ON AN ISLAND, PART 2: EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS

So our first stop was Tap Mun (a.k.a. Grass Island), located in the northeastern part of the territory between Mirs Bay and the North Channel.

Here’s what it looks like.



A bit standard-issue for outlying islands – old buildings, a Tin Hau temple and boats. The center-right pic is Balanced Rock, which is on the other side of the island from the village and temple. Somewhere in the upper-center pic – the tall building – is where we had a pretty good seafood lunch.

All up it was a pretty good hike, though it was offset when, walking along the forest path, I noticed some of the tourists photographing some tree branches and I stopped to look at what was so fascinating about these branches. Turned out it wasn’t the branches they were interested in, but the spiderweb manned by a spider the size and span of a regulation NFL football.

That’s when I noticed all the OTHER spiderwebs.

And me with my arachnophobia. Ha ha. I dealt with it okay – I kept my eyes firmly on the path in front of me after that.

Not pictured (but included in the Photobukkit set) is the island’s only school, which closed down years ago after the headmaster left when his only student graduated.

Also not pictured (not explicitly) is the cowshit. The grassy part of the island is covered in it. Don’t ask me where the cows were. Maybe they had Father’s Day off.

Tomorrow: The rocks of Tung Ping Chau!

I am sailing,

This is dF

ONLY TERRORISTS PROTEST THE GOVT

ITEM: Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity?

Select the correct answer and then click Check Your Answer.

O   Attacking the Pentagon
O   IEDs
O   Hate crimes against racial groups
O   Protests

***
The correct answer: Protests.

SOURCE: The Department of Defense Antiterrorism and Force Protection Annual Refresher Training Course

In other words, if you’ve attended a protest – for any reason, be it anti-war protests, anti-Prop 8 protests or even a teabagger protest – you are a “low-level terrorist” as classified by the DoD.

Typo? Maybe. On the other hand, at ISA's 50th Annual Convention ("Exploring The Past, Anticipating The Future"), Stellan Vinthagen presented a paper titled "Labeling ‘Low Level Terrorism’: The Out-Definition of Social Movements".

Abstract: This paper explores current state security tendency to label ordinary protests and opposition as "low level terrorism" or social movements as "terrorist environments" and the political and democratic consequences of such a politics of fear.

Indeed.

Not that you should be paranoid. After all, yr still allowed to protest. And it’s always possible that by “protests” they mean “protests staged by people in specific groups with a proclivity to violence”.

On the other hand, see what they did there?

It can’t happen here,

This is dF

THE MEME INTERVIEWS PART 405: WORDS THAT NEVER WERE TRUE

I owe zen_kitty  a response to this meme:

Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

These are the words she gave me.

1. Writer
Well, obviously. I write for a living (journalism) and I’ve been writing fiction since I was at least 14. My first serious attempt (not counting my horrid attempt to draw comic-book versions of Jaws and The Hardy Boys Mysteries) was a novelization of Galactica 1980 that I abandoned after a page. Two years later, in high school I wrote a whole series of short stories involving an alternate dream world. In parallel to that, I also wrote a hell of a lot of porn. Both were godawful wish-fulfillment fantasies. But there was no going back. And it was really good practice. Especially the porn stories.

2. Sardonic
I am a cynical bastard, yes, and I can’t help but mock the world we currently live in. Which isn’t to say that everything is funny – but I do try to find humor in the madness around us when I can. Otherwise, I suppose it’d be just too grim to deal with.

3. Intelligent
Maybe. I don’t feel that way about 65% of the time. But I do think a lot about things and try to get beyond the simplified version of events that the media presents us.

4. Sensual
Eh? Well, yes. Especially after a few coffees. Not that it’s ever done me much good – a classic case of reach exceeding grasp, you might say – but what can I say? We’ve only got so much time on this rock before we go and I don’t see any point in denying ourselves the earthly pleasures available to us while we’re here. Which probably explains all the sex in my fiction-writing.

5. Bibliophile
True, but with the following modifications:

One: I collect books, but only in the sense that I buy rather than borrow, keep what I like and sell the rest. I don’t go after rare books unless by “rare” you mean “out of print but available in used bookshops for a couple of dollars”.

Two: I do like to keep my books in the best possible shape, and have been known to pass on used paperbacks that were a little ratty-looking. But I’ll make exceptions for things I really really want to read and know I’ll probably never find a copy of that particular book again (Norman Spinrad’s Little Heroes comes to mind).

And there you have it. If you want words from me, feel free to ask, but unless I know you reasonably well, I may not be able to give you much to work with. But I’ll try.

The word is the word,

This is dF