ByMyReckoning

Serena Williams has just completed one of the most astonishing comebacks in sport. She has triumphed over Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2, in they Australian Open.

After 18 months away from the game due to injury, a court case, the loss of a sibling and a spell travelling in Africa. Serena arrived at the Australian Open after a handful of low profile tournaments, ranked 81st in the world and at 180-1 to win the tournament. By winning her third Australian Open, she has become only the second unseeded player to win since 1978.

Williams and Sharapova are without doubt the form pair in womens tennis at the moment. The potential for a classic rivalry between them is a mouth watering prospect. However for that to become a reality Sharapova has to ask herself. How do you solve problem like Serena?

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Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Australian Open, Serena tennis

Is it just me or is that phone being over hyped? Sure it looks cute. The multi-touch interface reminds me of Minority Report, but I'm becoming a bit wary of what I perceive as Apples increasingly 'skin deep' approach to consumer products. On the other hand they may be no worse than other gadget producers.

Apart from the multi-touch interface it doesn't give you anything existing smart phones don't already give you. It's a GSM phone. In fact I'm sure it has fewer features than some phones.

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iphone, apple, hype, multi-touch, Minority Report

The following statement was made by 18 year old Lucy Buchanan, who is from Edinburgh, but attended £19,600-a-year St Peter's School in York, a product of British Public(private) school system.

She told fellow islanders on Channel4 Shipwrecked series;

"When I look out at what Britain is, it's just a complete mess."

"I don’t appreciate how people come into our country and take over our country. Britain’s really not Britain any more."

"My mind is completely open to different cultures, but I don’t think they should bring them to Britain."

"I don’t like fat people, I don’t really like really ugly people, I don’t like it when foreigners come into this country and they don’t take on British culture and British values."

"I’m for the British Empire and things. I’m for slavery, but that’s never going to come back."

When another contestant said she did not like racists, Buchanan replied: "I'm afraid you have one here."

Previously Buchanan had described the show as a "chance to meet people from all walks of life."

Her mother Nicola said: "Lucy is definitely not a racist. She's a well-mannered girl from a decent family.

"But she's only 18. She does have a big mouth and sometimes speaks without thinking. She says things she doesn't mean."

This statement is both predictable and laughable. She has been educated well enough to express her views clearly and with confidence. She's well on the way to becoming a despicable adult and her views probably reflect those of her parents and peers. I wonder if she'd mentioned the same words and substituted the words 'Jew' and 'holocaust' instead of 'black' and 'slavery', Channel4 and the print media would have been so complacent about her views?

Black people have to stand up and make an issue of this in the same manner that Asians have done when Shilpa Shetty was bullied in Channle4s current series of Celebrity Big Brother.

Effectively this young woman she's supposed to be the amongst the best educated and privileged young people in the country. In all probability that education and upbringing will guarantee her high social and economic status for the rest of her life unless she makes a complete cock-up of things. This is he kind of person who ends up in positions of authority or influence.

As usual right wing apologists have jumped to her defence claiming that er right to free speech is paramount. I'm all for free speech, but when that right is used to call for the removal of the human rights of fellow citizens, it amounts to little more than an abuse of said right and an abdication of the accompanying responsibility.
When broadcast to a family audience without warning or qualification, views such as those expressed by Ms Buchanan are not only harmful and offensive to black/African viewers in general, but also may encourage youngsters of other ethnic backgrounds to view such ideas as acceptable.

It should be noted that viewers are often warned when television programs feature obscene language, lewd behaviour or flashing lights. Such warnings were not provided in this case, although the program was filmed and edited several months before broadcast.

The UK is currently in the midst of preparations to celebrate the abolition of slavery, so I find it somewhat disturbing that a reality TV program whose purpose is simply to provide entertainment to the mass of young people should allow the airing of such views. The predictable Channel4 response of trying to "promote a healthy debate" will not wash.

Following the debacle in the Celebrity Big Brother, Channel4 has in my view provided sufficient reason to have its license revoked for an irresponsible and divisive programming policy. They have shown themselves willing to exploit the potential safety and security of ethnic minorities as well as jeopardise the good work being done by people of all races within the UK to maintain a peaceful, cohesive and inclusive society. Every public broadcaster has responsibilities which supersede the aim of making a profit. They have responsibilities to the wider society in which they operate. Channel4 have again shown that they neither understand these duties or care enough to learn from their previous mistakes.

Ofcom need to ensure that broadcasters are in no doubt of what their duties are.

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Channel4, Shipwrecked, Lucy Buchanan, racism, slavery, Ofcom

In India today reports emerged of another example of man's relentless encroachment on the habitat of the creatures with which we share this planet. I've come across stories of elephants raiding villages or crops at night seeking food or searching for dead relatives. However, on this occasion it is resulting in leopards wandering into cities and interacting with humans in ways that are not to our predilection.

This has sadly ended in a predictable manner with the towns people killing the leopard in retaliation.

Note to self: Never attempt to tackle a leopard whilst wearing flip flops.

This sounds like the beginnings of a scenario similar to that that played out with the now extinct Indian Cheetah.

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leopard, deforestation, habitat loss

Paternity fraud.

