The world is a mask that hides the real world.
Thatâs what everybody suspects, though the world we see wonât let us dwell on it long.
The world has ways - more masks - of getting our attention.
The suspicion sneaks in now and again, between the cracks of everyday existenceâ¦the bird song dips, rises, dips, trails off into blue sky silence before the note that would reveal the shape of a melody that, somehow, would tie everything together, on the verge of unmasking the hidden armature that frames this sky, this tree, this bird, this quivering green leaf, jewels in a crown.â¦
As the song dies, the secret withdraws.
The tree is a mask.
The sky is a mask.
The quivering green leaf is a mask.
The song is a mask.
The singing bird is a mask.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Falcon City of Wonders' fresh-squeezed financial juice
Falcon City of Wonders
lures AMLAK cash
12 November 2005
Falcon City of Wonders, the novel purpose-built community project being constructed within Dubailand and featuring replicas of famous sites and architectural marvels such as the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, has announced a strategic partnership with finance provider AMLAK to facilitate purchase and investment.
Salem Al Moosa, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Falcon City of Wonders LLC, said, 'Our partnership with AMLAK will be instrumental in easing investment and purchase procedures for making Falcon City properties more accessible to a wider range of people across the region.'
The Falcon City of Wonders covers an area of 4 million square meters, and is shaped to represent a falcon, which is symbolic of the UAE's heritage. The development is divided into 5 phases, and will combine various commercial, residential, educational and leisure amenities with entertainment facilities, and will include apartments, villas, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, health clubs and spas, schools and parks, in addition to Pharaohs Theme park. Falcon City of Wonders is designed to be a land of civilizations, tracing the lifestyles and culture of people from different ages and parts of the world.
Mohammed Al Hashimi, Chief Executive Officer, AMLAK said, 'Our partnership with Falcon City will expedite the provision of financial services to those looking to own a home in landmark project. AMLAK remains committed to providing premium services that are in keeping with the nation's traditions and norms, and we are proud to be associated with a meritorious project such as Falcon City of Wonders.'
The Falcon City project will also feature a 'fun city' inspired by the era of the pharaohs and highlighted by the Pharaohs Theme Park located by the main entrance. Specialist consultants are being invited to discuss the nature of rides and attractions there.
'Falcon City of Wonders is unique in terms of scale and concept. Our vision is to develop the project into a representation of ancient cultures, while providing a blend of the best modern amenities and services. Falcon City will be the epitome of luxurious living, with a comprehensive array of facilities that will offer residents an unmatched lifestyle. Further, the Pharaoh Theme Park being designed at the project will add value to residential life at the community, 'Al Moosa concluded.
"monkeys with mobile phones"
Mobile phones making a monkey out of Japanese
Sapio, 10 November 2005
Going bananas over mobile phones for so many years is turning Japanese into monkeys, according to Sapio (11/23).
Nobuo Masataka, a professor at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute and author of the monster best seller Keitai wo Motta Saru (Monkeys With Mobile Phones), argues that the proliferation of mobile phones has got young Japanese making monkeys of themselves, aping the behavior patterns of chimpanzees.
He says that young Japanese have lost the ability to discern between public and private space. He adds that they have formed what he calls the dearuki-zoku (out and about tribe).
"There's been a dramatic increase in the dearuki-zoku. They don't eat meals at home with family members and you can clearly see with your own eyes the large increase in young people who hang about on the streets together with the same old friends," Masataka tells Sapio. "They make places like Shibuya their territory and rarely head even to places like (nearby entertainment and shopping districts) Shinjuku or Harajuku. They get tired going to new places or meeting new people. If they get hungry while they're strolling around, they simply get food by going into a convenience store, buying something and sitting down outside on the curb to eat it. If not that, then they just hang around for hours in fast food joints."
The primate specialist says the actions of the dearuki-zoku closely resemble behavior patterns in chimpanzees, which tend to travel in groups, walking around for a long time without going to any specific place, then eating and disposing of their wastes in the same place before bedding down on piles of grass whenever and wherever the inclination takes them.
"This ability to loiter on the streets exists only because of the proliferation of mobile phones. Parents let their kids go out because they think they're only a phone call away. And even if the kid doesn't come home, parents don't call them because they believe the child's mobile phone offers them an unbreakable link," Masataka tells Sapio. "Behind this imagined ease of mind, though, lies a breakdown in communications among the family members. Mobile phones have made it possible to connect to family members or other parts of society 24 hours a day, drastically changing the nature of relationships that humans have created through their evolution."
The problem is, Masataka notes, despite having this communication device, there's little real communication going on with parents or children rarely calling each other.
