Handiskiers

Without internet for 2 days! Now that was tough :) But worthwhile, and this is why:

About 40 km south of Grenoble, in the Massif Vercos, there's a sort of Poiana Brasov and Aspen combined: both close-to-home and a 5* ski resort! France doesn't cease to amaze me... Beautiful peaks, amazing panoramas, slopes that were so well connected and on top of all, the abounding powderish snow.... That was at Villard de Lans.

Anyways, I was almost as fast as the little mushrooms (4-5 year-olds that barely know how to walk... but are like ... born on skis!!!) but nowhere near as fast as the "handiskieurs": 

It was then when I found out this is a Special Olympics sport, and there's also a World Championship. Apparently, people have been skiing like this since the '50s, but only now it's getting more popular, thanks to the technical evolution but also the growing number of cable cars or chairlifts that are modified to fit special needs.

Here's a short movie to illustrate the 3 types of handiskiers that participate at the Olympics: the blind, the paralyzed and the amputated.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78dhPdxJrdo

Stay tuned!

OoY

The show must go on!

“Results 1 - 10 of about 306,000,000 for interesting” So there're hundreds of thousands of interesting things to discover... Now how am I supposed to chose from all that? 

Well... we'll leave it all to chance and use the principle of randomness! That will result in an aleatory choice, like this random fact: Cats will go blind without taurine in their diet! Still, don't feed red bull to your cat, the cat food will suffice :)

In art, during the last century, numerous techniques developed, for random painting for example. I found a beautiful piece without searching too much: 

  

I also bumped into an aleatoric musical piece. It's impressive, i guess you can do anything with a piano:) Here, no rules, no reviewing and correcting... just whatever hazard puts in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ3eRpV8TkE

Another random example of randomness is of course the random movement of particles, Brownian movement. The cigar smoke gracefully dancing in the air, the clouds taking bunny shapes, the dust in a ray of light ...

Who is this random anyways... I prefer the statistic definition (the other one, by OxDic, involves having no aim... can u believe that?) so it goes like " Governed by or involving equal chances for each of the actual or hypothetical members of a population; (also) produced or obtained by such a process, and therefore unpredictable in detail. " 

But if I were to take anyone’s opinion on this, it'd be Einstein. He said "God doesn't play dices with the Universe". I'll take his word for it.

Stay tuned for the next random posts :)

OoY

P.S.: the title is NOT random :) Whenever I think of leaving something to chance, i remember Queen's song, Show must go on: “Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance".

The meaning of life?

Naaah... that's too much of a broad subject for this humble blogger :)

How about the purpose of Blogs instead? The term is a contraction of "weblog" and dates from 1997 or so but became popular around the year 2000. It used to be an online diary, that thing where people keep track of their daily activities. It thereafter evolved, as the natural selection kept alive and encouraged blogs that contained interesting things, like news. Ever noticed how anyone's a journalist nowadays?

As an illustration of my point, I found a short movie from the "... In Plain English" series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

Good evening, fellow bloggers!

And stay tuned!

OoY,

The power to reunite a Nation

I have always been a fan of Morgan Freeman. That is a fact. And it's not because of Batman Begins or Deep Impact; it's more because of movies like The Bucket List. or Gran Torino. Not to mention The Shawshank Redemption!

Today i went to see Invictus. Bad timing, because i only got to sit in the front row (good thing it wasn't an action movie with lots of special effects :D). I was excited about the story even before seeing the movie: managing to reconcile the irreconcilable always made me hope there can be a better world, that there's still hope for us. Indeed, I left with this feeling after seeing this movie.

The story: the unexpected win of South African Rugby team at the '95 Rugby World Cup that brought together, even if not for good, a country separated by a history of abuse. What's great about the movie is that it works as a metaphor and persuades the audience to find the inspiration and to exceed all expectations.

Stay Tuned!

OoY.

Proof that good always wins.

We always need reassurance... And being proved once more that good definitely wins over evil is a booster. Where's the proof? Here :) 

That's a cute tool to compare no matter which 2 words or phrases, in terms of Google results.

Have fun!

OoY.

Acting as a reaction!

For 13 years every February, students are having a blast and putting smiles on children's faces at the same time: the 4L Trophy. That's a charity rally reserved to students; it starts from France, crossing Spain, all the way to the Moroccan dessert.All that adventure lasts ten days. The cars allowed are the famous 4L; it’s the Luxury version of Renault 4 (produced between '61 and '92). Amazingly, some still hit the road :) the students bring with them a precious load, books, notebooks, pens and pencils, backpacks and sport articles, all as a donation for kids living in one of the poorest regions of Morocco.

  

This year, we're crossing fingers for Marguerite :) That's how my colleagues, Quentin and Alexandre, named their baby. Together they are RoadSIEC, a winning trio I might add. If any of you wants to make a donation, you know how to reach me (e.g. leave a comment :) ).

Good luck, guys,

One of you.

If I were another...

Author: Palestinian National Poet, Mahmoud Darwish (1941 - 2008); Translation from Arabic: Fady Joudah

If I were another on the road, I would not have looked

back, I would have said what one traveler said

to another: Stranger! awaken

the guitar more! Delay our tomorrow so our road

may extend and space may widen for us, and we may get rescued

from our story together: you are so much yourself ... and I am

so much other than myself right here before you!

If I were another I would have belonged to the road,

neither you nor I would return. Awaken the guitar

and we might sense the unknown and the route that tempts

the traveler to test gravity. I am only

my steps, and you are both my compass and my chasm.

If I were another on the road, I would have

hidden my emotions in the suitcase, so my poem

would be of water, diaphanous, white,

abstract, and lightweight ... stronger than memory,

and weaker than dewdrops, and I would have said:

My identity is this expanse!

If I were another on the road, I would have said

to the guitar: Teach me an extra string!

Because the house is farther, and the road to it prettier—

that’s what my new song would say. Whenever

the road lengthens the meaning renews, and I become two

on this road: I ... and another!

Remember, Stay tuned!

One of you.