Holy-I-don't-k now-what! Trump is US President Elect

Sheesh! So much for minority power Trump lambasting. Trump won! I followed the electoral college map on Google and saw what chance Hillary had whittle away as North Carolina leaned red. At first I thought Hillary might contest the results in a tit-for-tat because that is what Trump would do if the tables were turned. Instead she conceded with great dignity and it made sense; after all democrats lost the Senate and Congress too, so the people's will is loud and clear–we want our orange clown to be King. So be it. Hillary gave a great concession speech, an echo of the great President she could have been.

I was in the US during the Bush vs. Gore election, that time serving in my Guru's monastery in Hawaii. Though as a rule the American monks did not vote to abstain from political participation all the monks had a clear preference for Democrats because they are liberal and progressive as you would expect of Whites who had converted to Hinduism. I was revisited by the same sinking feeling when it dawned on us that Bush will win. What followed after the relatively prosperous Clinton years was a yippee-ka-kay cowboy President who made the US battle weary, added trillions of dollar in US debt, saw massive inflation in the price of oil and broke the world economy. The world was worse off and no more safer. It took President Obama's genius to stave the US clear off new boots-on-the-ground wars and get the US economy grinding again by not disturbing it with fruitless and dumb endeavours. It looks like a lot of Americans have become tired of peacetime. So here we go again the US has minted a brand new yippee-ka-yay President but he is not a cowboy, he's worse, he is Russia's poster boy. Hopefully this time the crazies in the US will learn their lesson in four years instead of eight.

By the way USA, remember you now have a US President who did not share his tax returns probably because he's got stuff to hide in there, is dogged by lawsuits, his namesake charity is being investigated for self-dealing and is a serial molester whose strongest suit is running his business enterprises to the ground. He has single-handedly made the US the laughing stock of the world. Good luck US you folks are going to need it like never before.

The Most Important Report Of Our Century Is Out–Living Planet Report 2016

To download this report click here.

The Living Planet Report 2016 is a monumental effort that brings to fore all the research and data from 1970 to date to paint a picture of the current state of our natural world and how we got to it. The conclusion is unsurprising that every single natural ecosystem which contributes to providing us with essentials of life–fresh water, oxygen and our milder climate–on our planet is in peril. Deserts however are growing! The report's main barometer for this is the decline of wildlife where backed by heavy data its estimated that we have lost 58% of our wildlife from what was known of it in 1970.

The report which is jointly published by World Wildlife Fund for Nature and Zoological Society of London is 125 pages long and is available free online. I am going to read the report and unpack it chapter by chapter. Their prediction is that by 2020 66% or two thirds of our wild life will be decimated from levels recorded in 1970. The warning of the report is that if we don't act aggressively enough to stop this decline we don't just lose iconic animals of the wild but also cause ecosystems that we depend on heavily for clean fresh water, healthy air and mild climate to degrade irreparably.

Its a report by scientist of portends to hard times ahead if we keep ignoring exploitive human impact on our planet. The good news is that we have all the tech and know-how we need to reverse this situation and that the situation can still be turned around. The bad news is the lack of political will and funding to make the difference.

Clinton may as well sit back and relax, she's already clinched the US Presidency

As the US elections gets into its most intense leg to the finish line I believe the one person who can actually take it easy and coast along is Hillary Clinton because what matters most now is gearing for the get-out-the-vote ground game. In this game Clinton's campaign is leaps and bounds ahead of Trump. Its the volunteers knocking on doors, speaking to friends, helping register new voters and ferrying apathetic voters to polling stations that matter.

Trump is relying too heavily on the Republican National Congress (RNC) to do its ground game which is Trump's biggest mistake next to his foolish overtures to court the minority Black and Hispanic votes. Hispanic and Black voters are going to turn out in record numbers thanks to the anger Trump has stoked in them. Clinton doesn't even need a ground game to get them to the booth, they are primed and ready to give Trump and his White Supremacist followers a sound thrashing. The RNC offices cannot be focused enough to maintain Trump campaign's legwork with their work cut out to support their down ballot candidates plus Trump cannot depend on the loyalty of these ground staff as some might not actually like him.

For all the talk about a tight race in the polls between Clinton and Trump they come with a disclaimer that the polls don't reflect what actually happens on election day. If anything the polls are just fodder for the media to maintain their audience where a tight gripping race is much better than calling it a done deal, its just business. Media pays pollsters to do polls which in turn gives material for the media to turn to headlines. In 2008 and 2012 the same thing happened as the media called a tight race between Obama and McCain and later Romney until election day. Finally Obama won hands down with the minorities carrying him to the finish line, its going to be no different this time.

In Malaysia we also know that the size of the crowd in a political rally is no indication or at most a very unreliable measure of election results. Many people go to political rallies to be entertained, and Trump provides that for his crowd very well, with no intention of even voting. He certainly has a fan base who are vitalised when he is around but what happens when he is not around when message becomes more important than personality. Is Trump's message powerful enough to motivate those spectacle seekers to the polling booth on election day? It will really boil down to Trump campaign's ground game which is at best tepid.

I thought Clinton's labelling half of Trump's support base deplorable was an excellent political move. The fallout from that gave the large racist and extremist elements of Trump's support an opening to expose itself which rendered Trump's overtures into the Hispanic and Black community redundant. In a race for 130 million votes Trump's fan base is only 13.3 million people who voted for him in the Republican primaries but altogether more Republicans voted against Trump instead of for him, Trump was just the least unpopular candidate who fractured the Republican party and caused most of his opponents to not endorse him. Clinton beat Sanders about 16 million to 12 million with Sanders openly backing Clinton even if only begrudgingly as an affront to keep Trump from the Presidency.

Clinton is standing on a much bigger support base with a unified party behind her while Trump has doubled down on the exclusivity of his fan base with the hope that a deeply fractured Republican Party will do the work his campaign needs to do for him. The real story is unfolding in the campaign offices but for the media there are three debates do exploit and gravity defying polls to analyse until election day. 

Solar Power Can Already Power the World

Learn comprehensively in less than five minutes how PV solar panels work. If not for the political lobby of big oil much of our cities would be running on solar power and by now electrical vehicles will be ubiquitous. What makes PV solar power especially attractive is that it is very low maintenance since it doesn't use moving parts to generate electricity not to mention its green credentials. With a lot of independent research making headway into making PVs ever more efficient in energy output the next big question to consider is how PVs can compete with big oil in terms of cost.

Fortunately the cost of PV panels have reduced immensely since the mid 1970's when it cost a whooping $96 per watt compared to where it is now at $0.36 per watt! And it could go lower still to $0.08 per watt. This analysis comes from this video The Truth About Solar by Coldfusion. This 11 minute video will get you updated on the latest on PV solar tech development. According to the video the world will be generating 27% of its energy needs by 2050 but I think this is a very conservative estimation. PVs are already giving fossil fuel energy a run for their money, even in the current low price of fossil fuels in countries that commit to making PVs and other direct solar based energy generation the mainstay of their energy production out of environmental concerns. 

