tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-277963332024-03-12T19:34:59.686-07:00Visions of new worlds risingVisions of new worlds rising/
Bearing none who fear/
Lift your dragging spirits/
And face the future quietly/Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-23726741197804574972015-03-17T02:21:00.003-07:002015-03-17T02:21:18.810-07:00What's the story with feng shui?<br />
<br />
January 16, 2003<br />
Dear Straight Dope:<br />
<br />
What's the deal with feng shui? Every time I see someone on television espousing it, I reach for my wallet, because its fundamentals and supposed benefits seem a total crock to me. Am I just being reactionary and biased against non-European theories, or is feng shui really just flimflam?<br />
<br />
— Chris Garrity, Los Angeles<br />
<br />
Probably it's somewhere in between. Don't worry about your wallet--this is something that you CAN try at home, without spending a lot of money.<br />
<br />
WHAT IS IT?<br />
<br />
Feng shui (pronounced fung shoy) is the ancient Chinese art of placement. Feng shui tries to explain and manipulate the impact of the environment on people's lives.<br />
<br />
The term comes from the two Chinese words for wind and water. There is no equivalent English word, although perhaps geomancy (divination of messages from the earth) comes close. Some practitioners call it an "eco-art," trying to link man to his surroundings.<br />
<br />
Feng shui originated in China somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago, although the term itself is more recent. The earliest references in books and texts (though not by name) date back to 200 to 400 BC. Feng shui began as an oral tradition and remains primarily oral today. It first came to serious attention in the west in the 1970s. Several different schools of feng shui have developed over time.<br />
<br />
Feng shui is partly mystic and relates to other eastern philosophies and tools such as the I Ching. Feng shui theory is firmly linked to yin and yang, which is familiar to most westerners, and to the concept of chi (more on this later).<br />
<br />
From one perspective, feng shui is the art of arranging the environment (the exteriors and interiors of buildings, gardens, and even the body) to optimize the impact on the people who live there. Looked at another way, it is a very complex set of superstitions. And they are powerful superstitions indeed. The construction of large hotels in Hong Kong has to wait for the blueprints to be reviewed and revised by feng shui specialists--moving the escalators, for instance, so that money does not flow out of the building.<br />
<br />
An Asian business person can stop a deal cold if the feng shui of the office isn't right. Westerners thus have had to learn feng shui in order to do business in much of Asia. Call it flim-flam if you like, but if you are dealing with Asians, be aware that you may be insulting a cherished tradition.<br />
<br />
Whatever may be said for its modern incarnation, feng shui had its origins in a practical appreciation of the environment. The ancient Chinese noticed that homes built in river valleys were often lost to floods, whereas houses on hillsides were protected from the elements and easier to defend against invaders. Hence, hillside buildings had more luck than those in valleys. Similarly, houses facing north were hit by dust storms, while houses facing south got maximum warmth from the sun. Thus facing south was luckier than facing north. (As another consequence of this, Chinese maps were south-oriented, with south on top.)<br />
<br />
It's not hard to see how these observations, reflections, and some common sense led to a system of beliefs or superstitions about the placement of buildings, doorways and windows, furniture, and so on. Over the centuries there developed what Simon Brown calls "a complex and integrated system of theory and practice, embracing almost every aspect of people's lives."<br />
<br />
WHAT ARE THE BASIC PRINCIPLES?<br />
<br />
Not easy to summarize, but the idea is to arrange your environment (home, office, whatever) to create a place where you want to spend time and feel pleasant, rather than a place where you feel uncomfortable. The design, layout, and location of the places you live or work can influence your health, wealth, career, relationships, and fame. George Birdsall says that you "can encourage positive coincidences." (I love that phrasing!) Simon Brown says, "Everything in your overall and immediate surroundings--even the smallest detail of furnishing or décor--can help you or hinder you."<br />
<br />
If you've ever bought a house, you probably walked into some that immediately didn't feel right. Practitioners say that you're intuitively sensing bad feng shui.<br />
<br />
To understand feng shui we need to talk about chi. Chi is the underlying cosmic energy, spirit, or essence of a person, place, or thing. In the case of a place, chi is its "atmosphere," which can affect your well-being. There is no real English equivalent for chi, atmosphere or spirit perhaps, but it's easiest to think in terms of energy. Chi is called ki or oi in Japan, and prana in India. Chi underlies much of eastern astrology, traditional healing systems like acupuncture, and martial arts like tai chi or aikido.<br />
<br />
Think of chi as a flow. It is carried by wind and sun, by light and sound. It moves like these things, but can flow through solid objects as well. Chi is like water, ebbing and flowing with the tides, or like wind. Hence the name "feng shui," from the words for water and wind.<br />
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The basic principles of feng shui are to position yourself to take advantage of the natural flow of chi. How do you do that? It's related to yin and yang--isn't everything? I won't go into yin and yang here, which are pretty well understood. Just think of balance and harmony. Yin is earth, yang is heaven; yin is mountain, yang is river; yin is female, yang is male; yin is interior, yang is exterior; yin is round, yang is straight; yin is green and blue, yang is red and orange; yin is pastel colors, yang is strong colors. Yin is moon and yang is sun, yin is dark and yang is light, yin is passive and yang is active. There is yin in yang and yang in yin--harmony in balance, balance in harmony.<br />
<br />
Back to chi. If a room has too much chi flowing into it, it may be a source of excessive activity and frustration, and you may want to dampen the flow. Chi is good up to a point, but you don't want too much--a house should be a relaxing place. On the other hand, you may want lots of chi flowing through your office.<br />
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Negative or unhealthy chi arises from many synthetic materials (of course), artificial lighting, and electronic equipment like air conditioning and TVs. Dark corners and cluttered rooms can create stagnant chi, which slows your energy and causes a loss of direction in life. Adding a bright light, fountain, or aquarium can help churn stagnant chi.<br />
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The exterior shape of a building, its openings, and the materials used in its construction all regulate the flow of chi. Chi flows most easily through openings like doors, next most easily through windows. You need to pay attention to the sun and to surroundings like water and roads, and set the environment to allow chi to flow harmoniously through the building.<br />
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Simon Brown says, "If chi energy passes a sharp corner, it begins to spin and swirl, forming eddies and whirlpools like a fast-flowing stream passing a sharp bend." This can lead to disorientation and confusion.<br />
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Avoid L-shaped houses, which are unbalanced. There are cures if you're stuck, like planting bushes to make the L into a rectangle. U-shaped houses (like many apartment complexes with an interior courtyard) are unlucky for marriages.<br />
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For interiors, the basic tool of feng shui is an octagon. There are eight directions, eight seasons, eight body parts, eight times of day, eight colors, eight numbers, all arranged around this octagon. These are cyclic--if you go in a circle around the compass directions, you wind up back where you started. The year and the days form a cycle, as do the colors (think of a color wheel from art class). Alas, there are only five elements (wood, metal, water, fire, and earth) and five animals, but let's stick to the basic eights.<br />
<br />
So draw an octagon. At the top is south, at the far right is west, at the bottom is north, and at the left is east. In each segment, going clockwise, you have the following:<br />
<br />
SOUTH<br />
Number: 9<br />
Season: Midsummer<br />
Color: Red<br />
Time: Midday<br />
Life Aspect: Fame<br />
Element: Fire<br />
Animal: Birds<br />
Body: Eye<br />
<br />
SOUTHWEST<br />
Number: 2<br />
Season: Early autumn<br />
Color: Yellow<br />
Time: Afternoon<br />
Life Aspects: Marriage, motherhood, partnerships<br />
Element: Earth<br />
Body: Organs<br />
<br />
WEST<br />
Number: 7<br />
Season: Autumn<br />
Color: White<br />
Time: Evening<br />
Life Aspects: Children, purity<br />
Element: Metal<br />
Animal: Tiger<br />
Body: Mouth<br />
<br />
NORTHWEST<br />
Number: 6<br />
Season: Early winter<br />
Color: Grey<br />
Time: Night<br />
Life Aspect: Fatherhood, travel, helpful people<br />
Element: Heaven/sky<br />
Body: Head<br />
<br />
NORTH<br />
Number: 1<br />
Season: Midwinter<br />
Color: Blue/black<br />
Time: Midnight<br />
Life Aspects: Death, career<br />
Element: Water<br />
Animal: Tortoise<br />
Body: Ear<br />
<br />
NORTHEAST<br />
Number: 8<br />
Season: Late winter<br />
Color: Turquoise<br />
Time: Early morning<br />
Life Aspects: Knowledge, intelligence, self-learning<br />
Element: Mountain<br />
Body: Hand<br />
<br />
EAST<br />
Number: 3<br />
Season: Spring<br />
Color: Green<br />
Time: Mid morning<br />
Life Aspects: Family, health<br />
Element: Wood<br />
Animal: Dragon<br />
Body: Feet<br />
<br />
SOUTHEAST<br />
Number: 4<br />
Season: Early summer<br />
Color: Purple<br />
Time: Late morning<br />
Life Aspects: Wealth, fortune<br />
Element: Wind<br />
Body: Hip<br />
<br />
This octagon is called ba-gua and is a tool for diagnosis. You start with a floor plan of the house, room, building, yard, or whatever. Overlaying the octagon on the plan helps you interpret the energies and qualities of the space.<br />
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There are several schools of feng shui, such as compass, form, and "black hat sect"; each has a different approach to placing the ba-gua on the room. For instance, the compass school says to orient the octagon properly to the compass points (with north on the octagon aligning with magnetic north on the compass.)<br />
<br />
Black hat sect is the more westernized form of feng shui, and more easily adapts to western construction and culture. Black hat says that the compass alignment is only symbolic, and you align the octagon to the doors of the room. If the door is in the center of the wall, put north on the door; if the door is to the right, put NW; and if the door is to the left, put NE on the door.<br />
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Whatever approach you use for overlaying the ba-gua, you may have to stretch your octagon to fit the room, but the center of the octagon should be in the center of the room.<br />
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You then examine the furnishings and décor of the room to see where things are OK and where things are out of balance For example, a corner jutting into the west or southwest segments of an L-shaped room may create marriage problems. You can remedy this by hanging mirrors or wind-chimes to reflect the chi, or by partitioning the room with furniture.<br />
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Feng shui practitioners say that studying the ba-gua and learning where things are out of balance helps get one's life and life aspects more in balance. The house is considered almost like a second body, and life aspects get reflected in the energy in the house.<br />
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You can deliberately push emphasis (chi) from one segment of the octagon to another. You can enhance or calm chi with colors, fabric/materials, shapes, plants, water, and light. You can use mirrors to reflect chi from one area to another.<br />
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Cures for bad chi include, inter alia, bright lights or reflectors like mirrors or crystals; sounds like bells and wind-chimes; living objects like plants or fish; moving objects like fountains or mobiles; and heavy objects like stones and statues.<br />
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For instance, in the south, wood or wicker furniture enhances chi, while ceramic and clay calm it. To add more fortune, fame, or festivity in a room, add red candles (fire) on the southern wall or south corner. Don't put an aquarium in the southern corner, since water puts the fire out. In the south, tall thin verticals (such as tall plants) enhance chi, but avoid plants with spiky leaves, which cut chi. Wide rectangles, stripes or checks calm chi in the south. Red enhances chi in the south, while purple strengthens it and yellow calms it.<br />
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You can make connections to get more chi. For instance, if there is a detached shed, creating a pathway from shed to house will encourage the flow of chi. Or stick a hollow tube in the ground with a light atop it to pull more chi from the earth.<br />
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The following bits of feng shui amused me. This article is long enough already, so I'm not going to indicate which examples come from which school. It's probably not good scholarship, but it makes for more interesting reading. If you care, then go and study.<br />
<br />
The toilet flushes away water and chi. Thus, position the toilet away from the bathroom door, and be sure it's not reflected in a mirror. Keep the toilet closed as much as possible, and certainly when flushing. Water is identified with money, so if the toilet is not properly positioned, money will flow out of the house rather than into the house. As an aside, the term "feng shui" ("wind-water") is also used as slang to mean gambling, because money (equated to water) blows away on the wind.<br />
An entry door that opens to a wall blocks the flow of chi. Facing the wall, you feel defeated and you lower your expectations. You have to move around the wall as you enter, and that affects your posture. The whole setup creates struggle rather than harmony. (I used to live in a house with such an entry, and it was certainly a struggle when guests came to get their coats into the closet.)<br />
The elements have two cycles, a constructive one and a destructive one. The constructive cycle: fire burns wood to produce ash (earth), earth creates ores (metal), water condenses on the surface of metals, water nourishes growing wood, and wood fuels the fire. The negative cycle: fire melts metal, metal chops wood, wood decays to earth, earth muddies water, and water quenches fire. (I thought this idea of two rock-paper-scissors types of sequences from the same elements was one of those very cool zen things.)<br />
Adding water such as a pond , bird bath, or aquarium, brings fresh chi into the area. The aquarium should be east or southeast, and you should use pebbles and shells rather than plastic decoration. Quick, aggressive fish that zip around the tank promote a more dynamic yang flow of chi, where slow, peaceful fish with muted colors produce a yin, a gentle, relaxing atmosphere. Furthermore, fish absorb accidents and bad luck. A bubbling aerator is very effective sound for relaxing chi. (You may have noticed that almost every Chinese restaurant has an aquarium.)<br />
Avoid clutter. That doesn't necessarily mean being neat so much as avoiding an accumulation of bric-a-brac, objets d'art, and plain old junk. I tell my wife this all the time; perhaps now she'll believe me.<br />
Electronic equipment has a negative effect on chi. Thus, position the television set away from the seating area. (In other words, don't sit too close. Western mothers have always had an intuitive sense of feng shui.)<br />
Tables are interesting. A rectangular mahogany table creates lots of yang, and is best for formal dinner parties. An oval table from a soft wood like pine creates more yin, and is best for relaxing family dinners. A round glass-topped table is best for romance, while a square marble-topped table is best for business lunches.<br />
DOES IT WORK?<br />
<br />
That's the bottom line question, of course. Believers obviously think it works or they wouldn't bother with it; in Asia, feng shui consultants are big business. Skeptics on the other hand say it's a bunch of superstition, that "luck" is independent of furniture placement and other irrelevancies.<br />
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Many modern practitioners (especially the black hat sect) suggest a middle ground: it's possible to "encourage positive coincidences."<br />
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Up to a point, feng shui is just common sense. Take an office. Even a cynical westerner knows that a cramped, cluttered, barren, and uncomfortable workplace can cause a feeling of discomfort or a negative attitude. That negative attitude can affect performance, and the combination of negative attitude and poor performance can affect "luck" such as raises and promotions.<br />
<br />
Compare that to the worker who rearranges his/her workspace, adds a potted plant, and puts a large cheerful picture on the wall across from the desk. That person has a positive attitude, better performance, and lots of luck with raises and promotions. Both the psychologist and the feng shui consultant nod their heads at this point and say, "Well, naturally."<br />
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Although feng shui is shrouded in mysticism, the practice generally reflects sound principles of interior design. Does that mean you need to accept the whole business about octagons and energy flows and so on? Of course not. But to the extent that feng shui offers a lens for examining the way in which you organize your environment, it can be a useful tool.<br />
