Saving Energy

Our PM has asked the people a number of measures to help conserve energy. The first issue he raised was about closing lights for 5 minutes like on the first example 8:45 to 8:50 to conserve energy. Another issue placed was asking cars not to run faster than 90 kph. As noticed the measures were only placed after record deficits in the country's account caused by energy consumption, which makes the measures seem to be more of a knee-jerk reaction than actually a well thought out plan.

On a strange note, here is my recommendations to fix the problem which I came out years ago:

1) Discard the PM Airforce One Project and ask the PM to fly on commercial jets.
2) Ask MP and VIP to discard their huge fleet of escort when they travel around the city to conserve energy
3) Ask the mobile parliment session to be conducted in the open, with no aircon
4) Address the urgent need for people to use public transport
5) Ask people to carpool
6) Stop subsidizing diesel fuel
7) Increase fuel taxes to discourage spending
8) Make personal vehicles harder to obtain
9) Increase taxes on luxurious and unneccessary high CC vehicles
10) Ask people to sleep earlier and wake up earlier

Interesting isn't it? I mean some of the policies aren't that hard to implement, but strangely enough they aren't. Maybe its got to do with vested interest, or simple shortsightness?

Satire of Today's World Leaders

Anguished cries of "Never Again!" followed by inaction will never save the lives of innocent victims.

Satire of Today's World Leaders

Ponderings about Hotel Rwanda

Last week, I had the opportunity to watch Hotel Rwanda. For those who aren't familiar with Rwanda, I would like to point out that Rwanda is a small nation in the countinent of Africa, and is notoriously known all around the world after the genocide that transpire during 1994. During the course of 3 months of insanity and apathy by the world circle, approximately a million Rwanda were killed. This movie is a portrayal of one of a modern hero, Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who converted his hotel into a sanctuary housing over a thousand Tutsis refugees during their struggle for survival against the rampaging Hutu militia in Rwanda. Hotel Rwanda is a movie that is similar to Paul's struggle during that dire time to keep him, his family, and all the refuges alive in the face of worldwide apathy.






After I finish watching this film and through this emotional rollercoaster portrayal of the ugliest and also the most beautiful of human endeavors, it made me want to review some of the key players in the time for more tilt on the semi-autobiographical film. For example, I do want to point that as on another similar film - Schindler's List, after going through historical records, there has been numerous suspicions that Schindler may have not been as clean as portrayed in the movie. Though Schindler may have been responsible for saving the lifes of a handful of Jews during the WWII period, questions were raised that was the motive profit more than humanity? Though he didn't share the passion of many of his Nazi colleagues that were savagely exterminating the Jews, it may be noted that he may have used Jews as labor, and when the invading Allies came, he switched his tale to portray him in good light in front of the war tribunal. Though it could be both ways, we can notice that the film has definitely casted Schindler in an angelic hue. Now in my own suspicion, I also wanted to know more about some of the characters portrayed in the film, such as Paul himself, Colonel Oliver who was the representative of the UN during the conflict, and also more about the conflict itself.

My first intial probing into the matter came in a vary famous exchange early in the film when a TV crewman were asking who were the people involved in the conflict. After a quick exchange of dialogue, he found that there were the Hutu and the Tutsi. In the film it claims that Belgium colonist created the seperation between the two. Tutsi were Africans with desirable european features whereas Hutu were the normal africans. The european gave the Tutsi power to run over the land, which didn't sit well the majority Hutu. Also by stamping ID cards with classification, it also allowed people to be easily classify who were who, much similar to people of different religions who hold different sacred artifacts. With the vacuum of power, and the long standing simmering tensions, genocide broke out. On a curious note, the comments posted on the film were rather untrue, as in reality Hutu and Tutsi already existed as separate tribes when Europeans first arrived. However the colonization powers by permanently seperating and IDing of the two tribes facilitated the later genocides.

