School Rally / School Anthem.

All though our college, a voice is resounding,
Promptly respond to your duty's sweet call.

These are the first 2 lines of the School Rally - the rallying call to La Sallians - that I remember with pride. I have not thought of these lines for many many years, and today, from out of nowhere, a fellow La Sallian started humming the tune, and I felt the rush of being 17 again and being in a school that taught us to be the best we were, and gave us the best it had.

I wont cover details and history of the School Rally, but you can find more info on it here.

Of course, nothing is perfect, and I do know some people who have - shall we say - less than glowing memories of school. And yet, to me, it seems like SFI was a womb in which we were slowly and systematically given all the skills that we have used in our lives to make whatever we are today.

Even my 'hero' comes from there - Bro. David, who could congratulate the D class boys for getting 50% on maths, then walk 3 classes down the corridor and cane the A class boys who got less than 80% in the same paper. Yes, some of them hated him, and still do, perhaps with justification. But
he showed me that we all bear responsibility for our gifts/talents, and ultimately we are also answerable if we squander them. And he taught us leadership lessons I still apply in the corporate world today.

Bro David, if you ever read this, thanks.
From the person who gave the meaning of "condone": allow, permit, accept.

Metaplanetary: A Novel of Interplanetary Civil War

Book Review

Metaplanetary: A Novel of Interplanetary Civil War

By Tony Daniel

“I am a spaceship. I am about the size of the Martian moon Phobos, although not nearly as dense. I am also a human being.”

With these words, Tony Daniel captures the mind, heart and imagination in the first 3 sentences of the introduction. He is talking about the transformation of our species. He is talking of humans leaving the cradle of mother earth to …. What? The tone he uses hints at racial – no – species discrimination. How will he develop this idea? And are there lessons we can learn as Malaysians encumbered with a racially based body politic?

The answers are not soon coming; though the introduction is captivating and full of promise, one fairly has to wade though chapter one and two, pushing against a flood of ideas and concepts that challenge you to find a way to sort them in a coherent order you can relate to. But the hard work is worth it – the mad rush of new ideas only prepares you for a breathlessly readable novel.

What amazes me is the way Tony Daniel has taken some very new ideas in Science and applied them in a working universe. It seems like only recently that I read about quantum entanglement (ref-1) (ref-2), and here is a book (published in 2001) where this is an applied science. Also, with nanotechnology, virtual reality and Artificial Intelligence, he pushes the envelope and gives a perspective of how all these sciences could develop that’s – exhilarating.

I you want to read a synopsis of the book, here’s one that captures the facts but not the experience of reading it.
If you want your own copy, here it is on Amazon.
I want to get my hands on the follow up story – Superluminal.

Heart Attack alert?

Jacie – do you have a younger sister around 25 y.o.? Did she just get a job in Kinta Dredging?

We got a new employee today – I think this is her 1^st day, and she is dressed to impress her new colleagues I think.

Fitting black dress (like the ones you wear lah)… but I think I have t-shirts longer than this dress of hers – it only goes down below the hips, and stops there…. And because she is tall, she has to have these loooong legs all the way to the floor.
Quite a pretty face, I think, though I can’t be absolutely sure – its hard to focus on the face when the neckline is so wide and low….

I think I may have to quit KD just to avoid getting a heart attack….. Maybe you have to give me a lecture again about how there’s nothing wrong about a girl dressing up just to make herself feel good.

Regards and Palpitations,
Short, fat, and ugly.