The Casual Observer

How could they ever have permitted adverts like this?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Other Galleries 23 March 2015 0 Comment

In this era, Political Correctness had clearly not been invented. Women were meant to occupy the kitchen and babies to drink copious quantities of Coke. What about smoking? Even the doctors were advised their clients to smoke.

What will our grandchildren berate us for? Advertising breads and pasta. Perhaps even hamburgers will a distant memory with the Golden Arches of a McDonalds only serving fatty foods and salads but no carbohydrates or starches. That is the excruciating difficulty in making predictions about the future as the future is synonymous with change but where will that change lead us to.

What it sometimes takes to get to School

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 19 March 2015 0 Comment

As a child we never got a lift to school. In Primary School it was on foot albeit only for half a dozen blocks. High School was a little further, so I cycled to school. Given the fact that my mother could not drive, and that we were a one car family, that was our lot. In my children’s generation, they never experienced the pleasures of walking or cycling to school as they were fetched and carried.

In the case of many third world children, even our experiences are minor in comparison. This blog highlights their plight or perhaps that their real determination to obtain an education.

Main picture: Children of Gulu in China should be run up to 5 hours on a cliff path that is sometimes 50 inches wide to reach their schools

Quintessential Images of Various Countries

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 18 March 2015 0 Comment

Every country has its own set of images which evokes the essence of that country; England with its lush verdant fields, Norway with its fjords and Japan’s paddy fields. Each of these photographs will evoke such a response: “It only happens in…………”

Main picture: This was an easy one. Of course it could only be Australia where one would take a pet kangaroo to the supermarket.

The Yukon Quest: The World’s Toughest Dogsled Race

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 17 March 2015 0 Comment

Of the dogsled races, its contemporary, the Iditarod is the better known. Both cover 1600kms of frozen terrain. In the case of the Quest it stretches from Whitehorse, the tiny capital of the Yukon to Fairbanks in the heart of the Alaskan interior. Notwithstanding that, of the two the Quest is widely acknowledged to be the more difficult.

The surprising aspect of the race is the unbelievable resilience and hardiness of the dogs. The most prevalent breed is the Alaskan Husky as opposed to its purebred Siberian variety. Their stamina is demonstrated by the ability to run all the way between check points which are up to 320 kms apart with tails still wagging as if it was a Sunday picnic jaunt.

Earth’s Rich Tapestry as Viewed from Space

By Dean McCleland in Landscapes 16 March 2015 0 Comment

Sometimes the marvels of an object are best viewed from a distance. Often not only will those photographs provide a fresh perspective of the object but also place it is context. That is what this series of photographs illustrates

Main picture: The Palouse region of Washington State, an agricultural zone that produces mainly wheat and legumes.

The Past Comes Alive from these Rare Photographs

By Dean McCleland in Historical 15 March 2015 0 Comment

Apparently these photographs were found as part of a stash in a London basement. This array includes mostly photographs that I personally have never seen before. All however offer a vivid and unique insight into the past.

Main picture: Shooting practice for German soldiers in 1935

Stunning Photographs

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 15 March 2015 0 Comment

This is a sample of the 173 000 photographs submitted to the 2014 Sony Photographic Competition.

Main photograph: Orangutan in Bali

What happens when the fatal disease called Aging is cured?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 14 March 2015 0 Comment

Last weeks’ Time Magazine has a series of articles on how science can retard the rate of aging and possibly even halt it completely. Of more significance to me – which was unstated – was what would the social & societal consequences of such a process be? Does this even bode well for humankind in terms of the quality of those additional years? For instance would one then be senile for fifty years instead of ten?

Main picture: I bet that Bridgette Bardot has many regrets about her life but probably her main misgiving was about getting old and more importantly, looking decrepit. Continue reading

Only in Australia

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 14 March 2015 0 Comment

A previous blog entitled “Only in Africa” revealed the essence of Africa with its idiosyncrasies and quixotic behaviour. Every country has a unique image which evokes that essence. As is usually the case that quintessence represents more than the landscape even though that forms an important backdrop to that imagery.

This time is the idiosyncratic behaviour of Australia and Austrailans that is portrayed.

Eskom: Where Politics Trumps the Production of Electricity

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 12 March 2015 0 Comment

The latest in a long succession of upheavals in the key parastatals relates to the suspension of the CEO of Eskom after being appointed only eight months previously in August 2014. Instead on their focus being the delivery of their services rather it is factional fights and other considerations that take precedence.

At the highest political levels in South Africa, there seems to be no understanding of the fundamental requirements for a sophisticated economy. Surely the ANC should realise that the requirement to provide power to South Africa supersedes parochial political considerations?

Clearly not! Continue reading