There is a Board of Directors meeting tomorrow and I have to prepare a paper for it.
I am so screwed.
Categories
Routine called me to get my daily dose of Project Petaling Street, a Malaysian blogtal. The zeitgeist at the particular moment I surfed the blogtal was AllMalaysian Blogger Project, a site run by The Star, in association with Genting.
Curious, I checked it out and found this:
What is it?
The AllMalaysian Bloggers Project (AMBP) is an undertaking of the folks behind the AllMalaysia.info website, all of whom believe strongly in the freedom of speech.
All good and dandy but:
Who is it for?
Malaysian bloggers. Your blog can be about anything – as long as it’s not subversive..
Define subversive. To whom?
I am tired of pretender. Freedom of speech, kononnya…
p/s — I have received information that AllMalaysian Blogger Project has changed the wording of the offending sentence. Now, roughly two days after I blogged about it, the word subversive is gone and replaced with unlawful:
Malaysian bloggers. Your blog can be about anything – as long as it’s not unlawful, pornographic or in, er, bad taste – but only those with a Malaysian slant will be considered for contest prizes.
But, but, but… Thomas Jefferson said:
I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
Hehehe…
Categories
[1230] Of Vajiravudh in Bangkok
I have just realized that I am yet to wrap up my Bangkok trip. In hope of finally tying up a loose end, I am posting a picture of Vajiravudh’s statue at Vajiravudh College in Bangkok as a reminder to myself.
The last stop mentioned before I unceremoniously forgot about finishing up the travelogue is the Democracy Monument.
Categories
[1229] Of BUM 2007
So, yeah. I was at the blogger gathering Bloggers United Malaysia Gathering 2007. I arrived at the place right on the dot but, then, Malaysian time, you know. Since almost everybody came after 1800, the whole event started late. The infamous snowball effect got on and later, a rather healthy guy riled up, sort of asking why he had to wait for dinner.
By luck, I met former schoolmate Nik Nazmi. I was quite happy to see him because finally, someone that I personally know!
Apparently though, sitting right beside him was a mistake. At the event, he became a favorite punch bag of anti-KJ fraction in UMNO. You know, the pro-Mahathir, anti-Pak Lah kind of thing. I had to endure a relatively heated debate that I rather not go into at that particular point of time.
With them coming up with racial nationalistic tone assaulting PKR’s New Economic Agenda, I felt sympathy for the friend of mine whom stood his ground, despite me myself do not quite buy into the PKR’s NEA. I do not quite buy it for an entire different reason however.
Apart from me, there were two other persons listening quietly to the debate. I do think he managed to secure at least three votes from that table, if he decides to run for office.
Elizabeth Wong shared the same table with me. First time meeting her in person. The last time was through a video conferencing at Stanford. According to sources, she will need to wear burqa soon.
Finally met Nat, a fellow blogger at Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur, of whom has yet to write his first post. I think he was the first person to hold a conversation me at the event. Friendly.
Also met his girlfriend, Li Tsin, (Politikus). I was surprised to discover that she knew my name and recognized my face. And, she seemed to be estatic about meeting Kenny Sia.
And oh, Kenny Sia, the big man himself, was there, at least, in the latter part of the event. His flight to KL was delayed. I half expected him to crack joke all the time. But he did not.
Then there was Mob. Not quite whom I had imagine he would be. I thought he would be this one angry big man. Hey, with all of his posters, it was hard to think of otherwise.
And John Lee, apparently, became a star by his own right.
There was Rikey. Seemingly angry that nobody knew he was there.
One of the organizers, Howsy is another guy whom I thought would be one of those Krakatoan people whom would explode at any moment. Instead, just as Marina Mahathir said, he is as cute as his cartoon (OMG! They killed Kenny! You bastard). So, okay, maybe little Krakatoa.
There was Mahaguru, being a little bit too friendly. I knew the gathering theme was engage and embrace but I did not know I had to do it literally.
Desi turned out to be an veteran. He had his own books on sale at a book stand but I had only RM20 to spare. According to my weekly budget. I needed the rest of my money to fly off to Australia!
To think of it, I had thought the mean and median of attendees would be young. Quite the contrary, I most likely I sat on the 4th quartile of the normal curve!
Lucia Lai was quiet. Or maybe, I took no initiative to talk to too many people.
Lulu was there. No, no. Not that Lulu. Or that Lulu. It is Lulu instead!
Shook hand with Tony Pua, Jeff Ooi and another person that I cannot remember, among others.
While a few people introduced me to other people as a green libertarian, Tian Chua introduced himself to me as some strain of anarcho-syndicalist and he thought I am a leftie. I certainly am not so.
Met Sharon Bakar. She thought my face looks similar to one of her students at the Malay College. Could it be, she asked? I replied, “I’m far too young for that (possibility)”.
At the very end, Nat, Tikus, Desi, Mob, Lucia, Nik Nazmi and me enjoyed a round of teh tarik in Subang Jaya, talking about a matter that Desi sternly warned shall not be blogged. Before he told us that, I was thinking, hmm…
And oh yeah, managed to watch Drogba fooled van der Sar! Yeah baby yeah!
After the day ended, there were too many names to remember and I needed a break:
[youtube]XvIMWyMxjq0[/youtube]
Panda Kong:
Roar!
IF THE guest list determined a meeting’s value, the Strategic Economic Dialogue between China and America on May 22nd would be a roaring success. Almost half the Chinese cabinet is trooping to Washington, DC, for the second of the twice-yearly discussions, conceived by Hank Paulson, America’s treasury secretary, between the world’s largest economy and its fastest-growing one. The process was designed, in large part, as an antidote to the latest case of Asiaphobia among America’s politicians. [America’s fear of China. The Economist. May 17 2007]
p/s — also at The Economist:
Conservationists—and polar bears—should heed the lessons of economics.
[…]
One reason for this taxonomic inflation is that the idea of a species becoming extinct is easy to grasp, and thus easy to make laws about. Subspecies just do not carry as much political clout. The other is that upgrading subspecies into species simultaneously increases the number of rare species (by fragmenting populations) and augments the biodiversity of a piece of habitat and thus its claim for protection.
In the short term, this strategy helps conservationists by intensifying the perceived threat of extinction. In the long term, as every economist knows, inflation brings devaluation. Rarity is not merely determined by the number of individuals in a species, it is also about how unusual that species is. If there are only two species of elephant, African and Indian, losing one matters a lot. Subdivide the African population, as some taxonomists propose, and perceptions of scarcity may shift. [Hail Linnaeus. The Economist. May 17 2007]