Paralympics Start

London Paralympics started today. However, we can't watch the games in the United States. In this commercialism country, it's a little difficult to live.

There are maybe two kind of people. One is disabled athletes who don't want to be in front of people. and the other is the athletes actively appear their activities in the world.

In some countries, these disabled people are a lot than others. I think there are some commons for them. One is military powers such as the United States. These countries actively send troops to conflict front in the name of peace keeping activities. One of them is also the places before it was the front of it.

People know about Vietnam on the Cold War. Then they used "defoliant" for the purpose to unhide the enemies. This defoliant included a lot of dioxin that causes deformity babies. Recent days, finally the United States started the project to remove dioxin from the soil in a part of Vietnam. People think it's one of the advances of post the cold war.

After the Arab Spring, now still some countries in Middle East and Africa have conflicts. Especially, Syria is one of the extreme parts now. These areas even today, the new disabled people have born. It's a sad thing. These are maybe negative parts of the human instincts.

Naturally, if people don't have this instinct called "fighting spirits," maybe these kind of sports games also are not existed in the world.

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London is one of the biggest city in the world, and also has a long history. Large cities like London are difficult to maintain towns for disabled people. Also when you travel, you may have a lot of moment that like disabled people need helps. Then please help them, save the moment, and be happy.

"You Are the Sunshine of My Life"

by Stevie Wonder (1973)

Stevie Wonder is a disabled singer. According to some news sources, he was interested in the operation which might recover his eyesites in 1999. In 2005, media informed he prepared for the operation. I'm wondering he had the operation or not.

La Tomatina

UPDATE: Added "La Tomatina" & "Oktoberfest" above the news reel, and "Calculator" on Feel the Lemon.

The London Paralympics comes soon. It's the biggest sports events for disabled people. However, in many countries, this event is not on media, and treat minimal. Naturally, these people do not always want to be in front of people, but they are trying.

In this event, one special athlete is Oscar Pistrius. He was on the track in the London Olympics. He will come back on the field for this Paralympics too. How does he run?

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Well, the opening ceremony of the London Paralympics is on August 29. On the same day, in Bunol, Spain, "La Tomatina" happens. Some weeks ago, I wrote about this a little.

La Tomatina is started in 1940s. The origin is uncertain, and there are some stories. According to the official website,

"It all began on the last Wednesday of August in the year 1945. A group of teenagers were watching the festivities and parades of the gigantes y cabezudos (carnival puppets with enormous heads) in the Town Square. They decided to try to join the parade of musicians and gigantes y cabezudos. One of the parade’s participants got angry as a result of the teenagers’ actions, and started to hit everything in his path. The crowd then also became furious, and in a twist of fate, they took tomatoes from a nearby vegetable stall and began to throw them at one another. This continued until law and order was restored and the vegetable battle had to stop."

In 1950s, this festival was through all fortunes, and banned. However, people succeeded it, and now we can watch this event every year on TV. If we want to enjoy, we can get there and join.

Here are some rules:

1. Don't bring hard things and bottles(they may hurt people).
2. Don't rip other people's clothes.
3. Squash tomatoes before you throw.
4. Keep a safe distance from the lorries which bring tomatoes.
5. When the second call sounds, stop throwing tomatoes. 

Before I wrote a topic about "swimming goggle." For keeping eyes safety, they recommend to use swimming goggles for people who entry the tomato fights.

The festival begins in the morning, and other events are in the town. However, until the first shot sounds, people are prohibited to throw tomatoes.

All the details are on the official website below,

La Tomatina: http://www.latomatina.es/en/

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Now you open the official site, you can find the photo that a couple kisses in the tomatoes. The period that people can throw tomatoes is only around one hour. It may be an exciting and romantic moment for lovers.

When people hug, then they may listen to their heartbeats each other.

 "Heartbeat" by Tahiti 80 (2000)

"Heartbeat" is also important for athletes. Especially, disabled athletes might be difficult to control when they train for the Paralympic games. It's the time that their efforts become sound. Their beats will be on the lives.

Travel Tips: SNS Warning

Here is one thing you need to do:

You don't have to share about your travel information on SNS like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare etc. without your minimum needs.

Traveling the world is wonderful. You can enjoy the world cultures, and also re-discover your origin. However, now traveling the world is not always safe because everyone uses "SNS."

Naturally, you want to share your precious moments and experiences with your friends. You can also get the useful information from your friends. 

Wait... but, what does this mean?

Again, you can share with your information with SNS. Then the information that you are on the way of your travel leaks from your SNS. 

It may cause "snake thief."

Especially, if you are a popular person such that you permit everyone as a friend, you need to be care about this very much. You may have all your contacts such as your street addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses on your SNS sites. 

Some internet security companies have issued about this problem as advisories. For the solution of this, you can pay for the home security service(it costs very much), or you need to control your information by yourself.

Extra: Video Making

Now you have a lot of video shooting tools. Therefore you can enjoy shooting your travel scenes with your friends. In addition, video editing tools are also free. When you buy a computer, normally it includes Windows Movie Maker(for Windows), or iMovie(for Mac).

Now I skip the instructions of these software, but many people enjoy like the video with their friends. You might watch "Call Me Maybe" by Team USA(Swimming). It's very fun. You can check on Youtube. Also Tom Daley & Team GB also tried the same kind of fun.

"Sexy And I  Know It(LMFAO Lip Sync)"

by Tom Daley & Team GB

I think it's difficult to do like this for everyone, but if you mind a song, you can make a montage video from your travel footage with the music. Do you think it's crazy? Yes, it's maybe so from some parts of the world.

Anyway, you can find a lot of friends on the way of your travel. Enjoy taking photoa and videos, and share them with your travel friends on your Facebook, Youtube and so on!

They must be treasures on your entire life :-)

British Films

UPDATE: 8/15 I totally rewrote this post. Added "London Paralympics" on the news reel above.

I'm not one of media people. It's difficult to keep the pace of writing here. If I only need to watch the games on the Internet, it's good. However, we have our daily life, right?

From next, I'll be back to the world. Our travel destinations are not only to the Britain, but other countries too. Next I'll start with "Travel Stuff."

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Recently, people watch movies when they want to know their destinations. Sometimes, they reflect their customs, and the traditions.

In the Britain, films are also important. Do you remember Harry Potter scenes in London? They also have some "Nursery Rhymes." Naturally, "Sherlock Holmes" is also from London. If you are a little old traveler, you may long for the Baker street.

If you go to BFI's homepage, you can watch old footage from the end of 19th century. Here is a footage from London Olympics in 1908.

"The 1908 London Olympics" by BFI

These films are very precious heritages, and we can watch the now and then. The films include a lot of historical moment such as the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II(color).

Films shows not only the fantasy worlds, but also some noble parts of the British culture. These years, filmmakers tried to show a little noble parts.

"The King's Speech" (2009)

"The Iron Lady" (2011)

"The Queen" (2006)

"The Kings Speech" talks about a "stammer" king. The Iron Lady is about "Margaret Thatcher" a former prime minister in the Britain. "The Queen" is about the death of Diana, and sound Queen Elizabeth's behaviors.

If you want to watch a little charming part, "Love Actually" is one of them. It's a love story around the British prime minister.

"Love Actually" (2003)

What do you think? The Britain is closer to you? 

If you plan to go to somewhere for your vacation, please try a film that related to your destinations. Is your imagination correct, or different? It should be one of funs and the purpose of your travel.

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In fact, the Olympic games are now on Day 14. London 2012 has a lot of medal competitions. Some of them like Boxing and Wrestling are one to one. They are just the "win or lose" conditions.

"We Will Rock You" by Queen (1977)

Swedish Rock Band "Europe" released "The Final Countdown" in 1980s. London 2012 is just a few days left. It's also now facing the final countdown. However, the countdown is also for the "Paralympic Games." After the London Olympics is done, In August 29, the hot competitions will come back to London.

Tweeting?

Do you tweet everyday? It's an interesting ways to get the Information. On your travel. if you get friends, you can get their information, and decide some decisions with them.

Now the London Olympics also have tweeting pages for the purpose of support countries and athletes.

To check for it, the first place is Mongolia, the second is the United States. It's not reflected the result of the medals(8/4 9pm/PST).

• Supprt Your Team

This is also different from the Internet condition of the countries. It may indicate a part of the identities of the countries.

How about your country? Is it hot for the Olympic games?

Travel Stuff: Fitness Apps

The Olympic medal collector, Michael Phelps, was back, and got the 20th medal. In London, Lochte is more than Phelps, and he got 5 medals. (Anyway, it's important to get medals for nations' identity, but it's not only the purpose of the Olympic Games. We should praise looser. They may become the next winners and generations.)

Swimming is a good way to fit our bodies. According to a lot of internet sites, it's one of the total body exercises. Naturally, if we feel heavy to do it, we can walk in the swimming pool.

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Fitness and Travel are similar. Especially, if you run just on the treadmill or just swim in the same swimming pool. Maybe you sometimes feel something boring.

Now there are some apps on the smartphones.

Sports Tracker

Originally, this application was from Nokia. It has now some edition for iOS, Android, Symbian, and Windows Phone. You can add your original menus, and write training diary for it. You can share your progress with others online.

Nike+

When we go around, people sometimes use iPod and train their bodies. They are always with the rhythms of their favorite music, and the music keeps their paces of their fitness. One of the good ways is to use this "Nike+." It has some kinds such as running, training, and basketball.


When people jog across towns sometimes say, "It's like a picnic." If you can share your topics online, you may have a lot of friends. It's a good part of the Internet time.

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If you are a fitness mania, you always think about it. You may select a hotel with a del-equiped gym. Maybe you also have a plan to jog around a beach, park, downtown near your destination. It's very fun because you can encounter the local people, and get some information for your travel.

But, please be careful if you jog around. Yesterday, near the Olympic Park in London, a cyclist was killed by bus. He is a 28 years old man. I'm not sure he used these kind of devices or not. However, if you use them on the way of your fitness, you may be careless for listening to music, and operate for the apps. Your fitness is naturally a small escape from your daily life, but don't travel the underworld. You may never come back!

The Telegraph: Cyclist Killed after collision with London 2012 Olympic Games media bus