thin king

Good morning,
Time to exercise the brain.

Using fuses as a timer.

There are two lengths of crude fuses.
They are not of the same length.
They are also not of uniform width.
Thus they do not burn regularly along their length,
some parts may burn faster than other parts.

But each fuse will burn in 4 minutes.
And burning half of either fuse
will not take 2 minutes,
it will take more or less.

Using these two fuses as a timer,
how can one time 3 minutes?
This is a neat and simple but challenging puzzle.


This puzzle is not that difficult.
But if one does not wish to tax the brain too much,
visit downunder.

Have a nice day.
Ronald






























Answer to Fuse puzzle.

Lighting both ends of one fuse will burn it in 2 minutes .
Thus, light one fuse from both ends and the other fuse
from only one end, at the same time.
Once the fuse which is burning from both ends burns out,
in 2 minutes, light the second end of the other fuse.
This remaining fuse will burn in 1 minute, from both sides.
The total time will thus be 3 minutes.
QED.

Good Morning, Good Weekend & Good Lunar New Year to all,


A brief narrative of the life of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was born on Christmas day, some 2005 years ago. His mother
was a virgin named Mary. Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, a
carpenter, but Joseph was not Jesus's father, because Jesus was
conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit as it had been announced
by the angel Gabriel to Mary. Joseph became Jesus's foster-father.

Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem. When he was born, the
shepherds nearby were told by an angel. They came and paid him
homage and were very jubilant, glorifying God. And so did three
magi who came from the east, guided by a star. These magi offered
him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Jesus was descended from the line of Abraham, through king David;
his was the forty second generation. His birth had been foretold by
the prophets very much earlier. He was the Messiah who was to lead
the Israelites to salvation. His relative, John the Baptist, was born six
months earlier, to herald his coming. John worked about the Jordan
preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He baptised them
with water, saying that one mightier would come and baptize them
with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Jesus lived as man did, and the devil tempted him without success.
When he came and was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit descended
upon him as a dove, and a voice from heaven said, "You are my
beloved Son, with you I am well pleased"

When Jesus was about 30 years old, he began his ministry. He
gathered his apostles and taught them and the people about God's
kingdom. He performed many miracles during his ministry, changing
water into wine, cleansed lepers, restored sight to blind people,
made the lame walk, gave the mute speech, free the demoniacs of
spirits, walked on the sea, brought the dead to life, cured the sick,
and fed thousands of listeners with just a few loaves of bread and
a lesser number of fish.

Jesus taught them also in parables, many parables, because he said
they look but not see, hear but not listen. He taught them to love one
another, about salvation, about reward to those who suffer for the
cause of righteousness, about riches, more difficult for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye
of a needle, and about the forgiveness of sins . He taught them how
to pray; he taught them the Our Father, the finest prayer .

Jesus asked his disciples who did man say he was. When Peter
replied that he was the living God, Jesus said, "Blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Jona, and you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loose in heaven"

While Jesus taught, he referred to himself as the Son of Man and that
he had God's power to do God's, his Father's, will. He denounced the
practice and hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, sit on Moses's seat,
preach but not practise. His teachings antagonised the high officials of
the Sanhedrin. The high priest Caiaphas, the chief priests and all the
elders then plotted to find a way to put him to death.

At his last supper before he was arrested, Jesus gave bread and wine
to his apostles to eat and drink, saying that these were his body and
blood, of the new and everlasting covenant, which would be shed for
them and for all, for the forgiveness of sins. He told them to perform
this ceremony in memory of him.

That night, while Jesus was agonising over his coming death, in the
garden Gethsemane, his enemies, led by Judas the betrayer, came
and arrested him. But Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, and Pontius
Pilate, the govenor of Judea, could not find him guilty of any crime,
and they wanted to set him free. But the crowd's demand overwhelmed
Pilate and he gave way to them. So Jesus was flogged, scourged and
mocked as king with a crown of thorns. He was made to carry his own
cross, assisted by one Simon of Cyrene, to the place called the Skull,
or Golgotha, or Calvary. There he was crucified, together with two
criminals, one on each side of him.

