Mooiness!

I've moved!

2006-03-11T02:24:00.000+08:00

Woohoo! I've now shifted over to the new digs at:
http://mooiness.com

Please update your Bloglines, your Blogrolls and/or your RSS feed readers. The new feed is:
http://mooiness.com/feed

Some links at the new blog may still point here but they will be corrected gradually over the weekend. I will also be categorising my posts - all 541 of them! Some posts may also be missing the YouTube embedded videos and these will be corrected as well.

All new comments from hereon should be left at the new address. Seeya all there! :)

Why am I so lame this week?

2006-03-10T11:16:00.000+08:00

Yes I have an excuse. Actually more than one. The danger of having a great weekend as mentioned previously is that what follows in the next week feels mundane in comparision. You can hardly feel inspired at all. Kinda like dropping an "e" so don't do drugs ppl! :P Erm where was I ...

Couple that with a hectic and frustrating time at work, I feel completely drained and devoid of ideas. Yes it's true. I have no ideas! Usually I would have a post lined up ready to go everyday of the week. This week I struggled. My comments on other ppl's blogs are more interesting by comparison. Heh.

But but but, there's more ... I've also been working on the new blog. Yes I'm about to shift places and blog on my own domain. The intrepid ones among you should already be able to guess the address. ;)

I'll lose my Technorati ranking but heck it ain't that high anyway: 164 links from 63 sites. The one major reason I wanted to move is that I will be able to back up everything on a regular basis. The other thing is that I don't have to put up with Blogger's outages - that fucks with my blogging flow sometimes. But I guess I will still have to put up with that when I visit your blogs. ;)

Here's some preview shots:

Don't go leaving comments there yet because I'm gonna trash it and re-import all the posts from here. You can (and you should!) still leave comments here because they would be imported in the process too. Most excellent! Wordpress is the BOMB!

I like the banner now - it's part of a photo that I took at MOS Singapore. But it may change, I'm gonna toss around a few ideas with Louyau and YC if they have the time. For now, it's very soothing to my eyes.

I'm planning the big move this Saturday. You're all invited! :)

Technorati tags: blogging, Wordpress

My favourite movie quote of all time

2006-03-09T14:28:00.000+08:00

Why my favourite? Because you can actually use it in real life. From Evil Dead 3:

You ain't leadin' but two things: Jack and shit ... and Jack just left town.

It's the bestest.

This little tidbit has been brought to you by me being frustrated at work.

All quiet on the blogging front

2006-03-08T14:59:00.000+08:00

No world-shattering news. No disasters. Just your average misery and violence reheated and reserved - same shit, different day. Nothing explosive on the blogosphere. No blasphemy, no sex scandals, and no one spouting ridiculous words to be put down.

Cut to me. I had a great weekend from Friday on. Now everything just seemed mundane in comparison. It's times like this that I sometimes wonder what if I had more dramas in my life. I'd definitely know how to blog it. I'm an old hand at it now! But then I'm not a drama queen. Heck I'm not even a queen period! (Think how different this blog would be ;)).

Or how about some emo crap involving a girlfriend or a lover? Then again, emo crap from a guy is just very NOT masculine. I'm so not a SNAG and I'm not a CUNT either - caring understanding nineties type. Heh, that's old even back in the nineties. :P

You know what, I don't crave excitement for the sake of excitement. I'm comfortable in my own little rut, rolling up and down the sides, watching the waves trash up and down all around it. Ok that's one too many metaphors in that sentence.

Shite, so how do I end this meandering piece of mundane-ness? Ok how about this - I get a high from riding on a rollercoaster but I don't want to be on one all the time. Or, I like spicy food but too much of it just makes me feel shitty. Ah, perfect. ;)

Technorati tag: blogging

Roaming neighbourhood cats

2006-03-08T08:19:00.000+08:00

Cat owners should really keep their cats indoors at night instead of letting them roam the neighbourhood. Not only do they kill the native birds and animals, they are extremely noisy as well.

Last night I woke up to the sound of two cats fighting and the dogs in the surrounding area barking like mad, including mine. And I got the barking amplified because Snoop sleeps in my room.

And if it ain't fighting, it's fucking. And either sounds from our feline friends aren't the most pleasant to listen to. In fact cat sex sounds very sado-masochistic as well - all that screeching and high-pitch meowing. Oh behave!

Dog owners also get treated differently to cat owners. Cat owners are merely advised to keep their pets indoors but if one of our dogs got caught roaming the streets we'd get a fine for it.

I may be a dog person but I don't hate cats. They are just doing what they do naturally. But I do hate cat owners who let them out at night. Grrr. I lost one hour's sleep last night so excuse me for being cranky.

Natalie Portman in da house

2006-03-07T18:35:00.000+08:00

Natalie rapping and cussing on an SNL skit. Funny shit this. AWESOME.

Find it at the NBC site here.

Stumbled upon on erm .... ah heck I saw it all over the place! They don't call it viral for nothing.

"The Simpsons" in real life

2006-03-07T14:40:00.000+08:00

This is a video promo done by the Sky Channel for the show. The video is already spreading like mad on YouTube.

Funny, surreal and bizarre. Just like the show itself. :)

Stumbled upon via Cool Hunting.

Two Tribes Perth 2006

2006-03-06T13:51:00.000+08:00

These photos are complimented by the videos that I took.

The Two Tribes Electronic Music Festival descended yesterday upon the Supreme Court Gardens, smack bang next to the city on the foreshore.

It was a very hot day with a max of 38°C, but also a very fine day for raving.

I went with Simon and we bumped into his cousin Nick, and Yuji and his wife.

The festival consists of 3 main areas: Subliminal (house), Godskitchen (trance) and Air (drum-n-bass).

The two tents had fans in the ceiling and hoses with water dripping down from them for extra cooling. The only downside of that is as you can imagine, the ground becomes soggy and eventually muddy.

We got there at 2pm and for the first hour or so we sat under the shade because it was too hot. We listened to the booming beats and ppl-watched.

Queuing for alcohol was actually faster than queuing for the water.

After a few drinks, we were ready to get on with it. We went exploring all three main areas.

And then I got into taking photos of random strangers. I'm getting better at it too. :P

Oh yeah then there's also the perving of hot chicks.

For more of that, click here. Go on you pervs. You know you want to.

The main attraction was of course Armin van Buuren. Couldn't get a good pic of him but the place was electrifying when he came on.

We partied from the afternoon till dusk, till the evening.

I sure am glad that I'm not cleaning up the mess.

At 9pm I left and took the bus home. Why the bus? 'Cos I knew that I'd be drinking quite heavily. Be smart - don't drink and drive! And remember the sunscreen! :)

The complete set of photos are on my Flickr set.

Two Tribes Perth 2006 - videos

2006-03-06T13:37:00.000+08:00

These videos compliment the photos that were taken.

The first two vids are taken whilst sitting under the shade, people watching. And yes that's a pregnant girl that you'd see in one of them. ;)

This is taken in front of the Godskitchen tent.

These two are taken in front of the Subliminal stage.

That was my Sunday

2006-03-06T01:08:00.000+08:00

I went to this yesterday. And since today is a public holiday, the pics will be up later in the day when I wake up. ;) Watch out for pics of me with strangers and also paparazzi shots of hot chicks. Woohoo!

TGIF

2006-03-04T14:06:00.000+08:00

It was not exactly a stressful day at work yesterday but I couldn't wait to get out of there. I deal with the same demanding customers and co-workers everday but I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

As soon as 5:30pm came by, I rushed out the door least if anyone stops me on the way out to ask me to do something for them. Headed to The Belgian Beer Cafe to meet up with Wendy for some Hoegaarden. Mmm.

She had some emotional issues to vent and I was her sounding board. It's quite easy as you are only required to utter some "ummm", and some "uhuh uhuh", and some "yup" in between sips of your stein of brew. And all the time nodding your head. Here's a tip for the guys: usually the girl doesn't want your advice, she just wants you to hear her out.

You follow this tip, she'd be happy and you'd be happy.

I got two steins of Hoegaarden out of it. Hahah!

Then we headed off to The Ramen again for some yakitori goodness. A doctor friend joined up with us and he brought these two hot nurses. Blondes too. Gah! My weakness! But there was some strange triangle thing going on so there was no chances with them. Nonetheless they were really good fun.

At that point in time, I really wished I was a young successful doctor working in a hospital full of babes. Like in House, MD or Grey's Anatomy. Mmm.

After dinner we headed to Box Deli for more drinks. Here I bumped into a bartender whom I have known for quite some time and haven't seen in a while because she quit one of my favourite haunts. When she saw me, the first thing she said was, "Let me make you a Cosmopolitan."

I said, "But that's a girl's drink."

She said, "I will put it in a man's glass." *wink*

Ah human connections of different kinds, of different levels. I love them. :)

The night ended up at Geisha Bar. That'd be our last stop for the night. The triangle thing was getting more and more intense. It made me awkward just watching the interactions. I just kept giving knowing smiles to Wendy. She's closer to the doctor friend and she'd been privy to all the gossips.

Anyway the night was hot and the place had bad ventilation. Not a good combination. I had a few more drinks and then said my goodbyes. T'was a packed Friday night.

Turn your blog into a book

2006-03-03T11:19:00.000+08:00

As if owning a blog is not narcissistic enough, you can now turn your blog into a *real* book. Wow. No but yeah but no ... Huh!?

From Blogger to Published Author, for $30 and Up - New York Times:

Though not all blogs may aspire to literary permanence, they can achieve it through the new Book-Smart software from Blurb, a publish-your-own-book service. The software, which is expected to be available free later this month at www.blurb.com, features a 'Slurper' tool that automatically downloads and reformats the contents of a Web log into a book that bloggers and their admirers can purchase online.

Technorati tags: blogs, blogging

Fireangel does Harajuku

2006-03-03T10:19:00.000+08:00

No excuses needed for the link right? I wouldn't call her a cult figure in the Malaysian blogosphere but she is. :P

See her post "Do It Harajuku Style" for more pics. And check out the rest of her blog - she's one irreverant chick who's more often hilarious than not. Am digging the theme too.

Technorati tags: FireAngel, Malaysian, blogosphere

Très Belle

2006-03-02T15:22:00.000+08:00

source: Vedia @ Flickr

French newsreader Melissa Theuriau. Oh-la-la indeed. So so HOT.

Discovered on IdeaGrove.com whilst exploring the Advertising section on Technorati.

How to get easy blog traffic

2006-03-02T14:19:00.000+08:00

New to blogging? Can't get anyone to visit your site? Blog traffic is dead-ish? Well then, this post is just for you.

So anyway, how do you get easy blog traffic?

This is something that I did very early on when I started blogging and that is to sign up with BlogExplosion.com. It works like this: for every 2 blogs that you visit, you get 1 visit in return. The other blogs are owned by ppl like you who have signed up with them.

This is a really simple method albeit a little tedious. And the conversion rate of random surfers into regular readers is very low. The pro is that you don't even have to write about anything to get ppl to stumble onto your blog. But of course it helps if you write well so that you can get a "convert" or more. And by surfing randomly through this system, you may even discover a good blog or two. I know I did.

Observe the "top" bloggers and when a weakness or an opening presents itself, pick it apart with ferocity. Of course, don't pick a fight just because you can. Instead of using personal attacks, argue intelligently and with reason and logic.

Performancing calls this the "Attack Hook".

My examples:
- Pwned
- XiaXue vs. Sydney race riots: A Comparison.
Fans use Technorati and other tools to search posts about their favourite bloggers religiously, and the chances are that they will find your post.

The downside of this method is that it can raise your stress and rage levels when diehard fans of the blogger come here to berate and insult you. The upside of it is that you may get like-minded ppl dropping in to see what the fuss is about.

And like-minded ppl are more likely to become regular readers.

If you happened to blog about something high on the Technorati search and tag lists then you are going to get the traffic. Guaranteed.

So how do you achieve this? By blogging about things shown on the lists. The lists contain the hot topics currently debated on blogs. And it's self-perpetuating, because when ppl see that a term is high on the lists they'd click on it.

Thus maintaining the popularity of that term, and guaranteeing that more and more ppl would stumble upon your post.

My examples:
- Daphne Teo who!?
- Singaporean blogosphere belies size of nation (about Dawn Yeo/Yang)
- Less Tammy, More Daphne
- Freedom of speech works both ways (about those Islamic cartoons)
The downside of this is that you can't always rely on this method because you are not always inspired by what's on the lists. Though you can cheat by just including the terms in your post in a non-coherent way or in a throwaway sentence. But do this often enough, and ppl would know your style and would not return. Ever.

The upside of this is that if you can consistently write good commentary then ppl will continually come back to see what your thoughts are about the "current affairs".

