Friday 31 July 2009

Ignorant, oblivious and innocent.

I notice this subject is creeping into my system quite often lately.

Maybe because of the 'privilege' of mixing with a larger 'social circle', which normally are a hard-to-come-by thing previously. I must agree that mixing around outside 'the box' will opened our eyes to more things. Almost similar to how students (from Malaysia) whom will be attacked with cultural shock when they pursue their studies overseas (namely the UK or AUS).
However, in this matter and at this age, cultural shock would not be a suitable word.
It is more of a shock to know that there are lot of people such as categorised below walking among the society.

1. Ignorant.

Ignorant is the most attributes which one will bumped upon on a daily basis.
In this matter, is not just general issues, but ignorant about simple things in life such as having sensitivity about other people's believe and faith.
Imagine, being raised and brought up in a country with 3 main races which existed ever since before Independence day -a it is a shocker to know that there are people who doesn't know that Indians cannot take beef. And the difference between Islamic slaughtered chicken and the non-halal chicken!
I know someone who offered me non-halal chicken, and when I rejected it nicely, the person said that 'it is chicken, it's not pork'....

And why do I call these people ignorant?
It is because they only know what revolves around what they do for living, and what surrounding their family and race.

Bring some general affairs issues and they will be dumbfounded.
Thus their ignorance will resulted in an increase of population of stupid and lack-intelligence lot who cares about nothing but their well being and money.
These lot will spurt off information with no basis, no facts, and form opinions based on hearsay and what they believe is true. Ignorant people has no personal opinions and only know 1% of the actual fact.


2. Oblivious.

Oblivious is knowing something but in the same time not knowing it or choose not wanting to know about it at all.
It is more of being forgetful or without remembrance or memory to any fact or situation they have encountered before. Thus it will make them not as stupid as being ignorant, but just a step better. People tend to be oblivious because they are not concern about certain matters in life due to lack of interest, lack or reading and are blind to see the surrounding.

3.Innocent.

This word would suits best children and those below the 'age of innocence'.
Don't ask me what is the limit of the 'age of innocence' but basically it will varies from which continent you're living and either you're from the rural or urban area in that country.
When an innocent child did something he or she do not know the wrongst or right of it, then they'll will be let free due to their innocence. In other words it indicate a general lack of guilt.
Nevertheless, when it comes to legal age of drinking and smoking (18 ? ), and with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing, innocence refers to the lack of legal guilt of an individual during trial.

It is when a person does not know about anything related, where one's experience is at the lowest, in either a relative view to social peers, or by an absolute comparison to a more common normative scale.
However since experience is the prime factor in determining a person's point of view, innocence is often also used to imply an ignorance or lack of personal experience.

Energy Saving.

Some tips this summer to save money(energy) and stay cool.:-)

Keep your energy bill and your pollution output low this summer by taking a whole-house approach to cooling.


•In warm climates, where summertime heat gain is the main concern, look for windows with double glazing and spectrally selective coatings that reduce heat gain.

•If your air conditioner is old, consider purchasing a new, energy-efficient model. You could save up to 50% on your utility bill for cooling.

•Keep in mind that insulation and sealing air leaks will help your energy performance in the summertime by keeping the cool air inside.

•Plant trees or shrubs to shade air conditioning units but not to block the airflow. Place your room air conditioner on the north side of the house. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun.

•Don't place lamps or TV sets near your air-conditioning thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.

•Consider using an interior fan in conjunction with your window air conditioner to spread the cooled air more effectively through your home without greatly increasing your power use.

•Don't set your thermostat at a colder setting than normal when you turn on your air conditioner. It will not cool your home any faster and could result in excessive cooling and, therefore, unnecessary expense.

•Set your thermostat as high as comfortably possible in the summer. The less difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be.

•Whole-house fans help cool your home by pulling cool air through the house and exhausting warm air through the attic. They are effective when operated at night and when the outside air is cooler than the inside.

Thursday 30 July 2009

White Roofs Catch on as Energy Cost Savers

He or his wife would race to the thermostat and turn on the air-conditioning as their four small children, just picked up from day care, awaited relief.
All that changed last month. “Now we come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” Mr. Waldrep said.
Their solution was a new roof: a shiny plasticized white covering that experts say is not only an energy saver but also a way to help cool the planet.

......From Dubai to New Delhi to Osaka, Japan, reflective roofs have been embraced by local officials seeking to rein in energy costs. In the United States, they have been standard equipment for a decade at new Wal-Mart stores. More than 75 percent of the chain’s 4,268 outlets in the United States have them.


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This is particularly interesting and has some sort of relation to where I'm staying now.
Not that this country will be implementing any solar energy or any sort of alternative energy whatsoever, but more of the vast different of behaviour and mindset between the people living /residing in this country and that of those people of developed countries such as the United States.

Since it is a summer holiday here, hoards of expats and workers whom make the majority of the people in this little oil rich country left their home and head back to their home-country for a long vacation.

I am not quite sure though, whether this habit is carried out elsewhere in this country itself or any other Gulf countries, but here in this vicinity where expats working with the government's oil company reside, the practice of leaving the air conditioning units on is somewhat a customary actions.

Well, when we just started to move here, i have heard about this exercise being carried out by some of my countrymen, and the rational behind this practice is 'that you'd spare your furniture from cracking due to the intense heat'!
As absurd as it sounds, me and a couple of people chose not to follow this unwritten practice which we initially thought 'might not be done by all of the people'. We were wrong because eventually, after few summers here; i know that only a handful of families here who did not subscribed to this habits and leaving the A/C running 24/7 for whatever period we'd be on leave. Average leave for the people here would be one and a half month.

In the long run, we got to know that some of the other nationals also practice the same thing; and the first thing that went thru my head was 'perhaps we are the idiots and NOT them at all!!....funny especially after having to know that the person who is in charged with the facilities of this area also practise this bad habits reason being "to avoid the house tiles from cracking" which is more accepted than " cracking furniture".

