Conspiracy Theories #1

I shall name it #1 because I foresee a whole lot more. And each time I come across a baseless one, I shall refute it. Maybe I should call it "Stupid Theories", but then I want to be a teensy bit nice.

So maybe most of you haven't realised it yet, from my previous posts, but I seriously SERIOUSLY have problems with people who are spewing all sorts of baseless statements regarding the apocalyptic 2012.

Firstly, I think all these people are selfish.
If just for a moment they stop thinking that the world only revolves around them, and realise that there are many people who are separated from their loved ones in different parts of the country and the world, working hard to make a better future for themselves, they should really shut up about the world ending soon.

Secondly, I think these people are ignorant.
I mean like seriously, they are harping about the world ending because some movie with super duper effects said so? In that case Los Angeles should probably be a wasteland by now with the amount of extraterrestrial attacks, extreme natural disasters, and I don't know, zombies? piled on that city in so many movies.

So. The winner for today is this stupid line circulating the Net:

"USA lost many lives on 9-11-01. Now, Japan lost more lives on 3-10-11. Add the 2 dates together to get 12-21-12."

I just cannot help it but to ridicule people who put this up. There are just so many things to put down:

1) There are roughly 196 countries in the world, not only two: the USA and Japan.
2) Please know that 9/11 was a terrorist attack. A terrorist attack is NOT a natural disaster.
3) What about 12-26-04 (Phuket tsunami), 5-18-08 (Sichuan earthquake), 1-12-10 (Haiti earthquake), 2-27-10 (Chile earthquake)? Just to name a few. If you add all the dates together, you get a bunch of numbers for your lottery. Winning the lottery is not guaranteed.

So come on, people. Stop it already with all these nonsense. You do know that when you put things like this up, it doesn't make you seem smart. Not at all.

If somehow at the end of it, the whole thing turned out to be true, and everyone died, no one's going to be left alive to reprimand me about this.

But in the meantime, stop panicking over really stupid things.

Knowledge is Power

You know how the old saying goes.

In these current times of panic and grief, and with the borderless global community, know that not everything you read on the Internet is true. Just because somebody claims that the information is from a certain 'reliable' source also does not make it true.

For instance, CNN: Hot chick is now ruler of new island community, formed from this chunk of land breaking off from this piece of peninsula due to active tectonic plate activity.
Fact: CNN does not have a report on this.
Fact: The "Hot chick" in the headline refers to yours truly.
Fact: Everything else after "CNN: Hot chick" is utter rubbish.

Therefore if you received text messages that are something like this:

"4:30 in the afternoon, a nuclear power plant exploded in Fukumi. Do not go out if it rains later today and tomorrow. If you are going out, wear a raincoat or use an umbrella because if you get rained on it’s said to be dangerous. There is tendency that your skin will be burned, you will go bald or will get cancer. Please pass."

or this:

"BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asia countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24hrs. Close doors & windows. Swab nec(k)skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Phil at starting 4pm today. Pls send to your loved ones."

remember that just because it says "BBC FLASHNEWS" doesn't make it true either. And instead of panicking and passing them on blindly (and perhaps heading straight to the pharmacy and clear out every bottle of Betadine they have in stock), find out how true these things are.

Looking at the first "warning", let's just say, if the rain is so dangerous as to cause chemical burns, baldness, and cancer, I am pretty sure a flimsy piece of synthetic material (umbrellas and raincoats) isn't going to provide you with much protection. And notice that the message has no explanation as to why exactly the nuclear power plant explosion has anything to do with the rain (and we shall discuss that later).

By the way, it's Fukushima, not FUKUMI. And it's Newsflash, not FLASHNEWS. Little mistakes like these also indicate the lack of reliability of these rumours.

The second message is also similar, but this one has one extra precautionary step which is to swab Betadine on your neck. First things first: Please know that Betadine is basically an antiseptic solution for cleaning wounds and used for disinfecting surfaces. ANTISEPTICS do NOT protect you from radiation sickness.

That in itself already made the whole "warning" very questionable. To add to it, these rumours start getting out of hand by claiming the occurences of ACID RAIN (which kind of explain all the warnings regarding staying out of the rain etc.) due to the nuclear power plant explosion.

Please know that a nuclear fallout and acid rain are two completely different phenomena.

Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally when lightning strikes and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions.

The burning of fossil fuel also releases sulfur dioxide. Thus COAL power plants is a cause of acid rain. Not nuclear power plants.

A nuclear fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, so called because it "falls out" of the atmosphere after the explosion. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes.

Note that a nuclear power plant explosion and a nuclear explosion are also two different things, just like a nuclear reactor and a nuclear bomb are two different things.