The fact is solar energy is getting so cost efficient that traditional utility companies and energy investors are starting to shun it because it is difficult to rake in as much profits from it as they would from traditional power sources. This is according to a Bloomberg analysis in early 2015. While the argument that solar energy cannot be produced at night is still valid battery storage of excess energy generated during the day can easily solve this problem and battery storage systems too are getting cheaper and more efficient. 

Fortunately it doesn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars to fund research into making solar tech ever more accessible to end consumers as compared to searching for new sources of fossil fuels, extracting and purifying it. And that work has been moving along without much fanfare since the 70's. If we are to move the green revolution more dynamically we cannot depend on politics (governments) and economies (utility companies) alone to provide us with solar energy. Those of us who have the future of our planet at heart can power ahead with DIY solar installations.

Donald Trump is Sunk with Steve Bannon, An Unapologetic Racist as His Campaign's Top Dog

Donald Trump will lose the US Presidential elections and it is likely the US senate will turn Democrat and the Republicans will lose their substantial majority in the House. For all of Trump's rhetoric of reaching out to the minorities by openly insulting them first the hypocritical fact is he just consolidated his campaign with the support of Hill-Billy Rednecks, American Neo Nazis, Anti-Semites and every other manner of white racists and fanatical bigots by appointing Steve Bannon as his campaign's CEO. Just as he had to dump Paul Manafort because of his undeniable link to Putin's oligarchy there is absolutely no way Trump is going to make any inroads with minorities or undecided white voters with a brazen non-white hater propping up his campaign. Hillary's campaign is savvy to attack Trump on racism now just as news will break out in the mainstream on Steve Bannon's atrocious racist background.

Trump's outreach to the minority community of USA started after he brought in new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway who he hoped will help him win over women votes and she must have convinced Trump that there is no way he can win unless he can also gets a larger share of the minority vote which is after the fact he gave Bannon the CEO post. At this late point in the election cycle Trump obviously cannot give his campaign a third shake up. If he fires Bannon his base support of White fanatics will get extremely upset with him especially since they are already getting frustrated with his softening line on illegal and legal non-white immigrants. Its still true that Trump can shoot someone on NY's 5th Avenue and not lose support, but fire Bannon, that's a no-no.

Bannon's hire was a really foolish move on Trump's part. Is Trump really a racist or a bigot? It's hard to say. I am sure he is more than happy to take advantage of anyone regardless of race, creed or gender orientation if it means he could come on top. But with the hire of Bannon he just consolidated his brand recognition with horrible racism–this cannot be good for his business. His children must be hopping mad because in one crazy sweep of campaign shake-up he killed his bid for the US Presidency and in doing that he may have inadvertently poisoned his "golden-goose" his namesake company. Goodbye Trump. 

Take it from a Malaysian, Hillary will be the next US President

If its one thing we Malaysians understand better than the political pundits in the US is race baited election and this year you folks in the US are going to have it. When it comes to racial elections you really don't need good policy, just good rhetoric and a way to invite the minority races to be your kingmakers and Hillary has done that. Trump doesn't stand a chance, just like Bernie Sanders because both their support are overwhelmingly White. I am also impressed by Hillary's VP pick, even if he is a boring white fellow, even if he is not Elizabeth Warren that many disaffected Bernie supporters hoped Hillary would pick, because Tim Kaine speaks fluent Spanish and flaunts it making Hillary increasingly persuasive for US Hispanics.

Hillary's years logged in politico is proving itself and she is going to make it because she knows very well that Trump has made this elections White against everyone else and he is most likely banking on his fantasy fact spewing gut that the US is 90% White. At only 64% White and even if they form the majority the US White votes are split four ways with Hillary commanding women votes, Trump mainly men, Gary Johnson sucking up white Republican protest vote and Jill Stein sweeping a few Bernie supporters. According to the polls it looks like Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are going to rake in a good showing of at least 10% of the national voters and I bet they will be only White voters meaning Hillary and Trump will be fighting for only 54% of White votes. A 50-50 split of this is only 27% per person which makes the 36% non-white voters in the US a gold mine for the candidates.

Hillary beats Trump 99 to 1 among Black voters and with Obama joining her bandwagon its likely Trump will lose even that 1. Both the Clintons and Obama are popular across the spectrum of US Asians so Trump will lose the 5% of Asian voters. On the Hispanic side who make up 16% of the US population I think it is safe to say that Trump has damaged his reputation beyond repair with his disparaging comments on the Judge presiding over Trump U and New Mexico's Hispanic Governor to say the least. Polls along racial lines suggest that Trump has unfavourable ratings among minority races to the tune of between 82%-88%. Hillary could trounce Trump 30% to 6% (Trump's mainly representing a third of Hispanics–this is being generous) of the 36% which will put Hillary way ahead in popular votes. That is Hillary with 57%, Trump 33% and the remaining 10% going to Gary and Jill. Such a huge command in popular votes will certainly be reflected in US's electoral college.

With August lost to the Olympics there is really no time for Trump to repair the damage to his reputation among the minority races, what with his recent attack of Mr. Khzir Khan and no appeal to Black and Hispanic voters despite campaigning for more than a year. It's going to be Hillary 2016 and the world breathes a sigh of relief.

August 11th Update: Trump insinuating that Hillary could be shot by gun activists, outrageously claiming the voting is going to be rigged against him, the man is getting desperate but he is still accepting 10 of millions in donations for his campaign. Many Americans have been legally conned into thinking Trump is their saviour. Fortunately his die-hard follower base who devotedly fill his rallies are not as consequential to his election drive as his campaign might infer. Hopefully Trump will drag down even the Congress as he continues to confuse fact with fiction.

Did Donald Trump Just Learn What Sarcasm Means?

There was nothing sarcastic about Donald Trump's call for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's digital networks to look for email she had deleted. In the press conference The Donald started with, "Russia, if you are listening.......".

If I wanted to be sarcastic on the same subject when asked about the DNC email hack which is alleged to be done by Russians I would answer like this, "If whoever hacked the DNC computers also has the emails that Clinton deleted from her private server, I would love to have a look at them." I would then immediately follow up the statement by underscoring the need for tougher and more vigilant cyber security and real world security measures and end by saying that the DNC hack should never happened in the first place. My sarcastic statement would have accomplished its veiled attack on Clinton by bringing suspicion into her action and at the same time turning the opportunity into supporting Trump's platform plug that the country is under serious attack. Trump could have scored major points from that press conference, fortunately Trump is not smart by any stretch of the mind.

Even when Katy Cury from NBC press tried to help Trump walk back his statement by giving him a chance to retract, to give him a moment to actually reflect on the consequence of his statement, he simply told her to "keep quiet" in apparent consternation and doubled down on his call for espionage to be committed against his own country. Even the word buffoon cannot adequately contain the shallowness of Trump's mind. This is Trump's problem–he simply does not have enough brain power to cognise the possible consequences of his thoughts or actions before he says or does things. This is why he can say with unbridled conviction that he alone can fix the problems of the USA, he is absolutely free from the burden of such a statement because he cannot figure it out. It's only after he gives foolish off-the-cuff statements that his advisors need to sit him down like a kid and explain to him slowly and methodically the folly of what he just said. Then they have to come up with an excuse no matter how weak it may be.

