There is a new generation of video games which are being made so difficult, that many players last no longer than 10 seconds. Yet it is the very nature of the ultimate challenge that keeps many people coming back time and again, just as we need to always be on the look out for Blue Moon Opportunities that completely change our lives.

One producer of video games told us, “Ikaruga, re-released their latest video game in April for Microsoft Xbox’s Live Arcade. It is so difficult that some users post their best performances on YouTube.”

A video game researcher at MIT, Jesper Juul, says “There is an art to exasperating people in such a way that it keeps them interested in the game.” This is what makes video games different from all other forms of creative media. It’s all about the feeling of inadequacy and how stupid it makes you feel to get stuck somewhere. Juul explains “People love the rush it gives them when they eventually achieve. Isn’t that why athletes push themselves to the point of no return and beyond, so as to achieve a medal at the Olympics? It’s all about the feeling of satisfaction and being able to outperform others.”

It is facing the same impossible odds that pushed Wendy and Rick to take up the challenge and create Win a Resort and the Blue Moon Opportunity. It is the challenges of life that push us to give of our best, no matter what situation we find ourselves in. It’s all about how to think outside the box.

Rick and Wendy retired to a tropical island, Vanuatu, in the South Pacific. It’s great living in the Happiest Country on Earth and the home of South Pacific Survivors. The best decision we ever made.

Isn’t this cartoon by Mark Lynch fabulous. You need to check out his site.

Maybe you have some great out-of-the-box ideas to share, that pushes people in the ultimate challenge. It only takes one whacky idea to make you a success.

You can find  out more about the author at http://winaresort.com

The Most Powerful Woman on earth, Angela Merkel, is hell bent on challenging the Happiest Countries on Earth, such as Costa Ricca, Columbia, Vanuatu, Dominica and Panama. Countries which always seem to feature high on the Happiest Planet Index.

In late Aug 2008, Forbes Magazine announced their 11th annual list of the top 100 most powerful women in the world. The magazine’s criteria for power is based on a composite of how much financial clout the women wield, public profile and how often the women were mentioned by the paparazzi. Women in general however, hold only 15% of the top corporate jobs. Less than 3% of USA’s largest companies have women chief executives and only one out of six company directors are female.

The magazine estimates the women on the list, control in the vicinity of $26 trillion dollars. These women are are defined by their jobs, rather than by who they are.  It is said that some take home an annual pay of $11 million plus. They are women who took advantage of every Blue Moon Opportunity (opportunities that change peoples lives), that came their way.

Past career accomplishments, job title and the amount of money the woman controls, are taken into account by Forges magazine. The magazine then draws comparisons between the different financial realms the women work in, in an attempt to assess the women’s position on a level playing field.

• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, tops the list in 2008 for the third time in a row
• Second was Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp
• PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi came in third, gaining two positions over last year
• Angela Braly head of the health insurance WellPoint retained fourth position, same as last year
• Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State came in seventh
• Ho Chin, Temasek Holdings and wife of the Prime Minister of Singapore, was No. 8, dropping from 3rd place last year
• Gail Kelly, head of Australian Wetspac Bank came in No. 11
• Hilary Clinton, with the highest media profile, ranked 28, dropping three places from last year
• Oprah Winfrey ranked 36, dropping all the way from 8th position last year
• First Lady Linda Bush ranked 44

Angela Merkel, nicknamed the ‘Iron Lady’, is following in the footsteps of ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, even down to having a similar kind of agenda. Vice Premiere of the People’s Republic of China, Wu Yi, who held third place last year, is also known as the ‘Iron Lady’.  Wu Yi, having been in the top rankings, since 2004, has finally dropped from view this year.

Merkel is crusading to get governments around the globe, to join a Tax Cartel, so that a heavy-handed fist can be brought to bear on all tax havens. The recent purchase, by Merkel, of confidential client data of alleged tax evaders, stolen from a Lichtenstein bank, has highlighted Merkel’s tax-crusade. It is said the Lichenstein bank sold the same material several times over, netting the bank a tidy profit.

Tax havens play an important role in driving the tax rate down in high-taxed countries. Merkel’s crusade could cost the world more than her crusade is worth. Without the availability of alternative competition, afforded through tax havens, taxes would soar.

We live in Vanuatu, one of the tax havens the Iron Lady would like to close down. We sincerely hope Angela’s crusade dies in the traps.

You can find out more about the author and a genuine Blue Moon Opportunity at http://winaresort.com

The prestigious  Annandale Gallery, built as a Methodist Church in 1860, converted to a Masonic Hall in the early 1920’s now holds a unique position in the landscape of Sydney, Australia. The gallery owners have  earned their reputation in the art world, through specializing in showing the best of Australian and overseas contemporary art.

July 22nd was exceptional from the outset. The invitation spoke about rare art on view for the first time, from a remote tropical island, of the tiny South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. Secret ceremonial art which had never before been seen outside Vanautu. A group of nine Ni-Vanuatu artists, dressed in full regalia, would perform a secret sacred dance, from the island of Ambrym, at the opening. It all sounded rather mysterious and lots of fun.

Gentle island music greeted the guests as they arrived at the tall imposing building in the heart of a trendy upmarket inner Sydney suburb. Sipping a glass of French champagne the guests buzzed with excitement, as they admired the beautifully carved wooden figures and masks. Among the artifacts was a four metre wooden tam tam (tall thin log drum), one of the world’s largest free standing musical instruments.

“This art is unique to Vanuatu and traditionally kept hidden from the outside world, because it belongs to a secret and sacred society.” David Baker, the Gallery’s curator described the art as stunning.  “Only similar piece has been found in a British museum. The art could  easily be mistaken for any piece of modern artwork. This work has the art world agog.”

Suddenly a barely clad figure stepped up to the huge drum and began a steady methodical beat on the lip of the wooden carved face. A face that had been stylized  to represent an ancestor.  The slit up the front of the drum allowing the ancestor to speak once more. The eyes representing the morning star.

Four dancers, covered from head to toe, in what looked like a tent outfit made of dry leaves, with a painted wooden mask, topped with  chicken feathers, covered the faces of the men. In a slow rhythmic, almost dreamlike shuffle, they advanced to the center of the room. With a monotone chant, they moved as one. In the middle of these four dancers, rhythmically stomping, clapping and chanting, came five other men dressed, in the full regalia of their secret society, a bright red hibiscus flower over one ear. ‘Full regalia’ being a misnomer.

Shock registered on the Sydney matrons’  faces as the five mature Ambrym men, dressed only with a wide bark belt slung low over their hips and a Nambas penis sheath, barely covering the essential part of their manhood, concentrated on their complicated sacred dance. The performers appeared to be unaware of the sensation they were causing, as their gleaming well formed buttocks jiggled up and down in time to the beat.

“It used to be that if a woman looked on these dancers she was killed. Even today, women are not permitted to touch these men,” one of the guests laughed, as she explained to me later, what she had been told. “When the dancers first entered the room it was rather difficult to know where to look. I haven’t seen that much bare buttock since my four children were babies.”

Two cultures could not be more different. Ladies who never even think about electricity when they casually switch on the lights, or put their hands under the tap for running water. Ladies who drive in their shiny modern cars to well stocked supermarkets to buy groceries from all over the world. Before them were men who sleep on woven mats on a coral floor. Water seldom comes from a tap and electricity is non existent in their home villages. Communication is often limited to the mystical language of the gong. Their supermarket is a ride in a dug out canoe to glean the fish from the ocean, or a walk out the to village garden.

Yet these dancers come from a nation voted as the Happiest Country on Earth in 2006. What is their secret? Their environmental footprint is one of the lightest in the world. Their longevity surpassing that of many other nations. A society where family relationships are valued far above possessions.

The head on collision of two cultures will long be remembered in the minds of all who attended the opening on July 22nd.

Take time out to find out more about the author and a genuine Blue Moon Opportunity at http://winaresort.com