DRAGONBALL

"What ball? ..... Big ball"
"What ball? ..... Fishball"
"What ball? ..... Meatball"
"What ball? ..... Baseball"
"What ball? ..... Dodgeball"
"What ball? ..... Football"
"What ball? ..... Dragonball"

It was the FIFA World Cup 1998 fever. Unfortunately it was also months away from our high school public examination, SPM (O'Level equaivalent for Malaysia). We football fans here in Malaysia hardly had any sleep because we were born in the wrong timezone. It's like watching a drama serial of European football league for the entire month! We were like zombies in the class for the entire month, taking any opportunity that came by for a quick nap. We go nuts with the La Copa de la Vida song by gay singer, Ricky Martin as everyone seemed to know how to party and sing it along and aloud. The entire 1998 World Cup can be summed up with 3 words: Zidane, Ronaldo and Šuker. What do they have in common? All three were at that time Real Madrid current or to be players. One was the World Cup winner, the other the first runner up while the last one was the second runner up. Šuker became the golden boot winner as Batistuta and Vieri were one goal behind with 5 goals scored. The World Cup also saw the rise of the new legend, Zidane and the fall of another legend, Ronaldo. Šuker is on the verge of ending his competitive football career so you can say he went out with a bang! Zidane helped France win their first World Cup with two goals from the 3-0 demolision of Brazil while Ronaldo disappointed his country with a shocking final letdown in probably one of the biggest upsets in World Cup final history. Šuker became a legend of Croatia as they beat the Dutch to grab 3rd place.

THE TOURNAMENT
When we were caught in the World Cup fever, our secondary school had a brilliant idea of organizing a football tournament. It is a good example of striking while the iron was hot as we enrolled ourselves without much thinking. We don't really care if we are going to be demolished just as bad or worse than Brazil because our team definitely did not have much experience and background in football. Back then, we spent more time in the basketball court and we didn't have football boots and the jerseys to play. Luckily the organizers are not interested in upholding strict rules as long as you pay money to join the tournament. We gave our team the name Dragonball because many of us are DragonBall Z fans. We had to go around school convincing potential targets to join our unknown club, set up within days. Of course it is hard to get any appeal seeing that we were a bunch of football idiots. We only know football by theory, watching the matches on TV. We were divided into four groups and our group had 4 teams, including ours.

MATCH 01
It was a Saturday morning but our history teacher was giving us exam. Our match was scheduled just right after the exam. Our captain, AK went to register our team. Then he met the captain of our first opponent. The entire team wore a uniform jersey like some professional football club. When the captain asked our captain, AK, do you know anyone from the Dragonball club, he replied he don't out of shame. When it was finally the kick off, the captain was abit shocked to see AK at the centre of the field during the coin tossing. Anyhow, being our first match and against such a cohesive team, we were of course nervous. Spectators around the field must be looking in disbelief that we, a bunch of nobodies wanted to play football in our colourful 'jerseys' and most of us in normal running shoes. Me as a forward, had to depend on fast passes to run into the penalty box. I mean we never train together before so forget about understanding each other and how each of us passes, crosses or moves the ball around the field. We just depend on speed.

In the first half, a player of ours were brought down very near the penalty box. I went for the freekick, giving signal for my team mates to run towards the goalie in case the ball was blocked. I managed to drive it through but it hit the goalie, knocking him down flat and the ball rolled to my midfield friend, CK, who had no obstructions whatsoever to score our debut goal. Being nervous as all of us were, in that split second, he kicked the ball way up the sky, at least 50metres over the goal. He was devastated, so were we.

Fast forward and came the second half. Our left winger, KT, was hell of a good dribbler. Most of our attacks started from him or orchestrated by him. I knew from then onwards that I needed to time my runs to understand him better. Soon, the moment of truth arrived. KT sent me a brilliant pass from the left wing, I ran into the penalty box to receive the ball. The fullback and goalie ran out towards me from deep inside the penalty box to stop me from getting the ball. In that split second, the ball reached first, I took it, bounced it out of the path, ran right to avoid their contact. Both of them accidentally hit each other. The ball landed on my brother and with full force, I hit it into the empty net from below. Erm, maybe I'm exaggerating but I believed it hit my bro, landed in front of me before I kicked it in. Haha! Nevertheless, GOOOOOAAAALLLL!!!!! I ran to dive through the field out of happiness as I saw both the goalie and full back pointed their middle fingers at me. Soon, the match ended and we won 1-0. Sweet! Suddenly, everyone wanted to join our team!


