How Much Carbon Did The Indonesian Fire Emit?

Last month, palm oil concessions and small farmers in Indonesian began their annual land clearing and burning activity to open up new land for the new season, and the result was a devastating, month-long haze that blanketed neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

Haze, as we know, is made up of dust particles, greenhouse gases, and carbon. Lots of carbon.

The Annual Haze in South East Asia: Whose Fault Is It?

Even breathing can be difficult nowadays. 

A lot of us are well-informed about the haze that hit South East Asia (SEA) every year. In fact, it's happening right out the window next to me as I type, and if you don't know about it already, you should really go hang yourself outdoor once in while and stop keeping yourself indoor all the time.

Eel's Blood Is Toxic To Humans, But Electric Eel's Blood Is Not

Fact checking is an important part of journalism.

Especially when you're working for organizations like National Geographic or Discovery.

The Underreporting of the Boko Haram Kidnapping Issue: Whose Fault Is It?

Boko Haram is a militant Islamist group based in northeastern Nigeria. The name comes from the Hausa language, a language spoken by people in Niger, Nigeria and Chad, which roughly translates to prohibited western education or western education is sinful.

Founded in 2002, the organization seeks to establish a pure Islamic state ruled by sharia law.

And on the night of April 14 2014, the group raided a local school and took away 276 school girls. The leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau announced in a series of videos posted online that he will sell the children into slavery. “Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell.”

The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau. Image: telegraph.co.uk

This news irritates me because I find it incomprehensible that slavery still exists in this era of internet, human rights and iphones. And it irritates me even further that it is again being done under the name of religion. Some reports state that the girls will also be sold as child brides to men in neighboring Cameroon and Chad.

The Disappearance of MH370 Has Brought Technology Down On Its Knees

For many people, the disappearance of MH370 is utterly incomprehensible, and you can hardly blame them for thinking that way. After all, we're living in an era of GPS and Google Maps, and basically everyone is being spied on by the NSA.
So how can a plane so huge vanish into thin air just like that?

Ever since the start of the industrial revolution, humans have been creating countless wonders: building bridges; cars; airplanes; trains; guns and firearms; and two centuries later we basically have had the entire world under our feet. We have looked beyond our planet, snapping photos of the Sun, Mercury, and celestial body as far as Jupiter and the 67 moons that surround it. We have transformed the Earth according to our needs, creating dams and canals, altering terrain and destroying nature at will while pushing other species towards extinction. We have also expanded our clout onto a neighboring planet via the Curiosity rover. Hence, with this constant influx of the glory of our technology it's easy to think that everything is within our control, and that everything can be achieved by our technology.

Hypocrites

Which One Are You?

The State of Malaysian Tertiary Education

Education is very important, and I believe anyone who possesses the right mind knows that. Even animals know the significance of education--they educate their young to hunt, to evade, to forage, and to survive. Education shapes the character, intellect, altruism, and etiquette of a person. Article 26 in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that:

The Grim Confession of A Movie Maker

I should have anticipated this shouldn't I?

I recently made a general-election related video for a group of friends, but it was not at all smooth-sailing. Far from it.

It all started when the leader of the group proposed to write a song to urge young, indecisive Malaysians to go home and vote. I was basically excluded from the conversation until a day before recording. It turned out that some pro video makers weren't actually interested and so I was called in.

Kenaifan Sultan dan Militan Sulu: Ini Bukan Zaman Menggunakan Kekerasan!

Sejak dari zaman kemerdekaan Malaysia lagi pihak Filipina telah menyasarkan negeri Sabah sebagai tanah jajahan mereka.
Dua minggu lalu kita semua dikejutkan dengan kehadiran kumpulan militan yang diketuai oleh Sultan Jamalul Kiram III di Lahad Datu, Sabah.

Sultan Sulu, Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. Image: thestar.com.my

Pihak polis telah mengadakan rundingan dengan Sultan Jamalul Kiram untuk menamatkan konfrontasi ini secara aman, tetapi sehingga kini tujuh orang ahli pasukan keselamatan telah terkorban (2 di Lahad Datu, 5 di Semporna) sementara pihak Sulu mempunyai 14 orang terkorban (12 di Lahad Datu, 2 di Semporna).
Tetapi wajarkah Sultan Sulu menuntut kembali negeri Sabah menggunakan kekerasan?

Ng Yen Yen: Yes Yes Yes. Crowd: No No No!

I think by now most Malaysian are familiar with what happened in Penang during PSY's Chinese New Year visit to Malaysia earlier this month. If you don't, check it out here.

And history repeated itself four days ago on Chap Goh Mei--Dr Ng Yen Yen were inundated by cries of "No! No! No!" from the crowd in Malacca during her failed attempts to coax them to say otherwise. She appeared frustrated with the response and had also asked the crowd to talk to the hawkers on Jonker Street who’ve benefited from Melaka’s growth and flourishing economy: “Go ask the hawkers at Jonker Street how much they earn each day’.

Let's Give Credit Where It's Due

Every person has two sides: a good side and a bad side.

The person you perceive as unethical and self-absorbed could be an ardent animal lover. The pretty lady you saw on the street today could turn out to be an arrogant b*tch. And if we acknowledge a person's bad side, we should also acknowledge the person's good side. Otherwise we're no different from the person we hate, merely a bunch of biased pricks.

Scientists Aren't Smarter

Scientists are not special bunch of people. They defecate, eat, sleep, and have sex like everyone else.

Very often, the reaction I get when telling people that I'm a research student in Physics "Wow! Physics!"

Image: scienceworld.wolfram.com

No boy, that doesn't help.

You're Not Stupid. Nobody Is

The recently announced Nobel Prize winner in medicine, Sir John Gurdon was considered "too stupid" by his science teacher during his days at Eton College.

He ranked last out of the 250 boys in his school at biology when he was 15, and didn't do well in other science subjects either. He still has the school report from his master sit on his desk at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge.

The Twisted Minds of Republicans

America is supposed to be the most powerful country on Earth. They have the strongest minds in science, the best research facilities, top universities, and the dumbest of politicians. Looking at the nonsense uttered by republicans I can't help but wonder how on earth these douchebags got their votes.

Gay and Lesbian Guidelines?

The entire Facebook community country was stunned by the news of Ministry of Education publishing guidelines to identify symptoms of homosexuality among youth. The purpose of the guideline, according to officials, is to help parents identify signs of homosexuality in their child.
The news was featured in newspapers in the UK and a talk show in the US, severely damaging the image of Malaysia.

Poets Get The Girls?

Had a chat with a friend on facebook, and she said poetic guys get most of the girls.

That was a very depressing news for me. And the most depressing of them all being; one of her friends, a modern day Shakespears, has had like, five girlfriends, or more? He's not exactly good looking, and probably a little bit more talented than Bieber, a lil chubby, and he currently has a hot girlfriend who looks like one of those Korean movie stars.

Food Wasting

If there's one social sickness that our society has yet to curb, it's food wasting.
The birth of the internet era has generated more erudite elite than all other eras in the course of human history combined. We have more lawyers, teachers, engineers, pharmacists, and doctors today than there ever were, so these people should naturally have the sense to not to waste food, no?

Carried Too Far

Not respecting an opponent has its limit. Chanting abusive remarks is one thing, but to wet your opponent with your biofluids is right there at the top of the most absurd things to do.

This little twerp, an obvious Bulls fan, was downright stupid to think that it's funny to spit on his hand and high-five the Knicks players, and then post this absurdity on youtube.

Do We Need Lynas--FAQ (Frequently Argued Questions)

It's essential to have our facts right before going out against Lynas, otherwise we would easily change our mind when confronted by "facts" from the proponent.

Some people joined the party last Sunday because they wanted to topple the government. Some people joined in because their friends were there. Some people did it because it's all over Facebook and Twitter, for the thrill, or because Lim Guan Eng was against it. A majority of the people joined for a simpler reason: because it's not safe.

Image: charleshector.blogspot.com

By the way if the Pahang government ask you to justify "not safe" in a public forum, how are you going to answer?

Quoting history (Bukit Merah and Fukushima) isn't really effective, because the proponent would argue that technology advances with time, just like cars. We have better refinery-technology now compared to the technology upon which Bukit Merah was built, and back then there was no proper storage. Fukushima was in Japan, a land prone of earthquake.