on Everything, on nothing

Starting the new year with doctors visits

2012-01-03T23:20:00.000+08:00

Urgh. What a way to ring in the new year.

This is just a quick update. Last week of December I go for my medical checkup that's required as part of contract renewal. About a week later I get a call from HR saying the blood test came back with some abnormality (elevated liver enzymes), and I have to go in for a follow-up with the radiologist. Just hearing that word kinda freaked me out. First working day of the new year I go back for the liver ultrasound. Good news, and bad news.

Good news - liver seems fine, except - bad news - lesions have been detected. Four of them, with one being particularly large at roughly 7cm. I meet a surgeon, who checks me out, tells me not to worry, then orders a CT scan - just to be sure. So off I go to get a CT scan, and I'll meet the doctor again this Saturday.

Hmm. Hepatatic hemangioma. Most likely benign, the doctor tells me. And, it's quite common.

Ok, I'm off to bed. Tired, and I feel bloated after all the water I've been drinking to flush the radioactive isotopes out.

Changing shampoos

2011-05-15T16:21:00.000+08:00

I recently bought a new bottle of shampoo. I’ve been using Himalaya shampoo for several years now. It’s an organic-based product, with many different plant extracts as the main ingredients. I’m not one to experiment too much with personal care products; if I’ve been using something for a long time and it hasn’t been giving me problems, I’ll stick with it. So I was just a little bit confused when Himalaya came out with a new bottle design. I wasn’t sure it was the same product, since previously my shampoo branded itself as a “protein shampoo with conditioner, normal hair”. The new bottle said “protein shampoo, gentle daily care, normal hair”. The shop attendant said it was just a new package design, so I went with it.

Just the other morning, I opened the new bottle as my old bottle had emptied. When I poured out the shampoo, a new colour greeted me: it was brown-black. So I took a closer look at the bottles, and discovered the difference.

The old shampoo listed sandalwood (santalum album) and shikakai (acacia concinna) as the main ingredients, with others being indian paper birch (betula utilis), ushira (vetiveria zizanioides), banyan tree (ficus bengalensis), musk root (nardostachys jatamansi), fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graeceum), soapnut (sapindus mukorossi), common wheat (triticum sativum), and lemon (citrus limon). The bottle tells me that:

Fenugreek is rich in Natural Proteins that nourish the hair roots and prevent hair loss. Musk Root promotes hair growth. Shikakai detangles and softens the hair.

The new shampoo lists licorice (glycyrrhiza glabra) and amla (phyllanthus emblica) as the main ingredients, with others being chebulic myrobalan (terminalia chebula), eclipta (eclipta prostrata), chickpea (cicer arietinum), belleric myrobalan (terminalia bellirica), and henna (lawsonia inermis). This time, the bottle tells me:

Chickpea: Rich source of natural protein.
Amla & Black Myrobalan: Natural hair tonics that strengthen hair roots.
Licorice: Helps promote hair growth.

In other words, nothing to worry about; it’s all just still clever marketing. Organic-based, no animal testing shampoo! (It’s just something to wash your hair with.)

PriceWatch: Himalaya Shampoo

2011-05-15T16:16:00.000+08:00

Item: Shampoo, 400ml, Protein Shampoo for Normal Hair
Brand: Himalaya
Price: MYR 22.90
Date of Purchase/Survey: 01/05/2011
Place of Sale: MidValley MegaMall, KL

Organic-based product, not tested on animals.

PriceWatch: Petrol in Malaysia

2011-02-27T21:55:00.000+08:00

Item: RON95 petrol
Brand: any
Price: MYR 1.90 / liter
Date of Purchase/Survey: 27/02/2011
Place of Sale: any petrol station in Malaysia

Despite the fluctuations in world oil prices brought on by the recent events in the Middle East, the Malaysian Government is maintaining the subsidized price of RON95 petrol in the country at RM1.90 per liter. For now.

PriceWatch: Parking, KL

2011-01-29T16:28:00.000+08:00

Item: Parking
Price: MYR 9.00 / entry
Date of Purchase/Survey: 29/01/2011
Place of Sale: Menara TA One, Jalan P Ramlee, KL

Parking in the centre of KL sure is expensive. Right next to the office it’s RM9.00 per entry, even on weekends. There was a time when it was less during the weekends. RM7.00 per entry I thought. Maybe that was on a Sunday though. So if I’m only going to be in the office for a 3-4 hours or less, it might be worthwhile to park at Suria KLCC instead.

P.S. Yes, the PriceWatch format may not fit so well for a service such as parking, but you can make sense of it.

It’s a New Year? Ok

2010-12-31T19:52:00.000+08:00

I’m not greeting the New Year with any resolutions. No clichés about losing weight or doing volunteer work or anything like that. I’d rather not set myself up for disappointment. Yes, you should set goals for yourself. Yes, you must have some method to measure your success. Yes, you should give yourself a deadline so that the goal is achievable. Hmm. I seem to have made the case for resolutions. Nevertheless, I say no! Instead, I shall remember all the good things from 2010, try to keep learning from all the bad, and keep reminding myself: yes, I too deserve happiness.

So it’s a new year, huh? Ok then. Let’s get working on achieving happiness, however you define it.

Happy New Year, everyone! I wish happiness for you, wherever you are.

I should be somewhere else

2010-11-29T22:32:00.000+08:00

Maybe “should” is too strong a word. Ok then, I “want” to be somewhere else. But life doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to. Usually something gets in the way. A “commitment” of some kind, whether time, or money, or attention, or some combination. We all have them. Our jobs; doctor’s appointments; class schedules; mortgage payments; project meetings; and the list goes on.

So I’m sitting here wishing all these commitments could take a break, when it hits me. I get it. I know why parents always want to “spoil” their children. Forget making them happy and seeing their smiles. Forget giving them a better future or more fulfilling life. It’s about living vicariously.

When else are you unburdened by commitments that hamper your free spirit? Only as a child do you have the freedom to go through your days without a worry in the world. Before there are timesheets, before there are examinations, before there are roll calls, before there are campuses to cross, before there are teachers, before there are homework assignments, before all that - there is exploration of your world. There is you - and there is the world. There are paintbrushes and colouring books, fields to jump in and slides to go down, butterflies to chase and gardens to water, toys to play with and the boxes that substitute - all there for exploration without concern for anything but that it’s there.

So if you want to eat something specific - fries, or ice-cream, or sliced apples - it’s there. If you want to go to a mall - someone will take you. If you want to go to a park - someone will take you.

And that’s what parents should do. Take care of the commitments. It’s what you do as an adult. Protect your child from the disappointments of life. They’ll come in soon enough, those disappointments. Can’t stop that; no way to avoid it. And when those commitments get you down, live vicariously.

Take care of the commitments so someone else gets what they want and gets to live life.

Where were you... when Aung San Suu Kyi was freed?

2010-11-18T21:41:00.002+08:00

This post is part-diary, part-momentous-occasion-noting. It’s like that Zen question: “if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?” (Ok, I checked; it’s not a Zen question, just a philosophical riddle. Same diff.)

In today’s electronic world, if you don’t blog it, or tweet it, or FB it, did you have any reaction? Were you even aware of it, whatever “it” is? Certainly there are benefits to this. At least, years from now, if I can’t recall the story, I can look it up. This is what I was doing when “it” happened.

So where was I when Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest?

It was Saturday evening and I was home after having sent A’isyah back. She had her certificate presentation day in the morning where she had performed with all her schoolmates, and we had spent most of the afternoon making Play-Doh ice cream. So I was sitting and drinking some warm water with honey for my sore throat when my koi messages me a CNN headline:

Aung San Suu Kyi release after 15 years of house arrest

She was asking me to remind her who that was. :-)

The leader of the democracy movement in Burma/Myanmar being released after decades of persecution by the ruling military junta is certainly a momentous occasion. After all, Aung San Suu Kyi was the symbol of the human rights abuses of the Myanmar leadership. That, of course, was always a thorn in ASEAN's side vis-a-vis international relations. What a different world it would have been if her party’s victory in the 1990 general election had been recognized instead of nullified by the military.

Of course, just because she’s been freed now doesn’t guarantee a different future for the people of Myanmar. After all, they just had (a sham of) an election days before her release. So the military government probably feels they have a mandate to lead. And they could just very well place Aung San Suu Kyi on house arrest again in a few months. It’s not like they haven’t done it before.

Still, let’s be optimistic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2010-11-18T21:27:00.000+08:00

So yesterday was a public holiday (selamat Aidiladha to those I didn’t already greet) and a day off for me. The night before I had thought about catching HP7, the latest installment in the Harry Potter series. Yesterday was the premiere for Malaysia, so there were bound to be lots of screens showing it. It being a public holiday made it more likely that seats would be difficult to find, as opposed to a normal premier mid-week. When I checked online through GSC's e-ticketing service, I managed to find single seats easily enough. So I was off to the movies!

Of course, this made some people just a tad jealous. I’m not exactly the biggest Harry Potter fan. Yes, I’ve read the books. Yes, I’ve watched the movies. Yes, I’m quite familiar with the lore. But no, I don’t remember all the little details. I don’t go crazy about the latest news in HP fandom. So here I was, hardly a hardcore fan, going alone to watch the new Harry Potter movie on opening day. :-)

And it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie. To channel Ron: “Brilliant!” ;-) The mood was perfectly captured, with mounting dread weighing on the scenery and the costumes and the characters’ bearings. I thought it was a story well-told, with good pacing and nothing seeming out of place. It’s been ages since I read the book, so I can’t comment on how accurately it portrayed scenes from the book (other than to note some obvious parts that were different of course). But the script and the director really captured the essence of the story.

One thing to really appreciate are the special effects, which are there to help in the story-telling, and not as something tacked on for wow-factor. That’s what separates the great movies from the B-movies.

Even if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, if you know of him, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie. It’s that good. And then, of course, you’ll wait a year for Part 2 to be released; just like the rest of us.

Five years later ...

2010-10-20T22:37:00.000+08:00

It’s been five years since I decided to (finally) start a blog. My original inspiration was A’isyah, and today she turned five. It seems a lifetime away, and in many respects, it was. I have nothing against how my life has changed from then. But no matter what, A’isyah plays a big part in my life.

When I started blogging, I never intended to exhaustively chronicle my life, or my parenting, or A’isyah’s growing up. As a matter of fact, looking back at my blog - which really won’t take that much time - I’ve touched on a wide range of topics. There have been times when I blogged frequently, and even liveblogged while watching TV.

In all, I’ve delivered a little bit of everything, and nothing, just as I promised. :-) Here’s looking forward to the next five years! And other things to celebrate!

The shadow of the father

2010-09-26T21:43:00.000+08:00

My sis sent me an sms earlier: "Dad’s on Wikipedia!" (Bored much? Hehe. Can I get my laptop back?) Soon after, there’s a short clip on TV about today in history. 10 years ago today, TiungSAT-1, Malaysia’s first microsatellite, was launched from Kazakhstan. And my dad’s picture flashed on screen. The timing of the sms and the "today in history" clip is coincidental; the Wikipedia entry is not a personal page, but just a list.

Still, it gives me pause. Nothing too mindblowing. I’ve thought about this before. It may not be a very big shadow, but there’s still a shadow cast by my father. Nothing I need to really crawl out of though. We don’t have that much in common, and I don’t operate in the same circle.

I wonder what others think though.

Holiday season’s over

2010-09-19T14:40:00.001+08:00

The three week holiday season is coming to a close. First we celebrated Hari Merdeka on 31 August (although I came into the office to work on my tender exercise). Then we celebrated Hari Raya Aidilfitri on 10 and 13 September (good break). And finally we celebrated Hari Malaysia on 16 September (our first Malaysia Day celebration, although I spent it starting to get sick). This is the last weekend of the two week school holidays also, so A’isyah will be going back to school tomorrow. KL will come alive again, and the traffic will start snarling.

Minority racism in Malaysia

2010-08-29T18:03:00.001+08:00

From the Letters page of The New Straits Times, 26 August 2010:

Shocked at biased attitude

We are from Sabah and most of us, even though we are born Muslim, do not consider ourselves Malay, especially when we have Kadazandusun parents or grandparents whose forefathers were Chinese or some other race.

1Malaysia is nothing new to us as we have been living it here in Sabah since Malaysia was formed in 1963. My daughter has lived in Australia and the United States for the last five to six years. After she graduated and worked a year in Australia, she wanted to come home.

Being in the film industry, she would have more opportunities to work in Kuala Lumpur. She is now trying hard to adjust to life in the capital.

When I spoke to her on Aug 21, she told me she was meeting a real estate agent who would show her an apartment in Ampang.

Imagine how she felt when the real estate agent asked if she was Malay or Indian. When she asked why that was relevant, the real estate agent told her “because the owner doesn’t want to rent to Malays or Indians”.

As she doesn’t consider herself Malay, the real estate agent agreed to meet her.

Having only been in Kuala Lumpur for slightly more than a month, it wasn’t easy for her to find her way to where they were supposed to meet. This agent, who called himself Kenneth, became angry when she couldn’t find her way and made a racist remark.

When I called Kenneth, he was rude and hung up on me. When I called his company, I was told Kenneth had been fired earlier. But the man who answered was very rude too; he, too, hung up on me.

I am utterly shocked at the standard and the attitude of these real estate agents. How on earth is my daughter going to find a place with such people around?

