SUNDAY FUN(nies) – “Avatar’s” Surreal Inspirations

Posted by SoINeedAName at 5:49 am Politics

Jan 242016

If you’re feeling a little “Blue” because it’s been awhile since you enjoyed the movie “Avatar”, and were wondering how James Cameron and crew came up with such jaw-dropping creative settings for planet Pandora … well, it turns out that a good many of the surreal, out-of-this-world scenes were actually inspired by quite a few locations and things right here on Earth. So let’s take a look at a few.

PANDORA’S HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS

Probably the most striking are the Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora – floating land pods that are sacred to the Na'vi people.

TIANZI MOUNTAINS

Their inspiration comes from several sources, but we know the main locale is the Wulingyuan Scenic Zone in Hunan Province, China with its Tianzi Mountains.

We know for a fact that the crew spent at least four days taking photos of the mountains there before filming even began — and a good portion of the movie was actually shot in the region.

TEPUI

The mammoth “central character” of the Hallelujah Mountains has been said to be inspired by Venezuela's Tepui (“House of Gods”) in the Mount Roraima range – and it’s easy to see why.

WATERFALLS

While maybe not playing a major role, breathtaking waterfalls are frequently in the background. And again, the mile-high Tepui tabletop mountain with its hundreds of waterfalls is a major inspiration.

ANGEL FALLS

Waterfalls play a more prominent part when Jake Sully and Neytiri first ride the flying Banshee, and also during the helicopter action. And Angel Falls in Venezuela’s Canapa National Park is said to be an inspiration.

Despite its 3,212 feet height soaring to the heavens, Angel Falls has nothing to do with angels. It’s named after its aerial discoverer – American aviator Jimmie Angel who first flew over the falls in 1933. Not only is it the world’s tallest waterfall, it’s one of the Eight Natural Wonders of the World.

FLORA

HOMETREES

Moving in for a little closer look, we frequently find Hometrees all over Pandora. They’re about 150 meters tall (taller than our Redwoods), and serve as the home for different clans of Na’vi.

While not nearly as tall or majestic, they’re silhouette is said to be inspired by the Dragon Blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari) found on Socotra Island in the Indian Ocean. It got its name, Dragon Blood, because the trees produce a sap that is blood red.

BIOLUMINESCENCE

Bioluminescence is common to nearly all Pandoran flora and fauna, including the Na’vi people, and over a dozen different types of flora. Glowing colors of green, blue, indigo, and violet are pretty much everywhere on Pandora – even in the water!

Fortunately for Cameron, he could good look to several locales for ideas. Let’s start with the Mosquito Bioluminescent Bay on the Island of Vieques in Puerto Rico.

The Bay is filled with microscopic dinoflagellates (Pyrodinium bahamense or Swirling Fire) that, when agitated, react by emitting a blue-green light.

[NOTE: No, they are NOT Photoshopped!]

GLOWING ‘SHROOMS

Found in the forests of Asia and Brazil, Mycena chlorophos are mushrooms that glow during the rainy season. They make the forest floor light up with their spores, but the bioluminescent phase only lasts about three to four days.

SONY DSC

[NOTE: Not sure why two of these show up – on the work page there’s only one]

GLOW WORMS

And we’ll end with “Glow Worms” that are found in the caves of New Zealand and Australia.

OK, they’re not actually worms, but larvae of the gnat fly (Arachnocampa luminosa). They spin a silk hammock on the cave’s ceiling and then hang down as many as 70 threads with drops of sticky mucus attached to catch prey that are attracted by their glowing light.

Now it’s time to pop in your “Avatar” CD/DVD or stream it to appreciate some of the inspiration locales, flora and fauna.

NOTE: No links because I literally used hundreds. But I’m sure “The Google” will help you find answers & more information

But here are two excellent sources for tons of information about “Avatar”. The first one provides incredibly minute details about flora, fauna, characters and LOTS more – it’s mind-boggling!

http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Avatar_Wiki

And one for a good storyline summary:

http://macdonaldboy.blogspot.com/2010/01/avatar.html

Squatch’s Open Thread 23/01/2016

Posted by Lynn Squance at 4:38 am Open Thread, Politics

Jan 242016

I took a break yesterday as I wasn't in the mood to deal with Republican BS! Yesterday was my stepfather's birthday and he would have been 91 had he not died in March 2004. We had pet names for each other . . . he was Mutt, I was Little Mutt; he was Dummy, and I was Little Dummy. If you wondered where I got my warped sense of humour, look no further. We absolutely tortured my mother at the dinner table with our verbal antics as she was much more straight-laced. Anyway, I'm back today and going up and down with laundry. Tomorrow I will go to see my mother.

