This here is a public service annoucement. Please forward the details of the seminar to anyone who you know who may be interested. TQ & have a fooking fab weekend!
AUTISM & ASPERGER'S SYNDROME SEMINAR
Nilai University College (Nilai UC) together with the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences UKM is organising a seminar featuring updates on high functioning autism and asperger's syndrome.
ABOUT THE SEMINAR:
The seminar brings together a panel of local and international speakers who are renowned practitioners in this area. Together they will cover topics on the assessment and identification of the disorders, available professional treatment and the empowerment of parents and caregivers in a specially crafted half day seminar.
DETAILS OF SEMINAR:
Title : Making sense of another piece of the puzzle: Updates on High Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome
Date : 20th DECEMBER 2008 (Saturday)
Time : 8.30am-1pm
Venue : UKM KL Branch, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz
Fees : RM30nett per person (fee includes tea break)
TOPICS:
FOR SPEAKER PROFILES PLEASE GO TO:
http://www.nilai.edu.my/Autism_Seminar/Autism.htm
1. Assessment, Diagnosis and Associated Difficulties by Clinical Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zasmani Shafiee
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Gleneagles Medical Centre Penang
2. Cognitive Behaviour Therary by Ms. Winnie Lau
Clinical Psychologist, Minds and Hearts, Brisbane, Australia
3. Parent Empowerment by Dr. Alvin Ng Lai Oon
Clinical Psychologist, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
To register, please call my colleague - Ms. Shoba at 06-8502338 ext 298
or email seminardec20@nilai.edu.my
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
From Black Metal to Crustcore! (Darkthrone: Fuck Off & Die)
That's right, from purveyors of the blackest metal to crustcore! Although these Norwegians began life as a death metal act (see Soulside Journey), Darkthrone quickly jumped onto the burgeoning black metal scene and went on to release such lo-fi classics such as Transylvanian Hunger, Under A Funeral Moon & Panzerfaust.
But not content with making the fooking unholiest of lo-fi rackets whilst wearing tons of bad corpse paint, Darkthrone released this last year. Counfounding fans & critics alike, their new sound is more crustcore than black metal. Fuck Off & Die can best be described as Hellhammer duetting with Motorhead in a garage! Utterly in keeping with the lo-fi & unproduced feel of their records, Darkthrone is quite possibly the epitome of what underground metal should sound like - raw, uncompromising & fooking brutal!
To download Darkthrone's Fuck Off & Die, please go to: http://rapidshare.com/files/59718926/Darkthrone_20-F.O.A.D._2007_.rar.html
Tracklist:
1. These Shores Are Damned 05:04
2. Canadian Metal 04:44
3. The Church Of Real Metal 04:37
4. The Banners Of Old 04:41
5. Fuck Off And Die 03:52
6. Splitkein Fever 04:45
7. Raised On Rock 03:27
8. Pervertor Of The 7 Gates 04:25
9. Wisdom Of The Dead 04:43
As usual, me hopes you'll take the time to download this fooking awesome slab of noise (& do check out sampler vid below) & fer you to post yer comments here! Bang that head that doesn't bang!!!
Labels:
free download,
great music,
heavy fooking metal
Monday, November 24, 2008
Old Timers Footie
Ok, me is posting this invite on behalf of MYRAWK. Wifey & meself will be going & all of you are invited to come along as well. Not to worry, non-Kopites are welcome (& don't have to purchase the t-shirts either). So if you are interested in watching some old fogeys have a kick about, please leave a comment.
We at Malaysian RED and WHITE KOP (MyRAWK) will be gathering for a trip to see Liverpool FC legends in the flesh on Dec 7th, 2008, SUNDAY and we want to celebrate this with you as Liverpool FC supporters!
Brought to you by the Masters Football Asia group, the Masters Football Malaysia Cup 2008- will feature exLiverpool FC legends such as Stan Collymore, Ian Rush, and many others. There will be other teams featured such as Manchester United, Arsenal and an EPL All-Stars team boasting other former players like Bryan Robson, Andrei Kanchelskis and Lee Sharpe.
We will go under the banner of Malaysian RED and WHITE KOP (MyRAWK).
MyRAWK will also be launching our very own club T-Shirt for sale together as a package for the tournament. To view the T-shirt, please go to www.my-rawk.com.
Date: December 7th 2008, SUNDAY
Location : Melawati Indoor Stadium, Shah Alam
Football Carnival Starts: 2:00pm
Game Kick Off: 5:00pm
BUS Pick up location:
1) KL Sentral Bus Pick Up Time: 12:45PM Accessible by LRT-KL Sentral)
2) Padang Timur Bus Pick Up Time: 1:00PM (opposite Amcorp Mall behind A&W Restaurant, Petaling Jaya) Accessible by LRT-Taman Jaya and there is parking nearby the AMCORP MALL.
1) Packages A (per person)
1 Bus Transfer
1 MyRAWK T-Shirt (red or white- sizes S, M, L, XL)
1 Ticket (free seated)
Total is RM 78.00
2) Package B (per person)
1 Bus Transfer
1 MyRAWK T-Shirt (red or white- sizes S, M, L, XL)
1 Ticket (numbered seated)
Total is RM 98.00
Once purchase has been made, please email details to myrawk@gmail.com with subject reference Re: Masters Football:
Details needed are:
•Full Name (as per name on the transaction)
•Contact email and Contact number
•Package A or Package B purchased
•Red or White MyRAWK T-Shirt (please also indicate sizes S, M, L, XL)
•Final Price paid
•Account transaction paid from: (to keep track of payment from which bank)
•Date of transaction paid
Payment details must be made to: Wong Kin Leong 164481087648 Maybank. Once payment has been made, we will inform via email.
Any inquiries please email to myrawk@gmail.com or call +6014 332 9718 or go to www.my-rawk.com
CLOSING DATE is NOVEMBER 30th, 2008. So come one and come all..We Liverpool FC!!
See you all there! We all live in a RED and WHITE KOP!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Fooking Metal Forever!
As me said in me earlier posting, me didn't get fooking plastered on me b'day yesterday. Instead, me went & added this "little" tattoo on me right arm. This was me wifey's gift fer me (TQ Wifey! Love you loads!)
Am sure the headbangers amongst you will recognise the cyber assassin as Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie. Why did me get this design? Ok, indulge me as me does me Miami Ink moment - Me embarked on me metal voyage a good two decades ago & Maiden's Somewhere In Time opus (original artwork below) was one of the albums that got me thru me A-levels. Lo & behold, 20 years on & me is still on this metal journey (whilst many of me brethren have let their stereos die a natural death, nevermind listen to metal!!!).
Me tattoos are a reflection of who me is - Liver Bird speaks fer itself & was done days after Istanbul. Me has also got a Sanskrit 'Aum' to signify me spiritual side & have me name tattooed in Chinese characters to reflect me mixed heritage. So this Eddie tattoo is a simple 'Fooking Metal Forever' battlecry in the face of impending middle age.
The tat took a fooking painful three hours plus and many thanx to Vicky & Cheam at Xotic Tattoo studio (16-1 Jln ss15/4 Subang Jaya. Tel: 03-5637 6167 / 012-3156167).
ps: Once again, many, many thanx to all those who called / smsed / facebooked / blogged / emailed their warm b'day wishes. Cheers!
pps: Please note that Kerp, meself & a few others are still meeting up at Sri Bala's on Sat 7pm. Feel free to join us.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
iTunes . . . literally!
Fook me silly! Regular visitor to these parts Azer Mantessa has composed a little ditty fer me! Complete with lotsa raaaaawk geeeetars!
And given that today humble old me turns a year older, this really is quite the perfect gift. Fooking made me day this did! Cheers Azer!
Nope, me won't be falling off a bar stool tonite to celebrate me ever thinning layer of folicles. Me fooking stopped doing that once me no longer had me own pub to pass out in. Plus me ability to hold gargantuan amounts of alcohol has diminished slightly over the years.
Quiet one . . . again. Sigh . . . As Sir Mick of Batu Bergolek once said, "Its a drag growing old."
And given that today humble old me turns a year older, this really is quite the perfect gift. Fooking made me day this did! Cheers Azer!
Nope, me won't be falling off a bar stool tonite to celebrate me ever thinning layer of folicles. Me fooking stopped doing that once me no longer had me own pub to pass out in. Plus me ability to hold gargantuan amounts of alcohol has diminished slightly over the years.
Quiet one . . . again. Sigh . . . As Sir Mick of Batu Bergolek once said, "Its a drag growing old."
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Musical Interlude
Count Grishnackh @ Varg Vikernes. Older longhairs may remember this name. Back in the early 90s the hysteria surrounding the Norwegian black metal scene was at its peak after the Count murdered fellow black metal scenester Oystein "Euronymous" Aarseth (from the band Mayhem) & was also convicted of burning down several churches. It catapaulted the Count's band Burzum & the entire fooking black metal scene into the limelight.
Given that this fookers were also neo-Nazis, me didn't want to have anything to do with their music back then. No way was me gonna fuel their deluded Aryan madness by buying their product.
But a few months back, me came across the downloads to Burzum's entire discography. And me thought why the fook not? This was one case of piracy that wasn't gonna hurt anyone, the fooker is still in jail, rite. And lo & behold, me was kinda blown away by the ambient black metal this guy was producing, in particular the album above. Long, drawn out pieces which stretched the buzzsaw guitars with looping keyboards & steady double bass drum assault.
Fer those who like their tunes to sit on the precipice of Mount Extreme, please do take the time out to check this demented arsonist & murderer's output. Me thinks you'll be pleasantly surprised.
To download Burzum's Filosofem, please click here: http://rapidshare.com/files/24725229/Burzum_-_Filosofem__1996_.rar
ps: This posting in no way endorses the views of Burzum nor does it think it okay to commit murder or arson. Its a free fooking download la, fer fook's sake. (Fer sample, check out the amateur vid below).
pps: Story has it the Count managed to escape from prison at one point & was re-arrested with a cache of guns & explosives with which he was planning to start "the end of days" . . . Gila babi . . .
Given that this fookers were also neo-Nazis, me didn't want to have anything to do with their music back then. No way was me gonna fuel their deluded Aryan madness by buying their product.
But a few months back, me came across the downloads to Burzum's entire discography. And me thought why the fook not? This was one case of piracy that wasn't gonna hurt anyone, the fooker is still in jail, rite. And lo & behold, me was kinda blown away by the ambient black metal this guy was producing, in particular the album above. Long, drawn out pieces which stretched the buzzsaw guitars with looping keyboards & steady double bass drum assault.
Fer those who like their tunes to sit on the precipice of Mount Extreme, please do take the time out to check this demented arsonist & murderer's output. Me thinks you'll be pleasantly surprised.
