User:RyanFreisling

		The Original Barnstar
		To RyanFreisling, for having incredible endurance in the face on seemingly impossible odds to try to bring a difficult situation to a positive resolution. Even those of us on the other side of the debate cannot help but be incredibly impressed with this effort. Filll 20:33, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Me

"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure.

"It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

"Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

"Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

"We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

"And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-- Marianne Williamson, from her 1992 book "Return to Love" (Hardcover p. 165, Paperback pp. 190-191)

"For in a Republic, who is 'the country?' Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them."

-- Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 1835-1910

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life."

-- Theodore Roosevelt

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."

-- Martin Luther King Jr., "Strength to Love"

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

-- Martin Luther King Jr., Accepting Nobel Peace Prize, Dec. 10, 1964

"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level."

-- Dr. Joyce Brothers

"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

-- Henry David Thoreau

I like science and poetry. I'm a big Opera fan and I play touch football and volleyball leagues. I like space and photography too. I am committed to civil rights and fascinated by patterns and philosophy in politics. In fact, if you ask your local Nazi skinhead, I may even be one of the 'Zionist Cabal' here at Wikipedia, or at least a 'useful idiot' - [1], a misattributed badge of honor which, given the source, I now wear proudly.

Since Wikipedia can descend at times (regrettably) to petty labeling and political attacks, I thought I would take one of those 'political ideology' tests ('What is Your World View') on the internet and post the results. Here's a one-stop-shop view of my weltanschauung.

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative

63%

Postmodernist

63%

Materialist

63%

Existentialist

56%

Idealist

50%

Romanticist

44%

Modernist

38%

Fundamentalist

31%

Quotes

"Walk in the rain, smell flowers, stop along the way, build sandcastles, go on field trips, find out how things work, tell stories, say the magic words, trust the universe."

– Bruce Williamson (poet)

One I took of MONGO's favorite NYC buildings.

"Rem tene; verba sequentur." (Grasp the subject, the words will follow.)

– Cato the Elder c.239 - 134 BC

"The greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men."

– Pericles c.495 - 429 BC

"Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: it's good to be silly at the right moment."

– Horace 'Odes' 65 - 8 BC

"In Ancient Greece, she'd have been a god. In Wales, they spit on her."

– The Observer, 24th. May, 1998 (referring to a hermaphrodite)

Moses Hadas (whom I love)

Maggio, 2005. Arrivedèrci, Roma. It was a lovely trip.

"I've received your book and will waste no time reading it."

"I have read your book and much like it."

"This book fills a much-needed gap."

– Moses Hadas (1900 - 1966)

Other bright folks with things to say

"Ryan, you sneaky like ninja!" --kizzle

"RyanFreisling is avoiding term breast from article, deliberately... beware wikipedia." --Lara_bran

More Words of Wisdom

"Is it necessary for your liberty that you should abandon those great rights by the adoption of this system? Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury and the liberty of the press necessary for your liberty? Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessing — give us that precious jewel, and you may take every thing else!

"... suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the preservation of the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds: should it fall on me, I am contented: conscious rectitude is a powerful consolation. I trust there are many who think my professions for the public good to be real. Let your suspicion look to both sides. There are many on the other side, who possibly may have been persuaded to the necessity of these measures, which I conceive to be dangerous to your liberty.

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel." -- Patrick Henry, 5 June 1788 [2]

"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."

– George Bernard Shaw

"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

– Harry S. Truman

"Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."

– Frederick Douglass

Took this photo too. An incredibly beautiful sculpture.

"The civility of no race can be perfect whilst another race is degraded. It is a doctrine alike of the oldest and of the newest philosophy, that man is one, and that you cannot injure any member, without a sympathetic injury to all the members"

– Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844

"Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs."

– Denis Diderot 1713-1784 French Philosopher

Opera

Nothing captures my imagination like opera. I often see opera when I travel to new places, perhaps to make me feel more at home in a foreign city or country. I love languages, so it's easier sometimes for me to follow along with the lyrics.

There is something incredibly powerful about these epic, mythological tales, wrapped in incredible sets and direction, caressed and provoked by some of the most brilliant music ever conceived, and performed by talented,insightful individuals dedicated to the artform they most love. It's a very deep, human experience, and one that we have shared and enjoyed for hundreds of years.

I have always enjoyed singing, and acting in plays - but opera requires a degree of skill far beyond me to perform properly.

This year's best of the best at the Metropolitan Opera House

Tosca

La Boheme

Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci

Don Giovanni

The Magic Flute

NYC

A conversation with my pal User:MONGO prompted me to upload a few photos of my neighborhood.

Here's a nice NYC photo for you.	Thought you'd appreciate this one.
And another one for you.	one more, from another one of my favorite places

Retouchings

The final image (currently a Featured Picture Candidate) - retouched tip of shoulder, shifted bust, new background.

1. The original photograph. I took the picture. Such a beautiful bust.

4. same as the final candidate image, but with the original framing

I started with the original photo I took at the Museo Palazzo Altemps, in Rome, Italy. Feedback from that image was that there was too much monocolor in the image, and the similarity in image tone between the bust and background detracted from the image. Also, the framing (which cut off the right tip of the bust) was faulted.

So, I grabbed me some Photoshop and went to work. I created a mask around the bust, and a partial mask for the shadows. Then, I applied a darkening and a lightening histogram levels adjustment, and posted them for review.

Issues were raised about the integrity of the mask, so I decided rather than use the mask as a levels adjustment mask,I would use it as a silhouette and recreate an image with the background at the desired tone.

Last, I moved the bust into a centered frame and retouched in the tip of the shoulder and shadow using a tight rubber stamp brush with a soft edge.

Welcome!

Hello, RyanFreisling, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!

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Pics of the Day

Today's Pic of the Day

Picture of the day

The African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa subrufa) is a species of side-necked terrapin in the family Pelomedusidae. The species naturally occurs in fresh and stagnant water bodies throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, and in southern Yemen. It is omnivorous, with its diet consisting mainly of aquatic invertebrates, small fish, and vegetation. It is typically a small turtle, with most individuals being less than 20 centimetres (7.9 inches) in straight carapace length. The female lays two to ten eggs on average, normally during late spring and early summer. The eggs are placed in a flask-shaped nest about 4 to 7 inches (10 to 18 centimetres) deep and hatch in 75 to 90 days. This African helmeted turtle was photographed in Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa.Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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July 15 Pic of the Day

Picture of the day

Salvage ethnography is a branch ethnography and anthropology concerned with the practice of capturing a record of what was left of a culture before it disappeared. A pioneer of salvage ethnography was Edward Curtis, with his early 20th century photographs of American Indian traditional life, such as this Hupa fisherman.

Photo credit: Edward Curtis
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My Wikipedia photo contributions

View them full-size (or at least larger than thumbnails) on my Gallery page.