In a Dream of Everything

I wonder where Home is...Now and Forever. A million miles, a thousand years and countless sunsets, still we are searching for something. Where is home really? Another year older and no new faces I wonder where Life is taking me. I wonder where Home is. No willow, no mountain, no stream I did not cross, a soft breeze and memory thrown decades back, I want to find where Home is. Another year gone, another second too late, I'm still lonely. I wonder if home is only after the end, if home is really for us to find.

Michael Bublé

Winter in The Summer

Probably by now you would have read about Professor Randy Pausch, the famour VR researcher who gave his 'last lecture', literally. RP is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has a few more months to live.

If you watch the lecture (direct link below) there are many things he shared, many inspiring 'how to achieve your dream' points that he himself went through in his life. Watching it is very emotional at moments, but it's equally entertaining; RP is not giving into his disease, he's happy that he lived his life and achieved his dreams. Most importantly is that he worked with his colleques in giving a chance for minorities and women to break into the science and technology field.

One good piece of advice from him to young women, which he himself got from another female collaborator (Sil):

When it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.

That simple few words means alot, why do we always want to be bothered about what anyone says when they have nothing good to say, if they're any good at what they're doing but have serious ego problems, just watch what they do, learn it and do it better.

The most important thing is watching him makes you want to live more. In life, it doesn't matter what happens to us, what matters is when we do something and it helps others. Eventually it will come a full circle. Please do watch the full lecture when you have the time. It's one of those life changing moments if you are ready for one.

[#] RP Last Lecture (Streaming, full 2 hours, will open in Windows Media Player)
[#] Professor Randy Pausch Honorary Fund
[3] RP personal page
[#] News of the Lecture from The Tartan

Ding Dong

Officially in another season of migraine attack...posts will be scarce...and it will suck...something like this. The pain is unbearable, feels like someone choking you while being electrocuted. And I feel like eating an ostrich.

I see stupid people

[Not Verbatim] Questions asked by a local TV reporter to an US rep at the UN:
If Iran is deemed as a terrorist nation, then what is Israel?

The Answer: There is no question about this, Iran is a sponsor of terror while Israel is an ally. I find there is no ground to even answer your question.

Q: But Israel develops Nuclear weapons also.

A: No comment.

Okay, I dont know what you make of this, this issue is stale, stagnant and doesn't matter in the world scene anymore, at least for you and me. No matter what you take of this, no matter what a reporter, a single person, a blogger or anyone says about this, what the world will be tomorrow is anyones guess. What's much 'stupider' is that when people continue to ask questions that they know the answer for. If the world goes to the dumps, then it will go down. If the world survives, it will. A single country cant make any difference, not at the UN nor anywhere. If US goes on to attack anymore country in the Middle East, only one thing will happen. Oil prices will increase. So the solution for us? Stop driving and use Public Transport. Yes it doesnt solve the crisis or whatever that might happen, but again it's our backyard that matters more. If the attack burdens the US economy, the fallout will spell doom to the rest of the world. Simply put, we live together, we die together, no lucky ones here.

But do you agree with me in one issue. Nuclear Weapons, the 5 Veto Nations has weapons and doesn't have any strong inclination for Religion. Many of the other nations with rogue weapons have religious fundamentalists as rulers/ decision makers who naturally controls the weapons. I believe if ever they (the 5 nations) come to a decision to launch a nuclear attack, if ever, there will be serious discussions before any action is taken. But when the rogue nuclear nations launch the bomb, they will have only one answer: 'God wants us to do it'. What do you think now?

Peace to the World.

[#] Stupid is as stupid does. Why do people even want to listen to stupids like this?

Let's Go Away...

Fading memories of surreal dreams coloring the mindscapes
Strange days of sunshine bending toward false polarities
Soft timeless fog succumbing to emerging lives
Into chapters of forlorn hearts
Escape cosmic lovers
During endless
Days

[#] (Paint.net) processed photos from Cameron Highlands. Travelers; Ghost, Sandra, Vj, Indran.

Cheap Victory / What Future?

[The Matter] Ferrari shamelessly took the 2007 F1 constructors world championship today after McLaren decided not to appeal their Sept 13 sanctions. No, dont mistake this as McLaren accepting the allegations, they never will and the rest of F1 never will either. It's purely because the swine Max Mosley has indicated that should the team appeal, they will be handed a stiffer penalty and thrown out of the 2007 and 08 championships also. I still stand by the belief that only Tifosi's and to an extent Flavio Briatorie who is satisfied with the verdict and fine. But I doubt even the seasoned Tifosi's would agree with this. It's a farce. Only the 'young ones', the newcomers to the F1 scene who prefers pit babes than pit stops who would shout a storm. It's irritating to even talk about the issue, but it's harder to ignore it. BBC Sports has an excellent article regarding this. McLaren, in addition to expelling Coughlan could have accepted the blame of having a rouge employee. But its not a just world, so it would have proved to be a double edged sword in both case anyway.

