt, who used the collagen for the manufacture of various beauty creams. – Grant George • Conscience and cowardice are really the same things, Basil. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all. – Oscar Wilde • Ernie Hayes, Jimmy Lewis, and either Belton Evans or Khalil Mahdi on drums [were in Sweet Basil]. All those guys really took care of me. – Jon Gordon • Going to Europe as a budding cook opened my eyes to food in a different way. When I got to Italy, the first thing I did was put my little basil plants in the ground and watch them turn into big, healthy bushes. – Frances Mayes • I believe in the magic of preparation. You can make just about any foods taste wonderful by adding herbs and spices. Experiment with garlic, cilantro, basil and other fresh herbs on vegetables to make them taste great. – Jorge Cruise • I have been right, Basil, haven’t I, to take my love out of poetry, and to find my wife in Shakespeare’s plays? Lips that Shakespeare taught to speak have whispered their secret in my ear. I have had the arms of Rosalind around me, and kissed Juliet on the mouth. – Oscar Wilde • I think you are wrong, Basil, but I won’t argue with you. It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue. – Oscar Wilde • I was also sitting in from the middle of senior year of high school at Sweet Basil, it was a great club in New York. – Jon Gordon • I went in [Sweet Basil band] and played with them, maybe half the gig for almost eight years or more. – Jon Gordon • I would sit in at a jazz brunch [at sweet Basil] with Eddie Chamblee, who was a great tenor player. Really a kind man. The whole band was great. – Jon Gordon • If you’ve got a plot the size of a car or a tiny yard in Italy, you’re going to be growing tomatoes and basil and celery and carrots, and everybody is still connected to the land. – Frances Mayes • Illy [Ray Illingworth] had the man-management skills of Basil Fawlty – Darren Gough • On daughter Apple’s accent: She says Mummy instead of Mommy, I don’t mind that. I will if she starts saying basil and pasta the English way, as that really drives me nuts. – Gwyneth Paltrow • Pounding fragrant things – particularly garlic, basil, parsley – is a tremendous antidote to depression. But it applies also to juniper berries, coriander seeds and the grilled fruits of the chilli pepper. Pounding these things produces an alteration in one’s being – from sighing with fatigue to inhaling with pleasure. The cheering effects of herbs and alliums cannot be too often reiterated. Virgil’s appetite was probably improved equally by pounding garlic as by eating it. – Patience Gray • Savory…that’s a swell word. And Basil and Betel. Capsicum. Curry. All great. But Relish, now, Relish with a capital R. No argument, that’ the best. – Ray Bradbury • That’s definitely true! It was before my father died, so I can’t attribute it to an obsession with death. When I was seven, I loved those old Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone. The Scarlet Claw was one of my faves. And I loved all the Halloween’s and that film about the haunted house… Burnt Offerings, with Oliver Reed. Every birthday party was a slumber party and we’d watch horror films. – Cate Blanchett • The repeat run of Fawlty Towers (BBC2) drew bigger audiences than ever and deservedly so. Statistical surveys reveal that only the television critic of the Spectator is incapable of seeing the joke, which is that Basil Fawlty has the wrong temperament to be a hotel proprietor, just as some other people have the wrong temperament to be television critics. – Clive James • The scent organ was playing a delightfully refreshing Herbal Capriccio – rippling arpeggios of thyme and lavender, of rosemary, basil, myrtle, tarragon; a series of daring modulations through the spice keys into ambergris; and a slow return through sandalwood, camphor, cedar and newmown hay (with occasional subtle touches of discord – a whiff of kidney pudding, the faintest suspicion of pig’s dung) back to the simple aromatics with which the piece began. The final blast of thyme died away; there was a round of applause; the lights went up. – Aldous Huxley • Virtues are in the middle, the royal way about which the saintly elder (Saint Basil the Great) said, “Travel on the royal way and count the miles.” As I said, the virtues are at the midpoint between excess and laxness. That is why it is written, “Do not turn to the right or the left” (Prov 4:27) but travel on the “royal way” (Num. 20:17). Saint Basil also says, “The person who does not allow his thoughts to incline towards excess or deprivation but directs it to the midpoint, that of virtue, is upright in heart.” – Dorotheus of Gaza • We’re big fans of the show on BBC, and some of the greatest actors in film and television have done this character, from Basil Rathbone to Nicol Williamson to Michael Caine. (Executive producer) Rob Doherty came in with the pitch last season, it was immediately a show that we gravitated towards. – Nina Tassler • What the English like to do is to face reality with a glass of port and a tear and fade off like Basil Rathbone into the sunset. – Pete Townshend • When I was thinking about what we could do in terms of what production values of Broadway might be able to add to the show, I had this thought that it would be really cool if we had a coup de théâtre. What would they want? And then I was like, an amazing, enormous tuna puppet that was like 30 by 40 feet would be pretty incredible. So I called up Basil Twist, and he got really excited immediately and started sketching out his idea, and I think it’s a real highlight of the show. – Alex Timbers [clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

