Recently in Malaysia, a rape and homicide case roused the public. People were enraged. They still are. Who wouldn't anyway when the victim was a mere 10 years old girl?
Even the harsh punishment urged by Islam's Syaria Law seems acceptable for the inhuman raper.

A few moments of outrage later, a member of PAS (Parti Islam Semalaysia or simply the Fundamentalist) made a statement - the tragedy is a punishment from God on Malaysian society for failing to implement divine arrangement. That statement was endorsed by the political party president.
Maybe, I could accept that in spite of being a liberal Muslim. And by accepting PAS' statement, I would also go on further along the line of logic by saying that the current pathetic economic and welfare situation in the states ruled by PAS is also a God-sent punishment for failing not to manipulate the sanctity of Islam for political gain.

I have always thought PAS was supposed to be God fearing, delusional people. Now I think they are simply a bunch of apologists. For God's sake, they are blaming God for everything. God swears. God kills. God is everything that PAS said.
Wow. Looks like God is more human than PAS and PAS is more God than God. All hail to PAS the almighty.
PAS, I wish you would be burnt in the deepest hell of God. And if I were going to hell, I would wish not to share the same hell with you because even the Satan couldn't match your achievements.

p/s - check this out. It's the URU credit page. My name is on it. I know it's nothing but hey!

Eastern Europe for the whole spring and summer anybody? Looks like my chance of getting an internship is going brighter than expected. w00t!

Anyway, a friend invited me to go to some conference. Sounds fun but it's Friday. All I want to do on Friday is to complete my work on ReCom Newsletter, settle some annoying insurance issue (all due to the incompetent people. I hate incompetent folks.) and then catch up some sleep before hell week starts.
But then, I made an explicit promise. So, I'll be in Business School for some part of the day. The only problem is that it makes me nervous hanging around with business people.
Who could expect what those devils are thinking all the time?
I bet it's world domination. Hey, Michigan Business School is only second after Harvard's. I'm sure they are thinking big.

Life is unfair. It is just about the third week of class and I have one exam to worry on Thursday, 3 more assignments, one computer based and an interview for an internship abroad. The pressure of a computer assignment is already tremendous. Add that up with an exam, another grain of sand is going to suck me up.
And then, instead of that grain of sand, an interview has just been called up.
I can't take the pressure. Must graduate in December 2004. Must... graduate.... earlier....

Noooooooooooo...

Anyway, Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior (admittedly, the ship name is totally gay) is in Indonesian waters, most probably hunting down illegal loggers. I know it's old news but, w00t!
One bad news though, bird flu is attacking Asia. Two of Malaysia's neighbors, namely Thailand and Indonesia have been struck with the epidemic. I suspect Malaysia would announce it first case of bird flu in the near future.
First it was the encephalitis (which was luckily contained with the help of US' CDC), then bird flu, then SARS and then bird flu again and then and then and then den den den den...
Boy, what has Asia become? Africa?

p/s - Ghost in the Shell 2 is coming out this spring! For its extended 5 minutes trailer go to http://anime.section12.eu.org/. Sorry, I don't think I should link to it directly. You will need to search for the trailer manually there. And why should you watch the trailer? Because Ghost in the Shell is one of the best animes ever!

Samizdata has just changed their template. Looks better. Check them out here.


Anyway, a joke on biotechnology. The heading reads Biotechnology: The New Fruits of Science. Ignore it. I'm more interested in the humor the cover represents. The image is taken from OECD's L'Observateur.

Another reason why Howard Dean should be the next US President. YEAGH!

Alas, it's time to fight back. We watched our comrade fought and now it's our time. I sound like a commie.

Dear Students:

Over the past few weeks, the Recording Industry Association of America
sent several notices to the University of Michigan of its intention to
subpoena the identity of specific computer users within our campus community.
At least seven of these are U-M undergraduate students living in the residence
halls. Normally, such notices from RIAA are in preparation for a lawsuit
against the individuals for violation of copyright.

