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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Eurovision Song Contest-2010


Eurovision Song Contest in all its Glory!

Apparently, I together with 174,999,999 other people, watched the finals of the Eurovisión Song Contest. In my opinion, we could do without the contest part and just stay with the joyous festival of music that it is. I must admit I thought that it was a contest that pit member European states against one another, but then Russia and Israel showed up, so clearly others are allowed to compete.

My choices for the songs most appealing to me were song numbers 8, Serbia-Milan Stankovic-“Ovo Je Balkan”; 11, Greece-Giorgos Alkavos & Friends-“Opa!”; 18, France-Jessy Matador-“Allez Olla Olè.” 19-Romania-Paula Seling & Ovc-“Playing with Fire;” and 25-Denmark-Chanée & N’evergreen-“In a Moment like this.”

The country that went on to win by a very large margin was Germany. They were only half way through their song when I said No! Lena, the lead singer seemed to be performing a karaoke song, and even she said that being declared the winner by such a large margin was unreal, and completely unexpected. I think 175,000,000 people agreed with her. So why did Germany win?

The whole thing is a truly wonderful event, and long may it last. It is an opportunity for each country to showcase its talent without some nasty person saying depressing things about the performer. Talent is encouraged, and you know that you have to be good before placing yourself alongside so much competition.

We had 25 songs, plus Spain performed its piece twice because someone crashed the stage and caused a distraction on their first presentation. My natural inclination was to support Spain, and their piece, “Something small” was well presented, with a lovely montage of visual effects by dancers, and the music was superb. It was very pleasant, but it did not move the audience in the sense of the competition. But, a superb effort!

While results were being tabulated the show featured a dance piece that brought in shots of people dancing in the street and in their homes from all over Europe. A fabulous celebration of unity that made me feel so good. The news that we usually get from around Europe is a salad of troubles, but this showed solidarity of joy. It was at that point that the program could have ended, and we would have had a perfect evening of entertainment.

But then came the voting. Those of us at home could vote by calling in our choices at a cost. I imagine that the money earned from that source went to offset part of the 32 million euro cost of the program. I’m not certain what effect those calls had on the final result, (if any) or who comprised the voting bloc that gave 8, 10, and 12 points to each country.

In watching the results of the voting it quickly became obvious that points were going to countries for reasons other than the quality of their artist’s performances. One after another countries gave their 12 points to Germany. There was no way that it deserved the degree of support that it received, and it became an embarrassment.

England found itself in last place, as usual, with only 10 points, but that was not deserved either in my view. Israel should have had that honour, but they were 14th.. There was also the usual round of one country giving its 12 points to its neighbour. i.e. Portugal gave Spain its 12 points, and that was the only 12 points that Spain got. However, Spain did not give its 12 points to Portugal, as that would have been hard to justify.

I have to give appropriate plaudits to the producers of the event. Slick, in the very best sense of the word; superbly professional, with behind the scenes coordination that must have been military precision-like. That group were the real stars of the show, yet they won’t get any prizes, or the recognition they deserve. However, they may get paid.

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, notwithstanding the fact that I am at odds over the voting. So why did Germany win with 246 points and the runner-up had only 170? The answer might be that the winner gets stuck with hosting the next year’s event, and paying for it. So, poor Germany is probably the victim of a conspiracy rather than the prestigious winner of the event. In a sense, first place is the winner of a Poison Chalice. How so many countries got together to enter into this conspiracy is not known.

Probably by Twitter would be a good guess.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, May 23, 2010

BP will Pay!


An Oil Rig Burns-Hell on Water

The President of The United States of America has vowed that BP will pay the cost of the oil spill in the Gulf of México, but closer to the truth is the fact that we will all pay in some fashion, shape or form. I hope that the cause of the blow-up of the rig was not someone sneaking a smoke or otherwise ignoring health and safety rules, because the fallout will be massive.

