I think today hope was restored in many around the world when Barack was elected. Not simply because he was black, although if you read his acceptance speech the significance of a black man ascending to the White House did not escape him:

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can. At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can. When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

Yet above all that, he just represents a different kind of politics. Following his meteoric rise, from the keynote speech in Illinois that started it all, key speeches that shaped what we know of him - his “Call to Renewal“, an appeal to the religious right; his honest look at race relations in “A More Perfect Union“; the presidential debates, and of course the acceptance speech above that gave me shivers when listening to it - it simply seems to have been such a long time before we’ve seen such a politician.

Gracious as McCain’s concession speech may have been, it didn’t make up for the huge negativity and blatant lies told by his campaign - among the worst offenders being a campaign ad portraying Obama as the Anti-Christ, painting him as a terrorist attacks made 40 years ago.

Ridiculous as the accusations against Obama may sound, I had my fair share of friends and relatives who actually think he might be a secret Muslim or terrorist - I’m hoping I don’t hear any Anti-Christ references on Sunday.

It’ll be very hard for Obama to do as badly as Bush did, but I somehow just have the feeling that he’ll go beyond that, somehow. It’s change we can believe in :).

Popularity: 7% [?]

Somehow you elected Dubya into the White house not once but twice. Now people like Barack Obama don’t come around every decade, so do the right thing this time… please?

John McCain is just more of the same, more of the same - your run of the mill politician. But the real reason he’s going to lose imo is Palin. Nice going criticizing Obama for “not being tested” and then picking a running mate who only got her passport in 2006, and judging from a recent prank played on her by a Canadian radio station, doesn’t even know the name of the Canadian PM and is a complete bimbo.

Imagining her as the next President of the US (no matter what McCain’s doctors say, he IS still 72 and has undergone cancer treatment) gives me nightmares.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Well now seriously. When Khalid Ibrahim made his suggestion for 10% of UiTM placements to be opened up to non-bumis, who did you think he was looking out for? The non-bumis? When was the last time you heard Chinese or Indian students clamouring for UiTM allocations? A degree from UiTM is probably worth less than a good private diploma (outside the govt sector that is).

Yes it’s true that the majority of (private) university and college students are non-bumi - but the solution isn’t to cloister yourselves up in a bumi-exclusvive institution. Degrees are only worth as much as the university behind it: from the university’s own site, half of its “international achievements” come from those dubious Geneva exhibitions we heard about last year.

As Education Malaysia points out, it’s pretty hard to see how UiTM is justified as a university, aside from its name, when it’s non-selective and mono-ethnic. “Charity school funded by taxpayers” is a more apt description, or perhaps “Umnoputera factory”.

The political response is also telling:
- The Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin reads the suggestion as an “insult to Malays”.
- UiTM vice-chancellor Ibrahim Abu Shah called Khalid a “traitor to his race” (Education Malaysia dug up an interesting profile on him as well ).
- “Prime Minister for all Malaysians” Abdullah Badawi vetoed it saying Khalid had “no power” to implement such a thing.
- Toothless MCA and Gerakan pay lip service to Khalid’s suggestion (or maybe not?)
- Malaysian Muslim Consumer’s Association director Noor Nirwandy Mat Noordin had the most insiduous comment of all:

“If something like this is allowed to happen, then there will be a worrying situation where many Malay institutions will crumble and be ‘Malaysia-nised‘.

It’s exactly 2 weeks before Merdeka Day. I find it hard to celebrate.

Popularity: 60% [?]

Apologies for missing this last week, was busying watching HIMYM :P

Malaysia

• Dr. Mahathir joins the ranks of the unemployed lying females in Malaysia.
• MCA newsletter editor Wong Chun Wai follows suit.
• The Sun aggressively calls for reform of press freedom laws.
• Newly appointed CM of Penang Lim Guan Eng is spotted flying economy class. Meanwhile, in a written reply to a question in Parliament, PM Abdullah Badawi says that the government spent RM792,325 for the use of executive jets for himself and DPM Najib in the two weeks before the polls.
  (Yes, somehow it’s hard to believe that we don’t have money for projects in Penang).
• Anwar is in TIME’s list of 100 most influential people in the world.
• Jakim has rejected the PM’s proposal to compel Muslim converts to inform their families about their conversion.
  (Apparently the PM is not in their list of influential people).
• Hishammudin Hussein finally “apologizes” over his usage of the keris. The Star calls him a “big man” for this.
  (WTF - it bore all the hallmarks of a non-apology apology, was much belated, and he was practically forced to do it. “Big Man” my ass. )
• The much-ballyhooed sports complex to be built in England is scrapped. Citizen Nades of The Sun reports.
• Malaysia ranks 2nd-highest in the world… for malicious web activity.

Science

• According to Nature, 20% of scientists who participated in an informal survey said they used “cognitive enchancing” drugs.
• Australian researches find that there is a very effective way of preventing prostate cancer by 40%.
• A genetic study suggests that humans came close to extinction 70,000 years ago.
• Keyboards may carry more bacteria than toilet seats, a UK study finds.
• South Korea has cloned seven dogs from an active drug-sniffer in active service. All of them will be named Toppy.

