Road Manners

Hi All,

We still see a lot of irresponsible drivers everyday. Speeding cars is still a common scene. People are overtaking and going into different lanes without giving proper signals. Do they know they need to use signals / indicators? I have experienced this a few times before where a car suddenly appeared in my lane from the right. There are cars who purposely follow closely behind you on the right lane forcing you to move to the middle lane. Some of these drivers will honk or display bright lights at you.

There are drivers who make illegal U-Turns. Some cars are parked indiscriminately at junctions. There also cars that are parked indiscriminately even though proper parking lots are provided. Drivers could not be bothered to adjust their car or park their cars properly causing traffic kiosk. Some drivers double / triple parked their cars resulting in traffic congestions. This prompted DBKL and MBPJ to make roads one way. Previously in Taman Connaught, we can see a lot of double parking but now it is a one way road. There are no more double parking. It is worst in Damansara Utama (DU) whereby there are triple parked cars. There are some improvements now. There also people turning right from the left lane where the left lane is going straight and vice versa. This is cutting queue. Most of the cars in Malaysia also do not give way to pedestrians.

In Australia, car drivers are fined if they do not give way to pedestrians. While I was studying at Monash University in Caulfield between 2004 and 2006, a speeding sports car stopped for me to cross the road at the small roundabout there. We don't see that in Malaysia. Cars just sped through. We will get honked when we stop at a pedestrian crossing. 

Pedestrians also should cross roads using the crossing or the pedestrian bridge. There are a lot of shoppers who just crossed in the middle of Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. As drivers, we need to be very careful. I can't understand the risk they are taking crossing in the middle of the road instead of using the pedestrian crossing. It is much safter doing that.


View Larger Map

In the morning at the fork between East West Link and Bandar Tun Razak / Bandar Tasik Selatan (coming from Taman Connaught) as shown below during weekdays, there are cars jumping queues in the morning by going to the front and force themselves to the right lane going to Bandar Tun Razak or to the most left lane going to Tasik Selatan. This act is causing jam backing up to Giant Taman Connaught. 


View Larger Map

We are educated with driving skills and safety but most of us do not follow them or ignore them. We should give indicators when moving lanes and follow the speed limit. We should park at the designated parking areas properly. We should give way to passengers. Perhaps, careful and safely driving should be incorporated in the driving course syllabus. We are only tested on 3 point turn, side parking, hill climbing (manual transmission cars) and street driving. I am not sure whether the new syllabus for automatic cars will include the hill climbing test. 

Please improve our road manners, people. Thank you.

Happy Driving.

Cheers,

Roger TJ Koo

Animes

Hi All,

Anime is defined as a Japanese animated productions that comes in all formats including tv series and computer animation creations¹. This definition is from Longman Dictionary. It can be an original work or adapted from mangas, books and video games.

The themes for animes can range from fantasy, futuristic plot, music, love stories, alien invasion and action The characters are very colourful and appeals to all people, young and old. I have been watching animes through Animax since a few years ago on Astro. To me, animes are fun and interesting to watch. 

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is an anime that centres to two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric to save their mother using their knowledge of alchemy. However, it ended up disastrously with Edward loses his leg and Alphonse losing his body. Edward managed to seal Alphone's soul with a huge metal armour.  Edward, the full metal alchemist has a prosthetic arms known as automail build by his friend, Winry and her grandmother. It talks about their journey to find the precious "Philosopher's Stone", the most powerful stone of all that can restore their bodies. The Philosopher's Stone, if ended up at the wrong hands will be used to kill people².



K-On meanwhile is a story of a secondary school band that comprises of 4 people namely Yui (lead singer), Mio (bass), Ritsu (drummer) and Tsumugi (keyboard). Later in the show, another team meamber, Azusa joined in. This anime is funny and hilarious. The characters are fun and happy.

Sergeant Keroro is another anime that features frog-like alien creatures who wanted to invade Earth. Sergeant Keroro, the main character and his friends / comrades that include Kururu, Giroro, Tamama among others always have a plan to invade Earth. However, they always failed miserably. Keroro, the leader can be annoying and his plans are always stupid. It is overall a hilarious and entertaining anime. The theme song is as below:



Two of the musical animes that I watched are La Corda Doro Prima Passo and Nodame Cantabile. La Corda Doro Prima Passo talks about a girl who plays a magicial violin given by her musical fairy. She plays greatly with the violin although she herself can't play any musical instruments. She joins a music school and meets a lot of musically talented friends who helped her along the way. She will eventually learn to play the violin from scratch after she broke the magical violin. Nodame Cantabile, centers on a girl, Nodame and her would be boyfriend / mentor, Chiaki. Nodame is a girl who is very talented on the piano but does not practice regularly. Chiaki meanwhile is a very talented piano player and a conductor. He would lead and guide Nodame to be a very successful pianist. All the characters are very interesting. There are some strange ones as well. Here is the official song from Nodame Cantabile:



Among some of the other animes that I have seen include Inuyasha, Blood +, Jigoku Shoujo (also known as Hell Girl), Fate Stay Night, Tears to Tiara, The Law of Ueki and Fairy Tail. 

