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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More Flow Charts / Diagrams

I found a quirky little site on the web today...














Thanks to indexed


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Photos


Not from me this time, but from Douglas Gayeton, documenting his travels in Tuscany, and worth taking time to browse through.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gayeton/sets/512868/show/

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Essential Business tool

Thanks to BoingBoing for cutting through all the corporate crap and rendering decision-making so simple:



I'll never have to sit through a management training session again.

It's a man's man's world...

Over the summer months its not unusual to see the press zooming in on the rich and famous vacationing; either looking stunning on the beaches or catching them at an inelegant bikini moment (insert any Paris Hilton photo here...).

Whilst most try to shirk the media's attention over their summer break President Putin bared all (well most) this week giving Russia something to oogle at...



Did Putin bare his 'vigorous torso', to boost his personal appeal to voters? or was he simply relaxing during his Siberian vacation? One thing's for sure is that Pres' pecs have set Russia ablaze.

Komsomolskaya Pravda, Russia's nationwide daily newspaper who posted the photos on their website reported women visiting their site as "screaming with delight and showering (him) with compliments." And its not just the women he's turned on. Russia's gay chat rooms are equally abuzz.

Whilst Russia's media and the Kremlin speculate his motives its clear that Putin, who has a reputation as being a great skier and a black belt in judo, is not shy of his bod.


France, or at least the French celeb-mag 'Paris Match', it appears is not so proud of their leader this week as it becomes clear that they air-brushed out the President Sarkozy's 'poignées d'amour' (love handles).



Whilst Putin parades proud, the BBC reports Sarkozy as having 'scolded' US photographers who snapped him and his family during his summer vacation but it may be too late, the French blogosphere having picked up on the scandal and more unflattering images coming to light daily.



Like Putin, Sarkozy has a reputation as being a sportsman and a great jogger. Although lacking a judo belt those 'poignées' don't appear out of place in the sumo circuit.


Being President cannot be easy but for Russia's ruler its definitly a man's man's world. For Sarko however, it ain't nothing without a woman or a girl (preferably skilled in the art of Photoshop).

Weapon of mass transport...

On a dark night about a month back the invasion started, and in a matter of weeks the streets of Paris were alive with Vélibs...





Bertrand Delanoe, Paris' left wing mayor, has put 10,700 public bicycles on the streets in the last month and with 1,451 parking stations roughly every 300m they've instantly become part of the fabric of the city.


Providing a 24/7 mode of transport the scheme is aimed equally at making it easier to get around the city and cutting greenhouse gases. But a distinct lack of cycle paths (and helmets) makes pedaling around the city a high adrenalin sport...



Not known for its compassionate drivers Paris has never been an incredibly cycle-friendly city, but with another 10,000 bikes being delivered before the end of the year manpower stands a better chance of overpowering motor in the very near future....

Spotted!

Look who I found on a recent trip to Lyon....











It's Sixie, Mixie's 'purer than thou' twin from Macau.







It would appear that shes been hitting the Slimfast, strayed from the path of righteousness and got tangled up with those naughty Raelian people...



Still no word from Mixie though...

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Lyon Road Trip


With a full tank of gas and a dodgy collection of 80's music Doug and I hired a car a couple of weeks back and headed South to Lyon and Bourgogne.

Rather than boring you all with words i'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

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More flying visits...

Flying visit

Its all very well being jet-set and international but there is always a schedule to meet and a budget to adhere to. Sometimes the former takes priority but mostly the latter, hence this trip to HK following a very roundabout route.

The direct Paris-HK flight prices were not only astronomical but there was zero availability for the dates we needed so Christophe (IT Director) and I are flying via Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur! It makes the journey hell but nearly cuts the cost in half and means we get to spend a day in KL and take in one or two sights...



Honestly, from the small amount i've seen, KL doesn't rock my world ( I doubt a nation governed by Islamic law ever will...) but just 20 mins by taxi outside of the city sits FRIM (the Malaysian Institute for Forest Research) which has some of the oldest rainforest in South East Asia in a peaceful and well preserved park.



After a week of solid concrete and giant tower blocks it was fantastic to be dwarfed by such beautiful trees and for a couple of hours to escape the noise, dirt and pollution of the city. I took literally hundreds of photos in an attempt to capture the beauty of the forest so if you're in need so some green check out the latest album on Flickr.

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Back in the Kong...

Just visiting for a couple of days to follow up on the project I worked on here and took my camera out with me for the day yesterday. For once the weather was behaving itself and the pollution joined in to give some stunning scenery at sunset...






More photos and news to follow when I ditch the jet lag.

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