Einstein on a Box

the Man with the Hairdo is famous for suggesting, among other things, that humans have evolved utilising just 10% of their brain's capacity. which looking at the state of the world, is pretty much par for the course.

i wonder how much of her VOCAL CHORD capacity this girl's using in hers. holy...


enuff' said. have a good week y'all.

hindsight

for the longest time, i used to work in the water, sometimes up to 16 hours at a stretch on a job. and i loved every minute of it.

we'd scrub boats, fix wharfs, pee in our wetsuits, inspect beach heads, clean up wrecks, check on water tables. freeze our asses off then pee in our wetsuits some more, any and everything involved in salt (and some fresh) water environments, i was there. LOVED it. :)

you'd get the whackiest crews, cracking joke after joke, bullshit story after bullshit story. work with anyone long enough and you'd go from their mother had been a World War II nurse to an alcoholic saleman with a killer bike riding up Route 66 with a sawn-off shotgun and a husband named "Hank".

you'd have the super paranoid, the quiet ones, the rustic even a technophobe (!!) but u/water, they'd be the BEST guys (and girl) you'd worked with, and just kept quiet and got on with the job. we worked hard, played hard and i gotta admit, got exactly what we lived for.

then i slowly found the environmental world and, being at the very front of the damage, quickly became a believer. i became an activist, using all my skills i'd had learned previously, slinking in to infiltrate illegal fishing fleets and cutting up their drift nets at depth, cutting free sharks that'd almost drowned in the static nets (because they need to move water over their gills to breathe), then swim with them in my arms for a few minutes to try resuscitate them.

then like a groggy person who'd suddenly got a whiff of smelling salts up their brain they shake wide awake and squirm out of my arms, swim away and then occasionally - just occasionally, they'd look back from a distance before swimming away.. i lived for those moments.

sometimes you'd pretend you were James Bond you know, with that song in your head? but i never looked good in a blue tux.

i was a tough bastard, and had a tan Britney would kill for. i'd be charting newfound reefs solo with a 3m bullshark for company, lie prone on a sand ledge with a school of sleeping nurseharks at 40m while waiting for deco tanks.

skin dive a 20m long tunnel at 28m and take pictures of sea kraits. sometimes a customer would ask look over my shoulder and ask "how'd you get so close to them without scaring them away?" they wouldn't know we went down without tanks, and so didn't blow messy noisy bubbles all over the place. the look in the kraits' eyes when they'd see me and go "holy shit! when did these bums come in without gills?!" priceless. :)

don't get me wrong - it was a hard life, full of hard work and a LOT of blood, bruises and broken bones, but somehow.. it was also a warm (figuratively. ;)), filling, wonderful life, you know? you lie back at night amid the torn muscles and sore limbs and your heart just fill out, you know? some things what you saw and did just made it all worth while...

and you didn't have Youtube those days.

but when i came back on a visa run every year you couldn't tell your parents what you did - because that generation grew up with the classic "Jaws" and could NEVER imagine their child diving with sharks, much less swimming, hand feeding or worse still, sleeping with them. LOL so my dad used to just say "don't tell your mum you work wid sharks, ok? she'd have a heart attack"..

which is why you wish they'd come up with this one instead.

woulda made life so much easier. of course, then there'd be way too many posers out there. like these colour coordinated climbers in Batu Caves... LOL naah, come to think of it we'll stick with the old version. ;)

have a great week, guys and God speed.. :)

:) have a GREAT week everyone!! :)

the Subprime Crisis hits the prisons system

as we increasingly worry about the nature and safety of our jobs we tend to miss some perhaps relatively less important, but still significant developments out there.

like why hasn't anyone noticed that a full TEN PERCENT of Windows-based computers have been infected with the Conficker virus since April 1st, that they can't trace the source despite a USD250,000 bounty and it's due for a major update soon. (May 3rd)

or how the economic crisis is not just affecting everyone in their work and at home, but in their prison cells as well. spare a thot for those doing hard labour; just because they got shelter don't mean they don't get calluses...


check out the tickers underneath: Rope, Soap, Mugs.. LOL! i wonder how Madoff is doing in a maximum security prison... *grins*

have a great weekend all and God speed. ;)

*see? i got through a WHOLE WEEK without writing an angry at someone post. now gimme my fried chicken!!

crevices aplenty..

sigh. i miss working on projects. sheesh i miss CLIMBING period. ;)


i remember when Chris Sharma first broke thru 9a; with a broken finger on his absolute last crack before he had to go home, with the bags packed and waiting and nothing to lose. Climbing magazine ran that pic on their front cover, with him topping out with his chalked right hand.

enjoy the clip. just you and me and the familee in J Tree, Jerry. ;)

so just about a year ago...

down to the very hour, i took the last steps as a bachelor, and took my vows...

just after midnight, 12 hours before, i had finally left Richard at the office to finish up the week's programme..

slept a bit, made my way to the house, then drove on my own to the mosque, lost in my thoughts... would i be ok? what can of eejit hubby would i make?!? WHY IS THE JAM BUILDING UP ON THIS ROAD I'M GONNA BE LATE EVERYONE'S WAITING FOR ME AT THE MOSQUE!!!

holy shitology Batman i'm gonna be late for my own wedding!!

"relax. relax. it's just 1.05pm mate".

it's still not clearing!

"well, whaddya wanna do? if you're late you're late. it all happens for a reason, right?" ...

WHAT?!?!!

2 mins and a traffic light later the traffic clears up and i zoom past the posts. Just In Time. The Man's got a sense of humour.

i stumble in, calming myself. "breathe, bro. breathe. you've been in deeper than this.".. HAVE I?!?!!

the men are all laughing, "oh! there he is!! we thought you'd changed your mind!"

my dad's friend and imam says "no worries, we've got time; go pray first and we'll set things up here, ok?". ok.

cool. Azhar's here. it'll be OK.. deep breath. i haven't worn "songkok" in almost 20 years. the awkwardness shows.

ok. show time..

after 37 years my dad's used to my Just In Time antics now and just yawns. the men tho, have suddenly taken a more sombre mood.

the women, in contrast, are positively beaming!!

hey waaaaaiiit a minute.. Men are Morose, Women are having a Ball - is there something i'm missing here?!?..

the Imam decides to be a wise-ass, and asks "are you sure you wanna be with this skinhead??" :)
last warm-ups, i take my place. and the mosque falls suddenly silent, all ears are on us, as i take my vow in His Name, bring her by my side, in my heart and into my life. and vow to provide her and protect her for the rest of my eejit life.




SUCCESS!! against the odds, i don't know how but i fumble not even once, and we breathe a sigh of relief..

i kiss her forehead, she kisses my hands,

and i fumble with the pearl bracelets my mom gave me to give to her. (i knew she was gonna trip me up some time! ;)

my dad's teacher becomes another wise-ass, and cracks a last minute joke.

the girls are laughing. i am definitely missin' something here...

says goodbye to mummy. i pray fervently i haven't let her down.

we adjourn to the small family reception at the Islamic Museum across the road, and we run to the reception like little kids holding hands... :)

and we find someone to sott and be sotted with for the rest of our lives, insya'Allah.. :)

it was also the last i spent time with both my foster father and mother outside. he passed on 3 months ago. and i miss him dearly...

i know i might not know much. i'm not the wisest. i'm not the smartest nor by far the biggest. but i have learnt from both my fathers how i should take care of her, hold her close and love her with all of me.

they have taught me responsibility, compassion, acceptance and understanding and above all else, patience - with myself too - and i hope i justify the trust they've placed in me to carry their name. keep her warm and feed her heart and soul.i will keep my word to keep her safe, fathers.i will give my Life, to make her safe..

Happy Anniversary, sayang. it's been a year, tho hopefully, like me, it feels like just a few short months. :)** and honestly? the hardest part was the first 6 weeks!! LOL! figuring out "what?!?!! HOW am i gonna do this?" and it's all been slowly falling into place now, hasn't it? .. :)

i love you so much** it's been a blast!! i LOVE your cooking. THANK YOU for letting me paint the walls pink. :) and i'm looking forward to making so many more things with you. build a house, build our home, slowly. love you for as long as He lets me..

**wo hen xiang ni, wo de bao bei. meitian. :)** thank YOU for loving me.. ** ** ** i'll see you in my dreams.. **

wtf.com

i look at this and get inspired to what to cook for my wife maybe next week..
a dash of light soy and some Worchester sauce, black pepper from Sarawak and a hint of oregano.. sauteed. mmmmm... :)) can't you just smell it? of course its pork and yam, so since we don't eat pork and i've had enough of yam in a previous life to last me a lifetime, maybe i'll do it with steak and aubergine..

got the pic from the website why travel to france. what, you thought it was something else? :)

LOL!!

what a way to end the week. i might not really like the guy - he falls over way too easily for me - but this is a hell of a goal, mate..


and the commentary's just as hilarious!! LOL!

i just came across a release that Obama has released documents that admit the US and CIA have been torturing their prisoners - the exact same torture methods they criticised Saddam, Jordan and those 3rd-rate Pakistanis for. i'm not gonna let that put me down. write it later.

enjoy the weekend, all and God speed. ;))

update

from our post about Susan Boyle on the show Britain's Got Talent, and left all the judges slack-jawed.

interviewed by the CNN after that:

Boyle said she was trying to take her new found fame in her stride.

"It's a challenge. Life is a challenge sometimes but this is different. And I like to test myself."

"If it all gets too much and they lock me up, I want a great big strait-jacket with spots on it. A pink one... and a big zip on the back so I can escape."

LOL!! she might be a nutter, but i love her anyway... :))

so the next time you "say" Muslims are mad..

sometimes, things are so grey in this world, that we often only see things when they're placed side-by-side.

for example, football-mad fans who'd been watching international football telecasts for years, often with the same group of sports commentators (because they work for the TV stations) couldn't believe it when they heard those same familiar voices they had grown to love and associate with football, commentating at the World Cup 2002 - where for the first time hosts South Korea and Japan finally made it to the knock out rounds.

you didn't want to believe it at first, thinking you were just being defensive. and then it kept happening. and happening in every match. tackle after tackle, shot after shot, when the commentators you thought you knew were passing comments that in effect, made it seem as if Asians who just learned to play football after they were colonised, shouldn't be this good.

every 50:50 decisions that went to the Asians, which would have usually been covered as a "part of the game", were made out as if blatantly in their favour by virtue of them being hosts. whispers of a conspiracy were even heard, with Sepp Blatter courting Asian votes in the governing FIFA. sigh.

you've gotta say that it's one thing to be pleasantly surprised, it's another thing when they - even collectively - keep to this line of commenting until the very end, where there was almost a sigh of relief that Japan and South Korea had lost in the semifinals. no, really, even my Caucasian friends watching at that time noticed it.

they - my friends, not the commentators - apologised, but what the hey, it's not their fault right? but it serves the point:

that a lot of times, even experienced, worldly and educated professional commentators can unwittingly pass judgement, even if perhaps they don't notice it themselves. it is ingrained, and can only be passed out if its not passed on, in our children.

it's the same thing as when a largely Western audience i.e. predominantly white and non- Muslim reads a headline: "Islamists Take Khartoum" and immediately thinks, "sigh, there they go again".. they don't mean it in a bad way, maybe.

intellectually they know not all Muslims are blood-thirsty rifle-toting self-blowing-up egomaniacs. in fact the very DEFINITION of Jihad, according to the Prophet in no uncertain terms, was every person's daily struggle against their very own Ego. because of all things on Earth that's the one thing that can actually cause more damage to the human race than EVERY OTHER THING combined. trust Man to interpret things to his own accord.

but i digress.

back to the headline, on a sub- conscious level, not many will be able to stop it registering "Muslims = Blood, Death. Uneducated gun-wielding kids high on drugs and cutting off hands. Again." so what how far that is from the truth.

but the point is, show the same headline to Muslims, and those far away from the scene won't even know that the term "Islamists" is actually an aberration of Islam, and shouldn't, in a West that prides in "political-correctness", even be used. (refer my previous article on the term here.)

those closer to the scene will first try to explain that Muslims do not chop off hands in battle (those are Africans who took after the Belgians, actually. who were the first to go around chopping hands in Africa..), try to defend the rebels and explain to you another side of things.

and the Western reader will tend to say, "yeah, well, what do you expect them to say", right?.. well i wonder what we should make of this:


i'm not sure what the message is supposed to be, i try to not be judgemental. even as the kid is obviously representative of perhaps an American Mid-west.

i look at the gun. it is real. none of that replica shit you see in cheap movies.

i hear the announcer's tagline. and then i wonder, "Holy Mama! can you imagine if a MUSLIM group came out with that piece, and aired it in America??"

EVEN IF it was made in say Egypt - which is not 100% Muslim, and have a great mix of Muslims living in absolute peace with non-Muslims - or perhaps Turkey. countries which have a good mix of differing opinions and therefore there might - and that's a VERY BIG MIGHT - be a place for this kind of video to push an immensely rhetorical opinion.

think about it. someone Muslim makes it, airs it on National TV in a secular country, and says either you believe what we do or... Gun in your face. can you IMAGINE the furor WORLDWIDE from European countries?!?!!

would it be OK to use kids too?

oh, by the way, this Muslim group that makes this video clip also doesn't believe in evolution, and thinks Man was alive side-by-side with dinosaurs. what a lark, huh? :)

now imagine the headlines that would appear then, and what those same Western readers we talked about earlier might think.

put them up side by side, and all extremists - Jewish, Christian, Muslim - are rhetorical. why can't we look AT that, give it some thought if you feel like and if it doesn't gel, then just put them all in the trash can and flush 'em down.

ALL OF THEM. don't turn around and paint the same brush on all of us.

use that one brush on all extremism, not on or by a religion. people. or country.

oh, and by the way, its not the Muslims that don't believe in evolution. it's the guys who made the clip: Answers in Genesis. a fundamental Christian apologetic group that even built The Creation Museum which exhibits, among other things, Man and dinosaurs living together.

doesn't it make you feel uncomfortable if people thought ALL Americans are like this and not just that, point guns at each other and get away with making those threats on National TV? what kinda society do "they" live in??..

not very nice, is it? point that brush elsewhere then, brother..

footnote: who'd have thought after that, a host of Korean and Japanese players started playing in Europe, a Japanese would go on to be a key Celtic player and go on to win the Player of the Year in the Scotland.

and a South Korean become an integral (if not spectacular) part of the Man United team that has now won the English league, European and World Club Cup championships?

sorta like what blacks everywhere in the West had to go through, right? to fly planes, play ball, be slowly accepted as actually capable people in their own right? shows what sports can do, if you just take colour at face value.

gratuitous shot of a babe after a heavy article. peace. :)


* no white men were hurt in the making of this article; and eSBM believes fervently in peace, harmony and regular inter-race bonking sessions..

one of my most trusted friends came over last week. not oldest, not best, trusted. and took in my book shelf after a few beers and saw a McNab book.

