Author: Hafiz Noor Shams

For more about me, please read this.

Categories
Economics Environment Politics & government Sports

[427] Of Louis van Gaal and Ajax

van Gaal has just resigned as Ajax Techical Director amidst Ajax’s victory in a Champions’ League match. The reason for the resignation is unclear at the moment but I must say, I am glad van Gaal is out.

Inasmuch he was the one that brought Ajax to its 1990’s European glory, I have the impression that van Gaal’s presence in Amsterdam is not helpful for most of the times, especially when it comes to the surprise sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Juventus a few weeks ago. In my opinion, the sale was done is a very disappointing way. Not only the timing of the transfer was unbelievable – leaving Ajax a mere 3-day cushion to find an extra striker – the amount of money recieved was way below expectation.

Nevertheless, rumor has it that van Gaal is resigning in order to get a shot at Koeman’s job. I hope that is not the case and sincerely I hope he is gone for good. Even when he arrived, I didn’t celebrate it as much. When Barcelona hates him to certain degree, you have to wonder why.

No more van Gaal. All I want is a rejuvenated Ajax and a revenge against Bayern Munich.

With the vacancy, I would very much like Johan Cruyff to be Ajax’s new Technical Director. He was considered along with van Gaal for the post earlier this year.

In any case, Ajax reported a respectable level of profit for this fiscal year. Therefore, they are expected to buy new players to strengthen their offensive capability in the near future. I hope we will find a good player because with the miserable Sonck up front and Ibrahimovic gone, Ajax doesn’t have any notable striker.

Regardless of that, a few exciting young players from the famous Ajax’s youth academy are making waves. It should be interesting to see another van der Vaart or Wesley Sneijder or, if it is not too much, another van Basten.

p/s – something is on the roll in Myanmar. I’ll just be an a-hole and say the military junta sucks.

pp/s – Unbelievable.

Newmont lawyer Luthfi Yazid told Reuters news agency that the study’s verdict “strengthens our stance that our client did not damage nor pollute the environment” around Buyat Bay.

I rather believe the locals than a lawyer that represents a multinational mining firm. The trees won’t sway if there is no wind blowing. Here, the trees were uprooted and they asserted the wind is not blowing.

I am compelled to allege that a few strings had been pulled off.

Categories
Liberty Science & technology

[426] Of the big brother is jamming your band

What is this current fad with radio jammers?

First, it was the French government allowing theaters to install jammers for the sake of eliminating unwanted ringing. Well, since cell phones nowadays are loaded with countless loud incessant noise, ringing might not be the right term. Nevertheless, jamming?

But I guess it’s not too bad. I myself hate people with cell phones that lack ethics. Hate is a strong word. Perhaps annoying is more accurate word to describe these goddamned unethical cell users. Then again, I’ll stick with hate.

Then, I read somewhere that churches in Mexico have installed these jammers. The situation is aptly described in the following excerpt:

MONTERREY, Mexico – It was the reporters who noticed first. Unable to call their editors while covering the weddings of the rich and famous, they asked the priest why their cell phones never worked at Sacred Heart. His reply: Israeli counterintelligence.

Very funny!

Anyway, that is not all. From the article where the excerpt was, err, excerpted, the Indian Parliament has been using such technology to politely discourage congressmen from receiving phone calls during a session.

Regardless the fact that I hate these goddamned unethical cell phone users, I don’t know whether this is good or bad.

For one, it is a blessing to us, the goddamned unethical cell phone users’ haters. If the jamming technology starts to propagate to everywhere, no more ringing or whatever it is called right now in the middle of a lecture, an assembly or any situation that requires cell ethics.

However, isn-t this is somewhat erosion of freedom?

I want my freedom to hate!

If suddenly everybody utilizes this jamming technology, there will be no goddamned unethical cell phone users anymore! Imagine the horror of the goddamned unethical cell phone users’ haters! The pain of no hate is unbearable! There will be no one left for us the goddamned unethical cell phone users’ haters to hate anymore!

