No, this is house of sticks the 3 bears live down the road

dat ber took ma noms

Picture by: dunno source Caption by: DocJ via Loldog Builder

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Per iniziare la settimana con il piede giusto…

Using only tape and garbage bags, Joshua Allen Harris creates giant inflatable animals that become animated when fastened to a sidewalk grate.  Steven Psyllos caught up with Harris recently to discuss his older works (including a bear and a giraffe) and unveil a new beast that looks not unlike the Cloverfield monster.

The Threadless Holiday Sale is here, folks! $12 tees all week long! Pick up some amazing tees that you’ve been waiting for, along with fresh new tees! Here are some of my favorites:

Fringe

Scary 3D Movie

We've Got Some Work To Do Now

Love Your Fellow As Yourself

Grizzly Adventures

This is just the first part of the holiday sale, so be sure to check back with Threadless weekly for new deals to satisfy your holiday shopping needs! What will you be picking up this week?

“Lucy Harmer’s shamanic astrology book is truly amazing. I use it in my work every day as a therapist to help people understand their personality and find their pathway through life.”
–Jean-Francois Beltrami, counselor and kinesiologist

Welcome to Lucy Harmer’s Shamanic Astrology monthly forecast for the Northern Hemisphere! Each month Lucy shares inspiration and ideas for the coming weeks from her book Shamanic Astrology: Understanding Your Spirit Animal Sign.

Shamanic Astrology is based on the study of the movement of the sun and the moon during the different seasons of the year. There are twelve astrological ‘”signs” which are represented by twelve different spirit animals. To find out your own personal spirit animal sign (the sign you were born under), please check the table of spirit animals at the end of this article. Shamanic Astrology teaches us that inner power derives from knowing the properties, characteristics, and qualities of each spirit animal (known as their “medicine”), and applying this in our own lives.

Each month I will focus on the spirit animal for that month, and describe the “energy” of the month itself and also the influence of the moon. I will also indicate which other spirit animal signs will find this month to be particularly beneficial, and why.

November 22-December 21: OWL

Month of Hibernation and Long Nights

Spirit Animal Sign of the Month:
Owl is the spirit animal which corresponds to November 22 – December 21 (in the northern hemisphere). If you were born at this time, your spirit animal sign is Owl and you share Owl’s strengths of being fair, honest, wise, philosophical, idealistic, optimistic, and independent. You are someone who enjoys the good life! You may also share some of Owl’s weaknesses and can have a tendency to be restless, negligent, intolerant, proud, irresponsible, tactless, superficial and excessively optimistic.

Medicine: Owl’s medicine is the ability to seek out truth and justice in all
circumstances. This can be used in any ambiguous or unclear situation, to find the path to follow and to restore order.
Element: Fire
Stone: Obsidian
Color: Gold
Plant: Mistletoe

Energy of the season:
Owl’s month, which ends with the winter solstice, is that of hibernation and long nights. The sun is at its lowest in the sky and the nights are at their longest. This is a period for introspection, spiritual seeking, visions, plans and preparation for the future. Everything undertaken during this month will need a greater dose of enthusiasm, spontaneity, and optimism than at other times and will have to be on a sound ethical basis. Projects conceived now are often highly ambitious.

Energy of the moon:
Owl’s new moon started on Nov 16th and the full moon is on December 2nd 2009. The period from November 22nd until December 2nd is the ideal time for conceiving or launching projects. These will have a high rate of success, as long as they have a sound ethical foundation. After the full moon, from December 3rd until 15th December, time is best used for introspection and deep spiritual growth. This is a time for learning from the past and for setting new goals for the future. December 16th brings the new moon in Snow Goose; this is a time for putting new structures in place for the year to come, with much determination.

This month is particularly favorable for the following signs:

Owl:
If your sign is Owl the energy of this month is very favorable because it corresponds to the month and the moon of your birth. A new cycle is about to start in your life and this is the best time to start planting seeds. Use the sun’s energy to take stock and head off in a new direction.

Falcon/Salmon:
If your sign is Falcon or Salmon, this is a very lucky month for you, with lots of harmony because you are in your own fire element. A multitude of opportunities will open up for you in this period and this is the best time to give destiny a helping hand!

Raven/Otter:
For Raven and Otter people, this is a very dynamic month, full of energy which favors the conception and birth of new projects. You will feel new motivation and a renewal of your energy at this time.