Colonel Oliver who was portrayed as the UN commander who tried his best to stop the conflict is in reality is Lt.-Gen. (Ret.) Roméo Dallaire. Similar to the film this Canadian UN peacekeeper who was incharge of approximately a few hundred multinational UN peacekeepers in Rwanda during the eye of the storm and was seriously lacking in support, authority, and firepower which limited his ability in resolving the conflict. Though with a handful of UN peacekeepers, he managed to keep a small safe area around Kigali and allowed NGOs to help relieve the suffering of the people. He has also writen a reflection on his time there called Shake Hands with the Devil : The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda.

According to the author, about 15 UN peacekeepers died--over 800,000 Rwandans died. The number 15 is not larger because Belgium, Canada, and the US explicitly stated that Rwanda was "irrelevant" in any sense of the word, and not worth the death of a single additional Western (mostly white) soldier.

Robert D. Steele

During the film, it shows some Hutu militia throwing the helmets of UN weapon inspector at Colonel Oliver. In the reality, 15 UN peace keepers were killed during the conflict. The events in the movie must been portrayed the period in which 10 Belgium paratroopers who was assigned to guard a Rwanda PM was overwhelmed and killed by Hutu militia and a precursor to the Belgium withdrawal of UN peacekeepers for the country.

Regarding the World apathy to the conflict, it is a good idea to look at the events worldwide. During that time, the US apathy could be accredited to two major conflicts elsewhere around the world where US forces faced huge setbacks. As in Somalia - in which events have been popularized in another movie Black Hawk Down, and in Kosovo (Former Yugoslavia), scores of US peacekeepers were killed prompting to then US president Bill Clinton relunctant to send any more peace keepers than to pacify the general US population and to prevent jeopordizing his re-election campaign. Though mostly of political reasons, there has been a number of events that the US has done that runs shameless against the face of humanity. First of all General Dallaire requested the US to play planes with jammers over Rwanda to limit proporganda radio that instigated the Hutu to slaughter the Tutsi. The request was turned down. Another event was that neighboring countries were planning to send in peacekeepers and requested the US to send in APC to help facilitate the transport of troops. The US demanded $15 million dollars for the APC, and refused to allow the cars to move from Germany until the demand was met. The APCs never arrived. The last part that was the most damning, was the US ignorance, or simply apathy to Rwanda. As the US persistently refused to acknowledge there was genocide in Rwanda, it downplay the urgency for the rest of the world to act in this tradegy. Some more interesting discussion could be found here. In the movie, none of the above were mentioned, but its a good idea to look beyond the film into hard hitting issues.

On an interesting sidenote, the casual mention of corruption here makes me want to laugh at how this ugly human behavior has reared it ugly head accross our world.

Dube: Aah, that is a fine cigar, sir!
Paul Rusesabagina: This is a Cohiba cigar. Each one is worth 10,000 francs.
Dube: 10,000 francs?
Paul Rusesabagina: Yes, yes. But it is worth more to me than 10,000 francs.
Dube: What do you mean, sir?
Paul Rusesabagina: If I give a businessman 10,000 francs, what does that matter to him? He is rich. But, if I give him a Cohiba cigar straight from Havana, Cuba. Hey, that is style, Dube.
Dube: [smiles] Style!

To end off this long ramble, I wanted to point one of the most memorable quotes from Paul Resesabagina - as in the movie version:

Paul Rusesabagina: There will be no rescue, no intervention for us. We can only save ourselves. Many of you know influential people abroad, you must call these people. You must tell them what will happen to us... say goodbye. But when you say goodbye, say it as if you are reaching through the phone and holding their hand. Let them know that if they let go of that hand, you will die. We must shame them into sending help.

As you noticed, its rather upsetting to know many of the influential people would only do things that are right once they are shamed into doing so. Which talks about the CTX scandal - nothing is done until the media makes a big issue about it.

Oh well, don't forget to continue shaming bad people you know and never people you know forget about it ;)

The Country of Hypocrites

With increasing consumer and household debts over the last few years, the PM stated that it is important to control credit card lending and proposed increased scrunity on credit card approval procedures. On a hindsight, quick cash loans from other services were not mentioned at all.

