DUNKIRK and life update

I've always wanted to watch movies about the history of World War II (WWII). As with most of the people my age, we are generally more receptive to videos than written words, so history class with videos is more effective than reading mere words on paper.

Nonetheless, one thing I don't like about movies is that they often dramatize or exaggerate the real event to achieve the desired plot.

Image: youtube.com

Dunkirk, however, is no such movie. Sure, it has its fair share of dramatization and fictionalization, but director Christopher Nolan has done a great job in minimizing the fictionalizations of history, using different names as proxies to the real characters in history.

I'm not about to do a spoiler here so please go to your nearest cinema to watch it. My verdict for the movie is that the it is definitely worth your time.

These are a few thoughts after watching Dunkirk:
1) Heroes don't always survive. Cowards don't always die.
2) When facing death, your sworn brothers could easily turn you in to the enemies.
3) Why don't politicians go to war themselves? War is where the decision by the 1% brings death and sufferings to the 99%.

4) Fun trivia: 
a) the narrowest part of the English Channel is about 20.7 miles, or 33km from Dover to Calais (which is near to Dunkirk by the way). That's about an hour's ride by boat or 5 minutes (at 372 mph) by Spitfire fighter plane.
b) The average depth of the Channel is only about 65 meters, while the shallowest part only 45 meters. In comparison, all six of the British destroyers lost in Operation Dynamo were over 90 meters in length. Had all the destroyers sunk hull-first, the stern of the ship could still remain on the surface and could at least sustain the crews for several hours. Heck we need ship designs that allow ships to sink hull/stern first, not sideways.   

Image: wikipedia.org

Lastly, in light of some recent comments dropped on my Facebook, I see the need to clarify that I'm currently single. I'd appreciate no further questions nor comments on this subject especially on Facebook. Thanks.

Malcolm

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.

Premarital Sex or Not?

Sex. What an exquisite topic.

How do you define sexual immorality/indecency anyway? Bare breasts, for instance, were socially accepted in many civilizations across the world in the past. Ancient Egyptian women wore elaborate dresses that could either cover the breasts of leave them exposed. Today, you just have to walk into your nearest museum to see explicit pictures and statues of Greek goddesses. As for man, take a look at Michelangelo's David-- exhibiting your phallus so openly isn't exactly decent by today's standard. So if bare breasts and genital-flashing were accepted as a norm in the past, how can we be sure of the exact definition of sexual immorality today? What deemed inappropriate today might not be appropriate in the next hundred years.

Anyway, excuse my random rant there.
We are often taught by our parents to avoid premarital sex. 
But why? 
Of course, religious institutions play a huge role in making sure that young, unmarried couples do not give in to the temptation of lust because, according to them, it's bad for the youngsters. And they'll follow up their claims with allegories of broken families or couples who'd committed themselves illegally in the premarital breeding program.

Now, We Finally Have A Way To Get Rid of Bedbugs

"Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite"

I had had no problem with bedbugs during my adolescence year. Thanks to my mother's continual insistence in keeping the house clean, I had never been bitten by a bedbug before, and so I never truly appreciated the quote above, until I got ravaged by bedbugs (for two bloody weeks), like literally hundreds of bedbugs, during my exchange program in India. The experience was horrible enough to recall, and one that I hope no human on this planet would have to go through. I could barely sleep at all because of the seemingly never-ending itchiness.

Image: en.wikipedia.org

I searched the web frantically looking for a quick solution and, to my horror, found no one-off solution. It's like you can't really exterminate them all at one go; you need to put your mattress out under the sun for a period of time—which means you may need to sleep on another mattress, spray specialized insecticides repeatedly, and seek help from professionals.

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.

My Encounter With Kopi Luwak In Indonesia

It was around 3pm in the afternoon when we arrived at the Ijen National Park, East Java, Indonesia. We were passing through a coffee plantation when Wahid, the driver of our tour suddenly broke the silence.

"A cup of this coffee can make you wide awake at night," he said,

"But that's not because of its' caffeine, but it's because of its hefty price!"

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Is An Outstanding Fund-Raising Campaign, A Poor Awareness Campaign

My current facebook newsfeed is inundated with videos of people executing in various ways the ALS ice bucket challenge.

Before I start, I have to make clear my stance: I support the ALS awareness campaign. I support all types of disease-related awareness campaign wholeheartedly. I genuinely think that this campaign is an effective way of raising fund to support the research into battling this lethal disease.
However, I can't help but to also feel that the movement is beginning to skew from its original intent of raising awareness of the disease to raising awareness of one’s own altruism and/or attractiveness in a wet T-shirt.

Six Tips To Improve Your Memory

I'm not sitting for examination this semester. In fact I haven't taken any written examination since 2011, simply because I'm now a postgraduate researcher, and researcher don't take exams! :D

It's exam season now, and I feel bad when I see people trying so hard to memorize their notes. Boycotting Facebook is one way to stay focused, but you need some time off as well and immersing yourself in a sea of books isn't going to help.

Forget about your grandma's magic potion or the tips given by your CGPA 2.0 seniors. Here are six ways, backed up by solid science, for you to improve your memory.

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.

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:

Post GE-13

I haven't been blogging a lot in recent months because of, well, business.

Anyway the Malaysia 13th General Election (abbreviated as GE-13 henceforth) has proven to be the most controversial GE ever. There were alleged blackouts, phantom voters and extra bags of votes disappearing. I was really angry the night the result was out because I felt my virgin vote was brutally raped by a dark, unseen force. And despite losing out on popular votes, Prime Minister Najib still managed to grab more seats than the opposition party and thus formed the government.

Image: www.kinibiz.com

Gerrymandering at its best. Congratulations. Maybe one day we should emulate the U.S and Taiwan, whereby the president is chosen by its people. Then we'll see how good Najib really is.

General Election 2013--My Take

Barrack Obama loves the internet. It's his favorite weapon, and also his deadliest. 

During the run-up to his campaign in 2008, he deployed a group of internet-savvy data crunchers to collect and assess vital information about the public, to attack and to defend, and to promote his campaign.

Justin Bieber Set To Contest In Pelangai, Pahang In GE13

Kuantan — Teenage sensation Justin Bieber is set to contest in the Pelangai constituency in the upcoming Malaysia General Election.

Image: www.aceshowbiz.com

The news was released by Bieber's agent, Carlos Ikanmasin yesterday during a press conference in Georgia, who said that the teenage star "wishes to try his luck in politics".

North Korea II

Kim Jong Il was still alive when I first blogged about this hermit kingdom several years ago. Today, Kim Jr. has taken over the throne and his people's lives are getting worst.

First off, we all know that North Koreans live miserable lives. Personal wealth, nonexistent. Internet, very strictly regulated. Freedom of speech, f**k that sh*t. Media freedom, f**k that sh*t too. Human rights, election, starbucks, Big Mac, etc, forget it. And most importantly, thou shalt not talk foul of the regime, lest thou be sent to the gulag.

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’.

What Time Is It In Antarctica?

The continent of Antarctica sits on every line of longitude. So what time zone should you follow if you're in Antarctica?

There are no permanent residents on the continent. But anywhere from 1000 to 5000 people, most of whom are scientists, reside in various research stations scattered across the continent throughout the year. So keeping watch of the time is very important.

Time zone is determined by the line of longitude. India for instance, is located several time-zones west of Malaysia, and hence the time in Malaysia is several hours ahead of India. The difference in time is determined by the difference in the longitude line, with each degree divided into 60 minutes.

Antarctica sits in all time zones, so adhering to the rule above means that... erm...

For practical purposes time zones are usually based on territorial claims, however many stations use the time of the country they are owned by or the time zone of their supply base (e.g. McMurdo Station and Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station use New Zealand time due to their main supply base being Christchurch, New Zealand).--wikipedia

Image: http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-antarctica24.php

Right. So the time in Antarctica now, according to this website, follows New Zealand time, which is 5 hours ahead of Malaysia time.

Malcolm

The Problem With Rape

On 16th December 2012, a 23-year-old girl was gang-raped, beaten, mutilated, and thrown off a bus in India's capital New Delhi. The case sent shockwaves across the world. 
Angry civilians poured onto the streets of India for the next couple of days to demand stronger actions against rapists. The poor girl died of her injuries two weeks later. The six men who committed the atrocity have been charged with murder. But is that enough to prevent similar tragedy from happening in the future?