Per Ardua Ad Astra

I have a splitting headache right now, and I might just be on the verge on falling sick. Let’s hope a good night’s sleep would work its wonders. Hasn’t had that since…..uh, since….. some time ago. Guess I’ll have to pass on watching some of the World Cup matches.

Anyhow, I’m still in the middle of considering various specs for my future laptop. At the moment, I only have Dell and Sony in my list of checklist (flexibility and quality on the other). I so want to get a 17" laptop but unfortunately budgetary constrains gave me that classic rap on the knuckles. So now I’m forced to look one notch lower at the 15" range. Once you’ve seen the higher range of prices, everything else looks so much cheaper now (and more attractive). Although there’s no complete satisfaction for the technophile in me, I suppose it’ll have to do for now. While digging around for news, this nice tidbit caught my attention. I don’t have the link since I was in the middle of Googling and won’t bother looking for the link since I Google about a dozen times daily and it’ll just be like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. I do wonder sometimes how my profile is shaping up on their end. Must be one hell of a challenge for their algorithms to anticipate my diverse interests, but their search failure rates are still relatively low, IMHO. Impressive.

Oh, the news. Apparently Intel is preparing for war. A price war! Goody! This is where wars are good! Screw those who says that all war’s hell. I might pity AMD, but when the thought of cheaper Intel chips comes to mind its AMD out the window. So, all you Wintel (Windows-Intel) minions out there, rejoice? Sadly, like all good news there’s always a catch. The news is only just a rumor flying around among the computer industry insiders. If true, it would mean that you’ll have to wait till July 23rd for the price cuts. They’ll reportedly slash the prices by up to 40%! But, the steepest cuts are reserved for the older line of chips (but drops for the Core Duo chips are also expected). Good for me right? Just wait until late July, and then I get to reap from the price war. Not quite. The cuts are reserved for desktop platforms! Ouch!

I guess I’m just not lucky again. As usual, I suppose.

The time for packing and leaving is upon some of us. I bid thee adieu and Godspeed.

As for myself, I’ll be lucky if I even made it out safely. I have a dream. It’s still not realised. Therefore, it’s only but just a dream.

Yes, you might wonder what’s this all about. I have offers to the UK and S’pore, so aren’t you leaving too? Yes, I managed to get the required result, managed to secure the offers, and accommodations too. So what’s the big deal? You’re off. I have one tiny problem, you see. My lifetime sponsors didn’t sign off on my plans because of a key issue with the price tags. I do realise that it would be a significant financial undertaking by my parents to fund my studies, especially when they have a habit for excessive frugality. What I didn’t expect was the lack of support in doing what I wanted to do. In short, if I really want what I wanted, I’ll have to start looking for other alternatives. At the moment, things are not looking too cheerful.

Sigh, talk about being depressed and frustrated at the same time. I’m not finished fighting yet, and will continue to do so. But I’m really getting exhausted mentally and physically, when I feel like I’m facing a brick wall day in and day out. I just hope I got the breath left in me to continue with studies and everything else by the time I get over this.

In case you wondered, I’m still working towards both options I have in mind. I’m not yet ready to turn my back on London yet. There’s still time left, and I’m trying to make the most of it.

Beware, this post is extremely long. My apologies, but there’s an e-mail attachment pasted in here added to my usual long winded yakking. Hope you’ll survive to the end.

As usual, I was blog surfing when I came to a thought provoking post at O-wern’s blog. A rarity among my friends who actually dared to be openly critical of our motherland on the Internet (where your posts will be recorded for anybody’s future reference), his blog reads like a Malaysiakini blog. Hehe owie, if you read this, sometimes I think you’re better suited to be a journalist or politician than studying medicine. But on the other hand, maybe that extra 11 years in S’pore would be useful (plenty of time to learn how the Singaporeans tick).

In his post, ‘Cost Of Living In Malaysia’, it makes you wonder if something is truly wrong with our currency, Ringgit Malaysia (I’ve came across something similar on Friendster too). Is our currency really that pathetic, despite claims of healthy growth from the ‘official’ sources? To save you time, I’ll repost the unabridged text in the email forwarded to him here for you to read.And you could always go here for the post he put up.

