...howwwzattt... now everyone can fly...

Dato' Tony Fernandez delivering his speech during the lunch break
as MAS cricket president looks on.

According to Concise Oxford English Dictionary (11th Edition), the meaning of loyalty is the state of being loyal – a strong feeling of support and allegiance.

Last Saturday, the very much anticipated cricket match between the two of Malaysia’s top airlines that are MAS and Air Asia. This is said to be the first inaugural cricket match between the two airline and for this year, Air Asia has committed themselves in hosting it and but I’m not so sure if MAS would return back such courtesy. Why am I saying this? In business it is a common thing for 2 conglomerates to compete, to rival in the same field of business. When it comes into sport, surely the atmosphere of rivalry could be present but it is solely for the sport itself. The funny thing is, while the Air Asia’s CEO Dato’ Tony Fernandez made himself present (he is a cricketer himself) to lead his team, none of the MAS top honchos could be seen. What is the problem here and can you figure it out? As a player and a staff to MAS, I personally lose my face over this matter and is this the MH “Malaysian Hospitality” that the company seems to advertise lately to the whole world?

Anyway MAS did win the match 128-8, Air Asia 127-7 otherwise the whole team would have to start finding new job lol… Congratulation to Dato’ Tony for your 2 wickets (that includes yours truly wicket) and during his speech Dato’ was in a very joyful mood though Air Asia lost, perhaps he won a more important battle such as 2 daily landing rights to Singapore?

...howwwzattt... aren't we proud of ourselves???

Who discovered space? Really, who discovered the great abyss of our being? With the hype, publicity, promotion, commotion and all, seems like it is us the one that discovers the space and not to mention moon-walking though we didn’t do that just yet.

Finally after 11 days stint in space, Malaysia’s first Angkasawan Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor returned safely to Earth at 1647hrs Malaysian time on Sunday. Many celebrated jubilantly like my fellow blogger http://fatheroffour.blogs.friendster.com/life_is_but_a_dream_/2007/10/blastoff.html of this historical fete. The way it is reported in the media, the programme was part of the deal with the Russians for the purchase of 18 Sukhoi Su-30 MKM fighter jets for the Royal Malaysian Air Force. That was a lot of money spent I imagine. Instead of agreeing with the programme, why not exchange it with other technologies that are more practical to us the Malaysians?

Now after the successful mission, the Russian has invited us to participate in the next launch. Now, this is something need to be looked into seriously since there’re no more Sukhoi to be purchased and if we go along with it, it will surely put a dent into our treasury.

Anyway, welcome back to our hero and for us the mere “rakyat” will carry on with what we are programmed for. As for Dr. Muszaphar, I’m putting my bet on you that you’ll surely receive your datukship in the near future. As for me, I rather celebrate the Hari Raya above all the frenzies.


DISCLAIMER:

i). The blogger is not an anti-establishment figure but the rebellious nature once resides in him decided to resurface unexpectedly.

ii). The blogger is not medically/politically under heavy medication or duress which could cloud his judgment and the entry is entirely/totally his view towards the sake of mankind only.

iii). The blogger is not under the influence of alcohols, drugs or any banned substances which could cloud his judgment and the entry is entirely/totally his view towards the sake of mankind only.

iv). The blogger will reply any comments/remarks made, under the same entry.

v). The blogger could be contacted at mustaffakamalhussien@time.net.my.

...howwwzattt for eidul mubarak...

12/10: Of Eid, man in space and millions more on the ground

A Kadir Jasin

FOR the Muslims – the practicing ones in particular, this is a time for joy and celebration.The fasting month of Ramadan is drawing to a close and the Eid Mubarak – the blessed festival -- is coming.Having almost completed a month of dawn to dusk fasting, the Eid is the time to rejoice and to thank Allah for his bounty.

So on this happy occasion, I humbly take the opportunity to wish each and every Muslim Eid Mubarak, and, in the Malaysian way, to seek forgiveness – maaf zahir dan batin.To the non-Muslim fellow Malaysians, wherever they are, happy holiday. My few visits to the Pasar Ramadan – the Ramadan Market – gave the impression that many non-Muslims were as busy shopping for food and drinks for their brand of “berbuka” – breakfasting.And if we want to be patriotic, we can add to the celebration our sense of achievement for having the first Malaysian -- Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor – orbiting the earth.

His ride to the outer space aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is another milestone in our country’s history that we can all be proud of.Although Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is neither Yuri Gagarin nor Neil Armstrong, still he is among the lucky few of the world’s 6.6 billion people to be liberated from the gravity of mother earth.As of October 4, 2007, only 463 humans from 34 countries -- 415 men and 48 women – had reached low earth orbit (up to 2,000 kilometres) or beyond.Though it took us 46 years after the Soviet Gagarin became the first human to go to the space, we can be proud that we now have one of our own people out there in the blue yonder.

