Rewards 5 - What Rewards?

Here's another video from Petronas...
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A Little Indian Philosophy 3 - Seeing the Light

Found an impressive videos on Youtube, from Petronas. It is self-explanatory...
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Cat's Play 2a - Up the tree

She did it again! Up on the tree crying for help in the dead of the night! You would think that after the saga the night before she would have learned not to climb up the tree again. *SIGH*

Here we go again, all the improvised equipment, torchs, ladders, sticky tape,...etc.
That's only half way up.
Anyway, this was second time round and it was easier. :)
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Cat's Play 2 - Up the tree

This is my silly kitten.In the dead of the night, she climbed up the tree this high! She knows how to go up, but didn't know how to come down in reverse order. So she was stuck about 11m high (5 storeys high) and was crying out for help. We were brought to the attention by the kitten's mother, who was circling around the kitchen table nervously and calling us to follow her into the garden.

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My ladder is only 6m tall. She was another 5 metre above me and it was dark and cold outside. Climbing the almost branchless 5 metre section was too risky. We called the firemen, but their truck wouldn't be able to access our garden. It is also not possible to enter from the forest side. They would have to climb up the extra 5m after the ladder. Sometimes, the fireman might inadvertently frighten the kitten and she may panic and jump to her death. So they suggested that we leave her out there for a night and see what can be done the next day, but no more than a day as she will starve to death.
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Meanwhile, we cracked our heads and came up with an idea to tie something heavy to one end of a rope and throw it up over the branch where the kitten was, then lower the heavy object, and attach a basket to it. I tried that but it was too difficult. I dare not throw it too near the kitten in case I smash her face killing her, or scare her and she jumped to death. Besides, it was difficult standing at 6m on the ladder and throwing the dumbell (yes, we use a small one used by joggers!!!) almost vertically. I tried throwing up a few times - the last time it came down and landed on my chin. So now I have a bruised chin and the kitten was still up there crying in desperation.

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Next idea: we tied a basket to a fallen tree branch, but the branch was too short... haiz.

.So we extended the length, by with a few of them...

Thus, there I was at the top of the 6m ladder, in the darkness under the canopy of the night forest, straining my arms holding the bottom end of the heavy five metre long stick, moving the basket at the far end till it reaches the kitten. When the basket reached her, she looked into it, but didn't jump!!! URGH!!! My arms were now aching and wobbling, as it was heavy holding the stick with the basket at the far end. Besides, I was recovering from sciatic pains and every stretch of the leg was a stinging pain. As I persisted, my arms and legs shivered. I knew it was a point of no return. If I give up and lower the basket and the kitten happen to jump, she would jump to her death.

After ten more minutes, my persistence paid off. She finally got the hint and jumped into the basket. The sudden weight in the basket at the far end of the long stick threw me off balance momentarily, and I had to grab the tree quickly to keep still. So at last, the rescue is done. I got the basket and saw her. She looked petrified, but relieved.

A few months ago, I had another problem. I dropped my Dopod stylus in between the terrace timber floor boards. The gap is barely 1 cm wide and it is 10cm above a sandy ground below.

See picture below. We managed to rescue the stylus without taking out the floor boards or tunneling the ground. :) Do you want to think about how we did it? :)

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Lost In Conceptualisation 2 - Policing and Revenge

I was invited to a writing competition prize award ceremony organised by the Liege Police in Belgium, with the theme "Vengeance". The competition is a way of helping the police think out-of-the-box when solving cases.

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Being trained in the police academy and absorbed by the working comraderie, it is easy to get "lost in conceptualisation". Hence they seek the creative thoughts of fiction writers, and cast the net wide with a prize money. It is injecting professionals outside the trade into the trade, where they can now see things from the child-like observation and creativity of a child.

The Award Ceremony

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The first prize story is about the monologue of a seemingly upright man trying to logic out why he had beaten up his mother and left her in the covered sewers of the city. The contradictions and pains of a man who was badly treated by his mother and ultimately got into a rage of madness to commit the tragic act. Yet, the novel depicts in monumental detail, the thoughts and concerns of the son of his already dead mother in the sewer.

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Arguably, there are better written novels that were submitted and had won the second prizes, but they all follow too much the rationality of conventional crimes. The first prize was won on originality that captures the hearts of the judges and the ability not to have the plot spun off from conceptualisations that most policemen are trained to think in.

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To read also "Lost in Conceptualisation", click here

In Sickness or In Health 7 - Pain

Everything happens for a reason. I am in excruciating sciatic pain, from my butts down behind my thighs to the back of my knee. This is the result of sitting down too much and getting stressed out from work.
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So I got off my chair and went for a long long walk. As I walked the pain disappeared. As I stopped, the pain came back. The walk thus became a walking meditation.
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Somehow, like toothaches, pains get worse near bedtime. Then, I took pain killers and the pain disappeared. It was as if nothing is wrong with my sciatic nerve. But now, I have to be more disciplined not to sit down too much, as I don't have the pain to kick my butts. Listening to my body now becomes less obvious with pain killers.
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[more later... I am in pain... arghhhh!!!]

In Sickness or In Health 6a - Fair Weather

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Fair weather friends are happy when there is money and when the going is continuously smooth. Fair weather friends are friends when the situation is easy and desirable, as it is easier to soak in money, hang around people with money and live their life.

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But isn't friendship independent from money? Hmmm... sounds good, but does it happen in practice? Do people stick around in sickness and in health? Can friendship remain strong always?

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For those of you who have not trodden down the paths of hard times, you may not understand exactly what I am moaning about. However, to some of you 'fortunate ones', you may never have a chance to know who your real friends are either. It is when you are really down that you find out who your real friends are.

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When times are hard financially, we must still not let our spirits down. We must not let the hard times dull our body and soul. We are what we are. We are not what we are with money.

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I have heard of a friend who likes to impress girls with money. He then got married with one and divorced when he fell on hard times. Then marry another and also divorced later. With no money, so there is no honey. What goes around comes around. For those who believe that they can impress others with money will get fair weather friends or fair weather spouses. But do forgive them if you know any fair weather friends, for they do not know.

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We all prefer easier times, but hard times makes us stronger and prepare us for the next level of achievements. So life isn't so bad after all. At least I know who my friends are! Now I feel better already! :)

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More fun read with "In Sickness or In Health 6 - Fair Weather" - Click here

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Post scriptum:

If given with love, a handful is sufficient.

-- Telugu proverb

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