A Picture From Today's Foray

Manage to capture this while going to KLCC

A Nuclear Malaysia and Missing Jet Engines

I had the fortune to be in a lecture given by the late Pian Sukro, the ex-CEO of TNB and Chairman of Energy Commission in 2005. He was one of the pioneers of Malaysia Institute of Nuclear Technology (MINT).

I remember distinctively what he said about Malaysia having a nuclear power plant. His view was that it would be impossible for Malaysia to have a nuclear power plant since it entails an attentiveness to details beyond what Malaysian are capable off. We are lackadaisical when it comes to maintenance and such attitude will be the "Chernobyl" of Malaysia.

But what seems to be ironic is that we lost 2 jet engines (the size of a car at that!) while going for maintenance. It would seem that not only do we lack attentiveness to details we also lack to wisdom to be extra vigilant in matter of security.

IF and when we have a nuclear power plant, don't be surprised that we might lose the nuclear reactor due to oversight of the janitors.

A Bit About Statistics: Probability

Under the study of probability, which is a subset of the study of statistics, an event is formally known as the subset of the sample space. Where as the sample space is an exhaustive list of all the possible outcomes of an experiment. Probability is useful to predict the possibility of future event happens based on past events.

Take for example the Malaysian football team matches (which would be the experiment), therefore a sample space of Malaysian football team matches, which is usually denoted by the letter S, is S ={Win, Lose, Draw}. When the Malaysian football team winning a match is known as an event.

A repetitive match would produce a set of data that can be possible to be use to analyse the probability of the event happening again. If taking the Malaysian football team matches for the past 5 years as the experiment. We just have to count how many times that the Malaysian team win, lose and draw. Take for instance, IF, the Malaysian football team played in 50 matches in the past 5 years, out of that they won 4 matches, lose 40 matches and draw 6 matches. Then the probability calculations are Win 4/50 (0.08 or 8%), Lose 40/50 (0.8 or 80%) and Draw 6/50 (0.12 0r 12%). Therefore the chance for a next win in a match for Malaysian football team would be 0.08 or 8%.

Next lesson would be time series analysis

My First 2 Cakes

This is a chocolate moist with chocolate ganache as the toppings I made last month. I spread grind cashew nuts and icing sugar.

And here is a chocolate moist topped with fresh whipping cream (the whipping cream took longer that I expected) and chocolate rice which I put later on (sorry I forgot to shoot a picture)

First Shot: 6 month ++

Well here's a picture of the radiant mother to be posing for a shot

COP 15: Will we be able to change the course of history?

Currently the COP 15 is meeting in Copenhagen to agree on a formula to replace the Kyoto Protocol. I sincerely wish that the leaders of the world set a greater GHG reduction target (along with CO2) compared with the KP. We also need a bigger financial commitment from the developed countries to help the least developed and developing countries to achieve this new target.

A major push should be to replant forest in Brazil, West Africa, especially the Sub-Saharan states, China (to hold the Gobi from expending). The developed countries should also invest in countries that keeps the percentage of their forest un-touch.

But the funny thing is, since early this year, countries around the world started seriously planning for this conference and having a public dialog about their national targets for the conference. But here in Malaysia there is not a lot of hype about the COP 15. We don't even know what the Government stands on the matter at all. What are the Government (along with our "excellent" Parliamentarians) doing about it?

Ranking the Taxi Driver

I think we should have a company that give audits, rank and certifies taxi drivers. So if the driver is really good, helpful, comply with rules and regulations, knowledgeable and courteous, he might be given 5 star. He can also present his star on his cab.

We can also certify the drivers for certain skills that he have. Let say the driver have training in first aid and self defence, he might than be certified as competent in emergency situation. We can also certify his knowledge. If the driver is fluent in 3 other languages such as Japanese, Arabic and Spanish, then he can be certified and show that certification on his cab.

With all that certifications, the driver should be given added incentive as a reward for such extra effort. Each star and certification might give you the right to apply for service charge or a different rate.

Goodbye Ramadhan and Salam Idul-Fitri

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ

Surah Al Baqarah, 183

Translation:

O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting)[] is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqûn. Al-Quran- 2,183

The above is the ayat that prescribe to Muslim the obligation of fasting. It consist of 3 portion or parts.

One is "O you who believe!", it is a call to the Mukmin amongst us, because only a Believer will put it upon himself to fast. There is a distinction between a Muslim and a Mukmin. A muslim (those who are Islam) is a person that follows the five pillars of Islam, that is the professing the syahadah, performing the solah, paying the zakat (alms giving), saum (fasting) in Ramadhan and perfroming the hajj.

Whereas, a Mukmin (those who Believe) is a person that commits to the six article of Faith (Iman), that are, believe in the One God that is Allah, His Angels (Malaikat), His Prophets (Rasul), His Scriptures (Kitab), the Day of Judgement (Akhirat) and also Divine Destiny whether the good or the bad.

