Monday 25 April 2016

Working title of my future auto-biography

Du' Coccole e un Campari

One of my jobs is with a translation agency, somebody at Acahi please find the appropriate English language version of the above

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Taiwan

I recently learned that the Vatican is one of the few countries in the world - indeed the only country in Europe - to maintain full diplomatic ties with Taiwan. So I begrudgingly admire the Vatican.

In the (bitter) words of Ocean:
"... Unlike certain other countries, that say they stand for democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc.. So when they have to choose between a country that has all those and one that has none of those, they choose to recognize the one that has none of them. Not naming any names."

You know, read between the lines, so to speak.

Monday 11 April 2016

Sacred Games, Gary Corby

At the greatest games of the nation
A troubling accusation.
(Nico) Fending off war,
his victory soars:
the first Olympic Investigation


Sunday 10 April 2016

Libertarian Forum, Part Deux

Another energizing performance. It warms my heart to know that there are people interesting in running for office AND in speaking to voters as if we were all adults. What?!

Sadly Petersen failed on this note. Compared to the main stream party candidates he probably would have sounded impressive: clearly well prepared and also well read. However next to two people who gave concrete answers, he sometimes fell short.

Example: gun control. We got an educational session on the fight against tyranny, but not a word on what would change, if anything, in access to guns. It's a big issue, highly contentious, you can't get away with a non-answer.

Johnson, again, has the most experience and of all three can probably have the broadest appeal. He is saying things that both Cruz supporters and Sanders supporters want to hear. I wasn't happy with his answer on the EPA (anecdotes do not policy make) and he was also too vague on guns, as if he was not finishing his thought.

McAfee stands out as both principled and intelligent. My view on him remains constant: I wouldn't so much want to see him as president as I would consigliere, so to speak, to the president.

Watch the whole debate below


Wednesday 6 April 2016

On Discrimination

The free market gives people choices. There are lots of bakers, but just one government. That's why government must never discriminate, but if private businesses cannot, does "private" have real meaning? What about freedom of association?

How the Libertarian candidates disagree on private business service decisions.

"Should a Jewish baker be forced to bake a cake for a Nazi wedding?"

Sunday 3 April 2016

24 Hour Opera Project

5 composers
5 librettists
5 stage directors and 5 musical directors.
20-25 singers.

5 teams: each team is given a theme and 2 props.

Composers and librettists have 12 hours in which to compose an opera.

The following day, musical directors, stage directors and singers have another 12 hours to stage, rehearse and learn their given opera.

At 19:30, on the SCADShow stage, they performed. For our entertainment.

5 operas, composed learned and rehearsed in 24 hours. Each one 15-20 minutes long. It was phenomenal. My vote (there was an audience appreciation winner) was for the Purple team, the first performance. Reasons: their use of props; rather than working them in to a story, they made the story entirely about the props. The music; operatic, highly pleasing and strongly thematic throughout. The performance; flawless on the part of the singers.

As we waited for judges' deliberations, the team staged 3 improv operettas. I had never seen anything like it, and it was simply wonderful. Humorous, of course well sung, highly entertaining. I could watch this every week.

Saturday 2 April 2016

Election 2016 - Libertarian forum

There are three parties involved. And if ever there was a year to look for a third option... 2016 may be it.

I was expecting something much crazier, but Stossel only hosted Petersen, McAfee and Johnson. All were adults, McAfee even wore a suit and tie, thank you for the effort.

Petersen was the politician on stage. Close your eyes and you can almost think you're listening to Rubio pre-election. This is a weakness on his part. The whole "sounds like a politician" thing. He has policies but they tend to sound far-fetched.

McAfee is a madman. He should probably not be president. What he should be is a senior adviser to a president. He is smart, he is on point, he knows that of which he speaks. Hear him around minute 19 on how to use technology to trace terrorist communications. Find his comments from previous debates about the TSA.

Johnson is sincere. He is also smart and has experience (as governor of New Mexico). And he has sound policies.

What was nice was seeing three adults on stage (even Petersen, though at times one felt he was trying to earn his place at the grown up table). No insults, a fair amount of laughter, and sound answers that mean something.

See for yourselves, I will comment more later.