Short Takes

Alternet — The argument that Ted Cruz is eligible to run for president initially looked strong, then probable but uncertain. But closer examination shows it is surprisingly weak.

The constitutional text provides that a president, unlike other elected officials, must be a “natural born citizen.” This language could not mean anyone born a citizen or else the text would have simply stated “born citizen.” The word “natural” is a limiting qualifier that indicates only some persons who are born citizens qualify. Moreover, when the Constitution was enacted, the word “natural” meant something not created by statute, as with natural rights or natural law, which instead were part of the common law. …

Unfortunately for Ted Cruz, that technical rule does not permit his candidacy.

Was it not Trump, Mr Birther himself, who suggested that Cruz get a court ruling on his eligibility for the presidency? In this article, Einer Elhauge, a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, concludes that Cruz is ineligible. I know, this is only one opinion, but perhaps Cruz should take Trump's advice.

Raw Story — A Kansas lawmaker is under fire for imposing a dress code on women testifying before the state senate that would ban “low-cut necklines and mini-skirts,” the Capitol-Journal is reporting.

Sen. Mitch Holmes (R-St. Johns) said Rule No. 2 of his 11-point code of conduct for witnesses appearing before his Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, was intended to make certain each participant is dressed in a respectful manner.

Holmes did not make any mention over what men must wear — saying they should already be aware that a coat and tie is expected — but he did offer more detailed fashion tips to the ladies as to what he regards as “professional attire.”

"… how low a neckline might plunge before it raises his ire." I don't think it is his ire that he is concerned about rising! According to this state Republican, men are smart enough to know what is expected, but women are not. What a sexist pig! (apologies to the porcine community!)

Huffington Post — Three candidates have so far convinced Republican and Republican-leaning voters that they could be capable of pulling off a victory in November: Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). After them, there's a dramatic drop in confidence, with one-quarter or fewer thinking that any other candidate could win.

Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters consider former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton their most electable candidate, with 83 percent saying she's capable of winning the general election. Sanders, though, has also made his case: A 54 percent majority thinks he's capable of winning.

Click through for more information about electability.

Think Progress — Appearing at a town hall meeting Wednesday night, Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD) argued that Washington, D.C. should not be a state because its residents make “irresponsible decisions.” District residents have been engaged in a decades-long fight for statehood in order to gain representation in Congress and full local control of their government.

… they make irresponsible decisions like legalizing marijuana when the African-American unemployment rate is 40 percent and the African-American graduation rate from high school is 12 percent.”

Click through for the rest. Isn't it just like a Republican to make things up and show himself to be a bigot to boot!

My Universe —

Mississippi Election Theft

Posted by TomCat at 1:46 pm Politics

Jan 232016

The more Republicans come to realize that they can’t win elections fairly, the more they resort to one of their alternate election strategies. The first is lying, and that they do in virtually all elections. The second is cheating, like disenfranchising Black and Hispanic legal voters, guiding people to the wrong precincts, etc. And more and more often, they steal the election outright. The following is an extreme example.

Mississippi is the reddest state in the Union, but there are still some Democrats who serve in their state legislature. And until recently, there were enough of those Democrats to stop Republicans from having a supermajority in both branches of their state Legislature.

But not any more. Incumbent Democrat Blaine Eaton ran against Republican Mark Tullos. It was a close race. So close, in fact, that the certified results yielded a tie — each candidate had 4,589 votes.

Under Mississippi law, a tie is broken by drawing straws. Yes, I know. It’s a bizarre way to settle a tie, but there it is. Eaton drew the long straw, and that’s where the story should have ended.

But this is a Republican state, and it’s governed by greedy Republicans. (As an aside, it’s also one of the poorest states in the Union. Is there a correlation there?) They wanted their supermajority, and by God, they were going to get it.

On Tuesday, the Republican majority tossed out five provisional ballots in an election where the counts had already been certified in order to award the seat to Mark Tullos and complete their supermajority… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>

Usually Republicans aren’t so blatant about stealing election, but in districts where Republicans control the vote-counting, there is a consistent deviation of 4% to 7% between raw exit polling data and the election result, always in the Republicans’ favor. In districts where Democrats control the vote-counting the deviation is under 2%, in neither party’s favor. We need to demand that all electronic voting machines have a paper trail. Consider this:

Fair Voting Elects Fewer Republicans!