Jesus died that day, a Friday. When he died, the sky darkened, the
earth quaked, tombs were opened, and many holy people resurrected,
and the veil of the santuary was torn in the middle into two. Jesus's
followers took his body and placed it in a tomb, and the Roman
soldiers stationed guards outside it, to prevent anybody from doing
anything to his body, because he had said that he would rise again.

On the third day of his death, a Sunday, his followers came and saw
his tomb opened, but they could not find his body. Two angels there
told them that Jesus had risen. His apostles then realized that Jesus
had risen from the dead, as he had foretold to them; they could not
understand what he had meant before.

Jesus met with his followers and broke bread with them. He also
convinced Thomas by asking him to feel his wound because Thomas
would not believe what he had been told.

Jesus remained on earth for forty days, preparing his apostles to wait
for the coming of the Holy Spirit, when they would receive the power
to be his witnesses to the end of the earth, "Make disciples of all
nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit". Then Jesus ascended to heaven, from the Mount
of Olives, in the sight of his followers. It was a Thursday.

On Pentecost day, a Sunday, ten days later, the twelve apostles were
gathered in a room. They were Simon Peter, John, James, Andrew,
Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the Less, Simon the
Zealot, Judas Thaddaeus, and Matthias who replaced Judas the
betrayer. There was a loud sound of a whirlwind and tongues of fire
split and hovered over the head of each of them. They were thus filled
with the Holy Spirit. And with the power, they spoke in other tongues.
When the multitude came to find out about the commotion, everyone
heard them speaking in his own language, wherever he came from.

Then Peter, together with the other eleven apostles, raised his voice
and began to tell them about Jesus. That was the birth of Christianity.

This is a very brief narrative of the life of Jesus Christ.
The Bible contains the full text.


May the whole lunar new year be what you wish it to be.
Ronald

Good morning,

The misadventures of T-Seeker

Once upon a time there was a colleague who shall be
referred to as T-Seeker for reasons to be unfold. T-Seeker
had a propensity to be outrageously solicitously friendly to
people. And the meaning of the enigmatic prefix T should
become clear without being explained.

One evening, after dinner, he was resting on the railing
outside the hostel room. Without any reason familiar to
anybody, he mouthed, "Hello baiee, say hello to your uncle."
He repeated this a couple of times. Justone Singh, a senior,
who was ambling back to his quarters, was certain that he
was insulted. The burly Singh flicked off his slippers and
dashed towards T-Seeker. In an instant, T-Seeker was on
his heels, scampering up the staircase and into a room
through the open door. The poor occupant thought that there
was some kind of tornado, because Justone was into the
room a few seconds later. By then T-Seeker was not around.
He had streaked in and out of the window like the wind, to
be followed almost immediately by Justone. The bewildered
occupant did not even had time to get up; he never knew
what it was all about. T-Seeker had a narrow escape.

On another occasion, while we were doing field work, he
blurted, "Hello bakul, good morning bakul." He had this
uninhibited way of repeating the greeting of his own making.
The two local policemen were patrolling along the peripheral
road. They came through the gate and approached T-Seeker.
T-Seeker had turned as pale as whitewash, but he kept quiet.
Everybody was quiet. Luckily for him, the policemen, knowing
that it was him were not very sure what he had shouted.
Nevertheless they scolded him, cursed him, shouting all these
abuses, accompanied with all the exemplifications of their
threats. Leg action followed words like one kick and your face
burst open. Fortunately for T-Seeker, nobody else said anything,
and after all the angered actions met no resistance, the two
policemen left, cursing and swearing all the way out. T-Seeker
escaped again; he never could imagined how serious it could
have turned out.

