Simple Mathematics

We have all been to one of those meetings where someone wants you to give more than 100%. How about achieving 103% or the famous, “I want 110%.” Ever wondered about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? Ever wondered what makes up a 100% or what it means to give a 100%? And can a 100% effort or any physical effort for that matter actually be measured?

I am going to try to do it mathematically and this equation should be taught in all mathematics classes at school!

Here is the formula.

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z represent
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Then: K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E can be translated to
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

And
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K can be translated to
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%. Not quite making yet, hey!

But
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E translates to
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%. At last!

But wait
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T translates to
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

And even move effectively
A-S-S K-I-S-S-I-N-G translates to a whopping
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 127%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top!

More Vatican Treasures

Going through some pictures of our travels through Italy that I am trying to rescue from a archived CD I came across some that I have never used previously or have used in a different format, either as part of a heading or a collage. I thought they should shine in their own right. These were taken at Vatican City. You can also see more Vatican images by clicking here.

A quiet gallery off a busy walkway with marble horses and several other statues.

Perseus with the head of Madusa.

Delicate sculptures above an entrance door to a gallery.

Artimes with her many breasts. Indian inspired Greek art work.

A Bronze Herculus. Not many bronze artwork from the Roman or pre-Roman period survived the smelter's oven. There is another rare bronze of Herculus in the Capitoline Museums. (look out for it in another post soon.)

I am not sure about this piece, but I think it is Apollo.

A magnificent detailed frieze against one of the gallery walls.

Sunset in the Bluegrass

Sunset in the Bluegrass.

Picture courtesy of B.Maslyar.

The Nederburg Troika

Finding South African wines in Kentucky is not unusual. Various Graham Beck, Goats do Roam, Golden Kaan, Serengeti and other not-so-famous-newer-brands from South African can be found if you look carefully. Finding three different red wines from one of South Africa’s top producers, Nederburg, is.

On a recent spending trip to Liquor Barn, Lexington’s largest liquor store outlet, I was pleasantly surprised to find “die drie menere”, these three gentlemen, in the store at the same time.

About sixty percent of the time you will find a Pinotage, a uniquely South African cultivar, created in the 1920’s as a cross between the Pinot noir and Cincaut cultivars, and as typical of South African reds it has a notable earthy flavor, in Liquor Barn. It will be either a Graham Beck or a Nederburg. Whenever someone ask me what is a good red wine for a braai or barbeque I always reply: If you can afford a reasonably priced Pinot noir, by all means, otherwise go for a Pinotage. You can’t go wrong. Of course, if you are in South Africa or are so lucky to find Chateau Libertas, a blended red, overseas you can’t go wrong either. South Africans are really spoiled with the ability to buy good wine at reasonable prices.

Now Nederburg’s Cabernet Sauvignon is also a so-so regular visitor at Liquor Barn, depending on which store you visit. You will have more chance of finding it at the store near Hamburg Pavilion than the store at Beaumont Centre. I have not yet visited the store in Richmond Road. I have never seen Nederburg’s flagship Paarl Cabernet Sauvignon in Lexington.

But to find an Edelrood, one of Nederburg’s and South Africa’s top blended wines, usually 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, more or less, is rare. I have heard from other South Africans about finding it locally, but this was my first time. Of course, I have this eternal wish I could find more South African wines here in Lexington.

Obviously the couple of bottles I bought went straight to the bottom of my wine rack, waiting to be drank at a special moment with a Le Daube De Boeuf Provencale, a French provincial beef casserole, Hunter’s leg of lamb, or a simple Argentinean guisado de carne de vaca. Bon Appetit!

Stairway to Nowhere

Stairway to heaven?

More like a stairway to nowhere.

Innovative exercise machine for people living in apartments and flats.

The Thong

Thongs or G-strings have been a round for sometime and with the popularity of the low-rise jeans and in tattoos the thong are being seen more often.

Here is my take on the thong.

The Parissiene thong

The New York thong

The Johannesburg thong

The Brazilian build-in thong

The mara-thong

The Rhino-thong

The missing thong

The Benz thong

A mouse thong

A lost thong

A phony-thong

Steriods and thong

A constructive thong

And lastly...

Time to get out of a thong.

Water on the Moon

Guess what! They found water on the Moon! Cascading rivers of it like the Niagara Falls over ancient cliffs creating kayak-friendly whitewater torrents downstream. How the hell did the astronauts missed it years ago? We could have had a Wynn’s Resort and Casino there already.

Water on the Moon? Oh really? That is what is being reported in today’s Nature magazine. Researchers led by geologist Alberto Saal from Brown University supposedly found traces of water molecules in pebbles brought back by Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972. I always thought pebbles are those semi-round, smooth-edged stones eroded that way by water and that pebbles or when you call them pebbles are usually associated with water. Now when these ‘stones’ that were brought back nearly 40 years ago from the Moon, were looked at, I can only presume the shape spurred geologist to call it pebbles in the first place. And if that argument is accepted then it could only mean that there was or is water on the Moon. How else would pebbles have been created? Why did it take 40 years for a team of geologist and geophysicist and who knows what other –gists to make that connection?

Saal also said that these pebbles were scattered 3 billion years ago when lunar volcanoes erupted. This guy is good. We can’t even tell who killed JonBenet Ramsey 11 years ago and only now they could tell that no one of the Ramsey family was involved in the murder and that the DA’s office fucked up a whole family’s life, but Mr. or Dr. Saal can tell what happened on the Moon 3 billion years ago and while he is 382,000 km from it and has never set foot on it. Can you maybe tell me Saturday’s lottery numbers? And maybe this water, with the Moon such a dry environment has long ago evaporated. Imagine what happens to water in the middle of the Sahara desert. It goes woof…all gone…in an afternoon. Even underground.

Now if there is water on the Moon, “This opens up so many lines of study” Saal said. Oh really? Let’s create a new curriculum for the last few dedicated science students left in the USA and let’s spend some valuable Dollars getting students to go into these “new lines of study”. It is such a worthwhile cause and so needed in our society and the freshly graduated students can go forth into the world with a major in Water on the Moon and find a job instantly.

Saal also mentioned it took 3 years to get minimal funding to bombard the pebbles with another series of tests. Somebody actually paid for this analysis? Probably used tax payers’ money on top of it. No right-minded, dumb-ass investor is going to give money for a this. Why should they? No one is going to pack up a water rig, supplies and team of riggers on the next lunar mission, tell them to drill and only report back when they found something. Hell, there is a struggle to find investors for known alternative and renewable energy sources right here on earth. Some things that can actually have a return on investment and better secure the future of earthlings.

Now I know the possibility of finding “real” lunar water on the Moon (I wonder what it would taste like) is a big deal for NASA (well maybe, I don’t really know) because they can extract the hydrogen as an energy source (but then they first need energy to do the extracting process, so they can just as well take the oil barrels with them to the Moon) and use the Moon as a viable springboard to travel to Mars, seeing that we’ve ran out of vacation destinations here on earth. But to really want us to believe there still is water on the Moon scientists will have to do a bit better than all these fanciful theories obtained from looking at 3 billion year old pebbles. I suppose it’s not much different than paleoanthropologists that find a 3 million year old finger bone in the Rift Valley and constructs a whole new species of humanoids and their habits from it.

Man I can’t wait for the Lunar Water from Coca-Cola Bottling Co. to appear on our groceries shelves. Not to mention the litter of a human mining operation on the Moon. We’ve got oceans of water here on earth too. Who gives a shit about speculation of water on the Moon?

The future lunar landscape? A forest of water rigs.

Japanese Fashion

Japanese fashion designers can be really enlightening in their designs,

ranging from whimsical to outrages...

...to "see-through" printed skirts...

...to the latest eye opener...furry eye-lashes.

Afrikaners is Plesierig in die Bluegrass

The first large, organized get together that I can remember or have been invited to of South Africans in the Lexington, Kentucky area took place Friday evening on a stormy and rainy 4th of July. As more than 50 people started to arrive at the farm of André O’Conner for a traditional braai (barbeque) a heavy rain storm moved over the Bluegrass area and for the next 45 minutes or so people took shelter in their cars and some even invaded a horse trailer. But the rain didn’t damper any spirits or stopped the event. It only caused the fires to be lighted a little later, which left more time for meeting many new people and lekker gesels in Afrikaans.

Thank you to Lindsay Hunter for organizing the event and to André and Crystal O’Conner for the facilities and the excellent boerewors. The evening turned out great. But then that’s what usually happens when South Africans get together for a braai.

PS: The informal group is now gathering the names of Southern Africans in the Bluegrass area and if you are interested to get you name on a list for future meetings you can leave me a comments or to protect your privacy send me an email.

Everybody had a story to tell...

...information and experiences were exchanged...

...en gesels dat dit gons tot laat innie aand.

While others had to do the serious work of braaing.