A Step Back in Educating Our Students

As what you guys have read or seen in the news, our education ministry have decided to put a reverse gear in teaching Science & Math in English policy. Apparently some empirical studies show that only a small percentage of teachers taught fully in English for these two subjects, and then there's the issue of proficiency, etc2. If you ask me, this is such a huge step back in our education policy, and judging from the feedbacks received, the people are on quite the same page. First of all, no one ever said that it would be a walk on the park. The transformations need to be done from within the system itself and it takes patience and time. We need to start with giving the teachers the solid foundation to teach students in English (yes, at times we are better than our teachers in English, except our English teachers of course).

I also have to disagree with the government's initiatives to put more emphasis on learning and teaching English itself. Teaching English solely for students to understand technical terms later on is not the same as teaching these two subjects in English. I would say that learning Science & Math in English is like killing two birds with one stone; you got a better command of the language and be more proficient, and let's face it, you'll understand better If you ask me, the message and information is transfered quicker and better in English, especially those technical terms. It makes more sense in explaining to people.

Well, that's about it. I hoped that I babbled the right thing, haha...Signing off...

HSE Tips: Post No 4

Today's HSE post is about what causes liver damage. Article is courtesy of our weekly HSE bulletin.

The main causes of liver damage are:

1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.
2. Not urinating in the morning.
3. Too much eating.
4. Skipping breakfast.
5. Consuming too much medication.
6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener.
7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.
8. Consuming raw (overly done) foods also add to the burden of liver.

Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store.

We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to 'schedule.'

The Hundredth Post

This post marks my one-hundredth post since my early humble beginning early this year (just checked out my first post dated 31 January 09), and time just flies. I started this blog of mine with hope that it will be somewhat a healthy channel of expressing myself and share anything that might be of your interests (and certainly mine). I never thought that I would be enjoying it much, but now it seems that I am! I've been sharing songs that i fancy listening, video clips that i had a wonderful time watching, and certainly things going on in my life which I have a say to. And for that, I think the blog had succeeded in delivering all those things. This blog has a long way to go still (at least I hope so), so expect it to see it grow just like a 1 year old child growing up in the real world. I also hope that writing here will help me mature and grow up to be a better person. There are lots of things that I hoped for in this life, and I hope one by one it will turn up to be a reality.

A few additions/improvements have been made here and there in this blog. I have changed the title pic from an astronaut (geez, too influenced by the Discovery Channel's advert) to a Kimidoll. I've opened a Picasa Web Albums to share some pics with you guys, I even have my own Twitter account now! I've been thinking of maximising my blog area (the default template just left a huge unused space on the sides), maybe I'll get someone to help me tweak the HTML code later. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed my writing so far. Look forward to more interesting posts (fingers crossed!). So, yeayy to me for starting this blog, for this one hundredth post!

Calorie Math For Dummies

I've just encountered an interesting site, to those of you who are curious off how much you have put in when you eat everyday. It's called Cekodok, and it's a website developed by Kevin Zahari (he is this fitness and health expert dude you regularly see in Malaysia media streams). This website is somewhat tailored to Malaysian needs (you know how Malaysians love their food) because it addresses mostly food related to Malaysians! We're talking nasi lemak, rendang ayam, teh tarik and many more.

I have not explored much of this site (I think this site is very useful!) Anyway, I came across some introduction on calories, what is it about, how much do you need per day, etc2. So this is what i gathered so far. Of course, various factors play a role in determining the exact number such as gender, age, and your level of activity (are you a top of the game athlete or just a lousy couch potato). Let me introduce you guys to Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is basically the amount of energy required for you to stay alive (Don't be surprised, i copy and paste the site's exact statement, haha). Some math is involved:

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x wt in kg) + (5 x ht in cm) - (6.8 x age in years)

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x wt in kg) + (1.8 x ht in cm) - (4.7 x age in years)

Then you have the multiplier, depending on how active you are:

• Sedentary = BMR x 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
• Lightly active = BMR x 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
• Moderately active = BMR x 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
• Very active = BMR x 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
• Extra active = BMR x 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2xday training)

I'll try to put my numbers to check it out. So I'm about 55kg in weight (yes! I need to gain more weight! that is what I'm trying to do!), about 168cm tall an I just turned 26. Put in the numbers and I get 1482.7. I consider myself as lightly active (huhu), so I'll have to multiply my number with 1.375 and i got 2038.71. So everyday I need to consume roughly about 2000 calories.

Now, let's take a typical meal plan for an average Malaysian and you get this:

So now you have it! You can actually get a more accurate calorie reading by entering your meal plan yourself. So, give it a try and see where are you at.

Random Bla Bla Blahs

Hey guys,this is gonna be a short rant from me.I'm currently at Concorde Hotel in Jalan Sultan Ismail till tomorrow for a course. Judging from what's in stored for today,I'm sooo glad that it will be only for 2 days. It is an absolute torture! It's back to school sort of session,with the trainer being ever so boring! The attendees instead took the opportunity during breaks to bash about company's ridiculous initiatives and how they should instead show more concern on those people planning to leave the company out of dissatisfaction,nonsense KPI and forced ranking systems and the favourite; the work colleague (and bosses) who do you just want to kick them in the nuts.

Anyway,I did something interesting this evening.The last time I did this was when I was a student in the UK. I actually walked my way to the city centre and to the shopping mall! Yup,I wore my shorts,a tshirt and my loafers and march straight to KLCC. Honest to God, I kinda enjoyed it. The weather was pleasant and so was the crowd. For a moment I feel like a tourist,hihi..

Signing off from my HTC TD2

The Heineken Commercial...

I always wonder, but beer companies have always produced some of the freshest, original and creative advertisements I have ever seen on mainstream media. They must have hired themselves a damn good firm to come up with this genius ideas! It is also a wonder why us Malaysians could not come up with such an advert (with exception of Maxis and Digi adverts, I think they're brilliant). Anyway, I encountered this advert during the screening of Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, and I thought it's just hillarious. Enjoy:)

Michael Jackson: Your Music and Moves Will Be Missed

The world mourns over the passing away of a great artist. The King Of Pop himself, died over a cardiac arrest at the age of 50. He was one of the most remembered artist growing up over the years. You can always talk about him either to the young generations or the elderly. His music has touched millions of hearts from fans all around the world. May you rest in peace, Michael. Your music and dance moves are unrivalled, and will be missed. Here's a tribute to one of the greatest singers of all time, i present to you 'Smooth Criminal'. It has a great arrangement, not to mention the ever awesome dance moves and video production. Definitely one of my favourites from his many hits.