Jigoku Shoujo tells us the story of Hell Girl. People who like seek revenge will find her to kill the persons they hate or wanted to take revenge. Hell Girl will give them a surprise visit and then will bring them to hell.

 

Fairy Tail is a story of wizards who go on adventures to defeat evil. Main characters of Fairy Tail are Natsu (with the power of fire), Gray (the power of Ice), Erza (she is an skilled fighter and can change into another character that gives her different capabilites) and Lucy (she can summon people to help her fight). Lucy has the weaker power among her friends but some of her characters she summoned can fight.  

  

Romeo and Juliet was adapted as an anime too. It is also the same for Emma.   

Cheers,

Roger TJ Koo

<sup>1 Anime - Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime, Accessed: 30th December 2012

2 Full Metal Alchemist - Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist, Accessed: 30th December 2012</sup>

Work's Life Like That

Hi Everyone,

We want to enjoy work, we can't get it
I like my work but do not like the nature of it
Most do not want to work late, and yet we need to
Sometimes we are forced to

Life at Work Part I

Stress and Pressure

We try to perform our best a work
Sometimes we do it well, sometimes we don't
Sometimes we get scolded, sometimes we are praised, sometimes leader / manager advises us
Some managers / leaders will reward us for what we do, some don't
This is not right, we should be rewarded
Some can manage deadlines, some can't, it's just too much
Sometimes we can get second chances or more, sometimes we are not given at all

We do not want to make mistakes but we make them
Experienced people do make mistakes too
There are easy and hard ways to do things
When we do wrong, we want to to correct it

Workload should be just right but we have much more
Pressure and stress should be balanced but we have much more
This causes "Work Only, No Life". Companies are like that sometimes.
Certain industries may have "Work Only No Life" tagline informally
This does not happen all the time but for some companies, it may happen all the time

We do not want to overwork but we have to / needed to / forced to
We do not want to work overtime but everyone does it
Some companies have this culture, some companies don't
We want to go back on time but we can't

We want to take a break but we can't, only weekends / take leave
Sometimes we work during weekends / holidays and we can't take leave

Deadlines are good but it can be too tight
We want to finish but we can't finish it
Status updates are a must, sometimes too much, everyday

Our minds can be tired
Sometimes I wonder how others can store so many things, I could not, it's already too much
I once said I have upgraded from Dual Core processor to Quad Core processors
Now I need to have 8 cores processors

Efficiency and Integrity

We want to do things fast but it ended up slow and sometimes it's the other way round
Sometimes it is our fault, sometimes it is not
Some bugs are my own crap, some are other people's crap
Sometimes we want to help others, sometimes we can't
Sometimes I fix it fast, sometimes I am not
Working together is a must to get things done

It is sometimes much faster if we do it ourselves
When we know what to do, we are a fiend, when we are not, we are at a lost

Multitasking


We are not good at multitasking but we need to
We are told to prioritise our work but if there are more than 2 things happening concurrently, we lost track, both are equally important, we don't know which one to do
We know what we are doing, however, sometimes we know and we don't know what we are doing at the same time
We are confused, we are not focused, too many things on our mind
Everything happening concurrently
Everyone is busy, response time is slower
We want to finish one thing at a time but we can't. We need to finish more than one thing at a time


Workflows

There are workflows to be raised, so many authorities to go through
Sometimes workflows are performed fast, sometimes not
Waiting for our turns are necessary, other teams said it's urgent too
Documentation are important but sometimes we do it later
Other companies can be more flexible


Security

There are things we think it's trivial, it is actually not and vice versa
Security and software compliance is a must
Patching is a must
Deviations may not be necessary too
People are doing audit too
When we are busy, do we have time do to this? We still need to do

Life at Work Part II

People Relations

There are people who are easy to work with, there are people who are not
There are people who are understanding, there are people who are not
There are good managers and there are not
There are good leaders and there are not
There are people who are flexible and there are people who are not
We can work well with team members, I do mostly
Sometimes we just can't work with them (I saw before)
I am fortunate to have mostly good ones
Some of us always scold people but he or she is a good person
Some of us always scold people but he or she is manipulative
Some of these are covered under Life At Work Part I, Stress and Pressure section

There are things we can ask others to help, but if others are not experienced, it also comes back to us, we will be asked questions, we need to check too
We still need to make sure everything is ok, sometimes we can't understand things wrongly
Sometimes it is caused by us, sometimes others
Sometimes there can be changes all the time
Some people may not help us when it is necessary, we are there to find out ourselves

I have "Makan Kakis" who are also my good friends too
I have good friends I can share with
My team is understanding, some teams have no understanding
Our mood can be good, our mood may not be

We can get scolded by our own team, we can be in hot soup by others
This happens between IT vendors and clients, IT Department and users
Some people are good to us, some  people always blame us whether it is our fault or not
Some users are understanding, some are not
We are fortunate to get good ones
We need to deal with the others
Can these be improved? IT people, we need to good at this

Life at Work Part III

All these activities above are normal. I experienced it with my previous and current job.

