Be-UP -New IItalian-made/designed Plaquette Belay Device_2014 Market

Be-Up -By Climbing Technologies, an Italian Climbing Equipment manufacturer.
Introducing their new plaquette Belay Device.

7.3mm ropes
Easier lowering
Less rope lock-up under load

WebPage:  Climbing Technology.com

Hawaiin Kingdom Continuity Trial

A respect for the right of a nation's ability for Self-determination is a something that has kept nations in check for centuries.  And during those centuries, this friendly agreement to agree has also been disregarded when it suits the interests of powerful states.

Examples:

- European Colonization/Imperialism and cultural genocide in the Philippines
- Colonization and genocide of Native Americans, 1st Nations People, and IPs of                Mexico
- Ethnic cleansing and displacement of Palestinians from Jerusalem by the Israeli gov't.
- Colonization and Apartheid in South Africa
- Indonesian brutality in occupied West Papua
- Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
- US invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan
- Russian occupation and annexation of Crimea, Ukraine
- Philippine Gov't and the displacement and oppression of Filipino IPs

Understanding the situation of the Hawaiin people and how it will play out is of great importance, as it will undoubtedly set some precedence for many fronts.

According to the information derived from these videos,
Hawaiin sovereignty movements are based on an assumption that Hawaii is not a sovereign entity.  However, based on the fact that the constitutional monarch had never participated in an annexation but instead was a government overthrown; the Kingdom of Hawaii exists as an occupied nation state today. 

 Dr. David Keanu Sai Phd, Acting Minister of the Interior of the Hawaiin Kingdom, presents evidence for the legal basis of The Hawaiin Kingdom's continuity of sovereignty.  One of his beginning arguments is that under international Law, a sovereign nation whose government is overthrown by a foreign nation does not equate to that nation's existence ending as a sovereign state.  The occupying state must set up a temporary military government to enforce the laws of the state they occupy.
What this all amounts to is this: The Kingdom of Hawaii as a sovereign nation has never ceased to exist, as it was their government that was overthrown.  And because annexation of the nation-state was done illegally by a Congressional Act, after two attempts to annex by false treaty had failed, the Kingdom of Hawaii has been in actuality a foreign country occupied -later absorbed as a U.S. state made possible by propaganda and erasure of memory over generations.

The Hawaiin people are calling on their right for self-determination.
Consider the gravity of the following impressions:

A Native Hawaiin population (kānaka maoli) existing in the U.S state of Hawaii are calling for sovereignty and independence
vs.
The subjects of The Sovereign Kingdom of Hawaii are calling on their right to function as an independent government and for an end to 100 years of occupation.

It is powerfully different.

Making this distinction between these movements is of great importance to the framing of perspective.

 

Part1_Continuity of Hawaiin Kingdom Trial

Part2_Continuity of Hawaiin Kingdom Trial

Part3_Continuity of Hawaiin Kingdom Trial

Part4_Continuity of Hawaiin Kingdom Trial

Part5_Continuity of Hawaiin Kingdom Trial

Native Hawaiins Occupy Palaces Grounds

Defected: Testing Hawaiin Sovereignty_Big Island Video News

 

Big Island Video News documentary five part series covering the controversial foreclosure and eviction of Hawaiin activist Kale Gumapac from his home.  This story is said to be the mark of a pivotal moment in the the legal struggle of the occupied Hawaiin Kingdom.

Defected: Testing Hawaiin Sovereignty -Part 4 of 5
Defected: Testing Hawaiin Sovereignty -Part 5 of 5

Big Island Video News -Archives
Hawaiin Kindom Government Website _Hawaiinkingdom.org

The Hawaiian Kingdom Exists_Hawaiin Voice

In 1843, The Kingdom of Hawaii was an internationally recognised sovereign nation. It was not a colony, nor was it an indigenous tribe.  It was a nation of laws and its citizens were called Hawaiin subjects, which were made up of Native Hawaiins and naturalized races.
In 1893, the first attempt to overthrow the Hawaiin Kingdom took place by 13 businessmen with the backing of US military forces.  A provisional government was set-up and an attempt to stage a false Annexation by Treaty was made before US Congress.  The effort was thwarted by US President Clevlend, yet the 13 Elite did not stand down and on July 4th 1894, declared themselves the Republic of Hawaii, despite President Clevlend's orders.  In 1897, the Kingdom of Hawaii and Her Monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, would face another overthrow attempt by annexation under US President McKinley.  This eventually failed as well after thousands of Native Hawaiin's signed petitions against the annexation.
However, a few days later, interested parties acted on loop-holes in judicial process and a joint resolution was signed and served, leading to the successful illegal annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii  by the United States.

