Category: Inspiration
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SHARKS CAN’T FEEL???
Sharks can’t feel??? -
Beaches of Ardnamurchan
The beaches of Ardnamurchan are stunningly beautiful, quiet and thankfully out of the way. All you need is a long trip to the far north western highlands of scotland, a rare sunny day and the ability to handle very cold water.
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Moon Magic at Enchanted Mountain
We were driving home from foraging for wild mushrooms in the ancient forest
We had to drive around Ben Hiant which is on the most westerly peninsula
of Britain in the highlands of Scotland, guarding the entrance to Loch Sunart
It was the night before the blood moon eclipse.
And then the magic moon arose over the enchanted mountain, Ben Hiant
(Gaelic for enchanted mountain)
Pure magic in a mystical magical place
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Dear Dana
In memory of our dear doggy friend Dana.
She adopted us as part of her lovely family and brought us much joy in her last golden years.
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How Wolves Change Rivers
I want to share one of the most interesting short videos I’ve seen in a while, originally posted by Yonatan Zunger.
Check it out on Amazon – Wolf TotemThe direct effects of the wolves were small: the wolves eat a few deer, but apart from that mostly keep to themselves. But the indirect effects were huge.
It started because the deer, who had been running roughshod over the entire park, quickly figured out that places like valleys were not good places to be a deer when there are wolves about. This led to trees being able to grow in those areas for the first time in decades.
The effects of that are complex and profound, and I encourage you to watch the video, because I can’t possibly summarize it better than it does. Everything from the animals to the plants to the very physical geography of the rivers was changed.
The key lesson of this is that ecosystems are connected. You can’t make a single change to one and expect it not to have consequences, including very far-reaching ones of a sort you couldn’t ever have predicted. This is a general property of all large, strongly-interacting systems, including societies, and it’s worth keeping in mind whenever things change.
I would like to recommend a wonderful book to you which really explains the positive role of wolves on the grass lands of Mongolia. It is called “Wolf Totem” by Jiang Rong, who writes of his years living in Mongolia and what he learned from the Nomads about wolves.
Check it out on Amazon – Wolf Totem
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Billionaire Elon Musk: How I Became The Real ‘Iron Man’
“Bloomberg Risk Takers” profiles Elon Musk, the entrepreneur who created PayPal, America’s first viable fully electric car company, the nation’s biggest solar energy supplier and may make commercial space travel a reality in our lifetime.
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Keira Can Really Play The Ibanez Acoustic Guitar
My friend and genius guitarist Paul Staples, helped me buy my Ibanez V300 Acoustic Guitar back in – I think the seventies (maybe eighties) can’t really remember.
Keira in the video really makes her Ibanez sing – wish I could play the wonderful damn thing like that.
Enjoy!
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The Best Whisky In The World
Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky was chosen as the World’s Best Grain Whisky at the World Whisky Awards held in London in March 2013.
Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky became the first South African whisky to be awarded this coveted accolade, ahead of those from traditional whisky-producing countries such as Ireland, Scotland and the USA.
The whiskies were assessed blind, based on three tasting rounds, by an independent panel of judges that included some of the foremost international whisky palates.
The award was presented to Andy Watts, master distiller of Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, at the ceremony held in London. Watts said that he was overwhelmed by the news and was delighted to have been able to personally receive the award.
Distiller of Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, Jeff Green, said: “This isn’t just a win for Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky but for South African whisky-making.
“Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky, launched in 2009, was created to express the extraordinary properties of South Africa’s very best home-grown grains, fermented and distilled locally. With a distinctive South African taste profile, the maize is the same as that which was imported into Scotland up until the mid 1980s to make Scotch whisky.
“The whisky is proudly South African in profile. By taking the World’s Best Grain Whisky title we have amply demonstrated that South Africa can make exceptional whiskies. The 2013 title follows last year’s win by Three Ships 5 Year Old of the WWA’s World’s Best Blended Whisky, puts South Africa as a whisky producing country, squarely on the map.”
Green says that South Africa’s warm climate contributed to the excellence of its whiskies. He explained that the maturation process was accelerated by the faster interaction between wood, spirit and air to produce whiskies of great smoothness. “Essentially, the higher ambient temperatures mean our whiskies reach maturity at a younger age.”
Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky is uniquely double-matured to allow the maximum interaction between the cask and whisky. The whisky spends three years in specially selected ex-Bourbon casks and is then re-vatted for a further two years in a fresh set of casks, resulting in attractive toffee, floral and vanilla aromas softened by sweet, spicy undertones, with a warm mouth-feel and a smooth finish.
