Noah's Ark

Many Christians are familiar with the story of Noah's Ark in the Holy Bible.

Apparently God was kinda pissed with the world then, and He ordered Noah to build the ship by hand.

Sleep

Now it's 1:53am, May 26 2010.

I just finished installing the bookshelf and showered, and now surfing for no reason.
Actually was facing quite a dilemma just now~ a fren of mine is getting restless about being single so ya..~

Anyway there was an oil spill(AGAIN~!!) yesterday, in the water off Singapore this time, a merchant ship from Singapore collided with a Malaysian oil tanker(such big giants couldn't see each other, IRONIC!!) and deposited the shit on the sea, 2000 tonnes of it, that's 2000,000 KG of crude covering an area as large as 2.5 mile long and more than a half-mile wide. Again I say : SCREW U ALL !!!!


The product of human carelessness...

Anyway I should be sleeping by now, but why am I not sleeping? Because I'm blogging lar~

We spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping; ie the more we sleep, the longer we live o.O

Scientists have long probe into the question: why do we sleep??

Some would say: We are recharging, just like batteries

But studies show that the total energy conserved during our 8 hours is equivalent to the total energy generated by a food item containing 150 kilocalories, that's 2 pieces of bread o.O



So why do we need to sleep?

There are various stories about dream in all parts of the world. Ancient civilization believed that the Gods conveyed their messages through dreams. The devil could enter your sleep and overpower you through your dream.

Some even told of stories about foreseeing the future through dreams...

well...

When we sleep, we dream. We dream because our brain is still active, and the theme of our dream varies according to the activities that we have done during the day, be it a movie, a soccer game, or a party, we carry those memories into our sleep.


If I see this is a soccer game I'm quite sure that I will remember it for a long long time...


And alcohol weakens your thinking ability.. sort of like anesthetized your brain..

At the same time, it is said that when we dream, we are actually deleting old, unwanted information from our brain. This means when we dream, our brain are deleting our primary school information while installing new information regarding what we have just done the day before. This enhances our memory of recent activities while forgetting those of old.




The old information that is deleted is probably those deemed unwanted by our brain, for example some painful experiences. Therefore it is recommended that we don't try to remember our dream, though sometimes it is hard to do so, and by doing so you are actually reinstalling the old, unwanted information back into your brain.

Scientists has proven that a good night sleep after studying could enhance your memory, and the typical wake-up-early-to-study method is far inferior, and it destroys your health too.



A good breakfast is essential to boost your brain, and that's why I seldom miss the free breakfast in college :P

I didn't surf around for information tonight, cuz laziness has got the better of me =P


Goodnight~
Malcolm- 2:18am, May 26 2010

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

It's 22nd May 2010 today. It happened a month ago, on the 20th April 2010.

The tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico has been ongoing for a month and it seems nothing could stop it from continuing.


The slick expanding in size

I was deeply annoyed when I saw the news, and waited, and waited and waited for something miraculous to happen, at least to contain the spill to a certain area instead of blocking the leaking well. But no, they did what they thought they could, and the oil has now traveled down towards Florida, one of the most biologically-diversed places in America. Marshes and swamps in Florida are homes for countless species of animal and plant, and all these are now at the mercy of the slick. Next on the slicks' itinerary: rivers and inland water sources, and even the vast Atlantic~

So what happened?



"The fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon reportedly started at 9:45 p.m. CST on April 20, 2010. Survivors described the incident as a sudden explosion which gave them less than five minutes to escape as the alarm went off. A captain of a rescue boat described the heat as so intense that it was melting the paint off the boats. After burning for more than a day, Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, 2010. At an April 30 press conference, BP said that it did not know the cause of the explosion." quoted from Wikipedia

So what happened next was that the leaking well continued to omit crude oil from the sea floor. The leaking was discovered two days after the explosion and at the staggering rate of 8000 barrels of crude per day. It is still leaking today... British Petroleum (BP) has taken action to curb the disaster, using sponges made from animal fur; sheep and alpaca, and also created a containment dome for the catastrope.

