I've just bought a new domain last week. For the moment, the domain should merely forward visitors to my current University of Michigan account. In the near future, I plan to migrate The __earthinc to some external server. So, if you like this site, or love to send me hatemail, or simply in love with me, just bookmark www.maddruid.com.

The reason of the migration is my graduation. I've painfully graduated from a challenging but memorable undergraduate course and my account, save my email will be erased from the University's server in more or less two months. I plan not to let this site die. I plan to maintain The __earthinc for a very long time.

I'll be leaving for Malaysia soon. In fact, a bit more than 24 hours from now. I might come back to the US for work given some good news that I've received lately. Until the final words are given, I'll be increasing my chance of getting cancer by sunbathing near the equator.

And yeah, happy birthday, USA. You are the beckon of hope, along with hypocrisy in this world. I love and hate you and looking forward to come back.

Great news came from the International Whaling Commission meeting in Ulsan, South Korea last week. Japan and a few others pro-whaling nations tried to expand whaling. These pro-whaling countries argue that whale population has been increasing to a level where hunting should be permitted again. Others like Australia and New Zealand argue otherwise. By far, greens won the battle.

Based on recovering population argument, Japan brought up several issues. One was to reintroduce commercial whaling. Fortunately, the proposal was shot down.

Another proposal set forth by Japan was coastal whaling. Experts say that this is a kind of cultural whaling. At the same time, whaling as a culture has always been allowed as long as it’s not done commercially. One instance where whaling as a mean of subsistence is of Native American's practices. Nevertheless, many simply don't buy that Japan is interested in whaling as a culture. The scheme was given a nay.

Japan also sought to remove a whale sanctuary located in southern ocean. That too, was pushed back to Japan's table.

Among these motions pushed forward by Japan, the most dangerous in my opinion is secret ballot voting. The motion was rejected by the majority.

It has been alleged that Japan is indirectly involved in vote buying. It is indirect because Japan would give out economic aid to improvised countries in return of vote favoring Japan. If the secret ballot voting was passed, it is possible that commercial whaling would resume. Already last week, certain African and Caribbean blocs stood side by side with Japan while these countries need economic aids the most, not whaling quota. Furthermore, should commercial whaling be allowed, Japan, Iceland and other modern pro-whaling nations would benefit the most, not these poor nations.

On the sideline, Japan announced an increase of whale catch for scientific purpose. However, according to Reuters:

Japan's well-flagged plan to expand its research work made public at the start of the annual meeting on Monday includes nearly doubling its annual catch of minke whales to about 900 and eventually hunting 50 fin and humpback whales a year -- two types of whales conservationists say are threatened.

Much of the meat from whales killed under Japan's scientific programmes ends up on store shelves or in up-scale restaurants, rather than in laboratories. Japan maintains that killing whales helps them study what they eat, among other things.

Nobody at the moment has the ability to stop Japan from conducting whaling for scientific investigation. Moreover, I do believe it is alright to whale in the name of science. Nevertheless, it seems obvious that Japan is manipulating a loophole here to sidestep a ban on commercial whaling.

If you are interested on the issue, Greenpeace currently has an anti-whaling blog running at the momemt. The blog is mostly directed to Iceland however. To me, this is the case because it is easier to target Iceland, which is nothing compared to world’s second largest economy, Japan.

p/s - many should have heard on how the US sabotaged an effort against climate change (reg. req.) in a G8 meeting a week or two ago.

Issue regarding de-recognition of Crimea State Medical University is currently being hotly contested in the Malaysian Parliament. The government states that the reason for de-recognition of the university is the increasing student to lecturer ratio. One of the ruling coalition members, Malaysian Indian Congress argues that the de-recognition comes because there is more Malaysian Indians than Malaysian Malays in the university – hence the argument of the government trying to prevent more Malaysian Indians from becoming doctors. Whatever it may be, so far, all arguments originate internally and might I add, unconvincing. And nobody as yet, has postulated a possible external factor.

Let me explain what this external factor could be.

Just a few minutes ago, I saw BBC World News and it was a report about Viktor Yushchenko in France talking about a possible ascension of Ukraine into the European Union. Now, remember that Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin during the infamous bitterly held 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. At the same time, he is a pro-western and his rival in the presidential race was pro-Moscow.

Yushchenko won that ballot but Russia and pro-Moscow Ukrainians were unhappy with the election result. There were some reluctance on the pro-Moscow side to admit defeat to Yushchenko and later, committed election fraud. But in the end, after heavy local and international pressure, Yushchenko received the presidency.

From 2004, let’s roll to 2001 when Russia sold a number of MiG’s to Malaysia. If I am correct, Malaysia and Russia reached a new level of understanding in several areas like trade and education. If information at ReCom.org is accurate, the recognition of various universities under Russia’s sphere of influence came merely weeks after the understanding.

Do you see where I’m heading?

Russia is no doubt unhappy with the change in Ukraine. Concurrently, Russia has veto power in the UN Security Council and Russian President Vladimir Putin ultimately rules Russia. He has shown the world that he is more willing to flex his muscle. Yukos is an excellent example.

