TOM CLARK: the sky . . . is burning

ave 26. venice beach, ca. 2017. | by eyetwist

ave 26. venice beach. ca. 2017. california is burning. monday's smokey wildfire sunset over the pacific ocean. nikon D7000, nikkor 10-24mm & B+W ND110 10-stop neutral density filter, 60 second exposure. processed in photoshop + nik color efex + alienskin exposure.: photo by eyetwist, 9 October 2017

Image result for Tubbs Fire at Cardinal Newman HS photo

A statue of Jesus is seen while firefighters work to contain the Tubbs fire at Cardinal Newman High School.: photo by Gabrielle Lurie, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 October 2017

the sky . . . is burning @berkeleyside: image via Jak Marquez @JakMarquez, 9 October 2017

@berkeleyside: image via Setareh @SetarehSiavash, 10 October 2017

Smoke-filled sky in San Francisco is a daily reminder of the wildfires devastating lives to the north of us. . . . #wildfire #smoke #NorCal: image via Setareh @SetarehSiavash, 11 October 2017

As models indicated - #smoke plume over Bay Area, heights near 3,000ft, reduced VIS 3-6SM -seen from #oceanbeach cam #NorthBayFires #CAwx: image via NWS CWSU Oakland @NWSCWSUZOA, 11 October 2017

Wildfire #smoke fills the San Pablo Bay in #CA. You can usually see the Carquinez Bridge. Photo @ThePokey_Life: image via AMHQ @AMHQ, 11 October 2017

Yesterday morning @ 8am to this morning @ 8am. The #smoke is stifling, you can see the #ash dusting the ground. #NapaValleyFire #AtlasFire: image via Jan PeleskyVelasquez @4jenerosity, 10 October 2017

It may be hard to tell because of the #smoke in the air, but this entire area in #SonomaCounty is charred by the #CaliforniaWildfires.: image via Justin Michaels @JMichaelsNews, 11 October 2017

Reykjarnes. Iceland. Fuji X-E1, 35 mm f14.: photo by efo, 5 October 2017

2017-190. Mendocino Coast, CA: photo by biosfear, 3 September 2017

Near Mount Thielsen, Oregon | by austin granger

Near Mount Thielsen, Oregon: photo by Austin Granger, 11 October 2017

Cox's Bazar Blues. A view from my hotel room #385. The sun was setting then... Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh.: photo by Nayeem KALAM, 20 September 2017

THAENGKHALI REFUGEE CAMP | by N A Y E E M

THAENGKALI REFUGEE CAMP. Finally we got out of the car as I found a place to park it. Rain, mud, almost inhumane living conditions, long queues for food and water, what can I say really! I have never been to a place like that in my life. I was thinking maybe this is a nightmare, I'm hallucinating, I drank too much last night. Rohingya Refugee Camp, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh.: photo by Nayeem KALAM, 20 September 2017

Where Must He Be! Surely another one of those who got separated from her husband and the loved ones in that chaos. Severely malnourished, both mother and child, these people have not done anything that bad to deserve this. May God help the Rohingyas. Through the car window, a candid. Rohingya Refugee Camp, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh.: photo by Nayeem KALAM, 20 September 2017

COLOURS from RAMU. Taken thru the windshield on my way to Cox's Bazar where the Rohingya refugee camps are. Ramu, Chittagong, Bangladesh.: photo by Nayeem KALAM, 20 September 2017

#Bangladesh #RohingyaCrisis Refugees walk with their belongings after crossing the Naf river from Myanmar in Whaikhyang. Photo @freddufour_afp: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 10 October 2017

Another day, another tragedy, another capsized boat with Rohingya refugees fleeing terror in Myanmar.: image via Damir Sagolj @damirsagolj, 9 October 2017

What we see is terrible but stories Rohingya tell us about what happened "back home" in Myanmar are beyond any horror I have ever heard of.: image via Damir Sagolj @damirsagolj, 9 October 2017

Amina Khatun, a 30 year old Rohingya refugee [top] who fled with her family from Myanmar a day before, cries after she, along with thousands of newly arrived refugees, spent a night by the road between refugee camps near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. After walking for many days thousand of Rohingya refugees spent their first night in the mud of refugee camps outside Cox's Bazar.: image via Damir Sagolj @damirsagolj, 10 October 2017

It's a miracle the big "waterborne" disaster didn't happen yet and that only a few Rohingya are treated for severe diarrhea at this clinic: image via Damir Sagolj @damirsagolj, 11 October 2017

