Little Sissi - Macau Daily Times

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MDTimes Number 793 Weekend Times No. 2 August 15 2009
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15 August 2009
®
Little Sissi,
a hobby turned
business with a passion
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Times
C & C - Lawyers Office
Partners:
Rui J. Da Cunha*
Álvaro Rodrigues*• Nuno S. da Mata*
Zhao Lu*º• Connie Kong
Associates:
Adelino Correia*
Zelina Rodrigues•Nuno L. Martins
Susana Batalha•Luís A. Pinto
Rita Andorinho•Célia Gonçalves
Vasco G. Vidal•Maria J. Marques
António I. Azeredo•João N. Marques
Jeniffer Lao • Icília Berenguel
Trainee Lawyers:
Maria A. Giestas
Eulália Souza
Carlos S. Ferreira
Octávio Tavares
Fong Kit In
Cao Lemeng, Rui
Wong Pou Ngai, Karen
* Notary
º China Appointed Attesting Officer
www.ccadvog.com
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15 August 2009
Cover story
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20
Press Play
From Macau
to Lisbon
The weight
of the road
by Fernando Ferreira
4
Little Sissi,
a hobby turned
business with a passion
by Sara Farr
8
Memories of Macau
from the Diaspora
by David Brookshaw
by António Espadinha Soares
16
Mouse Click
by Rui Freitas
32
Law & People
Traffic Accidents
– concerns
by Zelina Rodrigues
12
Do you know
Macau?
The Cathedral
of Macao
by Alberto Ung
18 World of Wonder
28 Offbeat
29 Cartooning
the World
by António
This Day in History
30 Infotainment
34 Zoom
26
Ask the Vet
Whelping: Having Puppies!
by Dr Ruan Du Toit Bester
by Emanuel Graça
Universal Yoga Asia Ltd.
Av.do Infante D. Henrique, 43-53A, second floor, Macau Square, Macau
Phone number (853) 2899 5599 Fax number (853) 2899 5533
http://www.universal-yoga-asia.com/
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Times
N
o-one ever predicted
it in the same way noone ever said it would
be easy. Although tiring and exhausting at
times, it has to be rewarding to see a
stranger in the street wearing one of
your own creations.
It all started when Sandra Gomes
was a teenager who liked jewellery
and experimenting with different
materials, mixing and matching
stainless steal wire and brass. On
occasion friends would ask her to
make necklaces, rings and bracelets for them.
Little Sissi,
a hobby turned busin
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15 August 2009
Sixteen years and a gorgeous crochet doll later, Sandra now has requests to set up booths at fairs and a
large number of orders it forced her
to start her own online gallery http://
littlesissi.blogspot.com.
“I started making rings made out
of stainless steel wire and brass during my teenage years in Portugal. My
hobbies then were mixing techniques
and finding solutions to always make
something by hand. Anything really from jewellery to other things I
would usually wear,” she explains.
“I’m self-taught,” she smiles.
It was then that her friends started
asking her for jewellery for themselves. And it was then too that she
started her sales. Then came university.
“I stopped my creations when I
started my degree in Communications, except on occasion and for myself.” Sandra tells of how she let her
hobby “sleep” for the next ten years,
before she was inspired again to pick
up her tools last year, this time in
Macau, after enrolling for a jewellery
workshop at Casa de Portugal.
“I rediscovered my old ‘art’ and
started working again with stainless
steel wire – which not only is resistant, it does not cause allergies – and
aluminium yarn, cotton, leather. I
also used some wood, beads and
many other materials.”
Sandra still continues going to the
facilities at Casa de Portugal to make
jewellery out of brass and silver.
People who knew Sandra would
buy the rings and necklaces she
would make, a move which would
only see her more motivated to continue her hobby with even greater
passion here in Macau. But the real
test was at the Lusofonia Festival last
year. With the help of Casa de Portugal, Sandra spent day-in and day-out
making new and creative jewellery
for the three-day event.
“Even though I made a reasonable
amount of jewellery, it was still not
enough for the orders I ended up
getting,” she says. “I was so surprised
by people’s reaction when coming
up to the little corner where I had
my booth close to Casa de Portugal’s
stand.”
“Some would stop, look and buy.
Others would walk past, look, and
ness with a passion
by Sara Farr
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come back to buy. People from all
age groups with different tastes in
jewellery and of course, of all nationalities.”
But hard work aside, the three-day
event gave Sandra a glimpse of what
her potential customers like and were
looking for. Towards the end of last
year, Sandra also took up the opportunity to set up a small table at Casa
de Portugal where she sold a number
of her items.
This year, she’s been at it again. Another fair, this time the Portuguese
Festival of Sao Joao, which is annually held in the Saint Lazarus District.
“Just another element of adventure,
of which the turnover was quite positive,” she smiles.
For Sandra inspiration comes easy.
Just by looking at the different materials available and the potential they
have for a necklace or ring or piece of
jewellery. For Sandra, it’s almost like
falling in love, which she does when
one of her new jewellery pieces is finalised.
But as with every good artist out
there, there is always something
stopping Sandra from completing
some of the envisioned piece. “I usually draw on my notebook that I always carry with me, but sometimes
it is difficult to find all the materials
to complete that project,” she tells.
Other times she starts from a design,
but finds that the final piece in little
or no way resembles the initial idea.
“It evolves while I am working it with
my hands.”
Sometimes people request that she
make replicas of her own pieces of
jewellery, but Sandra always tries to
make unique pieces as much as possible. “It’s usually hard to make replicas, and that’s why it’s harder for
me to do earrings because I have to
reproduce two exact pieces.”
