OMG you are an idiot!

This always happens. You profess liking someone to a friend but did not go after them. Your friend says "OMG you are an idiot!".

This guy has an interesting answer.

So what? I like this girl and I don't really think the whole idea of being IN A RELATIONSHIP with her makes a difference. What if I just enjoy the process of liking her and the general feeling? Am I not allowed to do so?

Remember to keep speeches short and sweet

A speech should be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to make it interesting.

No food? Think again

They say there is a looming world food crisis. Food prices are going to soar due to lack of supply. This piece shows the Canadian government offering money for farmers to slay their pigs - in an effort to suppress supply and increase prices.

EDMONTON —In what is being called an unprecedented move, the federal government will pay Canadian pork producers $50 million to kill off 150,000 of their pigs by the fall as the industry teeters on the brink of economic collapse....Those who qualify for payments must agree to kill off an entire breeding barn of pigs and not to restock the barn for three years.

Maybe people prefer to eat rice than pork.

Cheating or just victims?

If your girlfriend/boyfriend got too close to another guy/girl on a beach vacation where you had not tagged along;

Is it their own fault that they allowed themselves to be approached, or are they but only victims of the situation?

The sad thing is, I think this is happening to my friend.
The "girlfriend/boyfriend" is my friend.
The third party is my friend as well.

Awhile ago, I read from one of Facebook's discussions on a similar topic; many said that they'll simply forgive their partners even if it involved sex, with the condition that it be with a stranger whom will never cross-paths again.

Hangover

I had my first ever dose of alcohol at Redang. It was 5 shots of Chivas Regal, a type of whiskey, 4 of which undiluted.

Did not turn red for the night. I thought it would be ok. Noticed that whenever I bend, I would lose balance and had to support myself with my hands. Could still walk straight though.

The next morning, I felt perfectly fine. Had a bumpy boat-ride off the island. Some people puked. I was still fine... until the bus ride back to Kuala Lumpur where I had a fever half way.

To not let my parents suspect that I had alcoholic beverages while with my friends, I did not call them to fetch me at the bus stop. I took the train commuters home.

My friends told me that hangovers show immediately after waking up from the previous night's drink. I searched the net today and wikipedia said it can happen up to the third day.

I doubt I'll have any of them again for a very very long time. They don't taste that great. Their after-effects are even worse. This morning, on the day after the bus-ride, I can still smell the stench of whiskey up my nostrills.

Queen-sized beds

There are 4 sizes of beds. Below are their rough widths, the lenghts are usually the same.
1) Single/Twin - 1 pillow + 9 inches of extra width.
2) Double/Full - 2 pillows + 3 inches of extra width.
3) Queen - 2 pillows + 8 inches of extra width.
4) King - roughly the space of 2 pillows + 20+ inches of extra width OR almost 3 pillows.

The reason why I'm pointing this out is: A lot of people (couples included) think they're sleeping on Queen-sized beds, when they're actually on a double bed. Add that to the fact that most Malaysian homes are small - people think that any bed that can fit in 2 people = Queen-sized and are therefore meant for 2.

Fact is, what they're sleeping on is really a 'Full'-sized bed designed for single sleepers. These beds, although they can fit in 2 pillows, are meant for only one sleeper. Couples on it will lose 6 inches of space each compared to the single bed. That's 5 inches more than on a Queen-sized bed.

Why bother merging if you want to be separate?

From Malaysia-Today (http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/5383/84/)

Now, it must be noted that Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore did not join Malaysia. Malaysia did not exist yet, then. What existed was Malaya -- and Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore merged with Malaya to form Malaysia. This means, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore are of the same status as Malaya, not of the same status as one of the states of Malaya such as Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Perlis, Penang, etc. Today, Sabah and Sarawak are treated as just another of the Malaysian states and that is the bone of contention of these two East Malaysian states.

This was also one of the sore points in the Singapore-Malaysia relationship that resulted in Singapore leaving the Federation. Tunku Abdul Rahman did not agree that Lee Kuan Yew call himself Prime Minister of Singapore as the Tunku did not see how Malaysia could have two Prime Ministers. Lee Kuan Yew, on the other hand, did not agree to being ‘downgraded’ to a Chief Minister like Penang, Melaka, Sabah and Sarawak. Actually, Lee Kuan Yew was right and the Tunku wrong as far as I am concerned, though 99% of the Malays would disagree with me on this point.

What an opinion. If so, then can it then be summed that when some states joined the (federated states of) United States, they are not to be considered all equal because some of them joined late?

What about the UK, where Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland merged into England's age-old parliament as just another peer? There is but only one Prime Minister in the UK and he leads the executive branch of government with his cabinet. Was another 'equal executive branch and another equal PM made when those states merged with England to form the UK? Nope. They all still have their independent assemblies, but they come below the UK parliament.

Just like when firms merge, do they then create 2 CEO positions?

Why bother merging if you want to be separate?

People look too highly upon Lee Kuan Yew. He can take credit for Singapore's economic prosperity. For everything else, I doubt any credit is due to that man.

Good advice to smokers

At the bus station

Yesterday at the bus station, I was waiting for the few buses parked there to move. There is this Chinese woman who went up this stationary bus that had no one inside yet. Then after some time, a Malay man went up the same bus. Now the bus had only 2 persons in it - the Chinese woman and the Malay man.

Then after some time, I realized both of them were talking. I thought "hmmm, Malay guy interested with the Chinese girl". They were sitting one seat away from each another.

Then the funny thing is, as I was boarding the bus, this Malay woman in front of me had no change, showing a RM10 note instead. The bus driver asked her to change with the nearby stalls (they aren't so near really). So I just gave him a RM1 note and she used it for the bus ticket.

People must be thinking "hmmm, Chinese guy interested with Malay girl".

Later she insisted to change the RM10 she had with me, but I had no change and told her to keep the bus fare instead.

Why had I helped her? There was once I was in a similar situation with no change. Bus driver asked me to change at the nearby stalls, but the bus drove away as I was changing (the walk is quite far and takes at least a full minute). There was also this once where sitting as a passenger, I saw the bus do exactly the same thing to another man, cruising away after sending the man to get small change.

Of course being the clumsy me, on another day, I had again boarded a bus with no small change. This time however, a man (college kid) paid the RM1 fare for me. Like the woman above, I asked to change with him, but he insisted that it is ok. I owe this guy a lesson learned.

Wine and water education

It has been scientifically proven that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of Poo.

However, we do not run that risk when drinking wine (or rum, whiskey, beer or other liquors) because alcohol has to go through a distillation process of boiling, filtering and fermenting. Besides that, many organisms cannot survive in alcoholic environments.

WATER = POO
WINE = HEALTH

Free yourself of Poo, drink WINE!!! It is better to drink wine and talk shit than to drink water and be full of shit. There is no need to thank me for this valuable information; I am doing it as a public service.

Have a nice day...

When someone is missing...

Kai Foong, my ex-classmate/collegemate/friend made this following observation:

Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated

I have a feeling that this quote will be in my head for sometime.

What is wrong with prostitution?

I have no regrets, says Sufiah
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/7/nation/20870201&sec=nation

From another article:

Some said she should be forgiven and guided back to the right path through religious teachings.

Regular workers sell their time.
Artists both in acting and singing sell their talents + physical self.
Models sell their physical self + clothes.
Prostitutes sell their physical self - clothes.

So what makes prostitution 'bad' and other jobs 'not-bad'?
Society. Dogma.
And the patriarchal view that women should devote themselves only to one man.

Give the prostitutes a break. The layman working for the Fortune 500 firm isn't anymore nobler than them.

I wonder what gives the guy above so much moral authority to suggest "guiding people back to their right path". As if it is certain that their subjects are at wrong paths and that they know what is the correct one. Arrogance at its best.

Being religious and being moderate

I watched the short movie Fitna (search it on Youtube) yesterday. Two immediate opinions of mine include; (1) Islam and the Koran has the propensity to fuel extremism, really because there are excerpts in the Koran that are extreme and (2) most Muslims are however, moderate and not as extreme as Muslims depicted in the video.

The question now is, are the moderate Muslims moderate because of Islam?

In which my theory is: People, at least most of us, are moderate not because of religion, but because we simply can feel sympathy and empathy for the guy beside us. Religion has little to no effect in dis-promoting extremism.