The word bakul refers to the container used by night soil
workers, which resembles an item of the police uniform.
T-Seeker knew some of these local words only. Why he did
what he did was beyond anybody's imagination. But it taught
him a lesson alright.

So, what does the T mean, Thrill, Trouble or what?

Have a nice day.
Ronald

Good morning,

Learned a skill, gathered some food, and enjoyed the process.

The lure of the sea is ever compelling. There are many things one
can get, all for the taking when one knows how. It is a case of:
Have the skill, go get them.

Before the seabed by the beach along the east coast was reclaimed
in the 1960s, there was an abundance of seafood in the seabed itself.
When the tide ebbed, the water rolled all the way back to the sandbanks
about a mile out, leaving a large expanse of swamp, exposing myriads
of sea creatures. And these were available to whoever had the will and
skill to take.

There was a time when my brother and I noticed a man squatting by
the edge of the sandbank, scanning a shallow pool of water. We were
curious at his stance and wanted to know his business, because he
could not be just wasting his time there when everybody else was out
for something. We did not wait long. Very soon, he waded into the water,
stretched his hand into it for a few moments, sloshed it a few times, and
then retreated to the bank. In his hand was a kepah, a big clam about
4 inches long, 2 inches wide and an inch thick, brown in colour and
rough on the outside like velvet.

That was neat and clever, no tools, just scan. It got our interest. How
did he know where the kepah was. We did not ask him. We just stayed
close by him and observed. We scanned where he did. After a bit of
patience and careful tracking over a few more pickings we discovered
his secret.

The kepah lived just below the muddy sand in the water. It sent out two
tubes, one for sucking in water and the other for expelling it. That was
how it got its food, filtering whatever it needed in the process. The
ejection of the water caused a slight fountain, producing ripples at the
water surface. That was its giveaway.

Spotting the ripples was the first step and getting it was the main aim.
The kepah had keen senses, and the moment the water was disturbed
when we entered it, it ceased its syphoning, and the ripples disappeared
too. So, one had to be very sharp at pinpointing the spot where the center
of the ripples was, or else digging at the wrong place was just futile work.

Sometimes, digging at the right spot got us something else, because
sea cucumbers and sea balls also created similar ripples. We had no
appreciation for sea balls and sea cucumbers then, and we usually played
boomerang and rounders with them. Ha ha ha, what a waste! These things
are very precious nowadays.

The sandbanks were about where our beaches are now. It is buried there.
If this seabed is raised, the kepah will return, and our good old days too.

Have a nice day.
Ronald

Hello,

Welcome to the migratory larder.


In the vast Serengeti plains in Tanzania, there is one animal
which has always been the target of studies by researchers.
It is the wildebeest. The wildebeest, or gnu, is an antelope
which looks like a cow, but very much slender. It exists in such
a great number that it is impossible to count them, maybe
1.5 million. Its number is also increasing and decreasing all the
time, due to births and deaths. They are so numerous that they
have to migrate all the time, covering almost 2000 miles a year,
for fresh grass. The wildebeest, being herbivorous, is such an
easy prey to most predators that it is meaningful to refer to them
as a migratory larder. And it is this migration that makes it the
greatest wildlife spectacle, for researchers and tourists alike.

In their migration they give births, hundreds of thousands of
calves within several weeks. This is another great wonder of
nature, the seasonal births. Then they have to cross the rivers,
which takes days. And then, in the fording, many would be
drown due to the congestion and stampeding, becoming food
for birds, fishes or other creatures, or else the crocodiles would
get them. When they graze, they have the lions, the hyenas,
and the cheetahs picking them off when they strayed from the
main herd.

And this is where it appears strange why they should be such
easy prey. They have horns, big bodies and powerful legs, so
why could they not defend themselves. They move together,
graze together, yet when predators prowl nearby, not one cares
about another, other than to stick itself closer to the main herd
for safety. Even when one of them is being attacked, the others
remain nonchalant, that is their attitude. One could imagine that
all they need to save one another was to just get together and
trample any predator, and none of them would be lost.

