THE TIME WE SPEND ON THIS PLANET
As I watch the battle between McCain and Obama, Pak Lah and Anwar, North and South Korea, Hindus and Muslims, Christians and Jews, etc, etc, it really makes me wonder what the end game is.
We seem to be caught up in these games and spend large amounts of energy, time and money either talking about it, blogging about it and some even spending large amounts of time and money praying about it. (My view on the prayer part is, of course, as my earlier post!!)
If that's not enough, we seem to spend a large amount of time, money and effort on entertainment!!!
Yes....Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, even Southampton,etc, etc, is just that!!
So is WHATEVER music, TV or movies that we watch and listen to!!!
I do agree that we need to spend time to vote, to make a contribution to our democratic system of government , to relax after a hard day's work but how much time do we spend helping people that need help???
How much time, money and effort do we put into helping those that need immediate help??? Like homes for the underprivileged, orphanages, really poor people.
How much time, money and effort do we put into saving our environment? Endangered animals?
Which is more important, getting my rich buddies to vote or getting them to help others?????
Rather than making any judgement on our politicians, systems, etc, I rather spend my time, money and efforts on making a difference MYSELF!!
I'll of course help some of my "politically inclined" buddies but I'd rather spend my time on this planet helping others!!!
Anyone interested in doing this, let me know and I'll show you guys how you can change the planet and like Michael Jackson said, " Make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race". (AND THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SMALL CHILDREN!!!!! HEHEHEHE!!)
Monday, August 04, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
My take on religion
To eat or not to eat…beef, pork, fish, etc, etc…..Religion and their mysteries….
I read a book given to me by my dad called “How the great religions began” by Joseph Gaer and it pretty much summed it all up for me.
We (Man) first began to pray to the sun. When we discovered that it rose everyday, we stopped.
We then prayed to the moon and stars. That soon stopped as well.
Next came the rain, wind, clouds, trees, mountains, fire, water, etc, etc. When praying to the rain god couldn’t bring rain during the draught, when it couldn't stop the rain during the monsoon, we got creative again.
“There must be a supreme, unseen, all knowing, all powerful god” Out there somewhere. Surprisingly, this concept appeared at about the same time all over the world. The changes occurred in civilizations where the poor and weak were being oppressed and seem to always have one key person making the change. So, are we going to consider Richard Dawkins (The leading atheist) and Barack Obama (The man of “Change”) in similar light?
I believe that Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, all the swamis, etc, etc, were teaching people around them to be good. I learnt from their words and deeds, used my intelligence and let logic do the rest. Organized sectarian religions (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Taoism) although having initially good lessons, just seem today, to have a greater disruptive potential rather that anything else.
As my topic suggested, this is MY take on it and I think the entire “One God” concept is just plain weak.
Books like “The GOD Delusion” by Richard Dawkins and “In GOD we doubt” by John Humprey further drove the point home. My Mainland Chinese friends and colleagues during my sailing days also helped me understand the “No religion” concept.
I haven’t prayed in years and so far, my up’s and down’s in life have been pretty much the same as the last 30 years of my “believing” years.
“Shit happens”……yup…and life goes on. “Good stuff happens”…yup…life goes on too.
An old friend once told me, “Nanda, do you know what the difference is, between you and me?”……”You believe in GOOD and I believe in GOD”
Well, I’ll take GOOD over GOD anytime. But for those who still believe in the One God concept, by all means, carry on if it makes you happy.
So, whether you eat beef or pork, drink alcohol or don’t, smoke weed, fornicate like rabbits, listen to “Death Metal”, are gay or bi, go to church or temple….. you’ll be my friend if:
1. You are sincere and trustworthy.
2. You don’t lie or cheat.
3. You care about the things and people around you.
4. You’re polite.
5. Respect your elders.
6. Respect the views and opinions of others.
Generally, just be nice and life as a human being on this crazy planet is easier to handle!!
To eat or not to eat…beef, pork, fish, etc, etc…..Religion and their mysteries….
I read a book given to me by my dad called “How the great religions began” by Joseph Gaer and it pretty much summed it all up for me.
We (Man) first began to pray to the sun. When we discovered that it rose everyday, we stopped.
We then prayed to the moon and stars. That soon stopped as well.
Next came the rain, wind, clouds, trees, mountains, fire, water, etc, etc. When praying to the rain god couldn’t bring rain during the draught, when it couldn't stop the rain during the monsoon, we got creative again.
“There must be a supreme, unseen, all knowing, all powerful god” Out there somewhere. Surprisingly, this concept appeared at about the same time all over the world. The changes occurred in civilizations where the poor and weak were being oppressed and seem to always have one key person making the change. So, are we going to consider Richard Dawkins (The leading atheist) and Barack Obama (The man of “Change”) in similar light?
I believe that Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, all the swamis, etc, etc, were teaching people around them to be good. I learnt from their words and deeds, used my intelligence and let logic do the rest. Organized sectarian religions (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Taoism) although having initially good lessons, just seem today, to have a greater disruptive potential rather that anything else.
As my topic suggested, this is MY take on it and I think the entire “One God” concept is just plain weak.
Books like “The GOD Delusion” by Richard Dawkins and “In GOD we doubt” by John Humprey further drove the point home. My Mainland Chinese friends and colleagues during my sailing days also helped me understand the “No religion” concept.
I haven’t prayed in years and so far, my up’s and down’s in life have been pretty much the same as the last 30 years of my “believing” years.
“Shit happens”……yup…and life goes on. “Good stuff happens”…yup…life goes on too.
An old friend once told me, “Nanda, do you know what the difference is, between you and me?”……”You believe in GOOD and I believe in GOD”
Well, I’ll take GOOD over GOD anytime. But for those who still believe in the One God concept, by all means, carry on if it makes you happy.
So, whether you eat beef or pork, drink alcohol or don’t, smoke weed, fornicate like rabbits, listen to “Death Metal”, are gay or bi, go to church or temple….. you’ll be my friend if:
1. You are sincere and trustworthy.
2. You don’t lie or cheat.
3. You care about the things and people around you.
4. You’re polite.
5. Respect your elders.
6. Respect the views and opinions of others.
Generally, just be nice and life as a human being on this crazy planet is easier to handle!!
Monday, July 14, 2008
A third of the world's reef-building coral species are facing extinction.
This is from the most recent BBC report:
That is the stark conclusion from the first global study to assess the extinction risks of corals.
Writing in the journal Science, researchers say climate change, coastal development, overfishing, and pollution are the major threats.
The economic value of the world's reefs has been estimated at over $30bn (£15bn) per year, through tourism, fisheries and coastal protection.
"The picture is frightening," said Alex Rogers from the Zoological Society of London, one of 39 scientists involved in the assessment.
"It's not just the fact that something like a third of all reef-forming corals are threatened, but that we could be facing the loss of large areas of these ecosystems within 50 to 100 years.
"The implications of that are absolutely staggering - not only for biodiversity, but also for economics."
The analysis shows that reef-building corals are more threatened than any group of land-dwelling animals except amphibians.
'Incredible' destruction
The most dramatic decline in recent years was caused by the 1997/8 El Nino event, which caused waters to warm across large swathes of the tropics.
CORAL - KEY FINDINGS
Known species of reef-building coral: 845
Enough data to assess 704
Critically endangered: 5
Endangered: 25
Vulnerable: 201
Near threatened: 176
Least concern: 297
When water temperatures rise, coral polyps - tiny animals that build the reefs - expel the algae that usually live with them in a symbiotic relationship.
The corals lose their colour, with reefs taking on a bleached appearance, and begin to die off because the algae are not there to provide nutrients.
The new analysis shows that before 1998, only 13 of the 704 coral species assessed would have been classified as threatened. Now, the number is 231.
"It was a devastating event in terms of the destruction of corals, with 16% of reefs irreversibly destroyed - an incredible amount," said Kent Carpenter from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, in the US.
"The big problem is that if these bleaching events become more frequent as temperatures rise, as we suspect will happen, then we will see whole tracts of coral wiped out."
Adding to this, scientists have come to realise in recent years, is ocean acidification. The water absorbs some of the atmosphere's extra carbon dioxide, making it slightly more acid, enough to compromise the capacity of corals to build their skeletons, and snails to build their shells.
"We know that high sea surface temperatures are bad for coral, but we also have an idea that some might be able to adapt," said Professor Carpenter.
"But ocean acidification is a much more insidious thing. We don't know how bad it will be, but the evidence suggests it will be absolutely devastating, perhaps on the order of decades, perhaps on the order of years."
Complex web
But carbon dioxide is not the only culprit.
Overfishing in many regions - especially the use of dynamite to fish in East Asia and heavy trawls that reduce reefs to rubble - the excavation of building materials from reefs, coastal development, invasive species and pollution are all fingered in the new analysis.
The Caribbean shows how the threat jigsaw fits together.
Coastal development and farming produce effluent, which stimulates the growth of types of algae that smother growing coral.
Meanwhile, fishermen are catching fish that would usually graze on these algae.
In this stressed condition, coral then fall prey more easily to disease, such as white-band disease which has swept through elkhorn and staghorn corals in the region.
The line taken by many scientists and campaigners is that these problems should be easier to tackle than the rising tide of greenhouse gas emissions; so this is where attention should be concentrated.
Along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, protected areas have been established in the sea, and the use of fertilisers controlled on land to reduce pollution.
Recent research there has also shown that algae-munching fish can clean up smothered coral.
But there is another view; that these measures can only reduce and delay the inevitable impacts of rising greenhouse gas emissions.
The political response to climate change, said Alex Rogers, could be likened to "fiddling while Rome burns".
"Could you imagine if a single event wiped out 16% of the Amazon forest, or 16% of ecosystems in the UK?" he asked.
"I don't think politicians and the public are aware of the gravity of the situation we're in regarding coral reefs and other marine ecosystems."
Beyond value?
About one quarter of marine species are believed to depend on coral at some stage of their development. Many fish live their entire lives on reefs, while others use them as nurseries; presumably if the coral dies out, so do the fish.
The economic impact of losing coral is also significant.
Estimating the monetary value of natural ecosystems is far from being an exact science.
But one assessment published two years ago by the UN Environment Programme (Unep) concludes reefs provide services worth on average between $100,000 and $600,000 (£50,000 and £300,000) per square kilometre each year.
That gives a total global value between $30bn and $180bn (£15bn and £90bn) annually. In some regions, such as Sri Lanka, the value has been estimated to be 10 times the global average.
The same assessment concluded that protecting areas of reef costs about 0.2% of the value they bring.
The new assessment forms one element of a major project to measure threats to ocean ecosystems, the Global Marine Species Assessment, a joint initiative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International (CI).
It will form part of the new IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, due to be published in October.
The IUCN's director general, Julia Marton-Lefevre, said world leaders faced a stark choice.
"We either reduce our CO2 emissions now, or many corals will be lost forever."
This is from the most recent BBC report:
That is the stark conclusion from the first global study to assess the extinction risks of corals.
Writing in the journal Science, researchers say climate change, coastal development, overfishing, and pollution are the major threats.
The economic value of the world's reefs has been estimated at over $30bn (£15bn) per year, through tourism, fisheries and coastal protection.
"The picture is frightening," said Alex Rogers from the Zoological Society of London, one of 39 scientists involved in the assessment.
"It's not just the fact that something like a third of all reef-forming corals are threatened, but that we could be facing the loss of large areas of these ecosystems within 50 to 100 years.
"The implications of that are absolutely staggering - not only for biodiversity, but also for economics."
The analysis shows that reef-building corals are more threatened than any group of land-dwelling animals except amphibians.
'Incredible' destruction
The most dramatic decline in recent years was caused by the 1997/8 El Nino event, which caused waters to warm across large swathes of the tropics.
CORAL - KEY FINDINGS
Known species of reef-building coral: 845
Enough data to assess 704
Critically endangered: 5
Endangered: 25
Vulnerable: 201
Near threatened: 176
Least concern: 297
When water temperatures rise, coral polyps - tiny animals that build the reefs - expel the algae that usually live with them in a symbiotic relationship.
The corals lose their colour, with reefs taking on a bleached appearance, and begin to die off because the algae are not there to provide nutrients.
The new analysis shows that before 1998, only 13 of the 704 coral species assessed would have been classified as threatened. Now, the number is 231.
"It was a devastating event in terms of the destruction of corals, with 16% of reefs irreversibly destroyed - an incredible amount," said Kent Carpenter from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, in the US.
"The big problem is that if these bleaching events become more frequent as temperatures rise, as we suspect will happen, then we will see whole tracts of coral wiped out."
Adding to this, scientists have come to realise in recent years, is ocean acidification. The water absorbs some of the atmosphere's extra carbon dioxide, making it slightly more acid, enough to compromise the capacity of corals to build their skeletons, and snails to build their shells.
"We know that high sea surface temperatures are bad for coral, but we also have an idea that some might be able to adapt," said Professor Carpenter.
"But ocean acidification is a much more insidious thing. We don't know how bad it will be, but the evidence suggests it will be absolutely devastating, perhaps on the order of decades, perhaps on the order of years."
Complex web
But carbon dioxide is not the only culprit.
Overfishing in many regions - especially the use of dynamite to fish in East Asia and heavy trawls that reduce reefs to rubble - the excavation of building materials from reefs, coastal development, invasive species and pollution are all fingered in the new analysis.
The Caribbean shows how the threat jigsaw fits together.
Coastal development and farming produce effluent, which stimulates the growth of types of algae that smother growing coral.
Meanwhile, fishermen are catching fish that would usually graze on these algae.
In this stressed condition, coral then fall prey more easily to disease, such as white-band disease which has swept through elkhorn and staghorn corals in the region.
The line taken by many scientists and campaigners is that these problems should be easier to tackle than the rising tide of greenhouse gas emissions; so this is where attention should be concentrated.
Along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, protected areas have been established in the sea, and the use of fertilisers controlled on land to reduce pollution.
Recent research there has also shown that algae-munching fish can clean up smothered coral.
But there is another view; that these measures can only reduce and delay the inevitable impacts of rising greenhouse gas emissions.
The political response to climate change, said Alex Rogers, could be likened to "fiddling while Rome burns".
"Could you imagine if a single event wiped out 16% of the Amazon forest, or 16% of ecosystems in the UK?" he asked.
"I don't think politicians and the public are aware of the gravity of the situation we're in regarding coral reefs and other marine ecosystems."
Beyond value?
About one quarter of marine species are believed to depend on coral at some stage of their development. Many fish live their entire lives on reefs, while others use them as nurseries; presumably if the coral dies out, so do the fish.
The economic impact of losing coral is also significant.
Estimating the monetary value of natural ecosystems is far from being an exact science.
But one assessment published two years ago by the UN Environment Programme (Unep) concludes reefs provide services worth on average between $100,000 and $600,000 (£50,000 and £300,000) per square kilometre each year.
That gives a total global value between $30bn and $180bn (£15bn and £90bn) annually. In some regions, such as Sri Lanka, the value has been estimated to be 10 times the global average.
The same assessment concluded that protecting areas of reef costs about 0.2% of the value they bring.
The new assessment forms one element of a major project to measure threats to ocean ecosystems, the Global Marine Species Assessment, a joint initiative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International (CI).
It will form part of the new IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, due to be published in October.
The IUCN's director general, Julia Marton-Lefevre, said world leaders faced a stark choice.
"We either reduce our CO2 emissions now, or many corals will be lost forever."
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Malaysians and the cry for a decent salary
The Sun carried an interesting article on their front page today. It was about a Malaysian born, world authority in keyhole surgery in children, paediatric surgeon, Prof. Dr. Tan Hock Lim and his "so called" eyebrow raising salary of RM 168,000 a month!! (USD 52,000)
In other articles recently, we Malaysians lamented that the minimum wage should be raised to RM 1,500 from the current RM 600-700 range.
So...are our salaries too high or too low????
I work in the Oil & Gas industry and find an amusing yet prevailing Malaysian mindset in our senior management that prevents them from paying capable Malaysians a decent wage.
We seem to be willing to pay consultants, expatriates, foreign contractors, etc. millions of dollars but find it sooooooo difficult when it come to our own local talent.
I have expats working with me, getting paid USD 1,200 per day as project managers. (USD 36,000 a month)
So back to Prof. Dr. Tan.......
How much do we expect to pay a " Malaysian born, world authority in keyhole surgery in children" la???? RM 10,000......RM 20,000.......PLEEEASE LA........
I received similar responses when I came home to work from working abroad for over 10 years. "Wah...we cannot match your USD salary la....." was the standard response.
When are we gonna understand that we have good Malaysian workers who would love to be back working in Malaysia??? Actually....we do..........but they work for Shell or some other multinationals!!!
Another good example was my cousin, who is Malaysian, and was recently made an offer to return to Malaysia (He's currently based in Dubai) and work for the national airline. Salary in RM. (Pretty low)
He insisted that since he has been trained overseas and has been working with international airlines all over the world, he should be paid international standard USD wages.
Their response was the killer............"You give up your Malaysian passport la....get another country passport and then we can pay you the expat salary package!!!!!"
So the bottom line is.......FOR THE SAME JOB IN MALAYSIA, AN EXPAT WILL BE BETTER PAID!!!! .......Sick isn't it???
And this is after 50 years of independence!!!
Prof. Dr. Tan should just get an "Aussie" passport!!! Hell...any "Mat Salleh" passport!!
The Sun carried an interesting article on their front page today. It was about a Malaysian born, world authority in keyhole surgery in children, paediatric surgeon, Prof. Dr. Tan Hock Lim and his "so called" eyebrow raising salary of RM 168,000 a month!! (USD 52,000)
In other articles recently, we Malaysians lamented that the minimum wage should be raised to RM 1,500 from the current RM 600-700 range.
So...are our salaries too high or too low????
I work in the Oil & Gas industry and find an amusing yet prevailing Malaysian mindset in our senior management that prevents them from paying capable Malaysians a decent wage.
We seem to be willing to pay consultants, expatriates, foreign contractors, etc. millions of dollars but find it sooooooo difficult when it come to our own local talent.
I have expats working with me, getting paid USD 1,200 per day as project managers. (USD 36,000 a month)
So back to Prof. Dr. Tan.......
How much do we expect to pay a " Malaysian born, world authority in keyhole surgery in children" la???? RM 10,000......RM 20,000.......PLEEEASE LA........
I received similar responses when I came home to work from working abroad for over 10 years. "Wah...we cannot match your USD salary la....." was the standard response.
When are we gonna understand that we have good Malaysian workers who would love to be back working in Malaysia??? Actually....we do..........but they work for Shell or some other multinationals!!!
Another good example was my cousin, who is Malaysian, and was recently made an offer to return to Malaysia (He's currently based in Dubai) and work for the national airline. Salary in RM. (Pretty low)
He insisted that since he has been trained overseas and has been working with international airlines all over the world, he should be paid international standard USD wages.
Their response was the killer............"You give up your Malaysian passport la....get another country passport and then we can pay you the expat salary package!!!!!"
So the bottom line is.......FOR THE SAME JOB IN MALAYSIA, AN EXPAT WILL BE BETTER PAID!!!! .......Sick isn't it???
And this is after 50 years of independence!!!
Prof. Dr. Tan should just get an "Aussie" passport!!! Hell...any "Mat Salleh" passport!!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
SODOMY
O.k....that's the charge againts our ex-deputy PM Anuar.......AGAIN.
Now I really was not sure what this was about so decided to get some proper info. Below is the actual legal "stuff"....
Statute: Section 377 of the Malaysian Penal Code: Unnatural Offences
Penalty: 20 years/caning and fine
Restrictions: None
Unnatural Offences 377. Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 20 years and shall also be liable to fine or whipping.
Section 377a. Outrages on decency. Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years."
Explanation - Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.
Now my question is......If you were sodomised, and your @#$ hurt, wouldn't you report it ASAP?
I mean, if my boss did something like that when we went on a business trip, etc.......hell......wait a minute......how does it even get there la???
I can imagine if my boss says, "so how tonite???" (Seeing that my boss is a 50 year old Punjabi guy....hmmm...he might!!)
....My reaction....."@#$@ OFF You freak!!!!!" AAARRGHHH!!!!
Right???
So then, what's with this guy?????? He was o.k. with it...........for a while????
Then he woke up one day and felt "Dirty" ????? Then decided to make a police report????
Wouldn't it be better to say, "Hey Anuar.....give me some $$$$$ or I'm gonna tell the press how you made me scream your name last night while you @#$%@# me up the #$#!!!!! I also have the videos.......which I'll put on YouTube.......in 2 parts, of course..."
On the other hand.....what if Anuar says....."Hey....he actually made me scream his name la......"
Does that mean the charges are on the other guy????
Pretty hilarious, isn't it???
Let me know what's your take on it guys!!!!
O.k....that's the charge againts our ex-deputy PM Anuar.......AGAIN.
Now I really was not sure what this was about so decided to get some proper info. Below is the actual legal "stuff"....
Statute: Section 377 of the Malaysian Penal Code: Unnatural Offences
Penalty: 20 years/caning and fine
Restrictions: None
Unnatural Offences 377. Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 20 years and shall also be liable to fine or whipping.
Section 377a. Outrages on decency. Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years."
Explanation - Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.
Now my question is......If you were sodomised, and your @#$ hurt, wouldn't you report it ASAP?
I mean, if my boss did something like that when we went on a business trip, etc.......hell......wait a minute......how does it even get there la???
I can imagine if my boss says, "so how tonite???" (Seeing that my boss is a 50 year old Punjabi guy....hmmm...he might!!)
....My reaction....."@#$@ OFF You freak!!!!!" AAARRGHHH!!!!
Right???
So then, what's with this guy?????? He was o.k. with it...........for a while????
Then he woke up one day and felt "Dirty" ????? Then decided to make a police report????
Wouldn't it be better to say, "Hey Anuar.....give me some $$$$$ or I'm gonna tell the press how you made me scream your name last night while you @#$%@# me up the #$#!!!!! I also have the videos.......which I'll put on YouTube.......in 2 parts, of course..."
On the other hand.....what if Anuar says....."Hey....he actually made me scream his name la......"
Does that mean the charges are on the other guy????
Pretty hilarious, isn't it???
Let me know what's your take on it guys!!!!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Oil companies back in Iraq
The true reason behind the invasion has finally arrived!!!
The big boys are in.
After billions of dollars spent, lives lost, homes destroyed and property in shambles, the "liberation" is complete.
The US have control over the Iraqi oil fields.
What better time to do it too....when the price is USD 140++ a barrel.
The 4 companies above are now signing contracts with the Iraqi goverment which will give them control for years to come.
"Money is the route to all evil" was an old saying but we are now taking it to levels that may even scare the Devil himself!!
Obama is screaming for change, Anuar is screaming for change, Al Gore is screaming for change.
Osama is also screaming for change.
What do we change into? Lets look at that....
Jesus said, " Love everyone the way I love you."....we surely don't!!!
Jesus said, " Thou shall not lie."....Hahahaha...that's a laugh with the amount of lawyers out there.
Mohammed asked all muslims to give a percentage of the income to the poor. To our friendly politicians, this means their "taxable" income.
The Hindus and Buddist don't believe in material wealth......yeah..right!!!
So....back to the hippies 70's question....Is GOD dead??
I'll let you guys ponder on that age old question while you keep one eye on CNN and BBC......
Monday, June 16, 2008
The death of humanity
As I keep one eye on the news and one eye on the things happening around me, I feel a shiver....
We talk of rising fuel cost and how we are "suffering". Yet we have a roof over our head, meals on our tables, electricity and water like "magic" as we hit buttons on the walls.
While trying hard to save the turtles, sharks and other indangered species, it made me think of one species that may really need help too!!
OURS!
What have we, as a society, done for the victims of the Tsunami? Hurricane Katrina? Earthquakes and floods in india and China? Starving kids in the middle east and Africa?
They collected donations from large nations that amounted to what????...a few million dollars???
Yet we spend billions in sports and entertainment. Billions on space exploration and weapons programmes.
It's scary to watch MTV or other stuff that have the richest people in the world "throwing" money on luxury homes and yatchs while half of the world have there homes destroyed by wars and adverse weather.
For me, it has become so easy to switch channels and watch football once the CNN coverage of earthquakes and its victims becomes too sad to view.
If I don't see it, it didn't happen? Is this what I'm doing?? I don't know.
With a family, a house, a car and bills to pay, I still owe more than I own. Is this just what I say to convince myself that I'm a victim too??? So I don't need to help??? Do I reduce a couple of pints? Do I buy a cheaper carpet? car?
Or wait for the richest people of the planet to do something? Bono? I don't know..
If we look deep inside ourselves, I'm sure we all wanna help.
How, ...is the question......
Monday, June 09, 2008
SAY NO TO SHARK FINS!!!!!
I'm sorry I don't have any photos of the white tip or black tip sharks.
Why???
Those fishes are so terrified of humans that the very moment their senses detect a diver/human, they're gone!!
It's these smaller sharks that fall prey to "sick" individuals still killing them for their fins.
This a link for those who have a heart : http://www.savingsharks.com/
Hopefully you'll also find the facts below worth considering:
The above photo shows a whale shark, the largest fish in the sea. A gentle giant that eats plankton and krill. (A small sea organism.)
To see it gracefully moving through the water was a sight I'll treasure for the rest of my life. The photo is from my own collection.
The leopard shark above is another harmless creature that is rarely sighted in Malaysian waters. (Don't even ask about the earlier whale shark.) I took this photo off the Similan Islands in Thailand.
I'm sorry I don't have any photos of the white tip or black tip sharks.
Why???
Those fishes are so terrified of humans that the very moment their senses detect a diver/human, they're gone!!
It's these smaller sharks that fall prey to "sick" individuals still killing them for their fins.
This a link for those who have a heart : http://www.savingsharks.com/
Hopefully you'll also find the facts below worth considering:
- Sharks have been around for more than 400 million years
- There are 375 shark species
- Sharks are intelligent and can be trained
- 100 million sharks are killed each year for their fins
- The largest shark is the Whale shark, averaging 9 metres (30 feet) in length—the size of a large bus
- Whale sharks are not aggressive. They eat zooplankton, small fish and squid
- When a shark loses a tooth, a new one grows in its place
- Mako and Blue sharks are the fastest swimming sharks
- Sharks can take hours or even days to die after being finned
- Sharks are a critical part of marine ecosystems
So please don't support the consumption of this "sick" soup of cruelty.
Monday, June 02, 2008
BIRYANI
This, I feel this has to accompany the last 2 recipes, right?? and if you're wondering how I'm generating these recipes so quickly, I actually have a little folder with "originally" written recipes that I'm now transfering to this blog!! (No cut and paste or downloading from the internet!!! All recipes are my mum's!!!)
This is just the recipe for the rice....without any meat in it. Serve this with the Rendang and Tomato Chutney and you'll see what a Malaysian Biryani experience is about. (German cloudy beer helps too!!!)
So here goes...
INGREDIENTS:
4 large onions sliced thin
4 cloves of garlic
2" ginger
1/2 cup almonds
6 tbsps ghee
1" stick of cinnamon
5 cloves
3 pods cardamom
8 peppercorns
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 cup yoghurt
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsps finely chopped coriander leaves
2 tbsps finely chopped mint leaves
1/4 cup roasted almonds
1/4 cup raisins
Salt to taste
2 cups Basmati rice
Method:
1. Blend almonds, garlic and ginger.
2. Heat the Ghee in a pan and add the whole spices - cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, peppercorns.
3. Fry the spices and 2 onions till your kitchen smells like little India!!
4. Add the ginger-garlic-almond paste and spice powders and fry for another 2-3 minutes. (By now...you'll also smell like an Indian cook!! )
5. Now add the rice (wash the rice first la....) and stir for a minute or two.
6. Kill the fire!! (Yup!! Switch the heat off!! and if you're hot and sweating, now's the best time to grab that German beer!! hehehehe!!)
7. Dump all the stuff from your pan into a rice cooker.
8. Add the yogurt and lime juice and water to cover the rice by about an inch or two. (depending on your rice cooker.)
9. Add salt to taste.
10. Let the whole thing cook as you would with normal rice.
11. As a garnish, add fried onions (Remaining from the initial 4 that you had chopped earlier) , finely chopped coriander and mint leaves, roasted almonds and raisins before serving.
This, I feel this has to accompany the last 2 recipes, right?? and if you're wondering how I'm generating these recipes so quickly, I actually have a little folder with "originally" written recipes that I'm now transfering to this blog!! (No cut and paste or downloading from the internet!!! All recipes are my mum's!!!)
This is just the recipe for the rice....without any meat in it. Serve this with the Rendang and Tomato Chutney and you'll see what a Malaysian Biryani experience is about. (German cloudy beer helps too!!!)
So here goes...
INGREDIENTS:
4 large onions sliced thin
4 cloves of garlic
2" ginger
1/2 cup almonds
6 tbsps ghee
1" stick of cinnamon
5 cloves
3 pods cardamom
8 peppercorns
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 cup yoghurt
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsps finely chopped coriander leaves
2 tbsps finely chopped mint leaves
1/4 cup roasted almonds
1/4 cup raisins
Salt to taste
2 cups Basmati rice
Method:
1. Blend almonds, garlic and ginger.
2. Heat the Ghee in a pan and add the whole spices - cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, peppercorns.
3. Fry the spices and 2 onions till your kitchen smells like little India!!
4. Add the ginger-garlic-almond paste and spice powders and fry for another 2-3 minutes. (By now...you'll also smell like an Indian cook!! )
5. Now add the rice (wash the rice first la....) and stir for a minute or two.
6. Kill the fire!! (Yup!! Switch the heat off!! and if you're hot and sweating, now's the best time to grab that German beer!! hehehehe!!)
7. Dump all the stuff from your pan into a rice cooker.
8. Add the yogurt and lime juice and water to cover the rice by about an inch or two. (depending on your rice cooker.)
9. Add salt to taste.
10. Let the whole thing cook as you would with normal rice.
11. As a garnish, add fried onions (Remaining from the initial 4 that you had chopped earlier) , finely chopped coriander and mint leaves, roasted almonds and raisins before serving.
Tomato chutney
Now this is an original recipe from my mum. It's really nice to serve with Biryani rice and rendang/curry/kurma as a side "dip" kind of thinggi.
Ingredients:
6 large ripe tomatoes
2'' young ginger (shredded into fine strips)
50g raisins
2 teaspoons of chilli powder
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
1 star anis
2 tablespoon of brown sugar
3 tablespoon of butter/ghee
Salt to taste
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Boil the tomatoes (halved) in water for 10 minutes. Then remove the skin. Leave to cool.
2. Using a large frying pan, heat butter/ghee.
3. Once hot, fry the cinnamon stick, cloves, star anis, ginger and raisins.
4. Reduce to low heat and add the chilli powder and stir well. Add a little water (if required) to prevent chilli powder from burning.
4. Reduce to low heat and add the chilli powder and stir well. Add a little water (if required) to prevent chilli powder from burning.
5. This should start smelling great!!
6. Add the tomatoes.
7. Stir this whole mix well.
8. Add the sugar and salt.
9. Still on low heat, keep stirring until mixture thickens to a paste like consistency.
10. Remove and serve once cool.
The amount of sugar and chilli can be varied to create your own taste.
10. Remove and serve once cool.
The amount of sugar and chilli can be varied to create your own taste.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
CORRUPTION INDEX
Since I mentioned press freedom, might as well look at the corruption index too, right?
It's interesting to see how Malaysia stacks up here!! Singapore is way up there but was really low on the press freedom index so I don't really think I'd like adopting their system very much.
What is really nice to see is that the Scandinavian countries seem to be up there on both counts. (And so is Ireland!!) I'll find out more on how they do things and will post that soon.
Until then........make your own judgement on the list below:
The ranking list (Again summarized to the relevant & interesting countries.)
1 Denmark, Finland, New Zealand
4 Singapore - This is where they differ greatly from the Taliban!!!
5 Sweden
6 Iceland
7 Netherlands, Switzerland
11 Australia
12 United Kingdom
14 Hong Kong
17 Ireland - and here is Ireland again!!
18 Japan
20 USA
32 Qatar - the top middle eastern country.
34 Taiwan
34 United Arab Emirates
43 Malaysia - Good to see we're not too bad here.
72 China, India
84 Thailand
94 Sri Lanka
123 Viet Nam
131 Iran, Nepal, Philippines
138 Pakistan
143 Indonesia, Russia
162 Bangladesh
172 Afghanistan
178 Iraq
179 Myanmar
Since I mentioned press freedom, might as well look at the corruption index too, right?
It's interesting to see how Malaysia stacks up here!! Singapore is way up there but was really low on the press freedom index so I don't really think I'd like adopting their system very much.
What is really nice to see is that the Scandinavian countries seem to be up there on both counts. (And so is Ireland!!) I'll find out more on how they do things and will post that soon.
Until then........make your own judgement on the list below:
The ranking list (Again summarized to the relevant & interesting countries.)
1 Denmark, Finland, New Zealand
4 Singapore - This is where they differ greatly from the Taliban!!!
5 Sweden
6 Iceland
7 Netherlands, Switzerland
11 Australia
12 United Kingdom
14 Hong Kong
17 Ireland - and here is Ireland again!!
18 Japan
20 USA
32 Qatar - the top middle eastern country.
34 Taiwan
34 United Arab Emirates
43 Malaysia - Good to see we're not too bad here.
72 China, India
84 Thailand
94 Sri Lanka
123 Viet Nam
131 Iran, Nepal, Philippines
138 Pakistan
143 Indonesia, Russia
162 Bangladesh
172 Afghanistan
178 Iraq
179 Myanmar
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
Lately Malaysian journalist, writers and blogger have been asking the goverment to change laws that have been suppressing freedom of the press and media for ages.
I decided to check how we rank as compared with other countries on the Press Freedom Index 2007. The whole list is pretty extensive so I've just listed the countries that have some relevance...
The ranking list
The top ten
1 Iceland, Norway
3 Estonia, Slovakia
5 Belgium, Finland, Sweden
8 Denmark, Ireland, Portugal
Yup!! Ireland is in the top 10!!
24 United Kingdom
28 Australia
32 Taiwan - Seems to be the highest asian country.
37 Japan
48 United States of America - Hmmm.....They don't rank too high, do they?
61 Hong-Kong
63 Kuwait - The highest middle eastern country.
65 United Arab Emirates
91 Angola
98 Lebanon
Where Malaysia la......coming soon...hopefully...
100 Indonesia - Hey....at least they made the top 100!!
103 Israel (extra-territorial)
120 India - O.k. la...
AHHHH... here we are...
124 Malaysia
Then come reporting with the likes of BORAT....hehehehe..
125 Kazakhstan
128 Philippines
134 Bangladesh
135 Thailand - Our closest neighbour....
What about the other neighbour...singapore???? Hmmm....
137 Nepal - I think the Chinese have something to do with this!!
141 Singapore - Howdy neighbour!!
142 Afghanistan - Good to know that the S'pore media is as controlled as the Taliban!!!
144 Russia
148 Saudi Arabia
152 Pakistan
156 Sri Lanka - I'm sure this is the work of the Tamil Tigers!!
157 Iraq
158 Palestinian Territories
162 Vietnam
163 China
164 Burma
166 Iran
168 North Korea
Please go to www.reach.com.my/memo to endorse the memorandum for free press in Malaysia!!
Hope to hear comments on any of the countries listed. Especially on how Ireland is in the top ten!!
Lately Malaysian journalist, writers and blogger have been asking the goverment to change laws that have been suppressing freedom of the press and media for ages.
I decided to check how we rank as compared with other countries on the Press Freedom Index 2007. The whole list is pretty extensive so I've just listed the countries that have some relevance...
The ranking list
The top ten
1 Iceland, Norway
3 Estonia, Slovakia
5 Belgium, Finland, Sweden
8 Denmark, Ireland, Portugal
Yup!! Ireland is in the top 10!!
24 United Kingdom
28 Australia
32 Taiwan - Seems to be the highest asian country.
37 Japan
48 United States of America - Hmmm.....They don't rank too high, do they?
61 Hong-Kong
63 Kuwait - The highest middle eastern country.
65 United Arab Emirates
91 Angola
98 Lebanon
Where Malaysia la......coming soon...hopefully...
100 Indonesia - Hey....at least they made the top 100!!
103 Israel (extra-territorial)
120 India - O.k. la...
AHHHH... here we are...
124 Malaysia
Then come reporting with the likes of BORAT....hehehehe..
