Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Socialism and social democracy

The term socialism, used from the 1830s onwards in France and England, was directly related to what was called the social question, in essence the problem that the emergence of competitive market societies did not create liberty, equality and fraternity for all citizens, requiring the intervention of politics and social reform to tackle social problems, injustices and grievances a topic on which Jean-Jacques Rousseau discourses at length in his classic work The Social Contract. Originally the term socialist was often used interchangeably with co-operative, mutuality, associations and collectivist.
The term social democracy originally referred to the political project of extending democratic forms of association to the whole of society, substituting popular sovereignty, the universal franchise and social ownership for the rule of a propertied class which had exclusive voting rights.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Plants

The genus Nelumbo, with two members Indian, Red or Sacred Lotus, a sacred plant of Hinduism and Buddhism and of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, also used in Asian cuisine American Lotus The genus Lotus, in the subfamily Faboideae in the family Fabaceae, common name "Trefoil" The genus Nymphaea, usually called water-lilies, but including many members also referred to as lotus, for example the White European Lotus, White Egyptian Lotus, and Blue Egyptian Lotus.
The lotus eaten by the Lotophagi of the Odyssey is thought to have been Ziziphus lotus, a species of jujube. This could be the Lotus Tree that the mythical Lois was transformed into "Lotus" also occurs in the common, or cultivar, names of numerous unrelated plants, for example the Snow Lotus in the family Asteraceae.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Painting

Painting taken literally is the practice of applying color to a surface such as paper, canvas, wood, glass, or other. However, when used in an artistic sense, the term painting means the use of this activity in combination with drawing, composition and other aesthetic considerations in order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner.
Painting is used as a mode of representing, documenting and expressing all the varied intents and subjects that are as numerous as there are practitioners of the craft. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational. photographic, abstract, be loaded with narrative content, symbolism, emotion or be political in nature. A large portion of the history of painting is dominated by spiritual motifs and ideas; sites of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery to biblical scenes rendered on the interior walls and ceiling of The Sistine Chapel to depictions of the human body itself as a spiritual subject.