tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55596252622619895432024-02-15T19:37:15.579-08:00ElifAyiterBlogElif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-81245767067350389512024-01-05T09:54:00.000-08:002024-01-10T16:34:33.972-08:00It is you that makes the picture!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsKe11RpQmcI_hOkasiUkErAF4YlXl-YKmf77JYKbOL1APzkjtWNn1NhLwzzPgMZnVvQxU2cu98jMuje3K1icG-7Bf79keFa7MJ3pB-8-lEcG174WpK06eq7bKOaduL_37W_gZwrm4A70Z_1wb15m4H_ubpvRK1J3t-SY26pGl2RQI9t2KFtl0XffgFY/s1600/18.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsKe11RpQmcI_hOkasiUkErAF4YlXl-YKmf77JYKbOL1APzkjtWNn1NhLwzzPgMZnVvQxU2cu98jMuje3K1icG-7Bf79keFa7MJ3pB-8-lEcG174WpK06eq7bKOaduL_37W_gZwrm4A70Z_1wb15m4H_ubpvRK1J3t-SY26pGl2RQI9t2KFtl0XffgFY/s1920/18.jpg"/></a></div>
And not some artificial stupdity!
<br><br>
Well, let me give credit where credit is due: What this is, is an immensely capable image search engine that has been combined with an image processing platform that is a master at recognizing the searched item and fitting it into a composition by deleting and blending pixels. So, not quite so stupid, after all... Very capable little technician actually. But intelligent? In the sense of being capable of making decisions? Please!
<br><br>
It is a completely new way of making images - that is for sure. Instead of drawing something you write something. So, you are actually writing the picture, not drawing it. But you and only you are the one that makes the stuff. And the output will be only as skilled as you are in translating words into images. Which needs two things: You need to have a very substantial English vocabulary (I do not think that these platforms give quite the same results in other languages, given how the image search that they conduct will search mostly among English language captioned or tagged images <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_used_on_the_Internet" target="_blank"><u>since the English language constitutes something like %50 of the internet</u></a>). And the second thing that you need to know is what is out there in this world - in other words you need that globally fast fading quality: Culture!
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflyKAy_I26Jj14GFdn4D37jJBS7Tm2Of_HlIuMZPadk6VuoOTcjtMm-j_6kDa3jC7uPfyriKEhzaWZ4qjnk0ZpmsYwwWn8y3sIZCPGbsmQOBoq0CQ-9ZddEp49FwSU551CSR6iQi2BQjIPOe7R20vrxobSyPK0Qf6UxaALyXoNIxO3x-u8xGqeupYvVo/s1600/70.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1048" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflyKAy_I26Jj14GFdn4D37jJBS7Tm2Of_HlIuMZPadk6VuoOTcjtMm-j_6kDa3jC7uPfyriKEhzaWZ4qjnk0ZpmsYwwWn8y3sIZCPGbsmQOBoq0CQ-9ZddEp49FwSU551CSR6iQi2BQjIPOe7R20vrxobSyPK0Qf6UxaALyXoNIxO3x-u8xGqeupYvVo/s1920/70.png"/></a></div>
The best way to explain this is to actually quote myself, chatting with <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eupalinos/" target="_blank"><u>Sebastian Willis</u></a> about what he does with <b>text to image</b>:
<br><br>
<i>"Let me tell you how I know that: I know that because of you. If I hadn't seen your stuff I wouldn't have given this whole text to image malarkey even a second thought. Because when one googles "Midjourney" and looks at the images - it mostly looks the same, doesn't it? And quite frankly, it mostly looks rather awful. Lots of orange sunsets for some reason... ;-)
<br><br>
So, it isn't about the platform, it is about your imagination. But also, it is about how extensive your vocabulary is, whether you know the correct terms for things in art history, design history - whether you know "history" in the first place, whether you know geography, folklore, mythology, etc etc... all these things, you know? Whether you know the names of different painting and drawing techniques, different materials, different types of lighting, and and and... And very few people have that sort of cultural grounding and vocabulary which, now that I am doing it, I see that you need before all else. Since the whole thing is text based, you need to know the names of things and you need to know that these things actually exist. Only if one has that "culture" can one proceed to the actual creative activity itself. And there one has to have imagination, of course - which you have in spades, as we all already know. But without the cultural grounding itself (which you also have in spades, obviously) it doesn't matter if it is Midjourney, or what I use over here, the result would probably also just be "orange sunsets over cyberpunk cities"..."</i>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieg1US3wLPu45sxY0kLvwvbosWEytIIWyQWyA1glKjDxoigqXKE0zwZuoV1OX805XQSI-A4ZsUDugeXGtJA1DYvmIj0XVRD4jh2Ck0eZxo-bAzDhm_lbz2iSeCiIhcKsHvWS89WuqgBoPcWERECmTpWwwz7b9Ed1HlVQX-0JY3DrN_39uaK86JzDbE-OM/s1600/29.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieg1US3wLPu45sxY0kLvwvbosWEytIIWyQWyA1glKjDxoigqXKE0zwZuoV1OX805XQSI-A4ZsUDugeXGtJA1DYvmIj0XVRD4jh2Ck0eZxo-bAzDhm_lbz2iSeCiIhcKsHvWS89WuqgBoPcWERECmTpWwwz7b9Ed1HlVQX-0JY3DrN_39uaK86JzDbE-OM/s1920/29.jpg"/></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZbgLUmx2Va8ispoEZ2TfGsZ6fW0M8BrYjgotyZmnd-yTd1-FPMFg3chVJfjfPfFFLagAHDW-rUv8dSZRN_85-cZxOWY2pgIjyry31yWhVxjX01EV9ujzfZReN7EfTsVV5HBxBvaPox-xPtlOmmh71VP6YpFnnpsKQiYFW8VoU2EbC9VjoNcWR4SG434/s1600/01.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZbgLUmx2Va8ispoEZ2TfGsZ6fW0M8BrYjgotyZmnd-yTd1-FPMFg3chVJfjfPfFFLagAHDW-rUv8dSZRN_85-cZxOWY2pgIjyry31yWhVxjX01EV9ujzfZReN7EfTsVV5HBxBvaPox-xPtlOmmh71VP6YpFnnpsKQiYFW8VoU2EbC9VjoNcWR4SG434/s1920/01.jpg"/></a></div>
I have been going nuts with it over the past couple of weeks. Oh, the things one can make! The places it lets one's imagination roam to. Provided that you have an imagination that can do the roaming in the first place, that is. But the way that this thing works is such that an imagination by itself will not get you too far. You need to know the names of things. Well, you need to know that they exist in the first place - and then you need to know what they are named. Material, lighting, color, composition, style and content - you are the one who decides everything. Which means that you have to know what specific materials you can choose from, what sorts of lighting you can bring to bear, what technique should this thing be made in - watercolor or 3D or hyperealistic photography? Carrara marble or tarnished brass? Colors? Ochre Yellow or Aquamarine? Composition? Symmetrical or asymmetrical? What about negative space? Style? Chiaroscuro or Flat Design? And then, of course there is the content, a list for which I will not even attempt to make! All of these things have names. That one needs to know!
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFCK55mfm8-akBJNlsJXpUZ1cEY5EZCQvkkFGAHAgG8ZarsGMD94fBjNGHqyc0iUQM9eFS5uLLAQ38UjYMEYLCeUEtXCO2okx5qvtHwoEz0CTdaQicIoyagXEcR8Q-Qn52Sg72fjMgNMlu2tc8ezbbSpHIA4KLXNmVD09ijqQ4FQyO8IODc96wlbXPz0/s1600/ikebana-table-setting-on-wood-table-with-charcoal-colored-folded-tablecloth--black-flowers-and-twigs--lots-of-copy-space--top-view%20%281%29.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuFCK55mfm8-akBJNlsJXpUZ1cEY5EZCQvkkFGAHAgG8ZarsGMD94fBjNGHqyc0iUQM9eFS5uLLAQ38UjYMEYLCeUEtXCO2okx5qvtHwoEz0CTdaQicIoyagXEcR8Q-Qn52Sg72fjMgNMlu2tc8ezbbSpHIA4KLXNmVD09ijqQ4FQyO8IODc96wlbXPz0/s1920/ikebana-table-setting-on-wood-table-with-charcoal-colored-folded-tablecloth--black-flowers-and-twigs--lots-of-copy-space--top-view%20%281%29.png"/></a></div>
Now, some will use this far more experimentally than I am doing, looking for unexpected results. Sebastian, my guide in all of this, says he is one such. More power to them, I can see what an imagination amplifier this thing can become in the correct hands - or rather at the disposal of the correct brain, because it is true that while you are generating the images you do come across remarkable stuff that emanates from your directives but takes them to really unexpected places.
<br><br>
Alas, I myself am a control freak when it comes to visuality - trained professional designer, you know? Control is our middle name... So, I end up writing highly extended prompts which I keep refining and refining as I make iterations. Which means that this is not exactly a cheap indulgence. While the basic fees for most of these platforms sound reasonable at first glance, this is actually an expensive thing to do, since in order to get the perfect result you need to make lots and lots of iterations of the one image that you are after and the prompts for these iterations get bought separately. So, you will see someting like 500 prompts for $5 (which comes on top of your basic subscription) and think that this is no big deal. Well, let me tell you - it is a very big deal actually! 500 prompts is what I sometimes use for a single image, sometimes even more. Luckily, I have had this premium subscription at Freepik for years to use for teaching resources. And they have developed an excellent text to image editor that lets you generate high quality, high resolution images and they give premium users 4000 prompts per day. Each prompt generates 4 iterations, so that is 16000 images. Have I ever used all 4000? Not yet, but I have come perilously close.*
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBnFZW-4V4XMZG3nShvzOJ1mnhQ-qsZDrivuwYvMwYTdrmAeCOD2yk8zDkRB2ivuuQRZTtPcm6jFtnlLRL2nFRvyauYu7-R6DIkj0WMENw9t_C3OcGQX0tyiJ-8A_jt8Kslom312QYSChyphenhypheniX6E9gShYZmspzrTss7ZMGwwJb2yTcHw7MkcOesF0Ekes8o/s1600/39.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBnFZW-4V4XMZG3nShvzOJ1mnhQ-qsZDrivuwYvMwYTdrmAeCOD2yk8zDkRB2ivuuQRZTtPcm6jFtnlLRL2nFRvyauYu7-R6DIkj0WMENw9t_C3OcGQX0tyiJ-8A_jt8Kslom312QYSChyphenhypheniX6E9gShYZmspzrTss7ZMGwwJb2yTcHw7MkcOesF0Ekes8o/s1920/39.jpg"/></a></div>
I am reaping the full benefits of being a "thingmaker" here: Not ever having been hampered by things like styles or missions or statements, I do whatever comes into my head. So, my old idol Rachel Ruysch, in whose honor I even made an avatar outfit in SL, gets to go to Venice - a place where she would never have been, never having traveled outside of the Netherlands, as far as I know. A medieval book of hours ends up becoming a habitat for small creatures hiding among thistles. I make bestiaries and paper cut cities, go back in time to 1932 where it seems to have rained a lot, cats sit in fishbowls and a fox and a frog enter an unlikely marriage from which emerges a FoxFrog. I am not a good tale maker, my imagination always works in single frames somehow, but I wish someone would make up a tale for the FoxFrog... Mushroom houses, bonsai mushroom forests, bisque porcelain figurines (both human and feline) to live in a Fragonard type garden.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdCQVrENV1Ub8AVV9QSQ8tocX9zSjM5X0Fdm9ytF2TbQ98mBumdOCoc3kLm-GpPYmVkQcEAgTGOHdIL0Lawmtq7sqyas1Mxtq-szgmWMhkJ7jQfUZZYDUYUop1T_NCbfZGBwrfO0X-BqBMfSD1L2fQZtCMggpTDu9Qcl38jANdnVm7oWMQ0rHCWXaDT8/s1600/22.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdCQVrENV1Ub8AVV9QSQ8tocX9zSjM5X0Fdm9ytF2TbQ98mBumdOCoc3kLm-GpPYmVkQcEAgTGOHdIL0Lawmtq7sqyas1Mxtq-szgmWMhkJ7jQfUZZYDUYUop1T_NCbfZGBwrfO0X-BqBMfSD1L2fQZtCMggpTDu9Qcl38jANdnVm7oWMQ0rHCWXaDT8/s1920/22.png"/></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcK7eZupdOzE2IpCvEB3ZU5LtDhOFJVu4W5rV9-WdtGpgohTIKwDsT6zYdwFWhGb5pxVUYMc-OH3eTjtxwDuPoGl5YxycB35eEG8iZz7mnT-OO7LnZDxr5okwhZH2EJGXHiIF6wyegzsHKI16JONiUDG6A-dwg0wezOpNMpjxFFc9mEtNhEXo9nnHA8Y/s1600/28.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcK7eZupdOzE2IpCvEB3ZU5LtDhOFJVu4W5rV9-WdtGpgohTIKwDsT6zYdwFWhGb5pxVUYMc-OH3eTjtxwDuPoGl5YxycB35eEG8iZz7mnT-OO7LnZDxr5okwhZH2EJGXHiIF6wyegzsHKI16JONiUDG6A-dwg0wezOpNMpjxFFc9mEtNhEXo9nnHA8Y/s1920/28.jpg"/></a></div>
But then, when I want a change of pace, I also make some rather slick stuff with a view to sell it commercially as designer resources on design resource portals - I have even applied to a few of them. Product placement shots, food still lives, home interiors - all very hardcore commercial imagery. It is a lot of fun to make these, and if I can pull it off, the extra income wouldn't go amiss either, of course.
<br><br>
But regardless, of how I go, I come back to the same point. As far as I can see, you cannot really do much with text to image unless you have the cultural grounding that has given you the vocabulary that will allow you to find stuff through the search engine. If it is design resources - then you better know all the terminology for product shots as well as their usage, or what one should look for in interior design shots or food photography. That there is such a thing called "copy space" that is vital for the poor soul who will buy your image and use it somewhere. And as for all the other stuff - how could I make any of it, if I didn't know about medieval bestiaries, books of hours and Rachel Ruysch? Or that the architecture of the 1930s was called Art Deco. Or mushroom houses? Or not yet told foxfrog tales. Would I ever even think of such a thing if I didn't know Grimm's Fairy Tales? Where there are no foxfrogs of course, but all the things that then lead one to foxfrogs...
<br><br>
And you can see some of what I concocted so far here: <a href="https://www.trivialthingies.com/portfolio" target="_blank"><u>https://www.trivialthingies.com/portfolio</u></a>
<br><br><hr />
* Yes, I know that there are also platforms out there, such as Adobe's Firefly for example, that let you make unlimited prompts for free. For how much longer will Adobe let people get away with that, I wonder? But the problem for me is that these platforms (including Firefly) do not have the overall image quality that I am after, and also they only let you download medium sized images.Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-86328685537020667282023-05-04T11:05:00.008-07:002023-05-04T11:44:17.311-07:00The History of Visual Communication - my "old" pride and joy...<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwi7409bwxKpt_uUFg1Pzhtd1vhkBP1a45no39aF20liAkmjQXa17hZiLZtMim8DTxE2TSllq_HeBbcX8eAi4Muf8X_wYfjCqFeMrACEiyNyn9gjPBgfmqEROY6jiUDqQ_q7MCC5tubDudYQqn3e743DGEpOggFLRbSGxEEzbKdYREHCSFGhUAHURW/s1920/hist-vis-com-blog.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1053" data-original-width="1905" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwi7409bwxKpt_uUFg1Pzhtd1vhkBP1a45no39aF20liAkmjQXa17hZiLZtMim8DTxE2TSllq_HeBbcX8eAi4Muf8X_wYfjCqFeMrACEiyNyn9gjPBgfmqEROY6jiUDqQ_q7MCC5tubDudYQqn3e743DGEpOggFLRbSGxEEzbKdYREHCSFGhUAHURW/s1920/hist-vis-com-blog.jpg"/></a></div>
Just got a massive face-lift.
<br><br>
<a href="https://www.historyofvisualcommunication.com" target="_blank"><u>https://www.historyofvisualcommunication.com</u></a>
<br><br>
This has been around for a very long time. Initially it was under my old website, as a sub site. Then when I closed down that site and started my current site I decided to make a whole separate website for this. The reason was that for some inexplicable reason the sub-site on my old website had become extremely popular internationally. And very suddenly at that. I was dumbfounded when I realized this because I had only put together the site as teaching material for my students, never posted it anywhere, never promoted it. So, I truly have no idea how this happened, all I know is that my hosting service from back then sent me an email telling me that the site was getting so much traffic all of a sudden that I had to update my plan. Which, in the end, I didn't have to - they were actually very nice about it when I told them of my circumstances and how the site had come about, how I wasn't earning anything from it, bla bla bla. But then, in the end I moved my entire site anyway - for completely different reasons.
<br><br>
As part of the move I also made a new design for it, which was sort of OK for when it was made - probably 7 or 8 years ago. But with recent changes in website design, how things have become much wider, images have become much bigger; over time it had come to look sadly old and outdated. I knew it had to be updated but I also knew that this was a big job because it is a massive site that covers the full history of visual communication starting from cave paintings and petroglyphs all the way to the computer age, broken into 10 chapters. And then most chapters also have sub-pages where I also show examples of the culture of that era. So, I kept putting it off.
<br><br>
And also I wasn't really sure if the site was still as popular as it once had been. And I also lost interest, I suppose. But then a friend told me recently, after they had seen the wixtrix site, that I should really make an effort with this. So, I went to look at the stats, and was amazed to see that the site is still getting a lot of visitors. Maybe not as many as it did in its heyday but still enough to make me sit down and think. And then I sat down and did it.
<br><br>
And yes, it was a very big job. 3 of the sub-pages are still missing but I will eventually get to those as well. They all relate to the twentieth century where there is certainly no lack of material. Which is more than what can be said about the computer age, unfortunately. In fact I have been wracking my brain to find some new music, new fashion, some new anything to put into a page that relates to the past 3 decades and - zip. Selfies, maybe? Autotune? So, I am very much afraid that the final chapter of this site will end up having only the one page.
<br><br>
:-\Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-91308950370495054792023-04-23T06:19:00.013-07:002023-04-23T11:08:49.626-07:00Wixtrix - my pride and joy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhef4TJMsLaMIWPwzb-fCjUsBhE8yMuGq1byiLf0248sqaU45gb2zciYs_ZceStt2qxWNGD1z7vLjzU6IhCiJb_GvlbrbHvCQFmL9mTgiknw1fID9jOLgqRY65NAYcB1Fj1pTfLZT-bJc44kjqsPOcL4NTpx8zbbGFjCF6vvjadQw4etUJOXoYOVWIO/s1600/design-1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1821" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhef4TJMsLaMIWPwzb-fCjUsBhE8yMuGq1byiLf0248sqaU45gb2zciYs_ZceStt2qxWNGD1z7vLjzU6IhCiJb_GvlbrbHvCQFmL9mTgiknw1fID9jOLgqRY65NAYcB1Fj1pTfLZT-bJc44kjqsPOcL4NTpx8zbbGFjCF6vvjadQw4etUJOXoYOVWIO/s1600/design-1.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.wixtrix.net" target="_blank"><u>https://www.wixtrix.net</u></a>
<br /><br />
I have been working on this on and off for a year, and now it is finally complete. Or almost complete since I keep finding typos and errors, especially in the Turkish version everytime I look. So, this is a really big bilingual design tutorial website into which I have poured pretty much everything that I know about graphic design.
<br /><br />
This actually started as a series of video tutorials for my web design class last year. Since I was teaching the course on the Wix Editor I used that platform as the basis for these tutorials. But as I kept adding, things went from mere web design to detailed tutorials on things like typesetting and hierarchies and shape usages, visual material usage and how to integrate all this stuff into a design system.
<br /><br />
I am not going to hide it - I am very proud of this. It is a lifetime milestone as a graphic design instructor. And I am also rather surprised that a lot of people already seem to be finding this site via google and yandex searches. Which is especially pleasant since I think I have come to a point where I am going to stop teaching. Lots of reasons for this, but I am slowly coming to the conclusion that it will be better for me to sort of step away and just observe - which is something that I have been doing a lot of, anyway. So, it will be nice to know that even if I am not physically in a class full of students I am still sharing what I know with others.
<br /><br />
So, if you know of any fledgling graphic designers please give them the link where they will also find the drop down menu for the Turkish version - and maybe eventually also a German version...
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-71555916653026676212022-08-13T07:25:00.009-07:002024-01-10T16:34:54.045-08:00I Will Not Eat Ze Bugz<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5Pwt47KhoduM4qIYyJb1So2rw62U7quIPvyOrQIw5pHpF926V1WzbdDvCespflttTSPf_slBdtjUe5tDE6g0-5bV_38TB5U-trwXWNUjM6rrBx62m-OB0keOPiWakg8C2JhwMmloO0FxJdb0YEj7-cMUpigsKm4Ch7asROrpMSqG_HTkiWteg7fA/s1600/bugz-blog.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5Pwt47KhoduM4qIYyJb1So2rw62U7quIPvyOrQIw5pHpF926V1WzbdDvCespflttTSPf_slBdtjUe5tDE6g0-5bV_38TB5U-trwXWNUjM6rrBx62m-OB0keOPiWakg8C2JhwMmloO0FxJdb0YEj7-cMUpigsKm4Ch7asROrpMSqG_HTkiWteg7fA/s1600/bugz-blog.jpg" /></a></div>
A food blog with a twist, assembled by yours truly: <a href="https://iwillnoteatzebugz.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><u><b>"I Will Not Eat "Ze Bugz"</b></u></a>. <div><br /></div><div>And please click on the link and go take a look - don't just read this post here. Please! Because I have spent quite a bit of time and effort on it, finding the dishes, curating the photos and the recipes - and I am sort of proud of the result. So, please go take a look. And if you are a cook, I hope you will find usage for it. Go on - what are you waiting for? <a href="https://iwillnoteatzebugz.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><u>Click!</u></a><br /><br />
All these absolutely gorgeous free food stock photos - they were simply screaming out to me to do something with them. That would be reason number one for this new little hobby. The other reasons, which are actually the real reasons, are quite a bit more complex and you can read them here:
<br /><a href="https://iwillnoteatzebugz.blogspot.com/p/why-i-will-not-eat-ze-bugz.html" target="_blank"><u>https://iwillnoteatzebugz.blogspot.com/p/why-i-will-not-eat-ze-bugz.htm</u></a>
<br /><br />In a nutshell, this collection of recipes is my response to "The Great Reset". Some are things that I like to eat myself, some are things that I have not yet tasted but that sound very good to me from reading their recipes. There is some Turkish stuff, of course, but this is not a Turkish food blog. Most of it is good, solid food that has a tradition; but I am also sprinkling in some "interesting" food - a concept and an attitude to food that I have a lot of issues with, as the above link will tell you.
<br /><br />Not being much of a cook myself I steal the recipes from good food portals, always with links and credits, so that you people can go and explore further on their sites. And I am quite certain that the recipes that I find are good - because while I may not be much of a cook myself, I do pride myself in having a discerning palate, so reading the ingredients and the instructions I can usually tell that this will be something good. <div><br /></div><div>So, I hope you will try these out. If you do, please leave a comment under the food post where you got it from so that I can make changes if needed, based upon your feedback and suggestions.<br /><br />But ultimately, this is a graphic design project that could easily be classified under my ongoing series of "Why I still Love Graphic Design". I curate the pictures with an eye on the overall design system, combine them with several weights of the font "Lato" (especially chosen for its hairline weight - not many fonts have this), and then posting the stuff in such a way that the collage on the home page works. Lots and lots of design play and fun.
<br /><br />Which is why I still love Graphic Design.
</div></div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-73239254184219468362022-07-24T08:22:00.051-07:002022-07-25T06:28:08.584-07:00Rescuing Structure _ aka. Why I (Still) Love Graphic Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8i9kkhjBVLaxYODmddg_FNDPEhu6YwsC67DIPyYVmy62GkT_BldpCp0XzEsld7Fy6SCk5xDGRfgEsMNDEm5JRErboh_eyYIWj4h7b0AUTlEcvIJUk0-5q71yhI5rz6yuUwZUvyzR7Ll0A4Vl_a2mq6oGNc2B-8wsSbNZ4E-r8ZEF6W3RaCtdzoD2/s1600/sructure.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1302" data-original-width="2040" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8i9kkhjBVLaxYODmddg_FNDPEhu6YwsC67DIPyYVmy62GkT_BldpCp0XzEsld7Fy6SCk5xDGRfgEsMNDEm5JRErboh_eyYIWj4h7b0AUTlEcvIJUk0-5q71yhI5rz6yuUwZUvyzR7Ll0A4Vl_a2mq6oGNc2B-8wsSbNZ4E-r8ZEF6W3RaCtdzoD2/s1600/sructure.jpg" /></a></div>
I held off on writing this for quite some time. I know what I want to say, but whether I will be able to bring it together without going off in all sorts of tangents is another matter entirely.<div><br /></div><div>So, I guess the best way to do it is by starting at the beginning:</div><div><br /></div><div>Over the past two and a half years I have not been the happiest bunny. Downright miserable at times, in fact. Why this was the case will not be a secret to the people who read this blog (and I find to my complete amazement that there are quite a few people from all over the place that want to read this stuff - Uruguay? Thailand? Mozambique? Kazakhstan?). So, I am not going to go into any of my world related anguishes here. They are already known. Well, a bit is inevitable - but only in context, I promise</div><div><br /></div><div>Bottom line is that I am often in a dark and agitated state of mind. And I have found a panacea for such states in the most unexpected of places: I edit code. Blog template codes, to be specific. </div><div><br /></div><div>To my knowledge there are only 2 blogging platforms that freely give you their entire code and let you edit it and then export is as a new template - and again, the operative word here is for<b> free</b>. (WordPress, you may ask? Nope, you have to pay for that, and quite a bit actually - set up a server or a hosting thingy where you have to first install the WordPress thingy if you really want to get your hands on the full code.) Anyway, with the ones that just give it to you freely - one of them is Tumblr, and the other is Blogger, which is where this blog that you are currently reading is, as well. Now, Tumblr themes are usually not the sorts of things where you would want to make major changes and edits. They are straightforward grid systems or column feeds. No extra widgets and sidebars and things that one can play around with. </div><div><br /></div><div>Not so when it comes to Blogger. This is a platform for blogs (not just image sharing, in other words) with all the bits and bobs that you need for that: Categories, labels, widgets, pages, sidebars, sections, menus, headers, footer, archive, and and and... It is a neglected platform with relatively few users (600.000 only to WordPress's 60 million). It is owned by Google (ouch!), but they do not seem to be making a particular effort in keeping it up or trying to make it more competitive or anything like that. </div><div><br /></div><div>And see - I knew that this would happen, I have gone off on a tangent right out of the gate! Who cares about blogging platforms? But, some context is needed. Where do I get the code from that I edit: Blogger. Not just the default themes that it gives (which are very few) but there are hundreds upon hundreds free to download 3rd party Blogger themes. And those are what I use.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I had done some minor code editing before, when I tried to make some of these themes a bit nicer to apply to my own blog - changed some fonts, adjusted some margins, but all relatively minor stuff that one can do quite easily with this "add custom CSS" button that they have. But then, a while ago I ended up going inside the actual big code because I couldn't do what I wanted to do with just that button. There was something wrong with the template that went beyond a mere local fix - I needed to get to the actual structure. And, once I got to that point, a whole new world opened up to me. Obviously this didn't all happen that first time, but I saw the potential. And once I had seen that, it still took me quite some time to learn how to do what I wanted to do. To the point where today I am actually a pretty mean code editor. Not a Coder, a hasten to say - I still cannot write a code from scratch, there has to be an existent code for me to edit. I suppose I could learn how to write brand new code, there are some very good tutorials that I have seen. However, in a way that would not really be the same in terms of the joy that I get from fixing an already existent template. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>And so with this joy, we have now finally come to the actual meat of the conversation: </b>Because, what also happened (and pretty much from the start - otherwise I would probably not have persisted) is that there was this profound sense of satisfaction and peace as I slowly learned to manipulate the code. I have been making things all my life more or less, and yes, of course there is always a feel good factor involved when something that was living inside your head comes out on a page or as a 3D object or whatever. But, this - what I felt when I got the code to do what I wanted it to do - was an entirely new thing. Initially, I guess it had to do with just achieving something that I had always deemed to be too difficult to understand. And then suddenly it no longer was. I could do it. Indeed, as time passed, getting it right became more or less automatic. Today, there is very little inside a Blogger template code that I wouldn't know right away how to fix, where to look and what to do. </div><div><br /></div><div>But, the sense of peace continues. Why?</div><div><br /></div><div>These templates that I fix - they are like poor little birds with broken wings. Or worse yet, broken backbones. Entire skeletons even. A core element in them is no longer working properly. And that core element is <b>structure</b>. Which is why I have put the typesetting image at the top of this post. Because it is the same thing. An HTML page has that very same structure, inside which all the elements are nested. A table, in other words. If you were to strip an HTML page of everything that it contains, it would look more or less like an empty Excel table. So, shouldn't the traces of that table at least be visible? Shouldn't there be a framework? Alignment? Margins? And most importantly, shouldn't things <b>connect </b>somehow instead of floating around in a disjointed manner?</div><div><br /></div>