Here you go:

Cost of Living in Malaysia….Terlalu Tinggi?     PDF Cetak
Tue | Apr 25, 06 | 04:02:09 PM
Oleh Dr Zain Azrai, London

The argument in this thread from day one is the cost of living in each country (especially UK and Europe based on what you earn in the respective country) and whether the standards are higher than in Malaysia.

I tried to point out that many Malaysians always convert and that is why they say the UK is expensive. In fact, the cost of living is much cheaper than in Malaysia.

In actual fact, Malaysians are being conned because for such a rich and resource rich country, the pay in Malaysia is way too low compared to the cost of living and inflation.

One good example is Singapore.

Singaporeans (average) earns around S$3000 to S$4000 and nearly everything is half the price of Malaysia. Eg; clothes, computer parts, electronics etc. But the average Malaysian still earns RM$2000 plus and goods are double the price of Singapore.

This is the same as the UK. If you earn around 2000 pounds, you can liken this to the person earning RM$2000 in Malaysia. I give you some examples below. Maybe you can understand.

1) Good terrace house

It is more or less the same. If you want a house in KL, it would most probably be in Puchong and not Damansara Heights. So your house would be RM$200,000. In UK (London!), you can get a decent new house in Zone 6 (still within the tube) for 200,000 pounds.

If non London, you can get a nice house also for less than 200,000 pounds outside London (Manchester = <100, 000 pounds). The same also applies to buying a house in Seremban, Kajang etc. You can buy a nice house for RM200, 000 below. So buying a house is the same for the local and the Malaysian.

Renting a place is the same too or maybe cheaper than in Malaysia (I am not sure of this). A 2-bedroom flat in London is about 750 pounds (Zone 2). 500 pounds outside Zone 6 but still able to commute to London. A 2-bedroom house in Nottingham is 450 to 500 pounds. A 3-bedroom house in Belfast and Manchester is about 300-350 pounds.

2) A car

A good Wira is RM$55,000. Most Malaysians have to take 7-year loans and be in debt all the time. If you are earning RM$2000 a month, you take nearly 3 years saving the RM$2000 with not eating at all just to buy a Wira.

In UK, the average local earns about 2000 pounds. He saves 3 months, he can buy outright a good Ford Fiesta or a Vauxhall Corsa without being in debt.

If buying a second hand car, even better. A 1990 Mercedes 190E cost 500 pounds. My 1996 Mercedes E220 cost 2000 pounds. My friend just gave me his 1989 Honda Accord (Auto) for free because he said he could only get 30 pounds for it.

I used it for a few months and decided to give it of for free too. That alone speaks for itself.

Even if you are kuli or an office boy, you still can drive a Mercedes or a BM. Yes, kuli’s and office boy’s get paid quite well.

Average temp/office boy in London can earn about 7 to 10 pounds and hour. Overtime is 1.5 times or double. A brick-layer can earn 20 pounds an hour.

The same Indon who lays bricks in Malaysia earns RM$50 for the whole day.

Before I became a doctor, I used to be an office boy and I earned near 300 pounds a week working about 70 hours a week. My makan was 30 pounds a week. My rent was 70 pounds a week for a room but I still drove a BMW back then. I bought the 10-year old BMW 3 Series car for 200 pounds.

Amazing how an office boy can drive a safe and luxurious car.

3) Petrol

For a UK person earning 2000 pounds, 80 pence (now: 92 pence) a litre/gallon is cheaper than RM$1.52 (now: RM$1.92!) paid in Malaysia. If you don’t convert, it is like paying 80 sen a litre in Malaysia

4) Shopping

20 pounds (which is 1% of 2000 pounds) can buy you 1 week’s worth of groceries in Tesco. RM$100 (which is 10% of RM$2000) can also buy you 1 week’s worth of groceries in Giant or Carrefour.

