Gold

Why is gold so valuable? Because all the gold ever mined on this earth would only make a cube with sides of less than 20 metres. Yes, that is a man standing beside the lump.

Amazing, isn't it?

Most people have heard of Fort Knox in Kentucky USA which holds vast amounts of gold for the United States -  4,578 metric which is roughly 2.5% of all the gold ever refined throughout human history. However the largest amount is in the Reserve Banks underground vault in Manhattan where there are 7,000 metric tons of gold bullion some of which is stored for foreign nations, central banks and international organizations.

Considered precious for many thousands of years, some of the oldest gold artefacts dating back as far as 4700 BCE were found in a large necropolis of around 300 graves at Varna in Bulgaria.

Lucian Freud RIP

 Lucian Freud was born in Berlin on December 8, 1922. He was the gransdon of Sigmund Freud. When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 the family moved to London. He was a self-proclaimed bad boy and at 17 he was associating with influential British avant-garde gay peers, including Stephen Spender,Cyril Connolly, and Peter Watson Freud  professed the importance of homosexuality and counter-culturalism in all art. After mishaps at art school and in the merchant navy he survived the war and began his quest to paint the ultimate and true portrait.

A Quote :- "It is said that the intensely heterosexual Lucian Freud only uses gay men for his male nudes and his representations of the male form are more sympathetic and sensitive than those of his females."

Most famous for his honest Female nudes, one of his favourite subjects after meeting in 1990 was the notorious and large fleshy Leigh Bowery the Australian performance artist, club promoter, actor, pop star, model and fashion designer, based in London. Freud stated "I found him perfectly beautiful," 

He died today aged 88.

New Young Opera Singers

Thanks to my friend, the alto singer Andrey Naydenov from Bulgaria I have been alerted to a couple of wonderful new singers that were unknown to me.

Franco Fagioli

http://www.franco-fagioli.com/ This is worth checking for the recording session video.

Franco Fagioli is one of the most successful countertenors worldwide today. He was born in 1981 at San Miguel de Tucumán (Argentina). His performances of Handel’s heroes such as Giulio Cesare, Ariodante, Teseo have been unanimously acclaimed. His breathtaking vocal technique and the beauty of his voice on all registers have set new standards.
An extract from a review of his new CD which I have just pre-ordered.:- "Franco Fagioli's new recital disc, inconspicuously titled Canzone e Cantate, heralds the arrival of a world-class artist. This is an instant classic... a must-have. Canzone e Cantate is a recording for fans of countertenors, the Italian baroque, continuo bands, bel canto vocal pyrotechnics, and especially for fans of Cecilia Bartoli. You read correctly - Cecilia Bartoli. I thought that my iPod was on the fritz when I started listening to the first track of Canzone e Cantate, that I had accidentally selected Cecilia Bartoli Live in Italy"


This is not great video quality but you will experience the stunning voice.

Bogdan Mihai

http://www.youtube.com/user/TenoreBogdanMihai

Born in Romania, the very tall slim and exceedingly attractive Bogdan Mihai (now 28) began as a baritone and two years at the Transylvania University in Braşov, earned him his Master’s Degree in bel canto.  A revelation came when in 2006 he did a masterclass with Mirella Freni who told him he was a tenor. With the Nicolai Ghiaurov Scholarship he studied for another year and a half. He first sang Count Almaviva in 2008. His career is just launching and is worth watching. Described as a Leggiero Tenor which is the agile highest tenor and the male equivalent of a Lyric Coloratura Soprano.

There is a lot my on Bogdan Mihai all over this blog as this charming, talented and beautiful artist is so worth keeping an eye on and is growing from strength to strength. I like to think he is a friend. (a virtual one at least) Use the 'search' to the right here to find other entries. 

Mink Stole

Hundreds, including myself donated to help bring the Mink Stole first CD to light.

