Categories
Sports

[1382] Of Meeeeeechigan!

It is Saturday football and I would be lying if I said I am not scared. Michigan is up against Penn State in Ann Arbor; Penn State is not the usual team that Michigan should worry about but our recent run forces us to feel otherwise. Yeah, Michigan won against Notre Dame but the Irish was way too easy for us to gloat over. I doubt Penn State would be as easy as the Irish.

Not too long ago, most Michigan fans would sit down and enjoy a game against Penn State while Joe Paterno, day in, day out waded through mounting criticism which one way or another led to demand for resignation. Today, Penn State is ranked #10 in the BCS ranking while Michigan, ranked #5 before the season began, now unranked, no thanks to the losses to Appalachian State and subsequently Oregon.

The national championship may be gone out of even our wildest dream, unless a miracle is in order but the conference title is still within our grasp. This game would determine whether Michigan season is salvageable or all hope is lost. If Michigan is able to overcome Penn State, we might get ranked once again. If we lose, there would be only one game to wait for: the one against Ohio State; we would only need to spoil their day and God would forgive us all for everything we failed to do.

I plan to stay up tonight and listen to the game online. I really hope it is going to worth the effort of staying up.

For Meeeeechigan fans looking for live audio streaming, visit MGoBlue. There is a little link that leads to the audio file. If you are in Malaysia and are actually watching the game live on TV or in some other way, do invite me! Please, please pretty please!

For cat fights, where else but mgoblog?

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

p/s — So, I overslept and I only found out the result a few hours after the game ended. I am not a fan of Blackberry but it does have its plus points. For instance, I do not have to get up from my bed to log on the internet to find out the score. I was woke up for a moment, reached for my Blackberry and saw a Michigan 14, Penn State 10 ticker. Upon seeing that, I went back to sleep to have a beautiful dream.

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

pp/s — this is just wrong. It is the third quarter and Stanford is holding on to the scoreline of 31-31 against Oregon. Man… Stanford!

Categories
Liberty Politics & government

[1381] Mengenai Utusan yang nakal

Utusan hari ini menyentuh tentang rakaman video yang didedahkan oleh Parti Keadilan Rakyat beberapa hari lalu. Di dalam laporan itu:

PUTRAJAYA 21 Sept. — Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berkata, polis perlu menyiasat segera dakwaan kewujudan klip video yang menunjukkan seorang peguam kanan sedang bercakap dengan seseorang berhubung pelantikan hakim-hakim di negara ini. [Klip video: PM arah siasat. Utusan Malaysia. September 22 2007]

Perhatian harus diberikan kepada frasa ini: dakwaan kewujudan klip video. Adakah Utusan Malaysia sedang cuba memberi gambaran bahawa klip tersebut tidak wujud?

Tambahan lagi, Perdana Menteri yang dikasihi berkata:

Beliau berkata, langkah itu penting bagi menentukan sama ada klip video berkenaan boleh dipercayai atau tidak.

“Klip video dan transkripnya telah dihantar ke pejabat saya. Soalnya, adakah ia betul dan boleh dipercayai?

“Ini yang penting kerana video itu menunjukkan seorang peguam bercakap seorang diri sahaja. Lagi seorang kita tidak tahu siapa yang bercakap,” kata Abdullah pada sidang akhbar selepas mempengerusikan mesyuarat Suruhanjaya Polis ke-71 di sini hari ini. [Klip video: PM arah siasat. Utusan Malaysia. September 22 2007]

Adakah PM percaya yang peguam itu bercakap seorang diri sahaja?

Categories
Economics

[1380] Of targeting for an unchanged Malaysian rate

Do we need a rate cut following the September 18 footstep of the Federal Reserve to properly manage the Malaysian economy from the monetary side of the equation?

The answer is possibly no. While the US is the largest trading partner for Malaysia, the state of the US economy is not the only factors that need to be considered in managing the local economy.

The slowdown of the US economy, partly signaled by the slowdown in demand for electronics as well as the subprime mortgage crisis affect trade between Malaysia and the US adversely. The effect however is being mitigated by large government spending and as mentioned earlier by Bank Negara, robust domestic consumption and investment. While I personally expect a slowdown in the Malaysian economy, I have a feeling that the state of our economy is healthier than the one suggested by those in the broking business. For those following the security industry, suddenly, they have become more pessimistic than me!

