Campaign to Reinstate Kean

    

It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to enjoy reading new posts by Kean Loong, aka Doinkster. I therefore move that he be reinstated as a regular blogger!

Don’t we all miss his interesting stories, witty comments, and insightful advice and opinions? He brings zest and life into our very computer monitors!

Isn’t the web duller, more boring, and lacking in interesting new material without him? The world reels and suffers from such a grievous and irreplaceable loss!

Wouldn’t you gladly and willingly support this altruistic and community-serving campaign by signing the petition to reinstate our respected and appreciated contributor? Your heart will leap like [Mei Yee who saw a cicak] at such a noble act!

Simply click on the image above to be taken to his blog, click on the comments of the latest post, and leave a note of encouragement for brother Kean to continue his fine literary endeavors. Or leave a comment on this post itself, right below.

I have already taken the first step in honouring the great mentor who helped inspire the start of the prolific and regular blog you are now reading.

So let us all work together and make this a brighter world! Powder to the Posters!

PS. If anyone didn’t understand the above verbosities, then it may already be too late… The very collective mind of humanity has already shrivelled and disappeared into the void of nothingness from the sheer lack of ironic bloggings! Oh no!

PPS. I MEAN IT PEOPLE! COMMENT INTO THE PETITION NOW!!!

Mo’Linguish

What if the whole world spoke like Mojo Jojo?

Mojo Jojo is the evil mastermind villian in the Powerpuff Girls cartoons. He is a chimpanzee. He speaks with a stereotypical ‘dubbed Japanese’ accent. To wit…

It takes a longer time and uses more syllables to same something in Japanese compared to English. For example, “Thanks” in English (1 syllable) versus “Arigato” (4 syllables) in Japanese.

When US producers dubbed early anime, the characters would be moving their mouths a lot (as they originally speak Japanese). So in order to fill in the empty spaces, the American voice actors used contrived sentences and extended reiteration, often saying many words quickly to try and match the plentiful short mouth movements. I like to call it ‘Speed Racer Syndrome’, and if you’ve ever watched an episode of that show, you’d understand why!

So in this episode of the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo Jojo is sentenced by the judge to perform community service, in order to make up for his crimes. More precisely, he has to teach a knowledge extension course in English. Let’s hear him speak at his first lesson:

Mojo: Hello and good evening to you. I am Mojo Jojo, your instructor and the person who will be teaching you from this point forward. That is to say that as you are here representing the students of the class, I am here representing the teacher of the class. And as it is my job to teach, it is your job to learn, and in learning gain more intelligence than you currently have. Now, what are the names or individual identifications that have been assigned to the lot of you?

Each of the students gives their name. After listening to them, Mojo responds…

Mojo: I see. Now as teacher and thus assigner of the grades in this class, if I were to be performing said grading right now at this moment, let me tell you that… None of you passed!

Gasp! Horror! Faint!

Mojo: That is right! In the grading system, I would have assigned you all with an F —which, if I had control of the grading system, I would make the lowest grade a Z, since that is the final letter in the alphabet, which starts with A and ends with Z . But instead, the letter given for those who do most poorly is an F, seeing as it goes A, B, C, D, F, with the inexplicable skipping of E. Nonetheless, after that pathetic display, all of you would get an F, symbolizing FAILURE for your poor use of English!

The students protest that he asked for their names, and they gave their names as requested.

Mojo: Yes, and that is wrong, because it is boring and uninteresting and thoroughly bringing me about to a state of unconsciousness. From those simple, pathetic names I learn nothing! I am here to teach you proper English, and with that you are to learn proper descriptive and defining skills. Now let us try this again…

And thus begins the spread of Mo’Linguish, which gains popularity and eventually brings the entire town to a standstill… For example, the Mayor calling the Powerpuff Girls to alert them to a bank robbery in progress…

Mayor: There is a stealing of sorts happening at the place where money is given and taken, that is to say deposited and withdrawn—and sometimes redistributed and loaned. But currently the taker is taking that which is not his, thus performing an act of illegality, which could result in incarceration within the confines of a penal facility, that is to say prison, jail, hoosegow, et cetera.

And at the bank itself…

Robber: The amount which I want to withdraw is not that from any bank account which I hold within the bank. In other words, I wish to take money that does not belong to me, but is instead in the ownership of others who have worked hard to gather funds for their future rainy days.

Bank Teller: But what I am asking you is, do you have an account which I can access, and if so, what are the numerical digits for me to properly type upon the keyboard to tap into the computer system which allows me permission into all of the fund-related requests?

Robber: And what you are failing to understand is that I do not have said account, since I am not a patron of this fine establishment except to take from it that which is not mine.

Ah, the beauty and pure evil of the English language! A tool that the elite use to oppress the masses – so hard to learn, yet so necessary in order to get ahead. Muahaha!

Great laffs all around, wot? Read the full transcript of the episode here, and the other fun Mojo-talking episode (Mojo Bubbles).

“I do not talk like that! The way I communicate is much different. I do not reiterate, repeat, reinstate the same thing over and over again. I am clear, concise, to the point!”

Up in Penang 2 & 3 Nov!

I’m coming up to Penang! Ostensibly for work (school visit roadshow on Friday morning, see here for some enlightenment). But I’m taking a Wednesday night bus and arriving Thursday early morning, which gives me much time to meet up with people. Hurry, book me now before other people do! (and so I don’t feel unwanted)

On a related, albeit side, note – Admin got me a bus to Nibong Tebal instead of Sungai Nibong! Luckily I only left Penang for less than a year, and spotted this potentially disastrous mis-travel soon after I got the ticket!

So, sms me quick and let’s go makan/lepak! There’s still 3 days to go…

Mind-Control Wasp

The second in the Amazing Creation series.

 

Image is from this site.

The Emerald Cockroach Wasp, Ampulex compressa, breeds using the American cockroach as a host. The wasp first stings once to mildly paralyze the cockroach’s front legs. Then the it delivers a sting right into a specific part of the roach brain that controls the escape reflex.

This results in the cockroach not even trying to escape. The wasp then leads the roach along to the wasp’s den, by pulling on the roach’s antennae like leashes or reins on a horse. The roach meekly obeys, and once inside the den the wasp lays its egg on the roach.

The cockroach then just sits around as the wasp fills in the hole, the wasp’s larva hatches, and the roach gets eaten from the inside. The wasp larva eats the cockroach’s internal organs in an order which keeps the roach alive for as long as possible.

Wow! Freaky man! But since it’s happening to those be-hated roachies, well, serves ’em right!

Now on to the dilemma for evolutionary theory: HOW did such a finely-tuned wasp evolve by purely random chance???!! Key complex issues include:

The stinging direct  into the correct region of the brain – How did the wasp evolve to find the right spot? What’s more, it had to evolve it after and reliant upon the paralyze-sting behaviour.

The chemical cocktail that makes the roach compliant – Instead of the usual lethal or 100%-paralyzing sting. See next point.

The behavior of leading the roach by the antennae – The wasp is too small to pull the roach to its den. If the wasp didn’t evolve BOTH the mind-control sting chemicals AND the antennae pulling together, then the roach would just lay dead weight on the open ground for other predators to scavenge.

And add in the behaviour of the wasp larva, eating the roach’s organs from least vital to roach life to most vital. Perhaps not as important as the other factors, but it just adds to the complexity.

So how did the mind-flayer wasp evolve, eh? Each characteristic bit by bit, individually (they’d be useless on their own)? How many wasps had to evolve these traits at around the same time for it to be a meaningful addition to the species-wide gene pool?

Do Evolutionists want to really try and solve these questions (and questions on other life forms I will raise in future posts) instead of merely speculating? Because if they did so satisfactorily, I’d be much impressed and consider evolution more seriously.

And if you want to go throw theological connotations into the mix with the old “Oh sure it seems intelligently designed, but what kind of cruel, sadistic intelligence would design such a sick parasite?”, then let me respond with said theology:

The Creator’s original design was exquisitely perfect, and very much nice and kind. Sin (which we Homo self-servingus introduced, didn’t you know) ruined the carefully laid out plans, probably introduced random mutation which is mostly bad rather than good, and brought suffering into the world.

Besides, Intelligent Design does not state that the intelligence is benevolent, loving or kind – just that evidence points to the involvement of intelligence in the intricate design of life. (Christianity is what states that the Creator is love, duh).

Ann Coulter

       

Oo, I like this lady! Smart, sassy, and not afraid to speak her mind while lashing out with her venomously barbed tongue!

Read the Wikipedia article on her, at least the intro, and make a note not to tick this person off! And browse some of her quotes too. Let me say that this is ONE SCARY LADY!

But I’m really quite thrilled to discover that someone vocal and unabashed who has a strong media presence shares/supports many of the same worldview stances that I do (Christian, conservative, ID proponent etc.). Although her style is quite a bit less unbiased and neutral than my own (har har har). Reminds me of the book of James – the kiddy gloves are off, you sinners!

To quote her:

“I’m a Christian first and a mean-spirited, bigoted conservative second, and don’t you ever forget it.”

“… Christianity fuels everything I write. Being a Christian means that I am called upon to do battle against lies, injustice, cruelty, hypocrisy—you know, all the virtues in the church of liberalism.”

In this modern arena of political over-correctness and (very traditional Asian-esque) hide-your-true-feelings masks, I respect such a no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners, kick-butt-and-take-names-so-you-can-grill-them-in-writing-later attitude – if only to balance out the aforementioned softiness.

That said, I’d love to get the book above (click on the image to read about it). I think I’ll be browsing around her website now and then.

8-Bit Theater: King Steve on International Relations

Oh, King Steve! You so crazy! Or rather: stupid, delusional and very dangerous as a depostic monarch. Click the teaser images below to catch the full punchline! 

King Steve on Pacifism:

King Steve on October holidays:

Serve All Believers

  

This was the very first shirt I designed and printed. A simple statement of my attitude during uni days, in PPK and PKA – to serve all believers (and others too). Some of you might even remember it.

I was wearing it the first time I met Alex D during visitation to introduce juniors in Restu-Saujana-Tekun to PKA. I found the shirt again back in Ipoh… Nostalgia-nya!

The fellow posing with the big hammer is a Warcraft 3 Human Paladin. In high fantasy, paladins are epitomes of justice, self-sacrifice, goodyness… Kinda like Superman and Captain America for medieval era. They’re based on the typical ideal, chivalrous, Christian-acting knight.

And so I tried to be the best warrior-hero of the faith I could be… Did I do a good job along with my trusty steed, AET 1443?

X-Men: An Example of Intelligent Design

(This post has to do with sciencey stuff, but I’ll try keep things simple and easily understandable)

 

Ahh, the X-Men… Mutant superheroes who strive for peace between mutants and ordinary humans. Much emphasis is put on the ‘evolution’ of Homo sapiens (us) into Homo superior (them). But did you realize that the very existence of these so-called ‘mutants’ is a powerful argument for Intelligent Design?

A few quick tutorials first: Intelligent Design states that if you look at living things from a neutral, objective, unbiased point of view, you would conclude that life was DESIGNED by some sort of an INTELLIGENCE. (For monotheists, this amazing Intelligence that designed and created life would equate to God). Life, they say, is simply too complex and intricate to have occurred by Random Chance (the goddess of Darwin’s Evolution).

For example, imagine if one day humanity became extinct. 10,000 years in the future, aliens explore earth and discover all sorts of things like cars, computers and ais-kacang machines. The aliens think it over, and decide that these things were created by RANDOM NATURAL EVENTS like lightning, UV-rays and meteor impacts. These natural events SOMEHOW put together the complex machinery without any guiding forces overseeing the correct installation of Windows XP.

    

It seems silly that anyone could think complex inventions were assembled entirely at random, with no intelligence guiding their careful design. Yet organic life is vastly more complex and complicated than the greatest of human inventions! The brain, the cell, even DNA is so mind-bogglingly perfect in function… Yet the theory of evolution says that these were all the result of nature’s dice.

One key argument in Intelligent Design is something called Irreducible Complexity. This concept states that many features of living things (such as eyes, flagella and genes) cannot function at all if even one part is missing.

For example, if the eye had no retina, it wouldn’t be able to see. If it had no cornea, it wouldn’t be able to see. The eye needs all its parts TOGETHER to function. I mean, just look at how many things a Medic student has to memorize!

    

But the theory of evolution says that only small changes occur over a long time. So it would be impossible to evolve an entire eye suddenly – the cornea, retina, iris and etc would each evolve seperately. But since none of these things do anything useful on their own, they are useless baggage. The organism that evolved a cornea should die out, since it is less fit for survival.

Therefore, says Irreducible Complexity, the many parts of the eye must have been put together simultaneously and in the right positions – the work of an Intelligence.

Now back to the X-Men. Let’s use the example of Cyclops, real name of Scott Summers.

            

His mutant powers are to fire ‘optic blasts’ of energy from his eyes. The source of this energy is ordinary sunlight, which Cylops can somehow absorb.

Now although Cyclops is an extraordinary mutant with incredible powers, his parents were ordinary humans. This means that within ONE GENERATION, ‘random natural events’ caused Cyclops to ‘evolve’ the following traits SIMULTANEOUSLY and PUT TOGETHER FLAWLESSLY:

1. A system to absorb sunlight energy;
2. A system to store this energy;
3. A system to change this energy into optic blasts;
4. Eye that can release optic blasts;
5. Eyes, eyelids and other body parts that are not destroyed by his own optic blasts.

