To whom or what loyalty belongs?

At a seminar towards the end of last year Nakamora listened to a presentation related to human resources, particularly on employees attitude towards the organisation. It's said that there are three categories of them: engaged, disengaged, and actively disengaged.
Nakamora surmised that the level of engagement must be correlated to the loyalty or sense of belonging of the employees to the organisation, which in turn are related to factors such as environment, renumeration, and opportunities to grow. However, for certain groups of employees, particularly the professionals, organizational loyalty is not relevant. Their loyalty is to the profession, not any organisation. That perhaps is the reason for giving professors tenured status, so that they won't likely go away.
As the talk is moving to it's conclusion, the speaker presented a video clip on who's sinking your boat. Well, Nakamora thought that not every organisation can be likened to such a ship, as the employees loyalty belong not to the ship, but to the domain of discipline that take them to the boat in the first place...

Consolidation...

Many years ago I thought that it is better to separate different topics in several blogs, hence I have more than one blog. But with the labeling facility coming into being that would not be necessary anymore. Postings can be labeled accordingly, and as result passive blogs can be avoided. Hence postings at my other blog "Don't Throw Them Away" which was started in November 2007, will be gradually migrated to this blog. The blog is about traditions, knowledge, experience, culture, and heritage and how we can benefit from them...

Old things tend to find uses later, they tend to be recycled and become useful again. This is not just for material things, but also for concept, philosophy, and fashion....

Keris Making (Wavy Blade Daggers) -- A Dying Art / 12 Nov 2007

Keris making at a cottage industry in Terengganu

Making keris (wavy blade daggers) in Terengganu, Malaysia... looks simple, but there are a lot of scientific principles underlying the age old traditional method for making keris... forging, tempering, etching... the tools look equally simple, but they are able to be perform the task of producing a beautiful keris used to make the keris... it is a dying art, no one to pass on the knowledge to; youngsters no longer find such a 'career' or vocation attractive...

Travel the World for...

The mobility of peoples and goods, and information, has tremendously increased with the advent of modern transportation systems. It can be disrupted, severely in some occassions, as we have witnessed in the past week, but in general a lot more peoples and goods are moving from one place to another, for one purpose or another.
Some travel for businesses, others for holidays, or combine both. Nakamora's travel in the past week was of the latter type. In the process, he got stuck in Dubai, stayed three days in Vienna, and spent the weekend in Prague before due to fly home.
Still others travel the world for medical treatment, hence the term medical tourism; for recreation, hence recreational or sports tourism. Still another class, Nakamora thought, are those who travel, or being made to travel, for a living. A construction worker he met in Dubai mentioned that he has worked in a construction project in Malaysia in Bandar Baru Bangi, in Penang, and in Klang, along with a host of other countries. As he looked up at construction workers next to steel bars, scaffolds, and reinforced concrete columns at construction sites in many cities he wondered how many buildings have that worker be involved in, and in how many places has he travelled. He must have his own views and viewpoints of the city; views that are different from us altogether...

Night Shift...

The sight is much more clearer in life than in the photo. A lone watchman sits on a plastic chair, reading something, under a street lamp. That is one of the night-time jobs among several; and may be one of the most passive in terms of physical movements.

Nakamora wondered what is it that makes them stay awake? How do they finish the job? What are they thinking, as it appears that they have plenty of time for doing that, don't they miss the daytime activities when they have to make up for lost sleep at night? Nakamora wanted to ask a guard. Perhaps someday there's an opportunity to do, so in a tactful manner.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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..

Home Is The Office

Can we work at home and achieve the same productivity as we ought to be? Can all the technological gadgets and facilities that we have be set-up for working at home? Yes, and No. The answer depends on the type of work we do.
Those who are making sales, like salesmen, can definitely not work from home. They have to meet customers and create leads to sales and other new products offered by his company. Yes, there is e-business; products can be displayed and ordered on-line. Well, not all products fit that mode of selling. Books? Yes, Amazon.com proved that its is possible.
What about doctors? No.
What about teachers? No.
So, what would be the conditions to be fulfilled?
1. the work must not require physical interaction with another beings
2. does not require special equipment, jigs, or tools that are expensive and require special set-up
3. does not require handling or use of hazardous items, chemicals, gaseous, bacteria, or radioactive material
4. does not disturb the neighborhood; residential areas are place for people to relax at home
Perhaps those whose work mainly need to communicate with others, e.g. for consultation in meetings, etc. can operate from home.
While trying to think of some other criteria, Nakamora thought perhaps he ought to take a break. Really, today is his off day..

Writer's block?

It was six weeks ago since I wrote anything in this blog. It's not that there is nothing to record, there was.. but I guess I must be better able to manage my time.
Finally, Nakamora started writing one of the titles he wanted to write all along. He has only started thinking how to finish the book, how to have it published, promoted, and distributed. Who'd be possible sponsors? or should he fork money from his own pocket?

Learning on Your Own

Not everything we have to learn in formal classrooms, organized courses, or training programs. Some skills, be it for everyday life, or even at work, we have to learn on our own- self learning. Nobody taught us how to ride a bicycle, we just explore, some times, or most of the time the hard way. We stumble and fall, and ride it again, until in the end we get the trick. Once there, it never leave us, even though we have not ride the bicycle for ages, once we are given the opportunity to do so many years later, we would still be able to do it.. without tumbling down.