Friday, August 31, 2007

August 31st – Today in History

Today is the 243rd day of the year 2007. There are 122 days left in the year. No event of significant happened today. I do wonder why today is a public holiday in Malaysia ? Could it be because today is Debbie Gibson's birthday ? Since a lot of us are fans of Debbie Gibson, I think it is appropriate today be a rest day as mark of respect to this western icon of music. So, today I can afford to spend more times in the toilet in the morning. Spending more time in the toilet doing what ? Do I need to give you graphic descriptions of what people normally do in the toilet ?

Out of respect for history, the followings are some significant events that happened on this day in history : .

August 31, 1997 - Princess Diana, her boyfriend Dodi al-Fayed, driver Henrie Paul, and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones were involved in an auto accident at Place d'Alma, France. The Princess died at 4:00 a.m. in the hospital. She was 36 years old at time of her death.

August 31, 1989 - Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips announced their separation.

August 31, 1983 – South Korea Airliner' flight 007 was shot down by Russia. All 269 passengers and crew died.

August 31, 1980 - Poland's Solidarity labor union was founded

August 31, 1972 - Mark Spitz wins his fifth swimming gold medal of the Munich Olympics. He won a total of 7 gold medals during the games.

August 31st 1968 - 6,000 people died and 60,0000 buildings destroyed in an earth quake in Iran.

August 31, 1939 - Adolf Hitler ordered his troop to invade Poland

August 31, 1900 - Coca Cola first goes on sale in Britain.

August 31, 1897 - Thomas Edison received a patent for his movie camera, the Kinetograph.

Genitally yours.......

I recently read about a sad case of a young girl who died while undergoing a “purification” rite where circumcision were done on her genital. This shameful and barbaric rite is commonly known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Maybe I am culturally insensitive and ignorant to condemn this type of barbaric cultural rites. But let us not show disrespect to the basic human rights of young girls in particular and women in general. In the name of cultural and traditional rights, how low and indecent men can go to indulge in their stupidity and insanity ?

It is indeed very sad that, in this age of modernity, there are still regressive mental retards out there who take pride in creating communal, physical, and mental pressure to force frightened young girls to underwent excision of the clitoris and labia of the vagina. In certain severe case, the vagina is sew shut, and at later age, the vagina is surgically reopened to allow her husband to have sexual intercourse. The mutilation of the female genital, subject the young girls to various health risks and mental anguish. The girl may also died from the procedural complications such as wrong dosage of anaesthesia, hemorrhage, and other complications.

The community that practice FGM usually claimed that, a woman's vagina labia and clitoris are “not clean”, and as long as the female genital is not mutilated according to the community's cultural standards, the woman will become promiscuous and “un-marriageable”. The whole idea of FGM is to “protect” the woman's chastity, making her faithful to her future husband, and to prevent her from having sexual pleasures. The whole idea, I believed,, is to ensure the women toe the line of “acceptable” standard of sexuality to protect the honour and pride of the men. What a shameful values of morality. If mutilating a female genitals can purify and defend the honours of their family and community. Why not practise the double assurances by also removing the testicles and cut-off the penis' tip of the menfolks there ? Why torture the innocent young girls with stupid and barbaric tradition to glorify the men's inferiority complex ?

I am equally shocked to learned that, those uneducated women who were previously forced by their men and culture to undergone FGM are also supporting FGM to be done on their children and other young girls. It is indeed a sadistic mentality of “since I was previously forced to have my genital mutilated, it is only fair that other innocent young girls be also put through the same torturous genital mutilations”. So, in the process, this madness become the accepted rites of passage for innocent young girls. Young girls continued to be subjected to needless trauma, bodily harms, danger of death, and ordeal. Sickening people in sickening society manifesting their sickening culture to nauseate civilized world. Times and again, forked tongues politicians asking the rest of the civilized to respect and show sensitivity to this sickeningly sadistic and barbaric cultures.

FGM is an act of sexual assault. This inhumane act of FGM must be totally banned and abolished. Let's all not keep silent on this abuse or make polite excuses that we need to respect barbarians' cultural sensitivity. A human rights abuse is a HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE. Let us not be forked tongues about it. FGM is physically a criminal sexual assault. Let's shamed and embargoed the communities that still practice the barbaric tradition of genital mutilations. To those who still believe and insist on their traditional rights to conduct FGM, they are nothing but a bunch of psychotic pea-brained barbarians. I sincerely appeal to them to stop picking on young girls to prove their little manhood. Seriously, are there pride and honour in conducting sexual assaults on young girls in the name of cultures and traditions ?

To those barbarians who still encourages sadistic genital mutilations, you want respect for your cultural rights ? Nah, this is my middle finger ! Is it big and long enough to sensitize your rear orifice ?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Dancing with the shadow

Sometimes I do wonder why I am so preoccupied with so many things. I made too many plans and left with too little time to execute those beautifully crafted plans. My perverted mind is too preoccupied with the problems of others, and I end up with too many baggage to shoulder on.

