A moment of silence for Japan

It's one bad news after another. At the end of last week, the world got the news that Japan was stroked by a 8.9 magnitude earthquake and followed by a devastating tsunami that reportedly killed thousands of people and rendered many homeless.

In times of adversity like these that we see the true nature of man, more easily with the help of internet and social networking. There are sympathizers that offers prayers and help, and then there are the haters, yes, haters who said Japan had it coming for them because of WWII inflictions. Then tell me trolls, what happened to Germany? There are so many more, but I'd rather not focus on this right now. What ever you do, please don't put salt to injury, they are hurting enough already, please provide support.

Although I am thousands of miles away, news and videos on the internet travels fast. It's harrowing to see these images, of cars, lorries and houses being swept away by the tsunami current like it was made out of cardboards. I truly sympathize to those who has lost their family members and belongings in this natural disaster (the irony of disaster being anything but 'natural' is distasteful actually).

I was brought to remember the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. We still have not gotten over the emotional feeling that come to surface every time we think about it, and now this?

It is a very sad news and my prayers for all in Japan, may you all be in the safe guard of God and may He grant you all strength in facing this adversity. 

And I do hope they manage to contain the radioactive nuclear plant from meltdown. I really hate to see things go from bad to worse.

argh!

Lately, when it comes to computers, I must be the one person with the worst luck ever...

This should be rule#1 of computer back up:

Never keep your back up files (hard disk) the same place as your computer. Put it somewhere at the back of your cupboard if you have to.

Our house was broken into last night, and we've lost 3 laptops, 1 portable hard disk with ALL my backups (!!!!!!!!!), money inside purse (the purse and all other content was left behind) and some small2 stuff.

That bloody fool thief used a metal cutter and cut through the lock and spent some time in the house looking for those stuff. I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL!!!

I'm so frustrated right now. I'm so angry. I'm really dissapointed. I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL THIEF!!!

But I'm thankful that everyone in the family was not harmed physically. We'll definitely lock our bedroom doors and attach a door latch in every room starting tonight. Alhamdulillah and thank Allah for guarding my family from harm.

And as for the thief, I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL THIEF!!!

Sambungan "Jinxed?"

I told you guys last week that I planned to send my broken hard disk to this recovery company to try retrieve the data. Up until this morning, my optimism was still high and believe it can be recovered. But came the quotation in the afternoon, I started to rethink my optimism.

Guess how much they quoted me?

Guess.

Guess again.

Nope. Guess again.

I'll help you. The cost is enough to buy a pretty good laptop.

RM3950. Friggin' 4 thousand ringgit!!!! And they couldn't guarantee that I'll get 100% of my hard disk content back. Depends on the extend of the damage, they said.

When the numbers finally sank down into my head, I've already gone into acceptance mode. Accepting the fact that I'll have to forget about all the contents in the hard disk once and for all. Everything wiped clean. I'm taking this as a sign.

I told my boss about it, and he said whether it's really crucial or not to get all the data back? Well, the company's gonna be paying it anyways (that is if upper management approved my request).

If you were me, would you save your company RM4k, or just go for it. Here's a list of things that's inside to make the decision easier (kot):

• All my engineering data that I've collected from the last 2 projects (that's 3 years worth of data). If not hard disk not saved, all proof for engineering decisions will be lost. Well, I can trace back to the emails sent, but it's a hassle. But will have missing pieces.
  
• All my engineering data from my current project. If hard disk not saved, I might have to redo measurements again or make a sad face whenever manager brings up questions about the numbers.
• All technical documents, reference documents that I've collected and compiled for the past 3 years will be gone. If not saved, I have to scourge the WWW to find them again.
• All technical documents that I've written (original copies), be it for the department's references and for technical conferences are gone. If not saved, still ok. I can download from the server.
• Proofs of payments, such as monthly car loan, bills paid through online gone. If not saved, if there will be a time if i get into trouble with bank or services, I have these to back me up saying "Hey, here I've paid, see?"
• Special folder containing my researchs and proposals. If not saved, I have to write it again (just 20 pages) and find back all the papers on WWW.
• ebooks on photography, motivation, self-improvements, toastmasters.
  
• My Pictures. There's a few folders I didn't backup, including family trip to Bukit Merah, Team Building, trip to KL, gathering with friends... if not saved, hmm... all gone foreverlah.

