The Virtual em3

Since last time (the interview) where we officially launched the band, a lot of things has happened. We are still trying to find out the best way to exchange information and all the enthusiasm, hundreds of new ideas, but no much organization and method...

As a first atempt, we can present one piece of song - lacking a bit on the mixing but still a result of such different way to work to all of us. Here you are, a little piece of work... Please enjoy it sensibly (and use your headphones...). https://soundcloud.com/tvem3/sets/panorama

Found in an email inbox...

Dear All,

Due to the current financial crisis facing the world at the moment and in the interest of cost cutting, energy preservation and health & safety, The Light At The End Of The Tunnel will be switched off until further notice.

Sincerely,

GOD!

a bit of patriotism

Traditionally Thanksgiving is primarily a North American holiday with religious origins, but lately people are emphasising another meaning: a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. Fair enough, as it is true. But listening to Morning Ireland on RTÈ 1 radio one of these thays, a priest was so excited on detaching religions from Thanksgiving that brought me attention.

Likewise in United States and their people, Europe and the rest of the world are getting more and more their heads on the consumption factor, stablishing a sort of dependency on that. Although this activity is adictive itself, in time of crisis as we are, every little helps, even a stimulus from a religion person - an authority! - to reassure non-christians and non-jews (including skeptics and atheists) that YES, THEY CAN SHOP AS WELL!!

Here in Ireland, on the Republican side, companies start to take advantage of the exchange rates between the British Poud and the Euro. As it's becoming cheaper to buy across the border, they are offering shopping-day packages to the north! And the government of the Republic pays in the radio for a propaganda saying something like "don't go to the north for you Christmas shopping. The money you expend there goes to their taxation system, not to ours." This is the point, ministers, the taxation here is so high that shops can't be competitive enough to beat the delas of the north. Furthermore, people are not (yet) doing theis Christmas shopping... they are doing their regular shopping; grosseries, clothes, housewear...

The message couldn't be more clear:

On this Thanksgiving, show your country how patriotic you are: SHOP! SHOP! SHOP!

Brazilian Media

Comments on an article published in The Economist.

Media and Power are tightly together since ever. The beginning of human communication through artificial channels taught to the first Hominidae the ability to control the environment around them - including the behavior of other people - throught what they manifested. Historically speaking, the use of power need not involve coercion (force or the threat of force). In a nicer word, "influence". The militaries learned well this, and they largely used it.

Nowadays, the internet is arguably one of the most effective tools in media for communication today, and supposedly more democratic. It has brought people closer together and created new online communities, mo matter race, color or creed. However, this popularisation also created a invasion of amateurs to the real world - a doubtful source of supposed information.

In a large consumer-driven society, electronic media and printed media is just another product, and as such, they have to make their propaganda. Once they went this way, they can't step back anymore, as the predators will want more and more, and only news are not always so interesting or entertainment as they wish.

Gaeltacht

Listening to RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta this morning I felt proud of myself, being able to understand, even few and disconnected words, to a native Gaelic speaker speaking Irish!

Learn a new language is always hard to newbies, but when it comes to Irish, even for the Irish people who have some Irish from their childhood is also a tough task! Even more when considering the different speaking areas!

In the past, you could walk easily from Corcaigh to Dhún na nGall, passing through Luimneach and Gaillimh, even in Baile Átha Cliath, speaking Irish and you would understand everybody and be understood by everybody. But with the new English comers, English language started to be mandatory, and Irish speakers started to fade down. Only after The Irish Free State treatment of 1922 a modern Irish language revival has had great success in important areas as education, government and the media.

The word Foreigner is described in dictionaries as 1) One who is from a foreign country or place, 2) One who is from outside a particular group or community; an outsider. In Thesaurus we find 1) A person who comes from a foreign country; someone who does not owe allegiance to your country and 2) Someone who is excluded from or is not a member of a group.

As a foreigner , I think I'm doing well... very well...

