Tuesday 30 June 2009

1 of the 50 facts

Honestly speaking, I have never finished reading a book. The closest was Tuesdays with Morrie. But this changed about a month ago when I picked up a book from my sis-in-law’s room. The title of the book was “50 facts that should change the world” by Jessica Williams.

Therein lies much information that will make you think about life and how screwed up we are. This book inspired me to write
Disparities Insanities Inhumanities, most of the stats I quoted in that post are from this book.

Having said that, humans are forgetful selfish creatures. We tend to forget meaningful and heart warming things in life and only care about issues that directly affect us. So put aside the facts about how many people are deprived of food, robbed of their lives, deprived of their rights, etc. Probably that’s why the book is called “50 facts that should change the world” and not “50 facts that will change the world”.

So let’s put on our true selfish nature and talk about 1 fact that directly affects us.

1 of the facts in that book states that people in industrialised countries eat between 6kg and 7kg of food additives every year. We Malaysians may not be living in what is considered as an “industrialised country”, but I am sure our intake of food additives is close enough.

If you look at the ingredient list a typical “Made in Malaysia” type of food produce, you should see things that you are familiar with and then at the end of it, you have the mother of all ingredients… “…dan bahan pewarna dan pengawet yang dibenarkan” (permitted colouring and preservatives). So on average, you may have eaten up to 7kg of these “pewarna dan pengawet yang dibenarkan”.

That’s the Malaysia Boleh type of product.

I am now looking at a product of Singapore and they have some extra-terrestrial-like name in their ingredients such as Sodium Sillicoaluminate, Sodium Casseinate, Stabiliser E340ii, Stabiliser E451i, Emulsifier E 472e, Emulsifier E471 and 7 more names which I can’t pronounce. This will certainly fail the
2nd commandment of 12C 4 HE, but I am sure many of us don’t care.

We might say the Singaporeans are “kiasu” as they must list out everything instead of saving printing cost and just lump everything as “pewarna dan pengawet yang dibenarkan” but at least they know the name of the stuff they are eating. For those who eat Malaysian products, do you even know what you are eating?

That aside, we all know that all sorts of chemicals and additives exist in our food and they are of course, maintained at a “permissible” level. But like the good ‘ol Malay saying… “Sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit” (little by little, soon becomes a hill), the accumulative amount of chemicals and additives that we eat is astonishing. The “bukit” that we are talking about here is a total of 6kg to 7kg a year.

In a world where profits is the number 1 priority, you have no idea what is inside the food that you eat to make them look better, taste better and last longer. All I know is that when I am thirsty, I should reach for water instead of a proclaimed thirst quenching fizzy drink.

But we all know what we should do, whether we will do it is another matter altogether.


1 year ago…
More struggles

Monday 29 June 2009

Why the KL Standard Chartered Marathon is truly a Malaysian marathon

It was the 10km run. As runners reaches Lebuhraya Mahameru, a Perodua Kancil came into the runners’ route. The car should not be there to begin with but the driver got the guts to honk, asking drivers to make way for him. Runners began to jeer at the driver, who has clearly disregarded the road-block. The jeering attracted the attention of a traffic police.

Just as we thought the driver was going to be in trouble, the police whistled and asked the runners to make way for the car… in the middle of a supposedly cordoned-off 10km run route.


1 year ago…
Acts for reflection and sincerity of love

2 years ago…
Blogging under the influence of alcoholWhat’s your answer?When the ‘if’ turns realClosure and coffee man

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Some Malaysians are brainless morons

Classic example of why some Malaysians are brainless moronic car whores…

“Wah, so hot lah! So hazy too! I wish it will rain. Please God, let it rain!”
And it rained…
“Freaking hell, why must it rain!!?? Stupid rain cause the bad traffic jam!”


Classic example of why some Malaysians are brainless moronic food whores.

“Wah, the haze so bad lah…”
“Yeah, very bad eh? Klang is worse!”
“We must not go out often. Must remain indoor as much as we can. Haze very bad for health lah”
“Agree!”


Lunch time…

“Let’s go! Makan time!” (Makan = eat)
“OK, where”
“Let’s have siew-yok today” (siew-yok = roast pork)
“Huh? It’s outdoor lah. Very hazy, go somewhere indoor lah”
“Haze what haze? It’s siew-yok OK!”
“OK let’s go”



1 year ago…
30 things we learned when we turn 30

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Tambah Satu...

Bila tiba hari Rabu
Sampainya tiga-puluh campur satu
Adalah harapan harijadi aku
Bahawa semua sihat selalu


Tahun dulu…
A page before 30

Sunday 21 June 2009

Between pride and necessity

I met up for lunch with a good friend of mine who happened to be in town today. This particular friend of mine is from Germany and believe me when I say that he is very proud of his country’s achievement and position amongst the Europe elite.

When you talked about European economy, he will tell you how well is Germany doing. Also, he is one who takes a lot of pride in German product. When I travelled to Cambodia with him a few years ago, he used only Germany made moisturiser and sun-block. His toiletries are also mostly German made. In the lunch today, he talked about how he went on a German made high-speed train when he visited Shanghai a few months ago.

He is one German who takes much pride of his German pedigree.

Naturally, the conversation we had today led to the quality of cars and we all know that luxury cars such as Benz and BMW are from Germany. And so he talked about such cars are really quality. One must also realise that VolksWagen is also a very good German made car.

It was that point that I mentioned to him that I have been thinking of changing my car for a while now. When asked which car, I told him… BMW, and I wasn’t pulling his leg.

“Zewt, what is wrong with you? Have you got too much money that you don’t know how to spend?”

Naturally, I was shock to hear such a comment from him. Here I am supporting his country’s product that he seems to believe that I should do otherwise?

“Yeah, it’s a good car, but doesn’t mean you have to get it. Your car now is perfectly fine”

He has a point, my car now is fine actually. A new car for me right now is more like a want than a need. But what surprised me most is that this very proud German friend of mine actually thinks that I should not get a German made car.

He went to say that though the car is quality, the current car that I am having now is serving its purpose perfectly. But what is most enlightening is that this particular friend of mine could draw a clear line between taking pride and necessity.

But for most Malaysians, owing something luxurious, though not a necessity, gave them a sense of pride, isn’t it?


1 year ago…
Healing of the soul

2 years ago…
Those typo experiencesA glimpse from the other sideA Zimbabwean taleGood or bad, let it out

Thursday 18 June 2009

He asked 5 times

Ben and Jen are of the same age and have been dating each other for quite some time. For some very strange reason, it was Jen who seemed to be afraid of committing to the relationship. She made it quite clear to Ben that she will only marry him when she reaches 30. Uncommon isn’t it? Not to Jen.

Uncommonly amongst the uncommon, it was Ben who wanted to commit. And so, at the age of 26, after dating for quite a number of years; Ben bought an engagement ring and planned a romantic marriage proposal. I shall not go into the details but needless to say, Jen turned him down. She reiterated that she only wants to tie the knot at 30.

So Ben had with him a ring and a girlfriend who will not marry him for at least 5 years. What did Ben do?

Some may call it true love… Ben proposed to Jen every year, and Jen rejected Ben every year all the way till she was 29. Can you imagine… for 4 consecutive years, Ben will go on his knees… take out the ring (the same ring)… proposed……… and got rejected. Absolutely amazing…

When Jen finally reaches 30… guess what Ben did?
And on a related note, would you have done what Ben did?


1 year ago…
Pelbagai lawak menuntut rebat

2 years ago…
From poll result to postcard and a study

Tuesday 16 June 2009

The 500th rhyme

And so, I have reached the half a millennium landmark. It has taken me 2 years 5 months and 18 days of blogging to reach here. Along the way, I have amassed a total of 349,688 hits (at the point of writing). Of course, I have also made quite a number of friends during the journey. You know who you are…

I think I have gone through a typical blogging life… which is…

You start a blog
You only want to pen your thoughts
Then you install a hits clock
As hits grow, you begin to love your hits log

Desire to get more hits commence
Next come desire for more comments
Hence you read others like days got no end
Before you know it, you’re part of the trend

Next is the craze for technorati ranking
To get up the ladder, you strive for more links
Crank up some jokes to get people laughing
Attention leads to links, that’s what you’re hoping

Then you might touch a bit on politic
For the happenings around make you sick
But we only scream and complain behind a nick
While many refuse to go the ballot to put a tick

Technorati ranking, hits and plentiful links
Will make you think you have achieved fame
But in reality, it means close to nothing
It’s merely a blogging world type of masturbating

As you pull your thoughts back together
You realised you are nothing but just another blogger
Hits and comments grow lesser and lesser
But you’ll feel it doesn’t really matter

You just know it in your bone
That only a small fraction in the virtual world you own
As you count this 500th milestone
It matters to no one but you alone

Ya’ know, there is really one thing that I really want to know. How did you first stumble upon As Zewt As It Gets? Friend’s link? PPS? I visited your blog? How? Tell me…

Sunday 14 June 2009

Eco Enzyme - what I did for the environment which you can do too!

For those uninformed, Eco Enzyme is about using your plant based kitchen left-over such as fruit skins and vegetable roots to create an cleaning enzyme that benefits the environment. The process of making this Eco Enzyme takes 3 months. The best thing about the process is that it releases Ozone (O3), replenishing our depleting atmosphere.

The result is a very powerful cleaning substance that you can use for almost everything and …it’s totally CHEMICAL FREE.

I have just done the harvesting of the enzyme today… have a look…

The big tank that we used to store the enzyme for 3 months

We only used orange peels. The whole thing smells like orange juice. Of course, I don’t think it’s drink-able.

Jules filling up the bottles with the powerful and chemical free Eco Enzyme.


All the plastic bottles that you disposed which pollute the environment can also be made to good use.

The orange peels will be left to dry and we are going to use it as fertilisers. Chemical free fertilisers!



I truly believe that this is one thing we can all do and contribute into preserving the environment. Think about the amount of Ozone that will be released to the atmosphere if we all do a tank?

With this, you will use less detergent which also means less pollution to the environment. Better still, lesser usage of detergents may also results in those manufacturers having to manufacture less. Less manufacturing from the factories also means… less pollution!

For those who want a detailed write-up on Eco Enzyme and how to make it, leave your e-mail in the comment box. Or you can drop me a mail. My mail is at the side-bar.

What are you waiting for? Start releasing some Ozone to the atmosphere today!


1 year ago…
Walk the talk

2 years ago… Grass anyone?A look at IndiaOf hip hop to diet and a search

Thursday 11 June 2009

A different type of pageant

Different companies have different tradition. Some may exist to preserve the culture of the company while some are there, purely to satisfy certain individuals or certain group of people.

Last week, I blogged about a certain
bikini tradition within a certain company. I actually found out more juicy information about that company but I think I shall leave that part out for the moment. Today, let’s focus on another…

Again, this is not a joke, this is real. In fact, this “tradition” is quite well known in the industry…

In this particular company, there is actually an internal beauty pageant. Don’t get me wrong, there is no official interview or girls walking around in swimsuits or evening downs or girl putting up 2 of fingers and cutely say… “I want world peace”. Nothing of that sort. This pageant is conducted behind the back of the beauties.

This is how it works…

Every year, the ham sap los self-elected committee will scout the company for girls whom they think deserve to be nominee in this “pageant”. Nomination can also be made by people close to the self-elected committee. Of course, the nominated one must have the looks to be in. Apparently, this unofficially official pageant has got a reputation to maintain.

Nominees are a combination of new recruits and existing staff. The self-elected committee will then come up with a short-list and this list will then be forwarded via company e-mail to the rest of the ham sap los the general male population of the company. Mind you, the e-mail being sent out is professionally drafted making the pageant worthy of official status.

Purpose of the e-mail…… Votes!

After the voting frenzy is completed, a list of the company top 10 babes will be out and forwarded to the male population. The top 10 babes are not officially notified of their achievement but somehow, words will reach them anyway. Some have found “fame” from the list. Also, I was told that a 40-odd-year-old senior management lady has consistently remained in the top 10 list for a few years running.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Bet some of you already know which company this is…

P/S: Last chance to vote your best Zewt Laugh


1 year ago… Cheap oil cheap cars

2 years ago…
A green dilemma and some extras

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Imminent sleepless nights

Oh No… my brother just told me that my all time favourite computer game, Romance of the Three Kingdoms version XI is out. All these while, the game has only been in Mandarin but RTK XI is now in English.

I just managed to install the game yesterday. The graphics are pretty incredible. But the tutorial suggests that it will take a while before I get familiar with the game.

Liu Bei… Cao Cao… Sun Quan… it’s all coming back to me. I might just be spending endless hours in front of the screen just like when I was in school. Sleepless nights… here I come!

P/S: A very big thank you to Pattirmina for awarding me Uber Amazing Blog award. Wow, it has been a long while since anyone gave me any award. Many thanks!

