Park Avenue NYC and the US Tea Party

Today I watched a documentary, which is about the richest of the rich people in the US, and these folks live in 740 Park Avenue, New York (therefore the title of this movie).

This film gave me at least some sort of understanding, from where this - for us outstanders - so overwhelming believe "take power back from Washington and give it back to the people" comes from. But the reality, at least based on this documentary, is shocking: the film makers claim, that the values of democracy are no longer about the people of a state but that it is solely about money. Just money, ...

I felt that the brief interview with Ayn Rand is really eye opening: She insisted already in the 60ties, that no state has the right to raise taxes, we should just do the opposite; she believed that all can be organized when all is in private hands. Yes, she was a strong believer in a "laissez faire" government style.

This documentary shows nicely, how the billionaires are spinning their web, using their money to influence politics both in Washington and in the individual states. One of the most powerful people is Mr. Koch, who is funding organizations like AFP (America for Prosperity) or the CATO. We have seen Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan last year when they were running for president, and both of them are members of the AFP.

"It is all about freedom" - sentences you hear often from the Tea Party. I am not judging here, because I am at the very beginning to better understand this political system in the US. But I can only strongly recommend to watch this documentary, it is worth the 45 minutes :).

The Dream is Over - America's Cup and Team New Zealand

Das war's dann also: Nach einer wirklich gigantischen Aufholjagd der Amerikaner mussten sich die Neuseeländer nach einer 8:1 Führung am Ende mit 8:9 geschlagen geben. So etwas hat es in der Geschichte des America's Cups auch noch nicht gegeben.

Das war wirklich bitter, alle Neuseeländer haben so sehr mitgefiebert. Public viewing sites everywhere, war das Ziel doch so nah! Und als alles feststand, der Cup verloren war, gingen die Kiwis ganz geknickt wieder nach Hause.

Dean Barker, der Skipper des NZ Team's brauchte eine ganze Zeit, bis er wieder halbwegs ansprechbar war. Dennoch, man hat Ihnen in Neuseeland einen tollen Empfang bereitet, am Flughafen in Auckland standen frühmorgens hunderte von Fans, die das Team jubelnd empfangen haben (morgens um 6 Uhr!!).

Jetzt schaut man wieder nach vorne und überlegt, ob man wieder teilnehmen soll oder nicht, und sucht entsprechend Sponsoren. Beim America's Cup geht's um viel Geld und eigentlich ist dies für Neuseeland viel zu teuer. Oracle hat Millionen von Dollar in diesen Wettkampf gesteckt, wohingegen das Neuseeländische Team von vielen Sponsoren and Fundraising abhängig war bzw. ist. Jetzt sind sie erst einmal wieder auf "Geldsuche".

But for now - the dream is over!

PS: Team Neuseeland hatte 80 Millionen Dollar (ich frage mich wie die dieses Geld überhaupt zusammen bekommen haben), und Team Oracle mit einem Hauptsponsor hatte 200 Millionen Dollar. Das ist wirklich David gegen Goliath.

David gegen Goliath ...

Science Fair Orewa College (4)

So I asked in my last post: ”Does Redbull give you wings?”. Surprise, surprise – it DOES! As long as you ar enot used to drink Redbull, it makes a difference!

 

This was our son's poster !

This does not really meet German precision ;-) .. but in NZ the
effort counts as well ... :)

--------------------------------------------------------

 

So, I really enjoyed the science fair. Most students have put a lot of effort into it. And parents have assisted as well, I am quite sure about this.
 

Yes of course, there were tests like “Throw an egg and check if it breaks”. I am sure this student was only allowed to perform this test outside of the house: Let an egg fall from the height of 100cm onto different materials and check if the egg breaks. The material onto the egg would fall were wood, paper and glass. I mean, cooomeeeee’oooonnn, is that so difficult so foresee that all 24 eggs will smash to the ground and just trash the entire “laboratory” called parent's home!

 

 

And we all know what happens when you throw a Mentos into Coca Cola – maybe a new technique the NASA may consider to fly to the Mars? At least the shares of Coca Cola would sky rocket!s still ok

 

Anyway, it was all big fun.
 

Science Fair Orewa College (3)

This experiment certainly took my attention. Not that I am a big fan of popcorn, I actually do not even like the smell of it in particular when you are squeezed into a little cinema and you take deep breaths of popcorn “smell” … but anyway.
This student asked the question, which popcorn pops the best. I reckon that this study is considered as pretty cool, since students love to go to the cinemas and when they’re there they can impress their hot girl or boy with the question “I did some research and believe me, take this brand, that pops best!”

I found the explanation pretty interesting. I took a few pictures, worth to read it ..

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

I really enjoyed when they picked topics which are of interest for others and address a serious topic such as insulation. New Zealand homes are as you probably know often without any heating. Heat pumps are getting more popular, but often people go with heating by gas or electricity. A not very efficient way to generate heat, and gas heating is even linked to some health issues.

 

So this student investigated which materials gives the best insulation. Bubble paper was one of the front runners: In this experiment the entire window was covered with bubble paper. Not that this is probably the best way to insulate your windows (only since 2012 new houses in NZ must have double glazed windows!), in particular since you cannot really look out of your window (maybe ok for a bathroom, but not for the lounge if you have a beautiful view to the ocean or to a nearby park), but I reckon the learning curve for this student was steep and I hope that this will change the attitude towards energy efficient houses in NZ as well.

------------------------------------------------------------

 

And what about this one here: ”Does Redbull give you wings?” … what do you reckon?

YES or NO ??

 

 

More hot topics and results in two days ….

Science Fair Orewa College (2)

Sometimes these young students were very about their results, quite shocking for us adults!

Look at this experiment comparing the memory capabilities of adults vs kids: “Who can memorize or remember things better?” How SHOCKING, the results were even worse than we adults ever dreamt of … we all know that our memory works less good or efficient the older we get. But look at this conclusion:

”… after the age of 30 people start to have a heavy decline in memory and can only remember little amounts at a time”.

Don't read if you're older than 30!

 

OMG, I am wondering if the jury could even follow the ideas of this experiment – reading the conclusion the jury members have already forgotten what the experiment was about!!

------------------------------------------------------------

 

But here is a study I really like because the students found out on their own how acid a Coca Cola drink is.
So you do not to tell your kids that Coca Cola is unhealthy, since they would not believe you anyway. But if they found out on their own, how amazing, suddenly they prefer just spring water and put the Coke aside! But I reckon, after some time they have forgotten about it (see study above, oh, sorry, I forgot, these students are not 30 yet - but I am), and I am pretty sure, drinking pure spring water is considered as pretty uncool at school!

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

Another experiment was quite similar: "How many sugar do you find in soft drinks like Mountain Dew?" The student wrote in the conclusion: “Mountain Dew had a shocking 12.4g of sugar in every 100ml”. Yes, this is definitely something you can call “shocking”.

Here comes Mountain Dew .... - a mere sugar bomb!

 

 

More hot topics and results in two days ….

 

 

Science Fair Orewa College (1)

Science Fair is something we do not know at schools in Germany, but it is very common in Intermediate and High Schools here in New Zealand.

This is what students usually do: Pick a topic of your choice, then prepare a paper following a particular structure, which could be like

hypothesis >> background information >> equipment >> experiment >> data and graphs  >> con-clusion.

Once written down you print out your paper and glue each page to a board (see pictures below). They are then presented to a teachers’ board, they vote for the best papers which then will participate in a competition with other schools!

YES, you can certainly learn a lot from these posters, at least from a few! So let’s see what you could learn …

This is how all the posters were lined up....

------------------------------------------------------------

Question 1: "Which substance best enhances the longevity of cut flowers?" WOW, that was certainly I was interested in, what a great topic! And the results was a big surprise,… is it:

1. Sugar
2. Vinegar
3. Coffee water

It’s sugar!! So next time, when you give your love a bunch of flowers by and add a little sachet of sugar! I am wondering, if we should ask the flower shop around the corner, if they should or could sell sugar in the future as well ...

Add sugar to flowers ?

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

Question 2: This is certainly a question which is essential when trying to survive a major disaster: "Does M&Ms or Pebbles melt faster?" As far as I recall I think it was Pebbles melting faster. So if a disaster hits you during a hot summer night you better had bought M&Ms to keep everybody happy.

So what melts faster?

More hot topics and results in two days ….

Gotye/Kimbra on one Guitar and One Direction on one piano

For today something completely unrelated to New Zealand, or maybe there is still a link to Kiwiland!?

So we have a very popular singer from NZ, called Kimbra. She is quite successful in Down Under, and she had a smashing hit with Gotye ("Somebody I used to Love"). I love this song, and enjoyed very much their first video ever (very creative, find the video below as well!).

 

Now these folks here (below) have played that song just on ONE guitar - this is just awesome!

