alittle-a

Exploring the theme and role of the feminine in Western Society and how the psyche is reflecting itself in its own surroundings.

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My nephew Jack had his 2nd birthday on the 7th of this month. I love his mark making and we were lucky enough that he was into making a few marks. I cut them out and re-arranged, added a bit of my own mark makings and well think they came out just lovely. 

The artist is Jack and curated by me. 

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e-wasteland in ghana

" Agbogbloshie’s transformation into a toxic e-waste dump began with an act of generosity. In the 1980s, developed nations sent working computers to Accra as donations, to “help bridge the digital divide.” However, as time went on, the donating turned into dumping. Soon, digital waste began to arrive from all over the world – mainly from the USA, but also from the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Korea. Agbogbloshie had become a garbage dump for unwanted electronics."  Read more at http://techgraffiti.com/the-human-and-environmental-cost-of-an-e-waste-dump-in-ghana?image=9#UrCxvJ86c2Fr0AhX.99

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avoid getting dragged into the abyss of Facebook slumber

don't know about you but I seem to have become lost in Facebook, more and more. I don't get the updates from the groups I subscribed to anymore, I get a lot more suggestions… and end up aimlesslessly browsing around and more wasting time! it has become like a mall experience, you forget why you went there in the first place an end up walking aimlessly around for hours and feeling tired and unsatisfied for it. and not remembering anything worthwhile to share from your experience either.

so this idea of short lived thrills tabloid magazine style…nauseating... basically whats happening is Facebook has again changed its algorithms. which means. if you don't actively engage consistently with the pages you like, they will not come up in your newsfeed. and FB will do anything to distract you from remembering to do just that, as they need companies to buy ad space in order to get priorities on people's news feeds. so the time has come for FACEBOOK Discipline! 

engage with the groups you like and FOLLOW. and perhaps limit the amount of groups you like and FOLLOW as well to limit the time you spend on FB per day (i for one can only consume so much…bit like a kid in a sweetshop….) … essentially it is now working a lot more on the gambling / smoking / heroine principle (addiction!) than social engagement. And honestly. Being as busy as we are, I would like to at least pick my own distraction! 

well that is how it is for me. I think the time has come for more topic specific groups, outside of Facebook. what are the opportunities to have a green book page which only do social networking about green issues. etc. but the problem is that they don't survive! But perhaps the timing was just not right. As FB provided me the platform which I sought in terms of engaging with content and groups which I want to engage with and being updated daily on changes or news from those groups. Well, seeing that this is not happening anymore…they have now opened a gap for independent social networking sites. 

It really angries me that the people suffering here are the small businesses, the charities and the do-gooders… the campaigners for change. 

So money. how do we make money out of these things? Ads, affiliate programs, this is how internet marketing works. FB tried different ways of getting around the no ads idea. even twitter. a noble idea, but at the same time an ideal..not based in reality. we all need to be in it for the money to some degree.

  I don't mind ads, if they are useful, relevant, but I don't want to shit where I eat…is that the saying?…keep advertising in their adbox spaces(like the old days of banner advertising…), and allow me to consume the content which I choose. 

get your audiences from Facebook send them to your new private social group. this makes me think - ok I have not engaged with Google+ at all for ages…perhaps there is opportunity there. 

ps in terms of Facebook marketing for small businesses: see it a a cheap thrills again instant gratification space. sensation , immediacy. this is not the pace you want to be to get a lasting impact. now is the time to get people's email addresses through ways of competitions, invitations to webinars, freebies... what ever ways you enrich their experience more. and direct them back to your blog via rss feeds for weekly emails etc. you can benefit from all your hard work you have put into creating the Facebook community up to this point - but, you have to jump now to reign them in before they disappear into the FB abyss of other more immediate sensational topical groups. 

and well that is just the way it is. after all it is just online marketing and again it opens up for creative ways of engagement and communication to still keeping your overheads as low as possible for reaching your fan base. 

