Monday, January 31, 2011
Scenes from a Shoot [PHOTOGRAPHY]
A photographer's work is never done... by Nick van der Leek
I recently found two new locations in Bellville that I wanted to try out. It's always an interesting dynamic, photographing someone new, in a new place, where the light at the end of the day is glorious but constantly changing.
While going au naturel [no light cards, reflectors or tints] allows you to concentrate on the job, sometimes the environment can be taxing. I'm not sure I got the shots at the top of Bloemendal, but then again with on 30 minutes to shoot there wasn't much time. Once again, that's also a good exercise, to get as much as you can and try to come away with something.
Sometimes, often, you have to let go of the vision you have and just go with the flow. But it also pays to keep a critical eye out for what you might be missing. Unfortunately in this shoot I only found out afterwards that Marizanne had brought a black top [she was wearing it under a blue blouse]. I knew she would look great in all black on this gray background but I assumed when I looked at her clothes she didn't have it with her [should have asked].
Although the wind was howling during this shoot, I probably should have insisted at some point on a ponytail - because virtually every picture shows her face covered in hair.
You'll notice I often get down and dirty on a shoot, lying completely on the ground. This not only relaxes the model and gives her the freedom to be herself, but sometimes you get very unusual and sometimes very striking shots...
Stats:
Length of shoot 1 hour [very short]
Memory cards used: 1 x 4GB [card full just as sun set]
Camera: Just one, Canon 1000D, 2 lenses including a 300mm Sigma.
Model: 22 year old jewelery designer Marizanne Lourens.
I recently found two new locations in Bellville that I wanted to try out. It's always an interesting dynamic, photographing someone new, in a new place, where the light at the end of the day is glorious but constantly changing.
While going au naturel [no light cards, reflectors or tints] allows you to concentrate on the job, sometimes the environment can be taxing. I'm not sure I got the shots at the top of Bloemendal, but then again with on 30 minutes to shoot there wasn't much time. Once again, that's also a good exercise, to get as much as you can and try to come away with something.
Sometimes, often, you have to let go of the vision you have and just go with the flow. But it also pays to keep a critical eye out for what you might be missing. Unfortunately in this shoot I only found out afterwards that Marizanne had brought a black top [she was wearing it under a blue blouse]. I knew she would look great in all black on this gray background but I assumed when I looked at her clothes she didn't have it with her [should have asked].
Although the wind was howling during this shoot, I probably should have insisted at some point on a ponytail - because virtually every picture shows her face covered in hair.
You'll notice I often get down and dirty on a shoot, lying completely on the ground. This not only relaxes the model and gives her the freedom to be herself, but sometimes you get very unusual and sometimes very striking shots...
Stats:
Length of shoot 1 hour [very short]
Memory cards used: 1 x 4GB [card full just as sun set]
Camera: Just one, Canon 1000D, 2 lenses including a 300mm Sigma.
Model: 22 year old jewelery designer Marizanne Lourens.
Billy Crystal - 69th Annual Academy Awards Best Picture Montage and Medley
SHOOT: Embedding is disabled to watch this here. It's a classic!
But wait, there's more:
Billy Crystal's opening monologue at 64th Academy Awards®
Billy Crystal - 70th Annual Academy Awards Best Picture Medley
Billy Crystal - 72nd Annual Academy Awards - What The Stars Are Thinking About
But wait, there's more:
Billy Crystal's opening monologue at 64th Academy Awards®
Billy Crystal - 70th Annual Academy Awards Best Picture Medley
Billy Crystal - 72nd Annual Academy Awards - What The Stars Are Thinking About
Friday, January 28, 2011
Why is there so much snow in New York?
SHOOT: Because of negative Arctic Oscillations. In other words, while warm air is melting the Arctic and disrupting global wind and ocean patterns, Arctic air is cooling a few parts of the world, like Britain and the eastern seaboard of the USA. It's one of those teeny weeny consequences of that thing people didn't want to talk about once...global lukewarming...or something. Yes, most of the planet is warming, but a few exceptional places are the recipients of much additional ice > o water > vapour condensating as rain and snow at lower latitudes.
One factor, CBS 2′s meteorologist John Elliott says, is changing wind patterns. Normally, the low pressure systems that bring precipitation would be to the west of us.
Nobody knows why, but worldwide, winds have shifted.
SHOOT: Try this - because ice caps are shrinking rapidly, that water must end up somewhere.
This winter, those systems, with their precipitation, have blown into our area. Mix that with colder than normal temperatures, and voila, lots of snow.
Bringing those persistent cold temperatures is something called arctic oscillation, which has shifted the boundary between warmer and colder air masses.
That line has moved south and that has allowed the colder air from the polar regions to move into the entire eastern seaboard.
With all that cold air, it doesn’t take much moisture to produce snow and produce records.
Normally, we get 22.4 inches of snowfall a season, but so far this season, we’ve had 56.1 inches and 19 inches with this storm alone.
With forecasts of continuing below average temperatures, it may help to sit back and try to make the best of it.
A street is blanketed by snow is viewed January 27, 2011 in Brooklyn. (Photo/Getty Images/Spencer Platt)
NEW YORK (CBS 2) – Thursday’s storm made January 2011 the snowiest the Big Apple ever saw since records were kept. And consider this: February is usually our snowiest month. Many people are asking why there’s so much snow and why so often?One factor, CBS 2′s meteorologist John Elliott says, is changing wind patterns. Normally, the low pressure systems that bring precipitation would be to the west of us.
Nobody knows why, but worldwide, winds have shifted.
SHOOT: Try this - because ice caps are shrinking rapidly, that water must end up somewhere.
This winter, those systems, with their precipitation, have blown into our area. Mix that with colder than normal temperatures, and voila, lots of snow.
Bringing those persistent cold temperatures is something called arctic oscillation, which has shifted the boundary between warmer and colder air masses.
That line has moved south and that has allowed the colder air from the polar regions to move into the entire eastern seaboard.
With all that cold air, it doesn’t take much moisture to produce snow and produce records.
Normally, we get 22.4 inches of snowfall a season, but so far this season, we’ve had 56.1 inches and 19 inches with this storm alone.
With forecasts of continuing below average temperatures, it may help to sit back and try to make the best of it.
EGYPT D/C
Confirming what a few have reported this evening: in an action unprecedented in Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet. Critical European-Asian fiber-optic routes through Egypt appear to be unaffected for now. But every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world. Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr, and all their customers and partners are, for the moment, off the air.
At 22:34 UTC (00:34am local time), Renesys observed the virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks in the Internet's global routing table. Approximately 3,500 individual BGP routes were withdrawn, leaving no valid paths by which the rest of the world could continue to exchange Internet traffic with Egypt's service providers.
Virtually all of Egypt's Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide.
This is a completely different situation from the modest Internet manipulation that took place in Tunisia, where specific routes were blocked, or Iran, where the Internet stayed up in a rate-limited form designed to make Internet connectivity painfully slow. The Egyptian government's actions tonight have essentially wiped their country from the global map.
