tsu tsu tsunami

In the morning the BBC Worldservice informed that a serious earthquake had occurred in Chile, South America.
Due to this earthquake a tsunami developed in the Pacific Ocean.
Not only going at jet speed to Hawai.
But also to Baja California.

Soon the first e-mail from a dear friend nearby came in:

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center is issuing alerts that a tsunami has been created as a result of the earthquake in Chile. According to my calculations that means it will be here any time now - they are estimating it will arrive around 9:45AM!! Please take precautions and stay out of the water and away from beaches. Exposure does not matter as the wave will wrap AROUND!! Stay safe!!

So, what exactly had this Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to say ?

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 010
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1545Z 27 FEB 2010

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

... A WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

CHILE / PERU / ECUADOR / COLOMBIA / ANTARCTICA / PANAMA /
COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA / PITCAIRN / HONDURAS / EL SALVADOR /
GUATEMALA / FR. POLYNESIA / MEXICO / COOK ISLANDS / KIRIBATI /
KERMADEC IS / NIUE / NEW ZEALAND / TONGA / AMERICAN SAMOA /
SAMOA / JARVIS IS. / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / FIJI /
AUSTRALIA / HAWAII / PALMYRA IS. / TUVALU / VANUATU




A serious alert therefore; including Mexico!
A tsunami coming!!

But what is exactly a tsunami?
According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center:
A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.
TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND CAN VARY
SIGNIFICANTLY ALONG A COAST DUE TO LOCAL EFFECTS.
THE TIME FROM ONE TSUNAMI WAVE TO THE NEXT CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO AN HOUR, AND THE THREAT CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AS MULTIPLE WAVES ARRIVE.

Soon after, a new e-mail:

Michel, YOU MUST GET OUT OF THE ARROYO NOW!!! THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE YOU WILL BE GREATLY AFFECTED BY THE TSUNAMI - GET OUT OF THERE. PLEASE GO TELL EVERYONE IN BDS TOO. EVERYONE MUST STAY 100 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL!!!!! GO NOW

Pretty serious, that tsunami coming from Chile.
Without hesitation the Fuso Szulc was made ready to travel, a procedure that takes over half an hour.
While watching the sea from a corner of the eye in case the first sign of huge waves could be seen yet.

Next, the Gonzales family was informed about the tsunami coming.
The dear friends are in the dry river bed as well and at about sea level and big waves would wash them away.
And their animals too.
Amazingly, they didn't know anything about an earthquake in Chile and a tsunami coming.
But fortunately they took the news serious.
Gumaro jumped into his pick-up truck and raced to where his son was delivering water with their tanker.
To go and save him from possible danger.
The gates of the corrals were opened and the horses happily galloped into freedom.
The cars and trucks of the family were driven to higher grounds.
The chained dogs couldn't believe their luck thinking their ordeal had ended when they were set free.
The many roosters in their cages the Gonzales keep for cockfights were left where they were.
Letting the expensive animals go was not considered.

A new e-mail from the dear friend living nearby:

you have some time, but please do move to higher ground - my estimate of time of arrival was wrong

Fortunately, the Gonzales didn't panic.
They took it in a relaxed way.
Maybe also because they have no concept what is exactly a tsunami.
Never one occurred where they live.
And because they don't read newspapers, see no magazines, do not watch the news on TV they have never seen a tsunami and its devastating effects elsewhere in the past.

The Fuso Szulc was parked on top of the hill.
Close to the edge with a fabulous view of the sea and the dry river bed.
Great observation post to see a tsunami happening.



Another e-mail!

SORRY, I HAD THE TIME CONVERSION WRONG - THE TSUNAMI IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN AT 12:45PM TODAY. JERRY BARSTOW SAYS THAT PEOPLE ARE BEING TOLD TO GET 100 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL, WHICH MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE ON THE PENINSULA...I SUGGEST THAT IF YOU ARE HERE YOU GO TO HIGH GROUND.

In the meantime the news of the Chilean earthquake and the tsunami had spread around the world.
Also the people in the Netherlands knew now about it.
A Skype call!!
Another dear friend calling to warn and advice to look for higher grounds.

But right then, the weather was fabulous and the sea like a mirror.
With even some boats fishing and sailing.
Hardly any wind and a nice temperature.
Impossible to imagine that suddenly huge waves would come to bring devastation and disaster.

As everybody and everything was in safe places now, a relaxed lunch could be afforded now overlooking the Sea of Cortez waiting for the waves to come while the Nikon D 300 was stand by to document the cruel phenomenon for eternity.

But in the end, nothing happened.
Absolutely nothing could be noticed of an earthquake in Chile.
Of a tsunami hitting land with high waves.
The day remained as beautiful and peaceful as all the others.

Now, was one to feel disappointed or was one to feel relieved?
Maybe both?



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Heroines have fear too

Jean Anouilh was a French dramatist who lived from 1910 to 1987.

Jean Anouilh

In 1952 he wrote a play called "L'Alouette" (The Lark) that is about Joan of Arc.
This play was presented on Broadway in 1955 starring Julie Harris and Boris Karloff with music by Leonard Bernstein.

Julie Harris

Boris Karloff

Leonard Bernstein

In this play Jean Anouilh makes Joan of Arc say to King Charles VII:

"I have been afraid always.
When you see something insurmountable ahead of you, say to yourself:
"All right!
I am afraid.
Now that I've been properly afraid, let's go forward".
And you will come through because you were first afraid.
That is the whole secret.
The moment you vent your fear and face up to the danger, God comes to your aid.
Only you have to take the first step."

Joan of Arc

It is not common in the life of a regular person to feel fear.
Because life has been given a structure and the events made to only repeat.
The things happening in life are well known and therefore have no challenge in them.
Nothing to be afraid of.

But there are persons who look for challenges in life.
Who understand that by staying in a structure where events only repeat, no evolving will take place.
Not much is learned.
A lot what is inside is left dormant: like talents and skills.
But also a deeper understanding of oneself and life will not come closer.

The people who look for challenges in life and actually take them on, are persons who are like Joan of Arc.
They are afraid.
They feel fear.
But they have a way to deal with this fear.
The fear doesn't stop them.
They go through it and come out and proceed and next have the experience they were looking for.
Bringing them more close to wholeness.

These are people who are brave and courageous.
Who become Joan of Arcs and get honored with statues and Broadway plays.

Or who become human beings full of wisdom, peace, harmony and most of all: love.

Joan of Arc

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Why Osama Bin Laden is still a free man

Most fervent and loyal blog readers will remember a recent posting reporting on a dinner with four American friends.
Who explained why Osama Bin Laden can still live in freedom.

Osama Bin Laden

One of the American friends have now send an e-mail because of the publication of the posting.
She writes:

"I enjoyed reading your piece about our discussion.
I also wanted to add that keeping Osama Bin laden "at large" so to speak, is a way to keep fear in the american people, which is used to justify military " anti terror " intervention.
As long as he is a threat, military force will be supported by the citizens because of the fear he will orchestrate another attack".

This is quite a point the American friend is making.
It is the theory that the American people live in fear for no good reasons simply to control and manipulate them.
For the U.S.-Government and the groups they defend the interests of to obtain the public permission to have a military and aggressive imperialistic policy worldwide.

Without doubt the majority of the American people feel threatened by terrorists, whoever they may be.
A fear instilled by a merciless propaganda.
The truth is that no American living peacefully in the United States has any reason to have fear for terrorism.
For crime and violence from compatriots yes, but from terrorists absolutely not.

However, there is no denying that many people in the world hate the United States.
And that they have in their minds bad intentions.
But this is not caused by the American people.
Responsible are the American politicians.
And the key issue is the Palestinian-Israelian conflict.

Take the World Health Organization.
They published on January 20, 2010 a "Gaza Health Fact Sheet".

Gaza is sealed off and blockaded by Israel trapping hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people who live in most miserable circumstances.
As the World Health Organization explains:

"Recent events have resulted in a
severe deterioration of the already precarious living conditions of the people in Gaza and have further eroded a weakened health system".
And:
"The closure of Gaza since mid-2007 and the last Israeli military strike between 27 December and 18 January 2009 have led to on-going deterioration in the social, economic and environmental determinants of health.
Rising unemployment (41.5 percent of Gaza’s workforce in the first quarter of 2009) and poverty (in May 2008, 70 percent of the families were living on an income of less than one dollar a day per person 3) is likely to have long term adverse effects on the physical and mental health of the population".

Meanwhile, yesterday, US Republican Eric Cantor, House Representative, was saying in the public discussion with Barack Obama:
"We have the best health care system in the world".

Eric Cantor

Denying the fact that Palestinians have to live in absolute misery and this for decades refusing to reign in Israel for its devastating policies.
To the contrary, American politicians defend Israel all the way.
No matter what it does.
Therefore, The United States are accomplices in devastating and ruining and murdering thousands and thousands of Arab people.

How is a person to feel who has brothers and sisters living in Gaza?
And what is that person supposed to do?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Gaza Health Fact Sheet of the World Health Organization can be found at:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:s8n1zjLggCgJ:www.emro.who.int/Palestine/reports/advocacy_HR/advocacy/Gaza_health_fact_sheet_20Jan2010.pdf+who+fact+sheet+impact+blockade&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjDLJeVRBNK4zzqhGzRNUr6QxQqrmaZpXfTcrDygy4buYWhyktqIW53XdGUY6y_kLxebMuVeuLEvMTRh8lv6Ma85Wv-_AgzjE7eu9RM_UCApXoFoEttiy26YuteRYTc3W4c20jS&sig=AHIEtbSL8fMg69CSw0iIhY9Rsurol4eljw




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Waiting but learning

It is 18 more days.
That is 432 hours.
Or 25,920 minutes.

The time before there will be the reunification with the one that is in the heart.

What is very helpful to wait without frustration and anxiety is that these days the reading is of the book "Spandau: the secret dairies" by Albert Speer.

Albert Speer

Mr. Speer was the architect of Adolf Hitler and later became the Minister of Armament.
He was tried in Nuremberg in 1946 and got 20 years in prison.
The Spanday prison in Berlin.
In spite of his requests for amnesty, he had to serve the full 20 years.

Spandau prison, Berlin, Germany.

The book is shocking because it is a permanent demonstration of the indignation Mr. Speer was feeling for having to serve a major part of his life in prison.
He believed that was not justified because for him to be in prison was so much suffering.
All that time he never contemplated the millions of people who lost their lives because of his actions.

Mr. Speer was also counting the days and the hours and the minutes.
To be reunited with his family.
And he realized that time flies by faster when someone keeps himself busy.
That it is better to avoid lethargy and to come up with projects to perform.

One of his projects was to travel while he was in prison.
With a ruler he measured exactly the length of his shoe.
Then, with this shoe, he measured the distance he could walk in the prison garden.
Next, he decided to walk to Italy.
From maps he found in the prison library he planned the route and calculated the amount of kilometers it would take.
In this way he knew how many hours and days and months he had to walk in the prison garden to reach Rome in Italy.
While walking he would force his mind to imagine the landscape he was passing through.
Or the city he had arrived in.

Within months he had reached Rome in Italy.
And realized he still had many years to serve in prison.
After new calculations, he decided to walk to Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, India, China to end in Wladiwostok on the east coast of Siberia.
If all went well, he knew that he would arrive in Wladiwostok in the last months of his prison term.

The man actually did this.
In his dairies he describes in detail how are the landscapes and the towns he is passing by on foot.
Drowning himself totally in the illusion he created in order to survive in the prison.

From Albert Speer it has therefore been learned not to wait the 18 more days in lethargy.
To think of a target to achieve in the time of waiting.

Because the Queen of Dreams is fluent in Spanish and the pioneering photographer is only on the level of a primary school student, these days there will be intense studying of the Spanish language.

No laying on the bed staring at the ceiling like Rudolf Hess was doing most of his time in the Spandau prison in Berlin.

Rudolf Hess

There will be the self imposed obligation to study Spanish with such an intensity that there won't be time enough.


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Before and after

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Osama Bin Laden is a constant embarassement

A dinner with four American friends.
Eating a rich salad.

A quiet and interesting conversation and although the subject is politics, the excitement is not reaching volcanic levels.
This is because all diners agree.

Starting point is that all present at this dinner in Mexico agree that George W. Bush has not only been disastrous for the United States, but for the entire world also.

Next stage in the conversation is that it is realized that Barack Obama has made many promises but that he is unable to fulfill them.
But that he still gets support from the US diners in Mexico because there is no alternative.
If Obama would be classified as an inadequate politician who is not delivering, what else is there to have hope for?
It is said therefore by the American friends that Obama has had until now only one year to change things and will have three more years to try to move Washington rocks and boulders.
So, let's wait and see.
What else to do?

But then during the conversation over this dinner something really peculiar was said.
One of the Americans present claimed that Osama Bin Laden is not captured on purpose.
All the others agreed with this theory and speculation.
The train of thoughts goes that of course it is piece of cake for the CIA and the Seals and the US Army to find and arrest Osama Bin Laden.
How could the most sophisticated army and Intelligence Service in the world not find an old man hiding in a cave?
Logically therefore, the thinking goes, that he is not found on purpose.
That the US politicians calmly wait for the right moment.
So that they can enjoy maximum political benefit from an Osama Bin Laden arrest.

One person present said that he had been convinced that Osama Bin Laden would have been captured during the last elections between McCain and Obama.
For the Republicans to get advantage in the electoral race.
And that he was very surprised it didn't happen.

But all agree, to capture Osama Bin Laden is a piece of cake for the USA: they simply calmly wait for the right moment.

Not one present thinks only for a second that maybe their army, their CIA and their Intelligence Services are unable to catch Osama Bin Laden.
The fact that it also could be because of failure of the Americans, is not an option in the thinking.
Failure of the best in the world, as many Americans perceive themselves, is unimaginable.

Therefore, Osama Bin Laden laughing in his cave, is a constant embarrassment for the Gringo's.
In order not to feel a failure, the theory is used that de facto Osama Bin Laden is already in the hands of the Americans who only wait the right moment to formalize it.

But nevertheless, in spite of escapism, the mood is depressed.
Because everybody expresses awareness that the USA is finished.
As a dominant nation.
And why?
For economical reasons and for having always been aggressive and violent.
The diners are expecting a new economical crises: more serious and devastating than the current one.
Caused by China pulling the economical plug leaving the USA in deep poverty for many years to come.

Ah well, at least that night the salad was super delicious.


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Recent pictures

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The show goes on

It is all very well that the photographer is pioneering and traveling all over the world and in the arms of the Queen of Dreams and eating vegetarian and currently seeing the sun rise from the Sea of Cortez.
But the work and the show around all these activiteies must go on.
The people must be offered the service to see the photographs that have been taken.
And the friends running art galleries, the friends that design and publish photo books and many others must make a buck.

Yesterday in the big city of Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands, an exhibition opened of the sequences.
In a highly reputed photo gallery, the oldest in the Netherlands.
Called Galerie Pennings.

All images: © Merel Waagmeester

It was a rather informal opening because next week, on the 27th of February, the renowned artist, writer and art-critic Rommert Boonstra will give a lecture in the gallery Pennings about "Staged Photography" and open officially the sequence exhibition.
In anticipation of this event, a text has been written, together with Merel Waagmeester, in which it is explained that sequences as were made by this pioneering photographer are not belonging into the category of "Staged Photography".

Having a beautiful exhibition with all the activities surrounding it while far away and not present is not painful.
The presence is in the images.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To learn more about Galerie Pennings, click on:
http://www.galeriepennings.com/NL/pennings-EXHIBITION.html








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And they lay down being one

Walking on the new road life suddenly had in mind as the one to journey, the traveller could see somebody approach.

Coming closer this person came.
Surrounded by an aura of an eternal beauty.

It was the Queen of Dreams.
Floating in elegance as angels do.

She embraced the traveller with all her warmth and made him enter into the love, wisdom and unity she is so full with.

Eloquently she said: "Michel, there are no roads to take. You are home already".

And they lay down in the water being one.
Hand in hand they are now meandering in bliss with the river of life.








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A sharp left, a sharp right

Sometimes life goes in a certain direction.
And then suddenly there is a sharp left or a sharp right.
By surprise and unexpected the course changes.

At that moment a lot depends on the own flexibility.
For being able to joyfully continue in life.
To trust life that the new direction is the best way.

Currently a sharp turn in life is experienced.
In fact a dramatic change of course with a high emotional and practical impact.

Undoubtedly there will be grief and sadness.
And this will be accepted and experienced as deeply as it should.

But it is in the nature not to look back.
Or even to look at the broken glass currently covering the floor of life.
That is.
Naturally the eyes and the mind and the heart are focused towards what is to come.
Looking forwards to what opportunities are laying ahead.

And through the tears one can see brightness and happiness.
Available to enter life again.




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The neighbours

There has been a time when all the stones close to the Fuso Szulc in the dry river bed at Punta Boca del Salado, Baja California, Mexico were put in a pile.

A heap of stones that eventually took the shape of an ocean steamer.
Well, an ocean steamer, an ocean steamer: this only when the imagination is having a good day.



At the time it could not be explained why this activity took place.
Except as to say that sometimes one must do something that makes no sense.
As is often the case in making art.
One makes shoes because people wear them.
But to make art is to respond to demand that is not there.
So in order to remain experienced in doing senseless things, to train as an artist, the ocean liner was build.

This was a few years ago and a surprising thing then took place.
Two huge iguanas made the heap of boulders their home.
What was made without knowing why, turned out to be the place to live for two creatures.

For two years the ocean liner has not been touched.
There was no more inspiration and motivation to haul more boulders.

Meanwhile, the iguanas continued to live there.
Having a home for several years now.








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Distance can't empty the heart

In the course of the years every body deteriorates.
That includes the nerves in the teeth.

This is why yesterday Doctora Rosy Peña of Angel's Touch Dental Clinic in San José del Cabo, Baja California, Mexico had to give a root canal treatment.
A serious dental surgery but Doctora Rosy Peña is an expert endodontist.

A root canal treatment takes almost two hours and that time is not the happiest in life.
The anesthesia works effectively but nevertheless the root canal procedure is long and very unpleasant.

While undergoing the treatment, shortly after the beginning a presence of another person was felt in the dental theatre.
Soon it was realized who that person was.
Without seeing the person because being almost horizontal in the dental chair the view was the ceiling.
It was strongly felt therefore who that person was.
It was the Queen of Dreams.
In a miraculous way she was there.
Very close to the side of the suffering patient.

A miracle because the Queen of Dreams is currently on another continent.
Nevertheless, she was very much next to the one who has her so deeply in the heart.
And the Queen of Dreams was supporting.
Caring.
Soothing.
Loving.
Helping.
Warming.
Touching.

It changed the dental treatment into something else.
Instead of suffering from the dentist'a activities, the dental treatment became a gate to enter where it is full with the love of the Queen of Dreams.

It was an extraordinary and unique experience.
To be closely together with somebody who is not there.
To feel someone's love when it is not expected but needed nevertheless.
To be in someone's arms and hugged and supported: while that someone is far, far away.
Because distance is unable to empty the heart.


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A picture that can devastate lives

Yesterday two images were published on this blog.
And holy cow, what a stir these images made!

Several responses were the result.
Comments now published next to the posting.
But also personal e-mails.

Most comments were about the second picture.
Two young ladies kissing and caressing each other.
That was offending several fervent and loyal blog readers.
Who were from Canada and the USA only.
Where we find societies that get terribly upset if even a female breast is shown on TV.
While the European messages acknowledged the image of the two young ladies was beautiful and charming but not having the mystery of the picture from Iran.

Most remarkable though is the fact that all respondents missed one most important issue.
The picture from Iran is a photojournalistic image.
Made by a photojournalist from Italy who works for a Western news agency.
He went to Iran because there were demonstrations by the opponents of the Iranian Islamic regime.
One of the ways of demonstrating in Tehran was that people would go at night on their rooftops and bang on kitchenware.
Make a lot of noise and shout slogans against the Islamic regime.
The picture by Pietro Masturzo is about this.
We see women on a rooftop in Tehran, Iran demonstrating.

This picture is always used in that context.
A political one.
Used as an illustration when it was reported that people were demonstrating against the Islamic regime in Iran.

And still, now that this image was awarded the highest prize in photojournalism, it goes around the world in that context of illustrating uprising in Iran.

We know that the Islamic regime is suppressing their opponents in a most active and cruel way.
Many opponents are in prison and it is known they do torture there.

We can be sure that the Iranian authorities will be far from happy the picture from the women on the rooftop protesting is getting so much attention.
It is bad propaganda for the Iranian regime.
And it motivates their opponents.

It will be easy for the Iranian authorities to find out where exactly are those Tehran rooftops shown in the World Press Photo winning image.
And next, it will be easy to find out who exactly are those protesting women on the rooftop.
Has there been any concern by anybody for what can happen to these women?
By the photographer Pietro Masturzo?
By World Press Photo?
Has nobody ever thought that those women might be arrested soon, disappear into prison and who knows what happens there?
Has nobody ever realized that the lives of these women, and their families, can be devastated and ruined because of this picture?


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Compare

Look at these two pictures.
Which one is effecting ?
And which one again won a prize?










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imposing image

Each year a competition is organized by a foundation called "World Press Photo".
Awards are given by a jury of experts to pictures that have been published in the year passed.

You will not likely find though as a price winner in the "World Press Photo"-competition the picture that stunned you so much that you saw in your local newspaper made by the press photographer of your town.
The reason is that all pictures that compete for an award of "World Press Photo" have been send in.
Great pictures that were published and were not presented to "World Press Photo", won't get a possible award.

We also must realize that many pictures that compete for an award of "World Press Photo" have not been send in by the photographers.
They are contributed by photo press agencies.
Who have commercial interests to win awards from "World Press Photo".

To make things even more cloudy, we also must realize that the jury that decides who gets an award of "World Press Photo", consists of persons that work in the field of press photography.
Persons who have friends that work for the photo press agencies and who usually know intimately many of the prominent press photographers.

"World Press Photo" is a big event.
It gets world wide attention.
Each year a book is published with the results and a show of the images is exhibited in many places worldwide.

Just last week, "World Press Photo" has decided on the awards for 2009.
This is the image that has been selected as the best picture:




If someone would not know what that picture is about, not 5 seconds of attention would be awarded to this image.
It is just rooftops at night and if one looks more carefully some women can be seen enjoying the view or taking fresh air or discussing their husbands.
However, the context is that we see women on a rooftop in Tehran, Iran supporting opposition to the Islamic regime.

Now, many fervent and loyal blog readers may say, so what?
Does that context make the picture impressive, fascinating, exciting or stunning?
Most will say, no, we are sorry but this picture is definitely not impressive, fascinating, exciting and stunning.
In fact, it is a totally boring and uninteresting picture.

But why did this picture win the award of the best press picture of the year 2009?
It is the jury, fervent and loyal blog readers.
The egos of the members of the jury who wanted to make a political statement.
Similar to the jury of the Nobel prize for peace in Oslo, Norway.
These juries use a competition to enforce political ideas on a general audience using the candidates by awarding a prize to the one through who they can promote the best their political opinion.

The Nobel prize for peace was given because the jury members want to enforce on the current US-Government a policy of peace and non-violence.
The members of the jury of "World Press Photo" would like to see the Islamic regime in Iran been overthrown by a population that will then have a Western like capitalistic and materialistic society where religion should be marginal or non-existent.

The jury of "World Press Photo" consisted of ten persons.
Nine of them from developed countries like the USA (2), Japan and Europe (4).
And only one jury member from a developing country: Saurabd Das from India.
Not one jury member from South America, the Middle East, China or from an Arab or Islamic country.
No wonder therefore the particular political implications of selecting precisely this award winning image.

Giving the award to this picture of women protesting from a roof in Tehran has as an intention to promote the Western opinion of an overthrow of the Islamic Iranian regime.
Because purely as a picture, it is of no interest or value.


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Smash!

Some time ago a few matches of the Australian Open Tennis Tournament were seen on a large sized high definition TV in California, USA.

The focus of the audience in that living room in front of the high definition TV was on the matches of the female tennis players.
The weather was very warm in Australia, but even if that is not the case, female tennis players usually wear a tight fitting shirt and very short skirts.
Revealing most of their bodies.

Therefore it can be said these girls are rather brave.
And free of inhibitions.
In the end, they enter an arena where a large audience is watching while TV secures millions of people worldwide of every detail.
Meanwhile, the girls are dressed in little nothings.
And are aware people will not only enjoy their skills in tennis, but also lust after their bodies.

This is rather different from male tennis players.
They wear loose fitting shirts.
And often long loose fitting shorts.
Revealing nothing of their bodies as only hairy underarms and underlegs.



As a female tennis player it must not be a problem to make oneself vulnerable to enter an arena in front of millions showing sometimes the underwear when jumping high or bending over.
To reveal cleavage when awaiting a service.

It is mysterious why female tennis players have such a specific dress code that is so different from the male players.
If it is about tennis only.

Therefore dress codes in tennis should be changed.
Either the female tennis players start dressing like the men.
Or the male tennis players must wear tight shirts and very short and tight pants.
So not only guys high on testosterone enjoy watching tennis.




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783 = 421 + ...

For not very serious reasons the teachers in La Ribera, Baja California, Mexico have closed the school for several days.
They say it is because of the rain.
But that needs hardly an umbrella.
So maybe they were just needing a break.

As a consequence, the children of the Gonzales family are at the rancho at Punta Boca del Salado where the Fuso Szulc is located these days.
And these kids ask if they can get classes again.
Not in English, geography or history.
No, they want mathematics.

Okay, okay, in the class of this bush school the children themselves make the decisions.

One effort that is made teaching the glorious kids is that each time something new and surprising is offered to them.
To avoid they get bored with again regular mathematical challenges.
Like 25 + 47 = how much ?

Now, the great thing with kids is that when it is announced that this time it will be completely different from the last time, no kid protests.
They look while thinking and reflecting, but not one says: "Hold on, we don't want anything new and different, Mr. Teacher".
They all accept and await openly what is coming at them.

Therefore they got this sum to work on:

72 = .. + ..

They could fill in themselves numbers that totaled 72.
This was explained and off they went.

It worked well.
They pained their brains and came up with solutions like 25 + 47.

Until clever Juan came with an intelligent solution to 5899 = …. + ....
He returned his paper with this: 5899 = 5898 + 1

Of course he was applauded by everybody and he got two stars: the rewards for every good solution.

However, as the professor, it can never be allowed that the students outsmart with tricks like 5898 + 1
A kind of superiority must always be solidly there in order to survive.

Therefore the new sum was 783 = 421 + ...
A groaning "Aaaaaiiiii Miguel" came from every student.
How to tackle this one?

Observing them work hard on this new challenge, it was noticed that none got the idea to remodel the sum.
Changing 783 = 421 + … into 783 - 421 = … to find the solution.

When eventually that trick was explained, from then on it was all piece of cake.
And they felt proud they had learned to solve a complicated sum in a new way.


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Yesterday is today is tomorrow

One of the favorite genres of books to read has been science fiction.
Serious science fiction like "Shikasta" by Doris Lessing and "Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem.
And of course the books by H.G. Wells like "The Time Machine".

Good science fiction gives a surprising vision of the future.
It describes in an innovative way how our world may look in some time to come.
Expanding consciousness and the imagination.

In 1895 the author H.G. Wells published the novel "The Time Machine".
It is the story of an English inventor who has made a machine with which he is able to travel in time.
The book is much more about politics and social aspects of society than it is science fiction.
But many people will never learn that fascinating and major part of the story simply for the fact that the book is classified as science fiction.
Unable to accept the concept of being able to travel in time and therefore not taking this important book seriously.

Good science fiction writers are visionaries.
They have an imagination of concepts that seem alien, strange and sometimes absurd, but in time sometimes it turns out they were not exactly idiots.

Take this concept of traveling in time like H.G. Wells came up with.
To travel to a future time or to travel to the past.
Although the way H.G. Wells envisioned time travel is primitive, with a machine invented by one person, the concept in spite of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity is becoming more and more acceptable.

For example, recently scientists of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have pieced together most of the DNA of a man who lived in Greenland about 4,000 years ago.
The DNA was recovered from a tuft of hair that had been excavated in 1986 from permafrost on Greenland's west coast, north of the Arctic Circle.
The thousands of years in a deep freeze was key to preserving the genetic material.
What they found was that the man had type A-positive blood.
Brown eyes.
A dark skin.
Dry earwax.
A boosted chance of going bald and several biological adaptations for weathering a cold climate.

Finding out these things through DNA-research about people over 4,000 years ago, is a way of traveling in time.
Recreating what has been.
Having the reality of that time integrate in our contemporary reality.

Still, according to many Science Fiction writers, this is Mickey Mouse stuff.
Because the real time travel happens through the fourth dimension.
This some people can do.
But it is not accepted or explored in science.
Not yet.




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