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9.85 Giga pixels anyone?

A group of clever Italians have captured a fresco at a measly 9.85 GIGA PIXLES.....

What is that I hear you saying?
"Hey moron, there is no camera that exists to day with a sensor containing 9.85 BILLION PIXELS! What crack are you smoking?"
And you would be correct. However this didn't stop them taking a regular 12MP camera, and then taking a bunch of individual frames and stitching them together. (and by a bunch i mean 1188 frames)

check it out, it's all in Italian so if you can't read Italian, well you get the idea, as they say pictures speak louder then words, and pictures that have billions of pixels in them speak even louder.

I am looking forward to the day when i can get a camera with 10 billon pixels. What would i do with it? I have no idea, but it would still be awesome.

Glamarama

Social engineers behind the Veuve Cliquot Ball got the mix right: Sun, sand and a good mix of seasoned partygoers and pretty-young-things created a buzzing party on Tamarama Beach set to coincide with the opening of the annual Sculptures by the Sea .

The heady atmosphere was confined mainly within the linen tent, as guests barely managed more than a cursory glance at the sculptures ….. the most interesting artifacts on display were the gorgeous attendees. Taking advantage of the perfect conditions to flaunt their own thoroughly sculptured and spray-tanned bodies, their orange coloured Veuve Cliquot thongs juxtaposed beautifully against the white linen garments. It was indeed ‘Glamarama’.

Similarly, the beach volleyball courts erected nearby didn’t see much action either, as guests put greater effort into scurrying around inside the tent and catching up with familiar faces whenever they were spotted.

Two of the most eye-catching guests managed to catch each other's eye, and astute observers may have caught a glimpse of well known models Buck Palmer and Cheyenne Tozzi, engaging in a game of footsy with each other. As one does!

Many other guests shared said models' fun attitude throughout the evening as many orange labeled bottles were emptied. People were happy to sip from the most exquisitely designed plastic champagne glasses - knowing they were at least imbibing the real stuff. Indeed, such was the shared ebullience of the guests that a full busload of people moved on to nearby Bondi Icebergs to continue the merry making.

Of course, I wouldn’t know what happened here, having already overstayed my welcome by a few hours.

Definitely Photoshopped

I don't know who did this but it's awesome and now I have a new hobby!

All credit to the funny individual who made it up.

World Catholic (Youth???) Day

A friend of mine adequately summed up my feelings with regard this event: He explained to me how he was to meet the Pope at a mass in a church in Darlinghurst - where disadvantaged youth he looks after would be presented to the Pope, and how everyone was very excited and really nervous.

"I don’t know what they are going on about,” he said, deadpan … “it is not like its David Beckham.”

Strange thing to say, I thought at the time, but this probably encapsulates how our country generally feels about this event. Perhaps, also, he represented the collective feelings of all non-Catholics - amazed by the audacity of the Catholic Church in naming its own event in a manner that suggests they represent all people of the world - when in fact Catholics make up less than a third of the worlds population. And of this number, less than ten percent are practising Catholics.

It was Karl Marx who said that ‘religion lies at the heart of a heartless world’. This generally applies to a country like Australia, with its mostly apathetic attitude toward organized religion. However, for the half a million pilgrims who descended on the city during world youth week, it was anything but! The goodwill and wide-eyed enthusiasm evidenced by the pilgrims all week was palpable: dancing in the streets, mass sing-alongs and constant chanting of all things related to Jesus, God and Pope Benedict were common scenes everywhere.

Local residents' reactions to such activity, however, varied greatly.

Politicians and public dignitaries seemed to bask in the extra attention. So effusive was their praise for Pope Benedict and his messages of peace and hope for the world that one wondered what had come over such otherwise dull and dreary characters. Small business owners, restauranteurs and cab drivers all bemoaned the unwillingness of the pilgrims to part with any of their own money. Inner city residents were also critical of the inconvenience caused to them by all the road closures. The Gay and Lesbian community was similarly unenthused by World Youth Week, staging a mass kiss-athon between same sex persons as a means of expressing their oppostion to, well, just about everything the Catholic Church stands for.

And the parents of a girl who was sexually abused by a catholic priest, and later committed suicide, were also gaining some media attention as they tried to obtain an audience with the pope to express their very personal dismay with how the Catholic Church had treated them.

So who is right and who is wrong? Does it really matter?

It was the renowned 17th century social theorist, John Stuart Mill, who stated: ‘persons should be free to do whatever they so choose so long as it does not cause harm to others.' The idea came from his famous essay ‘On Liberty’ and has been the mantra practised by libertarians for centuries. Conversely, this mantra should also serve as a reminder to these same libertarians that freedom to do whatever one chooses does not extend to 'the freedom' to mock and criticize those who do not share their views.

For people of either persuasion, once you start hurling insults and cruel barbs and judgements, your argument is lost. Insults and hard and fast judgements, whether they be from Pope Benedict, Cardinal George Pell or some lesbian on Oxford street, do cause harm to others and are therefore wrong. John Stuart Mill's ideas on this matter seem simple and straightforward; nevertheless they are something that many (including world and religious leaders and regular citizens alike) are dismissive of.

'All you need is love,' opined The Beatles. If only it were that simple!

For the record, my role in the charade was small - a couple of events - the papal motorcade and stations 4, 5 and 6 of the Stations of the Cross. Pictures enclosed.

WWE Smackdown

With interest rates taking a sharp turn north, chat amongst the mortgage belt set regarding buying at the bottom of the j curve, accrued equity and other inanities have been kept to an all time low. At just the right time, a new deity has crept into town and its constituents came out in force in a mass show of faith.

Of course, I am talking about the WWE Smackdown which was held at the Acer Arena on Sunday, June 15. You may almost have believed you had been transported to old testament times - with scenes depicting the idol worship practised by King Solomon(1 King 11:5-8) - such was the reverence which 30,000 of Greater Sydney’s finest proudly displayed for current deities with the unlikely names of Batista, The Great Khali, The Edge and MVP.

The regular methods for religious observance were adhered to, ie: constant chanting of the name of their god or chants denouncing their specific devil; gold replica belts representing the glory of ‘God’; a very specific uniform pledging allegiance; and an uncanny ability to mimic the actions of their leader.

Amazingly, all such actions were played out in perfect synchronicity, thus showing that the finely tuned choreography was not just confined to the action within the ring.

All in all, I was witness to about ten ‘bouts’or performances. I confess I have no idea who won any of them, even the feature bout between Batista and The Edge ( I did leave half way through this bout in an effort to beat the crowd and get out of the car park without too much fuss). For me it mattered not - the most fascinating action was outside the ring and for a keen observer of human nature - this was worth the price of admission alone.

Post by Don Arnold