Category: Kitchen sink

Categories
Kitchen sink

[1208] Of five thinking blogs

I am not a fan of tagging but since I have been tagged twice, first by John Lee and later, Nik Nazmi, I will play along regardless.

To be honest, I do not read too many blogs and those that I read, they are popular economics and political blogs hosted in the United States. If I were to tag them, they would probably not be bothered to response at all. At the same time, I think it is good to promote local blogs and so, I would limit my choices to local blogs. Support your local blogosphere! Yeah!

But it is unfair to list only five blogs as my list of blogs that get me thinking goes beyond the number five. But for the sake of staying true the rule that comes along with the tagging process, I will list five, randomly, whatever that crosses my mind first.

Number one is Arrested Development by Elanor Tan. Delightfully full of economics, sometimes when she does not extensively quote articles from somewhere, from time to time, she forces me to reassess my worldview.

Number two, in no particular order, is, or rather, was Volume of Interactions by Aizuddin Danian. Though he seems to blog, or blogged, almost everything under the sun, his observation of our society is somewhat neutral. This is especially welcoming given how the local blogosphere now and then engages itself in a battle between liberal and conservative camps. Too bad that he seems to have stopped blogging.

Third is Cikgu Lee by, Cikgu Lee. This is a fun read but yet, deep. It is an unfortunate fact that this blog is sparsely updated.

Fourth is SaifulIslam.com, by Saiful Islam. One of the more rational and more importantly, I think, intellectually honest, unlike some self-proclaimed defender of Islam that is more interested in polemics, disinformation and cheap publicity. Though I rarely visit his blog, whenever I do, he provides me with insight on how a traditionalist’s mind might work, bringing in understanding, clearing out misunderstanding.

Finally, hell, what the heck. He responded to my query earlier and I am hoping that he would respond to this one too. One of my favorite economists, Professor Greg Mankiw. Do not forget to buy his favorite textbook!

Alright, I am done. For the tagged, you guys might want to play this silly game and list down five blogs that excite you to have mental masturbation.

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

p/s — another person tagged me and he is author of myAsylum. I will just reused this post.

Categories
Kitchen sink

[1142] Of Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur is now live

After nearly two months, Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur is now live. We however are still looking for contributors and if you are interested, join us!

Meanwhile, come and celebrate MBKL with us.

Categories
Kitchen sink

[1101] Of Metroblogging KL: Update

It has been three weeks since that post on Metblog KL. So, this is an update.

There are more or less six people on board now. They are:

  1. me
  2. Walski69 of My Asylum
  3. Yeen Fern
  4. Nat of jelas.info (he is still unsure but hell, he is in!)
  5. Nue of Chocowhore
  6. plonk of plonkwonk

C’mon. What are you waiting for? Hop on.

And oh yeah, Gong Xi Fa Cai before somebody bans us all from wishing that too.

Categories
Kitchen sink Society

[1070] Of Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur

When I left Kuala Lumpur for Ann Arbor years ago, I failed to appreciate the Malaysian capital as much as I do now.

To me, earlier, the city in the Klang Valley is so chaotic that it is hard to make sense out of it, especially if one is driving. As a freshman as Michigan, I was asked to write an essay about Kuala Lumpur. I wrote “it is easier for an ant to get through a plate of spaghetti than a person to survive the city”.

By the time I was a sophomore, I found myself walking the street of the world’s capital, New York. New York strengthens my perception of Kuala Lumpur — an unplanned city under the merciless sun. Place me anywhere in Manhattan and I will not lose my sense of direction. Place me anywhere in Kuala Lumpur and half the chance, I would probably seek direction from a stranger more often than a tourist would.

My travels, limited it may be, later told me that every city is unique; each city has its own appeals. San Francisco can never be Los Angeles and Los Angeles can never be New York. Or Singapore or Bangkok. Or Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur is my home. I have probably spent almost 19 years here. Despite that, I do not dare to claim that I know every nook and cranny of the city. In some way, that is sad.

Sometimes, it is odd that while I love traveling, seeing and experiencing new places, I have yet to become familiar with my home city. For instance, I have been to the Yosemite National Park but I have yet to explore the Klang Gates Ridge that dominates the eastern frontier of Kuala Lumpur. I have been to many museums in the United States, including the famed Met but I cannot remember when was the last time I visited the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur. I have been to the top of the Empire State Building but I have yet to cross the skybridge of the Petronas Twin Towers.

While I was frolicking by the Dungun River almost a year ago, Patricia, an Englishwoman that has been in Malaysia longer than I have lived my life, told me something to the effect of “we usually take things that we often see for granted.” She is right. She is absolutely right.

Since then, I do think I have come to appreciate Kuala Lumpur more. And in effort to know more of Kuala Lumpur, I have approached the moderators of Metroblogging and am persuading them to create Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur.

Metroblogging is a city-specific blog. Or rather, a sort of a confederation of city-specific blogs. It has its own entry at Wikipedia if you need to know more about it. Or better, go to the about page at Metroblogging.

As a requirement to establish Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur, I need to find a minimum of 8 regular bloggers living in Kuala Lumpur to blog about the city. The topic of the posts at the blog could be anything. It could be art, history, places of interest, routine or even odd news about Kuala Lumpur. I already have two volunteers, including me, to support the Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur. I need another 6 people to join me. Each person will need to post at least once a week. The mod said thrice weekly but I think an update per day at an 8-person group blog should be great.

So, if you are interested in starting up Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur, leave me a message at the comment section or email me. I will get back to you.

C’mon. Let us do it. I find it insulting that Azeroth has its own Metblog but not Kuala Lumpur!

And yeah, Hari Wilayah is a little over 49 hours away.

Categories
Economics Environment Kitchen sink Liberty

[983] Of let us be honest

Let’s be honest to ourselves this once.

You can’t expect more subsidy and expect taxes not to go up.

You can’t expect the government to give you everything and not expect taxes to go up. You can’t both have your cake and eat it too. Well, George Carlin might disagree but he’s a comedian.

C’mon.

You really want to satisfy your conscience by helping the poor by using somebody else’s money.

And c’mon.

You are more interested in jealousy rather than wealth inequality.

Let’s be honest.

You can’t expect others to grant you justice when you commit injustice to others.

You can’t expect to conserve your liberty if you would violate others’ liberty, every single chance you had.

Honestly, freedom is a two-way street.

You can’t expect a person to respect you when you disrespect others. Respect is reciprocal.

You really can’t expect people to trust you when you lied to them. Trust is reciprocal.

Let’s be honest. Let’s be true to ourselves this once.

You can’t prove that a supreme being exists. Or do not exist for that matter. You may believe or disbelieve in but but knowing and believing are two very different verbs. For all we know, theists and atheists are fighting over something that both of them can’t prove.

What does honesty mean to you?

How is it that your religion claims to monopolize everything that is good in this world but seems to produces only hate?

Let’s be honest. Goodness is larger than religion.

Be honest.

Could you advocate racism but in the same breathe, talk of unity across communal groups? How honest could you answer that question?

Be honest.

Do you call a person as racists but unwittingly realize that you’re a racist too?

Be frank.

Do you sway freely with populism or do you stand firm with your priciples? Have a backbone for once. Please.

Be true to yourself. In your little heart, answer this.

Do you really think you could consume everything today and still expect there’s something left for tomorrow?

And let be honest this one time.

As far as this entry is concerned, honesty is a cliché.