These tips will get the masses into your little blog. But keeping them coming back and staying is an entirely different matter altogether. That depends on the quality of your writing, and improvement can only come from practice.

A good tip is to dive into a wide variety of reading material to get inspiration and also learn a good writing style. Another is to write about what you know and are passionate about - it's easiest when you don't have to pretend or make shit up about something that you ain't got a clue of. It also helps if you lead an interesting life. ;)

I neglected to include one tip up there and that is to become friends with a popular blogger, and get them to link to you from their blogs. Before that will happen though you will have to write well enough to be worthy of being linked. That is, unless you are already friends in real life to begin with.

But this goes back to my main point and that is: ppl may come but they may not stay if you have nothing to reward them for clicking on your link.

So write well and happy blogging!

from UserFriendly.Org

Technorati tags: blogs, blogging

The Magic of 2+2

2006-03-01T16:30:00.000+08:00

A man and a woman - both of mixed race, both with white mothers and black fathers, have given birth to a set of twins. One is black. One is white.

A million to one odds.

Check out the pic in the article: Black and white twins | The Daily Mail. It's amazing.

Race is truly superficial as all intelligent ppl understand it. But we still have problems in the world today caused by a blind adherence to colours and what they inaccurately imply about our characteristics. However, with the world mixing around in greater frequency we can only hope that the world would eventually become colour-blind.

Technorati tags: race, racism, anti-racism

Stumbled upon via Metafilter - more fascinating reading in that post, including a story about a black girl born to white racist parents in South Africa.

italk2much reviews kennysia.com

2006-03-01T00:15:00.000+08:00

The procedure at italk2much.com goes like this - you submit your site for a review and they will email you to verify that you submitted for a review yourself. That is, no one that wants to see the bitches *ahem* ladies rip into your blog can submit your site for a review just for kicks.

So it is safe to assume that Kenny Sia submitted his site for a review himself. And all I can say is, "Ouch". :P

Read their review of Kenny's blog.

Technorati tags: blogosphere, Kenny Sia, italk2much

Origin of the phrase "motherfucker"

2006-02-28T16:53:00.000+08:00

The term is used so often these days that we have become desensitised to it. And you'd think that only men would use it or be called that, but women use it too. At times it's even a compliment like: sexy muthafucka.

Anyway I don't know why but the word just kept popping into my head today. You know what they say about idle hands being the instruments of the devil? Well, you can add idle minds to that saying. ;)

So naturally I googled for the true origins of this near ubiquitous phrase and found a fascinating read on Wikipedia. Besides the obvious meaning that one has committed the big taboo of incest, there's also the theory of it being African-American in nature and the theory goes like this: back in the slavery days, it is very common for slave women to be raped by the slave owners. The children born out of these unions were taught not to call these rapists "father" but, you guessed it - "motherfucker".

Which may sorta explain why the term is so prevalent in black music and comedy.

We learn something new everyday. :)

More at the Wikipedia article and its accompanying discussion.

Looks familiar?

2006-02-28T12:28:00.000+08:00

Kim said:

Reminds me of Vicky from Little Britain.

Who looks like:

Is this mean? No, but yeah ... but ... ummm yeah.

Live action Xiaxue

2006-02-27T20:23:00.000+08:00

Was chatting with Kimberly and I was telling her that I saw a video on Xiaxue's blog. She said, "Where got?" I could have sworn I saw her posted it up on the weekend but I guess she has taken it down.

But the internet is vast - in the internet, everyone can hear you scream. ;)

Here's the link to the search results on YouTube.

And check out how someone tag his/her video of Xiaxue:

That's pure gold. Can't make that up even if I tried. :P The vid that I told Kim about is the second one (June + me) where they are doing some lip action thing.

MC Hammer is on Blogspot

2006-02-27T12:10:00.000+08:00

Remember MC Hammer? He's now blogging on Blogspot. For those who don't know, he's now a Baptist Minister. Meaning - he preaches! Check out the blog at:

MC Hammer Blog.

Stumbled upon via Blogger Buzz.

The Colors at Amplifier - pics

2006-02-26T18:49:00.000+08:00

The videos that I took are in a previous post.

The gig was at Amplifier on Murray St, Perth. It's tucked away in an alleyway besides Capitol.

Hot night for a hot band - the guys were madly sweating away on stage.

The acoustics are better here than that at Mojo's. And the venue is bigger. Just as well, this time round due to some hard work of self-promotion on MySpace by the guys there were a lot of new fans in the crowd.

It was a great set by the guys.

And there was more than one happy fan who went home last night.

Funny VW GTI ads

2006-02-26T16:54:00.000+08:00

Aired in the USA and centering around the theme of "Un-Pimp My Ride". Here's one of them.

More at LeftlaneNews.com.

Stumbled upon via Clicked @ MSNBC.

The Colors at Amplifier

2006-02-26T15:33:00.000+08:00

The Colors performed at the Amplifier in Murray Street last night. Took some pics and some vids. Here are the vids first. Will post the pics later tonight.

Belated birthday gifts from Paul

2006-02-25T15:11:00.000+08:00

Paul rang me late last night, asking me to go to his place today to wash and polish my car. I was thinking that's a strange request but I thought it'd be fun. Anyway, turned out he wanted to give me some belated birthday presents.

We did end up washing and polishing the car as well. It's definitely quicker and more enjoyable when you have another person doing it. It also helped that we had a buffing machine. Those things cut the polishing time in half.

One thing that we found out today - metho (methylated spirits) does a great job in cleaning up cloudy headlight covers.

This has been one of the most unique birthday presents (the gifts and the car washing and polishing) that I have received in a while. :)

Less Tammy, More Daphne

2006-02-24T14:59:00.000+08:00

What? You don't know who Tammy is? Go look it up on Technorati. Ain't gonna link to anything here. The poor girl has got enough publicity as it is. Once again, the Singaporean blogosphere belies the size of the nation.

Then there was the Daphne Teo thing. Till this day I still get ppl who stumble onto my blog through my trackback on Tomorrow.sg (someone submitted me, I didn't link myself there), or by searching for it on Google.

So enough about Tammy. Let me refocus your attention on one of the original shit-stirrer (or did her shit get stirred?) from the past year. Daphne lah! Fuck's sake, need me to spell it out for you!? :P

Her new blog - hasn't been updated since early Jan 2006.
Her boyfriend Erik Hagen's blog - more up to date. Even has a pic of her. Woohoo!

There, isn't that better? Give your attention to someone who wants it, instead of someone who just had a stroke of bad luck.

Now if and when Dawn Yang resurfaces in the blogosphere (for real life, you all can buy gossip mags or FHM or Maxim), or when Xiaxue shoots off her mouth in the wrong direction again, or some as yet undiscovered blogger pariah comes along, you can count on me to give my $2 dollars worth of commentary. $2 ah! Not just 2c ok?!

Don't look me no up hor? I is blogosphere commentator #1 baby! Hahahah!

Technorati tag: Singapore, Singaporean, blogosphere

House Rules

2006-02-24T00:21:00.000+08:00

"This is my house. If you want to come in, you should respect me. If you can't do that, then I won't welcome you into my house."

That was essentially what the Federal Treasurer Peter Costello said Tuesday night whilst addressing the Sydney Institute.

From the link below:

... the Treasurer has bluntly called for hard-line Muslims and others who don't observe Australian values to be stripped of their citizenship.

And he said people coming to Australia should have the same respect for Australian values as visitors to a mosque who are asked to take off their shoes.

And:

"A person who does not acknowledge the supremacy of civil law laid down by democratic processes cannot truthfully take the pledge of allegiance," he said.

"As such they do not meet the pre-condition for citizenship."

I agree wholeheartedly. If you have come to live in a Western democracy, then it is highly contradictory for you to hate it. You have freedom of religion, and freedom of dress. You can even practice your form of Sharia law but you cannot expect to impose that on the general populace. And you'd most certainly be prosecuted under the common law if any of your cultural practices harm another person in this country.

There are plenty of Muslims, from all corners of the planet, who have assimilated to the life here in Australia. Extremists and zealots only serve to unfairly put *all* Muslims in this country in a bad light. I can't claim to speak for moderate Muslims but I can bet you that you are about as welcomed by them as you are by the rest of us - NOT.

The Australian: Costello urges migrant loyalty [February 24, 2006]

Technorati tags: Australia, religion, Islam, multiculturalism

Stop wanking in the showers!

2006-02-23T09:51:00.000+08:00

This is too bizarre not to share. Apparently a notice was sent out to students living in the student dormitories at the University of Durham in the UK to stop masturbating in the showers because of recent blockages in the plumbing system caused by .... SEMEN! 0_0"

Hahahahah. Oh man. Here's my question though: why aren't all university dormitories around the world populated by oversexed males having this problem too? Or how about tall apartment buildings which presumably share common plumbing from the top of the building to the bottom? Does the size of the pipes matter? Heh.

As the blogger who broke the story says in a very understated manner:

I recently discovered that studying in Durham now has a little bit of a downside.

Link to post.

Stumbled upon via SpyMy.

Penang Day 1 Pics

2006-02-22T19:22:00.000+08:00

These pics were taken on the day described in Penang Update 2.

Had some breakfast in the morning and lazed around till lunch time. We went and got some rice-porridge with fried pig intestines. Sounds horrible but was absolutely fabulous. Washed it down with the requisite kopi-o-ping - ice black coffee.

On the walk back to the car, came across this shop.

Look closely and it says "Tan Ah Lee Motor". What's so funny about that? It's just a very cliched Chinese name, is all. Like Tan Ah Beng. ;)

After lunch, came home and lazed around again for a bit more. Choy (my dad's youngest cousin who's the same age as me) came and pick up my brother and I. We were gonna go to Segafredo in Gurney Plaza nearby for some beers.

That's Choy in red. He's a merchant sailor captain.

Came home and ate some more (!!!). Dazed in front of the TV before I went out again with Choy. And you guessed it, we were gonna go for supper. More food!

We went to a kopi-tiam in Pulau Tikus - quite a famous place if a bit more expensive than the others.

I had some FKT, or Fried Kuay Teow and washed that down with more kopi-o-ping. Both being quitessential Penang food items. Mmm. Doesn't that just look mouth-watering? :P Choy had some Loh-Mee - yellow noodles with thick egg gravy.

That ended my first day in Penang. There was gonna be more food over the next week - my final week of holidays.

The Internet eats newbies everyday

2006-02-22T11:56:00.000+08:00

A lot of chain mails are hoaxes. Some are harmless, but some could be potentially dangerous by telling you to do things that you shouldn't be. Or by telling you to do pointless things while you should be getting help for medical emergencies or similar.

So I implore you to stop sending me chain mails. I don't want to start filtering your mails straight to my trash folder. Look up the stuff on Snopes.com and About.com's urban legends site before you click on "Forward".

A healthy cynicism goes a long way.

Another thing, stop clicking on e-mail attachments even if they may seem to have come from someone you know. Especially when the subject says:

"Hey check this out!" or,
"I love you!" or,
"Naked Anna Kournikova pic!".

No clicking on ".docs", ".jpgs", ".exes", ".bat", or ".scrs" either. If you wanna be certain, email the person back and ask him or her if they'd sent something to you.

If they didn't, tell them to update their anti-virus programs quick smart.

And finally, no banks or credit-card companies would ever send you an email asking you to update your passwords, or to verify that you are who are you by entering said password. If you are gullible enough to click on a phish-y link, look at the site carefully. Does it look dodgy? If it does, then it's dodgy!

If you are really not sure because the site looked kinda real, then call your bank or credit-card company's hotline and ask about the emails. Chances are, they never sent out one.

And ARGH..... your penises would not get larger, you don't need viagra off the net, and there's no millions of dollars waiting for you in Nigeria! And you won't earn money "working at home" - pyramid schemes are EVIL!

How do you know when something is a pyramid scheme? When you make money by recruiting more ppl into the scheme instead of actually selling anything real.

*phew* There. I hope I answered all your questions.

Just because I solve computer problems for a living, it doesn't mean I'd want to do it in my spare time for FREE. Unless of course you provide me food or sex. Big Big Bonus if you do both. :P

A sight for sore eyes

2006-02-21T18:41:00.000+08:00

Snoop - my ever-smiling bull terrier cross.

Muslim leaders to preach "Australian" values

2006-02-21T16:45:00.000+08:00

From Teach Australian values, say Muslims - Top stories - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au:

Muslim leaders today said they would call on Australia's Islamic youth to assimilate and refrain from extremism in an effort to prevent a repeat of Sydney's racial violence.

A meeting of the nation's imams next month will urge Islamic community and religious leaders to teach 'Australian values' and promote tolerance and harmony, conference organiser Munir Hussain said today.

...

