JarJar Nixon's Blues Kitchen

UPI

HANOI, Vietnam, March 25

A film starring Trinh Cong Son rarely seen in Vietnam reportedly will be
screened at a Hanoi festival marking the anniversary of the famous
singer's death.

Known as the Bob Dylan of Vietnam, Son was an anti-war composer and
singer who died in 2001 at the age of 62.

A music festival has been held each year to commemorate the anniversary
of his death.

This year's celebration, to be held next week, will also offer a rarely
seen glimpse of Son as an actor, the Vietnam News reported Tuesday.

"One of my contacts in the United States sent me a CD with a recording
of a film called 'Dat Kho (Poor Land.') It was made in 1973 and was
about artists and singers during the American War," Son's friend, poet
Do Trung Quan, told the News.

The film, which co-starred Trinh Quan, Kim Cuong, Bach Ly and Son Nam,
was banned by the U.S.-backed Saigon administration at the time, Quan
said.

"It was such a huge surprise for me, in all the decades we'd been
friends, I never knew he'd been an actor. He never told me."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j5NVAv24GP40qqOLFnJt6jEZZ2pAD8VN7LCO0

Vietnam Man Runs 'Abortion Orphanage'
By MARGIE MASON - 23 hours ago

NHA TRANG, Vietnam (AP) - Sitting cross-legged on a straw mat in the
middle of the living room, Tong Phuoc Phuc sings a soothing Vietnamese
lullaby. For a moment, his deep voice works magic, and the tiny room
crammed with 13 babies is still.
Phuc giggles like a proud papa. He's not related to any of them, but
without him, many of these children likely would have been aborted. And
to Phuc, abortion is unimaginable.

The 41-year-old Catholic from the coastal town of Nha Trang has opened
his door to unwed expectant mothers in a country that logs one of the
world's highest abortion rates. In 2006, there were more than 114,000
abortions at state hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City - outnumbering births.

Most pregnant, unmarried Vietnamese women have few options. Abortion is
a welcome choice for many who simply cannot afford to care for a baby or
are unwilling to risk being disowned by their families.

The communist government calls premarital sex a "social evil." Abortion,
however, is legal and performed at nearly every hospital. And unlike in
some Western countries where the issue is hotly contested, the practice
stirs little debate here.
But shelters for women who want to keep their babies are rare. Phuc
promises them food and a roof until they give birth, and then cares for
the children until the mothers can afford to take them. In the past four
years, he's taken in 60 kids, with about half still living in his two
houses.

"Sometimes we have 10 mothers living here ... sleeping on the floor,"
says Phuc, a thin man with dark, weathered skin and teeth stained brown
from years of smoking. "The problem is that a lot of young people live
together and have sex, but they have no knowledge about getting
pregnant. So they get abortions."

Phuc says he made a deal with God seven years ago when his wife
encountered complications while in labor with their son. He vowed that
if they were spared, he would find a way to help others. As his wife lay
recuperating after the difficult birth, he recalls seeing many pregnant
women going into the delivery room but always leaving alone.

"I was wondering, 'where are the babies?'" he says, cradling an infant
in each arm. "Then I realized they had abortions."
Phuc, a building contractor, started saving money to buy a craggy plot
of land outside town. He then began collecting unwanted fetuses from
hospitals and clinics to bury in graves on the property. At first,
doctors and neighbors thought he had gone mad. Even his wife questioned
spending their savings to build a cemetery for aborted babies.

But he kept on, and now some 7,000 tiny plots dot the shady hillside,
many marked with bright red, pink and yellow artificial roses.

"I believe these fetuses have souls," says Phuc, who has two children of
his own. "And I don't want them to be wandering souls."

Vietnam was ranked as having the world's highest abortion rate in a 1999
report by the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute, which tracks the
statistics. More recent reliable data for both public and private
clinics are unavailable. Aid agency Pathfinder International says
abortions remain high in Vietnam but appear to be declining slightly.

