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This is a tribute to our dear beautiful horses. The horse (Equus
ferus caballus) is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. It
is an odd-toed ungulate mammal belonging to the taxonomic family
Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years
from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal
of today. Humans began to domesticate horses around 4000 BC, and
their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BC.
Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some
domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These
feral populations are not true wild horses, as this term is used to
describe horses that have never been domesticated, such as the
endangered Przewalski's horse, a separate subspecies, and the only
remaining true wild horse. There is an extensive, specialized
vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering
everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings,
breeds, locomotion, and behavior. Horses' anatomy enables them to
make use of speed to escape predators and they have a
well-developed sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight
response. Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild
is an unusual trait: horses are able to sleep both standing up and
lying down. Female horses, called mares, carry their young for
approximately 11 months, and a young horse, called a foal, can
stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses
begin training under saddle or in harness between the ages of two
and four. They reach full adult development by age five, and have
an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years. Horse breeds are
loosely divided into three categories based on general temperament:
spirited "hot bloods" with speed and endurance; "cold bloods," such
as draft horses and some ponies, suitable for slow, heavy work; and
"warmbloods," developed from crosses between hot bloods and cold
bloods, often focusing on creating breeds for specific riding
purposes, particularly in Europe. There are more than 300 breeds of
horse in the world today, developed for many different uses. Ponies
are taxonomically the same animals as horses. The distinction
between a horse and pony is commonly drawn on the basis of height,
especially for competition purposes. However, height alone is not
dispositive; the difference between horses and ponies may also
include aspects of phenotype, including conformation and
temperament. The traditional standard for height of a horse or a
pony at maturity is 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm). An animal 14.2
h or over is usually considered to be a horse and one less than
14.2 h a pony, but there are many exceptions to the traditional
standard. In Australia, ponies are considered to be those under 14
hands (56 inches, 142 cm), The International Federation for
Equestrian Sports, the world governing body for horse sport, uses
metric measurements and defines a pony as being any horse measuring
less than 148 centimetres (58.27 in) at the withers without shoes,
which is just over 14.2 h, and 149 centimetres (58.66 in), or just
over 14.21/2 h, with shoes. Height is not the sole criterion for
distinguishing horses from ponies. Breed registries for horses that
typically produce individuals both under and over 14.2 h consider
all animals of that breed to be horses regardless of their height.
Conversely, some pony breeds may have features in common with
horses, and individual animals may occasionally mature at over 14.2
h, but are still considered to be ponies. Ponies often exhibit
thicker manes, tails, and overall coat. They also have
proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier bone, shorter
and thicker necks, and short heads with broad foreheads. They may
have calmer temperaments than horses and also a high level of
equine intelligence that may or may not be used to cooperate with
human handler
I have to figure out How to start being that famous person outside
this henhouse. I want it so desperately, my own sparkling career.
but here I am stuck here with memories of hens and roosters that
must have lived here inside this little house the house belonged to
them until they met their cruel destiny and they didn't know that
things could be different, but I know I know that some day after
they all were dead and all gone then I came To their house Their
little old Henhouse And made it My studio And I am sure That great
art Will be made Right here So I try hard To work a little but all
I can do At the moment is nothing or maybe to kick in the door or
perhaps the wall. And Then the frail wood might Crackle Or Maybe It
will not It is not worth My efforts Maybe I end up as a loser with
no hope just a pathetic loser or maybe not. If I try to appear as A
distinguished artist, I will transform Into a significant figure
and appear as an important person. or maybe It is not worth My
efforts Or will I be Recognized As an intellectual force Of great
Importance Some day But Today I am not in the mood To be neither
significant nor important at all. And My arms Feel so Heavy and
they hang heavily over my bony knees and I bump my head impatiently
towards my hands over and over again and then I know I should work,
but I regret to say I feel so completely uninspired today Last
night I was at this party and I feel that It was me Who was the big
party star and Naturally I drank A whole lot As I am able to Drink
a lot of alcohol. And I might even have been drunk, but everybody
was and the party itself was a boring show. That party That very
stupid And boring party last night is probably the reason why I did
not feel in my best mood when I woke up this morning But still very
determined I crawled out of my warm bed at eleven o'clock sharp.
Right after breakfast dutiful as I always am I went Straight across
the courtyard and over to my little hut the old henhouse but now it
is my studio and Inside of it I flop down on my desk. I try to
appear Both charming and interesting and I know that possibly a
wonderful day my dream may come through somehow. Hopefully it is
just a matter of time. Because I certainly have got what it takes
to succeed since I am obviously supposed to be an important person
and I have been important All my life To me. I know that I have
always been an important person deep down in my soul and to my
mother I am so distinguished and I probably Just have to wait for a
short while and then my fame will occur and establish itself. But
if my dream by accident should let me down and prove to not come
true I do not break down In anger and despair Because I do not care
What people say So then I am prepared to live in my dream forever
And I will not let the dream of my life slip away Last night I was
a sort of a king of the party but where did it go The feeling of
high importance have slipped away while I slept And Today I am
obviously not the king of anything. I feel so terrible uninspired
and exhausted I am So I cannot stand the sight of a single person
today and here I am doing nothing but staring blankly into space.
Here I am all alone With myself and my endlessly boring projects
but without a single idea about anything at all Not anywhere
Outside or inside of my beautiful big head is any brilliant idea so
then I do not know what to do I just do not Have a clue of what to
do So help me mother Give me more Love And the fame I need I need
it now
Based on fossil and biological evidence, most scientists accept
that birds are a specialized subgroup of theropod dinosaurs. More
specifically, they are members of Maniraptora, a group of theropods
which includes dromaeosaurs and oviraptorids, among others. As
scientists have discovered more nonavian theropods closely related
to birds, the previously clear distinction between nonbirds and
birds has become blurred. Recent discoveries in the Liaoning
Province of northeast China, which demonstrate many small theropod
dinosaurs had feathers, contribute to this ambiguity. The consensus
view in contemporary paleontology is that the birds, or avialans,
are the closest relatives of the deinonychosaurs, which include
dromaeosaurids and troodontids. Together, these form a group called
Paraves. Some basal members of this group, such as Microraptor,
have features which may have enabled them to glide or fly. The most
basal deinonychosaurs were very small. This evidence raises the
possibility that the ancestor of all paravians may have been
arboreal, have been able to glide, or both. Unlike Archaeopteryx
and the non-avian feathered dinosaurs, who primarily ate meat,
recent studies suggest that the first birds were herbivores. The
Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx is well known as one of the first
transitional fossils to be found, and it provided support for the
theory of evolution in the late 19th century. Archaeopteryx was the
first fossil to display both clearly traditional reptilian
characteristics: teeth, clawed fingers, and a long, lizard-like
tail, as well as wings with flight feathers identical to those of
modern birds. It is not considered a direct ancestor of modern
birds, though it is possibly closely related to the real ancestor.
