Heya!

Remag 1 is finally online after a month of delay! Visit it today!

And, um, Aristide has fled.

If one gets too comfortable with a way of life, a situation or anything, he or she risks losing the skill to adapt. The inability to adapt means extinction and this is particularly true in chess.

I could say that I am a competent player in chess although I do need to sharpen my mind a bit - well maybe by a whole lot - before playing a serious game. However, I have one weakness – I love white so much that I can’t remember when the last time I played black. I may master most of white openings but I have only one or two openings for black.

One day, saw somebody played chess. Having almost nothing exciting to do for the whole week, I decided to have a little game. The person asked whether do I mind playing black and somehow, I said no. At first I didn’t realize the significant of the lame no. So, we prepared the board for a game with the typical 32 black and white pieces of pawn and all other sorts on a 64 black and white squares beautifully carved on a wooden board.

So, it was the first move by white. White’s favorite, king’s pawn to E4. I replied with what most amateurs and to some extend professionals do, my king’s pawn to E5. White’s king side knight galloped ahead to threaten my king’s pawn. Automatically, my hand reached for my king side knight to protect the pawn. Then, he did my favorite white’s move; white queen's pawn marched to its king's pawn side.

I on the other hand, under my breath pronounced shit. White manned its battle stations in the middle of the board, a realization came to my mind – I was playing black, one move late with my king and queen reversely positioned with respect to white. Well, actually it’s not reversely positioned with respect to white but rather the black queen is on the black square instead of on the white square. It was a total disorientation.

I totally didn’t know what to do next. I was officially screwed. It was the feeling when you enter an exam hall, thinking that you know everything, only later to read the exam questions and have not even one bit of clue what the questions are asking for. Yes. It was that bad. Plus, there were a few people watching the game and that made it even more embarrassing.

Somehow, that gave me a crystal ball view of what I might encounter during my internship in Eastern Europe, if I go, and boy it would be sucked to experience it. I seriously need to learn black’s openings, fast.

The game?

I lost but not due to failure to adapt. Rather, a silly mistake where the white’s knight checked my king and my queen in one move. Rewinding one move back, if I had positioned my queen on another box, I could have checkmated white within two moves but hell, I hate knights.

And hey, this is the 300th post!

I’m fan of the fight-till-your-last-breath principle.

However, in case of Jean Bertrand Aristide, just give up dude. There is no point of trying to stay in power when the whole population hates you.

Right now, the rebels are within 25 miles of Port-Au-Prince and somehow, I think I’ve heard Port-Au-Prince in the news years ago with Aristide leading the then-rebel.

Karma perhaps? Wow, it sure does come swift!

Politics and economics can be very entertaining if they are mixed with just the right degree.

A few days ago, Michigan Representative John Digell sent a letter to Gregory Mankiw, the Bush's Council of Economics Advisers chairman concerning the definition of manufacturing.
Before I go on further, I must say that I respect Mankiw. However, quoting Rep. Dingell:

"I am sure the 163,000 factory workers who have lost their jobs in Michigan will find it heartening to know that a world of opportunity awaits them in high growth manufacturing careers like spatula operator, napkin restocking, and lunch tray removal."

The food industry is considered as a part of the manufacturing industry? Bush must be really desperate to 'improve' the unemployment rate figure. Read the full letter at the US House of Representative.

"Have you ever heard of a fiction where a little girl asked her father what an elephant was?"

There was a long pause in the middle of daylight with the wind blowing against the somewhat empty savanna.

"Yes I have. The father somewhat struggled to describe the elephant". Humlind face was expressionless, as expressionless as the dead mammal in front of them, Chiron observed.

"Well, this might be the last of their kind we have ever seen. I guess we would be the father in that story". Chiron’s voice almost broke when he uttered the words.

"No, we've seen an elephant and so we could describe it well".

"I'd suppose. But my boy would have a problem with that".

"No doubt".

Another long pause but Chiron broke the silence before it got too awkward. "You know, Hammurabi once said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..."

"An eye for an eye..." Humlind cut Chiron short. "I'd wish it were applicable to all lives."

"Oh it is. Trust me it is." A scent of anger was noticeable in Chiron's voice. "I'm going for the poacher with my gun".

Humlind stared at Chiron. "You aren't serious, are you?"


Chiron didn't reply at all. He turned and headed for the helicopter with a clenched fist. "Chiron, wait for me!"

After persistent rumor, the real deal has finally come. Ralph Nader has announced that he will go for another shot at the presidency. On the other hand, the liberals' jaw dropped in disbelief and I do not wonder at all. Though Nader is admirable, supporting Nader would possibly mean the liberal would lose some vote, which means another four years of Bush, which directly means another four years of environmental laws deterioration.
Therefore, I assert all greens, despite you would obviously support Nader, vote for the democrats!
A liberal President would be our only hope.
So, go Edwards! If Edwards fails, go Kerry! If Kerry fails, then go Nader! If all fail, well, let's hope Bush won't kill us all.

My opinion on the pegged Ringgit; I'll break it up into the short run and into the long run.

In the short run, I believe the ringgit should be pegged. Reason is, for the past six months, the USD has consistently been growing weaker against the Euro and the Yen. A weaker real exchange rate will make foreign goods expensive while domestic products cheap. This makes domestic products to be competitive because of its lower price. In a way, it helps to improve the trade balance. While the above effect happens to the USD, the Ringgit is pegged against the US and thus, the same thing affects the Ringgit.

In the long run however, expensive foreign goods will hurt import and certain industries that depend on import. Furthermore, Malaysia is trading with other countries. A pegged Ringgit simply implies pegging the Ringgit against the USD, not against every currency. Though the exchange rate to the USD will stay the same, the same case is not true with the Euro, Japanese Yen, Singaporean Dollar, Aussie Dollar etc. And import come not just from the US. It comes from other part of the world. Ringgit should be floated or risk seeing some industries reduces its size.

Plus, as students in the US, I do not feel the heat of the pegged dollar. After all, the same quantity of Ringgit in almost five years ago is needed to buy the same amount of Dollar today. Yet, imagine the Malaysian students in Japan, Australia - anywhere where the USD is not used for local transaction. Their cost of living increases simply because the exchange rate is falling down. And this increase is sharp. If these students rely on scholarship from Malaysia (from some entities or parents), the cost of transaction due to the real exchange rate is high.

Therefore, if my logic is right and if the USD failed to regain part of its former strength, I believe Ringgit should be floated in the near future. A good trade balance is worthless when local industries suffer. A pegged Ringgit was a good solution in the days immediately after the Asian Financial Crisis, not forever.

Of course, the underlying reason why I support the floatation of Ringgit is the fact that my sister is going to the land of Down Under. I don’t want my parent to be spending too much because of the intangible real exchange rate.

I saw this one on Yahoo! Message Board regarding Harry Truman.

LOOKING BACK 60 YEARS......
by: toritto2000 02/13/04 12:21 pm
Msg: 81 of 116
2 recommendations

.....it seems so strange that an ordinary man. a man who ran a clothing store in Missouri, could not only become President of the United States, but one of the great ones at that.

While he was picked as a VP for FDRs last term because he was considered "safe" and not particularly troublesome, he took the mantle of responsibilty when FDR died and then was elected in his own right against the Republican candidate everyone thought was going to win - Tom Dewey of New York.

We have lost a great deal in the last half century - how impossible it seems for any "ordinary" man to be President...now we will have a choice of one rich guy who went to Yale and lives in Texas vs. one rich guy who went to Yale and lives in Massachusetts.

How sad......

p/s - for Earth's sake, anyone but Bush 2004.

Alan Greenspan declares that he won't interfere with the declining dollar strength. His refusal to step in is somewhat comprehensible since a weaker dollar will make American made products more competitive - American products will be able to sell at a cheaper price abroad. This however makes foreign products more expensive and thus forcing American import to fall - a sort of an implicit tariff imposed on import. And understandable, this irritates other trading countries, especially the European Union.

Recently, a G7 meeting was held in Roca Raton, Florida and one of the main focuses was the free fall of the dollar against other major currencies, notably the Euro and the Yen. The US refusal to control the dollar rate came under fire but somehow, the US diplomats managed to divert the attention given to them. Instead of criticizing a country sandwiched between the Pacific and the Atlantic, the G7 stared at Japan and other Asian nations. The final statement issued by the G7 was:

Excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates are undesirable for economic growth (AFP, Feb 8)

However, the following statement was stressed:

We emphasize that more flexibility in exchange rates is desirable for major countries or economic areas that lack such flexibility to promote smooth and widespread adjustments in the financial system, based on market conditions (AFP, Feb 8)

The statement, in spite of it was supposed to be directed at the US monetary policy, is simply amazing. I am simply astounded by how the final statement was worded in such a way that it shifts its attention from the issue of volatility to the lack of flexibility.