What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80,000,000 people from the Internet? What will happen tomorrow, on the streets and in the credit markets? This has never happened before, and the unknowns are piling up. We will continue to dig into the event, and will update this story as we learn more. As Friday dawns in Cairo under this unprecedented communications blackout, keep the Egyptian people in your thoughts.
Update (3:06 UTC)
One of the very few exceptions to this block has been Noor Group (AS20928), which still has 83 out of 83 live routes to its Egyptian customers, with inbound transit from Telecom Italia as usual. Why was Noor Group apparently unaffected by the countrywide takedown order? Unknown at this point, but we observe that the Egyptian Stock Exchange (www.egyptse.com) is still alive at a Noor address.
Its DNS A records indicate that it's normally reachable at 4 different IP addresses, only one of which belongs to Noor. Internet transit path diversity is a sign of good planning by the Stock Exchange IT staff, and it appears to have paid off in this case. Did the Egyptian government leave Noor standing so that the markets could open next week?
At 22:34 UTC (00:34am local time), Renesys observed the virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks in the Internet's global routing table. Approximately 3,500 individual BGP routes were withdrawn, leaving no valid paths by which the rest of the world could continue to exchange Internet traffic with Egypt's service providers.Virtually all of Egypt's Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide.
This is a completely different situation from the modest Internet manipulation that took place in Tunisia, where specific routes were blocked, or Iran, where the Internet stayed up in a rate-limited form designed to make Internet connectivity painfully slow. The Egyptian government's actions tonight have essentially wiped their country from the global map.
What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80,000,000 people from the Internet? What will happen tomorrow, on the streets and in the credit markets? This has never happened before, and the unknowns are piling up. We will continue to dig into the event, and will update this story as we learn more. As Friday dawns in Cairo under this unprecedented communications blackout, keep the Egyptian people in your thoughts.
Update (3:06 UTC)
One of the very few exceptions to this block has been Noor Group (AS20928), which still has 83 out of 83 live routes to its Egyptian customers, with inbound transit from Telecom Italia as usual. Why was Noor Group apparently unaffected by the countrywide takedown order? Unknown at this point, but we observe that the Egyptian Stock Exchange (www.egyptse.com) is still alive at a Noor address.
Its DNS A records indicate that it's normally reachable at 4 different IP addresses, only one of which belongs to Noor. Internet transit path diversity is a sign of good planning by the Stock Exchange IT staff, and it appears to have paid off in this case. Did the Egyptian government leave Noor standing so that the markets could open next week?
Natalie Portman engaged to Benjamin Millepied - who is Benjamin Millipede?
When news broke that "Black Swan" star Natalie Portman was not only engaged to Benjamin Millepied, but expecting a baby, as well, fans were no doubt left muttering, "Wow!" quickly followed by "Benjamin, who!?!" It's true the ballet dancer isn't as high profile as some of Natalie's former beaus, like actor Gael Garcia Bernal, but he's a talent in his own right in the world of ballet. Get acquainted with the hunky dancer with our list of five things you should know about him:
1. He's French
Benjamin grew up in the lush region of Bordeaux, France, so does that mean we should expect a billingual baby? Our guess is Oui, oui! At the very least, we should start taking bets on French-inspired baby names. We'll place $10 on Jacques Portman-Millepied for a boy and Marie Portman-Millepied for a girl.
2. He choreographed "Black Swan"
If you found yourself in awe over the pirouetting in Darren Aronofsky's dark dance thriller, you have Mr. Millepied to thank for that. In addition to choreographing and training Natalie and co-star Mila Kunis, he also played Natalie's dance partner in the film, which means you probably have seen him before.
3. He's got an impressive resume
Benjamin was a tour de force in the ballet world long before Darren came calling. In addition to choreographing a number of ballets, Benjamin is a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he's been dancing since his teens. Très bien!
4. He has Hollywood ambitions
"I think you can learn to act," he told Details magazine recently. He also hopes to direct in the future and has a couple projects he'd like to pitch to Broadway producers. Do we smell the next Hollywood heavyweight couple?
5. He looks great without a shirt on
But you probably guessed that already.
SHOOT: I was saving myself for Natalie...#slapsforehead#...knew I should have taken those ballet classes when I was in kindergarten.
FIN24: How to invest in food [ADVICE]
The bad old days of 2008 are back, but this time, can you make money out of a global food crisis? -
RIOTS in Mexico over pricey tortillas, the cost of European wheat doubling in a year, pasta prices up 20%, onions running out in India, sugar prices rocketing 77% in six months - it's 2008 all over again except this year it's worse.
You may be catching a wave on year one of what, some say, could be a 20-year bull market in agricultural commodity prices.
The conditions are near perfect. The demand for food will be driven by population growth (almost 80 million babies born every year) and consumers changing their diets as they grow wealthier (Chinese dairy sales have doubled in five years).
The demand for food crops as fuel is also expanding rapidly. A fifth of the US maize crop is now going towards ethanol - five years ago, it was less than 5%.
Meanwhile, food supply is being tested by too much water (recent flooding in many key agricultural producer countries) in some parts, and too little (chronic droughts) in others.
Government intervention – India (rice) and Russia (wheat) have banned exports of produce in the past – also drives up prices.
Then there is "financialisation of food" – speculators taking bets on soft commodities (like wheat, maize, cocoa and soy beans) on the financial markets, pushing prices higher artificially.
Already, global food prices - as measured by the United Nations agricultural body - have surpassed the record high levels reached in 2008.
In South Africa, the picture looks a bit different, however. While in countries like India food inflation has topped 14%, the local number is still around 1.5%. The price of a tonne of white maize is around the R1 430 to R1 570 mark – compared to R2 100 in 2008.
This is mainly due to bumper crops and problems exporting a glut of maize out of South Africa.
There are huge backlogs at the ports and rail transport has deteriorated. According to one estimate, only 10% of local maize is now transported by train; 20 years ago it was up to 90%.
With traditional African export markets like Zambia also now having their own strong crops, this is keeping local produce in the country and prices low.
It is also not anticipated that local floods will have a major impact on food prices, says the JSE's head of commodity derivatives, Rod Gravelet-Blondin. At this stage, although still early, the floods have mainly hurt the output of small-scale farmers and low-lying fruit farms.
Local agricultural prices, however, do track international ones and may move higher. Rumours that exports out of East London harbour may be ramped up have added to some upwards momentum.
How do you go about investing in food?
Shares:
There aren't that many pure agricultural companies on the JSE to choose from.
However, the index of food producers, which includes companies like Clover, Illovo Sugar [JSE:ILV], Pioneer Food Group [JSE:PFG], Tiger Brands [JSE:TBS] and Tongaat Hulett [JSE:TON], may offer some exposure to higher prices.
The earnings of these companies show a 60% correlation with food inflation, says Schalk Louw, CEO and strategist at Contego Asset Management. This means that 60% of the time, their profits will grow when food prices heat up.
"Currently our best choice for gaining exposure to the food producer sector is through investment in Tiger Brands, AVI or Pioneer Foods."
Since both Tiger Brands and Pioneer Foods are on the acquisition trail (Tiger in Africa and Pioneer domestically), which could have an impact on short-term earnings, Louw chooses AVI as his top pick.
He thinks the company could offer "potential upside surprises on distributions to shareholders".
