Words and Images from a rambling mind..

Influenza A (H1N1) virus - Don't shake hands!

2009-06-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Don't shake hands, bow head, put your hand on shoulder

Visualize that scenario. You go out for a TT session, yamcha, meet friends..but instead of the usual handshake, knuckle clunk or whatever way you greet your homeys, you bow your head, and put your right hand on your left shoulder (and why not throw in the greeting "peace be with you..earthling, while you're at it). This is apparently supposed to minimize the risk of the virus being transmitted locally. Why don't we dissect this shrewed suggestion by our highly esteemed health minister to further understand the proposed mechanism which is supposed to minimize virus transmission.

Shaking hands
What is in a hand shake? You raise and extend your hand to someone, usually no higher than chest height, the other party recipocrates. Hands interlock, there is skin contact, a couple of thousand dead epidermal cells are shed. But wait a minute...viruses don't get transmitted through dead skin cells. So it must be in the other aspect of a handshake. In order to shake someone's hand, you need to approach the person to a minimal distance of the reach of your arm, usually closer. Most of the time you'll exchange words, usually a greeting and aha! Therein lies the culprit. The inevitable expulsion of body fluid in the form of saliva accompanies speech. So apparently the transmitter is not the potentially fatal hand shake which as you can see is quite harmless. Erm so...the way to curb this is to errr..tape our mouths shut?

Bow your head
Well this would certainly mean that our Japanese counterparts would be less prone to contracting this virus as they've been bowing their heads in greeting for centuries now. Unfortunately, this is not the case as Japan has confirmed more than 266 cases of A H1N1 cases (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/20/content_11408829.htm). So how does the bowing of heads help minimize the spread of influenza? Unless the opposite is true: Eye-contact can spread influenza! As Hommer Simpson may argue Doh!

Put your right hand on your left shoulder
"People are, instead, advised to bow their heads in greeting or place their right hand on the upper left side of their chest to show respect" - Well thats just plain stupid so lets not even go there.

Kudos Mr. Health Minister! Why don't you actually come up with some scientifically sound suggestions rather than inventing alien-like greetings for us. "Live long and prosper"

The Evolution of Time

2009-06-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

Everything evolves with time

And i don't just mean the Galapagos finches or how Tiktaalik, as a fish first crawled up to land and gained limbs. Animals, laws, ideology, habits, virtues, everything evolves with time. The things that seem so wrong now was not so a couple of thousand years go. Murder and genocide was acceptable to expand ones empire. Even God ordered killings and total annihilation of cities and kingdoms. So what changed with time? how does a primal outlook move to a civilized one? What is civilization anyway? a thousand years from now (if the earth and humans survive till then) we'll undoubtedly be branded as primitif no? Did God evolve too? We don't see our "benevolent" God as He was during the old testament although it is said that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. Perhaps God as He is doesn't change..but His modus openrandi sure did. How come we don't stick to the customs of the old testament? We say "That was then...this is now.." Why is then then and now now? How do we allow time to twist and bend our ideology and change in society? Do we conform with time? Does time change the rational truth? Could smoking be a crime punishable by law 500 years from now?

New species of frog

2009-06-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

My manuscript on a new species of frog was published today. I am pleased to announce that Peninsular Malaysia now has one more species (a new genus record too!) of frog, Gastrophrynoides immaculatus (Tung's narrow-mouthed frog). I named it after my highly esteemed friend, Mr. Leong Sung Tung, who not only discovered and brought this frog to my attention but has also helped and contributed immensely to my knowledge in the field of herpetology. Thanks Ah Tung! this one is for you.