MATCH 02
Match 2 came on a Sunday morning. It was definitely weird to play on Sunday in school since nobody was around apart from the gardener. It was so quiet that football seemed for the first time to be a boring match. It felt like how Real Madrid played AS Roma in a closed door match in Rome from a UEFA ban because the referee was hit by an object. This team we were facing consisted of relatively short players so high balls would definitely benefit us. Just after the whistle for kick off and our friend, KL, took the ball, saw me running like mad into the penalty box, kicked a very high ball into it. I timed my run as I looked into the sky with the ambition to head the ball in. I jumped with all my might and managed to head the ball into the net. GOOOOOAAAALLLL!!!!! 15 seconds? 10 seconds? KL was boasting from then onwards that he assisted the fastest goal in the entire tournament. I had to thank him for his incredible strength to kick such a long distance ball. It was a great start!



The 2nd goal came shortly as our captain, AK, my partner in crime at the front, scored from my assist. Fast forward into the second half, they earned a corner kick. The ball went into the penalty box but was headed out. A team mate got it and passed it half the field down for me to chase. I got past one defender and finally came face to face with the goalie. I did a fake dribble to the right and he fell for that. I ran to the left instead and (probably out of arrogance!!!) kicked the ball softly for it to roll into the empty net. Unfortunately, for our really bad pitch, we didn't have grass and even ground all over. It rolled and touched the goal line before a defender ran towards it to kick it out. From my view, it was as good as a goal since it touched the line. However, the linesman and referee did not see it so there was no point arguing. Fair enough, we ended the match 2-0.



MATCH 03
The last group match came on a Satuday morning. The last few days had been raining ferociously and some matches took place. The field was in a deplorable condition, with mud and water filled holes everywhere, especially near the penalty box. There was no way I could repeat my rolling the ball into the net arrogance move again. Our goalie came very late and slept very late last night. He probably was partying whole night. The first goal scored against us finally came and it did roll in between his legs. Only after the mistake, he finally woke up! The condition of the field forced us to play a lot of lobs, crosses and high balls like how England plays. It is impossible to send passes through the mud. Sometimes, halfway through our runs, we got ourselves caught inside the 'quicksand'. For the first time, we were trailing and chasing from behind. It was tough. In the second half, they scored one more time from those tricky set pieces in the mud. Since their team consisted of lighter and younger players, the pitch suited them well to sneak around us.

Finally, close to the final whistle, KL was brought down in front of the penalty box. A fight was almost created because he was tackled real hard to be brought down. We calmed him down and I volunteered or forced the team to let me take the kick. Since it was very near the goal, it was hard to get enough trajectory for a curve swing in. I tried anyway since we were running out of time. I reversed a couple of metres, avoiding some mud along the way and gave it my all. Although it did not swing like the trademark Roberto Carlos swing that Barthez looked in amazement!





QUARTERS
Since we did not end up at the top of the table, we faced a very formidable side consisting of real football players representing the school and athelics from another group in the knock out stage. We knew we will die right there right then as the fun had to end somehow somewhere. It ended with us losing badly, probably 9-0.

Still, it was one of the greatest moments in our secondary school time. Although we were not that great, we did bond well from forming this team. We chanted
"What ball? ..... big ball"
"What ball? ..... fishball"
"What ball? ..... meatball"
"What ball? ..... baseball"
"What ball? ..... dodgeball"
"What ball? ..... football"
"What ball? ..... dragonball"
before every match, putting our hands together to lift our spirits high. It was fun and definitely no regrets!



LIVE, EAT, SLEEP FOOTBALL!

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Sustainability is like being sinless."
DieHardX, March 26th, 2010

MALAYSIAN JOKE OF THE DAY

I have a good laugh this morning when reading this piece of news. The headlines in the Singapore newspaper is 'Malaysian crime rate down sharply'. I was amazed so I check for more details in Bernama (where else to find Malaysian good news?). How sharp is it huh? You can read the full news below but I highlighted the portion in red.

Najib said that since the NKRAs were announced last year with the target to reduce the crime rate by five per cent by 2010, the initiative had begun to show positive results with a drop of 13 per cent in the crime rate for the first two months this year compared with the corresponding period last year.

Now, what does that tell you? 13% drop, very sharp indeed. The perception of the general public is that the police is not performing better. In constrast, there has been an increase of gated communities and housings with security these few years. Go around Johor Bahru and see for yourself the advertisements for houses, apartments and condominiums. The biggest selling point is 24 hour security, some even put in the ad that they have full CCTV coverage. I dare the government to ban any gated or security housing and see if the crime rate can still fall sharply. People have given up on the police, staying away from the streets. You don't believe me? Go down the community and survey as many people as you want. I will be surprised if their perception is crime rate has dropped sharply and it is because the police are doing their jobs. I don't feel any safer in Johor Bahru since I first stayed there till now (almost 4 years already). My doctor friend in Johor Bahru does not report to me that his business is getting very bad lately because crime rate has fallen beyond recognition that there are no crime victims to go for treatment.

