Blair Witch

Mexico’s strategy of confronting cartels and arresting drug-gang leaders has led to the rise of mafias that are dedicated to extortion. Criminal cells who have recognised that there is no longer a space for them in the transnational drugs trade are opting to focus on more localised crimes instead. People are more prepared to put up with a gang that protects them in return for payments as opposed to climate of conflict that exists between cartels. From the viewpoint of Mexican citizens, it could be that drug-trafficking poses a lesser public security problem than extortion.

It seems from local people’s statements, that protection payment is a common practice throughout the country as are the ensuing reprisals against those who do not pay. Increasingly, politicians are being murdered over the past five years. During the past five year period, mayoral candidates, former mayors, and thirty one mayors, have been murdered. The fore-runner for governor of Tamaulipas was murdered, and it seems little coincidence that Tamaulipas is a northern border state where a great deal of violence takes place. I wouldn’t want to take my damenuhren there!

There is no time like today to change your life and to make a difference in the effect that you have on the lives of those around you and the planet you live on. We are all just users of this world and it has a limited life span; that much is for sure. It may very well be millions and billions of times longer than that of the average human body and certainly much, much longer than the lifespan of the human race (although, I guess, that still remains to be seen), but it is also obvious that we humans have an effect on it and that effect is shortening it through burning up all the natural resources that we manage to find.

This is why it has become obvious that we have to find alternative ways of living that don’t consume as much resources or use renewable ones. When it comes to electricity, there are many ways to improve generating it, but there are also many ways of improving its consumption. One of the key uses of electric power is lighting and as such, it is responsible for a significant portion of the carbon footprint of countries and of the humanity as a whole.

New led gu10 bulbs make much more effective use of electric power than earlier types of bulbs. led gu10 bulbs are even more efficient than the compact fluorescent lights that are just now replacing regular incandescent lights, and they are bound to become the new standard eventually.

So tomorrow is New Years Eve, and after that we are into a new year, 2012 at last.

Loads of my Facebook friends are writing all about their resolutions, and it's all the typical things we always say.

Every year we say we'll eat healthier and live off salads and vegetables and cut out the chocolate. Some of us say we'll cut down on alcohol. Almost all of us vow to dust off our old gym bags and hit the treadmill to get fit and shed those holiday pounds we've inevitable gained.

Surely we don't need to convince ourselves to get better just one time a year!

A couple of months ago I installed a yoga exercise game onto my r4i card so I can workout from it, and I try to re-evaluate my diet as often as possible to keep on top of it. This is something we should do all the time, not just on January 1st, until approximately January 5th when we decide it's too much hard work!

Photo: Swiv (Flickr)

The Mandrake, a plant that bears no flowers, has been an object of curiosity throughout history. In Machiavellio’s 1518 play ‘Mandragola’ which translates to ‘The Mandrake’, the plot concerns the use of a mandrake potion to bed a woman. Shakespeare mentions the mandrake four times in his works, such as in Antony and Cleopatra when Cleopatra says, “Give me to drink madragora…That I might sleep out this great gap of time my Antony is away”. Ezra Pound uses the mandrake as part of a metaphor in his poem “Portrait d’une femme”, “Pregnant with mandrakes, or with something else that might prove useful and yet never proves”.

Perhaps the most famous modern-day use of the mandrake in literature was in J.K. Rowling’s book, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’. In the book, the mandrake root is used to cure the paralysis of characters who had looked indirectly into the eyes of the fearsome Basilisk. J.K. Rowling includes the mandrake’s dangerous scream in her book, writing that anyone working with mandrakes had to use earmuffs. In Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film, the protagonist is given a mandrake root to cure her mother’s illness but it is thrown into the fire where it screams in agony.

Aren’t light bulbs simply wonderful? The other day I found myself in a dark room thinking just how great it would be if there were a light bulb inside it. Round and around the room I went looking for the door and I simply could not find it, all because I had no light to guide me. Another occasion upon which I found myself wishing I had an attendant light bulb was during my Christmas play at primary school. I got lost under the stage in the dark, unable to negotiate my way out of there. I knew it was my turn to go on stage but I simply could not find my way out. It was one of the most distressing situations I have ever been in, and I know I will not be able to forget it soon.

If only there had been a light bulb with me. I would never have missed my cue, I could be in Broadway now. Instead, I missed my cue and I never became an actress. From now on, I always make sure I have a dimmable led gu10 with me wherever I go.