The force of nature

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Atlantic City with my friends. While they were rehearsing for their show "The Accused" I was helping out videoing some, but mostly just enjoying the visual beauty of it all.

While we were there, an official announcement was made by the governor of NJ declaring the state of emergency (because of hurricane Irene approaching) and telling people to evacuate the area within 24h.

I had heard of hurricanes down south and the damage they bring, but never really coming up as far high as this time...

So, while enjoying dinner just before making our way back up to NYC, we started discussing the force of nature. Just as we were all voicing our opinions, Colleen pulled out her phone and decided to show us pictures of her favourite tree "Papi".

Papi represents the force of nature in its utmost power, and I could see immediately how this was well suited to our discussion...
Not like a hurricane and its gusts of wind and shower rains, not like the earthquake that shook the ground just a few days ago, but that quiet force that day after day shows us that we have no control over it.

Papi is a larger than life tree that decided not to be imprisoned by a fence put too close to him.

And so he completely engulfed it within his trunk!

Have a look at these amazing images:

I looked at the picture and had to catch my breath such was the beauty of the message.
Refusing to be told how much he should grow, what were the limits of its existance Papi ate the fence...

We can't control nature, we can't submit it to our plans, our will, our ideas...

Thank you gorgeous tree for teaching us such a powerful lesson!

Kiss and make up....

Don't you love it when finally after the argument is over you kiss and make up?!
I have to say that, as much as I don't particularly enjoy the argument, the emotionally charged "making up" part is one of my favourite bits of a relationship!

I like power filled situations!
I like kisses that take away your breath, hugs where you can mould into the other person, looks that pierce the souls, where talking is unnecessary, nights that will remain engraved into your memory...

Though I know that only certain moments of a relationship will be like that, they are definitely the ones I look forward to the most!

It turns out that all mammals have the same instincts...
Us humans of course can make some kind of sense of what is happening, may express our personal feelings about the situation, plan a romantic or passionate way of making up after a fight...

But oh animals have been doing it way before we started!

Nature is wonderful, the capacity that us living beings have to feel love and affection, sorrow for having shaken the relationship, is outstanding...

Kissing and making up is the most beautiful way of nature of starting again where balance was corrupted!

And after you see this...

... you just want to do this!

Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease

I love communication and I have always had a fascination with words... I love to think about what words do. They express a feeling, a frame of mind, a thought, a condition, a place, a taste... Some follow sounds, some mean several different things at once.
To be able to express oneself in a way that others can really understand what we are trying to portray is a skill not too many people are able to muster.

My first spoken word was "banana" which I suppose it's quite different from the usual "mama" or "dada" that babies manage... Imagine my parents having to explain that to the family!!!
I guess it was the feeling that I had to make up for pointing at my dad and saying "banana" which pushed me towards becoming better at choosing the right words for the appropriate situations and in several different languages too.

So it really is no surprise I would feel attracted by a post about made up words with very clever meanings. I mean, how much actual knowledge of a language one must have to be able to create new words and attach a perfectly reasonable meaning to them... I applaud these minds!

Apparently every year The Washington Post's Style Invitational asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
I just about died laughing at a few of the results.

There are many but here are a few of my favourites besides the one I used as the title which definitely takes the prize:

- Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
- Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
- Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
- Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
- Unfare (n) - The dollar you owe to the taxi driver before you have even moved.
- Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an *******.
- Negatile (n) - An area of the bathroom floor where, somehow, the scale registers you 5 lbs lighter.

For more of these very clever words go on the Sniglets site... rather funny!

Keep your cavities to yourself!

Here comes again, the subject of teeth cavities!

Even after having warned you already on the dangers of not brushing your teeth, I felt it an obligation to share also this very essential piece of news with you...
I quite frankly think it may change your view on a few things!

Everyone knows you can catch a cold or the flu...
Most likely you wouldn't be going to visit any of your friends who displayed high temperatures, a runny nose and cough...
But would you visit a friend who happens to have a cavity?

Well, as things stand now, I will certainly visit but with precaution! This because researchers have found that not only is it possible to spread cavities, but it occurs all the time.