<div><table cellpadding="0"></table><table border-color="#444444" border="0px" style="border-spacing: 10px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" width="50%"><a href="https://i.ibb.co/Pt9ZWYr/legenda-original.jpg" target="_blank"> <img src="https://i.ibb.co/Pt9ZWYr/legenda-original.jpg" width="100%" /><br /></a>Legenda Original</td>
<td align="center" width="50%"><a href="https://i.ibb.co/Rb8Lk2S/legenda-fixed-2.jpg" target="_blank"> <img src="https://i.ibb.co/Rb8Lk2S/legenda-fixed-2.jpg" width="100%" /><br /></a>Legenda Edited</td>
</tr><tr>
</tr></tbody>
</table></div>
<div>I have put the "before" and "after" screenshots of one of these templates here so that you can see for yourself what it is that I am talking about when I say that there is a serious structural problem with the original state. Nothing connects. All we have is "free floating anxiety", to borrow a phrase from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jk08gS9cSs" target="_blank"><u>Mattias Desmet</u></a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>But, you see - here is the darndest thing that the original designer of this seems to have been totally oblivious to: The structure is there! No way that it cannot be! This is an HTML document, for goodness sakes! All it took was some alignment, some spacing, adding a few strokes - and, there it is! <b>Rescued</b>!</div><div><br /></div><div>All around me there are poor little birds with broken skeletons. That, obviously, I cannot rescue. I cannot make their structures come back. All the young people in mental fogs, aimlessly embracing fake ideologies in the absence of real ones. All the older people, mumbling platitudes, supporting "the current thing", no matter how absurd. People, young and old alike, "all dressed up with nowhere to go," as it seems? Where are the older people of my youth - my grandmother, my aunts, my uncles, my parents, their friends - sharp as razor blades, acerbic humor at the ready, critical thinkers to their very teeth? One more opinionated than the other. Fighting each other to the death over their opinions. What happened to opinions? Listening to opinions nowadays - well, it is rather like listening to an official news stream, isn't it? <b>The ability to make connections!</b> Gone! What happened? Well, we know what happened. Plenty of rantings even on this blog about dumbing down and all that. </div><div><br /></div><div>But all of these birds that can no longer move anywhere outside of the allowed perimeters of politically correct discourse - their backbones and their skeletons are still there! Buried under mountains of all kinds of media nonsense, fear porn of all sorts, social media addictions, cancel culture. But, still there! Except that it is unreachable. I have tried. Very rarely I still try to reach someone, especially someone younger. Doesn't work. Nope. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, fixing the backbones of blogger templates is a temporary calming to this perpetual anguish that I have. I cannot fix the world around me, how could I? But I can fix a template that maybe someone will use for their blog and then someone who reads that blog will maybe get a better sense of what it is that they are reading. Which is why it gives me more satisfaction to fix something than looking at something that I made myself. Healing something, even something as insignificant as a stupid blogger theme, feels good. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>But then, in all of this I have also come to something that is a bit more than just a personal "feel good game":</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Graphic Designers.</b> Throughout the ages our job has been to create visual structures within which words, ideas, concepts can be communicated and connected. Which is why I have that typesetting image at the top. But, it goes back much further in time. Just look at Egyptian Hieroglyphics or Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts. Chinese Ideograms or Roman Inscriptions. Have your pick. It is always there. The structure. And the connective mesh that binds different parts together into one whole. But what about all the deconstructivist typography of the late 20th century you might ask? Go take another look and see the strength of the visual backbones that they created. If anything, they are the masters of structure!</div><div><br /></div><div>So, my dear tribe, we have work to do. And you know what? Wandering around on behance and pinterest - I am delighted to see that, by and large, we still are doing the work. And remarkably well, at that. Whether it is a package for baby wipes or an ad campaign for a disgusting Fortune500 company - doesn't matter. Our job is to create the visual structures within which words attain meaning and connection. And maybe, maybe, maybe, this will help isolated individuals here and there to get a dim awareness of their own buried mental structures. Maybe. But nevertheless, it is a worthy cause for a profession. Which is why I (still) love graphic design.</div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, over the past year and a half I have "rescued" something like 50 templates. Until recently I just kept them on my hard drive, but then I had this idea to put them online with download links so that people can use them if they want to. The only caveat is keeping the footer information of the original creator of the template because at the end of the day, it is their work. So, if you are a blogger on Blogger, by all means, feel free to use them to your heart's content:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://bloggerthemetweaking.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><u>https://bloggerthemetweaking.blogspot.com</u></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-56362810277630002902022-06-25T10:13:00.027-07:002022-06-27T11:26:08.229-07:00Why I (still) love graphic design? _ Preamble<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9A74ic5QiWf5OmuEzY74rV8CwjPgHmB6u__-FMb_RD9igp7qs4d0VXvj_weTfEwnjXjqsABZxrgdY1qGJRQQsEWK6Fabc6b_TdueB2EWWhZz8DfaRQBJppKQLHvSFV5jzsf_jtYa21rxtGOH_MnCqhjblzn-GoL3hyANznZBXu2ZHGM7is7jEZYtW/s1600/graphic-design-solutions.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="2400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9A74ic5QiWf5OmuEzY74rV8CwjPgHmB6u__-FMb_RD9igp7qs4d0VXvj_weTfEwnjXjqsABZxrgdY1qGJRQQsEWK6Fabc6b_TdueB2EWWhZz8DfaRQBJppKQLHvSFV5jzsf_jtYa21rxtGOH_MnCqhjblzn-GoL3hyANznZBXu2ZHGM7is7jEZYtW/s1600/graphic-design-solutions.jpg"/></a></div>
There is a post on this blog which is from 2018. <a href="https://elifayiterblog.blogspot.com/2018/12/about-graphic-design.html"><b>"About Graphic Design" it is called > > ></b></a>. In it I wonder whether I would still have chosen to become a graphic designer now, seeing how, once one gets over all those youthful illusions such as designing cultural posters and book jackets for a living, one realizes that the profession is really nothing but an appendage to the advertising industry; and then how corrupted and compromised the advertising industry has always been and has become more so over the years. Always corrupted and compromised, but in recent decades also horrifyingly devoid of creativity and humor. At least in my day, back in the 1970s and even the 1980s, there was that to cling to as a saving grace. The commercials held some room for quirkiness, idiosyncracies and humor. All gone now.
<br><br>
But anyway, at the end of that 2018 post, given that it is a wonderful profession at its core, no matter the vileness of its implementations, I advise my students to put their design skills to good use by acquiring a "nighttime job" and work for non-profit organizations and charities and such. Advertising to put bread on the table during the day, but then non-profit work at night to use your profession towards a worthy objective.
<br><br>
Non-profits? Charities? NGOs? Ouch! Didn't know much back in 2018, did I?
<br><br>
Now, today in the June of 2022, well into the third year of "the Great Reset" (and no, that is not a conspiracy theory or anything of the sort - the info is splattered all over the World Economic Forum's website, all there on public display for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear) what a different story it is. Jacques Seguela titled his famous book <i>“Don’t tell my mother I’m in advertising – she thinks I play the piano in a brothel”</i>. That was in the 1960s. Today, let me paraphrase this as follows: <i>“Don’t tell my mother I work in the non-profit sector – she thinks I'm in advertising”</i>.
<br><br>
Well, sure, there may be the odd charity or organization here and there that hasn't been taken over and compromised to its very gills. Sure. Exceptions. Who probably don't have a budget to hire a graphic designer anyway. As for the rest? Boy o boy o boy... I look at the ones here in Turkey over the past 2 years, and my God, have they flopped and buckled under and shown how bought and paid for they are. From innocuous little charities, to huge big NGOs and everything in between. Globalist mouthpieces, the lot of them, as it turned out. <a href="https://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/01/17/the-manufacturing-of-greta-thunberg-for-consent-the-political-economy-of-the-non-profit-industrial-complex/" target="_blank"><b>The non-profit industrial complex > > ></b></a> is what Cory Morningstar calls them. And that about sums it up. So, as honorable clients for ethical graphic designers - forget it, they are out. You're better off in advertising, kids. At least you'll know what's what. Not have any silly illusions. Very important that.
<br><br>
So, what do I advise my students now? How do I convince them, or anyone else for that matter, that my - oh so beloved - profession is still worthwhile? Can still be put to good use? Not obsolete, actually?
<br><br>
Stay tuned...
<br><br>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-25961810636351277872022-05-28T08:34:00.010-07:002022-05-29T12:58:21.602-07:00One whole year later<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqwkR-0PBsPEQ0L0ucfKryDBn0vr3SXwFJ5U1DPOwb8zGRkY3OziK6mGfmGEal-fbfIWB9k5A4Ckt90L9mK6ez5vFKVkv1ZQ7qK51RxNEyELp96Dq5l4XqnuUH3TgLqsr8wV1p_0WTUfoxQd-EAbz5g-C03CX3L5wcHsGCVWpGVvgNSzMf31qm03RQ/s2400/kelly-sikkema-IFbXfJbhp0w-unsplash.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqwkR-0PBsPEQ0L0ucfKryDBn0vr3SXwFJ5U1DPOwb8zGRkY3OziK6mGfmGEal-fbfIWB9k5A4Ckt90L9mK6ez5vFKVkv1ZQ7qK51RxNEyELp96Dq5l4XqnuUH3TgLqsr8wV1p_0WTUfoxQd-EAbz5g-C03CX3L5wcHsGCVWpGVvgNSzMf31qm03RQ/s16000/kelly-sikkema-IFbXfJbhp0w-unsplash.jpg" /></a></div><br />Or even almost 13 months, if I am to be more exact. I did not even think about this blog for all this time. Which is funny because I have been noodling around with the very idea of blogs, not what is written in them but their appearances - but more about that later, with a special post. <span></span><p></p><br /><p>It has been a year of 2 things: Learning and Graphic Design. I intend to write more about the second, it is in fact the main reason why I am sort of reviving this blog. I have a lot of thoughts about graphic design and they are swimming around in my head, maybe it will be good to write them down.</p><br /><p>The first thing - learning - has taken up a huge portion of this past year. I have been reading some of my posts from 2020 into 2021 - and boy was I in need of learning. In my ignorance however, I seem to have been in good company: I came across a quote from Matt Taibbi, and if even he only "got it" recently, how the hell was I supposed to know? And what did he say, you may ask? I have been keeping a page of "notes" regarding this second education that I have been putting myself through - short little things like quotes, videos. So, if you really want to know what he said <a href="https://www.elifayiter.com/notes"><b>then you will have to go there > > ></b></a>. It is the first one up.</p><br /><p>So, anyway, I have been OK for the most part. The learning has involved some pretty hefty red pills but there is this really strange thing that happens: Your life long held world view collapses - yes; and that is a very scary thing - yes. But somehow, you come out of it stronger. It becomes easier, not harder once you have looked the ogre in the eye. You gain something. It is hard to explain. I went through it, and I closely followed my sister go through it. And there will be a very special post about her on this blog very soon. </p><p><br /></p><p>So, that's it for now. I'm back on my main blog - at least for a few posts. </p><p><br /></p>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-89014728438542718172021-05-01T22:53:00.077-07:002022-05-29T17:03:29.772-07:00Sorry, but do you even speak the language?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT9REB93oxHGXOamK7VgfiksCR9359GxWOcrBeT68y5pozhMv1aNN00asnF3-BmfBpAJFWgCD9DlKOXTqbLA1l4LRmWxIa0XnpyKn5UhHwOhouzhx6_qrIns1mS_HciHimcr5GjZf4Cw/s1800/Marten_van_Valckenborch_the_Elder_-_The_Tower_of_Babel_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1286" data-original-width="1800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT9REB93oxHGXOamK7VgfiksCR9359GxWOcrBeT68y5pozhMv1aNN00asnF3-BmfBpAJFWgCD9DlKOXTqbLA1l4LRmWxIa0XnpyKn5UhHwOhouzhx6_qrIns1mS_HciHimcr5GjZf4Cw/s16000/Marten_van_Valckenborch_the_Elder_-_The_Tower_of_Babel_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>I had this exchange with a Western European (I think he is British, but could be some other Western European country as well, or indeed the USA, Canada... it happened in SL where nationalities are very hard to discern) who told me things about Turkey. Very self assured. Very sure in what he knew. Self-evident truths for him. Not the slightest hesitation. He knew. <div><br /><p>Well, let me sum it up: According to this person one should not confuse <b>malice</b> with <b>incompetence</b>. So what had happened in Western countries during the whole "outbreak" fiasco was <b>incompetence</b>, whereas what had happened here in Turkey (he also added Brazil and İndia as examples btw) had happened out of <b>malice</b>. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Incompetence? </b>Wow! Really? <a href="https://www.elifayiter.com/2020-documentation" target="_blank">I have this long page on my website</a><a href="https://www.elifayiter.com/2020-documentation" target="_blank"> which is a documentation of the past year</a>. He may just benefit from reading what's there and also he may want to watch all those evidentiary videos I have put there. Only 25 on the page itself. Hundreds more are on external drives here. Got to be so many in fact that at some point I stopped collecting them. I started compiling that page last June. Almost a year ago. I still keep adding to it because nothing has changed at all. Only gotten worse, if anything. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>So, only incompetence, huh?</b></p><p><b><br /></b>_____________</p><p><br /></p><p>Now onto <b>malice: </b>We have had considerably less deaths per capita here than in most Western countries. Why? We don't have nursing homes in this country. That's why. It is not part of the culture. Old people live with their families. The health system never closed down to non-covid patients. Not even for a day. No one has had to wait for their chemotherapies or their heart surgeries or even their regular checkups. And also... <b>But wait! Wait! What am I even doing giving long winded explanations here?</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Here's what to ask instead - how does he know that exactly? About the malice?</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p>Does he know Turkish? Enough to read the Turkish newspapers? Hang out on Turkish social media? Watch Turkish TV? Seek out independent Turkish platforms online? Scrounge around in Turkish databases? Look at official Turkish stats? Unofficial Turkish stats? Does he know where Turkish dissidents hang out? Has he spoken to any of them - in their own language (since most will not be likely to know his)? </p><p><br /></p><p>So - where does this smug knowledge come from? Same for Brazil, same for India, of course. The BBC? The Guardian? Or some counterpart thereof? Oh dear... My advice would be to put the words "Obsculta" and "BBC" into the search bar. Here's what will probably come up - although it might not any longer, google may well be blocking that search nowadays. So, let me put it in here just in case:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRx0um6SHh4EaRBRA2RtO50B-29cCsQcau4nsrSzaen1vTfk4Tp91dhEDujcGufbI4ekfosQXRZ4G5eKP4BtF-5du4UDDjAi7-OizcgB0GCv6B7d0EfPnNNKL7HqV8yuKpBUDDRzqo-4/s2048/Ariel_between_Wisdom_and_Gaiety.