But the containment dome failed. Hydrates, mainly crystallized methane frozen from the crushing pressure of the ocean and low temperatures, clogged up the opening at the top of the giant funnel after it landed on the sea floor one mile below the surface.

There are various effort made up NGOs and BP itself to help mitigate the disaster. But as far as I'm concerned, there is no one perfect solution to this problem, and BP's day is made worst by statement from the Obama's Administration wanting them to "clear up, clean up, and compensate". It's always ugly when politicians try to politicize environmental issues.


Containing the slick

Oil spill presents a very hard blow to Mother Nature.

The crude is lighter than water and thus it floats on water, blocking sunlight from reaching the seafloor-thus preventing underwater plants from undergoing photosynthesis. The oil also block oxygen from the water, and hence the oxygen level in the water would decrease, creating a "dead zone". Few animals could survive in a dead zone.


A dead turtle


Sea bird covered in oil

Moreover, the slick would clog up birds' feather and they become flightless. The toxic oil would contaminate nature's water cleaner ie clams, and sea otters in turn eat these contaminated clams. Once dead, scavanging birds feed on the contaminated sea otter carcass, and the cycle goes on, until every living thing in the area affected by the slick is dead and gone.







What's worst is that it takes decades for the environment to restore itself, because the reef which is the breeding ground for fish, is now gone and it is very difficult for reef to start growing again, and please don't forget that it takes time for something to grow to maturity....


Oil on the shore



I hate oil spills. I really do. Experts say that this disaster could eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill as the worst US oil disaster in history.

Sadly, there is nothing I can do. I'm not in the States, and I could not contribute anything at all, and there is NO ONE INDIVIDUAL around me that care (or know) about this thing. WHAT THE FUCK U ALL MORONS. EAT AS YOU WANT AND SLEEP AS LONG AS YOU WISH WHILE NATURE SUFFERS AT THE DEED OF OUR HANDS, AND CONTINUE WATCHING YOUR STUPID DRAMA AND GAMES AND GET FAT AND DIE IN VAIN.

If you cannot do anything, at least you should know/care...

Myanmar

My work place has just took in 2 new crews from Myanmar. Hearing stories about their plight has urged me to write about the country.


Union of Myanmar, or Burma is the largest country in Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam). It is a fertile land like no other, irrigated by the vast Irrawaddy Delta all year round. It is a country rich in culture and tradition, influenced by its neighbors such as Thailand, China and Bangladesh.

The people of Myanmar speak Burmese, and write in Burmese script. There are about 50 million people in Myanmar, compared to 26 million in Malaysia.

They are, however, different from us in many aspect.

Myanmar is ruled by the military government, and life is really tough...
So the military junta of Myanmar started in 1988 when General Ne Win led a military coup and ended the democratic government in Myanmar. The power-crazed dude ruled for 26 years and did many changes to the country, and during this period, Burma became one of the most impoverished countries in the world.

Criticism was scathing, such as an article published in a February 1974 issue of Newsweek magazine describing the Burmese Way to Socialism as 'an amalgam of Buddhist and Marxist illogic'.


Junta Leader General Than Shwe

So cut the history short, Myanmar was accepted as a part of ASEAN in 1997, the capital was moved from Rangoon to Yangon in 2005, in 2007 there was a major demonstration by monks in Burma. I was a lil' dude then and didn't realize the significance of the demonstration..




Some of the monks were executed and their bodies thrown into the river

Aung San Suu Kyi is a prominent figure in Myanmar. An activist of democracy, she won the Nobel peace prize in 1991.


She is currently being held in the prison by the junta after an American swam into her home in 2009, and I guess everyone knows about this.

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma and devastated the massive delta. Millions were left homeless and there were cases of Malaria being reported in the worst-hit areas. The juntas, being ruthless and cold-blooded, continued to enjoy in their luxurious villas while delaying the entry of United Nations planes carrying medicine, food and supplies.


Devastation in Myanmar after being hit by Cyclone Nargis

My new colleague told me that he has earned himself a degree in Physics back in Myanmar in 2004.



