Monday, February 22, 2010

Too many women!

I cannot contain my enrage upon reading an article ('Cuepacs concerned about 'female dominance') on the online newspaper TheStar about the 'worrying trend of women dominance in decision making posts'. The article claimed that Cuepacs is anxious about the 'long-term implications on the progress and growth of the country'.

First thing: Everybody can make stupid, ridiculous decisions without careful thought and planning. Men do not qualify to exclude itself from the blame or responsibility at being wrong and at fault, neither does the opposite sex. Fullstop. This chauvinist who identified itself with the name Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin, a secretary-general of the concern Cuepacs, believes that gravity of making absurd conclusions and resolutions is greater if a woman hold the steering rather than a man. Such a claim should, at first, be corroborated with a firm, thorough, bullet-proof evidence that his assertion that women leaders hinder development more than their men counterparts. We have seen it through the looking glass of what, when, which, how our men commands, conducts themselves at the national level at late. Oh who can forget about the 'bocor' issue, sharp and loud cry of 'monkey' in the parliamentary sittings, derogatory remarks of 'pendatang' etc? And from whose mouths do such moronic verses echo? I don't have to add that some countrymen (and women) lauded such grotesquely comments coming from their men bosses. Yes, men.

Second thing: While they support that government quota on women as the principle players in charge of coordinating the best options available, why should we (men or women) approve of the quota in the first place? The best should be selected, and their sex should never be tipped as one's lack of leadership quality. Rather it should be embraced as one gives her/his best to take control and work as a team that is also consists of men and women having the same vision. Harping on the issue of gender inequality in certain sectors, this guy not only demerit 'itself' as a clueless leader but also a 'lapuk' (i cannot find a more sweeter insult) domineering boss. This guy see leader standards in a polarized way such that it distinctively attributes its own race superior judgement. I do not deny for once some men made some decisions that changed the entire course of history, but let us also recognize the equal, if not more contributions from mothers and daughters that empower nations across the globe. Why is it hard to understand that the combined effective improvement of the country comes from both men and women, and not exclusively from one sex? When more pressing issues should have been worked out together collectively, why are they so persistent about who's leading who when all have the same visions and goals?

Comment: I wonder if this guy can face the music if he's been put into women's shoes. Or even more drastically, that it's always been the environment that women take charge of anything and resolve everything, he was born into since the dinosaurs ancient time. Or maybe if the religion books state that the forbidden fruit was first touched by Adam, this guy would not be so critical and discriminating against women. Sigh..

Monday, February 15, 2010

Poetry in Motion


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!


If... by Rudyard Kipling. A beautifully composed guidance..


Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Name of the Rose

I'm reading this beautiful piece of literary fiction book of Umberto Eco 'The Name of The Rose'. While the book is categorized as fiction piece, it's actually based on real characters in history dated back to the 12th century. A story that is crafted with gorgeous words that captured the essence of the period, full of murderous thrills as well as engaging pursuit of the killers that led me to stay awake late at night to finish even just a couple more pages to feed my ecstasy to solve the mystery! I did warn you that it's going to be torturous read until you're in the final page of the book!

Well, since the entry title today had to do with fauna it's then more than befitting if I put some macro shots of plentiful of colorful flowers around anywhere in NZ. These photos mainly taken with Pentax DA f2.8 100mm, with some taken with my loyal Pentax SMC f1.4 50mm. Enjoy the smell of the spring (and sometime summer) spectrum around NZ!


(SMC f1.4 1/250) (DA f5.6 1/250) (DA f2.8 1/100)
(SMC f2.8 1/100) (DA f2.8 1/250)