F. Arif
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Make what you will of it. I’m just copying from the papers.

PriceWatch: Lipton Green Tea

2010-08-14T13:56:00.002+08:00

Item: (Lemon) Green Tea, 500ml

Brand: Lipton

Price: MYR 2.40

Date of Purchase/Survey: 26/07/2010

Place of Sale: Foodcourt, Lvl 8, Menara TA One

Assuming that there aren’t any other pricing variations between a tuck shop found in a commercial building, and a bakery found in a shopping mall, there’s a 30 sen premium for the Pokka bottled lemon tea. Basically, you’re paying 12.5% more for Pokka compared to Lipton. Hmm. Makes you think. And A’isyah prefers the Pokka. Hehe.

PriceWatch: Pokka Lemon Tea

2010-08-14T13:53:00.002+08:00

Item: Lemon Tea, 500ml

Brand: Pokka

Price: MYR 2.70

Date of Purchase/Survey: 24/07/2010

Place of Sale: BreadTalk, MidValley Megamall

World Cup history tonight

2010-07-11T22:58:00.000+08:00

Doesn’t matter who lifts the trophy after tonight’s Holland v Spain match. It’ll be a historic result, since neither team have ever won the World Cup. It’s been a thrilling ride so far, with a fair share of surprises and upsets. My dream final of Brazil v Argentina never materialized, after both teams were ousted at the quarterfinals. Still, I haven’t been disappointed. Overall it’s been a fantastic display of world-class football, and the teams have given their all.

Now it’s off to bed for me so I can wake up for the 2:30am game. :-)

A Father’s Day gift from A’isyah

2010-06-23T21:16:00.000+08:00

Yesterday morning A’isyah came to me with a (late) Father’s Day gift. I didn’t get the chance to spend the day with her this weekend, but this made up for it. She gave me a card:

a cake (had some of the cake with A’isyah this morning):

and a photo-frame, with a picture of us.

After a bit of hunting down, I managed to date the picture. It was taken on 26 October 2006, just after A’isyah’s first birthday. We had stopped by at Cameron Highlands on the way back to KL from Ipoh. This was about six weeks before moving to Dubai.

The full-sized picture is here. (My, I was rounder back then.)

World Cup Fever is here

2010-06-19T22:06:00.000+08:00

Actually, it arrived about a week ago, and we’re in full swing already. There are already teams who have booked their place in the round of 16. I haven’t watched all the games, but thanks to Astro, I’ve at least watched the highlights of every game. There have been some good games, and there have been some shocking results. Some early favourites haven’t performed up to mark (see the lackluster Spain, or the uninspiring England), and some teams have done better than expected (see Ghana, the only African team to win their opening game).

Now if only my work schedule would cooperate and give me the time to watch the key games. :-)

Starting a photo-blog

2010-06-10T22:49:00.000+08:00

So, I’ve decided to start my own photo-blog. It’ll probably be as infrequently updated as this blog (hehe), but I wanted a place for me to share certain pics. I haven’t decided yet how public I’ll be, but I recently set up a Flickr account to share pics with certain people. That didn’t work out very well, so my Flickr account was just lying dormant. Then I decided I might as well use it for something. Plus, I didn’t want to clutter up this blog (which is sorta like a journal) with too many photos.

So here we go! What I see welcomes visitors.

Citing online images

2010-05-22T16:03:00.001+08:00

How does one cite an online image? I had no idea (it’s been a while since I’ve written anything academic), so I searched online. A Google search for “bibliography reference for internet image” led me to a useful page at a virtual middle school library site (how appropriate).

To quote from that page:

Photographer's or artist's name (often not given)
Name of subject or title of picture
Date of picture (often not given)
Title of website
URL
Date you accessed the picture

So, for example, my table on divorce rates in Malaysia, which seems to be quite popular, would be cited as:
Yahya, Meor Azmal. Average Divorce Rate (2000-2005). 18 Nov 2009. on Everything, on nothing. http://lothaq.blogspot.com/2009/11/divorce-statistics-in-malaysia.html 22 May 2010.

What happens if there’s more than one image at that URL? Hmm. Needs work. Hehe.

Btw, citing the site I went to should be done like so:
Bibliography Format. Virtual Middle School Library, The American School in Japan. 12 May 2010. 22 May 2010. <http://www.asij.ac.jp/middle/lib/BibliographyFormat/Bibliography%20Format.htm>

Comparing last weekend and this weekend

2010-05-08T21:43:00.001+08:00

Last weekend actually started on Friday, since we got the day off as a replacement for Labour Day falling on Saturday. A couple of noteworthy events from that day, including, catching a movie at the Premiere Class at GSC Signature Gardens for the first time. Interesting layout; very well-suited to those watching movies in even-numbered groups, e.g. in twos. ;-) I watched Iron Man 2 alone though. Yes, I caught Iron Man 2 on the first day. Yay me! After the movie I went to meet up with some friends for dinner. They took me to a part of town I’d never been to before: Taman Mayang Jaya. Yeah, I don’t get out much. :-P

And that’s when things took a turn for the worse. Oh, the outing itself was fun. I had a great time with my friends, and the food was alright, although a bit on the pricey side. The problem was that it was a street stall, and I’m not really accustomed to those types of eateries. So the next day was rough for me. Specifically, for my stomach. Urgh.

This Saturday, then, tops last Saturday. No question of that. Instead of staying in and just trying to keep it together, I had a good day out, bowling at Ampang Point (no, Chong, not Ampang Park! Hehe) with KERIS, the office’s social club. Doesn’t matter that I didn’t bowl well. I make no pretense at being any good at any sport. It was still fun, even with my over-eager Project Director in the next lane.

A stop at MPH, MidValley later in the day to grab a copy of Stuff and PC Gamer, and I’ve got some reading material. (Reminder to self: keep the receipts for next year’s tax rebates!)

Definitely a better weekend compared to last weekend. I get to get out of the house, and even enjoy an Extreme Mocha from San Francisco Coffee. Now I just gotta catch up with my Creakos assignment. Hehe. (There’s a story in there for another blog post.)

Hope others are also having a good weekend, wherever you are!

Cough medicine

2010-04-21T22:31:00.000+08:00

Item: Cough linctus, 100ml
Brand: Himalaya (Diakof)
Price: MYR 13.90
Date of Purchase/Survey: 21/04/2010
Place of Sale: MidValley Megamall (Watsons)

I really like Himalaya products. All herbal, all natural.

“Oh, we’re not friends with him any more”

2010-04-20T17:25:00.001+08:00

I’m really curious how that conversation would go. It’s a hypothetical conversation of course. At least, as far as I’m concerned.

I once was married and now am not. I am also a few friends short.

Let’s start with two sets of friends, one mine (M), one hers (H). Then we’ll intersect them (M-I-H) for after we met. There are still members of the original sets outside the intersection. Due to the dynamics of sympathy, I have since discovered that it is no longer possible to identify the original boundaries of M and H. Hence, upon separation, we are left with {M} – {M-I-H} and {H} + {M-I-H}. There are a few rogue elements that do not obey this, but by and large, it seems to be the case.

Am I bitter about this? Once I was. Not any more.

Good thing my experience teaches me how to renew {M} as and when necessary.

This is why I don’t play sports

2010-04-10T15:43:00.000+08:00

My mind, eternally youthful, seems to believe my body is 16 years old. My body, being at least twice that age, refuses to play along. My mind, able to imagine fantastical feats of physical prowess, is convinced what it can imagine, my body can achieve. My body, woefully untested in actual physical exertions, can barely keep up.

And so what happens when someone tackles me in a friendly game of futsal is not a graceful recovery, turn-around, and artful dribbling. Rather, the result is a tumble totally lacking in grace, and a scrape on the knee from the artificial turf.

*sigh*

All in good fun, of course.

At least I came away with a “door gift” just for showing up and participating in the club’s first sports activity of the year. I wonder how many such mugs I have. I wonder where they all are. Hehe.

Can’t get an IP address from the router

2010-03-30T12:40:00.001+08:00

An odd thing to happen. All of a sudden, the PC only managed a limited connection. The PC is connected to the wifi router via Cat5 cable, while a laptop connects wirelessly. All connections are assigned a dynamic IP by the router via DHCP. Router was connected to the internet, and the laptop received an IP and working connection. The PC, however, was assigned IP address 169.254.154.171 (could be a different last number; I can’t remember, but it’s not important), with subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 (this is why the exact IP isn’t important).

The IP address on the network connection on the PC showed that it could not obtain a valid IP address, so it was assigned that IP by Windows.

Restarting the router and PC didn’t do anything. Assigning an appropriate IP to the PC resulted in it showing it was fully connected, but it could not ping anything. Not even the router itself.

I thought it could be a faulty NIC, or maybe there was something wrong with the cable. Could not find any other advice to solve the problem, so it was decided to have the PC taken to a shop to be looked at.

Their advice? After some fiddling around (not sure what they did), they advised my dad that it had to be reformatted. So they backed up the files in My Documents (and only those files; no program settings or anything else) and reformatted the hard drive. *sigh* At least the PC can connect to the router now, and there was no need to replace the NIC or network cable. But couldn’t there have been a better solution?

Things you’d love to say on the LRT

2010-03-17T18:07:00.000+08:00

… but probably won’t. (Bukankah kita prihatin?) In no particular order:

“That’s a lovely baju kurung, but I think you have way too many chemicals in your hair.” whisper: cos I can smell it from here

“That’s a nice big backpack you have there; you could probably kill a dog with that bag if you dropped it.” whisper: I know cos I’m still reeling from that shove in the chest

“Is there a water shortage in your area, or are you just allergic to water?” whisper: (yes, you guessed it) cos I can smell you from all the way over here

Would an “excuse me” prefixing those statements make it less caustic, or is it still overstepping bounds anyway?

Home before the Sun is down

2010-03-15T19:25:00.000+08:00

This is a rarity. As a matter of fact, I can count on one hand the times this year that I’ve made it home before the sun has gone down. That would be ever since I started at this new job. At my previous workplace, it was rare that I left the office when it was dark. This is more like back when I was in Dubai. At least I still get weekends though.

It felt a bit strange stepping out of the office and crossing the road to go home, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin. And the LRT was actually crowded. It’s not necessarily the holiday mood (school holidays just started), but that may have played a factor. The past few weeks my team has been really busy, and we’re coming into the home stretch now. Today was a bit of a slow day at the office, and we’re now just waiting for others in the process flow. So I took advantage of that to come home early.

Which reminds me, Amazing Race is on tonight... :-)

So You Think You Can Dance – Season 6

2010-03-08T23:20:00.000+08:00

(Yes, we’re late a season. Season 7 is about to start, but Astro is only just now showing Season 6 on AXN.)

I missed Amazing Race earlier tonight (timing’s just not right, and I haven’t recorded any of the episodes), but I managed to get home in time to catch So You Think You Can Dance. Tonight was the top 18, and I saw some really nice routines. I was truly enchanted by Kathryn and Legacy dancing Stacey Tookey’s contemporary piece. It was magical. I think I’ll keep an eye out for Stacey Tookey routines. :-) Another good performance I thought was Ellenore and Ryan dancing an Argentine Tango. Simply brilliant, and to think she did it with her dress caught in her shoe! Hope I get to catch more of this show.

P.S. I’m not going to comment on the Oscars, since I didn’t watch them, and am not familiar with most of the movies anyway. I’ve been falling behind on my movies for some time already.

A’isyah’s first train ride

2010-03-07T18:37:00.003+08:00

She’s been sending me to the train station in the mornings for some time now. Today I finally took her to the train (LRT) station, as I promised her. We just rode from Bangsar to KL Sentral and back. At first the noise of the train as it entered the station freaked her out. She’s never been too fond of loud noises. But then the excitement of being at the train station took over, and she was busy looking around, at the tracks, the signs and billboards, and the trains as they approached. Bangsar to KL Sentral is overland, so she hasn’t had a full subway experience yet. We’ll save that for later.

State of personal gaming – Feb 2010

2010-02-28T22:27:00.001+08:00

I’ve got an RTS/Action itch that I just can’t scratch. I’m getting some light action with Diablo 2 (re-installed a ramp-up of Diablo 3 hype), but most of my gaming needs are taken care of on Facebook at the moment. Facebook has always been an app-centric platform, which – to me – was what really differentiated it from the likes of Friendster.

So this is what I’m playing right now:

Castle Age

(Level 189)

This has taken over my Utopia inclinations. Game with a fantasy setting, building an army through collecting units and items, but with the option to play completely cooperatively. I think the best change they made to the game was introducing Monsters to fight. It’s a much more social game as a result. In fact, I’ve added close to 400 “friends” to FB just to become more effective at CA. It’s about having enough people looking for Elite Guards, and having enough people to answer your Monster CTA’s.

I’m spending the most time on this game, and having the most fun with it too.

FishVille

(Level 33)

This one’s just as a stress reliever. It’s nice to have a few tanks of imaginary fish you can’t really kill through neglect. And cleaning the tanks is such a breeze. Hehe.

Country Story

(Level 30)

This is my CS. Not Counter Strike. Country Story. I’ve never really been a fan of shooters anyway. The only shooter I ever got into was Halo.

Restaurant City

(Level 32)

This is the first “game” that I really took seriously. Before RC were games such as Scrabble, or Boggle, or whatever the FB apps are now called (copyrights, people).

I still like it for the interior decorating aspect.

Crazy Planets

(Level 11)

A’isyah made me join this. One day we were gardening in CS when she noticed this button on the side. That’s good advertising. It attracted her attention, and she asked, “Can we play this?” So off I went to add the app, and we were playing soon after. A’isyah’s the one playing this; I help out once in a while only.

Outside of Facebook, all I’m playing is:

Diablo 2 (Asia Realms)

I’ve got three chars on the Realms right now. I’ve also got some old single player chars that I play when the Realm connection sucks (which still happens).