"oh you read McNab too?", he said. yeah. he's quite stupid i said. "huh yeah. i don't really like that Afghanistan story tho. i mean i finished it, but i had trouble you know."

you mean crossfire? "yeah, that's the one." i know mate.

that now makes it 3 ex-boys i know who reads the guy. you read him cos you simply don't have to suspend disbelief, or be turned off by theatrics.

he also doesn't make his character come out like Bond, always clean and girl-worthy. in reality it's not pretty. it's sheer fucking violence, and who lives is often sheer dumb-luck. but it's how it is. not really good or anything just take your chances, pure stubborn. and lucky. you don't think about it, or your head fucks up.

but sometimes, good as a book is, some things hits too close to home, and you have to take a breather for a while. but it keeps you grounded. maybe you feel (you already know that, but that's intellectual) that you're actually not alone, and God knows you don't talk.

because in reality, you don't wanna know they gassed women and children in Waco, do you? and they got the mixtures wrong and it combusted, setting fire and burning the rest of the people alive.

you don't really want to know that Afghanistan is really about the opium. and Washington is in on exactly what's going on. you need to know that Iran's the bad guy, and the Jarheads are fighting for peace, freedom and the good ole' American way, because that's what they're dying for. otherwise it'd make no sense.

and i truly, sincerely appreciate this, because we've got WL in the bunks.

but too many don't know the abject terror; what is gone thru in that singular, microscopic moments to make sure you sleep safe. no show shows your balls curling in as far as it can go, and you can hear your heart not moving as you squeeze. you move, you move, you move. you keep moving. you think its like Doom? strangely, in some ways it is. adrenaline. and then. nothing. that empty.

you don't wanna know.

* * *
i'm glad you've found company. sometimes you wonder why you do it, right? who the fuck knew bra. you just survive. just survive. just survive. it's good that we find someone before we die, you know. bloody amazing. but good.

good luck mate. your bachelor party's on me. ;)

preamble

the idiom that "everything is cyclical" is relative. whilst usually measured by a "generation" (roughly every 30-40 years), the fact is it varies widely.

religious/faith-based revivals for example, are a constant regardless of region, culture or faith. on the micro level, individuals have ups and downs - going wild and partying every few months, then sobering up after an especially big hangover /break up, and then going wild and confident again with a new job /spouse /weekend.

this usually goes on for a while til suddenly you're 35 look down at your belly and say, "heeey!! how'd THAT get there?!?"

Oooooooohhh... i am NEVER gonna drink again...

as a society tho it's a lot more "trackable"; religious renaissances and subsequent demise are commonplace when studied in the course of 5,000 years.

from Mesopotamia to Malaya, cultures go through a cycle of finding themselves, then after a period of experimentation invariably find themselves getting closer to God. radical re-interpretations of age-old verses follow, accompanied by some measure of persecution (overt or otherwise), border disputes and possibly a re-alignment of societal arrangements.

after some time there's a backlash against rigid interpretations; the mini skirt (or its variant) then comes back, weed (or its variant) and bright colours become "in" and tangent social experiments e.g. Socialism, Protestantism will gather traction.

until society decides it's suddenly in "moral decay" (again!) and cries of "Save Us!" and "Bring back [insert name of saint /dictator /belief here]!" rings again. the "we must chastise ourselves to prove we are worthy" version of religion comes into vogue. again.

so the monks invented beer.

then the Germans invented those frocks and pigtails and they lived happily ever after!

it's a play that's been played out for centuries, across Europe to the Horn of Africa, the Arab Gulf to the Bible Belt.

but despite happening for the last few thousand years tho, its still not often understood, appealing as it does to the "fear" side of our psyche.

we just lash at whatever scares us, don't know or understand.

which is why older regions like the Middle East that tiredly go through these cycles every century find it hard when relatively "new" so-called superpowers intervene - thinking they're doing everyone a favour when in reality, there's nothing much you can really do. and that's what we call a cycle - something that seems to be out of our power, no matter what we do to avoid it.

and why all powers that grow to feel "above" all others invariably come down with a bump, from the Persians of old to the "all-conquering" Third Reich.

for some new found nations - like the US, which only just came unto itself after World War 2 - it's the inevitable learning curve, and deciding whether you want to believe it or not.

it went into a futile war, for example, in 1963, which killed goodwill globally, achieved nothing and took 10 years to extricate, by a President that had to sacrifice his domestic reforms to handle the crisis at hand.

it's happened again 40 years later, and on current evidence with the same result. is that then cyclical? happenstance? or a second chance.

the fact is it doesn't matter because no matter how many Tomahawks you throw at the problem, human will (and stupidity) will always rise above. you just gotta let it play out, and hope you made the right decisions in between to preserve yourself.

what is crucial today is we realise that regardless of where it happens, what happens to a major power-of-the-day today - like far-flung empires of old - are inextricably linked to everyone, and has to be taken in the context of its effect on every single country, not just in of itself.

no one is an island, this was true 500 years ago and it's true now. why?

its those little swimming bastards ..

consider the miniskirt. i LOVE it. and more men would wear it too if they had Brad Pitt's legs, and a BIG SWORD to poke at anyone who laughs.

and that. thingy. hanging in front of it.
and fashion-wise it'll come and go, but always survive as long as the legs lead to the nether regions; our hormones do the freestyle and the suggestion of something unknown is so much more tantalising than crass sexism. hence its a constant, embraced over all time.

the same is true of another Mini, which is not re-born because it's short. but because it gives you such a rush to have so much power under your seat. despite being short. and almost geeky.

because say what you will, the fact is 99% of men will have felt inadequate at one point or another - regardless of endowment or intelligence - and something about having that unquestioned power under you at all times regardless of how it actually looks, makes you feel... tingly inside. :) hence the sweaty horses, loud jet planes and unmuffled exhausts.

in other words, they are all inate - a primate's basic call: as long as it taps into your basic urges, it WILL come back. hence it qualifies - regardless of your perspective - as a cycle.

so can greed be a factor too?

My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income.

Errol Flynn

this cartoon was printed in 1934, and EVERY SINGLE WORD of it is happening again: 80 years later. why did we never learn?

observers such as Roubini suggest "it's another Minsky Cycle", where asset bubbles are created by irrational credit cycles. true enough, like its societal and religious brothers, every modern economic downturn has been preceded by a stretch of exponential but non-inflationary growth.

remember the dotcom bubble? it went up like a rocket!

from sub-1,000 to almost 5k in less than 5 years - you could put a penny into any company and chances were, you'd come out smelling roses.

more than any fancy Beta, analysis or statistical model, laymen walked in and made a killing; 3-day old companies sold ideas, and investors just lapped it up. every analyst wanted to come on TV and say "it's the dawn of a New Age".

but no one wants to admit that there can be no revolution without bloodshed, because to do so would be to admit that despite "modern" civilisation, we're still not in control of our own basic urges.

and for all our degrees, we're no smarter than our grandfathers: years before, for example, the 1930 Depression happened because:

1. industrial overcapacity
2. a stock-market crash and
3. Germany's inability to pay back reparations from World War 1, led to
4. an unbearable strain on British gold reserves

triggering an economic crisis that was only revived by of all things, by a world war.

(roughly) substitute today:

1. China
2. Wall Street
3. Subprime participants
4. US Fed and Social Security

but don't feel bad, cos they were no better than their grandfathers either. in 1867:

1. European monarchs ecstatically welcomed brand-new "lending institutions" (banks as we know today had just been invented) that gave out mortgages to property owners

2. aristocrats - suddenly flush with money - thought that the property prices would go nowhere but up, and took 2, 3 and 4 and 5 more mortgages to invest elsewhere, driving property prices even higher and higher but with no real "new" collateral to back it up. sound familiar?

but suddenly a "new boy" appeared, a miscreant done good called "America".

3. America, wherever that was, was undercutting wheat exporters in Russia and Central Europe (sometimes by up to 70%!), and driving prices down

4. Britain - the world's largest consumer then - switched to the cheaper US suppliers, and by 1873 the US was exporting everything from meat and flour to rapeseed, forcing traditional European suppliers out.

suddenly, the aristocrats couldn't pay on time, and saddled with massive leveraged debts, did what they're good at. they flipped.

5. British banks held back their capital, because they were unsure of which European bank was in trouble and which was not.

the problems led back to the US and the railroad - which was driving industrialisation in America - had sold complex financial derivatives promising a fixed income, but not tied to any collateral. does THAT sound familiar? :)

so Jay Cooke, the man building the railroad, took more and more short term loans to paper the cracks, until in September 1873, he couldn't do it anymore, sending the stock market crashing.

unemployment hit 25% in the US, and 30% in Ukraine and Russia. the crash lasted for more than 5 years in the US, and 6 for Europe.

aftershocks

this is where names like Rockefeller and Carnegie made their money - those that had long-term contracts and rebate deals instead.

this is also where the first real movement against European Jews were started. people (some say agents of the Russian Czar who was beginning to lose power) started blaming "the stranger in their own backyard", and the MILLIONS of suddenly homeless, helpless peasants raced to embrace it.

forget nationalism - hunger is a powerful glue. so the question is, when are we gonna stop already?

epilogue

oh SHOOT how'd i get up here??!

so when its all said and done, maybe it's not about who wear a turban, or believes in the Virgin Mary.

it's not the "devil's music", and definitely not driving those horses between your legs.

maybe at the very base, its about trying to not lose control.

cos' when you lose control, you grasp at anything and everything that you think might save you, regardless of who else you kill. even yourself.

its like the cat who climbs and climbs and climbs for that bird even though you're pleading with it to stop and come down. and then it looks down and goes, "oh, shiiiiiit...".

even if you don't speak cat, you know it's saying "oh, shiiiiiit...".

its when the collective - kings, clergy, peasants or aristocrats - after years of thinking they knew what was happening, suddenly realise they're don't.

acknowledgements

what will happen when Citigroup or Goldman Sachs finally folds, after papering over cracks for the last 2 years? what will happen when unemployment hits 25% in the US and Europe.

how will China cope if the US Dollar falls by 30% in the next 18 months, as she tries to channel domestic construction?

when will politicians learn that when they lie blatantly to their people today it just means you're setting them up for more pain in the real world tomorrow, "secure" in their own ignorance and mediocrity when in fact, they're not even ready for play school?

forget about Scripture, tech-speak and overnight rates. and stop saying "down with globalisation!" and throwing rocks at the G-20 - we've been doing it for thousands of years.

we are, in fact, at the core of a primal reaction that happens over and over: it's called the "oh shit i just shat in my pants" syndrome.

maybe when we realise this simple fact, that talking up something doesn't make it real, then we'll stop acting like monkeys. maybe we'll start really trying to get somewhere.

evolving. we should try it some day. it's how we avoid extinction. Mother Nature only gives so many tries.

and stop firing those friggin' Tomahawks!!!

THIS made my day.. ;)

and i hope it does yours too. :)

there's a reason talent shows set an age limit - it's so whoever wins can be contracted for a longer period, and profit from the talent maximised.

that limit's usually 30 (which of course i don't agree with the closer to 40 i get LOL!) and it mitigates risks of launching an album, if it doesn't make it at first, etc etc.

but this girl got her foot into the competition, and then ran ROUGH SHOD over EVERYONE. please, please, PLEASE, click on it (sorry, you'll have to click it, embedding's been disabled):

Susan Boyle, in Britain's Got Talent

:) a standing ovation from EVERYONE in the house. and she actually walked off the stage, too! LOL!! but it's cool, huh. i especially liked Simon's expression at 4:00, like a kid totally enamoured by what he sees on TV..

she's unemployed, has never been kissed 47 year old, but why are we trying so hard putting up with so many sick thin pompous wannabe caffeine addicts with no talent, and trying to turn them into over-hyped models or poster girls, when maybe sometimes the old timers like me would appreciate someone developing THIS talent instead.

we may be a (literally) dying demographic, but we've still got purchasing power. and we remember the real divas, who could REALLY sing with their bellies sticking out of their frocks. and sometimes, make your hair stand on end.

watch your body language
and of all the people, only the beautiful Amanda Holden - the judge in the middle - kept an open mind, and said "ok love, let's see what you can do".

she didn't say it, but that's what her body language said: leaning back, arms up over and behind the head - a totally vulnerable sub-conscious saying "ok sweetheart, let's give it a try". and what a try it was..

remember that the next time you're in a meeting feeling nervous, and wondering if your boss is actually hearing you out. and remember that next time you're boss, and want to send the right messages to your people. the best things sometimes are not said, but shown.

congratulations Susan Boyle. now don't ever grow a beard, or you'll look like this guy ..

Ma Na Ma Na!!

no, seriously. it's been a heck of a week.

first the F1 race gets washed out. then MU does a double bogey and is looking at elimination from Europe.

20 years ago i helped a pregnant single mother and her 7 year old kid pull their life together after a horrible experience, and when it was over before saying goodbye, i helped paste some glow-in-the-dark moon and stars stickers on the ceiling above her bed. smiled and made jokes to hopefully tuck her in with her nightmares behind, and then left.

well guess what: missus and i were heading out for dinner last Tuesday with a whole bunch of consultants in Terengganu, when one of these very same consultants, after a whole long time staring at me after being introduced, said "do you remember so-and-so? she's my mother, and you helped paste some flourescent moons and stars on my bed once, remember?" and. boooom..

a whole world i thought i'd left behind came crashing back... your whole being is whoooshed!! to a whole different time. and for the whole dinner thereafter, i couldn't focus, going between that sweet little 7 year old girl, who had no idea what was happening, asking me to paste this sticker that will make her smile on top of her bed, and this confident, mature, intelligent young woman seated in front of me. 20 YEARS LATER. and i'm so happy she's made it.. :) but man, talk about a shock to the system.

so the next night we decide to take it easy, take a slow walk and have a quiet dinner at an outdoor stall, right? fat chance.

we exit the hotel, and i notice 2 men checking us out. so i automatically shift missus to my left and keep scope of the road behind me as well. and as we're walking under a gorgeous full moon i see this car sweeping down the hill towards us from the back, and i disengage my fingers from hers, and nudge her further to the far side.

car driver slows down, looks at us for 5 seconds, then stops the car and gets out. i immediately step 2 steps ahead and square shoulders to him closing the distance between us and he asks "are you so-and-so?" and just like that bang.

another cinder block falls on my head, and i'm back to 25 years ago when we were both rookies floundering in the biggest, toughest military school in the country. and we hugged. just hugged.

turns out that the other guy was also me mate and they're both working oil rigs now, trying to figure out if this skinny brown man was the skinny brown kid way back when. :) i introduce him to my wife and 2 minutes later, we figure out that he knows her elder sister, her late father and then some. and we decide to catch up next in KL. needless to say my dinner was chock full of memories flooding back. he obviously had the same, because he texted later saying he now remembers my old nickname, which less than 10 people knew... LOL!!

man what is it with the full moon...

tell Luca Brazi to come in..
so now we're waiting for our flight back on Thursday, and i get a text about the Altantuya murder trial.

days after the new Prime Minister is safely sworn in and the 3 critical by-elections are settled, the 2 policemen charged in the criminal case are finally found guilty, and sentenced to death.

but surprise surprise! these are not just 2 jealous men caught in a love triangle, killing a girl who broke their heart, are they?

yes, they have been found guilty. but EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the country, regardless of their affiliation will concede, if they're honest, that they were in all likelihood following orders. they have no other motive.

so forget the conspiracy theories, why aren't we looking for the head honcho - who has the authority AND influence - to murder AND get away with it? do we actually think they'll stop breaking the law now after getting away with murder?

