Categories
Personal

[25] Of the Annual Quad War

At last, the monitor has arrived in Ann Arbor after much procrastinations. With this, nothing will stand in my way.

Winter has finally arrived. Yesterday marked the unofficial opening of winter; the two famous quads in the University, the West Quad and the South Quad, wedged war on each other by lining up along E. Madison street.

While the South Quadrants pronounced aggression against us (The Great West Quadrangle), I was sleeping, too tired after trying to figure out my Computer Assisted Physics’ problems. I was enjoying my slumber with a sweet dream, resting innocently on my cozy bed. All the sudden, the tranquility of the atmosphere was disturbed by a heavy knocking on my wooden door. I quickly woke up and tried to find the most polite curse I can think of to present to the knocker of my door. Upon opening my door, I saw the residential officer, wearing thick clothing, telling me an alarm had gone off. I told him I didn’t hear any alarm but then he said the West Quad’s had been sounded. He continued by telling it was probably a hoax but it has to be treated as a real alarm.

Adhering to him, I took the stair and headed to the exit only to found out hundreds of undergraduates catapulting countless snowballs at each other. Stunt by the moment, my mind raced to enquire the situation and voila! THE ANNUAL QUAD WAR! Excited by the event, I quickly ran to the aid of my fellow West Quadrants. After a few minutes, both sides exchanged names and curses (there was no ‘f’ word used though). By the time both gone tired shouting at each other who were separated by the E. Madison St., the West Quad launched a barrage, running across the street and trying to make the kill number as high as possible. Amazingly, the pathetic South Quad didn’t charge the West Quad side. Perhaps, they ran out of snow. Hahaha, we almost ran out of snow too. Luckily, our courtyard is much bigger than theirs.

They ran out of snow. That is absurd but it’s the truth. The War was huge enough, that the undergrads ran out of ammo. Imagine the scale of the War. That’s it. I’ll stay in West Quad again for next year.

Epilogue, the Daily proclaimed, West Quadrants emerged victorious. (“South Quad, we want your daddy…”)

It’s beautiful in the winter. Although it’s cold but I’m beginning to change my perception. I love winter. I don’t care much for the cold.

As I walked along S. University St., I saw tree branches covered with the clean white snow. The wind blew blissfully, letting the snow on the branches to fall gracefully to the ground. The sight of the falling snow is enough to change my hatred into love. Before this, I hated winter. The cold was unbearable. The feeling was undesirable. The fire inside burnt mightily only to be quenched by falling snowflakes.

Thus, my love for Ann Arbor is nothing but complete. This shall be my heaven. This shall be my home.

Categories
Environment

[24] Of cooling Antarctica

Well, another chaos in the environmental science. Scientists have found out that Antarctica is actually not shrinking nor it is warming up. Instead, it is cooling down. The new data suggest that Antarctica is unique compare to the other parts of the world which had generally warmed up by 0.60 degree Celsius for the past decade. What can this mean?

There seems to be a confusion concerning global warming currently. To some, who has always deny the existence of global warming, say that this is a prove that global warming is based on erroneous extrapolated data. Whatever it is, I wish I could believe that but the evidence of global warming to me is undeniable. Although Antarctica is cooling down, it doesn’t mean global warming is a bogus. While the South Pole is not warming up, the rest of the world is becoming a living hell. And it’s proven that the Earth increasing global temperature is not merely part of Earth’s natural cycle. Furthermore, at this very moment, Europe’s largest glacier is melting at a dangerous rate. That, must mean something.

Categories
Economics

[23] Of protecting Proton

For a peek to a car, click here.

Somebody, please, tell me that’s really is a Proton. It’s way too cool.

According to some sources, it’s the new Proton car. It’s Proton Sutera, developed by Lotus of England. As usual, the name isn’t that impressive but this time, the name certainly does not reflect the design of the new car. If this really is a Proton, I guess my favorite car right now is Sutera instead of the new Toyota Celica.

The way I see it, Proton’s design is getting better and better, given enough period of time. It was first established in the mid-80s as a national project by the Malaysian government under the supervision of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The first few designs were simply the recreation of Mitsubishi’s Evolution models. Up to date, the most admired copycats are the Proton Perdana and the GTi (I can’t recall whether Perdana is really a copy cat of Evo, but for the sake of this entry, what the heck).

Unfortunately, within a few years time, AFTA, a free trade treaty will come to effect in Malaysia. AFTA, from the free-trade world’s point of view (according to Econ 101), is a good thing for the consumers. However, for Malaysia’s arena, it marks a grave future for the local car industry. Fierce competition will surely force Proton to fall to its knee. There is no way Proton could compete with supergiants such as Toyota, General Motors and Mercedes-Chrysler. These supergiants are far too efficient, plus they can afford to have a high cost production compare to Proton, which by the standard of these supergiants, is a mere ant. To protect the local industry, I guess Malaysia should not have signed any deal about free trade in the past but, of course, we can never change the past.

My opinion is, the government must shield the local car manufacturing industry regardless any free-trade treaty it has signed. The American burnt the ABM Treaty just like that. Why can’t we dump AFTA? (Don’t answer that)

Categories
Environment

[22] Of save the Earth, love the Earth

å°çƒã‚’除けば, å°çƒã‚’愛しなさい…
Excepto a terra, ame a terra…
Save the Earth, Love the Earth…
Excepto la tierra, ame la tierra…
대지를 ì ì™¸í•˜ê³ , 대지를 사랑하십ì‹ìš”…
Risparmi la terra, amare la terra…
�conomiser la terre, aimez la terre…
Selamatkanlah Bumi, Cintailah Bumi…
Au�er der Masse lieben Sie die Masse…

Categories
Environment

[21] Of light pollution

Lights…

They are everywhere nowadays. In the city center, the suburban area, in the middle of the jungle…

From space, surely Earth, especially in North America, Europe and parts of Asia, light illuminates the lands. People would say it is the sign of civilization. The part of Earth, which is dark, is the part that is less develops and poor. It’s the third world country area. We should be proud that our night sky is lit with brilliant lights.

Those who agree with the above statement are nothing but fools. Light, yes, they are the sign of civilization and also the sign of pollution. Light pollution, what is the matter with light pollution? They aren’t causing any actual pollution. Why bother?

Well, light actually does a lot of damaging to the environment. But I’ll not argue from the scientific side and I do not hate the light. What I hate is excessive light. I hate the person who wants to switch on the light when he or she is going to sleep. Why must they switch on the light? Do they think that at least, in their dream, the dreamland will be a bit brighter? Do they afraid of the monster under their bed? Pathetic. Just switch it off and go to sleep. You don’t need the extra light when you are asleep. You are wasting Earth resources by switching on the light while you are sleeping. All the resources that you are using excessively can be used for other meaningful activities other than lighting the room up to prevent the monsters under your bed to creep up and eat your legs. Here is a fact.

If you are a female, sleeping with light on during the night can prevent your body to produce melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep pattern which in turn may affect the estrogen level, a hormone that stimulate breast tissue. An extra level of estrogen may cause breast cancer. How about that? Now, which will you choose, help to reduce the light pollution or suffer the rest of your days with breast cancer?

Another thing is that the local authority “I don’t care” mentality on the light pollution. Why must there be a tall lap post in the middle of the jungle? For the sake of modernization, must we lit all of the forest with lights? And, in the cities, why must we target the clouds with light? To help the birds to navigate because these flying creature can’t see in the dark? Just because it is just light, they do not regard light pollution as pollution. As a result, sky gazers like myself can’t even spot Betelgeuse or even Sirius in the sky. I even doubt I can spot Venus up in the sky in KL. Here is another fact. If you think it’s just light and nothing else, in Chicago, according to some reports, you can’t even spot the moon. Yeah, that big round thing in the night sky in case you don’t know what a moon is. Maybe, in a few hundred years, we will not be able to see the sun anymore at noon! Until then, sure, it’s only light…

Please, it’s Earth. It’s our home. Don’t regret when it is too late. If it is polluted, where are we going to move? Venus? O boy…exciting!!!

Hey, when your great-grandchild ask your grandchild “Have you ever seen a star father?”, don’t cry when your beloved grandchild say in return, “Nope son, but I’ve seen fireflies”.