An interesting piece of reading! Taking a break from the Obama-fever (congrats to him btw), this piece about conspiracy theories in general really gives you a refreshing take on the subject matter. Ripped off from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4319574.stm
By Harold Evans
In his weekly opinion column, Harold Evans takes issue with Michael Crichton's latest thriller, in which global warming is the work of mad eco-scientists.
Do you ever read that line on an early page of a novel: "Any connection between the characters and events herein portrayed, and real people, is purely coincidental."
In Michael Crichton's State of Fear, I'd say the connection was purely intentional. It's about the kind of hurricanes, floods, tsunamis and tornadoes we've been experiencing. Crichton's trade is to bring pleasurable terror to millions by spinning tales of science gone amok - as in Jurassic Park and the Andromeda Strain.
In this new bestseller those hurricanes etc aren't natural disasters at all. They are the creations of global warming activists - eco-maniacs desperate to publicise the case for controlling emissions of carbon dioxide. To make sure you get his point, Crichton adds a 32-page footnote documenting his own conviction that global warming is an unscientific scare.
What about the contrary worldwide consensus of scientists that global warming is a man-made disaster in the making? Crichton's answer: "If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus." As I suppose in the old consensus that the earth is flat.
Crichton's is not actually a thesis that the displaced folks in Louisiana and Texas can concentrate on at the moment in the wake of Katrina and Rita. Yet for his polemic on global warming, Crichton has become something of a hero to the groups fighting hard to stop anything like the Kyoto treaty.
The well-endowed think tank, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy, honoured Crichton with an invitation to Washington to address its members - not on the novel, but on science policy in the 21st Century. The point of that was to embrace Crichton's attack on what he calls the pseudo-science of global warming. It's not easy to embrace Crichton himself; he is an intimidating 6ft 9 inches.
Michael Crichton: 'Something of a hero'
The sceptics on global warming needed this kind of reinforcement. They have mostly been keeping quiet after the ferocity of Katrina and Rita, widely blamed in the press on the unusually hot waters of the Gulf. Al Gore, in a rousing "action now" speech that impressed business leaders at the Clinton summit in New York recently, pointed out that since the 1970s, hurricanes both in the Atlantic and Pacific have increased in intensity by about 50%.
'Great hoax'?
It is quite significant that while President Bush has been active on hurricane relief, he has not reiterated his well-aired doubts about whether global warming is a real threat or a scare. Nor have we heard much from the Republican chairman of the Senate Environment Committee.
Senator James Inhofe's previous best effort was this: "With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phoney science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it."
The senator did not explain quite how 2,000 top scientists in 100 countries could have been persuaded in 2004 to produce a rare consensus that gas emissions left unchecked will produce a series of catastrophes. Nor is he likely to try and explain in the post-Katrina atmosphere.
Hurricanes are now more intenseThe conspiracy Crichton outlined in his novel might seem tailor-made for Hollywood - scientists manipulating weather systems to suit their own leftie agenda. But it is very much in the paranoid political style identified by the renowned historian Richard Hofstadter. There are still people who just know that FDR conspired with Winston Churchill to have the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. There are millions who just know that JFK's assassin, the shooter on the grassy hill in Dallas, was hired by Lyndon Johnson.
As a historian, I have never been much impressed by conspiracy theories left or right. Too often, they are exalted by non-evidence - "proved" by records that have disappeared, "witnesses" whose stories have been suppressed. But if you happen to be in the market for a conspiracy theory today, there's a rather more credible one documented by the pressure group Greenpeace. Just bend an ear for a moment for the names of a few organizations very much concerned with global warming.
You wouldn't guess it but all these highfalutin bodies are dedicated to undermining the science of global warming and preventing America signing something like the Kyoto Treaty. And again, you wouldn't guess it, but they take thousands of dollars from Exxon Mobil. It's the world's largest oil company and a high profile opponent of Kyoto for imposing too many costs on the developed world.