How oxymoronic I am ! At times, I told myself, no body owed me a living and neither do I owed anybody a living. I want to let go of all burdens and responsibilities, enjoy and pamper myself with every little luxury I can afford, but at times I unnecessarily embraced myself with obligations and responsibilities to ensure the well beings of others.

I want to lead a spiritual life, but I also treasured my materialistic luxuries and the privilege to indulge in occasional erotic perversions and sinful containments. When spirituality gets too close to my state of being, I fought to disengage the link to the other dimension. When I am too comfortable with materialistic gains, I choose to be charitable to seek closer affinity to spirituality. I am attracted to the law of abundances but I am also attracted to the zen of nothingness and emptiness. As it is, because of my neither here nor there attitude, I end up neither rich nor poor. I can afford to acquire what I do not want, but I cannot afford what I want. How ironic ! My only wish is, the almighty grants me enough for today, and let me not worry about tomorrow.

Occasionally, I do have the funny feeling that, if I go to bed tonight, what assurance do I have that I can wake up alive tomorrow morning ? Life is like a funny poker game, we really do not know when we will be forced to show hands. But whatever it is, happy or sad, success or failure, and come what may, the future will still remain dictating its on outcome. Can we really control the futures ? But one thin for sure, we can definitely ruined the future if we worry too much about the present. So, why not I live for today, and stop indulging in unnecessary worries or making too many plans for tomorrow, and day after tomorrow….. ?

We said, God is all loving, but we conduct killings in the name of God! We want to gain wisdom, but we feared growing old ! We want to be kind, but we consoled ourselves that, in order to be kind, we need to be cruel ! We want to be a good person, but we acknowledged that, we need to be nasty to get things done ! The law of relational theory states that, we need two negatives to make one positive. So, mathematically speaking, in order to be good, we need to be doubly bad.

Life, how ironic it is ? We are, after all, a bunch of oxymorons wandering like lost souls on this blue marble called earth.

Well, it is about time for me to go to sleepzzzzzz. I will end my day with a good thought, and tomorrow, if I ever have the opportunity to wake up alive, I will start my day with a good thought also……

Om Mani Pedme Hum..... Good NiteZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

A museum for Penis?

Sigurður Hjartarson, a former teacher of history in Iceland, founded The Icelandic Phallological Museum in 1974. He is also the current curator for the museum. As of 2003, the museum has 140 honorary members. As the name implied, the museum is devoted to phallogy, or in simple word, penises. The Museum collects penises from all sorts of mammal, embalmed them, and currently has more than 245 specimens of penises on display.

Sad to note that the museum does not have any specimens of human penis on display, because there aren’t any donor. So in the interest of advancing phallogical science, why not you make a pledge to donate your penis to the museum and immortalized your manhood forever. Rest assured that, the museum will only harvest your penis when you are DEAD. Don’t worry, the process of harvesting the penis from your dead body is PAINLESS…..

Hey, how about we set up a museum to collect vagina from all mammal including homo sapiens ? maybe named the museum The World’s Cuntological Museum.
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For more information on the phallological museum, please visit the official website of Icelandic Phallological Museum.

No One Is Safe

“ I was holding my daughter in my arms, talking to her and playing with her. As I was asking her what kind of jelly she wanted to buy, a bomb exploded behind us. I saw shrapnel rip through her body. My daughter was killed instantly … I saw another little girl in school uniform lying not far from my daughter. She was dead, too. How could they do this, planting a bomb in the market? What do they get from attacking innocent people? There was not a single soldier or police there when that bomb went off. The place was packed with children and parents after school, as always... I wanted to ask them, those who did this, to stop, please stop. “

---- Nit Jombadin, describing a May 28, 2007 bomb attack in a crowded market in Songkhla province’s Saba Yoi district that killed her two-year-old daughter ----

For further details, please read NO ONE IS SAFE - Insurgent Attacks on Civilians in Thailand’s Southern Border Provinces . “No One Is Safe” is a report compiled by Human Rights Watch ( www.hrw.org )

Honestly, as a Buddhist, I do felt very sad that innocent people are being targeted with culture of barbaric attacks and savagery. Repeatedly, some biased main stream media have projected the militants' high moral ground struggles and their never ending grievances. And so, with bloods on their hands, irresponsible and biased racists provide more indirect support to the militants, the illegitimate “struggles” goes on, and more innocent people are murdered. Already 2,463 innocent people have been violently murdered by the militants, how many more innocent lives must be lost before the militants' satiation and thirst for bloods can be satisfied. Please denounce violence and embrace peace. I do hope the international community and the Thai government can take more serious action to bring the criminals to justice and restore law and order in that troubled region of southern Thailand. Looking at the issues on humanistic point of view, I seriously doubt these militants have any morality and legitimacy to exist in our modern civil society.

I am skipping lunch today to pray for the souls of the victims. May the almighty bless the victims' souls. May the criminals' hardened hearts be softened by Almighty's grace to appreciate peace and love for humanity.

Om Mani Pedme Hum......

Monday, August 27, 2007

Once a cuckold flew over the rest.........