Open Thread–1/23/2016

Posted by TomCat at 1:46 pm Open Thread, Personal, Plus, Politics

Jan 232016

Yesterday Arvilla (PT) worked me hard. We needed to ascertain whether I could support myself well enough with a quad-cane to make transfers to a doctor’s table, a barber chair, a toilet without handicapped rails, etc., when I’m out and about, so I don’t have my walker for transfers. It worked well. I also tired myself out, so today, I’m taking a much needed rest day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

today’s took me 2:44 (average 4:16). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin continued to air her grievances against President Obama on Friday, telling an audience at a Trump rally in Iowa that Obama was “single-handedly to blame” for her defeat in the 2008 general election.

“Like a lot of American families, we Palins had big plans and dreams—in this case, regarding me becoming Vice-President,” she said. “But you know who had to go and ruin those plans and dreams? President Obama.”

Palin said that Obama insured her defeat in 2008 “just like he has defeated so many other great Americans,” and that her family had paid the price.

“I can’t help thinking that, if I had been elected Vice-President, Bristol and Willow wouldn’t have gotten into that drunken brawl and Track wouldn’t have threatened his girlfriend and whatnot,” she said. “Thanks, Obama.”

Andy sure understands Bloody Bullseye Barbie!

From NY Times: A massive winter storm that threatens to dump two feet of snow on the nation’s capital began pummeling the East Coast on Friday afternoon, as millions of people from the Carolinas to New York braced for a weekend of severe winds, power losses and coastal flooding. Thousands of flights were canceled; governors and mayors warned people to stay indoors and off the roads.

Governors in at least 10 states declared states of emergency, and travel was disrupted in at least five major airport hubs, with 6,300 flights canceled on Friday and Saturday and 4,675 more delayed. In North Carolina, more than 114,000 homes lost power. The Washington region’s mass transit system took what an official called an “exceedingly rare” step of shutting down for the weekend.

Cities from Nashville to New York started emergency operations to respond to what the National Weather Service deemed a “potentially crippling winter storm.” In Virginia, where snow began falling Friday morning in the southern part of the state, Gov. Terry McAuliffe put 700 National Guard members on standby; by Friday evening, hundreds of accidents had been reported. In Baltimore, shelters added hundreds of extra beds to accommodate the homeless.

To you, who are in the path of this fossil-fuel weather, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Please be careful and stay safe.

From Crooks and Liars: Oops! Trump Campaign Runs Veterans Ad Featuring Russian Soldiers

I bet Vladimir Putin (R-RU), aka GOP Pootie, hopes Hateful Hairball wins, so his vets get US taxpayer money!

Cartoon:

0123Cartoon

Everyday Erinyes

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 11:17 pm Politics

Jan 222016

One issue this week, represented by multiple persons in one article with its comments, seems to me to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with. Just as a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

You ladies weren't interested a couple of weeks ago when I brought up the spoiled brats in Oregon (not FROM Oregon, just invading it) who think they ought to be in charge of public lands. But as the story takes more and more turns, let me call your attention to this:

Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum told Oregon Public Broadcasting that his four current foster children have been removed while he's in Oregon:

Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and his wife Jeanette were foster care parents for troubled boys. Finicum estimates that over the past decade, more than 50 boys came through their ranch near Chino Valley, Arizona. The boys often landed there from mental hospitals, drug rehabs and group homes for emotionally distressed youth.

“My ranch has been a great tool for these boys,” Finicum said. “It has done a lot of good.”

Finicum runs a cattle ranch in Arizona where he says he barely breaks even on the cattle and the loss of 50 extra foster ~~ranch hands~~ children is going to make it financially difficult on the Finicums…

How much money is involved here? Well a 2010 tax filing shows that in 2009, Catholic Charities paid the family $115, 343 to foster children.

User "a2nite" comments – "Wow, another welfare queen gets exposed. He's stupid & I'm glad."

"CyberMindGrrl" – "Yes this guy just openly admitted to scamming the foster care system. But will he get investigated? I highly doubt it unless he continues to open his stupid mouth…. Remember, you can screw the government and it’s ok if you’re white and Republican."

But "Fordmandalay" elaborates: "My expectation of the kids typical day; up at 4:00AM for a hearty breakfast of lightly buttered toast and grits with coffee, then out to the fields. Work until noon, then a 15 minute lunch break of a baloney sandwich and a (generic) coca-cola. Back to work until the sun goes down, 15 minute swim in the cattle pond as the nightly bath; dinner of canned spaghetti-os and bottom-shelf cookies, then locked into their bunkhouse for the night with a single 1972 5th-grade textbook to fulfill their ‘education’ requirement, along with a few David Koresh books and a 13” b/w tv that's able to pull in the single station receivable in the area. Electricity turned off at 9:00PM. Repeat daily until adult, then kicked out into the world."