Wow, now that is a handful of random, non-intelligently put together features! Seems more like the work of an incredibly intelligent Designer, doesn’t it?

In fact, in a non-616 Marvel continuity, the X-Factor that causes superpowered mutations was implanted into humans eons ago by ultra-beings known as the Celestials! So much for the next step in ‘evolution’.

So even within the X-Men’s own comic-book reality, random naturalistic Darwinistic evolution has nothing to do with the miracle of life. From this day forward, let no Darwin-fanboy look up to mutants as an endorsement of evolution!

 

Lol!

PS. Take a look at this blog which reached a similar conclusion:
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1159309880.shtml

Also, these posts:

The Sin Theory of Evolution

Evolution: The Untold Story, Part 1

2000th Hit-Hit-Hurray!

I got my 2000th hit just in time for me to come back from Ipoh (a great trip home btw, which i will blog on later).  And so, the stats:

85 posts including this one.

44 blog links.

35 comments including those by me (lazy to count, so just use Dashboard statistics).

That averages 20 visits a day since I started, but I’ve learned that it’s mostly due to
my name.

 

Hey look! Sadat is more popular than Russell Crowe!

Top Posts for 30 days ending 2006-10-26 (Summarized)
2006-09-26 to Today
Title Views
THONG OF THE DAY!!!! 38
Sadat of Sarawak 13
Russell Crowe Fightin’ Around the World 11
Where Has Scott Gone? 10
Dueling Analogs: Tetris Love 8
You Can Always Commit Suicide Tomorrow  8
Pelangi Scientist – The Science Magazine 7
Penang Konvo Trip Rundown 6
Happy Tree Friends Short Comics 6
Two Loves in Balance 6
A 5 Minute Poem to Start Your Day 5
Google Myself 5
Smiley Squinty Eyes 5
The Trinity: Examples in Real Life 5
Voltron! 4
8-Bit Theater: Burning Dwarves 3
Kena Sabo! 3
Impressions of the Lion City 3
Singapore Trip 2 3
3rd Month Blog Stats 2
8 Bit Theater – Fish in Mouth 2
Killer Mantis 2
Family Referrals 2
Transformers: 2007 Film 2
BUUUUURRRRNING HOT!!! (Lysol Flamethrowe 2
Windows Shortcuts 2
The Parable of Kampong Kayukayu 2
Can You Tell Me How to Get, How to Get t 1
Slicing a Bullet in Half…Mid-flight 1
Ugly Malaysia – We Are to Blame! 1
Fai-wa of the Day 1
The Case of the Sims Neighbourhood Massa 1
Singapore Trip 2 – What Happened to the  1
What I Learnt in Bio Class 1
Fai-wa of the Day 2: Loneliness Is… 1
Cacacacaf-f-f-feine 1
Honey… Happy Birthday! 1
“Thai army seizes power, ousts Thaksin” 1
Dilbert Newsletter 1
Morality: Of Absolutes and Relatives 1
Karate Master 1
VGCats: Lawyers Wallpaper 1
Ipoh for Raya! 1
60 Days and 1000 Hits Later! 1
Bassing Around in JB 1
Slogging 1 

I’m not old and tired yet! There’s a whole backlog of good stuff I want to share with you all…

Kena Sabo!

Kena Sabo! Ini pasal a certain mui-mui, put my name so I have to do lor… Hor?

1. full name: Scott Thong Yu Yuen
2. name backwards: Neuy Uy Gnoht Ttocs
3. Were you named after someone: Nope.
4. meaning of name: Scott = from Scotland (“That bagpipe player is a Scot!”), Thong = soup, Yu Yuen = got money (yow yen). So if I sell Scottish soup, I’ll be rich!
5. nickname: …Like the tissue (as I tell new kenalan)
6. screen name: scottthong, apurplecat, WhyICannotWin
7. D.O.B: 10th July 1982
8. place of birth: Ipoh 9. nationality: Malaysian
10. current location: Ipoh as I write this, but JB mostly
11. star sign: Cancer
12. religion: Christianity (Baptist church but self quite inter-denominational)
13. height: somewhere between 165cm to 185cm, I always forget
14. weight: 65kg, how fatter or thinner I look also, still maintain around this for years!
15. shoe size: big
16. hair colour: black
17. eye colour: beautiful
18. who do you look like: uncle on mum’s side (mum’s genes in a guy body)
19. innie or outtie: innie
20. leftie or rightie: rightie handed
21. gay, straight, bi or others: straight
22. best friend : my honey!
23. best friend you trust most: still my honey!
24. favourite pals: hard to say…mmm, Saujana housemates
25. best friend of opposite sex: again, my honey!
26. best buddies: Kean
27. boyfriend or girlfriend: Lei ku ha (kindly deduce it from the available clues)
28. crush: insects under my shoes, yeah
29. parents: Simon Thong Wee Hing & Suzanne Kwoon Siew Yue
30. worst enemy: mosquitos
31. favourite online guy: Kean
32. favourite online girl: need to ask meh… HONEY!
33. craziest friend: hmm, got many ppl mad in their own ways
34. advice friend: Kean, my honey, various Pastors
36. person you cry with: My dear, sweet, beloved honey.
37. any sisters: 2 adopted ‘same-age’, 2 adopted mui-mui
38. any brothers: 2 blood, 1 anggapan
39. any pets: used to have various cats
40. any disease: lovesick! hi honey! ;>
41. pagers: need pagers in this sms age meh?
42. personal phone line: Maxis 012
43. cell phone: Nokia 3350 – The Indestructible King
45. pool or hot tub: hot tub
46. a car: drive, own and paying for 3 different cars…go figure.
47. your personality: There is no Scott like Scott.
48. driving: very experienced people fetcher
49. room: single occupancy (for now)
50. whats missing: money! how come poorer when get job one!
51. school: Ho Seng Onn, Sri Putera, Anderson Ipoh, Sains Kajihayat USM
52. bed colour: random, functional bedsheet
53. relationship with parents: good
54. believe in yourself: yes I do!

MAN THIS IS A LONG LIST!

55. believe in love at first sight: more towards God ordained
56. good listener: yes…uh, what was the question again?
57. get along well with parents: wait, wasn’t this asked earlier? or should I have answered question 53 with: I’m their child, DUH!
58. save email conversations: nice sms got type out and save
59. pray: that this list is over soon!
60. believe in reincarnation: let me debate you on why reincarnation is not truth…
61. make fun of people: come lah, feel my barbs dipped in sarcasm!
62. like to talk on the phone: expensive wor…
63. want to get married: next year (I’d love to…)
64. like to drive: not in jam, but otherwise quite okay
65. motion sickness: yeah. especially when people drive start-stop-start just to stay near front car.
66. eat stem of broccoli: not the lowest stem, but rest is ok
67. eat chicken with fork: yeah, and chopsticks or one hand also can.
68. dream in colour: can taste, touch also
69. type with your fingers on home role: much use of index fingers, but can use all
70. sleep with stuff animals: nope…
71. next to you: blanket in bed, until I’m married 🙂
72. on the walls of your room: paint.
73. on your mousepad: bare desk or white A4 papers
74. dream car: right now, Toyota Prius
75. dream date: I date her several times a week ;>
76. dream honeymoon spot: hmm…somewhere nice and quaint in Europe, or beautiful beach
77. dream husband or wife: Um, I’m saying honey a lot aren’t I?
78. bedtime: when I want to. Need enough sleep for work/thing in mroning tho.
79. under your bed: MONSTERS! AHHHH!
80. single most important question: LORD, what are Your plans for me?
81. bad time of a day: time to wake up, but don’t want to
82. Your worst fear: being really, truly evil (turn away from good willingly)
83. the weather is: rain just cleared the haze I think!
84. time: 2.37am, woi faster habis, got church tomoro!
85. date: 22 Oct 2006
86. Best trick did on someone: hmm, got small ones la.
87. theme song: Macho Man, taken at face value without the subtext (tho I like Love Is Only A Feeling better these days)
88. hardest thing about growing up: being responsible
89. funniest experience: has to do with housemates I’m sure
90. scariest experience: not remembering right now…
91. silliest thing you have ever said: was it on purpose or intentional, I wonder…
92. scariest thing while you are with your friends: if any danger were to appear…I’d have to think of their safety
93. worst feeling: hurting, annoying or angering my loved ones
94. best feeling in the world: to be loved unconditionally
95. AND NOW THE SABOTAGING BEGINS!!! CHOOSE 8 TO DO THE QUIZ!!!

Bill Clinton
Mahatma Ghandi
Ultraman
Martha (houseowner’s cat)
That girl in that commercial advertising that thing, you know…her
The Ferrero Rocher on the table nearby
The square root of -pi
Scott (oh no, I have to copy and paste this whole post over again!)

Woi! Why they all so unsporting, don’t want to do this Sabo questionnaire!?