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grantcart
grantcart's Journal
grantcart's Journal
January 21, 2014
Medical professionals and public health personnel take part in a march Monday from Pathumwan to Asoke intersections, supporting the call for reform before an election. They were joined by Suthep Thaugsuban, secretary-general of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee.
Farmers from the Central Region
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/nationphoto/show-new.php?pageid=0&id=&pid=16771
FOR THE FIRST TIME in a week-long rally demanding immediate payment for rice sold under the government pledging scheme, farmers in Phichit yesterday joined supporters of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) to block the provincial city hall and prevent civil servants from performing their duties.
Farmers from Phichit and nearby provinces blockaded Bung Narang district office on Sunday evening, while those blocking a key junction in the district agreed to make way for traffic and moved to join protesters at the district office.
The farmers and members of the PDRC padlocked the city hall and were continuing a blockade as of press time last night.
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/696674-farmers-plan-protests-against-the-government-for-rice-payments/
Farmers from Thaksin's home region join the protests
Farmer leader Kittisak Ratanawaraha, president of the Network for Northern Farmers, said now farmers from Phichit, Nakhon Sawan, Sukhothai, Kamphaengpet and Phitsanulok are prepared for the next move to block the highway after they did not receive money from the bank as they were earlier promised.
He said instead of calling for money, now farmers will press for the ouster of the caretaker government.
He said farmers will block the Asian Highway from Phitsanulok to Nakhon Sawan at Yaek Po-ngam intersectin in Bung Narang district on Friday.
Some farmers from Phichit were paid but many were not after they were told that the bank has been allocated merely180 million baht.
Meanwhile farmers in some northeastern provinces were also paid for their rice today.
A total of 40,000 farmers in Maha Sarakham province in the Northeast sold rice to the government under the rice-pledging scheme. Now 10,000 of them were paid but the rest were not paid yet.
(Details on the failure of the Rice buy back scheme - and the missing hundreds of billions here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111646869
Farmers from the North East - where the Red Shirts have their deepest support - show declining support for Shinawatra
Ban Thung Yai farmer Saeng Srisomrod, 65, is now one of those now questioning their loyalty to Pheu Thai after the amnesty bill fiasco. He said red shirts were still fighting for justice over the 2010 crackdown under the Democrat-led government. ''If you [the current government] don't respect us, we have no reason to be faithful to you.''What will happen if Pheu Thai becomes really powerful one day and you have the right to kill anyone and get away with it? That's what we think is going to happen if the government passes the amnesty bill. That is why we lost our faith in Pheu Thai for a while.''
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/390310/support-bleeds-away-from-the-heartland.
Pictures from the Seven different Occupation Squares established in Bangkok. It is estimated that 1 in 4 residents in Bangkok have physically participated in protesting at one of the protest sites. From various locations in Bangkok
This is the location where this man threw a grenade that injured 3 dozen protestors
This is the video showing him throwing the grenade;
Thai anti-government protesters hold a candle vigil for the protester killed during yesterday’s bomb blast on the sixth day of the ‘Bangkok Shutdown’ on January 18, 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand. An explosive device went off during an anti-government protest march, wounding dozens and killing one. Explosions and gunshot incidents have been happening as the protesters have stepped up their activity with daily marches in the on-going attempt to oust the government of Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra. (Image source: Getty Images/Paula Bronstein)
Massive protests against the Shinawatra government (Thai) have spread to all sectors. Pic heavy
Medical professionals and public health personnel take part in a march Monday from Pathumwan to Asoke intersections, supporting the call for reform before an election. They were joined by Suthep Thaugsuban, secretary-general of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee.
Farmers from the Central Region
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/nationphoto/show-new.php?pageid=0&id=&pid=16771
FOR THE FIRST TIME in a week-long rally demanding immediate payment for rice sold under the government pledging scheme, farmers in Phichit yesterday joined supporters of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) to block the provincial city hall and prevent civil servants from performing their duties.
Farmers from Phichit and nearby provinces blockaded Bung Narang district office on Sunday evening, while those blocking a key junction in the district agreed to make way for traffic and moved to join protesters at the district office.
The farmers and members of the PDRC padlocked the city hall and were continuing a blockade as of press time last night.
