Monday, August 04, 2008 Rama: Of gunpowder, good luck and the number 8 By Karlon N. Rama Stage Five
JAKARTA—The Jakarta Post carried, yesterday, an article from the Beijing desk of Reuters, saying the Olympic Games will open on 08/08/08 with a “big, big bang.”
Fireworks, and a lot of it, will play a major role in the opening. Expect no less, read the report filed by Crispian Balmer, from the country that invented gunpowder.
Other than an explosive start, over 10,000 performers will take part in the opening ceremony that is expected to last three hours and aired globally to an estimated audience of over four billion people.
A South Korean television crew was able to illegally film the performers during dress rehearsal last week.
Their video, uploaded but promptly withdrawn from internet sites, showed aerial artists floating over the track, kung fu formations and, get this, humpbacked whales around the rim of the Bird’s Nest—China’s metal-latticed Olympic stadium.
According to some reports, the Chinese Government earmarked over $100 million for the opening and closing ceremonies alone, with a lot of it allocated for the fire-show.
If that can’t give you a big bang, nothing will.
OX FOR GOOD MEASURE. Fireworks are a tradition in China and among Chinese people. They are viewed as a tool to chase away misfortune-bearing spirits.
A Feng Shui master, however, said that the fireworks in the three-hour extravaganza on Aug. 8 will not be enough.
Hong Kong-based astrology expert Raymond Lo wants Chinese leaders, especially those born in the Year of the Horse, to wear an ox pendant to ward off bad karma.
The Beijing Games will open eight minutes past eight in the evening on the eight day of the eight month in the year 2008, a time viewed by Feng Shui experts as giving the best numeric combination for good luck and prosperity.
Lo, however, said this is a bad time for those born in the Year of the Horse, saying that “the clash between the Rat and the Horse is a serious clash between Water and Fire.”
“For people born in the Year of the Horse, it is recommended that they wear a pendant of the Ox which will help to attract away the Rat so as to minimize the influence of the clash,” he said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao were both born in 1942, the Year of the Rat in the 12-year cycle of Chinese astrology.
The number eight is considered lucky among the Chinese. However, Lo said, not all is positive in the Year of the Rat, citing the recent disasters in China.
Other grim events in China, Lo said, have the number eight in the center of it—the snowstorms that struck the country in Jan. 25 (1+2+5 = 8), the Tibetan riots of March 14 (3 + 1 + 4 = 8) and the earthquake of May 12 (5 + 1 + 2 = 8), which was also 88 days before the Olympics.
I ate ox brain in a Padang restaurant in downtown Jakarta, Saturday, (they serve you a small helping of every dish they have on the menu but you only pay for that which you ate) would there be any connection?
08.08.08 SHOOT. I don’t know if they believe in the relationship between fireworks, prosperity and the number eight or not, but Armscor is hosting a shoot on the same day the Beijing Games open.
I got a text message from Bob Sajot of the Armscor Shooting Ranges Inc., saying they have registered the event with the Philippine Practical Shooting Association as a sanctioned match.
Speaking of shooting, Rey Romero (rayrom70@yahoo.com), a member of the Front Sight Gun Club who is now based abroad sent me an e-mail regarding the International Practical Shooting Confederation’s new rule regarding the HS 2000 (sold in the US as the Springfield XD).
According to the new rules, the gun is now classified as a double-action gun and, as such, is now considered “approved for the Production Division.”
I don’t know if the manufacturer modified its design to make their old single-action only striker system double-action, but the rules are the rules and the IPSC sets them.
So, production-accepted the HS2000 now is.(knrama@gmail.com)
