Topic of the day: Secession of Texas?

You might think this Russian Professor Igor Panarin was crazy when he talked about "The Texas Republic" (see my earlier post) Think again! Breaking news: Texas governor Rick Perry suggested that Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to leave the union.

And if you are still not convinced, this idea does have its supporters (check out these comments) You might be surprised how much Texans are proud of their state. I'm not 'coz I used to live there.

Well, maybe next time Houston Astros (or Texas Rangers) play in the world series, it will indeed be a World series! (We haven't had one for a long time, after Toronto Blue Jays won it all in 92 & 93) Or maybe not (according to this, Texas does not have the right to secede.)

Tech of the day: Pidgin and Yahoo IM

What is not to like about Yahoo's Instant Messaging? The client! (a.k.a. Yahoo Messenger)

I use Pidgin, an open-source universal IM client, instead. In fact, I carry a Portable Pidgin on my thumb drive all the time!

However, it stopped working since a few days ago. Here is the solution (courtesy of the Ubuntu forum): Modify your Account setting in Pidgin, choose the Advanced tab and change the Pager Server to 66.163.181.173.

Topic of the day: YouTube Orchestra

Most people would agree one could find the worst in music on YouTube. Even people who could barely sing and make sound out of their instruments post their crap on it (including yours truly!)

However, no one could deny among all these crap there are still quite a few gems. I bet one of your friends must have sent you some links to some virtuosic performances that completely blows you away.

Apparently people in the music biz agree and utilize YouTube to discover talents. A YouTube Orchestra is formed by musicians who posted on YouTube and auditioned for a spot on the orchestra. And they just performed at the prestigous Carnegie Hall!

So, that's my motivation to put more craps on YouTube!

Topic of the day: race and political correctness

A famous Hong Kong columnist/talk show host got into trouble when he made a joke that involves Flipino recently (ironically, the column is named "Politically Incorrect"!) Well, he might feel better if he knows a Texas Representative, Betty Brown, has also made a politically incorrect comment regarding Asian and had to apologize: she suggested Asians living in US to change their names to more "Western sounding" ones so that it is easier for the voter registration office to process them.

For any person who has any familiarity with Asian culture, s/he will of course know that a lot of Asians are very proud of their heritage, of which their names are an integral part. However, I am gonna cut Brown some slacks, considering she is from a town in Texas where the closest metropolitan area (Dallas) is 1.5 hour of driving away. She probably hardly knows any Asian, let alone their culture. Of course, ignorance is not a permit for being naive. Let's just hope that she has learned her lesson and stop being a joke herself.

Tech of the day: What if AOL...

Once upon a time, AOL has its own proprietary software that allows its subscriber to access its own content, a "walled garden" if you will. And that's before the time Websites and web browsers became popular! AOL was hugely successful back then.

And of course today's AOL is nothing like that. It is no longer a walled garden. Anyone could visit AOL.com, which is just like any other internet portal (Yahoo, MSN, you name it) In fact, I couldn't tell what is special about AOL today. And according to an AOL old-timer, who supposed to have written this, this is exactly AOL's problem. He suggested AOL would have been better off if it has kept its walled garden. I am not sure if his strategy would work but I'm surprised to learn that AOL's client software still has 28.6 million users!

Star of the day: Nick Swisher

How did Swisher qualify as star of the day? First of all, he played in the game of the day (according to this Yahoo blog) Second, he pitched a scoreless inning and strucked out 1 batter but most importantly, he is an outfielder/first baseman!

I have been following Swisher's career since he started with Oakland Athletics and then traded to Chicago White Sox, both are teams that I root for! Glad to see that he did something that will guarantee him being mentioned in future trivia quizzes.

每週冷飯: 強權鎮壓公理的時代

摘自2002年11月1號:

筆者一向有一個天真的想法﹕就是隨著時代大輪轉動﹐人類會越來越文明--尊重生命價值以及人性自由。翻看歷史﹐自十八世紀啟蒙運動(The Enlightenment)以來﹐人類日漸重視個人的存在價值﹐崇尚自由民主的意識萌芽﹐尋求從封建時代被君主或宗教盲目支配中解放出來。

不幸的是﹐筆者的想法實在太一廂情願﹔事實上人類社會正在走回頭路﹗以往世界大戰前惡勢力抬頭的先兆都已出現﹕獨斷獨行的政府力圖擺脫人民監察﹐以籠統的民族主義掛帥﹐把所謂國家利益淩駕於人類基本權利之上﹔更嚴重者藉此侵略別國﹐危害世界和平。亦有宗教狂熱份子走火入魔﹐以聖戰為名亂施暴力﹐草菅人命。恐佈活動有如野草燒不盡﹐春風吹又生。

這些現象實在不容忽視。支持國家民族（以至宗教）驟耳聽來似乎是理直氣壯，但具體行為不能違反自由﹑和平等大原則，否則不論政府還是恐佈分子都是橫蠻無理。

愛自由﹑和平及公義的群眾力量不容小窺，例如當年印度聖雄甘地堅持以非武力的公民抗命方式成功爭取獨立﹐美國總統尼克遜因被傳媒揭發水門事件而下台﹔說明真理只有越辯越明﹐而真相越禁越禁不住。極權政府﹑極端分子應好好反省﹕任何高壓或暴力的行為最終只有失敗﹐開放的對話或談判才是解決問題的方法。

以下是出自曾為和平作出努力的神父Martin Niemoller 關於納粹黨的名句﹕
"First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't
a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a
Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up
for me."

活在這個動蕩的時代﹐我們還可以沉默下去嗎﹖

後記﹕我們學識淵博的保安局長(這希望不是國家機密)指民間某些反對香港政府基本法二十三條立法諮詢文件的意見太情緒化﹐不值得深入研究云云﹐令筆者想起 George Orwell名著《動物農莊》(Animal Farm)中的一句話'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'此話葉太以前曾經引用來批評傳媒﹐何其諷刺﹗

該文出版後不久保安局長葉太亦因二十三條立法為政府"食死貓"下台﹐六年後(2008)捲土重來﹐竟成為監察政府的尊貴議員﹗最近批評入境處優待權貴亦毫不手軟。只是有中央作後台的葉太是否小駡大幫忙，還是未知之數。

更令筆者灰心的是以支持國家及宗教為藉口的惡勢力好像變本加厲：由內地到港成為大學生會長的竟然全無血性地為政府開脫血腥鎮壓的罪行，宗教團體在加州亦成功推動通過剝奪同性戀人士結婚權利的法案。筆者還是這一句：不能沉默下去!