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/696674-farmers-plan-protests-against-the-government-for-rice-payments/
Farmers from Thaksin's home region join the protests
Farmer leader Kittisak Ratanawaraha, president of the Network for Northern Farmers, said now farmers from Phichit, Nakhon Sawan, Sukhothai, Kamphaengpet and Phitsanulok are prepared for the next move to block the highway after they did not receive money from the bank as they were earlier promised.
He said instead of calling for money, now farmers will press for the ouster of the caretaker government.
He said farmers will block the Asian Highway from Phitsanulok to Nakhon Sawan at Yaek Po-ngam intersectin in Bung Narang district on Friday.
Some farmers from Phichit were paid but many were not after they were told that the bank has been allocated merely180 million baht.
Meanwhile farmers in some northeastern provinces were also paid for their rice today.
A total of 40,000 farmers in Maha Sarakham province in the Northeast sold rice to the government under the rice-pledging scheme. Now 10,000 of them were paid but the rest were not paid yet.
(Details on the failure of the Rice buy back scheme - and the missing hundreds of billions here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111646869
Farmers from the North East - where the Red Shirts have their deepest support - show declining support for Shinawatra
Ban Thung Yai farmer Saeng Srisomrod, 65, is now one of those now questioning their loyalty to Pheu Thai after the amnesty bill fiasco. He said red shirts were still fighting for justice over the 2010 crackdown under the Democrat-led government. ''If you [the current government] don't respect us, we have no reason to be faithful to you.''What will happen if Pheu Thai becomes really powerful one day and you have the right to kill anyone and get away with it? That's what we think is going to happen if the government passes the amnesty bill. That is why we lost our faith in Pheu Thai for a while.''
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/390310/support-bleeds-away-from-the-heartland.
Pictures from the Seven different Occupation Squares established in Bangkok. It is estimated that 1 in 4 residents in Bangkok have physically participated in protesting at one of the protest sites. From various locations in Bangkok
This is the location where this man threw a grenade that injured 3 dozen protestors
This is the video showing him throwing the grenade;
Thai anti-government protesters hold a candle vigil for the protester killed during yesterday’s bomb blast on the sixth day of the ‘Bangkok Shutdown’ on January 18, 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand. An explosive device went off during an anti-government protest march, wounding dozens and killing one. Explosions and gunshot incidents have been happening as the protesters have stepped up their activity with daily marches in the on-going attempt to oust the government of Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra. (Image source: Getty Images/Paula Bronstein)
January 21, 2014
High quality global journalism requires investment.
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/01/07/controversial-rice-policy-costs-thailand-export-crown/#ixzz2qzNKddt2
After more than 30 years at the top, Thailand has lost its spot to India as the world’s number one rice exporter, slipping to third place last year due largely to a controversial government farm subsidy policy.
Now some critics say that as well as disrupting exports, the policy could undermine the food security because the government’s radical intervention could make supplies less stable in the future.
Billions have been spent but who has gotten the money?
Not the farmers
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303465004579322153849112452
Thailand's flagship rice subsidy is running out of cash and backfiring at a critical time for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose political future hinges on support from farmers and other rural voters as her rivals intensify their campaign to remove her from office.
The government has been buying up rice from farmers at about 50% above market prices to boost rural incomes since Ms. Yingluck's Pheu Thai Party took office in 2011. Now, it can't sell the rice fast enough to fund the subsidy. Rival exporters such as India and Vietnam have ramped up production, selling rice cheaper and knocking Thailand off its perch as the No. 1 exporter.
"Farmers are very angry," said Nipon Poapongsakorn, a rural development specialist at Thailand Development Research Institute, a think tank. "It is the first time in our history that farmers didn't get money for the rice that they already sold to the government,''
The state-owned bank tasked with funding the policy, the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, is seeking to raise 20 billion baht ($610 million) in a bond auction Thursday it hopes will make up the shortfall from a 75 billion baht auction in November, when only half of the issue was purchased.
The funds will go toward paying rice farmers, some of whom haven't been paid in months. The government on Wednesday extend a deadline for the payment of October's harvest, while local media said that in one northern province, only a small fraction of its nearly 50,000 rice farmers received money from the government.