An element to consider:  Hawaii was not an archipelago of united indigenous tribes and kingdoms -it was a world member fully functional nation of laws, that enjoyed treaties and trade relations with all of the major countries of the day.  The Sovereign Nation of Hawaiin Kingdom was annexed by the US for profiteer endeavors and interests.  A Joint Resolution of Congress is not a legal way to annex another Nation.
Hawaii was overthrown.

 ---

The following are short 5-7 minute  videos, lead by Keanu Sai (Minister of Interior, pro tem, Council of Regency of the Hawaiin Kingdom), that present the history and story of Hawaii's overthrow and the state of occupation today.

Hawaiin Kingdom Exists

Filipino BarkCloth_Batak in Palawan?

Batak bark cloth making from GrassrootsVoices on BC Diversity on Vimeo.


The date of this blog post is March 28, 2014.
Finding information on the web about Bark Cloth art form amounst the various peoples of the Philippines, produces little to no results.  Even this video provides little to no information beyond its multimedia content...which is still highly valuable.

March 28, 2014

Lang Kambay Dulay_T'boli Master Weaver and Dreamer

Weavers' Stories: Lang Kambay Dulay (Mindanao, Philippines) from Fowler Museum on Vimeo.
Journey Through Lake Sebu from Ferdz Decena on Vimeo.



Maraming Salamat po  to One-Weave.comhttp://www.one-weave.com/ for developing such a great resource.

Mr. Obama, You are a Rock Star.

That's right.
President Obama as James Bond.
On the front of a package of Black Market Viagra apparently in high demand in parts of Pakistan.

His politics and the dramas of his administration aside, there has been a keen personality-character attributed to this man as the President of the United States.

Even in a comedy skit that pokes fun and serves a critique to some of the things that happen surrounding his politics, Mr. Obama is portrayed as hip and chill sort of dude.
I dig it alright.

Jimmy Fallon_Obama Reads Buzzfeed's 43 Things That Will Make You Feel Old

Mind = Blown


Pakistani merchants use President Obama’s face to sell imitation Viagra-Daily News

Wild Food_Ray Mears

Part1

Part2

Part3

Part4

Ray Mears Biography

Skills for the Desert_Ray Mears

I gotta say, he's good to watch and instructs well.  Good presenter.

Not exciting the way Bear Grills can get exciting, but certainly does not fail to entertain and the information gets across effectively.  Recommended.

Covering:
Food
Water
Shelter
Material
Fire
Hazards

Desert

Military

Ray Mears Bushcraft
Wiki

BLU_MUTO_Wall Stop Motion Animation_Buenos Aires 2008

Thank you, BLU.

A short film by Blu: an ambiguous animation painted on public walls.

Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)

Blublu.org

Pages Matam_ Performing "Wings"

Pages Matam performing Wings.

2013 National Poetry Slam in Cambridge, MA  for D.C.'s Beltway Poetry Slam.

Pages Matam Tweet

"Light travels faster than sound, sound don't talk sun... just shine."

Solvay Hut_On Top of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps

So rad!
Dreaming of Adventure at the moment...when I should be writing reports instead.

Climb all day, reach the 13,000+ ft high cabin and hang out for some coffee and donuts??
Sounds like a dream.
The nice thing about this hut is the Swiss Alpine club keeps it up.  Unlike say, huts in the Sierras where you're likely to find ice two feet thick inside from daily snow melt and nightly freeze cycles in the winter time.

Matterhorn, Hornelli Ridge, Video

Matterhorn, Hornli Ridge, Roy LaChica

So many memories dancing in my head .
Like the time when Pepper Jack invited me to join him on a climbing trip to do a route on The Eiger with some buddies.

I was married at the time and considered it way out of my league. Jack didn't think so, as he said my fitness and current level of experience and skill would be enough with the party he was going with and anyway there were all sorts of routes..."ahhh, we'll figure it out, you know."

Wow.
Sigh.

I day dreamed a lot about it for some time after that, wondering what that would have been like. Going on that trip would have changed the course of my life.  I was just starting to compete on my bike.  Climbed more than I rode.  Eventually, it was riding that took me away from climbing.

