Breathtaking Landscapes

As I was Stumbling the other day, I came across this article called: 

'25 EPIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF BREATHTAKING LANDSCAPES'

And that it was.

I had no greater obligation than to post it on here.

1) The Grand Canyon

 2) Ancient Rome

 3) Up North

 4) The Lighthouse

5) Sand Harbour State Lake, Lake Tahoe

6) Valley of Fire Wave

7) Venice

8) Nebula

9) Fly Gyser in Nevada

10) California Coast

11) Black Beach, Iceland

12) France To Chamonix

13) Alaskan Winter Sunset

14) Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, Iceland

15) Libyan Desert

16) Lagos, Portugal

17) Moon and Venus over Switzerland

18) Matterhorn Mountain, Switzerland

19) Erupting volcano with aurora, Iceland

20) Patagonia Landscape

21) Orange Reef

22) Camel Rock Beach

23) Milky Way over Jackson Lake

24) Nazca Desert

25) Travis County, Texas

1000 PTSBYD - CAÑO CRISTALES

Before you read any further, please click HERE to read the introduction of this new segment I shall be calling, '1000 Places To See Before You Die'. 

This segment - I guess you could call it - is basically my own personal bucket list of places I have to see before I die, and hopefully inspire you to feel the urge to visit as well. Most places I discover will have been taken from the aforementioned book, however today's destination was discovered through Stumbleupon. 

SO, Welcome to Caño Cristales. 

In Meta, Columbia - during the short span between the wet and dry season - this usually indistinguishable river breaks out into an explosion of vibrant colours. Known as "The River Of Seven Colours", "The Liquid Rainbow" and "The Most Beautiful River in the World", Caño Cristales has certainly taken its spot on my list of places I have to see. What I find most interesting, is that for the majority of the year this river is like any other - cool, clear and calm. The water level must be at a certain level in order for the colour to come through, as a unique plant which sits on on the river floor (Macarenia Clavigera) turns into a magical red.



The red is offset by some yellow and green sand, blue water and an array of shades in between (purple, brown, black). In the wet season, the water runs too fast and is too deep, therefore the sun cannot reach the Macarenia Clavigera to bring out the deep red. This being said, in the dry season there is not enough water to support the life in the river. So, if you plan on heading over to Columbia anytime soon, be sure to go between September and November to see what is usually a fairly ordinary river transform into a magical liquid rainbow.

Caño Cristales is not easily accessible by road, therefore it is a destination for the adventurous. The recommended means of transport is flying into the remote nearby town of La Macarena, and from there travelling down to the Serrania de la Macarena National Park, where Caño Cristales is located. The national park is home to many rivers, rapids and waterfalls, all which flow from the plateau south of the Serrania de la Macarena. Behind the oldest tepuis (tabletop mountain) of the Sierra, numerous rock paintings can be found, many still unexplored. This site was closed to tourists for several yard due to guerrilla activity (irregular warfare) in the region. It reopened in 2009, and there are now several Colombian Tourist Agencies that will actually fly travellers to La Macarena. It is now common to get to the river via horseback (or donkey), or by foot on a guided tour.

Happy travels!

The Universal Packing List

If you are anything like me, the only downside to travelling is packing the bag. I hate it. It is the bane of my existence. THEREFORE, I have found The Universal Packing List, which only requires you to enter a few details in order to receive a simplistic and stress-free travel packing list. Brilliant. This is literally the best thing to ever happen to the world.

So basically, fill this 'thing' (above^) out accordingly, and you will recieve a list (similar to this)…

THIS IS JUST SERIOUSLY SO BRILLIANT! 

AND SO THERE YOU GO, A PACKING LIST, JUST FOR YOU.

HAPPY PACKING!

JOUR1111 - Lecture Eleven

Lecture Eleven. Lucky Last. The blogging of lectures has come to an end. Good timing too - as this week's topic is an introduction into one of my least preferred branches of journalism - Investigative Journalism. Fun, fun, fun... 

