Airplanes and red shoes

Let's start with a riddle: What do aeroplanes, sugarlumps and red dancing shoes have in common?

No, sorry, you can't have the answer yet.

This blog is all about aeroplanes, and some worries I have...

Now don't get me wrong, I love flying. Rollercoasters and football matches do nothing for me: when I'm looking for excitement, the buzz is best when that juddering aircraft leaves the tarmac, and I'm flying off to somewhere new and exciting. And as for the feeling I get when I'm up in the sky looking down on the clouds. Well, if you ask me, it's quite obviously magic, and it's marvellous!

But a friend sent me this video, and it has made me think that maybe we're doing just a little bit too much flying. Have a quick look at it before you read on (if you haven't already) so you'll know what I'm talking about...

Now, at one level, I think the video is rather beautiful. It reminds me of other things, like ripples and magnetic field patterns and the dances that bees do to find their way home. But these are aeroplanes, not bees.

Do you know how many flights there are, globally, each day or each year? Go on, have a guess...

The most reliable source I could find on t'interweb said there were 77 million flights in 2008, and numbers are rising. 77 million each year?! That's about 211,000 flights each day! And there were 4.874 billion passengers... Which, frankly, is such a BIG number that my poor brain can't even process it.

Now, I could go off on all sorts of interesting diversions about global economics ('cos this many passengers equals one hell of big pile of dollars, dunnit?!) and international development inequalities ('cos look at how the flight-paths predominantly zoom in and out of the US and Europe) ... But the big question this video has raised for me is about saturation.

Saturation, I hear you say. What, if you please, is saturation? Or rather (given that my readers are educated people) what on earth has saturation got to do with air traffic?!

Let me explain myself...

Saturation is what you get when you try to add too much of something to something else. So, you can add sugarlumps to tea, and go on adding them for a long time, making your tea sweeter and sweeter... But there comes a point where your tea can't absorb anything else; and if you go on trying to add sugar, it won't dissolve, and you'll get a lumpy mess. You see, the tea has reached its 'sugar saturation point', and it just can't take any more.

There are lots of other examples where a little bit of something is fine, but too much is not. The odd whisky (or wine or beer or whatever your tipple) is great, but too much alcohol becomes a problem. And a little bit of food down the plughole is OK when you are washing up, but half a plateful will block your pipes!

I suppose I'm worried that we might just have reached our 'aeroplane saturation point'. At least, I'd like to know what or where this point is. Perhaps 55 million planes a year was OK, but 77 million isn't. Or perhaps 78 million is OK, but 79 million will be too many. Do you get my drift? It would be useful to know, wouldn't it, just how many aeroplanes the planet can cope with.

Now, at the risk of getting all earnest here, maybe we should be asking the same question about everything we do, at a personal and global level. Basically, the question is, how much is enough?

Do you know The Red Shoes fairytale? I may tell you more about it another time, but for now, all you need to know is that the central character loved her red shoes so much that she wore them too often, and went dancing in them when she shouldn't have, and then couldn't stop dancing until someone cut off her feet with an axe.

And that, in a nutshell, is what aeroplanes, sugarlumps and red dancing shoes have in common. When it comes to things we like, we're not good at knowing when enough is enough.

And no, I'm not being puritanical.

You know I have an interest in go-going with the flow, dontcha? Well, so, I'm not saying don't dance; I'm saying we need to know when to stop, if we want to go-go with joy. Dance all night if you like, but make sure you can stop when you want, without needing someone to chop your feet off!

So if any of you know how to work out the global aeroplane saturation point, please let the rest of us know!

Flow x

The silly side of surveillance

Mark Thomas/FeelgoodTV - Video Surveillance

I've been thinking about surveillance (oh, no particular reason, Officer).

And when you think about it - which, let's face it, most of us would prefer not to - there are a lot of different possible responses to the fact we are all being spyed on. People whose lives are boring and/or self-satisfied tend towards the "Well, I've got nothing to hide" point of view. But the rest of us are often either worried, afraid or scandalised.

Mark Thomas, however (bless his cotton socks!), does a fine job of exposing the ridiculous side of surveillance, as well as its outrageousness. As this video clip shows, if you choose to meet sneaky, covert operations with open, honest communication, and a polite-but-mischievous refusal to play by their rules, then the Powers That Be end up looking rather foolish.

Which is only to be expected, I suppose, when the key words that the establishment spies listen out for include artichoke and badger!

Oops, I've said 'em now! No doubt Echelon has already noticed ...

Flow x

A woman's brain

My friend Lorna sent me this diagram of a woman's brain (thank you).

Clearly this shouldn't be used as any kind of instruction guide for surgery, but it tickled me: it's more or less what my brain feels like at the moment!




Flow x

Ten things I didn't know last week

I've just found a lovely page on the BBC website - 10 things we didn't know last week. And since Learning New Things is one of my favourite pastimes, I thought I'd give you my own list of things that I didn't know last week ...

* 97% of the world's money only exists electronically - only 3% exists as notes or coins.

* Loads of corporations are richer than countries: for example, Toyota and General Electric are richer than Portugal and Iran; Wal-mart, Exxon and Ford are richer than South Africa and Saudi Arabia (ibid).

* If a school holds incorrect information about your child, the Data Protection Act says they have to put it right.

* When my local Chinese takeaway says food could take "up to an hour", they actually mean one hour and 47 minutes.

* Solar noon (the time when the sun is highest in the sky) is at exactly noon on Christmas eve , for the one-and-only time this year.

* Google Earth also lets you look at the sky above your location, including stars, sunrises and sunsets (I've tried it - it's fun!)

* Our local Council doesn't want yoghurt pots because they don't have facilities for recycling polypropylene - not because they're fed up with unwashed, mouldy tubs.

* Burger King is marketing a men's perfume with the scent of meat. (YUCK! Please don't add that one to your Christmas lists, boys!)

* Galileo thermometers measure temperature by using little balls filled with liquids of slightly different densities, which change pressure as the liquids expand and contract, and so float up and down in a tube of water at different rates ... and they're pretty, too! (That's what's shown in the picture above - courtesy of Wikipedia).

* 'Mince' means 'coin' in Czech ... so are mince pies popular in the Czech Republic?!

So ... what would be on your list of new things you've learned this week?!

Flow x

Zeitgeist

Have you heard of the Zeitgeist Movement? If not, let me introduce you!

It's a new and growing movement that wants to change the world. It calls for shifts in human awareness and behaviour, so that we can all live creatively and positively, enjoying the good things in life.

It celebrates human potential and existing achievements. Particularly, it talks about the technology that already exists to provide us with all the power, transport and leisure we want. It critiques the economic, political and social systems we currently live within, and presents arguments and evidence about how these - but especially money, the drive for 'profit' and debt - harm us all and prevent us from living the lives we deserve. It offers concrete suggestions for how we can get involved and play a part - yes, you and me too! - in changing the world.

The Zeitgeist Movement is hugely idealistic - and I mean that as a compliment: isn't it about time for a new global movement that shakes us all up a bit and encourages us to (how can I put it, hem hem) go-go with the flow?!

The Zeitgeist website isn't as good as it could be. It is full of jargon and ideology that will put off many visitors before the ideas can hook 'em. But the Zeitgeist movies are compelling. If you only watch one documentary this year, make it Zeitgeist Addendum. It weaves together information and ideas about money, politics, big business, American interventionism, war, international 'aid', technology, 'green' energy, transport, the Venus Project, labour, leisure, sustainability, creativity, religion, human nature and consciousness ... and ends with a call to action!

(I tried to embed Zeitgeist Addendum here, but it wouldn't work - I may try again later, but meanwhile, click on the movie link above to go to Google Video).

And last year's Zeitgeist movie explored links between the global banking system and international terrorism, and put forward the best 'conspiracy theory' I've heard, arguing that 9-11 was a put-up, 'inside job'. Very interesting!

You don't have to agree with everything the Zeitgeist Movement says to rejoice in the fact that someone is out there saying it! As the filmakers say themselves, "We must be open to new information at all times, even if it threatens our belief systems and identities".

Personally, I am absolutely delighted to have stumbled upon this evidence that there are other people thinking things that I've been thinking: people who care about the world, who have some faith in human beings, who are happy to try to change even if it's scary or difficult, and who are passionate enough about these ideas to make a couple of non-commercial movies and start a global movement.

"We must become the change we want to see in the world" - Mohandas Gandhi.

Yup, the Zeitgeist Movement has captured something important - and it may well be the 'spirit of the age'. I hope so!




Flow x