Category: Uncategorized

I like to read TheStar when they report on the silliness of our parliamentarians on both sides of the divide. Recently, there was a minor stunt by our opposition MPs, who have decided to politicise my idea of cycling to work. According to the article:

Four Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) MPs – Tian Chua (Batu), Hee Loy Sian (PJ Selatan), N. Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai) and Zulkifli Nordin (Kulim Bandar Baru) – cycled to Parliament Monday as a mark of protest against the recent fuel hike.

Tian Chua said move was also to “appeal to the Cabinet Ministers to understand the difficulty in using bicycles or public transport” in the country. “Changing of lifestyles is not as easy as what the Government claims,” he told reporters.

He said that he and the three others had taken about 20 minutes to cycle from Bank Negara to the Dewan Rakyat. “It’s a difficult task because the road transport system here is not designed for bicycle use and cyclists will face problems cruising around town,” he said.

The opposition MPs should not have called it a protest. As protests go, this is a very silly and gimmicky stunt. They used to do really good protests but this is certainly not one. They should have positively spun it as an act of support for the government’s call to ubah gaya hidup (change lifestyles). It can also be spun as being an environmentally friendly move on their part. But no, they had to spin it as a lame attempt at a protest against the price hike. Silly.

Then, we have another MP from the ruling coalition, who calls the stunt, a cheap gimmick that is suitable for kids. He could have come up with something better, and praise the opposition MPs for supporting the government’s position on fuel prices and changing their lifestyle. He could even say that the ruling coalition MPs would lead by example and cycle over short distances. But instead, he claims that he isn’t stupid and he isn’t going to cycle, which implies that only stupid people follow the government’s call of ubah gaya hidup.

Wah, I just read something very interesting recently. Goodness knows if they’re true or not but it is quite likely. Here is an email that I took verbatim from another random blog:

Do what you like.

The price of gasoline at the petrol station is set by the Government, not PETRONAS. PETRONAS has done its patriotic duty by paying the dividends, royalties, corporate tax, petroleum tax etc to the Government for YOUR benefit (rakyat lah).

And bear in mind that 30% of its revenue comes from overseas operations, thus bringing in foreign exchange to the country.

OK. Assuming that you buy this idea proposed by whomever it was.

So PETRONAS will have reduced revenues. Bear in mind that the costs of operations are also increasing. So the profits are reduced. Then PETRONAS and other oil companies pay less tax.

Then the Government will have less revenue. (Note: at least 40% of Government revenue for 2007 came from the oil industry). With less revenue, there will be less Government projects (you can then forget about bridges and highways, and rail tracks, and smart schools and not-so-smart universities, and hospitals, etc). So contractors and consultants, and con-sultans and con-cronies will cry and scream. Makan batu lah..

The Government has already announced freezing of recruitment. So, many new graduates will be unemployed. Makan batu lagi. Maggi mee pun tak mampu dah. Later, all sorts of allowances for civil servants will have to be withdrawn. Treasury tak cukup duit.

On top of that the oil industry may have to scale back many of its new investments, totaling about 45 billion ringgit over the next few years. Contractors, service providers, steel fabricators, maritime service providers etc will join the ratapan tangisan – no jobs.

Don’t forget that PETRONAS is sponsoring thousands of students in universities and even high schools – at any one time there are more than 4,500 university students being sponsored by PETRONAS in Malaysian universities and overseas. Also more than 2,000 high school children receive minor scholarships – children of poor families.

Kalau PERTRONAS tak ada duit, kesian lah mereka di atas tu. Shall I ask them to see the proposer of this idea (to boycott PETRONAS) and seek help from them instead?

So, it is to YOUR benefit that you make sure PETRONAS keeps making enough money to support YOUR Government so that your children can continue to go to school without paying for fees and books, and to go to universities at peanuts rates.

CONCLUSION: Help yourself and your family and your country by making sure that PETRONAS keeps making profits. Go to the nearest PETRONAS station and fill up now!! Don’t forget that if you go to non-Petronas station, the profits that these companies get will go their shareholders OVERSEAS.

So, be patriotic. Do your duty. Go to PETRONAS!!

(I hope you guys will help to send this response to as many contacts as possible to counter this subversive proposal).

Rosti B Saruwono – Datuk Dr (VP_Edu/PETH)

Personally, I have no knowledge on the authenticity of this email. I do know Dr Rosti, though not on a personal level. I have no reason to suspect that this email is a fake. As PETRONAS’s VP of Education, he is in charge of the ESU as well as the various PETRONAS owned educational institutions, including a full fledge university. So, he definitely knows PETRONAS hiring policies and has his finger on the wider job market pulse.

If what he says about the government freezing hiring is true, then it will have effect on the overall economy and well being of the country. Our civil service has generally been a sort of last minute employer, putting a large number of people on payroll, in order to help reduce the unemployment rate in Malaysia. Through GLCs like PETRONAS, a similar policy is also practised to an extent.

If the freeze on hiring is because the government wishes to remove the crutches and encourage people to be independent and increase competition, then I think that it is a good move. However, if the hiring freeze is due to a monetary problem, as suggested by the text, then I’m a little worried. This taken with the idea of paying civil servants twice a month, makes the latter more plausible.

