Covid-19: No Detection Of Infection Does Not Mean There Is No Infection

 1984 George Orwell said... Covid-19: No Detection Of Infection Does Not Mean There Is No Infection

"SINGAPORE — The Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger who tested positive for Covid-19 was an 83-year-old man who reported to the ship’s onboard medical centre with diarrhoea.

He underwent a mandatory Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction test as part of onboard protocols, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said in an update on Wednesday (Dec 9).

The passenger had undergone testing before boarding the cruise and tested negative."

The above report was made by TODAY Online.


My Comments:


1. If you are tested negative, it does not mean you are totally free from the COVID-19 virus infection.

2. It only means that on that day, at that point in time, the infectious virus inside your body could not be detected, yet.

3. It can also mean that the testing system is not very effective or faulty.

4. It can also mean that it could be a rush job and therefore efficiency and accuracy could have been sacrificed for the purpose of expediency and profit-motive.

5. Alternatively, the old gentleman could have contracted the COVID-19 disease from someone on the cruise. That someone could be a healthy carrier from the crew, the cooks, the service personnel or from the other passengers.

6. Moral of the story is:

A cruise to nowhere can turn up to be a cruise to somewhere - hospital or cemetery.

7. Conclusion.

Don't be over-confident. No detection of infection does not mean there is no infection. It means that the coronavirus is smarter than we humans think we are.

1984 George Orwell

Is Anwar Ibrahim Really That Smart?

 SSO said... Is Anwar Ibrahim Really That Smart?

Let me tell you what I think.

1. The fact the Anwar got kicked out by the then PM Mahathir, when he was his DeputY PM, showed that he was not smart after all.

Rule No 1 - Never make your boss so angry with you until he has to kick you out.

2. The fact that Anwar got charged and convicted for sodomy (1st count) and got black-eyed in the prison, showed that he was not so smart after all.

Rule No 2 - When you are in deep shit, do not give those around you a chance to take advantage of your predicament and screw you up.


3. The fact that Anwar got charged and convicted for the same offence (sodomy) a second time, showed that he was not only not smart after all but also an extremely careless and
weak person.

Rule No 3 - Never be found wanting and get caught for the same mistake a second time, because the first time can be given benefit of doubt but the second time removes all doubts. Even if he has been framed, as he claimed, the second sodomy charge sticks to him like a leach throughout the rest of his life.

4. The fact that Anwar had accepted, and even rejoiced at, the Agong's pardon, shows that he is not only stupid, but very stupid. Whoever had helped him to get the Agong's royal pardon had actually wanted him to be destroyed completely. A pardon is not the same as a vindication. When you accept a pardon, it means you have accepted that you are guilty and therefore wanted to be pardoned for what you have done. A vindication means you are not guilty and you have been cleared of the wrong conviction.

Rule No 4 - If you want to clear your name, never accept a forgiveness or a pardon from anybody, irrespective of whether He is God or King. It you do so, you are forever condemned as a guilty person in the eyes of the world.

So, for those who still thinks that Anwar is smart, think again.

Anwar has dug his own grave by being carelessly over-confident and as a result over-stepping on many big toes that count in his political life. That is sheer stupidity of a politician-wanna-be.

Not say I want to say, but I just must simply say so from my heart.

SSO - 8 Dec 2020.

Second hand smoke is not just a nuisance but toxic chemicals

 As people spend more time at home, smoke wafting into people’s homes can be a deadly public health menace, and should not be mistaken for a neighbourly nuisance or a gripe about smoking from non-smokers....

Smokers cannot seem to catch a break, particularly with the suggestion to ban smoking near home balconies and windows by Nee Soon GRC Member of Parliament and Group Parliament Committee for Sustainability and Environment Louis Ng in October reviving a national debate about how far the country should go to combat smoking completely.

Make smokers close their windows when they smoke, some suggested....

Ban smoking altogether, a few frustrated netizens said.Some public health experts, like Prof Chia Kee Seng, have gone even further to call for exterminating smoking completely seeing that it is “an archaic habit with no place in modern society”....

The consequences can be serious. “A lot of the residents complained to me about secondhand smoke because their children have asthma … yet they have a neighbour who’s constantly smoking at their windows,” Mr Ng highlights.

“Imagine if your neighbour is spraying toxic chemicals out of his house and you’re breathing it in … that’s exactly what secondhand smoke is.”  CNA

When would the non smokers be freed from the aggressive violation of smokers, spreading their toxic and smelly fumes into their homes or into their faces along public walkways? When would the world be free from these drug takers, the modern day opium smokers? When their addiction cravings demand that they take a puff, they would not hesitate to satisfy this craze and would not even mind standing beside dirty and smelly dustbins to inhale the drugs called cigarettes, casting images of the desperate opium smokers of yester years.

While it is very difficult for the older addicts to kick this dirty addiction, let's hope the younger generation would not be smarter not to carry on this unnecessary and money wasting habit and keep themselves clean and the environment clean, and the air clean for other beans to enjoy.

It is so sickening to be waken up in the middle of the night by a waft of smelly cigarette smoke to disrupt your sleep and struggling not to breathe in the foul air. It is a terrible encounter for non smokers when they need to breathe but cannot breathe and have to struggle to breathe when the air is filled with cigarette smokes that the smokers enjoy and think it is so nice and friendly and generous to share with the non smokers. What about the young, the infants and babies that are also forced to breathe in this toxic fumes and cannot say no, unable to say no?

When would the govt put a stop to this infringement of the non smokers right to breathe in simple clean and fresh air, free from smelly and toxic cigarette smokes? We are living so close to each other, only a few feet apart. There is no escape when someone living below or above or next door, smokes.  The world has more or less gotten rid of the smelly opium smokers. China was ruined by the mindless and unthinking consumption of opium in the past. Today's tobacco is just a milder form of drug addiction that the world can do without in exchange for having cleaner air and cleaner streets and cleaner everything and cleaner everywhere.

Would the smokers show some consideration and mercy on the non smokers? It is unbearable and intolerable to many non smokers. Nah, they simply don't care when they are desperate to smoke, just like all drug addicts. It is their right to smoke as long as the law allows it.

PS. I know that many smokers would be offended by this post. But non smokers cannot go on suffering in silence. The non smokers did not do anything to offend the smokers, just asking to be free to breathe in non contaminated, not smelly fresh air. They would not bother with the smokers if the smokers did not bother them.

 

An appeal in theindependent.com, 

An appeal to neighbours who smoke: Please close doors and windows

Singapore – Smokers have been urged to be considerate and close their doors and windows when indulging in their habit so that the smoke does not go into neighbouring flats.

On Thursday (Dec 3), Facebook user Candice Yeo made a request on the Complaint Singapore page. She said that no one was stopping those who want to smoke at home but they should shut their doors and windows tight.

She said that people smoked at windows and balconies because they did not want the smoke in their homes but it then floated into neighbouring houses.

She hoped that her request would be considered and those who smoke would be considerate enough to shut their windows and doors.

Australia's 14 sins against China but called China a bully when China kicked their ass

 

China has stopped buying from Australia.  China was the top buyer of Australian products to the tune of billions annually, more than 25% of Australian exports go to China. The money the Australians are making from China would make many countries drooling. Instead of saying thank you to China, the silly Australians kept taking pot shots at China, treating China as enemy number One. Now their economy is tanking, many of their exporters are crying as there are no takers that could absorb the volumes they were selling to China.

And what did the Australian govt say? China is bullying Australia? The silly bananas in TRE also echoed this sentiment. China is a bully, aggressive and assertive. Did they know what caused China to kick Australian asses? Did they know how provocative, aggressive and obnoxious the Australians were, pushing and attacking at China when China was pouring money into Australia, investing in Australia without any political consideration or pressure for the Australian to take sides with China against the Americans? Instead, the Americans told the Australians to choose and take sides and the white racist Australians happily chose to attack and curb Chinese investments in Australia and accused China of forcing the Australians to take sides, and bullying them. The bullying of China was so ridiculous, a silly little white brat thinking it could kick China under the belt. 

Below is a list of 14 crimes or sins the Australians committed before China said enough is enough and had to teach the white monkeys a lesson in respect and good behaviour. The source is from Godfree Roberts' 'Here Comes China' site. And for all these crimes, China was acting like good customer, a good investors, dumping billions into Australia and the Australians laughing to the bank. But these foolish white monkeys are so ungrateful, thinking that China was meek and could be bullied and kicked around, thinking that they are so powerful, the sheriff of SE Asia. Next would be New Zealand and Canada to swallow their pride and say sorry, before the sneaky Britain's turn to be kicked in the ass.

Australian leaders and media have vilified, calumniated, and threatened the PRC since I was a lad, but their recent behavior was so egregious that China has indicted them for their worst offenses:

1. Foreign investment decisions, with acquisitions blocked on opaque national security grounds in contravention of ChAFTA. Since 2018, more than 10 Chinese investment projects have been rejected by Australia citing ambiguous and unfounded "national security concerns" and restricting areas like infrastructure, agriculture and animal husbandry.
2. Banning Huawei Technologies and ZTE from the 5G network, over unfounded national security concerns, doing the bidding of the US by lobbying other countries, foreign interference legislation viewed as targeting China and in the absence of evidence.
3. Politicization and stigmatization of the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia and creating barriers and imposing restrictions, including the revocation of visas for Chinese scholars.
4. Calling for an international independent inquiry into the COV1D-19 virus, as a political manipulation echoing the US attack on China.
5. Incessant wanton interference in China's Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan affairs.
6. Spearheading the crusade against China in multilateral forums
7. The first non littoral country to make a statement on the South China Sea to the United Nations, siding with the US' anti-China campaign
8. Spreading disinformation imported from the US around China's efforts of containing COV1D-19.
9. Legislating scrutiny of agreements with a foreign government targeting China and aiming to torpedo Victoria’s participation in B&R
10. Providing funding to anti-China think tanks for spreading untrue reports, peddling lies around Xinjiang and so-called China infiltration aimed at manipulating public opinion against China
11. Early dawn search and reckless seizure of Chinese journalists' homes and properties without charges or explanations. (Raiding of homes of pro China Australian politicians)
    
12. Thinly veiled allegations against China of cyber attacks without any evidence 
13. Outrageous condemnation of the governing party of China by NGOs 
14. Racist attacks against Chinese and Asian people. Unfriendly and antagonistic reports on China by media that poison the atmosphere of bilateral relations 

Relationship

Between 2015-2020, China lowered tariffs on Australian products for six consecutive years. Ninety-five percent of the products we sell to China now enjoy zero tariffs. On Singles Day alone, 2,000 Australian businesses sold over US$720 million worth of goods to Chinese customers in 24 hours–yet the Australian government has been politicizing trade and investment issues, and constantly violating market principles by discriminating against Chinese companies.  Source: Here Comes China

 

Still want to bully China? Look into the mirror and know your place in the changing history of geopolitics of the world. The Australian hypocrisy and double talk, that China was the bully and aggressor would only be white lies that only white racists would believe. Also the unthinking silly bananas. Want to sail your antique warships to threaten China in the South China Sea? Remember who set your submarine free when its propeller was entangled by fishing nets?

China must lead the rest of the world to help the natives take back Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hawaii and the USA from the white racist thieves.  China can also help the Japanese and South Koreans to free themselves from the clutches of the Americans and become free and independent countries, not semi colonies of the Americans.

Malaysian Political Intrigues In A Nutshell

 SSO said... Malaysian Political Intrigues In A Nutshell

Malaysia has lost its direction. The present leadership is very weak.

The coalition of political parties to hold power by sharing power seldom work well. It is uncanny and strange that it can still hold together.

I think the Malaysian King (Sultan) is behind all the manipulations. He simply cannot and does not want to give consent to Anwar to ascend to the Premiership.

The fact that Anwar has received a royal pardon, and accepted it so willingly, means that Anwar cannot now claim that he was not guilty of sodomy, which he has been trying to do so even after being convicted for the second time. As such, in the King's eye, Anwar cannot be allowed to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is taboo. Anyone else is still better than him.

Sodomy is taboo in Malay and Muslim tradition and culture. Public officials cannot commit the crime and still hold political leadership office. This is the bottom line. This has sealed the fate of Anwar Ibrahim's ambition to become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia forever. Even Anwar himself could have realized it. That's why he looks so agonized and desperate.

UMNO is trying very hard to make a comeback. It can only do so by making all ruling party leadership and administration look weak and directionless, as it is at present.

In addition, for UMNO to return to power, Najib Razak's 1MDB fiasco has to be quickly done with. The 1MDB fiasco has tarnished UMNO irreparably. The longer this fiasco drags on, the more difficult it is for UMNO to return to power. Therefore, it has no choice but to go for second options, which is to become the puppet master, pulling the strings from behind and above the screen. This is what it is doing now. This is what it can and will do for the time being, into the uncertain future.

As the present unassuming PM is doing just nice, not too good but also not too bad. UMNO has to jump onto his bandwagon and ride along as a free-rider, as well as the puppet master.

PAS is eager to be involved in the governing, if given a chance because for the past donkey years that it was in existence, it has never been able to hold any governing positions. This time around, it is going to make inroads into the Malaysian governing body, so that it can at least be a factor to be reckoned with. Therefore, it will sleep in bed with any other political party that has the best chance to form the government, except Anwar's party. Because, as an Islamic party, it cannot openly be seen as condoning and supporting someone who has been convicted of sodomy twice. However, if Anwar is out of the way, PAS may also consider an alliance with PKR.

Going forward, as long as Anwar is the leader of PKR, there is very slim chance for it to gain enough votes to form the next Malaysian government. His wife would have done better, as she has shown while Anwar was in jail.

I, therefore, venture to predict that UMNO will eventually rule Malaysia again.

Old habits die hard. After 60 years under UMNO rule, the majority of Malaysians have become used to its style of governing. At least about half of the Chinese and Indian voters prefer UMNO than PKR or any other parties to be the government. Especially so after the collapse of Dr Mahathir's second premiership, due to his own idiosyncrasies and a series of miscalculations, culminating in his own resignation, a very costly self-snooks-self misadventure. From that day onwards, Dr Mahathir's time is up. No matter how he tries now, very few Malaysian voters would want to give him a third chance to be in power again. He is spent.

In conclusion, Malaysia is now in the crossroads of political re-orientation, re-alignment and re-adjustments. It will take at least another five years for things to straighten out. This is a very trying time. It will take a trying premier to try whatever he can try, in order to disentangle the mess in the whole political system of Malaysia.


SSO - 5th December, 2020