Dr Hussain today said the conference, being organised by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, would be a crucial step in improving relations between Muslims and non-Muslims following the December 11 Cronulla riot and retaliatory attacks.

He said Islamic leaders wanted to shun extremism and play a greater role in helping young Muslims to feel connected to the communities in which they lived.

This is good news indeed and is a first step towards repairing the negative image of Islam in this country. What I'd also like to see is more studies about the major religions in the history classes at schools. I know I benefited greatly from having studied about them when I was in high school in Malaysia.

There has to be mutual understanding and respect. The Muslim community needs to shun extremism and the general public needs to be more enlightended about Islam, especially its similarities with Christianity and Judaism. Only then will the fear and distrust go away.

Technorati tags: Australia, religion, Islam

Criticism by telling the truth

2006-02-21T08:46:00.000+08:00

This is how you use freedom of speech. Instead of inflammatory cartoons, this would have carried greater effect because it forces moderate Muslims to face the extremism within their ranks. The PM has said that:

... a commitment to jihad and extreme attitudes towards women were two problems unique to Muslims that previous intakes of migrants from Europe and Asia did not have.

And:

... there is a small section of the Islamic population in Australia that, because of its remarks about jihad, remarks which indicate an extremist view, that is a problem.

(Source: PM stands by Muslims comments - National Breaking News - NEWS.com.au)

His views are shared by the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer - Muslim minority a concern: Downer - National Breaking News - NEWS.com.au.

And somewhat predictably, one of Australia's most senior Islamic clerics has accused Prime Minister John Howard of inflaming public hatred towards the wider Muslim community - PM inciting hatred, says cleric - Top stories - NEWS.com.au

I do not feel the PM's words were inflammatory or radical because they were truthful. Small sections of the Muslim community in Australia and in other Western democracies in the world are extreme by nature. Instead of feeling besieged by the "mainstream", moderate Muslims should stand firm together with the government of the day and strongly condemn extremism and terrorism in all shapes and forms.

The eradication has to start from within, and not without because we have all seen how effective that has been thus far.

Technorati tags: Australia, religion, Islam

As if regular TV ain't enough

2006-02-21T00:01:00.000+08:00

I'm now watching shows that I've downloaded from the Net, shows that probably won't make it to these shores anytime soon. So I guess it's justified. Between being a TV addict, and a PC addict ... it's a wonder that I even leave the house. ;)

Two shows that I've been watching are The I.T. Crowd from the UK and How I Met Your Mother from the USA.

"The I.T. Crowd" is a sitcom about 2 systems admins and their hot lady boss working in the basement of a corporate building. Besides the hot lady boss and the fact that they can never get a date, it's all pretty accurate. :P Watch it and catch a glimpse of what my job is like.

You can watch the eps on Google Video. Or you can torrent one ep from here. Search around and you can probably find more. And don't forget YouTube.

From CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" site:

... a comedy about Ted (Josh Radnor) and how he fell in love. It all starts when Ted's best friend, Marshall (Jason Segal), drops the bombshell that he's going to propose to his long-time girlfriend, Lily (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher. Helping him in his quest is Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), a friend with endless, sometimes outrageous opinions, a penchant for suits and a foolproof way to meet women.

It is witty and sarcastic. Most excellent.

Yes that Neil Patrick Harris from "Doogie Howser, MD." And Alyson Hannigan from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is always cute. I usually download them at TVTorrent.info. You can get torrents of The IT Crowd here too.

Sports crazy

2006-02-20T11:40:00.000+08:00

On the drive into work this morning, I caught a funny story on Jay and The Doctor on Triple J. I couldn't substantiate it with a link and I've since forgotten the character's name. If you live in Aussieland and you'd heard the same program, let me know the details of it.

Anyway, the story goes ...

Famous Aussie cricketeer in his 70s argued against the building of a railway line through a cricket ground named after him in Queensland (I think). The city council relented and then decided to build the line through a neighbourhood that the cricketeer lives in. No joke! Cosmic black humour or what?!

Naturally, famous cricketeer's wife got upset that they would have to move from the family home which they had live in for the past 50 years. A home full of memories and sentimental value.

Famous cricketeer said to his wife, "We have to think about more than just ourselves. Think of the community and the benefits that the railway line would bring."

In other words, it's ok for the railway line to be built over his neighbourhood but not the cricket ground named after him.

Hah!

Perfect story about how sports-crazy some quarters of the Australian population are. Is this fiction, or is it a case of "life stranger than fiction"? ;)

Kuala Lumpur Day 6 Pics

2006-02-19T14:30:00.000+08:00

These pics were taken on the day described in KL Update 7 - Final Day Here.

The last night was NYE. We woke up late and decide to go browse around KLCC Suria - the adjoining shopping centre to the Petronas Twin Towers.

Dinner was had at The Penang Kafe. Didn't take pics. Think I was zoned out. And get this, we were still going to go to Zouk again that night. That'd make it 3 nights in that one week that I was in KL.

So here are the pics, no description is neccesary - we drank, we danced and we mingled. :) Notice that the NYE decorations from the night before were still there.

The people that went.

Cousin Li-Eng, Aunty Cass and me.

Aunty Cass mucking around with me and Alan.

Some shots to round off this post.

"The Ramen" - new yakitori restaurant

2006-02-18T15:39:00.000+08:00

Discovered a new place last night, misleading called "The Ramen". It doesn't serve ramen, but yakitori dishes.

It's tucked away on Hay Street East, near Cinema City. You have to walk down an alley towards a non-descript front door and down some steps. The name is presumably the name of the previous establishment, and they are in the process of getting the liquor license transferred over.

Food was cheap and good. The place could be likened to an izakaya - you eat small dishes of a variety of dishes with alcohol. Fantastic find. :)

Wordpress is not slow, I am

2006-02-17T11:28:00.000+08:00

Ok how embarassing. Turns out it was a configuration problem with DNS and sendmail. You will not encounter this problem if you are on a hosting service so you can let your eyes glaze over now.

But if you were like me testing this out on a system in the office or at home, then this may be of interest to you.

* technical geek stuff ahead *

Was pointed to the right direction on the Wordpress support forums.

Sendmail utilises reverse DNS to look up the host sending the mail. If it is "localhost" with an IP of "127.0.0.1" then it will try to resolve that address and eventually it will fail. The mail will still be sent but only after a prolonged timeout.

This affected the comments of Wordpress because the commenting system tries to send out mails to you notifying you of the new comment. And it is sending the mail from "localhost", ie. the machine that it is installed on.

How I fixed it: editing "/etc/hosts" by putting a fully qualified domain name on the line showing "127.0.0.1".

Result: blazing fast comments!

Technorati tags: Wordpress, sendmail, dns, tech

How a prominent blogger deals with a random fan

2006-02-17T09:45:00.000+08:00

The Doorman is a bouncer in NYC and is the owner of a blog called "Clublife". He's quite well-known in the NYC blogosphere and had just signed on to a book deal. He's frequently ascerbic and sarcastic and this was how he dealt with one random fan who had IM'd him in the middle of the night. A snippet (with typical IM typos and mispellings):

XXXXX: Obvioulsy your not a fraction of what ur blog portrays - good luck with it all

TheBounncer: Dude, please. What do you want me to do? It's 4 in the fucking morning, and you're a random dude IMing me.

XXXXX: Some damn manners and respect to start - fuck

TheBounncer: How about I fly 20 hours around the world and KICK YOUR ASS?

XXXXX: I have emailed you a few times so I wouldn't expect to fall into the 'random' cat - but it all good

XXXXX: lol @ ur last - thats more like it lol

TheBounncer: I'd do it, too. I don't like you.

XXXXX: yeah? cheers - good luck with it all

TheBounncer: What's the matter?

XXXXX: You dont like me? Well to be honest - I dont think I fucking like you either - been reading ur blog for some time and actually fucking related to you - What the matter u ask? What a fucking disappointment - good luck dude

TheBounncer: come to NY....I'll beat you up

XXXXX: yeah whatever

TheBounncer: Why not?

XXXXX: Im going to spend thousands of dollars to fly to NY and 'possibly' (lol) get my ass kicked? That would make me a loser as well

XXXXX: Later

TheBounncer: Don't go!

Addicted to the point of losing sleep

2006-02-17T00:33:00.000+08:00

On top of my TV-watching, the clubbing and the drinking, spending time with my parents, and playing with my dog, this would be one major reason why I'm perpetually losing sleep. Yue-Chin drew a real apt picture of me with an umbilical cord connected to a PC. But alas I didn't screen-capture it - it was on MSN see. But the above pic should illustrate my point.

My drugs of choice are blogging, chatting, games and Flickr. This on top of the usual web browsing and illegal torrent downloading of songs and porn. Yes, porn. I love porn. It sustains me in my Sahara desert of a love-life. If it wasn't for porn I'd go insane for lack of release. ;)

But I digressed. I'm losing sleep.

I'm insatiable.

I work all day with PCs and I can still come home and be glued in front of the PC. Don't ask me why, there's no rhyme or reason to it. I just feel compelled to stare at the soothing fluourescent light radiating from the screen.

I wonder if I might meet a girl and then somehow our relationship would be like this ...

Source: CGP314 @ Flickr

But if she looks like this, I wouldn't mind it at all.

Source: ewanr @ Flickr

I cram a lot into my life, I do. I'm full of life then? Or do I live life to the max? ;)

My list of things-to-do for visitors to Perth

2006-02-16T10:42:00.000+08:00

As agreed previously with Blinkymummy, I believe that the essential attraction to any place that you'd visit is the people living there. I can appreciate monuments, architecture and art but they don't hold my fascination for very long. Most of the time, I'd stare at them for a little while, take the obligatory photo and move on.

What does hold my fascination endlessly are the people and how they live. If you've watched Lonely Planet's Six Degrees, this concept of avoiding the tourist traps and living amongst the locals would instantly be recognisable.

So let's get down to my list of things that I'd fit on an itenary for friends and relatives who would come from abroad or interstate, and visit me here in Perth:

Treat them to a home-cook meal by my mom at my parents' home - mom agreeing. ;)

Sit down for a coffee and people-watch in Garden City, my local shopping centre. Or go grocery shopping in the supermarket near my place.

Browse the little shops in Subiaco and watch the well-to-do fashionable hipsters.

Fish-n-chips in Fremantle - Cicerello's or Kailis. Pub hop at The Sail & Anchor and Little Creatures nearby. Coffee on the cappucino strip.

Yum-cha/dim-sum in Northbridge. Or Vietnamese food.

Coffee (again!) and people-watching in the heart of the city near Forrest Chase.

Visiting the wine estates in Swan Valley - only if they are into wines, otherwise the 1-hour drive there would just feel like a drag.

Happy hour drinks on a Friday at Belgian Beer Cafe amongst corporate city workers in suits and ties, and casual wear.

Wine-bar, pubs and clubbing in Northbridge on Friday and Saturday nights.

Japanese food at Matsuri.

Sunday lunch and drinks (Sunday session) at Cottesloe Beach Hotel, otherwise known as The Cott.

Enjoy clicking on the links! Yes these are all places in and around the city - I don't dig visiting the country-side. Swan Valley is the furthest that I'd go. And I do know that a lot of my activities revolve around drinking and eating. :P

Fellow Perthites, or those of you who have lived in Perth before, share your tips in the comments. :)

Update 17th February 9:20AM
In addition to leaving out Italian food and Corrica's apple strudels, I've also left out this:

Go watch my cousin's band The Colors perform live if they are playing.

Technorati tags: Australia, Western Australia, Perth, tourism

Bali Nine verdicts

2006-02-15T15:08:00.000+08:00

Death by Firing Squad

Andrew Chan - 22, Sydney, NSW
Myuran Sukumaran - 24, Sydney, NSW

Life Imprisonment

Renae Lawrence - 28, Newcastle, NSW
Scott Rush - 20, Brisbane, QLD
Martin Stephens - 29, Wollongong, QLD
Michael Czugaj - 20, Brisbane, QLD
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen - 23, Brisbane, QLD
Matthew Norman - 19, Sydney, NSW
Si-Yi Chen - 20, Sydney, NSW

Complete profile of the nine. Multicultural bunch ain't it?

It is interesting in comparison - what happened to all those ppl who jumped up and down about the death penalty for Nguyen Tuong Van in Singapore? And before him, the ppl who protested about Schapelle Corby?

I'm neither for or against the death penalty. I only believe that these ppl knew the risks and understood the consequences before they embarked on their fateful journey to Bali. Australia will go through its usual diplomatic appeals as a good government should but it won't change anything.