Now, before the start of this semester, I would have rather enjoyed this lecture (I assume), HOWEVER, having just completed JOUR1710 - Investigative Journalism, i'd prefer to jump off the cliff now. That seems a little melodramatic, but for me, this type of journalism is the bane of my existence. That being said, maybe journalism isn't the right path for me then…?

Anyway. Investigative Journalism requires one to be 100% critical and 100% thorough, thus 200% boring. To me, any piece of writing with little or no opinion sends me to sleep. It's like reading through  a textbook - which I don't - it doesn't keep me on my toes. Although some will argue that a well written piece of investigative journalism is extremely interesting. I agree. Writing it however, is a different story. 

There are 6 'In's' of Investigative Journalism, in order to help one be more successful:

INvestigative

INtelligent

INformed

INtuitive

INside

INvested

The aforementioned is rather self-explanatory and makes sense when describing an Investigative Journalist. One must remember that this side of Journalism is simply a 'branch'. There are many branches which fall under Journalism - which I guess is why I am studying it. I agree that it is essential to have people with enough curiosity and scepticism to uncover the truth of our society. We need Investigative Journalists to churn out the facts, however, does that make them more important or 'right', than those how blog or report fashion and culture, etc? Are the opinionated writers even Journalists? What defines Journalism? Too many questions.

Regardless of what Journalism is and whether or not those who don't report the checked facts are still titled 'Journalists', there probably isn't a thing in the world that would one day see me sitting behind a desk, checking through government documents, uncovering the truth to some unsolved political scandal. It just doesn't grab me. And that is fine. Because the world is always after some overly-opinionated nobody to publish an insignificant and unread blog. You know, the blogs that people read at work, behind their desk when they can't be bothered sorting through any more documents. And such.  Maybe that's just me. Maybe not. #YOLO #ijustsaidyolo #whatislife #bye

Assignment 4 - Annotated Bibliography

Foster, N. Cook, K. Barter-Godfrey, S., & Furneaux, S. (2011). Fractured multiculturalism: Conflicting representations of Arab and Muslim Australians in Australian print media. Media, Culture & Society, 33, 619-629. Doi:10.1177/0163443711399034

Nena Foster, an academic at the University of East London, alongside some of Melbourne’s Deakin University academics, Kay Cook, Sarah Barter-Godfrey and Samantha Furneaux, present four emerging discourses drawn from extensive research (the manual filtering of over 100,000 articles on Factiva and NewsBank which include the words Arab, Muslim and Islam), which outlines the common representation and portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in Australian print media; ‘Arabs and Muslims are different’, ‘Muslims are like us’, ‘I’m an Arab/Muslim, but...’, and ‘A threat from within’. The study found many statements that place the Arab and Muslim communities in a negative light, a significant amount of which are exemplified and cited. It was concluded that the aforementioned discourses contribute to the social divisions that exists between ethnic groups in Australia, and that Arabs and Muslims are seen as the ‘out-group’ to Anglo-Australians (evident in all examples cited by the authors). Thus, the authors argue that whilst Australia sees itself as an accepting, non-discriminatory, multicultural country, the language used by the media to identify what it means to be Arab or Muslim, assimilates xeno-racist notions, contrary to ‘multiculturalism’. This is most evident today in recent media coverage of the September Sydney Riots, sparked by the release of a low budget anti-Islam film.

Tabbaa, M. (2012, September 19). He’s my brother – why angry Muslim youth are protesting in Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au

Few days after the 2012 Sydney Riots, PhD candidate in Law and Criminology at the University of Melbourne, Mohamad Tabbaa, extensively searches for the underlying meaning of the youth revolting in Sydney. Tabbaa includes statements made by Muslim leaders, apologizing for the behaviour of a small minority of their community and wish it not to tarnish how Muslims are perceived in the Australian media. The article is opinionated and Tabbaa makes unsupported statements regarding the real motives behind the protests, arguing that the youth are grieving for their ‘brothers and sisters’ (members of their Muslim community, globally), who have lost their lives due to invasions made by the USA. Tabbaa proceeds to accuse the Muslim leaders of not looking after their youth (due to apologizing to the media), as they are “more intent on representing the voice of an exclusive, overly image-conscious minority” (Tabbaa, 2012). Whilst the author is confident and argues a colloquial and opinionated representation of Muslims in Australia, the initial reason for rioting (the anti-Islam video) is not mentioned, thus the author fails to report the entire story, along with cited facts. Instead this article expresses the unreliable generalizations made by the author, and reports only the author’s opinion of the event. Whilst Tabbaa is supporting the Muslim community, or more so the Muslim youth, he is unintentionally labeling them as a group separate to that of Anglo-Australians, thus allowing room for ethnic division. Tabbaa is persuasive and relies on the audience’s sympathy to understand his viewpoint.