Can our work gives us all the things below?

We want to have job balance
We want to go back on time most of the time
We want to spend time in church / other religious activities
We want to spend time with our family, relatives and friends
We want to have our pleasure time
We want to be engaged socially
We want to play sports with work colleagues and friends
We want to travel
We want to live well, eat well and play well

We all have different priorities in life.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

The Pursuit of No. 1

Hi Everyone,

Dato' Lee Chong Wei has lost to Lin Dan in the finals of badminton at the London 2012 Olympics for the 2nd time. 2nd consecutive silver for him. We felt sad but at the same time, we know that he has tried his very best at the London Olympics this year. In actual fact, he was the first medallist for Malaysia. Dato' Lee Chong Wei played well and we also knew that Lin Dan played extremely well too. Lin Dan is well trained all along and he can execute shots that no one could rival (maybe only Dato' LCW can). Chinese sportsmen and sportswomen were so good at the Olympics including diving and swimming. They are at the top of the class compared in some sports compared to other countries.

Roger Federer and Dato' Lee Chong Wei are two of the most well known sportsmen in the world. They know the disappointments of losing and they accepted it gracefully each time they lost. They do not lose their temper. In actual fact, Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei are good friends. Roger Federer are good friends with his opponents too.

There are still people who are not happy with result teasing and insulting Lin Dan. Is being No. 1 or winning gold medal everything? Not everyone are No. 1s. People around us are still struggling and yet we fail to acknowledge them. The thing is it is not the end of the world when we do not get number 1. At the recent Olympics, Sarah Attar is one of the female athletes that Saudi Arabia sent to participate. She ran at the Women's 800m event and was more than 1/2 minute slower than her competitor. When everyone has finished, the announcer directed the attention to her until she finished it. Everyone gave her a standing ovation when she crossed the finish line. This is how it should be.

Most students in Malaysia are under great stress and pressure to achieve top results. Some parents wanted them to be the top of the performance so that they can easily further their studies. Some wanted to beat the top student in their class out of peer pressure. To me, whether we have 2As or 5As or 11As or 8As or 9As or 17As, it is fine. We have done our best and passed the exams. The positive way to look at it is we are not getting any F or "Gagal". Our career does not depend on exam results only. It depends on our skills, not only technical but communication skills also. Soft skills are important too. 

It may include:

1. Solving problems on the job and these include problems that we have not experienced or taught before
2. Dealing with the circumstances and situations we are in
3. Time management, handling work stress and pressure
4. Planning, multi-tasking or handing 3 - 4 concurrent jobs at once
5. Dealing with difficult customers
6. Remain calm and collected during a situation / event

I am also not the smartest student in my class. I am not the top of the top achievers in university either. My skills are not perfect either. I am working as a system analyst in a bank (my 2nd job) and a programmer in the 1st job now. I do not know everything about programming. There are aspects of programming that I do not know. Those who are not No.1 can still survive in the world. We know we are not perfect but we can also make the decision to improve ourselves each time. We will have our own failures and successes. 

Therefore, it is not a "die" situation if we are not number 1. Our attitude should not be "die die also must get number 1". Getting No.1 is not wrong in itself but we should not be obsessed with it. The focus is not about No. 1 but being the person who we are meant to be. It is being ourselves. We can also achieve great things as a normal person. We don't have to tell ourselves that we must be the best, the richest, the top scorer (17As), have the most expensive gadget, possess the most expensive car, get the gold medal. We also must not insult others (someone insulted LD from China) when he got the gold medal instead of our own Dato' LCW. Dato' LCW acted rightly when he apologised to LD when he heard it. It is blown out of proportion by the secular world today.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Kill Alex Cross

Hi Everyone,

Kill Alex Cross is the latest Alex Cross novel written by James Patterson. Written in 2011, this is the most dangerous Alex Cross novel so far. 

He is in the middle of an investigation that includes the kidnapping of the president's (Presient Coyle) children (Zoe and Ethan) and the poisoning of the McMillan river using potassium cyanide by a terrorist group known as The Family or Al Ayla. A couple headed by Hala Dossari, the wife who is part of the terrorist group was mentioned in the beginning of this book and their adventures with Al Ayla along their way. She is skilfully trained and she is a precise shooter, as accurate as a sniper.

