Have No Fear

How does one actually reach the stage of having no fear? Is it possible in this lifetime to attain that level? I have always wondered about this as so many people are afraid of their own shadows when they are alone.

"Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" asked Jesus. I have come to believe that herein lies our problem with fear. We have little faith. We need to be reminded of that great verse in Psalms 23 as shown below :

Illegal Racing Menace

It was our usual weekend activity to go 'karaokeing' at our club. Almost all of us were present and counted for except for one lady. She promised to come by 9.30pm but it was already 10.30pm and no sign of her. Little did we know that she was lying inside her car with an injury at the neck about 700m from where we were.

When the lights turned green, she made a right turn at the t-junction and as she was turning, this motorbike with a pillion rider smashed into her car at the driver's side. The motorbike rider didn't stop for the red light. By the time she was taken to the hospital, she started feeling numb from the shoulders down. An MRI was taken which showed one of the discs at the neck area (c4-c6) had moved forward, probably due to the whip-lash effect on impact, and was touching the spinal chord. The surgeon advised an operation to remove the offending disc and replace it with an artificial one.

All of us visited her to give her support during this time of pain and uncertainty. I told her I was removing her form the karaoke list for awhile and when she was well agian she will be reinstated. She tried to laugh but the collar support 'thingy' was obstructing her. I thought it best not to crack any jokes and moved to the end of the bed. The operation was successful and we went to check on her again. The colour on her face was coming back and she was looking better. We estimated she would take about 1 month to be able to stand up on her own.

Last week she suddenly became listless and looked depressed. After some blood tests were carried out, it was found that she was lacking in potassium and sodium. The hospital staff took the necessary remedial measures to correct this problem. Three days ago during the night she had a mild stroke. Yesterday, she was still not responding to anyone. She has lost a lot of weight. When I visited her during lunch time, the hospital technician took an x-ray of the chest area. They still don't know what's wrong with her. A lot of tests are being carried out.

All this because of some youngsters crazy about speeding, taking part in illegal racing along the main road! The two guys had some fractures on their legs and would most probably be racing again in a month's time. The lack of enforcement has caused a lot of pain and disrupted the normal healthy living of many a law abiding citizen. When will we get an efficient and responsible police force? When are they going to do something concrete about the illegal racing along our main roads?

For now we can only pray for her to get well.

What Space Travel?

As I was waiting for my son at his school, I was parked under one of the many trees that line the road in his school. I reclined the drivers seat to relax while waiting. Outside the sky was clear with a few puffs of clouds floating by. Just staring at the big expanse of blue sky makes you feel really, really very small. The night before the same sky was filled with blinking stars and now it seems like that they have taken the day off after a night of heavy blinking.

How can one even think of traveling to those distant stars. With the technology of today we can hardly set foot on the moon and be back for lunch. Yet we dream of deep space travel. Lets look at some speed facts. The speed of light is approximately 300,000Km/sec. or 187,500miles/sec. As light years are used as units of measurements in space, multiply the speed of light (187,500miles/sec) x 60 x 60 x 24 x 365 to get how far light has traveled in 1 year.

What is the diameter of the Milky Way? It is 100,000 light years! What does that mean? Multiply the distance light travels in 1 year by 100,000 to get the approximate diameter of the Milky Way and then begin to wonder at the greatness of God’s creation.

We are not going anywhere in the form we are in and with the mode of transport that we have today. Your car could have a speed potential of up to 150 mph. The speed of the space shuttle is approximately 17,500mph.

The Voyager spacecraft left the solar system at 37,000 mph. At that speed, it would take Voyager 80,000 years to reach our nearest star - Proxima Centauri.

Just imagine you are a goldfish in a bowl that has been fixed to a toy pickup truck with batteries.

You are now trying to cross the Sahara desert. What are your chances? zilch!

We have only thought about the speed and the vastness of space. We are our worst liabilities. Most of us have an average life span of 70 -75 years. So, how far can we go with that time frame? 70 -75 is from birth to death. The actual useful time is much less. We also need oxygen and food. The vehicle also needs fuel. How big can the storage of this vehicle be to travel for such a long period of time. This is assuming we can develop a spacecraft that can travel at the speed of light which is still not sufficient. It has to be able to travel many times the speed of light. The only way we are getting out of this solar system is in a different form, probably in a spirit form. Back to the Star Wars movies or Star Trek to travel to space at warp speed! Whatever that means! Below are some photos of interest for future space travellers.