- Advancement of Sound Science Centre Inc
- Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
- Heartland Institute
- Competitive Enterprise Institute
- Annapolis Center for Science-based Public Policy
The five groups I mentioned are not the only ones with deceptive titles. Greenpeace has identified 40 such mouths at the Exxon nipple. So what's wrong about this? For one thing I'd guess you'd be a bit more sceptical of their pronouncements on global warming if they made it clear that they are not - shall we say - unrelated to the interests of their Exxon sponsors.
Grazing on drought-stricken landI asked Exxon about supporting so many of these propaganda groups. They point out that pro-Kyoto foundations give out much more money than they do, and that's true. What's disturbing to me is that the groups Exxon supports are much less forthcoming about their connections; they are often treated in the media as if they were wholly independent scientific bodies.
In addition Exxon has done something positive in committing $100m to Stanford University for research into new energy technology. So where's the rub? Well, funding long-term research like this is all well and good. The trouble is - as the economist Keynes famously said in another context - in the long-term we are all dead. The damage is being done here and now every day. It is accelerating - and it is damage that could be irreversible.
Smear tactics
All the delaying tactics, denials and obfuscations bring to mind what happened in 1974 to two American scientists, Professor Sherwood Roland and Dr Mario Molina. They coolly set out the evidence that the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigeration, aerosols and air conditioning were eating at the ozone layer which protects mankind and plants from dangerous ultraviolet radiation.
They were at once smeared as scaremongers. The manufacturers ran an all too successful campaign to fog the issue. A lazy media bought into it. The public got bored and bamboozled. And as they did so, millions more tons of the pollutant were added to the atmosphere.
The era of procrastination is coming to a close; in its place we are entering a period of consequences
Winston ChurchillThirteen years later when the world finally woke up to an ozone hole bigger than anyone had predicted, there was a swift international agreement - led by the US - to find alternatives to the CFCs. In the meantime, great damage had been done.
Winston Churchill back in the 1930s had this to say about another government that didn't believe a threat was real. As the Chamberlain Cabinet dithered about Hitler, Churchill warned: "They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent."
And he concluded: "The era of procrastination, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences."
We are entering that period now with global warming. And if quoting Churchill in this context puts me in Michael Crichton's class of conspirators, I will bear it with fortitude.
Hear A Point of View in the BBC Radio Player
Recently there was this furore about Majlis Fatwa going about discussing whether or not Yoga, is haram or not.
Taken from the blog RantingsbyMM by Marina Mahathir, I find this comment from one of the reader most interesting indeed and have decided to put it all here for all to read/see/talk/discuss with friends. It's not much on Yoga, more on what a fatwa is all about. If you find it wrong or misleading or whatever, feel free to give a comment or two. :)
1. Members of the Majlis Fatwa are selected from scholars of various disciplines of Islamic knowledge such as Hadith, Qur'an, Fiqh, Usuluddin etc.
2. Fatwas are not issued for fun.
3. A Fatwa is needed for issues where its halal or haram is not direclty mentioned in the Qur'an.
4. A Fatwa is the interpretation based on the knowledge and understanding of an issue in a particular time, and place. So a Fatwa can change as an issue is better understood by way of research, or sudden inspiration. Since our life evolves around new things, we will certainly need Fatwas from time to time.
5. A Fatwa is a way out for those who do not wish to push the limit of 'harus' to the maximum. He or she prefers to remain safe from 'syubhah' or associating themselves with something that is close to being haram.
e.g: Majlis Fatwa has issued a decision on cigarette. It's haram based on medical reasons of the day and statistics i.e people who smoke are more prone to getting cancer compared with those who don't. So if you smoke it's like you're subjecting your body to getting cancer, which is close to suicide, which is haram.
If you wish to smoke, it's all right because Qur'an doesn't mention anything about smoking. As far as Qur'an is concerned you can smoke the whole cigarettes in the ciggy factory if you want. And you can still argue with God that since it's not mentioned in the Qur'an you figure it's all right to smoke.
But for those who wish be closer to Allah - they may chose not to smoke based on this Fatwa.
(Not a big deal - the choice is yours)
Members of Majlis Fatwa is made up of liberal-minded individuals with exceptional intelligence that Allah has given them. They have more open discussions than what you have accused them of here. They've had discussions with M. Nasir on lyrics, music and such. They've had discussion with gays and homosexuals. They don't have to tell you about this.
A Fatwa (yet to be issued) on Yoga is in the process of being discussed. You can bet your left ear that by the time they're done with it, they will have understood Yoga better than the most senior Yogi the bear.
The Majlis Fatwa, like the rest of Majlis Fatwa in other Islamic countries, have issued thousands of Fatwas for matters you may consider trivial, but a big deal to those who want to be close to Allah and do not wish to commit 'syubhah'.
That's what Islam is about. It's about obtaining the 'redha' from Allah because you know everything you do here, will be questioned in the hereafter.
Of course, a great many Muslims do not really think that the hereafter is a big deal and so it doesn't really matter to them whether or not Allah 'redha' for all their actions here.
One of the signs that you don't care all that much about Allah is when you feel uncomfortable with the sound of people reading the Qur'an. Or people talking about Qur'an. Instead you make it your mission to point all the 'flaws' in the Qur'an so that you have this thing in your heart whispering; if Qur'an is perfect, then how come Allah has imposed so much rules on women like tudung.
And you have this doubt in your heart that Qur'an is not the ultimate truth, which is why you don't read it every day. Besides you don't speak Arabic. Since you're the type who understand what you read, you figure there's no point in reading the Qur'an. But you forget, people have read Qur'an for more than a thousand years and a great many of them don't understand a word what it means but yet, they find it beautiful.
This blows your mind away. Which is why you figure; I'm a Muslim but I'm a thinking Muslim. Which why you figure you don't need HIDAYAH.
It's just a Fatwa. Not a big deal. You may choose to follow. You may choose not to follow. You may choose to make Yoga your way of life because it is just a form of exercise. Or you may choose to sing songs in a church because you figure, it's just a song.
Each will answer before Allah our action. There's no force in Islam?
Is it just me or has the cinema scene here in KL have become rather dull as of late?
I mean seriously, it has become really congested with 'Thai' and 'horror' genre movies - which is not to my liking.
Anywho, these below however do pique my interest a bit. Can't wait to see'em.
Director: Frank Miller
Starring: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eve Mendes, Jaime King
Genre: Action
In Cathay Cineplexes 25 December 2008
Transporter 3
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, Robert Knepper
Genre: Action
In Cathay Cineplexes 4 December 2008
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
Director: David Yates
Starring: Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton
Genre: Adventure / Fantasy
In Cathay Cineplexes 2009
Quantum Of Solace
Director: Marc Forester
Starring: Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Jesper Christensen & Mathieu Amalric
Genre: Action / Thriller
In Cathay Cineplexes 6 November 2008
A comparison between my old monitor and the new one.Guess who's got a new 24'' Dell monitor? Hehe~
Although I somehow doubt that this would increase my productivity as a programmer, it does helps ease the eye a bit. Plus it makes watching movies a hell of a lot more fun! :)
It comes with VGA, DVI and HDMI port up its back. I dunno what that actually means, but I think I can connect them gaming consoles (read PS3) to the monitor - hence, multi purpose.
If only I have that much cash.
Here's an excerpt of what I just read on BBC News
And I'm like "Yay~". A programmer use their brain. And I mean a lot. They use it so much that they tend to have trouble sleeping at night since their brain wouldn't stop working.Going to university, then choosing a mentally demanding job may help protect the brain from the devastating impact of Alzheimer's disease on memory.
Scientists found tissue damage was much quicker to lead to memory loss in the less intellectually stimulated.
They suggest mentally tough work, or genes which help people achieve such careers, may help the brain compensate for disease.
The Italian research was published in the journal Neurology.
Guess it does have it's upside huh?
It's been almost 6 month since I've in Comptel. In terms of workload..hurm..I'd say OKla. I'm quite interested to see where it'll lead, this "mediation" path I mean. It does have it's busy times and the laid back period (how I hate laying around~). Enough to keep me occupied, distracted.
The future? Will I stay there long? Only time will tell. If I felt like I'm being appreciated, like I have a place where I belong - then who's to say how long I'll stay.
Going with the flow for now. After all, I'm still a "fresh" grad. :)
This stuff is hilarious! Hahahaha~
"Yay..lompat...lompat lagi..."It's kinda late, but while we're still in the month of Syawal, I'd like to wish all who's celebrating - Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Its been awhile I guess since I met with my cousins..boy haven't they changed a lot. Most of them are in their teens now and I guess I feel kinda out of place at times. Haha..to think I'm growing old already..what a thought.
There was this one night where we all had to sleep outside in the living room. Each of them has their own handphone and are busy typing away on their keypads writing to gods knows who. And I'm like...wow..times have changed. And it struck me then, that sooner or later we're all gonna go our separate ways and lead our own life in the manner of our own choosing.
Will we ever be as close as this? Only time will tell. I've had chat with Pak Lang and I guess he too shares the same feeling. Or so I think. Anyways with that came the emergence of our family blog, thesallehfamily , with the intention of bringing the family members closer together. There a lot of things that can be done there, share pics, videos, and stories and such. I'm hoping that in the future it can even be a place to swap recipes or even tips on child care.
Someday we will die - yes. But just like our Arwah Atuk journal was left behind (his little notebook that he used to use during his tabligh days), I'm hoping that our blog will survive the test of times too. And may we forever remember our roots and may our grandkids get to know us better that we will ever know our Arwah Atuk. Insyallah.
I've been surfing for hours now looking on how should I lay out my living room in my "future" living place.
I've found some great websites while I was at it; mainly these two:-
i)http://howshouse.com/
ii)http://www.instructables.com/
The first is about home decor basically, telling about the neatest furnish he could find out there and sharing along his design ideas in his newly bought house.
The latter is more on DIY stuff. Now this is something I can keep coming back to..might take up some projects there every now and then (grin...)
Anyways, here is a pic of cool concept of a cabinet I found called the StairCase
Damn neat I'd say. I always thought that the space up above should be better utilized to make more room down below.
But back to the living room. Right now I'm thinking of having mine like this. But of course, not exactly like that. It's not gonna be that japanized - we can't afford lavish spending quite yet. But the concept is there..a square-ish table with pillows (I'm gonna get a whole lot of them...) and a dinner table (which I'll get from my sis later).
I don't know why they'd be bothered to comment about us in Malaysia when they have their own shit right in their own backyard. But maybe I shouldn't take this personally - I mean everyone's a critic right?
JAKARTA, Sept 19 (Bernama) -- Indonesia's The Jakarta Post English daily, commenting today on the political development in Malaysia, said the (possible) act of lawmakers defecting from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to the opposition does not make them democracy's soldiers but political opportunists.
Based on Indonesia's own painful experience, it said, a change of allegiance at the elite level was not equivalent to a change in fundamental beliefs toward the primacy of civil society.
Malaysian Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, advisor of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), has been claiming that he has the backing of a sufficient number of BN defectors to give his Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition a simple majority in parliament.
"We fear that what we are seeing in Malaysia is neither revolution nor evolution, but is instead a potential transition from one power to another.
"But Pakatan Rakyat too must show it is more than just a vehicle for Anwar," it said.
The paper said the performance of Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as minister of finance, a portfolio he assumed on Wednesday, would gauge his acceptability as Malaysia's next leader.
Najib and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi exchanged Cabinet portfolios -- finance and defence -- on Wednesday as part of the plan for transition of power from Abdullah to Najib in June 2010.
The paper noted that "on the other end of the spectrum, the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat under Anwar has been big on headlines but lacking in actual policy proposals".
-- BERNAMA
My uncle (the son of my atuk busu), which was posted in Libya as a diplomat - has passed away last Thursday due to a car accident.
Last Thursday us Comptelian went down to Bangi and had ourselves quite a feast. Berbuka puasa to be exact. It was quite nice actually to be able to break fast with all of them. There were me, Theenesh, Luqman, Shahril, John, Razali, Ida, Kari and the man of the hour - Rossi.
It was a break fast cum farewell party kinda thing. Rossi is gonna be leaving (already left by the time tis piece is written) Comptel to pursue his dream at IBM. Big company I'd say. Do I envy him? Perhaps. But I surely don't envy what he's doing. I'm not the sales-guy type if you catch my drift (in other words my communication skills sucks).
But anywho all the best to the guy. Everyone has a dream to pursue, a living to make, a hope to realize. Mine? I'm not sure...but I'm sure as hell won't be leaving Comptel anytime soon thats for sure.
I would post a few pics from the event if I had any; which I don't right now (obviously). Guess I'll be updating this post later on.
There goes one of my teh tarik crew...
I guess it has been quite awhile since I updated my blog space. During those time a couple of interesting stuff happened in my life.
My graduation is among them.
Frankly speaking I couldn't care less about the degree prior to the convocation. I mean, I've already secured a job - what could that piece of paper get me anyhow? We all know that experience matters more than that paper.
But as I came that Friday for my convocation rehearsal - and saw those familiar faces of friends; I'm just glad there's a thing called "convocation". At least on that day, I got to meet back my friends from back in the day and play catch up with them.
I drank too much of teh tarik on that day thats for sure... Later that night we all went and had a 'makan besar' at one of the nearby seafood restaurant. The bill amounted close to RM100. There was six of us. But only two were paying. Me and Pedot.. since we had more 'rezeki' compared to the rest I guess. I certainly didn't mind it at all. It's not everyday we can eat up together like that - and well I guess I kinda agree with the saying; good things are meant to be shared.
In other news, my not so little brother has gone up to the US of A. He's in Purdue now... hopefully making good use of that noggin of his. I admit that the house now seems quieter than usual (obviously). Abah now has a new routine whenever he's home for the night - ym-ing with Din whenever he got back from work. Times have changed he said. Back then he used aerogram to write home to kampung - which would take around 2 weeks to..not fro. Now, with ym..he could easily see his beloved son all the way from across the globe. I guess he must be glad. I am too. :)
The pics below are from his majlis doa selamat which took place a week or so before his flight to the US. Kinda like a 'hari raya' photo don't you think..hehe~
Idin, Nadya, Amat, and Yours TrulyAnd I haven't mentioned this!! I'm engaged!! Wahaha..demmit I've been too busy I guess I forgot to even write this down in my blog!
Our CakeAnyways last month on the 12th of July, I got myself engaged with the gal of my dreams; Amatullah. The majlis itself was pretty simple - more like meet up of my family and hers. There's no makan-makan and all that. I was not there during the meet up - but I think things went pretty well. Hopefully we'll be married next year.
For now though - kumpul duit la beb~
I've done a lil' research as of late on whether I should take some personal loan to add to ASB savings.
The result was quite interesting.
For my case, I had about 20k in ASB savings prior to the loan.
If I take a Rm30k loan with 15 years to pay it with RM250 monthly, I'd end up paying the bank in total of RM15k in interest.
After 15 years of that, I'd end up having RM173,693. Minus the RM15k paid to the bank, the true amount I have is actually RM158,693. Retrospectively, if I'd gone the conventional way, I'd have RM162,957 in savings - and thats the total amount. That means I actually lose out some RM4k because I'd have to pay the bank.
But if you stretch that a little further, let say another 5 years, then you'll see the numbers kinda evens up on both side (conventional and loan).
Stretching another 5 years, I begin to see an increase in return from the loan side - in which the difference between the loan and the conventional method amounts to RM10k.
This effect is perhaps due to the fact that in ASB the bonus is counted using a 10 year formula, so your investment history really can make a difference.
So in the long run - taking a loan to use as capital for ASB investment is actually rewarding. By long I mean real long..like 25 years kinda long (in the example the period of loan payment is 15 years, the period to actually break even is ~20 years. )
I've decided to start a posting today to jot down every weird thing that I did after I've been at it (coding) for some serious amount of time. So every now and then this blog will be updated on the weird stuff I did that day.
Let me start off with what just happened to me just now..
1. I decided to take a slight break from coding and go watch some videos. After awhile though, I find it rather a bore and decided to shut the window down. Guess what I did. My fingers instinctively went and typed ":q", as in the quit command in the vi editor. And it didn't stop there actually. At first I was like "Why the hell wouldn't this damn thing shut off..". And then I realize - I'm not in UNIX!!! Took me like 2-3 minutes to realize that fact.
Zimbabweans are billionaire. And they're gonna get to be a-gazillionaire too, if their inflation keeps on going like the way it is now.
I've been following this news for a couple of weeks now on BBC. For the record, Europe's inflation is like on 4% and Malaysia our very own is at 7%.
Zimbabweans rates meanwhile is like 2 million %.
It'll take like a couple of hundred billion just to buy bread over there.
Imagine the zeroes on that.
Britain and Ireland have the highest average incomes in Europe but come bottom in terms of quality of life, while Spain and France are at the top of the index, according to a study published Wednesday.
Britons have to pay sky high prices for fuel, food and other essentials, while having among the shortest holidays, latest retirement age and lowest life expectancy, according to the survey of 10 European countries.
Ireland, which like Britain has seen a huge market-driven economic boom over the last decade, is even worse than its bigger neighbour, coming in last in the European Quality of Life Index by U-Switch, a British service comparison website.
"We may earn substantially more than our European neighbours but when it comes to quality of life we remain the sick man of Europe," said Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com.
"Soaring food prices and inflation, not to mention high property costs, are placing the biggest squeeze on disposable incomes in well over a decade," she added, noting also below-average investment in health and education services.
The study assessed 19 factors affecting quality of life, ranging from income and working conditions to healthcare, education and cost of living.
Britons have an average net income of more than 35,000 pounds (70,000 dollars, 44,000 euros) a year, about 10,000 pounds more than the European average, while Ireland comes second on more than 29,000 pounds.
But they pay between six to 18 percent more for fuel and 49 percent more for gas, not to mention spectacularly high housing costs. Ireland's gas bills are more than twice the European average.
At work Ireland comes worst in terms of retirement age, with an average of 64.1 years, followed by Britain on 63.2 years, while life expectancy is 78.1 years and 78.9 years respectively, the lowest barring Italy.
At the other end of the scale, Spaniards have the lowest average income, at some 16,800 pounds, but low taxation and cheaper essential goods prices put them at the top of the overall quality of life indicator.
France comes second, notably benefiting from the longest holidays in Europe at 40 days and the second-lowest retirement age at 58.9 years, just later than Poles who retire at 58.4 years old on average.
The findings come as Britain and Ireland face a sharp economic slowdown fuelled by the global credit crunch, which is also threatening other European countries although they have enjoyed less of a boom in recent years. - BBCNews Online.
Life.
My life is made up of many distractions. I guess distractions is too negative a word, but I'm just calling it like I see it.
And I don't even see it as a "bad" or "negative" thing in a sense. At times I would call it as just "living" my life.
There was this one period of time in my life where I am void of these so called "distractions". Back then, I felt like life was so damn boring. I mean all I did back then are just series of repetitions; get up, got to work, go to lunch, drive back, sleep, get up..etc. That is; until I got some actual work to do from my boss. I guess in a way I am a workaholic type of person, always looking forward to the next sets of challenge life (or work) can throw at me.
That, referring to my job - was my sets of distractions during the day. And at night, I usually am "distracted" by my sayang. I guess all in all them distractions help me forget how slow and boring life can be sometimes and spice it up some here and there.
Going to the movies, playing them computer games, reading the next title from Tom Clancy; you may call it what you want - but to me they're all just distractions. A distraction we all need to get through the journey called life.
Just read the news today. It seems the inflation rate in Euro has risen up to 4% from their previous 3.7%. Read more here.
4% huh? Ain't a little bit more or less the same as Malaysia's rate?
"The grass is always greener on the other side" my ass. Hehehe~ Malaysia Boleh-lah!!
