The Man does the right thing

The Malaysian government has reversed its decision to ban a Catholic newspaper for using the word 'Allah,' officials said Monday...--Malaysia reverses Allah ban for Christian paper - CNN.com

Be a man. Do the right thing.--Russell Peters

I remember during the Operasi Lalang days, when The Star was banned but The Rocket was not. that opposition newspaper carried a grotesque caricature of then-prime-minister Mahathir holding a giant mousetrap (of the snap-their-heads-off variety) with The Rocket's printing permit as bait.

I was just a kid then. I remember thinking, how cynical. how ungrateful.

unless we're so naive as to think the government's pure evil and the opposition's all good, then I think we need to realise that there are people trying to do right (and otherwise) on both sides.

and we need to celebrate and show kindness to anyone who tries to do right. especially when they succeed.

so thank you, Mr. Home Minister. keep it up. be a man--not The Man.

Destined to be a space tourist

U.S. national Dennis Tito was the first space tourist on the ISS in 2001, followed by South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002, American Greg Olsen in 2005, and Anousheh Ansari, an American of Iranian origin, in 2006.--Discovery Channel

Shuttleworth! A space tourist!

Gifts romance comedy heroines love

One man gave his girlfriend a book of 52 coupons that he made himself. They were for things like: a back rub, foot rub, pamper night where he would take care of dinner and clean up and she got to go soak in the tub with a book, a night out dancing (he did not like dancing), Breakfast in bed day where he made breakfast and cleaned up, pick the movie, control of the TV remote, no sports day, girls night out, pick the take out, pick the restaurant, etc. What he did was listen when she was upset about any thing, then he would write it down and then made a book of coupons out of things she said. When she said she was tired of making dinner all the time he made the "I will take care of dinner and clean up" coupon. When she was upset that he was spending too much time watching sports on TV he made the "no sports day" and "control of the TV remote" coupons. It was a very good way to show her he listened and cared about her and how she felt. She was to use a coupon a week, though she did use more the one some weeks and none at all on others. She said this was the best gift any one had ever given her. --Lady Talks a Lot: Great birthday gifts for your girlfriend

What a lucky girl she was, to have had such a wussy for a boyfriend.

this article is noteworthy for the surprising vehemence of the comments it elicited.

check it out. the article itself seems to have been written by an SEO (search engine optimisation) robot.

imagine every hackneyed chick flick you've ever seen, rolled into one advice column. what a fun read. not.

Wal-Mart cancels movie download service. shock! horror!

Videos purchased on Walmart.com can be played using the Microsoft Windows Media Player or the Wal-Mart Video Download Manager, but cannot be transferred to a computer other than the one used to download them, according to the site.
--Wal-Mart cancels movie download service | Tech News on ZDNet

How could they fail, with such an obviously coveted product that doesn't at all impinge on the customer's right to choose how, when and where he wants to use the product he paid for?

stop the DRM foolishness.

My pre-Gmail email, now in my Gmail

Gmail was born in 2004. I have email dating back six or seven years before that, now in my humongous, eminently searchable, cloudy Gmail email database.

it's just one of those things that geeks me out and makes life feel good.

here's how to do it, in broken English:

Once IMAP accessed Gmail is configured, an additional IMAP folder for these Gmail IMAP account will be displayed on folders list or mail items list. To import and upload your existing mails to Gmail, simply drag and drop, or copy and paste (or cut and paste) if you no longer want the mails to have a copy in your local folders to Gmail's Inbox folder in the new IMAP account in the mail client. Your email client may be hanged or not resposive while uploading, and the importing process may take a while to complete.
--Easy Way to Import, Upload, Backup or Store Email Messages into Gmail for Archive » My Digital Life

he's not kidding about it taking a while to complete. I've got my PC working through the night, syncing my old Outlook databases with my Gmail database.

it's so worth it.

finding some nostalgia too, flipping through my old mail...

update: the circle is complete. I have finished syncing all my email (one decade's worth) into one database, with a bonus thrown in...

Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya Holidays 2008

Plan your leave!

The Wisdom of Miss Teen USA

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us.
--Lauren Upton, Miss Teen USA contestant, on why one-fifth of Americans are unable to locate the United States on a map

For posterity.

The Ununited State of America

We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us. --Descendants of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse

The continuing decline of the traditional nation-state...

