3 posts tagged “news”

Interesting article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/lifestylenews/view/438452/1/.html

So, the flute is the oldest musical instrument recorded. :)
And to think I've heard the 骨笛 being performed before. Heh!

Truth be told, I've never really followed nor cared about the US presidential campaign in the past. When George Bush Senior was a president, I was still schooling. All I remembered of him was the Gulf War. Then came Bill Clinton and a great rosy economy... but of course - the Monica Lewinsky business. And after George Bush Junior got elected, I totally lost any slight interest I ever had, more so after he was re-elected to office. That made me doubt the judgment and sanity of the American voters, but that's another point altogether.

But when Hilary Clinton decided to run, I took a great interest. I felt she's a really great woman - someone who's strong, tough and independent - someone whom women can look up to. Well, at least from what I saw. So I was pretty sad she lost to Barack Obama. But Obama had shown himself to be a tough case and he's probably what America will need to pull through this crisis with minimised damages. (Note the usage of "minimised") I don't really care for Mr McCain - perhaps I'm an ageist. But at his age, he still wants to be the most powerful man on earth and do the most stressful job on earth? Then he has to go and choose an unknown as his partner in running. I had regarded Palin with just passing interest, noting that she had 5 children. In this time and age, a woman in politics with a career and still have FIVE children (aged a few months to 18 years old) struck me as really really odd and what was odder was the vast difference in age between the oldest and the youngest. Perhaps we should all be applauding the fact that a 40-something year old woman is still having an active sex life. But is it really wise to have so many children? Anyway, that aside. I read something about her today that struck me as the oddest I've ever read - she was described as being "A devout Christian mother-of-five who is pro-life and a committed hunter..."

Now wait just a moment. There's something really wrong with that description. How can somebody claim to be "pro-life" and yet be "a committed hunter"??? Are you trying to tell me:
a) Hunting animals is not equal to killing, hence pro-life?
b) Hunting animals / killing animals is not the same as having abortions, because the lives of animals are lower than that of human beings?
c) Abortions are wrong because they're killing humans, but hunting is alright, because they're just animals
d) All of the above

I mean, what the F**K... seriously! How fake can this candidate be? And if you're are that pro-life, shouldn't you be a vegetarian as well? All lives on earth should be respected, every being on earth - even ants and lizards - have as much right as human beings to be on this planet. I don't think we have the right to kill any of them. I'm not condoning my own actions of eating meat - given that I've been brought up on meat-eating habits for more than 80% of my life. But I'm not going round telling everyone, "Hey, I'm pro-life... let's go shoot a few partridges tomorrow!"

As the rate things are going, I'm supporting Obama and his camp more than ever. I really hope he wins this election.   

From the NY Times:
(Published 4 April 2008)

At the Pittsburgh Opera a performance of “Aida” on Tuesday became a night to remember, ending with the conductor singing the tenor role of Radames from the pit in the fourth act while continuing to lead the orchestra. The sequence that led to the grand finale concluded with cheers and applause for the singing conductor, Antony Walker, above, who is also the music director of the Pittsburgh Opera. Vladimir Kuzmenko, who was supposed to sing the leading role of Radames, began to feel ill before the curtain went up. The company arranged to borrow Eduardo Villa from the Metropolitan Opera, but his plane was delayed. By Act IV Mr. Kuzmenko could no longer sing, and Mr. Villa had not arrived, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. So Christopher Hahn, the artistic director, asked Mr. Walker to step in. With the silent Mr. Kuzmenko acting the role onstage, Mr. Walker, who studied voice at the University of Sydney in Australia, sang Radames while he led the orchestra. “It was quite a nerve-racking thing to do, but I realized there wasn’t much choice,” Mr. Walker said. Mr. Hahn said, “This could be one for the history books, I think.”