Monday, December 27, 2010

Pale Blue Dot (A Time to Reflect) & Happy New Year 2011

The Pale Blue Dot is a famous photograph of planet Earth taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 from a record distance, showing it against the vastness of space. This photo was taken by request of Carl Sagan, NASA commanded the Voyager 1 spacecraft, having completed its primary mission and now leaving the Solar System, to turn its camera around and to take a photograph of Earth across a great expanse of space.

 Why ?

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Look again at that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. 

Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

So with that reflection by my hero Dr.Carl Sagan, I wish you all a very Happy New Year 2011. 

Peace !!

Regards (Ali)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Proposed Sabah Road Trip

564km Day 1 BN-Kudat


416km Day 2 Kudat-Sandakan
333km Day 3 Sandakan-KK
396km Day 4 KK-BN

Total Trip Distance: 1700 km or 1000 miles

Thursday, December 9, 2010

FarmVille. WeFarm. eh??

I've been meaning to check out this place long time ago. only today we got there. quite an interesting place. it's like FarmVille or WeFarm. LOL. the feeling is pretty much like u are in New Zealand haha..
oh where. it's at the very end road of DeRimba, there's a big roundabout and a signboard - Pusat Latihan Mekanikal.

im sure it's a nice place if u go early in the morning. the freshness of the air and the sounds of the nature, while sipping hot tea. really peaceful.







Ostrich terlapas instagramming! LOL
Tini is waiting for the ostriches to let go their deposits.
An alien.
Poor and under nourished ostriches :( feathers fallen off. kasian. dont know what are they thinking when looking at us.
u guys should see the deer at the other end. they look funny. their heads make a synchronized turn when they see u haha.. but they are adorable and special. there is something magical about this animal. reminds me of christmas..
Ostrich terlapas.
Posing by the fence.

Still Remember once upon a time at Litar?? Yeah we all did it!! That's in 2010.

I just feel i need to post something for 2010 photos. Here are some of them that have not been posted. Sorry for the lack of updates lately.

I hope it brings a lot of sweet memories for all of us this year. That's when KPMG was born, and born to be whale. and yes indeed, we were born to perform.

It has been a good year, fun and crazy. no matter what's happened, take it as an experience in life and a lesson learnt. never think otherwise. we fall, we get up and we ride again. 'cause that's what we are, The Gauk Riders ;) gauk yo! we all know, everything happens for a reason. it's something very personal. getting to know yourself better. when u have overcome it, that's when u know you're a stronger person inside regardless what bike or what CC u ride.

bigger bike or faster bike doesn't mean u are a tough rider, eh? that's more on the outside ego thing right? haha.. kidding :) being self reflective is always good.

ok ok. here are the photos..

JPD Litar. a battle place for all riders.
Joe, the stunt rider from Sutifah. a good student :)
I know everyone hates this bumpy track. but we all did it well right.
it shouldnt be less than 8 sec, yeah?

The figure 8 track.

The straight platform. i closed my eyes when doing this. it was so easy. some people just couldnt get it straight. i dont know who. im sure there are people haha.. :pp

Maneuvering up
Maneuvering back again.

Emergency brake.
Lowland, what u doing? how can u pass the test? u kopi O with irwan ah? :D

JPD should include wheeley la as part of the test. then we know we are qualified!!