Stop The War!!!

War is inhumane.
War is an act of injustice.
War is an aggression of the strong nations
against the weak nations;
War is an immoral act against humanity.

Respect the weaker nations.
Respect their political beliefsRespect their way of life,
Respect their culture, Respect their religion.

In order to have self respect, you must respect others.
Why send innocent young men to the battlefields to die?
Please send your army to poor country,
or to the villages, to plough the land,
to sow seeds for foods, to enrich the poor nations,
to built better understandings among nations,
to lay foundation for a better world.

I can't understand,
why there are so many "religious bigots" out there,
willing to use religious beliefs as an excuse to initiate war.

I can't understand,
why there are so many "politicians" out there,
willing to use war as a platform to launch political popularity.

I can't understand,
why there are so many "patriotic citizens" out there,
willing to be blinded by the immoral politicians to go to war.

As a father and wage earner
in this harsh economic environment,
I am weeping in my heart with my bended knee.
In this the world we has been working so hard to improve?
Do we want our children to live in a world
full of threats and uncertainty?

Help the poor.
Respect other people's way of life.
Have mercy for the minority.

PLEASE STOP THE WAR!!!!
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister,
Mr. Defense Minister, Mr. Foreign Minister, Mister......

Namo Amithaba Buddha

Coffee Causes Cancer and Heart Diesease ?

Times and again, I have been told that Coffee is bad for me. My wife had been resorting to hiding my coffee bags and replacing my Nescafe bottle with Milo. Honestly, I am not addicted to coffee, but I do sincerely love and enjoy drinking black coffee. To me, anything in black is "high Tech" and black is beautiful. And to most people of Chinese origin, at least, that was what my late mother told me, any drink in black colour is a healthy drink ( Ang ang beh hai lang, All All car si poh) ! So, as a man of tolerance, and in order not to belittle or offend my lovely family members, I take my coffee drinking habits elsewhere or in their absence. Coffee drinking is in fact a lonely man's pleasure !

This morning, while relaxing in a spa in Shah Alam, I chanced upon reading a small article in a local newspaper stating that a research organization has concluded that drinking 5 cups of coffee a days can help to decrease the chances of acquiring the dreaded cancer. That sounds refreshing ! On reading this article, I immediately summon the service personnel to make me one cup of nice hot aromatic coffee. Hmm... this is probably my best coffee for the day......

Let me rehashed and share with you some of the articles I read :