Masataka adds that a tendency for the young to lash out in wild, unprovoked attacks also draws on primate instincts drawn out by over-use of mobile phones that have stopped people from speaking in favor of sending text messages and thus made them more emotional and unable to express their feelings in words.
"Apes will suddenly strike out at people for looking at them. Naturally, apes can't talk and they're expressing their emotions in the only way they can. People prone to rage are doing exactly the same thing," the primatologist says.
Masataka claims that mobile phones have deprived people of brainpower because memory functions now eliminate the need to try and remember phone numbers and GPS functions mean people have no need to learn about their surroundings.
"Mobile phones are now performing tasks that minds once did, such as think and talk. If this continues, people will continue losing their ability to think. Information Technology may have liberated us from a whole series of daily burdens, but IT has also dragged us down. Incidentally, the only people so caught up with mobile phones and use them to send so much mail are the Japanese," Masataka tells Sapio. "Some may criticize me for likening the behavior of humans with monkeys, but having studied primates for so long, I can clearly say that it's a fact the proliferation of IT has made human behavior closely resemble that of apes." (By Ryann Connell)
Copyright 2004-2005 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved.
Sapio, 10 November 2005
Going bananas over mobile phones for so many years is turning Japanese into monkeys, according to Sapio (11/23).
Nobuo Masataka, a professor at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute and author of the monster best seller Keitai wo Motta Saru (Monkeys With Mobile Phones), argues that the proliferation of mobile phones has got young Japanese making monkeys of themselves, aping the behavior patterns of chimpanzees.
He says that young Japanese have lost the ability to discern between public and private space. He adds that they have formed what he calls the dearuki-zoku (out and about tribe).
"There's been a dramatic increase in the dearuki-zoku. They don't eat meals at home with family members and you can clearly see with your own eyes the large increase in young people who hang about on the streets together with the same old friends," Masataka tells Sapio. "They make places like Shibuya their territory and rarely head even to places like (nearby entertainment and shopping districts) Shinjuku or Harajuku. They get tired going to new places or meeting new people. If they get hungry while they're strolling around, they simply get food by going into a convenience store, buying something and sitting down outside on the curb to eat it. If not that, then they just hang around for hours in fast food joints."
The primate specialist says the actions of the dearuki-zoku closely resemble behavior patterns in chimpanzees, which tend to travel in groups, walking around for a long time without going to any specific place, then eating and disposing of their wastes in the same place before bedding down on piles of grass whenever and wherever the inclination takes them.
"This ability to loiter on the streets exists only because of the proliferation of mobile phones. Parents let their kids go out because they think they're only a phone call away. And even if the kid doesn't come home, parents don't call them because they believe the child's mobile phone offers them an unbreakable link," Masataka tells Sapio. "Behind this imagined ease of mind, though, lies a breakdown in communications among the family members. Mobile phones have made it possible to connect to family members or other parts of society 24 hours a day, drastically changing the nature of relationships that humans have created through their evolution."
The problem is, Masataka notes, despite having this communication device, there's little real communication going on with parents or children rarely calling each other.
Masataka adds that a tendency for the young to lash out in wild, unprovoked attacks also draws on primate instincts drawn out by over-use of mobile phones that have stopped people from speaking in favor of sending text messages and thus made them more emotional and unable to express their feelings in words.
"Apes will suddenly strike out at people for looking at them. Naturally, apes can't talk and they're expressing their emotions in the only way they can. People prone to rage are doing exactly the same thing," the primatologist says.
Masataka claims that mobile phones have deprived people of brainpower because memory functions now eliminate the need to try and remember phone numbers and GPS functions mean people have no need to learn about their surroundings.
"Mobile phones are now performing tasks that minds once did, such as think and talk. If this continues, people will continue losing their ability to think. Information Technology may have liberated us from a whole series of daily burdens, but IT has also dragged us down. Incidentally, the only people so caught up with mobile phones and use them to send so much mail are the Japanese," Masataka tells Sapio. "Some may criticize me for likening the behavior of humans with monkeys, but having studied primates for so long, I can clearly say that it's a fact the proliferation of IT has made human behavior closely resemble that of apes." (By Ryann Connell)
Copyright 2004-2005 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved.
Friday, November 11, 2005
"cute" Chinese animal mascots
Beijing unveiled five mascots for the 2008 Olympics on Friday-five cartoon renditions of a panda, fish, Tibetan antelope, swallow and the Olympic flame.
[Editor's Note: First impression is they look cheesy.]
Thursday, November 10, 2005
"the dog is healthy and green"
Golden Retriever Gives Birth To Green Puppy
10 November 10 2005
A dog breeder in Alhambra, Calif., is mystified after his golden retriever gave birth to a green puppy, according to a Local 6 News report.