RIAA has begun a series of lawsuits against individuals it believes have
violated the copyright of its members by illegally downloading and uploading
music via file-sharing programs over the Internet. RIAA has targeted specific
computer accounts used to access and transmit such files, and then has
issued subpoenas to the service providers (including universities) in order
to find out the names of those responsible for the file-sharing.

The University has notified each of the students involved in the RIAA notices.
University policy is not to release the names or contact information of
our computer users unless we are required to do so by law. Should RIAA
pursue legal action, we may be compelled to release the identities of these
individuals.

To avoid legal action over inappropriate file-sharing, it is important
to understand the proper use of University computing resources. While
some file-sharing is completely lawful, some file-sharing is not. In addition,
the programs typically used to download files from the Internet often,
unbeknownst to the recipient, turn the individual's computer into a file-sharing
(uploading) server. Even unknowingly uploading some copyrighted works
may subject you to additional legal risk.

U-M assumes that students will use University information technology networks
and resources lawfully. Here is information you may find helpful in educating
yourself about the appropriate use of networks and resources:

www.rescomp.umich.edu
www.umich.edu/~itua/
www.copyright.umich.edu

If you have any questions about appropriate use of U-M computer resources,
you may contact the User Advocate at user.advocate@umich.edu.


--Royster Harper, Vice President for Student Affairs
--James Hilton, Associate Provost for Academic, Information and
Instructional Technology Affairs

p/s - The Eredivisie has finally resume. The first match will be held today between Roda JC and Ajax.
pp/s - Roda 1 - 2 Ajax. Yeah!
pp/s - In response to letter sent via Environmental Defense concerning an unbelievable energy bill. I hope I didn't sound like a deep green in my earlier letter.

January 21, 2004


Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams
314 Cambridge House, West Quad, 541 Thompson St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109


Thank you . . .

. . for contacting me regarding your opposition to the final version of the Energy bill (H.R.6). I share your concerns about this legislation.

As you know, on November 21, 2003, the Senate failed to stop a filibuster on this bill by a vote of 57-40. I voted to block the Energy bill because I had serious concerns about how the bill would affect Michigan.

First, the Energy Bill waives past and future liability for producers of the gasoline additive, MTBE, which contaminates our drinking water. This MTBE liability waiver provision would cost Michigan's taxpayers an estimated $260 million in order to clean up Michigan's over 745 MTBE polluted underground storage tanks.

The Energy Bill also failed to include measures to prevent another nationwide blackout. On August 14, 2003, more than 50 million people, including 6 million in Michigan, were left without electricity, many for several days. The August blackout cost Michigan's economy nearly $1 billion. Unfortunately, the Energy bill did not include measures to fix our electric grid problem and to strengthen electric reliability to prevent a future blackout.

Finally, the Energy Bill repeals the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUCHA), without adding necessary consumer protections laws to take its place. PUCHA is a landmark consumer protection law that enables states to regulate utility mergers and protect consumers. The Enron debacle, the West Coast electricity crisis, and the blackout this past August have all made it clear that consumer protections need to be strengthened, not weakened. We must ensure that utility company mergers advance the public interest by establishing clear rules and enforcement procedures to prevent soaring electricity rates. Otherwise, Michigan families could face higher rates and unreliable electric service. You can count on me to fight for provisions that will help move us towards a truly competitive utility market while maintaining consumer protections.

I believe that we need a more balanced energy policy. Rather than emphasizing nuclear production and oil exploration in environmentally sensitive areas, there should be more of a focus on energy efficiency initiatives, conservation, and development of renewable energy.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns with me. I expect that the Energy bill will continue to be vigorously debated. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of assistance in the future.


