H is for Harp

And this, from this morning…oh and Taylor, you started Idol in Feb 2006, not 2005. *sigh*

De A à Z, tu dois écrire une histoire!

Alexandre bricole. Cyanure, dioxydes, expériences fatales. Gare! Hector incorpore justement, kératinise les mortels nouveaux onguents, pilules. Quels répugnants scientifiques tortionnaires. Un virus: wallons xénogreffés, yémenites zombies.

Bonne chance!
C

I have made some new Letter Sounds A-Z Printables (in both Color & Blackline). These could be used in a variety of activities.I have added these to the Literacy Printables page on my website. Click the pictures below to download the PDF files (these are large, so it may take a while).

A few ideas:

• Print them on magnetic paper & cut them out for use on a magnetic board or cookie sheet.
• Print them & glue them onto die cut shapes or “Accents” from the teacher store.
• Use them to glue in ABC books.

Add your ideas & suggestions in the comments section below.

I’ve accepted paper clips, rusted

when I should have chosen binder clips, the fancy kind

bigger the better, easier to keep all of me in one place.

I’ve kept myself in messy stacks

papers sticking to other papers and other stacks

useless copies, rereading what I’ve written twice already.

I’ve favorite pens that I neglect

Leave the tops off, shortening the lifespan

losing them besides, lost are all the sharpened pencils.

I’ve settled myself in disarray

chaos is the only proof there’s order, a cosmic alphabet

no need refiling, misfiled is worse.

À voir ici.

View it here.

If, like me, you’re a fan of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, you might appreciate these NATO-inspired necklace ideas. For those who don’t know, or didn’t get the reference, the names of the ‘Actives’ are taken from the NATO phonetic alphabet, which I’ve always thought was cool, even as a kiddiewink. Here’s my prototype:

"Leese" in NATO (about 5cm by 5cm - "Everything's 5 by, Charlie. Standing by. Over.")

I like the idea as an alternative to traditional name necklaces (”Lucy”, “Alice”, etc.) – either have just your initial in NATO (”Lima”, “Alpha”) or have your whole name spelt out that way (in my case, Lima Echo Echo Sierra Echo). Plus, you get the joy of having people squinting at your chest while they try to work out what your crazy jewellery is all about.

Of course, not all the NATO letters would suit, so it needs some work. If your name’s “Veronica”, and you have a necklace that says “Victor”, people will either assume that Victor is the name of your beloved, or that you’re a superbly made-up drag queen. Also, spelling out a long name, such as Veronica, would be a pretty long necklace:

Victor
Echo
Romeo
Oscar
November
India
Charlie
Alpha

And “Elizabetha” would probably stretch down to your belt buckle.

Okay whatever… this is a Fail. It looks more like Harry Howell than Reggie Dunlop. Do you have any idea how hard it is to draw Paul Newman’s eyes? They’re just impossibly crazy and beautiful.

RIP Coach.

Xenophobia is actually kind of funny when it comes from Don Cherry!

Learning English through songs : the alphabet

I am sick and miserable, therefore, internets: the comprehensive, awesome, brilliant list of things you can do and / or read on the internets when you are bored, miserable, sick, sulking or all of the above:

A is for Atheist Nexus!

B is for:

1>> blogs. This is the comprehensive list of blogs Sendaianonymous diligently reads every morning:

Astrodicticum Simplex >> Bart >> Ed Brayton >> Evolution Blog >> Language Log >> Orac >> Pharyngula >> WO

2>> B also stands for BoingBoing, which, sadly, Sendaianonymous hasn’t got the time to read diligently every morning. Also, Sendaianonymous is not that interested in copyright issues. But, the pretty! But, copyright issues.

(On an afterthought, Sendaianonymous might actually have to find the time. PRETTY!)

C stands for Cute Overload. Kittens! (Beware the constant fapping in the comments). C is also for Concern Trolling at Creationists Websites (hush!).

D is for dictionaries! On the internets, it is enough if you know those three:

Ambrose Bierce’s Dictionary >> Angry Mob’s Daily Mail Dictionary >> UrbanDictionary

E stands for ERV. E is also for e-books: sci-fi/genre e-books, e-books, more e-books, HPL e-texts.