Dr. Vo Thi Kim Loan has run her own clinic just outside Ho Chi Minh City
since 1991. She says the number of young, unmarried women seeking quick,
discreet abortions has increased with more teen girls having sex before
marriage. She also still sees a steady stream of married women coming in
for repeat abortions because their husbands disapprove of
contraceptives.

Preference for boys is another factor. Vietnamese women with access to
ultrasound sometimes terminate pregnancies after discovering they're
carrying girls in a country where couples are encouraged to have just
two children.

Phuc isn't sure why so many Vietnamese choose abortion and says more
women need to understand safer forms of birth control are available.

He says word of his unusual graveyard eventually spread, and women who
had undergone abortions started visiting to pray and burn incense. Phuc
urged them to tell others considering the same option to talk with him
first.

Phan Thi Hong Vu looks lovingly at her chubby 7 1/2-month-old baby boy
sucking on a pacifier surrounded by all the other babies on Phuc's
floor.

She shivers at the thought of how close she came to losing him.

"I actually went to the hospital intending to get an abortion, but I was
so scared," says Vu, who was 3 1/2 months pregnant at the time. "I
decided to go home and think about it. Two weeks later, I met with
Phuc."
She moved into the 904-square-foot house soon after and remains there
with seven other new or expectant mothers. They spend their days
washing, feeding, burping, changing and playing with the babies - all
but one are under a year old. The constant chorus of crying, coughing
and cooing fills the living room, which is lined with pink and blue
cribs and adorned with a crucifix, the Virgin Mary and a photo of the
late Pope John Paul II.

It's a full-time operation that involves Phuc's entire family. His older
sister manages the chaos, mixing vats of strained potatoes and carrots
and preparing formula for bottles, while shushing crying babies and
chasing crawlers. The entrance to the single-level cement house tells
the story: rows of bibs, booties, jumpers and spit rags hang drying in
the sun.

It costs about $1,800 a month to care for all 33 babies and the women.

Phuc gets donations from Catholic and Buddhist organizations and from
people who have heard about his work. On a recent day, a local family
dropped by with an envelope sent from their daughter in California who
had read about Phuc on a Vietnamese Web site. Two years ago, he even got
a letter from Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet praising him for
caring for women and children scorned by society.

Health authorities say they support what he's doing, but also keep a
close eye on him to ensure everything is legitimate in a country where
baby selling and child trafficking are a problem. Some people accuse
Phuc of condoning premarital sex.
Phuc's operation is not a registered orphanage, which means he cannot
put any of the children up for adoption. But even if he could, he shakes
his head and says his goal is to reunite each child with its mother or
to raise them as his own. So far, 27 babies have gone home.

"I will continue this job until the last breath of my life," he says. "I
will encourage my children to take over to help other people who are
underprivileged."

Copyright ) 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7318180.stm

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Windows Live Hotmail is giving away Zunes. Enter for your chance to win.

Fabulous review of great Broadway songs recently held at the just-renovated Kumho Asiana Art Hall hre in Seoul. This is Callie at the reception afterward.

Announcement and
Call for Papers
International Conference on
"Language, Literature and Culture in ASEAN:
 Unity in Diversity"
Organized in Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of ASEAN
Date: August 4-5, 2008
Venue :   Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University,
Bangkok Thailand

Organizer
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University


Rationale:
The year 2007 marks the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of
ASEAN.  To commemorate this milestone, the ten member nations of the
organization have organized various activities under the main theme,
"One ASEAN at the Heart of a Dynamic Asia".  The celebrations
commenced in January 2007 and will continue until August 2008, which
coincides with the month of ASEAN's birth.

As one of the founding members of ASEAN, Thailand is taking part in
the celebrations, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the
coordinator of assistance and collaboration from other government
agencies.  The aim is to a generate greater awareness among the public
of the significance of the role played by ASEAN, particularly in terms
of political, economic, social and cultural collaboration between the
member nations of this vital region.

Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Arts is an institution of higher
learning that offers classes related to the languages, literature,
history and culture of the ASEAN countries.  It also serves as a
resource center for academics and specialists in topics on the ASEAN
region.  It has therefore been deemed appropriate that it lend support
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by organizing an international
conference on "Language, Literature  and Culture in ASEAN: Unity in
Diversity".  This conference will serve as a platform for academics
and graduate students, from within Thailand and abroad, to present
their research on topics reflecting their scholarly interests.  The
conference will not only highlight the major theme of "One ASEAN at
the Heart of a Dynamic Asia" but will also reflect the strength and
dynamism manifested in the rich and diverse culture which has been a
part of the potential of this organization during the past four
decades, a fitting finale for the year-long celebrations that have
taken place between 2007 and 2008.

Panels:
1.      ASEAN from a Linguistic Perspective
       1.1 Languages used in the ASEAN region
       1.2 Languages of ethnic groups in the ASEAN region
       1.3 Dynamism of the English language in the ASEAN community

2.      ASEAN from a Literary Perspective
       2.1 Literary works of different forms and periods that illustrate
       similarities and differences within the ASEAN region
       2.2 ASEAN literary works in the global context
       2.3 ASEAN literary works in translation

3.      ASEAN from a Cultural Perspective
       3.1 The performing arts: similarities and disparities
       3.2 Film
       3.3 Philosophy, religion, beliefs, rituals, culture
           and tradition in the multi-ethnic context of
           the ASEAN region

Abstract Submission
Interested participants may submit the abstract of not more than 250
words (using 1" margins on all sides and 12 pt font size). The title
of the paper, the name of the author/authors, the institute the
author/authors attached to, contact details, and the panel and/or
section for which you would like you abstract to be considered  should
be written at the top of paper before the text. All abstracts should
be submitted as attachments, in MS Word or PDF format to
cuaseanconference@yahoo.com. The abstracts are subjected to be
reviewed by a panel of reviewers and the accepted abstracts will be
announced on the web as well as personal contact via e-mail. All
abstracts submitted in time will be published in the abstract booklet.

Deadlines:
Abstract submission:    May 31, 2008

For more information, please visit our official site at
http://www.arts.chula.ac.th/~cuasean/<http://www.arts.chula.ac.th/%7Ecuasean/>
or contact the International Affairs Section, Faculty of Arts,
Chulalongkorn University  Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Tel: (66) 02 218 4885, (66) 02 218 2724, or (66) 02 218 4725
Fax: (66) 02 218 4885 E-mail: cuaseanconference@yahoo.com

---

...Its Tail Comes to the Rescue

By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: March 18, 2008

Apart from its ability to hawk car insurance, the gecko has gained renown for its skills as a climber. It can ascend vertical walls and even walk across ceilings, courtesy of its sticky feet.

But the gecko is far from a perfect climber; it can slip at times. And when it does, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, report in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it uses its tail to help recover.

Using slow-motion video (some can be seen at nytimes.com/science), Ardian Jusufi, Robert J. Full and colleagues discovered that the gecko’s tail is a very active appendage, springing into action when things go wrong. When the gecko is climbing vertically and starts to slip, the tail arches and the tip pushes against the surface, which usually prevents the head and upper body from pitching back, away from the wall. If it doesn’t, then most of the tail flattens against the wall. These movements, the researchers showed, stopped the gecko from slipping within a quarter of a second.

When all else failed and geckos fell, the researchers noticed that they always landed right-side up. Cats and other mammals that can right themselves generally do so by twisting their spines. But the researchers’ videos showed that the gecko used its tail, swinging it around while upside down to produce a counter-rotation of the body in about a 10th of a second.

The researchers say the concept of such an active tail has already been incorporated in a four-legged climbing robot, called RiSE, and could inspire future designs of gliding aircraft and spacecraft.

NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/science/18obgeck.html?ref=science

http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/vietnamcenter/events/2008_symposium/2008agend
a.pdf

i think i am trying to mimic the traffic signal