Photosluts vs Camwhores..?

Just love the way language evolves, especially with this lovely over-grown mongrel called (Queen's) English. *chortle*


Um. Hate to plunge into a completely different train of thought just when the entry was starting to get amusing, but hey blogging's supposed to be a means of expressing one's thoughts and emotions, n'est pas?

The wind from our sighs could wipe away the entire world.

Grandmother's been through hell and back this week, though I've only just found out. The tumour was swelling her verterbrae and exerting intense pressure on her spinal cord. Mum's taken her to hospital a few days in a row, but didn't want me to get worried. Suppose I shouldn't be now that they've eliminated the pain, but it still doesn't stop me from imagining her agony and wishing so badly that I was there with Mum.

On a darker note, Singapore executed an Australian (of Korean heritage) less than 24 hours ago. The crime? Drug smuggling. Capital punishment is still very prevalent also in Malaysia - thrice a year for the past 4 years I've heard the same announcement over the MAS PA system: "May passengers be reminded that the bringing of drugs into Malaysia is illegal and holds a mandatory death sentence..."

In recent years I've grown increasingly disturbed that capital punishment is still doled out on occasion. Note Mrs. English's influence on my thinking if you will, but if there was one thing I could change about my country - or any other country for that matter - it would be to abolish the death penalty. (The second is many countries' negative stance against euthanasia, but more about that other time.) I can be uttely confident in saying that most of us view murder (ie the taking of a person's life against their freewill) is a heinous crime. To further emphasise my point: one does not punish any crime with a heavier crime. Why hang a drug-smuggler? One does not punish an action with the same action. Does hanging murderers not, in effect, make us murderers on the basis that we create and belong to the very societies that condemn them? To quote Amnesty International:

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments."

To quote Steph Vicic (wherever on earth she got this one from), one of the wisest and most intelligent people I've ever had the honour of knowing:

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

Well said, my dear. Well said.

Learnt a new word today =)
Moratorium:

1. Law.
   1. An authorization to a debtor, such as a bank or nation, permitting temporary suspension of payments.
   2. An authorized period of delay in the performance of an obligation.
2. A suspension of an ongoing or planned activity: a moratorium on the deployment of a new weapon.

For example, "A UN resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions has been co-sponsored by 76 countries, one more than in 2003 and the highest number ever."

Mankind will never find a way of taking life from those who no longer want or deserve it and giving it to those who need it, however high our dreams fly. But - the moments are trickling away, too precious to be wasted in front of a cold impersonal screen and a largely-uncaring audience. dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero


p.s. will put up links to various sites on the left, soon! photo above taken in Wells Cathedral, Somerset, the heart of one of my alma maters...