March 25, 2010 13:06 PM

Najib Announces Incentives For Police Personnel


KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- The government has agreed to pay a monthly allowance of RM200 to about 33,000 police officers and personnel performing general duties.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in making the announcement today, said it would involve an additional allocation of RM84 million a year.

He also had good news for personnel with the ranks of constable to corporal who will enjoy promotions based on a time-based service scheme.

Under the amendment to the service circular 2009, personnel with the rank of constable would be promoted to lance corporal after three years' service, he said that the 203rd Police Day celebration at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) here.

A lance corporal would be promoted to corporal after five years' service.

"This improvement initiative will involve over 52,000 personnel of other ranks," he said.

Present were Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Inspector-Genreal of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.

In his speech, Najib also proposed that outstanding police stations be given special recognition based on their performances and achievements.

"What's given today is to show the government's support for the contributions of the police personnel in serving the people and country and to give them motivation," he said.

Besides that, he stressed the three main values -- integrity,effectiveness and outcome -- that all members of the Royal Malaysia Police should observe in carrying out their duties to the society, especially to ensure that the country was peaceful and safe.

He said these three values were important in efforts to reduce the crime rate, which was one of the six national key result areas (NKRAs).

"Reducing crime is one of the national missions which are an important agenda for the government. The task is not only the responsibility of the police but also the home minister and I as the head of government who is also responsible to the people to achieve this objective," he said.

Najib said that since the NKRAs were announced last year with the target to reduce the crime rate by five per cent by 2010, the initiative had begun to show positive results with a drop of 13 per cent in the crime rate for the first two months this year compared with the corresponding period last year.

This provided great motivation to continue the momentum to achieve the key performance indicator (KPI), he said.

"If we want to succeed in fighting crime, we have to ensure that we are strong in all aspects and not only in terms of personnel and the three values but also in terms of new skills like technology and the best communication equipment," he said.

He cited the example of the mobile police station which must have more efficient communication equipment so that the personnel could easily communicate and take quick action whenever a crime occurred.

-- BERNAMA

DATA SENSING INTEGRATION

Well, it is great to see Carlo Ratti in person although the discussion is more on data sensing than DEMs or urban planning. Well, you get to see people or visitors from MIT and Cambridge pretty often here but very seldom you get such a big name like Ratti around.



There's Kristian Kloeckl and Chris Zegras sitting down there in the photo.

Senseable City Lab
Carlo Ratti Associati
Christopher Zegras
Kristian Kloeckl

THE GREEN FUEL MYTH

When I flew back to Sarawak last couple of years, I know it is slowly becoming Johor. Acres and acres of land are being cleared for oil palm plantation. How green is this biofuel? There is a heavy price to pay for going green. If you think about it, the amount of jungle to clear, the amount of biodiversity that is lost, the amount of animals that are extinct, the amount of water consumption and waste generation that goes through the whole chain of getting the tree to bear the fruits, it is not worth it. You might as well just go drill for normal fuel, which has less impact.

Recall the National Geographic article titled Borneo's Moment of Truth and look through the images of the landscape. It is very real. I remember driving between Bintulu and Miri about four years back and was shocked by the amount of land cleared for oil palm plantation. I thought I was driving in Johor. Read through the article by Suhardi for more complete picture of the devastation oil palm is causing to the nature.

I had a conversation with an engineer friend the other day. He told me the amount of water needed to grow an oil palm tree and the amount of waste generated is making the whole thing unsustainable. It is not worth it for the ecosystem. It is like the X amount of water and energy you need to generate that Y amount of oil is not economic at all. For the businessmen, it is worth it for the good market price. The price is of course paid by people living near all these land that has been cleared for oil palm plantation.

Today, I read the news headline MALAYSIA TO SWITCH TO BIOFUEL NEXT YEAR and was caught with the statement:

The policy "will benefit the country as biofuel is environmentally friendly and it will reduce our dependence on petroleum diesel," the ministry said.

I am not so convinced about environmentally friendly part anymore. All I want to say is to enjoy green fuel, the price to pay is too high and is always paid by other countries where the sacrifice is too much to bear. There is just too much water and land wasted and waste generated.

Water hungry: the innovative use of irrigation could help the palm oil industry address sustainability issues which are likely to attract increasing attention from environmentally-concerned consumers, governments and food industries. (Oil Palm)

Minimization of water consumption and process optimization of palm oil mills

Malaysia to switch to biofuel next year
(AFP) – 20 hours ago

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil producer, will make it mandatory for all vehicles to use biofuel from next year, the government announced Wednesday.

Malaysia's plans to shift to biofuel -- a mixture of diesel with five percent processed palm oil -- have been delayed over the past few years due to price fluctuations.

The plan will now be implemented in stages in several central states from June 2011, the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry said in a statement, adding that the extra cost will be borne by petroleum companies.

The policy "will benefit the country as biofuel is environmentally friendly and it will reduce our dependence on petroleum diesel," the ministry said.

