The Body Language of Frogs

The Sun newspaper today (p 07) reported that even married Muslim couples who are looking forward to a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner on Monday may find themselves hauled up and compelled to attend a compulsory counseling session to “mend” their faith. This is because the act is deemed to be against a 2005 fatwa which forbids Muslims from participating in this celebration. The reason for this religious ruling was because it has elements of Christianity and/or mixed with immoral acts. Wow, I have been so ignorant all this while! I didn’t know that the Christians are subversively using this innocuous observance to propagate their faith – the Muslims might naively think all they are doing is having a candlelight dinner when they are actually going to be led astray by subtle Christian messages. I would urge JAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Department) to raid restaurants and other eating places and confiscate their menus – I suspect Christian literature are being quietly implanted in the menus to manipulate weak Muslim minds . Poor Muslims – in Malaysia, they cannot celebrate this “day” – but I ask you, what about Christmas? Didn’t Najib and Rosmah attend a Christmas bash in December? Is there a fatwa against celebrating Christmas too? For sure, this “day” is more so a Christian day! So how ah?

Frogs can do more than just croak! And frog communication is not only confined to just repetitively vocalizing “ribbit ribbit”. As it turns out, frogs do communicate in another way – not with their vocal chords – but with their bodies. They vibrate! This is the body language of frogs!

Kindly watch this video interview with Michael Caldwell, frog researcher at the Smithsonian Institute for Tropical Research in Panama. Just one word of advice – do not try this at home. Otherwise, your family members might think you have taken leave of your senses!

Lunar New Year 2011

 

Image credit: http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/wp-content/uploads/5310234147_387fec7c28.jpg

Here's wishing all Chinese everywhere a Happy & Prosperous Lunar New Year!

It so happens that I discovered this old Star newspaper article dated August 23, 2008 (pp WE7-WE8) – in which the inviting headline “Exercise that laugh” beckoned me! 

(Please don't ask me how come a 2-year-old paper is lying around because I have no idea).

Right away, I remembered Karen Sze Tho, a fellow Toastmaster who is really into laughter yoga and who has shared with us many useful tips. 

But I must confess that this activity is not my cup of tea – for the simple reason that I am not the laughing type. Just because I am a killjoy doesn’t mean that others cannot enjoy this therapeutic activity. 

After all, researchers weren’t kidding when they said laughter is the best medicine. Some excellent reasons why laughter is good for you: 

It’s a good workout – Studies have shown that 20 seconds of a good, hearty belly laugh is worth three minutes on the rowing machine because it increases our heart rate and pulse. And it also tones muscles. It boosts emotional and physical health – Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases anti-bodies, strengthens your immune system as well as acts as a natural painkiller. 

Not only that, a study found that people with heart disease were 40% less likely to laugh in a variety of situations compared to people of the same age without heart disease. Laughing, apparently, can help protect you against heart disease. 

And get this! Laughter makes you smarter – That's because it stimulates both sides of the brain to enhance learning. By easing muscle tension and psychological stress, laughing keeps the brain alert and allows people to retain more information. 

Laughter turns you into a sex god/goddess – It’s a well-known fact that men like women who laugh in their presence. Meanwhile, women tend to gravitate towards someone funny whom they’re able to share a laughter or two with. Romantic relationships based on playfulness and humor also tend to last longer. 

Now that I know the secrets of laughter – I must start laughing. Then I will be healthy, smart and sexy. 

Stephen King (Hearts in Atlantis) had this quote: “You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants”. 

My trouble is that I don’t have a favorite chair! Okay, I will go to IKEA and get me a chair. And then I can laugh freely!

Ghostly Census

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is maintaining an elegant silence over the serious rape allegation of a Minister during his time as Prime Minister. Why is he not speaking out? Abdullah or the minister in question has to address this allegation. The man who used to think of himself as Mr Clean should come clean. Now.

What of Najib Razak? Will he pursue this matter to get to the truth? Will the police act? Wow, the hush-hush is as thick as pea soup. And I don't like pea soup!

Photo credit: New Sunday Times, Malaysia, January 02, 2011, p 45.

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There’s this story that I read in the New Sunday Times (January 02, 2011, p 45) about the enterprising owner of Betancur Funeral Home who is taking his craft to the next level. He has launched a ghostly census in Colombia’s second largest city, Medellin. William Betancur (his email is censofantasmas@hotmail.com) classifies hauntings into three categories: luminous events (balls of light flashes), audible events (footsteps, moans, voices), and visual demonstrations. He claims to have recorded 23 visual demonstrations. And he has supposedly registered and classified 215 spirits in total. He came on the idea of a ghostly census after sensing his dog still going about his daily rounds at the funeral home, four months after he died.

So they are real – I mean, they exist! Of course, we Malaysians know it, don’t we? After all, there is the Hungry Ghosts Festival that is “celebrated” every year! The Chinese believe that during the seventh month (of the Chinese lunar calendar), the Gates of Hell are opened. And the spirits roam free in search of food! Betancur should come to Malaysia during this time of the year!

Celtic recorded a two-goal Old Firm derby victory over Rangers in this SPL game that ensured the former remained at the top of table. Both teams were scoreless at half-time. But Celtic took control after the break and Georgios Samaras rounded goalkeeper Allan McGregor to score after 62 minutes. And the second came eight minutes later when Samaras was pulled down by Madjid Bougherra and scored with the penalty.

Flash Mob Gone Wrong

I found this on boingboing.net today. I watched it and again and again and again. And it is freaky! Tom Scott's Ignite London talk "Flash Mob Gone Wrong" is a fictionalized account of just how badly a flash mob could go. It's got a menacing ring of plausibility, largely because each of the steps leading up to the disastrous ending actually happened, just not all together. This whole chain of events can come together to trigger an undesired outcome. A frightening prospect, isn't it?

Hunger Update

An update on my posting last Thursday. 

Yesterday was World Food Day – proclaimed in 1979 by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

It marks the date of the founding of FAO in 1945. The aim of the Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

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BBC News had highlighted ActionAid, a development charity that has released a report, Hunger Free, to coincide with UN World Food Day, where it trumpets that hunger is "a choice that we make, not a force of nature".

"Hunger begins with inequality", it says, and then grows because of "perverse policies that treat food purely as a commodity, not a right". 

"It is because of these policies that most developing countries no longer grow enough to feed themselves, and that their farmers are amongst the hungriest and poorest people in the world", say ActionAid. 

In fact, just two days earlier, BBC News had carried another report – the UN's annual report on global food security, confirming that more than one billion people – a sixth of the world's population – are undernourished. 

"No nation is immune and, as usual, it is the poorest countries and the poorest people that are suffering the most", said the annual report of the UN's FAO and the World Food Programme. 

This report even depicts the Global Hunger Index – a survey published by the International Food Policy Research Unit (IFPRI) – that reveals that countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen the steepest rise in hunger since 1990, followed by Burundi, the Comoros and Zimbabwe; while others have dramatically improved levels of malnutrition since 1990, including Vietnam, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. 

Psst, Malaysia is in the improved category, in position # 7. 

The survey describes a "food price crisis", with prices settling at levels too high for many people in developing countries. So, let's remember not to squander and waste food because there are those who go hungry every day. 

More importantly, what are we doing about it?

Non-stop Talking

According to Yahoo! News today (January 18), Frenchman Lluis Colet broke the world record for the longest speech after rambling non-stop for 124 hours about Spanish painter Salvador Dali, Catalan culture, and other topics. The 124 hours represent 5 straight days and 4 nights of continuous talking, and 3 notaries were on hand to recognize this feat which allows Colet to enter it in the Guinness Book of Records. Whoa! One day, perhaps, I will be brave enough to try it too? But for a guy who lost his voice for nearly a week, and only just got it back a few days ago – it is foolhardy and brash to even contemplate it… Yes, that’s it – I must be going bonkers. Or maybe if I am a little less ambitious? What if I go for the Malaysian Book of Records? Can wad! Okay lah, no need to talk so long – even 24 hours, also can! Still, a record! I must be deranged to even consider it. Yes, yes, I am daft – but then again, so what? And in the SPL tonight – I was following the Celtic-Aberdeen game through “live text”. An interesting way to keep tabs on a match that is not ever going to be featured on the ESPN channel! Aberdeen’s Gary McDonald opened scoring in the 24th minute, which was, of course, a real bummer. But just as quickly, Brown equalized for Celtic (25th minute). Duff put Aberdeen up again with a 31st minute goal, before Celtic replied very late in the 73rd minute through Scott McDonald. And in keeping with their forward momentum, Aberdeen responded with two Diamond goals in short order (75th and 78th minutes). The final heartrending score: Celtic 2, Aberdeen, 4. A great free-flowing game, but…

Bidding Farewell to 2008

I came across this interesting piece of news in The New Straits Times yesterday (December 30, 2008, p 33) of how some enterprising organizers in New York hit upon a novel idea of bidding ‘good riddance’ to bad 2008 memories. New Yorkers were invited to bring their bad memories to Times Square on Sunday and feed them to an industrial-strength shredder. And so this article went on to talk about a Yankees fan Kate Anello of New York City who shredded a poster of the Boston Red Sox, the New York baseball team’s archrival. Another New Yorker, Kathryn Bonn shredded a printout of her boyfriend’s “Dear John” email. Others wanted to destroy bad grades, bad health, and bad financial news. Some wrote “the stock market” or “cancer” on a piece of paper and shredded it, while others shredded bags of actual bank statements and check stubs. It is said that “this is the perfect way to move on from a bad year, from a bad experience”. A fascinating concept that the organizers themselves are hoping it will become a New Year’s tradition. Maybe we should start something like this at HICT too? Well, any takers anybody?

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Liverpool is still making the news because they continue to bask in glory after the Merseysiders ended 2008 as Premier League leaders! I loved this quote from Liverpool assistant manager, Sammy Lee: “This is a very strong, determined and focused bunch of players and they have a real belief. It’s not arrogance but we’re prepared to succeed and not prepared to fail”. Go for it, Liverpool!

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And so, this is my last entry for 2008 - I am blogging. I am making speeches. I am enjoying work. I am alive! There's a sense of deja vu because it has been a good year for me, and here's to knowing 2009 will be another bountiful year. So, A Happy New Year everybody and may you work towards making all your resolutions become a reality... Hopefully, it shall not be those New Year resolutions that go in one year and out the other!

Jump!

Today, I went over to Wisma HELP for academic training; today's session was on 'Teaching Methodology: Pedagogy & Andragogy" conducted by a Dr. Andrew Poh, a very engaging, even absorbing fellow. There were 13 of us altogether, this group of academics coming from different disciplines and interestingly, from different geographical locations – we had representations from Hong Kong, Myanmar, Canada, and Spain, besides those from Malaysia amongst this group of HELP "trainees". I had previously attended academic training when I was with Nilai Intrernational College, and the trainers then were from Universiti Malaya – looking back, I realize how outdated they must have been when they delivered their stuff, as compared to what I am now learning from today's facilitator. Now this only demonstrates how far Universiti Malaya has descended into the delinquent depths of mediocrity – so why should we be surprised if their rankings plummeted?!

By the way, Rymond from Marketing confirmed today that the final tally of applications total 44 for HICT's Open Day & Career Fair 2008. However critical we want to be, it was a decent effort overall.

Kelvin emailed me this story: Back in 1929 during the financial crash, it was said that some Wall Street stockbrokers and bankers jumped from their office windows and committed suicide when confronted with the news of their firms' and clients' financial ruin. And many people were said to almost feel a little sorry for them... But in 2008 the attitude has changed somewhat:

I thought this is really hilarious!