McDonalds Ludmilla - Hamburger Joint Or Road and Car Wash?

What a stupid franchisee! What a bad example to the rest of the community! What a waste!

Very obviously the franchisee could not give a rat’s. Maybe the franchisor might though.

It is the wet season and two nights ago around 30 -50mm of rain fell in Darwin, enough for at least 5 or 6 days to keep the garden and lawns growing.

Not only that, but both November and December have been quite wet with plenty of regular rain. It is over two months since most people needed to use irrigation at home, except for maybe the odd pot plant.

Yes, good old McDonald’s on Bagot Road / Pfitzer Drive corner at Ludmilla where thousands of cars move past both day and night, is still watering the lawn. Not only that, they are watering every evening, and also watering most of the road on both Pfitzer Drive and some onto Bagot road. It is so bad on Pfitzer Drive that the road is showing signs of damage from the water. Your car is watered as you enter the carpark.

There is a simple switch –called a rain off switch, that holds the settings, but stop the irrigation system operating. This is a switch one uses to turn the system off......when it rains. Very easy, very simple. Should have been activated about two month’s ago.

I am sure they can afford the water bill, but why use it?

What a shame they are so silly that they cannot turn it off when it is not needed.

Lightning - Sears the Eyeballs

Storms, fierce storms - are common across the Top End in the rainy season.



Having been away for a little while one can forget they occur.

First morning home, around 0400 it came........an eyesearing blast that was like fierce sunshine that penetrated the eyelids, definitely waking you up, followed immediately by a levitating thunderball. Yes, one thinks, we are home - welcome to the Top End!!

Quite a storm, even by local standards with about 35mm of rain in 20 minutes or so, and some very fierce lightning and thunder following the early blast, and all without much wind. And it only happened in a fairly narrow strip along the coast with only a few millimetres of rain at the airport which is about 3 kilometres from the ocean.

There have been a few storms around Darwin while away, but this was special it seems and made the front page of the local newspaper.

Omelette - Forty Years in the Making

One must continue to learn in life. Even if over a long period of time.

There was a discussion with my wife yesterday over breakfast - along the lines of what there might be for breakfast.

The topic I ventured was - how about an omelette?

She appeared somewhat incredulous when I offered to make omelettes for us both. It was not about the offer to do that for us both, but more along the lines of stunned awe about the cooking of an omelette itself. She had never seen me cook omelettes. Not to mention some trepidation as to the outcome.

When one has been married for over 40 years there are not many [still some it seems] secrets.

Forthwith, two omelettes were produced.

To somewhat stunned incredulity. "I did not know you could cook omelettes" was the call, and the obvious answer - "I can".

We had omelettes for breakfast again today. The whole shebang - cheese, ham, onion etc.

Maybe I have incurred a rod for my own back, but really they are so easy and simple. Who can't cook a decent omelette?

You will have to speculate on their quality........without photographic proof!

Stereotypes for the Northern Territory

The popular ABC show Q and A was held in Darwin last Monday evening. Our family was otherwise engaged and did not attend, so I am reliant on the media [ but is that wise ?- see post below].

It seems the show has caused a flurry of score and counter score among many.

To many, Darwin - and by inference, the whole of the NT -is seen a city of yobbo stereotypes, cultural cretins and many worse derogatory terms. It might be laid back, but it sure is not uncultured, uncivilised, nor full of yobbos. We, as a population might enjoy a drink [ it is hot you know], enjoy boating or fishing and water sports [ it is hot you know], and dress down rather than up, day to day [ it is hot you know] but we also are active, culturally aware, and articulate.

Our viewpoint is driven by location and surrounds - with strong links to Asia as well as awareness, concern and tolerance of the local indigenous population. Sometimes we are unable to influence views on these topics, views often held by those with less real knowledge about the issues.

One local ABC reporter got fed up with the piffle being bandied around after the show, and has written an op ed piece for the ABC web site. There are a lot of comments, too!

