Did You Know?

i) The earth has two holes at the top and bottom.
ii) Viewed from on top in Google Earth, it looks like a giant eyeball.

lol. Apparently they clip the sat images at both poles. So all that's displayed there is a BIG black hole.


Behold the eye-ball.

Letting the Yes mean Yes and the No mean No

There was a time when a man said yes, he meant yes. When a man said he would do something, he did it unless there were circumstances totally beyond his control. Those were times when honor actually meant something. Those are times that no longer exist.

I don't know about the rest of you. But a man who can stand by his honor is a man worth having as a friend. Friends are honest, and friends are not hypocritical.

Honestly I tell you, there is more to a man than success of the material type. There is also the trustworthiness of his word, the meaning of his name and the change that he brings to the world.

Facelift required!

This blog needs a facelift and I'm too busy. LOL. Anyone want to offer their services?

Renumeration :

1. Lots of my love and care (preferably offered only to female applicants.)
2. Eternal gratitude
3. Dinner on me

Bid here... ;)

The Arrogance of the Educated

Demos-kratos : People/Mob – Power/ Rule. Rule for the people, by the people.

[Too lazy to polish this post. What you see is the raw product of a session of the thought war. Logical links not included. Go figure.]

There is a basic problem with that phrase. It emphasizes the right of the people to choose their own path. It says nothing about the rightness or wrongness of the choice.

However, do people have the ability to make rational decisions? Yes, No? Irrational herd mentality. Emotions influence decisions. Pull the right heart strings and you get them on your side.

When it comes down to the question of who knows best how to rule or what is the best path forward, all that can be heard is the chorus of “Me! Me!”

It is one thing to say that the rural folk are unenlightened and uneducated, another to deprive them of their rights. Doing so would be the imposition of your opinion and believes upon them. In no way is that compatible with the spirit of democracy. Or do we believe in the idea that a selective democracy can exist? Do we have a right to choose who is the demos of this demos-kratos?

Fact is that the demands and concerns of the rural population differ from that of the urban. Who should determine the party that has the right to rule and who should determine by what measure this right is attained? We do have historical precedent, the Communist party within the Soviet Union and even now the Communist party in China. They believed that the power should be held by a few who were enlightened. The party knows best. This was and is the ultimate form of arrogance in government. In much the same way, we’ve the urban aristocracy. What about in Thailand? The removal of Thaksin was supported and engineered by the urban population without the support of the majority of the population that lives in rural areas.

Populist measures ? Have been in practice since the beginning of human government. Bread and Circuses, first popularized in Satire X of Juvenal. To give an acceptable veneer to the masses. By and large, we know that the vox populi is not always the best. The fact that most people agree to choose government over anarchy is that we realize that the vox populi is not always consistent and doesn’t always make the best decision. This is due to the fact that the populi has to feed themselves and get on with daily life. So we think it a safer bet that we’ve someone who can take care of our interests at the top. This returns to the original problem of a divided populi of which different sectors have different needs and wants in life.

A reminder, not all education is equal. The worse type of education is the type that makes you think you know everything (exactly what is taught in Malaysian Unis) . The best type is summed up by the phrase “The wisest person knows that he knows nothing.” In other words, an educated person is always open to new debate and synthesis of ideas. See two sides of the coin to everything.

Propose a solution to the problem.

How do we handle this? Education of the correct type, education which more important than imparting facts, imparts a thought process, that teaches to make the division between cause and effect, that encourages curiousity.

Education reform. Languages in which it is taught is not the ultimate barrier. The symbol is changeable, the intent is not. Misinterpretation is the danger to be guarded against.

• Single unified language of education. Reduce chances for misinterpretation. Reduce differences between sections of society in communication. Different languages only serve to reinforce classes and restrict social mobility.
• Revision to the history syllabus. No longer the dead subjects which serve no purpose but to glorify now insignificant actions but rather the intercourse between nations, the motivations for these actions and a discussion of the implications of history. It is not something which is static for the lessons that history teaches are many. Remember there is more to be learnt from our mistakes than our successes.
• Teaching of economics. Economics examines the allocation of scarce resources among competing needs and wants. Defined too as study of the means by which society uses human and natural resources in the pursuit of human welfare. As such, economics extends beyond the boundaries of a single organisation and is inextricably linked to both the environmental and social elements of sustainable development.
• Ethical training at secondary level. Exposure at an early age ensures the development of interest and also helps in the development of critical thought processes able to comprehend multiple factors and perform weighted selection.

How To : Go for an 8am class the morning after a bottle of premium baccardi a bottle of anejo tequila at 2am the night before

*also for the same assignment

 

Throw in four guys with an 8am class. Ah! What would university life be without experience(s) like that?

Of course, some sensible souls out there are going to point out that a simple solution to the matter would be to abstain from the alcohol. Certainly, it will save you the feeling of your head thumping like it's about to explode, a stomach that will feels like a washing machine, and the awful feeling that you mopped the floor with your tongue. However, these people are unenlightened ones who do not realize that for some of us, excluding the alcohol is just not an option. To these sensible ones, please stop reading now, and go back to drinking your chocolate milk.

