whoa! werner “herzog on kenya west” the world is ending

ok i was floored to hear my hero, werner herzog, would spent even a minute on kanye west, but he did, and its not what you think.

“he was impressed” i was told?

he said this video was “fascinating” and contained what he called a “parallel story” a confusion of reality and fiction, “this is very good stuff” and he said if “kenya west” would apply to his school he would consider the film maker of this clip as a student at his school… i realized at that point that my world had ended… but read on…

the video included fake wax figures of caitlyn jenner, bill crosby, kanye west, taylor swift, kim kardashian and amber rose, note that these are fake! unlike kim kardashian, caitlyn jenner and amber rose who are “totally real”.

below: artist vincent desiderio 2008 sleep painting, the inspiration for kanye’s “work of art”

now for the record here, let me clarify that herzog did not go and review this shit piece of a clip. this was shown to him for the first time by a young, eager, editor at the daily beast, jen yamato. why she works at daily beast is beyond comprehension but i suppose we all have to eat.

so here is what werner herzog “actually” said, i will now translate for you in english, so please put on your best german accent and repeat out loud…. “zanx jen for interviewing me on your shit filled celeb blog, im not very sure why i am here, but i can imagine you must be zick of covering pop culture and needed to drag me into this to zave some portion of your lost soul. but ok lets make some converzation zince the camera is rolling… thiz iz an interesting veedeo. it delves into the realm of reality and fiction, nature and man…. and most importantly mans insanity… and his naive dezire to kontrol and deform nature… which of koze he desperately fails at… you may remember fritz geraldo? right. ok… so this is indeed a fazinating film for a young starving artists… and if he or she (cause herzog doesn’t even know about kanye) would ever apply to my zchool i may actually coinzider him/her az a student. i of course say this becauz none of the students who apply to my school can spend more zan $2 on their application films, and thiz film looks pretty damn good for a $2 film, not to menzion a young azpiring film student…”

so lets not get all excited here… herzog is in no way endorsing this self indulged, machismo inspired, naive infantile embarrassment of a work by, as he would call him, “kenya west”. ok? my world has not ended, and herzog has not blessed kanye in any way. you can all go home now. have a good weekend. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, music, read

Trump Ban: To Extend to Christians from Norway and Canada… Ban Could Extend to US Citizens

alexandre bissonette, french canadian, christian (not a nice guy, google him)

researching a little on this i was surprised to learn that muslims are not the only ones with a monopoly on “going mental.” looks like other religions are just as capable. of course, for all you intelligent folks, this is all nonsense.. there are good people, and bad people, everywhere, and in every religion… you should meet my zen master, hes only two steps from going off the edge, but the students are nice.

for the rest of you unintelligent bigots, at least take on some sense of consistency. if you’re gonna hate 1.6 billion people in a religion for what some of its members do, then go and hate all religions for what some of its members did.

dylann roof, united states, christian (not a nice guy, google him)

btw what is terrorism anyway? “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” usually not very successful on the attackers side, and generally an act of desperation when other means fail, or at times out of pure hatred and complete disregard for life. a bad idea, how ever you slice it.

anders behring beivik, norwegian, christian (not a nice guy, google him)

terrorism is a matter of cause and effect, and often used by both sides, the enemy, as well as the protectors, to enlist fear in the public and enforce their agenda. be it intimidation, militarization, political power, freedom from oppression, land and water, gaining public support, or enforcing public suppression (a.k.a shut up and let me save you).

james holmes, united states, christian (not a nice guy, google him)

and this terrorism, for all you people born yesterday, is not a recent phenomena brought to light by fox news, and no its not a muslim exclusive either… the spanish crusaders used it in SA in the name of god, hitler used it against the german public (reichstag building set ablaze) in the name of country, the jews used it against the SS in the warsaw ghetto in the name of dignity, the IRA used it against england, algiers used it against france, the basques used it against the spanish, the FARC used it in columbia, the palestinians used it against israel, and so on…

if interested, go read about how many of those circumstances ended and how they were eradicated. it wasn’t by building a wall, spreading hate, or banning 1.6 billion people with big ears… “believe me, i assure you… it can be fixed… it would be huuuuuge!”