1. "New York, NY - October 21, 2004 - New research has uncovered coffee's significant, potential properties in lowering the risk of certain cancers, according to toxicologist and food-safety expert Eileen Madden, PhD. in a presentation at Coffee and Your Health: Surprising Findings, a symposium for science writers held today at the New York Academy of Sciences. Dr. Madden also notes that these newer findings tend to support a growing, wider scientific consensus on coffee's predominately healthful properties, in a major turnaround from old conclusions reached by flawed methodologies. According to Dr. Madden, When all of the available research is evaluated together it seems to suggest that coffee is associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer."
2. "A paper just published by researchers at the renowned Mario Negri Institute in Milan reviews all the scientific research on coffee and colorectal cancer to date, and concludes that coffee consumption not only does not have a causal link to cancer, but that regular coffee drinking seems to be related to a decreased risk of colon cancer as great as 25%."
3. "http://www.mercola.com - Coffee and Colorectal Cancer - Data from two large prospective studies to explore the link between coffee, tea and caffeine and colorectal cancer during close to 2 million person-years of follow-up. Among people who drank caffeinated coffee or tea, no association was found with colon or rectal cancers. However, those who drank two or more cups per day of decaffeinated coffee had about half the risk of rectal cancer (12 cases per 100,000 person-years of follow-up) as those who never drank decaffeinated coffee (19 cases of rectal cancer per 100,000 person-years of follow-up).
4. AP WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2002 - Caffeine, the chemical stimulant in coffee and tea, has been found to lower the risk of skin cancer in laboratory mice. A study suggests that a skin lotion spiked with caffeine or with another compound found in green tea can reduce by more than half the number of cancer tumors on the skin of hairless mice exposed to brutal levels of ultraviolet radiation, said Dr. Allan Conney, a professor of cancer and leukemia research at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "We had between 50 to 70 percent tumor formation inhibition in the mice that were treated with caffeine or with EGCG (the other chemical compound)," said Conney, senior author of a study appearing this week in the online site of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
5. National Cancer Center in Tokyo analysed a 10-year study of 90,000 people in Japan. They found that middle-aged and elderly people who drank coffee daily had half the rate of a common liver cancer compared with less frequent consumers (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, vol 97, p 293). And the more coffee people drank, the lower the risk. It is not clear if decaffeinated coffee has the same effect, as few people in the study drank it. "There is caffeine and antioxidants in coffee. Maybe both or either are protective,"
6. Mayo CLinic - Coffee has a long history of being blamed for many ills — from the humorous, "It will stunt your growth" to the not-so-humorous claim that it causes heart disease and cancer. But some recent research indicates that coffee may not be so bad after all. So which is it — good or bad for your health? The best answer may be: It doesn't seem to hurt and it may help. Regarding other health effects of coffee, some evidence suggests that drinking coffee may protect against type 2 diabetes and colon cancer. But there is much more evidence of a protective effect from fruits, vegetables and whole grains than from coffee. So don't be afraid to enjoy your coffee as part of a healthy diet that includes a wide variety of foods
7. http://www.JewishWorldReview.com (KRT) Getting buzzed on coffee can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer among women who have a family history of the illness, new research shows. Women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations — found frequently among Jews of Eastern European descent — lowered their risk of breast cancer when they drank caffeinated coffee, according to a study of 1,690 women in four countries. Women with the gene mutations who drank six or more cups of java a day cut their risk of breast cancer by nearly 70 percent compared with those who didn't drink coffee at all, said the study leader, Dr. Steven Narod of the University of Toronto. Women with BRCA gene mutations who drank one to three cups of coffee daily lowered their risk by 10 percent, and those who drank four to five cups cut their risk by 25 percent, according to findings published in this month's International Journal of Cancer
8. Study showed heavy coffee drinking did not increase the risk of heart disease. Researchers from the Harvard Medical School headed by a Spanish scientist investigated data of over 120,000 participants from two large-scale studies: the Health Professionals Study and the Nurses' Health Study. Coffee consumption, cholesterol levels and heart disease incidences were analyzed. After making a long list of adjustments, researchers found that coffee drinkers did not have a higher risk of heart disease, even among the heavy consumers who drank more than 6 cups daily. The results of this study were published in the Circulation journal in May 2006.

In conclusion, I do not know much about statistical modelling or medical & clinical research. But for me, one thing I am very certain about the positive effect of coffee is, it makes me more alert, more practical, more tolerance, more philosophical, and with a sense of sarcastic humour... And, coffee drinking is one of the greatest civilized habits of mankinds for thousands of years ! Moreover, which great man and great thinker does not drink coffee ?

Now, having state my facts, would the health nuts leave me alone to enjoy my cup of black aromatic coffee ? The unwelcome nagging is causing me migraine....

May you live a healthy life. May the big fat laughing Buddha smile on you...... Namo Amithaba Buddha.

The Tao of Coffee

In the morning,
serve it to me in my old coffee cup,
serve it hot, thick, and black.
Serve it with a piece of toasted bread,
leave me alone, and
I shall make it throught the day with smiles.

In the afternoon,
serve it with ice cube,
serve it in a tall glass.
Serve it with my favorite pastries,
leave me alone,and
I shall face the rest of day's challenge with calms.

In the evening,
serve it with milk and sugar,
serve it with a piece of biscuit.
Let the freshly brewed aroma reaches my nose,
let the caffeine sooths the tireness of my mind,
and tendering my solitude.
Leave me alone, and
I shall contemplate the day that is done,
with my with half shut eyes !

