Sliding Doors

Ever wonder what would have happened
if you hesitated for just one second longer,
if you'd decided on no instead of yes,
if you went anyway,
if you let your heart go its way,
if you let your brain and logic rule,

how bad could it have become?
would it have been better?
or would you have just forgone the happiness for nothing else?

Introducing Capital FM

At first I was annoyed that this purported radio station suddenly appeared on the very frequency that I used for my FM transmitter. How could they encroach on my valuable airwave space? How many more radio stations does Malaysia need? Anyone with an FM transmitter trying to find some free airwave space knows that Malaysia has an amazingly high number of radio stations that god knows who listens to.

And then one day, I stumbled upon their Acid Jazz / R&B / Blues segment (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and was intrigued. It was on every weekday, this nice chilled out segment that's sometimes just what you need. Just some lovely relaxing sounds. Further tuneage discovered one day, that they also play Ash (my favourite band of all time, for the uninitiated). And not just the popular songs like Burn, but the lesser knowns like Gone the Dream. This is it, I thought. I've found the perfect radio station.

Seriously. No longer is it an alternative radio station to me. It's the radio station. And since I always share my findings, I encourage like-minded persons to tune into 88.9 Capital FM.

The Trust Drug

Trust issues? Have no fear. Now there's a drug just for you! From BBC: Trust drug may cure social phobia:

A nasal spray which increases our trust for strangers is showing promise as a treatment for social phobia, say scientists from Zurich University.

They found that people who inhaled the "love hormone" oxytocin continued to trust strangers with their money - even after they were betrayed.

Previous studies have shown that participants in "trust games" took greater risks with their money after inhaling the hormone via a nasal spray.

In this latest experiment, published in the journal Neuron, the researchers asked volunteer subjects to take part in a similar trust game.

They were asked to contribute money to a human trustee, with the understanding that the trustee would invest the money and decide whether to return the profits or betray the subjects trust by keeping the profit.

The subjects also received doses of oxytocin or a placebo via a nasal spray.

After investing, the participants were given feedback on the trustees. When their trust was abused, the placebo group became less willing to invest. But the players who had been given oxytocin continued to trust their money with a broker.

"We can see that oxytocin has a very powerful effect," said Dr Baumgartner.

"The subjects who received oxytocin demonstrated no change in their trust behaviour, even though they were informed that their trust was not honoured in roughly 50% of cases."

The doctors report the results of the tests as 'promising'. Really? Promising? Am I the only one that's worried that people are creating a drug that will make conning and being conned much easier? How is it that governments are letting them experiment with a drug that makes people trust strangers? They've obviously never read a Malaysian newspaper, with scam SMSes, unsuspecting drug mules, girls being raped by acquaintances, etc. Of course, it should be a controlled substance, and like all other controlled substances, will quickly form its own black market. Jesus.

Dear Christy Dixon and AT&T

Yesterday, I got an email from AT&T. I automatically thought it was spam because, well, AT&T has no presence in Malaysia. Then I got another one, so I took a closer look. It turns out that a Christy Dixon from Texas is using my email address for her own personal needs.

Being me, I immediately went to the AT&T website and sent them an email stating the following:

I received an email from AT&T regarding an order for wireless needs, and a replacement being sent to a CHRISTY DIXON. I am not Christy Dixon. She was using my email address under false pretenses. Perhaps your company being the "largest digital network in America" should have a simple verification service, which by no means costs very much to set up.

It would help if you could also contact MS CHRISTY DIXON and tell her to stop using my email address. I would do that (you emailed me her phone number), but I'm based in Malaysia and it would cost me a bomb.

Congratulations on managing to annoy someone in a country where your company doesn't even offer services. You are hereby internationally annoying.

And since I have no obligation to respect her privacy, since she clearly did not respect mine, here are her details:

Name: Christy Dixon
Cellular telephone number: 8657654422
Returns authorization number: RMA37825575
Fedex tracking number: 952807912978
Reference: 10658625*47014682X CNG A
Destination: Knoxville, TN

Dear Christy Dixon,

Please stop using my email address. I have no obligation to your privacy, and any future information about you that appears in my Inbox will be published on the world wide web. Thank you.

Dear God, Thank you for the internet

Dear God,

Thank you for bestowing Al Gore with enough brain power to create the internet. Thank you for bestowing Sergey Brin and Larry Page with the knowledge to produce Google, my lifelong companion. Thank you, especially, for bestowing the geeks of the world with enough time on their hands due to a total lack of social skills to do things like hack Super Mario Bros. so that they play automatically while producing music. Seriously.



I thank you also, for giving me internet access for less than RM10,000 (as they cost in Myanmar. True story.)