The Enchanted Metsät of the Far North

With two thirds of its territory covered with forests (metsät in Finnish), as the land of Santa, Finland is best known for its dark and cold landscapes and early twilights. The winter solstice (shortest day of the year) is celebrated there as Yuletide, an old pagan festival honouring the “rebirth” of the Sun, on the 25th of December, after its transient disappearance under the horizon.

In Western religions, mythologies and literature, forests are places [...] where perceptions become confused, uncovering some hidden aspects of time and consciousness. In a forest, what is inanimate may suddenly become animate, gods turn into beasts, outlaws stand for justice, Rosalind shows up as a boy, the knight of impeccable virtue is degraded to the status of a primitive, straight lines make circles, and the familiar is replaced by fantasy.

~ Robert Pogue Harrison, Forests: The Shadow of Civilization (1992) (retranslated back from French as I could not find the original quote — Ed.)

Ossi Saarinen is a young Finnish photographer who, like most of his fellow countrymen, is fascinated by the magic of Finland's vast forests, and especially its wildlife which became his favourite subject and field of expertise. “My typical photographing day starts before the sunrise when the animals are most active” he explains. “I grab my camera and zoom-lens, put them in my backpack and head out to the forests near my home. Most of the time is walking around searching for the animals or laying down and waiting. When the day gets brighter I go back home to rest and prepare for the evening.”

Oh deer, Ossi's stunning photos are so awesome, they look like the stuff from fairy tales as you can see on his Instagram account,  I've had the hardest time creating this sample gallery (not to mention Eklablog's servers crashing every time I uploaded a picture). I have a soft spot for foxes and squirrels so cute and expressive. How about you?

Have a Merry Christmas everyone and watch out for caribous!

© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

Cover picture: Ossi Saarinen

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Snow Showers

In a previous tut, I explained why and how I have decided to do without Windows software running on Wine and create animations using GIMP only. There will be no sunshine after rain but snow in wintertime. Happy solstice!

Materials

• a picture to add snow to (for this example, I picked up an image featuring stactic snowfall to create a swirling effect)
• GIMP 2.10 (free and open source for Linux/Windows/OSX)

Instructions

1. Open a copy of the image you wish to animate in GIMP and if necessary, resize it to reduce loading time.

2. Add a new white layer on top of your existing image layer.

3. Colours - Invert menu.

4. Add noise via Filters - Noise - HSV Noise menu as follows:

- Dulling = 8
- Hue = 1
- Saturation = 1
- Value = 1
- Click on New Seed to generate new random pattern of pixels

 5. Apply Filters - Light and Shadow - Sparkle with the following settings:

- Luminosity threshold = 0,017
- Flare intensity = 0,50
- Spike length = 10
- Spike points = 5
- Spike angle = -1
- Spike density = 1
- Transparency = 0
- Random hue = 0
- Random saturation = 0
- Check Preserve luminosity
- Check Foreground colour (needs to be set on white)

6. Remove black background of the layer via Colours - Colour to Alpha menu:

- Colour = black
- Other settings left as default

7. Rename layer as Snow 1 et set blend mode to Overlay.

8. Repeat steps 2 to 7 twice. Don't forget to click on New seed on step 4 (very important). And rename layers as Snow 2 and Snow 3.

9. Duplicate background image layer twice and insert a copy under each snow layer.

10. Merge down each s,pw layer with the image layer below using Layer - Merge Down context menu. You should now have 3 different layers.

11. Change colour mode for an optimised GIF using Image - Mode - Indexed menu:

- Generate optimum palette
- Colour dithering = Floyd-Steinberg (reduced colour bleeding)

12. Now you can export your animation via the File - Export as menu, choosing Image GIF Image as File Type. Another dialog opens to adjust the settings of you output file:

- Check As animation
- Check Loop forever
- Delay between frames where unspecified = 200 ms
- Other settings left as default

NOTE: Before merging down snow layers, you may want to erase some snowflakes from faces for instance.

For my second example using a personal picture, I opted for a falling effect. I first applied a mask to soften the image. On step 7, I set blend mode to Linear light and slightly reduced opacity. Instead of repeating steps to create additional snow layers,  I duplicated the first one twice and applied a vertical offset using Layer - Transform - Offset menu with y = -30 for snow 1 layer and y = 30 for snow 3 layer, while snow 2 layer remained untouched. Then I duplicated and inserted each background image layer under each snow layer and merged down as previously explained. Upon exporting as GIF image, a pop-up window prompted me to crop overlapping layers by clicking on a button. Finally, I chose a frame delay of 400 ms.