Despite the seemingly unified statement by members of the G7, the European members are dissatisfied with the statement. Japan has also shrugged off the criticism from the G7 by stressing on G7's volatility statement. China and South Korea meanwhile agree with Japan. I haven't heard anything from Malaysia but knowing that the Malaysian ringgit is also being pegged to the dollar like the renminbi, Malaysian central bank, the Bank Negara should be joining their northern colleagues.

On the other side of the fence, some bankers argue that the weakening dollar strength does not matter in the long run. Well, of course it doesn't matter because, like what John Maynard Keynes had said almost a century ago, in the long run, we are all dead.

p/s - Hah! just received a warning from Michigan's ITD for not voluntarily using their new transfer protocol. I want my freedom! LOL!

2 - 1

0 - 0
Nuff said.

p/s - I've just realized one exciting thing. My internship, if all goes well, should be in Eastern Europe. And the 2004 Summer Olympic is in Greece. Awfully close. Hmm...
Gotta save some money for the ticket.

I've made a few changes to the template for the past few weeks.
Guestbook is dumped in favor of the comment system.
Site feed is now available for those who actually asked for this site feed. More to come during the spring break.
Added the New York Times into the Propaganda section simply because I've been enjoying reading its dead tree edition.
Removed the Straits Times because I think it is one of the worst publications I have ever read.
Added a few prominents Malaysian bloggers, namely Jeffooi's Screenshots and Aizuddion's VOI. Others newly added are Lone, EconoPundit and a tree hugger site.
Also a happening Annarbour blog other than the notorious AAIO, Seat of the Revolution.

Well, back to the real world. L8r.

p/s - from the wired world.

Feds Win Right to War Protesters' Records
BY RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa - In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists.

Freedom eh?

In the recent twist of event, the most unexpected happens.
Malaysia, of all countries, is involved in the network of trading that helps the proliferation of nuclear related resources to Libya. The revelation was done by Pakistan’s nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Though the government seems to have no whatsoever role in the trade, a Malaysian engineering company has been singled out as the liable entity. According to today New York Times’ dead tree edition, one of the shareholders of the company is the son of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi while the chairman is a former secretary general of Malaysia’s international trade ministry.

To see such an important device to slip though the hand of the Big Brother could only means three things – they are incompetent, they secretly endorse such action or we are seeing encapsulation at work.

Though I am tempted to say that the Malaysian government is incompetent (as in most cases), I don't believe it is a reasonable deduction. Saying the government of being incompetent is probably underestimating the far reaching hand of a conservative-styled government.

More interestingly, in some of part of the article in the NYT, the author made an interesting point:

Malaysia was an unwitting participant in all this," an official in the prime minister's office said. But with the tight control that the Malaysian government has traditionally exercised, many Malaysians and foreign diplomats doubt that a sale of this nature would have been possible without the knowledge of at least some senior government officials, probably in the military

To say the government secretly endorsed the activity is a serious allegation. One needs more proof than merely presenting the fact that Malaysia “has traditionally exercised” tight control.
Yet, the allegation holds water. Malaysia has a conservative political medium. Every information receives by the public possibly goes through the information ministry. At the same time, it has a strong law against subversion like the Internal Security Act and the Official Secret Act.
It is hard to accept or reject, due to information asymmetry. We simply don’t know enough about it and I would imagine if it is true, the concerned party or parties would try very hard to cover it up. Thus, only time will tell.

The most innocent possibility is the prospect of it being simply as an encapsulation problem. Encapsulation is one of the basic philosophies in programming. The idea is, the user doesn’t have to know what is going on in the program. the opposite is also true- as long as the program works, it's not the programmer's problem to find out whether the user will use the program for legal or illegal purpose.
In fact, the Scomi Group is asserting the same idea. They have issued a statement saying that it wasn’t told by the buyer on the purpose of the purchase. I would go as far as saying that they didn’t care.
Applying the same idea, the government also doesn't care as long as the Scomi Group pays their tax. Maybe now they wish they had cared.

So, which one is true? I don't know about you but I'm betting my head on the last one.

  In honor of Antonio Vivaldi.
  I used to admire Johann Strauss the most but   now, Vivaldi deserves more of my respect.

This is part 11. Please read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9 and part 10

It was heaven on Earth. Yes, it was my heaven.
The mountains rose above the horizon scraping the blue sky with their snow white peaks. Green trees decorated Mother Nature’s naked skin like how silk on a woman would enchant almost any man.
It was like a dream coming true.
I remember, as a kid I used to marvel at pictures printed in many periodicals, especially the one with the yellow frame. The pictures of gullies, of rivers, of mountains never failed to mesmerize me. Perhaps, this is one of the underlying reasons why I side with the green against the grey. It is the urge to see the beauty of the world left almost untouched by our fouled hands. It is the urge to save them from those hands so I and many others could savor it.
Call me selfish for wanting it the wilderness for myself or for the like-minded persons, like how John Muir was stamped by his rivals. But I am proud to be selfish because it is this selfishness that will save the world from destruction. It is this selfishness that will save us from the real selfish bad guys.

Now, instead of marveling God’s creation through third hand works, I was up high with the mighty Sierra Nevada conquering the eastern view. The joy of being up high in the mountains alone, being able to be personally in the pictures I had once seen before, to be at the places of beauty was immeasurable. It was the joy that helped me suppressed the hunger that was taunting me every now and then.
Never in the past had I imagined of being here at any moment. My life then was mundane. But at that particular moment, I was there. I was right there, dashing any past thoughts of impossibility.
And something came to my mind. The Alps, Sahara, Andes, Gobi. It must be possible but one thing stopped my train of thoughts. Borders. Countries. They offer restrictions on movement. The disdain of that restriction is another reason for me to support globalization – a method to dissolve those borders so not only capitals could be moved any where, so I could walk any walkable land under the blue sky. After all, there is only one sky. Why should there be so many lands?

By now, it was probably more than 24 hours since I had last consumed any nutrient. Considering how my muscles were aching, I started to realize how badly I needed to eat. I suppressed the hunger by filling my stomach with pure, unfiltered water.

The view to the scenic Sierra Nevada at this moment was blocked by the conifer trees as the trail veered from the river, passing thru the forest, heading towards the Meadows. The trail had also widened from about one or two to possibly five feet.

Several times, I went to the side to steal a breath and often times ended up robbing the whole air to sleep. While I was resting under a tree beside the now-dusty trail, the three Americans that I was initially racing with passed me by. They acknowledged me. Perhaps they knew that I was exhausted and gave me a word of comfort by saying “You are almost there”.
Apart from the knowledge that there was food at the end of the trail and the promise I made to Epol about catching up, these three hikers were another reason why I managed to go on. The thought of a friendly race was just hard to shake off. But once they were off my sight, I never saw them again.

Sometimes, it is amazing how a stranger could have a direct effect on oneself.
Sometimes, it is simply remarkable how memory could directly affect oneself. I’ve come to realize that I am taking too much time to finish this sort of travelogue. The first episode was first written in July 2003, a few days after leaving California on a jet plane. Six months later, I am still writing about it.
The fact is, I simply do not know and do not want to know when to end this recollection. I don’t want to end it because it just brings back a delightful experience to me whenever I try to write something of it. Ending it would be similar to murdering a close imaginary friend.
After the rest, the hike was uneventful until the trail actually hit the Tuolumne Meadows save one small stream that I had to cross. But When the end of the road was near, its arrival was brilliant. The forest gradually became thinner and finally gave up its territory to the low grasses. The altitude decreased slightly and there, the Meadows stretching as far as the eye could see.


The Meadows in sight! Photo courtesy of Epol.

Everything was flat and grass was everywhere. More importantly, it was the first sight of civilization in almost four days though admittedly, the sign of civilization was merely a paved road far across the green-yellowish Meadows. I saw nothing of as large as the settlements in White Wolf.
Confidently I hastened my pace, ignoring the thirst and hunger that plagued me. Minutes later, I saw a cabin and immediately got excited. Unluckily, that cabin was a museum and worse, it was closed. Nevertheless, the civilization of the Meadows was not far and so I strived for it. Along the way, I saw a variety of wildlife that I haven’t seen before. They were mammals, some were rodents with long body, but the prominent fauna was a kind of deer. I spotted a few of them running around happily from one point to another. Pity the camera was not with me.

Somewhere in the middle of the open flat space in the high country, a stream ran through. There is also a spring named Soda Spring. The name of the spring is no coincident, it is naturally carbonated. As I would learned later, Epol actually drank the water from the well, thinking of the word Coca-Cola instead of the compound made out of one carbon atom fused with three oxygen molecules. Served him right for leaving me heartlessly behind. Hah!

As I was getting nearer to the end of the Meadows, I started to see metal lions, hearing metal roars from ahead. I saw cars parked along the road and for the first time, I was glad to actually hear the internal combustion engines roars that have caused so much trouble to the world. I tried to quicken my tempo even further but alas, with depleting energy, I could only go so fast. With my backpack becoming heavier, my hike was reduced to a crawl. Not literally of course.
It was well pass noon and the Sun was high. I could feel the heat burning my skin but at that time, my skin had already been burned. No way could it be burned more.
Each step meant one step closer toward a victory for physical self-determination. In my head, a small voice shouted “You did it!”
Or so it seemed.
As I was walking steadily toward the paved road where dozens of cars parked along the sides, I saw no building at all saved the cabin, which was a good mile or so behind. The dearth of human made structure made me to suspect something was wrong.