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phoebehalliwell · 4 years ago

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tropes you wish we'd seen in Charmed? for me, I can't believe we didn't get a decent amnesia plot. just imagine some unassuming demon of the week erasing the sisters' memories and scattering them around the country, and the episode(s) is them trying to figure out who they are and where they got these awesome powers, all while slowly drifting back toward SF and each other. hell, that could have been an awesome s8 rather than what we got. damn it, now I'm gonna write it.

hmm that’s a good question i feel like charmed really had multiple different ways they could have swung an amnesia plot i think that also could have been a really well maybe not good but like a really way to bring back prue like oh she’s not dead lmao her mind’s just been wiped and she’s halfway across the country like it would have been like full network drama vibes but like. much 2 think about lmao. actually if you were doing that have that be your s3 finale where no one dies and they’re all just scattered and have paige end up being this missing link that helps them all find each other get back to where they’re supposed to be then when you kill of one of them have it revealed paige is the long lost sister boom. wallah.

i think as far as like tropes i kinda wish we would have gotten is sorta like this kind of “avengers assemble” bringing together the squad type trope which is a bit of a two-parter because i really wish they had like a squad. like they would sometimes references asking the leprechauns or nymphs for help or whatever but i’m talking like a proper squad squad. homies that make the thanksgiving cut. darryl, sheila, & henry would be like the mortal portion of the squad with darryl & henry obvi having connections to the police department and we have like no info on sheila meaning we could also have her do something relevant and cool i’d also love to see paige’s gay punk rock co-worker from like that one episode you know from like social services hell even her boss mr. cowan i’d love to see those guys also make some kinda cool contribution just 4 funsies. on the magical side i would have loved loved loved to see these guys be friends with witches i mean come on. i think if paige and richard never dated or even if they did but they didn’t tank the storyline i think the montana line could have been great allies i think that could have been fun i think had kyle not been so um. like you know kind of Like That if he had just toned it back a couple notches and then still died i would have loved to see him as a connection to the halliwells as well i also love the idea of him coming to the charmed ones with like a hey check this out and phoebe having the exact same attitude to him that she had when he was alive and he’s like i don’t know why we’re doing this i’m literally a whitelighter like can u get past this i died to save the world okay and phoebe’s like no i still don’t trust you so much that it becomes a bit where if kyle’s not in the room phoebe will be like no he’s super smart and capable i would trust him with my life but if he is in the room she only ever refers to him as brody and tries to poke holes in his various plans. you know what enemies to lovers phoebe x kyle think about it amirite lads let’s think about it. while i’m mentally in season 7 kyra would have also made a great addition to their squad for like obvious reasons. who doesn’t want psychic charisma carpenter around? obviously billie would be in the squad bc like. duh. but maybe we can handle that whole thing better because i really didn’t like the whole dynamic there between any of them at all like it was like mentor/mentee but it felt like none of them wanted to be there and then billie really wanted to be there but like it was all just it was sloppy. but if it wasn’t. billie is in the squad. and just to like. idk have the big bad of season 8 not be two twenty somethings with anxiety and childhood trauma but rather have it be some you know proper giant threatening Big Bad where they need to call on all the resources they have for some giant team up like yeah. that’s what i would have wanted to see.

