Names and Nicknames.

When my Little O came to this world, I’ve had a hard time choosing the right name for her. And I have to be extremely careful not to pick a name that can end up being the butt of all jokes in school. Oh! I remember my school days and the fun we had calling people names.

One of the names I experimented with was Khai Yeeng. My surname is Chang. We almost picked that name because in Mandarin, it is a beautiful name. So we end up with Chang Khai Yeeng. But if you were Caontonese …. Oh my God! What a name – with this very same pronunciation it means “fierce b***h”.

We ended up picking a safer name – Wei Shan and my mother even asked a “sifu” to verify it and it turned out OK. There is a belief that the number of strokes in the Chinese character of your name matters a lot. So this one is prefect for the year her was born. And the result, I ended up paying a small fine for being late in registering her name at the national registry.

Some of the more interesting names I have encountered (and these are REAL people mind you) :

1. Thong Sam Fah
2. Wong Tai Hai
3. Tai Lang Koon (prefers to be called LK)
4. Richard Head (one of the lecturers in my university)
5. Wong Tit Meng (as an American, you’d call him Tit because his full name will be written as “Tit Meng Wong”, e.g. phone rings, a female receptionist picks up “Yes, you’re look for Tit??? We've got 2 here, Tit Meng and Tit Beng...”)
6. Koh Keng Choon (initials KKC)
7. Teh Soo Lang (often been called Sui Lang, but really is a nice person)
8. Dino Tan (named after the Flintstones pet ?)
9. Lee Tuk Fat

So now you know what NOT to name your children.

But these 2 really takes the cake :

1. John Woodcock but his nick name is “Splinter Hand” and

2. Rumour has it that Bentong Kali (the notorious criminal) had a girlfriend who’s a prostitute, her nick name was “Banyak Kali”.

So if you know any funny ones, email me or hit the comment link below.

"What? I'm gay ?!"

… no, not me.

But here’s the story :

At the Ikano Power center car park, level P2. Mr. Orion driving around, looking for a place to park. Mrs. O and Little O at the back of the car.

Mrs O : “Dear, dear! Loooook!”

Mr. O : “What? what ?”

Mrs. O : “There, there, that man over there.”

Mr. O : “Uh-huh, he’s bald, wears glasses and he's macho, so ?”

Mrs. O : “But look at the kind of clothes he’s wearing.”

Mr. O : “It’s a body tight, black ¾ sleeve shirt, and … why? you fancy him?”

Mrs. O : “He’s gay isn’t he ?”

Mr. O : “Honey, it not possible to tell someone’s sexual orientation by what they wear or how they look. You can’t even tell by looking at their genitals.”

Mrs O : “But he’s got a ear ring on his left ear … “

Mr. O : “I didn’t notice.”

Just finished parking the car. Mr, Mrs and Little O all got out of the car.

Mr. O walks towards the man.

Mrs. O, sounding anxious : “Dear, where are you going ?”

Mr. O : “I am going to say hello to that bald man over there and confirm whether he’s gay.”

Mrs. O grabs Mr. O arm, trying to pull him back.

“What ???? And just how are you going to do that ????” Mrs O says, dying of curiosity and holding on tighter still, making sure Mr. O does not escape.

“I am going to walk over there and say :

“Hello Mr., can I have a few moments of your time ? Do you see that pretty lady over there ? That one there (point, point). That is my wife and she’d like to know whether you are gay and I'm here to find out.””

Mrs O : “Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Don’t go! Don’t go! I don’t want to end up being a widow!”

... the bald man, 10 meters away, turned around at looked at the O family, wondering what just happened.

Little O puzzled with the “what is Mommy and Daddy doing?” look.

Little O was spared from this ordeal. That’s because we speak Mandarin to Little O at home. The entire conversation above was in English.

The fact is Mr. and Mrs O do have some very good friends who happen to be gay. The ones whom we know happen to fit the above description.

Why is she a leftie ?

I use my right hand when I write. I even pick my nose with my right index finger.

So does my wife .... I mean writing. Not sure about picking the nose ...

But my 4 year old instinctively uses her LEFT hand to write or draw.

None of my family member is a leftie.

None of my wife’s family members is a leftie.

Is there a scientific explanation to this ?

Or did we pick up the WRONG baby from the hospital ?!

But she’ soooooooo cute ….