These are just the major ones, there's some more stuffs on it that I can't remember. Well, you get the gist of it.

Now paranoid and scared that everything on the computer has a mind of it's own and decided to wipe itself clean as an act of gaining independence, I have started to strategically organised a back up regime

1. Data on hard disk. Burn DVD. 2 copies. And another back up on external hard disk. (3 back ups!)
2. Blogger entries --> How to back-up blogger entries

I hope you all do the same too. I hope no one you will ever feel so regretful, frustrated, hopeless and depressed like me ever again T_T

Safety must always be first!‏

There are a handful of people that have the same name like mine living in this township (i think). But this particular one, yours sincerely, thought that maybe she'd write a letter to the editor one fine Thursday morning after she read a couple of bad news online, about the poor maintenance fellow and the unfortunate samaritans.

The editor was kind enough to think that my letter (Give safety priority and money, time and lives can be saved) was worthy of being publish in the news paper today. Now I hope the message of safety will be sent out throughout the country and reaches the right people and they will take the right action. I hope, I hope and I hope... although I secretly feel it's hopeless.

Well, although the editor might have changed and chopped part of my letter to his/her likings but it still good enough for the public. But I think my original version was slightly more 'fierce' that the one published. Here it is...

Safety must always be first!

I am felt very sad after reading the news about the maintenance workers who fell from a gondola while trying to remove a beehive from the building wall on The Star date 13th August 2009.

I'd like to ask the building administrators who commissioned the works whether proper safety training and safety equipments have been given to these fellow workers before they carry out their works?

By right, for those kind of work that requires workers being scaled up one or more storeys high in a gondola such as removing a beehive or cleaning windows, the workers must wear safety harnesses, helmets and other safety gears to prevent them from falling off their gondola and from sustaining other kinds of injuries in case of any freak accidents that might happen. In this case, if they already know that they will be removing a beehive, the workers should be made to wear a protection suit and face mask to prevent them from being stung by the bees and wearing safety harnesses, might be able to save the life of that poor worker who fell to his death.

Another sad case would be the incident of ammonia poisoning at Tanjung Karang, where 6 people have died. The lack of knowledge and information of how hazardous ammonia gas is and what to do in case of emergency were one of the causes why so many people died in the incident.

I noticed that most of us don't give much thought about safety precautions. This is a very sad state of mentality because some of the accidents and fatality that happened could be easily prevented if we just take some time to think before executing the tasks and carry out the necessary safety measures. It is such a waste of time, money and most of all a waste of precious life if we don't take safety precaution matter seriously into our hands.

I hope the administrators who are responsible for many of the hard manual labour or with any work that deals with heavy machinery operation and hazardous working environment should take up the responsibility to ensure their workers follow the correct safety guidelines in order to create a safe working environment for their workers. Safety training and refreshers course should be carried out on a regular basis so that everyone is aware of what to do during an emergency. Quick thinking and action might saves lives.

Let us bear in mind that prevention is always better than compensation.


Sincerely,
Diyana, Bayan lepas, penang.

We always want better things in life, but we dare not change our mindset and is always waiting for others to do that for us. Little do we know that we will always lose if we keep on thinking like this.

I'd like to hear your opinion. Really.

Awat depa katup jambatan kelmarin?

(*Why the Penang Bridge was closed yesterday?)

We all received a public email informing that the Penang Bridge was closed for public yesterday afternoon by the police department until further notice. No further information on what happened.

I was left with my imagination on what might had happened on the ol' bridge..

• An overturned truck in the middle of the bridge, blocking both roads.
• A horrible vehicular accident that forced the authorities to close both roads.
• Tsunami warning...
• Repair work (during rush hour??)
• And the most popular statement that went around the factory village is, a bomb on the bridge.

Whaa-t? A bomb? What kind of terrorist want to detach Penang from the mainland?

It is only a myth that Penangites only lives in Penang. Most of the people working in Penang stays in the mainland (and also vice-versa) like Seberang Jaya, Tasek Gelugor, Nibong Tebal, Bukit Mertajam and some lives up in Sungai Petani (Kedah) and they all commute everyday between the mainland and the island using Penang Bridge. Like a daily ritual.

