[Geekiness] Lowerin the temperature

So for the past few months I’ve been sweltering in the heat of my room. It’s been unbearably warm, and at first I thought it was because my room had poor ventilation AND the hot weather. Only after I realised that my computer itself was very warm that it hit me.

The cause of the heat could be my NVIDIA graphics card. A download and launch of SpeedFan reported that my graphics card was running at 61°C consistently, which would explain the heat. No wonder I was sweating like mad! The side of my computer’s case is open for better ventilation, so the heat came out from the computer and into the room, more or less steaming me alive.

So yesterday when I came home, I took out the graphics card and proceeded to give it a gentle “scrub” with some cotton buds. The amount of dust that came out was staggering. There was still quite a bit of dust when I was done, but I would need to get a pressurised air can to deal with those.

I plugged the card back in and checked the temperature; 51°C. And it more or less stayed that way. When I woke up in the morning, I was NOT, in a long time, sweaty.

I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!

Japan posts on hold

In case you were wondering what happened to my Japan posts, I haven’t forgotten, work has just swallowed me whole. ~_~

[Dreams] Back in Japan

I was back in Japan.

Only this time I was completely alone. It wasn’t so bad. I didn’t feel lost or in danger or anything. I wanted to move from one place to another. It started from my hostel. I ended up near Kyoto Station. As I was near Kyoto Station it occurred to me that I should have bought the daily bus pass, cause I knew I was going to be using it. Then I decided that since the place I wanted to visit was so close, I might as well just walk.

Then I got somewhat lost.

Walked past these two shops that looked like a typical, open air Malaysian mechanic place, complete with oil running down from the floor into the drains. The girl in one of the shops set fire to an old car. The shop next to them did the same thing. It was some kind of friendly competition.

After that I decided to retrace my steps to Kyoto station. The main reason being I wanted to get a Kyoto tourist map like the one I had when I visited Japan with the girls. While I was walking, I remember thinking to myself that if I was dreaming and I was not in Japan, it would have been one cruel dream, cause everything felt so real.

Including waiting for that special someone to come and join me. I dreamt that he was supposed to come later.

Then I woke up.

A reminder

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh.

Seen on Pinterest.

[Dreams] Of blood and Bersih

Had a dream where they opened a clinic which would pay you for donating blood. Dreamt that they opened two lines; one to donate blood, the other to count how many people wanted clean and fair elections.

I couldn’t see the end of the second line.

Bersih 3.0 Experience

I actually wasn’t planning on going to Bersih 3.0 yesterday. It was a very late decision made after realising I would be a horrendously big hypocrite for talking about the need for clean and fair elections without actually going for such a rally. Plus, unlike last year, I had no family obligations planned for today. (more…)

Leadup to Bersih 3.0

Bersih 3.0 is a rally calling for clean and fair elections in Malaysia. So far they have had 3 rallies. The second one was last year, and it presented 8 demands to the government:

  • Clean the electoral roll
  • Reform postal voting
  • Use of indelible ink
  • A minimum campaign period of 21 days
  • Free and fair access to mainstream media
  • Strengthen public institutions
  • Stop corruption
  • Stop dirty politics

What followed after last year’s massive rally was a Parliamentary Select Committee that was supposed to address the concerns Bersih had made. The report made it to Parliament, where they refused to allow a dissenting minority report to be entered, along with the main report. There was also no time frame stipulated to implement the recommendations.

What happened after that was far more sinister. A “stop the clock” motion was granted for the first time in years to allow Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition with a slim majority, bulldoze 8 motions through Parliament. One of the 8 motions removes the safeguards to preventing electoral fraud and AIDS dirty politics. Here, have a read for yourself:

What this means is that the demand to clean the electoral roll wasn’t just ignored. It was brutally spat upon by the Elections Commissions. By the way, the heads of the Elections Commissions have admitted they are part of UMNO, the lead of Barisan Nasional.

And the response, as you can see in the report linked, is that “that’s not a big deal. They’re still doing their job without bias.”

Which is rather sickening when you consider that the gerrymandering and malapportionment is well and alive in Malaysia today.

Which was the reason why I marched yesterday.

Poverty and Baba Nyonya

As it happens while I am driving, this question popped into my head:

If poverty is an economic state, and if it afflicts* everyone regardless of race, how can Malaysia thus justify distributing aid and measures to help these people by race?

A poverty-stricken Malay is still a human being.

A poverty-stricken Chinese is still a human being.

A poverty-stricken Indian is still a human being.

A poverty-stricken Orang Asli is still a human being.

How can you thus justify distributing aid according to race?

I can understand distributing aid according to area. For example, creating specific and targeted programmes to help the poverty-stricken in Pekan, Pahang, or Miri, Sarawak**. If there are poverty-stricken Malaysians in those areas, aid should be distributed to all regardless of race. For instance, a family of 5, no matter the race, still needs to eat. It doesn’t make much sense to give rice only to the Malays in a single neighbourhood and then transport the leftover rice to be redistributed to the next neighbourhood when you can feed the Chinese, Indians, and everyone else in that neighbourhood.

I cannot understand this obsession with race. Especially not for something as straight forward like this.

And there’s something else that’s even weirder.

Historically, it is said that the Baba Nyonya group were here before the Eurasians (as far as I know, Eurasians, especially Portugese Eurasians like me said to descend from the Portugese invasion in the 1500s). In our history books, they are held up as a symbol of Malaysia being the melting pot that she is, in that they are Chinese people who have married the Malay culture with their own.

Yet Eurasians are considered bumiputra (aka we have special rights) while these Baba Nyonya don’t. And I have been told bumi status is awarded to those whose race has been around longer.

So how come Eurasians are bumis but Baba Nyonya are not?

* Afflicted may not be the best word. If you can suggest something else, please do.
** I do not intend to mean that these places are poverty-stricken, just that they are the first non-Klang Valley names that popped into my head.