So I assume you may now have an interest in at least one of these individuals, namely "La Voy" Finicum (the one under the blue tarp). It sounds to me a very grudging way to handles one's personal finances, so Megaera, that would seem to be up your street, but Alecto, he hasn't stopped doing this in God knows how long, and appears to have no intention of stopping – once he gets all the candy he's committing treason for and goes back home.

But wait – there's more! User "AntonBursch" commented multiple times with information from his own experience as a former foster child. Warning – hanky alert – as you read just a few of the things he has to say about his childhood.

"i was adopted by foster parents who saw foster children as a source of income. and they always got special needs kids to get the max money and then neglected the hell out of them and spend all the money on themselves. and when anyone noticed the poor shape the kids were in, they would say it was due to the problems the kids had. then they would get patted on the back for being so wonderful for taking care of such troubled kids. makes me angry just thinking about it. even when they adopted my brother and I, the adoption was held up until they had a signed agreement that they would get money to take care of us until we were 18. it was just as that kind of payment was being ended in WA state, so, they wouldn’t pull the trigger adopting us unless they had an absolute legal guarantee of payment over the years. i found the documentation of all of that in my foster records when i got them a few years ago. i don’t know how you get more horrible than using children who are already suffering to get money. and they knew just how to max out the money by claiming they had to provide special care…"

"i was 13 months old. i never knew a different life until my mid 20s. i watched Good Will Hunting and the scene where Robin tells Will that it wasn’t his fault hit me like a ton of bricks through my chest. i told friends of mine what it had been like growing up and they were horrified. i still remember the moment listening to them when i realized that not all parents treated their kids that way. it was a revelation to me. i didn’t believe it at first. i asked them and told me it was true, but i didn’t believe them, because it was too good to be true. i had always thought it wasn’t right to hurt your children and suddenly i found out that i wasn’t alone believing that. i felt like i had crawled out of a dark cave into the light for the first time in my life. thinking back now, i think that’s exactly what happened to me."

Even the fact that he has grown up and learned to cope, even to be a wounded healer, is tough to read about:

i have to try not to cry thinking about how you [user srluke] shared your lunch money with them [fostered kids who went to school with srluke]. what can i say to you, but thank you. it’s things like that that make the difference between someone giving up hope for their lives. especially at that age.

i have a pretty great life now. but sometimes, you know, life is stressful, you’re being whiny about something, you’re just mad and you can’t shake it off. then you see someone you can tell is hurting. a child. a teen. an elderly person. a single mom surrounded by kids in the supermarket looking through her cart before going to the line to make sure she can get everything. you can see the pain in her face as she’s looking back and forth to her kids and having to put something back. and all of your stupid bullshit doesn’t matter anymore.

i won’t lie and say i don’t still hurt from shit. i do. man, i can’t hold it together watching a tv show about someone without their parents. and sometimes i wish i could just get passed it. but not in those moments. in those moments, as cheesy as it sounds, i am grateful that i know those looks. cause sometimes, when it’s possible, i can help. and even when i can’t help, it makes me appreciate what a wonderful life i have now. that’s a gift right there.

I respectfully request that at least one of you ladies look up these – persons – who fostered "AntonBursch" – and – counsel them. Please. And there are many other shorter stories in these comments, some first hand, others from witnesses, which you might also want to look into. Oh, and I have an unrelated request- I am passing it on from others but I am also 100% behind it Your colleague, Charon? Fella with the boat? We realize it's his job, and somebody has to do it, but we kind of feel he's been overdoing it lately – taking too many people who are too good and doing it too fast. Could you maybe talk with him nicely about giving it just a little rest? Thank you. From all of us.

We'll be back next time.

The Establishment Brouhaha

Posted by TomCat at 12:43 pm Politics

Jan 222016

When Bernie used the word “establishment” in reference to Planned Parenthood and HRC, I understood how he meant it. by the context he used. Since then,. Hillary Clinton and a score of Bernie bashers have ignored the context. Several spread the word that Bernie lumps these organizations with Wall Street Banksters and Vulture Capitalists. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Tuesday over the decision by progressive groups like Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign to endorse Clinton.

In an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday night, Sanders responded to a question about Clinton’s endorsements with a broad criticism of the "establishment," explaining, "What we are doing in this campaign — and it just blows my mind every day, because I see it clearly, we’re taking on not only Wall Street and the economic establishment, we’re taking on the political establishment."