But then this is the way of nature, otherwise the moving larder
serves no useful purpose, is there?

On the other hand, the buffalo is a different breed of prey. Once,
on TV, a documentary featured an extraordinary escape for one
of its kind. A buffalo was attacked and held on to by a lioness,
a sure gone case to ensue. But then several buffaloes came to
its rescue. This was really unbelievable and amazing, but they
did. They surrounded the lioness and tried to gore it with their
horns. The lioness would not release its grip, but the buffaloes
would not desist their attack. This went on for some time, until
the lioness realized that it was useless for it to wage this war.
If it ever get gored seriously, it would also die due to the injury.
It released its prey and backed off. And that buffalo lived to tell
its own tale.

The buffaloes knew about unity is strength.
The wildebeests did not;
they are like people under certain situations.


Wildebeests, anyone?
Ronald

Hello all,


Is a Problem a Problem?


There was a time when a management expert said,
"A problem that becomes known is no longer a problem."
He did not elaborate nor explain, but left it to the class to
figure it out. It was more effective this way, getting the
class to think from all angles.

Well, really, if there is a problem, a few scenarios can ensue.
If it is not known, the consequences will arise accordingly.
But, if it is known, there are two choices. Let sleeping dogs
lie and bear the consequences, or, take the necessary action
and deal with the problem; and if that has been done, where
is the problem?

Mrs. Bian's metal gate had become faulty and could not be
latched without great difficulty. One day, her little Snauzie
ran out into the neighbourhood. She and her maid, Nurhad,
had a sweaty time running around the estate to get it back.
But, for whatever unknown reasons, the gate was not fixed.
Then, one evening, a stray dog came by, and as always
Snauzie came on with her barking, nothing unusual.

Then, suddenly there was this noisy head to tail cartoon
like chase through the gate, into the main door, around the
living room, creating more noise of other kinds. Mrs. Bian
stepped up onto her couch, shouting, " Aiyoh, help Nurhad,
help!" The vase had fallen off the coffee table, spilling water
and flowers onto the carpet; the two dogs were still running
around, making mayhem.

Nurhad dropped all the kitchen work she was occupied with,
and came with immediate alacrity. She had presence of mind;
she quickly grabbed Snauzie, and with a couch cushion and
chased the other dog out of the house and through the gate.
Mrs. Bian was still in shock, at the situation and the mess; she
sat down. Calmly, Nurhad went about cleaning the mess,
picking up the vase and the flowers, and mopping the water
from the carpet. That was tough work, making it as dry as
possible.

"Aiyoh Nurhad, the chicken! quick, the chicken!", Mrs. Bian
suddenly shouted again. Nurhad dropped her mopping work
and dashed to the kitchen. The chicken in the oven had
become choutah, or burnt, and the pot of soup was boiling
dry. What another mess! But, fortunately, all the damages
were minor only!

A problem not dealt with remains a problem.


Have a nice day.
Ronald

Good morning,


A candid look at some of the professionals
and their practice.

Architects ...
build houses and buildings so people can live
and work in security, complete with stale and
sick air-con air, ideal for propagating influenza.

Bakers ...
make wonderful things before we awake, for us
to eat and to begin the day; bless them all.

Carpenters ...
toil and sweat amid dust to make furniture for
our rest and comfort, and in style.

Doctors ...
we avoid them; when they help us to get well
we don't need them; they always face a dilemma
whether to keep us healthy or not.

Economists ...
tell producers to destroy some produce when
bountiful, also to raise prices during shortages.

Farmers ...
provide us with food or we starve, get exploited;
we depend on them, yet they are controlled by us,
their dependants. They deserved my admiration,
respect and gratitude.

Gardeners ...
bring beauty out of nature, grow flowers,
for us to woo our beloved.

Hairdressers ...
mess up our hair, cut, twirl and twill them,
discolour them and whatnot, yet we visit them
regularly to pay them.

