Hill rape

I'm really appalled by the destruction of our hills in and around Penang, all in the name of development. For instance, if you take the road to Bukit Mertajam and you stop at the traffic lights outside Perda, you'll see this denuded face of the Berapit hills in the distance:


And if you take the road to Bukit Tengah, you really cannot miss the wanton clearing of the little hill.


There are several other cases of hill clearing taking place but why must all these destruction of the environment take place? The more we chop down the trees and destroy the hills, the more we are contributing to the destruction of our beautiful earth. It must stop!

Magic 7 (Part Two)

"In Portugal, the football is more technical. Here it's more physical, more confrontational. People just tackle you hard if you try to play football. I remember in the first year, I was criticised for going to the floor too easily. That was an area of my game I had to change quite fast. It was, perhaps, the biggest lesson I've learned in England. It's a different type of game in Portugal. But the rules should be the same. If it's a free-kick the referee should give a free-kick. But here, referees choose to ignore fouls a lot of the time. The referees here tend to favour defenders, because they get to tackle a lot without getting a yellow card. It's very difficult for a defender in England to get sent off by collecting two yellow cards. I think the referees should protect the attackers more, not only me, not only wingers, but strikers as well. If it's a dirty tackle or a harsh tackle, the ref should give a yellow card right away. But the players are often told, 'Next time it' s a booking'."

Burning monk

I'm sorry if this post is graphic and distresses you but I have to write it.

In 2003, I visited the War Museum in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). It was very sobering. Of course, the main exhibits in the museum centred on the war that defined the 1960s and much of the mid-1970s. The United States called it the Vietnam War but the Vietnamese naturally referred to it as the American War. Which is correct? You tell me.

I was only 10 when this photograph by Malcolm W Browne was circulated around the world in Jun 1963. The picture won Browne the 1963 World Press Photo of the Year. I remember seeing in in the newspapers or magazines. It left a deep impression on me that anyone would go to the extent of self-imolation to make a point.


Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk in this picture, did make a point. It contributed to the overthrow of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in South Vietnam but it also indirectly accelerated the entry of the United States into the war in Vietnam one year later.

Eye witnesses said that after Thich arrived by car at the busy Saigon intersection, he assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks poured gasoline over him. Thich lit a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes.

David Halberstam, a New York Times reporter wrote: "I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."

Halberstam won the George Polk Award for his reports from Vietnam and later, also won the Pulitzer Prize. He died three months ago in Menlo Park, California from a traffic accident.

Signed, sealed, delivered

Yes, finally it's formal. Owen Hargreaves is now officially a Red Devil, having put his signature on the dotted line of a four-year contract.

"It was probably the worst-kept secret in football, but it's great to be here." Manchester United chief executive David Gill apparently thinks so too!

Owen: "I think it’s great to finally reach a positive conclusion. Especially after all the time and energy that’s been put in from everyone involved. I set lots of targets over the last decade and have also fulfilled them. I expect that to continue. A new era is starting for me now and I hope to achieve even more. I don’t have any concrete aims, but you have got to win everything at Manchester.”

Re-potting my orchid

One experience does not make me an expert but I shall tell you how I went about to re-pot my orchid plant. First of all, I soaked enough broken clay pieces, stones and charcoal bits in water overnight to dissolve away any impurities. Maybe I did not have to do this but I did it anyway.

Next, I soaked the whole clay pot in water so that the roots could absorb it and become soft and pliable. The reason why I had delayed re-potting the plant was because I was afraid of damage to the roots. But then, I read somewhere that the roots would be less likely to be injured when they are soft.


I had to be very careful when prying the roots away from the original pot because I wanted to retain as much of the roots as possible. But I also had to trim them down to keep the good ones and discard those that looked unacceptable to me.


Next, I transplanted the front bulbs to their new home, carefully filling in the spaces between the roots with the pieces of broken clay pieces, stones and charcoal bits. I also had some coconut husk fibres to prop up the plant. When transplanting the bulbs, I followed Dr Teoh's advise to turn the bulbs inwards so that any new shoot would not grow outwards. In order to secure the plant firmly in its new environment, I tied some of the pseudobulbs to the wire hangers.


