Last posts on human

The BRAIN works in mysterious ways

2006-03-03T10:15:00+01:00

Ever heard of the saying “God works in mysterious ways”. Well, agree. But so does the brain? The gray matter, so it seems, works in ways sometimes we cannot understand at all. My cousin, Jamie (yes, it’s him again) emailed me this. Despite chasing after deadlines long gone, I decided that…what the heck, I need a break, anyway.

And it blew my mind! That’s why…don’t believe David Copperfield. If a simple ‘gif’ image can illustrate our ‘weak’ our mind is, then so can David Copperfield and the troops of masterminds behind each and every one of his tricks.

Check this one out. Click on picture to view large version

If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, you will only see one color, pink.

However. if you stare at the black "+" in the center,
the moving dot turns to green.

Now, concentrate on the black "+" in the center of the picture.
After a short period, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see a green dot rotating.

It's amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don't disappear. This should be proof enough, we don't always see what we think we see.

What goes around comes around....

2006-02-13T04:46:55+01:00

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

"I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of." And that he did.
Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name?

Sir Winston Churchill.

What goes around comes around.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.

Who’s the worse driver?

2006-01-14T19:55:00+01:00

Remember the age-old accusation of cursing at a road hogger as Auntie, Uncle, Woman driver? Well, apparently, the world has changed so much that the automatic accusations we’re so accustomed to before…no longer applies. I remember when I first got my driving license, I drove so slow that a child on a tricycle overtook me. I refused to press the horn and think that everyone (THE REST OF THE WORLD) should patiently snail along behind me. I give them a nice little finger gesture if they dare honk their horn. Road hogging was, not yet, an offence. I am not particularly sure whether road hogging is an offense today or not – I am not interested to find out, anyway.

Things took a slight change when my mother learnt how to drive. Say, if I had my mother in the passenger seat and I was driving, if I dare shout, “Oy, Auntie, drive faster lah!”, my mother will turn around and glare at me. “Why you got no patience and no consideration one?”

“Er….mom, that was like 20KMP? Not slow meh?”

“Be nice, just wait lah. We’re not in a hurry. And don’t honk”

So, out the window went the accusation.

My driving slowed down ever since I got my kids, as with many other mothers out there. Once you have kids in the car, the brakes are used more often than the accelerator. And today, I was driving to a popular mall at around 60KMP and rounding a mighty tough bend when I heard a honk from behind. I frowned….”What in the world was that for?”

I looked into the rear view mirror and there was thing young lady with tudung sitting behind the wheel thumping her steering wheel impatiently! Oh gee! 60KMP is not to slow, young lady and mind your manners!

I continued the pace and kept the car from swerving. My kids have this tendency of telling me when I am driving too fast – they’re busy pretending to be Power Rangers or Ultramans in the backseat and if I turn a corner too fast, they won’t be able to FIGHT nicely. And angry or injured kids in a car is a death wish.

So, I kept my eye on the rear view mirror noticing that the lady was trying to overtake me but the consistent flow of cars from the right kept her from doing so. As soon as the last car on the right went past, she literally bucked out of the left lane, sped up to my right, glared at me, gave me her middle finger and mouthed the word that looked a lot like “Auntie!”

Boy, was I shocked. Auntie? Oh wait, yes, I am probably auntie by her standards, huh? But hey, this Auntie is not a road hogger. I think even a decent driver can tell you that 60 is not too slow a speed to take when rounding a bend! What in the world has happened to polite young ladies who drive at the speed of snail? From the look of the lady, she was no more than 23, dressed in traditional clothing – but boy, looks can be deceiving.

The speed limit by which we use to gauge an ‘auntie’, ‘uncle’ or ‘woman’ driver last decade no longer applies. It seems that the limit has been raised and we all need to be in a rush just to avoid being honked at. And last but not least, there’s no such thing as a ‘woman’ driver anymore. Decently dressed woman drivers are now as fast (and impatient) as their male counterparts.

That leaves us the auntie and uncle drivers.

Maids are human too

2005-12-20T11:45:00+01:00

It’s something that I often read in the papers….inhumane acts of abusing others. Be it wife, child, maid or dog, nobody who lives and breathe should be subjected to undue hurt, force, injury or pain unnecessarily without justifiable cause. If I had it my way, even plants should be spared.

Because of this soft spot of mine, I hate to go to the wet market. That’s where this Indian buy sits atop the back of a truck pulling a small but sharp knife through the throat of chickens and then dumping them into a huge container. The chickens cluck and flap around in there helplessly, banging against the lid that covers the container. Left to bleed to death. I asked my mother-in-law once why don’t they just CHOP the whole head off at one go without torturing the poor chickens in there! She gave me an answer but I felt so faint about the whole scene that I never heard or maybe I heard it but didn’t accept it…therefore, can’t remember the reason.

After the chickens are dead, the people will yank the already-dead-ones out and pluck out their feathers roughly, yanking bunch by bunch while blood (still warm, I am assuming) continue to flow down the ‘killer’s arms, legs, apron, boots and knife. I remember hoping that the chicken was also dead…if not comatose! The scene was so gory and it makes me feel queasy just talking (or writing) about it.

Maids are human too
But we (the human race) don’t only treat animals this way. We sometimes, a lot of times, treat fellow human beings in the same inhumane and cruel manner. For instance, maids. Maids are considered inferior to us normal people. In society, maids are often a little bit higher up the social ladder than stray dogs. Even pet dogs are more precious than maids!

Which is, in my eyes, ludicrous! Hogwash!

There’s a recent new addition of maid to this household and because of my ability to sit down in the wet kitchen (there’s a dry kitchen further up front) with them during dinner time for a short chat, they tell me stuff. And like the previous maid, she told me that the Malaysian maid agency here did unimaginably cruel things to all the maids there.
They:-

Kick and punch the maids every single day, whether they did something wrong or not
They are stripped (yes, clothes) from head to toe and then photos are taken of them (This is absolutely unacceptable!!)
They are given one meal a day (if they are lucky). Other times, they are given a huge tub of water and asked to drink the whole tub to prevent hunger.
Their personal belongings like home phone number, addresses, personal items like gold, fashion accessories, memoirs of home (like photos and letters) are taken away and dumped into the thrash.
They are left with nothing but a couple of shirts, a short pant, no extra underwear (I can’t believe this one either!!!) and absolutely no personal belonging whatsoever.

If I looked at things from the agency’s point of view, it may seem as though they are trying to prepare the maids for the worst. What if their employer was bad and is like that? They get the maids prepared for the worst so that when they get to the employer’s house, they will feel lucky and blessed.

But my angry-side wakes up and fights it – what the heck!!?? No underwear? For the whole friggin’ 2 years? If the maid brings along Indonesian money, the agency takes it….and do what with it? And no food? Aw….come on!!!

These actions are no longer noble or professional. They are inhumane and absolutely unacceptable….not even by ants-standards.

Don’t you agree?

Marsha
www.marshamaung.com
www.allmomstuff.com
www.creativejooz.com