Geopolitics

 A  Reminder......

The risks of war accumulate,
as deceit, tempers and quarrels grow.
Moderation and tolerance are hard pressed to reduce the heat,
as thinking and mindsets of controlling politicians get to an all time low.

So am I an ordinary citizen supposed to go with the flow,
even if I abhor destructive creep.
If not enough of us do not stand up to say No,
we are at the mercy of those who will make us weep.

#yongkevthoughts

Paper, Where Art Thou?

An update.

 So paper continues to be on the way out in our daily lives. Or so it seems, perhaps reinforced by the need to be more contactless, surfaceless and storageless in this Age of Technological Revolution.

It can be interesting we are not always offered the paper receipt or invoice at cafes, newsagents, produce outlets and eating places, as the transaction is already captured online.  If you want a copy of the receipt, you have to give an email address - and such email addresses can be further possibly be spamned or hacked.

Paper based products are still gooxld to blow a nose, absorb the excess oil after a deep fry and in demand for our delicate bums after answering Nature's call.  Yet the wheels of contemporary commerce discourage paper trails with their consumers, embedding the writing in the wall for printers and the use of the still pervasive suburban post box.

Paper shredders can go the way of the extinct Dodo bird.  People may still enjoy the feel of the ever shrinking daily newspaper and love their grilled fish served on printed paper.  The disposable virus protector face mask is essentially crafted from paper layering.  Magazines are no longer the companions on rainy days, long train rides and at afternoon tea sessions at home that they once were.  Are trees being saved with a reduced usage of paper, or trees are depleted anyway for other stronger reasons?

Electronic screens are increasingly held more than paper pages.  Libraries and street bookshops are still significant custodians of knowledge on paper despite it all.  The vulnerabilities of holding knowledge and information on paper are highlighted by the storage of things and data on virtual clouds and internet files, but the latter has other risks inherent and subject to hacking, contamination and identity theft.

Butcher paper, art materials and Origami still retain an elegance and usefulness about paper.  The historical transformation of paper originating from papyrus reeds to its important role in spreading knowledge and equity, as accessible printed items can never be underestimated. 

Contemporary technology has led us to increasingly abandon paper as a medium, but perhaps paper will still be utilised for other but more niche purposes.  The role of paper as money in currency circulation has also been questioned, as governments moved to plastic at the close of the 20th century and then to digital monies in the 21st.

Paper has served to facilitate the societal arrangements and needs of humankind for a long time.   Their creation, destruction and disposal has meant various things in different cultures and religions.  Paper has been laminated, bound and preserved.   We used to put down our innermost thoughts, write our qualifying exams and declare our economic transactions mostly on paper.

Stationery still comes in countless forms on paper despite the advent of the digital age.  Our writing instruments still require paper instead of non paper materials.  It may be still too early to witness the demise of paper use.

#yongkevthoughts

AI Ramifications

 

My thoughts about AI are that once AI gets embedded into massive use, we will soon not realise or distinguish, what is the truth or reality, from what is made up with dubious agendas and out to mislead.

Technology will offer new fangled or useful mechanisms.  How one uses them is the bottom line reality for society, economy, philosophy, art, personal relations, geopolitics and in the broad management of Mother Earth.

Unlike offerings from past Industrial Revolutions, AI heralds a more serious concern to the human race, as AI can sophisticatedly self learn at a fast pace to emulate otherwise inherent human abilities like observing, copying plus self developing - and gradually become more independent from or merged in singularity with previously separate human intervention.

Applied negatively, AI will increasingly become a useful ingredient for destruction, manipulation and greed.  At the same time,
AI can save significant costs, bring more efficient supply logistics, eliminate repetitive work in human labour and provide instant analysis of performance, business or health wise.

With a burgeoning population of currently 8 billion, Earth has so many unique humans to look for a purpose in employment, business or occupation role.
AI can remove much of human input in manufacturing, care services, health diagnosis, financial care, retail services, mass delivery, military, communication, transport and in the daily regime of any human being.

AI can spike the value of services and businesses where personal interaction is still offered, albeit at expensive prices and higher revenue margins.

AI can make its mark in the quality and quantity of services provided to customers residing in remote geographical areas, like across the United States, China, Russia, Africa, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.  Long distance education is an obvious candidate for such a useful purpose.

Aged care services so benefit from AI, ranging from diagnostic services, location of patients, stimulating activities for the elderly and in assessing meal standards.

On the other hand, will our already much eroded personal privacy parameters be scuttled even more by the application of AI technology?