These five piano folks had a very similar idea, playing One Direction's song "What Makes You Beautiful" - I reckon it is not that easy to play this song with such a stunning result !?

Pacific Plastic Soup - Garbage in the Ocean (4)

Who knows, maybe you never heard about the Pacific Garbage Patch before. If not, then you definitely should watch the videos I will post over the next few days.

This patch is often referred as the "Pacific Plastic Soup". It is a huge area in the Pacific Ocean, twice the size of Texas, literred with plastic. All sorts of plastic. Plastic, which is non biodegradable. The impact on the nature is huge, and we can even not yet imagine, what the impact in the future on our humans will be.

So take your time, and watch. If you like it, then spread the message via Twitter, Facebook or other social media. And next time at the supermarket, consider to say (when they ask you if you'd like to get a plastic bag) "Thank you, not required. We already have too many plastic bags at home!". And watch then the people's reaction ;-)

Video 5: Two generations ago, they thought plastic is the best thing which could happen to the mankind. Interesting, to watch this from the retroperspective.

Pacific Plastic Soup - Garbage in the Ocean (3)

Who knows, maybe you never heard about the Pacific Garbage Patch before. If not, then you definitely should watch the videos I will post over the next few days.

This patch is often referred as the "Pacific Plastic Soup". It is a huge area in the Pacific Ocean, twice the size of Texas, literred with plastic. All sorts of plastic. Plastic, which is non biodegradable. The impact on the nature is huge, and we can even not yet imagine, what the impact in the future on our humans will be.

So take your time, and watch. If you like it, then spread the message via Twitter, Facebook or other social media. And next time at the supermarket, consider to say (when they ask you if you'd like to get a plastic bag) "Thank you, not required. We already have too many plastic bags at home!". And watch then the people's reaction ;-)

Video 4: Look at this beach, it is really unbelieveable!

Pacific Plastic Soup - Garbage in the Ocean (2)

Who knows, maybe you never heard about the Pacific Garbage Patch before. If not, then you definitely should watch the videos I will post over the next few days.

This patch is often referred as the "Pacific Plastic Soup". It is a huge area in the Pacific Ocean, twice the size of Texas, literred with plastic. All sorts of plastic. Plastic, which is non biodegradable. The impact on the nature is huge, and we can even not yet imagine, what the impact in the future on our humans will be.

So take your time, and watch. If you like it, then spread the message via Twitter, Facebook or other social media. And next time at the supermarket, consider to say (when they ask you if you'd like to get a plastic bag) "Thank you, not required. We already have too many plastic bags at home!". And watch then the people's reaction ;-)

Video 2+3: We know two patches, the western and the eastern pacific patch. Think about that ultimately these toxic materials from the plastic will enter (or have already entered) the food chain. and we're at the end of the food chain....!

Pacific Plastic Soup - Garbage in the Ocean (1)

Who knows, maybe you never heard about the Pacific Garbage Patch before. If not, then you definitely should watch the videos I will post over the next few days.

This patch is often referred as the "Pacific Plastic Soup". It is a huge area in the Pacific Ocean, twice the size of Texas, literred with plastic. All sorts of plastic. Plastic, which is non biodegradable. The impact on the nature is huge, and we can even not yet imagine, what the impact in the future on our humans will be.

So take your time, and watch. If you like it, then spread the message via Twitter, Facebook or other social media. And next time at the supermarket, consider to say (when they ask you if you'd like to get a plastic bag) "Thank you, not required. We already have too many plastic bags at home!". And watch then the people's reaction ;-)

Video 1: Can you imagine, a beach close to Hawaii littered with plastic!? No, then watch this one:

 

Ads in the USA: An interactive James Bond - Skyfall !! (English)

Watching ads on TV is most of the time quite boring - they are either stupid and primitive, or they are smart and exciting! Today, I've got a link to an interactive ad for you. Watch out!

So check this out - we have our little kiwi bird form New Zealand. playing a major role in the latest James Bond movie!

This ad is from Heinecken and refers to the new James Bond movie which is about to start in  few days. So what do you have to do?

Just follow that young and sooo slinky chick in red. She has a suitcase, James Bond's suitcase! And YOU have to find the code to pen this case. She will help you, to find the right combination ...

Interested? Let's then get started and follow this link to the lady in red!

EN: http://www.heineken.com/global/jamesbond/start/crack-the-case.aspx

A cute Kiwi plays a major role in the latest James Bond movie Skyfall !

So, did you know that this little kiwi bird, in his Santa Claus camouflage outfit, plays a major role in the latest James Bond movie "Skyfall". Just check out this summary ....