The green puppy, named Wasabi, was one of four puppies born five days ago.
The dog is healthy and green, according to the report.
Local 6 News showed video of the puppy rolling around with its normal-looking newborn brothers and sisters.
Skeptics said the dog had to be dyed green but the owner said the puppy was born green.
Veterinarians said it is possible for a newborn puppy's fur to be green because the placenta, which is green, rubs off at birth.
Monday, November 07, 2005
avian flu attacks red-footed falcons
Bird carcasses trigger avian flu scare in Manipur
Tuesday November 8 2005 00:00 IST
IMPHAL: Wildlife officials have set up dozens of watch posts along the border with Myanmar to monitor signs of avian flu after the deaths of some migratory birds in India's northeast state of Manipur.
A wildlife official said locals in Tamenglong district of Manipur, bordering Myanmar, spotted carcasses of at least five to six red-footed falcons in the past one week prompting authorities to sound an alert.
"We have set up several monitoring cells along the Myanmar border where the concentration of the red-footed falcons is the maximum. Veterinarians and wildlife officials are on alert and closely observing the situation," he said.
Tamenglong District Magistrate T. Panmei added that officials recovered the carcass of one dead bird and sent it for forensic tests to identify the cause of the death.
"We have launched a massive awareness campaign in the area about bird flu and asked locals to report any deaths of migratory birds," Panmei said.
Flocks of the red-footed falcon arrive to breeding grounds in the Barak river in Tamenglong district during the winter season from Central Europe and Asia.
An estimated 450,000 of these birds have already arrived in Tamenglong and were nesting on trees and in bamboo plantations, wildlife officials said. Local authorities in Tamenglong have imposed a ban on the sale and consumption of poultry items in the district as a precautionary measure.
There has been no reported case of bird flu in India but the spread of the virus by migratory birds to Europe from Asia has led to concern in many parts of the northeast with migratory birds flocking to the region with the onset of winter.
Authorities at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam have also sounded an alert last week with thousands of birds from China and Siberia arriving in the sanctuary that is home to the world's largest population of one-horned rhinoceros.
"There is no need for panic but we don't want to take any chances and hence alerted our personnel to keep a strict vigil and monitor any abnormality in migratory birds or their carcasses found inside the sanctuary," Kaziranga park warden N.K. Vasu told IANS.
Fears of bird flu spreading deepened after China earlier this week reported another outbreak in poultry.
There has been a spate of fresh cases in Asia and on the western edge of Europe ahead of the winter, when experts say the deadly H5N1 strain thrives best.
Tuesday November 8 2005 00:00 IST
IMPHAL: Wildlife officials have set up dozens of watch posts along the border with Myanmar to monitor signs of avian flu after the deaths of some migratory birds in India's northeast state of Manipur.
A wildlife official said locals in Tamenglong district of Manipur, bordering Myanmar, spotted carcasses of at least five to six red-footed falcons in the past one week prompting authorities to sound an alert.
"We have set up several monitoring cells along the Myanmar border where the concentration of the red-footed falcons is the maximum. Veterinarians and wildlife officials are on alert and closely observing the situation," he said.
Tamenglong District Magistrate T. Panmei added that officials recovered the carcass of one dead bird and sent it for forensic tests to identify the cause of the death.
"We have launched a massive awareness campaign in the area about bird flu and asked locals to report any deaths of migratory birds," Panmei said.
Flocks of the red-footed falcon arrive to breeding grounds in the Barak river in Tamenglong district during the winter season from Central Europe and Asia.
An estimated 450,000 of these birds have already arrived in Tamenglong and were nesting on trees and in bamboo plantations, wildlife officials said. Local authorities in Tamenglong have imposed a ban on the sale and consumption of poultry items in the district as a precautionary measure.
There has been no reported case of bird flu in India but the spread of the virus by migratory birds to Europe from Asia has led to concern in many parts of the northeast with migratory birds flocking to the region with the onset of winter.
Authorities at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam have also sounded an alert last week with thousands of birds from China and Siberia arriving in the sanctuary that is home to the world's largest population of one-horned rhinoceros.
"There is no need for panic but we don't want to take any chances and hence alerted our personnel to keep a strict vigil and monitor any abnormality in migratory birds or their carcasses found inside the sanctuary," Kaziranga park warden N.K. Vasu told IANS.
Fears of bird flu spreading deepened after China earlier this week reported another outbreak in poultry.
There has been a spate of fresh cases in Asia and on the western edge of Europe ahead of the winter, when experts say the deadly H5N1 strain thrives best.