Many ppl here have argued that because the Australian Federal Police (AFP) have known about their intentions that they should have arrested them here in Australia instead of letting them go to Bali. My argument is that the AFP only had a theory and a possible tip-off but not solid evidence. Arrest them and let the courts release them due to lack of evidence? And then repeat the whole process when they try smuggling drugs into Australia again?

That'd be silly. The AFP are not to blame.

So heed the lessons - respect the laws of the country that you are visiting. If you don't like the laws then don't go there. But if you do go there, don't blame anyone else when you get caught for commiting a crime (ie. AFP, Indonesian police), and then cry over the harshness of the punishment.

Complete stories:

Final three jailed for life - National - smh.com.au
Last three Bali Nine sentenced to life - Top stories - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au

Technorati tags: Australia, Indonesia, crime, drugs

Post VD post

2006-02-15T09:42:00.000+08:00

(pics sourced from CuteOverload.com and DumbPhotos.com)

VD = venereal disease. Har har. Yes I'm cynical about it and it's not because I'm single. Far from it. I'm laughing on the inside at guys who are forced to over pay for everything from flowers to chocolates to crappy over-priced set-menu food at posh restaurants on this ONE day out of the whole fucking year.

Be romantic by all means but don't fall into the commercial trap. Show your woman you love her every day of the year. Don't wait for VD. (Har har)

Anyways, for those of you out there feeling lovelorn and praying for your one true love ...

And you feel like you need to be held by someone ...

One way ...

Or the other ...

Don't get too depressed about it.

Especially to you who have said that she has an inferiority complex and that you are not deserving of a special someone. ;) Because stranger things have happened.

That special someone may just appear when you least expect it and may not even have figured in your mind.

In the mean time, rock on and yell out "I FEEL ALRIIIIIIIIGHT!"

I know I do. :)

Blogger was down again this morning. Grrr. I think it's about time I say to her, "Babe, this is not working for me anymore."

"Aborting ourselves out of existence"

2006-02-14T12:12:00.001+08:00

Another day, another politician says something stupid.

Last week, the Australian Senate passed legislation that would strip the Health Minister of the power to veto any decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) that the abortion drug RU-486 was safe. What this achieves is that the drug is evaluated purely on scientific and therapeutic values rather than religious or moral ones, as it was when *one* person - the Health Minister, decides whether the drug can be allowed for general usage.

In response, there's a bill to be voted in the lower House of Representatives this week which will retain some of the Health Ministry's veto power over this drug, even if it has been approved by the TGA.

This is all very dry arguably, but trust a politician in the backbench (attention starved?) to associate abortion to the "danger" of Australia becoming a Muslim nation.

The story:

Former veterans affairs minister Mrs Vale outlined her concerns about abortion on 'economic grounds'.

'A certain imam from the Lakemba mosque actually says Australia is going to be a Muslim nation in 50 years time,' Mrs Vale said.

'I didn't believe him at the time. But when you look at the birth rates ... we are aborting ourselves almost out of existence by 100,000 abortions every year. You multiply that by 50 years - that's 5 million potential Australians we won't have here.'

Naturally this lead to condemnation. Australian Democrats leader Lyn Allison said:

'I think they're outrageous and she should retract them,'

'They're very unfortunate from almost every point of view.'

'I've heard those very silly remarks made about immigrants to this country since I was a child.

'If it wasn't the Greeks, it was the Italians ... or it was the Vietnamese who were going to outbreed us – it's a nonsense.'

Immigration Minister Senator Vanstone said that a Muslim nation is not possible in Australia, and Mrs. Vale's comments has also been deemed racist by the president of Australian Federation of Islamic Councils Dr Amir Ali.

Perhaps the funniest reply about all this comes from a comment on the Metafilter post about this hoohaa:

Guys, we need to be serious here. There's a culture war going on, and we need more soldiers for our side.

The only possible solution to this crisis is that you all immediately start having sex.

Ready? On three.

Technorati tags: abortion, Muslim, Australia, politics, RU-486, racism

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

2006-02-14T00:01:00.000+08:00

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Playing the Winter Assault expansion right now. More sleepless nights ahead. V. addictive.

What Valentine's Day? ;)

Conversations in a strip bar

2006-02-13T00:01:00.000+08:00

Location: Xotica (William St, Northbridge)
Time: Between 2-3 am, Sunday Feb 12th 2006

Conversation 1:

Simon: Shit, that's Sally.
Me: Yeah yeah, she used to work at The Church (nightclub).
Simon: When she comes over, say that it's our first time here.
Me: Why ... ?
Simon: Just do it!

Conversation 2:

Stripper sits down next to me.

Her: Hi, how you doing tonight?
Me: Yeah not bad. How many hours have you worked tonight?
Her: Oh since 10. You good at maths?
Me: Yeah I guess.
Her: What's 14 x $50?
Me: Umm, $700.
Her: Yes! *smiles and does a thumbs up* That's how much I made from lapdances tonight.
Me: Woo, does that mean you can knock off (to go home) early tonight?
Her: Yeah!

Conversation 3:

Stripper dances near me.

Me: Hi. Can you serve my friend? He hasn't been served yet tonight.
Her: *haughtily* Serve? That's an interesting word to use. *slinks away in a huff*
Me: *to Simon* Shit dude, I think I'd ruined it for you.

Kuala Lumpur Day 5 Pics

2006-02-12T15:40:00.000+08:00

These pics were taken on the day described in KL Update 6 - NYE.

The whole day was spent lazing about the house eating, blogging and watching TV. It'd be NYE partying tonight.

The night started off at Rakuzen, a posh Japanese restaurant. Food was most excellent and we had a big bottle of sake to share.

We headed towards Zouk after dinner. Along the way the crowds and traffic were evident - there are fireworks at the Petronas Twin Towers every year for NYE.

More pics of the Petronas Twin Towers - no matter how many times I look at them, they are still awe-inspiring. Note that Zouk is in a very prime location of the city. Awesome.

Shots of some of us who went together.

The countdown came and went ...

Kisses and hugs all around and then we got down to the business of drinking.

Me downing a submarine - a shooter glass of vodka inside a middy of beer.

I trekked over to the main room to catch the atmo there. Took some pics and shot some videos.

When the partying ended and we were leaving, we took some photos with the performers of the night. Happy New Year!

We headed to a secluded side street, to a street-vendor selling wonton noodles. I was told he can be likened to the soup nazi in Seinfeld. Meaning you'll get your food when you'll get your food - order, sit down, shut up and wait. :)

But the food was sure worth the wait. Especially when you are starving from the hard partying.

That ended the NYE celebrations. Damn that was a good night out.

More pics on my Flickr.

Wordpress 2.0.1 is slooooow

2006-02-11T13:10:00.000+08:00

Ok just as I was quickly enamoured by Wordpress 2.0.1 previously when I first played with it, I was quickly dissapointed. Why? It is sooooo slooooooow.

Posting itself is fast and so is the admin interface. But submitting comments, regardless of whether you were logged in or not, is painfully slow. Let's face it, commenting is a HUGE part of blogging and I don't want visitors to be turned off by it being slow.

In comparison, I managed to install Wordpress 1.5.2 on a hosting service and everything about that is quick. But it lacks the import functions. Shiieeeet.

Any of you out there using Wordpress 2.0.1? If so, what have you done to correct this?

UPDATE 6:02PM
Installed it again on another machine, this one running Apache 1.3.34 instead of 2.0.55. And guess what? The slowness went away. Sheesh. I wonder why no one complained about this on the Wordpress forums. Gonna post it there.

Technorati tags: Wordpress

My mom wants what she wants

2006-02-11T12:29:00.000+08:00

My mom has a way of asking us to do something. Instead of saying:

"Please do this ..."

She'd say:

"Do you want to ...?"

For example:

"Do you want to drive me to the shops?"
"Do you want to go buy that for me?"
... and so on.

Those are not questions per se because you are meant to say "yes". Just for laughs, I'd sometimes say:

"Nah, not really."

The best is when I say:

"Do you want me to?"
And she'd say, "No no, do you want to?"
And I'd say, "No no, do you want me to?"

This continues until I get a smack and a laugh. It's mostly me laughing.

Toying with Wordpress 2.0.1

2006-02-10T11:27:00.000+08:00

Yesterday out of sheer curiousity, I downloaded Wordpress 2.0.1 and started playing with it. It rocks. Especially when I find out that it can import all your Blogspot posts (including comments!) into it. I tested this out and it worked as promised. I was blown away.

Installing it does require a little bit of know-how about MySQL and Apache. That's the biggest hurdle. If you have mucked around with hosting services before, this should not as daunting to you. But once you've got it up and running, using it is as simple as using Blogspot.

Hacking the template is also similar to Blogspot.

I had been toying with the idea of moving away from Blogspot because of the sporadic (but bordering on frequent) outages, as well as wanting to be able to back up all my posts. I'm thinking that I'm gonna be a blogger for the foreseeable future and backing up is gonna become quite important. Right now, if you haven't figured it out, Blogspot does not have an easy way to do a complete backup (see their recommendation).

I've even bought my domain name already - mooiness.com. Heh. Right now it just redirects to this blog.

What's currently stopping me? Well, I keep thinking, "Am I changing just for the sake of changing?" Being able to do a backup is fine and all but other than that, there's no other compelling reason. I can still put up with the outages - we've been promised by the Blogspot ppl that outages will be reduced. Then again, this is free innit? Who are we to complain?

Though if I move now, it will mean less posts to be imported down the line and possibly less chance of a fuck-up then. Hmm. Decisions, decisions.

Think I will mull this over again when I get pissed off by the next outage. In the mean time I am gonna get to know Wordpress inside and out.

And Mikel, I may just take up your offer for you to do the new design when I do switch over. I can pay you with cash, food, or beer. I wonder if I can also scum some design work off Yue-Chin as well. Same payment options as those for Mikel. Heh. :)

Technorati tags: Wordpress, Blogspot

NYE 2005-2006 @ Zouk KL

2006-02-10T00:30:00.000+08:00

Pictures will be uploaded on the weekend. Meanwhile here are two videos that I took after the count down, raving it up with the other NYE clubbers inside Zouk KL.

McD fries now even more unhealthy!

2006-02-09T13:54:00.000+08:00

From Fries fattier than thought - World - smh.com.au:

McDonald's, the world's largest restaurant chain, says its french fries contain a third more trans fats than previously thought, citing results of a new testing method it began using in December.

But you know what? Ppl will still eat at McD because they are cheap* and they taste good. While I'm on this subject, ever notice that the "healthier" stuff are more expensive than the not-so-healthy stuff? This is true everywhere, *especially* in the junk food places.

A quick test - go down to your supermarket and check out the prices for lean mince and regular mince. Guess which one is more expensive? So try and argue the healthier factor with the poor working class.

But damn it though, I still think the fries are yum. Even though they are not only fatty, they also don't decompose. Pity that they had removed the beef-flavouring though. :P

* Only applies in Western countries. Street/hawker food in most Asian countries are cheaper than McD but they are not exactly healthy either. Moderation ppl!

Kuala Lumpur Day 4 Pics

2006-02-09T00:01:00.000+08:00

These photos were taken on the day described in KL Update 5.

Woke up late once more and lazed around the house till lunch time. Then drove out with my brother to get the famous Ampang Yong-Tow-Foo for the entire clan. Mmm.

We had so much that I napped after lunch till around 5pm when I got picked up by Phil. Phil and I go back to our primary school days (1981-1986) and he's my "central figure" that I rely on to get the gang together whenever I'm in town. That night, he only managed to get two others to come out for dinner.

But first, we headed to Low-Yat Plaza in Imbi first. The place is like Sim Lim Square in Singapore where most of the shops sell everything electronics and PC-related.

After spending a good two hours there - parking, ppl, haggling with some second-hand dealers etc., we worked up a good appetite. We then headed to The Overseas Chinese Restaurant nearby to meet up with the others. This is Chee-Chiew (L) and Wai-Choong (R).

The food was fantastic, including char-siew that was so fatty and tender, that it just crumbles in your mouth. Wooo, just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

After dinner we headed to Lecka Lecka nearby for some cold beers. Nothing beats that after a great meal on a warm balmy night. It was a short walk and on the way there, there's a great view of the towers.

I was hit with nationalistic pride. Malaysia boleh! :)

This is Lecka-Lecka, an Arabic themed ice-cream/coffee/beer restaurant. Yeah, really. And they even provide sheeshas.

It was a great location and we just sat there enjoying the view of the buildings and the ppl walking by. Oh yeah this is Phil, btw.

We shared two jugs of beer, smoked a little and reminisced and continued our catching-up. Over great conversation and comfortable surroundings, I realised that deep down we were still the kids from primary school. Heck, we even look the same more or less.

I count simple blessings to be the best. The fact that I still have friends from when I was 6 yrs old is one of those blessings. So ended day 4 in KL.

