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-THE BORACAY ISLAND LIFE- 
Antisthenes
"Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes."
"Antisthenes (born c. 445 BC—died c. 365) was a Greek philosopher, of Athens, who was a disciple of Socrates and is considered the founder of the Cynic school of philosophy, though Diogenes of Sinope often is given that credit.
Antisthenes was born into a wealthy family, and the philosophical ideas that he developed had their roots in the contradictions and injustices that he found embedded in society. He sought to build a foundation of ideas that would serve as a guiding principle toward a happier, more thoughtful way of life.
Antisthenes believed that happiness was dependent on moral virtue and that virtue could be instilled through teaching.
In teaching people how to be virtuous, Antisthenes demarcated two categories of objects: (1) external goods, embracing such elements as personal property, sensual pleasure, and other luxuries; and (2) internal goods, including the truth and knowledge of the soul.
He advocated great restraint on the part of an individual tempted to take pleasure in external goods, and he encouraged his students to accept the burden of physical and mental pain that accompanies the soul’s search for its own inner wealth.
To dramatize his method of teaching, Antisthenes, after the myth of Hercules, would stand on his platform of ideas and beliefs and “bark” at the folly and injustices of his society.
The Cynic (Greek: Canine, or Doglike) school of philosophy long survived him."
"Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers (§ 12)". Book by Diogenes Laertius, circa 200 AD.
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Antisthenes
"Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes."
"Antisthenes (born c. 445 BC—died c. 365) was a Greek philosopher, of Athens, who was a disciple of Socrates and is considered the founder of the Cynic school of philosophy, though Diogenes of Sinope often is given that credit.
Antisthenes was born into a wealthy family, and the philosophical ideas that he developed had their roots in the contradictions and injustices that he found embedded in society. He sought to build a foundation of ideas that would serve as a guiding principle toward a happier, more thoughtful way of life.
Antisthenes believed that happiness was dependent on moral virtue and that virtue could be instilled through teaching.
In teaching people how to be virtuous, Antisthenes demarcated two categories of objects: (1) external goods, embracing such elements as personal property, sensual pleasure, and other luxuries; and (2) internal goods, including the truth and knowledge of the soul.
He advocated great restraint on the part of an individual tempted to take pleasure in external goods, and he encouraged his students to accept the burden of physical and mental pain that accompanies the soul’s search for its own inner wealth.
To dramatize his method of teaching, Antisthenes, after the myth of Hercules, would stand on his platform of ideas and beliefs and “bark” at the folly and injustices of his society.
The Cynic (Greek: Canine, or Doglike) school of philosophy long survived him."
"Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers (§ 12)". Book by Diogenes Laertius, circa 200 AD.
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Italian artist Alessandra Aita transforms wood and driftwood into deeply expressive sculptures that feel shaped as much by emotion as by hand.
Using natural fragments worn by time, her figures emerge face-to-face — intimate, tense, tender.
Twisted branches become hair, bark becomes skin, and negative space becomes breath. There’s a raw honesty in these forms, as if the material itself remembers what it once was.
Aita’s sculptures don’t shout. They lean in.
They speak of connection, separation, longing, and the quiet gravity of human encounter — all carried by wood that has already lived a life before becoming art.
📍 Italy
IG: @aita_alessandra
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The mighty Gladius, a sword that conquered empires, was not merely a weapon but an embodiment of the indomitable Roman spirit.
Thrust into the turbulent annals of ancient times, it lay in the hands of those who would carve out the grandeur of Rome itself.
Shrouded in the aura of brute force and cunning battle prowess, the fates of the known world often teetered on its razor’s edge, an epic testimony to the ingenuity and will of those who wielded it.
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The interior of the Galleria Umberto I, a prominent public shopping gallery in Naples, Italy.
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GM
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Pura Vida 🏝️
On this day in 1984, the Thomson Twins single “Doctor! Doctor!” debuted on the UK Singles Chart at #18 (February 4)
The follow-up single to their 1983 smash “Hold Me Now” was another worldwide hit for the new wave trio, peaking at #3 in the UK, #5 in Ireland, #11 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and in Canada, Germany and Switzerland, #12 in New Zealand and #14 in Australia.
The video of the keyboard-based track from the Thompson Twins’ “Into the Gap” LP was also popular on MTV.
#thompsontwins, #doctordoctor, #intothegap, #80smusic, #newwave, #newwavemusic, #dailyrockhistory, #thisdayinmusic, #onthisday
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Four-man bicycle is powered by five chains and has brakes on both its wheels, 1948.