Thank you.

 

Welcome, true believers.

I, am here today in the spirit of the kudi brotherhood to show you the way to enlightenment. Learn well and I will teach you much. You will learn to turn the jackhammer thudding in your skulls to the sweet singing of birds of paradise, bring peace to the churning of your foaming bellies and the feeling of having mopped the toilet floor to the sweetness of a light champagne.

If you believed that, sorry dude, you got the wrong messiah, I'm no miracle worker.

Let's set a more realistic target eh. Say, surviving the experience and making it for that 8am class without collapsing on the way to class or puking in the lecture hall ( Not cool dude. Not cool. ). This is important to reduce the chances of you, the true believer, getting barred for less than 75% attendance. Of course, I would never recommend skipping classes just for alcohol. If you skip classes and graduate slower, you the true believer will start working later. This is a bad thing because without working and earning your own money, you will never be able to taste the true glories of the real liquors.

As we've been taught as good engineering students, we will first define the problem. Then we will explore the underlying factors and then propose the solution.

You may choose to understand this great work as a whole, or to do as most MMU students normally do, to memorize this formula for success and just regurgitate it. Unlike the EHM3066 mid term exam, memorizing this formula is highly likely to get you through to the class.

The wise sages of the ages have a name for these symptoms caused by ingestion of too much of a good thing. It is called "Veisalgia." Okay, obviously the dude who coined this term was himself drunk. To those of us who are sober at this point, we call it by a rather more pronounceable term, "the Hangover".

What is the Hangover?

In short it's your body screaming at you for poisoning it very very loudly. Alcohol is actually a fuel just like petrol. Burn petrol and you get by products such as CO2 and small icky black particles from the impurities in it. When you drink alcohol, your body burns it and produces a whole bunch of by products. Metabolized alcohol produces acetaldehyde, a nasty little poison that your body does not like. In addition, many alcohols have impurities called "congeners" which are also toxic. Alcohol itself also has a diuretic effect which means your body is going to be dehydrated. This is bad because there is even less fluid in your body to dilute the poison's effects. Along with all that water flowing out of your body will also be all those nice vitamins that are water soluble such as vitamin A, vitamin B and vitamin C. Alcohol in it's raw form is a depressant drug and when you have a hangover, it's actually like a drug overdose which makes the road to the CLC feel like the road to hell.

Dealing with the Hangover

We see now that there are 3 things to handle,

1. Get rid of all that acetaldehyde and congener by products
   
2. Replenish all the good stuff that your body needs, water and vitamins
   
3. Reduce the depressant effect on your brain
   

The bad news is, there is no way to directly stop the effects of the alcohol on your system until it has been excreted.

The following are some ways we can deal with these effects.

1. Choose your alcohol – Dark liquors contain higher amounts of congeners. This means more poison for your body to deal with. Vodka or gin have less of these.
   
2. Modulate alcohol intake – Drink alcohol yes, but drink water or juices too.
   
3. Bananas – Eat a few or put them in a banana milkshake with honey. Bananas are rich in electrolytes, magnesium, potassium and fructose all of which your body has lost. Additionally the bananas will sooth the stomach while the honey is also rich in sugars, especially fructose. Fructose here has the additional advantage of helping your body metabolize the alcohol faster thereby shortening your suffering.
   
4. Activated charcoal – This will help to absorb the toxic impurities in the alcohol which worsen the effects. Don't do this too often because activated charcoal absorbs just about everything including all the good stuff in your body.
   
5. Rehydrate – Drink lots of juice, slightly acidic juices work best. 100 Plus or other isotonic drinks work well too. Tomato juice is excellent so is orange or lemon. Again these contain fructose and other sugars along with replenishing bodily fluids.
   
6. Raw cabbage – Eat some raw cabbage leaves. This helps to relieve the headache.
   
7. Probiotic pills (good bacteria) – Helps your stomach to repopulate with good bacteria. Reduces the churning later on
   
8. Berocco tablets – A vitamin supplement that dissolves in water to release vitamin B. This is abit to hard to find in Malaysia, but you can substitute it with any vitamin B and C supplement.
   
9. A SINGE Bloody Mary – A little bit of alcohol to sooth the withdrawal symptoms along with tomato juice in it which does all the good stuff mentioned earlier. Don't go overboard with this treatment however, or you won't just not get better. You will get worse.
   

This then is the way to successfully make it to the 8am class. Drink up kudis! Of course don't forget to set your alarm clocks. LOL.

 

Malaysia, where to now?

Note: This post was actually written for an assignment. We all had to come up with a bunch of blog posts and this was mine.

“To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”

Mark these words. The world is changing. For the first time in living memory, the Pax Americana hangs in the balance. For the first time in post world war history, a nation has emerged with the geographical depth, the social cohesion and the economic strength to challenge the established superpower of our time.* The Chinese dragon has twisted communism beyond recognition and implemented the semblance of a market economy. The Russian bear awakens. Islamic civilization is beginning to stir. At the same time, the world is waking up to a reality that our environment is damaged, that the mother earth can no longer take the damage we throw at her. International standards of conduct are now no longer held as sacrosanct. These are dangerous times.

Amidst all this chaos, a tiny country in South East Asia stands at a fork in the path. Malaysia too is a nation facing a troubled teenage hood. Too small and too few in number to tilt the global power balance, Malaysia is in most things a decision taker and not a decision maker. [ Lets talk geopolitical realities eh, not sentimental word pictures. ]

Where are we heading?

I find that a question hard to answer in concrete terms. I find it hard to answer it in any form, because honestly, I have no idea where this nation is heading too.

A general election looms on the horizon, this should be a time when people are all geared up to choose where the nation is going too in the next five years. Yet, tell me honestly, do you know where the government plans to take the country in five years? Do you know where the opposition plans to take the country in five years?

One thing which is so obviously missing from the campaigning is any sort of gameplan for the country. Campaigning in our country plays along racial lines, on racial issues, on short term effects. They tell us they’re going to make us rich and prosperous. But they never tell us how. I suspect part of the reason is that they’ve no idea how either. It just sounds really good.

A simple answer would be that our political leaders are bankrupt of ideas. Get over it already opposition. The reason why you’re not in power is not just because media coverage is unfair etc etc, but plainly because you don’t have the answers to the questions that face this nation. You can’t answer the simple question of where should Malaysia be heading. How can a thinking rational person support you based on the hope that because you’ve made so much noise about what you think is wrong, that you then deserve to rule the country? We know what’s wrong, what we need is solutions, not an echo in our ears.

As for the government. Yes, the ruling front has a great track record. Malaysia has prospered greatly since independence. There is a difference between then and now though. Our forefathers had vision. They knew what was needed to forge the way forward. There was a spirit burning that we were all brothers, that it didn’t matter so much that we came from different races, that we had different religions. Our forefathers were no idiots. They didn’t try to hide that there were racial differences or to gloss over them. But they knew that no matter whether one was indian or chinese or malay, our sweat and blood are the same colour. And when it got down to putting those drops of sweat and blood into forging a path forward for our country, the strength of that torrent was what mattered. The strength of that river of blood and sweat laid the foundation for the progress we have seen. Answer me honestly, does our current government dare admit that all sections of the population are equally deserving, and play important roles in the development of this country? Because as long as they fail to recognize this, there can be no step forward as a unified nation.

To demonstrate. Let’s take a basic question, where is our economy heading? In the brief years that I’ve been around, I’ve variously seen the government try to turn Malaysia into a

1. Knowledge Economy
2. Biotechnology Hub
3. Hub of Higher Learning
4. South-east Asian Financial Center

Last I heard, the bio technology city in Putrajaya is still a bunch of uninhabited buildings. As for our National Universities, they’ve almost fallen out of the Times Higher Education ratings. Our South-east Asian Financial Center plan doesn’t seem to have brought in large numbers of traders and our knowledge economy is still stuck in a rut because the kids who should be getting this knowledge can’t use the computer labs for fear it might collapse their heads.

You see, we need to stop talking about unity and racial harmony. Start walking it. Stop believing that you’ve a God given right to the land. No one does. A steward of the house has to take care of the house well or else the master of the house comes in and throws him to the darkness outside. Get that out of the way and perhaps we can then start pointing our country in the right direction. But that’s your choice.

There is no vision, there is no passion. We’re a nation without a soul. We choose to spend our time bickering amongst ourselves, we want to split ourselves by race and we all want to claim our own race as superior to all others. And we do all these, in that little country called Malaysia. We all want to be “jaguh” tapi, jaguh kampung lah tu. Kampung to keci lagi. And while we’re so preoccupied being first in our own kampung, we don’t realise that our kampung has been left years behind by the world.

A pity isn’t it?

Can you love a country, but hate the nation? I can.

Out of the mouth of babes...

... humility thou shalt be taught. - the book of Life.


"I've had a lesson in humility today. Thanks Quentin. "

Well like any other writer out there, that line is just a cheap trick to catch your attention and Quentin probably won't be reading it for a long time cause the dude is just 7 years old and probably finds the wheel he's broken of a toy car more interesting than any blog.

Allow me to introduce you. Quentin is 6 going on 7, he's bloody hyperactive, got a sharp mind in that head, a will strong enough to bruise an elephant, enjoys drain hopping*, rubbing himself against a dirty wall because it gives his mom more clothes to wash and has enough strength to hang off my left arm for the better part of half an hour. (I've got the bruise to proof it.) and guess what, the dude reminds me of a younger myself.

Quentin always has questions to ask, new tricks to try and surprises to spring. Sometimes these go well, sometimes they don't. But the thing which is most endearing is that all of these spring from a sincere attempt to understand the big world around him. To him, there are things in our world which shouldn't be the way they are because they stand in the way of him having harmless fun. He doesn't quite comprehend fully yet the social norms which exist around him, this is what makes him question them. And also what makes working with him a tad nerve wrecking sometimes.

Dealing with Quentin at various times takes patience as deep as a 100 foot well, the understanding of a sage, a professional clown's sense of humor, and the firmness of a vice cop. Before the first time I worked with him, I had always thought that I had most of that stuff. Two hours later, any myths of having achieved those qualities were quite firmly dispelled.

