Here and there: antibiotics

I moved in to KL about 15 months ago. It's been exciting - new stuff, new cultures, new ways of doing things. Not all are good and at the same time not all are bad. It's clearly a trade off.

Surely there are loads of them. One that I struggle the most is probably antibiotics - the use and prescription of antibiotics.

It took me some time to adapt to the very strict prescription of antibiotics in the U.S. There, not until the symption is proven caused by bacteria, doctors won't prescribe any antibiotics. Even the patient is having high fever. Why? Antibiotics have no effect against viruses, fungal, and other nonbacterical infections (for example common cold). I guess the only positive effect would be psychological.

But here the practice is totally different - as is in Indonesia as far I can remember. Doctors are so trigger-happy when it comes to antibiotics. They even prescribe antibiotics for "just-in-case". That scares me.

And oh, the antibiotics here taste much worse, especially those for children.

Here's excerpt from wikipedia about use and misuse of antibiotics:

Use or misuse of antibiotics may result in the development of antibiotic resistance by the infecting organisms, similar to the development of pesticide resistance in insects.

Antibiotic resistance has become a serious problem in both the developed and underdeveloped nations. By 1984 half of the people with active tuberculosis in the United States had a strain that resisted at least one antibiotic. In certain settings, such as hospitals and some child-care locations, the rate of antibiotic resistance is so high that the normal, low cost antibiotics are virtually useless for treatment of frequently seen infections. This leads to more frequent use of newer and more expensive compounds, which in turn leads inexorably to the rise of resistance to those drugs, and a race to discover new and different antibiotics ensues, just to keep us from losing ground in the battle against infection. The fear is that we will eventually fail to keep up in this race, and the time when people did not fear life-threatening bacterial infections will be just a memory of a golden era.

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Schoolgirls competing to be No.1 in sex game

I've had tons of guests - family and friends - visiting since I moved to KL. Most who came to Malaysia for the first time usually shared this same impression: "Whoa!" They thought that life in Malaysia was so influenced and governed by Islamic practices, that, for example, there was no or only a few pubs and clubs around.

Well, not exactly. KL, especially, is just another city that shares all the goods and bads of typical big cities. (and frankly I like it for that)

Except, of course, if you live in Kota Baru, Kelantan, where women, working in retails and restaurants, who dress "sexily or indecently" could be fined up to RM 500.

So what about the schoolgirls?

It's a two-week old, or so, news I happened to read. I guess it might contribute to the "whoa!" impression. Perhaps JB, with its proximity to Singapore, has gotten the influence of swinging...

Here's the story from the Star:

A group of female students in a secondary school in Johor Baru are said to be competing among themselves to be the one with the highest number of one-night stands, Nanyang Siang Pau reported.

Each of the 10 students in the group, aged between 13 and 15 years old, would fork out between RM50 and RM100 to be in the game.

The student with the highest number of sex partners within a month would get a "reward", which ranged from between RM500 and RM1,000, said the report.

Usually, a student would need between 13 and 15 sex partners to claim the "reward".

It was learnt that the school had expelled some students involved in the activity, but the report added that it was still going on.

So next time JB instead of KL?

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Open season

Well, I managed to get some colleagues from work to play basketball again. We ain't no good at all, but the games are actually refreshing and help force us to get out from work early.

After the first game last year I wrote a "report", and attempt to do so again this year. (All initials are accurate)

MFG finds winning way against SCM

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – Desperate to escape from trailing many points on the first quarter, MFG successfully overcame SCM in the opening game this season.

After a long break, last night’s game kicked off the new season. Both teams, with a long history of basketball rivalry, brought in their new signings – TCP, who undoubtedly was the star of the night, and MF, who scored a couple of points late in the game.

SCM started the game brightly with AP and LBK both scored in the opening minutes. MFG was many times unsuccessful to open up SCM’s tight defense, as MFG’s center MS was physically marked by MF.

The arrival of TCP in the second quarter, however, totally changed the game. His vast experience allowed RT and VN dominated the game. MFG clearly took advantage of having one extra player and continued to control until late in the game. SCM made its best push by cutting the deficit early in the fourth quarter, but MFG put the game away in the dying minutes.

Both teams plan to recruit more players. “We clearly need to get more players. It’s obvious, physically we can’t play four quarters without substitutes. We will need more MCs!” admitted MS. As a follow-up, a hot team has been set up for recruiting.

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Indonesians are the least unhappy: inferiority complex?

Unspun's "Not unhappy is the Indonesian employee" discusses a global employee survey. One of the findings was

"Those with the lowest percentages of employees feeling unhappy or very unhappy are Indonesia (3 per cent), India (9 per cent) and Thailand and Denmark (both 11 per cent). Those with the highest percentages of disgruntled employees are Luxembourg (36 per cent), Italy (30 per cent) and Belgium (27 per cent)."

Something I didn't expect - that Indonesian employees are the least unhappy in the world. As far as I remember, most of my friends who work in Indonesia complain about their workplace. Yes, confirmation bias.

This result also reminds me of a topic discussed in my alumni mailing list some time ago: inferiority complex. It was the first time I heard the term, and I'm still not sure if I understand the meaning correctly. But here's a definition from Wikipedia:

Wikipedia: "a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way."

There are more in it though. But taking the definition literally, one might argue that Indonesians are experiencing inferiority complex. That these people feel OK (or not unhappy) while people from other countries may feel unhappy being in the same workplace. Possible...

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About cheating and punishment

Though it could be just a coincidence, I think I might have been a bit recall-biased. After I finished writing the monogamous gibbons, I went to Yahoo!. On the main page where the news rotate, it showed "Cheat on your spouse in Michigan and spend life in prison?". There you go.

To add further bias, here are some quotes from the article:

"The state's appeals court recently ruled that extramarital flings can be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in jail."

A judge said: "Technically, any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship, he or she is guilty of CSC I."

CSC is, I guess, criminal sexual conduct. And CSC I is the most serious sexual assault charge in Michigan's criminal code.

I'm sure it's not as simple as putting men and women to jail once they're found guilty of cheating. But for sure, this will further put the case that lawyer is the most shining profession in, at least, Michigan.

What if someone wakes up in the morning and decides that Indonesia needs to adopt this law? Perhaps no one will want to be the member of DPR anymore...

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Even gibbons are monogamous

I went to the National Zoo today. On the way rushing back to the exit, we managed to stop by at the apes area and just happened to pay a bit more attention on this guy: ungka kelabu (Bornean Gibbon).

Looks like a loyal creature, isn't he? You bet he is. The information board says that these gibbons are monogamous and that they mate for life.

And a bit closer...

Enough with the big hoo-haa AA Gym created several months ago on monogamy and polygamy.

But what's going on here? Monogamous apes? For the world's sake, animals don't register their marriages. Is this the true loyalty, or monkey love? Or perhaps they all look similar - that it leaves no motivation or desire to find the second partner...

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Father

This is to my buddy in Royal Oak, MI, in welcoming his newborn son on January 17.

"To become a father is not hard. To be a father is, however"
- Wilhelm Busch

Well, conceptually and comparatively.

All the best, pal. Cherish every moment.



About the quote:
My wife used to buy Real Simple magazine regularly. There's this one I happened to find in the bathroom a couple of days ago, with the quote on the side cover. Pretty simple, yet true.

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General Tso's chicken

I got a surprise from my wife today. She cooked general Tso's chicken for lunch. It's been at least one and a half years since the last time I had this dish. I love you, babe.

No, I'm not writing the recipe here.

General Tso's chicken is the first American Chinese food I had, and I love it since. It's deep-fried boneless chicken with thick, sweet-spicy sauce - just perfect. It's one, if not the most, popular Chinese food dish in the U.S.

There are some other chicken dishes similar to general Tso's. Orange chicken and sweet and sour chicken to name a few. They're all boneless. But Tso's chicken is the best.

It also only exists in the U.S. Wikipedia says that the dish is unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diapora. The dish was invented in early or mid 70's in NYC.

I never thought to try to find out who General Tso was, and whether this guy is for real or not. He did exist, I found out today. He was a frighteningly gifted military leader during the waning of the Qing dynasty, said Washington Post's article "Who was General Tso and why are We Eating His Chicken?" So Tso did exist and was, indeed, a military general.

I salute you, general. You and your buddy Colonel Sanders.

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2007 North American International Auto Show

aka Detroit Auto Show

I was a regular to this show while in Michigan. I'm not, and wasn't, into cars, but it was more because the creativity and imaginations of the concept cars (and to keep up with everyone else in Michigan...). The concept cars are just simply stunning.

Here's a few: the Honda Accord Coupe concept, the Accura Advanced Sports concept, the Chevrolet Volt concept, and the Mazda Ryuga concept.

This year there is ChangFeng. What? Ah, a Chinese automaker - making their first appearance outside China. As ugly as their concept cars mighy look to some, the point is they made it to the biggest auto show on earth! Effect of brain gain?










And last but not least... like any other exhibitions, there are always the SPGs...



(all pictures from Detroit Free Press)

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Malaysia's bloggers sued

Just found this today through Unspun. Bloggers sued by journalists. And, from all the possible places in the world, it's Malaysia. Not sure for what reasons, but isn't it alarming? Now I don't really feel comfortable putting my uncensored thoughts about it...

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