What the article clearly justifies is that, no matter how far and high they search, and in this case, FIA did not accept Mercedes's invitation to inspect their plant or the 07 McLaren. It proves that Max Mosley have made a decision well before anything that McLaren is guilty, probably under pressure from Ferrari. They simply cant prove that the 07 McLaren has any similarity to the 07 Ferrari. Only communist regimes would sentence their subjects without proof of evidence.

[Speculative] So why, you may ask that none of the other WMSC members did not favour McLaren on that fateful day? Well because Max is on the way out, maybe in a year, maybe in a decade if he doesnt die first. So there is this delicate matter of succession which I bet, in the interest of their cohorts, FIA will want to listen and take lead from Max Mosley. And knowing very well the tobbaco monopoly is out of the race, except, again shamelessly only Ferrari is still signed with another red cancer company, sponsorship will hit an unimaginable low in the coming years. The money in the coming decades lies prettily in the hands of Big Telco's and IT corps. A Google F1 team anyone?

Why is F1 an important sports? Because it Directly translates its technology into passenger cars, road safety and many more. I could not say the same about Nascar and other thrill rides because the rest of the world doesn't follow them well, something like the American Soccer League. FIA sanctioned races are important, and none more than F1 itself. Each race is a billion dollar race, and for well known circuits the money flows into the local economy. The buildup is massive. Hotels will be booked full, merchandise, road shows, TV revenue, famous people, etc. I can only imagine what India's first ever race, if it comes true, will parade. Bollywood perhaps? We have talks about Team India and hosts of other interesting revelations. If this is true, putting a countries name on a race car is a dangerous gamble. What if Team India become a back marker and fail to finish races? Can you figure the headlines? F1 is a complex modern day sports. Maybe a cultural event. It shaped itself into the pinnacle of motor sports. Who knows what the future holds.

Should F1 succumb to squabbles and preferential treatment like what happened this year, then we will have countries with expensive circuits and no races. Should FIA admit, and they wont, that they made a mistake, then Ferrari must accept their fault in purposely trying to salvage another dead season with a cheap win. Will Alonso return to Renault next year? Maybe. But who cares, well maybe the Spanish fans would care. Should Hamilton win this year, then Ferrari is locked out, because 2008 wont be pretty for them either. Should Jean Todt leave Ferrari and Ross Brawn return, then maybe Alonso would be driving for them . The outcome would be exciting indeed. Should all this fail to materialize, and FIA and Ferrari still want to continue making a farce of this sports, then forget about fans and a future for F1.

[#] Was the McLaren spy verdict wrong?
[#] Sir Jackie Stewart's comments.

[#] McLaren's statement on not appealing. McLaren has indeed accepted the fact that they had rogue employee(s). But they still stand by not having any Ferrari material/ tech in their machine. Admirable. And yes Ron, you still have us. Lets get those bastards!

What have We Become?

I didnt want to write about this. Because it will haunt me, and it did since a few days back. Cant get that dead child's image out of the head. I couldn't stop reading the news break, saw every breaking news, saw the prime news. This is sick. History played with children like they were mere toys in a playground. Pushed and ripped apart. Read the full article, and the connecting stories if you want to know the pain. It will give you shivers, unless you're not human.

Nothing written here would do justice, things will continue. This are mere words, typed on a lifeless keyboard by an unrelated human. Who knows what the child went through, what the parents feel or what the rest of us thinks.

What stops it is inside us all. What makes it continue is inside us also. Do you see a solution now?

Street Child (RIP)

on the streets of light
lived with failing might
one hungry boy and a girl
in a cold damp corner and a will

up high in the house
near a warm fire with a cause
one man with a white paper
wrote a story of a child proper

two souls from worlds far apart
one lived on, another depart
left the girl and the white story
long black night and a girl hungry

the white story wrote
a child in paradise
as the black night swallowed
a nameless boy died, the girl cried

this street child on a cold night
deserved a paradise or a fight
that white story child loved more
the other street child ended sore

-----*-------*-------*------

a boy and a girl
born to a mother like pearl
the newborns knows not more
than maybe the mothers love

as the mother with children in hand
savors the cold water of the land
one white greed and hate
plans day and night their fate

one day the green hills and blue skies
turns dark with rain and clouds
from hell came the machines of war
death and destruction near and far

and when the mother awakes
not from slumber but bomb quakes
her time slips from her today
slowly snatching her children away

------*------*-------*------

this street child’s story
sings in ears but not merry
one mothers burden and pain
stabs deep in our souls and vein

all our love and passion
to live without separation
one girl wishing her mothers womb
the boy lay dead without a tomb

in a world with gray days
wander mothers with end ways
from a world with a sky blue
sympathy from hands not true

white men with cold blood
don’t stop when all children culled
what greed drives your nation
death and the streets our consolation

-----*-------*-------*-------

remember the story of the street child
the one who died and his sister cried
its a true story in many streets
you and me and mothers left in weeps

and that white story the man wrote
its for the country of the blue people
who wants to watch the world burn
while the street children forgotten in the urn

white story man separate countries
the black night child dies centuries
so two child, one white one black
one in paradise the other on deaths stack

you and me and the century men
watch from afar children burn
the powers of voice silenced
by a white story we so wanted

------*------*-------*---------

one season in the night or day
the street child will come our way
our son, daughter, brother and sister
trapped in a century deadly sinister

come man and woman of lost souls
my pain in the hearts the same as yours
reclaim the lives of our times
want not one day our child lives on dimes

this century of blood and death
let not it be the white stories catch
the only blood that flows
will be the ones of true loves'

come street child of mine
a name will I give you to rhyme
today you will be my true child
a boy and a girl, a story told

-Gp 2005- 14/03/2005-

[#] ...as with all my poems, this is unedited, since I first wrote it 2 years back. So there will be disjointed moments, but the message is simple. What you want to take from it, what you feel is The message and nothing else what people say.

Another Quake?

[Updates]

[8.10Pm] No Tsunami warning. But the worrying thing is the increasing frequency of the quakes. Experts are warning that Indonesia is due for a major scale event anytime.

Yes it was a quake:

DATE	LAT	LON	MAG	DEPTH km	REGION
20-SEP-2007 08:31:15	-2.04	100.20	6.6	35.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA

No Tsunami warning yet. But advisable since this is very close to the Sept 12 Quake. Please be advised to stay away from the seaside. Be Safe. Listen to the news update.

[Original Post] Tremors...5 minutes ago. Waiting for IRIS updates.

Jose, Jose, Jose

He's leaving or Sacked? They will be forever disputing this. But certainly he has no fans no more. And Roman is back to square one. It's so good to be right.

Bye, bye Jose Mourinho. And this is the end of the Cups for Chelsea. I wonder where all those new fans of Chelsea will go? The Emirates? or gasp! Old Trafford?

And now the path is clear for Gus Hiddink to come on board?

This is cool:
"If I wanted to have an easy job... I would have stayed at Porto -beautiful blue chair, the Uefa Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me." - Mourinho in July 2004.

[#] [The Rest of the Best of JM's quotes]

Cirque Du Soleil / Circus of the Sun

Always wanted to know this, have any of the readers been to a Cirque Du Soleil performance? I know they've never been to this country or even Singapore, but it's one of the best, if not the ultimate best modern circus, and musical performance anywhere. Watched them a few times on tv, but the most striking would be Celine Dion's resident performance in Las Vegas with a CDS performance created by Dragone, the mastermind behind many of CDS's magic. Try YouTube for many of their amazing performances, and do leave a message if anyone experienced this magical show.

Watch this Alegria music vid by the CDS traveling troupe; Alegria.

And this exciting Power Track Act; Alegria.

[#] Cirque Du Soleil

Hmmm...The World Is Ok After All At 6.30 PM

Why We Love Jackie Chan over here:

A news report carried on the Web site of China's state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted Chan as saying, "The movie I just shot with Jet Li, 'The Forbidden Kingdom,' actually isn't that great.''

Chan was speaking at a news conference in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun on Sunday, Xinhua said.

"'The Forbidden Kingdom' is a movie made for Americans,'' the report quoted Chan as saying. "Chinese viewers may not like it.

and here

Before shooting on "The Forbidden Kingdom'' started, he told reporters, "I don't have any expectations. It's just making an American movie.''

"I believe the world is anticipating the movie, but I'm not too involved,'' Chan also said at the time.-AP [Read The Full Article]

And what this young man wants...

TOKYO (AP) - The world's oldest man marked his 112th birthday Tuesday and told well-wishers in southwestern Japan he wants to celebrate an infinite number of additional ones.

When asked how many more years he wants to live, Tanabe said "infinitely,'' according to Miyakonojo city official Yasuo Yamashita. [Read The Full Article]

Monday!

It's either going to be very sour or turn into fine wine.
Here we go again...

[#] Grapes from the Mardi AgroPark in Cameron Highlands. Same place where I snapped the Bird's of Paradise pic.

I Fell In Love with The Girl Who Fell In Love With The Dj

Gearing up for a crazy, emotional, overloaded weekend.
Be Safe, Be Cool and Be Smart!
Peace Out.

McLaren - Not Game Over!

"We have got the best drivers and the best car and we intend to win the World Championship." - McLaren

Now everyone is so eager to crucify McLaren but look what FIA has to say about the fiasco in their winding up statement:
8.12 The evidence leads the WMSC to conclude that some degree of sporting advantage was obtained, though it may forever be impossible to quantify that advantage in concrete terms.

[Read this brilliant interview with Paul Stoddart to know how the FIA and Max Mosley work before proceeding with the post.
"What does FIA stand for? It stands for Ferrari International Assistance, and that's been proven time and time again to be the case. Whether it's the $100m payment when the manufacturers were threatening to walk away and set up their own series and which started Ferrari's demise in the GPMA (Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association), or whatever, the FIA has consistently helped Ferrari, all the way down the line. The only difference is that lately it's been so blatant even a blind man can see it. And the reality is that it's damaging the sport.]

[McLaren's Official Statement]

The bad news is McLaren have been chucked out of the World Constructors Championship and fined...read this...USD 100 million. The good news is Hamilton and Alonso can still fight it out for the Drivers Tittle. I have nothing more to say on this sorry predicament for McLaren, we will wait to hear what Ron Dennis and McLaren have to say in this. And definitely this is the cheapest title that Ferrari have won, fascist bastards. Probably they haven't heard of Karma...we shall wait and see. For the 2008 season, McLaren will have to submit a full technical report on their machine to WMSC before being allowed to race.

[read further - TIMES]
[read further - F1-Live]

Interesting scenario. You are the boss of company M. You have an employee of company F who fucked one of your worker. Company F is furious because you let your employee being fucked. Boss M doesn't know anything, boss M is equally pissed. But secretly half of company M have seen the fuck video! Gasp! Then company F says "Fuck you M, were taking you down, you let your worker being fucked by our guy." Then suddenly Worker M and Worker F says that it's consensual fuck. Now company F with a red face tells Minister in Charge, FIA to punish M because they let their people fuck around.

FIA is always happy to jump into anything that can screw M. So FIA says "hey you...fucker...were going to take you down coz we have fascist mafia bastards breathing down our neck". And they did fuck M. But then it's like hot news, everyone knows who fucked who, who saw the fuck, who emailed and sms'd the fuck. So FIA is put in a spot. So FIA says, okay if we fuck M fully, then we will loose sponsors, fans, wives, etc. So FIA says...okay we wont fuck M down yet. We will cripple them for a season at least. And then company F is like 'wohoo thats nice now bend over M and gimme your points'. And M being the perfect gentlemen mega corporate kow tow buggers they are, they said OK!

But this is not the end F, coz M have 5 more races, and our racers will win the world championship title, who the fuck cares about constructors anyway coz like M sells passenger cars and makes loads of money and F sells...vanity cars. ha ha ha. So like now FIA and F are thinking, damn M you're fucked coz your sponsors going to run away, but nooooo...M is such a good player and the rest of the industry knows that M is an exceptional team that they will have sponsors lining up at their door even if they're kicked out of the race. So in the end, the moral of the story is, You Fuck Someone, someone is going to fuck you back. Or something like that. The End.
[Probably you didn't understand the story, but its true. And employee of Ferrari gave classified info to an employee of McLaren, but there is NO PROOF at all that any of that secret is used in McLarens F1 race car but still FIA decided to punish McLaren because they always bend the rules for Ferrari. And both the employees who exchanged secrets are not present at the hearing!!! Go Figure.]

[Read what Jackie Stewart and Stirling Moss has to say. - Interesting question: Where will the USD 100 Million go? Answer this Max Mosley]

And tell us all Ferrari what is the truth?

[Original Post] If this is true, then it's Game Over. And the only team to be happy with this verdict would be Scuderia Ferrari. We shall wait for the final statement.

Meantime, follow this link, hilarious account of the McLaren vs Ferrari saga. Via TimesOnline F1 Blog.

It's going to be a sad sad day.

As a fan who has been following the sports for more than a decade now, I am angry, so deeply madly angry that if I see Max Mosley anywhere I would spit on his face, not punch him, just spit on him and humiliate him of his moral dignity, if he has any. He thinks he can get away with this, but the world is bigger than he thinks it is, he thinks people will stay shut, but we will see even that. Ron Dennis is not alone today, and Max Mosley will know in due time what that means. And Ferrari too.

All said...See You In Hell Max!

Earthquake Alert / TSUNAMI ALERT

[DAY 2 UPDATE] : 13.45 Local time, woke up to find the place deserted, no cars around the apartment, thought everyone jumped ship without me. Damn! Dangerous tremors continue around the earthquake region since morning, with a 6.5 just more than an hour ago. Tsunami warnings have been lifted, but dont go surfing just yet because after shocks will persist until the ridge/ plate lines settle - Dont want a repeat of 2004. God Bless and Be Safe.

7.45 am/Sept 13 (Kajang, Selangor) Little sleep, another big one 20 minutes ago. Felt stronger than the one last night. Early morning jolt, little response from the local residents. Will wait and see what happens. Tracking IRIS now. Be safe.

ALWAYS STAY ALERT TO TSUNAMI WARNINGS. QUAKES OCCURRING AT THE SAME REGION/ UNDERSEA REGION.
8.11 AM/ 8.55 AM (IRIS) :

DATE	LAT	LON	MAG	DEPTH km	REGION
12-SEP-2007 23:49:01	-2.53	100.96	7.5	10.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
12-SEP-2007 23:48:59	-2.67	100.80	7.9	10.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
12-SEP-2007 23:19:44	-4.08	100.91	5.1	10.0	SOUTHWEST OF SUMATERA, INDONESIA

Exactly same as yesterday, IRIS is not upgrading last evenings Quake to 8.2 or 8.4 yet. Looks like 7.9 is the biggest of the After shocks or a new one all together. Need more updates. Please leave comments if you felt any. (USGS reports last evenings Quake at 8.4)

More Detailed Reporting at [World Wide Help]

[DAY 1] [Final Update] More aftershocks, and reports of Indonesian casualties are coming in. Tsunami warnings have been lifted. Lets all pray for the lost.

[Update 2] TSUNAMI WARNING is still on, minor TSUNAMI did hit some coastal towns in Indonesia. After shocks are hitting the region, the biggest being 6.0 just now. Did not feel it though here in Kajang. News updates say 7 were killed in a city.

DATE	LAT	LON	MAG	DEPTH km	REGION
12-SEP-2007 14:40:01	-3.20	101.34	6.0	10.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
12-SEP-2007 14:04:53	-4.26	101.15	4.9	10.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
12-SEP-2007 13:17:14	-3.33	100.62	5.3	10.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
12-SEP-2007 13:02:07	-2.96	101.34	5.7	35.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
12-SEP-2007 12:21:44	-2.67	100.32	5.2	10.0	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA
12-SEP-2007 11:10:24	-4.37	101.56	7.9	15.6	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA

[Original Post] Had a big one just now about 500 miles from the apartment (Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia):

DATE	LAT	LON	MAG	DEPTH km	REGION
12-SEP-2007 11:10:24	-4.37	101.56	7.9	15.6	SOUTHERN SUMATERA, INDONESIA

- IRIS

Strange but people has stopped running down the apartment unlike previous times, idiots. Even my house mate went back to sleep. Hope nothing serious happened in Sumatra. Waiting for breaking news.

[#] Breaking news: BBC , THESTAR
[#] TSUNAMI WARNING IS OUT : DON'T GO NEAR SEASIDE, BEACHES, BOATING, ETC.
[#] The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for wide areas of the region.

"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin,'' it said, warning that waves could hit Indonesia and Australia within an hour.

Sri Lanka and India could be struck within three hours, it said. - The Star

[#] Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

[#] Breaking News.

[#] 10 PM: The TSUNAMI warning for Indonesia is lifted, but observe caution until a full Tsunami warning lift is done.

9-11

In a few years 9-11 will become just another date in world history. Its cultural significance wont shadow human evolution. No matter how many critical theories are born out of this date, we wont see a significant shift towards policing our own world. We wont live in fear anymore. We wont live beyond our lines of normal conduct. Culture will not define 9-11 as a pivotal point when humanity changed direction or searched for new reflections. We wont succumb to a coward group of fundamentalists who tries to quantify human fear and turn it against ourselves. The date wont serve to remind us what we did wrong or what went wrong. It will stop being an important news reference because the media will create new sensations when they know that we have matured enough to choose the events we want to carry to the next generation. There wont be conspiracy theorist gambling their days away for a peek at flash popularity because even that will stop to matter. There wont be religious memorials elsewhere except at the 9-11 ground zero and its wall of names. This date will not echo the names of the deceased louder than the war field's cry for the innocents who died protecting a misunderstood freedom. How many ground zero's are there then? The whole word is a mass grave. But we did prevail. The whole world is a terrorist target. But we did prevail. The whole world is an enemy. But we did prevail even that. So why should a single day matter anymore? In an increasingly unfair world, the forces of humanity eroding to the concoctions of politic powerplay and preambles of human extinction, we will prevail. Like nature itself, we humans are just struggling to fix our wrongs. But when we are done, days like 9-11 wont serve as a memory of tyrants but as a triumph of the human spirit for the love of freedom. Because maybe we are just romantics who seek star trails over the magnificent black sky and not zealots who are content with invisible sermons. Rest in peace all who died for me, us and the world through time. You are always remembered in our hearts and mind.

Kedah Gagah Kedah-lah Juara

The Return of the Hijau Kuning team!

Kedah FA did the Treble this year taking the FA Cup, Super League Cup and also the prestigious Malaysia Cup. It's been 14 years since Kedah FA last brought home the MC. This is the best gift for the loyal fans of Kedah FA...since the amazing years of 1987 -1993 when the team played in 6 finals, winning two of them in 1990 and 1993. Together with legendary players like V.Sundramoorthy of Singapore, Radhi Mat Din, Aziz Azizan, Tibor Szaban, Olubunmi Adigun, Jan Janostak, Peter Nieketien, S.Thanasegar Faridzuan Che Hamid, Lee Kin Hong, Ahmad Sobri and many more under the patronage of Coaches, Haji Ahmad Shafie, Milos Kvacek and Robert Alberts and the great Manager, Dato' Paduka Ahmad Basri Akil, Kedah FA colored the local football scenes of late 80's and early 90's. If not for the bribery scandal that hit Malaysian football in the mid 90's, Kedah would have remained the legend that it really was during that time. Things changed for the better starting from 2005 when we were the runner ups and completed the grand return this year with a deserving treble.

His Highness The Sultan of Kedah presenting the Malaysia Cup to Victor Andrag (Team Captain)

Kedah FC, the Champions of Malaysia!

and for 2008...PULUN KEDAH PULUN!...
ole ole ole ole, Kedah Gagah, Kedahlah Juara!

Biar Jasa Jadi Kenangan

Yakinkanlah diri sendiri
Berjuanglah sejiwa murni
Tekun, berani sesungguh hati
Demi sukan mengharum negeri

Biar jasa jadi kenangan
Hijau Kuning lambang kemegahan
Jelapang Padi tempat sanjungan
Negeri Kedah Darul Aman

Kedah, Kedah pantang kalah
Walau sakit, jatuh dan rebah
Bangun lantas semula gagah
Bujur lalu melintang patah

Hijau Kuning darahku
Darul Aman negeriku
Hijau Kuning darahku
Negeri Kedah negeriku
Negeri Kedah negeriku

- Official Anthem of Kedah FA

[#] Hat-trick For Kedah

The Italian Job

Probably Ferrari would have thought that McLaren would crack under pressure from the events that lead to the showdown in Paris on Sept 13. But the Tifosi's got the shock of their lives when we did a 1-2. And the sweetest thing is, regardless of what happens on Thursday, McLaren in records and live on the circuit pulled the greatest Italian job this weekend in Monza. And thats enough for any fan of McLaren because we know now the only way Ferrari could ever win the constructors or drivers tittle is either on papers at the WMSC meeting or in the courts. Fuck you all Tifosi's! A classic case of Ferrari chickening out in the circuit and trying to get other hardworking teams into trouble when they're not winning.

Bye bye 'Ferrari world title'.

FUCK YOU FERRARI, JEAN TOAD.
FUCK YOU WHINNY BITCH TIFOSI'S.
AND FUCK YOU FLAVIO BRIATORE!

We will wait for Sept 13

Concoction

life
the tortuous river
through time
it flows, permeates
the swamps of humanity
with all their colors
and worries and lies
with all their happiness
and sins and fantasies

life
as graceful as the fireflies
the matters of existence flies
jumps out of humanities soup
trying to reach new heights
like the yellow flower against a blue sky
contrasting feelings for the sake of dying

life
takes whichever path
it fills whichever desires
it pretends whichever care
that the heart can afford
for the mingling mixing human
forms in the intoxicating
concoction of dreams

life
towards no end
from no beginning
it hopes for nothing
but another soul
for that it can sometimes
be desperately lonely
even when in the crowded
magnitude of humanity

-gp07-

[#] Going to be a rainy weekend...

[#] Nice Ad, watch this[Cadbury]

What The!

I find this amusing in a very dark way.

Bin Laden plans to release new video

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - The first new images of Osama bin Laden in nearly three years will be released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qaida's media arm announced, a move that would end the terror mastermind's longest period without a message.

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[#] See America (and your Allied 'friends')...you have explored the Moon, Mars and even landed on Titan but cant capture this idiot. And imagine, he has a media arm? Fuck! And he's releasing videos. He's doing a Paris Hilton folks...he's lonely and needs attention. Why dont you guys send a few cruise missiles and end his misery?

The Moment

I feel. This is the moment for something great. And I wait.

I evolved. Now in the 'I don't care' phase. I wait further.

It's evening. I'm so in love with voices. Sweet voice(s).

It's 3 AM. I feel born again. Somethings not right.

Something is right. To Space and Beyond! And the Long Trek Home.

Cold morning. Something born came this way. A new Hope.

A still sun. Thunder in a distant land. Rain on lonely hills.

[#] An experiment with Moments. Do you have Moments?

But it's been 50 years!

Ok...so obviously there's been no post since the 1st. And no update on the Independence celebrations or anything else. Well for starters I slept through Friday morning so I never actually went to the parade, neither did I see it on the telly. Blame it on the EST work assignments and my new found fetish with torrents and movies. But hell, I would have slept through the day if not for the Sukhoi SU-30's doing their U-turns above my apartment. I didn't hear the freakin cell phone 3 inches away from my ear but those jets a mile above woke everyone up!

I love parades, everyone does. I 'loved ' parades. About 15 years ago before I started seeing clips of parades from Russia, China, India, etc. They have way cooler military hardware, and any parade without nuclear missiles is no parade. Sorry I'm still an anti weapons activist but nothing turns me on than seeing WMD's on a holiday stroll. Blame it on science.