Zombies--the death of Web 2.0

Like Iron Chef, Facebook has much drama that makes for good press coverage, but most of its features are worthless for a B2B site that, say, is trying to sell forklift trucks to 50-year-old warehouse managers. Instead of adding Facebook-like features that let users 'bite' other users and turn them into zombies, the B2B site would get more sales by offering clear prices, good product photos, detailed specs, convincing whitepapers, an easily navigable information architecture, and an email newsletter.
--Web 2.0 Can Be Dangerous (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

Haha. Jakob make joke.

Pricing Properly a Picasso Portrait

Picasso was painting in the park one afternoon. A woman recognized the master, and wished to capitalize on her good fortune. She politely asked Picasso if he would please sketch her portrait, as she had so long admired his work. He agreed, and within five minutes, handed the woman a lovely portrait. 'Thank you! Thank you!' the woman replied. 'What do I owe you?' To which, Picasso replied, 'That will be $5,000.' The woman, taken aback, said, 'Five thousand dollors? But, it only took you five minutes!' 'No, madam,' replied Picasso, 'it has taken me all my life.'
--What You're Really Charging for - Advertising Age

Abuse of power: This time it's personal

The arrest and manhandling of Edmund Bon at the Bar Council premises in connection with Human Rights Day banners were clear abuses of police powers, excessive use of force and public display of police contempt for human rights.
--Abdullah's Black Sunday for human rights on International Human Rights Day

Man. they arrested Edmund Bon. I guess my internal tipping point just tipped.

Edmund was my schoolmate way back when.

this brings it home, man.

way to win hearts and minds, BN.

I have always voted for you.

you were different then. you quashed all expressions. heh.

nowadays you're only quashing certain voices. which is the same as endorsing the opinions of those you don't silence, isn't it?

which puts us in a quandary. it's no longer even the pragmatic thing to vote for BN, as it used to be. back then we were all equally compromising (or is it that we were all equally compromised?).

now that some of us are clearly more equal than others of us, there's no point in the others of us propping up the institution that once kept the status quo, is there?

because the status is clearly becoming more and more unquo.

God.

once, Sivin used a slide as a sermon illustration. it was a shot of a magazine's front page. I can't remember the cover story or what the point was (sorry, man), but I remember that at the top of the magazine cover was a teaser headline for an article inside. it shouted:

Proton's new strategy--make cars that people want to buy

it was so ironic that it's stuck with me for good.

in the same vein, incumbents, if you want people to vote for you, do things that will make them like you. it shouldn't be too hard to grasp.

unless you don't really need their votes, eh?

or you find it easier to get people to hate your opponents rather than like you. God help us; I think that is easier.

all these actions on the part of the government lately have me wondering, what are they so scared of?

really, I conjecture, but I don't really know.

at the same time, it's not easing running a country--any country. spare a thought and a prayer for the government, will you?

but for goodness' sake, don't mollycoddle them.

Filo Filing: how to do Everything on your list

Back in March I gave a presentation at work on a little but powerful concept.

it's the stack.

the stack is a first in, last out system. queue theorists and computer programmers would be familiar with it.

the rest of us can use this stepchild of the law of gravity to our advantage, for deciding priorities and actions to take in the present moment.

the preso is here in PDF format. I'm continually fine tuning this thing in the hopes that it would help more people get things done, in the spirit of GTD (Getting Things Done).

take a look at the preso. tell me your thoughts.

PS: I'm afraid I don't have all the credit notices for the images used, which were licensed via Creative Commons on Flickr. that's something I will definitely rectify over time...

Learning from Bill Bernbach and the Kancil Awards 2006

Yea, I know that this year's Kancil Awards concluded not too long ago.

sometime in September, I gave a presentation at work, drawing on the 2006 Kancils to illustrate some of Bill Bernbach's famous quotes.

here's the presentation PDF...

(the Kancil Awards are like the Grammies of the local Malaysian advertising scene...)

Forever is a tad long, isn't it?

Listening to How Great Is Our God, the last song my mother sang, I realised once more that I will never, ever see her again in this life. not counting dreams. I had one, two nights ago. maybe I should tell you about that one, too. but it was just a short video clip. like a 20-second spot.

anyway, it's an unreal feeling, knowing you will never, ever see a person again. it's not like losing touch after high school or a good friend emigrating away or anything like that.

it's...

so... final.

this is new to me.

Ever wonder where the phrase "sea of humanity" came from?

I can't help feeling like they're floating in sweat...

A viral video that causes a mild infection

Gmail's collaborative video is somewhat entertaining. but what is its point? I guess if the point was to be somewhat entertaining, then it's spot on... if the point was to create a viral video that people would share with their friends, then it's also spot on, in this case. after all, I am blogging about it aren't I? even though it's just somewhat entertaining...