And the snake shudders....

There was a sermon I was listening to some time ago, by a brilliant priest who had a unique lesson to teach.
"Satan is already beaten" he said, "Evil is already conquered."
HOWEVER, like a snake that has had its head chopped off, the evil body threshes about in a 'death dance' causing destruction and confusion for a short time.
So what I read in today's news is very much to me part of the death throes of satan:
Raja Petra detained for 2 years
There is a lot I would like to say, but angry words only hide the truth and the real issues. So I will quote from a comment made after that article (with a few of the stronger phrases blanked out):

DAMN THEM!! They are provoking the Rakyat to take to the streets so that they can invoke the emergency and stop Anwar in his tracks. ...etc...

They want this to happen. RPK is the trigger point. Let's face it. We take to the streets and we will be playing right into their hands. ...etc... You can't take to the streets but we must bring down this entire BN/UMNO machinery. The whole country should protest about this grave injustice to one of the true sons of Malaysia.

Wear a black arm band with the words FREE MALAYSIA, FREE RPK! Place stickers on our cars. We have to show our sloidarity. While from another front Anwar should make the final push to drive the stake thru the evil heart of ..etc... This shows the true colour of the government. They are not interested in the Rakyat. They are not interested in the country. They only want to retain the power to control the Rakyat. How can the Malays support such a government? .etc...?

And before anyone misunderstands, when I say Satan, I mean the real thing - I am not using that name on any person or group of people.
UPDATE: Invitation To The Candle Light Vigil On 27th September 2008

Holiday In Canada - Aug08

The holiday of the decade!!
Read about it here: http://canadaholiday0808.blogspot.com/
(Recording begun on 09 Sept 2008... story will unfold as the days go by...)

Word for today: supercilious

su•per•cil•i•ous
–adjective:
[1] haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.
[2] having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy

1. "some economists are disdainful of their colleagues in other social disciplines"
2. "his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air"

[3] expressive of contempt;

1. "curled his lip in a supercilious smile";
2. "spoke in a sneering jeering manner";
3. "makes many a sharp comparison but never a mean or snide one"

As in:
This article in The Independant:
Rupert Cornwell: Out of America
Barack Obama will win the forthcoming presidential election. I can report this with some confidence on the basis of my latest foray into the American heartland – both real and metaphorical.
Obama has had his troubles of late... you can't help feeling he should be farther ahead of McCain than is he is.
One reason, perhaps, is that famous Obama cool. Cool unflappability is one thing. The supercilious arrogance he is apt on occasion to display is quite another.

—Related forms:
su•per•cil•i•ous•ly, adverb
su•per•cil•i•ous•ness, noun

—Synonyms: arrogant, scornful.
—Antonyms: humble.

Sometimes, that our friends may live, we must risk death.

We are so used to seeing men in uniform assaulting DPM's and spraying chemical-laced-water on our friends that it's hard to see them as people with guts and feelings and loyalties and fears.

Here is a blog every Malaysian must read - one that puts a very human face on our Military, and bears witness to the heroism of these silent few.
To the author;
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your life with us, and giving us a glimpse of the heroes who serve, suffer, and are ready to die in silence, that we may sleep without fear for our security.
I am especially touched by this post of a real-life search and rescue.

To be sure, the RMAF is very different from the PDRM, but this blog goes a long way in opening my eyes about ALL our men and women in uniform.

On the downside, i quote:
Other than for the crew involved in the rescue, the air force has forgotten the events that led to joy substituting sorrow. Timely recognition was miscarried. Lessons as to why of seven aircraft in search for one missing pilot only one yielded results, is now permanently lost.
It would appear that the the penchant of our leaders not to learn from mistakes (and not to appreciate those who do) is not limited to the civilian administration.

Rumor-mill

We Malaysians have a penchant for rumor and fantastic stories.
Even a responsible organisation like CAP (the Consumer Association of Penang) has made a slip, recommending that handphones be banned because ofthe "radiation they produce". Sorry, I read that in the hardcopy of a local paper, and can not find the reference online.

My theory is that this is a reaction to knowing that we are not being told everything. It seems that at any time, a judge might make a revelation that someone attempted to coerce him into putting the needs of one party above the law. It seems that at any time, someone could turn up missing, or dead, or blown to pieces, and no one would be able to get a straight story from anyone about it. It seems that you could put a brilliant man, politician, and/or political leader on the witness stand, and to the crucial questions he could just say "I dont remember", whereas if anyone cast aspersions on him, he would be able to say "I remember it was not that way".

