Chomsky & Foucault - Justice versus Power whose law is fair and just?

Why Religion is Outdated in the 21st Century - Lawrence Krauss

Looking back to those days

Nostalgia 

Listening to Suet Fun's audio recording reading from her book of poems "Discourse with birds" brought me back to those days when we were full of fire.Now that fire has dimmed and our brain slowly turning foggy trying to recall those days.Sitting in the concourse,talking about everything under the sun.Going to the economics faculty canteen to drink copious cups of teh tarik,munching on curry puffs and whining about the assignments which we had to go to the main library to do research.Me being diverted to read not the recommended selected readings but forbidden love of chin ping mei or golden lotus or carson mc cullers the heart is a lonely hunter to yasunari kawabata "the snow country.'
 Then the cookout in my kitchen in which we ate non stop without worrying about weight gain. Or driving down to Klang to savour seafood or meditating in a retreat in pangkor island and asked not to swat the annoying mosquitos for its a sentient being.Watching a blazing red sunset under the coconut palms.
           How fast time flies,Now we attend funerals more than weddings ,spending more on medication than junk food.Age is catching up and I feel it in my bones (especially after the knee turns creaky after zumba) I splurge on luxury not of ice cream and cakes but my massage and ointments."Those were the days my friends,we thought they will never end" 


 The words were hanging by a thread
trying to escape the edge of my lips
"Do you remember the time when.....
But now your voice is silenced
while I stifle a small cry that threatens to tear me up
oh shut up your mournful music
and let me see your crazy dance
hearts warming to the beat of drums
as the waves crush upon the sandy shore
and the pale moon  drift behind the clouds
as if one day the music will die

 

Has Humanity conquered nature?

Looking at the effects of devastation caused by climate change,do you think Man has conquered forces of nature.From wild fires that strike dry areas of California,bush fires in Australia,floods due to global warming,more severe tsunamis and hurricanes,tornados,have we reached the anthropocene age in which the effects of men's activities has changed our environment to the irreversible point.
                 When temperate fruit commercial farming on a large scale drains up the groundwater,loss of trees for retention of ground water,increase in surface temperature due to global warming ,overgrazing of plant cover due to animal husbandry,building of dense residential and commercial districts requiring massive water supplies, all may possibly contribute to droughts,famine and lack of drinking water in the near future.how prepared are world government for dealing with natural disasters on a regular basis?
              We need to question the powers that control the circumstances of people in all countries.Governments need to consider and address problems concerning environmental destrruction -farming that drains ground water that is a source of drinking water for humans,deforestation leading to desertification,the melting of polar glaciers that cause rise in sea level and threaten coastal cities,wildfires cause widespread loss of lives and property
             Humans are the only species hell bent on self destruction.Through centuries ,the population boom was controlled through natural disasters like earthquakes,volcanic eruption,or drought and famine or manmade disasters like nuclear war and pandemic.With science we managed to mitigate the devastations of natural disasters but still initiate manmade disasters to drive ourselves to extinction.
          So when we overconsume ,we tun to mass commercial farming to increase food production with effects of pollution of the soil and water.Pesticides,herbicides and so on cause loss of fertility of soil and toxify the food chain.
      To increase survival rate of mass production of livestock like hens and pigs ,we pump them with growth hormones and antibiotics,so when a strong antibiotic resistant virus mutates like avian and swine flu,it will decimate huge populations of livestock with poor immune system.Instead those  wildlife stock retain a strong immune system and when people consume wildlife like nomad hunters eating infected monkeys or infected blood of primates come into contact with open wounds of humans,,AIDS virus is transmitted to human or when wildlife infects human host,we are vulnerable to these alien virus.So humans should stop consumption of exotic anamals like pangolin,civet cats,bats or snakes  to prevent driving wildllife to extinction and driving ourselves to extinction by  infection with strong mutated virus.Maybe vegetaranism is the more sustainable lifestyle for the future.But cultural traits are hard to erase like Japanese consumption of whales,dolphins,sea urchins and Chinese consumption of wildlife like rats ,snakes and bats.

writing uncensored

When people are "oversensitive" and take offence at anything they perceive as a slight or insult,then freedom to create without restraints and censorship becomes a hindrance to creatives from advertisements,animation,drama or novels.Malaysian creatives likke Tash Aw,Tan Twan Eng,Preeta Samasaran,directors like Tsai Ming Liang,writers like Huzir Sulaiman can thrive only in a foreign land.Then we claim them as Malaysians but far from the restrictions of the motherland,they have space to grow.Only Kee Thuan Chye could get away with We could F@$ you Mr Birch as it was satirising whitemen.
           I exhort readers and viewers to read between the lines as that which is left unsaid speaks volumes.Why dont we hear narratives about the Hindu Buddhist digs at Bujang Valley or did they know many parts of SEA were ruled by ancient kingdoms of Majapahit or by the Chola kings of southern India.We have to learn to dig up our own facts and not rely on books written by blinkered writers who can whitewash information.So why deny that the MPAJA had played a role to fight against the Japanese invaders who were victimising the Chinese? Why make the comfort women into "greedy prostitutes" when they were forced against their will to be sex slaves?
 History is written by victors so we need Howard Zinn to open our eyes to the suppressed story of Red Indians,the black slaves and etc.If we dont learn from history,we're doomed to repeat it.Keep the narratives of nuclear bomb victims alive so that before they release nuclear contaminated waste into surrounding oceans,the suffering of these victims serve as canaries in a cold mine.

inflation erodes purchasing power

Food and necessities are getting more costly than the rise in wages.
When oil subside is removed and oil price is floated according to market rate,the price of electricity,food,public transport and medicine will sky rocket and msian common folk quality of life will drop.Then water tariff go up and price of food will go up again.We also suffer when ringgit is devalued and price of food imported increases.
          I dont understand why locally grown fruit ,vegetable and fish is more expensive than imported ones despite many goods needing an approved permit to be imported into the nation.Fish like saba from Japan is cheaper than the ikan kembong,salmon is cheaper than ikan kurau and razor clam imported from Holland cheaper than the sabah ones.
          With block chain logistics,the source of food can be traced and contamination can be prevented unlike local wet markets that have poor refrigeration and food spoilage high.
            Good health is essential for a happy lifestyle.We need to introduce food nutrition and preparation to schoolchildren so that they dont suffer from obesity or food poisoning.We often hear how people eating at food catered for public functions have food poisoning or lack training in food storage.

I love rainy days

The haze has gone and the rainy season is back.There is negative ion on the air and its so calming.I love the sound of rain pitter patter on the window,a cool breeze chills the niteand I curl up in my arm chair reading "convenience store woman" by sayaka murata and chuckling at her observation.
            "The baby started to cry.Mysister hurriedly picked him up and tried to soothe him.What a lot of hassle I thought.I looked at the small knife we"d used to cut te cake still lying there on the table:if it was just a matter of making him quiet,it would be easy enough.
                  I love understated humour.Sayaka murata was a closet novelist working at small jobs in convenience stores while she kept on writing her narratives.really the experiencebenefitted herwriting as thecattention to details is reaistic and meticulous.
                 I love Japanese novelists especially yoko ogawa.