Don't you wish you worked at Google?

2006-02-08T13:29:00.000+08:00

Click on image for larger size. Picture from Valleywag: Google snack rooms.

A hungry worker is not a productive worker. So eat, drink and be errr.... productive! And it's all free. Wooo. You don't even have to go home anymore. Wait, that's a bad thing right?

Stumbled upon via Clicked @ MSNBC.

Aussie killed in gang attack in Fuzhou

2006-02-08T08:43:00.000+08:00

The Cronulla riots brought to our attention Anglo racists, and Lebanese racists. And now, for something refreshing - Chinese racists.

From Gang kills aspiring young rocker in China - The Nation - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au:

Witnesses said up to five men attacked Mr Gribble, his bandmates from three-piece rock band Dot and other tourists, after blocking the path of their taxi.

The men then allegedly beat one of Mr Gribble's travelling companions, before he intervened and was fatally stabbed.

It is believed the alleged attackers were angry that the Westerners were getting attention from local females.

This is a senseless waste of life. It is as inconsequential and as illogical as any deaths that occur in bar fights. It is very scary how suddenly things could go to hell in a basket in a blink of an eye. Even worse is when it's not your fault.

Fuck you racists of all colours. Fuck you all.

Technorati tags: racism, anti-racism, Australian, murder, China, Fuzhou

"Maid cafes" in Akihabara

2006-02-07T12:17:00.000+08:00

From CNN.com - Maids rule in Japan's nerd nirvana - Feb 6, 2006:

In the cafes, girls dressed in frilly frocks inspired by comic-book heroines wait hand and foot on customers, mostly male, who might have once been obsessed with naughty schoolgirls and nurses.

At one cafe, maids get down on their knees to stir the cream and sugar into the customer's coffee.

At Royal Milk, diners can follow up a meal with a range of grooming services, including ear cleanings.

Maids at some of the more attentive shops even offer to spoon-feed customers at their table.

Woohoo. There's something forbiddenly misogynistic about being served by women. And it's so enticing. In Perth, there are male barber shops which only hire pretty young girls. And guess what? It works because men are such simple creatures.

Too bad these "maid cafes" weren't around when I was in Akihabara 5 years back. Damn I've missed out.

Stumbled upon via Digg.

A plea from the middle

2006-02-07T10:26:00.000+08:00

I love the freedom that I have.
I love that I can read and write about things from both sides of any argument.
I love drinking beer, vodka and scotch-whiskey.
I love partying.
I love ogling at scantily-clad women on the beach, in the pub and on the streets.
I'm ok with pre-marital sex. (Sex? Yes please.)
I'm ok with homosexuality. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
I'm ok with marriages that cross cultural, racial and religious lines.
I'm ok with marriages that cross economic classes. (Ain't love grand?)

Yes I love the freedom that I have and my way of life.

But I know it's not for everyone. In fact, you may strongly oppose any, if not all of the things that I've wrote above. Which is why I don't impose my views on you. And I'd ask the same respect from you.

Shame on your cartoonists for not showing respect. Shame on you editors for trying to impose "freedom of speech" on societies that are clearly not used to handling it. Yes you've made your point loud and clear but look at what you've caused.

Shame on you extremists for burning down consular offices and embassies. Shame on you radicals for threatening citizens of the countries that you'd perceived to have slighted your religion. Shame on you imams who'd advocate the beheading of the editors and cartoonists.

Not all Muslims are terrorists. Not all Muslims are fanatics. Islam is not to blame. Why is that so hard to understand?

Not all Danish citizens, or for that matter citizens of the countries whose press have reprinted those cartoons, are disrespectful idiots. The governments of these countries are not to blame - the press have freedom and some have chosen to exercise that freedom in a misguided attempt to show *you* that yes, "We have freedom of speech!" Not everyone deserves your wrath and anger, disproportionate though they may be. Why is that so hard to understand?

Restraint on either sides do not indicate weakness. It indicates intelligence. And less ppl gets hurt. And that's good isn't it? Why is that so hard to understand?

Technorati tags: religion, Islam, Freedom of Speech, cartoons

Louyau does sex-ed

2006-02-06T17:29:00.000+08:00

Mikel does a sex-ed post. Specifically on how to pleasure your woman with your fingers. *ahem*

You will eventually know your man has triggered your G-spot when you feel like peeing ... Get it? Hello?

Explicit drawings - NSFW! You've been warned!

I'm nothing if not eclectic with my blog posts. ;)

Dominic Knight's thoughts on "The cartoon conundrum"

2006-02-06T13:38:00.000+08:00

From his blog (Radar @SMH):

Jyllands-Posten is far from blameless, in my opinion, because I think a different standard of behaviour should be applied to the West. I think most Australians would agree that the Islamic world's attitude to free speech troubles us, and that we would love to see it develop to become more like our own. But given that we are all aware of the problem, it doesn't seem sensible or helpful to aggravate it like this. If you bait a dog with sharp teeth, and it bites you, is it a huge surprise?

More common-sense logic in the rest of his post. To be able to understand the outrage caused, and argue about the responsible use of "freedom of speech" does not make us "lefties" or "bleeding-heart liberals". Dominic argues this eloquently.

Technorati tags: religion, Islam, Freedom of Speech, cartoons

Much Ado About Cartoons

2006-02-06T09:50:00.000+08:00

From Plea for 'logical' fury - World - smh.com.au:

Thousands of angry Muslim protesters torched the Danish consulate in Beirut at the weekend, a day after Syrians set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, damaged the Swedish embassy and tried to storm the French mission.

These actions are disturbing and are rightfully condemned. From the same article:

[On Al Jazeera,] Muslim scholar Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi condemned the burning of the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Arab capitals by Muslims angry over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed.

I'm also glad to know that editors at prominent Australian newspapers can see that the issue is more than just about "freedom of speech" and that reprinting the cartoons would only serve to inflame the situation even more.

From Local editors avoid cartoons - Cartoon Anger - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au:

Press reports had described the cartoons in great detail and it was not necessary to publish them in the newspaper, [Sydney Morning Herald editor] Mr. Oakley said.

'To have a debate about pornography you don't have to publish pornographic pictures,' he said.

'To have a debate about capital punishment you don't have to publish pictures of people swinging from the gallows.

'You can have a sensible discussion around this without publishing the images.'

Daily Telegraph editor David Penberthy also shared his thoughts:

While acknowledging Muslims' anger at the cartoon, Mr. Penberthy condemned Islamic extremists for their violent response.

"It is a pretty poor reflection on sections of this religion that there does seem to be such a level of immaturity at what is a pretty poorly drawn and unfunny cartoon," Mr Penberthy said.

"The more radical sort of elements of Islam in Europe have done massive damage to their own credibility by the way they've responded to this."

'Twas a cut-n-paste job I know but I've already stated my position clearly previously. The addition of these quotes are to flesh out that position.

My previous posts:
Look at it from another angle
One more thing
Two notable quotes about the Islamic cartoons controversy
Scenes from a school yard
Freedom of Speech works both ways

Technorati tags: religion, Islam, Freedom of Speech, cartoons

One Life to Live - follow up

2006-02-06T08:17:00.000+08:00

Last night I talked to the girl whom I wrote about in a previous post - "One Life to Live". She was in a happier mood. She told me that she was finally seeking treatment, and that her illness may not be as terminal as made out to be.

I can only hope that that is true, and the treatment now is not too late.

Apparently our conversation that fateful night made her thought hard about everything, plus her friends had also been giving her the extra push that she needed. Here's wishing that truly "all's well ends well".

At least she's happy again. :)

Kuala Lumpur Day 3 Pics

2006-02-04T12:01:00.000+08:00

These photos were taken on the day described in KL Update 4.

Not much happened on this day. Woke up late because we partied the night before, and had some nasi-lemak. Mmmm. Then spent half the day on the computer or watching the kids play online games.

After a few hours of that, we headed out to Sungei Wang again where we played more video games! This was the drumming game that gave me blisters but damn it was fun.

Spent an hour or so at the cybercafe again before I went to meet up with Yue-Chin for dinner. I was glad that we broke the ice so to speak, the night before at Zouk. Now we had even more things to talk about.

Dinner was had at Shook, downstairs of Star Hill. Posh indeed.

Took some touristy photos of the psychedelic corridor leading from Star Hill to the Marriot.

I also wanted to take some photos of the very Zen-like but impractical toilets at Star Hill but I couldn't - there were patrons in there at the time I went. ;)

On the drive home, inside Yue-Chin's car she showed me her amazing stretchy face.

And that was Day 3 in KL.

Look at it from another angle

2006-02-04T10:42:00.000+08:00

Man, think I'm obsessed enough???

Look at this whole cartoon controversy from another angle and think about the following. Does it help:

the fight and cause for democracy in the Middle East?
the War on Terror?
the soldiers fighting on the ground now in Iraq and Afghanistan?

And if you say no to the above questions, then you are amongst the silent majority on the blogosphere in general. It seems like everyone else is jumping up and down about freedom of speech this and freedom of speech that. What's even uglier are racist and xenophobic views about Islam and Muslims - that Islam and Muslims would never embrace freedom of speech, and therefore this *is* a war on Islam and there's no need for niceties.

If you stand up for your views like I have, you'd be labelled an appeaser, a lefty or a "liberal multicultural nut".

I shall use a crude analogy: imagine the terrorists and fundamental Islam to be a hornet's nest. The correct way to get rid of one is to use a combination of smoke and poison (eg. diplomacy/education and War on Terror). The cartoons are akin to taking a pointy stick and poking it into the nest, and then taking joy in the fact that, "Yes! Hornets do sting! Fuck them hornets! They all deserve to die!" Meanwhile, you are getting stung like nobody's business.

Here's wishing that the War on Terror stays on track, and that the gradual opening-up of societies in the Middle-East will happen. And here's hoping for no more fucktards making the mess even bigger than it already is.

Technorati tags: War on Terror, religion, Islam, terrorism

One more thing

2006-02-03T21:30:00.000+08:00

So let me get this right: to stand up to Islamic fundamentalists, to show them that democracy and freedom of speech is the way to go, we proceed to use that same freedom of speech to piss them off even more?

Call me a liberal (and I'm not) but the best thing that we can come up with is to counter their hate with our hate? How the hell does that make any sense?

Ok I swear that this is the last post about this today (I can't guarantee about tomorrow though! Hahah!). It's just that I'm so damn riled up by all these ultra-right sentiments that I've been reading.

I gotsta get me a cold can of beer.

Technorati tags: religion, Islam, Freedom of Speech

Two notable quotes about the Islamic cartoons controversy

2006-02-03T13:25:00.000+08:00

It seems to me that there are many who disagree with the point that I'm trying to get at in my two previous posts (Scenes from a school yard, and Freedom of Speech works both ways).

I've even been ridiculed on my comment in this post.

So I'll just pick out two quotes that sum up my feelings on this.

From Danish writer reflects on uproar - Europe - International Herald Tribune, Rushy Rashid says:

"I'll fight in the name of free speech but not without respect for the consequences. Even if this freedom of speech is very broad, it is not unlimited. You have limits where your morals come in."

And from Annan: Press freedom should respect religion, Kofi Annan says:

" ... the freedom of the press should always be exercised in a way that fully respects the religious beliefs and tenets of all religions."

There. That should be my last post on this topic. I will just agree to disagree with everyone else who believes that the sanctity of freedom of speech is paramount, no matter what the costs are to humanity.

Update 3:41PM
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Q&A: Depicting the Prophet Muhammad

Technorati tags: Freedom of Speech, religion, Islam, Denmark

Scenes from a school yard

2006-02-03T00:01:00.000+08:00

Timmy and Johnny were friends from the same school. Timmy was in Class A and Johnny was in Class B.

Scene 1
Timmy was playing on the swings when some kids from Class B came and pushed him off. Timmy landed on the ground hard and he cried. He looked up at the kids from Class B and asked them why did they do that. They said, "Because we don't like you."

Timmy was very angry. Johnny came running over and tried to console his friend.

"Get way from me!" Timmy yelled. Johnny said, "I'm just trying to help." Timmy got angry at his friend even more, "They are from your class. I don't like your class anymore. I don't like your people."

Johnny said, "But that was them. I didn't do anything to you. I'm your friend." Timmy said, "No you are not. You are just like them. You look like them and you sound like them. Go away. I hate you and anyone from Class B."

"This is not fair!" Timmy yelled. He got upset and ran back to his classmates. His classmates said to him, "See what we've told you all along? You belong with us. Forget about him." Timmy agreed begrudgingly but he missed playing with Johnny.

Scene 2
A few days later ...

Timmy called out to Johnny, "Johnny! Johnny! Come over here. I've got something to show you."

"What is it?" Johnny said. Timmy showed Johnny a drawing that he had done. "See! Isn't this funny? I've just drawn you and your class to look like pigs and dogs."

Johnny was offended. "This is not very nice." Timmy said, "Oh come on! Don't be so sensitive! Last week I had drawn my class to look like donkeys."

Johnny said, "You and your class may find that kind of stuff funny but we don't. You can draw anything you want about your class but you shouldn't draw such things of my class anymore."

Timmy said, "Oh yeah? Well tough! I live in a free country and I can say and do whatever I want. And besides, they pushed me off the swing! They asked for it!"

Johnny replied, "How many times have I told you? That's them and not me and certainly not everyone from Class B! Why do you keep lumping me together with them?"

Meanwhile, Johnny's classmates had overheard the conversation and grabbed the drawing from Timmy. "So you think this is funny eh?" They looked at Timmy menacingly, "Well then. Looks like we have to teach you a lesson."

They grabbed Timmy and started to walk towards the back of the school shed. "Johnny! Johnny! Help me!" Timmy cried out.

Johnny just looked and thought to himself, "Why should I? Why should I?"

Ingredients for a vicious cycle: ignorance, prejudice, and violence.

Technorati tags: anti-racism, religion, Islam, Freedom of Speech, terrorism

Freedom of speech works both ways

2006-02-02T08:51:00.000+08:00

From Danes stunned by Muslim boycotts - World - smh.com.au:

The Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has expressed alarm at the wave of anger in the Muslim world prompted by caricatures in a Danish newspaper depicting the prophet Muhammad.

Freedom of speech does not mean you don't have to think about what you are saying or writing. Because freedom of speech works both ways - you piss someone off and they have the freedom to react.

I saw one argument that all Gods and religions have been lampooned, so why not Allah and Mohammed? That argument is weak and ignorant. If a little research had been done into the sensitivities of caricaturing the Muslim faith, then this all could have been avoided. Hell, a quick browse through the Wiki article on Islam would have been sufficient.

But no, presumably the editors and the cartoonists of Jyllands-Posten did no such thing. And under the current global climate, that is inexcusable. I feel sorry for Danish ppl and companies, especially those operating in the Middle-East and other Muslim countries. You deserve better than this.

The resultant bomb threats, flag-burning and the threatening of Danish citizens by militant Muslims are equally inexcusable. But is it so hard to see how this had been caused in the first place?

Technorati tags: religion, Islam, Denmark, Freedom of Speech

Blocked blogger

2006-02-01T23:17:00.000+08:00

You know you've hit a writer's block when you can see or hear something interesting but you can't seem to find the words to articulate it. You look around you, trying to find other interesting things worthy of a blog but find nothing. You flip through the TV channels - free to air and cable, nothing.

You read the blogs on your Bloglines, scouring through their archives even but you are not even remotely inspired. Good ideas are hard to come by, yeah? You look at old photos, new photos, other ppl's photos and still, nothing.

Then you start sifting through your memories about anything and everything. What's more frustrating is that a sudden idea would hit you and then you remembered that you've already written about it a while ago. You contemplate regurgitation - no! You contemplate doing a meme - oh, hell no!

You then decide to try and make up shit. Trying to be fanciful. A poem maybe? No, that's crap. A thought-provoking prose about recent events? No, it's just gonna end up being a cut-and-paste job if I can't find anything to add to it.

And then it hit me, I shall just write about having nothing to write about. Woohoo!

I really should just get more sleep to get my juices flowing again. Get your minds out of the gutter - I ain't talking about *those* juices. Although .... hmmmm. ;)

Racial "labelling"

2006-02-01T11:30:00.000+08:00

An interesting op-ed piece about the use of race "labels" by the NSW police force, particularly the term "Middle Eastern appearance" in the context of the Cronulla riots in December of last year.

From Disservice to paint race relations with labels - Opinion - smh.com.au:

It is a myth that avoiding labels is all about pandering to ethnic groups and political correctness, and subverting the truth. Rather, this is all about factual correctness. How can people from more than 20 different countries, from West Africa to West Asia, from Morocco to Medina, share a homogenous physical appearance? Can police seriously be expected to discern between a Syrian, a Cypriot, a Maltese and a Brazilian?

I have similar misgivings about the term "Asian" especially when applied to criminal gangs. Asia is the world's most culturally-diverse continent, stretching from South-East Asia to Russia, to the Indian sub-continent and to the Middle-East. Yet, the term as used in Australia is usually a euphemism for yellow-skinned Asians.

Racial identification is appropriate if the race of the perpetrator is central to the crime but not anytime else. Even then, you have to be careful about generalising or being too vague. The author above makes these points a bit more eloquently than I do here.

Technorati tags: multiculturalism, Australia, anti-racism

Banana kills old woman but not her spirit

2006-01-31T14:02:00.000+08:00

From Falling banana kills woman - NSW/ACT - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au:

She survived brutal Nazi and Communist regimes to ultimately be brought down by a banana.

Slovenian migrant Ivanka Perko died in hospital last week in bizarre circumstances - she suffered complications after she dropped a banana on her leg.

Comical to the end, the 73-year-old old quipped to friends and family while on her deathbed: 'I can't believe after all this time it was a bloody banana that killed me.'

Simply surreal but strangely heartwarming too - mainly because she has lived a colourful life that most ppl could only imagine about, and because her attitude towards her own death is completely refreshing. She had lived a life with no regrets. Awesome.

Stumbled upon via Digg. I can't believe I missed this considering that I read news.com.au daily. :)

CNY Day Lunch

2006-01-31T00:01:00.000+08:00

We congregated at aunty Lee-Hoon's place before lunch, for some coffee and typical CNY tidbits. This was also our substitute for the traditional house-to-house visit.

In attendance and not in attendance ... my dad is in Penang, and my brother wasn't there because he was still sleeping. I would be too normally, this being late morning Sunday.

After munching on the tidbits, I was actually quite full already but it was off to lunch we went. Was at Chan Kee's in Leeming for some roast duck and noodles.

We headed to my parents' place after for more coffee and tidbits. The rest of the day went by in a food-induced lazy blur. Before I knew it, I had to wake up for work the next morning already. *sigh* ;)

When CNY is not a public holiday

2006-01-30T12:05:00.000+08:00

It doesn't feel like I should be at work today. It is afterall, the second day of the Chinese New Year. Around most of East and South-East Asia, today would be a public holiday.

It also doesn't help that I feel so lethargic and bloated still from all the food that we had - good though they had been. ;) At least the new year fell on a weekend this year. It would have sucked even more if it was during the working week.

I stumbled upon this Washington Post piece about Asian-Americans fighting for the recognition of CNY as a public holiday. Or at the very least mark it as a "day of commeration", a day that ppl could take leave off work without any difficulties.

From the article (free registration req'd):

The Lunar New Year -- which is celebrated today by more than a billion Asians around the world -- presents a troubling annual dilemma for many of the country's 12 million Asian Americans: honor your millennia-old traditions by taking the day off, or bow to the pressures of Western society by going about business as usual?

Good on them, but I doubt that this will happen in Australia - Asian-Americans have a bit more clout when you combine the number of Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese in the USA, whom all celebrate the Lunar New Year.

At least we get street festivals in Sydney and Melbourne, and smaller versions in the other capital cities. And the banks give out packs of empty "red packets" to Chinese customers for their use. I guess, a little bit of recognition is better than nothing at all. :)

CNY Eve 2006 Gatherings

2006-01-30T00:26:00.000+08:00

CNY eve 2006 was on a Saturday. The day started off with lunch at uncle Alex's place. This is the prayer table with food for our "ancestors": mom's parents and her 3rd aunty. It is customary for the ancestors to "finish" their food before we'd begin eating - uncle Alex tosses the 2 crescent-shaped pieces of wood to ascertain that.

My family is big on the gatherings and I love them ...

... and not just because there's always good food involved. ;) Here was the curry chicken and braised duck.

The following pics are of the aunties and mom, and the cousins (and honourary cousin :)).

More pics of the cousins.

The family reunion dinner was had at a Chinese restaurant in Myaree - Yummy BBQ. Silly name, good food.

This is us stirring and tossing the "yu-sang", or as I'd like to call it "Chinese raw-salmon salad". :) It's a tradition to toss it as high as you can to bring the good luck for the year.

These were the 3 families in attendance.

We had 10 courses of food and 2 bottles of wine. Boy, were we stuffed.

Misc. shots to round off this post.

A great day was had by all. Videos to compliment this post were uploaded previously here. More pics of CNY day to come.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2006-01-28T22:21:00.000+08:00

Year of the Dog, woohoo! Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Kong Hei Fatt Choy! 新年快乐! 身体健康!

Had photos taken today and will upload tomorrow. Here's two teaser videos of the family reunion dinner with the 3 families here in Perth.

I talk too much lah!

2006-01-27T18:55:00.000+08:00

I discovered italk2much.com in its early days. Back then it was a one-woman blog about a military wife (Ms. Chatty) living on a US Army base somewhere. It has since evolved into a blog-review site with a team of blog-reviewers who take turns reviewing blogs that ppl submit into them.

Watching them tear down a blog and especially a blog owner's ego is like watching Simon Cowell rip into a tone-deaf person on American Idol. It's brutally honest and brutally funny. I don't have a critical eye for blogs but even I know when a blog is not user-friendly, painful on the eyes, written poorly or just plain boring. These blogs deserve the shit they cop from the ladies.

The funniest responses are from ppl who go "My blog IS good! You all suck!" Reality check: like in life where not everyone likes you, not everyone has to like your blog. And it is you who are masochistic enough to submit your blog for a review. ;)

Lately, for some reason they've been getting quite a few Malaysian blogs for reviewing. And one thing that irks them beyond the above reasons is the slang. Not only because their rules state that the submitted blogs should predominantly be in English but the slangs make it *really* hard for a non-native to understand.

But, even though they hate the slang, the ladies have somehow picked up the correct usage, especially with the "lah". Here's some examples:

"I believe IT2M says to submit blogs that are in ENGLISH only, lah."

"1. Your browser so senzitive, lah. You not miss much, lah. It sucky blog-blog, lah.

2. Oh, CRAP, lah. She talk about how baby-poo learn to say word, “Lah”, lah.
It sucky-sucky blog, lah."

"2 - Pop-up, lah. Probably from TagBoard, lah. Boring, icky, lah."

"i’m a rick folk with no mac .. LAH"

"Annie, I checked in Firefox and Safari and it looks fine in both, lah!"

"Word to your mother, lah!"

And to top it all off, here's what Ms. Chatty said:

"Dear Malaysian bloggers who submit stupid ass blogs to IT2M:

hisap telur and bodoh and chilaka. "

Hahahahaha! To get the full effect, read their latest two sets of reviews (here's one and here's two) and the accompanying comments.

Somehow I made it onto their Blogroll a while back. Initially I didn't know how I made it, but they were gracious enough to explain it to me. :)

Reducing your bank fees

2006-01-27T00:08:00.000+08:00

This is going to be mundane but what the heck, it applies to almost everyone of you who reads my blog because:

You work and therefore you earn a salary,
thus you have money and would therefore use a bank account,

I'm gonna use myself as an example. Even though the details may be different, especially if you don't live in Australia, the principles should be the same.

You only have a set amount of fee-free transations, whether they be EFTPOS*, direct-debit to pay your bills or the ATM. After which, your bank would charge you a fee for each transaction.

The quick and easy way to bypass all that is to get a credit card. Credit card companies do not charge you on the transactions. But they do charge you interest if you don't pay your account in full at the end of every month, so be aware of that.

Once you've got a credit card:

transfer all your automatic bill-payments to the credit card,
and use cash or your credit card to make most of your purchases.

The only bank transaction that you should be doing is withdrawing cash from the ATMs. But avoid other banks' ATMs as well as those at convenience stores, pubs and nightclubs. You should always try and withdraw from your bank's ATMs. Otherwise you'd get slugged with another fee again. Yeah bloodsuckers, I know.

The precaution that you have to take with credit cards is that you have to be disciplined - pay off the bill every month and don't splurge on it. Remember that you are still withdrawing cash from your ATM. Do not be tempted to use revolving credit as well, ie. using one credit card to pay off the other. You'd be trapped in an endless cycle of debt.

* EFTPOS = Electronic Funds Transfer Point-of-Sale. Works like debit-cards.

Idea for this post was inspired from reading:

ATM fees $600m and rising: report - National - smh.com.au
Dominic Knight's (Radar @ SMH) reaction to that story.

Kuala Lumpur Day 2 Pics

2006-01-27T00:01:00.000+08:00

These photos were taken on the day described in KL Update 2 and KL Update 3 - Mambo @ Velvet (Zouk).

The day started off with lunch at a Shanghainese restaurant in Lot 10 - sorry, no pics of that. So forget I mentioned that. ;)

Poor Reushen had homework to do before we left the house. When was the last time you counted with your fingers? :) After lunch, my cousins and I head off to Berjaya Times Square via the monorail.

Times Square didn't hold much interest for us. We walked around the entire place from top to bottom - it took us less than 1 hour. None of the shops fascinated us. So we decided to kill some time at the arcades. We were there for 3 hours. Sorry, was too busy playing games to be taking pics. Next ...

We left Times Square after and had dinner at the mamak place in Sungei Wang again. Later, we joined my cousins' mom, aunty Cass and her friends at the Dome downstairs Lot 10. And as expected in a tropical country, the rain poured down while we were in the middle of our coffee - traffic would have been hell. We ended up having to wait an hour for the rain, and the traffic to ease up.

Went home and rested a bit. Tonight was gonna be Mambo at Zouk KL. Mambo, as mentioned previously is when they play retro stuff from the 80s and 90s, or updated versions of those songs. It is a popular clubbing tradition which had originated from Zouk Singapore.

This is my brother Marvin (in yellow) and his friend John who was visiting from Singapore. They are friends in Perth, John was on holidays too.

We had ordered a bottle of Johnny Walker Black to share. With free-flowing mixers and ice all night, we had quite a bit to drink. Including a highly potent lychee martini with a Bombay Sapphire chaser. :)

With everyone suitably mellowed out, it was photo taking time. I don't know what John was yelling about. Heh. And yes, that's my aunty Cass in black in the top left pic, and also in between me and my brother. Every time that I go back to KL, she'd take me clubbing. Awesome.

After I got suitable sloshed up, I went next door to the mainroom to check out the trance. That's when I got a msg from Yue-Chin (YC of Blackjetta) about the dinner we were having the next night. She mentioned she's having a late night and was at Zouk. I msged back and said, "So am I! Where are you?"

She was back at Velvet so I headed back there to meet up with her. It was surreal, like when I met Blinkymummy for the first time. We had known each other from MSN chatting and from reading each other's blogs but at the same time, we don't really know each other. Did that even make sense? ;)

Anyway, the conversation was easy and natural. And yes, she's as pretty in person as she is on her photos and these here. Maybe even more so.

Presenting ... double-chin and Yue-Chin. And why was I shying away from her lovely tongue!? Aiyah!

That was a very good night that we had. Woo!

Berri Juice's Big Ad

2006-01-26T16:40:00.000+08:00

You've seen Carlton Brewery's Big Ad. This is Berri Juice's ad in a similar epic, grandiose vein.

American actor Ronn Moss, of "The Bold and The Beautiful" plays the lead.

Link to video here. (via SMH)

New Firefox trick

2006-01-26T12:33:00.000+08:00

I'm such a n00b. This trick may not be new to the savvier ppl among you out there but it's NEW to me.

This applies only to the Firefox browser and the trick is: when you move the mouse pointer onto a link, instead of clicking on the left mouse button as usual, click down on the scroll wheel and it will open the link in a new tab.

Previously to open a link in a new tab, I would right-click and then select "Open Link in New Tab". No more.

Wah. Awesome.

Ok back to regular programming.

Stumbled upon via: Life Hacker.

Happy Australia Day!

2006-01-26T11:35:00.000+08:00

I woke up to the sounds of kids playing on the street, and cars honking at them as they passed because they were waving the Aussie flag, and to the cries of the now ubiquitous chant of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, oi, oi!" :)

And what do Aussies do on this day? Beer and BBQ.

And for West Aussies here in Perth, fireworks at the foreshore at 8pm tonight.

But think I'll just chill out and do nothing. Happy Australia Day! :)

News.com.au has a good round-up of the celebrations around the country today.

What a doozy!

2006-01-25T22:27:00.000+08:00

A snapshot from the pink one's latest post:

Hee hee. This is so ironic after what has happened. Or should that be schizophrenic, since she can't make up her mind? Or amnesia, since she so quickly has forgotten what her own self has done? Or should that be just plain stupidity? Where got intelligent ppl knowingly dig themselves a big hole like that one!?!?

Flame away, anons!

Windows Live Mail Beta

2006-01-25T18:23:00.000+08:00

Woohoo. Finally got an invite to Windows Live Mail Beta, having applied for it about a month ago.

First impressions - it's good, and looks and feels like Outlook-lite with the 3-pane window. It has nice clean colours which are easier on the eyes. Some things that we take for granted on a desktop email client are drag-and-drop and shift-click or ctrl-click to select a range of emails - these are all available on Windows Live Mail.

One glaring ommission is the threaded view that's available in Outlook and Gmail. I've come to love that, especially when firing off rapid email conversations with friends.

Though it is faster than regular Hotmail, it still feels sluggish compared to Gmail. However, Windows Live Mail has a lot more functionalities as mentioned above. And both companies approach web-based emails from different angles.

Caveat: Microsoft being Microsoft, Windows Live Mail works best with IE6. Surprise.

The fight for our loyalty is becoming interesting. Microsoft is finally realising that more and more services are becoming web-based and that they will need to innovate in that area. This is a good start.

p.s. I'm not a M$ fanboy ok?! :P I work with Linux on my job. But credit where credit's due. :)

Windows Live Mail in Firefox

Windows Live Mail in IE6

Windows Live Mail - Multiple Select in IE6

Windows Live Mail - Calendar in IE6

New York Hack interviewed by the Associated Press

2006-01-25T08:32:00.000+08:00

One of my regular reads, the NYC female taxi-driver who calls herself the New York Hack was interviewed by the Associated Press, and was featured in The Washington Post:

It is difficult work, and Plaut says she doesn't like it most of time. The blog, which she started in August, 'has really helped me cope with the job.'

It has also given her readers _ including some far from New York _ a taste of the Big Apple. Her Web site gets between 400 and 900 hits a day.

And the rest, as they say is history. :) You can read her reaction to it here.

Narnia!

2006-01-24T19:57:00.000+08:00

Two dudes from SNL rap about going to watch "The Chronicles of Narnia". BM - you should get a kick out of this. It's a crack-up.

It's the Chronic, WHAT! 'Cles of Narnia! Pass the Chronic, WHAT! 'Cles of Narnia!

I found the above original when I stumbled across a recreation of it by two 10-yr old boys (via Digg).

Hilarious™!

UPDATE 7th March, 2006
NBC has ordered YouTube to yank the top video down. You can view it at NBC's site here.

Overcoming stage-fright in a club toilet

2006-01-24T13:29:00.000+08:00

No no, I do not suffer from that problem at all. In fact I've mastered the technique whereby I'd zone out, breath in through my mouth (cos you don't want to breath in with your nose in a public loo) and breath out. If you do it right, you'd be relaxed enough that when you breath out, the pee would come naturally as well.

Failing that, there's the other technique of waiting until you really have to go. So when you get up to the urinal you'd be gushing away like a wide opened tap (cool imagery, I know). However, you got to time this right because if you are already bursting at the seams and there's 10 guys in front of you, chances are you're gonna pee in your pants right there and then.

Or you can risk the humiliation and the disgusted looks by going into the ladies. But guess what though? Usually the female toilets are more packed than the mens - why must they all go in pairs?!

So the technique is to give yourself a little buffer of time - go when you do have to go, but also when you can still wait for around 5 minutes. How to get this right? Practice my friend. And I have been going into the toilets at the clubs for a long time to know what I'm talking about. Wait that didn't come out right ...

Kuala Lumpur Day 1 Pics

2006-01-24T00:01:00.000+08:00

These photos were taken on the day described in KL Update 1.

Arrived in KL around 2:30pm and took a short taxi ride to Sungei Wang. This is what it looks like in front of Sungei Wang most of the day, everyday.

Went up to the 6th floor where my Aunty Cass' shop is. In her own words, she sells ah-lian clothes.

This is her with her youngest son, Reushen. She is the mom of Reucas.

This is her second youngest, Reuzhen. He won't look into the camera. I tried my best to coax him into it but he just wouldn't.

I sat there for a while getting some of my energy back from being cooped up in a bus for 4 hours. Just like in the office, sitting around doing nothing is tiring. The boys did some homework and played for a bit.

After that we decided to walk over to Lot 10 and people-watch. There was some sale going on the ground floor - it was all hand bags. Needless to say, there were a lot of women. Woohoo.

We meandered for a while before we headed to the first of many cyber-cafe sessions in Sungei Wang. They gamed, and I blogged. Typical.

Because it was so energy intensive, we then got hungry. Reuzhen took me to the mamak stalls that's actually inside the complex. And it felt just like the outdoors - think it was part of their carpark which they had refurbished.

Hmm, decisions decisions. (for bigger image, click here)

We ordered roti-canai all around. Yum. Cheap too.

That was dinner and we went home after. So ends my first day in KL - back after 4 years being away.

The Cott VIP

2006-01-23T16:16:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was the first time that I used my VIP card at The Cott, a good 4 months after I'd bought the card. And it was worth it.

The queue was one block long at 5pm and was not moving at all. Usually to avoid such a scenario we would go quite early at 3pm. Yesterday we just walked right up to the VIP queue and got waved straight through. Sibeh shiok.

Unlike clubbing in Asia, the way it works in Perth is that you either queue or you buy the VIP membership - being friends with the bouncer doesn't help you at all. Everyone gets treated equal, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

As I've mentioned previously, the crowd is mostly white and preppy. Amongst the hordes of blonde Paris Hilton clones (again, can be good or bad depending on how you look at it ;)), I saw a girl who looks like Tara Reid, pre-boob job and pre-Wild on Tara skankiness. That made my day. I drove home with a grin fixed on my face.

Mmm, Tara.

United Colours of Mooiness

2006-01-23T00:01:00.000+08:00

Alex and Paul - Australians of Romanian and Scottish descent respectively. Paul's maternal grandmother is part-Dutch part-Indonesian. He's mixed up alright ;)

Deeane - Australian Vietnamese (Chinese), Simon - Australian Chinese (parents from China), Lydia - Singaporean Chinese

Yvonne, my cousin- Australian Chinese (parents from Malaysia), Marella - Australian of Bosnian descent, Elaine - Australian Chinese (parents from HK)

Dima, Nishan, Ruvinda - Australians of Sri-Lankan descent, Edweena - Malaysian Indian (Sikh)

Simon - Australian of Italian descent, Reucas my cousin - Australian Chinese (parents from Malaysia). Bandmates.

Kim - Malaysian Chinese, Nadia - Singaporean Indian (edited 7:56am - she's terribly confused, read her comment ;))

Amy - Australian (dunno of what descent, never asked! :)), and me - Malaysian Chinese.

I've also been fortunate enough to have worked with a diverse group of ppl including the Irish, the English and the Scottish, as well as an Australian-Croatian, a Chinese (China), an Australian-Filipino, Australians of Greek and Italian descent, a Bangladeshi, Indians, Japanese and of course Australians of Anglo-Saxon descent.

To me, ppl who close off their minds towards other cultures because of prejudice only disadvantage themselves.

One human race. One planet.

Technorati tags: multiculturalism, Australia, anti-racism

You've seen these before

2006-01-22T12:51:00.000+08:00

Similar pics to those that I've posted on Singapore Day 1 Pics, except these are from June's camera. You'd notice an obvious "rounding" of my face as I post the rest of my holiday pics up. ;)

Overheard tonight

2006-01-22T03:25:00.000+08:00

We were waiting at a junction waiting to cross the road. We looked across the road and saw 2 girls kissing. Simon and I drunkenly yelled out, "WOOHOO!" Guy next to us said:

"Lesbians, mate ... they are only good for a root. They are not good as girlfriends."

Woo, how profound. ;)

4Play Meme

2006-01-21T12:33:00.000+08:00

As tagged by Re | Me. Post title stolen from her. ;)

Four jobs you've had in your life:

Dishwasher at Edward's College, O'Connor, Perth (my parents operated the canteen)
Newsagent counter-clerk at Court News, West Perth (owned by my parents)
Waiter at Penang Kopi Tiam, Kardinya, Perth (owned by my parents)
Restaurant manager at Mix, Nedlands, Perth (my restaurant)

Four movies you could watch over and over:

Four places you've lived:

SS2 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Marcus Avenue, Booragoon, Perth (what are the odds?)
Garland Court, Kardinya, Perth
Stewart Way, Kardinya, Perth

Four TV shows you love to watch:

CSI (all 3 of them - ok I cheated there)
Law & Order (all 3 of them - ok I cheated here again)
House, MD
Grey's Anatomy

caveat: Asking a TV addict to just choose 4 favourite programs is unusual torture. :P I've left out programs on Foxtel and have restricted myself to shows that are on air now. Suffice to say, I watch a lot of TV.

Four places you've been on holiday:

Tokyo, Japan
London, UK
Singapore
Sydney, Australia

caveat: my parents loved to travel when I was younger and I've left out many places that I didn't organise the trip to myself.

Four websites you visit daily:

Bloglines (by extension all of the blogs on my bloglines - ok I cheated again, sue me!)
News.com.au
Sydney Morning Herald
Dilbert

caveat: a limitation of 4 is once again too little for an IT professional. I'm v. scatter-brained when it comes to my web-surfing. I also read a lot of tech sites and other international news sites.

Four of your favourite foods:

Peanut-butter on toast - every morning since god knows when.
Nissin instant noodles - favourite flavours are XO-sauce and Tonkatsu
Steaks - medium-rare
Fried Kuay Teow

caveat: and many many more ... why limit yourself when the world is your smorgasboard? :)

Four places you'd rather be (I'm gonna give this a twist):

To eat: Penang
To party: KL/Singapore (I'm not good at keeping to limits :P)
To immerse in a gigantic cultural melting-pot: NY/London
To do nothing: a beach in Langkawi (because it's still unspoilt and the tourists are not overwhelming), a hot-spring anywhere in Japan (oh-so relaxing and quiet)

... because there's no place I'd rather be, to live than here in Perth. Not only because I've got my family and good friends here, but also because it has a little bit of the 4 things that I've listed above.

I am not gonna tag ppl because I don't tag ppl with memes - some don't like it, and when some don't do it I feel all rejected. :P

I miss working in the city

2006-01-20T16:59:00.000+08:00

I caught up with some ex-colleagues for lunch in the city today. Damn I miss working in the city. Mostly because I don't get to see smartly dressed women where I work at the moment. All I get are young uni students. Damn the injustice of it all!

*sigh* Guess I will just have to make do with what I got. ;)

One Life to Live

2006-01-20T08:38:00.000+08:00

I got a mail from a reader in November. She said she enjoyed reading my blog and had asked me to help her set hers up. We started talking online and got on quite well.

Gradually I found out that she has a very pessimistic outlook on life. She is lonely she said, even though she's got family and friends. She said that she's given up hope on finding someone to love. To be shallow, I think that she is pretty and have told her so. I couldn't understand why she thinks that the right guy would not come along later.

After I came back from my holiday we chatted once. This was when I found out that she had a terminal illness. I also found out that it needn't be terminal had she sought treatment when she found out a year ago.

I asked her, "Why didn't you listen to the doctor and have the treatment?" She said she's given up on life because there's nothing to look forward to. And that she will just let nature take its course. I asked her what was it exactly that's making her wanting to give up just like that? She couldn't answer me.

I told her that she's got shelter, food and she's got her family. She can't possibly give up on life just because she can't find love? She said she's had a hard life, and had bad luck with love and that I don't understand. She's right, I really don't. The bad stuff was in the past, why let it stop you from living now?

I conclude that she may be suffering from depression. The kind of depression caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain rather than any specific reason. It is a disease. In this instance, compounded by her perceived "bad luck". I asked her about therapy and she's said she's been through it too. She no longer wants to continue that either.

I was at a lost. The only thing I could say was, "Have you arranged everything that's neccesary, and do your parents know your intentions?" She said, "Yes". Somewhere along those lines, we ended our chat that night.

I don't know how long we may continue our chats. I would imagine that one day after not seeing her online for a long time, I will conclude that's she no longer in this world. I will be saddened of course, purely because her death would be unnecessary.

All of us have one life to live. When you are not poor or starving, when you have shelter and loved ones around you, and when you are not living in a desolate or dangerous place, you've got it good - way more than the millions that are less fortunate on this planet.

There's really no reason for you to give up on life.

If you are depressed for no reason, it's a sickness and you can get help for it. Nothing is more precious than the one life that you are given.

命是非常的珍贵的。就算不完美, 也不可以就这样放弃吧？

You only have one life to live, so live it well. Be happy, and help others be happy too.

Texan and Muslim?

2006-01-19T19:02:00.000+08:00

A very thought-provoking video (24 mins) examining the lives of 4 white, conservative Americans who have converted to Islam. How do they reconcile their patriotism and their religion, whilst living amongst conservative Christians in the American Bible belt? Timely documentary for our times.

Link: Question: Can one be a Texan and a Muslim?

Technorati tags: religion, Islam, America, USA.

Stumbled upon via Digg.

Damir Dokic - insanely entertaining

2006-01-19T10:50:00.000+08:00

Fox Sports - Colleen Petch

Here's a quick run-down for those of you who've never heard of the name "Dokic". Jelena Dokic emigrated to Australia as a young child with her family from the then Yugoslavia. Her father is Damir Dokic. She was trained by him from young at tennis, and was later selected to be trained at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

Under AIS's tutelage and Damir's coaching, she became a world top-10 tennis player. Alas this didn't last and pretty soon she became embittered with Australia, most possibly due to the manipulations of her father.

Let's speak about her father for a while: he throwns tantrums, argues with court officials, and berates anyone who dares to criticise him or his daughter. He once famously got kicked out of the US Open because he argued about the price of salmon at the restaurant there, and was banned from ever returning. He had also been kicked out of Wimbledon earlier in the same year.

Soon after those incidents, Damir uprooted his family and moved them all back to Serbia-Montenegro. Jelena gave up her Australian citizenship and played for Serbia-Montenegro briefly.

While in Serbia, he famously quipped that he's afraid that his daughter might become lesbian because he thought that there were a lot of lesbians on the women's circuit. Then ironically, when Jelena started dating Brazilian Formula 1 star Enrique Bernoldi, he lost it completely and drove her to disown him.

She then wanted to return to Australia. After a bit of bureaucratic wrangling, she's now back here and had also regained her citizenship.

Damir is not happy:

Damir Dokic says he is seeking to kidnap his estranged daughter Jelena, and has threatened to kill an Australian as revenge for her returning to the country.

Like me, Dominic Knight (Radar@SMH) found this all very amusing too:

It isn't said often enough, but Damir Dokic is a genius. In the vast pantheon of crazy fathers from Joe Jackson to Richard Williams, there is no-one to hold a candle to him for sheer lunacy. And while Jelena struggles for form, Damir's latest outburst shows he's absolutely on top of his game.

Go home and hug your father today. ;)

Singapore Day 4 Pics

2006-01-19T08:11:00.000+08:00

These photos were taken on the day described in "Singapore Update 4".

Woke up late. Was meeting Blinkymummy at 1pm for dimsum at Wah Lok Restaurant at The Carlton Hotel - coincidentally an Australian hotel (naturally).

It was BM, her "good friend" and myself. Another occasion of good food with great conversation and company. It was a good start to my last day in Singapore. *sob sob*

After lunch, I still had some hours to kill so BM decided to take me to Clarke Quay. We were gonna go out to Brewerkz but it was closed in the afternoon. No matter, we walked a bit and ended up at Tapas Bar.

BM and I shared a jug of beer while "good friend" had coffee. He's a very responsible driver. ;)

After a few beers ...

I'm singing in the rain ....

BM dropped me back at my hotel. I napped a little bit before meeting up with Swee and Tai-Sing again for dinner. We went to an Indonesian restaurant at Clarke Quay (again!).

And after dinner, we ended at Brewerkz - talk about fate! I think I was meant to go there all along. We ordered two towers of beer. Woohoo!

Each holds 8 pints of beer. There were 5 of us. You do the math. :)

Needless to say we were tipsy. But what a great way to end my last night in Singapore.

The next morning, I would be waking up at 7am to catch the bus to KL.

Calling someone "white"

2006-01-18T22:47:00.000+08:00

Racism is a hot topic of mine and in talking about the topic, it is inevitable that the term "white" would pop up from time to time. Someone deem fit to call me racist for using that term. Well, let me school you on the subject.

Calling a Caucasian "white" is not offensive. The term "black" is also used in polite conversations. Don't take my word for it, see these links from Dictionary.com:

white:
A member of a racial group of people having light skin coloration, especially one of European origin.
See also Oxford Dictionary's definition.

black:
- A member of a racial group having brown to black skin, especially one of African origin.
- An American descended from peoples of African origin having brown to black skin; an African American.
See also Oxford Dictionary's definition.

However, calling someone "yellow" is:

Offensive. Of or being a person of Asian origin.
(Oxford Dictionary's definition)

So is calling someone "brown":

Often Offensive. Of or being a person of nonwhite origin.

Still not convinced about all this? Here's an article from the Poynter Institute, School of Journalism. Read it, don't read it - whatever. If you want to stay ignorant and hateful, that's your lost.

Consider yourself schooled.

Technorati tags: anti-racism, political-correctness

Shen Qiao-Yun reviews herself

2006-01-18T10:11:00.000+08:00

Singaporean actress Shen Qiaoyun reviews her own performance in the movie I Not Stupid Too:

For her role of a conservative pregnant primary school teacher, the youthful-looking actress sacrificed her “Act Cute in Baby Tee” specialty…

…to put on a maternity dress and horn-rimmed glasses.

And it is a worthy sacrifice because the actress really stands out in the movie. That is, her belly really stands out. She has many speaking lines, which, in showbiz terms, means “significant role (but not significant enough to be named in press releases)”.

In fact, this reviewer would find it a daunting challenge if asked to pick a line delivered by the actress that could possibly be Oscar material — there are so many. Should it be the line that goes “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8″, when she counts time for the children for a dance performance, or the one that goes, “2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8″?

Hilarious™!

Stumbled upon via SpyMy.com.

Flame-grilled goodness

2006-01-18T08:43:00.000+08:00

I love it when fast food companies try to look healthy. And to think that this would never have happened if Morgan Spurlock hadn't done Super Size Me. Morgan, you da man!

On a side note, one of Hungry Jack's (BK to non-Aussies) slogans is that "the burgers are better at Hungry Jack's". Why? Because they are FLAME-grilled. FLAME-grilled anything is delicious-anything. Mmmm. FLAME-grilled. I love me some FLAME-grilled goodness right about now.

FLAME. I'm loving it. Oh wait, that's McD.

XiaXue vs. Sydney race riots: A Comparison.

2006-01-17T10:51:00.000+08:00

Deal with one XX-sympathiser and you've dealt with them all. They all have a common modus operandi: attack the critics of her words, their motives and their characters but never justifying her words. Why not? Because they can't be justified.

Then there are so-called fence-sitters who applaud this 20-something year old girl for "speaking her mind". Have you ppl even read her words? Maybe you haven't ventured out of Singapore where you are the majority of the community and have never experienced racism as a result. But ignorance is not an excuse.

More damning is that you *have* experienced racism and yet you are racist towards others yourself. You know how hurtful it is and yet you want to perpetuate it?

To put things in perspective, I thought I'd compare XX's racist tirade against Bangladeshis in Singapore with what had happened in Sydney just before Xmas.

XX

Minority of Bangladeshis (along with Singaporeans too) behaving inappropriately in public places.
Brought to a head by her own isolated encounters.
Generalised that all "Banglas" are molesters and should be restricted from *all* Singaporean public spaces.
Writes about these thoughts on a site visited by thousands daily - some of whom deem it ok to spew forth their own racist thoughts. Even advocated the beatings of any one caught molesting.

Sydney

Minority of Lebanese youths behaving inappropriately on Sydney beaches.
Brought to a head by an attack on Sydney beach lifesavers by some of these youths.
Racists generalised that all "Lebbos and Wogs" are miscreants and should be restricted from *all* Sydney beaches.
Anonymous SMSes were passed around advocating "bashing up Lebbos and Wogs".
... the rest, well you knew what happened.

Is it that difficult to see the potential for harm from XX's words? Imagine that you are a Bangladeshi. Imagine that you are a dark-skinned Indian. Matter of fact, imagine that you are a dark-skinned Pakistani or Sri-Lankan. Oh don't forget also dark-skinned Nepalese. Heck, how about every race in and around the Indian sub-continent?

Now imagine that you are in a crowded place, and you were mistaken to have molested someone even though the perpetrator could easily be a Singaporean *Chinese*. You look around and there's a mob of angry looking Chinese youths just looking for an excuse for some bloodletting. Imagine what would happen. And then imagine that you are not even a foreign worker but a Singaporean citizen.

Change "Chinese" to "white" in the paragraph above and that was the situation in Sydney.

So, why is it so difficult for you XX-sympathisers to understand that fair-minded ppl like me would find Xiaxue's words to be highly inflammatory and offensive?

Read your history, read your current affairs, read your world news. Update yourselves on the sedition and racial-vilification laws. Please, educate yourselves and become more worldly.

Technorati Tags: xiaxue, blogosphere, anti-racism