So the farmers didn't get the money but Yingluck isn't letting anyone know where the B 700 billion has gone keeping payments secret
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/390431/going-against-the-grain
The public knows only that the rice pledging scheme has cost the country more than 700 billion baht in budgets so far, with losses projected to exceed 200 billion baht, according to economists. Plagued by rampant corruption, the pledging scheme is the most controversial policy of the Pheu Thai Party. Yet the party vowed to carry on with the programme if re-elected despite heavy criticism and a lack of to pay farmers at this time.
Now Thailand is unable to float a bond
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/390521/thai-default-risk-soars-as-funds-pull-out-4-billion
The perceived risk of Thailand defaulting on its debt is at its highest since August last year, as anti-government protests prompt money managers to sell off Thai stocks and bonds.
The cost of protecting Thailand's debt soared after investors including Wells Fargo Inc pulled more than US$4 billion from Thai stocks and bonds since Oct 31, as rallies clogged up Bangkok roads and clashes left nine dead with 550 injured. Pacific Investment Management Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Kokusai Asset Management Co reduced debt holdings before protests first erupted in late October, regulatory filings show.
"We sold the entire Thai position in our international bond fund through the end of last year," Lauren Van Biljon, an analyst in London at Wells Fargo's First International Advisors LLC unit, said in a Jan 17 telephone interview. "There seems to be a very wide gulf between the different political sides."
It is estimated that to make up the shortfall on this one scheme it will cost the Thais 3.2% of GDP, an astronomical figure.
Shinawatra (Thailand) clan leads Thai economy to collapse.
Beyond the criminal & political crimes of Thaksin and Yingluck we now are entertained by the likely collapse of the Thai bond market as we watch the last few months of their incompetency.
Under the rubric of progressive sounding schemes the current regime engaged in a number of hair brained economic plans that have left the Thai government in deep debt and no one buying their bonds.
One of the plans was to provide down payments for 100,000 first time car buyers. This was a big bonanza for the manufacturers and dealers but most of the people who qualified for the plan were unable to sustain car payments and massive repossessions undermined the resale equity of existing car owners who now have cars who cannot be sold in a market flooded with cheap repossessed cars.
An even greater folly was the plan to provide increased income to rice farmers by subsidizing rice prices. There was a long history of this working well for decades but it worked because of its modest goals and the basic idea was to provide level prices, allowing farmers to get the benefit of the highest prices of the season. The Shinawatra promised more, much more. They were going to offer farmers twice the world price.
Here are the results:
High quality global journalism requires investment.
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/01/07/controversial-rice-policy-costs-thailand-export-crown/#ixzz2qzNKddt2
After more than 30 years at the top, Thailand has lost its spot to India as the world’s number one rice exporter, slipping to third place last year due largely to a controversial government farm subsidy policy.
Now some critics say that as well as disrupting exports, the policy could undermine the food security because the government’s radical intervention could make supplies less stable in the future.
Billions have been spent but who has gotten the money?
Not the farmers
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303465004579322153849112452
Thailand's flagship rice subsidy is running out of cash and backfiring at a critical time for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose political future hinges on support from farmers and other rural voters as her rivals intensify their campaign to remove her from office.
The government has been buying up rice from farmers at about 50% above market prices to boost rural incomes since Ms. Yingluck's Pheu Thai Party took office in 2011. Now, it can't sell the rice fast enough to fund the subsidy. Rival exporters such as India and Vietnam have ramped up production, selling rice cheaper and knocking Thailand off its perch as the No. 1 exporter.
"Farmers are very angry," said Nipon Poapongsakorn, a rural development specialist at Thailand Development Research Institute, a think tank. "It is the first time in our history that farmers didn't get money for the rice that they already sold to the government,''
The state-owned bank tasked with funding the policy, the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, is seeking to raise 20 billion baht ($610 million) in a bond auction Thursday it hopes will make up the shortfall from a 75 billion baht auction in November, when only half of the issue was purchased.
The funds will go toward paying rice farmers, some of whom haven't been paid in months. The government on Wednesday extend a deadline for the payment of October's harvest, while local media said that in one northern province, only a small fraction of its nearly 50,000 rice farmers received money from the government.
So the farmers didn't get the money but Yingluck isn't letting anyone know where the B 700 billion has gone keeping payments secret
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/390431/going-against-the-grain
The public knows only that the rice pledging scheme has cost the country more than 700 billion baht in budgets so far, with losses projected to exceed 200 billion baht, according to economists. Plagued by rampant corruption, the pledging scheme is the most controversial policy of the Pheu Thai Party. Yet the party vowed to carry on with the programme if re-elected despite heavy criticism and a lack of to pay farmers at this time.
Now Thailand is unable to float a bond
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/390521/thai-default-risk-soars-as-funds-pull-out-4-billion
The perceived risk of Thailand defaulting on its debt is at its highest since August last year, as anti-government protests prompt money managers to sell off Thai stocks and bonds.
The cost of protecting Thailand's debt soared after investors including Wells Fargo Inc pulled more than US$4 billion from Thai stocks and bonds since Oct 31, as rallies clogged up Bangkok roads and clashes left nine dead with 550 injured. Pacific Investment Management Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Kokusai Asset Management Co reduced debt holdings before protests first erupted in late October, regulatory filings show.
"We sold the entire Thai position in our international bond fund through the end of last year," Lauren Van Biljon, an analyst in London at Wells Fargo's First International Advisors LLC unit, said in a Jan 17 telephone interview. "There seems to be a very wide gulf between the different political sides."
It is estimated that to make up the shortfall on this one scheme it will cost the Thais 3.2% of GDP, an astronomical figure.
January 12, 2014
Find something to be happy about today (Sunday, Januarty 12th, 2014)
Yep still need a little happy in the morning, so on we go thinking about friends
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sometimes sticks are a friend
and sometimes its just a 'bug' in your ear.
sometimes they may look funny, but they still have a lot in common
you just never know who is going to give you a kiss on the cheek
Have a great day, friend!!
January 11, 2014
Find something to be happy about today (Saturday, January 11th, 2014)
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Out of chaos gas is transformed and a new star is born
time goes by and new life is made
and a new song is sung
And we are lucky because we are the first generation to be able to see the whole process from chaos to a child's song!
January 10, 2014
Old friends don't go away, they are just down the road and won't answer the damn phone
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Have a great day today.
Find something to be happy about today (Friday, January 10th, 2014)
Old friends don't go away, they are just down the road and won't answer the damn phone
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Have a great day today.
January 10, 2014
Even if you like other anchors (and there are few too choose from) they inevitably are answering stories already in the mix. I am always interested in what Lawrence O'Donnell and Chris Hayes have to say but they are, more often than not, responding to items already in the media. When you watch Rachel you can watch an entire show that is either of completely fresh material or an angle on a big story that is so refreshingly different that it takes on new life.
It is no accident that Rachel was the one that took what seemed like a lame local story and made it into a national story. She is the most intellectually ambitious the entire bunch.
2) Story Framing
Perhaps her strongest suit is that she frames the story with meticulous detail and fairness. The bridge story is a classic example and at every point she didn't raise the volume beyond the facts, always saying "This may be nothing but . . .".
She also makes sure that the story has the maximum presentation of relevant facts possible. What is known is reported and what is trivial is mentioned in passing.
3) She is fair
At every point she welcomes the people involved to come on the air and set her straight, and a couple of times they have taken her up on it. The reason that people don't come on her show isn't because she isn't courteous (please see #4) but because she is so well informed and know they can't snowball her. She doesn't pick out one fact out of context and over animate it.
4) She is personable
When she has guests on she engages them. If they are diametrically opposed to her obvious position she still treats them with courtesy and respect. It would be hard pressed to find anyone who is more civil in the most aggravating circumstances and she always is willing to put herself on the line by inviting the most disagreeable people on her show.
5) She loves her job
Sometimes she is going over very wonky statistical material with tedious policy implications, and yet she loves doing what she does. If you aren't taken in by the story you simply cannot resist the allure of a smart confident woman who is not only competent but also completely engaged and enjoying her life.
You just have to love Rachel and the work she does, she is just irresistible.
5 Reasons Rachel Maddow is the best news personality on TV now.
1) Story Selection.Even if you like other anchors (and there are few too choose from) they inevitably are answering stories already in the mix. I am always interested in what Lawrence O'Donnell and Chris Hayes have to say but they are, more often than not, responding to items already in the media. When you watch Rachel you can watch an entire show that is either of completely fresh material or an angle on a big story that is so refreshingly different that it takes on new life.
It is no accident that Rachel was the one that took what seemed like a lame local story and made it into a national story. She is the most intellectually ambitious the entire bunch.
2) Story Framing
Perhaps her strongest suit is that she frames the story with meticulous detail and fairness. The bridge story is a classic example and at every point she didn't raise the volume beyond the facts, always saying "This may be nothing but . . .".
She also makes sure that the story has the maximum presentation of relevant facts possible. What is known is reported and what is trivial is mentioned in passing.
3) She is fair
At every point she welcomes the people involved to come on the air and set her straight, and a couple of times they have taken her up on it. The reason that people don't come on her show isn't because she isn't courteous (please see #4) but because she is so well informed and know they can't snowball her. She doesn't pick out one fact out of context and over animate it.
4) She is personable
When she has guests on she engages them. If they are diametrically opposed to her obvious position she still treats them with courtesy and respect. It would be hard pressed to find anyone who is more civil in the most aggravating circumstances and she always is willing to put herself on the line by inviting the most disagreeable people on her show.
5) She loves her job
Sometimes she is going over very wonky statistical material with tedious policy implications, and yet she loves doing what she does. If you aren't taken in by the story you simply cannot resist the allure of a smart confident woman who is not only competent but also completely engaged and enjoying her life.
You just have to love Rachel and the work she does, she is just irresistible.
December 31, 2013
I also found these thoughtful comments by Peter O'Toole which only endeared him more to me than before:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/arts/television/26tudo.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1388517722-0FqqzS/MYVTopGNbCQMByQ
“I am a retired Christian,” he announced playfully, relaxing in his trailer at the end of a hard workday. His costume had been replaced by sweater, jacket, pants and an ascot.
Six decades after his altar-boy childhood and subsequent loss of faith, Mr. O’Toole said he looked elsewhere for life guidance. “I suggest that an education and reading and facts aren’t bad things on which to ponder a few notions,” he said. But he acknowledged a “very strong and very real” spiritual side to his nature.
“No one can take Jesus away from me,” he said, having just expressed an affection for the Sermon on the Mount (“Blessed are the meek,” etc.). “There’s no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with enormous notions. Such as peace.”
Reminds me somewhat of the thoughts of the great Albert Schweitzer
Damn Christians!
I also found these thoughtful comments by Peter O'Toole which only endeared him more to me than before:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/arts/television/26tudo.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1388517722-0FqqzS/MYVTopGNbCQMByQ
“I am a retired Christian,” he announced playfully, relaxing in his trailer at the end of a hard workday. His costume had been replaced by sweater, jacket, pants and an ascot.
Six decades after his altar-boy childhood and subsequent loss of faith, Mr. O’Toole said he looked elsewhere for life guidance. “I suggest that an education and reading and facts aren’t bad things on which to ponder a few notions,” he said. But he acknowledged a “very strong and very real” spiritual side to his nature.
“No one can take Jesus away from me,” he said, having just expressed an affection for the Sermon on the Mount (“Blessed are the meek,” etc.). “There’s no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with enormous notions. Such as peace.”
Reminds me somewhat of the thoughts of the great Albert Schweitzer
December 19, 2013
Liz Cheney’s husband has been registered to vote in both Virginia and Wyoming for the past nine months, even though he signed a document in Wyoming saying he was not registered elsewhere.
Responding to questions from POLITICO, a spokeswoman for the Republican Senate candidate said Phil Perry has notified Virginia authorities to take his name off the rolls but would not say when.
Perry, who continues to practice law in Washington while his wife challenges Sen. Mike Enzi in a Republican primary 2,000 miles west, registered as a Wyoming voter with the Teton County clerk’s office in March.
The county clerk, Sherry Daigle, said new voters are asked if they are registered elsewhere so the office can send a withdrawal request to the other jurisdiction.
“He signed an oath saying he was not currently registered anywhere else,” Daigle told POLITICO.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/wyoming-senate-race-2014-liz-cheney-husband-phil-perry-vote-registration-101298.html#ixzz2ntyma6Fr
Fox News was right there are cases of serious voter fraud that need investigation.
Or at least one:
Liz Cheney’s husband has been registered to vote in both Virginia and Wyoming for the past nine months, even though he signed a document in Wyoming saying he was not registered elsewhere.
Responding to questions from POLITICO, a spokeswoman for the Republican Senate candidate said Phil Perry has notified Virginia authorities to take his name off the rolls but would not say when.
Perry, who continues to practice law in Washington while his wife challenges Sen. Mike Enzi in a Republican primary 2,000 miles west, registered as a Wyoming voter with the Teton County clerk’s office in March.
The county clerk, Sherry Daigle, said new voters are asked if they are registered elsewhere so the office can send a withdrawal request to the other jurisdiction.
“He signed an oath saying he was not currently registered anywhere else,” Daigle told POLITICO.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/wyoming-senate-race-2014-liz-cheney-husband-phil-perry-vote-registration-101298.html#ixzz2ntyma6Fr
December 16, 2013
Hint #2
Did you guess Ludwig van Beethoven?
Well he was born on December 16, 1770 and would be a good candidate for us "Good Newsers" to remember. We often find good news in the midst of tragedy, people overcoming terrible circumstances to rediscover the joy of life and Beethoven suffered terrible tinnitus (something that I am an expert at, unfortunately) which creates sounds in the ear sometimes called "ringing in the ear" but would be better understood as "train whistle in the ear" making it impossible to hear his own music and driving him to consider suicide:
Around 1796, by the age of 26, Beethoven began to lose his hearing.[47] He suffered from a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to hear music; he also tried to avoid conversations. The cause of Beethoven's deafness is unknown, but it has variously been attributed to typhus, auto-immune disorders (such as systemic lupus erythematosus), and even his habit of immersing his head in cold water to stay awake. The explanation from Beethoven's autopsy was that he had a "distended inner ear," which developed lesions over time.
As early as 1801, Beethoven wrote to friends describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings (although it is likely some of his close friends were already aware of the problems).[48] Beethoven, on the advice of his doctor, lived in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers which records his thoughts of suicide due to his growing deafness and records his resolution to continue living for and through his art.[49] Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he wept
Beethoven would be an apt poster child for those of us who struggle against tedium, banality, pain and angst to find the joy of the day because he fought back from all of that to create music that still grabs your emotions today.
But no silly rabbit today we celebrate the birth of my oldest daughter whose middle name is Hataichanok which in Thai is translated as "heart of the father". I always look up Beethoven's birthday at the beginning of December to make sure I don't muff the day.
Find some joy in your life today, friend.
Find something to be happy about today (Monday December 16th, 2013)
Whose birthday are we celebrating today?
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Hint #1
Hint #2
Did you guess Ludwig van Beethoven?
Well he was born on December 16, 1770 and would be a good candidate for us "Good Newsers" to remember. We often find good news in the midst of tragedy, people overcoming terrible circumstances to rediscover the joy of life and Beethoven suffered terrible tinnitus (something that I am an expert at, unfortunately) which creates sounds in the ear sometimes called "ringing in the ear" but would be better understood as "train whistle in the ear" making it impossible to hear his own music and driving him to consider suicide:
Around 1796, by the age of 26, Beethoven began to lose his hearing.[47] He suffered from a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to hear music; he also tried to avoid conversations. The cause of Beethoven's deafness is unknown, but it has variously been attributed to typhus, auto-immune disorders (such as systemic lupus erythematosus), and even his habit of immersing his head in cold water to stay awake. The explanation from Beethoven's autopsy was that he had a "distended inner ear," which developed lesions over time.
As early as 1801, Beethoven wrote to friends describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings (although it is likely some of his close friends were already aware of the problems).[48] Beethoven, on the advice of his doctor, lived in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers which records his thoughts of suicide due to his growing deafness and records his resolution to continue living for and through his art.[49] Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he wept
Beethoven would be an apt poster child for those of us who struggle against tedium, banality, pain and angst to find the joy of the day because he fought back from all of that to create music that still grabs your emotions today.
But no silly rabbit today we celebrate the birth of my oldest daughter whose middle name is Hataichanok which in Thai is translated as "heart of the father". I always look up Beethoven's birthday at the beginning of December to make sure I don't muff the day.
Find some joy in your life today, friend.
December 3, 2013
Find something to be happy about today (Tuesday Dec 3, 2013)
Waiting for the big guy to go to rehab
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feeling old? We can still make a difference by teaching a skill.
Or just providing a challenging highway for play.
We all got something that will help some one else, have a great day.
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