Sincerely,
Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator

So, John Kerry won the Iowa caucuses. The media had said earlier that it would be a close one and much earlier, Dean was dominating. Therefore, it is only surprising to hear that Howard Dean received merely half of what Kerry or Edwards got. Meanwhile, Gephardt dropped out. (Damn, he is a Michigan graduate.)
Nevertheless, the next thing to look out for is the State of the Union, of which will happen as soon as this evening. To be frank, I expect more lies to be presented to the floor and to be more frank, I believe a lot of blind folks are going to believe whatever Dumbya will be saying. Sometimes, I wonder why people believe in a thing despite overwhelming evidence proving the reverse is true.
And today, US military rejected a report by a provincial head concerning the latest operation (reads more like oppression) in Afghanistan. The Afghan official reports 11 civilians were killed while the military asserts that instead of 11 innocent Afghans, 5 Taliban militants were eliminated. Immediately in a message board, a stubborn American nationalist confidently argued nobody would believe the Afghan. Judging by the US diplomatic fiasco at the United Nations, I'd rather believe the Afghan official to Bush's puppets.
In any case, I think it is agreeable that the invasion (or liberation for the neo-cons) does bring in some good.
One focal point of the benefit the invasion brings is the introduction of democracy into the region. It is encouraging to see the idea of freedom to be spread out even into the most unthinkable places.
Unfortunately, it seems democracy is turning Iraq into another Iran, of which I see as something as bad as seeing Saddam still reigning supreme as the President of Iraq. Democracy has always been about adhering to the will of the people and right now, the will of the people is the will of the Shiite.
Therefore, I dare bet democracy will turn Iraq into another Islamic Republic led by an Ayatollah.
Great. Just great.
Now we have the Islamic Republic of Iran and the soon-to-be Islamic Republic of Iraq side by side, literally. Bush, you are going to turn former enemies into being, really, the best buddies in the world!
Thanks Bush for your contribution to the world!
I really appreciate it, not.

p/s - grammar is such a pain in the ass. I've corrected some mistakes. Do tell me if I've made any in the comment box.

I've had experienced countless of sunrises and all of them gave this sorf of yeay!-it's-a-brand-new-day feeling.
But one particular sunrise is certainly the best sunrise I've had ever experienced yet.


And effect of the Sun on the her. Isn't she's lovely?







All this happened at the Badlands National Park in South Dakota around late December of 2003.

The latest report by WWF stated that one of the most recognizable mammals in the world, the orangutan faces extinction within the short time frame of 20 years.
With the fast pace deforestation due to excessive and illegal logging in both Malaysian and Indonesian�s jungle, the orangutan�s habitat is seriously threatened. Both Southeast Asian governments need to halt logging and increase forest patrol in Borneo and Sumatra. It is utterly imperative for both governments to get their act together if they could be called responsible for their own wildlife future.
Apart from deforestation, shockingly to me, poaching activity also exists. I�ve always thought poaching was a problem exclusive to Africa and other poor nations. Sadly, this is not the case.
Maybe it is here where environmentalists and libertarians could reconcile - the Big Brother cannot be trusted on the issues that matter.
In my opinion, environmental law in Malaysia is not sufficiently strong to prevent environmental wrongdoings. For instance, in Malaysia�s Forestry Act, the punishment for illegal logging is jail term between one and twenty years and a fine of RM 500 000, an equivalent of approximately USD 131 000.
First of all, though the jail term sounds bad with the maximum of 20 years, the minimum is too low. It needs to be increased to, say 5 years. That would teach the violators something. And most importantly, the monetary fine is most definately way too down below. A manager of a logging company easily makes millions of dollars. The industry itself is measured in billions. The fine of USD 131 000 is merely a minute fraction of their corrupted income. It�s not even a respectable dent. The level of penalty should be increased to a level that it really hurts both the foul company and its owner. Better, instead of a constant monetary term penalty, the fine should be proportional to its or his or her income.
The key to punishment is to prevent further violation and the penalty should be made larger than the logger expected income when he or she doesn�t suffer any setback, not merely to fine just for the sake of it.
And who did this law anyway? The lawmakers of the said Act are probably the ones of those political science graduates of which know nothing of economics or even rational mathematics. God! Please save my soul if those fools and stupids are running my country.
If ever the younger generation asks me what is an orangutan and if I won�t be able to show them a free living primate of that species, I swear to God, I will dedicate my life to hunt all the ones that are responsible of such extinction. I will make it a personal crusade, by gold, by blood or by God's name I will if that day comes.
But I pray sincerely, whole hearted, for that time to never come, whether it�s within my lifetime or farther.

p/s - don't you love unexpected humor?
"Not to make a pun, but I think it's shedding a light on serious regulatory and safety issues that are not getting much attention" - Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania on genetically modified pets, specifically the fluorescent fish. Report by the Chicago Tribune Online Edition, Jan 12th 2004.

The Asian economic crisis ended almost five years ago. Before it ended, the crisis spread throughout the whole world albeit less severe. Thankfully, all of that are nothing but history for now, until the next business cycle. However, the US, of which also didn�t escape the economic recession like the others, seems still suffering the recession, or at least it is not yet on the expansion curve.
From my perspective, though admittedly I lack full economics knowledge to draw an academically sound conclusion, the US has been in a prolonged economics recession.
South East Asian and Latin countries suffered major depression in 1997 and 1998. Japan deteriorating economy made the situation worse. Then the world major economies followed suit. After some political upheavals and regime change, things started to look good. In Malaysia, a few national projects suspended during the economic recession started to get off the ground again. In neighboring Indonesia, voices of discontent went low and thus allowing the rebuilding of its ruined economy. Half way across the world, Argentina abandoned its currency and embraced the US dollar.
Despite the recovery made by various countries, meanwhile the US was just started to go into what is now dubbed as the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Later, the event of September 11th proved to be decisively bad for consumer confidence. If I remember correctly, the airfare from Detroit to Los Angeles and back again was merely around USD 100. Perhaps it was cheaper but it was something the airlines companies did to combat the falling consumer confidence.
As the US economy continued its free fall, firms had to cut back cost in order to survive. In the newspaper, it was reported that Boeing had to retrench approximately 30 000 jobs. That was just one firm. Just imagine what the US total job loss was. Furthermore, the Enron scandal certainly didn�t help and worse, the newspeak lovers spent $87 billion on a foreign country due to bad political maneuvering.
Regardless of reports on economic recession, I didn't see the effects early through my own eyes since things were going great in Michigan. No cuts whatsoever. Yet in the early mid 2003, Governor Granholm announced cut back on education funding of Michigan public universities. University of Michigan was not excluded and thus, many desperate measures are taken. Some of them are reducing the libraries operating hours and the increase of its tuition fee. All the sudden, everything was affected directly.
And now in the face of few positive trends, somehow things are not so convincing. The unemployment rate fell point two percent to 5.7% and yet, merely 1 000 jobs were created. In fact, the current paradox to the US economic issue is the unemployment rate. In spite of falling rate, there are simply not enough jobs being created and up to now, total job loss in the past few years is yet to be balanced out by total job creation. Some economists are calling this phenomenon as ghost employment � robots are taking over human but I suspect there is too much sci-fi element behind that reasoning.

p/s - more blog on the unemployment rate paradox at David Smith's EconomicsUK.com

International field hockey opens 2004 with its first tournament, the 13th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Germany is the current favorite to win the tournament and they beat Malaysia 4 to 2. To further strengthen Germany's superiority, they fought off India's challenge by outscoring India 3 - 1 yesterday. Earlier, Malaysia managed to hold off Spain with the scoreline of 3 - 3.
Spain, despite having trouble taming Malaysia, shocked Australia by winning the match 3 - 2.
In battle of South Asia, Pakistan managed to defeat its arch rival, India 3 - 2.

This is part 10. Please read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8 and part 9.

The night was cold, the wind was strong and it was dark.

I was only grateful when the morning Sun rose against the mountains. It was almost 0900 hours by the time my weary eyes were opened. I quickly brushed my teeth, changed to my hiking gears and packed up the tent. The tent had two parts, one was the tent itself and the other part was sort of roof for the tent. The wind was so strong last night that I found the roof a few meters away from the place where it was supposed to be.

It was nearly 1000 hours when I finally moved out from my camping spot. It was disheartening to know that I still had to climb. However, the climb wasn't too bad unlike yesterday. Later, I had to cross the river after the gradient lessened out.
On the bridge and looking eastward, the river was as calm as a bayou but westward, the water plunged fiercely toward Glen Aulin.