To download Burzum's Filosofem, please click here: http://rapidshare.com/files/24725229/Burzum_-_Filosofem__1996_.rar
ps: This posting in no way endorses the views of Burzum nor does it think it okay to commit murder or arson. Its a free fooking download la, fer fook's sake. (Fer sample, check out the amateur vid below).
pps: Story has it the Count managed to escape from prison at one point & was re-arrested with a cache of guns & explosives with which he was planning to start "the end of days" . . . Gila babi . . .
Labels:
free download,
great music,
heavy fooking metal
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sorry . . . Postponed
Dear friends,
Due to the number of "not sures" & "wedding dinners" this coming sat, Kerp & meself has decided to postpone the scheduled get-together. Many apologies. As many of 15 of you weren't sure of making it & Kerp felt that it would have meant a 50% reduction in boisterous fun.
We are now open to suggestions fer future date (any idea when the international weekends are in Dec?). Please leave suggestions in comments box.
Anyways, most of you have been informed by sms BUT note to Messrs Ridzzy & Anba, we don't have yer numbers, so please leave a note here to confirm you are aware of the postponement.
Apologies again!
ps: Anba - If you are still making yer way to KL, please give me or kerp a call as we are still okay with a quiet drink. Moz & Akuani have already said they are in fer that. Same goes fer Ridzzy.
Due to the number of "not sures" & "wedding dinners" this coming sat, Kerp & meself has decided to postpone the scheduled get-together. Many apologies. As many of 15 of you weren't sure of making it & Kerp felt that it would have meant a 50% reduction in boisterous fun.
We are now open to suggestions fer future date (any idea when the international weekends are in Dec?). Please leave suggestions in comments box.
Anyways, most of you have been informed by sms BUT note to Messrs Ridzzy & Anba, we don't have yer numbers, so please leave a note here to confirm you are aware of the postponement.
Apologies again!
ps: Anba - If you are still making yer way to KL, please give me or kerp a call as we are still okay with a quiet drink. Moz & Akuani have already said they are in fer that. Same goes fer Ridzzy.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Round Two!
Dear People,
Most of you will have already heard, Kerp & meself have been trying to organise a second get-together of bloggers (& regular visitors here). This time, we've opted fer some good-old fashioned finger lickin' banana leaf fare.
Venue: Sri Bala's Restaurant (proprietor is Very Senior Kopite Mr Muru)
Address: No 8, Jln SS6/8, 47301 Kelana Jaya (behind Giant & next to Unitar)
Date / Time: 22nd Nov, 7pm onwards
Guest list (so far):
1) Becky & gal friend, Karen
2) Bernard Chong & Doris Liew
3) Gavin
4) Southampton Nanda & Mary
5) Evertonian Amir
6) Snakeman Riddzy
7) Tinesh & Madam Leah
8) Rajan & wifey
9) Albertus
10) JonC
11) Madam O
12) Madam AA (of 'what's cunnilingus' fame)
13) Madam Szu Pau
14) Anand
15) Madam Titoki
16) Akuani
17) Premo
18) Nick Mun
19) Fat Tony Yew
20) Mandeep Kaur
21) Moz the Resident Rambler
22) Isa
23) Kevo
24) Nesa
25) Angela
26) Wilson (bro of Fat Tony)
Did me miss out anyone? Please note other halves & spouses are most welcome. Kindly confirm yer attendance in comments box. If the last get-together @ Fatty Crab was anything to go by, this should be a fooking blast too.
ps: Not too sure bout after-dinner plans. Kerp gonna balik to catch his gooners game while most of us Kopites will probably head over to MBar in Phileo D'sara 1 to catch LFC v Fulham (11pm).
Most of you will have already heard, Kerp & meself have been trying to organise a second get-together of bloggers (& regular visitors here). This time, we've opted fer some good-old fashioned finger lickin' banana leaf fare.
Venue: Sri Bala's Restaurant (proprietor is Very Senior Kopite Mr Muru)
Address: No 8, Jln SS6/8, 47301 Kelana Jaya (behind Giant & next to Unitar)
Date / Time: 22nd Nov, 7pm onwards
Guest list (so far):
1) Becky & gal friend, Karen
2) Bernard Chong & Doris Liew
3) Gavin
4) Southampton Nanda & Mary
5) Evertonian Amir
6) Snakeman Riddzy
7) Tinesh & Madam Leah
8) Rajan & wifey
9) Albertus
10) JonC
11) Madam O
12) Madam AA (of 'what's cunnilingus' fame)
13) Madam Szu Pau
14) Anand
15) Madam Titoki
16) Akuani
17) Premo
18) Nick Mun
19) Fat Tony Yew
20) Mandeep Kaur
21) Moz the Resident Rambler
22) Isa
23) Kevo
24) Nesa
25) Angela
26) Wilson (bro of Fat Tony)
Did me miss out anyone? Please note other halves & spouses are most welcome. Kindly confirm yer attendance in comments box. If the last get-together @ Fatty Crab was anything to go by, this should be a fooking blast too.
ps: Not too sure bout after-dinner plans. Kerp gonna balik to catch his gooners game while most of us Kopites will probably head over to MBar in Phileo D'sara 1 to catch LFC v Fulham (11pm).
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A question of dollars & cents
Sigh . . . just as me beloved team is showing wee signs of resilience & belief on the pitch, up pops this article from the UK Times today. Fook me, the drama is never ending with us la, either on the field or fooking off it.
Am sorry to say, me was seriously suspicious of Gillette & Hicks from the get-go. Yanks don't understand our game, much less the traditions of our fine club. Xenophobic? Fook yeah. Me makes no bones about it. Me fooking thinks Yanks have NO PLACE IN WORLD FOOTBALL!
They should just stick to their fooking gridiron, baseball shite & the accompanying "World Series"!