She is a resident - albeit a relatively newcomer, but the spirit of the piece does hold true.

We do loathe being taken as idiots..........we are not.

While it is the season of the falling mango, long reputed to be the most troppo time of the year, and a highpoint of undesirable behaviour, locals just get on with it, tolerating the weather.........knowing that rain is coming. Elsewhere around the monsooon tropics, this pre wet season time is often the period of holidays......a time when work is less, think Songkran in Thailand in April for example, equivalent to our October/November time. But northern Australia is endowed with an inappropriate calendar schedule, imposed by temperate Australia.

Like anywhere else we have citizen behavioural problems, but we are not unaware of those.

The climate is tough on materials and people and the survivors and locals are coloured by that. Not like the soft latte set of southerners, politicians included, esconsed in their ivy towers.

Even Gurrumul, that great NT musician, is probably better known elsewhere than in Australia.

For more, read it here - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-20/kerrigan-qanda-in-the-nt/3580944

We do not really like being fed drivel by the latte set.

Tolerance and Caring - Is It Over?

Trevor - the rubbish king - is regularly seen around Darwin, doing what he sees as his God given work - keeping the place clean. He picks up the rubbish the paid rubbish people leave behind!

His work appears on my blog here - http://monsoon-frog.blogspot.com/2010/05/art-installation-by-trevor.html

Darwin has a tolerant attitude to the odd bod........and has had for a long time. The motto, well known elsewhere of "do no harm" applies. If a bit odd, but doing no harm, well....., tolerate!

Trevor is a bit more than a garbo......read the op ed piece, which he wrote - below. Sort of says it all. It is a motto, a call to arms for the world of being a bit more caring and tolerant. While not being religious or evoking religion, it does have a ring similar to a few of the great people leaders around the world - from Christ, to Martin Luther King and Gandhi in recent times. Tolerance and care for the fellow man.

Read it yourself......


Towards a world embracing us all

Trevor Jenkins - is well known in Darwin for his work cleaning up rubbish. Ahead of Anti-Poverty Week, the man also known as the Rubbish Warrior, who was homeless for several years, argues that many may choose to ignore poverty and misunderstand those who are in that situation, but the poor and the homeless have their own strengths that enrich us all.

PAIN and human suffering is an im­portant resource. It can be as rich as minerals, as powerful as diamonds. It is more prolific than sex.

It's more than a base from which to write welfare programs. It's an en­try point into people's lives that is a gift to us all and enriches our lives.

Poverty allows us to once again see the distance we have placed be­tween ourselves and others.
Human pain and human suffering on the street is paradoxically what makes some human beings rich in survival skills: resilience, humanity, accept­ance, humour, resourcefulness, mateship, friendship and loyalty.

People are living with pain, living with disability, and living with abu­se and terror. Courage in adversity is an Australian gift we value ­think of the Anzacs.

Today these gifts, very visible in people suffering on the streets, have been overlooked and pushed away in our headlong pursuit of success, comfort, grandeur, programs, plans, ideologies, and careers. When real­life human suffering is right outside our doors it is all too much.

People say success breeds success and like-minded people should con­gregate together. If you don't suc­ceed you are judged as having a loser mentality and told it's "your own fault for thinking that way".

People say: "Don't blame me for not wasting my time with negative ­thinking people like you."

Social and community thinking about poverty does not accept fail­ures, reality, trying hard, earning respect, acceptance of suffering or humility. Instead, it's about appear­ances, about looking good, feeling great and hiding the truth.

When somebody doesn't hide their true suffering and their true, lived self, better watch out because they might spread their pain and de­stroy themselves, us and society.

I see all this on the street, and I look on in dismay at a society in love with its own image, its own self and its own plans. A society in which an honest, hardworking, single, poor man with good morals and values is somehow mentally ill. Where it's crazy to love, crazy to think and dream, crazy to be free and alive.

It upsets and saddens me, but it inspires me, too, to overcome my own ill ridden fears and challenge the status quo. And I love people all the same.