A Rohingya refugee man holds his child as he swims to cross Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Palang Khali, Bangladesh. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 10 October 2017

dirt farmer (infrared). mojave desert, ca. 2017. | by eyetwist

dirt farmer (infrared), mojave desert, ca. 2017. you could taste the dirt in the wind today, abandoned farmhouse in the far reaches of the antelope valley, digital infrared. nikon D7000 + nikkor 10-24mm + schneider B+W 093 IR filter. 60sec exposure on tripod @ f/8 iso 200. RAW processed in nikon capture NX2 and nik silver efex. [Lancaster, CA]: photo by eyetwist, 8 October 2017

burnt manzanita. little tujunga canyon, ca. 2016. | by eyetwist

burnt manzanilla, little tujunga canyon, ca. 2016. the "sand fire" burned over 40,000 acres north of los angeles in july 2016. along placerita canyon road, all that is left is an otherworldly moonscape of blackened dirt and burned trees. mamiya 6MF 75mm f/3.5 + yellow 022 filter. film: kodak tri-x 400, processed in XTOL. lab: the icon, los angeles, ca. scan: epson V750. [Santa Clarita, CA]: photo by eyetwist, 11 September 2016

Fanano (MO), Italy - 2017: photo by Marcello Iannotta, 10 October 2017

Get yourself decent! Moments before this photo was taken, this woman had her shorts and chonies down and was in a crabwalk pose furiously masturbating facing bumper-to-bumper stopped traffic and causing quite a stir with horns honking. By the time I could get my phone ready, she was done. As exploitive as this photo may be, that's nothing compared to the pathetic googly-eyed men who nearly caused an accident competing for her attention and vying to turn right at this corner, further complicating the last 50 yards of my commute. #SickSadWorld [Lawrence Park, Sacramento]: photo by Rick Ele, 19 September 2017

The Self-Help of George Joseph Smith (a hellish methodology)

Murder for Profit, William Bolitho. Time Reading Program Special Edition, 1962.

[On the background of George Joseph Smith]

We have but little to set against this claim of George Joseph Smith to be the issue of a phantasmagoria and not a human family. His father, the ‘cab driver’, according to this meagre document was also an insurance agent: an insecure category that may (risking something on the observed unspontaneity of a mass-murderer’s imagination) include the practice of flower and figure painting which, in one of his marriage explanations, George Joseph claimed for him. Beyond this cloudy genealogy, it is vain to seek. The very surname is clueless, for all family trees lose themselves among the Smiths. If ants have names for each other, they must use a tiny equivalent for Smith. It has no handle for the curious to meddle with. It is a name unlimited by space or time; it is an anonymity that may cover an earl or a gipsy evangelist, and a sort of evasion of the laws of heredity. ‘Smith’ suited the fantastic figure of this man who hated identification. With it his only heirloom, he could wander undetectable in the depths of any directory; he could enjoy some of the privilege of the disembodied spirit. He escapes the unplatonic ties of family, and promotes himself out of commonplace crime to the company of Mr. Hyde and Spring-Heeled Jack: a phantasm haunting the hinder terraces of the lower middle class, a subject for a new tale of wonder and imagination, where instead of hermits, are respectable spinsters; instead of dungeons, the shadows of boarding-house basements; instead of skulls, a more gruesome terror of tin baths.

[On George Joseph Smith's mental preparation for murder]

To the making of this hypnosis in the few days that remain, he intensifies all his ways of thinking, as an athlete prepares his muscles for a record test. Everything that could recall to him reality, the personality of the woman beside him, he rigidly put out of mind. At all costs he must regard her as ‘raw material’, and crush out every reminder of her humanity. For fear she should put him under an obligation, he insists on doing all the housework himself, this lazy man. He does the shopping and insists on her staying in bed late, so that he can hate her. He had all the mean tidiness of routine of the incipient miser; he encouraged a hundred daily irritations of it, and he carefully concealed from her the way he liked things done, so that she could offend him. For the last few days he even paid the bills out of his own pocket, though every day he got nearer his last penny. The ways of a murderer and a boa constrictor are opposite. Where the one sweetens with his saliva, the other must carefully contrive to hate. To the same end, he refused to listen to any account of her life since they parted, pretexting his sensitive remorse; he definitely cut her strand by strand from life in his mind and memory before he killed her. In the nights he called up the ethics they had taught him, clause by clause; the pettifogging religion of the police courts, the casuistry of evidence that makes or unmakes a crime; and cited to himself many social examples of crimes that were no crimes; recalled from his soldier days that killing need be no murder. So with nourishing of contempt, watering of hatred, with artificial incomprehension, with the exercise of his life-system of thought, he diligently prepared himself to kill. Above all, he insisted with himself that it was business, business; and for this he forced himself to think only on the ledger-side of what he was doing. For this he haggled over the bath; if for the first time in his life he had bought a second-hand object without huckstering, it would have been to recognize that this was not business, but murder.