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="2048" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRRx0um6SHh4EaRBRA2RtO50B-29cCsQcau4nsrSzaen1vTfk4Tp91dhEDujcGufbI4ekfosQXRZ4G5eKP4BtF-5du4UDDjAi7-OizcgB0GCv6B7d0EfPnNNKL7HqV8yuKpBUDDRzqo-4/w400-h209/Ariel_between_Wisdom_and_Gaiety.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>This huge relief is on the wall of the BBC headquarters in London. Been there since 1933. Do you see what is written across the book pages that the angel is holding? "Obsculta." And what does <b>Obsculta</b> mean? It means "Listen and Obey." </p><p><br /></p><p><b>They are telling us... They have always told us.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p>All of which finally brings me to the title of this post: You cannot know even the first things about anywhere unless you know the <b>language </b>and find out for yourself. No ""trusted sources", in other words. What you think you know through them, where other lands are concerned - that is, at best, just <b>hearsay</b>. At best that, and more likely to be stuff that goes under a far less innocent rubric. Starts with a <b>"P"</b>... </p><p><br /></p><p>Does this make me smug now? What I said about the necessity for knowing their languages when it comes to having even the slightest inkling as to what is really going on in "other" places in the world? Well yes, I'm afraid it does a bit. Because you see, I am trilingual. German, Turkish, English. Equally. So yes, I can say I know some things about the countries where these languages are spoken. I can follow them in their own languages and I do. It isn't hearsay. I hear what they say with my own ears. No one has to translate for me. </p><p><br /></p><p>I can't say I know anything about Brazil or India. But I can say I know something about what is going on in Germany and in the UK right now - and I have not been elucidated from just watching the BBC or die Deutsche Welle either, I have all sorts of resources that I regularly follow and then I keep on digging further from those until I find the primary sources. Didn't do that PhD for nothing after all. I can do research. And what I find ain't good at all. </p><p><br /></p><p>Because that is the ultimate irony you see. What this person obviously doesn't know is this: The citizens of countries like Turkey, countries that are a bit more "peripheral", a bit more "unimportant" - right now they aren't feeling the jackboot on their necks quite as much as the citizens of the "important" countries are. Those have to be brought to heel first. Their citizens have to be depleted of their rights and their properties first. And boy, are they ever... It breaks my heart to watch what is happening in Germany. School children being force tested - that is probably the worst. Judges being harangued for decisions they took that the State didn't like. No one even knows the scale of the devastation to the small shops and enterprises. One estimate is one million closures. Police brutality. Really bad police brutality actually. </p><p><br /></p><p>But am I going to get smug about this now? Like this guy did with me last night? Because it isn't quite so bad here, yet? Of course not. The jackboot is universal. There are no longer separate countries. For "the cats" it makes no difference. They are merely working from the center outward. Very methodically. That is all it is. Our turn will come very soon. In fact it has already come. The past couple of months things have been getting tighter here as well. First full lockdown here now. All small shops are closed for 2 weeks. Started last week. And this is the first time that that has happened here. So, obviously we are due for our comeuppance as well now. How could it be any different?</p><p><br /></p><p>This exchange last night - it wasn't good. Not because of what he said about my country. Jeez - I have heard worse. It wasn't good because unfortunately it is yet another indicator of how bad the situation is. Of how far the fat lady is from singing. As long as there are people in the world who can still make classifications such as "good countries / bad countries", even at this horrifying juncture, there is no way that she can, can she? From Canada to Kenya, from Chile to Malaysia. It is one big clamp down that knows no nations, no cultures, no nothing. If people can't see even that?</p><p><br /></p><p>If all people everywhere still cannot see that their fate is now identical and totally intertwined to all people elsewhere in the World, what hope can there ever be? Unless they stop it with all this deluded conceit? All this misplaced smugness. Step off of their lofty little perches? 1st World, 2nd World, 3rd World - all the same World now. Which I don't see them acknowledging any time soon, unfortunately. </p><p><br /></p><p>There isn't any hope. Already knew that of course. Just another sad little validation. </p></div>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-11377130072495516532021-05-01T10:43:00.025-07:002022-05-28T17:04:40.402-07:00FutureScape? BlahScape more like...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjrmzLWugLqUpeOaB-T755dptXD5EKy-d8VEBuUF-r1LeGUyW5ukCmAo62-9bAhNWdHJIIXkMGEkJ6EYSXw7Eob5WNgX9kqo4YGY8RRvAZ4kB8qP_ptyXhyRQq3yk2uq9xQO8KNkE084/s1920/fs-2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjrmzLWugLqUpeOaB-T755dptXD5EKy-d8VEBuUF-r1LeGUyW5ukCmAo62-9bAhNWdHJIIXkMGEkJ6EYSXw7Eob5WNgX9kqo4YGY8RRvAZ4kB8qP_ptyXhyRQq3yk2uq9xQO8KNkE084/s16000/fs-2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This thing - it is so ugly, so badly designed, so without any awareness of visual impact or drama or creativity that I do not even want to show pictures of it because they will sully the overall appearance of my blog. And I do pay some attention to that appearance. But, obviously I have to show what it looks like in order to be able to talk about it. </p><p><br /></p><p>Just look at that grass! Those trees! The vehicles! The textures on all the buildings - like badly fitting clothes! Those humanoids - one cannot really call those things people can one? Look at that typography! Or whatever that is! </p><p><br /></p><p>Just look at this completely flattened out roadkill of a visual disaster! </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgULu2VY3W3sI22m3TEVIkbcR7yiW31k7O81yqCpL7wprwKcaK_CFasxQIGn_NQpHxgjghzPSrVnO8pCnfjCsRinnYUr-gjTyhxprw-p8Rog14FhBXTGI6YVrsphbTkuL1XMza4qvDvbwA/s2048/BeFunky-collage.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1111" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgULu2VY3W3sI22m3TEVIkbcR7yiW31k7O81yqCpL7wprwKcaK_CFasxQIGn_NQpHxgjghzPSrVnO8pCnfjCsRinnYUr-gjTyhxprw-p8Rog14FhBXTGI6YVrsphbTkuL1XMza4qvDvbwA/s16000/BeFunky-collage.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://futurescape.chathamhouse.org" target="_blank">This</a><a href="https://futurescape.chathamhouse.org" target="_blank"> piece of incompetence</a> (really, as a designer I do not even know what other name to call it by) has been concocted by <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org" target="_blank">Chatham House</a>. Which, in case you don't know, professes itself to be the British counterpart to the <a href="https://www.cfr.org" target="_blank">CFR</a>. Although <a href="https://steemit.com/world/@corbettreport/know-your-enemy-the-royal-institute-of-international-affairs" target="_blank">smarter people than me have long identified</a> that actually Chatham House is the older of the two institutions, that the CFR is only an offshoot of it. But either way this is a think tank that stands right at the heart of operation global control; a think tank with tremendous influence, resources, backing, clout. They say "jump" and politicians the world over ask "how high", basically. They are among the handful who run the world. </p><p><br /></p><p>And this - <b>this!?! </b>- is the best that they can do? This flat, insipid, badly designed, badly implemented piece of visual kaka? This is the level of the staff that they have for something like this? Or maybe they took this to an outside agency. The people who did this - they are the best that they could find? With their resources? And do they not have eyes in their heads to see how absolutely pitiful this product is? </p><p><br /></p><p>And it isn't just the visuality of it that I am talking about either. The content, the "story" that it tells - the banality of it! The childishness! Or hold it - not childish, there might have been some glimmer of creativity if it had been childish. It is pubescent! That reek of inept propaganda. How badly it is written. The flatness. Flat visuals (quite a feat to pull that off in what is supposed to be a 3D presentation, but they have managed to do so nevertheless!) but then the flatness of what those visuals are supposed to represent. The "tale into the future" that reads like a really bad toothpaste commercial text. Or something of that order. </p><p><br /></p><p>Not even a shred of creativity. None. </p><p><br /></p><p>People have commented that they find this thing scary because in this vision of a future world there don't seem to be a lot of people around. I mean yes, this is supposed to be Piccadilly Circus and there are maybe 50 people shuffling about in total. But, I don't think anyone needs to worry about subliminal depopulation messages and such. I have a far more realistic explanation: This is so sparsely populated because the person who made this was too inept put in more people. Too inept or too lazy. Probably both. I know a thing or two about 3D environments, and I know populating them takes more than what this sorry excuse for a 3D designer has. Considerably more.</p><p><br /></p><p>What is scary is the quality of this. These are the people sitting in cigar smoke filled back rooms plotting out humanity's future. And this is their level of finesse, of imagination, of creativity? </p><p><br /></p><p>And what is even more scary is the absolute disdain that they have for their audience. They probably know full well how pitiful this thing is. What I think really happened here is that they probably spent very little on this. In fact they probably spent nothing on it at all. Had some privileged kids (aka. interns) with rudimentary computer skills cobble it together, aided by some liberal arts sophomore who is the niece of some globalist muck-a muck who needed to have something to do, so someone probably said, <i>"oh Mitzi can write all the texts"</i>. Somehow I am quite certain that this is how this came together. The result shows that so clearly.</p><p><br /></p><p>But then they went and published this! And that is where the disdain kicks in. <i>"Oh, it is more than good enough for the plebs. They'll never know the difference." "Sure it is pubescent, but hey - so is the audience! Well done Mitzi!" </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>And you know what? They are right. And that is the scariest part. Whatever else may or may not have happened - this past year has shown one terrifying thing: Decades of global programming has reduced the overwhelming majority of humanity (regardless of social distinctions such as education, culture, nationality, class, race, religion, creed, etc etc) to the level of this pitiful, pathetic display. </p><p><br /></p><p>In fact, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to hear of trained artists and designers, with many years of visual expertise even, who look at this and rather like it because some part or other of those puerile messages that the thing is littered with corresponds to their piped in world view (which they are deluded enough to think is their own): "<i>Oh look, people will be able to buy stuff with their social credit scores at the Gooddeeds store! Nice touch that, isn't it?"</i> or <i>"great - all the food is Vegan!" "wow - they solved the rising ocean levels by building a canal city. Looks nice, doesn't it?"</i> </p><p><br /></p><p>And that is the scariest thing about "FutureScape". That most of those who look at this will love it. Never even know the difference. Or what it really says. Or the powerbrokers that stand behind that message.</p>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-10088290363290684112021-04-29T08:54:00.026-07:002022-05-28T17:00:22.552-07:00What is wrong with this picture?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjma5AD7sUVe9nVpKnVC8b7kVCUvpCbcbfkh-bO8VpHaAcDZJ4x8UB4nqInZPo1Dwk0HQdMq6v4TY2tegRLjQ_CJ3yLzVCXmCHKOYQ26gNr7h5kWBQsFTqjPHZdM-J_XHviak201v7ROzk/s1920/attenborough-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjma5AD7sUVe9nVpKnVC8b7kVCUvpCbcbfkh-bO8VpHaAcDZJ4x8UB4nqInZPo1Dwk0HQdMq6v4TY2tegRLjQ_CJ3yLzVCXmCHKOYQ26gNr7h5kWBQsFTqjPHZdM-J_XHviak201v7ROzk/s16000/attenborough-1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Perfectly serious question that relates to an actual picture. Not a metaphor or anything. Look at the picture above. What do you see?</p><p><br /></p><p>It is a screen grab from an interview with Mike Gunton, the producer of the latest David Attenborough documentary entitled "The Year the Earth Changed" which, as I understand it, is all about how good the lockdowns were / are for the planet. Here's a snippet where they actually discuss the very thing depicted in the screen grab above:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='800' height='450' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyFYUyMckYY8jNFpG_An99J9Sa5njFYhXHSWQ2-hvx3yy9WQYGTCidkCdWJnet7OmbcCKdE-glgm21XiR5D2A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p><br /></p><p>Now look at the side by side pictures again, carefully:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVl3Vsv1q1z5LTTq6p1QwPdE2tSx3EkrnEse58QgRInW_Md2EFnIYnk84DTofcfjnyhGmgJAwvqJJRhyphenhyphenZxsQZDYY-CR3N6e3Kh_YLhTRYUXgTfPrBnWQzWJ1fmFuMJk_KrWx3R1IGJ9s/s1920/attenborough.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVl3Vsv1q1z5LTTq6p1QwPdE2tSx3EkrnEse58QgRInW_Md2EFnIYnk84DTofcfjnyhGmgJAwvqJJRhyphenhyphenZxsQZDYY-CR3N6e3Kh_YLhTRYUXgTfPrBnWQzWJ1fmFuMJk_KrWx3R1IGJ9s/s16000/attenborough.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>I have added these little arrows to direct your attention. Same washing on the line? Same guy in a white t-shirt on that rooftop? Boy - that smog must have dissipated fast, mustn't it?<div><br /><p></p><p>I recently heard a learned Rabbi say on a podcast that according to old Jewish law if a person is caught lying just once, they are blocked from all court proceedings for life. They cannot bear witness, be a plaintiff - all of that is barred to them. They can of course end up becoming a defendant. And guess who the judge will believe then?</p><p><br /></p><p>Someone lied here. And according to this Lorraine person, it was the makers of the documentary, she only showed what she was given by them. I think she is right, because wouldn't that producer fellow immediately have stopped her when this photoshop masterpiece made its appearance? Goes right along with her, doesn't he?</p><p><br /></p><p>You lie once... How many many many times have you lied before? Not this producer here - who cares if he lied or not. Not important enough to make a difference, is he? Not so with big papa bear, however! Oh boy has he lied and lied and lied, and even gotten caught on numerous occasions: <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5007471/Sir-David-Attenborough-91-says-NO-plans-retire.html" target="_blank">"Blue Planet 2"</a>, anyone remember that little porker? That underwater documentary series, quite a bit of which was shot in an aquarium? <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/frozen-planet-scandal-sir-david-96593" target="_blank">Or those Arctic polar bears that were filmed in a German nature park?</a> With his voice vaxing poetic over the fake footage: <i>"In two more months polar bear families will emerge on the snowy slopes <b>all around the Arctic</b>... but for now they lie protected within their icy cocoons."</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>So, what difference does it make if "Sir" just got caught again? He will get away with it this time too. </p><p><br /></p><p>Where oh where are those old Jewish judges when you need them?</p></div>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-63344398871521522792021-04-12T13:51:00.039-07:002022-05-28T17:01:07.841-07:00Please do not talk to me about it<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSKq_j-oeLXYvXc08q4wh12LOn5aF1mDK5KASrEpB24snOqOPTB4SdGAp7S_K6LQ7UiROFJzpU4EFH8FjVssQAcWbLLf_apueJRQVikMVbw7VLPeQGzChcPwjlQXHpPwKwX-qzbgGjGc/s1900/puff.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="1900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSKq_j-oeLXYvXc08q4wh12LOn5aF1mDK5KASrEpB24snOqOPTB4SdGAp7S_K6LQ7UiROFJzpU4EFH8FjVssQAcWbLLf_apueJRQVikMVbw7VLPeQGzChcPwjlQXHpPwKwX-qzbgGjGc/s16000/puff.