If you may ask me what is my conclusion about all; this people are just blind followers of ignorant and oblivious person who subscribed to obtuse practice. God knows who that may be!

Leaving the A/C on for long period of time would pose risks.

1. The risk of electrical short circuit .

2. The risk of fire (which if only burnt their belongings; i seriously don't give a damn, but it might affect others nearby too)

3. The lack of consideration towards energy saving whereby people from developed countries are already in rush to acquire other alternative.

4. The mentality of some who got no sense of empathy when electrical and water were provided free by the company, thus making them feel free leaving the bills running. I doubt this would ever happen if the company require electical bill to be borne by the house owner.

5. Don't they ever read about the ozone layers, the rotting environment and energy saving effort and Bills by other developed countries?


Coming from a tropical humid climate such as Malaysia, the occurrence of cracked or loosen-up tiles or parquet flooring is nothing new. This will happened to houses of more than 20 years, or some cases less than 10 years, mostly built by substandard developers.

Tiles and parquet flooring will definitely cracked or even pop up due to lots of reasons among all the climate itself. But the main reason would always be the laying of the tiles and the materials used under them, not forgetting the quality of the tiles or parquet too. Besides that, inadequate precautions and non-skilled people performing the job, will have an effect on the lifespan of tiles (these are some of the advices given to me by my contractors back home).

When development of any house(s) are carried out disregarding quality of works and other aspect of reinforcement required, cracking of walls or tiles will take place. The best installations will need materials and layer of other reinforcement material. Tiles set properly on top of these substrates won't crack, even if you drop something on them.

Coming back to the subject of cracking tiles if A/C not running 24/7, my incomprehension to why they were so concern about the tiles more than the risks it imposed, will never be answered...i guess.

There are no reason to be worried about the house when, the company itself provide monthly maintenance on plumbing, electrical and pest control. What is the big deal if the tiles cracked?

As for me, the few minority not practising this practice here, and have been away on holidays and not leaving the A/C on, my only hope is that, this habits will come to a halt before it jeopardise their own households, and other surrounding neighbour, the cost they and the company will have to bear in case of fire, and not forgetting the environment.

And please help save our earth and the energy, if all of the mentioned justifications on why you should not leave your A/C on 24/7 are chicken feed to the doers.

Monday 27 July 2009

Large number of Chinese at homes


Chinese make up a huge number of old folk abandoned at welfare homes.

Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datin Paduka
Chew Mei Fun said 33% of the residents in government-run old folk homes were
Chinese......



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It's a pity to read about the increasing number of unfilial son or daughters among this race.

Imagine those parents old and sickly and who do not have the means of supporting themselves being dumped at old folks home and sometimes not even visited by the children they gave birth to and taken care of when young and small. I would suggest Malaysia should follow the neighbouring country's legal right for the abandon parents to sue their children for upkeep under the Maintenance of Parents Act.

But would the saying you reap what you sow applicable in this issue?
Or perhaps money can buy freedom and respect?




Sunday 26 July 2009

BERNAMA - 1Malaysia Concept No Propaganda Or 'Wayang Kulit' - Murugiah

Hahahahahaha.....this is just hilarious.
Not that Wayang Kulit can make me laugh per se, but somehow the use of that term by this deputy minister.

Wayang Kulit exist among us homo sapiens and homo erectus......hahahahaha, if you know what i mean....(kindly refer to my previous log on something related to this matter).

This post can be related back to my previous post in June on Wayang Kulit too.
There are many Wayang Kulit players and story tellers where yours truly residing right now.
God knows how they attained such 'intellegence' .....

Friday 24 July 2009

Where Thin People Roam, and Sometimes Even Eat



Interesting Upper East Siders.
Perhaps the template of current lifestyle globally.....

Thursday 23 July 2009

Religion.

Okay....i just need touch on this subject.
It has actually been long overdue.
This is about the hottest religions in Hollywood - Kabbalah and Scientology.

I mean, we know of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hindu, and Judaism. But perhaps as people get smarter each day and generations, all these old religions cannot be applicable to the modern free thinking people worldwide, especially in the Hollywood where fame and fortune made one seeking more than themselves.

Kabbalah, which attracts hoards of Hollywood artists is believed to be promoting physical welfare and wellness, because the 'divine system of wisdom' is primarily based on the principle that the 'creator wants you to have everything you want', that is, money, good relationships, love and happiness.
What more could one man ask from his petty existence on earth?

Among other student devotees of this religion are Victoria Beckham, Winona Ryder, Courtney Love, Michael Jackson, Ashton Kutcher and his wife Demi Moore and Britney Spears to name a few. All of them were spotted wearing the red string bracelet around their wrists, to guard off 'the evil eye'....(very familiar among the Egyptians too - this evil eye thingy!)

Meanwhile, Scientologists, another glamorous religion believe in aliens and UFOs.
Isn't that funny?

Some of this religion aims "a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights." Yes, it s true. Yes, all religion asks of the same thing, BUT the only thing that tarnishes the other religion is their believers. This can be witnessed with self-bombing in Jakarta or somewhere in Pakistan and India.

It is known that the application of Scientology technology, developed by one L. Ron Hubbard, can resolve the major social issues people faced in the 21st Century, including drugs, illiteracy, the breakdown of moral standards and consequent soaring crime rates.

Why do these people need to believe in aliens and UFOs in the first place?
My answer is only one.
Due to their glamorous life (actor and actress) and due to being overly idolised by their fans, these actor or actresses eventually will want something different and more interesting than believing in just -- God.

There are also claims that says this religion is nothing but a big sham invented to brainwash the believers and to take control over their money and estates. Tom Cruise, who is a believer, enjoys playing the priest in his own personal Scientological church.
And, yes, if such a poor ideology can help you become one of the world's most influential men, why not join the "fastest growing religious movement on earth"?.