Consider this: if a consigliori - be it in Sicily or New York - can flip on his Godfather, get a reduced sentence while they find and charge the REAL criminal, why can't we do this here?

is this a Mafia boss even bigger - literally - than Marlon Brando? or these men didn't even know what the HELL was happening, so couldn't even point a finger to anyone anyway?

worse, they are both HIGHLY TRAINED in explosives ordinance & demolition (EOD) - ask anyone who's trained and they will tell you: you ALWAYS bury and/ or tamper a controlled explosion. it is never done on open ground, not just because of evidence, but dangers from the blast.

so why did they blow her up in the open? not for lack of time or onlookers - according to charges, it was done in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere.

these are people who operate in TOTAL secrecy. they're trained to kill in covert, disappear without a trace, ZERO evidence. and they blow her in the open and spread DNA all over the place. Huh?..

i'm chomping on my bit here. we - as a Nation - should be ashamed of staying quiet, and letting 2 people - even if they are guilty - go to the gallows alone without even trying to REALLY find the real killer. as the Malays say, the Dalang.

how can we sleep at night? remember the tales of old, when the ruler was remiss, and the people covered it up, accepting it for worldly gestures. what happened to the Kingdom?

if you're a Malay then, where are your loyalties? to the institution, or to the ruler.

and if you're a Muslim, tell me, aren't we all guilty then as Muslims, to keep quiet and just let such an injustice blatantly make its way, without even a note of protest? what kind of Muslims are we? the kind that follows the Prophet's calls only as and when it suits them?

let's think about that as we go to the mosque today and prostrate ourselves up and down in front of Him.

or as you drink with your mates tonight after a long week, and winding down.. so easy to forget it, isn't it? one day, it'll be your problem, and then nobody will care, either..

Who watches the Watchmen?

later that day Datuk Seri Najib announces his new cabinet, and pitches a "new and improved" line-up who will fight for the people!! Yayy!! sigh. Sir.. you're either new, OR improved - you can't improve a new product.

for all the talk about "clean" heads, many just got polished. 14 Ministers played musical chairs, and whilst i am glad many "baggage" Ministers were thrown out, there still remain in the cabinet - at both Minister and Deputy levels - blatant racists.

and until and unless these are ALL weeded out, they are who will stumble and fumble your policies and projects every time you want to drive something new in. why? because its against their interests.

for example: you want to work towards peace, unity and harmony?

then why was a Deputy Minister using - just last Friday! - official broadcast channels, mis-quoting and selectively interpreting the Quran AND Prophet's Hadiths to sell a POLITICAL agenda to the public, on national TV?

aren't you ashamed of yourselves??

hands up! i'm not an expert. but that's the point, you didn't need to be - it was that blatant. hey, it's all there; watch the tape and listen. these are the people who've been returned to their offices.

in the PRIME MINISTER'S office...

manipulating Islam to forward their own political verses to the masses. maybe the PM should watch some RTM instead of Astro now, and keep tabs on his own people. or you'll lose ANOTHER election and then go *blink blink*, and wonder why.

but we'll lash the cow, starting from now!

with what? KPIs (Key Perfomance Indicators)? Puh-leez.

Shabery Cheek has lost MILLIONS in revenue and viewership has dropped by 75% since he took over the Info Ministry. did he have to make way? nope! put into Youth & Sports. so we can mess up the Youth AND Sports now.

Shaziman (someone's cousin) was moved from Energy, Water and Telecommunication - the biggest pension fund provider for retiring managers and Ministers and hitherto LEAST successful Ministry despite billions in aid and contracts* - to another cash cow: the Works Dept, where Samy Vellu built his empire from for the last 40 years with projects in every nook and corner of the country.
* think about it: when was the LAST time you got broadband in KL?

and how in goodness' name does Nazri keep holding on to his post??! i mean, seriously. what has he done to deserve an automatic seat in EVERY Cabinet announced of late? how many files does he have on the Big Guns? ..

it's not that great on the ground either. take the (allegedly) more professional Government Linked Companies (GLCs): entrusted with driving the Govt's aspirations, get the peachiest contracts, soft loans from the Govt and face time with Ministers.

only ONE GLC fulfilled its KPIs last year.

one GLC - a BANK, no less - has failed to achieve one single KPI for the last decade. even after a multi-million Ringgit "re-branding" exercise 3 years ago. not one single Senior Management has been fired.

bureaucrats responsible for BILLIONS in the Rakyat's money squander it on a daily basis - don't be surprised at CEOs taking First Class trips to shake Mickey's hands - how about his minions taking a 5 day trip to the Silicon Valley to arrange a tele-conference with some Planning Heads?

A TELE-CONFERENCE!! we spent a few thousand hard-earned taxpayer dollars to fly a Junior Executive and 3 mates to the States and put them up in the Four Seasons for 5 days, to arrange a tele-conference between people in Malaysia and Silicon Valley.

and why couldn't they have just, oh, i dunno, pick up the phone or emailed them like the rest of us do?

and did i mention that these are people who are DIRECTLY responsible for Internet development in the country???

so in light of the "unforeseen" economy failing

will any one of these Nation's Generals lose their jobs /take a paycut?

after all, if they couldn't even keep a KPI, make a profit or do their work properly when times are GOOD, what makes you think they're gonna do better when times are bad?..

speaking of which, if they're supposed to be professional managers - Lord knows they're PAID like one - why the need for Khazanah to introduce Silver Books, Green Books and Purple Books to teach them how to keep accounts? aren't they supposed to be CFA and CIMA qualified in the first place?

because like the rules, it's not a matter of print in Malaysia - it's about enforcing them.

and who'd like to f**k over a friend, right?:) *everybody smile for the camera*

and so as their minions run rough shod over us taxpayers, which Minister do you think will take the lead and resign. take a pay cut or demotion if he/ she doesn't achieve their KPIs?

RESIGN! if there's a fuck up or massive loss in one of their Ministries.

anyone?

what was that? not feasible? "no continuity" if everyone has to resign if they don't fulfil their KPIs? THAT IS THE POINT - to get people who CAN fulfil their KPIs and finally - finally - start turning around this Culture of Mediocrity we've nurtured into our COUNTRY and turn it into something that can actually persevere and fight for the future of the country like we used to.

and if they can't because of the machinations and baggage of the past and people tripping them up at every turn, THAT is why you either gotta have a TOTALLY new Cabinet, or it can just be an "improved" one, get it?

you can't do much with an "improved" product Sir; it's still got the same problems papered over. like Proton. but like everything else in this country, Najib has proven that we will, at least in the near future, continue Papering Over things.

oh and give me a break about the 13 ISA detaineed being released as proof of his more "open" society - Tun Mahathir did the same, too, and don't get me wrong i love the guy, but you don't hear anyone lauding his human rights record do you?

so may i suggest a GREAT new song to dance to every time they do that Govt office Early Morning Warm-up every Monday:


it makes a GREAT tag line for the new administration, too:

"Mana KPI, Datuk Seri?"

"Mana Mana! Mana Mana!"

"Mana "akauntabiliti" Tan Sri?!"

"Mana Mana! Mana Mana!"

everybody together now!! "MANA MANA! MANA MANA!!"

no thank you, Mr Prime Minister.

Vroom VrooOOMM!!

well folks, it seems that i'm heading to the Sepang F1 Grand Prix this Sunday courtesy of my san jie. sie2 ni san jie! :))

last time i was there was the inaugural race in 1999, when my sister got me some tickets for me birthday. 10 amazing years which started with my leaving the rat race, and now i'm happily married... ;)

it was the culmination of almost 15 years of just "reading" about motorsports, of following Gardner and Eddie Lawson battling it out year after year, Kevin Schwantz never winning a title with Suzuki and refusing to back down fromhis crazy riding ways. of Ayrton Senna pulling an impossible win in Monaco in a vastly outclassed Lotus Honda, the thrills and spills were both real and incredible - heck, i even had a picture of that car RACING past the chequered flag on my wall for years!

but by this time commercialism, TV rights and Bernie Ecclestone had finally won. Schumacher, having broken his leg and missed 6 races to lose all chance of winning it himself, slowed down and let Eddie "The Friggin" Irvine overtake him TWICE, while slowing down and blocking Mika from overtaking him throughout the race so Eddie could go on and win the Driver's title unchallenged.

and thus Ferrari won the race, Constructor's and Driver's belt that year. was it a farce? of course. did anybody care? not really, money talks. but it just killed something in me you know? and it just left a sour taste in the mouth, and Ferrari with all-conquering flash and money won everything there was to win, so i stopped watching for a while. til last year.

then came the Hamilton-Alonso-Massa brinkmanship and shades of a real rivalry a'la Piquet-Senna and Nigel Mansell returned. and then this season of all things came the subprime crisis which meant a lot less money to burn so Button and his Brawn team boys crash the party and whaddya know - Bob's your uncle!!

suddenly with the promise of level engines and slick tyres taking us back to where F1 belonged and aaahhhhhh... of burst ear drums burnt rubber and the real men driving. are the good times back? Oh Yeah!!! :)))

in fact in a page straight from the swashbuckling days of Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, Button reportedly jumped straight on his girlfriend's bones in the briefing room after winning the race and ruffled some feathers, given that, you know, he's British and everything. Queen and country... no sex please we're British and all that? nevermind...

i don't understand these people tho, give him a break - whaddya expect?

he's 28 years old driving 400km/h in a testosterone-drenched car and dating Japanese underwear model Jessica Michibata; took a 50% pay cut last year and almost lost his ride when Honda pulled out and it was too late for another team and just 6 months later leads from start to finish and wins JUST HIS SECOND CHEQUERED FLAG IN 10 YEARS!

kid probably had a boner the size of Osaka by then - wouldn't YOU be jumping her?! i'd be worried if you didn't mate!!

Jessie Michibata at a lingerie party: you KNOW you're hot when even the WOMEN start taking your picture, dood!!

plus its a good time to field-test the Canon G10. took it out to the islands last month and passed with flying colours - some have issues about how the lenses might hold up in failing light so we'll see.

i don't know who gonna win it but i wouldn't bet against a superb spectacle - not with a twilight race planned with 80% chance of showers - it is gonna be a hell of a party baby!!! :) me? i'm happy to just be there, and soak in the atmosphere... :)) have a great weekend, y'all and God speed!!

it's the Friday, it's the Friday!

Happy Weekend everyone... ;)))

it's like a really bad slasher movie

what do you get when you put Jason, Jennie Love Hewitt, and a really big crocodile with an attitude together in a movie?

you know the one where someone always dies when he goes to get firewood, then the girl with big boobs goes next and then the geek saves her.

only to get eaten up after the hero's hunky but egotistical best friend finally sees the light, changes his way, and shakes his hand... and he gets eaten by the bad crocodile too. but not before telling his girl he loves her, leaving her crying hysterically as the hero pulls her away. with me so far?

that's how i feel watching this crisis unfold so far.

flashback: we see Bush running the country into the ground and spending every single bit of saving Clinton had built up in the last 8 years, and it's got nothing to do with 9/11 either - his dad George Bush SENIOR had run the country in the ground before that, invading Iraq to shore up falling numbers at home and of course, make money off defense contracts.

it's easy, when the President's a shareholder in 4 of the 6 largest defense contractors in the United States. but of course, no one wants to believe their fathers are ever bad people, right?..

Americans were on a high, buying expensive houses on fixed low rates, taking a 3rd mortgage to buy that boat and using their 10th credit card to pay off the first 3 and said "man, this is gonna last FOREVER... "

like those wide-eyed horny kids in the movie, chugging beer, backslapping each other, totally no idea they're gonna be pick-axe fodder in 24 hours.

then shit hit the fan and suddenly everyone's wondering "why's this happening to us?!? Save us Mr President!!!" so Bush goes into more debt, and borrows US$2 trillion from the Social Security to save the day!

then Republicans lose Congress, and he doesn't have a blank cheque anymore so he bends over and kisses Chinese butts, saying "Beijing is our friend" and tells them to come in as equity-holders.

no, no, you'll GET your money!! just let me make one last call to my banker!!

analysts and economists say, "have no fear, we've decoupled from the US and nothing in the West will hurt us" and Beijing, in the run up to the Olympics, believe their own hype.

this is sorta like when the cute chicks flash some skin to make you think they'll be okay - because there's no way a chick with such a great butt and/or rack can die, right? right??

then they freak out and run out into the rain and/or crawl under a car thinking they can hide and you go, "oh, ok, here we go" and Ms Titty Boom-Boom dies a horrible screaming death anyway.

i don't believe in underwear, they just slow me down

in comes the new Sheriff Obama, and he's got a shiny badge with a big shotgun, flexes his sixpack and sez "I'LL Handle This"..

and he looks good, boarding up the doors, shoots at Jason and draws a little blood. the chicks feeling safe, and maybe they'll make it thru the night.

then a girl starts stripping and you start screaming "no no, don't go into the shower!!!" and whaddya know, she gets into the shower..

cue splashing blood against white tiles. stupid girl.

so Obama's new guys talk to the old guys, and they come up with a plan... that strangely looks like what killed the guys in the previous movie too. and Obama's best friend says, "don't worry, this'll work." and gets an axe on his head..

at this point there's no more money and Washington's ally England start printing money, Krugman starts accusing Europe of stupidity and the previously "tight" group starts unravelling.

sound familiar?

so the hero decides what the hell, let's just go! for it, and starts printing money too, and devalues the currency. China starts making noises about ditching the Dollar, and hero backs up into the barn.

cute girlfriend asks "now what?", and he sees some straw. so decides to make some scarecrows. you know, to fool Jason.

he tells people he's gonna sell toxic assets to private investors. Yayy!! finally - a plan without using our money, right? Sheriff Obama's gonna save us all, Yayy!!"

but Pimco & Co. aren't idiots - these are the same guys who made US$1.6 billion in early 2008 betting against the market - so Obama says "don't worry, for every cent you put in, we'll put in 13 times more. and whatever happens, you'll still make money".

so he announces the Public Private Investment Programme (PPIP) to buy US$500 billion in toxic assets. private investors will put in 7 cents, the Fed will put another 7 and the FDIC the remaining 86 cents.

but, wait a minute... the FDIC? is that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp? are you that cute little girl that's supposed to save us? (uh-oh.. cue: "good plan" unraveling.)

trust me... wanna buy some toxic assets?

problem is, the FDIC is the one who's entrusted to collect deposits from banks to guarantee all depositors. unfortunately, between 2001 and 2006 (when banks were making the best business) banks were allowed to not make any payments. it only started again when Sheila Bair was sworn in as new Chairman in 2006 and said WTF?!! and kicked the banks' asses and told them to start paying up again.

too late!! crisis hits before they start collect everything.

cue: "whaddya mean we're stuck here?!"

