Recently there was a covert test on airport security in the states. The result shows the investigators managed to bring liquid explosives and detonators on board and this generated a lot of ammunitions for some politicians to push for higher military budget.
However how long can a nation pay for such unproductive expenses? Although some people may argue precautions must in place to protect the innocent, to prevent the re-occurrence of 911, and blah blah blah.
I just feel all these are really stupid. One end there are people who claim they defend democracy and police the whole world, while at the other end there are people who fight in the name of religion. And the fighting itself basically nullify everything these two camps stand for.
You don't invade others to get democracy, and you don't kill others to get to heaven.
Last but not least, you don't need to show others how to wipe your ass 'the correct way' in space to prove you are a developed country.
Crazy world.
The news on airport security is: Here
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The Meeting of Four
YC's visit to SG marked the gathering the four handsome and available engineers.
This time the venue was Clarke Quay and the topics were as usual, on work, on beer, on women, and large doze of drowsiness.
Cherish the time we gather, as it's hard to predict where we are tomorrow. Let me finishsucking sipping my beer.
Thoughts of the day:
Malaysia's UTM is ranked 415 by THES and surprisingly some people are still 'satisfied' with the result, arguing there are over ten thousand universities in the world, and 415 is really not that bad.
Well, this kind logic will give UTM enough slack to slip down to 500 while still claiming to be in the top 5% universities in the world. Go ahead with self-congratulatory mode.
This time the venue was Clarke Quay and the topics were as usual, on work, on beer, on women, and large doze of drowsiness.
Cherish the time we gather, as it's hard to predict where we are tomorrow. Let me finish
Thoughts of the day:
Malaysia's UTM is ranked 415 by THES and surprisingly some people are still 'satisfied' with the result, arguing there are over ten thousand universities in the world, and 415 is really not that bad.
Well, this kind logic will give UTM enough slack to slip down to 500 while still claiming to be in the top 5% universities in the world. Go ahead with self-congratulatory mode.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Sharpening the Saw
Today is a lazy Sunday.
Though I have a dead line to meet in 2 weeks, I try not to think about work today.
Instead, I am doing what Steven Covey said, "Sharpening the saw". In other words, I am doing things that normally I have no time to do, but nevertheless they do contribute positively to my productivity and overall well-beings.
A good example will be cleaning up of my humble abode. I swept and mopped the floor, and tidied up the stack of newspaper, purging the older ones for recycling.
A clean up doesn't limit to physical stuff; I also scanned my work computer for spywares and viruses, as well as ran the disk defragmenter to ensure disk access time is optimum.
Down to my heart, all these scanning and defragmenting are unnecessary taxes we pay for using M$ products. Some people may say why don't you use Linux/OS X/Solaris? Well, these OSes have their own problems. In fact, there are a lot of news that viruses and malwares are starting to targetting Mac OS. Why? Because the user base for OS X has grown so much that now it is profitable to write a malware for it. I believe we will live with M$ for sometime to come. Linux? Nay, it is a good candidate, but I don't see it as a viable main-stream OS contender for another 3 to 5 years.
A picture tells a thousand words:
No, let's not talk about politics today. What can I say anyway?
Though I have a dead line to meet in 2 weeks, I try not to think about work today.
Instead, I am doing what Steven Covey said, "Sharpening the saw". In other words, I am doing things that normally I have no time to do, but nevertheless they do contribute positively to my productivity and overall well-beings.
A good example will be cleaning up of my humble abode. I swept and mopped the floor, and tidied up the stack of newspaper, purging the older ones for recycling.
A clean up doesn't limit to physical stuff; I also scanned my work computer for spywares and viruses, as well as ran the disk defragmenter to ensure disk access time is optimum.
Down to my heart, all these scanning and defragmenting are unnecessary taxes we pay for using M$ products. Some people may say why don't you use Linux/OS X/Solaris? Well, these OSes have their own problems. In fact, there are a lot of news that viruses and malwares are starting to targetting Mac OS. Why? Because the user base for OS X has grown so much that now it is profitable to write a malware for it. I believe we will live with M$ for sometime to come. Linux? Nay, it is a good candidate, but I don't see it as a viable main-stream OS contender for another 3 to 5 years.
A picture tells a thousand words:
No, let's not talk about politics today. What can I say anyway?
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Pay Debt With More Debt
On US monetary policy:
There are speculations on Fed's decision on interest-rate. Given the current uncertainty in the US financial market, a lot of people really think the Fed has to cut the interest rate further to give a boost the economy.
Though in the short term the interest cut may prove to be useful, but it also tends to let those bad debts to live longer and make the financial blackhole formed by shaky sub prime market. In other words, an interest cut is like borrowing money to feed the debts. To paraphrase Buffett, when the market confidence drops and creditors start demanding their money back, the financial tide is out. At that time we will know who are swimming naked. Heh.
On Malaysia:
It seems Malaysia is pushing its Bolehness to another level by setting up more and more free trade zone. On the surface this looks ok, we want to attract FDI, but wait. What is the main feature of a FTZ? A hefty tax incentive. By having so many FTZ, where are the government's income? We could argue those FDIs will bring job opportunities, but if a government plays its card properly, it really doesn't need to hit so low-ball to keep distributing tax incentives. After 50 years, where are we, really?
Oh, I am confused.