Inspired by the Bain’s Kloof Pass and its natural beauty, Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky is distilled and matured at The James Sedgwick Distillery, situated near the foothills of the Bain’s Kloof Pass in Wellington, in the heart of the Cape’s Boland. The whisky pays tribute to Andrew Geddes Bain, the pioneering pass builder who planned and built Bain’s Kloof Pass which connected Wellington to the interior in 1853. -
Still one of the best inspirational videos ever – Susan Boyle
What a surprise – What a voice – What a wake up about pre judging anybody.
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The Power of Words
The power of words can radically effect change.
This short, but powerful film illustrates how the power of words can effect change fast.
Discover the power of words to transform your own life in Andrea Gardner’s wonderful book
Change Your Words, Change Your World
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What A Wonderful World With David Attenborough
A celebration of Natural History with David Attenborough.
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We Live In The Greatest Golden Age Humanity Has Ever Seen
Globally, life expectancy is the highest it has ever been, having risen from 20-30 years in prehistory, to 31 years in 1900, 47 years in 1950 and 67 years in 2010. It continues to rise steadily across the world.
The global homicide rate is now by far the lowest it’s been since humans evolved. Battle deaths in international wars – the most deadly form of human conflict – have fallen from 65,000 per year in the 1950s to 2,000 per year in the 2000s (a factor of 30 in just 50 years).
Global fertility has plummeted from 4.47 in 1970 to 2.55 today, and continues to fall in every region of the world. The global population is projected to be in decline by 2100.
Infant mortality has plummeted from historical levels of 20%, to 15.7% in 1950 and to 5.7% in 2003. It continues to fall in nearly every part of the world.
Average daily calorie intake per person worldwide increased by 24% between 1961 and 2002. Inflation-adjusted prices of food commodities declined by 75% between 1950 and 2000. Chronic undernourishment in the developing world decreased from 37% in 1971 to 17% in 2002. A wide range of developing and emergent technologies hold out the possibility of further improvements in human nutrition, at ever lower rates of environmental impact.
Global literacy has risen from less than half the human population in 1970 to over three quarters of it today. The number of years spent in education is rising in every region of the world.
In 1900 no country in the world was a full democracy. Now 44% of the people alive live in democracies and 18% live in limited democracies. Since 1974 multiparty election systems have been introduced in 113 countries.
Globally, average wealth has risen from $450 per year in 1000 AD, to $700 in 1800 AD, to $1261 in 1900 AD and to over £9,000 in 2010 – it continues to rise even in these difficult economic times. The world economy is 100 times larger than it was in 1800 AD. The average human is ten times richer.
The problems humanity faces are considerable. However, the momentum of human civilisation is decisively upwards and we currently live during the greatest golden age humanity has ever seen, by every measurable parameter of human welfare. And this is only the beginning.
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Siyabulela Xuza-His Story Has Really Just Begun
Siyabulela Xuza- His Story Has Really Just Begun
Siyabulela Xuza
Siyabulela Xuza’s story has really just begun. He is merely twenty years old and already has created an international stir. When he was eighteen years old and in Matric, he won two grand awards at the 58th Intel International Science and Engineering Fair which was held in New Mexico.
His awards were in the Energy and Transportation category, and his project was a revolutionary cheaper rocket fuel. He is quoted as saying that when he discovered the amount of money spent on rocket fuels which could be better spent on other projects such as AIDS/HIV research, he decided to figure out a way to make them cheaper. In return for this innovative thinking not only did he win at the Fair but the Nasa-affiliated Lincoln Laboratory named a minor planet after him. Planet 23182 discovered in 2000 -just around the time Xuza became serious about rocketry- is now known as Siyaxuza and is found in the main asteroid belt near Jupiter with an orbital period of 4, 01 years.
Xuza’s love for science started in 1994 in Umtata where he remembers following a Cessna plane which was dropping off election pamphlets. From there he began to build rockets in his mother’s kitchen and remembers once mixing the fuel incorrectly and having a mini-explosion which thankfully caused no real damage but did cause a mess.
From there his family moved to Johannesburg where he attained a scholarship to attend St. John’s College where his love for science was further nurtured. With the guidance of teachers he built the Phoenix; a rocket which reached the height of 1 220 metres. This was done in 2003. He was fourteen at the time and with this achievement he won the Eskom National Science Expo as well as breaking the South African Amateur Altitude Record.
After matriculating, Xuza went on to study chemical engineering at the University Of Cape Town, until he received the news that he had been granted a bursary to study at Harvard.
While he studies science he says he wants to further grow in other respects. In his own words, “I’m learning to speak Mandarin, which keeps me up in the wee hours. I believe the relationship between China and SA will grow and would like to be able to facilitate communication between both countries in the area of energy. I want to be multi dimensional: educated in the West with strong African roots but with a clear understanding of the East.”
Siyabulela Xuza is truly an African Renaissance man, educating himself in natural and social sciences and with a positive outlook on the impact himself and his generation will have upon the world and South Africa.