Turnout for the FOI event

Yesterday's turnout for the Freedom of Information Campaign Launch was a non-event. In other words, almost nobody turned up except for friends of the people involved. Sad but true. It has to do with the last minute confirmation of venue, and also to do with the lack of commitment to this campaign. Either, most Malaysians are not prepared or even aware that there is a need for such an issue. Looks like we have our work cut out for us, going by how things are. And from what I'd gathered, it's the same for many other environmental-related events. Maybe environment is not high in the priority of most city-folks, not until they find themselves personally threatened. The ways of the world....


Sigh

Solving disagreements by negotiations? maybe not

I am sure most readers are aware of the recent coup in Thailand, the recent attention paid to Myanmar (Burma to some people), also a country that had continuously been under the rule of military, by the US government and the recent history of coups within SEA not unlike many other third world regions (including the South America). It is also an indication to the feudalistic condition of many of the third world governments that practice surface democracy but demand unquestionable loyalty (which is translated as patriotism), so much so that much political historiography constructed by certain "scholars" in this region are all about nation-building that privileges a dominant group for the purpose of hegemonic power while creating a big group of the subalterns (second class or marginal citizens). In a way, they are recreating what Fanon had originally spoken as the Manichean communities, and the repression by the indigenous elites (I am quoting him loosely as it's been years since I last read him and I am not referring to his book now) who have their "own ideas" of doing things. Despite the investment of liberal groups funded by First world organisations to deploy a more liberal society in the Third World by way of capitalism and meritocracy, it will not work because of the feudal condition of most of the societies that exists at MANY layers and the prevailing colonial mentality that continue to pervade a postcolonial society (who choose to act the victim and use it as a reason for further repression of personal and civil liberties). Hence superficial liberties give the impression that all is well and progress is imminent.

Anyway, this is the blog from Thailand of the recent events for those who are interested, the. Thailand is a very close neighbour and we have a number of migrant Thai workers in Malaysia, as well as Malaysians (especially NGO workers) working in Thailand in Bangkok. We hope that democracy will be restored and that this will not be a beginning of a sucession of coups to come, and one that will begin a domino effect in the other countries as a way of protesting against unfavourable electorals.

In light of this, Thailand has not too long ago won itself a Freedom of Information Act so we hope this is not a step back for them. And I would like to hear from others with an interest in this subject.

My new poem

For those who are interested and can read Malay. That makes the total of my published malay poems - 3. What a measly sum :/

http://www.jalantelawi.com/karya-06/karya4.asp

A new step

Working in a brand communications and design house, I am slowly learning to appreciate the finer details of design that tend to escape the untrained eye. Though I would had frequent such places more often two years ago than I would now (mainly because I travelled a lot more back then and also because I entered more fancy restaurants than I do now), when I look at pictures of them again, or when I have to enter such places for work reasons (since we deal a lot with property related projects), I will look at everything presented, from the design of the menu and napkin all the way to its bathrooms/powder-rooms (the latter for really exclusive restaurants). I also noticed that even the most exclusive (Read expensive and classy) restaurants have moved away from Old-world, mahagony, oak-panelled decor to more funky, edgy and contemporary sleek, in the name of sophistication and accessibility. Check out the restaurant designs of world-class hospitality interior designer, Adam Tihany, though I must confess, I like some of the designs better than others (I suppose the photographs didn't quite do them that much justice).

On a different note, Wallpaper magazine is full of interesting (though not always to my taste) designs. And the guy who founded it is going to be in Singapore in Nov, amongsts other luminaries. I bought an issue last Feb and was pretty blown away by the visuals of the designs presented, and I have to confess, it was also my first encounter with many edgy designs that are famous among the more savvy. :D I wonder if the boss will so kindly sponsor us to that conference again...the luminaries I met last year were inspiring.


And the best news is, I am taken off a job that's been the bane of my life, not temporarily, but for good. That's a cause for celebration *does the jig around the office when boss is not looking*
I suppose I can use some of the stuff I've written for this prematurely terminated job as samples of my "health-related writing" for future prospecting clients). Drop me a note if anyone reading this is interested. :)


Anyway, since I've just finished with a TV ad, I think I'll go back to some more serious reading/writing while I await my next assignment. If you will excuse me...

A play on paedophilia?

I've not watched it but it sounds intriguing. Join their webchat if you have the time and if you see this post on time :P

http://www.gatecrash.com.sg/ebuzz/crashout_issue3/crashoutmail.html

On an unrelated note, I am glad that I can put what I'm learning at advertising and public communication to good use in the the Freedom of Information campaign we'll be launching this Sept 28. For those in Malaysia interested to participate, watch this space for more information in the week to come.

I'm sorry if I've not been writing as much here because of a rather full life outside (and the time factor but I promise to post more interesting thoughts by next month. For this month, it's merely short titbits

A new kind of "Terrorist"

Now, is only other guerilla tactics are adopted, that require no bloodshed

This is one good example, and I see this as an exemplification of Deleuze's theory of the "rhizome"


See http://www.banksy.co.uk/, one that begins in the middle of all things..or all forms of expressions, both suppressed and expounded

Evolution vs Creationism

How do you think the philosopher of science will handle this?