Are both the kidnapping and the river contamination related? The river contamination is spreading fast. Schools are closed. Read this novel as Alex Cross who was also contacted by the first lady to assist in finding their children, Ethan and Zoe. 

Al Ayla could not be captured as well. There are intelligence information given but they still could not find the terrorists. The terrorists are smart enough not to be caught and their operation is almost flawless. 

Time is running out for Alex Cross as he interviews the suspects who are in the vicinity of the kidnapping of the president's children. When the book was almost at the 3/4 mark, he has a lead of the kidnapper, a male nurse working at the Branaff school where the president's children are enrolled. Catching the criminal is itself a very difficult task for the kidnapper is smart too.

The Al Ayla terrorist in the novel also made a mistake in one of their operations and resulting in them spotted. Kill Alex Cross focuses on the Dossaris more than the others. 

Alex also finds himself meeting Ava, a girl who robbed his mother, Nana. He is in a dilemma whether to send her to foster care or adopt her in her family.

Can Alex Cross rescue Ethan and Zoe Coyle alive? Can he and the police force including the FBI able to capture the kidnapper? One of the close persons of the kidnapper reveals something about him that prompts Alex to have a tight surveillance on him. 

What methods can Alex use to catch him? You will find out when you have reached this scene. It may be the best method that he can think of at that time but it is not the best either. It turns out the only way that they can get him. The kidnapper also wanted to kill Alex Cross.

How about Ava? What decision will he made, to adopt or send her to foster care? What will happen to the Dossaris? Can things turn out well at the end? Get the book to read it. It costs only RM32.90 at MPH, Popular and Borders or you can buy it at Amazon.com below or through MPH Online.







Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Cultural Heritage

Hi Everyone,


Some recent events for the past few years should have been a trivial matter. All these things have gone of our proportion. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia all share the same cultural heritage in terms of food and traditional dances and songs.


The most recent controversy surrounding Malaysia and Indonesia is the Mandailing tor tor dance and Gordang Sembilan dance. The Mandailing community in Malaysia wanted to preserve their culture of the Tor-tor and the Gordang Sembilan dance. It was suggested to Malaysia's Information, Communications and Culture ministry to gazette it as Malaysia's national heritage. Decision have been made to gazette these two dances at Malaysia's national heritage.


This announcement prompted controversy by a group of Indonesians who maintained that Malaysia has stolen their cultural heritage. The group, Pancasila Youths have torced the Malaysian flag and hurled eggs at the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia. They then went to Malaysia Hall and threw huge stones at the building. The article can be found here:


Bernama
The Star
Jakarta Post


What I don't understand is that the reason they did it. Our culture are similar and yet they are unhappy over small and trivial things like this. It does not mean that we are claiming it to be ours but it is just to recognise the two traditional dances and to protect it from being lost. We should maintain a healthy relationship between each other.


Similar disputes have been on-going for the past few years. The Rasa Sayang song, popular among Malaysians has gone through the same thing. Indonesia claimed that it originated from there when Malaysian used it for the Malaysia Truly Asia truly campaign. Wayang kulit and batik have gone through it as well.


It comes to food as well between Malaysia and Singapore. These include chilli crab, bak kut teh and Hainanese Chicken Rice.


All these food items and traditional dances / songs are common among Asean countries. It is more so among Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Whether or not the food or traditional dances / songs come from which country is not essential in this. Everyone enjoys the food here and there are people who wants to maintain the traditional dances / songs. We enjoy it and share it together. Malaysian and Indonesian batiks have its own styles respectively. There can be even adaptations of each other's style respectively. 


Nasi lemak may have variations in Malaysia and Singapore but everyone likes it. It is unique among South East Asian countries. People from all walks of like enjoys bak kut teh. The same for roti canai.


In a nutshell, these things should unite us. There is no need for us to claim what is supposed to be originated from us and things like that. Why make a big fuss of this?


Cheers,


Rogerkoo

Micro

Hi Everyone,

I have bought the latest book from Michael Crichton and Richard Preston from MPH about two months ago. Michael Crichton did not finish this book when he passed away a few years ago. Micro was completed by his friend, Richard Preston.

Once again, I am impressed with a Michael Crichton fiction book. After Prey, this is one of the best books that he has written. The main storyline focuses on 7 US top graduate students who do research on nature. 

This is a summary of it:

1. Ethnobotanist studying medicine made by indigeneous people
2. Arachnologist
3. Venom and envenomination expert
4. Entomologist
5. Botanist
6. Biochemist
7. Doctoral studnt writing a thesis on 'scientific lingustic codes'

One of the graduate students has an elder brother working at a nanotechnology company named Nanigen Microtech. Nanigen has the technology capable of shrinking animals and humans into a microscopic size. A 6 ft man would be slightly less than two tenths of a millimetre. (as quoted from the book).

