Shit hits the fan

Ok, so this political analyst guy with supposedly "impeccable" background has screwed a model (both literally and figuratively, which led to her death. Who ever says "love" is not deadly? History and literature have proved that) and then wanted to run away from his responsibilities. Now he's caught in the act, yes? I'm sorry for his family. Must be tough on them. As one says in a contraceptive campaign ad, "a moment of passion, a lifetime of regrets".


Next
Much ado has come about over the Malay supremacy issue and how if there's every such a thing as a Malaysian race, it will feature Malays as the main actors. In that case, why not just come out and call the rest of us "infidels" and "tongkang asylum seekers"? I'm getting pissed with euphemisms that are basically only meant to camouflage the fact that the Chinese (the largest minority group in Malaysia) are never accepted anyway, so why not come out and say it and clear the air? I'm not dismissing the ass-licker MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) as being a part of the problem. I dislike chauvanism of every kind, whether it comes from people of my race, or of any race. Didn't the hoohah over the Asli report, the statements made on the "Malay Race" and the recent UMNO assembly suggest how things have become? I'm not going to bother arguing this issue anymore since it merely wastes my time and breath.
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=253&Itemid=31
(I think that picture in there is not Altantuya's, but am not too sure)
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Thursday/National/20061116085906/Article/index_html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/while-malaysia-fiddles-its-opportunities-are-running-dry/2006/11/14/1163266550487.html
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Thursday/Frontpage/20061116101114/Article/index_html
http://patahbalek.blogspot.com/2006/11/sis-vs-abim.html

Another one
So, we are a nation of prudes that refuse to admit that we do the "dirty" behind close doors. Hence this. Come on, be smart. How many people do you know who are virgins on their wedding day? And this include the Muslims (for all the attempts of the religious officers/moral police to catch naughty couples attempting the "illicit"). Some people say you'll a virgin even if you've been penetrated in the arse, mouth, or by dildos, fingers and tongues. Anyway, that's not my point. My point is, have proper sex education already and stop acting coy when educating women about the importance of contraceptives. A few infertile couples trying to have children unsuccessfully does not mean that you wont become pregnant if you decide to lose your virginity to some guy you met at a bar. And what's this nonsense about needing husband's permission to use contraceptives. I think it's just a way of fudging and avoiding the issue. Contraceptives is a responsibility of BOTH parties, and your sexual health is YOUR responsibility as well. So stop putting the onus on the husband to say when you can or not use contraceptives. Discuss with him and stop acting like the hubby is your daddy (or is Freud right in saying that women marry men because they wanted someone who can be their daddies as well as someone whom they can fuck?). Also btw, I always thought Islam provides the privacy of the persons, so wouldn't thie kind of moral policing be wrong?


Disclaimer: If you're offended by the language of this post, just leave.

Sex, Love and Companionship

Does marriage provide that? Maybe, but perhaps not enough. It is always a wonder to me why sex is considered such a taboo subject (when a huge percentage of the world's population are doing it) and when scandals of a phenomena size have all involved sex of some sort.

So, why the faux-prudishness when one talks about sex and sex positions in a tabloid? After all, everyone can read about it everywhere else. And do you think reading about sex is the only reason why it has aroused such interest? Obviously, the people denying sexuality in a human either are frigid to the point of being in deep-freeze, or have a problematic relationship with their sexuality.

So, now we have the political analyst who is probably a lover of the presumably dead model, most probably unbeknown to his wife. Doesn't matter whether he has fathered the child or killed her off to silent her. The thing is, he has a wife, and now, as we found out, a lover. Is it a bad thing? Has he cheated on his wife (whom he must have married for more than 19 years, since he has a daughter of 19)? How does she feel about that? Is she in denial or is she merely putting on a staunch face? If it is true that he was really the lover, his wife will have to put on a brave face IN PUBLIC, which is difficult since this is Malaysia that we're talking about, where everything is about having face and "moral" values. If she's been confident of his fidelity, what is her faith now? But if the wife knew about his lover, why did this analyst, whose name you can now see plastered over the papers, be avoiding the possibly murdered, beautiful model? I knew of him slightly due to his ties to some of my former bosses.


Sex governs all. Why deny it? You can use religion to argue your face black and blue, you can call yourself a religious person of all stripe, does it make you a less sexual person? And as was written of yore, youth attracts beauty and sex. Age difference no longer matter where attraction is concerned, as long as both parties are willing.

Self-control can be difficult when the attraction is high. How many is willing to break away and run from such a situation?

So, why even insist on fidelity? Why use religion to coerce fidelity? Why not make it socially acceptable each partner draw up their own prenuptial agreement, including that governing extra-marital affairs. And is there a point for men and women (mostly women) to continously dream idealistically about true and one love that will chain their partner? It is true that such relatinships exist, but why kid yourself when you know your marriage to someone is based less on that than you secretly think?

And I wonder what has the daughter of the analyst responded to the situation? It will certainly be tough on the progeny, what with a censuring, self-righteous society such as ours.


P.S On an unrelated note, how did the police know exactly from the special force to arrest, when they've not even properly conducted the investigation? I wonder...


Chronicles an event that made the headlines of Malaysian newspapers
http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2006/11/more-pics-part-2-murdered-mongolian.html

This was what got the Weekend MAlay Mail in hot soup
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:6nQiqAnpBw4J:www.mmail.com.my/Current_News/mm/Weekend/Frontpage/20061104121746/Article/index_html+Weekend+Malay+Mail+%2B+Sex&hl=en&gl=my&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a
More news on it
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061106/od_nm/malaysia_sex_dc
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/06/asia/AS_GEN_Malaysia_Newspaper_Apology.php
(I like this particular report because it actually points to the living contradiction that is Malaysia)

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southeastasia.asp?parentid=57337
(I don't think anyone wil be distressed by this article, and the only person shocked by it would be someone who, to go by the Malaysian proverb, lives under the coconut shell.)

A life of hiccups

Just when you think things are going swimmingly, something will always crop up against your will.For every rung one steps on, there are a dozen more of problems to push life further towards the pit of pain and despair.

Perhaps awareness that all these feelings, and even the realities, are transitory and will matter little as one moves on. But, what if moving on is always the difficult part? The feeling of conceded failure, that perhaps you aren't good enough for what you thought you had a chance in. An infectious strain in this feeling can lead to dire despondency and retreat. A person beaten down, mangled and thrown from the wash onto the line to be sun-dried and crinkled. When one feels that there is no more bright spot left to pull one up and to make it all worthwhile. When the churning in one's bowels refuses to halt.

A life a little unbalance, perhaps? Or maybe one is on the verge of being tipped over, completely.


Good Day

Books are expensive!

Do Malaysians become bankrupt from buying too many books? After all, books are even more expensive here than in the US. But, if the reading habits of the nation is as it is touted to be, which is two books per year, I guess that's not likely. But then, the statistics did not account for journals, magazines and newspapers. One is unlikely to be bankrupted by newspapers, but it may be something else altogether if one buys lots of imported journals and magazines...


Read on

Passion for Mathematics book review

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/11/5/lifebookshelf/15468056&sec=lifebookshelf

Mad about mathematics


Review by CLARISSA LEE

A PASSION FOR MATHEMATICS

Numbers, Puzzles, Madness, Religion, and the Quest for Reality

By Clifford A. Pickover

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 408 pages

(ISBN: 0-471-69098-8)

MATHEMATICS is not a book confined within a cover and bound between brazen clasps, whose contents need only patience to ransack; it is not a mine, whose treasures may take long to reduce into possession ... It is not a soil, whose fertility can be exhausted by the yield of successive harvests ? It is limitless as that space which it finds too narrow for its aspirations; its possibilities are as infinite as the worlds which are forever crowding in and multiplying upon the astronomer’s gaze; it is as incapable of being restricted within assigned boundaries or being reduced to definitions of permanent validity ?”

These are the words of James Joseph Sylvester, a mathematician who has summed up the task that all writers of mathematics have to face with when they try to present the subject in all its multifaceted glory.

The way mathematics was (and, maybe, continues to be) taught in schools has made most of us think of it as a cut-and-dried subject. Clifford Pickover attempts to – rather successfully, I would say – have us think of it as we would an exciting game, as well as to appreciate its rhizomatic (or, in local parlance, lalang) effect because it crops up when least expected. Well, it has popped up in Hollywood and the holy books.

A Passion for Mathematics is not easy to describe because of the non-linear, modular way in which it’s written. Pickover has divided it into seven main chapters, with titles ranging from “Numbers, History, Society, and People” to “Algebra, Percentages, Weird Puzzles, and Marvellous Mathematical Manipulations”, before ending his amusing proselytising by calling the final chapter “Mathematics and Beauty”.