And before anyone dismisses this as another "sensationalist" story (below) from the press, do note this involves a fooking HUGE sum of dosh & two banks which aren't in the best of financial health. Why should the banks care whether Kopites love Torres? They fooking need to balance the books & they will sell him.
FAAAAAAAARKK!!!!
(From the UK Times - 12 Nov 2008)
Fears over fire sale of Liverpool's top players (By James Ducker)
One of English football’s most influential powerbrokers has expressed grave concerns for the future of Liverpool under the ownership of George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks. Keith Harris, the chairman of Seymour Pierce, the investment bank, and the man responsible for brokering some of the biggest takeovers of Barclays Premier League clubs, including the sale of Chelsea to Roman Abramovich in 2003, believes that the Americans could be forced to sell leading players if they are unable to pay off the club’s £350 million debt.
Although Hicks and Gillett have an option to extend the January 25 deadline for repaying the loan by six months, it is far from guaranteed that an extension will be granted, with their main lenders, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Wachovia, being two of the banks worst hit by the global economic crisis.
Hicks and Gillett are confident that an extension will be granted, but, with the Government set to own up to 60 per cent of RBS after the £20 billion bailout, MPs have lobbied Gordon Brown to prevent the bank from giving the Americans extra time to repay the loan when many believe that they are not in a position, financially, to do that, let alone fund a new 60,000-seat stadium.
“The one that worries me is Liverpool,” said Harris, the former chairman of the Football League, who has been asked to find buyers for Everton and Newcastle United. “Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia are two of those that have suffered. Whether they want to lend it [the money] again or not, they may not be able to.” A £500 million offer to buy the club, from Sheikh Mohammed , the ruler of Dubai, remains on the table, although Harris believes the club’s hand could be forced if a buyer cannot be found.
The Times revealed in April how Liverpool may have to sell Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel unless they repay by next summer the £31.5 million borrowed to sign the Spain and Holland forwards.
Harris, who was in Zurich yesterday to address football financiers at the International Football Arena conference, said: “If the banks won’t finance, you have to raise equity. If they can’t find it, it’s a brave banker that would repossess Liverpool Football Club.”
Harris added that he was struggling to find a credible buyer for Everton in the face of a sharp economic downturn. Everton are also hopeful of building a new stadium, but Harris hinted that it would make far better sense financially for the Merseyside clubs to groundshare, a move that has been steadfastly opposed by the clubs and their supporters.
“There is no progress at all [on Everton],” Harris said. “The demographics of Liverpool as an area are not hugely compelling. It is not a very wealthy city and Everton share the city with another club which has been in the vanguard for the last decade. They both have a stadium to build, so the economics need a lot of looking at, whereas Newcastle is a one-club city with a fabulous stadium.”
Torres is expected to be included in Liverpool’s squad for their Carling Cup fourth-round tie at White Hart Lane this evening. However, Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, expects to play several fringe players, including Fraizer Campbell, the forward, who came on as a substitute during the 4-0 victory against Dynamo Zagreb in the Uefa Cup group match last week.
Paul Stalteri, Adel Taarabt, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Hossam Ghaly may also play, but Benoît Assou-Ekotto, the left back, is suspended, and Ledley King is expected to be rested. “I’m going to make one or two changes to give the lads who haven’t played an opportunity,” Redknapp said. Giovani dos Santos does not need surgery on a ankle problem, but the forward will be out for up to four weeks.
As usual, all genuine footie fans are invited to post their thoughts here. (And fingers fooking crossed fer the match against Mighty Spurs tonite) . . .
Am sorry to say, me was seriously suspicious of Gillette & Hicks from the get-go. Yanks don't understand our game, much less the traditions of our fine club. Xenophobic? Fook yeah. Me makes no bones about it. Me fooking thinks Yanks have NO PLACE IN WORLD FOOTBALL!
They should just stick to their fooking gridiron, baseball shite & the accompanying "World Series"!
And before anyone dismisses this as another "sensationalist" story (below) from the press, do note this involves a fooking HUGE sum of dosh & two banks which aren't in the best of financial health. Why should the banks care whether Kopites love Torres? They fooking need to balance the books & they will sell him.
FAAAAAAAARKK!!!!
(From the UK Times - 12 Nov 2008)
Fears over fire sale of Liverpool's top players (By James Ducker)
One of English football’s most influential powerbrokers has expressed grave concerns for the future of Liverpool under the ownership of George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks. Keith Harris, the chairman of Seymour Pierce, the investment bank, and the man responsible for brokering some of the biggest takeovers of Barclays Premier League clubs, including the sale of Chelsea to Roman Abramovich in 2003, believes that the Americans could be forced to sell leading players if they are unable to pay off the club’s £350 million debt.
Although Hicks and Gillett have an option to extend the January 25 deadline for repaying the loan by six months, it is far from guaranteed that an extension will be granted, with their main lenders, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Wachovia, being two of the banks worst hit by the global economic crisis.
Hicks and Gillett are confident that an extension will be granted, but, with the Government set to own up to 60 per cent of RBS after the £20 billion bailout, MPs have lobbied Gordon Brown to prevent the bank from giving the Americans extra time to repay the loan when many believe that they are not in a position, financially, to do that, let alone fund a new 60,000-seat stadium.
“The one that worries me is Liverpool,” said Harris, the former chairman of the Football League, who has been asked to find buyers for Everton and Newcastle United. “Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia are two of those that have suffered. Whether they want to lend it [the money] again or not, they may not be able to.” A £500 million offer to buy the club, from Sheikh Mohammed , the ruler of Dubai, remains on the table, although Harris believes the club’s hand could be forced if a buyer cannot be found.