"It will also strengthen the palm oil prices and enable the planters, especially smallholders, to benefit from the stronger palm oil price."

The ministry said it will discuss the implementation mechanism with petroleum companies, while the government will set up six petroleum depots with blending facilities.

The government has said the switch to biofuel will help reduce the cost of fuel in Malaysia, where petrol is subsidised, but conservationists have criticised oil palm plantations for destroying wildlife habitats.

Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok defended the move, although he conceded the biofuel industry is facing "increasing pressure from negative public opinion on biofuels".

"One of the challenges is meeting the sustainability criteria that are being debated worldwide," the minister said in a separate statement.

"Many studies have shown that the use of biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions as compared to the use of petroleum diesel," he said.

"It is universally recognised that fossil fuel reserves are finite and fast depleting. As such, renewable energy sources need to be found to complement the needs of energy requirements."

Dompok said Malaysia -- which aims to be the global leader in biodiesel -- has approved 56 licences for biodiesel production, which account for a production capacity of 6.8 million tonnes.

The fortunes of Malaysia's biofuel industry waned in late 2008 when the price of crude oil tumbled, triggering a crash in the palm oil price which made supply uncertain, jeopardising the long-term contracts the industry needs. Malaysia is the world's second-largest exporter of palm oil after Indonesia, and the two countries account for 85 percent of global production.

HATTRICK MESSIAH IS RICHEST

People say he is already better than Maradona. He used to be called the next Maradona. Now, he can score two hattricks per week. Inhuman. Genius. Prodigy. MESSIah!

Big mouth Mourinho is richest manyzer on the planet. Hehe! Love him or hate him, people always want to hear his comments.

The France Football 'rich list' (combines salaries, bonuses and off-field earnings):
Players
1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £29.6m
2. David Beckham (LA Galaxy/Milan) £27.3m
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £27m
4. Kaka (Real Madrid) £16.9m
5. Thierry Henry (Barcelona) £16.1m
6. Ronaldinho (AC Milan) £15.5m
7. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) £13.8m
8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona) £13m
9. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) £12.8m
10. Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan) £12.4m

Managers
1. Jose Mourinho (Inter) £11.7m
2. Roberto Mancini (Manchester City) £10.8m
3. Luiz Felipe Scolari (FC Bunyodkor) £8.5m
4. Juergen Klinsmann (ex-Bayern Munich) £8.1m
5. Fabio Capello (England) £7.5m
6. Guus Hiddink (Russia) £7.1m
7. Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) £6.5m
8. Pep Guardiola (Barcelona) £5.8m
9. Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) £5.7m
10. Louis Vaan Gaal (Bayern Munich) £5.4m

Goal.com

SWEEP PANORAMA

Check out the sweep panorama from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V/B. It has 10x optical zoom, built-in GPS and compass, how cool is that? I tried taking the sweep panorama by walking sideways but I cannot move too fast. Taking a panorama image by sitting on a revolving chair is much easier. In the past, you need to use a software to stitch multiple shots for a panorama. This camera does it with quite a good speed. Not bad at all, processing within a few seconds after a sweep panorama shot.

Here are two images of panoramic vertical and horizontal shots taken from the camera with me inside. There are still some distortions at some parts of the image. The resolution of these two images are taken at 4912 X 1080 pixels for the horizontal and 3424 X 1920 pixels for the vertical. I have edited them both to fit the maximum width of 400 pixels in the blog post.





Imaging-Resource Review

LEECH FARMING

We know bird nest farming has been booming like mad in Malaysia lately. The benefits of eating bird nests from swiftlets are not so forthcoming and direct. It could take years to show results and it is mostly only consumed by Chinese. The plight of the baby swiftlets during nest harvesting is also a controversial issue. The possibility of the overpopulation of swiftlets could endanger the ecosystem.

Now, the new trend is leech farming. I have always been fascinated of leeches since the article I read few years back that they are having such therapy. However, I failed to find it at all. It is used for sucking out dirty or bad blood from your body. I am excited to visit a leech farm since my colleagues went for a leech farm visit in Johor Bahru organized by the university last weekend. I could not make it since I was away.

I had an experience of being sucked dry by over 50+ leeches during a jungle trekking trip in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah few years back. I guess I had lost many litres of blood from the oversucking that I could have lost some weight. Haha! The next day I felt the itch all over the bite marks. Now, if we can use leeches to aim correctly at parts of our body to get rid of lousy blood, that will be good!

LEECH THERAPY, HERE I COME!!!! (if I can find your farm in Johor Bahru)

Something good about leeches

A lesson in leeches

THE MOST UNSUSTAINABLE SPORT BEGINS THE NEW SEASON

Well, the new season begins now and the first race in Bahrain will start soon. Michael Schumacher is back but not with Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are in the same team, which is the most incredible thing to ever happen to Formula 1. Who will be more powerful and influential in the team? Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso are in the Ferrari team. This could be a very interesting season. Sebastian Vettel is tipped to be the man to steal the show this season. What about the new teams coming into the race where two are from budget airline bosses? Will Lotus, Virgin and Hispania HRT all falter or at least one or two of them making an impact in their debut season?