The story begins when this elder brother was found to be murdered in Hawaii, where Nanigen is based. These 7 students then went there to find out more about the company and about the elder brother's disappearance. Their circumstances change when the 7 students together with a Nanigen staff found themselves to be shrunk by the Nanigen CEO. Worst of all, they can only stay shrunk for a few days before they experienced bends, a condition where micro cuts will appear and they will die.

Nanigen CEO has a plan that will cost the students their lives.  How are they going to escape the Hawaiian rainforest and go back to lab so that they can be returned to normal size again? Can they do it? With the wits and the intelligence of the students, they will embark on a treacherous journey to survive the forces of nature and evil, being in microscopic sizes. Everything felt different for them. Insects and plants are huge when they are in microscopic sizes.  Follow them as they use their knowledge to find ways to escape. You can also get to know more about each students' characters throughout the book.

It is indeed a very thrilling novel. You will need to read what happens at the end of the novel. There are ups and downs throughout the adventure and it will keep you wanting to find out whether all of them will survive it or not. Last but not least, enjoy Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Lectio Divina

Hi Everyone,

During my PBC 1st Family Camp that has just been ended on 28th May 2012, the speaker, Pastor Keith Lai taught us a new method to do our quiet reflection.

It is called the Lectio Divina or the Latio Divina method. It is divided into 4 sections.


Listen


For the first part of this method, we need to read aloud a Bible passage twice. For example, Psalm 27:1-8 and Colossians 3:12-15. While these 2 readings are being read, we need to identify the words / phrases / verses that strike us. 




Meditate


It will continue to the 3rd reading before the time of meditation. We will meditate on the words / phrase / verses and ask ourselves these questions below:

1. How is my life touched by the words / phrase / verses?
2. How does the words / phrase / verses  connect or relate to my present situation / circumstances?
3. How does the words / phrase / verses speak to us?

Pray

Next, we will have the 4th reading and this time is to reflect our response to the words / phrase / verses . We need to pray on how do we go about this or how do we take the necessary actions for it.

Contemplate


Finally, we will have the 5th and final reading where we communicate to God directly regarding our present situations that we are in. It involves shifting our attention to God.


It is indeed a good way to meditate on God's word using the Latio Divino method. However, I admit that I have not got the time to use this method yet at the moment. As we use this method more often, it may take a longer time to complete, approximately 45 minutes or more depending on an individual.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

We Can Satisfy God Only

Hi Everyone,

Have you ever thought of this statement above? There is no way we can satisfy anyone 100% even if we are the best of the best in this world.

God only requires us to please Him and to worship Him. He wants us to have an intimate relationship with him and have fellowship with one another. He wants to win some as well to trust God. He wants us to love one another and love our neighbours as we love ourselves. He wants us to love Him.

In Mark 12:30 (NIV), the verse reads Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Let's look at it in this way:

In our workplace, when we performed at our best, we still face issues. There are still challenges and issues reported by users. There are still mistakes we make. We can't please everyone. We may have good feedback from people most of the time but there are still imperfection. People may us give us good feedback but there are others who do not. However, we please God when we do our best at work with a sincere and responsible heart. Sometimes, we may make decisions that do not please everyone. It may be very difficult to do so.

We thought we have done something right but it may not be appreciated by others. We may say things we think will encourage others but it can happen the other way around. Different peole react differently to certain things that we say or how we say it. It may be encouraging to some and insulting to the other.

We can't please everyone. Look at the world around us. We can decide what car to buy whether it is local cars (Proton, Perodua) or foreign cars (Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, BMW, Kia, Hyundai etc). The car is good and yet sometimes the car have defects. Others may not get it but it happens to us. For example, my Persona is still in good condition after two years but for some of us, this may not be the case at all. Mercedes produce good cars but some of it still have problems and it is expensive.

Not everyone likes to eat petai due to its pungent smell. I have tried it before but I avoided it now. Durian is the king of fruits and not everyone likes the smell and the taste of durian. Some people prefer Apple products than Android and vice versa. There are always critics of everything. A product or food may be manufactured / cooked to look nice and beautiful but not everyone will be satisfied with it.

It also happens with reality TV shows such as American Idol and Akademi Fantasia. A singer can sing very well at the show and yet if he or she is not popular enough, he or she will get voted out immediately. It is all very subjective. Everyone has different tastes of music. I have one friend who likes heavy metal songs but not for me.

Sometimes we make mistakes on the road as well. There are blind spots and we are not alert enough. It can surprise us. It may appear to us when we don't expect it to happen.

Therefore, as Christians, we should please God in everything that we do. Sometimes, we may be in the background and not be rewarded at all. We need to remember that in the end, we need to store up treasures in heaven. Rewards on Earth is only temporary. We need to do our best in our everyday life whether in career, spiritual life, friends and family. We can be a good testimony and witness to others by praying. We can change our mindset to do everything for the glory of God.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Social Media Is Good for You If Used Wisely

Hi Everyone,

Friendster was the pioneer of social networking. Then Hi5 and Bebo. Now, Facebook!, Twitter!, Myspace!. How about YouTube, LinkedIn and the new Google Plus? Social media include all these plus newspapers, televisions (Astro, Media Prima) and music.

Some parents may ban their children into watching tv or listening to pop songs but social media is good if it is used in the correct manner. Balanced social media is good.

Here are some examples of how social media benefits us or help us to take a look at another perspective:

Let's start off with the Internet and the television industry. 

News

For those who are on the move, they can also read news online either through news websites or through RSS feeds and readers. One of the notable readers is Google Reader where we can add news sources from around the world such as BBC, CNN, The Star, The Age Australia, Bloomberg, CNET, Discovery News, blogs and others. It is also available for Android phones or tablets as well.  For the IPad and IPhone, we have Mobile RSS Reader and Flipboard. The functions are similar to Google Reader. Through the Internet, you can also view the news directly through web browsers. The news is updated faster through the web. The Star Online remains one of the top visited sites in Malaysia. Almost all of the newspapers and news sources have presence in the web such as New Straits Times, Malay Mail, The Age Australia, BBC, CNN, Reuters, CNET, Bloomberg, WIRED Magazine, ESPN and Discovery Channel. 

TV / Movies

It is actually depending on the individual itself that TV can be bad. I have watched various tv programmes and it is purely entertainment. The good news is that there are educational tv channels being shown such as Discovery Group channels (Discovery, Discovery Science, Animal Planet), History Channel and the National Geographic Channel. Disney Channel and Playhouse are another two educational channels for children. In Malaysia, Astro have Tutor TV and Astro TVIQ for students and children.

Some of my favourite tv shows are CSI, CSI:NY, CSI Miami, House, Alias, Glee, NCIS, The Mentalist, Bones, Chuck and American Idol. All the CSI, NCIS, The Mentalist, Bones and also Criminal Minds are crime series. After watching crime themed shows like CSI, NCIS and others, I do not have tendencies for murder / revenge at all. It is just purely entertainment. Hong Kong drama series do have themes of anger, revenge, evil but most of us do not have tendencies for anger, revenge and evil too. Therefore, there needs to be an understanding between parents and children regarding this. We should be able to use our discretion to make the right choices.

Songs

We are also introduced to the pop culture through the songs that we listen to on RedFM, Mix FM, Hitz.FM, Lite FM, Era, Fly FM, MY FM to name a few. The concern is some of the pop songs lyrics are explicit and may not be a good influence younger children. There are also good songs such as I Believe I Can Fly (R.Kelly), Because You Loved Me (Celine Dion), Man In The Mirror and Heal The World (both Michael Jackson).

More notable or good singers now are Taylor Swift, Christina Perri, Bruno Mars, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, One Direction, Maroon 5, Jason Mraz, Josh Groban and others. For me, it is only a way of relaxation.

Yes, there are songs from Pitbull or LMFAO that are quite explicit but I do not really like these kind of songs. It is just a from of entertainment. Lady Gaga is strange with her elaborate costumes and her songs are a little out of the ordinary but it's her creativity and the tune of her songs makes her stand out. She may not be a good influence to the society but she has entertainment value. There is nothing wrong with that. It is just entertainment to me.
 

Reference / Learning

We can learn a lot through the Internet and television. Research articles and materials are published in the web for us to read and reference it.  

Wikipedia is one of the examples of good websites on the web today. It is essentially the online encyclopedia covering a wide range of topics and materials. Most of the information in Wikipedia are reviewed and confirmed that it is accurate.

Want to know how things work? Here are some useful sites. HowStuffWorks is a learning website that lets you know how stuff works from electricity to cars to computers to home improvement and quartz watches. Everything is there.

The IT community or those who are interested in IT is not left out as well. You can learn various programming languages online through W3Schools, MSDN and Java. The complete resources for the .NET libraries are also available at the MSDN Library. The complete Java API is online too. For a good and extensive HTML5 and CSS3 references, Sitepoint is a notable website to go too. Sitepoint also produces numerous books on web design principles and its related technologies. Finding a solution to IT / PC problems can also be found on the net too. Some of these websites include ITToolbox, ExpertsExchange (may need subscripton), Tech Arena, SQL Authority with Pinal Dave,  ZDNET, CNET and A Programmer's Knowledge House. Forums are another way to find out the solutions as well such as LowYat.NET and Microsoft Forums.

MayoClinic and WebMD are two of the more established health websites in the world currently. General health and diseases information are explained on these websites. It is still a point of reference and we need to get doctor's advice when we are ill.

