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Justice for Gary Robert’s Death

// August 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // News

Seek justice for Gary Robert’s Death

Last Sunday (2nd August 2009), my friend, Gary Leon Robert went missing after completing a 22km marathon (Adidas King of the Road) around Shah Alam Stadium organized by none other than Adidas Malaysia. On Monday (3rd August 2009), his body was found in the Stadium basement. The cause of his death is dehydration*, however we believe that perhaps the real cause of his death is negligent.On Thursday, ‘The Star’ published 2 pages on how successful the event went but nothing on Gary.**

The Star

To be fair to the media, I believe there are a number of online articles of him but they are relatively short in details. (google them!)

Malay Mail
New Strait Times
MStar

Participating a run may seem harmless, but in the light of his death we need to take steps to improve the facilities which sport event organizers provide and the care which paramedics give. The Mayor of Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam said the Gary was given the best medical treatment. If he had, he would still be here with us.

Wtf! Death of dehydration while under the care of paramedics? It’s an unnecessary death and it is SO SO SO avoidable. Healthy and good kid like this shouldn’t die so young.

No more Microsoft® Word

// August 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // News

Judge orders Microsoft to stop selling Word

A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.

Judge Leonard Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction that “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML,” according to a statement released by attorneys for the plantiff, i4i.

Microsoft said it was disappointed in the ruling and that it would appeal the verdict.

“We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid,” Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz said in a statement.

Toronto-based i4i sued Microsoft in March 2007 alleging that the Redmond,Wash.-based software giant violated its 1998 patent (No. 5,787,449) for a document system that eliminated the need for manually embedded formatting codes.

Micro$oft can’t seem to escape from lawsuits eh? And now they are forbidden to sell Word? Jeez…what are we supposed to use then? Alphabets?

Pop of a King

// August 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // News

I’ve been meaning to write a short entry on Michael ever since the news of his death broke out. I couldn’t.

It is not because I didn’t care.
Neither it is because I was too sad nor had I no feelings for the demise of the King of Pop.
It is not because of the scandals that tainted the last decade of his life.
It is not because of the hideous look plastic surgery had caused him.

It is because I wanted to give the man a moment of silence.
It is because I wanted to read and see how the hypocrites in the world pretend to care when just less than a decade ago, they were the extreme critics.
It is because I wanted the man to rest in peace.

I grew up with Michael’s songs. I may not be his greatest fan but without a doubt, his songs and dance moves influenced my adolescent days. The forward-leaning and moon-walking moves, were among the many things I tried, but of course failed, to mimic during those days.

He remained as one of my favourite artists until his child-molestation scandals surfaced about a decade ago. I was drawn to the news and as good as anyone guess, they poisoned my thoughts and slowly, I lost interest in him and the news altogether. What made things worse was the incident when he dangled a baby from a balcony for all his fan to see. From that moment, to me, the King of Pop has failed, both as a sane human and a legend.

On June 25th, 2009, I read about the unsuspected death of Michael. Even as I read the article from The Star newspaper, I still couldn’t believe it was him. He was trying to make a comeback, at the age of 50. I so wanted to see if he can still do all the slick moves he did a few decades back. But now he’s dead. Dead before he can recover his fame and innocence?

As I followed the news and read the testimonials from magazines, websites or books alike, only did I realized how wrong I was. He had not lost his fame. Look at the millions of fans who mourned for his death. He regained his innocence when he was not found guilty on all his charges on child-molestations. I just didn’t know; I wasn’t following the news. But it hurts to know that sub-consciously, I’ve sentenced this man to a lifetime exile from my fave list, without even giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Michael’s legacy will live on, just like Elvis before him. His contribution and love will forever immortalize him in the hearts of many children and adults alike. The story of his life reminded me of a meaningful quote:

You came into the world crying, while everyone around you were smiling. Live your life such that when you die, you leave the world smiling while everyone else are crying.

T_T

King of Pop (RIP)

// June 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // News

Singer Michael Jackson dead at 50

Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted “King of Pop” who emerged from childhood superstardom to become the entertainment world’s most influential singer and dancer before his life and career deteriorated in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday. He was 50.

Strangely, I felt a hint of sadness when I heard the news. I mean, I grow up with his songs; Bad, Billy Jean, Smooth Criminals, just to name a few. In fact, I was his fan until those scandals came up.

Rest in peace, MJ. Your legend will live on.