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A picture I took....
Brian
Detroit, MI Moderator
The owners of the building where I rent office space just recently had a brand new shiny asphalt parking lot installed. They tore out the old one, graded the dirt very carefully with a lot of heavy equipment, layed 3-4 inches of new asphalt, one coat after another, pressed it in between layers, and spent many days and nights working on it. When it was finished, it was very nice. Freshly painted yellow lines, smooth black surface, the pinnacle of parking lot engineering.
Fast forward about five weeks to today.
I was walking to my car and I saw this thing that made me laugh out loud. This determined little dandelion weed pushed through 3 inches of freshly pressed asphalt - after being dug up, steamrolled, layered with steaming hot asphalt, pressed, rolled again and again - this little sucker just poked it's green head right through this man made thing. It was so inspiring that I drove back there tonight just to snap some photos of it.
I present to you: My one-shot photo essay entitled: "Impermenance"
Fast forward about five weeks to today.
I was walking to my car and I saw this thing that made me laugh out loud. This determined little dandelion weed pushed through 3 inches of freshly pressed asphalt - after being dug up, steamrolled, layered with steaming hot asphalt, pressed, rolled again and again - this little sucker just poked it's green head right through this man made thing. It was so inspiring that I drove back there tonight just to snap some photos of it.
I present to you: My one-shot photo essay entitled: "Impermenance"
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Comments
"You think you're so damned clever don't you? Well, Up Yours, Man! Signed, Mamma Nature."
Brilliant photo..... Those magazines are paying off....!! Nice one Brian!
Lacking professional lights, I pulled my car up to the scene and turned my brights on
The great cities of Meso-America disappeared into jungle. I look forward to the day when our own cities are undistinguished mounds of earth.
There is a wonderful passage in a favourite book of mine that reads as follows:
"Because we live in such a mind-dominated culture, most modern art, architecture, music and literature are devoid of beauty, of inner essence, with very few exceptions. The reason is, that the people who create those things cannot - even for a moment - free themselves from their mind. So they are never in touch with that place Within, where TRUE creativity and beauty arise. The mind left to itself creates monstrosities, and not only in art galleries. Look at our urban landscapes, and industrial wastelands. No civilization has ever produced so much ugliness."
Having said thus far, when I look at the sheer mechanical and technical artistry of the Engineering feats of Mr. Brunel, and I compare them to the little boxes instant housing estates courtesy of Baratt or Wimpey - I know whose designs I prefer and who my money's on....!!
I would be tempted to encircle the plant in the photo with 9-ft high electrified barbed wire. it deserves a little recognition.....!!
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.[/font]
1792-1822[/font]
I assume this is with the new camera?
Good quality - nice clarity. I love taking nice pictures... although I seldom do
-bf
from what I can tell from the 'photo, it's a wild variety of Sorrel, either Rumex Crispus (dock) or Rumex Acetosella..... but it's definitely not Taraxacum Officinale....(dandelion)......
"Hello! I'm the Forum Smart-Ass! Every Forum's got one - and they're a real pain!!" :wavey:
OK, now you are starting to sound like my husband!
It's the whole "ego" thing that Fede is trying to work on.
I'm sure she used to brown-nose her teachers with an apple (or, so that Fede can participate in this thread.... the Malus sylvestris ) every morning...
-bf
Sorry guys......!
BF... I have been working on myself....
I used to be conceited, but now I'm absolutely perfect....!
See?!?
The camera is a canon eos 300D (digital rebel). I can post the exif data if anyone's interested (nerd stuff). It's not that new anymore - i've had it for about a year and a half.
fede:
I think it's a dock plant. Scientist Federica strikes again!
Every now and then, at the top of my client records sheet (I used to be a shiatsu therapist in my previous life) I would put:
"FSTFU".
This stood for: "Fede, Shut The Foo Up".... I really should take more notice of me....!
Sorry if I come across as a smart-alec darned know all - it's just that I'm a smart-alec darned know all.... or to quote P. G. Wodehouse:
BERTIE WOOSTER "I say Jeeves! Top Hole! You really are a super chap - do you know EVERYTHING?!?"
JEEVES: "I don't know sir....."
I used to have the same reputation in the UK too.... It's just that if I found something interesting, I'd look it up. One one occasion, one fellow mum wondered why we refer to Easter, but talk about the Paschal Lamb. So being the traditional S.A., I told her.
Another time, the same woman, during a converstaion about cars, wondered why "we call it a 'garage'...." and then she looked at me, and said "Damn! I bet you f**king know, don't you?!?"
I do. She now calls me 'Garage'.
*stands in the corner, sucking thumb.* :hiding:
You must be like my dear husband.....he researches every single thing and once he reads anything, he has it memorized. It is amazing. He never forgets anything. He's like an elephant! It is very interesting because our daughter has inherited his memory.
Since my CABGS, I suffer from word aphasia and memory-loss. I put it down, not to the bypass machine (as the docs tell me) but to Universal Compassion which is progressively stripping me of all reasons for pride and vanity!
I took this as something completely different.
I saw it as "no matter how battered down you may be, it is possible for you to come through this beating and reach your potential."
But, then you had to come along and tell everyone that even though you may have made it this far - someone else is going to come around and stomp you down.
Like The Man. Always beatin' us down.
Word.
-bf
Like that argument you had 5 years, 7 days, 19 hours and 27 minute ago? Remember when you said that? HUH! REMEMBER!?!?!?!
Sweet.
Shake your husbands hand for me
-bf
Yep - that sounds just like my husband. He will say things to his parents that he remembers, and they will reply with "I can't believe you remember that. You were only a year old". He amazes me...he is incredibly smart!
Yes, in our relationship, he is the one that remembers every single thing I said in every discussion we have had. Luckily, we have only argued (I like to call them "Discussions"
I'd be happy to tell you, but only if you really want to know.... and you promise to let your husband look it up for himself....!!
For some reason, the 'd' in 'garage' was dropped, but given that the French have 26 letters in their alphabet but only pronounce a third of them when speaking, this should be hardly surprising....! Incidentally, the americans pronounce the word in a far more French manner than the British, who mostly pronounce it 'Garridge'...
Garage or as it was said in sea-fairing days, Garrrr, Rodge -- Garrr! or Arggh! being the beginnings of a martime command of "hey you!" given by a captain, and Rodge or Rodger being slang for the first mate - or rodger as a "place to hide or store something".
So, Ms Smartypants, get yer facts straight before you go posting here.
-bf
Please snap more pictures as it grows!
Thanks. Brian.
Where's my Roundup?
-bf
I see 2 things here.
1) I see the asphalt as the world, with the plant being any of us in the process of reaching or striving for enlightenment.
2) The plant could represent the end result of unrelenting persistance and determination of an individual battling through all sorts of obstacles.
OK OK: Or, it is just a weed that managed to get through the narrowest part of the pavement. (#3)
Palzang
That's like saying you're "just a monk".....!:wavey:
Palzang