ITT: Pictures and Stories that make you think (srs)(9.4k reps) - Part III

[Mehilove]

I will read later.

[McdsBrah]

Just wanted to say you make me think, Zeus

[luzz223]

Bump for more epic pics

[hardestout89]

[Swolebraahh]

The fungus is called cordyceps and is actually a supplement

Not sure if it's the one that attacks the ant or not
There's a vid on YouTube of it attacking a bullet ant
I'd imbed or link but cant

why dont u post link and someone else can embed for you

[BalkanPrince]

"Yurt used to live with a homeless Cedar Rapids man, 57-year-old Kevin McClain, in his car. But a month ago he became ill with lung cancer.

Paramedics rushed him to Mercy Medical Center and later to Hospice House. Yurt went to the animal shelter.

“In the transition of moving him over from our ambulance cot to the bed, he told me, ‘I have a dog,’” said Area Ambulance Service Paramedic Specialist Jan Erceg.…

From the day Yurt and Kevin were separated, he asked to see her.…

Kevin passed away with Yurt by his side

[Swolebraahh]

The Old Man of the Frontier Who Lost His Horse

This is an ancient Chinese story, which is well known as a chengyu, even today in modern China.

塞翁失马

There is a very famous Taoist story – I love it tremendously. The story is about
an old Taoist farmer whose horse ran away:

...That evening the neighbors gathered to commiserate with him since this
was such bad luck. He said, "Maybe."

The next day the horse returned, but brought with it six wild horses, and
the neighbors came exclaiming at the good fortune. He said, "Maybe."

And then the following day, his son tried to saddle and ride one of the wild
horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. Again the neighbors came to offer
their sympathy for the misfortune. He said, "Maybe."

The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young
men for the army, but because of the broken leg the farmer's son was
rejected. When the neighbors came in to say how fortunate everything had
turned out, he said, "Maybe."

This is the attitude of a man who understands what is accidental and what is
essential. The accidental is always 'maybe'; it is a 'perhaps'. You cannot be
certain about it, you need not be certain about it. People who become certain
about the accidental are going to be frustrated sooner or later; their certainty is
going to create much frustration for them. Their certainty will create expectations,
and they cannot be fulfilled – because the universe is not there to fulfill your
expectations. It has its own destiny. It is moving towards its own goal. It does not
care about your private goals...

[zyxwv]

‘Do you feel more Arab or more American?’: Two women’s story of being detained and interrogated at Ben Gurion

I am an American citizen. I went to American schools my entire life, graduated from an American university and work as an architect in New York City. Why was this happening to me? It all started with a simple question. “What is your father’s name?”

“Bassam.”

“Okay, please wait a few moments in the waiting room over there.”

Little did I know that my father’s Arab name would make me guilty until proven innocent. A “few moments” would turn into a 14-hour nightmare at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.


Sasha Al-Sarabi and Najwa Doughman
I was hoping they wouldn’t separate me from my friend Sasha, whom I was traveling with. We had been warned about possible interrogations and security checks but were reassured that since we were both young, female professionals from New York City with American passports, it wouldn’t be a problem to enter Israel. It was going be my third visit and Sasha’s first.

Sasha was called in to be interrogated by a bleach-blonde pregnant woman and was led into a small office to the left of our waiting room. Twenty minutes passed until Sasha came out, walking quickly back to her seat.

She attempted to reassure me. “It’s going to be fine. They just want to see if we’re lying about anything.” But she was obviously flustered.

Now it was my turn.

“Najwa, come.”

- - -

“Do you feel more Arab or more American?” she asked. I had answered the ten previous questions very calmly, but with this question I looked back at the security official confused and irritated. She couldn’t have been much older than me—her business attire and stern facial expressions did not mask her youth.

“I don’t know, I feel both. Why? Does this affect my ability to get in?”

She ignored my question. “Surely you must feel a little more Arab, you’ve lived in many Middle Eastern countries.”

I did not see the correlation. I have never felt the need to choose. “Yes I have but I also lived in the US for the past seven years, and was born there, so I feel both.” My response did nothing to convince her.

“Hm. Will you go to Al-Aqsa?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Will you go to Jewish sites as well?”

“Yes, why not? We want to see everything.”

“But you have been here two times already. Why are you coming now for the third time? You can go to Venezuela, to Mexico, to Canada. It is much closer to New York, and much less expensive!”

I realized the conversation was going nowhere. “Right, but I wanted to come back here again. Don’t you have tourists who come back more than once?”

“I’m asking the questions here,” she replied disgruntled. . . .

Rest at: mondoweiss.net/2012/06/do-you-feel-more-arab-or-more-american-two-arab-american-womens-story-of-being-detained-and-interrogated-at-ben-gurion.html

[Swolebraahh]

War is America’s new economic stimulus policy

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Yes, I’m mad as hell again. I just read some bad news that should make every American mad as hell. In fact, two bad news items.

First, as a U.S. Marine vet, I got angry reading that there have been more military suicides than war deaths the past decade. Yes, more Iraq and Afghan war vets have killed themselves than were killed by America’s enemies in combat. And more are expected as we had more than two million serve in the two wars.

Second, if the economic, psychological, political and moral consequences of the past two wars aren’t bad enough, many politicians and candidates — some of whom never served in the armed forces — are proposing that the full Congress pass the Ryan budget and force Pentagon generals to spend billions more than they requested.

This is insane. More taxpayer money for the Pentagon war machine? Why? We’re winding down two wars. We’re dealing with the tragedy of vet suicides. These same politicians whining about the debt and taxes. So why do they want to increase Pentagon spending? Do we love war that much? Are they planning to start a new war? Let’s analyze this contradiction.

Yes, an epidemic: military suicides now exceed war deaths

The effort to increase Pentagon spending was already public knowledge since the House voted on the Ryan budget plan. But what really triggered the anger was a Newsweek feature, “We Pretend Our Vets Don’t Even Exist,” by Marine veteran Anthony Swofford. That put the spotlight on this new crisis, now an epidemic, one few are aware of, fewer care about.

Here are the hard facts: “About 18 veterans kill themselves each day. Thousands from the current wars have already done so. In fact, the number of U.S. soldiers who have died by their own hand is now estimated to be greater than the number (6,460) who have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Wake up folks. Something is wrong in our thinking. From the beginning we were in a trance, pretending the Iraq War would be short-lived, cheap and self-funded by oil revenues. Yes, from Day 1 the Iraq War was handled more like an economic stimulus program.

Remember, after 9/11 we were urged to focus on the economy, to spend, go to the mall shopping. Draft was unnecessary. And thanks to bonuses, we built a volunteer army, backed up by mercenaries, tens of thousands of private contractors.

We even hid photos of war casualties from the public, to sanitize the public’s brain.

War now an economic stimulus program, boosting taxes for investors

Treating war as an economic stimulus program became clear a decade ago in the early years of the Iraq war. That fact was stressed in a Huffington Post interview with Oliver Stone. Ryan Grim said that in a 2004 meeting President George W. Bush said to the Argentine prime minister: “All the economic growth that the U.S. has had, has been based on the different wars it had waged.”

Apparently that same ideology remains strong in today’s election politics.

Let’s put all this in the larger macroeconomic context. War should be about national defense. Wars should have nothing to do with scoring domestic political points. And yet, increasing the Pentagon budget has become a political hot button in today’s election drama.

This is insane: Do politicians plan to start new wars?

[Swolebraahh]

Pavlov's Platoon Holds Off the Nazis. All of Them.

Imagine if Helm's Deep had only been defended by two dozen guys and the enemy crossed the sheer overwhelming math of a zombie horde with the Empire's propensity for terrifying marshal efficiency.
That's what one Sergeant Yakov Pavlov's platoon found themselves facing down in September of 1942. The Nazis were pushing into Russia as part of the biggest military operation in the history of the human race, and everything was about to come to a head in the city of Stalingrad with a battle over a single bombed-out apartment building.

Pavlov and his platoon was tasked with the thankless job of retaking the building after the Nazis had seized it. To get a snapshot of what their mindset was like heading in, it's helpful to know that the assignment was considered an extremely dangerous one by the Soviet Army, and that the Soviet Army's slogan at the time was "die for Russia."

Doing the quick math, Pavlov realized his only chance was to throw his whole platoon into the meat grinder, and hope that the speed with which they passed through left at least a few alive. He lost all but four men in the assault, but eventually his plan worked and they took the building. Had they known they were dealing with a man who considered four people surviving a success, the Nazis probably would have realized that they were in for some serious ****. Having barely enough survivors to outfit a respectable zombie movie, Pavlov could only station one soldier to each floor. However, the drop-dead gorgeous line of sight it offered was enough for them to unleash a mountain of unholy hell against all Fascist comers.

The building was subjected to relentless fire--as were the civilians huddled in its basement--but Pavlov's unit held out long enough to be reinforced by a still-tiny 25 men. Not a wizard, but it was all they needed. His men were given machine guns, rifles, mortars, barbed-wire, anti-tank mines, some body armor and a PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle which Pavlov personally used to snipe a dozen tanks from the rooftop. They basically used what little equipment they had to convert the apartment into a goddamn anti-Nazi death machine that could annihilate whatever came at it from a kilometer in every direction.
As long as everyone conserved their ammo and manned their posts, the only real danger posed to the building came from flamethrowers. Fortunately, with legendary snipers like 19-year-old Anatoly Chekhov on the top floor, this usually resulted in a Viking funeral for the Nazis.
Wave after wave of the German army hammered the building. And died.
Later, Pavlov's men could boast that they killed more Germans defending their one building than the French killed in the entire fall of Paris. And unfortunately for French egos, they were still alive to boast--by February 2 the next year, the Battle of Stalingrad was over. Pavlov was named a Hero of the Soviet Union, and the building he defended was made into a monument.

[Swolebraahh]

^

The case of a freelance photographer in Iraq who was barred from covering the Marines after he posted photos on the Internet of several of them dead has underscored what some journalists say is a growing effort by the American military to control graphic images from the war. Zoriah Miller, the photographer who took images of marines killed in a June 26 suicide attack and posted them on his Web site, was subsequently forbidden to work in Marine Corps-controlled areas of the country. After five years and more than 4,000 American combat deaths, searches and interviews turned up fewer than a half-dozen graphic photographs of dead American soldiers. Opponents of the war, civil liberties advocates and journalists argue that the public portrayal of the war is being sanitized and that Americans who choose to do so have the right to see — in whatever medium — the human cost of a war that polls consistently show is unpopular with Americans. Journalists say it is now harder ... to accompany troops in Iraq on combat missions. And while publishing photos of American dead is not barred under the "embed" rules in which journalists travel with military units, the Miller case underscores what is apparently one reality of the Iraq war: that doing so, even under the rules, can result in expulsion from covering the war with the military. "It is absolutely censorship," Mr. Miller said. "I took pictures of something they didn't like, and they removed me. Deciding what I can and cannot document, I don't see a clearer definition of censorship."

[img]http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/attachments/f10/149810d1270616644-dead-american-soldiers-dead_american_soldiers_dragged_in_mogadishu_****li a_3.jpg[/img]

[Swolebraahh]

[Swolebraahh]

[Swolebraahh]

Karim Noor Karim, a Major in the Iraqi police, was shot dead by American soldiers in Najaf on the 28th. Apparently he approached a checkpoint on the wrong side of the road.

[Swolebraahh]

Dead Japanese soldier following battle for Iwo Jima during WWII.

Location: Volcano Islands

Date taken: February 1945

San Thomas Prison Liberation

Two emaciated American civilians, Lee Rogers (L) & John C. Todd,

sit outside gym which had been used as a Japanese prison camp

following their release by Allied forces liberating the city.

Location: Manila, Luzon, Philippines

Date taken: February 05, 1945

Guadalcanal

Gruesome severed head of a napalmed Japanese soldier

propped up below gun turret of a disabled Japanese tank.

Location: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

Date taken: February 1943

[jackcraig]

the guy who took this photo ended up killing himself not long after it was taken

[tttzzz]

This photograph was taken by the crew on board the Columbia during its last mission, on a cloudless day. The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots on the right you see are the cities lights.

[Swolebraahh]

xXx...LIKE DIS IF U CRY EVRYTIME...xXx

negged for stupid post in srs thread.

enjoy

[tttzzz]

negged for stupid post in srs thread.

enjoy

this story made me think
thanks OP!

[envied09]

bump for more!!!

[Swolebraahh]

JUSTIN BRANNAN'S LYRICS HELPED AN AFGHAN WAR VET SURVIVE

This is an image of 19-year-old US Army Infantryman Kyle Hockenberry being treated following an explosion that cost him both of his legs and one arm. The photo was taken for a military newspaper, and went on to win photographer Laura Rauch an SPJ award. Tattooed across Hockenberry's ribcage are the words "For Those I Love, I Will Sacrifice." These are lyrics from "Hallowed Be Thy Name," a track from Indecision's 1998 record To Live And Die In New York City.

[Swolebraahh]

Things Calvin and Hobbes Said Better Than Anyone Else

On life’s constant little limitations

Calvin: You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help.

On expectations

Calvin: Everybody seeks happiness! Not me, though! That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world. Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!

On why we are scared of the dark

Calvin: I think night time is dark so you can imagine your fears with less distraction.

On the unspoken truth behind the education system

Calvin: As you can see, I have memorized this utterly useless piece of information long enough to pass a test question. I now intend to forget it forever. You’ve taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system. Congratulations.

On the tears of a clown

Calvin: Isn’t it strange that evolution would give us a sense of humour? When you think about it, it’s weird that we have a physiological response to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it. We think it’s funny. Don’t you think it’s odd that we appreciate absurdity? Why would we develop that way? How does it benefit us?

Hobbes: I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life.

Calvin: (after a long pause) I can’t tell if that’s funny or really scary.


On why ET is real

Calvin: Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.

[ryrysofly]

[tttzzz]

A successful image is often one that makes viewers think. The mystery of why these six children are peering into the cracks of this "pub" in Uganda is what makes this photo amusing, delightful, and curious. The use of the wide-angle lens indicates that the photographer is physically close, but the children are so absorbed that they don’t notice. The wide angle is particularly appropriate for this shot—it adds quirkiness to the quality of the image.

[DoWorkSon515]

At 9:30 p.m. on August 21, 1986, a cloudy mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water droplets rose violently from Lake Nyos, Cameroon. As the lethal mist swept down adjacent valleys, it killed over 1700 people, thousands of cattle, and many more birds and animals. Local villagers attributed the catastrophe to the wrath of a spirit woman of local folklore who inhabits the lakes and rivers. Scientists, on the other hand, were initially puzzled by the root cause, and by the abrupt onset, of this mysterious and tragic event.

The bodies of those that died were generally devoid of trauma. Most victims appeared to have simply fallen asleep and died from asphyxiation. Many died in their beds. One survivor was Joseph Nkwain from Subum. He was awakened at about midnight by a loud noise.

standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Earth_Changes/08_Earth_Changes_pics/081223.AF.villager.jpg

can't embed, sorry guys

[ScottishBrah]

Thread started well and then turned into a generic military wives tale thread with pictures of dead soldiers. Fuk this thread, bye.

[Swolebraahh]

Thread started well and then turned into a generic military wives tale thread with pictures of dead soldiers. Fuk this thread, bye.

why dont u just post stuff u like brah

instead of just lurking and complaining

[Swolebraahh]

This photograph was taken by the crew on board the Columbia during its last mission, on a cloudless day. The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots on the right you see are the cities lights.

for anyone seeing a frog in an icecube lol

[Swolebraahh]

At 9:30 p.m. on August 21, 1986, a cloudy mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water droplets rose violently from Lake Nyos, Cameroon. As the lethal mist swept down adjacent valleys, it killed over 1700 people, thousands of cattle, and many more birds and animals. Local villagers attributed the catastrophe to the wrath of a spirit woman of local folklore who inhabits the lakes and rivers. Scientists, on the other hand, were initially puzzled by the root cause, and by the abrupt onset, of this mysterious and tragic event.

The bodies of those that died were generally devoid of trauma. Most victims appeared to have simply fallen asleep and died from asphyxiation. Many died in their beds. One survivor was Joseph Nkwain from Subum. He was awakened at about midnight by a loud noise.

standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Earth_Changes/08_Earth_Changes_pics/081223.AF.villager.jpg

can't embed, sorry guys

[Swolebraahh]

Scientists unveil 20 new species ... including a giant blue scorpion and massive hairy spider

For 20 years, field scientists working with Conversation International have been exploring some of the world’s most abundant, mysterious and threatened tropical ecosystems.
To date, they have discovered more than 1,300 species new to science - although so far only 500 or so have been formally described by taxonomists, in terms of classification and naming.
And now, to celebrate their 20 years of cataloguing, the group has released 20 of their favourite finds.
While some - like the fish that flashes a beautiful array of colours when it is in love - make a great sight, others are more than likely to quiver, such as the giant blue scorpion, or the ants which hook on to each other with sharp barbs when threatened.
And arachnophobes - take a deep breath, because this is what is thought to be the largest tarantula known to exist - oh, and it eats lizards.

The giant spider is the Goliath bird eating spider (theraphosa blondi) and is the largest (by mass) spider in the world, reaching the weight of 170g and leg span of 30cm.
It was observed by Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program scientists in Guyana in 2006, where it lives in burrows on the floor of lowland rainforests.
Despite the name, it feeds primarily on invertebrates - but have been observed eating small mammals, lizards and even venomous snakes.
They have venom fangs, which are not deadly to humans, but their main line of defense are hairs that cover their entire body – when threatened their rub their legs agains the abdomen and send a cloud of microscopic barbs that lodge in the skin and mucus membranes of the attacker, causing pain and long-lasting irritation.

rest of the article here...

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/24NXnA/:17IH9dy$K:Y_HSbFXa/www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2155441/Scientists-unveil-20-new-species--blue-scorpion-tarantula-size-hand-got-knowing.html/