#i know obvi they did not have the budget to pull that off but like um. i don't think they really have the brains either.#it's difficult!! that's not a major dig it's difficult to do that shit! and it requires like #sowing the seeds earlier you know you couldn't just bring back a bunch of yahoos unwarranted #like that requires premeditation #but when it works man it's such a delight #like i don't go to the dceu but when they did crisis on infinite earths............. Big Moment #like i mean hello going to constantine having him be like i know a guy and then going to lucifer????#fuckin iconique also amamzing way to learn lucifer was a dc property #but yeah long story short i wish they had a squad #charmed #💌

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equitiesstocks · 5 years ago

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Basil Quotes

Official Website: Basil Quotes

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• A man taking basil from a woman will love her always. – Thomas More • And I did a movie called Basil with Jared Leto and Christian Slater. – Claire Forlani

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nongravity · 7 years ago

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DECAF July 2017 Post Mortem

(Clearing out my draft folder at the end of the year. Posting my July Post Mortem on December 31st!) I’m the event organizer of DECAF, so even though I sold some books at the show, things were so fast paced that I could only really mentally absorb the organizer aspect and I left the particulars of the table in the capable hands of Elida and Debbie. So this post mortem will be more about event organizing than table sales.

This is my 10th post mortem convention write up! You can find the rest on the Events page on my website or the post mortem tag here on my tumblr.

First the numbers! Not itemized though since I love transparency but don't want to force it on anyone else.

Budget for the event: €550-ish

Venue +VAT

Website

Poster Art

Poster/Postcard Printing

Decorations/Supplies

Patreon, Donations and Exhibitor Incoming: €496

10 Patrons over 2 months - €65

1 kind anonymous donation - €60

33 Exhibitors w/€16 Full Tables & €8 Half Tables - €371

For a total budget shortfall of: €54

After losing money on the last DECAF, one of my goals for the second DECAF was to not lose money! But then I lost money again!

The shortfall was down to two reasons, both of which were my fault for not anticipating (I’m learning!)

+VAT - WHAT A DOPE, I forgot VAT for the venue cost! So my math calculating the table costs for exhibitors was off from the very start!

Dropouts! - Out of 40 table applications: 7 dropped out. Had they paid I would have broken-even even with my VAT mistake.

I’m still learning about VAT here in Ireland, it’s never really on my mind. But it will be from now on! We had dropouts the first show as well, but since we didn’t have any space for them anyway in the last venue it worked out. This time I set my table prices for 40 exhibitors, so 33 couldn’t cut it. Moving forward I’m going to anticipate a 20% dropout rate.

My total outgoing costs for the convention in order of leaving my house to the start of the show: €10

Fuel driving into Dublin - €10

So busy I forgot to eat lunch! - €0

What I brought with me:

Loads of We Can’t Afford This

My last few copies of Hats that aren’t trapped in storage

Plenty of Odd Reels and Strong

What I sold:

0 Copy of Hats for €7

1 Copies of Strong €5

1 Copies of Odd Reels €3

8 Copies of We Can’t Afford This €4

For a total incoming of: €30-40-ish?

The show was so hectic that I left the Stray Lines tables to Elida and Debbie most of the day and in the end they paid me out but I forgot to get the numbers of what I sold! I really was overwhelmed. But in the end, if you count my sales I only lost about €20 on the show.

More We Can’t Afford This

The more shows I do, the more I’m getting the message that I should get working on the sequels to We Can’t Afford This. I’ve got two planned from our experiences in the year following We Can’t Afford This. Someone even said they were working on a housing crisis anthology!

Our Table(s) and Us

Stray Lines had two tables at the show! Elida bought one for herself and spread our books across her table as well. I decided to triangulate our tables around the room, with the two Stray Lines tables on opposite sides of the room so we could keep an eye on everything. It probably would have been smarter to put both tables together because we were kind of short on Stray Lines members to watch the tables! It just meant I couldn’t roam around as much as I wanted to, though I did manage to get away enough to take some photos.

