Categories
Conflict & disaster Liberty Photography Science & technology

[770] Of old train station in Kuala Lumpur

It’s been clear in the morning for the past few days. The sky has been blue, dark turquoise or something similar, dotted with some clouds but clear nonetheless and it inspires me to go out more often. That means more photos!

When I went out yesterday, I knew exactly where I wanted to be – Jalan Hishamuddin. It’s past beyond the Sultan Abdul Samad Building where the National Mosque, the old railway station, Malayan Railways headquarters and a few other prominent architectures of federal capital stand .

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

This facade belongs to the old Kuala Lumpur railway station. Since all but one rail system have been diverted to the ultramodern KL Sentral that tries to centralized Kuala Lumpur mass transit system, life at the old station is becoming really quite. The only exciting events there are tourists, the building itself and electric trains that jog pass the old station towards KL Sentral.

Looking back, I kind of missed the olden days when I was younger, when this building was busier with life. But progress is necessary. Still, I very much wish to see restoration done on this building. The last restoration was done in 1986 and from the condition of the building, another comprehensive work is due.

This building needs to be preserved. It survived the Second World War. It would be a shame if it does not survive us.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

p/s – I learned through CNN earlier today that another suicide attack had occured in Israel. I’m relieved that it wasn’t done by Hamas. If it were, it’d only validate what the US, EU and Israel’s position. If it were, I’d have to throw my current trust of Hamas that I found a couple months ago away down the drain.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

pp/s – I want to stress this again: TMNet sucks!

Categories
Science & technology

[749] Of TMNet sucks ass so much

It’s been hard and frustrating to update this blog for the past several days. I’ve contacted my host and they said that TMNet’s data center has issues with bandwidth limit. Worse thing is, TMNet expects to only resolve the problem by the end of March. That’s like half a freaking month!

The site feed is also in bad shape, thanks to TMNet.

Bah. I want compensation.

Categories
Economics Science & technology

[692] Of Finance Ministry, lies, damn lies and statistics

Yesterday in the Malaysian Upper House, the Malaysian Finance Ministry Parliamentary Secretary was reported of saying that “ringgit is relatively stable compared with the currencies of Malaysia’s major trading partners after the government removed the ringgit peg on July 21.”

More:

Hilmi said that since the transition, where the ringgit exchange rate was determined by market forces, the local currency had risen compared with the euro by 11.9 percent, yen (9.7 percent) and between 0.2 percent to 7.7 percent compared with regional currencies.

“After the depeg and up to Nov 30, the ringgit has increased compared with the US dollar by 0.6 percent to RM3.7783,” he said in his reply to a question posed by Senator Datuk Seri Lam Kang Sang at the Dewan Negara sitting, here Tuesday.

Hilmi said that the ringgit also rose compared with the euro by 3.8 percent and yen by 6.7 percent and mixed against regional currencies.

The funny thing is, while what he said is true, somehow, I feel that he has conveniently omit what’s going on in December 2005. For this month, the ringgit is growing weaker against:

USD

Yahoo! Fair Use.

EUR

Yahoo! Fair Use.

JPY

Yahoo! Fair Use.

SGD

Yahoo! Fair Use.

United States, Japan and Singapore are the top three major Malaysian trading partners.

From the graphs, capital flight is apparent.

Earlier last month, I realized that Malaysia seems to have a negative real interest rate. Soon after, Bank Negara raised Malaysian nominal interest rate up to 3%. At 3%, I feel the real interest rate is still negative. Another rate hike is a must for Malaysia to have positive real interest rate given that inflation is above 3%. A positive real interest might stop and reverse this December’s run.

Unless the Bank Negara increases the rate and in turn, halts this gradual and minor capital outflow, I would hardly call ringgit as stable.

p/s – Chinese statisticians say: Whoops. We forgot to add USD280 billion into our 2004 GDP. With that corrected, we just want to say that we’re the sixth largest economy in the world.

Others: Ack! You forgot USD280 billion? (Malaysian estimated GDP for 2005 according to Wikipedia is USD290 billion)

pp/s – SuprNova.org, the site that I depended on many things fun before it was shut down, speaks.

Categories
Economics Environment Politics & government Science & technology

[691] Of worst floods, rice and climate change

Northern Malaysian states on the Malay Peninsula are suffering the worst flood in 30 years . It has been raining like crazy. Even in Kuala Lumpur, located hundreds of miles south, it’s been raining like cats and dogs. I’m surprised that the city hasn’t experience any flood.

The sky is starting to remind me of Ann Arbor; I could hardly see the sun everyday. Southern Thailand isn’t spared too. If borders are drawn with a huge pen, the floodwater would’ve erased them with ease. After all this, the weather still won’t relent.

The Weather Channel. Fair Use.

As you can see, it won’t end soon. Also, check out a current tropical storm that will hit Vietnam anytime soon today.The floodwater, among other things, affects rice harvest in Malaysia. Paddy fields are devastated by the overflowing water. This is especially bad considering that northeast Malaysian states are the main rice producers in Malaysia and that the fields are scheduled for harvest in this coming January. Looks like the rice industry will have to import more rice soon. I doubt local fields will be able to provide the share it usually offers to the market.

Worse, it isn’t just Malaysia that will suffer shortage of rice. Vietnam, which is one of the largest rice producers in Southeast Asia, suffers the same situation. Prices of rice in Southeast Asian markets should go up in the near future given that supply has been cut.

Digressing, price of chicken has gone up by 20 sen. Earlier, I had predicted a price decrease due to bird flu. Unfortunately, while playing around with the demand curve, I’d overlooked the supply function. The hike in chicken prices, ignoring inflation, could be due to the culling of chickens in Asia. With this flood, price could go up further, assuming demand curve is constant.

Though heavy raining this time of the year is typical in this part of the world, this year, the amount of rainfall is above average. Consider also the current situation in China and Japan – record breaking snowfall – and Vietnam – also record breaking rainfall. Finally, keep in mind that 2005 is, according to World Meteorological Organization, the second hottest year on reliable record.

Climate change? Too soon to ascertain but it’s good to keep the possibility in mind.

p/s – Kristof versus O’Reilly. Fight! This is the best yet since Bush versus Kerry.

Categories
Kitchen sink Science & technology Solar car

[615] Of happy 7th birthday, Google?

Seven pieces of cake with chocolate coating and seven strawberries on top are seen today on Google’s front pape. Can’t click on the image but the image is located at http://www.google.com/logos/7th_birthday.gif (sorry but I will not hotlink it. I hate hotlinking and I wish you do too. To see it, copy and paste the URL manually into your address bar).

Also, personalized Google finally gets to the front page?

p/s – Michigan’s currently second in the World Solar Challenge in Australia. w00t!