There are speculations on Fed's decision on interest-rate. Given the current uncertainty in the US financial market, a lot of people really think the Fed has to cut the interest rate further to give a boost the economy.
Though in the short term the interest cut may prove to be useful, but it also tends to let those bad debts to live longer and make the financial blackhole formed by shaky sub prime market. In other words, an interest cut is like borrowing money to feed the debts. To paraphrase Buffett, when the market confidence drops and creditors start demanding their money back, the financial tide is out. At that time we will know who are swimming naked. Heh.
On Malaysia:
It seems Malaysia is pushing its Bolehness to another level by setting up more and more free trade zone. On the surface this looks ok, we want to attract FDI, but wait. What is the main feature of a FTZ? A hefty tax incentive. By having so many FTZ, where are the government's income? We could argue those FDIs will bring job opportunities, but if a government plays its card properly, it really doesn't need to hit so low-ball to keep distributing tax incentives. After 50 years, where are we, really?
Oh, I am confused.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
What Does He Really Mean?
I always enjoy what Lee Kuan Yew has to say. All his talks are very well-thought of, intelligent, practical, and relevant. University professors may be intelligent, however most of the thoughts are not practical or relevant to the real-world. The fact he is a politician really makes him unique: how many politicians, past or present, who are comparable? I am not ass'ing up Lee, but just to be fair
Recently Lee was interviewed by Tom Plate and Jeffrey Cole and his talk has generated some stirs in Malaysia.
If A is not true, it doesn't matter what B is.
Now is A true? So what are all the hu-ha's??
Other interesting thoughts:
Here is what he has to say on setting up of public policy school in Singapore:
Full transcript of the interview here
Recently Lee was interviewed by Tom Plate and Jeffrey Cole and his talk has generated some stirs in Malaysia.
Most people don't care to read the sentence properly: Lee said 'If Malaysia would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as citizens' and that is the key to understand the whole statement.
Lee: When [Malaysia] kicked us out [in 1965], the expectation was that we would fail and we will go back on their terms, not on the terms we agreed with them under the British. Our problems are not just between states, this is a problem between races and religions and civilizations. We are a standing indictment of all the things that they can be doing differently. They have got all the resources. If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them.
If A, then B
If A is not true, it doesn't matter what B is.
Now is A true? So what are all the hu-ha's??
Other interesting thoughts:
Here is what he has to say on setting up of public policy school in Singapore:
Immediate that points out what most countries in the world are lacking big time. Instead, these countries delude themselves by buying what advanced countries have. No, that is called masturbation, not advancement.
Lee: I think that's an investment worth making because [students from the region] will go back and they will tell their media chaps and their leaders and say, look this country works because it's working like this: first, it's honest; second, it's rational; third, it makes decisions and follows through on those decisions. The decisions are made after very careful consideration of all options and consequences.
Full transcript of the interview here
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Remember Laika
Who is Laika?
Laika the dog was sent to outer space on Sputnik 2 by Russians on Nov 2, 1957. Though it only survived for a few hours in space due to overheating and stress, this experiment proved that living organism can survive in weightlessness for an extended amount of time.
Experiments must be done with clear objectives and plans. Sending Laika was to test the hypothesis living organism can survive in outer space. The subsequent experiments after Laika's trip paved the way to ISS, until our Sheikh could comfortably played gasing there.
Now my question is: What is next?
Laika the dog was sent to outer space on Sputnik 2 by Russians on Nov 2, 1957. Though it only survived for a few hours in space due to overheating and stress, this experiment proved that living organism can survive in weightlessness for an extended amount of time.
Experiments must be done with clear objectives and plans. Sending Laika was to test the hypothesis living organism can survive in outer space. The subsequent experiments after Laika's trip paved the way to ISS, until our Sheikh could comfortably played gasing there.Now my question is: What is next?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
拥抱我
对游鸿明印象并不深， 只记得大概十年前他的一首‘狂悲狂喜’的MV拍的挺好。
最近他发了一个专辑 《倦鳥餘花》， 里头重唱柯以敏的拥抱我，好的令我刮目相看。
那声线，那深情，那歌词。。。
套一句英文：“Ｉｔ ｂｌｅｗ ｍｅ ａｗａｙ＂
拥抱我：
作曲：游鸿明 作词：姚谦
有些时候微笑是最好藉口
让爱的人贴在心口体会著
不需要言语解说一份默契在心中
片刻的交流在爱里遨游
有些时候眼泪只是小藉口
可以躺进爱人怀中找寄托
世界太大太寂寞只有这一个角落
片刻的温柔让心情解脱
拥抱我在悲伤的时候
你心事种种我愿意有相同的感受
拥抱我在喜悦的时候
你情绪所有我都梦寐以求
拥抱我
有些时候眼泪只是小藉口
可以躺进爱人怀中找寄托
世界太大太寂寞只有这一个角落
片刻的温柔让心情解脱
拥抱我在悲伤的时候
你心事种种我愿意有相同的感受
拥抱我在喜悦的时候
你情绪所有我都梦寐以求
拥抱我
因为在拥抱的时候有一种完全的拥有
是彼此的体温是彼此的心跳
是彼此的感动
拥抱我在悲伤的时候
你心事种种我愿意有相同的感受
拥抱我在喜悦的时候
你情绪所有我都梦寐以求
拥抱我
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)