Odysseys of George

As I traveled home from a dive recently, I heard a friend of mine discussing about an incident that recently occurred. An experienced instructor was probably suffering from decompression sickness after doing a dive at just 18metres deep. The instructor was ill and his only hope is to get himself to a hyperbaric chamber located almost 300km up north from the incident site. The outcome depends totally on how severe the decompression sickness is and how fast they can get him into the chamber. The worst is obviously death!

As diving sport picks up pace and becomes a popular hobby, one has to realize that there are more such cases to come. Also, as diving becomes more popular, those in the industry are bound to cut corners and simplify courses in order to earn fast bucks. This then leads to more inadequately trained divers and many irresponsible trainers.

Such is the case of the above scenario. An instructor trying to cut his safety diving profile in order to earn more. This in itself reflects the attitude of the instructor and though he may be a nice individual but irresponsibility in a sport than can be fatal is totally wrong. He should be dismissed and not given the chance to train another individual.

Strangely, this was also a topic of discussion during the dive I went for. A senior diver and also an instructor noted that the syllabus for training for courses in diving has been modified so much to make it easier to attain the license. As we discussed, we realized the mark differences in the syllabus during his time, mine and a recent diver. Generally, to make diving more recreational, the diving associations have made it more relaxing. Less stress is seem to be given to the importance of safety and diving hazards and more focus given on how to dive. Maybe it is not just the associations but also the instructors who again cut corners and fear to touch the issues that may cause students to worry, and further make quick bug money. And because they, the instructors close their eyes to the importance of dive safety and hazards, those who train under them would follow and thus a string of irresponsible and inadequately trained rankings from open water to advance, rescue diver, divemasters and assistant instructors are made. Not only do they harm themselves but do not realize that they have misplaced or erased the responsibility given to them upon getting certified and place harm or possible harm on other divers they accompany.

So for those who aspire to dive, choose wisely - ask and evaluate. Assess the character of your trainer and see whether he or she holds the attitudes of a responsible trusted instructor. At the end of your training, you should be able to say that you are confident to dive safely! For those who are already diving, continue to practice safe diving. For those who train others, please have the sense of responsibility that your trainees trust you with their lives during and after training. So be responsible and dive safely!

A hospital Sister sent me this one fine morning. I felt it so true and an extremely wonderful piece. I cannot help but to share it with my readers. Hope you find it as valuable and meaningful an article as I did.

Isn’t it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70’s and 80’s - could write something so very eloquent…and so very appropriate.

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, ‘I love you’ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Feed small kids small fish

Last updated: Monday, January 07, 2008

Small kids should eat only small fish to avoid building up dangerously high levels of mercury, Australian health officials warned on Sunday following research on three Asian families who fed their children a rice and fish porridge called congee.

Their children, aged 15 months to two years, who had eaten congee - known as juk in Korea and chao in Vietnam - had up to five times normal mercury levels, according to a report in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Stephen Corbett, a doctor with the Sydney West Area Health Service, told reporters that fish of the right type in the right quantity was good for children’s nutrition.

“Two to three portions a week and small fish for small fry,” he advised, warning that mercury at even relatively low levels could affect children’s development.

Fish to avoid

Dr Lisa Szabo, chief scientist of the New South Wales Food Authority, said that parents had to worry about only six types of fish: shark, broadbill, swordfish, marlin, orange roughy and catfish.

“In part it’s because they’re bigger,” she said. “But they’re also longer-lived and they’re predatory fish, which means that they eat a lot of small fish so that’s why they tend to accumulate the mercury.”

I was supposed to put this up last year. This was one of the main attractions in Kuala Lumpur in view of Visit Malaysia 2007.

I enjoyed the ride and also taking photos of it using my simple point and shoot Canon G7.

Enjoy.

The view from the top

And another

Enjoy.

I got this in my email - I thought I should share it.

Do Malaysian Muslims understand what ‘Allah’ means?
The Other Malaysia
Written by Farish A. Noor
Tuesday, 25 December 2007

At the time of writing this, I am in Cairo in the company of my Egyptian friends who are Muslims, Catholics and Copts. Eid has passed and I attended several dinners and celebrations where Muslims and Copts celebrated together, visiting each others’ homes and ate til we could not eat any further. What is worse, Christmas is upon us and so once again Muslims, Catholics and Copts will be heading for the communal table for the communal feast and there will be much licking of chops, munching of bread, gobbling of sweet deserts and drinking for everyone. It is all simply too pleasant to believe, yet it is real and this is what life is like for many in Cairo, the ‘Mother of civilization’ and home to more than twenty million Egyptians from all walks of life.

What is most striking to the outside observer like me - though rather banal for the Egyptians themselves - is the fact that in all these celebrations ranging from Eid for the Muslims to Christmas for the Catholics and Copts the word ‘Allah’ is used to denote that supreme and singular divinity, God. Catholics and Copts alike exclaim ‘Masha-allah’, ‘Wallahi’, ‘ya-Rabbi’, ‘Wallah-u allam’, and of course ‘Allahuakbar’ day in, day out, everywhere they go. The coptic taxi driver blares out ‘By Allah, cant you see where you are parking??” as he dodges the obstable ahead. The Catholic shopkeeper bemoans “Ya Allah, ya Allah! You can only offer me two pounds for the scarf? Wallahi, my mother would die if she heard that! Ya-Rabbi, ya-Rabbi!”

Yet in Malaysia at the moment yet another non-issue has been brewed to a scandal for no reason: The Malaysian Catholic Herald, a publication by and for Catholics in the country, has been told that it can no longer publish its Malaysian language edition if it continues to use the word “Allah” to mean God. Worse still, the country’s Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum recently stated that “Only Muslims can use the word Allah” ostensibly on the grounds that “Allah” is a Muslim word. The mind boggles at the confounding logic of such a non-argument, which speaks volumes about the individual’s own ignorance of Muslim culture, history and the fundamental tenets of Islam itself.

For a start, the word ‘Allah’ predates the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad and goes way back to the pre-Islamic era. Christians had been using the word long before there were any Muslims, in fact. Furthermore the word is Arabic, and is thus common to all the peoples, cultures and societies where Arabic - in all its dialects - is spoken, and is understood by millions of Arabic speakers to mean God, and little else. One could also add that as “Allah” is an Arabic word it therefore has more to do with the development and evolution of Arabic language and culture, and less to do with Islam. It is hard to understand how any religion can have a language to call its own, for languages emerge from a societal context and not a belief system. If one were to abide by the skewered logic of the Minister concerned, then presumably the language of Christianity (if it had one) would be Aramaic, or perhaps Latin.

The Minister’s remark not only demonstrated his shallow understanding of Muslim culture and the clear distinction between Arab culture and Muslim theology, but it also demonstrated his own lack of understanding of the history of the Malays, who, like many non-Arabs, only converted to Islam much later from the 13th century onwards. Among the earliest pieces of evidence to indicate Islam’s arrival to the Malay archipelago are the stone inscriptions found in Malay states like Pahang where the idea of God is described in the sanskrit words ‘Dewata Mulia Raya’. As no Malay spoke or even understood Arabic then, it was natural for the earliest Malay-Muslims to continue using the Sanskrit-inspired language they spoke then. Surely this does not make them lesser Muslims as a result?

The ruckus that has resulted thanks to the threat not to allow the publication of the Malaysian language edition of the Christian Herald therefore forces observers to ask the simple question: Why has this issue erupted all of a sudden, when the word Allah was used for so long with narry a protest in sight? At a time when the Malaysian government is already getting flak as a result of the protests by Malaysian Hindus who insist that they remain at the bottom of the economic ladder despite fifty years of independence, now it would appear as if the Malaysian government cannot get enough bad publicity.

The administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came to power on the promise that it would promote its own brand of moderate Islam that was pluralist and respectful of other cultures and religions. But time and again the Malaysian public - first Hindus and now Christians - have felt necessary to protest over what they regard as unfair, biased treatment and the furthering of an exclusive brand of Islam that is communitarian and divisive. The latest fiasco over the non-issue that is the name of God would suggest that Prime Minister’s Badawi’s grand vision of a moderate Islam has hit the rocks, and is now floundering. Just how the ministers and elite of this government is to regain their course is open to question, but what is clear is that some Ministers should get their basic knowledge of their own religion in order first.

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