In mid of the night…I just got up…Assuming telepathic waves still functional…I won’t disturb you much when you must be dreaming about a sojourn to some palace or fort…with thick stone walls… and few names engraved over them…shouting of the stories starting and ending with few footsteps…clinking the music…At one end of the long passage…under the minaret…flame of a clay lamp is flickering…you are crossing it over to yet another corner of this palace… now you paced up your footsteps…your anklets shouting…and soon their sound subdued over by a music of water beating the boulders…this person is sitting there with his feet playing with water…without speaking a word you holds his hand and pulls him with you…You are running holding tightly his hand…he is trying to say something…but you are not ready to listen…you want to show him something…stairs have turned green with algae covering them…iron of grill rusted…ready to turn into powder in your hand…Leaving all sounds behind white marble of the roof is shimmering milky in the presence of moon…you ran behind the parapet and reappeared with a brush and canvas…handing it to me you sat on a floor without speaking even a single word…Placing things in my hand at the same level…I came near you…sitting next to you…I brought my hand around your neck…you closed your eyes…and opened them the next second when you felt a strand of hair trying to cover them taking a path over your smooth cheek…and leaving my unwilling fingers…You looked at me with a feeling of anger in your eyes…I just smiled…held your hand mischievously…and touched it lightly with my lips…I turned to do the assign task of impressing you upon the canvas…when you pulled me…this time with aggression…can of a paint fell and tainted the white marble…your lips….

Chal leave that…

I would consider myself out of my senses while writing this…after all sometimes it is good to fly in heaven…so do forgive me for this intrusion…will try to bind my telepathic powers…disturbing you again and again on the chilling night like this…making you wake up…and open your window…staring at the blank sky…then cursing the moment when you gave me this power…entry to your brain…By the way I too don’t know the way to close the open passage…and this wind entering and leaving…entering and leaving…entering and leaving is eroding the walls around…

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The view from the Flagstaff Bastion; one of the five bastions at the Charles Fort in Kinsale, Ireland.

Flagstaff Bastion by CJ Kern is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THIS SHOCKING STORY IN THE U.S. MEDIA?…..NO!

The following article is almost unbelievable and potentially deadly for our nation.  And while it poses a very serious and detrimental danger to the United States, I have not heard anything about it from the mainstream media.

The information was obtained from Israel National News and is located at http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134466, which thankfully to the Lord, DOES NOT worship Barack Obama nor props him up on some sort of throne.

With that said, take a look at what they have discovered about the guy sitting in the White House.

Obama ‘Reaches Out’ by Naming ‘Devout’ Muslims to Security Posts

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

(IsraelNN.com) U.S. President Barack Obama continues to “reach out to Muslims” by appointing them to key security posts amid charges he wrongly ignored internal Muslim terror. One recent appointee was harshly criticized for appearing on a British-based television station whose host is a member of a radical Muslim group.

His “reaching out Muslims” speech in Cairo last June has been followed by action, the latest being this past week’s swearing-in of a Muslim rights advocate to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, shortly after the Fort Hood massacre. HSAC members are involved in expertise on national security.

The new member is Syrian-born Kareem Shora, who was the national executive director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination (ADC), which previously has called on the United States to stop providing Israel with weapons because of alleged “atrocities” against Arabs. Her background for her new security post is having been a legal counsel and advocate for Muslim civil rights.

She also has been a frequent guest on the pro-Hamas al-Jazeera satellite network.

Shora, who has been described as a “devout Muslim, joins another devout member of the faith, Arif Alikhan, who was appointed as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development in the Department of Homeland Security. His qualifications for the job were listed as having been in charge of public safety in Los Angeles during his term of deputy mayor. One of his actions was to remove the plan that tracked Muslims in the city who were suspected of terrorist activities.

Americans have been jolted by several lethal attacks and confrontations with Muslims over the past year, including a plot to attack synagogues and down U.S. military aircraft, the manufacture of bombs, an alleged attempt to explode a Texas skyscraper, a plot to blow up malls in Boston, and last month’s Fort Hood massacre by a Muslim psychiatrist who was an officer in the army.

A desire to avoid the appearance of labeling all Muslims as terrorists lunged out from the shadows last month after President Obama faced criticism for not taking seriously the threat of Muslim terrorism within American society as well as in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Several months ago, President Obama appointed Dalia Mogahed, a “devout Muslim,” to his Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She quickly came under fire for appearing in a telephone interview on a London-based Muslim television station, whose host is a member of an extreme Islamic group.

She said was unaware of the affiliations of her host, whose program included questions and comments favoring the implementation of Islamic Law (“sharia”).

Mogahed explained that she did not hang up the phone in the middle of the interview because “I assumed that very few people would watch this show but that doing something more dramatic would bring more attention.”

In the current issue of Newsweek, columnist Jacob Weisberg, citing former Secretary of State Colin Powell, wrote that “Obama’s [Muslim] heritage feeds a broader suspicion that he is too casual about the threat from America’s Islamist enemies.”

The journalist added, “With the massacre in Texas, Obama now confronts something that George W. Bush did not face in the years after September 11—not just a major act of domestic terrorism, but one struck from inside our security apparatus…. America does not face a threat from the perversion of faith in general. We face a threat from the perversion of one faith in particular.”

End

I want to encourage all of you to pray and to draw ever so close to the Son of the Living God, the LORD JESUS CHRIST……THE ONLY SAVIOR.

By all appearances, judgment seems to be heading for the United States of America.  As a watchman giving warning, I am urging everyone who is reading this to please follow the Lord’s Word from Isaiah chapter 55 verses 6-7 which is as follows:

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

May we all take heed to this warning while we still have the chance, because a time is coming when we will not.

Den zweiten Tag meines Trips verbrachte ich im 30km entfernten Gingee. Dort befinden sich viele kleinerer Berge und ein Fort. Dieses ist so  riesig das es 3 Berge mit einschliesst, es ist 7 Quadratmeter gross, echt der wahnsinn! Zuerst bin ich zum Krishnagiri hoch. Davor kaufte ich Batterien, steckte sie in meine Kamera, und sie hielten 2 Sekunden. Am Einlassheusschen hatte man kein Wechselgeld fuer mich, so ging ich nochmal zum Shop mit den Batterien zurueck, zeigte ihnen das keines ihrer Batterien Power hat. Ich bekam Wechselgeld und neue Batterien. Die neuen hielten wenigstens fuer 10 Fotos. Ueberall in Indien bekommt man leere Batterien, ich habe schon 20 Batterien an 9 unterschiedlichen Orten gekauft, alle waren fast leer und hielten maximal fuer 30 Fotos.

Leicht veraergert begann ich meinen Aufstieg der  so anstrengend fuer mich war das tamilische Frauen 3 Minuten ueber mich lachten weil ich hochging wie ein Opa. Ich war sehr angeschlagen von dem Trip auf den Berg ein tag zuvor, aber das wussten sie ja nich =P Der Aufstieg war atemberaubend, die Gegend muss von Gott geschaffen worden sein, es ist bisher die schoenste Umgebung die ich bisher gesehen hab, auch schoener als Kodaikanal. Oben angekommen hatte ich wundervolle Aussicht, ueberall kleine Tempel und Fortgebeude. Dieses Fort stammt aus der Chola Dynastie und ist 1000 Jahre alt. Ich setzte mich auf eine Mauer und bestaunte die Gegend, Flachland, alles gruen, Palmen, kleine Huetten, Reisfelder. Ploetzlich weiter hinten aus dem nichts emporsteigende sehr felsige Berge. Die Felsen sind so gross wie Busse. Ein grosser See, aufgefuellt durch den Monsun. Gingee, eine 20.000 Einwohner Stadt 1 km entfernt und die anderen Forts auf den anderen Bergen, wundervoll, ihr seht die Fotos = )

Danach ging es mit dem Bike 1 km weiter zum anderen Fortteil (Rajagiri) Dieses befand sich um einiges hoeher, auf 240m. Es kam mir jedoch vor wie 400m. Nochmals ein Aufstieg, aber irgendwie hab ich mich dran gewoehnt. Auf dem Weg zu den Zitadellen auf den beiden Bergen begruessten mich ca. 200 Tamilen, 20 Prozent machten mit mir Fotos, mit 20 Leuten hatte ich laengere gespraeche. ca. 50 Leute hab ich ignoriert und vielen Anderen hab ich auf die Frage wie gehts dir mit fine geantwortet und bin weiter ohne ihnen in die Augen zu schauen, denn dann wollen sie dir die Hand schuetteln. Ich habe viel mitgemacht aber irgendwann nervt es einfach nur. Ich hab mir dann oben ein ruhiges Fleckchen gesucht um mal zu entspannen. Ich hatte keine Lust mehr auf 3 How are yous pro Minute.

Auf dem Weg zurueck bin ich fast draufgegangen. Ich fahre 60, eine Kurve kommt und ploetzlich aus dem Nichts ein Elefant auf meiner Spur, rechts daneben ein Bus, die Leute geben dem Elefantenreiter Geld oder Essen, ich weiss nich so genau, jedenfalls stand er dort und blockierte den Weg! Ich bremste ab und fuhr halb dran vorbei, bzw drunter durch, der Elefantenruessel war ueber mir und haette mich fast getroffen, ich dachte ich spinne. Ein Elefant, den ersten den ich in Indien sehe und er steht auf der Fahrspur ganz laessig. Ich hoffe es gab niemanden der nachmir kam, z.B. ein Jeep, die mit 90 die Strecke fahren oder Busse mit schlechten bremsen.

Ansonsten verlief die Fahrt ungwoehnlich ruhig, ich hatte nur 10 brenzlige Situationen, auf 200km.

Der Wochenendtrip hat sich echt gelohnt obwohl er doch sehr viel Kraft kostete und ich froh bin wieder heil in Auroville zu sein. Bis demnaest ; )

Built in 1859, Fort III was part of the Brialmont fortification around the city of Antwerp. Construction works ended five years later, in 1864 revealing the fortress’ unique entrance to the reduit and unique capponières, which weren’t built in other forts of the second southern fortification belt.

or: Let’s all be honest, you would rather find boas than bombs in a closet

or: fun fact, gays can smell terrorists…but sadly they can’t tell us

Right now in Washington D.C., there are investigations in to the recruiting policies and monitoring of enlisted soldiers as to their religious affiliation in congruence with the mental stability of our soldiers. These hearings and investigative panels, of which there was one Thursday led by I-Joe Lieberman, are the direct result of the alleged actions at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Investigations are going to delve deep, eventually, and massive overhauls of privacy rights for soldiers and further screening in recruiting as well as monitoring while in the armed forces will come, doubt on this can be none. These findings of the panels will be arbitrary at best on an isolated incident that has been categorized as ‘terrorism’ before the blood even dried in Texas. What will come out of this fear is policies put in place to allow for the government to monitor and spy on it’s servicemen and women…but what if they find something they don’t want to? How does this new ideology that will come from the aftermath of this tragedy affect the long standing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy put in place under Bill Clinton? Reconciling our fear of attack and the consequences of full disclosure run contradictory leaving us in nothing less than a moral and legal stalemate.

I foresee that within six months from now panels will find that monitoring the personal e-mails, contacts, phone records, and personal interactions of its soldiers as necessary to the further security of this nation. It will be stipulated that extensive background checks will be called for, and recruiting standards are going to come under close scrutiny as to allow for enough soldiers, but not let in too many ‘questionable’ individuals. What will occur is that each soldier will have to agree to give up their civil liberties, which to some extent they already do, but they will now be under full discretion of the Patriot Act and every facet of their lives will be a matter of military record and available for review at all times. Psychological exams and test as well as regular counseling and drug testing will be mandatory. Before enlisting every soldier will be subject to military, and the finding of the hearings will also dictate an outside department, the FBI, to fully screen every single candidate. Becoming a solider will now become a moment of being all that you can be, and then letting the government see exactly what that is, intimately.