Swearing for Dummies

WARNING : This POSTING is strictly an INTELLECTUAL exercise.

In many languages and cultures there are words that are considered dangerous and shocking. For instance, for some African tribes, the names of dead chiefs are not to be said. These are swear words or Taboo words as it is formally known.

Taboo words are shocking and should only to used in situations when people want to express powerful emotions through “strong” language. This act is known as swearing. When people swear, taboo words change their meaning completely. For example, the word "fuck" means to “have sexual intercourse with” … whoever or whatever. “Fuck off” is the mean and violent way to telling some one to “go away”. In fact the word “fuck” is of 17th century European origin, it used to mean “to strike” or “to penetrate”.

To know how to swear is to know the exact strength of these expressions and most of all to know what kind of people are shocked by them and under what type of circumstances.

Unfortunately, we learn most of our swear words from either relatives (accidental or otherwise) or most likely friends, or worse – the Internet.

It is best to AVOID SWEARING, especially in public places or in front of other people, simply because it is considered rude and socially not acceptable. And it can be hazardous to your health.

But the controversy here is whether is a BLOG a “private place” or a “public domain”? (Let’s debate on this another day, yes?).

But if you HAVE TO swear, do it properly, don’t confine yourself one word, there are many to choose from depending on the situation! To help increase your vocabulary, below are the list of English words with their “relative strength”, indicated by asterisks (*). The more *, means the stronger :

In most circumstances, in Malaysia at least, the F word is considered more powerful than "screw".

The F word is definitely worth a special mention. It is by far the most flexible and versatile word in the dictionary. It can be used in any possible way and still be grammatically correct. It's practically idiot proof. The first time I encountered it was in the movie "The Beverly Hills Cop" with Axle Foley (played by Eddie Murphy) belching out that word every now and then.

Some examples :

1. “Fuck the fucking fuckers.”
2. "I’m fucked."
3. "That was a good fuck."
4. "I can't fucking believe she's fucking him! Un-fucking-believable"

That’s why the F word is commonly used across many cultures and race. Not a very good sign is it?

Combined with other words, it can be even more powerful e.g. “motherfucker” implies incest and very strong indeed, I think it deserves a six star (******) rating. Using it in the wrong context can get you killed.

So there you have it, the list of English swear words and how to use 'em.

Oh yes, "crap" and "bullshit" are also a swear words, it originates from the US, they mean nonsense.

But this DOES NOT mean I condone to or encourage swearing. Everyone have his/her preferences in life.

I choose not to swear at all (I’m still trying) .... and no, I am NOT going to show my 4 year old daughter THIS page, until I feel that she is ready to be responsible for it.

I hope you’ve learnt something today, choose your words wisely and now say it, with EMOTION and STYLE.

To swear or not to swear on your blog …

… that is the question to ask.

Bloging and bloggers are getting more publicity these days and the inevitable happens. Last week it was Singapore and this week, Malaysia.

Before you read any further – allow me to state my position. I am new to blogging but I am not new to the Internet. In fact, I have organized online communities before and that was during the dotcom boom years. I’ve seen the best and worst of people, online wise. What I am about to share here, is based on my personal experiences and opinions drawn from these observations.

Here goes :

Your blog is your space and you can say and do whatever you want with it. I agree.

Your room is your place, you can say and do whatever you want in it. That, I agree.

But if your room can be visited by just about anyone on this planet, will you say and do whatever you want in it still ?

I probably won’t, but that’s my opinion.

If you are going to be totally yourself, without any inhibitions whatsoever in expressing yourself, then it MAY be better if you remain anonymous. Protect yourself and your sanity.

If you are going to be known – publishing your photos and your real life actual name and all, be prepared to take the good and the bad side of publicity with it.

Like it or not, you may become a public figure without even knowing it. Once that happens, you become public property a.k.a. the center of controversy. Everybody will have their own opinion on what you can or cannot, should or should not do. All concerns and opinions are “correct” in their own way and worse, there is no stopping them.

Worse still, you simply cannot please everybody!

I try hard *NOT* to swear at all, because I want to be respectable person and set a good example for my 4 year old.

But I already did that in my last posting, didn’t I? Yikes!


So, do I want my 4 year old to read my blog ?

Hmmmm ….

It cannot be undone.

A word of caution to all parents with toddlers.