What many in our “mudah lupa” crowd may not remember or may not realise is the fact that the Oct. 10 event was the culmination of an idea that had its origin in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s maiden visit to Russia (then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics –USSR) in the mid-1980’s.It was during the visit the famous Star City, the home of Russia’s Cosmonaut training facility to the northeast of Moscow (now known as the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre), that Dr Mahathir though of the idea of sending a Malaysian to the space.It was also as a result of that visit that Malaysia started to evaluate and subsequently bought Russian jet fighters – the MiG 29 Fulcrum and Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker.But having sent a Malaysia to space and basking briefly in the glory of it, we must, as always, get back to the real world – the world of real people.

The world of the struggling farmers, fishermen, factory and office workers, small traders, taxi drivers, Tsunami and flood victims, single mothers, the sick and the destitute, the jobless and the unemployable.There nothing wrong in sending one or more Malaysians to the space or having a month-long colourful 50th independent anniversary, scaling the Himalayas, walking across the poles, swimming the seas and sailing the oceans.These and other magnificent feats are the manifestation of the Malaysia Boleh (Malaysia Can) spirit.

In the final analysis, however, it is the bread-and-butter issues such as the rising cost of living, the widening income gap, the falling rate of job creation, the rising rate of crime and the growing rate of drug addiction that matter.

Pardon me if I accidentally puncture your balloon and spoil your party.

Extracted from Malaysia Today 12/10/07.

...howwwzattt for being a pirate???

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated my passion in the music scenes no matter if it is local or foreign. That also mean, it has been quite sometimes (years to be exact) that I’ve spent my hard earned money on any CDs or cassettes which my wife couldn’t agree more on. Yet at this very moment I’m updating my hard drive with my music collections and to be precise at this very moment I’m a proud owner of a music library that consist of 1096 songs with a mix of English, Malay and Japanese (Mayumi Itsuwa and X-Japan) songs. And guess what, all of it are free. All I need to do is just by clicking my fingers.

If you think that the Internet is my source of this free music, you are wrong. In my company organization, there are thousands of PC and the number of people using it at least three times over the PCs itself. All the PCs and printers are connected through the same network or LAN so I think (pardon me if it is not the correct jargon) where you can view somebody else’s files or whatever secrets they keep inside if they’re careless enough not to protect their files with a password. To tell you the truth, you’ll be amazed on what you might found in their files or folders right down from the graded staffs straight up to the managers level… lol…

During my break time if the internet connection is too slow I would always switch my task to do some research down the LAN and in this local network did I found my resources of music and many others hehehe… and I would never leave behind my beloved 2G thumb drive cause you’ll never know when you going to need one…

Below are the lyrics for “Bisikan Hati” by Siti Nurhaliza a song that I came to stumbled upon today. Well, what can I say? It was so beautiful...

“YOU FEEL ME?”

“YEAHH, I DO FEEL YOU…”


Dengarlah bisikan hasrat hati
Yang merindu menjelma kembali
Ingatanku yang telah lalu
Bersama berjanji sehidup-semati

Kini tinggal hanyalah kenangan
Dikau hilang di mana gerangan
Tiada berita kudapati
Hanya ingatanku di masa yang lalu

Kasihanlah kepadaku sayang
Tiap hari jua wajahmu terbayang
Ampunkanlah segala dosaku
Seandainya kita tak lagi bertemu

Dengarlah bisikan hasrat hati
Yang merindu menjelma kembali
Ingatanku tetap bersemadi
Walaupun kau kini telah mungkir janji…


p.s. To my dearest friend Din Bajang who is still recuperating from the stroke, I was hoping we’ll meet again for this Hari Raya.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI...

Photo of the blogger with his family
when he was 6 years old.


My late abah is very much a discipline man himself. My brother and me would get a fair share of his wrath if anything goes wrong within the household, even my younger sister did not get away that easy. During his younger days he’s more of a vagabond, a man traveling away from his hometown perhaps in searching for his sanctuary from the mean world. He just a normal guy, a gentle father and husband who holds his family dear to his heart.

Now it has been 28 years since his passing and every time Aidilfitri comes, my eyes would shed tears for him. I remember the day before the big day when everyone are making their final preparation for the Hari Raya, where my mother was busying herself making rendang, hanging the new curtains for the house and all the related chores. After breaking the fast, my brother, sister and me would play around the halaman rumah with fireworks and the panjuts while waiting for abah to get back from works. Later that evening someone from the police station had come to see and broke the news to my mother where all of a sudden I knew that the Hari Raya wouldn’t be the same again without my beloved abah. My late abah had collapsed when he was just about to cross the street after buying meats for the Hari Raya from the nearby market. He was somewhere between 46 to 48 years old at that time, and it was still early for him to go like that.

Until today it is still a mystery to me for the cause of his demise since the post-mortem is not a compulsory thing back than. But I do suspect that it got to do with his habit of chain-smoking.

My dearest beloved children, now I’m a father myself. Please forgive your abah past and present mistakes. I will try to cut down my chain-smoking if not totally get it rid off.

...howwwzattt ...for your fear??

Last night one of my dearest friends from my days in Taiping called me up, though it has been nearly 20 years since I heard her voice, to my surprised the voice hadn't change at all. We chitchatted on many things from the old days up to the recent events, family and all that kind of stuffs including updating each other database on the latest gossip amongst our circle of friends. After a half an hour of walking down the memory lane, at last she told me that for the coming school holiday, she'll be away with her family where air travelling is needed and it makes her having this kind of nervous feeling. Being known to her that somehow I'm involved with the aviation industry, she asked my view on the safety aspect of air travel whether the aircraft is safe enough to fly or not, or somehow during mid-flight the aircraft may suddenly act funny and decided to make a nose-dive to oblivion.

Well my dear old friend, air travel is the safest mode of transportation if it is compared to other kind mode of travel and I assure you that nothing will happen to you or to the aircraft. I'm not an expert in air safety but to assure you more, trains have 0.04 deaths for every 100 million miles whilst air travel only have 0.01 death for every 100 million miles traveled. Compare to automobile travel, with 0.94 deaths per 100 million miles, both figures are relatively low and that makes air travel being the safest (6 times safer than travelling by car and twice as safe as rail). And for your info, accident survey conducted from 1950 to 2004, only 5 percents of the accident involved sabotage such as bombs, hijacking and shootdowns. Approximately 80 percents of aviation accidents occur shortly before, after, or during take off or landing where you are still near to the ground and although mid-flight disasters are rare but not entirely unheard of.

So my dear old friend, throw away your fear and enjoy the great vacation and don't forget to bring me something from there...

**Sources are from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

...howwwzattt for 50 years achievement...

An image of ISS (International Space Station)

On Oct. 4, the world marks the beginning of the space race when Russia successfully sent the first man-made satellite into orbit. Subsequent progress in space missions have allowed mankind to send people to the moon, develop telescopes which allowed us to peer at the oldest stars in the universe and build an international-run space station, all fuelling our experiences and collective fascination to explore our galaxy and beyond.

This year also significantly marks Malaysia’s 50th independence from the British and along with that Malaysia will create history with its first angkasawan/pahlawan (astronaut) or whatever you may think fit of calling it into space joining the Soyuz 15-S mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

In the early stage of the preparation there was one remark made by one of the cabinet ministers (if I’m not mistaken) that during the mission, our angkasawan or pahlawan may experimenting in making “roti canai” and play “batu seremban” during the trip. Personally I think this is the most ridiculous and the most hilarious experiment if it is ever going to take place in this multi-million mission. Why not mention something more academically or more significant towards us, the mankind? Ever heard the American astronauts or the Russian cosmonauts doing some stupid experiments in the name of science such as making pretzel while in zero gravity condition? Of course they done it but not to the extents of publicly revealing it during the press conference until it became a mockery to their intelligence.

Malaysia is a fast growing nation but lately it seems that our beloved country is very much in a state of stagnation. Why? In comparison, Malaysia or whoever running this country is similar with a 12 years old child with the raging hormones taking its toll. Remember when we are in that kind of age, how we longed and eager to be an adult not realizing that being an adult is much more challenging and full of responsibilities and commitments to deal with. Let it flow and takes it due course and that is my say. Brunei and Singapore are the nearest and wealthiest nation than we are and have you ever heard of them wanting to send their angkasawan or pahlawan or whatever you may think fit of calling it to the outer space? Why not the government governed the monetary sources, which are at their disposal in dealing with our domestic needs???


*Space Pioneers:

1. Yuri Gagarin (USSR) – First man in space
Mission: Vostok 1 (Apr 12, 1961)

2. Alan Shepard (USA) – Second man and first American in space
Mission: Mercury Redstone 3 (May 5, 1961)

3. John Glenn (USA) – First American to orbit Earth
Mission: Friendship 7 (Feb 20, 1962)

4. Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) – First woman in space
Mission: Vostok 6 (June 16, 1963)

5. Alexei Leonov (USSR) – First man to space walk
Mission: Vokshod 2 (Mac 18, 1965)

6. Edward White (USA) – First American to space walk
Mission: Gemini 4 (June 3, 1965)

7. Neil Armstrong (USA) – First man to walk on the moon
Mission: Apollo 11 (July 16, 1969)

8. Gene Cernan (USA) – Last man to walk on the moon
Mission: Apollo 17 (Dec 7, 1972)

9. Sally Ride (USA) – First American woman in space
Mission: STS-7 (June 18, 1983)

* Source: NASA, The New Atlas of the Universe (Patrick Moore), The Planets (David McNab & James Younger), The Space Atlas (Dorling Kindersley, University of Michigan.



DISCLAIMER:

i). The blogger is not an anti-establishment figure but the rebellious nature once resides in him decided to resurface unexpectedly.

ii). The blogger is not medically/politically under heavy medication or duress which could cloud his judgment and the entry is entirely/totally his view towards the sake of mankind only.

iii). The blogger is not under the influence of alcohols, drugs or any banned substances which could cloud his judgment and the entry is entirely/totally his view towards the sake of mankind only.

iv). The blogger will reply any comments/remarks made, under the same entry.

v). The blogger could be contacted at mustaffakamalhussien@time.net.my.

vi). The blogger also would like to wish all his friends and to those who know him “SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI”.

...howwwzattt... something to relieve our stress...

It was the first day of school and a new student named Suzuki, the daughter of a Japanese businessman, entered the fourth grade.

The teacher said, "Let's begin by reviewing some American history. Who said "Give me Liberty, or give me Death?" She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Suzuki, "Patrick Henry, 1775."

She said "Very good!" Who said 'Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth'?"Again, no response except from Suzuki: "Abraham Lincoln, 1863." ,said Suzuki.

The teacher snapped at the class, "Class, you should be ashamed. Suzuki, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do."

There was a loud whisper: "Screw the Japanese. "Who said that?" the teacher demanded. Suzuki put her hand up. "Lee Iacocca, 1982."

At that point, a student in the back said, "I'm gonna puke. "The teacher glares and asks "All right! Now, who said that?" Again, Suzuki says, "George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991."

Now furious, another student yells, "Oh yeah? Suck this!" Suzuki jumps out of her chair waving her hand and shouts to the teacher, "Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!"

Now with almost a mob hysteria someone said, "You little creep. If you say anything else, I'll kill you." Suzuki frantically yells at the top of her voice, "Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001."
The teacher fainted!

And as the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said, "Oh shit, we're in BIG trouble!"
.... and Suzuki said, "Arthur Andersen, 2002."


*A comment extracted from Malaysia Today (02/10/2007)

...howwwzattt for waste disposal???

Did you know that commercial aircraft toilet waste system uses a vacuum system to collect, transport and store toilet waste. The waste system provides toilets throughout the passenger cabin. This is very much different from the normal toilet we normally use in our house or wherever we go. In aircraft, the system uses portable water to flush the toilet bowls and the vacuum provide the differential pressure to transport the waste through toilet drain lines to waste tanks in the bulk cargo compartment. A flush control unit controls the toilet flushing cycle. This unit sequences and times the cycle including the rinse water valve, flush valve and vacuum blower operation.

On ground or at lower altitudes the vacuum is created by a vacuum blower meanwhile at higher altitude the differential pressure between the cabins and the ambient provides the vacuum means for the toilet system.

A very popular myth (or perhaps it is a true experience) had occurred for sometimes now that once a very large or fat lady had stuck herself inside the toilet bowl while doing her business due to the vacuum effects that sucking the waste as well with the air inside the toilet bowl. This may sound hilarious to some but worse more to the frantic lady herself. If some day should you encounter the same experience, what would you do? I’m not saying it will happen but incident does happens in a very strange and in an amusing ways. This comes to the design of the toilet unit itself. They design it in such a way that the flush handle or button is beyond our reach so that in order to flush down the toilet, we have to get up from the toilet bowl to do it. Isn’t it interesting? You should try flushing the toilet while still sitting on the bowl the next time you board an aircraft, you may find it’s quite hard to reach the flush handle/button of the toilet unit.

So if you should one day stuck yourself inside the aircraft toilet bowl, do not panic, just insert your finger between the bowl and yourself. The gap should be enough to equalize the pressure inside the bowl with the cabin pressure.

What about if you are about to do your business in the outer space, such as using the toilet in the ISS (International Space Station) where sometimes the astronauts have to spend months if not years in doing research for the sake of humankind? As there is no gravity, the use of water and flush system is impossible. On the ISS, the toilet is operated by air pressure. A fan does the work that gravity does on the ground.

Urine is sucked inside the toilet and is collected in a container. When these are full they are discarded. For collecting solid waste, the toilet has plastic bags that are placed inside and air is sucked through tiny holes in the bag. Everything gets collected in the bag and the bags are self-close. Whoever used that toilet had to push the closed bag through a hole into an aluminum container and put a new bag in place for the next person. Because water is in short supply, the ISS carry its own miniature water treatment plant onboard. However, unlike most water treatment plant on Earth, the ISS system recycles the urine of both the crew and the laboratory animals and returns it to the drinking water supply and the fact is that the water runs from the ISS taps is more cleaner and pure than what we’re having from our kitchen taps. Now isn’t that interesting?