A Romanian man, Florin Radu Hretu, 27, informed his boss that his mother passed away, seeked unscheduled leave and an advance to prepare for his mother's funeral. But the amusing part is, his “dead mother” turned up at the office minutes later. Florin was sacked and asked to immediately pay back the advances. He was also investigated by police for fraud. Florin defended his action by saying that someone called him to informed about his mother's death, but was unable to disclose the name of the person who called him !

This does sound familiar to me. In my experiences dealing with some subordinates, I do came across many instances of dishonest subordinates justifying their leaves with various unbelievable reasons. Personal issues and unethical behaviors seemed to override professional commitment for unscheduled absences poor work ethics. Death of family members is one of the all time favorites by junior subordinates. For example, looking through some past records, some subordinates seemed to think that miraculous repeated deaths of a particular family member is a legitimate reason. Perhaps, that particular family member passed away and repeatedly reincarnated back to the same family. I also came across subordinates applying for medical leave but end up miraculously healthy working part time for competitor. I guess laziness, greed, and lack of ethical upbringings do occasionally breed stupidity in the work place. Perhaps, I am being insensitive by treating these non sensical work ethics as laughs. Sometimes, it is indeed fun watching parasitic cuckolds slithering pretentiously trying their level best to demonstrate their loyalty and supposedly hardworking natures. I personally do not think it is worth the while wasting time and materials to motivate subordinates with poor work habits to discard their never ending affinity for absenteeism and poor work ethics. Why should they be given additional rewards to do the job they are supposed to do in the first place. How I wish these parasites can just pack their bags, resign, and peddle their work ethics else where ! But seriously, how do you deal with these parasitic cuckolds ? Honestly, I do not have any effective answers. My only hope is, these cuckolds can eventually wake up to the realizations to appreciate accountability, responsibility, and professional ethics.

Malaysia is now in a very competitive world market. As a nation, our survivor depends on speed and quality of delivery of our products and services in the world's market. In another word, our productivity must be at all time high to secure successes. Poor work habits, unscheduled absences, and the entitlement mentality for more leaves basically increased the costs of doing business and make the nation less competitive. I do sincerely hope the Ministry of Manpower can take a more proactive stand to educate the Malaysian work force to have better work ethics and professionalism to ensure the relevancy of our competitiveness in the world's market.

In view of the coming 50th Merdeka Celebration, to all those employee with habitual unscheduled absences, I had this to say to you, taking time off to wave the nation's flag is no doubt a patriotic act. But is it patriotic to habitually absence from work with thousand and one reasons ? Unscheduled absenteeism is an act of sabotaging the nation's economy and an act of treason against the country. No offense intended, but this is basically a well intended opinion of my oxymoronic observations.

Ahhh... I think I am going to have a slight headache. I will go on my entitled medical leave tomorrow. Or perhaps, maybe I should take a day off tomorrow to go to Petaling Street to buy some Malaysia flag for the purpose of displaying it on Merdeka Day. Come to think of it, maybe, I should take a day off tomorrow because I need to................ what the heck, I will come up with a good reason tomorrow.

The Tao of Coffee

In the quietness of the night,
this cuppa of hot coffee,
you are my faithful companion.

This aroma thrill my senses of being.
This moment of quiet contentment,
how wonderful can life be....

I look at the centre of the cup,
slowly swirl the cup,
fresh breeze of aroma rises
permeate my senses and thoughts
with reverent enlightenment.

This wonderful cuppa,
with its brew of heavenly delights,
the axis of my being,
tonight,
my universe revolves around it.

Let me freeze this wonderful moment,
listening to the sounds of my heart,
in this spiritual retreat of my mind,
to live this moment in life,
and let this aroma slowly drifts me
to my temporal illusion of nirvana for tonight.
Life is indeed marvelous !

Good NiteZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Friday, August 24, 2007

A marauder on the high seas

Don't you know,
the Captain of the ship,
looks at things from different perspectives,
his objective is to bring the crew safely home,
and the ship to a safe harbour.

You said,
let's not be personal,
this is a real world.
Let the ship sink.
You owed no body a living.
Forget about others past contributions and sacrifices.
why feed those who out lived their purpose ?
You want your stakes now.
So, you want your escape boat,
to row to the nearest no man land,
where you can keep your loots with grins......

How many times have you loots others and abandon ship ?
How many times have you crawled back to seek acceptance ?
How many times have WE nursed you back to health ?
You know, you are not only ungrateful,
but self centred, selfish, and full of deceits.
You are a barrel of laughs...

So many frantic and annoying calls,
It is not that WE do not hear your calls,
It is because WE refused to be deceived by you again.
From you, no news is good news.
Don't spoil our celebratory moods with your sad tales,
WE do not owe you a living.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

A life less ordinary ?

This life,
looking back,
many people had walked in and out of my life.
Some left emotional scars in my heart.
Some left sentimental memories I treasured.
Some helped me along the troubled path I took.
Some thwarted my efforts to see me failed.
Some accepted me for what I am.
Some disliked me for my judgement.
Some used me as a stepping stone.
Some opened the door of opportunities for me.
some expected me to sacrifice to satiate their selfish greed.
some are grateful for what I rendered.