This has me very worried.

A government that is behaving as if it’s running out of cash, can be a little worrying. Our government has always been flush with oil money. So, I’m not sure if they would be able to handle the job if the fiscal conditions were tighter than before. If the situation does not improve quickly, I wonder if the government will actually do something unprecedented and start VSS-ing the civil servants.

Scary times indeed, but it’s all starting to make a lot more sense to me.

Why is everything so purple?

I’ve come to think that I lack a major life goal. You know, some sort of grand overarching plan (I’m not greedy enough to make wealth accumulation a goal). I feel like I need some sort of grand design that I can spend the rest of my life building and perfecting. The reason that I’ve been thinking like this is because I think that I need to further develop my existing skills, learn new skills and use them all (otherwise, they tend to atrophy).

Having some grand machine to build, would also give me something to focus on. Thus far, I have been cutting my chops on many little projects. It’s probably about time that I work on something a little bigger, that would benefit more than one (me) person in this world. I have devoted almost 20 years of my life to developing computer software and hardware skills. It’s about time that I did something useful with it.

A friend of mine has very ambitious plans, of the “change the world” variety. Personally, I’m a little more practical. I have a finite amount of resources and I’ll be happy to help on a much smaller scale. However, this would mean that I’ll need to identify an appropriately sized problem to tackle, which is proving to be a problem. So, the strategy that I’m taking, is to let the problem come to me.

Hopefully, the things that come to me will be useful.

This is just the most wonderful invention that I’ve come across in recent years. It’s called the Vilcus plug dactyloadapter and according to the website, it was created to solve the problem: Create an adapter for sticking fingers into electrical sockets.

Well, getting myself electrocuted on purpose isn’t something unknown to me. I have done it several times during my youth and I have lived to tell the tale. What can I say. We’ve all done silly things when we were young. At the very least, I can claim that it was educational.

I have always had a natural curiosity for all kinds of things. Just the other day, there were two big screen televisions and a camera sitting in the room that we used to do mark auditing. Being naturally curious, I walked up to it and toyed around with it. Little did I know that the room had been double booked for a tele-conference session. Since I had messed around with it, the technician wasn’t very happy. When he asked me why I touched it, I gave him the honest answer: it was sitting there (begging to be touched).

Since I was young, I’ve been curious about the nature of electricity. It played a role in every part of my life but I had no idea how it looked or felt like. So, I endeavoured to find out by conducting a series of little experiments, which involved exposing myself to a good jolt of 240V mains electricity. All I can say is that, it did not feel like anything else that I’ve ever felt before in my life.

When anyone asks me why I chose to go into double E engineering, I will relate my youthful indiscretions to them. The typical response that I get is one of shock and surprise. But honestly, I kind of liked it. This device is exactly what I need to get my fix.

I have found out that I am living in the same house as a few ball crashers! I have asked them about their adventures and it all sounds fairly exciting and interesting. This is May Week and there are so many Balls being held at the different colleges. So, it’s the busiest week in the year for the ball crashers.

The first interesting thing that I found out is that there are many groups of ball crashers working during this time of the year. There are some famous crashers that my friends have called the professionals. They are the people who go about crashing as many balls as possible and have all the necessary information to do so.

Information, that is the most important information that one needs to crash a ball. I was surprised to find that there are so many back doors into a ball and that these information were passed down from one generation of ball crashers onto the next. My friends had passed on some information to what they called noob crashers. You can always identify the noob crashers by the fact that they’re dressed in white.

Another tip that my friends told me was not to crash a ball with girls in tow. I can imaging how it might be difficult for a young lady in a beautiful ball dress, to climb over the walls and fences necessary to infiltrate a party. It may also involve trudging through the bushes and trees in order to avoid the ever vigilant guards who are working security on the grounds.

And the guards can get rather sneaky at times. My friends told me that they met a guard last night, who actually turned off his torchlight and tried to catch them in the dark. It was only when they heard the sound of someone moving through the bushes and decided to retreat, that the light came out. Then, my friends ran away as quick as they could.

The only punishment for getting caught crashing a ball is a quick escort off the grounds. This makes the punishment as £0 and the pay off, potentially worth more than a £100 per ball. This is no wonder why the ball crashers actually bother to try. It is a challenge with no risk and a decent pay off of more than £1,000 if they crash as many balls as possible successfully. However, there is a possibility of injury. A friend of mine hurt himself last year, as he was trying to escape from a guard. While running through the bushes, he tripped and fell. As a result, he hurt his leg.

I actually gave my mates a few ideas to crash a ball and they may try it tonight. I even told them that they should actually formalise this activity, have an underground ball crashers society or something. Information is the most important commodity when trying to infiltrate security. Inside information would be even more valuable. If you have a few friends who are on ball committees, the information gleaned there could be invaluable.

My friends said that the knowledge pool is a two-edged sword since the people working security could also use the information to plug the holes. My argument is that this is good. It is just a process of evolution which will result in the ultimate ball crashing strategy coming on top. You will end up seeing more elaborate schemes being hatched to defeat an ever improving security.