The next thing I loved about festive and celebration holidays are the shows that come on after the parades. We used to have really cool circus acts on TV. Yep, 15 years ago. Nowadays only Cirque du Soleil qualifies as a great act. No more tigers or elephants, sht they're boring. Once upon a time, every single holiday used to have circus shows, but of course kids nowadays prefer a different kinda' act on the Internet.

So there I was at 10 am starring blank at the sky above trying to catch at the latest gadgets of this great nation knowing that yet another year I did not wake up and be patriotic. And to add to that, another year that 'I-wanted-to-go-but-didn't' thingy. Frankly all this bores me, no not the parade or the celebration, but traveling to it. The commuters would be packed, the metro would be horrible and of course you have to brave the thousands of people to get into a viewing position to watch the mega march past. We'll just see what happens next year.

But

Since I'm practically on the net for 20 hours a day, that is working EST + GMT + Local Office Hours added, I read a lot of news stuff. And I hate online news. And being a wonderful day it was, seeing a young country celebrating 50 years of freedom, I presumed at least for once the foreign news service would give a nice account of my country. Nada! Nope, not a single wholly good article. Bloody hell, even the local 'alternative' news sites dumped a whole bucket of poop on the anniversary. I mean like WTF people, what else you want to see in this country. You voted for the government, you have the power, you buy stuff, you pay taxes, and yes, you give bribes!. So why then must you - Malaysians complain that things are not good? You are a democracy, one among a few that actually works but still things suck. So change it for the good by doing something rather than whining!

What all the articles had is a good paragraph or two of the celebrations and then a very long 'But' section of stuff. What? Do they only teach how to write 'But' sections at journo schools nowadays? But there are still race tensions, but there are still bribes, but there are still crime, but there are still stupid people. We came a long way, we've been through sht to get here, at least have the decency of writing the truth or if you can point out the But's then present the But's with evidence. And yet again who to blame for this? Why...Malaysians of course. We haven't the faintest idea where we are. And there are people talking about 50 years in the future. We must defend our countries image for the sake of being a Malaysian!

Ever wondered why people are saying stuff like this? Why there are skeptics for another 50 years? Everything starts from somewhere and that somewhere is the roots. Our education system isn't actually producing gems. Well, the small group of gems are not going to stay here anymore. Most of the achievers leave this country for better pastures because quite frankly, the tertiary education here is like a headless chicken. Science here is not a candle in the dark, we are using 2nd hand science! Sooner or later, another But article will call us a second hand nation, if they haven't already.

There is no paradigm shift happening, nothing MOVING forward. We are merely drifting forward. We are a society, like 90% of the countries in the world who knows zilch about the future and are claiming that we own it. We are users, consumers. We wake up, eat and sht. I dont see the same patriotism like what Indian's in India show. We are still delineated by our races. We are the same like any other in the world and we are not the safest or the strongest or whatever. A few months ago I stepped on a mine field trying to say something like Virginia Tech would not happen in Malaysia. Sure indeed a buddy from the States googled me a lot of articles on gun smuggling here. And then the human trafficking rackets and not surprisingly the terrorism links. All this makes you stop and think, is this really the country that they advertise on TV?

Another 50 years

Thinking of the negatives of this country will only give you a headache and definitely send you in the fear state that the politicians try to impose on us. How to decipher this 50 years of Independence? Many out there wont know how this great country is a model to the world. How we started from a spice junction into the biggest exporters of electronics and palm oil. We have everything that the 21st century can offer (except I cant find an Iriver Clix here). The best airport, the busiest sea ports, the biggest, the tallest, the hottest F1 race. You name it. And we have culture in the likes you've never seen anywhere. If you think Bali is awesome, try coming to the best beaches in the world in Langkawi, Redang, etc. Our economy is rocking, the envy of local sea countries, even Indonesia has no answer for us. But where did it all go wrong or going wrong?

We sat down and watched the world go past. We never bothered, we read crime in the papers and went to bed. We never took action. Partly it's because we haven't seen any actions. And trust me we dont want any action in the likes of the middle east or Sri Lanka. I cant imagine anyone here surviving a civil war and I greatly respect the spirit of the people who left their countries in conflict but still love every bit of their motherland. We here are different. We are not bothered. We step on our flags. We bitch about stuff that our neighbors do but shut up when our leaders screw up. How could a single person or two be bigger than 26 million people? We are living the curse of our history. We had a unique challenge that were given to us since even before our Independence on 31st August 1957. The legacies of war taught us many things. But today we let it slip away, never reminiscing or respecting it. We take for granted the 'safety' that we have. We let drug and crime permeate our children and youth. We never care about education, we let people make decisions that we dont like. In short we never think of tomorrow.

Another 50 year will be hard. Hard staying together is the least of our problems. There are people out there trying to break us apart, inside this country and from outside. We fail to realize we dont have a home away from home. Be it Chinese or an Indian. We are Malaysians and like it or not we are what we are. Please dont tell me you can just migrate to India and be one of them or China. We cant, this is a political world. The powers that power the turbulence in the society is strangely fueled by the people itself. We create the chaos that we did not want to face. We failed to correct things. Change doesnt mean going to the streets, we will never have the motivation of street protesters or the mercy of the God's if we want violence. This is a democracy so we have the voting rights to change things. And the first change is to stop believing the wrong sources. It's true that these 'alternative' news dig up things the mainstream media would never touch. It's true that to an extend this is media control. But many would agree that we are not a mature society to handle racism. If we let people speak and do things, if we let Malaysians or be it even Asians to have the freedom of America, then we would sink even faster. We cant be as free as anyone wishes because freedom and liberty the American way means there will be a gun in every home. Cherish the freedom of our own brand.

What we can copy from the western world is the education. We have the best brains in the world but we dont have the environment conducive to achieve such a break for our own soil. We admire their computing machines to space machines but we dont have the expertise to do it ourselves. We sell out easily, we want to make more money because we think we can come back once a year and impress the locals. That's where the crux of the matter lies. The only way the government can change the people is to revamp and create a system of multi medium learning that will give birth to an astronaut, not buy a seat to space. We need naturals and we need it fast. We cant be second hand forever. We need to settle the language issue, we need to settle the racial issue and then we can go forward. Our education already teaches us to think, but it doesnt teach us to think out of the box. Education is a political tool, but this politics must be discarded for the good of all. The only way to create a true Malaysian is to let him or her learn freely and develop freely.

It's easy to sink into activism roles. Trying our best to be on the other side of the fence and shouting abuses to a system thats been in power since this country is born. In many ways, there is nothing wrong with this system. It's working because we are working it. We are workers but not creators. There will come a time in the future where there will be forces that want to change the system, want to change the governing rules but bear in mind that experiments doesn't always work. I don't have faith in a wholesale change in the system. I have faith in experience. I'll stop here for this matter and not say anything more about politics. But one thing for sure is that we have the power to vote and we can change the wrongs of the society but we dont have to throw away a working system. This is a society banded together since 50, even hundreds of years ago. We may be facing some cracks here and there but this too shall pass.

What 50 more years brings us is more than politics and people. The earth is not doing well. It's basically reseting because we have done damages that cant be undone easily. As a society we have to think of the climate change because it has the keys for a better tomorrow socially and economically. Our oil will run out and our tracks will slow down. Our momentum will slow down, it wont stop but it will slow down. There will be terrorism and there will be wars. And the good thing is we can change all this. We can stay together and face the challenges one by one. We can gain more by having friends who think alike. And we can go forward confidently by having great teachers, no matter where they are. 50 years in the future we must think globally to achieve what we want. And no matter what people say, we will achieve it and there will be a great 100th celebration and God willing I want to be alive to see it.

It's a long post but it's what I honestly think of this country. There are many things I left out, there are many criticisms that I could have hurled but I didn't. There are many more wrongs out there but I dont want to say it. But I can assure anyone out there, Malaysia is a safer and better country than say 20 or 30 years ago and certainly safer than most Asian nations. Malaysia will continue being a model country for any multiracial society out there. We will amend whatever there is lacking and we will prove wrong any naysayers out there. In the end I dont see myself living anywhere else. I want to travel the lands, I want to see where we all came from; the great democracy of India and admire the land of freedom and liberty, America. But in the end I want to come back and feel home.

May God Bless Malaysia for another 50 years and eternity.

[#] Post will sway from thesis to anti-thesis from time to time...well...that's how emotions are.
[#] EST work time is working according to American office hours. GMT is loosely for Europe.

Always Remembered

Not Many Legends Today. Not A Single Princess Left Today.

Always remembered, our dearest Princess.

Candle In The Wind

Goodbye England's rose
May you ever grow in our hearts
You were the grace that placed itself
Where lives were torn apart
You called out to our country
And you whispered to those in pain
Now you belong to heaven
And the stars spell out your name

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footsteps will always fall here
Along England's greenest hills
Your candle's burned out long before
Your legend ever will

Loveliness we've lost
These empty days without your smile
This torch we'll always carry
For our nation's golden child
And even though we try
The truth brings us to tears
All our words cannot express
The joy you brought us through the years

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And your footsteps will always fall here
Along England's greenest hills
Your candle's burned our long before
Your legend ever will

Goodbye England's rose
May you ever grow in our hearts
You were the grace that placed itself
Where lives were torn apart
Goodbye England's rose
From a country lost without your soul
Who'll miss the wings of your compassion
More than you'll ever know

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never fading with the sunset
When the rain set in
And you footsteps will always fall here
Along England's greenest hills
Your candle's burned out long before
Your legend ever will

- Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin