Author: Paul Handover

Sabi – the Afghan homing dog!

Sabi – an Australian Army bomb-sniffing dog makes it back to base.

This is a lovely story that has been doing the news rounds recently, and not without good cause.  It’s the sort of ‘cuddly feeling’ story that we all need from time to time.  Anyway, first a thanks to Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism, who included a link to the BBC story in her daily summary on November 12th.

Sabi

In the words typical of many online newspapers:

(AP) SYDNEY — A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year.

And Sabi the black Labrador is getting a celebrity welcome home.

Sabi was with a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol ambushed in restive Uruzgan province in September 2008, triggering a gunfight that wounded nine troops and earned one Australian soldier the country’s highest bravery medal.

From the Times Online:

Sabi, a four-year-old black labrador, was returned to the Australian base at Tarin Kowt after an American soldier found her wandering in a remote area of the southern province of Oruzgan last week.

The US soldier, named only as John, knew that his Australian counterparts had lost their canine companion during a gun battle between Australian, US and Afghan special forces and Taleban insurgents in south east Afghanistan last September. Nine Australian soldiers, including Sabi’s handler, were wounded during the assault and Sabi went missing.

Sabi, who was on her second tour of duty in Afghanistan, was officially declared missing in action. It is not known how she survived the past year, presumably eluding the Taleban, before being discovered by the soldier, who realised that she was not a stray dog because she understood certain commands.

Nice one, guys!

By Paul Handover

Our next generation.

Here’s a great role model – and she’s 16!

Jessica Watson is a teenager.  She is hoping to break the record for the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and Jessica Watsonunassisted around the World.  Whatever modern materials and technology can do to make sailing easier, sailing solo for weeks on end is grindingly tough at any age.  She’s a wonderful example of the next generation!

Jessica Watson2

Jessica left Sydney Harbour on October 18, 2009 sailing her sloop Ella’s Pink Lady. Her course is an estimated 23,000 nautical miles requiring her to be roughly 230 days at sea.

As was said, this is no mean feat for any person. Read more about her on her website and her Blog.

Wish her luck and fair winds.

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Things aviation and the ‘wow’ effect.

Some stunning pictures.

Of the six active authors on this Blog, four have been or still are pilots.  Of course, only young Bob Derham is a ‘real’ pilot having been an Air Transport pilot for almost as long as Pontious Pilate (sorry, that’s an awful pun!).

Anyway, there has been a growing collection of some incredible photographs from odd sources around the Web and it seemed time to share a few.

Here’s a wonderful picture of an F-15C Eagle Fighter circling over the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida with Shuttle Mission STS 108 on the launch pad.

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See more aviation pictures

Integrity in the making of films.

Creativity, Integrity and commercialism – are there conflicts?

This is guest post from Magnus Dennison.  Magnus is a Cinematographer who, together with his wife, Katja Roberts, runs a film production company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the North-East of England. Their company is called Meerkat Films.  Magnus writes about integrity in film making.

I am going to write about film producers who have made creative choices to ensure their films are commercial successes. My question is whether these films lose their integrity when the motivation for making them becomes financial.

A little about my background. I am an independent film producer working in the UK and don’t profess to be an expert on these matters; the views expressed here are simply my opinion.

I will start by presenting one of my favourite films: ‘The Lives of Others’ (2006) directed by Florian Henckel von Das_Leben_der_anderenDonnersmarck. The team has, in my opinion, made one of the most powerful films of the decade. But more interestingly, they have made many choices that have preserved the integrity of the story at the risk of reducing commercial viability.

It is obvious why they have done this; they are passionate about the artistry and the integrity of the film, more than the financial gain. The film is very slow paced and the tension builds so gradually you’re almost unaware of it until you are completely engrossed.

Read more of this guest post

Our new logo

A gift from a friend of the Blog

Some of you may have noticed that at the head of the right-hand column on the Blog we have a new image.  This arrived the other day and is from the ‘drawing board’ of Neil Kelly who is one of nature’s more creative fellows.  Anyway, here’s the image in a slightly larger format.  Thanks Neil!

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By Paul Handover

Setting the lead – for whooping cranes!

This makes me proud to be human!

Operation Migration

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As their website explains:

Operation Migration has played a leading role in the reintroduction of endangered Whooping cranes into eastern North America since 2001. In the 1940s the species was reduced to just 15 birds.

Operation Migration is a founding partner of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), the coalition of non-profit organizations and government agencies behind the project to safeguard the endangered Whooping crane from extinction.

Want to get involved? Here’s how.

Remember the film ET? Just look at this next picture …

Continue reading “Setting the lead – for whooping cranes!”

Climate warming – the argument continues

Alan Carlin’s response to Patrice Ayme.

Learning from Dogs is very grateful for having Alan and Patrice argue this very important issue through the medium of this Blog.  Because if there is one thing that has the power to overturn our way of life over the last 50 years, it is climate warming (as a result of man’s activities).

On the 26th October there was a Post published that contained Patrice’s reply to an earlier article containing Alan Carlin’s hypothesis.  Learning from Dogs invited Alan to reply to Patrice and this is his contribution.

With one exception the recent comments by Patrice Ayme are typical of what climate alarmists/warmists so often say when presented with serious climate science by skeptics.  They presumably do this in order to try to distract attention from their inability or unwillingness to respond to the scientific issues raised by skeptics or a desire to hide the weakness of their science.  They appeal to alleged authority; they attack the opposition, often personally–anything to avoid discussion of the science.

In this case, the only exception is Ayme’s weird contention that there should not be a tropospheric hotspot in the tropics IF the UN GHG hypothesis should be correct.  This is weird because there is actually rare agreement between most informed alarmists/warmists and skeptics that such a hot spot should be present IF the UN hypothesis is correct.  So his contention that it is an “absurdity” puts him at odds with his much favored UN reports and with his views on the science of warming.  For further information see Evans here (which is a link from the link I originally gave–but perhaps Ayme did not bother to read it before responding??)

As Evans points out this alleged hotspot predicted by the UN climate hypothesis is actually crucial to the UN hypothesis “because the same water vapor feedback that produces the hotspot in IPCC climate theory also doubles or triples the temperature increases predicted by the IPCC climate models.  If the IPCC climate modellers just turn down the water vapor feedback in their models enough so their theoretical signatures match the observed warming patterns, then the predicted temperature increases due to projected carbon emissions are greatly reduced and are no longer of much concern.”  So Ayme apparently did not realize that his statement that there should be no hotspot means that he believes that one of the crucial features of the UN climate hypothesis is wrong and hence that his views of the science are wrong.

I note that except for his weird statement on the hotspot, he makes no serious attempt to respond to or analyze my four fundamental scientific tests of the UN GHG hypothesis.

For a different view as to the objectivity (or lack thereof) of the IPCC see here.

Most of the remainder of Ayme’s comments are best ignored as attempts to distract readers from the fundamental (and telling) scientific tests discussed in my post.

Alan Carlin

By Paul Handover

Sunrise

Here in San Carlos, Mexico, we have good sunrises most mornings.  But this one made me grab my camera. The picture is unedited. Very simple things can provide a huge amount of pleasure.

Sunrise

Taken at 06:15 local time (GMT -7hrs)  Camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8

By Paul Handover

Understanding your Market, Part Three

Market research for sales people

Yesterday, in part two of this three-part Post, we looked at two real-life examples of how listening to your market works.  In this concluding part we examine some practical methods for sales people.  (By sales people I also include those who run their own business because there is no better sales person than the person who runs their own enterprise!)

  1. Empty your mind of all your pre-conceived ideas as to why your customers buy your product or service.
  2. Start off by listening to the reasons why a recent customer bought from you.  Ideally in person but if not, then by telephone.  Never by email!  I’ll leave it to you to think how you might do that – easy in practice.  Comment if you want to explore this aspect.
  3. Listen to sufficient number of customers so that you feel you have a representative view.  I guess what you are looking for is the Pareto relationship – what are the 20% of reasons/motives that generate 80% of your sales.  You should be able to end up knowing what are the differences that make the difference (between you and your competitors.)
  4. Just like Guy Watson of Riverford, knowing why a customer buys MUST also include knowing what use that customer is making of your product/service.
  5. Negotiate with as many customers as possible the opportunity to stay in touch – at whatever frequency makes sense to both sides. Again, think about how you stay in touch – personal visits may be unwieldy but phone usually is acceptable.  Not via email!
  6. Once you know why people become customers then you need to know what their experience is when they are accustomed to using your product or service.  This is key!  Think what you felt like when you bought your last car.  Full of the thrill of a new experience and the anticipation of enjoying your ‘smart’ decision.  Now think how you regard your car today after the reality of the cost of ownership, a few unplanned service issues and when it now feels much more like the utility vehicle that it really is.  If the original sales person doesn’t know how you feel today then there is no way that the sales person’s next sales proposition can be modified to keep you as a client.
  7. Staying in touch allows you to anticipate future needs of your customers – the key to all business success.
  8. Understanding your customers means that you can build loyalty – and loyal customers is the key to business LoyaltyEffectRevCoverprofitability.  If at all possible get hold of a copy of Prof. Fred Reichheld’s The Loyalty Effect.
  9. Use the relationships you build with your customers to seek their ideas as to what their future needs may be, how they would like to see your products and services evolve and who, and why,  they regard as your potential competitors.
  10. Finally, as in the first point, keep an open mind and never assume.  Remember the old ditty – if you assume you make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.

By Paul Handover

How far can you push people?

Debt stress in Middle Class America – how may this play out?

On Saturday, October 24th Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism ran a Post on her Blog about an anonymous couple who were over their heads in debt.  (Yves has given me written permission to reproduce the Post.) The story of this couple then generated a huge response of comments. Read the comments, each and every one of them.

Then ask yourself abraham-lincoln-picturewhere this is all heading?  These comments may, almost certainly are, just be the tip of the iceberg.  Seems a long way from Lincoln’s Gettysburg address in which he was reputed  to have used the words: “… government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Some days I worry; worry a lot!

The extract from Yves Post about this couple is reproduced below but far better is to go and read the whole Post and all the comments.

UPDATE: Since writing this Post Yves has published a further Post on the topic again generating a huge volume of comments.  That was Sunday, November 1st.  Then bright and early on November 2nd James Kwak of Baseline Scenario weighs in with his version, Do smart, hard-working people deserve to make more money? 150 comments (at the time of writing) for that one.  Interestingly, as the days have gone on the mood of the commentators has become more reflective and thoughtful thus partly negating the theme behind this Post.

Read the Post from Naked Capitalism