Give a man a cup of coffee,
he will spend an hour enjoying your jokes.
Teach a man how to brew coffee,
he will spend his whole life
making a fool of himself.......

Gifts from a caring government ?

In March 1st 2006, the price of petrol shot up by almost 20%. In May 25th 2006, the government has announced that Electricity rate shall be increased by approximately 12%. As usual, the standard reasons are being recycled to explain the “unavoidable” price increase.

The government has explained that 60% of the consuming households will not be affected by the price increase because the electricity consumption is quite minimal. “We care for the poors”. So now, I am the well-off balance of the 40%. Our caring government now said it is justified for people like me to pay higher rate to compensated the losses incurred by TNB !

I like to say this to you. I am a hardworking Malaysian. To overcome higher overheads due to increasing expenses forced upon me such as higher petrol price, assessment rates, lower take home pay, and other higher determinants of cost of livings, I end up having to work longer hours and most of the time, up to two or three o'clock in the morning. Naturally I have to incur higher electricity charges. So now, the power that be has concurred that imposition of higher prices is fair on hardworking people like me, simply because I choose to work harder and I am in the minority group ( remember, I am in the 40% group).

Look like the best solution cut down electricity costs is, maybe it is not such as a bad idea, by implementing the following measures :

• Force a half working day policy and make all employee take 50% pay cut
• Go to bed early at 8:00pm to have some fun on the bed rather working past mid-night to contribute to the economic well beings of others.

Come to think of it, I felt like a sitting duck and easy target. It is always okay and patriotic for big corporations to raise prices to cover losses and operational inefficiencies. But it sound like a dirty word and unpatriotic for small businesses to raise prices to cover overheads.

You want level playing fields ? Now let's play fair. Stop echoing your sickening patriotic statements to me when you don't mean it. You want hardworking Malaysians to be prudent in managing their expenses ? Why not ask the GLC to show us how prudent they are ? I have enough of all these double standards and price discriminations.

Everything else being equal, look like the water, sewerage charges, municipal assessment, telecommunication charges, etc will also likely to be increased soon using the same standard recycles reasons.

Well, what else can I said........ ?

If you asked those who are not affected, of course, the tariff increases are justified because ultimately it is the 40% of us that contribute to the bulk of Malaysian economy, are ultimately going to suffer. Maybe it is about time we starts removing the air-conditioning units from our home and office and replace them with hand held fans and use candles instead of florescence lights.

And, “We have the poors in Mind” ? This statement supposed to make me feel guilty for my unwilingness to pay higher prices ?

I am not disputing the rights of TNB to increase the electricity tariffs. By all means, please increase the tariffs if that is an unavoidable things to do. But please justify the actions meaningfully, and please refrained from using price differentiation to punished sitting ducks like me. How much more harder you want hardworking Malaysians to bear with all these economic inefficiencies of the national resources ?

Namo Amithaba Buddha

Heaven on Earth

As a Buddhist practicing taoism living in this multi-religions world, many a times, I have encountered commandment like advise such as “God want you to do this or that”, “It is a divine instructions..”, “It is a God's word..”, etc. I also encountered well intention followers of other faiths telling me that their God is the only true God, their religion is the true religion of God, and I am idols worshipping. In short, I should repent, and follow the true path of salvations, or whatever that has been thrown to me.

Frankly speaking, I am not doubting the capabilities of those who claimed to have masterful knowledge of the holy and divine words of God. I am also not doubting the super natural capabilities of religious people who claimed to be able to communicate with God directly. However, I am not discounting the possibility of these people's hallucinations to make these assertive claims. On the other hand, I do occasionally doubt the credibility of these people who made these claims. Having said that, I am also not doubting the honest intentions of followers other religions who sincerely seek and pray for my salvations. In short, you can believe in what you want to believe, but please refrain from meddling with my life and interfering with my beliefs. I do not wish to subject myself into intentional or unintentional misinformations.