William Bolitho [William Bolitho Ryall], 1891-1930: from The Self-Help of G. J. Smith, in Murder for Profit (1926)

Pickup fans. This truck parts shop wall ad has all the subtlety of a Snap-On Tools calendar. Much lighter and funnier, though. {LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 10 October 2017

Mona Lisa / The Jane. The Jane restaurant / building plaza. Grant Park, Atlanta.: photo by Jeff*, 5 October 2017

Deferred Maintenance [Sacramento]: photo by Rick Ele, 22 September 2017

When You Finally Let Go of the Things That Hold You Down You Find Freedom | by Thomas Hawk

When You Finally Let Go Of The Things That Hold You Down You Find Freedom. [Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts]: photo by Thomas Hawk, 22 October 2010

Jemez Springs, New Mexico: photo by e.d., 6 June 2017

2017-201. Lake Britton, CA: photo by biosfear, 7 October 2017

sister. Kerch. Crimea.: photo by nesmiyana, 12 June 2013

Dark Darkness [Lake Erie, Pennsylvania]: photo by Robert Saucier, 21 August 2017

Perkins Homes. Gough Street, Fells Point. [Baltimore]: photo by Larry Cohen, 7 October 2017

Call that gone [LA freeway overpass]: photo by Andrew Murr, 9 October 2017

Highway 49 North [Coahoma County, MS]: photo by Andrew Murr, 10 October 2017

Just waiting for it, weren't you. The next gun show billboard in front of the #Mandalay. Photo @jimruymen @UPI #LasVegasShooting: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 6 October 2017

Perfect sunset cloud behind the @empirestatebldg in NYC tonight @NYCdailyPics #nyc #w42st #newyorkcity: image via Gary Hershorn @GaryHershorn, 27 September 2017

Giant grey smoke cloud as seen from #piedmontpark #buckhead #Atlanta: image via Charles Asik @cjasik, 30 March 2017

Thousands flee as firefighters battle to contain wildfires in Northern California: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 10 October 2017

This aerial image shows a neighborhood that was destroyed by a wildfire in Santa Rosa, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Newly homeless residents of California wine country took stock of their shattered lives Tuesday, a day after deadly wildfires destroyed homes and businesses.: photo by Nick Giblin/DroneBase via AP, 10 October 2017

Aerial view of the devastation left behind from the North Bay wildfires, north of San Francisco, California: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 10 October 2017

Wildfire rips through #Sonoma hand #NapaCounty destroying dozens of homes. #napafires #sonomafire @GettyImagesNews: image via Justin Sullivan @sullyfoto, 9 October 2017

#TubbsFire @NorthBayNews @SantaRosaFire @CAL_FIRE: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 9 October 2017

#TubbsFire results in loss of life, heartbreak and huge property losses in #SantaRosa @NorthBayNews @SantaRosaFire @CAL_FIRE #CAwx: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 9 October 2017

#santarosa Coffey Park on fire in the city of #SantaRosa@NorthBayNews @SantaRosaFire @CAL_FIRE @NWSBayArea #CAwx #devastating #cawx: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 9 October 2017

An American flag still flies as as structures burn in Coffey Park, Monday Oct. 9, 2017. More than a dozen wildfires whipped by powerful winds been burning though California wine country. The flames have destroyed at least 1,500 homes and businesses and sent thousands of people fleeing.: photo by Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP, 9 October 2017

Devastation. #TubbsFire @NorthBayNews @SantaRosaFire @CAL_FIRE: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 9 October 2017

Devastation on Chantrelle, fountaingrove #TubbsFire @NorthBayNews @SantaRosaFire @CAL_FIRE: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 10 October 2017

Park Gardens #fountaingrove #TubbsFire @NorthBayNews @SantaRosaFire @CAL_FIRE: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 10 October 2017

At Repton and Rincon Ridge in Fountaingrove total loss. #SantaRosa #TubbsFire @NorthBayNews: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 10 October 2017

#fountaingrove in ruins in SantaRosa, #tubbsfire @NorthBayNews @wildfiretoday #cawx: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 10 October 2017

#fountaingrove #tubbsfire @NorthBayNews @CAL_FIRE @wildfiretoday #SantaRosa: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 10 October 2017

Several areas of #fountaingrove were wiped off the map by the #Tubbsfire in #SantaRosa @NorthBayNews @CAL_Fire @wildfiretoday #cawx: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 10 October 2017

#TubbsFire @NorthBayNews @SantaRosaFire @CAL_FIRE: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 9 October 2017

Smoke covers the sun as a wildfire from the Santa Rosa and Napa Valley moves through the area on 10 October.: photo by Anadolu Agency/Getty Images, 10 October 2017

Flames light up the night sky as seen from a vineyard plantation. 17 deaths and 115,000 acres so far.: image via Marcus Yam @yamphoto, 10 October 2017

The sun shines through smoke and haze from wildfires over Santa Rosa, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017.: photo by Jeff Chiu/AP, 10 October 2017

It’s getting dark outside.: image via Marcus Yam @yamphoto, 10 October 2017

From earlier: A blaze in the hillside behind the Oakmont neighborhood. The wind has slowed down since. Let's hope it stays this way..: image via Marcus Yam @yamphoto, 10 October 2017

Fire from a distant mountain burns over a small fire in Kenwood, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Some of the largest blazes in Northern California were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world.: photo by Jeff Chiu/AP, 10 October 2017

Fire from a distant mountain is seen from Kenwood, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Some of the largest blazes in Northern California were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world.: photo by Jeff Chiu/AP, 10 October 2017

A playground smoldering and smoking near Glen Ellen, CA..: image via Marcus Yam @yamphoto, 10 October 2017

Smoke rises from a playground in Sonoma, amid fast-moving wildfires in California's wine country @stephenlamphoto: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 10 October 2017

Fermentation tanks still stand next to the burned remains of the Signorello Estate winery Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Napa, Calif. Worried California vintners surveyed the damage to their vineyards and wineries Tuesday after wildfires swept through several counties whose famous names have become synonymous with fine food and drink.: photo by Eric Risberg/AP, 10 October 2017

At least 10 dead, 1,500 structures lost in Northern California firestorm, among worst in state's history.: image via Marcus Yam @yamphoto, 9 October 2017

Sunrise a mix of smoke and marine layer. @KNX1070 #KNXEyeInTheSky: image via scott burt @scottburtknx, 10 October 2017

#SantaRosa disaster. Hopper Ave @NorthBayNews: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 9 October 2017

Home burns, Glen Ellen Sonoma county@NorthBayNews @CAL_FIRE #Firestorm: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 9 October 2017

Ukiah Speedway, Saturday night. #Racing #Race #gofastturnleft #california #mendocino: image via Kent Porter @kentphotos, 1 October 2017

Early Autumn Sunset. San Francisco CA.: photo by Robert Ogilvie, 5 October 2017

20 schools closed in Sonoma, Mendocino counties due to fires: image via SFGate @SFGate, 9 October 2017

Health hazard from fires’ smoke spreads throughout Bay Area: image via SFGate @SFGate, 9 October 2017

Fires break out across Sonoma County: image via The Press Democrat @NorthBayNews, 9 October 2017

Berkeley briefs: Green homes event; Indigenous Peoples Day; youth jobs program: image via Oakland Tribune @OakTribNews, 7 October 2017

With ALL due respect firefighters and police have no right to salute the flag unless they are members of the Armed Forces or veterans.: image via CAL FIRE NEWS @CalFireNews, 9 October 2017

Cops are NOT considered soldiers nor would we want them to be their fellow members that have served should educate them on stolen honor.: image via CAL FIRE NEWS @CalFireNews, 9 October 2017

Saluting incorrectly is simply stolen honor! from those that served and shows ignorance or purposeful stolen honor... Hand over heart folks: image via CAL FIRE NEWS @CalFireNews, 9 October 2017

Vice President PenceVerified account @VP
I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.Ben Rhodes Retweeted Vice President PenceBen Rhodes added,
It takes more courage to protest on behalf of your beliefs than pulling some lame culture war stunt.

tweet via Ben Rhodes @brhodes, 8 October 2017

Get off the fucking cross, Moron-in-Chief: image via Keith Olbermann @KeithOlbermann, 8 October 2017

Aerial images of the devastation to the island of Puerto Rico: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 9 October 2017

Jerry Jones: #Cowboys will bench players who are 'disrespecting the flag' #NFL #NationalAnthem: image via NBCSAuthentic @NBCSAuthentic, 8 October 2017

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says any of his players that disrespect the flag 'will not play.' #NFL: image via Atlanta Black Star @ATLBlackStar, 8 October 2017

Donny pushing Jerry Jones to punish #NFL players 4 exercising their #FirstAmendment rights borders on state action. #BLM #TakeAKnee #1A: image via Agent Scully @AgentScullyGR, 9 October 2017

The @NFLPA has released a statement on #NFL players' constitutional rights after comments from #Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.: image via Ben Krimmel @BenKrimmel, 8 October 2017

We were proud to stand - with all our @Colts - for our soldiers, our flag, and our National Anthem

: image via Vice President Pence @VP, 8 October 2017

You left because it was your shift at #DonnyDaycare. Admit it. Replying to @VP @SebGorka @POTUS: tweet via cleantheslate @mulvaneyman, 8 October 2017

Maybe guy just behind is Secret Service, but crossed arms sends mixed message. @AP #stagedirection #PenceStunt: image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 9 October 2017

Vice President PenceVerifiedaccount @VP
We were proud to stand - with all our @Colts - for our soldiers, our flag, and our National Anthem

Reading The Pictures Retweeted Vice President Pence

Reading The Pictures added,

Just thinking about the demographics of the shot.
image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 9 October 2017

This guy can't even fake things well: image via Sung Min Kim @sung_minkim, 8 October 2017

Vice President PenceVerified account @VP

I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.

Adam Schiff Retweeted Vice President Pence

Adam Schiff added,

After all the scandals involving unnecessarily expensive travel by cabinet secretaries, how much taxpayer money was wasted on this stunt?

tweet via Adam Schiff @RepAdamSchiff, 8 October 2017

This was a $400K pre-planned publicly stunt by "Mike Pence". That's $400K wounded veterans could have used. Dump #Donny Daycare and his nanny.: tweet via Ole Tippecanoe @TippeTyYay, 8 October 2017

I stand with @POTUS Trump, I stand with our soldiers, and I will always stand for our Flag and our National Anthem. Replying to @VP: image via Vice President Pence @VP, 8 October 2017

It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.: tweet via Senator Bob Corker @SenBobCorker, 8 October 2017

24,718 replies 124,529 retweets 345,122 likes

Senator Bob CorkerVerified account @SenBobCorker
It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.

#donnydaycare Retweeted Senator Bob Corker

#donnydaycare added,

Hey #realDonaldTrump how did he get more likes than you? That’s very embarrassing considering you’re the president! #donnydaycare

tweet via donnydaycare @alrdybntkn, 8 October 2017

We have updated our Twitter name to #DonnyDayCare for the next 24 hours, to honor @SenBobCorker's truth-telling tweet about the president.: image via Donny Daycare @indivisible_sc, 8 October 2017

Nixon, 1973: “I’m not a crook.” Trump, 2017: “I’m not a moron.”: image via Jon Cooper @joncoopertweets, 8 October 2017

#DonnyDayCare Concerned for the welfare of Donny. He obviously is not being supervised properly. #NoChildLeftBehind @realDonaldTrump: tweet via Jana @Janagrams, 8 October 2017

Vice President PenceVerified account @VP

I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.
Ben Jacobs Retweeted Vice President Pence
Ben Jacobs added,

Players on the 49ers have been kneeling during the National Anthem since this started and Pence knowingly attended their game in Indy
tweet via Ben Jacobs @Bencjacobs, 8 October 2017

Donald J. TrumpVerified account @realDonaldTrump

Despite the Fake News Media in conjunction with the Dems, an amazing job is being done in Puerto Rico. Great people!
Maggie Haberman Retweeted Donald J. Trump
Maggie Haberman added,
This is among the most pointed statements he's made as POTUS to tell ppl what they're seeing on TV isn't real

tweet via Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT, 30 September 2017

#DonnyDayCare out golfing while people in PR still needing help!: image via #donnydaycare @alrdybntkn, 8 October 2017

Dan ZakVerified account @MrDanZak

Damning comments from Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who once considered joining Trump's cabinet.
Celeste Akkad Retweeted Dan Zak
Celeste Akkad added,
President needs to get beyond himself and think of national welfare. Can he, @corker?
tweet via Celeste Akkad @akkadfish, 17 August 2017

Trump is a man w/ a vision. That vision involves hate, bigotry, misogyny, racism and Russia, Russia, Russia. #DonnyDayCare #DomesticTerrorism: image via Nick Walden Poublon @NWPinPDX, 8 October 2017