F is for:

1>> Fashion! Susie Bubble’s got a cute blog and looks great in catsuits. Go fug yourself brings all the fug you need to make your eyes bleed (or not). There’s also Jezebel.

2>> Fail. There’s a lot of fail on the internets and IRL. The fail blog deals with some of the fail.

G is for:

1>> Grauniad, complete with its articles about experiments involving cats, with dubious methodology. Remember, guys, they’re just different (and cute).

2>> Goldacre, Ben and his Bad Science.

3>> Generators! Like the NK insults generator (pretty repetitive) or the TV Crime Fighting Idea generator for TV executives (pretty fantastic).

4>> Project Gutenberg, which will obligingly supply you with enough e-texts for several years of entertaining procrastination.

H is for HuffPo, but it’s full of woo, so no link, hah.

I stands for irritating flash games, like Chain Reaxion on Facebook or SNEEZE or Ginger Dawn. Irritating, and yet you can’t stop playing.

J is for disgusting Japanese porn.

K is for kittens. Kittens can be randomly generated, be cute and little, also randomly generated. This classification is comprehensive, exhaustive, and scientific, which means there are no other kittens than randomly generated, cute and little, and also randomly generated, although some scholars maintain an exception should be made for the awe-inspiring case of ceiling cat.

L is for lolcats. Remember, seven out of seven kittens have no intention of racing anywhere.

M is for:

1>> Memes! Not only of the Dawkinsian kind. Please fill out in case of butthurt. This comic, by explaining how memes don’t work, explains how they do work. Mysteriously, it might have something to do with cognitive science.

Also, erudite ferrets, aw.

2>> motivational posters, obviously NSFW.

N stands for 日本の形：箸・寿司・謝罪。

O is for the Onion. Sendaianonymous also feels that the Onion videos deserve a special mention.

P stands for Partially Clips! Where you can read about religion, religion, egotic koalas, and religion. There are also other awesome things, but Sendaianonymous is admittedly biased in what makes her laugh.

(It’s mostly the egotic koalas, but they’ve been increasingly hard to find)

Some people could also possibly argue that P stands for penguins.

R is for:

1>> Research blogging YAY.

2>> Ravelry. Because very few things make a more entertaining combination than crocheting and wank.

3>> In order to avoid surprise!misogyny, surprise!rape, and other unpleasant surprises, romance fans engage in a mysterious and eldritch process of writing detailed reviews of the eldritch books they fancy and sacrifice virgins to. Because Sendaianonymous is not a fan of romance novels, or in fact, romance anything, she usually reads only the F and D-rated reviews, because they’re the funniest. Hullo thar, Dear Author! Thank you, Smart Bitches, Trashy Novels!

S is for ScienceBlogs! Skepchick! Superb!

T is for Trolling. No links included, because Sendaianonymous doesn’t want to get caught.

U is for unbelievably silly urban legends, nicely debunked at Snopes.

V stands for viral tubifex worm colony vid. It’s pretty disgusting, but then turtle frogs are absolutely adorable.

W stands for What’s The Harm, indeed. Invaluable in proving to people they’re fuckwitted and should STFU.

X is for XKCD. Unbelievably, people are sometimes wrong on the internets.

Y stands for youtube. There’re videos elsewhere, too, though.

Z is for Zaphod Beeblebrox, because Sendaianonymous says so.

Okay, there’s the start of my summer project… A hockey alphabet! I think I’m having waaay too much fun with this.

Thanks to the boneheads at Rangers Report for assistance and inspiration!

Par le Dr Nassif Azzi

Pays millénaire… terre des Phéniciens… temple des dieux d’outre-temps… berceau de l’Alphabet… point de rencontre des Civilisations… terre des Révélations et lieu natal des Religions… pays de refuge de certaines communautés… passages des conquérants de tout bords… mi-chemin entre Occident et Orient, le Liban a toujours été «une terre qui bouge».

On n’a jamais connu, dans ce pays, comme nous rapporte notre histoire millénaire, une véritable paix, bien que nous soyons, comme disent certains fanatiques, les favoris de Dieu, «qui a, par la création du Liban, couronné la
terre ».

Bref, la formation du Liban contemporain, pays qui s’est baptisé État indépendant en 1943, trouve ses racines dans l’histoire. C’est à partir de l’époque phénicienne que le pays des cèdres s’est édifié. Et, malgré toutes les occupations qu’il a connues, vu sa situation géographique, le Liban a gardé son authenticité. Or, sa diversité culturelle, basée sur une société multiconfessionnelle, et qui fait la richesse de cette société, n’a nullement empêché l’émergence d’une culture libanaise authentique, qui reflète, non seulement des traces de diverses civilisations, mais aussi et surtout, la rencontre réelle du Christianisme et de l’Islam.

En outre, notre patrimoine, qui s’insère dans une arabité culturelle, est, depuis le XVIe siècle, sous l’influence du phénomène d’inculturation; et ce, depuis l’ouverture du Collège Maronite à Rome en 1584.

Comme il est question de résistance culturelle, il convient de nous interroger sur le phénomène de latinisation que nous avons subi, nous les Maronites, depuis le XVIe siècle, l’époque durant laquelle, des Jésuites, envoyés par le Saint-Siège, ont dû brûler nos manuscrits sous prétexte qu’ils ne sont pas conformes à la foi catholique d’obédience romaine?

Osons-nous rappeler aussi que les Français avaient l’intention de transférer les Chrétiens du Liban vers l’Algérie au XIXe siècle?

Au XXe siècle, pendant et après le Mandat français, n’avons-nous pas vécu l’état conflictuel du bilinguisme français-arabe, aux dépens de notre riche patrimoine? Et, si nous sommes fiers d’être «biglottes», faut-il qu’un tel bilinguisme nous arrache à notre culture de base?

Aussi, avons-nous oublié ce que les Américains avaient proposé aux chrétiens du Liban, à la veille de la guerre de 1975?

Comment expliquons-nous le fait que les chrétiens du Liban subissaient un phénomène de déracinement entre 1975 et 1985, date de leur exode du Mont Liban Sud et de la banlieue de Saida ?

Si nous ne citons pas les persécutions que les Libanais, tous les Libanais, ont dû vivre au cours de l’histoire, et surtout depuis les Mamelouks jusqu’à la fin de l’Empire Ottoman, c’est parce que le phénomène culturel ne constituait pas un facteur primordial.

Certes, la création de l’État d’Israël, aux dépens du peuple palestinien en 1948, et le rejet du principe de coexistence pacifique entre les peuples, rejet aggravé par le fait que les Israéliens adoptent une vision unilatérale de l’homme et de l’univers, consolidée par l’idée du «peuple élu»; tout cela a constitué et constitue toujours le grand défi à la structure politico-sociale du Liban… sans oublier les convoitises d’Israël qui justifient en permanence la résistance sous toutes ses formes, y compris la militaire.

De ce fait, nous considérons qu’une résistance culturelle, parallèlement à la résistance militaire – toujours légitime tant que subsiste l’occupation – est plus que jamais nécessaire, d’une part pour rejeter la thèse sioniste unilatérale à laquelle s’apparente celle des fondamentalistes musulmans; et d’autre part pour plaider en faveur de notre identité libanaise, ancrée sur la côte méditerranéenne du Levant, et qui constitue une partie intégrante de la région.

Cela nous conduit à plaider aussi en faveur de la cause palestinienne, cause juste, et surtout en faveur du droit des réfugiés au retour, puisque l’objectif de la politique internationale consiste à favoriser l’implantation des Palestiniens au Liban. Des événements de portée internationale n’ont pas manqué d’y concourir : le grand virage subi à la fin des années soixante du siècle dernier après l’assassinat du président John Kennedy et l’arrivée du secrétaire d’État Henry Kessinger, la chute du Général De Gaulle (ex- protecteur du Liban) après Mai 68, et le conflit fratricide meurtrier qui opposa l’armée jordanienne a l’OLP en 1970.

