Randy Paush...

Before his death from pancreatic cancer, Randy Paush left behind his family a letter from his learned journey.

On Personality:
1. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment
3. Don't over do; keep your limits
4. Don't take yourself so seriously; no one else does
5. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip
6. Dream more while you are awake
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
8. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more
14. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

On Community:
15. Call your family often
16. Each day give something good to others
17. Forgive everyone for everything
18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
19. Try to make at least three people smile each day
20. What other people think of you is none of your business
21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

On Life:
22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.
23. GOD heals everything
24. Do the right things
25. However good or bad a situation is, it will change
26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
27. The best is yet to come
28. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful
29. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it
30. If you know GOD, you will always be happy. So, be happy.

The Language of English...

Lets face it

QUOTE
"English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France .

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth
If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.

If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What on earth does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways
How can the weather be as hot as hell on one day
And as cold as hell on another

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
Which of course isn't a race at all...

That is why When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this poem
It ends." UNQUOTE  

Commonwealth Games - again

It is one thing to brag and be proud of what you have, but it’s another when you brag and look like dorks.

STOP telling the world you've the best doctors, engineers, lawyers, astro scientists or whatever when you can't even clean up your own stinking backyard...

STOP telling it is because of you our IT infrastructures are stable and working…

STOP telling you're able and capable of self-sustenance.

STOP hiding your daftness. Your hide speaks well of your lame follies.

If you at all need to preach...do so to your kind and NOT to the world. We moved away long time ago into virtual reality and you dumb rats are still professing the same old lame women's laments.

This is rather interesting...Indians claim the gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games are not to world standards... hahahahaha

Let’s see if you can do better...hahahahaa.

I wonder where the slumps and the die-hard famine stricken beggars from the Streets of Delhi go...

...in one game, the scores were more than the spectators.

If you're an Indian reading this….don’t be offended.. You're the offence to your well-being and stupidy.

Husbands are now "hot buns"

Where did all those husbands go? Didn't the wives lodge police reports?

Now, try to harness this for digestion.

A kid or kids goes missing in the country, pictures and photos are splashed all over the country especially if it is a kid of a bangsa Melayu.

Ever since both the two lawyers-killers were apprehended over the murder of some millionaire entrepreneur, more wives have come forth asking the Police what happened to their reports on missing hubbies?

I mean when the complains were made for the first time....did the Polis DiRaja Malaysia even bother to locate these 'missing husbands'. They did not. Why? 

Quote "India hilang ke, mati ke, peduli ape..biar dia pe mampus." Unquote.

Pompuan Melayu kena bunuh..hilang, satu PDRM pegi cari...Nice Police work.

No wonder the PDRM is filled with Melayu and not any other race.

1Malaysia mah....

Now, as more wives come forth reporting hubbies gone missing, I wonder what the PDRM did when the complains were lodged the first time.

Well done..PDRM..memang kudos to you.  

"Cari jangan tak cari.....cari jangan tak cari....  lalalalalala"

Maybe PDRM should be renamed as "Polis DiRasuah Malaysia"

This I do to earn my living...

The first nature of my work / job is to PLEASEEEEEEEE my so called DUMB client. For the record, unlike others, I only have ONE (1) client and collectively they're good enough to propel my team and me to the other side of the Universe.

Apart from the above, my job is too ensure the project details and requirements are well documented for client sign-off - this includes research, procurement and other 'requirements' that tags along within the confinement of the work. And there is the paper work which is actually 'paperless' but then given the minuscule version of this conundrum, it is (believe me) massive work.

This happened a few days ago.

I did a write-up project for my client that required paperwork and along with that some research on the work proper, which on any given day is part and parcel of my job. I am PAID to do this. SIMPLE

I did finish my work and send it off to the client for sign off, telling them they should consent to the work done and acknowledge with the sign off. The client is well aware of this procedure.

Oh yes, before I forget, all work done is to be sent to the requester of the job initiated from the client end. This is well documented in the "MOU - CLIENT-OUTSOURCER agreement.

Now comes the part where to some extent, I must say, God actually forgot to put some grey matter into these so called highly "professional" client. They are one of the largest single organization in Malaysia and soon to be in South East Asia.

I'm in a way sworn to secrecy so I'm gonna have fictitious names here tho' the event culminated hereinafter is TRUE.