And finally, ta-da!! My newly potted orchid. I hope I did well and I hope I didn't damage it. Needless to say, I'll be waiting anxiously for it to emerge from its traumatic transplantation. Just like a first-time father.


In the meantime, I peered into the old clay pot which still held the old pseudoblubs. Uurgh! It wasn't a pretty sight. Seperti cacing!

Me and my orchid stalk

When I was small and still living on the island, my father used to grow this orchid plant from a pot. The plant towered above me. It must've been at least six or seven feet but to the eyes and mind of a six-year-old kid, the plant looked gigantic enough. If it had grown much taller, surely, this six-year-old would've tried climbing it ala Jack and his beanstalk.

That was my first encounter with orchids. Unfortunately, through the next decades, I had never taken much of an interest in orchids although my father continued to potter around with his small pots of orchid plants at our house on mainland Penang.

But everything changed more than a year ago. When my wife and I were in Kuala Lumpur to attend a convention, we spotted a young man at The Curve selling pots of orchids. Two of them caught our eyes. Since then, we've have countless days of joy watchng them grow and flower.


Recently, I had noticed that one of them was already growing out of its pot. The pseudobulbs were branching out and so were its roots. It was time to re-pot the plant but how on earth should I do it? The extent of my orchid knowledge was to watch them grow and flower only.

Luckily, Dr Teoh Eng Soon came to my rescue. He is the author of this great coffee table book called Orchids Of Asia.

If you ever need a book that tells you everything about growing orchids in the tropics, especially this weather, this is it! By the way, he is a gynaecologist in Singapore.

This is how my plant looked like after I followed his advice to cut it between the fifth and sixth pseudobulbs. Reason? The front section will continue growing new pseudobulbs and roots while the back bulbs, free of the front bulbs, should grow new pseudobulbs too.


Though it's been about a month since I cut the plant and I've yet to see growth in the back bulbs, I'm not discouraged. In fact, I'm heartened that the front bulbs are continuing to sprout new roots. It'll be time to re-pot the front bulbs.

BHLB relics (1)

I was clearing my store room and came across these three bags from my old Ban Hin Lee Bank days. I had long forgotten all about them, can't even remember when they were made, so it was a pleasant discovery.

World heritage

A week ago, we were very hopeful that Penang could finally be listed as a world heritage site by Unesco's World Heritage Committee meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Unfortunately, this is not to be. Penang has failed yet again to be accorded this status.

Today, the World Heritage Committee announced the 22 sites approved by them and Penang is not in the list. Africa has four sites included, Europe and North America has eight sites combined, Latin America and the Arab Region have one site each while Asia and Pacific Region has eight sites.

Of these eight sites, the Sydney Opera House (Australia), the Kaiping Diaolou and Villages (China) and the Red Fort Complex (India) were listed as cultural properties; the Gobustan Rock Art (Azerbaijan), the Parthian Fortresses of Nisa (Turkmenistan) and the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine (Japan) were deemed as cultural landscapes; while the South China Karst (China) and the Jeju Volcanic Islands and Lava Tubes (Republic of Korea) were inscribed as natural properties.

What a disappointment for Penang! The World Heritage Committee had actually come here in April to look at the place. Apparently, the committee members had gone away unconvinced. More has to be done.

Tattered flags

We are about two months away from celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country. Let's not shame ourselves by displaying such flags.

The photograph on the left was taken in Serdang, Kedah while the one on the right was snapped in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. Disgraceful, right?

Ceramic stylus

I still haven't found a photo of my old, old Garrard auto-changer on the Internet but instead, I found this!


It's a snapshot of the ceramic stylus that was used on my old Garrard tone-arm. This photo is about twice or thrice it's actual size, so you can image how small and delicate it was.

I remember the difficulty I had with fixing the stylus. It was like having a tooth extracted. I'd lift up the tonearm head as high as it could go, move the old stylus to a vertical position - by this time, my own mouth would be wide open - and then gently ease it out of the spring-like lock mechanism in the head. Then, I'd do the reverse to fit in the new stylus carefully. Beads of sweat by now.

