Famous and Inspirational Quote

Influenced by my New Headway book's Chapter 7, I started to have a new idea of what to write in my blog. This new idea is "quote by famous people. Sometime when u are so down and feel like you want to give up, inspirational really lift your spirit up. So I will try to find great quotes from great people. Here is my first quote: ( I will explain the quote later)


"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."- Albert Einstein (1879-1955 German-born-American Scientist, Philosopher)

Human Intriguing Interest 2

Actually, this post is what I wanted to write for my previous post last time, but I turned out to be critical and wrote about obsession. This is what I really want to write about. Similarly, it is about human personal interest. We, human, are different in so many ways. Not only are our faces different, but also our hobby and personal interest about things in this world are distinct. Some are so into cars that you would find them enjoy talking about different model of cars, cars' parts. To make their cars look elegant and eye-catching, some would pay a considerable amount of money to buy car's spare parts and install them to the cars. Some would be interested in big motorcycles (Nighthawk, BMW, Yamaha), bicycles (some bikes would even cost well over $1,000). I have a friend who is really adore guitar. He said if he had a lot of money, he would buy a 500 dollar guitar. At first, I thought why the hell do want to spend 500 bucks on a guitar. What is the difference between the 40$ guitar and  the 500$ guitar? If I were him, I would not stupidly waste my money on that guitar.

I started to think about it and I begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I use my own perspective and interest as a yardstick to judge other people. I do not know how to play guitar and I do not know the special things about a 500 dollars guitar. Perhaps the sound quality may be different because the guitar is made from a special kind of wood, which also make the handling of the guitar more convenient. I forget to think about the fact that cars differ from one another. Some cars would cost more than a staggering $200.000. The more famous the car 's brand is, the more expensive. Compared with the $200.000 car, the $500 guitar is almost absolutely nothing. To my amazement, a camera would cost more than $1.000. To some people, they would not call "Len" not camera. It is really hard to dig deep into human mind and clearly explain our personal interest. Why do one person really love cameras, while another person adores mountain bicycles and think that cameras are boring. To my perspective, I find it really astonishing. We would dare to spend a vast amount of money to satisfy our interest. It may be viewed as silly by other people, but we do not care. As far as I'm concerned, this phenomenon has to do with human's insatiable wants. We want this and that and even if we get what we want, we still feel that it is not enough. To some extent, our endless wants are the factor that push human society forward. If we are simply complacent with what we have, we would still be living in cave now. Furthermore, people have different childhood and encounter different things. Maybe what we encounter  is embedded in our heart and later become our interest.

Life is not all about work work and work. It is worthwhile to do something to please ourselves. After all,  it is impossible to carry the money we earn when our life ends. We only live once. Don't let our lives become a boring one. Life should be full of euphoria, surprise, happiness and smiles. Capitalize on your life and make it an enjoyable one.

Human Intriguing Interest

By: LENG Bun Meng

It is really amusing to see the difference between people's personality and interest and how people are obsessed with their interest. It is safe to say there is no one common interest or hobby of human being. One's interest may seem lame or weird to another. For example, you may view a person who collect various of sneakers as strange. The reasons why he/she collects a large number of sneakers is simply because "THEY LOVE SNEAKERS!" There are people who are shopaholics and insatiably craving for top brand materials; that is, Gucci, Prada, Luis Vuitton, Burberry, Chanel and the list goes on and on. Obviously, these materials with top brands are expensive. However, some people still want more and more and never seem to be satisfied. Furthermore, it is apparent that some of us are obsessed with celebrity. Some even have hundred of photos of our their favourite idol. Our interest on a particular thing is not really a big deal. Still, we, human, should keep our interest to a limit.. Don't go TOO extreme. More often than not, the word "TOO" produces negative consequences. It is ok to have our interest and do something to please ourself. I also have my interest. BUT, don't be too obsessed. Choose the middle way. Just to be on the safe side, my opinion may not be 100% correct. But I strongly believe it is at least correct to some extent! :)

Beauty = Confidence

By: LENG Bun Meng

Have you face ever flooded with acne or scar? How do you feel when u talk to someone and you have to look at them straight into the eyes? I can bet that you would not dare to look at him/her straight in the face. You have the tendency to turn yourself away, stop the conversation and release yourself out of this misery. So what is the reason behind it? The answer lies in just one simple word: Confidence. You have no confidence to talk to that person and you do not want him/her to look at your ugly face. This case happen to me very often. When my face is full of acne, I would not want to talk to people; I would constantly keep my head down; I would not want to meet with people as well as taking photo. Normally, we would hear people saying that beauty is not important. The real beauty is from the inside. However, to some extent beauty is indispensable. As for my case, I would not have the gut to talk to people and it clearly undermine my own self-esteem, self-belief, self-confidence.