Tengku Kudin (TK) - Client - requester
Yap Ah Loy (YAL) - Tengku Kudin's assistant.
Parameswara(PA) - Bigger Boss
Hang Li Poh(HLP) - Project Manager

TK sends me an email and cc's to YAL : Why you send this to me? I cannot sign la. Yap Ah Loy, can you sign this off.

YAL : calls me on the phone and gives me a long lecturer as to why I send my work to them for sign off. (I wished God had made me more dumber. If I had known, I would have gladly sent it to the Afghanistans.)

Me : This one is requested by Tengku Kudin and you. Of course I must send this to you. Why you blame me for sending this to the right person for sign off.

Yap Ah Loy grew angry and said, "I did not ask you people to do this work. So I don't know. I'm sending this back to you. You send to Tengku Kudin and ask him to sign off. (Tengku Kudin actually sits two tables behind Yap Ah Loy and I 'm sitting in a small cubicle 35 Kms away from both of them.)

I went like..Oh dear...now I have to sing the national anthem to them as well.

I resent the document to TK and told him what his assistant (Yap Ah Loy) said.

TK replied me with an email: No, I cannot sign. I only take orders from my boss. Pls send this to my boss. (Like I know who his boss is.)

Me : Hmmm....Who is your boss? Can you forward me his name and email id so I can write to him.

After receiving the info from TK, I sent the docs in 'zipped format' to Parameswara (TK's boss).

Parameswara (fuming like a dragon, called me) : Why you send this to me. ( I can hear his breath too.) Can't you read? You are suppose to send this to the requester of the work.

Me : I did send to the requester (Tengku Kudin). It was under his advise I send this to you for sign off. (at this stage I'm already tired of writing out emails to uncaged zoo Neanderthals.)

Parameswara : What he told you? (TK, I learned, sits three desk away from Parameswara.) So, I told Parameswara of TK's 'advise'.

I told myself...aiyoooooooooooo............ and I am paid to do this. Pls don't insult the Malaysian mentality. Please...

Then I received an email from TK.

TK : Can you send this to Hang Li Poh. She is the IT person and should sign this document as it entails IT stuff. And he forwards me HLP's email id.

I shoot the same email with the attached documents to Hang Li Poh.

In under 2 minutes after me sending the docs, HLP called me.

HLP : Hellllooooo, why must you send this docs to me?

ME : I was advised to send to you by TK.

HLP : Who is the requester?

ME : TK and YAL

HKP : Then, you should know better then not to send to me right.

ME : I did send to them. They said send to you as you are the lead in IT.

HLP : No..No..you people don't understand. I cannot sign. TK must sign. This is commerce. Send the docs to TK to sign. OK ..Bye

HLP followed up with an email and CC's the whole doc. and conversation to her Boss - Yang Dipertua Nyonya Papan (YDNP)

YDNP sends me an email.

YDNP : Can you explain to me why you are sending the docs to the wrong person. The requester is TK. Why didn't you send it to him and she cc's the entire email to all my bosses telling them how dumb I am. 

ME : I did send to Tengku Kudin and it was he who directed me to send the docs to Yap Ah Loy.  Yap Ah Loy told me to sent to Parameswara. Parameswara told me to send to Hang Li Poh and Hang Li Poh send the email to you. Now you want me to send back the docs to Tengku Kudin?

YDNP sends a direct email to TK asking him to sign.

TK replied with his email only to ME and NOT to the others.

TK : This project in not allocated with any form of budget, and thus I can't sign. Pls check with Hang Li Poh.

.......

......

......

Till now the document is still circling with no one taking onus to sign off.


Welcome to my world and you thought your job was tough.

Earthlike Planet, Gliese 581 (Gliza) habitable zone?

John Malot

JOHN R MALOT- United States ambassador to Malaysia 1995-1998


What Izzah has called for ....

Let us consider what Nurul Izzah said and did not – and why her proposal for a constructive debate on the meaning of Article 153, and how it has been implemented over the years, has merit. First, Nurul Izzah did not call for the repeal or amendment of Article 153. So the hot heads of PERKASA, as well as Home Minister Hishammuddin Onn, should back off. There is no element of sedition here. She also did not challenge Malaysia’s unwritten social contract.

Nurul Izzah correctly pointed out Ibrahim Ali and PERKASA are wrong when they insist the words “Malay rights” appear in Article 153. They do not. The Constitution refers to the “special position” of the Malays and other bumiputera, but not to any inalienable rights.