After awhile of flat terrain, climbing was again needed but thank God hardcore climbing was not a necessity. Unfortunately for me, there was one problem; the trail was not well marked as the ground was hard rock. At one time, I thought I was walking toward the right direction but ended up just a few feet away from a hundred feet drop. Funnily enough, I was facing toward Glen Aulin instead of the other direction. Immediately, I realized I had gone off trail. So, I turned around and voila! I had no idea where the trail was. Meanwhile, the rattling sound was omnipresent and hell yeah it was scary. I am not a snake fan especially after sitting right beside a rattle snake a few days ago.

Not long after, I saw a few hikers from far. Knowing they were my ticket, I quickly ran toward them. A few puffing later, I caught up with them and found the trail. I just couldn't believe how I missed the trail. There were a few signs indicating the trail but like I said earlier, it was not well marked. One of the signs that usually used is the stacking of two or three round stones. In my case, the sign was hard to be seen because it seemed to bland with the rocky topography almost perfectly.

I went on the trail, I continued on and human traffic suddenly increased. This made me to conclude that I was approaching the Tuolumne Meadows. Eager to end my misery, I quickened my pace.

After an hour of hiking, it was almost 9000 feet and the peaks still rose without fail though the landscape appeared to flatten out. Optimistically, I convinced myself that the Tuolumne Meadows was within a day worth of hiking.

And then, the forest opened up and thus leaving a spectacular open space. Utopian as it was, the Tuolumne River flowed against the backdrop of Sierra Nevada. Suddenly birds were singing and the sky was clear and blue. Of course, it was clear and blue and the birds were singing all the way. It was just that the surrealness of Sierra Nevada induced the sight and sound of nature, bringing the sound of heavy breathing and the pain of the scorching heat into the far background of the mind.


Tuolumne Creek against Sierra Nevada. The aretes is Unicorn Peak in the Cathedral Range. Photo by Epol.
It was as if the whole scenery was drawn by an artist. It was as if I was living inside an Adam Ansel's painting. If I wouldn't know any better, I would have thought it was the Garden of Eden.

I went to the side, off the trail, closer to the river and sat down. One part of me wanted to catch my breath, another part wanted to savor the moment. Only God knows how long I marvelled at the scenery quietly. And when it was time to go, part of me didn't want to leave and the other part urged me to go on. Oh how I wish I would have followed my heart instead of my mind.


Tuolumne Creek against Sierra Nevada again, somewhere nearer to the Tuolumne Meadows. One of the peaks is Lembert Dome. Photo by Epol.
But then, I went on knowing I needed to go on, leaving behind a place I didn't want to pass into the depth of time.

p/s - Joke of the day by Prof. Hamermesh: That girl is pretty 3 S.D. above the mean.

pp/s - The Great Lakes Zephyr describes The __earthinc as "an interesting weBlog of a nature lover and envir(o)nmentalist at heart". I'm flattered.

errata - Somebody pointed out that the statement "It was as if I was living inside an Adam Ansel's painting" is wrong. It should be "It was as if I was living inside an Albert Bierstadt's painting." The two of them were related to Yosemite and I had gotten them mixed up.

I don�t like Bush and would have preferred Al Gore to win in 2001. I don�t like Bush and hope somebody from the Democratic Party will be able to wrestle the US presidential post from the neo-con. But hope is nothing but hope in this particular case.

Currently, Howard Dean is the leading candidate from the liberal side. He doesn�t merely lead the pack but he is really leading the race for the presidential post. So, by this time the liberals should really be backing the Vermont governor in order to seriously challenge Bush. Unbelievably, instead of seeing the liberals uniting behind a common banner, they are bickering against each other.

The latest attack, which really happened a few weeks ago, was an ad that attacked Howard Dean�s creditability. The weirdest thing is not the ad itself. The weirdest thing is the fact that the ad was sponsored by another Democrat. It was ugly and I would imagine we won�t be seeing the last of the Democrats� drama.

For this reason, I am willing to bet that Bush will win the next election though it won�t be an easy win. The fact that Bush had terribly handled, or rather mishandled the US economy, foreign policy and the environmental issues will probably counteract against the fighting-within-the-liberal-camp effect and thus giving the liberal some chance.

And if I could vote, I would vote for Dean.