 

Check out her smile Before and After

Let's look at this above picture. Can you spot any difference between the 2 smiles (before and after)? Of course, there is a tremendous difference. Before, she would not dare to smile to show all her teeth, but after polishing her teeth she would smile to reveal all her white teeth without any fear. Beauty can totally raise your self-confidence.

Therefore, try to dress smart and take care of your beauty. Do not let your own beauty let yourself down. However, I do not call on all people to wear makeup every day, but I just want everyone to do something to make yourself look nice. You can change your hairstyle, use foam that suits your skin type to remove all the dirt to have a radiant face. Try to wear nice clothes to boost your morale. Try to wear nice clothes to boost your morale. If you do not have a good looking and it is impossible to change, do not let this small negative point to undermine your self-confidence. You must have faith in yourself and keep telling yourself that you are beautiful in your own ways. Do not ever let your appearance bring you down.

The Dynasty of Kim – Kim Jong-un to succeed Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il (Left), Kim Jong-un (Right)

As we can see in Chinese epic movies, there are several dynasties ruling China. That is, the Han Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Ching Dynasty and so on. There is obviously no difference in North Korea, although it practices Communism – from-father-to-son succession policy is used to handle the absolute power from one generation to another. Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, handed the power to his son, Kim Jong-il and in the near future Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s youngest son, will lead this lonely country. The main controversial question about this succession is “Is Kim Jon-un the right person for this top job? What the future lies for North Korea?”

According to the media, little is known about Kim Jong-un, besides he is 27 years old and was educated in Switzerland. Based on the facts, we can conclude that he is an inexperience leader, but now he is destined to hold the power to rule the country, will he be able to cope with the immense pressure in the nation such as poverty, food insecurity and pressure from foreign superpower? That is, America repeatedly asserts influence on North Korea to give up its nuclear program. There are tough decisions waiting for him to make when he steps in the office and these decisions are the matters of life and death. This lonely country cannot afford any wrong decision; otherwise, the country will totally fall into the jaw of destruction. Will he decide to give up its nuclear program or still stubbornly follow the same footstep of his father? If he chooses to eliminate the country’s nuclear program, the tension between North Korea and South Korea America will be eased. North Korea will definitely receive massive amount of human aid and financial support. This move would drastically save most North Koreans from poverty and starvation. The future of North Korean lies in this 27-year-old man’s hands.  

The DRPK Army

 

Looking at the fact Kim Jong-il points his finger to his son to succeed him, significant changes in the country would hardly take place under Kim Jong-un’s new leadership. Kim Jong-il may have already set the path for his youngest son to follow. Therefore, it would still be the same old policies. Will there be any economic reform – from planning market to free market? The answer is: not likely.

As he is young, inexperience and he has not accomplished any major achievement, it is absolutely difficult to gain respect, trust and confidence from the seniors of this communist government. The future unprecedented situation will be fragile and sensitive. Any conflicts among the top leaders with Kim Jong-un will definitely shake this country. On top of that, any significant decision made by this young man does not mean that every senior member would agree. For instance, if Kim Jong-un finally chooses to neglect the planning market to adopt a free market as the western style, not many top generals would be convinced. Such conflicts could trigger off civil war in the country, which will be devastating for the people. In some ways, Kim Jong-un may have the same fate as Mikhail Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union and may be recorded in history as the last leader of North Korea.

The future of North Korea is in a dark prospect more than ever. Kim Jong-un must be vigilant of his decision and do the right thing. He must make the best use of his recent promotion as the 4 stars general to prove himself to the public and the top senior members of the party that he possesses all the qualities to rule the country; otherwise, it would not be a happy ending for Kim Jong-un’s story of being a premier.

The Top 10 Tank

Tanks have been the key factor for land combat.  This is the list of the top 10 best tanks of all time. The 10 ranks is in accordance with a show called "Top 10 Tank" the History Channel. We will count down from 10 to 1. Here we go!!

10. M-4 Sherman

We kick off the list with an all American tank - M-4 Sherman. This is a really tough and reliable tank. However, it is not the best tank at the time but it can be used for other functions such as spraying fire, building bridges, cleaning mine and so on. Plus, it is also easy to mass produce. At the WWII period, America had to make a choice on the type of tank whether to choose quantity or quality. For clarification, it is not possible to produce a quality tank and at the same time has the capability to produce a vast amount of tank. America decided to choose quantity. WWII was all about the battle of production. However, M4 Sherman revealed its deadly flaw. M4 Sherman consumes gasoline; therefore, when it got hit, explosion will be foreseen in just a matter of few seconds.

9. Merkava

 This machine has proven its worth for Israel when  this powerful elephant fought against high tech Soviet tanks in the Middle East. The Israeli has fought 6 wars against it Arab neighbors and always prevail. To Israel, the tank's crews are much more important than the tank itself. Therefore, the Israeli produced this technologically advanced tank to protect its crews.  The powerful fire power is deadly and accurate and it is fast on dessert. There is only one thing which is a setback for the tank and that is the tank is so expensive to produce

8. T-54/55

If you can produce a tank with the balance of firepower, armor and mobility, you are producing a very great tank. The Soviet may have thought that they had found the best tank when they built this mechanical monster - T-54. The Soviet loved its design so much that over 95,000 of them were produce, a production record second to none. The certainly follow the ideology of Stalin, which is "quantity does has the quality of its own". If you have enough of the T54 tanks, you will certainly crush your enemy. However, the T-54 was proven not to be the best tank. In tank-on-tank combat, the T-54/55 was crushed by the Israeli and the Western counterpart. This T-54/55 is still in service. We can see that Cambodia has just purchased these tanks from Eastern Europe to protect our border. This tank suits us best, because we do not have a lot of money to purchase a powerful tanks from the Western countries. This tank was also used by the Vietnamese during its invasion into Cambodia, dethroning the Khmer Rouge. One of the key success for the Vietnamese army was T 54, as the Khmer Rouge had no anti-tank weapons to destroy these monsters.

7. The Challenger

This is a British tank. To some experts, the Challenger is the best main battle tank at the moment. In the 1991 Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, not even a single Challenger was destroyed, thanks to its modern armor. The Challenger can shoot at 3 different directions in just 3 seconds. This is a really difficult tank to produce that only 300 or so are produced.

 6. Mk IV Panzer

 

Our next tank once made the whole world tremble with fear. It was built by the most evil tyrant of the 20th century: Adolf Hitler. Before the WWII, Hitler had a plan for a new kind of warfare, and  tank is at the heart of his strategy. Never before have a military  leader set the tank at the head of his army. When it was introduced, absolutely nothing on the battle can stop it and can knock out the defensive line in front of them. Mark IV Panzer has changed the face of land warfare forever. The panzer can move across central Europe of up to 30 miles/day and almost crushed Moscow in just a couple of months. Like all German tanks, Mark IV Panzer is not easy to mass produce.

 

 

5. Centurion

 

She was produced in 1945, a bit late to fight the German Panzer. However, she was used to crush enemy for the next 50 years.          

 

 

The gun sight was very innovative, making it effective in getting the first shot on target and it is a matter of life and death on the battlefield. 2 Israeli's Centurions destroyed 60 Syrian T-62 tanks. This British bulldog is also easy to produce.

 

4. WWI Tank

 

When it was appeared on the WWI battlefield, fear was struck into the heart of the enemy. Never before had they seen such a machine moving toward them like this. It was the biggest and heaviest things ever on the battlefield at that time.

 

The soldier at that time did not even know what TANK is. Although the WWI tanks brought fear, this machine was really slow (4mph) and unforgiven for the crews. It was described as "hell in the machine". The armor was not strong too, because the tanks were produced with thin iron. 

 

3. Tiger

 

The way soldiers react to the WWI tanks and this number 3 mighty tank is like the ways soldiers react to elephants in the battlefield. You simply cannot stop elephants from moving forward except run and hide from them. Coming in at number 3 of our top 10 list is: the mighty German Tiger tank.

 

The German Tiger weighs 20 tonnes heavier than other tanks because of its massive armor. A Tiger was hit 227 times and still cannot stop the Tiger. There was almost no damage. This tank seems to be indestructible. Besides its effective armor, the Tiger's firepower was also deadly. If it was really a perfect tank at that time, why didn't Hitler crush the Soviet and the allies? The answer is because there were not enough Tiger tanks on the battlefield. The Tiger was too difficult to construct, as only 1,500 Tigers were ever built compared to the overwhelming amount of tanks of the allies and the Soviet. The Tiger consumer just too much resource and the Germans simply cannot afford it.      

 

2. M1 Abrams

 

This American tank is considered by almost all experts as the best battle tank in the world today. 

 

     In the 1991 Gulf War, 4,500 Iraqi tanks were up against 3,500 coalition tanks. This is the biggest tank battle of all the time, larger than the battle of Kurst between the Soviet and the German. The U.S claimed that 3,847 Iraqri tanks were destroyed, 2,000 of which were credited to the M1 Abrams. The Abrams has a massive armor that can protect its crew. It is also equipped with computer. Nonetheless, this tank is not easy to produce and is really expensive.

