Some elected politicians..(sigh)

Now this post is probably highly controversial, presumptuously will make me a headline in The Star even (remember what happened to the poor guy Wee who'd complaint about TNB terrible service in Youtube?)! Someone suggested I should've gone for the highest office in Sabah, yes, the CM chair!

It all started with one of the comments following a friend of mine, Nelly, blog post (here). It's basically containing a very honest, true story that she's experienced with one of the 'elected' politicians in Sabah. To give you a brief 'resume' of this particular guy, he's currently holding the 'tourism portfolio/ministerial' post in the state cabinet. Google that one up, and you'll be lucky to find this guy face on the web (yes, you're blessed to see him)!

If you'd read his email replies to one of my wise, highly intellectual friends (click on the link to Nelly's blog entry above), you can see a STARK contrast between ones that actually research a problem and try to find coherent solutions to solve the matter, and the ones that realized the problem but chose not only to tie hands and feet to nail the matter in the head but also are quick to shift the blames to others so as to save their own asses (please excuse the profanity as I find it's discomforting not to be able to express my freedom of writing).

That this is one example of the many out there (not limited to Sabah, but around the globe unfortunately) where elected leaders show uncharismatic values of a leader is very regrettable I believe. But, let me focus on this particular matter at hand that I find contemptible about this particular minister: 1) being aware of the pressing problem but doing nothing and 2) finding somebody for a scapegoat.

This particular minister, whatever his name is, I hope had been aware of the problem long before my friend brought up the matter to him, that the choking price just to climb the darn 4 km in height Mt. Kinabalu is killing the locals proud intention to see the sunrise on the highest mountain in the country. This same ministry is responsible for going out there to promote our untouched serene nature, majestic few of the many oldest rain-forests in the world, our dignified cultures and customs, but at the rate at which it's promoting 'our values' put too much emphasis on short term profit rather than a long term one. Charging locals a rate that's comparable to that of the international tourists, I think is too much over the top. Well, sure you'd like to say 'hey it's dog eat dog world out there,' but lets remind ourself that the mean annual salary for Malaysian par way below that of the Americans, Europeans, in fact most of the developing countries! We're also being taxed at a ridiculous rate in exchange to subsidized oil and some others. Shocking statistics? I didn't have to hold a degree in Economics to read with disbelief the numbers! So, dear minister, if you so wanted to charge us the same as our American friends, get our GDP running on the same speed as theirs then you can start the fair-play game!

Why, yes, I find it's disgusting for some leaders to call themselves leaders when they cannot take on criticisms with opened minds equally as they'll regard favorable praises for their works, and amazingly most of them are politicians. Whatever happened to that saying 'failure is a mother of success' that they speak with volume in their motivational speeches to the electorates? Some things didn't work out fine, be it your misjudgments or somebody (who happened to be in your team, predecessors) else's but was it necessary to explain who blew the shit up? It sure didn't reflect a nice impression of this particular minister, at least to most of us. Why would resorting to assigning responsibility for a fault to somebody else making it seems he's complete innocent is beyond any ordinary citizens, one of them is me. It only painted one clear picture of him, that is beyond that garlanded title, respect of his is an empty-headed guy of no talent whatsoever, not worthy of any admirations from whomsoever, and above all devoid of any dedications and devotions to his vocation. So, here's the dagger to bring this particular minister home: get your lazy bum out of that comfy leather chair that we paid for with our sweat and blood if you're not going to be serious about your job. Shape up or ship out, pal!

Comments: Thanks Nali, for the idea of me sitting in the CM chair. Politics are one of the careers that I'll be thinking when we're in almost in the brink of extinction from qualified leaders. Until then, we'll (yes, you and me!) have to vociferously voice out and stand for however little injustices trampled upon us.

Cookbook for a lazy student (er..I mean a cook'page')

(Strawberry cheese cake, f/1.4, 400)

Well, I'm probably not in a position to divulge or share any new attractive recipes since I hardly eat warm food for my dinner. If you consider microwaved home cook pasta and toasted bread with scramble eggs as hot food for meals, then I'd say I've that every a couple of days when I'm low on fruit, fresh vege for salad.