Will this be the right path? Time will tell, as will public outcry or protest from soldiers, but it will happen. The nation is terrified at the possibility of the very idea that some ‘terrorist’ could possibly infiltrate US military defenses, weapons stockpiles, et al, and as with 9/11 we will allow for the government to take any measure to assure our safety. No doubt that incidents against Muslim servicemen and women will go up, we probably won’t hear about it though. As a minority, especially of middle eastern decent, they will be profiled and most likely scrutinized further than anyone else; they will be unfairly profiled, this is America and that is our knee-jerk reaction. Sorry. What will follow will be a Muslim witch hunt that will both embarrass and weaken the strength of our branches of the military. The shifting eyes from soldier to soldier started on that day, don’t pretend they didn’t, and now we are weary of one another which leads to fear which leads to incidents. Indeed.

Well, how does this effect those in the military who are under a prime directive put forth by the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States? What happens to those men and women serving, or wanting to serve, in the military who have something to hide because it is the law? For those in the military who must keep their sexual orientation and relationships secret, don’t you think that with enough snooping for terrorists we might uncover a few gays? “Sir, Private Jones is not a terrorist, he’s a queen, sir.” What then? It kind of defeats the purpose of a law that stipulates that a serviceman will not initiate a conversation on the nature of a soldiers orientation, but what if an investigation does the leg work for him? Then we have a primary issue, once it is known the soldier must be discharged, right? That’s the law. Wait, but we weren’t looking for gays, we were looking for terrorists. Look the other way then, but wait, that soldier is a gay…back to the shifty eyes.

What these investigations present us with a need to take a good, long look in the mirror as a nation and decide where we draw the line. The end result of this incident, the longest standing victim besides those killed, injured, and effected, will be the policies of full disclosure and something I think will be called the ‘Servicemen Activities/Identity Transparency’ act, or “say-it” (SA/IT, get it?), the antithesis of the DADT policy of today. This will, of course, require that we have full disclosure from all troops on all subjects, but this might be hard without first ending the DADT policy of the last nearly 17 years. Installing this policy shift without repealing DADT will be one slippery slope indeed, you cannot have two orders that are so utterly contradictory; they are both compromised by the presence of the other. We, as a country cannot have a full investigatory policy of all servicemen and women without first coming to terms with what we may find and how to deal with it. Has anyone even given a thought as to how we would arrest, imprison, court martial, sentence, or just discharge, a serviceman or woman…if they were either gay or a terrorist? How the hell would either of those proceedings go? We need to, before putting in new policies, decide about the end game and what the consequences might be if we got our wish and started outing people.

It is clear that there is a fundamentally philosophical issue at hand, “How much do we want to know to feel safe?” We are shining the light of scrutiny in to the closets of our citizens, and some of those closets may be quite flamboyant; that is not a military issue boa. What will happen to our puritanical beliefs and ‘ignorance is bliss’ mentality when we find answers to questions we weren’t asking? We want safety, but we don’t want [to know about] queers; what the fuck do scared, bigoted lawmakers do!? Well, I think in the interest of national security after this singular isolated incident of ‘terrorism’ by and ‘islamic extremist’ that is not the fault of policy or of any specific layer of governance, that we need to DO something; or at least appear to do something. We will rape the civil rights of soldiers and sodomize personal privacy for the good of the nation. However, this cannot go on while DADT is in place. I think I speak for everyone that, in this matter of relative safety, we can’t have two standing orders that contradict themselves; “Say It” and “DADT” cannot both be followed, and in the interest of the people’s feelings of safety, we might want to get over ourselves and be open about…everything, so as to further secure this country. I can’t speak from experience, but I would rather the man in a foxhole next to me be a confirmed ‘gay’ than a suspected ‘terrorist’, but that’s just me.

When you have Queensboro!

I just read an article about a well-known celebrity from the E! network loving her new snuggie.  I suppose when your husband is a pro-football player, you can get something that serves only one purpose–to be a blanket with arms.  However, in these lean times, why not get something can function in a multitude of ways?  Like, an actual fleece blanket?

Queensboro’s Microfiber Fleece Blanket with Pouch

I have one of these, and I LOVE it. This past week, my nephew visiting from Idaho has been sleeping peacefully under it, along with his Thomas the Train buddy, Molly the Train.

During the extra-long flight from Charlotte, NC to Portland, OR, last fall, Heather, our Customer Service Manager used the blanket to cuddle up and sleep on the way out.  You could also fold it up to be a pillow, or act as a neck pillow AND a blanket.  WAY more versatile than a snuggie.

Almost every single emergency preparedness article you see lists a blanket as one of the integral components.  Perhaps if someone goes into shock, you need to put a blanket over them?  In North Carolina, in the Wilmington City Limits, the chances of getting lost in a snowdrift are rare.  But, I still like to have a blanket with me.  This one’s great because it has its own drawstring pouch, which keeps it from getting dirty and un-folded.

We also took my Nephew to see the movie “Where the Wild Things Are” last weekend.  (For the record, he loved it!  He’s four.)  Max builds some pretty fantastic forts in that movie.  Blankets are essential ingredients for fort building.

If you move, you can use the blanket to wrap furniture, or layer between dishes, or sleep on before you unpack your sheets.

Blankets make perfect superman capes.

If you find a litter of puppies that needs to stay warm, you can cover them with your fleece blanket.

With a blanket, you can play hide and seek almost anywhere.

Of course, you can always use a blanket for a picnic.

So, if I had to choose between our fleece blanket and a snuggie, I would definitely choose the blanket.  Everyone can use a superman cape!

I hope you’re not tired of seeing Fort Point. Now that I know about this place I am totally in love with it. So many possibilities. My sister came up with the idea of doing some jumping so we set the scene and timer and jumped and jumped and jumped. lol. 

Edit: Fine fine, here are a couple outtakes. lol. Getting the timing right was soooo hard. Most of our pics were with us *almost* jumping, or just landing. lol.  In the second outtake, my sister wanted to jump a distance behind me. But for some reason the sense of depth is rather lost and she just looks real tiny…almost as if I’m jumping with my mini me. lol

Issue 10

Adventures in Archaeology
Issue 10 Past Horizons Online Journal of volunteer archaeology and training.
November 2009

Past Horizons now celebrating its tenth issue, consists of 48 pages of free to read content. The main articles cover current archaeological excavations and conservation around the world. We also have the much loved contribution from Annie Evans our very own ‘Dig Cook’ and the Back Pages present four comedyvideos for your enjoyment, on the subject of archaeology.

Read it here
http://en.calameo.com/books/000062729f2fb612070aa

or here
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22578459/Past-Horizons-Issue-10-November-2009

Up From the Ashes  14
In 1815 on the Indonesian island of Tambora a massive volcanic eruption caused a pryoclastic flow which wiped out all in its path. The tiny Kingdom of Tambora disappeared under the ash. Now, almost two hundred years later the carbonised but well preserved remains are slowly being uncovered.

Making Preservation Happen 32
Slovenia is a small nation with big ambitions to preserve its wealth of historical buildings. Two Slovenians are at the forefront of this work and have reached out to the international community for help. Now in partnership with Colorado based Adventures in Preservation, hands on workshops are now up and running.

Archaeology Through the Keyhole  8
Dating of hillforts has long been the subject of debate amongst archaeologists. Murray Cook argues that keyhole excavation is the way forward.

Prepare for Action  38
Dominic Hall, a field skills expedition leader shares some of his top tips for enjoying a safe but exciting adventure.

A Series of Fortunate Events  20
Metal detectorist Peter Twinn describes the series of events in his life that led him to discover a passion for archaeology.

Fort St. Joseph  26
A 18th century French frontier fort involved in the fur trade provides the subject for an exceptional award winning community archaeology project.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO WRITE AN ARTICLE FOR PAST HORIZONS OR INDEED HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO MAKE PLEASE CONTACT:  editor@pasthorizons.com