The Times revealed in April how Liverpool may have to sell Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel unless they repay by next summer the £31.5 million borrowed to sign the Spain and Holland forwards.
Harris, who was in Zurich yesterday to address football financiers at the International Football Arena conference, said: “If the banks won’t finance, you have to raise equity. If they can’t find it, it’s a brave banker that would repossess Liverpool Football Club.”
Harris added that he was struggling to find a credible buyer for Everton in the face of a sharp economic downturn. Everton are also hopeful of building a new stadium, but Harris hinted that it would make far better sense financially for the Merseyside clubs to groundshare, a move that has been steadfastly opposed by the clubs and their supporters.
“There is no progress at all [on Everton],” Harris said. “The demographics of Liverpool as an area are not hugely compelling. It is not a very wealthy city and Everton share the city with another club which has been in the vanguard for the last decade. They both have a stadium to build, so the economics need a lot of looking at, whereas Newcastle is a one-club city with a fabulous stadium.”
Torres is expected to be included in Liverpool’s squad for their Carling Cup fourth-round tie at White Hart Lane this evening. However, Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, expects to play several fringe players, including Fraizer Campbell, the forward, who came on as a substitute during the 4-0 victory against Dynamo Zagreb in the Uefa Cup group match last week.
Paul Stalteri, Adel Taarabt, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Hossam Ghaly may also play, but Benoît Assou-Ekotto, the left back, is suspended, and Ledley King is expected to be rested. “I’m going to make one or two changes to give the lads who haven’t played an opportunity,” Redknapp said. Giovani dos Santos does not need surgery on a ankle problem, but the forward will be out for up to four weeks.
As usual, all genuine footie fans are invited to post their thoughts here. (And fingers fooking crossed fer the match against Mighty Spurs tonite) . . .
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Mystery Illness Strike Footballers
The following article was taken from the UK Times online edition. Me don't know if you remember, but this is exactly the same disease that took the life of our very own super Mokh (passed on 11 July 1991).
Footballers fall prey to fatal disease
A spate of deaths from motor neurone disease has rocked the game in Italy (by Matthew Campbell)
In a case that could have come straight from the pages of a medical thriller, Italy is investigating a mysterious epidemic among former professional footballers, dozens of whom have been killed by a disease that paralyses its victims.
The latest to be stricken is Stefano Borgonovo, a 44-year-old former striker for AC Milan. His announcement that he was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND) was made from a wheelchair with a computer-generated voice and has chilled a nation of football fans who are used to considering players as idols rather than martyrs.
A climate of fear and suspicion hangs over the stadiums. According to one theory, the incurable disease might be linked to pesticides used on football pitches. Others suggest it could be a result of doping or physical injuries from tackles or repeatedly heading the ball.
“The truth is, we just don’t know,” said Adriano Chio, a neurologist and Italy’s foremost expert on the condition, which is known in America as Lou Gehrig’s disease after an American baseball player who died of it in 1941.
Chio’s research has shown that professional footballers in Italy are seven times more likely to develop motor neurone disease than others. Midfielders seem particularly vulnerable, perhaps because they are tackled more than other players.
“It is very curious,” said Christopher Shaw, professor of neurology at King’s College London. “There’s been a suspicion for a long time that sportsmen are susceptible.”
Raffaele Guariniello, a magistrate from Turin, enlisted Chio to do an epidemiological survey after his own investigation into a high incidence of cancer and heart problems in Italy’s premier league exposed the presence of an even more sinister scourge among the ranks of the retired players.
He discovered that 41 of them had suffered lingering deaths since 1973 from MND, which destroys the body’s motor nerves, eventually resulting in paralysis. Among the victims were Gianluca Signorini, a former captain of Genoa, who died in 2002 at the age of 42, and Adriano Lombardi, a former Como midfielder who died last year, aged 62.
Having survived with the disease for more than 40 years, Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist, is a rare exception: most patients die within five years of their diagnosis. According to Paul Wicks, a British expert on the condition, doctors cite it as “the one they would not want to get”.
Why Italian footballers should be so vulnerable is baffling the experts.
“Some say it could be due to doping, but if that’s the case then why aren’t other sports similarly affected?” said Paolo Zeppilli, the Italian national team’s doctor. Meanwhile, Guariniello said that inquiries had been made about cycling, basketball and volleyball, but in those sports “not a single case emerged”.
Other European countries, including Britain, are taking note. Spain says it knows of no cases among its footballers and French doctors also were unaware of any link between football and the disease, but note that mysterious “clusters” of sufferers have occurred at different times in different parts of the world.
“In Chicago 11 victims were found in the same building and we have never even begun to understand why,” said Vincent Meininger, one of France’s leading neurologists.
Wicks, a neuro-psychologist who runs PatientsLikeMe, an online support group for people suffering from a number of neurological conditions including MND and Parkinson’s disease, believes that there may be an “athletic gene” that makes people more vulnerable. He said an American study had found that a disproportionate number of sufferers had played sports at university level. “It is probably a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors,” he said.
The Italian magistrate, whose interest sprang from an inquiry into illegal doping in the country’s top league – Serie A – in the late 1990s, has ordered stadium groundsmen to be questioned about pesticides used over the past 50 years.
He has sent investigators to victims’ bedsides to reconstruct their careers with a special emphasis on the injuries they might have sustained, the drugs they took and the fields they played on. Italian players are understandably concerned.
