Category: Random

George Orwell On Money And Status

From Jack Shafer, by way of Andrew Sullivan, comes this penetrating and scathing prose from George Orwell:

The interesting thing about the New Albion was that it was so completely modern in spirit. There was hardly a soul in the firm who was not perfectly well aware that publicity – advertising – is the dirtiest ramp that capitalism has yet produced. In the red lead firm there had still lingered certain notions of commercial honor and usefulness. But such things would have been laughed at in the New Albion. Most the employees were the hard-boiled, Americanized, go-getting type to whom nothing in the world is sacred, except money. They had their cynical code worked out. The public are swine; advertizing is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket. And yet beneath their cynicism there was the final naivete, the blind worship of the money-god…

If ever there was a reminder of the incisiveness and scorn that Orwell could summon, that is it. The quote comes from Orwell’s Keep The Aspidistra Flying, which was published in 1936. The novel features Gordon Comstock, who tries to disdain and defy the Money God. Sadly, he loses (or at least his life is cast into misery). But  most of us know all about that, right?

Program Update: Facebook Page Action

In the ever-shifting world of social media platforms I realize that I am increasingly posting and sharing links, news, and short commentary on my Facebook page instead of here.  It’s quicker, easier, and more “social.” Thinking it through, I realize that makes sense.

So in terms of daily content and energy, the Facebook page will be where the action is, and if you are interested in daily news, links, and updates, I urge you to “like” my Facebook page and follow via your Facebook news feed. Or, if you prefer to follow via an RSS reader, just click on this RSS link. Or copy this URL into your favorite RSS Reader:

https://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?id=418183151574142&format=rss20

If you are not on Facebook, apologies (and I’d urge you to try it–it is incredibly useful and will connect you with many worlds).

I will still post here on WordPress, but I will use WordPress for longer, reported, posts and analysis.

As always, thanks and stay tuned…

What Are These Signs Saying?

This must be a good omen: that’s ex-SeaWorld trainer John Hargrove on the slopes, 8 hours before the Blackfish premiere:

LibertyShamu

Sundance Posting

I’m in Park City, and looking forward to the start of Blackfish screenings at Sundance. I’ll be trying to post some updates on this page, but given the pace of things, and the ease of posting to Facebook while on the move, I’ll probably be posting more frequently to my Facebook page. Score one for Facebook over WordPress.

Here’s a nice preview I found this morning, which has Gabriela explaining what Blackfish is about and what it took to make the film:

Synopsis:
Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.

Blackfish quick pitch:
The story shows us what can happen when you put one of the world’s most intelligent, powerful, and beautiful predators in a tank of water, make them do tricks, and “add humans” to the recipe.

Why it’s worth checking out at Sundance and beyond:
Oh I think you might be in for a ride. I guess I’m hoping you experience the same shock and discovery I experienced while making the film. But I had 2 years. You get 82 minutes!

How it all came together:
I think the thing that takes everybody by surprise is that I took my kids to Sea World multiple times before making this film. When I started making the movie, I thought I was making a movie about the death of a trainer. It was only when I started filming that I discovered that nothing in this industry is what it seems. I was blown away by what I learned. So from that moment on, I think the biggest challenge for me was not putting things in the film. There was so much disturbing information, I found myself wanting to shoe horn any alarming fact into the film, even if it wasn’t part of the story. But in the end, I refrained because I didn’t want the film to feel manipulative. I knew if we had a chance to make this film stand out, it would be because we stuck to telling the story, not inundating an audience with damning facts designed to scare them or piss them off. So one of my strongest challenges was staying disciplined about telling the story. 

I think another of the biggest challenges was trying to interview people. It’s amazing how terrified people are of that marine park. Sometimes people would be willing to speak anonymously, but even they would eventually back out for fear of repercussions. Twice we had already flown to locations, unpacked our gear, only to learn that our interviewees had backed out. It was frustrating. This extends to other parks too. Our fixers at Loro Parque were terrified of being on camera for fear of what the owner of Loro Parque would do. They stood away from our cameras and whispered when they spoke. I want to say there was nothing to be afraid of, but we were followed and our pictures were taken on more than one occasion.

On the Blackfish clip (click here):
The clip is actually our opening. I thought of the scene while I was interviewing a trainer. He was describing what it was like to do a “rocket hop.” This is a trick the experienced trainers do at Sea World, where the trainer is launched up into the air essentially off the nose of an orca. To me, the scene is a visual metaphor for the spectacle of the show above water versus the reality underneath. Above water you see a brilliant spectacle, a beautiful show with happy animals and trainers. Beneath the surface, you see what could arguably turn into a terrifying interaction at any moment. It still scares me every time I watch it!

Reporting Break

Off on a reporting trip until early next week, so limited (if any) posting.

Magazine: Outside

Location: Niagara Falls, Canada

Topic: A man and a walrus called Smooshi.

Should be interesting.

In the meantime, here’s a haunting and thought-provoking song that I have been giving heavy playtime. Anyone have any suggestions to match it?

Coast Guard At Work

Here’s your Coast Guard in some hot video rescue action (What? Is there a video editing class at the Coast Guard Academy?)

This first video is a compilation to set up their annual video contest:

And this is the contest winner. Who’s ready to enlist?

Gaining And Losing Minutes Of Life

We are a culture which obsesses about the risks and benefits of just about everything (which in itself is probably a stress risk), particularly when it comes to human health and longevity. And we usually do it badly.

So, at the risk of feeding that obsession, here is some actual science (presented with the help of some very nice graphics):

“I hate when someone tells me that something is risky,” says David Spiegelhalter, a professor of risk assessment at the University of Cambridge. “Well, compared to what?”

To answer his own question, Spiegelhalter converted reams of statistical risk tables into a simple metric: a microlife—30 minutes. If you smoke two cigarettes, you lose 30 minutes of your life (top graphic). Exercise for 20 minutes, and you gain two units of microlife. Over time bad habits accelerate your aging, and good habits slow it down (bottom graphic). “That seems to resonate with people,” Spiegelhalter says. “No one likes to get older faster.”

This data caught my roving eye, to no ones surprise, because Spiegelhalter flags red meat and sitting, two topics which I have beaten to death featured (and, yes, I am still standing when I work). I will also be glad to show my wife the data regarding the beneficial effects of 1 serving of alcohol (and even if you have two servings, you make a net gain of 1/2 microlife–funny how I did that math so quickly).

Anyhow, how many microlives are you gaining or losing every day?

More on risk from Spiegelhalter in this TED Talk. It is very useful info to help me achieve my ambition of NOT having the last thought that goes through my mind be: “I am so stupid.”

Sadly, Spiegelhalter doesn’t have great news for cyclists (mostly because drivers are so dangerous, I suspect). But it is a very compelling way of looking at the world, and public policy and personal decisionmaking would be VERY different if we all thought about risk in such an analytical manner.:

I’m Standing At My Desk Right Now….

….here’s why:

Just as we were all settling in front of the television to watch the baseball playoffs, two new studies about the perils of sitting have spoiled our viewing pleasure.

The research, published in separate medical journals this month, adds to a growing scientific consensus that the more time someone spends sitting, especially in front of the television, the shorter and less robust his or her life may be.

This is research that is not counter-intuitive. Using television-watching as a proxy for time spent sitting or being sedentary, researchers found:

Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes.

By comparison, smoking a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by about 11 minutes, the authors said.

Looking more broadly, they concluded that an adult who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect to live 4.8 years fewer than a person who does not watch TV.

Those results hold true, the authors point out, even for people who exercise regularly. It appears, Dr. Veerman says, that “a person who does a lot of exercise but watches six hours of TV” every night “might have a similar mortality risk as someone who does not exercise and watches no TV.”

I ride my bike alot, but I also spend a lot of time sitting infront of a computer. I’ll try to stand more, but the deeper issue, I think, is that modern human culture puts people in chairs, and in front of screens, much more than it puts them on their feet or outside. I haven’t figured out how to solve that paradox in my own life yet, but I am working on it.

Thanksgiving Fare

Here’s something to be thankful for. A beautiful whale shark rescue.

Here’s the backstory:

WHALE SHARK RESCUE – November 7, 2012, diving aboard the Solmar V at Roca Partida, near Socorro Island, about 250 miles south of Baja, Mexico.

During the first dive of the morning, we came upon a mature whale shark in some amount of distress due to a large rope cinched around it’s girth. It must have been there for some time, as the rope was encrusted with barnacles, and was cutting deeply into the flesh of the shark.

On the second dive of the morning, we located the same whale shark once again, and with Eddy (dive guest) on the scene with his “Go Pro” camera, we were able to memorialize the rescue. In the video you will see Dave (dive guide) approach the shark from the front, and Dani (dive guide) swim to the shark from above. You will see Dani successfully cut the rope loose, freeing the shark which slowly swims away. At the end, you will see Eddy’s wife, Gina, knuckle-bump Dani, as we all celebrate together.

We brought the rope back to the boat, and found it was about 2 inches in diameter, so perhaps an anchor or mooring line? How it got wrapped around the shark is a mystery.

Reap The Whirlwind

Uh-oh. Scary…

….but beautiful: