Memories of a Traveler

Salaam and Greetings All,   It looks like a great day for Monday morning. It rained for a couple of days. That got the haze away, albeit probably temporarily. And hopefully the water catchment areas are doing better.   Last week I wrote about reading. A former colleague commented, the writing was laborious. She didn’t used that word, but, I knew where she was coming from. In my defense, it was about reading, not writing.   Now, we shall write about writing.   What is KISS the ABCs?   KISS ·          Keep It Simple Stupid. ·          This is not to say the reader is stupid. The idea is to keep things simple, avoid jargons. ·          The main objective of writing, is to express, not impress. ·          Zig Ziglar recommends 8 th grade English. I guess in Malaysia’s context, we can use Form 5.   ABCs ·          Accuracy. Brevity. Clarity.   Accuracy. ·          Use numbers. Avoid superlatives, or words, eg: frequent, sometimes, big, huge, fast, slow. ·          Use comparisons. Eg; As b

Salaam and Greetings All,   When I graduated with English Literature some 28 years ago and coming back to Malaysia from US, I had lots of mixed feelings. When people asked me what I studied in US, and I told them that, I can see from the look of their faces, they don’t know what to make of me.   Now, I have fun telling people because, they have this awe on their faces. Like I am special. Maybe because we (those that studied Literature), are an endangered species.   So, what is so special about studying English Literature?   <! 1.     You get to read books about people and places and things you can’t even possibly imagine, let alone do. Go 20,000 leagues under the sea with Captain Nemo. The frustration of a determined woman at the turned off the 20 th Century New York, oppressed by the family in the Bread Giver. You get to read what Self – Reliance is from Ralph Waldo Emerson. <! 2.     You get to learn from them. Smart people learn from Experience. Wise people learn from the exp

Salaam and Greetings All,   There are no words, and no easy way to say them, if you find the words.   For more than 24 hours, we have been bombarded with messages and news on the fate of MH370. The more we get them, the more difficult it gets, to sift through what is worth keeping and what needs to be deleted.   For me, maybe it is easier to “read and delete”. I am a distant onlooker. For me, the names are names without faces. Yes, there are a few, who are friends’ friends, or somebody, somebody knows.   But, that doesn’t mean, I cannot be sympathetic. I cannot imagine and fathom their pains, losses and sufferings. One moment they are hurt, and the next angry.   What can we do?   Stop the rumour mongering. Stop the speculating. Don’t just forward or share “news”, just because somebody sends them to you.   Mourning is not about spreading rumours. Mourning is about keeping vigil. Saying a prayer or two.   As much as we sympathize with the families of the passengers, we need to sympathize

Salaam and Greetings All,   The haze is nauseating. The heat is unbearable. Thank God for the rain past couple of days, though it made me stuck in traffic for almost two hours on Monday. The good news is that, as of today, it seems that there is a change in wind patterns that could change the weather for the better.   I am a strong believer in getting the foundation right. In getting the concepts right before moving on to more advance or complex matters. The downpour on Monday was a great example of understanding the basics. The downpour was caused by cloud seeding. Basically (the pun is intended), clouds are water vapour. Basically (again..) rain occurs when clouds become saturated with water, and when the clouds can't hold the water anymore (critical mass - also used in nuclear fusion and fission), it rains. So, seeding the rain, is merely to induce or speed up the process of saturation and precipitation.   Cloud seeding is a complex process, no doubt about it. However, all these