Being a Christian, he could not find a job after graduation and was eventually left to become a volunteer teacher in his village, without a proper teaching document.

The juntas found out and there is a strict regulation for teaching in Myanmar(just in case you're teaching democracy). Knowing that he got himself into trouble, he fled his country without his certificate because the it is not allowed to be carried out of the country.

And so, a degree holder from Myanmar working as a waiter in Malaysia.. I heard that a maid of a lecturer holds a degree in law, and another one holds a degree in some medical field...

Hence this is really a lesson to some people I know, who has the opportunity to obtain a degree and a job, in the comfort of their own country, without having to fear for their lives... and yet they choose to waste all their time on games and only start revising during study week. What is this???


Argue all you want; enjoy uni life la, enjoy cuz u'll never know when is your last day la.. Well look at those people in Myanmar and Thailand now. They are stuck in their position with nowhere to go, and they could be shot dead ANYTIME, and we are worried about ISA and critisizing MACC =.=

In UM, there are some dudes who are so into managing their PBCUM la, PTUM la, debate la, college activities la... to the point that they neglect their studies. No matter how you argue; to produce excellent people with excellent leaderSHIT qualities, you MUST not deny that university is the place for you to obtain knowledge and prepare you for the your future career and THE PURPOSE OF YOU ENTERING UNIVERSITY IN THE FIRST PLACE IS NOT TO ENJOY THOSE ACTIVITIES AND GAMING EVERYDAY AND GRADUATE WITH A 2.50 CGPA.



There is a person I know, who only wakes up at 11am, sleeps at 2am, has absolutely no sense of consideration (turning on Hi-Fi when his roommates are studying), lousy English(asking how to reply email from potential employer, and typing "about" as "bout" in a formal reply), do not know what he wants, cheat whenever it's possible(he admits it, and that's why his pointer is above 3.20). He stays in college but he eats out everyday. Then why stay in college? We stay college to ease our financial burden, he stays college because its easier to see his girlfriend (its amazing he has a girlfriend at all). And the worst of all, he's a gambler.



This kind of people is to me, an absolute trash.

The future doesn't look good for Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi just got another 5 years I think from the court and I guess the prospect of having a fair election in Burma is kinda bleak. The Burmese crews in my working place are all trying to obtain the UN refugee status to continue living in Malaysia, because Hell has never been so close...its their home...

Compared to them, we are so lucky to be born in Malaysia. Though we are sometimes unhappy with the government, but still...

be grateful and appreciate what you have
and stop becoming a trash~



Malcolm

The Devil's Bible

This thingy caught my attention when it was mentioned on television in UM library few months back, and I went back and searched high and low for it, only to find out that the Devil's Bible is not exactly what I thought it is~~

It is also called Codex Gigas (The Giant Book), and as the name suggest, it is the largest religious manuscript in the world o.O



So why do we call it The Devil's Bible?

Actually this book is just a typical bible, but it was said to be inspired by the Devil himself. It was said that the book, 92cm tall, 50 cm wide and 22 cm thick, was written by a monk in a single night, and the feat was made possible by a pact with the Devil.



Why would anyone want to make a deal with the Devil? Well it was said that the monk was sentenced to be walled up alive after breaking his monastic vows, and so he promised to create in a single night a book that would glorify the monastery forever.

Near midnight he became sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he made a special prayer, not addressed to God but to the fallen archangel Lucifer, asking him to help him finish the book in exchange for his soul. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid



In truth, however, it is estimated to have taken 20 or more years to complete the work.

The codex was believed to be created by Herman the Recluse in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim, which was destroyed during the 15th century. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. Now it is preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm.



Devil's Bible facts:

1)The 310 parchment leaves (620 pages) of the Devil's Bible are made of vellum, from the processed skins of 160 animals, most probably donkeys. Some pages of the Devil's Bible are thought to have been removed, and no one knows what happened to them.

2)The entire Devil's Bible is written in Latin. The calligraphy is lavishly luminated throughout.

3)Including its wooden case, which is ornamented with metal, the Devil's Bible is so heavy (about 165 pounds or 75 KG) that it requires at least two adults to carry it.