I intend to fight for myself and others in similar positions, hope­fully helping to teach a society to truly love again.

Anti-Poverty Week events in the NT will run from Monday October 17 to Thursday October 20.
[Article by T Jenkins sourced from NT News October 15 - but too good to not disseminate further!]

A COOL Blast

It is mid September........and it should be warm to hot, even at night.

But we have a coooool blast at the present. No, not complaining at all........and I have no doubt that it will not last more than a few days. Then back to warm and humid weather. So lets enjoy it!

Temperature fell to just over 16C last night in Darwin. Thought it might be cold when it was already below 20C by about 11pm last night. Definitely was a cold one. And the relative humidity is very low this morning - around 20%.

Even colder last night out of town in the rural area where temperature dropped to 8.2C at Middle Point, the second coldest night EVER for there, and in September, which is a bit strange, as most cold nights are in the June - early August period. Strong winds and a total fire ban today, but it is warm and sunny. A wind chill factor of 7 degrees, giving an apparent temperature of only 17C now [ actual temperature is 24C]

The office is quite cool this morning, even with no fan running either.

Do not think it will last.....maybe one or two more nights below 20C, then back to the humidity. For the next 6 months!

Night Road Works

While common in larger cities, Darwin has seen more of this over recent times.

Partly due to a need for considerable renovation of roads after the very damp wet season of 2010-2011, and well, it is cooler to work at night too. Especially now, when day temperatures can reach 36C, while night temperatures are rising too, but are more pleasant at around 25C.

The effect can be a bit eerie - people all kitted out in bright refective vests, flashing lights and the odour of hot tar, a hint of steam rising from the asphalt too, and traffic moving slowly past the work.

Enjoy the photos........hope they convey some of odd imagery seen during night road works.

Photographed on Trower Road, Rapid Creek not far from our place. Available light using DSLR with ISO at 3200.

Planes Above

Darwin is an important link in many old and new air routes and aviation. A vital link between Australia and the rest of the world.

A lot of it is unseen, but pass overhead the aircraft do........with monotonous regularity.

Sometimes, especially at night you can hear aviation traffic overhead, or even see an aircraft by the moving navigation lights. Darwin is a way point, where slight adjustments to the course are made, so coming close is a regular occurrence for many commercial aviation operators.

Last night was unusual with two north bound aircraft leaving very large and conspicious con trails in the sky above Darwin, a few minutes apart. They hung in the sky for maybe 30 minutes, without dispersing, two obvious pink con trails illuminated by the setting sun.

Even captured one on camera, with the light of the rising moon.

Enjoy the view - going north. Leaving Australia.

Are You a Cyberslacker???

Cyberslacker - it is a beautiful term to describe those who contribute to cyber forums etc while at work, in work time.

Are you one?

It seems an awful lot of Australians ARE.

The following is from the Weekend Australian newspaper and says it all!! It is a very interesting set of statistics and ancedotal materials.......a great story.

Digital forums being skewed by cyberslackers
Christian Kerr
From: The Australian
August 06, 2011 12:00AM

THE anonymity afforded by the internet makes it hard to know for sure who is driving online public opinion. But one thing can be said about this surfing, tweeting, blogging community busy putting links and comments up on their Facebook pages: it is made up of people with nothing better to do.
When the digital dawn arrived as the 20th century drew to a close, it was heralded as a new dawn, too, for democracy. But digital democracy is not representative democracy; representative in the sense it embodies the true vox populi.

Online political commentary is driven by what the pollsters would call a self-selecting sample. And just as many online opinion polls now come with footnotes pointing out that their findings are not scientific, online public opinion needs a similar qualifier.

Web-based activist group GetUp! claims almost 600,000 members. Since it was founded in 2005, its email-driven campaigns and web-based petitions have become influential political tools.
Its national director Simon Sheikh claims one in every 30 Canberrans belongs to the organisation. He also has said that contrary to its youthful image, the average age of members is 55.

This has led many on the Coalition side of politics to deride the group as a bunch of cyberslacking, bored and idle, middle to low-ranking, left-leaning, white-collar public servants getting older and grumpier every day as they strive to hang on to just a little of the idealism of their radical youth.

Tommy Tudehope, a social media expert who served as social media adviser to Australia's most cyber-savvy politician, Malcolm Turnbull, during his time as Liberal leader, warns against taking online opinion in isolation.

He compares the situation with looking at the polls. While one may contain dramatic figures, wise politicians will look at their longer-term patterns. They will study the trend lines.

"I would never taken one social media platform in isolation," Tudehope says. "You have to take them all together." Even then, he says, the information and opinion received from social media needs to be married with data from other sources to form a reliable view.

Tudehope points out some of the immediate distortions of the web world. Tradesmen and manual workers do not sit at desks with computers on them. He talks of cyberslacking, too. "It's an issue for all companies," he says, but goes on to warn that the problem is particularly prevalent in enterprises where employees are "given more freedom at their desks".

Michelle Prak, a social media consultant with Adelaide-based Hughes Public Relations, points to Sensis data from earlier this year that shows only 22 per cent of social media users say they visit social media sites at work, but wonders aloud if the market researchers have been told some little white lies.

She also cites data from Google Analytics that points out Twitter reaches 11 per cent of the Australian population, compared with 8.5 per cent worldwide; and Facebook 67.3 per cent, far higher than the global average of 50.8.

Web consultant ROI says social media dominates how Australians use the internet.

Nielsen research published last year found almost one-quarter of online time was spent on social networks and blogs, and this number was increasingly rapidly. The average visitor spent 66 per cent more time on these sites than was the case 12 months before.

Australians, Nielsen found, averaged the most time on blogs and social networking sites, seven hours and 19 minutes, and were logging on from work and home. Our time spent on these sites outstripped the No 2 nation, the US, by just under 45 minutes and the No 3, Italy, but just over. More industrial nations exposed our cyberslacking shame. Germans devoted only four hours and 13 minutes of their home and work time every week to blogs and social networking and the Swiss three hours and 43 minutes. Japan's usage rates were even lower, at two hours and 50 minutes.

Andrew Braun, director of mobile, internet and technology at Roy Morgan Research, says his company's Single Source data shows that more than a million Australians aged 14 and older have read or added a comment to a newspaper blog in the past four weeks. More than 1.3 million of us have read or commented on someone else's blog or online journal.

Almost 400,000 Australians have started or managed their own blog or online journal. More than a million have viewed or contributed to online forums. Monash University researchers have found workers spend more than one-quarter of their time on the internet on non-work-related activity.
The Australian's online traffic climbs noticeably as the working day begins. It stays high all morning, peaks during the usual lunch hours, stays strong through the afternoon, then falls noticeably as home-time looms.

All the experts agree; just what is done while cyberslacking is next to impossible to quantify.
But given all these patterns and figures it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that much of the political commentary offered on the web and through social media is produced on someone else's time. That fact itself may explain the snarky tone of much of it.

Vivienne Storey, of Blands Law, helps companies develop social-media policies governing all kinds of web-based interaction. Workers who spend too much time online on non-work-related activities, Storey says, may be unhappy or frustrated. "I always say wasting time on the internet, that's really a deeper issue in the workplace," she says. "It's got nothing to do with access to social media. It's: why are the employees bored?"

The Roy Morgan data lets us quantify another demographic with time on its hands that may also be bored or frustrated and shaping online opinion.

In the past four weeks, close to 250,000 people who do not work have read or added a comment to a newspaper blog. More than 400,000 have read or commented on someone else's blog or online journal. One hundred and eight thousand have started or managed their own blog or online journal. And 284,000 have viewed or contributed to online forums.

There are fears that the often angry tone of web-based political discussion is making mainstream debate derogatory.

The climate-change debate has raised temperatures, in recent weeks and in the past.

Coalition sources say some offices were receiving an email every second at the height of the emissions trading scheme dramas of 2009.

Last week an angry Turnbull tweeted the details of a serial text message pest. "I don't mind abusive emails or tweets but why does Thomas Lynch [Turnbull gave his phone number] think it's OK to send me abusive SMSes about climate change?" he asked.

Online political opinion is unrepresentative. Much is ferocious and fiercely partisan in tone. That is because many of its authors have too much time on their hands and, like everyone who finds themselves in that state, have got bored and cranky.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/digital-forums-being-skewed-by-cyberslackers/story-e6frgakx-1226108577149

is the link, and there are plenty of comments too.

Does this represent YOU??

The Truth - or Is It??

The truth can be confronting, it can also set you free.

Speculation in the media often canvasses ideas about whether truth is being promulgated. 'Spin reigns', is the cynical view these days among the masses.

Maybe rightly so.

Too many junk media releases to promote the deliverer [aka a politician, media mogul etc], not to promote the information. We almost always suspect politicians are not telling the truth. That seems a bit sad.

Look at events in the UK at the moment.......truth has been a casuality of the events unfolding over the phone hacking scandal. Probably more to come too.

In Australia, with all sides of politics debating.......or promoting, various options over carbon reductions and carbon pricing, what is the truth?

In science maybe there is no absolute truth.......and with climate change the science while clearer, is almost likely to be always an unknown [with some probability limits], especially as data about past climate change events is found, and debated scientifically. Scientists accept this theorem about truth and facts - they can change, and then our views are adjusted, or not, depending on the arguments advanced.

Over historical time, many in the scientific community have had ridicule heaped upon them over theories........later shown to be the now accepted idea. Continental drift, planets including earth around the sun .......there are many in this category.

The op ed piece in todays's Australian newspaper is on truth.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/the-real-truth-is-that-there-is-no-hidden-agenda-behind-the-story/story-e6frg6zo-1226096370394

And it comes back to one issue - not everyone has a hidden agenda, even among politicians. The writer makes the point strongly that often there is no hidden agenda or spin. Even politicians may believe that the course of action proposed, the legislation etc is actually the best option.

A well written piece, a bit on the philisophical, even strongly intellectual view, but a view worth revisiting.

We seem sometimes to forgot that people of all persusions may actually believe in issues they are advocating.

Red Trumpet Vine - Pyrostegia venusta

You know it is a good dry season if this plant is in its vibrant flowering glory.

And it is......

The plant is often used as a screen vine on fences and most of the year it is just a green plant. But when it flowers it is spectacular! It seems to flower best in a dry season that has at least some decent cool nights below 20C.

Masses of reddish-orange flowers in large clusters against a dark green foliage makes for a great ostentatious display. Really offers a major statement.

The photos are from a site just around the corner from our house along their fence. Just a short 15m or so. But it is by no means the only one around the area, nor the largest, although it is in a cul de sac, and may not be the most obvious display seen.

I noticed a long fenceline - maybe 30m - the whole front fenceline - on a house block along Bagot Road, a site seen by many thousands of commuters travelling to and from work each day. It is a mass of flowers also. A great feature.


The bright flowers also seem to survive for a few weeks so it is not just a short burst of flowering. The botanical name is Pyrostegia venusta - definitely worth considering for a screen vine in the tropics and sub tropics.

Late Night Biking - from France

It is that time of the year again.

Late evenings, early mornings, tranquil views of the French countryside while about 200 bike riders tear around the dales and glens of France. THE Tour de France.

We now get full tv coverage for most of the day's racing, and it is online as well, as streaming video, for the full day's event.

Must be the greatest tourist coverage available for France - three weeks of cover for many of the regions of France. There are some fantastic scenes, and I am sure it has generated many, many visitors to France over the years.

So far........ Alberto Contador seems to have a dose of bad luck, and his bike throw yesterday was a bit of a classic dummy spit. Cadel Evans has had some good luck, with a well deserved stage win, and Mark Cavendish also won a sprint finish yesterday. Thor Hushovd continues along successfully wearing the GC leader's yellow jersey.

Early days in the event, with much more to come.

The TDF has become a huge event world wide. Even if vaguely interested in cycling, it is almost worth watching as a travelogue, on its own. If interested in cycling.........then at least some viewing is essential.

However, in Australia, that means getting to bed very early in the am, not conducive to a decent days work next day. Nothing beats time-shifting to watch it when you can!

Bike Helmets Reduce Injuries - Latest Research

It seems as if a long argument finally has a solution - wearing a bike helmet does actually reduce injuries for bike riders.

Rarely has an issue evoked as much debate.........with staunch advocates for both wearing and not wearing a helmet.

I have split a helmet in half after an accident caused by a dog hitting the bike at around 50km/hr, after which my head hit the ground first- and not suffered head injuries so I am more pro use than not. I am sure a helmet saved my skull.........and as a family there was rarely much debate by the kids over wearing a helmet while biking after that incident.

Most serious bike riders seem pro helmet use, with more support for not using one in the itinerant bike riding group I think.

However.........read more here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/23/3251272.htm

And...... wear a bike helmet while riding.......it might just save your head.

It's COLD in Darwin!!

Darwin is COLD this morning......a minimum of 14.4C with a low humidity, means an effective temperature of around 9C.

Inland, effective temperatures were closer to 5-7C, with one reading of 4C meaning an effective temperature of -1C..........thats cold!.

And you thought Darwin was never cold! In Alice Springs, quite a few nights in a row below freezing.

Many users of fleece jackets today.......at least for a while, as day temperatues of 30C are expected later.

And there are at least a few more days of similar weather still to come according to the Met Bureau.

Toooooooooo cold for frogs to go swimming.

COOL Weather

Yes, it can get cool in Darwin. Most people never believe that to be true, but this week has seen quite a few cool nights - with last night a minimum of 17C. Likely to be even cooler over the weekend!

And...........there is a wind chill factor too. Cool weather usually means low humidity, often with east or south east winds from across the continent. So the apparent temperature is often 3-5 degrees C less than the measured temperature. A temperature effectively of around 13C this morning.

Most homes are designed to be open to breezes, so interior areas can cool quickly, and many have tiled floors. They get COLD on the usual bare feet when moving around the house, and there is a breeze blowing.

It is all relative...........but definitely cool for Darwin. Even daily maximum temperatures are below 30C. Cool nights are considered excellent for mango flowering........maybe a good crop this year.

Should even have another week of similar weather, driven by a slow moving, large high pressure system in southern Australia.

Cool but enjoyable........even a bit cool for swimming!

Aeroplanes Are Coming

Two types actually, live military ones and dead big ones.

First the live military aircraft.

We are about to be subjected to a month or more of serious military aircraft flying out of Darwin. The cream of the RAAF, FA-18s, will be here for an exercise, with lots of flying out of the Darwin airport. And NOISE.

We live about 2km directly N of the end of the main runway and in the dry season do get more aircraft noise, albeit at a modest level, due to SE wind patterns during the dry season.

A short while ago............yes, the RAAF arrived! Very noisy. But it is in short bursts and a necessary evil to provide pilot training and exercises. Trouble is, this now replaces the jets of the Singapore Air Force, who also use Darwin for training purposes several times a year.

Oh well.............usually not at night, so you still get to have a good night's sleep.

The second stanza is somewhat intriguing.

Alice Springs has just received approval as only the first site outside of the USA as an "aeroplane wreckers yard" for large aircraft. It is a significant industry in itself and today they announced that Alice Springs has approval for a 100ha site - potentially holding up to several hundred aircraft, as an aircraft graveyard, adjacent to the airport site [really part of it].

Desert areas are generally preferred for these sites and Alice Springs obviously meets the criteria..........even if last year was much wetter than just about any previous year on record!

It is expected to be quite an industry development. More here-
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/26/3227852.htm

But let's wait and see when the first aircraft arrives.

Standing Tall Helps Exude Power

Posture can affect how powerful you feel--and how powerful you are
By Adam D. Galinsky and Li Huang Tuesday, January 4, 2011 in Scientific American

“The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense that Energy is the fundamental concept in physics . . . The laws of social dynamics are laws which can only be stated in terms of power.” -- Bertrand Russell

Three-quarters of a century ago, Bertrand Russell asserted that power is the driving force behind much of social behavior. Consistent with Russell’s theoretical musings, there has been an explosion of empirical research in the past decade – in social psychology, sociology, economics, and political science – demonstrating that power governs the many important social relationships that make up our political, business and family lives. Indeed, the dynamics of power even regulates the interactions of pre-school children. Power appears to be the central animating force of social life.

Given power’s primacy in social life, it is not surprising that one’s position in a social hierarchy transforms people in fundamental ways. Simply placing a person in a powerful or powerless role immediately alters their thoughts and behavior. The powerful tend to see the forest whereas the powerless focus on the trees. The powerful are optimistic, take bold actions and embrace risky ideas while the powerless are psychologically conservative. As Lara Tiedens of Stanford University points out, this complementarity of behavior leads to an efficient division of labor and smooth social relationships. Because it provides survival advantages to groups, hierarchy is the most prominent form of social organization. As a result, the human mind has evolved to be incredibly sensitive to one's own place in a social hierarchy.

Given the wide range of behaviors and cognition that power pulls into its sphere of influence, a fundamental question is how do people acquire power: what are its sources and bases? Many people answer “money, fame, or an important role in one’s social group.” Indeed, each of these may give you asymmetric control over valued resources, which is the very definition of power.
But, are there other sources of power, other ways to both feel powerful and signal power to others?

In fact, there are many paths to increase one’s sense of power.

The most obvious method is to have actual control over valued resources. But, power is also housed in our memories – simply recalling a time in which one had power has the exact same psychological and behavioral effects as giving people actual resource control. As memories of past power dance in our heads, we feel more powerful and act as if we are in charge in the present. However, although reliving powerful experiences can make one feel powerful, it doesn’t signal power to others.

As it turns out, there is a simple method to both transform people psychologically and signal power to others: altering your body posture.

Across species, body posture is often the primary representation of power. From fish to reptiles to lower mammals to human’s closest evolutionary cousins, non-human primates, power is expressed and inferred through expansive postures, large body size, or even the mere perception of large body size through expansive postures.

The link from expansive postures to feeling and acting in a powerful way was elegantly demonstrated in a recent publication in Psychological Science. Dana Carney and Andy Yap from Columbia University and Amy Cuddy from Harvard University found that open, expansive postures (widespread limbs and enlargement of occupied space by spreading out one’s body), compared with closed, constricted postures (limbs touching the torso and minimization of occupied space by collapsing the body inward), increased feelings of power and an appetite for risk.

To measure the appetite for risk, these researchers gave participants $2 and told them they could keep this money or roll a die and risk losing the $2 for a payout of $4 (a risky but rational bet since the odds of winning were 50/50). Participants who had been placed in the expansive posture reported feeling significantly more “powerful” and “in charge” and were also 45% more likely to roll the die.

More impressively, expansive postures also altered the participants’ hormone levels.

Using salivary samples, Carney and colleagues found that expansive postures led individuals to experience elevated testosterone (T) and decreased cortisol (C). This neuroendocrine profile of High T and Low C has been consistently linked to such outcomes as disease resistance and leadership abilities. Although past research has found that occupying a powerful role leads to expansive postures, Carney et al.’s paper is the first to investigate the reciprocal relationship – the causal effect of posture on the mental experience of power.