You see,
unpredictable and insurmountable as it may seemed,
life has been,
basically a journey of sensations and experiences.
Despite all its treacherous pitfalls and challenges,
here I stand,
to look at uncertainties straights in the eyes.
Tomorrow,
I may succeed or I may fail,
But I shall inch on with determination.
The path that I took,
was it less travelled by others ?

What am I doing with my life ?
Whatever it is, happy or sad,
success or failure,
life does go on.
I shall savor
every remaining step of my journey,
to be alive,
and live a wonderful life of no regret.

Honour thy tissue ?

After a short video clip was circulated showing a 16-year-old female student and 17-year-old male student from a local public high school having sex, the head of Indramayu district in West Java province of Indonesia, Irianto Syafiuddin, has a funny way of asserting his high moral values and emphasis on women's virginity. He made a proposal to carry out virginity test on all female high school students in his district.

The proposal was dropped after parents and students protested against the proposal. I just wonder what is the purpose of finding out who is and who is not a virgo intacto. This is another immoral attempt by narrow minded people using social issues such as sex and religion to gain political mileage and portraying themselves as holier than thou. Wouldn't it be better if these people can focus their energies and efforts to bring greater economic developments to their people, rather than wasting time trying to devise mechanisms to conduct moral policing. Isn't it equally immoral and sinful to incompetently managed the economy and that lead people to live in poverty and hardship ?

I felt equally disturbed to read a piece of news from another part of the world, where a young teenage girl was inhumanely stoned to death simply because she fell in love with a boy from another religious sect. As usual, these people always legitimizing their cruel acts by claiming to defend their honour. Defending the honour of who ? It doesn't make sense to me that there is honour in killing the defenseless. But again, how can I be so insensitive to question other people righteous way of life and sacred cultures ?

Here you go again, social issues being hijacked and manipulated by narrow minded human being to imposed their intolerances on others without due regard and decency to respect others' human rights. Sometimes I do wonder what drives a misguided men to be so obsessive with a small piece of tissue. Oy yea, oy vey, sex is dirty, oh sweet virginity, thy pleasurable thingy, where art thou stick the dicky ?

Om mani pedme hum

Monday, August 20, 2007

Life 101

This morning, I received an unexpected long distant called from a “relative”. She called to confide her unhappiness over the ungratefulness and greediness of her ex-husband. I guess she is probably trying to seek support for her grievances. As far as I am concern, her relationships between her and her ex-husband is of no concern to me. As much as I empathize with her sad tales, but, as a matter of principle, I do not like to be deceived or to indulge in other people's private affairs. After listening for a while, I changed the subject, and asked about her career and other matters. Financially she is doing okay. Emotionally I am not sure. She is probably trying to fill the voids in her by doing cities hopping, and came back occasionally to see her daughter. I did told her that, the more she complain, the more unhappy she will become. It does not make any practical sense to still have emotional attachment to her ex-husband which she already legally severed relationship. I did advised her to make a clean break and start investing her times to find herself a more caring and responsible soulmate to move on with life.

In life, each and everyone of us had our fair share of experiences dealing with ungrateful people. These experiences, whether we like it or not, are unavoidable parts and parcels of life's journey. But how do you deal with ungrateful people ? Honestly, when it happened, I do felt momentarily sadness, but not unhappy or felt hurt. Because, deep down in me, when I extend my help or sacrifices to people, whether they are ungrateful or otherwise, I did it out of sincerity and love from my heart, without any conditions attached, and expect nothing in return. So, I never felt hurt by insincere and ungrateful people. I take it that whatever “misdeeds” that have been done on me are probably the seeds of my karma from my previous life. So, as a Buddhist, I accept whatever that have been hurled at me with gratitude and dignity, and try my best to do good in this life times. I count myself lucky in the sense that, somehow, the almighty always compensate my “losses” with even greater abundances.

Life is short and precious, so why waste your breaths and energies on ungrateful people ? Do you honestly believe that ungrateful people have any sense of guilts ? Ungrateful people will always do whatever that are necessary to conduct deceits and blamed others for their failures, that is their lifestyles. The best thing to do is to take every negative things that had been unfairly hurled against you with dignity, learn from the experiences, move on with life, and focus on whatever you are doing to achieve your life's mission and goals.

Ungrateful people live in a very fatalistic misconception of life, seek pities from others for their “misfortunes”, and will always attempt to run down people who help them to seek recognition of self worth and glories. Why allow yourself to be emotionally tangled with ungrateful people who seemed to think that you are their slave or owe them a living. Let the ungrateful people gratify their misdeed with their lies, tattle tales, sad stories, rumors, or whatever. There are always perverts out there willing to lend their ears to ungrateful people to cheer them on. Well, what can I say, some mothers do have them, and they do walked among us. But, looking at the positive side, these people are quite entertaining with their dramatic eloquence, and that's what makes life interesting.

Whatever actions ungrateful people attempt to orchestra against you are basically actions to gratify their non appreciation of ethics and morality, it will not hurt you. So, just let it be. Count your blessing that, at least, while you are still alive, you are graced with the opportunities to identify and eliminate one more ungrateful people from ever coming close to you again.