Tying the ribbon, it is quite possible that Russia is pulling strings somewhere in order to give Ukraine a hard time while the people in the upper Malaysian echelon are bending to Putin’s demand.

How probable could that be? I don’t know.

p/s - OMG! Please stop this "Which Malaysian Blogger Are You?" Like wildfire, it is burning rationality out of the Malaysian blogosphere. You are you. Take a hint.

I was rather furious upon learning that Malaysian Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk S. Sothinathan is being suspended from his post because he questioned the Malaysian government’s position on issue regarding de-recognition of an Ukrainian university.

Quoting The Star:

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said Sothinathan “broke ranks with the front bench” when he stood up in the Dewan Rakyat to question Dr Latiff over the CSMU issue.

Following the ruckus, Nazri said he had informed Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is the Barisan Whip, of the incident.

“I provided the tape and Hansard of the proceedings to Datuk Seri Najib for him to have a look at it so that he can inform the Prime Minister,” he told a press conference at the parliament lobby.

It seems that when one joins the government, one doesn’t have the leisure to have diverging views, much less question any of the government’s policy. So much for a democratic society.

After reading The Star's article concerning the issue however, I’m not sure whether I should be more mad at the government or The Star. No thanks to the The Star’s article, I had to read eight goddamned paragraphs in order to learn why Datuk S. Sothinathan is being suspended.

Eight! Reuters on contrary needs just a paragraph to answer the goddamned why. And Jeff Ooi, which is a blogger, does a better job at reporting the issue than The Star, which is a national newspaper.

Point to The Star – get to the goddamned freaking point, punk! What the hell the editors at The Star are doing anyway?

p/s - just a few days ago, I found out that the relationship between pollution and environment is described in Kuznets curve. I talked about relationship between development and environment at length in two posts (here and here) only to find out that somebody had proposed it years earlier. It could easily have been Hafiz curve or something. Sigh...

LOL!

He resigned from the White House. And then, he is hired by Exxon.

Charming. More at NYT (reg. req.).

p/s - another photo from my walk last week.


There is really nothing about the photo but somehow, I like it.

Well, actually, when I was at that particular spot, there was this ethereal feeling. It was dark there in the woods despite the brilliance of the sun. A few beams of light penetrated the woods' canopy with dandelion (could be just dust) everywhere.

Maybe, like Elfland or something which later, reminded me of Neverwinter Nights, and then later, Ashenvale and ultimately, World of Warcraft.

pp/s - Help. I'm addicted to Warcraft. Anyway, Catacomb Crusaders! (You will need to play WoW in order to appreciate the humor, not humour)

Several days ago, the New York Times revealed that reports concerning climate change published by the White House had been repeatedly distorted by a former oil industry’s lobbyist. According to an article by the NYT (reg. req):

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.

In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved. In many cases, the changes appeared in the final reports.

The revelation continues to prove that the Bush administration is not serious in fighting climate change, claiming uncertainties in science as an excuse. But this development goes beyond uncertainties and downright pure manipulation of scientific report. Understandably, a lot of people are very unhappy upon this finding.

About three hours ago, Philip Cooney resigned from the White House.

WASHINGTON - A former oil industry lobbyist who changed government reports on global warming has resigned in a long-planned departure, the White House said Saturday.

White House however is still defending the former oil industry’s lobbyist after such fiasco. Well, I’d suppose that is to be expected. I mean, clear lies are the basis of invasion of Iraq and the administration is still looking for some kind of weapons made by leprechauns.

I must admit however, finding a leprechaun is hard.

I went for a little walk today in the evening and managed a couple shots.


This is my favorite.

Amidst the Europhobics' victory cries and even some ridiculous calls for a return of the Franc and the Deutsche Mark, there is a good news originating from the middle of Europe.

Switzerland has voted to join the Schengen zone.

Signaling Swiss desire for closer integration with the EU, about 55 percent of voters, or 1.47 million people, supported joining Europe's passport-free "Schengen" zone by 2007.

Hail to free trade.

p/s - and yeah, today's World Environment Day. Then again, everyday is Earth Day.

Every Friday around noon, I’m supposed to attend a Friday prayer at a nearby mosque. Lately, I have not missed any one yet; save the one day that I departed for San Francisco.

Typical of the prayer, there is a sermon prior to the actual prayer and unlike in Malaysia where the sermon is almost for certain boring or when it gets interesting, politically biased and lack of logic at the same time, the sermon at Ann Arbor most of the time gets the wheel inside of my head cranking. The sermon is interesting because most of the time, it relates to issues that I follow.

Lately however here in Ann Arbor, the Friday sermon has somewhat become a fundraising session. Every recent Friday sermon that I’ve attended as far as I can recall, the sermonizer will start on how donating is good and god will reward a person that gives in the afterlife and what’s not. The sermonizer will continue rambling until a punch line – “there is a poor community in Charlotte, South Carolina that is building a mosque” or “your brothers and sisters in Columbus, Ohio need your help to complete an Islamic center”.