Maybe its time all the goddamned unethical cell phone users’ haters start to concentrate on hating the Buckeyes. Then again, the people from a obscure place called Ohio just had one more loss and this time to the Badgers. Due to that, the marginal return to hate is so small; it’s not worth hating the Buckeyes anymore.

Wait!

There exists a subspecies of human that chatter loudly at light speed! Yes! A new found source of hate! Now, if the radio jamming technology is spreading everywhere at our expense, we should all evolve and become haters of goddamned uneducated people that incessantly chatter at a light speed!

Yet, there is a possibility that the government will restrict our freedom to hate the goddamned uneducated people that incessantly chatter at light speed. This is a problem indeed.

A ah! Friends, haters, countrymen!

It is Israel that is providing this jamming technology. It is Israel that is restricting our freedom! It is true then that Jews rule the world by proxy! Hence, we must hate Israel to secure our freedom to hate!

Oh, boy. Mahathir is going to be proud of me. Totally.

p/s – check this out. Via WorldChanging, my current favorite website.

Categories
Environment Science & technology

[425] Of Envisat and nitrogen dioxide

A few days ago, the European Space Agency released its Envisat observations. According to the news on ESA website, Envisat is the largest environmental satellite at this moment. The most interesting finding is, at least to me, is the distribution of nitrogen dioxide in the world. Practically, it’s the map.

From the map, there are a few large hotspots.

A larger map can be found here.

The location and the intensity of the two hotspots are probably expected. One is located somewhere around New England while another concentrated around the Benelux. However, I was surprised to see the size of China’s hotspots.

I know that China has been growing rather fast and has a somewhat questionable environmental record. Yet, I have never thought the pollution in China to be that bad. Though it might be premature to say the distribution of nitrogen dioxide represents the pollution spread on the whole, I do think it is safe to assume such distribution gives a picture of what is happening. After all, nitrogen dioxide is rarely produced in nature.

Another location that I didn’t expect is South Africa. But that is rather because I don’t know much about Africa. But I wonder, what is that big light blue blob near the Gulf of Guinea? What could possibly going on there?

Maybe oil, I think. I don’t know.

Categories
Economics Photography

[424] Of exams (else, photoblog VI)

The huddle has begun. Starting this week, four successive weeks onward, I’ll have at least one exam per week. All upper level economics.

The first is game theory and boy, I thought game theory was easy. Nevertheless, it is an exciting class. In fact, all upper level economics classes are exciting. My favorite is currently international trade theory.

Categories
Environment Science & technology

[423] Of glaciers in Tibet

For the past few weeks, there has been an alarming rate of news related to the environment, in particular the melting of glaciers, coming out of China. When I first saw it via my usual news feed, I had thought it was just another report but almost everyday since then, the news from there doesn’t seem to give it a break. As right now, it keeps pouring out.

The report came out after a Sino-US team released the result of their observation of the situation in Himalaya near Tibet. The most important finding is that the glaciers there are shrinking at 7% per year and it is expected to disappear within 100 years. Previously, the glaciers have been shrinking at 5%. Seeing the first derivative as increasing is one thing, seeing the second derivative as increasing is another.

This immediately announces the danger of China facing great floods sooner or later, frequently, as mentioned in the report. China so far has been able to tame its rivers through a set of dams. However, I don’t think the dams will be able to control the rivers with the glaciers receding at the current rate.

Despite being concern with this news, I don’t know how bad 7% is. As someone once said to me, one cannot fully understand the statistics until one sees the real thing. But, I once saw a picture of a glacier in South America; it was probably in the Andes. There was a team of explorers wandering off somewhere and the place was full of ice. It was a huge glacier. Ten years later, the same team visited the very same site again and found that the place has been relinquished of its white background. The glacier has in fact receded a few kilometers away upward. If that is how bad 7% is, it is alarming.