Lian's favorite articles

Back in 2009 (only ten years ago as I write this) I had a "fold-up" mobile phone. I bought it to make telephone calls - the obvious reason. Then I found that I could also send text messages and that it had "predictive text" (which almost invariably produced results that were risible). It also had a built in camera. There is an old photographic saying that "the best camera is the one you have with you". That's true enough, if the alternative is no photo at all and, clearly, the phone mak…

Calme du soir Sens-tu comme est proche la Réalité? Elle respire là, tout près, dans les soirs sans vent. Peut-être se montre-t-elle lorsque personne ne s'y attend. Le soleil caresse la pelouse et les pierres. Dans son jeu silencieux se cache l'esprit de vie. Jamais il n'a été si présent que ce soir. J'ai rencontré un étranger taciturne. Si j'avais tendu la main, j'aurais pu effleurer son âme, lorsqu' à pas furtifs, nous nous sommes croisés. ( Ivan Ivarson-public domain…

(©Fan Ho) Un jour de grand beau temps, un ciel sans nuages. L'éclat et la profondeur de la voûte céleste te laissent muet d'admiration. En bas, un village isolé avec ses maisons sur pilotis appuyées à la falaise, tel un essaim d'abeilles accroché à un rocher. C'est un rêve, tu tournes en rond, au pied de la montagne, sans trouver le moindre sentier pour y aller. Tu as l'impression de t'approcher du village, en fait, tu t'en écartes. Ces allers-et-retours te prennent du temp…

(Her study) Fan Ho ( Ho Fan/ 何藩 ) photographe chinois, metteur en scène /acteur né en 1937 à Shanghai, émigré à Hong-Kong (lines and shadow) (Windows and shadows) (Lonely stroll) (Approaching shadow) Source for above photos:: regardintemporel.tumblr.com (Boat girl) (Dying sun) (Ferry) (Floating life) (My dad and I) (life in slum)…

What can one say when terrorism seems to rule the day? Where are the leaders who can do something about this? Is there no one who can stop terrorist groups like ISIS in it's tracks? My heart grieves for the citizens and tourists who lost their lives during another senseless act of terror in Nice, France. I am sick of crying and sick of being angry and helpless at seeing the bad guys win all the time. We must put a stop to this madness, or civilization as we know it will cease to exist.

In his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples , Winston Churchill wrote: Every nation or group of nations has its own tale to tell. Knowledge of the trials and struggles is necessary to all who would comprehend the problems, perils, challenges, and opportunities which confront us today... It is in the hope that contemplation of the trials and tribulations of our forefathers may not only fortify the English-speaking peoples of today, but also play some small part in uniting the whole wor…

1936 mit meinem Bruder Inhaltsverzeichnis - enhavoregistro table des matieres Gedanken über mein Leben - pensoj pri mia vivo - pensées sur ma vie - thoughts about my life 1932…

deutsch esperanto fr [es] Love a dream Conversation words - feeling Young man - futurologist – Young woman - linguist Hello Hello Nice to meet you Smiles at the woman: Yes – it’s nice that you just came up and talked to me You had a question about etymology, didn’t you? How do you know - yes – I’ve been thinking about this a long time. I would l…

When my brother, Don called me to let me know the temperature in NYC had dropped to –1º F, I had just left church with plans to take a few local photographs. Prior to mass, I had documented a pair of blooming dandelions and several crocuses in the –3º F cold in my neighborhood. Knowing that the temperature had fallen below zero F only a handful of times in NYC during my life (this was only the 7th time to be exact) and it hadn’t done so for a record drought of 22+ years, I decided to race to…

If you're like most people on this site, I suspect you take a few thousand photos yearly. I know I do. I'll be honest, a great many of mine are hardly worthy of a second look, but they accumulate in my computer's hard disk. Maybe a hundred or so yearly warrant that second look. Some, though even fewer, deserve 'historical retention' (for want of a better term). Let's work on the thought that the image of a great sunset, general landscape or flower isn't going to have 'historical retent…

In his “Autumn Hymn,” Richard Newell observed: Soon shall all the songless wood Shiver in the deepening snow… Instead, December 2015 unveiled an entirely different scenario. Large parts of North America, Europe, and Asia basked in unseasonable warmth. In North America, as wave after wave of warmth washed over the Continent, the “deepening snow” did not come and the “songless wood” did not “shiver.” Rather, the verse of Alice Lord’s “Indian Summer’s Aftermath” much better describ…

No doubt most of us from pre-digital days have collections of slides and/or negatives, waiting to receive a new digital rendering. I have been asked what process I use to copy these slides and negatives: here's a short summary of what I do and why I do things this way. Over the years I have owned a couple of dedicated slide/film scanners and, frankly, I was never totally satisfied with the results from them. One of the characteristics of the old slide film, particularly Kodak, was that it w…

2015 has been a dark year for humanity. In January, we mourned the brave cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo who lost their lives simply for exercising their inherent right of free speech, along with others who died in related incidents. Now, as the year nears an end and the joyous Hanukkah and Christmas holidays approach, Islamist terrorists have again inflicted their deadly and barbaric savagery on the people of France. In doing so, they trampled human dignity and the most basic and inaliena…

Back in the late 5th century BCE, Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BCE) said, “When wealth is distributed, the people are brought together.” His words could not be more appropriate in 2015 with the widespread use of social media and smart phones – all of which have bound people together regardless of distance, borders, and time. Today we communicate with each other all across the world and operate on a 24-hour cycle, checking messages and updates thousands of times a day. The “unconnec…