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James Nizam - 2013

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Beautiful works

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First, due to conservation of energy, the elastic potential energy of the elastic band is equal to the kinetic energy of release. So: EElastic Potential = (1/2)*k*x2 EKinetic = (1/2)*m*v2 (1/2)*k*x2 = (1/2)*m*v2 (1/2)*x2 = (m*v2)/(2k) x2 = (2m*v2)/(2k) x = √((m*v2)/(k)) By finding v2 using the equations of motion, the mass, m, will be the function of spring displacement, x, while v2 and k remain constant (v2 will change depending on the desired displacement for the object to travel in the x or y axis).

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Saw this guy sitting pondering the world while staring out on the Thames. Made me wonder what he was thinking about. 

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Ana Teresa Barboza

Beautiful embroidery artworks by Ana Teresa Barboza

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Absolutely love her art.

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Work in Progress - stop motion animation

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 Elterwater - Lake District April 2013

I. Everywhere

Within the city environment, where we are constantly confronted by the egos and personalities of a culture with a disposition towards individuality and status, we tend to associate much easier with our thinking minds and personalities. A lot of energy is spent on interacting with others, and comparing ourselves with others in different social ranks or status demographics, thus we are constantly open to flattery and at the same time vulnerability and isolation.

A recent observation has lead me to believe that in nature, I am forced to be mindful and to resonate with the energy of everything. It forces me to get outside of my head. In doing this, immediately I disassociate with the ego and in pure clarity as an observer, I see how my vulnerability have arisen, as a direct effect of the pride I felt, because of my attachment to an idea. 

As soon as we get attached to something, whether it be a person, an idea, an experience, a feeling... we start identifying with that attached object or concept, thus the object of attachment exists only in relation to ourselves. 

With this shift in essentially ownership of the other, the ego emerges which gets affected by flattery, and criticism. Fears and uncertainties come to the surface and we fall in a trap where we associate with the ego - or thinking mind. We never really relax, and this prevents us from really listening to the universe - to our hearts. 

In my personal experience I find a lot of energy is spent to stay grounded in the city in order to be observant of the ego and not associate with it, that is why it is even more important to experience nature within our urban surroundings, in order to become self observing and in touch with our true selves. 

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Wisdom 

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Returning to the land

The experience in finding meaning, healing and purpose upon returning back to the landscape has encouraged me to explore this theme further. This work I dedicate to the memory of my father, who has instilled in me a sense of wonder and awe for nature. And a sense of self respect and purpose always encouraging me to search for my own truth. 

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Just Doing my Bit, Then I feel Better.

I recently travelled up to Scotland and spent some time in Lamash on the Isle of Arran before doing a retreat on Holy Isle. These swans were resting in the harbour. As I was walking along the beach, I came across a local resident, who was busy cleaning up the beachfront at his house. We started a conversation after being introduced by his lovely Labrador who was fiercely barking at me with a stick in her mouth while I was moving around doing stretches. We started talking about cleaning the landscape and he said something which summed up our responsibility towards the land very clearly: “I am just doing my bit, then I feel better.” If we all just did our bit, it instills a responsibility towards something bigger than yourself, nature, which then leads to self confidence and a sense of belonging in the world.

These beautiful swans were resting in the harbour, but behind them I found the culprit which was polluting the area all the way across on the beach on Holy Isle did I find the little polystyrene balls. Now the question remains what do we do about it? The box belongs to the fisheries, then if you dare say something to them, you risk offending them. Which leads to embarrassment and finger-pointing and other politics being brought to the surface. How something is said is to be considered here. If it is said out of love, the other party is more inclined to listen. If they will not listen now, the imprint would at least have been made in their consciousness and they will slowly become more aware of their part and role in protecting our environment.

If you speak for something else, bigger than yourself in a communal voice fear of rejection gets removed. When you gain the courage to step up for something bigger than yourself, the ego strengthens action, as opposed exposing vulnerabilities.