Science Nugget

I read science magazines and once in a while I come across something interesting or delightful that should be shared. Here's a quick question.

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming ... what? (Answer below.)


















Answer: Planets! It's a mnemonic for the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. (From BBC Focus Magazine.)

[Image from photobucket.com.]

Race

I thought I'd put this on record.

When grandpa moved from Fujian province in China to Malaya, he married a Malay girl (from Kuala Kangsar, I believe) and begat 7 kids, including my father. Mom is pure Chinese. So I'm actually 1/4 Malay. You didn't need to convert back in those days, which is why I'm not a Muslim.

My wife's maternal great-grand mother was Javanese. So she's 1/8 Javanese and 7/8 Chinese.

Which makes my kids ... you do the math!

They say there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Malaysia has been a melting pot of colours from all over. So who's pinched the gold?

[Image from kidsfunfile.com]

The Poor Palestinians

Have you noticed that a lot of nice Christians become absolutely merciless when it comes to the plight of Palestinians? They will defend Israel to the death no matter what atrocities the country may commit.

Well, Israel just slaughtered 300+ Palestinians in Gaza as punishment for lobbing rockets into the former. And Christians are again vocal in supporting Israel's right to genocide and ethnic cleansing. Yes, even Christians in Malaysia!

I guess you have to thank the Old Testament of the Bible for this phenomenon. Here are two interesting passages that mention Gaza and the Philistines who lived there. Gaza is part of the Promised Land the God of the Old Testament set aside for the Jews.

Zephaniah 2:
4 For Gaza will be abandoned And Ashkelon a desolation; Ashdod will be driven out at noon And Ekron will be uprooted.
5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; And I will destroy you So that there will be no inhabitant.

Jeremiah 47:
4 On account of the day that is coming To destroy all the Philistines, To cut off from Tyre and Sidon Every ally that is left; For the LORD is going to destroy the Philistines, The remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5 “Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon has been ruined. O remnant of their valley, How long will you gash yourself?
6 “Ah, sword of the LORD, How long will you not be quiet? Withdraw into your sheath; Be at rest and stay still.
7 “How can it be quiet, When the LORD has given it an order? Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast— There He has assigned it"

The Old Testament God seems to have nothing but hate for the Philistines. The legacy is the present day Christian's contempt of the Palestinians. Why be merciful when God has already ordained that they be slaughtered to make way for the Chosen People, the Jews?















[First image by Carlos Latuff. Second image from stevenfeuerstein.com]

Black Cat, White Cat

As I said, this is not a political blog but let me lay my political beliefs on the table now, so that there are no doubts whatsoever.

Remember what Deng said about cats? "It doesn't matter if the cat is white or black; if it catches mice, it's a good cat."

That's my politics in a nutshell. I'm a pragmatist, like Deng. There are good points and bad points in both capitalism and communism. So why get hung up on ideology? If it works, keep it!

My primary concern is for this country to be able to compete with rising power-houses like China and India. For that to happen, we need unity among the races. If BN wants to keep playing racial games, we should kick the buggers out.

[Picture is from cats-on-tshirts.com]

Why I am NOT a Christian

Do you think kids who are 6 and 8 years old should be made to say grace everyday, dragged to sunday school and camp, and forced to memorise verses from the bible? Well, it's happening to my sons, despite my strong objections. There are even plans to turn my house into a venue for prayer meetings and bible study. My son has just received his first bible. I have been hammering the disciples of scientism. It's about time I say something about christianity.

BBC Focus magazine asked Arthur C Clarke (in Dec 2007 just before his death): What is the greatest threat that we, as a race, are facing?

He replied: Organised religion polluting our minds as it pretends to delivery morality and spiritual salvation. It's spreading the most malevolent mind virus of all.

According to the bible, Jesus came to save the world. May I ask how many people has he successfully saved so far? And why should the people that he failed to save, burn in hell for eternity? Why should people like my father burn in hell for eternity? What has he ever done to hurt anyone? If my dad is writhing in agony now just because he didn't become a christian, then I'd much rather join him than all the hypocritical christians who are busy having parties while millions are marching daily into hell.

Jesus said that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains. How many mountains have the Christians moved? Name me one. Jesus said you can walk on water. Show me a few Christains who have walked on water. Need I go on? All I see in church on Sundays are christians who are striving to believe more, trust more, serve more, pray more, give more, sacrifice more, yield more, etc etc. They are basically weekly faith reinforcement sessions. Why is this necessary if God is real for the christian?

Why is the God of christianity so small and weak? I am a Deist and my God is infinitely bigger! So much so that I'm probably presumptuous to call him (or her) Creator. Instead of creating objects like we do he probably willed everything into existence. He is so big that I cannot speak for him. So big that I cannot put him in a box, like some people are so fond of doing.

And why is the christian god so hung up over the Jews that he made them his chosen people? So obsessed that he COMMANDED them to conduct merciless genocide and ethnic cleansing on the Palestinian people in order for the Israelites to reclaim the "Promised Land"? Why is god so utterly heartless that he cannot feel the suffering of the Palestinians? Why is he so petty that he has to focus all his attention on a tiny piece of land in the Middle East when there is infinite space in the awesome universe?

Sorry to say this, but the Gospel to me is like mouldy bread that the Western world has already rejected and is now gobbled up hungrily by the rest of the world, who seems to think it's a panacea for all their problems.

[The image above is from theleftcoaster.com]