“If you look at the statistics for the number of players affected, there is reason to be worried,” said Fabio Cannavaro, the Italy and Real Madrid defender.
Borgonovo’s plight has moved the nation. The Dutch former star Ruud Gullit, his old teammate, was among the big names who turned out for a friendly match between Fiorentina and AC Milan to raise money for research. Borgonovo, who has set up a foundation to support research into MND, watched from his wheelchair.
“I want to find the money for researchers to find the penicillin of 2008,” he said.
He, for one, does not blame Italy’s favourite game for his plight. “I think it is down to a genetic malformation,” he told an Italian newspaper through a computer that turns his blinks into words, a lengthy and frustrating process.
“Leave football alone,” he added. “If I could go back, I’d put my boots back on and score a 90th-minute goal against Juventus.”
The Italian football federation donated €150,000 (£122,000) out of the revenue from last month’s World Cup qualifier against Montenegro to help to fund a taskforce of scientists in the investigation.
Some players have suggested donating 1% of their salaries to finance research, an idea that will be debated by their union. For once, nobody is grumbling about what they earn.
Certainly hope they find the cause fer this. Me remembers shedding tears reading Dato' Fauzi Omar's moving obituary of the late, great super Mokh & how the disease had transformed a talented athlete (& national hero) into a vegetable.
FFS says way too X-Files la this. Fooking strange or what?
Footballers fall prey to fatal disease
A spate of deaths from motor neurone disease has rocked the game in Italy (by Matthew Campbell)
In a case that could have come straight from the pages of a medical thriller, Italy is investigating a mysterious epidemic among former professional footballers, dozens of whom have been killed by a disease that paralyses its victims.
The latest to be stricken is Stefano Borgonovo, a 44-year-old former striker for AC Milan. His announcement that he was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND) was made from a wheelchair with a computer-generated voice and has chilled a nation of football fans who are used to considering players as idols rather than martyrs.
A climate of fear and suspicion hangs over the stadiums. According to one theory, the incurable disease might be linked to pesticides used on football pitches. Others suggest it could be a result of doping or physical injuries from tackles or repeatedly heading the ball.
“The truth is, we just don’t know,” said Adriano Chio, a neurologist and Italy’s foremost expert on the condition, which is known in America as Lou Gehrig’s disease after an American baseball player who died of it in 1941.
Chio’s research has shown that professional footballers in Italy are seven times more likely to develop motor neurone disease than others. Midfielders seem particularly vulnerable, perhaps because they are tackled more than other players.
“It is very curious,” said Christopher Shaw, professor of neurology at King’s College London. “There’s been a suspicion for a long time that sportsmen are susceptible.”
Raffaele Guariniello, a magistrate from Turin, enlisted Chio to do an epidemiological survey after his own investigation into a high incidence of cancer and heart problems in Italy’s premier league exposed the presence of an even more sinister scourge among the ranks of the retired players.
He discovered that 41 of them had suffered lingering deaths since 1973 from MND, which destroys the body’s motor nerves, eventually resulting in paralysis. Among the victims were Gianluca Signorini, a former captain of Genoa, who died in 2002 at the age of 42, and Adriano Lombardi, a former Como midfielder who died last year, aged 62.
Having survived with the disease for more than 40 years, Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist, is a rare exception: most patients die within five years of their diagnosis. According to Paul Wicks, a British expert on the condition, doctors cite it as “the one they would not want to get”.
Why Italian footballers should be so vulnerable is baffling the experts.
“Some say it could be due to doping, but if that’s the case then why aren’t other sports similarly affected?” said Paolo Zeppilli, the Italian national team’s doctor. Meanwhile, Guariniello said that inquiries had been made about cycling, basketball and volleyball, but in those sports “not a single case emerged”.
Other European countries, including Britain, are taking note. Spain says it knows of no cases among its footballers and French doctors also were unaware of any link between football and the disease, but note that mysterious “clusters” of sufferers have occurred at different times in different parts of the world.
“In Chicago 11 victims were found in the same building and we have never even begun to understand why,” said Vincent Meininger, one of France’s leading neurologists.
Wicks, a neuro-psychologist who runs PatientsLikeMe, an online support group for people suffering from a number of neurological conditions including MND and Parkinson’s disease, believes that there may be an “athletic gene” that makes people more vulnerable. He said an American study had found that a disproportionate number of sufferers had played sports at university level. “It is probably a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors,” he said.
The Italian magistrate, whose interest sprang from an inquiry into illegal doping in the country’s top league – Serie A – in the late 1990s, has ordered stadium groundsmen to be questioned about pesticides used over the past 50 years.
He has sent investigators to victims’ bedsides to reconstruct their careers with a special emphasis on the injuries they might have sustained, the drugs they took and the fields they played on. Italian players are understandably concerned.
“If you look at the statistics for the number of players affected, there is reason to be worried,” said Fabio Cannavaro, the Italy and Real Madrid defender.
Borgonovo’s plight has moved the nation. The Dutch former star Ruud Gullit, his old teammate, was among the big names who turned out for a friendly match between Fiorentina and AC Milan to raise money for research. Borgonovo, who has set up a foundation to support research into MND, watched from his wheelchair.
“I want to find the money for researchers to find the penicillin of 2008,” he said.
He, for one, does not blame Italy’s favourite game for his plight. “I think it is down to a genetic malformation,” he told an Italian newspaper through a computer that turns his blinks into words, a lengthy and frustrating process.
“Leave football alone,” he added. “If I could go back, I’d put my boots back on and score a 90th-minute goal against Juventus.”
