tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-251795272024-03-08T01:44:17.278+01:00Merdeitislives of two Malaysian students in a strange land called France...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-77869707861334297072008-02-24T17:45:00.001+01:002008-02-24T17:47:05.541+01:00<span style="font-size:130%;">“To be is to do”–Socrates.<br /><br />“To do is to be”–Jean-Paul Sartre.<br /><br />“Do be do be do”–Frank Sinatra.</span><br /><br /><br /><br />-gAvIn-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-40546353154564633292008-02-22T20:03:00.002+01:002008-12-11T22:41:15.737+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7da_Oka3Y20/R78c3Zoc8oI/AAAAAAAAAB4/Wxj2xRTOUYA/s1600-h/angular_momentum.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7da_Oka3Y20/R78c3Zoc8oI/AAAAAAAAAB4/Wxj2xRTOUYA/s320/angular_momentum.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169882635343557250" border="0" /></a><br />That's so sweet :)<br /><br />-gAvIn-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-36729067023696942772008-01-03T01:32:00.000+01:002008-01-03T01:36:40.987+01:00<span style="font-size: 10.8pt;color:#636563;" ><br /></span><h2 style="margin: 4px 0pt; padding: 0pt; font-size: 16px; width: 480px;">爱情转移(陈奕迅)</h2><span style="font-size: 10.8pt;color:#636563;" >曲:christopher chak 词:林夕<br /><br />徘徊过多少橱窗住过多少旅馆<br />才会觉得分离也并不冤枉<br />感情是用来浏览还是用来珍藏<br />好让日子天天都过得难忘<br />熬过了多久患难湿了多长眼眶<br />才能知道伤感是爱的遗产<br />流浪几张双人床换过几次信仰<br />才让戒指义无返顾的交换<br />把一个人的温暖转移到另一个的胸膛<br />让上次犯的错反省出梦想<br />每个人都是这样享受过提心吊胆<br />才拒绝做爱情待罪的羔羊<br />回忆是抓不住的月光握紧就变黑暗<br />等虚假的背影消失于晴朗<br />阳光在身上流转等所有业障被原谅<br />爱情不停站想开往地老天荒<br />需要多勇敢<br />烛光照亮了晚餐照不出个答案<br />恋爱不是温馨的请客吃饭<br />床单上铺满花瓣拥抱让它成长<br />太拥挤就开到了别的土壤<br />感情需要人接班接近换来期望<br />期望带来失望的恶性循环<br />短暂的总是浪漫漫长总会不满<br />烧完美好青春换一个老伴<br />你不要失望荡气回肠是为了<br />最美的平凡<br /><br />It's rare when a song speaks to you, and to you alone. (at least that's what you feel :) )<br /><br />gAvIn<br />It's been some time, happy new year everyone!<br /><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-83717980326859822522007-09-02T17:54:00.000+02:002008-12-11T22:41:15.833+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7da_Oka3Y20/Rtrc-XZ2LqI/AAAAAAAAABw/yWK5PlTFaEo/s1600-h/IMG_5193.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7da_Oka3Y20/Rtrc-XZ2LqI/AAAAAAAAABw/yWK5PlTFaEo/s320/IMG_5193.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105636091570302626" border="0" /></a><br />Why Coca Cola is the most valuable brand in the world.<br /><br /><br />-gAvIn-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com248tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-75966321153084362402007-08-21T17:08:00.000+02:002007-08-21T17:11:21.336+02:00<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-size:180%;">Few random quotes</span><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:130%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same."</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Oscar Wilde</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">If your wife wants to learn to drive, don't stand in her way.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Sam Levenson</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">"By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher."</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Socrates</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The most beautiful translations, like the most beautiful wifes, are not always fidèle.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Esaias Tegner</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">I speak to God in Spanish, to women, Italian, to men, French and to my dog, German.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Charles Quint<br /><br />-gAvIn-<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-20425508311553796742007-08-09T05:09:00.000+02:002007-08-09T05:25:18.546+02:00I use to hate Bill Gates for Microsoft's monopoly of our operating system, and yet I deeply admire his work in the combat against illness, poverty and even more, the general apathy of this world's privileged towards the greater problem of humanity.<br /><br />This is a long speech by him someone forwarded to me, it’ll take some time, like 10 minutes or so, but make an effort to read it. He quoted his mom towards the end: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”<br /><br />And returning from a squatter house home stay program and mingling with a few of the so called “elite Malaysians” who volunteered their time for it, I felt that there is hope that this generation will make Malaysia a better place for all.<br /><br /><h2><b><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;" ><span style="font-size:18;">Remarks of Bill Gates - Harvard Commencement</span></span></b></h2> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><em><i><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >(Text as prepared for delivery – 7 June 2007)</span></span></i></em><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" ></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.” </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I want to thank Harvard for this timely honor. I’ll be changing my job next year … and it will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I applaud the graduates today for taking a much more direct route to your degrees. For my part, I’m just happy that the Crimson has called me “Harvard’s most successful dropout.” I guess that makes me valedictorian of my own special class … I did the best of everyone who failed. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >But I also want to be recognized as the guy who got Steve Ballmer to drop out of business school. I’m a bad influence. That’s why I was invited to speak at your graduation. If I had spoken at your orientation, fewer of you might be here today. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Harvard was just a phenomenal experience for me. Academic life was fascinating. I used to sit in on lots of classes I hadn’t even signed up for. And dorm life was terrific. I lived up at Radcliffe, in Currier House. There were always lots of people in my dorm room late at night discussing things, because everyone knew I didn’t worry about getting up in the morning. That’s how I came to be the leader of the anti-social group. We clung to each other as a way of validating our rejection of all those social people. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Radcliffe was a great place to live. There were more women up there, and most of the guys were science-math types. That combination offered me the best odds, if you know what I mean. This is where I learned the sad lesson that improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >One of my biggest memories of Harvard came in January 1975, when I made a call from Currier House to a company in Albuquerque that had begun making the world’s first personal computers. I offered to sell them software. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I worried that they would realize I was just a student in a dorm and hang up on me. Instead they said: “We’re not quite ready, come see us in a month,” which was a good thing, because we hadn’t written the software yet. From that moment, I worked day and night on this little extra credit project that marked the end of my college education and the beginning of a remarkable journey with Microsoft. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >What I remember above all about Harvard was being in the midst of so much energy and intelligence. It could be exhilarating, intimidating, sometimes even discouraging, but always challenging. It was an amazing privilege – and though I left early, I was transformed by my years at Harvard, the friendships I made, and the ideas I worked on. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >But taking a serious look back … I do have one big regret. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world – the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I learned a lot here at Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b><i><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;color:black;" >But humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.</span></span></i></b><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;color:black;" > Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I left campus knowing little about the millions of young people cheated out of educational opportunities here in this country. And I knew nothing about the millions of people living in unspeakable poverty and disease in developing countries. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >It took me decades to find out. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >You graduates came to Harvard at a different time. You know more about the world’s inequities than the classes that came before. In your years here, I hope you’ve had a chance to think about how – in this age of accelerating technology – we can finally take on these inequities, and we can solve them. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Imagine, just for the sake of discussion, that you had a few hours a week and a few dollars a month to donate to a cause – and you wanted to spend that time and money where it would have the greatest impact in saving and improving lives. Where would you spend it? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >For Melinda and for me, the challenge is the same: how can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >During our discussions on this question, Melinda and I read an article about the millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country. Measles, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis B, yellow fever. One disease I had never even heard of, rotavirus, was killing half a million kids each year – none of them in the United States . </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >We were shocked. We had just assumed that if millions of children were dying and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver the medicines to save them. But it did not. For under a dollar, there were interventions that could save lives that just weren’t being delivered. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: “This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.” </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: “How could the world let these children die?” </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >But you and I have both. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >We can make market forces work better for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism – if we can stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering from the worst inequities. We also can press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >If we can find approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits for business and votes for politicians, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce inequity in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope. They say: “Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end – because people just … don’t … care.” I completely disagree. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing – not because we didn’t care, but because we didn’t know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Even with the advent of the Internet and 24-hour news, it is still a complex enterprise to get people to truly see the problems. When an airplane crashes, officials immediately call a press conference. They promise to investigate, determine the cause, and prevent similar crashes in the future. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >But if the officials were brutally honest, they would say: “Of all the people in the world who died today from preventable causes, one half of one percent of them were on this plane. We’re determined to do everything possible to solve the problem that took the lives of the one half of one percent.” </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >The bigger problem is not the plane crash, but the millions of preventable deaths. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >We don’t read much about these deaths. The media covers what’s new – and millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where it’s easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it’s difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It’s hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don’t know how to help. And so we look away. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >If we can really see a problem, which is the first step, we come to the second step: cutting through the complexity to find a solution. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Finding solutions is essential if we want to make the most of our caring. If we have clear and proven answers anytime an organization or individual asks “How can I help?,” then we can get action – and we can make sure that none of the caring in the world is wasted. But complexity makes it hard to mark a path of action for everyone who cares — and that makes it hard for their caring to matter. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have — whether it’s something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >The AIDS epidemic offers an example. The broad goal, of course, is to end the disease. The highest-leverage approach is prevention. The ideal technology would be a vaccine that gives lifetime immunity with a single dose. So governments, drug companies, and foundations fund vaccine research. But their work is likely to take more than a decade, so in the meantime, we have to work with what we have in hand – and the best prevention approach we have now is getting people to avoid risky behavior. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Pursuing that goal starts the four-step cycle again. This is the pattern. The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working – and never do what we did with malaria and tuberculosis in the 20th century – which is to surrender to complexity and quit. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >The final step – after seeing the problem and finding an approach – is to measure the impact of your work and share your successes and failures so that others learn from your efforts. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >You have to have the statistics, of course. You have to be able to show that a program is vaccinating millions more children. You have to be able to show a decline in the number of children dying from these diseases. This is essential not just to improve the program, but also to help draw more investment from business and government. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >But if you want to inspire people to participate, you have to show more than numbers; you have to convey the human impact of the work – so people can feel what saving a life means to the families affected. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >I remember going to Davos some years back and sitting on a global health panel that was discussing ways to save millions of lives. Millions! Think of the thrill of saving just one person’s life – then multiply that by millions. … Yet this was the most boring panel I’ve ever been on – ever. So boring even I couldn’t bear it. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >What made that experience especially striking was that I had just come from an event where we were introducing version 13 of some piece of software, and we had people jumping and shouting with excitement. I love getting people excited about software – but why can’t we generate even more excitement for saving lives? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >You can’t get people excited unless you can help them see and feel the impact. And how you do that – is a complex question. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Still, I’m optimistic. Yes, inequity has been with us forever, but the new tools we have to cut through complexity have not been with us forever. They are new – they can help us make the most of our caring – and that’s why the future can be different from the past. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >The defining and ongoing innovations of this age – biotechnology, the computer, the Internet – give us a chance we’ve never had before to end extreme poverty and end death from preventable disease. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Sixty years ago, George Marshall came to this commencement and announced a plan to assist the nations of post-war Europe . He said: “I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. It is virtually impossible at this distance to grasp at all the real significance of the situation.” </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Thirty years after Marshall made his address, as my class graduated without me, technology was emerging that would make the world smaller, more open, more visible, less distant. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >The emergence of low-cost personal computers gave rise to a powerful network that has <span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">transformed opportunities for learning and communicating. </span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;color:black;" >The magical thing about this network is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds we can have working together on the same problem – and that scales up the rate of innovation to a staggering degree. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >At the same time, for every person in the world who has access to this technology, five people don’t. That means many creative minds are left out of this discussion -- smart people with practical intelligence and relevant experience who don’t have the technology to hone their talents or contribute their ideas to the world. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >We need as many people as possible to have access to this technology, because these advances are triggering a revolution in what human beings can do for one another. They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, corporations, smaller organizations, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches, and measure the impact of their efforts to address the hunger, poverty, and desperation George Marshall spoke of 60 years ago. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Members of the Harvard Family: Here in the Yard is one of the great collections of intellectual talent in the world. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >What for? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >There is no question that the faculty, the alumni, the students, and the benefactors of Harvard have used their power to improve the lives of people here and around the world. But can we do more? Can Harvard dedicate its intellect to improving the lives of people who will never even hear its name? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Let me make a request of the deans and the professors – the intellectual leaders here at Harvard: As you hire new faculty, award tenure, review curriculum, and determine degree requirements, please ask yourselves: </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Should our best minds be dedicated to solving our biggest problems? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Should Harvard encourage its faculty to take on the world’s worst inequities? Should Harvard students learn about the depth of global poverty … the prevalence of world hunger … the scarcity of clean water …the girls kept out of school … the children who die from diseases we can cure? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Should the world’s most privileged people learn about the lives of the world’s least privileged? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >These are not rhetorical questions – you will answer with your policies. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >My mother, who was filled with pride the day I was admitted here – never stopped pressing me to do more for others. A few days before my wedding, she hosted a bridal event, at which she read aloud a letter about marriage that she had written to Melinda. My mother was very ill with cancer at the time, but she saw one more opportunity to deliver her message, and at the close of the letter she said: <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">“From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” </span></b></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >When you consider what those of us here in this Yard have been given – in talent, privilege, and opportunity – there is almost no limit to what the world has a right to expect from us. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >In line with the promise of this age, I want to exhort each of the graduates here to take on an issue – a complex problem, a deep inequity, and become a specialist on it. If you make it the focus of your career, that would be phenomenal. But you don’t have to do that to make an impact. For a few hours every week, you can use the growing power of the Internet to get informed, find others with the same interests, see the barriers, and find ways to cut through them. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Don’t let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >You graduates are coming of age in an amazing time. As you leave Harvard, you have technology that members of my class never had. You have awareness of global inequity, which we did not have. And with that awareness, you likely also have an informed conscience that will torment you if you abandon these people whose lives you could change with very little effort. You have more than we had; you must start sooner, and carry on longer. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Knowing what you know, how could you not? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >And I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years from now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world’s deepest inequities … on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" >Good luck.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10;" ><br /></span></span></p><br /><br />-gAvIn-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-3475809232115421212007-08-01T12:28:00.000+02:002007-08-01T12:30:46.841+02:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >ermmm... true...?</span><br /><br />Don't date your close neighbors, don't date anyone related to a close friend, and DON'T DIP YOUR PEN IN THE COMPANY INK. All of these are VERY likely to wind up being bad, long-term investments.<br /><br />true anot...? what do u guys think...?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">-aDRiANo-<br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-7923423295232374662007-07-31T16:04:00.000+02:002007-07-31T16:18:53.604+02:00<span style="font-size:180%;">Charles Trenet<br />Hop hop<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Je suis seul, sans amis.<br />Dans les champs endormis,<br />Il fait noir, il fait nuit.<br />Tout est tranquille, aucun bruit<br />Dans le soir merveilleux.<br />Un oiseau monte aux cieux.<br />C'est mon cœur qui s'en va.<br />C'est mon cœur, c'est ma joie.<br /><br />Hop, hop !<br />Monte plus vite mon cœur là-haut, vite,<br />Hop, hop !<br /><br />Monte plus haut qu'il fait bon là...<br />Dans un nuage sage,<br />Bleu blanc rose et doux<br />D'où vient ce paysage ?<br />Il n'est pas de chez nous.<br />Non Hop hop.<br />Quel est cet air qu'on fredonne là ?<br />La la la la la la la la la la la,<br />Est-ce la voix des anges ?<br />Est-ce vous, est-ce moi ?<br />Hop hop !<br />C'est la chanson d'une époque, d'autrefois...<br />Hop hop !<br />C'est la chanson d'une époque, d'autrefois...<br /><br />Il suffit d'un soleil<br />Qui tombe à l'horizon<br />Il suffit d'un regard,<br />D'un aveu, d'une chanson<br />Pour comprendre la vie,<br />Pour comprendre l'amour.<br />Il suffit de ces riens<br />Pour faire des beaux jours.<br /><br /></span><br /><br />-gAvIn-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-34684340847942527512007-07-31T13:52:00.000+02:002007-07-31T13:56:59.089+02:00<div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">they'll never hear the words u have to say</span></strong></div><div align="justify"><br />was it all worth it? after all that he's done... after all that he's given up...</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">life's funny... people tend to appreciate things only after they're gone...</div><div align="justify"><br />and that's a known fact, and knowing such a fact, why do people still let things slip them by?</div><div align="justify"><br /><strong>"if there's someone u know, ur loving them so, ur taking them all for granted, u may lose them someday, someone takes them away, and they'll never hear the words u have to say"</strong></div><div align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;">jude, everything i own</span></div><div align="justify"><br />weird people are sometimes... the worse feeling is regret itself... </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">if ur reading this, and very few people actually do, let the person u love know that u love them... and more often than not, actions speak louder than words...</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="right">-aDRiANo-</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-68775684985576633212007-07-28T18:45:00.001+02:002007-07-28T19:07:32.759+02:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="font-size:180%;">What </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="font-size:180%;">Are </span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" ><span style="font-size:180%;">Totems Really For?</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" >In our everyday life, how other people view us and what’s our perception to it plays a very important role, according to 2 German researchers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" >They conclude that the fact of knowing that other people are observing you makes you more altruistic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" >For example, a tips box in a restaurant is more likely to generate tips if the image of a pair of eyes is stick unto it. (Versus, say a picture of a flower)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" >This phenomenon has biological explanations: Your brain reacts differently in the presence of eyes, even animated ones.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" >This explains the presence of fierce totems among the ancient civilization. Some smart guy must have decided that having false eyes DO benefit the community.</span></span></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia"></p>-gAvIn-<br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="line-height: 120%;font-size:16;" lang="EN-US" ><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-76027390432938096812007-07-24T15:05:00.000+02:002007-07-28T19:04:29.096+02:00<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Belgians</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our friend use to tell us a story about the belgians</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Belgians are usually rediculed among europeans because they are not very bright, so one day, the Belge president asked the french government to build a flyover out of nowhere, say a jungle so that people will see that it's not only the Belgians who are stupid.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">So the French president, ever so kind, acquiesced. He built one and people all over the world started laughing at the french. So the Belge president was satisfied, he observed that now that everyone has made fun of the french, they're now equal, and it's time to take down the flyover.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">The French president says that he couldn't, since there are still Belgians that continue to pay tolls to use the flyover.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">..........</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anyway, I just read the news (yeah, it's real) : When asked to sing the Belge national anthem,</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yves Leterme, the probable future Belgian prime minister burst out the French national anthem, la Marseillaise.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><object height="335" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/1BCqKT1NmDo6Bigmg"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/1BCqKT1NmDo6Bigmg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="335" width="425"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2lams_gaffe-yves-leterme-sur-lhymne-natio_politics">Gaffe Yves Leterme sur l'hymne national belge</a></b><br /><i>envoyé par <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/gumaes">gumaes</a><br /><br /><br />-gAvIn-<br /></i></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-74899686404152273612007-07-24T05:06:00.000+02:002008-12-11T22:41:16.270+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7da_Oka3Y20/RqVs8kkuqXI/AAAAAAAAABg/IQX1u3VtHMc/s1600-h/CAY7W9E3.jpg"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7da_Oka3Y20/RqVs8kkuqXI/AAAAAAAAABg/IQX1u3VtHMc/s320/CAY7W9E3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5090594741677894002" /></a><br /><strong><span>cutest couple...<br /></span></strong><div align="right"><span><br />-aDRiANo-<br /></span><strong><span><br /></span></strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-83752031591183990502007-07-23T09:54:00.000+02:002007-07-23T11:32:32.053+02:00<div align="justify"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Music and Lyrics...</strong></span><br /><br />if u haven't watched the movie, please do... here is a snippet of it with one of the nicest songs i've heard in a long long long time... the lyrics are somewhere on this page too (further, further, further down...) i noe it probably takes a while to 'get' the entire footage below (especially with a connection like mine), but bear with me cause it's damn worth it...</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">enjoy...</div><p>P/S; check out the message at the end of the video...<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nTP1eNl7tRE" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed><br /><br />for my con lon... moah...<br /></p><div align="right">-aDRiANo-</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-75760149903938653882007-07-21T13:34:00.000+02:002007-07-21T13:40:59.056+02:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Dans la vie on ne regrette que ce qu'on n'a pas fait » (Jean Cocteau), par Ava</span><br /><br />I read this at a very nice blog called Mon blog de fille, if you could understand French, you'll want to read this, it's a touching story that might very well remind you of your time in High School...<br /><br /><br />« Il y a quelques mois, je suis tombé amoureuse. Le coup de foudre. J'imagine déjà les sourires de certaines quand elles apprendront que j'ai seize ans. S'imaginant juste la petite bluette sentimentale de l'adolescente naïve ?<br /><br />Ca a commencé par des amies qui ont été lui parler sans m'en avertir, lui dire que "je parlais TRES souvent de lui". Et lui, après s'être excusé d'avoir déjà quelqu'un, il m'a invité à prendre un café, il a dû se sentir obligé, le pauvre.<br />Inutile de vous détailler cette heure et demi, je n'osais même pas parler ce qui ne facilite pas les choses pour "faire connaissance".<br /><br />Dès le lendemain de ce rendez-vous qui n'en était pas vraiment un... Je l'ai évité.<br />La honte/la gêne/le malaise/la timidité/la stupidité, appelez-ça comme vous le voudrez. Je l'ai évité durant tous les mois qui ont suivi, repérant tout de même des regards ou des sourires de loin parfois...<br /><br />Il était entré dans ma tête, et malgré cela je continuais à l'ignorer tout en le cherchant constamment dans le lycée.<br />Chaque fois que je passais à proximité de lui (par des hasards que j'avais bien souvent provoqués...), je persistais à faire semblant de ne pas le voir et simulais des conversations de la plus haute importance avec mes amies qui avaient la mission de le surveiller du coin de l'oeil pour voir s'il me regardait. C'est vous dire le niveau.<br />J'espérais désespérement qu'il me prête un peu d'attention alors que moi même je ne faisais rien pour mériter l'intérêt que j'aurais aimé qu'il me porte.<br /><br />Lui, est entré dans mon jeu, me regardant de temps en temps, me souriant les jours fastes et m'ignorant pendant plusieurs semaines. Et moi, stupidement, je lui en voulais d'imiter le comportement que j'avais pourtant initié, soufflant le chaud et le froid au gré de mes humeurs.<br />Ca a duré environ deux mois. Et les trois mois suivants, il m'a carrément ignorée.<br />Et moi qui ai tendance à suivre à la lettre le précepte du "suis-moi, je te fuis; fuis-moi, je te suis", je peut affirmer que j'ai eu mal, très mal de n'avoir parlé qu'une fois à ce garçon qui me tenait tant à coeur.<br /><br />La dernière semaine de cours, il s'est passé une chose étrange...<br />Une suite de regards échangés entre nous, des regards qui se fuyaient quand ils se croisaient, des sourires avec le rouge qui monte aux pommettes.... Je ne sais même plus combien de discours et de lettres j'ai pu préparer pour lui avouer la vérité, pour dire que j'étais amoureuse, parce que, bien que j'ai tenté de le nier à maintes reprises, c'était bien d'amour qu'il s'agissait.<br /><br />Le dernier jour de cours j'ai ronchonné toute la journée pour le voir et avoir l'occasion de lui parler. Je traînais dans un couloir avec des amies en fin de journée et j'avais perdu tout espoir quand je l'ai aperçu de loin.<br /><br />De dos, il ne m'avait donc pas vue.<br />Mes copines m'ont prises par les poignets et ont commencé à courir pour le rattraper (Dieu merci le couloir était vide!) seulement voilà, j'ai paniqué et j'ai fait une chose stupide. Je me suis mise à courir.<br />Dans la direction opposée.<br /><br />C'est la dernière image que j'ai de lui.<br /><br />Aujourd'hui, je le regrette amèrement, il va partir faire ses études et il ne saura jamais rien de ce que j'aurai tant aimé lui dire.<br /><br />Vous vous demandez pourquoi j'ai réagi ainsi ?<br />L'orgueil bien sûr. Je me suis sentie stupide d'espérer quoique ce soit d'un garçon de deux ans plus âgé. Je ne voulais pas me "mettre à nu", exposer un côté de moi que personne ne connaît par peur qu'il ne me juge, ne rigole de moi, me fasse une "mauvaise réputation", se moque ou Dieu ne sait quoi d'autre alors qu'il s'agit d'une personne adorable qui a agi avec beaucoup de gentillesse.<br />J'ai toujours eu trop de fierté : celle qui m'empêche de demander pardon aux personnes que je heurte, celle qui m'empêche d'essayer d'aller vers les gens mais me fait attendre que les gens viennent vers moi.<br /><br />Aujourd'hui, certains me disent de l'oublier, comme si c'était simple. D'autres me disent de le rechercher. Mais je ne suis pas une héroïne de cinéma sur qui l'amour tombera dès qu'elle ouvrira son coeur.<br /><br />Moi, jeunette de seize ans j'ai tiré des leçons de tout ça, de ma naïveté et de ma peur :<br />1. L'orgueil, on le laisse aux pétasses<br />2. Mieux vaut passer à côté d'une bonne réputation que d'une belle histoire d'amour (même triste)<br />3. Last but not least... On laisse les copines en dehors des histoires de cœur.<br /><br />Signé : Ava »<br /><br /><br />-gAvIn-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-55277945045632474422007-07-20T15:15:00.000+02:002007-07-20T15:24:45.779+02:00Adrian,<br /><br />I have a better version, one which I've witnessed myself.<br /><br />Man: So, lets go grab something to eat.<br />Woman: Any suggestion?<br />Man: Ok, I've heard about the new chinese restaurant at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, wanna go try there?<br />Woman: No needla, it's too far away.<br />Man: Ok, in this case what about Ali's Corner, it offers authentic Penang Nasi Kandar?<br />Woman: Duwanla, curry's too heaty.<br />Man: What about the the vegetarian shop just behind Wisma Genting?<br />Woman: Not nice one, lets go eat at The Steamboat.<br />Man: ....If you have an idea why not say it out straight.<br />Woman: Well, I asked for ideas, but you did not offered any.<br />Man: (wtf...)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-71394751918997936272007-07-19T03:35:00.000+02:002007-07-19T03:39:40.546+02:00<strong><span style="font-size:180%;">HAhAhahHhHAHHhhaAhha...</span></strong><br /><br />(Whatever)<br /><br />Men: What to have for dinner?<br />Women: Whatever..<br />Men: Why not we have steamboat?<br />Women: Don't want la, eat steamboat later got pimples in my face<br />Men: Alright, why not we have Si Chuan cuisine<br />Women: Yesterday eat Si Chuan, today eat again?<br />Men: Hmm..... then I suggest we have seafood<br />Women: Seafood no good la, later I got diarrhea<br />Men: Then what you suggest?<br />Women : Whatever..<br /><br />(Anything)<br /><br />Men: So what should we do now?<br />Women: Anything<br />Men: How about watching a movie? Long time we havn't watch a movie<br />Women: Watching movie no good la, waste time only<br />Men: How about we go bowling, do some exercises?<br />Women: Exercise on such hot day? You not feel tired meh?<br />Men: Then find a café and have a drink<br />Women: Drinking coffee will affect my sleep<br />Men: Then what you suggest?<br />Women: Anything<br /><br />(You decide)<br /><br />Men: Then we just go home lo<br />Women: You decide<br />Men: Let's take a bus<br />Women: Bus is dirty and crowded. Don't want la<br />Men: Ok we will take taxi then<br />Women: Not worth it la... for such a short distance<br />Men: Alright, then we walk lo. Take a slow walk<br />Women: How to walk with empty stomach?<br />Men: Then what you suggest?<br />Women: You decide<br />Men: Let's have dinner first<br />Women: Whatever...<br />Men: Eat what?<br />Women: Anything<br /><br />(Man looks around... no one here, gonna kill her....)<br /><br /><div align="right">-aDRiANo-</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-32553922224759831892007-07-04T14:38:00.000+02:002007-07-04T14:53:33.525+02:00<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i0dzZTPWrSM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i0dzZTPWrSM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-87813270504988023952007-05-18T23:33:00.000+02:002007-05-19T00:02:48.336+02:00<object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mgnncfYRPxk"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mgnncfYRPxk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Things like this should never exist. Not in my beloved country.<br /><br />-gAvIn-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-55539255672664793392007-05-18T12:12:00.000+02:002007-05-19T00:03:08.488+02:00<div style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><div>Chinese traditionnal music: Pipa<br /><br />Pipa is one of the traditionnel chinese music instrument which is played like a guitar, held vertically.<br />Apparently, the player is a chinese woman whole immigrated to Canada...She played beautifully, with very good strumming technique, playing the pipa requires you to strum a single string with all five fingers and she is able to do that with the same amount of energy and precision for each of her fingers!<br /><span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZmAgFyVo48"><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-ZmAgFyVo48"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-ZmAgFyVo48" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></a></span><br /><br />Another one is called the 12 stupid abeit-good-looking gals team playing<br />El Condor Pasa<br /><span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lETkMaTOkP4">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lETkMaTOkP4</a></span><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lETkMaTOkP4"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lETkMaTOkP4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br />It's very famous, I think you know the music.<br /><br />The original version, sung in spanish<br /><span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd3Qpr5jrxM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd3Qpr5jrxM</a><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fd3Qpr5jrxM"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fd3Qpr5jrxM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /></span><br />If you got time,<br />The piece is called 'The horse race', but he's not that good, i've seen better.<br /><span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V9JinlbpHw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V9JinlbpHw</a><br /><br />-gAvIn-<br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6V9JinlbpHw"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6V9JinlbpHw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-79557875945920825012007-05-12T21:16:00.000+02:002007-05-12T21:33:36.045+02:00<span style="font-size:180%;"><b><span style="" lang="EN-US">i was just up to my mum’s waist and i was holding her hand...</span></b></span><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><br /></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-US">As far as i can remember, i have always had a very high standard of “happiness”… a standard that i have yet to meet or find in the past few months... <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>I tried hard this morning to remember when the last time was when i was just plain and simple ‘happy’, and my memories took me back to one fine morning a long long time ago... i can’t really remember what day it was, or even what year it was but i can remember the ‘scene’... it was very early, the sun wasn’t out yet, my mum had me dressed for school and we were walking down the street in front of our house to the end of it where there was a kuih-muih stand... then, i was happy, i was content... i remember i was just up to my mum’s waist and i was holding her hand... oh how i wish i could go back to that day... or those days... when life was simple and mummy did everything for me... =)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>The mornings we’re pretty much the same, i can remember gobbling down a bowl of cornflakes for example... every morning if my parents had bought a box of cornflakes, my brother and i had a bowl of it set on the table awaiting us and a cup of milo each that my mum would pour onto my cornflakes and my brother would do his himself... i remember being jealous that he could do it on his own... =)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>That was a time when i could remember being content... i guess for me, happiness is something that i value in terms of quantity versus quality... as in, i guess i would rather be content every single day than have a chance of being very happy at one moment, coupled with the risk of being heartbroken the next... very much like i’ve been for the past seven months here in Bordeaux... <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>Sometimes i wish i never came here... never met the people i met, never known the things i know... never had the feelings i have... but all this is a part of life isn’t it? As we grow older, we realise that life isn’t just as simple as it once was...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">-adriano-<br /><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-55623099463797039712007-05-09T16:57:00.001+02:002007-05-09T17:07:51.435+02:00<strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Way Back Into Love </span></strong><br /><strong>Hugh Grant & Hayley Bennett</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />I've been living with a shadow overhead<br />I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed<br />I've been lonely for so long<br />Trapped in the past, I just can't seem to move on<br /><br />I've been hiding all my hopes and dreams away<br />Just in case I ever need em again someday<br />I've been setting aside time<br />To clear a little space in the corners of my mind<br /><br />All I want to do is find a way back into love<br />I can't make it through without a way back into love<br />Oh oh oh<br /><br />I've been watching but the stars refuse to shine<br />I've been searching but I just don't see the signs<br />I know that it's out there<br />There's got to be something for my soul somewhere<br /><br />I've been looking for someone to shed some light<br />Not somebody just to get me through the night<br />I could use some direction<br />And I'm open to your suggestions<br /><br />All I want to do is find a way back into love<br />I can't make it through without a way back into love<br />And if I open my heart again<br />I guess I'm hoping you'll be there for me in the end<br />oh, oh, oh, oh, oh<br /><br />There are moments when I don't know if it's real<br />Or if anybody feels the way I feel<br />I need inspiration<br />Not just another negotiation<br /><br />All I want to do is find a way back into love<br />I can't make it through without a way back into love<br />And if I open my heart to you<br />I'm hoping you'll show me what to do<br />And if you help me to start again<br />You know that I'll be there for you in the end<br />oh, oh, oh, oh, oh<br /><br />a beautiful song from <strong>music and lyrics</strong> by hugh grant that i went to watch with the most beautiful girl i know... =)<br />ermmm, forgot how to upload songs liao...<br /><div align="right"> </div><div align="right">-adriano-</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-86032167070980698642007-04-21T15:56:00.000+02:002007-04-21T16:52:29.113+02:00The Star has some <a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/21/nation/17511292&sec=nation">news </a>about some popular <span style="font-style: italic;">get-rich-quick </span>investment scheme in Malaysia.<br /><br />Since high school, I have seen lots of similar schemes, too many of them in fact that distracts students from their studies and destroys relationships.<br /><br />The classical signs that the latest "investment" fad is a pyramid scheme in disguise:<br />-Schemes promising 2 to 3 percent interest per day.<br />-schemes promising 300% or you know, up to 1000% of gain per year. (mind mind, even Warren Buffet, the world's second richest guy has consistantly got returns in the mid 20s%)<br />-They use bombastic terms like<span style="font-style: italic;"> investment consultant, leverage, natural resources play, credit default swip, derivatives, options</span> that basically mean nothing in the context they're using.<br />-They claim that they are from Swiss/USA/UK/-insert your favourite advance nation- with a professionnel investment team but they actually are just from Malaysia.<br /><br />If you really want to invest but don't know much about the stock market, bond market; no loads (or rather low fees) mutual funds are the way to go. A very good example is Fidelity (although their performance is not as good as before recently) and for people in Malaysia, TA Investment Bhd (I don't really like their high entree fee though).<br /><br />If not, if you really want to get rich quick, join the pyramid scheme, but with the condition that you get in early and get out before it collapse. Or much better, start your very own scheme and name if after yourself .<br />If not, you can join UMNO and get rich quick.too :)<br /><br /><br />GavinUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-5246917783592972712007-04-20T18:50:00.000+02:002007-04-20T18:53:29.537+02:00<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span class="postbody">I live in Bordeaux and what that surprises me is that the tram here are connected to an overhead power line in certain stations and nothing at all for the others.<br /><br />The stations whom the tram is connected to an electric source is numbered at around 4 stations while the rest, like 20+ of them is without any connection.<br /><br />Is this possible given that the on board battery looks inexistant to me?</span><br /><br />And after some research: (from wiki)<br />[quote]<br />There are other methods of powering electric trams, sometimes preferred for aesthetic reasons since poles and overhead wires are not required. The old tram systems in London, Manhattan (New York City), and Washington, D.C., used live rails, like those on third-rail electrified railways, but in a conduit underneath the road, from which they drew power through a plough. It was called Conduit current collection. Washington's was the last of these to close, in 1962. Today, no commercial tramway uses this system. More recently, a modern equivalent to the old stud systems has been developed which allows for the safe installation of a third rail on city streets, which is known as surface current collection or ground-lev.el power supply; the main example of this is the new tramway in Bordeaux.[/quote]<br /><br /><br />and http://citytransport.info/Bod.htm<br /><br />Apparently, the tram here is the world's first second-generation tram that draw's power from the ground, instead of overhead electrical cables. The choice is mainly due to aesthetical reasons (to not distrupt the architectural views) but the drawback includes frequent distruptions (as the techonology isn't perfected yet), which really do annoy people here.<br />The manufacturer, Altrom signed a contract with CUB (communauté urbaine de Bordeaux) which promises to share future profits from sales of this kind of tram in return for us being the guinea pig.<br />Recently, the on time rate is getting better and better, and according to a website, reaches 99% already.<br />Cities like Anger, Reims and Orléans will have this kind of tram soon.<br /><br />Gavin again<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-79106620908250177672007-04-19T19:06:00.000+02:002007-04-19T19:25:48.847+02:00Recent news:<br /><ol><li>Ijok is up for by-election</li><li>The Selangor government has allocated RM36 million for various development projects to be implemented within these two weeks in Ijok.</li><li>Our MB, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir said the projects were not aimed to fish for votes as claimed by the opposition as they had been planned by the state government for quite some time.</li></ol>Hmmmmm...how come I have this feeling that this idiot thinks that we malaysian are stupid and bribable?<br /><br />Another tragedy of an indian man being seperated from his family (wife and six children) because the local Islamic police thinks that his wife <span style="font-style: italic;">is </span>a muslim. *_* His family is now in a reeducation camp I believe.<br />How can barbaric things like there still happen in Malaysia?<br /><br />I quote a well know malaysian lawyer:<br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Sad as it is, and as difficult as it is to say, we are no longer the learned or mature society that we perhaps once were. In place of sophisticated and objective analysis of crucial issues, there is now a regime of sensationalist ignorance and belligerence.<br /><br />Worse still, we live in a state of denial, insisting that we are more advanced and intellectual than we really are. Look at the issues that figure prominently in the arena of public discourse. How many of these relate to the fundamental aspects of our lives as Malaysians. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Admittedly, civil liberty issues such as nude squats and burial rites are important, but where do a lack of coherent economic policy, a lack of coherent governance, a lack of political foresight, an overemphasis on vested interests, institutionalised and crippling corruption and a lack of direction for this great country of ours figure?</span> They do not, in any meaningful way. In having allowed these crucial issues to fall by the way side, in having allowed ourselves to become more interested in being titillated by insane billionaires, sex scandals, Mawi and Academia Fantasia, we have begun throwing away our future.<br /><br />I used to think that this was due wholly to a media block by the authorities, implemented in tandem with a policy of de-education. I have reconsidered my view and believe that a large part of this is due to an inability, and a lack of desire, on the part of Malaysians to articulate themselves anymore. This is why our media is devoted to gossip and our broadsheets reduced to tabloids. We are all to blame.<br /><br />Malik Imtiaz Sarwar</blockquote>The least we can do is to voice out our opinion this coming general election.<br /><br />GavinUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25179527.post-42970129582048481742007-04-19T18:54:00.000+02:002007-04-19T19:04:28.073+02:00Foreign products<br /><br />I bought a bottle of hair shampoo and body shampoo back in Prague because I thought that prices were cheaper there. Recently, when I moved house, my current shampoo/body wash was with Adrian, and wanting desperately to clean myself, I took the 2 Czech products and happily went into the bathroom.<br /><br />The hair shampoo smells weird, and it doesn't produces foams. Ok, nevermind, maybe it is a shampoo for coloured hairs, as it says in it's label: vivid colours.<br />The body shampoo is even more weird, it smells nice, too nice to be a body shampoo, and mind, it does not spread when you rub it. @_@ I took a better look at the bottle and I saw some polar like house surrounded with ice and hot sun. SUNTAN LOTION!<br />It took more than 30 minutes trying to rub the cream off my body.<br /><br />Trust me, it isn't nice at all when you're all smelly and you desperately wants to be clean, next time, don't buy some foreign products if you're not sure if you understand the label.<br /><br />GavinUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0