Pardon me for talking briefly about my own country to make a point. Soon to be 223 years old, the US Constitution is the oldest written constitution in the world. Over the years, the US Supreme Court has been called upon countless times – now between 75 and 100 times each year – to interpret the meaning of the Constitution and whether specific actions and laws of the government conform to it.

So as an American, I think debating the meaning and implementation of specific articles in the Constitution is a legitimate part of political and governing process in a democracy. After two centuries, we still have that debate. For example, the question of placing an Islamic Centre near Ground Zero in New York raises constitutional issues of freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Nurul Izzah is doing the same. She says, “let’s have a constructive debate about what Malaysia’s constitution means in practice when it talks about the "special position” of the Malays.”

Discounts on fancy homes a ‘right’?

For example, nowhere in the Constitution does it say that bumiputera citizens should be given discounts when they buy fancy condominiums. Those are policies enacted by the government of the day, which aren’t enshrined in the Constitution.

While the civil service, scholarships, and business permits are mentioned in Article 153, housing is not. But when DAP MP Tony Pua recently suggested the Selangor state government should abolish the Bumiputera discount for purchase of houses costing more than RM500,000 (in a state where the average cost of housing in 2009 was RM267,000), an UMNO Youth leader filed a police report and said Pua’s suggestion not only challenged Article 153, it was an offence under the Sedition Act. Of course, it’s not.

Question: Should Bumiputera residents be given discounts when they buy houses? If so, what should the percentage be? Do you have a “right” to a 10 percent discount as opposed to 5 percent?

Should there be a means test – that the discount is only given to people whose incomes are below a certain level, or when the value of the housing is below a certain level? If poor Malays are given housing discounts or subsidies, then should they not be given to poor Indians and others? These are all legitimate questions to discuss.

If in the future the government decides Bumiputera may receive a 30 percent discount when they buy a Proton, but others may not, isn’t it only fair to discuss this? If the government decides that 100 percent of the civil service has to be Malay, or that only Malays may head corporations in Malaysia, isn’t that something that should be debated upon?

If others want to question such policies, they should not be told they’re violating Article 153 and are subject to arrest for sedition.

Bumi equity target has failed.

Let’s consider the policy of Bumiputera ownership of 30 percent of the equity on the Bursa Malaysia. Article 153 talks about making special provision for Bumiputeras to acquire licenses and permits to engage in trade and business. But it does not talk about setting aside a special allocation of new stock issues for Malays and others, let alone how the value of the stock should be measured.

If the goal of the NEP is to raise the economic status and living standards of the Malay people, then how does this specific programme – setting aside 30 percent of stock issues – do that? If it were an effective programme, then why after all these years do so many Malays – and especially those in the rural areas – still live in poverty?

Why, as the New Economic Model (NEM) report pointed out, has the gap between rich and poor widened? Why has income for the bottom 40 percent of Malaysian households grown the most slowly over the past three decades?

Judged by these results, clearly the 30 percent equity policy has failed to do the job. Are there not better and more effective policies to raise the economic levels of the Malays and people of Sabah and Sarawak? And as others have pointed out, who decided what individuals could buy these shares? Where was the transparency? Why were the recipients not required to keep the shares, rather than sell them to others for a quick buck?

When MCA head Dr Chua Soi Lek called for ending the 30 percent quota, Perkasa’s economic bureau director called for Chua to be arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for “disregarding national interests.”

In 2006, Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) issued a report that said when the actual market value of stocks is used (the way all of us determine our current wealth), rather than the artificially-determined par value, the 30 percent target already has been reached. But under pressure, Asli withdrew the report.

'A fresh young voice’

In summary, even without challenging Article 153, it is perfectly legitimate to have a discussion of:

1) how that article has been implemented and should be implemented through government policies and actions;

2) how successful past and current policies have been in meeting the goals of Article 153; and

3) how success should be measured.

In a democracy, none of these topics should be “off limits.”On a personal note, I have known Nurul Izzah for 12 years, and it has been a pleasure to watch her grow into the remarkable woman that she is today. No one should underestimate her. Everyone sees her beauty, but I can attest that she also has brains, determination, and courage. And all of those characteristics are on display right now.

Perhaps an anonymous comment on the Internet, in response to her article, says it best: “She may well turn out to be the fresh young voice of conscience and courage… at a time when Malaysia needs a gentle, clear voice.”