Social

Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Friendster all fall into the social category. You can get to know what your friends are up to, connect with school friends and colleagues and play games online with your friends. You can also interesting share articles and news to your friends. For Facebook, you can also upload photos, create photo albums and tag people that you know. 

LinkedIn is another social website mainly by the corporate network. Career opportunities and networking with current and former colleagues can be found here. We can interact with companies through forums, recruitment agents and headhunters for job opportunites. We can also network with our colleagues, both current and from previous companies that we worked for. We also get to know what they are currently doing.

RapidKL is one company that utilises Facebook and Twitter to reach out to public transport users. News of any train delays will be posted here. Questions on the LRT and bus routes can be asked and answered here. They also receive feedbacks from customers to improve their service. When there are extended hours for the lrt service during concerts or special events, it will be posted here as well. 

Music / Talents

Talents can be discovered here too! Marie Digby, known for her version of Rihanna's Umbrella and her song, Avalanche was discovered on YouTube. A music producer discovered her and she made a few albums. Sabrina, a popular acoustic singer from Philippines also had videos posted online. Jaylesslee, a band featuring Korean twin sisters, Janice and Sonia based in Australia also posted vidoes online on their renditions of popular songs on radio. They sang songs such as Price Tag, I Won't Give Up and Just The Way You Are.

Blog

We can also improve our writing skills through blogging and creating our own websites. Among good blogging sites are Blogger, Wordpress and Tumblr. There are a lot of good articles through blogs.  There are a lot of good articles through the reading of blogs and websites. Examples of good blogs and websites are Yvonne Foong's Neurofibromsis, CindyTey, Writers Club KL, Belinda Chee, and Ryan Seacrest. Several of our politicians also got involved in writing on their blogs such as Lim Kit Siang and our current Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

E-Payment / E-Transactions

The web also provides a platform for e-payment and e-transactions. We do not need to worry about queues at the post office anymore as most of the payments can be done via the web. Most of banks provide e-banking services such as Maybank2u, UOB and CIMB Clicks, NAB. We can pay our bills and income taxes (E-Hasil) through e-banking services. We can do E-Filing of our income taxes online too. We can also shop online through sites such as MPH, Amazon, Apple Store and  GSC. Cinema tickets can be bought online at both GSC and TGV and therefore we can avoid the queue on weekends. For Android, IPhone and IPad users, you also can make purchases on Playbook and iTunes store.
 

Conclusion

However, there are people who also used it incorrectly such as being a stalker on the web or involve in web pornography or cheating people of their money through the net. There are also cases where our personal, credit card and banking information are stolen through phishing.

Social media is good if we used it wisely. We can find a lot of resources on the web such as the examples given above. In a conclusion, we need to be careful while using the internet and avoid unnecessary hassles. We need to shop at secure payment sites and do not click on e-mails that we do not know. Last but not least. please do not use the web for unlawful purposes.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

Renewable Energies

Hi Everyone,

In the wake of the Lynas controversial rare earth project at Pahang, let us evacuate the various renewable energies and the pros and cons of each of them.

Renewable energies comes from natural sources and can be reused. It includes hydroelectric, wind, solar and also nuclear.

Hydroelectric

The main source of hydro electricity is water. Water is present in over 70% of the Earth. Hydroelectricity is generated by huge amounts of water located at a very high terrain such as waterfalls and dams. Huge amounts of water streaming down a waterfall will generate a high amount of kinetic energy which in turn generates enough power for electricity.

Currently, hydropower powers over 24% of the electricity in the world and supply more than 1 billion people with power. It is one of the largest renewable energy source in the world.

To know more about how hydroelectric works, please visit How Hydropower Plants Works¹ website powered by HowStuffWorks.com.

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of hydroelectricity:²

Advantages

Constant electricity production
Clean source of energy
Cost less then fossil fuel
Recreational activities

Disadvantages

Expensive to built and needs to be high quality
People need to move out of the valley when a dam is built
May cause serious geological damage

Wind

Wind can be converted into energy through the use of windmills for mechanical power, wind turbines for electricity and wind pumps for water pumping or drainage. A large wind farm may consists of hundreds of wind turbines that are connected to the power network.³

 A wind turbine operating at a wind farm normally generates 65% to 80% of the time. The wind speed may not be at optimum levels. The capacity factor is about 30% to 35%.<sup>4

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of wind energy:4,5</sup>

Advantages

Free and renewable resource
Less expensive to construct
No air or water pollution

^{Disadvantages}  

Noise generated by the wind turbines (rotors)
Negative impact on wildbirds and bats
The glistening blades of windmills are an eyesore
Wind blows intermittently
Good wind sites are loacated in remote locations

Solar

Sun is present everyday in our lives, more so in countries nearer to the Equator. It is also present in Australia during summer.

