olddog-samesame

To have 100,000 courageous people marching through the streets in one of the most repressive country in the world is simply awe inspiring. The initial quiet protest of a few hundred saffron cladded monks in Yangon, Myanmar was hardly news worthy. However, in one short week the momentum and ground swell of the protest has surged to an incredible 100,000 people. People’s Power in Myanmar has reawaken and reached a crucial threshold. Are we witnessing the dawn of a new chapter in the history of Myanmar? What unfolds in the next few weeks will determine the fate of the nation. The students lead protest 19 years ago was brutally crushed. Crack down by the military junta had already started yesterday with 4 people reported killed. How much more blood will be spilled on the streets of Myanmar. How many more martyrs has to be sacrificed before the regime is brought to its knees by the sheer will of the people. History tells us that the indomitable spirit of the people cannot be repressed forev

Though not particularly crazy about football in general and EPL in particular (except for the World Cup), the news that the “Special One” was fired from Chelsea still struck a discordant note in my mind. Jose Mourinho is a brilliant, colourful young coach (in sharp contrast to MU’s mouldy Fergie). The results he achieved in 3 short years with Chelsea are irrefutable. Besides bringing Chelsea to the forefront of English Football, he has brought character and excitement to the dull EPL. Sacking him will go down as a grave mistake in the history of English football. In a 3rd World country like Malaysia, it is the politicians and monarchy that run the show in the FA. The criteria to held a high post is a sports body in not how much you know about the game but rather your political clout or how high is your pegging order up the hierarchy ladder. A good example in point was the recent non-contest election of KK the " son-in-law " to the post of deputy president in the FAM. Is ther

Most golfers in Malaysia were ecstatic when Astro added the Golf Channel to their service a few months back. The euphoria dissipated just as soon. The expectation that all major golfing events around the world will be shown live 24/7 did not materialise. Apparently the willingness of Astro to pay for the transmission rights plays a major part in the limited coverage we end up with. What is offered instead is a lot of reruns on golf instructions, some dated years back. Nevertheless, being new in Malaysia, any golf program will still generate some interest in the golfing fraternity. A few of my golf buddies even credited their better score for the day to watching the instructions on the Golf Channel. The trouble with most Malaysian golfers is the lack of golfing basics. Very few ever bother to take a single golf lesson from the pros. Most of these home bred, self taught middle aged golfers also have very inflated egos. Having read a “Golfing for Idiots” instruction book or two already ma

With a school going child in the house, the issue of giving something to the teachers always bothers me. It will not cross my mind in a million years that such a need arise, but with the wife it is a different kettle of fish all together. The beginning of each school year starts with the giving of diary and calendar, follows by oranges and cakes for CNY , pens and flowers on Teacher’s Day, moon cake for the Mid Autumn Festival, etc. etc. And teacher is not confined to the Form Teacher but includes the tuition teacher, the piano teacher, the day care centre teacher, the transporter, etc. etc. The very act of giving to teachers - is it a gift or bribe? Webster online dictionary defines GIFT as something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation and BRIBE as something that serves to induce or influence. The definitions and distinction between the 2 acts is very clear. Bearing gifts to relatives, close friends, colleagues or neighbors on special occasions is a l

A couple of weeks back, while driving around USJ10 Taipan and looking for a place to have dinner, we came across this new restaurant with a sign board offering the original “Under the Bridge” Klang Bak Kut Teh. We ventured in with great expectation to try out the new found place and were rather disappointed. The concoction tasted like any run off the mill BKT, not even on par with the fare sold by any of the BKT shops in SS15. So when informed by an East Malaysian residing in KL that he is taking visiting relatives to savour the famous BKT in Klang, we took the opportunity to tag along. The corner shop is located in Taman Berkley adjacent to a Guardian pharmacy and opposite the Alliance Bank. Our verdict – not bad but definitely not the Numero Uno. So the search for the real McCoy continues. We must have eaten at scores of BKT shops over the years. The closest to perfection (according the wife and I) is that sold by the BKT shop on the main road in Klang town centre. The corner shop lo

Air Asia touched down at Phuket Airport at 1:20PM on Sat 17 August 2007. The moment we stepped out of the arrival hall, the sky opened up to welcome us with a heavy down pour. A tout approached us on rental car. After some negotiation, got ourselves a good deal. A Toyota Vios for 48 hours at1800 Baht, much less than the official quoted rates. The return taxi fare to and fro from the airport alone would cost more than half the rental price and we have the convenience of own transport. Surely a good start although it rained all the way in the 45 minutes drive to Patong beach. Unfortunately the weather was crappy. The persistent intermittent rain continued right through to the early hours of Monday. Shopping at the street stalls was virtually out of question. So we hang around at the new shopping mall Jungceylon. Things sold were not particularly exciting and @ departmental store price. The petulant and whining daughter made the evening even more tiring. So we decided to return to the hot

I accidentally caught the movie showing over Channel 23 on Astro over the Merdeka weekend. I have not watched a Malay movie in donkey years. The refreshing inter ethnic romantic theme was a pleasant surprise. The story line does not even sounds plausible, for a young Malay school girl to fall in love with a VCD selling Ah Beng (copper head and all) but I was piqued enough to watch from the beginning to the end. In fact, I even stayed up to 1:00 AM to watch the sequel Gubra which was shown immediately after Sepet. Unfortunately, Gubra was not as good. The effort to promote multi ethnic understanding within Malaysia by this new generation director and producer is definitely laudable. 3 September 2007

MY PC KOed What a disaster. A few days back, my daughter accidentally unplugged the power supply while I was surfing the net. The damn thing blacked out and would not start up properly again - going in loops starting up the window cycle indefinitely in perpetual restart. My attempts with F8 and starting up in safe mood and all other available different combinations also failed to boot up the CPU. Shutting down and restarting repeatedly also failed to do the job. So the only option left was to call the computer guy. After 3 days and repeated calls to the computer wizard, he came back with the bad news. My hard disk had crashed. With that all the accumulated files, data, photographs saved over the years just disappeared forever. Duh!!!!!!! What an idiot. Why didn't I kept a back up copy in a CD. What's most agonizing is the lost of those irreplaceable family photographs taken over the years... including the most recent photographs taken in Phuket a few weeks back. Hmmm maybe that