robert james talbot, texan, christian (not a nice guy, google him)

so you see my friend, we are being very silly… we are judging the book, by a… banana peel. i mean look at this chap to the far right, robert james talbot! he looks like glenn luchford, sweet, talented, fashion saavy probably. but he aint’. he’s a bad mother… as my brother james brown used to say. but you can’t start hating all dorky looking white people like glenn or robert here? or worse hating all christians because a bunch nutcases killed another bunch of people in a church, just for the color of their skin… or because jesus told him so the other night?

jared lee loghner, united states, christian (not a nice guy, google him)

on the other hand you can go right ahead and hate this guy. i mean his mother probably hated him too. only alex jones loved him and he loved alex back.

timothy mcveigh, united states, christian (not a nice guy, google him)

and then there’s this guy… who hated new order… i mean i didn’t love them either, but at least joy division and ian curtis where pretty damn ok. fuckin’ chill out dude!

so let’s not be as stupid as some stupid people. let’s be safe. let’s be compassionate. let’s be smart. let’s be humans. lets go read some history. and the next time you complain about people being fooled by fox news, or CNN, or isis, or exxon, or trump, or crooked hillary, which ever kool-aid they are on, just remember that out of 7 billion people on this earth, 6.5 billion of them bought into, the very believable story, that there is some incompetent old dude up there running the show. if they bought into that, they’d buy into anything. its just you and i my friend, left here to save mother earth from this ignorance. good luck and good night. by dd

CATEGORIES: history, read

how bad can it get: a suburban nightmare of fashion comes to life

pink pom poms? someone approved this?

what in the world is going on here? one of those porcelain figurine must have been the source of inspiration here.

ok this one is quite sophisticated…. sort-of like one of those cheap chocolate boxes from duane read.

i’m feeling terrible for ruining the look of TS with such images, but i had to say something…. do you ever wonder who actually creates these horrendous victoria secret annual “fashion” shows? i do… i imagine if you would give four suburban 6-year old’s a set of primary colors from kmart, and ask them to envision a “dress-up show” with unicorns and angels and as many colors as you like, they would probably come up with something slightly better than this. what victoria secret adds to the mix is perhaps an adult pervert, on a supervisory role, to insure those horrendous lingeries, in those color combinations, make it onto the naked bodies of some of the top models. most of which are undoubtedly laughing all the way to the bank after a quick shower. i’m not sure how bad this can get year after year, before they actually reconsider the outcome. but as long as people praise this stuff, i suppose well be stuck at looking at beautiful girls dressed like “the image of a cheap prostitute” in the mind of an old fat man. this is not to say that this could not be done well, but for starters they gotta dispose of the kindergarten dream-team. by ars

CATEGORIES: read

new scientific discovery: evolution re-explained

classic human evolution diagram: what scientist believed to be true until now… new research finding by the university of columbia begs to differ

the revised evolution diagram

the understanding until now was that humans evolved… all of them. but new research, based on the most recent 2015 presidential elections and debates in the US, shows that modern man today, walks amongst his prehistoric cousins. racism, hate, war mongering, superstition, religion, bigotry, gay-dom, fear of the new and lack of compassion are all well and alive in our modern society. perhaps if we can come to understand this phenomena, we can help our mentally challenged cousins gain some of the modern mans knowledge. by ak

CATEGORIES: earth related, read

apple iphone 6S keynote

not sure why jony ives gets on my tits so much, maybe it’s his poor rendition of that david attenborough like voice, or his calculated “poor little me… i’ve been working all day and night to solve human kinds problems” stubble and hair cut, or maybe it’s the way he makes the most basic things sound so complex and self important? but he does annoy me much. jony doesn’t just think about things like you and i, instead he “incubates notions”… what ever he does it’s a pivotal shift in the cosmos. the truth is apple has come up with less usable innovations and more jargon. i can’t recall how many times philip schiller used the word innovation before they got to the most amazing feature on the iPhone 6S… the most astonishing selfie button!

this pivotal shift in the evolution of human kind is right up there with apples previous engineering intervention in iPhoto. the iPhoto has not been anything like the old iPhoto… because they brilliantly changed it to simply “photos”… i mean that really changed my life. what seems simple to common folks is actually a very complicated process at apple… well thanx! that was brilliant search optimization guys, now try and search “i have problems with photos” to fix your latest kinks and you now end up with prescription eye glass stores near you. but joking aside, and there are some nice things about the 6S like the 3D touch etc. but apple has messed up really bad in the most basic areas ever since jobs passed. issues that mac users never experienced and where the exclusive domain of PC users have since found their way into apples. perhaps apple should focus on fixing some of these before fiddling with the letter “i”… all of these OSX problems listed below, i have personally experienced first hand, so these must be just a few of the mac OSX problems of the late…

1- the spinning ball of death when you try to shut down OSX yosemite, only to come in the next morning and have to force shut down.

2- iTunes playlist playing in reverse order when you’re using apples own remote app?

3- updating apple software… getting an unknown error on apples own “app store”

4- slow motion videos shot on apples iPhone, and transferred to apples iPhoto (sorry p h o t o s), and back onto your iPhone no longer plays in slow motion?

5- unable to delete some “photos” in “p h o t o s”… now that sounds just wrong!!! let’s see how was it before…. unable to delete some photos in iPhoto. better. thanks for that ingenious idea guys.

6- syncing problems with iTunes and photos… where things do not actually sync. you have to shut down apps, sometime restarting your computer, detach iphone attach again etc. until it finally syncs (never had these issues and i’ve had apple for ever, every mac and iPhone in the past).

7- transferring photos from your iPhone to apples photos and clicking on “delete after export” leaves a bunch of photos on your iPhone.

and this is just what i can remember at the top of my head, fuming after watching the apple september 9th keynote. by dd

CATEGORIES: audio-electronics, read

killing an arab and the meursault investigation: its albert camus, kamel daoud and a whole lot of rock and roll

the mersault investigation is the reverse mirror novel by kamel daoud countering camus’ the stranger

l’etranger by albert camus

albert camus in paris… smoking of course!

for all you illiterates, here’s the one connection you may have had to camus… “killing an arab” the song by the cure was based on camus’ the stranger. robert smith read the book… you should too!

ok now for some real talk… the mersault investigation is the debut novel by kamel daoud, an algerian writer who has made his living by journalism, for various french journals. the novel’s first sentence is “mama’s still alive today.” this alerts us to the fact that daoud is re-imagining camu’s 1942 classic “the stranger” for the new century that begins: “mama died today”. camus himself borrowed from ernest hemingway’s spare prosaic style (seen to full effect in a clean well-lighted place) but pushed it to the point of absurdity by creating a first person narrator in the throes of a virtual existential, comatose experience – until he kills an unknown arab on a beach for no apparent reason. he then has to defend himself, to his friends, to the state, and finally to a priest that he lashes out at in one grand soliloquy, where he finally articulates his philosophy to the priest, and even more surprisingly, to himself.

in daoud’s brilliant contemporary “sequel” the “unknown arab” finally has a name – musa –moses in arabic. harun, musas’s brother realizes that he must go back to that catastrophic event and examine the root cause of it – in effect to instigate an investigation – before he can move any further with his life, which is nearing its end. it is of course not only harun, but algerians themselves that must examine, not only camus’ tortured history with algeria, but their colonial past, to move on, and find their way in the new century.

while other novels have taken camus’ masterpiece as a jumping off point – most recently michel houellebecq’s brutal, sardonic “platform”, daoud is more ambitious, being both an homage and a criticism of camus’ work, that does not attempt to resolve that contradiction. daoud’s novel is also a profound meditation on identity, and the secret pull that the dead exercise on the living, and in this it shares some qualities with w.g. sebald. the connections between present day algeria, and the current situation there, are contrasted with the past of camus’ colonial pre-war algeria, and an alienated meursault who could only find his own identity when he realized that he was about to loose it to the guillotine as retribution for a senseless act of violence. in the mersault investigation that senselessness comes full circle into the present tense, bringing camus’ novel back from the mausoleum of the academy, where it has lingered far too long, making it resonate with current history. daoud dares to look back and the result is an imaginative, brilliant, moving book that stays with you – as much as camus’ the stranger. by gp

CATEGORIES: read

lessons learned on planet earth

illustration by julie morstad in her great book called milk teeth

“here are a few lessons i’ve learned in my many days on this planet earth. i do love many things about your planet but there are also many things that i dislike. its is not all your fault, so don’t be sad. i think this is how humans are made to behave. i think i will spent more days here, and i will enjoy the many things it has to offer, but i do wish to return to my planet one day. its a bit lonely there but its ok, i have less complications and life is a little easier when you are alone. but here are 3 important things i have observed while being here:

#1-

people in general mean well and they don’t mean to harm one another but they often do. this is not their fault because they can not see the world from another’s eyes. if you are from another planet for example, they don’t simply understand how you see their world. they only see what they can see… only their sadness and their complications. they want you to help them, and of course you do. they want you to be there when they are sad and defeated. but when they are well and good they only want you to be well and good. they have no time for your complications… they already have theirs. and this world of yours has many complication that i did not want to have but now i do too, just like you. but i understand. you have to accept that, and not demand much attention. just go along. just be there for them when they want you. its a fruitless proposition but that is how humans are, even the best ones, and if you must be around them, you have to accept that.

#2-

i learned about love early in my visit. it was quite an interesting experience and i can now see how that basic idea has engulfed your entire population. everything everyone does everyday is to attain that feeling of love. from others, from strangers, from dogs and family and co workers… even from the general public many distences away. everyone is racing and working very hard every day to attain this love. they buy things in order to be loved. they say things in order to attain that love. its peculiar for some one like me. i lived alone, with no one around me. so i couldn’t understand what that was all about. but i now see why… it is a good feeling this love, it’s nice to be loved. but this intangible concept is very vague, even for me. it comes and it goes. it’s there and its not there. it’s like a cloud, even your people who study the clouds can’t tell you much about their destiny or future. just like that they appear and just like that they disappear. i think having experienced this, i know now that it is quite silly and as you say, naive, to want to chase such an ethereal thing. i did not need it or want it before i came here. i will not need it when i leave. but when you are here, you simply get in line with everyone else and follow them in this quest. its funny when you look at this from another view. again its not your fault, maybe you where made this way, or maybe you were conditioned to be this way. for me after i found it and i lost it just once, i realized its not worth the trouble… this is a big ‘complication’… and i understand that you have to live here for ever, so i see why this is so important to you. but my advice, if you plan to be here for long, is to ask yourself why? why such an intangible thing? such an impermanent thing is so important to your kind? especially when you know what i already told you in #1…

#3-

the most difficult complication on your planet comes with visiting your planet for too long. its the realization that what you though was true when you arrived turns out to be false many years later. if i was to see this from my eyes, it would be as if i would live on my planet for many years and one day realize my planet was never there. i would be in space floating alone on no planet at all!! that would be very awkward. and very disorienting. i don’t think i would like that very much. but out here you will have to go through that many times in your life cycle. again my advise to you is to accept this. i know it was not your fault or your choice to be here, but here you are and here it is. its just one of the complication of your kind. if you where me and could see the world from my eyes then you would not be you. so here you are. you! it is best not to take things literally, not to invest in things or people, or do things that require an outcome. of course it is a bit difficult to go about this in this world of yours like this. so you may choose you don’t have to. but if you do, you must be prepared to float in space alone one day. and it will be very awkward.

i hope this is of some help to some of you. this world of yours has many good things, but it also has many complications. it’s one of the more interesting and curious places i have visited. i wish you all very well.” – verbal excerpts from visual drawing in a book called milk teeth. by cm

CATEGORIES: musings, read

smoking and drinking are fine: but here are 6 things you should not do

ok i know we all smoke… occasionally, and we all drink like tomorrow is our last. but still… that is no reason to use deodorants, or even worse, sleep each night on our mattress at home (bear with me). i mean yes, we all do stupid silly things, but that is because we chose to, knowingly. we heard the news, read about the risks, researched the possibilities and then, and only then, we went on a shark feeding dive in tahiti. what we hate is that we are risking being poisoned, with out our knowledge, and with out a single mind altering benefit to write about, while we fill the pockets of the chemical industry giants. this has gotta stop. but we must start somewhere. here are 6 things you should not do…

1- BPA’s in canned food:

how to avoid: majority of canned goods use BPA in their lining, this synthetic hormone has been linked to various forms of cancer, as well as reproductive problems and heart disease. look for BPA free cans and avoid plastics that are marked with “PC” or recycling label #7. read the back of the can.

2- PVC’s in anything plastic that goes into your mouth:

how to avoid: they are in those clear ice coffee cups (shit i drink 4 a day!) plastic food containers (topper-ware), plastic utensils, children’s toys and plastic wrap and anything made from PVC. this baby encourages the death of testicular cells in men and is linked to hormonal changes, birth defects related to the male reproductive system and thyroid abnormalities, but nothing else.

3- PBDE’s (flame retardants) are in your mattress, sofa, curtains, stereo:

how to avoid: it’s virtually impossible to avoid PBDE’s entirely, they are used as a flame retardant and many attempts to ban them have been crushed by the industry lobby. they cause permanent learning and memory impairment (which explains the young intern syndrome of today), delayed puberty onset, and decreased sperm count. each night you go to bed, or sit on your sofa, you are being exposed to them through your bodies largest organ, your skin… but it helps to use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to catch the dust that comes off of them. i wonder if even my fancy horse hair bed has this shit sprayed on it?

4- mercury is found in your lovely seafood dish:

how to avoid: cut down on your tuna, especially your fancy tuna (as that is the worse), if you must eat tuna (bluefin tuna status: endangered species) eat the cheap canned tuna (BPA free can) because they use the younger tuna (bad for the species, but better for you) or the less fatty parts of bigger tuna which contain the least mercury as mercury is stored in the fat of the tuna (and then yours) and the fat of the fish that the big tuna eat. mercury builds up in your body (like radiation) and exposure leads to brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system diseases. yum! make mine seared.

5- aluminum and parabens found in antiperspirants and creams:

how to avoid: get hand and body lotions that are paraben free. absolutely avoid all common deodorant like “dry idea”, “ban” (i mean the god-damn name warns you on the label, how stupid are we?) “degree”, etc. try a brand that does not list anything aluminum+(blah, blah) note that you will stink for the first few weeks but then you’ll be surprised as to how less stinky you become after that. that is because “antiperspirants” literally block your sweat glands and do not allow sweat to exit. now where do you think all that sweat goes? that is all the toxins that have been building up, finally coming out. imagine if you finally pooped after, say 18 years, its not gonna be a pleasant sight. aluminum is responsible for increased risk of breast cancer especially if you shave before applying. but also alzheimer… which i already have. parabens simply cause breast cancer but at least you will remember why you got cancer to begin with.

6- pesticides (organophosphate) found in your average fruit and vegetables:

how to avoid: grow your own shit if you live in woodstock, otherwise buy organic produce whenever possible and use the EWG guide to find out which nonorganic produce contains the least amount of pesticide residue. but what are organophosphate pesticides? ok gotta love this; “these pesticides were originally developed by nazi germany during WWII for use in chemical warfare, using the same chemistry, we now spray them on our crops.” you gotta love capitalism. they are linked to impaired brain development, fertility and thyroid function.

*** disclaimer: drinking and smoking are not fine. they are bad. if you are not already a drunk, or a nicotine addict, do not start. it sucks. also, never believe 100% of what you read anywhere, but especially here. please use this as a starting point to research and learn more about the shit we are being fed, and take action with your purchasing power for our future and the earth future. for beginners you can also watch the “human experiment” movie with mister sean penn on the horn.

end fact: you probably know the EU has strict policies on chemicals. but did you know china has a stricter public exposure to chemical policy than the US? that is actually true. they sell shit to us that they cant sell in china! not their fault, but ours. by dd

CATEGORIES: earth related, read

American dream: the ford GT40 story, it’s history and it’s versions at the 24 hours of le mans race

the story of ford GT40 is an incredible one. and yes that is steve mcqueen next to the MKIV with taped-up front lights. they did that to protect the headlights from flying debris during the day to limit maintenance in the 24hr race. winner of le mans, bagging 1st, 2nd and 3rd position against ferrari in 1966 is the stuff of legends. if you don’t know about the story of ford and ferrari’s feud, it is worth checking this out. here’s a conclusive look at the ford gt models starting with the prototype. anyone with further knowledge is encourage to make corrections in the comments or just email us to update. that would be much appreciated, as we couldn’t find a single site showing the range of models. thanx.

1964-1965 GT40 108

above and below: henry ford II in the ford GT40 108 prototype roadster back in the USA in 1965

one of the earlier (i believe 1964) ford GT40 models on the race track

in 1964 ford attended the lemans but all cars fell behind ferrari due to repeated pitstops credited to massive gas consumption of the mega powered ford engines. finally all ford GT40’s dropped out due to mechanical failure and ferrari as usual took home 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize.

1964 official results “24 heures du mans” otherwise known as “le mans 24-hour race”

1st place – ferrari 2nd place -ferrari 3rd place -ferrari

1964-1965 GT40 MKI

notice the bat mobile wings on this GT40 i had never seen that myself. like back in 1964 ford did not manage to win or even complete the race with its GT40 prototypes.

1965 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ferrari 2nd place -ferrari 3rd place -ferrari

1966 GT40 MKII-MKI

this was the decisive year for henry ford the II and his GT40’s, by now ford had various improved versions of the GT40 MKII and MKI’s in the race driven by australian drives bruce mclaren and chris amon amongst others

the number 5 GT40 in gold and pink livery. in 1966 ford managed to win lemans for the first time, in positions 1, 2 and 3 finally taking vengeance on ferrari for all that enzo ferrari had done to henry ford the II. (more on that story here)

the #2 for GT40 in black white with gold rims driven by bruce mclaren and chris amon (the 24 hr race requires drivers to take turn as its a continues race for 24 hours)

the #2 car finishes first ahead of the other 2 fords.

the trio immortalized in detailed die cast available here for around $2,000

1966 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford 2nd place -ford 3rd place -ford

1967 GT40 MKIV

having wounded ferrari ford had to come back to lemans with a bigger gun. the MKIV was born

but ford wasn’t going to take any chances aside from the 4 GT40 MKIV’s there was also a MKII entered into the race

and the race was on…

ford once again took 1st place but this time ferrari was on its tail on position 2 and 3. the aerodynamic MKIV did not stand up to the test as well as the MKII’s did back in 1966, but winning lemans in 1st place is major accomplishment 2 years in a row for a company known for making mass production models Ts.

1967 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford 2nd place – ferrari 3rd place – ferrari

1968 back to GT40 MKI again

the revised ford GT40 MKI in gulf livery

car number 9 driven by pedro rodriguez and lucien bianchi wind the race

this is also the year actor steve mcqueen films the feature “le mans” using a modified GT40 to mount the camera on

1968 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford again 2nd place – porsche 3rd place – porsche

1969 GT40 MKI

troubles for ford

and yet… ford wins first again for the 4th year in a row… and where is enzo ferrari?

the story and the cars that came out of that story are simply legend and carry with them more than just beauty and power but an attitude of a man bent on making a point. now how can any one not love that? recently a GT40 used by steve mcqueen sold for an unbelievable price of $11,000,000, what a steal. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars, history, read

disturbing

it was this month’s february 2015 issue of cosmopolitan, which is being sold in a plastic bag, that taught me something i was not seeing elsewhere. regularly plastered on the front is a sexified celebrity with loud colors and text about all the sex columns within, but for one month, cosmopolitan took its turn with bringing news to the forefront, in a very emotional and arresting way. i praise cosmopolitan magazine and the karma nirvana fund for this.

i stared…and then i read. i read for hours about what this cover meant. (see links below)

the cover depicts shafilea ahmed, a british girl who lost her life by the hands of her parents, and their religion. she was suffocated to death by her mother and father while her siblings watched. this is what is known as an honor killing.

an honor killing is the murder of a member of a family member by other members of the family in their belief that the family member has brought dishonor upon the family name and/or religion. common reasons for dishonor are refusing an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that goes against family desires, sexual activity outside of marriage, seeking a divorce, being a victim of rape, homosexuality, or as minor as dressing inappropriately. some family members are even forced to commit suicide in front of their family members.

honor killings/ honor murders are an epidemic around the world. “according to the united nations, some 5,000 women are murdered by family members in honor killings every year.” – cnn

within certain religions, honor killings are seemingly ‘ok’ by unwritten law. “although islam and muslim codes of law are often used to justify the use of stoning as a punishment for adultery, there is actually no reference to stoning in the koran.” – policy.mic furthermore, “there is nothing in the quran that justifies honor killings. there is nothing that says you should kill for the honor of the family,” said taj hargey, director of the muslim educational centre of oxford in england.” – cnn

“but one vocal british campaigner against honor violence points out that not all the crimes are perpetrated by muslims…. “significant cases are happening within south asian communities, be it pakistani, indian, sikh, muslim, kurdish, iranian, middle eastern communities,”” – irshad manji, the author of “allah, liberty and love: courage to reconcile faith and freedom,”

nazir afzal of britain’s crown prosecution service voiced his poignant view that “at the end of the day, murder is murder. there is no faith on earth, no community on earth that justifies this,”- cnn

my heart goes out to the women and girls of these communities, families, and sometimes religions that face this horrible, unjust punishment. i am not writing about my opinion here. i am simply trying to spread the word that this is happening. this piece is neither an anti-religious piece, nor is it to bring negativity towards certain religions. i have traveled the world and i am proud to say that i respect and am tolerant of other cultures and their religions beliefs, however, i will never be tolerant of any action that harms humanity. above all, we have to have respect for life. writting this, i feel very blessed to come from a community where i am not punished for how i express myself as a woman, and i wish this and more for my peers around the world. in time, i believe that time will teach and time will heal. by kgb

CATEGORIES: earth related, read

we’re sadly dumping Drobo: recent problems, issues, nightmares

8 bay drobo unit and the 3rd generation drobo 4 bay unit

as you can imagine all this data, material and clips are stored somewhere. that somewhere was a drobo. we’ve been huge fans of drobo from day one. our current 3rd generation drobos served us well for years, and it was a genius solution. they allowed easy upgrades on drives and gave us dual protection we desperately needed with their proprietary RAID software. everyone we knew in the fashion and creative industry used them and swore by them. what we all didn’t know was the nightmare that was awaiting us.

i remember the day we bought our first of 3 drobo’s we now have, i asked the salesperson, “so you guys will continue to be around for some time, right?” i was concerned from day one that this proprietary RAID software could become an issue, simply because its proprietary. for those of you who don’t understand what that means, here it is, the layman’s version:

your drives can be read by your drobo, but once removed from the drobo they become expensive bricks, and your data is forever unreadable. unlike other drives were your data is simply accessible by any enclosure, with your drobo only drobo software can read the data. this is fine as long as drobo stays current with Mac and PC OS updates and continues to solve issues. it’s a problem if they don’t. they kept it running smoothly for years but apparently no more. calls, emails to drobo support have left us with no solution.

were not sure if drobo was originally the brainchild of some wiz who built this great brand, and sold it or left and now the current company couldn’t give a toss about its products that they’ve sold to us all, but its simply a horrible outcome. this is not some tech gadget you can throw away. your life’s work resides here and if you care about your data you should seriously reconsider where you’re going to store it off of the drobo.

drobo known problems and issues: (and you can google this and read others who are pulling their hair out now) – here’s what happened. your drobo icon on your desktop suddenly “greys” out or ghosts. in a few weeks the drobo icon disappears, gone missing from the desktop. drobo simply doesn’t mount. we managed to tap into the data by jerry-rigging it and could see it in apples disc utility but you could not get it to mount. now don’t bother telling drobo about the issues. a) they say they never heard of this and are not aware of it, meaning its an isolated case and b) even when we explained the issue and forwarded them the links to others having the same problem they could not give a damn. we’ve spent over 7 weeks trying to address this with drobo management and since no one but drobo can access the software code or understand it we have no other means to remedy the problem.

the initial calls to support resulted in nothing and we were eventually passed on to higher support via email ticketing.

drobo: “i know this may sound silly but on a new install of a Mac OSX the the connected server drives are hidden until re-enabled through the finder prefs.” we responded by: “yes, naturally this is checked as “on/ active’ in finder”

8 days later pass-the-buck and delay tactics:

drobo: “sorry for the delay. you are not connected to both firewire and Iscsi ? the drobo can only be connected with one option only. how is your IP managed DHCP or static ? whats the subnet mask ? can you tell me the version of your java?” we responded with: “connection: -we are only connected with firewire. IP: – we do not have a static ip for our internet, if that is what you are asking. but i can’t see how this relates to drobo, if the drobo have an ip, please let us know how to check. subnet mask: – we have googled this, but not sure how to find this out, please let us know what to check for and we will do so. java:- we have java 7 update 45”

no response to the above answers that we gave, they then asked us to switch firewire to usb and restart drobo even though we explained that we had our IT on the case and all standard tests were done. then it took them another week in between emails to respond. we had to send an email a week after asking what happened. finally they sent us this response:

drobo: “have you attempted to start from scratch (erase your data) and reconfigure your drop or at least revisit the steps? i would skim through the online users guide to match up screens” (they gave us a link to the drobo manual!!!!! unbelievable)”

getting nowhere with their uninterested staff and delayed tactics, we finally called drobo back via phone. we explained that the physical unit is in perfect condition and that there is clearly an issue now with the OSX updates and drobo proprietary software. we inquired if they were going to update the dashboard software and/or firmware any time soon? and if so in how long? we obviously cant wait for months with this problem… the gentleman told us that as of “yesterday” (i guess they finally realized the problem is wide), drobo will no longer issue updates for this unit and they recommended that we just buy a new one… which of course they will no longer support at some point! really great strategy guys, especially the “as of yesterday we no longer support your unit” line. we will surely spend our next hard earned $1,000+ on your product!!! really disappointing for a company that was so welcomed in our community. we’ve given up on drobo and will be on the search for a simpler system/enclosure. by ts

CATEGORIES: audio-electronics, read

a visual collective outlet of inspiration

this blog is a visual notebook of inspirations for a group of bandit bloggers.
we post things we see and like. our lives don’t revolve around singular topics and neither does our blog.
sorry! nothing is in-or-out of context here. enjoy xx

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we’re sadly dumping Drobo: recent problems, issues, nightmares