Anyway, with a respectable performance so far, there is limited need to cut rate in order to boost the economy. We need not appeal to the short time horizon that any financial indicator proffers.

At the same time, with the rate cut by the Federal Reserve, it might actually spur growth for the Malaysian economy. First of all, it might improve the US economy which in turn encourages trade between the two countries though Malaysian export will be more expensive compared to US goods; US export will be cheaper compared to Malaysian goods. Secondly, with the reduced interest rate differential between that in the US and Malaysia, more funds could actually flow into Malaysia. Both, sooner or later would strengthen the Malaysian ringgit against the US dollar as capital flows into Malaysia from the US.

So, against, less reason to cut the Malaysian rate the next time the Bank Negara Monetary Policy Committee sits in October next month.

On the other side, inflation seems to be well contained. Hovering around 2%, it might give a rate cut a chance but with the upcoming festive season as well as increasing crude oil price, it is not wise to bet for a rate cut.

If I were a voting member within the MPC and the environment stays practically the same, I would vote like how the MPC had voted earlier; do nothing to let the rate stays at 3.50%.

Categories
Liberty Society

[1379] Of superficiality is inferior to sincerity

I would have almost forgotten that religious police are patrolling the streets of Malaysia, trying to catch those that abstain from fasting during the month of Ramadan, if I had not caught a piece of news report stating so yesterday. In my mind, there is no confusion that the religious police forget that it is sincerity that matters, not coercion.

This is perhaps but a symptom of how for the Muslim society in Malaysia, specifically the religious conservatives, imposition of their moral values on others has become a favorite pastime instead of self-improvement. Several other issues that lead to the same conclusion are apostasy and moral policing.

Concerning cases of religious freedom in particular, religious conservatives are more interested in forcefully preventing a person from choosing his or her religion rather than understanding why the person is leaving Islam. Indeed, when debates on Lina Joy dominated public domain, some religious conservatives as well as other sympathizers leaned on superficial factor as the main issue — procedure — whereas those that see it pass skin deep know full well that it is about freewill; liberty; freedom.

All this portrays Islam in a bad light to outsiders. Thanks to religious conservatives, many outsiders see the religion as stressing on appearance rather than appealing to the heart. I have always in the opinion that religion is about the inner self, the content of a book, not its cover. This is why freewill is so crucial; sincerity and freewill come together. Without freewill, there can be no sincerity; an unfree conscience knows no sincerity. What is the point of having Muslims that are unwilling to be Muslims? What is the point of forcing somebody to do religious biddings? Looking the issues through Islamic tradition, would the supreme being not know what is the truth?

Religious conservatives fail to understand this. For this reason, religious conservatives will always be ridiculed for their preference for the superficial.

Categories
Economics

[1378] Of a gem by Dan Hamermesh

I was wondering how one of my professors is doing these days and so, I looked for him up on the internet. I did not take long for me to rediscover his website. Within the site, I found this gem. Here is a sample of his postings:

September 3, 2007—We took two of the grandchildren to the Schlitterbahn, a very extensive waterpark about one hour away. I spent the morning with the nine-year-old granddaughter going on various rides with her—and standing in lines too. We spent 10 minutes lining up to go on the Black Knight, but then had to spend 60 minutes in line to go on the Wolfpack. We debated whether waiting the 60-minute wait was worth it. The time spent waiting is like a price, so the first trip on the Wolfpack was 6 times as ”expensive” as the 2nd through 7th rides down the Black Knight would have been. So, was the marginal utility of the first Wolfpack trip equal to the marginal utility of the 2nd Knight trip, plus that of the 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th and 7th? My guess is that the marginal utility of additional Knight trips after the 3rd that day is probably zero. Moreover, judging by my granddaughter’s expression of sheer delight once we started down the Wolfpack, the marginal utility of the first Wolfpack trip exceed all the extra utility that would have been generated by 6 additional Knight trips. We made the right choice!

I really like it when he relates economics concepts to his everyday life.

In fact, he should start blogging and concentrate on that theme! I think it would be a popular blog if he gives it a chance.