4)The portrait of the devil faces a picture of the "City of Heaven," the only other image in the Devil's Bible. Some scholars believe that the picture of Heaven negates the portrait of the devil. Others have noted that no people can be seen in the City of Heaven.

5)Also in the Devil's Bible is the "encyclopedia" by St. Isidore, who, more than a millennium after he lived, is regarded as the patron saint of the Internet. Isidore's Etymologiae was an attempt to record all universal knowledge of his time, the 7th Century.

Info:
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2008/12/devil-bible.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Gigas

New Energy Source

When talking about energy, most of us would probably think about fossil fuel, and how they pollute the environment, and the fact that they are depleting is the reason why oil price soared to ridiculous level several years back.



Renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy is limited, whereas nuclear energy is potentially dangerous and it produces harmful aftereffect. The Chernobyl incident in 1986 produced handicapped and retarded children, and thousands died as a result. Now the area is uninhabitable and became a restricted area.



Hence, what should we do? What solution do we have?

In the November 2009 edition of Discovery Magazine, there was an entry entitled "Frozen Power" which talked about a newly discovered source of energy that could power Earth for hundreds of years. It is methane hydrate.



Those who have been to camps would know what a solid fuel is, and this thing is almost similar to those. This thing was found by fishermen in Canadian water off Vancouver Island. It was a "hissing, fizzing ice" when they found it caught in the net, and they knew it wasn't ice because it was the middle of summer. They scooped a chunk and placed it in a plastic bag, only for the bag to explode like a balloon. The thing is emitting gas~~

So this thing called methane hydrate is a compound made up of molecules of methane, the primary component of natural gas,trapped in a cage-like structure of water molecules.


The red being water molecules, trapping the green which are methane molecules

It only forms under conditions of high pressure and low temperature, like those found under deep water ocean floors. The hydrate is so densely packed that it releases 164 times its original volume in methane when exposed to normal pressure, which explains why it blew up the fishermen's plastic bag. o.O

This is a big discovery as the methane could replace other fossil fuel as the primary source of energy for the next century. Scientists also suggested to inject liquid carbon dioxide into hydrate sediments such that the methane is released for use as energy while the carbon dioxide is stored so it can't contribute to global warming~



There is a catch though. As a greenhouse gas, methane packs 25 times the potential Earth-heating power of carbon dioxide. And the energy emitted by methane (39,820 KJ/m3) is lower compared to Propane (101,000 KJ/m3) and gasoline (47,300 KJ/KG) and hence we would need a lot of methane to provide the power equivalent to those provided by gasoline and petroleum, and this could lead to more greenhouse effect...



Nevertheless, the discovery of a new fossil fuel could help alleviate the already aggravating circumstances of our global economy. If this source turns out to be good, then perhaps we could well live into the next millennia.

=)
Malcolm

Mormonism

I had this thought several days ago, and coincidentally read about it in an edition of Nat Geo magazine, and thus decided to write about it.



Unlike other subjects that I had written previously, this is a real challenge for me, as I never really understood Mormonism. Believe me, I have no idea what Mormonism is all about..

I'm am sure most Christians have heard of this Mormon thing. I was told by my mother that it's a cult, yet the internet claims otherwise. I am not really sure what it is, as my research draws more confusion than explanation. Is it a church? Or a cult?

So I started out via wikipedia~ =P

So it all started with this guy named Joseph Smith, Jr. He was the founder and claimed prophet of the Latter Day Saint Movement.



In the late 1820s, Smith announced that an angel had given him a book of golden plates engraved with a religious chronicle of ancient American peoples in an unknown language. He also said he had received a pair of divining stones in which he could see the translation, which he published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon. On the basis of this book and other revelations, he founded a church in western New York, claiming it to be a restoration of primitive Christianity.

Smith's followers believe he was a great prophet who saw God and angels, and they regard some of his revelations as scripture. Actually he was rewriting the bible too, adding his own elements into the bible =.=



After Smith's death in 1844, the Latter Day Saint Movement divided into several groups, the largest of which, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) became known in the 19th century for its practice of plural marriage.

