Interloper View

I was stuck with nothing to do for three days while I was in the hospital so I decided to watch anime to pass time. The title is Bamboo Blade focused events within the Kendo club in Muroe High School. At the beginning there was only the coach and one student; everybody had left the club because two of the members (who are no longer active) took pleasure is hurting and bullying new members. The coach who was always broke made a bet the coach (Ishibashi) from Machido High kendo club that if his team (Muroe) is able to defeat Machido’s club, he will get to eat sushi in Ishibashi’s father’s sushi restaurant for a full year. However, there was a problem the match requires five girls in the team. This triggered the search for new members for the club and how the club grew from a nameless club to one that successfully entered the national kendo competition. Most of the credit goes to Tamaki, a first year student who initially did not want to join the club. However, she decided to...

The ability to create multiple user accounts (I shall refer as profile to avoid confusion of accounts for apps) on Android phone was introduced in Lollipop but I could not find it until I started using OnePlus One. This feature is disabled in brands like Samsung, Xiaomi and Asus. I think this option is enabled for Sony Xperia. Multiple user account option is enable if the Users option is available in the Android settings (see the picture above). This is an excellent feature that allows me to separate my office information from my personal information; I do not have to worry about the enforcement of policies required by my company affecting my personal user profile. I tried Samsung Knox briefly but did not like it because the Google policy still had to be enforced on the main account and also Knox consumes a lot of memory (since it is running with Android on my main account) and makes the phone very slow. With the multiple user profile, I can decide which one to use (and less...

Two weeks ago, I went to see an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialist after having my cough for more than a month (and consuming two and half course of antibiotic). After examining me, he concluded that the problem was with my sinus, and it will continue to cause me problems if not addressed. A CT scan was performed to verify the extend of my sinus infection and the scanned confirmed that most of my sinus cavities are filled. I was admitted to the hospital and administered intravenous antibiotics over the weekend and scheduled for surgery on Monday. The surgery was carried out on Monday, May 15, 2017, at 8 am. I had to fast from midnight so that I would not throw up during the surgery. The procedure was called functional endoscopic sinus surgery (also known as FESS). According to the doctor, he used a scope and laser to remove the polyps and widen my nasal passages. The whole procedure took about 45 minutes due to the number of polyps that had to be removed. I was under genera...

Assassination Classroom (also known as Ansatsu Kyoushitsu) season two continues with the second term for E Class. This anime took me through an emotional roller coaster from joy, fear and sorrow. There was a part when the teacher forced the whole class to help out at a preschool after they accidentally injured the elderly principal instead of studying for their midterm. This provided an opportunity for the students to use the skills they had to do something other than killing and also made them realize that they can do more with the skills they acquired in the past six months. This was followed by the kidnapping of all the students by the assassin known as Reaper. The situation appeared hopeless for the Koro-sensei and his students, especially with the betrayal of one of their own ~ Karasuma (one of the teachers of the class). The rivalry between the top class of the school with E class (the worst class) intensified in the second season especially after E Class mana...

I heard of Ray Kroc when some people approached me to join a multi-level marketing group, using him as an example how networking and franchising can help make me rich. I joined the group for a short time but was not really successful in it. As a result of the above experience, I was intrigue when I heard of The Founder, a movie about Ray Kroc. I was able to identify with him the challenges of trying to sell five-spindle milkshake maker, the frequent rejection he had to face (but I did not find his sales pitch that convincing). His experience with the slow service and wrong orders at the various dining establishments are still present today. It was incredible to see how Dick was able to remove all things that did not add value to their business and developing a process that made their restaurant very efficient while maintaining quality and consistency. However, Ray Kroc found more value in the brand name. One of the things Ray learned when he recruited franchisees was...

I just finished reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It introduces the theory of thin slices where attention of details performed within a second or two can tell us a lot. One of the examples provided in the book involves a marble known as kouros. The problem was first identified by Federico Zeri, an Italian art historian. He could immediately see that the kouros did not look right but was not able to articulate the problem. The next person was Evelyn Harrison, one of the world's foremost experts on Greek sculpture. In both cases, it sounds like intuition. This was confirmed much later that the kouros is fake. The gift of reading deeply into the narrowest slivers of experience is incredible and is present in many professions. Imagine making quick and accurate decision using this approach and if this is part of what it means to be human, the potential is immense. Our unconscious thought process is more superior when the choices become more complicated (and we have to ju...

I lost 20 kilograms within nine months in 2005 using willpower and determination. I learned a lot from the experience, losing weight is not a simple process of exercise or just diet; it is a combination of both. By 2011, I regained almost all the weight loss and now weigh more than when I started. I tried the process again but have failed multiple times. I know I have strong willpower but that is not enough because I have to think about it and make conscious decision like what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat. It takes too much mental power to do that and there is always the urge to skip one day and then skip one week. There has to a better way. It is time I created a process that I can follow without making much decision and turn it into my routine. The routine will need to: Ensure that the calories in my food intake does not exceed the calories I will burn daily. Have enough exercise so that I will continue to be strong and flexible. Get enough sleep. I had no...

I recently noticed something in the bible that I had not noticed before. Adam lived to the age of 930 years old, Noah until 950 years, and Abraham until 175 years. It made me wonder why our lifespan has decreased so dramatically and seems a bit strange that there are increasing articles regarding increasing lifespan due to advancement in Science and Medicine. I wander what determines the lifespan of a person, is it their lifestyle, diet or sense of purpose. If given a chance to grow that old, would I want to? Is growing old a curse or a blessing? What if everyone in the world has the potential to live that old, what is the implication of on food supply, resource availability and living conditions. The problems with overpopulation in certain parts of the world have shown us the potential hardship it will bring. I do not have any answers, just questions.