The Italian football federation donated €150,000 (£122,000) out of the revenue from last month’s World Cup qualifier against Montenegro to help to fund a taskforce of scientists in the investigation.
Some players have suggested donating 1% of their salaries to finance research, an idea that will be debated by their union. For once, nobody is grumbling about what they earn.
Certainly hope they find the cause fer this. Me remembers shedding tears reading Dato' Fauzi Omar's moving obituary of the late, great super Mokh & how the disease had transformed a talented athlete (& national hero) into a vegetable.
FFS says way too X-Files la this. Fooking strange or what?
Monday, November 10, 2008
Welcome Back!
Last Friday - Shock & astonishment when me heard that the High Court had declared Raja Petra's detention under the ISA illegal! After years, nay, decades of ineptitude, the courts gave us citizens a glimmer of hope.
Today - same old fooking shite as govt says it will appeal the decision. Wonder if the appellate courts will have grown some testicles or will the new CJ flex his pro-UMNO muscles in this case?
Can't the fookers in power see that imprisoning RPK only gives credence to his pronouncements? Why can't they just charge him in court without resorting to the ISA?
Whatever yer views of RPK may be, you gotta hand it to him. He's got balls of steel & is willing to go to jail fer his actions. Fer that me salutes him.
Anyways, RPK has wasted little time in getting back into groove. Fer his latest, click: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/14690/84/ .
Today - same old fooking shite as govt says it will appeal the decision. Wonder if the appellate courts will have grown some testicles or will the new CJ flex his pro-UMNO muscles in this case?
Can't the fookers in power see that imprisoning RPK only gives credence to his pronouncements? Why can't they just charge him in court without resorting to the ISA?
Whatever yer views of RPK may be, you gotta hand it to him. He's got balls of steel & is willing to go to jail fer his actions. Fer that me salutes him.
Anyways, RPK has wasted little time in getting back into groove. Fer his latest, click: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/14690/84/ .
Friday, November 7, 2008
Fooking Awesome Grind! (Neuropathia: Satan is a cunt)
Not quite sure if any of you took the trouble to check out this awesome Polish grind n roll outfit's latest album in the earlier posting, but here is one of the earlier LPs fer yer weekend's listening pleasure anyway.
Funky, heavy & fooking demented are the best adjectives me can rustle up to describe this manic trio. If you didn't download their latest album Satan Owns Your Stereo (see below), me fooking urges you to give these guys a chance. me is pretty fooking sure you'll be blown away by this whirlwind of noise.
To download Neuropathia's Satan Is A Cunt, please go to: http://rapidshare.com/files/122145495/Neuropathia_-_2005_-_Satan_Is_A_Cunt.rar.html
Fer a sample, here's a short & sub-2 minute vid to tempt yer senses!
Have a fooking great weekend & do let me know what you think of this album!
Labels:
free download,
great music,
heavy fooking metal
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Palin's new fame
Was put on the scent of this by the other porn-aficionado (besides Kerp), Moz the Rambler. Apparently Larry Flynt of Hustler has made a porn film - Nailin Paylin - caricaturing Alaskan governor Sarah Palin.
A quick google showed up a lot of interesting debate on this porn flick. To read a lady who champions Flynt (don't forget this porn baron has had many run ins with the courts over the First Amendment) & the right to satirise political figures via porn, please click: http://www.blogher.com/nailin-palin.
Another blog had numerous comments ranging from the tickled to the seriously offended. One slightly outraged commentator said she was sickened as to why Pailin's character was attacked in this way i.e. based on her gender & her looks. Answer from another commentator - coz she was fooking selected based on her gender & her looks! Touche! To read the on-going verbal spats, please go to: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/02/hustler-producing-sa.html .
Me thought this posting is a light-hearted way to round off the US elections. And the pix of the porn actress as Sarah Pailin was far nicer than a pix of Barak Obama (after months of campaigning cukup la dey with his jug-eared mug) . . .
ps: In US, porn is satire. In Malaysia, its a campaign tool fer a party's VP post . . . hee hee.
pps: anyone remember DPP Vijendran?
A quick google showed up a lot of interesting debate on this porn flick. To read a lady who champions Flynt (don't forget this porn baron has had many run ins with the courts over the First Amendment) & the right to satirise political figures via porn, please click: http://www.blogher.com/nailin-palin.
Another blog had numerous comments ranging from the tickled to the seriously offended. One slightly outraged commentator said she was sickened as to why Pailin's character was attacked in this way i.e. based on her gender & her looks. Answer from another commentator - coz she was fooking selected based on her gender & her looks! Touche! To read the on-going verbal spats, please go to: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/02/hustler-producing-sa.html .
Me thought this posting is a light-hearted way to round off the US elections. And the pix of the porn actress as Sarah Pailin was far nicer than a pix of Barak Obama (after months of campaigning cukup la dey with his jug-eared mug) . . .
ps: In US, porn is satire. In Malaysia, its a campaign tool fer a party's VP post . . . hee hee.
pps: anyone remember DPP Vijendran?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Bend over, taxpayer . . .
Read the following article (from yesterday's papers) & tell me what you think:
Authorities Bust 'Sex Parties' in Malaysia, 70 Arrested
Malaysia's The Star reports: "Police busted four male sex parties in progress on Saturday, rounding up more than 70 customers and male sex workers. Some of them could not put on their clothing in time when police stormed the various premises during the 5.30pm incident. (the party had a 'towel' theme as the revellers were only clad in a micro small towel) Used condoms were found strewn all over the floor of the premises. Police also seized some pornography DVDs, gay magazines, lubrication jelly and boxes of condoms at the scene. A team from the anti-vice, gaming and secret societies division (D7) conducted the raids at four separate locations -- two on the mainland as well as a traditional massage parlour and a fitness centre on the island. George Town Deputy OCPD Supt Gan Kong Meng said 28 local men and a man from China, in their 20s to 40s, were arrested at the scene. Some of the customers were from Europe and the United States."