Distance Comparison

Supernova

Space Shuttle

RM490 million Sports Training Center!

Who says Malaysia has no money. The Malays were reported to be 'spending' RM4 billion a year on liquor and gambling and now the government wants to build a sports training center in London estimated to cost RM490 million! Who makes these decisions? The Government under our Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has allowed prices of goods to spiral. The advice given to the people is to be thrifty. The government has no money for development projects in the country it seems.

Now we hear of this project to build a sports training center in London! If we are so concerned about raising the standard of our athletes, why not bring the coaches over here. That will definately be cheaper and more athletes will benefit. We know that if the training is to be held in London, not everyone going there will be a genuine article. Some so called 'athletes' and a big number of officials and their relatives will manage to squeeze in just to go to London.

Why build in London? The sprint kings are in the U.S. What do you hope to get from London? The English didn't even make it to the semi-finals of the World Cup. I can't understand the reasoning behind this decision. We don't have world class athletes (track events). The only world class players are Nicole(squash) and some badminton players. In the 70's our hockey team was a force to be reckoned with. Now we are a spent force.

We might as well start building sports facilities in every state for the people and employ competent coaches (not your in-laws or cousins who are jobless) to raise the standard right here in our backyard. When we can produce top level athletes then we send them overseas to fine-tune their skills. Look at how China is producing world class ping-pong players, badminton players, tennis players and divers. We've got to believe in ourselves, play fair and choose our athletes on merit. That's how it's done elsewhere.

And please stop increasing the price of goods, the toll charges, the electricity rates, the parking rates (Star Parade in Alor Star has raised its parking fees) and fuel prices.

It's That Time Of The Year

It's that time of the year when we travel to a neighbouring state(Penang) to take part in the annual Tennis Invitation organized by the Penang Sports Club. Penang is one of the northern states in Malaysia sharing the border with the state where we live. It's about 1hr 15 mins drive (96Km).

This year there were no foreign teams participating. The participating teams were from Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Federal Teritory and Penang. Altogether there were 12 teams. Three groups having 4 teams in each group playing 'Round Robin' to semi-final in their respective age groups - 35 above, 45 above and 55 above. 1 ladies doubles and 1 mixed doubles.

It was fun taking part in such a tournament. Playing at odd hours and on different turfs. In the past we had teams from Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore taking part. Times must be bad as they were all missing this year. Some pics taken at this event.

A Trip To The Market

Wife wanted to eat 'jagung' today. She suggested I take a walk in the market instead of in the park. So off I drove to the local wet market. Had my breakfast of 'wan tan mee' first to build up the energy for the walk in the market.

Typical market scene with the stalls by the roadside. The wet stuff is displayed behind the front row stalls.

Looked around the stalls by the roadside and didn't find any 'jagung'. So, had to go in, jostling with the usual market crowd. Went one round and still didn't see anyone selling 'jagung'. Met an old colleague who was waiting faithfully for his wife who was busy with the buying somewhere inside the market area. Chatted with him for awhile about old times, our health and the current economic situation and then proceeded to look for my 'jagungs'. Went out to the road again and met up with my primary school teacher. He wanted to know if I worked for the police. I said no and asked him why. Someone had knocked into his car and rudely told him to contact the insurance company if he wanted compensation. He was pissed off with this man's behaviour. Another old friend who happened to be his classmate was there and he wondered if this could be one of the reasons people think Malaysians are rude as reported in the papers recently. I told him the survey was done in K.L. and that it was not a very accurate one. Anyway, I advised my ex-teacher to report the matter to the police.

After we parted, I remembered that my good friend who intoduced the 'Taiwan jagung' to my wife worked nearby the market. Decided to call her but the phone was off. So I walked to her clinic and peeped into her room to see if she was there.

ooooooopppppssss...wrong room..

No one was in the room. Only the empty dentist chair. Just not my day. Asked the nurse outside if the good doctor was on leave she said no. She said I was too early as work starts at 8.00am. The doctor will be coming soon. I couldn't wait for her so I went home without the 'jagungs'. Much later the good doctor phoned to enquire why I was looking for her and after listening to my story she told me she will buy the 'jagungs' for me tomorrow. Hurray for the good doctor!Problem solved.

