Just Write

My book writing refers. 

If you don’t know what I'm talking about, kindly check out my post “The Diamond in Your Speech” published December 14.

I reiterate that I’m glad to be involved in the book project. It not only gets me to write – something I know I'll enjoy very much – but it pushes me to re-examine my fears, imagined or otherwise. 

I have dreamed of being an author since I was in high school – but as I had previously intimated, nothing has materialised. I blame it on my fears and they are real! 

Fear #1: “I’m afraid my book isn’t original enough” – Many writers have the idea that a valid book must have a new insight that no one has ever considered. That’s ridiculous. 

Very few books are profoundly original – and the few that are tend not to be that valuable (because true originality demands that the idea that is being promoted is either esoteric or perhaps, even obscure to be useful for most people). 

A book is only treasured if the knowledge within it is accessible and usable to the target audience. To be honest, no reader cares if the idea is new or old. They only care if it’s useful to them. 

Fear #2: “I’m afraid my book won’t be good enough” – As the author dives into the book, they become obsessed with every detail. They fret over every word, every phrase and every sentence. Even a punctuation mark. 

Books can get stuck in a number of ways: 

• The author will try to put everything they know into the book, and this causes the book to bloat and become unmanageable. 
• The author won’t stick to a subject and will jump around to different ideas. 
• The author’s perfectionism becomes an excuse to delay or avoid actually working on the book. 
• The author edits and adds content in never-ending cycles, spinning in circles and never actually finishing the book. 

This is not about trying to make the book extraordinarily good. I mean how do you even begin to define what makes a book extraordinarily good? 

In any case, excessive obsession with every detail – beyond the point of reason – is a way of masking a fear that the book wouldn't find acceptance. Not only that but there is the danger that authors will get stuck in one of the perfectionism rabbit holes so they can avoid publishing the book! 

The point is that being perfect is literally impossible. All you can do is to give it your best shot, and then put it out, and you’re done. 

Fear #3: “I’m afraid no one will buy the book” – Does it matter, I ask? And the answer is no.

The trick is not to allow these fears to stop me. I want to write and I shall write. Upon pointing out and putting these fears in writing, I think they don’t bother me anymore. 

FYI, the book is now 15 chapters. And having read my draft four times, I can honestly say I’m pleased with it. I know that once it is published, it will do well. I just know it! 

It is satisfying to know that very soon, I will be an author! And it's on my fave topic – Public Speaking.

I hasten to add that this is not a solo project – even if my fingerprints are all over it. Ahmad Fakhri is very much engaged in the project. Besides, being a co-author is already a major accomplishment!

Social Media Usage Among Generations Z & Y

Which social network is currently the most-used in North America? This is useful for marketers who wish to target Generations Z and Y there!

A study by YPulse* looked at social media usage among Generation Z and Millennials, and how this usage has changed in 2021. And the results of the two rankings might not be what you expect! 

Among Gen Zers, YouTube still leads the way. The study suggests that YouTube’s popularity among Generation Z in the United States could be down to its practical, useful nature. While young Americans/Canadians report spending an average of four hours a day on social media, by their own estimations, they are not only using YouTube for entertainment, but also to learn new things. 

But Generation Z remain addicted to Instagram, with a usage rate of 67 percent, up from 62 percent a year earlier. 

TikTok is the only social network to show significant growth, with 64 percent of young Americans/Canadians using the Chinese platform, compared to 45 percent in 2020. 

This strong growth in usage is also seen in Generation Y – the Millennials. However, while TikTok shows healthy progression, the Chinese social network only comes seventh in this particular usage ranking, with 42 percent in 2021 compared to 30 percent in 2020. 

Facebook remains top of the list for Millennials, with usage at 75 percent in 2021 versus 76 percent in 2020 for Mark Zuckerberg’s platform. 

It is followed by YouTube and Instagram, with little change year over year. 

*According to a survey of 1,450 13–39year-olds in the US and Canada, in October 2021.

Xiaomi Smart Glasses

On February 27, 2012, I had a post on "Superspecs" – basically, a phone on your face – that was supposedly being developed by Google. 

But the vision of a pair of futuristic glasses that would deliver all the services of a smartphone straight to the wearer’s eye – Google Glass – crumbled in early 2015. 

Well, Google Glass is back from the dead, with a new $999 headset that delivers upgraded capabilities, longer battery life, and the promise of new confusion around augmented reality. 

But Google aren’t selling Glass 2 to consumers. The company are only interested in enterprise buyers at the moment. Their applications, too, are focused on work, rather than the consumer slant that got us so excited about the original wearable.

 

The Glass Enterprise Edition 2 is, as the name makes clear, not intended for consumers. Instead, Google is hoping to convince businesses that their workers should be wearing a computer. 