What we brought for the group:

30-ish different books by 6 different artists!

What the group sold:

65 books!

My numbers are such a mess this time! But sales were good! Slight improvement on the sales numbers from the first DECAF.

Dublin Eight Comic Arts Festival

As is probably clear by now, the summer DECAF was three times as big as the spring DECAF.

The Dublin Food Co-op is such a wonderful venue. People complained about the heat, but it’s hard to fault a rare sunny summer’s day in Ireland. The Thursday Cafe provides a great reason for people to stick around after they’ve walked around the comic hall. One of my big mistakes of the day was not taking five minutes to sit down in the cafe and have lunch. I was running on pure anxiety and adrenaline all day!

The space looked exactly how I wanted a small press show to look, very casual, very informal, and lots of people!

We were short on chairs at the start of the day but the Co-op team steered me in the direction of their chair storage. It made for a funny morning, moving chairs around instead of introducing myself to exhibitors as they walked in. It means I didn’t really meet some people until the end of the day.

There was also table shuffling to be done, one exhibitor was a no-show due to another event conflict and another exhibitor left partway through the day. I mishandled the no-show exhibitor, I left the table empty until I heard from her which was more than halfway through the day at that point. I should have shuffled someone in within the first hour. As a result I was more on top of things when the other exhibitor left early, I was able to move someone in to fill the space.

Something I did this time that I didn’t do the first time was make a point to stop and say hi to all the exhibitors before the end of the day. I’m terrible with names but hopefully if I can do this at every show I’ll get better at introducing myself to people and not panic-blanking when they say their name back to me. From what I gathered, almost all the exhibitors made back their table costs (a big part of me doing all these post mortems is that I think that’s a part of comic shows that often slips through the cracks). The possible exception is the exhibitor who left early and an artists who’s book wasn’t ready in time for the show so he was without inventory.

Sophomore Slump

That was the big question hanging over the day. Was the success of the spring DECAF a fluke? Was scaling up x3 a terrible idea? Would we drown in the massive Food Co-op space?

Really happy and relieved that we scaled up successfully. I don’t imagine we’ll grow larger than the Food Co-op for some time.

Cloud

Something that hung over the event for me was knowing that our fantastic hosts, the Dublin Food Co-op, won’t survive the planned renovation of Newmarket Square.

That really sucks, because there are very little venues in Dublin for a show with a budget like ours. I put on this show for between €5-600 because that’s all I’ve got and that’s all I can reasonably ask people to pitch in for!

While it’s possible DECAF might grow in the future, it has to happen organically. If venues in our price range disappear, DECAF disappears.

Unfortunately, I’m still learning how things work in Ireland and I missed the official window to lodge my objection to the current Newmarket proposal with the city.

Highlights

Debbie did a fantastic job with her monster communal comic. I know she has years of experience doing this but I was still surprised that she managed to get total participation without having to be a carnival barker with a megaphone all day long convincing people to join-in.

Karen did the Herculean task of organizing and hosting a panel. The Co-op is a great venue for a lot of things but it’s not a super venue for acoustics. The panel really was just for the 40ish people sitting around the stage and not for the entire exhibition hall. On one side, that’s good, less disruption! But on the other side, I thought the sound would carry far enough that the exhibitors could listen if they wanted.

The DECAF miracle of the day was that I successfully recorded the panel to share on Patreon! Of all the things on my to-do list, figure out how to be an audio engineer was way down at the bottom. Thankfully the Co-op’s microphone set-up is fool-proof and there was just a simple line-out from their speaker/microphone receiver to my computer and then a simple press-record in Quicktime and wallah! Magic! I remembered the audio for my Patreon but I entirely forgot to distribute blank postcards to my exhibitors and ask them to make a sketch for the €10 postcard-tier of my Patreon. This was supposed to be my chance to stockpile art rewards for Patreon. Next time!

Our swap table was even bigger this time (everything scaled up!) and we raised €76 for the Simon Community. We still need to sort out what to do with the leftover swapsies at the end of the day, both DECAF’s we’ve been left carrying home massive IKEA bags full of comics. None of us really have the storage space for that sort of thing. This time we made an end-of-the-day swaps-over-take-what-you-want announcement and made the table a freebie table and even that didn’t clear it entirely.

Tara O’Brien did a fantastic poster! There was a brief plan to try to make prints of Tara’s poster to sell but I didn’t have the time to organize it. Ultimately I’d like to start selling prints of all the DECAF posters because they're so so good! Seems a shame to use them for one quarterly event and then discard them!

Conclusion

Get out of the red, dummy!

That’s really all there is left to do.

For October I’m raising the table/half table prices from €16/8 to €20/10. That should cover the VAT and the potential 20% drop-out rate.

I also think I need to increase my publicity budget a little. I burned through the posters and postcards pretty quickly this time and there’s still huge swaths of the city left unplastered. Choosing the Food Co-op as a venue did a lot to bring in a new audience who didn’t even know there was a comic event on, but knew that the Food Co-op always hosts something. I want to keep finding new people outside the Dublin comic scene and expanding our publicity reach would help.

Epilogue

The fall Decaf will be on a bank holiday, Monday, October 30th, at the Dublin Food Co-op again. Moving to a Monday and a three-day-weekend will bring it’s own challenges but hopefully we can maintain the level of participation we had in July.

Our amazing October poster is by Helene Pertl! Yay!

#decaf #dublincomicarts #dublin comic arts #comic arts fest #comiccon #comicconvention #comics #exhibitor #organizer #tabling #recap #postmortem #sales #stray lines #the comics lab #dublin food coop #newmarket square

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mostlysignssomeportents · 6 years ago

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#9yrsago Ian McDonald's "Cyberabad Days" -- short stories in 2047 India that blend technology with spirituality, love, sex, war and humanity

Ian McDonald is one of science fiction's finest working writers, and his latest short story collection Cyberabad Days, is the kind of book that showcases exactly what science fiction is for.

All seven of these stories are standouts, but if I had to pick only three to put in a time-capsule for the ages, they'd be:

Cyberabad Days

https://boingboing.net/2009/02/27/ian-mcdonalds-cybera.html

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the-blog-claw · 8 years ago

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A chunk of iceberg the size of Delaware is in the process of breaking off from West Antarctica. With all the ice melting around the world the above photo might not be too much of an exaggeration.

“If an asteroid was headed toward the earth and the impact would wipe out all life as we know it. Would you want to know? If yes keep reading, if no carry on with Kardashians ”

Abrupt Global Warming

The world is experiencing abrupt climate change at a rate unprecedented in the history of the planet. Most main stream climate scientists push out the worst cast scenario until the end of the century. Some are more courageous about the truth and estimate that we could see devastating global average temperature increases within the next decade. Guy McPherson, professor emeritus from the university of Arizona, calculates a conservative 8.6 Celsius in the next decade (read about it here). Sam Carana of Arctic News postulates an even faster trend by exponentially factoring the dozens of self reinforcing environmental heating feed back loops. According to Sam we may see an overall global temperature increase of 10 C by 2021.

Phew… it’s getting hot out there in the world. What does this mean for you and me? Well it might be a good idea to invest in companies that make air conditioners. The planet is heating so fast, we may have a real challenge growing grains at scale. Ain’t gonna be enough food to go around.

The ability to grow and store grains at scale allowed civilization to flourish. This also gave great power and authority to those who controlled the food.

How did we get in this Predicament?

We did not get here by accident. We burned vast amounts of fossil fuels since the start of the industrial revolution in 1760. Add up all the emissions from factories, car exhaust, airplanes, industrial agriculture, factory animals for food, deforestation, and overall oil consumption and wallah over the course of 250 years we arrive at 410 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now add in methane, another green house gas, released from the Arctic and you have the equivalent of 600 parts per million in carbon dioxide. Now were cooking with gas! In 1989 the UN environment program warned we had 10 years to bring our carbon dioxide habit under control. Needless to say we missed the target.

I blame the greed of all Big Money (Bankers, military Big-Pharma Big-Agri Big-Oil industrial complex) for the mess were in and the general public for giving away their power. In our defense T.V. was a helluva distraction!

I would be curious to know how much profit Big Oil and their Saudi buddies enjoyed between 1989 and 2000. I bet you these darn oil tycoons were finally able to buy that silver colored Rolls Royce they did not own yet. Because it sucks when you only have a black, white, red, blue, yellow, and purple RR but not in silver. I sleep better at night knowing the mega rich elite are able to buy more material things at the cost of grinding the environment into dust. In 2016 a staggering 35 billion barrels of oil or 96 mbpd was consumed by all nations. That is 42 gallons per barrel. Damn its like were eating and drinking the stuff like it’s going out of style. Coming soon to a watering hole near you, Mobil, Exxon Lite, and Texas Crude on tap. None of the calories of those thick viscocity refineries.

Civilized Heat Engine

According to the research of Peter Garrett, “atmospheric physicist in the US, who has shown that changes in global population and standard of living are correlated to variations in energy efficiency. This discovery halves the number of variables needed to make emissions forecasts and therefore should considerably improve climate predictions, he claims.”

In the words of Edwin Cartlidge,” Timothy Garrett of the University of Utah in the US believes that much of this uncertainty can be eliminated by considering humanity as if it were a heat engine (arXiv:0811.1855). Garrett’s model heat engine consists of an entity and its environment, with the two separated by a step in potential energy that enables energy to be transferred between the two. Some fraction of this transferred energy is converted into work, with the rest released beyond the environment in the form of waste heat, as required by the second law of thermodynamics.”

What does this mean? It means Tim Garrett is one smart mofo. Well I think it means that humanity as a collective heats the planet from the residual effect of everyday activity. The progressive nature of industrialized civilization is to consume, expand, and grow. These days emerging nations see all the cool stuff we have in the West and boom they want it too. They gotta own iphones, new cars, designer jeans and all kinds of stuff you don’t need that are found on Amazon. It’s a jungle out there or it used to be, now it’s a shopping mall or new housing complex. Burn baby burn. Buy. Consume. Waste. Shop for more useless stuff.

Many scientists say were in the midst of the 6th Mass Extinction. “Yeah that’s great and everything, but will we still be able to buy a six-pack and watch the game on Sunday?”

This lifestyle of getting more and more stuff is driving 150 to 200 species a day to extinction according to a study done by the UN back in 2010. Those numbers are from 7 years ago. What are the odds they have increased in 7 years? With mankind’s track record lately I would say very good and for the plants, insects, and animals very bad. We were put in charge of a literal paradise, bet it will take a long time before the Creator let’s the kids rule the planet without a little more supervision. Free will has it’s growing pains.

Connecting the Dots

Red or Blue pill? W.W.N.D. What would Neo do?

I have noticed for about the last 5 years that airplanes have been spraying the skies full of chemicals that morph into vast amounts of cloud cover. These aerosol chemical cocktails are known to include aluminum, barium, strontium, lead, mercury, plus other toxic metals your mom warned you about. Day in and day out the upper atmosphere is saturated with heavy metal nano particulates that eventually make their way into the air column we breathe and into the entire web of life, rain water, and drinking water. The United States owns over 100 weather modification patents. It does not take a genius to observe what is happening above. If the general public would pull their heads out of the sand for long enough they would see the lion about to pounce them. These climate engineering programs have fancy little politically correct names like stratospheric aerosol injection, solar radiation management, and carbon dioxide removal.

Elephant in the room most don’t notice

What kind of emissions test did this airplane pass?

Funky looking cloud cover, looks dare I say artiificial.

I don’t the FAA allows crossing flight paths.

Not natural?

Does this look like trajectory of flight headed to Vegas?

The contrail is going more north/south than east/west.

If you think the photos above look natural then you are asleep at the wheel. Wake up, take the red pill (the blue pill got you tripping) and use your critical thinking lens to filter thru the bullshit programming and check your reality.

David Keith, a famous climate engineer from Harvard, recently went public with a so called geoengineering experiment planned for 2018. The test involves releasing some weather balloons into the upper atmosphere. The balloons are going to disperse reflective particles into the upper troposphere and then measure how much the sun light is dimmed or reflected. The Harvard geo-nerds hope to someday implement some type of aerosol injection or other climate intervention method to combat global warming. The projected costs are only like $10 billion annually but what about the cost to human health and the environment. The human and environmental price is far beyond any arbitrary economic cost. The power structure is attempting to introduce large scale climate engineering into the public domain like it has not already been happening. David Keith has already stated on the record, the goal is to inject 20 millions tons of aluminum into the atmosphere annually. Its a wonder that 1 in 3 seniors in the U.S. dies with alzheimer or dementia.

Dane Wigington of Geoengineering Watch has posted the results of multiple rainwater tests and the results are quite conclusive. The powers that be are saturating the entire web of life with heavy metal particulates.

Here’s where I connect the dots…

I believe climate engineering, a form of geoengineering is used by the military industrial complex to stall and delay abrupt climate change and/or global warming. The predicament we are in cannot be fixed with climate intervention. In fact climate engineering is accelerating extreme weather events, destroying the ozone layer, and decimating the environment. Also if the powers that be magically stopped spraying aerosols and burning fossil fuels tomorrow, the earth would most likely rapidly increase by 3 C global average temperature from eliminating the dimming effect in a matter of days or weeks. We are damned if we do and damned if don’t. Civilization is a heat engine in itself no matter what form of energy is consumed. The only thing we can do is to keep the party going until the lights go out. The shadow elite behind the scenes pulling the levers of commerce and society are desperate to fix a predicament created by their own unbridled greed. The unfortunate pickle we are in will not be solved by the same technological insanity that landed us here. Maybe we should try not doing anything and let mother nature respond. Less is more. Because the doing in the name of industrialized civilization has bitten us in the ass. We need to stop acting like infinite growth on a finite planet is sustainable. At the rate we are going I imagine things will get very ugly sooner than later.

The best solution I can think of is to take the lead from the Native Americans who were stripped of this great nation that they did not care to own but shared with mother earth. Perhaps our demise was set in motion the very moment civilization decided it was entitled to own mother nature. We should have partnered with the living planet instead of raping, pillaging, and plundering her life force. A common philosophy among Native Americans is to take only what you need for survival and don’t waste anything. We thought they were savages but look what we have done to our mother. How many resources have we extorted and wasted? Civilization in the end is quite obviously the savage. I wish I could tell you that we can fix this mess. Do we really deserve to live on a paradise like earth? Maybe we are getting what we deserve. After all, you can’t poop in your nest day after day and not get poop on your feathers. We are constantly fouling the air, dirtying the water, polluting, and destroying the entire environment.

“Life is about learning lessons. What have you learned in this lifetime? I have learned that it is truly important to live in harmony with all of the Creator’s beautiful creations. When I hurt others I hurt myself. I don’t want to hurt anymore and I am sure you don’t either.”

by Jason Holtzclaw

Abrupt Climate Disaster "If an asteroid was headed toward the earth and the impact would wipe out all life as we know it.

#abrupt climate change #Climate Engineering

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mostlysignssomeportents · 6 years ago

Text

#10yrago Ian McDonald's "Cyberabad Days" -- short stories in 2047 India that blend technology with spirituality, love, sex, war and humanity

Ian McDonald is one of science fiction's finest working writers, and his latest short story collection Cyberabad Days, is the kind of book that showcases exactly what science fiction is for.

All seven of these stories are standouts, but if I had to pick only three to put in a time-capsule for the ages, they'd be:

Cyberabad Days

https://boingboing.net/2009/02/27/ian-mcdonalds-cybera.html

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