With increased debt and inflation partly due to rising oil prices, there has been mention about tightening our belts on spending, yet on a hindsight, just for a mobile cabinent meeting, a 2 million baht meeting room was created just for the sake of one single meeting, before being demolished.

A few days before that, a certain minister came out explaining that it is important that our country must conserve energy and sets up a target to lower energy consumption by 20%. Yet on the day the mobile cabinent meeting was setup, the temporarily meeting room required a power generator that could supply electricity to a 10 story apartment to aircon the whole facility.

The country started to talk about moral issues, including the development of a moral center, yet it is so ironic that certain vices such as gambling has been long practiced by our members - in which new forms of lottery have been immensely popular.

No matter how successful the lottery was, the strange hindsight is that the same old government is not going to create a casino based on moral ground.

Yet when we look back on moral grounds, it is funny to see certain TV shows such as BigBrother and the Miss Universe show being arranged straight in the backyards of that country. Isn't showing women in skimpy outfit unmoral?

Though this is a moral country, it is like a slap in the face to see local politicians taking money from the lottery funds to donate to charity, yet siphoning it off to other causes - in which there has been little backlash from the PM as they belong to the same party. An even worse offense, was when a relief fund was completely stolen by some diabolic parties who decided enriching themselves is better than helping the life of thousands of people.

Also when there is huge campaign against smoking, somehow its funny to note that one of the largest tobacco company is actually state owned.

Corruption is a huge sin, which is practiced by new and inventive forms by the government, but it just pains to see many younger people so indifferent to this idea.

When people talk about privatization to improve performance of state enterprises, somehow it makes me wonder why not the unprofitable enterprises so that they can finally profitable, and not the profitable ones - unless the motive was for money?

When we talk about media openness in the country, somehow it is ironic to see so many shows - both radio, TV, and newspaper being pressured for being critical. We see foreign jounalists been deported from the country. Also to drive the final blow is that our community radios are being closed down - yet the PM goes on talking on his radio show about freedom.

In our country, talk is plenty, and it is cheap as usually little action proceeds from the talk. Pledges for disaters have only been pledges, and it ends there when the media attention is long gone.

Somehow its funny to think about all of this. Its a country of hypocrites, and somehow it just irks me to know that I'm closer to it than I can imagine.

All Because of StarWars Ep III

With the release of StarWars episode III just a short while ago, its hard not to hear about all the PR and buzz about the final installment of the movie. On related note, sometimes you can see people who try to find all conjuctions between what is in trend with practically anything they can get their hands on, like the following article from WeeklyStandard.com.

The Case for the Empire
From the May 16, 2002 Daily Standard: Everything you think you know about Star Wars is wrong.
by Jonathan V. Last, online editor
12/26/2002 12:00:00 AM

STAR WARS RETURNS today with its fifth installment, "Attack of the Clones." There will be talk of the Force and the Dark Side and the epic morality of George Lucas's series. But the truth is that from the beginning, Lucas confused the good guys with the bad. The deep lesson of Star Wars is that the Empire is good.

It's a difficult leap to make--embracing Darth Vader and the Emperor over the plucky and attractive Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia--but a careful examination of the facts, sorted apart from Lucas's off-the-shelf moral cues, makes a quite convincing case.

First, an aside: For the sake of this discussion, I've considered only the history gleaned from the actual Star Wars films, not the Expanded Universe. If you know what the Expanded Universe is and want to argue that no discussion of Star Wars can be complete without considering material outside the canon, that's fine. However, it's always been my view that the comic books and novels largely serve to clean up Lucas's narrative and philosophical messes. Therefore, discussions of intrinsic intent must necessarily revolve around the movies alone. You may disagree, but please don't e-mail me about it.

If you don't know what the Expanded Universe is, well, uh, neither do I.

I. The Problems with the Galactic Republic

At the beginning of the Star Wars saga, the known universe is governed by the Galactic Republic. The Republic is controlled by a Senate, which is, in turn, run by an elected chancellor who's in charge of procedure, but
has little real power.

