Fallen Angels

International Missing Children
by deviantonis at deviantART

Fallen Angels
by Aerosmith, from Nine Lives (1997)

There’s a candle burning in the world tonight
For another child who vanished out of sight
And a heart is broken, another prayer in vain
There’s a million tears that fill a sea of pain

Sometimes I stare out my window
My thoughts all drift into space
Sometimes I wonder if there’s a better place

Where do fallen angels go?
I just don’t know
Where do fallen angels go?
They keep falling

Now the times is frightening
Can’t ignore the facts
There are so many people
Just slipping through the cracks

So many ashes are scattered
So many rivers run dry
Sometimes your Heaven is Hell
And you don’t know why

Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Somewhere out there there’s a shining light
And I got to be with you tonight

And with all we’re nowhere
We still pay the price
Yeah, the Devil seems to get his way
In downtown paradise

There's a candle burning...

Six-year old Etan Patz went missing on his way to school in New York City on May 25, 1979. United States President Ronald Reagan then in 1983 proclaimed May 25 National Missing Children’s Day. Since then, many countries followed suit in adopting May 25 as International Missing Children’s Day. That’s tomorrow.

Fallen Angels is my favorite song from the Nine Lives album. Too bad not being released as a single means they didn’t make a video for the song. In 1999 Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler donated the rights to the song to Oprah Winfrey’s Oprah's Angel Network charity.

Of Giants

So, as per Kue Peng and Hanif, BFG also stands for Big Friendly Giant. Obviously, I have never read Roald Dahl so though the Big Friendly Giant does sound somewhat familiar to me (even then I think it was the animated movie rather than the book) it didn’t stick. In my defence, however, Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant is referred to as The BFG while to the rest of us illiterate (former) video games junkies a BFG is just any big f*%king gun.

Just the same, I associate the word “giant” with the Jolly Green Giant and the Super Jolly Green Giant, nicknames of the HH-3 and HH-53 dedicated combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters used by the US Air Force to rescue downed pilots during the Vietnam War. The Jolly Green Giant was a much modified derivative of the Sikorsky S-61 Nuri helicopter our own TUDM is trying hard to have replaced.

The Jolly Green Giant, however, is also better known as the mascot of the Green Giant food company. I love their Niblets^® Whole Kernel Sweet Corn for snack.

BFG

“What is BFG?” asked mom.

Anyone who’s played DOOM or been around enough video games would know what a BFG is. BFG stands for Big F*%king Gun. There is no better way to call the biggest, meanest, most powerful weapon around but calling it what it is – a big fucking gun. I don’t play FPS, though; they give me motion sickness.

The J!NX BFG Creed is based on My Rifle: The Creed of a United States Marine, originally penned by Major General William H. Rupertus. Some may only know it from Full Metal Jacket.

I didn’t tell her all that, of course. :P

Pardon all my nonsense until I actually have something to write about.

Zombies

Now that the worldwide zombie infestation has reached our shores, particularly Kampung Pisang, it is very important that all Malaysians be prepared for when it happens next. Thankfully, the good people at Wired recently published an article on everything we need to know to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse in the Wired How-To Wiki.

Apparently, there are three kinds of zombies – natural zombies, supernatural zombies, and alien zombies. The guide concentrates mainly on dealing with alien zombies. I suppose the kinds in Kampung Pisang count as alien zombies too.

The only thing, however, is that the discussion on anti-zombie weaponry seems to be restricted to only projectile weapons i.e. guns. Ah, the Mat Sallehs and their guns. Haven’t they learned that firepower is not always the answer? When facing a small horde of zombies in a closed or confined area a katana is the ideal weapon to have to hack off those zombie heads. A chainsaw may seem like a good idea, but what if you run out of gas?

With guns you can run out of bullets too. Thankfully in Malaysia, SME Ordnance make bullets. Just hope they all fire.

Some Malay chauvinists may want to insist on the superiority of the keris as a weapon. The problem with that is that the keris is a more of a stabbing weapon and you cannot kill zombies by stabbing them with a keris, even a poisoned or charmed one. For one they are already dead, and poisons (or otherwise some form of infection) may be how they became zombies in the first place. Second, the keris is a tad too short, and you never want to get too close to a zombie.

__________
PS: I am still recovering from a cold.

The Common Cold

The Cost Of The Common Cold & Influenza
(U.S. National Library of Medicine image through Wikipedia)

During BTN course in 2004, one of the participants asked a fellow participant, a doctor, about the benefits of taking Vitamin C when contracting a cold:

A: How long does a healthy person normally take to recover from a cold?
B: About a week.
A: Is it true that I heard that taking Vitamin C helps?
B: Yeah, by taking Vitamin C you’ll recover in just seven days!
A: WOW!

PFFT!

I am recovering from a cold.

Significance

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) steams in the western Pacific Ocean
(MC2 James R. Evans/US Navy photo)

The Nimitz class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are the biggest and most powerful warships in the world. Each Nimitz class ship displaces more than 100,000 tons at full load with more than five thousand sailors and aviators on board, two nuclear reactors giving it virtually unlimited endurance, and up to ninety combat aircraft and helicopters capable of taking down a small nation.

Yet, in the middle of an ocean such huge a ship with all its might appears so small and insignificant.

Just like the whole of humanity a tiny speck in the infinite vastness of the universe.

Museum Saturday

I still haven’t made it to the national zoo after two years since I thought about it. Soon, I hope.

But I went to the Islamic Arts Museum with my brother on Saturday. We went to take my car for its third scheduled service in the morning, and decided that the day was too beautiful to just go straight home after that. After considering our options, we decided on the Islamic Arts Museum.

There is a special exhibition themed Faith & Power: Women in Islam running till July 4. My mother said that it’s all over the television, but I knew about it from curator Lucien de Guise’s article in the NST. Anyway, it wasn’t the reason we went on Saturday. I’ve always thought about going to the museum, just like I’ve always thought about going to the zoo. I’d like to say that I generally like museums, or at least the idea of museums, although I haven’t been to any of the local museums since primary school. Relatively recently, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science (twice), John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and USS Constitution Museum in Boston; the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, and the Imperial War Museum in London.

I really liked what I saw at the Islamic Arts Museum. It seems to be very well managed and maintained, unlike the state of the state-run museums I remember (they could be different now, however; I’ll have to check them out). Apart from the exhibits, there are beautiful, intricately designed domes inside the museum building. Cameras are not allowed in the exhibition galleries, but I really wished that I had my camera with me. The museum also has an excellent shop I’ll definitely remember whenever the next time I need to buy someone a gift.

The RM12 entrance fee was definitely worth it. There weren't many visitors when we were there apart from some foreign tourists and a noisy group of school children. I really recommend everyone to visit the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

Prayer, Part 2

I’m having an extended weekend, taking Monday and Tuesday off. For all of you working today/tomorrow, here's some “hair”.

Born To Be My Baby
by Bon Jovi, from New Jersey (1988)

Rainy night and we worked all day
We both got jobs ‘cause there’s bill to pay
We got something they can’t take away
Our love, our lives

Close the door, leave the cold outside
I don’t need nothing when I’m by your side
We got something that’ll never die
Our dreams, our pride

My heart beats like a drum (all night)
Flesh to flesh, one to one (and it’s all right)
And I’ll never let go ‘cause
There’s something I know deep inside

You were born to be my baby
And baby, I was made to be your man
We got something to believe in
Even if we don’t know where we stand
Only God would know the reason
But I bet he must have had a plan
‘Cause you were born to be my baby
And baby, I was made to be your man

Light a candle, blow the world away
Table for two on a TV tray
It ain’t fancy, baby that’s okay
Our love, our way

So hold me close, baby, hang on tight
Buckle up, baby, it’s a bumpy ride
We’re two kids hitching down the road of life
Our world, our fight

If we stand side by side (all night)
There’s a chance we’ll get by (and it’s all right)
And I’ll know that you’ll live in my heart till the day that I die

Have It Your Way

“Be more merciful” – that’s one of the comments I received from the students for last semester’s teaching evaluation. Let me apologize first for yet another school/work-related post (but hey, it’s my blog!). I’m not writing about more students who came asking for “help” after failing my class last semester, so not to sound like a broken record for keep repeating myself as they are all basically the same story; but here’s a different and interesting one:

A student came yesterday asking if she could “drop” a course she took last semester. One normally drops a course during the semester for various reasons, typically upon finding the course too difficult. This girl got a B− for the course, and came basically to get the grade expunged from her records. It is the strangest request I’ve received so far as student advisor.

This girl is aiming to graduate with at least a 3.7 CGPA in order to secure a scholarship for graduate studies. Scoring a lowly B− pulls down her CGPA, upsetting her plans, so she wants the grade undone. I don’t know whether to regard her as a very determined young woman or a spoiled little girl used to getting everything she wants.