Slán... Agus Rathúil!

the day after

I awaken suddenly. It takes me sometime to realise where I am. People searching the wreckage for signs of survivors. I barely can see three feet ahead of me. The dust! Is everywhere, like a dense fog.

It was suppose to be another ordinary Tuesday, but no...

I take off the money and drop my wallet among the wreck, with my security card and my drive license inside, the photo of my wife and the children... I strip the dust from my clothes the better I can, and walk firmly, towards my life, again! But now I'll do differently, oh I will! And tomorrow... everything is gonna be alright.

This is a tribute to Richard Wrights

This is a tribute to Richard Wrights, died today. Zee was formed in 1983, with Richard Wright and Dave Harris. The band signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and released only one album, Identity. The album flopped terribly and Richard Wright left in 1986 to rejoin Pink Floyd.

Richard Wrights left Pink Floyd very disappointed and felling hurt. He felt, at that time, he was stabbed in the back by his old fellas... and he wrote this song:

CONFUSION - Zee

You know I stand in disbeleif
I find strange consolation in your leaving
Life's so supernatural
Cannot survive without breathing
You can't live without disguise
And understand your mind
You can look me in the eyes
The only thing you'll find is your confusion

The stories that you tell to me
Are figments of your own imagination
People you pretend to be
Will you behold in fascination
'Til you stop to realise
That life is not for fun
When a thoughtless story dies
And standing there alone in your confusion

And where to go you go from there
It's your confusion

Alone inside your fantasy
You "fake" your plastic situation
but still you find it hard to see
that this was meant to be your destination
'Til you can live without disguise
And understand your mind
You can look me in the eyes
The only thing you'll find is your confusion

And where to go you go from there
It's your confusion

'Til you stop to realise
That life is not for fun
When a thoughtless story dies
And standing there alone in your confusion

Where do you go from there
Nowhere
Confusion

I take the chance to make mine his words...

A Satellite of love...

The Tripods opened the night with 4 powerful Thin Lizzy songs. They new what they were doing! Thirty minutes later, we came over with The Supertram and The Groovey Rails! Our set was

• For what its worth (Buffalo Springfield);
• Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones);
• She caught the Katy (Blues Brothers);
• Nobody knows when you are down and out (Eric Clapton's version);
• Satellite of Love (Lou Reed)

Then the harmonic player joined us for

• I'll be your baby tonight, You ain't going nowhere, (Bob Dylan)
• and we finished with Key to the highway.

After The Groovey, the gran finale! The Courtmacsherry Ford Transit Acoustic Band, which had nothing of acoustic but a guitar plugged into an amp. We came across with our classical set of

• Little Feat's Willin;
• Blind Faith's Can’t find my way home;
• Cracker's Take me down to the infirmary and I want everything;
• and finished with Van Morrison's Crazy Love...

While the real photos don't come out, I only have to say that the gig was A success! Crowd of people as we haven't expected! Thanks for the "comers" and for the assistance of some - Steve, don't forget the tape! We need to youtube it!

last but not least...

The Address!

Otherwise you'll be lost...

See you all in Scruffy Murphy's!!!

they're gonna crucify me

That's it! Not only the "legendary" Courtmacsherry Ford Transit, but also The Groovey Rails! One was not enough though! During the last rehearsal yesterday I was told I have to play in the other gig too! Good, once I've not played with the guys for years! "Everything is gonna be alright!" they say...

The only thing I have to say is:

Standing in the deck at Scruffy's,
Trying to get my amp working good
The man in the fuzz said, "You've got to play with us".
You know they didn't even give me a chance.

Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're gonna crucify me.

Finally made a plan to escape
they should not bother me again.
But Fergus and Grainne called on to say,
"C'mon you can make it O.K.,
and everybody here wants to pay...

Christ you know it ain't easy,
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going
They're gonna crucify me.

See you all there!

Le grand ménage à plusieurs

Not only from computer music, but the real stuff as well... Some gigs will make me no harm! Although this is in ideological conflict with the em3 project, still doesn't shake the structures of a well-based virtual trio.