Leveraging on the presence of sun, it can be used as a source of clean and renewable energy. It is also used in devices such as a calculator.

There are two ways to capture solar energy that is passive and active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distributable solar energy⁶. Active solar technologies use photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar include orienting buildings to the Sun and designing speaces that circulate air. 

Solar energy uses include water heating system, electric vehicles, electricity, running satellites that orbit the earth, power convertors for electric motor drives and for emergency lighting^7,8.

Malaysia is also going to have its solar power plant that is going to be located at Putrajaya. It is an initiative by Tenaga Nasional (TNB)⁹.

Below are the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

Solar energy is free
Good for sunny countries especially in areas that have no easy way to get electricity
Efficient energy

Disadvantages

There must be presence of light to generate solar energy
Expensive to build solar stations
Not reliable in a climate that is not sunny

Nuclear

Nuclear through the process of nuclear fission can be used to generate electricity as well. Nuclear power plants has provided about 6% of the world's energy and 13% to 14% of the world's electricity. Among the countries using nuclear energy are the U.S, France and Japan¹⁰. 

It is widely debated that nuclear energy is good. On one hand, nuclear can be a clean energy resource but on the other hand, if safety measures are not implemented thoroughly, it may cause harmful radiation to be released.

The most talked about nuclear disaster were Chernobyl (Russia) and the recent Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan which was damaged during a tsunami last year. It also prompted the unhappy reaction of residents over the proposed Lynas rare earth project in Pahang, Malaysia.

Advantages^10,12,13

No emission of any poisonous gases
Generates a high amountt of electricity energy in a single power plant
Readily available

Disadvantages


Safety of nuclear reactors are top priority
It may be used to produce nuclear weapons
Health risks and environmental damage


Here are also some myths and facts about nuclear energy from Nuclear Energy Institute:
Myths and Facts About Nuclear Energy

In a nutsheel, each renewable energy has its pros and cons. Which one is the best one of all?

Nuclear energy may have its advantages but many are still sceptical about it. 

The highest risk would be nuclear energy as well. The source of energy that has the lowest risk would be solar and wind. 

Hydroelectric and solar energy are a better renewable energy sources in most parts of Asia because of the climate and weather. Wind energy is used more in western countries and Australia. 

For me, it should be hydroelectric and wind energy. These sources are the cleanest of all. There may be an issue regarding the issue of building a hydroelectric dam as it can damage the environment and wildlife but it is also a source of energy that is low risk.  We can say the same for wind but it may not run at full capacity at all times. Wind energy is not suitable for countries like Malaysia because there isn't enough wind here to generate the electricity.

Solar is the alternative choice being that it may take a long time to generate enough power. It is great for countries that have sunny weather all year round such as Malaysia and Indonesia. 

Nuclear power is clean but the radiation it emits may cause health risks even though the amount of radiation is very small. Safety also remains the top concern for nuclear power reactors for it may be harmful when the radiation is releaded. There is research that shows nuclear power plants are safe though¹¹.

Discussions and more detailed research can also be done to have a better understanding of all these source of energies. It may be further discussed in different posts in the future. This is only a summary of the sources of renewable energy. There can be different opinions on all these as well.

Cheers,

Rogerkoo

¹Bonsor, Kevin.  "How Hydropower Plants Work"  06 September 2001.  HowStuffWorks.com, http://www.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/hydropower-plant.htm   
Accessed: 31 March 2012.

² What are the advantages and disadvantages of hydro-electric power - Answers.com, Wiki Answers, http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_hydro-electric_power, 
Accessed: 1st April 2012 

³ Wind power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power, 
Accessed: 1st April 2012 

⁴ National Energy Education Development Project: Energy Infobooks - Secondary, http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/WindS.pdf
 Accessed: 7th April 2012 

⁵ Wind Energy Bascis, Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS, http://windeis.anl.gov/guide/basics/index.cfm
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁶ Solar Energy- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁷ Energy Resources: Solar, www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/solar.htm
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁸ Solar | Department of Energy:, http://energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources/renewable-energy/solar
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

⁹ The Star Online: Malaysia's first solar power plant:, http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/23/business/8114613&sec=business
 Accessed: 7th April 2012

¹⁰ Nuclear Power- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
 Accessed: 8th April 2012

¹¹ Nuclear Energy Institute - Myths and Facts About Nuclear Energy, http://www.nei.org/newsandevents/nei-backgrounders/myths--facts-about-nuclear-energy
 Accessed: 8th April 2012

¹² Benefits of Nuclear Power, http://www.benefitsofnuclearpower.com/
 Accessed: 8th April 2012

¹³ Pros and cons of nuclear power | Time for change, http://timeforchange.org/pros-and-cons-of-nuclear-power-and-sustainability
 Accessed: 8th April 2012