According to Craig Pheiffer, general manager of investments at Absa Investments, the chicken producers - Country Bird Holdings [JSE:CBH], Astral Foods [JSE:ARL], Rainbow Chicken [JSE:RBW] and Sovereign Food Investments [JSE:SOV] – are probably the "purest" food plays on the market.
However, most of them also have other animal feed businesses, and where sourcing is from offshore, margins will come under pressure as commodity prices rise.
Other options include fishing group Oceana Group [JSE:OCE], with its own risks relating to catch sizes and fishing rights, and agricultural groups like Crookes Brothers [JSE:CKS], which has a wide exposure to different crops.
Pheiffer thinks the food retailers, which traditionally sneak in fatter profit margins when food prices are rising, may be in the best position to benefit.
Soft commodities:
The most direct and popular way of getting exposure to food prices is by buying futures contracts on agricultural ("soft") commodities like wheat, maize, sunflower seeds and soy beans.
On the JSE's Commodity Derivatives market, you can buy a contract to sell or buy a specific amount of a commodity at a specific date in the future.
For example, you expect the price of yellow maize will rise in the next few months. Currently you can buy a contract which commits you to buy a tonne of yellow maize for R1 550 by May. This is called a "long" position.
If the price of the contract rose to R1 650 by May, you will have made a profit of R100. But if the price falls from current levels, you will make a loss.
Going short entails buying a contract that entitles you to "sell" maize at a specific price in the future. If prices go lower than your entry level, you will make a profit.
To start investing in these futures, you need to open an account with a registered broker and pay a deposit (initial margin) for a trade.
One contract is made up of 100 tonnes for maize, 50 tonnes for wheat and sunflower seeds and 25 for soy beans. You usually need to put down about 10% of the value of the contract as a deposit or initial margin. (The margin will depend on the specific contract and other factors.)
If the price of maize starts to move against you, more money will need to be deposited as variation margin to offset the losses. Your initial margin must be maintained and will be returned to you with interest when your position is closed out.
You can also trade in overseas commodities – like the maize and soybean contracts traded in Chicago – through the JSE.
Trading in commodities futures has again picked up speed and is close to 2008 levels, with interest in soybeans, key to the production of feed and protein, at record highs, says Gravelet-Blondin.
But trading in futures is not for beginners and small investors need to take care; if they are not watchful, losses can quickly add up. Unlike an investment in shares, you can easily lose all your money – and then some.
One broker at a large financial institution, who declined to be named, also warned that agricultural prices are not a one-way street. He expects maize prices to be lower in six months' time. "SA's export infrastructure problems are not going away."
Spread trading
Spread betting is basically a cheaper way to take a view on the direction commodities will move. You can also get exposure to a number of products not available in SA.
For example, you expect cocoa prices will rise. Cocoa for March delivery is currently around $3 340 per tonne. You decide to bet R10 for every dollar that the price moves higher. If the price moves to $3 350, made a profit of R100.
However, should the price fall to $3 330, you would lose R100. A sudden, big drop can be devastating.
It is extremely important to do your homework; you should spend hours on simulating trading (most spread trading firms offer these accounts) and have strict stop loss orders on price. A stop loss will automatically sell your position if it breaches a specific level.
One of the most popular spread trading firms, Global Trader, prefers offering products based off international commodities.
According to Global Trader head of trading Nilan Morar, there has been growing interest in the group's products based on international commodity markets as they offer long trading hours and deep liquidity. The JSE Commodity Division only trades between 9:00 and 12:00.
Overseas
Another option is to use your foreign exchange allowance to invest in the vast array of agricultural investments overseas. These include shares in global agricultural and food conglomerates listed in foreign markets – like Monsanto, Deere & Company, Syngenta, Asian Citrus and MP Evans.
There are also a number of agricultural exchange-traded funds – which can track the performance of an index of agricultural shares or commodities – on the market.
But currency risk is key, says Pheiffer. A strong rand can wipe out any of your overseas gains.
Black Swan - New York Times Review [EXCERPT]
SHOOT: Like IMDB I'd give this flick 8.5/10. Brilliant, shocking, brave performance by a beautiful, but bird-thin Portman.
Niko Tavernise/Fox Searchlight Pictures
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan.”
On Point, on Top, in Pain
By MANOHLA DARGIS
One of the pleasures of “Black Swan” is its lack of reverence toward the rarefied world of ballet, which to outsiders can look as lively as a crypt. Mr. Aronofsky makes this world (or his version of it) exciting partly by pulling back the velvet curtains and showing you the sacrifices and crushingly hard work that goes into creating beautiful dances. Nina doesn’t just pirouette prettily, she also cracks her damaged toes (the sound design picking up every crackle and crunch) and sticks her fingers down her throat to vomit up her food. Mostly, though, she trains hard, hammering her toe shoes into floor much as Jake La Motta pounded his fists into flesh. She’s a contender, but also a martyr to her art. Mr. Aronofsky is happy to see her bleed. A filmmaker who likes to play around with genre while mixing the highbrow with the lowdown and dirty, he has built a small, vivid catalog by exploring human extremes with wildly uneven degrees of visual wow, sensitivity and intelligence. He trawled the lower depths in “Requiem for a Dream” and struggled to scale the metaphysical heights with “The Fountain,” a fable about eternal (as in, when will it end?) love. For his previous movie, “The Wrestler,” he proved his commercial smarts by taking Mickey Rourke out of deep freeze and dusting off a comeback story that was old when Wallace Beery wiped Jackie Cooper’s runny nose with the script for “The Champ.”
“Black Swan,” by contrast, surprises despite its lusty or rather sluttish predilection for clichés, which include the requisitely demanding impresario (Mr. Cassel makes a model cock of the walk) and Nina’s ballerina rival, Lily (Mila Kunis, as a succulent, borderline rancid peach). But, oh, what Mr. Aronofsky does with those clichés, which he embraces, exploits and, by a squeak, finally transcends.
Such is his faith in his ability to surmount the obvious (and the lethally blunt) that he turns Nina’s mother, Erica (a terrific Barbara Hershey), into a smother-mother who out-crazies Faye Dunaway’s Joan Crawford in the mommy dearest department. You don’t know whether to laugh or shriek (both are reasonable responses), and it is this uncertainty and at times delicious unease that proves to be Mr. Aronofsky’s sweet spot.
It’s easy to read “Black Swan” as a gloss on the artistic pursuit of the ideal. But take another look, and you see that Mr. Aronofsky is simultaneously telling that story straight, playing with the suffering-artist stereotype and having his nasty way with Nina, burdening her with trippy psychodrama and letting her run wild in a sexcapade that will soon be in heavy rotation on the Web. The screenplay, by Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz and John McLaughlin, invites pop-psychological interpretations about women who self-mutilate while striving for their perfect selves, a description that seems to fit Nina. But such a reading only flattens a film that from scene to scene is deadly serious, downright goofy and by turns shocking, funny and touching.
“Black Swan,” by contrast, surprises despite its lusty or rather sluttish predilection for clichés, which include the requisitely demanding impresario (Mr. Cassel makes a model cock of the walk) and Nina’s ballerina rival, Lily (Mila Kunis, as a succulent, borderline rancid peach). But, oh, what Mr. Aronofsky does with those clichés, which he embraces, exploits and, by a squeak, finally transcends.