Table of Spirit Animal Signs:

To find your spirit animal sign, just locate your birthday from the dates below, according to your place of birth. If you were born north of the equator (eg; USA, Canada, Europe), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Northern Hemisphere.” If you were born south of the equator (eg; Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), then look for your date of birth in the column headed “Southern Hemisphere.”

© Copyright 2009 Lucy Harmer

Shamanic Astrology is available for purchase directly through NorthAtlanticBooks.com, as well as major book stores and online retailers.

CLICK HERE to learn more about courses, seminars and workshops offered by Lucy Harmer.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Shamanic Astrology.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Discovering Your Spirit Animal.

Islamic State of AFGHANISTAN

stamp: 600 afghanis

year: 1996

mammal: bear – Ursus maritimus

Die Wellen schlugen hoch, die Empörung traf den Konzern Jack Wolfskin mit unerwarteter Härte.

Nach der Abmahnwelle kam die Protestwelle und nun kam mit dem Einlenken des Outdoorausrüsters auch das Happy End für den Bärenausrüster bearwear.nl.

Rainer vom Blog “Samstagisteingutertag” und ich sprachen mit Jos Leene, dem kreativen Kopf des Onlineshops.

“Die Macht des Internets ist wirklich toll!”
Interview mit Jos Leene, Bearwear.nl über den Kampf gegen Jack Wolfskin

Seit wann gibt es den Bearwear.nl-Shop?
Die Idee für „Bearwear“ hatte ich während eines Urlaubs auf Gran Canaria im März 2007, und bereits im August war der Shop online. Es gab nicht sehr viele T-Shirts speziell für schwule (Bären-)Männer. Ich entwarf Shirts mit GROSSER Schrift, ganz passend für einen Bären mit lustigen, frechen und sexy Sprüchen. Zunächst wählte ich die Farben grau, blau, schwarz und weiß. Der Shop ist ja eher ein Hobby und in diesem Maße bewarb ich den Shop auch. Ich verteilte Flyer in Bars und ich trage natürlich auch selbst diese Shirts im Urlaub oder wenn ich ausgehe.

auch im Urlaub wirbt Jos gern für seinen Shop

Wann hat Jack Wolfskin sich das erste Mal an dich gewandt?
Im April 2009, ich wollte gerade ein neues Design vorstellen, bekam ich eine Nachricht von „Spreadshirt“ [in Leipzig]– das ist die Firma, die den Druck und den Vertrieb der Shirts übernimmt. Sie teilten mir zunächst nur mit, dass sie meine ursprünglichen Shirts offline gestellt hätten. Sie befürchteten Copyright-Probleme. Erst später erfuhr ich, dass Jack Wolfskin verlangt hatte, mehr als 20 Produkte von verschiedenen „Spreadshirt“-Geschäftspartnern wegen des Gebrauchs der Bärenkralle zu entfernen. Aufgrund der Drohung mit mehreren tausend Euro Strafe musste „Spreadshirt“ reagieren, um die Firma aus der Gefahrenzone zu bekommen.

Kannst du uns Genaueres über die Gespräche mit Jack Wolfskin sagen?
Zunächst hat Spreadshirt die Verhandlungen geführt. Gesetzlich ist es so, dass wenn jemand ein T-Shirt in meinem Shop bestellt, er ein Kunde der Vertriebsfirma ist. Insofern ging die Klage gegen sie. Darum weiß ich über die Details nicht genau Bescheid, nur, dass die Gespräche zunächst sehr schwierig waren. Manche der Partnerfirmen wurden auch direkt von Jack Wolfskin kontaktiert, ich hörte nur über Spreadshirt von den Verhandlungen.

Wie würdest du das Verhalten von JW beschreiben? Anfänglich waren sie ja sehr aggressiv …
Es war ein Vorgehen mit ganz einseitiger Machtverteilung. Soweit ich weiß, gab es sogar einen Gerichtstermin. Bei Spreadshirt stellte man sich auf ein langes und schwieriges Verfahren ein. Mal ehrlich: Ich wüsste niemanden, der es mit einer solch großen Firma aufnehmen könnte. Wolfskin hat das Geld und die Anwälte!

Das Vorgehen von JW gegen den Online-Anbieter DaWanda löste dann im Web eine riesige Welle der Empörung aus. Was geschah dann?
Dann nahm JW von sich aus den Kontakt zu mir auf. Ich denke, das geschah, weil der Fall von Bearwear.nl in so vielen Blogs aufgegriffen worden war. Sie baten um ein Gespräch. Der Ton war freundlich und kooperativ. Sie wollten die Sache wirklich vom Tisch haben. Ich schickte Ihnen meine Kollektion zur Beurteilung. Sie sahen, dass ich mit meinen Produkten eine ganz andere Zielgruppe ansprach und in meinen Designs die Bärentatze/-kralle im Zusammenhang mit Schrift verwendet wird. Die Vereinbarung ist jetzt, dass ich meine Bärenkralle weiterhin in dieser Kombination Logo-Schrift für die spezielle Zielgruppe verwende. Das ist für mich machbar, ich verzichte eben darauf, auf meinen Produkten eine einzelne, freistehende Bärentatze zu verwenden.

Was wird nun nicht mehr in deinem Shop erhältlich sein?
All die Produkte, die als Design eine einzelne Bärenkralle hatten (ohne Schrift/Text). Zusammen mit Spreadshirt habe ich beschlossen, auch das “Wolf”-Design zu entfernen. Es zeigte die Bärenkralle zusammen mit dem Schriftzug ‘Wolf’.

Was hat für dich und dein Unternehmen der monatelange Ausfall des europäischen Marktes bedeutet?
Ich kann schwer eine konkrete Ausfallsumme schätzen, da meine Verkäufe sehr unregelmäßig sind. Manchmal sind es einige Shirts pro Woche, manchmal auch nur ein paar im Monat. Da aber nun die Website geschlossen war, habe ich auch monatelang gar nichts eingenommen. Natürlich musste ich weiterhin die laufenden Kosten – Internetgebühren, Gebühren für den Vertrieb, Kosten für Flyer, die ich nicht verteilen konnte – zahlen. Aber insbesondere der Gedanke, das Unternehmen komplett schließen zu müssen und damit meine kreativen Ergebnisse zu verlieren, war alles andere als schön.

Hattest du direkte Kosten durch den Streit mit JW?
Ich persönlich, abgesehen von den genannten, nicht. Sicher aber die Vertriebsfirma Spreadshirt.

Du planst eine neue Kollektion – was wird sich verändern?
Ich habe 23 neue Designs entworfen, weitere Text-Elemente kombiniert – natürlich mit der Bärenkralle! Es wird weitere Farben geben. Eigentlich müsste ich auch eine deutsche Version des Shops anbieten. Deutsche Kunden möchten ja auch gern in ihrer Sprache angesprochen werden. Aber ich spreche nicht gut genug Deutsch, um Entwürfe auf Deutsch zu machen – aber hey, das Interview gibt mir Gelegenheit dafür zu werben, dass ich natürlich auch gern Sachen auf Wunsch für Kunden anfertige. Sie müssen mir nur sagen, was auf dem T-Shirt zu sehen sein soll.

Zum Schluss ein Wort zur schwulen Bären-Szene – welche Reaktionen hast du von ihr während des Streites mit JW erfahren?
Es gab viele nette Leute – Homos wie Heteros! –, die mir geschrieben haben, mich ermutigten. Einige Bären haben auch juristische Informationen geschickt, die ich dann an Spreadshirt weitergeleitet habe. Viele verstehen nicht, wie es möglich ist, ein Urheberrecht auf so eine so alltägliche Sache wie den Fußabdruck eines Tieres zu erheben. Ich verstehe es auch nicht. Hätte JW sein Vorhaben weiter vorangetrieben und weitere schwule Unternehmen oder gar die Bärenflagge wären betroffen gewesen, dann hätte die Community wohl heftiger reagiert. So ein kleines Unternehmen, das einen kleinen Rechtsstreit führt, lockt die großen Bären nicht aus der Höhle.
Ich hoffe, dass JW die Lektion gelernt hat, dass die Online Community aufpasst. Für mich war es eine tolle Erfahrung, dass der schwule Aspekt gar keine Rolle gespielt hat. Der Aufschrei war ja bundesweit, unabhängig von der sexuellen Präferenz oder dem Geschlecht! Die Macht des Internets ist wirklich toll! Ich möchte allen, die mich unterstützt haben, Danke sagen – und für die, die darauf stehen: Einen dicken nassen Dankeschön-Bärenzungenkuss ( Schleck!)

Interview & Übersetzung aus dem Englischen: Rainer & Lars / Fotos: Jos Leene

“Because you have beard.”

Four little words. So much joy.

Pride. Once it was a broken shadow of growth, sunlight through a trellace – all patchy and misshapen.

I would tentatively grow it. Just to see. And the upper lip furred, the rest like left over spaghetti. Single hairs strewn sparsely across a battlefield of acne. Casualties.

Push through it. Keep it our little secret. Cat and mouse. Ah, you see it multiply? I see it. And the hairs tumble into the bin to allow new to grow.

“Cut it and it grows faster”

Twenty-three years old. It’s become a feature. Stubble. But not. Too soft still, there’s no aggravation.

I flirt. A week with. A week without. It passes without comment.

For nearly two years now, though, permanent. Part of the package. I = beard.

And now. 26 years old. The barber has the close trimmer in his hand and he looks. Stops.

“No line?”

He’s staring at the point between my beard and my hair, the neighbour of the ear and the eye.

“I’m sorry?”

He tries again.

“No line, yes. Because you have beard.”

Oh! Yes! Definitely! No line. Because I have a beard!

I have a beard. The barber said so. It’s official.

Goodbye puberty. It was nice. For a while.

It’s time for my list. I will be working on it, because there are still some things(latest Swell Season, Devendra Banhart, Julie Doiron etc.) that I have to hear. Anyway, some of my favourites:

Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice [9.8/10]
I think this is my favourite album from this year. Cute, teddy-bear-ish-looking singer-songwriter from Canada. He makes you feel loved inside. Good, strong and dynamic songs, nice vocals, good instrumental work, wonderful lyrics. The best indie pop album from this year. It’s unbelievable that he’s just 25 (date-material! haha!). Dan’s a keeper and you should keep your eye on him!

Andrew Bird – Noble Beast/Useless Creatures [9.5/10]
Again, a masterpiece made by Andrew Bird. It’s balanced, beautiful and unique. It’s pop, folk, it’s wonderfull. I only miss the electric guitar a bit. Still, great lyrics, interesting, wonderfull compositions and vocally pretty strong. Useless Creatures is the best instrumental CD I’ve ever heard, might have even listened more to that one than to Noble Beast. Good Stuff.

St. Vincent – Actor [9/10]
Annie Clark manages to float above her instrumental chaos. Or at least, it looks like that. Her compositions are actually well made. Vocally, Clark is really strong. It’s a pretty unique CD that you’ll love or you’ll hate. I love it.

Jesca Hoop – Hunting My Dress [8.8/10]
To me, she’s live even stronger. Hoop mixes various styles and makes them her own. Great guitar work, great vocals. It might sound weird during your first listen, but it will grow. Especially ‘Murder of Birds’ is a wonderful track.

A.A. Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose[8/10]
I know I didn’t give A.A. Bondy such a high mark in my review. But the album did really grow on me. I listen to it a lot, so points for that!

Franz Ferdinand – Tonight[7.2/10]
Surprising new album from Franz Ferdinand. Still the have their own Franz sound. Good stuff. Typical Franz.

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest[7/10]
Pretty interesting album, on moments to difficult for me to understand maybe. There are some ‘killer-tracks’ on it, but overall it’s just a pretty solid, nice, album that isn’t really my cup of tea at moments

Regina Spektor – Far [7/10]
Not as strong as Begin to Hope, but again a very good album. Spektor goes from weird classical stuff to pop, not being afraid of sounding ’silly’. Vocally strong, but you have to love her voice. No complains about her instrumental stuff, but it’s not really ‘new’. (Best tracks of the album are simply ‘Laughing With’ and ‘Folding Chair’, these are perfect songs)

Wilco – Wilco(the album) [7/10]
Wilco deliverd another good album. Still, it can’t beat Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but it’s a good try. It’s again the typical Wilco sound(that isn’t really my sound). But it’s a strong, balanced album.

This is TJ Miller’s audition tape for the role of Ranger Jones in the upcoming Yogi Bear movie. You can read the full details here but essentially to bump up his chances for the role, he made a video with an actual bear. The sad thing is he got the part even though the bear has more screen presence and better timing.

via

So in september I went to this store  the Rage, in the kensington market (www.ragetoronto.ca)

and a month later they gave me a bunch of fabric to do my prints on.
A month after that I actually did print the fabric, and now tomorrow I’m bringing them the prints and hopefully bringing back a wad of cash.
I’m so professional.

But, I’m excited, and am pretty happy about some of the prints, which are now too packaged to take pictures of and post on the internet.

And I forgot to mention that I made one final Impossible Speed order for 2009 and it’ll hopefully be coming in before december.
Anyways,
That’s what I did today, and thats what I’m going to do tomorrow.

Ten times the same bear head, all slightly different. It was a fun exercise, but each head required lots of concentration and roughly 10 to 15 minutes. I had to do it in 4 sessions, because I can’t keep concentrated for such a long time in one session.