Exciting.

PS: According to my friends, Google maps comes in really handy when you need to scout out the location.

A recent news article says that our government is looking at adopting a system whereby motorists can buy a fixed amount of subsidised fuel each month and pay for the rest at market rate. Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the system includes providing Malaysian motorists with a special card for buying subsidised fuel. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said that the present cash rebate system was not the perfect long-term solution, judging from the crowds of people rushing to collect their rebates. Shahrir said that as this was the first time the rebates were being given, there was plenty of room for it to be upgraded and improved upon.

All these important members of the cabinet, speaking on the issue, barely days after the fuel rebate system was kicked into service by the government, just does not make me sleep well at night. It clearly shows that this decision was rashly made without any sort of planning beyond the type that you do on the back of a napkin. However, that is not the main problem that I have with the whole idea of introducing a fuel card system.

Personally, I just see this fuel card system as a way for certain people to make more money. I do not understand why the government needs to issue a new card system for millions of citizens in the country, when everyone already owns the GMPC MyKad. Each and every one of us already has a smart card that holds our personal information.

Incidentally, with some foresight, our driving license information is already stored on these cards. The Road Transport Department (JPJ), is in charge of both motor vehicle registrations as well as issuing and renewing driving licences. Regardless of whether the rebate is per vehicle or per driver, the relational information between vehicle owners and valid drivers is already sitting in their databases.

On top of that, the MyKad is also tied to the MEPS system, which allows it to serve as a debit card. Therefore, the necessary framework for building a complete fuel payment and rebate system is already present on the card itself. As biometric information is also stored on the card, this can be used as an authentication layer and extra security level on the card.

There is seriously no need to build a completely new and independent system for this. Building a new an independent system would just incur unnecessary costs. It would mean that new smart cards would need to be issued. On top of that, an untested kludge would be needed to rebate someone on the fuel costs, extra to any present financial system already in place.

With the distribution of an extra card and payment system, I envision a new market cropping up for the sale and purchase of these cards. Assuming that the card allows certain amounts of fuel to be bought at below market rates, people who do not end up using their allocation of fuel will be able to sell their fuel balance to others, thus making themselves some cash. Assuming that the card has a total rebate value of RM625, anyone who needs a quick dose of cash could easily sell off the cards for RM500.

Either way, what happens is that the people who guzzle fuel, will end up abusing the system. What we actually need is a way to piggyback existing technology that is tested and secure. The MyKad already has authentication, payment and driving license information stored in it. The petrol kiosks are already securely connected to the banking networks through the credit card processing system.

Whenever fuel is purchased at the pump, the owner of the MyKad can be verified by visual inspection of the photograph, or by using a fingerprint reader. The license information can be captured along with the bank account information. These can be sent back through the banking network to the banks. The banks can then verify the information with JPJ and apply the rebates either as a discount on the payment or by debiting the person’s account directly, through the MEPS system which all the local banks tie into.

So, I don’t like this idea that is being bandied about. Period.

Alternative energy, especially renewable power, is an exciting area of work in engineering today. Everyone in the world seems to be interested in it. The trouble in the past, was that oil was extremely cheap. So, there was no impetus to push for alternative sources of energy. But the rising oil prices is changing all this and if it ever hits $200 a barrel, alternative energy technologies will be mighty cheap in comparison.

So, I was just thinking about things back in Malaysia. This is an interesting area of engineering research that I think our country could possibly contribute to. We have an abundance of sun, which is a practically infinite source of energy. Solar power is an obvious was to capture this energy. However, biofuels are another way to capture and convert direct energy from the sun.

Solar technology is fairly mature. The main problem in this area is efficiency. So, further research into this area would involve finding new materials or fabrication technologies to improve the conversion efficiencies. However, this is a high technology field. There is also another lower technology field that merely exploits the thermal energy put out by the sun. That is what’s used in many homes to generate their hot water, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Abundant thermal energy can be used for a variety of other applications.

The biofuel option is still in it’s infancy. As the world’s #1 exporter of palm oil, we already have an abundant source of potential energy. The key is to figure out how to harness this energy as a conventional energy source. However, palm oil isn’t the only potential source of biofuels. A lot of people are also looking at potential sources of ethanol. But there is a natural limit for any biological fuel source, that is the available land area. It is unlikely that any area developed as a farm, could double as anything else at the same time.

However, beyond developing technologies, we need to focus more on prudent exploitation. Land area is the limiting factor in either case and it would be useful to learn how to best manage a finite plot of land. Also, biofuel crops depend on the mineral content in the ground to grow. Therefore, the ultimate limiting factor will once again be the minerals in the ground.

I’m starting to believe in Stephen Hawking’s call for us to seriously explore extra-solar colonisation. It will ultimately, be our only salvation.

PS: It is now possible to build water pipes in silicon. This will allow us to construct solar cells that can convert photonic energy to free electrons, and convert thermal energy into steam. This can all be built on the same bulk silicon. It’ll also help to cool down all the solar cells that are being baked 12 hours a day, prolonging it’s lifespan and reducing maintenance costs.