A New World Born

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

Anais Nin

Sharkwater

I recently had to do a presentation in one of my classes on an environmental issue. I chose to discuss the dramatic decline in shark populations around the world. This decline is largely due to long-lining and shark finning. Shark finning is the process of catching sharks, slicing off their fins, then throwing the sharks back into the ocean, often still alive.

To help prepare for my presentation, I watched the documentary Sharkwater. It's an award winning film about this horrific problem. I suggest you watch the entire thing, and then tell someone else about it.

Sharks are the oldest surviving group of large animals on earth. They have ruled the oceans for 400 million years. That is about 150 million years before the dinosaurs showed up. They have survived five major periods of extinction on earth. Scientists now estimate that in the last few decades, 90% of the world's sharks have disappeared.

The oceans affect everything on this planet. If something is royally fucked in the ocean, then we're royally fucked too.

I feel sorry for our grandchildren. And the sharks.

Part I


The rest of the documentary:

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

And here you can find more information about the documentary and facts about shark finning.

Some Perspective

Sunday Introspection

As far as I can remember, I've never liked Sundays.

On Sunday I always feel an uneasy mix of loneliness, boredom and melancholy. Combined, I'm just left wishing it were any other day. It doesn't really make sense. Sundays are a day of rest and should be enjoyed. But for some reason, to me, they always feel sombre. Perhaps it's because I miss the fun times of the weekend and am unenthusiastic for the week to come.

In addition, this morning I woke up feeling anxious after a night of stressful dreams. You know, the disturbing dreams that linger with you for most of the following day... nestling just beneath your conscious thoughts.

I came across this video a while ago and thought today would be an appropriate day to post it here.



After taking that in, I feel I should say a few things. I don't write much on my blog, so this is slightly unusual, but here you have it.

In the past year or so I've become a big believer in letting others know how you feel about them, regardless of your own fear of what they will think of you as a result, for it could mean more to them than you'll ever know. It is sometimes easier said than done... but life is short. Why not give credit where credit is due, so to speak. To all those who check out my blog, I appreciate that you do. To my friends, you are good people and I feel lucky to know all of you. I am grateful for those who I've known for many, many years, and at the same time I'm amazed that I've still been able to find many really special people with each new path I travel. If you want to know exactly what you mean to me in my life, just ask, because you deserve to know.

Life is exciting. Life is hard. Life is stunningly painful, but also painfully stunning. I'm scared, but happy. Anxious but eager. If you have good people around you, that's all you'll ever need. Cheers.

Beautiful Tornado

These Arms of Mine

Great cover of a beautiful song.

Click here for lyrics.

Walking on a Dream

Click here for lyrics.

A Class Divided

"This is one of the most requested programs in FRONTLINE's history. It is about an Iowa schoolteacher who, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, gave her third-grade students a first-hand experience in the meaning of discrimination. This is the story of what she taught the children, and the impact that lesson had on their lives."

I just watched this PBS program and thought it was thought-provoking and poignant... sad and fascinating. Worth watching all of it. How adults react to the experiment in Part IV is something to see.

Click here to see the entire transcript of the program. Part I starts with Charlie Cobb's first comment.

Part I


Part II


Part III


Part IV


Part V

Foolish Games

I'm not sure live performances get any more gut-wrenchingly brilliant than this.



Click here for lyrics.

In Other Words...

Oh Maria

This is one of my favourite movie scenes ever... when the nuns sing good for the first time.



Thank you Sister Mary Clarence.

Click here for lyrics.

Technology

Unsolvable

"One day In 1939, George Bernard Dantzig, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, arrived late for a graduate-level statistics class and found two problems written on the board. Not knowing they were examples of "unsolvable" statistics problems, he mistook them for part of a homework assignment, jotted them down, and solved them....

Six weeks later, Dantzig's statistic professor notified him that he had prepared one of his two "homework" proofs for publication, and Dantzig was given co-author credit on another paper several years later when another mathematician independently worked out the same solution to the second problem."



"... when people are free to pursue goals unfettered by presumed limitations on what they can accomplish, they just may manage some extraordinary feats through the combined application of native talent and hard work."

[Source]

Someone Once Told Me...

Bokko

Want to learn some new moves? Try some Bokko. Gets intense at 6:49.

Michael Kenna

Click here for more. [update: site has since gone down, sorry... try google!]

Hurt

Big fan of Johnny Cash.... great cover, brutally sad/amazing video.



Click here for lyrics.

Lisa Hannigan and The Low Anthem

Recently saw Lisa Hannigan perform live. She's pretty amazing... I've never heard a voice like hers before. The Low Anthem opened for her, and they were a really awesome surprise... they're quirky, interesting, and have some beautiful songs. Have a look at them both:

Lille by Lisa Hannigan [lyrics]


Cage the Songbird by The Low Anthem [lyrics]