A mukmin will always be a muslim, whereas a muslim might not be a mukmin. This is can be clearly inferred from the surah Al Hujraat, verse 14:

The bedouins say: "We believe." Say: "You believe not but you only say, 'We have surrendered (in Islâm),' for Faith has not yet entered your hearts. But if you obey Allâh and His Messenger (SAW), He will not decrease anything in reward for your deeds. Verily, Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

The second portion is "Observing As Saum is presribed for you", it is thought by some ulama' that the word كُتِبَ (Kutiba - literally means written on) have greater weight than just merely wajib, which means obligatory. And that the words kutiba and saum are repeated twice, puts a greater emphasis on the obligation. And later verses in Surah Al Baqarah, verse 184 to 187 describes some of the do's and don'ts of As -Saum.

Here I will list a few of the more well known;

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Allah the Exalted and Majestic said: `Every act of the son of Adam is for him, except As-Siyam (the fasting) which is (exclusively) for Me, and I will reward him for it.' Fasting is a shield. When anyone of you is observing fast, he should neither indulge in obscene language nor should he raise his voice; and if anyone reviles him or tries to quarrel with him, he should say: `I am fasting.' By Him in Whose Hand the soul of Muhammad is, the breath of one observing Saum is sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk. The one who fasts, experiences two joys: he feels pleasure when he breaks the fast. He is joyful by virtue of his fast when he meets his Rubb.''
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

In a narration by Al-Bukhari, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Allah says: `(The person observing Saum) has abstained from food and drink, and sexual pleasures for My sake; fasting is for Me, and I will bestow its reward. Every good deed has ten times its reward'.''

In a narration by Muslim, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "The reward of every (good) deed of a person is multiplied from ten to seven hundred times. Allah (SWT) says: `The reward of observing Saum is different from the reward of other good deeds; Saum is for Me, and I Alone will give its reward. The person observing Saum abstains from food and drink only for My sake.' The fasting person has two joyous occasions, one at the time of breaking his fast, and the other at the time of meeting his Rubb. Surely, the breath of one observing Saum is better smelling to Allah than the fragrance of musk.''


But to my mind the most important part of As Saum is the objective of saum which is put in the last portion.


The third portion of the ayat is "that you may become Al-Muttaqûn", the word لَعَلَّكُمۡ is here translated as "may", it can also be translated as "in hope". In hope of what? that you become Al-Muttaqun. The word muttaqun comes from the word taqwa which comes from the word waqayya (to protect). It is to protect oneself from the punishment of Allah. How can one achieve this? It is as simple as following all of His instructions. It is the concept of sami'na wa athoq na (we hear and we obey). It is a concept of being concious of Allah in all our daily dealings.

The thing with taqwa is that there is no standard measurement for taqwa. Though Sayidina Ali bin Abi Talib (RA) says there is four signs of taqwa, that is "fearing Allah, adhering to His commandments, being content with what He provides with and getting ready for the Day of Judgement".


If we used what Sayidina Ali (RA) mentioned as our standard measurement, than which one have we fulfill after going through a month of Ramadhan?

With that, Salam Idul-Fitri

*Untitled*

Numbness within this clouded mind,
a soft whimper of thought trying to push through,
but the fog of numbness is too thick,
suffocating ideas,
killing passion,
trying as best as possible,
to form coherent thought,
but unable to,
searching,
into the depth of the brain,
but only surface thought exist,
a vague mentioned of logic,
washed away by a wave of tiredness,

a glimpse here,
a glimpse there,
a shadow here,
a shadow there,
a flicker of phantom,
an idea,
but numbness seized,
lost the grasp of focus,
a haze of static thought appears,
shouting at coherent thought,
drowning it with inanities,
only obscene unstructuredness exist,

within the depth of the mind,
it seeks control,
the chaos that is shards of half forms thought,

Public Policy: Initial Structure

Well it seems that we have a lot of new changes since the new PM taken control of things. There are some that I like and some that can be better. But the more important point is the implementation of all the policies.

Well I think it is time for me to lay down some of the policies that I would to see implemented and if given the opportunity to implement myself..haha..

1) A smaller Cabinet.

I have said this before, and I will say it again. A smaller Cabinet will make decision making much easier and faster. I think I remember writing my line of Cabinet, but I'll change it like this.

i) Prime Minister
ii) Deputy Prime Minister
iii) Minister of Internal Affair
iv) Minister of Foreign Affair
v) Minister of Defense
vi) Minister of Health
vii) Minister of Education
viii)Minister of Trade
ix) Minister of Agriculture
x) Minister of Environment
xii) Minister of Public Works
xiii)Minister of Finance

I'll go through each one in later post

2) A smaller government budget

The government have been running the country in a deficit for more than 10 years. It's time to reduce unnecessary spending. I would like to see a balance budget within 3 years and a surplus budget within 5 years.

How to do it? The Minister of Finance will personally go through each programmes planned by each federal government ministries and agencies. I foresee that it will take roughly 4 months to go through each programmes. And at the end of it the Minister will come up with a plan to reduce spending to zero deficit within 3 years.

3) A smaller Executive/central government

We are actually getting bigger by the day. There's currently 1.2 mil civil servant running the show. And we are taking more contract workers also. With the restructuring of the Cabinet above, there would now be smaller central government. The function of sports, youth and culture now falls under State and local councils. The function of information and communication falls under the regulator which is MCMC.

A lot of the previous functions of central governments will be taken over by a Regulator or Councils that will be overseen by a Parliamentary Sub Committee.

4) Greater power to the Legislator and Judiciary.

More power for the legislator to oversee the Executive by creating more sub-committee to look into the affairs of each minister.

All legislation that give final say to the minister shall be amended and all decisions can be reviewed by the Judiciary.

That would be my first 4 policy that I want to see implemented.

MJ, FF are dead

Well, we lost two distinctive icon of the the western entertainment industry. We will always remember MJ for his "Thriller" and moon walks, and who can forget FF in her red bathing suit.

But beyond all of that, there will be real loss to those nearest to them. A lost of a love one is really difficult to handle. As though a part of your heart is missing and searching for it bear no results.

By the way, below is a list of obituaries from Staten Island Advance:

Michael Delzotti, 96, of Grasmere, died Wednesday at home. The Hanley Funeral Home, New Dorp, is handling the arrangements.

Marion Metz, 78, of Stapleton, died yesterday in New Vanderbilt Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. The Casey Funeral Home, Castleton Corners, is handling the arrangements.

Vincent Campanelli, 84, of Annadale, died yesterday in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze. Arrangements are being handled by the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville.

Edna Delisio, 84, of New Springville, died yesterday at home. The Matthew Funeral Home, Willowbrook, is handling the arrangements.

Thomas Jones, Sr., 57, of Irvington, N.J., died Feb. 12 in Richmond University Medical Center. Arrangements were handled by the James E. Churchman, Jr. Funeral Home, Newark.

Zenobia Metz, 88, of Whiting, N.J., died Wednesday at home. The Matthew Funeral Home, Willowbrook, is handling the arrangements.

Helen Crispino, 87, of Port Richmond, died yesterday at Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay. Arrangements are being handled by the Matthew Funeral Home, Willowbrook.

Frank Izzo, 82, of Bay Terrace, died yesterday in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze. The Casey-McCallum-Rice South Shore Funeral Home, Great Kills, is handling the arrangements.

Julia Giordano, 98, of Hertford, N.C., a former Grant City resident, died Tuesday in the Chowan Skilled Nursing Facility in Edenton, N.C. Arrangements are being handled by the Richmond Funeral Home, Concord.

While this list is from The Hindu:

K.BALASUBRAMANIAN (Retd) Squadron Leader, IAF passed away peacefully at the age of 78 yrs on 24-06-2009 at his residence. Mourned by Wife-Shanta Brother-K.Ramamurthy Sons-B.Krishnamurthy-B.Shivaramakrishnan

R.S.GIRI, LIC (Retired) expired on 23-6-2009. Dasasthu 2-7-2009 @ Gnanavapi. Ph: 24323087. Eyes donated to Pammal Sankara Eye Bank.

Mr. T. SAMPATHRAJ (90), father of Mr. S. Parasanlal, Chennai-600 014, expired on 24-06-2009. Eyes donated to Rotary Rajan Eye Bank, C/o Rajan Eye Care Hospital Pvt. Ltd., Chennai-17.

Smt. SHANTHABAI (61) W/o V. Ramanathan SBI (Retd) expired on 25-6-09, Cremation at Ambattur on 26-6-09 at 9.00 a.m. Ph:26574760/9943387866

Sangeetha Kalaimamani Veenai THIRUKOKARNAM RAMACHANDRA IYER 97 passed away peacefully on 25-06-09 Res.Ph.: 044-42640948.

MEENAKSHI AMMAL (98) W/o Late M.S.Venkataraman, Advocate, Paramakudi passed away peacefully on 25-06-2009 at her son's residence at G1 B Block, Mahaveer Apartments, 17 East Coast Road, Tiruvanmiyur, Chennai-41. Tel:044-24422718.

K.S. GOPALAN OF Keeranur Retd., Station Master Pondicherry expired on 23-6-2009. Dasasthu on 2-7-2009 at Pondicherry. Ph: 04132211723

C.V. KRISHNAMOORTHY, 90 years, Retd. Dy. Tahsildar, passed away on 24-06-09 in Vellore. Ph: 0416-2243679.

While this is from The Lebanon Democrats:

Riley L. Cox
Services for Mr. Cox will be 10 a.m. Saturday, June 27 10:00 at Partlow Funeral Chapel with Bro. Gordon Lee and Bro. Bernie Zeilsdorf officiating. Interment will be in Cedar Grove Cemetery. Visitation will be 2-7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.
Mr. Cox, 83, of Lebanon, died Wednesday, June 24, 2009 in the Quality Health Care Center. He was a member of the Church of God, a minister and former employee with Lebanon Woolen Mills and the City of Lebanon.
He was preceded in death by parents, George S. and Ruth Violet Kirby Cox; sons, Melvin L. Cox and Riley Irvin “Snaze” Cox; brothers, James R. Cox, Charles H. Cox, David Cox and Wayne Cox.
Survivors include: wife, Lura Belle Cox; son, Nathan (Susie) Cox; daughter, Barbara (Jerry) Dies; sisters, Dorothy Scoggins, Zettie (Bill) Hamlett and Vera(John) Wrye; grandchildren, Randy (Lisa) Dies, Shane (Jill) Dies, Valerie Jean McGhee and Steven Cox; step-children, Sue (Johnny) Broussard, Gayle Surrat and Jimmy Forsyth; step-grandchildren, Michael D. Smith, Racheal A. Smith, Penny Pogue, Kenny Broussard, Tammy (Jay) Makatche, Sheree (Dale) Heiflin, Chrystal(Juan) Hernandez, Tina (Billy) Hayes, Ken Surrat and Teresa Bane; numerous great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Church of God Worship & Ministry Center, 1007 Hartsville Pike, Lebanon 37087.

Couriyah Elaine Hastings
Services for infant Hastings will be noon Friday, June 26 at Saddler Funeral Home. Visitation will be 11 a.m. until the service at the funeral home.
Infant Hastings, of Lebanon, died Monday, June 22, 2009.
Survivors include: mother, Amanda Parsley; father, Courtney Hastings; brother, CJ Cosby; grandparents, Stacey Talley and Robert Hastings, Shirley (Raymond) Parsley-Walker and Donald Parsley; and great-grandparents, Pastor Charles and Annie Bailey and Ollie and Georgie Parsley.

Just to show that there are a lot more deaths out there.

Let Us be More Eco-Friendly

In The Know: How Can We Make The War In Iraq More Eco-Friendly?

Tracy Chapman!!!

One of my favs singer.

Kita Bodoh!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Unknowns and Potential

We live in 1 moment that exist between 2 opposite moments. The moment that we have left behind, is a moment that we can never recapture, no matter how many "Back to the Future" movies you watched. The moment that might be, which we will not know whether or not we will live to see.

And we live in the current moment. But what define this moment?


Some would say it is the now. Some would say it is the moment where we truly live. Some would say that it is the moment of existence. They might all be correct.

But to me, the current moment is defined by those two moments, the past and the future. The current moment exist as a nexus between the future and the past. The future is full of potential and possibilities while the past is in a sense is constant. Whether or not you believe time move in linear or in a loop, it doesn't matter, what have past cannot be undone.

So we live in a nexus, where we can only move forward as the future moment becomes the current moment and the current moment become the past moment that escapes us.

The future moment is full of unknowns, but most importantly it is full of potential. From small potential to great potential. And such, potential can become great momentum if it can be move and be seized. The most important thing is to manage the unknowns. And how do we do that?

My Ideal Cabinet and Ministreal Line Up

If I were PM, my Cabinet would be a bit different than the normal Malaysian ones.

The PM will not hold any other portfolio. There would not be an official Deputy PM. There would be a group of full Minister that would form the Cabinet that will be pick from Members of Parliament, which will consist of such portfolios; Internal Security, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Trade, Education and Health. So, seven in all, plus the PM that would be eight. Easily manageable.

In the event the PM resign or die in office, the Minister of Internal Security would automatically be elected as temporary PM, for not more than 48 hours, which after that period the Cabinet must submit a name of a Member of Parliament to be elected as PM.

For us to think about

Got this while blog surfing.

Hello Again!

It's been several month since I updated this blog. Because of time constrains and also access problems, I've been unable to put forth my thoughts in a clear frame of mind. A lot happens between then and now.

Plenty of changes with my life, my environments and the world in general. But the gist of things is that, life continues with or without you.

To my friends that I have not been in contact with, I am sorry. I really wish I have more time to hang out with you guys more.

Though I'm several months too late, let me wish all of you a good year and a good life. Here's a trivia question just for fun, "What's the connection between Kiribati and Mithra the god of the sun?"