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>When I first started to question the occurrences of 2020, I was alone. No one around me, not even a single person, agreed with me or was willing to even consider some of what was bothering me. Which is an understatement, if ever there was one. Things were not just bothering me, they had me beside myself with fear and worry. What is unfolding today, the endlessness of the endless "outbreak" and all that it is bringing with it - the loss of freedoms, of autonomy, the steady ascendance of a global bio-security police State, the proliferation of a world hive mind that not only accepts it all but even rejoices in it, the collectivism. I saw it all as clearly back during those very first days, as it is coming to pass now. </p><p><br /></p><p>Today, I am no longer all that alone in my fears. What I saw then, now many around me are also seeing. Some who are very near and dear to me, like my sister, bring me especial joy. And something that I hear a lot from these new campaneros is that actually they knew deep down for a long time that something was really really wrong about the whole sorry saga but that they didn't have the guts to face it. Because if there is no outbreak, then what is there instead? That is a very scary question. I was hit with that question one year ago. And I know how terrifying the void that opens up, when that question surfaces, is.</p><p><br /></p><p>One friend told me that he finally faced up to everything, including that terrifying question, when he realized that what the order that is slowly being rolled out expects him to do is to forsake his dignity. <i>"Haysiyetsiz yaşamamızı istiyorlar. Bir anda onu fark ettim, ve herşey bitti."</i> No way to translate that into English, so Turkish it is. </p><p><br /></p><p>But then, there are also those who appear to still be buying into the narrative and who persistently try to broach the topic with me. To finagle some kind of agreement or acquiescence from me. Goaders. To them I want to very politely say - <b>stop!</b> </p><p><br /></p><p>I know what you are doing, you see. You know, as well as the next person, that something is very badly wrong with this picture and you are seeking relief, solace, something - a validation of your opiate from me. How many fingers Winston? If you can bully someone like me into agreeing with you that everything that is happening right now is due to this scourge that is so dreadful that it justifies this "new normal" - how soothed you will be if you can get me to agree with your manner of reasoning the bogeyman away... </p><p><br /></p><p>However, no matter how much you flail around for finding some innocuous explanation to all that is transpiring here; you know, as well as I do, that illnesses, outbreaks - no matter how bad - they come and go. You know, as well as I do, that at no point in history have healthy people been quarantined and economies brought to a standstill for them. And that the top %0.001 (or how ever many zeros it is) have increased their wealth by over %40 just this past year as a consequence of that enforced standstill. That the very world we live in has been changed by force. A very deep, subtle, calculating force at that.</p><p><br /></p><p>You know that what is going on now is something else. Something entirely different. You know this as well as I do. You know that your "severe outbreak" is the far lesser of 2 evils, if not indeed a mere smokescreen for a much bigger agenda. And that we are no longer facing this infinitely bigger evil as a distant threat, as an abstraction - this horror agenda is actually already upon us.</p><p><br /></p><p>And then there are people like me, like Pinocchio's consciences in your ear, who make that little voice inside you go louder. What if?... What if?... Not that I am even talking about any of this, at this point. It is always the likes of you who start these conversations, trying to goad Pinocchio's conscience into submission. If only I would agree with you that we were in the throes of a scourge... </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Stop.</b> I mean it. Just stop. It won't work. I will not aid your soporific, end of! I can't. But even if I were to do so, it still wouldn't work. Because deep deep down you already know! </p><p><br /></p><p>We all have our own paths to forge in this. You forge yours. And I forge mine. And when we come together we talk about other stuff. Cats, design stuff, home furnishings, food, fashion, this that... Or we can just plain old gossip, you know... </p><p><br /></p><p>How about we do just that?</p>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-53932487619887095072021-03-13T09:27:00.022-08:002022-05-28T17:02:00.977-07:00For the Record<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHtp5TDScs0a73ZvtW2we6ZjPV4wiUitmoxr9H_yOuMOd4BZ7R0hsAegt_4tUBHwFs9et6UOSkEIOY6aTIff-7Q-OD7zbqeiIvkz9zZYkpyfex0AilFGOV4vHF_99xF_qVuh05cOupKIg/s1800/3d-contemporary-empty-room-chair.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHtp5TDScs0a73ZvtW2we6ZjPV4wiUitmoxr9H_yOuMOd4BZ7R0hsAegt_4tUBHwFs9et6UOSkEIOY6aTIff-7Q-OD7zbqeiIvkz9zZYkpyfex0AilFGOV4vHF_99xF_qVuh05cOupKIg/s16000/3d-contemporary-empty-room-chair.jpg" /></a></div><br />I am putting this here just so that if in the future what a man named Geert Vanden Bossche is saying right now, at the start of March 2021, comes out to be correct I will remember that I listened to him today - with quite a bit of skepticism, I should add. <div><br /><p></p><p>So, who is this Geert Vanden Bossche? He appears to be a scientist who has had a very long career as a vaccine developer. He has held very high up positions both in the pharma industry as well as in its non-profit sector. Including the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, among many others. Very high up position there also, btw. There is a bio on linkedin, however I doubt that it will survive there for long after all the stir that he is causing at the moment. <a href="https://alliedacademies.com/profile/Geert%20Vanden%20Bossche" target="_blank">Here is another page that may survive a bit better</a>. The interview that is causing the stir is still on youtube, however just like linkedin I doubt it will be there for long, so let me put down the bitchute link <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/i1zYyr24c2Na/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is a complicated interview held with another doctor, so there is lots of medical jargon. I cannot say that I followed it word for word. But, I did get the gist of it, I think, which is this: There is a mistake in the delivery schedule of these products (you should watch the video - again, I only understood it partially). Apparently doing mass vaccinations during the course of an outbreak is detrimental since what is administered is more than just a prophylactic. It is an active intervention into an ongoing event that can lead to unforeseen and highly destructive consequences such as the formation of uncontrollable mutant strains. </p><p><br /></p><p>But it isn't only the timing, it is also something in the design of these novel vaccines that isn't right and that has to do with the built in immune system that we all have. The vaccines, according to Vanden Bossche, replace this with something else. A new kind of immune system that is synthetic and that is meant to be permanent. (This is the part that I had a really hard time following, so I am probably getting it wrong even as I am writing this). And this synthetic thing, whatever it is, will not be able to cope with any novel strains of the corona virus, be it the mutants now or entirely new viruses in the coming years. </p><p>Meanwhile our real immune system, the one that we are born with, will largely have been put out of commission for large swathes of populations (those who have taken the jab), making not only them but all of humanity extremely vulnerable from here on out since the bodies of the people whose innate immune systems are no longer working will effectively turn into production plants that churn out viruses at a rate and a level of potency hitherto never seen in medical history, given that there is no more protective mechanism that would slow the process down. So powerful will this onslaught be that even the immune systems of those who still have them (people who did not get the jab, in other words) will not be able to cope with what hits them. And this will not be a temporary thing but instead it will be indefinite, returning every viral infection season.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, what he claims is that because of this mistake, what was only a benign virus all last year could now turn into a real killing machine. For ever and ever. And not only this one now, but all corona viruses in the future could take out entire populations because of the mass vaccinations that are happening right now across the world since these will destroy natural immune responses altogether, ad infinitum. </p><p><br /></p><p>Again, I do not know to what extent I am won over by this information. Various bits and pieces struck me as rather odd while I was listening, but most importantly, my amateur gut (which so far has proven its mettle in all of what has transpired over the past year) sees a basal flaw in his argument somewhere, although I can't quite fathom it. Obviously I can't, given how totally out of my depth I am with all of this. But ignoramus that I am, I can still sense it. Something in what he tells doesn't seem to quite stack up. A non-sequitur. A contradiction. Something...</p><p><br /></p><p>The only reason I take this seriously enough to put it here is because of who Geert Vanden Bossche actually is. He really has been Mr. Vaccine for all of his life. He really has worked in this industry at very high levels. So, why would he come out now and say all this stuff when it will surely do nothing but totally destroy what seems to have been quite an illustrious career?</p><p><br /></p><p>That said - my wonderful gut still tells me that what he forecasts sounds off. Not something that could really happen. I hope my gut is right yet again. I really really do. </p><p><br /></p><p>But, then again, let me just go on record just because of who he is... </p></div>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-34411587350898903742020-12-30T11:43:00.034-08:002022-11-06T15:59:31.624-08:002021 başlarken bir soru / A question as we go into 2021<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdvLU5_Iq2Ea6Yo6r9r1gJks4lqRX0sPHAZ8u5VPyZIFnieWejbk-4fo0mWcZ9widYTBO5LfghSRnf5oPUXEqipNeEm63vrptFGECl0HBLVSJeVYflNZ8M75StzV0nVw9JH9phawoiIU/s1800/27240.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="1800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdvLU5_Iq2Ea6Yo6r9r1gJks4lqRX0sPHAZ8u5VPyZIFnieWejbk-4fo0mWcZ9widYTBO5LfghSRnf5oPUXEqipNeEm63vrptFGECl0HBLVSJeVYflNZ8M75StzV0nVw9JH9phawoiIU/s16000/27240.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Soru aşağıdaki <b>Türkçe video</b>'nun içinde. </p><p>The question is in the <b>English video</b> below. </p><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xBMjsPjIqIk" width="800" youtube-src-id="xBMjsPjIqIk"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oJH9fjxH2f8" width="800" youtube-src-id="oJH9fjxH2f8"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Kaynakça / Resource:</b></div><div><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/births-and-deaths"><u>https://ourworldindata.org/births-and-deaths</u></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-84447479998057579692020-10-24T08:52:00.068-07:002022-05-28T07:39:42.447-07:00Acaba biraz Dünya'ya mı baksak?<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLOcyC97OjMBJp3NxHBlmJJYO3ijW9NwH9J7_dklmYc9VLLFP0L9hAo6M0Oz8nCuJM1j539Pk41jmwpGfMc0t_l3PxSn2LIPRrMvQGwhwNsy6ERR58xlm5cGOKg8tfgL5a2p3pMTy7rk/s1625/debt-flowers.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1625" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLOcyC97OjMBJp3NxHBlmJJYO3ijW9NwH9J7_dklmYc9VLLFP0L9hAo6M0Oz8nCuJM1j539Pk41jmwpGfMc0t_l3PxSn2LIPRrMvQGwhwNsy6ERR58xlm5cGOKg8tfgL5a2p3pMTy7rk/s16000/debt-flowers.jpg" /></a></div><p>Bu postun başına koyduğum resmin özel bir anlamı var, tesadüfen seçilmiş birşey değil. İlk bakışta güzel birşeymiş gibi duruyor, değil mi? Ama dikkatle bakınca görüyorsunuz ki, aslında bir varlık dışında herşey ölü. Ve o tek canlı varlık da buradaki herşeyi yemeye hazırlanıyor. Hatta yemeye başlamış bile.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>Birkaç tane grafik göstereceğim size:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg42yPa9CanCb7sNls6KfNwjq48JCgrbCyGGvnC7utEPOrFaUaQhM0rtDoa06eJ8IhQ97Zdv3ipuLwSI3cWC8K74xrjkpBKt8sMZZNPQwDDlMMln6abk6BJ4tmYJiwga2JV_mKB3eLo1U0/s1600/debt-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1148" data-original-width="1600" height="459" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg42yPa9CanCb7sNls6KfNwjq48JCgrbCyGGvnC7utEPOrFaUaQhM0rtDoa06eJ8IhQ97Zdv3ipuLwSI3cWC8K74xrjkpBKt8sMZZNPQwDDlMMln6abk6BJ4tmYJiwga2JV_mKB3eLo1U0/w640-h459/debt-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQT1A0w1q-6q0I0nARwNg8PWzrRZ9Kef8lvf7ers8YJr02DW3g9oNNFe_C6nQUPX8qE3zQDBTEtYaIauVZRo_UX6acEOt6863PtjdbAlY693XrAYcz9FMvJnCskbvlN0CohADS0xGiPo/s1600/debt-2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1127" data-original-width="1600" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQT1A0w1q-6q0I0nARwNg8PWzrRZ9Kef8lvf7ers8YJr02DW3g9oNNFe_C6nQUPX8qE3zQDBTEtYaIauVZRo_UX6acEOt6863PtjdbAlY693XrAYcz9FMvJnCskbvlN0CohADS0xGiPo/w640-h451/debt-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHi_VJFXfUGESc63vsSKI7a8Kqff2z8PN4pb6h5utDdruYCW02mC3XjfoTbqui37tnKDgEOrfiQu6owdWmV4FRJTgXyutWiQ2KpL5KssQPESSnombUGAEkJdmqyIwRdRL3NdqNLDP8zM4/s1600/debt-3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1127" data-original-width="1600" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHi_VJFXfUGESc63vsSKI7a8Kqff2z8PN4pb6h5utDdruYCW02mC3XjfoTbqui37tnKDgEOrfiQu6owdWmV4FRJTgXyutWiQ2KpL5KssQPESSnombUGAEkJdmqyIwRdRL3NdqNLDP8zM4/w640-h451/debt-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bunlar G-20 ülkelerinden bazılarının iç / dış borçluluk miktarları, borçlarının GSYH'larına olan nominal ve düz oranları, ve bir de bu ülkelerde yaşayan insanların her birinin hissesine düşen kişi başına dış borç. Eğer bu verileri doğrulamak isterseniz, hemen kaynakçaları da vereyim:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/government-debt-to-gdp?continent=g20">https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/government-debt-to-gdp?continent=g20</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/turkey/external-debt--of-nominal-gdp">https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/turkey/external-debt--of-nominal-gdp</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Şunu da ilave edeyim: Bu rakamlar en yakın olarak 2019 yılının sonuna gidiyor ve bunların bazıları sadece devlet borçlarını gösteriyor. Ve bu zaman için söylenen dünya borcu <b>69 Trilyon Dolar</b>. <i>(Biraz altta bunu görebileceğiniz bir link var.) </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">2020 yılının ilk çeyreğinde ise <i>(dikkat! Batı ülkeleri açısından bu dönemin önemli bir bölümü, hatta neredeyse tamamına yakını, covid krizi öncesidir - aman yanılmayın!)</i> küresel toplam borç şu şekilde: <b><u>258 Trilyon Dolar</u>! Bu ise küresel GSH'ya oranlandığında %331 ediyor!</b> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yani, anladığım, çözebildiğim kadarıyla yukarıdaki rakamlar aslında gayet iyimser - esas olay onlardan kat be kat feci:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/global-debt-hits-record-high-of-331-of-gdp-in-q1-iif/articleshow/77000231.cms">https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/global-debt-hits-record-high-of-331-of-gdp-in-q1-iif/articleshow/77000231.cms </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu00cxN8zHPJhTiOgBTdYaAcPqS1KhladDU_WDJnQpjDtDpBs_kThVwbpvCXeF3CWMhnwzJMPYMz-CV7UjcCXjThlWhg23tu4w7a7nFs9EpgS92TcpgIPPISv0J1DsKUIpFkdgD95NCig/s1726/world-debt-2019.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1726" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu00cxN8zHPJhTiOgBTdYaAcPqS1KhladDU_WDJnQpjDtDpBs_kThVwbpvCXeF3CWMhnwzJMPYMz-CV7UjcCXjThlWhg23tu4w7a7nFs9EpgS92TcpgIPPISv0J1DsKUIpFkdgD95NCig/w444-h640/world-debt-2019.png" width="444" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Not: Kasım 2019'da yapılmış bu grafik'te bahsedilen rakam henüz sadece 69 Trilyon Dolar. Fakat ülkeler arasındaki borç dağılımını gösterdiği için gene de buraya koydum. Hoş, arada herhalde o da değişmiştir de elimdeki malzeme maalesef bu, daha güncelini bulamadım.