With the temporary closure of the bridge, we, Penangites felt like we have lost a limb. For your information, at this moment, there's only 3 means of transportation that you can take to come over to the island, one is by plane (which is not an option if you are just shuttling between Seberang (mainland) and Penang. Second, the ferry, a slow and steady ride, only great for sight seeing, but cannot beat the best option, the bridge, fast and convenient.Placed next to the bridge, the ferry looks like an artery clogged up with cholesterol, because ferries can only take in limited number of people at one time.

So, up to this point, I realised, Pak Lah's decision to have a second link is justified after all, just in case things like this happens again in the future.

So, back to the main story, what really happened on the Penang Bridge yesterday? You have to read these:

News.

Blog (A bridge has a blog?)

Or in short, what I'll tell you is that people found a 'questionable pipe' lodged between the divider on the bridge and they have to blow it up, just in case it's a bomb.

Health Awareness

All of you may have heard that plumbum or lead (chemical notation: Pb) is toxic to the human body.

Lead is insoluble in water but easily soluble in inorganic solvents, fats and lipids and these are the constituents of our body (lemak2 dalam badan). How dangerous is that?!

Lead poisoning is an accumulative process which require continual exposure to high levels of lead to show any effects. Therefore, we might not realise that we are consuming lead until it's too late!

But don't worry, you can control lead from entering our body:

1. No smoking, eating or drinking at the work area.
2. Wash hands after work and before eating.
3. Do not wear make-up when working in lead processing area

Mat Rempit = Mat Cemerlang?

In Malaysia, 'Mat Rempit' is a popular nickname given to illegal motorcycle racers. To me, all youths who rides on a motorcycle in a dangerous manner, whether they're racing against each other or not, are considered as a Mat Rempit. These kids never cared less about the hazard they caused when they're on the road. And yes, I do have a thing or two against these group of people.

We don't really need a 'Sigmund Freud' to guess what is going on in the minds of a Mat Rempit. They're attention seeking kids trying to wow everyone who they happen to pass on the road. The stunts, the loud revs of the kapcai, the lane-hogging in groups of 4-5 riders is enough to tell the world that they're cool (I like to coin the term "Macam best konon"). I've happen to come face to face with a group of young Rempits when I was studying in Banting. Whenever we want to go outing to the Pekan, we had to walk about 1km to the nearest bus stop and this 1km walk is quite dreadful when the Rempitons happens to be on the same route. They would drive past us a couple of times while doing a 'wheelie' (ride on one tyre), hoping it would impress the girls, but actually it proves to be quite annoying, to me, at least. (Macam best la konon... buat stunt nak pulak, tapi tak pernah nak offer nak tolong hantar gi bus stop ke takpa jugak...)

Up until recently, stories about Mat Rempit are the talk of the nation. TV stations did undercover investigations on the going ons of the Mat Rempit activities in big cities, directors making movies about the life of a Mat Rempit, MPs talking about them, communities lodging reports about the noises made by the Rempit groups... in short, they're quite a nuisance to the society.

And so, a group of young leaders came forward to the public with vows to convert these Mat Rempits into a group of well behaved youths, namely, Mat Cemerlang. Among the main events organised is of course, motorcycle convoys (yes, spot on!) from point A to point B.

I had the chance to drive alongside one of the convoys, with 3000 bikers/ kapcai riders. It was last Saturday on the PLUS (North-South Highway), from KL to Penang. The experience? I think I can relate to someone who has a weak heart. Lemah jantungku beb. I can show you some pictures.

As we were leaving KL, rain started to fall heavily and it continues to rain heavily when we reached the highway. The time was 3pm, but due to the bad weather, the day seemed as if it was already 6pm. In addition to that the visibility on the road was very poor, estimated about 5km ahead.

Poor visibility on the road.

Although it was as if it is literally raining cats and dogs, the bad weather didn't deter these 3000 Mat Rempits to embark on their meaningful journey in becoming Mat Cemerlangs. Most of them are quite steel-y when they can manage to ride their motorcycle in their wet black t-shirts (not a good colour to wear in such weather conditions). Imagine riding a motorcycle at 70km/h in heavy, heavy rain, your t-shirt is drenched, your shoes and socks are soaked in water, thick beads of rain coming to you almost vertically and hitting your face at the same speed as your motorcycle; and try being in that situation for 2-3 hours non-stop. Such determination, konon.

'Brave' souls. Two Mat Rempits riding in the rain.

I wouldn't mind if these kids are riding safely and keep to the most outer left lane on the highway. But this is not the case, and the weather made it worse. Majority of the riders were riding in groups of two and even more! There were also a dozen of broken down bikes, and these 'geniuses' help to push the unlucky biker with their feet, while continuing riding their kapcai-s. Worse of all, they were hogging the middle lane. This forced the heavy vehicles to shift onto the right lane (overtaking lane), and in consequence, held the traffic down. Now everyone had to drive at an average 80km/h (!!!) whereby the normal speed was supposedly to be 100-110km/h for a regular car. Plus everyone had to watch out for these motorcyclist whenever they came too close to our vehicle.

Mat Rempit carrying a pillion hugging from behind
(probably a harem; whose daughter again?), riding
close to vehicle.

While driving down the highway, we'd come to fly-overs, normally these fly-overs will be used by motorcyclist to take shelter from the rain and maybe wait a while until the rain subsided. Due to the sheer number of Mat Rempits (opps.. Mat Cemerlang) taking part in this convoy (3000 participants, I repeat, 3000), obviously, these fly-overs are not big enough to shelter all the participants. Some fly-overs are over flowed with motorcyclist that they even stopped right in the middle of the highway! What are they thinking?! What if there was a bus or a car driving quietly at 80km/h (under the heavy rain) on a highway and suddenly there's a group of motorcyclist in the middle of the road standing jovially on the road. Would we have enough time to react and stop at the instant the driver saw the questionable black figure on the middle of the road?!

As I have expected... there's bound to be an accident or two or more. With a (large) group of idiots on the road, I am not surprised. As a matter of fact, I came across two accidents that day. One involved a bus and an idiot, and another one a car and an idiot. I don't know what happened to the victims (whether they're OK or not), but luckily for them, this is an organised convoy and help came as soon as someone was struck down by a vehicle (Thank goodness for that??)

An accident involving a bus and a Mat Rempit.

Rescuers came to help, as well as on lookers.

Back to the question again... Could they do just that, transforming indisciplined group of yobs by just sending them out in convoys of thousands of participants from point A to B? In my opinion, looking at their current approach, it seems like instead of doing the community a favour, they're putting the community in danger and also the life of the Mat Rempit himself. Kalau tak kena gaya, memang takkan berjaya. (Ni belum lagi membebel pasal masalah sosial yg dibawa oleh golongan ini).

I am Malaysia.

My dad puts up the Malaysian and Penang (state) flag on the balcony earlier this month. This clearly means Malaysia's Independence Day is coming.

There's so much to be proud about being a Malaysians. I, personally, am grateful that I am a Malaysian, for that if I am not, I won't be where I am today. Thank you to our forefathers who has fought against the invaders and occupiers to gain our independence on 31st August 1957.

There's so much to say about where we are now after 46 years of being independent. Do you vaguely remember about 'Vision 2020'? There's only 14 years left for us to get there.. have we fulfilled most of Vision 2020 goals? Honestly, I don't know, but what I expect to see in the year 2020 is that we have a clean environment to live in, low crime rates throughout the country, the average income of the population is in what we consider as 'middle class' income (and not ridiculously low as RM500/month), courteous and respectful Malaysians, and above all, I do hope we won't turn into a heartless hedonist. All in all, religion must be held high in importance in the hearts of the people.

The list above may seem like a list in the Republic of Utopia or La-la. I think it is achievable, but only if we have the right people and the right leaders.

I am concerned with the behaviour of the Malaysian youths. Moreover, I am deeply concerned with the level of moral depreciation experienced by the Malays (which, in retrospect are assumed to be Muslims) youths.