25th birthday in the jungle

2009-06-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Gunung Hangus

In and out...quick and dirty.
Just got back from my expedition to Gunung Hangus aka Gunung Batu Putih, a massive, isolated karst (lime stone formations) complex in Hutan Rimba Kenong, Pahang. What a ball buster. 3 days to trek in and 2 days to trek out. Actually the journey in would've been shorter by 1 day if we hadn't got lost....at night...with no water. As it turned out, we took a wrong turn and ended up crossing more than 5 hills..instead of just the normal 1. That night we trekked till 1030pm till we finally found a small stream. After that it was down to setting up the camp site, cooking, and at last..dinner was served at 12am, 29 May 2009...happy birthday chan kin onn. To top it off...we were to suffer at the hands of biting midges (affectionately known in our local tongue as 'agas') that rendered everybody sleepless till the break of dawn. Happy birthday chan kin onn.

Kem Agas

Now for those of you who are starting to think that i'm beginning to lose my marbles or change my name to mowgli, i didn't plan this overly enjoyable birthday celebration for myself. The expedition was planned by others and i made a pre-meditated, calculated choice to join as the potential to find a new species of rock dwelling gecko therein was pretty high.

Back to basics. Cooking with wood always makes food tastes better.

So here I am, 6 days later, with a sore back, countless leach and insect bites, scratches from thorny plants and 2 specimens of a potentially new species of gecko. Alls well ends well.

The "YES" Philosophy

2009-05-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

So it seems that saying YES isn't as easy as saying YES. We all suffer from this captivity of negativity in varying degrees. Being in our comfort zone, our territory of familiarity is so much more appealing than lunging into the unknown, not being able to predict or control the outcome. How often do we find ourselves declining invitations to events which involves strangers? people we are not so familiar or comfortable with? try something we've never tried before? go somewhere we've never been before? eat something we've never eaten before just because someone somewhere sometime ago told us it tasted like rotten breath? Each time we reject an offer to do something out of our comfort zone is an opportunity missed. A chance to experience new things, meet new people, expose our senses to new environments. A chance to expand our territory of familiarity.

Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus salvator), Perlis

As adventurous as I would like to think myself to be, I find myself once again trapped in this crippling mentality. To combat this, I'm going to step out of my little sandbox and sniff whats on the other side. I'm going on a field trip to err..somewhere in Pahang I was told (uh-oh..Pahang happens to be the biggest state in Peninsular Malaysia), with some lecturers I don't usually hang with. My team won't be coming along so I guess I'll be working solo this time. Its going to be a 2 day walk (to somewhere) to explore some remote caves, which is actually what made me sign the deal. I've been working on caves and lizards over the past 2 years and this trip seemed like it had potential. So..fingers crossed..if fate is on my side, by applying the YES philosphy, I hope to discover more new species in this errr...place in Pahang. God bless the lizards.

Let the ramblings begin..

2009-05-25T03:54:00.000-07:00

Of Science and Religion...

My manuscript on a new species of frog from Negeri Sembilan has just been accepted for publication. Peninsular Malaysia will soon have a new species and a new generic record of a new, tiny microhylid (narrow-mouthed frog) frog. Big deal duhh. As if that translates to anything meaningful for the masses. Perhaps somewhere in my ecocentric mind, I was hoping it would give new meaning to the life of the postman that delivers my mail, or the solitary matcha security guard that keeps watch over the ominous furniture showroom that blocks the breeze from accessing my sauna-like room. But I guess not. Well at least i get to name a frog.

Wagler's pit-viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri), Pulau Pangkor

So what does a full-blooded scientist have to say about religion? How does one reconcile science and God and everything divine? Is science in a way divine? Blasphemy! (so says the hypothetical scientist) Science prides itself in its ability to explain and proove (on its own terms...scientific terms of course). What cannot be explained or prooven (yet) is put on hold and given the name "hypothesis". And of course a hypothesis differs from a speculation or conjecture in it being scientifically driven. Scientists these days have shot down the God theory in favor of the Big-bang theory....traded church in favor of a lab. They so flagrantly profess that God does not exist! Well thats a bit presumptious isn't it? God does not exist!? In order to make that claim, the claimer needs to have searched, and upon searching, did not find what he/she was searching for and therefore come to the conclusion that there is no God. The first question that comes to mind is, perhaps they looked in the wrong places? So where do you look for God anyway?
Brrr...another rambling for another day..