But hey, no worries! Introducing Xiaomi Smart Glasses:

 

They’re coming soon!

Fifteen PL Matches Called Off

Covid-19 is crippling the Premier League. 

Fifteen English top-flight games have been called off so far during December because of coronavirus cases. 

New figures show that a record 103 Premier League players and staff have been tested positive in the seven days up to and including December 26. The previous weekly league record was 90 cases, announced a week ago. 

So far, a total of 15,186 tests were carried out in December 20-26, as the Premier League reintroduce daily testing.

In case, you're interested to know, 98,515 new cases were reported in England yesterday – and the total caseload todate for the whole of the UK has now reached 12.2 million. 

Celtic overcame St Johnstone 3-1 in a Scottish Premiership match on Sunday. 

Liel Abada’s brace (9, 22) put the former on a strong footing. The latter struck back in the sixty-ninth minute – but Nir Bitton put the result beyond doubt when he lashed in a late third to send Celtic into the winter break six points adrift of leaders Rangers.

The Afghan War That Is a Brobdingnagian Debacle

The US invasion of Afghanistan turned out to be a Brobdingnagian debacle.

The mighty US ended up being acutely embarrassed. On August 30, 2021, the United States Armed Forces marked the end of the 2001–2021 War in Afghanistan when they completed their withdrawal from the country. 

This shellacking screwup spanned 4 Presidents, cost $2.313 trillion and took 20 years. And it succeeded in evicting the Taliban only for it to surrender it back to the Taliban! In the process, 2,455 of their service members' lives were sacrificed. Imagine that! 

Well done, America!

97.5% of Malaysian Adults Got Their Jabs

As of yesterday, a total of 22,835,291 individuals or 97.5 percent of the adult population in Malaysia have completed their Covid-19 vaccination. Wow, we’re nearly there! 

And based on the Health Ministry’s CovidNow website, 23,134,791 individuals or 98.8 percent of the group have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 

As for the adolescent population aged between 12 and 17, a total of 2,745,182 individuals or 87.2 percent of the group have completed their vaccination while 2,839,706 or 90.2 percent have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 

Notwithstanding the above, Covid is still in our midst. Today, MOH reported 2,778 Covid-19 cases. 

But the encouraging news is that we may be on the mend because infection numbers have dipped significantly – yesterday, the caseload stood at 3,528 and on Christmas Eve, it was 3,510 cases. 

And of the new infections, only 2.2% were Category 3, 4 and 5 cases. And only two new clusters. 

However, in the UK, there seems to be a Covid resurgence. 

Therefore, Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Leeds, scheduled for today, is postponed. 

Not surprisingly, new restrictions are in place across large parts of the UK after Christmas. In Scotland, for example, from December 26-27, indoor events are limited to 100 people standing or 200 people sitting, and outdoor events are capped at 500 people. One-metre social distancing will be enforced. 

And from tomorrow, there will be additional rules on household mixing. Groups must be limited to three households. There will also be social distancing of one metre enforced in hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants, as well as theatres, cinemas and gyms. Table service will be required in venues that serve alcohol.

Even much of Europe is reinstating Covid restrictions.

Have an Uplifting Christmas!

The true spirit of Christmas, from those who don't even celebrate Christmas:

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everybody!

And there’s nothing like Christmas songs to remind you that it’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Half-naked Santa Atop a Cake

A UK woman has been left mortified after asking her 60-year-old mum to make a "sophisticated" Christmas cake – and receiving an "obscene" alternative. 

Dena Huseyin's mum, Jackie, who's from Hornchurch, east London ran out of fondant while decorating her 'drunk Santa' cake for her daughter and was left with just skin-coloured icing. Thinking on her feet, Jackie decided to sculpt Santa without his iconic red trousers – and instead made him naked from the waist down. 

And she made sure to be quite generous in depicting Father Christmas's private parts. 

Shocking photos of the finished cake show a well-endowed St Nicholas lying on his back on the white Christmas cake, completely naked below the waist and with his arms stretched out.

Liverpool drew 3-3 against Leicester City on Wednesday in a pulsating EFL tie and forcing a shoot-out which they won 5-4. 

The Reds with a makeshift squad were already two goals down until Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back in the nineteenth minute. Then the Foxes made it 3-1. 

Fortunately, Diogo Jota's powerful finish in the sixty-eighth minute and Takumi Minamino’s 95th‑minute equaliser took the contest to penalties where the Reds completed the job. 

Caoimhin Kelleher saved two penalties in the shoot-out and the Portugal star’s winning penalty sent Liverpool through to their first semi-final since 2017.

Lost Tapirs

The catastrophic floods in Malaysia’s Pahang state capital have not only affected humans but they have displaced wildlife too. 

Video clips, which went viral Monday, showed a roaming pair of Malayan tapirs (Scientific name: Acrocodia indica) near Bukit Rangin Perdana in Kuantan. The pair, believed to be an adult tapir with its offspring, appeared lost as they waded through murky floodwaters.

I would argue that that is a consequence rather than a cause. I happen to believe that habitat destruction is driving wildlife into urban areas. 

These endangered mammals are the largest of the five living species of tapir and the only surviving old world species. Their population is estimated to comprise less than 2,500 mature individuals. 

At the University of Hong Kong, the grotesque statue that ostensibly marked the Tiananmen Square massacre was finally removed on Wednesday. 

The "Pillar of Shame" was the work of Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot – and showed piled-up corpses with anguished faces that had Western features! 

This odd fact aside, I must admit I used to buy-in to the Western narrative about the said event in 1989 – but now, I know better. China did what China had to do. End of story.

Chinese Language Learning in UAE

I came across a news report that informs me that the UAE is going all out to promote Chinese language learning. 

The project was first brought up in 2018 when Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi of the UAE. 

A year later, UAE’s Ministry of Education announced they would incorporate Chinese language teaching into a total of 200 public schools before 2030. 

Only 20 students signed up for the Chinese course at first. Yet from that humble beginning, there are now 142 schools in the UAE offering Chinese language classes, covering 45,317 students, with over 180 Chinese teachers. 

In 2019 alone, 60 public schools launched Chinese language courses in the country, from kindergarten to high school, as part of the UAE's national education system. 

UAE is really looking to the future and it would seem that China is in their future! 

After all, UAE is China's largest investment destination in the Arab world and a model of economic and trade cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Celtic followed their League Cup triumph with a shock Scottish Premiership slip-up as they were held by St Mirren on Wednesday. The goalless draw ends Celtic's six-game league winning run and leaves them six points behind leaders Rangers.

Fourth Covid Booster Dose is Coming Up

Israel is now looking at a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine. 

The overall Covid-19 infection rate is back on the rise, with 903 new cases recorded yesterday. Insofar as Omicron is concerned, there has been 341 cases todate.

Anyway, scientists already know that more than 20 mutations differentiate Omicron from Delta, the variant that has dominated the pandemic since the summer of 2021. And they have realized the mutations meant the new variant would be likely to infect people who had been vaccinated and might even reinfect people who’d already had Covid-19.  

That aside, South Africa is still maintaining that Omicron is a positive story. 

According to Professor Cheryl Cohen (left) of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases on Tuesday, a new South African study, along with data on hospitalisations and deaths in the country’s fourth wave of Covid infections, reaffirm that the risk of severe disease is lower with Omicron than with previous variants.

Forced Labor in Malaysia

Malaysia’s government and companies must address mounting allegations of workplace abuse of migrant laborers who fuel the country’s economy, or face risks to its export-reliant growth model. 

We no longer can afford to be in denial. FYI, we are known to be a perennial offender!

In the past two years, as far as I can ascertain, at least six Malaysian firms, including Top Glove, Supermax Corp Bhd, Smart Glove, Brightway Group, Sime Darby Plantation and FGV Holdings, have faced US import bans over allegations of forced labor. 

The country has for decades banked on migrant workers to power mainstay manufacturing and agriculture, becoming an integral part of the global supply chain for products as diverse as semiconductors, iPhone components, medical gloves and palm oil. But as the reliance on foreign labour increased, so have complaints of abusive working and living conditions for workers, who come mainly from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal. 

It is claimed that the legal framework in Malaysia allows, and indeed sometimes insists on, practices which are on a collision course with the ILO 11 indicators of forced labor. 

Therefore, we must urgently scrutinize and rectify and strengthen our labor laws and enhance enforcement, while companies should invest to ensure better conditions for their workers. 

On Sunday, Liverpool were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur. 

In fact, Spurs took the lead in the thirteenth minute – but Diogo Jota levelled with an outstanding header via Andrew Robertson's cross just twenty-two minutes later. Robertson then headed the Reds in front in the sixty-ninth minute, only for Spurs to even the score after a mistake by Alisson four minutes later in an open and frenetic game. 

Still, I think a blatant red card was missed in the first half and a nailed-on penalty wasn’t given. Anyway, I suppose, on balance, I’ll take a draw.

Weekend Deluge

The unprecedented heavy, non-stop deluge that lashed Malaysia over the weekend caused many places to be besieged, with many roads and highways impassable to traffic. 

Normally, the East Coast states are the ones that would receive heavy rain – but this time, the whole peninsular, especially the central east coast and northern regions were getting continuous heavy rain. 

Official data puts the number of evacuees across the country at 51,000 on Monday, with the worst-hit area being the eastern state of Pahang, where some 32,000 were forced to flee from their homes. But it is unclear how many more remain to be rescued with communication lines cut off in many parts of the state. 

This post is just focussing on Selangor which has also not been spared. Particularly, Shah Alam and Klang which received the brunt of it all. Selangor police reported eight people had been found dead in the floods on Monday.  

Global warming has been linked to the severe floods. Because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall. According to meteorologists, this is a one in a 100-year downpour because a month’s worth of rain fell in just 24 hours!

I can report that today, we're experiencing a hot and dry spell so far!

Santa Claus and Coca-Cola

Christmas is just days away, which means the obligatory observance of consumerism will be soon upon us. 

Santa Claus, of course, is an iconic representation of this celebration. But I betcha you probably didn't realize that you're looking at an advertisement for Coca-Cola. 

Although Santa, as a concept, has existed for centuries, the classic, uniform image of the jolly fat man that we all know didn't exist until Coke essentially created it. Before Coke's design, the image of Santa was amorphous and fluid and entirely dependent on the artist behind the drawing. 

However, once the famous Coca-Cola ads featuring St. Nick hit the presses, almost every subsequent artist leaned on the soft drink giant's version as a stable template. 

Check out a condensed but insightful history of how Coca-Cola invented the modern Santa Claus:

 

On Sunday, Celtic won their 20th Scottish League Cup when they secured a 2-1 victory over Hibernian. 

Actually, the Edinburgh-based club scored first – in the fifty-sixth minute – but Kyogo Furuhashi’s double (52, 72) handed Ange Postecoglou his first trophy as Celtic manager.

Resounding Victory for GPS in Sarawak

As expected, Gabungan Parti Sarawak trooped out as clear winners in the Sarawak state election yesterday. 

Their landslide 76-seat victory in this state election is a significant improvement on their 2016 state election performance when they won 72 contesting under the Barisan Nasional banner. 

PSB, meanwhile emerged as the new Opposition force in Sarawak after winning four seats, namely Batu Lintang, Engkilili, Bawang Assan and Ba’kelalan. 

DAP, which once dominated the state opposition block, were reduced to just two seats, in Padungan and Pending. Of course, PKR and Amanah didn’t even have an iota of chance. 

It shows how bankrupt Pakatan have become. They had better start rebuilding before they get wiped out in GE15. Malaysians have pretty much given up on this ragtag bunch of has-beens and wannabe politicians.

Omicron is Causing Global Alarm

UK researchers say they have found “no evidence” that the Omicron coronavirus variant is milder than Delta, casting doubt on the cautious optimism of some experts that the new strain may not be as virulent and not overwhelm healthcare systems. 

The study by Imperial College London on Friday – released just as health officials reported record Covid-19 cases for the third consecutive day, with a rise to 93,045 new infections – also found that the risk of reinfection with Omicron is more than five times higher than Delta. 

The non peer-reviewed research was based on UK Health Security Agency and National Health Service data on people who tested positive for Covid-19 in a PCR test in England between November 29 and December 11. 

Study lead Professor Neil Ferguson says: “This study provides further evidence of the very substantial extent to which Omicron can evade prior immunity given by both infection or vaccination”. Meaning, Omicron poses an imminent threat to public health. 

Even so, it appears some of the conclusions are different from the data emerging from South Africa, where vaccines are holding up well against severe disease and death at present. 

It can be noted that there’s still a huge amount of uncertainty in these modelled estimates and I guess we would need more time to ascertain the real situation as we collect real-world data on hospitalisation ICU numbers and deaths.

But what is clear is that Omicron is spreading like wildfire and Europe is taking cover!

The US Defence Spending Bill

True to their war-like inclination, the United States Senate have passed a $777 billion defence spending bill, sending the legislation to the desk of President Joe Biden for final approval – and which he will surely put his signature to. 

It has been claimed that the outsize amount is more than the military budgets of the next 11 countries combined.

The evenly-divided Senate approved the legislation – formally known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – on Wednesday in an 88-11 vote, garnering strong support from both Democrats and Republicans. The House of Representatives had passed it by 363-70 last week.

The sum is a massive price tag – in fact, the money could be put to good use to fight poverty, cancel student debt, defeat the climate crisis and other pressing needs that can better benefit the country's citizens. Sure, they can but they won't because war is big business!

On Thursday, Liverpool recorded their sixth successive Premier League win to stay within a point of leaders Manchester City at the top of the table, coming from behind to beat Newcastle United 3-1. 

The Magpies stunned Anfield when they scored in the seventh minute. 

But within four minutes of each other, Diogo Jota (21) and Mohamed Salah (25) scored to give Liverpool the lead, resulting in them becoming the first English team to reach 2,000 top-flight wins. 

Then, Trent Alexander-Arnold's strike from 25 yards in the eighty-seventh minute ended the game as a contest.