For those of you who are local - and don't know yet - Thursday August 28 will be the Greatest Gig in the whole Powers Court-Lower Mount Street! The Tripods will play a support slot for 25 to 30 minutes, then the Groovey Rails, and then the Courtmacsherry Ford Transit! It will be a blues, rock and soul review, plus a jam with everyone at the end.

The Courtmacsherry Ford Transit is the band we palyed in the Guinness Jazz Festival, Cork, 2006... I invite you all to the party! There will be a small admission charge of about €5 with all proceeds to charity.

A long way to Tibet

080808 - Does this number mean something to you? Despite of being a repetition it shouldn't. You shouldn't think in anything mystical, or metaphysical. It shouldn't give you extra hopes or extra fears. Neither extra meanings than just another day. And the only special thing is that the Olympics starts on that day - today.

Actually there is something special about today. The cyberspace is promoting a campaign called #080808, supposedly to spread the spirit of the Olympics to the world.

The spirit of the Olympics? I'd say the spirit is dead. Like Nietzsche's god in Thus Spoke Zarathustra... And all these pasteurized athletes, all the dumping propaganda, on that made-up Beijing enforcing the sad decadence of the world, deeply immersed on nonsense consumption? Not only that, but they have Tibet as well...

Who needs these? People are already sad enough when they realise the more and more away they are from the Nature, and Nature doesn't like it. Before understanding those who have chosen the simplicity of life, they prefer to attack and dominate. China, one of the latest civilization standing the ancient wisdom, plays the imperialist role in Tibet. They know they were corrupted by the system and there's no way back...

So, VIVE L'OLYMPICS!

There's a chinese idiom which says 万水千山 (wan4 shui3 qian2 shan1). In literal translation could mean "Ten thousand waters and thousand mountains". For me, it means that the journey is long and arduous...

All these BUG things...

Still the Treaty

The government has intitiated high-level contact with the two main opposition parties to discuss the formation of an all-party body on the Lisbon Treaty. What oppositioners have to make everybody understand that NO didn't mean NO to Europe. It meant NO to some subjects of the Treaty. Of course, if "Sarco See" and his thugs put it on that way - sign or get out - Ireland will certainly sign in and discuss it later... However, this is not the way democracy must be.

* * *

A New Border

People traveling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom will be subjected to stiffer identity checks before the end of the year, said British officials.

I'd pay to see people crossing roads on [London]Derry waving their passports... Or they have a plan to buid a wall along the road?

em3 Interview

Over the last four years, Eduardo Miranda, a Brazilian musician, writer and poet, has tried to build up what he calls "not just another band", and he definitely got it. em3 has been causing some controversial comments about their "virtual rehearsals", even before any official material being released.

Few jazz fans would doubt the chops of the British bassist Tony Porter, and Scottish keyboardist Eugene Haigh; all of them have played wonderfully in more traditional settings. But when they get things together in the hyper-power trio like that, something happens.

Eduardo Miranda was off on the road to Denmark when we spoke to him by phone. The following is an edited version of our conversation;

LGB: First of all: why em3? Doesn't sound a little egocentric?

EM: Maybe, but it was Tony's idea. They say it is because I was so excited with the whole idea of the band... but also because my name sounds "different". They like that! But it doesn't mean I'm a kind of "leader". We don't have that here. Everyone plays the same role in the trio.

LGB: When people get together, there's always unique chemistry as they react to each other. But when get together means talk to each other through emails and IP phones, you three have to have a special kind of connection... What do you attribute this to?

EM: Tony and Eugene have physically met before twice or thrice. We three have met only once, and under no one else's nose! And when we met we felt something could happen. Possibly what you're sensing is that this is actually a band of three leaders; that's definitely our attitude. We are three guys who are equally invested in what happens. And in this kind of sound we want to approach - so called nu-jazz, electronic jazz or jazztronica - is just perfect to develop in this virtual rehearsals we have.