Mink Stole and Me

click to enlarge
We all know what Facebook is like and because of some of the people I have convinced to add me to their 'Friends' list it suggested I might know Mink Stole. Of course I don't, but I do now have 20 of her DVD's and she has been a legend to me since the early 70's. I resisted the desire to ask her to be a 'Friend' as I am not sure she needs yet another hanger on and I am thousands of miles away. Well that is now in the past and we are friends on Facebook. Last year I saw John Waters here in Brisbane and as you all know she has worked with him so much. In fact she is recorded as appearing in every film he has made. I did get carried away and had to send a message to thank her for all the entertainment over the years. Graciously on her part and a huge thrill for me was receiving a reply or two.

Mink sent you a message. Mink StoleFebruary 11, 2011 at 5:48am Re: Admiration. "That's so cool, Barry. Thank you so much for telling me. Made my day, mate!" also " It's because of you and my other backers who have helped so much in getting the word out that we're going to make it! Thank you so much."

Just another example of me being a groupie I guess.

My DVDs with Mink Stole.

Anarchy TV, But I'm a Cheerleader, Cecil B. DeMented, Cry-Baby, Desperate Living, A Dirty Shame, Divine Trash, Eating Out:Sloppy Seconds, Eating Out:All You Can Eat, Eating Out: Drama Camp, Female Trouble, Flirting With Anthony, Hairspray (1988 of course), Leather Jacket Love Story, Multiple Maniacs, Pecker, Pink Flamingos, Polyester, Stuck, Wamego: Ultimatum.

EPIC !!!

This is just brilliant, unbelievably beautiful and you must see it. I take no responsibility for it and thank Brian Kenny (link on the right) for putting it on his blog so all can share.

Woodkid - Iron from WOODKID on Vimeo.

Life Reflects Art Reflects Life

What came first? The Artist or the Model? Life or Art? What should come first? The created or the creator? Cause and Effect.

Click to enlarge.

Oscar Wilde wrote “The Decay Of Lying - An Observation”, an essay in the form of a Socratic dialogue, in which Vivian and Cyril discuss an article Vivian has been writing where he defends Aestheticism and “Art for Art’s sake”. It contains four doctrines:

Art never expresses anything but itself.

All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals.

Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.

Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.

Art is the proper task of life. Friedrich Nietzsche

I don't want life to imitate art. I want life to be art. Ernst Fischer

Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death. William Blake

From http://felixdeon.blogspot.com/
It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance... and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process. Henry James


From my novel 'Dance With The Sun' a comment on the excesses of life and art.

.........He awoke dripping perspiration and his mind was still tormented by the visions of his sleep. Sunny stumbled from the room covered in dry semen and his hair was knotted around his bloodshot face. He had staggered into hell and Hans had been to heaven. Grabbing some dry bread from the table and a glass of wine from the bottle on the floor he slumped on the couch with the others who were preparing for a new canvas. His mind was in terror of the thoughts that he had become capable of. To where had he sunk? What was the vileness that his imagination was spewing out? His soul was lost in a desert and he was drowning in his own excrement. Sunny drank several glasses of wine before he lifted his aching, tormented head. He surveyed the room, while in drunkenness he tried out several ideas in his mind. To himself he debated the possibilities. Back and forth, the options slammed unsteadily within, while the others looked on without a word. He gulped down another glass and took hold of Andreas with a sweaty hand.

"Do you want to paint me? You’re an artist and just itching to go the whole way. I could do any disgusting thing you like. I'm sick to fucking death of sweet little me. Let's do something real for God's sake. You sluts could be in it too, and the Nazi puppy dog here."

Laughing and crying at the same time once again, he raised his glass to his audience.

"Who wants to fuck me for Arts sake?"

"Don't challenge me boy, or I'll do it."

"I'm deadly serious you old drunk bastard. I want to do it - NOW! For Christ’s sake someone shove it up me and we'll make history. I want you to hurt me, and I want everyone to watch you do it. You want art. You’re going to get it. Get them over here. Get everyone. I don't care who, just get them. NOW! "

"You’re on, I accept. If you want to be degraded, I'll immortalise you. Let’s destroy false beauty and god help us to be strong. Hans, clean away that space, Georgie get on the telephone and get the Glassmaker to arrange an audience for His Drunkenness here, and Frankie I need some acid. We five are about to create my masterpiece."