Let us face it, ungrateful people will never be satisfied by whatever helps you rendered to them, they will always expect more from you, always complained about not getting enough help, and live in a state of mental siege of unhappiness and greediness. It is within your power to protect yourself by just simply ignore their existence. The natural law of karma and vipakka basically states that, eventually, ungrateful people will be burdened with angers of their unsuccessful attempts to seek yours and other people's attention, their angers will turn into hatreds, and finally they are stressed out by their misplaced hatreds, because they always end up consumed by all the emotional burdens they initiated.

So, the next time if you have the funny unhappy feelings that you are betrayed by ungrateful people, do yourself a favour, please don't ever allow yourself to indulge in these unwelcome emotional baggages. Buddhism says, the attachment to negative emotional feelings is a sufferings, so discard them immediately, and move on with life.......

Om Namo Amithaba Buddha

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The "Tree of Life"

Can a tree survive without soil ? To the pessimists, a lot of things are not possible. But to a creative person, nothing is impossible.... The followings are pictures of plants planted on cup holders, and the plants are sprayed with specially formulated mineral liquids twice a day . Here we go, "Bongsai in the Air"

Saturday, August 18, 2007

This life......

This life,
like troubled water
flowing along the long rivers,
reaching down the wide open arms of the sea.
Will the vast horizon of the sea set my spirit free ?
Will the sea be the final place of eternity ?

This life,
at the defining moments,
would the ends justify the means ?
Would the means dictate by virtue ethics ?
To live, is seemingly easy, and yet seemed not..........

We choose our path,
lived our consequential lives.
But like the water,
along its journey to the sea,
we bend and accommodate the contours of the rivers.
Does it matter how long or how eventful is our life's journey ?
Like the water flowing along the rivers,
at the end of the journey,
we shall all be embraced by the sea.
Would our spirits be set free ?

I ponder,
at the end of life's journey,
is there a paradise of eternity ?
Would the night be brighter ?
Would the stars be shinier ?
Would I be able to touch the moon ?
Would I be able to feel the warm of the sun ?
Would I still have sweet memories ?

This life,
Whatever that may be,
We live to die, and die to live.
I still love its inexhaustible joys and sorrows.
I will, to live, with passions and purpose.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Have a Shay Day.......

I received this beautiful story in my mail box this evening. If you like this little story, please pass it on to your friends to rekindle the sparks of love and humanity. Well, what else can I say ? Have a Shay Day..............


Two Choices

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe, that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"
Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

In the Month of the Ghosts......

According to the Chinese lunar calender, the seventh month is the "Ghost Month" (鬼月). For 2007, the Ghost month start from August 13th 2007 to August 26th 2007. During this period of 14 days, Chinese believe that, the Gate of Hell are opened, ghosts and spirits are freed from the underworld to romp the earth. To appease these wandering spirits, prayers and offerings are usually held near the entrance of houses, entrance to business premises, and association's premises. Offerings include meats, bean curbs, fruits, groundnuts, replica paper money, sweets, etc. It is also very common to see temporary outdoor stage shows and operas being set up to entertain the wandering spirits. The Chinese believe that, appeased ghosts or spirits will not wander into homes or business premises to cause unwelcome disturbances. The Chinese also believe that, appeased ghosts and spirits will reciprocate the prayers and offerings by giving luck and good fortune.

In order not to accidentally cross the paths of wandering spirits, it is a taboo to start new venture, shifting houses, or initiate any event of significant during the first 14 days of the seventh month. It is also a taboo to go out from the house after sunset where the energies of the wandering spirits are the strongest.

Sad to note that, on the first day of Ghost month, Malaysians are greeted with the worst bus tragedy in history. At 4.40am on August 13th 2007, an express bus with 29 passengers lost control and crashed into a ditch near Bukit Gantang. 20 people were killed in the accident and 9 people were injured. As much as I want to believe the coincidental nature of this tragedy, the facts available suggest that the tragedy is man made and avoidable. Imagine, the bus is 20 years old and had failed the brake tests several times, accumulated 19 police summonses since 1991, and also accumulated 79 summonses issued by the Road Transport Department over the last five years. The driver of the bus, Rohizan Abu Bakar, 38, also had 13 outstanding traffic summonses and two warrants of arrest against him.

Let's hope all of us can have a safe, trouble free, and healthy "Ghost Month". May the almighty bless the souls of those who were killed in the bus tragedy.

Om Namo Amithaba Buddha.................

Monday, August 13, 2007

Hill of Rites

A 35-meter by 30-meter Thangka painting bearing the image of Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism, is unveiled August 12, 2007 on the hillside next to the Zhebung Monastery in Lhasa, capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The occasion marks the beginning of the annual Shoton (Yogurt Banquet) Festival that is believed to date back to the 11th century. Originally a religious activity for pilgrims to serve yogurt to monks and nuns finishing their summer retreat, the festival has become a theatrical event since the mid-17th century. The week-long festival features Tibetan opera performances and yak races.

{ Source : www.chinadaily.com.cn }

Negaraku......