LGB: Tell us more about how is the process of composition and virtual rehearsals?

EM: We are three composers who love the same kind of music. Each of us settled in a different location - London, Edinburgh and Dublin. If Tony composes something and send it to Eugene or to me, we usualy give a first impression or sugesttion back to the author, who may or may not accept them. After that we start to add our own stuff on that. With some inspiration and a bit of luck, we can end up with a new song in some weeks! No pressure, no demand - just imagination. And a good internet connection as well! Of course we have more things in common than music. This makes things even easier.

LGB: Who are your strongest influences?

EM: We are pretty voracious listeners. In terms of jazz, everything from cool to bebop, hard-bop, as Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomerry, Charles Mingus, Sony Rolland, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Bird... wow, so many! Going to fusion, John McLaughlin, Ornette Coleman, Bill Cobham, Hermeto Pascoal... Nu-jazz, I'm still a bit new to this stuff, but listening to Nils Petter Molvaer, Bugge Wesseltoft, Cinematic Orchestra, Groove Armada, and the guys there are also driving me to the right way! I can't deny my rockish influences as well, as they are an important part of my compositions. From rock'n roll to progressive rock, all the way to the "Rock In Oposition" movement (I love Henry Cow, Art Bears, Univers Zero, Present, Art Zoyd) and, of course, classical music - Bach, Stravinsky and Varese are my favorites. Basically we're interested in extremes - extremely hard, extremely soft, extremely loud... we want it to be bold. We play with the kind of intensity associated with rock. It's not a rock band, but at the same time there's a sort of really digging in that jazz people can sometimes sort of skate around when they play in a rock style.

LGB: What are the plans for the first album, if any?

EM: Well said, “if any”. We don’t have any intention to release a conventional album, but a virtual one, at the internet. No media! It doesn’t mean we will not have a booklet, an art graph and all the stuff as a real album. The internet is the new protocol, man, and we have to use that!

LGB: How far are you from that?

EM: No idea! We are all very busy people on our day-by-day jobs. We do that for pleasure, not for anything else. If we finish, we publish. If we don’t, we don’t publish. Easy like that!

P.S.: the first album, Panorama, is on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tvem3/sets/panorama.

No Country for Honourable Men

São Paulo, Brazil. July 2008. Paulistas, the inhabitants of the State of São Paulo, have to vote for governorship. They HAVE TO because vote is mandatory in Brazil. One could say "alright, voting is a right of expression". I'd say it's not when you are compelled to.

But here is my point: Paulo Maluf is one of the candidates. He has a career spanning over four decades. He was elected governorship of the State of São Paulo, mayor of the city of São Paulo and he has run as presidential candidate as well. During these years he has been plagued with several accusations of corruption.

In July 2003, Paulo Maluf was arrested in Paris, trying to transfer [illegal] money into an [illegal] account. In early September 2005 he was arrested by the Brazilian Federal police, under the charge of intimidating witnesses of an ongoing investigation. Again, in July 2008 he gave in to police under the same charge. In all these arrests, he was incarcerated from one night to no more than a few weeks. He was really convicted on one charge in 2001, but due to the nature of the Brazilian judicial system, in which only final convictions are considered, he has been always released... What a shame!

So notorious is his reputation in Brazil that, sadly, a "verb" called "malufar" (something like "to maluf") was created, meaning "to steal public money". And those who vote for him say "he steals public money but does the job". There is a quotation attributed to him which says "Rape them, but don't kill them!", said to a journalist during a workshop, regarding to a raper who had killed the victim.

But the worst is that in the last poll, he ranked a third place for the governorship... So far, I tell you, Brazil is not the better place where ones would like to raise their children.

Sarkozy's Deafness

France President Nicolas Sarkozy - born Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa, which sounds much nobler! - is the actual "filler" of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union - sometimes called EU Presidency. This position is not centered in one person, but in the government of the country, which inherits a responsibility over the functioning of the Council of the European Union.