The anime is also known as Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. This is the kind of anime that you either love or hate. It was hard to see the suffering the protagonist had to go through as his friends try to support him but were not able to reduce his pain. The following are the characters in the anime and my thoughts: Arima, Kousei is protagonist who was known as the human metronome because of his piano playing ability at a very young age. He was unable to hear his own music soon after his mother passed away. He has given up playing the piano but held on through his assignments in school.  As far as he is concern, he has no other skills other than playing piano but he has lost that due to his disability. As the story progress we are given a glimpse of his tortured childhood where he is forced to play piano and nothing else. He started taking up piano again after much pestering from Kaori Miyazono. Miyazono, Kaori is a free-spirited violinist introduced to Kousei Arima by his ch...

It saddens me to see that our way of life is being destroyed. We had a culture of harmony and peace, nobody worried about what races and religion or offending each other; there was always mutual respect. We are now under attack from within. When somebody tries to be helpful, we question their sincerity and look for ulterior motive. There are boogie-men everywhere. There is increasing distrust between brothers and sisters because of their race or their beliefs. Foreign cultures are adopted, replacing the beautiful cultures of love and beauty. Unfortunately, no one dares to voice out for fear or being attacked and chastised by so called religious police and non governmental groups. Do we have so little regard for our culture and our way of life that we allow the few in power to destroy our culture all in the name of religious harmony. Can a simple sign or words cause people to change their beliefs and convert to a different religion? Do the way we dress turn normal citizens in...

Imagine being in high school and believing that everyone hates you - that is what Handa Kun believes and as a result he has creates a wall between him and everybody else in school. Due to his paranoia, he was unapproachable and those around him mistakes his actions and get the wrong impression about him. The story takes us through his experience and how those who felt threatened by him ended up becoming his fan. As his fan base grew, our hero is totally unaware and just see more and more threats. All these events makes for a very funny anime. Some examples of the situations are as follows: When one of the girls in his class tried to confess to him, he thought the letter was a chain letter like the ones he used to get and refused to read it. When he threw the letter away without reading it, another classmate (the best friend to the girl who wrote the letter)  scolded him and then pushed the girl to confess to him. Instead of confessing, she asked him to see him after...

Whenever I have a decision to make but do not know what to do I have to remind myself to just take action. I may not have all the answers or information at the moment but too often the delay will make things worst. I realize that taking immediate action may result in making taking the wrong choice but I found that the odds are more positive than negative. There are also times when doing nothing may be better. Therefore, before taking action and making the choice, it is important to look at a couple of things: What do I know about the different choices? What are the known risk with each choices? What would happen if I do not decide? If the risk is high then more information or some delay is necessary. Talking to some friends may also help. In the end,  I will still need to make the decision. Once the decision is made and the action is taken, everything needs to be done to increase the chances of success, this includes: Follow through. If I start but take the ...

I had the privilege to drive Perodua Bezza for last week for five days. I had not read much about the car prior to using it so had used it without any expectation. I am impressed with the experience. The one I used was of the highest range which cost RM 50k. I was initially uncomfortable with the keyless feature. I was afraid of dropping it or misplacing it but got used to it after one day. One thing I missed was the lack of auto lock. All cars I have driven since the introduction of central locking has that feature. To make up for the lack of feature, the remote control will only unlock the driver door by default, you can open all the doors if you press the remote longer. The idle stop is an interesting feature, when the feature is enabled, pressing the brake (and holding it down), the engine will be turned off when the car is fully stationary. It will stay off up to three minutes if the driver continue to apply the brake. However, if you are like me and prefer to take your le...

I recently watch this anime that was in Mandarin with English subtitle. The story revolves between a girl and two brothers. She met him while crossing the road without looking. He knocked her down and caused him to lose the food he was delivering. This chance encounter explains why she calls him and why he calls her stupid girl. The anime consist of 24 episodes. The development was good, the first episode focus on her looking for a job as a fresh graduate at a job fair (where thousand of others are doing the same thing). Later she receives a text to attend an interview at night. While walking towards the interview, she looked around and realized that the building looked spooky. She then started thinking of why a company would call her for an interview so late in the night - human traffickers or organ traders. By then she was lost in Rakshasa Street filled with demon soldiers. Turns out that she is in a place for the dead and humans are forbidden there. I enjoyed the story....

This is a follow up from part 1 , additional tricks of saving money. Discounts Some discounts are not obvious because they are not openly publicized. So the first thing to do is to ask whether the store is running any promotions. I do not memorize all the offers provided by my credit card and often miss them - the habit of asking about promotion helps in reducing the times I miss such promotions. Some promotions that are still available at the point of my writing are: Starbucks will give a RM2 discount if you use your own Starbucks Tumbler or mug. I am not sure if they will offer the same discount if you use a non-Starbucks mug. McDonald’s will give you a free frozen coke if you spend more than RM10 and pay with your credit card. McDonald’s will also give a free item (sometimes fries, other times apple pie) if you spend more than RM20 in the drive through and have a McDonald’s VIP sticker. Beyond Vege provide 15% discount off the total bill for paying bil...