Scores of thousands of planets are represented in the Galactic Senate, and as we first encounter it, it is sclerotic and ineffectual. The Republic has grown over many millennia to the point where there are so many factions and disparate interests, that it is simply too big to be governable. Even the Republic's staunchest supporters recognize this failing: In "The Phantom Menace," Queen Amidala admits, "It is clear to me now that the Republic no longer functions." In "Attack of the Clones," young Anakin Skywalker observes that it simply "doesn't work."

The Senate moves so slowly that it is powerless to stop aggression between member states. In "The Phantom Menace" a supra-planetary alliance, the Trade Federation (think of it as OPEC to the Galactic Republic's United Nations), invades a planet and all the Senate can agree to do is call for an investigation.

Like the United Nations, the Republic has no armed forces of its own, but instead relies on a group of warriors, the Jedi knights, to "keep the peace." The Jedi, while autonomous, often work in tandem with the Senate, trying to smooth over quarrels and avoid conflicts. But the Jedi number only in the thousands--they cannot protect everyone.

What's more, it's not clear that they should be "protecting" anyone. The Jedi are Lucas's great heroes, full of Zen wisdom and righteous power. They encourage people to "use the Force"--the mystical energy which is the source of their power--but the truth, revealed in "The Phantom Menace," is that the Force isn't available to the rabble. The Force comes from midi-chlorians, tiny symbiotic organisms in people's blood, like mitochondria. The Force, it turns out, is an inherited, genetic trait. If you don't have the blood, you don't get the Force. Which makes the Jedi not a democratic militia, but a royalist Swiss guard.

And an arrogant royalist Swiss guard, at that. With one or two notable exceptions, the Jedi we meet in Star Wars are full of themselves. They ignore the counsel of others (often with terrible consequences), and seem honestly to believe that they are at the center of the universe. When the chief Jedi record-keeper is asked in "Attack of the Clones" about a planet she has never heard of, she replies that if it's not in the Jedi archives, it doesn't exist. (The planet in question does exist, again, with terrible consequences.)

In "Attack of the Clones," a mysterious figure, Count Dooku, leads a separatist movement of planets that want to secede from the Republic. Dooku promises these confederates smaller government, unlimited free trade, and an "absolute commitment to capitalism." Dooku's motives are suspect--it's not clear whether or not he believes in these causes. However, there's no reason to doubt the motives of the other separatists--they seem genuinely to want to make a fresh start with a government that isn't bloated and dysfunctional.

The Republic, of course, is eager to quash these separatists, but they never make a compelling case--or any case, for that matter--as to why, if they are such a freedom-loving regime, these planets should not be allowed to check out of the Republic and take control of their own destinies.

II. The Empire

We do not yet know the exact how's and why's, but we do know this: At some point between the end of Episode II and the beginning of
Episode IV, the Republic is replaced by an Empire. The first hint comes in "Attack of the Clones," when the Senate's Chancellor Palpatine is granted emergency powers to deal with the separatists. It spoils very little to tell you that Palpatine eventually becomes the Emperor. For a time, he keeps the Senate in place, functioning as a rubber-stamp, much like the Roman imperial senate, but a few minutes into Episode IV, we are informed that the he has dissolved the Senate, and that "the last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away."

Lucas wants the Empire to stand for evil, so he tells us that the Emperor and Darth Vader have gone over to the Dark Side and dresses them in black.

But look closer. When Palpatine is still a senator, he says, "The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good." At one point he laments that "the bureaucrats are in charge now."

Palpatine believes that the political order must be manipulated to produce peace and stability. When he mutters, "There is no civility, there is only politics," we see that at heart, he's an esoteric Straussian.

Make no mistake, as emperor, Palpatine is a dictator--but a relatively benign one, like Pinochet. It's a dictatorship people can do business with. They collect taxes and patrol the skies. They try to stop organized crime (in the form of the smuggling rings run by the Hutts). The Empire has virtually no effect on the daily life of the average, law-abiding citizen.

Also, unlike the divine-right Jedi, the Empire is a meritocracy. The Empire runs academies throughout the galaxy (Han Solo begins his career at an Imperial academy), and those who show promise are promoted, often rapidly. In "The Empire Strikes Back" Captain Piett is quickly promoted to admiral when his predecessor "falls down on the job."

And while it's a small point, the Empire's manners and decorum speak well of it. When Darth Vader is forced to employ bounty hunters to track down Han Solo, he refuses to address them by name. Even Boba Fett, the greatest of all trackers, is referred to icily as "bounty hunter." And yet Fett understands the protocol. When he captures Solo, he calls him "Captain Solo." (Whether this is in deference to Han's former rank in the Imperial starfleet, or simply because Han owns and pilots his own ship, we don't know. I suspect it's the former.)

But the most compelling evidence that the Empire isn't evil comes in "The Empire Strikes Back" when Darth Vader is battling Luke Skywalker. After an exhausting fight, Vader is poised to finish Luke off, but he stays his hand. He tries to convert Luke to the Dark Side with this simple plea: "There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you. . . . Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy." It is here we find the real controlling impulse for the Dark Side and the Empire. The Empire doesn't want slaves or destruction or "evil." It wants order.

None of which is to say that the Empire isn't sometimes brutal. In Episode IV, Imperial stormtroopers kill Luke's aunt and uncle and Grand Moff Tarkin orders the destruction of an entire planet, Alderaan. But viewed in context, these acts are less brutal than they initially appear. Poor Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen reach a grisly end, but only after they aid the rebellion by hiding Luke and harboring two fugitive droids. They aren't given due process, but they are traitors.

The destruction of Alderaan is often cited as ipso facto proof of the Empire's "evilness" because it seems like mass murder--planeticide, even. As Tarkin prepares to fire the Death Star, Princess Leia implores him to spare the planet, saying, "Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons." Her plea is important, if true.

But the audience has no reason to believe that Leia is telling the truth. In Episode IV, every bit of information she gives the Empire is willfully untrue. In the opening, she tells Darth Vader that she is on a diplomatic mission of mercy, when in fact she is on a spy mission, trying to deliver schematics of the Death Star to the Rebel Alliance. When asked where the Alliance is headquartered, she lies again.

Leia's lies are perfectly defensible--she thinks she's serving the greater good--but they make her wholly unreliable on the question of whether or not Alderaan really is peaceful and defenseless. If anything, since Leia is a high-ranking member of the rebellion and the princess of Alderaan, it would be reasonable to suspect that Alderaan is a front for Rebel activity or at least home to many more spies and insurgents like Leia.

Whatever the case, the important thing to recognize is that the Empire is not committing random acts of terror. It is engaged in a fight for the survival of its regime against a violent group of rebels who are committed to its destruction.

III. After the Rebellion

As we all know from the final Star Wars installment, "Return of the Jedi," the rebellion is eventually successful. The Emperor is assassinated, Darth Vader abdicates his post and dies, the central governing apparatus of the Empire is destroyed in a spectacular space battle, and the rebels rejoice with their small, annoying Ewok friends. But what happens next?

(There is a raft of literature on this point, but, as I said at the beginning, I'm going to ignore it because it doesn't speak to Lucas's original intent.)

In Episode IV, after Grand Moff Tarkin announces that the Imperial Senate has been abolished, he's asked how the Emperor can possibly hope to keep control of the galaxy. "The regional governors now have direct control over territories," he says. "Fear will keep the local systems in line."

So under Imperial rule, a large group of regional potentates, each with access to a sizable army and star destroyers, runs local affairs. These governors owe their fealty to the Emperor. And once the Emperor is dead, the galaxy will be plunged into chaos.

In all of the time we spend observing the Rebel Alliance, we never hear of their governing strategy or their plans for a post-Imperial universe. All we see are plots and fighting. Their victory over the Empire doesn't liberate the galaxy--it turns the galaxy into Somalia writ large: dominated by local warlords who are answerable to no one.

Which makes the rebels--Lucas's heroes--an unimpressive crew of anarchic royals who wreck the galaxy so that Princess Leia can have her tiara back.

I'll take the Empire.

Jonathan V. Last is online editor of The Weekly Standard.

Recommended Jazz/New Age CDs

During the last few months, I've been in a Jazz/New Age buying spree, and I've bought myself a total of about a dozen or so CDs on this theme. I just thought about recommending a few of them:

Artist: Jaja
Album: Jaja
Genre: Fusion Jazz

Description: The first album of Jaja, this album is a simple example of smooth fusion jazz that is easy and simple to listen to, and quite melodic also. Many people said it reminds them of Kenny G during the earlier years before he became alittle too pop.

Artist: Jeanette Alexander
Album: Open Skies
Genre: New Age/Meditation Music

Description: A rather strange album due to its instrumental simplicity but profound meolody. I don't really know how to classify it, but it seems to be a crossover between new age, meditational, and spiritual music. A recommended buy for those who want to take some time off their hectic schedules.

PacMan Turns 25

Its strange. After browsing through CNN.COM I've noticed a very interesting article that brought me back memory lane. No its not a thing about a place or a tradition or someone that I know well, but its about a game that I've been playing rather often in my earlier years - a simple game of PacMan.

Its an interesting sidenote on how the designer who came up with the idea of PacMan after eating part of his pizza and made it a worldwide phenomenon as one of the most loved arcade games of history. I've just heard PacMan turned 25 today, and somehow it just felt like yesterday. How time does flies doesn't it?

Tribute to Pacman at CNN.COM

Planning for a VISA to the US?

If you are in BKK Thailand, and planning to apply for a VISA to the US, it might be interesting to read about one of my friend's struggle to get one, and what you should know if you go there:

http://xtercy.blogspot.com/2005/05/apply-for-visa-to-us.html

Why Do We Drive in the Left Side of the Road but Walk on the Right?

Why Do We Drive in the Left Side of the Road but Walk on the Right?

Have you ever noticed that we drive on the left side of the road, but when you go up the elevated walkway, they ask people to stay to the right? Notice the disrepency? What do you think the reason why it is so? Take a few minutes, think about it. Once you are done, feel free to scroll down and compare your answers with mines.










































Here are the list of possible theories:
1) When people go up the stairs, it is likely that most people especially older people who need to grabble the stairs. Since most people are right handed, it is likely why we walk up the elevated walkway on the right side.
2) It is noted that it is safer if a person on the footpath on the opposite direction that the car is traveling. This is safer as it allows you to avoid cars in cases of accidents when it veers out of direction into the footpath. That extends to the elevated walkway theory.

Any more theories? Free free to comment!

Fingers Crossed on Simulator

I used to remember writing fractal programs when I was younger and practicing programming. If you don't know what fractal graphics are, let me just show you some pictures of fractal graphics (note - pictures were taken from http://www.cosmiclight.com/)





Basically Fractal graphics is a complex mathematical formula in which can be used to generate intricate, interesting, and repeating fashions. It is often used as a programming exercise to practice programming, and also to test your hardware. As fractal graphics do take excessive amounts of computation most people usually write the program and leave it to render the whole night, and see the results the next day.

Now when doing this process, there are a number of problems that can occur. The major problem that could happen is that the program was coded wrong, and the results turn out to be rubbage. Another common problem that could occur is that the computer could simply hang on you and you waste the whole day's work.

Talking about it, I'm running a few intense simulators that I wrote, and I just have to keep my fingers crossed that my 24 hours of rendering won't go to waste :P

MEEEEELLLLLLLLTTTTTTIIIIINNNNG

Today's rant is simple. I'm MEEEEELLLLLLLLTTTTTTIIIIINNNNG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


The weather is simply just too hot, I feel that I'm in a sauna every single day. Now how can one person find an ounce of creativity in a time like this?

Thinking about it, having some time off, like going to meet old friends is a good idea, and that is what we just did at the Nasty Gang Reunion at Pond's House. Since a picture tells a thousand words, I guess I'll let the picture do the talking and I can safely smirk from my own duty of doing so :P