I just completed an excellent visit to Canada, our neighbor and NATO partner just north of the United States.  As every U.S. citizen learns in elementary school, we sit side-by-side along the longest undefended border in the world, completely at peace with good friends who live in a land of remarkable beauty and culture.

Every time I go to Canada, I am struck by the bilingual / bicultural nature of that nation of 33 million.  With a population that has both strong French (30%) and English (60%) linguistic roots, they carefully balance the language, education, government work, and laws to ensure that both languages and cultures are nurtured and protected.  In the Canadian military, for example, the more senior an individual becomes the greater requirement for facility in both French and English.  Living as I do now in the similarly bilingual country of Belgium (French and Flemish, principally), I know this is challenging but important.

My trip to both Ottawa and Halifax balanced previous trips I’ve made to Calgary and Vancouver in the west; and Montreal and Quebec City in the east.  The geographic diversity of Canada is striking, running as it does from the gorgeous rocky eastern coast to the high Rocky Mountains in the west.  But nothing is more dramatic than the high north, over which I have flown dozens of times. 

The high north is much discussed these days in terms of a “new Great Game,” i.e. a competition zone among nations for the natural wealth and trade routes that become more accessible as global warming opens the Northwest Passage.  In that regard, my good friend General Walt Natynczyk, the Canadian Chief of Defense, was asked the other day if he was worried about an invasion of the Canadian high north by some unnamed nation in pursuit of hydrocarbons.  He said, slightly tongue in cheek, “if we were invaded in the north, my first duty would be to rescue them.”  It is a humorous way to highlight the harsh conditions and supreme difficulties of even operating routinely “up there.”

Canadian Forces Chief of the Defence Staff General Walt Natynczyk and I visit the World War I Memorial in Ottawa, Canada.

My own view of the high north is that we all need to work hard to prevent the region from becoming a “zone of competition,” and make sure it becomes a “zone of cooperation.”  There is a lot to talk about among the nations involved — Canada, Russia, U.S., Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and others.  Some of the ways we can cooperate include navigation, search and rescue, buoyage systems, climate change, endangered species, conservation, communications, pollution, traffic monitoring, and resolving outstanding territorial disputes.  The Arctic Council, an organization of involved nations, is a good forum for this.

I also had a chance to visit with the very capable Minister of National Defence, Peter McKay.  I’ve enjoyed getting to know him over the past couple of years, as he has a strikingly focused view of global security activity and leads his military with great enthusiasm and style.  Full of new ideas, he is a strong participant in international dialogue through NATO.
       
Canada is a strong friend and ally to the U.S. and a forceful participant in NATO operations world-wide.  They have 2,830 troops in Afghanistan, focused in the southern part of the country, doing good work in a tough place.  Their frigate HMCS Fredericton just arrived on station in the waters off Somalia for counter-piracy operations.  My Director of Staff at my Headquarters in Mons, Belgium — a crucial job — is a Canadian Brigadier General, Jim Selbie.  Every Canadian military member I met in my three day visit was very upbeat and positive about their involvement in NATO operations, and we are lucky to have them with us!

(As most know, I am dual-hatted as the European Command Commander and also the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.  Although Canada is not in the EUCOM area of responsibility, I felt it was important to include this blog on the EUCOM site as well to keep you up to date on all of my travels and experiences.)

The hunt is only for 2 days (28 & 28 nov) at te Main store in Wunderville, starting at this moment, so you have to be really quick. Camming the place around is no use because I made the boxes small, you have to move close when you want to find them. They are spread all over my shop and also on the beach, on the first floor with the textures and home decorations and on the groundfloor at the shapes, skins and eyes. Happy hunting!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wunderville/148/208/22

from the hunt are:

the lash, skin, eyes, posestand

Hope everyone had a fantastic thanksgiving! Now make sure you are eating healthy and working out on the countdown until Christmas. You need to be as healthy as ever for this busy time of year. Treat yourself to a nice run on the treadmill or a resistance training workout. Your body will thank you for it. Make sure you are staying active. Even if it means power walking while shopping for Christmas gifts!! Save the holiday treats and desserts until the 25th (and maybe the 24th . Don’t make it  a month long expenditure. Be smart!! And as always, your FT trainers are here to help you

Katie

Out now in our store: Shape Mara, a well defined shape – take a look at it!

(Outfit not included)

As all our shapes available as “copy / modify / no transfer” or as “copy / no mod / no transfer” version.

Go and get your demo of this shape at our mainstore: Mainstore GeEs Design

Some impressions:

When I am very sick, lying on my bed, I feel like I am leaving my body. I do not feel my legs and my arms. I feel my chest and my head, however. They seem to be the anchors that keep me from levitating, flying, vanishing out of this body. Sometimes I close my eyes and I feel like I see things underneath, in between and beyond the darkness.

When this happens, I appear to travel at very fast speeds in worlds I cannot comprehend or describe. Everything changes its own shape extremely quickly. At some point, aggressive, repeating images keep coming back and I have to open my eyes and rid my mind of this madness.

When I am very sick, lying on my bed, I often feel like I am very skinny or very fat. When I dream, I experience violent and disturbing events. They become so disturbing that they wake me up.

Sometimes, when I think of these moments, I feel like something is desperately trying to use this feeble state of mine in order to do something to me. I have the feeling that some sort of entity, a being, is attempting to do me harm. I cannot explain it even to my own self, but it seems obvious in some way or another. There is something evil that is fueled with envy and hatred towards us.

Wow! what an energy level today at the Asia Fitness Convention at Centara Convention Center.

Delegations of  Fitness Business Professionals  from 7 different nationlities together celebrating the great impact of motion and exercise in our lifes.

Orangised by FIT and Asia Congress, the Asian Fitness Convention  2009 is offering workshops for professional Fitness Expert as well as for you and me just having fun exercising and exploring new forms of fitness and movements.

Have a look for yourself and might find the exersice form you have been looking for!

The Asian Fitness Convention is still on until Sunday and even if the workshops are mainly booked out there is always one or the other space available to participate!

Unfortunately Casa del Shai was not able to put an item out, so please skip them in the list.

*Vivi Yip Art Room, 28 May 2009

Oversized doll heads of little girls dominate the canvas, surrounded by vertical and horizontal lines, and graphic shapes that seep and melt around them. Whimsical creatures who seem to stem from childhood fairytales, peer out of the crowded background, inhabiting the frame. The palette is subdued, with regular sweeps of muted brick reds and matte mustard greens. Part comical, with strains of anime, Badruzzaman’s creations deconstruct human interactions and personalities, always with the slightest dash of discomfort for the onlooker.

On canvas is where Badru plays with elements to adorn his paintings, such as foliage and snaking lines, creating a more tangible impression of space. Extensions of the artist’s graphic design background is apparent in the cubic shapes, hexagons and squares, and tiled spatial details of his pieces. The 27-year-old Yogyakarta-based artist, with his clean and defined lines, is inclined to provide the two-dimensional impression of a sleek graphic novel rather than a work of brushed acrylic upon canvas. But Badru, a native of Lampung, was never predisposed towards comic books or the like, his main influence being the street art that run rampant on the walls of Yogyakarta.
“Our attitude, our instinct,” he said, “was just to paint.”
The artist rarely displays his works, this being only his third exhibition. Though when he does, he prefers to express himself on a larger scale, saying “It seems such a waste to place my themes on a small canvas.”
His paintings veer more towards female characters, whose visages he bases on young women who enter his reality. While his male figures, possessing clown-like features, originate from the playful experimentation of his imagination. But these are not pictures of mirth. There is a sense of melancholy behind the children’s faces and, though resembling jesters in a royal court, Badru’s men hold something sinister behind their smiles.
“People have their own characters, I paint them accordingly,” Badru said.
Though the characters who appear to menace his central characters and invade the background change with each new canvas, one makes a routine debut – a bile-green rotund shaped critter with sharp, eager little dentures. Badru has no name for his creature, simply calling it is a symbol of egoism.
“I feel free to criticize people on canvas,” he said,” without them understanding that I have criticized them.”
His themes, Badru explains, all stem from personal experiences. Life’s daily fluctuations, minor joys, tediums, aches and interactions all play a part in Badru’s final pieces. He dips into his past and uses the memories to actualize his canvas. “I find more satisfaction with personal themes of love, friendship and day-to-day life,” Badru said.

Of a painting entitled “Girlfriend: Saving My Dog”, Badru had drawn on his experience with a former lover, depicting a beautiful woman-child with crimson pillow lips and sad bedroom eyes. In a larger  ontext, Badru does touch on universal themes, such as the desire to be accepted. “Hi…”, one of his earlier works, is a painting of a red-headed girl-child with an unadorned background and Badru’s personal favourite.
“She is a person who is lonely at heart, not accepted by the society around her,” Badru explained.
“I see myself as this newcomer, in a strange place, looking for someone to befriend,” he continued. He offers hope for his protagonist in the shape of a little bird that flies above her, playing with a strand of the little girl’s tresses between its beak. Although there remains some paintings that Badru considers too personal to be displayed for the public to scrutinize or enjoy.
“There are pieces which I’d prefer to keep for myself,” Badru said. “It is similar to how some people keep diaries, except mine is on canvas.”

Badru’s pieces can take up to 2 weeks to complete. Concepts, colours and timing are all swayed by the artist’s moods.
“Emotion plays a factor,” Badru said. “If I am feeling emotional, I tend to use warmer colours.”
With each piece, Badru begins with a rough sketch on paper before spilling his images on to canvas.
“I feel the power [on the canvas] to be more creative. I can add and embellish,” said Badru, who never limits himself to adhere to the original sketches he draws.
Badru has simple ambitions – to introduce his art to the public as he utilizes the canvas to release his past experiences and emotions. What he strives is to maintain a style that is unique to him.
“It is hard to accept comparisons to other artists because I try so hard to create my own style,” said the artist.
Badru, who has no formal training in fine arts, continues to develop his art, finding new techniques, adding and playing with dimensions to add to his eccentric tableaux. When he first started painting, his works were plainer, focusing only on the main characters. His backgrounds were rarely garnished with the detailed landscape and cacophony of critters as they are now.
“I feel I want to try something new, to change the composition, the layouts,” Badru said of his newer pieces. He surrenders to the process of creation, unburdened by style trends or themes that are popular in the art market.
“What is important is to be as creative as possible,” Badru stated. “As for the art being good or bad, that is up to the public to judge for themselves.”

There is a new phenomenon in our world called H1N1.  The news stories are all around the vaccine: availability of the vaccine,  getting vaccinated, vaccination clinics, who has priority in being vaccinated, reactions to the vaccine, H1N1 assessment clinics, how many people have been hospitalized, how many have died, the cost of delivery, the pandemic nature of this flu.

There is an untold and evolving story around H1N1.  It is the story of innovation, breaking down silos, working across departments, flattening of decision making structures, team engagement, people rolling up their sleeves and doing what needs to be done regardless of job description and everyone pulling together to face down the issues created by what is being called a pandemic – at least here in Canada.

Being around a lot of health care folx because of my work and being in frequent conversations about engagement, we began to muse about the level of engagement of health care folx, in particular, in the pandemic planning and the delivery of the vaccine.  We came back to a familiar question: What is it about a crisis that brings out a sense of community, the power and clarity of a common goal, necessary resource allocation and alleviates common arguments, bickering or turf protection around role and resources?

How can we create these conditions in times when there is no crisis is often asked?  We are operating from the premise that it is possible to create the same conditions without a crisis.   During this particular conversation I began to entertain the question, what if it isn’t possible to fully recreate the conditions of crisis?  For instance, the province of Nova Scotia has made available millions of dollars for the roll out of the H1N1 vaccine.  Without the compelling argument of needing to control a pandemic outbreak of illness, as a for instance, what else other than crisis would so easily and readily garner financial and human resources.  One of the reasons there is normally turf protection is because when we don’t have crisis the experience is that we have more limited resources and people have to advocate for their share of budget.

My question changed.  Given that responding to the H1N1 crisis has temporarily transformed the relational field of how people are working together, what would it take to maintain some of the shift that has occurred and embed it in the organizational culture instead of allowing things to drift back – or spring back – to the way things have always been done – which is likely what will happen when the H1N1 pressure is off?  How do we capitalize on the shifted shape of the relational field to allow operation along this chaordic edge or chaordic path all or most of the time?

There is an interesting opportunity here.  As the pressure of crisis eases, will the lessons learned include new new ways of working together and the minimalization of structures and processes to support that?

bricks create letter x on the wall

bricks create letter x on the wall

sign,letter,symbol,cross,shape,wall,marks,textured,white,”x sign”,”letter x”,facade,”cross shape”,crossing,material

happy smiling easter egg and another few without face

happy smiling easter egg and another few without face

eggs,basket,easter,happy,smiling,face,green,grass,nobody,horizontal,image,group,shape,meadow,outdoors,food,focus,selective,selective focus,tranquil

easter eggs over green grass

easter eggs over green grass

View here

• Skin: ..::MAI::.. Gift Mai SkinFair 09
• Shape: DUTCH TOUCH River Shape
• Hair: *Kookie* Ono – Mocha Brown
• Outfits: *MyFashion* Caroline Outfits – Brown
• Shoes: RedGrave Girls’ Biker Boots – Caramel

Have a good shopping !

As we say here at Stella & Dot: “We hate naked ears!” And as Jennifer Lopez has mentioned, she believes no woman should leave the house without earrings. So how do you pick the perfect pair… And more importantly, how do you pick the perfect pair that will flatter and fit your face shape? Read on to find out!

How to find your face shape:
There are many ways to find your shape, from the simple (tie your hair back and trace your face shape on the mirror with lipstick) to the silly (put a towel over your head and have your husband guess the shape). But a true measurement of your face shape is in, well, its measurements! Write down these measurements on a piece of paper to determine your face shape:

1.) Measure your forehead at the widest points
2.) Measure your face across your cheekbones
3.) Measure your jawline at the widest points
4.) Measure your face vertically from hairline to chin

Oval — Length is equal to one and a half times the width
Round — Width and length are almost the same, within a half inch
Long — Longer than it is wide
Pear — Wide chin with a narrower forehead
Heart — Wide at forehead and cheekbones, very narrow at chin
Square — Forehead, cheekbones and jawline are about the same width
Diamond — Wider at cheeckbones, narrow at forehead and jawline

How to Find the Perfect Pair of Earrings:

Oval – This face shape is the most versatile and you can wear nearly any style of earring. So go for it and have fun! Try anything from the round Jasmine Filigree Earrings to the funky Lily Flower Earrings. If you have a narrower face, you might want to veer away from long, thin earrings, especially when worn with your hair up, since it may exaggerate your face shape. Your celebrity face shape twins: Britney Spears, Sarah Michelle Geller, Megan Fox

Round – Stay away from round earrings, girl! They will exaggerate your own face shape. This includes round stud earrings and some hoops. Try long, angular earrings such as the Adrienne Mixed Chain Earrings or small drops or dangles, such as the Turquoise Sea Drop Earrings.  You can also get away with longer, chandelier earrings as long as they are not too rounded. Check out the Paige Chandelier Earrings with your favorite party dress. Your celebrity face ship twins: Christina Ricci, Drew Barrymore, Baby Spice

Long – Anything round and wide your friend. Stay away from angular or really long, narrow earrings. Round or oval studs, such as the Glint Flower CZ Earrings or the Mira Stone Stud Earrings, work great. Hoops work well, such as the Jill CZ Hoops, as do round earrings such as the Gilda Hoop Earrings. Chandeliers can add width to your face, just make sure they aren’t too long, such as the Delphine Chandelier Earrings. Your celebrity face shape twins: Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwyneth Paltrow

Pear – You want to keep the focus as high as possible to create the illusion of a wider forehead. Stick with small drops, such as the Soiree Earrings or Heirloom Earrings, or round studs, like the Glint CZ Earrings. Small hoops like the Baby Pave Hoop Earrings also work great. Your celebrity face shape twins: Halle Berry, Bette Midler

Heart – Look for earrings that are slightly wider at the bottom to balance your face shape. Try chandeliers, triagular shapes and tear drops. The Jenna Teardrop Earrings are a safe bet, as are the Charlize Earrings, the Latte Earrings and the Perfect Faceted Earrings. Your celebrity face shape twins: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Reese Witherspoon, Elizabeth Hurley, Heather Graham

Square – Soften the angles of your face with round, soft earrings, such as the Gemma Stone Earrings or  the Gilda Hoop Earrings. Hoops work great, such as the Devi CZ Hoop Earrings and small round dangles like the Soiree Earrings work with your face shape. You can pull off longer styles, so have fun with it. Just beware of wide, angular styles. Your celebrity face shape twins: Paris Hilton, Sandra Bullok, Calista Flockhart

Diamond – Shorter, wider earrings will do you well, such as the Heirloom Earrings. Slightly longer earrings, such as the Coin Pearl Earrings or Della Brushed Earrings also work well. Stay away from anything too long and narrow. Your celebrity face shape twins: Nicole Kidman, Linda Evangelista

Students embarking on a career in hairdressing are often quite anxious to skip the prelims and jump into the inventive part of the course. In this exceptional career, not placing the emphasis on the fundamental principles can only lead to catastrophe. Making major mistakes when it comes to hair does not allow for easy camouflage. The basic principles including learning texture, shape and balance. These are the fundamentals of any great hairstyle and then it leads to a little more creativity in the pattern creation. Proportions are elements that the upcoming hairstylist must be come adept at as well. They must be able to use their sense of opinion. Often the pupil is oblivious that there are basic techniques that must be mastered when it comes to the tools of the trade. These are blow dryers, curling irons, and straighteners just to name a few. A student in hairdressing must learn to adapt solid study habits, patience and endurance. As we mentioned there isn’t much of a allowance for mistakes when it comes to the hair. They must also learn to be observant and prepared to stay attuned to the world of fashion. In many cases, they complement each other.

Three Apprenticeships I went through and all were a life experience. These three gentlemen had a different knack to what they did, and hopefully the students who come out of the hairdressing schools will please appreciate the value of learning under a Master. Though there are not any Degrees in my profession that will give you the level of Master. When you apply for the stewardship you will be able to tell immediately if it is a good fit for you!

Joseph Kellner

The Real Hair Truth Facebook.com

Still at the huge sim harold i found an SYSY store

and there is an free shape

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Harold/144/181/23

Fatpack for zero linden for a fatpack with 23 dark skins – with and wihtout frekle

thats really amazing

Thanks to Buzsanna again

and if u look to  the direction of the burning chorme shop twice u ll soon find the hidden snowflake with more skins

and for nekos this is interesting – freebie

http://slurl.com/secondlife/No%20Limits/150/179/25

Stuttgart is the capital city of arguably Germany’s most pro-American and economically strongest state or “Länder,” Baden-Wuerttemberg.  But even Baden-Wuerttemberg, home of Porsche, Daimler, SAP AG and European Command, recognizes a higher power, a strengthening political and economic capital.  No, not Berlin…but Brussels, nicknamed the “Capital of Europe.”

Last week, I spent two days in Brussels attending two European Union conferences “EU Smart Power” and “Energy Security” and got the chance to visit with my counterparts at the EU Military Staff. 

Baden-Wuerttemberg , home of the business-savvy Swabians, attaches such importance to the political and economic might of the EU in Brussels, that they even have their own “embassy” there, representing their “Länder” interests to the EU(and not trusting just Berlin to do so). I know this because sitting next to me among the 300 participants at the “EU Smart Power” conference was a representative from the Baden-Wuerttemberg mission to the EU.

This was an important week in the EU’s development as a world power, as the leaders of the 27 member states met the day after our conference to select the first EU President and EU Foreign Minister. 

So, why is this important to us at EUCOM?  Like Baden-Wuerttemberg, we may not want to leave dealing with the EU exclusively to Washington, D.C.  We may want to more “smartly” engage with and understand the EU via our mission there.

After all, the EU consists of 27 of the 51 nations of the EUCOM area of responsibility, our key allies and partners, along with 23 of the 27 nations also being NATO members.  These are the same nations that we are engaging with through our Theater Security Cooperation and Building Partner Capacity efforts.  We encourage their support to the International Security Assistance Force, better known as ISAF, through a whole of government approach. 

Much as EUCOM has endeavored over the years to better understand the NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe staff with periodic exchanges, I recommend that it is now also appropriate to outreach to the Brussels through the U.S. mission to the EU.

Because the EU is an economic smart power and interagency giant while still a military midget despite 10 years of European Security and Defense Policy, I think this outreach should be interagency-focused. The Interagency Partnering Directorate here at EUCOM has a mandate from our commander, Admiral Jim Stavridis to partner with International Organizations and I believe our directorate should initiate this partnering.

We should begin by meeting with U.S. Team Brussels. This team consists of players well known to EUCOM, but it also comprises an entity that we should endeavor to know better, the U.S. Mission to the EU.  This “embassy” will receive a new Ambassador before the end of the year.  Once the Ambassador is in place, leading the interagency-strong country team, we should meet.  I’m thinking of a visit by Admiral Stavridis with select members of his staff and key interagency representatives traveling to Brussels in early 2010 timeframe. 

This would be a chance for “Team USA in Europe,” comprised of the EUCOM staff; U.S. Missions to EU and NATO and the Joint Chiefs of Staff representative to NATO; to gather, to listen to each other and to coordinate a Whole of Government Approach.  This would include interagency partners at EUCOM (USAID, Department of State, Immigration and Customs Enforcement); partners at EU (Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Agency, ICE, USAID) as well as the NATO partners (FEMA, DOS).

Just as this past week has been an historic one for the EU, it should also be a motivational time for EUCOM to recognize the growing clout of the EU and to outreach to it, engage it, and understand it via ‘U.S. Team Brussels.’  Talk about “smart power!”

I welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have in terms of strengthening EUCOM’s understanding of the EU via the U.S. Mission there.

Mike Anderson

Deputy Director, Interagency Partnering Directorate

View in large here

• Skin: Free Speerit Kimberly Pale (Pay what you want “Wall”… Take yours ! )
• Shape: DUTCH TOUCH River Shape
• Hair: ETD Laine – Chestnut
• Dress: *MyFashion* Eniya Dress – Blue
• Bracelet: Uzuri – Nahla
• Ring: Uzuri – Chifu
• Shoes: J’s Tassele Wedge Sole Sandals – Green

Have a good shopping !

Well I decided to make a portfolio out of the egg assignment. I have really come to appreciate the egg’s beauty. It really has an amazing shape and is quite elegant and sculputural. I have elected to keep the egg natural . Below are some of the images and the link to flickr where the rest are located, http://www.flickr.com/photos/43163746@N03/sets/72157622747694195/.

*Laughs* Here is a  tease for the much anticipation of BLACK FRIDAY!!! WoooOOoooOOoOoottttTTTT!!!! It’s going to feel like PRE-Christmas to me and i’m sure to other 50L Friday Fanatics!!  xDDDD Oh boy i can’t wwaaaiiiittttt!!!

When I was drawing those Preston Blair head shapes, I was wondering what makes a shape like that tick, how can you best see an ellipse, egg shape and pear shape through the artist’s eye?

Well, an ellipse is straight forward. That is an elongated circle.

An egg shape is based on an elongated circle, but it is elongated more on one side than the other. Furthermore, the more elongated side is thinner and the less elongated is fatter than a comparable ellipse.

A pear shape is like an egg shape, but with a pinch in the more elongated side of the shape. This pinch makes the already thinner side even thinner, and the fatter side gets even fatter.

So an egg shape is just a special case of a pear shape, while an ellipse is a special case of an egg shape, and a circle a special case of an ellipse. Of course, by logic, a circle is also a special case of a pear shape.

That is all.