The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling My Way' in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the My Way Killings.'
The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country's culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country's many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.
Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years alone, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads.' Karaoke-related assaults have also occurred in the United States, including at a Seattle bar where a woman punched a man for singing Coldplay's Yellow' after criticizing his version.
Still, the odds of getting killed during karaoke may be higher in the Philippines, if only because of the ubiquity of the pastime....And Filipinos, who pride themselves on their singing, may have a lower tolerance for bad singers.
Indeed, most of the My Way' killings have reportedly occurred after the singer sang out of tune, causing other patrons to laugh or jeer....
Posted by: Mike ||
02/07/2010 07:47 ||
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#2
"My Way" has something unique about it. It was noted that many years ago in the US, there was a very popular national radio talent show, which ran for years, but every single contestant on the show who sang "My Way", won.
There have been a few other song phenomena, such as "Gloomy Sunday", which in the 1930s was alleged to have resulted in many suicides (though little evidence exists today, as suicide was seen as shameful, so was not reported as such, as a rule, in the newspapers.)
And I'm sure many people have very deep feelings about songs like, "Don't Worry - Be Happy", that either makes them want to hurt and kill, or at least think they are developing a brain tumor.
#3
I can definitely see wanting to kill if someone sings John Denver. As a veteran of Asian karaoke, if anyone puts on Hotel California it's going to be a "Kill Bill"-style massacre with the singer, his friends, the karaoke girls, the songs computer, and any other bystanders getting slaughtered with great malice...and I'd get off at a jury trial with justifiable homicide...
#6
Early on in the WoT, an unnamed CIA agent remarked that there was a foreign enemy combatant holding site nicknamed The Hotel California. He said there were some particularly nasty elements to the place that put a whole different, and grotesque, complexion on the lyrics.
#1
How many people died at Three Mile Island? The Luddites usually ignore deaths and injuries in the creation of energy in more traditional venues. Oh, and 'safe' solar energy - how many die every year from sun exposure skin cancers? These energy related employees make modern civilization possible. My thanks and condolences to their families.
The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart. An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade. It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.
Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.
The 3in x 6in (8cm x 15cm) knife was excavated from the Mediterranean area more than 20 years ago and was obtained by the museum in 1991.
The unique item is among dozens of artefacts exhibited in a newly refurbished Greek and Roman antiquities gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge. I smell Piltdown Man and a rush of visitors to the FitzWilliam Museum, but look at the pictures at the link and you decide.
#3
I have a problem with this artifact because it has a fork. Forks were not used until several centuries after this artifact is said to have been produced. Forks were used primarily by royalty and the aristocracy and were not brought to Italy until much later:
in the 11th Century, a Byzantine wife of a Doge of Venice brought forks to Italy. The Italians, however, were slow to adopt their use. It was not until the 16th Century that forks were widely adopted in Italy.
This artifact, by having a fork, would be at least a thousand years "newer" than it is reported to be.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 15:46 Comments ||
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Crosspatch,
Read the reader's comments to the original article. Apparently the Egyptian were using the fork long before the Romans. The fork was one of many things that was forgotten during the dark ages.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/07/2010 17:10 Comments ||
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#6
"Meat from snails" > D *** NG IT, there goes FRANCE's argument out the window that ROME = JULIUS CAESAR, etc. are to blame for their Escargot dishes.
#7
"Apparently the Egyptian were using the fork long before the Romans. The fork was one of many things that was forgotten during the dark ages."
Yeah, but that can't be the case as we would have turned up forks in archeological digs from before 535AD. We don't. So far there are no Roman forks that predate the Dark Ages save this one that I am aware of.
#1
You'll note that even in the midst of sniveling that he is being persecuted, he plays the political martyrdom card. I'm almost surprised that he doesn't blame "racism", in that he is at least 1/1056 percent black.
He needs to tell it to the judge, after being read his rights.
"You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."
#6
Only thought about it in terms of how others would react. Truly self centered. The fact that this POS is still sucking up my air is prove of cowardice. Loser.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/07/2010 17:43 Comments ||
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#7
If he'd rather die, then perhaps he should, and decrease the surplus population.
That's not mine, its Dickens'
But its just as true today as it was back then.
Sarah Palin chose a gathering of tea party activists on Saturday as the backdrop for her first major political speech since accepting the Republican Party's nomination for vice president 18 months ago. With her remarks, greeted with wild enthusiasm here and carried live by all three major cable news networks, Palin moved firmly to reestablish herself as a politician capable of national office.
She bounded onstage to cries of "run, Sarah, run" and then delivered a stinging rebuke of President Obama while striking a populist, even folksy tone. Serving up fiery rhetoric with a broad smile, she attacked the administration's policies on the economy and on national security, assailing in particular the decision to read Miranda rights to the man accused of attempting to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.
"Treating this like a mere law enforcement matter places our country at great risk because that's not how radical Islamic extremists are looking at this," Palin said to thunderous applause. "They know we're at war, and to win that war we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern."
In a 40-minute speech at the inaugural National Tea Party Convention, she embraced the grass-roots movement of disaffected conservatives, calling it "ours," and said that "America is ready for another revolution." She called the country's national debt a "generational theft," adding that "many of us have had enough."
She pointed to GOP victories in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts as evidence of voter unrest, and she said in response to a question that the Republican Party "would be really smart to try to absorb" as much of the tea party movement as possible.
By delivering a paid keynote address at a convention other politicians had avoided because of allegations of profiteering, Palin displayed one of the traits that has electrified her anti-establishment followers: a talent for persistently and defiantly flouting the conventional rules of politics. Huh? Several paragraphs later -
She was reportedly paid a $100,000 speaking fee, and she told attendees Saturday that she will return the money "to the cause."
Yet the movement shuns any semblance of political elitism. And although many activists here embrace Palin as a spokeswoman, they are deeply divided over whether they want her as their leader - or whether they want any leader at all.
Palin understands this. "I caution against allowing this movement to be defined by any one leader or any one politician," she said Saturday night. "The tea party movement is not a top-down operation. It's a ground-up call to action... This is about the people, and it's bigger than any king or queen of the tea party, and it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter."
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/07/2010 06:28 ||
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#1
I do like her charm and wit, but she needs to be a cabinet official in a new administration before she runs for Pres. She certainly wouldn't get the kid gloves treatment by the press which the Kid in Chief got.
#4
I say the "clean-up" is in Washington, not aisle 2. I've venture he'd receive no challenge in a face off. It is what it is. Let the man speak his mind freely.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2010 12:11 Comments ||
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#7
I do NOT want to see Palin run for president in 2012. Although she's more qualified that Obama to be president (I mean who isn't), I don't think she can win. Between the (continuing) hatchet job the media will do and sabotage by supposed "allies" in the GOP she'd end up losing. And this country will not survive eight years of an Obama administration.
Redneck Jim, you're skating really close to being banned. There are very few things that get people banned here. One of them is repeated race baiting of the not so subtle sort you're indulging in.
Enough.
And Besoeker coy little periphrases around racist language are out of bounds at Rantburg - by anyone.
#11
Palin at this point is nothing but a distraction. The liberals were wholly effective in destroying her image when she ran last year. Of course, she enabled them with some of her extremely weak responses. She serves no one but the left who use her as a charicature of a conservative, pushing that charicature forward in order to hide or obfuscate the conservative message. The more she stays in the background the better, although I doubt her ego will permit that.
#12
Word of the day....'Periphraseis' Don't be a Pariphrascist! (yes with an 'i' not an e) Damascus road experience needed. Recommend selected readings from Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, or Armstrong Williams, but only after the roadways are safely cleared and estrogen refill can be fetched.
#13
Mrs.Palin is following as similar trajectory as Ronald Reagan. She should continued to hone her communications skills in mass media as she has started to do already.
If she is good for 2012, she should run, but my gadvice would be she should continue in the mass media until 2016. By then she will be unstoppable.
#14
couldn't disagree more, remoteman. I'm with Bad on this, but I think 2012 is way too early for her. She should build her credentials, learn, and build her party stature and base
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2010 14:32 Comments ||
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#15
periphrases - English plural of periphrasis from Greek peri around, near and phrasis speech . FWIW
It's been 37 years since I took classical Greek as an undergrad, but I do remember the basics.
#18
She has a whole lot of work to do IMO to establish her credibility. Quitting as governor was not something that did that for me.
It's called shaking loose of your attackers and IMO it was a non-obvious and necessary tactical move on her part, one which yields nothing but benefits.
#21
I also didn't know what it meant either. I take it doesn't mean Hockey Night In Canada....
I think she should wait and hone her media skills and simply _show_ people she isn't the bimbo the media portrayed her as. Between that and get a top notch team.
#23
Reagan had Screen Actors Guild Presidency, then GE under the tutelage of Lemuel Boulware (for whom Roger Ailes may prove to be a stand in, and then 8 years as Governor of California. That's a lot of experience. Few are in that league. Palin certainly isn't. Which is too bad, because she appears to have her head screwed on straighter than anybody since Reagan.
(I had to look it up too, which really surprised me as I do know what HCMFIC stands for.)
India's longest range nuclear-capable Agni-III was successfully test-fired from the Wheeler Island, off the Orissa coast on Sunday.
The more than 3,500-km range home-grown ballistic missile, believed to be most lethal of the weapon systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists, was test-fired at 10.50 hrs and covered the pre-designated range with 100 per cent accuracy, top officials told The Hindu from Wheeler Island soon after the successful launch.
The solid-propelled, two-stage missile can carry nuclear warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. It is 17 metres tall and has a launch weight of 50 tonnes with a two-metre diameter.
When contacted, V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Director-General, DRDO, said it was a fantastic launch and a "hat-trick for Agni-III with three successes". The trajectory went perfectly according to plan till the last decimal place, he said. "It gave us full range and pinpoint accuracy," he added.
Avinash Chander, Agni-III mission director, called it a "perfect success", stating that all the mission objectives were met. Chander, also the Director of Advanced Systems Laboratory - which designed and developed the Agni-III - said all the events listed in the launch were executed with accuracy and described it as a "thrilling experience".
A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO and MD, BrahMos Aerospace, called the success an "important milestone for the country. It will lead to induction of the missile". The success would bring credit to DRDO scientists, he said.
W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, Life Sciences and Human Resources, DRDO also termed it as an "important milestone in developing the country's defence and developing the second strike capability. The flight proved the robustbness of all the systems and software".
With the third consecutive success of Agni-III, he said "it is now a proven missile. It is a big morale booster for our missile scientists and institutions", he observed.
A top DRDO missile technologist said the mission was a "good success and the trajectory of the flight was excellent. Everything worked well, including all payload systems", he added.
Even though the missile did not carry a live warhead, its nuclear triggering mechanism worked well. Instead of a nuclear warhead, it carried chemical explosives, the missile technologist added.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010 07:17 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010 7:26 Comments ||
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Some more tests scheduled:
K-15 missile
The coming weeks/months will be hectic for the DRDO with one more launch of K-15 missile this month from a submerged pontoon off the coast of Visakhapatnam. The pontoon will simulate the conditions of a submarine. K-15 had been launched earlier from submerged pontoons, but this is a different version. The first version, called Mark-1, is being fitted into the indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine named Arihant.
After the K-15 missile clears the water medium, it climbs 20 km into the air and can destroy targets 700 km away. The missile forms part of the DRDOs Sagarika project.
Shourya, which is the land-version of the underwater-launched K-15 missile, will have its second flight around June from the Integrated Test Range at Balasore, Orissa.
The fourth flight of Indias interceptor missile, which can knock out adversarial ballistic missiles at an altitude of 130 km, is scheduled for September. The DRDO has already scored a hat-trick with three of its interceptor missiles confronting incoming enemy ballistic missiles in a hit-to-kill mode.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/07/2010 7:43 Comments ||
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NEWS KERALA > IRANIAN FM MOTTAKI: AFGHAN/TALIBAN EXTREMISM WILL SPREAD TO INDIA [ + CENTRAL ASIA].
SECOND BRANCH OF ABOVESSAME > will spread to ARAB STATES = rest of MUSLIM WORLD due to arrogant reckless AMER INTERVENTION = US-SPECIFIC UNILATERAL INTERFERENCE IN MUSLIM, COUNTRY, REGIONAL AFFAIRS where it isn't wanted.
Medine Memi was found in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre hole dug under a chicken pen outside her home in Kahta, in the south-eastern province of Adiyaman.
Her father and grandfather have since been arrested and are due to face trial over her death. Her mother was also charged but has since been released.
Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter -- one of nine children -- had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.
A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried
Although honour killings are not infrequent in Turkey, the especially gruesome manner of Medine's death has shocked the nation. normal honor killings don't shock anyone
Official figures have indicated that more than 200 such killings take place each year, accounting for around half of all murders in Turkey.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/07/2010 00:00 ||
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NEWS > UNITED NATIONS: TALIBAN MUST GUARANTEE WOMEN'S RIGHTS, EDUCATION [Govt. Power-sharing Deal].
* WAFF > CHRISTIAN FILIPINO MIGRANTS FORCED TO CONVERT TO ISLAM, e.g. FILIPINA MAIDS, to keep their overseas jobs in SAUDI ARABIA + MIDDLE EAST.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Sarah Palin chose a gathering of tea party activists on Saturday as the backdrop for her first major political speech since accepting the Republican Party's nomination for vice president 18 months ago. With her remarks, greeted with wild enthusiasm here and carried live by all three major cable news networks, Palin moved firmly to reestablish herself as a politician capable of national office. 
