Just a collection of stuff (mostly from my old blog)
The last time I took a public train in Malaysia was 10 years ago. That’s a long time to be spoilt by the luxury of having a car to drive around. So it was a pleasant surprise to see this viral story, about a man on a KTM kommuter train who saved a women from a group of youths who “misbehaved and demanded cash and their valuables”. But then I remembered that KTM had launched...
Two weeks ago, I took my first ever Uber ride, and here’s what I think is The Good, the bad and the ugly of Uber. The Good The app worked perfectly out of the box, it was intuitive, and the drivers that fetched me from (and to) the Toyota service center were courteous and friendly. What was even more shocking was the price–Uber is freaking cheap. Bukit Jalil to Bukit Bintang for RM20...
People think of the media as the powerful behemoth that’s capable of swaying public perception. On the contrary, I think public perception sways the media. Companies like Facebook, Google and even Amazon, have gone all-in on the confirmation bias, the idea that people like and prefer information that confirms their existing ideas and biases. No one likes being told their wrong about...
In the online world, surveillance and censorship are two sides of the same coin, you can’t have one without the other. When the government moots a ‘blogger registration’ act , we automatically infer it to be part of a wider censorship initiative, an attempt to control the narrative by subtlety telling bloggers “we know who you are, so watch what you say”. We...
Every now an again, I brush off the dust from an old laptop I have in the corner, and boot-up a couple of forgotten python scripts. One of those scripts would scrap the DOE Malaysia website for API readings in Malaysia, unfortunately, those damn fools at the DOE now only publish 7-day data, and completely wipe off anything older–for some unknown reason. I even contacted my...
2 weeks ago, Wan Saiful Wan Jan. the chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) penned an opinion piece in thestar claiming that there was a prevalence of anti-TPP ideologies in Malaysia. The Gist of his piece centered on 4 key points: The Anti-TPP ideologues opposed the bill before knowing what it was, and therefore must be stupid (or bomohs) Opponents of the TPP...
The price of freedom is the possibility of crime, and if you’re unwilling to pay that price, don’t be surprised when your freedom is taken away from you. In a free country, it’s impossible to prevent a mad lunatic from getting a knife and stabbing people on a train, you might prevent some lunatics but you can’t prevent them all. The best you can hope for is that rescue...
3-4 weeks ago, I pimped myself an interview on BFM, and yesterday it finally aired. Woohoo!! Here’s the audio, and below are some show-notes you might be interested in if you want to learn more. I searched for these links AFTER the show, so they may not be 100% in step, but good place to start. Your browser does not support native audio, but you can download this MP3 to listen on your...
There’s been some controversy recently regarding the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings in Malaysia, with some even accusing the government of intentionally downplaying the readings. I intended to find out exactly how the readings were different, and as a glorified techie come wannabe programmer I decide to use a data approach to this as opposed to a theoretical one. In case you’re...
Google reported that 91 per cent of its Malaysian respondents are “multi-screening” with their smartphones, meaning that while watching TV, or working a laptop, Malaysians were at the VERY SAME TIME, using their phones. The Malay Mail reported this as Malaysians being champion multi-taskers, but I look at it as a negative, and instead view it as indication of just how easily distracted we are...