I pity them, the police...

It's a hot story now, the case of a 15 year old boy shot to death at Shah Alam. Condolences to the boy's family.

Now, almost every quarter is blaming the police for use of 'excessive force'. My uncle is a high ranking police officer. But he went through the ranks before he end up at his position now. He always tell us, if such case happens, people will look at the police's fault. Everybody was concern of the 'victim's' welfare.

But how about the policeman himself? Who's looking into his welfare? This boy tried to drive into the group of police. What do you expect? Just stand there, with the right hand straight up and yell 'STOP!'? Hoping the car will stop just an inch before hitting the policemen? Maybe in movies, but not in real life. Try to put yourself into their shoes.

If the boy did not ran away from police roadblock & drove past few red lights, would the officer just suddenly draw his gun and shoot? But did anybody said ANYTHING about the boy's behaviour? None. Of course, after the incident people say, the boy was shot dead just because he drove without license. The thing is, that is not the case. He was shot dead because he refused police order and then tried to cause harm to them! If the boy just stopped & failed to produce license, would he been shot? If the answer is yes, then something is very wrong. Then people can make noises.

When police use force on criminals, people say police is using excessive force. But then, when someone is killed or raped or robbed, then people say, police is not doing their work. Police will have to use force, up to some degree. It's not that criminals are all well-behaved people. If they are they won't be criminal in the first place.

So don't just simply complaint and take sides. Evaluate the situation. There must be a reason for everything. Don't just simply point fingers because that seems to be the easiest thing to do.

In conclusion, I laud the IGP's stance on this issue: No police?

Bravo!

One man's junk, is another man's treasure

Like my 5 years old Fuji S602 Zoom camera... I've been using it for like 5 years now, so it's kinda old and with 'just' 3.2MP resolution, it's kinda very outdated today. But nevertheless, it's still working perfectly fine.

But since I've bought a new D-SLR, don't plan to keep it anymore. So put up an advert to sell the old camera on mudah.my, with an offer price of RM150 only. Originally planned to sell for RM200, but since nowadays you can buy a good, brand new camera for just RM400, reduced my selling price.

To my surprise, in just one day, I've received like 40 emails asking to buy it. Really unexpected! There's one even offered RM250 for it. Many asked if my price is right.

Now I'm not sure to who should I sell it to.

Run for a cause: KL International Marathon

Dear friends,

I guess some of you heard of the annual Standard Chartered KL International Marathon. Running a 10 km event is not something new for me, but this time around I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for charity. For this event I've signed up under "Run for A Cause" category.

Here's my profile page: Hanafi Mohd. Nasir <---- Click here

I don't gain anything from this effort. I have even donated my race fee to the charity organization to start the ball rolling. Making your donation is easy. You may donate securely online via M2U, CIMB Click or credit card from the website. And if need to, a tax exemption letter will also be issued to you.

If you're interested to participate in the event, but have no idea how to get prepared for it, I am more than happy to share some training tips.

Thank you for your kindness.

Of our hot weather and protecting the stupid...

1. Wake up!

Reported in The Star today: KL - a walkable city?

Read the article. The project is modelled after a similar system in the United States. Hello, don't you guys realize how much different the weather is between our country and theirs? People here tend not to walk due to the sweltering heat of our weather rather than anything else. Late last year, I was fortunate enough to spend 4 days in Sydney, right at the peak of their summer season. Even though on certain days temperatures were reported to be up to 35 degree Celcius, but it felt much, much more comfortable due to the cold winds and low humidity. Heck, I even ran almost the entire city since the weather made me feel so comfortable.

But try to do that in central KL. I'm not surprised to find someone collapsing by the roadside after just 10 minutes. Our weather is just so different. In Sydney people walk all over the place. I never even thought of taking the tram even the station is just in front of me and choose to walk instead. Cars do not need air conditioning, just enough to roll down the windows. Again, try that in KL... Even standing out under the sun doing nothing and not moving will make you sweat like mad. Especially with the exceptionally hot weather nowadays.

These people should not be looking at such facilities in a country with vastly different weather. It's just not the same. I challenge the people who suggested this to use the walkway to work on daily basis when it's ready. See if it's really that practical.

This is almost the same idea as when someone tried to make Putrajaya a cycling city. Asking people to cycle to work instead of driving. I like to cycle in Putrajaya, for my training, but definitely not for work tough as I don't want to arrive at the meeting with my shirt all drenched out and sweat dripping off from my forehead.


2. Protecting the stupid

Also in the The Star: New Lexus fishtailing

An excerpt:

"In this case, Consumer Reports said the Lexus problem occurred during tests on its track. In a standard test, the driver approached a turn unusually fast, then released the accelerator pedal to simulate the response of an alarmed driver. This caused the rear of the vehicle to slide outward.

Under normal circumstances, the electronic stability control should quickly correct the loss of control and keep the SUV on its intended path. But with the GX 460, the stability control took too long to adjust, which could cause a rollover accident if one of the sliding wheels were to strike the curb or another obstacle, said Gabriel Shenhar, Consumer Reports' senior auto test engineer, one of four testers who experienced the problem."

You drive too fast approaching a corner, then lift off, the car will fishtail. See the ACTUAL mistake here? Not the car fishtailing or the electronics reacting too slow, it's the driver approaching the corner too fast! What's next? If you drive fast straight-on into a tree, the car should be intelligent enough to save you from that?

This is what I call, trying to protect the stupid from their own stupidity. Only in the US.

Got myself a new toy!

A Nikon D3000 digital SLR. After Kinabalu trip, I was yearning for a better camera to capture all the moments. And to relive my interest in photography. After some research decided on this particular model.

First outing with the camera, trip to Gunung Irau, Cameron Highlands. Some selected photos from the trip. Full report to follow.