The bike was built by Art Rothschild (top position) who broke three ribs while learning how to ride it.
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As carnival season reaches its peak, one pastry rules them all across Central Europe: the Krapfen (or Berliner, Krafne, Pączki).
While the dough is a masterpiece of soft, airy yeast gold, the true debate always lies in what’s hidden inside.
Historically, the classic filling has always been apricot jam—especially in Austria and Germany—but as traditions traveled, every region added its own local soul.
In Poland, you’ll often find the fragrant and slightly tart rosehip jam, while in the Czech Republic and Hungary, the thick, dark plum jam known as Powidl is a staple.
Modern favorites have introduced decadent layers of pistachio cream, hazelnut chocolate, and vanilla custard.
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The Porsche 550 Spyder was Porsche's first purpose-built race car, dominating 1.5-liter classes with a lightweight design and potent Ernst Fuhrmann-designed 110 hp quad-cam engine.
Debuting in 1953, only 90 units were built through 1956, earning the nickname "Giant Killer" by defeating more powerful cars
1953 - 1957
Designed primarily for racing, the mid-engined, lightweight Porsche 550 Spyder was unveiled in 1953. Its tubular steel frame and aluminium bodywork helped reduce its weight and, in turn, improved its handling.
Powered by a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder engine that produced around 110PS, one of the most memorable successes for the 550 Spyder came with a class win at the notorious Carrera Panamericana race in Mexico in 1953.
It also took a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year too. Only a limited number of examples of the 550 Spyder were manufactured, but it was a car that helped establish Porsche as a serious contender on the motorsport scene.
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Don’t be fooled by its size — this tiny sea slug is as fierce as it is beautiful! 💙
The blue glaucus is only about one inch long and spends most of its life floating upside down at the ocean’s surface, staying buoyant by storing air bubbles in its stomach.
By feeding on venomous prey, including Portuguese man-o’-war, and ingesting their prey’s stinging cells, the blue glaucus becomes toxic itself.
Learn more about these stunning ocean animals: 
Shock rock pioneer Alice Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier in Detroit, Michigan, on this day in 1948 (February 4)
“Alice Cooper” was originally the name of the band that Furnier was lead singer for, but in 1975 they broke up, and he adopted the band's name as both his legal name and his stage name, beginning his solo career with the 1975 concept album “Welcome to My Nightmare”.
Most of Lou Reed’s band joined Cooper for this record, which peaked in the Top 5 in the US, Australia and Canada.
Alice was the quintessential showman, with his signature makeup and look inspired by the movies, and the “Welcome To My Nightmare” Tour set the standard for the over-the-top theatrics that would be his trademark for decades to come: a kaleidoscope of horror motifs, pyrotechnics, guillotines, chickens, electric chairs, fake blood, baby dolls, and large snakes.
Over the decades, Cooper has experimented with a number of musical styles, including art rock, hard rock, heavy metal, new wave, glam metal, and industrial rock, and has sold well over 50 million records.
The Alice Cooper catalogue (band + solo artist) includes classic hits like “Department of Youth”, “School’s Out”, “Only Women Bleed”, and “You and Me”, and landmark albums like “Billion Dollar Babies”, #school’s Out”, “Welcome to my Nightmare”, and “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell”
Cooper is one of the most enduring artists in rock history.
After starting his career in the 60s, he continues to perform and record more than 50 years later, and released his twenty-first solo album, “Detroit Stories”, on February 26, 2021.
In 2011 Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
#alicecooper, #rockandrollhalloffame, #departmentofyouth, #schoolsout, #onlywomenbleed, #youandme, #billiondollarbabies, #rockhistory, #welcometomynightmare, #dailyrockhistory, #thisdayinrock, #thisdayinmusic, #onthisday, #happybirthday
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♦️"How the Renaissance Started" ✍️
From Italy to England: The journey of a new way of thinking:
The Renaissance did not begin as a sudden revolution. It began as a change of mind, a quiet shift in how people looked at life, knowledge, art and themselves. The word Renaissance itself means “rebirth” and what was reborn was classical learning, human curiosity and individual thought.
To understand how the Renaissance started we must first understand why it began in Italy and then how it slowly travelled to England.
1️⃣. Why the Renaissance Began in Italy:
Italy was not a single country during the late Middle Ages. It was divided into wealthy city-states such as Florence, Venice, Milan and Rome. These cities created the perfect environment for intellectual rebirth.
A. Italy’s Connection with the Classical Past:
🔸Italy stood on the ruins of the Roman Empire.
🔸Ancient Roman buildings surrounded daily life
🔸Latin manuscripts were preserved
🔸People felt close to classical history
Unlike northern Europe, Italians saw antiquity as their heritage, not as distant history.
B. Wealth from Trade and Banking:
Italian cities grew rich through:
🔸Mediterranean trade
🔸Banking systems
🔸Merchant families
Wealth gave people:
🔸Leisure to think
🔸Money to support artists and scholars
🔸Freedom from feudal dependence
The Renaissance required patrons and Italy had many.
C. Patronage and the Medici Family:
One of the most important forces behind the Renaissance was patronage financial support given to artists and scholars.
The Medici family of Florence funded:
🔸Artists
🔸Writers
🔸Architects
🔸Thinkers
Art and learning became symbols of prestige and power not only religious duty.
D. Fall of Constantinople (1453):
When Constantinople fell to the Ottomans:
🔸Greek scholars fled west
🔸They carried ancient Greek texts
🔸Plato and Aristotle returned to Europe
Italy became the gateway of classical knowledge.
E. Rise of Humanism:
Humanism focused on:
🔸Human potential
🔸Classical literature
🔸Education in history, poetry, rhetoric
This was a direct shift from medieval theology to human-centered learning.
2️⃣. Nature of the Italian Renaissance:
The Italian Renaissance emphasized:
🔸Art and architecture
🔸Classical balance and beauty
🔸Individual genius
🔸Secular subjects
It was visual, artistic and philosophical in nature.
Key figures:
🔸Petrarch
🔸Leonardo da Vinci
🔸Michelangelo
🔸Machiavelli
3️⃣. How the Renaissance Reached England:
The Renaissance did not arrive in England suddenly. It arrived slowly, selectively and differently.
A. Delay Due to Political Instability:
England faced:
🔸The Hundred Years’ War
🔸The Wars of the Roses
🔸These conflicts delayed cultural development.
B. Role of Trade and Travel:
English scholars and nobles:
🔸Traveled to Italy
🔸Studied classical texts
🔸Brought back Renaissance ideas
🔸Knowledge crossed borders before armies did.
C. Influence of the Printing Press:
The printing press:
🔸Spread Renaissance texts quickly
🔸Made books affordable
🔸Encouraged reading in English
🔸Ideas no longer belonged only to elites.
D. Tudor Patronage:
Under the Tudors, especially:
🔸Henry VII
🔸Henry VIII
England experienced:
🔸Political stability
🔸Royal support for learning
🔸Contact with European scholars
🔸The court became a center of culture.
E. English Humanists:
Key English figures:
🔸Sir Thomas More
🔸Erasmus (influential visitor)
They adapted Renaissance ideas to:
🔸English morals
🔸Christian values
🔸Practical politics
4️⃣. Impact on English Literature:
The Renaissance transformed English literature by:
🔸Encouraging individuality
🔸Expanding themes beyond religion
🔸Developing drama and poetry
🔸Enriching English vocabulary
Writers began to explore:
🔸Human emotion
🔸Power and ambition
🔸Love and tragedy
This prepared the stage for Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
5️⃣. Conclusion: Why This Topic Matters:
The Renaissance did not replace the Middle Ages, it grew out of them.
♦️Italy lit the flame.
♦️England carried it forward.
The Renaissance in England was not a copy of Italy but a transformation shaped by English history, language and literature.
The Renaissance began in Italy but it found its voice in England.
#renaissance #englishliterature #englishliteraturestudent
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Jane Perkins takes it to another level creating artworks from found objects.
Absolutely stunning!
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A look into the Atlantic waters of the island nation of Dominica.
Pristine Seas conducted a scientific expedition to Dominica in 2022 to explore and document the country's marine environments.
We worked in partnership with the government of Dominica, which is committed to becoming the world's first climate-resilient nation.
Photos by Manu San Félix and Enric Sala/National Geographic Pristine Seas
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#islands #scuba #marinelife
On this day in 1977, Boston’s self-titled LP debuted on the UK Albums Chart at #35 (February 5)
Here’s the remarkable story of how it happened…
In the late 1960s, Tom Scholz began attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he began writing music.
While attending MIT, he joined the band Freehold, where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea, who would later become members of Boston.
