JarJar Nixon's Blues Kitchen

From Thanh Nien, I believe

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:07:17 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Doctors say stylish helmets less safe

Helmets with large plastic brims may be more stylish than normal
helmets, but are also more dangerous, doctors say Doctors and officials
say that stylized crash helmets are often poorly made and more dangerous
than normal ones.
Since Vietnam's helmet law came into effect last December, helmets have
gone from being a matter of necessity to a new fashion vehicle.

Many women now wear helmets with large plastic brims that look more
feminine and protect them from the sun while men have begun to prefer
cloth-covered cap-like helmets that match their clothes and motorbikes.
But doctors at city hospitals have said that they often treat women with
deep lacerations on their faces after accidents shatter their plastic
brims into sharp pieces.
Many of the victims suffered serious eye injuries or even brain damage
when the plastic was made too cheaply and shattered too easily.

Cho Ray Hospital's Brain Injury Department director Duong Minh Man said
since March this year, his team had received some 40 motorbike accident
cases everyday, most of whom were women wearing brimmed helmets.
Man said that the round cover of ordinary helmets was able to diffuse
impact and lessen the effects of a crash.
But he said that brims were not able to absorb impact as effectively and
that when the plastic brims were struck, the helmet itself often
cracked, leading to more serious head injuries.
Nguyen Manh Am from the Ministry of Science and Technology's Directorate
for Standards and Quality said safety, not beauty, should come first
when driving.

A typical helmet had a plastic cover and an inner soft layer that
diffused impact, said Am, adding that the soft layer in stylized helmets
was too thin.

Both Man and Am suggested that stylized helmets be banned to reduce
traffic accident deaths.
A test by Vietnam Standard and Consumer Association (Vinastas) last
month said over 70 percent of the helmets sold in HCMC, including
stylized helmets, did not meet safety standards.

Neither did 80 percent of helmets with quality control stickers, said
Vinastas.

HCMC Department of Science and Technology said it would work with the
city's Market Management unit this month to test the quality of more
helmets sold in the city, especially stylized helmets.

Two earlier Vinastas tests in March with the HCMC Quality Measure
Standard Bureau found that some 73-83 percent of crash helmets with
quality control stickers did not meet safety standards.

The bureau has called on authorities to crack down on helmet
manufacturers that produce substandard products, saying that better
management and enforcement mechanisms were needed.

Vietnam's compulsory motorbike helmet law states that all motorbike
riders on all roads must wear a helmet at all times.

Reported by Duc Trung

From Rolling Stone...


Larry Norman

The Anthology

RS: 4of 5 Stars Average User Rating: 4.5of 5 Stars

2008

Play View Larry Norman's page on Rhapsody
Most people who have heard of Larry Norman at all know him primarily as a sixties Jesus Freak who pioneered today's multi-billion dollar Contemporary Christian Music industry. But Norman, who died in February at age sixty, was anything but a middle-of-the-road musical sheep who followed a prescribed formula of simplistic shout-outs to Jesus. He was an eccentric, psychedelic music-loving, politically left-leaning hippie folksinger who also loved the lord and wanted everybody else to love him, too. If his music opened sanctuary doors to subsequent Christian acts from Petra to P.O.D., Norman's idiosyncratic voice, melodies and arrangements also inspired secular artists like Black Francis, who named the Pixies' 1987 EP Come On Pilgrim after a line in Norman's bluesy "Watch What You're Doin'," in which he sings, "Come on pilgrim, you know he loves you."

Seven of the twenty songs on this anthology come from Norman's George Martin-produced masterpiece of 1972, Only Visiting This Planet, including the raw, psychedelic garage-rock of "I Am the Six O'Clock News," about media coverage of the Vietnam War; the Dylan-like ballad "Great American Novel," which takes on racism and Christian hypocrisy; and the lush chamber-pop of "Pardon Me," in which Norman rejects a young girl's offer of free love. While Norman's faith fuels even the most tangentially Christian-related tracks here, his visionary music should not be limited to Christian audiences.



MARK KEMP

Cal last weekend before going to his senior prom...

 
 Terry Adams: Love Letter To Andromeda
 
 Terry on the prepared piano and celeste
 Recorded live at The Stone in New York City, January 15, 2008
 Available now at http://www.nrbq.com/store_cds.html
 
 Track Listing:
 1. Enter Lewd
 2. grav-a-minor
 3. Out Of The Cage
 4. Every Thing I Do
 5. Duet For Cousins
 6. If I Had A Dream
 7. Pannonica
 8. Love Letter To Andromeda
 9. Yes, Yes, Yes
 
> http://www.nrbq.com
>
>

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Texas Tech University
March 13-14, 2009

Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand and the Vietnam War

Most historical examinations of the Vietnam War tend to focus on the effects of the war on the principal participants to include the Republic of Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the United States.  The events that took place in Vietnam from 1955 through 1975, however, had a tremendous impact on the entire region.

The purpose of the 2009 Vietnam Center Conference will be to examine the effects of the war on the neighboring nations of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.  The Vietnam Center invites both individual paper proposals as well as complete panels that will examine a wide range of topics to include the effects of the war within these nations either individually or collectively; specific events and activities that took place within each of these nations; the participation of US and other military, diplomatic, and civilian organizations within these countries, issues of regional and international diplomacy and diplomatic relations; the participation of these nations’ military, diplomatic, and civilian organizations within Vietnam and each other,  postwar issues for each nation, etc…

Persons interested in participating should provide a proposal as soon as possible.  Please format proposals to resemble an abstract to include the author’s name, title, and affiliation, contact information, along with a 500 word topic description.  Complete panel proposals should include brief biographies of each speaker, their contact information, as well as a 500 word abstract that describes the theme and purpose for the panel.  Please submit proposals to:

Stephen Maxner, PhD
Director, Vietnam Center
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409-1041

You may also submit proposals via email to steve.maxner@ttu.edu.  If you make a submission but do not receive notification of receipt within 14 days, please call 806-742-9010.

The deadline for submitting proposals is October 1, 2008

This event will take place at the Holiday Inn Park Plaza in Lubbock, Texas.  Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2008/05/781087/

Red-headed cranes may leave Vietnam
15:16' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - The four-day fire (May 22-25) at Tram Chim-Tam Nong
National Park in the southern province of Dong Thap destroyed hundreds
of hectares of a special kind of grass called co nan, a favourite source
of sustenance for red-headed cranes, an endangered species in Vietnam's
and the world's Red Book.

Pham Anh Dung, an official of the HCM City Zoo, said in Vietnam,
red-headed cranes mainly live in the Tram Chim-Tam Nong National Park
and the number of cranes is decreasing. Previously the park had several
hundred cranes, but they now number less than 100.

Because of forest fires, co nan areas are being narrowed. If the
situation is not improved, red-headed cranes will leave Vietnam one day.

The recent fire at Tram Chim is guessed to have been caused by local
people who entered the park to seek bee honey and catch fish. They might
have been detected by forest guards and started a fire to divert
rangers'
attention.

The red-headed crane is one of the largest of its kind, standing
approximately 1.75m tall and weighing 8.7kg. The birds have an average
wingspan of 2.5m. These cranes, once prevalent in all of Southeast Asia,
can now only be found in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. It is estimated
that over 200 of the birds live in An Giang, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and
Dak Lak provinces in Vietnam.
Pham Cuong

Listening to "Zoo Station" by U2 as I head on the KTX bullet train from Iksan back to Seoul.  "I'm ready for what's next," Bono is singing.

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I'm sending this message from Korea's bullet train, dubbed the KTX; it just got wireless Internet routers

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