I just love how it's the Summer Solstice today, and it's pissing with rain.

William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge - 29

Bath, UK by NikosT on Flickr.

Anarchy in the UK.  

“…Which means we have nothing to hide.”

Datsun 280ZX (The Flying Pig) on Flickr.

Posting a series of photo that originally appeared on Flickr to promote my new Facebook “like” page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/2wphoto/122276511127571)

Old Brighty: Extraordinary image from space shows Britain in a whole new light

Got to love British weather. 

????? by ah! guh-ness. on Flickr.

Day of grumpy: 15 June 2011 (by ChrisCopeful)

My (probable) grad advisor went to uni in Southampton! The University thereof, of course, but that’s still the same city. Awesome!

I really like the idea of going to school in southern England, and I guess it probably wouldn’t sound exciting to you, but I’m kinda jealous.

And small island nations? Is that like Tonga, or the really small “nations” like Sealand? Sealand probably doesn’t count since it’s artificial (and I don’t think a recognized nation), but what sort of sustainability are you studying? The very first thing I thought of was a recent article in The Economist discussing what would happen to the recognition of nations that would be put underwater by climate change and rising sea levels, but that’s probably not what you’re doing.

Now this is a big one! First of all, I would love to ask:

‘How do you all feel about the current military interventions in Afghanistan and to a lesser extent, Libya?’

I need to gauge response to this, not because I have extreme views either way, but to establish if anyone else has extreme views, because I think its impossible to have a clear ‘extreme view’ in relation to current global conflicts because of the myriad of variables and factors that led to them.

While I agree war is in no way a constructive action, you have to wonder in some ways is it a necessity?

To consider Wars from this angle you need to remember, things like Terrorism do exist and somewhere along the line innocent people are going to die, as humanity on the whole like to kill each other over relatively trivial things. So do you jump the gun, go in and claim to be fighting for global peace? OR sit and wait for a group of fundamentalists to decide they’re Jealous/resentful/angry at another nation or group and proceed to attack?

With current wars the West is involved in, they have a significantly ‘bigger stick’ to fight with so will cause more damage but seemingly there is at least an intention to focus on the ‘enemy’. On the other hand the ‘enemies’ seemingly wish to harm any innocent person they can.

So it is relatively easy to justify, to an extent, military action to protect the interest and security of a population. By preemptively attacking perceived enemies to prevent them ever attacking you, or attacking again.

However, you could say that:

• Thousands of people are dead.
• It costs vast amounts to fund, especially during a massive financial crisis.
• There are extra motives for attack (resources, spreading political policy, greed)
• Armed forces take people and make them essentially into murderers.
• It is in no way civilized.
• There is no need to get involved as a relatively small nation. (UK specific)

I could add more if it wasn’t 2 am. Overall I think the answer to wars is that there is no answer. No wars would be the best outcome, but the nature of the human race seemingly makes them inevitable at least for many years to come so this debate will rage on and on until something changes that stops the need to fight.

David

The Isle of Wight.

Another addition to my bucket list I’d imagine.

????? by ah! guh-ness. on Flickr.

Sunrise

United Kingdom Cushion [$55, Etsy] by Cath of My Bearded Pigeon

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Winter Landscape 1 (by Yitchie)

everything fried. (from)

As some of you know, I am totally obsessed with LONDON, ever since I went last summer. I felt a sort of kinship to the place, and have been wanting to go back ever since. I was hoping to go for a week next March (right before the olympics), but now with my life in such a financial ruin it does not look like it will be happening soon (unless I were to find a sponser to get me over there). I am still going to strive for trying to work over there next year, but for now I will just have to keep those fingers crossed. 

The above photo is an urban billboard for one of my favorite frozen yogurt place located in Soho called SNOG. Pretty much the best frozen yogurt ever (yes, it is up there with Pinkberry)! If you ever go to London or have been then you should check it out!

Tower Bridge by SabrinaM. on Flickr.

Fully legal: 14 June 2011 (by ChrisCopeful)

Sunrise