Islamic groups condemn violent Sydney protests.  (2012, September 16). ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/

The ABC is the author of this article, providing the public with riot statistics, confirmed by the police, as well as the statements made by Mariam Vieszadeh, a lawyer and Muslim community advocate, who spoke to the ABC about the behaviour of fellow Muslims in the riots. The article’s emphasis is upon the outrage that fellow Muslim community members have with the small minority who resorted to violent riots, apprehensive that all Muslims in Australia will now be seen as violent and earn an unpopular reputation in the community. The author included no comments made by anyone outside the Muslim community, aside from police statements and those made by Premier Barry O’Farrell – who simply stated the riots were “unacceptable”. The ABC has reported this event in an unbiased manner, by using the voice of a Muslim community member to advocate the sincerest apologies from the Muslim community, in the hope that the majority is not ‘tarred with the same brush’. The ABC have put the majority of the Muslim community in a positive light, reassuring the Australian public that the minority group is not one to judge and discriminate. Unlike Mohamad Tabbaa’s article – opinionated and unsupported - the ABC have used accurate statistics and written an unbiased report to inform readers of the Sydney Riots in a considerate and indiscriminate way.  

Grewal, J. (2012, September 17). Ugly fall-out after Sydney riots. Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au

This article, written by Jessica Grewal of the Sunshine Coast Daily – online publication, simply states the statistics of those who have been arrested since the rioting, generic statements made by NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, Dawson MP George Christensen, and quotes taken directly from The Australian Newspaper. The article shows little originality and research and has a bias slant toward the wrongdoing of the Muslim community. The author concludes with a quote from Christensen saying, “if any of the violent protesters are non-citizens, they should be deported immediately” (Grewal, 2012). The author puts the entirety of the Muslim community in a negative light (clearly labeling them as the out-group), including no such opinion or voice from the perspective of the Muslim community. Grewal has simply taken quotes from other publications of an Anglo-Australian perspective. It is hard to trust this source as reliable as information was not directly sourced, and for an online piece, this publication had very little information. It contained limited facts and a discriminatory bias, therefore the author failed to report the event accurately and fairly. Similarly to Tabbaa’s article, this piece was not extensively researched, and the majority of it was put together with rash, unsupported and biased statements. Tabbaa and Grewal’s articles both label (whether intentional or not) the in-group and out-group in this matter, creating a definite ethical division. The ABC article was the only article that maintained a fair and indiscriminate slant throughout the report.

REFERENCES

Foster, N. Cook, K. Barter-Godfrey, S., & Furneaux, S. (2011). Fractured multiculturalism: Conflicting representations of Arab and Muslim Australians in Australian print media. Media, Culture & Society, 33, 619-629. Doi:10.1177/0163443711399034

Grewal, J. (2012, September 17). Ugly fall-out after Sydney riots. Sunshine Coast Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au

Islamic groups condemn violent Sydney protests.  (2012, September 16). ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/

Tabbaa, M. (2012, September 19). He’s my brother – why angry Muslim youth are protesting in Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au

Just Watch

On a completely unrelated note. THIS. IS. INCREDIBLE.

LANA DEL REY - Ride

WELL HI.

I thought I might put up a selfie - as the majority of my lovely, loyal readers may think I'm a cyclops, or yeti, or centaur - which i'm not going to lie, is pretty accurate.

So, here we are. 

#psifinallygotajobinterviewtoday #ivebeenunemployeedforfartoolongnow #hashtageverything