125 Kazakhstan
128 Philippines
134 Bangladesh
135 Thailand - Our closest neighbour....
What about the other neighbour...singapore???? Hmmm....
137 Nepal - I think the Chinese have something to do with this!!
141 Singapore - Howdy neighbour!!
142 Afghanistan - Good to know that the S'pore media is as controlled as the Taliban!!!
144 Russia
148 Saudi Arabia
152 Pakistan
156 Sri Lanka - I'm sure this is the work of the Tamil Tigers!!
157 Iraq
158 Palestinian Territories
162 Vietnam
163 China
164 Burma
166 Iran
168 North Korea
Please go to www.reach.com.my/memo to endorse the memorandum for free press in Malaysia!!
Hope to hear comments on any of the countries listed. Especially on how Ireland is in the top ten!!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Chicken Rendang Recipe
Since I did mention that I'm into cooking, well....this is my rendang recipe that was even tested in Ireland!!!
Ingredients:
1 Chicken
3 large red onions
5 cloves of garlic
1-2'' young ginger
4 sticks of lemon grass
handful of dried chillies (WARNING!!! Hehehe!!)
1 cinnamon stick
5-6 cloves
1-2 star anis
1 coconut (milk)
1 cup of grated coconut
1/2 cup of Soya oil
Method:
1. Soak the dried chillies in some warm water for 10 minutes. Then blend it.
2. Blend the onions, ginger, garlic and lemon grass and add to the chillies.
3. Fry the grated coconut (without oil) under a low flame until golden brown. Keep this aside.
4. Now.....we start putting it all together.
5. Fry the cinnamon stick, cloves and star anis in about 1/2 cup of soya oil. (It may look a bit too much but you can remove it at the end if it 's too much but if it's to little, your dish is @#$%ed and won't taste good)
6. Add the blended stuff. (Chillies, Onions, etc)
7. Fry until your whole kitchen smell like a food stall. (Kind of an indicator)
8. Throw in the chicken and stir well.
9. Pour in the coconut milk and add water (If required) to fully cover chicken. Add salt to taste.
10. Mix well, and let it cook under medium heat. (May take bout an hour to reduce)
11. When the whole dish starts to thicken, you have to keep stirring. (Otherwise the chicken would tend to stick to the pot. But do this carefully to avoid breaking the chicken up to small pieces)
12. When it looks almost dry, bring it down to low heat and add the grated coconut. Stir for about a minute.
13. TADA!! You have chicken rendang.
14. Serve when it cools down a little with a ice cold beer. (Taste better!! hahaha!!!)
Hope my make-shift recipe works!! Good luck!!
Monday, May 26, 2008
The cruelty of sucking gallbladder juice (bile) from live bears in China
My trip to Vietnam last week was tainted by dinner at a Vietnamese "Forest" restaurant which served the above item.
I can't even stomach to write about this so I'll let the article below elaborate why it needs to stop!!
World Journal, Wednesday, April 15, 1998(By Youn Show Lee; translated by Vicky Ho Lynn from the Chinese)
"The cruelty of sucking gallbladder juice from live bears in China"A few months ago while on a business trip, I had a chance to visit Angel Bridge at the foot of Long Day Mountain in China. At that time, we also went to explore a large bear farm which is surrounded by forest and beautiful scenery --- it is truly an isolated paradise. All of sudden I saw about fifteen large cages with bears in them. The farm owner told me this is a gallbladder farm, the purpose of which is to continuously extract fluid from the bears' gallbladders. Because of the high demand, it is an extremely profitable business.
When we arrived at the farm, the bears and the caretaker seemed to be getting along very well, all was calm.
Suddenly four huge men showed up and the bears suddenly started screaming fearfully and rocking their cages hard as if they saw a ghost. The caretaker told me every morning at eight o'clock liquid is drawn from their gallbladders. Around seven-forty-five, the bears become agitated and have no appetite to eat and they start screaming and crying desperately for help.In white uniforms, and without any emotion on their faces, the four men went into one of the cages. They quickly used a steel wire to snatch the bear by the neck, at which point the bear's eyes bulged out and it started gnashing its teeth and crying. They are so scared to death and this trauma causes them to defecate at the same time.In the bear's stomach, there is a hole with a steel tube inserted directly into the gallbladder. Outside the area there is a plastic tube connected to the steel tube for drawing the liquid. The area is covered tightly with surgical tape. When the time comes, the tape and cover are removed and a syringe is used to withdraw the green liquid from the gallbladder. Three big men went in and pressed bear's 4 legs with force and inserted a syringe into plastic tube. When the dark green gallbladder juice was sucked from bear's body, the poor bear opened her mouth so big, her two eyes were bulging and her entire body was trembling so hard throughout the whole procedure.This kind of severe torturing went on for about two hours until all the bears had been subjected to the same torture. The crying and screaming was so hard and loud and echoed the entire mountain and valley. It frightened me so much, my heart ached and my head started spinning.After this unthinkable torture, the bears used their paws to hold their stomachs. They curled up and shivered and I could see tears in their bright little eyes...
Around 10:30, someone cried out that there had been an accident in cage number 5. We followed the owner to rush into the bear farm and were shocked at what we saw. A brown bear had managed to pull out his own intestines and was holding them up in the air, roaring and screaming, as if he were madly "protesting" the cruelty and insanity of the humans. There was blood all over the cage. It was so difficult to watch such a suicidal scene. Never in my life had I been in such shock or so devastated. At that time, someone rang the security alarm, immediately people rushed into the bear farm and waving the sharp ax and big steel hook. The owner shouted :"Hurry to 'rescue' the bear paws!" The man in the cage was reluctant to continue to go forward. But the owner stamped his feet and kept yelling: "You have to cut them off while the bear is alive. That is the only way they are saleable!" Right after that, I saw the sharp ax swung and the number 5 bear's paws were immediately chopped off with blood gushing out.....Perhaps the killing smell filled in the cage number 5. The other bears then suddenly started to cry and scream sadly and desperately again and had the tendency to be violent. It shook the whole island. The farm owner had a butcher background.
When the bears appeared ready to act violently and workers were panicking and running away, the owner stopped them and ordered them to put "steel jackets" on five of the most aggressive bears and give them a shot of morphine. As soon as the bears saw the "steel jackets", they immediately became quiet. It seemed the bears all got the painful lessons from the "steel jackets", otherwise they would not calm down so quickly.
This whole unbelievable incident affected me so deeply that their sad and innocent faces haunted me day and night and will continue to haunt me until the day I die. I felt a strong need to expose this incident to the world.
Please widely distribute this true story and hope that everyone who reads this will do something to stop this kind of insanity from Chinese bear farms and to help these desperate poor creatures. Definitely, the Chinese Animals protection law needs to be improved, urgently.
Reference: Vicky Ho Lynn, founder of "Asians for Humans, Animals & Nature(AHAN)".
email address: AHAN@worldnet.att.netTel: 415-379-9937 , Fax: 415-379-9938Address: 3739 Balboa Street, Suite 228San Francisco, CA 94121 U.S.A.
My trip to Vietnam last week was tainted by dinner at a Vietnamese "Forest" restaurant which served the above item.
I can't even stomach to write about this so I'll let the article below elaborate why it needs to stop!!
