MH370

First of all my condolence to the husbands, wives, sons and daughters,parents and relatives of the passengers of the lost MH370. I have been following the progress of the SAR from day one and hope that one day it will be found and the truth on what caused it to disappear will come out and bring closure to this sad episode.Let the authorities do their job along with the 26 other countries who chipped in to help locate the MH370. The answer will be in the "Black Box" and once they find it let the truth be known. Meanwhile, i am very disappointed with all the speculations in the social media of conspiracy theories been thrown out all over the place without supporting facts, and also the foreign media using the episode to push their agenda toward the Malaysian government. Worst still those Malaysians who have no qualms painting bad pictures of the authorities in charge of the investigation with their bad comments over the internet. Even the head of the Opposition party going around giving interviews to foreign media giving the impression that the authorities was too slow to react in the initial stage of the search. While everybody is entitled to his own opinion, giving out opinions without knowing the facts or the background of what was happening would not help the situation at all and only complicates the effort to search the plane. The authorities cannot divulge every aspect of the investigation to the media or the public without verification first as it would cause confusion when what was released turned out false. This is not a tv reality show where the public get to see every aspect of the investigation streaming live on tv 24/7. I believed the authority constant media briefings to update them showed the transparent nature of the investigation.So lets be responsible regardless from which political divide we come from and let the authority do their job without distraction. There is plenty of room and time later for anybody who lost their loved ones in the MH370 disappearance to take matter up to the court for compensation. Meanwhile, i urge the authorities to look into the security aspects of the KLIA seriously. I am a frequent flyer and as a matter of fact through my last traveling to Europe from KLIA a few months ago, i could see the difference in the security checks before boarding is so much stricter in other airports like Dubai,Rome and Heathrow,London compared to KLIA. I found the security personnel and even the immigration officers at the KLIA seem too relax. I am not sure why, is it because we want to give the impression to the tourists that everything is so peachy and friendly in Malaysia and there is nothing to be worried about? I am sorry to say that i feel more assured when the security is tough and strict at the airport because we are dealing with a potential lost of lives when things go wrong in the air and we cannot come back and bitch about it to the airport security and airline company, right or not?In the Heathrow Airport, London, every single item my wife brought was scrutinized, i even had to taste the hot water my wife brought to make baby milk for my daughter to make sure it was not dangerous chemical or poison! In the KLIA it was never done, everybody happily boarded their flight except for the standard body scan and metallic object scan. Unless there is a super sophisticated infra-red chemical analysis scanner not seen by us being used by the KLIA without our knowledge,God knows what they missed. The thing it is better to be strict and safe so we passengers can sleep soundly and enjoy the eight hours flight without worrying for our lives. On the Black Box technology installed on-board the commercial air-crafts it seems that the technology used to construct them has not caught up with the time. In an era where you can stream data and video live across the world in real time we are still stuck with hard disk or chips on electronic boards stored inside a shock, heat and waterproofed container with a battery that only lasts a month and we can only know what is stored inside after we have recovered the Black Box and if we ever recovered it? The SAR of the MH370 is still ongoing in the Indian Ocean even after more than 30 days the plane gone missing. By now the battery would have died and the "ping" has stopped. In an area where the ocean depths are more than 4000 meter and where the technology to search at those depths using remote controlled mini-submarines available to a few advanced countries only the task is daunting and will take a long time indeed.Why cant the data be streamed live to a collection center like "cloud" and controlled by the relevant authorities, and the Black Box becomes the back-up in case something really go wrong? Why cant the life span of the battery be extended to five years in case the search for the wreckage takes more than a month like what happened to the Air France in the Atlantic? The battery technology is available as shown by the US DARPA project to put Upward Falling Payload(UFP) at the bottom of the sea for as long as five years and lay dormant until called upon to strike at the enemy underwater and surface vessels anywhere in the world oceans. If we have the technology to cause damage during a war why cant we use the same technology to help humankind for safe travel? I also like to recommend that live video streaming of the cockpit and passengers compartment using hidden cctv cameras in real time so that the flight can be monitored and steps can be taken in advance should anything bad happens during the flight. It is my hope that the SAR of the MH370 ends with the recovery of the plane and the Black Box so the truth of what happened to the plane, its crews and passengers be known and bring a closure to this sad episode. I also hope that a few lessons from this episode can be learnt and implemented by the authorities and aviation industry throughout the world so the MH370 did not perish in vain.

I AM BACK!

I am back! No, not as Terminator but as the Author of this blog who has gone missing and left his blog to rot, my bad! Why the absent? Well I just got bored of internet and busy with other aspects of my life. I also took sabbatical leave from work for more than a year to recharge my battery. After more than 23 years of working in the architectural field I just had to get a long break. So what is up with me lately? Well I have rediscovered my passion for photography and at the same time lost my passion for long love affair with fishing. Fishing is still one of my passions but grew tired of it partly because of a few bad and unproductive trips I had the last time I fished. Hell, the last time I went fishing was two years ago and I had a bad accident on the way back home. My Beemer was wrecked in front, lucky the insurance company paid for all the fixing. But, I was put off by it, and turned down a lot of offer from friends and relatives to go fishing. Instead,i started to pay more attention to photography, a hobby I started 25 years ago when I first bought my Minolta XGM 35mm film camera. Now, I have acquired a Canon system consists of EOS60D, EOS 5D Mark 3 body,L lenses - 24-70mm f4 IS zoom lens, 70-300 f4.5-5.5 IS zoom lens, 400mm f5.6 prime lens,18-135mm 3.5-6.3 IS lens, third party Sigma 150-500 f5-6.3 OS HSM zoom lens,Tamron SP90 f2.8 macro lens and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 Di zoom lens. On top of those I also bought a Kenko tele-converter and extension tubes. I have also acquired a Panasonic Lumix FZ100 superzoom camera which I bought before all those DSLR equipments I listed above. I was just never satisfied with the picture quality the Lumix produced, so the upgrade to DSLR APSC EOS60D and then to full frame EOS5D just could not be stopped. How much have I spent for the whole thing? Well enough to buy a small car! The good thing about photography is that you do not need water like fishing does. I have specialized in bird photography which is quite demanding on your equipments and techniques. So I spend a lot weekends going away looking for good birding locations like Fraser's Hill and Cameron Highlands just to name a few. I have also created a blog just to publish my work and share my thoughts on birding. Please feel free to visit- lutfialibirding@blogspot.com to see my work.

THE CHOICE WE MAKE OR FATE?

I have been thinking lately about life,how fragile it is. One minute we could be happily living but the next minute we were gone. Some it is their time to go as they reached certain age or due to illness, but a lot died young unnecessarily. Some died because of fate but a lot also died because of bad choices they made.

As a Muslim we were taught to believe in Qadq and Qadr, a predestined life but depending on the choices we make. Confusing? I am not an expert on it so i cannot explain to you without making you more confused. But i believe that there are certain things that will surely happen along the way as the results of our right or wrong choices. As an example, if we get mixed up with the wrong hats despite our parents objections, and get caught breaking the law,and end up in a jail screwing up our lives in the process, then it is our own fault, we cannot blame it on fate. Fate is when no matter how hard we tried to be a good driver by following all the rules and driving carefully,suddenly we hit a pedestrian while trying to avoid a dog running across a street, and we end up in jail. It is cruel and unnecessary, and a life changing episode we wish never happened, but it did because it was fated.Then we started questioning GOD why? The problem is we never get a straight answers like in an E mail or sms. We are supposed to figure out ourselves. To some it is supposed to change some bad attitudes or behaviour that they have, while to others it could be to test their patience and beliefs.

Life is so fragile and when it is so fragile we would want to protect it and value it as much as we can. Like a piece of crystal glass so beautiful to look at but break to hundred of pieces if we drop it and all the beauty is gone in seconds! I see a lot of people especially some youths making the wrong choices by getting involved in dangerous illegal activities like illegal street racings on motorcycles and souped-up cars, and drug consumption during parties which could get them into trouble with the law. All of these in the name of fun and and to be accepted by their peers. But what if in a split second they lost control of their bikes and crashed against the barriers along the road injuring themselves in the process or worse end up dead? What if the drugs they took to get high end up bursting their blood arteries in their brains and caused instant death? All in the name of fun? Is it fun for the parents to find out that they lost their kids in this manner? Who are they going to blame? Are they going to blame themselves for giving too much freedom to their kids? Are they going to blame their kids' friends? The authority? Fate? Or is it the bad choices their kids made? To me it is better to be safe than sorry. There are tough decisions to be made in our lives but decisions made for the long term good are better than the short term gains.

In our lives we are blessed that we are given the opportunities to make the right choices so we can live a long and happy life. We have our parents to give advices based on their experiences in their lives so we do not make the same mistakes that they did. For those who do not have parents, they have friends to give them good advices and guidance. In schools and workplaces there are people who give counseling to help us make the right choices. Then there are public rules, regulations and laws that we have to abide by. There are NGOs out there formed to help the public like the Befrienders who can listen to their problems and give advice. There are columns in the newspapers which are devoted to give advices to anonymous people who are having problems in their lives. You can call Oprah? Well maybe not! Then there is the ultimate guidance on how to live our lives the right way given by the Supreme Judge - The Almighty.

However, despite all these available means to help us make the right decisions and live the the right way, we still incline to go the opposite way,and take the risks for the short term gain and fun, then we shall have no one to blame except ourselves when things go wrong in our lives, especially fate. I urge all of you out there to think of the implications to you and the ones you love before you start making decisions which can change your lives and the lives of others. Some bad decisions can end your life.