So the latest rumor is that there will be a "strike" by petrol stations in a day or two, and they will close. After all, The Star already reports "Petrol kiosks may stop credit card payments". Fantastic! Unbelievable! But some of us WILL rush out tonight to fill our tanks. And thinking about it, you need the fuel anyway, so what's the harm in being safe rather than sorry?

Except that rushing, and panic buying, and hoarding creates artificial demand, and demand (whether artificial or not) creates shortages and higher prices.

But go ahead if you want - rush to the pump. After all, I already filled up at lunchtime today... Nyaaah Nyaah Nyaah...

A toast for the Bride and Groom.

Ah Fook got married.

We have been good friends, and he asked me to give the toast at his wedding dinner.

Now – the problem is, traditional Chinese wedding dinner toast is threefold: One toast for the happy couple, one for the coming children, and the final one for everyone in the room. I had never done this before, and could only remember one other time when I had heard somebody giving the toast. Still, I owed it to Ah Fook to give it my best, so I sat down and came up with this.

To the Bride and Groom.

Ladies and gentlemen, I will never forget the 1^st time I met Ah Ying. Ah Fook invited me to dinner, to meet ‘his friend’. I never thought that his ‘friend’ would knock my socks off. After dinner, we were chatting about cars and the weather, and these two people were holding hands under the table, and giggling together. As though I wasn’t there.

I have to say, it was refreshing; we all tend to get disillusioned and cynical from watching TV romances, and the easy breaking of commitments in Hollywood relationships. But there, in front of me that day was love at its purest and most innocent. In Ah Fook and Ah Ying, I saw not just shared feelings, but also joy, sharing, and the beginnings of commitment; that same commitment that we see them now declaring to everyone today.

And so, I propose toast to the happy couple – thought good times and bad times, thought thick and thin, may you always succeed in your endeavors and never forget to hold hands under the table.

To the coming Children.

At the church this morning, we shared in the ‘fruit of the vine, and work of human hands’ that became the source of our unity and Salvation. A successful marriage is also the ‘fruit’ and ‘work’ of human hands, and most often, we see this ‘fruit’ in the form of children in the home.

And, so, let us drink to the children of Ah Fook and Ah Ying; may they be many, and healthy, and many, and wealthy, and many, and wise.

To all of us.

Ladies and Gentlemen: let us consider Ah Fook and Ah Ying and the love they share. May it remind us of our own lives, and the people close to us.

We are gathered here to honor them tonight, let us leave this dinner and go to our homes and honour Ah Fook and Ah Ying again by being the best husband, or wife, or mother or father, or brother or sister we can be to our own families.

Long life, good health, and prosperity to all of us.

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.

Why would I support PAS?

In my younger days, PAS was portrayed as a demonic political party which would cut off the hands of a thief and hang me as an unbeliever.

But how much of that picture was real (and I know some of it was) and how much was the embellishment of the BN controlled media (like the NST and the Star)?

But here in this article, we see a PAS that has started to take a moderate road - the kind of road a political party takes when it needs co-operation from others, and does not hold a 2/3 majority.

Read: The Political Maturing of PAS: Recognition of the Need for Inclusion of Non-Muslims and Non-Malays

So PAS is opening its mind across religious and racial lines. I would much rather support someone attempting to have an open mind, than someone who makes veiled (quite thinly veiled) threats of racial segregation and discrimination as in the NST today. NST even had a picture ("No Representation, No Voice" it said), but this only tells me what BN would do to "punish" the rakyat if it (BN) does not win its 2/3 majority. I will never support bullies.

5% penetration

No, K.Alvin, not that kind of penetration.

I am talking about the statistic I heard about some weeks back - that the internet access is available to only 5% of the Malaysian Population - hence the 5% penetration phrase.

Being a frequent user myself, its easy to imagine that all the information available online is read by many people, and that the majority of Malaysians can see through the vapid, ingratiating support the the New Straits Times and the STAR (how the mighty have fallen) give to Barisan National. Even though I do NOT support any particular political party, the blatant unfairness of 'news reporting' in the papers convinces me that I am being lied to, and the non-BN parties are being suppressed.

Let us make this crystal clear. Since the dissolution of Parliament, Malaysia has NO Government, and hence NO opposition. (ok - there's a caretaker government. But that's not an elected government with a mandate to rule) What we have are different political parties whom all want to be given the mandate to form the next Government. So BN usage of MY tax money for their campaigning is illegal - it's stealing from me. And you. Read this article about just one case, and this one about Ijok (especially the last 4 lines).

But sadly, even if all the Malaysians accessing the internet vote against BN, thats just 5% penetration. And as Ijok has shown us, bribery (via the building of infrastructure that should have been there anyway) works. So make every vote count - dont for a moment doubt that for the good of all Malaysians, you must NOT vote BN.

Malaysia Votes 2008: a perspective

Having followed "America votes 2008" on CNN for the past couple of months, I have a few things to say about the way we do it in Malaysia;

An election is an important step in the progress of a country. As such, it should be approached with deliberate and considered steps, and all parties involved must have fair chance to decide on who best represents the peoples needs. Malaysia treats the election as a 'hide-and-seek' game, with the government deciding in secret, and letting the country know only on the day Parliament is dissolved. US elections are scheduled for NOV 2008, and the process of selection of candidates began in late 2007.

No man can have absolute discretion - even George Bush, as the US President, though he may give the executive order to attack Iraq, finally must answer to the electorate for the rightness or wrongness of his decisions. I find it galling that in Malaysia, an ex-Prime Minister (Dr. Mahatir) can say he chooses judges at his absolute discretion ('the decision is mine' he said). His description of getting 'input' from other people showed no trace of intending to give their opinion due consideration. We have put our PM on such a pedestal, he effectively has more power then DYMM the King. Witness the case of Chua Soi Lek and other politicians getting caught with their pants down, or palaces built in low-cost housing areas; their song always refrains with "I will let the PM decide my future", showing that among politicians at least, if not among the rakyat, it is the PM, and not the DYMM who may grant pardon or may dispose.

The politics of RACE were used by the colonialists to divide and conquer. (read an excellent writeup about it here). To be relevant and progressive, and to compete with the countries around us, we must be UNITED. And yet, Malaysian politics is dominated by the National Front (BN), which pretends to be a united front but in reality is a collection of racially aligned groups dancing to the tune of the biggest bully among them - UMNO. This can be seen by the way no BN MP is allowed to vote contrary to BN proposals according to conscience. Racial Riots of May 13th 1969 are also frequently invoked by UMNO as a threat to anyone daring to question its ascendancy. Refer to:
Kris Dilemma or Phobia?
and
May 13 nightmare still haunting us

The politics of manipulating racial prejudice and demonising other races because they appear more successful, or belittling those who are mainly laborers must end in this country. The only way I see it, is to dissolve all racially based political parties, leaving only the non-BN, so-called "opposition" parties. I have no illusions of this happening in my lifetime, but one can always hope.

On CNN, commentators can talk rationally about the 'Hispanic vote' and the 'Black vote' and how the prospective candidates need to address the concerns of each community in order to get their support. Oh, I dont for a moment believe it is always so rational and civilised a conversation, but at least the American system allows for this discussion among rational parties to take place. Here, we have:
Police Warn Against Race Baiting in 2008 General Election (Like That’s Gonna Stop UMNO)

Enough for now. Its late in more ways than one, and I need a break. I will write more thoughts later if I am able.

T r u e C r y p t

Data Privacy - this is important because you don't want your personal data readable by anyone who may;

1. Use your PC while you are making coffee in the pantry
2. Hack into your system though your home streamyx connection
3. Scan your system as part of a corporate audit
4. Dismantle your laptop and plug the hard-disk into his PC after snatching it from you along Bkt Bintang because you were walking and keying in an SMS instead of paying attention to where you were going.
5. Or, Like Edison Chen found out, just make a copy of your hard drive when you send your PC in for repair.
   

Personal data can be as varied as as the people who create it... it can be:
1. Lists of credit card numbers
2. Bank account numbers.
3. ATM PIN numbers
4. avi files of your latest romp in a JB Hotel with a close friend.
5. Pictures of all the girls you s@@@@ed who thought you look like Edison Chen

I have found this utility that is fast becoming my favorite for storing all my personal data. Best thing is - its free.
Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP/2000 and Linux
Go here for more information on TrueCrypt: http://www.truecrypt.org/
There is an informative introduction to TrueCrypt here.