Why do I say this? Either way, you interpret religion according to what your world-view already is. Basically, there are parts that tell you to be kind, then there are parts that tell you to not be kind. The net effect is zero, and you're back at your original belief before embracing a religion.

You can't claim and be sure that terrorists did not interpret the Koran correctly when at the same time you have these verses saying that killing is allowed and that dying for Islam grants you 99 virgins in heaven.

What is scary about Muslims isn't too much about the violence depicted in films like Fitna. Rather, it is how Muslims have reacted to it, the death threats and all.

Racism and Sexism

Sometimes people tell you; to be not racist is to look beyond ethnicity.

So we understand, that if you meet Ahmad and think of him as a Malay = you're racist, because you failed to look beyond ethnicity.
But we also understand, that if you tell the whole world that you have Malay, Chinese, Indian, and 'lain-lain' friends in an effort to note how un-racist you are = you're also a racist, for again you failed to look beyond ethnicity.


So you're the leader of a group (firm or government). Demographics show 60% Malay, 30% Chinese, 10% Indians, 10% 'lain-lain'. You have 2 options. You can fill up the top positions according to demographics, or you can simply choose people disregarding racial composition in your team. We understand from the first statement in this post, that if you choose to do the former, you're racist. If you choose to do the latter, you have looked beyond ethnicity and therefore not racist.

But if you do that, your team will not have been composed according to racial demographics, and you'll be labeled as racially unjust, even when you had not acted as a racist.


Let's extend this to gender.

It follows from above; to be not sexist is to look beyond gender.

Although it's dead difficult, we understand that if you meet Eve and think of her as a woman = you're a sexist, because you failed to look beyond gender.
But we also understand, that if you tell the whole world that you have woman friends in an effort to note how un-sexist you are = you're also a sexist, for again you failed to look beyond gender.


So let's say you're a leader of a group. The scenario is the same as the one just mentioned, just now it concerns gender and not race. Should you have chosen to appoint based on demographics, you have looked at gender and therefore a sexist. Should you choose to not do so, supposedly, you're not a sexist for having looked beyond gender.

But if you have chose to do just that (being not a sexist), one group would be unhappy and would demand for an end to sexism.


The old case follows: in order to make everyone happy, we sacrifice better talents from an ethnic group, just so we can have more representation from another ethnic group. Likewise, in order to make everyone happy, we sacrifice better talents from a gender, just so we can have more representation from another gender.


Most of us probably voted for a race-neutral opposition alliance. Yet we want more Chineses and more Indians (+ more women) in government. What race-neutral crap is this?

Adults don't have respect for 'kids'

This is the second time where Mr Lambert, vice principle of INTI College Subang Jaya (yes, I'm mentioning it in full because they deserve the bad publicity), jumped on his appointment with us students doing coverage on the new building. 2 weeks ago, he said that they weren't allowed in yet, and so he had to cancel the appointment. This week, he met us awhile, got a phone call, asked for 5 minutes from us to settle what I suppose to be "pressing", and dissapeared. I and 3 others waited for him for an hour. He never appeared.

He made me waste my friend's time for the second time already. On our appointment with him 2 weeks ago, he made us wait 30 minutes before showing up in his office before telling us that we had wasted our time for it is not possible for us to visit the new building yet.

This man has had a lot of guts talking to me rudely in this week's brief encounter.

I'm not gonna have myself, nor members from my club dealing with him again. We had the decency to at least inform his secretary that we're leaving. I wonder if he would ever show us such minimal amount of respect.

I had long held the belief that adults don't have a lot of respect for what they perceive to be "kids". I guess I'm right.

Oil dry in 2012

If Malaysia's petrol reserves is gonna deplete in 2012, so say the 'experts', then why continue the oil subsidies?

Weird. I've been hearing a lot of voices from opposition camps claiming that that Malaysian oil is gonna deplete by 2012 and because of that, change is required now, since we don't want to suffer then.

But if so, why did the opposition list oil subsidy increments in their recent general election manifesto? Anwar Ibrahim said in one ceramah, that I heard through YouTube, that Malaysia can subsidize oil because we are a net exporter (paying subsidies through export profits).

What then happens to the subsidies after no more oil is left in Malaysia's drills? Or should we start adapting for the future by gradually cutting subsidies now?

Why am I so crazy about oil subsidies? :S