Actuellement, à la suite de la chaine interminable des évènements que nous avons vécu aux cours des quatre dernières décennies, nous nous confrontons à de multiples projets régionaux, dont celui de l’implantation des réfugiés palestiniens – comme nous le montrent certains accords annexes à ceux d’Oslo, accords qui ont constitué et qui constituent l’un des objectifs de la politique Israélo-américaine – qui menacent les fondements politiques et socio-culturels du Liban contemporain.

Allons-nous céder devant tout ces projets, à l’heure où la politique internationale semble effectuée un retour vers le sens, voire vers l’homme et ses droits, après avoir plongé dans une démarche absurde et meurtrière, de l’Afghanistan à Gaza ?

Or, pouvons-nous être fiers de notre identité et de notre histoire, sans ce vouloir de résister à tout ce qui peut nuire à notre culture et notre patrimoine et menacer notre identité et notre souveraineté ? N’est-ce pas le sens même de la dignité, chère à tout homme raisonnable ? Pouvons-nous ne pas être fiers à l’égard de notre résistance contre la normalisation que cherche Israël, avant la libération de notre territoire et la récupération de tout nos droits ?

Dans ce sens, la résistance n’est pas seulement fondamentale, mais elle est aussi et surtout un devoir. Et le pays qui résiste est un véritable pays. Et le peuple qui résiste est un vrai peuple… un peuple qui mérite d’être ce qu’il doit être : authentique et digne de respect.

Savons-nous ce que cela veut dire… traître… collaborateur…  agent… etc ?
Avons-nous déjà oublié les atrocités de l’occupation, et ses conséquences nuisibles ?

Réfléchissons tranquillement… et acclamons la résistance.

D’emblée  résister c’est mon devoir.

Je résiste… donc je suis.

Chiffon ketan hitam, JLBK alias Jualan Lama Bersemi Kembali, kekekeke….

Kue-kue ini aku nggak akan cerita apa2 ah, biar yang pesen aja yang cerita, hahahaha, seru deh pokoknya, yang bersangkutan ini sampe balap lari sama kereta jurusan Jakarta-Surabaya segala, hihhihi, tunggu aja, besok pasti orangnya muncul, sekarang lagi ke PRJ katanya, xixixix….

G is for Gray Charles

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he was an integral part of Taylor’s online fanbase during American Idol, and was a voice for Taylor after the win.  Gray, the original, was the first to make it “all about the music”.  When other fan sites were “thudding” left and right, Gray banned the fangirls and catered to the blues and soul fanbase, the music afficiando, though his detractors would call the regulars music snobs.  Gray led many of us back to Taylor’s roots, back to “real” music, and gave us insight into the blacklight world of indie artists and small labels. 

“All about the music” maybe, but he was so much more:

* For Taylor’s fanbase, Gray was the originator of the “audio blog”. 

* His post AI interview gave us greater insight and let us know what was cooking deep in our “American Idol’s” soul. 

* He leaked the vids to the rehearsals.com site, leading to the infamous f-bomb apology.

*We heard the first clips, then the full audio of the major label CD “Taylor Hicks”, prior to its official release date.

*It was the gathering point for all of us who made our way to MardiGras and joined the Krewe of Endmyion, where Taylor served as Grand Marshall.

*The fanbase rallied for (and against) Gray Charles, as Taylor and his management hammered out a marketing plan.

When all was said and done, these two went their separate ways, but still the story continued:

* Admirers and detractors alike stopped by during the last days of www.graycharles.com to give their two cents, speak their mind, and/or say their peace.

* Gray chose this site to release previously unseen video of Taylor and the band rehearsing, adding once more to the mutual buzz and (dare I say it?) allure of these two gentlemen doing what they do best:  Taylor performing his music, his way, and Gray Charles being his enigmatic self.

It may seem self indulgent, but this seems like a good time to make something clear.  When I was thinking up a name for this site, I never imagined that I would become the successor of the “Grey” name.  I make no claim whatsoever to attempt to follow in the footsteps of the original, nor have the same impact on this fanbase.