That is all.

This is another one of the photos that I took of my friend’s baby. I used the “Polarize” app on my iPhone to make it look like a polaroid. That is one of my favorite apps.
The little hat he’s wearing came from one of the shops on ETSY. I cropped this photo so you can’t reallly see his little ‘bear ears’ but he was so cute in the hat.

Hey there…just wanna tell you that I just send a package to Sabila from Pastel Girl is helding a giveaway!  The rule is super easy, you have to be Indonesian, and send any of your fashion-related creations to her.  Check the stuffs she is giving out:

You might wonder what I made for Sabila? But it’s a secret and won’t tell you until I heard from her! So if you wanna join just send your creations and biodata here:

Sabila

TIKI GERAI A-155 POLTANGAN

Jl. poltangan raya no.4A , Pasar Minggu , Jakarta Selatan

Lately I am having a super bad mood so I made a bad mood teddy plushie! her name is jeyo, named after my friend (JEssica YOnaka) hahaha XD

Made this for a trial, she is what I imagine when I am being grumpy and tired…Designed this in a rush, coz can’t wait to start sewing it! :p my mum is a bit upset coz I cut her free gift towel to made this :3 Sorry mum! LOL..

plushie specs: eyes, ear and nose are from unused small pieces of fabrics. I just happen to found an easy but good method to make them hard enough and bead-looking (esp the nose and eyes) but still have soft areas to give space so I can sew it to the plushie So no worries, they’re not glued!^^ (I don’t like to use glues all over the fabric of my plushie).

alright then, cya at the next post!

PS. new art wire and plushie design in progress

Part I

The Bear in the Cage (Part II)
02 September 2009
Holtsville Ecology Center, Holtsville, NY

Islamic State of AFGHANISTAN

stamp: 500 afghanes

year: 1996

mammal: bear – Ursus americanus

Well only just… I’ve got some results from my attempt to divide up the feral druid population into cats and bears. We started from the fact that there is no “form” tag in the armoury XML – no direct way to count the thing we want to count. The only way to get an insight into this is to find a proxy for each of the forms – something that is in the data which can be used to separate the sheep from the goats, if you’ll pardon the mixed metaphor.

Talents seem to be the obvious choice, so long as there is one talent that bears will take and cats not and another talent that is vice versa. Glyphs are the other possibility. Whatever we choose just has to be i) something that players are highly likely to take  and ii) something that is orthogonal; something that definitely points in one direction for bears and another for cats.

But the basic problem is that there are a lot of um… how to put this politely… there are a lot of left-of-centre specs out there. Talents and glyphs are both less orthogonal than I was hoping for – many specs look a bit bearish and a bit cattish at the same time. And there is a big group that takes none of the talents or glyphs that we want to use.

That’s why I decided not to make the queries very complex – adding more talents or glyphs into the selection criteria  just increases the number of toons that fall into the grey area. Also I’ve counted specs and not toons since the original question was related to the number of druids specced for tanking.

Thanks to the commenters who made suggestions on possible talents and glyphs that might fit these criteria. I’ve run two queries against the data.

The first query counts feral druids who have Natural Reaction versus those who have Predatory Instincts. A druid with some points in Natural Reaction and none at all in Predatory Instincts might be a bear; t’other way round for cats. Those with points in neither are marked as “unknown”; those with some points in both are the “could be either” group.

The second query counts druids who have a Glyph of Maul versus those who have either a Glyph of Shred and/or a Glyph of Rip. Equipping Maul but not Shred or Rip indicates bear; Shred or Rip but no Maul indicates cat. Again we have groups with a mix of these glyphs, and, unfortunately, a huge group with none of them.

Anyway this is what we’ve got:

(Patch 3.2.2 data; sample size 16327 level 80 feral druids with 28970 specs).

Talent-based spec count:

• Bear: 30%
• Cat : 33%
• Could be either: 5%
• Unknown: 31%

Glyph-based spec count:

• Bear: 18%
• Cat: 9%
• Could be either: 15%
• Unknown: 58%

Frankly I’m still not sure how valid these numbers are, but I hope they provide a bit of insight. The talent-based count may at least provide a low-water-mark indication of the number of bearish specs in there.

A bunny clutching a teddy bear? In front of a house smaller than the bunny’s head?

Only in Japan would middle-aged men working for a tract home builder wear super-childish manga splashed uniforms. Do you think the worker feels professional, confident, and ready to move some pre-fab homes?