... and I'll tell you tomorrow how YOU can even become a special agent in this latest movie!

 

(Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notcvWFe6P4&feature=youtu.be)

Vanuatu 3 (USS Coolidge)

One of the islands we visited was Espirito Santo. And when you think of (or google) this island you will instantly find a lot of information about a ship wreck called the USS Coolidge.

Enough to study before you go diving this wreck!

This ship was a huge cruise liner, designed for luxurious cruises on the ocean. In 1941 it was modified allowing the transportation of troops and soldiers. It was heading for Luganville on Espirito Santo, a major and very important navy hub of the US marines in the fight against Japan. Unfortunately, it hit one of its own sea mines and it sunk within an hour (or so). The captain decided to run the ship against a reef just off the beach of Espirito Santo. In the end more than 5500 soldiers left the boat and only two soldiers lost their life during this horrible accident.

Yes, I dived the USS Coolidge on the island Santo Espirito, Vanuatu. It was certainly the best wreck dive I ever made in my entire 25 years of diving. The dimensions of this wreck are already breath-taking: more than 600 feet long, lying at a depth between 17m and 62m, 10 decks, and all of them almost fully intact!

"Simple Dive Plan"

One of the high lights of a dive - kiss "the Lady"

 

I searched a bit for a good video on You Tube and found this one, it really summarises and shows the various parts of this just stunning wreck - have fun watching it!

Lady Gaga in Auckland (2)

Lady Gaga's performance last Friday was just awesome - she played 2 1/2 hours, and yes, she can sing and obviously enjoys it (singing). And the way how she dresses up can certainly be called avangarde, like it or not.

She can be loud and she can be very quiet, she can scream and she can whisper. All in one show, it is just amazing!

Arrival at the hotel in Auckland

On the stage

This video I took is one of the more "quiet" moments, when she talked about her view of the world: "...we're not in the same place that we were 25 years ago ... there is no need to put people down ... it is not re...levant anymore to hold on to the past and hold on to the pain of what was ... what's relevant now is to leave this all behind and look forward to a future where it doesn't matter what you are ..."  . A nice message to today's generation (and to all the other generations too).

The amazing thing was that I saw heaps of mothers with their daughters in the teenage age going to this concert. Wow! And then of course all those hot chicks dressed in the most fanciest dresses you can not even dream of ;-)

Listen to what Lady Gaga sais about our generation (4 minutes) here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBZaYqlb3Gk&list=UUil8rbpbkBl5CU0UfR068yg&index=1&feature=plcp)

And for those who miss her already: she is coming back in less than two years :), she promised. Find a post review here (http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/whats-on/7064260/Review-Lady-Gaga-at-Vector)

See you again in 2013!

Stress Test

STRESS

(gleicher Text in Deutsch unter diesem englischen Text!)

I am not sure exactly how it works, but this is amazingly accurate. Read the full description before looking at the picture...

The picture below has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at St. Mary's Hospital in Edinburgh. Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical; a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. The more differences a person finds between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing.

Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you need to go on short holiday. If you find dramatic and significant differences then your stress level is too high und you have to go on a long long holiday!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


STREß

Es ist mir nicht ganz klar WIE nun dieser Test denn tatsächlich funktioniert, aber er funktioniert! Erst diese Beschreibung bitte lesen, dann erst herunterscrollen und das Bild anschauen! OK? Los geht's!

Das Bild unten (was ihr dann sehen werdet) zeigt zwei ganz identische Delphine. Dieses Bild wurde im St. Mary's Krankenhaus in Edinburgh in verschiedenen Studien verwendet.

Schau dir die Delphine an, wie elegant die beiden aus dem Wasser hüpfen! Die Delphine sind identisch. Eine wissenschaftliche Studie hat nun gezeigt, dass Menschen, die derzeit unter Stress stehen, Unterschiede bei diesen beiden Delphinen sehen. Die einen mehr und die anderen weniger, je nach Stresslevel! Dabei sieht der Proband um so mehr Unterschiede bei diesen beiden Delphinen, je höher der Stresslevel des Probanten ist. Klingt irgendwie logisch, oder?

So, jetzt darfst Du zu dem Bild herunterscrollen. Wenn Du ein oder zwei kleinere Unterschiede siehst, solltest Du über einen Kurzurlaub nachdenken. Wenn der Unterschied eklatant groß ist, stehst Du wohl ganz schon unter Strom und .....

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.

