22 December 2010

Slip-Slidin' Into 2011, Slip-Slidin' Awayyyy

Thanks to gorgeous friend(s), ZEN Central has been reinvigorated and is ready to welcome in a New Year in several days...


Li'l ZENers, your Humble Narrator has fully--recovered from his 'life-transplant surgery', which extracted a beautiful set of Swiss Years, and replaced them with the ever--home'ish locale of Vail, Colorado.


As a reminder of what NOT to do, during your holiday driving, the following YouTube shows a minute and a half of pure panic for one driver, three other (previously-collided) vehicle owners, and a Canton de Genève snowplow driver...


Hold on to your chair!




Did you hold on??


Or notice the car that was 'catapulted' from the bottom of the row?!



How do the Cantonal insurers for their snowplow service enjoy watching this? Evidence of 'inadequate tires'?? Hmmmmm.


Friends in Switzie have also something beautiful to await next spring or summer: the arrival of Roger Waters' "The Wall" 2011 European Tour... anyone wanting to buy me a ticket? I'll fly for that one!


Here's a taste of his first show in Canada last September:




And a website for information on dates (if not already sold out?).


A warm Pagan Solstice Holiday wish to ZENers of any Deity's denomination or wiccan, atheist or otherwise...


Hug yourself, and ZEN hugs for all!


//**** crystelZENmud ****\\
© 2010

09 June 2010

Batten down the Hatches...

Hello, li'l ZENers...

I missed you also, friends... ZEN Central has been highly mobile, gauging the waters, so to speak, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. These highly-scientific undertakings have given us new insights to 'water' in America, as a former raft guide who lived and lives in a dry, snow-dependant State (Colorado).


With the weekly photographic email-announcements received at ZEN Central, from NASA, a certain 'photo-map' haunts us, which displays the water temperatures in the two Oceans, and Gulf, from which hurricanes are born; check it out!

(photo credit: Japan’s Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer
for EOS (AMSR-E)
flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite)


Looks like a recipe for disaster, n'est-ce pas? Read the prediction that accompanies the photo-map above:

On May 27, 2010, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast an “active to extremely active” hurricane season for 2010. NOAA projected a 70 percent probability for 14 to 23 named storms, 8 to 14 hurricanes, and 3 to 7 major hurricanes.



Ready, Florida? Louisiana? Is this summer to be the sequel most media sources have 'predicted' since Katrina in 2005?


Years ago, we here at ZEN Central wrote a rambling piece that discussed a new way of looking at the problem of 'Global Warming', also known as 'Climate Change' OR AGW ('Anthropogenic Global Warming'). As we try often, we thought (we think we thought!) 'outside the box', and came up with a new angle, under an understandable label:




See our original text here, which is not the most coherent piece this author has produced. Yet the concept remains simple: we live on a Planet that has (indubitably) a majority of its surface covered in water.


Any planet (a non-scientist would think) that is 71 percent covered in water would display the tendency, when warmed, to propel more water vapour into the atmosphere: to become more Humid.


Thus our original idea became this: is 'Global Warming' (Naysayers brushed aside for the moment, for their motivations are not shared here) the Symptom, or the Disease?


Consider a 'burn victim'; although the heat that scorched their skin was the incident, what remains is the ugly scar of the burn area. If our analogy holds, the effect (man-derived or cyclic thus normal) of 'global warming' on our Water-Planet is going to increase the overall humidity... non?


NB: when we wrote our piece, in June of 2008, there were very few 'google hits' to be found concerning 'global humidification'; however new attempts do find others, going as far back as 1991! This article, by Dr A. G. Georgiadi of the Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, discussed in simple terms what has become one of our central tenets:

The predicted climate warming will bring significant changes not only in the thermal regime of the Earth, but also in the regime of its atmospheric moisture cycle as well as in the zonal structure and biophysical properties of the vegetation cover. All this will lead to substantial changes in the hydrological cycle of the Earth.



"... the hydrological cycle of the Earth." (aka 'Global Humidification')... what have we seen in these nineteen years since Dr Georgiadi wrote on behalf of the Soviet scientists?


Certain alpine or mountainous zones seem to have increasingly bizarre weather/snow patterns: the Colorado Rockies experienced minimal snowfall until mid-February, and then snow began to fall which only ended at the end of May. Similar patterns were observed in the Northwestern Alps this spring, as well.


Will 'naysayers' (who tend to be 'anti-conspiracy-theorists' of the First Order: which is not to say that every topic they oppose is based in a 'conspiracy theory') persuade, through vociferous adherence to nearly-nonsensical positions, the unthinking or unknowing individual to 'scoff' at any notion of catastrophic changes? hmmm?


Behold the studies of Swiss, or global glaciers, now in retreat since the late 1880s: since the second generation of oil-users appeared on earth, and commensurate with the booming Earth population (for which one can applaud or condemn the wide transport of food via oil-burning transportation paradigms), Alpine glaciers have lost vast percentages of their surface area, and total volume. Here's what one study had to say (from the Abstract of a pay-to-view article):

A significant ice loss since the end of the 19th century was observed in the ablation area, while the changes in the accumulation area were small. We found moderate negative secular rates until the 1960s, followed by steady to positive rates for about two decades and strong ice loss starting in the 1980s which has lasted until the present. An evaluation of 19 glaciers revealed a total ice volume loss of about 13 km3 since the 1870s, of which 8.7 km3 occurred since the 1920s and 3.5 km3 since 1980. Decadal mean net balance rates for the periods 1920-60, 1960-80 and 1980-present are −0.29, −0.03 and −0.53 m a1 w.e., respectively.
(
Authors: Kääb, Andreas; Paul, Frank; Maisch, Max; Hoelzle, Martin; Haeberli, Wilfried
Source: Annals of Glaciology, Volume 34, Number 1, 1 January 2002 , pp. 362-366(5)
)


So, ZEN Audience, this author leaves you to ponder the long range effect of 'Global Humidification'; a profound change of the hydrological cycle on our Earth: is this a 'by-product' of AGW, or is it the real 'Disease', and 'AGW' is a symptom causing it?


Scientists? We want to hear from you, at crystelZENmud !


//**** crystelZENmud ****\\
© 2010



20 April 2010

United Kingdom Declares Icelandic Volcano a "Terrorist Act"


You heard it here first, li'l ZENers!


For the second time in two years, Gordon Brown's government has declared the eruption of Icelandic volcanoes to be 'Terrorist Acts', and found Iceland to be violating the Anti-
Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001!
(or read The BBC, Guardian or TIME magazine's coverage!)


Such was their misguided resort to 'solving' problems in 2008, for the greater peril of Iceland's hard-working and hardy citizenry... and this satiric post at crystelZENmud reminds you that the interrelationships between our commercial and political entities remain ever-entwined, interlaced...


You can also explore this Icelandic site, which offers commentary on the British action(s).


Private Industry reacted yesterday, to this enforced shut-down; claims of losses were for some 35 million Euros attributed to Air France, as well as SAS, which claimed a four-day loss of some 29m Euros, and British Airways, which claimed between 17 and 26m Euros from the total 'paralysis'.


Interestingly, it appears that Air France has claimed much more than airlines whose base countries are somewhat closer to the epicenter of the volcanic clouds; is anyone going to take a fine-tooth comb to their 'subscribed losses' before granting EU aid under Article 107.2, which allows aid to entities that suffered from 'natural catastrophes' in the origin of their losses. As reported in Le Monde (en français), such aid is available on a non-discriminatory basis, "and cannot act as a disguised aid towards restructuring"...


Will Brown declare Iceland's geologically-active landscape to be a 'Terrorist threat'? Maybe he learned his lesson back in October 2008... ZENers can sleep well, tonight, if Gordon Brown didn't do it already, he probably won't pursue this fallacious course of action!



___çç*******/ ZENmud \*******çç___
© 2010

15 April 2010

Cannes and Beaune Film Festivals: eruptions in Iceland!


Behold! In mere weeks, another Cannes Film Festival begins... and you yawn?

:-)

Will this year's Mediterranean extravaganza be any different than those of past years? ZENers are inclined to think so... because the Président du Jury is no one other than Tim Burton.


Tim's long history of eccentricity between mind and market; his stunning series of films (which began long before Batman and Edward Scissorhands, through the immemorial Ed Wood, to his recently-released Alice in Wonderland) create fantasmagoric trails, through cinema's blossoming era of ever-more-complex digital effects, whilst weaving stories that draw from his actors their best presentations of the characters they portrayed.


Tim's genius is manifested in his low-key (and low decibel) directing talents; how successful
will that talent be, as he brings together a Cannes Jury comprised of...


As President of this Jury, Tim Burton will have the only 'American' viewpoint for a heavily-European jury; yet his unconventional methods will most likely be rather well-appreciated by the fellow jurors.


On the palate for films, is Ridley Scott's Robin Hood. The long métrage, which falls in the genre of 'we can do better than Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings!' (In its effects, scenes of running-through-woods bow-and-arrow battles, etc.... even to the casting), displays that aspect of the Cannes festival that its fans cherish so much: bringing in the spectacular... the omnipresent aspects of global marketing budgets...


For the first time in twelve years, ZENmud Central is not wired-in to the coverage of Cannes, offered by the French television channels, especially Canal+ (aka Canal Plus)...


And!


Last weekend was France's "2nd Annual International Thriller Film Festival"... the 'new kid' on the international film Festival 'block'...


While... FLASH; an Icelandic volcano eruption has paralyzed aerial traffic in the northwest regions of Europe!
Airports from Geneva to Ireland are under the effect of thick dust and ash, forcing the cancellation of hundreds, if not thousands of flights... and experts on Icelandic geology are announcing that less-intense, yet nearly-continual emissions from this volcano may occur for up to a year!


How will
aerial traffic be affected in the months to come, and what effects will this bring to the European tourist industry?


Hopefully, Tim and the rest of the flock of celebrity travellers to Cannes, will be able to arrive in the weeks to come! Stay inside, Euro-ZENers!


___çç*******/ ZENmud \*******çç___
© 2010



27 February 2010

No news in the Health Care Reform...



Evidently no one wants to be 'like the United Kingdom', when you talk about American Health Care reform.


"Why should we 'give the Government control' of this? We'll only end up paying more taxes..."


You've heard this before... from the Right or Left combined. But who knows how little that cost actually is in the UK, and! If we designed a Three-Star system (if you want to call UK's system a 'Two-Star'... not that ZEN does), could we not do so and save money in the long run?


An amazing coincidence makes studying the two systems easier... the UK is nearly exactly one-fifth of the United States' population. This makes comparing UK v USA health statistics very easy (and easier, since the summer 2008 Pound Sterling was nearly 2:1 on the Dollar (actually $1.98= £1)). Now, of course, it's different, but the sum total of statistics are still stuck in the 2008 'rut'.


Many statistics that follow are from the NHS site itself; ZEN Central takes full responsibility for any math errors derived therefrom.


REMINDER: crystelZENmud and ZENmud productions are not advocating FOR a UK-style replacement of the mixed public/private US system; we are offering a statistical comparison, to show how high USA costs are, in a trend without end for our future.


Total UK Health Care budget


The UK system, for the government-paid component, claims a 2008/9 budget that is 'more than £100Billion' (hereafter: 'B' for billion, 'T' for trillion). This link says that the total number for 2006 was £109B. Should we then deduce that the 2008/9 'stat' was an estimate? Then we can do so ourselves. Perhaps the 2008/9 number should be about £120 to 124? As a side note, it is interesting to note that, as a percentage of total spending in the UK Health system, the 'private' sector's share has dropped in recent years, from 16pc in 1997, to 12.7pc in 2006. How has that trend evolved in these last four years? Again: we do not know.


What makes writing this article to be a challenge, is the 'nose-dive' taken by the Pound Sterling, between July 2008, and February 2009: it dropped from $1.98 to a pound, to $1.42/pound by February, and then rebounded, up to a near-steady $1.64 per pound in the summer of 2009. Statistical averaging (not our forte) seems to allow a 12-month average of USD1.60=1GBP, to match (as close as we can) the offered 2008/9 UK NHS budget. Finding statistics to round up this NHS statistic, through the inclusion of private-sector care numbers,
are not easily forthcoming.


So if a population one-fifth our size, spent more than £120B on health care, we could perhaps gauge the equation as this:


61M*5 ... 120B*5*1.60


And thus our population of 305M in the USA 'might have' spent (think of Obama 'subcontracting' the US HC system to the UK NHS (don't laugh too much)) 960B to offer a Universal Health System to our citizens. We can round this up to 1T (one trillion), just for fun.


But it's 'un-American' to propose UHS in the USA... and our system, at some 2.42T/year, is still admired by those who want no change. Even though Fraud exists in Medicare (theft of our taxes by criminal 'doctors, health providers 'and' patients), many people support the status quo.


In comparison, another aspect for the Capitalists to digest: our US system (which by-the-way is already running at least 46pc 'Socialist', when the term 'final payer' is used: the VA, the Native American health care system, Medicaid and Medicare... all paid by the Government, and 'are' some form of UHS within each finite sector) takes at least 17pc of our GDP to sustain itself. The chart below shows 'Selected Countries' from 2006, when the USA was running 15.3pc of GDP.



In the United Kingdom, the total (If our sources are trustworthy) is hugging the middle of this graph: they only spend 8.4pc of their economy on health care.


Where would "We, the People!" be, if our economy had an economic 'jolt' of some 5-7pc of our GDP freed from the 'evil clutches' of the Health Care Beast? Devil's advocates would mention the disruptions of employment, as floods of health care 'paper-pushers' and 'claims denial specialists' (surely NOT what they are called in their 'terms of reference' contracts) were set free from their desks... and this is valid. But would not most be finding new careers in a newly re-energized economy?


Now it seems obvious that the UK is spending much less per capita than we are, by a factor matching the GDP and budgeted numbers, nearly half.


The comments of 'nay-saying Flat-Earthers', as we've nicknamed them at ZEN Central, seem to promote 'inflexibility': are they 'conflicted' by their job, investments or status?


This is our first discourse on a long-standing national debate... maybe too late!??


___çç*******/ ZENmud \*******çç___
© 2010



17 January 2010

Living under ATQ


We're living under ATQ: the American Terror Quotient... the tool of capitalists to serve themselves off of your media--driven FEARS of 'terrorists' or terrorism: flues are good examples, as the governments raced to sign contracts guaranteeing their citizens the dosages required (and preferred suppliers's obscene profits...)




Given the American economic model, my Fellow Amuhricans, which never has relied on truth in advertising (unless forced to do so by legislation that won over lobbyists' efforts)... You're living under ATQ!

It's an ATQ!


___çç*******/ ZENmud \*******çç___
© 2010



16 January 2010

Farewell Hermance... 'allo Denver!!!

On y est, ... 'c'est partie!'


How do you avoid clichés, at those times when no words come but?


"End of an era..."
"A new door opening..."
"A new dawn rising..."


But truly... when a nearly-thirteen year chapter closes, the transition doesn't begin and end with packing or unpacking of suitcases... it doesn't shut off once the door closes on a new 'Temporary ZENworld HQ'...



The mysteries continue... are ZEN's en-route boxes being used for shooting practice, by a range of international Postal employees, who may think it's funny, the sound of glass shards tinkling to the bottom of the box each time they roll it over? (Actually, the first box, containing a wooden antique bookcase, arrived with a six-inch gash just at the upper corner of the wooden item... yet the 'damage' seemed no more than 'cardboard-"rug"-burns' from rubbing against its jolly container-mates... and the bevelled glass door seems intact!



ZEN's first Saturday... in America... in North America... in the USA, since he left his Wolf Sister newly-married to the Good Man she found.



This video is dedicated to 'US', WE the happy few, the ZEN family that knows where and how they walk amidst those whose primary function apparently is Feeding the Beast. (don't understand? Try reading Hesse's book
Demian), and learn about the concept of avant-garde, and or the mere perceptions of that phenomenon.


Here's a magic moment, provided by the ZENeye... a ZENmud production...



(copyright 2009 ... another ZENmud productions)




Folks, the biorhythms announce 'nap two' for a late-Friday, early-Saturday bio-fried system... enjoy the music and lights from the Geneva
Festival des arbres et lumières


___çç*******/ ZENmud \*******çç___
© 2010