Well, you should now be fully prepared to fight against global warming, otherwise ready to animate electronic Xmas cards. As for windy conditions, let's save it for another tut.

© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

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The Feline Cuddle Therapist Who Rehabilitated All Black Cats

A while ago, I wrote about a “cuddle therapist” black cat by lake on my doorstep helping me and other people feel better. It would appear that the lovely tom has a twin. Or maybe he can be at several places at once. Or  that angels have decided to shape-shift into black cats in attempt to open up the hearts of humans, leading by example and at the same time, dissolving all those stupid and cruel superstitions which unfortunately still persist. I was deeply moved by the story below and I expect you will be too.

According to the old legend from Ancient Egypt, cats have nine lives. It would appear to be true for Rademenes, a two-month old black kitten given up for adoption and condemned by a fatal upper respiratory infection before ending up as nurse assistant to a veterinarian in the unpronounceable city of Bydgoszcz, in Poland,

Dr. Lucyna Kuziel-Zawalich works in an animal shelter. After the black kitty was brought by his owners to shorten his suffering and she “took the little ball in her hand,” she couldn't bear to euthanise him. Since his condition was very contagious, he had to be quarantined. But thanks to the devoted love and care he received, Rademenes quickly made an impressive turnaround. “Maybe he knew he as near the end and began fighting for his life,” explains his rescuer.

Ever since, Ramedenes never left the shelter and now devotes his life giving back the love and care he received to other sick pets, cats and dogs alike, cuddling up with them with his comforting purr, sometimes licking their wounds, in the awareness that his caring loving presence can only speed up their recovery. “It's as if having been so close to death's door himself, he now wants to help others get better,” says Dr. Kuziel-Zawalich.

Anyhow, this adorable cat is more human than most humans (fortunately not all of them), has become the mascot of the shelter and even has his own Facebook page. Actually, his story went viral on the Internet and he's now a sort of local tourist attraction as the black cat who brings luck: “This sounds ridiculous but he actually comes out to greet new people coming in. Which is really, really endearing.”

This story is somewhat reminiscent of some anecdotes by this retired vet from Yorkshire:

“I know about Oscar now,” I said.
“Know what?”
“Why he goes on these nightly outings. He's not running away — he's visiting.”
“Visiting?”
“Yes,” I said. “Don't you see? He likes getting around, he loves people, especially in groups, and he's interested in whatever they do. He's a natural mixer.”
Helen looked down at the attractive mound of fur curled on her lap. “Of course... that's it... he's a socialite!”
“Exactly, a high stepper!”
“A cat-about-town!”

Cat Stories, James Herriott

© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

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Mad Hatter

He's mad...
He's mad...
He's mad...
He's mad...

You may have read the book,
You might have seen the film,
But I've seen it with my eyes.
Was it tweedle-dum?
Was it tweedle-dee?
But I saw through his disguise.

There was a Cheshire cat
Next to a water rat
And a JuJu awful wise.
We were sat to eat.
Now was it trick or treat?
We were in for a surprise.

Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...

He doesn't need a hat,
He's got crazy eves
And he rolls them round the group.
He's got stories tall
And a winning smile
As he then surveys his troups.

Then he'll about a lot of things
In a song you've never heard,
But it sounds so sweet.
He gets up on his feet
And he's looking for the word.

Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...

Mad as the Mad Hatter...
Mad as the Mad Hatter...
Mad as the Mad Hatter...
Mad as the Mad Hatter...

It went on oh quite late
As I went through the gate
And I began my journey back
I was glad to know
That I'd seen the show
That I'd found a happy jack
Because they're getting rare,
We never get our share.

Seem to be a dying breed
But they're so much fun.
Laughter's on the run
As the Hatter plants the seed.

Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...
Here comes the Mad Hatter...

Mad as the Mad Hatter...
Mad as the Mad Hatter...
Mad as the Mad Hatter...
Mad as the Mad Hatter...