Funny, not too long after, I was invited to submit a resume for a guiding company that would fly by helo, tourists and adventurers to the top of high summits in Alaskan and South American ranges; and then lead them down on mountain bikes.
Day dreamed for a while on that one too.

Of course I harbored no regrets.
I haven't been married for almost five years now and today as a vendor rep in the Outdoor Industry, I am for the first time in my adult life, in a position to do wild, time consuming adventures.  However, I seem to have arranged things in a way that doesn't actually support such endeavors.
Got myself all questioning the way I am going about things, yet again.
What am I doing?
Oh yeah!  Important preparations...
I guess this is just another one of those reminders that I should be pretty solid on knowing what exactly I'm 'preparing' for and just what my visions entail.
...and to not forget the nourishment of my soul.

The truth is, I have been on such a long hiatus from a athletic lifestyles, that my body is a little, um, tight.  Gotta take it slow.  These connective tissue injuries continue to present themselves.
Here I am.  Just gotta take it slow and from the beginning.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a...

Check out the links for the original articles here:
Viral Nova
Amusing Planet


And now, a short 6:20 min video a climb on the Eiger's Mittelligi Ridge

Dave Linnett Climb, Eiger- Mittellegi Ridge

Earth Under Water - A Sea Level Rise Documentary

According to this documentary by National Geographic, if sea level where to rise just three feet, 80% of Bangladesh would be underwater, devastating food supply and displacing millions of people.  What would this mean for the Islands within the Pilipinas archipelago?

Earth Under Water - World Wide Flooding and Sea Level Rise

Super-Dams would have to be constructed to protect the Bay from going under...but that wouldn't be the worst of it.  The Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta would be incredibly vulnerable because so much of it is currently at or below sea level -as much as 25 ft below (Spur.org).  The consequences to the food and water supply would stretch great distances from the Bay Area and surrounding regions.
The critical point is that this is a scenario that has enough potential to warrant concern and the stakes are just too high to gamble against.  Isn't it our responsibility to provide for the generations of the future?

According to San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), even if the measures necessary to halt the conditions contributing to Climate Change were taken, certain impacts such the rapid increase of world wide sea level rise is now irreversible.  They estimate that by 2050 sea level will have increased by 16 inches, best case scenario.
What can we possibly do to change our trajectory?  So many still do not take the situation seriously.  I feel urged to determine a sound approach to a "best case scenario" future; a future which has very different variables than I ever imagined would be at play.
Again, the hypotheticals explored in this film only address the consequences of Sea Level Rise.  It does not focus any of the other number of hazardous possibilities human kind faces.
They are cause for at least attention and deserves consideration.
Still business as usual?
I would not bet my family on it.
Even more reason to reassess how the future is approached and just how the role of sustainable culture will play for our descendants.
Strategy not for Armageddon, but for best case scenario...with capability for contingency.


ART Project- Adapting to Rising Tides -San Francisco Community
Sea Level Rise Bay Area, map -Geology.com
SPUR- San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association
Philippines Flood Map -GlobalFloodMap.org
National Geographic
Global Warming Conspiracy Theory??? -Jessie 'The Body' Ventura

Earth 2100_Asking the Question : Is This the Final Century of our Civilization?

Similarities are drawn between a theory for Easter Island's collapse and the realities modern civilization currently faces.

Earth 2100 - A History Channel Documentary aired by ABC.

 A two hour long documentary drama that explores what a worse-case scenario future might look like if the problems we face as a global civilization aren't effectively solved and handled. 
The problems addressed include: climate change, Overpopulation, and Misuse of Energy Resources.

It seems that some viewers had dismissed the film as alarmist.  This wasn't my impression.  The message I got was a hypothetical -yet potential- worse case scenario IF crucial actions aren't taken in time.  Are we/have we taken those steps since 2010?  I don't know as I have not looked further into the status in my detail.
The message came across as more of an eye opener of some very real consequences for a still unwritten future.

ABC News
Earth 2100 -Wiki

More Dakar Highlights-2003

Durability vs. Sustainabiltiy_Dr. Guy McPherson

Very interesting argument.