Early disagreements on the origins of birds included whether birds
evolved from dinosaurs or more primitive archosaurs. Within the
dinosaur camp, there were disagreements as to whether ornithischian
or theropod dinosaurs were the more likely ancestors. Although
ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs share the hip structure of
modern birds, birds are thought to have originated from the
saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs, and therefore evolved their
hip structure independently. In fact, a bird-like hip structure
evolved a third time among a peculiar group of theropods known as
the Therizinosauridae. A small minority of researchers, oppose the
majority view, contending that birds are not dinosaurs, but evolved
from early reptiles like Longisquama. The earliest known bird
(avialan) fossils currently known hail from the Tiaojishan
Formation of China, which has been dated to the late Jurassic
period (Oxfordian stage), about 160 million years ago. The avialan
species from this time period include Anchiornis huxleyi,
Xiaotingia zhengi, and Aurornis xui. The well-known early avialan,
Archaeopteryx, dates from slightly later Jurassic rocks (about 155
million years old) from Germany. Many of these early avialans
shared unusual anatomical features that may be ancestral to modern
birds, but were later lost during bird evolution. These features
include enlarged claws on the second toe which may have been held
clear of the ground in life, and long feathers or "hind wings"
covering the hind limbs and feet, which may have been used in
aerial maneuvering. Avialans diversified into a wide variety of
forms during the Cretaceous Period. Many groups retained primitive
characteristics, such as clawed wings and teeth, though the latter
were lost independently in a number of bird groups, including
modern birds (Neornithes). While the earliest forms, such as
Archaeopteryx and Jeholornis, retained the long bony tails of their
ancestors, the tails of more advanced birds were shortened with the
advent of the pygostyle bone in the clade Pygostylia. In the late
Cretaceous, around 95 million years ago, the ancestor of all modern
birds also evolved better olfactory senses.
Henrik Johan Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright,
theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father
of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. His
major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People,
Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The
Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder. He is the most
frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and
A Doll's House became the world's most performed play by the early
20th century. Several of his plays were considered scandalous to
many of his era, when European theatre was required to model strict
morals of family life and propriety. Ibsen's work examined the
realities that lay behind many facades, revealing much that was
disquieting to many contemporaries. It utilized a critical eye and
free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality.
The poetic and cinematic play Peer Gynt, however, has strong
surreal elements. Ibsen is often ranked as one of the truly great
playwrights in the European tradition. He is widely regarded as the
most important playwright since Shakespeare. Ibsen wrote his plays
in Danish (the common written language of Denmark and Norway) and
they were published by the Danish publisher Gyldendal. Although
most of his plays are set in Norway-often in places reminiscent of
Skien, the port town where he grew up-Ibsen lived for 27 years in
Italy and Germany, and rarely visited Norway during his most
productive years. Born into a merchant family connected to the
patriciate of Skien, his dramas were shaped by his family
background. In the Wild Duck the first act opens with a dinner
party hosted by Hakon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist.
The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just
returned to his father's home following a self-imposed exile.
There, he learns the fate of a former classmate, Hjalmar Ekdal.
Hjalmar married Gina, a young servant in the Werle household. The
elder Werle had arranged the match by providing Hjalmar with a home
and profession as a photographer. Gregers, whose mother died
believing that Gina and her husband had carried on an affair,
becomes enraged at the thought that his old friend is living a life
built on a lie. Hjalmar runs a busy portrait studio out of the
apartment. Gina helps him run the business in addition to keeping
house. They both dote on their daughter Hedvig. The family eagerly
reveals a loft in the apartment where they keep various animals
like rabbits and pigeons. Most prized is the wild duck they
rescued. The duck was wounded by none other than Werle, whose
eyesight is failing. His shot winged the duck, which dove to the
bottom of the lake to drown itself by clinging to the seaweed.
Werle's dog retrieved it though, and despite its wounds from the
shot and the dog's teeth, the Ekdals had nursed the duck back to
good health."
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The art of evil (Paperback)
Hulda Widerberg; Hilde Widerberg, Hildur Widerberg
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R483
Discovery Miles 4 830
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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We dream about life at the farm, but how romantic is it really?
Agriculture, also called farming or husbandry, is the cultivation
of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms for food, fiber,
biofuel, medicinals and other products used to sustain and enhance
human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of
sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated
species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of
civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural
science. The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years,
and its development has been driven and defined by greatly
different climates, cultures, and technologies. However, all
farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the
lands that are suitable for raising domesticated species. For
plants, this usually requires some form of irrigation, although
there are methods of dryland farming. Livestock are raised in a
combination of grassland-based and landless systems, in an industry
that covers almost one-third of the world's ice- and water-free
area. In the developed world, industrial agriculture based on
large-scale monoculture has become the dominant system of modern
farming, although there is growing support for sustainable
agriculture, including permaculture and organic agriculture. Until
the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human
population labored in agriculture. Pre-industrial agriculture was
typically subsistence agriculture/self-sufficiency in which farmers
raised most of their crops for their own consumption instead of
cash crops for trade. A remarkable shift in agricultural practices
has occurred over the past century in response to new technologies,
and the development of world markets. This also has led to
technological improvements in agricultural techniques, such as the
Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate which made the
traditional practice of recycling nutrients with crop rotation and
animal manure less important. Modern agronomy, plant breeding,
agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, and technological
improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at
the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative
human health effects. Selective breeding and modern practices in
animal husbandry have similarly increased the output of meat, but
have raised concerns about animal welfare and the health effects of
the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used
in industrial meat production. Genetically modified organisms are
an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in
several countries. Agricultural food production and water
management are increasingly becoming global issues that are
fostering debate on a number of fronts. Significant degradation of
land and water resources, including the depletion of aquifers, has
been observed in recent decades, and the effects of global warming
on agriculture and of agriculture on global warming are still not
fully understood. The major agricultural products can be broadly
grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific
foods include cereals (grains), vegetables, fruits, oils, meats and
spices. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw
materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are
produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels
and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants.
Over one third of the world's workers are employed in agriculture,
second only to the services sector, although the percentages of
agricultural workers in developed countries has decreased
significantly over the past several centuries
This is a tribute to the sea, or the Ocean, or all the water around
us. The sea, the world ocean, or simply the ocean, is the connected
body of salty water that covers over 70 percent of the Earth's
surface. It moderates the Earth's climate and has important roles
in the water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle. Although the
sea has been travelled and explored since ancient times, the
scientific study of the sea dates broadly from the voyages of
Captain James Cook who explored the Pacific Ocean between 1768 and
1779. In geography, "sea" is used in the names of smaller, partly
landlocked sections of the ocean, for example the Irish Sea, while
"ocean" is used in the names of the five largest sections, such as
the Pacific Ocean. The most abundant ions in sea water are chloride
and sodium. The water also contains magnesium, sulfate, calcium,
potassium, and many other components, some in minute
concentrations. Salinity varies widely, being lower near the
surface and the mouths of large rivers and higher in the depths of
the ocean; however the relative proportions of dissolved salts vary
little across the oceans. Carbon dioxide from the air is currently
being absorbed by the sea in increasing amounts, lowering seawater
pH in a process known as ocean acidification, which is likely to
damage marine ecosystems in the near future. Winds blowing over the
surface of the sea produce waves, which break when they reach
shallow water. Winds also create surface currents through friction,
setting up slow but stable circulations of water throughout the
oceans. The directions of the circulation are governed by factors
including the shapes of the continents and the rotation of the
earth. Deep-sea currents, known as the global conveyor belt, carry
cold water from near the poles to every ocean. Tides are caused by
the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational effects of the
orbiting Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun. Tides may have a
very high range in bays or estuaries. A wide variety of life,
including viruses, bacteria, protists, algae, plants, fungi and
animals, lives in the sea, which offers a wide range of marine
habitats and ecosystems, ranging from sunlit surface waters to the
enormous depths and pressures of the cold, dark abyssal zone. The
sea also varies in latitude from the cold waters beneath the Arctic
ice to the colourful diversity of coral reefs in the tropics. Many
of the major groups of organisms evolved in the sea and life may
have started there. The sea provides people with substantial
supplies of food, mainly fish, but also shellfish, mammals and
seaweed, whether harvested in the wild or farmed underwater. The
sea also serves other purposes, including trade, travel, mineral
extraction, power generation, warfare, and leisure activities such
as swimming, surfing, sailing and scuba diving. The sea has played
an important part in culture throughout history, with major
appearances in literature at least since Homer's Odyssey, in marine
art, in cinema, in theater, and in classical music. Symbolically,
the sea appears as monsters such as Scylla in mythology and
represents the unconscious mind in dream interpretation. The sea is
the interconnected system of all the Earth's oceanic waters,
including the five named "oceans," the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian,
Southern and Arctic Oceans. The word "sea" is used in the names of
specific, smaller bodies of seawater, such as the North Sea or the
Red Sea. There is no sharp distinction between seas and oceans,
though seas are smaller, and are partly (as marginal seas) or
wholly (as inland seas) bordered by land, on a smaller scale than
say the Atlantic Ocean. However, the Sargasso Sea has no coastline
and lies within a circular current, the North Atlantic Gyre. Seas
are generally larger than lakes and contain salt water, but the Sea
of Galilee is a freshwater lake. The United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea states that all of the ocean is "sea."
This is a tribute to Cyprus, a wonderful island with a turbulent
history. Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus is an island
country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Cyprus is the third
largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, and a
member state of the European Union. It is located east of Greece,
south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and
north of Egypt. The earliest known human activity on the island
dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from
this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of
Khirokitia, and Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in
the world. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in
the 2nd millennium BC. As a strategic location in the Middle East,
it was subsequently occupied by several major powers, including the
empires of the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians, from whom the
island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Subsequent rule
by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Byzantines, Arab
caliphates for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty, and the
Venetians, was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman control.
Cyprus was placed under British administration in 1878 until it was
granted independence in 1960, becoming a member of the Commonwealth
the following year. In 1974, seven years after the intercommunal
violence between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, an attempted
coup d'etat by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek
military junta with the aim of achieving enosis (union of the
island with Greece) took place. Turkey used this as a pretext to
invade the northern portion of the island. Turkish forces remained
after a cease-fire, resulting in the partition of the island; an
objective of Turkey since 1955. The intercommunal violence and
subsequent Turkish invasion led to the displacement of over 150,000
Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots, and the establishment
of a separate Turkish Cypriots political entity in the north. These
events and the resulting political situation are matters of a
continuing dispute. The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty
over the island of Cyprus and its surrounding waters, except for
the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia,
administered as Sovereign Base Areas. However, the Republic of
Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts; the area under
the effective control of the Republic, comprising about 59% of the
island's area, and the Turkish-controlled area in the north,
calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and
recognised only by Turkey, covering about 36% of the island's area.
The international community considers the northern part of the
island as occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkish
forces. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean.
An advanced, high-income economy with a very high Human Development
Index, the Republic of Cyprus was a founding member of the
Non-Aligned Movement until it joined the European Union on 1 May
2004. On 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the
Eurozone.
This is a tribute to our best friend, so happy and colorful. The
domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a subspecies of the gray
wolf (Canis lupus), a member of the Canidae family of the mammalian
order Carnivora. The term "domestic dog" is generally used for both
domesticated and feral varieties. The dog was the first
domesticated animal and has been the most widely kept working,
hunting, and pet animal in human history. The word "dog" can also
refer to the male of a canine species, as opposed to the word
"bitch" which refers to the female of the species. Recent studies
of "well-preserved remains of a dog-like canid from the
Razboinichya Cave" in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia
concluded that a particular instance of early wolf domestication
approximately 33,000 years ago did not result in modern dog
lineages, possibly because of climate disruption during the Last
Glacial Maximum. The authors postulate that at least several such
incipient events have occurred. A study of fossil dogs and wolves
in Belgium, Ukraine, and Russia tentatively dates domestication
from 14,000 years ago to more than 31,700 years ago. Another recent
study has found support for claims of dog domestication between
14,000 and 16,000 years ago, with a range between 9,000 and 34,000
years ago, depending on mutation rate assumptions. Dogs' value to
early human hunter-gatherers led to them quickly becoming
ubiquitous across world cultures. Dogs perform many roles for
people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection,
assisting police and military, companionship, and, more recently,
aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has
given them the nickname "man's best friend" in the Western world.
In some cultures, however, dogs are also a source of meat. In 2001,
there were estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world. Most
breeds of dog are at most a few hundred years old, having been
artificially selected for particular morphologies and behaviors by
people for specific functional roles. Through this selective
breeding, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and
shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other
land mammal. For example, height measured to the withers ranges
from 15.2 centimetres (6.0 in) in the Chihuahua to about 76 cm (30
in) in the Irish Wolfhound; color varies from white through grays
(usually called "blue") to black, and browns from light (tan) to
dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats
can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly,
or smooth. It is common for most breeds to shed this coat. Dog is
the common use term that refers to members of the subspecies Canis
lupus familiaris (canis, "dog"; lupus, "wolf"; familiaris, "of a
household" or "domestic"). The term can also be used to refer to a
wider range of related species, such as the members of the genus
Canis, or "true dogs," including the wolf, coyote, and jackals, or
it can refer to the members of the tribe Canini, which would also
include the African wild dog, or it can be used to refer to any
member of the family Canidae, which would also include the foxes,
bush dog, raccoon dog, and others. Some members of the family have
dog in their common names, such as the raccoon dog and the African
wild dog. A few animals have dog in their common names but are not
canids, such as the prairie dog. The English word dog comes from
Middle English dogge, from Old English docga, a "powerful dog
breed." In 14th-century England, hound (from Old English: hund) was
the general word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a
subtype of hound, a group including the mastiff. It is believed
this "dog" type was so common, it eventually became the prototype
of the category "hound." By the 16th century, dog had become the
general word, and hound had begun to refer only to types used for
hunting.
This book is a tribute to two very unhappy kids once upon a time,
my mother Else Margrethe Widerberg and her brother Frans (Frantz
Gustav) Widerberg, who grew up with a father who was abusing them,
fysically, mentally and sexually. Now Else Margrethe has been dead
some years, and Frans is a very old man. He is a famous Norwegian
painter, but the self-therapist side of his art hasn't been seen or
recognized. He seems to have been confusing the critics, probably
because the story of child abuse and incest has been a very big
shame for the family. Definitions of art therapy vary due to its
origins in two fields: art and psychotherapy. It can focus on the
art-making process as therapeutic in and of itself ("art as
therapy") or it can be "art in therapy" (art psychotherapy). The
psychoanalytic approach was the earliest form of art psychotherapy.
This approach employs the transference process between the
therapist and the client who makes art. The therapist interprets
the client's symbolic self-expression as communicated in the art
and elicits interpretations from the client. Analysis of
transference is no longer always a component. Current art therapy
includes a vast number of other approaches such as:
Person-Centered, Cognitive, Behavior, Gestalt, Narrative, Adlerian,
Family (Systems) and more. The tenets of art therapy involve
humanism, creativity, reconciling emotional conflicts, fostering
self-awareness, and personal growth. Various definitions of the
term "art therapy" exist, each reflecting the historical narrative
or theoretical underpinnings of its proponents. The British
Association of Art Therapists defines art therapy as: ..".a form of
psychotherapy that uses art media as its primary mode of
communication. It is practised by qualified, registered Art
Therapists who work with children, young people, adults and the
elderly. Clients who can use art therapy may have a wide range of
difficulties, disabilities or diagnoses. These include, for
example, emotional, behavioral or mental health problems, learning
or physical disabilities, life-limiting conditions, brain-injury or
neurological conditions and physical illness. Art therapy may be
provided for groups, or for individuals, depending on clients'
needs. It is not a recreational activity or an art lesson, although
the sessions can be enjoyable. Clients do not need to have any
previous experience or expertise in art." The American Art Therapy
Association defines art therapy as: ..".the therapeutic use of art
making, within a professional relationship, by people who
experience illness, trauma or challenges in living, and by people
who seek personal development. Through creating art and reflecting
on the art products and processes, people can increase awareness of
self and others cope with symptoms, stress and traumatic
experiences; enhance cognitive abilities; and enjoy the
life-affirming pleasures of making art." "Art therapy is a mental
health profession that uses the creative process of art making to
improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being
of individuals of all ages. It is based on the belief that the
creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people
to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills,
manage behaviour, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and
self-awareness, and achieve insight. Art therapy integrates the
fields of human development, visual art (drawing, painting,
sculpture, and other art forms), and the creative process with
models of counseling and psychotherapy."
Luckily I had a big Brother and one day my brother decided that he
should have a horse. So suddenly he had a horse. I don't know How
He got it But he always Seemed to get What he wanted, My big
brother. He must have been born Under a lucky star Unlike me. So
Even though Our parents didn't seem to have much money my brother
must have managed to squeeze a reasonable amount out of them to
finance this horse. But a horse Doesn't only Need financial
support, It also needs attention, And my big brother, He was such a
busy person. he didn't always have the time to go to the stable
every day to do all the boring stable work. all the cleaning and
feeding and grooming and riding in all kind of weather, as one are
supposed to when one have a horse, he just couldn't do all that, he
was too busy. so I did most of it. I was so happy to finally have
got myself a horse, not just a little pony that was what I really
wanted but a big white horse. Well, it was almost a pony, only
bigger. After one year My brother Was twenty-one years old And he
Was so tired Of having this horse So he sold it And bought himself
An old sailboat Instead. Then I was just fifteen And in my parents'
opinion I was clearly too young to have a horse on my own and I
didn't have the money either, so then I started drinking and
partying instead. For young girls Like me There was always A party
And there was always Someone Who was willing To pay for My drinks.
Then I kept falling in love With creatures Who looked like Horses
With bony bodies, long limbs, Dreaming eyes, Big noses, fluffy
manes, and even some of them had pony tales. I adored these Skinny
creatures That reminded me Of all the beautiful horses Patiently
waiting For me To come home To the stables Any rainy day. Many
years later I was a mother And my little daughter Was deeply in
love With a little pony. Maybe she was too young to have a pony on
her own, she was twelve years old at that time, or maybe twelve is
the perfect age to have a pony. Well, my mother didn't think so so
she told her that she was far too young and that she would have to
wait till she had grown up. I don't agree with that. I think that
If you shall have a pony anytime at all, Twelve is a good age. when
you are Twenty It will be too late, in my opinion. Who will like to
have her first little pony when she is twenty years old or
fifty-two? But I didn't feel like Discussing it At the time. After
all My dear mother Was very ill And maybe she was about to die. My
dear mother She was in a hospital because She had cancer And we My
daughter and I Visited her, And then She told my daughter That I
also had wanted a pony when I was a little girl but that I couldn't
have it. And then She also told my daughter That my brother Have
had a horse, Because he was big enough at the time. I felt so
deeply Disappointed Over the fact That She My dear mother obviously
didn't know about All my work With the old horse That my brother
and I Had been having Together Many years ago. I wondered If she
just had forgotten About all My efforts At the time Or if she never
had recognized them. Had my eager stable work made no impression on
her at all? Had I Ever Lived? Then my mother Died And I inherited
some money, and with her money I bought the dear little pony To my
daughter. Soon I realized That My daughter was in love with a very
naughty little pony that was almost impossible to ride. But then
we, My daughter and I, Almost moved Into the stable And trained the
pony Into a nice little Competition horse For my daughter. But
later on My daughter grew up To be a very tall Young lady And then
she felt funny Riding competitions With her tiny Little pony. I
want my daughter To keep riding As long as she wish, Maybe all her
life, So I borrowed Some more money And I bought a bigger
Competition horse To her. So now I have Inherited Her dear little
pony. It is clearly Too little For me to ride it, I am too big And
feel Completely funny On the back Of such a litt
This is a tribute to our best friend, the dog. Domestic dogs
inherited complex behaviors from their wolf ancestors, which would
have been pack hunters with complex body language. These
sophisticated forms of social cognition and communication may
account for their trainability, playfulness, and ability to fit
into human households and social situations, and these attributes
have given dogs a relationship with humans that has enabled them to
become one of the most successful species on the planet today.
Although experts largely disagree over the details of dog
domestication, it is agreed that human interaction played a
significant role in shaping the subspecies. Domestication may have
occurred initially in separate areas, particularly Siberia and
Europe. Currently it is thought domestication of our current
lineage of dog occurred sometime as early as 15,000 years ago and
arguably as late as 8500 years ago. Shortly after the latest
domestication, dogs became ubiquitous in human populations, and
spread throughout the world. Emigrants from Siberia likely crossed
the Bering Strait with dogs in their company, and some experts
suggest the use of sled dogs may have been critical to the success
of the waves that entered North America roughly 12,000 years ago,
although the earliest archaeological evidence of dog-like canids in
North America dates from about 9,400 years ago. Dogs were an
important part of life for the Athabascan population in North
America, and were their only domesticated animal. Dogs also carried
much of the load in the migration of the Apache and Navajo tribes
1,400 years ago. Use of dogs as pack animals in these cultures
often persisted after the introduction of the horse to North
America. The current consensus among biologists and archaeologists
is that the dating of first domestication is indeterminate,
although more recent evidence shows isolated domestication events
as early as 33,000 years ago. There is conclusive evidence the
present lineage of dogs genetically diverged from their wolf
ancestors at least 15,000 years ago, but some believe domestication
to have occurred earlier. Evidence is accruing that there were
previous domestication events, but that those lineages died out. It
is not known whether humans domesticated the wolf as such to
initiate dog's divergence from its ancestors, or whether dog's
evolutionary path had already taken a different course prior to
domestication. For example, it is hypothesized that some wolves
gathered around the campsites of paleolithic camps to scavenge
refuse, and associated evolutionary pressure developed that favored
those who were less frightened by, and keener in approaching,
humans. The bulk of the scientific evidence for the evolution of
the domestic dog stems from morphological studies of archaeological
findings and mitochondrial DNA studies. The divergence date of
roughly 15,000 years ago is based in part on archaeological
evidence that demonstrates the domestication of dogs occurred more
than 15,000 years ago, and some genetic evidence indicates the
domestication of dogs from their wolf ancestors began in the late
Upper Paleolithic close to the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary,
between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago. But there is a wide range of
other, contradictory findings that make this issue controversial.
There are findings beginning currently at 33,000 years ago
distinctly placing them as domesticated dogs evidenced not only by
shortening of the muzzle but widening as well as crowding of teeth.
This is a tribute to my mother, Else Margrethe Widerberg, who died
in 2006, and her brother, Frans (Frantz Gustav) Widerberg, who will
turn 80 in 2014. He is a successful Norwegian artist, famous for
his colorful pictures of horses and riders. The book indicates how
their upbringing in a dysfunctional family influenced on their
lives and on his art. Critics basically has misunderstood his art,
because they don't know about his upbringing in an incestual
family. I know the story, and with that in mind it's not difficult
to see that his art most of all is a kind of self-therapy. Although
art therapy is a relatively young therapeutic discipline, its roots
lie in the use of the arts in the 'moral treatment' of psychiatric
patients in the late 18th century and in a re-evaluation of the art
of non-western art and of the art of untrained artists and of the
insane. Art therapy as a profession began in the mid-20th century,
arising independently in English-speaking and European countries.
The early art therapists who published accounts of their work
acknowledged the influence of aesthetics, psychiatry,
psychoanalysis, rehabilitation, early childhood education, and art
education, to varying degrees, on their practices. The British
artist Adrian Hill coined the term 'art therapy' in 1942. Hill,
recovering from tuberculosis in a sanatorium, discovered the
therapeutic benefits of drawing and painting while convalescing. He
wrote that the value of art therapy lay in "completely engrossing
the mind (as well as the fingers)...releasing the creative energy
of the frequently inhibited patient," which enabled the patient to
"build up a strong defence against his misfortunes." He suggested
artistic work to his fellow patients. That began his art therapy
work, which was documented in 1945 in his book, Art Versus Illness.
The artist Edward Adamson (1911-1996), recently demobilised after
WW2, joined Adrian Hill to extend Hill's work to the British long
stay mental hospitals. Other early proponents of art therapy in
Britain include E. M. Lyddiatt, Michael Edwards, and Rita Simon.
The British Association of Art Therapists was founded in 1964. U.S.
art therapy pioneers Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer began
practicing at around the same time as Hill. Naumburg, an educator,
asserted that "art therapy is psychoanalytically oriented" and that
free art expression "becomes a form of symbolic speech
which...leads to an increase in verbalization in the course of
therapy." Edith Kramer, an artist, pointed out the importance of
the creative process, psychological defenses, and artistic quality,
writing that "sublimation is attained when forms are created that
successfully contain...anger, anxiety, or pain." Other early
proponents of art therapy in the United States include Elinor
Ulman, Robert "Bob" Ault, and Judith Rubin. The American Art
Therapy Association was founded in 1969. National professional
associations of art therapy exist in many countries, including
Brazil, Canada, Finland, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania,
South Korea, and Sweden. International networking contributes to
the establishment of standards for education and practice. Diverse
perspectives exist on history of art therapy, which complement
those that focus on the institutionalization of art therapy as a
profession in Britain and the United States. Art therapy and
outsider art The relation between the fields of Art Therapy and
Outsider Art has been widely debated. The term 'Art Brut' was first
coined by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created
outside the boundaries of official culture. Dubuffet used the term
'Art brut' to focus on artistic practice by insane-asylum patients.
The English translation Outsider Art was first used by art critic
Roger Cardinal in 1972.
This is a fairytale about three goats. On their way to their summer
fields they met an evil troll. Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I
should reply, Read Undine: that is a fairytale ... of all
fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful. As Stith
Thompson points out, talking animals and the presence of magic seem
to be more common to the fairy tale than fairies themselves.
However, the mere presence of animals that talk does not make a
tale a fairy tale, especially when the animal is clearly a mask on
a human face, as in fables. In his essay "On Fairy-Stories," J. R.
R. Tolkien agreed with the exclusion of "fairies" from the
definition, defining fairy tales as stories about the adventures of
men in Faerie, the land of fairies, fairytale princes and
princesses, dwarves, elves, and not only other magical species but
many other marvels. However, the same essay excludes tales that are
often considered fairy tales, citing as an example The Monkey's
Heart, which Andrew Lang included in The Lilac Fairy Book. Steven
Swann Jones identified the presence of magic as the feature by
which fairy tales can be distinguished from other sorts of
folktales. Davidson and Chaudri identify "transformation" as the
key feature of the genre. From a psychological point of view, Jean
Chiriac argued for the necessity of the fantastic in these
narratives. In terms of aesthetic values, Italo Calvino cited the
fairy tale as a prime example of "quickness" in literature, because
of the economy and concision of the tales. Originally, stories that
we would now call fairy tales were not marked out as a separate
genre. The German term "Marchen" stems from the old German word
"Mar," which means story or tale. The word "Marchen" is the
diminutive of the word "Mar," therefore it means a "little story."
Together with the common beginning "once upon a time" it means a
fairy tale or a marchen was originally a little story from long
time ago, when the world was still magic. (Indeed one less regular
German opening is "In the old times when wishing was still
effective.") The English term "fairy tale" stems from the fact that
the French contes often included fairies. Roots of the genre come
from different oral stories passed down in European cultures. The
genre was first marked out by writers of the Renaissance, such as
Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile, and
stabilized through the works of later collectors such as Charles
Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. In this evolution, the name was
coined when the precieuses took up writing literary stories; Madame
d'Aulnoy invented the term conte de fee, or fairy tale, in the late
17th century. Before the definition of the genre of fantasy, many
works that would now be classified as fantasy were termed "fairy
tales," including Tolkien's The Hobbit, George Orwell's Animal
Farm, and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 21] Indeed,
Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" includes discussions of world-building
and is considered a vital part of fantasy criticism. Although
fantasy, particularly the sub-genre of fairytale fantasy, draws
heavily on fairy tale motifs, the genres are now regarded as
distinct. Literary fairy tales and oral fairy tales freely
exchanged plots, motifs, and elements with one another and with the
tales of foreign lands. Many 18th-century folklorists attempted to
recover the "pure" folktale, uncontaminated by literary versions.
Yet while oral fairy tales likely existed for thousands of years
before the literary forms, there is no pure folktale, and each
literary fairy tale draws on folk traditions, if only in parody.
This makes it impossible to trace forms of transmission of a fairy
tale. Oral story-tellers have been known to read literary fairy
tales to increase their own stock of stories and treatments.
This is an ironic portrait of Norway. Norway is a Scandinavian
unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the
western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the
Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet
Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres
(148,747 sq mi) and a population of a little above 5 million. It is
the 2nd least densely populated country in Europe. The country
shares a long eastern border with Sweden (1,619 km or 1,006 mi
long), which is the longest uninterrupted border within both
Scandinavia & Europe at large. Norway is bordered by Finland
and Russia to the north-east, and the Skagerrak Strait to the
south, with Denmark on the other side. It shares maritime borders
with Russia by the Barents Sea; Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and
Iceland by the Norwegian Sea; and Sweden, Denmark, and the United
Kingdom by the North Sea. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the
North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is laced with fjords, a
renowned part of its landscape. The capital city Oslo is the
largest in the nation, with a population of 630,000. Norway has
extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber,
seafood, fresh water, and hydropower. Two centuries of Viking raids
to southern and western areas tapered off following the adoption of
Christianity in AD 994. Norway expanded its control overseas to
parts of Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland. Norwegian power
peaked in 1265, but competition from the Hanseatic League and the
spread of the Black Death weakened the country. In 1380, Norway was
absorbed into a union with Denmark that lasted more than four
centuries. In 1814, Norwegians resisted the cession of their
country to Sweden and adopted a constitution. Sweden went to war
with Norway but agreed to let Norway keep its constitution in
return for accepting the union under a Swedish king. Later Norway
demanded independence, which it gained in a referendum in 1905.
Norway remained neutral in World War I. Despite its declaration of
neutrality in World War II, Norway was occupied for 5 years by
forces of Nazi Germany. In 1949 it abandoned neutrality, becoming a
founding member of NATO. Discovery of oil in adjacent waters in the
late 1960s boosted Norway's economic fortunes. The country
maintains a welfare model with universal health care, subsidised
higher education, and a comprehensive social security system. Key
domestic issues include maintaining the country's extensive social
safety net with an aging population and preserving economic
competitiveness. The petroleum industry accounts for around a
quarter of the country's gross domestic product. King Harald V is
Norway's head of state and Erna Solberg became Prime Minister on 16
October 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg, and the government made a
shift from being a labour to a conservative government. It has
administrative subdivisions on two levels, known as counties
(fylke) and municipalities (kommuner). The Sami people have a
certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional
territories through the Sami Parliament and the Finnmark Act.
Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and its member
countries (despite rejecting full EU membership in two referenda),
as well as with the United States. Norway participates with United
Nations forces in international missions, notably in Afghanistan,
Kosovo, Sudan, and Libya. Norway is a founding member of the United
Nations, NATO, the Council of Europe, and the Nordic Council; a
member of the European Economic Area, the WTO and the OECD; and is
also a part of the Schengen Area.
This is an easy-reading drama about a little hen, a rooster, a
duck, a goose and a fox. Tales were told or enacted dramatically,
rather than written down, and handed down from generation to
generation. Because of this, the history of their development is
necessarily obscure. and fairy tales appear, now and again, in
written literature throughout literate cultures, as in The Golden
Ass, which includes Cupid and Psyche (Roman, 100-200 AD), or the
Panchatantra (India 3rd century BCE), but it is unknown to what
extent these reflect the actual folk tales even of their own time.
The stylistic evidence indicates that these, and many later
collections, reworked folk tales into literary forms. What they do
show is that the fairy tale has ancient roots, older than the
Arabian Nights collection of magical tales (compiled circa 1500
AD), such as Vikram and the Vampire, and Bel and the Dragon.
Besides such collections and individual tales, in China, Taoist
philosophers such as Liezi and Zhuangzi recounted fairy tales in
their philosophical works. In the broader definition of the genre,
the first famous Western fairy tales are those of Aesop (6th
century BC) in ancient Greece. The fairy tale itself became popular
among the precieuses of upper-class France (1690-1710), and among
the tales told in that time were the ones of La Fontaine and the
Contes of Charles Perrault (1697), who fixed the forms of Sleeping
Beauty and Cinderella. Although Straparola's, Basile's and
Perrault's collections contain the oldest known forms of various
fairy tales, on the stylistic evidence, all the writers rewrote the
tales for literary effect. In the mid-17th century, a vogue for
magical tales emerged among the intellectuals who frequented the
salons of Paris. These salons were regular gatherings hosted by
prominent aristocratic women, where women and men could gather
together to discuss the issues of the day. In the 1630s, apathetic
women began to gather in their own living rooms, salons, in order
to discuss the topics of their choice: arts and letters, politics,
and social matters of immediate concern to the women of their
class: marriage, love, financial and physical independence, and
access to education. This was a time when women were barred from
receiving a formal education. Some of the most gifted women writers
of the period came out of these early salons (such as Madeleine de
Scudery and Madame de Lafayette), which encouraged women's
independence and pushed against the gender barriers that defined
their lives. The salonnieres argued particularly for love and
intellectual compatibility between the sexes, opposing the system
of arranged marriages. Sometime in the middle of the 17th century,
a passion for the conversational parlour game based on the plots of
old folk tales swept through the salons. Each salonniere was called
upon to retell an old tale or rework an old theme, spinning clever
new stories that not only showcased verbal agility and imagination,
but also slyly commented on the conditions of aristocratic life.
Great emphasis was placed on a mode of delivery that seemed natural
and spontaneous The decorative language of the fairy tales served
an important function . . . disguising the rebellious subtext of
the stories and sliding them past the court censors. Critiques of
court life (and even of the king) were embedded in extravagant
tales and in dark, sharply dystopian ones. Not surprisingly, the
tales by women often featured young (but clever) aristocratic girls
whose lives were controlled by the arbitrary whims of fathers,
kings, and elderly wicked fairies . . . as well as tales in which
groups of wise fairies (i.e., intelligent, independent women)
stepped in and put all to rights.
This is a tribute to all the useless cats. The domestic cat (Felis
catus or Felis silvestris catus is a small, usually furry,
domesticated, and carnivorous mammal. It is often called the
housecat when kept as an indoor pet, or simply the cat when there
is no need to distinguish it from other felids and felines. Cats
are often valued by humans for companionship and their ability to
hunt vermin and household pests. Cats are similar in anatomy to the
other felids, with strong, flexible bodies, quick reflexes, sharp
retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey. Cat
senses fit a crepuscular and predatory ecological niche. Cats can
hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such
as those made by mice and other small animals. They can see in near
darkness. Like most other mammals, cats have poorer color vision
and a better sense of smell than humans. Despite being solitary
hunters, cats are a social species, and cat communication includes
the use of a variety of vocalizations (mewing, purring, trilling,
hissing, growling and grunting) as well as cat pheromones and types
of cat-specific body language. Cats have a rapid breeding rate.
Under controlled breeding, they can be bred and shown as registered
pedigree pets, a hobby known as cat fancy. Failure to control the
breeding of pet cats by neutering, and the abandonment of former
household pets, has resulted in large numbers of feral cats
worldwide, requiring population control. Since cats were cult
animals in ancient Egypt, they were commonly believed to have been
domesticated there, but there may have been instances of
domestication as early as the Neolithic from around 9500 years ago
(7500 BC). A genetic study in 2007 concluded that domestic cats are
descended from African wildcats (Felis silvestris lybica) c. 8000
BC, in the Near East. According to Scientific American, cats are
the most popular pet in the world, and are now found in almost
every place where humans live. The word cat was introduced,
together with the domestic animal itself, to the Roman Republic by
the 1st century BC. An alternative word with cognates in many
languages is English puss (pussycat). Attested only from the 16th
century, it may have been introduced from Dutch poes or from Low
German puuskatte, related to Swedish kattepus, or Norwegian pus,
pusekatt. Similar forms exist in Lithuanian and Irish. The
etymology of this word is unknown, but it may have simply arisen
from a sound used to attract a cat. A group of cats is referred to
as a "clowder" or a "glaring," a male cat is called a "tom" or
"tomcat" (or a "gib," if neutered), an unaltered female is called a
"queen," and a pre-pubescent juvenile is referred to as a "kitten."
Although spayed females have no commonly used name, in some rare
instances immature or spayed females are referred to as a "molly."
The male progenitor of a cat, especially a pedigreed cat, is its
"sire," and its female progenitor is its "dam." While the African
wildcat is the ancestral subspecies from which domestic cats are
descended, and wildcats and domestic cats can completely
interbreed, there are several intermediate stages between domestic
pet and pedigree cats on the one hand and those entirely wild
animals on the other. The semi-feral cat is a mostly outdoor cat
that is not owned by any one individual, but is generally friendly
to people and may be fed by several households. Feral cats are
associated with human habitation areas and may be fed by people or
forage in rubbish, but are typically wary of human interaction
This is a tribute to Iceland, a very spectacular country. Iceland
is a Nordic island country marking the juncture between the North
Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The country
has a population of 321,857 and a total area of 103,000 km2 (40,000
sq mi), which makes it the most sparsely populated country in
Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavik, with the
surrounding areas in the southwestern region of the country being
home to two-thirds of the country's population. Reykjavik is the
most northern capital in the world. Iceland is volcanically and
geologically active. The interior consists mainly of a plateau
characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers,
while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands.
Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate
despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. According
to Landnamabok, the settlement of Iceland began in AD 874 when the
chieftain Ingolfr Arnarson became the first permanent Norse settler
on the island. Others had visited the island earlier and stayed
over winter. During the following centuries, Norsemen settled
Iceland, bringing with them thralls of Gaelic origin. From 1262 to
1918, Iceland was part of the Norwegian and later the Danish
monarchies. The country became independent in 1918 and a republic
was declared in 1944. Until the 20th century, the Icelanders relied
largely on fishing and agriculture, and the country was one of the
least developed in the region. Industrialisation of the fisheries
and aid through the United States' Marshall Plan following World
War II brought prosperity and, by the 1990s, Iceland had developed
as one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world.
In 1994, Iceland became party to the European Economic Area, which
supported diversification of the economy into economic and
financial services. Iceland has a free-market economy with
relatively low corporate taxes compared to other OECD countries. It
maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal
health care and tertiary education for its citizens. In 2013, it
was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the
United Nations' Human Development Index. In 2008, the nation's
entire banking system systemically failed, affected by the
worldwide crisis. This resulted in substantial political unrest. In
the wake of the crisis, Iceland instituted "capital controls" that
made it impossible for many foreigners to get their money out of
the country. Though designed to be temporary, the controls remain
and are among the biggest hurdles for attracting international
investment in the Icelandic economy. Iceland ranks high in economic
and political stability, though it is still in the process of
recovering from the crisis. Gender equality is highly valued in
Iceland. In the Global Gender Gap Report 2012, Iceland holds the
top spot for the least gap, closely followed by Finland, Norway and
Sweden. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nation's Norse
heritage. Most Icelanders are descendants of Norse and Gaelic
settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from
Old Norse and is closely related to Faroese and some West Norwegian
dialects. The country's cultural heritage includes traditional
Icelandic cuisine, poetry, and the medieval Icelanders' sagas.
Among NATO members, Iceland has the smallest population and is the
only one with no standing army. Its lightly armed Coast Guard is in
charge of its defences.
In texts and pictures we explore the mysteries of love and life.
Love refers to a variety of different feelings, states, and
attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection to pleasure. It
can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal
attachment. It can also be a virtue representing human kindness,
compassion, and affection -"the unselfish loyal and benevolent
concern for the good of another." It may also describe
compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one's
self or animals. Ancient Greeks identified four forms of love:
kinship or familiarity (in Greek, storge), friendship (philia),
sexual and/or romantic desire (eros), and self-emptying or divine
love (agape). Modern authors have distinguished further varieties
of romantic love. Non-Western traditions have also distinguished
variants or symbioses of these states. This diversity of uses and
meanings combined with the complexity of the feelings involved
makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, compared to
other emotional states. Love in its various forms acts as a major
facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its
central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes
in the creative arts. Love may be understood as a function to keep
human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the
continuation of the species. The word "love" can have a variety of
related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Many other
languages use multiple words to express some of the different
concepts that English relies mainly on "love" to encapsulate; one
example is the plurality of Greek words for "love." Cultural
differences in conceptualizing love thus doubly impede the
establishment of a universal definition. Although the nature or
essence of love is a subject of frequent debate, different aspects
of the word can be clarified by determining what isn't love. Love
as a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of
like) is commonly contrasted with hate (or neutral apathy); as a
less sexual and more emotionally intimate form of romantic
attachment, love is commonly contrasted with lust; and as an
interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is
sometimes contrasted with friendship, although the word love is
often applied to close friendships. Abstractly discussed love
usually refers to an experience one person feels for another. Love
often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing
(cf. vulnerability and care theory of love), including oneself (cf.
narcissism). In addition to cross-cultural differences in
understanding love, ideas about love have also changed greatly over
time. Some historians date modern conceptions of romantic love to
courtly Europe during or after the Middle Ages, although the prior
existence of romantic attachments is attested by ancient love
poetry. The complex and abstract nature of love often reduces
discourse of love to a thought-terminating cliche. Several common
proverbs regard love, from Virgil's "Love conquers all" to The
Beatles' "All You Need Is Love." St. Thomas Aquinas, following
Aristotle, defines love as "to will the good of another." Bertrand
Russell describes love as a condition of "absolute value," as
opposed to relative value. citation needed] Philosopher Gottfried
Leibniz said that love is "to be delighted by the happiness of
another." Biologist Jeremy Griffith defines love as "unconditional
selflessness." Love is sometimes referred to as an "international
language" that overrides cultural and linguistic divisions.
This is an old fairytale about the little hen who saved the world.
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features
European folkloric fantasy characters, such as fairies, goblins,
elves, trolls, dwarves, giants, witches, mermaids, or gnomes, and
usually magic or enchantments. Fairy tales may be distinguished
from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve
belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly
moral tales, including beast fables. In less technical contexts,
the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual
happiness, as in "fairy tale ending" (a happy ending) or "fairy
tale romance" (though not all fairy tales end happily).
Colloquially, a "fairy tale" or "fairy story" can also mean any
farfetched story or tall tale; it's used especially of any story
that not only isn't true, but couldn't possibly be true. In
cultures where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy
tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both
by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth.
However, unlike legends and epics, they usually do not contain more
than superficial references to religion and actual places, people,
and events; they take place once upon a time rather than in actual
times. Fairy tales are found in oral and in literary form. The
history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace
because only the literary forms can survive. Still, the evidence of
literary works at least indicates that fairy tales have existed for
thousands of years, although not perhaps recognized as a genre; the
name "fairy tale" was first ascribed to them by Madame d'Aulnoy in
the late 17th century. Many of today's fairy tales have evolved
from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in
multiple cultures around the world. Fairy tales, and works derived
from fairy tales, are still written today. The older fairy tales
were intended for an audience of adults, as well as children, but
they were associated with children as early as the writings of the
precieuses; the Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children's
and Household Tales, and the link with children has only grown
stronger with time. Folklorists have classified fairy tales in
various ways. The Aarne-Thompson classification system and the
morphological analysis of Vladimir Propp are among the most
notable. Other folklorists have interpreted the tales'
significance, but no school has been definitively established for
the meaning of the tales. The fairytale moves in an unreal world
without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with
the marvelous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill
adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses. The
characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal:
princesses and goose-girls; youngest sons and gallant princes;
ogres, giants, dragons, and trolls; wicked stepmothers and false
heroes; fairy godmothers and other magical helpers, often talking
horses, or foxes, or birds; glass mountains; and prohibitions and
breaking of prohibitions. One universally agreed-upon matter is
that fairy tales do not require fairies. Common parlance conflates
fairy tales with beast fables and other folktales, and scholars
differ on the degree to which the presence of fairies and/or
similarly mythical beings (e.g., elves, goblins, trolls, giants
huge monsters) should be taken as a differentiator. Vladimir Propp,
in his Morphology of the Folktale, criticized the common
distinction between "fairy tales" and "animal tales" on the grounds
that many tales contained both fantastic elements and animals.
This book is a tribute to my mother, who died in 2006, and her
brother, who is a successful Norwegian artist. It shows the impact
of their upbringing together on his art and on their lives.
Colorful paintings, poems and family secrets. The efficiency of
treatment interventions for post traumatic disorder in children
have not been researched upon extensively. Linda Chapman and fellow
psychologists have, however, researched the effectiveness of art
therapy on pediatric trauma patients. Early in the research,
analysis showed that there were no significant reductions in PTSD
(post traumatic stress disorder) symptoms between the patients and
the control group. However, acute stress disorder symptoms were
reduced for the children who received the art therapy intervention.
A 2009 study of prison inmates done by David Gussak discovered that
art therapy aided in the improvement of mood within prison inmates.
It is believed that prison inmates experience an external locus of
control and as such feel they do not control their lives and
subsequently experience a higher instance of depression and overall
poor mood. Art therapy however was proven by David Gussak to assist
inmates to shift their locus of control from an external to
internal and thus allow inmates to feel they had some control over
themselves. This feeling of control led to improvement of mood and
the associated depression within the inmate population. It should
be noted that art therapy was found by Gussak to be more helpful in
improving the mood of female inmates than male inmates, this
however is not necessarily a completely conclusive result and
requires further study. The term 'Art Brut' was first coined by
French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the
boundaries of official culture. Dubuffet used the term 'Art brut'
to focus on artistic practice by insane-asylum patients. The
English translation Outsider Art was first used by art critic Roger
Cardinal in 1972. Both terms have been criticized because of their
social and personal impact on both patients and artists. Art
therapy professionals have been accused of not putting enough
emphasis on the artistic value and meaning of the artist's works,
considering them only from a medical perspective. This led to the
misconception of the whole outsider art practice, while addressing
therapeutical issues within the field of aesthetical discussion.
Outsider Art, on the contrary, has been negatively judged because
of the labeling of the artists' work, i.e. the equation artist =
genius = insane. Moreover, the business-related issues on the term
outsider art carry some misunderstandings. While the Outsider
Artist is part of a specific Art System, which can add a positive
value to both the artist's work as well as his personal
development, it can also imprison him within the boundaries of the
system itself. As a mental health profession, art therapy is
employed in many clinical and other settings with diverse
populations. Art therapy can be found in non-clinical settings, as
well as in art studios and in creativity development workshops.
Closely related in practice to marriage and family therapists and
mental health counselors, U.S. art therapists are licensed under
various titles, depending upon their individual qualifications and
the type of licenses available in a given state. Art therapists may
hold licenses as art therapists, creative arts therapists, marriage
and family therapists, counselors of various types, psychologists,
nurse practitioners, social workers, occupational therapists, or
rehabilitation therapists. Art therapists may have received
advanced degrees in art therapy or in a related field such as
psychology in which case they would have to obtain post-master's or
post-doctorate certification as an art therapist.
An easy-reading book about horses, with beautyful pictures in great
colors.
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