Original text by HUGH CORNWELL

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American Privilege

In order to prevent any potential misunderstanding, I would like to make it clear that I absolutely do NOT hate American people. This statement is mostly meant for the occasional reader who might have ended here after clicking on a link, for all the people who follow me from the land of Uncle Sam (according to stats you are many and I thank you for that) certainly have figured it out for themselves already. Neither does being critical of the genocidal policy of Israel make an anti-Semite out of me, even though a bunch of self-appointed morons might say so. Usually, the argument of having a GI great-uncle and an Hebrew name is enough to calm moods (that just shows how that is). But as regards hopeless cases, I'm totally helpless. Sorry, not vibrating at the same frequency range.

Following the Israeli model for blocking entry of anyone who can even be broadly construed as supporting a boycott, the United States now also believes it should deny admittance to anyone who is critical of US government policy, which is a reversal of previous policy that considered political opinions to be off-limits for visa denial. DHS, acting in response to pressure from the White House, now believes it can adequately determine hostile intent from the totality of what appears on one’s phone or laptop, even if the material in question was clearly not put on the device by the owner. In other words, if a traveler has an email sent to him or her by someone else that complains about behavior by the United States government, he or she is responsible for that content. (Source)

Then if I don't get a ban for life — and the next ones...

Ey@el

American liberals and progressives talk a bit about white privilege, male privilege, straight privilege etc, but one thing I never hear them talk about is American privilege: the ability their nationality gives them to have a relationship with this world that the rest of us do not have.

American privilege is reassuring yourself that there are problems enough at home without worrying about the trillions your government’s war machine is spending terrorizing the world and encircling the planet with military bases.

American privilege is reluctantly allowing the potential Commanders-in-Chief to have an eight-minute conversation about foreign policy in your presidential primary debates, when your country’s military policy functionally dictates the affairs of rest of the world.

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© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

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The Science of Homeopathy

At the end of an excerpt of a conference I had transcribed for you about four year ago, Kevin Trudeau described homeopathy as a healing art based on the same principle as the law of attraction which says that “a vibration will attract a similar vibration, like attracts like. So vibrations which are similar always attract”.

And Hahnemann's theory was like cures like, which is the law of attraction, “like attracts like”. It neutralises and cures it.

Often mistaken for phytotherapy because of its heavy use of plants (but not only), homeopathy is first and foremost a wonderful therapy I do not understand much about, but it saved my life and keeps working small miracles wherever nothing else does. Like everyone else, I was initially sceptical, all the more since I had previously been involved with inept physicians who would practise homeopathy the same way as allopathy, namely to each disease its remedy, regardless of every complex factor and individual terrain unlike genuine homeopaths would (an initial homeopathic consultation should take approximately one hour). Also, I was of course convinced that it would take forever until I could hope to get some tangible unpermanent results. So much for the placebo effect, huh!

It's crazy how biases die hard and how brainwashed we are with utter nonsense bordering on outright evil — even though I am now firmly convinced, if not absolutely certain that nonsense is the prerogative of our refusal to acknowledge the evil we're collectively victims of (for a typical example of blatant dishonesty and biased propaganda, check this article on homeopathy on Wikiganda).

Retrospectively, I have moved such a long way up now that I can't help laughing at how stupid I was then. Though the realisation that my past stupidity was nothing compared to the effects of the actual powerful aggressive brainscouring propaganda practised here and everywhere by lobbys and governments alike makes it a bitter laugh. Today, homeopathic drugs are delisted by the French national health service. Next, they will be declared illegal. Why not? The way things are going in the France of the Lord of The Flies, another evil can't make it any worse.

To share a secret with you, homeopathy is so ineffective that all the “top” people rely exclusively on it. Having worked for several years in London next to Ainsworths homeopathic pharmacy, the official supplier of the Royal Family, I have seen loads of celebs including rockstars go in there. You may or may not draw conclusions, but I very much doubt Liam Gallagher would boast about using homeopathic remedies (bet he won't like my little scoop, but well, it's very unlikely that he ever reads about it — as you were, Liam).

Ey@el

For years, homeopathy has been unfairly maligned by the American Medical Association (AMA), FDA and mainstream medicine as a worthless placebo that lacks any scientific evidence of effectiveness.

If you listen to these aggressive mainstream critics, you would never know that homeopathy was originally a well-accepted medical practice taught in medical schools, which conferred degrees in the specialty. There were even homeopathic hospitals and the practice was supported by governments and influential leaders.

Homeopathy was developed by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German physician to the royal family, who was appalled at the traditional medical practices of his day, such as bloodletting and the administration of mercury and arsenic that did more harm than good.

