RIFLE RANGE BOY

Now how often have you heard, "Stop controlling me, let me be free!" "I just want to be me. Me with my own desires." It is actually nothing new. This kind of mantra seems to have been around since the turn of the 20th century for the generation next. Everybody wants to be left alone to do things at their own freewill. Just like an indoor pet who rushes through the front door whenever it is ajar, human beings (whether they like it or not, they are still animals) always crave for something that they do not have. Without savouring what they already possess, they yearn for the unattainable or the utopia that only exists in their imagination. Can people really be free? Is freewill really free? Can people ever be free to be and do anything as and when they feel free? Are our thoughts really free? What dictates our will? Is it not a sum of all the indoctrination given to us via our parents through their upbringing, the teachings that they learnt from their el...

The Theory of Everything (2014) Professor Stephen Hawking is the living proof that life can never be hopeless. However bad life may seem to be, there is always something you can do and succeed. Patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) generally have short life spans. Their disease deteriorates fast, and they eventually succumb to their affliction within a short time. Hawking defied all odds and had lived with the illness since 1963, even though he was initially given only two years to live.  Using a speaking aid from the twitching of his buccal  muscles, he has gone to theorise ideas about space,  time and universe. In spite of his handicap, he has done so much in his life. In addition to his prolific research into quantum physics, he has authored many bestsellers. His critiques, however, chide him for not doing so much as to garner sympathy from the public towards the cause of helping his fellow sufferers of ALS and other neurological handicaps...

Apocalypse Now (1979) This is said to be the all-time best anti-Vietnam war movie ever made. It depicts the senseless actions of the Yankees to steam-roll Charlie (Vietcong) to smithereens without a thought. It just occurred to me that perhaps they were trying out the new experimental bombs and biological agents with all the mighty powerful fleet that they had. Vietnamese civilian lives and civilisation are treated as subhuman and are vaporised to nothing by immature youngsters who are fitted in army fatigues and armed with killing machines but have no clue of its actions and repercussions. Many of them had not even been exposed to the ways of the world and many cracked under pressure in these overwhelmingly extreme conditions. An Army Captain, Willard (Martin Sheen), who has marital issues back home, is summoned to track down a highly decorated American Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who is said to have gone astray recruiting his army to build his fort to fight Americans and Vietco...

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_503_2004-12-27.html Munshi Abdullah a.k.a Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (b. 1797, Kampong Pali, Malacca - d. October 1854, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), son of Sheikh Abdul Kadir d. 1820 Malacca). With a very strict Muslim upbringing and scholarly education, Abdullah's abilities made him a language teacher and interpreter proficient in Arabic, Tamil, Hindustani, English and Malay. He wrote the critically acclaimed "Hikayat Abdullah" which in Malay means the "Story of Abdullah". He was the first local to give a written account of everyday life in Malaya, published in 1849. For his early literary contributions, he was given the name, "The Father of Modern Malay Literature." Early life Abdullah was born in 1797, in Malacca, the fifth and only surviving child of Sheikh Abdul Kadir, a religious Muslim of Arab-Indian descent. At the age of four, he learnt to scribble on a schoolboy's slate. At the age of s...

http://www.wowshack.com/a-rare-historical-look-at-old-indonesia-25-ph otos-taken-pre-1920/ April 14, 2015 A rare and very historical look at Indonesia and its people during the Dutch colonial period. A Javanese prince with two servants (c. 1865-1870)  Tropenmuseum A man from Batavia carrying his warung (c. 1870)  Tropenmuseum Raden Saleh, a Javanese romantic painter who pioneered modern Indonesian art (c. 1872) old-indische.blogspot.com.au The Raja of Buleleng, Bali, and his secretary (c. 1875)  Tropenmuseum of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) Two Nias warriors in the South Nias Regency (c. 1882-1912)  Tropenmuseum A man with traditional Dayak tattoos (c.1896)  sickchirpse.com Toba Batak head with his family in their home, North Sumatra (c. 1900)  Tropenmuseum Masked men of the theater acting in "Topéing", Java (c. 1900-1920)  US Library Of Congress A Dayak chief (c. 1900-1920)  Tropenmuseum of the Royal T...

An old friend gave me the honour to partake in a religious function recently. Sitting through the function, I came to realise that the basic tenets of all religions are the same. The common seemingly 'good values' are somewhat universal. At face value, everything appears simple but as time goes on, we soon realise that things become more complicated. A simple statement like 'Thou shall not kill any living being' sound simple enough but not when you ask, "What if that being is potentially harmful, like a Bengal tiger or a lethal Dengue spreading aedes aegypti mosquito?" To these difficult questions, different leaders would give different explanations and rationalisation that appease different target audiences. If the target audiences accept that there could be more than one way to dance the tango, no harm done. The problem arises when each vehemently proclaim that theirs is the only accepted way and others must be reprimanded for not doing the same. Th...

Thanks SKCL, PL, CV, SJ, SS for contribution (you know who you are) Mamak Tongkang at work Transport by River on a Malayan Coconut Estate Loading Cargo by Bullock Carts, Penang Chulia Street - Pitt Street junction Maxwell Road mid 70s Komtar in progress Hin Company Bus Penang International Airport 1970 Green Lane 1970s Gurney Drive 1930s Simpang Enam Transfer Road Penang Free School Peel Road -legendary ala Hollywood apperance Doyens of the silver screen in its heydays R-L(Std: James Garner, Jack Lemmon, Charlton Heston, Sit: George Chandler, Sivaji Ganesan, Walter Pidgeon) Mother Teresa  Seen at Morib Beach Old Malaya Hockey Team Silver chariot in KL made its debut in 1893, made from 350 kgs of silver.