5) Utility Bills (This is what I pay in UK)

  1. Virtually non-stop heating the whole day only 20 pounds a month (Only 1% of the 2000 pounds earned).
  2. Electricity, I use my electricity maximum only 20 pounds a month.(Only 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)
  3. My water bill also comes to about 20 pounds a month (Only 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)
  4. My internet - I get 2Mbps for about 25 pounds (Bulldog DSL) (Also slightly above 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)
  5. Astro Equivalent (NTL cable or Sky) - 30 pounds per month (Also slightly above 1% of the 2000 pounds earned)

In Malaysia, this is what I used to pay

  1. Tenaga Bill comes to RM$200 to RM300 a month with 3 air-cons. This is more than 10% of the RM$2000 earned)
  2. Water (Puas) comes to RM$40 (This is about 2% of the RM$2000 earned)
  3. Astro RM$100 (if you take Chinese package) (This is about 5% of the RM$2000 you earn)
  4. Internet Streamyx 512K RM 88 per month (This is about 5% of RM2000 you earn)

6) Books

A good book is about 10 to 15 pounds in the UK. This is less than 1% of the 2000 pounds you earn. In Malaysia, you have to spend RM$75 to RM$100 for a decent book in MPH or Kinokuniya in KLCC. This is about 5% of the RM$2000 ringgit you earn.

7) Education

I think it is about RM$20,000 per year to do a degree in Sunway Monash and about RM$12,000 per year to send your kid to UM, UKM, USM etc. I am not sure about this.

But in UK, it is only 3000 pounds a year to send your kid to a great university. That also, the white man still makes a lot of noise because the grants were taken away. Previously, it was virtually free for the English man to send his kid to university but now, since the grant was taken away, he has to spend 3000 pounds per year to send his kid to university and less money to get drunk in the pub.

Well, if you are earning RM$2000 ringgit, sending your kid to UM to study is quite difficult. If you are earning 2000 pounds per month, you can easily send you kid to university in the UK.

Even worse for the poor non bumi’s not given a place in local university.

Even if they can afford, they won’t get a place because of the quota system. Unfortunately, the Chinaman and the Indian who gets 5A’s in STPM have to be sacrificed and not given a place to let the Malay fellow with 2E’s and 3 Fail’s to enter the Medical Faculty or Law Faculty.

So the non-bumi’s have to save RM100,000 per year to send their kid to the UK. In the UK, at least the white man still can go into university based on results and merit and only pay 3000 pounds per year.

Luxuries

Panasonic Plasma TV in Malaysia about RM20,000. If you are earning RM$2000 a month, memang mahal! You have to save 2 years your monthly salary to buy it. In UK, the same Panasonic (ironically, Panasonic plasma is made in Japan and Japan is close to Malaysia, so the plasma should be cheaper in Malaysia) is only 200 pounds. And this is only 10% of the 2000pounds earned.

9) Health

NHS is free. Though the service is slow, quality is still there. You still can get a top quality by-pass for free although you may have to wait many months.

In Malaysia, IJN charges RM$30,000. SJMC charges RM$50,000. GH is free but as many people know, GH and UH have clown doctors.

10) Assessments to local councils

I may pay high council tax but at least my council assures my streets are clean and safe, got no holes (pot holes) on my roads, and they jump and attend to me whenever I call them.

When I stayed in Malaysia, I paid my assessment and quite rent but MPSJ I lived in Subang) told me to "podah" whenever I asked them to come and fill up the pot holes, cut the long lalang, put street lighting etc The councils, especially MPPJ and MPSJ, were more interested in eating nasi lemak and going for 10 teh tariks in a day during office hours and hardly did anything for their residents.

11) Income Tax

My national insurance and income tax also is not wasted. When I was unemployed in 1997, the government ia social security paid for my 2-bedroom flat for one whole year and I was given about 100 pounds per week for me and my wife to live on. I am happy to know that one day if I lose my job, I can still claim social security and get my apartment paid and food to eat again for free. It is a good security to know.

The list goes on. Here alone you can see, the sterling you earn goes a long way in the UK. So your quality of life is far better in the UK than a Malaysian in Malaysia. It is just that Malaysians are just too content with what they have. But you compare apple for apple.

The British just love to complain. They have it made but still they love to complain. Nothing is good enough for the British. The government gives the citizens so much but they still seem to want more and more.
LeisureMan

Apart from a few items (it’s unbelievable that a car can cost only 30 pounds!) it seems that the writer seems to be right. I cannot substantiate the claims made there, but the writer may have a valid point.

You see, despite claims to be a democratic and open country our economy does not adhere to the principle of 100% open, free-market practices. To be fair, no economy in the world is 100% open, but as clichéd as it sounds there are economies that are more open than others.

Firstly, our currency is deliberately undervalued. Yes, deliberately! After the 1997 crisis, we’re pegged to RM3.80=USD1 (from approximately around RM2.50=USD1, if I remember correctly). It stayed that way until 2006, where BNM decided to a ‘partial floating’ of our currency. Now, the RM would be managed against a basket of currencies (and within a range). In short, they’ll make the RM slightly more elastic. BNM will allow the RM to appreciate (or depreciate) very slowly. Based on the pre-1997 exchange rates and optimistic reports about our economy (undoubtedly a TKS reasoning flaw), I optimistically forecasted an appreciation to RM3.00=USD1. At the least, I thought it was feasible for it to reach RM3.50=USD1 in the short term. I was wrong. Dead wrong. So, if it didn’t go the way I hoped it to be, what went wrong? Did I make an overly optimistic forecast, or I got it all wrong? I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to call the official figures wrong or misleading, since it’s way beyond my level of understanding.

I’m still not quite sure, but I got a few ideas. After the re-evaluation I kept my eyes peeled for some clues. That’s partly why I started reading The Economist (I had too much free time, and their caricatures are top notch!)

Here’s what I got.

According to their burgernomics (or the Big Mac index) our ringgit is weaker than the dollar, together with a few other currencies (most notably the Chinese yuan). Although there are flaws in using Purchasing Power Parity to compare currencies per se, it is quite useful. Furthermore, the RM appreciated slightly the day after the Central Bank of China made a slight adjustment to their currency. As such, I’m convinced that BNM includes the yuan as a benchmark currency, and is deliberately keeping our currency undervalued.

I’m just the street economist, so don’t impale me if I got it all wrong. You know, I’m young and naïve, and brought up to have pessimistic outlook of the world and human nature (I still try to keep a positivist outlook on human character on a personal level). Currently, I’m suspecting that the public are being inconvenienced in the best interests of businesses and nation. As we’re a manufacturing nation (we export products, not ideas and innovation), keeping our currency cheap is a good incentive, so that we can sell things cheap just like China. Furthermore, it makes it cheaper for investors to dump money here. Therefore, the M’sian manufacturers benefits, while we suffer. You see, in China the Chinese can practically buy anything in China so a weak yuan wouldn’t impact them significantly. But here in M’sia, we don’t benefit as much. Take sugar for an example. Keeping the price of sugar regulated isn’t such a good idea, because manufacturers benefit from it (and sell it to us at a marked up price). As a direct result, we face a sugar shortage. Same goes for oil. The government is subsidising oil to Singaporeans, Thai and Bruneians!

During my NTU ASEAN Scholarship interview, I was asked for my opinion about the reduction in oil subsidies. I agreed in the affirmative, as it doesn’t help anybody in the long term. Look, if the government want to give us subsidies, give us a tax rebate according to miles travelled! If not, they can mandate an increase in wages! But no, the government wasted too much money like propping up failed businesses, and a wage increase wouldn’t be in the best interests of businesses.

Another possible reason I came up with is a deliberate attempt to clamp down on capital outflow and brain drain. I have read somewhere (not an official source) that a million Malaysians have emigrated in the past 25 years. That equates to 40,000 Malaysians annually! Maybe they think that it should help rectify the brain drain problem, but it would definitely be a case of addressing the symptom, not the cause. Combine that with Malaysians making investments overseas. The KLSE is crap anyway. An astounding 70% of Initial Public Offering shares of a company are allocated to bumiputras. Once they get the stocks, most Malays sell them off for a quick profit. This is utter nonsense!

Please don’t take me for a racist here, but it was published in newspapers some time ago. The dumb quotas and the bumiputra classification must go. Not being classified as ‘sons of the Earth’ just because we’re not Malay and Muslim isn’t helping in creating a socially integrated and progressive nation. Unfortunately, we’re all equally guilty in allowing this to happen. To quote V, “Well, certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again, truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.” A memorable movie, especially when it embodies the present day realities we’re going through (if you notice, all the references to literature in the movie are either about battles, or personal vengeance). Darn, if only I got ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ in my collection. I only got ‘The Three Musketeers’. I must seriously consider expanding the family literature collection instead of buying only science books. After all, I’m out of books for leisurely reading at home. But as you can see, it’s expensive to buy books with RM.

Maybe I should go to the UK and work there.

Yesterday, I stayed up till 0430 to cram for an ‘exam’. The exam consisted of questions about the 17 core coffees sold in M’sia, promotional coffees offered by Starbucks since March 1st and a personal favourite coffee. Not your typical kind of exam but it still requires the use of the sponge I had up there (seriously, I haven’t used it since the Biology 6 paper to memorise a bunch of things at short notice, which is a long time indeed). BTW, the person who told me my pineal gland was malfunctioning, you’re right. I’m blogging at 4am!!!

Prior to stopping work, I was ‘persuaded’ to join this coffee competition. Being the curious person I am, I decided to hop on. There were 2 problems. One, my coffee knowledge was practically zero. I only tried out Sumatra in detail before, with a few other coffees and that’s all! Two, I don’t have a personal favourite coffee. I might have tried going for the new Peaberry Blend, or Sumatra, or even Caffe Verona (it’s stuck in my head, partly because I got one bag of it to enjoy). Instead, I ended up being assigned Kenya instead. Fair enough, because I didn’t choose earlier (in my defense, I didn’t know we had to do so in advance!). BTW, if you’re really interested, I’m including the links to information on Starbucks.com if you want to have a look.

To prepare for it I got some notes made by my supervisor. And I read through the official Coffee and Tea Resource Manual thrice (thankfully, it did the trick). Actually, we also had a small book called the Coffee Passport to aid Starbucks partners to know more about the coffees. It was very useful, especially during times like this. The best part is I completed mine a long time ago(because I was ‘ordered’ to). Everything nicely done, with complete information (copied from www.starbucks.com, because I was lazy to stay back after work to copy from the abovementioned manual). All I had to do is just ’swallow’ everything in the Passport, and everything should be fine. The problem is, my Passport is missing (of all the passports stored in the store!). Stupid huh? So, I had to borrow my supervisor’s Passport too! How inconvenient.

As I’m the greenest person on the team, I had a lot to read up (the rest have been through the whole process before, and I have no idea what I’m up against). But I didn’t mind it one bit. I preferred being the underdog. Never liked being considered top of class thing. I liked the proximity, not ownership (you know, not too dumb but not too smart kinda thing). You know why? If you’re considered too smart, people will assume too much and jump ahead too far. On the other hand if you’re considered too stupid they might just oversimplify it or worse, dispense with it altogether. That’s why the middle ground is best, where you should be given the Goldilocks explanation (not too much, not too little), and information is given to you when you ask for it. To me, the latter is especially important. Why? Memorising facts suck big time. I find it easier, if I can get to understand it in context (historical or geographical, for example). It’s easier (and more fun!) when you can read a story instead of memorising just one chapter. Plus, it ever hurts to be exposed to the information repeatedly (that’s about the only secret of how I manage to keep so many things in my head). Ok, back to the main story.

How I got to sucking up the required bits is just a matter of time, and dedication. I shan’t bore you with the details. So on the 21st, we just went down to the Starbucks at Berjaya Times Square at 8am and waited. I saw a Renault F1 replica there! Yucks! Blue and yellow! While waiting for the thing to start at 10, our District Manager (who was part of the committee) came by and offered us some food. It’s quite awkward actually, but we eventually settled on sandwiches and Americano. The 2 espresso shots, plus the Nescafe I brought at 7-11 managed to work its wonders, and I manage to stay awake for a little while longer.