Weird story in today's Daily Mail.

Its' more common than most people realise. A taboo topic with consequences too frightening for most male casualties to confront.

It's as welcome a subject to feminists as garlic is a tasty treat to a vampire.

Still....at least the daughters best interests have been looked after eh?

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paternity fraud, paternity

The BBC has reported that a group of engineers at Rice University in Houston have developed a prototype camera based on a single pixel.

Richard Baraniuk, a researcher and member of the team has highlighted the following advantages over the traditional multi-pixel approach;

1 Lower power drain since compression algorithms are not required to compress all the data gathered a mega pixel array.

2 The single pixel is more space efficient without sacrificing image detail.

3. A single pixel sensor is cheaper than the current mega-pixel sensors.

He said "Instead of taking the light from an object through a lens and focusing it on a pixel array, we actually reflect it off an array of mirrors."

He explained that recent advances in mathematics have allowed engineers to re-create or extrapolate the entire original image based on a small sample of the original image provided by the single-pixel mechanism.

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single pixel camera, paternity, Richard Baraniuk, pixel array, mirror array

Over the course of the last week or so I've become a little irritated with the volume and type of criticism (particularly in the US) that Oprah Winfrey has received for founding a girls school in South Africa. Has anyone else noticed it?

I personally can't watch Oprahs show, it's daytime pap, but that is completely besides the point

Some of the articles, and comments by posters on Newsweek and the Salon I've read seriously wants us to believe that little black girls in South Africa are better off with a minimal education, not having their expectations raised, their eyes opened to all the possibilities that we take for granted, simply because they just might not be able to fulfil all their dreams? Tell me, how are people supposed to improve their own situation or that of their compatriots, unless they are made aware of their potential, and the fact that their skin colour should not be a barrier to success? No. Better to drip feed them a basic education so they don't mess up the program. That’s how they've always been and we shouldn't change things too quickly, because these young blacks can't handle it. I'm used to hearing this kind of rubbish from white South Africans of old talking about "their blacks", but this stuff is coming from some black people in the US as well as supposedly 'liberal' white Americans who have no idea what a systematic block on his freedom of expression and right to advancement feels like. Let's apply this same logic to gifted white American kids from poor backgrounds, being excluded from special summer camps for the talented, because they'll never be able to fit in or afford the college fees. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?

Everyone seems keen to point out that Oprah is a narcissist. I don’t see what their point is. That observation could easily have been made about most people of note in modern entertainment industry. In fact I thought it was a prerequisite for the job! It does not negate the good that her school will do. It does not taint her motives in any way. She's driven to do this because she knows something about the experiences of some of these girls. More than most of the keyboard happy posters and media trolls. Just how much of her money do they expect her spend on therapy, retail or otherwise?

Although her public announcements have been slightly ill-advised from a PR point of view and made uncomfortable viewing at times. I applaud her in her efforts. Perhaps a few more empty headed stars in the NBA, NFL or music industry, people secretly beloved of the establishment (since they never deliberately draw attention to inequality or rock the boat, but provide a constant distraction to their compatriots) could band together to forge links with and help the homeland or their fellow black Americans in similar ways. I would have thought that everything starts with tools provided by education.

Winfrey's school was the result of a pledge she made to Nelson Mandela six years ago. He is quoted as saying "We shared our conviction that the years of democracy would be nullified if we did not properly educate our youth. We hope that the school will become the dream of every young South African girl". I'd like to see her critics question his integrity or judgement on this matter. She also sought advice from leaders of the various ethnic groups, who supplied he with a list of likely candidates. How many schools around the western world have been started by rich benefactors. In fact I attended such a school myself in the UK. This is nothing new or out of the ordinary. The only difference is that Winfrey is a black woman pouring her resources into the future predominantly young black girls.

Back to the subject of her philanthropy: They may never have the luck, ability or opportunity to reach 'OprahWorld', but they might just make it to 'BubbaWorldUSA' and that I think is the real subtext for some in these responses across the web. Oprah is the classic example of a self made person, and as a powerful and influential black woman, who publicly identifies with other black people and their causes; she is seen by some as the ultimate threat. Perhaps they'd have preferred her to have grown up into a booty shaking video vixen? Her plan for this school reminds me of the proverb (I thinks it's Kenyan originally?). "Educate a man and you have educated an individual, educate a women and you have educated a nation". Oprah has stated that she will not have any children of her own, but it appears she's not letting that stop her from giving some members of the next generation a better start in life.

For those such as me, who are sometimes slightly perplexed by the divas antics, well....we just have to learn to separate our feelings about her show and the new age mumbo jumbo she pushes, from our assessment of her character and charitable works. Even people with serious issues can have a positive effect on those around them. Oprah, by consistently overcoming, perhaps even using hers as a motivating force, has set an example to us all. Unlike some of the American press, I doubt she's any more screwed up than the rest of us. Just think. She could have adopted an African child as a pet like Madonna. Instead she's chosen a project that will hopefully do some lasting good on a larger scale. She's certainly doing a damn sight more than any of her critics. All they do is talk.
OK that's my rant for Monday over and done with.

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Oprah school, Oprah South Africa, Oprah Nelson Mandela, Oprah