Between Believing and Not Believing

A good reading that I have found in Zonaeuropa:-

When I was younger than 20 years old, I believed in many things. Later, one after another of those beliefs was overturned.

I used to believe in patriotism, but I later found out that the definition of 'country' was problematic. The standard 'country' that we were instructed to love was not necessarily lovable, it was not necessarily worthy of our love, and it even deserved to be overthrown.

I used to believe in history, but I later found out that half of history was fabricated. The history of the preceding dynasty was always written by the people of the succeeding dynasty, who will always negate their predecessors. In turn, their succeeding dynasties will always negate them.

But double negatives do not necessarily end in a positive and we are just accumulating the successive distortions and twists so that the truth will always be covered up and never restored. It is one thing to say that "history must not be buried in ashes," but history often wind up in ashes. It is possible to win by distorting and misinforming.

I used to believe in the power of civilization, but I later found out that the stupidity and barbarity of people do not disappear as a result of any progress in civilization. It is just that stupidity and barbarity take different forms: simple peasant workers, reflective intellectuals, self-confident politicians and righteous leaders may bring out even worse stupidity and barbarity. Between barbarity and civilization, there is only a subtle and easily erasable difference.

I used to believe in justice, but I later found out that there exists two kinds of justice that are in irreconcilable conflict with each other. If you choose one, then your justice implies injustice. You won't be able to tell that when someone advocates a particular kind of justice at a particular moment, there is a hidden and unobservable injustice underneath.

I used to believe in idealists, but I later found out that idealists cannot pass the test of power: once they obtain power, they could become the "evil" that they had vowed to fight, or else they are utterly feeble in reality and are brought down immediately by the power mongers without being able to achieve their ideals. The idealists must have character and morality in order not to be corrupted by power and the idealists must have the capability to turn their ideals into practice. But it is rare to find any ideals who have both character and capability.

... Before I was twenty years old, I believed in many things. I still believe in some of them even today.

For example, even though the country may not be lovable, but the its earth and people can still be loved. For example, if history cannot be trusted, but there is no end to the pursuit of truth. For example, civilization may be weak and vulnerable, but we have actually nothing else to rely on. For example, justice may be extremely suspect, but caring about justice is better than not. For example, idealists may not be able to accomplish much, but our society will be different without them ...

... There is great deal to ponder deeply about what to believe and not to believe.
Tags: Beliefs, Country, History, Civilization, Justice, Idealists

Getting the Best Out of My Life

Not feeling that for the last 2 days......the throat was not at its best. Just that I'm gulping down plenty of water coupled with supplements, the sore throat can't show its ugly head.

Hopefully it gets better by Sunday. The worse thing is lunch or dinner without chilli , it would be tasteless......... and have to consider my throat too.......sigh!!!!

Hmmmm I'll be on leave for the whole of next week. One thing I need to settle is to finalise the Christmas Drama 2007's script. Have to put it in details then sit down with the Music Director to fit in the right songs. Calling the right people to play the respective roles. Yeah, no Christmas holiday for me during that period but I'm sure it'll be fun seeing the guys/gals having their practices, getting their props/costumes, there will surely be times of rolling on the floor laughing over misquoted lines.

Going to take the role of a wedding planner as well for a close friend. His big day - 22 Sept 07 to be held in church too. We normally have a core group helping out in each wedding so it'll be quite easy with the team assisting. The groom-to-be will be the one who panics, not me....hehe... but there's a checklist to follow. As long as all the steps are taken, it should be smooth sailing.
Tags: Sore Throat, Christmas Drama, Christmas, Wedding Planner, Wedding

Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007

A friend of mine was the main printer for the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007's invitation cards for the Minsitry of Tourism. He brought boxes of unfolded invitation cards to church last Sunday and a group of us including children quickly helped him out. I was the quality control guy ensuring the cards were folded properly. Otherwise his products could be rejected if he send it over to the Ministry.

We were joking that we could sneak into the big event and witness the opening ceremony with the invitation cards that we were folding....... hahaha and the Grand Finale to be held on 2 Sept 2007 too. I could have been there just now but lazy to travel all the the way there - Putrajaya.

Could have kept those cards and put our name there and stand beside those dignitories that would be there. It would have been a beautiful night for sure.

Different days have been allocated for different teams to showcase their fireworks. For those photographers who are keen to capture those magnificent fireworks display, here's some tips for taking pictures on those fireworks display at night.

Tags: Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007, Malaysia, Putrajaya, Fireworks

Mass Emergency SMS Notification

Lately, the newspapers did report on certain SMS being unsolicited and sent out to telcos customers without them requesting for it and yet get charged for it. This controversial issue was highlighted in Screenshots. At certain times, unsolicited SMS would be welcomed by customers.

In the cities of Zhanjiang, Maoming and Meizhou in China, a tropical storm was said to be approaching these cities and rumour started as early as 4.00 a.m. (12 Aug) with this SMS message "Huge rainstorm in Leizhou Peninsula began to spread like a plague in those areas."

At the point of receiving such SMS message, the rumour began. Government officials were notified of such SMS message but now the message has turned to "Huge earthquake will be triggered by the rainstorm in Zhanjiang."

One of the town mayor who went out to work noticed the citizens lingering outside houses, offices, buildings and checked on the peculiar situation. Now he has heard that the SMS message became "the huge rainstorm in Leizhou will trigger off an earthquake."

The Zhanjiang Earthquake Bureau and the Zhanjiang Weather Observatory heard about the rumour. Not long after that, they decided to use the Weather Observatory's SMS emergency notification system to disseminate an accurate information to dispel the rumoured message being spread via SMS message. At the rate of 500,000 SMS message per hour, the local government was able to send out messages to the 1,400,000 mobile telephone users in the city.

* At 8.41a.m., the following was sent out:-

"The Zhanjiang city Earthquake Bureau and Weather Observatory reminds you: there has not been any earthquakes recently even though earthquake rumors began to appear at 4am this morning in the Leizhou, Wushi, Beihuo and Tanduo of Zhanjiang city. Please do not be afraid!"

* At 10:30am, a second emergency SMS notification system was issued:-

"The Zhanjiang city weather observatory gives this special reminder: the weather will be unstable for the two days, with showers and heavy rains. Please be prepared and call 12121 anytime for the latest weather report."

A success for the local government as they were able to send out 2.8 million in 3 hours. Is Malaysia ready for that sort of exercise? Instead of just harping on who sent out the rumours that de-stabilised the cities, the local government took up the responsibility to make right the situation. (Adopted from Zonaeuropa)

Tags: China, Zhanjiang, Maoming, Meizhou, SMS, SMS Message, Zhanjiang Earthquake Bureau, Zhanjiang Weather Observatory

Indian Yoga vs. Australian Yoga

With the craze going on for all sorts of Yoga practice, the Australians have caught up with it too not wanting to be left behind. The Indian Yoga was said to be the original.

At my place of stay, Yogazone is doing quite well. Yeah, my place has lots of things lately, booming! Yoga is a hot thing and even a Yoga Conference will be held in November.

Tags: Yoga, Indian Yoga, Australian Yoga, Yogazone, Yoga Conference

Now Nokia is Conducting a Recall

After a major recall by Mattel/Fisher-Price for their toys that were manufactured in China, Nokia joined the bandwagon reluctantly.

Nokia is recalling batteries sold as the Nokia-branded BL-5C battery manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. Ltd. of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006.

The word "BL-5C" is printed on the front of the battery.
On the back of the battery, the Nokia mark appears at the top, and the battery identification number (consisting of 26 characters) is found at the bottom. If the battery identification number does not contain 26 characters, it is not subject to this product advisory.

The reason for the recall is because this batch of batteries could overheat due to a short circuit especially during re-charging time. Overall, there are 300 million of such batteries out there somewhere but only 46 million needed to be recalled (with the criteria as listed above) Phew!!!!!! ...................

So, not only China made goods are useless, even Japanese made products could be a suspect now. All this due to non-stringent quality assessment/quality control again or because of cost-cutting measures that caused such an issue?????? Only the manufacturers will know.

I think those betting companies will be starting new betting schemes on what kind of products will be recalled next.
Reading: Nokia users heed this call - The Star

Tags: Nokia, Matsushita, Matsushita Battery Industrial Co Ltd, Japan, Nokia Battery, BL-5C, Overheat, Battery Identification Number, Recall

China Made Charcoal Roasted Chickens

With the recall of toys that were manufactured in China due to non-stringent quality control systems, one is not surprised to see other goods being produced at a low quality standards especially those charcoal roasted chickens.

One will puke after seeing how a rural factory could produced such chickens for consumption.
Early morning, chicken collectors would go around the neighbourhood.
House by house looking for dead chickens.
At a cost of Renminbi 1.00 per chicken, it's a steal.
A number of collectors are hired each day to do such collections.
The small factory was just like the state of a car workshop.
Carcasses was all over the compound.
Even a doggie could go near to sniff it.
The de-feathering process starts here.

Easy job - just pull the feathers out.Feathers were strewn around the small factory without any cause of concern for hygiene.

An unused bathtub was used to clean the chicken after de-feathering.
Staff walking in and out of the small factory oblivious to chickens lying around the floor.

Here is the end product - the Charcoal Roasted Chickens after some colourings were added onto it to make it real.

Another 'profit over hygiene' case!

Tags: Roasted Chicken, Charcoal, Hygiene, China Made, China, Food