Sunny began to smile at himself and when tears returned to his eyes, hysterical laughter burst forth from his wet mouth. In a fever he ran to his room where he took the photograph of Anthony from beside the bed and threw it to the floor, as he screamed at it to "Leave me alone" He took another swig from a bottle and grabbed hold of his penis stretched it in front of himself and was about to urinate across the broken glass at his feet, but he stopped and fell to the floor. Hans lifted the boy by the shoulders, away from the shattered past that the victim had washed in tears.

That night began a series of paintings that should never have seen the light of day. For three weeks Sunny accepted every humiliation that the group could think of. Drugs of any description allowed him to suffer any torturous indignity heaped upon him night after night. The Glassmaker cancelled his gatherings to be a gross and willing participant in the orgy of degradation that Sunny took on. He provided a string of subjects who were only too willing to partake of the boy’s body. Boy prostitutes buggered him, fat men with hairy stomachs wrapped his nakedness around themselves while they masturbated, women applied implements into any and all orifices they could invade on the boy's failing figure. Andreas painted feverishly without much sleep. Images were being produced where the boy became unrecognisable beneath the dark haunting layers of screams, flesh, urine, blood, faeces, ropes, chains. His appearance deteriorated as he was tortured physically, sexually and most of all mentally by the demons he had released from his own mind. That which was done to him came through others, but it was from himself that the inspiration had been drawn.

The black and evil side of human nature was exposed. Images that could excite both unadmitted lust and humiliating guilt. The viewer could allow himself to see and wallow in the most horrid corner of his or her own soul and confront it with an awareness of just what we are capable of if we allow ourselves to indulge without restraint. When there is no conscience or self-discipline we are surely to foul the earth. The strength of the horror was a height that Andreas had sought, and it was Sunny who allowed him to achieve such goals or plunge to the depths of pain in a lost world. What he did contrasted more dramatically with the period of Love and Peace than does a fired gun with a flower just bloomed.

Although they began to feel some concern, the twins were cooperative background subjects and Hans blindly obeyed any command, always being there to clean up the mess and take Sunny to bed where every evening the boy cried into his chest. Self-hatred ate away at his soul but no one could dissuade him from continuing. Andreas offered to stop but was not about to pass up such an opportunity that the victim insisted must find it's own climax. To the painter, the artist, this was truly the climax of his fetishes, the free release of his suppressed desires, the ultimate unrestrained indulgence in the passionate filth that can lurk beneath the surface of any mind, confused, sane or indifferent. It is not impossible for any of us to imagine.

One night at the end of the third week Sunny collapsed. He awoke four hours later in convulsions and a fever that immediately required a doctor. Rushed to hospital he had his stomach pumped and because of his delirium he was placed in the psychiatric ward. For a week all visitors were barred and he underwent the most severe testing. When not being counselled he slept. There were no dreams when he was unconscious and he hardly recognised anything when he was awake. Constant bouts of sobbing and vomiting purged him of almost all that was life itself. After seven days, calm descended upon the sacrifice, and he awoke the next morning to the sight of Sophie's drawn face beside his bed............

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Exposing the human form.

Recently I coined a term that I thought expressed a need to free ourselves and our society from the influence of those who wish to restrict our behaviour, our nature, our beauty, our expression.
Militant Nudity!
Will save the world
(click to enlarge)

Here in Australia we are suffering from excessive interference from the Nanny State. Governments instead of creating an ever increasing free and flourishing society are endeavouring to dictate behaviour in areas that should be left to the individual. The consequence is that they will crush originality, choice and our ability to fail, make mistakes, learn, grow and evolve. Personal development is just that; Personal. As an expression of that I encourage, support and admire those who place themselves in the firing line of so called standard setters. Expose yourself to honest appraisal. Challenge the accepted norms, Be naked.