(*I am rating this section as a PG: need parental guidance)
Nak cerita pun jelik. Entah apa nak jadi laa.. budak2 sekolah agama pun jadi samseng kampung dusun, pukul budak Form 1 sampai tulang belakang rosak. Belum lagi yang hidup atas duit haram hasil meragut beg duit pejalan kaki. Itu yang miskin; budak2 yang ada wang pulak dok ralik pergi enjoy dekat club2 yang hingar bingar menari dengan bukan muhrim sambil minum arak, kononnya cool lah tu. Before I rant about rape cases and et cetera and break out in an uncontrollable rage, I'd better stop. Tapi nak share a short story pasal sorang Mat Rempit ni. I received an email about this Mat Rempit. The contents of the email were three .jpegs pictures of this boy.. and it's a gruesome image of the boy's decapitated body. One of the picture showed, kepala mamat ni, mati terjelir. Isk.. mati sia-sia je.. Kalau mati syahid tak pe jugak. Tak tau la macam mana nasib mamat ni kat akhirat nanti. (*)

(Amaran keras!! Jangan tiru!!! Takdak faedah langsung!!)

Put the law breakers aside, we also have a massive group of youths who's lives revolves around idols (Pop idols that is). If in the past, idols were made out of stone and wood and they're worshipped by the jahilliyah... fikir2 kan sendiri la about idols zaman sekarang. I guess it's not the artiste's fault that their fans worships them. Peminat yang taksub terlampau.. kenalah belajar kawal diri tu, janganlah obses sangat.

The late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj was right when he said the process of claiming independence is easier than retaining it. I guess what he meant was, the effort did not just ends there, when Tunku got the signatures agreeing on Malaysia's independence with the Birtish Government or when Tunku's plane landed at the airport from Britain. The effort also does not end after Tunku shouted "Merdeka!" out loud at midnight of 31st August 1957. All Malaysians, be it the veterans or post-Merdeka generations have to carry this responsibility to maintain our country's status as an independent country.

How can we achieve that? Easy. Remember the 5 principles of Rukun Negara:-

" Maka kami, rakyat Malaysia, berikrar akan menumpukan seluruh tenaga dan usaha kami untuk mencapai cita-cita tersebut berdasarkan atas prinsip-prinsip yang berikut (We, citizens of Malaysia, pledge all our energy and efforts to attain these ends guided by the following principles)":

1. Percaya kepada Tuhan (Believe in God).
2. Kesetiaan kepada Raja dan negara (Loyalty to King and Country).
   
3. Keluhuran Perlembagaan (Supremacy of the Constitution).
   
4. Kedaulatan Undang-Undang (The Rule of Law).
   
5. Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan (Mutual respect and good social behaviour).

The Rukun Negara says it all. We've been chanting it since primary school, back then when reciting it all that I was concerned was the curvature of my left palm, whether it is straight or not or should I keep my thumb and my fingers close together or spread it out a little at some angle.

Now I am old enough to understand what it means and if we follow these constituents closely, we will be able to experience a continuous peace of living in a harmonious country regardless of its thousands of diversed ingredients.

We should appreciate the fact that we had gained our independence and we still have it with us.

Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan dari saya.

Recommended site: Merdeka @ 49
Petronas' Merdeka Advert "Bumi Kitakah Ini?" (I am a big fan of good poems and nice flowery words. Lihat, dengar dan rasakan. Inserted below is the poem that I copied down based on what I heard on tv, I apologise if there's any misquotations).

Bumi kitakah ini?
Pasir yang mengalir dari jari jemari ku
jatuh berderai membentuk bumi.

Adakah lautan tanah ini milikku?
Mungkinkan bumi yg berjuta abad,
Milik manusia yg umurnya singkat?
Sekalipun bumi ini milikku kenapakah pabila ku pergi, akan ku tinggalkan jasad ku didalamnya?

Bumi kitakah ini?
Siapakah pemilik sebenarnya?

Oh Tuhan seru sekalian alam!
Bumi Mu takkan jadi milikku;
Hanya berikanlah aku kesempatan;
Meneguk dari sungaiMu;
Menyelami kesepian lautan;
Mengagumi gemuruh langit;
Mengikuti gelagat hambaMu;
dan menginsafi kekuasaanMu.

Berikanlah aku kebijaksanaan
untuk tidak hanya menerima, tetapi juga memberi
usaha dan titik peluhku dengan keikhlasan, benar hati dan belas kasihan.

Amanah yg ku warisi dengan ikhlas ku manfaatkan;
Semoga semua terilham jua;
Semoga yang lain akan bertanya;
Soalan yang sama;
Mencari jawapan yang kian amat ketara,
Bumi kitakah ini?

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