Multidimensional Life...

One new year has just passed by. We are now well into the third day of 1430H. The new year 2009 is trailing close behind, and will be with us in no time.
From his new vocation Nakamora looked back. How many things now look different. How relationships and friendships change. How things that mattered before became reduced in significance. How things that were not very significant before became the center point. How similar concepts change in meaning in different context.
PESTELSS, that collection of dimensions representing the political, economic, societal, technological, environment, legislation, safety, and security spheres to him now has a new dimensions - a meta dimension, he would like to call it.
It takes on a new context and concept embodying life in general. Some remains just a thought in passing. Others could be practiced still.
Can the world prevent the senseless and cruel killings of the innocents.
Can the economic crises, if we can call it that, be cured.
Can the rise in social decadent among the youths and adults alike be arrested.
Can making the world better for everyone be the only motivation for pursuing technological progress, instead of for making better and more effective weapons.
Can the senseless and heartless exploitation of the environment be stopped.
and so on, and so on...

Caring for New Toys

When we were small toys are not just meant to be played around, but also to be thrown away, dismantled, and dismembered. Small wonder that product testing includes repetitive application of force, pressure, and everything else to ensure that they can endure rough handling.
Some of us however are extra careful when having something brand new. New laptops are handled carefully, its screen wiped clean of dust and thumbprints before and after every use.
Some even go to the extent of switching off the car radio and the air condition before switching off the engine, perhaps to prevent the car experiencing a shock arising from too many 'devices' going off all at the same time.

The Slopes Strike Back

Peaceful co-existence.
That's the phrase often used to describe development and the environment. Recent spates of incidents, or shall we say accidents, involving developed area at or near hillside shows that the co-existence was not a peaceful one. After some time, the slopes claim their rightful place... and we were shaken awake, temporarily.
But at the same time, elsewhere, armed with modern machines man continue to deny hills and mountains to continue their existence. They are not there to stay.

A New Ambience

The campus, almost 300 acres, is split in the middle by a river flowing in the north-south direction. He crossed the river more than twice weekly. The west of the river is dominated by a cultural activity center, engineering, and architecture blocks; the east bank is dominated by a masjid, library, administration and law buildings. The masjid, near the library, sits in the middle, about equidistant from everywhere.
The buildings are big with architecture that can inspire and uplift the spirit. Almost all buildings are of square construction with a courtyard in the middle. Walking through them we can see many perspectives. As he enters a door from one side he can see another across the well-maintained courtyard. That door leads to another wide walkway lined with decorated tiles in Islamic motives. Walkways are never plain, they have motives of some kind.
The masjid, academic, and administration buildings are all situated in a valley. The marhallah or hostels dotted the hills. Perhaps to make it easier for students to walk down to classrooms and harder to go back to their rooms. And so they would spend more time in the library or the many eating places scattered in the campus. Almost every building has its own cafe, and the variety of food available is enriching.
As he drive to the 'valley' every morning he relish the view of the low hanging white cloud lining the green mountainside over the horizon. The sight is refreshing...

Step Back to Step Forward...

Optimization. That is what life is all about. The cost function, that defines the objective of the optimization process, is multitude. Some are to be maximized, others are the opposite, depending on the expected impact of the activities on the final objective.
In general the overall objective is to uplift the standard of living and quality of life, according to individual definitions. Some bounded the definition of life within real life here, others projected that boundary to life hereafter. Whatever that is, in real world, individually we are presented with several choices: what to eat, what to wear, what to do, where to go, to be or not to be, etc.
How do we choose? Again, it is dictated by the need to optimize the cost function to attain some objectives. Objectives that are lined up by us as we traversed life with pre-determined time frames of attainment ranging from very short such as for transient objectives to the longer term ones or even perpetual one. In some cases we need to step back in order to move ahead. While traveling on the road, we sometimes need to slow down to change lane so as to have clear path ahead for moving forward; depending on individual concepts and definitions of what forward means. Truly, the Malaysian roads have a lot of lessons in life to offer, just by driving around. But I guess that must be true for other roads too.
Naturally we should be spending more time and efforts to attain the longer term objective compared to those expended for the short term ones, but this is not always obvious.

The Whole is Like Its Individual Parts

Human ability to design, make and handle complex devices and systems increases by the day. The enormity and complexity of the world we live in today is humongous compared to the centuries we left behind.
Our age is best measured based on daily or yearly basis. The age of humanity is more appropriately measured in decades and centuries. As a person grows old, humankind grows old too, every decades, every centuries. In growing older, from a mere child to a teenager to an adult, a person becomes more adept at handling ever more complicated things and has greater mobility. He/she can travel beyond the confine of his/her village, town, state, and country. Much in the same way, humanity becoming more adept at handling complicated situations and humans can explore places hitherto unexplored - underwater, the sky, outer space.
Except for the difference in timescale the growth path of humanity is strikingly similar to that of a person, its individual constituents. Humanity then, is a person in much much more grander scale.
Do we know the eventuality of humanity? Just look at a person - its miniature "double.

Simple Pleasures of Life...

The amount is not much, mere pittance, but that smile struck him. Nakamora looked at the pizza delivery guy as he made his way to the lift lobby. Nakamora closed the door of the apartment, taking the RM 29.25 meal inside. That was just one of the lazy night to either eat out or cook a meal.
Nakamora gave him RM 30.00 and asked him to keep the balance. Nakamora was sure that it was not a sinister smile. RM 1.00 cannot buy much nowadays. It was a genuine display of pleasure for a gesture of not wanting to be bothered by looking for exact change to return. At times simple things in life - saying thank you or keeping the door open for others after you - can make us happy.

The Garden Below

Close to the end of year is the time for cleaning up, including the computer.. purging orphans and unwanted files, storing important information in CDs, etc. It was during such activity that Nakamora stumbled upon a journal entry he wrote on his first dive at Redang Island at about 8 years ago; and he is sharing it here:
The speedboat eased out into the open seas steadily. Gradually the white sandy beach turned to look more like a mere line and the surrounding islands like series of dots at the horizon. Once at the deeper water the second engine kicked in. The boat sped ahead leaving wakes marking its trail. The line and the dots were now lost, completely hidden from view. It’s a trip back to the mainland.
I sat at the starboard side. My sight traveled to an unknown space beyond the stern, and stayed there. Images of the undersea garden flashed rapidly, vividly, and colorfully in my mind.
The ride was bumpy, but not as bad as the inward journey a few days ago. As the speedboat pounded ahead memories of trips on a dive boat to the dive sites were relived. The pounding was familiar, the engine noise was familiar too; but I was now without the tank, the mask, and the fin. I wished I was, but diving has its own discipline. I had two repetitive 18-meter dives the day before. To fly home today I shouldn’t be diving for at least twelve hours so that excess nitrogen level in the body can decrease. Those dives placed me as Group V divers.
At the end of every dive, divers belong to any of the A to Z groups representing excess nitrogen level in the body, which increases with dive depth and duration. Group Z is the highest. Progressively a diver moves from a higher to a lower group by staying longer at the surface as more nitrogen would be released. Excess nitrogen appears in body tissues as micro bubbles, which would expand in response to pressure reduction such as due to increase in altitude.
***
I recalled my very first dive into the deep end, twelve feet, of a swimming pool during training. That was already deep to me. I had to gather enough courage to jump in with my back facing the water and let my body fall rolling back into the water – the splash back entry. The pool was not deep. It takes only a few kicks to resurface, but as a first timer, the anxiety was always there. Having learned how to handle abnormal situations such as out of air, flooded mask, dislodged regulator, and buoyancy control, hovering, excursion, descending, ascending, remaining afloat, and pressure equalization I found that to be in and under water is quite manageable and interesting.
Despite those trainings anxiety still greeted me, and with heightened levels, as the day to my first dive at sea drew closer. It was hard to silence the inner voice that every so often cast a cloud of doubt. Yes, it was okay at the pool, but now it is going to be 60 feet, five times deeper, the pressure would be much greater, what about the temperature, would I be able to do all the things that I did in the pool. Yes, I wouldn’t be alone, as divers ought not to be, but still I am responsible for my own safety.
***
The day came. It was a beautiful morning. Everybody got ready and boarded the dive boat for a short boat ride to the dive site. Once there one after another we splashed into the sea. The moment I was in the water I inflated the buoyancy control device a bit more. I peeked down and I saw the seabed. It was comforting. It was beautiful. It looked like a faraway settlement seen from above. Meanwhile, the small waves lifted me up and down, turning my stomach inside out much like when riding a roller coaster. After checking buoyancy settings, we descended. Under the surface the waves have little effect. While descending I whispered to myself the rules; breathe deeply and continuously, do not hold your breath, do not ascend faster than your smallest bubble, etc. As I reached the seabed the place looked even more beautiful from close range, but the “test” kept me occupied. The dive and the test went well. I know that I earned the certificate and would be a certified Open Water Diver. With that I gained confidence and was able to enjoy the sights a bit more.
.....
I felt a sense of accomplishment. I noticed an ephemeral smile of the instructor - satisfied of making this bunch of student able to scuba dive. The facial expression seemed similar to some that I have seen before, displayed by dedicated people who take pride in their works at the completion of successful missions
***
The beginning of the last dive however was a bit different. It was in the afternoon and visibility wasn’t very good. All I could see below, as I floated waiting for the rest to enter the water before descending, was a seemingly bottomless deep blue water. I felt alarmed, but regained my composure a moment later. I was able to invoke the rule – never let panic overcome you, stop, think, reason out, take necessary action.
***
It was a significant and an eventful occasion. My view of the underwater world was initially shaped by visits to aquariums, snorkeling trips, and National Geographic documentaries. Its all different now. I was there. I understand it better than before and somehow I feel I can relate to it. At 18 meters below the surface it’s a different world, a new world, a new experience, and a different kind of existence. The corals are so vast in coverage, so diverse in shapes and sizes, and the surroundings are so vibrant and lively in colors. Yet, except for the bubbles and the sound of my own breathing through the regulator it is quiet and serene.
...
The fishes swim peacefully and the plants wave gracefully. It is their home, their playgrounds, their world – the world of marine life that I now come to like much more. And I swam too, among and between them, to explore and to appreciate. The feeling accompanying my realization that I was seeing stingray, angelfish, jellyfish, batfish and the rest in and within their own natural habitats is hard to put in words. I was fascinated and exhilarated. I was also indeed humbled by it all, by the sight and feel of the magnificent garden below that the Creator has let us to enjoy, and yet others are intent at destroying them through uncontrolled and unscrupulous activities in the name of development...
***
The trip back was laden with a heavy heart, but other activities must go on as well. Nonetheless, I take comfort in knowing that now I can have return visits.

Old House - but not in the Prairie

Sometimes he wondered how an object can be a gateway to the subconscious mind to wonder to the things of the past, or imagine things of the future. There is no particular time that would take place. There is no particular weather pattern either. But he became aware that he sees things differently when the sun is bright and the sky is blue. The same thing seems to invoke different images and memories, depending on the time of the day.
That was what happened one morning many years ago when he drove to work. That old house, seemingly under continuous construction, tucked in the midst of tall trees and well kept bushes, on the swampy side of the winding road was erected only a few months back. There seemed to be a lot of activities around it, but changes or progress were not noticeable.
That old house brings back memories of the one in which he spent his childhood years - that must have been many decades ago. That isolated, lone house at his village or kampung. It's no longer there. Being abandoned uninhabited for many years termites feasted on it. Once upon a time, it stood strong in the remoteness of the area, in the serene silence of the surrounding of rows of oil palm and rubber trees. Occasionally, rubber tree seeds pop up in mid-air to hit the zinc roof before recoiling to the ground.
A single track of about 500-meter dirt road connects it to the main thoroughfare. That track is much more improved now many times over compared to the times when he had to leave his car by the main road and walk that 500 meter to the house. It even has a name now. But the place is still as desolate as it once was and the real reason for visiting it has long gone.

Discovery...

Being away in the jungle gives an opportunity to discover yourselves. Going alone, however, can invite danger. When accompanied by others, preferably those familiar with the area, one can sort of put aside the thinking about general safety - the place to venture into and the place to avoid - and concentrate on personal safety.
Nakamora has been in the jungle fairly often. he felt the difference. It is a different world altogether. Peaceful. Only the birds are making noises - beautiful, soothing noise. Occasionally the monkeys chip in too. This is the place where money is valued less, or not much at all. The currency in the jungle is trust, and respect. Respect the animal, and they won't be mad at you. Interact with trust with the aborigines, and they will trust you. Betray their trust and forever you will not be trusted anymore.

Traveling Back In Time...

Ramadhan officially ended in Malaysia, and most countries in this region on Tuesday, which is the end of September. Wednesday, October first is also 1 Syawal 1429, the first day of Eid Mubarak for Malaysia, and most countries in the region. Nakamora was told by a friend that Austria celebrated Eid a day earlier.
As usual there are many of people doing the same thing at the same time. Thus major shopping districts in Kuala Lumpur were flooded with crowds of shoppers at the weekend before and a few days before the end of September in preparation for the Eid. Monday and Tuesday saw traffic build-up in major highways leading to kampungs (villages). "Balik kampung" or returning to the village to meet folks and elders still residing there,the familiar annually recurring event, is here again. It is an opportunity to renew contacts, to touch-base, to meet relatives and friends, to revisit the roots, to keep up with the latest there, as it were.
Idyllic villages transformed overnight to bustling, instant towns.
Nakamora too spent the holiday in villages. Some do not have much differences from what he saw daily in Kuala Lumpur. Kids glued to TV screens, computer monitors, or little screen of the handsets - trading short text messages, multimedia files, or exchanging MP3 tunes. In a particular village in Jerteh, Terengganu, however, he saw a different sight. A sight that he has not seen for a very long time - a sight that reminds him of his childhood days. Those kids really have a good time looking for fish in the mud.
They don't seem to bother about baju raya' - new clothes to be worn on that special day, or about collecting 'duit raya.' It was only the third Syawal. Most kids would still be making the rounds collecting 'duit raya'. Probably they have already done so. After all, in a kampung like this there may not be that many 'duit raya' that can be expected - not as many as their catch, may be.
If it was not for the lack of proper clothing to replace the ones he had on Nakamora would have joined them too. The mud looks smooth. A tourist from Europe or somewhere staying at a homestay may jump right in. Mud is good for the skin, and most of them are crazy about it..

How To Decide...

Deciding what to eat for 'iftar' (breaking fast during the month of Ramadhan) can be challenging from two standpoints.
Heading towards the Ramadhan bazaar and well within it, surrounded by countless food stalls selling varieties of food, Nakamora found it hard to decide what he should get for the day. There are stalls selling traditional delicacies that are not normally found outside the month of Ramadhan. Naturally, that would be the first thing to buy. That settles the first challenge.
As Ramadhan progressed, and as Nakamora continued to get traditional food one after another for his iftar, it became clearer to him that what he thought is traditional is actually not traditional. They look traditional, but the taste is far from it. Thereafter he avoids patronizing such stalls and in the process builds his own list of 'blacklisted' stalls.
he realized that it is quite easy to see such stalls are those that are in business only during Ramadhan. They are no longer a going concern after that and thus have little motivation to 'do it right.'
The second challenge then is not to choose among many, but to choose which ones, as the options are getting smaller. Quite a number of stalls are already in his 'stall to avoid' list. That includes stall operators who do not dress properly while handling food items.
He also noticed that some 'traditional' delicacies looked like being centrally-prepared. Hence many stalls sell similar looking delicacies - same look,same texture, same size, same packaging, and perhaps taste the same as well. The price too, is the same everywhere - high, much higher than what it has been just weeks ago, before the Ramadhan bazaar business starts operating. Some are just in it for the money...

The Meanings of a Day...

The sun rises, the sun sets, and a day ends. The night is another chapter, supposed to be a time of rest, of recollection, of planning. To make ends meet some continue to work to and through the night.
Nakamora was out and about the other day when he noticed a man having lunch of only a plate of rice and gravy and a glass of plain water. There was no meat, no fish, no vegetable either. Could he be someone on the way to amass a lot money to become a rich man, even a millionaire, by being thrifty to a fault? or honestly he is minimizing his cost of living expenses to finance the needs of his family. The man looked like the latter to Nakamora, and he both pity and respect that man for his sense of sacrifice and responsibility.
A day means different things to different people. For Nakamora, that particular day was for walking around and get connected with life outside his study. To others it could have been a hectic day at the corporate boardroom, in the laboratory, or traveling on the road. To others, particularly some teens seen loitering around, it could just be another day; without meaning whatsoever. Being able to meet friends, be together and have fun is all what a day means. They do no have any ends to join.
Everybody else are going their own way. Making their own ends meet. Some are concerned not just to make the ends meet, but to overlap, many times over.
Some of that overlaps perhaps belong to that man having lunch with a plate of rice and gravy and a glass of plain water... or for setting the meaning of a day, and of life, to those loitering aimlessly...

Forget the Engine, Let's Ride a Bike...

It's already more than 60 years ago. It is something that we should forget, others are beginning to forget that too; or are they? It happened so far away, not here. Why should we bother having anything that day, like some sort of commemoration?
Nakamora is not alone in asking those questions. Many others wonder the same too, but he got it cleared after the event. He followed the whole program of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki commemoration day, or H&N08, as the organizer, the Malaysian Nuclear Society (MNS) dubbed it. It was on Wednesday, 6 August, at USIM campus, Bandar Baru Nilai.
He took note of the officiating speech of the university's vice chancellor on the importance of tempering knowledge with morality and having good moral values, of using using knowledge only for the good of mankind, and the environment. The program showed that there are many ways of using the technology to benefit mankind. Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened, but that should not be reasons to abandon the many other benefits of the technology.
That was the message he got, and he could not agree more. After all, he thought, the engine that powers his car uses the same principle as the one that moves tanks used in battlefields. To be consistent, we should hate the engine too; let's ride a bike. But of course, he rationalizes, human is not always rationale, is not always logical, is not always consistent...

Environmental Consciousness

Normally Nakamora prefers to listen to debates in his head while driving through traffic jam of Kuala Lumpur. Occasionally he tunes to the local radio stations. Today is one of that occasion and he keeps on changing stations hoping to catch Carole King, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, or even Bob Marley or Michael Buble singing. None of the station have any of them on at that time.
But wait, here is something that catches his attention. The melody is strange and yet familiar. He could not understand some of the words but can make them out with a little bit more efforts.
It was a Kelantanese song. It starts by introducing a hungry squirrel, its tail cutoff, looking for food by a rambutan tree. The song goes on saying that squirrel is a mammalian that can jump from tree branches to another with ease. But sometimes it falls due to impatience.
Villagers used to chase squirrel away from their fruit trees like rambutan and durian using catapults and by throwing stones, woods, or even a piece of tree branches. They run away, escape, and still stay alive.
With the advent of modern technology nowadays squirrels are shot at. Most of them are dead. They cannot escape. The song goes on regretting that killings. Its hard to see squirrel nowadays. We cannot make even one of them, no matter how high is our education.
Finally the song introduced a thin, tired looking baby squirrel. It is on the ground, instead of up at tree branches, trying to cross a small stream, but cannot make it. Some of its feathers are lost, perhaps it has just escaped from a farm nearby, looking for food. Perhaps its mother cannot make it and lost its live there. The singer was touched by that scenery and appealed for more compassion to animals. They are part of our environment.
Nakamora felt moved by it too. It was a good song; while entertaining, it has a strong message. He later learned that the singer is Halim Yazid. That reminded him of a similar song years ago about a turtle by Abu Bakar Ellah. Hmm... we are not poor of songs and singers with good renditions of the environment and the living things around us.
Motivated by the song, Nakamora searched around in the hope of taking a photo of a squirrel. He wanted to make a tribute by posting its photo here; but he needed more time to find one, squirrel is not easy to see anymore. Thus he put the photo of a tortoise just finishing its meal given by a forest ranger at Kubah National Park in Sarawak.
In between Bob Dylan and the rest, he now make a mental note of that local singers and keep on tuning if there would be more such songs in the local environment.

The Thrill of It All...

What is it that make a person travel a distance from home to the office early in the morning, and back late in the afternoon, driving on the same road, going to the same office, daily for weeks, months, years, and tens of years? Are they not bored? or is it not boring?
Nakamora used to ask that questions to himself, only to be asked the same much later in life by another - but by that time he already has the answer.
It may be the same road, same place, same job but they are different if we care to look at the differences. At macro level they are the same, but at other levels they change everyday. It is that changes that we have to look at and keep in mind. They get accumulated and become what we call 'experience.' Interest and personal motive or goal could also be the driver for the incessant drive.
Look at teachers, lecturers, professors - or the teaching profession in general. Are they not bored telling the same 'story' semester after semester, even though to different set of students? It is linear algebra again, nuclear physics, or digital systems, control systems, etc. The same topic, different audience.
Imagine we have a good story. We like that story. We definitely would like to tell about it to as many people as we can,to everyone who care to listen, to everyone who has to listen. We never feel bored to repeat the same story. It must be the thrill of letting everyone knows... or letting everyone knows that we know.
Nakamora thought that could have been the reason that teachers can say the same thing, can repeat themselves, as long as to different sets of people. It would not be fun to tell the same story to the same people, isn't it?
Just wonder what is the motivation for that cable repairman to do the thing that he does. He was spotted at a road junction somewhere in Hanoi, Vietnam.

If You Have to Know the Distance, Then...

Traveling in some parts, or most parts of Sarawak in a compact car can be like having a boat ride during mildly rough sea. The continuous wobbles up, down, and sideways can over-exercise the joints. But then that was part of the experience. The drivers too are a patient lot. They can trail a lorry for miles or kilometers without any attempt to overtake. Nakamora envy such patients because he lost most of it along many roads in Kuala Lumpur and the highways. But then again, the idea is to enjoy the beauty of the countryside. In Kl there is no country side. Along the highways the view is monotonous - palm oil plantation most of the way.
Nakamora got to Santubong only to find that there was not a park by the foot of the mountain. Anyway, he was able to admire the beauty of the 'princess' from afar.
He would have thought that Tebedu, the border town towards Pontianak, would have duty free shops like our border town with Thailand. It has only immigration and custom checkpoint. But the view there is magnificent. Sirikin, on the other hand is a different story. That border town has something to offer to shoppers. In fact most of the thing one see at the Satok market in Kuching are sold there, and the choice are plenty more.

Out in the Open...

Living in a confined space once in a while can be an interesting experience, as long as the view is not confined. The 10m x 50m 'training' vessel is big enough to weather rough sea but small enough to induce sea-sickness in such weather condition in some of the expedition team members. During that 4D3N that he was with them, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on what argument is used, he was spared that experience. The sea was as calm and flat as football field.
Away from the Internet and unreachable by hand phone he has all the view to see - wide expanse of blue sea, as far as the eye can see. Watching the sun rise and set is some of the events to look forward to everyday. Another is reaching the next sampling station, anchoring, and performing the sampling itself. While the vessel sails from a station to another most of the samples collected have been treated or pre-processed before analysis at land-based laboratory. All the while, the steady roar of the engine as the vessel sails the sea provides assurance that all is well and on the move.
The vessel made a call at the newest segment of Kuantan port Saturday 21 June. He disembarked there after joining them using a boat from a public jetty at Redang 4 days ago. He noted that the port is about 10-12 m deep. At the outside of the port the depth is about 20 m, compared to 5-60 m or more that they have sailed the previous days. The vessel anchored just outside the port by the night before making the call in the morning.
The success of any endeavor depends on good teamwork, respect of the role of individual team members, and realize that everyone has to contribute to ensure successful completion of the endeavor. He noted those spirit thrived in the expedition.

Nuclear Insights

Nakamora has been pre-occupied lately with lending a hand to his friend completing a book. He is relieved now that it was done. He has more time now to tend his blog - cybergarden, the plants of which are his rumblings and wandering thoughts, he said to himself. The book, according to his friend, is now available for USD12 or RM30 including postage.

Here's what others say about this book:

"I have great interest for your philosophy of research and being scientist. I appreciate much your describing details of your association with TRCRE after I left for IAEA." ----- Dr. Sueo Machi, FNCA Coordinator, Japan.

"Your review and commentary on your R&D experiences interwoven with your thoughts on current issues as well as your ideas for positioning for the future will find resonance with your readers and assist them as they pursue their various quests and journeys across the R&D landscape." ----- Dr. John F. Easey, ANSTO, Australia.

Well, what would you say?

The book is also available at several bookstores in Kuala Lumpur including Pustaka Mukmin, Mehraj Bookstore, Nufair Street Bookstore, Universiti Malaya Bookstore, and INTAN Bookstore.

Swallows' Paradise

Nakamora used to wonder what the building is for. He noticed not just one, but several. He noticed not just in the east coast but also in the west coast. To take it for a place to store grains (rice and corn as well, may be) to replace the old construct of inverted long slender bucket may not be quite correct. The building is not that tall. They are located not necessarily anywhere near paddy field. Thus it cannot be that place for storing anything, especially food item. Birds can easily enter it and finish them all.
The building is about 3-4 story tall with several small, slightly less than A4 paper size openings near the top floors walls. Other than those openings there are no other windows. The wall is plastered with cement and the owner did not bother to either paint it or smoothen the surface of the wall.
It was only a few months back that Nakamora learned that indeed the building is for birds to enter. Only now Nakamora has the opportunity to write about it. Not just any birds. It is for swallows to nest. Birds nests fetch good price as they are used as medicine.
It is nice to know. But at the same time a flash of thought on how that could alter the lifestyle of swallows in the future, or succeeding generations of swallow played in Nakamora's head. Perhaps future generation of swallows would no longer be interested to nest elsewhere, except in that kind of building... or could they lose the ability to nest except in buildings such as those swallows' paradise...

We Too Can be Fooled

With rising fuel price even Nakamora, a speedy driving super enthusiast, has to suppress his urge to floor the accelerator pedal. No, it is just too expensive.
It is one good outcome of the increase in the price of oil. He remembered that he used to have to train his eyes hard on life-size cardboard cut-out of traffic policeman and policewoman, normally placed by the roadside. He wanted to ascertain if it was real or dummy. The difference between the two is like the difference between the pleasure of speed driving and the pain of paying the fine. The dummy law enforcers are supposed to scare motorists that they are being waited upon, told that they exceeded the speed limit, and presented with a non-reusable speeding ticket. Non-reusable since if down the road they were caught again speeding, a new ticket will be issued. The cut-out looked so real and prompted quite a number of motorists to slow down. It works.
Nakamora thought of the 'orang-orangan' (scare-crow?) used to scare birds away from padi fields. It works. It manages to keep birds away. They are fooled. Well. It seems that we too can be fooled.

A Note from Kota Kinabalu

Nakamora landed at Kota Kinabalu airport again. It was about 4.30 in the afternoon of Monday. He has just realized that suddenly it is June. Almost half of 2008 already gone. It was quite hot. Work for the expansion of the airport is still going on.
He managed to walk a bit at Centerpoint again. It was very hot. He was told that air conditioning was out since last week or so. Some of the elevators too were not working.
A day of joy for Sabahan as 'anak watan' will now be the state financial officer. Yusof Sarangit of Lahad Datu with a geology degree from University Malaya. Come 18 June another Sabahan will be at the helm of University Malaysia Sabah as its vice chancellor. Datuk Dr Kamarulzaman Ampon.
Conversation in a taxi with the driver can be interesting and informative. This one that Nakamora took to the airport from the hotel described the culture of the various tribes(suku) in Sabah. Outsiders marrying someone from suku Murut have to be contend with the view of the in-laws that once their daughter is taken, they reserve the right to claim ownership to any of their son-in-laws belongings. Sometimes he said the father in law comes for a visit and takes home the refrigerator or TV sets. This practice continues until the daughter conceives a child.
Nakamora arrived at the airport. Most part of the airports are still hot as the air conditioning is not working too at sections where renovations were being done.

Presents for Self...

As he is looking at the calendar filling in all the commitments that he has, categorizing them into must attend or do, nice to attend, or attend or do when nothing else to attend or do, Nakamora also noted the many special days allocated for special causes or subjects. There are Earth Day, Children Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Teachers Day, etc. days.
All those special days come together with special deeds, vows, gifts, and presents that are of course nice to give and nicer to receive.
When he was small, many decades ago, everyday was just a day; fun day. Nakamora remembers that when visiting relatives there will always be presents on hand. Often times they were just fruits or produce plucked from the farm, or even chicken or sugar - simple, down-to-earth, everyday things; nothing special except the intention and the sincerity of giving the presents. There were no presents for kids or if there was, it was not the norm.
Presents have the positive effect of lifting the spirit. It is a mark signaling approval, of sharing the joy of success. That approval need not come from others all the time. Nakamora thought it could come from within himself. Thus sometimes he just give himself presents, or rewards. Nothing complicated or expensive. At times the presents or rewards were just driving around the country side, strolling by the park. The are low cost, in terms of hard cash.

Hanoi, Viet Nam...

It's 7 am. The street, Ly Thuong Kiet Street in Hanoi began to cry, to shout. Endless sound from car horns fills the air. It is like that all day long and into the night when the street gets tired and started to keep quiet, and perhaps go to sleep. Nakamora did not wait that long to see if the street ever goes to sleep. But it was much more quieter than in the day time.
Being here only a few days, and mostly spent away from the noisy and crowded street, Nakamora could not fully taste the city or understand its heartbeat. But the roads of Hanoi, one of the major cities of this country, Viet Nam, with population of over 80 million are filled more by motorbikes and bicycles than with cars. Driving in Hanoi definitely is not for the weak-hearted and non-spirited driver. Even while riding motorbikes Hanoi bikers can read and reply sms on the hand phone. No problem. Can you beat that, asked Nakamora.
Nakamora has seen the name of the country spelled in two different ways, Vietnam ad Viet Nam. Both are correct but perhaps the later is a closer description of the old history of the country. Viet represents and ethnicity of the people at the south, Nam, of China. It was not after looking at a map, subsequent to asking his host, that Nakamora realized that Hanoi, this almost closing parenthesis-like country is actually slightly to the West of Kuala Lumpur. His mental image has always been that Vietnam is a country east of Malaysia, and hence would see the sun rise earlier.
The seriousness on which they market and promote their crafts to tourists impressed Nakamora. There are actually so much to learn.

One Sen No More...

Just for a record. 1 April saw the disappearance of the Malaysia one sen coin from circulation. The lowest denomination is now five sen. Physically, it followed the footstep of the RM one coin, that has similar brownish color, but bigger that was also discontinued last year. The value, one sen, still exists. Goods are still priced at that lowest denomination, but rounded up when transacted in hard cash. No rounding-up or down to the nearest five sen for other, non-hard cash transaction.

The Devil Is In The Details

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Well said. Understood. That probably is the first phrase uttered in a lecture or course in planning. Indeed in a blog entry on planning, such as the one we all are reading now, too.
But plans, good or bad, can fail because they cannot be implemented or improperly executed. On the funny side, Nakamora is reminded of a story he read somewhere, sometime back, about good but unimplementable plan.
Once upon a time a community of mouse felt so helpless, down, and fed up with the constant harassment and victimization of their young ones by a nearby cat. They got together, brainstormed, and came up with a suggestion that was to be started right away. Thus, that night the headmouse and senior members of the community went to see the wise creature, the owl, and seek its proposal on how to overcome the problem that are haunting them, night after night.
The solution: tie something that make noise, such as a bell, by the cat's neck, so that any mouse that hear the noise can alert others to hide and take shelter.
The headmouse and its entourage were jubilant again and headed back home to inform the rest. But alas, they had to brainstorm again. They know not how to tie that bell around the cat's neck. No one among them can finish the job before or without being eaten by the cat. Definitely another method must be sought. So they went back to see the owl for another consultation. They were not lucky this time. They did not get the answer for the owl responded that it had already proposed the plan, it was the mouse that must implement them.

The Value Of 90 Sen...

It costs nothing. That is not an unfamiliar phrase. We have heard of it said at one time or another. But is it true? It ought to be to some people, depending on how they value things.
Consider this. There is no such thing as free lunch. It is paid in different forms, in one way or another, at one time or another. But they are cost, nonetheless, that are not measured in ringgit and sen. Some may not be countable at all. Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted - a saying attributed to Einstein. The value of anything is then a relative quantity depending on the reference point against which it is measured, or compared.
That was what Nakamora tried to come up with recently when traveling from point P to point B. The toll cost 90 sen only. He has a fair bit of time and not in a rush, thus he took the non-toll road. He was actually paying the 90 sen with his available time.
He was not lucky. The road was congested. He ended up spending more time on the road than he expected, and to him it worths more than 90 sen. But that was the risk that he took.
At times even the toll road is congested, especially at the toll booth. He could end up the same, spending more time than expected for a toll road. That thought console him a bit. It was preferable not to spend 90 sen and arrive late to spending 90 sen and arriving not early enough. The frustration would be doubled.

Robeless Emperor

Accept that some days you are a pigeon, some other days you are a statue.
Nakamora came across that saying several years ago. It stuck to his subconscious mind, and now it comes back. Current changes in public figures in the government could be the trigger for it to resurface. But changes will come to those in other positions too, albeit not in a massive scale and all at the same time. Hence it is less noticeable, but the situation is the same nonetheless.
Some day you are the boss, later you would be the statue, if while holding office you failed miserably to adopt good IPR practice (IPR as in interpersonal relationship, not intellectual property right). Once the robe is shed, or the tittle stripped, on expiration of office you'd be the statue - peed or pissed or both by pigeons, and ignored at some corner under a tree, gathering fallen leaves.
If everything goes well, however, you would be the pigeons.
Is that right?

Life Is Like That

The value of anything increases once it is needed. Waste is like that too. Look at what happen to empty fruit bunches (EFB) and other wastes in the oil palm industry. Its disposal at one time incurred cost, it is the reverse now as many products can be made out of EFB.
Something that works well tend to be forgotten. Its presence were felt only after it was lost. A case in point - electricity.
Something may be left idle, not used, or used only sparingly or selectively. Its importance suddenly rise once it is lost. Life is just like that, we value less what we have until it is taken away...

Ineffective Classroom Delivery or ...?

If I were to go to school again, starting from standard 1 and go through all the examinations so that at the end of the process I would be a university material, I would give it a miss.
It seems that attending classes in school is not enough to know or understand all there is to know and understand. They must be supplemented by tuitions at night.
Are the subjects too difficult, the syllabus too wide, the levels too deep? or is the classroom delivery not effective that largely kids must be 'taught' twice - at school and at tuition centers? I do not know.
Which one is more effective in imparting knowledge? Schools or tuition centers; or can we say that it is a shared two-step process? Schools introduce the topic, tuition centers drive in the substance and understanding? I do not know.
I breathe a sigh of relief realizing that I do not have to go through it all, and here I am at the very end of the formal education spectrum.

Democracy At Work...

It is hard not to write about it. After all this election scores so many firsts. For the sake of record, Nakamora put it down anyway.
Call it winds of change, a nightmare, a wake-up call, a glorious joy, or the beginning of a new landscape. The people has spoken, but the voice is different this time.
Five states fell out of the hand of the incumbent; the incumbent fails for the first time to secure the traditional 2/3 majority; scores of ministers and presidents of component parties lost the election; massive swing of votes to the opposition by all three main ethnic groups; the number of state capital cities under the once 'opposition' parties increased.
It was an unexpected and unprecedented avalanche. The political landscape definitely has changed. So as the habit of voters to seek alternative source of information, particularly in cyberspace such as blogs, as the mainstream traditional media was saturated with one side of the story and thus unable to accommodate other point of views.

General Election

It is nice to put on record some of the events of the past two weeks in summary. The country is having the 12th election since gaining independent 50 years ago. The 13 days allocated for campaigns ended just about 3 hours ago. It must have been adequate for the voting public to make decision and exercise their rights. In less than six hours polling booths are scheduled to open.
Flags, message banners and posters spring up almost everywhere. Driving on such heavily 'decorated' roads is an experience. The EC canceled the plan to use indelible inks just three days before the election. It caused several reactions. The spraying of the EC Chairman's home compound with red paint by dissatisfied people is said to be related to that decision.
I am going to vote anyway...

Supply of Ideas

One of the advice given to aspiring writers by those already there, and those not quite there but provide sorts of courses, is write, write, and write everyday. Even a paragraph will do. Never miss a day without writing.
But what to write about?
There are plenty of things to write about. But writing about one's daily chores for everyone to read, or most likely ignore, is not useful unless there is lesson to be learned from it. Nakamora feeling like being at that stage recently laid down his pen and let the keyboard rest for a while. Instead read and read and read.
Some of the titles/writers he found interesting include The Alchemist and The Zahir by Paulo Coelho, Nelson Mandela's Long Walk To Freedom, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, and even some titles by John Grisham. Perhaps no need to mention that book Mukadimah by Ibn Khaldun or Memahami Keutamaan (Understanding Priority) by Yusuf Al-Qaradawi.
In between daily chores, reading and writing become only filler activities most of the time. But they add a breather to hectic life.

Bucket List

The oldest candidate seeking office in this election is a 89 year old grandma in Terengganu. I do not know what ticked her to run for office and what her manifesto is as an independent candidate. I am only reminded of the movie Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It is about two patients diagnosed with cancer, prepared a list of things they wanted to do before leaving this world, and did them. That list includes skydiving and other things that fit people decades younger than either of them, but they wanted to do them anyway.
Kalimullah Hassan wrote about the same subject in a column in his New Sunday Times last weekend, 24 February.
I guess everyone has a bucket list. Even Mat Jenin in the Malay folklore of the same title has one, if his wish list or daydream can be considered so. The difference is that only a few put the efforts to overcome the odds of realizing the list. Mat Jenin was not one of the few.
How about you, Nakamora...

Flag Carnival

It is hard not to notice. It is even harder to ignore. Blue, green, not so blue flags and banners and buntings of other colors flood every major junctions. Make shift 'service centers' sprang up at major spots in residential and business areas. The 12th election is coming 8 March. A total of 222 parliamentary seats and a bit more than double of that state seats are at stake. Today is the nomination day. The parliament was dissolved ten days ago on 13 Feb.
But why would one want to ignore? Exercise the right. Vote, do not not vote.

Which Queue?

If you are to line-up at a fast food counter, which line would you prefer? The normal or natural choice is the shortest one. But that is not necessarily the fastest. It depends also on who is in front of you, and who is serving the counter.
If you have a group of teenagers in front, not too bad. They may have made up their minds based on previous orders, or based on the depth of the purse which depends on what part of the month it is. A family with several kids can take quite a while to constitute the order, or to get the approval of the sponsor. Pensioners? seldom that this breed of people seen lining up there. At the most they sit it out at a table somewhere while a proxy is in the queue.
Too bad if you have a family with several kids served by a trainee cashier. The delay will be multiplied, and your patience gets shorter. Supermarkets sometimes like to put trainee cashier at the express counter, thinking that it is easier than dealing with bulk buyers. But the very spirit of expediting the transaction more often than not are compromised. The advantage of the express counter, to the customer, is nullified or reduced, which can sometimes be frustrating as gap between expectation of speed and reality begins to develop in the mind of customers and widens as the moment ticks by.

Get Away, Get Real, Get Moving...

Life is not what it is if there was no trials and tribulations. We go though it simply by managing them. Some of us do well, others falter and succumbed to something worse than what they were. Digging deeper into the rut, as it were. Nakamora began his advice to his friend.
Everyone has faced at least a difficult situation. So am I, he continued. But I didn't let it eat myself away. To me there are three steps in handling situations like that. First, get away from the problem so that you can think afresh. Distance yourselves from it so that you can see things in better perspective, including your own fault. Get busy, revisit the hobby and do the things you longed to do but have not the time.
Second, get real. Accept the fact that everyone make mistakes, including yourselves. Accept the fact that things have happened. Everybody has problems, everyone has difficulties. What makes everyone different is how they handle and overcome the problems. You have the choice of brooding over it endlessly or move on.
That brings me to the third step, that is get moving. Make the best out of the situation. The best in the worst situation is better than the worst of a good situation. For in the latter you are moving backward instead of forward, regressing instead of progressing.
So, remember: get away, get real, get moving, Nakamora concluded.

What's In A Name?

Papan (planks), Dinding (wall) - and one thinks of a house.
Add Lumut (weeds) - and one thinks of old house by the river or stream.
Add Parit (drain, stream) - yes, it is old house covered by weed by the stream.
Add Titi Serong (inclined bridge) - aha.
The old house with weed is accessible by an inclined bridge across the stream. Or all those could have been objects in an oil painting.
But no. They are all names of places in a state called Perak (silver) in the northern half of peninsular Malaysia. Actually, the mineral should have been tin or timah instead of silver or perak, as the state was the tin mining hub, if we can use the fashionable word 'hub', during its golden era.
In Kedah, a northern state there are places called Langgar (knock) and Pokok Sena (a kind of tree). Imagine another place named Gajah Mati (dead elephant), and a story unfolds - Gajah Mati Langgar Pokok Sena. Elephant dead after hitting a Sena tree. That story was told by a friend of a friend.
Not many places now named in that manner. We are getting more modern and successful that new residential areas and settlements bear words such as:

• jaya (success) as in Subang Jaya, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya;
• perdana (prime) as in Perdana Putra;
• seri (radiant) as in Seri Kembangan;

or names such as Beverly this and that!
I guess the same trend is followed everywhere. Many years ago I traveled in New Mexico, USA and spotted the name of a town 'Truth or Consequence.' I wonder what was the story behind that name. I know what happened at Alamagordo. Its well-documented. But Truth or Consequence? I don't know.
Who then said what's in a name.

Global peace...

About a year ago it was proclaimed that the world was safer than it was before.. may be the same would be proclaimed this year too.. Is it true?
and, but peace for whom?
The question was posed this morning in a keynote speech by non-other than the former PM Tun Dr Mahathir at a seminar in Kuala Lumpur. Global peace should be truly global, should be for everyone.. but sadly, not everyone agrees with that..

Cable Dependency: The Burden of Modern Living

Nakamora carefully dialed the number to unlock his bag. He needed to re-open it. He blamed it all on his checklists, which he prepared. He was then blaming himself, but he hated to do so directly. The travel checklist was just not complete.
It should have listed all cables, not cluster everything under a single item 'cable' and expects him to reconstruct the list of all cables he has to bring along for that 10-day trip. Yes, that's modern life. Everything depends on cable to continue to be useful, all types of cable, visible or otherwise.
He got the bag opened and started checking. Cable for the laptop, yes he got it. Cable for the digital camera, he got that too. Cable for the hand phone, no problem, it's in. Yes, that was the one not yet in. Cable for his personal digital assistant, PDA. Cable transfer for the digital camera, yes that was in too. There is just one more cable, for his MP3. And, he almost forgot, another one for the card reader. He may want to transfer the photos from his camera to his laptop, if time permits, and if the camera memory is full, whichever comes first.
Except for the digital camera all the rest are some form of communication devices. With his laptop he can use the internet, e-mail, messenger, and even Skype phone. Definitely the hand phone can be used to communicate too, so as the PDA. There are function overlaps, and he wondered if he could just leave some home. That would relieve the burden of checking all the cables. But perhaps no. Yes, they all can be used as communication devices but the condition and mode of communication each of them operates are different. It's a complicated world, isn't it. One mode of communication is no longer adequate.

Unobtrusive Security

As he drove into the kampong (village) Nakamora noticed the clean lawn, old but neatly arranged flower pots inhabited by real flowers, and most obviously was the absence of fence of any sort. He imagined the contrast to city and urban residential estates. Every house is fenced in, doors and windows secured with iron grills, some with the sign 'Beware of Dogs' posted conspicuously to be seen even by guests, others have a box labeled 'Protected by XYZ' etc, where XYZ is the name of a security service provider company.
Fences may be one device that underwent function reversal or function expansion in modern time. They were erected to keep goats, cows, and buffaloes from straying out of predesignated grazing fields. In urban areas houses are fenced in to keep intruders from outside straying in. It is there for safety and security. Security in kampong areas is unobtrusive as it is inherently embedded in the way members of the community behave and interact with one another. Nakamora noticed many pair of eyes discreetly looking at his car. It must have looked unfamiliar to the beholders. Not surprising as he has not been balik kampong (returning home to the village) for quite sometime already.
In urban setting nobody really cares. In fact nobody has the time and opportunity to care. Out of the house in the morning, commute to work, and back home when it is dark again. The real community is at work, not at home, as more time is spent there, and more people know you there. The nature of work of the kampong people, not having to leave the house for too long to go to work and plenty of opportunity for interactions, strangers can easily be noticed. CCTVs are not needed as there are plenty of real eyes scanning and looking out for strangers and out of normal behaviors. Perhaps, with ingenuity the approach of the kampong folks can be adopted and modified to suit city and urban living. After all, real eyes are much better than electronic ones.

Cyber Graffiti

That blog is available, and can be shared or kept exclusive, is of help in easing stresses. It is a place to keep a journal or just for releasing temper and tantrum. Writing 'dear diary' lines seem to have soothing effect. Most people agree. In its undeveloped form itchy fingers paint graffiti on the wall or at the door of that little room called WC.
Perhaps, just for fun and not due to stresses, kids like to crayon, chalk, watercolor, pen, or pencil an entire wall with their own version of abstract arts; fuming the parents. Some parents, Nakamora heard somewhere, are more accommodating. They allocate a room or a wall in the house for the kids to crayon, chalk, watercolor, pen, or pencil. Once the wall is done, they take a photo of 'the art', and re-paint the wall. The fun starts again; and the parents have a collection of photos that could be of value, at least sentimental, many years later.
Blogs, in a way, are that walls for many to write and put everything from images, to photos, to music to video clips. The format, composition, scope, and subject matter of the blogs are left to the whim and fancy of individual bloggers. Some misuse and abuse blogs. Thus there are those who dislike blogs. Some even take the suggestion to read blogs as degrading or distasteful, not realizing that among the tens of millions of blogs there are some that are more than just cyber graffiti.

A New Year

At dusk yesterday, or today as we know it can also be, depending on which system we are using, the first day of a new year according to lunar-based Islamic calendar began. We are now in the year 1429H. The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. It divides a year into 12 months with either 29 or 30 days to a month. The Gregorian solar calendar, which is widely used now, also has 12 months to a year but the number of days in a month varies from 28 to 31 days.
Those who were born on 29 February can rejoice this year and look forward to receive birthday presents; good friends may even present gifts of 3-year equivalent. Alternatively, find the corresponding date of birth on the lunar calendar and announce to friends annually of the birthday, whatever date that may be on the solar calendar. The setback is that you get older faster, but think of the gifts, which can be twice a year.
The lunar calendar is shorter than the Gregorian calendar by about 11-13 days; and it is not linked to seasons of the year. Thus every other 33-34 years the lunar and Gregorian calendars meet. Such meeting almost take place this year as the next new year's day for the lunar calendar is on 27 December. Imagine two points, one each at the circumference of two wheels of same diameter but rotate at different speeds. Depending on the speeds of rotation, there would be time when both points meet.
On the eighth month the lunar calendar is 'calibrated' against the phase of the moon to determine the beginning of the ninth month, Ramadhan, which is the fasting month. On the 28th day of Ramadhan again the moon phase is observed to determine the end of fasting and the beginning of the tenth month, Syawal. Thus the calendar gets calibrated twice every year. Nowadays, calculations are also widely used for that determination.

Road Safety - Defensive Driving

The bag in which he put the notebook computer jumped numerous times from the front passenger seat to the floor of the car. Too many stop and go driving along the way to work. Nakamora hoped that the almost 3-year old laptop can survive the unintentional abuse.
Today is the second day the traffic is that bad. Schools started the new session yesterday; and during school session the traffic is indeed that bad. But expect it to be worse in the next 3-4 days. People have been accustomed to breezy driving during the long school break, and need to re-adjust to a different driving mode. Defensive driving. Timing is very crucial in this condition. Start late by 5 minutes and he will be late by 20-25 minutes; start early just by 5 minutes and he will arrive 15 minutes early. The trick is to find the right time to get out of the house so that the traffic is just nice and stick to within that window of time. Early is okay, but late, try not to be; all kind of drivers and vehicles would have populated the road, lorries, motorcycles, buses. The diverse driving styles of Malaysian drivers can be taxing to the nerve.
Some drive too fast, like a rocket. Others drive so slow that Nakamora would have been happier to be behind a tractor or a steamroller. The thought that these vehicles cannot move fast console him, but following a slow-moving car, especially luxury car, irked him. He started thinking sarcastically that may be by the time the driver can afford such a car age also caught up with him, and that slowed him down, no more spirited driving. In challenging traffic conditions the mind is the best friend in order to stay cool and stay on the road safely - never mind whatever it is thinking.

Time Interface

Like everybody else, last night Nakamora passed the year 2007, and entered 2008. There is no other choice. At the vicinity of this 2007-2008 interface, may be within a band of 2-3 months, people may do one or a combination of three things, or may be more:
1. in 2007 formulate new resolution, or reformulate old ones
2. in 2008 view the past in perspective across the time border
3. miss 1, ignore 2, create and define own time interface
4. none of the above
Nakamora did a little bit of everything, a combination of all, but mostly the last part of 3. Time interfaces and borders are yours to create and define: when I am 40, on my graduation, are examples. Time itself is an abstract concept which can be measured using different basis; or else there would not have been lunar calendar or calendars based on maharajah's or emperor's birthday. Going to the extreme, in some native community time is measured by the duration to cook rice, to climb coconut tree, to finish smoking a stick of cigarette, or the performance of any acts the duration of which have been accepted as standard. Of course that is compatible only within the context of its applications, like in any other measure of time.