Playlist – February 2008 Week #3
Currently on a blogging hiatus; with my mock exams just around the corner I find myself engaged in a marathon of incessant cramming sessions. There are a few issues that have caught my attention which I wanted to blog about :
- The controversy whereby Bush wants AT&T and Verizon to be protected against lawsuits after they took part in his warrantless domestic spying programs. In a war against terrorism, he’s actually making it easier for terrorists to spy on U.S. citizens.. who would have imagined that?
- Yahoo shareholders suing Yahoo for not acting in the interest of shareholders regarding Microsoft’s takeover bid, and how they’re creating golden parachutes, finding white knights and driving up the costs of acquisition.
- The aftermath of Kosovo’s independence. Frankly I know extremely little about Serbia and Kosovo but I’d love to read up on their history given the time. Serbia withdrawing ambassadors to all countries that recognise Kosovo’s independence comes as a surprise (to me) and the U.S. has accused Serbia of inciting riots that attacked its embassy in Belgrade while reducing security that usually protected the embassy. A negligence on their part, or perhaps an intentional act that conveniently coincided with the riots?
and a few others which I can’t seem to remember. Congratulations to Singapore, by the way, for winning the bid to host Youth Olympics 2010.
Tiesto – Driving To Heaven
My playlist this week consists of mostly chill-out tracks which provides a conducive background for me. Tiesto’s Elements of Life album has, surprisingly, a number of tracks which nudged me to higher productivity levels. This is one of my favourites from this album, slow, progressive and easy on the ears.
Adam K & Soha – Long Distance
Picture this pretty scene : You’re spending the night in the desert with your best bud. It’s a cloudless night with stars scattered in the sky. A sudden breeze takes you by surprise and you decide to move closer to the campfire, putting a little more wood to coax and stir up the flames. It’s going to be a long day ahead tomorrow, but it hardly matters since the both of you are enjoying each other’s company and this lovely tune.
Madonna – Ray Of Light (Ambient Mix)
Zephyr in the sky at night I wonder
Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun
She’s got herself a universe gone quickly
For the call of thunder threatens everyone
I don’t think any song could go wrong with such beautiful lyrics.. Not to mention the rhythm and beat to this song could put most R&B “hits” nowadays to shame.
The epitome of ignorance
How can so much power be in the hands of one so deluded?
Bush is basically implying that the war on Iraq has nothing to do with the current despondent state of the U.S. economy. Is this some kind of joke?
US SPENDING IN IRAQ
Spent & Approved War-Spending – About $600 billion of US taxpayers’ funds. President Bush has requested another $200 billion for 2008, which would bring the cumulative total to close to $800 billion.
U.S. Daily Spending in Iraq – over $270 million, in November 2007
Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq – $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)
Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq – $9 billion of US taxpayers’ money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.
Missing – $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)
Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq – $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported – $1.4 billion
Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items – $20 billion
Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem “questionable or supportable” – $3.2 billion
Click here for more statistical details on U.S. spending in Iraq.
So that brings the cumulative total to $800 billion, and if I were to be extremely generous and attribute a few BILLION to statistical errors, what’s left would still be an insane amount of money. And then there’s $9 billion of taxpayer’s money that went unaccounted for – mind you, the linked article was posted in 2005.
Playlist – February 2008 Week #2
Initially wanted to post the playlist last night but got back late and, well, the rest is history.
The Blizzard – Kalopsia
This tune is progressive trance at its finest. Whenever I listen to it I’m envision myself transported to an alternate dimension where there are no laws of science to hold you back and no social norms that you have to abide to. Is this what heaven sounds like? 
Orjan Nilsen – La Guitarra
The starting few minutes is very misleading, in a good way. What begins as a heavy electronic tune begins to slow down into a fusion of guitar strumming and beats. Kudos to Orjan Nilsen’s creativity juices. There’s a sad story behind this production though – it’s made in memory of his brother that passed away.
Li Kwan – Point Zero (Leama & Moor Remix)
After a few unsuccessful tries I finally managed to upload this! I refused to use the Mark Eteson Remix that’s receiving a decent amount of airplay now, because this remix is just on another playing field. I’ve come to realise to properly appreciate this tune you need to have to have DECENT speakers; built-in speakers by the side of your monitor with horrible bass input just won’t cut it. Then, you need to turn up the volume a few more notches because this track is just explosive! Enjoy!
TOC, conspiracies, truth, and me
How wonderfully intriguing this week as been, as I observe from the sidelines conspiracy theories thrown at one of our more prominent local political blogs, The Online Citizen.
In a nutshell, a certain “jasper” accused TOC of having PAP connections, more precisely he instigated that certain writers of TOC were paid by PAP to write, well, pro-PAP articles. TOC then came out and made it clear that, to spare you from the details, it was neither pro-PAP nor anti-PAP; it strived to maintain neutrality and objectivity in their articles. More dirty linen are probably being strewn around even as I continue with this entry, but ultimately does TOC’s alleged links with PAP bear any significance at all?
Personally, as long as TOC produces well argued and substantive objective articles, I don’t mind whoever is paying them, if they are even getting paid. TOC is, fundamentally, a political blog aimed at bringing about awareness to its readers. It’s not a market vendor, whereby knowing where the fish or meat came from would be important. Neither is it a jewellery store, whereby knowing if its diamonds came from conflict zones would play a part in the purchase.
The fact of the matter is, TOC’s articles are ultimately left up to one’s interpretation and critical analysis. If the article is biased or manipulates statistical figures, criticism is needed. But what this brouhaha has been all about is scrutiny on TOC’s writers and their alleged links to PAP. Let’s assume if they do get paid by PAP but still produce well-written, politically-neutral articles (of course we all know this is near impossible but bear with me), would it be all that bad? Why are we putting an unnecessary amount of attention and spotlight on the writers, instead of their written articles?
As Molly puts it,
People are looking for truth dispensers. Because people simply don’t even think of becoming truth creators. They want to be told what the truth is without having to filter information with their critical faculties. Either that or they are afraid that others simply do not have the critical faculties to evaluate information with which they are being fed (which is also pretty scary).
and more succinctly,
the point for the reader is not just to believe, to agree or disagree, but to work on producing one’s own truth relative to what others have produced.
I’ll like to end off with this quote from the movie Into The Wild :
“Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness, give me truth”
- Christopher McCandless, paraphrasing Thoreau.
Oh and to all readers, hoped you had a Happy Valentine’s Day thus far A little thought-provoking picture, also from PostSecrets ~
Playlist – February 2008 Week #1
Chicane – Salt water
Started out the week being pretty obsessed with this tune i.e playing it over and over again till I got slightly sick of it heh.
Train – Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)
Stumbled across this song while sorting out my music collection earlier this afternoon. While it’s easy to get caught up in the splendid melodies, I feel the beauty of this song lies in its picturesque story where a guy lets the woman he cherishes dearly to leave his side and find herself, in hopes she will return to him someday.
Nobuo Uematsu – Tifa’s Theme
All hail Nobuo Uematsu! Most of his tracks are beautifully composed and keeps me coming back for more. Excellent background music to complement my revision. Please leave a comment if you know any more of such similar tunes, thanks in advance!
All that glitters is not gold
Quel prix pour ces diamants? Loosely translated, it means “‘What price for those diamonds?”
Personally I never really bought the reasoning that women needed polished stones to increase their attractiveness or, as some would say, bring out one’s “inner beauty”. As we become increasingly aware of the existence of conflict diamonds, and more recently blood rubies, there is all the more reason to choose one carefully if you do decide to splurge unnecessarily purchase one. (Hint: Make sure it’s KPCS-certified)
From a UN site,
Conflict diamonds are diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council.
I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t watched the movie Blood Diamond to do so, as it provides a clearer and darker insight to the controversy surrounding each and every stone that comes out from conflict zones (mostly but not limited to Angola and Sierra Leone). The scenes that struck me most were those of brain-washed children, aptly termed “Child Soldiers”, trained in arms and ready to kill for the RUF. To “facilitate” and accustom the kids with brutal senseless killings, the senior soldiers would rub cocaine on any open wounds to send them into a wild, mad frenzy.
Not too long ago light was shed on the trade of “blood rubies”, which fundamentally is similar to conflict diamonds, except it appears in a different form, but is still traded and sold to fund and keep a particular dominant party in power.
I came across this blog and somehow I don’t find it particularly difficult to believe what s/he said could well possibly be true :
Have you ever seen or heard about those who are working in the Jade and Ruby mines. They have to work manually in the Malaria infested Jungles of Burma under Military watchdogs to make sure that no precious Gems were stolen.
Mudslide in these Mines are very common, and once mudslide occurred it became permanent tomb for the workers. Death due to Cerebral Malaria, Diarrhoea, dysentery is very common as there were no proper health care facilities for the workers.
Alcoholism , Gambling and Drug addiction is very common in these mines as the owners of the Mines created the environment for the exhausted workers to enjoy with Alcohol, Drugs and prostitutes at night. This methods serve for the benifit of the owners of the Mines.The workers will need more advanced money from their bosses who also sells drugs and run the gambling dens in remote Jungles of Burma.
HIV/ AIDs among the workers are also very high due to sharing of needle while using drugs and also due to unsafe sex.
Those who survived the hard-work of Gems Mines bring back HIV to their spouses. That is the one of the reasons that Burma is now epidemic with HIV/ AIDS and Malaria .
Malaria, mudslides, alcohol/drug abuse, AIDS, a perpetuating bourgeoisie-proletariat relationship and shiny pretty red stones that women can’t help but fall in love with : We now have all the ingredients of the next Hollywood blockbuster!
Realistically though, I fear the majority of males (me included) would still have to rely on shiny rocks, at some point in time, to overcome the final frontier of winning that special someone’s heart…
Edit : Found this on PostSecret !
2 Many 2 Count – ERP Drift
An amazing parody by Mr.Brown and his team, this is regarding the eye-popping 16 new ERP gantries to be placed all around our island.
Lyrics :
I wonder if you know,
How they live in Ang Mo Kio
Go to city many gantry
Can’t afford your speed too low
Fast and furious! (Kena!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Slow is dangerous (Aiyah!) (beep! beep! beep!)I wonder if you know,
How they live in Toa Payoh
Please lah tolong, only Lorong
Not Expressway also tio!
Fast and furious! (Kena!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Spread like virius! (Aiyah!) (beep! beep! beep!)Many many taxes danglin
ERP now is randomin
Keep your speed ‘bove 45
Or everybody Cashcard won’t survive!
Suka suka ERP on
Happy happy gantry can born
16 new ways to gope your lui
See already want to pui!Gahmen say take MRT
Cos car is only luxury
Build the road for Fellari
Normal car will up lorry
Ji Pa Ban (uh!), Ichiban (uh)
No million dollars you Lan Lan
CTE is the place to be
Singapore road for VIPI wonder if you know,
How they live in Ang Mo Kio
Reach work early, at 5.30
Spend three hours drink teh-o
Can’t be seraious! (wah lau!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Live like vampires (ouch!) (beep! beep! beep!)I wonder if you know,
Where the gantry never grow
Where the lorry Never worry
Travel freely where you go
Pulau Bukom! (Don’t have!) (beep! beep! beep!)
Pulau Tekong (Huat ah!) (beep! beep! beep!)
In case you were wondering, the original song came from 2 Fast 2 Furious :
Perfect view to wake up to.
Click here to enlarge.
Explanation: These two celestial beacons shining brightly in the east before sunrise are actually children of the Sun, the planets Venus and Jupiter. The second and third brightest objects in the sky at Night after the Moon, Venus and Jupiter appeared separated by about 2 degrees when this picture was taken on January 30th, but closed to within nearly half a degree early yesterday morning. In the serene foreground is the shoreline along the Miankaleh Peninsula and Gorgan Bay, an important bird and wildlife refuge in the southeastern Caspian Sea. Over the next two days, early morning risers around the globe will be able to enjoy a close pairing of Venus and Jupiter with an old crescent Moon.
Taken from : http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080202.html
I hoped the photographer had someone to enjoy this breath-taking moment with. Even if you know almost next to nothing about the cosmos and astronomy, I’m certain anyone will be able to appreciate this picture in all its beauty and rapture.
One more bookmark-worthy site for me!
Playlist – January 2008 Week #4
I thought it’ll be interesting to see how much my taste in music has changed and developed, if it did changed, at the end of the year. So I’ll be noting down any songs that stood out for me each week.
Allure feat. Julie Thompson – Somewhere Inside Of Me (Andy Duguid remix)
Glenn Morrison – Contact
Ever wondered what music will be playing in the background when extra-terrestrial life officially lands on Earth?
Boyz II Men – Mama
A shout-out to my mother, thanks for being so incredible and patient.
Hero or zero?
I wouldn’t call myself a conspiracy nut but I’ve read my fair share of conspiracy theories, and if you do happen to delve into 9/11 conspiracy theories you’ll definitely be familiar with Rudolph Giuliani, former New York City Mayor when 9/11 happened, who just dropped out from the U.S. Presidential elections, which is funny considering the fact that the media constantly regarded him being as a possible Republican “front-runner” for the past few months. It’s not really difficult to see why he dropped out : He hasn’t won any primaries of the few held so far, watching him debate is dull because he only harps on terrorism, he’s plagued by scandals, and is deemed a liar by the New York Fire Department.
Yes, you read that right, the family, friends and colleagues of those very same fire fighters who valiantly fought with their lives at Ground Zero are against Giuliani running for President. In this article ” Firefighter: Giuliani ‘ran like a coward on 9/11′ “,
The protesters think that Giuliani was aware that firefighters who responded to the World Trade Center attack were carrying defective radios and did not hear the order to evacuate.
“He didn’t prepare us before, during, or after,” says Riches.
A detailed video interview is also located at the bottom of that article.
Now imagine my reaction when I opened up today’s Straits Times and found this article!
LOS ANGELES – SENATOR John McCain has taken pole position in the Republican race for the White House, having secured an endorsement from erstwhile rival Rudolph Giuliani, and with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger poised to follow suit. Fresh from a crucial victory during Tuesday’s Florida primary, the Arizona senator won the key backing of Mr Giuliani on Wednesday as the former New York mayor and Sept 11 hero announced his exit from the race.
A hero?? You be the judge.
Ensure Net Neutrality
