#freedom

#memes #memestr

#Australia You could fit nine entire countries inside Australia – and still have room. Covering nearly 3 million square miles (7.7 million km²), Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world. But maps rarely show its true scale. Most world maps distort land near the poles, making countries like Greenland appear much larger than they are – and Australia much smaller. To correct for this, researchers stacked other nations inside its borders. The result: Australia can contain India, Mexico, Spain, Japan, Germany, the UK, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Ireland – all at once. These countries combined hold over 2 billion people. Australia has just 27 million. That’s because nearly 40% of the continent is uninhabitable. Much of Australia’s interior is scorching desert, where summer highs exceed 110°F (43°C) and rainfall is among the lowest on Earth. This vast region – known as the Outback – makes long-term settlement nearly impossible. Instead, more than 85% of Australians live in coastal cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. These urban clusters fringe a vast, mostly empty interior – an extreme case of population imbalance rarely seen at this scale. And yet, the country ranks 14th in global GDP. It’s rich in minerals, agriculture, and coastline. Its economic weight far outstrips its population size. Australia reminds us that area isn’t everything. Geography shapes how and where people live. Sometimes, a country can be massive on paper and nearly empty in reality. 📸Credit: Visual Capitalist

#poetry #hope #freedom

Four centuries later, and remarkably little has changed since Shakespeare’s time. 🙃

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#bitcoin

#book #books The Christmas tree for every book lover. 🎄📚

The US is planning to require travelers to disclose up to five years of their social-media history before entering the country. I find this deeply troubling. It feels strange when a country that sees itself as a guardian of freedom asks travelers to reveal their digital lives in this way. Freedom means being able to express criticism without being registered, categorized, or filtered out. Hannah Arendt once wrote that freedom begins “where people can act and speak without fear of consequences.” If state authorities must first inspect our digital past before we are allowed to enter, that has little to do with freedom — and a lot to do with control. I believe this: If you speak of “freedom,” you shouldn’t restrict people for using their voice. #Freedom #freedomtech

#poetry #music #musicstr #art #artstr #love

#art #artstr

#art #artstr “Ancient moon priestesses were called virgins. ‘Virgin’ meant not married, not belong to a man - a woman who was ‘one-in-herself’. The very word derives from a Latin root meaning strength, force, skill; and was later applied to men: virile. Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, Isis were all called virgin, which did not refer to sexual chastity, but sexual independence. And all great culture heroes of the past…, mythic or historic, were said to be born of virgin mothers: Marduk, Gilgamesh, Buddha, Osiris, Dionysus, Jesus - they were all affirmed as sons of the Great Mother, of the Original One, their worldly power deriving from her. When the Hebrews used the word, and in the original Aramaic, it meant ‘maiden’ or ‘young woman’, with no connotations to sexual chastity. But later Christian translators could not conceive of the ‘Virgin Mary’ as a woman of independent sexuality, needless to say; they distorted the meaning into sexually pure, chaste, never touched. When Joan of Arc, with her witch coven associations, was called La Pucelle - ‘the Maiden,’ ‘the Virgin’ - the word retained some of its original pagan sense of a strong and independent woman. The Moon Goddess was worshiped in orgiastic rites, being the divinity of matriarchal women free to take as many lovers as they choose.” -Monica Sjoo, The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth Art by Kat Shaw

#art #artstr Artist: Oxana Lazari Title: Zebra Labyrinth Size: 60*70 cm / 24*28 in Medium: acrylic Technique: dot art

„Der Panther“ von Rainer Maria Rilke. Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehn der Stäbe so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält. Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt. Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte, der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht, ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte, in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht. Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille sich lautlos auf -. Dann geht ein Bild hinein, geht durch der Glieder angespannte Stille - und hört im Herzen auf zu sein.

#books #reading 😂😂😂