We heard of the new points system, the tyres usage and refueling rules for the new season which will make the season very challenging and complicated. We could end up having a very unpredictable season since so many new factors will be added to the most expensive sport in the world.

Will Michael Schumacher again be the force to be reckon with? Will he need time to chase the current top drivers? Well, we will have a sneak preview of what to expect for the new season soon. I just hope that all these new measures will increase the excitement of the race and not make it more boring. Anything can happen, only time will tell!

THE TEMPTATION OF RICH MARRIED MEN

The most happening phrase nowadays is "Are you going to do a Tiger Woods?" or the next famous local phrase is "Are you going to do a Jack Neo?" Well, these two issues have hit the world in a big way, making it seems like even those who are role models are fallen to the temptation of women. Therefore, don't judge a book by its cover or never think that still water doesn't have crocodiles. Of course, women fall for rich married guys because of money. Sometimes it could be both good looks and money. Sometimes it is both money and fame. Even men with religion are also unfaithful, regardless of what is taught about adultery. Hmm, Britney Spears' Womanizer song seems to be the most appropriate thing that comes to my mind.

I was queuing up at the bank yesterday when two ladies in front of me were talking about the Jack Neo topic.

Lady #1: Well, all men are the same. They are all cheaters.
Lady #2: Hey, don't talk so loud (while looking at me who is a man)
Lady #1: But it is a fact. They are very proned to cheat on their wives. Especially the world today where temptations are everywhere.
Lady #2: Yeah!
Lady #1: He (Jack Neo) is just unlucky to be exposed. Most men did it but the matter is hidden well.
Lady #2: He should have checked the Internet on the lady's background and behaviour before tackling her. The old man may think that girls these days are still like the old days who will just cry and keep the story to themselves. He didn't expect her to be the type who will blow matters out!
Lady #1: Yeah, and the wife is extremely stupid too to still support him just like Tiger Woods. It is simple because their husbands are rich. If they are poor, they would have divorce them straight away. This means they still depend on their husband. Of course the children upbringing is another issue.
Lady #2: The wife should not even be at the press conference. Jack Neo should go himself. If they go together, it is as if both of them are responsible. He should go alone and apologize himself.
Lady #1: Yeah, she is the victim here but it ended up like she is also the accomplice.
Bank finally opens and the conversation ends there...

I guess there is some truth in their opinions over there. That's why you have a phrase like seven year itch. A friend of mine used to ask me: You are not bored of eating char kueh tiaw everyday? He is referring to being faithful to a single lady. He said he has to have char kueh tiaw, hokkien mee, rice, beehoon and so on. Well, it is true, his lifestyle is like that, having multiple girlfriends at a time or having one girl after another and another and another. He use the analogy of getting bored for eating the same food 24/7 to refer to faithfulness. I know at least two other friends who are like that and boast with me how many girls they sleep with. I don't know about others who don't admit to me. I guess the article below explains the human nature of men. After seeing my friends as examples, I have to agree with the article. 50% of US men cheat in their marriages! That's a high probability for infidelity. 1 in 2 men cheat in their marriage!

The Chinese always say that when you have money and power, you will want to cheat, forget about the 7 years itch if you make fortune and fame in less than 7 years.

I guess even with the religion and the marriage vow, men can still be unfaithful. Here is the typical marriage vow:
I, (name), take you, (name), to be my (husband/wife). I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. I, (name), take you, (name), for my lawful (husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

I mean if you really love and honour your wife as stated in the vow, you really then love her. If not, there is no point getting married to her if you bound to cheat in the future. Just remain single to sleep with every girl you want to and you end up not hurting anybody else. Unless you are Edison Chen. You don't need religion or the marriage vow to restrain you. It is as if you need laws to be in place to make you faithful. Therefore you do it for the sake of abiding the laws of men and God. In other words, you are not sincerely in love, you are just forcing yourself to behave for the sake of passing the standards of men and God. I guess God Almighty being the ever knowing knows man is one itchy creature and thus had to implement laws to counter adultery and cheating on the girlfriend.

As for me, as a normal man, I know how the temptation of hot sexy babes are like. If you ask Megan Fox, Giselle Bundchen, Adriana Lima, Leah Dizon and/or Scarlett Johansson to stand in front of me, I will have weaked knees. Hehehe! I believe no man can resist her/them even if she/they just stare at you. I admire beautiful and sexy ladies. A guy who don't must be screwed down there. Hehe! The difference is you admire and respect their beauty. That's it. It is not because you have a wife or children or obeying God's words and therefore you behave. You must nail it in your mind that this is the boundary line and that's all it is. Don't think of anything funny. You have to be sincere in love, forget about responsibilities, commitments and behaving to look good, all those are superficial. In the end, you either cheat yourself or you don't cheat yourself. The guilt is with you, not with others.

Therefore, I guess the greatest achievement of every man on earth is to be the other 50%, which is the percentage who has the ability to fight the temptation and stay loyal to your wife, no matter whether you are rich or poor and famous or common. Sexy hot babes are hard to resist for any normal men. It is probably men's weakest attribute.

I want to prove those two ladies queuing up in front of me and the famous saying that all men are cheaters that there are still faithful men around! So what if it is human nature or male instinct? I am not the emperor of ancient China for goodness sake or living in the era where the man can have polygamy commonly in the society where the status of the woman is very low. Hey, even if I am single, I will remain faithful. Char kueh tiaw all my life? I can live with that. It is in my opinion much much better than being vegetarian! Not all men are cheaters!

WHY MEN CHEAT?
Approximately 40% of men seek sexual satisfaction outside their relationships, estimates Kat Hertlein, Ph.D., professor of human development at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas and a marriage and family therapist.

That number hasn’t changed much since 1950, when the famous Kinsey sex study found that 50% of U.S. men cheat at some point in their marriages.

Why They Cheat
The No.1 reason: Men crave sexual “variety,” according to David Buss, professor of psychology at the University of Texas and author of The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating (BasicBooks).

“They’ve evolved the desire to be with different women,” he says.

That’s because it’s very simple for men to reproduce (one act of sex versus nine months of pregnancy for women), so to create as many offspring as possible they’re biologically programmed to mate with many women.

“The ‘payoff’ in reproductive currencies [kids] of a short-term mating strategy generally has been higher for men than women,” Buss says.

So after thousands of generations, “this has forged in the male brain a desire for sexual variety.”

Other top reasons men cheat? They’re unhappy with their mates - and extramarital sex is cheaper and easier to get these days, Buss says.

And "power wives" beware: Being married to a high-profile guy ups the odds he’ll wander.

“Women are attracted to men who have power and status, so public figures usually have plenty of opportunity,” Buss says.

ALIENWARE & STORAGE



Well, I have always been fascinated by Alienware and I would like to admit that it is one of my dream machines to have, not an Apple. I saw the advertisements of the new 11.6" screen Alienware laptop and was impressed. I mean I always wanted a very small (mobile) device that has very powerful specifications with dedicated graphics. I believe there is none so far at 10-11 inches which has more RAMs than 2GB and all of them are having integrated graphics. This is why the new Alienware M11x appeals to me very much. I will definitely check out the machine when I go to the ITShow2010 tomorrow. The brochure is out too, check it out here!

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor SU7300 (1.3GHz)
4GB Dual-channel; DDR3 SDRAM
11.6" wideHD 720p WLED (1366X768) display
1GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT335M
S$1999











Mamamia!

Some of the nice galleries of the laptop design taken from Dell. Though this is a M17x but the designs are quite similar.

As for storage, SSD is still too costly. I think it is not logical to get one at the moment.

Crucial
256GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5" SATA 6GB/s S$1020

Kingston
Kingston SSDNow V + Bundle Kit
64GB S$370
128GB S$530

I will be getting the Seagate external hard disk since it is quite attractive.

Seagate
Seagate FreeAgent Desk External Drive 2TB 3.5" USB2.0 S$289 (5yrs warranty)
Seagate Expansion Drive 2TB 3.5" USB2.0 S$279 (2yrs warranty)

Or I may change my mind and opt for the Hitachi and do the external hard disk construction myself.

Hitachi
Hitachi 3.5" 7200RPM SATA 2TB (32MB) S$259 (3yrs warranty)

As for thumb drives, Sandisk 8GB and 16GB ones look attractive! Yummy!

Cybermind
Sandisk Cruzer Blade 8GB S$23.50
Sandisk Cruzer Blade 16GB S$43
Sandisk Cruzer CZ36 8GB S$26
Sandisk Cruzer CZ36 16GB S$47.50
Sandisk Cruzer CZ36 32GB S$99
Toshiba 8GB S$26.90
Toshiba 16GB S$49.90

I am ready for the rugby match tomorrow at the ITShow2010! The battlefield will be expected to be very loaded with people!

IT SHOW 2010

Well, it is here again. I will go this time particularly looking for huge storage.

Some stuffs I am interested to purchase and their current retail price:
Internal hard disk Hitachi 2TB (7200RPM) SATA II @ S$259
External hard disk Seagate FreeAgent DESK USB2.0 2TB @ S$369
External hard disk Seagate FreeAgent Xtreme USB2.0+eSATA+FireWire 2TB @ S$399
SanDisk Cruzer Slice 16GB @ S$45
SanDisk Cruzer CZ36 16GB @ S$46

I hope the price will be far more attractive during the fair!