World Journal, Wednesday, April 15, 1998(By Youn Show Lee; translated by Vicky Ho Lynn from the Chinese)
"The cruelty of sucking gallbladder juice from live bears in China"A few months ago while on a business trip, I had a chance to visit Angel Bridge at the foot of Long Day Mountain in China. At that time, we also went to explore a large bear farm which is surrounded by forest and beautiful scenery --- it is truly an isolated paradise. All of sudden I saw about fifteen large cages with bears in them. The farm owner told me this is a gallbladder farm, the purpose of which is to continuously extract fluid from the bears' gallbladders. Because of the high demand, it is an extremely profitable business.
When we arrived at the farm, the bears and the caretaker seemed to be getting along very well, all was calm.
Suddenly four huge men showed up and the bears suddenly started screaming fearfully and rocking their cages hard as if they saw a ghost. The caretaker told me every morning at eight o'clock liquid is drawn from their gallbladders. Around seven-forty-five, the bears become agitated and have no appetite to eat and they start screaming and crying desperately for help.In white uniforms, and without any emotion on their faces, the four men went into one of the cages. They quickly used a steel wire to snatch the bear by the neck, at which point the bear's eyes bulged out and it started gnashing its teeth and crying. They are so scared to death and this trauma causes them to defecate at the same time.In the bear's stomach, there is a hole with a steel tube inserted directly into the gallbladder. Outside the area there is a plastic tube connected to the steel tube for drawing the liquid. The area is covered tightly with surgical tape. When the time comes, the tape and cover are removed and a syringe is used to withdraw the green liquid from the gallbladder. Three big men went in and pressed bear's 4 legs with force and inserted a syringe into plastic tube. When the dark green gallbladder juice was sucked from bear's body, the poor bear opened her mouth so big, her two eyes were bulging and her entire body was trembling so hard throughout the whole procedure.This kind of severe torturing went on for about two hours until all the bears had been subjected to the same torture. The crying and screaming was so hard and loud and echoed the entire mountain and valley. It frightened me so much, my heart ached and my head started spinning.After this unthinkable torture, the bears used their paws to hold their stomachs. They curled up and shivered and I could see tears in their bright little eyes...
Around 10:30, someone cried out that there had been an accident in cage number 5. We followed the owner to rush into the bear farm and were shocked at what we saw. A brown bear had managed to pull out his own intestines and was holding them up in the air, roaring and screaming, as if he were madly "protesting" the cruelty and insanity of the humans. There was blood all over the cage. It was so difficult to watch such a suicidal scene. Never in my life had I been in such shock or so devastated. At that time, someone rang the security alarm, immediately people rushed into the bear farm and waving the sharp ax and big steel hook. The owner shouted :"Hurry to 'rescue' the bear paws!" The man in the cage was reluctant to continue to go forward. But the owner stamped his feet and kept yelling: "You have to cut them off while the bear is alive. That is the only way they are saleable!" Right after that, I saw the sharp ax swung and the number 5 bear's paws were immediately chopped off with blood gushing out.....Perhaps the killing smell filled in the cage number 5. The other bears then suddenly started to cry and scream sadly and desperately again and had the tendency to be violent. It shook the whole island. The farm owner had a butcher background.
When the bears appeared ready to act violently and workers were panicking and running away, the owner stopped them and ordered them to put "steel jackets" on five of the most aggressive bears and give them a shot of morphine. As soon as the bears saw the "steel jackets", they immediately became quiet. It seemed the bears all got the painful lessons from the "steel jackets", otherwise they would not calm down so quickly.
This whole unbelievable incident affected me so deeply that their sad and innocent faces haunted me day and night and will continue to haunt me until the day I die. I felt a strong need to expose this incident to the world.
Please widely distribute this true story and hope that everyone who reads this will do something to stop this kind of insanity from Chinese bear farms and to help these desperate poor creatures. Definitely, the Chinese Animals protection law needs to be improved, urgently.
Reference: Vicky Ho Lynn, founder of "Asians for Humans, Animals & Nature(AHAN)".
email address: AHAN@worldnet.att.netTel: 415-379-9937 , Fax: 415-379-9938Address: 3739 Balboa Street, Suite 228San Francisco, CA 94121 U.S.A.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
SPEEDING TICKET
This happened to me a couple of weeks ago and I'm sure has happened to many of you too.
I was driving along the road/highway leading to Desa sri Hartamas and was stopped by a huge 6 team police road block and pulled over.
"FOR WHAT???", I screamed at the cops.
"Speeding, Sir. You were doing 94km/hr in an 80 zone.", was the response from the good officer.
Firstly, why they had an 80km/hr speed limit on a 4 lane, almost accident free, section of the highway was a mystery. (But that's something else la...)
Now, the officer steps up to me, repeats a "question" twice, "I will have to issue a summon for this, what do we do now?"
What was running through my head was...... the sicko bus & lorry drivers paying these guys off, unjust detention of friends like Premo, better things for 6 cops to do.....what the opposition are fighting for.....corruption free goverment.........AAARRGGHHH..... I snapped!!!
Yup!! I screamed at the officer!! "Why the hell you asking me what to do???? You 're the one that said I was speeding .......if you have to fine me...then do it la!!!!"
Well, I went away with a RM 300 fine when a 50 bribe would have done the trick.
BUT THIS TIME I COULD NOT DO IT COS IT MADE ME SICK!!!
I really felt the, "If the giving stops, the asking will." kind of thing!!!
Now I really want to report the whole thing and stop this nonsensical road-blocks at "pocket money" spots the cops set up.
Would also like to reduce that summon though.....hehehe!!
This happened to me a couple of weeks ago and I'm sure has happened to many of you too.
I was driving along the road/highway leading to Desa sri Hartamas and was stopped by a huge 6 team police road block and pulled over.
"FOR WHAT???", I screamed at the cops.
"Speeding, Sir. You were doing 94km/hr in an 80 zone.", was the response from the good officer.
Firstly, why they had an 80km/hr speed limit on a 4 lane, almost accident free, section of the highway was a mystery. (But that's something else la...)
Now, the officer steps up to me, repeats a "question" twice, "I will have to issue a summon for this, what do we do now?"
What was running through my head was...... the sicko bus & lorry drivers paying these guys off, unjust detention of friends like Premo, better things for 6 cops to do.....what the opposition are fighting for.....corruption free goverment.........AAARRGGHHH..... I snapped!!!
Yup!! I screamed at the officer!! "Why the hell you asking me what to do???? You 're the one that said I was speeding .......if you have to fine me...then do it la!!!!"
Well, I went away with a RM 300 fine when a 50 bribe would have done the trick.
BUT THIS TIME I COULD NOT DO IT COS IT MADE ME SICK!!!
I really felt the, "If the giving stops, the asking will." kind of thing!!!
Now I really want to report the whole thing and stop this nonsensical road-blocks at "pocket money" spots the cops set up.
Would also like to reduce that summon though.....hehehe!!
Monday, May 19, 2008
DUBAI, UAE
Well, it was a hot week in Dubai and even hotter onboard the vessel I had to inspect in the Dry-dock. But I'll have to say, Dubai is impressive.
The architecture is breathtaking to say the least. Magnificient hotels, towers and malls. (As you can see from the Burj Al arab and the Burj Dubai above.)
But who actually does all the work in dubai?? Who operates all these amazing spots and maintains them??
It's these guys.....
A couple of million of these indian workers.
These guys in Dubai will forever remain foreign workers (no matter how many generations live there) as the UAE does not grant any PR or citizenship.
Their passports are held by their employers and they live in cramped hostels located away from the city limits.
They toil in the heat and sand to keep Dubai looking amazing for the tourist and the 40,000 arab residents. (YES, that's right! only 40,000 locals in Dubai.)
It made me think of how my grandad and the likes must have worked in Malaysia a long time ago.
So how did a very different scene play out in Malaysia? My grandad was made a Malaysian and that made me one too.
After independence in 1957, the Malaysian goverment could have easily replicated the UAE system here too, right?
I'm afraid to think where and who I'll be today if that happened.
It just a thought when I see the way we seem to constantly complain about our "dire" situation here in Malaysia.
Fighting for indian rights and all sorts of other stuff when so many people all over the world are fighting for only one thing......survival.
The grass is always greener on the other side but do look at the hot dry grass on some other sides too!!!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
TURTLE EGG EATERS!!!! AAARRRGGGGHHH!!!
Yup!! Those are turtle eggs on sale in Terengganu!!
The MUW (Malaysian Underwater) forum has provided a brilliant platform for discussions and putting words into action.
Yup!! Those are turtle eggs on sale in Terengganu!!
When are we ever gonna learn???? Elephant tusk....Tiger claw....Tiger penis.....Rhino horn.....Bear paw.....
I still recall the logo for PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Assosiation) was a leatherback turtle. remember him??? With the dark glasses??Seen any leatherback turtles recently?????? Does "Rantau Abang" ring a bell??? What is sooooo dificult to leave some things just the #%$ alone!!!!!
There seem to be numerous Turtle conservation programmes running all over the country managed by Universities, resorts, NGOs, Foreign companies, etc yet we still see the common sight as the picture above openly in Terengganu!!AAAARRGGGHHH!!!!
How and why?? hmmmm......let take a look....Well, the guys employed by the Fisheries Dept. get paid RM 300+ a month. How the hell are you to survive on that????
1 turtle nest can yield 200+ eggs. RM 3 per egg......that's RM 600+ a nest.
Now.....couple of nests per day..........you do the math....
TO POACH OR NOT TO POACH??? THAT IS THE QUESTION.....
If I was making RM 300 per month with a wife and 3 kids, @#$% the turtles, dude!!!!!! My family needs food!!!!
So now....who are we against? Poachers? Sellers? Consumers? or....Is it the guys who make the policies???? Pay the wages??? Issue the licences????
Opps!!! is this becoming a political post???? Well I would say that the goverment seems to have a rather large role here, right?
We all know how slow those guys work so I guess it up to us "rakyat" again. (If we could save the indians.......we can save anyone!!! hahahahahaha!!!)
But seriously.....
I'm working with the diving community to increase the awareness as well as with W-O-X (the company that Mary work's for) to try and find solutions.The MUW (Malaysian Underwater) forum has provided a brilliant platform for discussions and putting words into action.
We can't wait until Turtles have become as rare as Tigers before we do something.
Really would like my kids to see this for real and not just from my photos!!!!
Anyone willing to help, let me know!!!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Interesting Accent
I thought this was hilarious so decided to share it!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!
The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service, at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review...
Room Service (RS): 'Morny. Ruin sorbees.
Guest (G):'Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service.
RS : 'Rye.. Ruin sorbees.. morny! Djewish to odor sunteen??
G : 'Uh.. yes.. I'd like some bacon and eggs
RS : 'Ow July den?
G : 'What??
RS : 'Ow July den?... pry, boy, pooch?
G : 'Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please.
RS : 'Ow July dee bayhcem... crease?
G : 'Crisp will be fine.
RS : 'Hokay. An San tos?
G : 'What?
RS : 'San tos. July San tos?
G : 'I don't think so
RS : 'No? Judo one toes??
G : 'I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo one toes'means.
RS : 'Toes! toes!... why djew Don Juan toes? Ow bow inglish mopping we bother?
G : 'English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine.
R : 'We bother?
G : 'No... just put the bother on the side.
RS : 'Wad?
G : 'I mean butter... just put it on the side.
RS : 'Copy?
G : 'Sorry?
RS : 'Copy... tea... mill?
G : 'Yes. Coffee please, and that's all.
RS : 'One Minnie. Ass ruin torino fee, strangle ache, crease baychem, tossy singlish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy.... rye??
G : 'Whatever you say
RS : 'Tendjewberrymud
G : 'Oh, God. Now, what?
RS : 'Tendjewberrymud
G : 'OH, you're welcome'
I thought this was hilarious so decided to share it!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!
The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service, at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review...
Room Service (RS): 'Morny. Ruin sorbees.
Guest (G):'Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service.
RS : 'Rye.. Ruin sorbees.. morny! Djewish to odor sunteen??
G : 'Uh.. yes.. I'd like some bacon and eggs
RS : 'Ow July den?
G : 'What??
RS : 'Ow July den?... pry, boy, pooch?
G : 'Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please.
RS : 'Ow July dee bayhcem... crease?
G : 'Crisp will be fine.
RS : 'Hokay. An San tos?
G : 'What?
RS : 'San tos. July San tos?
G : 'I don't think so
RS : 'No? Judo one toes??
G : 'I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo one toes'means.
RS : 'Toes! toes!... why djew Don Juan toes? Ow bow inglish mopping we bother?
G : 'English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine.
R : 'We bother?
G : 'No... just put the bother on the side.
RS : 'Wad?
G : 'I mean butter... just put it on the side.
RS : 'Copy?
G : 'Sorry?
RS : 'Copy... tea... mill?
G : 'Yes. Coffee please, and that's all.
RS : 'One Minnie. Ass ruin torino fee, strangle ache, crease baychem, tossy singlish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy.... rye??
G : 'Whatever you say
RS : 'Tendjewberrymud
G : 'Oh, God. Now, what?
RS : 'Tendjewberrymud
G : 'OH, you're welcome'
Monday, May 05, 2008
Sunday, May 04, 2008
SOUTHAMPTON SURVIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY!!!!
Ahhhh.......this team can seriously cause heart problems!!! for those unaware of our championship relegation situation....Here's how it played out yesterday....
We were playing Sheffield United at home at the St. Mary's and we had to win....even a draw and we were heading out.
The visitors took the lead at 23 mins.....Haiyo...0-1.
Saints equalized at 42 mins. Halftime 1-1.
Saints were looking good on 53mins. 2-1.
Back at the bottom 3 of the league on 66 mins. 2-2. AARRRRGGGHHH!!!!
Saints comeback!!! 3-2 at 68 mins and they hold to win!!! YEAHHHH!!!!!
All this was going on my computer at home being updated every 5 minutes...Yup!! That's how a fan of the Saints has to do it.....no live ESPN or Star Sport!!! (Just like the old days of listening to the radio for a game!!)
Ahhhh.......this team can seriously cause heart problems!!! for those unaware of our championship relegation situation....Here's how it played out yesterday....
We were playing Sheffield United at home at the St. Mary's and we had to win....even a draw and we were heading out.
The visitors took the lead at 23 mins.....Haiyo...0-1.
Saints equalized at 42 mins. Halftime 1-1.
Saints were looking good on 53mins. 2-1.
Back at the bottom 3 of the league on 66 mins. 2-2. AARRRRGGGHHH!!!!
Saints comeback!!! 3-2 at 68 mins and they hold to win!!! YEAHHHH!!!!!
All this was going on my computer at home being updated every 5 minutes...Yup!! That's how a fan of the Saints has to do it.....no live ESPN or Star Sport!!! (Just like the old days of listening to the radio for a game!!)
I slept well last night and so too did baby Maya!!! (A saints fan in the making, I guess!!! hehehe!!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