What began Hahnemann's inquiries was learning that quinine — the bark of the cinchona tree — treated the effects of malaria by producing a condition similar to it, a principle known as the law of similars, or "like cures like."

The documentary Just One Drop reveals the medical history of homeopathy, its widespread, global usage, benefits to patients and its continued maligning by mainstream medicine.

Read more...

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Animated Foul Weather

Having recently encountered some bugs (now sorted out) with Wine, I've decided to look for alternative solutions to create animations without recourse to Windows software. After all, I didn't shift to Linux only because it's free, but because I wanted to embrace the whole philosphy behind it in alignment with my principles. So I found another way to create animated rain effects without using Sqirlz Water Reflections nor Animation Shop which might not even work with further versions of Windows anyway. This tutorial is the result of my experimenting to fit with the mood of the season.

Rain

Materials

• a picture to add rain to (for this example, I've used a snapshot I took with my phone in a local park)
• GIMP 2.10 (free and open source for Linux/Windows/OSX)

Instructions

1. Open a copy of the image you wish to animate in GIMP and if necessary, resize it to avoid getting a bulgy output file.

2. Add a new white layer on top of your existing image layer.

3. Apply noise with Filters - Noise - Hurl menu using the following settings:

- Repeat = 2
- Randomisation = 50
- Click on New seed to generate new random pattern of pixels

4. Turn layer to greyscale using Colors - Desaturate - Colour to grey menu.

5. Set layer blend mode to Screen.

NOTE: I'm using the new blend modes introduced in version 2.10 which have a different render than previous ones (still available when you click on the switch button on top of the layer palette toolbar).

6. Apply motion blur with Filters - Blur - Linear Motion Blur menu using the following settings:

- Length = 14,68
- Angle = 115

NOTE: You may need different settings according to the picture you're using, but keep in mind that a smaller length may produce a snow effect. The angle depends on the direction you wish to give to the rain.

7. Modify the output of your layer accordingly using the Colours - Levels menu.  Here are the settings I have used:

- Input levels (on the left) = 197
- Other settings left as default

8. You may need to reduce layer opacity (79%).

9. In order to get a softer more natural effect, apply gaussian blur with Filters - Blur - Gaussian Blur menu using the following settings:

- Size X = 0,50
- Size Y = 0.50
- Other settings left as default

10. Duplicate bottom image layer and move it on top of the layer palette. Then repeat steps 2 to 9. Don't forget to click on New seed on step 3 (very important).

11. Repeat step 10.

12. You now have 3 image layers each with a different rain layer on top. Merge down each rain layer with the image layer below. You should now have 3 different layers.

13. Change colour mode for an optimised GIF using Image - Mode - Indexed menu:

- Generate optimum palette
- Colour dithering = Floyd-Steinberg (reduced colour bleeding)

14. Now you can export your animation via the File - Export as menu, choosing Image GIF Image as File Type. Another dialog opens to adjust the settings of you output file:

- Check As animation
- Check Loop forever
- Delay between frames where unspecified = 100 ms
- Other settings left as default

Tada ! Your animated GIF is ready to use.

NOTE: Right after step 1, I've applied an unsharp mask to enhance my picture and before exporting I have increased the saturation of each frame.

Lightning

On top of the rain, I wanted to find out whether I would manage to scare this courageous snail on a blade of grass (apparently his shell acts as a Faraday cage).

Materials

• a picture to add lightning to (for this example, I've used a picture I found on Pinterest)
• Lightning brushes for GIMP

Instructions

1. In order to use the brushes with GIMP, unzip the file you've downloaded on DeviantArt and copy the Lightning folder into the Brushes directory within your GIMP config folder.

- On Linux:
home/User Name/.config/GIMP/2.10 (or earlier version)
NOTE: Config is a hidden folder, so in order to access it you need to activate the display of hidden files.

- On Windows:
C:\Users\User Name\GIMP\2.10 (or earlier version)

- On Mac OSX:
Sorry, I couldn't test on MaC OSX, but you may find it using the Edit - Preferences - Folders - Brushes menu in GIMP. You may also add another location (whatever your operating system) to store your additonal brushes, which I find much more convenient.

Restart GIMP to load your new brushes.

The approach for adding lightnind effects is similar to rain effects, though with less manipulations:

2. Duplicate the layer of your original picture 3 times in order to have 4 identical layers.

3. Add a new transparent layer above each picture layer (except the first one at the bottom of the layer palette) set to Vivid light mode (only available as from version 2.10).

4. On each transparent layer, apply a different lightning brush using the brush tool  (with white colour) on different places using the following settings:

- Size = you need to adapt to the brush you're using and the size of your picture
- Aspect ratio = 0
- Angle = 0
- Spacing = 25
- Hardness = 100
- Strength = 50
- Dynamics = Dynamics Off

5. As for the rain effect, merge down each lightning layer with the image layer below to get a total of 4 different layers.

6. Repeat indexed mode.

7. Instruct animation by renaming the frames as follows and in the same order:

4 (200ms)
3 (200ms)
2 (200ms)
1 (600ms)

8. Export as GIF image using previous settings.

The Foul Monty

After electrifying the snail, I wanted to wash the Trocadero Plaza clean of all those intrusive tourists with mucho rain and thunder.

Materials

• lightning brushes
• a picture to add rain and lightning to (for this last example, I have used a picture I also took with my phone)

Instructions

The last effect is a combination of both rain and lightning. The only complexity lays in  the laying out and merging of layers.

1. Create a rain effect using 3 layers as explained above.

2. Rename the three merged layers starting from the bottom of the layer palette:

rain 3 (100ms)
rain 2 (100ms)
rain 1 (100ms)

3. Add 2 new different lightning layers (blend mode set to Addition) on top of existing layer and DO NOT merge.

lightning 2
lightning 1
rain 3 (100ms)
rain 2 (100ms)
rain 1 (100ms)

4. Then duplicate each of the rain layers and arrange them as follows:

lightning 2
lightning 1
+ rain 3#2 (100ms)
+ rain 2#2 (100ms)
+ rain 1#2 (100ms)
rain 3 (100ms)
rain 2 (100ms)
rain 1 (100ms)

We now have a 600ms rain cycle.

Let me explain how it works: for the rain effect, each frame will be displayed for 100ms for a 300ms cycle; for the lightning effect, we need two 300ms cycles of rain frames, that is 600ms plus 200ms for each lightning frame. We shall have to combine both effects (rain only, rain + lightning) by duplicating and merging a lot of layers.

5. Now, duplicate each lightning layer (on the top of the layer palette) once and arrange as follows:

+ lightning 2#2
lightning 2
+ lightning 1#2
lightning 1
rain 3#2 (100ms)
rain 2#2 (100ms)
rain 1#2 (100ms)
rain 3 (100ms)
rain 2 (100ms)
rain 1 (100ms)

6. Duplicate and place a different rain layer under each lightning layer de so as to merge them down:

↓ lightning 2#2
+ rain 1#4 (100ms)

↓ lightning 2
+ rain 3#3 (100ms)

 ↓ lightning 1#2
+ rain 2#3 (100ms)

↓ lightning 1
+ rain 1#3 (100ms)

rain 3#2 (100ms)
rain 2#2 (100ms)
rain 1#2 (100ms)
rain 3 (100ms)
rain 2 (100ms)
rain 1 (100ms)

7. Merge down each lightning layer with the rain layer below. You should have this:

lightning 2 + pluie 1 (100ms)
lightning 2 + pluie 3 (100ms)
lightning 1 + pluie 2 (100ms)
lightning 1+ pluie 1 (100ms)
rain 3#2 (100ms)
rain 2#2 (100ms)
rain 1#2 (100ms)
rain 3 (100ms)
rain 2 (100ms)
rain 1 (100ms)

We now have a 600ms rain cycle, and two different 200ms lightning- rain cycles while the rain cycle within the lightning cycle is still 100ms  (sorry if I lost you on the way).

8. Apply indexed mode.

9. Export as GIF image using previous settings.

That's it. I hope you enjoyed these lengthy tutorials and that you won't find them too complicated to try.

Best of luck!

© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

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Greta Thunberg Wants You to Be Scared & Big Business Will Make a Killing off It

Another very long article which took me several days to translate in French (while the less conscientious and more concerned about generating traffic would rather use a translation software program — I tested a certain number of these and it was a disaster — this is not the way I like to work, I am too dedicated and put myself so much in what I do to produce smooth and pleasant reading, it would hurt to present you with some shoddy work). I wish so much I could have the same mastery of English and offer my non French speaking readers the same quality reading. I also wish I had enough time to translate everything I write in French, though my love of language has raised the challenge a bit too high as most of the stuff I write would be meaningless once translated. Believe me, this is so frustrating.

One special mention goes to the occasional cursory reader, proponent of the single mindset, ready to judge a book by its cover and label me an enemy of the planet (sic) without ever scratching the surface first (and god knows they are many, which, in my own opinion, is actually the real impending disaster threatening this planet), please read this copy-pasted conclusion from the author of the article which epitomises my personal view of the environmental issue:

We are not denying climate change, we are simply presenting the evidence showing that climate change has been happening for a long time, and that human CO2 output doesn’t seem to play a significant role at all, and that this is simply being used for profit, control, and to take more ‘power’ away from the people and put it into the hands of politicians and the global financial elite. This is not about the planet.

To these people, I won't tell what they could figure out for themselves by going through the trouble of digging in (rather than wasting so much energy denigrating on the basis of misconceptions and unfunded arguments), namely that individually, I probably do much more for the planet than they who spend their time lecturing others. Should we do a carbon count, I'm not sure their ego would enjoy the comparison! Fortunately, we're not that dumb — at least, I am NOT — I have enough on my plate dealing with my own ego which even though better mannered still can be quite challenging at times ;)

Coming back to the topic at hand, as Tatiana Ventôse rightly points out in a video (in French) entitled "What's wrong with Greta Thunberg?", we have good reasons to question the many strange facts “in her path to notoriety, in the way and speed with which she found herself propelled to her role of prophetess of doom, foretelling our imminent death from summit to summit, unless we start panicking [...] It would appear she is being sold to us as another manufactured commercial product targeting those who are quite concerned about global warming.”

Tatiana also explains how she browsed through the comments below articles dealing with Greta Thunberg:

The least you can say is that she raises many questions. It would be too easy to argue back that Greta Thunberg critics are all offensive haters and climate sceptics. All in all, abusive posts are common place on the Internet, but what I mostly saw were comments such as ”poor girl”, “irresponsible parents instrumentalising their diseased child”.

What I've read raised more doubts than anything else, not so much raising doubts about the reality of the environmental crisis or even challenging the genuineness of Greta as an activist, but raising question marks about the way this kid suddenly, magically ended up attending every international climate summit and making grand speeches and having her picture taken with the worst enemies of the planet.

Tatiana has also released two more videos (in French) about the political hijacking of environmental issues:

- Greta Thunberg - When Hysteria Overcomes Debate
- Macron's Strategy to Hijack Environmentalism

And as part of the climate issue that emerged as the natural focal point of most of my posts this month, stay tuned for more related articles in the upcoming days and weeks.

Ey@el

Eva Bartlett spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and occupied Palestine, where she lived for nearly four years in becoming one of the world’s most prominent journalists. Scrolling through her twitter feed reveals thought-provoking messages that can really help us further our understanding about what’s really happening on our planet, especially with regards to geopolitics.

Her posts are heavily censored by social media giants and search engines like Google because the information directly opposes fake narratives that are constantly spewed by mainstream media at the behest of their puppet masters, among them the Western intelligence agencies. A great example would be what’s happening in Syria, as many of her posts greatly expose networks like CNN and the BBC for reporting and spreading information that is completely fake. She backs up her tweets with proof and credible sources, not to mention that she goes directly to the places where she reports from.

She isn’t the only one. Several insiders have joined the quest for truth. For example, William Arkin, a longtime well known military and war reporter who is best known for his groundbreaking, three-part Washington Post series in 2010 has gone public outing NBC/MSNBC as completely fake government run agencies. You can read more about that here.

Then there is Riam Dalati, a well known BBC Syria producer who recently put out a tweet stating that the supposed gas attacks in Douma were “staged.” You can see that and read more about it here.

Read more...

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Rain

I am not particularly fond of rain, but I agree that allowing the weather outside (about which we cannot do much if not nothing at all) to affect our inner sunshine is not very constructive and I 'd rather follow Gene Kelly's example and go singing and jumping in puddles (preferably equipped with my rain gear and boots). For, after all, “when it rains or shines, it's just a state of mind”.

Furthermore, I never decide on the topics of my posts. They come to me. On my recent birthday (which I incidentally share with the late John Lennon), I had this lesser-known Beatles song looping inside my head while the weather kept toggling between rain and shine every fifteen minute as if somehow mirroring my mood and the events of that chequered day. Therefore I had to share it with you.

Rain

If the rain comes,
They run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead.

If the rain comes...
If the rain comes...

When the sun shines,
They slip into the shade
And sip their lemonade.
When the sun shines...
When the sun shines...

Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine.

I can show you
That when it starts to rain,
Everything's the same.
I can show you...
I can show you...

Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the weather's fine.

Can you hear me
That when it rains and shines,
It's just a state of mind?
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?

John Lennon, 1966

About this song

Released in 1966 as a B-side of the "Paperback Writer" single, "Rain" was recorded during the session of the Beatles's brilliant Revolver album on which it's not featured.

John Lennon's lyrics were inspired by The Beatles's Australian tour in June 1964 where their arrival in Sydney was marked by rain and foul weather. “I've never seen rain as hard as that, except in Tahiti”, John Lennon would say.

"Rain" is “about people moaning about the weather all the time”. According to writer Steve Turner, it is the first song alluding to spiritual development, to the ability to transcend events, plenty of which will be found in subsequent albums and band statements. "Rain" would also convey a message emphasising the importance of the state of mind you're in.

I, for one,mostly see Lennon's cynical side and off-beat humour starting to come through in his lyrics during this period. And also, maybe, a poke at McCartney's "Good Day Sunshine" that, unlike "Rain", ended up on Revolver.

© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

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The Panther of the Lake

It's almost Halloween. On this occasion, I intended to repost an article by Alanna Ketler about what black cats actually symbolise and had set to translate it in French only to realise afterwards that I had already done so more than a year ago. I did have that impression of déjà vu, but the title of the article was different and so were the website and more recent publication date, hence a search on my blog returned no entry (the embedded search engine on Eklablog is not what I'd call efficient). Come on, you can tease me with this, I deserve it! Wasting hours on a job you've already done is what you call being off with the fairies or completely off radar — there's an awful lot more you could say, but please, don't.

On the spur of the moment, I was quite upset (mind you), then I must have changed a lot of late because instead of raising a tsunami in a teaspoon or indulging in some Calimero whinging (an ancient nemesis of mine), I chose to take it on with humour and without berating myself, I'm bouncing back with this original article instead to roll over Halloween's unhealthy spooky tales (as if the mainstream media didn't feed us with their own all year long).

Telepathy

My story is a quite unusual. Since the beginning of last summer, I got into the habit of spending time by the lake in my neighbourhood to feed ducks and coypus, observe herons and geese, while enjoying the peace and quiet and sunshine (whenever available) to practice meditation and earthing (stay tuned for an article on this topic very soon). This is where I met a black cat, which I've called Panther, who popped up out of the blue one day and meowed and rubbed against me and eventually spent the afternoon with me curled up on my towel by the water. And he did it again the next day. And the day after. And almost every day of the week. No matter what time. It's as there was some telepathy going on.

I think it's actually what happens, because two weeks ago, it had rained a lot and it was chilly. I wasn't sure whether I should stop by the lake on my way back from the physio, all the more since it was unlikely for the panther to be out in such foul weather. Then I felt some urge to take another route and there he was, sitting atop a post as if waiting for me. Meowing loudly, he leaped off his perch and followed me like a faithful dog.

Cuddle Therapy

The Panther is definitely not a stray, he does have owners (who seem to groom him well going by his healthy coat), but unlike most cats, he's very outgoing and in great need of company. I saw him stroking against every passer-by on his lake, playing with kids, and even cheering up some loners like me as if if could feel who needed the most the touch of his magic paw. A lady even joked that he must be a “cuddle therapist”.

Incidentally, it has been shown that cats, and particularly cat's purr, actually had therapeutic effects. In some countries such as Japan or Austria, they have created ”cat bars” where people can come and cuddle cats to release stress. Purr therapy is not a myth. You can even find CD recordings of cat purr for those who can't keep a pet at home. Though, in my opinion, there is more to the healing effect than just the purring.

Inspiration

It's funny how everyone seems to think he is my cat and compliments me on how lovely he is. We must look like we belong to each other. Which we don't. We have no ties of sorts, but we're bound by some kind of tenderness. Thanks to him, I now meditate on a regular basis, I take the time to do nothing, and I'm feeling so much better. I'm becoming more inspired, more tolerant and more positive.

And you know what: the panther is scared of fish! Not only does he steps back when an angler waves a fish under his nose (before carefully putting it back to the lake), he literally runs off whenever some carp leaps out like a dolphin. Luckily, there are no sharks nor piranhas in the lake — that is as far as I know. Oops!

© La Pensine Mutine. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.

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