No Need to Reply, I'll be on holiday ...
Kommentar zwecklos, bin schon in einem langen Urlaub!

Ocean Swims in NZ (2/2)

So I found this article deeply hidden in one of my millions of folders on my computer. Reading them right now, although just sitting in front of my computer, dry and not wet, on a chair and not in the ocean, gives me goose bumps again. You just need to be in that big group of swimmers to understand what I am talking about here.

Enjoy!


o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o

Anyway, the start signal sounds, and about 400 swimmersare rushing into the water. The surface, just being calm and quite seconds prior to this start turns into a wild water rafting spume. A sputterer of a hot spa is nothing in comparison to this! Somehow, you need then to manage to find your very own position within the group.

And this was one of my challenges in the first races: Imagine to find a quiet place within this horde all diving into the water at the same time. You hardly find this quiet place which would allow you to find your swim rhythm and breathing pattern.

Nope, you're not on your own ...

Instead, you need to watch out that you're not in the way of somebody else: It happened more than once that me-feather-lightweight was just "over-swum" by another 100kg bloke. Yes, that heavyweight just has swum over me. Not saying that the other swimmer even realized, that he swimming in the dry (since on my neck and hence outside the water). No, he forgets just everything and starts to swim like a bloddy devil, he swims on top of you and just dip you down. Great, such a start looks more like a diving course exercise rather than a regular swim start.

By the way: In the meantime I have found my own way to make it through, and sometime dipping others now as well.

Nope: It's not like an easy jump into the pool:
Sometimes you have to make it first through big waves!

Another challenge is really the temperature of the water. I have had one race in Christchurch (on the South Island of New Zealand) and the weather there wasn't really much of fun. I was freezing even before I got into the water! The first hundred meters have been already quite exhausting and I repeatedly asked myself "What the heck am I doing here? I could be still in my warm bed, read Sunday's newspaper, enjoy a hot coffee and some croissants. And - what am I doing, swimming in bloddy cold water, freezing to the bones and fighting my way through water with some other approx 900 participants!"

Nope, I never met her while doing my ocean swims.

Ocean Swims in NZ (1/2)

Sometimes you seach for ages for an article saved somewhere on your computer. And then, while searching for other stuff you find the article you've been after for such a long time. This just happened to me, and therefore I can share this article with you. I have written this one more than two years ago, ... but, I am still feeling like this :)

Enjoy!


o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o

Sure, actually I did not plan to participate in all Ocean Swim races. In a rush I have registered for all New Zealand races since the average registration fee for all races was lower than for only one race. And registration was so easy, just a mouse click, not being aware at that very moment which strains are waiting for me. but that was far far away. To be honest, it took a while until it sunk into myself what I have done with this registration, ...

Finally at the finish - after 2800 meters crawl!

Such an ocean swim is really a different story - a swimming pool is a rather nice paddle place and you just make quite comfortably your laps. And whenever you're out of breath you just take a relaxing break at he side of the pool and take a deep relieving breath. Yes, there are quite a lot differences not that obvious at the beginning ...

This was the race course ... I actually don't like
to do the course twice (at least not on the same day).

You feel already the difference right at the start of the race. We have had about 1300 swimmers participating in the Auckland Harbour crossing race last November. Sure thing even in a huge pool you wouldn't let them allow to start all at te same time. Rather than having one big horde jumping into the water you break the group into three "manageable" waves. "Manageable" at least from an aircraft's perspective - if you're standing right in the middle of let's say the "heat 2" (this means a "race" in NZ), you're still among another 300-400 participants!

The races shouldn't be taken too easy. Every year it
claimed a life which is really sad and horrible.
A good a thorough preparation is certainly required.

Earthquakes Christchurch Japan Update - And the Kids?

Everybody of us has seen these devastating pictures and videos over the last weeks and days, first Christchurch, then Japan, last year we had Haiti and China and other countries.

Did actually anybody talk about the kids and how they are suffering from these earthquakes? How are they coping with all these aftershock quakes, ...? I don't know, you can google it and find hardly information about them and their pains.

This week was again the Auckland Arts Festival, and kids we asked to draw their poster (they even then marched through the "streets of Auckland"....). I found the two posters (banners), see below, which really touched me. I don't know anything about the kids who have created them, but it should give us a moment of silence and thoughts of all these small "earthlings" ....

Auckland Lantern Festival 2011

Just to give you an idea of - in addition to the pictures I have uploaded to our web album - the Lantern Festival I have uploaded the following two videos for you: