Wild Cyprus, angry mermaids and my YouTube crush!

A few things I’ve been reading/watching today:

• Peace threatens wildlife on Cyprus! No man’s land separating Greek and Turkish sides of the island in 1974 turned into an unintentional natural reservation. Peace and the ensuing return of farmers and villagers will threaten various rare endogenous species. There have recently been an influx of other animals such as rats and wild dogs – maybe the returning folk could protect the incredible gift that has come of this conflict from such things and preserve it? The cynic in me says no.
• Represent Copenhagen! OK so the ground-breaking, pollution-tackling, environment-saving, hope-inspiring resolution everyone had been hyped up to depend on never came through. But can we really expect to solve a problem so great in just 11 days? Regardless, I think Copenhagen made some important statements that I hope people will take home with them, my favourite being no one is too good to drink tap water – Go Jantelov! (not that I really agree with it but it has its perks.) Can’t say too much as I have only caught bits and pieces during the Christmas cram.
• The Angry Mermaid – Awards prizes to worst coroporate lobby groups for “undermining effective climate change” (see above). Cool animation on YouTube – regardless of the criticism, I think it makes a valid point – we want to help, we want people that genuinely want to make a difference to represent us and solve this problem, cause in the end it’s going to be us paying for it! It’s totally doable – sure, drastic changes need to be made and some very powerful companies will lose out unless they, too, make the switch. Boo hoo. Things evolve, we need to pay the consequences for our mistakes and apply the knowledge we’ve gained to ratify the situation. How can the politicians keep selling us out? It’s us they’re meant to be representing!
• I’ve been watching this guy Lasse Gjertsen on YouTube for a couple of years now. I must admit that I am somewhat infatuated with him, but the guy’s seriously talented! He’s done a few different things, Hyperactive being his most watched video. Along the same line of stop-motion animation is Picadilly Postcard – awesome! He’s also done some classic animations – Gammel Nytt and The Business Man being a couple of favourites – and a satirical “commercial“. He’s has recently started making music videos to make ends meet – some people look at that as slightly traitorous. I disagree – music videos are an art overlooked thanks to all the trashy stuff out there and I think Lasse’s latest upload, A Bar in Amsterdam is proof of it (artsiness, not trashiness).

The Peter Principle.

The Peter Principle is based on the idea that everyone tends to be promoted until they reach their level of incompetence, hence the reason why so many schools, businesses and governments are so damn inefficient! People start at the bottom of the hierarchy, work hard and do a great job, get promoted to a higher position, etc. until they reach the point where they’re stuck in a job that they really aren’t capable of doing. By then it’s too late to fire them because that could leak damaging information to competitors and demotion isn’t a possibility. This book covers all from the principle itself: why and how it happens, apparent exceptions, physical and psychological symptoms of incompetence and ways to avoid falling victim to it and generally make the world a better place – all sprinkled with colourful examples and bits of humour.

It certainly makes for an interesting read. I enjoyed the book, but the whole time I was wondering how credible it all was. Peter and Hull do admit to there being no precedence on the topic and therefore a lack of sources to refer to, but I wasn’t satisifed with the references to age old adages and informal case studies. There were also times, especially at the end, because of the light-hearted writing style where I didn’t know if they were being serious or just pulling my leg.

Regardless of all this they make some great points! After reading this, you’ll no longer be shocked by the incompetence of certain governments *ahem ahemerica ahem* – not that they’re the only ones of course! I just expect(ed) more from the world’s “superpower”. I do tend to disagree though with the fact that incompetence is as widespread as they make it seem. Of course, the world is riddled with incompetence and I haven’t exactly been out in the “real world” yet as I’m still studying, but I have much pride in my university and my country and the competence within them.

Also, being written in the 1960’s, it is a little outdated now. This is merely because of the progression in technology and reading the bit about computers going haywire due to nylon underwear static sure reminds you how things have changed!

One last point, Peter states that because of the declining ability of students at different levels (high school, Bachelors and Masters degrees, doctorates…) resulting from a wish to protect kids from the hurt of failure and the general incompetence of schools has caused the requirement of higher and higher degrees over time. Literacy was once enough to run a company whereas now an MBA is the bare minimum. Ok, I can’t really say what schools and universities are like in the States, but I don’t think Peter quite had the right idea here. Again, because of the progression of technology, the ease of our lives in comparison with 50 or 100 years ago, the ability to travel, etc. it has become easier to reach higher levels of qualification and therefore the amount of competition is much higher. A high school graduate doesn’t quite have the chance of bagging the job when up against MBAs unless with plenty of experience!

All in all, a fun read on “hierarchiology” and the rise to incompetence. Just remember to take it with a pinch of salt.

The ant that cried cookie.

Dr. X lays a cookie out on the ground.

An ant comes out scavenging for food in its usual domain. It spots the cookie with its wee antennae and excitedly scrambles back to its buddies for help.

Dr. X removes the cookie.

“…Guys, I’m telling you, this thing was massive! We’ll have food for months!…” But the cookie has mysteriously disappeared. After a thorough search, they decide a mistake has been made. Back to headquarters.

Dr. X lays out the cookie again.

The ant returns, again in search of food. Lo’ and behold! The cookie is there! It hurries for back up.

Dr. X removes the cookie.

All the ants return. Yet again, no cookie is to be found. The others hold a short conference. Our poor ant can’t understand what happened. It pleads desperately for mercy, but the others decide that it has gone delusional and is no longer efficient.

So they kill it.

A (somewhat) true story.

It’s in your stars.

I’m a sceptical believer if there is such a thing. I must admit I read my horoscope every day – it’s on my e-mail home page – but with reservations.

I find that people often suit their zodiac sign – leos are social, generous creatures, aquarians strong willed, determined individuals, etc. etc. Librans like myself are thinkers, placing great value on fairness, communication and understanding.

I’m sure it isn’t entirely random. The universe as an entirety must have some sort of effect on our little planet.

Gravity, for example. The moon affects ocean tides; it even has an influence on female menstrual cycles. Is it a coincidence that our bodies run on a 28 day cycle as does the moon? Maybe this is a sign of evolution and how such gravational pull affects our bodies.

Now consider the entire universe. If that’s too big for you, then just our solar system. The planets, although farther away from us than the moon, are also much larger, and surely they affect our circadian rhythm as well.

Then there’s the sun. Our star. Our light source. Massive enough to keep nine (or are we down to eight now Pluto is debatable?) planets orbiting it. Seeing as planet Earth is tilted on its axis, we experience different seasons. This has a psychological effect, such as winter depression in light deprived areas.

Taking all of this into account, yes, I do think the stars can somehow affect our personalities, our moods, our days.

But then you read the crap online.

Today, a loved one may get in the way of something you much desire.

Talk about vague. What does this mean??

Loved one. A parent? A child? A pet? A friend? Or maybe a cherished object? And something you much desire. Hell, what don’t I want!

But how to find someone who really knows their astrology? And how to know if you can trust them? They may be a Derren Brown in disguise.

Damn these horoscopes. Still I can’t help but read them.

Organic.

My new flatmate buys a lot of organic food.

I never bothered with that craze. The milk spoils before date and the fruit and veg rot so quickly you barely get a chance to eat it.

Sure, it’s all natural! No pesticides, insecticides, fertilisers, genetic manipulation, etc. Just the way nature intended!

Well, no it’s not. All these crops have already been subjects of genetic manipulation, just using traditional techniques. Cross the best plants together to get better offspring.

Plus, what else do we do that is so natural? Live in our brick houses. Drive our carbon dioxide emitting cars. Take medicine when we are ill. None of this is the way nature intended. We should be walking into our caves and dying of influenza.

But let’s do something right and eat organic food. Undo some of the bad.

Really? Yield of organic fields is extremely low due to spoilage from insects, disease, etc. These are the problems we are trying to fix in third world agriculture! We try to rid them of these issues so they can feed themselves.

Something like every 4 seconds someone dies from starvation. This means they have no access to food. Not that there isn’t anything good in the fridge. There is no food available, whatsoever.

And this is while we can still produce enough food for everyone. What will happen in 2040? It’s been predicted that because of our booming population, there will be a food shortage. Why are we wasting more by not protecting our plants from disease just as we would ourselves?

So what do I think of organic? I think there are better options – ones that don’t need to further lower our already diminishing food supply per capita.