Thanks Quentin for teaching me I still have quite some way to go. LoL, fatherhood scares the hell out of me.

p.s. this is a post backdated to june 07 which I never published.

Extreme Ways

lol, I'm not Bourne but this track says alot for me right now.

Extreme ways are back again
Extreme places I didn’t know
I broke everything new again
Everything that I’d owned
I threw it out the windows, came along
Extreme ways I know move apart
The colors of my sea
Perfect color me

Extreme ways that that help me
Help me out at night
Extreme places I had gone
But never seen any light
Dirty basements, dirty noise
Dirty places coming through
Extreme worlds alone
Did you ever like it planned

I would stand in line for this
There’s always room in life for this

Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Like it always does, always does

Extreme songs that told me
They helped me down every night
I didn’t have much to say
I didn’t get above the light
I closed my eyes and closed myself
And closed my world and never opened
Up to anything
That could get me along

I had to close down everything
I had to close down my mind
Too many things to cover me
Too much can make me blind
I’ve seen so much in so many places
So many heartaches, so many faces
So many dirty things
You couldn’t believe

I would stand in line for this
It’s always good in life for this

Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Like it always does, always does

The Thought War

This is a declaration of war. A declaration of war on the boundaries of free think. For years now, I’ve been bound by the bonds of an archaic monolithic structure of thought. Shaped and built by the experiences of my predecessors. Contained within a container of my own experiences, associations and prejudices.

That structure of boundaries has a name. A name I have yet to define. This structure of boundaries is often in opposition to practical thought. Practical thought should be based on the current situation at hand and the future needs that the situation and objectives combine to generate.

The following is the first of a series in which I seek to define the thought war as it emerges.


Part I - An analysis of the system of decision making

While I remain within this boundary, there can be no justified criticism of another person’s perception or thoughts. For as long as I cannot define the problems with my own thought structure, how can I rely upon that same thought structure to generate the impulse, thoughts and reasons which are essential for dealing with an external thought structure?

However, just as no observer within a system can observe the entire system (due to the fact that by being within the system, his presence and actions of observation will generate change a change in the system at the instant that his action of observation takes place.), my mind cannot comprehend itself in totality. This is an important point, for if the mind cannot be comprehended in full, then the thought processes and the results of their interactions will remain uncertain to a degree. This has the trickle down effect that further actions without an awareness of their effects will further future observations. Observations which are incorrect will then give rise to an inaccurate situational picture. As such, even if the mechanism for interplay between factors within the situational picture are ideal, the resulting decision from the situational picture will fail to be ideal. More often than not however, the mechanisms for interplay themselves are evolutionary and influenced by the long term behavior of the system. Hence it is rare that these mechanisms are ideal to a totally new situation. This then introduces further bias into the systemic decision making.

Petrol for the Poor

Several days ago, in the face of the rising price of fuel on the world market, the Malaysian government announced a proposal to introduce a two tiered petrol pricing system. This system would provide for discrimination on the basis of income level. I.e. cheaper petrol for the poor and the standard pricing for the rich.

Well, does this proposal make sense? In the face of the generally held perception among the middle class that this is another stupid attention grabbing initiative for the government, I beg to differ. This proposal can be made to work, and yes it does make social and economic sense to implement. Especially for the lower income section of the population this is one effort which could make a significant difference in their burden of existence.

Petrol remains the fuel for the majority of cars within Malaysia. Alternative fuel sources, e.g. NGV, hydrogen or electric either require a steep initial investment or remain in the domain of higher end and hence more expensive vehicles. This means that for the large majority of Malaysians, and especially so for the lower income segment, petrol is an essential item if they have to commute.


The Worries of the Poor

For the lower income segment, this problem is further compounded by the fact that by virtue of being poor, they tend to live in low cost housing. Housing cost is very much so location dependent. Low cost housing therefore implies a more considerable distance to amenities and also to social centers where work can often be found. Hence, poor people, because they can't pay for housing closer to commercial or service centers where their jobs are located thereby have to commute further to their place of employment. In addition to that the distance to social amenities essential in city life such as their children's schools is also increased. What all this adds up too is an increased burden in terms of fuel cost just to survive.

On a second level, if we were to represent the nett income of a family to a pie, richer families naturally have a larger pie to start with. Now assuming in an ideal case scenario that a rich and a poor family have exactly the same commuting needs and use exactly the same vehicle (mind you that is not the case as proved earlier. note too that we're talking about needs essential for maintaining a family.) Their petrol cost will be exactly the same i.e. it will take a chunk out of each pie that is exactly the same. However, the effect on both families will still be significantly different. This is because the rich family starts out with a bigger pie already i.e. has more monetary resources available. Hence if you take a same sized piece out from each pie, the smaller pie will logically lose more of it's total pie value. [For those who don't understand the pie illustration, if the rich person has RM1000 of income per month, and the poor has RM250, but the both have to pay RM50 for petrol, that means 20% of the poor person's income but only 5% of the rich person's income. ]

Now, bringing this back to the real world, those of you who have studied economics will understand that needs taper off at a certain level. Within the Malaysian context, for a rich or middle income family then, the rest of the income above the needs level is essentially disposable income. For a low income family however, the needs level is often almost parallel with their nett income on a monthly basis. Increasing the price of an essential item such as fuel will have different effects on the spending habits of low income families vs those of higher income levels. This is because if they need to spend more on fuel, for a high income family, this would mean a little less disposable income i.e. less movie trips, less overseas holidays, but for a low income family, this means less income available to meet their needs i.e. less money for medicine, food, even utilities. Henceforth, an increase in price level of fuel which is an essential will result in a significant degradation of quality of life for the poor.

The Solution

Which brings us to the question, is there a way where this can be implemented? I believe yes, an over-the-dinner-table talk with my dad yielded this result.

Essential to the functioning of any such plan would be a mechanism that would be able to fit these requirements as listed below. Roughly,

i) method of determining income
ii) method of linking income level to mechanism for dispensing of subsidy
iii) mechanism for dispensing subsidy which is least prone to abuse

The mechanism works like this. Using the RTD as the department for the dispensation of subsidies. And proof of income level can be income declaration statements available from the Inland Revenue Board. The mechanism of providing the subsidy will be a debit card only useable for fuel at petrol stations.

Why the RTD and why a debit card?

One of the main problems that would face the government would be how to allocate the subsidy to those who actually need it and would use it rather than reselling it to the rich. The RTD is the one institution in the country that would know what type of vehicle a registrant is using and how many vehicles the registrant has. Hence, a low income candidate would only be given the subsidy if they come to the counter with their income declaration statement, and the RTD would only give out the subsidy if it can be proven that they own a vehicle. Different levels of subsidy for motorbikes and cars would be provided. Perhaps RM100 per month for a car and RM 20 a month for motorbikes. The debit card would be recharged when the candidate comes to renew the registration of their vehicles (a yearly affair for most people.) This essentially puts into place a check and balance at a reasonable time period. The level of subsidy would be fixed for each family, i.e. RM100 a month no matter how many cars (which should be only 1 for low income families) you might happen to own.

Making a difference

Modern society prides itself on it's morality, on it's civility towards it's citizens. Every human deserves the basic right of a reasonable quality of life. With this proposal, we've have a chance to improve the quality of life of the most oppressed segment of our fellow citizens. Don't ignore that chance. Put yourself in the shoes of the office clerk whose only thought everyday is how to feed her 3 children at home. Put yourself in the shoes of the factory worker whose heart aches desperately because he knows he will not be able to pay his child's school fees. Put yourself in the shoes of the pensioner who has served his nation for 30 years but cannot now afford to visit a doctor. Don't they deserve something better?

Scent of a Woman

Dude, watching this, I now want to learn to dance the tango before I die. :) and I know exactly which girl I want to dance the tango with.

Movie tells the story of an unlikely friendship formed over a weekend in New York between a blind lieutenant colonel and a boy who takes up the weekend job of being his caretaker. It's as much a touching coming of age story as it is a masterful character study of a blind retired man frustrated with the world around him. You'd never think that Al-Pacino wasn't blind.

Hooo-ah.

Awesome movie, awesome story telling, wonderful performances. Watch it.


p.s. Watch out for the wonderful tango scene.

Much ado about funerals

Funerals fascinate me. Other people's or mine. Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy funerals, but I certainly do think that they deserve abit more thought than most people would give them. And if I'm going to be going and pondering the day another poor dude is gonna die and his family mourn him, it wouldn't at all be fair if I didn't ponder my own first.

Well, for starters, I'd like lots of laughter, lots of beer, lots of good food and just a few tears for mine. Let's do away with the staid old sad coffin, bring in something light in colour, not so imposing, something rather more appealing. And definitely try and get rid of that funny smell of chemicals preserving my body. Mm, and my mortician better be able to make me smile in death. Cause I'm bad enough at smiling alive, it'd be just a small favour to me and keep smiling for posterity. Keep it short, simple, and when it's done, just chuck me in the grave, and you can take the coffin away.

Before you say that's just weird and sad consider this, the whole point of the exercise is precisely that it's not supposed to be sad. Yeah true, I'll be dead and all. But imperfect humans as we are, certainly I'd have vexed the hell out of a whole bunch of you guys attending my funeral and it just strikes me as inconsiderate that when I'm dead, people are going to have to get sad and vexed again. If one has already done his share of damage when he's alive, the least you could do when you kick the barrel and take your rest is give them all a rest as well.

The way I see it, life is something wonderful. You can only truly celebrate something wonderful when it's ended cause only then do you know really how wonderful it all was. We're all here to make a contribution to this world. For now at least, our contributions are limited to the 70 or 80 years we've to live. And if you've lived your life well, had a good family, had good friends, worked hard, believed in god, believed in your life, helped people, enjoyed most of those 28000 sunrises and sunsets, well, why be sad about that? If I'm happy with the life I've lived, then it's pretty pointless that everyone then be sad about what I'd have been happy with. And just like the culmination of a successful project where you can clearly see the results, I want my funeral to be that big bash where the biggest project I'd ever have undertaken be celebrated. With laughter, with joy, with a tinge of sadness, but most of all, with memories to be taken away and treasured safely.

Miss me yes, but laugh with me, at me, and most of all, think well of me. Drink up me hearties at my funeral. ;)



How would you like your funeral?

What cannot kill me will make me study like a dog next semester...

I get knocked down
But I get up again
Youre never going to
Keep me down

Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away

He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that
Remind him
Of the good times
He sings the songs that
Remind him
Of the better times

- tubthumping by chubawamba

I need to pay more attention to my studies... ;)

The power of wit...

Reading an article about the Vatican setting up a religious airline, this line just took the cake...

"Ryanair already performs miracles that even the Pope's boss can't rival, by delivering pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela for a heavenly price," - Ryanair spokesperson on competition posed by Vatican airline

Whoever is in Ryanair's PR department certainly has HELL of a lot of wit.

Article found here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6958921.stm

Bridge to Terabithia

5 stars and entrance to my list of all time favourite movies.

That's how I rate this movie. I loved it, no kidding. True it's a disney movie, and yes, it's based around a fantasy world. But deep down, this movie had heart, a heart unlike any other.

Be forewarned though, while this movie is about kids it is in very few ways a kids movie. By dealing with the theme of loss in a manner that dignifies it, this movie gains it's strongest points and teaches a great lesson. Life is dealt with in equal amounts cruelty and beauty. This is a movie that needs an open mind and heart to be truly appreciated.

Watch it.

Eureka...

Eureka! for me that is. Asking myself honestly why I don't take my writing more seriously and put a little more discipline into it, quite probably, I just don't care. That and perhaps the ability to write in such a way so as to shape opinions and beliefs just isn't in me.

Don't get me wrong, words do carry great power. The written word can convey more than perhaps any other medium over the longest time period available. Definitely a significant part of my thoughts, opinions, knowledge and wisdom were shaped by the written word. Good writers like Orwell, Marx, Swift, Asimov and Sagan have always moved and impressed me.

But keeping in mind that every action should have a reason and that the time every man is given is finite, perhaps instead of forcing the pen to paper so to speak [or rather in this case, reluctant fingers to the keyboard.] I'd have to admit that my reason for writing can certainly not be very good if my writing ain't. Or if I don't really give a s***e about what I'm writing, even though I might know it well, then there's little point to it.

So much for wanting to be a writer. Call me a wuss for running away and not being disciplined enough to push my digits but I'd rather be willing to admit my limitations. Cheerios

I have... a problem

Like the title reads, I have a problem. I can't seem to bloody put what I am thinking down on paper these days. A set of brilliant ideas or some good analysis might be floating around in my head, and then when I actually sit down to put it into writing, wallah! It's all gone.

Probably the reason is that I've been so lazy to put my thoughts down into writing in the past, now when I actually want to do it, the ability has atrophied! Or maybe I just need some pressure to do it, cause the Technical Communications paper certainly wasn't a problem. Anyway, here's to my new found inability to write, and to getting the drive back to rehabilitate this atrophied limb of mine.

the Weird tag...

Darn I've been tagged... Since I've also been labelled weird for ALL of sue's blogreaders to see, I shall respond, and prove her right ;)




Each player of this game starts off by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog.

the Weird stuff

1. When I'm sick, I exercise. I'll jog, lift weights, do situps, cycle myself to exhaustion. Takes my mind of being sick and suprisingly helps me to heal within a day or two.

2. I think Im a closet adrenaline junkie. I love risk, more accurately, I love the feeling I get when I'm so close to the edge, my hands get clammy and the heart siezes, there's no time to think, and then the rush after that when you successfully pull back, and the rush comes. Applies in hell of alot of ways. Whether I'm biking, balancing on a beam, or making a large decision or dealing with a tough person.

3. I'd rather read a geopolitical brief than spend time on mindless chatter about the latest celebrity star, what they wore, who they're doing it with, or how beautiful they are.

4. I think that fast cars are toys. You want real beauty and power, stop talking about Subaru Imprezzas or McLaren F1's. Think Nimitz Class aircraft carrier or Typhoon ballistic missile submarine. The power to wipe 120 cities clean off the map in my opinion definitely beats being able to reach 300KmH 0.1 seconds faster than the next car. [I do however love the Elise - minimalist, agile, fast. Ssswwweeet.]

5. I love bathing in icy cold water early in the morning. Did that in NZ. Loved it. If I could, I'd take part in the crazy once a year jump into the alaskan sea stunt. Though I'll probably die of hypothermia after that, at least I'll die happy.

6. When I go to public places, the most interesting displays are the people walking around. Society is the most interesting creature.


Yeah, I'm weird. I kinda like it. Deal with it.


Tagged : Mel, May, Siew. too lazy to think of others.

The abyss of liberty

Post Disclaimer :- Ramblings Ahead. Reader be forewarned.
Listening to :- The Riddle - Five for Fighting, Pretty Fly for a White Guy - Offspring, Fade - Staind

“If you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back into you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

Some years ago, I stood alone under a moonlit sky. It was a starless void. The only light came from the moon. But a beautiful moon it was. Huge, round, a gleaming silver splash on dark blue velvet streaked grey.