Here are some links, just in case some people still believe that a chunk of uranium from the core reactor is going to land on them tomorrow when it rains:
- Science officials: No threat of nuclear clouds, acid rain in PH
- Philippines hit by 'nuclear cloud' hoax
- Meltdown alert at Japan reactor

Irresponsible people start hoaxes like this by preying on people's fears. Ignorant people spread them out because they are, well, ignorant. You only fear the unknown.

Don't be ignorant, do yourself a favour and find things out for yourself.

Humanity

I always ponder about this when I get too sick with work (I mean, there is only so much about rivers and hydrology that I can handle in a moment's worth). Like in one of my old posts, I was talking about how Junior Masterchef Australia gave me a spark of hope for the next generation.

However, the recent events which provoked these thoughts are of a sadder ("sadder"...is there such a word?) nature. JAPAN -- the one country which is on everyone's mind right now (and I hope, in prayers too). Devastating news. But in the midst of all that, you see inspiring articles up on the social media boards and across the internet.

One that caught my attention was this one: Japan Quake as Seen from Twitter (Translated by me so quality questionable) by Jun Shiomitsu on Facebook. This, along with the CNN article regarding the absence of human turmoil in post-disaster Japan.

The Facebook post is really touching. How many of you out there could attest to that? I highly doubt many nations could do that. I highly doubt mine can. Just for comparison on a tiny scale: the case where the four-wheel-drive that overturned on the North-South Expressway in Rembau which scattered a bunch of loose change on the road -- which then led to motorists risking their own lives, to frantically pick up as many coins as they can, not to return to the accident victims mind you, bur for themselves. COINS. As in, disregard of their own lives and the accident victims', for that.

An excerpt: "Some were also seen sitting along the roadside and picking the coins, oblivious of the crash victim..."

That just goes to show what kind of mentality the nation has.

As opposed to in Japan: "At a supermarket where everything was scattered everywhere over the floors, shoppers were helping pick them up and putting them back neatly on the shelves before quietly moving into line to wait to pay for them."

I have the most sincere RESPECT to these people and their wonderful country.

So here comes my rants.

I know of a lot of people who seem to have some kind of identity crisis and want to be all Japanese, peppering their conversations with snippets of broken Jap, claims to only watch Japanese dramas and animes, read only Japanese mangas...you know, that sort of thing, and it got me thinking: If you want to be so Jap, why don't you also embrace that respectable attitude the real Japanese people have? You know, just saying.

Then there are just those insensitive morons who are making jokes about Ultraman and Doraemon running away from the mega-natural disasters. Tasteless. The nerve of some people saying "Where is your sense of humour?" to people who are protesting that stupidity. There is a time and place for a sense of humour, and making fun of a nation's dire situation post-disaster is not one of them. If you want so much humour, go make fun of your politicians, since most of them are half-ass anyway.

Oh, and to those people who keep going on about how 2012 is true, just because of some mega-hyped movie and conspiracy theories: SHUT UP. It's people like you that the world doesn't need. We don't need your negativity during times like these. We don't need you to whine about your half-baked, no-basis speculations about the end of the world. If you think the world is going to end, shouldn't you be brushing up on being good and chalking up on your good deeds?

Do this one good deed: Stop being selfish and shut the hell up.

Also, if you want to be deemed 'awesome' and 'up-to-date' about what's going on, please brush up on your knowledge, and confirm that your information is true. False reporting is a felony, you know. Don't make hyped up reports, especially when you don't live on the coast.

Be strong, Japan. Our hopes, wishes and, prayers are with you.

Security, security

Recently I took a trip to Hong Kong, departing from KLIA's Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), and returned to the country from Macau International Airport. Apparently, while we were at the Macau airport, a personnel told us that they had complaints of being lax and thus have upped their level of security. In other words, they were pretty strict about stuff.

Which made me think about how EXTREMELY over-the-top lax the airport security is in Malaysia. No wonder people could smuggle bag loads of living snakes without anyone the wiser. You see, on the day we were leaving, we decided not to queue up at the check-in counter so we checked-in at the kiosk. We could check all four people in, without the presence of everyone. With our printed boarding passes, we headed over to the luggage check-in counter to drop our luggages. The oddest thing was, the counter personnel did not ask us for any identification documents. No I.C., no passport. Nada. That was really odd.

On the contrary, in Macau, the check-in counter required our passports AND the presence of its bearer. And they require you to get your check-in luggage security-scanned all over again if you happen to tamper with/open your bag prior to checking-in and after it has been scanned.

I have to admit, tight security adds to the hassle whereas the lack of it makes your travelling experience downright a breeze. However, on the whole, it is quite worrisome as to how easy it is to get pass security, what more on an international flight.

It's something to think about, no?