Terms like Norms, Normal, Average, Common, Accepted, Standards, Majority mean nothing, except a dry statistical approach to life. They mean nothing to progress, creativity, originality and expression of the self. They are the often sought observation of this world as a stew of over-boiled images that blend and make bland. They remove all spice from life. They suck dry the juices of inspiration. The grey day of the common man.
There are artists who are often described as 'out there', 'notorious', 'over the top', 'confronting', 'in your face', 'infamous' etc. who are said to 'push the envelope', 'challenge standards' and 'defy the norm'. Thank the heavens that such beings exist.

Smart, witty and wonderfully executed. (33.35 minutes)

From my novel 'Dance with the Sun'

Sunny had by now become accustomed to meeting up with some friends at Piccadilly Circus after his dancing lessons. Together they sat and discussed existence beneath the centrepiece of Christian Charity. The naked youth raised high on his pedestal amongst the rubbish and poverty of one of the great centres of western civilisation is a glorification of Charity and often mistakenly referred to as the pagan love god Eros. To him the sentiment was the same, and the boy took it as an omen for establishing his new life. The bronze boy was his own personal talisman, his secret friend and brother. Some of this motley city tribe were slightly older, from the University and others, unfortunately he thought, were just stoned. The 'just stoned' ones had little else to recommend them, as that was their reason for existence, which kept them too occupied to participate in many other activities. Disillusioned, without confidence in the future, they sometimes sought escape in personal relief that further relieved them of the need to achieve anything. To him this was a sadness that he could not accept. He liked them but what could he absorb from those whose actions offered little. Selfishly he realised that if he could change them they would have more to give, to return to his life, but he now belonged to that group and he had to survive. The only way he knew was to open himself up to the world. He had no secrets. He had no need of them. He wanted to be accepted, but it had to be in truth. How could people form a judgement of him if he did not expose everything within himself? He was no longer the innocent introvert shying away from strangers. That time, drawn out of necessity had passed. Now he was developing a mission, his light must come out from under the bushel. Without seeing all that was there to know of him, they would be accepting a half image, a lie. Gradually and with rising confidence he began to speak of his longings, his fantasies, his hopes and his dreams. If he set this example, perhaps they would in turn open up to him and from there the inspiration would gather. His stories fascinated them and his participation in life excited them. In those grey days in the dirty city he began to shine. He stood apart.

At night, in his shambled, clothes cluttered bed; Sunny would lay on his back with his feet stretched above him, resting on the cold smeared plaster wall, and think over with impatience the direction his life was taking. So much was being fed into his mind that the need to explore what he could do with it, festered like a swollen boil requiring urgent lancing. New friends were gathering all around him, but the newfound, and now constant fear of stagnation pushed his dreams into a smorgasbord of wildly wonderful images of creativity. He hungered for the spectacular, the extraordinary, and the fulfilment of his existence, just as he had done when a child. In those days though, he knew the constraints that must be obeyed. Today this was no longer relevant, and an inner urgency told him that time and life should not be wasted. He must make a start.

Michelangelo Buonarroti always saw his creations hidden secretively inside a lifeless block of marble needing only his guiding hammer and chisel to release them. The potential was there. It only required the eye of understanding and the faith of love to be fulfilled. Almost certainly it took courage to strike a blow for beauty. Something so delicate could be shattered easily if care, appreciation, and skill were absent. The boy struggled to free himself just as the unfinished Captives of that great sculptor twist and turn in an attempt to wrench free of the mass of stone that imprisons them. The fight for the spirit of life, or art's creation pitted against the restraints of that which is wretched and physical, swirled throughout the boy’s existence. A blow must be struck. Negligence can be destructive. People had expectations. Yes, the need was urgent, his time was short.

