Girl Power!

This year i'm lucky enough to be able to attend the annual WIN conference, being held for the 10th year, this time in Oslo.

I'll blog later a bit about what WIN (Women's International Networking) is all about and what i'm getting out of it but all you need to know for now is that more than 700 females from around the planet are gathered here this week to talk about global challenges, goals and ambitions.

The speakers so far have been amazing but the announcement that got the biggest round of applause; that the hotel and conference facility had designated all male toilets in the building unisex.



There are some very confused/bemused/scared men walking around this evening ;-)

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Ladies & Gentlemen...



I fly pretty frequently and its almost guaranteed that during every flight i'll hear the annoucement:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to enter a zone of turbulance and so for your safety the Captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign..."

then, almost immediately after the announcement, the plane starts to rattle and shake.

My question is this; turbulance is nothing more than angry air, and you can't see air, so how do they know we're about to hit turbulance?

Do pilots have a magical 'wind warning system' up there in the cockpit do they just make the announcement then jiggle the controls around to give us a bit of a bumpy ride?

Answers on a sick bag please.


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This makes me smile!

HAPPY NEW YEARS !!

This post is dedicated to Ethiopia who today, Sept 12 2007, joins the 21st century!

I first became aware of Ethiopia back in 1984 when news reports brought images of starving children into our lounge. Bob Geldof rapidly mobilized the masses and Band Aid raised more than GBP 8 million, then it all went quiet again.

Twenty years later if you say 'Ethiopia' to me the word conjures up a very different image, namely large plates of delicious stews and salads served on 'injera' (large flat bread) and washed down with 'tej' (honey wine).

Not a pot-bellied infant in sight!

Ethiopia has made huge inroads into other areas of our day to day life recently. We're now all addicted to its Arabica beans and Broken Flowers brought Malatu Astatke, the father of Ethio-Jazz, on to our ipods.



Ethiopia's still a poor and troubled country. you only need to take a look at its infant mortality and HIV infection rates to see that but culturally and historically its rich, oh so rich; The queen of Sheba, Haile Selassie, Communism, Rastafaris, Haile Gebreselassie, Zion... need I go on?

Today, 12th September 2007, in honor of Ethiopia joining the 21st century pour yourself a mug of Ethiopia's finest and please make time to familiarize yourself a little more with their country and culture...


Link to Wikipedia , crack open the CIA factbook, download some Ethiopian tunes, and look up your nearest Ethiopian restaurant for dinner - you wont be disappointed!



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How green is your god?

Were Adam and Eve tree-huggers? The Book of Genesis says that in the beginning God placed man as guardian over the earth, but somewhere along the line he obviously let his responsibilities slip.

Last weekend the Vatican jumped on the environmental bandwagon and held its first eco-rally in which Benedict XVI (dressed suitably in green) called on global leaders to save the planet.


Of course the Vatican can do this with a clear conscious given its upcoming status as 'the world's only carbon neutral state'. For that it has to thank a Hungarian organisation thats donated 15 hectares of carbon hungry forest that will gobble up that Vatican nasty emmissions for years to come (read the online article here).

But I'm questioning just how seriously the Vatican takes saving our planet.

Surely if the environment really was a major concern for them and they want to carry out god's word and be guardians of the earth they would be encouraging pilgrims to take more environmentally friendly methods of transport rather than launching a new fossil fuel guzzling budget airline...

From where I sit it looks like Benedict's trying to boost god's popularity by aligning the church with a cause we've all been concerned about for a while now, whilst boosting god's coffers by entering directly into competition with RyanAir and other budget carriers flying those pilgrimage routes.

Theres no doubt about it. Religion truly is twisted

In an ideal world

Every weekend you start like this..





Thanks to Cama and Fion for a great escape from the smoke.
Pictures are on Flickr

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