A Boeing 777 Part – So What?

On 14 March 2014, a Malaysian Boeing 777 went missing during a MH370 flight. Mysteries surrounded that fated disappearance (read “MH370 Once More“). Theories as to why the massive airliner just vanished were abound. None could be nearer the truth. Suffice to say that official speculation was that it went off course to somewhere west of Australia. Australian Prime Ministered vowed that the search will go on until it is found. The search went silent, until yesterday. Perhaps this piece of “evidence” brings closure to this vow that may otherwise be unfulfilled.

Die for Drugs

For a few moments of ecstasy, young people are lured into eternal damnation. The dangers of drug abuse are well-known and understood. Yet, people risk their lives and money to do what they know is no good. Why is this so? There are many reasons. The most fundamental reason is one that many would ignore. Either because it sounds silly to them or they are too arrogant to believe. It is not drugs per se. It is the unseen power that lurks yonder. A nefarious power that snares and kills. Whether you believe it or not, it is there. All these stories of drug abuse attest to this potent and unseen power. It is not just a power, it is a being.

Children with No Childhood

It is so easy to take life for granted. That we are breathing is itself a miracle. To enjoy the spectacular vastness of the turquoise oceans, the warm golden sunset, the green rolling hills, …, the birds and the bees – that’s another endless list of the wonders of creation. It takes a Creator with incredible creativity to cause all these to exist. They are given to us to enjoy free of charge. Along the life’s journey, we forgot these God-given beauty and splendour. We let them slip by the wayside as life slips away. We forget how to live!

Race to the Grave

We call it a rat race. Wikipedia describes a rat race as ” an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel.” Beyond this futile pursuit is another subliminal race – the desire to be better than the next one. Just wanting to be with the Jones or better than the Jones provides an intense urge to make “self” the focal point of life. Striving to excel is great. But there are negative consequences when the desire turns into obsession. To some, this is how humanity thrives – the fittest survives. To others, this is the death of humanity. Dylan Selterman, a lecturer in the psychology department at the University of Maryland devised this simple challenge to a class.

Celebrities of Another World

What does it take to become famous? What would a person do to attain that celebrity status, to be adored and worshipped? In the music and entertainment industry, nothing will stop a person to sell off himself/herself to reach that pinnacle of fame and fortune. Is it worth it? Most people would probably answer negatively to this. Still, fame and glory will cause man to trade his/her soul for that temporal moment of elation and being worshipped. Behind this game of fame and fortune, an invisible hand takes control to transform the eager soul into another creature that is not quite of this world.

Weekender – Curious Cats

Liftbum.com – Like any good internet craze, a user posted a series of photos showing how to play off of your cat’s curiosity and trick them into sitting in a circle. After observing their cat sitting in a random cord that happened to form a circle on the ground, they decided to get creative.

It’s Not Weird Anymore

Just as “Weird Weird Yankees” (read here) was written yesterday, things get even more bizarre. News.com.au reports: A HORNY couple who were photographed having sex in a phone box in the middle of the day say they are not ashamed of their actions.

Amateur middleweight boxer Gavin Wain, 30, and 41-year-old Lisa Kerley, were photographed by a passing motorist, who drove back to take another picture to try and shame them in their sex act in the phone booth in the district of Wilnecote, near Tamworth, Staffordshire, in England, Tamworth Informed first reported.

Weird Weird Yankees

Has the world gone totally bonkers? Maybe. Some societies have degenerated to a point where it is no longer recognizable as civil. The good is deemed bad and the bad is now good. Times have changed. The new generation is of the view that the oldies are not adapting quick enough to change. They are archaic, old-fashioned and out of touch – not cool. There is some truth in that, especially in the fast changing world of technology. What was once a mouse is now a gadget that looks like one but is no more than an input device to a computer. The fluffy clouds in the sky are now a collection of hardware that keep your data. Keeping up with such changes is indeed hard for the old-fashioned breed.

Self Efficient Life

The Burning Platform – Every Summer we are approached by the sons of neighbors, or their mothers, asking if we have work on the farm. For some it is curiosity, for others a desire to earn a few dollars doing something other than sitting around playing video games. Sometimes they work out, others times they don’t, but we almost always give them a shot if we are asked and in some cases it becomes an annual ritual that ends when they go off to college.As a practice I send the off to the chicken coop with a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow and after a brief period of instruction leave them to clean it out. If they return the next day we’ve got a keeper and we move on to other tasks, if not we save each other a lot of time and frustration. I ran into one of them recently, a young man now, who once drove hundreds of cedar fence posts with a sledge hammer for us the first year we began our life in this place and he lit up with a huge smile when he saw me and rushed over to shake my hand. 

Brave New Family

Just not too long ago, family virtues such as respect for the elderly, honesty and integrity were taught. Values today have apparently deviated from these core values that were once sacrosanct. What has gone wrong with education and societal values today? In just a short span of a few decades, the good old family structure has disintegrated. It is a ME society now. Frank Sinatra had foresight to sing his award-winning song “I did it my way” (listen here). Indeed, that may be the beginning of the end of the “family” when ME becomes the centre of a person’s life.