Native Texan III
08-31-2012, 09:10 AM
While the rest of the World is thrilled by the Paralympics athletes in London.
USA acts as if disability does not exist and should be hidden away, even for its own paralympic athletes.
Read more at:
http://www.dsusa.org/challmagarchive/spring06/challmag-spring06-paralympics.html
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/08/hawking-higgs-and-newton-paralympic.html
Andy Coghlan, reporter
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/rexfeatures_1834880ae.jpg
(Image: Geoffrey Robinson/Rex Features)
Newton’s apple, the elusive Higgs particle discovered just weeks ago (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22014-celebrations-as-higgs-boson-is-finally-discovered.html) and the world’s best-known paraplegic, physicist Stephen Hawking (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328460.500-stephen-hawking-at-70-exclusive-interview.html), lit up last night’s dazzling opening ceremony (http://paralympics.channel4.com/video/index.html?v=1234656&t=50) for the London Paralympic Games (http://www.london2012.com/about-us/the-people-delivering-the-games/locog/).
Through its theme of “enlightenment”, the ceremony (http://paralympics.channel4.com/news-pictures/news/newsid=1234730/index.html#spectacular-ceremony-opens-paralympics) drew parallels between the inspirational efforts of para-athletes to extend the boundaries of human endeavour and the endless scientific quest to extend the frontiers of human knowledge.
Hawking burst onto the stage at 8.30 pm in a blaze of colour after a celestial sphere descended into the arena then exploded in a representation of the big bang. Around 600 umbrella-wielding dancers fanned from the epicentre to represent the expansion of the early universe.
“Ever since the dawn of civilisation, people have craved for an understanding of the underlying order of the world, and why it exists at all,” said Hawking, opening the proceedings. “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet and wonder about what makes the universe exist,” he continued. “Be curious.”
Another central theme of the proceedings was the battle for all humans to be treated equally, whatever their individual and physical differences. This was symbolised by the arrival in the Olympic arena of a giant “Rolodex” representing the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world,” Hawking continued. “We are all different - there is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being - but we all share the same human spirit.”
Later on the ceremony paid homage to Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity. Dancers recreated the garden where he was reportedly inspired after being struck on the head by a falling apple, before a huge apple appeared in the arena. Dancers also recreated a human “Newton’s cradle".
The celebration of Newton continued as choirs sang Principia, a new composition written for the ceremonies by Errollyn Wallen (http://www.errollynwallen.com/). The work was an homage to Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28233), his 1687 exposition of the laws of gravity.
Bringing things up to the present, the recently discovered Higgs boson (http://www.newscientist.com/topic/higgs-boson) also made an appearance, represented by dancers forming a pulsating phalanx of silver umbrellas. CERN got its moment in the spotlight too: towards the end of the ceremony, dancers colliding with each other at random recreated the Large Hadron Collider (http://www.newscientist.com/topic/large-hadron-collider), where the particle was discovered just weeks ago.
“The Large Hadron Collider is the largest, most complex machine in the world, possibly in the universe,” said Hawking. “The recent discovery of what looks like the Higgs boson will change our perception of the world, and opens the possibility of a theory of everything.”
Hawking’s theme of enlightenment was echoed by his co-master of ceremonies, actor Ian McKellen, who portrayed Shakespeare’s mystical hero Prospero from The Tempest. Prospero invited his daughter Miranda, played by disabled actress Nicola Miles-Wildin, to “discover new worlds”, and “shine your light on the beautiful diversity of humanity”. Echoing Hawking’s earlier injunction to “be curious” and combat prejudice, the performance ended with Miranda urged by Prospero to “look up and fly. Break that glass ceiling.”
USA acts as if disability does not exist and should be hidden away, even for its own paralympic athletes.
Read more at:
http://www.dsusa.org/challmagarchive/spring06/challmag-spring06-paralympics.html
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/08/hawking-higgs-and-newton-paralympic.html
Andy Coghlan, reporter
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/rexfeatures_1834880ae.jpg
(Image: Geoffrey Robinson/Rex Features)
Newton’s apple, the elusive Higgs particle discovered just weeks ago (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22014-celebrations-as-higgs-boson-is-finally-discovered.html) and the world’s best-known paraplegic, physicist Stephen Hawking (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328460.500-stephen-hawking-at-70-exclusive-interview.html), lit up last night’s dazzling opening ceremony (http://paralympics.channel4.com/video/index.html?v=1234656&t=50) for the London Paralympic Games (http://www.london2012.com/about-us/the-people-delivering-the-games/locog/).
Through its theme of “enlightenment”, the ceremony (http://paralympics.channel4.com/news-pictures/news/newsid=1234730/index.html#spectacular-ceremony-opens-paralympics) drew parallels between the inspirational efforts of para-athletes to extend the boundaries of human endeavour and the endless scientific quest to extend the frontiers of human knowledge.
Hawking burst onto the stage at 8.30 pm in a blaze of colour after a celestial sphere descended into the arena then exploded in a representation of the big bang. Around 600 umbrella-wielding dancers fanned from the epicentre to represent the expansion of the early universe.
“Ever since the dawn of civilisation, people have craved for an understanding of the underlying order of the world, and why it exists at all,” said Hawking, opening the proceedings. “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet and wonder about what makes the universe exist,” he continued. “Be curious.”
Another central theme of the proceedings was the battle for all humans to be treated equally, whatever their individual and physical differences. This was symbolised by the arrival in the Olympic arena of a giant “Rolodex” representing the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world,” Hawking continued. “We are all different - there is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being - but we all share the same human spirit.”
Later on the ceremony paid homage to Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity. Dancers recreated the garden where he was reportedly inspired after being struck on the head by a falling apple, before a huge apple appeared in the arena. Dancers also recreated a human “Newton’s cradle".
The celebration of Newton continued as choirs sang Principia, a new composition written for the ceremonies by Errollyn Wallen (http://www.errollynwallen.com/). The work was an homage to Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28233), his 1687 exposition of the laws of gravity.
Bringing things up to the present, the recently discovered Higgs boson (http://www.newscientist.com/topic/higgs-boson) also made an appearance, represented by dancers forming a pulsating phalanx of silver umbrellas. CERN got its moment in the spotlight too: towards the end of the ceremony, dancers colliding with each other at random recreated the Large Hadron Collider (http://www.newscientist.com/topic/large-hadron-collider), where the particle was discovered just weeks ago.
“The Large Hadron Collider is the largest, most complex machine in the world, possibly in the universe,” said Hawking. “The recent discovery of what looks like the Higgs boson will change our perception of the world, and opens the possibility of a theory of everything.”
Hawking’s theme of enlightenment was echoed by his co-master of ceremonies, actor Ian McKellen, who portrayed Shakespeare’s mystical hero Prospero from The Tempest. Prospero invited his daughter Miranda, played by disabled actress Nicola Miles-Wildin, to “discover new worlds”, and “shine your light on the beautiful diversity of humanity”. Echoing Hawking’s earlier injunction to “be curious” and combat prejudice, the performance ended with Miranda urged by Prospero to “look up and fly. Break that glass ceiling.”