Bair calms everyone down, and tells everyone that FDIC will increase cover to up to US$250k per depositor, and there's no need to be worried.

oh shit.

you know what happens next, right? the economy tanks; by Feb 2009 Bair realises she doesn't have enough money. on 24th March she crawls to Congress and asks for US$500 billion to cover the people.

cue bloodied but brave cheerleader in skimpy negligee: "whaddya mean we're out of band-aids???"

Obama, instead, tells FDIC to give THEM US$500 billion.

"whaddya mean you're the bad guy?!?? you're the Sheriff - we gotta save the kids!! Sheriff? SHERIFF?!!"

screw the kids, Sheriff says. we gotta save Citibank first.

Citi's gonna announce another profit in March, then *wink* at Sheila Bair..

so finally it comes down to this... Washington is bankrupt. the Fed is broke. China's not gonna lend anymore til you stop throwing your ships into her bathtub.

Europe's no longer your friend, the scarecrow's falling before you even put it up, Jason knows you're an idiot because you keep sending him all these baboons to cut down.

the audience is tired because you've used all their money, insurance, Social Security heck even Medicare.

they're dumbstruck, unable to say anything...

and while they were watching it happen, you burning their house down. you've run out of options. and don't say you couldn't have known, because you just chose not to listen.

you thought you could save them. instead now you're chained up with nowhere to go. but you're the hero. you'll figure something out, right?

RIGHT?? ...

the automakers are just a start. no one seems to have mentioned that GM's carrying some US$1 TRILLION in auto-based credit default swaps..

the final showdown's coming. and man, it's gonna be a bloodbath..

oh, sorry, i thought you were a scarecrow

hands up

i would LOVE to do this...


tho they'd probably eat me alive. i might get away with it, tho, if i'm too skinny for even appetisers. LOL! or maybe they'd just gnash at me ribs and pick their teeth.

i'm skipping dinner tonight..

this year's love ...

do you know why i love you? ...

because you don't judge me, even tho i know sometimes that's the easiest thing to ... i'm so hard on myself, and others. and you always seek to understand, even when it's hard.

i've got too many things on my mind, and not half a way to understand, much less explain it..

i know you'll understand. :) and this song's for you, cos you're my home. let the video play while you read the lyrics, then watch the clip again ok? this song's easy to judge quickly, but take another hear, and you will see. like you always do.. ;)


this years love had better last
Heaven knows it's high time
and I've been waiting on my own too long
but when you hold me like you do, it feels so right
i start to forget, how my heart gets torn
when that hurt gets thrown, feeling like you can't go on

turning circles when time again, it cuts like a knife oh yeah
if you love me got to know for sure
cos it takes something more this time, than sweet sweet lies
before I open up my arms and fall
losing all control, every dream inside my soul
and when you kiss me on that midnight street
sweep me off my feet, singing ain't this life so sweet

this years love had better last
this years love had better last

so who's to worry if our hearts get torn
when that hurt gets thrown
don't you know this life goes on
and won't you kiss me on that midnight street
sweep me off my feet, singing ain't this life so sweet

this years love had better last
this years love had better last

this years love had better last
this years love had better last...


wo hen ai ni, bao bei... ni wo de xin:)

irony

most who travel to Asia are familiar with the Thai's problem in the areas Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, the small, southernmost part of the country.

it's an inherited problem, brought about - like the unrest in the Arab states, North Africa and the Balkans of Europe - by the delineation of borders by the colonial powers, as they carved up ex colonies among themselves.

as a former empire on its own it was formidable - it was cited by both Indian and Chinese figures such as Admiral Zheng He and King Rajendra Chola as a kingdom that that was "undaunted in fierce battles".

formed in the now Malaysian state of Kedah in the 2nd century, it later moved to Pattani, establishing embassies with the Chinese in the 6th century, India in the 13th century and was ruled by Hindu kings (langkha being Sanskrit for "resplendent land" and sukkha: "bliss"), before the arrival of Islam in the 15th century.

like Carthage was to the Roman empire in the 1st AD, Langkasuka was the only empire in the entire South China Sea that could defy the then Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya, until it finally fell to Siam in 1344.

it continued ruling itself as a vassal state, and even helped rule the Malay state of Kelantan after the Portugese subdued its patron Melaka! until mid-17th century when Ratu Kuning (the Yellow Queen), the last of the four successive female rulers of Pattani, died.

Kelantan then declared independence, Pattani went through decades of political chaos and decline, until the British stepped in carved up the East Coast of the Malay peninsula: gave Kelantan to Malaysia, and Pattani's surrounding provinces to Thailand.

the present...
the last 50 years have seen the provinces alternate between a restive peace, and peaceful restive.

problems are exacerbated by the fact that being a border state - and a direct conduit for the opium plantations from Myanmar - handouts from drug, human and wildlife trafficking are in the millions.

high-ranking officials who don't quite qualify for a senior post in Bangkok are sent here to build their pension before retiring. power struggles are common, and shift between border authorities, drug runners and the villagers, who for the most part abhor the situation, strengthening their resolve to live apart from it.

the Thai army tho, had until 10 years ago pretty much found a balance between pacifying the locals, and the numerous power mongers along through its Thai-M'sian border.

until 9/11 saw fit to portray all that is Muslim as bad - you're either with us or against us - and the troublemakers, seeing the West's sudden vilifying of all things Muslim as an opportunity to get international support, and "solve the matter" once and for all - sent in the wolves.

whole divisions of Thai army regulars who had brokered peace after decades of negotiation were shipped out and regiments of combat Police - Thaksin's old unit before he became a respectable businessman - moved in, taking over the drug and human trafficking trade fully and kicking the locals, triggering bloodshed that has now spread into world view.

it continues to fester to this day, with accusations being thrown back and forth of each bombing the other.

no one knows anymore if the bomb "Muslims" blew up at a school is really the work of locals (why'd they want to blow up their children's own schools?), drug runners wanting to accuse the locals in the public eye and justify the heavy "anti-terrorist" Police activity, or the Police themselves to justify their presence.

it's a continuous blight on Thailand's efforts to market itself as a haven of peace, safe and prosperity to tourists - a US$6.8 BILLION industry.

so it was interesting when Thai film makers came out with this movie:

Queens of Langkasuka, based on a South Pattani myth set in the time of Ratu Hijau - one of the legendary Pattani queens - and Dutch cannons that sank off the coast, pivotal to its defence against traditional enemies.

it's a superbly crafted piece, with amazing CGI.

but it risks broaching nationally sensitive territory, while her military Police still trying to grapple the issue, and can be accused of glorifying a tenacious historical enemy who laid the roots for a current subversive movement.

imagine Hollywood - with the US at odds with Iran for the last 2 decades! - coming out with a movie putting Iran in a great light, putting down the Shah and his death squads and defending the people against Washington's puppet, triggering a whole new measure of respect and empathy for the Iranians point of view.

or while it is fighting a war in Afghanistan, instead of talking down to them like second-class ingrates, tell of the their courage and valour against first the British, then Germans in WWII, then brought down the Russians in the 1980s.

and then show how the Taliban used continuous Western efforts to invade it for hundreds of years then perverted religion for its own, hence doesn't represent the real Muslims and Afghan people? and you'll get the gist right?

granted its a fantasy set in the 17th century, but its panache again draws me to the candour of constantly broaching and exploring the difficult we see in Thai and Indonesian media and academia day in and day out.

i couldn't help but wonder
given the subject matter, why didn't the Malays think of it before? after all, it's a lot closer to their hearts, and the Govt's pouring hundreds of millions into the creative (specifically movie-making) industry, catering for foreign productions and yet...

perhaps it was contentuous since it involves something other than the "established" benchmark of the Malay legacy in Malacca, or was it too abstract because how the education system is, not much else is known about anything Malay but Malacca and Hang Tuah.. who might even be Chinese!

now there's a potential re-looking at our heritage and history - wouldn't you want to explore the truth - but would anyone even want to make such a movie, knowing the full weight of the Govt that will come down on it?

but Malaysians - Chinese, Malay AND Indians - are insecure. the Malays by a perceived threat, the non-Malays by their sense of impermanence.

truth is
Malaysia's film makers are not dense. there's not a dearth of original subjects out there, or original interpretations that might even help broaden our minds and contribute to a dynamic, enquiring young society. they just need to be allowed to broach it.

how many times recently has a Malaysian movie to made you ponder? besides Yasmin Ahmad's fare - which, with all due respect, is beginning to lose its ability to give us that kick we need ever so often.

the young are not stupid either. they need to learn and climb the tree, fall down and ask questions. you can't tell them what to think, or your prejudices, weakness and fallacies will be theirs.

Malaysia needs to facilitate a lot more thought and imagination across the board - from the schools to the skyscrapers. why not start in the creative industry. how many times can you re-run P. Ramlee movies every night, and endless "reality shows" and stories with girls in white shirts running in the rain into their lovers' arms..

coupled with an education system that produces more straight A students than "Datuks" every year and what do we have? a celebration in mediocrity, rejoicing in our past, wading in our own accolades in a small pond.

soon we'll have lost any sense of perspective or question - everything we know and learn is the "best", and the "rightest". and then wonder "why does Singapore who got Independence at the same time keep pulling forward?". "oh, wait, is that Cambodia we're now losing to?" "and where did that upstart Laos come from?!!"..

pity the forefathers who died to make sure we could go forward, and better ourselves like the others, instead of sulking out way into mediocrity.

because we were too afraid of the future, we hide in the past. and we kill our own future, as a truly, wonderfully diverse, loving nation.

oh and by the way, that tradition of female queens and ferocious warriors?

check out MY wardrobe! HAHH!!

it's a facet of the community, passed down by their Khmer forefathers almost 2,000 years ago. why do you think the number of female traders /business entrepreneurs in Kelantan and Pattani outnumber the men 3 to 1.

wouldn't that be a nice statistic for Women's Day? why wasn't it pointed out - so many "facts" on the day highlighting Western society's figures - and seized as a model of female empowerment already firmly entrenched in a Malay society, which many in the West - rightly or wrongly - still view as backward?

is it possible that we don't even want to acknowledge it, because to do so would allude to a Khmer lineage instead of a "purely" Malay from the Javanese line, thereby disallowing some their claims (and righteous fights!) of a truly Malay heritage?

what if we're all mash potatoes anyway? why can't we look at it as a COMING TOGETHER of various good points of the region that's actually made Malaysia what it is, and can give us so much strength if we want to. we don't even know what we've got, what more learn from it and make it a norm.

these are not generally people who sit back and wait for things to fall on their laps. why not take it as an example of what's possible and spur us further?

they continue to be ferociously clannish to this day (like the Scots are to the English) - which is why the East Coast is continuously under the Opposition's rule, and Pattani continues to defy Bangkok to this day..

remember
the Thais are not exactly slouches in the language area, maintaining their culture, religion AND identity for the last 2,000 years. and until the Japanese, had NEVER been invaded.

their young are much more vibrant and dynamic than Malaysia in general, and faced with images like these in their newspapers every time there's trouble in Yala.

yet, you don't see them cowering for cover, and defensively attacking, accusing every other thing exept themselves, hiding from issues, do you?

in fact, you'd never see these kinds of pictures in an American newspaper anymore either. ever wonder why? ...

black on white

Black IN White?!

true story: this is the latest rage in Russia, an ice-cream plugging Obama in the White house..

just imagine the Chinese pitching it: "Ballack is #1 black man!! Get your Ballack ice-cleam heeerre! Ballack Cornetto #1!!"

would this be the same as enjoying my fav oven-hot brownies with vanilla ice-cream on the side? raisin on rice? Elvis in Alice?! oops!

Timmy goes to Washington

inquiring minds are wondering how the money will be spent, and what he will do if it doesn't work.

here's a transcript of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, explaining it to the US Congress yesterday:

Rep Gresham Barrett: "The last question I have guys, which is the $64 million question or I guess I should say $64 trillion question is: What's the backup plan? If everything fails what do we do? Where do we go from here?"

Treasury Secretary Geithner: "Congressman this plan will work. This plan because of the authority provided not just by Congress but the treasury and the Fed gives us broad ability to do what you need to do to get through a financial crisis like this. It just requires will; It's not about ability. We just need to keep at it. We just need to work with Congress to make sure we do this on a scale that will make it work."

EEEEEEEEETTTTT!! wrong answer Mr Geithner.

just because i WANT a Ferrari, and i go BUY a Ferrari doesn't mean i get to keep it if i have no money. you can "keep at it" all you want but if you're bankrupt you gotta give it back.

it's like this guy is knowingly setting himself up for a fall or something... shades of Hank Paulson...

hands up

*warning: angry post below..*

i'm not gonna participate in the "Earth Hour".


i know the logic, and i understand the urgency, but to feel "pressured" to shut off my lights, just because everyone can see it and cry "foul!" is, forgive me, a load of bollocks.

i turn the tap down so low when i wash dishes i have to close the window when the wind blows! i turn off the tap when i brush my teeth, volunteer to teach pre-school kids about nature, heck even been shot at by illegal fishermen! spat on, set upon by the local mob.

missus and i take the bus and train when we can, drive only when necessary and even then, a small engined, 10yr-old car - even when we can afford a bigger one. man i even make her take cold showers at night because i consider hot water a waste in a tropical country like Malaysia!

and i'm not the only one. so many try to live the good, moderate life; others sweat, bleed and break themselves every day trying to make this world a better place*, and for the most part the same people they're trying to save looks at you like you're some kind of fanatic and tells you to "oh, save it" and swig down another beer.

now suddenly everyone from your uncle Bob to that granny you never had is saying "Save the Earth!", made cool by celebrities in dreadlocks and cute babes with cleavage saying "Be Cool, Black Out!"

some people who read this blog are decision-makers and stakeholders in their office, right? how many of you shut off the lights at your office at lunch time when you go out? dood - that's one glorious hour every day right there!

WTF?!! sure, be great if after this, everyone makes a pledge to then do at least ONE thing consistently for the rest of their lives, like:

• keep some cloth bags in your car and use them when you go shopping. it's not heavy!
  

• wash the car with buckets instead of hoses that never turn off!