Surprises were common in the late sixties. Change was everywhere and ironically, like the eye of the storm, that busy crossroad of London tourism and commerce grew to be one of the most publicised magnets to the disciples of the anti-establishment. One particular grey and dismal day he ran to meet his friends who had gathered directionless together on the polluted, black, trodden steps at the foot of his bronze hero. He looked at them, and in a moment of delirious, spontaneous inspiration he placed his bag on the cemented ground, and began to step rhythmically back and forth in front of his pensive comrades. At the foot of the statue of Eros, Sunny threw off his shoes, quickly peeled himself out of his shirt and trousers and began to dance. A crowd naturally gathered in awe and surprise at the sight of this unexpected, brazen, but beautiful boy. His buttocks were white and shimmery and his dew drop covered pubic hair and penis swayed like a small flower as he moved around the island in the centre of this crowded and hurrying city. His friends expected cheers or cries of derision, but the boy showed such confidence and joy that he was soon surrounded by the silence of a colourful, sheltering crowd blessed to be part of this occasion. Like a young faun the vision pranced from one side to the other, his hair became damp as it flew in the air and two small delicate feet stamped in the puddles, as they kicked the rubbish aside to create his stage. It became impossible to distinguish the sweat from the rain gently falling on this offering to Eros. His nostrils flickered, his mouth panted and his heart beat visibly in his chest, as he spun around and around, with arms outstretched, faster and faster, until at the height of his excitement, he screamed just before collapsing in exhaustion, from the adrenalin that pumped furiously through his body.

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Yoko Ono's famous Cut Piece in which her clothing was cut away from the body.

Cutpiece from Yokooblog on Vimeo.
A variation to Cut Piece is Put Piece in which the body is covered to reveal itself.

Brian Rush - Put Piece from thisgreatsociety on Vimeo.

Our One and Only Beautiful Planet

Green Issues

Earth Rivers Mountains Seas Forests Plants Air Animals and Us

'In all things of nature there is something of the marvellous.' Aristotle

The Beautiful Planet

The Sea

"Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it." Genesis

The Horizon

 We have certainly multiplied beyond what may be sustainable and we have definitely subdued the earth but have we replenished it as we should? The glories and beauty of our planet are the treasures which have moulded and comforted mankind since our time began. The contemplation of nature is a need that must be satisfied and maintained. Our literature, our dreams, our religions and our sciences are drawn from what we see about us.  Our life depends on what we preserve of our world. From a garden of Eden to Elysian fields, from beginning to end, man has contemplated a perfect earth, nature in bloom, clear and sparkling waters, green hills and warm aromatic air. We know this is good so we need to protect it. For the first two centuries of western civilisation in Australia the ever spreading population attempted to master and tame the land, but today a realisation has emerged that to nurture the land, as had been done for millennia before, is the only way to have the land provide for its children. In cultures throughout history there existed gods and spirits of the earth. The gods and goddesses of fertility, the rains and the seasons, the spirits of the forest, the great Earth Mother and even those that inhabited new life were recognised, worshipped or appeased to ensure the continuation of life for the peoples of the lands. Many disturbed little of what nature had provided, many discovered from nature the ways of regeneration, such as the Aborigine's burning of the grasses and forests to promote future growth. That was the wisdom of the past which became lost. Mistreatment of the land however also began at the dawn of civilisation. In ancient Babylonia they made the land flourish by irrigation, but as states grew and negotiations of water control spread the lush garden of agriculture failed. Too much irrigation on a land too flat to have adequate drainage soon salted the soil, destroyed crops and the populations and power had to shift. This was 2000 years BC. Today we face many problems, but we know what we must do for this species to survive, we only lack the political will to do it on a large scale. We need to live beautifully with nature as innocents.

 'The Goal of life is living in agreement with nature' Zeno 335-564 BC

A Journey to Peach-Blossom Spring

A story by the writer Yuan Hongdao 1568 - 1610 from Gongan County in the Hubei Province China.