Below, a link to more information on religions of the world.
It's for you to chose, if you think you're up to your throat with the current one!


http://www.religionfacts.com

Wednesday 22 July 2009

To drink or not to drink

Model sentenced to whipping and fine for drinking beer

KUANTAN: The Syariah High Court here sentenced a model to a RM5,000 fine and six whippings after she pleaded guilty to consuming an alcoholic drink in public last year.

In his judgement on Monday, Syariah judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Yunus said that if Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor, 32, from Sungai Siput, Perak failed to pay the fine, she would be imprisoned for three years.

Kartini was accused of consuming a beer at Cherating Bay Lounge, the Legend Hotel in Cherating at about 11.40pm on July 11 last year.

She was charged under Section 136 of the Pahang Administration of the Islam Law and Malay Custom Enactment.

The accused, who cried when the judgement was delivered, said she would file an appeal through her counsel, Mohd Zuki Che Mat Ghani.

Syariah deputy public prosecutor Saiful Idham Sahimi appeared for the prosecution.
- Bernama




Hmmmmm....why do i feel utter remorse reading this article....
It is not because i pity the girl who was caught drinking -- you dare to do it, you must also dare to face the consequences.

I felt disgusted with the government of Malaysia and its Islamic bodies in particular, actually.
They (the government) claimed the country to be an Islamic country and if i am not wrong, is also one of the OIC member. But WTF are they trying to do all this while....i can't grasp.

They are the one who encouraged people to drink by giving more and more liquor licence although the license (officially) only applicable to the non-Muslims.
But being the Boleh-land (All can do land) any tom dick and harry can apply the license, whatmore if one willing to pay some big chunk of money during some golfing trips to nearby Thailand golf course.

Why do they only reprimand the poor girl alone.


Don't they have eyes to see and ears to hear that along the beach of Cherating some of the Muslim seafood shop operators also selling beers to their clients be it local people or foreign vacationers.

Why do the government still want to keep the title Muslim country when alongside Jalan Pinang and surrounding areas where the pubs were infested with Filipinos prostitutes (although when police checked being carried out once in a while -- they claimed they are mere tourist).

You will see ONLY Europeans and Western men crowds hanging around this particular place weekdays and weekends nights.

Doesn't this scenario are the likes of Phuket or Bangkok where prostitution are the main attraction of that place and perhaps and income to the country. But Thailand is not a Muslim country and Islam is not their official religion.

Why apprehend the Muslim when they drink while you (the government) are encouraging it openly.

Why allow them (the Muslim ladies) to wear revealing outfit in the public when drinking were made a big hoohaas.

Why allow prostitution at the back alley near Chow Kit area, nearby BB Plaza and KL Plaza roaming the place freely and no such authorities taking them to custody?

Why not ambush Jalan Telawi Bangsar where Muslim man and woman drinking and having fun freely and openly?

Why Cherating?

Is it because someone tipped you lazy Islamic so-called authorities to busting the girl?
Is it because the girl is attractive and some Malays MCPs got pissed off after being made unnoticed by her, thus incite resentment and lodge a report? (they are kampung folks anyway...)

My verdict:

1. Malaysia, you should just stripped yourself the tag "Islamic country"
2. Islamic bodies / authorities stop your hypocrisies.
3. Any Muslims who wanna drink in public whatnots -- Do it freely. It's between you and your God and your faith. Best thing is -- drink in Bangsar, Hartamas or Damansara area. You'll be rest assured these hypocrites wont bust your ass!

Go get a life folks!
Damn you hypocrites!!



Missing Green.


I'm not missing any Mr or Ms Green mind you. But I'm missing the greens of my country. The green mountains, the green fields, the green housing estates and the green reserved forests just outside the city centre, Kuala Lumpur, which i will drive to on some weekends for a short retreat savouring the flora and fauna besides dipping in the nice cool streams and water falls.

I guess my missing the green must be because the summer time is here. Fighting with the heat which at times can get as high as 49degree Celsius, battling to clean the dusty and 'sandy' house and surrounding area due to the winds, and obviously, the limited time spend out of enclosed area.

Although Qatar is budding and expanding to become the next Dubai (maybe), i find the effort in greening the area is much slacking. Although they do have mangrove and scarce forests around it's shores, I seriously think that they can do better than what there is now. The largest mangrove (not green but grey) can be found around Al Thakira and Al Khor but others came from plantings by the government.

I am sure if special programmes to be undertaken by the government, Qatar will be greener than it is now. I have read about some trees that is insusceptible to the harsh heat like Qatar being planted in order to halt the spread of desert in countries from Somalia to Mauritania and also a type of tree that have been planted in the Arafat desert in Saudi Arabia to provide shade to pilgrims during the Haj and i don't think why it cannot be done here too except for the only setback -- major water piping system which needed to be carried out for sprinkling.

Go green!

Large Study Points to the Brain Benefits of Eating Fish

I reckon most people know about this fact.
I had read one article (based on his thesis on the Jewish people and their lifestyle) by one Dr Stephen Carr Leon.
According to him, almost all of the time when he was invited to dine with a Jewish family -- fish is the main course.
And when their women are pregnant, fish and varieties of nuts would be her diet and snacks.

It's not an overstatement if I say that is why they are the brainy lots, would it?

Tuesday 21 July 2009

Facebook Part III--Facebook friends sought.







Family support: Saifuddin launching his first e-book titled ‘Kalau Saya Mahasiswa’ in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Looking on is his wife Datin Norlin Shamsul Bahri and 15-yearold daughter Nur Madihah Saifuddin.


KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who initially had 999 Facebook friends, now boasts of 2,800 buddies after 100 days on the job. His target is to hit 5,000 by the end of the year.

“Youths prefer to express themselves freely without barriers,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Through his observations and interactions with them on Facebook, he said that tertiary students were interested in politics but preferred not to be loyal to any particular party.

“They want to voice out their opinions and ideas through new media like Facebook,” he added.

Student Ainur Syahrizal, 26, who is one of Saifuddin’s Facebook buddies, said he could know more about his work by interacting with him online.

“I can also share my opinions with other students and learn new things,” he said.

Another student Nur Aliaa Mat Jusoh, 21, held similar views.

“By interacting with him, I realise that he is trying to catch up on how the youths are progressing and to highlight the voice of the Malaysian youths,” she said.

Michael Teoh, 22, who is another of his buddies, said Facebook was an effective platform without any borders.

“Some of us have stereotyped politicians as people who cannot be reached. But through this kind of online interaction, a new era is here,” he added.

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Hmmmmm.......targeting 5,000 friends in facebook....and it's a Deputy Minister of a 'Higher Education'.....something must be wrong here.

All this while, i have been calling idiots to people who have hundreds of people who are not their friends in their friends list -- but when a Deputy Minister himself is doing so, whatmore with thousands of 'friends'....perhaps i am the idiot instead?

But what is his agenda....I mean hidden agenda?....He's a politician mind you!




Monday 20 July 2009

English in Malaysia

The never ending subject.

This post is a follow-up of my last post on teaching English in Mathematics and Science carried out for a very short while in Malaysian primary and secondary school, which will be ditched in two years time.

English as an international language spoken and understood by almost all of the world's inhabitants cannot be denied its importance, otherwise you will see how some countries representatives need the use of an interpreter to get the message through to the other counterpart in any bilateral talk, or people using headphones to listen to translations in the language they understood in big gathering such as the UN meeting.

As for Malaysian, English has been adapted in the schooling syllabus since the first year of schooling i.e. Primary 1. I vividly remember how i used to write down the pronunciation of some words which i found to be complicated in my understanding -- thru Malay language eyes and understanding. For instance, i would write jump as 'jam' or jumping as 'jamping'.
But all those soon will come to an end when we were introduced 'reading a book with a dictionary'. Imagine how many words i needed to refer to the dictionary everytime reading a book. We were then encourage to finish one book in English in a week.

The best way for me is still; one is not too shy pronouncing the words although it might be wrong, watching the television and avoiding reading the subtitle, reading all sort of materials, reading the dictionary (although a lot of people says this is absurd -- it helps with my vocab though) besides mingling with the right bunch of people who would not scrutinised you.

But i guess the ultimate way in learning any foreign language is through total immersion in the language itself. When a person 'must' or want to use it all day long in daily life, preferably among native speakers, that will be the best of all type of learning.
I notice this as i am in the midst (although it had been an attempt since seven years back) of acquiring another foreign language -- French and found it hard doing so while i was back in Malaysia where that particular language is at a non-existence level. Unlike here, where i have TV programmes and French TV channel to watch and at least listen and capture the words and way it is spoken. Thus also the reason why my listening and spelling is way better and speaking....

The problem about Malaysian students especially those who came from remote area and families that never speaks English at all (although English is taught from primary school throughout until universities) is because they tend to study for the sake to pass the exams.
Not for the language itself.
Not because they are interested in communicating in that language and wanting to know the language better.

That is the reason why we may notice and hear students and adult struggling to speak the language when they are asked or when they are in the group of English speaking people.

But you may ask, how do they excel in school. How do they go abroad and pass their exams if they can't understand or speak the language.

The answers is exactly like my own experience with French language.
We listen to understand.
We remember the words and meaning.
But when it come to putting it in one decent word; it will go hay-wired.
When it comes to confrontation and debate; we flattened.
When it comes to exams; we made it.

Another good case was a story told by my SO while he was a student in the UK. The incident when one government servant who was sent to further his study, got all panicked when he was stopped by the police and asked where is his driver's papers. He just didn't know how to put his words right and didn't response until someone from the same country came over to the police station to save him.

How on earth does he cope with his lectures; only person in the same boat would understand.

Like any language, English is not an easy one to master. The basic rules of grammar, and all parts of speech simply cannot be grasped without years of much learning and repetitive weekly exercises. Spelling, vocabulary, and pronunciation simply cannot be learned without weekly spelling and dictation tests. Comprehension, reading and writing skills cannot be mastered in any other way without tests in writing and oral.
Don't be surprised when you speak to a English teachers in school and found them handling the language inadequately.

Again, it is all back to the needs and wants of every individual.
If they want to do, and if they want master it, it is all there for them to do it.
If they refuse, then thousand and one excuses will be their reasons to reject it.


Hmmmm......this reminds me of an incident of one Malay lady living nearby my place here who commented on my using English as communication with my young kiddo......according to her, my kid may not know how to speak the native language if they are spoken in another language.
Absurd is my word to this type of person. Nevertheless, i found it funny when some who tried so and too hard to speak to their kiddo in English, when they are around some other women (this is just the case of wanting to be seen or im educated....) but their kiddo didn't even understand what they are trying to say!?.....what say you.......
Hahahahahaha............

Malay, langguage, politics...yet again.

The political affairs of my birth country sometimes never fail to bemused me with its overwhelmingly blown issues. The recent one that triggers me into commenting was the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English which the government has decided to revert it back officially to Bahasa Malaysia effective 2012.

Okay, for those who does not really know about this matter; this hoo haas started early this year when a group of people, whom i would call 'the tools' used by another group of people namely the politician whom i would non-hesitantly call 'the parasites', staged some demonstrations on the streets. This demonstration demanding the government to change the teaching of the two subjects back to the original Bahasa Malaysia (BM) was done with the assistance of one local 'nationalist' and pro-Bahasa Malaysia activist as the head, followed by some nonchalant followers, majority the Malays.

This issue is called PPSMI.

What is PPSMI?
PPSMI (or Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Inggeris)is a policy concluded sometime in July 2002 by the Government of Malaysia during the office of the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

The rationale of this policy from changing the medium of instruction from the Malay Language to English for the teaching and learning of the two important subjects was, according to Dr Mahathir as a move to enhance nation’s human capital development in order to compete at the global market besides looking to achieve the standard of a developed country. Thus the citizen needed to be backed-up with proficiency of the international language besides some other improvements.

The method of teaching using that medium was carried out in stages once the launched of it in early 2003.
All Year 1 students for Primary Schools, Form 1 and Lower 6 students for Secondary Schools and subsequently a full implementation of it in 2007 and 2008 for Secondary and Primary Schools accordingly.

Although it is known that the two subjects, Maths and Science, have a crucial role in the progress and development of a country, there are some quarters who felt that this move is going to make the national language Bahasa Malaysia as 'secondary' and unimportant, and deemed to be degrading towards the national language.
In his reason, Dr Mahathir said the implementation of this PPSMI was to ensure students’ mastery in science and mathematics in view of the fact that most of the sources are available in the English language.

In general, one cannot deny all kinds of innovations and discoveries which happen rapidly has its information access mostly in the English language. For instance in Science, most of the references are in that international language, thus, making it much easier for students to grasp the real meaning of the terms and scientific jargon.

Bahasa Malaysia, meanwhile, a lingua franca in this Malay archipelagos, derived from the Bahasa Indonesia (although some people claimed that the Indonesian are the one who adapted it from Bahasa Malaysia and changing it to Bahasa Indonesia. Iwill touch on this in another writing).
Besides that, being a country that was once being colonised by the British, some part of the country being taken over by the Portuguese, undoubtedly, words derived from those languages can be found in the Bahasa Malaysia with add-ons from other languages such as Tagalog.

I remember during the reign of the current de facto leader of PKR ( an opposition party in Malaysia), Anwar Ibrahim as the Education Minister while I was in my early secondary years; he was almost happy to Malay-lish all English words. Thus you would have words such as bajet (budget),edisi (edition),projek (project), 'tranformasi (transformation), informasi (information), diskusi (discussion), amaun(amount),motivasi (motivation), preskripsi (prescription), ),and loads more.

Coming back to the PPSMI, in my opinion, the whole issue was blown out of proportion especially when an illegal gathering outside Istana Negara (The King's Palace) in showing protest was carried out by people obviously laced with shitty political motives wanting to pacify their political supporters.

With three major races in Malaysia, there are three major political group, namely the MCA and Gerakan (who try their best to suck-up to the Chinese votes)and put a smiling face to the Chinese Education Group (again, the reason is they are afraid they wont be able to teach in their language; Mandarin)and the MIC, trying hard to win the Indians hearts.

This is also one of the reason why Malaysia, although had been independent for the past 51 years, CANNOT abolished the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (school with teaching medium in their own language, Mandarin or Tamil).

In this case, where the government later decided to suck-up to the needs of these parasites and agree to revert back the teaching to Malays language, and putting aside the predicaments of the students, and putting education as a tool for their political agenda, the least group that will benefit is the mass majority ordinary people.

What do i conclude from all these hoo haas?
When one idiotic Malay man lying in the middle of the road demonstrating this disagreement on this matter, and when a known Malay language activist and poet have shallow mind and think that by learning in other language will not bring justice to the national language; this are the group of people that will stay where they are last time, today, tomorrow and in the future.

Do they ever think of their children or grandchildren struggling to even speak in English when being confronted? Do they ever think the difficulties in having to understand thoroughly when they go to lectures if they studied abroad?
Do they think that they only want their children and descendant to be Malay and speak Malay and think Malay and become a poet.

What will happen to the professional sector in the country?
Taken over by the group of people who are proficient in English?
And the Malay will stuck to the seat of government jobs forever?
And the economic of the country run by other people?

It is true that changing one's mindset is the hardest thin to do.
What more when changes are for the betterment of one nation.

This is why one chap in his writing very proudly claimed that even the Filipinos who are proficient in English (i seriously don't know where he pluck this fact from) become a maid at the end of the day. The stupidest thing that one can say when he want to agree with what he believes.

Wednesday 15 July 2009

European Union Lifts Ban on Indonesian Airlines

European Union Lifts Ban on Indonesian Airlines


JAKARTA — The European Union has lifted a two-year ban on Indonesian airlines’
entering its airspace, setting the stage for Garuda, the state carrier, to
expand its operations worldwide.

The E.U. barred all 51 Indonesian
airlines from landing on its runways in 2007, citing lax safety standards. The
order also required travel agents in Europe to inform customers planning to
travel in Indonesia of the country’s poor safety record......


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Hmmmm...what a pity, when handling with human lives were taken very lightly by some quarters. Hopefully their authorities would takes things at a very serious stage with this lifting, unless they won't mind being one of the worst aircraft in the airline industry.

My verdict of all this ?
Lack of pride in what they are doing and corruptions.

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Choose your life.

If there is one thing that I believe with all my heart it is that you can have any life you choose. You can live the life you have always dreamed of. We live in a period of unparalleled opportunity in human history. Think about it: Just one hundred years ago, most people really only had five or six options when it came to deciding what they would do with their lives. For most, they didn't even have the knowledge that they could do anything other than take over their father's farm when they turned eighteen!

But today a person living in the western world (and many other areas of the world as well) can choose to do virtually anything they want to! The key is the word "choose."

You see, the world is within your reach. Any job you want can be yours if you decide. All of the opportunities are there for the taking. The question is whether or not you will take.

You say, "But Chris, you just don't understand. I'm 38 years old with two kids and I have bills to pay. I make $28,000 a year. I can't just go become a doctor and make big money!"

And I say, "Yes you can! If you decide to. If you will take action, you can become a doctor or anything else you want to. We live in a day and age when virtually anything is possible."