One week ago …. I was driving on the highway with my wife and 4 year old daughter at the back, doing 100 km/h, on the way to Ikano Power Center.

It was drizzling.

“Mommy, mommy, rainbow!” my 4 year old cried.

“Wow! It’s beautiful!” my wife said.

Suddenly and without warning, the BMW which was no more than 20 feet ahead decided to cut into my lane. I jammed the brakes hard and lucky both of them had their seat belts on at the rear.

I blurted “SH*T !!!” in the process.

Guess what ? Nowadays whenever I hit the brakes, no matter how mild, my little one will say “SH*T”.

How in the world am I going to undo this ?!

SHIT.

Only once in every 76 years ...

It appeared in the sky in 1066 AD, the year of the Norman conquest. In the ancient days these things were considered to be an omen, Harold II of England died at the Battle of Hastings that very same year.

The first record of it dates as far back as 249 B.C., documented by the Chinese as "a broom star".

Perhaps the most famous of all comets, Halley's Comet was named after the Sir Edmund Halley (October 29, 1656 – January 14, 1742) he was the English astronomer who "discovered" that it is the very same comet that comes back every 76 years, i.e. it orbits our sun every 76 years. Unfortunately, Halley died in 1742, never lived to see his prediction come true when the comet returned on Christmas Eve 1758.



The 1986 appearance of the comet was a much anticipated event for a lot of astronomers. The 1910 appearence was well documented and photographed (yes, photography was at its infancy then), but the 1986 return marks its first return in modern times. The European Space Agency (ESA) even sent a satellite (named Giotto) to go after it.

1986 was a memorable year for me as well - it was the year my dad gave me my very first telescope. It was a Meade Starfinder 826 telescope, a Newtonian reflector, 8 inch apature with focal ratio of f/6 i.e. the focal length of the parabolic mirror is 48 inch or 1,220mm (8 x 6 = 48). It has a useful magnification of up to 400x. The tube was slightly over 4 ft long. Believe it or not, I still have it and it still works, after almost 19 years!!

With it, I witnessed the "once in a lifetime" event up close at the age of 18. Unfortunately I did not have a camera to photograph it! If you're wondering what it looked like, check out this photo :

This photograph was taken on 1986 March 22 by Jerry Lodriguss. It is a 7-minute exposure using a 35mm f/2 Nikkor lens. The comet is obviously in the lower left of the photo, with its tail extending towards one of the brightest regions in the Milky Way located in Sagittarius. (More photographs can be found at http://www.astropix.com)

Beautiful, isn't it ? That is one of the most fascinating thing about astronomy and astro-photopgraphy that has got me hooked for the past 24 years.

It's next apperance will be in the year 2062, I will be 94 years old.

My early years in astronomy

Back in the early 1980s, when I was a newbie in astronomy, one of my very first books on the topic were :

1. "The Hamlyn Guide to Astronomy", David Baker, Hamlyn Publishing Group (1981)
2. "Skyguide - A field guide for amateur astronomers", Mark R. Chartrand III, Golder Press NY 1982.
3. "A Field Guide to the Star & Planets", Donald H. Menzel, Collins Publishing, 1964 (1980 reprint).

Books on astronomy was a bit hard to come by in those days - that's before Amazon.com and mega book stores like MPH, Kinokuniya and Borders. Back then the Internet was not that accessible either, so resources on this subject area were very scarce. "Skyguide" was perhaps one of the most useful books on this topic, the illustrations were very helpful for the beginners and I would recommend this to any one who'd like to get started in this hobby. The Hamlyn guide was a bit more technical.

Since then, I have collected more books in astronomy and space science, some of my favorites :

1. "The Guinness Book of Astronomy", Patrick Moore, Patrick More & Guinness Publishing, 1983.
2. "Amateur Astronomy - a comprehensive and practical survey", Colin Ronan, Hamlyn Publishing, 1984.
3. "Astronomy - the evolving universe", Michael Zielik, Harper & Row Publishers, 1982 NY.

My most recent acquisition is "Voyage through the Universe" by Fraknoi et al, Thomson Publishing. It was RM152.90 and I found it at the MPH bookstore at the Subang Parade. It is a colorful book with very good illustrations. It even comes with the student edition of TheSky software.



And of course, if you are an avid astronomer you can't miss the ASTRONOMY magazine. I still have my October 1987 copy, and back then it was only US$2.95. In Malaysia, it was going for RM13.60 at the news stand. Lucky for me, my mother owns a stationery shop and it sells magazines! I would be the first get my hands on the latest copy and go from cover to cover, reading the articles and ogling at the size of the equipment – the 16 inch ones were enormous ... the telescopes I mean.

Star charts i.e. the map of the night sky, an astronomer will not be complete without one. Back then I couldn't find any in the school library, so I went to the British Council Library looking for one, and there is was - the famous Norton's Star Atlas! But much to my disappointment, it was labelled as a reference book and could not be loaned. That was until I saw the photocopier and it could take A3 size pages. At RM0.20 per copy, with 16 pages that would be RM3.20.

Equipment - My very first was a Binox 7x50 Binoculars I bought with RM135 (approx USD45)the"Ang Pow" money that I collected during Chinese New Year. It was a great piece ofequipmentt, it was MILES better than those toys I used to have! And almost every night, I would be lying on the see saw at the playing field right in front of our house scanning the night sky and amazed at the colors of the stars.

Those were the early years of my adventures until Halley's Comet came along in 1986 ... now that is one amazing story.

A long time ago ...

in a glalaxy not that far away … in fact it was on this very same planet, a 14 year old boy stumbled upon a page in his Encyclopedia Britannica entitiled"Astronomy!".

That was the defining moment almost 23 years ago. My father had just purchased his whole new set of the hard covered, golden colored, 24 volume, Encyclopedia Britannica, the best part of the deal was a bonus set of 12 volumes of maroon colored Children's Encyclopedia - that was for me and my younger brother. My dad taught me how to use it as a reference for any topic you can think of (well, just about).

Although he was not an engineer or scientist, my father has always been fascinated by science and technology. Every now and then he will tell us all about what he's read and about the wonders of science in our everyday lives. Inspired by his vast knowledge in that area, I then decided to go thru the encyclopedia from cover to cover, going thru all the possible topics in a effort to "learn all things possible" - unfortunately that effort ended at the Astronomy chapter when I decided further explore by finding other references on this topic to quench my intense curiosity and fascination for the night sky ...

September 15, 2001

... is an important date in my life. It was 4 days after Sept 11, the day 2 767s crash into the World Trade Center in NY, the day the world changed.

Sept 15 2001 is the day my daughter was born. My wife laboured for more than 11 hours from 9pm the night before, without any pain killers - no epidurals. She is one stromg mama! My little one came to this world slightly after 10am. My first word to her was "hello" and she grinned from ear to ear, as if she already knew me. That was the second MOST wonderful moment in my life. (The first being the day of my wedding).

I was happy and concerned as the same time - what kind of world have we brought her into ? I can still recall vivid images of the 767 crashing into the buildings. It was played over and over again on CNN, I have been watching it for the past 3 days and until today, I still wonder - has this world gone mad ? What kind of world will my daughter and grand children live in ? Tough questions, no answers.

My daugther will be 4 years old this September. Is this world getting better ? I sure hope so becuase I am doing everything I can to make her world a better one.

I hope to show her what loves really means and how hatred and greed can destroy us all.

I hope to set her in the right path so that she may find happiness and fulfillment in her life.

I hope to cherish every moment we all have to gether as a family becuase we will all only walk down this path ONCE.

Why ? you asked ....

"Breakthroughs" is not just about making progress, it is about making quantum leaps, learning something new everyday, applying it, gaining insights, acquiring wisdom and sharing it with your fellow man. Yes, sharing it. Why ? Becuase it makes it all so meaningful.

There are 3 areas of my journey of learning which I intend to blog :

1. Family and parenthood

2. Career and work life

3. Hobby and passion for Astronomy!

Now you know why the term "outer space" is in this blog's header. For your information, please do not confuse "Astronomy" with "Astrology". The definition according to dictionary.com :

as·tron·o·my :
1. The scientific study of matter in outer space, especially the positions, dimensions, distribution, motion, composition, energy, and evolution of celestial bodies and phenomena.
2. A system of knowledge or beliefs about celestial phenomena: the various astronomies of ancient civilizations.

as·trol·o·gy :
The study of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs.

Therefore, please do not ask me to predict how your love life is going turn out, because I am not an astrologer. I do know some astrologers and will gladly introduce you to them.