While candy and sugar get all the blame (BAD chocolate bar, BAD!) , cavities are caused primarily by bacteria that cling to teeth and feast on particles of food from your last meal. One of the by-products they create is acid, which destroys your teeth enamel.

Just as a virus can be passed from one person to the next, so can these cavity-causing bacteria.

The most famous culprit is this dude called Streptococcus mutans. And with a name like that you sort of already know he's going to be trouble!
Infants and children are especially vulnerable to it, and several studies have shown that most pick it up from their carers... for example, when a mum tastes her child’s food to make sure it’s not too hot.

Now, at my not so young age, nobody tastes my food to make sure it's not too hot, but obviously there are issues between couples.

“In one instance, a patient in her 40s who had never had a cavity suddenly developed two cavities and was starting to get some gum disease,” one of the dentists participating in this study said after she learned the woman had started dating a man who hadn’t been to a dentist in several years.

So my dear readers, to reduce the risk of inheriting somebody's cavities I recommend you make friends with an awesome flossing and brushing technique, and start chewing sugar free gum as it promotes saliva and washes away plaque and bacteria.

I can do without people tasting my food to make sure it's ok but I can't quite say the same of a boyfriend!

A.I.

A.I. stands for Artificial Intelligence and it relates to the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.

AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.

The field was founded on the claim that human intelligence can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine. This of course raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since the beginning of times.

Applications of AI are already used in video games, speech recognition programs, expert system such as the MYCIN that was created in 1974 which diagnosed bacterial infections of the blood and suggested treatments. It generally did better than medical students or practicing doctors though, of course, its limitations were observed. Namely,its ontology included bacteria, symptoms and treatments and did not include patients, doctors, hospitals, death, recovery and events occurring in time.
Its interactions depended on a single patient being considered. Since the experts consulted by the knowledge engineers knew about patients, doctors, death, recovery, etc... it is clear that the knowledge engineers forced what the experts told them into a predetermined framework. In the present state of AI, this has to be true. The usefulness of current expert systems depends on their users having common sense.

Answers on AI basic questions are answered here on Stanford University website.

And it's exactly Stanford University that just a few days ago, announced that they were offering a free online course on Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and all of a sudden the university found itself submerged with 74,200 requests on enrollment!

"The vision is to change the world by bringing education to places that can't be reached today" one of the main lecturers said.

And how will the AI instructors grade so many students? They claim the use of extensive technologies including Google moderator service and different was to personalise exams to minimise cheating.

I personally find it amazing that such a subject as this could be opened up to everyone without any limits. Age of the applicants varies between people just come out of high school to retired.
Besides being an incredibly interesting course to take, the potential of such method is massive. Imagine smaller institutions being able to implement their courses by joining efforts with great institutions such as Stanford...

I don't know about you but I have already asked my dad to take the course with me... He will certainly come in handy with the maths and logic side of it... me? I'll be the expert clown making studying light-hearted!!!

The stone

A few days ago I posted this as my status on Facebook:

**The Stone: the unaware stumbled on it. The violent used it as a projectile. The builder used it as a corner stone. The camper, tired, sat on it. To the children it was a toy. David killed Goliath with it. Michelangelo made the most wonderful sculpture out of it. In each of these instances the difference wasn't in the stone but in the people. There is no stone on your path that can't be used for Your Growth...**

I reckoned that would be an inspiring thought for the day, so I posted it and went on with what I had to do.
Fact is that this quote kept on popping up in my thoughts for the entire day, randomly, just when I had a choice to make or an issue to face.
I have never really realised how many times we can decide to be the “better person” even in just the space of one day.

There are so many “stones” dotting our path at all times.

Someone cuts you off driving? Deciding not to yell insults at him is already using the stone as an opportunity to become a better person.
Someone who hasn’t been a good person to you needs help? Holding your hand out to help despite instead thinking “actually you deserve every bit of what is happening to you” will make you grow and teach the other person an important lesson…

I’d rather be considered too good, even naïve, because I decide to use every stone I encounter as a stepping stone to elevate my path, than get my “revenge” on life by not putting forward my best side.