• i know it's hard to live and work without handphones now, but try not to upgrade to a new one every 6 months - DON'T buy that schmancy new phone, iPod or PSP just because it's "hip", because every one of those things are what's creating demand that's killing the kids mining coltan in West Africa
  

• did you know that EVERY CAR MADE causes more pollution at the factory than the fuel it will burn in its entire lifetime? DON'T buy that bigger car if you don't need it!
  

and speaking of waste, dear Mr Prime Minister-elect: stop coming up with such silly ideas like "i'd like Proton to produce a Malaysian taxi like London cabs" to the applause and shouts of Yes Men. stop playing to the gallery and tell..

no no, don't cry, you're only allowed to do that when you retire.

tell Proton to put up or shut up - the average wastage for carmakers worldwide is less than 3%, whilst Proton is still living with between 30% (Saga) and 50% (Gen2), more than 25 years after it was established.

25 years!! if your son or daughter was 25 and still doesn't know what's right or wrong, you'd be right to smack 'em up the head. if they do that while leaching off the poor people's money, well.. i don't care who the Chinese towkays or Ali Babas are - haven't they grown fat enough already?

and polluting the country 20 times more with every Proton car they put on the road, too. that means every Malaysian car we make pollutes the world like 10 to 17 other cars put together!! is it any wonder it can't compete cost and competition in the outside world??

tak malu, ke?... and you want me to shut the light for one hour.

if AIG has to pay back its bonuses because they're incompetent, if the poor have to lose their jobs because the factories close down. if the children suffer because there's no food if their parents can't work, how much more do we have to take when Proton can't even deliver cars with glove compartments that can close properly, 20 FRIGGIN' YEARS LATER??

aren't you being a little harsh... ?

do me this favour: take the price of a say, a Honda Civic 1.6 in the UK. you can even let that fat white guy drive it.

multiply the amount of fuel you use per year, with the annual price of fuel say, for the last 10 years. do you know how much it'll cost?

less than the price of an exactly the same Honda Civic 1.6 here, using the subsidised and lower-grade fuel they shove down our throats every day.

don't believe me? do the math.. AND every Honda will have been 9 TIMES LESS polluting to produce, and we'd burn higher-grade less polluting fuel too. "but Reez, won't that drive food prices up?". nope.

see, the price increases we saw last year were in reaction to the operating environment we've had thus far. so ~ since we've had to pay so much for cars in the first place, paying market rates for fuel doubles that burden.

if we take advantage of the current low-fuel cost environment and set fuel pump prices at market rate, remove all tax and import excises on foreign cars and let them find a new equilibrium in the next 2, maybe 3 years that fuel prices will remain low, operationally in every industry, we might just actually get back up to speed with the rest of the world by 2015... without worrying about how to pay for those subsidies anymore..

which begs the question: who's making the cars more expensive in the first place and where is the money going?

not the Govt. it's with the fellas holding the APs. so Malaysians we're actually doubly fools, because we give money to the AP fellas by buying their cars, then pay the Govt tax to subsidise the fuel we're using anyway.

and then continue subsiding mediocrity by buying sub-standard Proton cars, but that's because that's the only ones we can afford anyway! so brilliant economics isn't it? and then we wonder why our leaders are so corrupted and got so much money..

oh, by the way, RM500 million of the stimulus package - that's 5% of the total that will actually go to the people; the rest are mostly deferred incentives - will go to the toll operators, to "not burden the people with increased toll rates". DUHH??

you just did, big guy: you gave the fat cats their higher rates, without the public outcry that would balance the argument, and facilitated by every democratic country in the world.

in fact, you just took the burden that would fall and ONLY fall on the shoulders of the exact people who use the highway, and spread the burden to the poor people you could have given that money to in more aid, development and micro-credit.

way to go, PM-elect...

where govts can do more

ok, enough with the feeling sorry. building contractors can pledge to start building rainwater systems to recycle for secondary usage.

man, we average 200mm of rainfall in West Malaysia - 600mm if you're in the East Coast and up to 700mm in Sabah & Sarawak!! are you kidding me?!!

the Govt can mandate retro-active tax cuts on 50% of their projects if the builders incorporate such measures in at least 35% of ongoing works, 70% with every 50 and 100% if they breach 70.

after that wholesale supplies will reach critical mass and just say "hey why not go the whole way", and it'll be total by default. don't believe me? do the math..

move away from cheap (read: again, subsidised by taxpayer money which can not go on forever) electricity and get in the queue for the cost-effective, cheaper than electricity solar panels that were just invented last year, and now successfully being industrialised? we ARE, a tropical country, with 10 months of sun, right?

heck just SPEND the money already and bring the technology down here - learn it and build it and be the main supplier to the rest of Asia!

order books from Europe are 2 YEARS long and if we bring it in now, with the depressed market, it'll be even cheaper and pay for itself in even less time. and fuel is a precious commodity - do you really think electricity is gonna get cheaper, as fuel runs out in future?

and why do we need lights on BOTH SIDES OF THE ROAD, on both ways, every 30m??

it's not as if the roads are dangerous and we need to see better - the accident rates are record highs anyway - they're caused by stupid drivers who aren't put in their place by efficient traffic planning and systems!

seriously, after all that Hoo Haa - how many people you see today buckle up at the back, and how many summonses are issued everyday?

and while we're at it: stop friggin' smoking already! you're polluting the air, killing yourself, burning a hole in your pocket, and taxing the healthcare system even more when you're old when that money could go to people that weren't trying to kill themselves in the first place!!

fuhh!! doods, this map down here? is not a measure of how much we're gonna save. it's a measure of the poor and the rich. just because we've been lucky to be born in peace, doesn't mean i have to take it for granted.


it's not what you do in that one instant to look cool that matters. its what you're leaving your children.

so no, i'm not gonna switch my lights off at 8.30 this Friday evening. i don't need a dreadlocked wanna-be reggae man telling me to be cool, to look cool. peace.


* speaking of which, i'll post a bit on the whales and stranding in Australia t'row.. g'night y'all, and God speed

leaked!!!

no saw palmetto necessary, boys..

The Spoiler has leaked some of the proposed designs for 2009/2010 EPL.
i would buy this if i had money. and it'd be nice if the subprime crisis means they can't get any new shirt sponsor - the shirt can go bare, and look even more retro 60s. cool... :)

their white "away" shirt is so ugly, i won't even bother putting it up. players might just feign injury just to not have to play outside of Old Trafford.

Chelsea is gonna add a couple of extended epaulettes on theirs and look like rugby union body armour.

Arsenal though - like Liverpool - is going for a matte green on their away shirts. very. very dull.. :(

so there you go, *ahem* *ahem* - if these shirts get approved, you know what i can wish for my 37th birthday.. hee hee! :)) but it'd be really cruel if you got me the white one... LOL

Good Monday Everyone!! :))

that's it. i'm going to workout today..


Funny videos

:) have a GRRRRREEAATT week, everyone!! ;)

from a Man Utd fan

breaking news: Man United draws Porto in the Champion's League quarterfinal, Chelsea take on Liverpool..

bummer. i was hoping to draw Liverpool early and get our pound of flesh back. i know we got thrashed last week - i got no problems with Fergie being outsmarted tactically ;) Benitez playing the long balls behind defenders was a classic piece to offset teams who like to keep it on the ground, and we didn't step up.

we lost we lost. wasn't the first time and won't be the last. accept it like a man.

but the best way to get back on your feet is to get back on the horse and ride it down, so i was looking forward to a Champion's League clash. as it is the only way they'll meet is if both make it to the finals, and given Barcelona's verve and Arsenal's new lease of life that's not a foregone conclusion.

the best things in life are the ones that you have to fight for, make it whole through your blood sweat and tears. competition is always good - and a good smack up the backside even better when your head gets too big.

don't even get me STARTED on spanking my butt ...

take for example Manchester United. many long-suffering fans who were supporting the club even when they were fighting relegation off in 1986 make no apologies whatsoever about the amount of success they have now. why should we?

whilst many an MU fan today only jumped on the bandwagon when they started winning in 1993, many more of us were getting our noses rubbed into it week in and week out for years before that, when nothing seemed to go right and Liverpool were scoring goals almost at will.

their "one touch" play became what every school boy on the playground wanted to copy. Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish were named just as much as Zico and Falcao. heck they won Europe 4 times and the league EIGHTEEN times before hitting a rut.

boy, you think Man Utd fans are arrogant now? think about Liverpool fans then! say what you will, but many Liverpool fans today jumped on that bandwagon when they were winning all and sundry back in the 70's and 80's too. so why the angst-laden flag-bearer act we see today?

fact is

people love winners - and the fact that they happen to be backed by billionaires or suave manager or even have the most sexiest goalkeeper in all of the universe doesn't matter.

but you can sometimes get too big for your own boots - and that's when a good kick up the backside comes in handy.

life is a cycle, and today's winners will take their turn and get behind the queue again next time - look at Arsenal's "Les' Invincibles" in 2004. but the fight to get back into it is what sets the winners apart, and in this case its great to suddenly 3 teams all banging it out for the next 9 weeks, with a very significant dark horse indeed in Wenger.

in the end no one remembers that Man Utd lost 6-3 to Southampton and 5-0 to Newcastle in 1996, because they won in the end. no one remembers we scored three at Anfield and finished second 9 points behind in 1988, because Liverpool won.

i want to see Liverpool win in Europe while fighting tooth and nail for the league title, too, so no one can accuse of them of "well, they already had to settle for third place in the league, so they could rest Gerrard and concentrate on the Champions League".

i'm not afraid of failing - we been there done that. it's the getting back up and wresting it back that i love - it's what really makes it all worthwhile.

or maybe Captain Carlos Puyol's Blaugrana will kick our collective butts and start a new Continental reign that'll last for 2 decades. i can't wait for the next matches. let the games begin!!

thoughts and comments - between foresight and forestall

from Bagus and Schiml, Ludwig von Mises Institute

"Only two things can save the Fed at this point. One is a bailout by the federal government. This recapitalization could be financed by taxes or by monetizing government debt in another blow to the value of the currency.

The other possibility is concealed in the hidden reserves of the Fed's gold position, which is only valued at $42.44 per troy ounce on the balance sheet. A revaluation of the gold reserves would boost the equity ratio of the Fed to 12.35%.

It is ironic that in troubled times a revaluation of the "barbarous relic" could save the Fed from insolvency. Yet this would only be an accounting measure and would not change the fundamental problems of the paper dollar. While shooting its last bullets and weakening the dollar, the Fed is outmaneuvering itself. The end of the experiment is getting closer."

much like the fact that many questioned why Bank Negara intervened when the Ringgit hit 3.2 last year, letting it come back down below 3.5 by year end.

some asked why Bank Negara was subsidising inflation, others theorised that Zeti was keeping that ace up her sleeve, in case something happens and she can let it appreciate when she needs to without dipping in the piggy bank.

is it possible that she actually foresaw that the Fed would have to print money as well - thus bringing it down to 3.2 for us, leaving us that 10% cushion for a rainy day? she ain't been voted world Central Banker of the Year thrice in a row for nothing...

hats off to the REAL Iron Lady. who doesn't need Prada handbags and Guccis to really show who's Boss. remember, this is the Central Bank that was once described as the most corrupt and irresponsible in the world:

"Using all the resources a central bank commands - privileged information, unlimited credit, regulatory power, and more - Malaysia’s Bank Negara became the most feared trader in the currency markets. By trading for profit, Bank Negara committed apostasy against the creed of central banking. Instead of working to ensure global financial stability, Bank Negara repeatedly shoved huge sums of money into the most vulnerable market situations in order to destabilize exchange rates for its own profit"

"The bank seldom spoke publicly about its controversial trading activities. Yet it was increasingly clear to foreign exchange traders that Bank Negara’s operations in the foreign exchange markets went far beyond simple self-defense. It became the most awesome currency trader in the world."

"(Bank) Negara’s market manipulation was so egregrious that one American central banker said, ‘If they tried this on any organized exchange in the world, they’d go to jail.’ However, in the unregulated international currency markets, there were neither police nor jailers. The only rule was the rough justice of the vandals, and it was this rule that eventually brought (Bank) Negara down."

Gregory Millman, The Vandal's Crown, 1995

she came in and set the most corrupt Central Bank in the world straight. you are The Babe, m'lady, and you have my utmost respect.

game over

2 weeks ago i wrote about how the US will have to print money to survive this, and today it's come true.

from the New York Times online:

Fed to Buy $1 Trillion in Securities to Aid Economy

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve sharply stepped up its efforts to bolster the economy on Wednesday, announcing that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the financial system by purchasing Treasury bonds and mortgage securities.

Having already reduced the key interest rate it controls nearly to zero, the central bank has increasingly turned to alternatives like buying securities as a way of getting more dollars into the economy, a tactic that amounts to creating vast new sums of money out of thin air.

“In these circumstances, the Federal Reserve will employ all available tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability,” the central bank said.

But to the surprise of investors and analysts, the committee said it had decided to purchase an additional $750 billion worth of government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities on top of the $500 billion that the Fed is already in the process of buying.

In addition, the Fed said it would buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months. That would tend to push down longer-term interest rates on all types of loans.

how fast can you shovel?

there are just too many parts of this to fear, but the biggest are:

• the Fed's been shovelling cash into off-balance sheet CDSs directly (thru banks) and indirectly (thru their issuer AIG) without actually knowing /wanting to know how deep the hole actually is.

now out of cash, it's printing and shovelling it in to another hole totally it's own.

and its still not doing anything to fix it at the source. it's a bit like shovelling desperately while its still snowing, and hoping for divine intervention.

• meanwhile Bernanke the ex-college professor is risking inflation to offset the deflation that's already set it. the problem is, that's also the only thing that's keeping the Dollar strong right now, illusory as it is.

and what if - and this is very likely given its momentum- markets react exactly the same way Wall Street has the last 18 months i.e. jump for joy for the next 2 days, and then slip back even further the third day on. which will mean one thing: Ben will have just spent US$1.5 TRILLION for nothing. and dug his grandkids deeper in the shithole.

and with Overnight Rates at zero the Fed is effectively at a dead-end. the only question now is, when is someone gonna put his hands up, and say "We're Screwed!".


