Floating zebra alert

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Every so often, we go serious on 6000 miles… and we document something in the public interest.
This is one of those days.

Please, please be aware of the dangers of floating zebras. This young lady was fortunate that she was over water when she realised that she was soaring away attached to a floating zebra. Luckily, she was also wearing suitable attire for her escape from this terrifying ordeal.

Hopefully, she had a safe landing.

Recent research by the University of Birmingham suggested that each year, worldwide, up to 48 people are carried away by floating zebras.

These people are never seen again. Never.
And all because they foolishly chose to become involved with a drifting equid.

KNOW THE RISKS. 

Photo credit

Late again

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Home from a hectic day at work to a hectic evening at home, mainly involving a jungle gym, a yellow barrel and a golf ball.
Don’t ask.

And then dinner and a few episodes of Big Bang Theory. Yes, it’s American and therefore should be rubbish, but the science angle makes it personally relevant and therefore amusing. It concerns me that I identify with certain traits of some of the characters though. (I’m not saying which traits or characters, since the vast majority of the protagonists are completely socially dysfunctional.)
I was going to add a random photo to this post from the Flickr Explore “last 7 days of interestingness”, but they are all photographs of a certain genre – too “mucked about with” (photoshopped) and unnecessarily arty for my liking. So disappointing.

So instead I searched for something from the Isle of Man groups, where I came across this:

group

which appears to be the least successful attempt at a swingers ad ever.

I also found a misplaced sunset picture (taken in Worcestershire) which would make a lovely quota photo. It was heavily copyrighted though, so appropriate permissions have been sought – hopefully you look out for that another day.

Spandau Ballet review

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The warm up to the concert, with a couple of Heart 104.9 DJs was concerning. As they rolled through a mix of 80’s tunes, I couldn’t help but think that they were playing stuff from a whole catalogue of bands I’d rather be seeing than those on the bill for the evening.
And when they excitedly described Alphaville and Spandau Ballet as “the two biggest bands of the 80’s”, I couldn’t help but think that they were lying.

What about a-ha and Duran Duran? Or Tears for Fears and the Pet Shop Boys? 
Had they forgotten Depeche Mode and ABC and Culture Club and Wham! and OMD and the Human League and the Thompson Twins?

You get my point, I’m sure.
And then there was a delay and they ran out of 80s music to play. So maybe they had forgotten about all those other bands.

Anyway, belatedly, on came Alphaville.
The first thing that struck me was the irony that Alphaville’s biggest hit was Forever Young. Because, if the chorus line from that was some sort of plea:

Forever young, I want to be forever young

it hasn’t worked. Aged 55 and looking like a cross between Buster Bloodvessel and Till Lindemann’s dad, lead singer Marian Gold has put on a bit of weight since the 1980s. His partners in crime (and it did look like prison was actually involved at some point) were a keyboard player with an IQ apparently in single figures, a guitar player who didn’t really want to be there and a drummer who turned up sporting long blond hair and a tight white jumpsuit. As they came on to cheers – and indeed a fair amount of laughter – things were not looking promising.

But what an effort. What energy. The old favourites were obviously all there: Dance With Me, Jet Set Society, Sounds Like A Melody and of course, Big In Japan– many of them dragged from the synthpop of the 80s with a aggressive Deutsche Rock upgrade. But while it worked, you got the feeling that the fans would have preferred more keyboard and less guitar.  
Summer in Berlin reminded us of the simplicity of 80s lyrics:

Summer in Berlin, it’s alright.
Summer in Berlin, it’s ok.

And yes, it was a bit rough around the edges – almost like they hadn’t moved on from what was acceptable in their heyday. Stuff you’d never get away with these days. But that was fine. That performance was what people had come to hear and the response from the audience was every bit as enthusiastic as the energy on stage.
I was thoroughly impressed and I am now more sure than ever that the return of Synthpop is long overdue.

And then Spandau Ballet. My goodness, they look much older. Which is entirely logical, since they are actually much older.
Theirs was an altogether tighter, better rehearsed and better managed show. They obligingly posed for cellphone photos, they took it in turns to chat about the old days while Tony Hadley, traditionally clad in charcoal grey suit and tie, blew kisses to the middle-aged women on the front row.
The performance was hugely professional – a far cry from Alphaville’s earlier “80s-club” style efforts. In fact, it was almost too good, too polished – it would have been good to see a human side during the songs as well as in between them. Hadley’s voice is still unique, still as powerful as ever, but the shift from the raw New Romantic foundation towards a more refined, soul sound left me a little cold.

Once again, the list of hits was impressive: Only When You Leave, Communication, Chant No.1, Fight For Ourselves and To Cut a Long Story Short (amongst many others) were all carefully, energetically and perfectly performed before the inevitable True and then, as a second encore, Gold. 
A new, daring and beautiful acoustic version of With The Pride was sadly spoiled by idiots in the audience having loud conversations right through the course of it. (Why do SA audiences do this at concerts?)

And the band did look to be having a huge amount of fun on stage. If they were faking it, they were faking it well, with smiles and during the show and hugs after the final number. As Hadley remarked, their reforming was “the best decision we ever made”.
But it remains to be seen whether the “new” Spandau Ballet will have any commercial success aside from this tour, which clearly relies solely on their previous standing and music.
For me – and I suspect, many others – the magic of the band was the fact that they were one of the top New Romantic acts. Now that they’ve lost that, and despite the fact that they are obviously seasoned and professional performers, I’m not convinced that they have anything hugely significant to offer.
Although I’d love to be proved wrong.

Reuters joins the bandwagon

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Oh PLEASE!

Tourists in South Africa including soccer fans heading to the World Cup must guard against mosquito bites and avoid contact with raw meat due to an outbreak of Rift Valley fever, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
Many tourists visit South Africa’s game parks and the WHO warned visitors to avoid contact with dead animals — another way of catching the disease.

Yes. Do avoid the dead animals which litter South Africa’s game parks. Indeed, last time I was in a game park, I couldn’t move for dead animals. There are so many of them that they use them to make the roads and houses out of. Dead animals. Everywhere.
What Reuters and the WHO fail to mention is that death may also be caused by several of the live animals in these parks as well. In fact, I would argue that this is far more dangerous than having contact with the dead animals. Which are everywhere.

Officials in South Africa, the host of the 2010 World Cup from June 11 to July 11, have reported 172 human cases of the animal viral disease this year.

172 cases, eh? Out of a population of 46 million people. Truly Hectic. 
What they neglect to mention is that ALL 172 WERE FOOTBALL FANS! Because that is the high risk group for Rift Valley Fever.
I know this because I’m a microbiologist. And a football fan.
But I’m safe because I wear one of those suits like Dustin Hoffman in Outbreak while I’m wading through the thigh-deep heaps of dead animals in the local game parks.

The virus can be transmitted through the handling of animal tissue during slaughtering or butchering, assisting with animal births, veterinary procedures or from disposing of carcasses.
Herders, farmers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians are at higher risk of infection.

Sorry, that should obviously read:

Herders, farmers, slaughterhouse workers, veterinarians and football fans are at higher risk of infection.

Especially if those football fans are going to watch some footy in our amazing new stadiums and then go and do some herding, farming, abattoir and veterinary work. Which, after all, is what football fans usually do after games.

Ah yes, it brings a tear to the eye as I remember watching the mighty Red And White Wizzards at Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane and then hurrying, along with the other 30,000 spectators, out along the A630 and the A57 out into Derbyshire to assist with animal births, handle some animal tissue (careful now) and dispose of some carcasses.
I mean, it’s like a ritual for most football fans, isn’t it? A quick pint before the game, 90 minutes of exciting football with a dodgy pie at half time and then off to do some veterinary procedures.
Right.

So yes. You might get Rift Valley Fever if you interact with dead animals in South Africa.
So don’t interact with dead animals in South Africa.

And if you believe this sort of thing poses a genuine risk to you. And the thing about the earthquakes. And the supposed race war. 
Then just don’t come. Really.

We won’t miss you.

Spandau Ballet tonight

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Off to watch these Golden Oldie legends of the 80’s this evening at Grand West this evening:

I’m pretty sure that they’ll do this song and their other really big hit True. Hopefully the somewhat upbeat tempo of the former won’t break the aging members of the band and prevent the rest of the gig from taking place.

Supporting them on stage for the Heart 104.9 “Awesome 80’s” evening are German Synthpopsters Alphaville, who are famed for their hit Forever Young. They never really hit the heights in the UK, although apparently, they were Big in Japan. And also very popular in South Africa, which isn’t quite as amusing.