Haze?????

There are numerous occasions where I see things or read the news and they continuously remind me the need to migrate. Nothing beats what I read yesterday over the net.

The Malaysian Insider reported that our very own Director General of Department of Environment made
a statement regarding the haze... “Since it is the dry season now, the air becomes dry and hazy but it doesn’t mean that haze is coming back”. This is truly the mother of all statement. Why doesn't he just said... "Looks like haze, smells like haze, feels like haze. But it's not haze"? At least we can laugh about it.

Open burning… 99% of buses emitting black smoke… 3 in every 5 motorcycles emitting white smoke… How much improvement do you think we will see if all these are curbed? Alas, no action is taken. Rather, an anti-intelligence statement is shoved down our throat.

But for most, the throat can take it, for it has been numbed by the chilly of the tasty nasi lemak… numbed by the lard of the sumptuous bak-kut-teh… numbed by the prawns of that wonderful char-kuey-teow.

I truly missed the time when I was
breathing clean air for 10 days.


I year ago…
Romancing the oil

Monday 8 June 2009

That little bit of humanity

An anonymous person commented in Disparities Insanities Inhumanities saying that scenarios mentioned there-in can only be eliminated if we revive communism. He (assumed he) spoke like a true intellect; filled with knowledge that communism can kill the evil capitalism. However, he lacks wisdom.

An intellect will say “revive communism”, a wise man will say “amplify socialism”. I am not asking all of us to be Robin Hood and rob the rich and give to the poor. Rather, I would prefer to have the rich to voluntarily do something for the poor.

In the movie
“Home” which was screened last Friday, it was mentioned that 2% of the world population possess 50% of the world’s wealth. If you ignore human rights and seize all the wealth from these rich 2% and make the 2% to be on par with the rest of the 98% world population, then it’s communism. No, I am not asking for that.

Socialism is asking the 2% to relinquish 20% of their wealth to help the rest of the 98%. Simple maths will tell you that 20% of the 2% who possess 50% of the world’s wealth is equal to 10% of the world’s wealth. Can you imagine what 10% of the world’s wealth can do to the world?

Unfortunately, for someone who has $100m to give away $20m is akin to a crime. Instead, someone with $100m wants his wealth to increase to $120m and this someone doesn’t care the additional $20m is going to come from those who hardly have $20k. That’s capitalism

A very good example of socialism was also mentioned in the movie
“Home”. It was a point which fascinated me. It’s truly an epitome of socialism.

The movie mentioned about a man who established a bank in Bangladesh which will ONLY lend to the poor, changing the lives of many people in Bangladesh. I did some research and found out that this institution is known as
Grameen Bank.

Based on Wikipedia, this bank does not require a guarantee or collateral. There is no signed contract and repayment is purely based on trust. Have you ever heard of such “bank”? Remember those times you get a call from the bank when you miss your credit card payment deadline by just 1 day?
I find it heart warming to know that in the midst of a cruel capitalist world, there is a bank which is doing things totally against the orthodox. Certainly, there are quarters criticising this bank claiming that it has put the poor into debts. But I think this bank has redefine the meaning of “debts”. And I see it as giving the poor a venue to obtain a source for survival. I see it as a bank fulfilling its true purpose… providing funding to those who are truly in need.

It’s about not about complaining about disparity. It’s not about despising insanity. It’s about giving birth that tad bit of humanity.


2 years ago…
Zewt mystery in century entry

His friends her friends

In a relationships environment, would you agree that there is always an underlying debate about how friends are segregated into “his friends” and “her friends”. Somehow, it is difficult to consider “his friends” or “her friends” as “our friends”.

The only time when someone can actually become “our friends” is when a couple meets this new person after being together. If otherwise, friends tend to belong to either him or her. True?

Long ago, I had a debate with a now ex-colleague regarding this. She did not believe in this friends segregation notion. She was very adamant that her boyfriend’s friends were all her friends too. Of course, I didn’t agree with her.

To justify my stand, I asked her a simple question… “Will you hang out with your boyfriend’s friends without the presence of your boyfriend?”

She didn’t answer my question, well, not exactly. Her reply was something to the effect of “Yeah, I get what you mean”.

I think one of the most important criteria of being “our friends” is when the guy or girl is willing, and comfortable in hanging out with his/her friends without the presence of the partner. Without that, friends will always remain as his or hers.

Agree?


2 years ago…
Is your ticket reflectiveThe reason whyFire!

Thursday 4 June 2009

Go gold bikini

After the previous thought provoking post, it’s time to take a break since Friday is on the way. Allow me to share this story as this round of Friday Frolics. This is NOT a joke… this is real…

You are a female.
You are below 30 years old.
You stand at above 1.55m.
You weigh at below 55kg.

Apparently, if you happen to fall within the above… and you happen to join this particular company… you are obliged strongly encouraged to don a bikini and perform on stage for the chairman during annual dinner. Of course, all the other people will be able to see you perform as well since it’s an annual dinner.

And… your bikini is no ordinary bikini… it must be a glittering gold coloured bikini. Apparently the winner stands to win a handsome prize. I wonder if it comes with any… ya’ know… night-time obligations.

The source of this info is someone who fits the above criterion and decided not to flash her flesh. She resigned and joined my company. A colleague of mine has verified this info with his contacts who work in this particular company.

I am sure you are curious which “company” is this. Well, I can only say that it is one of the top players in its industry. Perhaps you should ask around…

Girls – will you go gold bikini?


1 year ago…
To RM2.70 and beyond

2 years ago…
Ways of life from an idiot’s game

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Disparities Insanities Inhumanities

Disparity is when one eats at a coffee shop while the other eats at a posh restaurant.
Insanity is when many cannot afford to fine-dine ever in the lives while for a few, they eat nothing else but fine-dine.
Inhumanity is when millions are starving and hoping to get USD5 to feed themselves in a week while there are some who can spend thousands of USD just for a spoonful of caviar.

Disparity is when one drives a Honda while the other drives a BMW.
Insanity is when many can only afford a motorbike while a family of 5 can have up to 10 cars at home.
Inhumanity is when 45% of the world population will die without having to see what a car is while there are people who purchase not one but a few Porsches even before they got their driving licence.

Disparity is when one uses a simple hand-phone while the other uses a Blackberry / iPhone.
Insanity is when many could not afford a hand-phone while some can have absolutely no feeling when they lose their hand-phones.
Inhumanity is when 70% of the world population have not heard how a “dialing tone” sounds like while some changes hand-phone at every other new model release.

Disparity is when one wears a normal cap while the other wears a Nike cap.
Insanity is when many are paid USD5 a week to make Nike caps while a handful of individuals are paid millions just to wear it.
Inhumanity is when those who make the caps and needed USD5 to survive are retrenched in bad times while those few who are paid millions to wear it got their contract renewed.

Disparity is when your diamond ring is 0.25 carat while your friend’s is more than 1 carat.
Insanity is when millions will never have a chance to own a diamond ring while some complain that their diamond is too small.
Inhumanity is when thousands die while mining diamonds in Africa everyday while some insist on getting more diamonds despite knowing that people are dying mining it.

Disparity is when your kid plays marbles while the other kid plays with a Sony PSP.
Insanity is when millions of kids will grow up without knowing what a PSP is while others shower their kids with PSP, Nintendo Wii, iPod, iPhone, control cars, etc., etc.
Inhumanity is when thousands of kids get killed mining “Coltan” so that other kids around the world can kill monsters and aliens by pressing buttons. Coltan is a very essential component in making electrical products such as PSP and handphones.

Disparity is when you have a low pay job while other has a high pay job.
Insanity is when thousands of those with low pay jobs and needed that low pay just to survive are retrenched during bad times while those few with high pay jobs who probably only needed 5% of their pay to survive get a 5% pay cut.
Inhumanity is when tens of thousands of those with low pay jobs who didn’t get retrenched are made to sympathise the minority with high pay jobs who got a 5% pay cut.

Where are we?


1 year ago…
From tension to happ’y’ness

Monday 1 June 2009

I live in one of the riskiest places on earth

KL folks can take pride as we survive living in one of the riskiest offshore places on earth, No. 4 by the way.
Pollution... organised crime... I am sure our beloved administration will think of a reason behind this unfavourable survey. Maybe they will say the risk factors are moderated by the variety choices of wonderful food around. I am sure that will calm us all down and forget about it.

Singapore is in the top 5 safest. Located just a cross of a bridge away, but helluva difference.

1 year ago... Remembering forgotten

2 years ago... Dunwanna blog about it