Marine life is the first casualty. The cost of offshore drilling almost always places the marine environment at risk. I took a look at Marine Oil Rig disasters and I am gobsmacked at how many there have been. They have broken away from being towed; they have collapsed; they have blown up; they have sunk; they have been victims of hurricanes. The worst ever disaster was the Occidental Petroleum’s Alpha Piper North Sea Rig that produced both oil and gas, and was destroyed as a result of an explosion in 1988 killing 167 workers. There were also 59 survivors, and one wonders whether it was better for them that they did. The insured loss was Pds 1.7 billion, or $3.4 billion.

In 1979, the IXTOC-1 Well had a blowout in the Bahia de Campeche, Mexico, and 3,500,000 barrels of oil flowed freely from that incident for 9 months, at which time it was finally capped.

In this current disaster in the making the finger pointing goes on while desperate efforts are underway to cap the outflow of the oil. The environmentalists are out in strength saying we told you so, but they get to where they have to go by using the very same product they are condemning. This spill could not have come at a worse time for President Obama who supports offshore drilling in an effort to make America more energy self-sufficient.

It seems to me that if all else fails they should place a very large metal or rubber tube-like contraption over the spill to contain it to one place and to then pump away the outflow as it emerges from the base until a permanent fix is found. This may sound idealistic and over-simplified, but if we all come up with ideas, something has to work.

Meanwhile, the question is floated as to whether retrieving oil from undersea should be scrapped. In reality it should, but as a practical matter it won’t. In the meantime I hope that this spill won’t mean the end of BP.

Copyright 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Pigeon Brained


Professor Pigeon

I was sitting in a park in downtown Valencia enjoying the sun and people-watching as I waited for someone. I engaged in a conversation with an American visitor about “My Valencia,” which we both absolutely took so much from. A lady appeared very close to my bench with a small bag of corn or special feed for pigeons, and she dumped it in a single pile and walked away. What happened next was the most fascinating thing I have seen in quite a while.

As is the way of pigeons in the park, if you drop a mere crumb they come in a hurry to snap it up. As the lady walked away a flock of birds descended, but they merely surrounded the pile of corn and stood their distance. They actually stopped moving around and just stared at this bounty that was clearly too good to be true. Who would be the first to go in and sample it for the others?

Some took a few tentative steps forward, paused, then thought better of it and flew away. It was so obviously a trap and not one of them was willing to get too close. The pile of corn remained there for forty-five minutes unmolested. The birds came and went but not one had sufficient courage. In the thirty-fifth minute one black pigeon approached. He was there on his own, and for ten minutes he made several approaches where I thought he would actually go for it. However, it was as though I could actually hear his thoughts. Certainly by the way he bobbed his head he expected someone or something to pounce upon him.

Finally, in the forty-fifth minute he grabbed a kernel and jumped away. Nothing happened, so he went in and grabbed two bites and then backed off. He stood and looked all around, and I held my breath that someone would not come too close to confirm his suspicions.

Finally, he went back and started to feed normally, and in a few seconds a great number of birds came flying in to join him. Clearly he was kept under observation all the while, and seeing that nothing bad happened to the pioneer they joined the table in such numbers that the food was all gone in seven minutes.

I’m fairly sure that we humans don’t give the humble pigeon credit for being able to think through a problem, but here was a clear example of their capabilities from the point of determining that something was too good to be true, to taking their time to do a proper test to conclude it was safe after all with a minimum loss potential.

Humans have failed in this very same such situation on many occasions to our regret and loss. We should listen and take note of the lesson of the pigeon.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, May 9, 2010

No 10, Browning Street, London


No 10, Browning Street
The Great British Election Fiasco

The lady at the heart of BigotGate shrugged her shoulders in disgust and declared that she would simply not vote in the General Election. However, the right to vote is so precious that if she did not vote for the Labour Party, she in effect voted for one of the other parties, probably the Conservatives. If we vote for our party, that is a vote against all others. If we do not vote we give our vote away.

Poor Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats. He gained big recognition and popularity in the debates, but come the day he was severely let down by voters and actually lost five seats. They may have liked what he had to say and the way he said it, but they chose to confirm that Britain is a two-party electoral State, and they were not going to change a thing. Consequently, after Labour and the Conservatives all the others are normally completely wasting their time in Parliament. Except for the Lib Dems on this occasion because of the very daft rule that says you have to attain 326 seats to be able to form a majority government. Why not a simple majority?

The Lib Dems get to flex a little muscle for a short time as their support must be sought by the Conservatives or Labour in order to form a government. However, presumably a new election will be called within a year and the Lib Dems will go back to wasting their time along with the other members of the fringe.

Gordon Brown returned to Downing Street the morning after having lost the election as though he owns the place. He seemed to be declaring to the world that this is my house and I have a right to it. Call it No. 10, Browning Street. But it is Downing Street, and the rightful occupant is David Cameron; and Brown, The Interloper is on borrowed time. To say that electoral reform is long overdue is an understatement, because to have a hung parliament with 302 seats is a travesty. This must be seen as a universal embarrassment to the British establishment.

Stay tuned for The Great British General Election, Take II.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Percy Miller -Centenarian

Percy Miller is leading the world in aging more gracefully!

Last year I wrote about Percy Miller, an Englishman living in Moraira, Spain. Percy was born in Plymouth, England, and at the time I wrote he had celebrated his 102nd birthday by driving to the office of the newspaper to have his picture taken.

He celebrated with a birthday party that included music and ice-cream and cake, and dancing. Percy danced at his party because his great love was dancing. Unfortunately he didn’t dance with any young ladies his own age because there were no young ladies the same age as he.

I was particularly impressed by his story because he seems to be leading the way for the new senior citizen. In the past we always saw pictures of centenarians sitting in their wheelchairs in very frail conditions, but increasingly people are more active and are more engaged with life. We are learning that life does not end until it ends. People are open to constantly learning new skills, the computer being the prime example.

Artists, who have long been “the antennae of our society” as one prominent author describes them, live longer lives in the sense that they are more functional, more independent, and more aware of the changes that life brings about. This is mainly because of their art and the interaction that that promotes with the public. They are constantly learning new things, and that is the key.

If we live our lives in a static fashion, then we will not progress, and if we do not progress then we must regress. Staying still is not an option, as time moves on, and with it change happens. We get left behind, which is a natural thing anyway because of the pace of change. For instance there was a time when I was on the cutting edge of change. I made it a point to acquaint myself with all the cutting-edge stuff.

Then, it seems in the mere blink of a eye things moved ahead by a quantum leap. I thought people were still using “My Space” and “Messenger” but the new flavour is now Twitter and FaceBook and iPhones and God-knows-what. I have been left behind, never to catch up again. We need to learn something new everyday, otherwise we are simply waiting to die.

I remember a time when to see a man typing brought about suspicious looks and suppressed laughter. Now, if you can’t type, you are nowhere. For Percy Miller, he has had to keep his sanity through wave after wave of amazing changes. Our children, and in many cases we as parents have only known a world that included the internet and mobile phones with sms and photo options and internet banking and the thousand and one aspects of modern living. Not so for anyone remotely Percy Miller’s age.

The obverse side of all this is that while change has come quickly bringing so much in new technology, in the actual blink of an eye we sometimes have to get accustomed to do without, such as the effect of a power failure on most computerised offices. That leads to masses of people standing around asking, now what do we do? The eruption of the Iceland volcano left people across the world without air transport. Heathrow Airport in London, one of the busiest in the world came to a grinding halt and stayed that way for over five days. That was absolutely impossible to contemplate, but it actually happened to Heathrow and a great many other airports in Europe.

To have lived such a long time, and to have enjoyed reasonably good health is a true blessing. To have survived through so many of life’s changes must surely be an intensely rewarding experience. I’m sure our Percy does not agree with everything that has taken place in the name of prosperity and technological advancement, but to have been there through it all and to have topped the One Hundred mark with such spirit and gusto is an inspiration, particularly to me, and most probably to everyone.

Now, I take great pleasure to say that Percy Miller has celebrated his 103rd birthday. In the course of the previous year his health has taken a marked downturn, so he was pictured sitting down, and he most probably did not drive himself to the picture shoot. I personally wish him well in this his 104th year. I wish him also belatedly a Very Happy 103rd Birthday, and that I believe he will find many more years to be even more interesting.

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael