FOREWARNED - MANDI MANDA

(changed to a new title)

Wayside bath in a country stream refreshes travellers, in this painting by Bernadino Luini, a follower of Leonardo da Vinci. Pilgrims stopped at streams famous for their curative powers.

By the Ganges River.

Visions of Tahiti as "Fatata Te Miti", Gauguin sought and found a primitive simplicity.

Mao Tse Tong (front) and his buddies cooling off.

A bath with a baby elephant, Chiangmai, elephant training/tourist centre.

Women's bath in Bursa, Jean-Leon Gerome, 1885.

San Blas Island, Panama. San Blas coconut was brought into Malaya for trial by the Department of Agriculture during British time.

WASHING THE HAZE

Cloud seeding is done to make artificial rain especially during long bout of dry season. It is also used as an effort to reduce haze due to smoke pollution from large scale burning of forests and swampland.

Cloud seeding with silver iodide. Top left: the cloud at the time of seeding. Top right and bottom: The cloud at 9, 19, and 38 minutes after seeding.

CHOKING OURSELVES WITH CARBON

Was in Pekan Baru, Riau at one time when the haze was at its thickest due to burning of farmlands and swamps. Added to this, people were burning rubbish heaps or thickets here and there along the roadside and near their houses. 

Here, frequently we see people set fires over rubbish heaps in towns and the rurals. Thus, we have that shared habit with our neighbours.

Burning the undergrowth. Heat, soot, burned particles, smoke, carbon dioxide are released into the air. They got trapped in the atmosphere. 

Earth's greenhouse

Natural causes of Carbon build-up in the atmosphere.

Recycling factories of the insect realm, termite nests in Australia exude streams of carbon dioxide as their residents break down plant litre. Termite account for a significant amount of all carbon dioxide released on land through decomposition.

Carbon dioxide released for each hectare.

Trend of CO2 atmospheric level through the ages.

12th CENTURY MAP OF JERUSALEM

Jerusalem (Al-Quds), the meeting point of God's religion - Jewish, Christianity, and Islam.

Al-Aqsa Mosque to the right of the Western Wall (Wailing Wall), bottom right of the map above.

The famous Tower of David built in the fourteenth century looms in the foreground of this aerial view of modern Jerusalem. The golden Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem's most imposing landmark stands out in the Temple Mount toward the upper right. Behind it...

 A woodcut view of medieval Jerusalem, a city to both Christians and Muslims, and thus an important symbiotic objective in religous warfare. Taken by the crusader knights in 1099  was lost again in 1187.

 

From 13th-century guidebook to the Holy Land, the map shows a diagrammatic plan of Jerusalem. Although the perfect circle of the walls depicts an idealized image befitting the Holy City, centre of the world, and the plan is certainly not to scale, the relative positions of the sites within the city would have provided the user with a reliable aid to orientation...

n.b. Jerusalem was then under Christian's (Crusaders') rule.

ZETI ON THE BRINK

Zeti has been heading the Bank Negara for many years now. She has been doing her job diligently, intelligently, and quietly. Come Najibugis, her position  comes under threat. Very recently she has to implore to let her complete her term. Does it imply let me stay a while longer, I will follow what you say and not to open the can of worms?

Why she has to say that unless there is some kind of pressure? The super moron had said that BR1M is BN's idea. He is a liar always looking for scapegoats because of his stupidity and corruption. 

On 1MDB, the moronic pretender said the BN's regulation would not allow to bring in RMbillions from Cayman Islands direct into the country. Surely, BN should know the RM2.6billions (temporarily) deposited into the moron's personal account in Ambank! 

Zeti's hands are somehow got tied behind her back. At issue is there a threat to shut her mouth? There are already insinuations that her husband has been unduely privileged with projects due to her authority. She is becoming a victim of circumstances perpetuated by Najib.

Zeti at her convocation with parents (Ungku Aziz and Azzah Aziz) and grandmother.

AMERICAN SUMMERS - THANK YOU

During the 3-month summer break, Malaysian students all over US take time to travel. Some may attend summer classes, others earn extra income with  part-time jobs. 

In many universities, there are a number of Malaysian students, thus, easy for them to travel in groups for long distances in their own or rented cars. Along the way they stopover or overnight at fellow students' accommodations, motels or at campsites.

USA is a very big country and has innumerable scenic and beautiful places to visit. Pictures below are reminiscence of student days at LSU, 1974-1978.

Malaysian students at University of California, Davis.

Desert art in Nevada

Sunset Siesta Motel in the desert of southwest.

Breakfast over portable gas stove at campsite by the beach in Florida.

Local travellers - fun at the beach.

Students travel criss-cross the wide expanse of the country. Washington Monument, Washington D.C.

Del Rio, border town Mexico.

Summer jam at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Bridge across Mississippi River, New Orleans. Ingredients of jambalaya(?), a favourite southern cuisine - boiled crayfish with corn, chilli powder, lemon etc.

Picnic at the park organised by Malaysian students at LSU.

Homecoming at Louisiana State University campus, Baton Rouge. The university was established in 1860.

After a few summers we graduated (1976) with first degree at LSU. Diploma students from the College of Agriculture, Serdang are given advanced standing  admission as juniors where they need only 2 years to complete bachelor's degree. Yours truly, rightmost.

GIBRALTAR - TARIQ'S LANDFALL IN EUROPE, 711

The Rock of Gibraltar, the site of Muslim Arab-Berber army's landfall led by Tariq ibn Ziyad in Europe, 711. By 712 Toledo to the north in Spain also fell.

The march of Muslim armies into Europe as far north as Poiters (732) and Autun.

Gibraltar today