The Emperor Has No Clothes

we make no apologies for saying this; eSBM have been arguing since last July for full disclosure and blasted the FASB for allowing banks to suspend full reporting til 2010. many have countered that it's impractical: "planes will not fly, and ships will not sail!", they say. well doods, it's all gonna have to not fly pretty soon anyway. and you know what? the American taxpayers will be US$3 trillion poorer, and the rich fat cats kept their villas in Bermudas when that happens.

instead of using his new administration to start fresh and kick-ass, Obama continues to appoint EVEN MORE people with vested interests who were wrong, kept getting it wrong and will, in all likelihood, continue getting it wrong.

we pointed out 3 appointments last week that reeked of patronage. today Citigroup announced that its Chief Economist, Lewis Alexander, who besides having a bad hair decade guided much of the banking group's decisions that got it down that hole, has just been appointed to the Treasury to help Obama's administration figure it out.

true, we've got it wrong before, saying for example in early '09 there was no way a fat pro- white establishment will let a black man win. and in true Hollywood fashion he got elected on the ride of a lifetime on the backs of the young, the oppressed and the jaded, straight into the White House.

the problem is the neat fairytale TV endings never show what happens AFTER the Happily Ever After, and if Mr. Obama's not careful the jaded and the oppressed are gonna fall back into that rut. one way or another, you're gonna have to face it - that you bit off a LOT more than you can chew, master, and the sooner you do that ...

truth is i'm fuckin doggone tired. sat down the other day and figured, at the age of 36, i've been the subject of 5 social and medical experiments. helped save a world a half dozen times, died 4 times. tried to make the world a better place since i was 13. and what did i get? beaten up half to death a few times - broken about 5 bones and bruised, cracked or fractured maybe 20 more. 3 bleeding ulcers by 17 and a stomach shot to hell. loved, and been loved on all continents, all over the world.

i've been priviledged, no. extremely priviledged to have seen and be privy to things that very, very few people have and will be able to. some unbelievable stuff of fairy tales and horror stories. above, under and beyond waters. the darkness and light in people's hearts and very souls. i have felt God and felt His love for us stupid humans inside me, and sometimes that is all i have left to keep going. all that's kept me alive. i don't want to... i can't.. maybe what i need IS to recharge my batteries, a 9-5 job for now.

i'm tired of fighting. dying. hiding secrets. other people's secrets. alphas need a break too. i'm taking a break, guys. thanks for all the support these last couple of years. it's been a blast.

i started this blog for a few reasons, helping flesh things out in a hyperactive ADHD's head, wanting to write about things that i knew to be true, help people understand things that many times might seem to difficult to understand. in this last respect i think i have done the best, coming from the numerous emails, sms and comments after that. but like all things weird (or me), it's suddenly like i've opened a Pandora's Box, and it's reached the stage that i can't anymore, knowing what i know, knowing who we know..

i don't know when or how often i'll blog after this til i've figured this out, but i'll tell you this: it will be morbid. at times i know it will seem i've lost my verve, joie de vivre, and you wouldn't be half wrong. so please be warned, but it is really important that i try figure this out.

there is too much corruption and death in this world for us to ignore, yet we do. piecemeal drafts that get people killed. world peace is impossible, God is in Mother Nature, and things are as it should be.. keep safe, all and God speed..

too many judgements, too few judges..

Man Utd lost. i'm grouchy. grrrrrr... ;p

why Mr Obama will fail

a lot's been said about how Washington's bailing out banks and rich friends while thousands lose their homes and unemployment hits a 50-yr high. i know these are critical issues, and many have weighed in.

but at every juncture and interview i've come to, i've yet to see someone really take the bull by the horns, and ask: "Where is the money coming from?"

take a look at this little table i found, which pits the current US national debt with the world's biggest GDPs:


the deficit is part of the US$3.5 tn that both Bush has spent, and Obama is planning to spend this year, with another US$5.7 tn planned for the next 2 years. many will argue that deficits are relative, and a 12% deficit in a megapower like the States is nothing to worry about.

but...

look at what that 12% signifies: that deficit alone comes in at number 9 among the largest world GDPs. what does this mean?

Government loans, spending and guarantees to rescue the country’s banks have reached more than US$11.7 trillion. we expect more to come, as the banks continue hiding their losses off-balance sheet.

if the other 7 countries start to feel the pinch, and stop buying US bonds to finance that deficit - which is growing - the US and her partners will have to start printing money to finance that debt. if its not already.

oops! too late: Alistair Darling, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer announced last Friday that it's going to print 150 BILLION pounds to finance its own bailout plans. that means:

a) count the UK out of the top 7 possible financiers, and

b) the Pound Sterling will now start a controlled descent, affecting the rest of Europe who were hoping to stabilise the EU.

* * *

already, average maturity of U.S. debt has fallen to 49 months, and Treasury may now have to refinance almost half its US$6 trillion of debt by the end of 2009.

how far will it go before the US discovers no one can afford to buy its bonds/ finance its debt anymore, and announces it will need to print money?

NEVER spend good money to chase bad money - that's Banking 101. you can understand the bankers not getting it - they dug this hole. why is Obama doing exactly the same thing?

time to get me some lily-white (GOP) ass...

to be fair, Obama's initial bailout package was watered down THREE TIMES before it was approved - removing what could have been some critical and very effective tax-related measures - because he's tried so hard to appease the Republicans, and start "uniting" a country in times of deep crisis. what do the Republicans do?

they shoved it up their arse and farted it right back at the President, then started accusing him of being a dreamer.

the Republicans lost to a BLACK man.. that's gonna take some getting over.

the President would do well to get over this "i'm a nice guy peacemaker" phase quickly and start shoving it back up their arses, and force them to chew, because his window of opportunity is closing rapidly.

and if his plans keep stalling and failing again and again, history will remember him for his failures or success. not how hard the Republicans fought him every step of the way even tho he could just get it passed without them with a Democrat-controlled Congress.

screw bi-partisanship; get the stuff moving, and let them come crawling back to you when it starts reaping dividends. do NOT keep watering down your packages Mr President, because you've got only one last chance with the next one.

why is the window closing?

3 Caveats to the Caravan

1. the US Govt is bankrupt. and the fun's just begun.

with the latest payout to AIG the US government has now given more than US$180 billion in taxpayer funds to cover US$440 bn in credit swap assets AIG had before the crisis.

except uhmm. err... that money's not supposed to go to the swaps.

"what? of course not - it's supposed to help banks so it doesn't have to foreclose homeowners losing their homes and life-savings, right?!"

wrong. its going to AIG to save European and other US banks, through the biggest back door ever.

from Gretchen Morgenson, March 8th 2009:

"Its biggest customers, European banks and United States investment banks, bought the swaps to insure against defaults on a variety of debt holdings."

"Because of the way A.I.G. wrote its swaps, and because the company had a double-A credit rating at the time, it did not have to put up collateral to assure its customers that it would be able to pay on the insurance if necessary. Collateral would be required only if A.I.G.’s credit rating were cut or if the debt underlying the swaps declined."

"Both of these “unthinkable” events occurred in 2008. Suddenly, A.I.G. had to cough up collateral it didn’t have."

* * *

so in effect, the US was not only the world's self-appointed policeman, it's now become the de-facto Central Bank as well. suddenly its hole got a WHOLE lot deeper. which is probably why it's so scared to admit it. or let the whole world collapse.

one would think Senate and Wshington should be scrambling to at least identify the perpetrators, before figuring out what needs /can be done, right?

nnnope. from the Wall Street Journal, March 6th 2009:

In a Senate hearing, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn delivered the news to lawmakers that Chairman Ben Bernanke has largely failed to give so far — the Fed probably isn’t going to give up the names of American International Group Inc. counterparties.

“My judgment would be that giving the names would undermine the stability of the company,” Kohn said in a contentious Senate hearing.

Kohn said sharing the names of AIG’s counterparties would create uncertainty in the financial markets and confidentiality agreements that are included in the derivatives and credit-default swap contracts that brought down AIG.

It didn’t go well.

“People want to know what you’ve done with this money,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. said.

“Public confidence in what we’re doing is at stake, it’s their money that is being poured into these institutions,” Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told Kohn. “That kind of an answer undermines that very significantly.”

Run, Mr Vice-Chairman, run - they're taking off their shoes!!

Kohn’s rejection of the idea contrasts how Bernanke has handled the AIG counterparty question in the past.

According to a transcript of a Nov. 18, 2008, House Financial Services Committee hearing, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked Bernanke, “will you make public who those [AIG] counterparties are and how much they received?”

Bernanke replied, “I think that information can be made available. We will see what we have.”

Asked about that same issue in a Senate hearing two days ago, Bernanke said AIG counterparties made “legal, legitimate, financial transactions” and normally “would have presumption to privacy about their commercial decisions.”

“So that is a consideration we have to take into account,” Bernanke said, adding “we understand your concern and we want to make sure that we provide all the information that’s needed to make the public policy judgments.”

* * *

in plain English, Bernanke lied. so while these dweebs continue playing the PR for foreign banks, unemployment in the US has risen to 14.8% by the broader U-6 measure (officially 8.1% last February), and counting.

the economy has already lost 4.4 MILLION jobs since Dec 2007; someone tell them that the financial sector is already in uncertainty.

we've said it all through last year, and we'll say it again - until the Accounting Board reverses its decision and banks are forced to reveal their off-balance sheet items and handle them, this thing will end in disaster. if it hasn't already.

who let the dogs out?


are you scared yet? don't be. because it gets better.

the total US$1.75 trillion in deficit DOES NOT INCLUDE this year's military spending in Iraq, Afghanistan. and under cash accounting, makes no provision whatsoever for future Social Security and Medicare benefits in the year in which those benefits accrue i.e... 2009.

in other words, there's no money to pay for your Pension cheques and medical treatments if you get sick. the US Govt is bankrupt.

Mr Obama has already said he intends to cut down on unnecessary military spending, and anticipates saving at least US$70 billion a year by not paying 250 bucks for a screwdriver.

the problem is, 70 billion sounds really big, until you put it against 1.75 TRILLION, and it's just 4%. not even enough to cover inflation, much less cost of servicing the debt.

and if you include Medicare, Social Security and bringing extra bullets, tanks and Coca-Cola in the Middle East... and whilst they're pulling troops out of Iraq, they're sending more to Afghanistan, aren't they?

and the Centre for Retirement Rresearch estimates that "between October 9, 2007, and October 9, 2008, equity assets in retirement plans dropped by about $4 trillion in value". remember how health care was a big part of Obama's campaign? and what will happen when the dogs come in?

and try not to get sick.

it gets worse

i came across this heartwarming story about how a bunch of regular shopkeepers banded together and fought a landowner, until i read the last line:

A tenants' mutiny at Grand Central Market was resolved last week after a group of merchants who had withheld their February rents came to an agreement with the landlord and paid up.

As part of the resolution with landlord The Yellin Company, rents will be lowered and advertising fees charged to the tenants will be eliminated. Adele Yellin, president of the Yellin Company, said that the move will lower costs for the 40 merchants.

"We do understand the pressure that our tenants are under in these times and we've taken steps to reduce their rent by eliminating the advertising budget," Yellin said.

The situation had been bubbling for months, and began to come to a head in late January. That is when Ralph Leech, an attorney representing some of the Grand Central Market tenants, sent a letter to the Yellin Company citing the deteriorating economy and asking for a 30% reduction in rents and a discontinuation of the monthly publicity charge that pays for advertising the market.

The crisis quickly escalated, as most of the tenants withheld the rents that were due Feb. 1. That led the Yellin Company to send notices to those who had not paid, threatening eviction.

Last week, both sides said they had reached a tentative agreement that should alleviate some of the financial woes.

"The businesses are very slow. People are using lines of credit to pay rent. It's a bad situation, but hopefully we'll survive. We just need help," said Robina Sookasya, owner of Kabab and More, a Mediterranean food vendor.

* * *

note the close: "people are using LINES OF CREDIT to pay rent".

this means shopkeepers are now having to borrow money to pay rent, with zero savings and business is bad. but how long will it stay bad, and what will happen when you run out of credit?

individual bankruptcies will rise. so now you've got a double whammy:

the Government's broke bailing out foreign banks and fighting wars overseas, the people are broke and inflation's increasing because the Washington printed money to pay the fat cats.

jobs are declining and now the bank owns my house AND my shop, and retail property sector will follow residential downhill and add to the slump.

who's gonna sell the goods? - shiiiit boy, who gonna buy the goods?

2. the madness goes global

meanwhile economies across the world are grinding to a halt, so Australia starts increasing production after 2 years of draught. thus bringing down world prices, forcing the ECB to announce it will release EUR1.5 billion in subsidies to European farmers to stay alive.

the price of milk goes down 35% in the US, most farms are just covering overheads now as unemployment increase. and as the ECB subsidies bite, the USD goes up, making US exports even more expensive.


and what will happen to the world's poorer countries who have no money to subsidise their farmers, and won't print any? many will go under. so much for fiscal responsibility.

e SBM: i bet a month's salary that by the end of 2Q09, the US will re-institute dairy farm subsidies, thus depressing world markets further.

the foolishness to spend is repeated in broad sectors: China's Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan pledged "forceful policies" and almost 4 trillion Yuan (US$585 billion) to drive demand and restore confidence.

it's also been forcing factories to stay open, despite continuous losses, leading China's manufacturing index to rise for a third straight month in February, while demand falls globally. so who's gonna buy these goods?

"doesn't matter Comrade, we have to protect jobs!"

Chinese banks also lent out a record 1.62 trillion yuan (US$237 billion) in January and more than 800 billion yuan last month, before evidence came back that it wasn't being invested into assets - people used it to short the stock-market, as it pays more in a declining economy.

Malaysia itself, along with every other economy in Southeast Asia bar Singapore, is treating it as a credit crisis instead of an export crisis, so is spending money like the US as well. big brother do... sigh.. great.

where will the money go? you tell me - i can bet you tho, that it's not going to buy Malaysian exports!

3. and to wrap it up, a nice little conspiracy theory.. ! :)

in the early 90's Peru and Argentina pissed off a major part of their creditors by announcing independent debt review, a polite way of saying they're gonna default on their debt, then restructure the payments.

it's harsh to suggest Washington would do the same, but really, if you were Obama, and you were faced with absolute bankruptcy within the first 100 days of your Presidency, would you discount any possibility of saving both public votes, and any money you can spend instead on your citizens?

Michael Mandel makes a compelling argument to look at recent bailout arrangements from a manufactured insolvency perspective, rather than public rescue:

he argues that since half the liabilities of the major banks such as Citi, JP Morgan & Co. are owned by foreign govts and central banks through bonds worth up to US$1.5 trillion, Washington is purposely keeping its equity stake in the banks to below 40% to buy time, in order to avoid having to make a mandatory offer, and make good on full bond repayments to foreign govts - which would severely affect both public opinion and future international relations.

by stalling Washington wants to protect remaining US depositors while slowly guiding the banks to Chapter 11, like Lehman Brothers.

Bankruptcy Protection laws will then allow receivership to wipe out the common and preferred shareholders, conserve the deposits and sell the good assets to new investors, and then restructure the remaining operations of the bank to maximize recovery to the bond holders and other creditors.

in other words, the bondholders will get paid last.

if true, then it would have almost certainly been a problem/strategy he inherited from Bush W., but given the circumstances, not something he can choose to change, however much he might like to, isn't it.

the question now is, how far do the foreign bondholders believe this is a possibility.

and if they do, how long before they shut down that window, and trigger an all out currency war as they seek to dump the bonds before they become useless.