Each chapter has diverse entries, from unsolved puzzles that had intrigued generations of mathematicians, to recreational puzzles that will delight both amateurs and professionals (entertaining stuff to mull over when caught in a traffic jam), to historically exotic arcana that promises to entice and titillate history buffs and trivia collectors alike.

The author’s passion for his subject is obvious and it comes across in his approach. You may find yourself staring at an exotic-looking equation that only those with a PhD in mathematics will tackle, but Pickover usually has a simple (and engaging) explanation on how it works. Sometimes, you do not really need to understand every detail but just appreciate and admire the beauty of the form and shape of the equation – much as you would a work of art – and understand how the subject can inspire countless artists, writers and movie-makers in their creative endeavours.

You will also find that the mathematicians he discusses are either mad, eccentric, or normal creatures like us who live ordinary lives – except that they are passionate about and dedicated to working in mathematics. And in case you think that women are not as good as men with figures, there are accounts of female mathematicians who are as good, if not better than, their male counterparts.

Take as long as you like to read to savour each section. Some of the puzzles in this book may engage two people in hours of debate, and provide stimulating fun amongst family members and friends. And they can certainly spark conversation at a party and change your perception that mathematics is boring.

Hello Sunday

I've been having an exam-filled week last, and it took me the entire of yesterday and part of today to recover, not to mention easing my fears that my scores may not be good enough to apply to my dream programs. I don't know my full results yet and will only do so in two weeks time, but I think now is the right time to work on perfecting a writing sample, work on my statement of purpose AND fill in the application forms (on top of chasing up on two more of my referees, I think I'll get a fourth referee from the head of my former department). I was trawling the net most of yesterday night, after spending my afternoon to evening at the mall (yeah strange choice but I sort of like the bookshop there, nice for reading) and a spa, relaxing, finding out how and what I should do in preparing for grad application. I think I should pay a particular centre a visit before the end of this month, because at this point, I am highly dependent on the Internet for MOST, if not all, of my information.

Anyway, in my feverish hunt, I came across some interesting sites with interesting articles. Some of the issues explicated actually resonate with the conditions in Malaysia, which kinda arouse my interest. If the US is trying to move towards cultural-sterilization in its curriculum development, Malaysia seems to be moving towards cultural dogmatism (but it's been awhile since I last check but I hear things haven't changed radically).

Anyway, I am going to relax tonight before returning to a very busy day tomorrow, courtesy of my having been on leave for the last 2 1/2 days beginning last Wed.

I can't wait for Dec to come because that's when I freed from the application processes and can take my long-awaited holidays.

http://www.cjr.org/issues/2005/1/cornog-readers.asp
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/12/08/15stotsky.h24.html?querystring=stotsky&rale=l4RcsgF70mPtCaS2ek8aL%2FHim3s5xG%2FFRSzhnM6nFXwtmUpH4yIKkb2JOlH8bB%2Brcg16gPcZvjWZ%0A3NC%2BysLspgFDXmI%2FlcT0UFD0QeYmHbfC%2B%2B2nsQk1apFKk3%2FHmsYssdFDTXoPXGS%2F2wCx

On a different note, the war against postmodernism continues here and it seems many are calling for the return to the kind of educational direction hailed by Allan Bloom and his didactic colleagues

http://www.grecoreport.com/bring_back_the_greeks.htm
http://www.grecoreport.com/the_founding_fathers_&_the_classics.htm

To take this to a different level (and away from the wars), how important is the study of classics? Personally, I think it is though not many would share my view (in Malaysia, we do have some sort of study of 'classic' works by having Malay Literature incorporated into the Malay Language studies syllabus in high schools. In fact, if one talks about ancient classics, they are likely to be less culturally-specific than the more 'modern' ones and can be appreciated by students from all backgrounds, with the aid of a well-trained and astute teacher. However, where will one find such a teacher in numbers that can fill the schools, especially third world schools? Perhaps one way around it is to stock the school libraries with the books and attempt to encourage the students to access and read them via publicity-type exhibitions or activity weeks. When we have a generation of students who know the classics, we will be able to have more teachers in this area and the anti-intellectual sterility of most public and corporate orgnizations can be countered.

As I wrote my exam essays, many ideas assaulted my thoughts (and my concentration) and it was unfortunate that I could not write them down at the time. Perhaps they may return to me sometime soon.