D: Stands for Distance.  These lenses take the distance between the subject and camera into account for metering.  They have a physical aperture ring which needs to be locked.

G: These lenses have the same technology as D lenses, but they do not have an aperture ring.  The G doesn’t stand for anything.  It’s just a D lens without a physical aperture ring.

VR: Stands for Vibration Reduction.  These lenses minimize blur caused by camera shake.

ED: Stands for Extra Low Dispersion Glass. This is the best glass Nikon makes, giving you better color, contrast, and sharpness.  ED doesn’t just mean pro, though, as it’s in many Nikon lenses.

N: Stands for Nano Crystal Coat. This is a new type of lens element designed to reduce ghosting and flare, especially off really bright specular highlights. The 105 micro was the first lens to have this element.

AF-S or SWM: Stands for Auto Focus Silent Wave Motor.  These lenses are quiet and fast, and the AF motors are built into these lenses.

RF: Rear Focusing (RF) technology uses rear lens groups for focusing. Since rear lens groups are smaller than front lens groups, especially in high-speed telephoto lenses, RF technology makes it possible to drive the lens smoother and faster.
RF also contributes to high optical performance.

DC: One of Nikon’s unique contributions to portrait photography is DC (Defocus-image Control) technology. This unique Nikon innovation enables users of AF DC-Nikkor lenses to control background and foreground blur precisely, resulting in striking portraits. These lenses are the only ones of their kind in the world.

• DC ring is set at neutral position (Fig. 1):
  Background blur and foreground blur have the same characteristics.
• DC ring is set at R (rear) position (Fig. 2):
  Spherical aberration occurs. In this case, light rays from the background look beautifully soft and blurry — declining in intensity from the core of the light source outward. On the other hand, light rays from the foreground are blurred with ring-shaped halos.
  
• DC ring is set at F (front) position (Fig. 3):
  Spherical aberration occurs in reverse direction (R position). In this case, light rays from the foreground look beautifully soft and blurry.

IF: Stand for Internal Focusing.  This is usually on higher-end lenses that have constant aperture (typically f/2.8) where the barrel doesn’t extend, and the front element doesn’t rotate.

Aspherical: These lenses have a certain amount of wide-angle correction built in.

DX: Stands for the DX Format. There are no FX lenses, only DX or not.  If it doesn’t say DX, it’s a full frame lens.  DX will work on FX camera, but only uses a portion of the sensor and makes it ~5MP.

PDF of this information for download but does not include everything on this page

Two versions of the well-known ABC tale, The History of An Apple Pie, both from the early 19th century, but which came first?

…a G post. Hang in there with me, it will be great!! (haha)

Real life is getting in the way a bit…

It is alphabet time again. & today is the day for the letter C, which I have special affection for because it begins my name. But what else…?

“How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!”

This poem by Lewis Carroll introduces my favorite animal, the crocodile, which happens to begin with the letter C. These few lines are actually one of the reasons I began to love crocodiles so much.

Cranes: Sandhill cranes, paper cranes, any sort of cranes. Whether living or not, these birds are quite dear to me.

Cherry blossoms: , are a perfect symbol of winter ending, & I love it.

Charlotte Gainsbourg: An icon for style, for beauty, for music… for anything you would need an icon for, really. She is delicate in the wisest, coolest way.

Chuck Bass: this does not need to be explained. He’s beautiful & nothing can convince me otherwise!

Neill Cameron writes and draws comics for a living, but his latest project undergoes a more laidback comic-relief touch.

A-Z of Awesomeness, an ongoing project in which I draw a picture each day, of stuff that is Awesome, for the letters A-Z.

There are some pretty amusing pictures here, but my personal favourites right now are the letters G & Q.

I have been feeling the need lately to just draw some stuff that is fun, for my own amusement. And so I am going to spend the next month doing just that: drawing STUFF that is AWESOME. And the best part is – you get to tell me what.

See the collection grow daily at: A-Z of Awesomeness