Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Dinner with double ricebowls




 

During Chinese New Year, we always want double blessings, so during one family dinner, we ended up having two rice bowls ! 

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Prince of Tyre - Marina's Monologue


Pericles, Prince of Tyre 

https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-plays/pericles-prince-tyre/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericles,_Prince_of_Tyre#Further_reading

https://www.bard.org/study-guides/characters-pericles


Pericles Thaisa and Marina

 https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/pericles/summary/


Gower, an offscene narrator, enters to tell about the kingdom of Antioch, where king Antiochus and Antiochus's daughter are engaging in incest. Antiochus has kept suitors from marrying her by requiring that they answer a riddle correctly or die. Pericles, Prince of Tyre, tries his hand at the riddle. He is successful, but discovers that its answer reveals the incestuous relationship between father and daughter. Pericles doesn't reveal the truth, and Antiochus gives him forty days before his death sentence. But Pericles is sure Antiochus will want him dead for knowing the truth, so he flees back to Tyre. Antiochus sends an assassin after him.

In Tyre, Pericles worries that Antiochus will take some form of revenge, whether a military attack or an underhanded assassination attempt. Filled with melancholy, he takes the advice of Helicanus, his councilor, to travel for a while until Antiochus is no longer after him. Pericles first goes to Tarsus, where king Cleon and his wife Dionyza bemoan the famine that has beset their nation. Pericles arrives with corn and saves them. But soon a letter from Helicanus calls Pericles back to Tyre, so he sets off.

 
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QUIZ: Can You Guess the Book from a Bad One-Sentence Summary? | The SparkNotes Blog

QUIZ: Can You Guess the Book from a Bad One-Sentence Summary? | The SparkNotes Blog

On the way home Pericles is shipwrecked in a storm in Pentapolis. Some fishermen tell him about king Simonides's daughter, a lovely girl who will be married to whoever wins a jousting contest the following day. Pericles determines to enter the contest. Though his is the rustiest armor, Pericles wins the tournament, and dines with Simonides and his daughter Thaisa, both of whom are very impressed with him.

Meanwhile in Tyre, Helicanus reveals that Antiochus and his daughter have been burnt to death by fire from heaven, so Pericles can return. Other citizens want to crown Helicanus as king, but Helicanus insists they wait to see if Pericles returns.

In Pentapolis, Pericles hears of recent events and determines to go back to Tyre. On board a boat with his wife and Lychordia, a nurse, they come upon a great storm, during which Thaisa dies in childbirth. The shipmaster insists the body be thrown overboard, or the storm won't stop, and Pericles complies. Thaisa's body is put in a chest, which washes up in Ephesus, where it is brought to the attention of Cerimon, a generous doctor. He discovers that Thaisa is not dead, and revives her.

Pericles lands in Tarsus and hands over his child, Marina, to Cleon and Dionyza, since he thinks it won't survive the journey to Tyre. Then times passes; Pericles is king of Tyre, Thaisa becomes a priestess for Diana, and Marina grows up. But Dionyza is jealous of Marina, who takes all the attention away from her own daughter who is of similar age. Dionyza plots to have Leonine murder Marina, but at the last moment, pirates seize her, and take her to Myteline on Lesbos to sell her as a prostitute.

Sold to a brothel run by Pander and Bawd, Marina refuses to give up her honor, despite the many men who come wanting to buy her virginity. She manages to convince the men who come to the brothel that her honor is sacred, and they leave seeking virtue in their own lives. Soon she gets work in a reputable house, educating girls. Meanwhile, Pericles goes on a trip to Tarsus to reunite with his daughter, but Cleon and Dionyza tell him that she has died, and show him the monument they have ordered built in order to erase their complicity in the matter. Pericles is distraught, and sets to the seas again.

Pericles and his crew arrive in Myteline, and Lysimachus goes out to meet the ships. Helicanus explains that Pericles has not spoken in three months, and Lysimachus says he knows someone in his city who may be able to make him talk. Marina is brought to the ship, and she tells Pericles that her own sufferings must match his. He asks her about her birth, and she says her name is Marina. Startled, Pericles asks her to continue, and to his surprise finds that everything Marina says matches the story of his own lost Marina. They are reunited, but Pericles is exhausted, and in his sleep the goddess Diana tells him to go to her temple in Ephesus and tell of his experiences. When he wakes, he promises Marina to Lysimachus, and they set off for Ephesus.

In Ephesus, Thaisa is a priestess at the temple where Pericles tells his story. When she realizes Pericles is her lost husband, she faints, and Cerimon explains that she is Thaisa. The whole family is reunited, and overjoyed.

Gower returns to offer a conclusion, noting that we have seen evil punished (Antiochus and his daughter have died, and when the people of Tarsus discovered Cleon's evil, they revolted and killed him and his wife in a palace fire), but that we have met a variety of good people along the way, such as loyal Helicanus and charitable Cerimon. Pericles and his family have endured the vagaries of fortune, and through it all remained virtuous, so in the end they were rewarded with the joy of being reunited.



https://www.litcharts.com/shakescleare/shakespeare-translations/pericles/act-4-scene-6#:~:text=Do%20any%20thing%20but%20this,deliver%20me%20from%20this%20place!



https://stageagent.com/monologues/5794/pericles-prince-of-tyre/marina

https://stageagent.com/monologues/5794/pericles-prince-of-tyre/marina#related-products

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=JbEpsUugCB0&feature=emb_logo

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/pericles/pericles.4.6.html



3 Tips for Performing Shakespeare by Candace Scholz. www.candacescholz.com Kenneth Branagh imdb:

A good Shakespear to start with :-

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000110/









Wednesday, August 12, 2020

This could be why you're depressed or anxious

 

This could be why you're depressed or anxious | Johann Hari



In a moving talk, journalist Johann Hari shares fresh insights on the causes of depression and anxiety from experts around the world -- as well as some exciting emerging solutions. "If you're depressed or anxious, you're not weak and you're not crazy -- you're a human being with unmet needs," Hari says.

We need to talk less about chemical imbalances and more about the imbalances in the way we live.
If you're depressed or anxious, you're not weak and you're not crazy -- you're a human being with unmet needs.

"We are the first human beings ever to disband our tribes.” “Don’t be you, don’t be yourself, be ‘us’, be ‘we’, be part of a group.” “Junk values have taken over our lives and made us mentally sick.” “We’ve been trained to look for meaning and value in all the wrong places” “Junk values don’t meet your psychological needs, they don’t lead to a fulfilling life.” “In this culture we do not live by the things we know... we live in a machine that is designed to get us to neglect what is most important about life.” “How can you dedicate more of your life to live by things of meaning and purpose” “Create meetings to articulate and reinforce our values...to take us away from the avalanche of incorrect voices.” “Your depression is not a malfunction, it’s a signal, it’s telling you something - it’s not a sign of weakness or madness, or purely biological.” “It’s only when we truly respect and listen to these signals, that we will find our way out and to a more meaningful life.”

Be involved in a we mentality.

Friday, August 7, 2020

Education for Sabah's Invisible Children

Education for Sabah's Invisible Children | Rose Patsy Tibok | TEDxUMSKK



Ms Rose Patsy shares her experiences on outreaching the unreachable through extensive research in Sabah. She believes that every children should be given the chance for education.  Rosy Patsy Tibok has conducted many studies, published a few academic papers concerning the outreaches that has been done, and happening all over Sabah for undocumented and stateless children. Mostly of Indonesian or Philippines origin, they are the children of refugees that migrated to Sabah. The children of the refugees mostly do not receive citizenship (birth certificate) due to the lack of documents and can’t even get access to basic human right like education. She also made studies and evaluations about the alternative education provided to these undocumented and stateless children.

Friday, July 31, 2020

Chickens




Elliot posted this RM11 Chicken from KL Supermarket and this reminded me again why we should not eat so much Chicken meat as source of protein. I knew about it from talks at Aenon Health Farm and many other sources, about GMO chicken  breeds for meat, extreme fast growth with extra Growth Hormones. So here is a reminder of what our chickens have become. 







10 facts you should know about factory-farmed chickens

29/11/2016

Industrial meat chicken farming is one of the biggest causes of animal suffering globally. Yet most people have no idea about the suffering these intelligent, sensitive animals endure

"This conveyor belt of rapidly-grown chickens comes at a price. Behind the world’s favourite meat is an unacceptable cost of suffering that is increasing as the global demand for chicken grows."

Global chicken consumption is growing each year, so to keep up with demand, and so companies farming chickens for meat have significantly sped up the growing process.

However, in many cases the welfare of chickens is completely disregarded, leaving them to suffer miserably throughout their short lives.

Did you know?

  1. Around 60 billion chickens are reared for meat each year. 40 billion of these are raised in huge, crowded sheds, or cramped cages. They are kept in dismal conditions and suffer painful heart, skin, lung and bone problems and stress.
  2. Chicken is one of the world’s most popular meats. Between 1996-2016, demand for chicken meat grew almost 40% in the European Union, 89% in China and 183% in India.
  3. A factory-farmed chicken lives an average of 42 days. In the wild, chickens can live for several years.
  4. Many factory-grown chickens gain more than 50g in weight every day. However, their immune systems, organs and legs cannot keep up, so they suffer a range of physical problems as a result.
  5. Meat chickens are still babies when they’re slaughtered. Due to increased growth rate and shortened life span, chickens bred for meat may look fully-grown despite still being young.
  6. Only specific breeds of chicken are bred for meat. They’re genetically selected for their ability to reach ‘slaughter weight’” as fast as possible.
  7. Around 2,000 meat chickens are slaughtered every second around the world.
  8. Many meat chickens live in a space smaller than an A4 piece of paper. By the time they’re ready for slaughter, there’s barely space for them to move.
  9. Chickens love ‘dust-bathing’. They dig shallow holes to jump in, then cover themselves in dry dust and dirt. It’s an important natural behaviour, keeps feathers in good condition, and removes parasites. Factory-grown chickens are commonly prevented from dust-bathing and carrying out other important behaviours, such as pecking, scratching and perching.
  10. 71% of people never when ask where the chicken is from when buying it at a fast-food outlet. This insight came from our recent survey of 12,000 people.

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Amazing Facts about who are the sons of Noah

I love this video clips. It makes a lot of sense to me.