Day: 11/10/2023

by

Armageddon

11 Oct 2023 – Will History Repeat Itself?

Pictures beyond words… – Here-There-Everywhere – This-That-Everything (amylamsg.com)

Sun: woke up to very distressing&sad news about Hamas attacks on Israel. At the moment the word Armageddon is on the mind, NOT from religious views or end of the world,

but from historical records – 1918-Battle of Megiddon where powers are said to have soldiers from many parts of the world in this battle. Nowadays the word Armageddon seems to have been misinterpreted to the end of the world! Prayers&thoughts for PEACE and that history does NOT repeat itself as life goes on…

The Battle of Meggido (WW1) – History (historyonthenet.com)

Edited: Sat14Oct – thanks to FranklinWong for sharing his eloquent unbiased words&thoughts.

This current tragic conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis is probably overdue…with yet another disastrous outcome in the making. Emotive words such as retribution..extermination…obliteration…human animals and genocide…. have been flung around. This tragedy has been repetitive and cyclical and this one looks to be the Mother of all Fuck-Ups for both sides. Yet no one on my timeline has chosen nor dared to comment on it. It is a very sensitive subject, no doubt, esp in this part of the world where what is historically an intractable conflict over homeland is often reduced to a simplistic but more visceral agenda of a religious struggle between Islam and Judaism – and all the rest! Some years ago my comments on another Palestinian intifada had inadvertently raised the hackles of some religious extremists with unpleasant consequences. Regrettably it is the inability to talk across this divide – to seek common ground rather than exploit differences and grievances – that makes this conflict so irresolvable!

For almost a century, there has been much wrong and misery done to each other in this conflict and more finger pointing will not help. The people of Gaza must know they are hopelessly held in captivity by the state of Israel – precisely because of the tit for tat actions that has been going on over the decades. Hamas must know what will befall Gaza if they embarked on the actions they did on October 10. Regardless of the rights and wrongs, the deadly outcome should never have been doubt….so why do we cry and wring our hands in anguish now? The fate of the Palestinians in Gaza now largely depends on the compassion of the world which sadly is already fatigued by the pointless war in the Ukraine and the hypocrisy of the western powers in their struggle to preserve their hegemony over others.

This is only the first week. We can only take so much newsreel showing massive destruction and human misery before our reactions are deadened and our attention diverted to more pleasant pursuits – like most folks on Facebook are doing anyway.

Edited: Wed18-Oct – tkx to PaulKrause for this constructive&interesting share – “Our Message Must Be Stronger Than Ever”: Opinion article by Daniel Barenboim – West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (west-eastern-divan.org)

Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent – Victor Hugo

Mon: tkx to Ade@Lensman/ParkwayP for this yummy curry.

Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat – Guy Fieri

Tue: dark morning stroll on the ECPk, thought it was too early for Xmas decorations that turned out to be some tanker’s lights in a shape of a Xmas-tree – age plays tricks on eyesight in the dark-hahaha!

Glad to see the local MT-hawker+wet-market reopened, looks like my favourite CheeCheongFun猪肠粉stall has been replaced by a new one, will give it a try another day, appetite&mood not there today. The drinks’stall is still there and my regular 5am morning ice-coffee used to be .90c when I first patronized this stall(20+yrs), today its S$1.60. Got back to the 4-walls before sunrise and was drenched with sweat, imagine what it would be like in the sun.

Today is WorldMentalHealthDay(10 October), an international day for global mental health. Need to really limit myself with the news station on radio&TV, but more time on my piano+Symphony92FM to keep the sanity and a balance-mental-health. SGH-HeartCentre 6months-check and the lungs look OK, hopefully remain clear again at the next CTscan scheduled for Dec2024.

World Mental Health Day 2023 (who.int)

Wed: another new discovery, tkx to Clement – MamaDiam@38PrinsepSt nostalgia retro modern bar hidden behind a MamaShop – not open for brunch. LóuShang 楼上 which literally means upstairs where you would least expect to find a trendy eatery here, designed like on a HDB-common-corridor serving fusion-food –

interesting concept, OK food.

Lou Shang: Hidden Cafe That Looks Like A HDB Estate | Eatbook.sg

As for the origin of the word 楼lóu, it is a Chinese character that has been in use for over 3000 years. It is composed of two parts: 木mù= wood and 娄lóu which is a phonetic component. The character originally referred to a wooden structure built on top of a house to provide additional space. Over time, the meaning of the character evolved to refer to multi-story buildings, which are now commonly referred to as 楼lóu in modern Chinese.

The Chinese word 楼lóu=floor fascinates&intrigues me. For me it looks like it is made up of 3characters mù=wood木, mi=rice米, nǚ=woman女. Considering how ancient the Chinese language is and that my knowledge is practically non-existence now makes me want to know more especially with words like this.