Entertainment

• JK Rowling is suing a (former?) fan who planned to publish his own Harry Potter lexicon, an encyclopedia to the series. He reportedly cried on the witness stand.
• A million WoW players were online at the same time over the weekend, reports the company that hosts WoW servers in China.

Interest

• A New Yorker survived being trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. The ordeal was captured on CCTV.
• Six Masai warriors were invited to run in the Flora London Marathon. “The marathon was easy, there were no lions!”

World/Politics

• A Russian newspaper reported plans by President Putin to wed a former Olympic gymnast half his age. He denied the rumour, and the paper was promptly shut down.
• 60% of the world’s paintings apparently are churned out from a single village in China.
• An Italian performance artist who planned to hitchhike from Italy to the Middle East in a wedding dress to “send a message or peace” is found brutally murdered in Turkey.

Tech

• A writer from MacWorld builds and successfully runs Mac OS X on a “clone” computer.
• The latest beta of Opera 9.5 blows competitors out of the water - yes, including FF b3!

Popularity: 74% [?]

Note: I was planning Snippets to be just a mishmash of everything interesting I find on the Web but would never have the time to blog about. I thought making it a fortnightly thing would be fine, but it appears a lot happens in two weeks :/. Oh well.

Malaysia

• Hamilahton, mother of maths prodigy Sufiah Yusof who was recently revealed to be working as an escort girl in UK, starts a blog to tell her side of the story.
• GSC’s website is hit by a trojan that can potentially exploit IE to steal user passwords.
• Malaysia Airlines is hit with an RM900k loss after a ticket price typo.
• Faizal Tahir, who was recently censured for baring his chest onstage during an 8TV concert, receives the most AIM (Anugerah Industri Musik) nominations this year.
• A Samad Said hits out at the Education Ministry for omitting his works from the national curriculum because they are too “difficult”, also blames DBP for the decline of Malay literature.
• Dr. Chua Soi Lek starts his own blog.
• Tengku Faris, Crown Prince of Kelantan, says that non-Malays should not seek equal treatment, and that their citizenship is owed to the Malays.

Tech

• A class action lawsuit is being brought against Apple for fitting newer iMacs with inferior TN displays. (For those who don’t know, the widely-used TN panels cost roughly half of a higher quality S-IPS/PVM panel, and have much worse viewing angles and colour reproduction.
• Sony BMG is found to be using pirated software after one its employees called tech support with an invalid key.
• It seems that buying an upgrade edition of Vista without actually “upgrading” allows you to nearly halve the price.
• President Bush is apparently caught with pirated songs after talking about his iPod in an interview.
• Universal claims that promotional CDs sent out en masse still belong to them.
• A power grid in San Franciso is hacked in less than a day by a team of penetration testers.
• A Microsoft exec talks about Vista’s UAC at a conference and informs participants that it was “meant to annoy”.

Science

• A study shows men are much less able to tell when a woman is interested (or rather, disinterested ) in them, and vice versa.
• The youngest planet ever discovered could be less than 2,000 years old.
• New data from spacecraft orbiting Venus suggests that the evolution of the planet was “too fast”, ultimately rendering it inhabitable.

Teh Internets

• Two bloggers die “on the job”, sparking reflections on the frenzied pace of news today. (One of the victim’s final emails said: “Have come down with something. Resting now posts to resume later today or tomorrow.”).
• TIME begins compiling its annual index of the top 100 most influential people in the world. The online version again sees Korean pop-star Rain at the top, followed closely by Stephen Colbert and Shigeru Miyamoto.

  Context:

  There are also a number of spinoff lists, including the top 25 blogs and a list of top lists.

Religion/Culture/Issues

• A young Saudi woman is murdered by her father for using Facebook. [related] Also, a Saudi court increases a gang rape victim’s sentence because she “used the media to influence them“.
• In a case of legality over morality, two public defense attorneys disclose that their client had boasted of committing a murder he was on trial for 20 years ago. They felt it would breach the lawyer-client privilege.
• The family of a baby born with two faces in India refuse medical care, claiming that she is the incarnation of the goddess Shakti.
• A raid on a polygamist cult in Texas frees 400+ children [related]

World/Politics

• China eases its restrictions on Wikipedia ahead of the Olympics.
• Zimbabwe’s elections sees its dictator of 28 years, Robert Mugabe, losing his grip on power. (Go tsunami!)

Entertainment

• Mass Effect for the PC is delayed a month from its initial launch date of May 2008.
• More juicies about Fallout 3
• A comprehensive list of games to look forward to in 2008-2009

Interest

• An 80-year old man has been phoning his wife’s voicemail every day to hear her voice. She passed away in 2005. In a network upgrade, the voicemail was lost, but after hearing of the story, the telco restores the voicemail from their archives.
• Rustylime has a photoessay comparing family food expenditures around the world.

Popularity: 96% [?]

Teh Internets

• 60% of all Photoshop users are pirates (sample size: 500).
• Adobe launches Photoshop Express, a stripped down version of its flagship product. Focus is on community and “family” functions.
• Torrentspy.com, which was once the most visited BitTorrent site, shuts down in the face of MPAA suits.
• Firefox 3 will debut in June 2008, fixing its memory-hogging.
  [I still have faith that Opera 9.5 will reclaim its position as the fastest browser when it’s released >:( ]
• Facebook widget-maker Max Levchin sells a 9% stake in his company (known for widgets like SuperPoke ) for USD $50mil.

Malaysia

• A new opposition leader unleashes his blog.
• Elected MP M. Manoharan, who is currently being detained under the ISA, has been denied release by the Govt. [Reuters]
• UMNO flip-flops on the Terengganu MB drama, agreeing to the appointment of Ahmad Said. Pak Lah had earlier insisted that appointing anyone but Idris Jusoh would be unconstitutional.
• The chief of the Penang branch of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has said that attending state functions are no longer compulsory. Teachers are also being discouraged against inviting the new MPs for school events.

World

• A major ice shelf in Antartica is beginning to break apart, as chillingly (pun unintended) captured by time-lapse videos.

Religion/Culture

• The Vatican releases a list of new sins. Among them: stem-cell research, and pollution.
• Why do suicide bombers shave their bodies?

Science/Tech

• Statistics show that monogamous men have the most children if they marry women younger than themselves.
• A Macbook is hacked in less than 2 minutes in a 3-day hacking contest. A laptop running Vista was only cracked after relaxing the rules on the last day, while a laptop running Ubuntu was left unscathed throughout.
• Certain cows are fitted with fistulas, man-made, permanent “holes” into their stomachs, to help research their digestive system.

Entertainment

• Bethsheda claims there will be “over 200 endings” in Fallout 3.

Interest

• Black swan to be reunited with its love - a paddle boat.
• Interesting demonstration of the “lap guitar” method.
• The legend of DB Cooper, whose story features in the hit series Prison Break, comes back to the spotlight after a half-buried parachute is found.

Popularity: 85% [?]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones is one of the best movie franchises ever! It’s a rare blend of action and humour and doesn’t miss any opportunity to poke fun at itself. It has one of the best, most recognizable theme songs of all time. And it stars Harrison Ford!

My introduction to Indy wasn’t actually the movies though; it was 1992’s Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, an adventure game by the magnificent but now-defunct LucasArts games division. It’s a rare, very rare example of a successful game-movie crossover that retained the qualities of its original, along with a magnificent storyline and memorable characters. It still stands up to any adventure game you’d find on the market today.

If you have been deprived all these years or are in need of nostalgia, here’s the introduction sequence :) :-

I’ve played all the Indiana Jones games and watched the movies more times than I can remember, and I’ve been looking forward to Indy IV for months!Detractors say that Harrison Ford is now too old to play Indy, or that Lucas is just milking an old franchise for money. Well the latter might be true, but Ford will always be Indy like how he will always be Han Solo and the president of the United States. He already has the fedora, the whip, and the Scowl down pat:

Now here’s waiting for May 22, 2008 to see if he has the rest of it still! :).
[Link to 720p Trailer torrent]

Fallout III

Fallout (1997) and its sequel Fallout II are universally considered among the best computer RPGs of all time (I preferred Arcanum, but it was less polished ). In the retro-futuristic Fallout universe, a nuclear war has laid waste to the earth, with the only survivors being the people who took refuge in government-built Vaults. In the original, you are sent out to scour the wasteland and your sister Vaults for a replacement “water chip” for your Vault. Interplay ( I’m so sorry I couldn’t afford non-pirated games back then  :(( ) did a phenomenal job in fleshing out a world of humans dealing with the fallout of nuclear war, as well as implementing a solid game system and an open-ended storyline. The ending of the first game is especially memorable:
If you want to know what it is ▼

The concern everyone is having is that Bethesda Softworks, who bought over the rights to the series, are well-known for focusing more on eye-candy than a solid story ( *ahem* Oblivion ). I’m actually a bit worried for them because there are a large number of scary Fallout fanbois out there!

Whatever the case, we’ll know soon - they are apparently on track (shock) for release in fall 2008.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

My Pottermania has pretty much died down by now, but I’m still looking forward to the sixth movie - the main reason being that I’m very curious how they are going to handle the romance that Harry is supposed to have with Ginny. With all the focus on the big Three, she’s been little more than a wallflower in the movies. Not exactly the spunky, vivacious Ginny from the books.

Context for this still:

[Returning from the village after the DA meets for the first time]

Hermionie: Anyway, at least we know one positive thing that came from today…
Harry: What’s that?
Hermionie: Cho couldn’t take her eyes off you, could she?
Harry: *smirk*
Ginny: *emo*

Popularity: 73% [?]