The LDS Church officially renounced this practice in 1890 and discontinued it completely in the early 20th century. Other denominations, who refer to themselves as Mormon fundamentalists, continued the practice.

Mormon fundamentalists here refers to the population who adheres to plural marriage, and it still exists in America today. However, the leadership of the Mormon Church became increasingly determined to shed its polygamous past and be accepted by the American mainstream.

The article that highlighted Mormonism in Nat Geo magazine explicitly revealed some of the bizzare practises of Mormons, which include the expulsion of young boys from the community, which they call the "lost boys", plural marriage and arranged marriage of young girls to certain church member, and also heeding jailed prophets.


A Mormon who has five wives and forty six children~

The author of the article presented his work efficiently, revealing the fundamental lifestyle of the Mormons, and upon reading those I felt that this is the exact phenomenon claimed by the bible:

"Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that
the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by
which we know that it is the last hour." (1Jn 2:18)


I'm not judging that Mormons are wrong. They COULD be right, and they COULD be wrong, we'll never know~
but one thing is certain; there are too many streams and denominations of Christians today, to the extend that even cults are being worshiped vigorously. There are various confusion in Christianity itself, with many "prophets" who came out with their own translation, solution and teachings.



The only common thing amongst these denomination is that they all revolve around Jesus Christ, but this put many believers' faith in vain~ they could be doing something which aren't fruitful after all...

Somehow, it is understandable for the Mormons to maintain their beliefs despite cynical remarks from other denominations. Imagine one day you are told that your church is a cult and you have been worshiping in vain all these years, you would probably shrug it off and claim it to be a test from God~.... o.O

That's the main problem with religion nowadays. With science, wrong is wrong and right is right, all to be determined by experiment.



There is no such thing as you believing that electrons are positively charged when other people telling you otherwise and you shrug it off despite experimental evidence laid before your eyes...

So we are not supposed to assume that all churches are good... It could be cult that you're joining =.=


Malcolm

Mothers' Day

I have never said " Happy Mothers' Day" to my mom in my entire 23 years of life. I dislike doing that, not because I dislike my mom or anything, it's just the odd feeling of....well.... You know what i mean. Sometimes we just do not know how to express our thoughts... is there no other way other than saying it like "Ma, Happy Mothers' Day"~??

Anyway

The earliest record about a Mothers' Day celebration was found in Greece, and it was carried on when the Roman conquered Greece. Records state that the Romans celebrated Mother’s Day in the month of March.



Modern Mothers' Day was started by Anna Jarvis in 1904. She was said to be the founder of Mother's Day, though never a mother herself. It all started with a prayer from her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, which says “I hope that someone, sometime, will find a memorial mother's day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.”

Anna never forgot this prayer. After her mother died, Anna was determined to honour her mother and her wish that someday, someone would pay a tribute to all mothers.

Two years after her mother's death in 1905, Anna began an aggressive campaign to establish a National Mother’s Day in the US. The very next year, Mother’s Day was celebrated in the city of Philadelphia.

By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state of the Union. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the second Sunday of May a national holiday, in honour of Mother’s Day.

Although Anna had devoted her life to establishing Mother’s Day, she was disappointed that it had become commercialised and even regretted her action. She and her sister, Ellsinore, spent whatever they inherited from their family to campaign against the holiday.

Anna never married and never had any children. On Nov 24, 1948, she died at the age of 84 and was buried beside her mother in the West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

Unlike Anna, I'm not a passionate person, I'm pretty mean and egoistic, and you don't expect a cocky person to do just anything right..



But then when I think about it, my mom has been waiting for 23 years, and she never heard me say anything....erm....worth remembering? And she's getting old.. and I would want her to know, before its too late, that her son does keep her in mind on this special day.

And regardless of how busy we are (in fact I'm working right now as part timer in a busy restaurant) our mothers still wait for our call, even a simple, 2-minute phone call could melt her heart.



All mothers know that it's the thought that matter. And... finally I took up the phone and called my mom and said "Ma, Happy Mothers' Day"



I heard her chuckled on the other side~ =)