For the sake of highlighting this principle, let's look at the above example. How would this person change careers? Simple. Here is the process in specific action steps:

1. Find out from a medical school what classes you would need to take to get in. Chances are your college major would need some rounding out or if you didn't go to college, you would need to do so. Maximum time to do this: 3 days.

2. Now, go to school. Maximum time to do this: 4 years.

3. Now, medical school and residency. Maximum time to do this: 6 years.

4. Begin practicing medicine.

At this point you would be 48 years old. That leaves you 17 years to practice. Now, let's see the impact it has on your life:

1. You get to pursue your dream, making you and your family MUCH happier.

2. You will make, on average, $100,000 more per year. The difference here is manifold! If you stayed where you were, you would have earned $28,000 a year for 27 years and would earn $756,000. If you left and pursued your dream, you would earn $128,000 for 17 years (that's if you took 10 years to make the transition; most would be less.) and your earnings would be $2,176,000! This is a difference of $1,420,000! And this doesn't even take into consideration the amounts you would earn on investments with the difference in incomes.

So is it possible? Yes. Does it take time? Yes. Is it hard? Yes. Is it scary? Yes, and that is why most people won't do it.

It isn't for lack of opportunity. It is usually because of one of the following:
- Lack of vision
- Lack of tenacity
- Fear

The truth is that you can do anything you want to. Stop telling yourself excuses! Go to battle against a lack of vision! Pick yourself up and get tenacious! Look fear in the face and stand up to it! Your whole life depends on it, my friend!

The choice is yours. Will you continue to limp along in life because you don't have the courage to run for your dream? Will you continue to allow the fear of poverty keep you from pursuing the riches, both materially and emotionally, that lay within the vision you have of what your life could be?

You CAN live the life you have always dreamed of. All you want is within your reach. But to pick it up, you must first empty your hands of what they already hold. Then you must reach for it, take a hold of it, and possess it!

-- Chris Widener

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The above was taken from one of motivational speaker, Chris Widener's speech.
Not that i am one of those people whom will subscribe or enjoy listening to motivational talks given by all these speakers in seminars, workshops or even via DVDs, but somehow this particular subject matter strikes my attention and again act as an alarm for me to start acting on something.

"We can have any life that we choose"
It is about doing the thing that one really want in life.
Just to divert from the original subject, i believe this philosophy would work well if it were to be implied into all younger generations mind starting from the tender age of 13. This vital period of growing into young adult should be made useful in educating the need of making decision and choosing their path in life. They should also be made known of any consequences of their actions and inactions.

Expecting and being educate on what life may offer them will, in my opinion saves them from being ridiculed and moulding them to be a tougher person at facing all sort of challenges in life. What most parents are doing right now is making sure the grades would never be low and that's that. What about the perspective in life, because having good grades doesn't secure better life although it can (perhaps) secure better level in management in a company. Younger generations should already be made known of what they want to do in their life.

They should be given an example on all sort of things so for them to understand the challenges they will be facing as an adult later in life.


Okay, coming back to the original topic, since i am one of the example of a person that were given the chance to select the course that i want to pick up after completing my secondary level by my parents (unlike some of my peers whom are made to choose or better said 'dictated' by their parents) i selected art -- as it is what i love most at that time.

Knowingly that it would only satisfy my interest, and having succeeded getting a place in one of the best Art&Design institute (at that time), i know I'm in it for the sake of art and the 'artistic' part of me.... rather than thinking of what i really want to be when I'm an adult, so to say.

Getting back to the subject of 'you can have any life that you choose' -- there are two things that i really want to pursue in my life, which, one of them i had already taken the effort seven years ago although not completed yet, and one more still awaiting opportunity (actually opportunity is just as an excuse.....i have it, but there are two hindrance at the moment...again, an excuse ...*wink wink* sigh!).

Yeah... so, basically calculating and minusing this and that...i had wasted five years of my life on starting my second most desired thing to do......


Wednesday 8 July 2009

Facebook part II

Hmmmm.....i am beginning to have some sort of disgruntlement and annoyance about this facebook thingy.

One, i am beginning to find that some people are just trying hard to show off their material and immaterial possessions. Well, i know that people are free to express whatnots but when it comes to displaying too much and too many -- i don't think it is about sharing anymore. It has become more of at platform to show -off who they are and what they have.

Second, i am agitated when i notice that i have been sending flowers, bears and whatnots request and got to know about it when i read that this fella and that fella received my whatnots request! WHICH i didn't send AT ALL!!
And most annoying thing about it was, the request(s) were sent to those that isn't that close to me, although we had been an acquaintance or just as on a hi -bye basis ....or something like that.
Of course, i can't say much about it except to delete the applications of those unwanted request of sending this and that, and of course i know when we received any sort of request from our friends, we have to agree to the terms and conditions stipulated and they (the applications developer) CAN ACESSS to our profile and WHATNOTs...again.

So....., basically, I'm thinking....in about 30% right now that i am going to terminate my subscription to that most IN thing social networking platform in the world right now,
40 % be inactive and slowly be 'estranged' from it, but still the other 30% needing it as it easily connects me to those i want to be connected with...(unlike some who just be friends to people who are not their friends.....hahahahahaha....it's a joke).

Yeah, i might be the sort of people who don't understand and find it very silly of those people that enter chat rooms to chat with people whom they don't even know. And I am not against any networking platform, but i feel when it enters too deep into one's privacy,....-- i will take the next step to close that opened door. Either by deleting the whole things or just be inactive.

And, of course one more irritating thing which i can easily managed by the accounts privacy; kicking out and report abuse of any tom, dick and harry especially from this side of the world aka the network that I'm in right now. Gosh, you just would not expect that there are so many cheap skates man around here, especially from the African continent! Duhhhh.......

