One of the things I love about New Year’s Eve, is standing outside & hearing the joyful voices of so many strangers, friends & neighbours, lifted in recognition of the turning of the year, in hope & in celebration. The sense, that in this at least, we are one, we are together, tonight.
RAGDOLL parade
There is hope in honest error; none in the icy perfections of the mere stylist.
- J. D. Sedding
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LANDFILL HARMONIC: Inspiring dreams one note at a time! by Landfill Harmonic — Kickstarter
This is simply wonderful.
“Landfill Harmonic reveals a mind-boggling, inventive effort to change that - musical instruments made from trash. In the barrios of Paraguay, a humble garbage picker uses his ingenuity to craft instruments out of recycled materials - and a youth orchestra is born. Music arises and children find new dreams.”
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Perhaps some degree of suffering is ineradicable from human life, perhaps the choice before man is always a choice of evils, perhaps even the aim of Socialism is not to make the world perfect but to make it better. All revolutions are failures, but they are not all the same failure.
— George Orwell’s essay, “Arthur Koestler” (1944)(Source: dakotapuma)
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Hurt people hurt people. That’s how pain patterns gets passed on, generation after generation after generation. Break the chain today. Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with compassion, cruelty with kindness. Greet grimaces with smiles. Forgive and forget about finding fault. Love is the weapon of the future.
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The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
— Nelson Henderson -
Labour’s problem is not its leader, it’s the caucus. The Green Party in Parliament is less than half Labour’s size yet day after day they prove how lacklustre our main opposition party is.
—Matt McCarten in the New Zealand Herald
I love the fact that the Greens have steadily gained ground & respect over the last 10 years, I just wish Labour wasn’t shedding it so fast. While I think the Greens could govern, the reality is that they won’t get enough votes to be the major party of the left - not for a while yet. & so we are left gnawing our knuckles are we watch Labour shuffle, both dreading 2014 & thinking it can’t come soon enough… -
I’m gonna start taking dance lessons. My dad did not let me do it when I was young and I just can’t die without knowing how to dance.
—My grandmother, 78 years old. (via chalkhopscotch)
This is both tragic & wonderful! I love the fact that she is going to learn to dance now; it is so sad that she was prevented from doing so when young.
My own grandmother took up painting in her seventies (she is now in her nineties & still painting when her health permits). As a depression era young woman, with 4 sisters & a father who died when she was young, she had no opportunity to go to art school - she went straight from the convent school into paid employment.
Everyone should get the opportunity to do what they love - & if circumstances prevent their doing so when young, more power to them for doing it when they’re older. -
There are flashmobs & there are flashmobs. Joyous!
Beautiful!
A reminder that despite the horrors a few wreck upon the many, humanity is capable of wondrous things.
(Source: neiljamesmiller)
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There’s no science in this post. I just know we’re all gonna want to save this picture for future reference.
To all the bigots, the intellectually corrupt, the wilfully ignorant, the insincere & unimaginative. We offer Neil Degrasse Tyson.
Your argument is invalid.
(Source: allbrook86)
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Six months
Some six months after returning to New Zealand, and starting Fraser Architecture Ltd, the legwork is starting to show signs of reward, with several new and potential projects being added to our books.
Although the current economic situation is concerning, there are signs of a slow but steady lift to the industry. There is still an enormous amount of work yet to be done in Christchurch - if only a master plan can be agreed, and the insurance companies be induced to make reasonable payment. The indomitable spirit of the residents of Christchurch is remarkable. Here in Auckland, there is a housing shortage, especially affordable housing. Both developers and the new Auckland Council need to step up to the plate to ensure that Auckland can continue to grow, but in a sustainable and productive fashion. The Council’s proposed plan is making some excellent moves in the right direction, but appears to lack some of the core steps required to enable the achievement of their goals. If they really want to intensify, they should focus on underutilized main roads, such as Great North Road as it runs through Grey Lynn. This stretch is occupied largely by car-yards - an unsustainable and unattractive use of a main thoroughfare. However, to enable intensive housing along this strip, the Council would need to liaise with the Government and the Ministry of Education to establish new schools in the area - unfortunately not likely in the current economic and political climate.
I remain positive for the future, for all that it may yet be a while coming. To quote Daniel Libeskind: “architecture is that complete ecstasy that the future can be better.”