That wasn't the best time of my life. It was a time of hopelessness. At that point, I didn't know what to do, or where to go. I couldn't see the path in front of me. The people around, most of them were oblivious to it. The external shell made sure of that. That night, I walked to the edge of the abyss.

For those people who know me now, I was once a very very different person. On the outside at least, not much has changed. Within though, I don't quite recognise the person anymore. The guy is no longer that of 5 years ago. The reason for this was the abyss.

Walking to the abyss, the first thing that hit me was immense fear. I had no idea of what was within. I had no idea how deep it was, how far I could fall. Like an acrophobic, at the pinnacle of a summit, the abyss was the ultimate death.

Looking into the abyss changes you they say. It shreds what you thought was you, chews it up and spits it out. Think of being turned inside out, your organs blended, and then poured in through your nose. The only bits that survive intact are those bits too tough to be blended by the blades of first contact. Those bits are parts of you, but they're not the soft, chewy, friendly parts that make you want to trust people, or the bits that make you soft and cuddly. What's left are the primal parts. Chunks of rashness and adrenaline, slivers of anger, but above all, a desperate need for survival. All tied together by a thin thread of duty.

Could I walk away from the abyss? I could not. I knew the only way to cross the abyss was to take a leap of faith. Faith in what I never truly realised till now. I needed to believe, to believe that I could do it. Because if I failed, there wouldn't really be a point anymore. So that night I leaped, soaring above the abyss, staring into it's depths... It would be a long ride.

I landed alright. But I had stared into the abyss, and everything within me had been torn up. I didn't realise it. How can you when everything, the nerve endings, the logic sections, the sinews of your being have been rearranged? Everything thinks everything is okay, because every bit is overloaded.

Life goes on, mornings come, evenings past. I met people, learnt new things, had different experiences.. Slowly the mush began to congeal, to take its new form. But the person I had once known was no longer there. I hope the new one is a better person, but I hope too that one day, the scars will heal. Five years later, I can finally look at the scars again, and maybe learn the lessons I couldn't while everything else was congealing.

I thank God for getting me through that time. I thank the several people who helped me down that path while not knowing it. I cannot yet say what will emerge, but I do know now that I will do whatever I need to survive.

You have no idea...

The Immaculate Conception (of the nation state)

Note :

• This post will use some uncommon words. Necessary to maintain accuracy of the discussion.
• Clarifications and further explanations can be found in the footnotes. These are recommended reading.
• When I speak of Islam and Christianity here, this in general refers to the mass of followers of these two key religions.
• Most of the manifestations here are a result of man's interpretations of the holy books the Koran and the Bible. In the case of the Christians, Vatican and Protestant doctrine. In the case of Islam, the various Hadith.

[BEFORE you say anything, SHUT UP and READ IT TO THE END]

This article is an original piece inspired by an article by the BBC found here.



Main Entry: Immaculate Conception
Function: noun
1 : the conception of the Virgin Mary in which as decreed in Roman Catholic dogma her soul was preserved free from original sin by divine grace

- Merriam Webster's


Interesting concept isn't it? For the Catholic Church, it's a pretty rare thing too. Happens once every couple of thousand years.-* Well basically what it says is this, Mary, was born perfect. Sin - Nada. While interesting enough on it's own, it's a controversial doctrine you see. Controversial because it's taken as dogma whereas nothing in the bible actually says that Mary was born perfect. Nice as it would be to pick it apart, that's not what we're here fortoday. What we're going to take a look at today is the whole idea of immaculate conception of the race and nation state.

Our world today is one divided by religion, race and ideology; in that particular order. While a great deal has been made about the whole idea of a clash of civilisations (i.e. "secular christian civilisation" versus "muslim civilisation") , not much has been written about the underlying reasons why this clash is taking place. What we're going to examine briefly today is first the clash of religions and second of all the clash of races (where religion again comes into the picture.) and why the idea of the Immaculate Conception is so important.

The Battleground

Let's take an objective view at the whole idea of a clash first. Conflict occurs when the beliefs and values of one side do not suit those of the other or there is a disagreement over the way to achieve a certain end. Each side then tries to push their own ideas to the fore. Resolution however can never be reached without either the emergence of a single dominant ideology at a higher or equal level.-# This is achieved by either one way or two way synthesis of the ideas until a point of agreement can be reached. Critical for this synthesis to work, this new ideology must be accepted by the masses.-$ Why this is so will be discussed later. Resolution by forcible domination is not within the scope of this argument, as will become evident.

The first question that must be answered is this : Is there a real clash? The answer is yes. It is evident in the amount and substance of polemic being tossed by both sides. Further supporting this is the fact that the principles dictating their behaviour are very much different. Neither side is willing too nor can come over to the other side. A primary example of this is the principle of freedom of expression and freedom in general. Islamic civilisation ( caliphate, syariah, even Islam Hadhari comes to mind ) tends to place a greater emphasis on absolute "truths" in every sphere of life. This idea spills over into their governance and also judicial practices. Secular Christian civilisation on the other hand by and large to the idea of separation of church and state. This idea gained momentum after the Reformation and was formally articulated during the French Revolution. - ^ In contrast to the overt influence that Islam has over the state, the Church has learnt to interact within the bounds of the secular state. A clear example of this is the Vatican's seat at the United Nations. Hence, the clash of civilisations becomes more defined.

The Immaculate Conception

Our little blue dot is becoming alot smaller. People are 'virtually' getting closer. As that happens, civilisations tend to have to brush shoulders alot more often. As such, differences on both sides tend to rub the other side raw. That's when conflicts begin to appear. But rather than put a bandage on the wound, society has a virus. This virus is particularly insidious because it prevents both the wounded societies from putting medicine on the wound. Rather, it starts an infection going that quickly spreads.

This virus is the idea of the immaculate conception of race, religion and nation state. In a nutshell, this is the believe that a society can do no wrong. As in the case of the 'virgin' Mary, the belief is that this society was born perfect without sin and can now do no wrong either. If something goes wrong, someone has victimised the society. It is impossible for this society to be morally wrong. This society can be religious, racial, race or nation based.

Lets take Israel for example. Just to show that there are idiots on both sides of the divide. Ever since the ancient of state of Israel was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, through the brutal suppression of the Maccabean uprising by the Romans, right till the Third Reich of the Nazi's, the Jews have suffered. However, looking at more recent history particularly after the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, they have engaged in systematic persecution of the Palestinian people. Acts such as the punitive policies of destroying Palestinian homes and the intentional suppression of the Palestinian economy can in no way be justified as defense of the Israeli state. However what we see right now is that if anything is said which is seen to criticise the Israeli state's actions, one is immediately labelled an anti-semite (in itself a totally wrong term. ). The Israeli people still see themselves as victimised by the world and this prevents them from participation in a solution to the Palestinian plight. More examples can be found in Japan (Rape of Nanjing, Pacific colonisation), Turkey(Armenian Genocide) and China(Tiannamen Square). This also relates to the race issues in Malaysia.

[ I have made the concious decision not to elaborate directly on the Malaysian race based issue. However, it is linked to the view that one race has been victimised. p.s. If you decide to read more than necessary into this and get emotional, you're a bloody prick with no brain. AND that's putting it lightly. ]

The end result of this is that people within the society are capable of spending hours talking about how they have been victimised but that their society has never hurt anyone else. Simply put societies don't like talking about the bad stuff they have done to others but love to feel victimised. This can be understood in the light of the concept of societal pride. This pride must have a moral base where the society is perfect i.e. the immaculate conception of the society. Bad stuff which a society has done or is doing simply does not sit well with the lily white view of the society.

The belief in the immaculate conception then is the key issue behind the inter-societal conflict. If there are two societies, both of which believe equally in their societies immaculate conception, conflict will be the ultimate result. This failure to accept that their society can be the perpetrator of abuse or does not have the moral/intelligent high ground prevents the masses from taking steps towards ending this abuse and/or taking active steps to solve the problem. Neither side can back down.

[TAG - I will post more on why societies act this way at a later day. For now, man is a herd animal. ]

What it means - Resolution


The clash of civilisations mentioned at the onset is going to get more pronounced.Admittedly, the solution cannot be one sided. One side admitting it's own failures while the other doesn't will not solve the larger problem. It is however key to bringing about improvement in the society that can face it's own past. Taking the skeletons in the closet out and giving them a proper burial certainly make your house a healthier place. Perhaps society needs to learn that done at a proper pace and with dignity, there is no ignomity in doing the right thing.

For the big picture though, the future is bleak. The wounds will always be there, only when everyone wants to heal them will we be able to move to something better.



Footnotes

* If you're wondering, well according to Vatican dogma, only one ever happened. And considering that it was about 2000 years ago, well yeah, a couple of thousand years is just about right.

# Clarification for synthesis at different levels

• higher level - i.e. the general acceptance of the United Nations as an arbiter over the alternative of unilateral state action.
• similar level - i.e. the interfaith concept. different religions absorb certain beliefs from each other while maintaining a reasonable differentiation in other aspects.

$ Here I use the term masses to maintain readability where I would have preferred to use the term "collective conscience and conciousness". It is the idea ingrained within the society which is the source of their actions.

^ The separation of church and state as proclaimed during the French Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century was the result of Reformational strivings toward a guarantee for the freedom of the church and the natural-law ideas of the Enlightenment; it was aggravated by the social revolutionary criticism against the wealthy ecclesiastical hierarchy. The separation of church and state was also achieved during and after the American Revolution as a result of ideas arising from the struggle of the Puritans against the English episcopal system and the English throne. After the state in France had undertaken the task of creating its own political, revolutionary substitute religion in the form of a “cult of reason,” which was foreshadowed by Rousseau's discourse on “la religion civile,” a type of separation of church and state was achieved. The French state took over education and other hitherto churchly functions of a civic nature. - Quoted from Encyclopaedia Britannica