KLIBF 2008

This is a note to all readers and book lovers out there. The annual Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair (KLIBF) will be held at PWTC from the 4th to 13th of April. So to those who are interested, please spare some time to attend KLIBF 2008. It's worth your time.

Blog readability

I came to know about a blog's reading level from this entry at Temasik's World. By clicking at this link, blog owners can rate the readability of their blogs. And the result?



Apparently, my blog is at the postgraduate level. Notice the test tube, atomic stucture and rocket.

Afterthought: I tried this tool for my other two blogs which use mainly Malay language, and the outcome is that those blogs are at the genius level. My guess is that if the language used in the blogs couldn't be understood by the tool, it'd regard those blogs as having a high level of intelligence. To quote Homer (Simpson, not the philosopher): D'oh!

Treat the tool as something fun, and it shouldn't be taken seriously.

Mary and her lamb in the biotech era

Some have asked what course do I teach at Universiti Malaya. It's "Science and Religion" - a course I share with my PhD supervisor. Most people I know regard this course as "heavy" and "very philosophical." I don't deny that "Science and Religion" can be heavy, but I find it fascinating as well, especially when we look at everyday case studies. Whether we realise it or not, the interaction between science and religion is an everyday occurrence.

I have been involved with this interaction since my tenure at IKIM. In 2005, while presenting a paper on biotechnology and Islam at a conference held at the Environmental Institute of Malaysia (EiMAS), I came across an interesting nursery rhyme, which is an updated version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." I thought that it'd be good to share this with you.

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB – biotech version
Author unknown

Mary had a little lamb

Its fleece was slightly gray

It didn’t have a father

Just some borrowed DNA

It sort of had a mother

Though the ovum was on loan

It was not so much a lambkin

As a little lamby clone

And soon it had a fellow clone

And soon it had some more

It made the children laugh and sing

The teachers found it droll

There were too many lamby clones

For Mary to control

No other could control the sheep

Since their programs didn’t vary

So the scientists resolved it all

By simply cloning Mary

But now they feel quite sheepish

Those scientists unwary

One problem solved, but what to do

With Mary, Mary, Mary?

Brand new day

I know how most people hate Mondays. But today, it feels like a brand new day for me. My family has moved into our new apartment which is a lot more comfortable than our rented house. Having said that, I left the old house with a rather heavy heart. Of all the places that I have stayed in all my life, that rented house was the longest that I stayed in. All in all, I stayed there for a little over eight years.

Now that I have moved, I look forward to the days ahead.

A brand new day indeed.

Looking east

Konnichiwa!

It has been nearly two weeks since I haven't been well. I have not fully recovered although I have to say things are somewhat improving. I don't have any fever anymore but the cold bug is still persistent. This bugging cold however is not slowing me down. I didn't take any day off from work as I find resting at home makes me rather restless.

Fortunately, there's plenty of action going on at this point in time - and I'm not talking about the coming election process.

One of the latest development is that I have begun learning a new language. As it is, I am bilingual with fairly good command of Bahasa Malaysia and English. I also have very basic knowledge in Arabic. I can understand standard Arabic when it is spoken, but that's about it. Now, I have started learning Japanese. Pretty interesting language this. It takes a while to get the hang of this language, but given time and hard work, I think I'll manage, insya-Allah.

So don't be surprised when you see Japanese words or phrases in my blog entries.