Read His Lips?

some will remember Bush Sr.'s infamous "Read My Lips" quote, when he promised not to raise taxes during elections during elections, then promptly did when became President.

Rightsoup argues that 7 election promises MrObama has already broken, within a month of taking office:

1. Make government open and transparent.
2. Make it “impossible” for Congressmen to slip in pork barrel projects.
3. Meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public. (Even Congressional Republicans shut out.)
4. No more secrecy.
5. Public will have 5 days to look at a bill.
6. You’ll know what’s in it.
7. We will put every pork barrel project online.

which makes the Republican's bumper sticker look strangely prophetic.

which is a shame, because he got off to a great start.

the moment he beat McCain he got together a team of 40 who tracked all of Bush W's decisions in his last days in office, pre-planned legal counter measures and immediately used them when he got to the White House, reversing many what would've been damaging Executive Decisions Bush W. passed with Veto power.

he announced a slew of bi-partisan appointments, keeping some of Bush's advisers and appointing his own to work with them.

then some of his smaller appointments and decisions stalled on tax and domestic help issues. and he blinked. and the Republicans, sensing blood, went all out.

they intimidated moderate Republicans who were planning to work with him to back out, appointed a black man to head the GOP so no one can make race an issue anymore, and set about blocking every, single one of his policies without question or review.

ambitious plans stalled, and his 3rd choice Treasury Secretary belatedly revealed an almost exact copy of the plan under Bush W - he even echoed almost the same words Hank Paulson had said in 2007: "we have to send a message to the markets that we are serious, and this plan is large enough to show that".

predictably, it didn't. the Dow continues its slide to 5,000.

so....

what's the President doing anything to right the ship and bring in the right people? well...

instead of taking this opportunity to Change and turn the table upside down, he's appointed 3 new Assistant Treasury Secretaries last Friday, incl David Cohen and Kim Wallace. who are they - thought leaders? change managers? troubleshooters extraordinaire?

oh, no. David was just the chief legal counsel for ALL the major investment banks on Wall Street for the last 8 years - the same ones who got us into this mess - and Kim was the Chief Political Advisor for the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers. and a major campaign contributor to both the Obama and Clinton campaigns in 2008.

speaking of which, he might already be regretting appointing Hillary Clinton as State, as she takes a different tack to both him and Vice President Biden and uses the Gulf States to antagonise Iran.

and if Israel decides to take advantage of a lame duck president stuck at home, will the President then stand up and be counted, or stay back to steady the ship?

both scenarios are threats to his legacy, if any can even be envisioned this early.

a black man really did get stuck with the worse job in the world; the question now is not whether he can avoid this altogether, but how well he can manage the troublemakers to stay away for as long as possible as much as possible, while he tries to save the rest of the world, and find 65 trillion dollars (he's saving the whole world now, remember?) by summer.

dogs are scratching at the door. global, systemic collapse, anyone?

yellow man talk, white man should listen...

shares of Citigroup - once the 3rd largest bank in the world - fell below US$1 for the first time just 8 hours ago, touching 97 cents before closing at US$1.02 in Thursday trade.

this means a market cap of just US$6.2 billion, compared to.. wait for it... US$270 billion, before the crisis started in Oct 2007. and its got pretty good company, too:

among the mightiest giants, bluest of blue chip penny stocks trading today:

• AIG (39 cents)
• Citigroup (97 cents)
• Fannie Mae (39 cents)
• Freddie (39 cents)
• Unisys (37 cents)

others still holding on incl. casinos (!), entertainment and media groups still trading in single digits:

• Ford ($1.83)
• GM ($1.83)
• Las Vegas Sands ($1.97)
• MGM ($1.99)
• Kodak ($2.50)
• New York Times ($4.00)
• International Paper ($4.22)
• GE ($6.75)
• Dell ($8.50)

although car sales in the US have been declining up to 40% in December, so Ford, GM & Co. might not be far off..

American Express ($10.83) is one of the few remaining double digit stocks on the Dow, which is not surprising, given that they deal in Charge, and not Credit. take a look at Dell's business model, too, which clears payments online before any delivery's made.

sorta like the Chinese' obsession with saving and never going into any debt, or giving credit for his tau foo fa, lest shit hits the fan and they can't pay. like Confucius used to say ...

"Man play with sharp objects, may not be Man for long... "

if you're interested i'll post a nice little spread on why i think it'll get much, MUCH worse in 4Q 2009 - Geithner will get fired, Obama's gonna fall into a ravine and Iran will end up the kingmaker in the Middle East - maybe this weekend, after i hit my showers. meantime go figure that one out.. ;)

i'm back, people. :)

sad to say...

this guy's a skier. sigghhh ... ;)

by now youse boys and girls will already have heard what happened in Vail yesterday didn't you?

this guy gets on a chairlift with his kid and somehow slips and ends up dangling upside-down, bare-assed beneath his son for the whole ride before ski patrol finally gets him down.

first thing i remember is Jerry's story how Will slipped off a chair when he was a kid and Jerry held on to his hand for a good 20minutes until they got uphill, and if looks could kill some lifties woulda been dead as a doornail.

then i wonder "wait a min, what the **F**'s this guy doing with his pants down?!?"

then i thought "wait a minute, it's the internet age! someone snapped a pic, did anyone blog about it?", and whaddya know...

from the Danzatap,
have been working up at Vail as a part-timer and just got done with a 5 day booking that I have done the past 3 years and just happen to see the crazy shit I have EVER seen on the mountain…

This is a private lesson and I am with an 11 year kid and his father, we head out to Blue Sky in the morning and as we approach the Skyline Lift (the main Blue Sky lift) there are these 2 panicky women saying, “stay out of the way, the ski patrol is on their way”. Confused, I look around and see everyone around me staring wide-eyed at the chairlift.

I look over to see a 45 year old man hanging upside down from the chairlift, 20 feet off the ground, with his pants caught around his ankles. His board is miraculously stuck in the chair while one leg dangles freely and his c**k, grundle, and ass gets pounded by the stiff breeze.

My client is thoroughly enjoying this and we can’t initially tell if this man is wearing khaki pants or if he is naked…then we see a hairy ass crack!…how the fuck did this guy lose his pants? How the fuck did this guy fall upside down in the chair?

Why the fuck doesn’t this guy pull himself up or his pants up? So many questions, and plenty of time to ponder them as the lifties are completely retarded and ski patrol is taking there sweet ass time getting to the bottom. This guy hangs upside down for at least 15 minutes and no joke, it was fuckin cold out. I have heard of shrinkage, but he must have a mangina after 15-20 minutes of the upside down c**k freeze.

Because I am in uniform, this lady comes up to me freaking out to call the ski patrol b/c the lifties are high as balls and have no idea. I try and calm the lady down and come to find out that her husband is the one hanging upside down and her son is the one sitting on the chair while his daddy has a peep show (talk about an awkward turtle).

The mom/wife says she got bucked off the chair b/c the seat wasn’t down (the wind blew it up or the lifty forgot to put it down…I don’t know) and the husband fell through the chair while the son sat on it??!!! This really makes no fuckin sense to me and I am still unbelievably amused with papa mangina hanging upside down 40 feet away from me, but this woman is a complete wreck.

I try to comfort her and as ski patrol finally gets there, her other son yells, “mom, they got dad down!!” and she crumples to her knees balling. I try to awkwardly rub her back and ask if she’s okay. Her reply, “no, no, no, I’m not okay…I hope nobody took a picture”. Well, check the links below and you will find that many pictures were taken. As Gwen Stefani would say, this shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S…

i don't envy the guy, so his identity will remain unsaid. the question to all my readers now is..

"was it the cold, or just the clinging upside down by your ankle pants goin' up a slope for 15minutes?!?"

Jerry - any bits (hee hee!) from Tahoe aside from how much you hate shovelling? ;) get your lily-white-asse down here big guy!!

when rock stars were real

once upon a time there existed bands that made music without fancy dancing to hide their weak voice. manic tempered anger songs that belied their silky smooth playing skills.

they wrote lyrics that spoke of real pain and reached out to generations. and amongst them all was one king that will continue to understand.

Metallica

few remember that as a band Metallica refused to be filmed, interviewed on TV or make a music video (the above is a bootleg video - hence the dodgy sound) because they wanted people to hear and listen to their music for what it was, without the fancy gimmicks to catch your attention.

even when they were young and struggling, they made a stand for real music.

they did this through 5 years and their first 3 albums, until their tour bus in Sweden flipped in 1986 and bass guitarist Cliff Burton died. i still remember my roommate Azam coming in and telling what he heard on the radio.. we just sat there for a while.

after struggling to decide if they should disband or no, they decided to ask Cliff's family for permission to audition a new bassist - which they did - and in 1987, released a video titled Cliff 'Em All (a take on their first album Kill 'Em All) as a tribute to their dead axe-man, with footage showing his bass solos, home videos and pictures.

they finally released their first music video in 1988 with their 4th album and the rest, as they say, is history.

"And Justice For All" was launched in 1988 and blew everyone away, reaching platinum in 9 weeks and gaining them a Grammy Nomination.

in 1991 they released the album "Metallica", which took a year to record, remixed 3 times and ended 3 marriages (what was that about things happen in threes?) and made metal history - it debuted at number one on Billboard 200, hit FIFTEEN times platinum and made them a household name.

they've gone mainstream now and have made their fortune, but no one who remembers those early days will ever forget Puppets, For Whom The Bell Tolls and one of their most haunting songs ever, "One", an anti-war song written for those who made it back, but not in one piece.. read carefully, and feel what they understood.

One - Metallica, 1988

I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me

Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up I can not see
That there is not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God,wake me

Back in the womb it's much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can't look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I'll live

Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God,wake me

Now the world is gone I'm just one
Oh God! Help me hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God help me!

Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell

Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in Hell

they wrote about abused children, war crimes, nightmares and letting go, and they're still around long after Anthrax and Megadeth have passed. how apt the name.

Long Live La Metal Kings.

so what does Santa do the rest of the year?

why, be the devil's advocate, of course! LOL

getting there and doing that

i get a teeny bit uncomfortable when i hear people pouring superlatives on Obama. i mean yes, he has a vision and is a charismatic speaker, but remember, he hasn't actually done anything yet.

as a black man Obama hasn't actually broached anything new - a few have walked that path before; and you can argue that besides a GREAT campaign that obliterated both Hillary and McCain his timing was immaculate, with war-weary Americans growing increasingly disillusioned with the status quo, and the subprime crisis gave it that one last final push.

his appeal to the young and minority has drawn comparisons to JFK but remember, JFK was popular but as a President, he didn't actually achieve much. * in fact many have forgotten that besides escalating in Vietnam and The Bay of Pigs, JFK in 1963 signed off on a coup in Iraq, installing a blood-thirsty but West-friendly Baath Party as a puppet Govt, in return for Mobil's presence in Iraq.

the same Baath Party that shot dead and massacred all possible opponents incl. teachers, doctors, lawyers (no jokes, please ;) as well as military and political activists. the same Baath that killed leftists and alleged Communists using a list the CIA gave.

the same Baath party that Saadam Hussein rose up in and the West continued to support for almost 4 decades. * it was JFK's brother Robert who held the most promise to effect "Change" but as we know, he too was killed before he could see it through.

and always always ALWAYS remember that a politician will say and do everything he or she can to get elected. just look, if you don't believe, at what Bush Jr. said in the election debates against Al Gore in 2000.

check out his comments at 1:21. ;)



if anything - just like i'd like to commend my fellow Malaysians who dared stick it to 'em and gave the perfect reposte to those who in arrogance, said "say it thru the ballot box" - its the American people who deserve the kudos. for daring to take that risk and say, "we shall prevail".

but it's only the first step to a long journey. and i wish you all the best.

Malaysians are starting to see that you never really know a monkey til you take away his bananas. or tempt him with an even bigger one. in fact once they get in the same Parliame.. i mean cage, they all start looking and sounding strangely alike.

it's gonna be a long journey. but let's not give up. it's our country, after all..

Apple does it again!!

and just like the iPhone (and to a lesser extent iPod) smacked everyone up the head and revolutionised user-interface, looks like ole' 4-eyes Steve has done it again.


Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

seems Apple purposely avoided the Christmas period to avoid poorer numbers due to the credit crunch - which might affect the hype - and are slowly gonna use a few smaller "soft" launches over the coming months. smart.

look to this to be THE gadget of 2009. :)

My GOLDFISH Sez..

and swimming happily to and fro in e north corner of SBM's wonderful newly-painted apartment that cool Saturday morning, the 3 feng-shui-friendly goldfish quietly sidled up to CL and whispered...


lay off e skinny-man yo.. LMAO! ya i'm moving them to the south-east corner soon (when i'm done painting there) then get a couple of terrapins for the north corner. we're all good. :)

a tribute to my wife... ;)

and Glen McNair, who's let me dip more than once into his DCM stash and. well.. :)



PROOOOST!!!

i know saying "dood" is outdated, but...

so sometimes i meet someone who reads this blog and they say "dood! i like your blog. it's... weird! :)". and i consider this a compliment.

still others ask "dood, what IS your blog about" and i say "dood, check out the blog header: I DON'T KNOW!". but they're nice so i wanna be helpful..

so TC i might not know what i'm writing (i usually start with something and end with something else totally!) but i DO know something:

i ran this website thru this online rating thingy, and this blog is rated NC-17 and i put it on my right sidebar. which means No-one Under 17 is Permitted In. but this is the een ter nett yo, so it's just a guide.

so if anyone else ever complains about the content, you have been warned.. and next time you send hateful violent comments about my wife, mother and pet goldfish, i WILL track you down and find you. and tickle your pet turtle. LOL

Happy New Year y'all! :)

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Now I lay me down to sleep
To close my eyes
To find my dream
If I do they'll let me stay
So mommy don't you cry, okay?
If by dawn my eyes won't rise
You'll know I'm home and safe inside
So now I lay me down to sleep
If I wake up
In tears I'll be
Again another day I'll face
'Til I can close my eyes and say,
Now I lay me down to sleep
To close my eyes
To find my dream
If I do they'll let me stay
So mommy don't you cry, okay?

Strangers in Paradise, Terry Moore 2004

OOPS I FORGOT HANUKKAH!! ;))

Oren!!! Adi, Mika, Lihi and Idan - Happy Hanukkah guys!!

and here's to a peaceful resolution somewhere near the line. hopefully in our lifetime and before Idan and Mika grow old.. :)



LOL! keep the faith y'all. i miss you too. :)

MERRY X-MAS EVERYONE!!:) :) :)

here's to a wonderful, WONDERFUL Christmas to all. :) may your day be FULL of love, hugs and laughter, remember the tears that made this all worthwhile, and spare a thought for those who might still be crying.

its a bit warm here in these part of the woods, so the guys have decided to go Minimalist..

for those of you in the colder parts, have fun warming up but hey - go easy on the egg nog guys...


and the beer, so maybe you'll look like THIS next year instead..