The EU Presidency is rotated between European Union member states every six months. To cope with the rather short six month term of the presidency, since 2007 the position is being executed in a shared manner: a "triple-shared presidency" work together over a 1.5 year period, based in a common agenda by continuing the work of the previous president.

The first "Triple-Alliance", also called "T1", from January 2007 to June 2008 was led by Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, and the Treaty of Lisbon, the Lisbon Strategy and Security, Freedom & Justice were among their priorities.

The "T2" started on July 2008 and will be on till December 2009, with France (Jul-Dec 2008), Czech Republic (Jan-Jun 2009) and Sweden (Jul-Dec 2009) as president-countries. Among their priorities are [at least should be] defence integration, Kosovo and the infamous Mediterranean Union, a proposed community of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, which should be established by 2008.

But Sarkozy seems to be suffering from a ideological deafness. He is not able to "hear" the Irish NO to the Lisbon Treaty yet, and has decided to come over Ireland - not to question, he said, but to listen! - to know better WHY Irish people voted NO to Lisbon.

Well, we could say, first, wich part of the word NO you didn't understand? And second, Lisbon is not among the T2 mandate's priorities anymore. But he insists!

And as we learned that Sarkozy, aka "Sarko" is fan of Amy Jade Winehouse - ah, this explains a lot! - we can sing him a welcome song:

I ain’t got the time
And if Sarko thinks we ain't fine
He’s trying to make up mi mind, so
But I'll say NO! NO! NO!

A Carbon-Free Festival

... whatever it means!

Oxegen Festival is on from today till Sunday. They say doesn't matter which weekend it is, it will be raining. True. Here in Ireland, we can surely say "I know what you did last Summer", because the answer will be "nothing, really... it was bloody rainy!"

Oxegen organisers want to make us believe this year the festival will be more "carbonfree". What a hell they mean? Everybody should go to Punchestown in Co. Kildare WALKING? Using "non-petroleum-sole" shoes? Nobody can smoke cigarettes (cannabis is greener!) ?

Of course not, otherwise the whole festival would be a flop! What these people still believe is that if you can't be green enough, you should offset! So, measure your so-called "carbon footprint" - nothing more that the amount of waste you leave behind - and try hard not to fuck even more the planet. But if you eventualy fuck it anyway, understand that your shit is done and there's no money which could help to amend it...

THINK about this... GREENER!

Fuel or Food?

As energy demands devour crops once meant for sustenance, the economics of agriculture are being rewritten

People say this just insane to turn food into fuel in order to improve people's lives - bio-fuel. Others say it takes more energy to make renewable fuels than the actually fuel. EPA has concluded that ethanol and biodiesel generate more energy than the fossil fuel, but we could ask 'at what cost'? Would this be a excuse for a escape from the petroleum dependency we see fleetly increasing day by day? Biofuel can reduce petroleum use and generate a shortage of certain food in the planet, but who will care? Not the companies who are doing that - fuel can be far more lucrative than mere food. Governments who nowadays depend on the mad petroleum contries? You can doubt!

Feed the Soul
Is it really any more reprehensible to make fuel from corn than it is to make beer from barley and rice? Vodkas, whyskies, brandies andmany other spirits are made from wheat. How is this justifiable? To drink a beer or other spirit makes one part of the problem? Ican answer that, and the answer is NO. We are only feeding our souls...

wouldn't you mind, would ya?

If you run a hotel, and year after year you see it getting more and more crowded of people, you would say "my hotel is a success!" And as an entrepreneur you would think in expand your business, probably building another hotel, right? Alright, but not irish government. Irish government don't run hotels - as far as we know - but they run more serious business. They (are supoused to) take care of public transportation and healthcare, for instance. They are not entrepreneurs but they managed a lot of money. Public money. OUR MONEY! And they should do it more efficiently, making incomings from this money. Not personal incomings, of course, but basic ones. Ones that don't need that much outlook to realise they're essential and substantial. Otherwise you would get yourself - the entrepreneur - asking your hotel guests if they would mind to share their room, because you are putting one or two extra beds there. Of course it doesn't work, but in a HOSPITAL people are not exactly a GUEST. And in a country where public transportation is a monopoly, you can expect the worst. People waiting for practically virtual and non-existent buses, sporadic trams (the Luas, the irish word for "speed" - believe me!) and far from efficient trains.

