Paris Tips: Embracing Dance at the Cimetière de Montmartre

Paris Tips: Embracing Dance at the Cimetière de Montmartre.

Dancers from all over the world leave their ballet slippers at Marie Taglioni’s Shrine

in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris.

via one of my favorite blogs…People, Places and Bling!

It’s All Really One

But if you go beyond that, you see it’s all really One.

Source: beach-demon

Ernesto Che Guevara

Ernesto Che Guevara 

In 1999 I was visiting Cuba during the 40th celebration of the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959).  Havana was in  full celebration throughout the city and along The Malecón,  ( broad esplanade, roadway and seawall which stretches for 8 km along the coast in Havana, Cuba).  One of the things I will never forget is running into a group of women in high spirits shouting ‘We love Che!  He is our ‘martyr’.  At that moment I especially realized the incredible importance of Ernesto Che Guevara to the Cuban people.  The following is a contemplation of this special man.  -J. Quigley

“In 1956 Guevara, Castro and eighty other men and women arrived in Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the government of General Fulgencio Batista. This group became known as the July 26 Movement. The plan was to set up their base in the Sierra Maestra mountains. On the way to the mountains they were attacked by government troops. By the time they reached the Sierra Maestra there were only sixteen men left with twelve weapons between them. For the next few months Castro’s guerrilla army raided isolated army garrisons and were gradually able to build-up their stock of weapons.

When the guerrillas took control of territory they redistributed the land amongst the peasants. In return, the peasants helped the guerrillas against Batista’s soldiers. In some cases the peasants also joined Castro’s army, as did students from the cities and occasionally Catholic priests.

In an effort to find out information about the rebels people were pulled in for questioning. Many innocent people were tortured. Suspects, including children, were publicly executed and then left hanging in the streets for several days as a warning to others who were considering joining the revolutionaries. The behaviour of Batista’s forces increased support for the guerrillas. In 1958 forty-five organizations signed an open letter supporting the July 26 Movement. National bodies representing lawyers, architects, dentists, accountants and social workers were amongst those who signed. Castro, who had originally relied on the support of the poor, was now gaining the backing of the influential middle classes.

In its first hundred days in office Castro’s government passed several new laws. Rents were cut by up to 50 per cent for low wage earners; property owned by Fulgencio Batista and his ministers was confiscated; the telephone company was nationalized and the rates were reduced by 50 per cent; land was redistributed amongst the peasants (including the land owned by the Castro family); separate facilities for blacks and whites (swimming pools, beaches, hotels, cemeteries etc.) were abolished.”

via warriorsrise:

Ne Me Quitte Pas

This is a cover of Jacques Brel’s masterpiece artfully interpreted by the incredible singer, Nina Simone.  It exudes passion, sadness, sorrow…truly deep.

FAMOUS THINKERS ALSO GET IT WRONG AND ADMIT IT

When the world’s great scientific thinkers change their minds

One hundred and sixty-five eminent thinkers, researchers, and communicators, at the annual request of the edge.org website, answered the following question: “What Have You Changed Your Mind About? Why?”

Global warming is not an urgent problem

Craig Venter, human genome decoder, J. Craig Venter Institute

Like many or perhaps most I wanted to believe that our oceans and atmosphere were basically unlimited sinks with an endless capacity to absorb the waste products of human existence. I wanted to believe that solving the carbon fuel problem was for future generations and that the big concern was the limited supply of oil not the rate of adding carbon to the atmosphere. The data is irrefutable. We are conducting a dangerous experiment with our planet. One we need to stop. Now.

Ana Gerschenfeld

NUKEKUBI

Nukekubi (ぬけくび) from the Bakemono-Dukushi Yumoto-C
Author unknown
Edo period

Nukekubi are monsters found in Japanese folklore. By day, nukekubi appear to be normal human beings. By night, however, their heads detach at the neck smoothly from their bodies and fly about independently in search of human prey. These heads attack by screaming (to increase their victims’ fright), then closing in and biting.

While the head is detached, the body of a nukekubi becomes inanimate. In some legends, this serves as one of the creature’s few weaknesses; if a nukekubi’s head cannot locate and reattach to its body by sunrise, the creature dies. Legends often tell of would-be victims foiling the creatures by destroying or hiding their bodies while the heads are elsewhere.

By day, nukekubi often try to blend into human society. They sometimes live in groups, impersonating normal human families. The only way to tell a nukekubi from a normal human being is a line of red symbols around the base of the neck where the head detaches. Even this small detail is easily concealed beneath clothing or jewelry.

STANLEY KUBRICK

The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death…our existence can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.