Level 39 Paladin – built as an Avenger, and doing some leveling before taking on Baal.
Level 12 Amazon – trying out a Javazon, still in Act 1.
Level 9 Necromancer – not sure what build, still in Act 1.

And that’s it. I haven’t been following game news for a while now. All I know is I’ll be there for Diablo 3. Before that? Not sure yet.

Meydan is open for business

2010-01-30T22:26:00.001+08:00

Well, it’s done. The first race at the new Meydan Racecourse in Dubai was held on Thursday, 28 Jan 2010 (about 2 months later than originally planned). Fitting that the first race was won by jockey Richard Hills on No Risk Al Maury, owned by Sheikh Hamdan Al-Maktoum.

I worked on that project for almost two years. Never got to see the last year of it though.

I’m not surprised that the opening was low-key, and there was “relief among officials that the gigantic grandstand had passed the first test without any major glitches” (source: UK’s Telegraph).

Watch out for the end of March. That’ll be the big night.

Divorce statistics in Malaysia

2009-11-18T20:19:00.000+08:00

It’s an oft-cited “statistic” (at least in Western countries): 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce. It’s a result of the weakening of the “traditional” family unit. People are more casual about their romantic relationships, which leads to lack of commitment to see through a lasting marriage.

How true is it though? Or more appropriately, does it apply to Malaysia?

Divorce as a topic has been in the news in the past few weeks. We have read about a growing concern about the local divorce rate. We discovered that one of the state governments has a small but successful program to sponsor a second honeymoon for couples thinking of heading to divorce. Based on the success of that program, they were considering expanding the program. Then we heard of another proposal for enrolling husbands in some sort of grooming course to better their appeal to their wives.

Strange and fantastic news indeed. So what feeds this fear on divorce rates? Is there some basis for this fear? Just how bad a beating is the institution of marriage suffering in Malaysia?

To do my research, I didn’t go for a primary source, such as the National Registration Department and/or Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM), although my source did rely on those two sources. After searching online, I found a paper researched by Samuel Chan Hsin Chien and Mohamed Sarif Mustaffa, for the Faculty of Education, University Technology Malaysia, Johor. The paper’s main purpose was to discover the situation of divorce in Malaysia.

From the two primary sources mentioned above, the authors of the research paper have obtained statistics on registered marriages and divorces amongst Muslims (from JAKIM) and Non-Muslims (from NRD) for the years 2000 to 2005, with a breakdown by state. The authors reached two conclusions from the data gathered.

First, although the divorce rate has grown moderately over the five year period from 9.88% to 12.83%, this is still small compared to some developed countries such as the US (51%, 1998), Australia (49%, 1996), Canada (48%, 1995), and Germany (44%, 1997). I don’t know the source of their statistics for those countries, but it does fit the standard notion that 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce. Unfortunately, those are also old statistics, so the situation may have changed now. No matter. It’s not the direction I’ll be looking at.

The second conclusion the authors reached is that the divorce rate amongst the Muslims is keeping proportionate to the increasing number of marriages, but the situation is not the same with the Non-Muslims. With the Non-Muslims, the number of marriages actually declined, while the number of divorces doubled. This led to an increasing divorce rate amongst the Non-Muslims, from 2.63% to 7.19%. Whether this is a trend that continued beyond 2005 and still continues today might be worth examining in detail. Nevertheless, the divorce rate amongst the Muslims is still significantly higher, increasing from 14.71% to 15.51%.

Playing around with the data, I came up with a graph comparing the split between Muslim/Non-Muslim marriages and divorces. It’s instructive to note that demographically, the ratio in the population is roughly 60%/40% Muslim/Non-Muslim. Looking back at the graph, it appears that a larger portion of Malaysia’s Muslim population is getting married as compared to the Non-Muslim population. Still, more than 80% of the divorces in the country were between Muslim couples. Although the gap between share of marriages and share of divorces is shrinking, that’s still about 15 points higher than the ratio of marriages between Muslims and Non-Muslims.

An interesting side story arises once we examine the data breakdown by state. Considering the average rate of divorce over the years examined, we discover that the top three worst states in descending order are Selangor, KL, and Penang, all with an average divorce rate above 15%. The three best states in ascending order are Sabah, Kedah, and Johor, incidentally the only states together with Sarawak and Negeri Sembilan with divorce rates below the national average of 11.55%. So Sabahans have the best marriages, and Selangorites have the worst? I’m not going to touch that topic with a ten foot pole.

So what do the authors make of this state of affairs? What are the major drivers of divorce in Malaysia? Unfortunately, the paper does not delve into this issue, but instead cites “numerous foreign literatures” (sic) as stating that the top three factors that influence divorce are “1) infidelity, 2) no longer in love, and 3) emotional problems.” It’s very likely that those factors are inter-related, and possibly so with other factors as well.

Are these the main factors that play a role in the Malaysian context? I don’t know. I have not located any research that studies this. But if they do, does that mean those state programs we read about recently are on the right track?

I should take this opportunity to note that I, too, am now a statistic. I join the ranks of the many faceless ones people always hear about. Those supposed sad cases, or scandals. Now I know, there is nothing to be either proud or ashamed about. It just is. Adjustments are made. Life goes on. And no, I’m not interested in participating in a survey. Not now at least.

NaNoWriMo 2009 will have to take a pass

2009-11-09T00:09:00.000+08:00

I had wanted to make time for NaNoWriMo this year, but other issues have taken on a greater urgency. I am now working more fervently on a non-fiction piece entitled “Curriculum Vitae”, as well as an accompanying fiction piece with a working title of “Handover Notes”. The fiction piece promises to be epic. :-)

Celebrating A’isyah’s 4th birthday

2009-10-26T20:38:00.000+08:00

We had a small family celebration for A’isyah’s fourth birthday. I’m not really into big celebrations, preferring more intimate parties. So far, A’isyah’s getting similar treatment. Hehe. That might change as she grows older. I can’t say that I was never jealous of people having big, elaborate birthday parties as I grew up, and yet I grew to appreciate the smaller scale celebrations.

She actually had a pre-birthday celebration with her grandma in Ipoh, the weekend after Raya.

A’isyah was certainly excited on her big day, dancing around, waiting to get her presents. When it came down to it, she almost opened her presents before anything else. I had to convince her that the cake-cutting wouldn’t take too long. We sang “Happy Birthday” to her, she blew out all four of her candles, cut the cake, then ran from the table towards her presents. Hehe. I helped her open her gifts while the rest of the adults went to eat. I managed to get her to eat a bit, and try at least a bite of her own cake (a design that she had chosen herself over the weekend).

In the end, knowing that she was happy was worth it.

NaNoWriMo 2009 is just around the corner

2009-10-14T20:39:00.001+08:00

November is fast approaching, and that means the month-long writing “competition” is about to start. NaNoWriMo is really a competition against yourself, and in my past two outings, I have failed miserably. Hehe. Heck, I didn’t even manage to close out my previous efforts as I had previously thought I could do. To be honest, that was because I didn’t make the time. After all, that’s what it’s all about. If you’re serious about it, you’ll make the time. You’ll set aside part of your day to writing.

I had almost given up on that. I was going to avoid the disappointment with myself and not participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo. I’ve only just posted the sum of my efforts from 2007, over at Self-RW, a grand total of five (mini-)chapters. Yay me.

But I will not be deterred. This year, I’ve decided to put some planning into it. I’ll see if I can come up with a framework for my “novel” in the next two weeks. That should help with the writing.

Malaysian drivers and the rain

2009-10-14T19:20:00.000+08:00

You’d think with all the rain we get year-round, Malaysian drivers would be better accustomed to driving in the rain. It’s obvious we haven’t adapted to the conditions though. Not when you still hear about all the accidents that accompany news of a downpour.

This morning it rained. And on the way to work, I heard the traffic reports on the radio. There was mention of quite a few accidents on the roads around town. We’re talking multi-car pileups, and it wasn’t even raining that hard.

People just refuse to adapt their driving to the road conditions. If it’s raining, visibility will be poorer. You’ll need just a fraction of a second longer to react to the brake lights of the car in front of you. The roads will be more slippery, with pools of water here and there. Even if hydroplaning isn’t an issue, drivers will still make sudden moves to avoid puddles. You could see abrupt swerving, sudden unexpected slowdowns, and all sorts of impulsive driving.

What should you do? Slow down! Turn on some lights so other drivers can see you clearly, but not your hazard lights, please. Come on, people! It’s not that hard to practice safe driving.

It’s not about you. It’s about the other driver. The one who’s not as good as you. The one who swerved violently when you expertly dodged that puddle of water, and who then rammed into your mother’s car, just behind yours. Think about it.

So it’ll be ready after all

2009-10-12T19:56:00.001+08:00

I was starting to wonder about the fate of the Meydan Racecourse. As confirmed by DubaiRaceNight.com, however, Meydan will indeed be ready for the 2010 Dubai World Cup. The Winter Racing Challenge’s probably gonna be held at a different racecourse. The Dubai International Racing Carnival will debut at Meydan, with a more compact schedule due to begin on 28 January 2010.

Video tape

2009-10-09T21:19:00.002+08:00

Yup, still buying them. I’ve got an old Panasonic NV-GS35 camcorder. It’s a pretty decent video camera, bought at a PCFair in 2006.

This is a PriceWatch entry, so I’m just entering details here.

Item: Mini DV video tape, 60 min, pack of 3
Brand: Panasonic
Price: MYR 45.00
Date of Purchase/Survey: 02/10/2009
Place of Sale: MidValley Megamall
Comparison: Dubai, 03/05/2007 (pretty much the same price)

Let’s talk about friendship

2009-09-29T18:52:00.001+08:00

The October 2009 company newsletter – the newsletter’s second issue, following the inaugural September 2009 issue – will have a theme of “Friendship”. The Editorial Board has invited staff to contribute an article of not more than 300 words on the topic. I have two reasons for not submitting to the newsletter. First, I’d rather write to a wider audience anyway. And second, the deadline’s passed. Hehe.

It’s a good topic for the internal company newsletter, especially since the majority of the staff is in Dubai, separated from family. Friendships, especially workplace friendships, take on a whole new significance for them.

“You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends.” Our friends, then, are a reflection of us. After all, if you choose your friends, then your selection must say something about your priorities and personality. Why would you choose a friend who is incompatible or only serves to introduce aggravation and grief into your life? And yet, we need variety. How would we discover anything if all viewpoints we encounter reflect only our own thoughts? Good thing then that we don’t have complete control over our friends.

There are many flavours of friends we collect in our lives. There are those long-term kindergarten friends, the ones we grew up with in the neighbourhood, and have maintained a relationship over the ages. It’s possible this friendship has morphed over the years, but some bonds really do last. The same can be said of all the school friends we make, from grade school to middle school, and onto high school. These are the people we spent the majority of our time with during our formative years, in a feedback loop as we formed our unique personalities. A select few will graduate with us to adult life, but most will fall by the wayside as lives separate, geographically, spiritually, philosophically, politically.

Friendship in adult life gets more complicated, and usually more fulfilling. Your university friends are the ones most likely to last your lifetime. These are the friends who slaved over assignments and reports with you, who participated in clubs and associations with you, who ranted against professors with you, who partied with you, who cheered at sporting events with you. For most people university was the first period away from home, so it was a big deal. You had to be independent, and were going through that experience with others who were also in the same boat. Some people were insular during this period, only making friends from those in the same course as them. Others threw the net wider, and made friends studying other disciplines. But your classmates from freshman year are most likely to be your closest friends.

And then there are the friend “also-rans”. There are the acquaintances at work, some of whom genuinely became friends and stuck around in your life even if you moved jobs. There are the friends you made online, some of whom you even meet IRL. This last group is probably the only group of friends you actively sought out, and not people who evolved into friends through circumstance. However, most of them would remain as acquaintances, or fellow hobbyists.

The other friends we have to ask ourselves about, to be certain they are friends, are the ones we meet through circumstance. These are from all those other groups; the friends from school, from work, and so on. Brought together by our situations, we sometimes find out that we’re only friends as far as we remain in that condition. Move schools, swap courses, move to another country, change jobs, and we may find that we no longer connect with our old friends.

“Friends come and go, but true friends always stay.”

True friends are those who stick with you, even after circumstances change. Don’t belittle “only friends” though; they’re valuable because they lend you a social life, and they introduce that needed variety into your life. Your circle of true friends is probably smaller though. The Internet and social networking doesn’t change this dynamic. Keeping in touch with your friends does not equate to connecting with them.

People change. People grow. Your true friends will grow with you, and accept you as you change. Treasure these people.

Typhoon Ondoy

2009-09-28T18:55:00.000+08:00

The big news for me this weekend wasn’t Tiger Woods not winning The Tour Championship but still winning the FedExCup (though that was a great story; and lest we forget, Phil Mickelson had a great final round, winning the Tour Championship in style), or Lewis Hamilton winning his second F1 race of the season (and Jenson Button still edging teammate Rubens Barrichello for championship points). No, the big news for me was Typhoon Ondoy, internationally known as Tropical Storm Ketsana.

Ketsana started attacking the Philippines on Saturday morning, 26 September 2009, but people were as yet unaware of how bad it would get. Consequently, business went on pretty much as usual. It was only later that day that it became obvious that this storm was going to be more devastating than normal. Ketsana was historically the worst storm to hit Metro Manila in recorded history, and dumped more rain on the city than Hurricane Katrina did on New Orleans.

I only found out about it Saturday night, and I immediately turned to the net for news. Electricity was out in many parts of Manila, and the phone lines were mostly down. SMS’ took awhile to reach, but at least they made it through. Calls were difficult to place, but at least the Internet was up.

Clean-up’s gonna take awhile, that’s for sure.

Reminds me to be thankful that Malaysia is safe from most natural hazards. Sure, we still suffer from floods, and landslides, and even took a hit from the Asian Tsunami. But Malaysia doesn’t get anything on this scale.

Who? Sara. SARAwho?

2009-09-24T20:28:00.001+08:00

Well, looks like I’m now showing up on the SARAwho blog aggregator as well. Thanks, boringest, for the add!

I had earlier written about my search for local blog aggregators, which took me to SARAwho. Of the ones I reviewed, it was the only one with a regional reach, although how regional is up for debate.

I’ll admit, even though when I do visit the site, I don’t click through most of the links, it’s still useful as a snapshot of the current conversation. There’s something appealing about the simple presentation, with only posts within a set timeframe showing. It focuses your attention only on what’s current, instead of sending you scrolling through post after post until you notice that you’re reading posts from a couple of days ago.

Only wish there were more regional blogs on SARAwho though. That would make it more interesting.

North-South traffic over the Aidilfitri weekend

2009-09-23T23:09:00.002+08:00

Even with the government declaring last Friday a school holiday in the hopes that people would stagger their exodus from urban centres in general – and KL specifically – traffic on the highways was still terrible over the weekend. Due to work, I only left KL with my family on Friday evening. We were headed up north to Ipoh, which usually takes just over two hours on the North-South Expressway. We made it on the highway just before midnight on Friday, and immediately we realized it was going to be a long night. There were many cars on the roads, and every rest area was full, with long lines leading into and out of them. We didn’t notice any accidents, which was a good thing.

A good four hours plus later, we pulled into the driveway of my grandmother’s house in Ipoh. I collapsed on the couch after arriving, awakening soon after for sahur.

The return trip on Tuesday morning was much easier by comparison. Traffic was standard, so we made it back in normal time. I guess people haven’t started returning to KL yet, which explains why it was so easy getting parking this morning.

Post-Raya in KL

2009-09-23T15:44:00.001+08:00

It’s the middle of the week, and the day after two days of public holiday, but life hasn’t really returned to normal yet in KL. No surprise really. I’m sure lots of people extended their leave. I know a few people at the office did. I don’t mind the slower pace. It was even easy to find parking this morning on normally-packed-by-0900 Jalan Riong, beside the NST office.

Who still sends Hari Raya cards?

2009-09-17T18:47:00.000+08:00

I have received one greeting card this year, and that’s a standard issue card that KLCC Property Holdings Bhd provides to all its directors. One such director then gave cards out to all the Muslims at our office.

The last time I gave out cards was 5 or 6 years ago. Actually went out to buy some cards, and then addressed them to a small group of close friends. I actually remember one year getting cards, addressing them, and then forgetting to deliver them! Not all, but some. That was probably the catalyst that got me to join the crowd with SMS greetings instead. They were instant, you could be sure the recipient got them in time, and it was easy to make sure you sent a greeting to everyone. I’ve always found ASCII art captivating, the way simple, repetitive icons can combine to paint a picture. I sometimes re-sent some of the more interesting SMS’ that I received.

The advent of social networking gives us the latest iteration in the evolution of the Hari Raya greeting. You have a few options. You could tweet a greeting to all your followers; or set a new Facebook status message; or for something more flashy, post a picture of a greeting card and tag all your friends. Heck, with this last method you could even segregate your greetings. One picture per group of friends!

I’ll admit that this year, as usual, I don’t have any cards to give out. It’s not that I don’t care; I have a much smaller circle now anyway. But I’m afraid of being thought gauche for sending out SMS greetings, although that would still reach (slightly) more people than an FB status greeting.

I’ll settle for a multi-pronged approach. To those who really matter, you’ll hear it from my lips. To others, you’ll read my words. The thought remains the same. May Allah accept your honest fast. Eid Mubarak! Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

And drive safely on the roads.

Pet peeve: Inconsiderate boors who park on main roads and hamper traffic

2009-09-16T23:01:00.000+08:00

That was a long one, but deserving of a long title to describe this bane of road users. You know the type. Those people who only consider their own convenience, other road users be damned! They like to park closest to building entrances, not minding if they take up most of a lane which should be used for moving vehicles, i.e. a traffic lane and not a parking spot. It used to be that the front entrance of Bangsar Shopping Centre was a showcase of such boors. These people would park at the curb, blocking traffic so that those cars crossing the traffic light from the Damansara Heights direction would have to squeeze into one lane. It was a constant menace and no doubt contributed to the long lines crawling up the hill to the intersection in front of BSC.

Well, sometime back, BSC decided to be responsible and put up no parking signs, complete with chains, alongside the curb on Jalan Maarof, to remind motorists that they should not park there. Unfortunately, some people can’t for the life of them imagine why they should be barred from parking there. After all, it’s so convenient to park your car there and pop in to BSC for a bit of shopping or a nice two hour steak lunch, say. Moreover, it’s such a hassle to actually have to go into the underground parking, which is so crowded anyway.

I figure that must be their thought process.

Take this example, spotted just yesterday by yours truly while waiting in traffic on the opposite side. He parks his BMW by the curb, gets out, and starts to make his way into BSC. A security guy comes up to him, obviously indicating that he can’t park there. He doesn’t pay much heed to the security guard. Another security guard joins the first, and the two proceed to remind our motorist that he can’t very well leave his car by the road-side. Our BMW-driver seems upset, and gestures dismissively to the two security guards, turns his back to them, and goes his merry way.

I managed to get a snap of his car too.

Then my light turns green, so I don’t get to see the finale for this little show. Somehow I suspect it was a muted denouement. After all, what could the management of BSC do? Call for the car to be towed away? Perish the thought!

Ending self-imposed exile

2009-09-16T22:45:00.000+08:00

It’s been close to a year since I took my blog private, by stopping to ping PPS. Since then, I’ve ceased to utilize PPS altogether. I even checked out other blog aggregators to continue finding interesting posts to read. Now that I’ve decided to come out of the woodwork again (so to speak), I signed up at blogged.my and will start pinging there. It seems to be a fair bit easier to ping there than PPS used to be, although it would be much easier if I were using Wordpress.

So why am I ending my self-imposed exile now? Probably for the same reasons I started pinging PPS: just to share my voice.

Hello, world. Again. :-)

Massively multiplayer...Monopoly!

2009-09-10T23:23:00.001+08:00

Eh?

I just found out that Hasbro has been working on a massively multiplayer online game version of Monopoly. And here’s the cool bit: it’s based off Google Maps, so you’re dealing with real streets in real cities, all over the world! And for additional oomph there will be SketchUp buildings that can be used in the “game”.

The game is called Monopoly City Streets, and there’s a blog at Blogger here. It’s unclear whether this is an official collaboration with Google, or Hasbro is just utilizing all Google tools for this game.

At the moment, this game will run for four months only, ending in January 2010. This promises to be fun!

When you’re driving, pay attention to those traffic lights

2009-09-06T16:27:00.000+08:00

This is a timely public service announcement. As the Malaysians Unite For Road Safety Day approaches (090909), I’d like to share a tip: no matter what, always pay attention to the traffic lights. It seems simple enough, but not enough people obey them.

And then there’s the case of two traffic lights in succession on a stretch of road, too close to each other. That can lead to the situation I found myself in last weekend. On the way back from a Ramadan bazaar in Bangsar, I stopped at a red light at the corner of Jalan Maarof and Jalan Bangkung. I was there a couple of seconds before I noticed a car approaching in my rear-view mirror. It was moving far too fast, and I thought it was your typical Malaysian driver who would stop dramatically right behind the car in front of them. He was coming too fast though, so I pressed down on the car horn, but it was too late. He rammed into me.

No one in our car was hurt, even though it was quite a knock. When I got out of the car, the young driver also came out, looking quite sheepish. I’ll admit I was babbling at him, admonishing him for not noticing the red light, and then switching to asking if everyone in his car was alright. We pulled over to the side road to talk through things.

His car:

Our car, from the rear:

And from the side:

As you can see, it wasn’t so bad. The bumper dropped, and the rear door was jammed shut.

Of course, the front of his car was totaled:

This is what happens when you don’t pay attention to the road. If I had been in the outside lane, I may have moved to the side. But I can’t be certain, because it all happened just too fast to react.

I noticed in that second before the impact that he wasn’t looking in front. His face was turned and he was chatting with his girlfriend in the front passenger seat. Since the traffic light just before had been green, he must have assumed the next one would be green too. It could have been worse though. I'm not sure if everyone in his car was wearing seatbelts, because I noticed a crack in his windsheild. His girlfriend may have knocked her head there, but there was no obvious injury. The girl in the back though (his sister?) had her kneed jammed into the back of the driver’s seat, and said it hurt. I advised them to get everything checked out.

Good thing we bought food at the bazaar. We got back home in time to break fast, although rice had to be cooked at the last minute. As for them – well, I noticed there was a lot of spilled McDonald’s food in the car which they had to dump. And I’m not sure they made it home in time, because when we parted it was already almost 7pm. On the phone, I don’t think he shared with his dad just how bad the damage was, since his dad told him to drive the car home...

52nd Merdeka

2009-08-27T22:50:00.000+08:00

Malaysia will be celebrating its 52nd year of independence on 31 August 2009. That’s 52 years of self-rule, free of the colonial overlords.

I have to stop and think about that for a moment. As someone born, if not in, at least as a citizen of, an already free nation, I take that freedom for granted. We are the masters of our own fate, but who exactly is this “we”? Who are the ones in charge now? Who do we look to for leadership? Where do we get our direction from?

More importantly, who is responsible? We have to stop thinking “someone else”, and start accepting “us” as the answer. What do we want the country to look like? We need to decide, and we need to speak up, and we need to act. We shouldn’t take things for granted. And we need to remember that “we” includes many peoples from many backgrounds. The challenge is taking these differences, allowing for these differences, while still forging ahead as one.

Here’s hoping that we can all be reasonable, be responsible, and move together as one.

1 Ramadhan, 1430H

2009-08-21T23:17:00.000+08:00

That’s tomorrow’s date in the hijri calendar, and it marks the start of the fasting month for Muslims. Now since the hijri calendar is (sorta) a lunar calendar, and the start of Ramadhan coincides with the observation of the new moon, the fasting month begins on different days depending on which country you’re in. Some have actually started today, and some won’t start til Sunday.

Ramadhan is the holiest month in the Muslim calendar, promising rewards for the devout Muslim. I won’t go into all that, as I’m hardly the best tutor for the subject. Here in Malaysia, though, Ramadhan also coincides with the most amazing culinary delights of the year. It’s not uncommon for people to feel that you get the best foods during this time of year. From the street bazaars offering the (seemingly) unique Ramadhan and Aidilfitri fare, to the buka puasa buffets in all the top restaurants and hotels, all the best foods Malaysia has to offer make their appearance during this month. Seriously, when else are you going to find lemang in the streets? And that’s just one example.

I definitely go to the pasar Ramadhan whenever I can, to stock up on foods for the breaking of fast, or for sahur the next morning. As for the buffet treats, I haven’t tried many of them. Not that that’s necessarily because I’m at the mosque performing tarawih. Sometimes it’s just too much bother. You definitely have to book for those buka puasa dinners, cos the seats go quickly. And finding a surau for maghrib prayers can sometimes be troublesome.

That’s ok though. I figure I’m not really missing out. I shouldn’t be gorging myself on delicious foods for an hour after a full day of fasting anyway. It’s not healthy. Everything in moderation.

Here we go then. One month – 30 days – of testing your discipline, reflecting on your worthiness, appreciating all that you have, and enriching yourself.

Ramadhan Kareem! Selamat berpuasa!

I read, I write

2009-08-21T23:12:00.000+08:00

And I share too! :-) I just started a new blog here, where I'll be sharing some of my writings.

Praise for District 9

2009-08-18T20:20:00.000+08:00

I watched District 9 over the weekend. For an opening weekend, it didn’t seem well-anticipated. It was even playing in one of the smaller halls at GSC 1 Utama. I’m not sure if the Malaysian public had much awareness about this movie because of the low level of promotion, but I know buzz will grow through word of mouth.

To describe District 9 simply is to call it both Believable and Brilliant. A lot of people will classify this movie as a “sci-fi” movie, but I’d like to qualify that by adding “serious” as a prefix to that descriptor. Special effects are necessary for this movie, but they play a role in allowing the telling of the story, instead of being the focus for the movie. This is the first Star Wars trilogy, not the second (prequel) trilogy, if you get my meaning.

The story of District 9 is original and intriguing. Imagine if an alien ship arrived on Earth, and came to a stop hovering over Johannesburg, South Africa. Now imagine a million aliens on that ship, leaderless, directionless, and suffering like boat-people washed ashore on foreign lands. How would our Governments react?

Fast forward twenty years, and the aliens are now living in a slum outside Johannesburg named – you guessed it! – District 9. There are some blanks to be filled in, and it all makes a sickening kind of sense. You can believe it happening.

Which brings me to my first word to describe the movie: Believable. The movie is presented as a mix of documentary-style footage, complete with interviews of key persons and specialists, and standard-fare footage. So viewers approach District both as a movie, and as a faux documentary. It’s done very well, with smooth edits, and everything is believable. You can see yourself watching a documentary about the aliens that came to Earth, and the controversies that followed. The acting is all of the best standards, including first-time lead actor Sharlto Copley.

This leads to my second word to describe the movie: Brilliant. This truly is a brilliant film, with an original storyline, realistic characters and amazing portrayals, both real and imagined. And lest I forget, the special effects were amazing. The alien tech is on par with the best sci-fi fare out there, and the creature effects were eerily realistic.

Like any good serious sci-fi story, District 9 holds up a mirror to our own nature and forces us to examine our mores, our beliefs, our society. It is easy to feel discouraged by the depravity and shallowness depicted in District 9. And yet, in the end, we are – thankfully – redeemed. Love survives the most horrible circumstances. Respect transcends all boundaries.

I have the greatest respect for this film, and its makers. And though there could be a sequel – District 10 – I hope they don’t make it. I hope they don’t twist this story around.

Tagging photos

2009-08-14T23:30:00.003+08:00

Back in the day, before digital cameras, most people would whip out cameras only at special events or while on holiday. That made it easy to remember when and why pictures were taken, since you usually got them in batches of about 30 prints.

And then came the digital camera, which ushered in a whole new culture of photography. With instant results, and no need for expensive developing unless you wanted to, there was no “wastage” factor to consider when snapping a photo. There wasn’t any film to “save” for those special moments. Any moment could be a special moment.

In the beginning, of course, the one thing you were limited by was memory space. But with the ability to instantly review your photo, you could keep on snapping and delete those pictures that didn’t turn out well, ensuring that you had enough memory for the next picture. Now even that limitation is gone, with huge memory cards filling our digital cameras.

Has that led to a deterioration of standards? Maybe.

Has that opened the door to tons of photos you can’t even place any more? Probably.

Take the following picture, taken three years ago. A’isyah’s having fun. I have no idea where we are. Hehe. Just perfect.

I guess I should start tagging my photos.

Time to migrate my Friendster info

2009-08-06T22:05:00.000+08:00

When I joined Friendster on a friend’s invite, I thought it would be a neat way to reconnect with old friends. I shared lots of personal info there in my profile info, such as all the schools I’ve been to over the years. I even shared lists of my favourite music, movies, and books. All these items are actually searchable within Friendster, allowing people to search for others who filled in the same information in their profiles. It promises one the ability to connect with others who went to the same schools as you, and who have the same interests as you.

Unfortunately for me, that promise was never fulfilled. Maybe I wasn’t active enough in Friendster. Whatever the case, when an old high school friend sent me an invite to join Facebook in 2007, I was pleasantly surprised that he managed to locate my contact after all those years. And when I joined Facebook, the most amazing thing happened. What I had been hoping for from Friendster, happened on Facebook!

Ever since then, I’ve been using Facebook and have neglected my Friendster account. And I’m not the only one. I even know someone who deleted their Friendster account to focus exclusively on Facebook.

I now value Facebook as a means to keep up-to-date with the goings on of far-flung family and friends. And it helps to maintain a (tenuous, at best) connection with all those people.

So now I’ve decided I might as well bring over all that personal info from Friendster into Facebook. I shared it before, so why not again?

A’isyah’s first experience with snow

2009-07-31T22:18:00.000+08:00

Don’t you just love the joy of new discovery, best seen in a child’s first experience with something enjoyable? It was a year ago today that A’isyah first experienced snow.

I was browsing through my old photo archives and found that I have pictures taken exactly one year ago today, on 31 July 2008. It was on an outing to Mall of the Emirates, and we had decided to (finally!) enter Ski Dubai, the indoor snow park and ski slope. It took a while to get suited up, mainly because A’isyah refused to put on her helmet. I wasn’t about to let it slide, so we struggled to get her to put it on. Once inside though, she was quickly mesmerized by the sight of the white snow. She was too skitterish to try tobogganing and was just content to walk around, but she was fascinated by all the activity.

Four months later, on a return visit to Dubai, we went to Ski Dubai again. This second time A’isyah was more active, trying to throw snowballs and just playing around with the snow.

I can’t say I remember my first experience with snow, since I was a baby at the time, but the first time that I do remember was my family’s first winter in Sweden. I remember after the first snowfall my sis and I tried our hands at making a snowman out near the porch. It was a dismal failure. I think we managed something a few inches tall, because we underestimated the effort required to make one of those things. That, and the snow probably wasn’t right for making snowmen.

A’isyah had her snow experience at a pretty young age, but I have a feeling she’ll remember it. And it’s not just because of the pictures I think. Just a few weeks ago, she said to me that she wants to go to Mall of the Emirates, to play with snow. I told her that it’s very far away, and we can’t go there now. To which she responded with that favourite of kids everywhere: “Why?”

Maybe one day.

Tips from The Happiness Project for turning around a Bad Day

2009-07-31T12:23:00.001+08:00

My last post was about a bad good day, so I guess it’s appropriate that the follow-up post is about a good bad day. Everyone has bad days. Maybe you had an argument with someone and that fouled your mood for the rest of the day. Maybe something didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. A lot of times you can’t change the outcome of those events, no matter what you try.

What you can change, however, is how you let those events affect you.

Today I read a post at The Happiness Project blog about a good bad day. The author presents a total of nine tips to deal with bad days and how to turn them around to be good bad days. It’s all about how to make sure that the bad day doesn’t get you down too much.

Two tips that stand out for me are: “do something nice for someone else” and “act the way (you) want to feel”. I really do believe that kindness is its own reward. Don’t do good expecting to be rewarded for it, or even recognized for it. That’s when you get the real reward: feeling good. And when you act happy, smile, mix with other people, share light-hearted moments with others, you’ll start to feel happy. It just rubs off on you.

Go here to read the full list of 9 tips. I’d also recommend following the blog, cos it’s a fountain of good advice to manage happiness.

Here’s to happiness! May we all have more of it.

A bad good day

2009-07-08T19:30:00.001+08:00

What the heck is a bad good day, you ask? Look at it this way: your experience of a day depends on your expectations for that day. So your assessment of whether it was a good day or a bad day depends on how the events of the day meet your expectations. Two persons experiencing the same events on the same day will very likely have different reactions to those events, and hence judge the day as good or bad depending on their point of view.

That’s the first part. Then there’s also the fact that two persons could have wildly different experiences on the same day, so their memory of that day depends on their own personal experience. That’s all too common. Just because you had a good day, doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t have had a bad day. That only makes sense. But sometimes we forget that.

Sometimes, we’re thrilled about our day, and overlook that our friend may have just had a bad day. So maybe we become insensitive. And what if we were in their shoes? What if we had a bad day, and our friend had a great day, and they’re sharing their joy with us? Would we want them to stuff it? Would we resent them their good day? A good friend shouldn’t dampen their friend’s happiness, even if they can’t share in it.

So what if we’re sensitive to the other party’s feelings? What if we know that our friend had a bad day? Maybe we feel bad about having a good day. Maybe we feel a little guilt at being happy.

And maybe we can’t bring ourselves to being happy.

That is a bad good day.

The King of Pop has passed on

2009-06-26T09:11:00.000+08:00

Just over two hours ago, Michael Jackson passed away apparently due to cardiac arrest. Heard it on CNN this morning as I was leaving the house, and Mix FM carried the news too. It’s gonna be tribute weekend, for sure.

So many memories linked to him and his music. Set aside the controversies surrounding him for a moment, and you’ll remember he was a good performer.

He practically pioneered the music video as mini-movie. The release of his Thriller video was an event of note. I even remember when the Bad music video was released.

He may have belonged to a particular era, especially when he couldn’t stage any meaningful comeback in the past decade. But his music will live on.

A’isyah’s first assessment

2009-06-17T20:20:00.000+08:00

Two weeks ago Nany and I met up with A’isyah’s teacher, after receiving her first report card. I had been pleased with the report card, even though Nany was hoping for better performance from A’isyah. I still am pleased with her results. However, there’s more to your child’s progress than just their report card.

And that’s where the discussion with A’isyah’s teacher came in. Turns out that A’isyah’s a bit of a handful at school. Hehe. She can be rebellious, or stubborn, about doing as the teacher asks. She will sometimes come up with excuses for not responding to the teacher’s queries, or talks in class. She does like to talk, and seems to enjoy talking to her friends, even during lesson time. It doesn’t help that half the class will back her up and entertain her. Guess she’s the friendly type.

But this may become a problem. We don’t want her monopolizing the teacher’s time, and neither do we want A’isyah to be a distraction to the other students. We explained to her teacher that we don’t mind her being firm with A’isyah. We also explained that A’isyah has a tendency to not try something until she’s comfortable that she’ll succeed at it. She’s always been that way. Even when she started walking, she didn’t spend too much time practicing, falling down and so on. She waited until she was confident in herself, then got up and starting walking from one piece of furniture to another. Soon she was walking without aid.

So, yeah, A’isyah will wait until she knows that she can do something before trying to do it. And she is a willful little girl. Hehe. I just hope she turns around. We’re doing what we can at home, and I hope that she gets more positive examples from school as well.

Yeah, right, Bill Gates is gonna donate (part of) his fortune to me

2009-06-12T21:28:00.001+08:00

Did you not know? You haven’t had any friends spread the wealth around to you? You mean, you haven’t gotten this email yet:

Dear Friends,

Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this you will repent later. [You won’t just regret it; you’ll repent for your sin of not grabbing a share of that huge pie!] Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. [Must be that damn Firefox competition that’s gotten Microsoft so scared. Kinda odd though, since Microsoft is a software company. What the heck is an “Internet” company anyway? Oh well. Nice of AOL to extend this e-mail beta test (e-mail’s still in beta?) to those outside the US.]

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. [Good thing I’m not gonna forward this email from my Mac or Linux box. Hmm… do the Gmail servers run on Linux?]

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00, for every person that you send it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $241.00. Within 2 weeks!, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a cheque.

Wow. Serious? I’m surprised Bill Gates isn’t bankrupt yet. It’s not that USD 245.00 per person you forward to, or even the USD 243.00 for each of those persons who also forwards it on. It’s the USD 241.00 that you’ll get for every third person who receives it that’s really gonna start putting a strain on his massive fortune.

Sigh.

So I got the above e-mail, and did the only responsible thing. I replied with this:

Wow. This is still going around?

<text from previous email on something similar>

Dear All,

Please don’t take this the wrong way, I’m just trying to share some knowledge.

The message that was recently forwarded to you is an email hoax (try a Google search on “email hoaxes”). To make it a little simpler for you, check out the following two links:

Snopes entry on Microsoft and AOL email hoax

Entry at Truthorfiction.com

I’ve seen a version of this hoax before (and lots of other kinds too), so I know what to look out for. Besides, I also know enough about how the Internet works. Key feature: it’s decentralized. There is no central tracking system for email, so there’s no way for a private enterprise (even Microsoft) to track who you forward email to. It’s especially difficult to try to track forwarding of one specific email.

(Nod to victims of hackers/trojans/keyloggers/etc: Ok, so yes, the above is possible, but only if your PC has already been infected.)
(Nod to conspiracy theorists: Yes, of course the NSA has their supersecret supercomputers tracking all global communications, but no, it’s not being commissioned by Bill Gates for philanthropy. ;-) )
(Nod to MS bungling: Yes, Microsoft did once issue an automated update for their XP OS that secretly contact their servers with information on your machine, specifically your OS. They were doing that to check piracy. However, this was quickly found out by the security companies (heck, anyone with a decent firewall would have noticed it), and that update was retracted. No one wants their computer to secretly contact anyone, even the supplier of their OS. But that would be one way to track your emails...)

So, sorry, but you won’t be getting any nice big cheques from Bill Gates anytime soon.

</end text>

I’ll admit, this is the first time I’ve encountered this with testimonials in BM. It’s still false. It doesn’t work. It cannot work.

Interestingly, notice how the m.o. seems to change? They’re supposed to contact you for your address and then send you a cheque. And yet, some people mysteriously receive cheques from goodness-knows-where, and some have direct deposits to their bank accounts. Strange, and somewhat alarming…

Btw, to those who think, “what’s the harm in trying?”, forwarding junk emails actually has an impact. Bandwidth still isn’t free, even if it is “unlimited”. As always, there’s a cost involved.

So why am I replying to everyone? Because I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, people will learn to use readily available resources and educate themselves about this sort of thing. After all, a little bit of knowledge doesn’t hurt you, right?

Cheers!

Your Internet sleuth,

So there you have it. Hopes dashed. No cheque for thousands of dollars on your way. Please stop sharing Bill Gates’ wealth with me. Thank you very much.

Extra scenes in Terminator 2

2009-06-12T21:24:00.000+08:00

A couple of nights ago I (re-)watched Terminator 2: Judgement Day with Azafia. It was part of her preparations to watch Terminator: Salvation, the fourth movie in the franchise. We’d caught the first movie on Astro a few nights previous, and since she had never watched the previous Terminator movies, except for parts of the third, she decided to watch the whole set in order. I had told her that it wasn’t really necessary for you to enjoy the latest Terminator movie, which I had just seen at the cinema. Still, having watched the previous movies gives you additional insights into the background story, and allowed you to catch all the references that have made their way into the pop-culture. Who doesn’t remember the phrase, “I’ll be back”, which is uttered in each of the Terminator movies?

Anyway, while watching Terminator 2, I noticed several scenes that I could not recall from my previous screenings of the movie. And I know that movie quite well, since it was one of the few movies we had on laserdisc back in the day. Now I guess this is a decade late, but I’ve just found out about it, so it’s new to me. Hehe. Turns out there was a Special Edition, with some additional scenes. I found synopses of the additional scenes, culled from a Terminator FAQ here.

The scenes added to characterization as well as story, and I finally know what Miles Dyson was holding over the detonator!

Feeling so alone

2009-06-10T23:25:00.002+08:00

Sometimes all you need is someone to listen to you, and sympathize. Or at least, simulate sympathy. Sometimes, that’s not to be found. Because sometimes, you need to act. And that’s where I’m not performing. It still doesn’t do anything about feelings of loneliness. Of being pushed back into a corner. I swear I’m gonna crack one of these days.

A’isyah’s first report card

2009-05-28T21:39:00.003+08:00

Another milestone! :-)

A’isyah received her first ever report card yesterday, from her pre-school, Tadika Al-Hidayah. The report comes in a nice big blue booklet, with sections covering topics such as Social Development, Islamic Personality, Art & Craft, Writing, and others. Some topics aren’t applicable for A’isyah, so they’re not filled in. The school marks the students’ performance in basic “units”, such as cooperation,, use of art materials, participation in physical activities, recognizing numbers, and so on. The grading scale goes from 1 to 4, being Very Good, Good, Average, and Needs Improvement.

<proud parent mode: on>

A’isyah’s overall performance was Good, with only a few areas marked Average. Her teacher’s comment was:

“Alhamdulillah she is an intelligent and confident girl. She enjoys learning and is good at maths.”

<proud parent mode: off>

Hehe. I’m not really that kiasu, but this is a good result in my books.

Tomorrow is the meeting with her teacher to discuss the report and A’isyah’s progress. That would make it my first parent-teacher meeting.

Idol 8: We have a winner!

2009-05-21T22:25:00.000+08:00

Rousing opening number with the top 13? Check.
Plugging good social causes? Check.
Mock awards ceremony? Check.
Performances from popular artists and Idol also-rans? Check.
Big, surprise result? Check!

Wait, what?

Yes, to practically everyone’s surprise, it was a come-from-behind win for Kris. I can say with confidence that the judges must have been surprised when they found out, since they’d practically crowned Adam last week. Simon’s even made predictions about Adam weeks previous to that, culminating in last night’s pronouncement that the purpose of a show like American Idol was to discover talent like Adam.

Which begs the question: did Kris deserve the win? Was it just a case of underdog votes, and complacency on the side of Adam’s fans? Did the majority of Danny’s fans move over to Kris? Maybe America just didn’t like the “screaming”? Was there a (gasp!) homophobia element to the voting?

Just shy of 100 million votes for the final show. Let’s take a moment to absorb that number shall we? [Waits a moment.] Ok, moving on.

I think most people agree that Kris represented the dark-horse of the top three, and then the final two. There’s no denying Adam’s vocal skill, and he is quite a performer. The judges summarized it nicely last night though. Kris has grown tremendously over the period of the competition, and has revealed a confident ability to put an original spin to different types of songs. And throughout, he hasn’t strayed far from his soft-rock vocal sound. His popularity has been steadily increasing, coming from behind and quietly overtaking other popular choices.

Yes, he deserved the win. Congratulations to Kris Allen on winning the eighth season of American Idol!

And before we say good night, how ’bout some highlights from the finale (all with a grin – just different kinds): encore performance from Norman Gentle; Black Eyed Peas!; the new and “improved” Bikini Girl; Kara’s wardrobe malfunction; Danny Gokey and Lionel Ritchie!; the masterful stylings of Carlos Santana; Kris’ surprise and humility.

Ok. It was a good show. Good night! :-)

A(H1N1) flu arrived on Malaysian shores

2009-05-18T21:27:00.000+08:00

Kinda ironic that after my first posting related to the A(H1N1) flu Malaysia reports its first confirmed case of the virus, quickly followed up with a second confirmed case. Both were students, returning to Malaysian shores from New York, arriving on Wednesday morning on a Malaysia Airlines flight. The second student took a second flight a few hours later, on Air Asia, up north to Penang. A few things of note about this story.

Both cases were the result of primary infections from an international location, and not a spread of the virus through domestic infection. That’s somewhat reassuring.

The Malaysia Airlines flight had a stopover in Stockholm, Sweden. Some passengers may have disembarked there. So have the Swedes been informed, and do they have any infections there now as a result?

Both students from NY, who know each other, were infected. Is the situation in the Big Apple that bad? Or did they pick up the infection from a high-risk individual, maybe someone who had recently been to a hot-bed of H1N1 infections? Or is their school the source?

How many persons from the original MAS flight have made secondary flights? That’s how the infection spreads, jumping from locale to locale. Hopefully they’ve already identified all the passengers, and the only ones traveling onwards were the ones going to Sarawak, and the one confirmed case in Penang.

This first week, until Wednesday, is probably the most high-risk time for a spread of the infection. It’s quite alarming to note that Japan now has 90+ confirmed cases of the virus, with the majority of those being domestic infections. From four persons bringing the virus from abroad, they’re now trying to contain a much larger outbreak centered on two prefectures.

Time to be careful. Wash your hands frequently. Carry one of those antibacterial handwash gels in the small bottles. By all means, wear a face mask (more especially if you feel you may be infected, cos at least you’re keeping from spreading it). And if you feel feverish or have any other symptoms of the flu get yourself checked out.

Dyson – a neat little game, by independent game designers

2009-05-15T20:39:00.001+08:00

I discovered this gem of a title from a Malaysian gaming blog, which has a section for free games. Being a rather poor gamer (sob, sob), with old hardware (sob, sob), I’m always on the lookout for good, free options to quench my gaming thirst.

Dyson was developed by Alex May and Rudolf Kremers, and was entered in this year’s Independent Games Festival. The 26.4Mb installer is downloadable from www.Dyson-game.com. It doesn’t require much in terms of computing resources, and, although there’s some delay on loading the game, it runs fine on basic hardware even when there are hundreds of little units flying around.

The premise of the game is simple enough. It most closely resembles an RTS in gameplay mechanics. The game map is a mix of different-sized asteroids, each with different levels in three attributes. Your units are “seeds” that fly around, orbiting asteroids or flying from one to another. But you don’t directly control the seeds. You can only give them instructions to fly from one asteroid to another within range, or to plant trees (two types: unit producing, or defensive) to colonize asteroids. The seeds behave according to pre-set mechanics, and have the attributes of their originating asteroids.

The minimalist design, both in terms of gameplay and aesthetics, is very pleasing and engaging. There are currently only 6 levels, and no multiplayer (not even planned), but it still promises a challenging experience. The developers promise that they still have further plans for the game, expanding the possibilities and improving on the AI. Even as it is, though, it still offers up a fun gaming experience, and I’m sure even after you complete the game you can still come back to Dyson for an occasional rush. After all, watching hundreds of seeds asteroid-hopping and crushing all resistance is fun!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to figure out how to beat level 5. You can check out a review of Dyson here.

Idol 8: To the home stretch!

2009-05-14T21:15:00.000+08:00

Wow. So Paula was only half right. Was this a shocker? Hmm. I’ve already blogged that I felt Kris has been getting stronger and stronger as the weeks went by. So, even though I’m a big fan of Danny, I’m gonna say that I’m still pleased with this result. There was no escaping Adam making it to the final, what with all the love he’s been getting from the judges week after week. Heck, even Katy Perry had his name stenciled on her cape (what’s with that?).

Kris is a good singer, and he’s quite versatile. What I like most about him is his ability to interpret a song, and put a new spin on it. He’s done that time and time again. I think that’s what he’s being rewarded for. There’s no doubt that Danny’s got skill. His final performance on Idol showed us the range of his ability. And I’m sure there’s a future in the business for him, so it’s not the end of the road. Not by a longshot.

Could Kris mount a challenge to Adam? Interesting that he was the first one saved.

We’re finally at the home stretch! (So, Lin, you gonna vote for Kris next week?)

Preventing the spread of H1N1

2009-05-14T19:55:00.000+08:00

Do you call it swine flu? That’s apparently a misnomer, since Influenza A (H1N1) is actually a combination of swine flu, bird flu, and human flu. What about Mexican/North American flu? Or is that too discriminatory? In Malaysia, people are referring to it by its full name or shortened to H1N1, so I’ll go with that.

Now, even though H1N1 isn’t headlining the news the way it did a few weeks ago, we’re still getting updates on the progress of this flu epidemic (pandemic yet?). Confirmed cases are cropping up in more and more countries around the world as the virus spreads from human host to human host. (No, you can’t get it from eating pork. I wonder if that silly fear has died away yet.)

When the virus first grabbed the world’s attention in a big way, one of the first things a lot of people did was don face masks. It was a common sight in Asia a few years back during the SARS scare, and lots of people fell back on a “tried and tested” control mechanism. But does it really help?

Slate’s Explainer examined whether surgical masks are effective at protecting against the flu virus. Quick take-away: The masks can’t filter out the viruses, since the viruses are too small. (Although, the masks would still filter larger carrier molecules, so there could be some benefit.)

So what’s the best advice? Well, it turns out that the best advice is both simple and harder to carry out. Harder, because it’s not as simple as slipping on a face mask, even though it is a simple enough thing to do: wash your hands frequently.

Sounds easy enough, right? Hold on! Did you know there’s a method to it? Yup, there’s the right way to wash your hands, and then there’s the “quick n easy” method. You know what I’m talking about. Turn on the tap, rinse your hands for a couple of secs, turn off the tap, wring your hands out.

So here’s the lowdown on how to wash your hands properly, courtesy of the Mayo Clinic. And if you need to get through to kids, try sending the teens here.

So if you see me humming Happy Birthday to myself, I’m probably washing my hands at the sink.

Idol 8: Top three

2009-05-13T21:24:00.000+08:00

First off, yes, this is an amazing top three. Never mind that all the judges basically said to Adam, “We’ll see you in the finals!” Maybe it is just a matter of who shares the stage with him in the final, before his anointment as the next American Idol. I’m less certain about Kris’ billing as “the darkhorse”. I think he showed his chops tonight.

Ok, wait, let’s rewind for a bit.

The judges’ song choices for the Idol hopefuls were actually kinda appropriate. But their personal picks were spot on! It was more noticeable for Danny and Kris though, which kinda says something about Adam. Kris doing an acoustic version of Kanye West’s Heartless? Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! My fave performance of the night. Danny’s “vocal masterclass” performance of You Are So Beautiful comes a close second. I won’t comment on Adam’s performances, since I’m not a huge Aerosmith fan, although his rendition of U2’s One was good.

So, the judges all loved Adam, no surprise, but Simon reminded everyone not to assume that he’ll make it to the finals. He basically reminded everyone to vote for him, so that he gets the chance to prove himself in the final.

Let’s just come right out and say it then. Who’s gonna accompany Adam to the final then?

Idol 8: Top five

2009-04-29T21:00:00.001+08:00

There’s only five left, and three more weeks before the final. We’re at the point where the bottom three shouldn’t be about skill, or slipups, or song choice. It’s straight up popularity with the voting audience now.

I didn’t liveblog this eppy, since there are too many breaks now. Hehe.

I thought Kris showed off what an accomplished artist/singer he is. Once again, he played nicely with the arrangement, and showed off some good vocal skills. Not sure about Simon’s negativity.

Allison just proved that she has a soft and very emotional side. Hmm. Paula actually made a decent comment when she said that Allison showed off a tender side. And maybe Simon has a point about her belief in herself, but I’m not sure it makes a difference. She was still good, despite.

Ok, is there gonna be a positive Simon-“brilliant”-effect for Matt? I thought he was alright, but not sure about brilliant.

I felt that Danny showed off more power than Matt. That’s the kind of power and range you needed to show off in Rat Pack week. Loved how he ended the song. Amazing vocals, and very nice control. More confidence and swagger than Allison? Yes, definitely. Better than previous weeks? Maybe. Does it make a difference? In the end, gotta remember what Randy said: this is a singing competition. And man, can he sing!

There is, of course, no one in the competition who has more confidence in their own ability than Adam. He knows he can sing. He knows he’s a consummate performer. It’s just a question of whether America likes his style. Even Jamie Foxx knows how skilled Adam is.

Overall, I think Jamie was a good mentor for this week, and I loved the songs this week. They all managed to carry them well too, putting on their own individual spin to their performances. Can’t imagine who has to leave the show tomorrow.

GeoCities Thrives, Yahoo! Buys, Yahoo! GeoCities Dies (finally)

2009-04-29T12:15:00.001+08:00

A bit of news has been getting a fair amount of mention lately. Yahoo! has decided to close GeoCities. I remember signing up in my uni days, and putting up a personal page. I even remember scouring the GeoCities neighbourhoods looking for a nice address. By the time Yahoo! bought it though, I had already lost interest in staking out a position on the net.

And now, after being left behind in relative obscurity due to the meteoric rise of social networking sites and their ilk, the once popular free web-hosting site is being put down. Yahoo!’s not sharing much in the way of details right now, instead telling customers to “wait until the summer”.

The only details really of any interest right now are how to save a copy of your website, or how to migrate it to their paid hosting service. There are no further details to be had. GeoCities is shutting down. For good. They’ve already stopped accepting new registrations. By the end of this year there won’t be any more sites at geocities.com. Interestingly though, if you have a geocities.com email address, that will survive the closure.

I’ve already deleted my (woefully neglected, embarrassingly amateurish) GeoCities site. Now it only exists (partly) in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine opening soon

2009-04-28T17:31:00.001+08:00

The latest X-Men movie is opening soon. I need to see this. On the big screen.

That’s it really. Just had to note this. :-)

By the way, better stay til the end of the credits. Definitely don’t want to miss any hidden scenes!

Idol 8: Down to five

2009-04-23T21:00:00.001+08:00

So we have our top five. Anoop had to go home, just so Allison could go on a little further. It was amazing that David Archuleta just spoke with them, and said that you don’t have to go all the way to have all sorts of doors open for you. I think that’ll apply to anyone from this group, including, most likely, the two who didn’t get enough votes tonight.

Idol 8: Two going home

2009-04-23T20:46:00.001+08:00

First out was Lil. I’m not disappointed with that result. Nothing against her. She can sing, but I just got tired of it after awhile. It was the same thing, again and again.

Safe:
Kris – Yes. No doubt there.
Adam – No surprise, at all.
Danny – Does he lack starpower? Is it the moves, or apparent lack thereof? Is that what Simon means by awkward? He definitely has the voice.
Matt – Hmm. I did like him – certain weeks.

Anoop goes to the other side. That’s iffy. I really think he’s showed how he’s been getting better and better.

Allison joins Anoop. Sigh. I really liked her, cos she brings a nice originality. A rock spin to her songs.

Let it not be said that Australians don’t respect Muslims’ needs

2009-04-23T11:07:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, while liveblogging American Idol, I linked to the official Tourism Australia site. They’ve rolled out an ad campaign that’s featured quite heavily on Astro at the moment (it’s a nice spot too).

One thing that immediately struck me when I visited their website was an item on the front page. Right there, under the Special Features column, there’s a download link for their Muslim Visitors’ Directory to Australia, which is described as “your handy pocket-size directory listing restaurants that caters to the dining requirements of Muslim visitors, as well as locations to mosques”. Now, I haven’t downloaded the directory, so I don’t know how helpful or comprehensive it is, but it’s amazing just to find it there on the front page in the first place.

How many other tourism sites for non-Muslim countries have something similar? I think it’s a great move, and is a huge sign of respect to the sensitivities of Muslims. Most places would leave it to the Muslim traveler to find out where to find places of worship, and halal eateries. Maybe there would be special tourist agencies to cater to that market. Or maybe you’d have to rely on your own embassy to aid you with that information. But to have it right there on the country’s official tourism site is just very convenient.

Now, despite the conventional wisdom about greater Middle Eastern/Muslim tourist arrivals in the area, I don’t think it’s necessarily about grabbing that market. Granted, it probably plays some role, but delving into the tourist arrival statistics (available here) shows that it’s not really that huge a market share.

If you consider only arrivals from the Middle East, 2007 figures for total inbound market value (tourist dollar spend) show a ~2.2% market share. Projections for 2009 show this increasing to 3.0%. If you add in figures from Indonesia and Malaysia (not all, obviously), this can double, but it’s still less than 10% of the total. So it’s not entirely a numbers game. Being in the neighbourhood of the largest Muslim nation in the world probably plays a part though, so it’s a smart move, no matter the motivation.

Kudos to Tourism Australia.

Idol 8: Top seven – Pt 6

2009-04-22T21:02:00.001+08:00

Definitely back from the last break now. Only one left to go.

You know, maybe that Walkabout spot is just getting a bit too much exposure. I’d like them to mix it up a bit. There’s gotta be more to Australia, so why not showcase it?

Anoop – Starts off showing off his vocal range already. That’s good. Ended a bit rough, but still was good. I’ll agree with Kara, loved how he switched up and hit a variety of notes.

So there we have it. Which two are going home tomorrow? Wow. That’s gonna be interesting. My favourites of the night were Kris and Danny, and that’s the only easy part. Not gonna try predicting who gets kicked off.

Idol 8: Top seven – Pt 5

2009-04-22T20:52:00.001+08:00

Back from the last (?) break.

Matt – How appropriate to pick “Staying Alive”. Perfect for the puns. Hmm. Undecided on whether that was actually a good choice tho. Even after the judges’ comments, I’m not sure.

Oh wait. They’re milking this show for all it’s worth. Why not? One more break then.

Idol 8: Top seven – Pt 4

2009-04-22T20:44:00.001+08:00

Back from the third break.

Adam – Definitely looking sharp, if that helps (and it might). Well, that certainly was brave and original. It’s true, he does show off his range, by doing something different each week. And I’ll give it to him this week: he showed emotion. At least he’s always original, you gotta give him that.

This should be the last break.

Idol 8: Top seven – Pt 3

2009-04-22T20:35:00.000+08:00

Back from the second break.

Incidentally, anyone have the urge to go Walkabout?

Danny – Oh yeah. Nice and high energy. Hit the right notes, and did work it out. Paula: “I’ll still see you in the finals!” Yeah, sure hope so.

Allison – She’s really rocking it. I liked how she started it, and worked it up to the quick pace. “Hot stuff”, all right.

Another break.

Idol 8: Top seven – Pt 2

2009-04-22T20:22:00.001+08:00

Back from the first break.

Kris – Ooh. Acoustic. Nice. Low-key. Love the arrangement. This guy has consistently improved week by week. The judges got it right, it was fantastically original.

Another break so soon? Sigh.

Idol 8: Top seven (again)

2009-04-22T20:13:00.001+08:00

Well, the stakes are higher this time around. Two are guaranteed to go home tomorrow. Let’s see who brings their A game today.

Lil – Ok, high energy. The judges were disappointed, but that’s not really a surprise. Gonna have to agree with Simon: I didn’t see the originality. Still think there’s gonna be a sizable “sympathy” vote for her tho. They love to vote for the underdog, and who else is the underdog in this group? They’ve been telling her week after week that they think she’s in trouble, and yet she survives for another week. We’ll see.

First commercial break.

The mental calisthenics of avoiding paying taxes

2009-04-22T11:09:00.000+08:00

It’s tax season. Responsible citizens everywhere are getting headaches figuring out how to file their tax returns. It’s an onerous task, what with all the different regulations and exceptions in the different tax codes. That’s why they have professionals to assist the regular Joe figure it all out. There’s a whole industry out there related to taxes, and it’s not just for firms, but individuals too.

As we grow older we come to the realization that “nothing is certain but death and taxes”, but it’s only the latter that vexes us on a predictable annual schedule.

But maybe we should focus on how I opened this post. Responsible citizens are the ones braving the tedium of filing their tax returns and actually paying their taxes. Yes, not everyone is a responsible citizen. I’m sure we all know those who couldn’t be bothered, thinking that it’s a low priority offense and no one gets hurt in the process. Or maybe they think that it’s too much of a hassle. Or maybe they object to the principle of the matter. Or maybe there’s a political angle to it.

And that’s where things start to get ridiculous. Not paying taxes because you don’t support the current government? What nonsense! Would you propose to forgo all public services in the meantime? And how should we identify you if you did? Will you proudly showcase your political affiliation on your sleeve, so that you may be excluded from receiving public services that others support with their taxes?

Or did you think there are some things provided free of charge? Those doctors in the government hospitals aren’t doing their duty purely out of the goodness of their hearts. They still need to bring paychecks home. How do they get paid? Out of the government’s coffers, of course. And where do the funds come from? Why, 43% of the Federal Government’s budget is financed through income tax. (Look it up yourself. Try using the government websites, maintained using public funds by the way.)

Don’t go to government hospitals, you say? Or send your kids to public schools?

Fine then. Don’t expect the police to help you when you’re a victim of crime then. Or the fire department to put out the fire burning down your mansion. They’ll help your neighbour who pays taxes though, while you stand outside moaning. Maybe you can hire private contractors to put out the fire. After all, you don’t trust the current government to use your tax dollars (ringgit, whatever) responsibly. So you’re on your own. Just the way you like it.

How about the next argument? We’re taxed too heavily! It’s a burden! Too much of our money is going to the government, and being wasted on all those wasteful and unnecessary and wrong “study trips”!

I’ve got news for you too. Let’s look at KPMG’s survey. They’re a reputable enough consultancy firm, so you don’t have to judge based on my credentials. For 2008, the highest tax rate on personal income in Malaysia was 28%. That’s a marginal tax rate, by the way, so it’s not 28% of your total income. But 28% on the upper portion of your taxable income. The global average was 28.8%. But let’s look closer to home, shall we? Let’s focus on ASEAN countries. There’s data on 6 of them (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). The average was 32%, with the lowest in Singapore (20% - no surprise there really), and the highest in Vietnam (40%). So we’re lower than the average.

Then there’s the level at which that highest marginal tax rate kicks in (there’s no such thing as a flat tax). For Malaysia it was RM250,000. Converting all the other ASEAN countries’ currencies to RM (at prevailing rates), we find that the average was RM272,716.07. The Singaporeans are lucky, cos you’d you have to be pretty damn rich (RM771,328) before you get hit by their highest tax rate. The Vietnamese, however, are doubly unlucky. If you make less than half a Malaysian (at RM100,302), you’re already hit by that highest rate, which was already the highest in the region.

Think we have it bad? Think again.

My take on all this hand-wringing? It’s just a lazy mentality. “I want it free!” Bah! Suck it up, I say. Do your duty. Pay your taxes.

Idol 8: They used the save to keep it at seven!

2009-04-16T21:03:00.001+08:00

Wow. Well, I’m actually a bit surprised. Idol history tonight. You know what this means though, right? Two people are going home next week. That could be nail-biting.

Overall, it was a good evening. The opening number was my fave so far. And the two artists (Jennifer Hudson and Miley Cirus – yes, I know!) were actually good.

So next week is disco week, huh? Hehe. That should be fun.

Idol 8: Top seven bottom three

2009-04-16T20:43:00.000+08:00

Do we need the judge’s save tonight?

[Wait a minute.]

Yes! Ok, no we may not need it after all. :-)

Was that an Idol challenger I heard?

2009-04-15T20:59:00.001+08:00

Sorry, Randy, I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that assessment of Kris. I thought that was actually pretty good. One of the highlights of the night, for me at least.

At the end of the night, I’m undecided about the bottom three. Hmm. Will there be a need for the judge’s save tomorrow?

American Idol Season 8 is now a race for second place

2009-04-15T20:35:00.000+08:00

I mean, seriously, can there be any doubt that Adam Lambert won’t win the competition? The voice control, the stage presence, the theatrics. He’s on a whole ’nother level. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the others at this stage too. Shoutouts to Danny, Allison, Kris, Anoop, and Matt. Sorry, Lil, you don’t really excite me at this point. But Adam’s in a league of his own. I suppose there’s stilll the odd chance that it’s not to Americans’ tastes, but it sure is looking less likely from where I’m sitting.

A’isyah’s school trip to the zoo

2009-04-15T11:39:00.000+08:00

A’isyah’s going on her first school trip today. She’s been excited about this visit to the zoo since last week, when we found out about it. Good thing her cold/runny nose cleared up in time (thanks Actifed!), so it wouldn’t be too much of a bother today. I still packed some tissues in her bag, just in case. At the last minute I gave her a cap to wear, but the skies were overcast this morning, so she’ll probably not need the protection from the hot sun.

This isn’t her first visit to the National Zoo, so I’m sure she’ll have a good time. She just loves looking at animals, and I always enjoy taking her to places with animals. I think it’s important for kids to get a chance to know the natural world and the many different lifeforms around us. The many charms of nature are probably a universal fascination for children, so it’s just up to the adults to ensure that future generations have the opportunity to satisfy that curiosity.

On A’isyah’s first visit last year just after her third birthday, I think we got tired before she did. Hehe.

I’ve just found out a little bit more about Zoo Negara; for example, 2009 is Visit Zoo Negara Year. No matter what critics may say about our National Zoo, it plays an important role, so I sure hope more of us support the Malaysian Zoological Society and visit the zoo.

Decided on those blog aggregators

2009-04-14T14:54:00.002+08:00

Well, seems I’ve made up my mind on which blog aggregator to visit regularly. I find myself drawn to blogged.my and Negaraku, with an occasional visit to SARAwho. Those sites are responsive and offer a good choice of blogs to discover, with interesting posts that I’d actually click through to read.

Opinion and truth

2009-04-07T12:10:00.001+08:00

When does one’s opinion become the truth?

What if someone believed “something”? What if some other people (second parties) confirmed the first party’s belief in that “something”? Can we consider it truth? Verifiable? What if that “something” concerned another party’s motives? What if there is perceived motive to deceive the first party? Should we bother to consider the assertions of the third party? To another group, the fourth party, what is the truth? Would that not rely on their allegiances, if any, to the other parties?

For how do you verify motives, when they deal with the subject of emotions?

Look to their actions then.

Change isn’t easy

2009-04-06T16:26:00.000+08:00

Sometimes you can’t avoid it. Sometimes you don’t want to avoid it. That doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy. It just prepares you for change.

And yet, you can’t always be fully ready for the change, when it comes.

Sometimes change happens to you, and sometimes you are the instigator. Both roles are still just as affected.

Is there a point in assigning blame? Maybe. If only to avoid it in future, if at all possible.

I remain, cryptically, awaiting change. Because some of it has already happened. And more is around the corner.

Considering alternative blog aggregators

2009-04-03T15:30:00.000+08:00

An anonymous commenter on my previous post pointed me out to several alternative blog aggregator sites. I’d already discovered one of them, and heard about another of them, but two were completely new to me. So I decided to try them all out and compare them. My first impressions below.

blogged.my

The site loads up fast for me, including the different ways of viewing the site. They do have one interesting feature in the “most popular” section, akin to a mini digg section. Here you can view the top ten pings in the last 24 hours, week, month, or year. Their pings are listed as short blurbs. It’s paginated, so you can view previous pings as well. You can navigate by browsing tags, the most popular pings, and even by popular tags via the tag cloud at the bottom. They also have a search box on the sidebar near the top.

SARAwho

I found out about this one at the same time that I discovered blogged.my. It’s supposed to be for Southeast Asian blogs, even though it seems to be pretty much dominated by the Malaysians right now. I’m not sure if that’s a function of the prolific writings of Malaysian bloggers, or the level of outreach for the site. Judging from the number of updates, I’d guess it’s due to the latter reason.

SARAwho has a few feeds on the right sidebar, and you can view the pings from the last 4 hours, 8 hours (default view), 16 hours, 1 day, or 1 week.

Beras Padu

I’d heard of Beras Padu before, from other blog posts, but I’ve never visited the site. This is laid out in similar style to SARAwho, although I’m not sure which site copied which. There are certainly more malay bloggers pinging here, and overall it gets a lot of pings.

The site loads up pretty quickly. Beras Padu has a “reader community” and the right sidebar has links to selected blog posts. You can view the pings from the last 12 hours (default view), 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week. There’s even an RSS feed for Beras Padu, although you’ll have to click through to the owner’s site to grab the link.

Planet Malaysia

This one is new to me. Planet Malaysia started as a small portal for Malaysian bloggers, and it seems to have grown in time.

The site takes awhile to load up for me, probably because it doesn’t just list links to other blogs. I’m not sure how their members ping the site, since the site has more than just links to blogs. The individual entries seem to be in custom formats, with text, formatting, and pics. The way it’s done, you may never need to click through to the original blog.

The site isn’t paginated, and there’s no way to filter posts. On the right sidebar you’ll find links to archives, a blog roll, and links to recent posts.

Negaraku

Another new one for me. They have a Facebook Group, and member profiles. Their banner, however, doesn’t display correctly on this system and looks quite bad.

The site loads up pretty quickly. Arranged at the top are Category links. The posts seem to be “rated” for buzz, and you can view those popular posts. The right sidebar has links to the popular posts of the day, the previous day, the week, the month, and the year. They also have a tag cloud. The post listings have short blurbs, and some even come with full-size photos. The site is paginated, so you can browse the pings in batches.

I don’t think there’s a clear “winner” in this list. They’ll all appeal to different people of course. For myself, I haven’t decided yet which one(s) I’ll visit regularly.

Setting records in by-election nominations

2009-03-30T16:20:00.000+08:00

Ok, this is certainly interesting. One of the three scheduled by-elections for next month in three far-flung constituencies has just seen 15 candidates qualify the nomination round! This, for a constituency with 5,140 registered voters (as per The Star’s reporting). Let’s assume a 70% voter turnout. At that rate, each of the thirteen independent candidates only needs to guarantee about 240 votes to make it interesting for the two main political parties vying for the seat. Seems doable for an independent.

PPS no more

2009-03-24T19:01:00.000+08:00

Boy, am I glad I stopped pinging PPS some time back. (Leave aside the fact that I don’t have many posts in the first place. Hehe.) I just visited PPS recently, and have discovered that it has a new owner. I figured there was change, what with the addition and re-arrangement of ads on the site. And I don’t think I like the new direction the site will be headed. So, I’ve started my search of alternatives. First up is blogged.my, which seems decent. I’m not gonna start pinging again, but I’ll “vote” with my clicks. I’ll be visiting that aggregator instead, for updates on the Malaysian blogosphere.

Milestone: A’isyah on the slide!

2009-02-06T19:10:00.000+08:00

The 100th post is usually regarded as some sort of milestone. And though this post is the 100th post on my blog, I’m not really trying to commemorate it. Besides, this post makes 100 by virtue of my merging my other blog with this one, bringing in a few posts when I wasn’t actively blogging.

Rather, I want to celebrate a much more fun milestone! Although, I’m about three weeks late in celebrating it. Hehe.

A’isyah’s always been a bit wary of heights. She doesn’t mind climbing, that’s for sure. She’s always climbing on the back of the sofa for example. She’s even gone up slides before. It’s just coming down the slides that’s been a problem for her. For some reason, she’s always been afraid to take the plunge and just ended up going down the stairs again.

Although Nany said that A’isyah’s been ok with slides for a couple of months now, whenever I take her out, she was still reluctant to go down any slides.

That is, until we went out to Nando’s at Bangsar Village. They have a small play area, and there were two little girls playing there. So A’isyah decided to join them, and didn’t hesitate to take the slide down. Yay! Maybe all she needed was company. Whatever it was, the floodgates have been opened! Now she just loves to go on the slides.

This, I think, is a serious milestone. It really opens up playground explorations, which is good for confidence, strength, and curiosity (amongst other useful traits).

So here’s to milestones!

Pulling in visitors from around the world

2009-02-06T19:00:00.001+08:00

Well, I guess I should send a shout-out to Sgt. Al Thompson. My post on that Iraq gold scam certainly has brought in a lot of visitors from around the globe. Sure testament to the reach of that particular scam email.

And it seems myth-busting in general draws in visits. No surprise there really, since there’s not much reason for random visitors to find my blog. This here is just a personal blog. So here’s a shout-out to Nichole Dishuk (RIP), and kids ball pits!

The only other posts that have received random visits are a tech advice piece on ntrights, a clarification on the difference between dateline and deadline, and my post(s) on colgate toothpaste.

I’m probably gonna continue getting visitors on those topics from around the world, and may even capture random visits on future posts. It’s a bit strange for a non-specialist blog tho, I think.

No matter tho, since I’ll just keep on doing my own thing. As Eek the Cat says, “It never hurts to help!” :-)

Pulling updates out of draft-limbo

2009-02-03T20:55:00.000+08:00

Sometime back I had written that I was going to update my blog with some old posts. But then things went quiet. I didn’t update in a long while. And when I finally did update, I’d forgotten about my earlier promise. So I went back and checked the drafts, and decided to flesh out two that deserved a spot on this blog. And so, just to be completist, I’ve published those posts here and here.

Colgate haram Google search

2009-01-28T15:50:00.000+08:00

Odd.

So I wrote earlier about my blog post on the halal status of Colgate toothpaste showing up (kinda) high in Google search results. At least, I thought so. I mean, that’s what I got when I did a Google search with the same search terms as my intrepid visitor.

When I related the story to someone else though, their results varied. Not sure whether that’s because of a localized version (I’m currently defaulted to www.google.com.my), or some other customization due to IP address location or something else. I’ve never really paused to ponder how Google throws its search results together. They’ve served me well enough over the years.

It’s just odd that a search for the same terms, at the same time, gives different results, with my blog post showing up in one, but not another. And just so no one thinks it was some vainglorious self-promoting ego-trip, I snapped a pic of my search results.

If the above looks suspicious, just keep in mind it’s a crop from a pdf print of the search results page.

Ah well. Someone else managed to find my blog post via Google, so it doesn’t matter how that happened. Just hope it helped someone.

An activist is born!

2009-01-20T13:29:00.001+08:00

So much for staying private. :-) I’ve just started a “movement” blog to save A’isyah’s pre-school from being evicted. I’ll be pinging that blog to PPS, and that opens up a path to this blog, although convoluted.

I’m a newbie to the whole activist scene. I’m not even active on the current Gaza War issue, beyond announcing my views in my FB status and having discussions with some friends and colleagues. That’s the hot-button issue here right now, of course. Hotter even than the recent Kuala Terengganu by-elections where BN lost.

So here, I am, fumbling through an issue more personal to me.

Save the Al Hidayah Islamic Pre-School!

419 scam: Want a share of some millions “found” in Baghdad during the war?

2009-01-12T16:33:00.001+08:00

Oh my. My blog is turning into some myth-busting site. Hehe.

I received an email this afternoon, forwarded to me by a colleague. Alarm bells went ringing as soon as I saw the header. An email from someone within the US Army? Can’t be.

And then I read the email. My mind was pretty much made up by then that this was some kind of scam.

Here’s the email that was forwarded. Take note of the From: field.

From: Sgt.Al Thompson [mailto:thompson@usarmy.com]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 10:24 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Matter Of Interest.

Matter Of Interest.

My name is Sgt.Al Thompson, a member of the U.S. ARMY USARPAC Medical Team, which was deployed to Iraq in the beginning of the Iraq’s war. I will like to share some highly classified information about my personal experience and role which I played in the pursuit of my career serving under the U.S ARMY.

Though, I would like to hold back some certain information for security reasons for now until you have find the time to visit the BBC website stated below to enable you have insight as to what I'm intending to share with you, believing that it would be of your desired interest one-way or the other. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

Please get back to me after visiting the above website to enable us discuss more. I'm not comfortable sending this message to you without knowing fully well if you are indeed with me or you may decides to go public.

Please reply me via my personal email:sgt.althompsonus@gmail.com confirming you have visited the site and that you have understood my intentions.
Thanks,
Best Regards,
Sgt.Al Thompson

Let’s just try to ignore the bad grammar, shall we? ;-) It didn’t take much to unravel this scam that I wonder if anyone’s been taken in by it.

My “Internet sleuth” quick response below:

Dear All,

Beware! This is a variation on the (419) Nigerian email scams on the internet. The way it works is, the scammers offer a share in huge sums of money, but you need to pay them some advance fees first (for “processing”, etc.).

Please see:
Phishbucket article

Break The Chain forum post

This one capitalizes on a real event, which was reported by the BBC (hence the legitimate link in the email). The gist: A stash of money was found in some containers in Baghdad, but there are some questions as to where the money came from and even whether all the money found has been accounted for.

Don’t fall for this scam!

I don’t usually use the Importance: High flag in email, but I did with my response above. Just wanted to make sure no one had already tried contacting the scammers. They can be quite persuasive apparently.

On another note, these scammers aren’t very imaginative when it comes to the fake names, eh?

Dangers of birth control pills?

2009-01-07T17:43:00.001+08:00

Another entry in the “Internet sleuth” series, from an email I researched this morning.

This time, I’ll include the quoted email that was forwarded to me:

Menstrual cycle - very important send to all your friends.

I am sure most of you have a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a friend or a friend's daughter... this might be worth checking out. PASS THIS ON EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE IT!!

Recently, this past week, my cousin Nicole Dishuk (age 31... a newly graduated student with a doctoral degree about to start her new career as a Doctor...) was flown into a nearby hospital, because she passed out. They found a blood clot in her neck, and immediately took her by helicopter to the ER to operate. By the time they removed the right half of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain, the clot had spread to her brain causing severe damage. Since last Wednesday night, she was fighting for her life. They induced her into a coma to stop the blood flow and then operated 3 times.

Finally, they said there was nothing left that they could do. Multiple clots in the left side of her brain were found, the swelling wouldn't stop and she was on the life support. She died at 4:30 that day. She leaves behind her husband, a 2-year old, Brandon and a 4-year old, Justin.

The CAUSE of DEATH they found was a birth control she was taking that allows you to only have your period 3 times a year. Doctors said it interrupts life's menstrual cycle, and although it is FDA approved... it shouldn't be. So to the women in my address book, I ask you to boycott this product and deal with your periods once a month, so you can live the rest of the months that life has in store for you.

Please send this to every woman you know - you may save someone's life. Remember you have a cycle for a reason.

FYI: The name of this new birth control is Lybrel. If you go to Lybrel.com you will find a least 26 pages of information regarding this drug. The second birth control is Seasonique. If you go to Seasonique.com you will find at least 43 pages of information regarding this drug. The warning and side effects regarding both pills are horrible.

Please forward this to as many daughters AND sons, co-workers, friends and relatives. Several lives have already been changed.

God bless!

And the response I sent out, after my research:

Hi All!

Another one to investigate. This one I took on mainly because I personally know women who have trouble with their normal menstrual cycles and have opted to use medication to control certain aspects of it.

First check reveals that it appears to be a mixed bag. There’s info debunking the urban legend of Nicole Dishuk:
Snopes page on Dishuk

Interesting to note that the original “warning” didn’t include info on particular brands of birth control pills. That info was apparently added on in later cycles of the email forward.

But, yes, there is a real case of a woman named Nicole Dishuk, PhD in psychology, married and mother of two young boys, who died of a stroke. From here on out, however, it gets murky. There is no definitive proof that the cause of death was the birth control pills she was taking, even though there is a news report (here: ABCLocal site) saying her husband was told that the doctors identified the birth control pills as the only risk factor for Nicole to suffer a stroke (blood clot to the brain). Whether this was established as the cause of death is unknown, because the private medical records are not available. Note also that there is no indication she even took either of the two brands identified in the “warning” below.

And here one has to note that all medication comes with risks, and contraindications are noted precisely to highlight potential risks.

So this is where we get controversial. A good jumping off point for different points of view on this topic can be found here:
About.com site on Contraception

Some say we should go au naturel, and avoid all medicines entirely, because they interrupt with the “normal” body functions. See the “warning” that was just forwarded below. Or some comments posted under the About.com post above:
“Anything that interupts (sic) a life cycle has to be dangerous.”
“Nutrition feeds the cells which in turn communicate with our 600 trillion cells helping the body to heal itself. … Put synthetic drugs in a human body and take the consequences.”

Some take the opposing stand, noting that a lot of medicines do a lot of good to people who may not have the same “normal” experiences as the majority.
There’s the case of someone who “started getting (her) period at the age of 11, when (she) first started getting (her) period (her) cycle was 35 days long and (her) actual period was 8 days long.” This person went on birth control pills at 17 and no longer suffers such terrible PMS symptoms or cramps. And there are other cases such as hers.

Some say that anyone taking medication should be responsible over their own bodies and be informed about any risks they may face.

There are many opinions on the matter, but in the end, ladies, it’s your prerogative. Stay informed.

Conclusion: Not all birth control pills are suitable for all women; you have to be aware of any potential risk factors. However, it is unfair to depict them as dangerous and having no benefit whatsoever.

It’s easy enough to sympathize with the origins of this particular myth. But there’s a danger to perpetuating misinformation, in that it could scare women off potentially useful information regarding contraceptives. All in all, a thorny subject, but still, better to spread knowledge than ignorance!