What does the fox say?

Oh, I hate this song! And I hate songs like it. This one has particularly gotten under my skin. I have only heard it about three times, but every time I hear the lyrics "what does the fox say" I automatically respond with the "ring-ding-ding-dick-ding-dering" that goes with it. Urrgh!

What has become of music over the years? In the 18th century we had classical music composed by the likes of Mozart, Bach and Handel. The two centuries after that gave us Blues and Jazz, and produced such wonderful artists such as BB King and Louis Armstrong. We saw the rise of Rock and legends such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and many others. But it has been in the last two decades the we saw the massive rise to fame of the meaningless and really pointless hits of entertainers who like to refer to themselves as artists.
I understand we all have our preferences, but geesh, do we really need so much mindless music doing the rounds? I believe the artists created this song as a comedy piece, so I can let this one slip, but one can only stomach so many songs that contain the words "my humps" and "Imma Imma bee".

There is, of course, room for this kind of music. I personally like my music as a mixture of emotionally laden cries for attention and some lighthearted fun in between, but even that gets a little intense after a while. One needs some music that does not address political and social issues or does not drive you to tears or anger. But only in small doses. J
The problem for me is not so much that songs like these exist, but rather how popular they are around the World. You see, in my perfect world, real musicians would earn the big bucks and these 'others' would be playing intimate little venues and street corners. It's not that I dislike them or wish their success away, but rather that real hardworking musicians who have become masters of their instruments should be at the top.
But that's my perfect world.

This is where my mind wanders a little. Why is it that great music is seldom celebrated? Why do songs like the one in question prove so popular among the peoples of the World? Why are people who can not sing, compose or produce so stinking rich? I have come up with two possible answers:

1. The rat race we live in requires so much of us that we need large quantities of this type of music to allow us to disconnect a little. So much is asked of us that we need to 'dumb down' in our spare time.

2. Maybe humanity is losing its great intellectual capacity. We are losing our ability to think for ourselves and rely more on the stimulating of our emotions than our great reasoning abilities. Now I am no rocket surgeon myself and I have not done any studies into this, but think for a moment about this statement and relate it to the topic at hand. From Mozart... to crotch grabbing! From great Jazz pieces telling entire stories without any lyrics... to songs containing the words 'woof' and 'ho' when describing women! From Louis Armstrong's "what a wonderful world" to "my humps, my humps, my humps, my humps". Did you know that Sting was voted the worst lyricist in the World? Huh? Seriously!?!

Looking at where we once were musically and where we find ourselves now, I can only conclude: Charles Darwin was wrong. We were not once apes who evolved into highly intelligent beings, we were once highly intelligent beings...

Amazing Mirage 2000 videos

Here are two short videos I found on Youtube of the venerable Mirage 2000. Amazing footage and brilliant editing. It remains one of my all time favorite fighter planes. Enjoy.

Something interesting noted regarding the Moon Landing

This particular topic has been in my mind for years. I have carefully considered the statements made by those who claim that it was a hoax, and I have to say that they make a compelling argument.
Some of the particulars in question are the missing impact crater, the different directions of shadows and the lack of any visible stars. While the jury is still out in my mind regarding this topic, one of the accusations in question may have been answered by a recent event.

The lack of any visible starts is explained in a few ways:

1. According to this link it is because the light from the sun hitting the surface of the moon is too bright for the weaker light produced by starts to be seen.
2. This site claims that the type of exposure and frame rate used when photographing the sky could account for not seeing any stars on that occasion.
3. Another explanation I have heard was on a program I watched regarding the conspiracy theory. Their explanation was that the reason we see stars flickering is because of the Earth's atmosphere. When seeing the light produced by stars, the light is distorted by our atmosphere, and possibly pollutants in our skies. This causes us to see the flickering effect of the light from the stars.

For every bit bit of evidence of a hoax, there seems to be a good explanation. Unless, like me, you have no knowledge of the intricacies of photography, you do not know if this is in fact true. I have no knowledge of the subject, so I have no reason to disbelieve the answers given to us be the experts. I also do not have any reason not to believe the conspiracy theorists, simply because I do not know the technical details of what is involved. On this subject, for me at least, seeing is believing.

It was with great interest that I watched Felix Baumgartner's space jump. History was being made. A great feat of human ingenuity was put on display. It is then when I noticed something that I probably would not have seen if the question regarding the moon landing was not already in the back of my mind.

Look at the photograph on this page of Felix's jump. See the lack of visible stars? There could once again be a myriad of reasons for this, but at least in my mind something was settled.

This of course does not answer all the questions at hand, but it does lead to the possible conclusion of at least that one part of the conspiracy. 

Beauty... what the heck is it anyway?

My mind started pondering this subject one day as we sat in a restaurant and I overheard a conversation between my wife and a young family member about whether or not she thought she was pretty. Her response was that she thought she was OK-ish. It came as somewhat of a shock to hear such a young girl already knowing her place in beauty-oriented society. That got me thinking. What is beauty and why are we so obsessed with it?

First of all, let’s look at this subject from a scientific point of view. All physical quantities of our three dimensional world have units of measure by which their values can be ascertained. For example, velocity is measured in meters per second, mass in grams and length in meters. So then, if it is so important to us, what is the unit of measure of this thing called beauty?

Of course the answer is that there is no way to measure it. It’s an interpretation of aesthetic characteristics, a perception of ‘what is though to be considered’. It’s a type of immeasurable abstract that exists only as an opinion, and an opinion is like an underarm. (It stinks when you raise it) In short, beauty is really in the eye of the beholder. That means that our opinions and interpretations are what in reality is at question here.

Consider this: Two people may be looking at the same object. One of them may be totally enthralled by what they see, while the other may be disinterested and unmoved altogether. One may marvel at the beauty they behold, while the other may be totally oblivious to it, or blatantly find it distasteful. What does that mean for the object observed? Does it mean that is or isn’t attractive? Is a sunset beautiful to look at, or is it not? The artist my well think so, but the overworked businessman may not. The painter and sculptor may find it inspiring enough to recapture it, dedicating time and effort in recreating it, while the untrained eye may simple look at it and look away again.

What about the perception of the beauty a person possesses? What makes a person beautiful, or not? We know there is no way to measure it. There is no measuring equipment that can be applied to calculate it. We know it is in the eye of the beholder, so the question isn’t whether it is beautiful or not, but rather to whom is it beautiful and to whom is it not? It is merely a perception and if it is simply the perception of a person, then what does it take to see it?

I am going to spend some time thinking it over, and in another post I’ll note down some of my thoughts regarding the attributes and values that makes us find the beauty in things, and more importantly in people.

What?... Why?... Introducing my blog

Well, I finally did it. I started a blog. I have been contemplating it for a while, but it was really after reading some interesting posts recently that I found the inspiration to get going with it.

Truth be told, I have always loved writing, but pencils make my hand cramp up. A teacher in school once said I have the ability to produce wonderful and elaborate stories in writing. My imagination certainly does fire on all 8 cylinders.

My mind wonders... and it wanders. It is like a pack of hunting dogs, fast, loud and purposeful, when it all suddenly comes to a halt and turns to chaos at the smell of a nearby female in heat... and then back again to the chase.

Clay Scroggins calls it A.D.O.P. That is “Attention Deficit... ... ... Oh, Pretty!”

But a lot happens inside this head of mine. I wonder about things. I think about random stuff and sometimes even about things that I consider important. I get nostalgic, especially when driving through a historical area, and even more so when driving through an area of historical importance to me. I observe and I notice things.  I ask questions, and a lot of them and that irritates people. J So now I blog.

My thoughts are very random at the best of times, ranging from trivial everyday stuff (why do viennas come in packets of 20 when hotdog rolls are sold by the dozen?) to more technically interesting stuff, like the difference between a smoothbore and rifled barrel. Or the evolution of music through the ages. And which is bigger, a walrus or an elephant seal? This, of course will lead me to Wikipedia. I easily get lost in Wikipedia. I’m a Wiki-holic. One article leads to links to three others that all have to be followed. So I’ll start out with two articles on the mentioned pinnipeds, opening all kinds of interresting links in the articles when I’ll suddenly find myself following the walrus-Nordic-Scandinavia-Sweden-Sweden in World War II-Swedish Armed forces-Swedish Air force links and end up reading about the SAAB Gripen fighter and comparing it to its various contemporaries. Now I have just finished reading a report on the Indian Air force’s medium multi-role combat aircraft program, won by the French-manufactured Rafale. That’s good news for Dassault Aviation who haven’t managed to gain any successful sales of the Rafale. I would love to have seen the process in selecting it over the Eurofighter Typhoon. That must have been a really intense selection process, they took very long in coming to a decision. They say the end result was based on the total cost of ownership and operation, calculated for a 40 year period, but I’m not so sure. Many countries have purchased the Typhoon and none as yet have bought the Rafale. Is there a reason for that? Political pressure maybe? Is it that Typhoon really is technically superior to Rafale? Rafale can accomplish many more operative functions than Typhoon, and the tender was released to find a multi-role fighter, so I guess it makes sense. I wonder what the key differences are between the two, and if something like the F-18 Super Hornet compares favorably... and ... err... where was I? O yeah, walruses.

So, many things obviously interest me. I love nature, the outdoors, fishing. I have an interest in hunting and camping. I am a scale modeler and I love music, particularly the heavier stuff. I play golf when I can, which really is never and I’m a mountain biker on top of that. I am fascinated by most things military and historical. I have a particular interest in collecting biographies of famous people, well I love books to be honest. I love my family and I consider myself a keen observer of people. I love hard work, I can watch it for hours. I consider myself a student of the Bible, but I ask a lot of questions about what I discover. Discovery is end the result of the thinking process of ‘question/answer/discuss’, is it not? So some of my ideas are a little ‘out there’. That irritates people too. JJ But I question and I discover, even if I just discover I am horribly wrong in my thinking.

So that’s me. What will I blog about and why should you bother reading any of it? Well, I’ll blog about whatever will be going on in my mind at the time. Anything that I spend more than a few minutes thinking about is noteworthy material. I believe many people have the same overactive cognitive activity going on, and I share interest with many others, so there might just be something in here for everyone. I’ll even add pictures if it’ll help. Maybe some people can help answer some of the inane questions I have, or the scholars out there can help answer some of life’s more difficult questions. I will do a timeline of my life and share some of the many moments that have made my life a pleasure to live. I will tell some of the funny stories of my exploits, and even share how I almost brought peace to the Middle-East, or started WWIII, whichever way you look at it. No, I’m not a politician or even a person of influence, which makes this story really peculiar. It happened on the day Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president of South Africa, my country of residence. It was a historic day in Pretoria, quiet and filled with expectation. It was right in the middle of my one year of military service and my unit was on guard duty in the streets Pretoria at the time. I myself stood in front of the entrance to the German Embassy when it happened. A convoy of.... wait, I just did it again. I digressed. Darn it! This one is for another day.

But that’s it from my side for now. I thought I would introduce myself before I get started on the juicy stuff. Besides, my two typing fingers are really cramping up now...