<br />
RESOURCES:<br />
<br />
There are lots and lots of books on this topic. These were the most useful and entertaining ones in my local public library:<br />
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Brown, Simon, Essential Feng Shui, Carrol & Brown Ltd, London (1997)<br />
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Birdsall, George, Feng Shui Companion, Destiny Books, Rochester VT (1995)<br />
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Chuen, Master Lam Kam, Feng Shui Handbook, Henry Holt & Co. Inc, NY, 1996<br />
<br />
Kennedy, David Daniel, Feng Shui for Dummies<br />
<br />
--, Feng Shui Tips for a Better Life<br />
<br />
Rossbach, Sarah, Feng Shui - The Chinese Art of Placement, Ed Dutton, NY (1983)<br />
<br />
--, Interior Design with Feng Shui, Penguin Books Ltd, UK (1987)<br />
<br />
— Dex<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-1716206817924274192014-12-22T00:43:00.002-08:002014-12-22T00:43:18.700-08:00Pork in a dutch oven - Carnitas<b>Homesick Texan Carnitas</b><br />
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Adapted, just barely, from The Homesick Texan Cookbook<br />
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3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or pork butt, cut into 2-inch cubes<br />
1/2 cup orange juice<br />
1/4 cup lime juice (from about 2 to 3 limes)<br />
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed<br />
1 teaspoon ground cumin<br />
1 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more to taste<br />
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Corn tortillas, for serving plus<br />
Avocado slices, chopped cilantro and fixings of your choice (we love pickled jalapenos or onions, lime wedges and a bit of slaw)<br />
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Place the pork in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot. Add the orange juice, lime juice, garlic, cumin, salt and enough water to just barely cover the meat. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for two hours. Don’t touch the meat.<br />
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After two hours, increase the heat to medium-high and while occasionally stirring and turning the pieces, continue to cook for about 45 minutes, or until all of the liquid has evaporated, leaving only the rendered pork fat. Let it sizzle in this fat long enough to brown at the edges, turning pieces gently (they’ll be eager to fall apart), only as needed.<br />
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When pork has browned on both sides, it’s ready. Adjust seasonings to taste and serve on warmed tortillas with fixings.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-22482060172189475272014-08-14T11:14:00.003-07:002015-04-21T22:43:15.381-07:00Moped CamperI've been thinking about building my own "camper" for my own use in Singapore.<br />
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I would probably use a <a href="http://electricbikes.sg/en/33-3-wheeled-mini-e-cart">Motorised Tricycle</a> as the base - something like this:<br />
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Hmm... okay... maybe not so funky.<br />
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<a href="http://memory.singaporeshots.com/albums/userpics/10001/normal_chinatown-trishaw-singapore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://memory.singaporeshots.com/albums/userpics/10001/normal_chinatown-trishaw-singapore.jpg" height="400" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 13px;" width="266" /></a></div>
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Alternatively, and in line with our cultural heritage, I could used a modified Trishaw. Maybe motorised the front wheel with a hub motor or a friction motor.<br />
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<br />
<br />
What do campers have usually?<br />
<br />
a) Bed or tent - shelter from elements<br />
<br />
b) Kitchen - stove/sink - food preparation<br />
<br />
c) Toilet/Washroom - ablution/hygiene<br />
<br />
d) Storage - clothes, supplies (water), food/icebox/fridge<br />
<br />
<br />
What will the camper be needed for in highly urbanised SG?<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Shelter? Hold a Bed/Tent?</u><br />
Shelter, possible. Sudden storms occur quite frequently. But a tent takes too long and is too immobile/inflexible. An Umbrella, a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003DJ4FEM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2J172663IAIKL&coliid=I26VQ37MNBBOCZ&psc=1">XL umbrella</a> would be better. Like this:<br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/613cpCxmA6L._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/A1fijIcGShL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline ! important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="fullScreen" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/A1fijIcGShL._SL1500_.jpg" height="369" style="margin-top: 18px;" width="640" /></a><br />
Something big enough to shelter from sudden storms, and tropical storms can be quite strong. And quick and easy to put up.<br />
<br />
Alternatively, if I use a modified trishaw, it would already have a canopy. Not very water-tight (from my eye-ball assessment), but there are usually extensions. <br />
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Two points to keep in mind about SG - the climate (heat and humidity) and the generally urban landscape. A tent would be too warm in Singapore. It would trap heat and humidity. A large umbrella like the one above may be more suitable.<br />
<br />
Also, there may not be many opportunities or locations to camp outdoors in an urban environment. There may be restrictions to camping or setting up a tent. <br />
<br />
BUT... "setting up" a BIG umbrella... hard to argue with that, eh?<br />
<br />
The warm, humid, tropical climate also means little need for sleeping bags. And in Singapore, mosquitoes/flying-biting insects are not usually a problem (in urban areas, which is most of Singapore).<br />
<br />
A simple lounge chair or cot may be more than sufficient to watch the scenery (no need tent or mosquito nets). Or whatever.<br />
<br />
The largely urban landscape means that supplies are easily available. You do not have the "wilderness" and isolation from civilisation experience of true camping to require you to be fully self-reliant or to bring all your mod-cons with you. <br />
<br />
So here are some of my thoughts about putting together a camping tricycle or trishaw and what needs to be in it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Kitchen? For Food Preparation?</u><br />
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imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515jynfBxGL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Outdoor Heavy Duty Standard Campers Kitchen, Great for Camping and Hiking or Trips At the Camp Site Giving You the Ability to Create and Cook Meals At Your Own Comfort - Comes with a Carry Bag for Portable Use When Your on the Go, Features a 16-gallon PVC Sink with Drain, Made with a 19m Steel Frame for Guaranteed Durability Camping Equipment, Be Prepared for the Summer and Give Your Family a Reliable Source on Your Next Vacation! On Sale Limited Offer" border="0" class="a-dynamic-image a-stretch-vertical" data-a-dynamic-image="{"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515jynfBxGL.jpg":[380,380],"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515jynfBxGL._SY355_.jpg":[355,355]}" data-old-hires="" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515jynfBxGL.jpg" height="200" id="landingImage" style="max-height: 351px; max-width: 351px;" width="200" /></a>Food is readily available, with 24 hrs outlets in most parts of Singapore. Same with drinks. If needed, more as protest against commercial food/ drinks, or desire to prep own food, or to control own diet.<br />
<br />
Or just to show off (Right =>).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Too much?<br />
<br />
Might have trouble fitting all those in the tricycle.<br />
<br />
This <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00339912S/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2J172663IAIKL&coliid=I3QGHKB6I6C1H6">one</a> (below) packs down to about 4 inches (10 cm) high (about 90 cm by 30 cm, but unpacks to what you see).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/613cpCxmA6L._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="fullScreen" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/613cpCxmA6L._SL1500_.jpg" height="200" style="margin-top: 10px;" width="200" /></a><br />
<br />
It is just a frame or a stand and you will need to add a something to cook with - like a simple gas burner (below).<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Vm1lbbgxL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" class="fullScreen" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Vm1lbbgxL.jpg" height="200" style="margin-top: 10px;" width="200" /></a>But this is all very complicated, unless the point is to establish your "camp ground". Otherwise, I see the simplest option is to have a fold-down food-prep counter. With a burner as the main feature.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Toilet/washrooms</b><br />
<br />
A "personal" and "portable" toilet could add some convenience... but waste management/disposal would be a problem. Might be easier to find a public washroom. Generally, one would be within reach with 30 minutes anywhere in Singapore. <br />
<br />
But if you are camping, perhaps you may want a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FIC6R2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2J172663IAIKL&coliid=INH9U97IBV3CG">simple portable washbasin</a> with all your toiletries for washing up. This one holds water, toothpaste and toothbrush, shavers and a mirror and light.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ErVrjYCdL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="fullScreen" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ErVrjYCdL.jpg" height="295" style="margin-top: 6px;" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
But you can have a portable/disposal toilet for emergencies, with a
privacy cabana tent, and for showers, a PET bottle with spray holes
poked in the cap.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Portable Pop up Tent Camping Beach Toilet Shower Changing Room Outdoor Bag Green" class="a-dynamic-image a-stretch-horizontal" data-a-dynamic-image="{"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n3UExGfLL._SX355_.jpg":[355,266],"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n3UExGfLL._SX425_.jpg":[425,319],"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n3UExGfLL.jpg":[500,375],"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n3UExGfLL._SX450_.jpg":[450,338],"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n3UExGfLL._SX466_.jpg":[466,350]}" data-old-hires="" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n3UExGfLL.jpg" height="239" id="landingImage" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-height: 351px; max-width: 351px;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Privacy tent for shower/toilet/changing room.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Handy Toilet for Man and Woman" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/images3.jlist.com/1402/NET294_1.jpg" height="200" id="fancybox-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="117" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Handy Toilet - for emergency use.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Here's a tip for toilet waste managment: "use a zip lock bag for outer bag, a 4 gallon trash bag for inner. Put a
baby disposable diaper in bottom for absorbance (remove the outer
plaster side), a little baking soda and voila! You can make them up
ahead. When done using, place inner bag inside ziplock and dispose
properly. Can also use kitty litter to absorb liquid waste/ control smell."<br />
<br />
There are also powders that will turn liquids (like pee) into gel or semi-solids for odour control, and toilet bags (like garbage bags but they fit portable camping toilets like this one:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71r9C%2BdiahL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="fullScreen" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71r9C%2BdiahL._SL1500_.jpg" height="150" style="margin-top: 10px;" width="200" /></a><br />
Alternatively, just get a bucket/pail, put plastic bag to line it. Double bag in case of leaks, throw in some kitty litter to absorb liquid waste, and some baking soda to absorb odour, and you have a cheap but serviceable portaloo.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Storage</b><br />
More importantly, you may want a storage for drinks (in hot and humid Singapore, a cool drink is one of the two most important things to have (the other is air-conditioning).<br />
<br />
A cooler or ice-box could be essential.<br />
<br />
Better yet, a cooler that has refrigeration! However, most of these work with 12v car chargers. Depending on how long you want to camp, an unpowered cooler could easily work. You may just need to top up the ice from a 7-11.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Tech and Connectivity</b><br />
<br />
In todays' world, "wilderness" may well be defined as anywhere without internet connection. So a Mifi or a smartphone with 4G connection may be good, but you will also need power packs to charge your devices.<br />
<br />
Alternatively, a Biolite stove can provide energy to charge your devices even as you use the stove to cook or boil water. This is not as good a solution as you might think, but it could help.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.eastoceansg.com/365thumb.php?src=/images/903.jpg&w=460&h=586&f=jpg&q=95&hash=9b6d764156211954cf69cbe8f0fbd212" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="SOLARDAYS FS-S903 DC Solar Home System" border="0" src="http://www.eastoceansg.com/365thumb.php?src=/images/903.jpg&w=460&h=586&f=jpg&q=95&hash=9b6d764156211954cf69cbe8f0fbd212" height="320" title="SOLARDAYS FS-S903 DC Solar Home System" width="320" /></a><b>Solar Power</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.eastoceansg.com/365thumb.php?src=/images/903.jpg&w=460&h=586&f=jpg&q=95&hash=9b6d764156211954cf69cbe8f0fbd212" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://www.eastoceansg.com/365thumb.php?src=/images/903.jpg&w=460&h=586&f=jpg&q=95&hash=9b6d764156211954cf69cbe8f0fbd212" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://www.eastoceansg.com/365thumb.php?src=/images/903.jpg&w=460&h=586&f=jpg&q=95&hash=9b6d764156211954cf69cbe8f0fbd212" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://www.eastoceansg.com/365thumb.php?src=/images/903.jpg&w=460&h=586&f=jpg&q=95&hash=9b6d764156211954cf69cbe8f0fbd212" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a>Found <a href="http://www.eastoceansg.com/solardays-fs-s903-dc-solar-home-system-p-1651.html">this</a>. It's a home solar power kit. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The solar panel is 61 X 35 cm and will charge a 12v 12 AH battery to provide 5V and 12V power for various devices and equipment.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I'm thinking it could be used to run a <a href="http://list.qoo10.sg/item/MINI-SIZE-4L-PORTABLE-COSMETIC/419106328">cooler-fridge</a>. This would provide some cool drinks although most of these coolers only lowers temperature to about 20 C below ambient or environment temperature. Still, a 10 C cool drink would be quite nice.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Product Specification (for the solar power kit):</b><br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Model No.</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Solar Panel</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Battery</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Controller</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Led lamp in set</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Output Voltage</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">FS-S904</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">18V25W</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">12V12AH</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">12V3A</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">3W*4pcs</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">5V+12V</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<b>Working Data</b><br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" rowspan="2" valign="middle">Model No.</td>
<td align="center" rowspan="2" valign="middle">Fully charging time by solar(h)</td>
<td align="center" colspan="4" valign="middle">Using time after fully charged</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">LED Lamp In Set</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">5W Mini Fan</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">6W Mini TV</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">15W Standing Fan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">FS-S904</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">6-8h</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">9-10h</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">22-23h</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">18-19h</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">7-7.5h</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-63319575472708449012014-06-16T08:57:00.002-07:002014-08-17T11:28:36.929-07:00Facebook 201220 Dec<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="uiGrid _51mz _5f0n"><tbody>
<tr class="_51mx"><td class="_51m- vTop _5ep6"><div class="clearfix">
<div class="_42ef">
<a href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="fwb"> Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person</span></a><br />
<div class="fsm fwn fcg">
cracked.com</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_539f13b9971f33284802975">
Probably NSFW. Prafanity mixed with profound truths.<br />
<br />
The cleaned up version:<br />
<br />
#6 The world only cares about what it can get from you... or nobody
owes you a living, so what have you got to offer to the world in order
to get a living?<br />
<br />
#5 Love and kindness doesn't pay the bills.
After you have paid the bills, then maybe, just maybe, you get to enjoy
love and kindness.<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /> <br /> #4 You don't
have to do it for money, but it helps. Or... if you don't wanna do it
for money, people must benefit or in some way want what you are doing or
producing.<br /> <br /> #3 As Rachel Dawes said to Bruce Wayne (Batman),
"it's not who you are on the inside that matters, its what you do"... so
here's the test - name 5 impressive things that you have achieved. Not 5
things that you are (e.g. I'm Batman - doesn't count; but I've saved
Gotham City from the Joker would).<br /> <br /> #2 Who you are inside only
matters if it drives you to do great things - "I'm Batman, and because I
am Batman, I will save Gotham City."<br /> <br /> #1 Everything inside you
will fight any attempt to change your life for the better. You have to
read the profanity-laced article to see examples of self-defeating
excuses you will come up with to NOT change yourself.</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_539f13b9971f33284802975">
</div>
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_539f13b9971f33284802975">
<span class="text_exposed_show">27 Oct </span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_539f13b9971f33284802975">
<div class="fsm">
Tolerance for the sake of tolerance achieves nothing. <br />
Tolerance is to restrain your initial visceral reaction long enough to understand.<br />
If after you have truly understood the issue you still find the
situation intolerable, then you should respond from reason, from logic,
and for the sake of the common good.</div>
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<br />
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19 Sep</div>
<div class="uiToggle wrap">
If you want to go fast, go alone.<br />
If you want to go far, go together.<br />
If you need to go, just go.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[5 Aug 2014 update:<br />
If you wanna go far, go together<br />
If you wanna go fast, go alone.<br />
If you wanna go cheap, go by budget air.<br />
If you just wanna go. Bring toilet paper. Just in case. ]</blockquote>
</div>
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<div class="uiToggle wrap">
16 Aug</div>
<div class="uiToggle wrap">
<div class="fsm">
“It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that
ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you
accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can
become a catalyst for profound re-invention.” - Conan O'Brien</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
14 Aug</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
“If you talk only work and mundane office topics of
course you won’t know much (about each other). Need to talk about hopes
and dreams and wishes and schemes and art and life and beauty and
experience and funny things and crazy ideas and beliefs and loves and
fears and dark thoughts and fantasies and visions and demons and quiet
moments and sadness and scenes and shared times and so on. And if you
look back with a sense of peace with the person you shared it all with
then that is the person you should grow old with.”</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
13 Aug</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
TFR is falling and needs to be reversed. TFR reversed is RFT: Recruit Foreign Talent.</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
20 Jul</div>
<div class="fsm">
If you know the rules and know the reason for the rules and you break the rules, you're a revolutionary.<br />
If you know the rules but don't know or understand the reasons for the rules and you break them, you're just a rebel.<br />
If you don't even know the rules you're breaking, you're just a punk.</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
14 Jul</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
"With great power comes great utility bills."</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
13 Jul</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
"Defensiveness is the opposite of confidence, just as arrogance is the alter ego of insecurity" - Asad Latiff</div>
</div>
1 Jul</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
Everything happens for a reason. Just not necessarily
the reason you are think is the most plausible or in line with your
belief system.</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
21 Jun</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
"Only those who respect themselves have the courage to be humble."</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
17 Jun</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
"Believe in yourself, but do not be attached to your own point of view." - Jing Si Aphorism.</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
5 Jun</div>
<div class="fsm">
"The effort to deceive oneself is what Buddhism refers to as evil." <br />
- Soun Houshi</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
15 May</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
Because it is never about what you don't have that makes you unhappy, but what you don't do to be happy.</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
11 May</div>
<div class="fsm">
We don't become gracious by demanding other people be gracious to us. We don't mature by demanding others act maturely.<br />
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<br />
<div class="fsm">
Ayam Penyet was invented over a hundred years ago in Indonesia when the automobile first arrived in Indonesia. - Wikifraudia</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
12 Feb</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
You have to lose something to get something.</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
15 Jan</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
Sometimes the wisdom to know when to do nothing, is
only recognised when juxtaposed against the wisdom to act with
impeccable timing. Without this juxtapositioning, I just look like a
lazy bum, who don't know what to do.</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
<div class="fsm">
New Year:</div>
<div class="fsm">
<div class="fsm">
May the New Year bring you what you need. May what you
need be what you want. And may what you want not be illegal, immoral, or
fattening. Unless you really need it!</div>
<div class="fsm">
</div>
</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-90322264361689089112013-10-03T10:29:00.001-07:002013-10-03T10:29:19.646-07:00What's the story on the "toxic lady"?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-SG"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">March 22, 1996</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Dear Cecil:</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Enclosed
are two of the many articles on the death of Gloria Ramirez, who became
known as "the toxic lady" because she downed several medical attendants
with her fumes. Pesticides, nerve gas, cervical cancer, kidney failure,
cardiac arrest, crystals in blood, and other obscure causes were cited
in these and many TV reports. Did they ever find out what killed Ms.
Ramirez and made the workers sick?</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">— J. Pilla, Tucson, Arizona</span></i></div>
<br />Cecil replies:<br /><br />What killed the 31-year-old Ramirez was no big mystery. She died of kidney failure due to advanced cancer of the cervix. What stumped people was what caused all those emergency room staffers to keel over. Nearly two dozen vomited or passed out, six wound up being hospitalized, and at least one suffered complications that persisted for months. Nobody's sure exactly what happened, but investigators have come up with a promising theory, as we shall see.<br /><br />It all began when the terminally ill Ramirez began having heartbeat and breathing problems at her home in Riverside, California, on the evening of February 19, 1994. Paramedics rushed her to Riverside General Hospital, administering oxygen en route. Shortly after arriving at the ER she passed out.<br /><br />Dr. Julie Gorchynski tried to fix Ramirez's fluttering heartbeat by shocking her with defibrillation paddles. A short time later a nurse took a blood sample with a syringe. Dr. Gorchynski smelled ammonia and felt dizzy. The nurse keeled over. Dr. Gorchynski took the syringe and sniffed it. She smelled ammonia again and noticed the blood had funny straw-colored crystals in it. Seconds later she blacked out and went into convulsions.<br /><br />Soon medical staff all over the place were retching and fainting. The ER was ordered evacuated. Further attempts to revive Ramirez failed, and she was pronounced dead. The body having been sealed in an airtight casket, the experts arrived to clean up and figure out what had gone wrong.<br /><br />They didn't get very far. An autopsy conducted by doctors wearing space suits revealed that Ramirez was suffering from a urinary blockage, among other things. But no known toxic chemicals were found. An inspection of the ER's plumbing and ventilation systems and whatnot also turned up nothing.<br /><br />Baffled officials came up with one inane explanation after another. The coroner's office said the ER staff were sickened by the "smell of death." The California department of health services blamed the whole thing on mass hysteria. This POd the victims no end, particularly Dr. Gorchynski, who was in the worst shape. She was in the hospital for two weeks, stopped breathing repeatedly, came down with hepatitis and pancreatitis, and later developed bone rot in her knees. <br /><br /><a href="http://discovermagazine.com/1995/apr/analysisofatoxic493">http://discovermagazine.com/1995/apr/analysisofatoxic493</a><br /><br />Finally some folks with IQs in the triple digits got into the act. Scientists at the Forensic Science Center at Livermore National Laboratory found a chemical called dimethyl sulfone (DMSO2) in Ramirez's blood. Dimethyl sulfone is a reaction product of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a solvent sometimes used by cancer patients as a home pain remedy.<br /><br />Neither DMSO nor DMSO2 is especially dangerous. But while reading up on the subject a Livermore scientist came across a related chemical, dimethyl sulfate (DMSO4). DMSO4 is a powerful poison gas, and it can cause nearly every symptom suffered by the Riverside ER staff.<br /><br />The Livermore scientists hatched the following hypothesis: (1) Ramirez doses herself with DMSO. Due to urinary blockage, the stuff builds up in her bloodstream. (2) Oxygen administered by the paramedics converts the DMSO in her blood to a high concentration of DMSO2. (3) When the DMSO2-laden blood is drawn out in the syringe and cools to room temperature, crystals form (this was confirmed by experiment). (4) DMSO2 is converted to DMSO4 by some unknown mechanism (the defibrillation shock?) and clobbers the medical staff. (5) The volatile DMSO4 evaporates without a trace.<br /><br />Step four is obviously the weak link. The Livermore scientists have proposed some possible chemical scenarios. While skeptics have raised objections, Livermore's Pat Grant tells me, "There weren't any showstoppers." Those people got zapped by something, and right now this is the best explanation we've got.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: #552bb7; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Another theory</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-SG"><a href="http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Toxic_Woman" target="_blank">http://creepypasta.wikia.com/<wbr></wbr>wiki/Toxic_Woman</a></span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #552bb7; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<br />The Los Angeles weekly New Times has come up with a possible alternative explanation for the toxic lady episode: the hospital where the incident occurred may been the site of a secret lab used to illegally manufacture the drug methamphetamine. In stories appearing in the May 15-21 and September 11-17, 1997 issues, staff writer Susan Goldsmith reports that "meth chemicals" may have been smuggled out of the hospital in IV bags, one of which was inadvertently hooked up to the dying Ramirez. This triggered the round of nausea, headache, and other symptoms that put six ER workers in the hospital.<br /><br />"Those smells and symptoms are classic to meth-fume exposure," a forensic chemist who analyzes drug-lab materials is quoted as saying. Meth manufacturing is said to be big business in Riverside county, where the hospital was located--authorities have shut down more than 1,000 meth labs since 1988, and many more may remain undetected.<br /><br />Still, you gotta think: a secret meth lab in a major hospital? A meth lab, moreover, that's run by people so stupid they somehow allow an IV bag full of meth chemicals to wind up in the emergency room? Hard to believe. On the other hand, Goldsmith points out, the authorities never took the precaution of testing the IV bags to see what was in them. Cover-up or just incompetence? Right now it's anybody's guess.<br /><br />— Cecil AdamsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-38973746911087875472013-03-02T05:57:00.001-08:002013-03-02T05:57:48.799-08:00Lessons From A Yogi<div>
<br />
Yogi Berra was a better baseball player than he was a speaker,but he's probably quoted more than Churchill. Much of what he said seems silly, until you think about it for a moment...then you discover a more profound meaning.<br />
<br />
Here are a few of my favorite Yogi-isms. Each is like a Rorschach test and self-help course rolled up into one. ~Dean Rieck~<br />
<br />
"You can't think and hit at the same time."<br />
<br />
<b>Crowds </b><br />
"Nobody goes there; it's too crowded."<br />
"It was hard to have a conversation with anyone, there were too many people talking."<br />
<br />
"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."<br />
"We were overwhelming underdogs."<br />
<br />
<b>Obviously </b><br />
"It's dej`a vu all over again!"<br />
"We made too many wrong mistakes."<br />
"If people don't come to the ballpark, how are you gonna stop them?" <br />
"The other team could make trouble for us if they win."<br />
"It's never happened in World Series history, and it hasn't happened since."<br />
"Slump? I ain't in no slump...I just ain't hitting."<br />
<br />
"The only reason I need these gloves is 'cause of my hands."<br />
"If I didn't wake up I'd still be sleeping."<br />
"If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."<br />
"Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken."<br />
"You can observe a lot by watching."<br />
"It ain't over till it's over."<br />
<br />
<b>Questions and Answers </b><br />
"If you ask me a question I don't know, I'm not going to answer."<br />
"I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question."<br />
"Don't get me right, I'm just asking!"<br />
"Never answer an anonymous letter."<br />
<br />
<b>Travelling </b><br />
"Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel."<br />
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."<br />
<br />
"We're lost, but we're making good time."<br />
"It's not too far, it just seems like it is."<br />
"You've got to be careful if you don't know where you're going 'cause you might not get there."<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Say Again? </b><br />
"I usually take a two hour nap from 1 to 4."<br />
"If the world were perfect it wouldn't be."<br />
"It gets late early out here."<br />
"90% of the game is half mental."<br />
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours."<br />
"Steve McQueen looks good in this movie. He must have made it before he died."<br />
"I'm as red as a sheet."<br />
"Pair up in threes."<br />
"We have a good time together, even when we're not together."<br />
"Little League baseball is a good thing 'cause it keeps the parents off the streets and it keeps the kids out of the house!"<br />
"The future ain't what it use to be."<br />
"I really didn't say everything I said."<br />
<br />
Yogi Berra</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-38459199930917492172011-09-26T05:56:00.000-07:002011-09-26T05:56:11.458-07:00Zen and the Art of Simplicity at Work<div class="articleHeadlineBox headlineType-newswire"> <small>September 25, 2011, 10:11 AM GMT</small><br />
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</div>The Zen aesthetic ideal of shibumi is reserved for objects and experiences that exhibit all at once the very best of everything and nothing: elegant simplicity; effortless effectiveness; beautiful imperfection.<br />
Tracing the Zen Aesthetic, what sets shibumi apart as a powerful design ideal is the unique combination of surprising impact and uncommon simplicity.<br />
It entails achieving maximum effect through minimum means, which, it turns out, is a universal pursuit that takes many forms: artists and designers use white or ‘negative’ space to convey visual power; scientists and mathematicians and engineers search for theories that explain highly complex phenomena in stunningly simple ways.<br />
What these various forms all have in common, and what shibumi has at its core, is the element of subtraction.<br />
Not only is the thought of subtracting something in order to create value a very different way of thinking (neuroscientists have shown using functional MRI scans that addition and subtraction demand different brain circuitry), it figures centrally in Zen.<br />
The question that remains is, how does this elusive quality come into being? In pursuit of the answer, let’s take a look at the specific Zen design principles that frame and support the pursuit of shibumi, and then, at their practical applications to the design of business and work.<br />
<strong>1. Koko (austerity).</strong><br />
The first principle is that of koko, which emphasizes restraint, exclusion and omission, embracing the idea that ‘not adding’ is a valid subtractive approach.<br />
There is a wonderful photo widely available on the Internet of the young Steve Jobs (a Buddhist practitioner) circa 1982, sitting in the middle of the living room of his Los Altos house.<br />
There isn’t much in the room, save an audio system and a Tiffany lamp. Jobs is sipping tea, sitting yoga-style on a mat, with but a few books around him.<br />
The picture speaks volumes about the motive behind every Apple product designed under his command, and even helps to explain his aversion to buttons.<br />
Beyond the obvious fact that iPods, iPads and iPhones are virtually buttonless, rarely, if ever can he be seen wearing a buttoned shirt.<br />
Jobs even removes buttons from elevators in multilevel Apple retail stores.<br />
<em>Zen design lesson #1: Refrain from adding what is not absolutely necessary in the first place.</em><br />
<strong>2. Kanso (simplicity).</strong><br />
Kanso dictates that beauty and utility need not be overstated, overly decorative or fanciful and imparts a sense of being fresh, clean and neat.<br />
Instagram, a wonderfully simple and fun iPhone photo-sharing application founded by CEO Kevin Systrom, is a great example of kanso in software design and functionality.<br />
Instagram allows the user to snap a photo, choose a filter to transform the look and feel of the picture into a work of art, and share it through social media.<br />
But Systrom’s first iteration (called Burbn) was a feature-laden app lacking a simple value proposition, and thus had few users. By cutting out the clutter and paring it down into a streamlined app people could understand and have fun within 30 seconds. <a href="http://instagr.am/">Instagram</a> reached two million users in only four months.<br />
<em>Zen design lesson #2: Eliminate what doesn’t matter to make more room for what does.</em><br />
<strong>3. Shizen (naturalness).</strong><br />
The goal of shizen is to strike a balance between being at once ‘of nature’, yet distinct from it—to be viewed as being without pretense, without artifice, not forced, yet to be revealed as intentional rather than accidental or haphazard.<br />
When UK-based urban designer Ben Hamilton-Baillie goes about designing “shared spaces” found around Kensington High Street and Sloane Square in London, he is taking a page from the shizen-inspired high-traffic intersections in the Netherlands that have been redesigned to be void of traffic controls.<br />
In these shared-space intersections, curbs have been eliminated, asphalt replaced with red brick, and there are fountains and garden-like café seating right where you think you should drive.<br />
When you come to such an intersection, you have no choice but to slow down, have some human interaction, and use your intelligence.<br />
The result is an organic, naturally self-organizing order that leads to half of the accidents and nearly twice the vehicle flow. The only rule is driven by the context: first in turn, with all due respect to the most vulnerable.<br />
<em>Zen design lesson #3: Incorporate naturally-occurring patterns and rhythms when designing a solution.</em><br />
<strong>4. Yugen (subtlety, implicitness).</strong><br />
The principle of yugen captures the Zen view that the power of suggestion is often stronger than that of full disclosure: leaving something to the imagination creates an irresistible aura of mystery, compelling us to find answers.<br />
The seduction lies in what we don’t know, and because what we don’t know far outweighs what we do know, we are naturally curious.<br />
Apple used yugen in its marketing strategy for the original iPhone which, in the months leading up to its June 2007 launch, was hailed as one of the most hyped products ever to hit the market.<br />
To hype something, though, means to push and promote it heavily through marketing and media.<br />
Apple did the exact opposite.<br />
Steve Jobs demonstrated it at Macworld ‘07 just once, giving a masterful and tantalizing presentation a full six months before the scheduled launch.<br />
In between? Radio silence.<br />
No publicity, no leaks to the media, no price discounts, no demos for technology reviewers, no pre-ordering.<br />
The bloggers and Apple loyalists took over, interpreted and extrapolated, completed the picture resulting in over 20 million people expressing an intent to buy.<br />
<em>Zen design lesson #4: Limit information to engage human curiosity and leave something to the imagination.</em><br />
<strong>5. Fukinsei (imperfection, asymmetry).</strong><br />
The goal of fukinsei is to invoke the natural human inclination to seek symmetry.<br />
Nearly everything in nature is symmetrical—it’s the predominant organizing principle of the universe. But because it’s so prevalent, we often take symmetry for granted—until it’s missing.<br />
David Chase, creator of the TV series The Sopranos, used this principle in the now-infamous final episode.<br />
The Sopranos was an eight-year long series about a band of somewhat organized criminals in northern New Jersey run by one Tony Soprano. There was a great buildup to the final episode, made special because Chase himself wrote and directed it, and the audience would find out whether or not Tony would finally get ‘whacked’.<br />
But the ending presented Chase with a true dilemma: if he killed Tony off, he would alienate half of his audience and squash his chances for a feature film; but if he let Tony live, he would disappoint the other half of the audience, because Tony was a really bad guy.<br />
In the final seconds of the show—with 12 million people watching—just as something was about to happen, the screen went black. Credits rolled a few seconds later, and The Sopranos came to an end.<br />
People sat dumbfounded, cursing their cable provider for signal failure, or blaming a spouse for not paying the bill. No one saw it as the ending, but rather ‘something gone wrong’, because they were robbed of traditional story symmetry.<br />
The media uproar was deafening, with many calling Chase’s decision a cop-out.<br />
Within 24 hours, though, Chase announced in a stroke of genius that everything one needed to know about the fate of Tony Soprano was embedded in that final episode; he had planted all kinds of clues.<br />
Within three days, another 25 million had viewed or reviewed the show, and not one, not two, but three distinctly-different endings sprang up on the Internet, each with a logical argument for why that ending was correct.<br />
By denying his audience symmetry, leaving the story incomplete and imperfect, and requiring audience participation to complete it, David Chase managed to triple his impact.<br />
<em>Zen design lesson #5: Leave room for others to co-create with you; provide a platform for open innovation.</em><br />
In closing, while there is nothing easy about achieving shibumi, if taken together as a cohesive set of design principles, the concepts described herein will guide and inform your efforts. Keep in mind that very often in life, although something looks effortlessly simple, it takes a great deal of effort and refinement to reach such a state.<br />
<br />
<em>Excerpted with permission from Rotman Magazine, the magazine of the Rotman School of Management. <a href="http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/rotmanmag/">The full article with the complete set of “design lessons” is online and the magazine may be purchased online</a>.</em><br />
<em><a href="http://matthewemay.com/">Matthew E. May</a> is an internationally-recognized expert on change, innovation and design strategy. He is the author of The Shibumi Strategy: A Powerful Way to Create Meaningful Change (Jossey-Bass, 2010) and In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing (Crown Business, 2009).</em><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-69571147465231432222011-02-05T02:51:00.000-08:002013-03-01T21:57:19.881-08:00Roast Pork<h2 class="date-header" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 85%;">From my other blog</span></h2>
<h2 class="date-header" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 85%;">(posted originally on </span><span style="font-size: 85%;">Wednesday, October 08, 2008)</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=27796333" name="3155159823180866619"></a></span> <br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Ingredients</span><br />
1.5kg piece of Belly pork, skin on<br />
1 tablespoon sichuan peppercorns<br />
1 tbsp black peppercorns<br />
1 tbsp white peppercorns <br />
1 teaspoon salt <span style="color: #000099;">(adjust to taste)</span><span style="color: #000099;"></span><br />
2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder<br />
2 teaspoons fine sugar<br />
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2 tbsp coarse salt for roasting/drying the skin <br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Directions</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhip405ZYmi29OS6VrL06403tJQ1fVO37Nv-XGxcYuTFZwkAyHPyjeh5Z1uAd96ysSh1rSFp1yuDkNiEjRBUc9-_bON9cGoJKU3b4olCRt-UE5uEdsGkXv2o21VhwVH0q1_PDZG/s1600-h/RoastPork0117.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287087680080731346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhip405ZYmi29OS6VrL06403tJQ1fVO37Nv-XGxcYuTFZwkAyHPyjeh5Z1uAd96ysSh1rSFp1yuDkNiEjRBUc9-_bON9cGoJKU3b4olCRt-UE5uEdsGkXv2o21VhwVH0q1_PDZG/s200/RoastPork0117.JPG" style="float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
Spike or score the skin with a fine skewer or sharp knife as many times as you can, piercing the fat but not going so deep as to pierce the meat. Then pour about 1-2pints of boiling water over the skin & then dry well.<br />
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<span style="color: #000099;">[</span><span style="color: #000099;">A sharp knife works well. Skewering is a bit difficult unless you have a sharp pick or s special utensil with multiple spikes.]</span><br />
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<b>Making the dry-rub</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpapkwoYTibg_-h7cgWjkppibg-WLHdKN-hLPrr7ljLjA9F45Uw8HvTfouzOaVry0boSjhQBLZoqW4i42D817WqdD-2z30Gy5j2-fZNhDfV7h4AfMsfzJyXV8DcFIej87y2qtY/s1600-h/RoastPork0115.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287088889390593138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpapkwoYTibg_-h7cgWjkppibg-WLHdKN-hLPrr7ljLjA9F45Uw8HvTfouzOaVry0boSjhQBLZoqW4i42D817WqdD-2z30Gy5j2-fZNhDfV7h4AfMsfzJyXV8DcFIej87y2qtY/s200/RoastPork0115.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>Heat a dry, heavy-based frying pan over a high heat & add the <span style="color: #cc0000;">three peppercorns</span> & dry fry until you can smell the aroma. Turn off the heat and add the five-spice powder onto the hot pan to toast. I also add about a tbsp of chilli powder to toast, but this is optional.<br />
<br />
In small batches, add peppercorns to a pestle & mortar & bash the hell out of them until you get a coarse grind then add to a bowl with the<span style="color: red;"> salt, five -spice powder & sugar</span>. And chilli powder if using.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivLJ4JZQ68jsj023w69Z3FlprqdXVBtd9p7w1RUM7Tx4v0cWlDzWThRvoJazYGq1ZUFYM8n9Yvr-cqv39zDBwScEhkIibw4StsFOLCnhRDrkYHEQY2jylT48KQtQGBFR8SyHwC/s1600-h/RoastPork0116.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287089582445547506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivLJ4JZQ68jsj023w69Z3FlprqdXVBtd9p7w1RUM7Tx4v0cWlDzWThRvoJazYGq1ZUFYM8n9Yvr-cqv39zDBwScEhkIibw4StsFOLCnhRDrkYHEQY2jylT48KQtQGBFR8SyHwC/s200/RoastPork0116.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="color: #000099;">[I like this bit. </span><span style="color: #000099;">Dry-f</span><span style="color: #000099;">r</span><span style="color: #000099;">ying the peppercorns caused the pepper cor</span><span style="color: #000099;">ns to gi</span><span style="color: #000099;">v</span><span style="color: #000099;">e out a wonderful aroma. </span><span style="color: #000099;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #000099;">The dry-rub is for the meat. If you do not want to go to this much trouble (toasting and bashing the peppercorn), you could just use ground pepper, sugar, salt, and five-spice, or just a simpler dry rub (salt and five-spice). Or no dry-rub if you like your roast simple.]</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzRPTTYQQ_0mcHk71CS5sUVt4VdqMUw3Qyprqrrjt79EyEM82ayweMWiaYZzPUnrvO55KX_WqS_Xaj6lLCleK6X2CJ78904RrwGNQjZNZxBE1EjfJKoGvHnjNdQrtd7Rk8Dp-/s1600-h/RoastPork0113.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287091098985857730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzRPTTYQQ_0mcHk71CS5sUVt4VdqMUw3Qyprqrrjt79EyEM82ayweMWiaYZzPUnrvO55KX_WqS_Xaj6lLCleK6X2CJ78904RrwGNQjZNZxBE1EjfJKoGvHnjNdQrtd7Rk8Dp-/s200/RoastPork0113.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a>Turn the pork flesh side up & rub in the dry-rub/spice mixture & then set aside somewhere cool for a few hrs or overnight. <span style="color: #000099;">[You don't have to use a ziplock bag, but it was what I used.]</span><br />
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Preheat the oven to 200degC/400degF/gas mark 6. Turn the pork skin side up and place on a rack, resting on top of a roasting tin of water. (See picture below. The small container has hot water.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLlAmzoKsBKgWHawxHFxSxsw7WqoBrvZddHNK4ImK1E73rZeYWItcL3lWslFZoEsolMW2bhjQqsGqQtjxH4A5Lxn8WRD0LuCzt6-7wdSzPMMZ5MN4Ilhw_I5Tjx6if6_rLojuf/s1600-h/RoastPork0120.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287094198225136578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLlAmzoKsBKgWHawxHFxSxsw7WqoBrvZddHNK4ImK1E73rZeYWItcL3lWslFZoEsolMW2bhjQqsGqQtjxH4A5Lxn8WRD0LuCzt6-7wdSzPMMZ5MN4Ilhw_I5Tjx6if6_rLojuf/s200/RoastPork0120.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="color: #000099;">[I "rubbed" coarse salt into the skin before roasting for about 30 minutes, t</span><span style="color: #000099;">hen removed the salt. </span><span style="color: #000099;">This helps to dry the skin which is important for the skin to be crispy. See picture. The coarse salt just sits on top of the skin. I used foil to "fence" the salt in and prevent the grains from rolling off.]<br /><br /><b>Tip</b>: The skin side may curve leaving some parts farther from the heat and resulting in uneven roasting (and crisping). To prevent this, you can use long metal skewers to straighten the meat, or placed the meat in a roasting pan, and use bunched up foil to raise any drooping portions.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA-MhglDi60Arfy9QUwRxb2RADlEsH_kW8tmDHpRHqU6v2Zl7zs5iIbHwmoWI7kW25GlTsiAB_zZhgqlRNuW9dgQ-PsN-XhBMXZ3x6Tbgg1vtJVFSNONpso_vLSNoryAGtW9f/s1600-h/RoastPork0118.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287094203007361298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDA-MhglDi60Arfy9QUwRxb2RADlEsH_kW8tmDHpRHqU6v2Zl7zs5iIbHwmoWI7kW25GlTsiAB_zZhgqlRNuW9dgQ-PsN-XhBMXZ3x6Tbgg1vtJVFSNONpso_vLSNoryAGtW9f/s200/RoastPork0118.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a>Roast the pork for 15 - 30 mins & then remove the coarse salt, and lower the oven temp to 180degC/350degF/gas mark 4 & roast for a further 2hrs, topping up the water in the roasting tin when it starts to get low, so keep checking the level of water as you do not want it to run dry.<br />
<br />
After the 2hrs of roasting, check if the skin has crisped. If not, increase the oven temp once more to 230degC/ 450degF/ gas mark 8 and continue to roast the pork for a further 15mins until the skin is crisp. If parts are crisp well other parts are not, use foil to cover the crisped portions to prevent burning as you try to crisp the rest of the skin. When most if not all the skin is crisp, remove from the oven & leave to cool, this dish is best served warm.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglY6vWFhyphenhyphenB2QNPQbrrZZWXHFVVCcK5Y6sI58eDuWf-8vPDegOF5hnNCX8q9y9oD6YC6tCjWqi6ryLu10dB95X9n98TG6eNsHq9weYg9UHBNtr77Ma4zwmzILqmjttvGSxnHfJA/s1600-h/RoastPork0174.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287094207277234338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglY6vWFhyphenhyphenB2QNPQbrrZZWXHFVVCcK5Y6sI58eDuWf-8vPDegOF5hnNCX8q9y9oD6YC6tCjWqi6ryLu10dB95X9n98TG6eNsHq9weYg9UHBNtr77Ma4zwmzILqmjttvGSxnHfJA/s200/RoastPork0174.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 150px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 200px;" /></a><span style="color: #000099;">[The final bit of c</span><span style="color: #000099;">risping the skin could have been done better as the skin blackened in some parts. </span><span style="color: #000099;">I used an aluminium foil to protect the skin after removing the coarse salt crystals, removing it only in the last 10 minutes to let it crisp. At that point watch the oven regularly and intervene at the first sign of smoke. :-)]<br /><br />This is really good when it's served still warm from the oven (within 2 hours of roasting).</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-5616983086322266912011-01-26T07:13:00.000-08:002011-02-19T08:28:21.816-08:00Fish. Bird. Lake.This is an old story. Someone told it to me. I can't remember who.<br /><br />But I remember it. Because it has meaning, and a lesson.<br /><br />There was a little lake high in the mountains, not much bigger than a pond. It was so high that in the winter the surface of the lake would freeze over. But it was a deep enough that the water below got really cold, but did not freeze. When it got that cold, the fish slowed down, became less active, and waited patiently for the waters to warm up again.<br /><br />The fish had lived in the lake for many generations and many winters. Seasons passed, the waters rose and fell with the seasons, and turned cold and warm with the seasons.<br /><br />The younger, more vigourous, and more adventurous fish swam up the streams that fed into the lake, and came back reporting that the waters ran faster and shallower as they swam up, until finally, the waters ran too fast, or too shallow, or were blocked by ice.<br /><br />The Little Lake and the streams that fed into it was the whole world to these fish. And it was good.<br /><br />But one spring as the ice thawed, and the waters warmed, the streams that flowed into the lake did not swell as it usually did, and the waters did not rise as much. In the heat of the summer, the waters grew warmer, and receded from the shore, further than it had ever before.<br /><br />That winter when the water froze, the water that remained water was very much lesser than usual. The water also felt stale, and the fish moved slower and more sluggish than usual. Many fish died that winter.<br /><br />Spring came again, the streams melted, and the water flowed faster, but there was noticeably less of it. Some streams ran briefly, then dried up. The waters receded further from the shore. At this rate, winter would see more death.<br /><br />Some fish began to speak of the unthinkable, the end of the lake.<br /><br />Some other fish refused to think that. It was just hard times. Not end times.<br /><br />Other fish swam up the streams looking for... something that might help them.<br /><br />Then, a fish fell out of the sky.<br /><br />It smacked down hard on the surface of the water and began to sink. The sound of it hitting the water could be heard throughout the lake. Most of the fish swam for cover, but a few brave fins went to have a look.<br /><br />They found the stranger, for though there were many fish in the lakes, everyone knew everyone, but this was no fish anyone had ever seen before.<br /><br />"Who are you?"<br /><br />"Where did you come from?"<br /><br />"Why are you here?"<br /><br />The fish were curious and ask the stranger many questions. But the strange fish was mortally wounded and could only give short answers. And then he died. The fish that heard his answers argued over what the answers were and finally agreed that the stranger came from another place, another lake, and he was brought to this lake by an "Air Swimmer". But that he had struggled and fell out of the sky as the Air Swimmer was passing this lake.<br /><br />But what did it mean?<br /><br />The fish brought this question to the older, wiser fish.<br /><br />The fish knew of the "Air Swimmers" of course. Flocks of them often stop by to drink from the lake on their way to other places. They had huge pectoral fins which they use to swim through the air, whereas the fish used mainly their caudal fins or tails to swim. Their pectorals were used more for fine steering.<br /><br />On some occasions, Air Swimmers had scooped fish from the lake. The fish had two theories about why they did this. One theory was that Air Swimmers (or at least some of them) ate fish. Most believed this. But a few believed that the Air Swimmers had scooped up those fish for some other reason. After all, Air Swimmers must be amazingly advanced to be able to break free from the confines of the water and soar in the waterless void. So perhaps they picked fish to be taught the secrets beyond the waters. These fish were called Believers in Air Swimmers as Superior, or B.A.S.S.<br /><br />When the leader of B.A.S.S. heard about the fish that had fallen from the sky, his faith in the Air Swimmers was strengthened. He was sure that the Fallen fish was a Chosen one who had perhaps failed the Air Swimmer's test and was sent back to the waters.<br /><br />But more importantly, the news spread quickly among the BASS that the Fallen had came from other Waters and that an Air Swimmer had brought him. Hope rippled through the small group. If there were other waters, perhaps the fish of Little Lake could survive there. All they needed was a way to get there.<br /><br />"We need to ask the Air Swimmers to take us to the other Waters," intoned the leader of BASS.<br /><br />The next few days the BASS search for and tried to approach any Air Swimmers they could find. It was not easy. Most of them ignored or did not notice the fish trying to talk to them. Or they were too far away. Or were busy preening themselves.<br /><br />But finally, on a sunny day around noon, a large Air Swimmer was sunning itself on a large rock when the fishes finally caught his attention.<br /><br />He was confused for a while because they addressed him as "Noble Air Swimmer". Then he realised that to the fishes, flying was like swimming in the air. They probably thought his wings were very large fins, he thought to himself amusingly.<br /><br />But he had been raised to be polite, so he kept his amusement and mild annoyance (at having his sunbaathing and afternoon nap interrupted) to himself and asked for the reason for the conversation.<br /><br />The fish were beside themselves with excitement and floundered over their explanations, until finally the leader of BASS silenced them all and summarised.<br /><br />"Oh Noble Air Swimmer, we humbly beg your help. Our little lake is shrinking and has been doing so for some time and we fear it is only a matter of time before there is so little water left that the fishes cannot survive."<br /><br />"Well, I could bring some water in my beak the next time I fly here, but I don't think that would help very much," said the large bird.<br /><br />"Oh no, we don't mean that at all," said BASS leader. "Noble One, we have heard of other lakes, other waters where fishes might swim and live. Perhaps as the Noble One swims through the air, the Noble One might have seen some of these other lakes."<br /><br />"Why yes. I have. But how would these other lakes help you?"<br /><br />"We humbly ask that you help us get there."<br /><br />"You want me to teach you how to fly?"<br /><br />"Fly?"<br /><br />"Swim through the air."<br /><br />"That is called "flying"? Er... Can you teach us how to fly?" They asked hopefully.<br /><br />"No. You don't have the... 'fins' for it."<br /><br />The fish explained that all they wanted was for the bird to take them to another lake. The bird would take a few fish in his beak with as much water as he could hold and fly the fish to another lake. If he would do this over several trips, eventually, all the members of BASS would be transferred to their new home.<br /><br />The bird was silent for a long while after the fish made their request. The fish waited quietly. They knew that they were asking for had never been done. In fact, it had never been asked. There was no reason for the bird to agree to their request.<br /><br />"Are you crazy? He's a fish-eater! He's not going to bring you to a new lake. He will swallow you whole! Why should he bring you to a new home? What's in it for him?"<br /><br />The loud, angry, frightened voice came from the back of the gathering. It came from one of the elder fish. He was not a member of BASS. Like most of the fish, he believed Air Swimmers are fish-eaters. He had happened to be swimming by when he saw BASS members talking to the Air Swimmer and his curiosity overcame his fear and he listened to the fish make their request to the Air Swimmer. And his fear grew as he heard their request.<br /><br />"No! He is a Noble Air Swimmer! A supreme being! He knows the secrets beyond the Waters! He knows how to fly! He knows how to live out of Water! He knows things that no fish knows! He can save us if we only but ask! He can save us! We just need to put aside our pride and our fear!"<br /><br />The furious defence of the Air Swimmer took the elder fish by surprise, and he was shocked into silence by the strength and the depth of the BASS leader's conviction.<br /><br />Then the Air Swimmer spoke.<br /><br />"I need to think about what you ask and if I decide to help you, I will need to find a suitable lake. I have noticed that this is not the only lake that has been drying out. If I do decide to help you, it would not do for me to bring you to another lake that is also drying out. I will let you know my decision in two days. Come back here then."<br /><br />Then he unfolded his wings (what a magnificent sight it was to the fish gathered there! Even the elder fish could not help but be awed), and took off into the air, his wings beating the air into a small windstorm that rippled the waters.<br /><br /><br />Two days later the members of BASS gathered again by the large rock to await the decision of the Air Swimmer.<br /><br />They came early even as the sun was just warming up the day. They waited. The sun rose high into the sky. Still they waited. The sun began to drop towards the western mountain ranges. The heat of noon gave way to the cool of late afternoon. Some of the fish had drifted away, their patience deserting them even as they deserted their cause.<br /><br />The BASS leader wanted to chide them, but he was too anxious and too worried. The absence of the Air Swimmer could well mean that his answer was no. Even if he did show up, he might still say no. Why hold the fish here only to disappoint them. If there were good news, he can tell them later. If there were bad news... well, bad news travels faster than good and they will find out anyway.<br /><br />Besides the BASS members, the elder fish was also waiting to see what other horrors and stupidity the BASS members could come up with. And perhaps to save them from their stupidity.<br /><br />Off to a side, were a group of younger fish who were curious about this strange plan with an Air Swimmer. They expected the Air Swimmer to turn up and eat all the BASS members. If they had cameras, you can imagine all of them with cameras and tripods - the fish equivalent of paparazzi. But even without cameras, they could still tell their children and their children's children about the day they were there when an Air Swimmer ate the foolish BASS members. They were there out of morbid curiosity.<br /><br />So they waited.<br /><br />The sun had sunk so low it was almost touching the tops of the mountain ranges when they heard the flapping of large wings (or "fins" as some of them still thought of wings), and the Air Swimmer (bird) landed on the rock.<br /><br />He looked tired. As he looked for the Bass leader. The other fish helped buy drawing away from the leader so that he was alone in a circle of empty space where no fish crowded him. The Air Swimmer assumed that was the BASS leader (all fish looked alike to him).<br /><br />"I will help you."<br /><br />The cheer that burst out was so loud that all the fish in the lake heard it and were drawn to the large rock.<br /><br />The bird explained that he had gone searching for a suitable lake. The other lakes nearby were also drying up and his search had taken him a day and a half. He had almost given up when he finally found a lake almost half a day away as fast as he could fly where the waters were fed not just by streams by by three large rivers. The lake was much larger - almost eight times larger than Little Lake before it started drying up.<br /><br />He told the BASS leader that he would do a trial run with two fish the next day. He would take the two fish to the lake and let them see the lake for themselves. They could also check that the lake was suitable with enough food for the fish, fresh clean water, and would make a good new home. Or if there were any dangers that he might not have noticed.<br /><br />Then he would bring them back so they could tell the other fish what to expect.<br /><br />The elder fish held his tongue. He had wanted to say that the Air Swimmer could have just eaten the fish and no one would be wiser. But if he was bringing them back to testify to the suitability of the new lake as a new home, his suspicions would be laughed away.<br /><br />The Air Swimmer asked the fish to choose two fish for the trial run the next day. As the other lake was far away, they will need to leave at dawn if they were to make it back the same day.<br /><br />The next day, the two young BASS members who had been selected for this mission were ready. They must have been very brave to swim into the gaping beak of the Air Swimmer. On his part the Air Swimmer took as much water as he could before he closed his beak, and without saying goodbye (because he was a well-brought up bird who never spoke with his beak full), spread his wings and lifted up into the brightening sky.<br /><br />The fish watch him climb up and then peel off northwards as the first rays of the rising sun touched his right wing. They watched him soar above the northern ridge and disappear behind and below it.<br /><br />The fish that were gathered there slowly drifted away. But the BASS leader stayed there for a long time, sending hopeful thoughts and wishes of good luck to the two pioneers.<br /><br />The elder fish was there too sending protective thoughts and wishes for courage and strength for the two fish trapped within the beak of the Air Swimmer. He wasn't sure if he would see them again.<br /><br />For half the morning, the waited, in case the Air Swimmer and his "passengers" returned for whatever reason. If they did returned before noon, the trial run would have been a failure. But when they were not back by mid-morning, the hope was that all was going according to plan. The BASS leader and the elder fish left the large rock at the same time.<br /><br />"They are very brave," said the elder fish to the BASS leader.<br /><br />"They are, but they have faith."<br /><br />"For such endeavours, faith is important."<br /><br />"Essential even."<br /><br />The elder fish agreed.<br /><br /><br />Around mid-afternoon, a small crowd had started to gather at the large rock. They drifted about in small groups, some making small talk. Others tensely silent. Some flitted from group to group seeking gossip or theories or speculation. Others offered words of hope and encouragement.<br /><br />Some caught themselves speaking or thinking of the two fish as if they were not returning and quickly admonished themselves.<br /><br />The sun dipped closer to the western ridges, but the northern sky remained empty.<br /><br />The sun sank lower til it touched the ridge, but there was no sign of the Air Swimmer yet.<br /><br />The sun was halfway below the ridge when a silhouette sailed across the northern sky! But it was just some other Air Swimmer heading to her nest before dusk.<br /><br />As the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the mountains, a lonely sob pierced the twilight and was quickly muffled. Perhaps the mother of one of the two fish.<br /><br />Twilight clung to the rocks and the trees but the darkness of night was patient and inexorable.<br /><br />No one could be sure when the last bit of twilight was gone, but the moon was full and bright when the fish started to disperse quietly into the night.<br /><br />Joy is celebrated. Hope lost is lost in the heart. Despair is experienced alone.<br /><br />BASS leader wanted to say something to keep the hopes alive, but he didn't know what to say.<br /><br />The elder fish stayed by his side some distance away. A lesser fish might have said, "I told you so", but this was an elder fish and he was a wise fish, and one of the signs of wisdom is the ability to know when nothing is the best thing to say.<br /><br />Some of the crowd drifted away, but BASS leader felt he had to stay, as did many other members of BASS.<br /><br />"You were right," he said to elder fish.<br /><br />"I take no joy in being correct," elder fish replied. "I wish you were right."<br /><br />BASS leader agreed silently.<br /><br /><br />It was some time after sunrise, when the fish that were still gathered at large rock heard the beating of huge wings, the rippling of the water from the down wash, and then saw the Air Swimmer land on the large rock, dip his beak into the water and opened it.<br /><br />The two fish sprang out of his beak, and yelled so loudly that it was heard throughout Little Lake, "We're back!"<br /><br />There were questions and excitement and pandemonium as the other fish asked, "Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!"<br /><br />And so the two fish told them their adventure, of how the Air Swimmer soared up the mountains and flew at his fastest speed for half a day to take them to the new lake. It was a ride of blind hope because the fish could not see where they were going. And beaks were not designed for comfort. In fact they were not designed for passengers at all, so the fish were jostled, tossed, and shaken by the time they reached the new lake.<br /><br />But what a lake!<br /><br />The two fish told of the depth of the lake, the breadth of the lake, the variations of the water, with fast flowing waters near streams and rivers, and warm slow languid waters that would be good for the fry, and water plants and food and insects.<br /><br />They were so excited that they took a little too long to explore and left for the return journey a little too late.<br /><br />The Air Swimmer flew as fast as he could with the two fish in his beak, but night fell before he could reach Little Lake, so he landed by a small pond and where the two fish could rest.<br /><br />The next morning as soon as it was bright enough, they took off and headed back.<br /><br />And there they were!<br /><br />The fish cheered again and started a spontaneous parade with the two fish at the head of it.<br /><br />BASS leader swam up to the large rock, where the Air Swimmer was resting. There was a look of satisfaction on his face and BASS leader was gratified and grateful.<br /><br />"Thank you, Noble One. We have hope. We have a plan. We have your great and immeasurable kindness. I am humbled and deeply grateful."<br /><br />"Your gratitude moves me, but this is only just the beginning. The two on this trip are young and strong and to be honest, they could have died. The trip may be too long for older fish such as yourself."<br /><br />"If you can save the young ones, I am content. I have lived a long time. To end my days here is not a great tragedy."<br /><br />"Do not be so prepared to die, old one. On the way back, we stopped because of nightfall, and the two spent the night in a small pond. It is entirely possible for the journey there to be made in several small legs with stops in between. It may well be that even an old one like yourself would be able to survive the trip. Moreover, with several small stops, I do not need to carry so much water in my beak. With less water, I can fly lighter and not be so tired."<br /><br />"Oh Noble One, you are incredibly wise and thoughtful. That you would think of my welfare and how I might survive..." If fish could cry, BASS leader would shed buckets then. He sobbed, and said, "I am most unworthy!"<br /><br />The Air Swimmer was most discomfited by this outburst and did not know what to say. Finally, he tried.<br /><br />"Please compose yourself. It would not be much of a plan if we saved only some of the fish. A good plan should save everyone. And if any fish deserved to be saved it would be you, for your leadership, your strength, and your belief in me. I find you most worthy. Now, I shall go take my rest, and tomorrow, we will start moving your fish. We will keep to two fish each trip and see how that goes over time. I will see you at dawn tomorrow."<br /><br />And the Air Swimmer left (partly because he was embarrassed by the gratitude of BASS leader).<br /><br /><br /><br />BASS Leader called a meeting and declared the plan a success, and that the BASS members can start moving to their new home two by two. He told the members of Air Swimmer's suggestions to make the trip more survivable, and the two pioneers agreed that a few rest stops in between would make the journey more tolerable and survivable.<br /><br />As the details of the transfer were still being worked out, BASS leader said that the next few trips would still be by volunteers only. But this time he had no shortage of volunteers. He scheduled all the volunteers and they took all the spots for the next 10 trips.<br /><br /><br />That night there was a celebration of sorts as the friends and families of the two who were scheduled to leave the next morning said their farewells, and joked about leaving Little Lake, and what they think they might find in Large Lake. The two pioneer fish were still in the limelight being asked for tips and observations for flying in the beak of an Air Swimmer.<br /><br />The next morning at dawn, they were gathered at Large Rock. A cheer rang out as Air Swimmer landed. He waved to the fish, opened his beak and the two fish swam in. He closed his beak and took off, without much ado.<br /><br />Air Swimmer returned late that afternoon, and told BASS leader that the two had made it safely to Large Lake. And because breaking the long trip into a series of short trips, Air Swimmer did not need to carry as much water, he could probably try 3 fish the next trip.<br /><br />BASS leader reshuffled the schedule and arrange for 3 fish for each trip.<br /><br />That night, there were again goodbyes, mixed feelings of hope, and anxiety, and separation, but then hope to be reunited some time in the future. One of the fish who would be leaving in the morning came before BASS leader and waited to be noticed.<br /><br />"What is it, son?" asked BASS leader. The conversation around BASS leader died down.<br /><br />"Elder One, I want to thank you for leading us and giving us this chance for a new life in a new home. In the morning when Air Swimmer comes, we would not have time to say goodbyes and thank yous. So let me say mine now. Thank you."<br /><br />The other two fish that would be travelling the next morning also came forward.<br /><br />"We thank you, Elder One for your leadership and your faith! We thank you for giving us a chance at new life!"<br /><br />And then all the BASS members gather said it together, "We thank you, Elder One, for your Leadership and your Faith! We thank you for giving us new life!"<br /><br />And just as he had discomfited Air Swimmer, it was Bass leader's turn to be discomfited. But he was moved. All those times when the rest of the fish thought the BASS members to be crazy, confused, and unbalanced, when even he doubted if what he believed was real or true, all that was worth it to see the fish here so full of hope and faith.<br /><br />"Our faith sustained us in the dark times, and now it will deliver us in our darkest hour. Remember this and we will never lack for strength, for faith, or for hope."<br /><br />And the fish cheered.<br /><br />Over the next few days, the transfers and the preparations for the transfers became almost like a sacred ritual, the celebration the night before as the fish said their goodbyes and gave their best wishes. The jubilant mornings when the fish were lifted to the sky and winged away to their new home.<br /><br />When BASS leader called the next meeting, the group was considerably larger. BASS had new members who wanted a chance at the new home and a new life there.<br /><br />He took on the task of welcoming the new members to BASS and to explain the philosophy and understanding of Air Swimmers and why they were superior beings. He felt he needed the new members to properly understand and appreciate what it meant to be a member of BASS.<br /><br />Some of the original members were not so happy. Some of these new members, they felt, were opportunists who chose to be BASS simply for the chance for new life, not because they believed.<br /><br />But BASS leader silenced these critics. It is not important, he said, how they arrived, but once they arrived, they will know the truth. And the truth will prevail.<br /><br />Still, the new members created a scheduling problem, so BASS leader had to learn to delegate. He set up a council to schedule the transfers. He had no shortage of volunteers for the job.<br /><br />Elder fish watch all this with growing dread, but he did not know of a solution.<br /><br />"Elder one, would you join us?" asked BASS leader kindly.<br /><br />"I thank you for the offer, but I do not believe," said elder fish.<br /><br />"That is alright. My brothers tell me that they suspect many of the new members also do not believe."<br /><br />"That is probably true. But if they have no faith, they at least have hope. And perhaps hope is the sister of faith."<br /><br />"That may be. You are indeed wise."<br /><br />"And yet wisdom prevents me from believing, no?"<br /><br />"Faith transcends wisdom. Might I humbly suggest that perhaps pride prevents you from abandoning wisdom to embrace faith?"<br /><br />"That would seem like a step backwards."<br /><br />"But your wisdom has brought you to an empty cave."<br /><br />"If the cave is empty, perhaps it is best to see an empty cave."<br /><br />"Perhaps."<br /><br />And so the transfers went on, all through spring and summer and into autumn. The waters continued to recede. Streams ran dry. The water became murkier, muddier, and harder to live in. Little Lake was dying.<br /><br />Finally, there was only BASS leader and elder fish. Air Swimmer would be coming the next morning. BASS leader tried to persuade elder fish to come with him.<br /><br />"Will you come with me?"<br /><br />"Thank you old friend, but I think my memories and my life is here."<br /><br />"But there is no one here anymore. Memories, you can take with you. This," he said indicating the dying lake, "is not what you want to remember."<br /><br />"Perhaps. But it is what it is."<br /><br />"Your friends, you family are at the new lake. Come with us."<br /><br />"I don't think so."<br /><br />"Very well then, I will stay with you."<br /><br />"I can neither ask you to go or to stay, but please do not stay on my account."<br /><br />"You still believe that Air Swimmers are fish eaters?"<br /><br />"Yes."<br /><br />"But you would let me swim into his mouth. Are you letting me be eaten without an argument?"<br /><br />"If I told you that you would be eaten, would you believe me?"<br /><br />"No."<br /><br />"Life is too short to argue beliefs," he said with a gentle smile. "Especially now."<br /><br />"But it doesn't have to be! That's the point. You can have a new life, a new home."<br /><br />"That is what you believe."<br /><br />"But it is true!"<br /><br />"Have you heard from any of the fish that are over there?"<br /><br />"The two that went first, they came back and told us what they saw with their own eyes. That's a fact!"<br /><br />"And since then?"<br /><br />BASS leader wanted to say that they had sent messages through the Air Swimmer, but he knew elder fish meant a message that could be independently verified.<br /><br />"Elder fish, let's say you're right and Air Swimmers are fish eaters. Then we are lost. There is no hope. Little Lake is drying up and when it does, and probably before it does, we would be dead. If you are right, then Air Swimmer eats us and we are also dead. But what if I'm right and Air Swimmer is bringing us to a new home? If I am right, we could live. Your beliefs provide no hope. Mine does! And in these times of helplessness, don't you think we need hope?"<br /><br />"Of course we do. That is why beyond the first few times I tried to warn the fish about trusting the Air Swimmer, I have held my tongue. I have nothing to offer. Not hope. Only truth. And truth is a harsh mistress."<br /><br />"But what you believe is just a belief. There is no facts to support your belief to make it true."<br /><br />"There is, if you but see."<br /><br />"Show me."<br /><br />"It's the little things. First, his eyes. They face forward like a predator. He catches and eats things. Second, noticed the Air Swimmer has put on quite a bit of weight. Third, look at his beak. It is for catching fish. And if he doesn't eat fish, what has he been eating to put on so much weight? He is supposedly flying to a lake half a day away, so he needs a full day to fly there and back. He's been making a trip everyday. When does he have time to feed himself?"<br /><br />"He is a supreme being. Maybe he doesn't eat like we do. Maybe he gets energy from the sun, or from the wind, or from helping us, or from our good wishes. I've always asked the fish to always have good thoughts of him and to wish him well for helping us in our time of need. Perhaps that is all he needs!"<br /><br />"And that is my other point. Why is he helping us? What does he gain from it all?"<br /><br />"He is an Air Swimmer, a supreme being. He may have his own reasons. Reasons we fish would never understand just as how we cannot understand how he swims through the air, or live outside water. Or he does not need a reason. He is not like us."<br /><br />"Don't you see? All your answers begin with 'He is a supreme being'. And this comes from your belief that he is a supreme being. Your answers support your belief, and your belief supports your answers. It is all tied together."<br /><br />"And that is a bad thing."<br /><br />"It is if you are trying to find the truth."<br /><br />"Sometimes, truth cannot be found with reason, but with faith."<br /><br />"Perhaps. Perhaps old friend, you are right. But I am too old to change."<br /><br />"You are a stubborn old fish!" But this was said, almost as a compliment. BASS leader added, "Very well, I will go to the lake, see for myself that our fish are safe in their new home, and then I will return and take you with me."<br /><br />Elder fish smiled wistfully. It was good to have such strong faith. It gave you hope when there is none.<br /><br />He watched as the Air Swimmer (bird, he told himself), landed on the same Large Rock, took his old friend into his beak, and took off. He knew he would never see his friend again.<br /><br /><br />Autumn was coming to an end. The days were getting colder. Soon the water would freeze and maybe this time all the water in what was now just a pond, would freeze through.<br /><br />In the murky waters, elder fish was alone. It had been many days since BASS leader left. Then he saw the Air Swimmer resting on Large Rock.<br /><br />"Hey bird," he called.<br /><br />The bird looked around and saw the fish. "Hello. Do you want to go to the large lake?"<br /><br />"Where is the last fish you took from this lake?"<br /><br />"The leader of the fish? It was unfortunate. He was rather old and I was worried for him. I tried to fly as gently as I could, and to make as many stops as I could so the stress of the journey would not take too much of a toil on him. But, he was too old, too weak. But at least he held on long enough to make it to the lake. Because of the many rest stops, it took us the whole day to make the trip. We arrived as the sun was setting. It's rays striking the rippling waters of the lake, little gems of light bouncing off --"<br /><br />"Oh cut the crap! You ate him didn't you? Just like you ate all the others, you fat lying murdering hypocrite!"<br /><br />The bird looked at him for a very long time. And elder fish returned the gaze with his right eye. (Like many fish, his eyes were on either side of his head so he can't really return a gaze with both eyes. On the other hand he had no eyelids so he couldn't blink. Instead the bird blinked first which in most staring contest means he lost!)<br /><br />"It would be pointless for me to argue with you," said the bird. "Why don't I take you to them so you can see for yourself. Seeing is believing."<br /><br />"I must say, you are consistent and persistent. Just tell me the truth. There is no one else here to hear you. It will be our little secret. Just you and me."<br /><br />"But you already know the truth. Or think you know the truth. If I say, the fish are alive in their new home, would you believe me? Or would you only believe me if I tell you, as you want me to, that I have eaten them all? Would only this answer satisfy you?"<br /><br />Elder fish did not answer.<br /><br />"Very well, I will tell you what you want to hear -- I ate them all." And with those words, the bird flew away.<br /><br />And elder fish found that he wanted to believe that the bird had taken his friends to a safe place, that somewhere out there in another lake, his friends were alive and happy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-69349402388445967892009-06-11T21:27:00.003-07:002011-01-26T18:25:48.907-08:00Tech update<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;">Kitchen Robots - <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/japan-prepares-robots-to-take-over-the-kitchen-1701574.html">Sushi Chef </a></span></div><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/japan-prepares-robots-to-take-over-the-kitchen-1701574.html<br /><br /><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/monsanto-basf-announce-first-drought-tolerant-biotech-crop/360572/">Drought Resistant Corn</a><br />http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/monsanto-basf-announce-first-drought-tolerant-biotech-crop/360572/<br /><br /></div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Incredible changes ahead by mid-2020s, experts say</span></strong><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;">http://www.positivefuturist.com/default-blog.asp?Display=1123<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;">Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes we will experience more discoveries in the next twenty years than we did in the last two hundred. Many of tomorrow’s sci-tech advances are in the ‘idea’ stage already and, driven by corporate profits, experts believe they will arrive on schedule. Welcome to the wonderful world of mid-2020s.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Computers</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – merged into our houses and clothing, the computer, keyboard, and mouse are gone. Images now appear on any wall on command or directly onto our retinas, bypassing display screens entirely. By late-2020s, signals can go straight to the optic nerve (the optic nerve tells the brain what we see), allowing our brain to ‘see’ pictures without using our eyes. Coupled with enhanced intelligence, we could enjoy a movie and talk with friends simultaneously – with complete understanding and memories of both events.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Nano-Biotech</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – doctors routinely replace diseased organs with newly-cloned ones. Tiny medical nanobots cruise through our veins and neurons, keeping us forever young, smart, and in perfect health.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Genetics</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – procedures discovered from RNAi research includes restoring mobility to the paralyzed, creating enhancements that erase wrinkles, strengthen muscles and bones; even change skin color!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Science and the Internet – </span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;">nanotech, biotech, infotech, and cognitive science have dramatically improved the human condition by increasing available food, energy, and water. In 2025, over 70% of the world has created a better life for themselves by accessing information and opportunities on the ‘net’.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Ed</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">ucation</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – some groups resisted modern technologies, which resulted in out-of-date textbooks and poor education systems. However for most children, the ‘Internet brain’ became as normal as the PC was to their parents and the telephone to their grandparents. New learning systems recognize cognitive difficulties and alter curriculum as needed for each student. They also diagnose potential for violent behavior and provide corrective therapies, which turns troubled children into model citizens. Most people accept this invasion of privacy for the gain in human security.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Terrorism and Weaponry</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – some futurists describe Earth 2025 as a “world astir”, with angry populations and potentially wide dissemination of WMDs. The most vivid threats involve terrorists gaining access to futuristic weapons. However, most countries now use non-lethal weapons in combat, which temporarily disrupt the conscious faculties of enemies without killing them. This policy has resulted in a reduction of threats posed by terrorists.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Religion</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – ethicists wonder, do we have the right to genetically change ourselves and future generations? Is it right for people to merge with technology to prevent machines from gaining control over humanity? Growing secularism is challenging many of these religious concerns, which has caused conservative religions to lose membership, while other new age ‘religions’ are flourishing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Robots</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – priced in the $10,000 range, these amazing machines perform many tasks. Also valued for personality, wisdom and wit, most families have grown to love their servant ‘bot.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Space</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – returning men to the moon and the expected completion of the space elevator by late 2020s has renewed space enthusiasm. Excitement builds for the planned Mars landing in 2030.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';">Shifting World Power</span></strong></span><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;"> – for 75 years, the U.S. has led the world in scientific discovery and innovations and though they still maintain this predominance in mid-2020s, futurists predict that China may eventually surpass the U.S.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';font-size:100%;">Today we only dream of replacing body parts and aging skin on demand. In the 2020s, this dream becomes real. Go “magical future”.<em> </em>Comments welcome.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-20557559422273150452009-06-11T21:27:00.001-07:002009-06-11T21:27:11.685-07:00Hospital built with S'pore help<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>June 12, 2009<br/><br/>KAYIN CHAUNG VILLAGE (MYANMAR): - Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong opened a village hospital here yesterday that Singapore had helped build, hailing it as a testimony to bilateral friendship and the Myanmar people's resilience.<br/><br/>'It is also a testimony to the close friendship between the governments and peoples of Singapore and Myanmar,' he said.<br/><br/>The 16-bed Kayin Chaung Station Hospital will serve about 10,000 people from the village and the surrounding areas.<br/><br/>The hospital was in the process of being built when Cyclone Nargis struck in May last year and disrupted construction work.<br/><br/>An emergency meeting of Asean foreign ministers held in Singapore, the Asean chair at the time, decided to set up a multilateral humanitarian assistance task force to help in Myanmar's recovery efforts.<br/><br/>Singapore sent a 24-member medical team with US$200,000 (S$290,000) in emergency relief supplies to the disaster zone in the area.<br/><br/>This team later recommended that the Singapore Government help complete the hospital, a recommendation which the Myanmar government approved.<br/><br/>'I am thankful that Prime Minister Thein Sein very quickly gave his support for Singapore to undertake the completion of the hospital, and that the Health and Foreign ministries facilitated Singapore's involvement at every stage,' said Mr Goh.<br/><br/>He also promised Myanmar that Singapore will continue to help in its post-Nargis recovery efforts.<br/><br/>He also said that Singapore strongly supported extending by another year, till July next year, the mandate of the multilateral humanitarian assistance group set up in the wake of the Asean meeting last year.<br/><br/>GOH CHIN LIAN<br/></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-3457985161222283132009-06-11T20:46:00.000-07:002009-06-11T20:48:08.121-07:00Obama speech at Cairo<p>I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.</p><p>We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.</p><p>Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.</p><p>So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. This cycle of suspicion and discord must end.</p><p>I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles - principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.</p><p>I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do - to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.</p><p>Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.</p><p>As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam - at places like Al-Azhar University - that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.</p><p>I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers - Thomas Jefferson - kept in his personal library.</p><p>So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.</p><p>But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words - within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one."</p><p>Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores - that includes nearly seven million American Muslims in our country today who enjoy incomes and education that are higher than average.</p><p>Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state of our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That is why the U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.</p><p>So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common aspirations - to live in peace and security; to get an education and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity.</p><p>Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all.</p><p>For we have learned from recent experience that when a financial system weakens in one country, prosperity is hurt everywhere. When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk. When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations. When violent extremists operate in one stretch of mountains, people are endangered across an ocean. And when innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. That is what it means to share this world in the 21st century. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings.</p><p>This is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating. Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; progress must be shared.</p><p>That does not mean we should ignore sources of tension. Indeed, it suggests the opposite: we must face these tensions squarely. And so in that spirit, let me speak as clearly and plainly as I can about some specific issues that I believe we must finally confront together.</p><p>The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.</p><p>In Ankara, I made clear that America is not - and never will be - at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people.</p><p>The situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America's goals, and our need to work together. Over seven years ago, the United States pursued al Qaeda and the Taliban with broad international support. We did not go by choice, we went because of necessity. I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11. But let us be clear: al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet Al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with.</p><p>Make no mistake: we do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case.</p><p>That's why we're partnering with a coalition of forty-six countries. And despite the costs involved, America's commitment will not weaken. Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists. They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of different faiths - more than any other, they have killed Muslims. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam. The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind. The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism - it is an important part of promoting peace.</p><p>We also know that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who have been displaced. And that is why we are providing more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend upon.</p><p>Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be."</p><p>Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future - and to leave Iraq to Iraqis. I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources. Iraq's sovereignty is its own. That is why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. That is why we will honor our agreement with Iraq's democratically-elected government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012. We will help Iraq train its Security Forces and develop its economy. But we will support a secure and united Iraq as a partner, and never as a patron.</p><p>And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter our principles. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year.</p><p>So America will defend itself respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities which are also threatened. The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer.</p><p>The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.</p><p>America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.</p><p>Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed - more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction - or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews - is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.</p><p>On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people - Muslims and Christians - have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations - large and small - that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.</p><p>For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It is easy to point fingers - for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel's founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.</p><p>That is in Israel's interest, Palestine's interest, America's interest, and the world's interest. That is why I intend to personally pursue this outcome with all the patience that the task requires. The obligations that the parties have agreed to under the Road Map are clear. For peace to come, it is time for them - and all of us - to live up to our responsibilities.</p><p>Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered.</p><p>Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build. The Palestinian Authority must develop its capacity to govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people. Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist.</p><p>At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.</p><p>Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.</p><p>Finally, the Arab States must recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state; to recognize Israel's legitimacy; and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past.</p><p>America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. We cannot impose peace. But privately, many Muslims recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true.</p><p>Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.</p><p>The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons.</p><p>This issue has been a source of tension between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is indeed a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically- elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians. This history is well known. Rather than remain trapped in the past, I have made it clear to Iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question, now, is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build.</p><p>It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect. But it is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path.</p><p>I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. And any nation - including Iran - should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the Treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it. And I am hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.</p><p>The fourth issue that I will address is democracy.</p><p>I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.</p><p>That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.</p><p>There is no straight line to realize this promise. But this much is clear: governments that protect these rights are ultimately more stable, successful and secure. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. America respects the right of all peaceful and law-abiding voices to be heard around the world, even if we disagree with them. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments - provided they govern with respect for all their people.</p><p>This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.</p><p>The fifth issue that we must address together is religious freedom.</p><p>Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it is being challenged in many different ways.</p><p>Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of another's. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld - whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq.</p><p>Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.</p><p>Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit - for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.</p><p>Indeed, faith should bring us together. That is why we are forging service projects in America that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews. That is why we welcome efforts like Saudi Arabian King Abdullah's Interfaith dialogue and Turkey's leadership in the Alliance of Civilizations. Around the world, we can turn dialogue into Interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action - whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster.</p><p>The sixth issue that I want to address is women's rights.</p><p>I know there is debate about this issue. I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous.</p><p>Now let me be clear: issues of women's equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, we have seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.</p><p>Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity - men and women - to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams.</p><p>Finally, I want to discuss economic development and opportunity.</p><p>I know that for many, the face of globalization is contradictory. The Internet and television can bring knowledge and information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities. In all nations - including my own - this change can bring fear. Fear that because of modernity we will lose of control over our economic choices, our politics, and most importantly our identities - those things we most cherish about our communities, our families, our traditions, and our faith.</p><p>But I also know that human progress cannot be denied. There need not be contradiction between development and tradition. Countries like Japan and South Korea grew their economies while maintaining distinct cultures. The same is true for the astonishing progress within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education.</p><p>This is important because no development strategy can be based only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained while young people are out of work. Many Gulf States have enjoyed great wealth as a consequence of oil, and some are beginning to focus it on broader development. But all of us must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century, and in too many Muslim communities there remains underinvestment in these areas. I am emphasizing such investments within my country. And while America in the past has focused on oil and gas in this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement.</p><p>On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we will match promising Muslim students with internships in America; invest in on-line learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo.</p><p>On economic development, we will create a new corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries. And I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.</p><p>On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries, and to help transfer ideas to the marketplace so they can create jobs. We will open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and appoint new Science Envoys to collaborate on programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, and grow new crops. And today I am announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.</p><p>All these things must be done in partnership. Americans are ready to join with citizens and governments; community organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim communities around the world to help our people pursue a better life.</p><p>The issues that I have described will not be easy to address. But we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek - a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God's children are respected. Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together.</p><p>I know there are many - Muslim and non-Muslim - who question whether we can forge this new beginning. Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some suggest that it isn't worth the effort - that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash. Many more are simply skeptical that real change can occur. There is so much fear, so much mistrust. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward. And I want to particularly say this to young people of every faith, in every country - you, more than anyone, have the ability to remake this world.</p><p>All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort - a sustained effort - to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.</p><p>It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There is also one rule that lies at the heart of every religion - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples - a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian, or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the heart of billions. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.</p><p>We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.</p><p>The Holy Koran tells us, "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."</p><p>The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."</p><p>The Holy Bible tells us, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."</p><p>The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-3823312921440622472008-11-14T00:06:00.001-08:002008-11-14T00:06:34.293-08:00Quote on Evil<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-84233775701656183312008-11-05T02:44:00.001-08:002008-11-05T02:44:29.432-08:00Obama's victory speech<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Obama's victory speech<br/>Text of Democrat Barack Obama's speech in Chicago after winning the presidential election:<br/><br/>OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.<br/><br/>If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.<br/><br/>It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.<br/><br/>It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.<br/><br/>We are, and always will be, the United States of America.<br/><br/>It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.<br/><br/>It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.<br/><br/>A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.<br/><br/>Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.<br/><br/>I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.<br/><br/>I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.<br/><br/>And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady ...<br/><br/>Michelle Obama.<br/><br/>Sasha and Malia ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us ...to the new White House.<br/><br/>And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.<br/><br/>To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me.<br/><br/>I am grateful to them.<br/><br/>And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe ... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best - the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.<br/><br/>To my chief strategist David Axelrod ... who's been a partner with me every step of the way.<br/><br/>To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.<br/><br/>But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.<br/><br/>I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.<br/><br/>It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.<br/><br/>It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organised and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.<br/><br/>This is your victory.<br/><br/>And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.<br/><br/>You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.<br/><br/>There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.<br/><br/>There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.<br/><br/>The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.<br/><br/>I promise you, we as a people will get the.<br/><br/>AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!<br/><br/>OBAMA: There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president.<br/><br/>And we know the government can't solve every problem.<br/><br/>But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we<br/><br/>face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.<br/><br/>What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.<br/><br/>This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.<br/><br/>It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.<br/><br/>So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.<br/><br/>Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.<br/><br/>In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.<br/><br/>Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.<br/><br/>Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.<br/><br/>As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.<br/><br/>And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.<br/><br/>And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.<br/><br/>To those - to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.<br/><br/>That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.<br/><br/>This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.<br/><br/>She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.<br/><br/>And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.<br/><br/>At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.<br/><br/>When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.<br/><br/>AUDIENCE: Yes we can.<br/><br/>OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.<br/><br/>AUDIENCE: Yes we can.<br/><br/>OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.<br/><br/>AUDIENCE: Yes we can.<br/><br/>OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.<br/><br/>And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.<br/><br/>AUDIENCE: Yes we can.<br/><br/>OBAMA: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?<br/><br/>This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.<br/><br/>Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. -- AP <br/></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-67233853718139132342007-11-01T20:42:00.001-07:002007-11-01T20:42:50.764-07:00Mighty Mice<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><table width='100%' cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0' border='0'><tbody><tr><td valign='center' class='padlrt8 blue verdana10'>Nov 2, 2007</td><br /> <td valign='center' align='right' class='padlrt8 blue verdana10'><br /> <img border='0' usemap='#stytoolsMap' src='http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/common/storyTools.gif'/><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td class='padlrt8' colspan='2'><br /> <div class='georgia24 darkblue bold'><br /> <br /> US scientists engineer 'mighty mice'<br /> <br /> </div><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /><br /> <br /> <br /> <tr><br /> <td class='georgia11 padcell8' colspan='2'><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br />WASHINGTON - UNITED States researchers have engineered a line of<br />'mighty mice' whose human equivalent would have similar abilities to<br />the bicycling champion Lance Armstrong, according to research published<br />on Thursday. <p> The breed of mice can run six kilometres at a speed of 20 metres<br />per minute for up to six hours without stopping, according to<br />biochemistry professor Richard Hanson of the Case Western Reserve<br />University in Cleveland, Ohio. </p><p> 'They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up<br />the Pyrenees; they utilise mainly fatty acids for energy and produce<br />very little lactic acid,' said Prof Hanson, the senior author of the<br />article which was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. </p><p> The genetically engineered mice can eat 60 per cent more than<br />wild mice in a control group but remain slim and fit. The 'mighty mice'<br />live longer, and some females were able to reproduce much later in life<br />than other mice. </p><p> The researchers said some 'have had offspring at 2.5 years of<br />age, an amazing feat considering most mice do not reproduce after they<br />are one year old'.<br /></p><p> Prof Hanson said the strength of the mice was made possible by<br />the fact that they produce very little lactic acid, which forms during<br />intense exercise. </p><p><br /> <br /> <br />Scientists bred 500 of the mice, which also showed more aggression than<br />other mice, over the past five years as part of a project aimed at<br />unlocking the metabolic and physiological function of PEPCK-C in<br />muscles and tissues. </p><p> The key to their unusual traits is the over-expression of the<br />gene that influence production of the enzyme PEPCK-C<br />(phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases), said Hanson. </p><p> The transgenic mice are descended from six 'founder lines'<br />that 'contain a chimeric gene in which a copy of the cDNA for PEPCK-C<br />was linked to the skeletal actin gene promoter', the research said. </p><p> The resulting mice showed different levels of PEPCK-C in<br />their muscles, but one particularly active group had levels of PEPCK-C<br />activity of nine units per gram of skeletal muscle, compared to just<br />0.08 units per gram in the muscles of control mice. </p><p> 'From a very early age, the PEPCK-Cmus mice ran continuously<br />in their cages,' said Dr Parvin Hakimi, a researcher in the Hanson lab.<br /></p><p> The 'mighty mice' primarily relied on 'fatty acids as a source<br />of energy during exercise, while the control animals rapidly switched<br />from fatty acid metabolism to using muscle glycogen (carbohydrates) as<br />a fuel; this dramatically raised the blood lactate levels', the<br />research said. -- AFP</p></td></tr></tbody></table><br/><br/><p class='poweredbyperformancing'>Powered by <a href='http://scribefire.com/'>ScribeFire</a>.</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-1149672514457069992006-06-07T02:28:00.000-07:002006-09-24T23:13:25.206-07:00Your configuration in a MouseIn future, there should be a USB drive (about 2gb to 5 gb)or something similar that would capture your personal preference as well as basic software (with MS Office suite) and your files (briefcase).