Along with Deborah Gruenfeld and Lucia Guillory from Stanford University, we have further established the primacy of posture. In our studies, also appearing in Psychological Science, we empirically demonstrated that not only does expansive posture predict power-related behavior, but it might actually be the closest correlate of these behaviors. Across three studies, we found that when individuals were placed in high- or low-power roles while adopting an expansive or constricted posture, only posture affected the implicit activation of power, the taking of action, and the tendency to see the forest instead of the trees.

Together, these recent discoveries bolster the notion that power is grounded in the body. Not only does power change the body, but altering one’s postures changes one’s power, or at least the psychological experience of it.

These recent findings further suggest that if you want to predict how people will act in any given moment, it may make sense to look to their posture instead of their role or title.

The battle between powerful roles and powerful postures is humorlessly depicted in a cartoon on the cover of the December 5, 2005 issue of The New Yorker. President George W. Bush is slouching. The then vice president, Richard B. Cheney, has both arms expansively extended across the back of a sofa, his legs sprawled across a coffee table. The president has more power vested in him by the Constitution, but the cartoon suggests what scientific research has found: that a person’s posture is often more indicative of actual influence than their position in a hierarchy.
-------------------------

Are you standing tall?

Are your teenagers standing tall?

Some good hints here to help others improve self esteem.

Even snakes and frogs that are close to the ground try to stand tall to intimidate predators.

Great Weather for Orchid Flowering

The household orchids are flowering very well.

We had the white flowered native orchid last week, in a one day spectacular flowering, now a lot of others are in flower........and quite a few of the Dendrobiums are in bud........two weeks maybe before they flower.

They look great!!

Cane Toads - Yuk!!

Until recently we have seemingly been free of cane toads around the suburb of Rapid Creek.

Yes, the very ocassional one seen on a deserted street at night near a light post, or in a yard also near light - and rapidly despatched to the nether world. And I think that has been a common approach around the suburb.

However, over the past few weeks it seems they may be now on the move into Rapid Creek. A very dead one was seen along the bike way, near the Beachfront Hotel. We do have a tidal creek near this area, and I have looked extensively over several years, expecting to see them frequently along the bikeway path [close to the creek], a route regularly used to exercise the dog, mostly of an evening when they would be active..........yet none have been seen there, with the exception of the dead one.

But there has been the odd one seen on the streets near the creek, and a few dead ones that have been run over. More seen this wet season than previously. We even had a large one in our driveway last night............and quickly despatched with a shovel and into the compost bin!!

The drier weather over the past few weeks may mean they are moving in search of water, with house yards the obvious desirable place.

Watch....... search........... and destroy these horrible creatures. Remember that famous quote - "eternal vigilance is the price of freedom" [attributed to Wendell Phillips circa 1852].

[photo - attributed to Dept ERM Queensland]

Orchid Flowers for Easter

Cultivating tropical orchids can be fun. The vast array of Vanda, Dendrobium, Cattelya and related species with thousands of colourful varieties are truly spectacular. And we can grow them outdoors quite easily. I have quite a few in the yard, and enjoy their colourful and at times fantastic, flower displays.

And of late, flowering of most plants has been fairly regular, with a good sized flower stem.

Locally in the NT, we have a fair range of native orchids, but none have the tremendous flowers that are more common with the bred varieties.

Our relatively common local orchid does have one feature though that makes it special.......the whole plant on a tree flowers at once in a single monster burst of white flowers for a single day.

And Easter Sunday morning was the day. Is there significance in that, one might ask, on the Christian Feast of the Resurrection?

As soon as the back door of the house opened, the fragrance was superb [ and not all orchids have a fragrance], with all of the plants around the yard a mass of white flowers. The fragrance permeated around the yard, particularly noticeable in the windless early morning; by around midday it had virtually disappeared.

Flowering is not, as far as I can tell, day length or temperature driven.........but they do flower quite a few times each year..............and ALWAYS together! This time a few regular doses of fertiliser given when the other orchids receive their fertiliser spray might have paid off.

Flowering was fantastic. Ho hum............but just a single day each time.