According to Dr Guy McPherson, Sustainability is a Myth and we should instead, prepare ourselves with a capacity for great durability.
Based on the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, where entropy is concerned, he argues that all in existence goes through a process of creation to destruction, thus decay and end is inevitable.
Endurance is the key.
hmmmm

The Myth of Sustainability by Dr. McPherson

Blog:
Nature Bats Last

Peak Oil_Sustainable Food Ecology and Cornell Lecture_Videos

The Problem -Peak Oil -Sustainable Food Ecology

Peak Oil & Peak Everything Lecture at Cornell

All Expenses Paid..30 years ago

Caleb Hyles- Let it go_Disney Cover

This performance is nothing short of incredible.

At 2:40 can feel my pupils to dilate!


Caleb Hyles-YouTube Page

My Indigeniety vs. Non-Indigeniety Tirade

I read a short article that noted the book, Internalized Oppression: the psychology of marginalized groups.

The Psychology of Marginalized Groups and Why We Need to Stop Hating Ourselves.

This was followed with a film cut of Morgan Freeman making a point on Black History Month 

(which I think people took way out of context).

"...Imma stop callin' you, a white man. And, Imma ask you to stop callin' me, a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace and you know me as Morgan Freeman..."

I was really affected by that.  Truly resonated, but wasn't sure how exactly at the time.  I just knew that I didn't want to be attached to labels anymore, no longer want to participate in being categorized and a slave to life long programs of personal oppression.

 I would like to be free from these constructs that chain us all. I don't want to be "half- anything" anymore. I would just like to be-human and learn to honor all my ancestors as the continuation of them.
 That just goes to show that Race -as a construct- transcends ethnicity. I have struggled with identification of my 'race' as long as my memory goes. I am embraced as brown or even black by ethnic communities, taken for exotic or ethnic by 'whites' and taken for anything but Filipino by Filipinos. And the only reason why all of this non-sense has a anchor deep into my psyche is because of a misconstrued belief of what I should look like. I want to be 'brown', to resemble my Mama and Lolo; But all I would see when I look in the mirror is 'white'...but check it out yo! I am brown! Today, sometimes I see Pinoy, sometimes I see Anglo. Also, realized recently, that though I am not ashamed of my white ancestry, I harbor a certain degree of resentment of being raised 'White'. Taken out of context this will probably sound extremely offensive, I'm sure. It all comes down to these obsolete constructs that lend to social control.

I'm ready to move through this now and find peace. The sooner I do with this personal struggle, the sooner I can be useful to the rest of us.

A day later I read an article about a Kalinga tribal victory against a mining firm's incursion into their ancestral land. This article which brought up the question of indigeniety; one that had has brewing within me for some time now.

I reacted with an inspired post:

 More than 500 years ago, a dominating culture from a far far foreign land, made contact, colonized, systematically subjugated, and then nearly annihilated the indigenous cultures that were native to this continent. Not too long after, much of the same happened throughout the Islands known today as the Philippines. 

The indigenous peoples of this continent are still indigenous and they always will be. One can have indigenous ancestry in their bloodline...a "percentage" over shadowed by some other ancestry originating not from this continent, and, they will still be Indigenous.

So, how is it, that throughout the archipelago today known as the Philippines, in the regions where cultures whose people still live in the old ways have maintained their indigenous identity, while the rest of the Filipinos, who's ancestors, for all intensive purposes, are native to those islands also, are other-than indigenous?

As a so-called mestizo "half-blood", I understand about being a multi-ethnic person. But I'm pretty sure back on the islands of my mother's ancestors, the foreign bloodlines in the mix of the population today are in the minority.
It seems to me that all Filipinos are indigenous by default and there should be change in the way we (Filipinos in the homeland and in the diaspora) position ourselves to our own country women and men.

What is this really?
Indigenous = the descendants of the unconquered
vs.
non-indigenous = the descendants of the colonized?

Fact: Pre-colonial Philippines = No Philippines!

Primarily through the effective tactics of divide and conquer and realignment of loyalties through religious conversion, foreign entrepreneurial cultures of Europe slowly but surely seized effective control over the islands.

These were thousands of islands inhabited by innumerable tribal peoples of rich cultures. They were complex societies and governments, possessed native spirituality, complete healing systems, knowledge of how to live in harmony with the earth and the cosmos, written language, music, art, poetry, native instruments, dances, rituals, myths and creation stories, master hunters, warriors, farmers, and sea farers, as well as established and respected trading with their neighbors.
Complete Cultures.

Isn't this the heritage of all Filipinos?