By the way, the photo is the healthy face of Mary Harney, the current Minister for Health & Children.

Anything for Power

What's better than football, better than Lost, better than Big Brother, and far better than watch Amy Winehouse deadly stoned alive on TV? The U.S. pre-election, of course! I just don't understand why global media is so astonished about non-north-americans getting interested in the elections... It's pure entertainment with a drop of politics, gossip and voyeurism.

The latest latest now is that Hillary Clinton is claiming she did what she barely knowns about. In an attempt to embellish her credentials regarding her international political, she's declared have dodged bullets in Bosnia!

Ah, and don't forget she also was CRUCIAL to the peace process in Northern Ireland! Hillary Clinton has done it all!! She has saved the world!!!

Watch the show!

... and the sweetner is the new fattener

According a study carried out in the USA, artificial sweeteners can actually make you fatter that slimmer!

As I always ironically say, sweeteners fatten you, as you only see fat people taken them...

I should not have been ironical at all! The main point scientists spotted was that after repeated exposure to sweeteners, the brain of those who take sweeteners forgets some connections and thus fails to stop people eating at an appropriate point...

don't be prejudiced...

or it will turn against you!

from an email...

Four friends, who hadn't seen each other in 30 years, reunited at a party. After several drinks, one of the men had to use the rest room. Those who remained talked about their kids.

The first guy said ,'My son is my pride and joy. He started working at a successful company at the bottom of the barrel. He studied Economics and Business Administration and soon began to climb the corporate ladder and now he's the president of the company. He became so rich that he gave his best friend a top of the line Mercedes for his birthday.'

The second guy said, 'Darn, that's terrific! My son is also my pride and joy. He started working for a big airline, and then went to flight school to become a pilot. Eventually he became a partner in the company, where he owns the majority of its assets. He's so rich that he gave his best friend a brand new jet for his birthday.'

The third man said: 'Well, that's terrific! My son studied in the best universities and became an engineer. Then he started his own construction company and is now a multimillionaire. He also gave away something very nice and expensive to his best friend for his birthday: A 30,000 square foot mansion.'

The three friends congratulated each other just as the fourth returned from the restroom and asked: 'What are all the Congratulations for?' One of the three said: 'We were talking about the pride we feel for the successes of our sons. What about your son?' The fourth man replied: 'My son is gay and makes a living dancing as a stripper at a nightclub.' The three friends said: 'What a shame. what a disappointment. ' The fourth man replied: 'No, I'm not ashamed. He's my son and I love him. And he hasn't done too bad either. His birthday was two weeks ago, and he received a beautiful 30,000 square foot mansion, a brand new jet and a top of the line Mercedes from his three boyfriends.'

In other words, live and let live!

Bertie, go home!

We have learned here in Éire that leaders from the government have backed the calls for the Tanaiste to take-over from Bertie Ahern, in the wake of revelations at the Mahon tribunal.

It's time for the Taoiseach to go home, and stay there while he can, because the way things are going on, he probably will have to return his house back, once it was bought with tax-payers's money, both Éireannach and Stróinséir.

Surely it's not only an Éireann's issue...

something to think about

I had an experience today I thought would be worth to share. It's not nice, though.

I missed my flight to London today. I was about to board when they realised my boarding pass was missing the ticket number - the ticket was not issued. I got angry, indignant, frustrated, disapointed... all together, but there were no way to get in. They unloaded my bag and I had to go to the ticket desk to get a new ticket.

At the ticket desk all my anger was put aside when suddenly a woman started shouting for help. Her partner had collapsed. Airport staff promptly got their phones and started dialing for help, but nobody approached the couple, and the woman started begging somebody for help. People approached more to try to calm her down than to touch the guy, as he was turning from pink to white, extremely white!

