Looking Back With Pa - Part 6

The Emergency

In 1945 the war brought to us by the Japanese was over.  But for Pa and his fellow country folks trouble was far from over.  The British returned to Malaya and found themselves faced with another war, this time with the Communist Party.

I think it was called a guerrilla (gorilla) war probably because it was fought mostly in the jungles or rural places.  Pa was then tending to his farm in foothills of Tanjung Bungah.  He'd built the farmhouse facing a ravine with a stream running deep along the bottom.

Right across the ravine was an old rubber estate which had become a jungle due to the lack of maintenance because of the war.

One day, Pa was sitting on his verandah while my eldest brother, then a year old, was playing outside.  He'd noticed a group of soldiers in jungle green, armed to the teeth, crawling through the bushes up from the ravine and slowly made their way towards the farmhouse.

He was anxious about the baby but he didn't dare to make any sudden move.  He waited until they made it to the clearing in front of the house.  There were more than a dozen gun muzzles pointed at him when he slowly stood up, walked out to the yard and picked up the baby.   It was only then that they lowered their guns.

They checked out Pa's identification papers.  Then they relaxed and soon were playing with the kid and taking their lunch and some even had a little siesta right there on the verandah.


Later in the afternoon, they hitched up their battle gear and disappeared into the jungle.

Some time later another group of armed jungle green men with red stars on their caps appeared in the clearing in front of the farmhouse.  They only wanted to know where the other group went.

Looking Back With Pa - Part 5

An Early Encounter With The British Army

The road from Tanjung Bungah to Tanjung Tokong passed through a narrow stretch with steep hills on one side and the sea on the other.  The road wound down-slope and after the few bends, straightened out towards Tanjung Tokong. 

Straits Settlement currency

On the left, by the seaside, there was once an army camp where British officers used to reside.  Those were the days when the British were still the Tuans of the Straits Settlements, about a decade before the Japanese landed on these shores and sent them packing off to Singapore.  And those were the days when everybody who needed to get around anywhere had to have a bicycle. 

One day, Pa was out on his usual trips, roaming around on his bicycle.  He was a little around 10 years of age then.  His feet could barely touch the pedals when he sat on the saddle.  But handling a bicycle was like second nature to him.  Then, junior bikes or fun bikes were totally rare items.  Most bicycles were made and installed with large carriers and their major purpose was for carrying goods.  If you could afford one, consider yourself quite lucky.

As Pa was free-wheeling downhill, an army truck overtook him.  Without any warning the truck started to slow down to turn into the army camp.  Pa immediately gripped on both front and rear brake levers.  To his utter horror he felt both brake cables snap.  He instantly realized only way he could save his life was to make a dash and turn into the army camp even before the truck finished its turn. 

He made it into the camp compound and rode the bicycle around the perimeter road a few times until the bicycle slowed down enough for him to jump off.  By then the army truck had stopped and the driver and a few officers came over and hugged Pa and rubbed all over his head in sheer relief. 

Pa couldn't understand a word they were saying but the expression on their faces told him how sorry they were and how lucky Pa was.

Looking Back With Pa - Part 4

Pa had, perhaps, some months of schooling, probably around the year 1930.  OK, he didn't remember how long he was in school either, but he learned enough to read the daily Chinese papers to keep up with the news, sign his own name and keep the farm accounts up to date with an abacus.

His classmates made up of kids of all ages, hence some were bigger and nastier than the rest and outgrown their breeches, so to speak, while Pa was small size for his age.  Thus he was prime target for some constant bullying.

One particular kid was more consistent with his torments.  He'd kept it up when all the others grew tired of their antics because, I suppose, they saw no challenge in it.  Pa bore that quietly and kept it all to himself.  He made no fuss because he knew he was no match for the brute.

But there came a time when he just couldn't take it anymore.  Fortunately it was nearing the end of school term.

On the last day of school he sharpened a pencil and kept it in his bag, unused.  As soon as the school bell went off he got close to the guy and drove the sharp point into his tormentor's thigh.  The big fellow looked surprised for a while until he realized what had happened.

He'd never in his life had anyone hit back at him.  No one dared to do that.  Until now.  He looked at the pencil stuck in his leg and the blood oozing out.  Then he howled in pain. 

And with that, school life was over for Pa.

Looking Back With Pa - part 3

The Japanese Occupation.

It was a few days after the Japanese bombers have left and there were no more air raid warnings.  Pa went downtown for a 'tour' on his bicycle. He was curious as to what happened to the 'Tanjung' (Georgetown) after the Japs had done their job.

The town was almost deserted.  He saw large craters in the middle of some streets.  Some shop houses were burnt to the ground or blown to pieces.  Business premises were looted and stripped bare of goods.  Lorries, buses, motorbikes, cars, bicycles and bullock carts were left abandoned where they broke down or were destroyed.

Outside what looked like a stationery shop some looters left behind a type-writer on the five-foot way.  He picked it up, placed it on his bicycle carrier and took it home.  Not knowing what to do with it, he shoved it under the bed.

Once in a while when he thought about it, he would pull it out and punched the keys (perhaps hoping he could get some words out of it).  But then, even if it could produce words by itself he wouldn't be able to read them.  He shoved it back under the bed.

One day word came to the countryside that Japanese have landed.  Soldiers were all over the island hunting down and arresting everyone suspected of involvement in criminal activities.  If you had a tattoo on your body you'd better get rid of it or you're a headless person the moment they caught you.  Bullets were expensive and they wouldn't waste any.  They just cut off your head to save costs.

Pa thought about the type-writer.  He didn't think it wise to lose his head for something useless.  He went out into the garden and dug a deep hole.  He pulled the type-writer out from under the bed and smashed it to pieces with his hoe.  He then dumped everything into the hole, covered it up and planted a tree over it.

Looking Back With Pa - WW2

Early Penang -from "500 postcards" by Cheah Jin Seng

There was once a canal running alongside Prangin Road, right through the heart of Georgetown, Penang in the early 1900s.

Those days, the major form of transport for goods to and from ships in the harbor was by bullock cart.  And one of the favorite places for parking those carts during off days was along the bank of the canal after they unhitched the bullocks.  The bullocks, the coolies led home and kept in their barns.

Of course nobody wants to steal a heavy two-wheel-cart without a bullock.  Imagine stealing a truck without an engine.

When the Japanese Zeros flew in for their initial bombing raids early Monday morning of 15th December 1941, in the dim light what they saw were rows of anti-aircraft guns all lined up idly by the canal and other places along Weld Quay.  They quickly swooped in and unloaded their bombs on every location they could find.  The pilots probably congratulated themselves after having done another Pearl Harbor, neutralizing any form of resistance so that they can carry out more air raids on Penang.

Small wonder that they overran the whole country within 2 months.

OK, the date that it actually happened, I added in myself just to make it historically accurate, but whether the story is true is another matter.  It was a humorous tale that Pa loved to trade with whoever, or whenever stories about the Japanese occupation of Malaya came up.

Tuesdays with Pa...

Listening to Pa talking about old times was like sitting down to ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’.  But unlike Mitch Albom I didn’t ask too many questions.  I mostly listened.

Pa is now 91 by the Chinese calendar.   These days he is more into counting blessings that we’d all grown up well and leading good lives, each of us owning our own homes and most of our kids having graduated or married. 

He said if ever there was one thing he felt unhappy about was the fact that he made us work too hard.  He regretted that some of us even hurt ourselves in the course of the work we had to do.  For example, our 4^th brother lost half his right thumb while chopping vegetables for pig food.  

He wished he’d let us have more time for play as much as other kids.  But having said that he’s glad we didn’t lose our sense of fun & laughter, judging by the boisterous clowning around whenever we got together during festivals or special family gatherings. 

Sure, we had it tough as kids, but it made us tough to face adulthood.  I said if we ever had to make a choice, we’d rather have it bitter at the beginning but sweet at the end.

Over the years I realized what Pa had been trying to tell us was that when they lay us in our final resting place we’d still be brothers & sisters looking out for each other.

RON92 return may trap motorists in pricey dilemma (from Malaysiakini)

Kow Kwan Yee 12:50PM Sep 7, 2013

Soon after the price for RON95 went up by 20 sen per litre, speculation on government mulling reintroducing RON92 has surfaced.
But certain quarters worry that the possible phasing out of the former and the return of the latter lower-quality fuel into in the market may eventually force motorists to switch to the more expensive RON97.

According to automotive expert Anthony Lim, the possibility is a high that the government may phase out RON95 completely as the petrol kiosks cannot afford to provide so many varieties of petrol.

"If RON92 were to be available in the market again, the petrol stations have to provide RON95, RON97 and diesel, which I think they can't cope with.

"This means, one of the petrol types has to be phased out. And I speculate it will be RON95," he told Malaysiakini during a phone interview yesterday.

Lim is a senior editor of Driven Communications Sdn Bhd that runs several prominent websites on automotive industry, including paultan.org.

Some may be forced to use RON97
Lim warned that the consequences of drivers pumping in the costlier RON97 eventually should RON92 be reintroduced.

He explained that some modern and high-performance cars could not run on RON92 as stated on the cars' fuel filler lid, specifying the recommended RON (research octane number) rating for each vehicle.

Lim said that while many cars can use RON92 without any issue, there would be a fair number of models that would need to switch to RON 97 if RON95 were replaced, which would mean increased spending on fuel for these consumers.

Most modern Japanese and Korean engines would be able to take RON92, but older carburetted vehicles would struggle with RON 92, he said, including the early-generation Proton Saga. Additionally, Continental cars mostly specify RON95 as the recommended minimum.

"According to UMW Toyota, all Toyota models sold here can use RON92, except for the Toyota 86 sports car, which needs RON97. The company added that the recommended grade for all its Lexus models is RON95 and above," he added.

RON92 retards car engines

The Star daily had earlier quoted Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan (right) saying that the government is studying the possibility of reintroducing RON92 petrol if it is viable for local vehicles but a decision is still pending.

Petrol RON92 was completely phased out in September 2009 and replaced by RON95 given that its use was rather low - around five percent of the total petrol sales in the country.

Back then, RON92 petrol was priced at RM1.70 per litre while that for RON95 was RM1.80 per litre.

According to motoring magazine Hypertune editor Justin Toh, almost 92 percent of the cars running on roads are RON92 compatible, but cautioned that the lower-quality fuel would "retard" car engines in long term.

He explained that low-quality RON fuels could cause denotation, which might lead to serious engine damage, resulting in loss of power.

"However, while nearly every car on the road may be able to run (on) RON92, engine performance, smoothness, fuel efficiency and maintenance cost may be severely affected," said Toh in a phone interview with Malaysiakini yesterday.

Hypertune is a monthly performance oriented motoring publication in English established in 2001.

To this, Lim commented that currently, most of the Malaysians would not care much about how low quality petrol damage engines ultimately.

"Under the pressure caused by the high cost of living, they (the consumers) may just choose RON92 compared to RON97," he said.

Lim also said that the possible reintroduction of RON92 at local petrol kiosks may not be the best alternative to ease burden of the middle-class as they had to pay for higher maintenance cost after long-term usage of RON92.

He had also questioned the price for RON92 upon being reintroduced, and why government the claimed the low usage of RON92 for phasing it out of the market earlier but is considering reviving it now.

Lim described this move as just old wine in a new bottle.

PDAM president: A backward move

Meanwhile, Petroleum Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) president Hashim Othman was quoted by Bernama as saying that if RON92 petrol Malaysia would be frowned upon for having taken a backward step is reintroduced, as the leaded fuel would negatively affect the environment.

He commented that the move was not worth it as the government would have to face high costs.
"Many things have to be looked into if we want to reintroduce RON92 petrol. The question is whether it is worth it?.

"By reintroducing RON92 petrol, we have to increase the pumps and tanks at every petrol station, who is going to bear all that costs?" he asked when interviewed by Bernama Radio24.

The series of announcements to hike up the RON95 petrol and diesel by 20 sen per litre and followed by RON97 by 15 sen per litre within the last few days, has sown confusion among the public.

The government's intention to go for RON92 petrol is described as a not thoroughly thought-out fiscal decision, giving birth to much uncertainties and speculation.

It is not justifiable for the government to reduce the subsidy for RON95 petrol and study the possibility of replacing it with RON92.

Some had also pointed out that the government projects an image of indecisiveness with its flip and flops where the petrol subsidy and consumption issues are concerned when actually they should be reviewed comprehensively.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had said that the move of subsidy rationalisation could reduce national fiscal deficit by saving RM1.1 billion annually.

Our Mango Tree Still Amazes Me

Our amazing mango tree is showing no signs of giving up its rightful place by the road out front.  A few years ago we thought its life was coming to an end

owing to an onslaught of wood worms eating their way through the upper branches.  So I prepared for its final farewell and started planting another tree to replace it.  

I chose a ciku.  I got the seeds from a delicious breed all the way from Kuala Selangor, courtesy of a neighbor who has relatives staying there.  

Now the once fragile little seedling is coming up strong, sheltered by the old mango tree.

 

Meanwhile our old hero is not only surviving, it's still bearing those deliciously succulent fruits, even strangers stop by to pick.  (Some without asking for permission).

 

Meanwhile, we have a new member to keep me company while I fiddle with PCs and printers. 

Meet Mr Aro Jr., a voracious eater who grows 2 inches in 2 months!!!  He reminds me a lot of the old Mr Aro who gave us a number before he left us.

We can adjust our sails

"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails."  

So it is with the path of life.  You didn't seek to be born.  You couldn't choose your parents, the part of the earth where you emerge into life, your creed, the color of your skin and, worst of all not even get to choose your own name. 

But as you tread on into life and grow to adulthood you can either manage your own way or you can give up your freedom of choice and let others steer you through.  But don't put the blame on them if things don't turn out the way you'd like it, because once you let others do the driving, you're not in control, so you can't complain.

So fix your boat, hoist your sails and be ready for the winds or the tide to turn.  And when the time and situation is right, set off to follow your dreams.

Think of this the next time you run into bureaucratic crap

Railroad tracks…

Railroad tracks.
The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and English expatriates designed the U.S. railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular Odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So, who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.
Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or process, and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right.

Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah.

The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature
of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.

And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important!

Now you know, Horses' Asses control almost everything...
Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?

11 Common Words You're Probably Mispronouncing

Found something worth keeping... from: Amanda Green

Ever feel embarrassed when you don't know how to say a word? Don't be. Even the most fluent English speakers—and, ahem, political figures—stumble. Besides, pronunciations change over time. See if you've been mispronouncing these common words.

1. Seuss

Pen names don't always make things easier. Theodore Geisel's college buddy Alexander Liang made a rhyme to teach you the right way to pronounce it:
"You’re wrong as the deuce/And you shouldn’t rejoice/
If you’re calling him Seuss/He pronounces it Soice" (or Zoice).

2. Kibosh

Let's put the kibosh, pronounced "KY-bosh," on saying this word like "kuh-BOSH."

3. Celtic

An initial hard (k) sound is the standard, but linguists say the (s) sound emerged as far back as the 17th century. Still, you'll sound ridiculous (but correct!) if you bring that hard (k) to a Boston Celtics basketball game.

4. Comptroller

This word sounds just like "controller." If you're tempted to pronounce that silent (pt), please comptroll yourself!

5. Cache

Maybe it's because it's one letter short of "cachet." Maybe it's just more fun to mispronounce. This words sounds just like "cash."

6. Chicanery

This word meaning "deception by trickery" is aptly tricky to pronounce. The beginning (ch) sound is "sh," as in "Chicago." The French pronounce the word "shih-connery," which makes it easy to remember the definition. However, Americans love a long (a) and tend to pronounce it "shih-cane-a-ree." Choose your own adventure.

7. Banal

You'll be the butt of the joke if you pronounce this "BAY-nul." It's "buh-NAHL."

8. Affluent

If pronouncing it "a-FLU-ent" is wrong, some people don't want to be right. The stress on this word is supposed to be on the first syllable—"AFF-lu-ent." But stressing the second syllable became so mainstream that dictionaries started validating the pronunciation in the 1980s.

9. Forbade

Pronunciation quirks and mistakes happen when people try to read and speak by the rules. Too bad the English language doesn't always make sense. The past tense of "forbid" was originally supposed to be spelled and pronounced "for-bad." But then people started spelling it "forbade" and rhyming it with "made." Now linguists say the word sounds archaic any way you say it. Most people use "forbid" as a past or present-tense verb.

10. Boatswain

Okay, so maybe this word's not that commonly used. But now that you know it's pronounced "bo-sun," you might find more reasons to work it into conversation.

11. Niche

When this word was borrowed from French in the 17th century, it was quickly Anglicized to rhyme with "itch." But in the 20th century, more people embraced a true French pronunciation and decided to pronounce it "neesh." Both are correct.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/32273/11-common-words-youre-probably-mispronouncing#ixzz2Hj8CUxDH
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