The Meadows from the other side with a few prominent peaks in the background.

To be sure, I came up to a lovely couple and asked them where the visitor center is. And to my horror, it was another 2 or 3 miles down the road.
Life is a cruel joke, back in Yosemite in my case in particular. First it was the late delivery of the backpacks. Then it was the security checkup at Detroit. And then, it was the case of being alone high up in the mountains without food. And now, after all the sweated hard work, the silly strive and the sheer determination, at least two more miles had to be endured.
Life is cruel indeed. At that time, life was very cruel.

When I asked the question to the couple, my face must have had shown the fatigue I was suffering. Along with the sweat and burned skin, I was breathing heavily, at times it seemed that I was famishing for air.
A thank was all I could present them amid the huge discouragement.
Just as I was about to make my step for the visitor center located somewhere far, far away, the guy asked me whether I was okay. I replied yes, trying not to bother the couple’s holiday. Not two steps later, that guy’s girlfriend (or wife, I don’t know) asked “Are you sure?” I merely confirmed my first answer, while deeply touched by the couple’s concern.”
After answering her, I thought I had heard the last of them. But bless their soul. About 30 or 40 steps later, the guy ran up to me and offer me water.
For crying out loud, he offered me water!
I must have had looked terrible, like a stranded tourist in the middle of the merciless Atacama. I laughed as loud as my weak stomach allowed and again politely declined his offer. Perhaps he thought I was really in awful state of which I was. Unsatisfied with all the no’s I had given him, he presented me an offer that I could not refuse – a ride to the visitor center in a car.
“A ride to the visitor center? I don’t wanna ruin your…” I stopped and think.
Fortunately for me, despite my growling stomach and weakening focus, my mind was still crawling faster than my mouth.
“Yes, that would help a lot”
His girlfriend smiled upon my almost concurrent no and yes. Immediately, they led me to their vehicle, took my backpack off my back into the trunk and let me sit at the back leathered-seat. During this time, the stream of cool air from the car air conditioner swept passed my face and god, how ironic for me to savor it while being a green. It reminds of me of the environmentalist’s curse; like a winner’s curse, a guilt that could never go away.
We engaged in a conversation but most of the time, I was practically near drowsing. The two miles journey, what could be a two-hour hiked became a five-minute drive. You couldn’t imagine how thankful I was to the couple. They simply smiled upon seeing me being elated by their sincere service.
How the world would be a better place if everybody were them.


If you have insufficient amount of ration, do not enter I tell you!

Upon dropping me off at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, we exchanged goodbye and wished luck to each other. Once they had left, I was standing alone there, knowing what I wanted to do next – lunch, or dinner however you want to look at it.

I was browsing through my emails and reading some stuff from Greenpeace and Environmental Defense, materials from classes when suddenly, I saw:

Congratulations. Your application has been accepted.

Internship for 4 months baby! The best thing is, it's out of Ann Arbor! Out of Michigan! Out of the US! In Europe!

Who's your daddy!!!

p/s - I have to go for a board review to see my prospective employer. And I thought it was a done deal. Lesson - always read after the congratulations paragraph. Ada udang di sebalik batu walaupun udangnya tidaklah terlampau besar.

It's Dhu'l-Hijja the ninth, year 1424 AH. I am really indifferrent to this date.

However, I woke up at five in the morning and the first thing I read in the news concerned a stampede near Mina. First, the news said a few people are feared to have died. I checked out fifteen minutes later, the figure went up to 50. Hold your breath because an update later, the number jumped to almost 200%.
It has been reported that 244 people died in a stampede near Mecca. I really hope that the Malaysian Embassy in Saudi Arabia won't issue any unwanted statement because if it does, there is a possibility it would affect me and that sucks.

p/s - I've just read the updated version of A History of the Malay Peninsula and I found one particular paragraph to be extremely funny despite the author's serious mood:
They were soon joined by a Siamese warship but the vessel took great care to anchor much further away from the coast to avoid Malay cannon fire. When the British invited the captain to join their blockading line much closer to the ramparts, he would just shake his head and mutter "Tidak bagus! Tidak Bagus!" (No, that's not good, not good!). He refused the offers so many times that the British - who were not told what the name of the formidable vessel was - from then on referred to His Majesty Siam's ship as the "Tidak Bagus!".
LMAO!