In truth, I know it’s a competition of some sorts between the districts (I don’t get how Starbucks classify the stores by their version of districts, I don’t get the order out of that chaos). I’m just part of a team of 4 members (SunMed+IOI Mall) and of the 8 teams in the 1st session, we’re second last (based on overall scores). After running through the series of questions (10 questions each, a mix of objective, subjective and True/False questions), we have to do a ‘coffee sharing’ where you basically talk about a coffee. After the questions, we managed to collect 32 out of 40 points. I did either a 9/10 or 10/10, depending on whether the scorer noticed that I made a spelling error with one of the coffee names I gave as an answer. Damm. I was plain lucky, because I got the easy questions, and I managed to discuss a little bit more before my turn came (each person had to answer 5 questions, in a rotating order).

Anyhow, that was good enough to put ourselves far away from the last place (that’s our aim, not to get last) by the time we got to the Coffee Sharing session. That’s good enough because I didn’t have a personal coffee to share (I used everything from the manual, with minimal personalisation). Besides, it was done at lunch time, and I can never think properly when I’m hungry! It’s not too bad actually, because the rest of our team are ‘experts’ at it already, so they can crap their way out.

So, after that the rest of the team went home and I went to Borders. Since I’m already so tired (caffene’s half life is only 6 hrs, that’s why the effects never last long) I left in under an hr and had lunch at McD. Starbucks partners that I had the chance to observe usually eat at two places here. One is at McD, the other at the Food Court at Plaza Low Yat. We don’t go to Ravenholm. Uh, I mean Starbucks. It’s too expensive to eat there. After some price hunting at Low Yat, I went to the Starbucks there (I got only juices, because I can’t drink them free at work) for a while to hang out to wait for my mom and sis to finish shopping, then home to sleep till midnight. And then here I am.

As for the final results, it’s still too early to find out. Hope that we did enough to stay afloat.

Report compiled on 200606 2241GMT (+0800).

Report as follows:

A significant percentage of blogs on the watchlist is registering an increase in chatter over the last 24hrs. Chatter is emotional in content, and negative in character. Subject is apparently focused on future academic related undertakings. Report concludes that bloggers are emotionally affected by University entrance in the near future.

Report ends.

While unsurprising, it amazes me that my fellow bloggers (across varied academic backgrounds and aspirations) are ‘in the dumps’. To be honest, I nearly posted something equivalent in content. As it is written when I’m nearly half asleep and influenced by the posts of my fellow bloggers, I decided not to post it this morning. The contents are so unlike me, yet very much like me. It’s not good to contribute to the sense of helplessness and loneliness that has been spreading around, especially when it’s written in one of my darkest moods. However, I’m extremely relieved to be able to let it out and tell someone (even when the only reader was me). While prepared to accept whatever that is bound to happen, I am not ready to give up on my hopes yet. It is so near, yet so far out of reach.

I have given up once, and I am determined not to let history repeat itself again. I have walked down the least traveled road so frequently by my own, that I might just get used to the whole business. The time is coming soon, to grit my teeth and brace for it. Being an optimist, at least I have minimal emotional baggage. I’m already practically divorced from the rest of my family plus I won’t have to be separated from the ’special’ one, because I don’t have any! And from the look of things, might just probably never will for some time to come.

So, what news? The war on terrorism has taken a backseat lately, with the World Cup going on and all. Maybe Osama and his gang are observing a period of ceasefire eh? So they can carry out their ‘prostration’ to football before carrying out their suicidal missions? Judging from news streaming out from Iraq, fat chance. Luckily we’re not in Iraq (unless you’re a diplomat there, I doubt it very much that you’ll get electricity when the matches are on).

But then, we never really know wouldn’t we? Anyhow, for those of you living in ‘infidel land’ you might just want to keep your gas masks a little bit closer to you. Apparently, the terrorists have been busy hatching new stuff to add into their weapons handbook. Not really sure if it can qualify for the C in the NBC for WMDs (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons of Mass Destructions) but its good enough for them. Best (or worst) of all, it’s easy to make, portable, and it’s dispersed by air.

Probably half inspired by the 1995 Tokyo subway attack, some bunch of guys found a way to release cyanide gas into enclosed spaces (and kill whoever’s inside, to their delight). While the plan is seemingly unoriginal, the method of delivery is. In fact, we can probably create the ‘weapon’ ourselves.

Let’s see how it works.

"Mubtakkar means "invention" in Arabic, "the initiative" in Farsi. The device is a bit of both. It’s a canister with two interior containers: sodium cyanide is in one; a hydrogen product, like hydrochloric acid, in the other; and a fuse breaks the seal between them. The fuse can be activated remotely—as bombs are triggered by cell phones—breaking the seal, creating the gas, which is then released. Hydrogen cyanide gas is a blood agent, which means it poisons cells by preventing them from being able to utilize oxygen carried in the blood. Exposure leads to dizziness, nausea, weakness, loss of consciousness and convulsions. Breathing stops and death follows. (Since blood agents are carried through the respiratory system, a gas mask is the only protection needed. If one is exposed to blood agents, amyl nitrite provides an antidote, if administered quickly enough.)"

That’s easy enough. How effective is it?

"In a confined environment, such as an office building’s ventilation system or a subway car, hydrogen cyanide would cause many deaths. The most chilling illustration of what happens in a closed space comes from a 20th century monstrosity. The Nazis used a form of hydrogen cyanide called Zyklon B in the gas chambers of their concentration camps."

How bad is it in their hands?

"In the world of terrorist weaponry, this was the equivalent of splitting the atom. Obtain a few widely available chemicals, and you could construct it with a trip to Home Depot and then kill everyone in the store."

Yup, that’s ‘honey pots’ for terrorists. In their lingo, honey is what they call destructive items (what do they call themselves, bees or flowers?). The good news is, the plan was never executed. The bad news is it’s not probably due to a feeling of goodwill on the terrorists. Perhaps they’re just biding their time, and waiting to catch people off guard (which is what they’re very good at). The whole article’s here if you want to read it.

What is the good guys up to? Drooling over MySpace and Friendster. You read that right. In ‘Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites’, NewScientist is reporting that the Pentagon is currently funding projects to tap into all that information we willingly post online. Big Brother keeps a copy of your emails, and now he probably wants to read your Friendster profiles. First the FBI comes up with a data miner (I can’t remember exactly what they called it, but it’s related to dinosaurs), and then the Department of Defense? Perhaps it’s time to remove some information off my profile, don’t you think? I don’t think that limiting public access to my profile’s going to work. That is incidentally why I make it a point to never post specific personal and work-related information on my blogs. Oh yes, political and work-related opinions too. You never want your future employer to see that don’t you? Just to be on the safe side, you see.

At this rate, you’ll probably be better off writing letters if you want to be discreet. Sure, you can write love letters and send them by email, but you’ll never really know how many people can get to read them. Best to send them by mail right? It’s safer that way (in theory, that is).

Oh, and 20 years since Newsweek came up with the infamous line that a 40-year-old single woman was "more likely to be killed by a terrorist" than to ever marry, states of union weren’t what they predicted would be. ‘Wonderful’ news, isn’t it?

Copyright Time Comic of the Week

P.S. : The Inconvenient Truth was a documentary starring Al Gore (yes, the former Vice President of the United States) warning about global warming. Turns out that you can do the reverse of Ronald Reagan (he went to Washington from Hollywood) after all.

Copyright Time Comic of the Week

Ah, well. I’m not American for sure, so does that make me an alien? Perhaps. But strangely, despite the fact that the diplomats at the United Nations in their glass palace are envious of the World Cup, I don’t care much about it. Who could blame them? Millions will watch the World Cup matches, but how many would follow the deliberations of the UN General Assembly or the UN Security Council?Plenty of people could have told you that David Beckham is England’s team captain, but how many could have told you John Bolton is the US Ambassador to the UN?

Although I haven’t watched a single match so far, I get some tidbits there and here, from people around me and the ever pervasive cyberspace. Practically everyone is excited about it, except me.

Maybe I’m a social alien then. I did watch the ‘02 Cup, as the telecast times are extremely convenient for us Asians at that time. Either I need more time to get exited about it, or I’ve finally weaned myself off the TV (and got wrapped up around the other box in the house). Perhaps it’s because of the time difference. Sooner or later, time will tell.

In the meantime, I’ll bore myself to death by the world fastest sport. I am getting horrendously sick of shades of blue and yellow by the way. Don’t get me wrong here. My favourite color is still blue, especially dark blue. But not just one particular shade of blue.

Again, I’m out of things to read. Finally finished the two books beside my bedside table. I have about a dozen or two more e-books on my PC, but I hate to read books on the PC. That’s odd coming from someone who is practically glued to a PC, but staring at a point in space that is fixed for a few hours can be really tiring. Toss in a few more images and you get the usual hassle of manipulating the size and magnification to get the desired level of detail just to make some sense out of the picture. Yep, paper is still the way to go. So unless I can get to freeload a couple thousand more pages of free printing, its back to the bookstores or Hypermedia Library again. If only I could sneak into TCSJ Library to print a ‘few’ more pages…

Well, the reason why I took weeks to finish just two relatively thin books is because I got my hands on BFME2 (thanks Bran, for the extra hours in front of the PC drooling over the beauty of Middle-Earth). Wouldn’t want to bore you readers, whoever you are with the details, but one thing is now irreversibly stuck in my mind.

SPOILER ALERT: Skip to the paragraph after this if you intend to play the Evil mission in the near future.

Goblins are pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. They should throw down their arms and go back into their mountain adobe and stay there! Why? Look, they fought a battle against the hobbits and lost! Loooong ago, as the story goes, the Goblin King came down to Shire to pick a fight with the Halflings. The King got killed, and his armies routed. Imagine! Scary Goblins losing to a bunch of docile half sized beings? Yeeesh! And yes, the new Goblin King was right at the end of the mission. Too easy! Except for Isengard who comes along to interfere, that is. The Dunedian rangers helped the hobbits, so it’s more or less evened out between Hobbits and Goblins, but it’s already stuck in my head. Goblins are pathetic.

Anyhow, I’ve finally watched X3. Since I had a break this afternoon, I just decided to make a dash for it before coming back again. Yes, I know it’s not ‘normal’ to go and watch movies solo, but I’m pretty much fine with that. Having company to go out with is an accessory and not necessity to me. Besides, you’ll never know if you become the accidental lamp post. Having said that, it seems to me that my favourite characters are also favourite targets to kill off. Harry Potter too. That’s not fair. Oh well, I don’t suppose they follow too closely to the comic books where the heroes practically survives through in one form or other. At the very least, my favourite characters don’t usually get picked off first. Plus, since it’s the end of the trilogy I guess we won’t be seeing the SR-71 Blackbird look-alike anymore. Not something to shout about, but still an enjoyable flick nevertheless.

BTW, that Scientific American magazine Beast was reading in X3 is actually a real life October 2005 issue, unlike the one you saw in Timeline. Nope, the article wasn’t talking about those kinds of mutations, but something more mundane like using mutations to trace human migration paths out of Africa. I don’t memorise the covers of every issue I read but that was incidentally the last issue I read while studying in college (library of course, since I’m not a subscriber). I do wonder if this is related to the decline in the population of nerdus americanus, so the movie producers are trying to help do their part in stimulating the new American generation’s interest in science and technology. If Q holds up a copy of Popular Science in Casino Royale, that’s gonna confirm it.

Now, if only I can try to drop by Summit and watch DVC this Friday. I would have preferred tomorrow, but I have work. Although I mentioned that I was supposed to have resigned a long way ago, my Store Manager managed to persuade me to stay longer. The coffee is having an effect after all on making people more open to persuasion. Thanks for pointing this out New Scientist (summary of the research available here). In the end, it was a win-win situation. I get to work at a bare minimum, earn some cash and help out at the store while enjoying the free drinks. As for the 30% discount, I hardly ever use them. So Pei and Nat, if you get your hands on me, you’ll get it. But I don’t think I’ll have it any longer though. I planned to stay till July 5th at the latest in the first place, and it’s really not feasible to stay any longer. And Pei, insafla! You should cut down on your Frappucinos! The sugar can make you slumberphillic! If you don’t believe me, here’s proof!

Ok, brain’s emptied enough now.