"And so I have friends and supporters in the Human Rights Fund, in Planned Parenthood," Sanders continued. "But you know what, Hillary Clinton has been around there for a very, very long time and some of these groups are, in fact, part of the establishment."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <CNN>

Photo credit: Salon.com

When Bernie separated economic establishment and political establishment, he made it clear that he meant something else. I understood his frustration that, despite his perfect voting record on both LGBT and women’s reproductive rights, they endorsed Hillary before the primary season even kicked off. Bernie had thought he had a chance for those endorsements, because they endorsed the upstart, Obama, in 2008. However, they waited until Obama had a significant lead in delegates to do so. HRC endorsed him in June, and Planned Parenthood, in August. For Bernie, I thought “political establishment” implied that they assumed Hillary would win, and supported the established candidate. I think that implication was correct. Fortunately, Rachel Maddow, clarified it with Bernie.

Frankly, I think HRC and Planned Parenthood were wrong to endorse Hillary so early in the contest. They should have waited, like they did in 2008. However, that does not mean that I will stop supporting their initiatives, and donating to them. They do too much good work to hold one mistake against them.

Open Thread–1/22/2016

Posted by TomCat at 12:43 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 222016

I have another busy day today. My shower-aide just left, leaving me smelling like a rose. PT is coming at 9:00 and OT at 10:00, so they will have come and gone by the time I get this posted. Arvilla (PT) is bringing a cane to see if it will give me sufficient stability to aid in transfers, when I’m out and don’t have my walker for transfers.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today;s took me 3:24 (average 5:10). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Ted Nugent may have totally broken the law and called for the lynching of a sitting president and (possible) future sitting president. [Fascist criminal delinked]

Our unholy rotten soulless criminal America destroying government killed 4 Americans in Banghazi. Period! What sort of chimpass punk would deny security, turn down 61 requests for security, then tell US forces to STAND DOWN when they were ready to kickass on the allapukes & save American lives! Obama & Clinton, thats who. They should be tried for treason & hung. Our entire fkdup gvt must be cleansed asap.

Can’t you feel what Republicans call love?!!?

From Media Matters: Fox News has devoted roughly three hours to promoting the release of Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, a movie about the 2012 attacks on diplomatic facilities in Libya, praising the film, repeatedly characterizing the movie as a threat to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and hyping several debunked myths about the Benghazi terror attacks. More than half of the network’s 32 segments focused on falsehoods about the State Department and Obama administration’s responses to the attacks, and nearly 60 percent of the segments linked the movie to Clinton’s 2016 bid for the White House.

012213hours-foxnews

No matter how many times the lies are debunked, The Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, refuses to let this go.

From NY Times: In a significant victory for President Obama, a federal appeals panel on Thursday rejected an effort by 27 states and dozens of corporations and industry groups to block the administration’s signature regulation on emissions from coal-fired power plants while a lawsuit moves through the courts.

The rule, issued last summer by the Environmental Protection Agency, is at the heart of Mr. Obama’s efforts to tackle climate change. It would require each state to significantly cut greenhouse gas pollution from electric power plants, the nation’s largest source of such emissions.

Once fully in place, the regulation — which would cut emissions from existing power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 — could transform the electricity system, closing hundreds of heavily polluting coal-fired plants and sharply increasing production of wind and solar powers.

But the 27 states, many of which have economies that rely on coal mining or coal-fired power, have sued the administration to kill the plan. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit set June 2 to hear arguments in that case, although it is widely expected to be ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, most likely in 2017.

Won’t it be wonderful, if a Democratic President can replace a Republican Injustice on SCROTUS by 2017?

Cartoon:

0122Cartoon

Friday Fun – Postponed …

Posted by SoINeedAName at 8:41 am Politics

Jan 222016

This has not been a good month for my friends and family. Shortly before Christmas my nurse of many years at work, who was 10-15 years younger than I am and a model of healthy living, had a massive coronary event, went into pulmonary failure and was subsequently taken off all support systems.

Then shortly after Christmas a favorite aunt, who had been in a car accident, developed pneumonia and passed away.

And yesterday I learned that the nurse practitioner in our office, with whom I became fast friends with both her and her family, had also passed away.

The deaths of three people I cherish in a month’s time have kind of taken the wind out of my sails.

I had already started work on this week’s “Friday Fun”, so I should be able to post it by tomorrow or Sunday. And I’ll still be commenting, because I hope it’ll be therapeutic.

As a preview, I’ll note that Lynn had recently mentioned she’s working her way through the 2009 Oscar-winning movie “Avatar”. In the dregs of my mind that reminded me that a number of the surreal locations in the film were actually inspired by other-worldly spots right here on earth. We’ll visit some of them shortly …

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