<br /><br />Could even put this USB drive in a mouse.<br /><br />Instead of providing secure partitions for a given machine with secure personal or access information, users would have the secure and confidential information with them instead.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-1149562295391862032006-06-05T19:47:00.000-07:002006-08-07T03:52:06.100-07:00Solving the Smoking Problem over timeThe problem with smoking is 2 fold.<br />1) it is addictive.<br />2) it causes diseases.<br /><br />The solution that governments have come up with are:<br />1) Ban smoking in more and more places.<br />2) Raise taxes on cigarettes<br />3) Have more and more campaigns, Public Health Education, etc.<br /><br />Meanwhile the tobacco companies continue to make money, smokers get poorer (from their addiction as well as the taxes on their addiction), and non-smokers get more irritated with smokers (because of public health campaigns that preach to the converted and raise awareness among non-smokers).<br /><br />These approaches are missing the point. As the litigious US has concluded, the culprits are the big tobacco companies.<br /><br />More specifically, it is the product they sell.<br /><br />So what's in their product that makes it addictive and deadly?<br />Nicotine is the stimulant which is also addictive.<br />Tar is the carcinogen that causes cancer.<br /><br />The solution therefore is simply to control these two substances in a stick of cigarette.<br /><br />The govt has controls on acceptable limits of poisons (such as mercury) and drugs in various consumer products (tar is carcinogenic, not to mention all the other toxic chemical additives in a cigarette).<br /><br />Tobacco companies sell regular cigarettes with about 15 mg of Nicotine and about 1 mg of Tar. Most also provide "light", "mild", or "ladies" version with 10 mg or less of Nicotine and 0.7mg of Tar as an alternative. (These figures are from brands that I checked before and are rough averages.)<br /><br />Now if they can do that, they can produce cigarettes with even lower Nicotine and lower Tar.<br /><br />What the government should do, if they are really intent on reducing smoking and its ill-effects is to give say a 3 month notice for all cigarettes to meet new tar and nicotine limits.<br /><br />To make it easier, set the new limits at existing "light", "mild", or "ladies" cigarettes.<br /><br />Then give tobacco companies notice that in 2 years time, Tar and Nicotine levels have to come down to say 7 mg of Nicotine and 0.5 mg of Tar. Another 2 years later, to 4 mg Nicotine and 0.3mg tar. By the 6th year, allowable Nicotine and Tar would be 2 mg and 0.2 mg or less respectively.<br /><br />The govt may also want to control other chemical catalysts that tobacco companies may add to the cigarette to either maintain their potency or to increase their addictiveness. (Apparently, tobacco companies add chemicals that deliver the nicotine "kick" faster so smokers associate smoking with the nicotine kick.) Other levels of poisons in the cigarette could also be controlled if necessary, but for now, lets just focus on nicotine, tar and any catalysts or "boosters".<br /><br />Eventually, people could still be smoking but fewer people will be taking up cigarettes because the nicotine "kick" would be so mild that it should not be addictive. Even if some are still hooked, the lower tar would mean lower risk of cancer.<br /><br />Cigars could be exempted as they are already prohibitively expensive and the number of cigar-smokers are quite small. Still sale of cigars, pipe tobacco, and loose tobacco ("ang hoon" or "Chinese tobacco") should be monitored. If there is significantly large increase (from people spiking their low dose cigarettes or switching to these), the authorities may have to extend the control to these products as well.<br /><br />(I checked with a smoker, my father, as to the attraction of cigar for him. He said it was too harsh for him. May be true for most smokers. My father started smoking at age 9. It's been a difficult trial for him to quit.)<br /><br />This solution focuses on the main issue - the Nicotine and Tar in cigarettes. It doesn't punish the "victims" who are addicted to it. It doesn't deny the tobacco company their business (or their profits). And it realises that any solution is going to have to be a long slow process: 6 - 8 years.<br /><br /><u>FAQ</u><br />Q: What if tobacco companies claim to be unable to further reduce tar and nicotine?<br />A: The first tobacco company to be able to produce a lower tar and lower nicotine product would have a monopoly in the Singapore market. That should be incentive for them to do so.<br /><br />Q: The Singapore market may not be big enough to warrant R&D by tobacco companies to develop a separate product for Singapore.<br />A: The annual tax revenue from tobacco is about $100m. At about $200 per kg tax, that's about 50m kg of tobacco sold in Singapore, each year (2005 figures). If 1 stick is about 10 gm, that's about 5 billion sticks of cigarettes. Alternatively, Singapore may influence other countries to adopt the same standards. There would then be a bigger market for less lethal cigarettes.<br /><br />Q: What if people start to perceive that cigarettes are "safe" with lower tar and nicotine and more start taking up smoking?<br />A: Prohibitions on tobacco advertising in Singapore are still in place to prevent tobacco companies from promoting cigarettes as safer. In any case lower nicotine means it's less addictive, with less kick so even if more may take it up, they may be able to just as quickly drop it.<br /><br />Q: What if people start to smuggle in cigarettes from Malaysia or other nearby countries?<br />A: They already are because of high taxes in Singapore. Customs officers will have to be more vigilent. There have been many smuggling rings broken up by the law enforcers. Alternatively, neighbouring countries may want to adopt the Singapore approach.<br /><br />Q: Should there be allowances for travellers entering Singapore?<br />A: Allowances for travellers entering Singapore would be the same as current - one open pack for personal consumption. Extra packs would be confiscated. Travellers can't just offer to pay the additional tax because the cigarettes don't comply with allowable levels of tar and nicotine. The one pack for personal consumption is already a concession.<br /><br />Q: Singapore wants to attract foreign investors and foreign talents. This may undermine the strategy and make Singapore less attractive to foreigners, including tourists.<br />A: The current ban on smoking in many public places are also inconvenient and "bad for business" as some have charged. Generally, however, the public education has already made smoking an indefensible right. In any case, this does not prevent smokers from smoking, they just have to smoke light or very light cigarettes when they stay in Singapore for more than a day or two (depending on how long a pack can last them).<br /><br />Q: What if smokers increase the number of cigarettes they smoke to make up for the lack of Nicotine in the cigarettes?<br />A: Taxes will stay as it is for now, so cigarettes will still be expensive. Smokers may increase their consumption but the cost may force them to cut back. The declining levels of nicotine would also mean that each stick may be less satisfying and break the physiological dependency. But yes, this is a possible response. May see smokers using a double cigarette holder, or smoking more than one stick at a time (should look odd, and ruin their "cool" look).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-1148876421298266482006-05-28T21:19:00.000-07:002006-08-07T04:04:01.890-07:00How to get people to give up their seats to pregnant womenThose signs over the "courtesy" seats on public transports - "Please give up this seat to someone who needs it more than you" are just not working.<br /><br />An alternative sign:<br /><br />"If I'm sitting in this seat, I'm either elderly, disabled, pregnant or just an inconsiderate bastard and a disgrace to my family. And, yes, I'm only pretending to sleep/read this book/newspaper."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-1148293913547283762006-05-22T03:29:00.000-07:002006-06-01T23:57:23.313-07:00How to Hold Potong PasirHow to hold onto Potong Pasir<br /><br />Chiam's weakness is that he is basically a one-man show. He needs to groom a successor. However, his last attempt resulted in his spectacular ouster from his own party, the SDP and his need to start another party, his current SPP. He had thought that Chee Soon Juan had potential, but with hindsight we all know how wrong that was.<br /><br />[Added 2 June 2006: from a letter to Today, 1 June from Abdul Rahim Osman, who was with Chiam's party from 1991 to 1997.<br /><a href="http://www.todayonline.com/articles/121713.asp">http://www.todayonline.com/articles/121713.asp</a><br />Basically, while he respects Chiam's sincerity, he feels that his political strategy is rather limited.<br />This was an added comment to another article in Today that claimed that Chiam had failed to "nurture future talent" in the party and have been losing potential candidates to the Workers Party.<br /><a href="http://www.todayonline.com/articles/120866.asp">http://www.todayonline.com/articles/120866.asp</a><br />The conclusion from the article was that the SDA is still viable but they have challenges to resolve. One of which is future leadership.]<br /><br />Still the worst thing Chiam can do is to try to run for one more term in the next election. I thought this recent election would be his undoing, but I was wrong. I might still be wrong about the next election, but if the PAP uses the strategy I outlined previously, I believe (in all humility) that it could work.<br /><br />So Chiam needs a strategy.<br /><br />I can see no way for him to counter the "<a href="http://visionword.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-pap-can-win-potong-pasir.html">Praise Chiam</a>" strategy I had outlined previously, except to appeal to the people to reject the PAP's new attempt to buy their votes. This is a gamble to hold onto votes with no strategy other than that of sheer emotion. However, the "<a href="http://visionword.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-pap-can-win-potong-pasir.html">Praise Chiam</a>" strategy also appeals to the emotion, and offers a face-saving route to voters. It is a direct appeal to those who support Chiam.<br /><br />So what else can he do besides a simple appeal to the people to support him again?<br /><br />Offer the people a successor.<br /><br />This is a tricky manoeuvre. The risk is that his supporters may see this as an opportunity to switch camp without being disloyal to Chiam. After all, he made a mistake with Chee, he might well be making another mistake here. The emotional ties they have with Chiam may not extend to his successor.<br /><br />Unless the successor has an emotional tie to Chiam and to Potong Pasir. Like his daughter.<br /><br />Chiam's daughter (according to brief mention in the newspapers after his election win) is 30 years old (in 2006) and a journalist. She was only 8 when Chiam first won Potong Pasir. She has been seen with him doing his rounds of Potong Pasir. She practically grew up with Potong Pasir as her "sibling". In 5 years or so, she would be 35 yrs old - a respectable age to stand for election. Not too young, and certainly not old at all. And if she has been picking up tips from her father, she would be more experienced than most opposition candidates in running a constituency.<br /><br />If Chiam's daughter stands as his successor, they can campaign on continuity, reliability, and commitment. She would be leveraging on the emotional bonds and capital that Chiam has built up over 6 terms - over a quarter of a century. The voters in Potong Pasir may be ready to switch camps with any other successor to Chiam, but his daughter would be a different matter. She is family. To reject her, would also be a rejection of Chiam. If for no other reason, they would want to respect his legacy and give his daughter a chance to prove herself.<br /><br />How might PAP respond to Chiam's daughter as his successor in the next election? Assuming she's not a female version of Steve Chia (no credibility with the voters), or prone to make ridiculous or unsubstantiated accusations like Chee or JBJ (liable to get sued), they might<br /><br />a) try their usual gamut of upgrading goodies, while getting the big guns to belittle the achievements of Chiam (to the usual effect for the last 6 elections). But who knows, just because it didn't work the last 6 times doesn't mean it can't work. Some strategy comes into its own time. In time.<br /><br />b) Try the "<a href="http://visionword.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-pap-can-win-potong-pasir.html">Praise Chiam</a>" strategy I'd previously offered. Here the strategy would be blunted because<br />i) Chiam is stepping down, so appeals to retire him would be meaningless<br />ii) Offering him a seat on the council would also not make sense as he's not running (besides he can have a seat on his daughter's council)<br />iii) Offering his daughter a seat in his stead would give her too much credibility<br />iv) He's offering a living legacy, so offers to name a park after him would not hold the same appeal.<br /><br />c) Hope that the voters do not extend their emotional bonds and trust for Chiam to his daughter. At least not enough for her to win.<br /><br />d) Hope that the daughter made a mistake in the nomination papers or threaten the election department staff. :-)<br /><br />Of course the flaw to this plan is Chiam's daughter's own plan for her life. Does she want to walk in her father's footsteps?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-1147922721802063732006-05-17T20:19:00.000-07:002006-05-21T19:13:10.410-07:00How the PAP can win Potong PasirThe PAP has been going about it all wrong from the start.<br /><br />First they denigrated Chiam’s achievement.<br />Then they threw in their big guns.<br />Then they offered upgrading.<br />And Chiam still won 6 elections.<br /><br />You'd think the PAP would have learnt? The people want to see a fair fight. They want to see Sitoh vs Chiam. Not Sitoh, PM, MM, SM vs Chiam. The people know how much Chiam has done with what little he has. For the PAP to highlight shortcomings, or less than sterling performance by Chiam just seems unfair to the people when the constraints are seen to be of PAP’s making.<br /><br />So can PAP win Potong Pasir next time? All along, PAP has taken the rather passive “wait for the people to come to their senses and realise what goodies they are missing.” They’ve waited for 6 elections and 22 years.<br /><br />What’s their plan for the next election? More of the same?<br /><br />This is a thought experiment. A “what-if” situation.<br /><br />In 3 - 5 years, if Chiam again contest the Potong Pasir ward, what should the PAP do?<br /><br />Firstly, if Chiam runs again, the goodwill he has built up over the years will be an advantage that will be hard to overcome. Secondly, the recent election and past elections have shown that the people of Potong Pasir are not bought over by the PAP’s offer of upgrading and other goodies. The connection they have with Chiam is more personal, more emotional. Thirdly, Sitoh has also made a connection with the people and has built up quite a capital of goodwill. What the PAP should do is let him be himself and fight the battle on his own. Throwing heavyweights to bolster his campaign only makes him seem weak and dependant. The PAP may be tempted to shift him over to another GRC to reward him for his hard work over 2 terms there, but they should resist that temptation. Fourthly, the people of Potong Pasir seem to feel that they have the best of both worlds with two MPs looking after their interests.<br /><br />Here’s a scenario for the next election. The assumptions are<br />1) Chiam runs for yet another term.<br />2) Sitoh challenges again.<br />3) All other things (no terrorism, bird flu, political scandals and issues) remains equal (in other words, this is what PAP should have done in the last election)<br /><br />Sitoh should be allowed to fight the campaign on his own. Of course the PAP heavyweights can lend support from afar, but not ‘mother’ him.<br />His campaign/platform should cover these points:<br />a) Chiam has done a fantastic job with limited resources over the last 6 terms.<br />b) He had earned his MP’s pension many times over (an MP is entitled to pension if he is elected in parliament for 2 terms or more).<br />c) But age is catching up with him and he should be allowed to enjoy his retirement instead of working so hard with meagre resources.<br />d) But if he wants to work for the people, then he should be allowed to, and the people should make it easier for him to do so. How? Vote in Sitoh.<br />e) Sitoh should promise that if he is elected, he can offer Chiam a seat on his management committee (or whatever committee or town council) as advisor or consultant, so Chiam would still have a hand in the service of the people. At the same time, Potong Pasir would enjoy all the benefits of being a PAP ward (more funds, upgrading, etc).<br />f) Sitoh can also promise that in recognition of the quarter of a century or so that Chiam has dedicated to Potong Pasir, a park in Potong Pasir would be named in Chiam’s honour.<br />g) Therefore the people of Potong Pasir is not being asked to vote against Chiam, but to vote to recognise Chiam’s efforts and contribution, vote to make things easier for Chiam, and vote to honour him. (In other words, give the people of Potong Pasir a way to vote PAP without voting against Chiam).<br /><br />How might Chiam respond to these offers and acknowledgements?<br />The usual and initial response anticipated (and suggested counters) are<br />a) denounce it all as a PAP trick, and hypocrisy. (Sitoh’s response should be that PAP always carry out what it promises and Chiam should know that.)<br />b) declare that he would not take up Sitoh’s offer as it is against his principles. (Response: It is also not PAP’s practice to offer opposition members representation in their committee, but for the good of the people of Potong Pasir, the PAP is willing to bend the rules in this case. PAP hopes that if Sitoh is elected, and when they offer the seat on the committee to Chiam, he would also accept for the good of Potong Pasir.)<br />c) he is still fit and healthy enough to serve one more term. (Response: Of course he can, otherwise there would be no question of offering him a seat on the committee. And of course it is for the people to decide if he should continue to serve with limited resources, trying hard to make ends meet, or whether to vote to give Chiam more resources with the PAP.)<br /><br />Why this Scenario won’t work?<br />1) PAP too inflexible to use the “praise your opponent to death” approach.<br />2) PAP rules too rigid to offer Chiam a seat on the committee.<br />3) PAP too aghast about honouring an opposition MP when their own MPs don’t get such treatment (have we seen any Tan Cheng Bock park?)<br />4) PAP moves Sitoh to a GRC to reward him for his efforts over two terms in Potong Pasir. Any other PAP candidate would have to start from scratch, to build up rapport and trust and bonds, and the voters of Potong Pasir are slow to warm up.<br />5) PAP worries about what it means to other constituencies. But Chiam is a unique situation.<br /><br />Next: Chiam’s possible counter strategyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27796333.post-1147168835070739092006-05-09T02:57:00.000-07:002006-05-09T03:00:35.070-07:00Dialectic Materialism Singapore StyleWhat is Dialectic Materialism?<br /><br />Kiasu, Kiasi, Kiaboh, Kia Zhenghu.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0