1. T-34

The emergence of our number one tank was the the turning point of the baddest and toughest war of all time: the WWII. When the Soviet seemed to be losing and the Nazi appeared as the victor, the inception of this tank change the course of the WWII. We are often confused that the best tank of the WWII is produced by the Germans, but it is not. In fact, it is built by the Soviet Union. Driving in at the Number 1 best tank of all the time: the Russian. T-34

T-34 is a major leap forward for the design of tanks. The Soviet equipped T-34 with slope armor which ricochet off (deflect) the incoming rounds, saving the tank from destruction. The slope armor revolutionize the tank since. T-34 can drive through anything (mud, ice or snow), whereas the German tanks can not. It was a good and simple machine and was so easy to mass produce that 1,300 T-34s were produced every month. The overwhelming amount of these Soviet war machines soon outnumbered the German Panzer. "The T-34 was a major factor in the Red Army's defeat of the Germans in WWII that there could be large forces in Europe still speaking German if it hadn't been for the T-34." T-34, the number 1 tank of all time.

(Courtesy: History Channel)

The Nobel Peace Laureate and the Prisoner of Conscience - Liu Xiaobo

By: LENG Bun Meng

Liu Xiaobo, a 2010 Nobel peace prize laureate, was born on December 28, 1956. The 54-year-old is a great man of integrity who took a lot of audacity to stand up and criticize the Chinese Communist government, who dared to sacrifice his freedom and who had the courage to call for democracy and human rights in China. His journey to fight for democracy began in 1989 when he took part in the bloody demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, which received violent crackdown from the government. Consequently, he was sentenced to serve a 2-year term in prison. This suppression did not discourage him, but only made him stronger and motivated him to strive for democracy and justice in China. Since then he was recaptured twice and sent to prison again. In December 2008, he published a document online that made the government sentence him to 11 years in prison for “subverting state power”. The document is called “Charter 8” which calls for a new constitution, social and political change in China. Liu Xiaobo is now compared to other heroic people who symbolize freedom and democracy such as Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi and South Africa's Nelson Mandela. Although the Chinese has tried everything to paralyze him, his vision will still remains intact and stay with him for the rest of his life. 

Do you want to make a change for your country and your people? I strongly believe that one man can truly make a difference. Many heroes have sacrificed themselves for the sake of freedom and democracy. That is, Aung San Su Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Dr. Luther King. Perhaps, one day Liu Xiaobo's wish to see China transform into a democratic government and allow its people to enjoy more freedom may not be an elusive dream anymore.

Zhuge Liang- The Symbol of Wisdom

For those who happen to watch Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sam Kok), you may know who Zhuge Liang is. Zhuge Liang, or Kong Ming, is a renowned and the most popular military strategist, a statesman, an inventor, an adviser for the warlord Liu Bei, who is a descendant of the Han Dynasty. His nickname is the sleeping dragon, because he is a highly talented man but he decides not to use his knowledge to work for anybody but does farming at his peaceful house. Liu Bei has visited him for three time , asking him to help him rebuild the Han Dynasty. Touched by Liu Bei's will, he agrees to help Liu Bei at all cost and will be loyal to Liu Bei for the rest of his life. That was the turning point in Liu Bei's entire life so far, as Kong Ming helps Liu Bei to conquer Jing Zhou and form the capital in Sichuan province and form a dynasty called "Shu Han". He vowed to revive the Han Dynasty. 

Zhuge Liang is not only a great military strategist, but also a great psychologist, since he can read people's mind clearly and manipulate this unique skill to his own advantage. His name is feared everywhere. There was a time when ZKL does not have many more troops left to defend the city, but he instead open the gate of the city, putting on a calm face and play his guqin comfortably on top of the city gate. When Sima Yi saw this, he thought that there would be ambush inside the city and Sima Yi ordered his troop to retreat. 

Later, he set up a plan to kill Sima Yi by using fire to burn all Sima's troops. However, while the fire is burning, the rain begins to rain and saves all the Cao Wei's troops. What is unbelievable is that Kong Ming is accomplished in astrology, as he can accurately predict the time when rain will come,  when the sky will be sunny or cloudy. Unexpectedly, the rain come and destroy his plan. What can i say?? This may be called "DESTINY". The god wants to save Sima Yi not Zhuge Liang. Perhaps, the god wants to put an end to the Han Dynasty. Do you believe in "DESTINY"?