Article below taken from the January 2006 issue of Physics Today


___________________________________________________________________________________
Issues and Events
Evolution Wins in Pennsylvania, Loses in Kansas

A slate of "real-world" candidates swept the intelligent design majority off the Dover, Pennsylvania, school board, while in Kansas antievolutionists not only weakened science standards, but redefined science itself.
January 2006, page 32

A few years ago, registered nurse Bernadette Reinking, weary after three decades of working with physicians and the medical system, retreated into her house in central Pennsylvania to, as she puts it, "raise my grandbabies"—all seven of them. Then, after two years of full-time grandmothering, she said, "I opened my door and found all of this mess."

The mess was the Dover Area School Board, where, according to Reinking, the school board members "were not very kind to people who were offering other opinions." Reinking, whose four children had gone through the Dover school system, decided to run for a seat on the board.

Credit: Ben Sargent
So did Bryan Rehm, a high-school physics teacher who was angered by school board members "calling people names and spouting Bible scripture at people who disagreed with them." Rehm said the school board also stopped funding school field trips, ended student participation in a national robotics competition, and was cutting back on other activities he thought were important.

Although many parents in the school district were concerned about those actions, the issue that crystallized the opposition was a requirement enacted by the board that biology teachers in the school district read a statement to students saying evolution is "not a fact" and that students can learn about other theories, including intelligent design, by reading antievolution material in the school library.

The nine-member board approved the statement over objections from its own scientific standards committee. Rehm and 10 other parents sued, claiming that the requirement was unconstitutional and that intelligent design was actually religious creationism being brought into the classroom. The trial ended on 4 November 2005, and four days later, eight of the nine intelligent design advocates on the school board were defeated by Reinking, Rehm, and six others running as the Dover Cares slate. (Rehm's election by less than 100 votes has since been challenged and a special runoff election was set for 3 January.) The court decision, which turns in part on whether intelligent design is religiously based, was expected in late December or early January.

The defeat of the intelligent design majority on the board was widely reported in the national media as a victory for evolution. The National Center for Science Education, the California-based organization that defends the teaching of evolution in public schools, issued a statement under the headline, "Dover voters choose good science at polls."

Religious conservatives weren't happy. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, reacted to the election by telling the "good citizens of Dover" that "if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city."

The new board took office on 5 December with, Reinking said, "the focus of improving the education of our children. We want them to be able to go out and get good jobs with health insurance. Real-world kinds of things."

While things were good for science advocates in Pennsylvania, they were bad in Kansas. There, the Kansas State Board of Education not only approved a revision of the state's science standards to include criticism of Darwinian evolution, but went a step further and redefined science itself.

The old definition termed science the "human activity of seeking natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us." The new definition describes science as "a systematic method of continuing investigation that uses observation, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, logical argument and theory building to lead to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena."

University of Kansas physicist Adrian Melott, a veteran of the long battle between evolution and creationism in Kansas, said the new definition allows for the possibility of a supernatural explanation in science. Melott said he is dismayed by the resurgence of the creationists on the school board, but not surprised.

"We had the same thing happen six years ago," he said, when creationists organized and won the majority of seats on the state board (see PHYSICS TODAY, November 1999, page 59). They rewrote the science standards, but before they could go into effect, "people woke up and voted them out. Then they promptly went to sleep again and these people took over the board again in 2004."

University of Kansas cosmologist Hume Feldman said he was particularly troubled by "the idea that science can be redefined by this group, most of whom aren't even educators. Their idea, the way they do this, is that they don't insist that intelligent design be taught in the class, but that it be implied. Their focus is on saying evolution is not a fact."

The board is currently rewriting the science standards to reflect the new definition of science, but that task is being made difficult by the refusal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to allow the use of its copyrighted National Science Education Standards. The American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science Teachers Association have also refused to allow the Kansas board to use their material in writing the new standards.

In an October letter to the Kansas department of education, NAS president Ralph Cicerone wrote, "The revised [Kansas science standard] attempts to portray evolution as a theory in crisis and raises 'controversies' (e.g. the Cambrian explosion) that evolutionary scientists have refuted many times using the available evidence."

Keith Miller, a Kansas State University geologist, said only a couple of the antievolutionist members of the 10-member board have to be defeated in the 2006 election to give the pro-science side a majority, "but it is hard to get people passionate about a school board election." That's made more difficult when creationist advocates equate endorsing science with endorsing atheism, he said. "And we also have to recognize that this is a much longer-term problem. We can't say that if we win the next election, then we don't have to worry any more."

Hello again

I'd been on a one week break, which partly explains my silence. Though I still came online, it was less regularly than when I am at work, and frankly, I needed the time off to think about lots of things (as well as to do some things). I presently begin posting again all the different thoughts that occur to me, but right now, I am too bleary-eyed from my first day at work because of having over-exercised my brain over the hols (wish I'd let it rot more). Thank goodness it is almost 5:30. Think I'll go for a session of workout

Will talk more later