But please don't take me wrong ( as in Bush's make no mistake about it ), I believed in God. Out of respect for other religions and their way of life, I accept the fact that all religion leads to the same God. It is just a matter of how we present ourselves to God. Human beings, through adaption to the environment, has deviced many ways of “communicating” with their chosen God. Some Choose to go to Church every Sunday morning to made confessions and pray. Some choose to go to places of worship every Friday. Some choose to pray 5 times a day. Some choose to only offer prayer on the 1st and 15th day of the lunar calender, some have very complex ritualistic procedures, etc. It is not my rights to question whether their approach is right or wrong. As far as I am concerned, whichever ways that are comfortable to them, then so be it, and it should be the right way. After all, isn't the almighty God is all encompassing and multi-linguals to accept all humble prayers and offerings of human kinds in whatever forms they choose.

Since I believe in God, naturally I also believed in creation. Simply put, all life forms are created by “supernatural being” or God. “God” has given all human being a brain and the ability to adapt to our environment. Our purpose in life is to made positive use of our brains. Our abilities, or our inabilities to made use of our brain in a logical manner ultimately decide whether we live in hell or heaven in this life or thereafter.

God gave heaven on earth for those kind souls who are capable to make positive use of their brain. Likewise, human beings also created hell on earth for their stupidity and inability to use their brains.

What is heaven ? Heaven is an environment where we are capable of positively using the power of our brain to create and adopt innovations and inventions, resulting in material wealths for a comfortable life. And in parallel, the adoption of spiritual righteousness where compassionate and peaceful minds can create peaceful speech and peaceful actions towards mankind's and the environment. Heaven is a place where we ensured no harms are done to our family and friends. Heaven is a place where there is respect, love for life, where we do not need to defend our way of life, and our greater propensity to accept others' way of life. Heaven is place where all good things humans can possibly defined are indoctrinated.

Hell is a consequent of humans stupidity in allowing oneself to be mislead into intolerance, hatreds, revenges, and disrespect for others. It is our willingness to be blinded by misinterpretations of divine words to lead each other into a world of insecurities and sufferings, resulting in human beings resorting to animalistics behaviors of rapes, murders, tortures, oppressions, discriminations, racisms, territorial control, and all forms of violences. Hell is a place where followers of one faith murdering followers of other faiths to established their superiority in numbers. Hell is a place where the majority deprived the minority of their rights. Hell is also place where the minority insists on the majority to accept their way of life.

In this life and on this earth. The power to decide whether we want to live in heaven or hell is our choice. God has given us the brain to decide for ourselves. Irregardless of what religion you professed, the right things to do is to refrain from dictating or influencing how other people should present themselves to their Gods. Believe it or not, our “sincere” or “over jealous” attempt in “convincing” or “converting” other people to accept our way of religion is the main cause of most of the problems in the world.

Here, I am not questioning the authority of religions. But I am questioning the stupidity of the so called learned religion people who willingly allowed their religions to be put into a position of creating negative energy of destructions and violences. Whether we like it or not, and as a matter of fact, bulks of the world problems are cause by religions. I am not doubting the religious people of their ability to communicate with their God directly. If anything I do is not to their likings, please refrain from invoking or referencing “divine words” to ridicule me. It would be morally appropriate for them to communicate to their God and ask their God to advise me. After all, isn't that God is all almighty and capable ? In the absent of their failure to seek their compassionate and merciful God to approach me, I believe it would be socially correct for them to shut-up and keep their religions to themselves. As far as I am concern, until such time I hear from God, I would like to submit myself to man made secular law and constitution of the country I reside.

Om Mani Padme Hum Hri. May my big fat laughing Buddha smiles on me, for I am living in Heaven now enjoying all the earthly materials. My heart shall be my temple. Namo Amithaba Buddha....

Note : This is just a harmless rantings from coffee intoxications. Don't take it too seriously......