Such is his faith in his ability to surmount the obvious (and the lethally blunt) that he turns Nina’s mother, Erica (a terrific Barbara Hershey), into a smother-mother who out-crazies Faye Dunaway’s Joan Crawford in the mommy dearest department. You don’t know whether to laugh or shriek (both are reasonable responses), and it is this uncertainty and at times delicious unease that proves to be Mr. Aronofsky’s sweet spot.
It’s easy to read “Black Swan” as a gloss on the artistic pursuit of the ideal. But take another look, and you see that Mr. Aronofsky is simultaneously telling that story straight, playing with the suffering-artist stereotype and having his nasty way with Nina, burdening her with trippy psychodrama and letting her run wild in a sexcapade that will soon be in heavy rotation on the Web. The screenplay, by Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz and John McLaughlin, invites pop-psychological interpretations about women who self-mutilate while striving for their perfect selves, a description that seems to fit Nina. But such a reading only flattens a film that from scene to scene is deadly serious, downright goofy and by turns shocking, funny and touching.
BLACK SWAN - Official HD trailer plus a few memorable quotes from the movie
Nina: I had the craziest dream last night about a girl who has turned into a swan, but her prince falls for the wrong girl and she kills herself.
Nina: It's about a girl who gets turned into a swan and she needs love to break the spell, but her prince falls for the wrong girl so she kills herself.
Thomas Leroy: I don't want there to be any boundaries between us.
Nina: No, me neither.
Thomas Leroy: So, you got a boyfriend?
Nina: No.
Thomas Leroy: And you've had many in the past?
Nina: A few but no one serious.
Thomas Leroy: You're not a virgin are you?
Nina: [nervously] No.
Thomas Leroy: So there is nothing to be embarrassed about.
Nina: No, me neither.
Thomas Leroy: So, you got a boyfriend?
Nina: No.
Thomas Leroy: And you've had many in the past?
Nina: A few but no one serious.
Thomas Leroy: You're not a virgin are you?
Nina: [nervously] No.
Thomas Leroy: So there is nothing to be embarrassed about.
Erica: It's the role, isn't it? It's all this pressure? I knew it would be too much. I knew it!
Thomas Leroy: I got a little homework assignment for you. Go home and touch yourself. Live a little.
Nina: What happened?
Thomas Leroy: She walked into the street and got hit by a car. And you know what? I'm almost sure she did it on purpose.
Nina: How do you know?
Thomas Leroy: Because everything Beth does comes from within. From some dark impulse. I guess that's what makes her so thrilling to watch. So dangerous. Even perfect at times, but also so damn destructive.
Thomas Leroy: She walked into the street and got hit by a car. And you know what? I'm almost sure she did it on purpose.
Nina: How do you know?
Thomas Leroy: Because everything Beth does comes from within. From some dark impulse. I guess that's what makes her so thrilling to watch. So dangerous. Even perfect at times, but also so damn destructive.
Nina: What are you doing here?
Lily: I just came by to apologize. You're right, I should have never spoken to him about you.
Erica: [interrupts] Sweetheart.
Nina: Give me a second.
Erica: Your dinner.
Nina: Mom! Please?
Lily: Oh, she's a trip.
[chuckles]
Nina: How do you know where I live?
Lily: I have my ways.
[notices Nina's nervousness]
Lily: Jesus, relax! I got it from Susie in the office. Look, I just feel really shitty about what I did and I just really want to make it up to you, so how about I take you out to dinner?
Nina: I don't think.
Lily: [interrupts] Ok, that's fine! What about drinks?
Erica: Sweetie, you need to rest.
Lily: [chuckles] Jesus!
Nina: Wait.
[goes into the apartment to grab shoes and a coat]
Erica: What are you doing?
Nina: Going out!
Lily: I just came by to apologize. You're right, I should have never spoken to him about you.
Erica: [interrupts] Sweetheart.
Nina: Give me a second.
Erica: Your dinner.
Nina: Mom! Please?
Lily: Oh, she's a trip.
[chuckles]
Nina: How do you know where I live?
Lily: I have my ways.
[notices Nina's nervousness]
Lily: Jesus, relax! I got it from Susie in the office. Look, I just feel really shitty about what I did and I just really want to make it up to you, so how about I take you out to dinner?
Nina: I don't think.
Lily: [interrupts] Ok, that's fine! What about drinks?
Erica: Sweetie, you need to rest.
Lily: [chuckles] Jesus!
Nina: Wait.
[goes into the apartment to grab shoes and a coat]
Erica: What are you doing?
Nina: Going out!
Erica: Do you have any idea what time it is?
Nina: Uhh, late?
Erica: Where have you been?
Nina: To the moon!
Lily: And back.
Erica: You've been drinking.
Nina: Ding ding ding ding!
Erica: What else?
Nina: Huh?
Erica: [raises voice] What else have you been doing?
Nina: Oh, you want to know their names?
[laughs]
Erica: You need to sleep this off.
Nina: No, there were two. There was Tom, there was Jerry.
[laughing]
Erica: [interrupts] Be quiet, Nina!
Nina: And I fucked them both!
Erica: [yells] Shut your mouth!
Nina: Uhh, late?
Erica: Where have you been?
Nina: To the moon!
Lily: And back.
Erica: You've been drinking.
Nina: Ding ding ding ding!
Erica: What else?
Nina: Huh?
Erica: [raises voice] What else have you been doing?
Nina: Oh, you want to know their names?
[laughs]
Erica: You need to sleep this off.
Nina: No, there were two. There was Tom, there was Jerry.
[laughing]
Erica: [interrupts] Be quiet, Nina!
Nina: And I fucked them both!
Erica: [yells] Shut your mouth!
Thomas Leroy: You could be brilliant, but you're a coward.
Nina: I'm sorry.
Thomas Leroy: [yelling] Now stop saying that! That's exactly what I'm talking about. Stop being so fucking weak!
Nina: I'm sorry.
Thomas Leroy: [yelling] Now stop saying that! That's exactly what I'm talking about. Stop being so fucking weak!
Erica: Has he tried anything with you? He has a reputation. I have a right to be concerned, Nina. You've been staying late so many nights rehearsing. I hope he isn't taking advantage.
Nina: He's not.
Erica: Good. I just don't want you to make the same mistake I did.
Nina: Thanks.
Erica: Not like that. I just mean as far as my career was concerned.
Nina: What career?
Erica: The one I gave up to have you.
Nina: You were 28 and only in.
[stops]
Erica: Only what?
Nina: Nothing.
Erica: What!
Nina: Nothing.
Nina: He's not.
Erica: Good. I just don't want you to make the same mistake I did.
Nina: Thanks.
Erica: Not like that. I just mean as far as my career was concerned.
Nina: What career?
Erica: The one I gave up to have you.
Nina: You were 28 and only in.
[stops]
Erica: Only what?
Nina: Nothing.
Erica: What!
Nina: Nothing.
Thomas Leroy: Thank you, Nina! It's very nice. It's very nice, but I knew the white swan wouldn't be your problem. The real work would be your metamorphosis into her evil twin. I know I saw a flash of her yesterday, so get ready to give me more of that bite.
Thomas Leroy: What's going on?
Nina: [crying] Lily! You made her my alternate?
Thomas Leroy: Well there's always an alternate. Lily is the best choice.
Nina: No, but she wants my role.
Thomas Leroy: Every dancer in the world wants your role.
Nina: No, this is different. She's after me. She's trying to replace me!
Thomas Leroy: Nobody's after you.
Nina: [crying harder] No, please believe me!
Nina: [crying] Lily! You made her my alternate?
Thomas Leroy: Well there's always an alternate. Lily is the best choice.
Nina: No, but she wants my role.
Thomas Leroy: Every dancer in the world wants your role.
Nina: No, this is different. She's after me. She's trying to replace me!
Thomas Leroy: Nobody's after you.
Nina: [crying harder] No, please believe me!
Thomas Leroy: Honestly, would you fuck that girl?
Nina: I came to ask for the part.
Thomas Leroy: The truth is when I look at you all I see is the white swan. Yes you're beautiful, fearful, and fragile. Ideal casting. But the black swan? It's a hard fucking job to dance both.
Nina: I can dance the black swan, too.
Thomas Leroy: Really? In 4 years every time you dance I see you obsessed getting each and every move perfectly right but I never see you lose yourself. Ever! All that discipline for what?
Nina: [whispers] I just want to be perfect.
Thomas Leroy: What?
Nina: I want to be perfect.
Thomas Leroy: [scoffs] Perfection is not just about control. It's also about letting go. Surprise yourself so you can surprise the audience. Transcendence! Very few have it in them.
Nina: I think I do have it in me.
Thomas Leroy: The truth is when I look at you all I see is the white swan. Yes you're beautiful, fearful, and fragile. Ideal casting. But the black swan? It's a hard fucking job to dance both.
Nina: I can dance the black swan, too.
Thomas Leroy: Really? In 4 years every time you dance I see you obsessed getting each and every move perfectly right but I never see you lose yourself. Ever! All that discipline for what?
Nina: [whispers] I just want to be perfect.
Thomas Leroy: What?
Nina: I want to be perfect.
Thomas Leroy: [scoffs] Perfection is not just about control. It's also about letting go. Surprise yourself so you can surprise the audience. Transcendence! Very few have it in them.
Nina: I think I do have it in me.
Erica: This role is destroying you.
Lily: What are you going to do? Run home to mommy?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Mainstream contemporary economics seems to believe that economics exists independent of the laws of biology, chemistry and physics.
Economic growth cannot buy the planet more time
 |  | VIEWPOINT Andrew Simms |
 The world has "bears" and "bulls", but thankfully not "hamster markets" |
If, instead of levelling-off in maturity, it carried on growing - continuing to double its weight each week - we would be facing a nine-billion-tonne hamster on its first birthday.
If it kept eating at the same ratio of food to bodyweight, the hamster's daily intake would be greater than the total, annual amount of maize produced worldwide.
In nature, there is a reason why things do not grow indefinitely.
Yet the entire canon of mainstream contemporary economics seems to believe that economics exists independent of the laws of biology, chemistry and physics.
It assumes, without exception, that infinite economic growth on a finite planet is both desirable and possible.
'Limits to growth'
To suggest that growth might ultimately be bounded by physical constraints, of course, is not new on the very margins of economics or in other disciplines.
|   We have less excuse than usual to blissfully ignore how our impressive looking growth economies hide a negative ecological cash flow   |
Back then, much less data and processing power were available. As a result, for some it acted as a wake-up call, but many others mocked it and used the report to brand the wider environmental movement as alarmist.
In 2008, a physicist called Graham Turner decided to look again at the controversial report. He compared its original projections with 30 years' worth of subsequent observed trends.
Amazingly, given the available technology and data, he concluded that they "compared favourably". The authors of Limits to Growth had been broadly right all along.
We shouldn't be surprised. At what point, and on what basis, did consumer society ever truly believe that it could have its planet and eat it?
Jared Diamond's book Collapse tells the history of societies throughout history that fell by overshooting their environmental life support systems.
He charts how wealth too often comes at the expense of liquidating natural capital and how, in environmental terms, "an impressive-looking bank account may conceal a negative cash flow".
Now, standing in the shadow of the banking crisis, we have less excuse than usual to blissfully ignore how our impressive looking growth economies hide a negative ecological cash flow.
Take just one example. A new report from our team at Nef (the New Economics Foundation) looks in detail at the relationship between economic growth and the need to avert runaway climate change.
Based on the leading models for climate change and the global economy's use of fossil fuels, the report - called Growth Isn't Possible - comes to a seemingly inescapable and self-explanatory conclusion.
It asks whether global economic growth can be maintained, while keeping a good likelihood of limiting global temperature rise to 2C (3.6F) - the agreed political objective of the European Union, and widely considered the maximum rise to which humanity can adapt without serious difficulty.
'Ecological bankruptcy'
Some nations, of course, face difficulty at much lower rises, such as small island states.
None of the models studied, including the most optimistic variations of low-carbon energy and efficiency, could square the circle of endless global economic growth with climate safety.
|  The link between rising GDP and higher life satisfaction broke down decades ago |
Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at Manchester University, UK, concluded in another study that: "Economic growth in [industrialised nations] cannot be reconciled with a 2, 3 or even 4C characterisation of dangerous climate change."
There is also a growing appreciation that it has not all to do with climate change.
The latest set of accounts for humanity's ecological footprint reveal that, conservatively, it takes the Earth nearly 18 months to produce the ecological services that humanity uses in one year.
The negative cash flow is getting worse.
In a unique study, published in the science journal Nature in September 2009, a group of 29 leading international scientists identified nine processes in the biosphere for which they considered it necessary to "define planetary boundaries".
Of the nine, three boundaries had already been transgressed: climate change, interference in the nitrogen cycle, and biodiversity loss.
Assuming that humanity does not deliberately wish to destroy its own foundations, and with so much science and sophisticated monitoring available, why is this happening?
For all the promise of magic bullet technologies, continual growth drowns out energy and natural resource efficiency gains.
Even efficiency gains themselves do not necessarily reduce consumption. Counter-intuitively, greater energy efficiency tends to reduce costs and drive up overall consumption.
There is a growing awareness too that, at least where rich countries are concerned, the downside of growth comes with very little or no upside.
For most of these nations, the link between rising GDP and higher life satisfaction broke down decades ago.
Lord Adair Turner, chairman of both the UK Financial Services Authority and the UK Climate Change Committee, recently described the pursuit of endless rich country growth a "false god".
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said GDP growth was "proving to be an extremely harmful way of measuring economic progress".
The reason is that in economic commentary, growth is always assumed to be good. But you can also have "uneconomic growth", when it is jobless, socially divisive or environmentally destructive. A parallel in nature might be growth like that in cancer.
Burden of proof
Are alternative measures of success available? Yes, many. But politicians and the business press remain uncritically spellbound by the equation "all GDP growth is good".
Here is an irony: the hard science of climate change is subjected continually to the most extraordinary degree of critical scrutiny in the media.
Given their actual number, informed sceptics are given disproportionate airtime and column inches.
But where the "dismal science" of economics is concerned, the daily reporting of its central tenet - growth is good - passes unchallenged.
The much vaunted journalistic balance is abandoned. Why? Perhaps it is because this type of economics is not science at all, but doctrine. To question doctrine makes you a heretic, and heretics get excommunicated.
The time has come to question. Now, the burden of proof lies on those who promise endless growth to demonstrate how it will be possible.
In the meantime, the pressing task for everyone else is to work out how all of us on the planet can have good lives while living within its means.
Andrew Simms is policy director of the New Economics Foundation (Nef) and co-author with Dr Victoria Johnson of Growth Isn't Possible: Why We Need a New Economic Direction, published by Nef and Schumacher College
Gordon Gecko: Before vs After
"Greed is good..."
versus
"You're all fucked."
So is unbridled greed good? Is growth or death an absolute paradigm worth investing in? Is Capitalism a system that actually works?
versus
"You're all fucked."
So is unbridled greed good? Is growth or death an absolute paradigm worth investing in? Is Capitalism a system that actually works?
Monday, January 24, 2011
Brian Eno & David Byrne - Home [WALL STREET 2 SOUNDTRACK + LYRICS]
The dimming of the light makes the picture clearer
It's just an old photograph, there's nothing to hide
When the world was just beginning.
I memorized her face so it's not forgotten
I hear the wind whistling "come back anytime"
And we'll mix our lives together
Heaven knows, what keeps mankind alive
Every hand goes searching for its partner in crime
Under chairs and behind tables
Connecting to places we have known
I'm looking for a home, where the wheels are turning
Home, why I keep returning
Home, where my world is breaking in two
Home, with the neighbors fighting
Home, always so exciting
Home, were my parents telling the truth?
Home, such a funny feeling
Home, no one ever speaking
Home, with our bodies touching
Home, and the cameras watching
Home, will infect whatever you do
Where home, comes to life from out of the blue
Tiny little boats on a beach at sunset
I took a drink from a jar and into my head
Familiar smells and flavours
Vehicles are stuck on the plains of heaven
I've seen their wheels spinnin' round
And everywhere I can hear those people saying
That the eye is the measure of the man
You can fly from the stuff that still surrounds you
Where home and the band keeps marching on
Connecting to every living soul
Compassion for things I'll never know.
Are you capable of doing nothing 2 minutes? [TEST YOURSELF]
SHOOT: To take the test, take deep breath and click here.
Wine vs Oil [THE ECONOMIST]
SHOOT:The article below, beyond pointing out that the Chinese don;t know how to drink wine, demonstrates how an increase in income seems directly related to rising wine demand.
Wine experts usually explain price movements by supply-side factors such as the effects of the weather and age, but research by Serhan Cevik and Tahsin Saadi Sedik, economists at the IMF, finds that supply has only a small impact on prices. Instead, fast economic growth in emerging economies has been much more important in recent years—as is the case for oil and other commodity prices.
Between 1998 and 2010 there was a correlation of over 90% between changes in oil and wine prices. This encouraged the two economists to build an economic model to explain swings in the prices of crude oil and fine wine using the same variables: oil or wine production, growth rates in rich and emerging economies, and a measure of global excess liquidity.
Emerging economies have accounted for more than 100% of the increase in global oil demand since 2000, while oil consumption in rich countries has declined. Likewise, rising incomes in emerging economies have spurred wine drinking, whereas consumption in Europe, notably France and Italy, has fallen. China (including Hong Kong) overtook Britain last year as the biggest export market for Bordeaux wines. So for both wine and oil, emerging economies now account for the bulk of incremental changes in demand and therefore have the biggest influence on prices.
Read more.
A BOTTLE of Château Pétrus ’82 can cost over $5,000, whereas the equivalent volume of crude oil sells for less than 50 cents. Château Brent may taste a tad rough, yet fine wine and crude oil have more in common than you might think. Their prices have risen and fallen in step in recent years (see chart).
Between 1998 and 2010 there was a correlation of over 90% between changes in oil and wine prices. This encouraged the two economists to build an economic model to explain swings in the prices of crude oil and fine wine using the same variables: oil or wine production, growth rates in rich and emerging economies, and a measure of global excess liquidity.
Emerging economies have accounted for more than 100% of the increase in global oil demand since 2000, while oil consumption in rich countries has declined. Likewise, rising incomes in emerging economies have spurred wine drinking, whereas consumption in Europe, notably France and Italy, has fallen. China (including Hong Kong) overtook Britain last year as the biggest export market for Bordeaux wines. So for both wine and oil, emerging economies now account for the bulk of incremental changes in demand and therefore have the biggest influence on prices.
Read more.
SHOOT: When surfing is dangerous, it can be really dangerous. Check it out:
The incident occurred at approximately 9:45 am Saturday morning, when a huge set of waves caught a number of surfers by surprise. Many of them had been lured closer to shore where cleaner waves were breaking more consistently on the higher tide. Then suddenly a huge 25-foot cleanup set approached, heaving way outside of where the pack was sitting. Surfers scrambled and scratched for the horizon to avoid being pummeled. Trette was one of the unlucky ones.
The 30-year-old surfer was sucked over the falls by the first wave after failing to make it over. (He's visible in in the middle of the shot above, paddling the green board.) When he finally resurfaced Trette was staring straight at another 20-foot wave crashing down on him. He endured two two-wave hold downs before being washed through the rocks inside.
When the set approached Ord was sitting safely in the channel on his ski, but sprang into action as soon as the 20-foot set cleared. In the commotion, he nabbed Alex Bottello, another victim, and pulled him out of the impact zone. He was zipping Bottello toward shore when the two spotted Trette's lifeless body floating face-up in the frothy whitewater way inside.
Ord jumped in the water and pulled him onto the rescue sled attached to his ski. Bottello then held Trette's body in place on the sled while Ord raced to shore, where an EMT and another surfer skilled in CPR went to work on Trette. They continued until Firefighters arrived and managed to get a pulse.
Trette was later air lifted to Stanford Medical Center, where according to the San Francisco Chronicle, he was put into a medically induced coma after arriving. As of Sunday morning, no official update on his condition has broken, but according to the Half Moon Bay Review, renowned local photographer/lifesaver Frank Quirarte, the man spearheading this year's annual big wave competition, gave an unofficial update on Trette's status early Sunday:
"As of last evening Jacob was moving his arms and legs and his pupils are dilating. They're lowering his body temp so he doesn't use as much oxygen and keeping him heavily sedated. He has an anoxic brain injury do to lack of oxygen to the brain. To early to tell how much damage has been done if any. Sending our prayers to him and his family."
The incident occurred at approximately 9:45 am Saturday morning, when a huge set of waves caught a number of surfers by surprise. Many of them had been lured closer to shore where cleaner waves were breaking more consistently on the higher tide. Then suddenly a huge 25-foot cleanup set approached, heaving way outside of where the pack was sitting. Surfers scrambled and scratched for the horizon to avoid being pummeled. Trette was one of the unlucky ones. The 30-year-old surfer was sucked over the falls by the first wave after failing to make it over. (He's visible in in the middle of the shot above, paddling the green board.) When he finally resurfaced Trette was staring straight at another 20-foot wave crashing down on him. He endured two two-wave hold downs before being washed through the rocks inside.
When the set approached Ord was sitting safely in the channel on his ski, but sprang into action as soon as the 20-foot set cleared. In the commotion, he nabbed Alex Bottello, another victim, and pulled him out of the impact zone. He was zipping Bottello toward shore when the two spotted Trette's lifeless body floating face-up in the frothy whitewater way inside.
Ord jumped in the water and pulled him onto the rescue sled attached to his ski. Bottello then held Trette's body in place on the sled while Ord raced to shore, where an EMT and another surfer skilled in CPR went to work on Trette. They continued until Firefighters arrived and managed to get a pulse.
Trette was later air lifted to Stanford Medical Center, where according to the San Francisco Chronicle, he was put into a medically induced coma after arriving. As of Sunday morning, no official update on his condition has broken, but according to the Half Moon Bay Review, renowned local photographer/lifesaver Frank Quirarte, the man spearheading this year's annual big wave competition, gave an unofficial update on Trette's status early Sunday:
"As of last evening Jacob was moving his arms and legs and his pupils are dilating. They're lowering his body temp so he doesn't use as much oxygen and keeping him heavily sedated. He has an anoxic brain injury do to lack of oxygen to the brain. To early to tell how much damage has been done if any. Sending our prayers to him and his family."
The View from my Bicycle [COLUMN]
Shrien Dewani's murderers - Xolile Mngeni, 23, and Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 28 - almost didn't make it to the murder scene. They were desperately trying to arrange transport to the crime scene with an hour to go to the proposed 'Kill Time'. The same night, after murdering the 28 year old Swedish born woman, Mngeni and Qwabe held a party and bought everyone drinks at Khayelitsha tavern known as Sonwabe's Place.
One person who witnessed the revelling said we all wondered where he had gotten the money to buy drinks for everyone. He is someone with no money or job.
A cross section of the comments on this News24 story shows an audience clearly appalled at this mercenary lifestyle. And that is exactly what it is. Being paid money to kill people, and seeing that as 'work', or some form of 'temporary income'. The fact that Mngeni rationalised this income on the basis of wanting to purchase 'manhood' [have himself circumcised, as is the tradition of his people] demonstrates even further the commoditisation of human life. Making money out of every human behaviour is not a uniquely South African pursuit - but certainly here there is even a market for the protection of one's vehicle in public parking areas. You can buy your manhood. People are proposing to buy and sell carbon credits [or the right to pollute] much as the church once sold indulgences [sinners could buy their way into heaven via the church]. Anything can be a commodity. Sex. Talking. Listening. An idea. Life after death. Even clean air. Even positive energy. The Power Balance con demonstrates further how you can commoditise the belief that 'negative energy' can be contained in a bracelet.
The celebrity is of course the ultimate commodity. Look at the rise and wobble of Tiger Woods.
The celebrity as commodity represents an example where human beings can - temporarily - escape the realities and accountabilities that most of us deal with in everyday life. How are these pampered celebrities and idols able to shoo away reality for most of their lives? Looks, and acting, and 'performing' are rewarded with obscene paychecks. The deleterious impact of the average movie and TV program is that it encourages a 'something for nothing' psychology. And let's face it, ravishing good looks, certainly when you are young, are a matter of chance. So you can get rich by getting lucky, not by hard work and effort. Or by being entitled to it. Or if all else fails by getting what you feel you deserve [because life owes you]. According to Hollywood, we live in a world without consequences. If you are angry, you can lash out. Of course in Movieland escapism is normal. In real life, flying by the seat of our desires is extremely socially undesirable.
The Dewani murder is an important snapshot of a real South Africa. It demonstrates the predatory nature of the poor on the wealthy [in this case Mngeni and Qwabe murdering Anni]. But it is premature to stop our analysis there. The Dewani case also demonstrates the collusion, in reverse too. Of the rich and the criminal. It also exposes the intimate nature of crime, where someone that might be your spouse, or relative, might bump you off to serve a personal motive, and have the crime foisted on those too poor or vulnerable to defend themselves.
It is also interesting to note the use of South Africa as a premeditated destination for murder. Let's call it Cannibal Tourism. You travel here on purpose in order to get rid of your significant other, because, conceivably, murder here is common enough to be considered 'normal'. Possibly for the first time Proudly South African South Africans have faced stark exposure to this foreign psychology. Because it does raise the spectre once again that here, we face a future with a depraved, vicious and widespread criminal population. Worse, that population is not relegated to the have-nots. We have seen time and again how even our own wealthy locals have found it normal to have themselves assassinated.
Carla Swart
I don't have to much to say about this heartbreaking story, other than to ponder the following. Does God really exist? If someone as obviously good and obviously special as Carla can die in such an apparently random and useless fashion [making absolute nonsense of the progress and the 'story' of her life thus far] then how does it explain God's presence? If God can count every hair on our heads, why was Carla allowed to die in such gross circumstances? Car accidents in general are awfully random, and with 14 000 a year dying in South Africa, you have to ponder, are these transport related deaths also part of God's divine plan, his ultimate fate for tens of thousands of us? Can you argue that because Carla looked over her left shoulder rather than the right [because she was used to cycling on the opposite side of the road in the US] she deserved to die? That God, in his own divine perfection, saw it fit that this should be the end of her life on earth? No, it seems to me evidence that life is as it is. There is randomness, and disorder, and some order. But most does not make sense, and most is not enshrined in a divine manifesto. What about divine intervention? When do we really see that?
And when someone is to be murdered, and it depends on someone arranging a lift, are we meant to see murder as another divine instrument, or is it what it portends to be: random destructive, almost entirely unconscious human behaviour?
French Cult waiting for the end of the world in Sutherland
You have to ask yourself, if you are waiting for the end of the world, why wait in South Africa, and why Sutherland? And why amass weapons and isolate oneself? Here's a theory. Imagine an entirely unimaginable fiasco, where world currencies become worthless overnight, and energy supplies suddenly become completely unreliable. [Actually both energy and the value of money are related concepts, but we'll leave that for another time]. This means a world where there is no point in working [your salary has no value]. It also means you can't buy anything with money. It means an instant transport to several hundred years ago when people traded goods for other goods. And in those times, might was right. If you wanted something, you took it. This was a time of feudal systems, castles and swords. There was frequent fighting for resources, and ordinary people voluntarily turned to wealthier and more powerful landlords for protection [in exchange for labor].
I won't belabor the point any further, I think you have an idea where I am going. So the french couple must have decided that in order to survive the end of the world there chances would be enhanced -
- by leaving the Northern Hemisphere
- by living in a relatively protected environment [a farm]
- but also in a very remote area [the Karoo]
- the choice of Sutherland, a notoriously cold spot, might be related to concerns of a warming world
- the choice of weapons was naturally for self defence against the attack of hordes of mindless zombies
In the end, their own belief system and anti-social behavior seems to have precipitated a disaster, possibly of their own making. In this sense I see the predictive text of a story that is currently being written for our generation. I see Christians all around me who do not believe in evolution, or climate change, or see any personal accountability to life on earth [only to God]. God does not ask us to drive less, or look after the creatures of this world. He merely asks us to worship him and love ourselves - which I see many people doing in abundance. Ironically enough, believing in God coincides with the 'something-for-nothing' psychology. You get eternal life, God's grace and a slew of benefits [probably including prosperity] in exchange for doing nothing [and believing in God].
In the same way that this french couple anticipated their own demise, framed in a religious context [of their own making, and with much personal interpretation] this generation I believe also anticipates a similar decline in our fortunes. Instead of responding to new discouraging events, we nod and congratulate each other that 'the end of times' are here, and soon we will see God and go to heaven.
I believe in a different reality. That heaven and hell are on earth [and nowhere else, certainly not in any afterlife]. And we're about to see our heaven on earth become a hell - of our own making. Because of our own thinking. And lack of action. It shows just how little we have evolved in the last 2000 years. But then that is nature's way of culling the weak. If you can't make the right adaptation to reality, you have to be replaced by someone or something that can. Some things we believe are real, and some things we believe are not real. We're moving into a territory now where we will find out firsthand, irrespective of our concordant or discordant beliefs, what is really reality.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Australia Open: The tennis ball that wouldn't [couldn't] bounce.
SHOOT: This is one of those 'seeing-is-believing' things.
Yahoo.com: What happened is that the stifling temperatures in Melbourne caused a heat bubble filled with air to form under the surface of the court. It's the same concept that causes crust bubbles to develop on edges of pizza slices. As the Mirror reported, workers came out and drilled two small holes in the court, which let out the air. Order, and gravity, was restored.
Sharapova went on to win the match, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round.
Yahoo.com: What happened is that the stifling temperatures in Melbourne caused a heat bubble filled with air to form under the surface of the court. It's the same concept that causes crust bubbles to develop on edges of pizza slices. As the Mirror reported, workers came out and drilled two small holes in the court, which let out the air. Order, and gravity, was restored.
Sharapova went on to win the match, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
In Memorium: Carla Swart [PICTURES]
SHOOT: Like many other cyclists and laymen alike, I've been very moved by the accident that took the life of 23 year old Carla Swart. The manner of death reminds us that this could have happened to anyone at any random moment. Of course her life could not have been more extraordinary.
Carla is the first athlete ever to secure US collegiate titles in all cycling disciplines in a single year, new HTC-Highroad recruit Carla Swart could easily have 'versatility' as her middle name. However, adapting successfully has always been part of Swart's life, who was born in South Africa, but moved with her family to Georgia in the USA aged 15. As if that change wasn't big enough, Swart then headed to Lees-McRae College in North Carolina in 2006 to take on a joint scholarship in not one but two sports, cycling and running.
Now 22 years old , Swart's breakthrough season was 2008 when she secured collegiate championships in MTB, track, cyclo-cross and road-racing. Overall she's currently taken 19 national titles, a total never previously before achieved by any US collegiate cyclist. Given her multiple talents, it's not surprising when Swart says, "it's been kind of hard to figure out which direction to head in my professional career. I do well in climbing but in sprints I don't do badly, so maybe I'll focus on being a good all-round rider for now and see where that takes me."
In her fullest year to date racing with professional squads, in 2010, Swart has shown promising results in all kinds of terrain and all over the world.
She scored eighth in the notoriously difficult Ronde Van Drenthe World Cup classic in Holland, captured the Best Young Rider's award in the Tour de L'Aude stage race in France, won the the sprinter's jersey in the Cascade Classic in the USA and clinched bronze in both the national time trial and road titles back home in South Africa. "My result in Drenthe was the one I was most satisfied with," Swart says, "because it was the first time I got a top ten in a World Cup event in my first block of international classic racing. Half-way through the race I got away and and got a big gap on the field, and it was amazing how it worked out in the end."
HTC-Highroad were quick to pick up on Swart's consistently strong results and she has now inked a deal for a full-time pro contract with the team for 2011, joining another up-and-coming US rider, Evelyn Stevens in the HTC-Highroad line-up."I know Evelyn very well because she guested on our collegiate team when she got her first win," Swart says, "and I'm looking forward to racing alongside her again."
2010 Results
2nd place Sunny King Criterium (NRC)
3rd place National Championships South Africa I.T.T.
4th place National Championships South Africa R.R.
Carla is the first athlete ever to secure US collegiate titles in all cycling disciplines in a single year, new HTC-Highroad recruit Carla Swart could easily have 'versatility' as her middle name. However, adapting successfully has always been part of Swart's life, who was born in South Africa, but moved with her family to Georgia in the USA aged 15. As if that change wasn't big enough, Swart then headed to Lees-McRae College in North Carolina in 2006 to take on a joint scholarship in not one but two sports, cycling and running.
Now 22 years old , Swart's breakthrough season was 2008 when she secured collegiate championships in MTB, track, cyclo-cross and road-racing. Overall she's currently taken 19 national titles, a total never previously before achieved by any US collegiate cyclist. Given her multiple talents, it's not surprising when Swart says, "it's been kind of hard to figure out which direction to head in my professional career. I do well in climbing but in sprints I don't do badly, so maybe I'll focus on being a good all-round rider for now and see where that takes me."
In her fullest year to date racing with professional squads, in 2010, Swart has shown promising results in all kinds of terrain and all over the world.
She scored eighth in the notoriously difficult Ronde Van Drenthe World Cup classic in Holland, captured the Best Young Rider's award in the Tour de L'Aude stage race in France, won the the sprinter's jersey in the Cascade Classic in the USA and clinched bronze in both the national time trial and road titles back home in South Africa. "My result in Drenthe was the one I was most satisfied with," Swart says, "because it was the first time I got a top ten in a World Cup event in my first block of international classic racing. Half-way through the race I got away and and got a big gap on the field, and it was amazing how it worked out in the end."
HTC-Highroad were quick to pick up on Swart's consistently strong results and she has now inked a deal for a full-time pro contract with the team for 2011, joining another up-and-coming US rider, Evelyn Stevens in the HTC-Highroad line-up."I know Evelyn very well because she guested on our collegiate team when she got her first win," Swart says, "and I'm looking forward to racing alongside her again."
2010 Results
2nd place Sunny King Criterium (NRC)
3rd place National Championships South Africa I.T.T.
4th place National Championships South Africa R.R.
Top South African woman cyclist Carla Swart was killed on Wednesday in a road accident near Marquard in the Free State, Cycling SA said.
The cycling body said in a statement Swart, 23, died when a truck crashed into her while she was training on the road to Marquard in the morning.
Cycling SA team manager Barry Austin who saw the accident happen, said Swart turned around right in front of the oncoming truck moments after she had lost her cycling computer.
“I could see how the driver pushed as hard as he could on his brakes...the truck hit Swart full on, flinging her into the air,” the statement quoted Austin.
Swart died before she could reach a hospital.
She was doing time exercises when the accident happened.
Cycling SA said 2010 was a great cycling year for Swart who finished 10th in the women's race at the World Road Championship in Australia.
Cyclist's dad heartbroken
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