Scratched into a notebook in 2017. Sitting on the low-tide foreshore of the River Thames, London, UK. A quick walk ― mudlark ― down on these banks and you realise the base of the Thames is a cluttered memory fabric of bones, skulls, pottery, pipes, coins, weapons and other unidentifiable spoils. All the mixed detritus of thousands of years of discarded settlement > war > collapse > Empire.

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on the banks of the river women launch effigies wash hands in salt tide the sediment of settlement

relic clay ruin

men sift through bone silt memory crouched at bankside beneath bridges

we burrow through compression of time the legacy of Empire

civilisation fracture erosion

children of the ritual ceremonial bodies in perpetual sacrifice

#cutup #ritual

We engage with the cairn as a living stone. Our interaction feeds us both. We approach the arrangement of stone as a natural mystic ― an antenna we use to connect to the slow knowledge of the land. Plugged into this earthy circuit cable of memory, we trust in its ability to show us the way. Allowing it to inscribe or impress something of itself onto our own psychic map of the landscape.

#photo #ritual #stone

The Secretary of my home Lodge (Sultan-Monroe 160) called me and let me know that today is my 'Masonic Birthday.' It seems that I was Raised a Master Mason exactly ten years ago today.

What a great ten years they have been!

I've been blessed to have met and formed strong friendships with great men from every corner of the State, friends from the tiniest of towns to the largest of cities. Travel has allowed that to extend further as I've been able to get to know some amazing Freemasons from all over North America.

Likewise, my wife has been welcomed with open arms, no matter where we have traveled, and she too has grown some great and strong friendships.

I've had the opportunity and great honor of leading my local Lodge (Centralia 63) as Worshipful Master, the fightin' 17th Masonic District as DDGM, and for the third year now the F&AM of Washington. Given the nature of our obligations, and the men involved with our fraternity, these are truly the greatest honors a man can receive.

I've gotten to learn, and to study. Freemasonry is what we make of it. Some view it as simply a social endeavor, others as largely a charitable endeavor. Neither of those things are wrong. I view it largely as an opportunity to learn. The Scottish Rite touts itself as the University of Freemasonry, and it makes the tremendous educational resources it holds available to all. That learning has added so very much to my life, and as yet, I've only just scratched the surface. Freemasonry truly is a lifetime study for those who seek that.

Lastly, and most importantly, Freemasonry has helped me to improve myself. I am not the man I was ten years ago. In that way, it has fulfilled its promise to me, the same promise it makes to each of its Initiates.

I wrote about that some years ago for an article in our magazine, the Masonic Tribune, and it still holds true today.

Freemasonry, if you allow its lessons to penetrate into your heart, will make you into a better man.

I don't often like writing about intensely personal things, but I'll give an example here to let you know just one of the ways that can happen.

My wife and I travel on a fairly regular basis around Mexico. We've been to a myriad of interesting places there, from a tiny mountain town of perhaps 125 people and no electricity where we stayed, to the 21.2 million person greater City of Mexico.

Where we never go, refuse to go, is to any resort built for tourists from the United States.

Traveling as we do through Mexico (ever spend 14 hours on a bus because your geography was bad and you misjudged just how far it is from Mexico City to Puerto Vallarta?) we see quite a bit of poverty. It has been improving over the past few decades, but poverty is still rampant in Mexico. Rampant but quiet. Pushy panhandling is not something encountered there, rather most often a silent plea, or a very young child working for pennies.

When we travel in Mexico, I dress just as I do here. Always in a Masonic shirt, always with a couple big Masonic rings. By and large Mexican Masons are much more circumspect with such things, but by wearing the things I do I've been able to meet a great many local Brothers as they come up and introduce themselves.

One of our trips, shortly after I'd become a Mason, I remember this quite vividly. It was night and my wife and I were walking a pedestrian walkway, back to our hotel. It was well lighted, and we walked passed an elderly lady, sitting silently, but with a cup for alms close at hand.

I remember walking right on by.

Later that night, that bothered me. It bothered me a great deal, and it still bothers me to this day. I shamed myself.

You see, it bothered me because that lady saw a hand, emblazoned with a big Masonic ring, indifferently pass right by her, giving no thought to her plight.

Remembering the things I'd encountered in Lodge, I learned that night that my inaction wasn't right. It wasn't right for me, and it certainly wasn't right for the Fraternity I was representing.

Since that time, whenever we are traveling through Mexico my wife and I will make it a point to carry a lot of small currency, giving it to those we see in need.

This is just one small example of the myriad of ways Freemasonry has worked within me, to improve me.

Cameron Bailey Deputy Grand Master The MW Grand Lodge of Washington

#MasterMason #Friendship #Leadership #SelfImprovement #Charity

这里试一下 卑微 哭辽

I’m back from Da Nang and a few people asked the why question. Why change. Why do something new? They most likely do not read this puny attempt so I’ll send them the link. Many affirm to not read blogs any longer. It’s ok. We all have avenues of expression and paths of dialogue. I wanted to discuss the new and changed with you a bit though. I’ve done thinking on this many times as I’ve hoboed around Asia. Even 12 years ago living in Chennai India for awhile took me to both places although then I had no idea of the events to transpire. The new things then were so different in scope. The changes they would unravel would shake foundations at least to me. Divorce, hatred, antipathy, blame, infidelity. All were things that came knocking at my door of change. Fast forward to a few years ago. There was never any doubt to me I would go. I also knew both the new and the changed lose their shiny coat of paint. We are human and are wanting, passionate, needing things. If you don’t want new and change, you have dropped out of what life brings. So let’s drill down and perhaps you find a thing or see something. Maybe not. If not you can leave any old time 😃.

The new

So we are often afraid of the new. Untested. Never tried. Perhaps somewhat invisible. It sneaks up on us just when we think all is stable. And that’s the problem you see. We are not meant for stability. We need the new and often. It needs to threaten, cajole, frighten us or it’s a shimmering cloud of possibilities. Even us old folks need the new. The new thing. The new moment. The new person. It creates questions. It makes us look for answers. We adapt and adopt.

The new then becomes,

The change

Frightening eh? Change can seem mysterious and abrupt or slow and fanciful. It can over or underwhelm us with its presence or lack. One thing for certain, no new and no concomitant change results in a void. We just bop around never finding a thing that scares us or thrills us or sends us packing. Both sent me packing for the edge.

But change is not a one trick pony. It dies not yield or force you only once. I’m convinced adopting and adapting then leads to myriad other things that were lower or higher than eyesight.

So it brings us to today and the moment and the desire for new and change. My friend Leon (not real name) tells me he wants nothing but stability. No changes. He is too old for real change. Family things for him are ok but to suddenly create the unknown and untried is frightening to him. He is in his 70s so perhaps it’s understood. We reach an age where we think it’s desired to put down the twin forces of life. It’s like a sand dune in the Mojave Desert ignoring erosion and deposition. It will always be there and it will act. Leon closes his eyes and ears to both things really.

It’s not like that for me. Life and it’s moments and experiences are not so easily shelved and put away like a child’s playthings. In the end, both happen with alacrity and I know it.

So perhaps some understand my desire to go to Ecuador now. I need the very thing in the new and the change. That random quotient so sublime and unknowable. That little voice that whispers. It tells me,

Time to go. It’s time to find the new and the changed

Who am I to argue with little voices?

It’s a question I’ve heard over and over through the years, and I’ve recently run into it yet again. “Is using Linux really productive?”

If you’d like to read the thread of the original article, you can find it here, but I want to give you my opinion on my own page.

I am now using Ubuntu for around 9 months, before that I was a windows user.

There are certainly many things in Ubuntu I love like custom themes, terminal, native docker support, and search bar without irritating web results (referring to the Windows search bar, getting web results when you just need to open a local app).

But the time I have to invest sometimes to get simple things working is just crazy. My Bluetooth doesn't work from time to time. Sometimes even audio doesn't work, keys like play/pause never work with Rhythmbox and suspend was working in ubuntu 19.10 version but it is again behaving weirdly in 20.04 (and never worked for me on 18.04). Many more similar problems.

Now the above problems are pretty common and after spending some hours(sometimes many hrs) things start to work. So why I am writing this post, because from last week Intellij Idea is freezing again and again because of some bug and I can't live without Intellij Idea.

Even though I can't think about moving away from ubuntu. I would like to hear your thoughts on this topic, dev community?

These kinds of questions annoy me, frankly. I understand it comes from a place of frustration for the original poster, but really?

I’ve been using Linux for more that two decades now, and I’ve used Ubuntu for as long as there’s been Ubuntu to use. I can state without equivocation that using Linux is productive. For me.