LOL!! Ho Ho Ho... :) Merry Christmas all, and here's to a wonderful fulfilling year ahead. God speed!

quote of the day

Wealth - any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one's wife's sister's husband.

H.L. Mencken

looks like dood knew what he was talking about. LOL

wipe or wash?

have you ever heard the term "this country is going down the toilet"? it's pretty popular now. especially in Zimbabwe, where the inflation is 231 MILLION PERCENT (i'm not making this up - here's the full article).

in fact, neighbouring South Africa has had to put up signs like these recently, to stop clogging up toilets.


and the people are starving and kids are dying and the dictator is still in power. will the US invade and save the Zimbabwe people? pffthhhh!!

a tale of 2 movies

have you been unemployed and finished watching all the DVDs in your house? no? well.. i haven't exactly finished all the DVDs either, but i have watched all three Jason Bourne movies 4 times (!) so decided it was time to go out and watch some new ones.

Transporter 3: SIGH ... :) Frenchman Luc Besson returns with an unmistakably Luc Besson movie: lotsa physical stunts a'la Yamakasi, over-the-top jokes and all the bad guys drive German cars (Mercedes) and invariably, lose. LOL

you know what's really nice about this movie tho? is that the heroine doesn't look like a photo model out of GQ or Cleo.

she's got TONS (and i mean TONS!!) of freckles, a really bad hair week, teary mascara-shot eyes for much of the movie and squats and pees openly on the floor of a roadside store (how Continental :)

but when she makes the turn from being suspicious/despising him to falling for him, we ALL see it - there are no words; just cameras panning, follow her eyes, and brilliant editing.

and you suddenly remember how it felt when you first fell for someone and had your first crush. and you won't be able to help it but smile.. :) i'm not gonna spoil it for you - go see it.

Luc Besson has gone back to basics after experimenting with CGI and the American way - lotsa old fashioned stunt driving and good suits - and creates the perfect pantomime between an understated all-action man and an understated "used to all your jokes about Eastern European women" heroine.

who just happens to be 6 inches taller than him. which is why he can't reach the keys when she holds it above her head! LOL!



talk about a secure man.

girls will enjoy it - John Statham does a striptease and reveals a gymnast's torso - how the *F* does he do it?! the guy's MY AGE for goodness sakes!! *grumble grumble* - and fights beautifully. its a lot of capoeira that gives a grace and fluidity you usually only see in Wu Shu movies.

and of course, Francois Berleand returns as the understated French inspector Tarconi (can't let the Brits have all the fun!) who gets a lot more done without seeming to; a bad guy who is really well fleshed out and a lot of good extras in great rolls - when was the last time you saw a big gay German guy in a mechanic's overall? ;)

understated characters to balanced the over-the-top action? works for me. :) suspend disbelief that a BMX can catch up with an Audi, and enjoy the ride. :)

* * *

"Wing Chun, Ip Man", he says. and with that kick starts the must-see martial arts movie of the year. not just because the Kung Fu is SUPERB, but it's the first to chronicle the life of a true master, when living memories still exist of him.

what many don't know is that Ip Man (pronounced Yip Man) was the only person to ever learn Wing Chun (in 1903!) from 2 of only 3 living masters at the time:

this was a time when master only taught their sons and a few select disciples. master Leung Jan taught only 3 people - his 2 sons and Wa Chun - before he died. his eldest son Leung Chun did not teach anyone. Wa Chun taught Ip Man and a few others, and Leung Bik - Leung Jan's youngest son - only taught Ip Man, so you're talking about the only proponent then, with a complete knowledge of Wing Chun. (read the short write-up here)

truthfully the movie does take some liberties - Ip Man was actually a policeman - not a rich man - in Fo Shan, and joined the Kuomintang movement after the war, leaving for Hong Kong only after the Communists came - not because he was running from the Japanese.

but i guess Hong Kong is part of China now, so you can't exactly show he was a Kuomintang die-hard running from the Communists, can you? LOL! so they bent the truth.

but he did turn down repeated invitations to train Japanese troops - not a small thing when you consider they used to chop people's heads off if they didn't like how you looked at them. which is why so many bowed..

he did stand by his principles so much he had to leave Fo Shan during the war, and only came back later. and that's what the movie tries to focus on, besides his trademark punches :)

perhaps he will always be known as Bruce Lee's master - who trained him for 5 years before he finally went abroad.

but his accomplishments are real, and the fights might be choreographed, but the speed and strength of the punches here are real.

the martial arts is outstanding: his 2 sons - both Grandmasters - and a whole bunch of real-life Wing Chun practitioners appear in it. his eldest son Ip Chun - shown as a 5 year old in the movie - was also a consultant.

Donnie Yen - whose mother is Bow Sim Mark, considered a living Wu Shu treasure in China - is an accomplished Wu Shu practitioner, and is the main actor.



as a martial arts film it scored an average 9/10 with test audiences in Beijing (15% voted 10/10!) but more importantly, there are a lot of layers in this movie.

the acting is understated, showing a lot of the actual Chinese custom of praising others than one self still prevalent in large parts of China today. it shows a societal dynamic not uncommon in a lot of Asian countries in those days - deference, face, and quiet fortitude in the face of adversity, how big biceps are not necessarily the winner. even the jokes have class.

the supporting characters are caricatures at best - Lynn Hung keeps all her clothes on this time - but the story is tight and focuses on the man's principles.

it also shows (albeit in passing) the cruelties of the Japanese in World War 2, and at a time when most of our grandparents who lived through it have passed on, for me, it re-lives many of their stories about Japanese then.

how the soldiers would arbitrarily bayonet a pregnant woman's belly after they had killed her husband, and left her to bleed to death.

when they'd shove a bamboo down a man's throat and pour a whole sack of salt straight into his stomach, and watch him die of dehydration from the inside out.

and humans were treated like rats, being stepped and pee'd on by the soldiers.

maybe this is why politicians those days were a different breed. they were actually ONE of the people, even when they were priviledged, and fought wanting a better life for everyone. nowadays its just better for one.

isn't Ip Man a nationalistic movie? of course it is! but isn't every other movie out of Hollywood too, from Blackhawk Down to Bridge Over River Kwai? :) so just sit back and savour the movie for what it is - a KICK-ASS piece of story-telling!

forget "James" - Transporter 3 and Ip Man. 2 movies that share a genre and surprising wit, but with very different outcomes. miss it at your loss - 8 out of 10 stars for both.

what do Iraqis really feel about Americans?

if journalists are the conscience of a nation, then this says it all.

more tellingly is that his fellow Iraqis actually moved in to yes, stop him, but also protected him from being manhandled. and removed the Secret Service guy who jumped on him, and had already started hitting the Iraqi.



unfortunately, he was too ambitious and went for the head shot, and missed when Bush ducked. should've gone for the torso.

can't say much for the Secret Service guy, tho. he's probably gonna be on garbage duty for 6 months.. LOL

SS Agent: Garbage Detail to Mother Hen, i found the shoe, over. i repeat, i found the shoe.

CC: Copy that Garbage Detail. might wanna look for our glass slipper too, over.

sad news

someone i respect, both enjoyed her writing and learned from has passed away.

Doris Dungey - a 20-year veteran in the housing industry and wrote under the name "Tanta" in Calculated Risk, died of advanced ovarian cancer late Sunday in Ohio, at the age of 47.

sample of her writing:

I still haven’t gotten over the fact that there’s a “capital management” group out there having named itself “Cerberus”.

Those of you who were not asleep in Miss Buttkicker’s Intro to Western Civ will recognize Cerberus; the rest of you may have picked up the mythological fix from its reprise as “Fluffy” in the first Harry Potter novel.

Wherever you get your culture, Cerberus is the three-headed dog who guards the gates of Hell. It takes three heads to do that of course, because it’s never clear, in theology or finance, whether the idea is to keep the righteous from falling into the pit or the demons from escaping out of it (the third head is busy meeting with the regulators).

a lot of us former /current industry professional write because we see a lot of the marketing spin confusing the layperson - because we know the truth is never really out there - and we want to help others - not just our Aunt Jemima and the village cat - understand things like the sub-prime crisis, economic upheavals etc.

we know how it hurts real people, and we want to help clear the fog.

still others write because they have a question they need to flesh out in the open, and writing helps elucidate one's thoughts. and by that extension perhaps realise that others have the same thoughts and worries/ hardships too i.e. they're not alone, or a freak.

some use the internet to realise hard thoughts and disagreements, in where by sharing each other's thoughts we can come to understand each other better, and create a better world.

sometimes thru humour, others thru logic but always, always trying to be constructive. one. small. step at a time.

it also bodes well when a critic/ commentator's subject even acknowledges their contribution; in this case for example, the Fed actually acknowledged she was the first to bring up several issues in its working paper on the subprime credit.
(full Federal document here)

admired by luminaries such as Krugman, upbeat in the face of death, INCREDIBLY witty and candid to the end. and reached out and discussed things with her readers openly and intelligently, and moulded them into part of a community, the way only people who really care can..

Tanta. she will be missed.

the full online obituary by her fellow blogger here.

it's all about the money

the current sub-prime melt-down (and there's no other way to describe it) is sometimes hard for even finance professionals and journalists to comprehend.

adding the Citigroup package the total bailout now exceeds US$4.6165 TRILLION which, however you cut it, is a LOT of zeroes.

so Jim Bianco of Bianco Research crunched the numbers, adjusted for inflation and estimates the bailout will cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures, COMBINED:

• Marshall Plan, Cost: $12.7 bn, inflation adjusted: $115.3 bn
• Louisiana Purchase, Cost: $15 mn, inflation adjusted: $217 bn
• Race to the Moon, Cost: $36.4 bn, inflation adjusted: $237 bn
• S&L Crisis, Cost: $153 bn, inflation adjusted: $256 bn
• Korean War, Cost: $54 bn, inflation adjusted: $454 bn
• The New Deal, Cost: $32 bn, inflation adjusted: $500 bn
• Invasion of Iraq, Cost: $551 bn, inflation adjusted: $597 bn
• Vietnam War, Cost: $111 bn, inflation adjusted: $698 bn
• NASA, Cost: $416.7 bn, inflation adjusted: $851.2 bn

TOTAL: US$3.92 trillion

that's US$686 billion less than the bailout so far, and its not half over.

only one, single American event in history even comes close to matching the cost of the sub-prime crisis - World War II:

Original Cost: US$288 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: US$3.6 trillion

dig it: the whole subprime crisis so far costs almost a trillion dollars more (US$979 billion) than the entire cost of World War II borne by the US.

Obama's crack economic team has announced it will not hesitate to break all budget deficit spending records to get the US back on track. look to breaking US$10 trillion by the time this is over.

at least the War Bonds got 2.9% over 10 years.

data courtesy of Bianco Research

Health Alert!!

Strange Growth Epidemic Hits Malaysia
Experts worried, urge handling with care

KUALA LUMPUR: the nation was jolted out of its slumber this morning by an announcement from the Health Ministry, that a sudden epidemic has been noted in Malaysia.

numerous reports have been coming in of sudden, unexplained protuberances emerging from the scrotal area, mostly limited to the male gender, replicating what look strangely like cojones, or "telor" in coloquial Malay.

advising the public not to panic, Malaysia's Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said, "The public should not speculate. Our priority is to keep Malaysians safe, so we are examining all "telors"and will make announcements accordingly".

asked on the possible causes, he said, "Please don't listen to rumour, this has nothing to do with Malaysian Muslims looking for alternative stretching exercises to yoga."

"Otherwise women would also see these things growing in the scrotal area. Which, as you can imagine, might not really be attractive, la."

experts say the symptoms had so far been contained to the Malaysian public in the Peninsula, until a sudden outbreak among VIPs yesterday.

the latest casualty was the Inspector General of Police himself, who was reportedly fine until mid-way through a speech yesterday when he lashed out at politicians, saying that they should not interfere with Police doing their work.

“One politician recently sent 100 traffic summonses and told me to cancel them. He claimed the offenders were his constituents and did not have money to settle the summonses."

“There are also politicians who tell my OCPDs not to summon those riding their motorcycles in the kampung areas without helmets. How can we do that?” he asked.

asked if he could name the politicians, he said "Don't be silly. They're not that big yet."

the statements took the health authorities by surprise because it showed that not only could VIPs - who were previously thought to be immune - be infected, but it affects their behaviour as well, encouraging boldness and pride in others.

"If someone as manly as the IGP himself can grow them, imagine what we can do if we all have them! Chow Kit will be re-taken! The public will be inspired!"

"Maybe we can even pass it to the judges when we see them today! Malaysia will have a functional judiciary and Police force again - we'll be saved!" said one Senior Inspector who asked not to be named.

"I'm definitely inspired and will look out for it every day from now on when I wake up! I hope mine grow twice as big!" said an aspiring Police recruit.

this comes close on the heels of a massive outbreak in the Negeri Sembilan royal household on Tuesday, when the Regent himself said the Malaysian royalty's full immunity from the law should be restored.

"If the ruler were to exercise his duties in a fair, just and impartial manner in protecting the Consitution, his sovereignity needs to be duly protected, too", he said, conveniently forgetting that they were revoked in 1993 precisely because they were not fair, just and impartial.

and after the Johor Sultan took a golf club to his caddy's head, killing him instantly..

the Health Minister when told of this, and that the Regent had said "..it is ironic that judges are immune, but rulers are not," said "Patients show a worrying lack of common sense and often confuse others for who they are."

authorities suspect the fruit juice was contaminated, and have sealed the palace.

"Nobody can go in or out - we've got experts going in with duct tape and gunny sacks to make sure this epidemic doesn't spread to other royal households."

"We will make sure we inspect their telors closely," he said.

* * *

meanwhile former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said he was not surprised, saying the Govt should have realised the severity last January, when he not only showed his cojones was functional but boldly used them in public as well, stepping down and taking responsibility for his actions.

"Maybe now more and more politicians will be infected, and step down when they're wrong. But I don't think it will be too many, because otherwise the whole Parliament not enough quorum!"

"We'll have to go through another election. I might even be elected Pri.. i mean, Party President!"

lawyers are now also studying the virus, wondering how many ISA inmates were early sufferers, and if their cases can be re-opened.

the revelation has been greeted with mixed emotions; some are worried it might infect the highest levels of Govt, and Level 4 as well, affecting how the country is run.

long time sufferers though are euphoric and relieved, with many sufferers coming out openly and celebrating their new-found "telor"ness.


authorities have urged the public not to take things into their own hands, saying "inspections should only be undertaken by experts", and many have been traumatised even worse than if they had the virus.


the Prime Minister has refused comment, saying only "We will kaji (research) further."