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Kennemer dunes 360° between Zandvoort and IJmuiden, today. Look and see [ process and show ]

Min/max temperature: 7°C/14°C; humidity: 98%; precipitation: 1 mm; sea level pressure: 1008 hPa; wind: WNW 43.0 km/h; visibility: 10.0 kilometres; Clouds: few 670 m., overcast: 975 m.

" [ The ] concept of stress may indicate any state of reduced well-being varying from being in a bit of a hurry to a complete nervous breakdown. In a more strict sense, it refers to a state of exhaustion resulting from chronically having to deal with problems and anxieties, which in themselves qualify as inconveniences rather than threats of life. [ The ] notion of stress invariably refers to a less than desirable condition. When originally conceived, however, it was meant to denote a neurological and visceral reaction known as the "fight-or-flight" phenomenon. This reaction results in a readiness to deal with imminent danger by either fighting or fleeing. Since this constitutes an elementary survival mechanism, such a stress reaction should be considered both normal and healthy. In everyday life it is only if a state of heightened alertness and preparedness for action is maintained over a long period of time, without any breaks for recovery, that the effects of stress are potentially harmful. In normal life […] damaging effects occur if there is no plausible opponent to fight or fly from: e.g. if the threat originates from a bureaucratic machinery, or if an insurmountable work-load is self inflicted. Since there is no clear way to deal with these problems actively and effectively, the individual may resort to emotional coping strategies. […] these strategies may give rise to damaging symptoms: sleeplessness, overconsumption of tobacco and alcohol, irritability and tension. […] Fight and flight are behavioural categories. They are mutually exclusive. Although obviously related to fight and flight, courage and fear are not mutually exclusive. [ People ] may be frightened and courageous at the same time. Most people […] agree that there is no courage without fear. Fearlessness may strike the observer as an exceptional characteristic, even as something odd; it does not qualify, however, as true courage. The notion of courage presupposes the presence of fear. It is fear conquered in the interest of some worthy cause.

[…] Fear in itself is […] complex. [ It is best ] be understood as consisting of three components: a subjective reaction (the awareness of fear), a physiological reaction (like sweating or trembling) and an avoidance reaction (flight, taking shelter). The three reactions may or may not occur together. One may feel frightened without any bodily symptoms showing, and the reverse may be the case as well […] they are loosely coupled. One consequence […] of fear is that it is not always possible to tell whether a person is anxious. This may even be unclear to the person concerned. [ How a person ] is likely to respond to a serious threat […] cannot realistically be predicted. There is not a lot of reliable evidence for personality characteristics related to either courage or cowardice. If [ people ] are trapped between the options of fulfilling [ their ] duties [...] or relinquishing them [...] because neither is a viable option, [ people ] may suffer a breakdown. This, too, is an outcome which is hardly accounted for by characteristics like emotional stability. It is likely to be determined by situational factors […] Being subjected to [ a threat ] without the possibility of retaliation or adequate shelter is a typical situation where fight nor flight are plausible options, and a breakdown may be all that is left. The strains of the situation are overwhelming to a degree that antecedent emotional stability is hardly decisive. […] If no action or response whatsoever is instrumental in determining the outcome of a crisis, a collapse of the individual as an autonomous, self-directing system may occur. […] There are a number of factors which appear to have a buffering effect against interpreting a [ threatening ] situation as out of personal control. [...] A sense of confidence may enable a [ person ] to maintain his or her share of morale and endure […] tensions. […] Notable factors contributing to this effect are adequate training, trust in fellow [ people ] and excellent equipment. Since people derive the meaning of any situation largely from the way others seem to react to it, contagion is a major cause of a [ person's ] interpretation of a [ threatening ] situation as challenging, frightening or hopeless. The emphasis on contagion and social support in shaping a particular situation […] is tantamount to stressing the role of the [ leader ] in setting an example and managing attributions of meaning by subordinates."

J. Extra in 'NL Arms; Dealing with Danger and Stress', page 150, 151,152, 153 first published in 1998 by RMA, Breda, The Netherlands

"Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you overstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her one feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now, this overdone or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of which one must, in your allowance, overweigh a whole theatre of others."

From: William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet, Prince of Danmark', Act III, scene II, written between 1599 and 1602, page 961 of 'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare', first published in 1958 by Spring Books, London

" [ If ] you imagine the story as a house with many floors, some dark, some light -- some small rooms and some larger rooms with doors and windows and ceilings and suchlike -- and then acknowledge that fact that no [ two ] people in all our wonderful world are capable of furnishing, decorating, repairing or renovating the same house in the same way -- but they all may possibly want at least to be a 'Happy House' or a 'Cosy House', or even a 'miserable house'. The beauty of it is that presentation is the way we communicate, we present ourselves in certain clothes in certain colours to convey a certain signal -- all presentations of any kind are transmitted and received through codes of language, alphabets, numerals etc. -- but how all this is assembled before presentation is precisely where the individual mind and vision meets an object and translates that same object out to the rest of the world -- transformed into a massage, a statement incorporating Personality -- 'this is storytelling'. If this becomes a sequence of objects, then it becomes a narrative structure. Angle of vision -- the movement -- the poetry, no one being is […] the same. This is the human alchemy behind any frame of any story…"

Anthony Dod Mantle in 'Framing, A Symposium on Cinematography', page 148, edited by Andreas Fisher-Hansen, Igor Koršič and Tina Sørensen (unpublished manuscript)