He's in...

what a wonderful prayer...

the quranic inscription on the board says, "we fed them in hunger, and made them safe from fear"

Mikindani old town madrassa , Tanzania.
The kids in a mixed classroom learn to write on some wooden boards, as it more economic than by using paper. Once they have finished the lesson, they wash the board. Those tool can be seen in antiques shops at high prices!
© Eric Lafforgue
Contact
www.ericlafforgue.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/3343478487/

tango 48 says:

we used to have such tablets in our days at school, this is called a "takhti" in urdu and other languages in pakistan, it is a wooden slate, and a clay (gachni) is used to cover it, the student uses a "qalam" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qalam) dipped in black india ink kept in a spill proof ink pot (dawa'at), to write on the takhti, once finished, the takhti is washed in the nearest water channel, and the clay is re-applied and left to dry for the next round of writing!

the quranic inscription on the board says, "we fed them in hunger, and made them safe from fear"

Thank you, Eric. Your art is truly beautiful.

Looking through old photos...

...and here we go.....1958, Blane and I...Gary's still in mom's tum...He'll arrive 1/29/59.
(as you can see, I'm ready for anything)

....1975, Hawaii Nei...




...1978...Blane and I all grown up...



I don't know how many others are out there now in their 50's but for me these pics are so strange to see. It's hard to believe it's me but at the same time, in my mind's eye, this is how I picture myself. In my prime, I guess. I'm really tired of being out of my prime. ; )

...more boxes of pics to go so we'll be seeing more...

International Women’s Day

by Kathryn Hadley

This Sunday, March 8th, International Women’s Day will be celebrated in countries across the world. Here is a brief history of the day and of the fight for women’s rights.

The British MP John Stuart Mill was the first Member of Parliament to call for women’s right to vote, in 1869.

On September 19th 1893, New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.

In 1910, at the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen, a woman called Clara Zetkin, the leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany suggested, for the first time, the idea of an International Women’s Day. The conference was attended by over 100 women, from 17 different countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. The proposal was approved almost unanimously.

The following year, on March 19th, 1911, the very first International Women’s Day was celebrated in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

The date of March 19th is believed to have been originally chosen because on March 19th, 1848, in the context of the 1848 revolution, the Prussian king recognised for the first time the threat of the proletariat uprising and issued a series of promises, including the promise to introduce the vote for women (which he incidentally did not keep). The success of the first International Women’s Day, marked by over a million people, exceeded expectations with numerous meetings organised in small towns and villages across the four countries.

In 1913, International Women’s Day was transferred to March 8th.
International Women’s Day was granted official recognition by the United Nations in 1975 and was taken up by many governments.

March 8th is now a national holiday in Russia, China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

A series of events are being organised in the UK throughout March to celebrate International Women’s Day and the economic, political and social achievements’ of women. Here is a small selection…

- Women in the Second World War
March 8th
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
Clive StepsKing Charles Street London SW1A 2AQ
Telephone: 020 7930 6961
www.iwm.org.uk
A series of talks and film screenings examining the contribution of women during the Second World War.

- 100 Women 100 Visions
March 9th – March 13th
Imperial College London (College main entrance)
South Kensington Campus
London SW7 2AZ
Telephone: 020 7589 5111
www.imperial.ac.uk
A series of 100 portraits celebrating women scientists, engineers and medics from all academic levels at Imperial College London.

- Birds Eye View Film Festival
March 5th – 13th
www.birds-eye-view.co.uk
A nine-day festival celebrating women filmmakers from around the globe with 70 events at the BFI Southbank, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Gate (Notting Hill), and Picturehouse Cinemas across the UK. The festival includes a retrospective entitled ‘Screen Seductresses: Vamps, Vixens & Femmes Fatales’ dedicated to transgressive women in film with a series of silent films starring women such as Louise Brooks, Theda Bara, Greta Garbo and Alla Nazimova, as well as a month-long ‘Femmes Fatales’ season at the BFI Southbank, showing 18 classic Hollywood Femmes Fatales films from 1941-1995.

For more information on the events organised for International Women’s Day, visit the website http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Update on ancient rabbit's head statue...

China denies art auction bid role

The Chinese government has denied any involvement in bidding at an auction in Paris for two bronze artworks which it says were looted from Beijing in 1860.

A Chinese collector bought the heads of a rabbit and a rat for 15m euros ($19m; £13m) each, when fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent's collection was sold.

The buyer, Cai Mingchao, has refused to pay, as an "act of patriotism".

The official Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying what Mr Cai had done was entirely a personal action.

"The State Administration of Cultural Heritage had nothing to do with it," said the head of the cultural bureau, Shan Jixiang.

He said his bureau did not know the identity of the bidder until Cai Mingchao, an adviser to China's National Treasures Fund that seeks to retrieve looted treasures, revealed himself.

Chinese bidder explains why he is not paying

The two bronzes were auctioned by Christie's in Paris last week as part of the estate of the late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner.

They were originally taken by British and French troops from the imperial Summer Palace in October 1860, towards the end of the Second Opium War.

China had tried to stop the sale, and later threatened the business of Christie's in China for having gone ahead.

But Christie's said the sale was legal, a position backed by a French court.

Mr Cai said his actions were to "stress that this money should not be paid".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7927672.stm

We make the world tolerable...

It is the history of our kindness that alone makes the world tolerable. If it were not for that, for the effect of kind words, kind looks, kind letters...I should be inclined to think our life a practical jest in the worst possible spirit.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Hahahahaaaahahaaaaa!!!

The GOP logo - remixed for the 21st Century...






for even more, go here...
http://politicalirony.com/2009/03/02/the-gop-logo-remixed/