How I use it: I create a 640MB encrypted space, and store my information there. This is small enough to allow me to backup the space to a CD-RW, and move it to other PC's if required. Yes, a CD can have 650 or 700MB of space, but I believe in safety buffers.
When I get a DVD burner, I will create 4.6GB spaces for storing data. Cool.

A not for the dinosaurs out there - TruCrypt does not work on Win98.

Only in I.T.

Only in an IT organisation would you find people who could put the following in a document and expect other people to read it with a straight face:

THE JCL CREATES THE PDB LIBRARY, AND THEN INVOKES A NUMBER OF
ANAL.... MEMBERS.

At the very least, I suppose we can look on the bright side and say that even IT geeks are not spared from working with anal co-workers. But Dilbert already taught us that...

Lunch Out

Aah... hot Pan Meen.

I went out for lunch at a food court today, a break from the usual tomato-and-cheese-on-wholemeal sandwitch.
(what - you have not tried one of those before? get outta here man - you dont know what you are missing !! I will post the recipe later!)

I met up with Khyun, hoping to rehash old times and regrind old axes. Unfortunately, he is too professional (a rare trait in a Malaysian - most can only master the anal part of "professional") to speak badly of his employer to an outsider.... so part of the conversation at least, was stillborn.
Oh hum.... 2000 people in the organisation, and I have to befriend one of the professionals.

Anyway, his tongue may be tied, but his powers of observation are not abated. Khyun wondered why the cooks and service people in the food court all wore surgical masks under their chins!! We could think of a few possibilities:

1. the surgical masks on the chin are an innovative way to prevent drool from falling into the food.
2. its hot around the stoves and ovens, and sweat (read "perspiration" for the cultured) trickles down your face. The surgical mask will redirect it down your neck and into your shirt, instead of it dripping off the tip of your chin, and into the food.

Now that I think about it, both are the same basic reason - the surgical mask is now a "chin guard" of a sort. Anyway, seeing that such care is taken with food preparation, we could not but eat our Pan Meen with peace of mind.

LCD TV

Overheard in a shopping mall:

"Dear, shall we get one of those?" he says, pointing to a humongous 50-inch LCD TV on Special Discount.

"Yeah, right. And we will have to sit in the Tan's front porch across the road to watch CSI." Said the wife. "Why dont we get this one?" She said, pointing to a 26-incher.

He pouted like an M.P. forced to apologise for making a sexist remark [1] [2] in Parliament: "If we wanted something that size, we might as well buy a regular TV" he said;
"You can't call it conspicuous consumption if it isn't conspicuous enough....."

For those who are interested, I found this LCD TV buying guide, and heres how to buy an LCD TV in 8 easy steps.

The Heavenly Clocks

An Indian man died and went to heaven. When he arrived at Heaven's Gate, The Lord Siva said, "Come on in. I'll show you around. You'll like it here."

Walking through the gates, the man noticed clocks everywhere!!
There were grandfather clocks, wall clocks, watches, and table clocks in every corner.

It appeared that heaven was nothing more than a giant warehouse of clocks.

Surprised at how heaven looked, the man asked,
"My Lord Siva, what's the deal? Why are all these clocks here in heaven?"

The Lord Siva replied,
"The clocks keep track of things on earth. There is one clock for each person. Every time the person on earth tells a lie, his clock moves one minute. For instance, this clock is for Aru, the used car salesman. If you watch it closely, it will move."

"Click" The minute hand on Aru's clock moved one minute. "Click" It moved another minute.

"Aru must be closing a deal with a customer right now." said The Lord Siva. "The minute hand on his clock moves all day."

The man and The Lord Siva continued walking. Soon, they came to a clock with cobwebs on the minute hand.
"Whose clock is this?" asked the man.
"That clock belongs to the Widow Achi. She is one of the finest, God-fearing, people on earth. Her clock hasn't moved in years." said The Lord Siva.

They continued walking and touring heaven. The man enjoyed watching the clocks of all his friends. When the tour was finished, the man said,
"I've seen everyone's clock but Mr. Samy Vellu's. Where is his clock?"

The Lord Siva smiled, "Just look up. We use his clock as a ceiling fan."

(This is an old joke, and has been used with the names of many politicians in the punch line... I am including it here because it is always amusing - no matter which politician is targeted - and because someone took the trouble to translate it from the Judeo-Christian 'God' or 'Jesus' to the more Malaysian 'Lord Siva'.
The reference to Mr. Samy Vellu is a non-sequitur since everyone of course knows that Mr. Samy Vellu is an honest and upright man who practices transparency in politics and ensures the development and promotion of young and aspiring persons to positions of responsibility in the Government.)

Work Life Balance

The guy sitting next to me has been agonising about whether to skip the weekly 'Project updates' tomorrow, because it's his daughters' birthday. You may know the type of meeting - it involves people in the UK and US, and it starts at 10pm.

He thinks he should not need to, since his project is not even on the agenda. Surprisingly, his wife, who knows he has attended this meeting in the past, thinks he should attend.
You know what they say - "Behind every successful man you will find a pushy woman."

Mercifully, in his 'in-box' today, there was a note from his manager saying all those with no items on the agenda need not attend. So go ahead Tom, take the family out for dinner. IPOH CHICKEN RICE anyone?

Word of the Day

bourgeoisie [(boor-zhwah-zee)]

In general, the middle class. Applied to the Middle Ages, it refers to townspeople, who were neither nobles nor peasants. In Marxism it refers to those who control the means of production and do not live directly by the sale of their labor. Karl Marx distinguished between the “haute” (high) bourgeoisie (industrialists and financiers) and the “petite” (small or “petty”) bourgeoisie (shopkeepers, self-employed artisans, lawyers). Marxism postulates a fundamental conflict between the interests of the bourgeoisie and those of the propertyless workers, the proletariat.

Example:

“Following the serving of her prison sentence, Paris Hilton experienced an epiphany and changed her life, eventually converting the New York Hilton hotel into a convent, establishing her own order of nuns and becoming recognized as the patron saint of the bourgeoisie.”

(exerpt from “The Bourgeois Boudoir” – a biography of Paris Hilton by Abbess Britney Spears)

Lite n’ Easy – Miss Moneybags.

I was listening to Lite n’ Easy in the cab this morning (101.5 FM in Ipoh, 105.7 FM in the Klang Valley) and they were talking about an email from “Miss Moneybags”.

Miss Moneybags is dating a guy who is “fun, sensitive, and interesting”, but who earns less than her. Their dates tend to be in budget locations, to accommodate his budget, but she is fine with this. Her only problem is that she has tried to pay for their meals a few times, but he has refused to let her do so. She asked Simon and Caroline “at what point does it become OK for the woman to start sharing the cost of the dates”.

I did not have a phone to call in then, so I will just blog my response. I had two issues with this question.

The first was not with the woman or her boyfriend, but with the people whom I heard giving advice before I got out of the cab:
People gave advice in a tone that said “You should share the cost, and not expect to get things paid for for you.” The advice totally missed the issue, which is that the guy does not want Miss Moneybags to pay, and prevents her from doing so. The thinking behind the advice seemed to be that Miss Moneybags was in need of advice and ‘correction’. No, Miss Moneybags is perfectly correct. It is the boyfriend that needs correction.

I think in this day and age, a man who thinks that he must provide everything for his woman and that she will expect him to do so needs his head examined for delusional behavior, and living in a twilight zone with values from 15 years ago.

Woman today can be as assertive and independent as any man. She knows her abilities, and how to use them in her environment. What she needs from her man is not a patronizing, paternalistic attitude, but a partnership. Woman is ready to move (in Miss Moneybags’ case, has already moved) out of the shadow of man and contribute her own perspective to the world. Man now needs to be able to move away from the “me and my woman” mentality.

The attitude of “me and my woman” is not only insulting to woman, but diminishes the worth of man too. It insults woman because the attitude implies that the woman is an extension of the man, or part of, the man’s property. It diminishes man because by treating woman as a vassal or as property, man immediately creates a barrier – the ‘owner’ and the ‘owned’ can never communicate as freely as two equals.

So, I would suggest that Miss Moneybags tread carefully, and find out more about her boyfriends’ perspectives;
Does he expect, perhaps, that she should depend on him for her income after marriage?
Or perhaps he believes she will give up her career to take care of home and children in the future?
Or maybe he does not mind her working, as long as the house is kept clean and dinner is on the table when he gets home?

One of the suggestions given by the callers on the show was “get a pre-nuptial agreement”. To me, this is like planning to fail. Unfortunately, and this is definitely a reflection of where our society is heading, failed marriages are becoming entirely too common. So even though it goes against the grain for me, I must admit that might be good advice.

All my best to Miss Moneybags, and I hope things work out well for her.