Sandra was also invited to register
with the Macau Creative Industry,
known as Creative Macau. For now,
she plans on continuing with her
hobby-turned-business and mixing
and matching materials creating new
elements. And the one girl who will
always be by her side throughout the
journey is Little Sissi, Sandra’s trademark doll.
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Memories of Mac
by David Brookshaw*
T
he reasons
why
people choose
to
write
down their
life story are varied and
complex: the consciousness that time is passing
and that something may
be lost to future genera* Professor of the University of tions if not recorded, an
Bristol,lectures Brazilian Studies, awareness that they have
Portuguese studies and also African lived through ‘interesting
Literature in Portuguese. times’, a desire to try and
make some sort of sense
of their life’s trajectory, in
the words of the Brazilian
novelist Machado de Assis’s greatest fictional autobiographer, by ‘tying the
two ends of my life together’. Autobiography is quite
frequent among migrants.
In the lusophone tradition,
the Portuguese-American
community is well represented by autobiographies and social histories,
One of many
children’s party in
Edith’s home in
Macau
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15 August 2009
cau from the Diaspora
but it is within the Macanese diaspora, dispersed
through all five continents,
that all the reasons suggested above seem to come
together. The 1990s were a
decade of anxiety for many
Macanese during the transitional period between the
Luso-Chinese accord of
1987 and the handover in
1999. To many, it seemed
that the end of Portuguese
rule would bring about a
complete rupture with the
past. This was a decade
that witnessed a considerable amount of publishing activity in the territory, including fiction and
poetry, as well as books
about diverse aspects of
Macanese culture. It also
saw the appearance of the
first websites and online
newsletters
emanating
from Macanese organisations in North America,
as well as the publication
of memoirs by Macanese
in the diaspora, many of
whom had left Macau in
the 1950s and built their
lives elsewhere.
The first of these memoirs was Felipe B. Nery’s
Filho de Macau (A Son of
Macao), published as an
autobiography in 1988 by
Vantage Press, New York
City. It tells the author’s
life story, from his birth
in Shanghai in 1920, his
childhood there, his partial education in Macau,
crossing the ocean. It says:
look what I have achieved,
and what other Macanese
like me have achieved.
Since the publication of
this book, Nery has written two further works that
are described as novels,
but which in fact are little
more than repetitions of
the themes in his own life
evoked in his original life
story. If nothing else, these
novels indicate that one
cannot write successful
fiction if one is unable to
distance oneself creatively
from one’s own life experiences.
In 1993, the same American publisher put
out an-
his flight to Hong Kong
and then to Macau in
1951 after the Communist
takeover of his native city,
and his eventual departure
to San Francisco in 1953.
From this point, it tells the
story of his integration into
America, and the opportunities for financial security
that the new country appears to have offered him.
It is an essentially factual
account, but one that
is typical of many migrant autobiographies,
in that it emphasizes
both the social and
economic
advantages gained from
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Memories of Macau from the Diaspora
Times
The old Jorge
mansion on Beco
do Lilau, that
inspired “The Wind
Amongst the Ruins”,
in the 1950’s.
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other
autobiographical
volume by Edith Jorge
de Martini, entitled, The
Wind Amongst the Ruins: A Childhood in Macao. Martini was born and
brought up in Macau,
completed her education
in Europe, married an Argentine diplomat, and has
lived in various countries.
The book, the only work
by this author, does not
claim to be anything more
than a record of a childhood in Macau during the
1940s, but interestingly, it
contains a poetic quality,
and some of the literary
characteristics of fiction –
notably symbol and metaphor - that indicate precisely the reverse of what
has just been said about
Nery’s efforts: successful
autobiography needs an
injection of poetic creativity if it is to be read and
appreciated as a piece of
literature, by those who
have little or no knowledge
of the social and cultural
world of the author. Martini’s reasons for writing the
The author’s mother, Edith Jorge plays with her children
in Coloane’s Choc Van beach
book are closely associated
with the last days of her
maternal grandmother. She
develops a sudden writer’s
block just before she hears
that this iconic figure in
her life has died, only to
complete her task once she
imagines that her dying
grandmother ‘held out her
hand and took the small
child that exists in me, and
we both crossed that great
length of time separating
the present from the past
and she made me reach
out for my roots, to know
myself better’. So the cre-
ative process is explained
poetically as if some family force across geographical space and time, like
the wind among the ruins
of the book’s title, were
impelling her to record
memories of a period that
she had neglected for most
of her adult life. But these
memories are themselves
limited to a brief interval
during the 1940s, years that
were marked by the loss of
her last elder brother, leaving her the only survivor of
four siblings, and the birth
of a new brother. The nar-
15 August 2009
rative is therefore structured around the theme of
death and rebirth, but also
that of war and peace, for
the earliest memories are
those of herself as a fiveyear old girl in 1941, when
the Japanese have already
occupied the East Asian
mainland, and the last in
1947, which marks an eleven year-old girl’s return to
normal family life, and the
beginning of the post-war
period in Macau’s history.
Interesting is the way the
author refers to her native land as an island. It is,
of course, a popular fallacy that Macau is literally
an island off the coast of
Southern China, a notion
that Martini herself acknowledges. But the references to her island home
contain other resonances,
for her childhood space is
a type of metaphorical island, a place of safety and
cultural uniqueness that
is cut off from the outside
world, but from where,
like the little girl’s favourite uncle, one can dream
of travel and adventure
elsewhere. Yet one of the
reasons for her writing the
book is that Macau’s island nature is being eroded by time and ‘progress’,
as well as the exodus of its
children to other shores.
So Macau is inextricably
linked to her childhood,
and like childhood itself,
it is a place the author will
inevitably grow away from.