I’m guessing it’s a thing about the “PC” market that since they all run Windows, everybody thinks one PC is just like another. That’s just not the case. Microsoft has dominated the desktop computer market since the 80s. Software makers know that if they want to succeed in that market, they have to work with Windows.

The same is not true of Linux.

Some companies put a lot of work into making sure their product works with Linux. Others don’t.

Just because you have a PC that’s running fine with Windows on it doesn’t mean that everything is going to be perfect if you install a completely different OS on it.

I’d love to live in a world where you didn’t have to think about your hardware and everything would just work with Linux, but I don’t. I live in a world where a lot of people have put in a lot of effort to make sure that most things work most of the time in Linux.

If you’re going to install Linux, do some research before hand and make sure your hardware is compatible. Don’t get mad at Linux when your Packard Bell Pentium from 1997 runs a little weird.

My main computer is an eight year old Lenovo X1 Carbon. It’s obviously not new, but it runs perfectly. I don’t have application crashes. I don’t have OS crashes. All the hardware works.

Am I productive with this system?

I’d like to think so, absolutely. I can work more quickly and efficiently on my eight year old Lenovo than the junker I was issued at work with Windows 10.

Day 62 of the #100DaysToOffload Series:

We cannot earn our new life in Christ. But we can accept God's gift of life, praise God for it, and use our lives to do his will. (Life Application Study Bible, note on Luke 7:11-17)

Going out on a tear with the Mirage 2000-5 fighter.

For my second play-through of Mission 11, I flew the beautiful Mirage 2000-5 fighter. What makes this plane ideal for Mission 11 is that it can equip Long-range Air to Ship missiles. While at the same time, holding its own in air to air combat.

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To trigger the appearance of the Ace IBIS in Mission 11, you have to fly through the gaps in the oil platform.

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This post is Day 14 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Visit https://100daystooffload.com to get more info, or to get involved.

Tags: #GameClips #AceCombat7 #100DaysToOffload

God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the things we have calculated on without taking Him into account. We get into circumstances which were not chosen by God, and suddenly we find we have been calculating without God; He has not entered in as a living factor. (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest)

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Stumbling, falling, and having embarrassing pancake moments, creates a history, uniquely tied to me. Ha! I think how amusing my mistakes are to my Creator. And I know I am just a creation, so ultimately I'm flawed and perfectly imperfect. And yet, I am only now becoming acutely self-aware of myself and how unique I am. How my work, thinking, and actions impact others. I didn't realize nor understand that power. All these years I brushed it aside and took myself for granted and honestly thought everyone else can and is doing it. The thing is, we all are unique and have a power that is unlike the other. It's just that some are more self-aware of that power and use it for greatness, to help others and to create more impact. What I am getting here is, I have been underselling myself for years. And I am asking you, not that you are, to not do what I have been doing. Go and become the best version of yourself because those around you need you to be you.

To get there though, you will need to work hard in peeling back the onion of bad habits, self-loathing and I-am-not-good-enough attitude. This is, unfortunately, a painful and cringingly uncomfortable process but it is this work that allows yourself to become you. I know, because it is helping me become the leader that I have always been. I have been driving myself crazy getting here. But it's this drive, this yearning to learn, to hone my craft as a strategist, marketer, technologist, and coach that I now realize, is the key to where I am today. It's the constant stretching myself into doing things, experiencing things, connecting with those outside my own self has prepared me for what's to come.

So, what's to come? I honestly don't know. But I do know that it is something exciting and delicious. Do you want to come with me on my journey?

I have made a conscious decision to write a short post of what I learned and what I'd like to do differently tomorrow. I am using a couple of prompts and nudges from books such as the Holy Quran by Allah SWT, Essentialism by Greg McKeown, Say What You Mean – a mindful approach to nonviolent communication by Oren Jay Sofer, The Productive Muslim by Mohammad Faris, The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap by Michael Bungay Stanier. These are a lot of resources and many of them I have read before getting on here to “lay it all out”. These books are meant to help me reflect and learn. The Holy Quran is my guiding light and the other books are excellent people based sources of those who have traveled this path already.

Truth is. I am scared of this commitment. I am by no means a writer. I am a novice at putting my thoughts to paper but, I am committed to growth that helps me fulfill my potential as a human and in turn have the capacity to help others grow.