Dogs, Dogs And More Dogs

Man's best friend got him into trouble. Not one but twenty five of them. The man claimed they were his best friends and kept all 25 dogs in his terraced house. 13 of the dogs were shot by the dog shooters from the Municipal Council of Seremban. They said they had a court order to cull the 25 dogs after receiving numerous complaints from residents in the same taman regarding the foul stench and the noise from the canines in his house. It caused an uproar among the dog lovers in Malaysia. The owner was actually given a 6 months grace period to move the animals to another area but he refused.

Lets look at the situation rationally. A terrace house is most probably 22ft by 45ft with a hall, a master bedroom, two smaller rooms, a dining area and a kitchen with the bathroom and toilet beside it. How are you going to live with 25 dogs in such a small place? You share both the side walls with other house owners. The only outside area is the 22ft x 15ft in front of the house for parking your car and a small 'garden'. Where are the dogs going to exercise? Taking care of one dog is already a problem for some people what more 25! Are they getting proper food and care? How does he clean up after 25 dogs? Judging from the numerous complaints, he obviously does not do much cleaning. I am glad he was not my neighbour.

Anyway, the right thing for the Municipal Council to do would have been to give away most of the dogs to the many dog lovers around Seremban or to the RSPCA if there was one there. It wasn't really necessary to shoot the dogs just because of a stupid man's stubborness. The humane nature of the Municipal Council is missing. Below is a picture of the man trying to save some of the dogs by putting them into his car and driving off but he didn't make it.


The last I heard of this story was that two of the dogs were kept by the owner and the rest that were not killed have been moved to a new location. All the neighbours heaved a big sigh of relief as they can now 'breathe' easy.

World Cup

The World Cup is coming to a close. Many teams gave their best but just did not make it. Of the many that got booted out were Brazil and England.

I always liked to watch the Brazilian team play. It was like they were doing their samba on the field. They were passionate about their game. Even when the teams stood for their respective national anthems to play, you could see the Brazilian players actually singing their anthem. Some African teams just stood there, rigid and looking 'woody' almost as if they were afraid of being shot if they moved. But anyway, the French played better with Zidane and his teamates which saw the Brazilians being 'kicked' out.

The English on the other hand seemed to not do well on penalty shootouts. England was the favourite with many from our country. This is probably because we are so familiar with their players after watching so many English League games. But they seemed to have too many injured star players on their team. Some one had to win and so Portugal gets to go into the semi-final to meet France while Germany will take on Italy. I think the French have a good chance of winning this World Cup. Anybody has other opinions?

Commentator

I read an article in the paper about Huang Jianxiang, the Chinese commentator for China Central Television(CCTV). He was on the job for the live broadcast of the play-off between Italy and Australia. It was reported that he was very one-sided throughout the match. He was rootin for the Italians while putting down the Aussie team. This TV commentator had taken sides! How unprofessional!

When he was questioned by his colleagues he said that he was human and not a machine. He had feelings and as such he cannot be completely impartial! He went on to say that he really didn't like Australia and he didn't want them to win. If that was the case he should have resigned from his post and started his own broadcasting company and support any team he fancied. As long as he is working for someone else he has to follow the rules. As a TV commentator he must know that there are viewers who also support Australia.

He acted very irresponsibly. But what I am interested in is what did the station do about his unprofessional outburst? Was any action taken immediately. The match would have lasted more than one hour forty five minutes. He was heard shouting hysterically for the Italians during that time. Weren't the people in management aware of his antics?

In contrast, look at what happened to Andreas Wenzel, a stadium announcer in Berlin. He used the announcement of a substitution to tell the 72,000-strong crowd in Berlin's Olympiastadion that the German team needed their support. Although he was a veteran announcer for the German national team, he was promptly substituted at the microphone by the local organising committee. What was the comment by FIFA's director of communications, Markus Siegler? "This had no place in the balanced neutrality of an announcer. It's not acceptable".

I guess the CCTV management team don't have the same views regarding such incidences. In Asia anything goes as long as can make money!