Martini
evokes
the
thoughts and memories of
her younger self, the fiveyear old girl, descending
into her as if she were creating a fictional character,
articulating her thoughts
and desires. Through her,
we are given a glimpse into
an old, well-to-do Macanese family on her father’s side, which lives in
a family compound on the
hill above Lilau Square,
dominated by what she refers to as the Old House.
Her mother’s side of the
family is of more recent
Macau stock, the grandfather being a Portuguese
a certain freedom in the
relative laxity of household
rules. But in due course,
like all children, she begins to miss her parents
and her old friends and
extended family. Through
her memory, we are led
into the world of Macanese
customs, the reciprocal ties
of friendship based on past
favours between her family
and certain wealthy Chi-
Through her, we are given a glimpse into an
old, well-to-do Macanese family on her father’s
side, which lives in a family compound on the
hill above Lilau Square, dominated by what
she refers to as the Old House.
army officer who had been
posted to Portugal’s most
distant colony, Timor, the
grandmother an orphan
girl brought up in a convent. Her mother had enjoyed carefree early years
in Timor, another ‘childhood’ island. It was this
upbringing that perhaps
explained her mother’s
outgoing personality, a joie
de vivre that she was later
obliged to curb, along with
her plans for a university
education, when she married ‘upwards’ into the
Macanese social elite.
The central focus of
this narration of a young
child’s life is when she is
sent to live with her maternal grandparents following her brother’s death,
and while her parents are
building a new house. The
girl enjoys being the centre of attention, and finds
nese, the family’s celebration of both Western festivities such as Christmas,
New Year and Carnival,
and Chinese festivals such
as the Lunar New Year.
The children look forward
to opening their presents
under the Christmas tree,
but also dress in red silk
clothes and brocade hats
for Chinese New Year, and
collect red packets from
their elders, including
the amahs who look after
them. During the brief interval of the war years, the
little girl develops from the
shy creature who had lived
in the shadow of her brothers, often intimidated by
the long dark corridors of
the Old House, into a more
joyful and secure child,
as her parents survive the
years of conflict and enter
the daylight of the post-war
period, marked by the birth
of the girl’s new young
brother, and the family’s
move into a new house.
The book is no more than
a brief snapshot of life in
a large Macanese family,
but it is also a descent into
the psychological time of
memory, which underlines
the importance of the act
of recollection in carrying
us forward to the future.
Edith holding Nuno, her
younger sibling, in 1945
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Do you know Macau?
Times
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The Cathe
by Alberto Ung, Institute For Tourism Studies (IFT)
T
he first chosen Cathedral in Macao was
the Chapel of São Lázaro, a church worshipping Our Lady of Hope. It was chosen according to the edict issued by Pope
Gregorio XII on 23 January 1576 that the
church to be chosen as Cathedral has to be one that honored Mother Mary. However, as the Chapel is situated
very close to a leprosarium, it is not an ideal location to
serve as a Cathedral. As such, a new church was built
in 1623 to replace Chapel of São Lázaro as Macao’s Cathedral, the one we are having now. The original name
for the Cathedral is Chapel of Our Lady of Nativity, it
is engraved in Latin “SS.M.V. MARIAE NASCENTI” on
the main entrance and on glass windows of the church,
meaning “dedicated to the Birth of Virgin Mary”. Over
the years, the Cathedral has had serious damages, such as
from termites and typhoons, etc., it was rebuilt in 1937
with concrete and stone as major construction materials
as we can see it today.
The Cathedral used to be called ᮰▙๗᮱ (the big tem-
15 August 2009
edral of Macao
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Do you know Macau?
Times
14
ple) by local Chinese. In the old days there was no Chinese term for church and “temple” was used as a substitute. It is called the “big” temple because it was the
center of Macao’s catholic ecclesial power.
Due to successive land reclamations, the Cathedral is
now situated very close to the heart of the city, but when
it was first built, it was situated on a quiet hilltop without
any tall buildings blocking the view from it. People used
to watch ships sailing in and out Macao from there. It
was also known as “望人寺” (the Waiting Temple) as it
is a popular place for wives of sailors to watch and wait
for their husbands’ ships to return home.
The Cathedral is of Neo-Classical style with a simple
façade, making up of two towers, one central aisle leading to the main altar and four side chambers. The ceiling
and pillars of the inner part of the Cathedral are made
of wood, with the Crucifix at the main altar. Behind the
main altar there are four very colorful glass mosaics featuring Mother Mary and some angels, among which the
one featuring the birth of Mother Mary is most outstanding. Both sides of the main altar are decorated with glass
mosaics of the Twelve Apostles, but the place for Jude,
who betrayed Jesus, is replaced by St. Paul.
Adjacent to the Cathedral is the Bishop’s Palace. The
original palace was built before 1835, renovation for enlargement started in 1985 with the last restoration completed in 1991. The Palace is where the highest Catholic
authority is in Macao and handles administration of all
Catholic churches in the peninsula of Macao.
The Macao Cathedral is one of the 22 cultural sites that
constitute the Historic Center of Macao which was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.
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Mouse Click
Video of the Week
CRUTCH 2007
http://vayabobo.deviantart.com/art/
CRUTCH-2007-65774211
by António Espadinha Soares
Triond
http://www.triond.com/
Many are the ways to publish and distribute your
work online. Quite often you’re faced with a myriad
choice of services and networks that will distribute
your digital creations to users on the Internet but it
can be frustrating going through a completely different set of menus and procedures just to publish the
exact same material on different web pages. Triond is
a sort of services aggregator that provides an easier
way to publish content to sites, which specialize in
specific types of content. It shares advertising revenue from page hits so the service is free in that you
don’t have to pay upfront for it.
Software of the Week
This week’s video is actually an old favourite from
the time when the website Deviantart first started
offering its members the possibility to upload video.
It’s a trailer for a documentary on Bill Shannon, aka
“Crutchmaster”, an an obscure street artist turned
internationally acclaimed performer and choreographer. The artist didn’t let his physical debilitation
from limiting him professionally, but actually used
it to create something wonderful and unique which
serves as a testament to human perseverance. It’s
amazing to watch all the things that Shannon can
do with crutches, many of which most people can’t
do even without any physical limitations.
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VirtualBox
http://www.virtualbox.org
VirtualBox provides you with a simple and free
solution to install and run a different operating
system (OS) from inside your currently default OS,
without the hassle of having to partition and format
your hard disk. This program comes in handy if you
just want to try out a new OS without having to
commit to some pretty big changes to your system
or if you just need to access special software not
available on your current setup. It’s available for all
the main OS on the market.
15 August 2009
The Manhattan Project
http://themannahattaproject.org/
New York city is probably one of the most well known,
and most iconic cities in the USA. The island of Manhattan is most likely what many of us visualize when thinking of this city, filled to the brink with high rises of steel
and concrete. It wasn’t so long ago though (relatively
speaking of course) that this island was pristine woodland
without a human soul in site. This website provides a
glimpse into that past, letting us watch and compare how
Manhattan used to be before the virgin forest gave way to
the urban concrete jungle we know today.
Blog of the Week
Big White Guy
http://www.bigwhiteguy.com/
Although the author doesn’t like to call his website
a blog, since the software he’s used to publish his
thoughts preceded the term, this is essentially what
it is. BWG is a blog depicting the experiences of
Canadian native who moved to Hong Kong for his
wife, a Hong Kong native. The author is a photographer and a write for The Peak magazine and provides readers with a humorous account of life in the
neighboring territory. If you’re new or just a passerby in this part of the world check it out for some
useful knowledge of local customs and language.
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Press Play
by Fernando Ferreira
Album of the Week
Still Night, Still Light
New Comers
Ur Ma
Ur Ma emerged into the
electronic-rock
scene
with a homonymous EP
in 2008, immediately captivating radio attention
with songs like “Cheap
Talk Suicide” and “Run
Macho Man”. BlackBambi (vocals / keyboards),
mwing H (drums) and O
Manipulador (bass), producing an energetic and
seducing sound marked
by a gloomy and ironic
tension, sprinkled with
a pop-iconoclastic attitude.
Right now, they are preparing to record their
first album.
In addition, “Ur Ma is:
Your Mother. Lisbon.
2007. 2008. 1990. Roadmovies. F*cked Up Love.
Dry Blood. Analogue.
Electronic. Scraped off
Gold. Toothpicks. Cadillacs.
Moustaches.
Car Crashes. Grandma’s
Ghost.”
Video
Still Night, Still Light is the third album by Au Revoir Simone, which was released on May of this year.
The new album is the follow-up to 2007’s “The Bird
of Music” and was produced by Thom Monahan
who’s previously worked with Little Joy and Pernice
Brothers.
Au Revoir Simone is an electronic indie pop band
from New York, that formed in late 2003 and is
composed of Erika Forster (vocals/keyboard), Annie
Hart (vocals/keyboard), and Heather D’Angelo (vocals/drum machine/keyboard).
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Taking place on an airplane, parodying the
movie Airplane, the music video “Learn to Fly”
portraits two airline mechanics hiding “World
Domination brand ‘Erotic’ Sleeping Powder” in
the coffee-maker, which
ends up incapacitating
everyone who drinks the
coffee.
The band, in the airplane
portray themselves as
Learn
avoiding the coffee, find
themselves forced to
land the plane. For the
video, each band member
(Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel and Taylor Hawkins)
portrays himself as well
as several other roles.
The video was filmed
in London with a cabin
crew training airplane
and won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Short
Form Music Video.
15 August 2009
DVD
Pink Floyd
A Saucerful Of Secrets
Going strong
Anti-Flag
This comprehensive film and book set, documents
the recording and influence of Floyd’s second album
through live and archive footage, as well as interviews
with the band, alongside the insights of Floyd insiders
and members of the original production team.
The DVD includes highlights from Interstellar Overdrive, Astronomy Domine, Apples & Oranges, A Saucerful of Secrets, Set the Controls for the Heart of the
Sun and Careful With that Axe Eugene.
The American punk band from Pittsburgh known
for their outspoken views on American government has been around since 1988 but only managed to get their first record out in 1996, Die for
the Government, due to several line-up changes
during their first years.
In 1998, the band released their second album,
Their System Doesn’t Work For You containing
nine Anti-Flag songs from the 1996 Anti-Flag/
d.b.s. split album North America Sucks, as well
as 10 new unreleased songs.
The next year, Anti-Flag released the album A
New Kind of Army addressing a wide variety of
topics such as political corruption, racism, fascism, troubled youth, police brutality, and unity
within the American youth.
From 2000 to 2004, the band released Underground Network (2001), Mobilize (2002), The
Terror State (2003) and this year, the band released their 10th album, entitled The People or
the Gun.
The band current line-up consists of Justin Sane
(lead vocals, rhythm and lead guitars), Chris #2
(lead vocals, bass guitar), Chris Head (lead and
rhythm guitars, backing vocals) and Pat Thetic
(drums, percussion).
to Fly by Foo Fighters
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From Macau
to Lisbon
Times
by Rui Freitas
Follow him online at:
www.theloneartist.com
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(Top) Saint Sofia in Sofia
(Bottom) The church in Tsarevets Castle
T
he train rolled through yellow-golden grain
fields and green stretches of grass on its way
to Bulgaria. It was hot outside and I rolled
down the window to take in the breeze and
watch the landscape. We had decided to
check out Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and get
away from large cities and sightseeing for a while. Varna
was all about the sun, the beach and the sea. As the train
drew near to its terminus, we saw industrial areas and
shipyards outside town. There weren’t many passengers on the train when we alighted and the railway
station was quiet. We checked into the hostel
and decided to walk about the town.