AI only works when there is a viable level, capacity and capability of wi-fi delivery.  Not many places or much of the population have access to this higher level of wi-fi. 

Fun aside, like at this stage, with the making of amazing, humorous, agitative, educational, propagandic or
community video clips,  AI on balance poses further challenges to the viability, integrity and uniqueness of the human intellect, condition and pysche.

Will there be a time when AI creativity surpasses that of the human brain and heart?

As demonstrated in the past, pertinent regulation, policy and legislation introduced in various nations can be so many steps behind the impact of AI.  This kind of mindset and reactive response to AI can only be disadvantageous for human interests.   Earth is meeting head on with a powerful technology whose control still remains with supercharged and well funded powers.

#yongkevthoughts

What to buy in Penang Malaysia

What do I at times try to get in Penang to bring back to Oz?

1.  Kaya - egg based and  coconut spread for toasts at breakfast time.  You can have the choice of commercially made jars or vacuum sealed packets - or home made can be best or organic, but not allowed into Aus.

2.   Iconic biscuits baked in the Fujian and Cantonese traditions, a carry over of immigrants to Penang.  These range from Hiong Pnieh (aromatic ones utilising caramel inside and textured outside layers) to Beh Tau Saw and Loh Por Peng (literally meaning wife's biscuits).

3.   Nutmeg  or Mace seed oil is known for application on the body to relieve various ailments. Myristica Fragans is the Latin name for this captivating tropical fruit.

Penang has a plethora of nutmeg plantations first cultivated under the British colonial period. The inside of a freshly plucked nutmeg reveals a seed with bright red coverings at the centre.  

The bite on a fresh nutmeg can be stimulating on the palate. It is used to enhance ice creams and is one of the several spices in making Masala.

Nutmeg slices are marinated and preserved for snacks, but the most useful by product is its extracted seed oil, utilised for mitigating against indigestion, promoting anti inflammation, improving blood circulation and helping reduce stress 

4.   Sesame seed oil, practically better in little sachets or in glass bottles.  Only use such oil over a steamed chicken when you are ready to eat.

5.   Craft work reflecting the Straits Chinese lifestyles.  They can be dainty carry snack trays, beaded shoes, wardrobes or as accesorries - but such items are getting costly, rare and becoming precious.

6.   Dried salted fish packed clean under a commercial label - the kiam hoo, used in small portions cleverly to give a kick of a flavour in various culinary cooking styles including Malay, Straits Chinese, Indian and Eurasian.

7.   Samahan Herbal Tea packets for an Ayurvedic solution to stop cold afflictions.

8.   Durian cakes or Dodol, packed with flavour from the thorny green football sized fruit

- but it can be an acquired taste

popular in south east Asia.

9.   Grounded spices used to make curry powder sealed in commercial label packets - vital in seafood and meat dishes.

10.  Bottled sauce specifically to use in stir frying the famous Penang Char Koay Teow.

11.  Selangor Pewter creations, the value of which has spiked tremendously since the 1980s.

12.   Dried shrimps with a commercial label.

#yongkevthoughts

And When Being Back in Penang

  

The land jutting out in the city centre comes to view with a hundred details.

 There is a mixture of architectural styles. What I like most of all are the Victorian styled terrace shophouses, with louvred windows, strong supporting columns, the covered five foot ways and the coloured tiles of the roofs.

Welcome back to George Town, and you can most likely see it first from the air as your air craft is landing.   

Sited on the north-eastern corner of an island smaller than Singapore, with a geographical feature of an island shaped like a tortoise and named after the areca nut palm.   The settlement has had humbled beginnings, with this cape partly cleared of the jungle by the cannon shooting of coins to help accelerate clearing of the jungle.  

The conurbation that developed is a testament to the days of monsoon winds powering sails, of adventurers from another side of the Earth and of trading and the search for spices driving schemes, financial power and politics across various cultures.

George Town, on Penang Island, thrived on the exchange of goods and produce that were sourced nearby or in exchange as an entrepôt facilitation between China, the South-east Asian isles, India, the Middle East and Europe.   The original engine of growth can be seen in the dry goods provisions, porcelain displays and crafts stocked in shops and markets full of character located in what UNESCO has deemed to be a world heritage quarter.

The streets laid out by Captain Francis Light and his able administrators are still there, luring backpackers, youthful tourists and well heeled groups cycling or walking on them or seated on pedalled rickshaws.  The walls of buildings tell a thousand stories, many of them faded and jaded, but there are also others well maintained with fresh paint or with street murals.

There can be several things to do during a short stay, but having a foodie trail seems to dominate.  Penangites are dominantly Hokkien, with food, cultural practices and traditions from the southern Chinese province of Fujian.  They, along with others from a China in dynastic turmoil, migrated since the 1800s for opportunity and risk to make a better life.

The street food from these Hokkiens include Lobak meat and veg rolls, oyster omelettes or Orh Chien, Char Koay Teow, Char Kueh Kak ( savoury radish cake) and prawn stock flavoured noodles ( Penang Hokkien Mee).  Add the Cantonese migrants who brought along their roast meat styles, Chow Hor Fun ( stir fried broad rice noodles oozing with wok heat), yum cha dumplings and claypot rice with Lap Cheong cured sausages.

People snack several times from food courts and street stalls a day and night here, but the servings are small, varied and so appetising anyone easily joins into this regime.  

Penang had fusion a long time ago.  The hybrid between East and West can be observed in the way of dress, eating habits, creative dishes and social attitudes.   The ability to obtain ingredients from various parts of the world is emphasised in what they have as day to day food.  You can have American styled burgers, Japanese ramen, South Indian banana leaf rice, English fish and chips, Italian pasta and pizza, Aussie beer, Tandoori chicken, German frankfurters, Chinese hotpot, Thai stir fries, Eurasian Sugee cakes, Straits Chinese delicacies, Vietnamese spring rolls, Malay Rendang and bacon on toast without any problems at all - and the only advice is to avoid the midday sun.

The island is essentially compact, with most of her population packed on to its eastern side.  To her west, quality durians have been cultivated on hilly slopes that look out to where the Andaman Sea meets the Straits of Malacca.

Penang's northern shores host a winding and mostly narrow road that stretches from Tanjung Tokong ( Temple Cape) to Teluk Bahang ( Bay of Heat).   Residences cling on to hill sides and intersperse with contemporary architecture hotels and resorts.

Food stalls, souvenir outlets and night clubs congregate at Batu Ferringhi ( Rock of Foreigners) that heralded the hype beach scene in South East Asia from the 1970s.

In the middle of this Pearl of the Orient stand out two landmarks that have withstood the test of time.  The Kek Lok Si ( Temple of Ultimate Happiness) exemplifies the best of Buddhist architecture with Thai, Burmese and Chinese influences - and has a giant statute of the Goddess of Mercy Guan Yin.  The beautifully lit up KLS can be best experienced during the 15 days and nights of the Chinese New Year festival.

Penang Hill began earnest existence as a British colonial hill station, replete with bungalows that were built from around a hundred and more years ago.   The views of Penang Island and the surrounding mainland of the Malayan Peninsular are inspiring anytime,  but more so at sunrise and sunset.

What are the downsides of contemporary Penang? 

The lack of public transport infrastructure is so obvious to residents or visitors alike.
The population has increased several fold but many of the roads remain as narrow and unchanged as when I grew up there.   Vehicle numbers have spiked beyond the ability of current roads to cater to them.

With two landmark Penang Bridges connecting the rest of the peninsular Malaysia to this small island,  long weekends and festive periods result in congestion, crowding and chagrin for the island's residents.  Traffic jams have caused a normally 30 minute car ride to Penang's Airport from the UNESCO Heritage Quarter of George Town into an uncertain delay and stress for many airline passengers.

High rise residential reality of the 2020s signals a change from single storey accommodation of the mid 20th century.
The cooks who are behind Penang's well known and unique street food are no longer the Chinese, Malays and Indians but these days can be from Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam.  French or Italian culinary are so protective of their strict traditions, but are Penangites equally so?

What business or industrial sector will make Penang's future?  The making of chips once made Penang famous as "Silicon Island" throughout the IT world.

Tourism revenues continue at its pace, with more investment in new hotels in the past few years.  Is medical tourism still growing, with costs cheaper than Singapore but more expensive than Thailand?

In the socio-political landscape of the Federation of Malaysia, Penang is one of the few hubs with a Chinese demographic (others can be the Klang Valley in Selangor, Ipoh and Taiping in Perak, Kuching and Sibu in Sarawak and the Johor Baru region next to Singapore).
How can present Penangites and their diaspora living overseas do effectively to better Penang's future in economic 
growth in a diverse society?

The big question remains, what can Penang do to differentiate herself from her competitors?

#yongkevthoughts