I am always a history buff when it comes to movies. Learning about things that happened a long ago (eg. Rome, Vikings) or recently (eg. 20th-century stuff) appeals to me. With new TV series exploding across the world (at least 500+ to choose from annually), there are so many choices to consider and some will catch my attention.
Netflix had also encouraged binge-watching, offering a buffet at a ridiculously low price. I pay USD 7.99 per month that allow my family of 4 to use 6 devices to access everything they have to offer (only one device can stream at a time, but downloads to a device are possible too). Cable TV providers are now going out of business thanks to these live video streaming giants that stores all content on the cloud. The term “Netflix and Chill” is being used nowadays by couples to mean that they will binge watch movies and also have sex!!
This week, my binge watching attention has been focused on the newly released Narcos Mexico series on Netflix. They had just released all 10 episodes at the same time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcos:_Mexico . The previous 3 seasons were on the Colombian drug cartels based on the Medellin (Escobar) and Cali cartels. It is frightening how cocaine corrupted and destroyed the country with its violence and the complete destruction of its citizens. Season 4 now moves to Mexico to focus on the beginning of the Guadalajara Cartel and their rise to power. It is an interesting study of how absolute power corrupts.
At that time, Mexico was deep into marijuana (from the cannabis plant, also called weed) production. As a side note, we now see a resurgence of this drug being legalized around the world in recent times… Share prices of these companies were the star performers in stock exchanges this year. The Mexican drug lords then found a more profitable venture in cocaine (from the coca plant) that Colombia was mass producing, by helping them transport the drug to North America via their borders with USA. Billions of $$$ were already changing hands in the 1980s before it even became fashionable to talk about such eye-boggling numbers in the financial sector!
Cocaine is now making a new comeback in the world. We in Asia are new to this game that happened in Central America in the 1980s as it now moves eastward to our region in a big way. The latest update on cocaine trafficking into Asia : https://multimedia.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2174634/narcos-hidden-drug-trafficking/
Thanks to these shows, I have now learned more about these drugs and their differences and why marijuana is being legalised around the world. Differences between marijuana and cocaine: https://thehealingclinic.org/cannabis-vs-cocaine-2016-infographic/
Both are manufactured from plant-based sources (cannabis and coca) which were historically used by the people in South America as natural products to boost their energy in a tough living environment.
I wrote about the opioid crisis in my blog a few weeks ago. These are made from synthetic materials that are customizable and made to order without the need for plantations. I fear for my kids as they are now exposed to a world of drugs which are slowly becoming acceptable nowadays…
Separately, I finally used my birthday gift this week. I asked my wife specifically to buy me a DJI Mavic Air drone. I am into video editing and photography, having done a lot of family and company video and photo slideshows for the last 20 years. I was highly impressed with the top quality drone shots used by many youtube videos nowadays in 4K resolution. DJI is a China-based company and one of the top drone manufacturers in the world.
I brought my new toy to the big field near my place for a first time spin around after studying the training 101 drone videos on youtube. First impressions: it was unbelievably easy to fly and control the drone. They had built-in software which made it idiot proof to produce fantastic videos of aerial shots that will enhance the quality of my future MTV production. It even has a “return-to-base” button which will automatically make the drone land on the exact spot it took off from. This is especially useful when the battery is running low. I will need to practice more in order to create content for further experimentation. The biggest drawback I see is battery life. Each can only support a flying time of only 21 minutes and I had to buy 2 extra batteries to be on standby.
The other thing that I did this week was to progress to the next step in my home hydroponics experiment which I term version 2.0 . I had spent a few weeks trying to learn how to grow seedlings from scratch using seeds I had purchased online. Thankfully again, there were many youtube videos to gather this information from.
I finally transplanted some seedlings to the hydroponics structure I bought a few months ago from China. It was made up of PVC piping which used a small pump and gravity to circulate the nutrient-rich water (using A/B solutions) to grow plants in a soilless environment. After a few days, some of the seedlings seem to be a stable situation now. Hopefully, I can grow enough vegetables to put on my dining table. This will be an eco-friendly way of being self-sustainable by using 95% less water without the need for pesticides with an accelerated rate of growth without using soil at all.
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