Skinheads And The World Of Tomorrow

Pronunciation: 'skin-"hed

Function:

noun 1 : a person whose hair is cut very short 2 : a usually white male belonging to any of various sometimes violent youth gangs whose members have close-shaven hair and often espouse white-supremacist beliefs

~excerpted from Merriam-Webster Online.

Today there is a small report in the local dailies stating the existence of skinheads in Malaysia- an orthodox, I do not intend to further investigate or understand. The aforementioned definition of skinhead(s) reinforces my case and question- How can Malaysians (non-white people, oftenly labeled multi-coloured) espouse white-supremacist beliefs? This shows us how stupid some Malaysian youths can be. The age of "copy-and-paste" everything from the West directly into our culture is damning. For sure, they have not encountered real skinheads before openly accepting and practising such ridiculous ideas. And we thought there is still hope in this world. Even the fooled act like fools. Where is hope?

I have not seen much of the world, but seeing two sides, can already make me give up, and realise that the world is darker than one wants to think. Skinheads or not, the world is going to grow darker if we refuse to brigthen it.

Finding Friendster

10 years ago it was probably impossible to know what happpend to that hot girl introduced to you by your classmate's girlfriend's younger sister. Let's face it, what on Earth in reality can make us wander pass all geographical barriers, through into a plain filled with people's faces? Except, of course, if we have Cerebro, but we'll have to wait until a not-too-distant-future before Professor Xavier invents it.

Today, welcome to technology. A house full of computing wizardry and cosmic creations. In Friendster, you get to by-pass all geographical barriers, skip all the chatting up with friends about the good-ol-times, skip that yellow pages tearing moments, all that Motorola crashes, all the Maxis pay bills, all the North-South Highway traffic and go directly for the kill.

I mean saving hours, days, years and even lifetime of searching for your long-lost friend or even just your neighbour! Through Friendster, the information of that hot girl introduced to you by your classmate's girlfriend's younger sister is just several clicks away! No need for you to call your former classmate, then drive to his ex-girlfriend's house, and then fly to Edmonton, Canada to meet with his step sister, then take another flight to South America to find a research team working on Lemurs, before finding out that she already got married to your lecturer in university, who presented the lecture "Lemurs and Our Daily Lives".

The world is connecting, so fast, we can hardly catch up. They say this is an era of information. Where information overwhelms the ability of humans to absorb them, or even manage them. I think information is always there, no matter which era we're at. Of course the information builds up but is it to say that we'll forever be stucked at the information era, like we'll always have agriculture and industries?

Today we already have homes equipped with 200 GB hard drives. 1GB pen drives. 40 GB portable music players. Now we can stuff in thousands of songs into that 40 GB player, but are we really going to listen to them all in our daily commute? Call that information era, but its not relevant at all anymore. We already have the solutions to data storage and management.

This era is about communication and networking. If we look properly, the Internet is not about creating information. The Internet is about linking information together. That is what led to the boom of the information era. But the people who coined the term, missed the fundamental function of the Internet- communication.

Sun Microsystem had a dream to connect local appliances at home, in the office, etc to the computer, and vice versa- making everything connected by creating Java, a programming language. And this is the future. Today Bluetooth handphones can connect to computers. And the hands-free kit can be connected to the cellphone through wireless network. Not at any time in the past had we used the term network so much in our daily lives.

Now Friendster, is showing us again, that the network function of the Internet is omnipotent which all must respect. Besides the creation of networking platforms and devices beckons respect because not one thing in this physical world can connect us so fast, so reliable and so easy. Therefore it is about time for us to proudly say we live in an era of networking.

Easy Way To Copy Movies

Refer to article with the same title, page 12, Nation section of The Star Newspaper dated Saturday 8 July 2006.

Can you possibly imagine, a student filming an entire movie from a camera phone, and within an hour, hundreds of copies would have been distributed? Unfortunately, this is supposedly not a fictitious story found in Mission Impossible but allegedly true, as published in the national newspaper.

However, I find it absolutely hilarious, for a reporter to take all these nonsense seriously, and make it a national agenda. And here's why:

1. It is almost impossible for a camera phone to record moving image for as long as 109 minutes- the total length of the movie. Even a dedicated video camera can only take 1 hour of video.
2. Even if they have enough storage space, the quality would have been totally awesome, no one can actually watch it. Even with a proper video camera, sometimes the quality is bad.
3. It takes more than one hour to actually transfer, burn and distribute the illegally obtained video.

So tell me, which part of the article is not exaggerated? The part where it takes 1 hour to transfer, burn and distribute? Or the part where a camera phone is capable of recording a full length movie which is actually worth watching?

Why are Malaysians looking at the wrong side of things? I do not know if it is fabricated, more like a propaganda, but it is simple logic that the piracy issue in Malaysia is not about a student and his camera phone. The problem lies deep inside the management of the cineplex and cinemas. Most of the movies are probably recorded by their own employees. Just look at the quality of the pirated vidoes taken, they are not taken from a camera phone, but from a bigger, snazzier camera. I am sure the management could have noticed the bigger camera, not just a small camera phone. Think about it.

So Mr. Bernard See, next time if you need to make a report out of nothing, you need to SEE the right (logic) side of things, because Malaysians aren't blind.

I rest my case.

Goodbye My Lover

Days have passed since I actually did something resourceful. The boredom is beginning to sink into me, despite trying to push it back out with all my might, all attempt seems futile. It is sinking in, inch by inch, like a nail through coffin.

Today my girlfriend is leaving to Bangkok, and that made matters worse for me. Worst would have been more apt to describe the distress. She won't be back soon, at least for the next two weeks. I am gonna miss her.

But then again like all things in this world, like what I have mentioned in my poems, everything that has a beginning has an end. And everything that comes to an end, will have a new beginning. Like my stay in Russia for a year has ended, and how my holiday has started and how it will end, and how my girlfriend will leave and return. A circle of continuity, where there is no beginning and absolutely no end.

I love you! (You know who!)

Reset, Reunite & Relive!

It took more than a day to reach Malaysia finally. It took more than a month to pass all my exams. It took more than a year to finish the entire 1st academic year.

And so finally I am back here in Malaysia. Home sweet home- there's nothing like it, period. The sky is more blue, the clouds are whiter, the grasses are greener and the water clearer. Can I say more? The food is more delicious, the people- friendlier, everything, everything & everything is way better. Nothing can be sweeter than these.

I had my reunion, which lasted for 3 days and it was aptly called "Mega Reunion 2006" because all of my close friends were there- Brendan, Wellington, Rhyner, Ken and Aaron. We played table tennis, tennis, then went for a swim in the pool after the sea and then beach volleyball- for guys, and hooked up all our notrbooks for endless rounds of DotA and Half-Life. We went bowling, and then watched Superman, etc. MEGA indeed.

Now there is more or less 60 days before I return to the Battlefield. I don't know what I should do with my life. How do I enjoy it to the fullest? Join the "Reset, Reunite and Relive!" contest and suggest (in less than 25 words) how I can relive my life in the most interesting ways, and stand a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes:

Grand Prize: A Mercides Benz SLR
2nd Prize: A round trip to Dizneyland in Flourida USA for two!
3rd Prize: A Simian-Fujitsoo notebook
4th Prize: A Sonny-Eriksson K747 cellphone
5th Prize: A Swach watch
Consolation: Fully paid, life-time round trip air fare to Russia!

Submit your forms before the 30th of August 2006 with your full name, NRIC number, address, telephone number and your credit card number today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!