Don’t get me wrong, I do not take issue with the way things have gone for our human existence. Human beings do what human beings do. I am well aware that I am also the descendant of those ‘colonizing dominating cultures’ at some point or another as well as Pinoy. The way I see it, it is my responsibility to take issue with the results of those who have long passed on and whom I am a continuation of.
Those hundreds of years ago are so far removed; yet I will not deny that my immediate ancestors are the products of a catastrophic clashing of cultures. This is about the here and now, dealing with the process of equalization and a much needed timely reassessment of cultural identification.

I have had the privilege of making many friends recently who know quite a bit on the matter and have been fighting this fight for sometime, and I would love any technical or personal insight, please.

However, to my family, friends, comrades, guests and strangers alike; to any this subject strikes a cord somewhere deep within:
Whether this be sorely familiar, fresh or even the first time that you are being confronted with such a harsh concept of the reality which is the severed connection to the heritage of our own ancestors, to 'Filipino Culture' understood and embraced entirely -I invite you to explore this crucial inquiry with me and let yourself get concerned, annoyed...heck! get irate and up in arms!
In this moment I know I am.
I feel pissed, yo!

Several friends and elders responded with empathy, sentiments, wisdom and encouragement.
The following email with a comrade is where I have left off on the subject.


I've done some digging around after I let me raw thoughts and emotions simmer for bit.
This whole thing regarding indigenous, native, tribal...how have these words evolved in their political context?
Cause really, this is the arena we are playing in, no?
I had to consider a recap of how the trigger was pulled to set me off on that roll...

My '500 years ago' response was off the cuff. Just like raw.  sort of embarrassed actually.. After I cooled a bit, it kinda read like a temper tantrum haha.

It turns out that to be identified and labeled as an Indigenous Group has evolved into a sort of protection measure politically -which I totally advocate.
However, this brings up the greater problem and the root of the matter:  The rotten fruits of Colonialism.

In PI, I can perceive at least three basic sub-groups within Society: Urban, Rural and Tribal.  But ALL Filipino. 
Isn't the Philippines classified as being divided into a vast number of 'ethnic groups'?  If this is the case, then the situation isn't about who is indigenous/non-indigenous, but instead is about dominant ethnic groups and class disparity.  

I feel that this perspective of separation from our "indigenous" roots is fairly new; I suspect like post-WW2 generation new.  And what's further, the demarcation of who is considered indigenous in today's Philippines could be on the verge of total invisibility.  I hope this is making sense...could it be that in an effort to preserve the liberty and sovereignty of minority ethnic groups, those who fight for justice are creating this construct of separation?  Yo!  If so, this is shite!  I'm referring to that rotten ass fruit.  What's more, there is this whole other critical element of authenticity and the question of [mis]appropriation.  I know you feel me on this. 
 I want to jump on board with the 'Getting back to our indigenous roots' as the leaders at the conference [talk about], but I just don't know how we can with all the political loop holes.  

The Baybaylan approach I resonate with very much. What's more, because spirituality stands to transcend politics, there is a high chance of sustainability as a movement.  But again, there is a critical need for authenticity and a great degree of credibility.  If this movement is going to go anywhere, I imagine it must always maintain a balance.  I fear it could easily fall short of its potential if it is ever dismissed as a movement of "New Age Asian Hippies."  Of course I am referring to Baybaylan as the legitimate inheritance of all Filipinos no matter their ethnic dominance or the condition of their societal structure and/or class.   I suspect that a path of consistent academia and professionalism could be enough to assure preservation. To be embraced "mainstream" could effectively bypass any of the side effects that come from defining who is indigenous -and therefore who is not-  in order to protect the rights of those who are in the extreme political minority.


  You know, I remembered today that my Momma, when talking about the "tribal people" when I was growing up...she never referred to them as such, nor as indigenous, natives or 'indians'.  She would just say: mountain people, primitive people.  But they were still Filipinos.  She always had a very strong reaction to the subject and beyond these derogatory dismissals, she refused to talk anymore on the subject of ethnic minority groups . As a child, she received a lot of abuse because of the darkness of her skin.  There are many pieces to our family story between her and my Lolo that have gaps that need filling.  In 2015, I plan to dig up all that I can when I return to the Islands (haha since I was 4y/o)  

The whole thing's incredible, how we are all a part of this piecing back together what was taken apart  hundreds of years ago.  

[My Friend], I have truly appreciated connecting with you.  Maraming salamat!

  

--


That was my tirade. I'm learning and pray I will always remain learning.

What's next?
I've been invited to have tea to discuss the topic and concern with one of the elder kapwatids.