Insurance agents ...
guarantee us we won't die, to the extent of
compensating our bereaved when we did, and we
hand them money regularly, fearing to die.

Jesters ...
dressed like puppets, painted like dolls, master of
frivolities, entertain royalty, clowns of kings and
king of clowns.

Kaypohs ...
busybodies, very helpful when help is not asked for;
better for them to be patient and wait, and then
render help when people beckon and entreat; it is all
a matter of wrong timing to be called such;
poor kind souls.

Lawyers ...
confuse us with their jargon and hold us to
ransom with their legal assistance in court;
they have become a popular butt of people's
jibes and jokes, very unflattering.

Musicians ...
makers of balm for vexed minds, loved by others
even at the worst of times, even at funerals,
always welcome .

Newscasters ...
well known to say they will see us again, big fat
moony chance they got; they always wrap things;
they don't need paper though.

Obstetricians ...
get paid to see what women always hide, aren't
they ashamed, even a bit?

Psychiatrists ...
wonder how they learn their art; put any two of
them together at a court case and see them giving
opposite diagnosis at every issue.

Quadrille dancers ...
they form in a square and dance; people who do
not dance are called squares; squares do not dance
and dancers dance squares, quite confusing?

Rumourmongers ...
tell us secrets without substance, but we believe
them and spread these rumours like wildfire.

Sociologists ...
they study to improve the welfare of society;
don't know what they do, don't see their work,
don't know them, where are they?

Taxi drivers ...
ply their cabs around and raise the blood pressure
of other drivers; how do they obtained their
driving licence, kelong?

Undertakers ...
do not mind other drivers overtaking recklessly;
they will always remain happy to be the undertakers.

Ventriloquists ...
talk to us directly but we still listen elsewhere.

Watchmen ...
work while we sleep and sleep while we work;
how do we know they work.

Xylophonists ...
hammer, hammer, hammer, that's what they
do when they work, output pleasant though.

Yogi ...
torture themselves, they are not upright or
up-standing at times.

Zoologists ...
study and love animals but keep them confined
unconditionally nonetheless.

Have a nice day.
Ronald

Hello to all,


Anybody like the Cuckoo?
Beware the cuckoo egg!

Birds are not known to make homes. They roost in natural
shelters on branches of trees or elsewhere. They build nests
though, which are not for living, but for the very special
purpose of laying their eggs and rearing their young until
they are able to fly away to live on their own.

And here is one of the most mysterious and amazing feat
of nature which only the birds know.

How does the bird know when to start building the nest?
How does the bird know how to build the nest? How does
the bird know how big and strong the nest should be? How
does the bird know what materials to use? How does the
bird know the safe place to build the nest?

The birds just know, that is it! Birds do not learn from their
forebears, neither could they learn from anywhere. They
just know when, how and where to make their nest, to
withstand the vagaries of the elements of nature, like heat,
rain, wind, cold and danger, etc.

And stranger than this mystery is the way of one kind of
bird which does not need nor build its own nest. It is the
cuckoo. When the time comes, the cuckoo will lay its egg,
maybe two, in another specie of bird's nest where there
are eggs in it.

And here follows another great act of incredibility. This
cuckoo just lays its eggs and disappears, with the fore
knowledge that its progeny will be properly and well
fostered.

And if that is unbelievable, the subsequent events are
more than matching.

When the cuckoo egg hatches, the chick is quite ugly,
delicate and vulnerable looking, with thin transparent
skin without feathers, its eyes not yet opened. But the
greatest inherent skill for survival manifest itself quickly.
This baby cuckoo chick knows how, and expels whatever
other eggs or chicks there are from the nest. It cannot see,
yet with its back it slowly and surely pushes its rivals over
the side and out of the nest to their doom.

That certainly ensures its own survival, no contenders.

The sorry part of the callous and coldblooded act is that
the nest owners never knew what was going on, and
continue to feed the intruder as its own until it reaches
maturity, different and bigger than either of them, and
flies away.

Is it really ignorance on the part of the nest builders, or
a design of nature, that the cuckoo chick could do what
it did and got away with it all, at the expense of other
lives?

This is a true story of mystery and incredibility, of deceit
and poker face, of ingratitude and foul play at their zenith.

How does what the Greek horse did to the Trojans
compared to a cuckoo egg?

Have a nice day.
Ronald

Good morning,

A Measure of Stinginess

In the Batak highlands in Sumatra, there exists a famous
caldera, a volcanic crater lake called Danau Toba, within
which sits the Samosir Island, measurable in size to the
island of Singapore. There are also tourist resorts like
Pematang Siantar, Brastagi and Parapat. And just like at
the famous Cameron Highlands resort in Malaysia, the
houseflies were quite unmanageable seasonally.
There really was no way to get rid of them other than to
prevent their entry into the premises. A dinner plate,
smeared with Baygon insecticide, when left outdoor in the
morning, would be full of dead flies by nightfall. This was a
good indication of their presence.

There was one hot sweaty day in Parapat during this kind
of fly day. Six tourists were lounging at the bar, chatting,
or relaxing and drinking beer. And occasionally, a fly
would land in their beer. Strangely, all these tourists did
not take the same action; each had his own way, as follows:

Tourist 1 would just push his beer aside and order another.
Tourist 2 would spill out the top part of the beer with the fly.
Tourist 3 would spoon out the fly.
Tourist 4 would pick out the fly with his fingers.
Tourist 5 would pick the fly and shake back the beer.
Tourist 6 would pick the fly and squeeze back the beer.

Some tourists were wasteful while others were stingy, like
these six. They were an American, an Arab, a Jew, a Malaysian,
a Scotsman and a Singaporean, in alphabetical order.

Now, who was which tourist? Can anyone identify them?

Have a beer day.
Ronald

Good morning,


Kings and Wisdom


Samuel was the prophet who judged Israel until he was very old.
When his sons were not worthy of succeeding him, the Hebrews
asked for a king through Samuel. So, God gave them Saul, a
handsome young man, head and shoulder above other men,
and Saul became their first king.

When David was a youth, he went to see his brothers in king
Saul's camp. There he slew Goliath and helped Saul to rout the
Philistines. Later, David succeeded Saul and became their
second king.

When king David was nearing the end of his life, his son Adonijah
himself prepared to take over the kingship. But David had made a
pledge to Bathsheba, his wife, that the kingship would be given to
her son, Solomon. So, David arranged and had Solomon installed
as king. Adonijah feared for his life, but when he pledged his
loyalty, Solomon spared his life.

One night, Solomon had a dream in which God told him he could
have anything he asked for. Solomon replied that God had so
blessed his forebear David and all the way down to him, making
him king. He said that he was a mere youth to rule such a vast
nation, and he asked only to be given an understanding heart to
judge the people and to distinguish right from wrong.

God was very pleased with him for asking only for this, and gave
him such wisdom that no one, before or thereafter, could equal.
God also promised him what he had not asked for, riches and
glory no king ever had, and also a long life if he kept God's
commandments as David had done.

Then, there were two harlots who came to him for judgement.
One said that the other woman, her only housemate, had bore
a son three days after she had given birth to hers. But when the
other's baby died the other woman stole her baby and placed the
dead baby in its place. But the other woman insisted that the
living baby was hers.

Then Solomon, saying that since each women had claimed that
the living baby was hers, gave orders for the baby to be cut into
two and to let each woman have half of it. Whereupon, the first
woman pleaded for the baby to be given to the other woman to
save its life, while the other woman said that since it should not
be either's to let it be divided.

Thereupon, Solomon judged that the baby be given to the first
woman, for she was the mother.

When all Israel heard this, the people were in awe of him, seeing
that the king had in him the wisdom of God for giving judgement.


Have a nice day,
Ronald