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/69-trillion-of-world-debt-in-one-infographic/">https://www.visualcapitalist.com/69-trillion-of-world-debt-in-one-infographic/</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Ben elbette ekonomist değilim. Ve belki de burada gördüğüm bu tablo normaldir. Bir izahı vardır. Korkacak birşey yoktur. Fakat bir sade vatandaş gözüyle benim gördüğüm şu: Ne kadar zenginseniz o kadar müflissiniz. Zengin olduğunuz için onyıllar boyunca çok kolay borçlanabilmişsiniz, har vurup harman savurmuşsunuz. Ve sonunda da batmışsınız: Ürettiğiniz malların ve hizmetlerin yıllık piyasa değeriyle borcunuz ya başa baş geliyor, ya borcunuz yıllık piyasa değerinize çok yakın, ve hatta bazı hallerde de bir hayli üstünde. Ben buna batmak derim. Belki başka bir tanımı vardır, ama benim için batmak tam da bu. Ürettiğiniz yıllık maddi değer borcunuzu karşılamayacak hale gelmiş. Tabii diyebilirsiniz ki, canım o borçlarının tamamı, sen yıllık faiz ödemelerine bak. Ya da, canım para basarlar, hatta basmaya ne hacet bilgisayarda bir iki sıfır ilave ederler, öderler ("modern para teorisi" tam da bunu öneriyor, bu arada). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Fakat, bence biz geçelim yıllık faiz ödemelerini, para basmaları falanları - gelin esas borçta kalalım. Yukarıdaki rakamları gördünüz. Bunlar çok ama çok büyük. Dolayısıyla bana öyle geliyor ki yumurta gelmiş kapıya dayanmış. Birileri paralarını geri istemekte. Bu borçların geri ödenebileceğinden kuşkulanıyorlar artık. Haciz memurları çökecekler, elleri kulaklarında. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Ve bence sizler bu borçları halklarınıza ödeteceksiniz.</b> Daha doğrusu bütün dünya halklarına ödeteceksiniz.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Neden mi böyle düşünüyorum? Gelin bir de buraya bakın (çift dillidir - İngilizce ve Türkçe):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.elifayiter.com/2020-documentation">https://www.elifayiter.com/2020-documentation</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Birkaç istisna dısında <b>bu linkte gösterdiğim biyo-güvenlik bahaneli polis ve sürveyans düzenleri çoğunlukla zengin ülkelerde kuruluyor.</b> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja46NxIEljeWefjcs3eLqpZOb6oYiozQqDmPL6WgEHiJmmo4q61qieVIxU1FdLLoVQxKxqhDfcH8n6CkoHYGk20Cy4gXOPmuVMWzKfEgTrtP9O138epeDB8mL3muLZFGaz9AuV752dFNc/s1202/global-debt-2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="1202" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja46NxIEljeWefjcs3eLqpZOb6oYiozQqDmPL6WgEHiJmmo4q61qieVIxU1FdLLoVQxKxqhDfcH8n6CkoHYGk20Cy4gXOPmuVMWzKfEgTrtP9O138epeDB8mL3muLZFGaz9AuV752dFNc/w640-h392/global-debt-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock">https://www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Economist dergisinin tuttuğu Küresel Borç haritası. <b>Bu haritada bir ülkenin rengi eğer tam kırmızıysa, garip bir tesadüfle benim yukarıda linklediğim sayfada gösterdiğim biyo-güvenlik devleti kurma faaliyeti de aynı kırmızı alarmı veriyor.</b> Avustralya (özellikle), ABD, Kanada (özellikle), İngiltere (özellikle), AT ülkelerinin pek çoğu, Hindistan, Çin, Brezilya. İstisnalar var mı? Benim görebildiğim tek bir tane var, o da Japonya. Ve bu da çok garip çünkü en borçlu ülkelerden biri de o. Zahir halklarının terbiyesine, itaatkarlığına mı güveniyorlar?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.elifayiter.com/2020-documentation">Linklediğim o sayfada gösterdiğim olgunun</a> daha önceden (bizim memleket en başta olmak üzere) aşina olduğumuz güvenlik devleti faaliyetlerinden ciddi bir farkı var: Tarihsel olarak devlet baskısı ve zulmü odaklıdır, belli bir hedef kitlesi vardır. Devlet karşıtlarını yok eder. Oysa, şu an görmekte olduğumuz bu değil. <b>Devletler halklarını topyekun hedef almış vaziyette. Ayrıca sadece devletlerden mi bahs ediyoruz sanki? Devletlerden bile güçlü olan dev şirketler, bankalar, finans kurumları, monopoller, ticari ve sınai oluşumlar. Esas onlar... Herkesi büyük bir gözaltında tutmanın yollarını arıyorlar - bile diyemeyeceğim çünkü çoktan bulmuşlar.</b> <i>(Not: O sayfadaki "tanıklık" videolarının sayısını 25le kısıtlı tutuyorum. Hard diskimde biriken ise 300'ü geçti - ve bunların tamamı son 1, 2 ay içerisinde karşıma çıktı.)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Topladığım videoların arasında neler var: Kanalizasyon sürveyansı - gerçekten! <i>(Not: o video İngilizce. Bir bilim kadını çıkmış büyük bir iftaharla atık sürveyansını anlatıyor. Bilim kurgu mu? Hayır. An itibarı ile İngiltere'de Exeter kentinde pilot bölge olarak uygulamada.)</i> Kanada'da toplama kampı inşaatı için devlet ihaleye mi çıkmıyor? <i>(Pardon, o video da maalesef İngilizce, Ontario parlamentosunda bir millet vekili devlet sitesinde yayınlanmış bir ihale duyurusuna istinaden can hıraş soru soruyor - ve cevap alamıyor.)</i> Ve sonra tabii sayısız polis şiddeti videosu. Onlar için İngilize bilmeye falana gerek yok tabii. Olay ortada, gördüğünüz neyse o. Plajda maske takmadığı için tutuklanan hamile kadınlar mı istersiniz? Ayin yaptı diye tutuklanan papazlar mı? Kocasının cenaze töreninde yalnız oturmaya mahkum edilmiş yaşlı hanımlar mı istersiniz? Pazar yeri baskınları mı? Oğlunun spor müsabakasını seyrederken kelepçelenip yaka paça götürülen ev hanımları mı?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Neden?</b> Bütün bu olup bitenin yukarıda gösterdiğim borçla bir ilgisi olabilir mi? Yani, yarın öbürgün çıkabilecek ekonomi gerekçeli dev ayaklanmaları bastırmanın bir ön provasını mı seyrediyoruz şu an? Henüz sadece esas olaya bir hazırlık mı söz konusu burada?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Çünkü bütün bu vahşetin gerekçesi olarak sunulan "pandemi"yle bir ilgisi olamayacağını bu devletlerin kendi verileri, hem de üstelik apaçık, söylüyor:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://bindikbiralamete2020.tumblr.com">https://bindikbiralamete2020.tumblr.com</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Gidin bakın, kendi gözlerinizle görün. Yarın ne olur bilemem - belki büyük bir küresel sağlık tehdidi olabilir. Hatta açıkçası olmasını bekliyorum. Ama şu an için var mı? Sayılara bakın, belgeleri inceleyin, oraya koyduğum linklere gidip bu verilerin menşeilerini de teyid edin ve siz karar verin.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>O zaman nedir olan?</b> Ben şahsen bu 3 şeyi yan yana koyunca çok vahim bir şey görüyorum. Evet, bunlar ilk bakışta alakasızmış gibi duran şeyler olabilir, farkındayım. Bunları bitiştirerek çok abuk sabuk, tamamen mesnetsiz bir spekülasyonda bulunuyor olabilirim. Okuyan birileri varsa eğer, kimileri gülüyor bile olabilir şu anda. Fakat, gene de aklıma gelenleri, korktuğumu kayda geçirmek istedim. Büyük bir ekonomik çöküşten korkuyorum. Öyle kriz falan değil. Çöküş. Böyle bir çöküş sürecinde olabilecekler. Ve sonrasında da tabii daha şu an henüz hayal bile edemeyeceğimiz durumlar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hani polisiye romanlarda cinayeti çözmek için "parayı takip et" derler ya...</div><p></p>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-41768301669015685852020-07-14T15:52:00.002-07:002022-07-24T15:48:39.064-07:00An interval of unease<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1isLL0CSx7cEUKopRPOipoUiR7drn72MIE4thkq8o5rJyr6_kWKlUAPDm5qfwR6H1hIwH9OPUXnFiNjBmSvpXbCYKuKoKLHlsYTmzUQXba2JF50S9Tg3LTLAbwciVSh4NYJ9gx3MPLI/s1692/Screenshot+2020-10-23+015025.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1692" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1isLL0CSx7cEUKopRPOipoUiR7drn72MIE4thkq8o5rJyr6_kWKlUAPDm5qfwR6H1hIwH9OPUXnFiNjBmSvpXbCYKuKoKLHlsYTmzUQXba2JF50S9Tg3LTLAbwciVSh4NYJ9gx3MPLI/s16000/Screenshot+2020-10-23+015025.png" /></a></div><p></p><p>I sleep a lot. Most of the day I am asleep. I wake up very late in the afternoon. I need the little black cat to be with me, and she usually does not make an appearance until sunrise. So, I toss around waiting for her – not having gone to bed myself until close to dawn.</p><br><p>I dream a lot. Long dreams like stories almost. In them everyone is still alive. My mother, my father, my aunts, my uncle, my grandmother. And we do things together. Go on trips. I find myself in a lot of unknown cities. There has always been a lot of architecture in my dreams but now there is even more. These cities I find myself in are always small, happy bustling places. Small towns really, not cities. But then also a lot of countryside things. Seasides. Lakes. Excursions that we make to these places. Laughter. Jokes. Everything and everyone is happy in my dreams. Which is why I probably cannot tear myself away from them.</p><br><p>Once awake the vigil begins. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. The dreaded other shoe.</p><br><p>I spend a lot of time looking out of the window, staring at my street which looks just like it always did. Cats, dogs, tradesmen, delivery guys, neighbors chatting around, the 2 little cafes, the church. Passersby. Except that now almost all of those who pass by are wearing masks. And quite a few of the delivery guys and tradesmen too. I am very scared of the masks. And their wearers. Terrified of them, in fact. Because it is terrifying to see such trustfulness, such innocence, such acceptance. How on earth can this be? What is it that they believe? What is this thing to which they have forsaken their reason? Why do they not ask questions? Who is doing this to us? Why are they doing this to us? And why now? Especially that – why now? Why not 4 months ago? </p><br><p>Why are they constricting the very core of our aliveness – our breath? Why now? Silence. </p><br><p>Hafize tells me that most of them only wear the masks so as not to get ticketed. Frankly, I don’t buy that. There are no cops on this quiet side street. Hell, there aren’t even any cops down in the marketplace. And yet, there go the lemmings, quietly over the cliff…</p><br><p>Everything I knew has been turned upside down. I don’t think that there is a single thing left where what I thought was real 6 months ago is still real today. Where what I thought was good and ethical and right still bears scrutiny. On the other hand, things that I never gave much thought to, things that I scoffed at, ideas that were alien to me have become things that occupy my thoughts more and more. All the “good” that I upheld only 6 months ago is now revealing itself as the enemy. My very teaching career that used to mean so much to me. Graphic Design and Computer Visualization. I was the enemy. </p><br><p>So I stare out of the window and ask and ask and ask – how could I have been so blind?</p><br><p>Evil. I now think about it almost constantly. In a new way. My definition of evil has changed now. And it has also become very real. No longer an abstraction. No longer something to sit around and have intellectual discussions over. It is here. Now.</p><br><p>It isn’t over, this march of evil. I know this somewhere very deep in my being. In fact, it probably hasn’t even really started yet. The shoe to drop is only the next one that belongs to a huge centipede with thousands of feet and thousands of shoes, one more dreadful than the other. I wait. </p><br>Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-85339754787129090152020-07-14T11:12:00.007-07:002020-07-14T12:33:16.440-07:00Where the blazes are the percentages? aka. yes, of course it is a new religion...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUpZJG5Koxw0hxD-WxnaHQD3oUpJvbKBvgzqVI8Eyk_ISLKQiIfkLDU6H08Zd_VTgRuYV_8Cxh4xC4VoqosPMZrfYZpMbxyrw1CS86zzD-xws0S9oENZgsZQmWgiUt4z0nlEsjhJdNpE/s1600/percentages.jpg" /></div>
Because what else would you call <a href="http://elifayiterblog.blogspot.com/2020/07/and-yes-it-is-absolutely-new-religion.html">something that ignores data and instead goes solely by superstition and dogma?</a> The big superstition around here, preached by the Health Minister who is actually a doctor (i.e., someone who presumably received some sort of scientifically based education, right?) and followed by all the ardent believers is a magic number: 1000! If we can get the daily cases under 1000 we will have won a big victory against the unseen enemy that is lurking everywhere to deprive us of our inherent right to indefinitely prolonged life.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
1000! And we reached it today. Whoopie! 43231 test conducted, out of which came 992 cases. Celebrations all around! But nevertheless accompanied by stern admonitions that we should not let this get to our heads and continue with the precautions, adhere to wearing masks, bla bla bla.<br />
<br />
So, here is what really happened: The cases actually went up, not down. Yesterday there were 46492 tests, out of which came 1008 cases which resulted in %2.1. And actually on July 10th there were 48787 tests out of which came 1003 cases, which resulted in %2.0. As for today - %2.3. Up! Almost up by half a percent in 4 days actually. A percentage is data. Which is of course something that a religion would not easily thrive on. Whereas a magic number is exactly the sort of thing that its believers would embrace. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Above 1000, below 1000 - it all depends on how many tests you conduct. That's it! Unless you contextualize it, it is nothing but a magic number. And no one, absolutely no one is seeing this. Loud bleats of pleasure all around.<br />
<br />
This is insanity. The health minister here - he is some poor bloke who doesn't believe a word of what he says himself. You can tell by looking at his face while he is speaking that he doesn't. He is getting his orders from somewhere. That somewhere being the so-called "scientific board of the presidency." And boy, would I love to know what their global connections are. Because this insanity of hiding percentages is promulgated globally, is part of the new religion that purportedly "follows the science." "We are guided by the science." Isn't that what they say? A science that is devoid of percentages! Of course it is. Had the high priests ever shown percentages who would have subscribed? It took those hockey stick charts going up and up and up, that recruited all the believers.<br />
<br />
1000 indeed!</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">(Note: And no, I did not make a note of this because I am worried that cases are increasing or anything of the sort. What if they do? Apparently the flu bug infected 1 Billion people last year. And yes, that is a "B", and not a typo. Don't believe me? <a href="https://www.who.int/influenza/Global_Influenza_Strategy_2019_2030_Summary_English.pdf?ua=1" target="_blank">Here, go to the WHO website and see for yourself</a>. So, spare me please... What I am worried about is that they are using all this hocus pocus for their own nefarious ends. Starting with this mask stuff which is a health hazard on its face, not to mention a severely effective indoctrination vehicle. Worried that they will reinstate lock-downs. Worried about... No not just worried, completely freaked out about what else is coming down the pike. And that humanity is still not waking up!)</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-13780646323568020592020-07-06T10:35:00.019-07:002021-02-25T03:44:10.972-08:00Yes - it is absolutely a new religion...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgouOO3lDIM5mihxcsd8jD1AysIO7MGVK6kn1dZHOMreO57MH4GJE1EbxqN4eG9F0GDHxm3OPjTk49vp731UC7L5Pj03DdPXIWhlHyzsyN2MS-lwEdrL_DsPznUd6UfXOfCIdsQkyDwzvE/s1600/new-religion.jpg" /></div>
Complete with its priests, its acolytes, its zealots, evangelists and pious worshipers. And its symbols and attire. Namely, the mask. Its rituals, namely social distancing. The clapping at one point of course, although that one seems to no longer have quite the urgency that it had a few months ago. The incessant hand washing. <span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>But then other things as well. Magical objects. Such as the scrying mirror that all adherents are obliged to carry with them at all times. This photo is actually a screenfreeze from one of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsb17-e92bm2OW9y2nv5j8A" target="_blank">Lincoln Karim</a>'s amazing New York City videos. The man rides around an almost empty NYC on his bike and shows the state that that once oh-so-amazing city has fallen into. One of the very few crowded places he has found in his wanderings yesterday is the front of the Apple Store on Madison Avenue where people are standing in a long orderly line, properly social distanced and masked, waiting to get their scrying mirrors updated or fixed or whatever.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are a lot of secular people in Turkey who are extremely allergic to Islam, incessantly worrying that somehow, through some sneaky means, the fundamentalists will take over and Sharia laws will be brought into effect. I am completely bewildered that many of these same people are now ardent adherents of this new religion that has effectively put the entire globe in hijab. I mean, wasn't hijab one of the things about Islam that they were really scared of? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The complete loss of rationality, which is of course one of the hallmarks of a belief system. Feelings and tales as opposed to facts and figures. Group adherence as opposed to individual dignity. Autonomy - gone! Myths contributing to the holy book that is in the process of being written right now. Tales that fly in the face of all statistics, all evidence, all figures, but that nevertheless cannot be repudiated. It is so, because I feel it to be so. The believer gets some extra little kudos if they can actually share a sad story of someone they know having succumbed to that dreaded thing that the whole religion revolves around, a really bad bout of the sickness - or even better yet, death! And this absolutely cannot be questioned. A German I know tells me someone she knows died horribly. Are you sure it was covid, I ask. Of course she screams back. What else could it be? It was horrible, she wails. Well, I say, the death from covid percentage in Germany is 0.01%. Which makes you unbelievably unlucky to actually have known someone who died from it. Silence. Well, it wasn't someone I knew personally. It is someone that someone I know knew. But it was still horrible!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And then she adds something that says it all: "But anyway, I don't give a fuck about those stats! People are dying!" But people die everyday. Of all kinds of things, I say. Thousands of children from hunger everyday. She calls me heartless. We haven't spoken since then. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Incidentally, she is an architect. Who no longer gives a fuck about stats or facts or figures. Her religion forbids it, you see. She believes. She feels. She belongs. And of course, as a religious person, as a believer, she is now virtuous; but virtuous in a special way - she is part of a collective virtue. And these are reassurances, validations that she did not have in her former secular, "heathen" existence where she was an autonomous being who had to forge her own way, formulate her own values. So much easier now, isn't it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I know that calling out what is now happening all around us, this mass conversion into a new belief system, makes a lot of its adherents very angry. But you don't understand, I am told, people are genuinely afraid. That is why they are doing what they do.<br />
<br />
Exactly! They are afraid! And not only afraid, but irrationally so at that. And isn't irrational fear precisely the thing that all religions get their power from? The fear of the unknown? Of death? Some kind of panacea, some kind of solace which comes from unquestioning belief; no matter how irrational, how absurd, and indeed how ultimately self-destructive the fear itself or the belief system it brings forth may be. Like all religions this new one too is collectivist, crushing the individual who is all too ready to render all authority to the unified group. Contradictions abound in this new belief system. The priests and acolytes say one thing one day and another the next. Promises mean nothing, lies fall blithely from sanctimonious lips. Time and time again the pope himself is caught smirking at his own atrocities. And yet...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But in a highly materialized global society, especially in Western cultures where huge chunks of populations had already divested themselves from their long-held traditional religions for many many decades, is it at all surprising that there was a huge void waiting to be filled by some kind of new belief system? Especially of a kind that has trans-humanist strings attached to it? As in, "maybe we can live forever in the Cloud." As in, "Death is Unnatural! Can be avoided! We are entitled to infinite longevity if not indeed immortality!" Because isn't that what it ultimately comes down to? A rejection of death? As a natural thing? Indeed as an ending that actually makes the limited experience here on this earth meaningful? But no, of course not. We want to live for ever. And if the Singularity can get us there - hey ho! And meanwhile we will ardently worship at this new altar of fear. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And so - no, I do not think that this will go away. As I already said, it fills a void that was just sitting there waiting to be filled. So, this new religion is here to stay, I very much fear. It may take hold in some places more than others. It will definitely take hold in some segments of societies more so than in others. But, no I do not think that it will go away. It may transmogrify. Covid may (and probably will) get replaced by something else, in all likelihood by something that will be even more terrifying to these desperate worshipers: This thing is here to stay.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I think I will call it the "stay safe" religion. Or, in Turkish the "kendine dikkat et" religion. The "I will enthusiastically kill my own sovereign being on the altar of infinite longevity!" religion. </div>
</div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-1340645855635561012020-06-01T12:49:00.007-07:002020-06-01T15:46:41.648-07:00And... There is Life on the Street!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGyIJbUWynFdem4KIOdQd0xF7oo1rxDNA5qAvDn46tOAZK50usopCRwXuLVQ0d1kWZ9jg_MsFeuKo50ir-_TGvoeA-3WBwGG2hSk011owJ5jm97hshHs472ZMsOVRtd9HoZWqWDPbveI/s1600/cengiz.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGyIJbUWynFdem4KIOdQd0xF7oo1rxDNA5qAvDn46tOAZK50usopCRwXuLVQ0d1kWZ9jg_MsFeuKo50ir-_TGvoeA-3WBwGG2hSk011owJ5jm97hshHs472ZMsOVRtd9HoZWqWDPbveI/s1600/cengiz.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>I am not going to make this long. There is a lot to write, to think about and to self-examine. Especially self-examine. <a href="https://elifayiterblog.blogspot.com/2020/03/i-am-more-scared-than-i-have-ever-been.html">Back when I wrote this 2 months ago</a> I was wrong in something quite fundamental, and that was my underestimation of the resilience that societies have. I thought things were far more fragile than they have turned out to be. It seems that it isn't that easy to break the backs of people. Although...<span><a name='more'></a></span></div>
<div><br /></div><div>Back then I put another photo of Sokak Restaurant (one that I had taken last summer) at the top of that post; all the while despairing as to whether I would ever see what was in that image again. An early evening, the first customers trickling in, the tables slowly filling up. Lovely weather. Smiling faces. The delicious smells of rakı and fish. Happy cats. My dear friend Cafer, the maitre d' with his big smile. Would I ever have all this back? I was so devastated...</div><div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And so, this is the first day back. And there is Cafer on the right, with his big smile. And now he is even sporting a very fancy big mustache! There are the first customers, tables already nicely filling up even at the rather early hour when I took this. The rakı smells as great as ever. No cats in this particular frame but they are bound to be around somewhere. And to judge by the dog kibbles, just behind the feet of the person on the left, the establishment pooch isn't too far off either. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, I was wrong.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But was I wrong in every aspect? What is yet to come? Will "they" give up so easily? I will enjoy this reprieve for now, but in the full awareness that it is probably only a reprieve. But I will enjoy it. I learned a lot over these past couple of months. I made new friends. Which is actually quite difficult at my age, but it happened. I had to let go of a lot of things. A huge amount of things actually. Made a lot of discoveries that were very painful. Not least about myself. About how my entire world view, my take on things, had been completely distorted, built on entirely false premises - and for a very long time. Most of my adult life, in fact. I had to learn a lot of things and I also had to re-learn a lot of things. And it is still happening. And it is changing things. Maybe not everything, but a lot. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
More later. </div>
</div>
</div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-53217595573210196522020-05-18T11:43:00.003-07:002020-05-18T14:35:23.855-07:00Don't blame me... Blame Mark Twain!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="1534" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1xRQAgJCzjc_Xs2cbJLt7v63mjqEO-fQsknF-7kdG6i0NzPTF90KZCbKHef5AOkokS_BXEOTP-epTvCvL6Fx6HdJV_UwgoT0E2SV4BOZFRhdtkzuO8Z7Uv-9aPj2PKbT-zeqSHeQKX4/s1600/MV5BMTc3NzcyMjU3MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDg2OTI1MDE%2540._V1_.jpg" /></div>
<i>“It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”</i><br />
____ Attributed to Mark Twain.<br />
<br />
____________________<br />
<br />
A picture speaks a thousand words, right? So, look at the chart below. Please note very carefully what country this is. And the years please - 1990 to 2020. You're seeing the bar all the way on the right, yes? That's 2020. You saw that, right? What you also need to note very carefully is that these bars only represent the first 4 months of each year on the graph. So, don't go getting any ideas that the data for 2020 is incomplete. It isn't. It is exactly the same time span, therefore exactly the same data for each year. What do you see?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="1250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vpjFGWD9UcJiLa5Un31h0WOdy3lyxdN11hEecvKPs27cB5Ij4D64mklSgyESe3-oM3awXXXVsq3b1e3CXxmpq702GyrG6birzPBYVS7MlKutuBGE168RvwHQGYQVD2Lwy8DLgCvfwms/s1600/sweden.jpg" /></div>
<br />
<b>Now, after having scrutinised the graph, please re-read the quote above.
</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
____________________<br />
<br />
So, let us now take a trip down memory lane to recall once more the arch porkies teller of all times who had the gall to evoke this old folk saying some 20 years ago - hmmm... was it WMDs he was talking about? Something else? Anyway, you remember:<br />
<i>“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”</i><br />
(Applied to our lovely - oh so honest - present times? ?... ???...)<br />
Hey hey hey! He said it, not me!...<br />
<br />
Got it yet? No?<br />
Well, who would've known better than Mark Twain that you wouldn't... (This last here having obviously been addressed at only some of you, and not all of you. Not that you wouldn't know whether I mean you, or not. But such clarifications for extra touchy folks appear to be called for nowadays. So... ;-)<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-47513626734764252962020-05-13T11:15:00.005-07:002022-05-28T08:02:53.576-07:00Very odd indeed...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4Db_5Q6MglIU1E29XRpBg0JF95CKKcXvLvcBBX1LCK6YIACr0mGrW2cdE8l7rkWiGVUw_tzO_oGtVItP6YSAwQrJG-ldHSjUHZF38Lxcd4Q3JiFyeC1vefXdCC99nAixRD1EpteEx6c/s1600/graph-world-numbers-updated.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4Db_5Q6MglIU1E29XRpBg0JF95CKKcXvLvcBBX1LCK6YIACr0mGrW2cdE8l7rkWiGVUw_tzO_oGtVItP6YSAwQrJG-ldHSjUHZF38Lxcd4Q3JiFyeC1vefXdCC99nAixRD1EpteEx6c/s1600/graph-world-numbers-updated.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Surely I am not the only one who sees something askew with this, am I? This has actually been on my mind for quite a while now but I wanted to wait for the numbers to become more apparent before I visualized them. I think we have enough of an accumulation at this point, so here it is. I am not going to go to any lengths to explain what this is, I think it is pretty self-evident. In short, the critter appears to have biases when it comes to different countries. Some it likes, others it doesn't. And if you are an English speaking country then the thing seems to really have it in for you. </div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Bottomline: 5 countries whose populations are only 7.2% of all humans on this planet account for 67% of deaths attributed to this surge worldwide.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I know that there will be skeptics who will say <i>"well, in a lot of countries they probably didn't keep accurate death records".</i> Point taken - sort of. However, even after taking that into consideration, when we just look at the discrepancies in fatality numbers between European countries (who would presumably have done a decent job of documentation, being "developed" countries and all that) I think we have enough material to question this. Why would there be such an enormous inconsistency of outbreak related deaths per capita between Italy and Greece? Similar climates, similar social structures, after all. And the same policies - locked down to the gills, both. Portugal and Spain. Austria and Switzerland. Romania and Bulgaria.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
But, whatever may or may not have happened in Europe - no amount of unrecorded deaths in "developing" (what an utterly odious, conceited word btw') countries can account for the USA and the UK, who between them constitute only 5% of the world population but 39% of all outbreak deaths! When it comes to the US - could it possibly be that... ?...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blZpgra3XbU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blZpgra3XbU</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh73kfmTJYY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh73kfmTJYY</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And as for the UK:<br /><a href="https://lbry.tv/@FriendsOfTruth:9/UK-government-admits-to-falsifying-Covid-death-certificates.:6" target="_blank">https://lbry.tv/@FriendsOfTruth:9/UK-government-admits-to-falsifying-Covid-death-certificates.:6</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And as for Italy:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://off-guardian.org/2020/03/23/italy-only-12-of-covid19-deaths-list-covid19-as-cause/" target="_blank">https://off-guardian.org/2020/03/23/italy-only-12-of-covid19-deaths-list-covid19-as-cause/</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So... Once again, knowing one's way around data-vis does have its uses in situations like this. But then it also causes some sleepless nights, let me tell you - wondering and wondering...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And finally - I feel deeply for every death that has happened here, that is related to this, regardless of what caused it, or of how many died. This doesn't even need to be said. It is a given. From all that I have read and heard, in severely afflicted cases the illness appears to lead to a particularly painful end. These individual sufferings are what makes all that is developing around this tragedy especially abhorrent. The gains that seem to be calculated from it. The agendas. The greed. The barely concealed glee - yes even that, glee. The opportunism. The heartlessness of admissions of cooked numbers that are garnered out of personal misery - admissions made by top officials, no less. It is mostly my anger with these that is making me wonder and wonder even more.</div>
</div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-51698008612241021022020-05-08T13:04:00.000-07:002020-05-16T04:42:50.238-07:00Is this a religion now?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg20smwubohsPRCT4NSPEcwmiMU8wtFqbT8yTg7l8gvknKXwK8A6ZOlQw931wtrQ1Irq6ong27erPL3EzHSzLmZhowaR_j6X_hPX_dSq0L99p3_VQ_0iGl7m2e1ymFJfTnnZDH8N1hNyI/s1600/twinsfisch-asEF6J0LZ44-unsplash+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg20smwubohsPRCT4NSPEcwmiMU8wtFqbT8yTg7l8gvknKXwK8A6ZOlQw931wtrQ1Irq6ong27erPL3EzHSzLmZhowaR_j6X_hPX_dSq0L99p3_VQ_0iGl7m2e1ymFJfTnnZDH8N1hNyI/s1600/twinsfisch-asEF6J0LZ44-unsplash+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This man I know. In general good health as far as I am aware. Very intelligent. Educated. Creative. Sophisticated. And scared to death of getting sick with the virus, as I found out earlier today.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Sequestered in his home. Food delivered to a closed door which he only opens once the delivery guy has departed. Everything gets sterilized. Washed down with disinfectants over and over. Anything that comes into the house in the way of edibles gets soaked for hours in vinegar water. And, needless to say, glued to his TV screen. He called me to commiserate, I guess. Realized shortly that I am not at all on the same page as he.<i> "But why aren't you scared?" "Everyone is scared!"</i> So, I asked him whether he had seen the recent study results? The ones that showed that the fatality rate of this thing is akin to the regular flu? Upon which he had a complete breakdown and started screaming. Flew off the handle in fact. <i>"I don't <b>believe</b> in those studies!!! They will not make me <b>believe</b> in those lies ever! They are inventing those studies to kill everyone!"</i><br />
<br />
<b>Believe?</b> Is this some kind of new belief system then? A belief system that is powerful enough to make an intelligent, well educated person reject scientific studies among which is one conducted by <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2020/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats" target="_blank">an institution that is number 4 on the World Universities ranking list?</a><br />
<br />
Or, is it just <i>"more congruent to my being"</i>? Amazing thing this comedy sketch below. The portrayal of a mind set that for me was quite disturbing to behold. But displayed in such a light hearted manner that it almost eludes us. And yes, it almost is like a new religion, isn't it?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QcUAG6t5aN8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QcUAG6t5aN8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-79823525741791454562020-05-06T08:56:00.000-07:002020-05-09T06:26:30.929-07:00The music that we lost...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFjuLgYjLt8lpX9sV1iiT0n_-PNf52beTUo4rmBMZ1i56VTaWWtm_aajuPhgzFCbS4TalJZF-oyWb7FvYVe5ujX7qOBcHIMJy7P6iBQ8o7UPEeTRu-kNvi9K3K1wK6JmsiVE2bP63otUk/s1600/naitian-tony-wang-66SBq1xxuSU-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFjuLgYjLt8lpX9sV1iiT0n_-PNf52beTUo4rmBMZ1i56VTaWWtm_aajuPhgzFCbS4TalJZF-oyWb7FvYVe5ujX7qOBcHIMJy7P6iBQ8o7UPEeTRu-kNvi9K3K1wK6JmsiVE2bP63otUk/s1600/naitian-tony-wang-66SBq1xxuSU-unsplash.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Which is also the America that we lost... Because regardless of whether we ourselves were Americans or not, the music was ours. We lost the music. They bid their silent adieus and gracefully vanished into the night. So gently, so quietly that we didn't even hear them leave. Maybe the last bloom of Western Civilization - they knew it was time, these American musicians. And they fell silent.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This is a song list. It is random. There is no particular order. I add whatever comes into my head without thinking what came before it or what will follow it. It could be 10 20 100 1000 times longer than this. And in time it will get longer. Listen.</div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLbVrQcYkX4wCbHvaaE_RG2w3ZETlIHUwX" width="560"></iframe>
</div>
</div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-11158819783663611722020-05-03T13:33:00.002-07:002020-05-09T06:26:58.474-07:00I disapprove of what you say...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpQHHw27X4ZKIrXHJipR5vPWrhB-ZGL0QTxyC9Zm6V0TQkL30HVDBck6kNHVM9OP2GK3RaAQrQlJ8274HhGIURo2XY4AyEz96pwLkOUN_brtnilqTEtTdbIvbAaiwUvoI3Au0vZZ0k5U/s1600/2464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwpQHHw27X4ZKIrXHJipR5vPWrhB-ZGL0QTxyC9Zm6V0TQkL30HVDBck6kNHVM9OP2GK3RaAQrQlJ8274HhGIURo2XY4AyEz96pwLkOUN_brtnilqTEtTdbIvbAaiwUvoI3Au0vZZ0k5U/s1600/2464.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>... but I will defend to the death your right to say it."</i><br />
<br />
Well, disapprove is probably too strong a word. I didn't exactly disapprove. Not everything he said resonated with me. Some of it did, most of it didn't. For one thing, I have a hard time accepting his basic premise of the <i>"hunger game society"</i> - that achieving that is the goal. I can't see that. There may well be some kind of goal, but if so then my gut tells me that it is something different. <a href="https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/top-news/techno-tyranny-how-us-national-security-state-using-coronavirus-fulfill-orwellian-vision/" target="_blank">This here</a> could be it - this I can see. Impoverishing the world population to the point of complete dependency, that I can't. There is a conflict of interest there. That vast population needs to keep on spending money and keep on paying VAT in order for the system to run. Including, and especially, systems of control.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I liked the last hour very much. When it got quite metaphysical. He talked about Love and how when you operated from your heart you did what was intrinsically right without fear of consequences. And how that was what expanded consciousness. And how we are all just points of attention, having a unique experience in an infinite field of consciousness. Things I am already familiar with from my youthful readings of Jung. But the way he expressed them was beautiful. And very sincere, I felt.<br />
<br />
An amazing raconteur anyway. Whatever else he may or may not be. He is certainly that.<br />
<br />
...................................<br />
<br />
But all this is beside the point. The fact that everything humanly possible is being done from stopping him saying whatever it is that he has to say - that is what matters.<br />
<br />
I had not listened to him before. As far as I knew he was just this eccentric old doomsayer. No one to be taken seriously. But once the blockade was on I did make a point of going and listening to this over 3 hour long live interview tonight. Which was almost impossible to access because all known browsers were blocking the page through a pop up. This even included Opera which is the one that I normally use, the one that is supposed to not track you and all this other wonderful stuff that they lure you with. No different from Chrome or any of the others, as I had to find out. Luckily I also have the Brave Browser installed and that one got me in.<br />
<br />
It doesn't matter what he says. But what is happening not only to him but to many many others matters. It matters a lot. It is the end of something.<br />
<br />
Most people may not be aware of this enormous darkness that is settling upon us. Some that are aware may be applauding it because the voices that are being silenced are ones they themselves disapprove of. I have nothing to say to that. Really, nothing.<br />
<br />
The fact that I am too scared to write down the name of this old man... Maybe that will give them pause? Who knows anymore...<br />
<br />
...................................<br />
<br />
My father was a big reader of Oswald Spengler. Spengler's analysis of world history concludes that roughly the year 2000 would be the big turning point after which Western Civilization falls into a massive decay. Having internalized and pondered over these analyses for many years maybe my father wouldn't have been as devastated as I keep thinking he would've been had he lived to see these days. Maybe he would've taken it all in his stride. Who knows?<br />
<br />
I am thinking about my father a lot these days. And my mother. And others. So many who passed on. Who may be better off to have passed on when they did. At least that is how it looks right now.<br />
<br />
But perhaps there will be a different outcome. There may well be yet. <a href="https://elifayiterblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/bff-kemal.html" target="_blank">Provided there are enough people like Kemal</a>. We shall see. </div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-79980408049463803062020-04-30T08:45:00.001-07:002020-05-09T06:27:17.242-07:00Best Friend Forever<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBAvEeeiTOyD5xzbHV4Ka-uaOFz7TPDinyYoJoJXGjgRd1B9S_CiIB-DYODzMZnJamShf79G-ZjnZy37vEd1Fi8WlQBIb6Xa6TWOpXSYoyhjai1TXzOyZSFuxt7teU_MrXlZrcrkrMiPU/s1600/kemal.jpg" /></div>
Kemal.<br />
He is a wily old geezer. A Kurd from Ağrı who has been around the block a few times. He owns a tiny tea counter in the marketplace. And he is a very special friend. When the marketplace closed down I heard that he had gone back to Ağrı where he still has a small place. I didn't call him. I couldn't bring myself to even do that. I was completely devastated anyway and anything to add to that... Somehow it was too much. I didn't call a special friend. And for this may I never be forgiven.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
But then, a couple of days ago, I suddenly picked up the phone. And got a complete blasting!<br />
<br />
Was I out of my friggin' mind? What Ağrı? What leaving? <i>"I have been here since day 1! Didn't leave for a second! I am here, right where I am supposed to be! I am not allowed to sell tea according to bloody regulations - but WTF? No one can stop me from giving out tea! So, I have been here every day, handing out tea to anyone who wants it! - But, more to the point, where the hell have YOU been madam university professor? Hiding out in your house?!? Afraid the cops will get you? You chicken!"</i><br />
<br />
Now, we have this thing here that people over 65 are not allowed out. And there is a fine. A pretty steep one too. Kemal is 68. And he has come out every day, walked a very long distance (he wouldn't have been able to use public transportation since he has a "senior" card) and came here. Opened his little counter. Sat here all day, at first totally alone. Giving tea to people who wanted it. For him, the old Kurd from Ağrı who knows a thing or two about "governments", it was a matter of principle. A matter of maintaining his dignity. His autonomy. I was so ashamed. Soooo ashamed!<br />
<br />
Had someone go and buy hair dye. Called in this young hairdresser whose store is closed down and who is sitting at home totally bust. Had him dye my hair. Had him cut, and blow dry and style a whole bunch of other people's hair in the neighborhood while I was at it. Anything to help. And then I ran out of the house. To Kemal's tea counter. Which is where I have been every afternoon since then. Sitting with Kemal, in an empty marketplace where now shopkeepers are beginning to reappear in order to resolutely sit in front of their deserted stores. They are destroyed. It will take them years to get out of debt. But they are not letting go. They have returned.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Cqdm30UGITiaEGYeIkoDo2WIsfysuDgYABGValDm8IaQ2SVqCsPn5tmH3ni54FZ4NXNnNWiURMGZAXetcKgsfJRvdc1pMfH_Q5PsDLmPLAvGv640BQ-URYFVYwh_E3MZhSUnYhS0pE0/s1600/gone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Cqdm30UGITiaEGYeIkoDo2WIsfysuDgYABGValDm8IaQ2SVqCsPn5tmH3ni54FZ4NXNnNWiURMGZAXetcKgsfJRvdc1pMfH_Q5PsDLmPLAvGv640BQ-URYFVYwh_E3MZhSUnYhS0pE0/s1600/gone.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
So now, Kemal does have people to give tea to. He sat and waited until the others came back. He knew they would and he waited. <a href="https://elifayiterblog.blogspot.com/2020/03/i-am-more-scared-than-i-have-ever-been.html" target="_blank">There is still life in the street.</a> Even if it looks like as if there isn't right now. There will be. No matter how hard the return will be, there will be life on the street again. Thanks to the likes of Kemal.<br />
<br />
As for me - Kemal has saved me. He has saved me from myself. He has shown me how counterproductive just <a href="https://elifayiterblog.blogspot.com/2020/04/isnt-it-my-inherent-job-to-fret.html" target="_blank">fretting</a> alone can be. That you need to do something. Even if it is something as insignificant as going out every afternoon to sit together with your neighborhood storekeepers who are desperately waiting to get their livelihoods back.<br />
<br />
And I am so very thankful that Kemal has shown me that. He has saved me by setting an example. Just that. So simple.<br />
<br /></div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5559625262261989543.post-52797364398910045202020-04-26T02:21:00.000-07:002020-05-11T12:20:37.165-07:00Isn't it my job to fret?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi68N-wDN8wxzVGkHfZwZYQmR4GCj9QHAPKEHF_ml02yO4TaSFl72ScaOnX3l8TLVeW51j7sXFjIi1YDsAT_0oKZviUKzlXC6OSA-ujk_sIGobBIVOiVZlrKKVxRw4RQSGuklYi_6lJ7CE/s1600/my-job.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi68N-wDN8wxzVGkHfZwZYQmR4GCj9QHAPKEHF_ml02yO4TaSFl72ScaOnX3l8TLVeW51j7sXFjIi1YDsAT_0oKZviUKzlXC6OSA-ujk_sIGobBIVOiVZlrKKVxRw4RQSGuklYi_6lJ7CE/s1600/my-job.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
My nearest and dearest appear to be worried about me. "What difference does it make if you fret like this?" "You cannot change anything, so why not try to be 'more normal' about all of this?" These are the kinds of things that I am getting asked. This was the gist of a long phone conversation that I had with someone especially close to me last night. And others have asked me as well.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I am no one special. I am just an ordinary, somewhat above average talented graphic designer who also builds 3D stuff in SL. Toys really. I teach graphic design. I think I teach it well. But, none of this is anything special. I have no outstanding mission in life. I have no particular insights myself. I just observe. I listen to people that I think do have insight. From what they tell me I try to understand, I try to make sense.<br />
<br />
Other than that I am quite helpless really. I have no power. No input. And I don't want any of that anyway. I am quite solitary by nature. I prefer my own company. I am not a leader or an organizer. I am an elderly, rather eccentric, introverted woman.<br />
<br />
What has happened over the past 2 months is scaring me. I cannot understand it. The logic of it. The uncertainty of it. So, one can either drift down the road into all sorts of conspiracy theories, or one can go down my route which is that the world is governed by a cadre of ignorant, hubris ridden, quite possibly quasi-psychopathic technocrats who get away with murder over and over again (sometimes quite literally murder), never even to be noticed by a propaganda deluged world public. Either route is scary. So, I am definitely not Tinkerbell these days. Which is another thing that I am accused of. Always being in such a horrible mood. Which I am, yes. Fretting. Inevitably, I am very scared. Which doesn't help the bad disposition either.<br />
<br />
So - why do I fret? Why don't I let it go? Accept the prevailing consensus, think that everything will be OK at some point, and move on. I can't. Even though I know that fretting will not get me anywhere.<br />
<br />
We are not a terribly pleasant species. But we do have one thing that makes us special. We ask questions. We want to know. It is not because we will get any answers or that we will find solutions or be able to make miraculous changes. We are inquisitive because that is what we are. It is innate. Asking questions, trying to figure stuff out even when we know full well that we will never be able to get there - that is what we humans do. Isn't it?<br />
<br />
So, why isn't everyone around me doing it? That I am doing it does not appear as anything special to me at all. Why everyone else isn't doing it - that seems to me to be the real question here. If all our forebears hadn't constantly fidgeted around with unanswerable questions would there ever even have been a species called homo sapiens? Wouldn't we have been extinguished long ago? If we had just accepted conditions as they are? We cannot run as fast as our predators. We have far less muscle strength than they do. We cannot climb trees as fast. We do not have claws or fangs. All we have for surviving is our brain. Which asks and asks and asks, and then eventually something collective happens out of which emerge remarkable individuals who do find answers to what appeared to be unanswerable dilemmas for so many before them.<br />
<br />
I am not one of those capable ones. I am just a minion in the crowd. But, if there is such a thing as a collective unconscious, or what Rupert Sheldrake called morphic resonance, all of us "fretters" out here who are questioning what is going on now, contribute tiny droplets to a sea out of which eventually there can come an answer. May come an answer. Not guaranteed at all, just maybe. But for an answer to emerge I think that there has to be a build up of anxiety. Stuff doesn't just come out of a vacuum. There has to be a collective need.<br />
<br />
So again - the question is not why I fret. I am a human being. I question. I seek answers. I try to figure things out even if I know that I can't. I fret. That is my job. Why the hell isn't everyone else fretting? That should be the real question here. Shouldn't it?<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Elif Ayiterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03113492369895704024noreply@blogger.com0