Mercury in Retrograde

 

MERCURY IN RETROGRADE

Белка и Стрелка

 Belka (Белка,"Squirrel") and Strelka (Стрелка, "Little Arrow") spent a day in space aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Sputnik 5) on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth. ... They were the first Earth born creatures to go into orbit and return alive.

Dogs were the practical choice

"The launch of living beings into orbit was a necessary stage in the preparation of a manned space flight. Research began in the 1940s, initiated by the Ukrainian designer Sergei Korolev. First, they chose between monkeys and dogs. After lengthy discussions, the latter were chosen for the role of test subjects. Dogs were much cheaper, they trained more easily, and they tolerated long periods of inactivity easier."

"The ship with the dogs on board made 17 complete revolutions around the Earth. "Arrow" felt normal, Belka after the fourth loop became extremely restless, fussed and tried to get rid of the fastening elements, which indicated a deterioration in her health. Post-flight analyzes did not reveal any deviations in behavior. It was the behavior of Squirrel that led to the decision to conduct only one-orbit flight with human participation.

Belka and Strelka lived to a ripe old age and died a natural death."

 LINK

North Lawn

 

North Lawn of the White House

While banished and imprisoned by the Ottoman Empire, Baha'u'llah sent letters to the kings and rulers of the world. 

"Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path.

Compose your differences and reduce your armaments, that the burden of your expenditures may be lightened, and that your minds and hearts may be tranquillized. Heal the dissensions that divide you, and ye will no longer be in need of any armaments except what the protection of your cities and territories demandeth. Fear ye God, and take heed not to outstrip the bounds of moderation and be numbered among the extravagant." 

   – Baha’u’llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 188.

"Queen Victoria, it is said, upon reading the Tablet revealed for her remarked: 'If this is of God, it will endure; if not, it can do no harm.'...--Shoghi Effendi -The Promised Day Has Come

Drawing Anguish

 

O Carmel

 

O Carmel

by Rezkanoo

Point Lobos

 

Nine Pointed Star

 

Photograph of a headstone in Los Gatos Memorial Park by Lizzie Fox.

Sierra

Surf

 

Rock Erosion Point Lobos

 

"Whatever their value at earlier stages in the evolution of consciousness, conceptions of physical resurrection, a paradise of carnal delights, reincarnation, pantheistic prodigies, and the like, today raise walls of separation and conflict in an age when the earth has literally become one homeland and human beings must learn to see themselves as its citizens. 

In this context one can appreciate the reasons for the vehemence of Bahá'u'lláh's warnings about the barriers that dogmatic theology creates in the path of those seeking to understand the will of God: 

'O leaders of religion! Weigh not the Book of God with such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is the unerring Balance established amongst men.'" *

*Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, paragraph 99.

Bahai World Centre, One Common Faith (Haifa: Bahai World Centre, 2005 edition)

South of Market

 

SOUTH OF MARKET  1978-1986  

 Janet Delaney

"These photographs...were my way of giving voice" to those who would soon be displaced as the neighborhood became "the epicenter of the 21st century technology revolution". LINK