Andrea Bocelli: Another World Class Talent

Good music crosses cultural boundaries. This is quite evident in the great music of one Andrea Bocelli, an operatic Italian tenor. Am talking of one the songs he co-sang with the great Sarah Brightman. Hey! Am talking of the masterpiece "Time to Say Goodbye" (Con Te Partirò).

One can hardly believe that Andrea Bocelli is blind. According to Wikipedia, he got blind at the age of 12. However, this blindness has not deterred him from expressing his amazing God given talent. I can say that he stands shoulder to shoulder with the great Italian tenor, the late Luciano Pavarotti.

When I listen to songs by Bocelli, I usually find myself drifting in memories. I am always reminded of the good time I had among Italians when I visited the Italian cities of Venice(Venizia) and Trieste in 2004. The people were wonderful. I could not understand Italian but most of them were very willing to give directions if asked. You know what I mean if you have been to a foreign country. I also have memories of one of our instructors at the institution which was hosting us. We were being hosted by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (http://www.ictp.it). The instructor was just a very friendly guy and we felt very welcome and relaxed in a matter of just a few days. I still remember his name as Marco Zennaro. You see, kindness is golden.

Check out a duet of Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli doing "Time to Say Goodbye" in this YouTube video.



If you like fast music, then watch a DJ remix of the same song by one DJ Cleo of South Africa in the following video:



The talent of Andrea Bocelli always reminds me that "Physical disability is not inability".

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Some "crazy" things we search on the Web

Search engines have completely transformed the way we find information on the web. With powerful search engines such as Google and Yahoo, a simple query on the search engine web interface, sometimes leads to a large number of web links which may contain the desired information. Normally, I usually get the information I am looking for, from the first set of query results displayed.

My searches range from stuff like "MCL clustering algorithms" to crazy stuff like song lyrics. These varying searches have sometimes led me to find funny and educating websites like http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/.

But this other day, I mean today, I found myself searching for "how to tie a necktie". I must confess that all along I didn't know how to tie a necktie. I am usually a semi-formal person and I usually like putting on my traditional Malawian wear. After all, I am a scientist. Are scientists supposed to dress in a formal manner or casual manner? I hope this is debatable. However, check out some pictures of traditional Malawian wear on http://www.flickr.com/photos/bfkankuzi/page2/.

There are times that no matter what, you have to put on a necktie. I hope you remember your first job interview if you have already had one and you are a man. I guess, women do not put on neckties. So, being "cornered", I had to go to a shop to buy a necktie. I bought one and now the question was how to tie the necktie. A quick search on Google led me to the website http://www.necktieaficionado.com/How-To-Tie-A-Tie.html. The steps are easy to follow and wow I had a wonderful necktie on my neck!!!

Some of the "crazy" things we search on the web. Hmmmm!!!

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Of Hotel Rwanda and the Darfur Crisis

I am not a movie fan because of ... However, I managed to watch the movie Hotel Rwanda yesterday which was released in 2004. Although some question the heroism of the star of the film, Paul Rusesabagina, I personally salute the man for the great, heroic act.

I was personally moved by the movie because it reminded me of a Rwandese friend I met in my home country, Malawi. I remember how he narrated how his mother (a Tutsi) escaped the massacre by hiding in the ceiling of their house.

I also salute the then rebels, the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), for what they did in rescuing the situation. No wonder, we have a road in my home country that is named after the RPF leader, Paul Kagame. But get me right, I am not saying that the RPF were 'saints'...

I am also glad that some perpetrators of this cruelty have been brought to book. For example, General Bizimungu who was nabbed in Angola in 2002 and is now under the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. For more information about the status of the Rwandan genocide architects, just log on to the ICTR website on http://69.94.11.53/

Now turning to the Darfur Crisis, is the world just watching the genocide happening in Darfur as it watched the Rwandan genocide happening in 1994. Whatever the powers that might be, PLEASE SAVE INNOCENT DARFURIS!

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Another cold day...

Its another cold day in Gaborone. The weather is too chilly outside. Its so cloudy and cold. I don't have any option but to stay indoors. I like warm to hot weather and I feel very bored.

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