The test of whether the whole operation was done correctly was to flip the stylus from its 33/45 rpm position to the 78 rpm position. It should flip smoothly but firmly from one side of the head to the other, otherwise you'd have to do it again.

Body mass index

Sigh...I've just been told that I'm fat. Not by my family or my friends or my enemies or my doctor but by all things, the Department of Statistics Malaysia!

I was looking through their website when I chanced upon this link called Body Mass Index. Curiosity got the better of me. I went to the page and dutifully filled in my weight and height, and then clicked on Calculate. I shouldn't have.

Ouch! It told me, rather undiplomatically: "You are fat."

Do I look fat? A bit over-weight perhaps, but fat? I still have my stamina and can climb the BM Hill faster than my wife. And she goes for regular aerobics exercise! And I can climb the hill at a consistent pace without stopping. Okay, okay...maybe once or twice to catch my breath and allow my wife to catch up with me, but I still make it to the top of the hill. It's more than what I can say about other people my age.

I think the department's BMI calculation is slightly out of whack. I really do.

TM scam, part 3

Azila of Telekom Malaysia called me at 5.30pm yesterday. Yes, there really is a RM68 (not RM60) plan from TM under its Let's Talk package. The call I received last Tuesday was no hoax, not a scam, but a legitimate call from one of TM's staff. Unfortunately, this staff was caught by surprise when I wanted her to speak in English. Azila apologised to me for the abrupt cut in the conversation.

She then explained all about this package to me and how it could benefit me since my monthly telephone bill was higher than RM68.

BUT...I asked her, seeing that many of my calls are made to mobile lines, are you sure that I will not exceed the 30-minute free air-time to mobile lines?

"Well," she said, "if you exceed the 30 minutes, you'll be charged 30 sen to 013/019 numbers and 35 sen to 012/016 numbers." And this will be on a per-minute basis.

Wait a minute, I said, how much are we being charged now if we don't subscribe to this package? Depends but it's 10 sen at the cheapest, she replied.

Thanks but no thanks, I told her. I don't want to subscribe to a package where in the end, I will be paying more than what I'm paying now. I'm not ready.

It's okay, she cooed. When you are ready, you can visit us at any TM Point outlet or give her a call on her number.... (Wow, I have her number with me, wor.... Anybody wants, can ask ME!)

Whew!

But this doesn't answer all my questions satisfactorily. When TM employs staff and put them in the hot seat to face consumers, either to sell their services or attend to customer enquiries, aren't they trained properly beforehand? Isn't there a minimum requirement that they must be able to converse in English? And what about consumers who prefer to speak in Mandarin? Uh...no answer.

And a new point. If TM is trying to sell their new services, shouldn't they do some homework first and tell their customer that YES, you will benefit by signing up? Here is a comparison based on your last three months' bills. Blah, blah, blah. Then I'd be impressed. Don't, lah, wait for me to do my own homework. I won't.

I can still be angry with TM but I'm not. I choose not to be angry. In fact, I'm glad that the whole episode has cleared up and I haven't actually been scammed.

Penang Bridge marathon 2007

My 16-year-old son came home at noon today with this medal and certificate to show for this morning's Penang Bridge half-marathon run. Gee...he's achieving things I never got to do in my youth!

Things purple

I must admit that Purple gets me rather worked up. I don't get emotional but I get worked up.

I can tolerate Donny Osmond when he told the world he was wearing purple socks. He did it with such panache that you know that you could not take him seriously. He's pretty much down-to-earth.

But I can't tolerate Prince when he sang about his Purple Rain or his other zillion and one songs. I've never been a fan or his. I find him rather ridiculous and very pretentious. Silly guy, preening here and there.

I guess my aversion to things purple have now spread to, of all things, purple buildings. About three or four years ago, I was already commenting to my friends about this house along busy MacAlister Road that's painted in hues of purple. It was very striking but a talking point.


Then, later, Northam Tower at the junction of Pangkor Road and Northam Road was completed. Lo! A Purple building! Certainly another talking point for people. I hope it will be the last of the purple buildings in the city. My system sure can't take another one!

Kenny Sia's 15 minutes of fame with me

Wow, gosh, wahlau-eh! You wouldn't have guessed who bumped into me today!

I was at the Gurney Plaza in Penang to take a brief look into a gathering of Penang bloggers at the foodloft restaurant. This get-together, organised by Nuffnang, was a good idea to let the bloggers here meet, eat and get to know one another better.

Me? Though you'd know that I blog here and here, I don't consider myself as a typical Penang blogger. Almost all of them at foodloft would have to call me Uncle and you know what that means. If you are unsure, click here.

So, I was there simply to meet the Nuffnang people and ask them more about what they actually do and what they can do for me. I was just about to leave when Mr Malaysian Blogger himself walked into the restaurant!


Yes, that's him, all right! Kenny Sia of kennysia.com and that's me. SS Quah of ... well, I'm the reason you're reading this! He had hardly stepped into the restaurant and here he was, already posing for his first photo shoot. Bummer! I should have charged him RM100 for the opportunity. :-)

I was wondering why he was suddenly feeling homesick for Penang food when suddenly, the mist lifted! Oh yes, the Penang marathon. I had half forgotten that this chap has a life's ambition to run the Penang marathon which includes a complimentary return trip across the Penang Bridge. Lucky...he didn't have to pay RM5.60 from his Touch'N'Go card (or RM7 if you prefer cash) like the rest of us.

Good luck, Kenny, with all the goodness of Penang food in you, I hope you really burn, baby, burn all those calories away! Glad to have met you, mate!

TM scam, part 2

Remember my post on the telephone call that I received from a lady who represented herself as promoting a product from Telekom Malaysia? Read it here.

Remember too that I had given a feedback to TM by email? Well, well...it took someone at TM's Contact Centre THREE DAYS to respond and even then, all that they have to say is this:

"... Your complaint has been escalated to the respective department for further action and we will feed you back in a soonest time."

Really? I thought my questions were simple enough and rather direct for the Contact Centre staff to handle. I don't see any need for the highers-up to reply. So it must be serious enough, right? Looks like I'll have to wait a few more days. What can I do but to wait???

Poor Pluto, again

This is Mathias Pedersen. He's Danish, still in high school and only 17-years-old. But he's one heck of a graphic designer. He already has five years of experience in 3D and 2D design work, all during his spare hours. Of late, he has been dabbling in amateur film-making as well.

It's amazing what he has achieved. Just last month, he created a 3D work depicting the eight planets excluding Pluto from their group of planets. Poor Pluto, that's what Mathias called his work. How appropriate this image has become in the wake of the further humiliation suffered by Pluto just last week.


If you are looking for a high resolution version of this graphic, it can be downloaded from Mathias' homepage. You may want to look through his entire portfolio too, while you are there.

The real facts about health and fitness

I received this wonderful piece through email by I'm sure it has been going round and around the world countless times and appeared on countless websites and blogs. This can only be the latest. But before you read it, let me add my own Q&A first. Question: Is salt good for your health? Answer: Not unless you take it a pinch at a time. Okay. Now read on and enjoy ... HEALTH & FITNESS: THE REAL FACTS

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a MIXED GRILL can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one , etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise programme?
A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! ... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A : Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO. Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride"

Penang - view

I was on one of the top floors of that purple building at the junction of Pangkor Road and Northam Road recently. I don't know why people want to paint their buildings purple in the first place. It's an absurd colour.

Now, this building is the one with that nice little bungalow next to it. The bungalow is Hardwicke House and it is actually part of the whole commercial block. In my opinion, the bungalow is rather out of place amidst all the high-rise buildings around it but the developers had not knocked it down when they built this towering block because they "wanted to conserve it as a Penang heritage building". Maybe there's more to it than this reason I've been hearing, but I don't know.

Anyway, I was up on the 13th floor to snap some of the most impressive photos looking towards the Kelawei Road direction. I had not realised until recently that the rows of apartments and commercial buildings had made the area so built up and it actually looked very impressive! Like a garden city! Here's what I mean:

Boot Camp dumped

Just a short note to say that I've finally dumped Boot Camp in favour of Parallels. This is for real and the long haul forward. So, no more rebooting of my MacBook to go from Tiger to WinXP and vice-versa. This feature really convinced me to switch over.


parallels