安定着胡乱的思想 ān dìng zháo hú luàn de sī xiǎng
催眠着澎湃的心情 cuī mián zháo péng pài de xīn qíng
任何宗教信仰 rèn hé zōng jiào xìn yǎng
念的是祈求安宁 niàn de shì qí qiú ān níng
Quietly untangle confused thoughts like unruly beard
Let sound of waves hypnotise the mood
Belief firmly whatever the religion
Pray diligently to seek peace and tranquillity
From <http://tehchenyee.multiply.com/journal/item/154>
Translated with the help of <http://www.mandarintools.com/>
Education should take you away from a window overlooking a dark narrow lane which ends at a gate with a "no tresspassing" sign.
Education should take you to a door which opens to a garden view before you, a roving range farther on, mountains and lakes in the distance and clouds and blue skies beyond. It should show you a road leading beyond the horizon with travellers going both ways with whom you could travel and exchange experiences. It should give you hope for endless possibilities beyond your dreams.
Now, wake up from your daydreams and go get educated.
I looked to the clouds above
And found the answers to life
But when I turned my gaze earthwards
The answers were all drowned
Amidst the drudgery
Of struggling for survival
To live from day to day
Keeping my nose above the waters
Bolting my doors
Against the wolf of inflation
That threatens to swallow the fruits
Of my blood, sweat and tears
The grains for my golden years
And I pray that my country
Would not be run to the ground
By bigots, liars and thieves
Masquerading as leaders
And champions of their communities
Beseeching citizens to mix racially
While creating walls to separate them
Threatening the book of ISA and sedition
At those who dare question their actions
Preaching piousness and honesty
While plundering the public coffers
They should be protecting
Under the guise of development
They preach righteousness
Loyalty and adherence to the rule of law
While wealthy felons pay their way
Out of judgment
To freely commit more sins
But the shackled citizen
Hears no voice speaking out for him
For it is drowned by a rowdy mob
Paid for by impunity
Here are a couple of reasons which I believe explains the above phenomenon. I'm quite sure those of you who have been in the rat race for a while can think of more reasons.
1. More often than not, management keep these brutal bosses and even promote them because they help push up their bottom line. Those who are subordinate friendly and keep close working relationships with their workmates sometimes are viewed as being too friendly with subordinates and could easily end up as anti-management especially in companies where management are often suspicious of their workers' actions in areas where sick leaves, output shortfall or mistakes are committed and no scapegoats are found to take the blame.
2. As compared to others who may treat work mates or subordinates fairly while dealing with management honestly, these scoundrels would go to work wearing two masks. While they curse and treat workers with spite and scorn, their other face would be smiling and saying 'aye' to management even to the most ridiculous of demands.
Free SMS alerts on bridge traffic
MOTORISTS can now receive free SMS alerts on critical traffic situations on the Penang Bridge via their mobile phones.
Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd Information Technology manager Azman Abdullah said the company’s online traffic information management (OTIM) system would update motorists with current traffic reports on the bridge through the service.
“We want to help motorists plan their trips well to avoid being caught in a traffic snarl during a critical situation on the bridge,” he said yesterday.
Azman said critical situations included vehicle breakdown, lane or link closure and massive congestion on the bridge.
“This free auto-alert SMS system will inform users the exact location of a break- down or accident within a few minutes from the time the incident has taken place.
“Since it is a 24-hour service, those who register for it should be prepared to receive updates even after midnight,” he said, adding that so far, there were about 1,000 registered users.
Motorists can register for the service by sending an SMS with the phrase ‘OTIM REG’ to 019-4459644.
To deregister, send an SMS with the phrase ‘OTIM UNREG’ to this number.
Azman said motorists could alternatively use the company’s existing OTIM real-time traffic updates, where every SMS query would be charged according to the rates set by the different service providers.
To obtain the OTIM update, motorists should send an SMS with the phrase ‘OTIM topen’ for island-bound drivers or ‘OTIM toprai’ for mainland-bound drivers to 012-3446900 (for Maxis users), 013-3883131 (Celcom) or 016-3390999 (DiGi).
Penang subscribers can send their SMS to 012-4345366 (Maxis), 019-5733666 (Celcom) and 016-4168666 (DiGi) for local rate charges.
He said the OTIM real-time traffic updates gave detailed traffic reports based on visuals on the closed-circuit-television (CCTV) cameras located in Seberang Jaya, Juru, Penang Bridge toll plaza, Penang Bridge midspan, Udini Road and Bayan Baru.
He added that it also provided an estimated travel time on the bridge.
Nowadays, when asked to solve a problem, they get a bunch of guys into a room and draw a nice fish bone on the board. I thought that's a good guideline for students to learn the basics. But what the heck, this is far from classroom basics. These are real life issues we're dealing with.
Then, with all the guys doing the talking, only one guy is doing the thinking and with only half his brain. The other half is trying to decipher what the other guys are blabbering about. And all that waste of time is money down the drain. They call that 'brain-storming'. I call it bad excuse. Sometimes the poor chap leaves the meeting looking shell-shocked and with arrows and knives sticking out his back.
That seems to be the standard way to work nowadays. If you don't do that, they think your job is too easy. Your products don’t have problems. You are open to more work-load, more stress and pressure. They don't see problems because they don't want to know.
Therefore, if you solve your problems too quietly and efficiently and nobody knows about it, it's bad for your corporate future.
That's what I call the 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' position. Only consolation is, the home, tranportation and the kids' education is getting paid for. And one has to grow old gracefully.
Just can't get over it.
Me, I'll start looking for a nice horse that will take me off into the sunset. There's that empty rocking chair on a verandah somewhere waiting.
