2013 in 10 Events

Ten events in 2013 that made headlines in Australia. 

Image by Simon

1. Benedict XVI resigns as Pope, being the first since 1415 and the first to do so voluntarily since 1294. 

Image by Catholic Church (England and Wales)

2. Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving British Prime Minister, died at 87 years.

Memorial outside The British Embassy in Santiago.
Image by Rivera Notario

3. Edward Snowden was given temporary asylum in Russia.

Street art portrait of Snowden
Image by Thierry Ehrmann

4. Prince George of Cambridge was born. 

Image by Christopher Neve

5. Australia had three Prime Ministers in one year: Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. 

Tony Abbott, the current Prime Minister of Australia.
Image by Troy Constable Photography™

Song Sampling: Etta James

Lately, I have noticed that many older songs have been sampled to make new songs. It's not exactly coping or plagiarising but it's more like taking inspiration from a song of an older generation and turning it into something that suits the musical taste of the younger generation. 

Here's a couple of songs that have been sampled from Etta James's 'Something's got a hold on me'.

Original: 'Something's got a hold on me', 1962 (live)

Kooalala clothing

Happy New Year everyone! (Even though it's the end of January.) 

Lately, I've been on Kickstarter reading about new projects people have been trying to 'kick-start'. I came across a couple of them that I want to support, but I decided to share one that I think I shouldn't just keep to myself. 

It's Kooalala (pronounced koo-ah-lah-lah) clothing, a fashion line inspired by endangered animals on the IUCN red list of threatened species. The company is named after the koala which was 'near threatened' but became 'least concern' in 2008, which means there is hope for threatened species. 

Check out their clothing on Kickstarter. 

Here's some of the animals they were inspired by are:

The wood turtle
Image by Jerry Oldenettel

Tigers
Image by @Doug88888

Arabian Oryx
Image by Danny McL

There are rewards for those who support them on kickstarter, for example if you donate:

(For shipping outside the U.S., they request that you'll pay an additional $10) :(

- $20 or more, they'll send you a plain Kooalala t-shirt with the colour of your choose. 

- $30 or more, they'll send you a Wild Tiger T-Shirt (Men's).

- $40 or more, they'll send you a Blessed Poison Frog shirt (Women's) or a Cloud Copper Butterfly shirt (Women's).

And if you donate $1000 you will receive 5 Kooalala duo packages and a Kooalala medal of honour which allows you to pick the next animal for their collection from the IUCN red list of threatened species.

Also, the fashion line gives some of its proceed to nature preservation and the endangered animals. 

Links: 
Kooalala Kickstarter (images of their products + a video). 
Kooalala Website
Like them on FaceBook Kooalala FaceBook
Follow them on Twitter Kooalala Twitter
IUCN red list of threatened species

Also remember to like my FaceBook page and I'll keep you updated with what I'm doing. :)

10 iconic songs of 2012 in Australia

As this year comes to an end, reflect on the year by listening to 10 iconic songs of 2012. 

10. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People

Every time I hear this song I think of the beach, maybe because I heard in February. 

9. Wild Ones - Flo Rida ft. Sia

I'm pretty sure Dubai sponsored the video... and Sia doesn't even appear in the video. She must feel ripped off. 

8. We Are Young - Fun. ft Janelle Monáe 

Because we are...

7. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

The first song meme of the year... sung by a Canadian.

6. You Won't Let Me - Karise Eden

If you're not from Australia, you probably didn't know that Karise Eden was the winner of Voice 2012 with the help of Seal (the singer, not the animal). 

5. Anywhere in the World - Mark Ronson, Katy B

I included this song because it was the promo for the Olympics.

4. One More Night - Maroon 5 

She even took the fish!

3. Boom Boom - Justice Crew

Finally a dance song that's not American but by an Australian and New Zealand boy band.

2. Battle Scars - Guy Sebastian ft. Lupe Fiasco

This song was number 1 in Australia, number 2 in New Zealand and Norway and... number 73 in US Billboard Hot 100. 

1. Gangnam Style (강남스타일) - PSY 

This was the first K-Pop song to become popular internationally, Psy has been to many countries 
for interviews and performances. With more than 1 billion views, this is without a doubt, the biggest song 
of 2012. 

I wish I could include more but I had to stick to 10 songs. What's your opinion? What songs would you change?

Comparing politician signatures with Greek and Hebrew Letters

Recently I've noticed that many politicians of high importance have Greek and Hebrew letters in their signatures. This is what I've noticed: 

USA –

Barack Obama: The 'O' is a 'phi'.

George W. Bush: The last two letters resemble the Hebrew letters: 'kof' and 'shin'.

Joe Biden: The ‘e’ looks like the cursive Hebrew ‘gimel’ and ‘B’ looks like a ‘kof’.  

Mitt Romney: The double 't' resembles the Greek letter ‘pi’ and ‘R’ resembles a stylised version of the Hebrew letter ‘he’.

UK –

Tony Blair: The ‘B’ resembles the Greek letter ‘beta’ and ‘l’ resembles the cursive Hebrew letter ‘tzadik’.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge: The ‘w’ resembles the Greek letter (lower case) ‘upsilon’ and ‘y’ resembles a stretched out cursive Hebrew ‘bet’.

France – 

François Hollande: The top of the signature resembles the Greek letter ‘pi’ and the two 'l' look like two ‘tzadik’-s. 

François Fillon: The 'O' looks like the Greek letter ‘phi’, ‘the second last letter in the first half of the signature resembles 'omega’ and the 'i' resembles cursive Hebrew letter ‘gimel’.

Nicolas Sarkozy: The 'N' resembles the cursive Hebrew letter ‘chet’ and the 'l' and 'S' resemble two ‘pe’-s. 

China – 

Hu Jintao: There are the Greek letters ‘phi’ , ‘omega’, ‘tau’ in it. 

Wen Jiabao: There are the Greek letters ‘phi’, ‘omega’, ‘theta’ in it.

Australia – 

 

Julia Gillard: The 'u' resembles the Greek letter ‘iota’, the 'l' looks like ‘lambda’ and the 'G' resembles a ‘zeta’.

Kevin Rudd: The 'K' looks like a crooked Greek letter ‘sigma’ and the cursive Hebrew letter ‘shin’. 

If you can see more Greek or Hebrew letters in the signatures or if you want me to write one about the politicians from a country I haven't mentioned, please comment in the comment section.  

Does your signature have Greek or Hebrew letters in it? 

Links: 

Greek Language and Alphabet 

Hebrew Language and Abjab