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"Thanks to Kris Lee for posting the Straits Times article on the right to SiGNeL, the Singapore gay newslist."
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groyn88 uploaded a new video
(4 weeks ago)
The finalists of the tenth Mr. Singapore pageant are featured in this newsclip, as well as an interview with long-term judge, Shenzi Chua, the foun...
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The finalists of the tenth Mr. Singapore pageant are featured in this newsclip, as well as an interview with long-term judge, Shenzi Chua, the founder of the male sports fashion chain, New Urban Male.
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groyn88 uploaded a new video
(4 weeks ago)
On Tuesday, 13 Oct 09, Channel News Asia broadcast a newsclip featuring an interview with Prof. Kerry Sieh, the openly gay head of Singapore's Eart...
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On Tuesday, 13 Oct 09, Channel News Asia broadcast a newsclip featuring an interview with Prof. Kerry Sieh, the openly gay head of Singapore's Earth Observatory.
Sieh, who was actively courted by the Singapore government for his expertise, moved to Singapore with his male partner after Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said in July 2007 that "Homosexuals are mostly born that way, and no public purpose is served by interfering in their private lives".
http://reddot-research.blogspot.com/2...
The Straits Times, 29 Mar 2008
MM's REASSURING COMMENTS SEAL RESEARCHER'S MOVE HERE
By Chang Ai-Lien, Science Correspondent
IT WAS, in every sense, his dream job.
But if Professor Kerry Sieh had been handed $300 million on a platter
to start the region's biggest earth observatory a few years ago, his
answer would have been a firm no.
'I would not have come here if my partner could not have come with
me,' said Prof Sieh, who is gay.
But the words of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew changed his mind.
Though male homosexual sex remains a crime in Singapore, MM Lee
had said in an interview last year that while Singapore wanted to
maintain its social norms, the Government should not pry on consenting
adults.
'We must take cognisance of the contemporary world that has become
more accommodating...
'Homosexuals are mostly born that way, and no public purpose is served
by interfering in their private lives,' said Mr Lee in an interview
published last July.
To Prof Sieh, who was on sabbatical at Nanyang Technological
University here last year, this was enough to show that attitudes
towards homosexuality here were changing.
'I'm no crusader, but I'm going to be myself,' he said.
Prof Sieh said the issue of whether he could take his partner with him
was the first one he raised with NTU when the university approached
him with an offer in October.
When NTU told him it had no objections, the 57-year-old said 'yes' to
the job of founding director at NTU's Earth Observatory of Singapore.
The facility will study plate movement, volcanic activity and climate
change.
Prof Sieh is giving up a 30-year career at the California Institute of
Technology to take up the appointment here full-time, and will move
here with his partner in August.
'I have developed a real love for South-east Asian earthquake
geology,' said Prof Sieh, whose current research interest is Indonesia
- the world's hot spot for giant earthquakes.
Being in Singapore will mean he is 'right next to the earthquake
experiment', he added.
'For me, it's a thrill that we're in a place that has the economic
wherewithal to take on something like this.'
He hopes his research will lead to earlier earthquake forecasts, so
disasters can be averted.
'The idea is not just to save lives, but to save livelihoods as well,'
he said.
His interest in nature started when he spent summer months on his
grandparents' farm in Iowa as a boy.
His work on the infamous San Andreas fault led to the discovery of how
large earthquakes are often triggered by it in southern California.
More recently, together with colleagues and students, he finished a
study of Taiwan's multitude of active faults and figured out how
earthquakes there are creating that mountainous island.
He is currently a member of the United States National Academy of
Sciences and chaired professor at Caltech's Tectonics Observatory.
On the big move here, Prof Sieh, who enjoys snow skiing, jogging and
gardening, added: 'I'm excited. You have to leave your nest eventually
and do something great, I hope.'
=======================
Sieh has also predicted in the prestigious journal, Science, an 8.8-magnitude mega-earthquake to the west of Sumatra within the next few decades:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/in...
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groyn88 uploaded a new video
(4 weeks ago)
It was widely reported in the Singapore media that openly gay member of the now-disbanded boy band, Boyzone, Stephen Gately, died unexpectedly in h...
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It was widely reported in the Singapore media that openly gay member of the now-disbanded boy band, Boyzone, Stephen Gately, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Saturday, 10 Oct 09.
Singapore media reports also mentioned that he was married to Andrew Cowles in a civil union in 2006.
A female reporter wrote the following tribute to Gately in My Paper:
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2...
Mon, Oct 12, 2009
The quiet grace of Stephen
By Victoria Barker
ONE of my childhood idols died last Saturday.
Stephen Gately, a singer with Irish boyband Boyzone, was found dead while on holiday on the Spanish island of Majorca, the group said on its website yesterday. He was 33.
He is said to have "tragically died" in his sleep after a night out, but the cause of death was not immediately known. A friend of Gately's reportedly said: "It looks like he went out for a few drinks, then got back, fell asleep and never woke up."
Hearing the news of this latest and untimely celebrity death struck a chord - not only because I spent my younger years listening to Boyzone's music and having a crush on them.
No, it shook me even more because I had actually met the man - and the rest of the guys - a decade earlier, at the height of his career and my admiration for him.
Dublin boy Gately had joined the group in 1993 after answering an audition advertisement.
Almost immediately, Boyzone - which also comprises Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch - were a smash hit.
They enjoyed huge success, with 17 top-five singles, six of them No. 1s, including All That I Need in 1998.
That was the year I met him.
They had flown into town to perform at SingTel's Hello! concert, and my older sister had won passes to a meet-and-greet session. I was 13 at the time, and could barely contain myself.
In person, the boyish-looking Gately was quiet but gracious.
He was shy but happily signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans. There were no airs about him.
Like the true fans we were, my sister and I presented him with a Winnie The Pooh plush toy and his favourite candy bar, a Cadbury Crunchie, along with a handwritten note.
He blushed and thanked us profusely. We were in bliss.
To this day, I sometimes look at the photos we took that day, remembering how good it felt to realise your idol was just a down-to-earth, regular guy.
The following year, Gately sent ripples through the pop world when he announced that he was gay and had a boyfriend, Eloy de Jong from Dutch boyband Caught In The Act.
In 2006, he and Andrew Cowles became partners in a civil union in London. The pair were holidaying together when he died.
Boyzone split in 2000 but Gately soldiered on. He was the first member of the group to embark on a solo career. Although singles New Beginning, I Believe and Stay debuted in the top 20 on British charts, he was subsequently dropped from his record label.
Still, he went on to perform on London's West End in a series of musicals, such as Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, before Boyzone reunited last year with a greatest- hits compilation, Back Again... No Matter What.
Sadly, as he joins a slew of other famous faces who died this year - among them Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze and Farrah Fawcett - Gately will never get to be a part of the album the band had planned to release next year.
Boyzone manager Louis Walsh calls him "a great man" while Elton John and partner David Furnish said "Stephen was the kindest, gentlest soul".
As for me, Gately will always be remembered as that rosy-cheeked 22-year-old who gave me a hug and made my childhood dream come true.
vbarker@sph.com.sg
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"It was recorded on VHS videotape by my friend who doesn't have a video digitising card in his computer and a rather poor aerial connection in his f..."
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"It was recorded on VHS videotape by my friend who doesn't have a video digitising card in his computer and a rather poor aerial connection in his flat. He handed it to me to digitise."
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Gaygreetings, from Holebis ♥♂♂,♀♀♥