Of course I wish both the new micro four-thirds from Panasonic (DMC-G2), Panasonic (DMC-G10) and Olympus (E-PL1) will be available at the fair. I guess it is too soon to be true. I am aiming for a micro four-third camera for mobility purposes.

IT SHOW 2010

THE FOOTBALL CURSE

You notice I hardly write football posts these days. Of course my busy schedule is one of the main reasons but the other reason is related to the overwhelming off pitch news that have been dominating the game lately like Ashley Cole, John Terry and the never ending rumours of EPL clubs to be sold and bought. Another very irritating thing is the rejection of any goal-line technology as well as replay videos after the latest issues related to Thierry Henry - Ireland match and Fiorentina match. I am sick and tired of how matches are won and lost by blind referees and linesmen. Let's be more practical, we are living in an age where the replay video technology can zoom so far to the details of every player's arms and hands movement. Offside decisions can be decided by the replay too.

FIFA's excuse of maintaining football as a human game for avoiding any technology being used is always controversial. Since most of the controversial decisions in the matches are weighted against less powerful clubs and nations, this human game excuse seems to be benefiting mostly the rich and powerful. Therefore, I call it an excuse since it is the last resort in forcing richer nations to quality big events like the World Cup. The total silence of Platini on the qualification of France to the World Cup is a clear indication that no matter how much he tried to fight for the cause of the football weaker nations to have more representations to play in Champions League, when it comes to his own nation, he is nowhere to be found. If it was Fiorentina and Ireland who were given the advantage because of the offside and handball calls, then I consider this human nature since irregular decisions happen randomly. Let's see how this will progress.

You can give more excuse that watching football replay videos will delay the game. Well, so what? Do you prefer a more fairer and safer match over a more controversial and dangerous game. If video technology can be used, we can avoid actors and violent tacklers too. Players will think twice before they dive or tackle. Let's go back to basics, we are going beyond the main reason why we watch football. We watch football for the beautiful game. Imagine this, Lionel Messi dribbles half the field with his magnificent football skills and to be tackled by the opposition and lost 6 months out from injury. Who's lost is that? The football world. We need to protect these great players playing beautiful football from getting injured with ease. Divers who dive to earn penalty kicks which can decide a cup or league are equally hated. Yes, you could have ended Arsenal's unbeaten run and made you history. However, a video replay will say otherwise about how you ended Arsenal's unbeaten run. What happens if France win the World Cup this year? How many people will be happy apart from the French and Platini? Yes, they will make it into history and each of the players handsomely rewarded, especially Thierry Henry. However, the rest of us will just have to swallow the controversy and move on, hoping the next one coming will be as far ahead as possible.

The worst part of this using video technology is that it is not used consistently. You can see sometimes FIFA, UEFA or the FA made decisions on the referee's decision after the match via watching these replay videos. Yes, it is good but it is not done consistently. Some players and clubs are given the advantage from the video replays while others were totally ignored. There is no consistency here and this creates even more controversy and problem to the game.

I will tell FIFA that it is human nature to win regardless of whatever means, including cheating so there is more reason to employ technology to detect offside and hand balls. As Socrates said, there is no fair and neutral men on earth unless they are affiliated / linked / connected to nobody (friends, family, village, state, nation). Even if you employ a neutral nation linesman on the pitch, he never know he has a best friend or girlfriend who is from the nation that is playing in the match you are working. You can by these connections ignore offside and handball decisions because of your connections to your best friend or girlfriend. Therefore fairness can never be there. You never know this person's education, background and experience can cause him to like or hate a certain nation over another which then can affect his decision making. Worst still, he could be bribed or given gifts by the richer nation in the match he is working in.

Yes, sometimes it is human nature not to be able to see everything in that split second. I mean you have to keep your eyes in focus over 22 players on the field, sometimes that very split second your view can be blocked by some players on the field. That is very likely and possible in any match. That is an even more important reason why video technology should be used in match decisions because human beings are not perfect and quite impossible for three person to guard the movements of 22 players and their 44 arms. Very tough!

Noble men who stand up to tell the referee that he did not fall because of a tackle to earn the red card or penalty kick are hardly seen nowadays, an extinct breed. Money is pouring in such excess into the game that ethics and honesty in the game is totally lost or taken a back seat. The cost of failure is so great that cheating in whatever forms (diving, acting of pain, handball, offside) are getting more and more common and natural. It is harder and harder to detect as they go pro in acting. It is really sad and until this problem is rectified, I guess football will always be embroiled in controversy. The saddest part is always the decisions come against football weaker and poorer nations.