The following is an exclusive interview of the Sultan of Selangor by The Star. I am posting the two news article verbatim in this blog. Of late, contentious and divisive racial and religious issues has been brought out by the politicians to seek racial popularity. To a certain extend, it has brought a great deal of discomforts to a lot of patriotic Malaysians. The Sultan of Sleangor, in his wisdom, has voiced his concerns and ask politicians to refrain from unhealthy racial politics. I do sincerely hope all those politicians can show respect to the Sultans by heeding His Royal Highness's advise and directives.

Malaysia is indeed blessed with a new generation of caring and far sighted Sultans. Daulat Tuanku, Daulat uanku, Daulat Tuanku... Tuhan kurniakan Raja Kita selamat bertakhta.



Selangor Sultan: Keep politics out of N-Day celebrations
EXCLUSIVE: By WONG CHUN WAI
August 13th 2007, The Star


SHAH ALAM: The Sultan of Selangor wants politicians in the state, regardless of which parties they belong to, to put politics aside and refrain from bringing up contentious issues ahead of the 50th National Day celebrations.

Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said he did not want anyone to dampen the mood of the celebrations but to instead instil the Malaysian spirit.

“The celebrations are a once-in-a-lifetime event, keep the politics out for the time being. I want the people to focus on the common issues and be proud of Malaysia as one people.

“The politicians, regardless of their parties, can have all the time they want to talk about politics after National Day but for now, I do not want to hear any issues that can hurt the feelings of any community,” he said.

Sultan Sharafuddin: ‘No one race could have brought Malaysia to what it is today’
The Sultan said he wanted Malaysians to understand that the country's independence was achieved through the unity of all the major races.

He said that unity, through the sharing of political power, had continued until today and that it should be emphasised by the politicians.

“National unity, involving the Malays, Chinese and Indians, brought us independence and subsequently, through the unity of the other ethnic groups, helped us form Malaysia.

“Let no one forget that we achieved independence because of that. No one race could have brought Malaysia to what it is today,” he said in an interview.

The Sultan expressed his unhappiness over statements brought up by various politicians of late on race and religion, saying these were issues that no one should harp on.

The state head of Islam said Islam was the country’s official religion and its position must be respected.

“But I also want Muslims to respect the religions practised by other Malaysians.”

He said no politician or group should attempt to gain popularity by stirring up such issues, as Malaysia was a multi-racial country.

“This country belongs to all Malaysians regardless of their race and everyone has a right to feel as Malaysians. This should be emphasised, particularly as we celebrate the National Day together,” he said.

He also said that in such a short time, Malaysia had attained notable economic success because of the country’s political stability.

Malaysia, he said, was blessed and Malaysians had often taken for granted that stability because they had never gone through hardship, especially the post-Merdeka generation.

Sultan Sharafuddin also said that he has directed all government agencies and schools in the state to fly the national flag.

“The national flag can take precedence over the Selangor flag in this period,” he said.

He said Selangor wanted to stress the purpose of national unity by flying only the Jalur Gemilang.

The Sultan said that on Aug 27, all the palaces of the Selangor royal house would fly the national flag, which had never been done before.






Sultan expresses concern over host of issues
August 13t 2007
The Star


SHAH ALAM: Immediate action must be taken to check corruption, bureaucratic red tape, race problems, religious intolerance, the brain drain and crime, the Sultan of Selangor said.

Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said Malaysia had achieved tremendous progress over the last 50 years.

Describing Malaysia as a blessed country, he said the people certainly had much to be thankful for but should not rest on their laurels as Malaysians also needed to take stock of what the country needed to do in the next 50 years.

“Corruption is still a problem, which the people are very concerned about, and more effective action needs to be taken,” he said.

Describing corruption as a cancerous cell, the Sultan said if graft could not be wiped out, it should be checked effectively.

He also took to task government agencies that continued to slow down approvals for foreign investors, saying the lackadaisical attitude of some government servants had affected the investment momentum.

“They must change their mindset because delays mean escalating costs and lost job opportunities, which may even lead to corrupt practices,” he said.

The Sultan said he was upset because the mindset of some people had not changed, saying he feared investors may move to neighbouring countries which were very competitive in attracting investors.

Selangor, he said, was one of the country’s most important states and he needed to emphasise this.

In a strongly worded interview, the Sultan said he had given Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo a deadline for applications after the end of an investment promotion trip.

He acknowledged the Federal Government had set up the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) to fast-track procedures and transactions between the Government and private sector.

“That is good but more needs to be done because the feedback from investors is that there is a greater need for a bigger push. Time waits for no one. We do not want investors to be discouraged from investing in Malaysia, as our neighbouring countries would also be willing to accept them.”

The Sultan also expressed his concern over the country’s brain drain, saying talented young people were leaving the country.

“No one, irrespective of his race, should be denied any opportunities. I am sad to see good people being lost to other countries,” he said.

He said Singapore was the greatest benefactor and that even the Singapore National Library was designed by a Malaysian.

In another case, he said, a highly qualified Malaysian academic was not accepted by local universities but was invited by the National University of Singapore to head a department.

The Sultan feared talent from the tourism and hospitality sectors would be affected when the island republic’s integrated entertainment resorts opened.

On race relations, he called for the young to have friends from other races, saying this was important.

