Virus

I have been knocked down with a cold / flu virus for the past few days (what's the difference between a cold and the flu actually?).

Two things struck me.

It's been about 3 years since the last time I have been sick, you kinda forget how crappy being sick is.  I have been way too blithe when pals have told me they came down with typhus, dengue, measles or whatnot (really bad stuff).

Viruses are pretty smart.  Cold viruses are all about mind control.  They cause you to sneeze somehow and then find new hosts.  Ingenious.  I wonder how they do that?

Defending Indonesia's Corruption Record

A while back, I was lying in a hotel room in Bandung. BBC World business report was on in the background, when on came an Indonesian government representative.

Immediately I sat up. I am like that, being an Indonesia geek.

This Indonesian guy was promoting business in Indonesia.

Niceties over, the interviewer clobbered the Indonesian guy, with something like,

"Indonesia recently scored near bottom of transparency international's corruption index. That won't give international firms confidence in investing in Indonesia, will it?"

The guy floundered.

"We're improving yada yada yada"

"Doesn't look that way to me"

Needless to say it did not sound at all convincing.

Not that I like defending Indonesia's transparency international corruption ranking, but you could go about it as follows.

Transparency International reports on people's perceptions of corruption. Is it any wonder that Indonesians are more keenly aware of wrongs when they are reported on everyday in a mostly free manner. Indonesia has a problem, but at least its people are keenly aware of it, unlike many other places with lobotomised media (Singapore's Straits Times, anyone?).

It's a bit like Alcoholics Anonymous, you gotta be aware your problem before you can overcome it.

Countries with freer media will ironically tend to have worse Transparency International Corruption ranks.

Through a Glass Darkly

Over and over, pals tell me how Suharto era Indonesia was a safer Indonesia than present day.

Obviously you have to ignore the goings on in Timor Leste, Aceh and Papua during Suharto's reign.

You would have to forget how Suharto got going - by killing a cool half a million people or more. And how he went out, by sending thugs to rape and murder Chinese Indonesians.

Also, you would have to turn a blind eye to the Suharto incorporated mafia monopoly. He gave the license to one man, a thug called Yapto. Needless to say, Yapto is kinda like the Voldemort "he who shall not be named" of Indonesia today.

I have little idea whether the Indonesian archipelago is safer than it was 15 or 20 years ago. It's difficult or impossible for me to call. But I suspect it is difficult for most Indonesians to make judgements that go much further than personal anecdotes either.

Indonesia's press was locked down back then. Now, for better or worse, Indonesia has the freest press in South East Asia.

Perceptions count for a lot.

Gaza

I have heard that Israel's bombing of Gaza is partly due to the Israeli government wanting to show a hardline in the run up to elections.

But could Obama taking over in the US also be a factor? Would not be surprised.

2008

Every year I seem to get sucked into year end nostalgia. Here's this year's dose.


Best song. Hold on to Yourself, by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. From the Dig Lazarus Dig!!! album. Just found out it's about escapologists (messrs. Lazarus and Houdini) based in New York. How fitting.


Best buy of the year. A pair of JVC marshmallow ear-plug-like earphones. They cost about 15 quid. Bought them in Dublin airport before heading off to the R of I on January 1st.

99% of background noise vanishes. I never walk on a plane without 'em now.


Best football match. Persija (Jakarta's biggest football team) v Persipura (from Papua, i.e. straight outta the jungle! ; )). The Persipura 11 were awesome. Eighty odd thousand Jakmania in Gelora Bung Karno were equally awesome though. Indonesian football is a relfection of the place. Once done right, I am sure Indonesian football will be huge! Thing is, it's pretty messed up at the moment. Thanks to the Jakarta Casual for getting me tickets.


I have read a few great books this year, less so now I am in New York and not commuting (I work and live on the same street). Things the Grandchildren Should Know is a book about Mark Everitt, the Eels frontman. I've never been a huge Eels fan, but it doesn't matter, it's mostly about his messed up life, family and how he loved them.


More to come!

Worrying about Genetalia

Pope Benedict is God's representative on earth.

He doesn't like gay people.

This guy loves to think himself as an intelectual. So obviously there's a totally rational reason for his homophobia.

It's genius, we never heard of this before, don't panic, but it's er... **HUMAN EXTINCTION**.

Shite!! It's the big one.

If only we had some totally non camp James Bond to save us from our gays. I.e. more Timothy Dalton than Roger Moore.

So there you have it, the world is turning gay, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Mixing and Mashing

I think the Forum from the BBC World Service is now my favourite program on my favourite radio station.

It can be hit and miss but it's mostly pretty interesting.

By the way, anyone heard the recent interview by Alan Johnson with Ingrid Betancourt? I think it is the best interview I have heard in a long long time.

Birthday Present

I bought myself a D700 with a 24-70 lens last weekend.

I haven't had the chance to use it yet, but reckon it will be a phenomenal camera.

This was one of my first pictures with it (with minimal light BTW!!).

Camera Testing

Not 100% sure what this means... but...

Hitler Rants about the D3x

I'm so tired Lyrics

I'm so tired... I'm so tired... I'll give you everything I've got for a little piece of mind!

Orphans in Bali

"The German students gave 30 pairs of shoes along with 30 pairs of socks and 30 belts to students who usually go to school barefoot.

[...]

Upon receiving the donations the situation became a bit noisy, as the children became ecstatic trying on their new, precious belongings for the first time. Most of the shoes fit their new owners, but a few had to exchange with each other to get the right size. One child, a kindergartner, found himself with shoes much larger than his feet, but he did not make comment or complain. He tried them on seriously, observed the situation carefully and wrapped his new belongings again in a plastic bag -- he'll surely grow in to them soon enough"

This reminds me of my sister and I visiting slums in Jakarta and handing out simple shoes, school bags and whatnot with a friend's charity.  They were jumping with joy!

Trust me, if you want your money to stretch a long way in these hard economic times, there's no better way than donating a little to Indonesian kids.

Malnutrition in Makassar

"I lied. I told the driver the baby was just sick. I kept talking to the body as if it was alive, while her aunt who accompanied me sang lullabies, pretending to send her to sleep," Norma said.

I am stunned.

Counting Yogi

Yoga has been banned by Muslims for Muslims in Malaysia.

I for one agree that Yoga should be banned, it's a corrupting influence on Islam from an alien civilisation.

Now that Malaysian Muslims have banned so much fun (and corrupting) stuff let's get past the frivolous things.

Let's ban Hindu numbers [the numerical system we use today]. This is an old chestnut, the numbers we use today were adopted by Caliph al-Mansur (i.e. well after the Koran was written).

It's a no brainer, the Koran doesn't say they are Halal, so let's play it safe, let's ban them and go back to something really old and safe, Roman numerals (taqlid is so hip nowadays and ijtihad has been out of vogue since about the 12th century).

"Roman" [papist] numerals not too good either, eh?

OK, let's scrap numbers altogether. They only distract us from praising God, counting with our fingers should suffice (unless your local Shariah court decides to chop some off that is).

Thanksgiving

I celebrated my first Thanksgiving today with my flatmate's family.

I am really clueless when it comes to America, so lots was new to me.

Before dinner every around the table said why they were thankful.  What shot through my mind is how grateful I am for hospitality from people, many near strangers.

Wherever I find myself in the world I seem to fall on my feet.

Very grateful and repeatedly astounded.

Canon 5D Mark II

It's now shipping. Will it be another 50D? -- an autistic exercise, focusing solely on figures.

My dad (a Canon user) has already dismissed it as the old 5D body with a larger (and noisier chip squeezed in) not sure where he got that from, but also not sure how it can boast higher ISO quality than the 1DS MK III at the same resolution.

Where do the compromises crop up? Surely Canon won't cannibalise 1DS Mark III sales.

Pornography vs Paedophilia

Julia Suryakusuma writes some good stuff (well also a lot of drivel).  But this article is a good un.

Curmudgeon

I am becoming more and more of a curmudgeon.

More and more set in my ways.

For example, Linux, open source etc.  Linux was such a breath of fresh air to me coming from Windows back in the day.  I went from Microsoft spoonfeeding me a web browser, a chat client, a media player an effing operating system - to Linux - totally open, totally free, no horizons.

Whatever Microsoft dished out I had to take (I knew no better, I was content) coming to Linux was an epiphany (even thought it took a month to get sound up and running -- Luckily my W Virginian pal sent me Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson CDs to get me through, whenever I hear those songs i sill think of KDE2).

So has does this relate to my curmudgeonliness?  Apple.  Over the years I came to view closed source as something to shy away from whenever necessary.  Closed source just wasn't for me.  But I feel I kinda got lost in some internal anti-closed-source dogma.

I bought an iMac a few weeks ago.  It's OK.  In some ways it's better than Linux, and other not.  Thing is I have some kinda internal cognitive dissonance in my head about using OSX.  OSX is tempting for people like me, cos the internals are Unix and instantly convenient to Linuxers.  Plus you have things like Lightroom.  Still I feel uncomfortable...

Then you have the iPhone.  It's not all that expensive.  But I don't like the feeling of sinking so much cash into a phone that's locked down by Apple.  It seems like slipping back into the Windows bad old days, you accept because you don't know any better (or are locked into a 2 year contract).

So while I have an open mind about Apple (and even Windows) I love the open horizons of open source, the no strings attached do whatever the hell you want style of freedom that Linux gives you.  The Linux community is also awesome.

Maybe I am not a curmudgeon, I just value open source software and its community.

Pulau Java

We need to be very afraid, not necessarily of those people in the top photo but of the arrogance, blinkers and ignorance that add to that fear.

Camera Gear is so Heavy!

I am half thinking of buying some new camera gear, namely a decent lens (Nikkor 24-70) and perhaps a decent camera (Nikon D700).

Thing is that combination would be twice as heavy as what I have currently, my Nikon D40 and 18-200 lens add up to 1kg, the other combination would add up to 2kg. The D40 and 18-200 don't take the best pictures, but you can be assured of getting passable results in pretty much every situation. The 24-70's focal length would be limited.

Apart from the cost of the D700 + 24-70, I reckon there's a lot to be said for light equipment, then again at one stage the thought of lugging any type of SLR seemed like too much hassle to me.

Then again the end quality of pictures might be worth it, then again how can I justify something like this when it's just a hobby (I don't even take my camera out most weeks). Then again my money is only earning 0.1% in the bank over here at the mo.

There's also the AF-s 50 1.4, and the AF-s 105 2.8 macro out there, they would be even more limited than the 24-70, but I am sure they would be awesome lenses.

Decisions decisions...

I need to stop thinking about buying stuff, and get out there and take more pictures of this wonderful city!

[I suppose there'd be less need for carrying a flash around with me with the D700, the flash is 0.3KG+]