Fortunately Donald Trump will lose the US Presidency because of his folly. Many of the consequences from his previous off-the-cuff statements and tweets that have angered many segments of US society has alienated him from them beyond repair and they will likely haunt him for the rest of his life.

UK's Future Just Got Stuck in Nostalgia

Its been almost a week since the Brmain / Brexit referendum which threw water at whatever little gains the Malaysian ringgit was making against the dollar tanking at RM 4.15 to a dollar. Then the terrorist attacks in Istanbul came to make a bleak week bleaker. The only silver lining I could think of in the past week is that I didn't waste much time following the Trump circus show.

No doubt the referendum to favour Brexit was a surprise to many of us amateur and even professional political pundits, I just brushed it off–yeah, sure, Britain is going to leave EU in place of what? The little country that colonised close to half the planet is so afraid of EU immigrants? Anyway I think the results of the referendum should be deemed inconclusive. It makes no sense that the British PM would just cop-out when he could have just as easily argued that a 4% margin of difference on such an important matter is inconclusive especially since most of the youth decided to remain in EU. With retirees being the main demographic who support Brexit its highly likely that after two years of painstakingly extricating themselves out of the EU there will be more people who would rather be in the EU than out. It would be foolish of the UK government not to do another referendum especially now when reports are pouring in that many people who voted for Brexit say they felt cheated because they were fed with empty promises especially after the ensuing economic turmoil UK has brought on itself following the results of the referendum.

Unfortunately politics is no stranger to foolhardiness. From Bush Jr.'s Iraq war, Beijing's annexation of the Spratly's, Robert Mugabe's continuing premiership of Zimbabwe, Kim Jong Un's endorsement of Donald Trump to Malaysia's disappearing-billions-of dollars seemingly in plain sight the 21st century hasn't freed itself from bad leadership judgements despite being the age of information and people who are easily charmed by snake-oil salesmen.

It would be embarrassing for the UK to say the least to re-do the referendum but crossing fingers with the hope that everything will turn out well for all sides if Brexit is followed through is clearly worse. It takes a pragmatic leader to realise the UK needs the EU more than the other way around. The referendum has already weakened the UK economically with the value of the pound plunging and politically by sowing a chasm of discord between Britain, Scotland and Northern Ireland (The Scotts and Irish voted overwhelmingly to remain in EU while Britain and Wales chose to leave). If the next PM of UK pushes to remain in the EU he or she will herald a more United Kingdom with youth who are engaged with its future or if the PM decides to pursue Brexit a deeply divided nation will be stuck with a damper that just cannot get over the good old days. Time will tell.

Planets and Solar System–The Complete Manual

We live on a planet in the Solar System that has eight other planets, its an amazing fact when one ponders on the nature of the other planets. In studying the harsh conditions that would extinguish life as we know it on the other planets its easy to appreciate the miracle of life on Earth. This appreciation of the gifts of our planet is a feeling we should not ignore or take lightly because there simply is no replacement for Earth if we mess up our planet. The other planets of our Solar System are wonderments in their own regard and their variety in size, composition and conditions is a testament to nature's propensity for diversity. This is what the study of our Solar System means to me–that nature is diverse so too is our individual lives diverse. This diversity among all of us and the many forms of life that we share this planet with is a reflection of nature in us. We must choose to cherish and nurture this diversity otherwise nature will make our own survival perilous. We should not take lightly the extinction of species that have evolved on Earth over billions of years because life on Earth is a delicate balancing act of nature in which every micro-organism, plant and animal has a part to play. If a species goes extinct something or someone needs to do its work in propping up life on Earth. We can't live in the harsh chemical and physical conditions of Venus and on Mars we cannot walk around and breathe the air freely as we do here. We have our planet and thats all we have to pass on to following generations. Understand where we live in as big a context as you can take in and you will appreciate where we are and what we have.

Rains pummel France and Germany with floods as the effects of long gone El Nino 2016 continues

NASA Earth Observatory Image

The jet stream across the Atlantic was disturbed, causing spring precipitation that normally marches across Europe to queue up over France, Germany and Austria to release most of its moisture in those countries instead of all of Europe. Thus record spring floods in Paris closes the Louvre and creates historic scenes near the Eiffel tower as the Seine river broke its banks. El Nino 2016 is to blame for the disruption of the jet stream. In South China too scenes of heavy flooding caused by heavier than usual rainfall caused damage and grief. In Ethiopia the drought situation worsens as a health and hygiene crisis looms for 5.8 million people. 

In the wake of the tragic Orlando Fla. shootings, USA please don't forget Trump U.

After flooding the media with racial rubbish to distract people from the mendacity of Trump U. the opportunistic Donald has jumped on the sad events of the Orlando gun violence to clutter the media with his sensationalist positions on religious divide. The media has taken the bait–hook, line and sinker–and is following him down to his fetid pit of bigotry by repeating his past platitudes. Basically he is saying lets just ban Islam from the USA. Muslims whether they are citizens or immigrants are not welcome in the USA.

While the establishment, media and rational people are aghast at The Donald's proposals they cannot ignore the fanfare in the Trump camp with his followers thumping 'right-ons' and congratulating the omniscience of their supreme leader's gut.

I am no fan of Islam and I strongly believe that muslim terrorists still plague the world because most of their religious leaders either tacitly support them or they don't condemn the militant muslim struggle enough to delegitimise them.  Thats why even young liberally educated muslim youth can put aside all their general tolerance of having been brought up in a plural society and embrace a suicide mission with simple persuasion tactics of militant handlers. But what is the solution for the us non-muslims to be free of this problem?

On thing is for sure fighting bigotry with more bigotry is not going to solve anything, its only going to inflame the situation. If you press Trump for specifics of what he means by being 'smart or tough' he has no answers, but his language against Muslims is not unlike Hitler's against Jews. And when you start out with that language the solution will be to cordon the USA Muslim population into concentration camps and brand them in such a way that they are conspicuous in public. History has shown that such a condition fosters an ever escalating feeling of hate and insecurity in society's fabric.

I am sure that Trump is really clueless about the dangers of his proposal, actually I think he doesn't care. For Trump this tragedy is a godsend. He can use it to gloat about his stupid tough stand against muslim terrorists which is nothing but talk thus far and get a chance to throw around his bigotry laced platitudes for another round of distraction against the real threat to his US Presidency bid–the Trump U. scandal.

This article on Salon is one of the best I have read on Trump's strange campaign.

Trump 2016 turning to Trump-o-rama

Why in the world would Trump advise his spokespeople to back his racial tirade against the judge who ordered disclosure of Trump U.'s modus operandi? Trump is already on the defensive against claims that he is a racist so to attack the Hispanic judge on his ruling using of all things his racial ethnicity is digging a deeper hole against his campaign. It makes no sense unless The Donald thinks that the Trump U case is more important than his Presidential campaign.

Trump has said that he wants to startup his phoney university again after the lawsuit. He is very confident that he will win the case and his confidence is probably because the students of the U signed a document freeing the university against any liability. Trump U. was a legal scam. Its like those quick rich schemes that promise amazing returns in a month. All you have to do is give your money after signing a document which attests that you are voluntarily entering a risky investment in which there is a chance you could lose all your investment. Trump U's play book shows clearly that it was a scam to dupe its students to pay more and more to make the U profitable more than anything else.

If I was the judge it would be quite evident that Trump U is a scam but it would be hard to rule against Donald Trump with the leeway the enrolment documents gives Trump. However since Trump wants to be the President of the US the judge will have a moral obligation to let the public know that Trump is at least open to using scam tactics. In The Donald's calculations this would be a disaster for the Trump brand especially at this time when the spotlight is blazing on him. So Trump does what he is really good at–creating a distraction. So he brings up the judge's race and attacks and orders his surrogates to keep hammering on this point.  The goal is to get the media and everyone else to lose focus on Trump as the scam artist and instead focus on Trump as the racist. It must have been a hard decision to make for The Donald–which is worse Trump the scam artist or Trump the racist. The latter is bad for business and the previous bad for politics. Trump obviously chose his business over the US Presidency. After the frenzy over Trump's racist remarks subsides I hope the US media keeps up the pressure on exposing Trump U.'s play books.

My only hope is that Trump doesn't damage his campaign so much that the GOP cannot possibly in good conscience (as if they cannot already) endorse Trump as their presidential nominee. Trump has cooked his goose with his chances to become the US President. I just hope the GOP elites haven't figured that out that they've been had. After all I think we can put our faith in Trump's grandstanding and scamming abilities than anything else. 

Donald Trump endorsed by Kim Jong Un. Thats good.

Well only if you are like many of us who are NOT rooting for Trump 2016. What the endorsement does is it puts Trump in the same ilk as tyrannical dictators and fascist propagandist who are megalomaniacs more interested in their own personal ambition than caring for the people who supported them. 

Donald Trump must be having wet dreams of becoming like Kim Jong Un after what must be one of Trump's Presidential Campaign's most fortuitous moments in a week where it had to handle heavy broadsides brought on by unbiased accounting of the six million dollar donations he raised for the VA last year and the disclosure of Trump U.'s predatory play books. He must be wishing he could just off those scumbag reporters who made him a million dollars poorer by making him live up to his donation pledge and the "Mexican" judge who allowed Trump U.'s unscrupulous business strategies open for public viewing like how Kim Jong Un whacked off his detractors, even his own uncle, much to Trump's admiration. Then there was Hillary Clinton's take down of Trump's dumb foreign policy speech that was the missile to destroy any hopes of Trump making inroads with Bernie Sander's supporters.

At this point us foreigners are laughing at Donald Trump for getting an endorsement from the international nut-job Kim Jong Un. I don't know if Trump himself wished for the endorsement but he certainly prompted it with his unabashed admiration of Kim Jong Un's tyrannical tactics. So Trump is on the same step as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jon Un. This must be Trump's foreign ally fantasy–US, Russia and North Korea are going to create the new paradigm of world domination by closing up their countries, invading and colonising Africa and pursuing a path of conflict with Western Europe and US trade partners. What an idiot.

One thing I can say is that most of us in the international community are starting to breathe a sigh of relief as Trump continues to bungle his chances of gaining followers from Sanders camp. For one thing Sanders himself cannot stand the idea of Trump becoming the President and recently Trump declared he is going to roll back whatever progress Obama has made on committing the US to combat climate change. He even declared that he will not respect the accord Obama signed in Paris last year. Fighting climate change is one of the most important agenda among discerning younger voters–Trump's pronouncements on his pro-fossil fuel strategy for US future energy plan is not going to gain any new supporters of Bernie's to Trump. Trump must still be in his fantasy streak when he claimed that Bernie's supporters are coming to him. He must think that all he has to do to woo Bernie's supporters is simply to say Bernie supporters are coming to him. Its like his Cinco de Mayo message to US Hispanics–all he has to do to win with Latinos is to send a message over the net claiming he loves them. Thats it and thats all. Sinko el Trumpo!

Tom Ang's Photography Tutorials Are Passionate and Artful

Digital Photography Masterclass ($21.91) and The Complete Photographer ($18.61)are two photography tutorial books that are more than just instructive they are also works of art. Done with a deep passion for sharing the techniques and art of photography they easily double as coffee table books with their inspiring and artful photos. The Complete Photographer builds on Digital Photography Masterclass.

The Masterclass is about learning to be a photographer who can capture that picture that speaks a thousand words. Its divided into 4 chapters: mastering your camera, developing your skills, the digital darkroom and advancing your photography. 20 tutorials make up these chapters which explores and teaches about controlling the camera, your part in providing a perspective, how best to process a digital image and advise about the type of photography you may be interested in from travel photography to fine art photography. Every tutorial is splashed with stunning photos, a few of which are chosen for in-depth analysis based on the tutorial. Furthermore the tutorials on photography themes include interviews of renowned photographers of that theme and also analysis of student assignments.

The Complete Photographer is about what its like being a photographer and ties it with advanced tutorial on photography themes: Portrait, Landscape, Fashion and Nude, Wildlife and Nature, Sports, Documentary, Event and Milestone, Travel, Architecture, Fine Art. The tutorials of this book revolve around 20 world renowned photographers, two for each theme. The intro to the themes include interesting vignette of history on important people and images that helped shape the theme. The images chosen for analysis nothing less than superb and the analysis is written with a professional in mind.

Both books leave no expense spared in formatting and presentation which make them versatile. You can buy it to advance your photography skills or to inspire a budding photographer of their potential. It can be a coffee table book to simply flip the pages for a break from the ordinary or as a conversation starter. They also make great gifts for all these purposes.

Exploring The World Online

As travel ideas go these are some dream destinations. They are mainly natural wonders and many like the ice caves in Iceland, Laguna Salada, the glow worm caves of New Zealand are highly dependent on climate stability. Even waterfalls like Victoria Falls in Africa that are fed by mountain glaciers are threatened by climate change. If climate change worsens humanity stands to lose many of these wonders. Still it is amazing that we are still discovering new wonders in the natural world. Earth's 10 Most Mysterious Lost World is especially interesting.

Unreal Destinations that Actually Exist

10 Amazing Places Around The World

Earth’s 10 Most Mysterious Lost World

No, not Dangerous Donald, go with D^^#!s Donald; The Story of Doofus Drake.

Dangerous Donald?! Thats a terrible nickname for Donald Trump. Playing The Donald at his own game of giving candidates scathing nicknames is good strategy since he is running on showmanship not policy but not Dangerous Donald. That's just lame. A devastating nickname like Lyin' Ted had the effect of kryptonite on Superman on Ted Cruz. So here is a story for the Democrats on how to sink a person with nothing more than a nickname. I know its horrible to fall to this level but when push comes to shove best practices don't work.

There was this guy Drake McDrumpf who claimed he was the most intelligent person in the world. He had a penchant for boasting about his accomplishments and loved to destroy those who challenged him. He had this uncanny talent of skirting the law by staying clean while still using criminals to meet his ends and not paying tax. Ultimately you cannot know Mr. McDrumpf without concluding that he is a slick snake oil salesman. Eventually though Drake McDrumpf's hey day came to pass after a group he scammed took to social media and started making Doofus Drake jokes. They based it on all the foolish enterprises of Drake McDrumpf and went like this:

Doofus Drake is so dumb he tried to sell premium lamb cuts on Sharper Image!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he thought he could run an airline! He ran it to the ground.

Doofus Drake is so dumb he challenged his President to prove that he was human!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he thought it would be a great idea for people to mail him their piss! It seems he wanted to recycle the vitamins in their piss and sell it back to them.

Doofus Drake is so dumb he wishes his daughter was someone else's daughter!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he thinks the Chinese are the bastions for a greener world!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he thinks his gut is the smartest part of his anatomy!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he thinks an expensive wall like the Great Wall of China can even stop people who fly across it!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he closed down his name sake University because he claimed it was a tremendous success and every single student gave the Uni through the roof ratings. It was too successful according to him!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he thinks he is a great businessman!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he thinks the mob is part of law enforcement!

Doofus Drake is so dumb he bankrupted his casino business!

Doofus Drake jokes were a hit and spread on social media like a firestorm. Eventually even Drake McDrumpf's most ardent supporters were chuckling at the jokes and nobody took him seriously anymore. Whenever he tried to convince someone to buy into his shenanigans all they saw in front of them was Doofus Drake the clown. So ends the story of Drake McDrumpfd who was sunk with a nickname.

disclaimer: Drake McDrumpf and Doofus Drake are fictitious characters. Any semblance or likeness of Drake McDrumpf or Doofus Drake to anyone alive or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional.

iphoneography PRO by Robert Morrissey

Camera phones have progressed lightyears from their early primitive predecessors on those Nokias with their small blurry screens. iPhone and Samsung now lead the way with the best possible camera they can fit on their smart phones with matching hi-res screens. The arms race that the two companies have engaged in pit the capability of their phone cameras among their main competitive feature. Just as important as the camera’s capability on the phone are apps that improve the versatility of those tiny cameras from which we have come to expect so much.

The photo and editing apps that can be downloaded to the phones greatly improve on the native camera functions and puts photo editing and special effects touchups at your finger tips. With the ability to take almost unlimited number of photos removing the requirement to download all the photos onto a computer to choose photos to keep or trash and play around with them is a big plus point of phone / pad cameras compared to point and shoots.

If you are looking to squeeze the potential out of the camera an iPhone puts in your hands iphoneography PRO by Robert Morrissey is just what you need. Not only does the book demonstrate the ability of the iPhone camera it also details a full range of accessories and apps you can choose for the iPhone that you would otherwise not know of and will probably have to spend a lot of time to ferret out and decide on. iphoneography PRO takes you through the entire learning curve of taking photos, editing them if you want and post production.

 

Lens add ons and lighting are main hardware accessories available for iPhones. 

This book doesn’t leave any stone unturned when it comes to the iPhone camera with chapters ranging from taking food photos to photos for your ebay auction items to selfies and portraits. From philosophy to app and accessory reviews this guide will help you take photos on your iPhone like a pro. You will also find out the limitations of the camera and why it cannot be a DSLR though it can still be used to create out of this world photos for  casual snapshots to commercial images. It has many example shots and how it was taken and manipulated with apps that are useful tutorials. iphoneography PRO was first published in 2015 so the information is up to date.

Trump's devils are in the details

The Trump brand is taking broad sides from the media like it hadn't experienced before. This is making Trump's fight for the Presidency more desperate. There is a reason Trump hates the media, they are very good at digging into the past and bringing it into the spotlight. The power of the media is that they can shine whatever coloured spotlight on the information they find.

The New York Times article on Trump's behaviour with women in private I think reveals that Trump is less a misogynist and more a male chauvinist. Trump certainly loves to surround himself with young and pretty women and simply cannot imagine having to deal with women whom he deems below par to his standards. I imagine if he becomes the President Angela Merkel is going to be a real problem for him if his recent comments condemning the performance of the Govenor of New Mexico is any indication. In any case I found the article rather tame and I am sure the women who support Trump would simply brush off Trump's behaviour and remarks as highlighted in the article as nothing. What I find likely more detrimental to Trump is about his connection to the New York mob on Politico.com. It's a well researched and telling article.

Trump knows he cannot win the US Presidency with the support of the Republican party leaning white dudes alone, he needs to dig into Sander's crowd who are more discerning. Even if they let his male chauvinism fly past–a big if–the possibility of letting the mob get a foot in the White House is risky. Would Trump use the mob to meet his ends? He's done it before and I am sure if the Congress or Senate mires his agenda, such as building 'the wall' with filibusters Trump's temper will get the better of him to the point that he will turn to the mob. The thing with Trump, if you ever thought out a doomsday scenario no matter how unlikely, such as using nukes, you cannot discount it with Trump as President. Governments all over the world will have to factor in the risk of USA going off the rails come a Trump Presidency. 

Even if polls now indicate that Trump may be in a neck and neck race with Mrs. Clinton I think the tide is turning against Trump. As more and more of his shenanigans from the past get clumped together in an unquestionably disparaging list Trump seems to be making more mistakes. Desperation perhaps. Openly criticising the Govenor of New Mexico is his most recent. His attack ad against Mrs. Clinton is another. If you ever needed a demonstration of Trump's male chauvinism to the hilt view the ad. Trump's take on Bill's impropriety with women is that Hillary encouraged him which I'm sure his omniscient gut told him.

If Trump is a misogynist it is selectively directed at women who defy or challenge him and his only counter measure against such women is to demean them. Trump clearly hates Mrs. Clinton personally, this is his greatest weakness and he can't help himself. It's only a matter of time before the Clinton campaign frames a vote against Trump as a vote against misogyny which might just be the retribution the women Trump has belittled want. Of all the ways Trump could attack Mrs. Clinton he is using the worst angle of all, her womanly-ness and her private life with her husband, even Jerry Springer would be proud of him. Speak about male chauvinism–Trump 2016!

Blistering heat wave bakes India while Sri Lanka soaks in floods

What's this NASA image? It shows the early break up of ice on the Beaufort sea due to this years early warming of the Northern Hemisphere. Courtesy NASA

World, Northern Hemisphere that is, prepare for a scorching summer. El Nino 2016 is going to shoulder the brunt of the blame but if I remember correctly the last decade has had many searing days. The signs this year are encouraging for sunscreen producers. We've been feeling the heat in Malaysia for the last couple of months and as the Sun traces northward India is now feeling the burn. 51ºC, a record high. The hope is that the Indian monsoon doesn't disappoint India as it had done the last couple of years and bring relief to the country come June.

Meanwhile in Sri Lanka a tropical depression is drenching the country with record rainfall that is causing hardships and mudslides that have claimed lives. Early this month we saw a city burning in Canada now El Nino 2016 is claiming a country with water. As the heat progresses Northward we can expect it to accelerate the Arctic and glacial ice melts. Still with El Nino 2016 shouldering the blame keeps us hoping that all these extreme weather incidences are just part of El Nino's once in seven to ten year cycle. Next year everything will taper back to the normalcy we are used to. This may not be the case if El Nino's counter balance La Nina, the cooling of the Pacific is thwarted by our hotter planet.

Since last year I have been keeping a record of some of the extreme weather events attributed to El Nino 2015-2016 even before the severity of this El Nino was confirmed. Here is the link to the blog post with the record–An Eye on El Nino 2015-2016. It is obvious that we are going to be experiencing extreme weather well into the end of the year.

We are sinking sand and releasing carbon from its sink accelerating sea level rise.

Our planet is amazing. Life on earth is super unique and just as unique are the ecosystems and chemical cycles that nurtures it. The water cycle creates clouds, rain, snow and our local weather. The carbon and nitrogen cycles form the mainstay of the food chain. For most of human civilisation we were in tune with these natural cycles until the industrial age began about 200 years ago. Since then our appetite for natural resources has been growing tremendously to the point that we are competing with nature but we are starting to realise the futility of this exploitation and we are also learning of other natural cycles that we are over exploiting with detrimental consequences. 

I had never ever thought that sand could ever be an exhaustible commodity but it is. You can learn about it from this documentary posted on Youtube–Sand Wars. Sand is the base of modern construction. From roads to high-rises, glass to microchips and even solar panels the demand for sand is only growing as the resource diminishes faster than it can be produced. Nowadays all of our sand for construction comes from the sea and rivers since land based sand pit mines have been exhausted. Unfortunately our voracious appetite for concrete is causing problems for beaches. When sand is taken out from the sea and rivers beaches shrink. Coastlines creep inland is already threatening many beach front cities and villages all over the world with ocean inundation. Add in climate change's effects on sea level rise and the timeline for ocean front cities becoming threatened by sea inundation accelerates.

Sandy beaches like mangrove forests are barriers that keep the sea at bay. Losing beaches means more than losing fun recreational space because without these barriers waves from the sea can erode the land quite fast. Without ugly fortifications beach front cities like Miami can be eaten by the sea within a few years.

This is a well done and informative documentary. You will reconsider buying that dream beach house then again you might consider putting sand in your watch list for investment but what is more important is we need some good news on the environment. Sand trapped in concrete is lost to ecosystems while releasing ancient carbon trapped in Earth is transforming ecosystems we depend on badly for our sustenance. We need to leave nature alone.

When it comes to construction alternatives to sand is hard to find. Old concrete can be recycled but it is expensive. Our answer to sand should be to stop wasteful construction and there is a lot of these where entire cities and high-rises have been built all over the world but remain empty because they are just too expensive. These buildings have been built solely for investors to flip for profit but there is just not that many rich people to buy them all. Again greed is getting the better of us.

Trump, The King of Debt? The King of Bankruptcy more like.

The Philippines just elected their least unpopular candidate to become its President. Rodrigo Duterte became the President of the Philippines that has a population of almost a hundred million people with just 38% of votes. In other words 62% of voters rejected him but they lost. Mr. Duterte rode the wave of a populist agenda advocating strong arm tactics to stem corruption in the Philippines government and funnel the funds recovered to the impoverished in the nation where a quarter of its population live by meagre subsistence. Mr. Duterte is known for his infamous past, which he is proud of, of permitting extra judicial killings to clean up the city of Davao of criminals as its mayor. Many people fear that Mr. Duterte might become the next dictator of the Philippines especially if he gets back to forming death squads to quell crime.

Mr. Duterte's appeal is understandable. He is willing to spare no means to go after corrupt Filipino government officials, civil servants and criminals. But allowing a leader of a nation to get away with end results to justify the means is inherently dangerous because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the risk the Philippines faces is if their President actually comes good on his promises. To strong arm the entire nation to clean it up he will need an independent posse  answerable to him only. He might create a new national security force headed by his most loyal lieutenants empowered to disregard due process to carry out his bidding unquestionably. If this doesn't happen and all Mr. Duterte was doing during his campaign was just pandering to the most disenfranchised Filipinos then all he was spewing from the stump was pure rhetoric and the Philippines will continue more or less as usual.

What's good for the Philippines is good for the Philippines, what's bad for it is bad for itself. For the rest of us who are not Filipinos or not doing business with the nation its no big deal that Mr. Duterte is the next President, just interesting news. However I hope a similar situation doesn't happen in the US, where Donald Trump becomes the next President of USA because what's good for the US is good for all of us and what's bad for  the US is bad for all of us. Like Mr. Duterte Trump stokes his base with negative expletives of their country and vows to fix it miraculously and quickly by banking on his business acumen which he always describes with the most positive expletives. But even as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party he is already the bearer of bad news except for those who hate the USA and want to see it go down.

Recently Trump called himself the King of Debt. He is going to rid the US off its 19 trillion dollar national debt in no time. How? Simply don't pay it. Default on the national bonds and declare bankruptcy. Just like that the 19 trillion dollar debt disappears from US national accounts and he is done! What a fool! And fools are prone to falling in traps. The trap here is to think a country can be run like a business.

I am a citizen of a country. It doesn't matter to me if my government is profitable. All I ask is that my tax money is not wasted. That to me is the most important job of the head of government. If a government has to spend more money than it earns in taxes and fees to serve the people than by all means borrow money. It is very, very difficult for governments to be profitable because it is the job of the government to give security to its population, provide justice, care for its citizens even the ones who are old or unproductive, provide free basic education and much more. Most of these activities from a business standpoint are financial liabilities that cannot be profitable. The best you can hope for is to break even in the accounts. The worst thing a government can do is to foster a climate that creates lack of confidence in the productivity of a country. Nobody will want to lend money to such a government and that can be the worst thing for its citizens. By saying he is willing to default on federal bonds Trump has made a threat as dangerous to the USA as Mr. Duterte's vigilante squad to the Philippines.

Really there is no reason to allude to such a possibility because the US is renowned for its innovations. Even if the US National Debt hits 50 trillion people will still want to buy US bonds because of the technology and products its citizens create that the world wants. From segways to aeroplanes, medical tech to entertainment the world likes US stuff and can't get enough of it. It is to the benefit of US allies and friends around the world that the country thrives. It biggest failing would be to elect Trump as its President. That would erode confidence in the country like kryptonite sucking energy from Superman. Trump says stupid things, what he doesn't realise is that confidence is fostered by what is said as much as by what is done. Of all the foolish things he has said so far in this race, by far the most dangerous is his willingness to default on US debt. The damage of that statement will be felt on the very first day of a Trump Presidency and unfortunately not only in the US if such a day ever comes to pass.

The Minimalist Photographer by Steve Johnson

I’ve been playing around with cameras since I was a kid–the days when you could only see what actually came through the shutter after a few days. It wasn’t a cheap hobby because you had to pay for even the junk photos. Through trial and error I learnt that simple point and shoot cameras could take just as nice photos as more sophisticated SLRs however then as now nobody takes handy point and shoot cameras seriously. To look like a serious photographer you just gotta have a wide camera strap on your collar connected to a DSLR. Running around with a point and shoot just doesn’t cut the right image as a photographer.

As a result there are rarely books on photography that are centred on point and shoot cameras. That’s why this work by Steve Johnson, The Minimalist Photographer is precious. Steve Johnson is a professional photographer and his advise to budding photographers–even successful pro photographers use point and shoots. Using a point and shoot camera is the best way to learn about the fundamentals of photography because you learn to work with and around limits. The Minimalist Photographer is a must read for anyone who would like to make the best of their camera even a camera phone. Steve Johnson advises that the most important other equipment you need to have with a point and shoot is a cheap tripod and he reminds us not to be tempted into getting expensive tripods since point and shoots are very light.

Here is an excerpt from the book that summarises Steve’s reasoning of the importance of minimalism in equipment to a beginner photographer: “Until the point and shoot is mastered the photographer should stick with it and only look to move on when he or she has developed a bit of an understanding about light, especially the concept that light looks very different to the camera sensor than it does to the human eye/brain combination. Also, composition should start to become second nature.”

The author likes Cannon point and shoots for the same reason I do–good colour reproduction and doesn’t have too many rarely used bells and whistles in the manual settings. This is a good starter book for those contemplating getting into photography beyond taking casual snapshots. It will certainly help you make a good decision on what type of camera that will suit you best. You will find more photographer philosophy in the book than camera settings, though its there also, so get to know your camera well even if it is a small one  to get the most out of this book. Also lots of amazing photos taken with cheap and small cameras.

Here are some of my favourite photos taken with my favourite point and shoot the Cannon IXUS that cost me MYR 600.

Temple Tower

 Forest Floor Light

 Pristine Creek

A bright sunny day in a tropical rain forest

An autobiographical documentary on Stephen Hawkings

Our generation has its own super genius like Einstein or Isaac Newton but he is like none of them. He is Stephen Hawkings. If Stephen Hawkings had been born even 20 years before his birth in 1942 the technology wouldn't be there to keep him alive let alone function the way he is. He is more than a genius who has become an asset to humanity he represents the advancement of humanity through science and technology. What an inspiration. 

This documentary posted on Youtube is a service really. Hawkings is a legend of our time, someone we should teach our children about. It is autobiographical so it is authored by Stephen Hawkings himself making this work especially precious. I will certainly watch this video with my daughter when she is ready. I hope a biographical documentary like this is made on David Attenborough.

Climate Change's canary in the coal mine–Fort McMurray Fire

I was looking at the pictures coming out of wild fire ravaged Fort McMurray on CNN. The overshadowing pain of the destruction was clear despite the eerie beauty of some of the photos. Burnt out cars and trucks means people had little time to escape and the loss for the people whose homes were burnt to the foundation must be difficult to bear. When I was in Hawaii I lived through hurricane Iniki, at first I was glad that I and my colleagues were all safe. There was even a celebratory feeling after the hurricane passed through and it wasn't until the next day that we started to feel the emotional pain of the loss from the destruction of property and disruption of life.

Huge smoke plume rises from the Fort McMurray wild fire. The carbon dioxide from the burning is not going to help. Photo courtesy NASA.

I feel for the people at Fort McMurray however wild fires are just part and parcel of living in the northern latitudes as floods and mudslides are to equatorial Malaysia until I realised isn't it still spring? Fort McMurray is not very far away from the Arctic circle, how hot can it be in the middle of spring and shouldn't the land be damp from the thawing snow? The time is just wrong, if it was summer, understandable but we just crossed into spring on the 21st of March. I wondered if this strange time for this wild fire had any connection with this years El Nino so I googled it and sure enough the connection has been made but its not just El Nino.

The northern latitude burning during the spring thaw? Changing times. Picture courtesy NASA

Read this article on BBC about the fire, if you are thinking Climate Change is a century away take heed, spring is already turning to summer in Fort McMurray. El Nino simply made Fort McMurray's 'pre-summer' worse to the point of the devastating wild fires. The main culprit is climate change.

Here is some shocking information I got from the article. Keep in mind that Fort McMurray is at 56.7 ºN and the Arctic Circle is at 66 ºN.

Fort McMurray normal high temperature for the beginning of May: 14 ºC.
The high temperature recorded beginning of May 2016: 32.6 ºC

Pre-Climate Change (or most of human history) Fort McMurray fire season start: 1st week of May.

2015 fire season start: 15th March. Thats six days before the start of spring–fire season now starts in winter!

2016 fire season start: 1st March, mainly attributed to 2016 El Nino.

The global climate temperature average has so far risen 0.89 ºC.

Canary in the coal mine: A metaphor about early warning signs drawn from the practice of taking a caged canary into coal mines. The bird would die if there was carbon monoxide or methane in the mine indicating an evacuation for the miners before the gas leak got lethal to the miners.

DSLR Photography for Beginners by Brian Black

Read DSLR Photography for Beginners before you sign up for a photography class or workshop. A camera is a small and complex piece of equipment that can do wonders and if you are looking to learn the art of photography from eminent photographers you best know their jargon. What does SLR, single lens reflex actually mean? White balance, ISO speeds, f-stop, depth of field, the rule of thirds, light metering, shutter speed are all important aspects to consider before pressing the shutter button. A pro photographer can weigh all these aspects and more in a matter of seconds and will be able to tune his camera to his desired setting to get the picture he can see in his mind.

Just like learning to drive a car it takes knowledge and familiarity with the equipment to get from clumsy to second nature. You can never hope to take super photos solely depending on a cameras auto and mode settings. To make the camera obey your eye and inspiration you have to switch to manual and change its settings to what you need. For this the manual your camera comes with is never enough. If you invested a lot of money on the camera and need a ‘cut to the chase’ manual that is worth every penny than pick up DSLR Photography for Beginners by Brian Black for just US$3.99 on Kindle or pdf.

This book is written and published entirely by Brian Black so the formatting is bare minimum. You will not find pictures of what the camera battery looks like or how to charge it, or a labeled picture of a DSLR camera that names its parts. His intro is about why digital photos are now preferred to analog photos and why SLR cameras take the best photos–because you can change the lens. Then he jumps straight into teaching about aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity, the three most important elements that make up all photos. After that he teaches about the different interchangeable lenses you can use, what they are called and what they do including light filters which I find is the most valuable part of this book.

This is really a book written for photographers who are deciding to upgrade from their phone or compact cameras to a DSLR. A very helpful feature I find in this book is Brian’s recommendation of what equipment to get from the camera to lenses and filters in the ranges of “for the budget conscious”, “In the middle range” and “Top of the line.” Brian's preference is Nikon and Cannon so the recommendations are for these DSLRs.

If you need to go one step back to the real basics of using your DSLR I recommend Getting to know your digital camera by Victoria Dye. Its only US4.99 on Kindle or pdf. Put together both these books will give you all the information you need for noodling with your cameras settings and to come up with your own unique photography philosophy or technique.

Getting to know your digital camera by Victoria Dye

This book by Victoria Dye is easy on the eyes. Putting her photography workshop tutorials into this manual gives you relevant information about improving your photographing skills quickly. The tutorial takes you through the basic anatomy of cameras step by step from the types of digital cameras to shooting modes, explains what they do and how your photograph is affected by it.

If you are wondering what that ISO button does and how you can use it to get the photo you want  you will find out very quickly from this book. You will learn the photography available to you with any DSLR camera from this book in less than 90 pages. Its quick, cheap (US 4.99) and hands on. In the first pages you will learn about the different types of digital cameras and their differences, however the author is biased towards single lens reflex (SLR) cameras so if you are happy with your phone camera or compact camera this is not the book for you. The book also doesn’t get into the philosophy of photography such as ‘the rule of thirds’ or framing a photograph but if you own a DSLR and are looking for a basic, quick and cheap but substantive guide this is a good book to have. It also makes for a good gift along with a DSLR to inspire a budding photographer in the family perhaps.

Triumph trumpeting Trump thinks he can bully the rest of us like he does his fellow Americans

Judging from Donald Trump's foreign policy revelation he thinks the rest of the world is just going to roll over and do his bidding if he is the US President–this seems to be his notion of America First. As far as I know America First is not originally Trump, its been around and the world knows that USA's foreign policy is dictated by its unique view of preserving its interest wherever she may find it–from the icy continent of Antartica to maintaining interfering to friendly relations with its neighbours.

His clearest message seems to be that he is going to be pally with Putin, extort Europe for protection money, get rid of ISIS by crowning himself the greatest general ever, pull the plug on China with unlawful tariffs and playing guessing games with the rest of the world–his much bragged about unpredictability. If unpredictability is a plus point in foreign relations I think the Obama administration has been really good at it. For instance Obama let his people decide whether they wanted to go to war with Syria by putting the decision to vote in Congress–a moved that forced Syria to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons. He bypassed Pakistani intelligence to close the chapter on Osama bin Laden. Obama totally flummoxed the American war eagles circling Iran by getting the Iranians to the table to sign a deal which has saved the world from soaring energy cost and an even more volatile Middle East. In Ukraine instead of countering Putin's move of annexing Crimea with military brinkmanship he put the screws on Russia's oligarchs by freezing their international assets and putting sanctions on trade with Russia which has made it difficult for Russia to further its annexation in Ukraine. When China started materialising its ambition in the Spratly islands Obama lunged at the opportunity to reopen the US military base in Subic Bay which has endeared the US with most of the South East Asian nations looking to stem China's desire to dominate the South China Sea.

If I imagined how a Trump administration would have dealt with these situations based on his strongman strong-arm America First rhetoric I think the world will be in a freaky situation with a terribly destabilised and volatile Middle East. US will be warring with Syria and Iran while still bogged down in full force in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump will be attempting to steal the region's oil. The rest of the world will be suffering with super high oil prices and muslim terrorist activity that would be unprecedented in the modern world, much worse than the Paris and Belgium massacres. Osama bin Laden would still be alive and Al Queda would be a stronger organisation than ISIS can ever be. Even if Trump tries to become friends with Putin US military presence against Assad in Syria who is a strong ally of Russia will embolden Putin to make overt military moves in Ukraine to continue the annexation of most of the country. This will create a shaky situation among NATO nations whom Trump will abandon because they are not going to pay his bill. China is simply going to laugh at US tariffs on its goods and demand US pay up its trillion dollar debt to China and take the Trump admin to the cleaners for breaking WTO laws. China will dominate the South China Sea and ban US shipping through the South China Sea to access its important trade partners in South East Asia.

Trump's notion that he will be the most unpredictable President of USA the world will have to deal with is at best his arrogance. If I had to make a deal with Trump the first thing I would do is bring with me to the table the prettiest women models my country can muster, say about two or three. I know exactly how that will affect The Donald. His eyes will be popping out of its socket and his tongue will be drooling. He will be so distracted I bet I can get him to my side of the table. After that game over. If that doesn't work all I have to do is stoke his temper by attacking his business record and challenging his net worth. I keep pushing that button and pretty soon he is going to say something stupid or insulting enough that I can walk out of the meeting nose high blaming Trump for his temper tantrum.

Ultimately Trump is a bratty rich kid who is boisterous and gives himself the right to insult whomever he pleases under the guise that he is courageous enough to be disgusting in public. This is his allure among a swathe of Americans in the US. Now he has a real shot at the US Presidency, congrats to him. If he does become the President of the US the rest of the world is going to have a field day calling him everything but GREAT and the last thing in our mind will be a Great America.

Ethiopia is back in the world spotlight because of El Nino triggered drought

Though the physical effects of El Nino, the warming of the tropical Pacific ocean has waned its effect on global climate continues. Many regions in South East Asia and India are facing drought while China is getting massive amounts of rain to put the Yangtze river basin on flood alert and the Three Gorges Dam to spout out giant plumes of water. But the most dangerous climate calamity that is brewing as a result of El Nino 2016 is drought in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is thirsting for water as it is hit by a dry spell it has not seen the likes of in 50 years.

Growing up through the 80's I read of Ethiopia as a sad, poor country where people were dying in the hundreds a day because of civil strife and drought that gave the news grotesque pictures of people literally reduced to skin and bones from lack of food and water. Even as millions of dollars in charity poured into the country to help the people the situation didn't improve much because the government and rebels were poaching the resources. It took UN military action to finally help the situation. The terrible situation in Ethiopia then was also the inspiration to mobilise global citizens together by rock stars and pop stars who used their popularity for charity through the Band Aid and USA for Africa programmes. At that time we were aghast and in disbelieve that such extreme starvation of an entire nation was happening in our modern world.

We can come together to reverse climate change.
The lyrics of of We Are The World can be used as is:
We are the world; we are the children; we are the ones to make a brighter day so lets start giving;
there's a choice we are making, we're saving our own lives, its true we make a better day just you and me.

As the decades rolled on Ethiopia overcame its calamity and progressed passed its civil strife. Hopefully we will not need to see those dreadful images coming out of Ethiopia again and the country will get the support it needs to fend off the drought before the situation get worse.