He said Tunku Abdul Rahman was very particular about national unity and as the nation celebrated Merdeka, no one should forget his legacy of insisting on racial harmony.

The Sultan urged the people in Selangor to reject any form of racial and religious intolerance.

“Islam respects other religions and other religions must also respect Islam,” he said, adding multiracialism must be instilled at primary school level.

“If there is a need to re-evaluate our school system, then our authorities must do so to promote better racial harmony,” he said.

On crime, he said the police needed support from the people as they lacked manpower and facilities to fight crime.

The Sultan said he had asked the Selangor state government to install more CCTVs as a way to check crime.

He said he was aware Selangor had the highest crime rate because of the influx of people from other states and foreigners to work in the state.

On the environment, he said the state had planted over a million trees while the palace had committed itself to planting 5,000 trees on its grounds.

“The environment is our concern and will remain so. Tree replanting is essential,” he said, adding that tree-planting efforts in Bukit Jelutong were commendable.

The Sultan said he was also upset with the use of his name by unscrupulous people for securing state awards or low-cost houses.

“I am disheartened by such people because Selangor does not sell state awards, that is clear, even to the people.

“But I am glad that the people in Selangor have taken the trouble to call the palace to verify claims from such dishonest people,” he said.

The Sultan said the people could call his private secretary Datuk Mohamed Munir Bani at 03-5519 4242 or e-mail istanamastika@yahoo.com to check.

He said the palace believed in transparency and would be pleased to get feedback from the rakyat on developments in Selangor.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

World Tallest Man

According to Guinness World Record, the new world tallest man is now Leonid Stadnik, a 36 year old Ukrainian. He stands 2.57 meters (8' 5.5" ) tall. Previously, the world's tallest man is Bao XiShun of China. XiShun is measured at 2.36 meters ( 7' 8.95") tall. Please READ HERE.

The tallest man in history was Robert Pershing Wadlow, who was measured at 8' 11" tall. Robert Wadlow was from Illinois. He died in 1940 at the age of 22

Friday, August 10, 2007

Are you offended ?

A 6 minutes video clip of Negara-ku in rap style produced by a Malaysian and posted on the Youtube has attracted unprecendented attention both locally and abroad. The video clip attracted more than 500,000 visits ! Out of curiousity, I visited the site. No offense intended, but I do find the video clip comical, humorous, amusing, and entertaining. Beyond that, we should refrained from politically and racially interpreting negative insinuations between frames.

Sometimes, we should allow ourselves to take a humorous look at ourselves, among ourselves. Life would be pretty pressurized and un-purposeful if all Malaysians are conditioned to take offense in any slightest jokes or unintended slurs. After all, are we Malaysian that thin-skinned and righteous ? I have seen even worst racial rhetorics shouted in well organized political parties, and nobody in the political gatherings felt offended. On this score, I don't think Wee Meng Chee, a Malysian currently pursuing his higher education in Taiwan's Ming Chuan University, intended to offend the national anthem, religion, and the various races in Malaysia. I believe he is merely artistically expressing his concerns and frustrations out of greater love of his country. .Sometimes, artists do have unconventional way of expressing their patriotisms, we should learned to respect their freedom of expressions.

As a young man, Wee artistically voiced out his "voices of dissents" and satirically reflected his frustrations and perception of unbalanced truths in the 6 minute video clip. Instead of unneccessariy instigating ourselves to the state of being easily offended, and initiatiate investigatation to legally held him liable under the Seditious Act, we should be more open minded to respect freedom of expressions, and to study Wee's "song of dissent", to better understand the frustrations of young Malaysians. Wee had also said that he has no intent to be seditious or to attack the Government. Let us take it as that and view his video clip as merely a piece of art work from a patriotic rebel, and try our very best to appreciate his artistic talent. Looking at his simple production of the video clip, I tend to agreed that, Wee is indeed very talented. Let us not simply invoked the needs to observe sensitivity, respect, and patriotism to drown voices of disents or frustrations. Who are we to say that Wee is not patriotic ? And what does patriotism really meant to all of us ? On a positive note, at least Wee manage to bring greater marketing awareness of Malaysia into the cyber world !

Let's all discard those fatalistic and unproductive mentalities of being easily offended. Let's demonstrate our civility of accepting and appreciating criticisms in whatever forms, be it jokes, satires, serious statements, unintended slurs, or whatever. In our eagerness to defend our prides, sensitivity, and honours, had our actions been consistent with what we claimed to be ? Are we what we said of others ?

I strongly believed that all Malaysians are patriotic citizens. We had never failed to come together and pool our resources when confronted by crisis and external challenges. In our eagerness to defend the honour of our country, race, and religion, we should seriously asked ourselves whether we are being patriotic by silencing the voices of "disents" from other patriotic Malaysians. Why not take note of all those voices of disents as a term of reference for formulating and implementing social justice policies to make Malaysia a greater country in the eyes of the world ?

To Wee, if Voltaire is still alive, he will probably say this again - 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'.

Tears in our hearts.......