FFS says: No matter how distasteful straight people view this story, the homosexual community has the right to lead their lives free from persecution.
And before anyone turns around & say its against the law here & that is against nature, well, me says the antiquated laws should be changed & let God be the judge of their actions. It most certainly isn't any of the authorities concern.
Am sorry, but the police should be looking to reduce the spiralling crime wave - burglary, robberies, kidnappings, snatch theft, rapes, C4 murders. Not busy itself with what gay men are doing at a private party.
Fer fook's sake, the only ones getting bum fooked from all this "useful" police activity is the taxpayer. (The said club has been raided on four previous occasions with scores of personnel involved. Imagine if the cops were as diligent in actual crime prevention . . . sigh).
Authorities Bust 'Sex Parties' in Malaysia, 70 Arrested
Malaysia's The Star reports: "Police busted four male sex parties in progress on Saturday, rounding up more than 70 customers and male sex workers. Some of them could not put on their clothing in time when police stormed the various premises during the 5.30pm incident. (the party had a 'towel' theme as the revellers were only clad in a micro small towel) Used condoms were found strewn all over the floor of the premises. Police also seized some pornography DVDs, gay magazines, lubrication jelly and boxes of condoms at the scene. A team from the anti-vice, gaming and secret societies division (D7) conducted the raids at four separate locations -- two on the mainland as well as a traditional massage parlour and a fitness centre on the island. George Town Deputy OCPD Supt Gan Kong Meng said 28 local men and a man from China, in their 20s to 40s, were arrested at the scene. Some of the customers were from Europe and the United States."
FFS says: No matter how distasteful straight people view this story, the homosexual community has the right to lead their lives free from persecution.
And before anyone turns around & say its against the law here & that is against nature, well, me says the antiquated laws should be changed & let God be the judge of their actions. It most certainly isn't any of the authorities concern.
Am sorry, but the police should be looking to reduce the spiralling crime wave - burglary, robberies, kidnappings, snatch theft, rapes, C4 murders. Not busy itself with what gay men are doing at a private party.
Fer fook's sake, the only ones getting bum fooked from all this "useful" police activity is the taxpayer. (The said club has been raided on four previous occasions with scores of personnel involved. Imagine if the cops were as diligent in actual crime prevention . . . sigh).
Monday, November 3, 2008
Are we the new Blackburn?
Saturday afternoon - went to petrol kiosk fer ciggies. Noticed an Indian guy with his family at the fuel pump. His wifey & three daughters were all clad in LFC jerseys (Grannie was spared). Me thought fooking hardcore!
Drove me car to the air pumps to check tyre pressure. There was another car at the next pump. Driver gets out of car . . . clad in a pristine away LFC jersey. Eh, ramai pulak.
As me drives out of the kiosk, me is stuck behind a Pajero in the exit queue. And lo & behold, there's a brand new-looking LFC sticker stuck on the rear windscreen (me says brand new as the sticker didn't look like it has been sitting there fer years where the colours are faded from over exposure to our panas terik).
Then it struck me. Shit, this is the first time in years that me beloved Reds has been touted as serious title contenders. Could this sudden appearance of Red paraphernalia be genuine Kopites coming out of the woodwork or typical Malaysian lalang syndrome? Remember how we used to see Blackburn jerseys everywhere after they fooking won the league? Or the sudden injection of Chelsea Blue on our streets in the last few years?
Wonder if they were still wearing them shirts on Sunday morning after the seriously painful defeat to Spurs? Lalang would normally put their shirts away. But then again, many lalang would have found a 1.30 am kick off a little to late fer their liking & would've been fooking oblivious.
So are we the new Blackburn?
ps: Sorry bout this posting, just venting after a shite weekend. No offence meant to any Kopites . . . genuine or otherwise.
pps: Congrats to Moz, Anand the Silent Obeserver & all other Spurs fans who are having a great week after disastrous start.
Drove me car to the air pumps to check tyre pressure. There was another car at the next pump. Driver gets out of car . . . clad in a pristine away LFC jersey. Eh, ramai pulak.
As me drives out of the kiosk, me is stuck behind a Pajero in the exit queue. And lo & behold, there's a brand new-looking LFC sticker stuck on the rear windscreen (me says brand new as the sticker didn't look like it has been sitting there fer years where the colours are faded from over exposure to our panas terik).
Then it struck me. Shit, this is the first time in years that me beloved Reds has been touted as serious title contenders. Could this sudden appearance of Red paraphernalia be genuine Kopites coming out of the woodwork or typical Malaysian lalang syndrome? Remember how we used to see Blackburn jerseys everywhere after they fooking won the league? Or the sudden injection of Chelsea Blue on our streets in the last few years?
Wonder if they were still wearing them shirts on Sunday morning after the seriously painful defeat to Spurs? Lalang would normally put their shirts away. But then again, many lalang would have found a 1.30 am kick off a little to late fer their liking & would've been fooking oblivious.
So are we the new Blackburn?
ps: Sorry bout this posting, just venting after a shite weekend. No offence meant to any Kopites . . . genuine or otherwise.
pps: Congrats to Moz, Anand the Silent Obeserver & all other Spurs fans who are having a great week after disastrous start.
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