It's Isha. I'll see you all tomorrow.

Wassallam (Peace and blessings) Gemi

S.N.I.T. (Sporadische Nachtelijke Inspanningen T) ; bij de Eerste Hulp post

Bij aankomst in het hospitaal na de best rustige en ontspannen verdoofde heenreis met de Trauma Bakbrommer begon ik zomaar tranen met tuiten te huilen. Een uur geleden vonden ze mij thuis naakt, bloedend en stervend van de pijn. Nacht tv en het tweede laptop scherm hadden diepe wonden geslagen in mij en mijn ziel. Nu vond ik het opeens erg beschamend en waarschijnlijk moest ik daarom huilen met mijn ene nog goede oog. Ik werd met een betraand gezicht op een brancard de eerste hulppost binnen gereden.

De artsen bekeken de schade. Ze werden op de hoogte gebracht van mijn zaak, vondst, reden van mijn naaktheid. Ze vroegen of ik mij iets kon herinneren. Ik zei 'Ja bijna alles, jammer genoeg'. De artsen haalden ondertussen met fijn gereedschap allerhande stukjes uit mijn lijf. Ik vertelde ze dat ik keek naar de erotische loop op RTBS69 en op verzoek van de programmamakers zette ik de laptop aan en klikte op een aanbevolen link. De link bracht mij op een ander kanaal van BSTL69 en ze adviseerden mij een webkanaal met rondborstige deernes. Het kanaal opende en op dat moment zaten daar twee vrouwen en er volgde een hijgend geluid en een knal. De BH's van de vrouwen explodeerden, het laptop scherm versplinterde onder de druk. Ik viel even flauw, na een paar minuten kwam ik bloedend bij en belde met de mobiel 112. Op tv was een andere loop begonnen dat verdoofde de pijn een beetje.

De artsen plukten tijdens het verhaal BH scherven en plastic beeldscherm splinters uit mijn lijf. Ze zaten overal en maakten gaping wonden vooral in mijn gezicht. Die webcam modellen zijn ook zo vreselijk aantrekkelijk vooral als ze niks laten ontploffen. Ik kan niet dicht genoeg bij het scherm zitten. De borstenhouder scherf in mijn rechter oog kwam gelukkig vrij eenvoudig uit de oogbol en ik was maar 25% zicht kwijt. Ze verzekerden mij dat ik 90% van die 25% toch al niet zag. Ik haalde opgelucht maar pijnlijk adem. De laatste stukjes rondom mijn schaamstreek werden heel voorzichtig maar vaardig met een pincet er uitgetrokken.

De artsen liepen weg uit de kamer en schudden meewarig hun hoofd. Ik bleef een poosje alleen achter maar na tien minuten kwam een zuster met zo'n patiënten operatie ding. Ik lag daar nog altijd naakt maar minder want ik was verbonden, droeg een ooglapje en ruim beplakt met pleisters. De dokters hadden aangegeven dat ik voldoende was opgelapt om terug naar huis te gaan. Thuis kon ik beter herstellen in de warmte van mijn eigen knusse huis. Ik trok het dunne stofje aan en liep zo het ziekenhuis uit.

Buiten was het best fris en vochtig. Vervoer en geld had ik niet en moest de 13 kilometer terug naar huis lopen. Mijn poging om te liften werd geen succes. Ik koos voor een beschutte maar langere wandelroute, het is toch niet prettig om opvallend losjes gekleed te lopen langs de snelweg. Straks moest ik thuis alle tweede scherm splinters en scherven uit de vloerbedekking plukken en opzuigen. Daarna het gelekte bloed nog uit het stugge vloerkleed verwijderen met een zeepsopje. Dat andere webkanaal met die bloedhete vrouwen moet ik vanavond maar niet aanklikken op mijn derde scherm tablet. Dan voorkom ik brandwonden.

  Little Paintings: Robin in the Bath

Seán and I have recently been scheming new ways to creatively capture scenes around the Hill, so I halved some card-paper offcuts I got from an art store. Now we have a nice stack of 3x3.5'' pieces that we're gradually making into tiny paintings.

One of my first attempts is a common sight around here: a fluffed-up, staring robin soaking in the bath:

I always like the look of the colour-testing sheet afterwards (sometimes better than the actual painting!):

Process of my 3 sittings with the painting: