Musica Universalis

Musica Universalis (the movements of the celestial bodies as music)

Kepler wrote:
"The heavenly motions ... are a continuous song for several voices, perceived not by the ear but by the intellect, a figured music which sets landmarks in the immeasurable flow of time."

It is however possible to translate that which Kepler saw as only perceivable by the intellect to also be perceivable by the ear.

Whenever a soundwave is doubled or halved in frequency, it retains the 'flavour' of the original pitch. This can be applied to any periodic cycle, including the orbits of the planets (method explained:
http://homepages.tesco.net/gregskius/oe.html).

These are the duration in seconds of our star’s planets (and Pluto):
Mercury: 0.453028141, 0.906056282, 1.812112564, 3.624225128, 7.248450256, 14.49690051
Venus: 0.578586448, 1.157172895, 2.314345791, 4.628691582, 9.257383163, 18.51476633
Earth: 0.470244884, 0.940489769, 1.880979538, 3.761959076, 7.523918152, 15.0478363
Mars: 0.442216873, 0.884433746, 1.768867493, 3.537734985, 7.075469971, 14.15093994
Jupiter: 0.697366839, 1.394733678, 2.789467356, 5.578934712, 11.15786942, 22.31573885
Saturn: 0.432755629, 0.865511258, 1.731022516, 3.462045032, 6.924090064, 13.84818013
Uranus: 0.617729291, 1.235458581, 2.470917163, 4.941834326, 9.883668652, 19.7673373
Neptune: 0.605743574, 1.211487148, 2.422974297, 4.845948594, 9.691897187, 19.38379437
Pluto: 0.455707172, 0.911414343, 1.822828687, 3.645657373, 7.291314746, 14.58262949

And in hertz (cycles per second):
Mercury: 2260.345235, 1130.172618, 565.0863088, 282.5431544, 141.2715772, 70.6357886
Venus: 3539.6612, 1769.8306, 884.9153001, 442.45765, 221.228825, 110.6144125
Earth: 2177.588813, 1088.794407, 544.3972033, 272.1986017, 136.0993008, 68.04965042
Mars: 2315.605899, 1157.802949, 578.9014747, 289.4507373, 144.7253687, 72.36268433
Jupiter: 2936.761379, 1468.38069, 734.1903448, 367.0951724, 183.5475862, 91.7737931
Saturn: 2366.231498, 1183.115749, 591.5578744, 295.7789372, 147.8894686, 73.9447343
Uranus: 3315.368124, 1657.684062, 828.8420311, 414.4210156, 207.2105078, 103.6052539
Neptune: 3380.968593, 1690.484297, 845.2421483, 422.6210742, 211.3105371, 105.6552685
Pluto: 2247.057022, 1123.528511, 561.7642555, 280.8821277, 140.4410639, 70.22053193

In 2006, Greg Fox took the above orbital periods and divided them until their frequencies fell within the human acoustic range. This gave him six octaves of "planetary notes" for each planet. He called the resulting “music”: “Carmen of the Spheres”. It can be heard and downloaded at:
http://www.archive.org/details/GregFoxCarmenoftheSpheres

Thanks to Alcibiades for that one!

Is Europe a Country?

Thanks to ALX for that one! :)

Latest Photo of Europe at Night

Credits: ESA ©2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
This image of Earth, targeted roughly at Greece, was taken with the OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera (WAC) during this month’s Earth swing-by, Rosetta’s third major step on its 10-year journey to Comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko:

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Diameter of nucleus - estimated (km)	3 x 5
Rotation period (hours)	~12
Orbital period (years)	6.57
Perihelion distance from Sun (million km)	194 (1.29 AU)
Aphelion distance from Sun (million km)	858 (5.74 AU)
Orbital eccentricity	0.632
Orbital inclination (degrees)	7.12
Year of discovery	1969
Discoverers	Klim Churyumov & Svetlana Gerasimenko

Info

Closest approach took place on 13 November 2007. Rosetta sped past at 45 000 km/h (about 12.5 km/s) relative to Earth. The increased energy from this Earth swing-by will help Rosetta cross the asteroid belt for a second time, observe Lutetia (its second target asteroid) and finally rendezvous with comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The rendezvous will take place about 4 astronomical units or 600 million km from the Sun, in 2014.

During this Earth swing-by, a few experiments both on the orbiter and the Philae lander were activated for calibration, scientific measurements and imaging. Rosetta first pointed to Earth and then to the Moon for the observations. ESA

Brain Miscelany (And yet another Ted Video)

Robotic Space Travel (Another TED Video)

Diane

Theo Jansen and his "Strandbeests" (Another Ted Video)

Who's ever heard of Stanislav Petrov?

The date is 1 September 1983 and the Cold War between the Soviet Union and USA is in full gear, when from the New York skies Korean Air Lines Flight 007 flies from JFK, destination Seoul, South Korea.

In the middle of the flight, while accidently passing through Soviet air space, Soviet fighter jets appear getting close the aircraft. The Soviets, who didn't know the plane contained civilians, warned the pilot that they will shoot down the aircraft if it doesn't identify itself, and the pilot, for some unknown reason, doesn't respond.

Reports say the pilot never actually received the information, although theories about this are still unclear. An hour passes as the fighter jets still accompany the aircraft, and the orders from Soviet military is to shoot down the aircraft just as the plane was leaving Soviet airspace.

The Soviet fighter jets shot down the plane, with the aircraft plunging 35,000 feet in less than 90 seconds, killing 269 civilians, including a US congressman.

Hell broke loose. As the Soviets tried to defend their 'mistake', US President Ronald Raegan described the Soviets actions as "barbaric" and "a crime against humanity that must never be forgotten".

The tension between the two mega-powers hit an all-time high, and on 15 September 1983 the US administration banned Soviet aircrafts from operating in US airspace. With the political climate in dangerous territory, both US and Soviet government were on high-alert believing an attack was imminent.

It was a cold night at the Serpukhov-15 bunker in Moscow on 26 September 1983 as Strategic Rocket Forces lieutenant colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov resumed his duty, monitoring the skies of the Soviet Union, after taking a shift of someone else who couldn't go to work.

Just past midnight, Petrov received a computer report he'd dreaded all his military career to see, the computer captured a nuclear military missile being launched from the US, destination Moscow.

In the event of such an attack, the Soviet Union’s strategy protocol was to to launch an immediate all-out nuclear weapons counterattack against the United States with nuclear power, and immediately afterwards inform top political and military figures. From there, it would be taken a decision to further the military offensive on America.

The bunker was in full-alarm, with red lights all over the place as the missile was captured by the Soviet satellites via computers. Petrov wasn't convinced though. He believed that if the US attacked, they would have attacked all-out, not just sending one missile and giving a chance for them (the Soviets) to attack back.

Petrov figured something didn't make sense, as strategically, just one missile from the US would be a strategic disaster. He took some time to think and decided not to give the order a nuclear attack against America, since in his opinion, one missile didn't make sense strategically and it could easily have been a computer error.

But then, seconds later, the situation turned extremely serious. A second missile was spotted by the satellite. The pressure by the officers in the bunker to commence responsive actions against America started growing. A third missile was spotted, followed by a fourth. A couple of seconds later, a fifth one was spotted... everyone in the bunker was agitated as the USSR was under missile attack.

He had two options. Go with his instinct and dismiss the missiles as computer errors, breaking military protocol in the process or take responsive action and commence full-blown nuclear actions against America, potentially killing millions.

He decided it was a computer error, knowing deep down that if he was wrong, missiles would be raining down in Moscow in minutes.

Seconds turned to minutes, and as time passed it was clear Petrov was right, it was a computer error after all. Stanislav Petrov had prevented a worldwide nuclear war, a doomsday scenario that would have annihilated entire cities. He was a hero. Those around him congratulated him for his superb judgment.

Upon further investigation it resulted that the error came from a very rare sunlight alignment, which the computer read as missile.

Of course, top brass in the Kremlin didn't find it so heroic, as he broke military protocol and if he would have been wrong, risked millions of Russian lives. He was sent into early retirement, with a measly $200 a month pension, suffering a nervous breakdown in the process.

Due to military secrecy, nobody knew Petrov's heroic judgment until 1998, when a book written by a Russian officer present at the bunker revealed that World War 3 was closer than people thought, and a nuclear holocaust was avoided by a close shave.

Even though the Russian have little sympathy to the man who saved millions of American lives, the United Nations and a number of US agencies honoured the man who could have started a nuclear war, but didn't.

In 2008, a documentary film entitled 'The Man who saved the World' is set to be released, perhaps giving Petrov some financial help, thanking him for the incredible part he had in keeping the US and the USSR out of a full-blown war.

Without knowing on the cold Moscow night back in 1983, a badly paid 44 year old military officer saved the world, and made himself one of the most influential persons of the century in the process, saving more lives than anyone ever did.

Most of today's people don't know it, but today's world as we know it, is like it is because of Stanislav Petrov.

http://maltastar.com/pages/msfullart.asp?an=15214

Requiescat in Pace Maestro Luciano Pavarotti

The Hubble Deep Field

The Hydroptère

Alain Thebault does it again. He and his crew have already broken the 50-mph barrier, with a run that topped out at 54 mph (47.2 knots). We are not talking a windsurf here but a full-fledged D-class sailship!

That thing can average a speed of 41.69 knots/h for at least one nautical mile and reach speeds of 44,5 knots/h for at least 500 meters … beating thus two world speed records so far, including the one held since 1997 by the catamaran “Techniques Avancées”. It broke these records in 25-knot winds ... that’s right … meaning that it can speed considerably faster than the wind propelling it. The physics of that just have to be awesome!

It’s called the Hydroptère … a Greek name indicating water and wing … iow … the “WaterWing”.

And it's the fastest sailboat in the world.

The NASA Photo of the Fires

The whole of Attica smells like a fireplace. Over 60 people have died. The few once-green parts of Southern-Greece have now also taken the cement-grey colour of Athens. Ashes spread everywhere ... beyond the centre of the city ... even to the beach-side community where I live.

Only a few places were saved ... and this because the people there had figured soon enough that ... the lack of snows in the past winter, the lack of rains in May, the heat and the winds were just too dangerous. Some villages had thus organised themselves into 24 hour patrols in shifts: the women until midnight and the men after that. They also assigned some people to the top of mountains with binoculars. Where this was done, fires were extinguished before spreading ... but even then barely so.

You see ... these fires were arson ... as in ... they were started on purpose! The motivation behind this is still a mystery. One cannot even begin to imagine what kind of sick persons would do this ... but there you have it ... they did. In any case ... with the start of hunting season ... these patrols will now have the added factors of shotguns.

In the meantime, there is even talk of cancelling the upcoming elections. It won't happen of course. But it just goes to show you.

Greece to Hold Early Elections

"Greece looks almost certain to hold a general election —officially not due until next March— in a matter of weeks. Despite setbacks for the centre-right New Democracy (ND) government under the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, he is likely to be returned to power..."

That's how they used to do it. :)


Source: The Economist Article

The reunion of men and lion

This video is about an awesome true story.

John Rendall and Ace Berg, brought this lion to Africa to be reintroduced to his natural habitat with the help of a great man, George Adamson (the guy the movie “Born Free” was about). They then returned a year later. The lion remembered them.

They had found the lion as a cub at Harrods' then (1969) exotic animals' department. As John Rendall recalled for the daily Mail, they went there out of curiosity after … :
"A friend had been to the 'exotic animals' department at Harrods and announced, rather grandly, that she wanted a camel," says Rendall.
"To which the manager very coolly replied: 'One hump or two, madam?'

"Ace and I thought this was the most sophisticated repartee we'd ever heard, so we went along to check it out - and there, in a small cage, was a gorgeous little lion cub.

We were shocked. We looked at each other and said something's got to be done about that." They took the lion-cub for a few months, by which time it already grew rather large, and soon realised that the best solution for this magnificent cat was to live in the African wild.

Reintroducing a lion to the wild is no small feat however. Lions need to live and hunt in prides. And introducing a new male on an existing pride is basically impossible. Even with the help of Lion-man Adamson, this made the project rather questionable.

Nonetheless, at one years old, after living in London for many months, “Christian the King’s Road lion” was taken to the Kora Reserve in Kenya ( about 350 kilometres to the north-east of Nairobi) to be reintroduced with other lions back into the wild. There were many trials, including when another semi-tamed lion, named “Boy” killed the chef ... who was startled by seeing the lion close-by and started running and screaming. Boy was shot through the heart by Adamson but it was too late to save the man.

For Christian, the concern was different. He had been so tamed that it was unlikely that he could survive the harsh conditions of the savannah. He was observed making terrible lion-world-blunders … like stalking (and almost getting killed by) a rhinoceros. But thanks to the brilliance of Adamson, adapt this lion finally did. He hunted, fed, and stoped returning to camp. He even had some lionesses and a litter of cubs. His mane not even fully grown, he had already become the head of self-sufficient pride.

The King’s Road lion had reverted to his wild state again … so much so that when about a year later … Rendall and Ace decided to travel to Kenya to possibly catch a glimpse of him … Adamson warned them against it: "Christian hasn't been here for nine months … and he may never come back". Rendall replied, "We appreciate that, but we'll come anyway and see you.” When they arrived however, Adamson told them: "Christian arrived last night. He's here with his lionesses and his cubs. He's outside the camp on his favourite rock. He's waiting for you."

And when John and Ace started approaching what was by now a wild lion … "Christian stared at us in a very intense way," says Rendall. "I knew his expressions and I could see he was interested. We called him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly.
"Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.
"Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even the lion was nearly crying."
"The lionesses were far from pleased. There was a lot of growling and spitting," continues Rendall.
"'George said: 'This isn't safe - we'd better go.' So we each put a hand on Christian's back and he walked with us back to camp."

The reunion party went on all night and into the morning. Leaving his exhausted companions to go to their beds, Christian returned to his pride.”

The Daily Mail Interview

Animals Getting Drunk! :D

Music may finally become free of DRM!

Vivendi's Universal Music has said it is to test the digital sale of songs from artists without the customary copy-protection technology.

It will allow the sale of thousands of albums and tracks available in MP3-form without the protection, known as digital rights management (DRM).

Most major recording studios insist music sellers use DRM technology to curb online piracy.

Universal artists include 50 Cent, the Black Eyed Peas, and Amy Winehouse.

Universal said: "The experiment will run from August to January and analyze such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s."

Retailers including Google, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.com, will participate in the DRM-free trial, Universal said.

But participants do not include Apple iTunes online music store, the third largest music retailer in the US.

Source: BBC News

Gotta Love Amy WineHouse's "You know I'm No Good"!

The Official (Plugged) Version of the Song is Awesome (you can listen to it at left) , but the Video of it Bites ... and so ... here is a Very Unplugged rendition of it ... Old-school-sailor-ink, heroin-chic-anorexia, po'-dangerous-lil'-baddd-grrrl, 60s/70s soul.

More Zimbabwe News from Joanna: Jacques.

Dear family and friends,

Jacques is now VERY happily living in Zimbabwe!

He loves this country, everywhere he goes there is grass and trees and flowers. He is passionately sniffing all the new smells of this African country, he rolls around on all the lawns and has already tried sadza – the local food stipend made of mealie-flour.

It was quite an effort to bring him over and Jacques and I would both like to thank the efforts of my friend Tanya, Mary and wonderful Mr. Andreas (Jacques doc). I would also like to wholeheartedly thank many people who bought from my little Africa Shop, without whose contributions this would not have been possible. A big thank you to Diane and to Lambrini and all her friends. Finally, thank you to the people at CYA, whose financial contribution was also a big helping factor (special thanks to Nadia and Steve for lobbying on my behalf!).

Jacques’ days are filled with walks and gardens. He usually starts the morning with a brisk trot as I leisurely cycle down to the WWF offices where I am volunteering. Then he gets to loll around their huge gardens. We then usually do another sniff-filled walk over to the MSF offices and then he gets to loll around their gardens for a while. Then it is back home, dinner time and an evening walk around the enormous compound garden grounds. All the roads we take in the city hardly have any traffic and they all have grass and trees (see photos).

Everywhere he goes Jacques get compliments. He has made quite an impression on the local populace – “that’s a very nice dog you have!” Many people are also very afraid of him which unfortunately comes from when white colonialist use to train their dogs to attack black people. But despite their fear, once they get to know him they all remark what a friendly dog he is.

Food is an issue, since we humans have not had meat in the supermarkets for the past three weeks. Thankfully, I have found a local vet clinic where they have a supply of good quality dog food.

So, big WOOF WOOF from Jacques and hug from me!!

Joanna and Jacques

A New Blog from Newburyport

Why blog Evelyn asks? Well ... it's a good way to keep in touch between friends, an excellent way to share information between like-minded people ... and even, for some very popular ones, a fun way to make a living.

Now ... as to the significance (or lack of) of an individual among the billions of people on this planet. Yikes what a thought! Though I figure that our significance is determined by how much we ourselves (and those we find interesting) care about us. That means that ... if those who are insignificant to you do not consider you significant ... who cares(?) ... just as long as those whom you consider significant to you ... also think you are significant. :)

This all came about because some of the greatest people (Nike, Lexi, Evelyn etc and some people I'm not sure I recognise) ... all from one of the most wonderful places on Earth (the Brick House) are launching their first ever blog. I hope you have a digital camera ... that's all I have to say! Anyway ... Congratulations ... Welcome to the blogosphere ... and I'm of course adding a link to it.

Cheers!

That's a goood dog!

Iota's UnderWater Art Exhibit

Tomorrow (Saturday July 28, at 10:30 am 2007 on the Island of Kea a.k.a Tzia) my friend Iota Sotiropoulou will have an Art Exhibit ... underwater in the Sea... no seriously! It's called "Ιn 2 the Βlue". You have to wear a mask and everything. Here (for those of you who can read Greek) is all about it in an article from a local Paper: Article

My Friend Cyberella is getting Married

And she has created a little storyboard of her relationship so far with her future husband:
They first met at Club Panetarium
(Click on Image to see it all on her site)

Sonata in G Minor (Cat's Fugue) by Gatonico Catlatti

Thanks go to Christina for that one.

A Greek TV Scam?

Is local "Channel 10" involved in conning needy people out of their money? I don't know, but it certainly looks like it. Can there be another explanation?

The set up is an “Anagram Game” where you can "win up to several thousand Euros":

They give you for example … POU-RKA-ZIA.

The word to be found is the evident "KARPOUZIA" (watermelons).

They then have some “caller” who of course misses the idiotically obvious "KARPOUZIA" ... offers instead “KARPOUZI” and uses a second chance to say... “KARPOUZA” (Is that even a word?). :D

Could his person possibly be part of the set-up? No, you think? Of course not!:)

The "presenter" then goes through a whole routine: "WHAT A SHAME! ... though this answer is not right … it was very close etc". She then continues with the pitch: “CALL IF YOU KNOW THE SOLUTION!” while whistles and bells and meaningless countdowns and computer-game sound-effects and suspense-movie music are blasting in the background: 10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … etc

The trick for them is of course to get people to call (1,19 Euro each call, 1,52 Euros with a cell and 1,43 euro for each SMS). And they of course say that they only have some lines opened, like 5, 9, 12, 19, 20, 21, 30 … which the "red Button" will randomly choose from. Right!

So what do you think the chances are that a real person ever gets on the air? My take is that after they've milked enough money ... they might let one real caller on ... but then again ... they probably have a friend call even for that one.

Do people actually fall for this?

Probably yes, the weak-minded, the senile and children ... though "one needs to be over 18 to call"! :)

No Comment Necessary

Hydra!

The BBC has done a TV Report about the island of Hydra, one of the few places in Greece that have been left relatively pristine. It is now being eyed by a hotel developer. He is likely to be taken to court. "There is the whole of Greece one can use for development, why must they choose historical Hydra!" said an inhabitant.

The fly!

The guys at Harvard have created a robotic fly.

Seriously!

That is undoubtedly so very cool. We can, of course, also trust that it will be used for all kinds of nice things to benefit mankind. Right! In any case, the future is certainly going to get interesting with the usoA, the Chinese, the Russians and pretty soon everybody launching cute little things like that (and who knows what else) at each other.

"The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding Wood's research in the hope that it will lead to stealth surveillance robots for the battlefield and urban environments. The robot's small size and fly-like appearance are critical to such missions. "You probably wouldn't notice a fly in the room, but you certainly would notice a hawk," Wood says.

Recreating a fly's efficient movements in a robot roughly the size of the real insect was difficult, however, because existing manufacturing processes couldn't be used to make the sturdy, lightweight parts required. The motors, bearings, and joints typically used for large-scale robots wouldn't work for something the size of a fly. "Simply scaling down existing macro-scale techniques will not come close to the performance that we need," Wood says.

Some extremely small parts can be made using the processes for creating microelectromechanical systems. But such processes require a lot of time and money. Wood and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, needed a cheap, rapid fabrication process so they could easily produce different iterations of their designs."

Thanks go to Theodore for that one.

Source: MIT's TechnologyReview

The Great Battle of Tabouli!

Thanks go to Evelyn for that one! :)

And they do mean "light" fabric.

Joanna's Zimbabwe Letter

Joanna is a journalist friend (the one who took my blog picture). She now lives in Zimbabwe with her friend who is in MSF.

From time to time she sends a letter describing her experiences there. They tend to be fantastic. So I asked her if I could publish her latest one. Here it is:

"Dear family and friends,

I have already been here (in Harare, Zimbabwe) for two weeks and am still find it hard to adjust.

EVERYTHING is difficult in this country, and believe me when I say that I’m not exaggerating. First of all – it is COLD. We are in winter time here, which wouldn’t be bad if it wasn’t for the fact that NO houses, offices, building in general have heating. At my boyfriend’s offices people type on their computers with gloves on, while I never take off my coat, unless I’m getting into bed under five covers.

Then there is the whole economical situation. When I first visited here three months ago, for 1 U.S. Dollar you could get 20,000 Zim dollars. Now you can get 125,000 Zim dollars for 1 U.S. Dollar. All the currency now in circulation though has an expiration date – imagine looking at your euro or dollar note and seeing on it: Expires on July 31, 2007 (!!!!!) (see photo). But that is exactly what Zim dollars have on them, so you can imagine the spending frenzy everyone is going to get into in these next ten days or so.

Having said that, let us look at what there is to buy with those expiring million dollar packets we are carrying around – and the answer is: NOT MUCH. A couple of weeks ago the government decided to make shops and supermarkets cut down their prices to a June level. Many did not comply; they are all now in jail. Managers of supermarkets, directors of shop, floor managers... all in jail. At the stores that did cut their prices – madness! Miles long lines of people waiting to get inside to buy all those things that now according to real value rates cost pennies. For example the government made MACRO supermarket sell its television set for 1 million Zim dollars. Sounds like a lot, but according to the black market exchange rate that is only 8 $, about 6.5 euros. You can imagine the pandemonium that broke out as people rushed to get the sets, fighting with each other, pulling, tearing, breaking things... It was even reported today that there was a pregnant woman waiting in a cue to buy fixed price items and she had her baby there at the shop!

But generally, there isn’t anything in the stores to buy because simply it is more expensive for producers to sell their products than it is to make them. So for the past two weeks there is no meat to be had anywhere in the country. Eggs are scarce, as is bread and milk. We’re all eating a lot of canned stuff, Heinz soups are especially everywhere. I’m getting to have a very close relationship with the Zim can-opener, which sometimes works, or sometimes manages to plow into my hand!!

More worrying, they also say that soon there won’t be any fuel which will of course bring the country to a stand-still. But there is now a rumor that Libya will be giving Zim fuel, one revolutionary supporting another...

Telecommunications are a complete disaster. It is almost impossible to call someone, so everyone texts people, which sometimes get there, sometimes don’t. The internet sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t.

We have power black-outs. They cut off the electricity in blocks around the city in order to economize. You don’t know when it will be your turn, and how long they will keep it off for. Then they also cut the water. We have to keep big bins filled with water just in case. Yesterday we were at the check-out counter in this huge supermarket and all the lights went out – we were all in complete darkness!! It was VERY SCARRY!!! The guards ran and shut all the doors and then everyone had to demonstrate their receipt and what they had in their bags in order to leave.

On a personal level, it is extremely risky for me to even attempt to write something as a journalist. But even looking for a job is tricky. I can’t include in my CV anything that hints that I was a journalists (which obviously leaves for a very poor resume) and I can’t really say I’m looking for a job because I’m only here on a tourist visa which they can revoke whenever they want.

Then every office I go to is behind a guarded enclosure and sometimes it is difficult even getting beyond the guards: “What do you want?” reply: “To see the human resource department” “Do you have an appointment” or “who do you want to see?” to which of course I don’t have an answer. Some look at me strange, some scornfully, some are very nice. To many places I’m just offering myself as a volunteer to see what they will offer, and hope that something job-wise will come up afterwards. But sometimes I’ve had people look at me even stranger when I say I want to be a volunteer.

I’m sending a picture of me in front of the new Medecins Sans Frontiers offices. (I am wearing my favorite sweater and necklace some VERY special kids gave me as a present!) The new offices are this incredible mansion (even with a pool in the back, which MSF rules doesn’t allow to be used) which goes for a pittance. The garden in front had even more trees, some huge mango trees included, but because some of the Zim workers had to put through a cable and the trees were in the way... they just cut them down! VERY SAD!

In the meantime, I am trying to fly Jacques, my dog, over here, which has required a lot of money and paperwork and the INCREDIBLY kind efforts of some friends of mine who are helping out. I am still waiting to see what will happen with that and will keep you all updated.

Huge hug to everyone,

Joanna"

UpDate: FireFox Use in Europe is now 28%.

Percentage Use of the Best Browser in the World

Image from XiTi

Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!

Flag Photo source: fond-ecran-image.com

France's Quatorze Juillet National Celebrations have a distinctively European feel this year.

Shaking up Traditions, the President of France invited non-French European Contingents to join the festivities for the first time. The president of the European Commission, the European foreign policy chief, the Prime Minister of the rotating EU president country and Regiments from across Europe representing the full 27 European Union countries all marched the Champs-Elysees in the traditional military parade with President Sarkozy.

"I wanted France to be back in Europe and Europe to be present in France!" said the President.

Online advertising 'growing fast'

"The annual value of pan-European online advertising is set to reach 16bn euros ($22bn; £10.8bn) by 2012, more than double that of 2006, says a study.

The report by research body Forrester said online adverts would leap to 18% of market share, up from 9% currently.

It said 52% of people were now regularly online, spending more time doing so than watching television.

The UK will continue to see the most online advertising in the next four years, ahead of Germany and France.

'Valuable medium'

European internet users now spend 14.3 hours a week online, compared with 11.3 hours watching TV, and 4.4 hours reading newspapers or magazines, the research group said.

As a result of this increased internet usage, 36% of people who go online said they spent less time looking at the television as a result.

The report said search engines would continue to dominate online advertising spend, followed by display advertisements and e-mails.

"After five years of dipping their toes into the online marketing waters, firms have come to realise that the net is a valuable medium for client acquisition, retention and market expansion," said the study."

Source: BBC

The new Audi R8 ... "Es ist nicht Audi Ihres Vaters!"

Audi R8

While Europeans Holiday, Americans Toil

"In Austria, workers who labor at “heavy night work” get two or three extra days off. Also in Austria—as well as in Sweden and New Zealand—workers are actually paid at a higher rate when they’re on vacation than when they’re at work.

In France, workers get extra paid time off if they take some of their vacation days outside of the summer season. In Norway, those 60 and older get extra time off. And of course, your vacation could be ruined if you get sick while you’re away. So Sweden guarantees that if a worker becomes sick while on leave, the days of the illness don’t count against vacation time.

Stingy leave policies in the United States go hand and hand with weekly work hours that exceed those in many industrialized countries. And they parallel skimpy sick leave and family leave policies that give millions of Americans no effective safety net when illness or emergencies strike. Nearly half of private-sector workers—57 million people—have no paid sick days, according to Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a chief sponsor of a measure to require at least some sick days for employees who work more than 30 hours per week. The problem is particularly acute for low-wage workers, more than three-fourths of whom get no paid leave when they are ill.

In theory, all this hard work is supposed to spark a more robust economy that is, in turn, an engine of greater upward mobility than what is found in the supposedly coddled precincts of, say, the European Union. But lately, it hasn’t. An ongoing, bipartisan study of intergenerational economic mobility conducted jointly by conservative and liberal-leaning researchers for the Pew Charitable Trusts has found the myth of superior American mobility to be—a myth.

Researchers for the Economic Mobility Project studied the relationship of adult children’s incomes to those of their parents and found that the United States now lags behind France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark in this measure of upward mobility. “There is little available evidence that the United States has more relative mobility than other advanced nations,” the group reported in May. “If anything, the data seem to suggest the opposite.”

Comparing the incomes of American men who were in their 30s in 2004 with males who were in their 30s in 1974, the researchers found that today’s men actually earn about 12 percent less, after inflation, than their fathers’ generation did. “There has been no progress at all for the youngest generation,” the group reported. The American family stays afloat because its total income has been swelled by women’s paychecks.

The sober statistics should lead toward saner economic policies. Europe, Canada and the rest of the industrialized world are doing just fine with guaranteed health insurance, pensions, maternity leave and sick time—not to mention a month at the beach. Here at home, nothing threatens the American dream so much as political disinclination to cast off old thinking and demand change for new and harsher economic times."

Full Article Source: Marie Cocco for www.truthdig.com

Athenians March on Parliament

I went to the weirdest March yesterday.

It all started with an e-mail going around ... that and cell-phone messages ... telling us all to march on the Greek Parliament ... because of the devastating recent fires that had occurred close to Athens.

I had found the whole idea of this march pointless ... because these fires did not so much seem like a question somehow resolvable by more (or a different kind of) government action ... being just another one of the absurd occurrences here.

These fires just seemed to fit the pattern.

In any case ... I went ... if only to participate in something positive.

It will of course not make an iota of difference.

But I had to do it nonetheless.

Top 10 Most Amazing Facts about the Earth

1. Gravity is not the same over the surface of the Earth

2. Atmosphere 'escapes'

3. The Earth is slowing down

4. Van Allen radiation belt

5. Moon is moving away from Earth

6. Moon has a tidal effect on the atmosphere

7. The Chandler wobble

8. Earth electric charge

9. Tons of interplanetary dust reaches Earth every year

10. Earth's magnetic poles change places

Source: fogonazos.blogspot.com

Apparently there Still Are a Few NewsPeople with Kohones left in the usoA!

Here is one:

Good Vibrations ... lead to Power!

"A tiny generator powered by natural vibrations could soon be helping keep heart pacemakers working.

Created by scientists at the University of Southampton, the generator has been developed to power devices where replacing batteries is very difficult.

The device is expected initially to be used to power wireless sensors on equipment in manufacturing plants.

The generator's creators say the generator is up to 10 times more efficient than similar devices.

Power packed

The tiny device, which is less than one cubic centimetre in size, uses vibrations in the world around it to make magnets on a cantilever at the heart of the device wobble to generate power.

Although the generator produces only microwatts this was more than enough to power sensors attached to machines in manufacturing plants, said Dr Steve Beeby, from the University of Southampton, who led development of the device."

From the BBC

Blogger in Upper Turkfakistan has Absolutely No Opinion on the iPhone.

He was of course arrested shortly afterwards. Interrogations so far have failed to determine the reasons for his refusal to write about the popular product. Ahmed can now be reached at ahmedblogger@guantanamo.wtf

"He seemed unaware of the gravity of his offence."

PS) Of Course that it's a :)

BBC's Alan Johnston released!

He said it was "fantastic" to be free after an "appalling experience". TV footage showed Mr Johnston, 45, leaving a building accompanied by armed men.

He later appeared beside Hamas leader Ismail Haniya and thanked everyone who had worked for his release.

Rallies worldwide had called for Mr Johnston's release. An online petition was signed by some 200,000 people.

The BBC reporter was handed over to officials of the Hamas administration in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

More at the BBC Article

This banner is no longer necessary and so I'm taking it off the blog:

Elvis Costello with the Allen Toussaint Band & Horns featuring Steve Nieve

As part of the 2007 Athens & Epidaurus Festival, the great Elvis Costello will be appearing with the Allen Toussaint Band & Horns featuring Steve Nieve at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on July 10, 2007 at 21:00 (9 PM) for one night.

Rupert Murdoch by Bill Moyers

Music Industry Exec Threatens Prince

"The music industry has reacted angrily at a decision to give away the new album by US musician Prince with a tabloid newspaper.

Planet Earth will be given free with a future edition of the Mail on Sunday.

The 10-track CD from Prince - whose hits include Purple Rain, Sign O' The Times and Cream - is not due to be released until 24 July.

Paul Quirk, co-chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said the decision "beggars belief".

"The Artist formerly known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores," said Mr Quirk ..."

Read Full Article on the BBC Site