Funeral of a Superstar

Funeral of a Superstar


Finally....laid to rest.
RIP MJ.

Monday 6 July 2009

Evil Maid

This is one of more videos I have seen in regards to maid abusing little children at home while parents were out for work. Undoubtedly it made me very very furious watching it happening again and again. This is also one of the reason why some parents or individual resorted to 'abusing back' the maids concerns.



Child abusing maids and maids being abused had been a sort of known dilemma among the mass majority especially working parents in countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Majority of such cases were reported in Malaysia.

And maids concerned will definitely originated from Indonesia.

We have never heard of maids from countries such as Philippine or Sri Lanka being abuse or abusing children at home.

In my personal opinion, those maids from Indonesia are of the useless block. They are those without any working experience before or had never been out of their little remote poor village.
They are of those without proper training as maid and usually hails from parts of Indonesia such as Madura and Jawa. But those originated from parts of Jawa usually are better off lots and generally will be properly trained to be sent to countries that pays well such as the Gulf countries, Taiwan or perhaps the nearest Singapore.



The ones that were sent to Malaysia are those which I can describe as the lowest of the lowest. And the worse of the worst.

Although i had been privileged and never need to hire live-in maid except for weekends cleaners, I have family members and friends telling stories about their maids behaviour and of their friends and so on and so forth.



Concentrating on Indonesian maids. Because these people are the majority in Asian countries, these maids usually can't understand simple instruction or behave dumb. They will be older or younger than their actual age in order to be accepted by employers. They will be too stupid and dumb to do anything at all or again behave as stupid and dumb.
This is also one of the reason why some employers, especially the Chinese (through observing and news) got very agitated with their attitude. Nevertheless, when it comes to the Malay employers these useless lots will take advantage of the 'serumpun' or originated from the same background (the Malay archipelago).



I can swear that I heard less stories of good, well-behaved maids. It is to the point of unheard of sometimes. Perhaps you can find a good one lets say, 1 in 5000 Indonesian maids....i think. The word for this is -- " luck"!

But the problem with some or majority working couples with children are; they want to pay less for the maid, but maximising the payout.


Paying for maids from other countries such as the Philippine would be more than paying their counterpart from Indonesia. Employers are required to give Sundays off day -- major problems to 'kiasu' ('i-want-it-all' personality) and cheapskate employers. Some employers especially the Muslims are afraid of unwanted encounters such as free sex (while they were out Sundays) and booze including loads of other thing too long winded to mention one by one.



On the other hand, sending kids to day care would not be economical to the family's budget because per child below 7 years of age, parent need to fork out somewhere around rm250-rm300 and it will be more for infant. Imagine if the family has more than two kids. Added on with living in big towns such as Kuala Lumpur for instance, parents need to pick up the children by max 7pm. And the traffic of rush hours in Klang Valley -- it's absurd!



So, what's left for parents?



Are parents nowadays depending too much on third party help?



Definitely, it's a give and take situation. With high cost of living in areas such as Klang Valley and Johore Baharu, sole bread-winner for the family would not be enough to cater to all the basic needs. Thus both mother and father will have to work to balance the monthly book.



The problems with some people is they are afraid to pay more in order to get better service from the maids. They want to gain and maximise the average rm450 monthly. Again, lets be fair too....these maids, no matter how dumb and stupid they are -- these are human we're dealing with. They need some rest too. It ain't easy to become 24/7 robot for household chores and attending to creepy annoying kids.



Solutions is :



1. Pay more for better service and get maid from good reputable agency.



2. Ditch or ignore the mushrooming individual agent with contact bringing in maids from Indonesia. You would' know those cheap maid you hired might be a serial killer or a lunatic.



3. Since it is known among the Malays and perhaps some other race in Malaysia; Indonesian maids would always have some sort of 'charm' which they brought along with them for 'protection' (it seems) but I reckon it is more of a charm for ' kowtowing' the employers -- we just need to be more than 100 % careful with these people.

It is NEVER safe having a stranger living under same roof.

I wouldn't and again, I am privileged not having to have my kids being beaten and kicked casually by these evil maids, my rooms and house being snooped, my items being stolen, my kids being the sexual toy (yup....there's such cases too), my husband being seduced (yup, it happened to more than two person that i know) and having to talk and instruct stupid ladies......i hate them..God knows.

Sunday 5 July 2009

Kelantan

(After being preoccipied with whatnots, im finding myself interesting subjects from the national front.)

Rahim Concerned Over Kelantan's High Rate Of Road Accidents

KUALA KRAI, July 5 (Bernama) -- Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri today expressed concern over the high rate of road accidents in Kelantan.

He said 175 people were killed on Kelantan roads in the first five months of this year, which was almost 35 per cent of the 544 deaths for the whole country.

In the first five months of last year, 151 had died on Kelantan roads, he said when launching a road safety campaign in Sungai Sok, Manik Urai, here, on Sunday.

According to a study of the Road Safety Research Centre of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), 60 per cent of road deaths involved motorcyclists and pillion-riders who usually suffered serious head injuries, he said.

He said that based on a report of the Royal Malaysia Police, most of these accidents took place in the rural areas.

Abdul Rahim said the Transport Ministry, through the Road Safety Department, intended to halve the number of accidents by next year.

He said the strategy included encouraging the use of crash helmets of Sirim standard, raising awareness on the proper way of wearing helmets and getting motorists to be more cautious and disciplined as well as to obey traffic rules.

At the event, Abdul Rahim gave away crash helmets to 300 adults and 20 youngsters.

-- BERNAMA


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Personally and through own experience, in general Kelantanese drivers are of the worst drivers. Not because they don't know how to drive well compare to other people, but they posses bad driving attitudes and are of the sort that never give even any thought about the consequences of their dangerous driving.

Usually these drivers are those who came from the lower income group and drives local made Proton or Peroduas cars that highly make-up with cheap accessories and generally would be fitted with 'super-duper' exhaust that presumably could heighten the speed of the cars and they
would rammed the rpm right up to the highest to beat some other higher cc cars.

They change lanes or cut lines without having any consideration of the geographical layout of the road, oncoming vehicles, or even the speed of the car in front of theirs.
This especially more evident during the rush of 'balik kampung' travelling for Eid celebrations. The usual journey which would take around seven hours or so, will be dragged to sometimes 12 hours (as per my own experience). Perhaps because of these ' slow downs' they tend to drive even faster to get back to their kampungs.


I could attest 99% of the Kelantanese people find their money elsewhere in bigger towns such as Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baharu or Penang. But they concentrate more in the cosmopolitan Kuala Lumpur to earn their bread and butter.
Nevertheless, they are the sort of urban dwellers that enjoy going back to their hometown every other weekends. They are a very 'close-knit' lots that would discard other people originated from other parts of the country (Malaysia) except maybe Terengganu because they are the "east -coast" people and speaks similar dialects (perhaps) besides possessing very distinctive liking towards driving recklessly.

My thought on all this effort by the government is what can the authorities do to curb these dilemma when it is living and flowing hot in their blood?



Am I vulgar?

Wikipedia meaning of Profanity:

The original meaning of the adjective profane (Latin: "in front of", "outside the temple") referred to items not belonging to the church, e.g. "The fort is the oldest profane building in the town, but the local monastery is older, and is the oldest building," or "besides designing churches, he also designed many profane buildings".

As a result, "profane" and "profanity" has therefore come to describe a word, expression, gesture, or other social behavior which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating, or showing disrespect.

Other words commonly used to describe profane language or its use include: curse, pejorative language, swearing, expletive, oath, bad word, dirty word, strong language, irreverent language, obscenity language, choice words, blasphemy language, foul language, and bad or adult language.

Statistics:

Tape-recorded conversations find that roughly 80–90 spoken words each day—0.5% to 0.7% of all words—are swear words with people varying from between 0% to 3.4%. In comparison first person plural pronouns (we, us, our) make up 1% of spoken words.

Research looking at swearing in 1986, 1997, and 2006 in America found the same top ten words were used of a set of over 70 different swear words. The most used swear words were fuck, shit, hell, damn, goddamn, ass, bitch, and crap—these eight made up roughly 80% of all profanities. Two words, fuck and shit, accounted for one third to one half of them.

Types of profanity:

Steven Pinker's book The Stuff of Thought breaks profanity down into five categories:

1. Dysphemistic profanity – which explicitly forces the listener to think about negative or provocative matter. Using the wrong euphemism has a dysphemistic effect. (Ex: "I have to take a shit")

2. Abusive profanity – for abuse or intimidation or insulting of others (Ex: "Fuck you, you fucking cocksucker!")

3. Idiomatic profanity – swearing without really referring to the matter. Just using the words to arouse interest, to show off, and express to peers that the setting is informal. (Ex: "Shit, I was pretty fucked up last night.")

4. Emphatic swearing – to emphasize something with swearing. (Ex: "I'm not going to do a fucking thing!" The word "fucking" emphasizes his refusal to do anything)

5. Cathartic profanity – when something bad happens like coffee spilling, people curse. (Ex: "Shit, my coffee just fell!")

According to Pinker, the content of profane language can also be broken into five categories of negative emotion:

1.The Supernatural – Evokes emotions of awe & fear. (Ex: "What the bloody hell is going on, here?")

2. Bodily effluvia & organs – Evokes disgust, since effluvia are major disease vectors. (Ex: "I'm gonna go take a piss.")

3. Disease, Death, & Infirmity – Evokes dread, fear of death or disability. These are words which are normally avoided or treated euphemistically. (Ex: "This dude's fucked up in the head" as opposed to "This man has Down syndrome.")

4. Sexuality – Evokes images of revulsion at depravity. Profanity of a sexual nature conjures images of illegitimate or exploitive sexuality, jealousy, etc. (Ex: "That faggot loves to suck on fucking fat ass dicks."; "Fuck your asshole."; )

5. Disfavoured people or groups – Evokes hatred and contempt. Such groups include infidels, the disabled (e.g.: gimp,), enemies (e.g.: sand monkey), or subordinated groups. These include racist words and/or insults based on gender or sexual preferences.

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Hahahahaha....too bad if you holy people came across to read this!

Anyway, it's on the net and not coming from me at all, although i share some of the types mentioned above.

It's just my way of ringing your bell to get you people to understand swear words (for those of you who claimed and think that you're very cultured and never swear at all - vocally or in your heart).

Some of them, like Mr Pinker mentioned, is just a matter of manifesting your expression and what is life when you're too bounded and too rigid about every inch of things?

Does it mean that I'm less cultured when I sometimes say ' fuck, look at how nice that bloody Dodge Challenger is!!"....?

Sex, sex and more sex...

Elderly man dies during sex


KUANTAN: A 78-year-old businessman died of a heart attack while allegedly in the midst of foreplay with a transvestite on Sunday.

Harun Mohd Salleh of Kubang Buaya here, was in the 31-year-old transvestite's room in Jalan Sultan Ismail about 5.40pm when he died.

The transvestite claimed Harun was caressing him when he had the heart attack.

Deputy district police chief Superintendent Zulkifli Taha said police had classified the case as sudden death. -- NST


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Hahahahaha.....sex, sex, and more sex...with the opposite sex, same sex, or altered sex...you guys just name it...everything is on the platter for you to choose.

Nevermind that. You can be 78 or 98, as long as you keep up a good health and do it nice and easy, plus reduce on the excitement level,....im sure your family won't have to received news about how you dying while humping or being humped or at whatever position you're at....before you die.

Just another David Carradine case.....

My advice is just one; do it like crazy when you're young and healthy!!....hahahahahaha....