But here are several of my recipes that may make cooking an enjoyable 15 mins experience for those of you who are too lazy to prepare your dinner after a long, tiring day at school.

1) 'Fast' Pizza: You'll require a couple of things bought from a supermarket: Tomato paste for pizza base (if you can't be bothered with it, or you want something that can be used for other cooking as well, get a tomato ketchup or a barbeque sauce), Tuna or Salmon in the can, pickles from the jars (my favorite would be the sweet gherkins and capers), grated cheese (for rich flavor it'll be Parmesan, but Cheddar is not a bad choice as well), and stuff**.

Basically just like you'd prepare your toasted bread for breakfast, you'd do the same with your pieces of bread for this recipe. Toast the bread til it suits your liking with toaster, dabbed some tomato paste on it, pour hearty amount of tossed tuna/salmon, pickles and your favorite cheese over the paste and let it sit in the power microwave oven for 45 secs first. After this first step is done, with a fork stab the fillings and then put it in the microwave for another 45 secs. Your pizza is ready! Caution, the pizza topping is pretty hot especially the cheese bit!

2) 'Humus' dipped Baguette: You'll need chick peas from a can and unsweetened yogurt from your nearby supermarket. If you're the type who can't eat your food without vegetables in it, grab a bag of baby carrots on your way out. And of course, Baguette!

The 'humus' is simple, but may require some muscular intervention to squash the tossed chickpeas to almost paste-like (don't worry too much over the uncrushed ones, that's what your teeth are for!). Start adding yogurt with a spoon or two as humus generally is attractive when the water/liquid content is just nice. Some chickpeas are already salted, so depending on your taste bud, season it with grind salt and pepper. I like being colorful sometime, so I'll add some beetroot (from the can of course!) that gives a pink-to-violet look! Your French meal is ready now to be served, and your baby carrot dipped in this humus is a terrific salad accompaniment!

3) Salmon 'snack': This is a little bit more 'expensive' dinner, but it's worth every once in a month try! You'll need freshly packed salmon (smoked is sometime on sale, so grab that over the raw one!) and wheatmeal crackers from your supermarket.

This is as easy as ABC (I guess the price the salmon costs made it this way!). Basically it's just the matter of cutting the salmon pieces and putting it on your wheatmeal biscuits. If you happened to have some 'humus' from the previous recipe left, that'll just add extra flavor to your healthy dinner. Or maybe some spiced fruit chutney spread on your biscuits! Salmon (smoked or raw) goes extremely well with capers, believe me! If you're worried about salad, the cherry tomatoes should solve your problem.

4) 'Fruity' salad for vegetarian: Your favorite fruits (I never tried with banana yet) to go with a spoon or two of mayonnaise, cream cheese, raisins, nuts (unsalted over salted, hazelnut/cashew nut/almond over peanut) and lettuce, spinach (basically just grab a bag of green salad from the counter), all obtainable from your supermarket.

This requires a bit of cleaning up the mess, so I tend to prepare this only when I'm not physically challenged. Granny Smith apples make a good one, but mandarin, oranges and pears are as good for the 'fruity' bits. You'll have to peel them and dice them before you throw mayo on the salad bowl, or otherwise it'll be a bit chewy salad. Since I love nuts (and they drive me nut!), I'll be pouring a handful of nuts into the bowl. If time is not of your concern for now, chopping the nuts will help with the chewing job later on. I usually soaked raisins in hot water for a couple of minutes so that they bloated and entice your taste buds with an even more powerful sweetness. And finally craft your salad with greens and cream cheese! Some prefer goat cheese (feta) to cream cheese, but feta is a bit salty and I don't find salty and sweet taste rather that flamboyant.

stuff**: Other things that you'd probably would only need to have if you're a true fan of a perfect pizza. Olives, onion, mushrooms are among them that I know of. But I find onion is a bit rough to cook in a minute or so in the microwave. And no one would like the tanginess taste of raw onion I'm sure.

P/S: If drinks are a culture to you, remember this: Color co-ordinate with your meal. For recipe 1 and 3, red would do the job while white would complements recipe 2 and 4.

Comments: Supplying my picture of baking strawberry cheese cake to conjure the image I'm not a lousy cooker despite my lack of practice in the real kitchen (other than a microwave oven!).

Gone Surfing!

(The Lion Rock and its reflection on the wet sand at Piha, f/8.0, 1/225)

I'm posting some shots taken from my recent trip with the other avid photographers from our university Photography Club. I'm told that this club is one of the first clubs established in the university and it's suffice to say that it's been there since before I was born!

So the theme of the outing was something like water and waterfalls.. Oh! Behold.. We've got more than what we asked for (at least for me!). I truly enjoyed this trip since it's something I'm dear to: Hiking to waterfalls and hills and forests!

(Kite Kite Fall at Piha, f/16, 1/4)

These waterfalls are located to the west of Auckland, Waitakere, about 45 mins drive from the city center. They're truly amazing features of west Auckland, where the closest National Park to the city resides. Apart from this, this part of the city/region also offers one of the best trekking experience in the country, and I speak this from my experience of walking through part of the trails.

After exhausting most of the photographers in the group (I must admit that these guys are really soft bones!), we decided to spent our sunset in Piha, the surfers paradise! If you're an avid surfer, go brave the water in Piha or Raglan when you step to the country!

Most of the photographers had cool gadgets with them. Manfrotto tripods, several magic filters (blue, yellow, gradual, purple, sunset and even black ones!) that trick the cameras to produce superhuman shots. There's even a guy that owned a Canon 1D for Pete's sake!! I've to be contented with my UV filter and solely depends on the nature's friendly light to get the effect that I wish. Oh well, poor student! But nowhere it seems that my robust Pentax K10D failed me! Anyhow, I wouldn't want to end my post without a quick surf on the day's sumptuous outing treat! So, here we go...

(Looking down at Kite Kite Fall along the walkway, f/8, 1/400)

(NZ is famous for its ferns, f/8.0, 1/400)

(A stream along the Kite Kite Fall walkway, f/22, 0.3")

(Majestic view of the Sun crossing the horizon across Tasman Sea, f/22, 0.3")

Somewhere, out there...

(The beautifully lit Sydney Opera House--f3.5, 3.5secs)

Somewhere there's someone who dreams of your smile, and finds in your presence life that is worthwhile. So when you are lonely, remember it's true, somebody, somewhere, is thinking of you.

(The proud Sydney's Harbour Bridge--f1.4, 1/4000s)

Now that soothed my soul a bit after a phase of life where challenges never cease to cool down even for a bit. Well, that's a student life where you're constantly bogged down, or rather spent an eon figuring out how the heck my experimental data doesn't agree at all with the well-established theories. Ever felt being let down by inanimate objects? Go figure my plots of measured data!

(Martin's Place at Sydney City Center--f5.6, 1/30s)

It's not all bitter and sour, this life of a research student I'd say. On the plusses side, I'd say I've lead a comfortable if not luxurious life with the research stipend. Oh, never forget about the free tickets for conferences and seminars around the country and the world! Of course, you're supposed to be there introducing and presenting your skills in your area to your fellow researchers, but it's never a crime to bite the juiciest part of the travel intent; travelling itself!

(With the first guy who invented THz Pulsed Time Domain at IBM, Dan Grichskowsky [center]. Here we're taken around a cruise ship sailing around the Sydney's harbour before the dinner function.)

Anyhow, since I've been talking about sponsored travel, it's about time to display my ostentatious my pictures of Sydney visit for another conference that's heavily attended by the 'gods' of the microstructured fibers field.

(Stoked with the award!)

Comment: The visit to OZ wasn't very eventful at the first arrival. Holed up at the waiting area with an Immigration officer interviewing your purpose of visit isn't really something I've had expected. Lost my way to the conference hall the first day (and missing the best bits of keynote talks!) adds several exasperating unnecessary stress! But the most shocking but pleasing surprise that I've got was the Best Student Award (for presentation) at the conference, despite my stammers and some bad English pronunciations at the beginning of the talk.

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..

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..

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)