After graduating with a master's degree, he then began working for the Polaroid Corporation in the product development division.
With the money he earned from his job at Polaroid, Scholz designed and built his own recording studio in an apartment basement on School St, in Watertown, Massachusetts in the early 1970s, primarily using devices he invented himself.
The basement was described by Scholz as a "tiny little space next to the furnace in this hideous pine-paneled basement of my apartment house, and it flooded from time to time with God knows what."
Scholz began recording demos in his home studio while working at Polaroid, working for hours on end, often re-recording, erasing and discarding tapes in an effort to create "a perfect song".
By that time, Scholz, Goudreau, and Masdea were playing in the band Mother’s Milk when they auditioned a lead vocalist called Brad Delp, a former factory worker at a Danvers electric coil company, who spent much of his weekends singing in cover bands.
By 1973, Scholz had a six-song demo tape ready for mailing, and he and his wife Cindy sent copies to every record company they could find.
The songs on the demo were "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Rock & Roll Band", "Something About You", "San Francisco Day" (later changed and renamed "Hitch a Ride") and "Love" (later changed to "Don't Be Afraid").
They received rejection slips from several labels - RCA, Capitol, Atlantic and Elektra among the most notable - and Epic Records rejected the tape flatly with a "very insulting letter" signed by company head Lennie Petze that opined the band "offered nothing new".
He spent years unsuccessfully submitting demos to record companies…
Eventually Epic reconsidered, contacted Scholz and offered a contract that first required the group to perform in a showcase for CBS representatives, as the label were worried that the "band" was in reality a "mad genius at work in a basement".
In November 1975, the group performed for the executives in a Boston warehouse that doubled as Aerosmith's practice facility, and as a result, Mother's Milk was signed by CBS Records one month later in a contract that required 10 albums over six years.
For their first album, Epic wanted a studio version that sounded identical to the demo tape, but Scholz decided he could not work in a production studio, having adapted to home recording for several years, stating "I work[ed] alone, and that was it."
Scholz took a leave of absence from Polaroid, and was gone for several months to record the band's album. "I would wake up every day and go downstairs and start playing," he recalled.
John Boylan came onboard as producer, and it was him that suggested the band change their name to Boston.
Boylan's own hands-on involvement would center on recording the vocals and mixing, and he took the rest of the band out to the West Coast, where they recorded "Let Me Take You Home Tonight".
“It was a decoy," recalled Scholz, who recorded the bulk of the album back home in Watertown without CBS's knowledge.
Scholz recorded such tracks as "More Than a Feeling" in his basement with a $100 Yamaha acoustic guitar.
That spring, Boylan returned to Watertown to hear the tracks, on which Scholz had recut drums and other percussion and keyboard parts.
He then hired a remote truck from Providence, Rhode Island to come to Watertown, where it ran a snake through the basement window of Scholz's home to transfer his tracks to a 3M-79 2-inch 24-track deck.
The entire recording was completed in the basement, save for Delp's vocals, which were recorded at Capitol Studios.
Scholz wrote or cowrote every song on the first album (with the exception of "Let Me Take You Home Tonight," written by Delp), played virtually all of the instruments and recorded and engineered all the tracks.
The entire album was recorded for a cost of a few thousand dollars, a paltry amount in an industry accustomed to spending hundreds of thousands on a single recording.
The album was released in 1976 and became the biggest-selling debut album by any artist up to that time, and the single "More Than a Feeling" has become a rock classic.
Chart-wise, the album peaked at #3 in the US and Switzerland, #4 in Germany, #7 in Canada, #11 in the UK and the Netherlands, #16 in Australia and Sweden, #24 in Japan, and #26 in New Zealand.
The album's other singles, “Peace of Mind" and "Foreplay/Long Time", also went on to become Top 40 hits, and radio staples.
The album is now the second best-selling debut album of all time in the United States, after Guns N' Roses's “Appetite for Destruction”, and it is the joint eighth best-selling album in US history.
The album was also ranked #43 on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "Definitive 200" list.
#boston, #tomscholz, #braddelp, #morethanafeeling, #70smusic, #70srock, #classicrock, #classicalbum, #dailyrockhistory, #thisdayinrock, #rockhistory, #thisdayinmusic, #onthisday
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February 4, 2026 Boracay Island,
Philippines 🏝️🇵🇭
All-in-one Watchman
(Dennis Magdich, 1989)
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$70,844
market price of bitcoin in USD.
1,412
value of 1 USD measured in satoshis.
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