Varna is popular as a seaside resort and its
main beach has fine golden sand.
There is a strip along the whole
length of the beach with plenty of
restaurants and bars and there is a large park uphill.
Rumour has it that Varna is a Bulgarian mafia town
but we never felt unsafe during our time there. There
were beautiful local and tourist Bulgarian women and
foreign travellers often joked that some of them belonged
to mobsters. We hung out with people from the hostel at
the beach, sun bathing or cooling down in the water. On
the third day we found ourselves without accommodation. We had originally booked two nights in the hostel but it turned out that it became overbooked and we
couldn’t extend out stay there. After weeks on the road
I didn’t felt like moving again. I was tired of sightseeing
and exploring cities and just wanted to relax on the beach
and stay put. Adrian agreed to stay another two nights
and we got a private apartment with Paul and Derek, two
Englishmen who had been staying at our hostel and who
also came to be with no accommodation. Their uncle
had been saved by the lifeguards one afternoon after almost drowning to death and we got to meet them. The
lifeguards were burly, local Bulgarians and they spent
most of their day outside the lifeguard house drinking.
They were extremely friendly and we hung out with them
one afternoon listening to their stories and laughing with
them. At some point in each night we would go to the hot
baths at the end of the beach strip.
After four days in Varna, Adrian and I got on the bus
to Veliko Tarnovo. It was raining when we arrived and
we got a free pick-up from the bus station to the hostel.
We drove uphill and saw part of the town perched on
top of a hill and red roofs and balconies overlooking the
Yantra River down below. The day was grey and dull and
we spent what was left of it chilling out at the hostel. It
rained for most of the following day and we just stayed
indoors. When you are on the road for long there are
times when you just don’t feel like doing anything. When
the weather cleared we strolled into town for a meal. Bulgaria is cheap as chips and we had a large meal on one
of the balconies overlooking the river and valley below.
On our last day we walked up to Tsarevets castle which
was the Second Bulgarian Empire ‘s primary fortress as
Veliko Tarnovo was the Empire’s capital at the time. The
castle’s walls crown the top of a hill from where it is pos-
15 August 2009
The weight
of the road
Orthodox Church in Varna
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
On the train to Varna
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From Macau
to Lisbon
Times
24
sible to enjoy beautiful
vistas of the river and
valley around it.
Our last destination
as travel mates was Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Adrian was going down into Greece
from there and I was
going up the Balkans
on my way into Italy.
Our initial plan was
for one night in Sofia
but we were both still
road weary and ended
up chilling out at the
hostel most of the
time, watching films
and mingling with
other travellers. We
had to stay an extra day
for sightseeing. The
only thing I absolutely
could not miss was the
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a cross-domed
Orthodox basilica and
a symbol of Sofia. We
walked down to the
Cathedral, taking in
other streets, building
and churches, as well
as public buildings of
the communist period.
We didn’t see much of
the city. It was hot and
we were tired. I am sure there is a lot more to be seen in
Bulgaria, but being on the road for so long means that
sometimes it’s necessary to take it easy in order to replenish your energy and enthusiasm levels. Adrian and I said
goodbye and parted ways. I will see him again when he
stops in Portugal for a few months to surf the best waves
in Europe.
Modernist frescoes in Tsarevets
Castle’s church
Veliko Tarnovo
15 August 2009
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Question Categories
to be covered are:
We will be focusing on
the following;
Allergies
Avian/Exotics
Behavior
Boarding
Dental
Digestive System
Diseases
Ears
General
Heart
Hormones
Husbandry
Medications
Musculoskeletal
Neoplasia
Nervous System
Nutrition
Reproductive System
Respiratory
Skin
Surgery
Travel
Urinary
Vaccinations
Whelp
by Dr Ruan Du Toit Bester
Ask The Vet
-All about Dogs.
-All about Cats.
-All about Exotics.
-All about pet ownership.
-All about nutrition.
Ask the Vet - is a service that allows you to ask questions about your pets’ health and
behavior. My goal is to help you, the pet owner, improve the knowledge of your pet’s
everyday needs and health care in Macau through a variety of pet services and veterinary
resources that where never available to pet owners before.
Pets have become a very important part of our families. In many cases they have become as much a part of our lives as children or grandchildren. And, in certain ways, just
as complicated. Think of all the questions raised by wanting a pet. Pet ownership has
definitely become more complex. Everybody seems to have an opinion on what pet you
should get and what being a good pet owner means. My goal is to answer your questions
and try making things simpler for you. I want to give some of the basic information that
will help you to raise a healthy, happy and family compatible pet. And, of course, have
fun while you are doing it.
The ideas listed in this column come from many years of studying and practicing veterinary medicine in South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong and Macau. And they are just that,
my ideas and opinions. They are not meant to be all-encompassing or correct for every
situation. Use this information as a tool, along with the advice from your veterinarian, to
help you make the interaction between you and your pet a wonderful experience.
As far as I am concerned, there are two kinds of people; those who really love animals,
and those who have never owned any. People who say they do not love pets have usually
never owned one. And for those who say they hate them, well, let’s just not talk about
them! The picture above is of a 150kg sea turtle at Australia Zoo that I did abdominal
surgery on after it ingested a ball of fishing line. Indiscriminate and over fishing causes
this to happen too often.
I hope this section helps you enjoy that perfect life with your pet. And I would love to
hear the stories of how you came to own your particular pet and any interesting experiences you have had.
Please send all your questions to
[email protected] or mail to
Dr Ruan Du Toit Bester
Rua, D.R, L, P, Marquest 2/F, Flat B,
Ponte 6A, Macau SAR.
Tel: +853 28763349 Fax: +853 28763349
26
Y
ou have successfully
bred your dog, it has
been confirmed by
your veterinarian, and
now you want to know
what to do to prepare for having the
puppies.
This is a bit of a tricky question
because it depends on whether you
have a Toy Poodle or a Bull Mastiff.
However, there are some tips I can
offer that will cover the vast majority
of dogs.
First, you need to know the term
“whelping”. This means giving birth
in the canine dictionary. We similarly
use the word “queening” when a cat
delivers kittens.
It is extremely important to ask your
veterinarian if your particular type of
dog has any special problems when
it comes to whelping. Most breeds of
dogs do absolutely fine without human intervention, but there are a few
that have real problems. Boston Terriers and Bulldogs instantly come to
mind. These breeds, because of their
physical characteristics, often have a
very difficult time delivering puppies
and more often than not, a Cesarean
section is needed. Most breeders of
these dogs will even schedule a Csection with their veterinarian rather
than wait for problems to occur. So
ask your veterinarian or contact me
here about your particular pet and I
15 August 2009
ping: Having Puppies!
can let you know if you are in for any
special circumstances.
The majority of “bitches” (female
dogs) really do quite well on their
own when they whelp, and many
times if we try to intervene we can
make things more difficult. So here
are some guidelines to simplify the
process:
1) Be sure there is a quiet place for
her to have the puppies. Often times
in the later stage of pregnancy the
bitch will start to “nest”, or make a
spot for herself. She may pick a closet, under a bed, the corner of a room,
or her normal dog bed. Let her pick
the place, don’t force her into a place
that is uncomfortable.
2) Once she has picked a place, it is
nice to try and put a wooden barrier
around the area so that after she has
the puppies they won’t wander off by
accident. Just some simple plywood
1” by 12” or something similar will
do nicely. Be sure the mom can easily
jump in and out of what we will now
call the “whelping area,” or “whelping box”.
3) Most dogs deliver their puppies
right around 60 days, usually between 60 and 64 days. If you really
want to be prepared for the event,
when you have reached 60 days after the dog was bred, you can take
her temperature in the morning and
at night (you have to do this rectally;
it is very easy, just ask your veterinarian to show you how). Once her
rectal temperature has dropped, you
can be pretty assured she will deliver
the puppies in the next 24 hours.
And yes, it is true that more times
than not the puppies are delivered at
night.
4) There is a theme developing here;
the bitches like to make their nests
in small, quiet areas and they like to
have their puppies at night. They like
for things to be quiet and uneventful.
My advice to people once they believe the dog is close to giving birth
is the following:
- Leave them alone as much
as possible.
- Allow them all the time
they want in their whelping
area
- When they do start have
some puppies just be very
quiet. Watch from a distance
and let nature do the work.
If you want your children
to observe, keep them from
making too much of a noise
or too much fuss.
- Keep the room lit, but a
little dim. This will keep the
dog soothed, as well as keep
the children and adults in the
room a bit calmed.
Enjoy your new little friends,
As always, I’m happy to help your
pet…and their people, too.
Dr. Ruan
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Offbeat
Mona Lisa smiles on after teacup attack
An “unhinged” Russian woman threw a teacup
at the world’s most famous painting, Leonardo
da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” but it emerged
unscathed due to its bullet-proof glass cover,
the Louvre museum said Tuesday.
“The young woman took a cup out of her bag
and threw it over the heads of other people
who were looking at the painting. The cup
smashed on the bullet-proof glass which was
slightly scratched,” a spokesman said.
“It looks like it was done by someone who
was unhinged and wanted to draw attention to
herself,” he said.
The woman put up no resistance when
museum guards apprehended her after the
incident on August 2.
She was handed over to police who said the
woman “did not have all her mental faculties
and has been transferred to the police
psychiatric infirmary.”
The Louvre, the biggest art museum in the
world, has thousands of paintings, but most
of the millions of visitors a year make a beeline for the Mona Lisa, known in France as La
Joconde.
The 500-year-old painting was stolen in 1911 from the
Louvre but was returned after an Italian was arrested
for its theft two years later.
It was doused with acid by a vandal in 1956 and
later the same year a Bolivian damaged it again by
throwing a rock at it.
This Day in History
Jimi Hendrix at the original Woodstock festival in Bethel, New York in August 1969
28
15 August 2009
Cartooning the World
Venezuela’s Radiotelevision
by António
MDTimes exclusive in Macau
Woodstock: the hippies take over
On August 15, 1969, Woodstock begins. A massive three-day
rock festival in Bethel, New York, Woodstock drew vast crowds
and served as a defining moment for baby boomers. Among the
many performers were Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin,
Santana, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
To those who attended, Woodstock was near magical – a moment
when rules were suspended, hippies took over, rock greats like
Jimi Hendrix were at their best, and the world was really, really
groovy.
In practical terms, Woodstock really was a miracle, Mel Lawrence,
director of operations at the event in rural upstate New York, said
40 years later.
The concert almost fell through when locals at the planned site
in Wallkill, near the little town of Woodstock, suddenly withdrew
permission.
A new site was found at a farm in Bethel, but less than a month
remained to install the stage, sound system, infrastructure for
tens of thousands of people, and even basics like electricity.
“We had only 28 days to build the site and in that time we
experienced rain on about 20 days. We also had money
problems. But we managed to make it happen,” Lawrence said.
Organizers had planned for about 100,000 people. More than
four times the number showed up.
Once the fence came down, the concert became a free-for-all
and roads were so jammed that many abandoned their vehicles.
There was little sanitation or shelter.
“Then somewhere on the second day, we ran out of food,”
Lawrence said.
Yet with chaos looming, the rather shambolic organizers,
counterculture leaders, conservatively minded locals, and crowds
of rock fans rose to the occasion.
Local people produced supplies, organizers negotiated to acquire
truckloads of paper plates, and hundreds of thousands of people
were treated to the famous “breakfast in bed for 400,000” – or,
rather, breakfast in a rain-soaked field.
Concert goers showing true hippie spirit, shared everything,
steering clear of bad vibes.
When two youths started fighting, others simply encircled them:
“People surrounded them, holding hands and the two guys
ended up hugging each other.”
Some of that peace and love might have had something to do
with the clouds of marijuana smoke.
“It was a wild time.”
“You can’t plan for something like that. It has to be a series of
circumstances that come together in some mysterious way,” he
said.
“I think it was karma myself. We treated that site, Bethel, with
great, great respect.”
In 1994, August 12, Woodstock II takes place in Saugerties, New
York, near the site of the legendary Woodstock of 1969. Again
bad weather and pervasive mud marked the event attended by
300,000. Some 50 bands and singers performed, including the
Neville Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Jimmy
Cliff, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
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The Born Loser by Chip Sansom
Sudoku
Easy
Easy +
Medium
Cinema
G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra
Stephen Sommers will direct (here’s hoping he reigns in the CG), from a script by Stuart Beattie. The
story is set at Brussels-based GIJOE, an acronym for the Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity,
and revolves around an international co-ed force of operatives who use high-tech equipment to
battle Cobra, an evil org headed by a Scottish arms dealer. --Real Movie News 11/20/07
Paramount Pictures and Hasbro (previously was collaborated on making the worldwide
blockbuster “TRANSFORMERS.” join with Spyglass Entertainment for another extraordinary
action-Adventure: G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. From the Egyptian desert, the elite G.I. Joe
team with the latest in next-generation spy and military equipment will against the corrupt
arms dealer Destro and the growing menace from the mysterious Cobra organization to
dispute them from plunging the world into chaos. “G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra” is directed
by Stephen Sommers (“The Mummy,” “The Mummy Returns”)
Hard
Macau Tower
Cineteatro
1:30/4:15/7:00/9:45 pm
Room 1
G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller, Ray Park
Director: Stephen Sommers
Screenplay: Stuart Beattie, David Ellio
Language: English ( Chinese subtitles)
Duration:118 min
TV
Starring: Michael Tse, Francis Ng
Director: Herman Yau
Language: Chinese ( English subtitles)
2:30/4:30/7:30/9:30 pm
Saturday
30
Turning Point
Room 2
G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra
Canal Macau
11:30
12:00
12:40
13:00
13:20
14:20
18:30
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
22:00
23:00
23:20
00:10
2:30/4:30/7:30/9:30 pm
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller, Ray Park
Director: Stephen Sommers
Screenplay: Stuart Beattie, David Ellio
Language: English ( Chinese subtitles)
Duration:118 min
Sunday
RTP-i (Live)
PETER PAN AND THE PIRATES
DAWSON´S CREEK
COOKING
TDM NEWS ( REP. )
NEWS AT 24H (RTP - i) (Delayed Broadcast)
SOAP OPERA - COMPACT
PORTUGUESE SERIE
DOCUMENTARY SERIES IN PORTUGUESE
CULTURAL CONTEST
MAIN NEWS, FINANCIAL & WEATHER
REPORT
NOON NEWS: RTP-i (Live)
DOCUMENTARY SERIES IN PORTUGUESE
TDM NEWS
VARIETY
SITUATION COMEDY
RTP-i (Live)
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:20
14:20
14:45
15:00
15:30
17:45
18:10
18:40
20:00
20:30
21:00
22:00
22:45
23:10
23:30
MAGAZINE
COOKING SERIES
TDM NEWS ( REP. )
NEWS AT 24H (RTP - i) (Delayed Broadcast)
DOUGIE IN DISGUISE
ANIMATION:
JOHAN, THE YOUNG SCIENTIST
ANIMATION: TURTLE ISLAND
LOST
DOCUMENTARY IN PORTUGUESE
DOCUMENTARY IN PORTUGUESE
JAZZ MUSIC
SITUATION COMEDY
MAIN NEWS, FINANCIAL & WEATHER
REPORT
NOON NEWS: RTP-i (Live )
CRIMINAL MINDS
DOCUMENTARY SERIES
TDM NEWS
NON-DAILY PORTUGUESE NEWS
RTP-i (Live)
Room 3
2:30/4:30/7:30 pm
Doraemon
Starring: Ciwi Lam
Director: Shibayama Tsutomu
Language: Cantonese ( Chinese subtitles)
Duration:98 min
Room 3
9:30 pm
UP
Starring: Wayne Lai, Michael Hui
Director: Peter Doctor
Language:Cantonese ( Chinese subtitles)
Duration:96 min
15 August 2009
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Law &People
Traffic Accidents – concerns
by Zelina Rodrigues
C&C Lawyers
I
n recent years the number of traffic accidents
in Macau has increased to an all time high. Minor or not, there is concern with the alarming
number that Macau, with an estimated population of 544,200 at the end of June 2009, has
to deal with.
Information from the Macau Statistics and Census
Service indicated that the total number of licensed vehicles was 184,642 at the end of June 2009, of which
54 percent (99,413) were motorcycles and 39 percent
(71,877) were light vehicles.
With the increasing number of vehicles on the roads
of Macau each year, accidents have unfortunately become a very common sight.
All over the world people die as a result of road traffic
accidents and many more in number suffering critical
injuries, leaving victims and families devastated.
According to Macau Statistics and Census Service,
in the first half year of 2009, the total number of traffic accidents was of 6,065 cases, resulting in 2,093
victims, five of which died subsequently.
Road safety continues to be one of Macau’s most
serious public issues as it affects everyone, whether
you’re a driver, pedestrian or cyclist.
Although several innovative campaigns have been
arranged to avoid traffic accidents, accidents still occur frequently, mainly due to careless driving.
The majority of traffic accidents could be avoided if
only drivers would behave with more responsibility
by paying attention to driving and less to other activities such as eating, drinking, putting on makeup,
talking on mobile phones or to other passengers or
watching DVD’s on the back of the front seat! Driving over the speed limit and driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances are clearly causes
of serious traffic accidents.
These accidents could also be avoided by following
the traffic rules and regulations. Wearing seat belts is
annoying for many people, and seriously reduces the
chance of getting hurt when an accident occurs. Even
with mandatory seat belt wearing, a vast majority of
people choose to disregard this safety precaution and
end up facing consequential accidents because of it.
A person who is hurt by an inattentive or careless
driver is entitled under the Macau laws to recover
damages and compensation for injuries sustained in
the accident, by making a compensation claim.
All vehicles are required by law to be insured. The
liability insurance will pay for personal injuries up to
a policy’s limit and also for the property damage of
another vehicle, if applicable.
32
A traffic accident should be reported immediately
to the police. The victim should seek medical assistance and should be capable of collecting the maximum evidence at the accident spot so as to support
his claim.
Should the victim intend to initiate criminal proceedings against the person responsible for the accident the case will be followed up by the Macau Public
Prosecutor, the entity responsible to present criminal charges. Then, the victim may submit a claim for
damages in the same criminal proceedings against the
insurance company. If the claiming amount for the
victim damages exceeds the driver insurance policy’s
limit, the victim should also sue the driver.
Any judicial inquiry conducted for a criminal case
is confidential during the investigating stage. The involved parties do not have access to the police reports
and witness statements, until the inquiry has been
concluded. In some exceptional circumstances, access is granted to certain documents in the file. In the
cases where a conviction is not obtained, the victim
may initiate a separate civil action to claim for damages against the insurance company and the driver as
well, should as referred above, the claimed amount
for victim’s damages exceeds the driver insurance
policy limit.
The statute of limitation to file a civil action for
traffic accident is of three years from the date of
the accident.
15 August 2009
For valid person injury claim, providing negligence
is the first step. The law does not allow the victim
of a traffic accident to be compensated for his own
fault. Therefore, it is the victim who must prove that
the accident was caused due to the driver’s fault and
negligence and that the injury is a direct result of the
traffic accident.
If liability can be established, the victim may be
entitled to compensation for personal injuries and
other expenses, such as medical expenses incurred in
the treatment of the injury, any future medical costs,
compensation for actual loss of wages, loss of future
wages, compensation for loss of enjoyment of life,
damages for mental pain and anguish, cost of a nurse
that may be required after the accident, etc.
In order to make a successful claim for personal injuries in the event of a traffic accident the claim submitted should be substantiated with proper evidences
supporting the cause of the victim proving his innocence and at the same time proving the negligence of
the driver.
The burden of proof in a traffic accident claim is on
the victim as plaintiff. This means that the plaintiff
must go forward with the evidence at trial of the accident, and must present evidence that the driver, as
defendant, was negligent, that the defendant’s negligence proximately caused the traffic accident and
that the plaintiff’s injuries are causally related to the
accident.
The burden of proof in case of negligence can be
met by testimony from anyone who has witnessed
the defendant speeding or crossing the centre line or
through any other evidence (documental, video, etc).
In case, during the trial, there is evidence that the
victim was injured in part due to his own negligence,
the injured party would not be entitled to receive all
the compensation from the insurance company and
the driver who supposedly caused the accident.
If the victim and the driver are both partially re-
sponsible for the accident, then the victim might only
be able to receive part of his compensation for damages, but not in full. The sum that the victim would
be entitled to receive from the driver insurance policy
depends on the amount of damages and how much
the victim is at fault, considering his contribution for
such damages.
To avoid traffic accidents it is important that people
know how to take care of themselves and respect others on the road.
If you are a driver, there are several ways you can act
in order to avoid negligent accidents. First, pay attention to the law, follow the speed limit, heed warning
signs and pay special attention to areas that have kids,
elderly people, etc. Be more careful around school areas and pay attention to what is going on around you.
Also remain attentive to the road. Avoid talking on
the phone and sending messages while driving. If the
weather is bad, like heavy rain and thick fog, pedestrians might be more difficult to see. In times of intense
traffic, double your attention and do not drive recklessly, as you may hit another motorist or run into a
person between cars.
The driving schools also have an important mission
on accident prevention. It is common for all of us to
observe how some beginners are wrongly thought of,
for instance, to drive on the right side, when under
Macau law everyone should drive on the left side except, for example, in case of overtaking manoeuvres.
As a pedestrian, you must also pay attention to your
surroundings. Avoid walking, cycling or jogging along
busy roads that do not have sidewalks. Wait for the
walk signal and be sure to cross on crosswalks rather
than just in the middle of the street.
If you are jogging or riding a bicycle at night, it could
be a good idea to wear white or bright clothing and
include reflective stripes or hold lit devices to make
you more obvious to cars.
Let’s join efforts for a better road safety!
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Zoom
Photo Fernando Madeira
Times goes by
As I approached the door, I saw the old gatekeeper sitting
outside, just waiting for time to pass by. She knew her true
evil was not the weakening of the body, but the fact she had
so little time in which to do so much.
Emanuel Graça
Journalist
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15 August 2009
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