In less than a minute the paramedics where there given assistance, but the guy was purple already. He looked like in his mid-50's, and died in less than 2.5 minutes! It may sounds simple or ordinary, but I tell you it's not easy to see someone dying so quickly and just beside you.

So what's in between the lines is that life has no rush, and we should live it as a day after the other, invariably, as we will all get "there", sooner or later...

Long Live to Rock'n'Roll!!!

The Bullying Factor

"Bullying: A repeated aggression, verbal, psychological or physical, conducted by an individual or group against another." This is Bullying, and although you can think this is a teen's problem, it's not.

Bullying is a behavioural problem which affects thousands of school children and families. The humiliation, fear and social isolation bring them to a loss of self-esteem, and can results in absenteeism from school, deteriorating schoolwork, personality change, depression and sometimes suicide.

Although specialists say bullying knows no boundaries of age, sex or socio-economic background, we can commonly identify a standard target for bully: the outsiders. And what determines an outsider depends on where they are located: foreigners, chubbies, skinnies, blackies, weirds, nerds, and so on. Usualy related to schools and teenagers, but can take many forms, even in your work environment, it can be short term or continue over long periods, even years, who knows? Who stipulates that? The threatener, the intimidator, "The Bullyer", when the conditions should be dictated by the threatened, intimidated, "The Bullied".

In Ireland and UK, bullying is a huge problem. Recently we learn on the news that a 15 years old girl killed herself due to bullying - the so-called "Bullycide". She left a note on that... Authorities have to do something. If they start to act, "The Bullied" will feel confident to complain about "The Bullyer". When someone is caught bullying, shoul be punished: in school, withdrawn; on a work environment, dismissed!

We had, in Brazil, some issues with mocking freshers in university. After a couple of deaths, the governement took some actions, put some mockers in jail and decreed mocking illegal. Maybe this will show some results!

Spam it...

"About Monday


Incorrect Phone Number:

We were unable to reach you at the phone numbers you provided us.
Currently we cannot release your mortgage refinance until you update your information.

As of now you can receive up to $137,115.
This will be our final attempt to reach you.

http://update.whatever.wherever

Pope & Negron Associates
Henry Odom
Loans Department"

I just received this message above... the infamous "spam". And do you know why there are so many spams? Because people believe in such stupid things they spread. It is sad, isn't it?

And the sadiest thing is that a whole generation (maybe more than one) will grow without knowing what SPAM really means! But here I am to iluminate a whole - maybe more - blind generation...

Canned meat

Spam is a canned precooked chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite! Shocked??? Well, you should be! Check it out! And it has gained a peculiar infamy, along with something of a place in pop culture, and has even entered into folklore and urban legend.

Name origin

The product's original name Hormel Spiced Ham - not so original though - and was loosing market share, so they decided to name it from multiple entries in a naming contest. A Hormel official once stated that the original meaning of the name Spam was "Shoulder of Pork and hAM", but the current official explanation is that the name is a syllabic abbreviation of "SPiced hAM".

Although other unofficial sources cite "Specially Processed American Meat, as the original meaning, many others will say - as a jocular backronyms - SPAM stands for "Something Posing As Meat"!

From the cans to the computers

In the Monty Python TV series, there is a sketch set in a cafe where nearly every item on the menu includes SPAM luncheon meat. As the server recites the SPAM-filled menu, a chorus of Viking patrons drowns out all conversations with a song repeating "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM... lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM," hence "SPAMming" the dialogue. The excessive amount of SPAM mentioned in the sketch is a reference to British rationing during World War II. SPAM was one of the few foods that were widely available.

In a reference to Monty Python repetition of the word SPAM, in earlies 1980, some BBS users would repeat the word "SPAM" a huge number of times to scroll other users' text off the screen. From this, later, computer programmers used the term in reference to something unwanted and repeatedly shown/sent.