'When I had bid farewell to the Long brothers and was about to weigh anchor. Long Xiang came suddenly to praise the fine sights around Peach-Blossom-Spring. I said "It's a famous historical site, well worth visiting even if it has no beautiful scenery" So I ordered the boat to sail upstream, while Long Xiang travelled by land. He joined me at Hefu Mountain that evening. The next day, the Double Ninth Festival, we climbed to the mountain top. The two coloured rocks by the brook served as beautiful foils to the green pool, so we went down to sit there, not leaving until nearly noon. Our boat moored at Peach-Blossom-Spring County that evening The mountain scenery delighted our eyes, and the stream lashed angrily at the fish enclosure as I strolled up to the Confucian Temple. A hundred feet of flagstones, as level and smooth as water, gleamed crystal clear in the moonlight. Pavilions and streets enveloped in smoke were another wonderful feature of the mountain country. That night, chatting with the monks, I told them I was born in a region of rivers and lakes where there was not a single rock within a hundred li so that it was a pleasure to see even what looked like a hillock. What good luck had endowed this county with such beautiful hills and gullies? Could it be that landscapes too were determined by Karma? When the monks could not answer this, I retired for the night.'

Egypt and Nature

In the establishment of civilisation Egypt was perhaps unique with the annual flooding of the Nile which spread a layer of rich black soil over the fields of the Nile Valley. Agriculture was sustained by this fertile gift of nature, but on occasions the floods failed and so did the life and harmony of the people. It is even suggested that the end of the Old Kingdom was brought about by civil upheaval sparked by an unusually long period of drought and the subsequent famine. The earth, the elements and all that existed and sustained, found expression in the gods and from there to the king,  who was the presence of the gods on earth. The gods and king were integral in the maintenance of life and all about. In a funerary poem Sehetepibre who served under King Amenemhet III of the 12th Dynasty around 1800 BCE gave advice to his children for a proper plan of life which reflects the elements from which life is made good and the role of the king in such basics of the natural world.

"Adore the king, (Amenemhet III), living forever, in the midst of your bodies:

Enthrone his majesty in your hearts.

He is Esye (wisdom) in the hearts:

His two eyes, they search every body.

He is the Sun, seeing with his rays:

He illuminates the Two Lands more than the sun-disk.

He makes the Two Lands green more than a great Nile:

He hath filled the Two lands with strength.

He is life, cooling the nostrils:....

The treasures which he gives are food for those who are in his following:

..... His mouth is increase....."

In many cultures the earth and it's elements were identified as worthy of deification as the life of mankind depends on the behaviour, whims and productivity of nature. As the wisdom of sustaining the world about us was immediately obvious to man as he developed, so it should continue to be obvious to us

The World Heritage List - 582 cultural, 149 natural and 23 mixed properties in 129 States

  

AUSTRALIA'S NATURAL WONDERS FOR MANKIND TO ENJOY

The Great Barrier Reef

Kakadu National Park

Willandra Lakes Region

Tasmanian Wilderness

Lord Howe Island Group

Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park

Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves

Wet Tropics of Queensland

Shark Bay, Western Australia

Fraser Island Queensland

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)

Heard and McDonald Islands

Macquarie Island

Greater Blue Mountains Area

Purnululu National Park 

Uluru, embedded in the centre of Australia is the world's largest monolith and one of the great natural wonders. The exposed tip rises 318m from the desert floor and it has a circumference of 9.4 km. It extends down over three and a half miles beneath the surface.  Approximately 500 million years ago it was part of the ocean floor at the centre of this continent and between 300 to 400 million years ago folding of the earth's surface caused it to rotate almost 90 degrees to its present position with the exposed surface worn over time. It is known for the different colours it appears to be throughout the day. Some Cave paintings on Uluru are considered to be ancient and indicate the length of time Aborigines have lived in the area. Traditional religious philosophy, Tjukurpa, provides an interpretation of the present landscape, flora, fauna and natural phenomenon in terms of the journeys and activities of ancestral beings and consequently binds the people socially, spiritually and historically to the land. Tjukurpa also acts as law and imposes a responsibility on the Aborigines to care for the natural environment. Of huge significance to the aboriginal inhabitants it has also become a great symbol for all Australians and for many as the spiritual heart of this country.       

 Canticle of the Sun

St. Francis of Assisi, Patron of Ecology 

Most high, all-powerful, all good, Lord!
All praise is yours, all glory, all honour and all blessing.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,
And first my lord Brother Sun, Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.
How beautiful is he, how radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;
In the heavens you have made them, bright and precious and fair.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all the weather's moods, by which you cherish all that you have made.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water, so useful, lowly, precious, and pure.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten up the night.
How beautiful he is, how joyful! Full of power and strength.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother, who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces
Various fruits and coloured flowers and herbs.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through those who grant pardon 

For love of you; through those who endure Sickness and trial.
Happy those who endure in peace, by you, Most High, they will be crowned.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death, from whose embrace no mortal can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin!
Happy those She finds doing your will!
The second death can do no harm to them.
Praise and bless my Lord, and give him thanks,
And serve him with great humility.

***********

Koran- Chapter 91 The Sun

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful 

By the sun and his midday brightness; by the moon, which rises after him; by the day, which reveals his splendour; by the night which veils him!

By the heaven and Him that built it; by the earth and Him that spread it; by the soul and Him that moulded it and inspired it with knowledge of sin and piety: blessed shall be the man who has kept it pure, and ruined he that has corrupted it! 

  

"Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!" Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) He spoke too soon.

 

The Way of the Dodo

As we manage to pollute rivers, burn forests, divert rivers, poison soil and encroach into habitats, we are killing off the last of many species of animal. Evolution, natural selection, cosmic accidents and natural earth forces have impacted on every  life form on this planet. However not since the great Asteroid impact some 65 million years ago has this planet seen more destruction than by the accelerating impact of man in recent times.

ENDANGERED GREAT ANIMALS OF OUR WORLD

African Elephant Asian Elephant -Indian, Ceylon, Sumatran, and Malaysian Right Whale Blue Whale Fin Whale Golden Lion Tamarin Hybrid Spider Monkey Aye-aye - Madagascar. Gorilla Red Wolf Amur Leopard - eastern Asia. Anatolian Leopard - Turkey. Asiatic Cheetah - Iran. Florida Cougar - United States. Iberian Lynx - Portugal and Spain. Snow Leopard - eastern Asia Texas Ocelot - Mexico, United States. Tiger Marine Otter - South America. Giant Panda Lesser Panda - southern Asia. Cuvier's Gazelle - Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Western Giant Eland - western Africa. Wild Bactrian Camel

Manipur Brow-Antlered Deer - India. Black Rhinoceros Broom's Pygmy-possum - Australia. Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat -Australia. Short-tailed Chinchilla - South America. Giant Armadillo - South America. Crested Shelduck - eastern Asia. White-winged Duck - southern Asia. Marquesan Kingfisher Rufous-lored Kingfisher California Condor - United States. Mauritius Kestrel Hawaiian Crow Cochabamba Mountain-finch Gouldian Finch Blue-bellied Parrot Whooping Crane – Canada, United States. Siberian Sturgeon Alabama Sturgeon Chinese Paddlefish Alabama Shad Silver Shark Clanwilliam Redfin Wild Common Carp

The total surface of the earth is - 196,950,000 square miles with 70% water

Pacific Ocean ------------------------ 70,634,000 Atlantic Ocean ----------------------- 41,322,000 Indian Ocean ------------------------- 28,000,000 Antarctic Ocean ----------------------- 5,610,000 Artic Ocean ----------------------- ------ 5,400,000

Asia --------------------------------  ------- 17,000,000 Africa -----------------------------  - ------ 11,000,000 North America ----------------- --  ----- 9,326,000 South America -------------------------- 6,800,000 Europe --------------------------------  ---- 3,750,000 Australia and Pacific Islands -- --3 ,465,000 Polar Regions ----------------------- ------ 253,000

El Nino - (El Nee-nyo) is the warming of water in the Pacific Ocean.

La Nina - (Lah Nee-Nyah) is the cooling of water in the Pacific Ocean.

Fertilising and resuscitating desolate landscapes through unbound sexuality with no common essence.

Save energy and share your warmth.

Naked Earth Colours.
Terra Viva - vernissage :: Claire Jean