Category: Languages

Spectacular Views in and Around Gold Coast, Australia by da-AL

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Best of all Lookouts, Springbrook National Park.

“Best of All Lookouts,” located on the rim of a 20 million-year-old volcano, is aptly named. Australia has more beauty than one can visit in a lifetime. Fortunately for my husband and me, our family there was generous about sharing many sights near their home in the Gold Coast.

From New Zealand’s Auckland / Rotorua / Redwoods / Huka Falls / Craters of the Moon / Waitomo Glowworms Caves / Taupo / Pirongia / Hamilton Gardens — to Australia’s Tai Chi in Gold Coast / Birds Part 1 / Birds Part 2 / ate a delicious meal on the beach / saw wild things and cute things at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary / had fun with Rita Rigby / met the beasts of Brisbane and the beauty there / enjoyed Sydney this much and that much, as well as the purring there! — our vacation was filled with spectacular beauty.

Near Best of All Lookouts is Purling Brook Falls…

Purling Brook Falls, Springbrook National Park.

and this memorable tree…

Khashayar takes a break in a tree while Rita and I look on.

with remarkable bark…

Tree bark: nature is the ultimate artist.

And this great dictionary…

Terminology sign, Springbrook National Park.

Along the drive there, we stopped to admire Hinze Dam…

To stand in the middle of its road.
And to stop and admire the view.

Further along, we took in views in and around Point Danger, where New South Wales meets Queensland…

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What’s the most unique sight near your city?

Guest Blog Post: What to Read When You’re Feeling Super Lazy by Orang-utan Librarian

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Drawing of an orangutan reading a listLove + Compulsion… From as far back as I can remember, I had to learn to read! Once I started, I’ve never stopped. Now I’m writing two novels! Was Orang-utan Librarian reading over my shoulder?…

the orang-utan librarian

Hello again!! Yes, I’m actually posting twice in a week- you’re not seeing things! Oh you thought you’d seen the last of me for this month? Well sorry to disappoint 😉 I wanted to do a great “here’s what I’ve been reading this summer guys!” post- but let’s be real, I’ve not actually been doing much reading. Instead, I thought I’d give you an idea of what I’ve been reading/to give myself an idea of what I *should* be reading.

orangutan listLabels on food packets– ermmm yeah this is one of the things I’m actually reading at the moment- to be fair, it’s helping me practice another language, so it’s not cos I’ve become a food nut and I’m not totally weird (okay I am a little weird but you knew that already 😉 )

Road signs– same reason as above- it’s practice! (also directions probably count here, but…

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Let’s All Drop Labels by da-AL

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Video Still from Drop Labels dot org websiteFirst impressions. It’s hard to restrain myself from making snap judgments about people when I first meet them.

Worse is when I settle for my shallow analysis and end up labeling folks.

We’re all complex, all of us alike yet different from each other, so I doubt anyone appreciates my boxing them into a label. Moreover, embracing knee-jerk categorizing limits me from enjoying all the marvelous aspects of the people I meet as well as learning the really good stuff from them.

Alas, training myself to stop being an automaton seems impossible.

Not so! There’s hope, thanks to this consciousness-raising site founded by a wise new friend. Drop Labels features videos of people discussing how being labeled has hurt them. The site goes above and beyond threadbare definitions of types of labels. For instance, this man has found that he hates being labeled as ‘the man with cancer’ …

Do you label? Have you been labeled?

Alan Campbell with Dorothy Parker by roijoyeux

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1954 publicity photo of Judy Garland: Judy Garland during filming in a drive-in restaurant for her role in the WB film A Star is Born.
1954 publicity photo of Judy Garland: Judy Garland during filming in a drive-in restaurant for her role in the WB film A Star is Born.

Finishing off Dorothy Parker week with roijoyeux’ guest blog post about Alan Campbell, Parker’s husband twice over. In 1955 they wrote the screenplay for “A Star is Born,” starring Judy Garland. During that hysterical knee-jerk McCarthy ridden era (a time we should all look to for lessons in for today), they were black-listed as anti-American for their political views.

Don’t speak French? Click Google Translate at the right of roijoyeux’ post.

More about Alan Campbell here.

Roijoyeux

D’innombrables prodiges du monde du spectacle, sportifs exceptionnels, rois, capitaines d’industrie, scientifiques, politiciens, chefs cuisiniers et autres héros – sont gays ou bisexuels…

… J’ai décidé de raconter leurs histoires afin de montrer aux personnes qui ont été brimées à cause de leur orientation sexuelle qu’il y a des gays admirables dont l’homosexualité n’a pas empêché la réussite…

Aujourd’hui je vous propose un article sur le scénariste et acteur américain Alan Campbell (1904 – 1963).

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Alan K. Campbell (21 février 1904 – 14 juin 1963) était un écrivain, scénariste et acteur américain. Il forma avec son épouse Dorothy Parker une équipe de scénaristes très demandée dans le Hollywood des années d’or.

Né à Richmond (Virginie), il était l’enfant unique de Harry L. Campbell, un vendeur de feuilles de tabac et Hortense Eichel Campbell. La famille de sa mère, les Eichel, étaient des émigrés juifs originaires d’Alsace.

Il obtint son…

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Guest Blog Post: “Princess is Kind of a Bad Ass,” link and comment from LJUBICICAMESOZDERKA

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Snow White gets edited up!
Snow White gets edited up!

Sure this is a reblog — of a reblog! — it’s that good!!! …

Guest Blog Post: “Be Bold be Beautiful Be You,” in lisalemuya’s exact words

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How much do you know about Kenya? One of the zillion things I love about blogging is how it makes the world friendlier and smaller. Here lisalemuya shares about her beloved Kenya …

Be Bold Be Beautiful Be you

I have noticed most of my followers are not from my native country and that’s great having different views from all over the world is a breath of fresh air i get to know a bit of their cultures and they can learn a bit of mine.Here it goes…

I come from Kenya a country on the eastern side of Africa

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we are made up of roughly 42 different cultural communities who have different languages(i know crazy but we manage).This makes us diverse and in a way very accommodating, actually if you compare us to our neighbouring countries we are very cosmopolitan. Apart from the 42 tribes we have various other non natives from all over the world we have expatriates  from all over the world who fell in love with the country and decided to be citizens for good .There is a considerable indian population mostly they came to…

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Happiness Between Tails is Now Multilingual Thanks to Google Translate by da-AL

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Picture of Google Translate button on Happiness Between Tails

Click the Translate Here dropdown menu at the top of the right-hand column of my blog — and voila! — Each post instantly translates into most 90+ languages!

About the only language it won’t translate into is dog language — but my furry loved ones speak mostly with their eyes and tails anyway.

Thank you, blogger Anita, for showing me how to do it with just three clicks!

For WordPress.com

  1. Go to Appearance
  2. Then Widgets
  3. Then add GoogleTranslate to your site.