I don’t always manage to do it, but I try and I guess that’s as good as it gets.
It’s not exactly turning the other cheek but it’s more like making the best of what you’ve got and getting some sort of sense of satisfaction out of your daily interactions and situations.

If I didn’t do that I may end up being richer, more popular, more powerful but I’m happy that my richness comes from doing something good for my soul, my popularity is with the people that count in my life, and my power stands in the ability of deciding against the society standards and choosing what I believe is right thing to do according to my values rather than being lured into the wrong behaviour for the wrong reasons.

So yes, stones are very welcome in my life, I may get hit by a few, but mostly, they make for a good “stairway to heaven”!

It's a bird! It's a plane!... No, it's dinner!!!

I find myself always looking up when I'm here in NYC.

I love to see the skyscraper's tops, I admire their outline, their poise, the feeling of strength they convey...
Ah to be a bird and get close to the top!

It may not be that easy to become a bird but it certainly is easy to just float around that top now.

All thanks to Dinner In The Sky.
I came across a TV advertisement for them and decided to look them up and see what the great fuss about them was.

It turns out that they hold the key to an amazing concept.
Well, amazing if you don't suffer of fear of heights that is!!!

Yes because they come with a platform suspended up to 50m above ground where dinner is

served!

Diners sit in a seat that resembles one you might find in a race car, with everyone wearing a seat belt. This may detract from the allure of the formal setting but given that it's a quite a drop, I doubt anybody would ever complain!

This platform is purposely built and seats 22 guests with the centre reserved for the chef, his assistant and sometimes even an entertainer. In addition, a second platform can be hired to provide further entertainment such as a band or a stage for business presentations.

Needless to say that the food is some of the finest and one can just sit there and relax taking in the wonderful sights feeling a bit like a bird but without putting in any effort to use their wings.

I thought this concept was available only in the US but it turns out that it is offered in over 30 countries and I was rather surprised to see that even my little Edinburgh is part of the lucky locations on that list.

Look at these pictures!

Edinburgh

Paris

Las Vegas

London

If you're wondering what happens if someone needs a bathroom that's easy: the crane lowers the platform so that person can use the regular earthbound facilities...

Dropping a fork during a meal, however, could cause some problems!!!

Magic

This stay in NYC has brought many "first experiences" into my life.
I love learning new things, love pushing myself to my limits, love the inquisitive nature I was gifted with because it brings incredible thrills and great joy to my days.

A couple of weeks ago I said yes to a class of flying trapeze (I will blog about that soon enough) but what I want to talk about is what happened after.

Once I said goodbye to the friends "flying" with me I found myself in Eric's company.
Eric is a new friend I had the pleasure to meet when I arrived at the end of June.
On his business card there is the word conjurer... The sound of it is quite enticing, don't you think?

According to the dictionary to conjure means:

* to summon something by magical or supernatural power
* to influence or effect by or as if by magic
* to perform magic tricks especially by sleight of hands

who knew???

Chatting all our way back to Manhattan, risking of being a bit cheeky, I gathered the courage to ask him if he would ever reveal any of his tricks; if he was willing to teach something, for as simple as it may be, to someone who didn't really have a clue.

When in answer to my question he asked me if I was interested in learning something, you can imagine I jumped at the opportunity!!!

Two minutes later we were happily walking towards his apartment to find a deck of cards.

I figured that by being so close to him, without an audience as you may have in a big show, I would have a perfect vantage point to figure out the tricks on my own.
Eric kindly performed several things in front of me, and just when I thought I had spotted the wrong movement and was ready to say the infamous "Aha! I got it!", it always turned out I didn't get it at all...

Because of my curious nature I tend to be distracted a lot, I love to observe my surroundings. I was in a new place, full of super cool things, and yet not once I took my eyes off Eric's hands such was the allure of his movements.

And that made me think...
I didn't notice the time flying, I didn't notice all of the little details that I would have normally taken in, I did not feel tired despite standing for a long time, did not feel hungry despite realising later I had had no dinner that night, I laughed, I got frustrated, I cheered...
And when I tried to figure out how could it be possible to be completely unaware of one's own state, that's when I got it... it was magic!

But not that kind of magic that Merlin the wizard would perform and that, quite frankly, just reminds me of Disney's Fantasia... I'm talking about real magic (though you may argue that it isn't so...).

The kind of magic that you know it's a trick, the one that another person, as human as you are, has the power to perform while you look in awe, the one that you are perfectly aware that if you'd learn the hand movements and the distraction techniques you would be able to manage as well... but it's the magic that makes you forget about your surroundings exactly because you don't know the tricks, don't know the movements and, as much as you're hoping to be able to say "Aha!" at some point, you really know that in the bottom of your heart what you hope for is that you won't get it because that's what makes it special.

It's not the trick itself, it's what it provokes in the observer. It's the fact that for a brief moment in time, things aren't clear anymore, the impossible becomes possible and the childlike figure that we all harbour inside us comes out giggling with joy!
Magicians trick our brains and hold our hearts!
Eric explains this rather well in his blog.

I have already charmed people with my newly found magic skills (yes, despite being rather hopeless as an enchantress) I did learn one of Eric's tricks and have used a few adaptations of it.

Would I ever reveal the secret behind it? No!

Not just because it is indeed the only one I know, but because deep inside I'm sure I'd take away the real enjoyment from people.

I may have said this in a very simplistic way but what better way of describing something than through the simpleness of the feelings that it arouses inside you?

And as for Sherlock Holmes a truth was quite always "elementary" (poor Watson!), so it is for me when I say that now I know what the expression "Magic is magic" really means!

This is my friend Eric

Mona Lisa is addicted to coffee...

Art in it's proper form... and who says that art has to be on a canvas or carved in marble?

If you are like me, you'll find this piece of news fun and inspiring!

Every year, in Sidney Harbour, there is a running of free events proposed to celebrate Australia day. One of these is the Aroma Festival which is held at The Rocks, which for over 100 years was the hub of Sidney's international trade.

The Aroma Festival is a sensory overload and indulgence with the bite of brewing coffee, the strong explosion of spice as it hits the nose, the smooth quality of chocolate as it melts on the tongue and the clean flavour of the first sip of tea.

It's during this event that a group of people recreated possibly the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, using cups of coffee.
To be exact, they used 3,604 cups of coffee and 564 pints of milk.

To create the different colours they added no, little or lots of milk to each cup of black coffee.

The "painting" took a team of 8 people and 3h to complete and measured about 6m high (20ft) and 4m wide (13ft).

I found this quite inspiring! I have seen this painting reproduced in so many ways and with so many materials, printed on t-shirts, postcards, drawn on sidewalks, in bookmarks... but with coffee? That for sure has to be a first!
And possibly it's because Leonardo Da Vinci was Italian, possibly because I have a soft spot for this painting which I actually managed to see at the Louvre museum in Paris but I so wish I could have been there to admire this drinkable masterpiece!

Many people have wondered about Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile... I don't know what Leonardo saw when he painted this lady, but I do know for sure that I would be smiling in exactly the same way if I was surrounded by enough coffee to last me for my entire life!!!

The Temazcal

I've just returned from Mexico where I spent a week relaxing with my friend Giorgia.

Though I have known her for almost two years, we never really had too much time to spend together so it was lovely to finally be able to deepen our friendship.

She turned out to be a fantastic holiday partner in crime.

Just like me she doesn't mind getting up early in the morning for the gym, a long walk on the beach, she likes adventures like me and is keen to try new things.

That's why, while we were taking advantage of the jacuzzi tubs at the resort Spa and the staff came in asking us if we wanted to take part for free in this traditional Mayan treatment/ritual, it didn't seem strange for both to answer with an enthusiastic YES!

Except...
We weren't really told what this "traditional Mayan thing" was going to be.
From memory I remembered having read something in the past about a steam room so I was kind of relaxed about the whole thing.

Except...
We were asked to wear a bathrobe and follow someone... we thought just to the Spa's main entrance but no, we went all the way to the resort's foyer where about 50 people were grouped to look at us... Erm... slightly embarrassing.

Ok well, Giorgia and I looked at each other totally regretting our enthusiasm and stepped ahead.

Greeting us were 4 "Mayan warriors" (well, dancers of the resort playing dress-up) and a "holy man"... though the only holy thing I was able to think of was "holy cow when will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut"!!!!

So we stand there, slightly observed, and told to close our eyes, and open our arms wide
**coooouuugh**
**coooooouuuuugh** some more...
What the heck is happening???

I didn't dare open my eyes but it was clear to me that they were blowing some sort of scented smoke in our face! (and I always maintained I never smoked!!!!!)
After about 10 mins of utter humiliation we walked to the rear side of the pool.
Phew, the rear side, at least the pool crowd can't spot us...

Except...
Giorgia points out that there are about 200 people sitting on their balconies pulling out their cameras...
More "holy" thoughts racing through my mind!

Finally, after having thanked, the earth gods, the water gods, the wind gods, the air gods and the bush fairies which wouldn't let us ever sleep again unless we fed them rosemary sprigs, we were asked to strip down to our bikini to enter the Temazcal.
As soon as I saw what it was I started getting the chills because the rest of the very enlightening article read many moons ago came back to me...

The name Temazcal is made of 2 Nahuati words: temas, which means bath and calli, meaning house. Overheating of the body (during the bath, the body temperature may reach one hundred and four degrees) produces a series of reactions: it stimulates both the superficial and the deep blood circulation, accelerates the frequency of heartbeats, as well as increases their force, calls into action the mechanisms of thermal regulation, activates the metabolism, and promotes sweating. All of these effects produce a great internal movement of energy and liquids, somewhat similar to the way in which strenuous exercise does, bringing increased circulation to all the muscles, organs and tissues. While all sweat baths produce these effects, the Temazcal, because of the way it works and the precision with which it can be regulated by the healer in charge of the bath, controls these body reactions to high heat to maximize the curative effects of the bath.

Downside of this very clever concept: the temperature inside this chamber is infernal!

As tradition requests, one has to enter in single file, in a clockwise fashion and sit on its little towel. Who goes the wrong way? Take a guess!!! (more embarrassment!)
Now I am all worried I have upset the fairies so very sheepishly walk backwards retracing my steps and finally enter the right way around.
I sit down and wait for everybody else to come in and then the guy says "AHUM"!

Huh???

So Ahum turns out to be the way to start and close conversation. A few Ahums later we are all laying on the floor, dripping sweat and wishing we were mute!
Ahums fly right and left, I'm in my own personal delirium!
By this point the temperature inside the Temazcal has raised to 47.5C and I am literally melting.

I try to settle and think of all beautiful things that happen in warm weather: the sea (oh how I wished I could jump in it), ice-cream (may someone please bring me one right now?), snow (yeah well, that doesn't happen in hot weather but my brain doesn't seem to connect properly!)
I reach my limit and decide to escape!

"It's too hot" I say and get up to make a run for the door... Crap, the wrong way around!
Ask forgiveness to the fairies, go back the other way, ask forgiveness to the guy I almost kicked in the face and run out!
Giorgia, needless to say, sacrifices herself (NOT!) to keep me company and runs for her life too!

We're out... we're safe!
Except...

The holy dude comes out to check on us, gives us a hug and suddenly drops the contents of an icy bowl of water on both our heads!
Holy sheep in the green pastures and all of Mary's little lambs!!!
We're both wide-eyed (especially Giorgia who had spent the entire day avoiding water because she didn't want to wet her hair!) we're shivering now, disoriented and very ready to attack the wonderful fruit buffet that was set-up right outside the torture chamber.
We finally sit down and regain consciousness (or whatever semi-state of it we were before this experience!)

About 20 minutes after, the rest of the group comes out, we all sit together to share our feelings The two of us, who are clearly horrified but with very good people skills, smile politely until the moment when holy dude shares with us that outside the resort this same ritual is accompanied by drinking hallucinogenic tea and burning herbal drugs rather than our very "I-am-only-happy-with-potatoes" rosemary...

Dear holy dude, thanks for the wonderful Mayan experience.... Now I think I know why they don't exist anymore!!! But at least it was something different and all in all fun...