From a country that pride herself with the tallest Twin Towers in the world, the longest bridge, the most beautiful KLIA airport, and so on, and so on. If I got my fact correctly, we are also going to develop the second longest bridge in the north, the biggest low cost air terminal in the central, and IDR in the south. God knows how many more tallest, longest, widest and biggest that are yet to come. These are going to cost billions of dollars.

We are also having big reservoir of petroleum profit annually, abundances of tin, natural rubber, oil palms, etc.

We should be a rich nation where its citizens are meaningfully well off !

While we are hiding our heads in the sands praising our deluded achievements of being the best among the worsts, there are actually Malaysians out there struggling and yet unable to cope with life's basic necessity !

Kasmuri Jasman, 44, was unable to pay the basic electricity bills. The electricity supply to his wooden house was cut six days ago, and have to resort to using primitive candles. Sadly, luck was not with them, their wooden house was razed by fire. He and all his family members (five of them) perished in the tragic accident.

Well, I guess this is a materialistic world. It is indeed a crime to be poor, and sometimes, it is punishable by death ! THIS IS SOCIAL JUSTICE ?

Dear Preacher Man, membela nasib rakyat ? Please, please, pleaseeeeee, I beg you on my bended knees to come out from your hallway of power, and start listening to the heartbeats of the people in your care..............

Om Namo Amithaba Buddha.... sein chai, sein chai........

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

They blogged, therefore some of them may not be stupid ?

The above news article appeared in The Star on August 6th 2007.


No insensitivity or disrespect intended, but if we keep putting indirect threats on bloggers because we disagreed with what they wrote, what does that make us ? A patriotic Malaysian ?

Let us all not be so narrow minded. If we do not like or are incapable to accept criticisms from bloggers, let it be, walk away, and move forward with positive actions. Is it too much of an asking to have some basic decency and civility to respect the rights of others to freedom of expressions ? If we are transparent and accountable to our actions, rumours will die a natural death. So, why some ignorant people are still so preoccupied with perceived rumours, lies, and untruths ?

All of us have different perceptions and opinions on certain issues or events. What make us think that we are entitled the moral authority to enforce our views, opinions, and perceptions on others. Gone are the days of apology seeking, grievance seeking, rent seeking, and intolerances. Crying baby will no longer gets the milk, but probably self inflicted sore throat.

During the Qin dynasty, the emperor Qin Shi Huang, confiscated and burnt all books because he want to "standardize human thoughts, and to prevent free thinking" that may erode his authority. Subsequently, he became a ruthless tyrant. Although he ruled less than 15 years, but China was damaged into a period of backwardness for many centuries. Pol pot of Cambodia killed millions of educated Cambodians in order to sustain his stay of power, but eventually he died a pitiful death, and Cambodia is now on the road of recovery. The point here is, freedom of expression is a God given rights, not privileges. It is immoral and against God's wishes to suppress this rights. For peace and harmony, freedom of expression must be nurtured and encouraged to facilitate greater free flow of information for the sake of humanity and the nation.

What benefits does the nation enjoys if bloggers are indirectly threatened to refrain from writing honest opinions or write what the elitists want to read ? Let us not be regressive into an era of "frog hiding in a Well ( 井底蛙 )" or "Frog hiding under the coconut shelf (Katak di bawah tempurung)". Malaysia need to be progressive and move forward to greater wealth and prosperity. All those narrow minded mental retards who oppose freedom of expressions, are merely dead weights, tagging along with their extended shelf lives to hinder the political and social development of Malaysia.

I do sincerely hope bloggers and politicians can appreciate this quote from the Venerable Master Ching Kung " Speak words of fairness whether in anger or in joy. Help them even if they have severed all ties with you. Show concern towards those who are ungrateful towards you. Forgive those who have ill intent. "

May all Malaysians be enlightened with sincerity, purity, righteousness, and equality. Let us all not be so selfish to perpetuate our own rights at the expense of others. Let us also appreciate and respect the rights of others. Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you...... Om Mani Pedme Hum.....

Friday, August 03, 2007

A mother's love......

A street dog (nicknamed HuaHua by the locals) gave birth to four puppies and stranded in an island. For the love of the puppies, the street dog, everyday, swims 2 kilometers along the flooded Yangtze river to feed and tend to the stranded puppies. Read HERE for further story on this brave mother.


Never, never under estimate the courage, dedication, sacrifice, determination, and love a mother commits to her children. Remember this song by Diana Ross ? To all mothers, I salute you.


A Mother's Love

In a world of make believe
You can change all that you see
But in the world of reality
You've taught me all that I need

Time like a river flows
Twisting and turning all the way
Life is an endless road
You've been with me day by day

The only way I can thank you
Is to be the best that I can be
If we hold on together
Just you and me

A mother's love is forever
A mother's love is for free
It doesn't matter if you're good or bad
She's there for whatever you need

In the world of fantasy
Hold on to your dreams
Open up your heart and see
All the love you need is me

Time like a river flows
Twisting and turning all the way
Life is an endless road
You've been with me day by day

You are you and I am me
You've made me all that I am
Heart to heart and hand to hand
Always there to understand

A mother's love is forever
A mother's love is for free
It doesn't matter if you're good or bad
She's there for whatever you need

Doesn't matter if you're good or bad
There's nothing like a mother's love