I have nothing against fundraising. As I wading through a very difficult jungle out there, I do see how almost everything needs capital. The statement becomes especially true when it concerns religion. No matter how much cash is thrown into the mosque, the church, the temple or anything, it will needs more and more money. Plus, a couple more cents.

However, I feel it is outrageous to see somebody explicitly soliciting for monetary contribution during a Friday sermon. In my opinion, an announcement before or after the whole praying session would suffice. A flier would suffice. A sandwich man would serve the purpose too. Imagine a sandwich man wandering around soliciting for donation at religious sites – would love to see that!

I don’t know. I don’t get myself involve into the local Muslim community too much. Perhaps that might nullify my opinion. Nevertheless, seeing a sermon session becoming a soliciting session is distasteful.

Oh, well. I guess I should be looking forward to attend another fundraising session before performing the Friday prayer, or I could skip the soliciting session, or, skip the prayer altogether and play Warcraft 24/7 until I rot in hell.

But I wonder, if I had stopped attending the prayer because I hate the sermon cum soliciting session, would I pull the sermonizer cum solicitor into hell with me?

This of course, assuming that God exists, I'm in the right religion, heaven and hell exist, blah, blah, blah...

I was in San Francisco about two weeks ago. There was a conference, or sort of, about Malaysia called the Malaysia Forum, organized by Malaysia Forum at Stanford. I know, it is hard to imagine why Malaysia Forum that was held at Stanford was organized by Malaysia Forum at Stanford. There is an actual challenge to figure out the connection. But then again, the obvious link is not really quite obvious, like in psychology where everything is about sex. Well, to be fair, wherever Freud is available.

The forum was not bad. I can’t say I was disappointed nor can I say I was impressed since I didn’t set anything in my mind beforehand. However, one thing that caught my mind in first hour on first day I was at the forum was the lack of Malay. If my memory serves me well, there were only five Malays – me, Syamsul the Recom.org founder, Omar with an interesting perspective on Islam and the Malay culture, one person that I didn’t quite get the face and Bakri Musa. If you count Hishamuddin Rais, that’s six but I don’t count socialist in. I do however, count MCP in. MCP is indispensable to the society. Totally dude.

Putting socialist cum MCP aside, it’s a perplexing scenario indeed. Out of more than 80 attendees, less than 10 were Malays. It might be entirely possible that the composition actually describes the Malaysian population in the Bay Area and its environs. Then again, I came all the way from Michigan. Who knows.

Too bad, the Alliance doesn’t out-zerg the Horde on Destromath anymore.

Nevertheless, I actually enjoyed Malaysia Forum. I got to meet new people and somehow got myself into a new project. The project looks interesting but only time will tell.

Till then, goddamn, I need to find a job near the Bay Area! The Malaysian community over there is so vibrant.

Also, sambil menyelam minum air!


Transamerica Building! w00t!

p/s - via Laputan Logic. Google Sightseeing.

The Kyoto Protocol has been in force for than three months now. I haven’t read much development on it save that some countries are planning to leave the Protocol and its legacy behind after it expires. They say it is too costly to do a Kyoto part two. At the same time, I doubt many parties of the Protocol will be able to meet the reduction goal by the year 2012.

Don’t get me wrong. Though Kyoto is not as effective as most would want it with people on one side says it’s too costly and the other saying too little too late, it is still an important step to be taken. It essentially set the pace towards greener future.

But still, one will have to wonder what is going to happen after Kyoto. Many have mentioned the need to get China, India and other developing nations to join hand in hand. But whatever is going to happen, I’m noticing a new trend in combating climate change.

Kyoto has been targeting governments. Maneuvering with such target in mind is hard given the fact that the Protocol almost died with the pullout of the US. The Protocol only got through with Russian ratification.

The near death experience probably made a lot of people to have a second thought. Hence, attention has shifted from government to organizations down the hierarchy – states, cities, private firms.

Some states in the US have their own initiative to reduce emission despite the federal government refusal to ratify Kyoto. Development in those states, California in particular has been rather encouraging. California, San Francisco in fact, has always been a leader when it comes to taking care for the environment. When I was in San Francisco, I saw first hand why – large fleet of its buses is zero-emission buses, electrically powered. I have not seen anything like it before.

Today, UN World Environment Day that is be held in San Francisco. Though the conference itself is not about climate change in particular, it will however touch on renewable energy and in general, sustainability, which go in line with methods to cut emission down.

And all these sustainability ideas won’t come true without the green technologies which come from many firms such as Toyota, Honda and General Electrics. General Electrics lately has been campaigning hard to reinvent itself as a green company. Its Ecoimagination campaign to me is impressive so far. I’m not however sure whether this is a real effort or simply another green-washing as done by Exxon and others.

Yet, all of the steps and trend is useless if there is no green grassroots. Then again, these green steps started because of expanding green grassroots.
What makes me wonder is how the green grassroots started and then skipped everything between private citizens and the governments. It is weird to see only after the jump was made, everything in between starts to build up.

But in the end, it is good to see green ideas are being embraced by the bases and more importantly at the moment, privates firms. I'd guess it is not too premature or showing too much confidence to say, welcome to the green century, despite the so-called the death of environmentalism.