Finally, FIFA is considering to scrap the offside rule altogether from the game like how hockey did it. Now, just think for a while what will happen if the offside rule is demolished from football. Imagine high balls dominate the game, headers will dominate too, players camping in the penalty boxes, no more dribbling and passing skills, set pieces decide matches, more goals scored and more fast pace games. Will this be good for the game? I let you decide on this one.

FIFA Reject Proposal For Goal-Line Technology
Technology should not enter the game at all, FIFA's general secretary announced...
By Anthony Wright
Mar 6, 2010 3:40:00 PM

FIFA have announced that goal-line technology is off the agenda for the time being after a vote was taken in Zurich on Saturday by the IFAB (International Football Association Board, FIFA's law-making body), at which FIFA holds four of the eight votes.

Many have been pushing for technology to be brought into the game, with 90 per cent of voters in a recent FIFPro poll voting for its introduction.

UEFA recently introduced two extra assistant referees stationed behind each goal in the Europa League, but FIFPro revealed that 70 per cent of captains who had participated in the competition had seen no improvement in decision making.

Despite this, however, the IFAB have rejected the calls.

"Concerning goal-line technology, the Board concluded that goal-line technology would not be pursued," a statement read on FIFA.com.

FIFA's general secretary Jerome Valcke told the Associated Press after the meeting that "technology should not enter the game. We should trust and keep football as a human game.

"The request came from different parties [that] we should listen. But technology was put on ice two years ago and now it's a decision not just to keep it on ice, but to just stop it."

It was also announced that a further analysis of the extra officials in the Europa League would be undertaken at a special board meeting on May 17-18 after the competition had ended.

Blatter could scrap offside rule
Football supremo could emulate hockey example

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has quizzed the sport of hockey on the benefits of scrapping their offside rule, amid talk that football could follow suit.

Offside decisions are often the most debated issues in football, but that could amazingly become a thing of the past if hockey's example is replicated.

The sport abolished the offside rule once and for all in 1998, a move that made for a more exciting and attractive game for spectators.

Now Hockey president Leandro Negre has confirmed he held informal talks with Blatter on how his game went about implementing the radical change.

Negre believes Blatter was keen on learning about how the sport was affected, although he stopped short of providing him with his final opinion.

IMMIGRATION UPDATES

Since I returned from the CNY2010 holidays, many things have changed at the Malaysian immigration.

Most of the immigration officers no longer scan your passport like the good old days where flashing the cover will do. The entire automatic gate system went down for about two weeks. The truckloads or busloads of visitors entering Singapore in huge numbers. Most of these tourists are from China and Hong Kong. I presume their luggages are filled with hard cold cash for the casino betting spree. The Malaysian government responded by putting up notices everywhere for tourists to declare the amount of cash they bring in if it exceeds USD10K I think. Suddenly it becomes so efficient. I can't imagine how the traffic will be like once the other casino (Marina Bay Sands) opens.

HOT AND DRY DAYS!

Well, we have been going through some of the most hottest days alive. The air is filled with heat. The only solution available is air-conditioning. Man, when will the hot and dry spell end?

February 2010 is driest month for S'pore since records began in 1869
By Joanne Chan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 01 March 2010 1840 hrs

February 2010 is driest month for S'pore since records began in 1869

SINGAPORE: February was the driest month in 140 years, since 1869, when records of rainfall first started for Singapore.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said 6.3 millimetres of rain fell in the month.

1968 and 2005 had the next driest Februaries when 8.4 mm of rain fell.

February also saw the hottest day so far this year.

The mercury hit 35 degrees Celsius on the 26th of the month.

NEA said February is traditionally one of the driest months, made worse this year by the El Nino effect.

NEA said rainfall for the first half of March is expected to be below average for most parts of the island.

Climate researcher from the National University of Singapore Matthias Roth said the El Nino effect is expected to last till May.

Coupled with the El Nino effect, which may last for a few more months, an extended heatwave is expected.

"Getting into March and April, those are generally drier months, or drier tail-end of the Northeast Monsoon," explained associate professor Matthias Roth, climate researcher from the National University of Singapore. "So this together with the El Nino effect, would result in relatively dry and warm conditions for the coming couple of months."


- CNA/yb

CHINESE NEW YEAR 2010 SARAWAK

We managed to fly home for an incredible air ticket price of RM2400++ for two person. We fly on the JB-KL-Sibu route home and Sibu-Kuching-JB route back for the cheapest combo possible. Both routes started with MAS and transited with AirAsia.



On the 2nd day of CNY 2010, we went out for breakfast with Andrew and Alice. It is the first time in my life eating kampua with fried egg. Well, they have no pork or pig's organs yet at that time so we have no other choice.



I managed to meet Johnny Shevchenko, Donny Ginola and Ronnytcw in Kuching. Great to see them all! I was spending time with Johnny Shevchenko in The Spring for the first time and we ate the RM1.50 SugarBun mega huge and tall ice-cream!