A Contest For Change: World Challenge 08

It's amazing how some people can race to the moon and stars while others remain languishing in pitiful conditions. However there are initiatives that are improving the lives of many people in what would be considered as less than fortunate communities.

This is what World Challenge 08 is all about. Now running in its third year of competitions the challenge, which is spearheaded by BBC World News and Newsweek, with the help of Shell, seeks to highlight projects and small businesses that promote a sustainable positive impact at the grassroots level.

In 2006 a Sri Lankan papermaking firm won the award for its innovation of using elephant dung as raw material for paper and providing opportunities for community members to take part of the earnings. For 2007, the Peruvian T'ikapapa enterprise bagged the World Challenge top prize for helping the local potato growing communities in the Andes mountains reach a larger potato market.

This year there's a good mix of nominees from South Africa, Colombia, Nepal, Pakistan, Brazil, Paraguay, Kyrgyzstan, two from India and another two from Kenya. Their stories are just awe inspiring from promoting local grassroots livelihood projects to pursuing education for underprivileged communities.

Know more about the incredible and wonderful finalists for World Challenge 08 and be part in helping them continue their life changing initiatives by voting for your favourite project or enterprise. Online voting will end on November 21, 2008. Winners will be announced on December 20, 2008.

Lessons From Lehman

With the global markets scrambling for safety in light of the latest debacle that was the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers, it seems that the end of the financial meltdown, brought about by the US mortgage crisis, may not come earlier as hoped for. The expectation is that some more financial companies may fall in the coming months. Although, authorities are saying they know more now than they did when Federal Reserve bailed out Bear Stearns months before, the statement does not provide any reassurance.

One theory is that Lehman Brothers, a century and half old top investment banking institution, may have been hoping for the Fed to step in as it did with the Bear Stearns case, to avert the Chapter 11 filing.

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However, Federal Reserve would not be able to sustain bailouts in the medium to long term. Makes me wonder what if Lehman beat Bear Stearns to the punch and filed for bankruptcy earlier. Would the Fed otherwise helped the failing financial institution?

But I'm past speculation at this point. If there's anything that can be gleaned from our current global financial woes it's that you can't put so much at stake on risks. You put up some, you gain some. This way, if you do lose, your losses won't be too damaging. In the case of Lehman Brothers the losses were just so overwhelming that stockmarkets everywhere are tumbling like a house of cards.

We are in the midst of a worldwide crunch and it is clearly not the time to blindly hope for big gains and jackpots in any financial dealings. Track records are reset to zero in circumstances like these, as the Lehman's case clearly shows. People and business should just focus on buckling down to increase productivity, save up as much resources and patiently wait for this financial storm to blow over. Only then can we attempt to reshape our financial futures.

2008 Olympics: Bye-bye Beijing, Hello London!

Monocycle racing - the future of the Olympics?
Image from Daily Kos

The last of the fireworks fizzled out late August 25th as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games came to a very spectacular close. Despite its many detractors, the Beijing Olympic Games would remain a historic, fantastic and the most grand Olympics of the global sporting meet.

Already, London, which is up next in hosting the games by 2012, have its mayor Boris Johnson almost half-apologetically expressing to the effect that the next instance of the Olympiad would be quite modest compared to the just finished Chinese version. Says Johnson thru the BBC, "This is not going to be a cost-cutting Olympics, but it is essential we watch every penny to deliver a Games that is value for money."

Olympic Medal Tally Results

The top 5 countries dominating the games were the USA, China, Russia, Great Britain, and Australia. Germany, France, South Korea, Italy and the Ukraine rounds up the top 10.

Overall, there were 87 countries that ranked with a medal out of the 204 states that participated for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Catch the Games results and other Olympic statistics in detail at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) website.

The Philippine Performance

The Philippine delegation did not succeed in bringing in any medals in the official Olympic competitions. However, Filipinos have a consolation in Wushu athlete Willy Wang who brought home a gold for the demonstration sport.

This is the second gold for the Philippines in a non-official sport in the Olympics. The first one was bagged by celebrated bowler Arianne Cerdeña during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

With another medal-less Olympic campaign the Philippine government pledges to overhaul the sports program of the country.

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Bolt and Phelps Victorious

The athletes who stood out at the Beijing Olympics were of course, Michael Phelps of the USA and Jamaica's Usain Bolt.

Michael Phelps has now reached legendary status for taking 8 golds in swimming, breaking 4 world records as an individual and helping to break 3 more records in the men's relay events. Phelps now stands as the person with the most gold medals for a single Olympics, overshadowing his predecessor and compatriot Mark Spitz.

Usain Bolt ran away (literally and figuratively) with 3 gold medals corresponding to 3 world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay track and field events. He is the world's fastest man despite the disapproving remarks of IOC President Jacques Rogge's regarding Bolt's bragging attitude over his wins.

The Beijing Olympic Games will be a memorable celebration for the 10,000 athletes who played in the events and the tens of thousands more who presented the pageantry, the fireworks, the men and women flying on strings, the neon-lit monocycles and the singers and dancers who represent the billions of dollars spent for hosting the 2008 Olympics. For the millions of viewers worldwide who watched the games on TV, special effects and lipsyncing aside, and anticipated the results on the Web (over 16 million tuned in at IOC's You Tube channel), the Beijing experience is finally over. We can now go on with our lives undistracted by what was the most fantastic hosting of the Olympics in all of history.

100 Days To The Beijing 2008 Olympics

The 100-day countdown begins for what is highly anticipated as the biggest sporting event in the world -- the Beijing 2008 Olympics. It is certainly projected to be the grandest staging of the international sporting competition to be held in an Asian country. Arguably, it may very well be the most spectacular Olympiad yet.

But no grand goal is not without an opponent just as great. Not since Berlin 1936 did the Olympic games receive extensive media mileage for swimming in a pool of controversy. Ever since 2001 when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded China the honor of hosting the 29th Olympiad, protests have been thrown from all sides ranging from issues of China and its relation to the Darfur conflict, to allegations of human rights violations, to China's strained politics over Tibet and the issue of the environment as several Olympic sites are said to be heavy in smog.

Yesterday, the international leg of the Olympic torch relay ended at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. But prior to reaching the China-allied nation the torch relay was marred by huge protests in key cities along the torch's route -- San Francisco, Paris, New Delhi, Canberra and London among others. At the end of April the torch relay will start its China route starting in Hong Kong. The route of the China leg includes an ascent to Mt. Everest, another controversial first to watch out for in this epic prologue to the 29th Olympiad in Beijing.

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Earlier, thousands of participants joined in the Sports for All Marathon Relay marking the 100-day countdown to the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing. The run started near the National Stadium (also called the "Bird's Nest") and also finished at the main Olympics venue.

Later a musical concert will be held to showcase the Beijing Olympics Theme Song "Beijing Huan Ying Ni" ("Beijing Welcomes You") along with the top entries for the Olympic song search. Guests include international martial arts superstar Jackie Chan and other Chinese stars such as Andy Lau and Stephanie Sun among others.

Officials from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) express confidence that everything is on track for the Olympic Games come August 8. Venues have been completed in record time, transportation issues are being addressed with new airports and subway systems. In addition, the pollution levels are steadily dropping with the closure of factories and heavy industry facilities within and around the vicinity of the sports venues.

Subscribe to our feed and keep track for more developments on the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

The Airbus A380's First Commercial Flight On Singapore Airlines

"It's a great, GRAND way to fly!"
Image by Slivester Chua
Flight SQ380 of Singapore Airlines left for Sydney a little after 8am October 25 to be the first commercial voyage of the biggest airliner in aviation history - the Airbus A380. The historic 7-hour-plus flight of the "Superjumbo" carried 455 passengers from Singapore's Changi Airport to Sydney Airport, which was reportedly modified to handle the new giant of the skies.

Tickets to the maiden flight of the A380 were auctioned off under special arrangements with eBay, which raised around $1.3 million for charity. Passengers paid from $550 to as much as over $100,000 to be part of the inaugural flight.

Boeing's decades of dominance in the large long-haul jetliner category with its flagship 747 line of jumbo jets is now officially challenged with the entry of the Airbus A380. The A380-800, with a maximum capacity of 853 people, is also expected to fill the growing demand for air travel which have already started to outgrow current facilities and is projected to double in the next 30 years.

While undoubtedly an aviation marvel, industry analysts however are wary of the A380's projected performance business-wise. At $320 million dollars, the A380 may be a tad too hefty for commercial airliners. With a current order of 165, it would take more than 2 and a half times more orders for Airbus to break-even. In contrast, Boeing's upcoming Dreamliner 787, although mid-sized and can carry only around 250 passengers, already have orders reportedly upwards of 700. Both the Airbus A380 and the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 are specified for travel up to 8,200 nautical miles - that's enough for flying non-stop from Hong Kong to New York.

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Known for their world-class service, Singapore Airlines (SIA) now touts the tagline "First To Fly A380". SIA Flight SQ380 is the first to offer the airlines' latest features found only on the A380 - cabin suites said to be "beyond first class". Each of the twelve lavishly endowed suites feature their own sliding doors, a 23-inch flat screen TV, and a fold-away full-sized bed.

Talk about flying at the height of luxury!

Singapore Airlines is set to receive 18 more A380 deliveries. Interestingly, SIA is also expecting 20 Boeing Dreamliners starting on 2011. Emirates Airline, have 55 orders for the A380 in the pipeline making it the largest customer of Airbus to date. The Dubai flag-carrier, Emirates is set to receive their first delivery of the titan aircraft on August 2008.

The 2007 Nobel Laureates: Another Year of Advancements and Controversy

"How about a Literature award
for bloggers? Hmm...."

Image from nobelprize.org

With the earlier announcement of the Nobel Prize awardees for Economics, all presentations of the Nobel Prize recipients for 2007 is now complete. The line up of Nobel Prize winners, laudable as they all are, do not come without their share of controversy as advancements in stem cell research and the highly politicized climate change agenda had been accorded a spotlight by the award-giving body.

The Nobel Foundation began prize announcements last October 8 starting with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. On October 9, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced. This was followed by the announcements for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on October 10, Nobel Prize in Literature on October 11, and the Nobel Peace Prize on October 12. The Prize for Economic Sciences was awarded October 15.

The yearly Nobel Prize identifies distinct achievements in the aforementioned categories. Run by the Sweden-based Nobel Foundation the awards are the fulfillment of Alfred Nobel's last will and testament. The famed inventor of the dynamite, Alfred Nobel was a highly regarded industrialist, scientist, and poet. Upon his death in 1896, a sizeable portion of his estate was bequeathed to a fund which "shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" (see "Excerpt from the Will of Alfred Nobel", nobelprize.org).

Five categories were identified by Nobel himself - Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and the Peace Prize. The Nobel Prize in Economics, officially titled "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel", is not originally part of the awards but rather was instituted in conjunction with the Sweden Central Bank in 1969.

The Nobel Prize consists of the Nobel Diplomas, the Nobel Prize Medals and an amount which for this year totals to 10 Million Swedish Kronor (over 1 Million US Dollars).

This year's Nobel Laureates are as follows:

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007
Mario Cappechi (USA), Sir Martin Evans (UK), and Oliver Smithies (USA), "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells";

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2007
Albert Fert (France), and Peter Grunberg (Germany), "for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance";

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2007
Gerhard Erti (Germany), "for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces";

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007
Doris Lessing (UK), "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny";

The Nobel Peace Prize 2007
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Geneva, Switzerland), and Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. (USA);

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007
Leonid Hurwicz (USA), Eric Maskin (USA), and Roger Myerson (USA), "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory".

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There were those who raised wary eyebrows with the inclusion of Al Gore for the Nobel Peace award as some view his advocacy of the climate change agenda to be "too propagandist". In a similar fashion, advancements in stem cell research still strikes sensitive chords among conservative sectors.

Nonetheless, Alfred Nobel's legacy continues - a legacy of unperturbed trailblazing in the face of criticism and difficulties, and eventually contributing toward the betterment of mankind.

Find out more from TheNobelPrize channel on YouTube and at the nobelprize.org website.


Technorati Tags:Nobel Prize 2007

Monet Masterpiece Marred

"Sacrebleu! Zem nazties
turned my chef d'ouvre inzo a decoupage!"
Claude Monet's 'Le Pont d'Argenteuil' at photosmarval.org
A GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE BROKE into the Orsay Museum in Paris over the weekend and vandalized a priceless painting by Claude Monet. The incident was caught on video which showed the break-in happening around midnight of Sunday, October 7 during the annual Nuit Blanche cultural festival.

The youth, suspected to be four male and one female all seemingly intoxicated, trespassed into the museum as the all-nighter festival went on. Even as the alarm was set off, the vandals managed to punch a 4-inch cut into the middle of the canvass that was Monet's "Le Pont d'Argenteuil".

French cultural minister Christine Albanel commented that the vandalism was an attack against French heritage and was "a purely criminal act". The minister pledged that restoration will be undertaken for the artwork.

Claude Monet was a 19th century French artist regarded as one of the prime movers of the art style "Impressionism". The term came from one of his earlier work "Impression, Soleil Levant" (Impression, Sunrise) coined by art critic Louis Leroy and appropriated by Impressionists thereafter.

The vandalised work, "Le Pont d'Argenteuil", was one of seven artworks done by Monet in 1874 featuring the Argenteuil Bridge which traverses the Seine river, according to the Musee d'Orsay website. Monet reportedly attempted suicide in 1864 by throwing himself into the Seine, which became the recurring theme of his masterpieces 10 years later. Monet's work is characterized by bright colors and fluid textures as experienced "en plein air" (outdoors) many of which involve contrasting characteristics of actual objects and their reflections in water, as exemplified by "Le Pont d'Argenteuil".

Security will be beefed up for the various museums in and around Paris. Various breech of French institutions have been cited earlier this year. No arrests were made regarding the Orsay Museum incident.

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On a personal note, it seems that today's youth have little regard for lasting cultural heritage. Subjected daily with a barrage of fast moving media, many young people today fail to appreciate the legacy of previous generations. Their understanding exists mostly only at the level of fleeting interaction - things that are transient and can be easily manipulated, i.e. video games, music remixes, spraypainted murals and "photoshopped" web images.

Technorati Tags:monet, art monet, painting monet